Aftg Hc Of The Day: Neil Is Completely Horrified By Root Beer Floats. Milk And Soda Should Not Come In

aftg but every time the foxes travel anywhere, Medicated Andrew™ sings “the wheels on the bus” nonstop until he passes out

Since my recent post about demi Neil erasure has gotten much more traction than I thought it would, here's a small post about how it feels and felt to realize I was demi because of Neil and then subsequently see tons of people disregard it.

(this isn't a call out or discourse post, just some personal stuff I'm airing out to hopefully help this stop happening)

It was kind of a big moment for me when I realized that like, Neil's thoughts on romance/relationships throughout the books wasn't just someone finally getting it right but someone writing from an ace spec perspective.

So seeing people (and literal friends of mine) say, "Well he is basically gay because he's dating Andrew," or any similar phrase hurts. On top of all the internalized shit I still have to work through seeing that sets me back so far. There is literally no justification for it. He is demi, it is not just a widely accepted headcanon. It's a confirmed canon fact, and he and very importantly every demi and ace spec person in this fandom deserve to have it treated as such. It erases such an important part of his character and the plot of the books. It erases his emotional bond with Andrew.

We rarely get ace spec rep in novels, and to finally have a demi character and see it taken away by people in this fandom because it's 'just easier to call him gay' really fucking sucks.

TL;DR: Neil is demi, he isn't 'basically gay'. It isn't 'easier' to call him gay either. If you want to get into semantics it's one extra letter to type. Calling him anything but demi hurts demi fans more than you may realize, and I hope this helped at least one person understand that.

(don’t repost)

“You are a pipe dream.” - Nora Sakavic, The King’s Men

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! :)

the hemmicks ask andrew to lead the prayer one (1) time at a “family dinner” and he goes “rub a dub dub, thanks for the grub, yay god”. they never ask him to say grace again

neil, doing everything wrong: like that?

boy overthinks literally everything else

andreil! i’m thinking of maybe digitalizing these two and adding them to my redbubble shop, but i’m not sure yet. i hope you enjoy!

you said i could send more asks (and i just thought of this so) what do you think of the extra content? ive seen a lot of mixed views but everyone mostly disregards it so i was just wondering what parts you liked and what parts you didnt

sorry for two asks in a row but xfjrsfbjgrukgv i’m curious

 yeah, seriously send them whenever! they always make me happy :)

as a general rule, i accept the things that are set pre-canon and most canon-timeline stuff (why andrew’s afraid of heights, that kevin noticed andreil first, renee’s past, etc). the stuff that i don’t love (mostly post-canon), i tend to view as headcanons rather than stuff that would happen in the canon universe. like the no renison, no jerejean, twinyards growing apart - i don’t vibe with those, but i respect that other people might

some of the post-canon stuff that i do like is the cats, robin, how andreil navigates intimacy (besides the no hugging), and andrew sleeping w his back to the wall, among others. i also don’t actually mind the no marriage thing for them, and i’m passive about the no “i love you”s

idk! i’m pretty indifferent about most of it. i was just excited to have more content from the author! i pick and choose what i want to consider canon, and i just disregard the rest :) 

hc that andrew’s really good at drawing, and bc of his eidetic memory, he can depict scenes perfectly. he didn’t draw much when he was on his meds, but got back into it when he was sober again. here are some memories i think he would recreate:

the “you know, i get it” speech (this one is a kaleidoscope of colours bc of his drugged state)

neil at ground level, andrew’s cigarette between his lips, giving andrew a mock salute (that scene right after andrew returns from easthaven)

seeing neil’s scars for the first time

aaron and nicky dancing, carefree, at eden’s

bee’s glass figurines (he adds to this drawing every time he gets her a new one)

sparring with renee

neil sitting on the ground at the foxhole court after calling andrew during his panic attack

neil leaning over the bus seat

matt grinning during an exy game

neil at the baltimore reunion (the rest of the foxes are blurs in this one because he only had eyes for neil)

sleepy neil curled up in the beanbag chair

allison and renee curled up beside each other

kevin coming in, drunk, with his new tattoo 

nicky and erik hugging when erik came as a surprise

kevin and wymack right before the final match

riko with his racquet raised above neil (he wasn’t going to draw this one, but he couldn’t get the moment out of his head and thought it might help to get it down on paper)

aaron smiling for a split second at a sarcastic comment andrew made

neil, yawning and wearing andrew’s hoodie

matt ruffling neil’s hair

allison painting renee’s nails

neil sitting on the rooftop, the sunset setting his hair ablaze

ice cream at sweetie’s (no cracker packets in this memory)

the first goal robin blocked during a game

neil on facetime, staring at andrew like he could never get enough

the first house that andrew could really call home 

sir and king climbing all over neil

neil and kevin wearing olympic medals

neil and andrew’s hands linked together

aaron and his family when they come over for dinner

neil, soaking wet and laughing during a watergun fight in their backyard

neil, smiling and happy and home

i’d like to think that, when andrew feels ready to show neil his drawings, they hang them up around their home. and when the foxes come over, they’re in awe at the memories and the love that is captured in the artwork, but they know not to say anything. dan gives them pictures, though, to hang up alongside the drawings, and they do