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wickedpact · 3 years

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heres a transcript of that gina & greg interview i mentioned yesterday. literally nothing new is in this, but theres a lot of info in this that was scattered in varying interviews/podcasts and i like having all of it in one place for future reference purposes

(link to vid)

Patrick: Hey everybody, this is Patrick Cavanaugh from comicbook.com here to bring you a very special conversation about Netflix's The Old Guard, which just debuted last week, and everybody has seen it-- I believe people have seen it by now, so that's very exciting. And to dive deep into this film, we're actually very lucky to have the film's director Gina Prince-Bythewood, who also directed Love And Basketball and Beyond The Lights here. Hello, Gina.

Gina: Hey.

P: And we're also joined by the film's writer, as well as the writer of the original comic book series, The Old Guard. Also, you might know him from his DC Comics work, Batwoman, and Lazarus, to name a few of his titles. We have Greg Rucka! Hello, Greg.

Greg: Hello!

P: So this film just first debuted last week, and I know you guys have been inundated with fans, just loving it. And let's just get to what fans want to know, right off the bat; I'm sure you're getting daily questions about this because there's so much for an expanded universe. So let's set the record straight: will there be a Tiger King crossover?

[everyone laughs]

Greg: Uh, we're planning an animated series with giant Mech suits, and, unbeknownst to a certain franchise, we're going to crossover with Transformers and-- no. Come on. [laughs]

P: Okay, alright, we’ll hold onto that big crossover stuff. And I know Netflix, of course, hasn’t fully announced what the future might be for Old Guard, but I'm just kind of curious if you guys have had any recent conversations about what you'd like to do in the future—theoretical, nothing concrete, of course. But since the film has come out and you've seen fan feedback…?

Gina: I will just say, obviously, it's an incredible compliment that people want to see more. It means we did our job in this. It was very important that this film has a beginning middle and end. We wanted to focus on this.

Greg: Yeah.

Gina: And get it right. Having people want more is an incredible gift and I would say those conversations were really… Greg and I, early on in talking through the story... knowing Greg knows where this thing goes --and it's pretty incredible-- helped me in terms of directing this one. So I will say we've had those conversations early on.

Greg: Yeah Gina’s absolutely right. One of the things that I'm really-- one of the many things I am proud of is that the movie is a whole, you certainly leave it going ‘okay, there could be more, I can see how there is more’. But it is a complete work. It is not contingent and does not need anything else. That said, there were plenty of times we were having conversations and would jokingly be like, ‘oh that'll be in the next one, we'll do that in the next one. We had to cut this so we’ll put it in the next one’.

P: I'm sure people would be very thrilled, as would I. So we’ll try to remain patient since it's only been out a week--

Greg: I think that's reasonable.

P: [sarcastic] I mean, fans are nothing but reasonable--

Greg: [very loud laughter] You know what 'fan' is short for right? Fanatic.

P: [laughs] So Greg, I'm curious. You know, since this is a pretty unique situation where you wrote the original books but then also came to write the script-- which doesn't always happen all that often. I was kind of curious what that process was like and if, when revisiting that core story, if you were tempted to kind of go off into a new directions, you know, uncharted territory? And how you managed to stay faithful to that story.

Greg: So when Skydance initially acquired The Old Guard, Matt Grimm and Don Granger were the guys that I was working with. And they were very clear that they had acquired it because they loved the source material. So when I was doing the adaptation, it was ‘adapt this story to be told in a screen format, there are changes that have to be made’. I didn't see it so much as like ‘I can go in a different direction!’ as ‘it's a really rare opportunity to have a second bite at the apple’. Most writers don't get to tell the same story twice. And even with the collaborative nature of comics, making a movie is far more collaborative. So… being able to benefit from a lot of very smart people-- and then when Gina came aboard, and working very closely with her on the screenplay, you know, taking her notes, and talking at length about it was… I mean, I love the comic we made, I'm very proud of it. But I think this is a superior story. Because it allowed me to fix mistakes I had made. And I think that it certainly works as the film that we wanted it to be, but it has a lot more nuance and a lot more ‘shading’ than the comics ever could have had. So yeah, I mean, I'm very proud of the work we've done.

P: Yeah, as you should be, definitely agree with that. And I know, Gina, you've spoken about how you treated the source material essentially as a Bible as the blueprint for adapting the movie. So a question kind of for both of you, I was curious what scene or sequence were you most excited to bring to life? And then what scene were you most apprehensive about whether or not you could pull it off as faithful to that original?

Gina: For me, I mean, there was there were certainly a couple... Joe and Nicky in the van.

Greg: [nodding] Yeah.

Gina: Such a beautiful moment in the comic. And I wanted to get it right. I knew the actors really wanted to get it right. As soon as we started shooting, I was like, 'oh yeah, they're killing it'. Also Booker in the mine, the speech that he gives to Nile, it's everything to his character. It explains both Booker and Andy; where they are, and why they are the way that they are in that moment of time. And I know that as a director, I saw a perfect take. But going into those, you hope that, ‘am I able to evoke what I need to evoke in the audience?’ I think that the hardest really was the Kill Floor, given how iconic it is in the comic. It's just so beautifully drawn by Leandro, it pops off the page. So ‘how am I going to be able to do the same thing on film?’ But it really kind of boiled down to ‘what is the story [of the scene]’ and really focus on that first, but also wanting to really give a bit of a homage to what Leandro did too, which was my use of silhouette throughout it.

Greg: Yeah, I think that… Gina just listed all of the scenes. I mean, I wanted to see the armored car, that was enormously rewarding for me… I couldn't wait to see the killing room floor... You know, when we talk about moments of adaptation, I actually —and I thought this was really well handled in the movie in particular— Nile’s death wasn't wasn't easy in the comic, because it needed to have heart. You know, Kiki's performance and the way it's shot is just, it's phenomenal.

P: And obviously you can't really talk about this movie, which is this big action-fantasy movie, without talking about that scene between Joe and Nicky. I'm curious what both of your reactions have been to seeing that moment hit so hard with so many fans.

Greg: I'm overjoyed that we're able to give that to so many people. I am also frustrated that it's so overdue. While I don't think that either Gina or I felt that this was… It was important and special because it was important and special between these characters. But, you know, I mean I’m in that place where I recognize why we are getting the response that we are, and, I'm frustrated by the fact that it's 2020. And… apparently we're the first people to have done this? And you can say that about a lot of the reactions, you can say that about the reactions to Kiki's Nile. You can say that about reactions about Charlize portraying Andy. There’s a piece of me that's like ‘guys, we didn't invent the wheel here. All we did was show you, THERE’S A WHEEL HERE!’. So.

P: Yeah, it's interesting and it is frustrating that it is 2020 and we have to refer to this as an anomaly. That this is not the norm, that as you said, this is we're showing people that the wheel exists. And so Gina, you know, between having a film with two powered, seemingly super-powered characters, in a comic book adaptation, which is largely been devoid of such characters. [I think he meant to say female powered characters?] and being a black woman, directing a comic book adaptation— again, something in 2020 that we have to treat as a shocking revelation— I was curious, if you felt any sort of pressure about that on set, or if it was like just a confidence in the material, and support from your collaborators, that it wasn't even an issue?

Gina: Um, are you talking about the scene-?

P: Just the project as a whole.

Gina: There was a reason I took this film, because it moved me. It has to start there. There's all these things; I love putting a black female in the world, I love putting Nicky and Joe in the world, I love putting Joe’s character in the world. Those are all such incredible driving forces. But foremost, I have to feel and care about the characters in the story. And I did. And so, for me, it felt... I mean I was honored to be able to be the one to give these characters a life up on screen... or in that big screen in your living room. There's, of course, enormous pressure. Not only just doing a film, like the bigness of it. Certainly me being a woman, me being a black woman, and doing this when nobody has done it before… It's about proving myself and proving that women like me can do this, that we do like action, that we can shoot action… Just changing that narrative. So there's pressure to get it right and do a good job, but I feed off of that. It made me work harder because I felt like I absolutely had a responsibility to get it right.

P: And we've talked about Kiki a few times as Nile, of course. And Gina, I know you said it was within five seconds of meeting her that you knew she was the right one to play Nile. I was curious, how did the rest of the casting process go? Did everybody get hired that easily? Or was it a harder search to round out the ensemble?

Greg: Yes. I’m curious too!

Gina: You know, I knew going into this that I wanted great actors for every role and it's pretty amazing how many of my first choices are in this film. I mean Matthias Schoenaerts who plays Booker is an incredible actor and I knew I wanted him from the get-go. We were told he doesn't do films like this, but he wanted to meet, which was the first thing, like, ‘oh my gosh it’s on me, don't blow this meeting’ and he said again to my face, ‘I don't do these movies, but I love this movie’ and he loved the character Booker. And after that conversation and hearing my vision, he was in, which was amazing. Marwan Kenzari, I saw him in this independent film called Wolf—

Greg: Yeahhhhhh.

Gina: Phenomenal. And he was supposed to read for the part. We had a meeting over FaceTime. Then, Zoom was not what it is now. And it was such an incredible meeting. He was so passionate about the material. So passionate about the character Joe. So passionate about wanting to give that speech. His energy… I just said 'you don't need to read, like, you're Joe'. Luca Marinelli, who plays Nicky, I saw his audition. He has this depth to him, those eyes.. where you just, you felt everything, you felt his soul. But I needed to do a chemistry reading, as I would with any love story. And so, we flew him in to read with Marwan. They did this incredible improv, and it was so obvious that these two were Joe and Nicky. It was a really beautiful moment as a director to just… know, and I was so excited to show everybody what they had. It leapt off the screen, their connection; they’d never met before but, immediate connection. Chiwetel Ejiofor, I mean… [awed silence]

Greg: Chiwetel... yeah.

Gina: Yeah. To hear that he wanted to be in this and work with me on this, I didn't need anything else at that point. He's truly a genius. Charlize, you know, there are very few women who can work in the space and we believe them. And that's the thing about her work, and her action, we believe her. And we needed that for Andy. And of course she's a great actress, so it was, you know, that was kind of a no-brainer. So, lastly Harry Melling, you know our villain. It's funny, Don Granger, at Skydance, says you've done a good job with your villain if the audience wants to punch him in the face. Harry brought that reality of those templates of Mark Zuckerberg and Martin Shkreli and really rocked it.

Greg: I had, you know, I'm the screenwriter, right? And I am pretty much involved in the production at the director’s sufferance, and Gina was so gracious to want me present-- and more than that, want me present and say things, right? As opposed to ‘stand here and be quiet’, but I remember when Kiki… when they knew they wanted Kiki, like in that window before all the paperwork was done and so on. Throughout most of the casting I wasn't hearing a lot from Gina, just the occasional update. Like ‘I think we've got…’ and then the Kiki audition came in, and Gina, you called me, Granger texted me, Grimm texted me. And it was all the same thing. It was all ‘we have found Nile, oh my god, there were these two scenes and she had us howling in one and weeping in the other and she is perfect’. And the exuberant joy, you know, I remember you on that call being like ‘NO, THIS IS HER!!’. It's like, this is gonna be awesome.

P: So, and to open things up a little bit more to the actual mythology of the film and the comic book series, I think one of the coolest things is that this film doesn't entirely explore is why these characters come back to life? But we also don't entirely need to know that to just… witness this slice of time in their journey. So I'm kind of curious, maybe Greg you have more insight on this, but I'm curious if either of you have those ideas in your head of what the root of this, you know, blessing or curse, the curse of immortality? Or is that just stuff that's entirely irrelevant to this journey?

Greg: I think it's irrelevant… to the journey of the first film. That the story is a self-contained story and you don't need to know why they are immortal. And I think that the film actually does tell you, not specifically, but the film does provide you with enough information to allow you to draw certain conclusions. Because there are really a limited number of ways that they're going to get this way, right? We do not, for instance, see Nile fall into a vat of regeneration juice, right? That's not why Nile comes back. There is a mythology. We know the mythology. We know the why and that's for later. Yes, maybe it will become relevant to the story, but for this story that was told as it was told? No, you don't need to know why.

Gina: The striking thing, when I read the script for the first time was I didn't… I didn't care. Like, I didn't need it. And that surprised me because I know Greg had talked about another company who was interested in the project [Gina doesn’t say, but it was Sony lmao] kept asking ‘you have to tell us why though, in this story, an audience needs to know why’. He was absolutely right [for disagreeing with Sony]. Because I didn't need to know why.

Greg: It's the Rian Johnson School of, you know, it's Looper. ‘We can spend two hours talking about time travel or you can accept that we're in time travel. Which is it going to be?’ And I think that that is one of the most brilliant storytelling decisions made in the last 20 years in film! Literally 'here it is—DOESN’T MATTER, MOVING ON!’ you know.

P: Yeah. It's definitely a bold direction to take. And to have an issue with 'oh, well, we never learn [about the] immortality!' proves that you just miss the point of what the movie is, and that that stuff is kind of irrelevant for right now. Although I do kind of hope that because it's on Netflix someone's expecting like a post credit scene, but it's the autoplay feature, right? [Greg and Patrick talk over eachother, laughing]

Greg: We did talk about that button as a post-credit scene, the Booker [scene]—

Gina: That was originally supposed to be a tag.

Greg: And there was, for a while, the contemplation of ‘maybe we can still [put the Booker scene in as a post-credit scene] and really that'll be like a great big reward for those people who actually watch credits on Netflix. It’s like, you got a bonus scene!’

P: So another, you know, people are loving the characters, they're loving the performances, but also the action is so cool in it, and it feels reminiscent of some other films. But the urgency and efficiency of all of the action sequences always feel like they have a point, and they're not just ‘look what we can pull off this week!’ You know, it's not John Wick on a horse fighting motorcycles because we don't need to do that. It's, you know, always to a point. So I'm kind of curious Greg, what does an action scene look like in your script? And then Gina, what was your whole motivation for putting these action scenes together?

Greg: I had two approaches in this script and used both. Sometimes I would write the sequence as you know, as a series-- this is what is happening, ‘he swings and then his head goes flying’ or whatnot. But knowing very well that unless the script needed to see-- because the script has to specify what is a must. It's a must. It's a must document. ‘We must see this’. ‘We must know this information’. So for a lot of the time, I would sort of drop into a narrative voice and say, ‘okay, now we watch the five of them proceeded to kick every ass and take every name that they come across and please bear in mind you are watching over 10,000 years of combat experience, combined between them’. And then that's the description of an action sequence, right? The screenplay… it's a construction document. It's not the interior decorator’s document. It's not even the Foreman's document. It's an architectural document. And then you give it to the Foreman of the whole production, who then goes, ‘I agree, these are the important things’, and then you get out of their way and watch them do the thing that they have, you know, become an expert at doing to make it happen.

P: Gina, what's your reaction when you read Greg’s script saying, ‘oh, you know, just five immortal warriors demonstrating 10,000 years of combat experience’?

Gina: It's like ‘oh shit’. [everyone laughs] Like that's a very cool thing to read—

Greg: But how do you film it?

Gina: Yeah, exactly! Then you start at the beginning of the scene and 'what character can we reveal in the scene'? And when you start like that, it's less overwhelming. Because the best action sequences for me, when I go to the movies, are those that have a story to them and that are character driven, that have an emotion. So I really started there in the vision of what they should be and just working with my incredible, incredible stunt team, Jeff Habberstad and Danny Hernandez and Bryson Counts[? I dont know who that is]. Designing these fights to tell this story, to showcase this part of character, to further the story. And that was important as well, that we never wanted this film to feel like… rushing through the story to get to each action sequence. All of this works seamlessly. The quiet moments are just as important as the action moments. And so that was exciting to me. But being able to tell the story, reveal character, that was fun. And then it's ‘yeah, how do we choreograph so it feels as if these characters finish each other sentences, so to speak, in terms of action, knowing where the other is going to be, knowing when somebody's out of bullets and need another clip?' Like all those things, the way that they're always picking up used guns and used clips, just this dance. And it was very cool, you know, to really put that together and see what the team came up with. And then to see the actors embody that, bring character, bring performance to that. Which is why it was so great that I had the actual actors doing most of the work, so that we can see that performance.

Greg: I think you used a word that I think clearly came from what Gina’s describing and talking about with working with Danny and Jeff and Bryson. Which is 'efficient'. Like, if you watch the film, you will see that there is only one sequence where Andy is ever firing more than twice, and it is on the killing room floor. After that, whenever she fires a gun, it's one bullet. It goes exactly where she wants it to go. Everything she does becomes an issue of ‘her style is efficiency—‘

Gina: Yeah, that was a big—‘brutal efficiency’ is a term we talked about often, where they know a kill shot. They are not the type that are going to go in an environment and spray. It's lazy and not who they are. They are not going to ever hit someone by accident. They are too good. And their moral code is not like an ordinary For Hire who are just trying to get the target by any means necessary.

P: Yeah, and also speaking to what I feel set these action sequences apart from other action films is, we're used to, you know, like thumping techno or hard rock or something kick in. You know, I don't think anyone had like, you know, Frank Ocean being in an action film on Netflix on their 2020 Bingo cards. So I'm just kind of curious how you put that soundtrack together and what that process was like.

Gina: Yeah. I love music so much. It's so much a part of me as an artist. And for me, I love songs for scores, songs that can evoke an emotion, and elevate a scene or the emotion of a scene without taking it over. And music for this film was so important, to the tone. It was such a balance. This is a violent film, yet I never wanted it to feel like a celebration of violence. The fact that there was a cost to the killing and then motion to the killing. So always wanted to keep that in mind-- and music really helped with that. There's also a thing of, you know, I'm the first audience and I actually don't like heavy metal. So, it annoys me when I watch a movie and it's this non-stop thump. In the rectory —spoiler alert— when Andy kills 19 people, the music I chose was important because it took away the sting of that. I didn't want an audience to revel in ‘oh my God, she killed 19 people’. No, it was ‘she killed 19 people and you see on her face that this was not fun, this was not easy’. You see that on Nile’s face when she walks out, and the music helped that. I wanted the music to feel operatic, because what happened in that room did have that depth of emotion, so music again— so important for vibe and tone and it was fun to find these songs that could do exactly what I wanted them to do.

P: Greg, the narrative is definitely very faithful to the first two Old Guard series and, you know, blends together in this compelling and unique way… Just as a —you know, we are comicbook.com— so coming from the purest sense of interpreting the narrative... [Greg laughs] like there's definitely the flashback with Achilles from the comic book, and then also the flashback to Booker's hanging scene. Those are our absent from the film. And I was just curious if those were ever in the script or if you want to rework them for the future…?

Greg: No, I mean we also had, in the original series, the flashback that sort of accounts the Joe and Nicky, ‘we killed each other’, ‘many times’ sequence as well. There were drafts where all of that was there. And sometimes in greater detail than others. There was a version where that hospital scene— [in the movie] you get just the right amount of… when Booker's relaying it to Nile in the mine. But, you know, there was more to that, and you can see sort of Achilles' story’s presence in the mine, right? There's a glimpse of the painting. So those things weren't erased as much as… when you make a comic, every choice you are making is an efficiency choice. ‘You have X many pages, how are you going to spend them?’ And I'm not a filmmaker. I'm the guy who wrote the thing. But one of the things I can tell you when watching is that it's the same calculus but exponentially. It is— every single thing you are doing is asking if it's serving your narrative. And I think the trade —because it is a trade— of the Achilles backstory to build the Quynh story has a benefit that the Achilles story alone didn't have, in that the Quynh story —especially as it's relayed in the movie— not only does it illuminate Joe, Nicky, Booker, and of course Andy, but it's also Illuminating to Nile, in a way that… talking about Achilles would have been repeating a beat. Because as beautiful, and as important, Achilles is to Andy's character… Booker conveys that heartbreak with his story, right? So it becomes an efficiency question as much as anything else. I mean, that that's really what it comes down to.

P: Speaking to some of the changes again, I don't want to get to spoiler heavy but there's definitely a big change with one character and their possible fate. Don't want to ruin anything for anyone, so trying to play it safe.

Greg: [laughing] Yeah, how are we supposed to answer this, Patrick?

P: Why don't we just text each other? [everyone laughs] Well, I'm kind of curious. One character's trajectory has changed a little bit. What were the discussions like over, you know, altering their trajectory and what that could mean, you know, for their future adventures?

Greg: Well, how do we talk around this?

P: Also, if anyone's been watching this for 40 minutes and hasn't seen the movie, they've got to adjust their priorities.

Gina: I would say, it was about adding more jeopardy and stakes. It absolutely did that. What I love so much about the story and what Greg created is that these characters are mostly immortal. So there is always that threat. But it just added another level to that. But it also crystallized so well… the fact that the moment that Andy is truly saying ‘I'm done’ a new Immortal shows up in Nile. So it just seemed to work really well and, you know, obviously having Greg be so on board with that and take it and run with it was really important.

Greg: It externalizes the conflict beautifully. And I believe I think David Ellison at Skydance likes the term downward pressure, I believe. [Gina smiles, Greg sees] Did you hear that? Did you hear that during editing? [Gina nods] But it does. Look, here's a fundamental problem; it's actually one of the problems at the heart of Force Multiplied: what's jeopardy to an immortal? Cuz it's kind of, you know, as Joe says, ‘what are you gonna do, tough guy? Kill me?’ You know, ‘if I go, I go. I don't know when I'm going’. So you you need to be able to inject into the story some level of jeopardy. You want to heighten the stakes. And it also externalizes that particular character’s conflict.

P: Gina, hopefully I don't put you too much on the spot with this question. But, you know, any time there's a big comic book project announced its, you know, fans start saying, oh, I'd love this person who's done action movies to do it’ or ‘this person who’s already done 10 Sci-Fi movies…’, you know, like Taika Waititi can't direct every movie.

Gina: I would love him to!

P: I'm just actually kind of curious, Gina, if there are any directors that you're particularly a fan of who don't necessarily have the same, you know, Marvel DC, Star Wars experience that that you'd love to hear get announced as tackling, you know, a big budget comic book movie.

Greg: I would like to know too.

Gina: Certainly, I'm excited about what Victoria Mahoney's going to be doing-- she just did second unit [director] on Star Wars, first woman to ever do that. I dig her brain so much and her aesthetic. I'm really excited to see what she's going to do in the action space, certainly.

P: Yeah, very cool. Really looking forward to her career for sure. And I think we're just about out of time here. We were down—

Gina: [raising her hand] Can I ask a question real quick? Sorry, I just need a definitive answer on this because I got called out on Twitter and I asked Greg--

Greg: [laughing] Ohhhhhhh—

Gina: So is Old Guard, is it a graphic novel? Or is it a comic?

Greg: You got to answer that Patrick.

P: Oh boy.

Greg: [laughing] Literally he's watching all credibility start to evaporate if he doesn't get this right. [holding up a comic of Opening Fire] This is a what?

P: I mean… part of me, knowing that it is part one of a three-part overall series… You know, my brain goes to ‘trade paperback’, you know, like it's a volume collecting a certain amount of issues. But if you ask me before volume 2 came out, it would be collected as a graphic novel, but… they're all comic books. They're all just comic books, everybody. Let's just take it easy.

Gina: Okay, thank you.

P: That's my answer.

Greg: Thank you. Thank you. I think that is the appropriate answer.

P: They're all just comic books. Take it easy.

P: Yeah, but I am curious. Of course, one of the interesting things about the film is that over the course of hundreds… thousands of years, these characters, the old guard have kind of influenced humanity in some definitely interesting ways… And ultimately for good, is a little bit of what we're seeing in the film. And I can't help but wonder… is it possible that the old guard could have unintentionally influenced the world for bad? And have some negative ripples come from their actions, or do I have to wait for a sequel for that?

Greg: I think that is a very reasonable and logical question to ask, especially when you know, there are 19 dead bodies lying in a church. You know what I mean? There is a certain amount— and it's almost fatuous to talk about it but there is always the doctrine of unintended consequences. I will say this goes to something else— and I'll say it really quickly because I know we're running out of time. I think one of the things that I really, really loved about what's being said, in the movie, is that at the end of the film… The definitive statement is, if you take away everything about immortality, what it's saying is that… our choices matter and our actions matter and they matter in ways and to people that we will never see and never know of. We try to put right in the world by doing right. And we do that without ever seeing what the ramifications of it are. And sometimes we're going to succeed, gloriously, and sometimes we're going to fail and we may never know that either, right? It's the choice paralysis that that you get from cheating in The Good Place, right? I can't eat or drink or move because morally it's all wrong, right? But the takeaway from the film is that, ‘yeah, your life matters and what you do with it matters and it matters to people that you're never ever going to see.’

P: So yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, I think that's a great positive, you know, message for us to leave on. And I definitely think that comes across in the film, especially, you know, from the characters like Joe and Nicky just professing… you know, it's about the time that you have. And you don't know when your number is going to be up. So you just try and do as many good things before that happens as you can, and hopefully the world responds to that. So I really connected with that message in the film. Thanks so much for taking the time to chat with me. The Old Guard has been out for… five days. So I look forward to reuniting--

Greg: Does it feel longer to you. Gina? It feels like it's longer for me. [Gina laughs]

P: I look forward to reuniting in maybe 10 more days to talk about the sequel and spin-off and the prequel and all that sort of thing. [Greg laughs] But for now, The Old Guard is still on Netflix. And of course don't be tricked into watching any post-credit scenes because you might end up watching, you know, The Great British Bake Off. Well, thanks so much guys, it was a pleasure.

#tog interviews #i dont remember the tag i use for transcripts

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tntwme · 4 years

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Rooftop Heights

@filteredred and @fuzzballsheltiepants made me do it.

Before he graduates, Andrew gets him and Neil smartphones

(watching Nicky constantly FaceTime with Eric gave him the idea - but he’d never admit that)

(just like he’d never admit he can’t stand the thought of not seeing his blue-eyed junkie every day)

he spends time researching the best on the market

just because it’s also what the rest of the original foxes carry so it would be easy for Neil to stay in touch with them too, wasn’t a factor AT ALL

he takes Neil to the mall when he goes to get them

Andrew picks out a blue phone case

(no, Nicky, it does NOT match the color of Neil’s eyes and if you EVER say that where Neil can hear you I’ll gut you)

Neil picks out an orange one, OFC

the sales woman shows off cases, accessories, extra charging cords, etc

he buys Neil 4 extra chargers so they can be strategically placed EVERYWHERE - no more phone dead excuses

(he’s especially interested in the charging sticks, gets three of those because NEIL)

the woman shows Andrew their display of pop sockets, which he is not interested in - like, how tf can you slide a phone into your pocket with one of those?

They spend the weekend figuring out their phones together

Andrew quickly hates group chats

Neil adores them (at first) because he can talk to Matt and the girls all at once now

After moving, Andrew and Neil text every day and FaceTime almost every night

It’s not the same but it helps

they usually FaceTime while each of them are on their own roof

winding down from their respective days

(Neil usually running down his daily frustrations with the freshman, Andrew occasionally giving a grunt in response)

(Neil can still read every tiny facial expression that no one else can see, and it’s enough like their usual evenings, for now)

(they both still miss touches)

It was an especially hard day, followed by a terrible practice session with Jack, when it happened

They were on their roofs, Andrew watching the frustration and exhaustion cross over Neil’s face as he inhaled his cigarette

when suddenly he hears Neil shouting and cursing

all he can see are the bricks of Fox Tower rushing across the screen, then it’s the ground rushing at him for .2 seconds, followed by a loud and terrifying crunch

then black

the phone disconnects

no response to his calls, they immediately go to VM

no response to texts, they sit as unread

Andrew is not panicking

(Andrew is totally panicking)

he’s not getting answers from anyone in Fox Tower; that must mean the worst

10 minutes and nothing

20 minutes and nothing

he’s starting to look at booking flights when he finally gets a call from Wymack

Andrew answers but doesn’t say anything, expecting the worst

he is NOT expecting to hear “Hi” in Neil’s breathless voice

letting out the breath he’d been holding for 40 minutes, Andrew growls, “How bad is it?”

“It’s broken. I don’t think it can be repaired.”

Andrew’s vision starts to go black. “I’m on my way.”

“Why? It slipped out of my hand. I can go get a new one.”

Andrew stills. “What?”

He can HEAR the smile in Neil’s voice now. “I dropped the phone over the side of the roof. No one is in the tower, so I had to jog to Wymack’s to let you know. What, did you think I fell off the roof?”

Andrew is just so done now. “WTF did you expect me to think? All I could see was the building rushing by and hear you yelling!”

Neil is definitely smirking when he says, “I always told you I’d drag you down with me.”

Two days later, Neil receives an Amazon package

Pop sockets

(orange fox paws)

#andrew minyard #neil josten #andreil #long distance #phones #aftg #all for the game #aftg headcanon

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neil-jortson · 4 years

Text

It’s only a matter of time

This is a hc about what I think would happen to the foxes in quarantine. I made this as a part of the gift exchange from @aftgexchange for the Tumblr user @wishbonetea . It was an awesome experience to do this exchange and I hope to do it again!

Summary: a collection of ideas about how the foxes lives would have to adapt during quarantine

word count: 2k

The foxes in quarantine: a bullet point fic

The year is 2020. Matt, Kevin, Andrew, and Neil are all professional exy players. Neil and Andrew fought hard and finally got put on the same team that past season.

Dan is an assistant coach for a college team in the same city that Matt plays in. Nicky lives in Germany with Erik and Aaron is just finishing up his residency in medical school. Allison is a major fashion designer who donates more money than she keeps. Renee works with the peace corp and is currently out of the country. Everything is good.

Dan and Matt are expecting their first child in less than two months and are trying to clean up the spare room to begin making a nursery for the baby.

On the tv in another room plays a news reporter talking about a virus on the horizon in China. They don’t think much of it and continue about their days.

Andrew and Neil lived a fairly domestic life, one they never thought they would live, with two cats and a nice set of kitchen knives. (They were a house warming present from Aaron: “it’s ironic” he would say when asked why he purchased the set.)

When Andrew and Neil heard about the novel virus, they simply changed their in-depth arguments about a zombie outbreak to arguments on what to do in the event the virus becomes a big deal. Little did they know some of their “predictions” would turn out to be correct.

Everyone went about their normal lives just keeping an eye on the news before things seemed to change at the drop of a hat. The country was shutting its borders and not allowing flights in from other countries. There was even talk of cities going into lockdown.

Renee was trying to catch a flight home with the rest of her crew. When she made it back into the states, she found she had nowhere to go. Allison invited her to stay at her apartment in NYC. She was not aware of how long they were going to be stuck there (not that Allison was against sharing an apartment with a beautiful girl like Renee).

It became more real to the rest of them as the Exy season was postponed until further notice.

Kevin didn’t know what to do with himself and Neil. Was. Devastated.

It was only a matter of days before they began to get antsy about not going to the court daily. Neil and Kevin had shared anxious words as they hadn’t heard what the Moriyamas would think about them not receiving the normal amount of money this season. Andrew tried to put their minds at ease, but with no words of communication from the crime syndicate, they were getting worried.

Dan and Matt were probably the most stressed of the bunch. The information they had gathered was that most of the Foxes were in good shape to handle the virus even if they were to get sick, but there wasn’t any data on how the virus would affect pregnant women. Dan feared for the health of the baby because of this uncertainty. She and Matt decided that they would follow the government regulations for quarantine and that when groceries needed to be picked up, Matt would be the one to go out and get them.

Wymack’s thoughts were focused on his foxes and how they would be affected by the pandemic. He thought of Matt and Dan bringing a baby into the world at an unlikely time. He thought of Andrew and Neil who never could commit to quitting smoking (even if Neil just liked the smell). He worried about Aaron working in a hospital. For Nicky's mental health while being stuck at home and away from people. He worried that Kevin would start drinking again without the regime of Exy to keep him on track. He was concerned about Renee and Allison living in one of the worst cities to be stuck in when a pandemic hits. He thought about every person he had had as a fox before them and after them. He spent most of his time checking up on the foxes and the other portion of his time reaching out to organizations to see what they needed. He volunteered when he could and spread the word when he couldn’t.

As the foxes settled into their lives stuck at home and thousands of miles apart from one another, things settled into a new normal.

Andrew and Neil lived in quiet harmony when the quarantine first began. Neil went running every morning in a park that was not very crowded and when he would come home he would head straight to the shower. Eventually, Andrew convinced him to buy a treadmill because he was worried about Neil getting sick. Although, the way that he phrased it, it would seem he didn’t care either way. (Neil saw right through him)

Life for them was simple but draining.

The longer the quarantine went on, the worse off Neil and Andrew became.

Andrew found himself talking more and more with Betsy as being stuck at home was leaving him alone with his thoughts more than he would like. He felt old emotions creeping to the forefront of his mind as he was stuck in a two-bedroom apartment with two cats and a man he “hated.”

Being stuck at home for Neil was his own personal hell. He paced around the apartment often and felt no true release from running on the treadmill. Neil felt the same way he did when his mom and he were snowed in at a safe house in the mountains. He walked to the corners of each room and took stock of the items in the home. He felt himself get more and more on edge as the days went by.

Dan and Matt were better off when it came to mental health. It also helped that they tried not to take out their worries on one another, they were a team. They enjoyed each other's company and would try to hang out on opposite sides of the house as much as possible. They knew when they started to push each other's buttons and would back off when they started going too far.

Matt knew that Dan felt bad about not being able to leave the house so he got a kiddy pool for her to sit in outside. It wasn’t much, but Dan enjoyed the fact that Matt was thinking of her when he went out shopping. They spent many afternoons sitting in the tiny pool that barely fit them and laughing at the different antics of their crazy neighbors that day.

Nicky got a hold of everyone's schedule and decided that they should do group facetime calls every week. It was really hard to find a good time because everyone lived in different time zones and Aaron had a rotating doctor’s schedule, but Nicky was able to find 45 minutes a week when everyone was awake and not at work.

Dan and Matt had finally found proper places to put all of the items that had been in the nursery and were just beginning to start the vacuum cleaner when they heard an alarm go off on Dan’s phone.

It was time for them to talk with their old team.

Everyone slowly joined the call and Nicky was just as enthusiastic in welcoming every person who joined.

Nicky was especially delighted when Kevin answered the call and the foxes came to find out his hair had grown out longer than he ever let it before. (He claimed it wasn’t professional to have longer hair but he looked better than ever with the length.)

When Allison joined the call, some of the foxes were surprised to see Renee sitting right beside her. Renne’s hair had grown out and Dan noticed that there was a distinct line from where she had been bleaching her hair

Dan asked, “Hey Renee, what are you going to do with your hair?”

Renee responded with “I’m really not sure yet, but I think I want to grow it out with my natural color”

Allison whispered something in Renee's ear and she blushed.

All of the foxes took notice of this and decided that maybe it was time to settle one of the few remaining bets from college.

Neil and Andrew were the last to join the call and they seemed pissed off. Right before they noticed they were a part of the call, they seemed to be arguing in Russian. They quickly noticed they were on camera and stopped arguing but they wouldn’t really look at one another.

Nicky asked them how they were doing which Neil responded with “We’re fine” and Andrew scoffed at the word.

Nicky knew better than to dig around in their personal business so he let it drop and began to ask Aaron and Katelynn how their dog was, was it still cute, can they show it on the camera?

They responded by turning the camera to let everyone see the sleeping puppy at the edge of their bed. This answered two of the questions because as everyone could see, the dog was still very cute. They told them about a run into the vet they had to make because “the little fiend” has a knack for eating things he’s not supposed to.

Dan and Matt told everyone how the pregnancy was going and told them the tale of woe trying to find the perfect crib for the baby’s room.

“When it arrived, we opened up the package and it was bright green! Who in their right mind is going to put their baby in a bright green crib? It’s ridiculous is what it is” complained Matt when Dan had finished telling them how long the package had taken to arrive.

While everyone was talking Andrew and Neil had seemed to calm down and Neil had placed his head on Andrew’s shoulder. Things weren’t always sunshine and daisies but they weren’t really mad at each other when they fought.

After everyone had caught up there was a lull in the conversation that Neil began to fill. He told them about the time they had to rescue King Fluffkins. They had gotten King recently just a few months prior to the quarantine coming into effect. This was the first time that the team had heard Neil say the words “King Fluffkins” out loud. It is needless to say that they laughed for a long while hearing Neil say the ridiculous name the team had given to their cat. When they calmed down they listened to Neil explain how King had gotten out of the window they kept partially open for smoking. Andrew had to hold on to Neil’s waist as Neil propelled himself out the window to get a hold of the cat at the edge of the window sill. King had dug her claws in and Neil almost fell out of the window. They got her inside but put a lock on the window to ensure she didn’t make her way out there again.

That story pushed their time to when they needed to say goodbye. Aaron’s shift started in under an hour and he needed to get to work. They all said their goodbyes and set up a time for the following week.

It helped everyone to talk amongst themselves and to hear what had been going on while they were at home. They were all worried about what was going on, but it seemed as though they were becoming more connected, even across the vast distance.

It was only a matter of time before this came to pass and Neil and Andrew would get to see Dan and Matt’s baby.

It was only a matter of time before the exy season started up once more and the Moriyamas demanded a larger cut from Neil’s salaries for the break he was on during the pandemic.

It was only a matter of time before Nicky could come and visit the twins for Christmas.

It was only a matter of time before all of the foxes felt their lives returning to a slightly new normal.

It was only a matter of time.

#the foxes in quarantine #it would turn their world upside down but these kids will be alright #aftg fic exchange #aftg #all for the game #tfc #the foxhole court #neil josten #andrew minyard #andriel #matt boyd #dan wilds #allison reynolds #renee walker #hints of renison #nicky hemmick #aaron minyard #kevin day #david wymack

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andrew-is-foxy · 4 years

Text

Foxes candy store AU

Andrew and the Foxes work at a homemade candy store and Matt’s new friend Neil comes in to see what the fuss is about.

Based on this prompt here by @a-case-for-wonder Only changes are- Renee doesn’t own the store, they’re still college students, and Kevin and Neil still play ‘a sport’.

TW: self-harm scar mention, swearing, sparring Word Count: 2.7k

There weren’t many things in life that Andrew enjoyed, but his job was one of them. Or, at the very least, it was something that he tolerated because it was less boring than the alternative. His therapist, Betsy Dobson, had found the job for him, saying he needed to find a daily routine, and find something he was good at. Betsy knew the owners of the homemade candy store, Abby and David Wymack, and they’d been willing to give Andrew a job even with his juvenile record. The store was managed by a young woman with curly black hair named Dan, and her boyfriend Matt manned the cash register. Out the back, Andrew had gotten his twin brother Aaron and their cousin Nicky jobs boiling and making the candy. Out the front in the display window was Andrew, his best friend Renee and her girlfriend Allison. They worked in full view of the store behind a glass window so that the customers could see what they were doing. Nicky, a marketing major, said it was a strategy to get interest from people walking past and also show the customers that it was all handmade. Andrew pulled the logs of candy and rolled it out into the small little rolls for Renee to cut, and Allison sat at the table sorting them into neat little packages and making all the displays, gift boxes and wrapping look beautiful. The owners’ son, Kevin, often haunted the store after his college classes or on his days off from training for whatever sport it was that he did. Andrew didn’t really care so he’d never paid enough attention. The only thing Kevin was good for was being eye candy and sometimes interesting enough to talk to when he wasn’t talking about sports. Aaron and Nicky knew what sport it was, seeing as though they spoke to Kevin about it when they were at the college dorms, but Andrew was more interested in passing his degree, reading, and sleeping. All the kids that worked at the candy shop were students at the state college not far away, but Andrew only associated with Renee outside of the store if he could help it, no matter that he shared a dorm with his family and Kevin.

“Did you try this one yet?” Renee asked from beside Andrew as he worked on a log of candy longer and thicker than his arms, needing to make it as thin as his fingers.

“No, not yet, but it looks like it’s watermelon,” Andrew answered. Renee was cutting up the thin rolls he’d already made that day and she held one of the wonky pieces out to him to try. He put it in his mouth, smiling a little bit at the sweet explosion in his mouth, and went back to working. Andrew loved sugar, more than he loved anything else. He would live off it if Kevin didn’t police their kitchen like it was his only goal in life. Kevin also had a habit of ransacking Andrew’s hidden stashes of candy every now and again and throwing them away. Fucking athletes.

“Yeah, watermelon,” Andrew said, rolling the candy across his tongue and into his cheek. Renee fed one to Allison and popped one into her own mouth, nodding appreciatively as she did so.

“Arms hurting yet himbo?” Allison called from the other side of Renee and Andrew flicked her the bird without looking over. Allison had called him ‘himbo’ so many times since he’d started working at the store that he’d had to Google what it meant. He’d been surprised that it meant attractive, but unintelligent man. He’d been torn between being flattered and offended, because Andrew was a lot smarter than he led people to believe. Still, it was better than being called ‘monster’, so he’d decided to let it go. The truth was Andrew’s arms weren’t hurting yet. He was good at this job because he was strong. When you’re five foot nothing at nineteen years old, you kind of need something to make you feel better about yourself which was why Andrew could nearly match Matt in the weights room. Nearly. Matt was over six foot and had been raised by a champion boxer, so he’d had a head start. While Andrew had been shuttled through the foster care system and wallowed away in juvie, Matt had been learning to box. The bell above the door jangled and Andrew looked up to see who’d come in and was unsurprised to see Kevin walking past Allison’s newly done display shelf. He barely glanced at Matt as he walked behind the register, but he did say hello to Andrew and smiled politely to Renee, turning it into a grimace when he looked at Allison, and disappeared into the back room.

“He’s such a douche canoe,” Allison muttered. Andrew didn’t point out that the two of them used to make out at parties when they were drunk before Allison and Renee started dating.

“He looked happy today,” Renee said instead. Allison wrinkled her nose and Andrew turned back to his work.

“Kevin never looks happy. None of the monsters do,” Allison replied. Andrew resisted rolling his eyes.

“Nicky does!” Renee said, as calm and placating as always.

“Nicky doesn’t count, he’s only a monster by proxy,” Allison replied, sliding from her stool. Andrew saw her let herself out of their side door and start decorating one of the shelves with the new candy boxes she’d created. Conversation over, Allison exit stage left. Andrew didn’t miss the fond smile on Renee’s face as she watched her girlfriend. He opened his mouth to tell her to snap out of it, but the bell jangled and Andrew went back to aggressively pulling the log of candy.

“Hey, hey!” Matt said, sounding happy to see whoever had walked in. “I didn’t actually expect you to stop by!”

“I was curious about what you meant by ‘homemade candy’,” the newcomer said. His voice was deep, nice even, and Andrew found himself drawn in by it. He looked up and had to work really hard to not let a reaction show on his face. The newcomer was short, although taller than Andrew of course, and he had auburn hair just long enough to start curling around his ears. His eyes were so blue Andrew could have gotten lost in them if he wanted to. He had four thin, white scars running down one cheek clearly done with a small, sharp blade. On the other cheek, under his eye, was a round patch of healed, burned skin. Andrew hated that he was the perfect mix of handsome, and interesting. Nice features, nice voice, muscled legs, and scars that beg the question of ‘what happened to you?’ If someone that attractive could get themselves into that much trouble, he deserved the label ‘himbo’ not Andrew. Andrew’s scars were all self-inflicted, which he could argue was less stupid than having someone or something burn your face. The door between Andrew and the back room shut with a snap and Andrew jerked his head around to see who’d come out. If Nicky or Aaron were bringing out another log of candy already, he was going to have words with them, but it was just Kevin.

“Oh Neil!” Kevin said, actually smiling at the newcomer. “What are you doing here?”

“Matt told me he worked here so I thought I’d check it out,” Neil said, tilting his chin in Matt’s direction.

“I didn’t know you two were friends,” Kevin mused, situating himself at the counter beside Andrew. Andrew bit hard on the inside of his cheek and worked harder on the roll in front of him, looking at Neil out of the corner of his eye.

“We are,” Matt said, looking strangely proud. Neil smiled and Andrew looked away for a second.

“We are also roommates,” he said.

“How do you two know each other?” Matt asked from his stool behind the register.

“Neil is our freshman recruit, obviously,” Kevin answered.

“Oh right, of course,” Matt said, clearly as interested in the sport as Andrew was.

“He’s more of a soccer fan,” Neil said as if apologising for his roommate’s ignorance. Kevin grimaced as if that news personally offended him, swiping up a handful of the wonky, rejected pieces of candy, and pocketing them. Andrew knew that the small handful would be the only candy Kevin would eat that week, and the knowledge pained him. Andrew ate double that daily.

“See you at practice,” Kevin said to Neil. “And I’ll see you later,” Kevin added, looking at Andrew.

“Bye,” Andrew replied, waving him away impatiently, grateful to have room again. Not elbowing Kevin when he’s standing that close to Andrew working was a chore he couldn’t really be bothered with. Kevin left the store without a backward glance or saying goodbye to anyone else, and Andrew didn’t hold that against him.

“Good to know he’s an asshole all the time and not just on the court,” Neil said to Matt who laughed.

“You have no idea. He’s nice to Andrew, and that’s about it,” Matt responded. Andrew looked up at his name and met Neil’s eyes. Neil smiled at him and did the stupid male nod thing and Andrew looked away.

“Did you want to try some free samples?” Renee asked Neil, sliding some more of the multicoloured rejects into one of Allison’s boxes that hadn’t worked. She passed them to Andrew who held them in Matt’s direction because there was a glass wall in the way of him and Neil.

“Um, okay,” Neil said, sounding dubious. He took the box and popped one into his mouth. Andrew didn’t miss the immediate, full body wince at he crunched the rock hard candy between his teeth straight away making Andrew cringe. He swallowed the shards quickly and put the box down in front of the register, looking severely unimpressed and a little bit embarrassed. “That is too sweet,” he explained. Matt laughed, but Andrew stopped working to openly stare incredulously at him. It’s a fucking candy store, what did he expect. Matt used his finger to rifle through the pieces and pulled out a blueberry one.

“The watermelon is a bit obnoxious, but try this one. It’s a little less sweet and more… sour? Kind of,” he explained. Neil looked traumatised, but he took the piece between his finger and thumb and put it in his mouth. The reaction was less intense, and he managed to suck it for a more than five seconds before wincing and crushing it between his teeth again to get it out of his mouth.

“Too sweet still,” Neil said, pushing the box away further. Matt went looking for a third piece of candy, but Andrew was getting annoyed now. He went over to the register, snatched the box from Matt and ignored his undignified ‘hey!’

“It’s a candy store dipshit,” Andrew said to Neil. “Everything is sweet, that’s the point. Just don’t eat any of it,” he snapped. Neil raised his eyebrows, but it was the smile tugging at his lips that threw Andrew for a loop. Usually, when Andrew got mad at someone, that someone cowered or apologised or reacted, rightfully so, with fear. The only person who didn’t react with fear was Aaron, and that was because his twin reacted with anger in return. Nobody smiled at him.

“That is the plan, thanks,” Neil replied easily. Andrew stalked back to his spot and gave Renee back the box.

“The monster strikes again,” Allison said cheerily from her place at the shelves.

“Monster?” Neil asked, surveying Andrew with his chilling blue eyes. Andrew schooled his features to impassivity and went back to work. “I don’t think he’s a monster,” was all Neil said before turning back to Matt. Andrew deposited the sentence into the back of his mind to think about later. How would he know?

“You going to be out late tonight?” Matt asked.

“Nah, I’ll be home straight after training,” Neil said. “Just because I don’t like the candy, doesn’t mean this isn’t a pretty cool job,” he added. Andrew felt his eyes on him, but he didn’t look up.

“Thanks, I like it,” Matt agreed. Neil laughed and Andrew decided he liked the noise, which meant he also hated it.

“See you tonight,” Neil said.

“Yeah, thanks for stopping by,” Matt said, genuinely meaning it judging by the happiness in his voice. Andrew glanced up and caught Neil’s eyes again.

“I will do just that,” Neil said, giving Andrew a smile that made Andrew want to punch him. Or kiss him. Or maybe punch him and then kiss him.

“Bye!” Matt said as Neil backed towards the door.

“See you, and Andrew?” Neil said, making eye contact again, “It was nice meeting you.” Andrew didn’t warrant that with a reply, even though something in his stomach stirred. Attraction, butterflies, whatever you wanted to call it. It made Andrew want to peel his skin off. Kevin was hot. Rolland, the bartender Andrew fucked around with some weekends, was easy and obedient (mostly). Andrew hadn’t felt actual, genuine attraction stirring in his stomach for a very long time, at least not chased by hot lashes of desire and lust. This was just simple, innocent, followed merely by curiosity. Andrew was not impressed.

That afternoon, after Aaron and Nicky had turned off and cleaned all the equipment out the back, Matt had counted all the money, Allison had swept and tidied the front of the store, and Renee had helped Andrew clean the display workspace, Dan shut off the lights and locked the store behind them. “You coming back to the dorm? I’m starving!” Nicky asked Andrew. Andrew had been simmering on his encounter with Neil all afternoon and hand pulling candy ropes hadn’t been enough of a distraction. He turned to Renee who was watching him calmly.

“Do you want to…?” she asked, leaving the question open ended. Andrew knew what she was asking, and he really, really did.

“Yes,” he said. She smiled and nodded.

“I’ll meet you in the dorm parking lot in half an hour?” She asked. Andrew nodded and got in his car with Aaron and Nicky. Renee and Allison climbed into Allison’s car, and Dan and Matt went to a restaurant further down the street for dinner.

“I’ll leave dinner in the fridge for you,” Nicky said quietly from the passenger seat. Andrew didn’t answer, but he knew Nicky would do it anyway.

Half an hour later, he met Renee in the parking lot and they went around the back of the building and down a rarely used path to their frequented sparring place. Renee and Andrew made quick, careful work of wrapping their hands after removing their shoes and circled each other familiarly. Renee made the first move and Andrew parried it easily, going for a hit in her stomach that she dodged on nimble feet. After an hour, they were both sore and adequately beaten up and they sank to the floor beside each other to gingerly unwrap their hands. Andrew knew Renee wouldn’t ask why Andrew needed the fight, but part of him wanted to tell her anyway. He didn’t, but he knew she would work it out with his question.

“Do you think you could talk to Abby and Wymack about maybe introducing a new flavour?”

“I can certainly try, what flavour do you have in mind?” She asked, wincing a little as she moved. Andrew had hit her really quite hard in the side of her ribs that was going to be a proper bruise before she went to bed that night. To be fair, Andrew’s lip was split and his shoulder was still numb from her last punch.

“Lemon or liquorice,” Andrew said, packing his sparring equipment into a bag. He didn’t miss Renee’s smile as she spoke.

“They’re not very sweet flavours,” she mused.

“No, they’re not,” he agreed.

“I’m sure he’ll appreciate it,” she teased. If they weren’t sat on the floor already unequipped, he would have swung at her for that. As it was he just glared at her and her smile grew. “I’ll talk to Abby and Wymack tomorrow,” she promised.

“Don’t tell anyone it was my idea,” he warned.

“It’s nobody else’s business,” Renee agreed.

#aftg #all for the game #andrew minyard #neil josten #andreil #renison #matt boyd #dan wilds #allison reynolds #nicky hemmick #aaron minyard #kevin day #renee walker

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sadboyayeron · 4 years

Text

@criswisstuff “I may be projecting a little bit the guy being scared of women old enough to be his mother is really possible. Also the "I haven't sleep or eaten in four days because I don't deserve it " during a depressive episode” asks from this post

Hope you like this :)

(TW/mental illness/ed/etc.)

Aaron always struggled with food. I mean it wasn’t his fault. He would go days without eating, especially during the summer when there wasn't any school lunch to be provided. His Mom would either forget to go grocery shopping that week or she was to high to care. Eventually she would remember, or just give him the money to get it himself. He picked up learning how to cook his own food. On the good days she would teach him some recipes she knew.

It wasn’t that he disliked food, he just didn’t care much for it. It wasn’t a “priority”. He deffiently didn't care while he was still on drugs. They hit harder on a empty stomach anyways. Now that he was sober he only eats because he needs to. Maybe some extra protein because he lifted or had a hard practice that day. Some sweets because of Andrew’s sugar addiction. Whatever Nicky decided to order, or what smoothie Kevin decided to put in front of him. He tended to drink a lot of caffeine, in the morning, while studying. His appetite was often curved.

Another issue was that he tended to eat everything and anything put in front of him. He remembers the beatings he’d gotten from disliking his food, or the days he should have finished because he didn't know when the next meal would come. He ate till he was completely full, a lot of the times to fast.

With all this his weight has never been a real problem, he eats enough. He never felt it really effected his daily activities. He barely noticed it himself.

That was until he had overflowing school work, plus Kevin being up everyones ass about the up coming game that Friday. He had a project that was due, and three different test. Aaron liked to take lots of notes and then study for hours to prepare himself for a test. Starting Monday the only thing he consumed was caffeine. He didn't have time to think about what he was eating. Matt knew not to bother him and he wasn’t around the monsters much to be handed something to eat. He was harsh to Nicky on Tuesday which caused the older cousin to keep his distance. He didn't say much during his session with Bee and Andrew. He just told them about the shit ton of work he needed to do. Andrew didn't comment much, he really wasn't paying attention to what he was saying, to wrapped up in biology vocabulary.

Before the game Kevin made them drink some shakes. It was disgusting and he was the only one besides Kevin that actually finished it. He drank some coffee too. Only till the second half of the game did Aaron start to feel the headache he was commonly getting during practice. He got pushed hard into the glass by one of the other team strikers and then got subbed off.

When he was walking off he felt like his head was about to fall off. Abby came to him quickly which made him flinch. He had to make a double take, luckily enough she was to worried to notices. Aaron told her he felt dizzy so she handed him some gatorade and a cold clothe to rest around his neck. He started to feel normal again once the game came to an end with a last shot from Josten.

After the game the group got ready to go to Columbia. While changing he noticed he looked like shit. Well he always looks sleep deprived but now it just looked more shitty. He decided to steal some of Nicky’s eye liner. He never wore it often but he felt like it would be best to do it now. Nicky’s eyes lit up of course.

The ice cream at sweeties was harder to eat then usual. He actually liked sweets, much like his brother. But now his throat and chest felt like they were closing up. He tried to eat as slow as possible, so Andrew can start stealing some. When they got to Eden’s he felt himself start to slow down a bit. It was weird. He felt pretty wired all week almost, weather it was the caffeine or the drive to get his shit done. This feeling wasn’t unknown to him, but doesn't make it any less unexpected.

He kept to himself mostly, his mouth felt clench shut anyways at the moment. He ignore Andrew and Neil’s weird way of flirting and Kevin trying to not over drink. He just spited on his glass, that turned into four more. He started to feel the buzz, it almost felt like it wasn't there. Maybe he wasn’t entirely there either.

He stared out the window on the drive to the house. He liked driving in the dark. Seeing all the nights go by, nothing in between. Nicky and Kevin were seated next to him. They all been toning it down since Neil’s first seasons drama.

When they got to the house he went straight to him room. He wanted to shower but couldn’t find the effort to do so. He stuck to taking off his pants and shirt, throwing on a new top and leaving his boxers on. He turned off the lights then climbed into bed.

The next morning Aaron stayed in bed, he listen to some music on his phone. During the afternoon he decided to start watching the office. He didn't move. Everything felt heavy and started to blend together, time blended together. He faintly heard Nicky knocking on his door telling him something about ordering food. Food. He just kept staring at his phone screen.

Before he knew it, it was Sunday. He forgot they had no school on Monday or practice. So they would be leaving Monday afternoon.

Aaron thought he heard Andrew, or what sounded like his foot steps stopping in front of his door, but he stopped paying attention to that to know if he knocked or not. It wasn’t like he did this before. Of course he left his room to get food or use the bathroom. He probably should use the bathroom. He smelled, and needs to urinate. Getting up seemed more like a death sentence right now then the smell of sweat and the cramp in his lower stomach.

It wasn't until he heard his door open that he started to register that it was dark outside. Judging by the silence it was most likely his twin. He didn't turn around to check though. Just like he didn't bother to pause the show.

“It smells like shit in here.” Yeah he knew that, just didn't care. Aaron wanted to be left alone right now. His voice isn't working so he chose to continue to ignore Andrews presence. Not to be petty but it was a good taste of his own medicine. “I have food.” Aaron choose to look over at the door then. His brother holding a bowl of something, most likely cereal. Just sitting up was a chore. Andrew handed him the bowl. He looked towards Aaron’s phone, stuffed and walked out. He seemed like he wanted to say something, Aaron waited, then he heard the foot steps pause. But he then heard the door close. He stared at his bowl and picked up the spoon. The first bite was ash and sugar. The rest tasted like nothing as he scuffed it down. He sat it on the floor not to gently and turned back over to continue the show, not caring that it was probably a new episode by now.

Aaron was awoken by the need to piss. The cramp caused him to curl up with his knees to his chest. The sweat dripped down his forehead and his breathing came out ragged. He tried to crawl out of bed but fell on the floor in the process. He laid there instead, he felt one tear go down his face. He was not about to piss himself. He tried to get up again but then light shown in his face. Realizing the door opened he flinched back in surprise. Looking up he saw Neil standing there still holding the door handle. They watched each other closely before Neil came in and ask Aaron if it was okay to help him. He nodded a yes.

Neil got him to his feet and let Aaron hold on to his shoulder. When they got out the door he saw Andrew standing in the hallways. He saw emotion on his brothers face that he didn't want to see again. Once in the bathroom he relieved himself.

After he just sat on the bathroom floor and drifted off. Andrew woke him up when he heard the tub then shower start. His brother sat him on the toilet and told him to wash himself. When he left and shot the door Aaron got in fully clothed. He sat in the tub and let the water it him. He heard Andrew come back in.

“Hand me your clothes.” He slowly took off his shirt and had to stand up using the wall to take off his boxers. He handed them to Andrew around the curtain. When he felt more aware he grabbed his bar of soap and wash clothe and washed his body. He turned off the water and asked for a Towel. When his Brother handed it to him he left to let Aaron get out. He then changed into the clean clothes Andrew left on the toilet.

When he got out the bathroom he notice the sun was already starting to come up. It was still dark though. He went to the kitchen where he saw Nicky, who gave him a teary smile. He didn't understand way. Nicky handed him a sandwich and gave him a bigger smile. He whispered a thank you and slowly ate. If tears came to his eyes as he ate they didn't say anything.

When Kevin woke up he made Aaron a smoothie, one he actually thought wasn't disgusting.

#aaron minyard #andrew minyard #all for the game #aftg #the foxhole court #tfhc #neil josten #ed #aaron ed #kevin day #twinyards #minyard twins

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meanminyxrd · 3 years

Text

punchdrunk but it’s andreil based

hey losers i’m back with another song analysis, as always. i have a playlist for my andreil vibes if you’re curious, here it is. i actually have a lot but this one is for my slightly sad yearning andreil vibes.

anyways, today we are covering punchdrunk by vaines. i really really enjoy this song for them and i hope i can covey it!! let’s go (:

I remember driving your car 'cause I never had one

And if I did I probably would’ve crashed it

And if I died who would’ve cared?

Maybe you would cry sometimes

Maybe you would just be fine

Because I know we weren’t in love

You just wanted to pass the time

(And that was alright)

the first line of this is pretty black and white. neil driving andrew’s car <3333 that’s it that’s the tweet. when he’s saying he’d crash one if he had his own its because he has to destroy a lot and leave stuff behind because of his past. he constantly is working to hide his past from the FBI. furthermore, he thought he was going to die for the majority of the books, and when he died, who was supposed to care? he had no one. it was this ‘me, myself, and i’ mentality because that was what kept him alive. he was constantly in danger, and when he was with andrew that’s why he made him take away the promise; he didn’t want andrew hurt because of his actions. by saying ‘maybe you would cry sometimes, maybe you would be just fine’ shows how he doesn’t think andrew actually cares ab him because 1. neil is an oblivious fuck and 2. andrew is a raging tsundere. andrew is always like ‘i dont like u’ blah blah, explaining the line ‘because i know we weren’t in love you just wanted to pass the time’ but neil was okay w it; ‘and that was alright’

I got it bad and I feel so lonely

Thought I wanted love I just wanted you

Now we’re together but you don’t even know me

But I’m stuck, what am I gonna do?

uhhh, like, poor fuckin neil man. he really had it bad for this man i really dunno how he survived when andrew was in the mental hospital HAHA. but fr he must have been so lonely, never allowing himself to make attachments, and then he makes this really skewed one with some midget maniac and then that same man goes to a hospital. that can’t have been a fun time (and it wasn’t).

‘thought i wanted love i just wanted you’, god, i love this line. remember when he looks at nicky and matt to see if he feels anything different? sees if he feels attracted to them, but he doesnt? he thinks he’s just craving affection after all this time, but no, its andrew he craves, it’s andrew he wants and chooses.

‘now we’re together but you dont even know me’ this motherfucker is living behind this silly ‘neil’ persona for a time when he’s with andrew and andrew only has this red headed man built of half truths. ‘now im stuck, what am i gonna do?’ he can’t run away like he’s used to because now he cares about andrew and he’s promised to stay.

Guess I’ll stick around

Being with you is only making me feel

Like I’m further from you then I’ve ever been

But I’m right there when you call me 'cause I’m so lonely

I don’t wanna bring it to an end

now, neil stays because he promised andrew he would, and andrew makes him feel so different and special and happy. but also while he’s with andrew he feels so far away because he isn’t being himself and andrew keeps denying whatever this,,, scuffed relationship is. but whenever andrew initiates contact, asks him yes or no, tells him to meet him somewhere or do something, neil is THERE in a heartbeat because he’s so caught up with the idea of andrew and he doesn’t want what they have to ever end even tho he’s convinced it will, one day, come to that point.

I remember feeling so young

Nothing's gonna bring me down

And if you jumped I would’ve followed

All the way down to the bottom

Better days are over now

Everything is slowing down

And you still won’t say it’s love

You just wanna pass the time

Fine

being with andrew brings him up, makes him happy, makes him FEEL something. nothing was gonna take him away from that. he would have followed andrew anywhere because he quite literally trusted andrew with his life. but the good days are over, (cut to baltimore) he’s being fucked up by his dad’s men and he thinks he’s gonna die then (cut to post baltimore) andrew does all this shit for him but STILL says he doesnt care ab neil and he just wants to pass the time. and neil is like, fine, what the fuck ever. if this is just a cheap fuck then by god im going to enjoy it while it lasts. and he’s starting to think andrew might feel *something*, but there’s no confirmation that can be seen by our lovely oblivious lil man.

Don’t stop, I know that it’s not what

I want but I need somebody to be mine

Oh god, I can’t tell you what’s up

I’m so deep in punch drunk, dumb love

I don’t ever wanna wake up

he doesnt want to be tied down. trusting someone and staying in one place for a long time? no. no way. that’s not something that neil abram josten does. he does not stay, he does not trust anyone, and by god he does NOT fall in love. but he gets to a point where he needs andrew. all he can think of in the hospital is the foxes and andrew, god, ANDREW, the prick he’s fallen in love with and can’t get out of love with. and he begs andrew to let him stay (post baltimore, hotel scene) because he NEEDS to stay, he NEEDS the foxes but more importantly he NEEDS andrew. but he’ll leave if he has to. he’ll leave if andrew asks him to because he cares more about andrew than he does himself, but he can’t explain any of this to andrew, because he’s never felt this before and he doesnt know what he’s even feeling. he just knows that somewhere along the line he fell head over heels into this situation for andrew and god he doesnt think he’ll ever be ready for it to end.

Got me brainwashed, everything is hazy

Am I killing time? Are you killin' me?

Mind games daily, why do I let you play me?

Do you get high watching me bleed?

(Now I’m bleeding out)

this part, for me, is more so a cut to the first book when andrew is just fuckin manic 24/7 because of his drugs. he drugs neil (brainwashed, hazy) and kidnaps him. neil is so stressed out by this situation that he doesn’t know who is winning in this stupid war he has with this psycho midget (am i killing time? are you killing me?). we all know andrew joseph minyard LOVES to torment neil even when shit is chill so he plays mind games with him constantly, and neil just lets it happen, because that’s who neil *is*. nathaniel wouldn’t stand for this shit, but that’s not the personality he’s portrayed and he isn’t eager to break character; not yet. and andrew always is so damn HAPPY, no matter what, bc of the drugs (again, first book for this verse). so the ‘do you get high watching me bleed?’ is like neil being like, do u really enjoy watching everyone around you hurt?? are you actually happy with all of this?

Running in circles while you hurt me, guess I deserve it

'Cause I just keep on worshiping you again and again

And I’m there when you call me 'cause I’m so– *beep*

I don’t want the misery to end

this part is a little tricky to explain canonically, i guess, but i attribute it once more to andrew denying his feelings. nora never explains it in the books, but i know from experience that this is SUCH a confusing scenario to be in. to have someone acting like they care and speaking differently. and neil must have been so confused (running in circles) but he feels he deserves it because it isnt like he’s trying to leave or anything, and he’s always there when andrew asks because like it or not, he’s attached. even tho this confusion sucks sometimes, and the whole hearted belief he has that andrew really does not care hurts beyond belief inside, he buries those feelings because he isnt ready to let andrew go.

that’s pretty much all of it; can you tell i’m obsessed with andreil?? i just love them so much. they’re so special to me. like, i dont think either of them ever saw a relationship coming; it just happened, and that’s what is so inherently beautiful to me about them. it started with a kiss, a ‘yes or no?’ and escalated from there. neil expected one day andrew was going to get bored of him, just like andrew always said he was. but he never did. he never will.

so yeah!! hope u enjoyed xoxo see y’all soon <3

#aftg #song analysis #all for the game #andrew minyard #neil josten #andreil #playlists #songs #music

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darkblueboxs · 4 years

Note

If you're taking requests, maybe the foxes reacting to soft andreil? I love seeing their relationship through outside perspectives

Sorry for the delay! I ended up with two very different ideas for this and wrote both of them. I’ll be posting the other one in the next week or so! [EDIT: Here it is!]This was great fun to write. Thank you for the request.

In the Eye of the Beholder

Read here or on AO3

#1 Dan

Dan raps her knuckles against the door to the monster’s flat and waits. Nicky greets her with an impressive mop of bedhair and a baffled expression which smooths over only when Neil darts past, citing brunch with Dan as his excuse for being awake at such a thoroughly reasonable hour on a Sunday morning. He’s in high spirits, from what Dan can tell, rolling on the balls of his feet as they wait for the elevator to arrive. Dan is ready to put it down to excitement over their plans – she has a stack of potential recruits under her arm thicker than Les Misérables for them to discuss, hopefully with a stack of pancakes of equal height on the side. Then she spots the light bruise peeking over the hem of Neil’s collar, and draws a very different conclusion about the source of Neil’s good mood.

She smiles as they step into the elevator, but keeps the observation to herself. While some members of the team love to badger Neil for the slightest insight into his relationship, Dan is willing to push her curiosity aside for the sake of Neil’s privacy. He has plenty other teammates to pester him without her jumping on the bandwagon.

Just before the doors slide shut, an arm bursts through the gap, forcing them open. Andrew is as stoic and terrifying as ever (not that Dan would ever admit it) even while wearing Neil’s foxprint-patterned pyjama bottoms. The quickened rise and fall of his chest is the only hint that he ran to get here.

Neil raises an eyebrow at the sudden appearance of his underdressed partner.

Andrew lobs something at Neil which bounces off his chest and lands on the floor between his feet. Neil stoops to scoop it up, and Dan sees that it’s his wallet.

“Thanks.”

“Idiot,” Andrew huffs. He retracts his arm, and the doors slide shut on the sight of him stalking back to their dorm.

Neil taps the wallet against his hand a couple times before sliding it into the wallet.

“You’re both idiots if you think I’m letting you pay for brunch,” Dan says wryly.

Neil shakes his head. “I said I was going to pick up some stuff at the store afterwards. But thanks. Brunch is on me, though.”

“We’ll see,” Dan says, which means no. “Okay, I’ll admit it. That was sweet of him.”

The corner of Neil’s mouth twitches. “Nah. He’s just making sure I come back with the junk food I promised him.”

“Sure.” And, oh, Dan had been trying to be good, but she really can’t help herself any longer. “So, did you guys mean to give each other matching hickeys, or was that just a fun little accident?”

Neil slaps his hand to his neck and groans.

All in all, it’s a great morning.

#2 Kevin

Aaron’s trial is coming up. Kevin wouldn’t care (well, he would, but for different reasons) except that it’s making the cousins snippy and fractious. More so than usual. Andrew isn’t sleeping properly, although he would deny that it had any relation to the trial. Unfortunately, his insomnia is contagious, which ends with Neil losing focus at their night practice, having spent the best part of a week running on fumes and gatorade.

Kevin has been patient – patient by his standards, anyway – but the third fumbled catch in a row snaps his temper like brittle bone.

“Get the fuck off my court, Josten.” Kevin says, smacking the base of his racquet against the floor.

“Fuck you,” Neil answers reflexively. He stops to push his lengthening bangs back from his face.

“I’m not joking. You’re in no state to play. Get the fuck out.” Kevin wishes Neil would take it as the blessing it is, a night to re-focus and re-calibrate, but instead he’s glaring Kevin down like he just asked him to eat sewage.

Neil turns away from him to send another ball barrelling towards the goal. It misses by an entire foot.

“Neil,” Kevin says sharply, readying for a fight that neither of them have the energy nor patience for.

Before he can begin, the doors to the court bang open. Andrew stands in the entrance, arms crossed. It’s the expression that ends an argument before it’s had time to start; Kevin knows it far, far too well.

Andrew leads Neil away to the showers while Kevin continues his drills.

When he’s finished washing up, he finds the pair in the team lounge, collapsed on the wider of the couches. Neil is asleep, slumped into Andrew’s side. Andrew looks up as Kevin enters, but he doesn’t move his hand from its resting place in Neil’s hair. Although Neil was the only one of the pair training that night, Andrew’s hair is plastered against his head as though he, too, is fresh out of the shower. Kevin tries not to consider the implications.

They wait in silence for a few minutes, watching as Neil sleeps, properly sleeps, for the first time in far too long. Neither are willing to disturb him, but the night is late and Kevin has a whole host of classes waiting for him in the morning.

“I’ll walk back,” says Kevin. Andrew meets his gaze for a long moment before nodding briefly. The bags under his eyes betray him.

Kevin darts back into the lockers to pick up Neil’s abandoned kit bag. When he passes them again, Andrew has slouched onto his side, having manoeuvred Neil in front of him so they can both lie comfortably. His arm is slung protectively around Neil’s waist like Andrew is prepared to beat off the world to keep him there.

Kevin knows they spend more nights in each other’s bunks than out of them in the dorm, but somehow they’re always up and away before anyone else is awake enough to give them any hassle over it. Kevin doesn’t care, but Nicky can be overbearing at the best of times, and Aaron is… well, Aaron. But here, in the privacy of an empty stadium, it looks like Neil has finally found enough security to drop off at last, and Andrew looks ready to follow. Kevin shuts the door behind him, not quite smiling, but close. It was strange to some, the idea of Neil and Andrew, but anyone who saw them curled up together would see it plain as day. They just fitted.

The next day, Neil is closer to being himself again, and no more is said on the matter.

#4 Matt

Matt has to admit that press duty with Neil is never boring. The interviewers seem to share his opinion, visibly perking up when Neil follows Matt into the room. They lost to the Bearcats, but it was close enough that Matt doesn’t have to lie when he says that he’s proud of the team’s performance today.

“Some are saying that the failure of the defence line in later stages was due to Minyard’s performance in goal in the second half. How would you respond to that?

Matt doesn’t know why he bothers opening his mouth; the question may be directed to him, but he knows damn well that a boulder in the shape of Neil’s fury is already barrelling in this hapless reporter’s direction. “Well-”

“Last time I checked, this was a team sport,” Neil says loudly. “Was I hallucinating that, or has there been a few rule changes since yesterday?”

Matt isn’t sure whether to laugh or groan. Coach had told Matt to keep an eye on their resident fire-starter as though anyone was at all capable of controlling Neil when there was a mic in front of him. Matt feels sorry for the poor sucker that will one day be assigned to the role of Neil’s publicist, because he’s sure that Neil will drive them into an early grave alongside Matt’s.

“You have to admit that the number of goals that he let in-”

“I’m sure it had nothing to do with the fact that his entire defence line had already played two full quarters before he even stepped foot on court. People get tired the longer a game goes on, of course defence is going to suffer in the second half. But sure, keep pinning it on the goalie you clearly have it in for.”

Matt claps a hand on Neil’s back. “What he said,” he agrees, staring down the reporter.

They take no further questions.

Matt doesn’t mean to eavesdrop, but when he leaves the showers to see Andrew and Neil alone in the locker room he ducks back out of sight. He walks into at least one dramatic confrontation amongst his teammates per week, and sometimes the best way to deal with the daily bouts of fox drama is to hide and wait for the storm to pass.

“Point me to where I asked you to lead my own personal crusade.” Andrew’s flat tones echo off the tiled floor. Matt regrets leaving his Ipod in his bag. The conversation doesn’t seem too personal to overhear, but Andrew and Neil have never been the easiest reads.

“I’m tired of them talking shit about you just because they have a vendetta against anyone with your…” Neil trails off. Matt imagines him to be making several expressive hand gestures; it’s hard to condense all of Andrew’s history and circumstances into one word. “…everything,” Neil settles on.

“Your principles should not intersect with my business.”

“Even if it could affect your future career?” Neil’s words are met, unsurprisingly, with silence. “Besides, yours do.”

“Explain.”

“When I first came here, you told Nicky to back off. Not out of concern for me. Because of your principles.”

This time, the silence stretches so long that Matt doesn’t think Andrew is going to answer.

“Point,” Andrew concedes.

“Besides, is it so bad that I’m standing up for you?”

“Only when it’s making new enemies for you. How many does one man need?”

“I’ve got room for a few more,” Neil says. There’s a rustle of movement, and, oh, are they kissing? Matt strongly suspects that they are kissing. It’s more than his life is worth to look. He takes a few steps back, rattles his kit loudly and makes as much noise as possible before entering the locker room. The pair are a safe distance apart by the time he enters, and Matt gives them a probably-not-convincingly-casual nod before busying himself with his change of clothes.

The pair spend the journey home holed up together at the back of the bus, and if he suspects that they’re doing a little more than talking, Matt keeps it to himself.

They’ve earned a little privacy, after all.

#5 Aaron

“Well, maybe if you stopped and took the time to, I don’t know, explain literally anything that you do, we wouldn’t be in this fucking mess.”

“Aaron,” says Bee, a gentle reprimand. He isn’t in the mood to hear it. His attention remains on his brother, who’s features remain the same stony, impassive blank that they have in almost every joint session to date. It’s an expression that makes Aaron want to tear his hair out, or kick his brother’s face in, or both.

“What would you like me to explain?” says Andrew, more of a challenge than an offer. Aaron snorts, because, where to fucking begin?

“How about we start with your little fuck-buddy, seeing as you’re so keen to start on mine.” Earlier that week, Andrew had returned early from a class to find Aaron and Katelyn together in their dorm room. The result, while not outright violent, had been deeply unpleasant for all involved. And of course, Andrew was being an ass about it.

“Aaron. We’ve talked about this. How can you expect Andrew to talk about Katelyn respectfully if you won’t offer the same respect to his own partner?”

Aaron scoffs. “It’s not the same.”

Andrew’s eyebrow… it doesn’t quirk, but it twitches. “Oh?”

Aaron gestures vaguely. “You know what I mean.”

“I can assure you that I don’t.”

“Me and Katelyn. You and Neil. It isn’t the same.”

“How so?” Andrew’s tone isn’t in the danger zone yet, but it’s edging towards it.

“I’m not talking about the gay thing. I’m talking about…” The hand Aaron was waving clenches into a fist as he drops it into his lap. “Don’t make me say it.”

Andrew and Bee share a look over his head.

“Aaron,” says Bee.

“I just, fucking…” Aaron grapples with words, struggling to find a combination that won’t rip them apart any worse than they already have been. “How the fuck can you expect me to believe that you and him… that you’re real. That you’re normal, that you’re like us, after everything those fuckers did to you. What makes him so different?”

Andrew watches him. Just when Aaron resigns himself to the fact that no answer is coming, Andrew speaks. “If I ask him to stop, he stops.”

Aaron bites down on the inside of his cheek so hard that he thinks he might have drawn blood. “It can’t be that simple.”

Andrew shrugs.

“How?”

Andrew’s eyes flicker upwards, like he would rather be anywhere else, having any other conversation in the world than this one. “We have a system. We don’t touch each other without asking first. We listen to each other. We talk. What more do you need me to say?”

Aaron falls silent. He doesn’t know what he needs from his brother, still, but it’s something.

“I have a question in return,” Andrew’s eyes flick to Bee. He isn’t looking for permission, but she nods in encouragement nonetheless. “Katelyn. What makes her so different?” Andrew meets his gaze dead-on as he turns Aaron’s own words back on him. “How can you trust her, after everything that bitch Tilda did to you?”

And finally, it all clicks into place.

Aaron forces himself to look his brother in the eyes. So much like his, yet at the same time so different. “Okay,” he concedes at last. “I see.”

Because, at last, he does.

#7 Allison

Neil appears at Allison’s door with a black eye, a bust lip, and the words “don’t freak out,” spilling from his mouth before she can get so much as a word in.

“Great start,” she says, pulling him in. “Who do I need to kill?”

“My shoelace came undone and I ate shit while I was on my run. I just need enough makeup that I can get through class without looking like I’ve been in a fight again. Do you know how many of my lecturers have taken me aside to give me the domestic abuse hotline?”

“You should know how to do this yourself by now.” Allison rolls her eyes as she leads Neil through to the table.

“You’re better at it,” he admits grudgingly, and oh, doesn’t that just warm her heart to hear.

“Nice try. You’re still taking me out for coffee after this.”

Neil pulls a face, and Allison laughs. It doesn’t take long – Allison has treated him in far, far worse shape, as much as she’d rather not think about it – and soon there’s only the faintest smudge around Neil’s eye.

“Can I tempt you to some mascara? Glitter?” Allison asks, waggling her eyebrows as she spreads the contents of her makeup bag out for his inspection.

“Maybe next time,” says Neil, “When I’m not going to a calculus lecture.”

“But that’s the best place for it.” Allison dabs the tip of his nose with her brush, and Neil’s face scrunches up as he tries to hold back a sneeze. His hair flops back down over his forehead as he moves, falling into his eyes.

“Don’t move just yet,” Allison says, yanking a drawer open and fumbling for the kitchen scissors. “I’ve been meaning to deal with that mop for weeks, and right now I have you trapped.”

“Oh, no,” Neil says flatly, but still he surrenders herself to her demands. Wise move.

“Perfect,” says Allison a few minutes later, ruffling Neil’s hair to shake away the last loose strands. “Ready for the red carpet now. I hope there aren’t any cute guys in your maths class, or Andrew is going to go mad with jealousy.”

Neil snorts. “He’s not really the type.”

“Mhmm,” says Allison, because in her experience, everyone is the type.

Speaking of the psychotic little devil himself, Andrew bursts through the door just as Allison is brushing up the last of the trimmings.

“Hey,” Neil says, apparently impervious to Andrew’s thunderous entrance. Andrew ignores the greeting, taking hold of Neil’s chin to turn his face from side to side.

“Kevin said you fell,” he says, relinquishing the grip. Allison half-turns away, pretending to busy herself tidying but really listening, because the monster’s overbearing-boyfriend performances are rarely seen in public yet endlessly entertaining.

“Shoelaces. Who could have seen it coming?”

“I did. And warned you. Twice.”

Neil winces. “My bad.”

Andrew mutters something under his breath that seems to involve the words kill you. The day Allison understands their relationship is the day that she gives up on any and all gossip for the rest of her life.

Then, Andrew pauses, distracted. “Did you trip and fall onto a pair of sheers?”

“Allison gave me a haircut. How does it look?”

Andrew holds his hand in front of Neil’s face. When Neil nods, Andrew runs it quickly through his hair, gently tugging at the roots as he goes. “Awful.”

“Hey,” Allison interrupts, outraged. They both start, and Andrew’s hand drops away, like they had forgotten she was there. Which was the point, really. She holds the scissors in Andrew’s direction. “You’re next, scraggy.”

“When I’m dead,” Andrew replies flatly. It’s clear he isn’t joking. Neil shakes his head at them both.

“Come on, then,” Allison says. “Neil’s taking me for coffee. Give us a ride and I’ll buy you the sugariest, most expensive drink on the menu. I’m hoping the diabetes will finish you off if lung cancer falls through.”

Andrew glances between them. “Fine.”

Sugar and Neil; the keys to Andrew’s stony little heart.

#8 Nicky

Nicky is fully capable of responding to his cousin’s newfound domestic happiness with maturity and decorum.

He just chooses not to.

This has nearly ended in violence no less than eight times. But really, how can he be expected to let it lie when his cousin, who came to him an unruly, violent teen to whom any conversation was like pulling teeth with plastic tweezers, is, for the first time, experiencing the gay teen college romance Nicky could only have dreamed of?

With his fiancée a million miles away, Nicky has to live vicariously when it comes to matters of the heart. There is no better subject for this than his violent baby cousin, who, it seems, isn’t such a baby anymore.

Nicky is beyond late for his class already when he realises that his laptop is dead. He had been skyping with Eric until ass-o-clock in the morning, forgot to plug it in before passing out in his bunk and is paying for it three-fold. He has two options; pencil and paper (what is he, a toddler?) or steal someone’s laptop. The answer is both clear and obvious.

Andrew’s is the first to hand. He most likely won’t surface until noon, by which time Nicky will have returned from class, leaving him none the wiser. The perfect crime.

Or it is the perfect crime until Nicky opens the laptop in the middle of his seminar to a webpage that is filled with very, very unsafe-for-classroom content.

Nicky slams the laptop shut. It wasn’t a video, none of the sites Nicky knew from his own fits of late-night loneliness. Large blocks of text, diagrams that were more analytical than downright pornographic. Nicky slides the laptop open again, just enough for the screen to light up once more, and tabs up. No, not porn. Informative. Educational.

The girl beside him, although unable to see his screen, is giving Nicky some very strange looks. Nicky glances back to the laptop before sliding it shut once more. Pencil and paper will have to do.

The class is drier than dirt, leaving Nicky’s mind with far too much space to think. A dangerous pastime in Nicky’s case, Eric would say teasingly. Nicky had assumed – well, not that he had thought about it, much, but Andrew always seemed so set and sure of himself that it was hard to imagine him googling how-to guides like an acne-riddled teen the night before prom. His apparent innocence is weirdly adorable. Not a word Nicky uses out-loud in his cousin’s presence, but true all the same.

Nicky remembers his first time. Awkward, uncomfortable, and involving entirely the wrong set of genitals. He can only hope Andrew and Neil’s is better.

He shouldn’t get involved. He really, really, shouldn’t.

Nicky slips the laptop back into place mere moments before Andrew slouches into the living space. Nicky watches him as the coffee-maker gurgles away, thinking.

“Andrew.”

Andrew glances up. Nicky isn’t sure what he reads in his face, but it must be setting off alarm bells, because his hands move almost unconsciously to his sleeves. Nicky holds his hands up.

“Hey!”

“What?”

“I just…” Oh, this is a lot more awkward than Nicky anticipated. “You know, I’m always here for you. If there’s anything you want to talk about.” He clears his throat. “If you have any questions…”

Andrew’s eyes narrow. They flick in the direction of his desk. Nicky remembers, far too late, Andrew’s impossibly perfect memory. He would remember the exact position he left his laptop in. Nicky is busted.

“Don’t borrow my laptop,” Andrew snarls. The coffee brewer clicks, and it may be the only thing that saves Nicky’s life.

“I’m sorry! I was in a rush!” Nicky says weekly. “If it’s any consolation, the guy who sits behind me now thinks I’m a grade-A pervert.”

Andrew slams a mug down on the counter so hard he almost cracks it. “One more word. One more.”

“I won’t. I won’t, I promise, I’ve been there, okay?”

Andrew takes his coffee and his laptop and leaves without another word. Nicky counts it as a blessing.

The next day, he’s working his way through the mother of all essays when Andrew enters the room, pulling the door shut behind him. Nicky keeps working until Andrew pulls a chair over to Nicky’s desk and sits in it. He stops typing mid-sentence, fingers hovering over the keys.

“Everything okay, Andrew?”

“I want you to take a moment and remember how many knives I have on me right now.”

“A lot, I assume.”

“A lot,” Andrew confirms. “If I had any other choice in the world, I would take it. But I have you. So, I’m going to ask you something, and you are going to be calm and level and mature and everything that you usually are not when you answer.”

“Of course,” Nicky says in a heartbeat. He can’t think of a single time Andrew has ever come to him for help, not even when he was wrapped up in bed and coughing his lungs out the day before his AP Calc exam. Nicky has never been more determined to get something right in his life.

“How,” Andrew says, stops, starts again. Today is full of firsts; Andrew is usually so careful and measured with his words. “How do I do it without hurting him?”

Nicky’s heart is ready to melt or break or explode, maybe all at once. “Oh, Andrew.”

“The knives, Nicky. Remember the knives.”

“Okay,” says Nicky, and he tells Andrew everything he can. He wants, more than anything, for Andrew to be safe and happy, and if it involves going into details that even Nicky is squeamish about discussing with family, then that’s what he’ll do.

He offers to write out a list of reliable books and websites for Andrew to check out, ones he used himself and others Eric recommended to him. Andrew shakes his head.

“Just tell me. I’ll remember them.”

When they’re done, Nicky almost claps Andrew on the shoulder. He thinks better of it, hand hovering mid-air before he withdraws it. “Andrew.”

Andrew is half-way out the door, but he stops, which is more than Nicky expected.

“You’ll be fine.”

Andrew huffs, and abruptly disappears. Nicky smiles to himself as he turns back to his essay.

It took him a long time to piece it all together, but the truth is that Andrew really can be quite sweet, in his own terrifying way.

Nicky wonders how long it will be before he has to give Neil the sex talk too. Maybe he should offer.

Best not to; he has some self-preservation instincts, after all.

#9 Renee

Renne likes to think that she has improved at reading Andrew over the years. Some of his quirks are more obvious than others, however; it doesn’t take a student of human character to notice that when Andrew wants to spar, it’s usually because he has something on his mind.

Renee is hardly in a position to judge, not when she finds the cut and blow of a vicious fistfight as cathartic as he does. There’s still a piece of Natalie Shields underneath all of Renee’s growth like the pit at the heart of a peach. Sometimes the best way of holding her down is by letting her out in controlled increments. Give her the inch so she won’t take the mile.

As usual, it is only when they have beaten each other to exhaustion and back that Andrew is ready to talk. They sit cross-legged in the centre of the room, slurping down apple-juice cartons like kids in the playground, and finally, Andrew speaks.

“I want you to train Neil.”

Renee sets her carton down. “I thought Matt was teaching him to box.”

“He’s a shit boxer.”

“Neil or Matt?”

“Both.”

Renee shakes her head. She reaches back to pull out her hair tie, letting her bangs tumble back into their usual place. “Is there a reason Neil hasn’t asked me himself?”

Andrew is silent. There it is; the heart of the matter.

Renee sighs. “I’m not going to force Neil to train with me if he doesn’t want to.”

“I don’t force Neil to do anything,” Andrew says sharply. Renee winces; it was a poor choice of words on her part.

“Why do you think he needs it?”

“Matt is teaching him how to box. It’s not the same as real fighting.”

Renee hums. “Can’t he do something for fun?”

“That’s not the point. Besides,” Andrew pauses. “Matt only knows how to fight like the fuck-off giant that he is.”

Renee can’t argue with that; Matt never had to learn the same style of combat that she and Andrew did. He may teach Neil how to throw a good punch, but there’s a big difference in stance and strategy when your opponent is a foot taller than you. Renee and Andrew learned that the hard way.

“And who is it that you think Neil is going to be fighting?”

Andrew waves one arm in an all-encompassing gesture. “Have you met him?”

“Andrew.”

“Renee,” he shoots back, imitating her tone and inflection.

“What did he say when you suggested that I teach him?”

Andrew scrunches up his features in an imitation of Neil’s ugh face. “He said that he gets enough bruises as it is.”

“He’s not wrong.”

Andrew doesn’t roll his eyes, but his eyebrows twitch as though he’s considering it. “He also said he doesn’t need to get any better. Because he…” Andrew grimaces. Sharing is still tough for him, even after years of therapy and trust. “He has me to protect him.”

“As I said,” Renee says, smiling. “He’s not wrong.”

“He’s an idiot.”

“He has his moments.”

They finish their juice boxes in silence.

“Well,” says Renee, getting back to her feet. Her legs may be going stiff, but there’s still some fight left in her. There always is. “I may not be able to train Neil, but at least I can train his bodyguard to the best of my ability.” She holds her hand out to Andrew. After a moment of careful consideration, he takes it, using the pull to swing himself to his feet. “One more round?”

Andrew nods, determination setting in his eyes like concrete. “One more round.”

Renee likes to think that she has improved at reading Andrew over the years. This time, as they trade hits and kicks, it isn’t anger or frustration powering Andrew’s movements; it’s something far more powerful.

She thinks – hopes – prays – that the worst of Neil’s fights are behind them. All the same, she sleeps a little easier knowing that, should the day come, Andrew will be at his back with a knife in each hand.

That’s love, after all.

Thank you for reading - please let me know what you thought

Still open to requests!

#aftg #andreil #tfc #neil josten #andrew minyard #my fic #asks #anon

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jsteneil · 5 years

Text

Neil Josten’s Birthday Bash

in which the foxes don’t get anything done, ever

Nicky added Dan, Kevin, Aaron and three others to “Neil Josten's Birthday Bash Organization Committee”.

Nicky: can't add Andrew because he still owns a FLIP PHONE but here we go

Dan: hell yeah B-)

Nicky: kevin can fill him in with the details anyway

Kevin: why me?

Allison: because you live with him?

Matt: you're practically attached at the hip

Dan: omg ur roomm8s

Matt: ^^^ what allison said

Dan: yeah

Nicky: OR aaron can do it on wednesdays so that there's no chance of neil finding out :D

Aaron: no.

Aaron left the chat.

Nicky: what

Nicky: the

Kevin: just add him back

Nicky: fuck

Kevin: ffs

Kevin: some ppl are in class

Nicky added Aaron to the chat.

Aaron: im muting you all

Allison: just embrace the fact that you've lived in SC for years and say y'all

Nicky: y'all!!!

Nicky: yeah

Matt: dude don't how are u gonna know when to buy your coordinated outfit and rehearse the choreography if you mute us

Dan: Aaron?

Renee: I do think he muted us

Allison: fuck a crybaby

Nicky: hey

Allison: what's he gonna do? Unmute us?

Dan: asdhskfjdl ALLI

Matt: lmfao

Nicky: moving ON

Nicky: the important thing here is my boy neil's birthday

Kevin: and you wonder why Aaron left

Nicky: what?

Kevin: maybe Neil doesn't want to celebrate his bday

Nicky: no that's too sad

Nicky: next person?

Allison: not to be that bitch

Matt: oh?

Allison: but do we even know when his birthday is?

Allison: fuck you matthew donovan boyd

Matt: sorry i love you

Dan: it was easy

Dan: matt ur easy

Matt: ily babe

Dan: <3

Kevin: jan 19th

Renee: March 31st?

Allison: wait

Dan: uhhhh

Matt: Neil Josten deserves 2 bdayz

Kevin: no jan 19th

Renee: oh i thought we were using the one he chose for himself

Matt: Renee add a smiley face

Renee: :)

Renee: ?

Dan: babe ur mind,,,, im crying

Matt: ikr

Allison: stop using mygf so

Kevin: is it me or does it sound really passive aggressive bitchy with a smiley face

Dan: ye that's the point

Renee: I really wasn't trying to be

Matt: oh no we know, sorry

Matt: i feel bad now

Matt: it was just funny

Matt: sorry

Dan: :(

Renee: It's okay, don’t worry

Renee: :)

Dan: renee STOP i feel like ur going 2 murder me in my sleep

Renee: I could, but I won't

Nicky: im shaking and im not even in your dorm

Allison: and we daily thank god for that

Nicky: hey im an excellent roommate

Nicky: i always leave so cap and matt can have sexy times

Dan: yeah but then u call it sexy time

Allison: ive seen the bathroom nicky

Nicky: that's aaron

Matt: l o l

Kevin: aaron's a neat freak

Allison: exposed

Nicky: erik come get me the people here are mean

Renee: So when's Neil's actual birthday?

Kevin: jan 19th

Nicky: who's gonna ask andrew?

Kevin: HE HAS REAL PAPERS NOW

Kevin: JUST GO CHECK AND LET ME BE IN CLASS IN PEACE

Allison: well okay drama queen

Dan: kevin: *is on the chat as much as us*

Dan: also kevin: guys why r u dragging me here

Matt: it's okay kevin we can talk about it during practice

Renee: Don't goad him, Matt

Dan: lmfao babe u thought

Matt: uh oh

Allison: lol

Dan: we need 2 trounce the ravens nxt wk

Nicky: do we have to

Dan: y'all r hauling ass @ practice or god help me

Nicky: id settle for a close victory

Matt: nicky if you don't help us close the goal next friday im telling neil about his surprise

Nicky: noooooo :'(

Allison: ye renee has enough to do without having to face stuff y'all should have blocked

Renee: Andrew is also a goalkeeper

Allison: yeah but he doesn't give a fuck

Renee: That's neither true nor fair

Dan: i want bragging rights over this vctry, end of the question

Matt: are we just gonna ignore the fact that the fbi chose neil's old bday

Matt: even tho they made him a new identity

Allison: wonder how this conversation went

Nicky: are we ignoring the fact that neil is a goddamn CAPRICORN

Allison: "in my left hand is your birthday date. In my right hand is your other birthday" *shuffles behind his back*

Matt: idk about astrology but I checked and he tried to pass for an aries so what does that tell us?

Dan: shut up adfhskdjs

Nicky: im dying

Kevin: [attached picture]

Matt: did u steal neil's ID

Allison: i thought you were in class

Kevin: he sent it to me

Nicky: his phone can take pics??

Dan: RLY crappy 1s but yeah

Nicky: so all those times andrew refused to send me pics of his Eden’s Twilight's outfits so i could coordinate neil's…

Matt: :/

Kevin: he just doesn't like you

Allison: i would have laughed but you two have been fighting the good fight since last year, dressing neil up

Nicky: hey

Renee: Kevin, that was mean

Nicky: but thanx allison, I think so too

Kevin: sorry

Kevin: he's just difficult?

Nicky: yeah :(

Dan: omg u guys rmr when neil was on k ferdinand's show n he looked like a bite-sized snack in that shirt

Kevin: not exactly what I remember from this interview

Dan: u were pretty 2 <3

Kevin: oh my god

Renee: Didn't Neil keep the clothes?

Nicky: i've never seen him wear them again

Nicky: maybe he STUFFED THEM DOWN THE TOILET

Matt: uh okay

Allison: weird emphasis

Kevin: are you still stuck on that

Dan: what

Kevin: it's what happened with the clothes he wore the first time we went to columbia

Nicky: do you know how expensive that plumber was?

Matt: just a thought but maybe that wouldn't have happened if you didn't force him to come with you and drugged him against his will

Allison: don't tell me someone actually peed on them and tried to flush

Nicky: take it up with andrew

Matt: you literally drove the car

Kevin: what happened in columbia stays in columbia

Allison: omg oh my god

Dan: IM SCREAMING

Nicky: what was i supposed to do, get knifed?

Nicky: also ^^^^ yeah.

Nicky: ANYWAY

Nicky: now that Kevin got us proof that the FBI officially made neil a capricorn again,,

Dan: the fbi be like "oh u thought u could escape ur traumatic past? That's nice buddy

Matt: yeah I don't think beating last year's party is gonna be hard

Dan: here's ur bday n trauma back"

Nicky: HAPPY THOUGHTS

Nicky: :(

Nicky: anyway it's the big 21st, so the first thing in order is BOOZE

Kevin: uh nicky

Renee: He's turning 20?

Matt: what???

Kevin: yeah he aged himself up on his fake papers

Matt: oh my god

Dan: lmfao only neil

Nicky: he is baby

Matt: does. Does he know though. Like did he check when they made him the papers.

Kevin: I'm guessing so

Matt: imagine filling a form or smth and you get the day right but not the year

Renee: Wait Kevin, how did you get neil to send you the pic without telling him about the surprise party?

Nicky: DON'T YOU DARE HAVE TOLD HIM ABOUT THE NJBB

Allison: njbb?

Dan: neil josten's bday bash, im guessing

Nicky: Neil Josten's

Nicky: BIRTHDAY BASH

Nicky: yes

Allison: it doesn’t sound right

Allison: like, something’s missing in the name

Matt: alli we play a sport named after what you get when you take the s from sexy

Dan: 10 bux kevin wishes he didn't have such a stick up his butt so he could reply with exy is sexy

Allison: im not taking that

Kevin: i actually don't know why she named it that

Kevin: she never told the press and she didn't write it anywhere so

Nicky: :(

Allison: oh

Dan: sorry :(

Renee: Maybe coach knows?

Matt: maybe each letter has a meaning

Kevin: how?

Allison: endangering xylophones yearly?

Matt: EXceptional daY

Matt: and then, boom, it's about your name

Renee: Matt, I like that idea!

Dan: allison, no

Kevin: I'll have to ask coach, renee

Kevin: anyway it was always going to be her name, she invented it

Nicky: someone bring neil in so he can say something super serious about how kevin is a legendary striker whose name is already associated with exy and make us choke with emotion

Kevin: nicky….

Nicky: look it's working and he's not even there

Allison: it's the josten effect

Dan: changing your entire life's beliefs one extremely tragic remark at a time

Matt:...

Matt: someone change the subject im sad

Nicky: BIRTHDAY BASH

Kevin: oh yeah nicky asked me how i got neil's ID

Allison: and?

Kevin: i told him i signed him up for his own exynews account so he could stop hogging mine for streaming

Kevin: so i needed his name and birthday

Kevin: and then we got into an argument about date formats

Nicky: dd/mm/yy 4ever

Allison: eww

Kevin: so he sent me a pic instead of writing the date

Dan: it's the european propaganda getting to him

Kevin: i guess i really have to get him an account now

Dan: kevin i know you're entirely serious but that's so funny

Nicky: THE REST OF THE WORLD USES IT

Matt: admit it, you can't wait to go back to Germany because you secretly like the metric system

Nicky: yeah dicks sound bigger if you use centimeters

Dan: didn't need 2 know that

Nicky: not that erik needs that :)

Dan: I DON'T WANNA KNOW

Renee: ….

Matt: honestly im glad i don't understand german or i would never live down all the skyping

Dan: renee's like "can't relate" lmfao

Renee: No indeed

Allison: hell yeah that's my girlfriend

Renee: <3

Allison: hey minyard if you're secretly lurking now is the time to leave

Allison: …

Renee: No, he truly muted us earlier

Dan: are we surprised?

Renee: we'll catch him up on what we decide to do later

Renee: Nicky?

Nicky: oh, yeah!!!

Nicky: BIRTHDAY BASH

Matt: here we go again

Dan: mamma mia

#aftg #tfc #all for the game #the foxhole court #this is crack #i'm aware of that #my writing #anyway i wrote this just after waking up don't hold me accountable for anything #dan's ridiculous spelling was fun to write #ALSO did tumblr get rid of line breakers on desktop because if so i'm about to fucking RIOT #you hear me tumblr??

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itsstickball · 5 years

Text

Rivalry??

(pt. 2, pt.3)

It starts, like most things these days, with Neil’s Instagram.

Matt and Dan get married on a Sunday, but he waits until Monday afternoon to post the picture of the two of them smashing cake in each other’s faces. The caption reads: “Nothing I’d rather spend my weekend off on than watching my best friend get married.”

Predictably, there are a lot of fane responses, both in encouragement of Matt and Dan and proposing to Neil – which are nice, Neil guesses, but also completely irrelevant. He ignores the comments unless his notifications tell him a friend has commented. Allison, predictably is inciting drama with Kevin. Jeremy just comments a bunch of hearts and suns. Renee comments something about having a good time as well and reminding him not to be a stranger now that she’s taking a few months off from the Peace Corps.

Dan and Matt do not reply, which Neil chocks up more to the fact that he watched Dan turn their phones off and hand them to Renee before they went upstairs than lack of enthusiasm.

It’s Nicky who inadvertently sets things in motion. His original comment falls somewhere between Renee’s well wishes, Jeremy’s over-use of emoticons and the fans enthusiasm that the couple are probably having lots of sex at that moment. His second comment, a few minutes later, is the one Neil makes the mistake of replying to.

-@NJos10. Wait, I thought I was your best friend??????-

It was so Nicky, dramatic, whiny and desperate for Neil’s attention that he shook his head. Still, he smiled fondly as he typed out his response.

-@NickyHemm. You live on another continent.-

He was also present at the wedding and reception the day prior and currently occupied a hotel room two doors down from Neil’s. Erik, it seemed, had much more lenient phone-in-bed policies than the newlyweds. Andrew, on the other hand, took Neil’s phone to toss it somewhere to the left of the bed and replaced it with a coffee cup.

“Yes or no?”

Neil’s phone chirped with another message, but he ignored it in favor of Andrew.

Later, while Andrew finished his shower in an attempt to use up all the hotel’s hot water, Neil fished his phone out from where it’d bounced off the wall and slid under his nightstand. The notifications told him there’d been several more comments on his post, including one from Andrew. It was interesting enough to make him go back and read them.

-@NJos10. I’m wounded-

-@NJos10. Does @KDayOfficial know that you escaped the court?-

-@AllyReynolds. The real question is if he’s even awake right now.-

-@NickyHemm. @AllyReynolds. Don’t bring me into this. @MBoyyyd. @WILDDan. Congratulations on tying the knot.-

-@NJos10. Seriously, I’m hurt. All those weekends spent crashing at my house and we’re not even besties? Was college just a lie?-

-@NickyHemm. Pretty sure the house was more @Amminyard’s than yours.-

-@AllyReynolds. Wrong fucking brother.-

-@AllyReynolds. GASP! Are you insinuating that Andrew’s a better friend than me?-

-Did Andrew bring Neil lunch when he was sick?-

-Or take him to the movies for his birthday?-

-@AllyReynolds. Also I hate him.-

-Or buy him that awesome fox blanket?-

-@AJminyard. Exactly! See, @AllyReynolds, I am clearly a better candidate for BFF-

Neil laughed at the ridiculous banter, seeing no need to add his input. He looked up to find Andrew standing in the doorway with just his towel on, watching him. Neil lifted the phone to show him the screen.

“You know, every time you say that, I believe you less and less.”

The goalie looked as disinterested as ever, his only response being to blink. Neil took the opportunity to drop his gaze from hazel eyes down the angular planes of his shoulders, crossed arms and then stomach. When he flicked his eyes back up to Andrew’s face, the blonde had one eyebrow raised patronizingly. Neil felt his own face melt into a grin.

Andrew let out a huff of disbelief, but pushed off of the door jamb regardless and then walked Neil backwards to the bed with a palm on his chest.

“134%”

Neil spent the rest of the day enjoying the company of his friends, former teammates and whatever close family/friends remained from Matt and Dan’s guest list. Predictably, his phone died at some point during that time and he saw no need to extricate himself in order to fix that any time soon. As a result, he didn’t get word of the wildly extrapolated fan theories until the next day at practice.

“Damn Josten, you know this is only a trial scrimmage, right?” Martin said, shaking his head from where Neil’s quick footwork had left the backliner stumbling to the floor as he shot past and lit up the goal lightning fast. “Lovejoy’s just trying to rebuild from that shoulder injury, not stop a bullet.”

Neil grimaced for a moment, knowing he’d gotten caught up in playing. He shrugged and offered a hand to help his mark up.

“Yeah, sorry man.”

He said it loud enough for both defensive players to hear. Lovejoy just laughed from where he was rotating said shoulder in front of the goal and tossed Neil the ball back.

“I guess that’s what you had to do in college though, to get a shot in, wasn’t it? I can’t imagine having to face Minyard in goal.”

Keller, Neil’s fellow striker for the scrimmage, threw an arm around his shoulder and joined the conversation.

“He made it in though. I guess hate’s a pretty good motivator to be better though.”

Neil, used to the Furies’ casual intimacy after a year with them (and several before that with Nicky and Matt), simply knocked his helmet lightly against Keller’s shoulder pad. Though his expression was puzzled when he looked up at the taller man.

“What do you mean?”

Keller released him with a quick squeeze, then popped the ball out of his racquet to send back to the dealer.

“Rivalries were always a bigger motivation growing up for me to get my ass in gear on the court. It makes sense that you and Minyard have one, after so long pit against each other in practice.”

Neil wanted to protest, but by that point, the dealer had already popped the ball back into play and he had bigger things to worry about than his teammate’s misconceptions about his relationship with Andrew.

He did look it up when he got home, though. Both Keller and Lovejoy brought it up like a known fact, not just friendly speculation, and neither of them had actually met Andrew before, so it had to have come from somewhere. Sure enough, trending in Exy news, just below Kevin’s recent involvement in summer little leagues in Chicago, was the “Josten-Minyard Rivalry.” Clicking on the topic brought up several articles, all of which referenced his Instagram post as well as a handful of various other social media conversations in which the two men seemed less than enthusiastic about each other. To be fair, Andrew never pulled his punches and Neil had an attitude problem big enough to give his PR agent daily headaches, but it still seemed a little absurd to him. Regardless, he sent the first article off in the Former Foxes group chat and then put both his laptop and the subject to bed.

The Foxes, naturally, found the rivalry hilarious.

-I mean, there were a great many bets placed on hate-sex your first year.-

Matt admitted, followed by several other messages of agreement and reminiscing until the topic eventually wandered again. Andrew, Neil noticed, had been silent for the whole conversation – though that wasn’t particularly odd, even still. The game footage he’d put on of the Seattle Stars, next week’s opponent, was raucous enough that he almost missed the incoming text.

“135%”

Neil grinned and sent back a picture of his television, to which Andrew predictably replied. “Junkie.”

#aftg #tfc #neil josten #andrew minyard #andreil #nicky hemmick #the rivalry #in which I try to write #part 2 now linked #aaaaaannd part 3

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crazedlunatic · 5 years

Text

Father’s Day Antics

“Daddy, what is this?” Zach asked on Tuesday—the day Kurt, or Daddy, always got home first. Because he didn’t work on Tuesdays but that was besides the point.

“It’s shrinky dink paper. You draw a picture on it, I’ll heat it up, and we’ll make your picture into a keychain! He can keep them on his messenger bag since it goes everywhere with him.” Kurt explained, using scissors to cut a sheet into thirds and placing one in front of each of his children.

“Daddy, I heard a funny joke at school today!” Nick said, grabbing his paper and a couple of markers before Sophie could steal them all—which is what she did every time art supplies were involved.

“Oh my God. What was it?” Kurt asked nervously.

“It was an eighth grader.” Nick giggled a bit. “Daddy, what number comes after 69?”

“70… why?” Kurt looked confused.

“No. Mouthwash.” Nick said.

Kurt took a deep breath and covered his mouth.

Was he supposed to laugh? Cry? Both?

“I don’t really get it but he thought it was funny.” Nick shrugged. “Is it funny?”

“Nicky… that is what we call a dirty joke.” Kurt said, trying his hardest to keep a straight face.

But really?

His eight year old literally just told him a joke about blow jobs?

Weren’t they enrolled in the best school?

Then again, kids at Dalton told sex jokes all the time, so…

“What’s a dirty joke?”

“Not clean.” Sophie supplied as if it was obvious. “It needs a bath. Duh."

“Daddy!” Zach gasped. “I want to talk about compost!”

“Wh… What?” Kurt asked.

“I was talking to my teacher and… and it’s super good for the Earth and she said she’d help give us tips o how to do it! Can we? It will help the bugs too!” Zach said excitedly, looking like Christmas had come early.

“Daddy, Zachy… how many wheels are on a tricycle?” Sophie asked.

“I don’t know! I don’t speak Spanish!” Zach sputtered.

“Oh my God. All three of them are Blaine.” Kurt whispered to himself, shaking his head.

Compost? Tricycle? Spanish?

This was not from him.

Maybe volunteering at the humane society with Zach every weekend was too much… but could you really tell your kid no when they wanted to help save animals one day?

All Kurt knew was that Zach had better become a vet one day since he was obsessed. Kurt had ruined so many t-shirts there. So many. Apparently, Zach even called the vet daily to see what animals they had gotten in… he knew he shouldn’t have let Zach hold onto the business card. At least everyone at the humane society thought he was cute.

“I think it means three wheels.” Nick said. “But if it’s Spanish you can ask AJ or Scarlett! Just not Wes ‘cause he isn’t good at enlightening himself or something… Daddy, why does he call AJ ‘Alicia’? That’s not even her real name.”

“Yes, it is. She wants to be called AJ and Wes will do anything possible to annoy her.” Kurt said

“Daddy, I’m done!” Nick declared, sliding his sheet over. It had an adorable owl wearing a Hufflepuff scarf. “It’s perfect. I know he wants to be Gryffindor but Matt told me that the quiz said Hufflepuff. He just lies.”

“I was too!” Zach clapped his hands excitedly.

“You… took the quiz?” Kurt asked, looking confused.

“We all have, Daddy.” Zach said. “Daddy reads us Harry Potter on Saturdays when you’re at work.”

“I’m a Gryffindor, Zach’s a Ravenclaw, and Sophie’s a Slythindor.” Nick said.

Sophie grinned and clapped her hands.

“At first I thought it was boring but now I like it! And I read ahead… don’t tell him, though!” Zach said.

“I can’t read by myself yet.” Sophie pouted. “Daddy, what’s a humanitarian?”

Kurt opened his mouth to answer.

“Don’t worry, Daddy.” Zach said, facial expression very serious as he looked at Sophie. “It’s like a vegetarian but they only eat humans.”

“Daddy, why are you hiding your face?” Sophie asked.

“It’s probably the thing when we give the wrong answer and it’s so funny that don’t even tell us the right one.” Nick said. “It happens to me a lot.”

“Dad has a better goldfish face.”

Kurt, who had taken a deep breath to calm himself down, burst out laughing.

How did Zach know the card game Goldfish existed?

“HEY, ZACH IS CHEATING! HE’S USING A PICTURE!”

“I’m not cheating. I’m only helping myself win.” Zach slid his sheet over to Kurt.

“There are no winners. They are all wonderful.” Kurt said, looking at Zach’s drawing.

“It’s a a Sebastopol goose. They don’t fly very well… Dad will appreciate it. There’s also horses with curly hair… texel guinea pigs….”

“Really?”

Zach stuck his tongue out of his mouth a bit, clearly trying to remember.

“How do you know this?” Kurt asked, trying so hard not to laugh anymore.

“The vet at the humane society! She told me six animals with curls! Another was Frillback pigeons…. And…. Mangalica pigs. They look like sheep if you’re not up close! And then rex cats! He showed me pictures and everything because he heard me say I didn’t like my hair to a girl that said she liked it.”

“But I love your hair.” Kurt said, reaching over and touching his curls.

Blaine rarely let his curls grow out too much so Kurt was now vicariously living through Zach’s curls.

Was that weird?

Who cares? Kurt just loved the curls.

“Zach, your goose is really good too!” Kurt said, shaking the thought away. “Soapy, are you almost done?”

“Yeah! It’s a heart and a square.” Sophie slid it over.

It was quite literally a heart… and a square.

“Okay, great.”

“CAN WE WATCH IT SHRINK?!” Nick asked excitedly, hopping up.

“If you all promise to not tell Dad what we did, yes.” Kurt said, carefully picking all three sheets up. “And if you put the markers back where they go… Not you, Sophie.”

Sophie, who had gotten a very excited look on her face, frowned and let out an adorable sigh. “The boys get all the fun.”

…

“Okay, guys! We have to do this super quick before Daddy gets home from work, alright?”

“I was born ready!” Nick said excitedly, attempting to climb onto one of the higher chairs in the kitchen.

“How you were born ready when we don’t even know what we’re doing?” Zach shot his twin a look. “You’re about to fall.”

“Am…not.” Nick grunted as he hit the ground.

Sophie squealed and ran over, plopping hard on his stomach. “Pooh Bear!”

“How many times do I have to tell you? I’m eight and you can’t call me that anymore.” Nick grunted as he pushed himself into a sitting position—or as he tried to, seeing as Sophie would not get up. She loved to hang around the twins every free second they all had so it wasn’t a surprise.

“Mmkay, Pooh Bear.” Blaine said from the kitchen island, laying out paper towels and then sitting a plain white ceramic bowl in front of three seats.

“OOOH THE MARKERS WE CAN’T USE!” Sophie squealed as Blaine put her on the stool—right in the middle so the twins wouldn’t try to fight as they almost always did when they sat together. Which really consisted of them bumping elbows and then getting hysterical with one another over personal space… which Zach clearly had no idea what it even was since he ended up in his and Kurt’s bed half of the time.

Honestly, he was proud of himself with realizing all they had to do was keep the twins on different sides of furniture… or to put Sophie in between them. Besides, Sophie was more than eager to be next to both of her brothers. She alternated following each of them around… when she wasn’t following he and Kurt around.

“The real question is… are they paint or are they markers?” Nick asked.

“They’re paint markers. Duh.” Zach pointed to the label.

“But how can you be both? They’re not the same, Zach.”

“Hey, hey, hey!” Blaine said as she grabbed and uncapped all ten of them. “This is why Daddy banned them, isn’t it, Monkey?”

“Not a monkey.” Sophie said, pouting up at him… the pout she definitely got from Kurt whether he would admit it or not.

“Do you know why we call you a monkey?” Zach asked, managing to get himself up on a stool all by himself—even at eight it was sometimes a struggle. Because of course the child that looked like Blaine was the shorter one.

“Why?”

“Because you climb up things, throw food at people, and make loud noises.” Nick scrambled onto the stool on Sophie’s other size.

“Rude!” Sophie glared at Nick, again another facial expression that was just Kurt. Maybe Kurt was giving her lessons? “Daddy sits on furniture all of the time so why can’t I climb it?”

Then again, the more time he’d spent with Burt and Kurt together, he could see just how alike they were. Neither of them would admit it, but Kurt really was a lot more like his father than he knew. So Sophie was probably going to be exactly like Kurt.

Maybe.

“It’s not rude if it’s the truth.” Zach protested.

“Actually, the truth can be rude.” Nick quipped, leaning over the island to look at his twin.

“Okay, Dad.” Zach scoffed.

“Speaking of Dad and our time restraints, can we at least get started? Once you’re done you can argue to your heart’s content.” Blaine interrupted them and placed the markers neatly in front of his children.

“What are we doing, Daddy?” Sophie tilted her head.

“We’re markering bowls. Duh.” Nick rolled his eyes.

“That’s not a word, Nick.” Zach rolled his eyes.

“Is so.”

“Is not.”

“Is so.”

“Is not!”

“Daddy, twins are annoying.” Sophie sighed dramatically.

“I know.” Blaine joked, mainly to get their attention. “Zach, don’t give me that look. You got that look from me.”

“Dad, I got everything from you. Daddy says I’m your mini-you. Mini-me?” Zach tilted his head this time, looking confused. “Or are you just my big-me or my Big…. you?”

“Okay. Let’s not get into deep philosophical discussions now—you gotta get with Adrian on that. If we don’t finish these before Daddy gets home, we’ll have to hide this stuff and go to Bob’s early in the morning when Daddy goes back to his studio.”

“Bob gives me tasty snacks.” Zach looked thoughtful.

“Yeah he says you cost him as much food as Dad’s lunch does.” Nick giggled. “It’s funny cause you’re little and Dad is so big. Can he get my lunch? He takes me to get curly fries. Dad, why does he get your lunch?”

“Bob is rude and you two are distracting.” Blaine snapped towards them in an attempt to make them work on their bowls.

“Dad, you didn’t answer Nicky.” Zach blinked up at him expectantly. “Are we out of money?”

“MONEY IS GOOOOOD!” Sophie squealed, clapping her hands. She then added, “’Cause I buy toys with it!”

I buy toys with it you mean, Blaine thought to himself.

“Oh no. He’s turning into Daddy.” Nick whispered to Zach. “He’s trying not to glare.”

“Dad, why can’t you control us?” Zach asked, blinking up at Blaine.

“Yeah, Daddy, why?” Sophie chirped.

“Because I’m too busy trying to control Daddy’s shoe addiction. Who needs 70 pairs? This is a moot point seeing as he literally has a shoe closet.” Blaine said. “But seriously. You three are going to share these ten paint markers and you are going to decorate Kurt bowls for Father’s Day, okay? He loves it most when you make him stuff.”

“Uhm, his name is Daddy.” Nick tilted his head.

“PAINT MARKERS!!!!” Sophie grabbed all ten of them again.

“No, Monkey, no.” Blaine pried all but three from her rather strong hold.

“I want purple, please!” Zach said eagerly.

“I want blue and green!”

Blaine gave them the markers and set the remaining three off to the side. “I guess I should probably put some bags under the bo—”

“Drats!” Zach exclaimed.

“It’s okay, Zachy. Daddy likes purple!” Sophie squealed excitedly. “It’s art!”

“Maybe you and Kurt are more different than I thought.” Blaine mumbled before going to find a Magic Eraser… quite possibly praying it would come out because they’d finally gotten a new island after the last accident the kids had made on it… which Blaine was also the only one with the kids at the time.

Honestly, was he an incompetent parent?

Harvard Law degree and Zach asking why he couldn’t control his own kids? Where had he gone wrong?

When he came back, Nick and Zach were rolling on the floor and grunting, also somehow trying to hit each other.

“Welp, I guess your gifts are done so I’ll go ahead and pack them up so I can put them in the oven at work tomorrow.” Blaine said cheerfully, taking the magic eraser to the island. With very little effort, he was able to get all purple paint off.

Thank God.

“NO!” The chorused together and scrambled onto their stools.

“Daddy… I want you to know that I was a good girl and they were bad boys.” Sophie said sweetly, scooting her bowl to Blaine.

It was, well… honestly it looked like a rainbow was thrown into the air a billion times, shot with darts, and landed in a way that was… well, very messy.

“You know what? Father’s Day and Pride Month. This is great!” Blaine said cheerfully. “How did you get it like that, Monkey?”

Sophie held up her hands which were covered with paint. She then beamed proudly.

“Mine’s a cow in a field, Dad!” Zach pushed his over as well and then said politely, “Sophie, I’ll help you clean your hands! At least it wasn’t permanent markers this time.”

“No, that was fun, Zachy!” Sophie giggled as he helped her down and then took his hand. “Can we skip to the bathroom?”

“Can we not?” Zach asked but she had already started to skip anyway, leaving him no choice.

“What are you doing, Nicky?” Blaine asked, going behind him to look.

“It’s dumb and stupid. I hate drawing.” Nick huffed. “It’s us… and the house… and Kreacher and Winnie! Do you think Daddy will get sad I put Kreacher on there since he died?”

“It’s not stupid at all. I’m sure he’ll love it.” Blaine kissed the top of his head.

“Urgh. Not the kissing thing again.” Nick scrunched his face up as they heard the front door open. “Since we’re done, can I go to Ryan’s?”

“Go ask Daddy before he puts his stuff down.” Blaine lifted Nick up and then put him on his feet.

“DADDY, CAN YOU TAKE ME TO RYAN’S?!” Nick yelled as he ran towards the front of the house.

“I literally haven’t put my stuff down, Pooh Bear.”

“Yep but you love me! Come on! Let’s go!”

“Blaine—”

“I’ll order pizza. Go on.” Blaine set a timer on his phone so he could keep up with the children’s bowls.

“Nicky, you can’t do this every time I walk in the door.” Kurt sighed although he was on his way back at the door.

“Daddy, you make it so easy because you come home last every day and you won’t let Dad drive your car but you park it behind his.” Nick’s voice was very serious.

“I know you don’t look like Dad, but that’s all I ever hear out of you.” Kurt sighed again. “Bye, Blaine! Love you!”

“Bye! You too!”

“You too?” Kurt scoffed. “He can’t even say it out right?”

“Daddy, he’s probably tired.” Nick blinked up at him.

“And I’m not?”

“You were in a car and he was with us doing your Father’s Day presents.”

Kurt blinked a few times. “Yeah. He probably is tired. C’mon.”

…

“So… I know Father’s Day is supposed to be super relaxing and fun for us, right? Well I guess when you’re gay it doesn’t work out that way.” Blaine, who was laying in the bed and staring up at the ceiling, glanced at Kurt.

“Yes?”

“But we don’t get that because we have to facilitate each other’s gifts and instead of having my favorite meals cooked for me, I do one for you and you do one for me .” Blaine yawned.

“You are horrible.” Kurt shook his head.

“No. I’m tired.” Blaine gave him a silly smile as he crawled into bed. “Hi.”

“Hi.” Kurt smiled and kissed him.

“I guess the downside is we don’t have to worry about Mother’s Day.” Blaine said thoughtfully. “Except getting Carole flowers, a gift, and a card.”

“Yeah. I wish they’d move to New York but I know it won’t happen.” Kurt sighed a bit. “I miss my dad.”

“I miss Burt too.” Blaine nodded.

“Did you go see Bob at all today?”

“Just for a couple of minutes. If I stay longer than that, the twins come looking and raid his snacks… Bob is very serious about his snack cakes, Kurt.” Blaine laughed a bit.

“Yeah. Nick is big on them too.” Kurt laughed too.

“Yeah, that’s the problem.” Blaine rolled over so he was facing Kurt. “Thank you for putting up with the kids while they made my key chains. I never knew how to do that!”

“You’re welcome! My bowls were really sweet. I’m going to take them to work for when I eat my lunch… how much paint got on the island, hmm?”

“Enough but you can’t even tell.” Blaine said. “Sophie’s hands, however…”

“Oh, I know. That’s why you only give her one at a time. Crayon, marker, paint marker…” Kurt said thoughtfully. He had moved to lay on his back but rolled onto his side and faced Blaine as well. “When we were doing your stuff, Sophie asked how many wheels were on a tricycle and Zach goes, ‘I don’t know Spanish!’ I mean, our kids are crazy. Zach’s also trying to get us to do composting whatever that is. I guess it’s good for the… ground? I don’t know. I haven’t even had enough time to look it up. Haven’t I ruined enough clothes for that boy?”

“Oh, you love him.” Blaine rolled his eyes.

“I love them all.” Kurt said.

“Yes, but you don’t go and just play with Nick and Sophie’s hair.” Blaine pointed out. “I can’t believe Zach just lets you do it. Do you bribe him?”

“No!” Kurt laughed. “I mean Nick’s gets kind of wavy but Sophie’s is straight but it’s so fun to pull a curl and watch it spring back into place.”

“I’m going to laugh when Zach has a baby with perfectly straight hair and Nick’s comes out with a head full of curls.” Blaine laughed. “I can’t believe how many curls Zach had when he was born. Granted, they fell out and grew back… but geeze. Finn, Wes and David’s kids never had that much hair… Plus, Zach was even kind of under cooked.”

“I wish you hadn’t told him about the fact that Nick was basically stealing all of… whatever? All of it? Mainly because now any time Nick does something annoying, Zach yells that Nick took over the womb and wouldn’t share the nutrients.” Kurt shook his head.

“Yeah. I can’t tell you how many times they’ve been in their bedroom bickering and Zach has brought up the fact that he was so much smaller because Zach was a DNA thief… I don’t think he grasps the whole DNA thing, Kurt.”

“He’s eight!”

“True. You’ve gotta love them all, though. Sophie is just… you as a girl. The twins are some weird combination of me but they still have opposite traits to each other.” Blaine sighed. “They can be so exhausting because they argue so much… maybe that’s why I had an emotional breakdown. I want to cry five minutes into them arguing over toilet paper squares.”

“I mean… 2 ply does suck.” Kurt shrugged and smiled. “But seriously. The bowls meant a lot to me.”

“And the key chains mean a lot to me! Your ideas are always better. I’m sorry.” Blaine scrunched his nose up.

“You got me a cheesecake, Blaine. Nothing tops that.” Kurt’s smile grew. “But your idea was perfect too!”

“I love you, Kurt.”

“I love you too.” Kurt leaned over and kissed him again.

“So… what do you think about another baby?” Blaine asked after pulling away.

“We are not becoming Bob and Sarah, Blaine. We’ve already got three.”

“We just plan for it to be born a bit before the boys graduate high school? Maybe start trying at the end of middle school? Plus, we’ll have the twins and Soph to help by then.”

“Blaine… we can barely get them to brush their teeth twice a day and to wash their hands after using the bathroom.”

“Yeah but… we’ve got two of me and I’d like to have two of you.”

“Stuff is so busy right now. I just went completely solo and honestly, if it wasn’t Father’s Day, I would have gone in to the studio.” Kurt admitted. “Can we maybe discuss this in a couple of years when stuff settles down? I’m pretty stressed out.”

“Yeah.” Blaine nodded and smiled. “Have you talked to Alec about it? The stress? He’s pretty much doing the exact same thing as you.”

“Oh, we get lunch together and complain for the whole hour.” Kurt laughed. “I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t have someone that understands. And I’m still so mad that Miranda Combs posted that picture of us and the kids online… My freaking license plate number is on there. Well, was. I put in for a change.”

“It’ll calm down.” Blaine promised. “People are overly excited about you and that lady just needs to back off. I don’t know if it’s a gay thing or if she’s just obsessed with us.”

“Oh, after she tried to give Nick and Zach candy that one day after I went to the bathroom…” Kurt shook his head. “And the judges won’t do anything. Bob, Jake, and one of the Taggart lawyers tried to pull strings. It’s so frustrating.”

“None of that matters right now because we have survived an eighth Father’s Day. We have literally kept three humans alive by ourselves.”

“Yeah and all of the help we got.” Kurt laughed. “Between your high profile case and business booming, I honestly don’t know how we would manage. Matt works at Riverdale so he brings them home and if Matt has to go somewhere, Sarah and Bob watch them until one of us gets home. Then Wes, then David, then Rachel. We do have a pretty good list of people.”

“I know… and I really don’t know what we’d do without Matt to tell you the truth. Everyone says he’s the bet thing to happen to Adrian. Nope. He’s the best thing to happen to us.” Blaine joked and then yawned.

Kurt snuggled up to him after turning his bedside lamp off. “We’ll get it regardless. They come first.”

“They do.” Blaine agreed, wrapping his arms around Kurt’s thin waist. “They’re kind of worth the stress or daily terror I guess.”

Kurt laughed and rolled over to kiss him. “Just so you know, I wouldn’t want to do this with anyone else.”

“I wouldn’t either.” Blaine said before yawning. “I love you so much, Kurt.”

“I love you so much too, Blaine.” Kurt laid back and snuggled against him again. “Happy Father’s Day, Blaine.”

“Happy Father’s Day, Kurt.”

#wbuct drabble #klaine babies

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neil-jortson · 4 years

Text

The monsters playing dnd

When Nicky brought it up for the first time it was right after Neil had come in for summer practice. Nicky thought they needed a unifying way to spend time together and an adventure game might keep Andrew occupied. He also thought it may bring the twins together and Kevin would enjoy role playing if he could get out the stick lodged in his ass.

He never thought they would agree

They started out by letting Kevin DM. This was a terrible idea and after just two sessions it was ruled he was never allowed to DM again.

He micromanaged the players and wouldn’t let them stray at all from his storyline. The others found it too constrictive and would actually try to mess up his campaigns.

They didn’t know what to do who would DM? Andrew doesn’t talk enough and Nicky talks too much.

Enter: Aaron

He was skeptic at first but while he was drafting his first campaign he started to get into it. He loved the ideas of creating arcs and mini arcs for their characters to follow. The others secretly admired how all of the arcs tied together to be one cohesive story.

Aaron came to realize that he could rely on Andrew’s memory to help move the story along and solve any riddles based on past actions. (Betsy was pleased to hear that they were bonding) Kevin was really good at the puzzle games Aaron would create and Nicky could charm almost anyone and was great at making distractions for the others to work.

Andrew played a rogue half orc named Jimmy. He created the character when he was still on his court mandated drugs and after he got off them he still felt oddly connected to the character.

Nicky plays a human bard named Eduardo because “why mess with perfection and by perfection I mean me”

Kevin plays a high elf artificer named Charles Merryweather.

As Andrew grew to trust Neil, eventually they invited him to join their group. Andrew helped him make a character and he played a few times but he found he liked watching them a whole lot more.

He also saw how Aaron would end up using the same voices for different NPCs so after talking to him one night he starts to voice the minor characters the crew would encounter. Aaron would give him a sheet of who the characters were and what they know and some things he wants the characters to say and then Neil would interact with the players as that “npc”

The others love it because Neil has a knack for doing all of these different accents. One day Nicky off handedly asked how a “boy from bum fuck Arizona” can mimic so many different accents. Neil kept cool and told them that he used to watch a lot of TV from all these different countries. “I guess I just picked up in the accents” he would say.

At some point during the year Aaron had him voice a character named Frederick Von Frostgiggle. On this characters sheet it simply said “Frederick is known for his body odor (he reeks of sulfur) and his pompous attitude”

Neil has the perfect accent in mind. When the characters first interacted with Frederick Neil cleared his throat for an ubnoxious amount of time before punching his nose shut and using an overboard British accent to say “well hello gentlemen my name is Frederick Von Frostgiggle”

Nicky soon forgot the characters name and accidentally referred to him as Fart Face. This then became his name and the crew loved him as a character. Neil felt ridiculous voicing him but it made him feel like a normal kid so he did it anyway.

After the introduction of fart face, not an arc went by without the appearance of that stinky boy.

One day as the monsters were heading towards their dorm room they were laughing up a storm from a reference Nicky had made in the elevator on the way up. Dan and Matt were just leaving the dorms when they heard the commotion and asked what was so funny.

Neil had no clue what came over him but he responded in all his fart face voice glory “it is, hmm how do you say- ah, none of your business”

What decorum the group held was completely shattered when his hand came up to his nose and they knew what was coming. Even Andrew looked amused as Nicky doubled over. He was laughing so hard it took him five tries to get the key in the lock.

Matt and Dan gave each other weird looks but decided not to comment because they were all getting along and they didn’t want to ruin that.

After the finals and all the bad stuff that had happened Neil and Aaron started to warm up to each other. Neil started working with Aaron and giving him campaign ideas. They creatively worked well together and started making these elaborate campaigns that were subtle until the end when everything came to the foreground and blew the players minds.

It didn’t happen often, but sometimes Andrew would ask what he should expect or do the next time they played. Neil never told him anything but if Andrew made a guess he could tell by Neil’s smile if he was right or not.

They continued this tradition of playing for years. When they all moved out of palmetto they would do it over Skype. It was a major stress relief from their daily lives and a way for them to stay connected. It caused so many inside jokes and made Neil feel deeply connected to his friends.

#can’t I just wish they were happy #aftg #all for the game #tfc #neil josten #dan wilds #matt boyd #andrew minyard #aaron minyard #nicky hemmick #kevin day #dnd #dungeons and dragons #this was created using my knowledge of dnd from TAZ #dnd au #foxes play dnd

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basicshadowhuntersstuff · 5 years

Photo

This super-sized news roundup covers the past two weeks in Shadowhunters news, updates, sneak peeks, and behind the scenes. All the stuff you need to stay up to date.

Official Promotion

Season 3B Sneak Peek: 3x12 Malec morning scene (part of the #MarchToThePolls promotion). [1]

For all the last minute planners. Happy #Halloween! #Shadowhunters

Getting spooky. Magnus behind the scenes of #Shadowhunters Season 3B.

Behind the scenes: Us counting down to Friday. #TBT #Shadowhunters

SAVE. THE. DATE. The final episodes of @ShadowhuntersTV begin Monday, February 25th. #ShadowhuntersLegacy

Behind the scenes with Alberto (Simon) and Alisha (Maia): Can't help smiling at these two. #Shadowhunters

Freeform releases a Ziploc ad with Kat (Clary).

Isaiah (Luke) kicked off his tenure as Freeform Santa on November 1st.

Behind the scenes with Dom (Jace) and Kat (Clary): Going up. #Shadowhunters [3]

Behind the scenes with Mimi Kuzyk (Imogen Herondale): When the boss asks if you can come in on Saturday. #Shadowhunters

Behind the scenes with Emeraude (Izzy) and Will Tudor (Sebastian Verlac): Izzy & Sebastian's band name would be ______. #Shadowhunters // @EmeraudeToubia & @willtudor1

Season 3B Air Date Revealed - February 25, 2019

Freeform revealed that season 3B would premiere February 25, 2019. Here are some of the highlights related to that.

Isaiah (Luke) teased some upcoming Shadowhunters news.

Kat (Clary) shared a flashback behind-the-scenes photo while also teasing the upcoming news.

Kat (Clary) tweeted: It’s official! Get ready angels... it all begins Feb 25th. Are you ready? #ShadowhuntersLegacy. @ShadowhuntersTV @FreeformTV

Emeraude (Izzy) tweeted: Thrilled to FINALLY announce we have a premiere date for season 3B – Monday, Feb. 25th !!! #Shadowhunters #ShadowhuntersLegacy

Isaiah (Luke) tweeted: That Final Episodes 😭 02.25.2019 💚🐺#Shadowhunters

Dom (Jace) shared the air date announcement on Instagram.

Matt (Alec) tweeted: Final 12 episodes start Feb 25th!

Harry (Magnus) tweeted: 2.25.19 IT’S ON! @ShadowhuntersTV

TV Guide (article): Here's When Shadowhunters' Final Episodes Will Air

TV Line (article): Shadowhunters Return Date Revealed: What to Expect From the Final Episodes

Entertainment Weekly (article): Shadowhunters final season gets February premiere date

Teen Vogue (article): The Final "Shadowhunters" Season Will Premiere in February 2019

Sensacine (article): 'Shadowhunters' ya tiene fecha para su recta final

TV Insider (article): 'Shadowhunters' Legacy! Freeform Announces Premiere Date for the Final Episodes

ScreenSpy (article): Shadowhunters Gets a Season 3B Premiere Date

Hypable (article): ‘Shadowhunters’ final season officially has a premiere date

KSiteTV (article): The Final Hunt: Shadowhunters Returns February 25 On Freeform

Matt Carter (video) : Shadowhunters season 3 return date + 5 things to know!

#MarchToThePolls

Members of the Shadowhunters cast encouraged fans in the United States to vote in the mid-term elections.

Shadowhunters TV tweeted a video about [t]he most important 11 minutes of your year. #MarchToThePolls featuring Kat (Clary).

Kat (Clary) tweeted a photo: In the name of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness - #Vote. Do your part. Make your voice heard. Choose the world you want to live in. [2]

Harry (Magnus) tweeted a photo: The day has come! Don’t take your right to vote for granted! Also an excuse for millions of Americans to take a selfie and be proud of it! Get out and #VOTE.

Dom (Jace) shared a photo on Instagram with the message: TODAY IS THE DAY TO VOTE. You have a wonderful ability to make you voice heard and shape a future. PLEASE don’t waste it. Don’t squander it. Don’t take it for granted. UNRELATED. Here a video of rajah drinking water from a people glass (mine).

ShadowhuntersTV tweeted a photo of Isaiah (Luke): @IsaiahMustafa did his part. Did you?

ShadowhuntersTV tweeted a photo of Emeraude (Izzy): Your words and your vote matter.

ShadowhuntersTV tweeted a photo of Isaiah (Luke): It’s Tuesday November 6th, 2018... Time to Vote! #beheard #vote” - @IsaiahMustafa Tag us in your photos as you #MarchToThePolls. We’ll be reposting the #Shadowhunters fam throughout the day.

Just Jared (article): Lily Collins, Katherine McNamara and Nina Dobrev attend #TelethonForAmerica.

Shadowhunters In The News

Bisexual Representation Awards 2018: Harry Shum Jr. wins for his portrayal of Magnus Bane.

BELLO (interview/photoshoot): Issue #117 Features Kat McNamara discussing Shadowhunters’ end and her upcoming role on Arrow.

ELLE (interview/photoshoot): Hollywood needs Harry Shum Jr.

GayTimes (article): A definitive list of the 30 most iconic queer characters in TV history

Man About Town (cover): Will Tudor for Man About Town: The Game of Thrones actor wears Prada on the cover of the Winter 2018/Spring 2019 issue.

For, She is You (interview): Katherine McNamara // #sheisjoyful

Fr Conventions (interview): [1 Actor, 1 Word] : Will Tudor - Shadowhunters

TV Guide (video and article): Shadowhunters: This Exclusive Malec Sneak Peek Will Melt Your Heart

The Series Regulars (article): New Malec Sneak Peek Has ‘Shadowhunters’ Fans Swooning

Film Daily (article): #SaveShadowhunters: The fans speak

E! Online (interview): Get as much scoop as Kat McNamara could share with us on Arrow and the end of Shadowhunters.

Cosmopolitan (article): You Need to Watch Cult Show 'Shadowhunters' Before It's Gone.

OZY (video/panel): Harry Shum Jr. joins OZY for a #TakeOnAmerica discussion about being Asian-American. (Some twitter highlights: "How about stories from Asians we haven't heard from?", this audience is VERY excited to see him, "Seeing those images over and over again, for yourself, it's like, am I good enough? That is a really damaging thing.", "I was born in Costa Rica.")

Refinery29 (article): Everything We Know About Shadowhunters' Final Season.

Twitter & Social Media Stuff

Grand River Conservation Authority tweeted: What do spooky TV series Hannibal, The Strain, and Shadowhunters have in common? Episodes for each were filmed at our very own Rockwood Conservation Area! The park is open for hiking year-round...if you dare #HappyHalloween #Halloween

Todd Slavkin (showrunner) tweeted a photo: Happy Halloween #beckysback #lewissiblingsstaystrong #microtrailer #3b #shadowhunters

Todd Slavkin (showrunner) tweeted a photo: Halloween party at the Hunters Moon #funinside #3b #iftheywontdoitiwill #shadowhunters

Jade Hassoune (Meliorn) shared a photo of himself taken by Chai Hansen (Jordan Kyle).

Todd Slavkin (showrunner) tweeted: 312! A malec gem directed by @mattdirector written by @AlexSchemmer and oh yeah, there’s Paris as well #showhasneverbeenbetter #3b #shadowhunters

Anna Hopkins (Lilith) shared her excitement over receiving her Teen Choice Awards surfboard.

MCM Comic Con announced Chai Hansen (Jordan Kyle) as a guest at their Birmingham convention.

Zarata Events announced that Jade Hassoune will be attending Pandemonium Con in London.

Alberto (Simon) shared photos of his Movember mustache on Instagram.

Brian Hui (makeup artist) shared a photo on Twitter: Our trio of heroes with production Petey.

Harry (Magnus) was Eric Draven for Halloween.

Kat (Clary) dressed as Where’s Waldo? for Halloween.

Aisha Porter Christie (writer) tweets a Malec tease: Um well... it’s ONE of the scenes I was talking about. There’s still... so so much more... Get your inhalers ready. #malec #shadowhunters

Kat (Clary) tweeted about Harry (Magnus) being featured in People Magazine’s ‘Sexiest Man Alive’ issue.

Todd Slavkin (showrunner) tweeted: He enjoys candles, long walks in the sand dreaming of the family he never had, sword play, and Earl Grey tea #Jonathanjustneedslove #dontweall #3b #shadowhunters

Todd Slavkin (showrunner) tweeted: Of course. Alec is his partner who will always listen, especially about this loss that is so utterly life changing #whatloversdo #malec #alwaysthereforeachother #inspirationtousall #shadowhunters

People’s Choice Awards 2018

All 8 main cast members attended this year’s Peoples Choice Awards. Shadowhunters won 4 out of the 5 awards they were nominated for: The Show, The Bingeworthy Show, The Male TV Star (Harry Shum Jr.), The Female TV Star (Kat McNamara). Here are some highlights from the event.

Video of Harry (Magnus) accepting his award.

Video of Kat (Clary) accepting her award.

Video of the cast accepting their award for #TheShow.

Video of the cast being interviewed on the red carpet (starts off with Kat and Harry, who are joined by the rest of the cast).

BBC News (article): Cancelled TV show sweeps People's Choice Awards.

Decider (article): Shadowhunters nabbed 4 major awards at last night's People’s Choice Awards.

TVLine (article): Shadowhunters Wins Big, Nicki Minaj Makes a Booty Call and More Major Moments.

E! Online (article/video): Shadowhunters Cast Thanks Dedicated Fans After Winning TV Show of 2018 at People's Choice Awards.

Yahoo! Entertainment (article): This show took home the most People's Choice Awards, even though it's canceled.

E! Online (article): 5 Biggest Jaw-Droppers at the 2018 People's Choice Awards.

Teen Vogue (article): Shadowhunters Stars Harry Shum Jr. and Katherine McNamara Won People's Choice Awards They Weren't Originally Nominated For.

ExtraTV tweeted: The Shadowhunters squad basking in all the #PCAs love!, Shadowhunters stars Kat McNamara & Harry Shum Jr. pose with their awards at the #PCAs!

Harry (Magnus) shares some photos: Y’all are really something else. THANK YOU! This belongs to ALL of US. Thank you for your votes for Male TV Star of the Year, Female TV Star of the Year and Show Of The Year! Let’s celebrate with love! [4]

Kat (Clary) shares a heartfelt message on her Instagram along with some photos: Oh what a night... I wish there was a way for me fully express how full of love and gratitude my heart is after #PCAs...

Personal: Harry Shum Jr. and wife Shelby Rabara are expecting their first child (a girl).

Harry (Magnus) shares a photo announcing that wife Shelby Rabara is pregnant with their first child.

E! Online (article): Shadowhunters’ Harry Shum Jr. Expecting First Child With Wife Shelby Rabara.

E! Online (video interview): Harry Shum Jr. is having a baby girl with wife Shelby Rabara (interview from the People’s Choice Award’s red carpet).

Access (article): Daddy duty! Harry Shum Jr. dishes all about his wife's big pregnancy news! Find out why they are so excited!

Entertainment Tonight (article): Harry Shum Jr. and Wife Shelby Rabara Expecting First Child.

People (article): Harry Shum Jr. and Wife Shelby Rabara Are Expecting Their First Child — See the Adorable Reveal.

Other News

Deadline (article): Katherine McNamara Boards Charlie Day’s ‘El Tonto.’

Just Jared Jr. (article): 'Crazy Rich Asians' Cast Is the Breakout Ensemble at Hollywood Film Awards 2018!

PopSugar (article): If You Thought Harry Shum Jr.'s Costume Was Good, Wait Until You See His Wife's Prince Look

Socialite Life (article): Adam Lambert, Matt Bomer, Harry Shum Jr, The Weeknd, Jensen Ackles and More Kill It With Their Halloween Costumes

Just Jared Jr. (article): Katherine McNamara, Darci Lynne Farmer & A Bunch Of The Best Celeb Halloween Costumes You Missed

#shadowhunters #people's choice awards #saveshadowhunters #bss news roundup

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fuzzballsheltiepants · 6 years

Text

Back to the Start, part 9

All For the Game/The Foxhole Court, post-canon. A few moments of softness this time around, but nothing’s ever easy with the Foxes. Read it on AO3 if you choose. Read Part 1. Part 2. Part 3. Part 4. Part 5. Part 6. Part 7. Part 8. I live for your feedback, so likes, comments, and reblogs are greatly appreciated!

Half of Andrew was in a hospital room in Boston; the other half was standing in a parking lot next to his GS, a bruised and battered yet unscarred Neil reaching under the driver’s seat. Somehow the auburn hair seemed a surprise. His mind skipped to another memory, or perhaps another part of the same one. The roof of the dorm, the icy bite of wind, and Neil looking at him with that expression in his eyes while Andrew was swamped with fury and disbelief. ‘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.’ Four years ago, he thought. But something was happening and he thought it was now; the doctor’s voice was sharp, and Neil was leaving. Andrew tore his eyes away from Neil’s retreating back to find Aaron looking at him calculatingly. He didn’t know if that was another memory. ‘I can’t trust them to bring you back.’ He slipped his thumb under his armband and dug the nail in between his scars to help find the present.

“It’s not that we’re not willing,” Aaron was saying, “it’s just that we’re gone ten, twelve hours a day. We can’t be there for him.”

“Then we need to decide if we’re going to do a facility, or a live-in nurse. Given your brother’s needs, that might be the best option.”

“Why is Palmetto off the table?” Aaron asked. The doctors exchanged looks. “I’m serious. Wouldn’t it be helpful for him to be in familiar surroundings?”

“I understand why you might be attached to Mr. Josten -”

“Me?” Aaron laughed. “No. I can barely tolerate the bastard. But that doesn’t mean he’s not right about what’s best for Andrew.”

The doctors fell silent and Aaron looked at Andrew. “You have an opinion here?”

“Just want to make sure I’m clear here,” Andrew said, gesturing at his head. “My options are go to a nursing home -”

“A rehab center.”

“Because that sounds so much better. Okay, I can go to a rehab center, I can go to my apartment with a live-in nurse, or I can drive 14 hours to South Carolina. Yes?” The doctor nodded. “South Carolina.”

She looked startled at his emphatic answer. “Mr. Minyard. Andrew. I’m not sure you understand the benefits to staying nearby. You will continue to need monitoring and care.”

“And there aren’t neurologists in South Carolina? Look, I might have head trauma but I’m not an idiot.”

Dr. Martin started to say something then stopped and studied him for a long moment. “I know you and Mr. Josten are close -”

Aaron laughed and everybody looked at him. “Sorry,” he said, directing the apology at Andrew before looking at Dr. Martin. “I’m just wondering if you would use that wording if I was in that bed and we were talking about Katelyn. Though of course if it was Katelyn you probably would’ve let her stay. Anyway.” He made a shooing gesture. “Carry on.”

“You kicked Neil out,” Andrew said before the doctor could reply, “so you don’t get to blame him for my decision.”

There was more blustering but Andrew stared her into silence. After a long look between the two doctors, Dr. Martin started talking about necessary arrangements. Aaron gave her Abby’s contact information and the doctors turned to go. “When will I be discharged?” Andrew asked before they could leave.

“If you keep up like this, and can get onto oral medication for your headaches, tomorrow or Monday.”

Andrew nodded and the doctors left, no doubt sighing in relief. Aaron texted something then looked up at Andrew. “I’m surprised you let them do that. Kick Neil out.”

Andrew shrugged, debating whether to answer. “I was remembering something.” Andrew saw no need to clarify that sometimes it was hard to differentiate the past and the present, and Aaron didn’t ask.

The girlfriend poked her head in. “Um, Neil went for a walk,” she said. “I texted him but he hasn’t replied yet.”

Aaron snorted. “He’s probably off running somewhere.” Andrew wasn’t sure why his stomach clenched, why his fingers dug into the blanket.

“I figured. If he’s not back soon I’ll go look for him,” the girlfriend said. “Did you guys work everything out with the doctors?”

“He’s going back to Palmetto,” Aaron said, and she smiled, her whole face lighting up.

“Good, oh, that’s great, actually.” She snuggled back in with Aaron in the chair and they started talking about their physiology classes. Andrew half listened, half looked at the magazine the nurse had given him, pretending that his eyes weren’t constantly straying towards to door looking for a flash of red.

*****

It only took one rep of running all twelve flights of stairs and one near miss of almost crashing into a distracted intern for Neil’s mind to quiet. He walked around in the lobby, staying away from the windows and the cluster of paparazzi he could see outside. His phone buzzed in his pocket for the dozenth time and he pulled it out, then sat down to go through the texts. Several from Allison, the daily check-in from Nicky, two from Matt, one from Dan, and this exasperated one from Robin. He replied to hers first, giving her an exercise to run the arrogant assholes through to check their egos. Technically they didn’t have practice today, but he knew with the championships coming that his core crew would be at the court anyway. Jack might have been a dick but at least he was devoted to the sport.

He scrolled through his contact list until he found Andrew’s defense line coach. He stared at the number for a long minute before pressing it. Coach Estrejena picked up on the first ring, and Neil’s phone buzzed at the same time. “Coach, it’s Neil Josten.”

There was a brief pause, then, “Josten. Is Minyard able to have visitors now?”

“I haven’t asked him. That’s not why I’m calling.”

“Damnit, Josten.”

“I know, I know. But I need to come get Andrew’s stuff from the stadium.”

“Er, that’s not a great idea right now.”

Neil sighed. “Press?”

“Yeah. You could’ve warned us, you know.”

“Sorry, Coach, but I really couldn’t.”

Neil could hear Estrejena breathing through the phone. “I guess I get that. Okay. Well, how about I come over with his stuff after practice, and you take the next few hours to find out if he’s up for visitors. And by find out, I mean back the hell off and let me go in and talk to him.”

“Only if he says it’s okay.”

“Seriously? I just need to talk to him.”

“I don��t give a shit about what you think you need, Coach. Sorry.”

“You’re a real asshole, Josten.”

“That’s one word for it. I’ll see you this afternoon.”

His phone buzzed again just as he was hanging up. The first message was from Katelyn, that the doctors were done dictating Andrew’s fate; the second was from Aaron. Where tf are you?

He set his phone face down on his knee for a minute that turned into ten as he watched the people coming and going around him. Rationally he knew that delaying learning the decision would not impact the actual outcome but for a while it seemed easier just not to know. Finally he flipped his phone over. Lobby. I’ll come up

Don’t bother the OT just came in I’ll come down and get a coffee

Neil wondered what the OT was while he waited. Aaron and Katelyn appeared and he joined them in their walk to the coffee shop. “So he’s going with you,” Aaron said as soon as he joined them. Neil was startled to feel prickling in his eyes and he looked down. “Yeah, he didn’t even hesitate.”

Katelyn gave his arm a squeeze and he nodded and cleared his throat. “Glad that’s settled. What’s the OT?”

“Occupational Therapist,” Katelyn answered. “That Ben guy?”

Neil stopped dead, surprising the others. “I don’t know who that is.” There was a weird pounding noise and muffled yelling that Neil could barely hear over the roaring in his ears.

“Don’t worry, the guy’s cool,” Aaron said. “He gets it. He’s making sure Andrew can do like, basic things before he goes. Showering and stuff.”

“You left him alone with some guy he doesn’t know?” The pounding got louder.

“It’s fine, Neil,” Katelyn said. Neil was already turning towards the stairs.

Aaron made an exasperated noise. “Neil, Andrew basically - ugh, fuck these people.”

Neil looked over to see that the pounding and yelling was the paparazzi banging on the windows. He hadn’t realized they had gotten that close to the entrance. Aaron was already moving to the door and people lifted cameras to their faces in a wave of movement. He strode through the automatic doors and yelled, “Wrong fucking Minyard, assholes!” before spinning on his heel and coming back. Katelyn covered her mouth in her hands, her shoulders shaking; Neil wondered if he was supposed to do something for her. Aaron got back to them with a disgusted expression and Katelyn dropped her hands, revealing bright, sparkling laughter. Neil’s opinion of her went up several notches and he couldn’t help but grin.

Aaron went on like nothing had happened. “Anyway, Andrew basically booted us out. He didn’t want us there when he was showering.”

“I don’t care, I’m going back up there.”

Aaron just shrugged in response. “Do you want anything?” Katelyn asked. Neil shook his head and headed towards the stairs.

Andrew’s door was closed and he practically burst through. He could hear the shower running and there was a man in scrubs standing in the bathroom doorway, leaning against the jamb holding a towel. He flashed Neil a big smile when he came in. “You must be the boyfriend, huh?” he said, holding out his hand. Neil stared at it in confusion. “I’m Ben, I’m making sure your man doesn’t kill himself trying to shave or some shit.”

Neil took his hand hesitantly. “Hi. Neil.”

“Yeah, I know, man. I heard from one of the residents you two are some big time athletes or something huh?”

“Or something.”

Ben gave an easy laugh. “I’m not really into exy, more of a basketball guy myself. But he says you’re hella good, I’ll have to check out one of your games.” The water cut off. “Hey, man, how’s it going in there? Ready for a towel?” When he got the affirmative he tossed the towel up, Neil presumed into the shower. “Now, it’s your choice, man. I can let you put a hospital johnny on yourself, or I can give you some sweats but you’ll have to let me make sure you can put the pants on safely.”

“Fuck off, I can put pants on,” came Andrew’s voice.

“Yeah, man, everybody says that but then you lose your balance, hit your head on the toilet or some shit, and you’re stuck here for another month and I lose my job, right?” There was a long pause. “So what is it, sweats or the dress?”

“Give me the fucking sweats.”

Ben glanced at Neil. “I’m gonna close this door partway, okay?” There was some low muttering and Ben’s booming laugh, then the door swung open. “Now, you wanna shave or are you going to go for some hipster bald-with-a-beard look?”

“My choices are cancer patient or balding hipster. Fantastic.”

“I don’t know,” Neil interjected. “I think your beard and hair are growing back at about the same rate. You can go full-on hipster in a few months.” Ben laughed at the flat look Andrew gave him and Neil couldn’t fully bite back his grin.

Andrew held out his hand and Ben dropped a razor in it. Neil had watched him shave plenty of times before; for some reason he always kind of liked it. It was one of the things Andrew was meticulous about, unlike Neil who would run the razor haphazardly over his face while making coffee or getting dressed and was always finding random spots he’d missed. And apparently this was one thing that hadn’t been lost; he always started on the left side and worked his way across, then down over his throat; always the same pattern, the same facial expressions, the same flicks of his wrist over the edge of his jaw.

“Staring,” Andrew said when their eyes met in the mirror. Neil didn’t look away and Andrew returned to the task at hand, though his eyes kept flicking back to Neil’s.

“Congratulations,” Ben said when he took the razor back. “You can officially shower, put pants on, and not cut your throat with a razor.”

“It’s an electric razor.”

“No kidding.”

They ended up walking laps afterwards, mostly because Andrew was bored and Ben had a little time. Aaron and Katelyn had returned and stayed in the room to study. Neil walked silently along with them, surprised when they began debating the merits of Isaac Asimov. He knew Andrew was widely read, despite his odd aversion to libraries, but he had never heard anyone argue that Asimov’s books were all inherently sexist before. Then again, he had never read Asimov. At least he’d heard of him. He smiled to himself; it reminded him of debates they’d had with Renee those first couple years at PSU.

Back at the room Ben promised to bring by a book before he left for the night. Katelyn and Aaron were piled in the chair again and Neil eyeballed the window ledge until Andrew scooted over in the bed, making room. He rolled his eyes at Neil’s unspoken question and Neil settled in next to him, leaving one leg off so there were a few inches of space between them. He pulled out his phone and went back through his texts. “Hey, Allison sent us Coach’s press conference from yesterday.”

He pressed play and held the phone so Andrew could see easily. It was…a disaster. All the reporters wanted to know was what the situation was with Andrew and Neil. They tried a dozen different ways of asking but Wymack just stared at them and asked if they had any questions related to exy. Eventually they moved onto the upcoming game, and everything seemed to be going smoothly until one reporter asked, “What do you have to say about Josten’s tirade against the reporter?”

“I think the kid summed it up pretty well. Any more questions about the championships? No? Good.” He turned and walked away to a chorus of his name.

Aaron had been listening and he shook his head at the end. “I pity whoever is your PR person next year, Josten.”

Andrew twisted his fingers in Neil’s sleeve and Neil almost jolted at the contact “Your team is going to have to double the salary of whoever draws that short straw.”

“What, like you’re any better? You had to have something in your contract demanding you sign autographs.”

That subtle flicker of humor lit Andrew’s eyes and Neil had to fight the urge to ask to kiss him. “At least I’m a silent pain in the ass. You always give them a sound bite that gets blasted all over the internet.”

Neil shrugged and looked over at Aaron. “At least I didn’t just call them a bunch of assholes.” Katelyn started laughing again and Neil joined in until Andrew’s fingers twisting tighter demanded the story. Neil and Katelyn told it in tandem and Andrew shook his head at the end of it.

“You’re all idiots,” he said, but his knee ended up against Neil’s and Neil couldn’t have stopped smiling if he tried.

*****

Coach Estrejena showed up near the end of visiting hours, not that those had been enforced once the entire week. Neil had warned Andrew during the afternoon, but he found he didn’t really care either way. He remembered his defense line coach, as well as the rest of his team, at least superficially.

Neil had gotten to his feet at the knock on the door. The coach set a duffel down at the foot of the bed and surveyed the room, his eyes lingering on the girlfriend in a way that had Aaron bristling. “It’s a right party in here, huh?” he said finally.

The girlfriend introduced herself and Aaron nervously and the coach had the good sense to look at Andrew before something unpleasant happened. Well, unpleasant for him. Andrew thought it might be rather amusing if he continued to push Aaron’s buttons. Everyone had always thought he was the only dangerous Minyard; he wondered if that was still true, or if Aaron also had to live under that cloud of suspicion.

“Glad to see you’re awake,” Coach said, and Andrew refocused. “And that your guard dog let me in.”

“Why did you want to see me?” Andrew asked, sure he knew the answer. He wondered if Coach would beat around the bush or not.

“Just wanted to make sure you were okay. That was a hell of a hit.” But he wouldn’t quite meet Andrew’s eyes and Neil picked up on it.

“What the fuck are you trying to say?” Neil asked.

Estrejena gave him a scathing look that Neil met with his own version. “Minyard, call off your dog.”

“No,” Andrew said. “He’s quite useful at cutting through bullshit.”

There was silence in the room. Aaron leaned forward in the chair, looking from the coach to Andrew. Neil stood poised at Andrew’s shoulder, braced to throw Estrejena out completely if needed. The coach may have been six inches taller and a good fifty pounds heavier, but Andrew’s money was on Neil if it came down to it.

As expected, the coach broke first. “We’re just wondering what the doctors have told you.”

“They’ve told me a lot of things. What specific information are you looking for?” He knew it, he knew it, but he wanted to make him say it.

Estrejena looked at the floor before dragging his eyes up to Andrew’s cheek. “Are you expected to make a full recovery?”

Neil exploded, and Estrejena took a big step back. “Are you fucking kidding me? Are you seriously asking if he’s going to play again a week after he got a skull fracture on your fucking court?”

Aaron was on his feet, and Andrew couldn’t tell if he was planning to stop Neil or help him if he went after the coach. Estrejena held up his hands like he was warding off a wild animal.

“I just…We need to know if we need to look for a new goalie for next season.”

And there it was.

The past two days in the quiet moments, the question had been chasing him. He had never had Neil’s all-consuming passion for the game, nor Kevin’s unwavering dedication. Though his memories of the past five years were scant, several of them involved him sitting silent in the bleachers while they perfected their game; eating every damn thing Kevin told him to avoid; mocking them for their single-mindedness, especially Neil. He had fought every attempt by those two idiots to drag him over to that dark side.

He hadn’t succeeded.

Not that he would ever be like them, and let the sport take over every waking moment. But there was satisfaction in being the best. There was pride in being the one that everyone on the team looked to be the final defense. So help him, he was almost happy on that court, when the racquet reverberated with the force of the ball, when he could read the striker’s eyes and beat them to the corner, when he slammed a pass down the court to where only his striker could get it. Where only Neil could get it.

There are three things in the world I don’t want to lose. It was so loud in his head at first he was afraid he had said it aloud. After all, some manifestation of all three things were in this room right now. He looked from the coach to Aaron then slowly up at Neil. The expression in those crystal eyes told him that he already knew.

#aftg #all for the game #tfc #the foxhole court #neil josten #andrew minyard #andriel #fanfic #my writing #amnesia #hospital #hurt and comfort #a little fluff #a little angst #aaron minyard #katelyn

54 notes · View notes

winterblues · 6 years

Note

hey i rlly love your writing sm!! could you maybe do an andreil one for this prompt: imagine person A knowing person B hasn't been eating properly for the last few days so person A makes them a proper meal from scratch that they can both eat together to make person B feel better? thank you!!!

[Thank you for the lovely prompt & I apologize in advance for the Angst™.]

Neil wipes a bead of sweat from his temple with the back of his wrist and bares his teeth. He’s got that acute glimmer of feral aggression behind his eyes again, Andrew observes, dully.

The sort of expression often native to a prowling jungle cat attempting to intimidate a potential threat into premature submission. Andrew can’t help but see it as a phenomenal waste of energy, getting worked up over a stupid practice scrimmage, at Kevin Day of all short-fused idiots.

No matter how close Andrew allows Neil to get, he will never be used to his exhaustive thirst for victory.

How many more goddamn exy-obsessed morons do I have to babysit in this lifetime? Across the court, Kevin’s got a firm grip on his racquet as he glowers behind the netting at Neil as if through the barrel of a gun. It’s a late fall evening and the sky is a patchwork of pink-gold clouds, the moon sits a shrivel of a crescent in the rapidly darkening distance.

Andrew watches his teammates with his characteristic lack-of-character, expression neutral as he remains stationed in position, racquet balanced on his shoulders like an afterthought.

He can hear Nicky whinging to Matt about something inconsequential Andrew doesn’t care enough to inquire about, Renee and Allison have been exchanging subtle glances across the court for two-and-a-half hours now.

During their last sparring session, Renee mentioned in passing that she’d found another sparring partner in Allison. “She wants me to teach her how to fight. Says she wants to be prepared for anything. It’s like she doesn’t trust the world as much after everything that happened with Seth and Neil’s consequent revelation. It’s sad but I think it’s awfully brave of her, don’t you?” Andrew had merely blinked at her, unamused, before grappling her into a headlock she hadn’t seen coming and raising a knife to her throat. “Oops,” he said. “You’re dead.”

It isn’t until Andrew hears Kevin strike that he notices the hesitation in Neil’s jaw just as he slams the ball with lethal force and his knees buckle. He stumbles not even half a second after and Dan grabs ahold of him before he can crumple to the ground. Andrew feels his heart skip a couple of paces just as Wymack blows his warning whistle, calling a timeout. Kevin gawks in mystification for a moment before breaking into a disapproving scowl.

“The hell was that, Josten?” Wymack snaps, striding over to Neil and crossing his arms over his big chest. “I’m fine,” Neil grunts. “It won’t happen again.”

“You’re right,” Wymack replies, with a smile that’s at least two-fifths deliberate condescension. “It won’t, because right now you’re about as useful to me as a vegetable. I’m benching you for the rest of today.”

“Come on, Coach!” Nicky shouts, jogging up to where everyone is now crowding around Neil like he’s some kind of a helpless dog they all accidentally ran over with their cars. “Let’s just call an early mark. Please? We could all use a break!”

“I don’t,” Neil spits, balling his fists to his sides; eyes rapt on Wymack’s. Idiot. Wymack shoots a steely glare right back at him. “You play in peak condition or you don’t play at all. I won’t tolerate this half-assed bullshit. You hear me?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh, I think you do. Now go pick a cozy corner to sulk in and don’t return to my court until you’re bleeding stamina or I will knock you flat on your ass myself. Do I make myself clear?”

“But—“

“I said,” Wymack’s tone becomes dangerously taut. “Do I make myself clear?”

At this point, even Nicky shuts his trap and takes an obedient step back, his expression pleading at Neil to do everything within his power to not trip on the Coach’s last nerve.

“You’re being unreasonable,” Neil growls, lowly. Nicky shakes his head in exasperation, just as Dan smoothly interjects, “I think what Coach is trying to say, Neil, as that you seem a little under the weather today. Maybe rest up a little and take it easy for the evening so that you’re better equipped for practice tomorrow?”

“Yeah, man,” Matt chimes in. “We’re just worried about your health.”

Andrew brings his racquet down and leans his body weight against it, still watching quietly from the sidelines. Renee shoots him a concerned glance and Andrew pretends not to notice.

“It’s insulting,” Kevin cuts in, with eyes only for Neil as he crosses the distance between them and parks himself merely inches from where Neil is standing. Andrew can’t say he envies Neil. He knows firsthand Kevin’s tendency to invite himself into one’s personal space whenever he gets cranky. “You’re insulting us all. I don’t know what the fuck’s been going on with you, but you better get your shit together because your breakdowns have no place on the court. Now do as Coach says before you waste any more of everyone’s time.”

Kevin and Neil spend a solid minute exchanging mind-imploding death glares at one another before Neil caves. He doesn’t look happy about it, but he flips Kevin off, turns on his heel and trudges off the court. Andrew watches Neil carefully. The fight is slowly pilfered from his shoulders and he lets his chin droop against his neck. There is something volatile about his defeated posture as he ambles right past the stands and towards the showers. Wymack turns to Andrew, expression irked but knowing.

“Goodbye.” Andrew says, before casually trailing after Neil.

“There isn’t enough whiskey in the goddamn world to put up with you ungrateful asshats on a daily basis,” Wymack mutters, under his breath before blowing his whistle again. “That’s enough dilly-dallying, maggots! We can practice without Tom and Jerry for now. Drop the long faces and give me forty-five laps. We’ll reassemble then. Go, go. Fucking go.”

“Crowdpleaser,” Andrew mumbles, coming up behind Neil.

Neil looks up at him without meeting his eyes. “Agree to disagree.”

Andrew joins Neil in the shower and they kiss until their mouths are numb and then Andrew drives them back home. They’re barely halfway through the door when King Fluffkins trots up to them and curls himself, not unlike a clingy toddler, around Andrew’s boot. “Get your cat off my foot,” Andrew mutters, at once. Neil shrugs off his coat, shuts the door behind them and smiles faintly. “And deprive him of cuddles? That’s abuse. Plus, he likes you.” Andrew groans and has to peel the feline off himself as he cradles King Fluffkins in his arms and deposits him on the couch next to a lazing Sir Fat Cat McCatterson. “Do that again and I won’t hesitate to turn your furry ass into a winter coat.”

King Fluffkins looks unfazed at this remark, but a short laugh escapes Neil.

Andrew will never admit it, but Neil’s laugh sends a jolt of spring warmth up his spine. The kind that wedges itself in between shoulder blades and seeps into his ribcage. It is so full of raw, fleeting feeling that it fills every gap inside Andrew to a brimming point.

Andrew sourly notes Neil hasn’t laughed like that in a week.

“What did we discuss about threatening our cats at every given moment?”

“Your cats.”

“Right. Whenever they piss you off they’re my cats.”

Neil follows the cats’ bad example, dropping dead on his back on the lounge room sofa and allowing the pests to crawl up onto his chest. Andrew empties the litter, brings them fresh water and fills their bowls to the top with food before wandering into the kitchen.

The weather grows worse within the span of the hour. The rain is loud as fuck outside. The wind droning on like the hum of a distraught choir. He chops a fresh batch of mushrooms, carrots and green bell peppers. He separates all the vegetables and leaves a stockpot of water to simmer. The oven is preheating. He cooks in mindless silence, all the while wondering why Neil isn’t venturing in to watch him like he usually does. There is something upsetting fizzling beneath his skin, like an itch he can’t scratch. He has this shitty gut feeling—hot and incendiary; an interloper awaiting recognition. He spends longer than intended in passive contemplation and his stockpot begins to overspill.

Andrew lowers the temperature of the gas and yanks the lid off the pot, swatting the steam away as if it were a school of flies.

He finds cooking less boring than he finds most activities in his daily life. Bee says it’s because cooking is an act of creation, which makes it a common stress reliever. People feel better about themselves when they’re creating.

Andrew doesn’t know about that, but it’s a layman’s job to follow a recipe.

There is something vaguely satisfying about it, he thinks. Cooking is meticulous and straight to the point. It doesn’t take thinking if your hands know what to do and your mind’s prone to estimate. If the recipe demands half a slab of melted butter he won’t add a pinch more or less. He’s fairly adept at following instructions and doesn’t feel the need to experiment.   If nothing else, cooking is a way to pass the time and is vital to survival.

Eventually, Neil does float into the kitchen, looking jaded. Andrew keeps himself busy with seasoning and pays him no heat. “I’m going to bed,” he says quietly. Andrew halts, grabs a wooden spoon and dips it into the pot nearest to him, still hot off the stove. “Come here,” he replies. Neil joins his side as Andrew blows softly on the liquid before holding a spoonful up to Neil’s mouth.

“Taste.”

“I’m not hungry.”

“Taste.”

Neil pouts a little, but obediently leans in and takes the smallest sip. “Mm,” he nods. “What is it?”

“Hot and sour soup.” Andrew says.

“Will it taste better off of your lips?” He leans in questioningly but Andrew neatly sidesteps, leaving Neil fumbling. “Sorry,” Neil remedies, quickly.

“I didn’t mean to—“

“You’ll consume it directly first.” Andrew answers, in lieu of an explanation.

“It’s really good. I’ll uh… Have some tomorrow if there’s leftovers.”

Neil is about to turn when Andrew wraps cold, gentle fingers around his wrist. “Dinner will be served in ten minutes. Go outside and take a seat on the dining table.”

Something dire flashes in Neil’s heady blue eyes. “Andrew—“

“Don’t argue with me.”

It’s a full-fledged three-course assortment of homemade meals and Neil stares at it like it’s making him nauseous just to look at it. To Andrew, it smells heavenly: steaming hot-sour soup and chicken à la king with a side of sweet potato wedges. Andrew feels a pang of something irritable inside his chest. He doesn’t quite care whether Neil likes it or not. He isn’t allowed to be a baby about this. Not any fucking more.

“Eat,” he prompts. “Eat or I will force feed it down your gullet, yes?”

Neil sighs and begins to scoop an insufficient portion onto his plate, rather halfheartedly. Andrew snatches the spoon from him and begins to serve Neil himself, making sure to get an equally ample portion of each item available before helping himself.

“You will explain as we eat.”

“What?”

“Drop the clueless act and stop being this pathetic.”

When Neil merely blinks at him Andrew scoots closer to Neil in his chair, making it creak in protest against the wooden floor as he grabs Neil’s chin in his hand. He lowers Neil’s head and allows his eyes to bore into Neil’s. He’s lost every remaining morsel of his patience. “Do you take me for a fool?”

“No.”

“You’re treating me like one.”

“I’m not trying to. Fuck. Everyone’s just constantly on my ass about everything all the time and so what if I have a bad day or two. Am I not allowed the privilege—?”

“Fuck everyone,” Andrew’s voice is dull and combustible. “Do I look like everyone?”

At this, Neil lowers his gaze to Andrew’s lips, back to his eyes and something within Neil’s own softens.

“Of course not,” he replies, voice more subdued now.

“I’ve had enough of your mopey bullshit,” Andrew says, letting go of Neil’s chin.

“Explain.” Andrew demands.

“It’s not a big deal.”

Everything inside Andrew knots up like curdled milk. There is a visible tension in Neil’s shoulders that is no doubt going to escape in a torrent; without a moment’s notice. Andrew doesn’t even have to prepare himself for it. He just wants to face it headfirst.

Andrew draws his mouth into a thin line. “If you lie to me again I won’t sit here and tolerate it.”

“It’s not something you’ll want to hear.”

“I don’t care,” Andrew snaps. “Tick tock.”

Neil takes a deep breath and lets it out through his nose and the words tumble out of his mouth like bullet shells. “I know that it’s naive but I thought he wasn’t going to be a problem, at least not for the foreseeable future. I will keep playing Exy until there is none of me left. That’s the deal. That’s how it goes but there are things I can’t control—if something happens to me? Something that makes me incapable of playing and—and then, he’ll turn the Foxes into collateral damage in my war.” Neil glances up to meet Andrew’s unflinching gaze. “Ichirou,” he says, the name sounding like a strained chord on a busted up guitar. “He flew down for a meeting and paid me a visit on a whim. He said things. He fucking—“ now there’s a keen rage seizing him. “He fucking threatened your life!”

“He’s threatened my life before.”

“Exactly! He’s made his point. I get it. We get it. This time, he was doing it to taunt me, to remind me that we’re all ultimately just pawns on his sick little chessboard. He’s screwing with me.”

Andrew leans calmly back into his chair and says nothing, waiting for Neil to calm down. At this point, Neil is seething, his breath choked out in rattled gasps. He’s got a white-knuckled grip on either end of the table.

“That wasn’t something I could stand. Listening to that bastard pompously claim all the things he could do to you, count off the ways he could make you disappear without a trace. Why should I have to put up with this crap? Why do I have to keep living beneath the Moriyamas’ shadow? Sitting there, listening to him recite what he’s capable of—hurting you. It reminded me that I’m still the Butcher’s son, that I should be raining hell down on anyone who even thinks of touching us—Touching you.”

Neil is shivering now, his words coming out in escaped sobs. His entire body’s a wreck. He’s a wreck.

Andrew’s stomach twists as conviction stronger than anything Andrew’s ever felt burns in Neil’s voice.

“Do you remember what I told you?” Andrew asks, promptly.

“I—“

“What did I tell you?”

He watches the muscles work under Neil’s clenched jaw.

“To bury Nathaniel in Baltimore with his father.”

“Neil is your only truth from now on, or have you forgotten?”

“I haven’t.”

“You cannot object what is irrefutable.”

“I won’t let them, Andrew. I can’t… Because that would be pathetic.”

“If there is a single part of you that is still Nathaniel, I do not want anything to do with it. Are we clear?”

Neil is at an utter loss of words before he attempts to gather himself, something unsteady flashing in his eyes. Andrew does not care if his truth is a harsh pill to swallow. Neil will learn. This is the man he chose to protect, the man he sleeps with, the man who is his.

Another irrefutable truth—Neil Josten; not some phantom burnout son-of-a-killer. 

“Are you digging him back up?”“No. What’s dead is dead.”

“Good,” Andrew won’t admit the relief his words warrant. “I want you to remember you said that.”

“It’s just—“ Neil sighed. “I haven’t been able to eat or sleep since talking to him. I keep seeing your dead body at my feet or— or worse and I feel like throwing up. It’s that same, ringing sense of dread all over again. The dread I felt when Riko threatened you, before I made my decision to go to Evermore. All I can think about is the need to eliminate the threat. I want to kill him.”

“Don’t be irrational.”

“I can’t just let him get away with this.”

“That is exactly what you’re going to do. Neil,” Andrew says. “Yes or—?”

Bright eyes sharp as stained glass. “Yes.”

Andrew takes Neil’s hand in his own and presses it to the side of his neck, just beneath his jugular vein so that Neil can feel Andrew’s pulse beating underneath the skin there. “Not to indulge your creepy neck fetish or anything but,” he cups his own hand over where he’s holding Neil’s. “I’m here.”

“Whenever—if anything happens, I’ll still be here.” Andrew says. “Nod if you understand.”

Neil lets out another shaky breath and nods slowly, eyes steady on Andrew’s. Watching him unravel on his bad days is always somewhat of a stale realization. There is a part of Andrew that thinks it isn’t fair. When did things become this critical? Before… He wasn’t feeling unless he was feeling empty, the only time the world felt real was when he was standing at the edge of it, staring down at what could quite possibly be a bottomless death. He never used to know what to do with his hands, not until Neil had reminded him, anyway.

“They’re your hands,” cigarette lounging lazily at the corner of lips chapped stupid, eyes so wide they could be confused for open sores, hair ruffled in the wind.

He’d wanted nothing.

Now he is surviving on that very nothing, cultivating a life from every breath that leaves nothing’s lips.

Careful what you fucking wish for.

Neil’s fingers are warm as they curl up to grip the back of Andrew’s neck. He still looks shaken, furious; as if he wants to turn the world on its head and fight it. There’s still an unkempt tenseness to his posture. Andrew hates it.

“I don’t care,” Neil announces. “I don’t care if they kill me. Ever since I was born I’ve been ready to die if it comes down to it. That’s the philosophy I was raised on.”

Andrew reads the implication on his face even before he has to make it clear.

“They can’t have you.”

You think it’s cute throwing my own words back in my face?

“Still playing at rabbit?” Andrew says, after a pause. “You know better than to waste energy fretting over shit that you can’t control, or have you not learned anything?” “My learning curve’s a horizontal line, remember?” Neil replies, a suggestive hint in the twist of his lips.

“Coincidentally the position you’ll be lying in your coffin when I’m done with you.”

“Death kink or neck fetish. Which one’s weirder? We should ask Nicky.”

“I hate you.”

“Me too.”

“I mean it.”

Neil’s fingers against his skin. Alive, alive.

“That’s what I love about you.”

Andrew scoffs and pushes Neil’s hand off before turning back around in his chair. “Your food will get cold,” he mutters, tone finite.

“Okay.”

“The next time you skip a meal you can sustain on whatever the cats are having.”

“Thank you.”

They eat in the sort of silence that swells over a small town after it’s been ransacked by a hurricane but still left standing. It’s a dizzying, electric sort of silence. The sort you can feel in your bones. When they’re done, Neil helps clear the plates away and they pad up to their bedroom.

King Fluffkins follows as Sir Fat Cat McCatterson continues to doze in his delegated spot.

“That was the best dinner I’ve ever had. I’ll starve myself all the time if that means you’ll cook for me more often.” That dark look in Neil’s eyes has dissolved into something clearer as he rolls over onto his side and begins to press kneading kisses down the side of Andrew’s jaw.

“Shut up.”

“It’s true,” Neil’s words are muffled against Andrew’s heated skin. “You know last week, Nicky was treating all of us to dinner and he asked me what my favorite dish was and I told him I didn’t actually know. Dan and Matt totally freaked out.” Neil’s hand stills over Andrew’s cheek for a brief moment. “My mother never used to cook. I know how to whip up your standard meals. Enough to keep me going. Omelettes, sandwiches, breakfast burritos. You name it. I’ve pretty much got microwaving down to an art form too, but I’ve never eaten anything like… This.”

Neil leans over and presses a soft kiss to Andrew’s lips, the kind that spreads out like the petals of a flower.

“It tastes like real home food,” he smiles against Andrew’s face before gently meeting Andrew’s unwavering gaze.

“You can touch me if you want.” Andrew’s voice is hoarse.

Neil looks slightly hesitant as he lets one of his hands gently slip beneath the hem of Andrew’s shirt.

Andrew closes his eyes at the contact. Neil’s touch is respectful, delicate, debilitating. Andrew’s skin is fever-warm against Neil’s cool fingertips. Andrew doesn’t want Neil to be able to detect the shortness of his breaths but he can bet Neil feels them.

“I’d like to extend my compliments to the chef,” Neil says, fingers faltering along the waistband of Andrew’s sweatpants. “Properly.”

Andrew grunts a quiet affirmation and Neil slides down, pulling the covers over his head.

He pushes the covers away in quick retaliation.

Eyes intent on Neil’s.

“I want to see you.”

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