I Will Forever Support This And Their Friendship Will Never Move Into The Circle Of Acknowledging It

him not being able to fight is literally a whole subplot in my opinion. early on in tfc he actually says how he is an instigator through and through and can only start fights, not finish them, assumedly because of his smart mouth

“Neil was much better at instigating fights than winning them, but it'd be worth losing if he could just put a fist through Kevin's face once. Starting a fight was too out of character for who he portrayed "Neil" to be, though.” - tfc, chapter five

he realizes that he cannot fight, that he could throw a punch or two but would get his ass beat cause that’s not his strong suit. with weapons it could be a different story but like OP said, his training was when he was very young and mary took him before he moved on to cutting up the human body (it actually wasn’t EC, it’s in tkm which is cool)

“He didn't say he'd used knives before; one couldn't grow up a Wesninski without having a blade pushed into his hand. Nathan didn't have the time or patience to teach his son but he'd put two of his people to the task. Luckily Neil left home before he progressed past cutting up hunks of dead animals.” - tkm, chapter three

we can guess that on the run, he had to put his limited fighting skills into action to survive and that he might be a bit better if he had a gun or a knife but he is not close to renee’s level and that’s okay. he doesn’t want to be. he even admits that he doesn’t want to learn how to fight with knives because it reminds him too much of his father.

"So those knives [Andrew] brings everywhere are yours?" "Were mine," Renee said. "He was right; I don't need them anymore. If you need them, he will give them to you, and I will teach you how to use them." She wasn't smiling anymore. Neil studied her calm expression and knew she meant it. She'd put her faith in mankind and her Christian piety on hold and show him how to cut a man open throat to groin if he asked her to. […] "Thank you," Neil said, "but no. I don't want to be like—him." - tkm, chapter three

and him not being good with his fists is important because he feels a bit helpless after drake happens and goes to matt to ask him for help. because matt knows how to fight because of his mother and neil is aware of that, aware of his shortcomings, and asks for lessons

“That night he asked Matt to teach him how to fight. Matt looked surprised by the request but agreed, and they spent the rest of the evening figuring out when they could possibly meet up for lessons. […] Matt promised to get Neil a pair of gloves the next time he went out.” -trk, chapter fourteen

neil not being able to fight is important because it goes hand in hand with him being a runner. he knows how to start fights and how to run away from them. we can even assume he knows how to fight just enough to find an opening to run. but throughout the trilogy he is learning how to stand his ground and not run at the first hint of danger. learning to lean on others and how to fight is part of that journey meaning he has to be bad at it at first. and i don’t believe he ever gets great at it. because he doesn’t want to pick up a knife and while he learns how to fight from matt (which is phenomenal, i love their friendship so much) part of point of the books is neil healing and not needing to fight anymore. after riko dies and after baltimore, neil has less reason to know how to fight than before and i think he doesn’t put his full effort in mastering it. i believe that he learns how to stand his own in a fight because he wants to have the safety that comes with it but knows that he has andrew to lean on now should he need him

i keep seeing people say neil is canonically better at fighting than andrew??? genuinely confused as to where this is coming from outside of fanon...like genuinely why do people think he can beat andrew or even renee in a fight? neil is not physically intimidating like andrew. he is not capable of the same physical violence (maybe if u give him a gun). and yeah i see people point to his upbringing with nathan and MAYBE im cheating bcus im pretty sure this was only mentioned in the EC but his training never moved past dead animals. mary literally took him and ran before they could move to training him on live ones, and i think that's evidence that he wouldn't be some insanely crazy good knife fighter (also the fact all of this occured before he turned 10).

and call me crazy but there's No Evidence that Mary taught him Any physical fighting while they were on the run during those 8 years. in fact i think there's more subtextual evidence for her refusing to teach him both so that 1) he'd remain dependent on her and 2) so there was no chance he could become like nathan. like did we forget that his whole thing is getting his ass beat. over n over again. this is, i would argue, one of his most character defining traits. the foxes' battered wife in the wise words of one david wymack. mr "i start fights and let andrew finish them" josten.

you cannot tell me that neil doesn’t have wacked teeth. like he didn’t have a consistent dentist growing up if he even had a dentist at all. because dentist scans mean leaving unchangable, undeniable truths of your identity behind and mary would not have liked that at all.

so give me neil with a chipped tooth he got from a rough landing after jumping out of a car or a window. give me neil with a gap between his front teeth. give me neil with crooked teeth to match his crooked smile

there's this artist i follow @clementinecloudz who does younger version art of particularly andrew but they've started drawing lil neil as well and now my brain is full of kid headcanons.

- aaron and andrew live with betsy

- kevin and neil live with wymack and abby.

- kevin was obsessed when wymack started dating abby. he loved her, wanted to be her friend right off the bat. neil was suspicious asf and still isn't a big fan of her living in their house.

- aaron and andrew have entirely opposite tastes for food and it drives betsy crazy because whatever one likes the other doesn't so she's always making two different meals.

- andrew is all over the place and the thought of bringing him crowded places stresses betsy out because what if she loses him, but the first time they go to the zoo on a super busy day, he will not let go of her hand.

- aaron on the other hand, absolutely refuses to hold betsy's hand. he'll hold andrew's though.

- andrew, neil, and aaron are absolutely the kid who would shove another kid on the playground.

- kevin loves hanging out with the whole group, but will put on a show of rolling his eyes and complaining about having to hang out with little kids.

- the wymack household will go through a box of bandaids a week and solely due to neil.

- kevin and neil wrestle when they play and it stresses wymack out. they've broken a coffee table and two lamps.

- andrew, kevin, and neil are way more into exy than aaron.

- betsy meets wymack when he starts coaching the little league team for andrew/aaron's age group.

Ugh..

do you think he loved history so much because he looked at the ravens and saw the nest as another civilization so sure that they would never be defeated and took comfort in knowing how even the strongest civilizations, like rome, eventually fell? do you think he took to this pattern with so much fervor because he was desperately wishing for the nest to crumble, hoping that if they were destroyed he could finally escape riko? do you think he hoped for an aftermath that allowed him to rebuild his life without all the abuse, a future where he got to keep his exy but didn’t have to be viciously punished for success and failure alike?

and do you think that he watched the nest fall and the ravens spin into destruction and thought with quiet pleasure how he was right, how history was right, and all civilizations eventually meet their end? and do you think that right on its heels came fear over how the ravens would rebuild?

hey so like Kevin Day history nerd that came to love history so much because he kept learning and reading about people and civilizations that where continuously torn down but rebuilt time and time again, how things were destroyed and created anew, how people, despite everything, prevail and claw their way back.

“As soon as the upperclassmen parked and got out, Andrew pointed at Neil. "Look, one piece."

"Are you bleeding anywhere?" Matt asked.

"Nowhere vital,” Neil said.” - tfc ch. 6

HE’S LITERALLY SUCH AN INSTIGATOR I WILL NEVER GET OVER IT SHDKSJDKJSJD

like babe you’re not bleeding at all stfu (so so lovingly) you just know the upperclassmen don’t trust andrew, have your own tensions with him, and are turning his sarcasm around as your own to instigateeeeee

night practice

jean is very prone to burning in the sun. he needs to be religious with sunscreen and even with it will not really tan, just get red. no matter how much he is outside, he never gets more than a few shades tanner

jeremy burns easily but also gets nice tans. he tries to be good about sunscreen but sometimes forgets and is often a little burnt on his nose. but he tans perfectly and it’s as if it doesn’t fade in the winter (it drives jean insane). however since he is outside all the time and tans so easily, he has so many funky tan lines

cat and laila do not burn. they are both religious with sunscreen for skin cancer reasons and less so they won’t crisp. laila can get burned if she spends all day under the sun and has no sunscreen but like barely and only in extreme circumstances. cat though will. not. burn. even on the rare occasion she forgets sunscreen (which is next to never) she doesn’t burn, she just gets tanner. and she gets tans with sunscreen on too while sunscreen makes jean tan less lol

My Kink Is Karma - AFTG ANIMATIC

funniest part of tsc was when trojans went to the beach and the whole time jean was panicking over only two things

1. the possibility of jeremy drowning

2. jeremy’s wet thighs in those shorts

men be fighting devils and the devils in question are phobia of water from being waterboarded & hot men