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#jewish andrew minyard
palmettoshitposts · 1 year
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every time matt says "neil, my brother in christ", neil goes "antisemitism?🤨" and matt tries not to swing for him because they're in public and now people are giving him dirty looks
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lovefromremus · 1 year
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oh btw neil's jewish
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kevindavidson · 1 year
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Kevin Day Cooks
About three years after going Pro, Kevin gets bored in a sense. Exy has been his life for so long that at 26, he wants something new. But the only other passion he has is history but even that isn’t enough to settle him. So he searches for another hobby and finds one that he’s actually good at. 
At the Nest all meals were prepared and made by the team so Kevin had been cooking since age seven, casually. it was self preservation to him, nutrition only. Until Abby asked him the history behind the meal they were eating at family dinner and...he didn’t know. Kevin sat at a loss for a long few minutes because he knew so much about history, but he’s forgotten the most important part. 
Food.
It brought people together and tore them apart all the same but it was the one thing that tied everything together. forget religion, and work, food was what made the world. Without it, no one would exist.
He started learning where dishes came from, and the cultural history behind them. He asked Jean about French dishes, and Jeremy about southern ones, and whenever he crossed paths with someone visibly not from the States, he asked them their favorite meal so he could learn both how to make it and the history. 
Due to all this cramming, the facts started pouring out of him very quickly. Andrew, Neil, Jean, and every other player on his team got very fed up very quickly. It was Bee who suggested he share it. The blog idea was shut down, as was the guest starring on a cooking show because Abby said that he wouldn’t be able to ramble like he tended to do.
So, Youtube. He created a Youtube, watched a few hundred videos on how to edit, and other cooking videos for an idea of what he was supposed to do, and got to work. He started easy, a dish anyone could make - Garlic Bread. he chattered on about the timeline and history of the bread while mixing ingredients, kneading the dough - sleeves rolled up his forearms because Nicky said it would get views from Non-Exy watchers if he did that. 
Immaculately dressed in slacks and a flannel, Kevin Day made Garlic Bread while babbling on about the history of Ancient Rome, 15th Century Italy, Bruschetta, and the new Italian-American version of the food. He edited it, posted it, and by the time he woke up the next morning it had over a million views, had been written about in dozens of articles, and was all over twitter. most especially being dragged through the mud by the Foxes for the shots of him bending over to but the bread in the oven and slight muscle flexing. Allison coined it “Borderline Fanservice”
Kevin didn’t care. He liked that people wanted to hear him talk about history while also being able to indulge in cooking for more than simply needing nutrition. As the channel grew people started recognizing him as Kevin Day the Youtube cooking man almost as much as they did Kevin Day the son of Exy.
One video turned to two to three and so on and so forth. 
As it grew cameos were made. 
While making brownies and blabbering about Bertha Palmer, Andrew sat cross legged on the counter just barely in frame with a cat in his lap wearing plaid pajama bottoms and what was clearly a Palmetto hoodie with JOSTEN across the shoulders - how the Josten-Minyard Rivalry was outed as the Josten-Minyard Romance. The press had a field day. The video also factures not only Andrew pelting Kevin with chocolate chips throughout the video, zeroing in on Kevins ass when he bent to put them in the oven, but the ‘keeper pouring an extra half bag of chocolate chips into the batter when Kevin wasn’t looking whilst wearing what some fans deemed a smile.
When Kevin chose the Dobson Schnitzel recipe, he invited Bee onto the channel and pretty much smiled at her the entire time she talked about the origins of the recipe. Her great-great grand mother, and her proud Jewish roots. (Whenever asked about his favorite episode, Kevin always says its that one.)
He posts a Cooking w/ Dad video in which Wymack cracks not one, not two, but five different smiles at his son while they make regular old chocolate chip cookies as they should have been doing when Kevin was eight and had a bad day instead of Kevin working through injuries on a court and Wymack grieving Kayleigh during PT while feelings for his therapist bloomed.
There’s a few dozen videos that Aaron just pops in every once in a while to watch Kevin work. In one he’s arm crossed, practically a statue off to one side. In another he’s wearing scrubs, dead on his feet, and stealing a bite off Kevin’s plate and humming in approval. He’s passing through the kitchen and swiping frosting from the piping bag, or staring diligently at the coffee machine pulling an espresso shot too slowly for his liking. In every video Aaron appears in Kevin always has this dopey look on his face until Aaron is gone in the next cut, in every video there is some type of soft physical touch, and an air of domesticity that leads the press to talk and receive absolutely no answers.
Dan and Matt pop in from time to time, passing through the kitchen during a kitchen party for the OG Foxes and their partners. There’s Allison sitting on the counter, phone in one hand, lipstick in the other, applying a new layer with Renee leaning into her, back to Allisions chest. (The fans and press have already taken notice that Renee always puts her back to a wall and find this little event to be something to look into.)
There’s always Neil. Neil in the background, Neil stealing food, Neil trying to pester Kevin about stats that lead to such a big conversation that Kevin forgets what he’s going and has to record a voice over for the rest of it - the fans pester him to post the original sound and it doubles the views of the first. Neil staring at the finished cooled apple pie, glancing at Kevin, and just bashing Kevin face into it so hard the pan cracks in half. Neil and Aaron, who was also in the shot, both fell to the floor laughing. 
Abby cameoed some of the time which led toward Abby gaining a large following. Mother Abby everyone called her for the motherly way she fretted about Kevin, of which Kevin reveled in. She became the only other “Celebrity” on Tumblr besides Neil Gaiman. Ask about the Foxes, Wymack, herself and much more flooded. Everyone loved Abby, and Abby loved sharing her people to the world. she liked cracking open the door to shoe them that their heroes - Andrew, Kevin, Matt, Jean, Jeremy, Neil - were just people after all. 
Matt could sing. Kevin pouted when he burned himself on the stove. Jean shouted in French whenever annoyed. Jeremy had a knack for finding every corner to bash his toes into. Andrew’s diet consisted of sugar, caffeine, some more caffeine, and spite. Neil never shut up about Exy.
As the years went on and children happened, they started showing up. Kevin’s hair went gray, he retired, he and Aaron adopted four kids from the system who couldn’t wait to be Foxes, Dan and Matts kids loved coming on the channel. The channel made for more than just a hobby for Kevin, it became a home. A recording of the life and family he’d made for himself by simply having the spine to say, “No.” Once in his miserable life.
Kevin Day, a six time Olympic Gold Medal Champion, Son of Exy, and the best Striker in the world would forever say to anyone who asked that his greatest accomplishment wasn’t his medals, or his skill, or Exy. It was his channel.
Just...Kevin Day finding that he was worth more than Exy by being a perfect househusband.
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Andrew finding religion post-The King’s Men
Part 2 of the most self-indulgent headcanon I’ve ever written (Part 1 is here). tl;dr: Neil found religion and converted to Judaism after TKM and now it’s Andrew’s turn. Details under the cut
Neil has of course talked about the implications of his conversion but he never really got into theology with Andrew
At one point Neil invites Andrew to a function to invite him into this new community he’s been getting to know
(in my head it’s a Shabbat dinner but also: inviting Andrew to Purim is a good concept)
Neil is secretly terrified about bringing his boyfriend to the synagogue but aside from a few side-eyes from a group of old people Neil didn’t like anyway, they both feel totally welcome
Andrew is really quiet and keeps looking around at the building the whole time, which Neil assumes is him wanting to leave but every time he checks in Andrew says he wants to stay
Andrew goes to the bathroom at one point and when he comes back Neil sees him start talking to Rabbi Hannah and Neil keeps nervously glancing at them
He’s convinced this is gonna go so badly
But later when he mentions Andrew to the Rabbi her eyes light up and she goes “oh! Andrew is lovely! You two are a wonderful couple”
Neil is FLOORED
He knows she’s nice but no one is that nice what happened
Neil doesn’t think Andrew had a good time so next week he starts getting ready to go without saying anything
Andrew walks up and starts putting his boots on
“Where are you going, Drew?”
“Aren’t we going to dinner?”
Neil always walks to shul and having Andrew with him makes it feel like no time at all
Andrew is always relatively quiet, but the people who know Neil are very receptive to Andrew and they all really like him somehow
Neil is so confused
Since when does a group of people all naturally like Andrew like this
Every time he splits off and talks to Rabbi Hannah for a bit just out of earshot of Neil
One day when Neil is getting ready for shul, Andrew shows up at the door, ready to leave
Neil doesn’t have to ask where he’s going this time
Andrew doesn’t put on a kippa but Neil remembers his own reaction the first time he wore one and doesn’t say anything about it
At this point Neil knows a bit of the prayers and can follow the services almost seamlessly
Andrew makes no effort to grab a Siddur but when Neil opens his, Andrew peeks over his shoulder and his eyes scan feverishly over the Hebrew in a way that almost makes Neil think he can read it
But when the chanting starts, Andrew has his eyes on Neil’s lips the entire time
He goes back the next week and watches Neil’s mouth as he sings again
Eventually he starts whispering along, mostly incorrectly but Neil can tell he’s trying to follow
Next service Neil holds his siddur where Andrew can see it
Eventually Andrew asks Neil if he has time to talk to Rabbi Hannah with him and Neil says yes
He doesn’t pry but assumes it’s something about services
They show up and Rabbi Hannah greets Andrew with warmth that Neil doesn’t usually associate with people greeting Andrew
Turns out he’s been talking about Judaism (among more casual things) with Rabbi Hannah at the weekly dinners and they both have been talking for a while about Andrew’s conversion
Andrew wanted to meet with Neil before he committed fully to converting
Neil is stunned
They had never talked about this and Neil asks him why, since Andrew doesn’t seem like the most pious man
Andrew shrugs
“I’d put money on having the same reasons as you,” he says
Neil remembers the childhood nagging that he had never felt safe enough to explore, the comfort in the idea of something intangible and eternal holding everything in the world together, the call to action, the sense of his community that he couldn’t put into words, and the deep, resonant feeling of love and safety
Andrew’s hand was resting on his chest after scratching his shoulder
“It fills something up in here” he says and taps his first two fingers on his breastbone
Neil has never heard Andrew talk about emotion and spirituality like this before
He doesn’t know where it came from
He doesn’t think Andrew knows either
The two just know that both of them converting feels so right in a way that they can’t imagine living without
The Foxes, again, are all supportive (they do think it’s kind of weird and funny that Andrew of all people is religious now, but they know how much he and Neil went through, so they know they’re in no place to judge)
When Renee finds out she practically foams at the mouth
The three of them still have fun zombie apocalypse scenario debates at practice, as theology would be too involved for casual mid-practice chats, but now Renee can have theological debates with two people? She’s in heaven (no pun intended)
Andrew is muuuch more cutthroat about it than Neil
He will cut straight to the point about fallacies in Christianity
Neil thinks this will be the thing that splits Andrew and Renee up but thank G-d Renee has thick skin from Andrew by now and isn’t afraid to fire back
She’s gentler with Neil because they both are more softly religious, but when Andrew starts his conversion studies he is not afraid to use them at full power
Neil teaches Andrew what he knows and they both work with Rabbi Hannah, sometimes together and sometimes alone
Being together on this path brings both of them so much joy
Book discussions by the light of a single lamp in hushed tones while people sleep in neighboring rooms, sleepy pillow talk bleeding into awe of and love for Hashem, asking the tough questions and knowing they won’t get answers and that that’s not only okay, but encouraged
Andreil keeping a kosher kitchen
Andreil baking challah together
Andreil going to Shabbat dinners and celebrating holidays together
Andreil getting married under a chuppah
Andreil finally able to find some sort of peace through religion
Andrew finally able to find peace
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milocelium · 2 years
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okay after some research i have my thesis that Wesninski is a name with Polish origins, therefore Nathan Wesninski’s previous generation can be assumed to have migrated from Poland to the US around the time of WW2. Nathan’s residence in Maryland is in line with that state being one out of a cluster of states with a high percentage of Polish immigration. That all being said, people from Poland made up a significant portion of Ashkenazi Jews so I can confidently say that Neil Josten is canonically ethnically Jewish and of Polish descent. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.
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palmett-hoes · 3 years
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Do you have any fan casts or strong takes/feelings on the foxes’ appearances? Fandom tends to use the same Pinterest models, which feels wrong to me.
i do in fact! i've actually been meaning to make a post about how i choose to write all of the foxes' ethnicities anyway
but yes i absolutely agree that the typical pinterest model types u generally see on edits is not how i see any of them. nor is reece king or froy gutierrez or lucky blue smith one of my FCs for anyone
for a lot of them i don't necessarily have a single specific FC so much as i have like,, a general impression of features that i will see on various different people, who all may look wildly different from each other or who may not even look how i see the character as a whole but do have a specific feature i associate with them. mostly it boils down to the Energy i get tbh and that's just a Feeling i cant even explain
fun fact im a tiny bit face blind so that might account for some of why i'm so all-over about this
may as well go chronologically. some of them i definitely have more thoughts on than others
1. Dan
ethnicity: Afro Native (Sioux)
features: medium dark skin. buzzcut, killer fade. she often styles it in waves. she's very butch, wears a lot of basketball and cargo shorts, tank tops and flannels and jerseys, hiking boots. skinny but muscular, with a very rectangular body shape. defined jaw. probably like 5'4 or 5'5
FC/Energy: sometimes i get some dan energy out of janelle monae but more butch. lotta dan energy out of samira wiley. lashana lynch
2. Kevin
ethnicity: a lot of things tbd, but he's pretty multi-ethnic. i like the idea of kayleigh being half- or a quarter-japanese in addition to irish because it gives her more of a reason to go to japan for her undergrad. wymack is from d.c. which is a majority black city for its actual residents, but i also like the idea of him being Pasifika/Hawaiian. HOWEVER - and this is pretty important to my read of kevin's character - he's white passing, and has been mostly treated as a white guy who tans his whole life, like occasionally asked if he's italian maybe. learning that his father was a Distinctly Not White Man was a big shock to him.
kristin kreuk, lindsay price, phoebe cates, and marie digby are all half-asian actresses i base kayleigh on
i suppose i base his story partially on broadway actress carol channing, who revealed publically that she was a quarter black when she was like 80 years old. though maybe wentworth miller, a biracial actor who knows his father is black but also doesn't know him, is more accurate to kevin's story. then keanu reeves is a white passing actor with asian ancestry
also none of these people look anything like how i picture kevin lol. kevin is just like,, a guy. handsome ig. but kind of in a CW character kind of way
actually
kevin looks exactly like young jason momoa
3. Andrew
ethnicity: kayin/karen from myanmar
features: fat and muscular, very wide and heavy. this blog is basically all andrew body type refs. medium-olive skin, has a bit of a greyish tinge that makes him look a bit eerie or unhealthy. deep set, droopy eyes; looks so tired. flat face with a low-bridged nose. crooked teeth, especially his canines. natural hair black-ish but he bleaches it light blond. has the beginnings of martial artist punching callouses in his knuckles
FC/Energy: holy shit the characters i feel have Andrew Energy are all over the place. pedro pascal. babe ruth (yes fr). oddjob (harold sakata) from goldfinger. the jinn (mousa kraish) from american gods. gaear grimsrud (peter stormare) from fargo. takeshi kovacs (joel kinnaman) from altered carbon. and i wanna be clear, it's these characters specifically, and generally NOT the actors outside of that specific role. except pedro ❤️
4. Matt
ethnicity: cuban
appearance: matt has more of an Energy than specific features to me rn. that energy is Warm. he has that Warm bro jock dude energy. kind of a marvel hero build, hunky and muscular. very rectangular face. has this haircut:
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5. Aaron
i get to cut myself some slack and not go AS in depth about aaron because he and andrew are identical twins
ethnicity: kayin/karen from myanmar
appearance: similar build to andrew, less confident and casual posture and body language. less apathetically murderous and more emotive expressions. better teeth bc his mom took him to the dentist. yes also bleaches his hair
celebrities: probably a lot like the difference between the characters and the actors. andrew is the characters and aaron is how the actors actually look. idk ive never looked at someone and thought 'hey! looks like aaron!'
6. Seth
ethnicity: have been going with half-vietnamese. considering looking into various south asian possibilities like pakistani
appearance: string bean build. that's all i have to offer
7. Allison
ethnicity: allison's very up in the air for me. she and seth are the two foxes i feel fine with being white, but im committing to having no white foxes sooo. i would say i generally see her as either half-middle eastern or chinese
appearance: plus sized and hourglass shaped. heart shaped face. taller, like 5'8 or 5'9. she has a pretty fraught history with her appearance and her parents payed for/pressured her into getting a nose job to have a 'prettier' nose. she also bleaches her hair blonde. she gets it done at a salon tho the twinyards do it in their bathroom
FC/Energy: elle king and nadia aboulhosn are my main inspos for her, esp body type but nadia esp in Vibes
8. Nicky
ethnicity: multi-ethnic. his mother is southern mexican Indigenous, possibly oaxacan. his father is mixed white/kayin
appearance: definitely takes after his mother while his father is white passing. dark brown skin, warm undertones. slightly stocky build. tall ovular head and thin aquiline nose. he's kind of just,, the opposite of the twins ig, so like their facial features look very different, which is a big part of why people don't make the connection between him and the twins alongside the difference in their skin tones, heights, and builds. nicky's build and features are very vertically-oriented, with a tall head, narrow-set eyes, thin nose with a high bridge, etc. the twins are horizontally-orienged, with broad, flat faces, wide-set eyes, wide noses with a low bridge, etc.
FC/Energy: yalitza aparicio, not a guy but one of the few Mexican Indigenous stars in the film industry and i really like her features for nicky. she's oaxacan
9. Renee
ethnicity: Black. african american
appearance: plus sized, circular/apple body shape. round face. dark skin. microlocs to a bit past her chin, bleached white and dyed at the ends. she and allison go to the salon together. femme but plain style, a lot of blouses and long skirts, practical shoes. knuckle callouses. about 5'6
FC/Energy: dominique fishback. tracie thoms, esp in RENT. gabourey sidibe. nicole byer, but not in Energy. brandy, for some reason, probably bc i think she has very serene Energy and is a little bit otherworldly. like if brandy played arwen or galadriel from lotr it would make perfect sense to me, and that's the Renee Energy™️
10. Neil
ethnicity: mixed. Black/Jewish on both sides. his father is polish ashkenazi and afro-brazilian. his mother is Black British and algerian jewish
appearance: very... sharp. like sharp all over. does that make sense? sharp features, sharp face shape, sharp angles to his body. he's got what i vaguely think of as a 'basketball build' not meaning tall but meaning very rangy and angular and lean. all limbs. seth has a similar build. lighter brown skin. he has waardenburg syndrome which is actually where he gets he gets his eye color, and his eyes are very large and widely spaced as well. freckles freckles freckles. freckles everywhere. 4a hair but at least during canon it's not very healthy and thus the curls aren't well-defined. he grows it out long enough to tie back and starts taking better care of it in post-canon. wonky, slightly crooked teeth, with a gap between the fronts
FC/Energy: now neil i actually have a ton for. mostly models which im a lil ashamed of bc i do try to draw more from athletes. alton mason is a main body type ref. mugsy bogues is good to see what i mean about the basketball build without the height. here're the boys: cykeem white, luka sabbat, désiré mia, Leo Hoyte-Egan, dylan hasselbaink, this beautiful stock photo model i've never been able to track down
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i think about him every. goddamn. day.
in terms of like,, real ppl and not models: corbin bleu, especially during Jump In. figure skater elladj balde. rayan "ray ray" lopez from mindless behavior. A$AP Rocky a lil bit, maybe i just like his hairstyle idk
two more models i think are important: carissa pinkston and ralph souffrant
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i-did · 4 years
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AFTG comic page for class. I couldn’t include his arm bandages and I know this diverts from cannon but hey, it was a school project that I got away with doing fanart for, give me a break. 
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eponinemylove · 5 years
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Ok so I get why Aaron and Neil aren’t friends, and with the way their relationship unfolded in canon I didn’t really expect them to be, but consider:
With Andrew and Aaron going to dual Betsy appointments, their relationship starts to slowly but surely improve
Aaron’s not happy about it, and he’s definitely not happy about how or why this all happened, but he grudgingly does realize that he has Neil to blame thank for this
Aaron is quite possible the most important person in Andrew’s life, alongside Neil and Kevin. And, despite every fucked up thing, Aaron has to admit that he cares a lot for Andrew too
So, when Aaron and Andrew get someone in the vicinity of almost-kinda-somewhat normal, Aaron realizes just how important Neil really is to Andrew
That doesn’t mean he likes or even trusts Neil with his brother tbh. But he gets a little closer to understanding
It takes... a while. But Aaron starts to see how much Andrew is to Neil, too. It’s gross and pathetic, really. Neil is a cold-hearted, dumbass bastard who’s almost definitely more trouble than he’s worth, or so he tells himself. But he knows that the absolute last thing Neil would do is hurt Andrew.
Fuck, he hates Josten so much
Aaron forgives him.
Andrew never says anything, but Aaron knows what it’s like to know that your twin hates your S.O. (Andrew still just barely tolerates Katelyn). It’s bad enough for Aaron, who is somewhere in the ballpark of relatively well-adjusted. But Andrew—Andrew only has emotions in extremes. So the two people he’d lay down his life for constantly just fighting? Well, it’s not nearly as amusing as Neil and Kevin fighting, that’s for sure. Aaron is almost sure it bothers Andrew, at least somewhat, even if he never lets on. It must, because it bothers him
Neil can accept the fact that Aaron doesn’t like him. He doesn’t lose any sleep over it. He does, however, not feel great that he’s at odds with Andrew’s family. Andrew chose that family, they mean everything to him (“family means something different to us because it has to”). He’s not going to go out of his way to fix it, but it’s not ideal
Aaron slowly starts being just a tiny bit friendlier to Neil. He doesn’t cut back on his snide remarks, but he says them somewhat less hurtful and each time he means them maybe just a little less. He doesn’t outright sneer at Neil anymore either, so that’s an improvement.
Neil picks up on this shift. At first he’s unimpressed, but then he mirrors the change. He stops actively trying to be an asshole to Aaron (he’s antagonistic at heart, sue him). He does less things to make Aaron lose his shit. It’s like a mutual understanding
They don’t talk about it
Eventually the insults they hurl at each other are... jokes? When did that happen? And they realize that they aren’t fighting anymore, they’re just both being dicks to each other. Neither one of them is hurt by it. It’s almost playful
They’re pretty much the last people to realize they’re actually becoming friends
When they do realize tho... then shit really hits the fan. It’s still not a conversation, they just kinda look at each other one day and go “...huh”. Then they shrug it off and just embrace it
The world was not ready for the combined assholishness of these two. Snark is at an all time high in South Carolina. Crying is reported on the daily, from new recruits to opponents to interviewers and reporters. Aaron might be a lawful nuetral, but with Neil’s chaotic nuetral-ness? Unstoppable. They’re practically a power couple, rivaling only that of Neil and Allison. People quiver before them individually. But once Neil and Aaron share that Look™️? It’s Game Over. No one is ever the same after being ganged up on by both Aaron and Neil. They will rip you to shreds and find it both amusing and not even worth their time. It’s psychologically damaging
Tbh though most of the time it’s just quiet acknowledgment between the two of them. They talk shit to/about people together, but that’s really it. They don’t interact that much outside of practice. They text sometimes, but almost exclusively rude things. (aaron: *sends pic of some obviously disheveled man, passed tf out next to a trash can* this is you. // neil: *sends pic of his test score for a class they share, where he got exactly 6 pts higher* how does it feel to be a dumb bitch?)
Aaron is pre-med. Neil is a math major. Occasionally they’ll study, not together but just in each other’s presence. It’s coexisting and none of the other foxes claim to understand it, but it works for them
Aaron still doesn’t let Katelyn get too close to Neil or Andrew. He’s not ready to push his luck that far
Tbh, Neil is almost completely indifferent to her. Andrew still doesn’t like her. It doesn’t matter, Aaron his overjoyed that he can just be open with their relationship. He loves bringing her to the dorms and talking to her at games and, every so often, having her over for dinner. He invites her over for almost all major holidays, and even celebrates Hanukkah with her (Neil and Andrew come along too one year, because Neil’s also jewish and wants to celebrate but he didn’t want to bring it up with the team because he knew Matt would make it a big deal and deck out the whole tower. Andrew only comes because Neil goes, and he doesn’t want him out of his sight and also bc he wants to support Neil)
Their first Hanukkah is, how you say, tense. But there’s no physical altercations, no one gets stabbed, and the emotional scarring is minimal. In other words, it’s a win.
They come back for Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah. Katelyn invites him over for passover too, since he still isn’t celebrating these holidays with the foxes, and he accepts, this time without Aaron and Andrew. It’s pretty much the first time they’ve spent alone time together and... it’s not awful. Neil keeps coming back for every major holiday, sometimes with the twins, sometimes without.
When the foxes find out what he’s doing, Matt flips his shit. The next Hanukkah, fox tower is completely covered in decorations, with a menorah in every dorm. No one admits to who arranged it, and Neil tries to pretend like he’s unaffected by this, but he smiles so much that week that every single team member silently agrees that they’ll continue the tradition. Katelyn of course gets invited over to celebrate with them, and Aaron is thrilled.
Neil and Katelyn are pretty much friends at this point. Andrew isn’t in love with the idea, but he doesn’t protest it. He seems to be just tolerating her presence, until she gets Neil a Hanukkah gift. Neil smiles like the fucking sun. Neither of them say what it is and the foxes are dying to know what could make him react like that. Andrew doesn’t comment.
Neil shows him what it is later that night. It’s a framed photo of one of the games. The foxes had just won, and everyone is caught mid-smile, half huddled in a victory circle. Neil stands closest to the camera, only half his face visible as he looks at Andrew standing at the goalpost. They’re both grinning.
Andrew doesn’t like Katelyn, but he doesn’t mind her. She’s allowed in their dorm room and the house at Columbia. He even gave her a lift one time in the maserati when he went to pick up Aaron. No one says anything about it.
Andrew likes that Neil and Aaron are friends. He likes that Katelyn is good for Aaron. He likes that Katelyn gets Neil, in a quiet, unassuming way that none of them do. He likes that his family feels like a family. He doesn’t say anything. But they know. And they feel the same way
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jemej3m · 4 years
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Reverse Big Bang Preview!
five days till i start posting my rbb!! i hope yall like it! the art is by the incredible @requiemofkings​ (yes i squealed when i got their prompt) who posted previews here so get STOKEDDD
i digress: here is a snapshot. i hope y’all will like it! oh, and some context! i based the AU on the hungarian revolution of 1956 :DDD 
*
“Neil,” she asked, lowly. “What do you know about the Ravens?”
Neil grit his teeth, looking down at his spindly fingers. “They’re a special division of Evermore, designed to extract information and efficiently punish any offenders that they deem as deviants. They have come from Moriyama leagues, most likely in response to civil unrest here in Palmetto. I know two men who have disappeared into Evermore headquarters, who haven’t come out the other end. I don’t know much else, other than that we need to be careful.”
That was a lie, but it was a lie Neil had to maintain. Kevin Day had been young and spritely in youth organisations with his adopted brother, Riko Moriyama, ever since Neil could remember. His father had once pinched his nose and cursed Neil for his Jewish heritage: if he’d just married a Christian woman, Neil would’ve been allowed to play with Kevin and Riko and become the little nationalist his father had always wanted.
He and Kevin had met once. A brief, twenty minute exposé that’d lead to his discovering Neil’s father was a man with a cruel sleight of hand, and his son was somehow Jewish but still alive and well. As well as anyone under Wesninski’s roof could be, anyway.
“Wymack and I figured out who the Ravens are.” Dan said, snapping him out of his reverie. 
His stomach knotted unto itself. Shit.
“Riko Moriyama, their leader. Son of Kengo himself. Just as much of an asshole. His adoptive brothers, Kevin Day, whose mother was killed, and Jean Moreau, whose mother sold him. Thea Muldani, who is not to be underestimated: She was trained for assassination in the north and may be the most skilled out of the five of them.”
“Five,” Renee hedged. “Who’s the last one?”
Wymack cut over Dan, looking directly at Nicky. “He has returned from Easthaven after 5 years, when he was told that rebel forces killed his cousin and brother. I would consider him as the most volatile of them all, and most certainly the one with the most powerful motivations.”
“No,” Nicky whispered, horrified. “You’re not saying—”
“Yes.” Dan said, gravely. “Andrew Minyard has abdicated from his connections to his family, and the revolution. He’s a part of the Raven division, and he’s hellbent on killing every one of us.”
*
:o
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Neil and languages
Neil knowing two languages other than English is already impressive, as I'm sure everyone is aware, but the fact of the matter is, for someone who'd supposedly hid all over the world from his mafioso father, I'm afraid German and French are... woefully inadequate in helping him blend in.
(Just to be clear, Nora Sakavic has absolutely made a masterpiece and I'd never dream of creating something as amazing as the All For The Game trilogy. It's just that I'm a language nerd and also from (Eastern) Europe, and I love forcing my own interests and experiences on characters, and as Neil is one of the only trilingual characters I've ever seen in media I can't pass up on the opportunity to make him a polyglot.)
So, without further ado, I present to you: the languages Neil Josten has had to use while on the run, a very long list of HCs.
English: since it's (presumably) Neil's mother language, he has the most practice with switching dialects in English. Neil can do almost every English accent that he's come across, which is helpful for when he needs to blend in a country where the official language is English (USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand are most frequent but he's also had to do it in India and Malaysia. Not UK, for obvious reasons, and pretending to be tourists in Europe can only hold up for so long)
German: German accents are ridiculous, but significantly easier to pull off than English accents. The Austrian and Hessen accents in particular are hellish for me, but knowing Neil he probably has them all down pat. You can maybe use German outside of Germany, Switzerland and Austria, especially in France and Italy where a lot of people learn German rather than English, but up north? Yeah, no, there it's either one of the holy trinity Danish/Norwegian/Swedish or English. We're not even mentioning Finnish, oh no. A lot of people in Egypt speak German as their third language, as well as Poland and other West/South Slavic nations, but then you risk standing out as that foreign German mother and son combo, which, no. Speaking of German, though,
Yiddish: Is a language very close to German, as in close enough that even I, who can hardly understand German, gets the gist of it. Even if Mary was not a practicing Jew, or knew Hebrew or another dialect better, it's an easy language to pick up when you have German as a base and also creates a fuller backstory. The downside to that is that it's recognisable that a Jewish, Yiddish mother and son combo are walking around, so maybe it's used in rare occasions.
Arabic: I actually hc Mary's family immigrated from Israel years ago and since they both look vaguely Arab/'eastern' enough to pass, and since in the books Neil says they spent some time in Dubai, they've probably had to learn some Arabic. They probably learned Modern Standard Arabic, and depending on how long they stayed in a country, they adapted it to the local dialect. (Arabic dialects vary from each other about as much as Chinese dialects do, aka A Lot. They probably used the excuse that nobody would understand their mother dialect and that's why they communicate in MSA only, but again, no matter how common that is it would still make them paranoid about standing out and so they'd move quickly.) A lot of Arabic countries however also speak a lot of
French: honestly, out of all the languages Neil speaks this is probably the hardest one because French people are fucking judgemental when you fuck up even a slight thing, ergo there's a higher risk of them being revealed because of 'oh yeah, mother and son, their French was horrendous'. French is spoken in Switzerland, Morocco and other Arabic countries, Québec, the whole of French Polynesia, also a lot of Slavic countries under the rule of USSR, but that's the older folks.
Serbian: As much as I'd like to get my favourite character to speak my mother language, I'm certain if Mary had to choose a Slavic language (other than Russian, which in official(?) post-canon Neil learns with Andrew) to learn it would have been Serbian, because it comes in a three-way package deal with fluency in Bosnian and Croatian, which makes it a lot easier to disappear. Additionally, it gives a good understanding of how other Slavic languages work, and it's only a matter of some tweaking to pretend to speak another Slavic language entirely. As someone from the literal only Slavic language that doesn't use cases, I understand up to 80% of every South Slavic and East Slavic language, and if somebody informs me of what roughly is going on, I can understand up to 70% of every West Slavic one as well. Neil and his mother might not have learned Russian, but Serbian is a must, especially since they'd blend in better with us Balkan folk than the more northern countries. Countries Serbian can be used in, with some minor tweaking: Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Albania, Greece, Turkey, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, alongside almost all of Europe if they decide to act as immigrants or tourists (this last point counts for every language on this list, by the way)
Spanish: Spanish is the third most spoken language in the world after Chinese and English (if we're talking native speakers). There is literally no continent where it isn't spoken. While they would need to tweak their accents and such, the entirety of South America, Mexico, Cuba, the Phillipines and some African countries are all ideal places to hide. Portugese, I know, is an entirely different language, but not that hard to get the knack of once you have Spanish as a base, and it's the same thing with Italian.
Languages Neil and his mother haven't learned, even though they've hidden in the countries: a rough overview. (Note: though he hasn't learned them, Neil still probably had to memorise a set list of phrases well enough to sound fluent, but shy.)
Any northern European language. Mary was insistent they don't waste time or effort on non-essential or one-note languages; Dutch, Norwegian and Swedish are only useful in small parts of Europe and Africa, and speaking Afrikaans in Africa is a good way to get noticed, so they didn't learn that. Same thing with Finnish, Latvian, Estonian, Lituanian. They had some basic understanding of Belarussian and Russian thanks to Serbian, but nothing more.
Any African language. While Swahili is spoken all thorough Africa, it's not the language barrier that makes it hard to blend in but the colour of their skin, ergo almost the whole continent is out.
Indian languages. They'd only hidden in big cities, so people knew English, and Hindi is too complicated to learn when you're moving through so many different dialects and other, completely different languages.
Any and all languages in the Caucasus region. Those are hard to speak or learn, and they don't stay long there anyway. A lot of people there speak Russian as their second language, as well as people from Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Mongolia, etc) but again, they don't spend much time there.
Turkic languages. They learned a bit in Turkey, but again, it's not useful enough, and the dialect variations are too big without a common dialect to bind them together like Arabic had. Same thing with Greek or Albanian.
Any East Asian languages. Two non-Asians speaking any East Asian language causes too much attention.
For now, this is all I’ve got on the ‘polyglot Neil’ front. If I ever decide to include something else, it’s probably not going to be as long!
Polish. The name ‘Wesninski’ sounds Polish, if nothing else (I couldn’t find an etymology that wasn’t connected to this series) and there’s supposed to be a lot of Polish immigrants in Baltimore, so I think if Nathan Wesninski ever knew Polish, Mary would never want to hear the language again, and even if he had no connection to his Polish roots, she still would associate the language with him. Maybe Neil would one day decide to learn it, but until then it’s probably just another thing that reminds him of his father.
Bonus round:
If we're disregarding what Nora said while answering questions on tumblr and instead bend to the laws of logic, Mary and Neil would have learned Russian because it's literally THE lingua franca of Eastern Europe. It doesn't matter if you're in Bulgaria, Georgia or Kazakhstan, you speak Russian and people naturally assume you're here for work. However, I love andreil more than I love being this petty, so ig them learning Russian together is cute enough to make me forget the logistic nightmare this is.
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An AU where everything is the same except they’re all Jewish. Alison is a rebel ‘Jewish American Princess’, Matt’s mom is an Ethiopean Jewish boxer champ, Dan’s grandparents on both sides died in WWII, Renee wears a headcover and invites Andrew to light shabbos candles every Friday.. Andrew still hatest religion, but he hates is from the perspective of someone who’s read the Tanak and can argue with you on the many points where Things Are Dumb.. Aaron secretly saying Shema every night, loves a nice Jewish girl and wants to be a doctor... Kevin has been studying Jewish history ever since he found out the his father is Jewish.... Neil’s evil parents are members of Jewish mafia, of course... Neil values life before everything else and feels that fixing the Foxes can be his tikkum olam.. he doesn’t say Shem every night before bed, but he did say it a few times he thought he was about to die..
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achilios · 2 years
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fic recs!
quick little aftg fic rec list post while i procrastinate studying
PLEASE BE MINDFUL OF THE TAGS! aftg is a fandom that deals with very heavy topics, so this is especially important for these fics!!
odd eye - @tdashshirt
[ info ]
published 2021
andrew/neil
rated T (archive warnings: Rape/Non-Con - implied/referenced)
1/1 chapters, 16K words
tags: hurt/comfort, angst with a happy ending, canon-divergence (no drake incident), secret relationship, neurodivergent characters (neil, andrew and kevin are all nd iirc)
Andrew spends most of his childhood thinking he is a psychopath. He is not. Andrew is, and always will be, just Andrew.
amazing amazing amazing — my bookmark notes were "cries cries cries this is what healing feels like lol" which is still exactly how i feel, to be honest. it was so well written and soft, and had such good neurodivergent rep, i absolutely adored it.
we used to be friends - @gluupor
[ info ]
published 2020
andrew/neil
rated M (No Archive Warnings Apply)
20/20 chapters, 100K words
tags: au: highschool, veronica mars fusion, detective!neil, adoption, canon-typical violence, involuntary outing, implied/referenced rape/non-con, implied/referenced murder
Neil’s life is thrown into disarray when his best friend is murdered. As he starts his senior year of high school, he finds himself on the outside looking in, a social pariah whose former friends are only too willing to bully and ostracize him. Working for his father, a private investigator, leads him to evidence that his friend’s murder may not be as straightforward as it seems. Neil throws himself into the investigation, hoping that solving the case might help him regain some of what he lost.
when my phone crashed about a month ago, this is one of the few tabs i didn’t lose, and i am SO glad i didn’t lose it. this fic was so well written, i loved that it incorporated elements from the original series without straying away from the highschool au/canon divergent plot.
learn to let go - skvaader
[ info ]
published 2021
minor andrew/neil/kevin
rated G (creator chose not to use archive warnings)
1/1 chapters, 9K words
tags: grief/mourning, jewish neil josten, hurt/comfort, angst with a happy ending, implied/referenced child abuse, friendship, minor injuries
There’s a question on Kevin’s tongue, one he won’t let escape because it will lead to nothing and there’s no one to answer him. It weighs heavier each day. How do you grieve for someone who’s still alive, who might not be buried? Kevin doesn’t know how to tell Neil he’s already built him a funeral bouquet, that it’s heavy enough that the drawer won’t pry open as easily anymore. That it’s made from steel grey and rosy pink. Their days are running out and yet here Neil is, buying fruit because Kevin doesn’t dare to ask for a midnight snack.
um THIS was devastating. it has a happy ending but you can still feel the heavy grief and guilt Kevin is feeling throughout the entire fic, an it’s honestly heartwrenching.
the bachelor of baltimore - likearecord
[ info ]
published 2020
neil/andrew
rated M (no archive warnings apply)
5/5 chapters, 32K words
tags: neil josten as nathaniel wesninski, references to abuse, marriage of alliances, mild violence, au - no exy
Nathaniel Wesninski, the only son of the Butcher of Baltimore, has two options: choose a mob boss to marry for the benefit of the Moriyamas, or meet with an unfortunate accident. He thought he had it worked out. And then Andrew Minyard walked into his life.
this was genuinely a fun read, it was a bit angsty but it had a happy ending, and left me trying to find more fics with mob boss!andrew and neil.
a different matter - @djhedy and @annawrites
[ info ]
published 2020
neil/andrew
rated E (no archive warnings apply)
15/15 chapters, 59K words
tags: au - housemates, found family, pining, friends with benefits, friendship, explicit sexual content, non-sexual intimacy
After college, Neil is drifting and a bit lost. When Matt makes him move in with him and his housemates, Neil isn’t sure what to expect. Finding a family, having casual sex, and then promptly ruining that by falling not-so-casually in love is not on his agenda though.
this was sooo good that when i reached the end i literally went "nooooo" because i need more of this specific brand of andreil.
[podfic] right side of rock bottom - @frecklebombfic
[ info ]
podfic / original
published 2016, 2016
neil/andrew
rated M (no archive warnings apply)
1/1 chapter, 2-2.5 hours, 20K words
tags: emotional hurt/comfort, sharing a bed, post-canon, emotional healing, mentions of past abuse, pov alternating
Neil thinks it might be the first time he’s taken a breath in days. He hadn’t realised it because he’d been so caught up in packing and saying goodbye to everyone but now that it’s over he remembers his self-imposed countdown was meant to be up by now. It’s the end of the school year and five months ago, he thought he’d be dead by now. Instead he has a team and a future and a home and Andrew. (The last two might be interchangeable.)
this was the first ever podfic i’ve listened to, i was cleaning my room and decided to turn on something to listen to, and was immediately hooked. frecklebombfic is such a wonderful podficcer, and i’m so glad i got to listen to their podfic as my intro to podfics
that’s it for today! sorry for my prolonged absence, life has been hectic lately :) i know this isn't my usual content, but i've been reading lots of aftg fics lately, so i thought i'd share some of my recent favorits. i’ll hopefully be back to consistently posting sooner rather than later!
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HMMMMMMMMMMM,,,,,,,,,
(I know my posts about Jewish Andreil focused on them converting but this one goes out to y'all who headcanon them as ethnically Jewish and rediscovering religion post-TKM)
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palmett-hoes · 4 years
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jewish jeremy knox???
damn this is a good take. hadn't thought about it but this is so good. esp with rromani jean moreau. jewish/rromani solidarity is 👍
but like also,, just on his own, jeremy knox is such a good jewish character. captain sunshine really embodies like,, gemilut hasidim, tzedakah, tikkun olam,, which are all very jewish but not the things most people associate with judaism
now imagine,, kevin day (+ neil and andrew, obviously) goes to visit USC. he's gonna check up on jean, get the low down on the Trojan's drills, maybe do a little recruiting at some LA high schools.
oh, and
🥰👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨♥️hang out with jeremy knox♥️👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨🥰
no biggie
now kevin is PSYCHED. it's just gonna be him, 🥰👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨♥️ jeremy ♥️👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨🥰, and the three surliest assholes known to man. kevin is going to look like a goddamn SAINT next to them
so they get there and it's a shitshow, immediately. jean and andrew are circling each other like alley cats about to brawl. neil's trying to prevent a fight but he can't actually look at jean and that's making the whole situation worse. then, the tension is stressing neil out, and when neil gets stressed he gets mean
so basically everything is going according to plan and kevin is foaming at the mouth to be a good polite boy who 🥰👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨♥️ jeremy ♥️👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨🥰 will like
now 🥰👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨♥️ jeremy ♥️👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨🥰 is going over some potential plans for while they're in town to get the most out of their visit, like "... on Thursday we're having a morning practice 😁 if you guys wanna come watch 😁 or join 😁 whatever you want 😁 you're totally welcome 😁 then that night we can go to Santa Monica Pier 😁 get some food 😁 go on some rides 😁 walk along the beach 😁"
(what kevin wouldn't give to hold 🥰👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨♥️ jeremy ♥️👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨🥰's hand and walk along the beach go for a manly run across the beach with 🥰👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨♥️ jeremy ♥️👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨🥰 at sunset)
"nothing's scheduled for friday 😁 so we can just walk around the city 😁 maybe do some shopping 😁 i'm gonna have to dip early tho 😁 i like to go to friday night shabbat when we don't have games-"
and neil kinda mumbles, "i haven't been to synagogue in years" in his voice that means he's thinking about his traumatic backstory or whatever. kevin doesn't care right now, neil, he's just trying to learn more about 🥰👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨♥️ jeremy ♥️👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨🥰's calf workout
only 🥰👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨♥️ jeremy ♥️👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨🥰 stops in his tracks and shrieks " OHMIGOSH YOU'RE JEWISH TOO!!! you HAVE to come with me!!! i'll introduce you to my rabbi!!! she's the sweetest!!! oh it'll be so much fun!!!!!!!!!!"
and neil's got that look on his face that means someone's doing something nice for him and he's really grateful but he doesn't know how to express it and instead just says "that'd be,, really nice, jeremy... thank you" all sincere and cute and sad with his big dumb eyes and he doesn't even know he's doing it but kevin's seen this before and he KNOWS this means he's about to lose 🥰👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨♥️ jeremy ♥️👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨🥰 to neil for the entire trip
which leaves him,,
with jean and andrew,,
who are going to start a knife fight with each other as soon as they're out of neil's direct line of sight
😰
he's gotta find a way out of this, he doesn't wanna be turned into minced meat in the crossfire
he coughs. "so what about the rest of us-"
and 🥰👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨♥️ jeremy ♥️👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨🥰 cuts him off, "oh don't worry about it 😁 jean can show you two around 😁 he knows all the best spots in the city by now 😁"
not. good.
kevin tries again. "are you sure you don't want us to tag along?" meaning 'please for the love of god don't leave me alone with them'
but 🥰👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨♥️ jeremy ♥️👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨🥰 doesn't seem to notice this and just says, "that's sweet kevin 😁 but neil-io here and i will be fine on our own 😁 and we wouldn't want to bore you 😁"
so the next day just feels like a count down to war. for kevin at least.
🥰👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨♥️ jeremy ♥️👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨🥰 has latched onto neil and they're having a grand old time. neil's telling him about some of the old jewish towns and synagogues he saw in europe, 🥰👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨♥️ jeremy ♥️👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨🥰's bringing neil up to date on some of the intricacies of the newer branches like reform and humanistic, etc. bc neil's parents were both from more conservative roots. and kevin is biting his nails at the rising storm cloud behind them, where andrew and jean are tailing them, silent, eyeing each other, waiting for the opportunity to strike
finally it's late Friday afternoon. they're in jean and 🥰👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨♥️ jeremy ♥️👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨🥰's room, and 🥰👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨♥️ jeremy ♥️👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨🥰 and neil are getting ready to head out. kevin has tried every method in the book to tag along, and been stopped at every junction. finally neil just gave him A Glare™️ that scared him back into a corner and at that point he gave up and accepted his fate
so neil and 🥰👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨♥️ jeremy ♥️👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨🥰 wave goodbye, shut the door, and immediately from behind him kevin hears andrew say, "so let's talk about the nest..."
😶
he's going to die
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i-did · 4 years
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my aftg fanart based off of my own fanfic, because someone had to draw it
thank you @wishbonetea and @sirfatcat-mccatterson for being betas, all mistakes left are my own, also sorry I forgot the scars I’m a fool and super big on scar rep my b
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lukesunbornn · 3 years
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currently thinking about jewish andrew minyard,, many thoughts
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