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jtl-fics · 5 months

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Fluent Freshman - Part 45

Renee Walker stands next to two of her best friends in the entire world holding up a hand drawn sign. There's an, admittedly crudely drawn, Fox on the sign that Allison had made up.

Renee had seen it and smiled from across the airport as she made her way over to where Dan and Allison were standing waiting for everyone to come. The team had managed to coordinate their flights to land all within about two hours of one another and Allison had exactly zero desire to go back and forth from the airport so her driver was waiting out at a nearby cellphone lot to come and get them once everyone was there.

"Is it nice having a driver again?" Dan asks Allison.

"I sometimes miss driving around in my car but it's a lot easier to do my makeup with him driving." she says with a shrug as they continue to catch up. Renee is holding up the sign since Allison had complained that she had lost so much of the muscle she had previously had.

"Yeah, New York City seems like a major pain in the ass to drive in too." Dan agrees as her phone buzzes. She pulls out her phone and looks at it before a huge smile fills her face, one that means she's talking to Matt, "Oh! They just landed!" Dan says confirming Renee's suspicions.

Allison looks at her watch, "Wow, 20 minutes early. They must have gotten through boarding quickly." she comments.

"Or some good tailwind." Renee offers.

"When are Neil and Andrew due up?" Dan asks looking at Renee who smiles back at her friend.

"Andrew said they're going to take a break halfway here so they'll be here tomorrow morning." Renee says.

"Get it Neil." Allison nods and it had been a wonderful thing last year to watch Andrew and Allison make peace with one another. Their mutual desire to dress Neil up a bridge towards....maybe not friendship but camaraderie.

It warms Renee's heart to see her friends get along.

"The plane got tailwind, Neil's getting tail." Dan jokes.

"I'm looking forward to meeting the new kid that I've heard about." Renee says gently moving the topic on from their friends getting together. It didn't bother her at all, but she knew that Andrew would prefer no one talk about what he and Neil got up to.

"Oh! Yeah, uh..." Dan visibly buffers.

"Dan, you're the only one of us that's met the kid. His name's Smith." Allison says with eyebrows raised in judgement.

"Look, when Coach and I went to recruit the kid my brain was like 90% on the fact that I needed to go to my interview." Dan defends herself.

"So he wasn't that memorable for you?" Allison asks.

"Yeah, I'm surprised that he's getting along so well with the guys." Dan says. "Getting stabbed over Thanksgiving feels more like a Neil move than the quiet kid Coach and I met." she adds.

That had been an interesting phone call from Andrew. Renee hadn't even realized that she had become Natalie describing the best way to get rid of the body until Andrew had clarified that it'd been an accident and Smith was alive. Renee had been a little ashamed.

She was excited to meet the kid who Andrew had spoken to her about. Glad that their strange found family was growing just a little bit bigger.

They wait around continuing to talk about plans for the break together. Allison wants to go shopping and she wants to do it once Neil and Andrew are back. Dan wants to skate at the Rockefeller center. Renee would love it if they could do Christmas Eve Mass.

They're sure that Kevin is going to want to check out an Exy game. They're mostly sure that Matt will want to check out the LEGO store in downtown manhattan and that Aaron will be as excited for that as Matt is but pretending not to be. Nicky wants to catch a drag show and has made it clear that he will be going regardless of what anyone else wants to do. Andrew and Neil will probably just want to be alone when they have the chance though Neil had expressed some prior interest in the EXITES superstore and Andrew will more than likely enjoy the day Allison has planned to go shopping since she wants to update Neil's wardrobe.

The new kid, Smith, will be a mystery, but they're more than willing to be flexible.

Eventually they hear the tell-tale sign of most of the boy's arrival. "Babe!" comes from across the airport and Dan's head shoots up and spots the sight of Matt Boyd approaching his arms out wide almost clotheslining four different families on his way to Dan.

Dan is not much better as she rushes to him arms as wide.

They embrace like they always do whenever they have to spend time apart from one another and Renee knows that part of the reason that Dan took her job as assistant coach where she did is that the Washington State Congress Team had been looking at Matt the year prior to scout him.

She looks beyond the passionate reunion and sees Kevin, Aaron, and Nicky. She frowns brows furrowing...

Weren't they going to bring-

Nicky throws his arm out and it wraps around a kid she hadn't even realized was there. She blinks startled by his sudden appearance and blank expression as Nicky was pointing them out. He points to her and he can see her name on his lips she gives a wave and a smile.

Smith nods back in greeting.

He seems quite nice.

***

Renee is at the end of her proverbial rope.

This kid is a threat and she doesn't understand how she's the only person who can see it.

Being a threat isn't really an issue when you're a Fox. It's almost a given that there's some part of you that can be dangerous when backed into a corner but no one seems to be treating him like a threat.

She watches as Nicky and Matt throw their arms around him. As Kevin pushes smoothie after smoothie into his hands as he blankly sips. As Andrew and Neil sit with him quietly. As Dan pinches his cheeks. As Aaron ribs him for being bad at MarioKart.

She can't feel anything from him, no joy, no anger, nothing.

She can't even track him.

Renee has always prided herself on her ability to keep track of those around her. Spacial awareness was incredibly important when you're in a fight and it had always been one of her strongest points. She always knew where she was in relation to everyone else.

Except Smith.

The kid had given her no shortage of heart attacks as he appeared and disappeared seemingly at random.

She had finally gotten Andrew alone to ask, "Smith's quiet, non-intrusive." Andrew says with a shrug.

There's just something about him that makes the hair on the back of Renee's neck stand on edge and she hates feeling like she's the only one. She hates it even more that there's no real evidence that there's something amiss with this newest Fox.

So she settles in to watch.

They're out shopping and Allison is doing her best to get Neil a proper wardrobe with Andrew's considerable help, AKA nodding in approval when Neil comes out. She's not skimping on any of them but Neil is her main focus.

"Smith, what's a color you like?" Allison asks as she's looking at hoodies.

"I like purple." Smith answers and Renee barely manges to stop herself from flinching as his voice comes from right next to her.

"Pass." Andrew says as Neil comes out in a charmingly orange sweatshirt.

"I like it!" Neil argues.

"You have 10 sweatshirts that are that exact shade of orange." Andrew dismisses. "Try the blue one." he says pushing Neil back into the dressing room.

"Which one?" Neil asks.

Andrew sighs dramatically in a way that lets Renee know that he's doing exactly what he wants to be doing, "I'll show you." he says going into the dressing room with Neil.

"I still don't know how it took Baltimore for me to realize they were together." Nicky says as he's holding up two different purple sweatshirts to Smith's body. "You look good in a more purpley purple." Nicky says putting the more indigo colored sweatshirt back on the rack.

"Pants are coming up next, I'll get a lay of the land. I know everyone else's but Smith what's your height?" Allison asks.

"Five feet, nine inches." Smith answers as Nicky pushes him towards the dressing room. "Nicky it's a sweatshirt, I can put it on out here." Smith says.

"I know but I need an excuse to go back there and make sure Neil and Andrew aren't defiling a dressing room." Nicky says with a grin that implies he'd be more happy if they were.

"Gross." Aaron says as he takes a picture of himself to send to Katelyn to approve of the new outfit that Allison was pushing for him to get. "Wait," he pauses turning to where Allison was looking through various men's pants, "you know our heights? Like you've memorized them?" he asks.

"Yeah." Allison says looking at a pair of black slacks. "Everyone's measurements." she says nodding to herself.

"Even bust sizes?" he asks, voice not as quiet as he likely thinks it is.

"You're such a boy." Allison laughs not even looking up from the very different rack.

"How much longer are we going to be here?" Kevin asks with a sigh.

"Well, at least the time that it took you to ask that longer. We'll be done when we're done Kevin." Dan says long having given up on stopping Allison when the woman is on a spree.

"She knows that EXITES closes at 5 PM right?" Kevin asks.

"More importantly," Matt leans in, "that the LEGO store closes at 8 PM right?" Matt asks.

"How is that more important? The LEGO store is open later?" Kevin asks.

"Because we're not going to EXITES today, but we are going to the LEGO store." Matt says.

"If we don't spend the whole day here we can do both-"

"We're not going to EXITES today Kevin." Dan says with a sigh.

"But-"

"We're not going to EXITES today Kevin." Renee says with an apologetic smile.

"But-"

"Kevin, we're not going to EXITES today. Just sit down and let me find pants that'll make your pin-up days look tame in comparison." Allison says.

"That's not what those posters were!" Kevin argues with a blush on his face.

"Sure." Allison dismisses

***

Renee is quite happy with the sundresses she found even if they won't do her any good here in New York City during the Christmas break. Their next stop on their shopping day is over to the LEGO store where Matt makes no attempt to hide his enthusiasm as Aaron very valiantly does try to pretend like he's not utterly entranced by the sets and builds.

Renee thinks it's all very charming.

"We could have gone to EXITES." Kevin says with a frown as he looks at a build of an Exy racquet. "Can you take my picture with this?" he asks but he's not quite looking at Renee.

"Sure." Smith says from beside her, where he had apparently been.

"Thanks Smiths." Kevin says and stands next to the Exy racquet of LEGOs and crosses his arms and leans back.

"Kevin, stop posing like this will be for the cover of a Forbes Magazine." Andrew says with a sigh as he comes to stand on Renee's other side.

"Shut up, it's a picture for me!" Kevin says and continues to stand with his arms crossed.

"Oh, can you get a picture of me next Smith?" Neil asks coming up eyes shining in excitement as he looks at the racquet.

"Sure. As an apology for letting Nicky-"

"Don't talk about it." Neil and Andrew say at the same time.

Kevin gets his picture and then Andrew hands his phone to Smith for Neil's since Neil had broken the lens on his camera ages ago.

They wander around and Kevin finds a set to build the National Court that he grabs without a second thought. Neil and Andrew find a little LEGO man of Kevin that they buy as their 'preferred Kevin'. Kevin of course threatens to buy their LEGO figures once they have them and refer to them as his 'preferred Andrew and Neil'. A threat that neither of them comment on but Renee does buy the little Jean Moreau she finds. She'll paint it Trojan colors and send it over to him as a little gift.

As she continues to browse with her purchase in hand she hears Nicky, "Smithy, if you like it you should get it!" Nicky insists.

"Is it the price?" Allison asks.

"Yeah, I don't want to spend that much." Smith says with a nod expression still worryingly blank.

"When's your birthday? It can just be an early or a late present from me." Allison asks.

"March 1st, but really I'm fine not getting it." Smith shakes his head. "It's not that I'd like it just my little brother liked trains." he says and Renee watches Nicky's face turn from joyful teasing to intense determination.

"We're getting this set." Nicky says grabbing it and marching over to the counter even as Smith followed after him.

Interesting.

***

They finish off their day with some ice skating.

Matt, Aaron, Andrew, and Kevin all fall into the 'challenged' category.

They get on the ice and all four immediately fall. Renee stifles her laughter as Andrew and Aaron scowl. "Are you okay?" Smith asks and Renee almost loses her balance as he skates by her.

"Why the fuck are you good at skating?" Aaron asks scowling even as he takes Smith hand. Renee skates over and offers a hand to Kevin as Matt and Andrew are being helped up by their respective partners.

"Oh," Allison says skating by, "have you been up to Canada or something often?" she asks.

"I've been to Canada a few times. It's more that there was a rink I would go to every once in a while." Smith answers before turning back to Aaron, "I can help you keep balanced." he says offering his other hand.

"Smith, I don't want to hold your hand. That's kind of gay." Aaron huffs letting go of Smith's hand only to immediately beef it again when he tried to move forward.

***

Skating was fun even if Aaron kept blushing as Smith helped him skate since he never really got his 'ice legs'. The rest of them all more or less skated on their own by the end or, in the case of Andrew and Matt, seemed fine to keep skating while holding on.

Renee was warming herself by the fireplace in Allison's home enjoying some hot chocolate as Allison took a seat next to her. There was a lot of commotion in the kitchen as the team was working to make dinner together. Renee had excused herself after Smith had startled her while she had a knife in hand and she'd almost stabbed him on instinct.

She's just relieved that no one seemed to notice the near murder.

"You okay? You seemed tense in there." Allison asks.

Well, almost no one.

"Yes, I'm fine." she smiles and hopes that Allison will believe it.

Allison looks at her and Renee does have the benefit that Allison is slightly drunk since she was told firmly not to help with the cooking since she'd paid for the majority of the day.

"I'm glad I got you alone, there's something I want to hear your opinion on." Allison says deciding, apparently, to let it go for now.

Renee relaxes smiling at her friend, "What's that?" she asks wondering what purchase or thing unpurchased Allison was regretting.

Allison looks at Renee, expression utterly serious. "Don't you think there's something...weird about this kid?" she asks.

Renee straightens up glad that Allison had also felt like something was off with the kid that her friends had brought along. "What do you mean?" she asks wanting to hear what Allison thought.

"Look, he seems really nice. I mean a little too nice to be a Fox to be honest but I mean I guess you're a Fox as well so..." Allison rambles slightly taking another sip of her wine.

"Yes, go on." Renee nods.

"Yeah, he seems nice and Matt said he's got his own stuff even if he didn't wanna go into what that stuff was." Allison continues and it's a good thing Allison is drinking white wine considering the white carpet and her gesticulations. "But...it's just.. okay you can't make fun of me. Even though this is about to sound crazy." Allison says.

"I would never do something like that." Renee swears.

"Promise me." Allison says expression grave as she lifts up a pinky.

Renee smiles despite herself and hooks her pinky with Allison's, "I promise to not make fun of you." she swears other hand over her cross.

"I think he's Justin Bieber."

MASTERPOST FOR ALL PARTS OF FLUENT FRESHMAN AU

#Fluent Freshman AU #I would like to thank Emry #Since I was talking with them about commissioning a pic of Smith #I searched 'bland white guy' and Justin Bieber popped up #and it has been my head canon.... EVER SINCE #So now you all have to deal with the fact that Smith is almost identical to JB #He's got the hair #he's 5 foot 9 #Born 3/1 #Brown hair #brown eyes #Smith just completely lacks JB's stage presence / confidence / rizz and it mostly renders him very distinguishable #Nicky absolutely bought that train lego set for Smith #and is like 'this summer you and me are gonna fucking build this for your brother'#Andrew and Neil were also like 3 hours later than they said they were going to be #due to late check out reasons #Kevin may have looked for a Riko figure out of habit but didn't find one #Neil and Andrew may have also looked for a Riko figure but they wanted to burn it #different strokes for different folks i suppose #Renee got some nice paints to do her little project for Jean #She's heard from Jeremy that he's recovering from the meatball head injury quite nicely #Jean keeps saying to stop calling it that #Jeremy: “but you almost bled Bechemel all over the place.”#Jean: “For the love of god stop saying that. I was concussed from the meatball.”

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eponinemylove · 4 years

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Headcanons about the Andrew( and the foxes) figuring out some of the fucked up things Neil’s mom did. Like I’ve always had a head canon that she is the reason he says he’s fine all the time

for sure! I have a lot of feelings about Mary Hartford. I want to say that if the conversation does ever manage to come up, Neil would immediately jump to his mother’s defense. We see everything she did through his memories of her, and while we can recognize it as abuse, Neil still thinks of her fondly. She was the only family he really had, and in his eyes, everything she did was out of necessity, if not love (CW: abuse)

(side note, I’ve briefly talked about aaron’s reaction before as part of a different post, and I stand by that. I’ve also brushed upon the subject of Mary and Neil being “fine” when I did a sort of sickfic hc!)

let me just start by saying how awful this news would be for the foxes. Like, it’s awful in general because what she did was fucked up, but their poor hearts… They managed the Nest. They managed Baltimore. They managed Drake (although that was Andrew’s past not Neil’s, they were still there for the murder and everything that followed). They have been through heartbreak after heartbreak for this kid who not only went through these things but thought, on some level, that he deserved them. So they really can’t take finding out that his mother—who Neil openly condones—is also one of his ghosts. They can’t take finding out that she’s partly the reason why he doesn’t swing, why he can’t trust, why he runs and hides and lies, why he doesn’t think he can have this. And if that wasn’t hard enough, to find out that Neil thinks this is okay, that this is fine—it’s too much to handle.

Andrew’s first reaction, predictably, is murder. This doesn’t quite work out for him, as Mary’s already dead, but the urge he feels to drain the life from her himself is frankly concerning. The second the words are leaving Neil’s mouth, the second all his suspicions are confirmed (because let’s be real, Andrew knew someone had hurt Neil, and his father had been too many steps behind him to cause that much damage), he sees red. Full on, knives out, burning rage. He’s shaking with it. You can tell he’s feeling an emotion, because he’s not grumbling about anything. He’s gone into quiet rage, the dangerous kind, in which he silently plots all the ways he can gruesomely arrange your departure from existence.

for a split second, the upperclassmen think that his anger is directed at Neil, and they subtly move in to block him from Andrew’s war path. This works out well for no one, because Andrew needs Neil in his line of sight right now to know he’s safe and here, and anyone who even thinks of touching this boy after what he’s just confessed to happening to him is getting stabbed. Repeatedly. It’s not their fault for assuming, though. They saw what happened with him and Aaron after this sort of thing, and they just want to shield Neil from that fallout. He’s been through enough

The only thing that manages to calm him down even somewhat is Neil himself. He holds Andrew’s gaze, doesn’t hide under it. He looks him straight in the eye. He is fine, now. He isn’t hurt. He’s with Andrew, and Andrew is going to keep him safe, and Mary is dead, and there’s nothing for them to fight anymore.

except there is, there is, because Neil is stupid. Neil is an idiot who doesn’t know the meaning of the word fine, who has never been fine a day in his life. this was never okay. he’s worse than Aaron, because at least Aaron came to his senses eventually. but Neil, even after everything, is still standing there, defending her. it makes his blood boil. 140%. 170. 200.

Later, Andrew has to physically restrain himself from pulling him into a bruising kiss. He makes a tangible effort to be as gentle with Neil as he can, because he refuses to show him that love should be rough. It shouldn’t. He holds Neil’s hand and kisses his knuckles, runs his hands softly through his hair. He shows him all the way touches should feel when coming from someone you trust. Neil thinks it isn’t necessary but he accepts it with a stuttering heart anyway. His hands shake.

Aaron is seething, but for an entirely different reason. He’s furious, because how does Neil not realize that they’re the exact same? Neil gave him so much shit when he was upset over his mother, but now he has the audacity to stand here and spout this crap? The only thing holding him back from beating the shit out of Josten himself is Andrew’s presence, radiating wrath from beside him. If he took a step in the wrong direction, his brother might genuinely kill him this time. It doesn’t matter. Neil went on and on and on about how Andrew was protecting him, how his mother was not someone who loved him but someone who hurt him, and how he should be glad she’s gone. And… and then this? No. No. Neil doesn’t get to love his mother after that. Mary hit him. She beat him to a pulp herself, nevermind what she said she was protecting him from. He wasn’t allowed to have friends, to talk to people, to go outside. He wasn’t allowed to speak. He’d had to keep his head down. Yeah, it sounds familiar. It sounds like Aaron’s quiet footsteps around the house, hoping to god he wouldn’t wake up Tilda. It sounds like him trying not to make himself seen when she came home after a night of using, like ducking his head and not meeting the eyes of her or anyone she brought home. It sounds like her fists on him when she was in one of her moods. It sounds really fucking familiar, and if Neil thinks he’s going to drop this, he is dead wrong.

Neil did not leave well enough alone when it was Aaron. He would not stop rubbing salt on the wound. And it hurt, a lot, but now Aaron is going to do the same. Not just for petty vengeance. Not just because Neil is a dick and this is payback. But because it helped. Aaron and Andrew are not on the same page about the way they feel, but they are about what to do next. Priority one is make sure Neil moves on, make sure he recognizes why Mary was wrong, and why it will never happen again, as long as any of the foxes have a say in it.

Matt and Nicky have the exact same reaction, which to immediately have their heart shattered. They’re in tears. Matt cares about Neil so, so much, and I know the fandom recognizes this, but I don’t know if people realize how deeply Nicky cares, too. It’s more than just cracking jokes; Neil is one of Nicky’s best friends. They’re going to make damn sure that Neil knows they will love him unconditionally, and that their love does not come heavy-handed. They will support him through this, even if they hate Mary for everything she had conditioned into him. Already they’re planning what they can do to get his mind off of this and get him smiling again as soon as possible. Nicky will probably push Neil harder than Matt, and it will probably be the wrong thing to do, but he’s trying so hard. He’s done this before, with Andrew and Aaron, and as heartbreaking as it was, he continues to do it because he loves them. And he loves Neil, too. Both Matt and Nicky already have adoption papers at the ready, and at this point they’re going to forge the signatures, consequences be damned, if it means Neil gets a happy life.

Kevin doesn’t have much to say about it when he finds out. I imagine he handles it with all of his usual finesse and sensitivity, which is none. He probably, not too gently, points out that Mary had a job to keep him safe from harm, all harm, and failed spectacularly at it. It’s not exactly helpful, but he does have a point. And when he get Neil alone, he offers to talk to him about it. He may not have been through the same thing, but he’s been through something similar enough. He had no family at the Nest, but at the same time they were the only ones he had, and they weren’t exactly gentle with him at the best of times. Riko and the Master weren’t Mary, but... they weren’t all that different, either. Like everything else, Kevin is there if he needs him.

Dan and Allison stare him down. They sympathize, they do, because this is awful, but they are not going to give him an inch. They don’t have time to coddle his feelings about his mother, and god help him if they hear an “I’m fine” fall from his lips. They’ll hold him, if he lets them, and they’ll be as soft and gentle as he needs, but they won’t give in to this. They aren’t going to pretend that he’s right–he’s not. HIs mother wasn’t what he remembers. She’s a complicated character. They’re not calling her evil; maybe she did what she had to, and maybe it was for the best. But it wasn’t right. They are steadfast in that. It wasn’t right. Neil can accept that when he’s ready, and when he does they will be there for him, taking care of him in their unassuming way so that he doesn’t feel like they’re walking on eggshells. He’s so grateful to have them. Grateful that they don’t push, but don’t give in either. Some of the strongest people he’s known…

Renee is the one who actually talks him through it. All the others are ready with their pitchforks, about to burn Mary at the stake, but she understands. She walks with him through everything, the good and the bad, and lets him come to his own conclusion. She listens to him when he feels like talking about what is was like, and talks about her own mother when he doesn’t. She shows him, subtly, what a parental figure is supposed to look like through her own stories. Lets him realize that sometimes the people who care don’t get it right, but that there are still others who love you, and that love doesn’t have to come with pain.

Bonus:

(Ik you didn’t ask, and this is probably too long already, but) Wymack and Abby find out about this indirectly, likely through either Andrew or Matt. Wymack had known from the beginning this would have been the case, but he’d had no idea it had come from his mother. It hurts him, that no one had ever been careful with Neil the way he needed. He doesn’t realize that he had been, though. Wymack hadn’t raised his voice, hadn’t made himself big in front of Neil. He had been careful to keep his anger far, far away and had always been there when Neil needed him. Wymack is his true father. Or mother. Or whatever.

Abby does what she does with Aaron: she gives him space. She knows that he’s probably never seen a woman in a comforting light before, and she waits to make sure that he’s okay with her presence before she gets anywhere near close to him. She lets him come to her, and, like Wymack, makes sure Neil knows that if she ever gets frustrated, that she would never take it out on him. They start the very slow process of showing Neil what it is like to be loved and cared for by someone who wants only to see you happy. Neil loves his family so, so much. He would choose them a thousand times over.

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whatmack · 4 years

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Andrew and Jean ending up on the same team when they go pro. But a former raven is also on their team, specifically, one of the ravens that Riko had once sicced on Jean. The raven torments, taunts, says things to Jean. Jean isn't okay, but he tries to hide it. But Andrew eventually picks up. Because Andrew knows. And he sure as hell won't let anything of that sort slide.... I dunno. Andrew standing up for Jean and their solidarity just makes me feel things.

Andrew and Jean being forced together --> reluctant allies --> friends --> ride or die is SO GOOD I think about it LOTS The ravens have a reputation for being blunt and cruel, but they learn more sneakiness about the really terrible things, and the team kind of assumes Jean and the other Raven will bond over having been in Edgar Allan (”hey what did you guys do in the Nest for this?” “Hey ask the other Raven about--”) so maybe they don’t pick up that Jean’s stiff silence is something other than normal But Andrew sees the unnatural stillness that is Jean supressing a flinch and he can taste stomach acid because he knows what that’s like He trails after Jean for an entire week, without giving an explanation, no matter what the other teammates say or how much Jean bitches at him. It happens when they’re in the court parking lot, Jean pointedly ignoring Andrew and Andrew leaning against the Maz where it’s parked two spots down, smoking, not even trying to pretend he isn’t watching like a hawk the ex-Raven (but nobody is ever really an ex-Raven, except for Kevin and Jean) corners Jean against the side of his car when he opens the door to throw his sport bag in. Andrew can’t hear what he’s saying, but he doesn’t have to. He recognizes the cringe of Jean’s shoulders, the too-confident spread of the Raven’s arms. He stalks over and maybe he doesn’t have his knives anymore but he jabs the lit end of the cigarette into the back of the Raven’s arm and uses the distraction to shove him aside Andrew of Yore may have stayed to beat the Raven into a bloody pulp but he’s an Andrew who has been trying, who has figured out tiers of importance, and so instead once he has room he drags Jean away, closes and locks Jean’s car door, and forces Jean into the front seat of the Maserati. Jean doesn’t say anything until he’s sat at Andrew’s kitchen table, scarred hands clutching a glass of water, eyes sunken so deep into his head he looks like a skeleton He says, how did you know Andrew could say, Kevin. That’s mostly the truth. But it’s not why Andrew wanted to tear that Raven limb from limb Instead he gets a glass of water for himself as well and sits across from Jean, staring emotionlessly into his face. Jean is friends with Neil, and-- slowly-- making up with Kevin. He’ll put two or two together, or he won’t. That’s not Andrew’s concern. What matters is that Andrew will not let any Raven, ex or otherwise, hurt Jean again

#jean moreau #andrew minyard #andrew assigning people as under his protection On Sight #though it probably helped that he knew jean and neil were friends #and jean and renee were friends #(neil needs to learn how to stay and andrew needs to learn how to let things go)#(at least for now)#(live to fight another day and all that)#Anonymous

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aftgficrec · 4 years

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Hey! I'm glad you guys are back! You guys are a blessing, & considering how much I (& I'm sure others) appreciate your hard work, feel free to take as many breaks as you want! :) As you're now open, I was hoping you could find me some post-canon fics (like quite far in the future) centred on Andriel being hella domestic & soft & happy, please! Preferably long fics/series if possible! Love you guys xx

Thanks for your kind words! We’ve got some great recs below, including a couple of personal favorites and a couple of previous recs. The first previous rec below may fit what you’re looking for, it’s very long and though there’s some angst there’s a lot of fluff and recovery as well. -F

‘Blame It On My Youth’ previously recommended here

‘We Sat on Our Own Star and Dreamed’ mentioned here

Learning Eachother and Learning to Love series by abraxos_is_toothless [Rated G/T, 15272 words, Incomplete]

Part 9: I love you, I love you, I love you. [Rated G, 1504 words, Complete 2020] Neil and Andrew adopted a little girl six months ago named Jules. The little one has a bad dream and they boys are just really soft.

(tags: neil josten/andrew minyard, universe: post canon, theme: adoption, theme: parenting, theme: hurt/comfort, theme: domesticity)

Part 10: Soft Cuddles [Rated G, 1151 words, Complete 2020] Andrew and Neil have some sleepy cuddles and big talks of their future. Set between Late Night Exploration and I love you, I love you, I love you in this series.

Worth the Trouble by exyjunkies [Rated T, 15348 words, Incomplete, Updated July 2020]

Whenever and wherever the wedding is, I'll be there. I'm not even going to wait for the invite. Since I'm the ring-giver, I also get to be the ring-bearer. Love, Robin.

All Hail the Underdogs by wildfrancium [Rated T, 25411 words, Complete 2017]

Ten years after Neil Josten becomes Neil Josten, life is full of Exy and Andrew. And then they decide to try fostering a kid.

(tw: references to past abuse, tw: implied/referenced child abuse, tw: implied/referenced homophobia)

Small Angry Gardeners series by SensationalSunburst [Rated G, 18833 words]

Part 1: Saved by The Bush [Rated G, 849 words, Complete 2018] The thought never occurred to Andrew that Neil, body long and loose atop the desk they’d shoved against the windows to smoke atop of, would exhale and smile and lean the entirety of his body weight against the flimsy mesh that separated him from a plunge to the ground below.

Part 2: Andrew, Neil and Curb Appeal [Rated G, 5179 words, Complete 2018] After Riko, after Baltimore, after three years of long distance and Skype calls, Andrew and Neil settle on the same team in the same city and purchase their first house. The Foxes decide the pair need a good hobby and no so subtly suggest gardening. Or A small series of vignettes of Andrew, Neil and the pursuit of curb appeal

Part 3: The Godfathers [Rated G, 3769 words, Complete 2018] Leigh was, in all aspects except for his eyes and mouth, a carbon copy of Thea. He also possessed his mother’s boldness, evidenced as he smacked his tiny hands against Andrew’s cheeks, cooing “Dew! Dew!” It was as close as he’d been able to get to Andrew’s name thus far and so unfathomably cute that Neil felt it like a physical ache deep in his chest.

Part 4: Kintsugi [Rated G, 1127 words, Complete 2018] Kintsugi:(金継ぎ, "golden joinery"), also known as Kintsukuroi (金繕い, "golden repair"), is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold. As a philosophy, it treats breakage and repair as part of the history of an object, rather than something to disguise “He saw our scars and thought they'd been fixed with gold, like the pottery in the book.” Neil blinked, stunned. “Kids this age are honest.” Andrew said, “They haven't learned to lie.”

Part 5: Chick Magnets [Rated G, 2488 words, Complete 2018] “Andrew, look!” Neil breathed, holding up a tiny silkie chick. He was seated next to Rebecca on the floor of the pen holding their newest chicks. They were crawling all over them, and Robert could see that several had settled in the fabric of his basketball shorts where it puddled around his thighs. His eyes were wide and bright, and although Robert's heart was buried along with Shannon, his late wife, he could see exactly why Andrew's entire person went loose at the sight of him. OR In which Andrew and Neil adopt chickens.

Part 6: Hey, Jude [Rated G, 1977 words, Complete 2018] “Her name’s Jude,” Nyugen said, voice steady and calm even as the rest of the team slipped off the walls to pet the dog in turn, “Britt’s practice took over her vet care, so we’re fostering her for now.” “But,” Nyugen said, and his eyes snapped up to the far corner where Neil and Andrew reigned, glancing between them with something like hope on his face, “Britt’s at that conference this week, yeah? And I figured… since we had a man on the bench…” Or In which Andrew and Neil get a dog.

Part 7: Second Opinions [Rated G, 1332 words, Complete 2018] “They’re okay.” Andrew said, “They’re friends.” Lily squinted, holding Andrew’s even gaze for a long moment before she looked to her father and lifted both hands in the universal sign for up. He complied immediately, laughing as he straightened to his full height. “Now we’re good? They got the Uncle Andrew stamp of approval?”

Part 8: A Case for Phone Cases [Rated G, 1375 words, Complete 2019] “We are alright here, guys, we’re alright. But according to Baltimore PD, which we overhead during the evacuation, there are at least three people down, one of which is a Riptide-" Neil registered the the ringback of Andrew’s phone before he realized he’d dialed his number, his heart rate climbing with each moment that the call went unanswered.

(tw: scars, tw: shooting)

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bluesrrgents · 7 years

Note

Hi!! I was just wondering - do you have any good andreil fic recommendations?? I ADORE lessons in cartography and wanted something like that. I'm sorry to bother you if you don't read FICS!!

i haven’t yet read lessons in cartography i’m sorry :( i’ve been told there aren’t any other fics quite like it but i’m still willing to make a list of andreil fics to recommend!! thanks to all my friends who gave me more recs

* a star just means i haven’t read it but it’s been recommended to me

sky blue sky by jaylocked

Neil collects the cup a moment later, almost absently, as he thinks back to the nightmare that had started his day. He takes a sip, planning to turn away, and is almost assaulted by the sheer quantity of sugar in his drink. Who knew coffee could taste that sweet? It’s disgusting.

Neil looks back to Andrew, who is once more leveling a blank gaze at him, hazel eyes deeply unimpressed. Neil quirks an eyebrow, confused. It’s definitely not worth it to say anything. After all, it’s been engrained in him not to draw attention to himself, to order whatever is blandest and least interesting, to get in and out best he can.

He can feel the weight of Andrew’s gaze on his back as he leaves the cafe, but he tries to ignore it.

this one is 2 parts, about 3k each but it’s cute

*light fires at night (to push back the void by inthesea

The first time Andrew realizes he wants to hear the words, Neil isn’t even doing anything. He’s just sitting there, staring at the horizon with that stupidly dramatic faraway expression of his, and letting the cigarette burn down between his fingers all the way to the filter — an outrageous waste of good nicotine, if you asked Andrew.

(Or: 20+ times Andrew and Neil say I love you, and one time they say it out loud.) (61k)

this one seems to be the most similar to lessons that can be found so i put it at the top :) the rest are ordered based on word count

*your crown of thorns holds roses by quensty

Three days after he signs his death sentence to Palmetto State, five after Andrew Minyard sends him flying breathless to the ground, Neil’s gaze snaps to the locker room mirror and stares, frozen, at the word threat scrawled along his spinal cord in terrifying, heavy bold.

All in all, he isn’t thrilled about the situation this puts him in, but, based off the negative connotation, it isn’t one-sided either. On the bright side, at least this means his soulmate doesn’t harbor any grandeur delusions about him. (4.4k)

*missed call by badacts

There was one thing Nathan had always stood by, his personal code – if you were going to go after someone, you went after them. Not their dog, not their parents, and definitely not their partner. He might not have managed to teach that to his henchmen, but he clearly succeeded with his son.

That, and ‘a head for an eye’. (5.7k)

*now i’m covered in the colors by alaynes

Nathaniel Wesninski is six years old when his first soulmate mark comes in. (9.7k)

*be neither fish nor fowl by Saul

They found it in the locked room of a Royal Navy’s vessel, The Fox waiting to take her crew and their new spoils across the deep blue.

It was beautiful. It was rarer than any diamond.

“A mermaid,” Dan laughed, taking a step back and sweeping her hat off her head to hold to her chest. “They were transporting a mermaid.”

It was going to make them rich.

( wherein the Foxes are pirates, Neil has gills, and no one quite trusts the magic.) (26k)

this fic has three parts!!

*latchkey child by Saul

The segment’s title declared EXY’S DARLINGS - WHERE WILL THEY GO FROM HERE? in a yellow banner along the television screen’s bottom. It was a spotlight feature on where Kevin Day and Riko Moriyama were planning to go after their high school graduation. Of course they were expected to join the best, but a few reporters speculated on favoritism from the Raven’s coach if they signed on at Edgar Allan, and if that’d impact the Exy prodigies’ relationships with their potential teammates.

Usually his mother would box his ears for looking at anything Exy-related, but he changed the channel long before her shower finished, the black ink on a younger Day’s cheekbone haunting him worse than the date in the corner.

( Neil wakes up seven years younger, and, slowly, takes matters into his own hands. ) (31k)

*and in a flash, it’s gone. by Idnis

‘I wouldn’t associate with Andrew anymore, nor with any of the others. You can’t trust foxes after all.’The man’s fist connected precisely where his head wound was, and then Neil Josten was gone.

Neil loses his memory and has to somehow make sense of the pieces of his past and present. And Andrew. (36k)

*die young by moonix

Ever since the violent death of his mother Neil has withdrawn completely from the outside world. He lives with his Uncle Stuart and barely ever leaves the house. In order to help him overcome his anxiety, Stuart hires his favourite waiter, Nicky, to befriend him. With Nicky come the rest of the Foxes, and Neil finds himself being reluctantly adopted into a much bigger family, reconnecting with an old friend, and developing a crush… (41k)

*dangerous magics by SashaSea

“What if evil doesn’t really exist? What if evil is something dreamed up by man, and there is nothing to struggle against except out own limitations? The constant battle between our will, our desires, and our choices?” -Libba Bray, Rebel Angels

(urban fantasy/Celtic legend AU) (52k)

on the impossibility of reality by defractum (nyargles)

“Inception,” says Ichirou Moriyama.

‘You’re crazy,’ Neil does not say, but it’s a close thing. “It can’t be done,” he says instead, after a too long pause.

An Inception AU. Kevin is the best extractor in the game, Neil spends too much time pretending to be other people, and Andrew? Well, Andrew knows all about inception. (56k)

*grey zone by maydaykevin

Neil’s frown deepened as he stared at the card he was holding.

'Camp Half-Blood, Half-Blood Hill, Farm Road 3.141Long Island, New York 11954’

“You’re telling me this is my only chance at survival?”

“The only one you’ve got left kid.”

A Percy Jackson/Foxhole Court AU (57k)

*to know a man by moonix

In which the Foxes all work at a coffee shop run by Wymack, Neil is their newest recruit with a dark past, Andrew is obvious, Neil is oblivious, and everyone ships it apart from Aaron, who just wants to study in peace. With guest appearance by a stuffed jellyfish called Josephine. (58k)

*claw marks by flybbfly

The Foxes are an underground resistance group in a dystopian near-future. Neil is the shady new recruit.

Part 1984, part “The Lottery,” part “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas,” part V for Vendetta. (70k)

fear in a handful of dust by flybbfly

“I need to talk to Minyard,” Neil says, sipping at a soda. “How do I make that happen?”

Kevin chokes on his whiskey. “You don’t.”

In which Neil doesn’t have Kevin Day to convince him to play, so he becomes a sports journalist; Andrew is a keeper in more ways than one; and Quidditch is the sport du jour. Featuring a frankensteined team, eternal roommate Matt, and hawkish sports section editor Dan. Oh, and Andrew has a shady past (present? future?) that Neil can’t quite figure out. But that’s nothing new for Neil, who is constantly hiding everything about himself anyway—this time with magical abilities greasing the way. (104k)

*armies by nekojita

Upon Mary Hatford’s death, Nathaniel Wesninski makes the call to his uncle Stuart rather than continuing on the run and ending up in Milport, Nevada.Upon graduating university, Andrew Minyard turns down all offers of a professional Exy career and muddles through a 'normal’ life, until the boredom and inanity of it all wears him down and he accepts an offer of a break to spend some time with his cousin Nicky in Stuttgart, Germany.There he meets Abram Hatford, a handsome and broken young man who has more in common with Andrew than he suspects, and nothing’s normal anymore. (341k)

WIPS

sickeningly sweet (like honey) by broship_addict

Andrew Doe is twelve years old when he walks into Fox’s Sweets Shop. Somehow, he leaves with three friends and all of them are Exy-obsessed losers.

Also known as the kid AU in which the Foxes are happy children and Andrew has a crush. (22k)

*the bodyguard by bourbon

“Hello, you’ve reached the homosexual agenda, how may I help you?”

“Nicky.”, Andrew growled.

“Oh, my favorite cousin! I would ask you to join our cause but it seems you already did.”

Or where Neil hires Andrew as a bodyguard but ends up (fake) dating him instead. (43k)

*dog in the manger by Saul

It’s 1922, and rumor had it Wesninski’s son wasn’t so dead after all. A sudden upheaval crumbled the Butcher’s empire almost over-night; in his place, a scarred and terrifying man threatened to set Baltimore alight.

Four years later, Aaron Minyard receives a call from a brother he hasn’t spoken to in a decade, sweeping him into a whirlwind of corruption, homicide, and exhausted, tremulous trust. (52k)

*a hole in the world by lscar123

An accomplished FBI agent. A young runaway who is more than he appears to be. A serial killer that’s haunted both of them for years.

The City of Angels just got a lot more interesting. (132k)

doe & josten: deductionists by SpangleBangle

Andrew Doe, rude but brilliant consulting detective, thought he had no need of a partner as he worked slowly away at dismantling the largest crime family in the country, helping out with other cases on the side to relieve the tedium. That was, until a scruffy runaway with a stupid amount of secrets stumbled into his life. Or, more accurately, broke into his kitchen. (152k)

ok i’ll stop myself, i hope you find some you love!!

#andreil #fic #fic rec #aftg fic #aftg fic rec #andrew minyard #neil josten #all for the game #the foxhole court #masterpost #zoe.txt #ask #tfc #tfc fic #tfc fic rec

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nickireadstfc · 7 years

Text

The King's Men, Chapter 1 – Hello Foxhole, My Old Friend

In which the Foxes are introduced to Meat Grinder Neil, Nicky misses an opportunity for a memeworthy Christmas gift, we find out some things about Jean, and Andrew and Neil chill on a rooftop or whatever.

Sounds good? Then it’s time for Nicki to read The King's Men.

Hello hello hello, we’re back! Welcome to the one, the only, the glorious, all-surpassing, awe-inspiring, shade-throwing, capslock-inducing and feels-wrecking finale to this hell of a ride called All For The Game - welcome to The King's Men.

Let’s start at the very front: A cover, as always, says more than a thousand words, and this cover has one clear message it shouts in the faces of those familiar with the series, clear as day and ringing like a bell: IT'S SHOWDOWN TIME, FUCKERS.

Two Exy racquets, one orange, one black, crossed, clashing. The title, half-orange, half-black. Nora Sakavic' name at the bottom, also half-orange, half-black, menacingly laughing in my face like Rumpelstiltskin on crack, glee-drunk on my surely following future tears.

Whee-hee. Let’s fucking go.

(Also, the chapters are getting much longer by this book, so y'all will have to deal with these posts being longer as well. Soz.)

Even after a semester at Palmetto State University and a couple weeks practicing on the largest Exy stadium in the United States, Neil was still struck breathless by the Foxhole Court.

Neil, my boy, you never disappoint. Even through hardship, bruises and cuts, one thing can always be relied on: Your gigantic boner for Exy. Get a room, you two.

“It’s time to go,” Wymack said.

That was enough to make Neil get up, although his battered body protested.

Oh yeah, quick reminder for anyone who might have forgotten (although – why the fuck would you ever): Neil is currently walking minced meat with Trauma Jetlag™, a literal prison tattoo, and #allnatural #naturaleyes #naturalhair #nomakeup #nofilter.

Because of that, he’s obviously not that keen on running into his squad at the moment. Can’t exactly blame the dude.

If I looked like Freddy Krueger with a facial tramp stamp, I wouldn’t go around instagramming selfies either.

Especially when I willingly ran into the arms of the dude who is nationally known for giving out facial tramp stamps.

Wymack had even locked the office in his short absence. Neil had been in there enough times to know Wymack didn’t keep anything particularly valuable on his shelves. The only thing of any import was Neil’s duffel. (…) On Neil’s first day in South Carolina he had asked Wymack to protect his things, and seven months later Wymack was still keeping that promise. It was almost enough to make Neil forget all about Riko.

Guys, this just in: Wymack is still the best damn person alive. #dicksoutforwymack

The best damn person alive also already warned the Foxes Neil looked like a human punching bag in order to prevent them from having an actual heart attack when they see him. Yay, have fun explaining yourself to them, hombre.

Matt moved soundlessly for a few moments before he finally managed to choked, “Jesus Christ, Neil.”

“It’s not as bad as it looks,” Neil said.

This just in: Neil is Veronica from Heathers, minus the 80’s hair-do.

In order to fulfill his self-appointed role as Neil’s mother hen, Matt then swiftly goes and punches newly-arrived Kevin in the fucking face – which is generally a sentiment I can support, although it really is not his fault this time.

Matt stared at him for an endless minute, then said, “I want to break [Riko’s] face in six places. If he ever comes within a thousand yards of you again –“

Same, Matt. Fucking SAME.

Matt being protective of Neil will never not give me a healthy dose of The Feels™.

One confrontation down, four to go: What do Aaron, Nicky and Kevin have to say to Mr Meat Grinder?

Unsurprisingly, Aaron was the safest one to look at. (…) Neil gave him a moment to see if he’d ask, but all Aaron did was shrug.

Glad to see the usual amounts of sympathy and care coming from one half of the Minyard Murder Twins.

Although I’m doubting the other half will muster up any more affection.

Nicky, on the other hand looked absolutely crushed as he took in Neil’s wrecked appearance. He reached out as soon as Neil was close enough and wrapped his hand around the back of Neil’s neck, (…) carefully pulling Neil up against him.

Also, glad to see the usual freaking normal reaction coming from Nicky, aka some goddamn comforting hugs for once in this cold, cold monster squad.

Nicky hugs are the best hugs.

At least Kevin had the decency to speak in French. “Tell me the master didn’t approve this.”

Every time Kevin still calls Tetsuji “the master”, a little tiny thing inside my heart dies.

10/10 would protect my tiny big ass traumatized son.

“Riko said he’d hurt us if I change it back. All I can do is duck my head and hope for the best.” (…)

“How long do you think he’ll let you hide before he forces you to show [the tattoo] off? The press will be all over this (…). He’s trying to get you found.”

Well, duh.

I’m already looking forward to Neil regaining his confidence, and then I’m looking forward to him sassing the absolute everloving shit out of whoever tries to come for him for his appearance and tattoo.

“He wouldn’t waste his time unless he thinks we really are going to be a problem for his team That means something, doesn’t it? (…) Kevin, you do what you do best and focus on Exy. Take us where he doesn’t want us to go.”

Hell effin yes.

We’re gonna fucking make it to finals, and we’re gonna fucking shoot that dumb Exy ball so hard around those Raven Fuckers’ heads that we shoot the asshole smirk right off Riko’s ugly face.

Yas.

Nicky looked between them as if making sure they were done, then scooped his gift bags up again and held one out to Neil.

“Belated Christmas present,” he said, a little sadly.

NICKY LET ME LOVE YOU.

Trust this dude to always bring the sunshine around at the end of the day.

“I’ve got Andrew’s with me, too. Actually, I got you two the same thing because you are like the most impossible people in the world to buy for.”

Knives, hair dye, black T-Shirts, cigarettes, a coupon for an anger management course,… Andreil gift-shopping ain’t that hard, homie.

But scratch all that - Nicky got them each a winter coat!

This would have been even better if Nicky hadn’t gotten the same coat for each of them, but literally the same coat – because now all I can imagine is Neil and Andrew stuck in one coat like a Get Along Shirt.

If someone makes this into fanart, I will pay you in Ben & Jerry’s. I’m being dead serious.

Four reunions done and the most important one still to go – one road trip to Columbia later:

“If you’ll sign in, I’ll ring Dr. Slosky and let him know you’re here.”

(...) Neil was the only one who hesitated when his pen touched the paper. Riko hadn’t let him be “Neil” at Evermore. Every time Neil answered to it on the court, Riko beat him for it. (…) Riko wanted him to know how much trouble he’d caused the Moriyamas with all of his alibis.

Jesus fuck. Is there literally anything he didn’t get beat for at the Batcave of Extra?

Actually, don’t answer that.

Also, hate to be that person again but – shouldn’t he have gotten to that bit of trauma way earlier? Wymack and the Foxes called him Neil so many times already, why is this only kicking in now?

I legit don’t have an explanation and I think it may just be a continuity error. If anyone does have a good explanation, shoot me an ask.

They sit down to wait for Andrew and to everyone’s surprise (including mine), Kevin uses the wait to do something so incredibly out of character my figurative wig was instantly snatched:

Being a compassionate person.

“I know what he’s like,” Kevin said. Neil looked at him, but Kevin was studying his hands. “Riko. If you want to talk.”

Fucking what.

It was the most awkward and uncomfortable thing Kevin had ever said to him. Kevin was known for his talent, not his sensitivity. (…) That he tried at all was so unexpected Neil felt it like a balm to every bruised inch of his skin.

Oh my GOD.

HE’S TRYING, he’s trying to make Neil feel better, he just wants to help and to comfort him I’m gonna light myself the fuck on fire I can’t handle this.

These Kevin/Neil feels are ambushing me out of nowhere. I was almost over this dynamic, god damnit. What the fuck.

“[Jean’s] father owed the Moriyamas a great deal. The master paid those debts in exchange for Jean’s presence on our court. He was property, nothing more. You are the same in their eyes. (…) I know it means he did not hold back.”

Wait – does this mean Jean initially got the same treatment that Neil just had to suffer through?

WELL, FUCK.

Jean Valjean has instantly risen in the ranks of my faves.

SWEET FRENCH SUMMER CHILD. YOU DID NOT DESERVE THIS WHAT THE FUCK.

No wonder he’s a (seemingly) heartless bitch now. Kill or be killed, I guess.

“Were you ever going to tell [Coach that he’s your father]?”

“I was going to when he signed me,” Kevin said. “I couldn’t. (…) [Tetsuji] has never raised a hand or voice against Coach before because Coach has never been a real threat to him. I didn’t know if a confession would change things. I couldn’t risk it.”

Kevin :’( protecting and caring for Wymack :’(( just like Wymack protected and cared for him :’((((((

Before I can get too emotional over this, though, the happy Kevin/Neil Honest Conversation™ is cut short by the arrival of everyone’s favourite murder maniac, minus the meds.

(Back at it again with the alliterations, y’all.)

If Neil hadn’t known Andrew spent the last year and a half fiercely protective and territorial of Kevin, he’d think they were strangers. Andrew treated Kevin to a bored inspection, then flicked his fingers in dismissal.

Apparently, Andrew is not that different off his meds but continues to be a Stony Sinnamon Roll, Too Indifferent To This World, Too Dead Inside™. Well, bummer.

I don't know what I expected, since we did meet him sober before, but I think I thought when he'd be off his meds permanently he'd be... More? I guess? More of a person, I mean. Less walking void, and all that jazz.

Maybe he'll come around. Give the sinnamon roll some time.

Neil and the squad, finally complete again, drive back to campus, and as they get out we get a glimpse of something amazing we'll have more of later this chapter:

It's prime fucking Andreil time.

[Neil] straightened and turned to find out Andrew had shifted closer. There was nowhere for Neil to stand except up against Andrew, but somehow Neil didn't mind. They'd been apart for seven weeks but Neil keenly remembered why he'd stayed. He remembered is unyielding, unquestioning weight that could hold him and all of his problems without breaking a sweat. For the first time in months he could finally breathe again. It was such a relief it was frightening; Neil hadn't meant to lean on Andrew so much.

ALL-FUCKING-RIGHT.

Alright alright alright. So NOT ONLY is this gay as shit as it is, and Neil is (whether he realises it or not) super fucking in love by this point, but - "Andrew had shifted closer", bitch, what.

Don't you dare tell me that boy isn't fucking infatuated with our favourite runaway drama queen.

In today's issue of The PSU Andreil Times: Heart-Eyed Little Shit Thinks He's Being Sneaky, Fails Miserably. More news on page 19.

When Neil is done waxing poetic about Andrew's ~strength~ and his ~*~unyiedling body~*~, he goes back to his dorm for part 2 of The Matt Confrontation:

„Neil? We're here when you want to talk about it.“

„I know.“

Is that... Neil... close to accepting actual help from outside...

Amazing.

He knew just from looking at Matt that Matt would accept any truth Neil gave him right now, no matter how cruel or unbelievable. He'd done the right thing by going to Evermore; he was making the right choice in standing his ground here with the Foxes. (…) If [what happened] was the only way to keep his teammates safe from Riko's cruelty, it was an easy price to pay.

Okay ya brb while I drown myself in my own fucking tears.

FOX FAMILY. STOP RUINING MY FEELINGS. I'm supposed to be cool and witty here but I can't even do that because I'm just too emotional over this.

And the fun doesn't stop here, oh no.

Are you guys ready?

I know there are some people fidgeting excitedly in their seats right now because they know what's about to come up – the grand finale to a wonderful third-book-kick-off chapter:

The goddamn rooftop thing.

Andrew turned to face him. „I'll take an explanation now.“

„You couldn't ask for answers inside where it's warm?“ Neil asked.

Glad to see that even when faced with his (by now Confirmed™) crush, Neil still doesn't lose his sass.

But of course, Neil is not one to keep secrets from his murder boyfriend, and so he tells him of the Christmas Fuckery – which Andrew is decidedly not fucking liking, because of course Neil left Kevin's side and therefore kind of broke their deal.

Whoops.

„Why did you go?“

Neil didn't know if he could say it. Thinking about it was almost too much. Andrew was waiting, though, so Neil choked back his nausea. „Riko said if I didn't, Dr. Proust would-“

Andrew clapped a hand over his mouth, smothering the rest of his words. (…) „Do not make the mistake of thinking I need your protection.“

Okay, but don't you, though?

Neil says it himself later on, and he's entirely correct: Andrew watches everyone's backs, who's gonna watch his?

He may be an expert in back-watching, but even the most back-watchiest back-watcher in the world can be out-back-watched, my dude. And who's gonna come rescue you then, hm? HMM??

Neil fucking will, of course.

„The next time someone comes for you, stand down and let me deal with it. Do you understand?“

„If it means losing you, then no.“

SHIT WHAT.

Since when are our boys so damn open with their love declarations?? This was so outta nowhere?? I'm fcukign?? Having a heart attack??

And following that – of course. The one, the only, the iconic:

„I hate you,“ Andrew said casually. (…) „You were supposed to be a side effect of the drugs.“

„I'm not a hallucination,“ Neil said, nonplussed.

„You are a pipe dream,“ Andrew said.

BOY.

SHIT.

IM FCIKIGN FUCKKNGING FKUCKKVMFGNICHNNNKNX

The fact that Andrew thought his feelings (THAT ARE NOW CONFIRMED, I REPEAT, CONFIRMED ANDREW FEELINGS FOR NEIL HAVE BEEN SPOTTED) were a temporary thing, unreal, a side effect of being high out of his mind, is just like kind of, casually ruining my life. No biggie.

No fucking biggie.

Andrew quickly realizes he may have admitted too many feelings though, and in a feeble attempt to save his cold front and fragile masculinity, he throws Neil's keys off the roof, because just giving them back to him normally wouldn't have been Manly™ enough.

However Neil, once more, is able to show us that he can give as good as he gets (innuendo absolutely intended):

Neil wasn't sure why he did it, but he plucked Andrew's cigarette off the sidewalk and stuck it between his lips. He tipped his head back to meet Andrew's unwavering gaze and tapped two fingers to his temple in Andrew's mocking salute. (…) It felt like a win, though Neil wasn't sure why.

Fucking hell.

These two are going to a) improve this last book exponentially and b) absolutely fucking ruin my life.

Nicki out.

As always: If you like what I do here and you want to help me continue writing fun things for you, please consider buying me a coffee. Every lil bit does absolutely help, getting me through uni and all that jazz. Thanks so much!!

#nicki reads tfc #tkm #tfc #aftg #the kings men #the foxhole court #all for the game #nora sakavic #this is SO LATE im so sorry #//dishes update out #//leaves in a flurry of glitter and stress #drop me an ask or tags in ur reblogs to tell me how you liked it ok byeeee

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soullessminyard · 7 years

Text

@palesandwichobject asked for a part 2 of the Andreil Twilight AU (part 1) (special thanks also goes to @alecolightwood )

Neil needs some time to adjust to his new vampire body

He is still surprised when his body moves faster than he anticipates

Stupid accidents in school happen

Like Neil just disappearing and then showing up at the other side of the room a few seconds later

The other students think he is even weirder since he started hanging out with Andrew

They are also concerned because the two of them seem really close now

Who would voluntarily want to spend time with Andrew (he is scary af)

But the Foxes are worried too because if Neil keeps acting like that they´ll have to move soon

Riko may be dead but if they call too much attention to themselves the humans will soon start to notice that they aren´t normal

And if other vampires (possibly members of Riko´s clan) become aware of the fact that they have revealed their true nature this could start yet another war between the Foxes and the Ravens

So they decide that it´s time to move

Nicky wants to move to Germany because he wants to move in with Erik again

But he´s overruled by the rest of the Foxes

Kevin suggests moving to Alaska and living with the Trojans a clan who has a similar lifestyle (Kevin is also close friends with the clan leader Jeremy)

Andrew of course chooses Kevin´s side

Neil doesn´t care (he just wants to be with Andrew) so he votes for Alaska

Most of the other Foxes also really like or at least tolerate the Trojans so most of them are ok with moving to Alaska

It takes some time to pack all their stuff (Allison has a lot of clothes and Kevin wants to take all his Exy gear with him)

They also need to make up an excuse about why they are moving in the middle of the school year

It takes about a month and a half of preparations until they are ready to move

At first Neil didn´t really care about moving because he´s been on the run for most of his life but when moving day rolls around he is actually pretty excited

The last few month were exhausting

He always had to pay attention to not blow their cover and to get used to all of his new abilities

Neil had to come to terms with his new scars

Andrew gave him a matching set of armbands when he found Neil silently tracing his scars one night

Neil has been wearing them ever since

He was also very busy figuring out his relationship with Andrew

There has been a lot of kissing and figuring out each others boundaries

They figured out that Andrew is ok with Neil touching his hair and neck and even his shoulders on most days

But the most important thing that Neil has discovered is the spot Neil has to kiss to make Andrew shudder

It happened one night when they sat on the roof together (like most nights)

Andrew had a cigarette between his lips and Neil´s new sense of smell allowed him to inhale the smell from just sitting next to Andrew and watching him smoke

Andrew looked good

The pale glow of the moon illuminating his straight nose, strong jaw line and long eyelashes

The smoke curling around Andrew´s expressionless yet beautiful face

Neil couldn’t resist

He leaned even closer inhaling some of the smoke surrounding Andrew

When Andrew didn´t shy away Neil moved another few inches closer

“Is that ok?”

“Yes”

Neil leaned in and gently kissed Andrew´s neck

His skin there was just as cold as the rest of him but Neil couldn’t help but think that Andrew`s skin is particularly soft there

Andrew´s hair tickled Neil´s skin while he explored Andrew´s neck

But then something happened

Andrew has been stock-still the whole time but when Neil reached the

spot right behind his ear his body shuddered and Andrew made the most beautiful little noise (almost a sigh)

Neil smiled against his neck

“You like it”

“Shut up”

“Do you want me to stop?”

“No”

Neil still grins whenever he thinks back to that moment (it has its advantages that Andrew can´t read his mind because he would just glare at him 24/7 if he knew what Neil is thinking about most of the time)

Yes, the last few month weren´t always easy for Neil but that just makes moving more exciting

He is now ready to build a new life with the Foxes and especially with Andrew

Even tho Andrew gave him a key and a home the house never felt like a real home to Neil

Andrew´s room has always been Andrew´s room even after Neil moved in with him

Now they can finally start over and built a new home together

Neil can´t wait to do that

Andrew and Neil drive to their new home together (they were supposed to take Aaron and Nicky with them but Andrew just started the engine when they were going back for the last bags that were still in the house)

Neil got used to Andrew´s driving style by now

He actually really enjoys going on road trips with Andrew

This always means quality time and at least a few kisses when they have to stop for gas or Andrew simply gets bored

They are the first to arrive at their destination

Jeremy stands in front of the house to greet them

Nothing seems amiss but Andrew has a weird feeling and his instincts are right more often than not

He can smell something or rather someone

Jean

Andrew grits his teeth but can`t stop the hiss from escaping

“What is he doing here?” snarls Andrew

“He is one of us now”, answers Jeremy calm as always

“Then we won`t stay here”, states Andrew before he turns and starts walking back towards the car

“Andrew wait”, Neil runs after him (his new abilities allow Neil to reach Andrew before he can leave)

“No!” Neil protests when he reaches him

“I´m not letting him near you. Maybe you forgot but I still remember everything”

Just when Neil opens his mouth to say something Jeremy catches up with them

“When Riko died Jean came to us asking for help and a shelter. We decided to give him a second chance and if you can´t accept then I´ll have to ask you to leave. But I hope that you´ll think about it before you make a hasty decision”

Andrew just stares blankly at Jeremy and then continues walking towards the car

Neil jogs after Andrew

“Please”

“What?”

“Let us stay here. At least for a little while. If something goes wrong we can always leave immediately”

Andrew looks at him before he nods

He turns around to look at Jeremy “If something happens to him I´m going to kill you all”

Jeremy ignores Andrew threat and just proceeds to show them the house and the property

After a few difficulties at the beginning Andrew and Neil soon settle into their new room

It takes some time for both of them to adjust but they manage eventually

Kevin and Jean fight a lot the first few months after the foxes have moved in but after some time and a few talks they decide on a truce

Andrew and Jean still don’t really talk and Andrew almost killed Jean twice but other than that everything seems pretty chill

Neil FINALLY gets to play vampire Exy

To say he is excited is an understatement

He loves every second of it

Andrew and Neil stay with the Trojans for a few years until they decide that it´s time to move on

They want to live on their own (without the others breathing down their necks every second)

Having their own house instead of just having their own bedroom

They want to settle down far away from the civilization; somewhere in the woods (They are tired of changing identities and pretending to be human. They just want to be left alone)

After some research they find the perfect house in middle of the Canadian forest

It´s very remote and the next village is a three hour drive away

They choose their final identities so they can purchase the house

When Neil checks the new passport he splutters

“This says Josten-Minyard?”

“I am aware”

“We´re not married”

“You´re exceptionally clever today”

“Do you want to get married?”

Let´s be real Neil definitely thought about it more than once but he never imagined this could be something that Andrew wants as well

“Yes or no?” Andrew looks like he couldn’t care less when he asks the question but Neil sees right through him

He sees the slight shimmer of nervousness in Andrew´s eyes and the way the corners of his mouth twitch in anticipation

“It´s always yes with you”

This is how Andreil decide to get married

They don´t want a ceremony (their passports already say that they are married and the simple agreement that they want to acknowledge that fact is enough for them. They know that they are each others forever. They don´t need to prove that to anyone)

Renee saw their talk in one of her visions and when Andrew and Neil come back she doesn´t even need to ask Andrew how Neil reacted

She can see that her vision came true in Andrew´s eyes and can hear it in Neil´s carefree laughter

Renee doesn´t tell the other foxes about it because she knows that Andrew and Neil don´t want to make a big deal out of it

It´s actually Neil´s fault that the foxes catch up on what´s going on

Sometimes he just needs reassurance that all of this is true

That he doesn´t need to run anymore

That Andrew is his home

That Andrew is his husband

So he takes out his new passport sometimes to look at it and make sure it really reads Josten-Minyard there

In a house full of people it only takes so long until someone catches him doing that

It ends up being Nicky who walks in on Neil just quietly staring at the little booklet in his hand

“What is that?”

“Nothing”

Neil tries to hide the passport behind his back but Nicky is faster and grabs it right out of Neil´s hands

“When did that happen?” Nicky asks barely able to contain his excitement when he reads their combined surnames

“What do you mean?”

“Don´t be stupid. When did you and Andrew get married?”

“Uhm technically we didn´t get married. We just changed our names on the passports so it would be easier to buy the house”, Neil tries to downplay the whole thing in the hope that Nicky will just forget about it

But of course he won´t

He tells everyone he comes across about his new discovery and after a few hours everyone in the house knows about it

When they all sit together in the evening Nicky of course mentions how sad it is that Andrew and Neil didn´t have a proper wedding and that it would be a nice way to say goodbye before they move

Andrew and Neil immediately disagree

They don´t need a ceremony

Not to mention a ceremony planned by Nicky

But Renee gives Andrew a look and a few seconds later he can see the vision she had earlier that day

It´s an image of Neil in a nice black suit standing at the end of an aisle decorated with flowers, waiting for Andrew to join him

But what strikes Andrew most about the vision is the smile on Neil´s face

It´s so radiant and bright

His dead heart clenches at the sight

Renee nods her head in Neil´s direction (a gentle gesture that says just think about it)

And Andrew knows that he would do everything to make Neil smile like that (even if that means having an actual wedding)

So it´s decided that they will get married on the day they move

Their belongings will already be a on the way to Canada and will wait for them there when they come back from their honeymoon

The ceremony is simple and nothing official

Just an exchange of vows in the garden

But that didn´t keep Nicky from going all out with the flower decoration

Sunflowers line the way to the makeshift altar (it´s a table with a white tablecloth) and at the end of the aisle an arch of yellow and white roses completes the ensemble

Allison choose the suits

They are both black and very fashionable

Wymack officiates the wedding

All the Foxes and Trojans are invited (even Jean)

There are several betting pools on how the whole thing will go down

They bet on a lot of different things but no one expected them to actually take the wedding seriously (except from Renee but she is not allowed to bet on anything because she probably already knows the outcome)

Neil is nervously standing in front of the altar waiting for Andrew

They are already married on paper but that doesn´t make the strange feeling in his belly go away

And then the music starts

It´s a lovely song but Neil doesn´t really pay attention because Andrew´s just arrived

Bee is walking him down the aisle

He looks breathtaking in his black suit with the white dress shirt and his silver tie

When he reaches Neil he puts out one hand and Neil is glad that he has something to hold on to

Andrew is his anchor

He holds Neil in place and will never let him go (Neil is glad for that)

Neil can´t help but give Andrew his biggest, brightest smile and he is pleased to notice that Andrew´s eyes soften the tiniest bit

Wymack gives a heartfelt speech

Saying goodbye to both of them and wishing them the best for their future

If vampires would be able to cry there would be only a few dry faces

Then it´s time for Andrew and Neil to exchange vows

Neil goes first

“Andrew, you gave me a place to call home and a new life. I promise that I will never forget about the second chance you gave me and that I will cherish that gift until the end of my existence. I promise to trust you and that I will stay by your side. And if should feel the need to run I´ll always come back home to you”

It is short but still more than anyone expected

When it´s Andrew´s turn they all sit stock-still and no one dares to make the slightest noise

Neil giving a little speech was surprising but Andrew saying something he actually means in return seems entiretly impossible

The silence stretches for a few more moments

Then Andrew opens his mouth

His voice is quiet but clear

His face entirely impassive

“This means something”

Neil doesn´t need to breathe anyone but he still gasps at Andrew´s words

“I vow to never bring you any harm and to protect you for the rest of my existence”

If Neil´s heart was still beating it would be jumping right out of his chest

His knees feel weak

He is not the most emotional person but this is the first time Andrew admitted that there is something between them

And he offered his protection

AGAIN

All Neil can do is hold on tighter and hope that Andrew will keep his promise and never let go

Andrew of course notices that something is going on

He squeezes Neil´s hand and tucks him forward

Neil stumbles a bit but Andrew stops him with two hands on his shoulders before he barrels into Andrew

“Alright?”

“Yes”

Neil stares at Andrew for a few more seconds until Wymack interrupts their moment to continue with the ceremony

Renee stands and comes up to them

She has a little velvet box in her hand

Andrew and Neil turn their heads to look at her

While Neil´s mouth opens wide in surprise Andrew merely raises an eyebrow

“I saw you consider it and thought I´ll help you to make a decision. You don´t need to take them if you don´t want to. What you do with them is your choice but I just wanted to give them to you”

She smiles gently at them

When Andrew extends his hands towards her she places the box in his palm

Then she goes back to her chair

Andrew lets go off Neil`s hand and opens the box

In the box are two plain gold rings

“Yes or no?”

“Yes”

Andrew takes one of the rings and puts it on the ring finger of Neil´s right hand (later Neil wears his on a chain around his neck because he is scared to lose it on a hunt)

Neil does the same with Andrew´s ring

“Andrew and Neil by the power invested in me, I now pronounce you husband and husband! You may now kiss!”

(They don´t really need that part because it´s not an official ceremony but Nicky insisted it is mandatory)

Neil is unsure if Andrew is comfortable with kissing him in front of everyone

So he waits what Andrew will do

Andrew holds out his hand again

They intertwine their fingers and walk down the aisle together

They´ll save the kisses for their honeymoon

The wedding reception is short and mainly consists of saying goodbye to everyone

Andrew and Neil will spend their honeymoon on a small island in the Caribbean

Their flight is on the same day so they need to get ready to leave soon after the wedding

Nicky put a big Just Married sticker on the car they will drive to the airport but Andrew and Neil don´t care

They get into the car and Andrew starts the engine

Neil waves a last goodbye to his new family

When he can´t see them anymore he turns back around to find Andrew looking at him

He isn´t smiling but it´s a close call

Neil fiddles with the ring on his finger and smiles back

He can´t wait to spend his forever with Andrew

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jojen-hewitt · 7 years

Photo

“Better luck next time.”

Bank Robber AU for @ambiguous-eyepatch for the Valentines @aftgexchange!

I had a lot of fun drawing these and I hope you like it! 😃

I realized too late that this wasn't exactly what you meant by your prompt, sorry about that, but I hope it's still okay!

The rest of my mini-fic/headcanons/ramblings about this AU are below the cut:

Okay, so right off the bat I got a little carried away with this AU and its way longer than I thought it'd be, so tldr version; Andrew and Neil are rival thieves who sometimes help each other out. Neil gives fake names, Andrew finds him interesting. Two finger salutes are used back and forth. The others make appearances. Neil's a little shit to Riko. Totally impractical, illegal, and very convenient scenarios ensue. Exactly what you'd expect from what was supposed to be a Bank Robber AU but turned more into a Cat Burglar AU. Again, sorry about that!

So, *rolls up sleeves*

Andrew, Aaron, and Nicky are a gang of thieves (Aaron is the tech/medic guy, Andrew's the thief, Nicky is usually the distraction/get away driver). The three of them have been doing this since the twins were in high school. ("It's expensive raising two twin boys as a single parent. Especially when one has expensive tastes in cars and the other wants to be a doctor!" "For the last time Nicky, stop telling people we're your kids!!")

Although Andrew has been doing this on his own for a while (it's how he got himself thrown into juvie)

Neil takes to becoming a thief after his mom died. They still went on the run because they stole from his father, so he thought that would be the best way to keep up some kind of income. He changes name and appearance to avoid police and his father (heads up now, this is the last time Nathan's mentioned, didn't know how else to add him).

Neil threw his outfit together at a thrift store (Orange was the only colour of bandana left, ok).

Andrew of course bought nice, expensive, dark clothes that can blend easily in a crowd. Also to make him look ninja like, not like anyone but Nicky would dare to admit it though.

These two first meet at the Hernandez Museum in Arizona. Neil tries to steal a painting; Andrew whacks him in the gut with his poster portfolio before grabbing the painting and high tailing it outta there, (Not before he gets a fake name from Neil (probably Stefan)),

"Better luck next time." *two finger salute*

As Neil moves on to South Carolina, sometimes the orange gets recognized, so the papers have taken to calling him The Fox ("Really, Matt? That's what they call him?" "Yeah, you know, orange face mask and he's a thief. Dan came up with it. Makes sense if you ask me.")

Side note, Neil is Matt's new roommate and Matt has no clue what's going down, but accepts that his roomie runs at weird hours and prefers to keep things surface level in conversation. They're still bffs during the day when their schedules intersect.

Dan, the investigative reporter interested in this string of robberies, lives with Renee next door to the cousins, those shifty looking guys who are always angrily whispering in German at each other and coming and going at weird times, but Nicky seems nice enough and Dan thinks Renee has a thing for Andrew, (she does not, they just spar together once a week, and Renee may or may not teach Andrew some lock picking techniques... maybe), so they let it go.

Allison is a close friend of the girls and owns some of the valuables/buildings that get targeted. She's sort of confused when some of these items return a few weeks after Dan reports about them stolen, with a fox sticky note attached

(Neil may steal for a living, but he feels bad when he finds out some of that stuff is hers, so returns the more sentimental items. Andrew does not.)

Kevin is the detective trying to catch these thieves with his new partner - Andrew, who uses info to get a good location/hit or cover his trail. (also puts that criminal justice degree to some use).

*I debated making Kevin a security guard but liked the idea of Andrew being his partner while also being the criminal they're trying to catch dynamic better*

Kevin eventually joins up with Andrew's crew because Riko (Kevin's old partner, also on the robberies case) just took things way too far and sort of snapped, almost injuring Kevin. He won't take part in the robberies himself, but he'll help give a lead or distract the attention of the other officers when Andrew needs it. (He just wants Andrew to help keep him from Riko again.)

Kevin takes his job very seriously, but when he finds out Neil, an old childhood acquaintance, is The Fox he warns him to run before more trouble starts up with Riko (Neil does not, he's found a life here, even if some of its a lie, and he's gonna fight for it).

Kevin starts drinking around this time. (seriously, all he wanted was to be a good detective like his mom and dad, now he's covering for two thieves he's supposed to be apprehending for lord knows what reason)

Seth is a security guard who Nicky takes great pleasure in knocking out (he overheard the guy said some shitty things about gay people while they were staking out the place earlier)

Erik is the cousins' international seller.

Wymack is the police chief/commissioner and doesn’t get paid enough.

Now back to the thieving.

Neil keeps running into this guy at his heists and it turns into a sort of one sided rivalry of Neil trying to case the joint before Andrew gets there.

It barely works, Andrew always beats him there, but he gets better at it. (and someone would be lying if they said Andrew doesn't wait sometimes to see if the Fox shows up)

Neil's taken to calling Andrew the Monster because Allison hates whoever keeps stealing her stuff (also, getting hit by a portfolio tube hurts, Andrew, of course he's gonna think you're a monster at first) but after one time he hears Aaron yelling over Andrew's earpiece, he extends the title to "the Monsters".

which is also roughly when Andrew gives him some sort of name in return to Neil's alias (Chris this time around) because this has been going on for months now.

Andrew eventually makes a deal with him to help each other out because this thief is a train wreck and is gonna get them caught eventually (Andrew will keep the police off his tail and Neil just has to help Andrew with some of the trickier robberies).

Andrew tends to chat a little with this weird Fox named Alex or Stefan or Chris or Duncan or whoever he is today, just 'cause these robberies have started to bore him, but this,

this guy is something interesting

And they start to learn little seemingly inconvenient things about each other

("Oh, there's knives in those? Good to know." "Your mom's dead? Same for my brother. Paid for my car." "Favourite color is grey actually!" "You're more a raccoon than a fox." "Actually my family never celebrated holidays. What brings you to a jewelry store on Thanksgiving?" "I don't like being touched." "Tell your friend that I can in fact understand what he's saying in German... And fuck him too." "Ice cream is the best goddamn food in the world and I will gut you for saying otherwise!")

... Ok, last one is more context than verbatim, but you get the point...

As he gets better, Neil starts to leave little fox sticky notes behind with insults towards Detective Moriyama (because fuck that guy, he keeps bad mouthing The Fox in the news and saying it'd be easy to catch "an amateur like this flea"!!)

Kevin and Andrew have mini heart attacks when they find them ("why agree to my protection when you clearly have a death wish?!")

Eventually, Neil has perfected the art to the point where he can get the item/money before Andrew arrives, but against his better judgement (and the screams of his mother in his head to "Just run! Run! Get out of there while you can!") he stays, even just to leave Andrew with a new fake name.

One of these nights Neil almost gets caught by Riko on patrol, (who is still rather enraged by the last note; how does the Fox even know about his daddy issues?), so he has to change his appearance last minute to not get recognized on the streets.

Matt is the most surprised by the new auburn hair and blue eyes, but again, he rolls with it. Recommends that his girlfriend's roommate is really good with dying hair if he wants to mix it up again though.

Andrew and Aaron get into some trouble (*cough*Drake*cough*) so the Monsters are out of commission for a while.

Neil feels slightly responsible (somehow his tip off to Andrew leads to it, I don't know).

They haven't seen each other since that night.

Andrew eventually gets back into the swing of things ("Andrew are you sure..?" "Yes Nicky, now get in the fucking car.")

One night Kevin gets him a tip off about an opportunity at the EVRMR Private Bank (inside info from Jean who just so happens to hate working there and the Moriyamas, who own the place).

So as Andrew makes his way to the roof, he hears something below (hurried foot steps from all too familiar worn out shoes below) and he takes a glance and sees a flash of orange.

And there's that bothersome shadow who was only supposed to be a brief distraction from routine,

but now he's got a slightly new look and what appears to be a duffle full of what's supposed to be Andrew's cash.

Neil senses eyes on him and sees a figure on the roof and just knows.

Cue two finger salute. "Better luck next time!!"

And he's gone.

(Andrew still checks the vault and finds a fox sticky note that says 'Abram')

*cue Aaron's screams of annoyance and Nicky's demands to know if this guy is at least hot if they keep letting him take their marks*

(Kevin probably is downing a vodka bottle somewhere, but that's a given)

Next day, Riko is out for blood. Jean eventually quits and goes to work at the Trojan Bank.

Later, Dan decides to throw a house party for reasons (maybe a successful article? Matt got a promotion? A doomed attempt to get Renee and Andrew together?)

Renee calmly asks Andrew to come and he agrees for the sake of free booze (also Nicky has been making annoying puppy dog faces at the door ever since Dan asked him and he had to say no)

He's bored and tired and hates that his boss and Kevin are there

(Dan spends so much time hounding the police station for stories that Wymack has essentially adopted her)

Then Matt comes in with a quiet, auburn haired roommate called Neil.

That's when things start to get interesting.

#foxhole court #neil josten #andrew minyard #andreil #aftgexchange #ambiguous-eyepatch #aftg art #my art #my writing #sorta #gift exchange #bank robber au #i really hope you like it #you are such an amazing artist btw!#i felt honored making this for you!#:D #sorry its not really what you asked for... and is really long...

682 notes · View notes

thgrimmginning · 7 years

Text

So guys, I think Neil might be right about Andrew, more so than we thought. we all imagine Andrew Minyard as this edge lord but like Andrew is way sappy, and actually cares a lot. That might be why he even signed with the foxes, because despite his promise to Kevin, he hadn’t been interested before the incident and he had never been interested in exy. Be he and Wimack actually have a lot in common, more than anybody would feel good to admit. Cause Andrew just doesn’t give up on people. Proof number one: Aaron. For some insane reason Andrew actually gives a shit about this mystery twin that just pops up in his life. He know nothing. As far as Andrew is aware of Aaron may have been the golden boy with a perfect life. But our optimist sunshine boy, yes, no sarcasm, Andrew, despite what he had been trough up to that point, tries and for years from then on keeps his promise to him. He tells Neil how he wished when he had been younger to have a normal life, a home. The boy had been abused as young as 7 and still when he got to Cass’ home he still believed. And he was ready to put up with more for a tiny bit of happiness and stability. Even after he all that. When he goes and lives with Tilda and and Aaron he takes care of his bro (in aggressive but efficient manner). Next is Kevin . We hear from Kevin of how Andrew had no interest in somebody set on being 2nd place. But what I think that says is that Andrew doesn’t care about people that don’t want help. Doesn’t matter how much you hurt, if you don’t want help and to change nothing will work. Andrew knows that and he doesn’t waste time. When Kevin comes for help, seeks others , Andrew is all too ready to throw in a hand. Especially if it is entertaining. Matt is another case like that. He clearly needed an intervention and if Andrew got one more enemy out of this , why the he’ll not? Last but not least neil. Boy is danger in neon colors written all over. But he is also pretty, and mysterious and fun and intelligent and he got a mouth sharper than renee’s knives. And let’s not forget robin. Though not in the books she is undeniable proof to my case. Now let’s talk about sap master Andrew Minyard. Does he day dream about his brush ? You can bet your ass he does. Cheesy lines?“you are a pipe dream” , hm. He probably stay undecided in college and just takes classes with Neil. Fight me on that. So can here, have this happy au where all is more or less okay. Andrew is happy with his makeshift family composed of Aaron and nicky. And he is this amazing sap but won’t admit. Like he loves rom come and watches them all with nicky but if anyone tells…well none lives to tell. They are perfect excuses for unhealthy amounts of sweets. Aaron, future doctor and true edge lord(boy is like 1000% concentrated extra virgin cynicism nihilism and sarcasm, won’t shut up about being healthy or some shit. But like he listens to Andrew rant and vent so they cancel each other. Andrew also checks the movies for tickets for every new rom com and goes for nicky to them all (read drags poor boy there). The monsters are in high school. Junior or something. And one day a new guy comes in. His name is Neil, and he is just beautiful. Red fiery hair, deep blue eyes and the smile.(In this au people don’t have the shit load of issues in canon) Soon he gets one everyone’s radar because of his snarky attitude and the way he roasts people (*riko). And now when Andrew looks for him in the canteen he sees him standing at dan wilds’ table, one of the most popular people and captain of almost every sports team. He also has languages with him, German or russian or sth crazy. And Andrew uses this time to stare at the boy. Thanks to nicky (#selfcaregod) his hair is pretty nice but neil is something else. So curly and rend and pretty..aghshnfhsjkd And it goes on like that. In a couple months neil has the school at his toes. Andrew tries to coherence renee, one of dnas’ friends into finding more , but our neil stays a mystery. His past. His family. Etc. But it all changes when they bump into each other at pride. Neil there with allison and renee, trying to figure out. All the group is having a blast. In the au Andrew is out and while tiny no one would dare speak to this still menacing 5 feet ball of fear.nicky may or may not have helped Andrew in dealing with his feeling. And from there on Andrew and Neil just talk and hang and cue aesthetics. Road trips and ice cream dates and what not. Smoke breaks and just fun talking. Aaron being the suspicious bustard he is totally checks on neil on their their first date “what is your GPA?what do you want form your future?”. But man thing escalate and Andrew and Neil bond over terrible parents . Neil is amazed at what an and proactive person Andrew is, going to a psychiatrist and all and he helps neil with his anxiety . More to come maybe

#andreil #the foxhole court #all for the game #a.u #andrew minyard

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nickireadstfc · 7 years

Text

The Raven King, Chapter 7 – Next Stop: Backstory Central

In which Kevin and Neil have a heart-to-heart that feels like an aftershock of last chapter’s earthquake, Neil continues his quest to becoming an actual human being, and we unlock like fifty levels of backstory thanks to everyone’s favourite chatty gay sunshine.

Sounds good? Then it’s time for Nicki to read The Raven King.

Have I recovered from the sass fest from last time?

No.

Are we going to plunge in straight again with yet another 3k+ chapter?

Yes.

Let’s go.

“You want to tell me why you have a hard-on for antagonizing Riko?” Wymack asked.

“He started it,” Neil muttered into his tortilla.

Reason number 4597265 why I love Wymack: He uses the exact same expressions I would.

A hard-on for antagonizing Riko, amazing. <3

“How can you stand having a team like ours, Coach? Isn’t it exhausting dealing with us and our problems day after day?”

Wymack emptied his coffee with one big gulp. “Nope.”

Reason number 1 why I love Wymack: THIS. FUCKING THIS.

My grumpy Hufflepuff vodka dad I love you so much.

#dicksoutforwymack, always.

Grumpy Hufflepuff vodka dad is starting to see through Neil’s bullshit, though. He confronts him about “not adding up right” and even asks him about why he’s such a smartass to the powerful Moriyamas, but flinches when Wymack makes a wrong hand movement.

And Neil – amazing! Such character development! – answers him honestly, saying he doesn’t trust men his father’s age on principle.

As a prize for Neil’s honesty, we get Wymack’s backstory in return – the first of many, many this chapter, I can promise you that.

“You parents must be something else.”

“So must be yours if you spend so much time on us,” Neil said.

“They were,” Wymack agreed.

“Oh,” Neil said. “Are they both dead?”

Wymack looked amused by his tactlessness. “My mother OD’d almost ten years ago and my father lost a prison fight the first year I started here at Palmetto state. I hadn’t spoken to either of them since I left D.C.”

To absolutely no one’s surprise, Wymack’s family is just as fucked up as the Foxes’.

Cue generic “dude comes from broken home, tries to make a better home for younger folks in same situation” trope.

Cue me crying.

“Sometimes the world feels so big, but then I’m reminded how small it is.”

“Big or small, just remember that you’re not alone in it,” Wymack said. “You have your team, but that’s a double-edged sword. They’re there for you anytime you need them, and they’ll hold you up if you want them to, but you actions have consequences for all of them as well. The more you antagonize Riko, the harder you make things on them.”

And just as I was about comment on how emotional I’m getting over all the team feels – Neil goes and ends the feels time again.

“Like with Seth,” Neil said. “I know.”

Wymack stared at him for an endless minute, then said too quietly, “The fuck did you just say to me?”

Well…. Fuck.

Wymack is decidedly not liking Andrew’s theory over the Mysterious and Dramatic Death of one Seth Gordon. He tells Neil that whatever happened is not his fault, as Riko – whatever he may have done – definitely crossed a line, or two, or fifty, all armed with missiles and wire and Keep Out Riko, You Big Fucknut signs.

You know, what any sane human being could have told Neil chapters ago, but as we know homeboy doesn’t exactly surround himself with the sanest bunch of people.

Also, for the record, I think Andrew’s “theory” is entirely correct. But we’ll see.

Onwards to the stadium and to more interesting confrontation in this chapter: Neil vs Kevin vs Literal Years Of Repressed Childhoood Memories.

“You’re not really him,” Kevin said so low Neil barely understood his words. “Tell me you aren’t really Nathaniel.” (…)

“Don’t call me that. It doesn’t matter who I used to be. I��m Neil now.”

Damn, brain, back at it again with the trans!Neil headcanons.

MY SON.

“I figured the chances of you remembering me were slim and I gambled on you not knowing the truth about my family.”

“How could we not remember you?” Kevin asked.

Bitch, you literally did not remember him until violently reminded by the Ravens. Do not come to me with that shit.

Today’s Casually Mentioned, Yet Heartbreakingly Sad Neil Fact is this:

“My mother didn’t tell me why we were running,” Neil said. (…) “It was always about the weather or our current language or the local culture – the next time she had anything meaningful to say to me was when she was dying.”

I CREI.

Now, did you think we were done with all the plot twists and backstory developments last chapter?

Hell fuckin’ nope. There’s one crucial bit missing.

(And probably like a million more that I have no idea are yet to come, but let me enjoy a moment of “maybe we’re done now pls”.)

“You father was Lord Kengo’s right hand man, the most trusted weapon in Lord Kengo’s arsenal. (…) You were supposed to be like me. You were a gift, another player for the master to train.”

FUCKING WHAT.

Oh jeez. Oh shit. Fuck, no.

This just takes the fucking cake, but it’s considerably less yummy birthday cake and more The Help-actual-shit-cake.

To sum this up:

Tiny baby Neil was given a chance to be recruited by the Moriyamas: If he played well enough they’d keep him as a pet, if he didn’t, his own father would personally kill him. His mother ran away with him before he could get to that tryout, yet never told him a thing about their actual situation – for no understandable reason. Neil’s life could have basically gone two directions: A youth prodigy Exy star raised on domestic abuse and crippling anxiety, or the isolated runaway with internalized trust issues he is now. And now that the Moriyamas know he’s still out there, they want to salvage their “lost property” and make him the Raven he was meant to be.

There is legit not one part of that paragraph I’m not yelling “WHAT THE FUCK” at.

What is happening?? The fuck??? THE FUCK?????

Area Girl Thought She’d Seen The Last Of This, What Happens Next Will Shock You:

Because what happens next is wonderful, wonderful character development.

Neil crouched and pressed his hands to the orange paint. “I don’t want to run. I don’t want to be a Raven. I don’t want to be Nathaniel. I want to be a Fox. I want to play with you this year and I want us to make it to championships. And in spring when the Moriyamas come for me I’ll do what they’re so afraid I will. I’ll go to the FBI and tell them everything. Let them kill me. It’ll be too late by then.”

SHIT BOI.

FUCK ME THE FUCK UP.

Have I like……….. mentioned I love this boy recently?? Yes?? Good.

Kevin was silent for an endless minute, then said, “You should be Court.”

It was barely a whisper, but it cut Neil to the bone. It was a resentful goodbye to the bright future Kevin had wanted for Neil.

//cries for a million years.

Honestly, the Kevin/Neil dynamic just keeps fucking getting me, and these recent developments are not helping.

Ah, speaking of character dynamics I’d probably take a bullet for –

“Andrew has neither purpose nor ambition,” Kevin said. “I was the first person who ever looked at Andrew and told him he was worth something. When he comes off these drugs and has nothing else to hold him up I will give him something to build his life around.”

//cries for a billion years.

So, their deal is “I protect you from your crazy ass abusers and their posse, in return you give me a future”?

I can work with that. I can also imagine there’s probably more to it. Let’s wait and see.

Onwards to better and brighter things:

A few interesting developments in Neil’s Quest to Becoming An Actual Human Being.

For the first time in his life, Neil wasn’t thinking about the future. He stopped counting days until the Ravens’ match and scaled back on how much news he watched and read. He threw all of his energy into practices, stayed awake through most of his classes, and juggled his teammates as best as he could.

You guys have no, no idea how happy that sentence makes me.

Yes, my son. Go out there and have a life full of happy practices and healthy social interactions. <3

He knew things about [his teammates] he’d never bothered to learn about anyone else in his entire life.

Scratch that part before, this sentence makes me so much happier.

IT’S MOTHER FLIPPIN’ BACKSTORY TIME.

I’ll sum things up for you.

Matt comes from a wealthy, but broken family, and has a history of drug abuse (which we knew already). His boxer mum is probably the most badass woman there is.

Renee was born Natalie, used to be in the foster system (same as Andrew!), and knows Dan from back in high school where they used to be Exy rivals. Wymack signed them both and they became fast friends afterwards.

Dan did stripping as a way to support her aunt and newborn cousin while in high school, and although she has cut ties with her family, she’s still in touch with her strip squad. Dan also wants to take over coaching the Foxes after Wymack retires.

In short: FUCK. YEAH.

A few chapters ago I was just complaining about all the backstory we don’t yet have, and now we’re getting ambushed by it.

I am loving this development.

Even Allison starts coming around! We don’t get her backstory yet (although we do kind of have some already – daughter of a wealthy and famous family wants to prove herself as her own person), but she makes steps towards being a little more okay. V nice. V good.

*whispers* I really want to like you please give me a reason to.

But ah, mes amis, did you think we were done yet? Fuck, no.

Welcome to the best part of this chapter: It’s Backstory Time – Special Minyard Edition.

“The coffee that interesting?”

Neil wondered if the Foxes secretly installed him with a tracking chip and turned towards Nicky’s voice.

Bahahahaha. Wouldn’t put it past [eyes Kevin and Andrew suspiciously] some of them.

They bump into Aaron and Katelyn on their first totally-not-a-date (I still give about 0.2 fucks about this relationship) and Nicky doesn’t crack any jokes about it – a miracle! – but instead starts to randomly give more insights into the Andrew-Aaron dynamic.

Not that I’m fucking complaining.

“Andrew hates her, you know?”

“Why?” Neil asked.

“Because Aaron likes her,” Nicky said, as if that was obvious. (…) “Andrew’s not really big on the idea of Aaron’s happiness, see? So if Aaron likes Katelyn, Andrew doesn’t want him to have her. Andrew might smile awful bright but he is a master of childish spite.”

Haha, that rhymed.

Andrew might smile awful bright, But he is a master of childish spite. “I have been raised on fear and hate Let Aaron suffer an equal fate.” His problems could be solved, my friends And Andrew could start making sense If Neil would think in that direction: The dude just needs some love and affection.

Thank you, thank you. Autographs at stage door, please.

Poetry time over.

Prepare for ALL THE MINYARD BACKSTORY.

(Who are we kidding. There’s probably still more. Dear god help me.)

“I told you Aunt Tilda gave Andrew up, right? That’s only half of it. Truth is she put both of them in the system at first. One week later she changed her mind. (…) Andrew went off to foster care and Aaron became to living reminder of Aunt Tilda’s guilt and failure. Aunt Tilda tried as hard as she could to not deal with Aaron at all.”

Ohhh shit. One Child Neglect to go please, coming right up.

Seriously, what is wrong with that woman. Either take both of them or take none of them. Don’t separate siblings, especially not twins. What the fuck is that “I’m feeling bad so I’ll take back one BUT not bad enough to take back two” bullshit.

“I’m thinking that’s why he wouldn’t talk to Aaron when Aaron wrote to him. He was – justifiably, I think – pissed off.”

Well, fucking duh. I’d be pissed off, too. Of course, it would be more reasonable to be pissed that the mother, but I can’t exactly blame Andrew for not being instant BFFs with Aaron.

“Aunt Tilda moved them cross-country, started drinking more than ever, and got heavy-handed with Aaron. Aaron got into all kinds of trouble in some sort of traumatized rebellion.”

Oh nooooo shit my dude, now I do feel bad for Aaron.

What sort of fuckery even are the Minyard’s lives.

“[Dad] introduced Aaron to Andrew. That’s when things started moving. Andrew suddenly got motivated. He started behaving and toeing the line and got released on early parole about a year later.”

“Andrew decided he wanted a brother after all,” Neil said. “So what went wrong?”

“Aunt Tilda died, and Aaron blames Andrew.”

OH SHIT.

Basically, what happened was that Andrew was standing in for Aaron – damn Minyards, back at it again with the twin tricks! – and he was in the car with Tilda when she caused a car crash that killed her.

Why are their lives so dramatic. What the fuck.

“Aaron can’t accept that she’s gone. He misses her. He can’t forgive Andrew, and Andrew doesn’t understand or care about how much it hurt Aaron. Stalemate.”

Well, doesn’t that sound like a wonderful brother match made in heaven.

However, Neil has some interesting insights to share on the whole fucked-up shebang:

“Andrew did care. That’s what went wrong. (…) Andrew would have traced Aaron’s problems back to their mother. Maybe he didn’t kill her for giving him up. Maybe he did it to protect Aaron. (…) She was hurting Aaron, so Andrew stopped her.”

For someone who says he doesn’t care about Andrew, Neil has suspiciously good understanding of how Andrew’s brain works.

Like, better than people like Nicky and Aaron, who have known him for literal years.

Just sayin’.

Also, what the fuck.

Also: That explains the “maybe he’s afraid she’ll die on him like the last woman he really loved” from a few chapters back!! Don’t you just love it when things… [clenches fist] add up.

“I’ve realized I can’t fix it on my own. I hate to say it, but I wish Renee would hurry up and make her move.” (…)

“What? I thought you didn’t like her.”

Nicky bolted upright like Neil struck him. “Who doesn’t like Renee?”

TAGGED #ME. MY DAUGHTER. DESERVING OF ALL THE LOVE.

Apparently, if we believe Nicky, my beloved platonic goalie BFFs ship is a lot less platonic than I thought – at least from Renee’s perspective.

Idk how I feel about this. Could be problematic. But could also be cute and very beneficial for Andrew, and my sweet murder snowflake does seem like she could handle his shit.

…Alright, who are we kidding. The latter. I love this dynamic in every way, haters to the left.

However, Neil proves once again that he has about the emotional capacity of a brick, and offers the only solution to any problem he knows:

“What about Exy?”

ARE YOU FOR REAL.

“Exy isn’t an option here, okay? You can love Exy all you want, it’s never gonna love you back.”

“So?”

“Oh my God.” Nicky looked torn between horror and pity. “Seriously? That might be the saddest thing I’ve ever heard.”

Same, Nicks.

Nicky tries talking some sense into Neil and pointing out that Exy can’t be your end-all-be-all for an emotionally healthy future, but Neil quickly derails him with Nicky’s favourite subject: Gay Talk™.

“Why don’t you like girls?” (…)

“They’re so soft.”

Neil thought about Renee’s bruised knuckles, Dan’s fierce spirit, and Allison holding her ground on the court a week after Seth’s death. (…) He felt compelled to say, “Some of the strongest people I’ve known are women.”

Bless feminist Neil.

(Nicky, of course, didn’t mean it like that and was talking about literally being soft, curves and all.)

And then – did you think we were done with backstory for today?

Because there’s one bugger still missing.

“There’s religious and there’s super psychotic religious. Me and Renee, we’re the decent sort, I think. (…) But my parents are the black-and-white-crazy kind.”

Oh, shit no.

As it turns out, Nicky (bless his heart) tried coming out to his parents despite their fanatism, which promptly resulted in them sending him to bible camp and tried to shame the gay out of him, which resulted in Nicky being hardcore depressed and suicidal.

MY SON. FUCK NO.

What saved him was Germany – being abroad and having someone showing him how to balance faith and sexuality. And as much as I love this development and I’m happy for them, I can’t get over one thing:

The guy is called Erik Klose. As in, German football superstar Miroslav Klose. And I can’t get over the mental image of Nora being like “oh well, I need a German surname, guess I’ll just take a look at the football squad from that year, ah yes perfect, that one.”

It’s not even that funny, but I now cannot ever take Erik seriously.

Nicky, of course, reins the conversation back to Neil needing to have healthy emotional bonds with someone at some point, which makes Neil end the conversation altogether.

Except for one last thing- is that a sliver of – gasp! – actual Andreil I see at the horizon?

For a moment Neil wondered. There was only one person in the world strong enough for all of Neil’s problems, and she was dead now. (…) Andrew, though, nodded in the face of his burden and told Neil to stay. He stood his ground when neil asked him for murder and gave him a key to their house.

But that didn’t count, because Andrew was Andrew, and this was definitely the last turn he needed his thoughts to take.

:’)))))))))))))))))))) I’m fine.

If you like what I do here and you want to help me continue writing, please consider buying me a coffee! Thank you so much <3

#nicki reads tfc #trk #tfc #aftg #nora sakavic #the raven king #all for the game #the foxhole court #GUESS WHOS LATE ITS ME #I'll make a post explaining some things about the Update Situation tonight okay #I promise I'm not forgetting you guys I'm just.. stressed #also I’m sorry for not answering any asks lately I can somehow only do that from mobile atm and I keep forgetting!! I’ll get to them in the #next two days hopefully

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nickireadstfc · 7 years

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The Foxhole Court: A Summary - The Exposition Court

Exposition! Legit so many fucking character introductions! ‘!!!!!!!!’ moments! Foreshadowing! Show, Don’t Tell! Opinions! Predictions that will no doubt end up being Absolutely Fucking Ridiculous! Yay!

Sounds good? Then it’s time for Nicki to sum up the Foxhole Court.

In 2013, now-renowned author Nora Sakavic blessed us with The Foxhole Court, book one of the All For The Game trilogy. In this first installment of orange gay sporty murder shit, protagonist, runaway and professional sassmaster Neil Josten signs with the Palmetto State Foxes, a ragtag sports team of outcasts and lunatics, in order to escape his Fucked Up Past™.

On his team he finds Kevin, a childhood friend of his with an equally Fucked Up Past™, and Andrew, a messed-up murder maniac on meds. They play Exy, which is the three-way lovechild sport of lacrosse, ice hockey and bad decisions, and Kevin takes it upon himself to train Neil into the prodigy he sees in him.

But The Plot is coming for them: Kevin’s childhood abusers, Riko and Tetsuji Moriyama, and their team, the Edgar Allan Ravens, have come into their district, and they are set on taking Kevin back to their magical land of abuse and kind-of slavery, destroying the Foxes’ athletic reputation and generally fucking up everyone’s lives.

But the Foxes are not going down without a fight, and after an epic smackdown between Riko and Neil on national television, Neil is accepted into their dysfunctional family of fiercely protective psychopaths, and together they stare down into the abyss of whatever fucked-up shit is yet to come.

And that’s the Foxhole Court for you.

Did I like it? Hell fucking yes.

Do I think it’s probably going to be the weakest out of the three? Also hell fucking yes.

Let me explain.

The Foxhole Court mainly consists of one thing: Exposition. Nora Sakavic takes her sweet time introducing Neil as a character, unfolding both his backstory and his personality bit by bit, and introducing everyone else the same (although we are clearly not done with the backstories by any stretch of the imagination) as well as giving us a good feel of what Exy is and why we should care about this orange sportsball.

However, one tiny unimportant thing is kind of suffering under all that, and that is the plot.

Don’t get me wrong. I LOVE exposition. I love getting to know characters, I love them having plot-unrelated banter, give me all that good shit. There hasn’t been one bit in TFC where I was bored or wanted to skip ahead (which, if you know my attention span, is a big thing). But we can’t deny that not much has happened so far.

In fact, there have only been five parts in this entire book where I was truly off my socks, either in excitement or shock or just general WHAT THE FUCK-ness:

When we find out Kevin’s (and Neil’s) backstory, fucking wHAT, I was blown away. I had not expected the book to be this serious. A+

The entire club scene with the monsters drugging Neil and Nicky kiss-raping him. I had stuff to say about that.

Neil telling Andrew like 80% of his Troubled Past™, I am deceased

THE MASTERPIECE THAT IS NEIL SASSING THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS OUT OF RIKO CAN I GET A HELL YEAH

Seth overdosing being murdered by Riko, aka the latest installment in our popular series WHAT.

And while everything else has been lovely as well, this speaks volumes for the plot which has, up until this point, been kind of on the down low, save for the moments mentioned above.

The good news is: In all likelihood, Seth’s death at the end of the book marks the point where exposition is now the fuck over. Dramatically, it would make sense to now stop fucking about and get down to business, to defeat the huns Ravens and really get to grips with the plot now in the second and third book.

(( Also, side note on the Seth situation: Let’s take a lil look back at chapter 6:

“The death threats were creative, though,” Nicky said. “Maybe this time they’ll follow through and actually kill one of us. Let’s vote. I nominate Seth.”

Like wHAT KIND OF SWEET ASS FORESHADOWING.

Huge thanks to spookymiscreant for pointing that out. <3 ))

As for writing style, I’m pleasantly surprised. Self-published authors sadly often tend to tell too much and show too little, they describe lots and lots of things the reader could have figured out on their own and it takes a lot of immersion out of the reading experience.

Not so our dearest Nora, oh no. I’m immensely enjoying how she often just hints at feelings or thoughts of characters with just little details she drops every now and again. This works so well because those details often aren’t consciously recognized by a quick reader, yet they are vital in shaping our views of characters and scenes, providing true immersion and a full reading experience. Top notch, A+, 10/10 would author again.

(I’m too lazy to look up examples for that right now, but you all know what I mean anyways, and I’ve pointed a lot of things like this out in my recaps as well because I LOVE IT.)

Now, characters! Where do I fucking start. I’m thinking I’m just gonna throw my opinions on each of them in here and see whether they’ll change throughout the next two books.

Neil, my son. I’ve really, really grown to like him. Homeboy is still majoring in Extra and Dramatic, and I will still drag him mercilessly for it, but I like it. I like his style of narration, I care for his emotional well-being, but most of all, I like his sass. Seemingly every time he has to speak to someone for more than three sentences, he just cannot help but be the savage comeback prince he was destined to be, and I’m living for it. I hope he has lots and lots of dialogue in the next two books. I’m still not over that Riko scene. Love him.

Kevin is... I don’t actually have a clear opinion on him yet. I find him interesting as a part of Neil’s history – still not sure whether I’m buying that he doesn’t remember Neil at all –, I was stunned by his backstory and I absolutely want to fucking gut Riko for everything he’s done to Kevin, but that’s about it so far. He just….. didn’t click with me yet. Let’s see what comes around in the future.

Andrew is growing on me, I think. I’m not his biggest fan yet – he did do some fucked up shit (//eyes the club situation YET AGAIN//) and I absolutely hate him when he’s on his meds – but he’s v v interesting, both as a character and because of the med situation. And honestly, I think this is exactly what’s intended with him. Andrew was not made for immediate attachment, he was intentionally written to grow on you. And I kind of like that, it makes his character more round, more fully-formed, gives him more dimension. Also, I love him in combination with Kevin and Neil. Also just with Neil, obviously. He’s buying him clothes. Who is chill about this, not me.

Nicky……… My problematic sunshine idiot, I still have a very complicated relationship to him. I think Nicky is (as far as I've read) a wonderful example of a fuckboy who means well, meaning someone who does shitty things as a joke/bc he doesn’t think about them/bc it’s been socially engrained in him that they are okay to do (see: the kiss thing), but realises they are shitty afterwards and wants to better himself. Also, I’m just really, really grateful to have someone who brings a bit of laughter into this angsty shitshow. And gayness. Oh, how I am grateful for the gayness. Actually, who are we fucking kidding, I still love Nicky.

Aaron – who even is Aaron, seriously. I still know literally next to nothing about this dude. Apparently his mother was quite fucked up. Not close with his twin brother. Okay. Next!

RENEE, my daughter, my love, my darlingest little murder snowflake. We still don’t know much about her, but for some reason she just instantly clicked with me. She is so unbelievably kind and sweet and probably hiding like, three axe murders. GIVE ME ALL HER BACKSTORY AND GIVE IT TO ME NOW. She is probably my second-favourite character so far, together with Neil.

I’ve gathered that quite a lot of you like Matt?? I can see why, I guess. He’s a ray of sunshine as well, and an unproblematic one at that. He probably would have deserved to be captain as well. Tall Billie Joe is a good egg. <3

Pretty much all of that goes for Dan as well. Good human being, good team person. Takes no shit. Very Gryffindor. I’m wondering what her backstory is tbh, because so far, she seems like an actually stable, healthy person, which we all know cannot be true in Foxland.

I’m still sort of indifferent to Allison. She hasn’t given me reason to hate her yet, she also hasn’t given me reason to like her. I feel bad for her because of Seth’s death, though.

And Seth… Well. We kind of discussed that already.

As for the Parent Triumvirate: Idk if this ever came up, this may be news to you, but hAVE I MENTIONED I REALLY REALLY FUCKING LOVE WYMACK. Seriously. He is my favourite character, from chapter fucking one. He is the only person who can rival Neil in terms of unbound sass, which makes him great to begin with, but most importantly, he is caring, compassionate, and just the fucking kindest person in this book, yet takes no shit and doesn’t baby anyone.

“Did you think I made the team the way it is because I thought it would be a good publicity stunt? It’s about second chances, Neil. Second, third, fourth, whatever, as long as you get at least one more than what anyone else wanted to give you.”

This is the best thing anyone has said in this entire book fucking fIGHT ME. HOW DOES ONE NOT LOVE DAVID WYMACK TO THE HEAVENS AND BACK. #dicksoutforwymack

Abby and Betsy are both shaping up to be Really Cool People as well. As well as with Wymack, I love their “I’m gonna be supportive kind and good to you, but I’m not going to take any shit from you” attitude, which is precisely the way to run a team as dysfunctional as the Foxes. A+ parenting, 10/10 would love again.

Lastly, some predictions about what will happen within the next book! We’ll see what came true. I cannot wait to cringe at myself and my idioticy/blissful unawareness eight weeks from now.

They’ll deal with Seth’s death – some better, some worse

The banquet thing will happen and it will be hella awkward and hilarious and something Super Dramatic And Important will happen

Neil will master the Raven drills Kevin is making him do and it will be EPIC

Andreil will continue having Important Gay Moments™

The “Kevin and Riko know Neil” situation will not be addressed (!) (I’m expecting that to be in the last book, near the final epic smackdown)

Neither will we meet Neil’s father (again, last book)

However, we will meet Tetsuji and shit will go down

Also, we’ll meet some Ravens I suppose, since it is the Raven King after all. There was this Jean guy?? I’m intrigued

We will find out Renee’s backstory

We will find out something – if maybe not everything – about the Minyard-Hemmick backstory

Some more kisses will happen. I don’t care who kisses whom. Probably not Andreil (yet). Let it be Abby and Wymack. Aaron and his irrelevant girlfriend. I don’t care. Give me kisses.

And now all that’s left for me to say is, again, thank you thank you thank you to all of you who read this blog. All of you who give me your thoughts and comments on everything, who keep this project going and who drag my motivation back in by its hind legs every time it wants to run screaming into the other direction – you are the sole reason this thing exists. You all rock and I love you infinitely.

We’ll meet again next Sunday with The Raven King. xx

Side note: I’ve gone through the blog and organized all asks/replies dealing with frequently discussed topics, go check them out! All links are listed on the Read All Chapters page as well.

The demisexuality discourse

The mental health discourse

The Seth discourse

America vs Everywhere Else things

Side side note: Remember when I said I was going to rename all the chapters Percy Jackson style? So I may…… be doing that soon…….. keep ur eyeballs peeled friends!!!

#tfc #the foxhole court #aftg #all for the game #nicki reads tfc #[the last five years voice] it's over it's done #this was fun I'm gonna do those after every book I think #wheeeeeeee #edit: edited the parts where I used the m word as I realized it was Not Fucking Okay

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