#just so extremely andreil

[knickknacksandallthat]

if you don't mind me asking, what got you into kevin's character?

for me it was actually your fic, but since its so normalized in the fandom to dismiss his trauma and call him a coward and annoying for doing things that other characters are loved for, i didn't really care about him when i first read the books

now hes my favorite

Oh, anon, I love this!! What an honor, I’m so glad to have helped you join the Kev lovefest 😊 (Welcome to the dark side lol!) It makes me so happy that the A Fallen Star series has awakened this in you! 💖

And wow, what a good question. I don't mind at all! I actually had to think about this for a while to try and remember…how the heck did I get here???

So here is my ridiculously uncalled-for POV on Kevin’s character and slow descent into madness below:

(Disclaimer that these are just my thoughts and anyone in the aftg fandom can hc or think whatever they like about Mr. Day 😊)

Like you, anon, I was easily swayed by Neil’s perspective of Kev on first read. It makes sense and is a credit to Nora how we so fully buy into Neil’s opinion of Kevin that many of us just run with it. And to be fair to the fandom, it’s canon – Andrew, Neil, and all the Foxes tell us he’s a coward and annoying and so we assume it must be true.

So, I created many fics that played into this image and focused on andreil. (Because who isn’t enamored with andreil??? Legit, deranged obsession and couple goals lmao). Using that lens, it was easy to make Kevin the punching bag because he is the quintessential “straight man” in comedy (and yes, I do hear the irony in that) – the foil to other characters to make them seem better, braver, funnier, smarter, etc. It’s an age-old trick/trope in fiction that works very well. And it was an easier transition for Nora to make, I think, once she made the decision to remove Kevin from the main narrative of her story.

This character setup works well enough when you’re doing a fic from Neil or Andrew’s POV, providing an easy source of humor to fall back on. So, for me, I think my thinking shifted once I started working on Flavors of Fall and delved into Andrew and Kevin’s storyline there. That fic forced me to think from Kevin’s perspective, and I found at the time I had a shallow understanding of what made Kevin tick. It totally threw me once I really started considering sequels for that fic and the 12 Day Program for Courtship, both of which have Kevin cast as a main character. I had to dive deep into his makeup, seriously considering his motivations, his likes/dislikes, his personality traits, his relationships, and how he would react in any given situation.

Because I was interested in his character development, I started delving into fics like orionauriga’s just pretend , @likearecordbb's Long Walk in the Woods, @thetrojeans daylights, sunsets, and @dayurno's the age of no regret series. They are all brilliant, fascinating character studies of Kevin Day and his relationships that are extremely well done. There’s many more, of course, but I was searching for fics that specifically delved into Kevin’s thought process and choices and stayed there a while.

That’s what led me to feeling like I needed to tell his story with Dead of Night. Of course, it turned into a larger series with my flavoring of Kerejean added because I’ve never been a huge Kevin/Thea relationship fan. (But that's a discussion for another day which you can start here and here for that adventure.)

Now all that I’ve described above gives you the mechanics of the descent – the when, the where, the how. But it crucially misses the why. What is it about Kevin that got me in the end?

Ironically enough, it was his potential.

I think when Nora stripped away any kind of romantic narrative (RIP Kandreil OR Riko/Kevin/Jean) or a chance for a tragic storyline (Kevin dying in the end) it resulted in removing a lot of Kevin’s emotional vulnerability. We don’t get to hear what he’s feeling or thinking unless it’s related to Riko, the Moriyamas, or Exy. This means his storyline is consumed by the stereotypical sports underdog story, with us following his rise to champion (which is still a powerful enough narrative on its own that shines even in the midst of Neil’s crazy plotline. Switching that racquet to his left hand in the championship game? Iconic.) 

However, it leaves us very much with a shell of a person. Kevin’s character outside of Exy is reduced to a handful of facts – there’s a passing comment on his like of history, and the stark evidence of an alcohol addiction as a coping mechanism. We’re told he used to dance. That he learned French because Jean Moreau taught him. That he has no qualms about taking (mild?) drugs (cracker dust). Despite how much we’ve run with it as a fandom, the only allusion I’ve found in the books to him being strict with diet is this section from The King’s Men:

“No one needs to eat this before a game,” Kevin said. “Eat some granola or protein if you’re that hungry.” “Hello, there’s protein in the peanut butter,” Nicky said. “Let go of me before I tell Andrew you’re outlawing chocolate. I said let go. You’re not the boss of me. Ouch! Did you seriously just hit me?” … “Kevin, just let him go,” Neil said. “It’s not worth fighting over.” “When our defense is sluggish, we all suffer,” Kevin said.

From what I can find in the books, Kevin never once denies Andrew eating ice cream. (Which I’m 100% able to admit I might have missed something so feel free to quote me where that scene is because I was totally searching for it). In fact, every time they go to Sweetie’s, it’s implied Kevin orders ice cream with them. In the infamous kissing scene in The King’s Men, we actually have proof that Kevin got ice cream:

Kevin still hadn’t messaged Nicky by the time they reached the ice cream aisle, so Nicky gave in and called him. Neil half-expected Kevin to ignore Nicky’s call, but Kevin wasn’t so sour with them that he’d turn down a free snack…Nicky grabbed spoons from the kitchen and distributed pints to their hungry owners. Neil checked his expression when Nicky came back from dropping Kevin’s off….

Now I do think it’s in line with his character and his upbringing to have issues with food, so I’m all for buying into that specific hc. But we have very little evidence of it in the text.

His personality is reduced mainly to anger, arrogance, or cowardice (all traits that don’t make us sympathize with him). The only facts we have about his Tragic Past™️ are two things: his mother’s death, and his hand injury. Everything else we assume is based on Neil’s knowledge of the mafia, Wymack’s hearsay, Andrew’s deductions, and Kevin’s reactions to Riko and Tetsuji. We have literally no idea what happened to Kevin in the Nest. His trauma and his time spent there is a complete mystery. The closest we get is Riko’s comment to Neil in The Raven King:

“I am going to love hurting you,” Riko said, “like I loved hurting Kevin.”

This, I think, is one of the main reasons many of the fandom “dismisses” Kevin’s trauma in comparison to Neil’s because we can’t see it. We don’t know what happened and we don’t get to experience it, so this lack of explanation or motivation leaves us only with very cold personality traits. We’re unable to root for him as a character because we can’t sympathize. We can empathize because we know Very Bad Things™️ must have happened in the Nest, but we don’t see them happen the same way we do Neil or Andrew. Even Kevin’s hand injury is old and “healed” when we’re first introduced to the character.

The only true canon moment where Kevin appears “human” is in The Raven King with Kevin’s “then run” and “you should be court” conversation with Neil. His admittance that Neil’s life is more important than Exy is instantaneous – he doesn’t even pause to throw his Exy dreams down the drain if it means Neil can survive.  In a weirdly parallel way, we see Kevin’s thought process implicit in his conversation: “at least you’d have a chance.” It is strikingly similar to Neil’s internal conversation of: one of us should make it. (And there’s another whole separate discourse I could get into on how Kevin and Neil are two halves of the same coin, but we’ll save that for another day.) But even the revelation of Wymack as his father has more shock value than true emotional weight – we never see what that conversation looked like or how either party actually reacted. (In some ways, I feel like Dan being pissed at Kevin is given more “screentime” than Kevin’s response to telling his father and how Wymack reacted.)

So with Kevin’s emotions and past firmly locked down, we’re left to brush off Kevin’s reactions (or lack thereof) as part of his indifferent personality. It is what it says on the tin. (And that’s not to say Kevin is a perfect character by any means. He has flaws just like every other character.)

Now some people very accurately depict and buy into those limitations as simply being Kevin’s character/personality – I’ve read some awesome fics where Kevin is Ace/Aro and/or on the spectrum. These are completely valid, extremely well done, and I could totally see why others see and write him this way. Canon practically sets them up for it.

For me, though, it circles back to our skewed view of Kevin given to us by some deeply loved but also deeply flawed characters (cough, Andreil). Those same characters that we’re told time and again not to judge them by their cover but to try and understand how they’re affected by (and make choices because of) their trauma.

While Andrew and Neil end up giving each other this grace through a hard-fought battle of truths and exchanges, they do not extend this same courtesy to Kevin, and neither are we given the chance to do so. We literally can’t because, again, we don’t know what the full extent of Kevin’s trauma is.

Kevin doesn’t talk about his time in the Nest to any character, meaning we know nothing about it. Ergo we don’t know what choices Kevin makes because of it. In The Foxhole Court, Wymack specifically tells us Kevin was Riko’s pet. In fact, there is so much specific language that Kevin himself uses around the concept of ownership, and that Nora uses when referring to him that it jarringly sticks out in the text.  He has no sense of personal space or proper boundaries, viewing people only as assets to be used for the good of the team, which at the very least is a sign of mental abuse. But the fact remains that we just don’t know. We don’t know how far this mental abuse was taken, how often or severely he was injured, if he injured or was forced to injure others – we don’t know.

But it’s obvious whatever happened to him started as a child and built from there. Which means he has years of abuse and power dynamics embedded into him. He has every right to be afraid. In fact, we are demonstrably told and shown often in canon that Kevin is afraid…but fear does not equate to cowardice. In fact, we know that bravery often means being scared and doing something anyway. And in many cases, that’s just what Kevin did (with a crutch named Andrew). But even before he entered his deal with Andrew, it's important to remember that even though he was brainwashed and beaten from a young age to understand that he would die if he betrayed the Moriyama family in some way, he left them.

This is always so significant to me because so many abuse victims stay in their situation thinking/hoping/praying it will get better – either because of an idea that their abuser will change (“they’re just having a hard time at work rn”) or that the victim will fix whatever flaw the abuser finds lacking. Or alternatively, they recognize the situation is bad, but they can’t leave because they feel like they have nowhere to go, no one who will help them, trapped by their lack of skills/contacts/money. In Kevin’s case, both situations rang true. And yet he left. He left, and in only a year and a half’s time he recovered from his injury and led his team to the championship.

But he is only at the start of his recovery. I think he’ll need years of therapy to recover from all that happened in the Nest. I think many of his emotional and social shortcomings are a direct consequence of that timeframe and he did not have the freedom to address them until the threat of the Moriyamas was removed. I do not think they are permanent parts of his personality – I think in time, he will be allowed to grow and recover and contribute much more to his relationships than he’s capable of doing at the end of The King’s Men.

Though the series finished, I think Kevin’s story is just beginning.

That’s why I think he’s fascinating to explore as a character. That’s why I love writing him right now because in many ways, his possibilities are endless. There’s so many opportunities to explore different facets of his story that we never get a chance to in canon. Kevin’s character and narrative is a tantalizing tease which many of us have fell hook, line, and sinker for. (Including yours truly.) We want to rabidly sink our teeth into it and shake it, like a dog with a bone.

So we do. 😉

Phew. Okay, that’s enough. None of what I’ve written above is new I’m sure to those of the fandom who have been here since the beginning or have become diehard Kevin fans. But thank you for letting me ramble in this ask, anon. Writing about Kevin has been a very fun and therapeutic adventure for me. So I’m so glad that there are others out there who are enjoying it too 😊

#thanks for coming to my TED talk about Kevin Day #it could actually be an entire series but you know...character limits #kevin day #tumblr asks #lovely people #thanks again for the ask anon! #aftg #all for the game #neil josten #andrew minyard #david wymack

[mostlymaudlin]

10 songs, 10 people!!

thx for tag @ittyybittybaker :)

Sports Car by Valley - most common song stuck in my head lately

Anxieties (Out of Time) by The Regrettes - second most common song stuck in my head lately

Girls Make Me Wanna Die by The Aces - happy pride :) this band is great and they just dropped an album

Red Hearse by Red Hearse - a v epic song off an epic album, also it is exactly the vibe of the end of one of my wips so listening to it makes me want to get there lol

Junk by Vivienne Chi - the prechorus makes me feel insane

Achey Bones by The Happy Fits - a song w a tempo that unlocks dopamine or something in my brain

Fresh Squeezed by Duncan Fellows - this was like my song of the summer last year, and it's up there again rn

The Feeling by Sammy Rae & The Friends - every song on this EP rules. very unique vibe

Here With U by Appleby - andreil vibes that make me want to die (soft edition)

Habit by Spectre Jones - andreil vibes that make me want to die and take everyone down with me (extreme edition)

i taaag @tea-brigade @urban-sith @starwarned @sillyunicorn @takitalks @seasy33 @jasonfunderberkerthefrogexists @nanatsuyu @moondal514 @deklo <3

[dayurno]

you are so cute and sweet but UR PINTEREST BOARD LINK DOESNT WORK FOR ME be still my tender heart…… that is ok im imagining it in my mind palace. unfortunately i actually am like. kind of a freak and all my ideas live in my brain space and jumbled notes + so i don’t have anything fic-specific BUT. i Will grant you my kevin (https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6jtCq6lXKxJeaIEEZ4mNoO?si=HZJJ-rwTTmShM8z1bL7M7A&pi=u-HaC1d26IRgKR) and jean (https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0s4McJXNv5B0kM3zkcmWMv?si=PTIG6mYSTG2mvhqrbL7dDA&pi=u-9TZa7fgfQnS-) playlists respectively. i listen to them + my aftg playlist a lot while writing and many of the songs in them make me think of kerejean anyway :3

i am an unrepentant jeredrew enjoyer. i think they would make the silliest bffs possible. that lucky-slice art was soooo special to me. andrew just, of course, immediately hates kevin and jean and doesn’t trust their intentions. especially because of how they meet which i don’t know if we need to get into now... the feeling is very mutual though (and kevin is salty because in his last year of college he tried to have andrew recruited to the foxes and andrew ignored the hell out of him and followed jeremy to USC instead). the antics and dynamics are very very fun to write. jean compares what andrew is to jeremy as what neil is to kevin at one point and kevin is scandalized.

also due to the contents of this blog i feel like ive really undersold this fic by not mentioning the BITING sooner. i just think you need to know there’s lots of casual biting. of all varieties…. Heheh. kevin warns jeremy that jean is a biter very early on and refuses to acknowledge the fact that he too likes to nibble on boyfriends…… jeremy joins them ^-^ kevin complains so much when he’s being attacked by both of them. they’re really cute and very special to me

I'M SO SORRY LOVIE ITS UP NOW....... i forgor it was a secret board...... BUT NOW IT IS NOT >:)

CAN I SAYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!! YOUR KEVIN PLAYLISTTTT..... more than a woman by the bee gees you really understand it all so very clearly. acolyte!!! and vienna :) AND KILLER QUEEN WHICH MADE ME REALLY HAPPY and northern downpour too....... i always love when kevin playlists specifically include this very deliberate kind of popular classics that never go away..... and i especially always love when kevin playlists have cheerful joyful music too..... it gets boring listening to the same sad songs again and again! MORE THAN A WOMAN MADE ME REALLY HAPPY LOL kevin day... you are more than a woman to me...!!! just as a last comment the kids arent alright is such a kevinsong i'm so glad you had it too.... blessed be the boys time cant capture :)

i love your jean playlist too!!! It just had more songs i didnt know hehe but i loved glory and gore.... right where you left me;;;; first time by lucy dacus! AND NINA CRIED POWER. i think jean is such a hozier character to me the jean song of all times is 'it will come back' i think it's very how i see him. I ALWAYS WANNA DIE (SOMETIMES) awhagag...... AND ONCE MORE TO SEE YOU which is i fear kevjeanisms to the extreme.... only friend :) these were so lovely thank you i love it i love it all

i was wondering if i ever shared my jean playlist here and i dont think so because it was rather unfinished after all but decided to work some more on it and here it is! and my kevjean too but this one's a LOT more messy! you were warned!!!!

KANDREW BEEF :-) for me you have to have them growing closer later on.... please..... i need jeremy to be disconcerted because kevin gets along well with his impossible to get along with best friend. its important for me. is neil also a milf in this one? are you writing side andreil? so many questions!!!!!! AND BITING WHEH honestly this is all in terms with kevin (the normal nibbler, just autistic) and jean (Predator Instincts Only Slightly Dulled From Years Of Domestication). where does jeremy fall in the spectrum? THEY SHOULD ATTACK KEVIN as often and as hard as possible.... remind him of the food chain a little bit. sir you are under this 23 year old how do you feel. i feel like this age thing really is incredible sorry. maybe its because with canon jeremy is older than kevin but im getting light headed thinking about it..... kevin getting mauled by some guy who just graduated from college. and also of course

kevin taking a stolen drag from jeans cig: isnt that weird? when you were starting highschool i was already in college

jeremy: can yuo put that out on me. please

#jeremy: i love milfs i mean milfs no i mean milfs no milfs i meant kevin #ALSO CAN I GET MORE JEANFO (JEAN INFO) what does he think about keremy??? hows he doing... just curious! #whats my babybel cheese in the form of a man doing #asks #kerejean #kerejean fic anon

[ysabelmystic]

Got tagged by @burntstay to whom I am extremely grateful because it’s been a LONG time since I’ve gotten to do one of these.

3 ships: Andreil (all for the game), which y’all know, because I’ve been torturing everyone with it for months now. Soukoku (bungou stray dogs) but in less of a “I want them to be together” way and more of a “they feel like exes who aren’t even remotely over each other and every interaction they have fills me with joy because there’s just so much obvious drama between them”. Dazai and Chuuya have made out before and they should do it again because it’d make each of them worse. And finally, Griddlehark. It lives rent free in my head. There’s just so much religious trauma in it…

First ship ever: technically Wall-E and Eve but my first proper fandom ship, unfortunately, was thrashgrace. Something something about the biting and “master” and the toxicity of it all hit 13yo me some kind of way that elevated it beyond “haha funny zombie duo” to unexplainable feelings. And that, friends, was part 2 of realizing that Maybe I was into things. Part 1 of that was my sheltered ass reading black butler for the first time and thinking “wow grelle could stab me and I’d thank her for it I wonder why”

Last movie: I think Dead Apple (bungou stray dogs)

Currently watching: bungou stray dogs season 4 and Jujutsu kaisen

Currently reading: the bungou stray dogs light novels (we’re seeing a theme here) and many many many textbooks. But the textbooks are mainly about Stuff That Kills You and how to fix that, and meds. So at least I’m having fun.

Currently consuming: I don’t know what this means exactly but i guess I’ve been getting into witchcraft and lore and whatnot but I guess that’s moreso consuming me. I’ve been watching a lot of tornado videos in YouTube I guess?

Currently craving: not being sick. There’s been a landfill fire nearby burning since November and I’ve had a bad on and off “cold” since then. Why has it been burning for so long? Well, you see, my state does not Do environmental policies. It’s to own the libs you see.

My chosen 9: @average-crazy-fangirl @gothsatanicrapunzel @lizalfosrise @zom-bi @daz4i @bibleofficial @voicemail1187 @imsoglitter and @stop-that-llama

[larkral]

AFTG Thoughts

My very important thoughts on AFTG (having now finished the series). Organized by sections as: Exy, non-Andreil relationships, Adult real life logistics, and other strong but uncategorizable feelings.

I am having lots of Andreil feelings as well, but this is not them. This is the other things. My other very strong takeaways.

Exy

Exy would absolutely for fucking sure not be an Olympic sport, or a 60k seat stadium NCAA sport after ~20 years of game play. Absolutely not. I played Roller Derby for 5 years. Modern Roller Derby is a sport with a meaningful history and following and regulation bodies, and extremely amazing athletes. This isn’t a perfect case study, given that derby is grassroots, and Exy is meant to have been fully designed by 2 people, but this was an area I had to very intentionally suspend my disbelief whenever it came up.

This book also absolutely would not be as compelling to me as a non-sports-person if it were about a real sport. Because listen, I love lacrosse and I appreciate hockey and I nod casually in the direction of soccer/football, but using a made up sport made this book approachable and interesting for me. I didn’t have to think “is this a real reference I need to know more about to earnestly appreciate this plot?” Because nope. It for sure wouldn’t be. Also I didn’t have to attempt to overcome my sports people prejudices/stereotypes, because I don’t have any of those about Exy.

The refs are *outside* the court? Sus.

That plexi has to get very smudgey very quickly. How do they clean it? This seems like a problem for spectators and (see above) refs.

Why is it called Exy? I don’t hate it, it’s just like...such a prescription drug name. 

Non-Andreil relationships

Kudos to this series for having not a lot of relationship drama aside from...you know, the big one. I appreciate that this series wasn’t rife with drama in relationships

However: long distance relationships are so dramatic and hard and I don’t believe that Kevin/Thea and Nicky/Erik would have survived the series unscathed. I didn’t want to actually have to read more about either of those relationships, but neither struck me as particularly real.

Betsey/Wymack/Abby -- thruple. C’mon.

Adult real life logistics

Oh my god, no insurance agent ever in the history of real life would ever think that Andrew’s car wasn’t totaled after being vandalized as described. They’d cut him a check in like...two days. Though also as someone who has had a car totaled this year, it’s a fucking hassle no matter what.

Who is maintaining Nicky’s house!? Houses are energy pits. If he owns that house, someone needs to be up in there changing the furnace filter and flushing the water heater and oiling the garage door springs. And he sure isn’t.

Other strong but uncategorizable feelings

Before reading this series I was like “why would any person attend school and be there primarily in order to play a sport” but actually I kind of get it now?

KEVIN you are not supposed to meaningfully sweat for several weeks after getting a tattoo!

Why would a building planning official accept sleeping quarters underground that didn’t have egress? I guess bribes from gangsters. But c’mon. The Raven’s Nest would be condemned immediately!

I can believe that Nicky is fluent in German, and that Jean and Kevin are fluent in French, but the rest of them almost certainly wouldn’t be fluent enough to carry out the conversations as written. Totally willing to suspend my disbelief on it, though.

Man that Nathaniel/Neil section? I died. I knew what was happening and it still brought me to my knees.

#aftg #post-read OPINIONS #opinion topics include #adulting #sports #exy #tattoos #zoning regulations #long distance relationships #language fluency #longform text i guess

[bluesadansey]

top 5 playlists you’ve made

I lowkey do not know how to answer this question because my method of making playlists is very much to throw together every song that remotely reminds me of a character/dynamic, so I’m just going to define “top 5” as ones where I like to think I did a genuinely good job of capturing what I was trying to capture, yk? I was proud of my Piper and Nico playlists, and my Zoya playlist, and my Blue and Alice Quinn playlists. Also shout out to me for making the only Karou Dosab playlist on Spotify I’m pretty sure.

Also my Andrew playlist is kind of amazing and kind of terrible but it is extremely long and extra so. And so are my andreil and especially that Kandrew playlist djfjdj

#I also like my Herongraystairs playlist a lot even though it’s one of the most minimalist I made maybe that’s why I think it turned out #pretty well lmao #asks #abt #loverdives #mutuals

[chibichococloud123]

I posted 33,657 times in 2022

23 posts created (0%)

33,634 posts reblogged (100%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@blue-jos10

@ao3feed-andreil

@theravenkin

@andreils-nan

@kazzyboy

I tagged 268 of my posts in 2022

#chibi talks - 32 posts

#andreil - 21 posts

#aftg - 20 posts

#my art - 20 posts

#andrew minyard - 17 posts

#stranger things - 16 posts

#kingdom hearts - 16 posts

#mutuals - 16 posts

#all for the game - 13 posts

#q - 12 posts

Longest Tag: 138 characters

#all i know is that we will all be crying when they meet up again whether that’s because it’s a sweet moment or an extremely traumatic move

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Sorry to anyone who sent me asks I don’t get notifications for them so I usually have to attempt at remembering to check them lol

3 notes - Posted August 7, 2022

#4

Oh my god they broke tumblr mobile now?? Why?? What was the purpose of this?? It just looks ugly as shit!!!

4 notes - Posted February 1, 2022

#3

Would ya like some hot cocoa?

Omg yess!!! I fricken love hot cocoa!!! Thank you you should make some for yourself too!!!

4 notes - Posted January 26, 2022

#2

Damn I lost over half my followers what happened??? Did I post something bad or did this hellsite purge some :(

6 notes - Posted January 20, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

When you get this, respond with 5 things that make you happy. Then, Send this to last 10 people in your notifs. You never know who might benefit from spreading positivity✨

I’ll do this again since my answers have changed

1. All for the Game

2. My mutuals

3. My friends

4. My cat

5. Kingdom Hearts

@purposeless-lovelydreams @purpleshadow-star @ronans-sepiaphotograph @blue-jos10 @shatolith @aftgtrash @dremyink06 @gayykronos @shamelessbananamuffin @as-use-full-as-uchiha-eyeball

12 notes - Posted January 29, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review #false

[ms-masago]

hi, sorry to bother you but are you possibly going to continue your andreil fics? if no thats okay, sorry again i just hope you know they're amazing <3 !!

I honestly don’t know. I enjoyed writing them, but the fandom can be pretty toxic and I got tired of people leaving extremely long hate comments or criticisms on the fics. I’m a little disenchanted by it, so maybe I’ll continue one day but as of right now I’m not planning an update

[fanofoatmeal]

Neil: I admire how you’re never afraid to say what you think

Andrew: that’s stupid

Neil: see

#source: tumblr #try and change my mind #you can’t #aftg #just so extremely andreil #you can’t tell me i’m wrong #andrew minyard #neil josten #exy #the foxhole court #matt boyd #kevin day #andreil #allison reynolds #renee walker #aaron minyard #palmetto state university

[dumpsterd1va]

how much harder do you think Andrew fell for Neil when he came home and realized that the annoying cute boy who thwarted his intimidation tactic by paying someone to knock him out not only broke the glass of water offered to him despite the fact that the drugs he had been forced to take the night before made his throat drier than the fucking desert, stuffed the clothes Andrew gifted him in the toilet, escaped their house through a tiny window, chose to hitchhike hundreds of miles rather than get back in a car with them or call for help, AND somehow had the presence of mind to warn his roommate to prevent an attempted break in but also just casually showed up back at wymack’s house with brown eyes instead of his natural blue freshly showered like nothing happened except suddenly he speaks German

#aftg #andreil #andrew: i hope this doesnt awaken anything in me #TOO LATE #no but like really #neil is so goddamn petty and resourceful and its got andrews heart doing backflips #hes just so goddamn interesting #and somehow is full of more surprises #and even though andrew hates surprises hes like extremely turned on #andrew muttering to himself: i am morosexual #neil is fueled by spite alone and andrew thinks thats the sexiest thing hes ever seen #this is the worst sentence ive ever written #idk what grammar is but it aint here

[theravenkin]

alrightie who wants a stupid little andreil brainrot drabble?

Andrew taps his phone with his thumb as he looks up through his eyelashes, trying to look as annoyed or as bored or as both as possible. Neil stills for a moment where he’d been bouncing on his toes and gets that gauzy, boyish look he gets when he’s distracted. Andrew blinks at him. He shakes himself out of it and cracks his neck, beginning his bouncing again. Andrew taps once more. “Go.”

Neil drops to the floor, quickly and forcefully but silently. Andrew doesn’t understand how Neil is so light on his feet; the kid’s wearing running shoes and doing burpees as fast as he can on the hardwoods of the dorm, but there’s only a gentle shuffling noise. If Andrew were to do burpees on hardwood floors—which is ludicrous, because he wouldn’t do burpees to save his own life—he’d sound like an elephant in stilettos. He supposes, though, that Neil’s been forced to run and do it quietly for a hell of a long time, and that saving his own life typically means a lot more to Neil than to Andrew.    Andrew finishes six across and clicks one down—it’s a mini puzzle. ‘Pop-ups, e.g.’ Ads. ‘Emulated Michael Phelps.’ Swam. Boringly easy, but Andrew supposes that’s the point.   “Stop,” he says, and Neil pops up into standing. His breathing has barely quickened, which is extremely annoying. Andrew looks at the “Exemplary Job!” message on his screen. “Eighteen seconds,” he says.   Neil’s grinning the way he does before he does something he knows he shouldn’t, or the way he does when he beats Kevin at something. “Too easy.”   Andrew grunts rudely, though he bitterly agrees. He’s already tapped to the next puzzle. “Go,” he says, and Neil drops and starts doing pushups. Andrew feels a little warm curl in his belly at the way Neil moves, but he scolds himself— stop being gay and do your fucking puzzle —and does his fucking puzzle. It’s another mini, but it’s slightly harder. He finishes with four across, ‘ blank la Vista, Baby!’ He scoffs—49 seconds. Pathetic.    Out of spite, he watches Neil struggle for another moment. Neil is shaking and grunting trying to grind out a few more reps. Poor boy probably started struggling at rep five; push-ups aren’t his thing. Andrew is glad, because push-ups also aren’t his thing. He has much better upper body strength than Neil, or than most of the others, but his core strength is kinda shit, and also he’s not built for bodyweight exercises. Or for cardio. He is sturdy and plump and his lungs are made of paper.    His screen goes black, but Andrew doesn’t say anything yet. He feels some sadistic pleasure watching Neil struggle on the ground, and idly imagines that his shirt is not on. But he also is annoyed that Neil has decided to work out for fun and somehow persuaded Andrew to participate. Andrew watches until Neil has to pause with his chest to the ground for a breath. “Burpees, go,” he says, and Neil scrambles to his feet just to drop back down again. On his way down Andrew thinks he hears him gasp “thank God” and almost snorts—of course the freak would favor burpees to pushups. Fucking weirdo. Andrew hasn’t even clicked to the next puzzle yet, and takes his time doing so.   He opens it and it’s a proper, long one with lots of clues. Andrew almost grins. The desire to finish the puzzle as quickly as possible, to feel somewhat validated, and the urge to take his sweet time, to torture Neil, go to war within him. But, Andrew supposes, he’s just too good. Or the puzzle is too easy, but he had to get the shitty free app because he’d rather die than pay the New York Times for a goddamn subscription. Perish, commercial news industry, perish. He finishes the puzzle in a minute and thirty-seven seconds. It’s not satisfying. He sighs.   “Stop.” Neil staggers upright, panting heavily. His chest is heaving. He has to throw his arms over his head. It pleases Andrew just a tad.    Neil huffs a big breath and seems to catch it a little bit; Andrew’s brief pleasure dims. “Why are burpees so much harder than running?” He asks.   “They’re not,” Andrew responds, just to fuck with him. He tries to move on to the next puzzle, but there’s an ad. He groans through his nose and watches the tutorial on how to arrange four jelly beans in a row so that a viking can escape icy waters using a life buoy. “Maybe I’ll download this game and play it just to enjoy the plot,” he says out loud, for some reason. Neil looks confused, but doesn’t pay the comment much attention. Andrew regrets talking.   There’s another ad after that one and Andrew wants to throw his phone as many times as it takes to break it. He could, he thinks—Neil would buy him a new one. But he feels complicated about Neil buying him things, so he just does the breathing routine Bee taught him for sudden onslaughts of rage like this. It makes him hyperaware of how dry and grimy his mouth feels. In his peripheral, Neil starts doing burpees again. Andrew grits his teeth.    “I didn’t tell you to go,” he says. Neil pauses with his chest just inches from the ground and looks up.    “It was taking too long,” he says. Andrew notes how he uses “it” instead of “you”, and how the strain in his chest changed the timbre of his voice. Sometimes, when Neil spoke, he sounded like a normal stupid 19 year old boy, and it gave Andrew a weird kind of satisfaction that he hated. As Neil pops back to his feet, the satisfaction clashes with irritation and makes his throat hurt.   “It was time for pushups, anyway,” Andrew says, making his expression as hateful as possible. Neil grimaces and affects a petulant look. All of a sudden, the urge to tease Neil mercilessly rushes through him like cold air, chasing the stuffiness out of his brain for a moment. His mouth twitches a little. He turns back to his phone. “Getting lazy.”   Neil grunts a little with the force of his scowl, but Andrew ignores him. He sees Neil lower himself to the ground out of the corner of his eye. He skips the two mini puzzles waiting for him and goes straight to the big one. “Go.”   Neil’s first few reps are far less vigorous than before, and Andrew wants to laugh at him, but he (a) can’t give away that he’s secretly watching and (b) refuses to invite commentary on his own stamina. Instead, he stares at the clues and tries not to think about them too hard, just kinda skips around the blank puzzle, feeling petty and like he wants to be cruel to something.   Neil grunts and pants on the ground. Instead of lowering himself to the ground, he’s now flopping. His form is comical. Andrew has solved two of the clues; his head hurts and the words aren’t processing. He closes his eyes and tries to undo the tension in his neck.    “Stop.” It gets quiet immediately. Andrew squints his eyes open. Neil doesn’t get to his feet; he just lays there, eyes closed, body rapidly relaxing like it’s shutting down for sleep. Andrew sighs sharply through his nose. Neil peeks through one eye at him, waiting.    Andrew has been laying on Neil’s bottom bunk, solving crosswords, since Neil’s restless energy had gotten the better of him. Kevin had used the snow day to have a study hall in Aaron’s dorm, because he was behind and everyday was a study hall for Aaron. Andrew wouldn’t have been so annoyed at having the dorm to themselves had he not woken up knowing it wasn’t going to be an easy day. He’d drifted in and out of sleep fitfully all through the dark morning. When he finally woke to light, he woke next to Neil. Instead of pulling him closer, like he’d been resigned to doing lately, he had to move away because the nerves jumped in his belly and refused to settle. He’d had to repeat the message later to Neil when he woke up and started searching for cuddles; Andrew’d pushed his hands away and Neil had accepted it gracefully. But Andrew ached in frustration. He had to forcefully persuade Neil not to go for a run right now—no, he couldn’t even go to the gym, because there were 7 inches of snow outside and probably tornadoes coming as well, because fucking South Carolina, and also Andrew did not want to be alone. So Neil just engaged him in conversation, which helped. Then Kevin announced where he was going and why and the frustration swelled again. Neil watched TikToks with him for a while because Andrew wouldn’t get up with him; Neil didn’t even complain, just commented on each video in a way that Andrew knew he was trying to be amusing. But Andrew’s head felt stale and Neil wouldn’t sit still. Neil kept squirming and squirming and finally got up to take a shower, but didn’t take a shower, instead explained his shoddy workout plan to Andrew as he finished his first shitty crossword puzzle that made him feel less accomplished than usual.    Now Andrew is wound tight and aching with frustration. So is Neil, he knows, in his own way; Neil had worn himself out quickly, but the itch is still there, and his energy is returning. Neil is antsy and sweaty on the ground and Andrew is frustrated and wanting something to wrestle with on the bed, but Andrew just can’t have that right now. He wants to fight something. He aches and wants to vomit.   But the mattress dips and now Neil is sitting on the edge of it, his curls in his eyes, his mouth neutral. He’s not panting anymore, the fucker. Andrew reaches his hand out, Neil takes it, and Andrew squeezes, squeezes, squeezes and lets go with a sigh. It helps a little.    “Can I kiss your hand?” Neil asks. His voice is gravelly like it always is post-workout. Andrew shakes inside. He nods. Neil touches just the edges of his palm with his fingertips and brings it to his lips. He nuzzles the palm first, his eyes closed, then kisses it. He rests Andrew’s hand flat on his face like he’s trying to smother himself. Andrew squeezes and Neil laughs a little. “Can I lay down with you?” he asks. Andrew shuffles over.   Neil lays on his back and looks at the underside of Andrew’s mattress. Andrew wants to move to the top now, because the bottom feels claustrophobic, but he also does not want to move, period. He hates and hates his brain.   “You could do some push-ups,” Neil says. “It made me feel a lot better.” Andrew very briefly thinks, A fight with the floor and my own lungs, before he scoffs. He’s mastered his own version of a scoff where he doesn’t put too much work into it. He can feel Neil smiling shittily at him but doesn’t look or say anything in reply.   He traces his own fingertips over the inside of his arm and finds, nauseously, that he never put his bands back on—he never got out of bed except to move down to Neil’s bunk that hadn’t been slept in for a week. What happened to the 8 consecutive good days in a row? What the fuck happened to that? What did I do this time? He can’t think of what went wrong—he didn’t even dream last night.   Neil blows out a long breath beside him, and Andrew turns his head to distribute an annoyed expression. Neil doesn’t look at him, but he’s scheming something, and Andrew is highly, highly suspicious. The suspicion trumps the burning in his chest for a moment.   “I need to go drink some water,” Neil states. His tone isn’t normal. He doesn’t say shit just to say it like Andrew does.   “Okay.” Andrew doesn’t even know why he dignified that with a response; he scolds himself for slipping up.   Neil sighs again. “We should pour some cold water on Kevin’s sheets,” he says, absurdly matter-of-fact. “He’ll freak out and be like, why are my sheets wet.” Neil pauses as Andrew tries not to grin. “We should make all of his warm comfy socks wet, too. Not really wet, just slightly damp, so he has to wonder if he’s imagining it.” Neil is so, so sick in the head, and sometimes it gives Andrew goddamn butterflies. “We’ll keep one pair dry, though. His favorite pair. We’ll just hide them, and give them to him once he looks like he’s gonna cry.”   Then Neil grabs Andrew’s phone from his chest, like he’s totally forgotten about everything he just said, like he was just thinking out loud, even though he wasn’t. He swipes it open—he knows Andrew’s password—and the puzzle is there. Neil clicks through it and tries to solve the long words first; he likes when Andrew lets him do those. This one is sports themed, which Neil has a love-hate relationship with. He types in a couple, but loses interest by the third. “I don’t fucking care about the baseball hall of fame,” he grunts. Andrew doesn’t either. Neil clicks a couple of the other words, but doesn’t solve them, just scrolls through like Andrew had done earlier. “These are way too easy for you,” he says, eyebrows just slightly furrowed. Andrew doesn’t have anything to say back.    Neil closes the phone again and puts it on the ground. Then he gets up and stands over Andrew, watching him expectantly. Andrew watches back, being stubborn because it satisfies him just slightly. His head also aches and he’s sort of queasy. He wants to bury himself under Neil’s quilt, but the idea of being in a bed that’s not his own makes him dizzy and panicked for a split second.    “Andrew,” Neil says firmly. Andrew doesn’t look him in the eyes. “It’s time for breakfast, come on.” Andrew knows it’s 12:36 PM. It makes him feel heavy. Neil doesn’t budge. “Come help me eat the rest of Kevin’s yogurt.” Neil never needs help eating a sickening amount of yogurt, and Andrew doesn’t even like Kevin’s brand of yogurt, but for some reason that’s what compels him to roll off the bed. He stumbles up and almost runs straight into Neil, but Neil backs away at the very last second. He’s smiling now. Andrew stares, trying to convey how much he doesn’t want to be vertical right now, but Neil just turns around and leaves the bedroom. Andrew tries not to think about it and follows.   Andrew hops up onto the kitchenette counter—he’s just small enough to fit. Neil hands him a glass of water; he drinks it. Neil hands him coffee and his vanilla hazelnut creamer; he prepares and sips it. Neil makes two bowls of yogurt and vigorously stirs in some frozen mixed berries that he usually snacks on by themselves. He hands Andrew a bowl and it’s like berry sorbet. He eats it and doesn't feel complicated about it while Neil watches. Neil eats half of his then gets medjool dates out of the fridge and starts eating them, too. He’ll probably finish them off. Andrew notices the container of yogurt is empty. They’ll go to the store later.   They’ll go to the store later. Andrew drinks some more water and the inside of his head stops burning. He gets down, his coffee only half finished, and holds Neil’s face in his hands.    “We’re going to the store later,” he says. Neil grins in reply. Andrew wants to squeeze it off his face. Instead, he leans in, pauses, and continues when Neil leans forward too; Neil keeps his hands behind him, grasping the edge of the countertop. Andrew appreciates how Neil’s lips are cold and dry. Andrew doesn’t know when he started craving kisses with no tongue in them, but he does all the time now, and it’s maddening.   They kiss a few times, then Andrew pushes Neil’s face away. “I’m going to take a shower.” Neil nods, smiling very softly. Andrew scratches his head once, just enough to make him want more. Then he takes a lukewarm shower and puts on some new jeans he hasn’t worn yet, a sweater he just bought, tags still on. He lays out Neil’s outfit for him.   An hour later, the snow has melted off of the roads. Andrew drives them to the store, and they take their time. They walk around downtown in the stark cold for a little bit. Kevin texts that he’s done studying. Kevin texts that they’re out of yogurt and it’s Neil’s doing. Kevin texts that he knows they hid all of his socks from him. Neil laughs out loud, not careful like he used to be.   Andrew is somehow acheless. He won’t be, later. But he is for now.

#it's also on ao3 :) #andriel #andreil #aftg #all for the game #neil josten #andrew minyard #all for the gay #aftg shitpost #andriel fic #andreil hc #andriel hc #aftg hc #andrew x neil #all for the game hc

[darlingbudsofrae]

Let’s talk about fanon foxes...

I'm glad that the fandom acknowledges fanon Neil, in specifics— the one where he is overly infantilized, sexualized, and/or feminised,, and how dangerous it is. 2021's about to end so I thought I'd add something I hate about popular fanon too and that is fanon foxes. Invasive!!foxes honestly weirds me out and I'm ngl,, I actually did found it kind of funny and sometimes cute at first, that they'd go the extra mile to see Neil and Andrew together having sweet moments or push them together to see those sweet moments because it gets me to see them too and found-fam being supportive— but then the more I read about it the more it kind of gets old?? Especially whenever I reread AFTG and time and time again I am hit with the realization that the canon foxes are nowhere near that and absolutely, totally respects Neil's boundaries—

You could argue that this was before the foxes found out about the mafia and Andreil but still no??

They still respected Andreil's boundaries and didn't went an extra mile to peep on them when they got Neil to go to the dorm with Andrew alone, Andreil shared the room in the cabin, etc. The more I think about it, it's a little discrediting to the littlest canon we could have of the other foxes— that they always made sure Neil wasn't uncomfortable, didn't invade his boundaries. Also,, it's kind of weird how most of them are portrayed to be so obsessed to see Neil doing fine with Andrew that they'll go thru extreme lengths just to see them being coupley?? I dunno,, maybe I'm taking this out of context and maybe this is just me— I like some fanon things about the foxes but the ones with them being obsessively over Andreil's space is something I grew to dislike over time.

#give my children some credit 😭 #all for the game #aftg #the foxhole court #the raven king #the king's men #nora sakavic #neil josten #andrew minyard #dan wilds #matt boyd #renee walker #allison reynolds #nicky hemmick #aaron minyard #kevin day #the foxes #im not putting seth here cuz he dead before andreil happened #rip seth #might delete idk but i wanted to post this before the new year #raeraegoaway

[the-chicken-or-the-banana]

andreil and goodbye kisses (pt. 8) ft. wymack (+ a bonus)

part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 || i'm actually feeling kinda sad that this is the last part but also my brain can't come up with more ideas lmao

wymack stands by the fact that he doesn't get paid enough to deal with andrew and neil's shit (both as separate idiots and together)

but he does care for all his foxes, despite all the... difficulties that surround them

and honestly? one of the biggest struggles he faces is how absolutely thick-headed and oblivious the foxes can be regarding andrew and neil's relationship

truly, the heart-eyes neil constantly gave andrew were so obvious, he's not sure how everyone missed them before

but because he's so observant, he doesn't fail to notice how the older foxes keep giving strange looks to neil whenever he leaves andrew's side now

wymack doesn't get in the way of his foxes' personal lives. but if they start causing disturbances on the court, it's his job as coach to get to the bottom of these issues

(okay, maybe he and dan catch up on the so-called "drama" in the team every few weeks but it's for completely exy-related business. ahem. of course)

one day, wymack corners neil and lets him know that he and dan were to meet in his office after practice to talk through some logistics for the winter banquet

neil agrees, and practice goes smoothly (or, as smoothly as it can go with the foxes)

but after practice is... interesting

wymack swears he had no ulterior motives planned with the meeting; it really was supposed to be a genuine discussion

but the outcome of it was certainly unexpected

he and dan both know to wait for neil, that he doesn't like changing in front of anyone

so they wait. and wait. and wait.

it gets to the point where it's nearly 45 minutes after practice and surely neil should be done at this point, no?

wymack gets up, fully prepared to break down the door to make sure neil is okay when suddenly it slams open

neil tumbles out hand-in-hand with andrew, with matching flushed faces and ruffled hair

wymack sighs

dan outright snorts, and neil's head jerks up and his eyes widen when he notices dan and wymack

but before he can say anything, dan stands up and grins at andrew

"fucking neil again, huh?"

neil chokes on a cough and wymack turns to dan with a groan when he notices the mischievous glint in her eye, almost like that was an... inside joke?

with minyard?

wymack is very confused

andrew just scowls at dan. "i will knife you and make it look like an accident"

neil is still recovering from his coughing bout, so wymack turns back to the stabby midget ready to reprimand him

"i'm not scared of you anymore, remember andrew?" dan's eyes are still bright as she tries not to laugh

"shut up, both of you" wymack interrupts their weird jokes conversation whatever gruffly. "neil, do you remember why we're here?"

"huh? OH. oh shit. drew, i'm supposed to be talking with them about some winter banquet stuff"

andrew considers this. "how long?" wymack tells him about an hour, and andrew nods and turns to neil. "i'll stay"

neil just rolls his eyes. "you have a paper due tomorrow that you haven't even started yet. go do that, i'll be fine"

wymack sighs. he's been doing a lot of that lately. "minyard, go finish your homework or i swear to god, i'll make you run three marathons next week"

andrew glares but mutters out a "fine." he goes to leave but neil tugs him back by the wrist

neil then proceeds to kiss andrew on the nose and gives him the most bashful smile wymack has ever seen on the kid's face

neil's happy. it's a christmas miracle! and it's not even christmas yet!

and that kiss... really, it was the last thing he expected out of neil and andrew but he's happy at how comfortable they've grown around each other

and okay, it was a little adorable

(not that he'd ever say that to their faces, of course)

andrew ends up stumbling out of the court with the reddest face wymack's seen as neil turns back to him and dan

"right" he says sheepishly. "banquet?"

BONUS:

abby doesn't believe it when david tells her about the nose kiss

she knows that neil has a heart of gold, she knows that andrew has so much capacity to feel

but a nose kiss? she doesn't think andrew would agree to that

so when her older foxes come over one night after a tiring, but successful, game, she decides she needs to see this for herself

after a hearty dinner, all the kids are sitting in the living room, with andrew and neil talking quietly in the back corner of the room.

perfect.

"neil!" abby calls, and everyone in the room quiets to look at her. "sweetheart, could you help me bring out the dessert?"

nicky immediately jumps up from beside her, saying how he could help if she needed it

"no no, it's alright, i was hoping to talk to neil, if that's okay? it might take a little while"

neil looks extremely worried at this and abby almost feels guilty.

almost

he glances at andrew and then he leans down so quickly that abby nearly misses it

neil kisses andrew on the nose.

abby barely notices andrew's bright blush, nor does she register neil moving towards her

she just feels so proud of her foxes for coming so far in a world that keeps trying to beat them down

it's a sentimental moment, which is completely ruined by kevin's woop and nicky's yell of glee

"YES BITCH THEY DID IT THEY DID THE KISS GIVE ME YOUR MONEY ALLISON"

"fuck you hemmick. fuck you"

neil looks at them wildly. "you guys were betting on us? i didn't think you would..."

matt sighs and slings an arm around his friend. "oh neil, do you still really think that low of us? we bet on everything"

JSKHKKSJ OK IT'S FINALLY DONE i already miss this series but it has been a fun time :) my asks are always open if y'all have anything specific you want me to write !

#wymack is my dad #abby is my mom #neil is my son #there we go #andreil #andrew minyard #neil josten #aftg #all for the game #aftg headcanon #aftg hc #tfc #the foxhole court #david wymack #abby winfield #dan wilds #matt boyd #allison reynolds #kevin day #nicky hemmick #palmetto state foxes #palmetto state university #andreil headcanon #andreil hc #tkm #the king's men #andreil bullet fic

[double-aa-batteries]

Fic Rec Fridays - Week 2 - AUs

If you want to check out any of the other 3 fic recs you can find the master post here

Andreil

the sound by jemwrites on AO3 here (17k, 5 chapters)

The cottage looked unassuming and quaint, with a wooden ramp up to the front porch and rose bushes beneath the windows. A little sign was nailed above the door, reading The Foxhole. It seemed peaceful. Quiet

Its patrons, however, were neither of those things. Neil could already hear the raucous lot from where he was stood outside the door. Having never spoken to anyone outside of rare, whispered words to his uncle, or his cat, or his mother's grave, Neil knew this would be interesting.

A blond woman opened the door with a smile and glittering eyes. Neil's stomach rolled over itself. He hoped this wasn't a dumb decision.

TW: mentions of neil’s past and kevin’s. some minorly graphic descriptions of past abuse

its always you series by justdk / @dkafterdark on AO3 here (5 parts)

andreil high school au in a series of short  fics where neil is still on the run, squatting in abandoned houses, when he meets andrew. he hadn’t planned on staying in town so long but things get more complicated when feelings become involved

read tags in each part for TWs

you kind of do though by Rory_writes on AO3 here (4k, 1 chapter)

Unspecified alternate universe where neil and andrew meet later in life.

Someone breaks into Andrew's house one night, drunkenly looking for his friend and instead finding a cat and, well, Andrew. (+trans andrew)

no trigger warnings, mostly fluff and crack

Kandreil

Listen, all these kandreil fics just absolutely wrecked me and in my opinion are absolutely worth the read

the shore we'd come to find by JayJFox on AO3 here (17k, 4 chapters)

Kevneil are hiding from Riko after running away and break into someone’s empty house for the night. only...it isn’t empty. They meet andrew and stay with him, getting comfortable, until Riko makes moves and kevneil become worried for their own safety as well as andrew’s.

This is just. Fucking pure angst (with a happy ending). it wrecked me.

TW: Riko and Nathan and riko and nathan adjacent trauma

a brick to the stomach; a bullet between the eyes by fluorescencx on AO3 here (5k, 1 chapter)

Roommates AU

A 5k roller coaster of pure angst and neil pining for the two people he loves but can never have.

But could? have them? no. of course not.

it’s stupid, but he dreams about it anyway.

no trigger warnings, only angst and pining.

Nicky/Erik

i knew you were trouble (when you broke in through my window) by neilwrites on AO3 here (1k one shot)

AU where Nicky didn’t meet Erik in Germany

Nicky’s drunk and goes to the wrong apartment. Lucky for him, the person who lives in said wrong apartment is German and extremely cute.

no trigger warnings

Jerejean

farmer's almanac by cloud talking on AO3 here (3k, 1 chapter)

Soulmates AU

soulmates know everything that their other knows, excluding who they are. jeremy knox knows his soulmate is in danger and the world will burn as he changes that.

TW: Riko. takes place in the nest. but less trauma and violence than canon. knives

Kevaaron

picture perfect by officialstarsandgutters on AO3 here (22k, 1 chapter)

photography aaron and model kevin au

Freelance photographer Aaron Minyard gets a gig doing fashion photography for a catalogue, where he meets Kevin Day, typical arrogant haughty model asshole. Or so Aaron thinks.

More fluff than enemies to lovers, but enemies to lovers adjacent. Listen, this is just romance. These boys love each other. (+non binary Kevin)

TW: riko and riko adjacent things. graphic torture scene involving knives that is easy to be skipped if needed. kidnapping and drugging, talk of past riko regarding trauma and abuse. scars and talk of kevin’s broken hand. it’s all the usual until the near end where you needa watch out a bit

r u mine? by alex_wh0 on AO3 here (2k, 1 chapter)

Tattoo parlor AU

After two years of unrelenting silence, Kevin comes back into Aaron's life. Andrew is PISSED, Neil is secretly thrilled. And Aaron — Aaron doesn't quite know what to do. (+genderqueer kevin day)

TW: Riko. Again. That rat bastard. recount of kevin’s broken hand and talk of Kevin’s time at the nest

#aftg #all for the game fic rec #fic rec friday #fic rec friday in april #andreil #kandreil #kevneil #jerejean #kevaaron #nerik (aftg) #nicky/erik #kevin day #andrew minyard #neil josten #jean moreau #jeremy knock #nicky hemmick #erik klose #aaron minyard #etc #@intangibel

[strawberryshortpace]

An incomplete list of why I’m obsessed with Andreil and why I read so much fanfic about the 2 of them

I am asexual and I love any stories about the 2 of them taking the time and effort to figure out exactly what Neil is comfortable with and where all of his lines are when it come to sex

It’s a relationship that can and does work without sex. I’m constantly being told that I’ll never be able to have a ‘real relationship’ if I don’t want sex

I hate people touching me without me knowing they’re gonna do it beforehand and while Andrew’s methods of stopping people are extreme(though our reasons for the hatred are different so he’s allowed to be extreme) it helps show me I’m allowed to have those lines and deserve to have people respect them

They show how easy consent is and how it’s not just for sexual things. A simple yes/no or a ‘can I hug you’ before. It’s that simple and as I said in the last point they make me feel like I’m not asking too much of people when I tell them to ask before touching me(unless it’s an emergency)

Essentially they just make me feel like I can have a functional relationship and that I’m allowed to have boundaries and expect people to follow them

#aftg #all for the game #neil josten #andrew minyard #andreil #andriel

[jingerhead]

I'm gonna write...some more andreil headcanons...

Hey listen they're fun and give me some serotonin when I need it

I'm gonna write about some more about cuddles 'cause it's fun. Neil likes it when Andrew lays on top of him, but one day he got the chance to lay on top of Andrew, and that was just as great. Andrew's entire body is hard and soft in the right places, making him extremely comfortable. Andrew's chest is the perfect pillow. The only problem is that the cats think so too...

Andrew gets into crafting. He always seems to need something to do with his hands, so doing something like making friendship bracelets helps. Neil wants every friendship bracelet that Andrew makes - and he's very good at it, able to make super complicated ones - and gets jealous when someone like Renee gets one instead. One time the press asked why Neil had seven friendship bracelets on each arm, and Neil proudly started showing them off without revealing that Andrew had made them.

The Minyard-Josten rivalry is both the best and aggravating years of their lives. It starts the first year Andrew goes pro and continues even after they move in together. Sometimes they would tweet at each other while sitting on the same couch. It all came to an end when Neil was caught with Andrew in public and people started thinking he was Aaron of all people, and he had to shut that shit down before Aaron could find out and kill him.

When shopping for things for their apartment, they forgot to get non-stick pans, and thus every meal was a nightmare. They were both determined to still use them, but that came to an end when they tried to make fish. It didn't matter how much oil they tried to use, it stuck to the pan and ruined it. The cats got whatever remnants they could pick off and they decided to order a pizza that night instead. The next day they bought non-stick pans.

They have a vegetable and fruit garden on their balcony, and if that wasn't enough they decide to make a flower box as well. Neil gets a vase and picks flowers once in a while to put in it. King ate one and the two of them freaked out when their cat suddenly vomited on the carpet for seemingly no reason.

Andrew takes good care of the Maserati, going so far as to only wash it himself. Neil joins him once and is only allowed to help that once because he started a water fight by spraying Andrew with the hose. They had fought over it, Andrew had gotten the upper hand and proceeded to drench Neil until he was shivering so badly his teeth kept chattering. Neil got sick after that, so Andrew makes him sit on the side while he washed the Maserati from then on.

Neil gets into yoga. It drives Andrew up a wall because he only does it in their apartment. Sometimes he'll do some stretches after his morning run, and it's always when Andrew is trying to eat his breakfast. Sure, the view is nice, and Neil is very flexible, but does Andrew ask to have a gay panic at eight in the morning?

Andrew knows that Neil doesn't believe their ghost-mate, Harold, exists. That's why it surprises him when Neil comes home one day with an EMF, Sprit Box, DVR, and giant flashlights. He claims they're going to find out if Harold exists once and for all. That night, they go from room to room with the equipment, asking for Harold to show himself. The spirit box says more than one word, they catch more than enough whispers on the DVR and the EMF goes wild in the pantry. All things Andrew knows is proof that Harold is around, but does Neil think it is? Of course he doesn't.

Just a few today lovelies! Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed :)

#aftg #aftg headcanon #tfc #tfc headcanon #all for the game #all for the game headcanon #the foxhole court #andreil #andreil headcanon #andriel #i'm still obsessed with harold #he's going to keep returning #jinger's works