This is a very belated pinch-hit for @captain-ferid for @aftgexchange. I’m so sorry it’s so late, and I hope you like!
- The Foxes are brainstorming where to go on vacation
post-canon – or rather, Nicky ropes Neil inot a discussion he’s having with the
girls, Matt and Aaron as he’s on his way back to the room he shares with Kevin
and Andrew- Allison tries to book something insanely expensive for them
all again, but Dan puts her foot down on that – taking Neil away for his first
proper vacation had been an exception, which means that they need to find something
that they can all afford- It’s Matt who suggests a theme park, one he’s been to with
his mom before.- Aaron scoffs at the idea – it’s totally lame, right? But it
turns out he’s never actually been to one before (not exactly one of Tilda’s priorities)- (Neither has Neil, or Andrew, or Kevin, they all realise)
- Nicky enthusiastically pumps up the idea before the mood can
plummet too far as everyone contemplates their terrible childhoods, and points
out that they can totally make a few days out of it, with the theme park and
waterpark combined- Neil shrugs – he doesn’t really know anything about them,
but it sounds like fun? He’ll ask Andrew- Matt and Allison immediately make a bet on whether it will
be Andrew or Kevin who nixes the idea (Nicky points out that Neil’s going to
ask him, so of course Andrew will agree)- In their room, Kevin’s watching Exy (on his laptop with his
headphones in, because Andrew had complained about being subjected to enough of
the stupid sport already on the big TV) and Andrew is smoking and reading on
the windowsill- Neil goes to Andrew first, who seems largely apathetic but
agrees pretty quickly
- Occasional
adrenaline rushes? Shitloads of junk food? Very little actual effort to do
anything required? Sounds like a good vacation to him- Kevin does live up to expectations, and mutters about how it’s
a total waste of time and money to spend all day queueing up for things but
Neil reminds him that this is a few days away in Carolina, and insinuates that
the two weeks away in Europe Allison wanted to do is their second choice at the
moment- So they rock up – Allison buys them fast passes to
everything even though Dan protests, saying that it’s her choice so that she
doesn’t have to wait in line with them for hours and hours- Andrew immediately gets one of those free refill popcorn
buckets and locks eyes with Kevin as he inhales half of it, using his hand as a
shovel- It’s pretty hot weather, so Neil ties one of his Exy bandanas
around his hair
- Normally the bandana is accompanied
by disgusting hair dripping with sweat but now it just makes Neil’s hair ruffle
attractively in the breeze- Also he
rolls the sleeves of his t-shirt up to reveal his shoulders and biceps- Andrew is
Suffering™- He deals
with it by keeping a blank face and as we all know, our boy Andrew has resting
bitch face to the point where Neil leans in and asks if he doesn’t want to go
on the rollercoaster after all
Tag: hc
celebrities read mean tweets: exy edition
- neil reads all of the tweets with the most stoic expression
- “@/andrewminyard03: i don’t get why people hype josten so much, he’s an idiot”
- neil: same
- after a while he starts to answer in different languages just to piss the producers off
- wymack is watching and asking abby why didn’t he let andrew kill neil with that racquet when they first saw him
- twenty minutes into the show, neil looks up with bored expression and says “can i get some tweets that aren’t from andrew”
- no, they’re all from andrew
- andrew refuses to do it at all and asked about it aaron says that it’s because he’s got enough of nicky, the meanest bitch
- nicky is so offended he doesn’t send aaron a christmas card
- kevin always gets the meanest ones and he wants to fight everyone
- “@/nhemmick: kevin day can stick his racquet up his ass, he can’t play in a team for shit”
- kevin: how ‘bout i stick it up your ass, hemmick? maybe if you’d play it like you mean it i would be able to play in a team you fucki-
- the producer: mr day this is national tv, can you-
- kevin: FIGHT ME
- dan and matt do it together but they don’t get any mean tweets because nicky spams with praises about matt’s handsome face and alvarez spams about dan’s body to die for
- renee and allison do it together too but it’s just renee reading the tweets with the nicest smile while allison talks about neil in jorts for the whole hour because what the fuck i know he lived under a rock but come one josten COME ON
- (after the show all of the people that sent mean things about renee apologized because she’s a total sweetheart how could they ever tell her something like that also andrew threatened to break their legs so there’s that)
- nicky fucking laughs at everything he reads
- “@/andrewminyard03: this isn’t hooker convention, this is nicky hemmick’s wedding”
- nicky: get rekt minyard
- “@/kevinday: nicky hemmick is a brooklyn hipster piece of shit and i’m gonna fight him”
- nicky: kevin day has a shrine dedicated to jeremy knox and he kisses the pictures before every important game
- (kevin personally flies from new york to germany two days later and erik has to wrestle him to the ground to stop kevin from breaking an exy racquet over nicky’s head)
- jeremy knox agrees to do it because he’s sure people won’t be mean to him
- they are
- (mostly his former teammates,
read: alvarez)- jeremy: i didn’t win a team spirit award for five years straight for this
- jean reads only two tweets
- “jean moreau sounds llike he has a dick in his mouth all the time”
- jean: what’s wrong with having a dick in my mouth?
- jeremy cries behind the scenes
- “jean moreau looks like this person who doesn’t deserve to be famous but he slipped thru the cracks and ppl were like ‘ok’, i hope he dies”
- jean slides from the chair to the ground and gets so close to the camera you can only see his mouth
- jean: god i hope so too
- that’s it because jeremy drags him out of there
- no one knows if he was joking
- kevin calls him ten minutes later to ask if he’s okay
- jean hangs up on him
- the producers never ask exy players to do any of it again
- wymack is glad
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
Headcanon that Nicky will not stop putting Kevin puns on his Snapchat story.
- A picture of Kevin shirtless in the kitchen, making breakfast, with the caption “Kevin Bae”
- A pic of Kevin in his uniform captioned “Kevin Play”
- A pic of Kevin sitting on his bed with an exy game paused on his computer and his arms crossed over his chest captioned “Kevin Stay”
- A pic of Kevin dressed to go for a run with Neil, wearing a light grey t shirt and dark grey sweats, with the caption “Kevin Grey”
- A pic of Kevin taking a nap with the caption “Kevin Lay”
- A pic of Kevin at Eden’s Twilight, taking the drink tray from Andrew with the caption “Kevin Tray”
- A pic of Kevin looking really annoyed in the Fox lounge with the caption “Kevin ‘No Way’”
- A pic of Kevin modelling in a magazine Nicky found with the caption “Kevin Slay”
- A video of Kevin stumbling at practice with the caption “Kevin Off-Day”
- A picture of Kevin and Jeremy grinning and talking to each other before a game with the caption “Kevin Gay”
- The upperclassmen join in after a while and their snap stories have fewer Kevin puns, but they still make them when they can
- After a game, Allison takes a video of a highlight reel where Kevin knocks a backliner to the ground even though they didn’t have the ball and captions it “Kevin Foul Play”
- Dan takes a picture of Kevin’s hair looking a little too styled and captions it “Kevin Hair Spray”
- Renee takes a picture of Kevin with Starbucks and captions it “Kevin Latte”
- Matt takes a picture of Kevin helping Neil up at practice and captions it “Kevin Fair Play”
- Renee waves at Kevin and takes a video of him waving back and captions it “Kevin Hey”
- Andrew never has a snap story
- But then one night he puts a video he takes through the car window on his snap story
- It’s Kevin walking down the street alone, next to the car because Andrew locked the doors and won’t let him in
- The caption says “Kevin Stray”
- The whole team loses their shit when they see it
- (But they also check with Kevin to see if Andrew let him back in the car or if he needs a ride)
- (Andrew did let him in the car eventually)
- I want to talk more about Aaron and Neil
developing an accidental friendship- Things are really rocky between them for the
first year. Aaron is still pissed that Neil tried to use Katelyn against him,
Neil just hates Aaron’s attitude.- But it’s the end of Neil’s sophomore year during
Spring Championships, and they’ve just beaten the Ravens again, knocking them
out of the Semi-Finals and keeping the Ravens from advancing to Championships
for the first time- And Andrew is still in the goal on the other
side of the court, too far away when a Raven Backliner swings his racquet at
Neil in anger- But it’s Aaron that charges forward, blocking
the blow with his own racquet before throwing a punch at the Backliner and it
becomes an all-out brawl- The Foxes make it out with minimal bruising and
Neil tries to thank Aaron later from saving him from a broken rib, but Aaron
just glares at him- Aaron and Neil antagonize each other but Aaron
protects Neil on the court because “Neil is too stupid to recognize that he’s
in danger”- What Aaron doesn’t say is he knows Andrew is
happy, Neil makes Andrew happy, and Aaron will do anything to protect that.- As the years progress and more Foxes get added
to the line, Aaron starts helping Abby more- Neil still ends up in the training room too
often and Aaron hates it- Neil is always somehow getting into fights or
accidents- Getting hit by a cyclist while running
- Tripping over a crack in the concrete and
falling face first onto gravel- Picking a fight with a drunk at Eden’s and
getting a bottle smashed across his back- It pisses Aaron off
- Neil seriously what the fuck how have you lived
this long?- How does Andrew ever leave you alone?
- You need a leash
- Anyway
- Andrew hates running so Aaron starts going with
him in the mornings- And they always end their run at a café where
they get coffee and muffins and Neil brings back a muffin for Andrew- Aaron threatens to push Neil into traffic a lot
but when they’re running at 5am and a drunk driver runs up onto the sidewalk
Aaron jerks Neil out of the way- (Neil stop trying to die please we’re begging
you)- And eventually one of the Foxes mentions it
because “what the fuck since when are Aaron and Neil friends?”- And Aaron and Neil are like “???? We hate each
other.”- And the Foxes just give them a look because okay
boys you look out for each other on the court and you go running together in
the mornings and get coffee and muffins and they DANCED TOGETHER AT EDEN’S ONE
NIGHT- And it’s so weird but that’s just them
- They’re constantly arguing and fighting but they
protect each other viciously and if it weren’t for Andrew’s arm bands they
literally wouldn’t be able to tell the twins apart around Neil- Andrew doesn’t mention it either but sometimes
Aaron and Neil will be playing video games in the living room and Andrew will sit
down on the bean bag chair with Neil- And it’s not weird. They don’t say anything to
each other and that’s almost a miracle. Aaron doesn’t glare at the way Neil
leans back into Andrew’s chest.- And Andrew feels comfortable enough that he
presses a kiss to the side of Neil’s head.- It’s all so soft and calm
- Neil and Aaron’s friendship is so strong they
just protect each other and hang out and make fun of each other but they’re so
fiercely protective of each other it’s amazing
Remember when Andrew and Kevin were drinking while Neil was standing at the edge of the balcony, watching his friends dancing and having a good time, knowing he could never be a part of that? Well:
- The whole team goes on another trip to Columbia to celebrate their victory
- Neil’s debating whether or not to go dancing, but of course he isn’t going to say anything and he likes staying with Andrew too
- And Neil knows there is no point in asking Andrew to dance because even if he agreed to, Andrew would not be comfortable on a packed dance floor
- And Neil wants Andrew comfortable a lot more than he wants to dance with him
- When the upperclassmen and Aaron and Nicky are heading off to go dancing, Renee asks Neil if he wants to come along
- Neil hesitates for just long enough to reveal he’s considering it
- Aaron takes off without waiting to see Neil’s verdict while Nicky starts up the “Come on, Neil. You never dance with us. Just once can’t you follow someone other than Andrew and Kevin’s lead and actually try to be fun?”
- And Allison’s already trying to drag him out of his chair while Dan tries to talk him into it and Matt chants his name in encouragement
Andrew is the kinda guy that when Neil’s awake in the Maserati, he’d abruptly break so that Neil shuts up by being flung forward in his seat belt, but when Neil’s asleep in the car he’d make sure he misses the potholes and and goes slow over bumps so he doesn’t wake him bc he loves him too much to stir him outta sleep so suddenly
I cannot stop thinking about @local-astronaut‘s a look into Matt’s phone post and the “we love neil” chat gave me ideas.
- Renee adds Andrew to the chat
- Andrew doesn’t ever respond, but doesn’t block them or ask to leave the chat either
- He just straight up doesn’t acknowledge the chat
- Everyone in it assumes Andrew is just ignoring them in the chat and carries on, pretty much forgetting he’s even in it
- At one point they decide to have a competition to see who can get the cutest picture of Neil
- They give it a week and whoever sends the cutest picture by the end of Thursday gets 10 bucks each from the others
- Andrew of course doesn’t acknowledge that, just like he doesn’t acknowledge anything else they send him
- But he watches the pictures coming in even more than usual all week
- The one of Neil smiling after Matt called him one of his best friends
- The selfie Dan took of her hugging Neil with their cheeks smushed together
- The one Allison secretly took from the back of Matt’s truck of Neil staring dreamily at Andrew while he’s sitting on the trunk of his car smoking
- The one Renee takes of him sitting between Dan and Matt on the couch in the girls’ room, all wrapped in a blanket
- The one Nicky sends of Neil standing in the kitchen, yawning and stretching, two minutes after getting up
- The one Dan sends of Matt standing behind Neil, grinning as he slouches with his forearms resting across Neil’s shoulders while Neil scowls at the camera
- The one Allison takes of Neil looking super confused after she purposely referenced a movie he hasn’t even heard of
- Late Thursday they’re all arguing over which picture is cutest and asking how they’re supposed to pick a winner and questioning if there was any way they could convince Andrew to judge or if they should all just have to vote for one that isn’t theirs to be cutest and see what wins that way
- Andrew sends a message to the group chat for the first time ever at 11:59 pm on Thursday
- It’s a picture of Neil being so cute that it physically pains Andrew and he 500% wants to kill him for daring to make him feel like this
- Neil’s curled up in the fetal position asleep cradled in one of the bean bag chairs and his hair is sticking out in every fucking direction and his arm’s reaching out so that he’s still holding Andrew’s hand in his sleep and there’s the faintest hint of a smile on his lips
- Neil’s curled up facing where his and Andrew’s hand are intertwined, resting on the edge of the beanbag chair, because he definitely fell asleep staring at Andrew so that he wouldn’t miss one extra second of Andrew’s beautiful face
- With the picture Andrew sends “I win, fuckers.”
- None of them argue and Andrew doesn’t respond to the group chat again, but they know he’s watching it
- Neil looks super confused when the next morning at practice Matt, Dan, Renee, Allison, and Nicky each cough up ten bucks to Andrew without even being asked
i really like the concept of andreil being accidentally adorable. like it dosent even register to them, but everyone else is like “holy shit did you see that? neil just gave andrew his jacket he didnt even say anything abt being cold” and theyre just like ??
um so i wrote this whole thing and then accidentally went back a page and lost it ALL so this is sort of abridged bc i dont have the patience to redo the whole thing
also it’s only sort of relevant to the prompt? it’s just cute andreil and the foxes having no chill that’s close enough right??
- so they’re in the dorm on the couch, (nicky and kevin are on the beanbags)
- andrew’s against the arm rest reading a book and neil’s sitting in the middle watching exy, just far enough away that andrew doesn’t feel trapped (andrew has his toes under neil’s thigh to reassure him that it’s okay)
- at some point a strand of andrew’s hair falls in front of his eyes and he can’t really be bothered to move it but neil reaches over absentminded and slow and brushes it back away from his face
- his eyes are still on the screen
- nicky couldn’t get a picture but he’s live tweeting this shit, honestly, what a beautiful moment to have witnessed
- neil and kevin, in unison, says “nicky watch the game this is important” when they see him on his phone
- nerds
- on the flip side, when neil’s studying his hair’s all over the place. it’s always all over the place but he runs his hands through it when he’s stressed so it’s just a mess
- and andrew will walk up behind him and tie it up in a lil pony tail for him (with copious amounts of just running his fingers through his hair bc like… come on)
a list of things andrew has overheard neil say to the cats:
– you’re so soft. just like andrew, but don’t tell him i said that.
– it’s nice having a home, isn’t it? remember that the next time you think about peeing on my gym bag.
– if you get on the bed and pretend to be asleep, andrew won’t make you sleep on the floor. [spoiler alert: andrew would and andrew did]
– [softly and with a hint of distress] you’re so small. you’re too small.
– you’re siblings. you’re supposed to love each other.
– [to king] nicky wanted to rename you queen after he found out you were a girl, but i told him kevin wouldn’t appreciate having to share his throne.
– you owe me your life, the least you can do is sit in my lap.
– [stacking multiple items on top of the cats while they nap] reverse jenga.
– the areas where the light touches are your kingdom sir, but considering the electricity is out that leaves a very small area for you.
– [draping king across his stomach and letting sir stretch out along his side] couture.
– you’re my child and i love you, but if you touch my pizza again i’m going to disown you.
Nothing but My Aching Soul 