Of Course Nicky Will Never Clock Kevin As Bisexual. Of Course He Never Clocked Andreil As Queer. Of Course

thinking about the fact that Neil matched Kevin's and Andrew's freak almost immediately. just straight up figured out how they ticked and walked them like dogs for three books straight. to everyone else, Kevin and Andrew are insane. to Neil, they make perfect sense.

The King's Men's plot structure is genius.

TKM has been critized a lot for not following the conventional plot structure, because it doesnt end inmediatly at the resolution of the climax, like they taught us in class. But it actually has a reason behind it and it think that is what makes AFTG unique and Nora Sakavic an amazing writer. I'll explain.

So, we all know AFTG has a lot of chess metaphors, however i think it doesnt contain the metaphors, it is the metaphor. Each character represents a piece of the board (Riko king, Kevin queen, Neil pawn, Andrew knight, etc) and exy is the chess, but but but, a chess game not only involves the pieces, the game cannot exist without someone playing, the chess masters (which would be Kengo, Ichiriu, Nathan and all the mafia stuff).

So, AFTG is divided into two plots happening at the same time: what happens on the chess board (exy season) and what happens outside it (the mafia mess).

Of couse, the climax has to be about the outside out, because who cares which one of pieces move in which way if the players are pointing guns at eachother under the board? The guns are more more important. So who cares? The pieces on the board care, the ones that are being played with. And who is the narrator? The character that represents the pawn, the less important figure of the entire room.

Yeah, the 'outside of the board' plot is over half way into the book, but it doesnt matter because that happens outside the board, the chess game has not ended yet. The pawn cannot go back to rest in the box until the game is over, until the king dies. The book cannot be oend until the chess game our protagonist is a piece of ends. The books have to end with the king's (Riko) death and that is exactly what happens.

If this isnt excellent writing and one of the best examples of know the rules so you can break them, i dont what is.

one of my fave parts abt aftg is how realistic it is. like they're all college kids, 18-20 ish. they're just teenagers. like yeah obviously neil is going to retaliate on live television without thinking about the repercussions. obviously they're going to rely on their most violent friend for protection from the mafia even though he's just a 20 year old bipolar kid with a heavy ass racquet. obviously the trojans are going to have a cardboard cutout of a dog with a stupid name that they treat like a real pet. obviously they're going to take tourist photos when they go pick up the random dude from arizona that's going to change their lives forever. god i love them. god

nicky + the twins headcannons

andrew was a little blindsided by nicky taking custody. after tilda passed, andrew was expecting to go back into the system and he was ready to fight tooth and nail to stay with his brother and keep them both safe, or make luther and maria regret taking them in everyday the twins spent under the hemmick's roof.

andrew gave nicky a really wide berth for a really long time. in his mind, an adult man he doesn't know flies halfway across the world, leaving behind what sounds like a happy life, to get two underage boys alone in a house with him. at first, there's no "this is my cousin, this is my family." he doesn't know this person. he's never known this person. but he knows nicky's father. and andrew doesn't want that person alone with his brother.

neither twin really thought nicky was going to be a good guardian. both were expecting to fend for themselves a lot more than they ended up having to.

nicky spends the first several weeks cataloging every little detail about the twins that he can. aaron likes spicy food, andrew does not. andrew tears all his food into tiny pieces for some reason and aaron eats like a normal human being. andrew has a major sweet tooth. aaron also likes sweets, but prefers salty snacks. both twins always seem to be cold. both twins like to color-code things. both twins are right-handed and have horrific handwriting.

all the twins' teachers tell nicky that the boys are incredibly smart but don't seem to engage with their full potential. andrew excels at english and writing based classes while aaron flourishes in math and science.

nicky bakes a (pretty okay) cake for the twins birthday and presents it at breakfast. it's the first time someone actually bakes aaron a birthday cake.

nicky would purposely say or do things to get negative attention from the twins because he saw the way they would make eye contact across the room/the table when nicky would annoy them. he decides that letting them have a common enemy may help bring them a little closer than making an enemy out of each other.

it's nicky that teaches the twins to drive.

aaron and nicky bond over television shows.

nicky remembers the first time each twin chose to spend time with him. aaron sat down beside him and silently watched the show nicky was finishing. andrew helped nicky clean up the kitchen on their birthday after nicky made them the cake.

neil accidentally sits closer to andrew than he meant to. he tries to move to create some distance again, respecting his personal space, but as soon as he does, andrew subtly shifts his body over and presses their legs against each other. andrew isn’t looking at him, he keeps his bored stare on the t.v, and responds a simple “cold.”

neil didn’t leave that spot for hours.

I mean yeah we all know that Neil is a good liar and all, but I think sometimes we forget to what extent.

Like he got literally plucked from class one day and put in front of his father’s boss, totally unprepared, and put on an oscar-winning performance of a lifetime. Bitch was like “I am not saying your brother is out of line my lord 😔😔😔 I am afraid of what will fall back on you 🤔🫢 🤧” and fucking manage to convince ichirou to kill his own brother.

What a man…

Andrew and Neil definitely cuddle, BUT i am a firm believer of two things, 1) their go-to is just Andrew lying on top of Neil like a weighted blanket (never the other way around though) and 2) andrew never like wraps his arms around neil to the point of holding him in place/restricting his movement or even putting them in positions that could make that a possibility even on accident

For the record, Neil will do as he's told by others because compliance gets him what he wants. His obedience is fueled solely by ulterior motive.

But Neil will do as he's told by Andrew because Andrew Said So. His obedience is fueled by trust and pretty eyes.

Neil loves his name. One time he wrote his name in his notebook with a heart instead of a dot above the 'i'. Aaron caught him by looking over his shoulder and laughed so hard he almost passed out. Years later on the invitation for Katelyn and Aaron's wedding Neil's name is written with the heart. Andrew thinks it's just how Katelyn writes, but Neil knows that it's Aaron trying to piss him off.

"Why are you writing Neil's name with a heart?" Katelyn asks her fiancé as they are filling out the wedding invitations.

Aaron looks at her with a diabolical smile on his face. "It will piss him off, you'll see."

as a lesbian I can confidently say that betsy dobson is 100% a lesbian because only a lesbian would like Andrew that much. her wife gave her an Minyard 03 jacket and she cried i SAW it!!! they bake a cake together for Andrew's birthday every year, they call it Choco Explosion and it is heart shaped