pls this is so soft i cant đ(also a lot longer than i anticipated but that's FINE đ)
part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8
gang we got this ADORABLE art from @super-yellow-paris go give them aaaalll the love
so andrew and neil aren't too big on PDA, but after Baltimore, leaving the other is always followed by a lingering fear
neil notices how andrew always tenses a bit when neil leaves him, even if neil told him he was going somewhere beforehand
it could him going be to the mall, a restaurant, even just lectures
neil really doesn't like seeing andrew so tense but he can't figure out what's wrong
so one night on the roof, neil straight up asks "why do you always look so stressed whenever I go anywhere?"
andrew doesn't answer for a few moments, and neil assumes he's not going to get an answer but thenâ
"last time you left, you barely made it back. do you really expect me to trust you now?"
oh, neil realizes. oh, he's afraid i won't come back
andrew looks like he wants to drop the subject, so neil doesn't bring it up again, choosing to rant about his Intro to Stats teacher instead
but he doesn't forget. and he starts noticing how other couples leave one another
matt and dan kiss or hug, nicky and erik say "i love you," aaron and katelyn squeeze each other's hands and look into each other's eyes
it's all very... comforting. reassuring. and neil realizes that that's exactly what he needs to do. he needs to make sure that andrew doesn't forget that neil would never leave him again, not on purpose
so he thinks and thinks and thinks
(he quickly learns that paying attention in his Sports Medicine class is a lot less interesting than thinking about andrew)
neil knows that andrew wouldn't want showy affection with lingering kisses and they haven't really gotten to the "i love you" stage yet, so he needs to figure out a compromise
and then on a cloudy monday morning, the perfect solution hits him
he and matt study together almost every thursday, so 3 days later, they have a plan to head over the library to do some homework
so matt comes up to the monsters' room where neil and andrew are to tell neil that it's time to go
neil hops up from his place curled under andrew's arm on the sofa and goes around collecting his stuff â as usual
and andrew's shoulders begin coiling up with near-unnoticeable tension â as usual
this time though, instead of walking out the door directly, neil pauses in front of andrew and sets down his books on the coffee table near the sofa
and before andrew or matt can react, neil does it
he reaches over, gently cups andrew's face in his hands, and kisses him on the nose
it's feather-light and short, but andrew freezes, his face more expressive than he usually shows, eyes wide
neil gives him a small smile shit shit shit andrew's heart is beating so fast, come on andrew get a hold of yourself say something do something and then he picks up the books delicately and leaves with a gobsmacked matt
andrew doesn't really know what to do with himself and just sits there until kevin arrives 5 minutes later and asks why andrew is so red, if he's okay, does he has a fever, can he still play exy?
andrew shakes out of his stupor, stomps over to his room, and flops helplessly on his bed to be very gay
(this is how neil finds him 1.5 hours later. he tries (and fails) not to laugh. andrew gives him a bruising kiss to shut him up)
it becomes habit though. neil treating andrew like he's something precious, holding his face so reverently, kissing his nose softly
and andrew doesn't know what to do with himself. every single time
but it's okay, he thinks. because while goodbyes might sound permanent, kisses are a promise that the other will come back
i would give money to learn how andrew and kevin would react to finding out that neil's first thought upon being told that andrew was gay was that those two were dating. i just-
andrew: what a preposterous idea. i would never date someone who enjoys eating celery
kevin: and i would never date someone that tiny
andrew: day i swear to god-
me: spends all my time immersing myself in the foxes' found family so i don't have to deal with my own dysfunctional family
also me: wonders why i don't have a good relationship with anyone in my house
imagine if andrew minyard was a flannel gay. the sheer power of that man i-
neil: hoards bananas, oranges, apples, blueberries â basically every fruit imaginable
nicky: see?? i told you he was a bit fruity
andrew in tkm after neil respects his boundaries, treats him like an actual person, and still shows interest in him: i used to be in love with neil as a joke. but bro... i don't think it's a joke anymore đ
I FINISHED. I'm so nearly late, I am so sorry. Life, ya feel?
Anyway, this is for @lyndiscealin, your prompts were hella cute but I ended up running with the sticky notes one. I hope you enjoy this!
Y'all know that fic about demon Neil and Andrew meeting as kids and then later realizing they're in love. This. Someone inform the author of that fic, this is so fitting BRUH
One of the commissions đ
I want to learn more about drawing light, itâs so interesting
Also fanfiction be a thing I write when Iâm in the mood; hence how old this fucking is but itâs been a whole minute since I put my shit up on tumblr
He fooled nobody
Andrew said âthis is nothingâ and then kissed Neil like a dying man clinging to his only lifeboat
âJean noticed how Andrew and Neil moved like they were caught in each otherâs gravity, in each otherâs space more than they were out of it, cigarette smoke and matching armbands and lingering looks when one fell out of orbit for too longâ
đŹđŹđŹđŹ they are perfect and in love your honor.
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
I'm gonna start going through my Andreil playlist and making more of these
Andrew Minyard Neil Josten
andreil dead poet society AU fanfic when??
neil as neil obviously and todd as andrew đ
I will never be over Andrew's "You are a pipe dream" because it's so beautifully tragic.
Imagine you're Andrew and one day this suspicious guy who can't hold his tongue shows up. And nothing about him makes sense, but what makes the least sense is the fact that he treats Andrew like he matters.
He treats Andrew, a guy who everyone, including his family, sees as a monster, like he isn't one. Like he deserves to be understood and taken care of.
And the fact is so unbelievable to Andrew that he could only explain it as some elaborate hallucination caused by his happy pills. Neil was just too wonderful to be real. Good things like that just don't happen to Andrew.
Listen, you know why Andrew loves Neil? Why Neil Abram Josten was the one Andrew would allow into his inner space, to allow growing roots where Andrew keeps the remaining fragments of his heart?
Because hardly anyone respects Andrew's boundaries. Renee does. Bee does. Wymack does. Andrew respects his own boundaries to the point of enforcing them at knife point.
But Neil? Neil Abram Josten?
He views Andrew's boundaries as sacred.
Renee, Bee, and Wymack would view crossing Andrew's boundaries as disrespectful at best and a violation at worst. They earned his trust that way.
But NEIL???
Neil views crossing Andrew's boundaries as a fucking sin. As blasphemous. A devoted disciple would sooner spit in their God's face than Neil ever conceiving of crossing Andrew's boundaries.
Some people would look at you erecting brick walls covered in barbed wire and would start looking for a good crack to aim a sledgehammer. Some people would watch you lock a door and try knocking, just once, to see if you'll open it for them. And some people would watch you draw a line in the sand and never dream of stepping over it.
Neil parked his ass on the other side of Andrew's barbed wired multi-layered brick wall surrounding his concrete bunker and stayed there, running his mouth. And when Andrew revealed the hidden door, Neil smiled, stayed put, and kept talking.
Andrew didn't fall for Neil because Neil wouldn't come in.
He fell because Neil waited for Andrew to come out, waited for Andrew to extend his hand, and waited for Andrew to lead him inside by his own volition.
And that's why Neil was the one who earned Andrew's "Stay".
aftg is eating up my brain so badly, I have a constant stream of ideas and Iâm shit at actually writing them but I need to get them out of my system bc itâs suffocating, so:
⢠an au where king and sir turn out to be shapeshifters so andreil magically acquire two spoiled kids
⢠andreil saying to each other âIUâ instead of âI hate youâ or âI love youâ or anything else. they use it in every kind of situation bc itâs the testament of how much they feel about each other and thatâs more important to them than anything else. theyâre fighting? IU (I hate you, Iâm scared for you, Iâm scared of how much power you have over me, I still want you to stay) theyâre having sex? IU (I trust you, I love you, Iâm going to take care of you, Iâll make you feel good) theyâre breaking down? IU (Iâve got you, Iâm here, Iâm going to stay, Iâm going to help best I can)
⢠a fic where neil dies in baltimore and we see the aftermath told from his perspective as a ghost: introspection, character study, cannibalism, polaroids, inspired by strangers by ethel cain:
⢠neil taking great pleasure in buying andrew expensive things and seeing him use them, not out of possessiveness but bc he truly just wants andrew to be happy and taken care of. and andrew learning to accept those gifts bc neil never wants anything in return, not even gratitude
⢠neil getting drugged at edenâs by some stranger and proceeding to glue himself to andrewâs side. the next day andrew is frustrated by that show of trust and he asks how neil could know that it wasnât him doing the drugging. to which neil replies that he didnât know that, but he knew that andrew wouldnât drug him or let anyone touch him without a good reason. so it was okay, he just needed to trust andrewâs judgement and stick by him. and then andrew realising just how much faith neil has in him and having a breakdown about it
⢠after neilâs bad days, andrew spoons neil and keeps his hand wrapped around neilâs throat while theyâre sleeping. it makes neil feel safe and grounded and makes andrew drunk on trust and control (bonus scene: foxes witnessing this one day and completely failing at understanding their dynamic)
⢠neil getting into a habit of spitting after his time at the nest bc riko used to spit into his mouth and make him swallow it as a power play. whenever neil remembers it the thought of any spit in his mouth, even his own, makes him sick. so he spits
⢠whenever aaron is on the edge of relapsing instead of telling anyone he just trails after andrew 24/7 bc he knows his brother wonât let him destroy his life
⢠tlou au where andrew is traveling the world in search of his twin brother and heâs hired to transport neil somewhere. meanwhile, they fall in love with each other and they find out andrew was supposed to deliver neil into his fatherâs hands (andrew promised neil safety and he refuses to break his promise so this becomes the first job andrew ever failed)
⢠andreil breaking up and neil desperately trying to prove to himself that he can move on so he takes the page from andrewâs books and starts sleeping around, but he only succeeds in hurting himself and feeling miserable (they get back in the end bc I need them to be happy)
⢠OH MY GOD HORNY KANDREIL CLASSICAL MUSIC AU!! kevin (and neil?) playing violin and drew being freakishly good at playing every instrument he ever touches but especially the piano. kev giving a performance and andreil sitting in the first row, neil getting a hard on bc kevin looks so good in his suit, with slightly greying hair combed back and passion burning in his eyes. andrew discretely edging him on, palming neilâs dick through the fancy suitâs material and keeping eye contact with kevin the whole time
AND SO MUCH MORE AAAAAA. this is insufferable, Iâm writing fics in my head to fall asleep and then Iâm waking up literally quoting aftg (genuinely happened last week, I felt like a lunatic) and then Iâm going to uni and I spend every lecture thinking about how I can use my degree to better write about those stupid murderous college athletes. what kind of crack did you put in this series, nora?????
I keep thinking about the Foxes taking a camping trip and learning that they can never take Neil Josten into the woods. He will 100% regress into a survivalist and Andrew is no help because watching Neil make his own tools to chop down a tree is not something Andrew Minyard is going to stop. Not when he can watch.
âYou still donât know how to sort your wash properly but youâve domesticated a turkey.â - Allison Probably.
100% In my opinion their cannon ending makes perfect sense for them, because they know theyâre committed to each other and thatâs all that really matters. Itâs not conventional AND neither are they. Just because it strays from societal norms doesnât make their relationship or love for each other less strong or legitimate. Plus, labels arenât the be all end all for everyone and these two have both been through so much that I think it makes the most sense that they would choose to live the rest of their lives together, without any labels. Simply existing in each others space for as long as they canâ¤ď¸âđĽ :)
honestly i feel like being pissed about andreil not getting married and saying i love you is so narrow-minded
just because they don't follow the footsteps of conventional relationships doesn't make what they feel for each other any less, it doesn't mean they don't love each other
marriage is an economical farce anyway, a construct, the only thing â the ONLY thing that should matter is that andrew and neil stay together.
THEY GROW OLD TOGETHER!!!
neither of them thought that they would live past twenty and they not only live longer than that, they also spend it in companionship with someone that cares for them, accepts them, loves them, stands by them, protects them and so on, i-
my heart aches i need tissues
This has me kicking my feet in joy lol
The foxhole court, chapter fourteen
" A group of people shouldered their way up to the bar counter at Neil's back, pushing him into Andrew. Andrew didn't budge beneath his weight. He was something solid to lean against, something violent and fierce and unmoving. Neil couldn't remember what it felt like to have someone hold him up. It was terrifying and liberating all at once. His life was out of his control now; he was giving it to Andrew and hoping Andrew would keep it safe. "
A classic. A must. Hope it doesn't disappoint the expectations. Planning on doing more little doodles like that until the animatic is finished.
They really doâŚjust two traumatized guys struggling through life and unintentionally falling into found families.
Also I love that my newest hyperfixation series and my longest obsession series are COLLIDING!!
Kit Herondale and Neil Josten have the same energy and you can't convince me otherwise
This makes my heart happy
andrews favorite things ((whether or not he wants to admit it))
ice cream
hot cocoa at bee's office
his car
his knives
the friend he stole them from
speaking of, his weekly sparring sessions with renee
the satisfaction of thwarting someones shot on his goal and hearing the crowd go wild
treks to eden's twilight with his family/team after a win
roadtrips with no set destination, just him and neil and the open road
rooftop kisses
the way neil carefully maps out his body bit by bit, only as andrew allows it
unexpectedly, his late-night practices with kevin and neil
neil, who said he never wants this to end
I am so torn between dying for a TV/Movie adaptation of AFTG, and absolutely not wanting it to ever be made. I love these characters so much and i honestly donât think i would be happy with any cast. Itâs all so perfect in my head and j would be heart broken for it to be shattered
One of my favorite scenes from All For The Game
i haven't had the chance to post this comic anywhere because it's hard to post on pretty much every platform but patrons have had access for a while and we're back on tumblr, so! :-) some fun, soft, angsty andreils for you all
you can see this sort of work & wips early along with having access to our discord server & lots of other fun goodies by joining our patreon! shares appreciated as always!
' i'll crawl home to her...' | Andreil
art : art.by_ire, cherbi_kin, jamieboya, dshr_art
Neil is that you?
BROOKLYN NINE-NINE (2013â2021) S02E16 | The Wednesday Incident
andreil and meow meows
unfiltered under the cut + wip
they own stupid samsung flip phones so they can't canonically take pictures of each other đ
also i was originally going to render but decided against it, though i liked the muscles... so, i'm leaving it here as well!