Matt: Self-defence Is Not Some Fun Boxing Match, Okay? It’s About Escaping With Your Life. So, Strike,

neil actually cleaned out his cuts and burns after lola tortured him??? while he still thought he was going to die???? like i cannot emphasize enough how much that hurts. i literally had a blister that rubbed off on my foot and cried for days afterwards whenever i tried to clean it out with water, and here neil is even using s o a p?????? it paid off bc he lived and his wounds didn’t get infected but ow

jerejean fics are so much fun to read bc in aftg the characters more or less roll with the hits and just kind of accept what’s going on, and it doesn’t seem that out of the ordinary when you read it, but then you see how jeremy reacts to jean’s stories in the fanfics and it’s like... oh right... that’s actually probably how a normal person would react in this scenario

can we agree that neil absolutely flexed when he dragged andrew’s hand under his shirt? and can we also agree that while andrew was definitely interested in the scars, he also 100% let his hand linger on neil’s flexed abs? ok thanks

neil’s too preoccupied with analyzing other people’s emotions to care about his own. like his feelings never,, mattered to him ?? it was always about survival, not about living, so of course he doesn’t bother interpreting his own emotions, he only worries about those of others because that’s what has always been important for his survival

aftg hc of the day: neil is completely horrified by root beer floats. milk and soda should not come in contact under any circumstances. this is completely unknown to andrew until a night at the columbia house. andrew loves them, would eat them any time of any day, and happened to make a stop at the store on the way. of course neil is in the kitchen with him, distractedly messing with things here and there, until andrew starts pouring root beer into a glass. with ice cream. andrew of course notices the pure horror on neils face. neil manages something along the lines of 'are you possessed' which starts the absolute shenanigans of andrew trying to get neil to drink one. the next time the two of them are out, andrew gets one. problem being neil is gone before he's done ordering. the entire time they walk together neil is at least five feet away from him until he throws it in the trash. the next time they're out for dinner, and neil literally waits in the bathroom until andrews done with it. next time it's at their shared apartment, later on with the cats, and andrew has the fucking audacity to bring that cursed thing that came straight from the depths of hell into their home. andrew gets up to go to the bathroom and neil tosses it in the trash, glass included. the last time is in a costco. andrew foolishly thinks neil will keep some composure, only to find neil and the cart missing. it takes him ten minutes to find him again, busily loading cat food into the cart. they make eye contact mid sip, and andrew very simply says 'youre being dramatic.' but instead of a usual smart-ass response, neil replies 'im sorry, do i know you?' unfortunately, andrew makes the mistake of thinking neils making a quick joke. he's not. which leads to andrew literally following neil around for 30 minutes like something out of a horror movie while neil avoids and runs away from him at every bit eye contact. when andrew finally finishes the drink neil just asks 'oh where have you been?' the very final time is planned very strategically (white board and cats included). neil is busy while andrew orders his root beer float, making sure it's in a completely opaque cup. he tells neil it's iced coffee. neil literally acts like he's been shot. he's never been betrayed like that before, and has taken a drink of anything andrew has offered him since (unless it's in a clear cup and/or thoroughly inspected)

(dedicated [and credited] to @archiveofourfoxes ) (also the scenarios just for laughs because i had way too much fun talking about this)

wymack: sign with my team

neil: strANGER DANGER STRANGER DANGER

do you think andrew knew his birthday when he was in foster care? tilda didn’t even leave him with a last name - did she leave his birthday? or did he grow up with a random estimation? was aaron the one that told andrew what day they were born? is part of the reason he doesn’t bother celebrating because he just never knew what day to celebrate before and he wasn’t going to start that late in his life?

neil was ready to die. he had accepted that he wasn’t going to live past 19, that he would be killed, that he wouldn’t do anything else with his life. and he was mourning the loss of exy and his teammates and friendship, but he didn’t bother mourning the loss of a domestic life because it never even occured to him that that could be a possibility. that dream died the night he ran away. he didn’t mourn the loss of lazy sleep-filled mornings or cat cuddles or holding hands or having his own place, because to him, that was always too far-fetched. he didn’t mourn for the small joys of domestic life, because he’d never had them in the first place

okay so in ch 3 of tfc andrew says they should throw a talent show to see what else neil can do. basically what i’m getting at is,, imagine if the foxes actually had a talent show ??? oh my god the Chaos that would ensue-

in aftg, words often go “in one ear and out the other” when neil’s listening to others, but never with andrew. he clings to andrews words, absorbs them, hoards them like the upperclassmen hoard neil’s breadcrumb truths. he listens and he cares, he read between the lines and fills in the blanks, and that’s exactly what andrew needs