Curate, connect, and discover
part 1, 2, 3, 4 besties || part 6, 7, 8
dan has never claimed to understand andrew. or neil. especially not andrew and neil together
but she likes to have an eye on any changing behaviors on her team
because she's captain. not at all because she likes the gossip. dan's better than that
(she's really not)
so when matt starts acting jumpy around andrew and neil, she makes it a point to ask him if something's wrong
"i mean... i want to talk to neil about something i saw but there's like a 50/50 chance of murder"
"matt—"
needless to say, dan doesn't want to let neil or andrew out of her sight for a while
but she's dealing with a lot of stress: her last year of college, captaining the Foxes, dealing with rookie freshman, training neil on how to be captain, being a good girlfriend, all while job scouting and looking for housing for next year
so she has to trust that neil and andrew like matt enough to let him live
one fall night, dan is up late figuring out some plays, but there's something about the offensive line that just isn't working out
she quietly steps out of her dorm, noticing that the light is still on in kevin's room, and she heads over there to see if he has any ideas
binders in her hands, dan kicks at the door until kevin yanks it open with a grumble
she walks in and blinks when she realizes that kevin is dressed to go outside, and she realizes he must have been getting ready to go for a night practice
dan asks kevin for a confirmation, to which he lets out a loud groan and collapses on the couch
"we were supposed to go an HOUR ago but someone — ahem NEIL” he shoots a pointed glare to the bedrooms “keeps making out with his boyfriend. what do they even do for that long?! i guess when he's finally done, we'll go”
dan blinks. of course the one thing that could distract neil from exy was andrew
kevin quiets for a moment, and as dan strains her ears, she hears neil’s giggles — giggles! — coming through the door
(dan decides to ignore the more... explicit sounds)
she gives a consoling pat to the top of kevin’s head and drops her binders next to him
kevin rolls over reluctantly and starts flipping through dan's notes, and the two of them immerse themselves in plays and stats
about 30 minutes later, dan gets up for a stretch break and notices that she can't hear any noises coming from the bedroom anymore
she takes a few cautious steps in that direction, but when she's a few feet away, the door slams open and neil stumbles out, dragging andrew forward with a very wet laughing kiss
truly, they look like two lovestruck teenagers. it's very cute. also a little gross
dan coughs
the two of them leap apart (well, neil leaps. andrew steps back calmly, fixing his hair, but dan doesn't miss the glare he sends her)
"uh, neil. kevin's been waiting for you for night practice"
"oh shit. how long's it been?"
"i've been here for 30 minutes. kevin says he'd been waiting for an hour before i showed up"
"... oops"
dan steps back and opens her mouth to call for kevin when neil leans in towards andrew again
she lets out an exasperated sigh. "neil— "
neil cups andrew's face in his palms and presses a peck to his nose, giving him a fleeting, but bright, smile before noisily pushing past dan and yelling at kevin to hurry up, he's so behind schedule, what's been keeping him up for so long?
dan decides to ignore the crash and screech behind her as kevin shoves neil out the dorm
instead, she focuses on andrew
he gives her a cool, impassive glance, completely at odds with the bright red tips his ears were sporting and his blown-out pupils
"hey"
"..."
"so uh. you're not going to night practice with them?"
"paper"
"ah i see, i see"
they were silent for a moment
"why are you still here?"
"yep good point, going right now"
"wilds." dan turns around to see andrew's glare. "if you mention this to anyone i'll kill you"
ah. so this was the murder that matt was talking about
nevertheless, dan rolls her eyes at that. "andrew. i just saw neil kiss you on the nose. your threats are no longer effective on me"
"... fucking josten"
"yes, i imagine that's what you were doing— "
"wilds."
"leaving leaving, BYE ANDREW!"