Chapter Text
It was already late into the day. Avery laid limp on the couch of a dorm room that wasn't his. He had his face hidden by the ebony locks falling in front of his closed eyes and his back turned towards the door. Even if the owners of the room barged in, he probably wouldn't have shifted out of this position.
And exactly that happened. Footsteps threatened to make him move, yet he fought to keep his calm and pretend to be blissfully asleep- after all, he had been trying to doze off from a while now, even if his thoughts didn't permit it. The first to speak was Nicky, voice loud before he noticed the boy slumped over their couch. "He really is just a freshman after all. We could let him join our game night." Aaron, who decided to spend time in his old room to hang out with the others for the evening, was about to complain, yet Kevin was quick to cut him off. "And lose our only chance to study him?" The question was rhetorical, of course. Kevin had been trying to get a better idea of him since he joined the line up, but so far he had only discovered his major and talent for all positions he played in. Nicky knew better than to argue with Kevin, and instead took a seat on one of the bean bags in front of the tv.
"Are you going to stare at him until he wakes up?" He questioned, clearly with teasing intent, even if his own eyes studied the younger man's figure with interest. Avery felt his face heat up at the realisation that his two teammates were scrutinising him, but did his best to keep still. He couldn't blow his cover now that he was close to hearing their real thoughts about him. Kevin, grumbling something under his breath, which was probably an insult directed towards Nicky, sat down between the two bean bags, his back against the base of the couch.
A few minutes passed before he broke the silence again, and distracted both the other boys from their game. "It's weird how quickly Andrew chose that he was fit to stay here." Kevin's gaze was again on Avery's still body, eyes trying to catch a glimpse of his face under his hair. "It's almost as if he wants to protect him, sometimes. Like how he does with us." Nicky only shrugged, but that moment of distraction as his mind wandered over why his cousin would have accepted someone new so fast caused Aaron to win the round, a quiet noise leaving the tv while the winner relaxed back in his bean bag, his expression less serious than usual. "What does Avery have that made him get attached so easily?" Kevin asked again, then bit his cheek as he thought. Nicky was about to speak again when he noticed how the other man as shifted, rising to his knees to give Avery a closer inspection. Nicky reached out and pushed Kevin back down before he could have accidentally woken up Avery, even if the latter was still just diligently faking his slumber. "You were the one that suggested to not wake him up." Nicky pointed out, then looked back towards the screen, only to sigh as he noticed he was about to lose another round.
"I think he deserves this rest, too. He works his ass off to impress you, Kevin." The striker looked at him for a moment, confusion clear on his face. "Impress me?" Nicky shook his head and abandoned his controller, leaving Aaron alone to instead discuss with Kevin. "He does everything you tell him to and takes your criticism to heart- and no one else in team does that. Other than Neil, I think." Aaron waited another moment to see if Nicky would have turned back to the tv, but he seemed far more interested in the gossip. Avery, despite fearing what the other two would say about him, was eager to keep listening. It would have opened a clear view on their mindset that only the other so called monsters understood. "You should see him when he plays as a backliner.. his eyes are always on you, hoping you'll trust him enough to either go against him or lean on him during practice scrimmages." Kevin looked offended by the assumption, as if the mere thought of this freshman hoping he'd choose him as a good player to bet on during matches was outright insulting. "He joined the team not even a year ago, what does he expect? I'm not here to coddle him." His bluntness never failed to surprise Nicky, who gave him a little push for speaking with no filter whatsoever like always. "Well, I think he just wants to be one of us, you know. You could at least try to not comment on his every action and never give praise." Nicky had already warmed up to the freshman. And because the boy was not as social as he hoped he would have been, he tried to get him out of the shell he used to protect himself.
Aaron, who until then hadn't made a single comment about their new teammate, quipped in with an observation of his own. "I heard him cry in the locker rooms once, after practice. He must have thought everyone else was gone." Nicky looked towards the blond with wide eyes, as if silently demanding more details. Aaron just shrugged, and refused to say more. Avery, in the meantime, found it more and more difficult to lay there and pretend, humiliation creeping up on him as he remembered of that day. He had been pushing back tears during practice due to many other things, but Kevin's rude remarks about his skills had been his tipping point. For a moment though, he was almost grateful Aaron hadn't told anyone yet, given how surprised Nicky sounded at the admission. "He cried? Doesn't even know how to take criticism, then-" Kevin had commented, yet cut himself off as he felt Avery stir.
The boy couldn't keep staying there anymore, not after finding out what Kevin thought of him all along. He pretended to yawn, stretched out his arms and fought back the prickling sensation in his eyes. "Oh, sorry..." He muttered, sitting up on the couch as he tried his best to sound sleepy. "I'll get back to my room." "You can stay and play a match-" Nicky had attempted to suggest, but Avery had already closed the door behind himself. He found himself sitting on the floor with his back against it for a few minutes, before he finally headed to the dorm room he had been assigned to and buried himself down in the covers of his own bed, crying himself to sleep in silence while his teammate's words kept him awake for longer than they should have.