I Want The Twins To Be Friends. I Want Them To Be Able To Sit Next To Each Other In Comfortable Silence

🌀”I have a bit of an attitude problem” 🌀5/6 Foxhole Court overlays.

Featuring the scene from chapter 13 with the Kathy Ferdinand show and Riko meeting!

Inspired by this quote:

“Ah, forgive my bad manners,” Kathy said to Neil. “I didn’t forget you over there, I just got distracted. Let’s get the pair of you introduced, though I’m not sure either one of you needs an introduction by now. Riko, Neil. Neil, Riko. Kevin’s past and present or should I say past and future?”

[…]

“I will ask you only once to tone down the animosity”

“I can’t,” Neil said. “I have a bit of an attitude problem.”

Only one overlay left to go! Though I must admit I think this is one of my favourites, especially with Andrew in the front row!

Happy birthday to the twinyards! At 38 they:

Have known about each other for 25 years, or 65% of their lives

Have been living as brothers for 22 years, or 58% of their lives

Have stuck together without a deal for 18 years, or 47% of their lives

Have learned to be brothers even when living apart for 15 years, or 39% of their lives.

Their time together surpasses the ones with their abusers, they know more life with each other than without and every year they see the good years growing bigger than the bad ones.

They've been brothers for most of their lives now and that means so much when there was a chance they would never get to be brothers at all.

reading the sunshine court truly made me realize just how unbelievably fucking insane the foxes were as a team/family unit.

like wdym your coach is your star players father and didn’t know? wdym multiple people on your team have killed people??? how do multiple people on your team have mafia connections??

usc could hardly believe the ravens intentionally injured jean while the foxes were used to the ravens regularly using vandalism, kidnapping, torture, psychological warfare, and murder against their team

usc talks out their interpersonal team problems while the foxes blackmail eachother into joint therapy until they break a bros before hoes pact

the trojans have no-touch jerseys for practice while the foxes were getting punched, stabbed, choked, and suffering major bodily harm at the hands of another teammate at any given moment in the series

jeremy makes sure jean doesn’t meet the team all at once to not overwhelm him while andrew has a habit of quite literally breaking in the new members in columbia

the trojans tiptoed around and almost didn’t believe kevin’s hand injury while one of neil’s first conversations w the man is yelling “fuck you cripple, you’re a dead weight has been” in french in front of half the team

jeremy avoids cops while neil forces fbi agents to wait for him to finish eating, proceeds to blatantly lie to their faces, and then fucks off

usc would’ve thrown the semi finals match if jean hadn’t survived but seth fucking DIED and kevin and neil were only worried about how it’d affect the line up

jeremy gets furious when he finds out about grayson while neil fucking orders a hit out on him right in front of jean on a napkin over lunch

i was surprised by how hard the trojans were taking things until i remembered the foxes were just grade a crazy

How cute would it be if Andrew notices Neil getting all blushy and flustered when Andrew blocks impossible shots and just goes above and beyond as a goalie.

So he actually starts doing it on purpose when Neil's around just to get that reaction (and ego stroke and Neil pampering him after as a reward for being the best goalie ever, he pampers Andrew anyway but Andrew being great at Exy gets some favourable reactions from him and Andrew likes that). Everyone's thrilled cause Andrew is not only trying but actually playing at an insane level (even if it's just to make his boyfriend swoon).

The downside is if Neil has to miss practice, Andrew practically sits in the goal and sulks uncaring.

At one point Andrew actually broke Exy records during a game. He will probably enter the exy hall of fame for how he defended the goal that night.

Why?

Cause a few weeks before the game Kevin showed them highlights from the other team and Neil went on and on about how amazing their goalie was, he meant nothing by it other than one player showing respect for another players game.

And Andrew said nothing but went very still. Then that night humiliated the whole team, but especially that asshat goalie who can't hold a candle to him. Mission accomplished Neil barely remembered the other dudes name too busy fawning and fanboying over the way Andrew played.

Kevin is conflicted cause yes Andrew is trying but as Kevin's best friend can Andrew not turn his moms sport into a werid sex thing with Neil?

nathaniel, neil, nathaniel, neil. andrew flips the two names around in his head like tossing a coin. heads or tails, the coin always comes up abram. nathaniel and neil are two sides of the same coin; forged in a dark basement, in musty hotel rooms, on the exy court. both hate sweets, love to run, to talk back any chance they get.

some days, the coin lands on nathaniel. jack makes one too many comments at practice and neil - no, nathaniel - has him on the ground, raquet to his neck in an instant. he can't hear what the strikers are saying but through the grate of the helment, andrew sees nathaniel's smile.

others, it lands on neil. andrew finds neil and matt splayed out on the couch, three movies deep into a "pop culture lesson". neil motions for andrew to sit and absently cards his fingers through the blond's hair. matt hides his grin in his sleeve.

but abram; he runs to andrew after each winning game to tap sticks, he sits each friday in columbia, talking about escape routes for an alien invasion, he keeps ice cream in the freezer and cigarettes in his backpocket.

heads or tails, doe or minyard, doe or minyard.

doe was made and unmade in california. 13 homes, 13 film reels constantly playing in the back of his mind, each scene driving the cuts deeper and deeper. andrew doe learns the danger of wanting and vows to keep everyone out.

minyard went to juvie for his brother. he crashed the car to keep him safe. he spent years on medication that sent him up up up to protect his cousin. minyard guards himself with knives sharper than his glare; he protects those that are his and fuck anyone else.

heads or tails, the coin starts to come up drew.

it starts small; quick grins in columbia at neil; shared dinners with aaron that don't end in a fight; something like excitment in his stomach before an exy game. when neil is hanging out with the upperclassman, he stays.

heads or tails; the coin lands on growth

the biggest thing i took away from the short stories is how much andrew minyard cares about people. he signed onto the foxes to give aaron a chance at college. he went through with the kit to give aaron a legitimate chance at trial. he gave neil the armbands so that he wouldn’t have to look at his scars all the time. he constantly sacrifices himself for others so much so that he ends up harming himself sometimes. andrew minyard, who still gets called heartless when he has one of, if not the biggest, hearts in the series.

There is poetry in Nathaniel finding belonging with the change of his name. Natalie finding salvation by the God that damned Nicky.

There is poetry in Andrew and Aaron finding a family in Nicky when he was cast away from his.

There is poetry in Allison relishing in the money that was meant to be hers but never got in the end, poetry in Andrew hating the money he was never meant for.

There is Poetry in Aaron having a mother that wronged him, and Matt being righted by his.

There is poetry in the way Dan had to fight to keep afloat, where it was Allison fighting that got her cut off in the end

There is poetry in Nicky finding love and himself abroad, where Nathaniel ran from all that he was

There is poetry in Matt with a loving mother who showed him how to live, and Neil who was kept alive by his own.

There is poetry in the foxes

i absolutely love Renee because this the sweetest person and i can't stop thinking about that this sweetness it is her personal choice like she really want to be that good and she actually is. the way she supports Jean is insane to me.

“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.”

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.

Calling Neil "a rabid little fox who'd had a lifetime to master his lies" is such a move. Jean sees the vision. He understands that Neil is just a dangerous feral creature.