do you know what really fucks me up? what pulls me out of the dark abyss every time? knowing that even after andrew’s past–always in a state of impermanence, moving from one pre-packaged house to another–he still managed to give neil pieces of himself throughout the trilogy. from a key to a home that wasn’t just a room with four walls, to allowing neil access to the rooftop, which is his token safe space where he f e e l s the most. he gave neil a key to his car, something entirely his, and that speaks volumes. it says, “hey, I’m trusting you with a piece of me. something that’s solely mine because I know that you won’t break it.” It’s trust and honesty and safety, it’s feeling calm when neil’s around and slowly seeing the transformation from his to theirs. to ours. and for andrew, that truly shows how much he cares and appreciates neil.
I CANNOT be the only one who is truly in love with Andrew Joseph Minyard’s canon height. Like it really does just make everything he does that much more impressive.
Here let me give you some examples:
•During one of the games, 6’5 starting backliner Matt Boyd hid behind 5 foot even Andrew Minyard when being chased by a character only referred to as Gorilla.
•Without even pulling out his knives, all Andrew had to do was stand between Matt and Kevin to get Matt to back off.
• 5ft BABY Andrew nearly kills 4 grown men when they attacked Nicky outside of the club??? Not just A man. FOUR. MEN.
• despite his height he still manages to take his short legs clear across the field at record breaking pace to break Riko’s arm before he can decapitate Neil. A+, Minyard.
•ALSO let’s just take into account that exy racquets are customized to the height and arm length of the holder SO while Andrews net is bigger the length of the stick is short MEANING when Andrew blocked The Impossible Goal™ in the bottom corner he had to be moving quicker than a fucking bat out of hell.
•despite being called a “midget with an attitude problem” no one fucks with Neil or his hubby bc they know better…
•“When I leave you wanna keep *hand motions* doin dis. But den when I come around you don’t wanna POST UP.”
•Also Andrew is canonically 3 inches shorter than Neil so Neil actually has to bend down to kiss his boyfriend OR (bear with me) Andrew has to stand on his damn tip toes
things andrew and renee have absolutely talked about while on their walks:
deep sea vs. deep space
which politicians are most likely to secretly be aliens in disguise
pluto
ongoing bets among the foxes
zombie evac plan
best/worst improvised rooms to find improvised weaponry
that last one probs branched out from their zombie prep discussion
assassin-fighting strategy (this is actually brought up pre-neil but gets revisited again later)
best candy (renee is a fan of super sour candy and andrew feels slightly betrayed™)
they agree on lots of toppings for ice cream tho and maybe possibly make fun of kevin who eats it plain or with fruit if he’s having any at all bc he’s a heathen
new colors for renee to dye her hair
how exactly wymack seems to have knowledge of so many marathons
scenarios for the foxes in a cutthroat kitchen-style cook-off
“Anonymous,” replied Aaron. There was something hard in his voice, and he was watching Andrew warily from the corner of his eye. Aaron knew, after all, that Andrew did not attract the kind of people who wrote sonnets and sent flowers. No, no, no. Andrew attracted the Drake Spears of the world.
“We’re leaving,” said Andrew. The words left his mouth cool and even, but they sounded very far away in his own ears.
• the mouth guard with the fake teeth printed on them that neil got him for his birthday
• the armbands that all the foxes wear, which became a trend with all psu exy fans
• the ugly sweater Betsy knitted for him
• Betsy in general
• sir and king
• the blanket with Neil on it that Nicky got for him when he saw it on the merch website for Neil’s current pro team
• rom coms (his favorite is Bridget Jones’s diary, he only watches it when Neil has away games)
• watching YouTube makeup tutorials and trying to copy them also during Neil’s away games
• when Neil has his nails and/or makeup done
• dan and matts kids
• cute babies
• aquariums
• classical music ( his favorite composer is Tchaikovsky )
• scented candles
• Neil’s kisses and hugs and stupidness
• waking up next to Neil in the morning
• Neil
Nothing but My Aching Soul 