For The Record, Neil Will Do As He's Told By Others Because Compliance Gets Him What He Wants. His Obedience

andrew is so real for thinking neil is a hallucination cos now that we have outsider pov on him it's actually insane that he's a real person. like this is neil josten: he's the prettiest boy you've ever met. he's the runaway son of a serial killer. he has a million dollars but is afraid of spending money. he folds his clothes a specific way so he can tell when someone's gone through his stuff. he keeps a stalker's journal on the two greatest exy players of all time. he wears coloured contacts and they're brown. he paid a busboy $100 to knock him out cold. he insulted a celebrity athlete on live tv after trying to keep a low profile. he says he's trying to stay alive while running towards death like it's a race. he mouths off to the mafia. he respects your boundaries and is the first person ever to take you at face value and not consider you an out of control psychopath. he orders hits on your abusers. he has the most electric blue eyes you've ever seen. he looks great in clubbing clothes but dresses like he's homeless. he insults someone for their "intricate and endless daddy issues" while his father is a convicted mobster and serial killer. he didn't give a fuck when his teammate was killed. everyone seems to like him even though it's clear he's hiding a million secrets. he doesn't catch on to the many many hints you're giving him. he calls you out not for being a danger to others but for being a danger to yourself. he thinks you should be protected as well as trusting you to protect him (and you think, how can someone be a victim and a protector?). he doesn't give a flying fuck what literally anyone thinks about him. he comes back from being waterboarded and tortured and abused for weeks (to protect you) and is still as feisty and bitchy as before. except now he's a redhead and has many more scars. he is possibly the first person to ever make the active decision to protect you. he's willing to put himself in harm's way again and again and again so he won't lose you. he always has a cigarette but he never smokes. he says "you're not actually a sociopath are you?" and "the next time someone calls you soulless i might have to fight them". even though he's messy and a little oblivious he's sees you. he might be the only person to ever want you off your drugs. he wants to see you lose control, is aware that you're not out of control, you're actually so controlled and restrained all of the time and he wants to see you feel something, he wants you to be angry, be angry at him. he riles you up on purpose to see you show emotion, feel something. he's a runner and yet he's still possibly the bravest person you've ever met. he gets kidnapped and comes back even more bruised and battered than before and he's still a mouthy little shit who bitches at the press and cuts deals with the yakuza. he's most of the reason why the worst team in the nation ends up winning championships. he shoves a guy clean off his feet because they body checked you. he punched celebrity athlete riko moriyama in public, for you. he threatens him, for you. he's almost killed on live tv. he mouths off to the fbi. he watches the (second) best exy player in the world get shot. he also watches his father, notorious serial killer and gangster, get shot in front of him. and he laughs. he smiles. he kisses you and is never gonna run again and he's free and he wants to be with you, he wants you.

🦊🐱

I wanted to draw them older, since I imagine that only after a few years together would Andrew let Neil touch him like that. But I ended up drawing them in the Palmetto uniform because I wanted you to recognize them even without seeing their faces. hope u like it even It’s just a Wip tho🙌

once again thank you jeremy knox for being the only person with enough sense to go "hey! isn't it weird that everyone is calling jean a whore because he slept with grown men at..... 16???? shouldn't we question, oh idk, THE ADULTS FUCKING A MINOR?!?"

Shhhhh the blorbos are sleepy

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?

Breathtaking art based on “The Sun Still Rises” on AO3 made by the very talented @/Linskiiii1 on Twitter/X !!

📌Check out our pinned for more info about the project, creators involved, and how to request a commission starting at a 10 USD donation!!!

saw a post about how jean and neil are pretty alike so andrew would probably like jean and just. thinking about how andrew could teach jean everything he's learned about bodily autonomy and consent and trust and self worth. thinking about aaron killing drake and neil putting a hit out on grayson. thinking about them both finding partners they trust to respect their boundaries. thinking about neil saying "andrew's taught me about give and take" and how andrew could teach that same lesson to jean. thinking about andrew teaching jean to trust bee and telling him about what he talks to bee about. thinking about jean getting bee a glass figurine for her collection because andrew told him she likes them. thinking about bee getting jean a magnet in return. thinking about how they have like more than a foot of height difference. thinking about them bonding over making fun of kevin. thinking about jean getting to know the person who finally stood up to riko and protected neil from him. thinking about jean learning that neil went to evermore to try to protect andrew from proust. just andrew and jean okay!!!!

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.

@exyandcigarettesmoke here’s some pictures of the books! let me know if you wanted to see anything else

ALL FOR THE GAME NEW BOOK SPOILERS BELOW

i want us all to sit and think more about the "he was jean’s misplaced forever partner, an unfulfilled promise jean had stopped believing in years ago" quote. those words are in jean's pov. are jean's thoughts. he lived for years thinking mournfully of nathaniel, of what he could have had. imagine him meeting neil for the first time and watch him talk to riko without holding back, without fear. i know that maybe he believed that neil would have suffer in the nest because of his bratty attitude but i also know that one part of him was selfish enough to imagine a life where nathaniel was his shield in the nest, of nathaniel talking back to riko because of him, of nathaniel protecting him, of nathaniel making his life more bearable.

little does he know that if only neil were in the nest he would have never left jean behind.