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5
Neil hadn’t meant to do it the first time, he just saw orange and white and slipped it on for his late night exy practices with Kevin. Kevin didn’t give any reaction further than an eye roll and a scoff before getting back to exy, so Neil finished the practise wearing Andrew’s jersey.
It was around the same size as Neil’s even though Andrew was shorter because his goalie gear was bigger so required a larger size to fit over it so it didn’t hinder Neil in any way other than the heated stare from Andrew from where he was sat.
The rest of the practice went on like normal until they called it a night. Andrew was waiting for them in the changing rooms so Kevin quickly put his stuff away and left them both there alone.
“This isn’t yours, Josten.” Andrew said, lifting the arm of the jersey slightly.
“Someone must have put it in my locker.” Neil replied, reaching to take it off until Andrew’s hand stopped him.
“Keep it on.” Andrew said, inching closer to Neil. “Yes or no?”
“Yes.” Neil breathed out before Andrew kissed him.
Neil hesitantly reached up before Andrew lead his hands to his hair, Andrew’s own hands then latched onto Neil’s sleeves before pushing him back slightly so that they were leaning up against the lockers. They continued kissing for a while before Andrew broke it.
“I’ll start wearing your jersey more often if it gets you like this.” Neil finally said when he got his breath back.
Andrew just glared at him before leaving the locker room for Neil to get changed. Neil quickly undressed and showered in record time before heading out to the Maserati where Kevin looked unhappy in the back seat and Andrew was leaning against it with a cigarette in his mouth. He passed it to Neil before climbing in the car, Neil took one drag before snubbing it out and joining him.
“Keep relationship things out of the court.” Kevin said in French when they started driving.
Andrew looked to Neil as if to ask what Kevin had just said. Neil just rolled his eyes and ignored it until Kevin carried on.
“Did you purposely wear his jersey? It isn’t suited properly to your gear and could have affected you game.”
“One of the freshmen probably put it in my locker as a joke but didn’t expect me to see it before the next practice.” Neil said in English so that Andrew would know what the gist of the conversation was. “They think Andrew hates me and probably wanted to see him threaten me.”
“You should have noticed as soon as you put it on. What if that was a proper game?” Kevin continued.
Neil ignored all of his arguments and so did Andrew until Kevin finally shut up and enjoyed the rest of the ride back to the tower in silence.
4
The second time Neil wore Andrew’s jersey was mostly Neil’s fault. After wearing it the night before knowing someone had probably put it in his locker to try and get Andrew to threaten their new vice-captain, Neil had instinctively put it back into his own locker and didn’t realise it until he had it on and walked back out to where all the Foxes were stood.
As it was a Wednesday and Andrew and Aaron were at their weekly sessions with Bee, Andrew hadn’t needed his jersey so Neil couldn’t swap it to his even if he had noticed it before this. So when Neil walked out to the Foxes there was a lot of different reactions.
Kevin of course was angry, especially after what he had said the night before about it. Matt just raised his eyebrows before smiling, Dan shook her head fondly, Renee smiled widely, Allison smirked as if she had won a bet and it was likely that she probably had, Nicky looked like he was about to explode and the new Foxes just looked confused with the exception of Sheena who looked disgusted and Jack who looked disappointed that Andrew wasn’t here to witness this.
Wymack then entered the room, “why aren’t your sorry asses on the court?” He asked before looking at Neil and shaking his head. “I know I told you to at more things to your wardrobe but I didn’t mean…” He trailed off before mumbling under his breath, “I’m not paid enough for this.”
“My jersey must be in Andrew’s locker and he isn’t here to unlock it for me.” Neil explained, knowing there wasn’t anything they could do until Andrew got back as Wymack wouldn’t betray anyone’s privacy and unlock their things unless it was necessary.
“Just get out there and you can swap them when he gets back.” Wymack said before leaving the room and everyone followed.
Practice went on as normal with just a few snickers from the Foxes until the twins got back. Aaron walked out before looking at what Neil was wearing and giving a disgusted face that could rival Sheena’s from earlier. Neil took this cue to go back into the changing rooms to give Andrew back his jersey, so he ignored Kevin’s protests and jogged back in.
“Forgot to swap them back.” Neil gave as an excuse when he spotted Andrew sat on the bench.
“Idiot.” Andrew replied and turned to face him.
“We should probably get out there as soon as possible before one of the new Foxes thinks you’ve killed me.” Neil said.
“I would pick a better time for when I wanted to kill you.” Andrew nonchalantly said.
“Yeah, wouldn’t be the best time or place now that the cameras have been installed.” Neil commented.
“I could work around them if I needed to.”
“I know.”
Knowing they should get back, Neil slipped the jersey off and tossed it to Andrew. Andrew caught it with ease and went over to his locker to take Neil’s out and throw it at him. Once Neil had it on he went back to the court to continue practising drills.
Andrew soon joined them all, acting as if nothing had happened as usual. Jack looked disappointed.
3
The day of the Foxes’ first match of the year, it was expected for them to all wear their jerseys to class. Wymack had told them all that they had to wear them even though it was highly unlikely that Andrew would but they were all given their clean jerseys the night before anyway.
So the third time Neil wore Andrew’s jersey was completely on purpose and in public.
When he had woken up, Andrew was already awake and in the kitchen making some coffee. Neil slipped his arm bands on and joined him and saw that he was already dressed for the day, in complete black and not a single bit of orange on him.
“Not wearing your jersey?” Neil asked.
“I’m not wearing it any more than I have to.” Andrew replied, pouring some coffee into two mugs and passing one to Neil.
“Can I wear it then?” Neil asked.
“I thought the FBI would be all over you for wearing something that has a different name on it.” Andrew said, which wasn’t an answer to Neil’s question but also wasn’t a no.
“I don’t care.”
“Have fun looking even more like an idiot all day then.” Andrew said before going to sit in one of the bean bags and turning the TV on.
Neil smiled, knowing that was a yes from Andrew on this matter. He took his coffee and sat on the other bean bag to relax before Kevin woke up.
When Neil went to get dressed for the day he found that Andrew’s jersey had been thrown onto his bed, so he put it on over his usual clothes before leaving their room.
Kevin scoffed when he saw it but didn’t lecture Neil because they weren’t playing a game so it didn’t affect him or exy in any way. Andrew’s gaze lingered slightly longer when he saw it on Neil before they all left the room.
Neil went about the rest of his day normally, going to classes and getting a few questioning looks but no one actually talked to him until the Foxes all met to get in another practice before the game.
“You changing your name again Wesninski?” Jack cruelly sneered after he saw it.
“Fuck off Jack.” Allison replied for him.
“Have you been wearing that all day?” Nicky asked when he walked in.
“Yeah.” Neil said.
“I wish I had something with Erik’s name on it.” He wistfully said before sitting down.
“Keep your fag stuff away from me.” Jack spat from where he was sat, Sheena sitting close by him.
“I don’t like that word. Don’t use it.” Andrew warned, just as he had with Seth just over a year earlier.
Jack must have actually had a brain in there somewhere and shut his mouth before the rest of the team walked in and sat down.
No one mentioned the jersey again that evening and Neil had to take it off to give it to Andrew to play in anyway.
2
The next time Neil wore Andrew’s jersey was after a stressful day when Neil’s past seemed to plague his every thought and the urge to run was niggling at him.
Neil had had an awful night’s sleep, nightmares of his mother burning, Lola pressing the dashboard lighter up against his face, his father threatening to break his legs. During class he was too tired to concentrate but too alert to sleep. Practice later that day wasn’t any better when he kept messing up so Kevin was having a go at him and Jack was laughing and saying he didn’t deserve to be vice-captain.
When practice was done Neil walked off of the court, ignoring Kevin shouting at him, and went to the shower cubicles. Even after his long shower, Neil didn’t feel any better. When he grabbed his bag of clothes he saw that instead of his usual baggy t-shirt, Andrew’s away jersey was in there. He picked it up and breathed in the comforting smell of smoke that he had come to associate with Andrew and home.
Neil put it on and felt some of his stress melt away and the urge to run lessen. He felt at home instead of in a car trunk on the way to his death or on a beach burning his mother’s body.
He walked out to the locker room and saw that everyone had left, except from Andrew. He looked up and barely acknowledged what Neil was wearing as if he hadn’t been the one to put it in Neil’s bag.
“Thank you.” Neil said.
“Still so many issues.” Andrew said before stepping closer to Neil.
“Least I keep it interesting.”
“For now.”
Neil smiled in response.
That night after they had dropped Kevin back off at the tower, the two of them got into the Maserati and went for a long drive until the early hours of the morning, ignoring any and all texts from everyone. Neil actually got to sleep and didn’t have the slightest urge to run, still wearing Andrew’s jersey and smelling like home.
1
The next time Neil wore Andrew’s jersey was for Andrew.
Neil remembered the first time that he had worn Andrew’s jersey and how he had reacted, and every other time after that Andrew’s heated gaze. So Neil grabbed the jersey after breaking into Andrew’s locker and stuffed it into his bag after the practice.
When they went up to the roof later that day, Neil had it on under his coat.
Andrew passed him a cigarette and they both sat in silence until they had finished them and tossed the ends off of the side of the building. Then Neil took his coat off to reveal the bright orange jersey underneath.
“Did you break into my locker?” Andrew asked when he saw it, but Neil saw the heat in his stare.
“Wasn’t hard. Easier than breaking into the rooms.” Neil replied.
“Any reason you’re wearing it?”
“You like it when I wear it.” Neil responded.
“Yes or no?” Andrew then asked.
“Yes.” Neil instantly replied as always before Andrew grabbed the collar of the jersey and pulled Neil towards him.
Andrew kissed with his usual intensity but his hands were tracing the letters on the back of the jersey as he pulled Neil closer. Neil was glad he had decided to wear it and would try to wear it more often if Andrew’s reaction was like this.
+1
Neil didn’t think Andrew would ever put on Neil’s jersey until he had woken up one day and walked into the main room to find Andrew in sweats and Neil’s jersey with a knife to Nicky’s chest.
Neil was too tired to react normally so let it run its course knowing that Nicky would have had to have done something truly stupid for Andrew to actually cause too much harm. So he went to the kitchen to find a mug of coffee made for him and then wandered back into the room and saw Andrew walking back into his bunk and Nicky sat in a bean bag looking rather shook.
“It just caught me off guard and I couldn’t stop the thoughts coming out of my mouth.” Nicky said, staring at the TV.
“What caught you off guard?” Neil asked.
“Andrew wearing your jersey, when he won’t even wear his own off the court, and I spied a hickey.” Nicky said, more life coming back into his tone and his eye brow raised. “Didn’t know you had it in you. I’m so proud.”
“If you say anything to anyone, he will hurt you before I can stop him.” Neil stated.
“I know. I’m not that stupid.”
“Why are you even here?” Neil asked, Nicky wasn’t usually in here since this year he was in a room with Matt and Aaron.
“I was wondering if we were going to Colombia to have some fun tonight? But I guess you two have been having enough fun here.” Nicky said with a smirk on his lips.
Neil shook his head and Andrew came back out, still wearing Neil’s jersey and went into the kitchen.
“I guess that’s my cue to leave before I go into an early grave, I don’t want to leave Erik a widow.” Nicky said as he got up and left the room.
Andrew soon came out of the kitchen with a bowl of overly sugary cereal in his hands and a spoon dangling out of his mouth. Neil looked him over and was very happy with what he saw and knew why Andrew got the way he did when Neil wore his jersey.
“Staring.” Andrew said when he took the spoon out of his mouth.
“You look good in my jersey.”