Tumgik
#the last person neil convinces to let him jump over is wymack
Text
Neil is definitely one of those kids that can just fling themselves over really tall things
the foxes find out in a break during practice when Neil and matt are fooling around and Neil uses his hands to just launch himself over one of those massive trash cans in the locker room
matt is fascinated by this and has Neil do it again and then once more
as they make their way back to court matt questions Neil on whether or not he could jump over various things
"the bookshelf in the girls' room?"
"probably" (thoughtful)
"coach's liquor cabinet?"
"probably" (confident)
"my racquet?"
"definitely not"
"Aaron?"
"hm?" neil breaks out into a grin as, at the sound of his name, aaron turns around from where he was taking with Renee at the doors of the court
matt explains neil's newfound talent and aaron just looks unimpressed
"wonderful. that's not going to happen"
"aw why not?" neil's grin has grown. "you scared?"
"of your incompetence maybe. not really in the mood for getting a knee to the head"
"ohh you're afraid of messing up your face. don't worry it's not that pretty anyways"
Aaron gestures wordlessly between his face and the face of a recently appeared andrew
"neil's right." andrew doesn't look at either of them as he walks by and a smiling Renee joins him in entering the court
Aaron rolls his eyes at that and matt, who has done very well in suppressing his laughter, asks him to let neil try
"ask Andrew. we're the same height anyway"
now Neil is just trying to be wicked: "i can't. don't want to risk messing up his pretty face"
Aaron rolls his eyes again and groans, elbowing his way past Neil onto the court. he turns back to Neil and matt who are shrugging at each other
"fine. once. and make it quick before Kevin and coach get back"
forty seconds later, matt is positioning Aaron in the middle of the court and Neil is bouncing on his toes seven meters behind him
Dan has looked up from the list of skills she was poring over and Andrew and Renee and Nicky and allison have paused mid conversation to watch
Aaron crosses his arms at the attention but then matt says "go" and a few seconds later there's a heavy pressure on his shoulders and Neil goes flying over his head
to Aarons credit, he doesn't so much as flinch
there's applause coming from Nicky and Dan and then:
"can you do that in a game?"
Kevin and coach stand in the doorway of the court
before neils face can even fully form a look of consideration there are four very firm "no"s from wymack, Dan, Andrew and Matt
Kevin and Neil look crestfallen but Dan continues. "besides, the majority of the people we play against are much taller than Aaron"
Aaron rolls his eyes and goes to sit next to Allison in the bleachers
Neil now looks contemplative. "I mean I could probably get over someone Nicky or Kevin- sized"
*cue practice being delayed by fifteen minutes because Neil wants to try jumping over everyone. coach draws the line at matt and Kevin but allows Nicky. Nicky, however, does not immediately allow Nicky*
"do, like, Renee first"
"why Renee?"
"to give you practice cause she's shorter"
"she's the same height as Aaron"
"fine so do Aaron again"
(Aaron, who is now on his phone: do not do Aaron again)
Neil jumps over Renee. then Dan. and Allison.
the foxes are all loving it (especially Kevin) and Neil is in his element
Nicky finally stands up for it but when he hears the violent pattering of neils approaching feet, Nicky shrieks and flinches in a way that nearly wipes both of them out
coach calls an end to it at that and Neil, slightly breathless, drops into the space next to Andrew on the bleachers
andrew hands him a water bottle and neil takes it while looking expectantly at Andrew
all Andrew says is "you're not even a rabbit. you're a frog"
Neil grins. "rabbit, raccoon, frog. it's getting hard to keep track of them all. you really should choose one name and stick with it"
Andrew rolls his eyes and rubs his knuckles against neil's shoulders to indicate his amusement.
"junkie"
"yeah that works too"
405 notes · View notes
willowbird · 3 years
Note
Aah I need more smiling and laughing Andrew from you now please!!! I'll be happy with anything you want to do with that! 💜💜
We ALL need more smiling and laughing Andrew in our lives. It's just too purr. 😉
I hope you enjoy!
(Also, I’m like -- SUPER sorry this took so long to finish even though it’s just a lil drabble. I hope it was worth the wait!!)
-----
Dan checked her watch for the third time and frowned. "Jesus, where the hell are those two? We're gonna miss our reservation if we have to wait for them much longer."
Their family had been spread to the winds for years at this point, but they still managed to get together once a year for some sort of a reunion. This year they were back in Palmetto the week before Christmas (something they tried to do every other year around the holidays). Half of them had arrived in town last night and the rest only this morning, but they’d spent most of the day itself imposing on Wymack and Abby (who had finally moved in together). 
It had been a good time and though Abby had offered to cook for them, Dan had insisted that the whole team treat Abby and Wymack to dinner at a nice restaurant. Considering how many of them there were, the celebratory nature of the visit, and the general rowdiness of their group, it had been decided that the lot of them would carpool with Neil, Renee, and Kevin as the DDs. 
Renee and Kevin had already driven off with their allotted passengers, so now Dan and Matt were left waiting for Andrew and Neil to finish getting ready or whatever the fuck they were doing. 
“We won’t miss our reservation,” Matt assured with a chuckle, nudging her. “Miss out on the breadsticks? Well, that’s more likely...”
“Fuck that.” Dan was not missing out on breadsticks so that Andrew and Neil could get in a quickie before dinner. With that decided, she whirled on her heel and charged back into the house. She instinctively angled for the hallway that lead down to the guest bedrooms, intending to make as much noise as possible as she tromped down the hallway so as to alert them of her approach. She was less concerned about getting stabbed these days as she was about seeing parts of her friends that she really, really did not need to see. 
Not that Andrew and Neil were grossly all over each other now or anything, but the years seemed to have softened the both of them. It was no longer shocking to see them holding hands or leaning casually against each other. They traded easy, casual kisses in greeting and simple affection just like the rest of the couples -- though there was still this... weight to every interaction between Andrew and Neil that spoke of how hard-earned those simple, casual expressions of affection were for the pair. 
Dan didn’t begrudge them that. On the contrary, it warmed her heart every single time she caught one of those tiny actions of easy love and affection out of the corner of her eye. 
Accidentally walking into the wrong guest room and catching Andrew pinning Neil against the wall, both of them barely dressed, was an entirely other matter and Dan was never going to be able to scrub that image or the sound of the way Neil was fucking moaning out of her damn mind. 
Yeah. She was officially scarred for life. 
So, while she was done waiting for them she was also not willing to add more trauma to her already considerable payload. She took a deep breath and prepared to start shouting and stomping when soft sounds coming from the den caught her attention. Now, if it had only been the little meows and scrabbles of kittens playing that would not have made her pause. After all -- the whole team had spent about four hours straight this afternoon going positively gaga over the adorable little fuzzballs. Nancy, Abby and Wymack’s recent rescue cat turned out to be pregnant when they adopted her -- which they hadn’t realized at the time. Now they had a little bundle of kittens taking up space in the living room. Wymack had already tried to pass them out like candy to the rest of the team but no one had bitten. 
Well, that wasn’t true -- Nicky had wanted to take the whole litter, but Erik had kindly and calmly told him ‘no’ in such an effective way Nicky had dropped the subject with little more than a bit of pouting. 
So if it were just that, she wouldn’t have paused. 
No, it was the quiet murmuring that bubbled over the kitten sounds that drew her attention. Dan cut off her shout before she could utter it and pivoted smoothly, heading instead for the den. She slowed her steps as she approached, holding her breath so the sound of her breathing wouldn’t smother what she could now make out to be words.
“We have plenty of space.”
“Drew, while you aren’t wrong -- I don’t think that five kittens is the best way to start a family.”
“Because you are such an expert.”
“Drew.”
A sigh. “Three then.”
“What, not going to try for four?”
Andrew -- because it had to be Andrew, even though Dan was struggling to compute this particular conversation with Andrew ‘The Monster’ Minyard -- snorted in affront. “And leave just one all by itself? Don’t be stupid.”
Neil, because again -- it had to be Neil -- chuckled. “We are not taking three kittens home with us, Drew.”
There was a long silence and Dan risked peaking around the edge of the doorframe. Andrew Minyard was sitting on the floor with his back against the armchair, mostly facing away from the door and absolutely covered with kittens. One was on his shoulder, two were wrestling between his folded legs, and he was holding the other two against his chest, his face turned down as he nuzzled the little fuzzballs, all while glaring at Neil over the top of their furry heads. Well, Dan assumed he was glaring. She couldn’t actually see enough of his face to gauge his expression, but even covered with kittens this was still Andrew ‘I Wear Fucking Knives Everywhere’ Minyard, so she felt it was a safe enough assumption. 
Then again, she could see most of Neil’s face, and he was looking at Andrew with an expression that Dan had no other description for other than “abject adoration”. So who knew, maybe Andrew was smiling gently and...
Yeah, no probably not.
Neil sighed, and Dan knew that sound. It was the sound of a man too much in love to say ‘no’ to whatever his partner wanted. Of a person too much in love to say ‘no’ to their love’s request, actually -- because she knew that she’d made that sound more than once regarding Matt. 
“Alright, fine. But not three. Two. Two kittens. That way they won’t be alone and might be somewhat manageable.”
Dan thought that Neil was in for a rude awakening if he really thought that any number of cats were ‘manageable’, but she’d let him figure that out for himself. She could tell that Andrew was debating an argument, but he ultimately shrugged -- which she supposed was an agreement. Then he handed one of the kittens in his hands to Neil and gently scooped the one off his shoulder and added it to the squirming fluff-pile in his lap. 
Neil held up the kitten and studied it, then his face broke into a wide, bright smile as the little black poof reached out and batted at his nose with the sweetest little squeak. The sound must have drawn the attention of the other kittens because they suddenly all turned their attention to Neil and launched a less-than-coordinated assault, even the one in Andrew’s hands squirming free to jump onto Neil. Neil barked out a laugh in surprise and jumped, ending up on his back as the kittens overran him and took him for their own. 
With a sound that Dan didn’t really understand, Andrew pushed up to his knees and crawled around to be able to lean over Neil’s head as the kittens tussled and romped all over his partner. This change in angle allowed Dan to see Andrew’s face, and then her brain sort of caught up with her ears and she realized that she did know that sound -- because Andrew was making it again. He was laughing. It wasn’t a big laugh, not bright or rapid or voluminous. It was small, and soft, but there was a rich, deep quality to it that sang with genuine affection as he smiled down at Neil. 
“See? I still say we should take all five. They are already a well-formed strike team.” Andrew. It was Andrew ‘I Eat Strikers For Breakfast’ Minyard saying those words. Smiling softly down at Neil. Chuckling as he reached out and brushed just his thumb over the tiny head of a fuzzy black and gray kitten. 
“Two,” Neil said again, but Dan wondered exactly how firm he was going to be able to remain on that point with the way he was looking up at Andrew. “We can convince Aaron to take the other three then set up play-dates.”
Andrew laughed again, a quiet dance of sound between barely-curved lips. His eyes were still on the kittens. “Aaron would not know what to do with a cat.”
“Neither do I.”
Andrew looked down at Neil then and his expression lost the smile but became... so much more intimate that Dan almost looked away. “No,” he said. “But you have me.”
Dan’s chest tightened and she had to physically lift a hand to cover her mouth. She could feel the imprint of her own smile against her fingertips.
“Yes or no, Drew?”
“Yes.”
Dan turned away as Andrew leaned down to kiss Neil, slipping quietly down the hall to rejoin Matt. Maybe they could afford to be a little late to dinner.
318 notes · View notes
shutupandshipit · 4 years
Text
Magic in the Blood - Ch.2
Summary: “You used magic on me,” Neil said, mildly accusing. He opened his eyes, staring into the glowing honey gold of Andrew’s eyes.
“Don’t I always?”
Instead of answering, Neil asked, “Yes or no?” because his hands were aching to run along Andrew’s skin, up his toned thighs, to tug him down over him. …..
Or where everything is the same, but magic exists. The school year is over, there’s no more practices until mid-summer and for the first time, Neil can spend his time the way he wants. Without suppressants muddling his system and Andrew sober, they’ve got magical and logistical issues to work through.
And then there’s the new Foxes when they show which is a whole other magical nightmare of itself.
Pairing: Andreil
Rating: T
Previous <- Chapter 1
Chapter 3 -> Next
Disclaimer: All dialogue, characters and events used from the book for this chapter belong to Nora Sakovic.
Chapter 2: Milport, Arizona
Neil:
Neil sat in the bleachers staring up at the sky. The double suppressants he'd taken before the game were beginning to wear off, enough for him with some difficulty to clear the sky of the few wispy clouds still scudding across the sky. The stars were washed out by the stadium lights, but that was neither here nor there. With the bitter taste of loss on his tongue, he didn't want to think of the possibilities the stars harbored. He simply wanted to ingest the energy the moon provided.
Of course, the moon wasn't in the sky either.
Neil felt Coach Hernandez before he even opened the door. There was a vibration that people who didn't have magic released. It felt like feathers against his skin. Sometimes it was soothing, other times it set his nerves on edge. Today, it only sent a jagged edge through his body.
As Coach Hernandez pushed open the stadium door, Neil clutched his cigarette tighter.
“I didn't see your parents at the game.”
This conversation was a song and dance Neil knew all too well. They'd been through it multiple times over his time in Millport, and he was tired. He knew Hernandez was just worried about him, about the sleeping on school grounds, about his parents never being around, but that only made it harder for him. So he let himself be pulled through the conversation until Hernandez said something that put him on full alert.
“There's someone here to see you.”
Startled, Neil snapped his eyes back to Hernandez. There was no other magic in the stadium that he could feel, no other magic close by anyway. His senses could have been dulled by the suppressants still, but that never lasted for more than an hour or two after the game. If there was anyone powerful close by, he should have been able to feel them.
That, unfortunately, meant nothing for his safety.
In the years he'd been on the run, he'd learned that someone didn't need magic to hurt him. Magic wasn't what made people deadly.
Jumping to his feet, Neil made to run. There was a man standing at the top of the stadium steps, staring down at them. Neil's panic must have been worse than he thought because he couldn't sense either Coach Hernandez or the new man now. He stopped, clutching at the strap of his duffle. “I don't know you.”
“He's from a university. He came to see you play tonight,” Coach Hernandez tried to explain, but Neil just shook his head.
“Bullshit,” Neil snapped, eyes still on the man. “No one recruits from Millport. No one knows where it is.” He should know, he'd placed a tracker block in himself after his mother had died. The tracker block should have pulled anyone's eyes who were looking for him away from Millport. They shouldn't have even been able to see the town on a map, but then again, he'd always been miserable at protection spells. No matter how hard his mother tried to beat the magic into him, he could never seem to pick it up. His magic was too geared towards chaos like his father's much to her frustration.
“There's this thing called a map. You might have heard of it. I might not have any magic, but I do have the internet.”
Coach Hernandez cut in, explaining, “He's here because I sent him your file. He put out a note saying he was short on his striker line, and I figured it was worth a shot. I didn't tell you because I didn't know if anything would come of it and I didn't want to get your hopes up.”
“You did what?” He was horrified. Magic began boiling in his stomach, scorching him from the inside out. The suppressants were doing their job of holding his magic in, but that only made him hot and painfully itchy.
Overhead, black storm clouds crept in.
“I tried contacting your parents when he asked for a face-to-face tonight,” Coach Hernandez explained, standing but not moving closer to Neil, “but they haven't returned my messages. You said they'd try to make it.”
Neil didn't turn his eyes from the other Coach, wary and watchful. “They did. They couldn't.” As always, the lie tasted like battery acid on his tongue despite that the lie was familiar. While he was good at lying -at least he thought he was- his magic always deemed to remind him that that was exactly what he was doing.
The look the man gave him said that he could taste it too, but he didn't comment. He launched straight into his spiel, “Listen, I can't wait for them. It's stupid late in the season for me to be here, I know, but I had some technical difficulties with my last recruit. Coach Hernandez said you still haven't chosen a school for fall. Works out perfectly, doesn't it? I need a striker sub, and you need a team. All you have to do it sign on the dotted line and you're mind for five years.”
“You can't be serious,” Neil scoffed, but he couldn't taste the lie, and that was the stranger part. He didn't know if there was a way to block a lie detector charm, but he needed it if there was.
The man shrugged. “Very serious and very out of time.”
The man tossed down a file that had Neil's name written on the edge in bold black lettering with the word 'MAGICLESS' just under his name. He didn't look at it. That file was a screaming reminder that he'd been found, that he was on someone's radar even if that someone didn't want to hurt him.
Neil's magic was roiling harshly in his belly, needing to be released as the suppressants came to the end of their rope. The Coaches couldn't be around when they wore off, not only because neither of them knew he had magic, but because his magic was explosive and dangerous right after suppressants. Chaotic magic hated being cooped up the most out of all the magics. If they were around when he went off, they would be hurt or even killed standing this close to him.
Sweat beaded down his temple. He could have listed to his mother. He should have stayed off the court when she told him he'd never play Exy again, and suddenly the 22 names and massive amounts of magic they'd both used felt like an effort in futility. Exy was the only thing he had at the end of the day, and he didn't want to be exiled from the court, but college and Exy weren't a future he could have. He shouldn't even be thinking about the future.
“Please go away,” Neil said, the battery acid thick across his tongue only he thought it was actual bile this time.
“It's a bit sudden, but I really do need an answer tonight. The Committee's been hounding me since Janie got locked up.”
Neil's stomach dropped out from under him. “Foxes. Palmetto State University.”
Coach David Wymach stared back at him, not at all surprised, “I guess you've seen the news.”
Well, he'd certainly done that. Janie smalls, Palmetto striker sub, had been found in a bathtub by her best friend with a note that said she had to let the magic out. And that was terrifying. Neil had never personally seen someone's magic make them go crazy, but he knew it was possible. He knew that sometimes despite being born with magic, their body and magic began to reject each other. He'd heard that it was hereditary, but he'd also heard that it could develop over time. The most cases he'd heard of were about pregnant women. With their body chemistry going through so many changes, sometimes their magic didn't make the adjustments like it should.
Neil had always thought that was a terrifying prospect while silently hoping that one day his father's magic would do that same.
Neil couldn't sign with the Foxes. They were in the new every other week for something or other, usually magic related. They were made up of talented rejects, junkies and kids whose magic made them nuts or that they never had control of to begin with. In short, they were a fucking mess.
Then there was Kevin Day, and there was no way Neil could meet him. He'd recognize him immediately, and even if he didn't recognize his face, if he felt his magic- That's be it. He'd recognize Neil immediately. His and his father's magic were one in the same, so similar they were nearly identical at times.
“You can't be here.”
“Yet here I stand. Need a pen?”
“No,” Neil said, tightening his fingers around his bag strap until his knuckles pressed white against his skin, “No. I'm not playing for you.”
“I misheard you.”
“You signed Kevin.”
“And Kevin signed you, so-”
That was it for Neil. Kevin knew who he was and where he was, and he needed to be out of there. Praying to Tyche, Neil bolted for the door, but his goddess wasn't with him that night. He felt the magic, roiling and chaotic and forcibly restrained, a moment before he saw the man. He hesitated for barely a moment, and that was where he fucked up. A racquet slammed into his stomach. Crumpling to the floor, he wheezed as his magic crawled up his throat, choking him.
Andrew:
“Wymack's been out there for quite a long time,” Andrew said breezily, plucking at the taught strings of a goalie stick he'd taken from the rack in the corner, “It might not be going so well.”
“We'll get him. He can't say no.”
Andrew grinned nastily. “That's what you thought of me, yet here we are.”
Kevin grumbled under his breath, but didn't answer.
Andrew knew that Kevin'f failure to convince him to sign with the Ravens still stung, and he loved to poke at the sore spot. Sometimes, he managed to elicit a stronger response, and he was mildly disappointed that he wasn't going to get anything more.
Andrew needed a distraction from the feeling of stale magic in the locker room. Too many suppressants and magic leaking out of the player's pores by the end of the game. He could feel it on his tongue like a film, the taste musty, and he ran his teeth along the top of his tongue to try and scrape the feeling away.
“We're not leaving until he says yes,” Kevin said vehemently.
Annoyance skittered across Andrew's nerves. He leaned on the stick, unconvinced and unimpressed. He was just getting ready to throw back a scathing remark when he felt the brush of another person's magic, frantic with fear.
Standing straight, Andrew held the racquet at the ready.
The man came barreling through the door, hesitating just long enough that Andrew caught a glimpse of the hesitation before he slammed the racquet into his stomach.
Neil Josten dropped to the floor immediately, dry heaving. Even through the haze of his drugs, he could see the bright flickers of color spilling from his lips instead of bile.
Andrew's magic reached out for Neil, wanting to heal the wound he'd inflicted, always wanting to heal. He just let his magic flail at the end of its reach under the influence of his drugs and his own limitations.
As fleeting as it was, he felt Neil's magic more strongly than he did even Kevin's which was interesting. That could have been due to the suppressants every athlete was required to take before a game, but game suppressants only lasted for the length of a normal game. Whatever was putting a lid on Neil's magic, they were much stronger than game suppressants, but they weren't strong enough.
What was most interesting though was the fact that Neil was supposed to be magicless, but that couldn't be further from the truth it seemed.
Andrew stared down at the heaving body, wanting to rip him to shreds as their magics collided and interlaced in sporadic spurts. That wouldn't have been a problem if his magic had simply rejected the interruption like it did all other magics, but it didn't. Instead, it collected and stored Neil Josten's magic like charging a battery.
Andrew grinned manically.
Wymack pushed through the door. “God damn it, Minyard! This is why we can't have nice things!”
“Oh, Coach, if he was nice, he wouldn't be any use to us, would he?” Andrew asked.
“He's no use to us if you break him.”
They went back and forth like that for a moment before he met Neil's eyes. The glared he leveled on Andrew wouldn't have been anything special if he didn't see the lightning streak across his irises. No, not across them... behind them... He was wearing colored contacts.
Andrew narrowed his eyes. 'Oh, this one might be interesting after all.'
“Better luck next time,” Andrew told him, but he didn't miss the smallest of flinches.
“Fuck you.”
…..
Neil:
“What are you thinking about?” Andrew asked, startling Neil out of his road hypnosis.
Neil blinked quickly, checking all the mirrors before glancing over at Andrew. “The first time we met.” He hadn't known Andrew was awake or how long he'd been watching him, but he was still curled up against the window, the sun shining gold in his hair. He was soft and sleepy and beautiful.
“Why?”
Neil shrugged. “I don't know.” He was quiet for a moment. “What were you dreaming about?”
Andrew straightened, glancing around to gauge where they were. “How could you tell I was dreaming?”
“You twitch and mumbled in your sleep sometimes.”
Andrew was silent for a moment. “The first time we met.”
The silence returned, thicker but still comfortable. They were always surprised when their magic did that, pulled their thoughts in the same direction. It was almost like telepathy, but without the direct communication. Both of them could live with indirect communication, but they knew they'd go nuts with telepathy. They couldn't be that entranced in each others minds all the time.
Neil smiled. “What did you think of me?”
“That you'd be interesting, but not worth the trouble.”
“I just thought you were an asshole,” Neil said with a laugh.
“I still am,” Andrew said matter-of-factly.
Neil laughed again, and took the next off ramp down towards a truck stop.
9 notes · View notes
nightquills · 4 years
Text
happy birthday, neil
once the upperclassmen + nicky begin to comprehend the degree to which neil’s childhood absolutely Sucked, they band together to give him a lot of the stereotypical birthday parties that he missed out on growing up
and let’s be real, none of the other foxes had particularly easy childhoods either. it’s a chance for them all to do the things that they wish they could have when they were younger too
there’s some debate over whether to celebrate on neil’s real birthday, or the one that he chose when he first became neil josten
on one hand, they want to respect the truth that he’s given them about who he really is, and maybe celebrating in january would show their appreciation for that?
but they also know that his real birthday doesn’t have the best associations for neil, and they wonder if it would be better to pick the newer date that doesn’t have those shadows hanging over it 
(and when dan asked neil about it in TKM, he said that they could do something for march 31st)
maybe enough time has passed since last year’s bullshit with riko and neil’s father, though? 
ultimately they decide fuck it—january 19th and march 31st are far enough away that they can justify celebrating both to themselves
bowling party!!!
it should come as no surprise that neil gets super competitive over it and promptly decides he is in it to win it. despite the fact that he has never bowled in his life before 
give the boy an A for effort, but every other ball goes in the gutter
cue the teasing asking if he wants one of those ramp things for children to help him line it up, to which neil pouts very extensively   
renee comes out on top every single game
when asked how she does it, she says that she used to chaperone a lot of the activities for the kids at her church, and bowling was a pretty common one
allison complains about how gross and outdated the bowling shoes are. and honestly? she’s right
andrew tries to subtly flex on everyone by picking one of the heaviest bowling balls, and neil laughs when he notices
there’s something about bowling alley pizza that always slaps, so of course they order pizzas to split between them all
kevin has worn himself out trying to convince everyone to eat more healthy food, so he just orders a pizza with literally every available vegetable on it. he’s the only one that eats any of it, bless his heart
of course the foxes get into the famed debate over whether pineapple is an appropriate pizza topping. it gets very loud 
arcade party!!!
they originally wanted to do chuck-e-cheese but they realize that the complete lack of children in their group rules that out
aaron and andrew do not appreciate the suggestion that they might be short enough to pass for children, thanks, go fuck yourself
they do find another arcade though 
there’s a laser tag room in this one, but they quickly realize that that’s probably not the best idea for a person who has literally been shot at multiple times in the past. so they skip that 
neil and kevin get in a skee ball competition 
kevin tries to lecture neil about proper technique. “you have got to be fucking kidding me,” neil says
matt teaches neil how to do dance dance revolution
matt is very good. neil almost falls on his face because he’s not using the railings at first
allison loves venting her rage via whack-a-mole
dan is the queen of pac-man
andrew and aaron team up against nicky and renee for air hockey
the whole group tries to test their athlete reflexes on that one game where you have to slam the button to stop it as close to the jackpot as possible 
andrew actually does hit the jackpot, and everyone is freaking out as he just stands there and stoically stares at the machine spewing out the tickets 
they pool all the tickets they’ve won together at the end so that neil can pick a prize for himself 
he gets a lava lamp, and he has just enough left over to get a little alien keychain that he promptly moves all of keys over to
build-a-bear party!!!
to the surprise of literally no one, neil chooses the fox
he’s given a hard time when he goes to choose the clothes for it. “neil, you better not dress him as badly as you do yourself” says allison, to widespread agreement from everyone else 
andrew picks a rabbit, to which neil pointedly raises his eyebrow
andrew deadpan says “aesthetic” as he grabs a little leather jacket to dress it
kevin complains about the lack of exy paraphernalia to dress up for his tiger
dan says that maybe he could stop by the school store on campus and get one of the school pride baby t-shirts they sell there
kevin pouts but eventually settles for a pirate look instead
aaron makes a koala in a cheer outfit to give to katelyn 
dan gets a t-rex and dresses it up like a rockstar
matt gets a bernese mountain dog and a boxing outfit
renee gets a frog and puts it in a pastel skirt and shirt combo
allison gets a hippo and a sequin dress with the matching headband 
nicky dresses his bear in a pink rainbow heart hoodie, surprising absolutely no one
imagine all the foxes looking at each other and trying not to crack up as they do the little stuffing/heart ceremony
god bless the poor employee that has to deal with their shit, honestly
karaoke party!!!
nicky is the most excited to do it, but he also takes forever to decide what song to do because there are so many he wants to sing 
eventually he decides that you can’t go wrong with queen or bi-con freddie mercury, so he does “don’t stop me now” 
the girls all decide to sing a song together—allison convinces them to do “how to be a heartbreaker”
matt is literally the personification of the heart eyes emoji as he watches dan sing
matt gets neil to do a duet with him, and they end up doing a very overblown rendition of “don’t go breaking my heart” 
dan makes a joke about feeling jealous, so matt serenades her with “treasure”
she won’t admit it over her laughter, but she’s actually very touched
renee does a lovely rendition of “rhiannon”
aaron sings “time to pretend”
everyone makes fun of kevin’s taste in music when he sings “other side”
he is dubbed “kevin ‘dad rock’ day” from that point on 
andrew flatly refuses to sing and no one is really willing to try and convince him on that one 
though he may not show it, he actually is very much enjoying seeing his teammates make fools of themselves
nicky make little party bags to pass around, including the stereotypical party bag favors 
little temporary tattoos
cue everyone teaming up to make fun of kevin by putting the gaudiest, sparkliest ones on their cheeks to make fun of his chess piece
little containers of bubbles with animals on the lids
imagine andrew getting annoyed with someone and blowing bubbles in their face with the most unimpressed fucking expression on his face until they shut up 
friendship bracelets
they laugh when they see them, but don’t let that fool you—almost everyone puts them on right away
glow stick necklaces
bouncy balls, which are inevitably taken to the next team practice and used to wreak havoc. poor wymack, honestly 
annoying party blowers
neil makes it his mission to sneak up on matt and blow it right in his ear, because matt jumps literally every single time 
a fuckton of candy
andrew would never say it, but he likes the goodie bags just for this fact alone
neil not so sneakily sneaks all of his candy into andrew’s bag
wacky sunglasses, which they promptly use to take a number of increasingly ridiculous group photos
they decide to do cupcakes instead of a real cake so that everyone can get the kind that they want
since neil isn’t a big sweets fan, they always get him one of those little fruit tarts instead 
when neil blows out the candles, his wish is that he’ll have the chance to make more happy memories with his family just like this
neil’s favorite part isn’t actually doing any of the things at his birthday parties; his favorite part is really that his friends were all together and laughing, and he saves every single picture taken
>ao3<
4 notes · View notes
victor-v · 4 years
Text
so yesterday i finished all for the game for the second time in my life (weird thing i've never read a book or series twice) and it wrecked me for the second time. it was unexpectedly nice that i actually understood everything with so much clarity, but that makes sense i've got lot of practice in reading english since then. also, i wrote my thoughts on the book this time.
i can't understand how a book can have such an impact on me, i hate that and i love it, everything else that crossed my mind is under the cut
★huh andrew really bullied aaron into dressing identical to mess up with neil
★"i don't swing either way" is the phrase that made me feel more valid that the whole queer community ever
★neil is pure nihilism
★how can i EVER forget neil wore a tight long sleeved TORN tshirt that andrew bought this is way too much
★seth is dead and all kevin can think about is the line up tbh i do that often
★they are making a scandal about how they sit
★kevin telling neil "destroy him" filled me with power
★the most unreal part is neil ALWAYS keeping his roots another colour the guy must dye his hair every fucking week
★how did neil buy andrew's promise to protect him from the japanese mafia's professional murderers when the only people he physically bullies is an obsessive young adult with anxiety, a princess in high heels and his sunshine sister in law
★wait a fucking minute andrew saw neil filled with terror while holding the phone and immediately gave him the car keys so he could be alone fuck
★nicky fucking hemmick attended to improv class
★ according to dan few athletes were crude enough to start trouble at an ERC event, you mean as crude as neil?
★how to take care of your teammate while he's in a crisis according to: andrew→show concern and reassure him. wymack→10 seconds of vodka
★"hey, jean. jean valjean" is peak comedy
★the ravens walking in v formation is genuinely the most cringy thing you can think of
★neil first finds out the only possible person to date him is andrew because he was jealous of renee are you kidding me
★andrew only missed 13 from 150 shots on goal for fucking real what a Man
★renee is an angel, she's specifically andrew's angel
★neil truly is a watcher
★bee wearing a bee costume is the only good thing on this world
★dan and matt dressed like greek gods!!!!! they can adopt me already
★can you believe nicky is the one who got into neil's brain and planted the idea of realying on someone, and since then neil actively pursues an investigation on andrew's relationship status how on god's name i missed that HOW he's not even subtle about it damn
★he first worries about renee now about kevin goddamn it josten how can't you se how much you care about him
★it's funny how sexuality is such a heavy topic between them when they sure as fuck have some pretty huge stuff going on you know like dying in the hands of the mafia or being tortured
★i imagine andrew running to renee all bonkers like "listen if the cute guy asks, for fucks sake tell him i'm gay but make it ~casual~ maybe this way he'll get it"
★the sole mention of thanksgiving dinner makes me want to die
★kevin is checking the scores in a newspaper I forget this book is so 00's
★they should have spent the day eating turkey and frozen pie at abby's fuckkkkkkkk
★are you kidding me they are in the middle of a conversation and andrew casually chokes neil a little but it's ok they carry on wtf
★"we are all going to regret this" is the fucking worse piece of foreshadowing in this book
★neil interrogating andrew the same night he was raped what kind of fucking piece of shit does that
★i can't fucking believe neil went ahead and shoved andrew's hand under his tshirt in front of kevin, wymack, betsy and two fucking lawyers are you kidding me
★neil asking "are we? friends?" to nicky is so relatable because i also would have an aneurysm if someone told me i am their friend
★someone else tries to flirt with him and he immediately considers andrew how i was too ace to see it the first time i read
★jesus fucking christ riko is one truly fucked up sociopath and neil is the bravest motherfucker on the land
★how can he face riko like that in the nest and be extremely pure in other occasion
★"are we watching the ball drop? i want to make a wish" he wants to make a wish and i want to die thanks
★i can't believe the whole if it means losing you then no and side effect of the drugs shit it's unreal fucking unreal how oblivious neil is too ace to realize anything SOMEONE JUST CALLED YOU "DREAM" THE LEVEL OF ROMANTICISM
★the amount of heavy staring in this trilogy is ridiculous and all i can think about is twilight
★these books made me see how far from the 00s we are, for many reasons, but mostly for some jokes that can't let slide; like calling neil a battered wife, domestic misogynistic violence is not a joke
★i can't believe from all people, wymack was the first one to get andrew was into neil
★"that doesn't mean I wouldn't blow you" is such a funny phrase to be said casually why is it
★"you are a racoon, not a fox" oh andrew
★it only took andrew admitting he had a crush for neil to be all sentimental and shit, and that disarmed andrew too
★they are like some kind of animal that while you think they are fighting, they are actually mating, that's exactly what nora meant with feral
★half of last book is neil mooning over andrew jfc
★nicky made neil smile while distracting him from riko im gonna throw myself off a cliff
★i can't quite believe neil goes through a detailed monologue about andrews memory the man is impressed and borderline turned on about every talent on his crushe's shelf
★i literally can't follow and will never understand the quarrel/promise/agreement between aaron and andrew what a bunch of pretentious idiots
★every time neil's phone buzzes all i fear is the fucking countdown
★i thought "i want to see you lose control" was a collective fever dream i can't believe it's written on the books
★if i was nicky i already have told andrew to stop his freaky pretentious shit towards me
★neil to the upperclassman: ha ha fellas is it gay to unthinkingly call andrew in the middle of a anxiety breakdown
★"you gave me a key and called it home" is as soft as heartbreaking i want to jump off a cliff
★"i won't be like them, i wont let you let me be" is actually pushing me off that cliff andrews feelings are a fucking storm
★neil was kidnapped and tortured the day of my bday and that's not a coincidence
★neil's talent to twist the truth in order to convince andrew of anything is outstanding
★excuse me they have no right to be this soft i hate them
★they miss so many opportunities to be funny about the whole "protection" thing
★did he really had a mental breakdown over where to fucking sit on the bus lmao
★"don't come crying to me when someone breaks your face" is the second most awful piece of foreshadowing
★lets be honest for a second andrew should be a fucking writer because all those things he says? edgy myspace pretentious poetry
★im sorry but i don't care about literally anything except neil smiling onto andrew's neck bye
★andrew ghosted a kiss across neil's hip im dead for real
★abby kissed neil's forehead farewell after cleaning all his injuries i have no words he's recieving all the affection he deserves
★cant believe you don't see aaron is fucking worried neil is taking advantage of andrew
★i mean yeah ok don't talk love but neil is sad that nicky thinks it was only hate sex, and he immediately acknowledged it meant more than that to him bc his demi btw wtf does hate sex mean i can't believe you hate someone so much you wanna suck his dick
★they all went horseback riding when will i have a group of friends like that
★"who's humanising who in that relationship" i know right nicky
★kevin locking himself to have a panic attack is the most relatable thing
★the car encounter with ichirou holds the same tension as a mr robot scene
★the proposal of playing olympics and being unstoppable feels like marriage or smth
★neil is literally having his hot girl summer
★i adore neil's overflow of emotions after swallowing everything for so many years. represented, thanks.
★andrew terrorising katelyn who the fuck does he think he is what an annoying asshole
★"did you know i've never been skiing" is the most epic line
★i cheer to the sole mention of laila
★alvares can deck me right now and i would say thank you
★"war is profitable" aaron knows what's up
★sometimes i want to slap them is2g
★that scene at eden's where they are all discussing how roland found out and aaron ends up being the only straight one lmao boy it's your punishment for being so homophobic
★the whole "deadliest piece on the board" spech is 100 times better when you consider kevin was wasted and overly exaggerating every word and gesture
★can you imagine those few fans supporting kevin's new tattoo screaming YAAAAASSSSS QUEEEEEEEEEN while snapping fingers i'm cackling
★matt in court body slamming into anyone that's been a problem to the foxes: VIBE CHECK MOTHERFUCKER
★neil kissed andrew in castle fucking evermore the audacity i adore him
0 notes