Whenever Jeremy does anything for Jean in TSC I’m reminded of the fact that it was Andrew who most likely did it for Kevin, in his own fucked up Andrew Way (TM).
Andrew followed Kevin’s schedule to keep the partner rule.
Andrew took him shopping for new clothes.
Andrew took him to sweeties full of awfully unhealthy food.
When Kevin wakes up at night, in a haze and he looks for the other bed in the room, it’s Andrew he finds.
When he’s afraid, when he panics, when shit hits the fan and he needs help, it’s Andrew he looks for, and Andrew is right fucking there.
They’ve spent the past year in each others pocket, in a way that the drowning hold on to a raft.
They’re complicated and ugly towards each other. They’re cruel and sharp and vicious, and they hit each other where it hurts, but nobody can ever tell me that the two of them are not best fucking friends.
I will never recover from the fact that if Neil and Andrew got married, Andrew picks Kevin as his best man, Kevin says yes.
Ok wait but can we talk about how awkward Wymack probably felt during the Andreil scene in the hotel room??? Like nora had our man CHAINED TO ANDREW while they had THE Andreil moment and he was just like ‘yup, handcuffed to one of the problem children while he confesses his love to my other arguably more problematic problem child mhm just a day in the life’
So do you think there was like maybe 3 minutes between seeing Neil irl for the first time and Neil opening his mouth that Jean thought he was pretty before he decided Neil is a horrifying creature?
might be reading into it too much but you know what? I think Jeremy not being able to have a real golden retriever because his family is allergic is symbolism for the fact that Jeremy’s family isn’t happy with the current Jeremy that they have and instead he has to put up a fake cardboard version of himself to please them and everyone else. But that might just be me 🤷♀️
All good things come in threes cause Jean Moreau is about to have:
3 books
3 love interests (Kevin, Renee and Jeremy)
3 best friends (Neil, Cat and mystery Trojan)
3 dead abusers (Riko, Grayson, Tetsuji/Zane)
How Nora wrote Jean and Jeremy puts into startling perspective how fucked up Neil's stay at Evermore was.
He would not and COULD NOT think about those eighteen days. It was so bad he can't even remember most of it.
I imagine that he only gets small flashbacks when something specific triggers him even later into his pro career.
fake idgafer i saw you beat up four men for being homophobic to your cousin. i saw you kill your brother’s abuser. i saw you befriend a kindhearted religious girl even though you knew the others would tease you. i saw you offer two traumatized boys protection when they thought they would never get any. i saw you ask “how many kids” when you found out that your abuser targeted more people. i saw you sitting on the roof even though you’re afraid of heights because you didn’t want to feel nothing anymore
Of course Nicky will never clock Kevin as bisexual. Of course he never clocked andreil as queer. Of course he can't ever see the members of his own community.
As far as we know, Nicky's first time actually being in a big, queer community was the camp. I feel like people overlook this. He was raised catholic, and no matter how gay you turn and how much sinful sex you have, you're always going to be catholic. The hymns are embedded in your vocal cords. The wine flows through your veins. It's all he's ever known until it suddenly isn't.
I'm pretty sure that he grew up thinking that gay people were only this caricature, this nameless freak, like many of us did. Gay men always dress a certain way, they're annoying, loud, touchy, and lesbians are always disgusting and manly and smelly. This is what he was taught, and there's no indication that he ever grew *out* of this mindset.
Yes, I believe Nicky enjoys a lot of the things he does, but I also think he's portraying the part of who he thinks he *needs* to be. And everything outside of those boundaries is still new and unbelievable. He's still a child, and relatively new to being openly gay.
And he's so proud. He can't think of anyone being anything other than proud of what they are. Nicky sees things as very black and white (completely gay or straight as a rod, hatefucking or about to get married) and probably thinks that if you're not out and proud, you're working with internalized homophobia. He never wanted anything other than to be free, and he cannot even think about the fact that some people don't want that level of fanfare.
He expects anyone who's queer to immediately come and talk to him. He's trying so hard to be the safe, iconic gay that other people can look up to and latch onto. He thinks that the only thing stopping people from screaming their sexuality to the world is homophobia, therefore they would at least tell him.
He doesn't get that people (Andrew, Neil) might just want to keep things private, because, to him, privacy equals secrecy, secrecy equals shame, and, well, there's nothing to be ashamed of!
Or maybe I'm just rambling. Idk guys this is my hot take of the week or whatever
I love seeing Neil through Jean’s eyes because we really see how much of the Butcher is in him and how much of Nathaniel is still there, when reading through Neil’s pov he’s aware of it but we don’t see it, but Jean can see it so clearly, it’s no wonder that when Kevin found out, he took one look at Neil and then could see it right away
“You’ve endured the storm long enough. Don’t you think you’re overdue for some rainbows?”
“What you hold onto is less important than the act of holding on itself. It’s so easy to get lost in ourselves and this world. Sometimes you need to find your way back one tiny miracle at a time.”
“I have enough faith for us both"
“I’m so proud of you for making it this far. I’m excited to see how far you can go from here when you can finally spread your wings without fear. Fly safe, Jean. We will see you on the court in finals.”
The line ‘He’s not allowed to fight his addiction.’ changed my perception of Andrew Minyard forever