NEIL

If the ride with Aaron wasn't interesting enough, Neil being greeted on the curb outside Wymack's by the twins, Nicholas, Kevin, and Eris certainly was going to be.

Neil looked them over curiously, Aaron now looked bored that he had fulfilled his duty to get him here. He and Andrew were wearing identical clothes, and Andrew had on a wide smile. Eris was sitting down on the curb, her legs outstretched and crossed over one another next to Kevin.

Neil took this as an opportunity to focus on anything but Kevin, instead focusing all of his attention on her instead.

What Neil thought to be a cigarette was between her lips before she pulled it away from herself with her two fingers and studied him curiously. She was wearing black ripped jean shorts, a flannel tied around her waist, tennis shoes, her golden pendant, and a white muscle t-shirt that showed off a black sports bra from the sides.

Her wavy black hair was pulled back in a tight neat ponytail, a lanyard around her neck where keys jangled, and by her side she was clutching onto a rather boxy black leather purse that was zipped halfway shut.

She didn't have on her normal resting bitch face anymore, but he could see the glint of violence in her eyes still there. Her eyes were cold and looking to start a fight. Neil had heard a rumor that she set the record in exy for being carded the most in a season, but usually she was smart enough to not get red cards. Now, however, her eyes were hooded and hanging low, she looked tired.

As Neil walked closer, clutching his duffle bag to himself, he started to realize why she no longer had her usual coldness. She breathed out a cloud of smoke and the scent of skunk hit him as he approached her. She wasn't smoking a cigarette, she was smoking marijuana.

"Isn't that illegal here?" He raised an eyebrow at her, she looked up at him lazily, but a slight lopsided smile tugged on her lip.

"What are you, a cop?" She asked, taking another puff as he shook his head. She rolled her eyes, holding it in between her lips as she shifted and pulled out something from her pocket.

"It's medical, I have a license and everything" Eris waved a hand dismissively at him, showing now what she had pulled out from her pocket was paper. It was a license to legally carry medical marijuana. Neil wasn't quite sure if that piece of paper was forged or not, but he really didn't care either way.

What people did in their free time wasn't any of his business, he was here purely to play exy, and that's what he intended to do.

However, what he knew was illegal was when Nicholas reached down and plucked it from her hands and put it between his own lips, Eris didn't object but sent him an annoyed look as he handed it back after a moment.

He really didn't like this girl already. It wasn't her personality or anything (though he believed she could still use some great fixing in that area too along with Andrew), but it was her ability to read him.

It seemed like she had gained so much of the truth from just a mere look and a rather short conversation with him than anyone else had in his entire time on the run.

She had already guessed correctly he was a runaway and that his parents hurt him in some way and/or that they were the entire reason he was on the run.

He was very keen not to spend too much time with her, he felt like Eris could have him spilling his darkest secrets without him even realizing it until the next day, if given the chance.

For that reason he decided silently that he would avoid her as best as possible over this time. Although, he wasn't quite sure how he was going to do that considering they were spending a summer alone and then a whole year together after.

But he was sure that he would figure something out, he always did.

"Did you have a good flight?" Nicholas asked, walking forward and sticking out his hand, which Neil readily took to take his eyes off of studying Eris and away from Kevin. Neil nodded as the other boy said, "Good, I'm Nicky. Andrew and Aaron's cousin, and Eris too if you count it" Nicky joked about something that Neil didn't quite understand yet.

Eris stood up, using an annoyed Kevin to help pull herself up as she grabbed onto his arm. She flicked the butt of her joint to the ground, as she had used basically all of it. She began to walk wordlessly, with a wave of a hand over her shoulder, motioning for them to follow behind.

Neil decided that he liked this version of her far better. He wasn't quite sure what qualified for her to be able to get medical marijuana, but he didn't really mind if it meant she was more like this instead of shoving Neil with a racquet and taunting others.

But Neil had a feeling that although she wasn't asking as many questions or speaking as much, that didn't make her any less dangerous. He could still see that same lethal and deadly look in her eyes, it said she had both seen shit and done shit. In all honesty he would've been surprised if she hadn't killed or hospitalized at least one person.

Her eyes and Andrew's eyes were a different kind of crazy though. They were still equally crazy, but in a different way. Neil didn't quite know how to explain it, but he had a feeling that they were both very similar and very different in more ways than he could comprehend.

Nevertheless, despite how crazy and deadly she was, he followed her with the others without question. Most likely a mistake on his part in retrospect.

The six of them walked into the building and into the elevator, Neil kept his eyes fixated on the numbers ticking upwards so he wouldn't look at Kevin... or Eris for that matter.

Once the elevator came to a stop Eris lead the way yet again to Wymack's apartment, and didn't hesitate before pulling out her lanyard with a set of keys on it and unlocking the door.

The moment she opened the door Neil froze.

ERIS

"Home sweet home" Eris snarked, voice dripping with sarcasm, she took a step forward into the apartment and looked back in slight confusion after a moment.

Neil stood there, face white, eyes wide, and seemingly frozen in place. A frown tugged on her lips as she watched him, for a moment beginning to worry that he was about to have a panic attack.

She was just about to ask him about it when Andrew walked forward next to him to see what the hold up was. Neil began to breathe normally again and walked into the apartment without another word, acting as if it had never happened at all. Eris threw a suspicious glance to the others before following after him.

"What was that all about?" Nicky asked in German. Eris faltered a moment at the language switch, but adjusted rather quickly.

She was fluent in many languages, most of them she was taught at a young age as her father's business was international, and he often required her to help with it. As such, she was forced to learn many languages. Making Eris fluent in English (obviously), Italian, Spanish, French, and German. She wasn't exactly fluent in Greek but she could hold a conversation in it, and she was learning Japanese.

German hadn't been one of the ones her father made her learn, but Nicky had taught her along with his family it when he had come back from studying abroad in Germany.

"Maybe he was savoring the moment" Aaron suggested with a shrug.

"No, that was pure flight or fight" Eris argued, shaking her head as Kevin shifted, by now used to the others speaking German around him, but no doubt still curious of what they were talking about.

"What the hell did you say to him Andrew?" Nicky asked shaking his head. Andrew didn't respond, but at that moment Neil turned around to face them, and the matter was dropped.

"Anyways, I'll give you a tour" Nicky clapped his hands together and put on his usual smile. Eris truly had no idea how he could be so cheery all the time.

While Nicky brought Neil into the other room, Eris wandered on her own accord, heading towards the kitchen and digging through the cupboards.

"What are you doing?" Kevin asked accusatory, leaning against the doorframe leading into the kitchen as Aaron and Andrew stood behind him looking in curiously.

"Wouldn't you like to know," Eris huffed in annoyance as she found the cupboard she was looking for. Wymack often moved it so that the monsters couldn't find it as easily, giving him enough time to see what they were doing rustling around the kitchen.

Well, he wasn't here this time to stop her or the others.

"Pothead" Kevin retorted under his breath. Eris sent him a nasty look as she reached further in the cabinet and rifled around until she found a bottle of rum that she was satisfied with.

"Asshat"

"Dick"

"Little bitch"

"Shithead"

"Can you two shut the fuck up for five minutes for the love of god?" Aaron snapped as both Eris and Kevin sent him a nasty look, Eris took a swig from the bottle, the liquid burning down the back of her throat on the way down and leaving a bitter taste in her mouth. She was about to take another swig before it was snatched from her hands by Kevin, who was taking his own swig.

Eris and Kevin's friendship was practically nonexistent. They were at each other's throats constantly. The only reason Eris even had let him live this long was because of Andrew, not because of the whole 'if anyone hurts Kevin, I'll murder you' thing, but because no matter what, Andrew was her brother.

And she wouldn't let him break a promise because of her, she wouldn't stand in the way of him protecting someone, she respected him too much to. To top it off, she had made her own promise to Kevin, similar to Kevin and Andrew's.

It hadn't always been this bad, in the beginning Eris felt awful for Kevin, seeing the state of him and his hand nearly drove her over the edge.

That sympathy lasted a whole of ten minutes before Kevin opened his big fat mouth.

Either way she only begrudgingly put up with him, constantly it was a problem on the court. They often were yelling at each other, and one time Eris got so fed up with it she took a page out of Andrew's book when he yelled at her. She didn't show up for practice for nearly three weeks.

It was safe to say after that Kevin resented her. Although he did tone down the yelling at her, knowing what it could cost if she didn't show up for practice like that again.

Despite all this, Eris still begrudgingly took him in as one of her, 'pets' as she liked to refer to them too. Her pets were the people she had taken in under wing, sworn to protect and help no matter what.

It's true that she would protect any of the Foxes, Abby, and Wymack, but her 'pets' were special. They got top priority, it was usually the most broken and damaged ones that needed help the most.

Right now, they only consisted of Andrew and Kevin. Of course out of the other Foxes Nicky and Aaron took priority since they were family, but it was different with them. Nicky and Aaron had been through a lot, but currently she knew that her other pets needed more care than they did because Nicky and Aaron were doing just fine.

And now, she was planning on making Neil her newest pet.

"Alright it's decided. Next time you two pull some shit like this you're solving it, I don't care how, I don't care if I have to lock you in a room together for a week or make you wear one of those joint sweaters and fit you both into it. You're solving it" Andrew grinned madly at the thought of them driving each other crazy and wanting to rip each other's heads off.

A deep scowl formed on both Kevin and Eris's face.

She knew it was going to be tough, but she would far rather straight out ignore Kevin then have to deal with being locked in a room together with him. She could practically hear him already complaining about how he couldn't get to the court and practice, she shuddered at the mere thought.

With that thought in mind, Eris booked it away from them to the office where Nicky and Neil were, as to not spend any more time with Kevin so she wouldn't be tempted in taunting him and his big ego.

"Success" Eris called to them from the doorway, wearing a mischievous grin, holding up the bottle of rum with Andrew in tow, carrying a bottle of whiskey.

"Ready Neil? We should get going before Coach shows back up" Nicky nodded as Eris took another swig from the bottle.

Neil opened his mouth, ready to say something before he went quiet, there was a muffled scuffle coming from Eris's purse. Neil's eyebrows furrowed and his eyes snapped toward the purse in curiosity and slight panic.

"Am I crazy or did your purse just make a noise?" Neil asked, pointing over. Eris grew a smile as she looked down at her purse, "No, you're crazy" she lied.

"You did not seriously bring it" Kevin snapped angrily. Eris's smile grew even wider as she unzipped the purse fully.

"You're kidding me, I thought we went through this. He stays in his cage" Nicky groaned as Eris frowned a little, "He gets nervous and has separation anxiety, I wouldn't want him to be lonely" Eris cooed and reached into her bag, and pulling something out, cupping it in between both hands.

Neil couldn't see anything but a few patches of grey fuzz sticking between her fingers, until she took away the top hand covering it. Neil had to bite back a yelp, he had expected it to be maybe a mouse or something.

He was not expecting it to be a tarantula.

"Isn't he just the sweetest thing? I named him after Kevin you know" Eris wore a shit eating grin and nudged Kevin behind her who had a furious look on his face.

"Oh. That's... nice I guess" Neil said, watching the spider warily as Nicky and Andrew grinned wide at Neil.

"His name is Little Bitch"

Eris laughed at her own joke as the spider crawled up her arm, leaving a trail of goosebumps in its wake before it stopped and perched itself on her shoulder.

Neil hesitated and waited for her to tell him what the real name was, but more than anything he wanted to take off his shoe and smash it right there. Spiders weren't exactly his thing. Once it became clear to Eris what Neil was waiting for her face deadpanned.

"I'm serious, his name his Little Bitch, after Kevin, I call him LB for short. Want to hold him?" Eris asked, presenting the thing to Neil who furiously shook his head. Eris rolled her eyes and scoffed before lifting a hand, grabbing LB and placing it on the top of her head where it stayed still.

"None of you appreciate him enough, only Aaron gets it" Eris said distastefully as Aaron began to protest, "Hey, don't get me lumped in with your weird shit, I just said I wasn't scared of it, doesn't mean I like him."

"He loves him" Eris sent a wink and a grin to Neil, Aaron was about to protest again when the doorknob began to turn.

Quickly Kevin, Andrew, and Eris turned to face the door as the two bottles disappeared between them, concealing them in a rehearsed move.

"Hey coach" Andrew called over his shoulder.

"Do you have any idea how much I hate finding you in my apartment?" Wymack demanded from out of sight as Eris called back, "Don't act like you don't love us, lying isn't a good look on you".

"Good to see you made it ok" Wymack nodded to Neil as he came into view. Wymack turned to Eris then eyed the furry tarantula atop her head and scrunched his nose, "Eris I don't want that thing in my place, if I see it here again I won't hesitate to use my electric fly swatter" Wymack said in disgust.

"Even flinch in the direction of it and I'll train him to bite you on command"

"Are we done here? We wanted to take him to the court, we'll give him a lift to Abby's afterward" Aaron interrupted and told Wymack as he dug through his pockets.

"Here, take this" Wymack said with a nod to Neil, handing him a ring of keys.

"Blatant favoritism, Coach" Andrew said as Eris rolled her eyes.

"Maybe if you decided to go to the court on your own volition you'd get a set like ours" Eris crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows at him.

"And since that's not happening any time soon you can just share with Kevin and Eris" Wymack nodded in agreement.

"Oh, joy, joy, I'm simply bouncing off the walls with excitement. Can we go now?" Andrew asked. Eris and Kevin didn't have to be told twice, in an instant they were out of the room and the apartment, pulling out their two bottles.

The five of them minus Neil waited outside in the hallway as Neil was finishing talking to Wymack. Eris thought of the boy as she leaned against the wall.

"You think he's going to be a problem?" Andrew asked her as she narrowed her eyes, tapping her chin in thought.

"A problem? Yes, all Foxes are problems. A threat or danger? No. I can see the lethality in his eyes, but he's not going to act on it, at least not on us, or to him" Eris shook her head, nodding her head in the direction of Kevin.

"How can you tell?" Nicky asked nervously, as Eris clucked her tongue impatiently, "When will you learn to stop doubting me. When have I ever been wrong?" She asked raising an eyebrow, Nicky went silent knowing that she never had been.

"Exactly" Eris said after a moment of silence. Andrew still wore his blank smile as he looked over at her.

"Somethings different about this one. Not that I'm doubting your amazing abilities" Andrew said sarcastically, "But, look into it. Just to make sure. Who knows if we're lucky he'll bail and we'll break him before June, though that might make Kevin cry" Andrew finished as Eris nodded.

"Whatever. I don't think he's dangerous, that being said, I think there's more to him than meets the eye. I'm curious to see what I'll find" Eris smirked widely, the side effects of her drug beginning to ware off.

They went quiet as Neil came out of the apartment, no longer carrying his duffle bag. The six of them walked down the hallway and to the elevator as the doors closed behind them.

Andrew, Eris and the others formed a semi circle around Neil, while Eris studied him quietly and with many questions burning through her. She wanted to know just who this boy was, she could practically feel the secrets he held.

All eyes were on Neil, Andrew's smile had vanished while Eris's had returned. She could see the boy grow rigid for a moment with narrowed eyes, shifting from side to side, clearly feeling unsafe.

She felt bad for him, and as much as she wanted to make him one of her pets and to protect him, she first had to make sure that he wasn't a danger to her other pets. That they wouldn't be in harm's way in the slightest, she had to put them first before she could trust him enough.

She had to figure out more about him, yet this wasn't the place or time, and she figured it would be a while before it would be. So for now, she had to play along with Andrew's antics. Though she wasn't exactly objecting, it was fun to watch.

Andrew reached forward for the keys that Neil was holding, but he moved his hand away. Andrew lunged for them again, but Neil quickly backed up, hitting the metal doors to the elevator.

"How nice to meet you Neil" Andrew drawled, "It'll be a while before we see each other again"

"Somehow I don't think I'm that lucky."

"Like this" Andrew clarified, gesturing between their faces. "It'll have to wait until June. Abby threatened to revoke our stadium rights for the summer if we break you sooner than that. Can't have that can we? Eris and Kevin would throw a fit. No worries. We'll wait until the others are here and Abby has too many Foxes to worry about. Then we'll throw you a welcome party you