odetojupiter

[odetojupiter]

we talk about matchmaker kevin day but let’s talk about matchmaker neil josten for a sec. he sorted aaron and katelyn’s relationship issue by encouraging katelyn to get aaron to fight for her, and got kevin to give renee jean’s number. like he doesn’t even realise he’s doing it because he has his own motivations but still. accidental relationship therapist. imagine the foxes end up going to him for relationship advice and he’s like why tf r you asking me and they’re like, look at aaron and katelyn, they’re dating because of you!! and neil is just like, god, don’t blame me for that.

#he gets seth killed to give renee a chance with allison #THATS A JOKE OKAY #sorry seth #aftg #neil josten

[odetojupiter]

truly feel insane about them like

#neil and jeans relationship is going to kill me i hope we get more in tsc2 #aftg

[odetojupiter]

guys ppl keep saying taylor swift pls what does she have to do with this 😭

andrew being in the foster system for 13 years before juvie, his home with nicky being his 13th, bee being andrew’s 13th therpaist, the ravens scoring 13 goals in their first match against the foxes on the 13th of october, there are 13 ravens drills, neil’s interrogation with the fbi lasting 13 hours, andrew and neil’s numbers adding to 13

andrew: do you believe in luck?

neil: only the bad sort

13 being the ‘lucky number’ of the series despite it being a superstitious sign of bad luck. mirroring the subversion of expectations within the series that starts with andrew and neil beginning to understand each other after a shaky start, and ending with the foxes beating the ravens.

#i’m so confused

[odetojupiter]

just so you know, when i first started reading the series and i read that andrew always wore armbands, this is what i immediately pictured:

u know, armbands that you blow air into and kids wear them to keep them afloat when they’re learning to swim?

i swear i was so confused as to why the fuck he was wearing armbands and how he was keeping knives under them. and how anyone could take him seriously when he was wearing floats on his arms.

i genuinely had to find fan art of him to figure out what they actually were lmao.

#listen i was 16 i was maybe a bit stupid #but i’d also never heard anyone refer to sleeves as armbands before #i literally own some myself but i still couldn’t figure out that’s what they meant #so for like half of tfc i was picturing andrew wearing blown up swimming aid floats on his upper arms #despite the fact it says he wears them on his forearms i must have skipped over that bit #i was just so confused #andrew minyard #tfc #aftg

[odetojupiter]

Promises, contracts and deals are pretty central to AFTG. To people like Jean, Neil, Andrew and Kevin who have spent their entire lives in one state of uncertainty or another, these exchanges are absolute and iron-clad. They've grown up around people who could turn on them at any moment, living in situations that could go bad in the blink of an eye. They can't just trust that things will be alright and believe that there will be a way out, not like normal people can.

So when they do make promises, what they're really promising is a sense of stability. They're saying that even if the world goes to hell in a handbag, this one thing between us will not change -- I will behave in this predetermined way so long as you behave in this predetermined way. It creates something in their future that is certain and predictable for them to hold on to and to believe in.

So when Andrew says he'll protect Kevin and Neil from whoever is coming after them in exchange for them staying, it's not necessarily literal protection. What's really being promised here is that when everything goes to shit (because it's not a matter of 'if', it's a matter of when), Andrew will have their backs and won't throw them to the wolves for anything. In exchange, they will stay by his side. And that's a kind of certainty and stability they've never really had or been given in their lives.

It's kind of the only form of trust they are able to place in people other than themselves. So yeah they take it deadly seriously. More seriously than other people would. And it means that people who understand this, who take their promises and deals seriously and who honour their promises (Wymack, Renee, Jeremy, Betsy) are the ones they trust.

Simply put, when you are brought up to have trust issues, promises are life and death because having a promise broken FEELS like death. It feels like the absolute end of any possible relationship. So the fact that they are out there making promises at all shows that they WANT to form these relationships with people; they just need others to prove that they're willing to meet them at their level of sincerity.

#this #aftg

[odetojupiter]

I'm slowly but surely becoming a Kevin Day Stan because I was listening to the king's men in the car this morning and why THE FUCK did everyone decide collectively that Neil going to the nest was Kevin's fault??? They had known Neil for like 7 months at this point and Kevin even longer did they really think he stood a chance at stopping him???

And I know that no one has all the information but they could ask for even a modicum of further information or just LISTEN when Neil says it wasn't about Kevin???

#the fact that matt punches kevin bc of it as well #why does everyone blame kevin for the things that happen in the nest i don’t get it

[odetojupiter]

i’m actually working on an aaron and andrew centred fic at the min so here’s a little quote from it:

Andrew feels disgust rush through him as quick as tornado winds at the sight of Aaron’s red rimmed eyes, but almost as quickly it passes, the gales subsiding as suddenly as they started. The aftermath is a wreckage though, the damage done undeniable; his body feels like a house torn off its foundations, crumbling into ruin at the realisation that Aaron is him. Aaron is Andrew, if Andrew had his outer layers singed away to reveal flesh and bone. Looking at him is like seeing an underwater image of himself – light, refracting, misaligning the edges and distorting the shape, but the image stays the same regardless. It’s Andrew at Aaron’s feet, just as Aaron is at Andrew’s, shivering like he’s still braving the storm.

- absolutely loved ur additions to my thoughts, im glad u liked them :)

hello! i am here to share more Aaron and Andrew thoughts™ though i won’t lie i had a little sleep since earlier and cannot remember whatever it was i was thinking so i will make up some new thoughts for u <3

so, in the extra content i think nora says that aaron starts playing exy to get out the house so he can avoid tilda, andrew starts playing exy in juvie, which was another way to keep andrew (and subsequently aaron) away from drake. so, for both of them, exy is a way out of abuse. so it’s fitting that they both use exy raquets to stop abusers - drake, and riko. i could honestly make a whole post about how exy appears to represent coping mechanisms in the series, but ill leave it at this - for aaron and andrew exy was an escape from abusers, so they helped others escape from their abusers by using exy equipment.

another similarity: they both immediately assume the other’s partner is a repeat of their abuser, whilst simultaneously hating the partner because they believe they’re taking their brother away from them. they’re both so anxious about losing each other but neither of them are used to getting the things they want. i fully believe the hatred that is displayed between aaron and andrew is, (whilst in part due to frustration and feeling betrayed) because looking at each other is like looking in a distorted mirror and more than anything they both hate themselves. and it’s very difficult for both of them to watch the other be in pain, but their self-hatred makes it equally difficult to actively care for the person who reminds them so much of themselves.

this one’s just a headcanon, but if aaron were to get a tattoo, i think he’d get an ouroboros. they symbolise the life cycle, representing death and rebirth. he’s an aspiring doctor with a murder charge, the concept of life and death is not something he can easily run away from. but crucially, aaron’s murder of andrew’s abuser is what breathes new life into their relationship; considering the ‘transmigration of souls’ that is tied to the ouroboros, you can consider aaron and andrew’s relationship to have been reborn off the back of drake’s death. thus, the cycle of life. death and rebirth. obviously other things have to happen before they truly start to heal, but drake’s death is the first step towards aaron understand andrew and everything he’s done. i think if he were to get it he’d get it on his wrist, of the hand he primarily held the racquet in to truly drive the point home. and if andrew eventually gets a matching tattoo, then what?

i read this ask literally like four times before i could respond because oh my GODDDDD you've got it you've got it so perfectly spot on i'm OBSESSED and PAINED

i literally cant stop thinking about the exy thing like. it's a sport they both agreed to a scholarship for because it got them out, it got andrew away from everything that wasn't the 2 people he cared about and it got aaron away from his mother's memory. i would love for you to elaborate on exy as a coping mechanism across the book but for them especially like they're both good at it but don't care, aaron's dropping it the second he gets into med school, and andrew just doesn't care. it's also one of the central factors that kind of holds them together as brothers, like neil says a few times, aaron and andrew function as this one defense Team despite whatever they hate each other for off court. they can trust each other to do what they need to do, andrew knows aaron will check anyone he has to whenever he has to, carded or not, and aaron knows that andrew will lock down the goal when it matters (i mean the guy blocked 137/150 shots in one game). so possibly even because of how they know each other off court, they're kind of an unstoppable force on it. that tied in with them both protecting people they care about with exy racquets? ough....

the MIRROR thing oh my god. part i actually had to read over and over because That's so right that's literally it that's literally all of it you've got them perfect. kind of everything that happens with the twins, what they do to and for each other really stems from a deeply skewed sense of justice and loyalty. i mean andrew says it himself, tilda was nothing and no one to him, not meaning he didn't know what she meant to aaron, but he told her not to hit him again and she didn't listen so for that she had to die. because that's how simple it is in andrew's head, that's where his justice, his protection comes from. initially he has nothing against you, it only starts if you hurt one of his own. i think the part that was hardest for aaron to process wasn't that andrew had done it, but that andrew had done it for him. it'd been a little over, what, five months since andrew moved in? aaron, after the 'fuck you' letter, probably always assumed his new brother hated him, and that Evidently didn't change when they got to palmetto, and we can see from his reaction to neil saying "so now you know why andrew killed your mother". like i think he might've suspected something, but didn't say it, but he chalked it up to the fact that tilda hit andrew instead of him. but neil says it himself, again, andrew will fight tooth and nail until somebody relents or dies to protect who matters, but when it comes to himself, he won't. aaron couldn't process that that's what andrew was willing to do for him, five months after meeting him for the first time.

but there's a difference between planning a murder and instinct. tilda's accident was planned, carefully. aaron simply was holding the racquet and able to move. but the outcome is the same, somebody dies, to save one of the twins. the other is the one who kills. intrinsically, they are linked, if andrew was able to kill tilda faster and get away with it, he would've. aaron doesn't exactly get away with it per se but the difference occurs when matts mom posts bail and andrew is gone.

just a quick aside with what you said about partners– that's exactly it, yes, and i think that's exactly what kind of justifies aaron's reaction to andrew and neil. like if we think about it, aaron was raised catholic, by the same and probably similar people to who raised nicky, aka a highly homophobic environment. this means everything aaron knows about queerness and queer relationships (note: set in 2006) is what they told him, and nicky. unfortunately, neither of those are particularly good references, aaron knows the stuff nicky says about neil in the first book, and, i hate to say it, his third point of reference is drake. its shitty and it sucks, but andrew will never talk to him and neither will neil so what's aaron supposed to think? he wasn't there in any of andrew's previous homes, so he couldn't know how to recognise it if that's what it was. whether thats what he actually believe by the time he confronts neil at the cabin is debatable in my book, but if anything, its the same as andrew 'talking' to katelyn in the library. it's nothing more than a scouting mission, aaron's not going to seriously do much to neil (except get punched by him), same way as andrew was never going to seriously hurt katelyn. all it is is the twins looking out for each other in the only way they really know how.

i LOVE that hc so much actually that's absolutely perfect. i think andrew does have one tattoo for aaron, and it's a two-headed calf (not mine i think i saw it somewhere on here) but the ouroboros idea is AMAZING i'm adopting that into the aaron in my head. literally the cycle of life and death and how he comes to terms with it in his own messy way, and how at any point in the circle, the centre seems to be his brother

#i have about 8 WIPs i’m currently writing so it may be a while before this one sees the light of day #but here’s a snippet! whilst we’re on the topic of the twins #aaron minyard #andrew minyard #aftg

[odetojupiter]

Thick skull - Paramore ft Julien Baker

My humble submission for Kevin Day as a song

[odetojupiter]

neil josten

#neil josten

[odetojupiter]

“Here’s a real question: how have you survived this long when you’re so violently self-destructive?”

Andrew cocked his head to one side in a question. Neil didn’t know if Andrew was playing stupid to rile him or if Andrew really was oblivious. Either way it was frustrating. He wondered why no one else had caught on, or if people noticed and just didn’t care enough to say it. Now that Neil saw it, though, he couldn’t look past it. Anytime the Foxes mentioned Andrew’s upcoming sobriety or Andrew’s name popped up in write-ups on the team’s performance at games, the focus was on what a danger he was. People talked about his trial and how it saved them from Andrew. No one said what they were doing to save Andrew from himself.

#andrew minyard

[odetojupiter]

nothing just thinking about the parallel of aaron locked in a bathroom because his brother was trying to save him and aaron locked in a jail cell because he was trying to save his brother

#oh! i just thought of another parallel! #andrew in the hospital because he was trying to save aaron (the car crash) #andrew in the hospital because aaron tried to save him (post-drake) #thinking of both the actual hospital and east haven #sorry op i always have too many thoughts #the way these boys hate each other because they’re so painfully reminded of themselves and their own weaknesses #but they love each other enough to not give up #and that kills me just a bit

[odetojupiter]

nothing just thinking about the parallel of aaron locked in a bathroom because his brother was trying to save him and aaron locked in a jail cell because he was trying to save his brother

#do you think when andrew’s in east haven he starts to realise just what aaron went through in that bathroom #i know the situations aren’t exactly the same #but now i’m think about aaron being in the bathroom going through withdrawals completely alone and how that mirrors his upbringing #i think i read in the ec (or maybe i made it up idk) that tilda gives aaron drugs so he wouldn’t complain about her hitting him #so now aaron’s in the bathroom without tilda or the drugs but he’s in the most pain he’s ever been in both physically and mentally #versus andrew in east haven being abused by the institution that he has no choice but to rely on #and he’s also forced to relive his past trauma #aftg

[odetojupiter]

everyday i wake up and think of kevin day in situations

#especially now that my finals are going on like bro is constantly inside my brain #<< #thinking about kevin day is fr a coping mechanism for academic stress #i can relate

[odetojupiter]

moon and rainbow at sunrise by mark ham

#i feel like jean moreau needs to see this #jean moreau

[odetojupiter]

Neil looked at Andrew. "Did they move you a lot?"

"Twelve houses before Cass," Andrew said. "They were all in California."

"Were any of them good?" Neil asked.

Andrew stared Neil down a minute, then stubbed his cigarette out and reached for his drink.

"None of the ones I remember were."

#just thinking about andrew as a BABY a literal unable to talk or walk BABY #what was it that made his first family give him up #was he there for years or did they just decide they couldn’t handle raising a baby #god andrew fucks me up #:(:(:(:( #andrew minyard #all for the game

[odetojupiter]

andrew being in the foster system for 13 years before juvie, his home with nicky being his 13th, bee being andrew’s 13th therpaist, the ravens scoring 13 goals in their first match against the foxes on the 13th of october, there are 13 ravens drills, neil’s interrogation with the fbi lasting 13 hours, andrew and neil’s numbers adding to 13

andrew: do you believe in luck?

neil: only the bad sort

13 being the ‘lucky number’ of the series despite it being a superstitious sign of bad luck. mirroring the subversion of expectations within the series that starts with andrew and neil beginning to understand each other after a shaky start, and ending with the foxes beating the ravens.

#i just realised andrew says twelve houses before cass not twelve total #so cass is his 13th house #the one he wants to keep so bad that he accepts the abuse #so thirteen foster homes total #plus three years in juvie some time with tilda and then nicky #oopsie

[odetojupiter]

On the other hand, Andrew Minyard deals with his trauma by hunting it down for sport

he does that to everyone else's trauma too

this is him right?

#alternatively his love language is gift giving and he gives people the gift of their abusers’ death