I Love Imagining Neil And Andrew Like 10 Years Into Their Relationship. Like When The ‘nothing’ Gets

trying to get into photoshop so I drew the fox girls 

do you have any headcannons (andreil or otherwise) that are unpopular within the aftg fandom? and by unpopular i mean you haven’t seen them done/mentioned by anyone yet.

(also your posts are rlly cool, glad i stumbled upon your blog!!)

oh man, i love hc asks! i appreciate you giving me permission to let my mind run wild. and tysm, that’s really sweet!! 

(these are in no particular order. i haven’t seen any of them done before, but i also haven’t read all of the aftg hcs, so i apologize if there are any that you’ve already seen! CW: scars, bad family relationships... i think that’s it?)

kevin dog ears the pages of his books 

(he didn’t have any actual bookmarks at the nest and would rather just fold the pages than use a random scrap of paper)

in france, they greet by kissing each other on the cheeks (1-4 times, depending on the area). so, i propose that jeremy does his research and decides to greet jean at the airport with 2 “bises” (as is custom in marseilles). it’s second nature to jean, and he returns it without thinking. eventually that’s how all the trojans greet each other

bonus: the trojans greet the foxes like that at a match. most are confused, andrew stands off to the side and (understandably) refuses, nicky’s enthusiastic, and neil and allison reciprocate perfectly

the foxes write letters to each other when they no longer share dorms! especially neil, since he’s the worst at answering via technology

the letters include little doodles in the margins, pictures in the envelopes (mostly from dan), and other little things that can fit

all of the foxes have created spots designated for the letters

allison commissions a set of 10 custom garden gnomes that look like each teammate for all of the (og) foxes’ houses (and also wymack). while the reactions vary, everyone keeps them (some display them in their yards and some do not)

renee journals and presses flowers

allison reads classic poetry and novels

matt and dan get neil to paint lil fox paws around their house, wherever he wants to. they always smile when they see them

wymack has scars similar to andrew’s. he used to always wear long sleeves bc of it, but he covered them up with the flame tattoos and proudly displays his arms now

the foxes as a whole tend not to like rainy or snowy days bc bad weather = staying inside, which isn’t ideal when you have a horrible home environment (and for neil it meant running was harder)

they generally all end up in the same room on bad weather days, without planning it. no ones mentions the reason, but everyone feels a bit calmer with their found family around

neil and andrew start up a collection of black glass figurines in their home (like bee’s but opposite)

the foxes have a way easier time buying gifts for andreil once this collection is started, and it grows exponentially

neil doesn’t love ice cream but he has taken a liking for froyo

he doesn’t really care what he eats, but andrew notices that neil eats a lot more of it a lot faster, and fruit-flavoured froyo becomes neil’s usual frozen treat 

it’s also what caused him to experience his first brain freeze bc he’d never consumed a frozen food so fast before

i’m so sorry to any mobile users who have just gotten a wall of text

i hope this is sort of what you were looking for! aftg is on my mind 24/7 and this all flooded out LMAO

feel free to send me asks anytime! :)

love your hcs!!!! do you think you write one about the legacy neil left at palmetto and with the foxes. like he goes back when wymack retires. and next to where he carved his and andrews initials into the bed post just before andrew left, there’s other foxes initials and he sort of unknowingly created a tradition. or like eventually he gets his old exy racquet back from the cops and it sits at the court and before a game he slapped it so so did the rest of the team and has become a team ritual

hi anon - thank you so much! sorry for the delay, this week has really been something skhdskgjhd but i hope you enjoy <3 i had lots of fun with this :) 

years down the line, wymack is retiring (dan will be taking over for him)

neil and andrew are still playing pro together, but there’s a lull in their training and it’s nearing the end of the collegiate exy season, so they drive to palmetto together

andrew says he’s only going because he doesn’t want to have to deal with the cats alone

“you were alone with them for two weeks last year”

andrew pretends he doesn’t hear him

and then neil and andrew are standing outside wymack’s apartment, unannounced, and he grumbles that “at least you didn’t break in this time” but there’s fondness in his tone and he ushers them in

they have a night of comfortable chatter and silences, and andrew grabs the alcohol from the same cabinet it’s always been in. it’s familiar, and neil falls asleep on wymack’s couch with a smile on his face and andrew curled up on top of next to him 

and the next day, neil and andrew go to fox tower, and they walk the stairs that they know as well as they know each other

they get to the third floor, and a small group of foxes is leaving their dorm room, the one that used to belong to neil and andrew, when they see the two and just. freeze. 

it’s nothing new to be recognized by fans, but it’s weird for it to happen somewhere that feels like home. they tolerate it and ask if they could go into their old dorm room

the young foxes scramble to let them in and frantically pick up clothes and throw away trash to give the room some semblance of tidiness. neil and andrew don’t care

the bean bag chairs are gone, but there are still faint ash stains on the windowsill, and the crystal-clear memories of long since faded moments wash over neil

they drift over to the bedroom, and the young foxes leave them be as they silently make their way to the bunk. neil gingerly sits down onto his old mattress, andrew right beside him

andrew catches neil’s attention by tracing the carvings of their initials on the bed post, then trailing his finger down an array of other scrawled letters below. other initials, carved by foxes who came after them, and a smile ghosts over neil’s face because,,, he stopped running and he left solid evidence behind and people actually continued it after he was gone ?? and it’s such a weird thought but he loves it 

he asks the young foxes if there’s anything else that continued after he left

they show him the roof, fitted with new locks that have also since been sabotaged. it looks like their secret spot was less secret than they thought, but at least someone’s still enjoying it

they proudly demonstrate how they’ve all memorized neil’s riko roast which baffles him because that was never even televised ?? where did they hear it ????

andrew ofc will never tell him that he transcribed it when nicky asked him to. he doesn’t even really know why he listened, so there’s no way he’s ever going to try to explain it to neil

all of them have orange bandanas, which is a tradition that started neil’s second year and has apparently continued ever since

they don’t know that that’s where it started so they don’t mention it, but neil noticed from games 

they take neil and andrew to the court and show them the two lucky racquets (the drake one they got back from evidence when the case was closed and the one andrew used to shatter riko’s arm) and they all absent-mindedly tap them on their way in

it used to be a thing the foxes would only do before games, but slowly spread to. every single time they go to the court

apparently it’s also become custom for them to link arms on to way back to the bus after games, after neil’s kidnapping from binghampton

it took a while for them to get the order of the line right bc if they’re not careful, their attempt at keeping each other safe becomes a fist fight

bonus (not one of neil’s legacies): dan’s photo wall continues! they don’t ever take down pictures of the older foxes, just keep squeezing more pictures in. it expands beyond only one wall to every wall of the foyer, and they’re still having trouble finding room. sometimes they have to pile photos on top of each other

they also mention that movie nights are still a thing! they’re bi-weekly, and they always try to find a classic movie that at least one of the foxes has never seen bc of a shitty childhood

night practices are also still happening. not everyone goes every night, but a couple of the keeners do

“junkies”

neil is,,, stunned, honestly. he didn’t ever imagine he could have this concrete of an impact, didn’t think he could keep existing in a place even after he left it

before, he’d never wanted to be remembered. the idea slowly became more bearable over the years, but this is,,, he never expected anything like this

it’s overwhelming and it’s wonderful and he loves it

and later that night, neil and andrew go up to their rooftop (there are two young foxes up there that scurry away as soon as they realize who stepped onto the roof) 

and as they look out over the city, hands linked, neil’s heart feels so light and he can’t get rid of - doesn’t want to get rid of - the smile that seems to be glued to his face, even through the pang of nostalgia - another new feeling

and neil and andrew sit under the comforting blanket of the night and talk into the darkness

just like old times

and it’s comfortable and familiar and once upon a time, neil wished that it would never end

but now? now, neil knows that while he may leave,,, this will never end. not really

as he sits under the stars next to the man with whom he will spend the rest of his life, neil knows the memories and whispers of the past live on through love and legacies

honestly, what a power-move for neil to be an absolute asshole to the feds and get his way because of it. like damn, yes, let them know that you know how vital you are to their case. speak a different language so that they can’t understand you. call them out on their lies. insult them. go off my guy, that’s what we like to see

(and also shoutout to the rest of the foxes for refusing to tell the feds anything because they said they couldn’t see neil. this is the friendship neil deserves. this is the family that he didn’t dare to dream for. iconic)

young nathaniel so small and scared when he has to run away in the middle of the night, even though he’s leaving his monster behind. young abram confused and wanting to go back and play exy with the first almost-friends he ever made, but instead running forever and never able to slow down. young no-name boy answering to many, learning new backstories for every new city and wishing his life was anything like the people he pretended to be, anything other than his reality. young neil hurt and grieving and all alone in the world, no one but himself to protect him, looking over his shoulder for living nightmares and roaming monsters that want to hurt the boy who only ever wanted to play exy.

okay we can all agree that andrew likes to read, BUT it’s also a fact that he dog ears pages, ruins spines by leaving books lying open, shoves them in bags even if the pages get crumpled, and stains the books by eating messy foods while reading

same energy as “i can walk” “proud of you, didn’t ask”

I thought of this interaction whilst shopping today & laughed out loud in the dairy aisle.

it’s SO ADORABLE how eager matt was to join neil and kevin’s convo at the end of tkm when neil switched it back to english. like, no hesitation, he just jumped right in and offered his opinions and acted like it was totally normal. and all the while he was probably internally combusting of happiness because !! neil purposely brought the conversation back to english !!! specifically so that matt could be included !!!!!

picture this:

andrew straddling neil’s hips but leaning back and Furiously Ranting because neil said some dumb shit about a book to annoy him. neil being completely fucking heart eyed because not only is andrew healing to the point of giving a real shit about books but also?? while one hand is violently punctuating his sentences, the other is holding onto neil’s hand, allowing neil to rest his hand on andrew’s thigh. neil would be so utterly torn between Hanging On To Every Single Word and his brain going all static because Andrew Trusts Him Enough To Let Himself Have Something

i present my own personal headcanon: indigenous matt boyd