Just once, I need Neil to get angry at Andrew for being so careless with his life. Just once, I need Neil to make Andrew understand that the terror Andrew felt that night in Baltimore, when Neil walked willingly into death's cold embrace without telling a soul what was waiting for him, or at the championship game, when Riko's racquet came within inches of crushing Neil's skull-
That's the very same terror Neil feels when Andrew walks a little too close to the edge of the roof. It's the same terror Neil feels when Andrew speeds a little too fast in the Mas, when he weaves between cars like he's got a death wish. Its the same terror Neil feels when, after Aaron's trial, Andrew drinks a little too much and disappears for a little too long, and he doesn't leave a note and he won't answer Neil's calls, but he took the car and nobody knows where he is until he miraculously turns up at Wymack's at nearly five in the morning.
I need Andrew to realize that as terrified as he is of losing Neil, Neil is just as terrified of losing him.
Neil strikes me as the kind of person that just like doesn’t blush. Like yeah sure he may get embarrassed a little at the Foxes’ dropped jaws when yet another pop culture reference flys over his head, but he’s so desensitized to things most people can’t fathom that I feel like he would never get flustered enough for his skin to flush.
But. Maybe it does happen sometimes.
Like when Neil complains that he feels like his feet are gonna fall off after night practice and Andrew just. picks him up. Bridal style with a deadpan face and bored eyes like he picks Neil up all the time. And Neil’s face goes red in seconds because he’s never been picked up and it was Andrew doing the picking up.
Or when Andrew shampoos his hair in the shower and takes great care not to get any shampoo in his eyes and Neil pinks at the sweetness that Andrew will deny later.
Or when Andrew insists on Neil actually using the curling gel Allison got him because his frizzy curls extend “a mile off his head”. Neil blushes when Andrew comes into the bathroom with him (cause he knows fuck all about taking care of his hair) and stares while he applies fumbles with the gel.
TLDR, I like the idea that Andrew is the only one that can truly fluster Neil and Neil is the only one who can fluster turn Andrew’s ears slightly red in turn.
'"You're a Fox," Andrew said, like it was that simple, and maybe it was.'
I could've added a lot more details to this and it's not 100% accurate to the book, but I had to stop myself or this would've taken me another week to finish lmao
For the few years that Andrew and Neil are on different pro teams Andrews team knows next to nothing about him. Now since he got off his meds and significantly mellowed out after graduating, its not that his team mates don’t like him, they just don’t know who he is outside of being an amazing player. When his teammates release their lack of Andrew Minyard info the “who the fuck is our goalie” coalition is created. They share all the information they have on Andrew in order to paint the picture of who the hell this man is.
One day one teammate comes across Andrew after practice reading a book in the players lounge. As they step closer to desifer the cover Andrew glances up at them with a questioning look. When they ask what the book is Andrew gives a surprised raise of his eyebrow and gives a shockingkly well put together synopses of the plot. After the player goes home that night they look up the book only to discover that the fantasy adventure novel that was described to them was not only an extremely sappy romance, it was also the last part of a queer YA series.
Andrew is spotted soon after at a local coffee shop drinking some sort of whip cream topped chocolate concoction with reading material much different than before. He sips his drink and peruses some large fancy looking book. With only a quick google search they realize that its some complex scientific book about Homo sapiens through history?
A few weeks later another of Andrews teammates walk in on a pacing Andrew with his phone clutched to his ear. He’s talking in an intense whisper, not angry but concerned, about some sort of cat sitter falling through. After Andrew spots them he hisses out a quick goodbye into the phone and hangs it up. When they ask what the call was about, Andrew contemplates for a second then explained that he’s visiting family and the cat sitter he had sceduled wasn’t going to be able to come after all. When the teammate volunteers to do the job Andrew only sighs but accepts their offer. After a weekend of cat sitting and semi snooping around Andrews apartment the brave cat sitter reports back to the team with all their suspicions confirmed.
Andrews pro teammates have concluded this: Andrew Minyard is not the violent and cruel man the media and his past can make him out to be. Andrew is actually a cat loving book nerd with a spotless apartment decorated in soft cream and earth tones. He is sarcastically funny and incredibly smart. And maybe, just maybe, Andrews pro team are some of the first people to see him for who he truly is under his sandpaper exterior.
Today I had a dream about Andrew Minyard's inner monologue about his abuse and at the end he said: "maybe she wouldn't have sunken her claws so deep into me if I hadn't been so eager to rebel"
And then I woke up and cried.
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 🤷♀️
Shhhhh the blorbos are sleepy
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!!!!
hi me again um i'm thinking about andrew going to aaron's wedding. thinking about what nora said about neil using two favours, one to get him there, one to make sure he didn't start anything during the ceremony. did aaron check the guestlist eight times to make sure his brother was on there. did he make sure there were places and invites specifically for andrew and by extension neil. is it the first time aaron sees andrew in person since going to med school. does he wait by the entrance, half-heartedly greeting people, scanning the blurry faces for blond hair. does nicky have to drag him away eventually and tell him to relax and aaron, he's going to come, just breathe, okay? does aaron smile and thank nicky and then go back to inspecting the crowd for his identical copy. does he catch sight of andrew and immediately look away, move to a different area, because he needed andrew to be there, but he didn't realize he couldn't actually talk to him yet? and after everything's over, after dinner and the reception and everything's wrapping up, is that when andrew finally comes over. does he find aaron, against the wall, katelyn taking her cue to leave, and do they stay silent for a moment. if they speak who talks first? does aaron say "i didn't think you would come", admitting it out loud for the first time? does andrew say "i didn't think you had it in you"? or is it as silent as so many of their conversations as brothers have been, but the angry devotion touched with resentment doesn't burn like it used to, they're older now, family doesn't hurt now. the bridge across the gap between them grows stronger with every step they take across it.
wordlessly andrew says"i'm proud of you" and aaron says "i know."
do you guys think that when neil got back home from cali he took andrew up to the roof where he sat watching him smoke and told him he put a hit out on a raven. and then andrew sat there in silence watching the sunset before asking "why?" and neil looked down fiddling with his own lit cigarette and said very quietly that this particular raven was jean's drake. do you think that andrew went very still and did not speak or smoke for such a long time that neil eventually looked up at him and was taken aback by how andrew was watching him very carefully. do you think that as andrew looked at neil he was so paralysed by the thought of jean going through that same abuse and neil putting an end to it without even thinking twice. do you think he realised his meter had officially broken and neil was so far past 100% and that he was really truly it for him
I want Jean-Yves to be doing an interview in tsc2 and say this when someone asks about the whore rumours:
I think it is odd, the way you phrase that. Sorry, perhaps it is because English is not my first language. But all of the articles I read say "Jean Moreau sleeps around to get ahead" when I would have thought the better translation would be "Multiple Ravens fuck a sixteen year old". If you'll excuse my French.