Imagine You’re Andrew And You’ve Gone Through Almost Two Decades Of Struggle—over A Dozen Foster

redraw of iconic photo by james patrick dawson, and how are you coping with waiting for tgr??

we cannot be using the word twink as a descriptor willy nilly...kevin day is most certainly NOT a twink, he's tall as hell and an athlete who's been training every day and night for his entire life probably eating the most meal prepped bland chicken and rice and then hitting the gym......

put neil josten in solitary refinement that man needs to learn some manners

crazy to me how much everyone loves being loved by kevin.

he asked neil ONCE if he wanted to talk about riko, and neil 'felt it like a balm to every bruised inch of his skin'. he has it in him to care so much and the foxes don't realize it 'cause his default setting is bougee bitch. but then he cares, and it shows, and they go 'oh wow. this feels awesome. kevin day cares about me.' like no wonder jean moreau was so down bad and defensive of him it's giving "imagine being loved by me" from hozier's talk

if andrew was a bit swayed by kevin, i cannot blame him in THE SLIGHTEST. kevin is like, specifically engineered to appeal to all of andrew's protective instincts:

fleeing horrific abuse from a grade-A asshole

thinks about going back to the abusive situation sometimes

needs him all the time

hot.

and on top of that, kevin tells him he's worth something and that he'll give him something to live for.

like idk what else andrew could have done. the man is not made of stone.

BAND AU OH MY GOD.

Kevin and Riko used to be a duo under the Moriyama label. Label was abusive and milked its artists for all they were worth—promoted addiction and disparaged mental healing so the songs would be more raw. Kevin gets out after a private fight with Riko and goes to Wymack’s label, confusing the public. People riot when he announces he’s joined The Monsters.

The Monsters are their own band, more rock-based and edgy. They recruited Neil from a video of him busking for cash (a la Justin Beiber).

The Monsters before Kevin:

(Neil sings this ironically bc no one knows how batshit his mom is) ^^

The Monsters with Kevin:

Kevin has more of an emotional crooner vibe.

Once Kengo dies and Ichirou picks through his assets, he tries to see if the labels are worth keeping. Riko kills himself in an artistic spiral. Ichirou buys and keeps Wymack’s label, therefor owning Kevin and Neil (who has some connection idk). Neil convinces Ichirou to keep Jean because he’s worth something, but he has free rein and can go other places as long as Ichirou can collect in the end.

Jean goes from a duo with Riko to solo and free.

Jean alone:

THEN. THEN. The Floozies try to collab with Jean. It takes a lot of fighting, but they eventually go on a tour together.

Floozies without Jean:

Floozies WITH JEAN:

The Floozies go into a darker era, far more emotional than before, and people go fucking nuts for it. Jean and Jeremy are usually the lead singers, so people pick up on their odd yearning tension easily. Cat and Laila have an insane WLW fanbase and have their own songs that they lead, though those are more rare.

RAHHHHHH I HAVE SO MANY THOUGHTS

People who don’t like Aaron Kevin Nicky for “not understanding Andrew the way Neil does” PISS ME OFF SO BADDDDDDDD bro people have different mindsets. Different worldviews. Andrew and Neil’s align in a way that’s really beautiful. But also Andrew makes no effort to understand anyone else’s perspective. NEIL makes even less. It’s not normal for people to just immediately get why someone would be acting as violently as often as Andrew does! You have to grow up around an insane amount of violence to not see what Andrew does as insane! If any of you ever met someone like Andrew you’d be fucking terrified! Most of you couldn’t even handle meeting Aaron let’s be so fucking fr! Neil and Andrew Understanding each other the way that do is so lucky and so brilliant, but you guys must end this tirade against Aaron Kevin and Nicky for “not trying to understand Andrew.”

Let’s j go through the list, ok?

If you were teenager Aaron and your brother almost killed you by locking you in a bathroom for a week for you to get clean while you were literally clawing at your enclosure (same brother who killed your mom. Btw) would you be so quick to try and understand where he was coming from? I love Andrew truly I do but that was so unfathomably dangerous.

Imagine you’re Matt and you put so much effort into getting clean and staying clean just for Andrew to literally drug you again? Jesus fucking Christ!!!! Imagine being Dan and having that done to your boyfriend!!!

Imagine being Kevin and the person who swore to protect you is choking you, with intent to do serious harm potentially even kill you (three people to get Andrew off?) because you made a promise to the person Andrew is doing this whole bit for. My god

Andrew is incredibly protective and that drives a lot of his actions and as the reader we see that more clearly because it didn’t happen to us and we never actually see these happen on paper. Andrew is not a kind character (none of the monsters are) and that’s okay. We are all attached to unkind people in real life. You can’t just justify every violent action he does by blaming other people for not truly understanding him

Something that stood out to me in my aftg reread was how unhinged the upperclassmen actually are.

Matt fucking Boyd and his willingness to absolutely go at anyone, anywhere, any time. There's a scene where Kevin tells him to foul another player on the opposing team and Neil specifically points out the unrepentant grin he has on his face as he waltzes off court after it happens. He also is described as the best player on the foxes line up multiple times by Neil and his play style is aggressive, he uses his height and build to his advantage and he doesn't hold back.

Allison and Andrew have the exact same style of serving cunt, in that if you don't interest them they will not even acknowledge your existence. A player from another team attempted to score on the goal and both Allison and Andrew stood still and watched them miss with such bitchy indifference it probably gave that player ptsd. They also both have a habit of cutting through bullshit and demanding truth ESPECIALLY regarding topics other people would shy away from. Badass blonde bombshells.

Dan Wilds is just as rabid about Exy as Kevin and her every first thought goes to the game first just like Kevin. She's just better at making her second thought go to something else. She literally knew the second Seth was out of the picture that there was an opportunity there and she didn't even really hesitate to talk to Matt about it. She looked at Neil and whatever fucked up little thing he had going on with Andrew (as it would have looked to an outsider, let's remember that they all knew Andrew took him to Columbia and drugged him) and was like, how can we use this to make the team stronger. Like Nicky used Neil to manipulate Andrew but Dan did it better and with much more calculation.

Renee I don't even really need to talk about because Neil was always wary of her but there is one scene where Neil let's slip about his father's penchant for knives and Renee's reaction and understanding gave me chills. Renee uses that part of her to protect and that's really great because she would be terrifying otherwise.

where's the andreil brokeback mountain au i need one

if aftg was set a bit later in the 2010s, i can imagine andrew putting "pumped up kicks" as neil's ringtone...the irony would just be too good to pass up