Aftg react

Part53

Foxes react: chapter7

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"Good," Neil said at length. Tugging a sleeping dragon's tail sounded like a good way to die a painful death, but Neil would be dead before Andrew's protection wore off. "I want to see you lose control."
Andrew went still with his hand halfway to the vodka. "Last year you wanted to live. Now you seem hell-bent on getting killed. If I felt like playing another round with you right now, I would ask why you've had a change of heart. As it stands, I've had enough of your stupidity to last me a week. Go back inside and bother the others now."
Neil feigned confusion as he got to his feet. "Am I bothering you?" "Beyond the telling."
"Interesting," Neil said. "Last week you said nothing gets under your
skin."
Andrew didn't waste his breath responding, but Neil counted it as a
victory. He tossed his cigarette into the wind and went back inside alone. He took the stairs to the third floor but didn't make it more than a couple steps down the hall before the elevator opened.

"Ugh they are so cute" squealed Nicky witch had Aaron groaning in annoyance and Andrew with a glare that could very well start wildfires.
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"Andrew doesn't believe in regret; he says regret is grounded in shame and guilt, neither of which serves any real purpose. That being said, I tried taking you off his hands at one point." When Neil looked at
her in surprise, Renee affected an innocent look that for once was not entirely convincing. "Andrew refused on the grounds he wouldn't wish you on anyone except a mortician."
"Drama queen," Neil muttered.
Renee gave a quiet laugh and traded him a hand towel for the glass. Neil dried his hands and passed it back. Renee hung the towel off its hook on the front of the fridge and stepped out of the kitchen to survey the living room.

"He is right" said Wymack at what Andrew had said and others nodded.
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Neil watched until the last of the Foxes disappeared inside, then scanned the parking lot with a slow look. The school had done a good job of putting the place back to order; the only sign that anything bad had happened was that there were fewer cars than usual. The presence of a few trucks and SUVs said some athletes had already started getting their vehicles back, but at least half the cars were unfamiliar.
"Have you heard back from the shop?" Neil asked, dragging his attention back to Andrew. "Matt got a call this morning saying his truck would be ready for pickup tomorrow. Allison should have hers back Saturday morning. Can they fix yours?"
Andrew flipped his phone open, pressed a couple buttons, and handed it over. Neil waited, mystified, until Andrew's voicemail started playing on speaker. A mechanical voice announced Tuesday's date, and a sobering message followed. The damage was even more extensive than it'd appeared; the garbage in back had hidden whatever the Raven fans did to the backseat cushions, and none of them had looked in the trunk before the car was towed. The shop wanted Andrew to call them back to talk about his options and discuss what it would take to restore the car to its former glory.
Andrew hoisted himself onto the rental car's trunk and dug a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket. He lit two and traded Neil one for his phone. Neil cupped a hand around his to shield it from the breeze. He studied Andrew's face as Andrew put his phone and cigarettes away, but Andrew gave no sign he was bothered by the bad news.
"You're going to have to replace it," Neil guessed. "If the insurance company won't cover a replacement for your car, take the difference from me. You know I have enough for it."
Andrew slid him a cool look. "I'm uninterested in your charity."
"It isn't charity," Neil said. "It's revenge. It wasn't my money in the first place, remember? I told you my father skimmed it from the Moriyamas. If you take some for your car, you're making Riko replace what his fans destroyed."
"Revenge is a motivator only for the weak-willed," Andrew said. "If you believed that you wouldn't be planning how to kill Proust." The doctor's name still tasted like acid, burning Neil's tongue and
throat, but it wasn't enough to put a dent in Andrew's calm expression. Andrew gazed at him in silence for what felt like an eternity, then propped his cigarette between his lips and motioned Neil closer. Neil was sure he was stepping forward into a knife for bringing Proust up again, but he obediently closed the short space between them. Andrew caught the back of Neil's neck in a bruising grip to keep him from retreating. He pulled Neil's head toward him and blew smoke in Neil's face.
"This is not revenge," Andrew said. "I warned him what I would do to him if he touched me. This is me keeping my word."
He waited a beat to make sure Neil understood, then let go. The next time he raised his cigarette to his mouth Neil took it from him. Neil broke it between his fingers and let it fall to the asphalt by their feet. Andrew watched the halves roll away from each other and turned an unimpressed look on Neil.
"Ninety-one percent," Andrew said.
"Just take the money," Neil said. "You bought the last car with someone's death. You can buy this one with someone's life—my life. That money was going to buy my next name when I ran away from here. Thanks to you I don't need it anymore."
"Your life has a price tag you are already paying," Andrew reminded him. "You cannot barter away the same thing twice."
"You've lost the right to call me difficult," Neil said. Andrew shrugged that off, so Neil said, "Make a new deal with me."
Andrew tipped his head to one side, considering that. "What would you take for it?"
"What would you give me?" Neil asked.
"Don't ask questions you already know the answer to."
Neil frowned at him, lost, but Andrew didn't waste his breath
explaining. He held his hand up between them and turned it palm-up. When Neil just looked at it, Andrew motioned to Neil's hand. Mystified, Neil mimicked the gesture. Andrew took the cigarette from his unresisting fingers and stuck it between his lips. It had nearly burnt out with no breath to keep it alive, but Andrew coaxed the flame back to life with a long drag.
"That was mine," Neil said.
"Oh," Andrew said, unconcerned.
Neil didn't care enough to take it back, so he watched Andrew smoke. Andrew held his gaze and said nothing. He was waiting, Neil guessed, for Neil to come up with a suitable trade. Neil had no idea what he was supposed to ask for, but he knew there were a hundred ways to mess this deal up. Common sense said push for a reconciliation with Aaron, but if Andrew got backed into that truce neither brother would enjoy it. Neil should ask for something that would strengthen the Foxes, like permission to restart the group dinners and movies they'd had in Andrew's absence. He hesitated because it felt like a waste of a chance. Halloween had been surprisingly easy to talk Andrew into. Not surprisingly, Neil realized, because hadn't Kevin said it last fall? "When you know what a person wants, it's easy to manipulate them," he'd said. Neil just hadn't known until this year what—who—Andrew wanted.
Neil shook that off as counterproductive. His mind went from Halloween to Eden's Twilight to Sweetie's, and Neil finally figured it out. "I want you to stop taking cracker dust."
"And he says it isn't a righteous streak," Andrew mused, more to himself than to Neil.
"If it was righteousness I'd ask you to give up drinking and smoking, too," Neil said. "I'm only asking for this one thing. It doesn't have any effect on you anyway and it's an unnecessary risk. You don't need a third addiction."
"I don't need anything," Andrew reminded him, right on cue.
"If you don't need it, it'll be easy to give it up," Neil said. "Right?" Andrew thought it over a minute, then flicked his cigarette at Neil.

The monsters were shocked, they knew Andrew stopped but never the reason why. Who would have thought it was Neil. Renee on the other hand had a smile, she was the one that knew most of all this.
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It singed the material where it bounced off his shirt. Neil ground it out under his shoe when it hit the asphalt. The cool look he flicked Andrew was wasted; Andrew's gaze had already drifted past him in search of something more interesting.
"I'm going to take your temper tantrum as a yes," Neil said. "I'll bring the money by your room tonight."

"Wait does that mean that Neil is going to by a car for Andrew" asked Matt shocked and he looked at Andrew but Andrew was not looking at anyone more less answer the questions they all had.