#‘andrew must fall for kevin to rise’

[aftgficrec]

Can't believe I caught this open. I love your page. Was just wondering about fics centered around medicated Andrew. Like the foxes realizing that the drugs were more harmful than helpful. Thanks!

Medicated Andrew is an AFTG hot button theme with a good amount of fandom meta, discussion, and umbrage to be found. Some fic writers go the fix-it route with time travel aus or canon divergent stories with different or zero meds (here's the ao3 unmedicated Andrew tag). When Andrew is on the problematic medication it’s usually Neil who wants it gone, but sometimes other foxes see it too. We also found aus with unexpected people wanting Andrew off the meds…can you say Tetsuji Moriyama or Fox!Harry Potter? We have a good amount of Andrew’s pov, and fanart that’s like whoa. What I’m saying is, buckle up for a wild ride, rabbits. -A 

previous recs:

Andrew’s meds here

‘They All Burn the Same’ here (updated)

‘take two’ here

‘Deals With Devils’ and ‘The Sun Still Rises’ here (both updated) 

‘The Sphynx and the Hare’ here (completed)

‘Hope Was A Dangerous, Disquieting Thing’ here (updated)

‘i'd die for you (that's easy to say)’ here

‘California Drifting’ here (updated)

‘Of Ocean Tides’ series here

‘This Is What Hollows’ here  (completed)

andrew pov:

‘The Court-Hole Fox’ (completed), ‘Fuck the Game’ series, and ‘oh be cautious, do not stand too near’ series, plus ‘Monster’ and ‘Monster 2.0’ (both updated) here

‘Fold me in your palms’ here

‘Therapy session’ here

‘Odd Eye’ here

‘Stranger To Stay’ here (updated)

‘The Real Thing’ here

‘And we’ll be running’ here

‘One More Time (With Feeling)’ here (updated)

‘we destroy everything we need’ here

you may also like:

post easthaven andreil reunion here

foxes revise opinion of Andrew here

‘Live Once More (This Time Will Be Better)’ here

‘Inked Truths’ series (parts 1 and 2) here

‘The Unkindness of Ravens’ here (updated)

I hate your smile by PateticabutBunny [Not Rated, 2066 Words, Complete, 2022, Locked]

One day on the relationship between Andrew and Neil And the drugs

tw: vomit, tw: addiction, tw: mania, tw: medication side effects

Another Raven in the Nest by 0bsessednerd [Rated M, 4051 Words, Complete, 2024]

“Minyard will cooperate, I’ll find a way.” Kevin ensured them. and Riko gave him a dangerous look. “If you don’t I will.” Riko said coldly, and everyone knew he would. Kevin better keep his promise, thought Neil, or Minyard was going to not have a good time. No one spoke for the rest of the flight. ~~~ Neil has a nightmare of Andrew being in the nest and part of the perfect court. As imagined it doesn’t go well

tw: nightmares, tw: implied/referenced self harm, tw: implied/referenced rape/noncon, tw: implied/referenced csa, tw: abuse, tw: torture, tw: ptsd

I would choose to live all this a thousand times, if in the end, I had you by FayeS2 [Not Rated, 42517 Words, Incomplete, Updated June 2024]

After almost a decade together, Neil and Andrew travel back in time to Neil's first year at Palmetto. Now, they must relive demons from the past. But at least they still have each other.

tw: drug use, tw: homophobia, tw: violence, tw: blood

Good Men Lie Too by heybabyricecake [Rated M, 100678 Words, Complete, 2024]

Me: Andrew and Neil are perfect for each other <3 their love story is iconic and they are otp and it's a crime to ship them with anyone else!!!!! Also me: Anyways here's a KevNeil fic :) Canon reimagined as if it were Kevin and Neil falling in love!! I take some of the story line from the original series but there's also very different plot points for Kevin and Neil for obvious reasons! Not Kandriel sorry. This fic answers the question: What happens when two Exy obsessed idiots fall in love???

tw: implied/referenced abuse, tw: nightmares, tw: nonconsensual drug use, tw: vomit, tw: canonical character death, tw: recreational drug use, tw: implied/referenced torture, tw: homophobia, tw: involuntary outing, tw: assault, tw: blood, tw: attempted rape/noncon, tw: kidnapping, tw: alcohol abuse/alcoholism

Glow In The Dark by Anonymous [Rated M, 20984 Words, Complete, 2024]

If Riko Moriyama is Exy's number 1, Kevin Day is number 2. But, if Riko Moriyama is King of Exy, Andrew Minyard is the opposing pawn who’s crossed the board to become Queen. Andrew has spent far too long denying Riko what he wants and Riko has spent far too long fantasising about the day Andrew finally breaks to leave things as they are. And if you want a job done right, you really do have to do it yourself it seems. So RIko invites Andrew to Evermore for the holidays.

tw: graphic depictions of violence, tw: implied/referenced rape/noncon, tw: implied/referenced csa, tw: implied/referenced self harm, tw: implied/referenced medical abuse, tw: threatened rape, tw: abuse, tw: torture, tw: blood, tw: emotional abuse, tw: nonconsensual drug use, tw: nonconsensual restraint, tw: nonconsensual nudity and photography, tw: internalized homophobia

Vivid by Anonymous [Rated M, 6884 Words, Incomplete, Updated Feb 2024]

Andrew returns to Palmetto State after his spending his winter break at Edgar Allan. And he's fine. Totally fine. Obviously. Hello. Welcome or welcome back. Vivid is finally here and got longer than I expected. So technically, this is a sequel to Glow In The Dark but you don't need to have read it to understand. Everything important is either there in the summary or will be explained in the fic.

tw: implied/referenced rape/noncon, tw: implied/referenced torture, tw: implied/referenced self harm, tw: implied/referenced medical abuse

A collection of Andreil one-shots by Auviic [Rated E, Collection, Incomplete, Updated Jan 2024]

Chapter 1: Andrew Minyard's mistakes [6567 Words] Andrew and Neil find themselves amidst a zombie-apocalypse.

tw: graphic descriptions of violence, tw: blood/gore, tw: implied/referenced suicide, tw: gun violence, tw: drug addiction

Chapter 3: Tongue tied [5125 Words] Nathaniel Wesninski is paired with a new partner.

tw: graphic depictions of violence, tw: torture, tw: blood/gore, tw: implied/referenced abuse

Sunrise by DeeLeBee [Rated E, 26499 Words, Complete, 2023]

Part 1 of Sunrise, Abram, Death 

Listen. All fans of All For The Game hate this fucking series just as much as they love it and I am no exception. Nora's writing doesn't make sense in so many parts, there are plot holes, WHAT ARE ANDREW'S MEDS ABOUT, and Nora was a coward because she planned to make Kandriel a thing but chickened out. (Love you , Nora.) Anyway, I am here to remedy all these ailments.

tw: violence, tw: implied/referenced torture, tw: implied/referenced abuse, tw: recreational drug use, tw: nonconsensual drug use, tw: nonconsensual kissing, tw: canonical character death, tw: self harm

We work well with crazy. by MBlack93 [Rated E, 45145 Words, Incomplete, Updated May 2024]

Neil is on the run for his serial killer father and apparently a Yakuza family with delusions of grandeur. Harry is on the run for the Dark Lord, the Light Lord, and practically the whole Wizarding World, except for the Goblins. Because Goblins are awesome.

tw: implied/referenced child abuse, tw: implied/referenced csa, tw: implied/referenced rape/noncon, tw: implied/referenced food withholding, tw: homophobia, tw: implied/referenced torture, tw: implied/referenced human trafficking, tw: nonconsensual drug use

Andrew pov:

A Monster, A Defender, A Psychopath (You Maniac) by Lytta323 [Not Rated, 1953 Words, Complete, 2022, Locked]

Andrew has a bad psychotic episode due to his medication and gets the help he deserved sooner.

tw: self harm, tw: blood/gore, tw: mania

What if I’m the Monster? by 0bsessednerd [Not Rated, ​​1130 Words, Complete, 2024]

The pills sat on the counter taunting him. He really didn’t want to take these. But when had Andrew ever gotten anything he wanted in his life? It was his fault he had to take them. That’s what everyone told him. If he hadn’t gone too far, if he hadn’t been a problem he wouldn’t have to be on these. He wouldn’t have to be high out of his mind every fucking day. He wouldn’t have to give in to the addiction. He wouldn’t have to go to therapy. He wouldn’t have to be reminded he could never be free. He wouldn’t be a monster. ~~~ Andrew taking his medication for the first time and how he felt doing it. And how he felt after the effects kicked in.

tw: implied/referenced hate crime, tw: implied/referenced violence, tw: negative self image

a foxhole collection: on possibilities and digressions by vicariously kingly (pelted) [Rated T, Collection, Last Updated 2016] 

Chapter 21: andrew minyard in wonderland [734 Words]

for the prompt: pre-andreil snippet. in summary: andrew on drugs.

Feet Don't Fail Me Now by freefromenvy [Rated E, 56824 Words, Incomplete, Updated May 2024]

Neil was an exceptional runner until his past caught up with him. After years on the run, he was taken back to the Nest where he had to learn how to survive all over again. After Neil helps Kevin and Jean escape the Nest, Riko sends Neil to Palmetto to inform the rest of the Foxes that he will keep attacking their team, just like what happened to Jamie Smalls, unless Kevin and Jean return to the Nest. If Neil fails in his task, the Moriyamas will giftwrap, and hand deliver Neil to his father after he is released from prison. Neil has always known he has lived on borrowed time. He lived Alex's life, Stephen's life, James's life, and many more. Now all he wants to do is to be able to die as Neil and not as Nathaniel Wesninski.

tw: violence, tw: abuse, tw: blood, tw: implied/referenced child abuse, tw: implied/referenced self harm, tw: implied/referenced rape/noncon, tw: implied/referenced torture, tw: implied/referenced human trafficking, tw: blood/gore, tw: mutilated dead animal

Apathy by Marquee [Rated G, 144 Words, Complete, 2023]

Andrew thinking about people in his past. Including but not limited to awful foster homes, people who him on the drugs, people calling him crazy, just yucking people in general

tw: implied/referenced rape/noncon

Love Bites, Hate Bleeds by kongruenz [Rated M, 6286 Words, Incomplete, Updated May 2024]

Andrew's at juvie with nothing to look forward to, no life, no passion, just the constant need to be numb and bury what happened, to forget. Until Coach Wymack, Kevin Day and Neil Josten appear in his locker room to recruit him to the Palmetto Foxes. _ An AU in which Neil joined the Foxes before Andrew, and Andrew looks at Neil for protection instead.

tw: implied/referenced self harm, tw: implied/referenced torture, tw: violence

I don't want to by The_7th_Void [Not Rated, 3017 Words, Complete. 2024]

Andrew runs late night errands with Neil and tries to fight his drugs. Neil is confused but helps him anyway. Or Neil lies. Andrew is honest.

tw: vomit, tw: addiction

I took the pills for these empty nights by All_for_the_andreil [Rated T, 6013 Words, Complete, 2022]

He gazes at Neil and thinks about all the questions he’s too afraid to ask. Would you still want me when I’ll be a mess? Would you stay even after you see how fucked I am? Would you hate me if I stopped playing exy for good? And perhaps the most important one: Will they kill you if we fail this season because of me? -or- Andrew gets diagnosed with bipolar disorder and is prescribed medication. Given his history with that, he has some issues.

Träumerei by Sashe [Rated E, 12038 Words, Incomplete, Updated May 2024]

Andrew never planned on joining the Ravens, not when Riko and Kevin demanded it, but Coach Moriyama is willing to bargain. And he sees right through Andrew in a way no one ever has before. He’s offering Andrew a home, people who believe him, a family who will never abandon him, and a chance at something to build his life around – something to live for. All he has to do is play Exy for him for five years.  or Just another Raven!Andreil AU

tw: graphic depictions of violence, tw: implied/referenced rape/noncon, tw: implied/referenced torture, tw: implied/referenced self harm, tw: emotional/psychological abuse, tw: implied/referenced child abuse

We will survive to live by Whyreme [Rated M, 20663 Words, Incomplete, Updated April 2024]

Andrew had been a Spear since the age of thirteen. He endured a lot, but he had a mother, a father and a home. Until it all fell into ashes and his world was turned upside down. He fought back and lost everything, earning himself mandatory medication in return. So when Riko Moriyama and Kevin Day offered him a tempting deal, he couldn't refuse. He'd be a Raven, but that was a bigger cage than his alternative, right? or AU where Andrew never met Aaron and Nicky, was adopted by the Spear and has a very good reason to be a Perfect Court member. (Raven!Andrew and Raven!Neil AU)

tw: dark, tw: graphic depictions of violence, tw: hallucinations, tw: horror, tw: blood/gore, tw: implied/referenced child abuse and neglect, tw: implied/referenced csa, tw: implied/referenced rape/noncon, tw: implied/referenced self harm, tw: medication addiction, tw: torture, tw: murder, tw: vomit

The Avarice Never Ends by stuntinf8 [Not Rated, 1341 Words, Complete, 2022]

Andrew liked Neil Josten in the way that a cat might like a mouse: easy to tousle by the tail, quick to fuss, simple enough to rattle. The meds made it even easier. (OR A medicated Andrew reflects on the anomaly that is Neil Josten.)

fandom thoughts and meta:

Dependence and Addiction in All for the Game meta by @the-greater-grief [Tumblr, 2022]

I need to talk about Andrew's medication meta by @deadliestpieceontheboard [Tumblr, 2021]

if Andrew wasn't on anti-psychotics, what was he on? meta by @amiandthechaos, @sinistercacophony [Tumblr, 2021]

why abby was so vehemently against committing andrew to rehab early? discussion by @bookmarkmyword, @deadliestpieceontheboard [Tumblr, 2022]

Andrew -Medication or Incarceration ? meta by @lemonboyjosten [Tumblr, 2021]

thoughts about Andrew…his mental issues and medication? by @palmettomonsters [Tumblr, 2017]

Andrew’s meds make me so fucking angry by @kazzyboy [Tumblr, 2021]

Happy Pills by Weathers song analysis by @meanie-boy-minyard [Tumblr, 2019]

Art

Alien Blues art by @fortheloveofexy, on ao3 here

“It’s a cruel world” art by @swarenar

Put on a happy face :) art by @allfortheslay25

bloody smiles art by @rhyva

meds art by @/rhyvva on twitter

I'm not okay art by @creekgods

apathy is a tragedy art by @doesephs

medicated Andrew art by @yolkylemon

sober vs medicated Andrew cosplay by @/csplyxeva on tiktok

aftg-tober day 4 art by @i-did

[denimbex1986]

'It’s probably for the best that the release of Dune Part 2 has been pushed back until March of next year. I mean, if you had a major blockbuster like that starring Zendaya and Timothée Chalamet would you want it to premiere without stars doing publicity? The move also means Barbie will likely dominate the crafts with less competition from friendly fire. That is, with the exception of Visual Effects, which might have been Dune 2’s to lose. The thing is, though, Oppenheimer’s visual effects will likely win, considering they’re practical and astonishing...

There is nothing wrong with CGI, particularly, but come on. Practical effects for the win. The voters must be made aware of how exceptional the work is — they can’t just lazy-vote this category on the basis of “that looks neat!” They have to be TOLD what a big deal all of this is. If the Oscar team do that, Oppie should sail through this category for the win...

Barbie’s success is remarkable, as is Oppenheimer’s. But did you ever think Sound of Freedom would top Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny?...

Killers of the Flower Moon is very much a film that sits in exactly the right place for the modern-day Left – it confirms how vicious and malicious so many white people were to Native Americans in this country as recently as 100 years ago. Meanwhile, Oppenheimer pushes back somewhat against the kind of authoritarianism we see on the rise — thought policing, censorship, expanded political powers, and witch-hunt-like paranoia. It isn’t that it’s only on the Left, it’s just that the Left has all of the power and they’re using it to their full advantage, which has choked the life out of art...

Having film critics and Oscar voters measure success only works if they aren’t insulated from the rest of life on the outside, which is where we find ourselves today.

On the other hand, there stands Barbenheimer to prove me wrong. Two films that popped unexpectedly and created a cultural phenoms unto themselves that everyone felt excited about participating in. Just in time for the crippling strike.

Onward to Predictions!

Here are Erik Anderson’s latest Best Picture predictions:

Oppenheimer (Universal Pictures) (-) Killers of the Flower Moon (Apple Original Films/Paramount Pictures) (-) The Zone of Interest (A24) (▲) Maestro (Netflix) (▲) Barbie (Warner Bros) (▲) Anatomy of a Fall (NEON) (▲) The Holdovers (Focus Features) (-) The Color Purple (Warner Bros) (▼) Saltburn (Amazon Studios) (▲) May December (Netflix) (▲)

And here are Gold Derby’s combined predictions and odds:

Oppenheimer Killers of the Flower Moon Past Lives Barbie The Color Purple The Holdovers Maestro The Zone of Interest Anatomy of a Fall Saltburn

And here are mine for this week: Best Picture

Barbie (directed by Greta Gerwig, and co-written by Gerwig and Noah Baumbach) Oppenheimer (written and directed by Christopher Nolan) Killers of the Flower Moon (directed by Martin Scorsese, co-written by Scorsese and Eric Roth) The Killer (directed by David Fincher, written by Andrew Kevin Walker) Past Lives (written and directed by Celine Song) The Holdovers (directed by Alexander Payne, written by David Hemingson) Poor Things (directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, written by Tony McNamara) The Color Purple (directed by Blitz Bazawule, written by Marcus Gardley) Rustin (directed by George C. Wolfe, written by Dustin Lance Black and Julian Breece) Anatomy of a Fall (directed by Justine Triet, written by Arthur Harari, Justine Triet)...

Best Director Greta Gerwig, Barbie Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer Martin Scorsese, Killers of the Flower Moon David Fincher, The Killer Celine Song, Past Lives...

Best Actor Cillian Murphy, Oppenheimer Bradley Cooper, Maestro Colman Domingo, Rustin Leonardo DiCaprio, Killers of the Flower Moon Paul Giamatti, The Holdovers Alts: Michael Fassbender, The Killer; Joaquin Phoenix, Napoleon; Adam Driver, Ferrari...

Supporting Actor Robert Downey Jr., Oppenheimer Ryan Gosling, Barbie Robert De Niro, Killers of the Flower Moon Dominic Sessa, The Holdovers John Magaro, Past Lives

Supporting Actress America Ferrera, Barbie Lily Gladstone, Killers of the Flower Moon Emily Blunt, Oppenheimer Da’Vine Joy Randolph, The Holdovers Tilda Swinton, The Killer Alts: Jodie Foster, Nyad; Taraji P. Henson, The Color Purple; Vanessa Kirby, Napoleon...

Adapted Screenplay Oppenheimer Barbie Killers of the Flower Moon The Killer Poor Things

Editing Oppenheimer The Killer Killers of the Flower Moon Barbie Zone of Interest

Cinematography Oppenheimer Barbie Killers of the Flower Moon The Killer Saltburn

Sound Oppenheimer Barbie Napoleon Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning The Color Purple

Production Design Barbie Oppenheimer Napoleon Saltburn Priscilla

Costume Design Barbie Wonka Oppenheimer Napoleon Priscilla

Visual Effects Oppenheimer Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Napoleon Wonka Poor Things

Original Score Killers of the Flower Moon Oppenheimer The Killer Dune: Part Two Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse...'

[i-did]

hey! I hope those aftg asks aren’t getting tiring lol but I was wondering if you had any thoughts on the recent fandom treatment of Kevin, which seems to be mainly seeing him as a victim mistreated both in canon by the other foxes & by nora himself? Like I remember in the earlier days of aftg (like maybe around 2016? 2017??) there definitely wasn’t this kind of focus or view of Kevin & I feel like he was treated with somewhat more nuance then? And this could be related to the growing hate for Nora since then but you don’t see people say the same things about the other foxes?? This is a very messy ask lol but I’m genuinely so confused about this trend esp because Kevin seems to be the only fox (as far ive seen anyways) that people are holding up as a victim w/o any nuance

I have a lot of fun answering these, I just sometimes take a minute to get to them lol

Okay so I definitely know what you're talking about with the Kevin thing. The first major factor is that AFTG has finished coming you years ago, and Nora has not actively engaged with the fandom since 2016. I came around into AFTG in 2017 as a reader, and looking at the fanart. Mostly by then you see the race headcanons locked into place and the beginning of the split between fanon and canon. Without more canon, fanon content starts to develop as whoever is more influential the fan creators (fic authors, fan artists) start to do things that trend. As a time passes in a fandom, it tends to split into niches, people who see things a certain way and want to see more of that follow each other and gain followers who agree with them. 

There is definitely a Kevin centric niche that thinks those things. I don’t think there was as much focus in general on Kevin back in 2017, but I also was pretty new. But there were no extreme Anti-Andrew fans, back then it was “you are either a fan of Nicky or a fan of Aaron.” People didnt have “dni choking apologists” on their blogs. 

I think choking discourse is a good example of the rise of Kevin. Andrew must fall for Kevin to rise. There are kandreil fans that genuinely like all three, and some ace/aro Kevin fans that like him just as he is, but a lot of Kevin centric content I see now on tumblr is about how Andrew is the real villain of AFTG for choking Kevin, despite Kevin violently choking Neil in book 1. 

Back in 2018 they weren't pitted against the other and I think the whole “you can only like one character or the other” thing is stupid imo. I like Nicky more than Aaron, but I still think they're both interesting characters. Ive seen a lot of “Kevin was only a victim” takes, and in fact got cyber bullied for a while by some people who thought I was too mean to Kevin in some of my HC by implying he also had some power in the nest and likely hurt others, and that he feels guilt over it. :/ but there is also a similar niche with “you can't blame Aaron for his homophobia, his mom was abusive, and she likely made him that way.”

It's the most similar discourse trend I've seen to the Kevin discourse. It’s a similar lack of nuance, and I think people inflict it their favorite character because they don't want to have a ‘problematic fav.’ Aaron is canonly homophobic, Neil says directly after him and Andrew ‘come out’ to the others, that he was waiting to see the same grief Aaron gave Nicky over his sexuality. It doesn't mean he can't be also a good character or a person someone likes, in fact well written characters have dimensions and flaws. 

Which that whole mess is similar to the whole Kevin thing. I think people fall in love with the idea of Nora’s characters, or maybe the fanon characters–but not the real characters. Which is also why they say the author hates them, because they got written to do bad things or not be in the story as much, they defend these characters as if they were real people who need defending, need to be saved from being erased. These characters become “their character.”

I think this also happens because people kin characters and identify with them a lot, so when I said “Kevin was in a position in power in the nest too, even in second place” and then receive threats for how I personally hurt someone who's a CSA survivor because of my Kevin HC I'm like (o – o). I think these people project so hard onto Kevin and design him in their mind, they feel as if character flaw HCs or depictions of Kevin struggling and being mean are personal insults, or at least very personally insulting. And I don't want to sound like an ass, but like my Kevin isn't the same as their Kevin, my Kevin is my Kevin. 

I see skinny art of Andrew and art of Neil as white or ginger, these don’t align with my personal HC’s about them, but like that's what I chose to go with. Nora uses language that makes me believe Neil has dark auburn hair, but if people want him to be ginger idc. In canon he was written with the intent to be white, I ignore that because I think him being mixed adds more depth to his character (as well as me being tired of only white mlm, and have updated my reading list). Andrew wasn’t imagined by Nora to be fat either, but I HC him as like a mini muscle bear instead of Toby Hemingway. 

I keep the canon intent in mind to remind myself how she actually saw them and how that can color canon and how other people are allowed to see Neil as white and Andrew as skinny. Like I understand why people get annoyed over other peoples hc’s, I feel similarly sometimes. But like at the end of the day, you just gotta move out of that fandom niche and into a new one or just ignore the post.

[willowbird]

for the prompt thing andreil, 16(Au with vampire! Neil), Trope 4, dialogue 15 + if possible 39

Anonymous asked:

Vampire! Neil Au requester I meant 25 and not 15

Supernatural AU with a Vampire Neil, meet messy, “i know this looks bad, but i swear, it’s not" & “you confuse me.”

I'm not sure if this was what you were hoping for when you send me these prompts, but I rather had fun writing it so I hope you enjoy, Anon!

----

If Andrew was being completely honest, he really didn't mind his job. Sure, it wasn't all that impressive, but it also wasn't like he had someone around that he wanted to impress. It was easy, too, and no one bothered him. Well, no one bothered him because he had third shift, and the only people grocery shopping at three-am were literal vampires; and in a tiny town like Palmetto, there were really only a handful of those, none of which would ever have any reason to bother the short, scowly human stocking shelves over in the candy aisle.

Which was exactly what Andrew was doing when he heard the crash over in the refrigerated section.

Shifting the headphones off one ear, Andrew tilted his head and listened. There were a few more minor crashes, then a bumbling, scrabbling sound of things being kicked and jostled around. No screaming, though, so Andrew reaffixed the cup over his ear and got back to what he was doing.

"Cleanup by the refrigerators. Cleanup by the refrigerators."

Andrew lips moved soundlessly to Fall Out Boy, willfully ignoring the fact that refrigerators was in his section of the store and thus his responsibility should there be a call made to it.

"Cleanup by the refrigerators. Cleanup by the refrigerators."

Andrew juggled three snickers bars to the beat, tossing them onto the shelf just as the guitar solo started.

"Cleanup by the refrigerators. Cleanup -- Goddamnit Minyard get your ass over to refrigerators and clean the mess up."

Welp, he tried. With a heavy sigh, Andrew dropped the candy in his hands back into the box he'd been unloading, then gave two middle-fingers to the nearest camera.

The gruff voice over the intercom said, "Don't be a cheeky bastard, you little ingrate. Just do your damn job."

"Yeah, yeah," Andrew muttered to himself, rolling his eyes as he turned to head down the aisle. From all those crashes it was sure to be an epic mess. Maybe he wasn't as okay with this job as he thought he was.

Whatever Andrew thought he was expecting to see when he rounded the corner, it was not what he actually saw.

Because there, sitting in the middle of fallen displays and drenched in both blood and pink lemonade with an unconscious (dead?) human sprawled across his lap, was an annoyingly pretty disaster of a vampire.

Andrew stared at the tableau for a long moment, the tugged his headphones down around his neck and moved forward, surveying more of the damage as he got closer. Two of the displays near the fridges had been completely toppled, sending s'mores supplies and snack cakes as far out as lunchmeat on one side and paper goods on the other. There wasn't as much liquid on the floor as Andrew suspected there might be, the blood confined only to the vampire's actual person and only a small pool of pink lemonade leaking out of the nearest container. Upon closer inspection, the human appeared mostly unharmed and definitely alive, as he was breathing. He didn't have a drop of blood on him.

The vampire flashed fang as he gave a weak sort of smile. "I know this looks bad, but I swear, it's not."

"Uh-huh. Right." Andrew crouched down and picked up the carton of pink lemonade. It wasn't even opened properly. There were punctures in the side exactly the right size and distance to have been caused by pretty-vamp's fangs.

Andrew turned the carton to show the leaky punctures to the guilty vampire.

"I was thirsty?"

"Mm. What about the snack draped over your lap?" Andrew gestured at the guy, who was, admittedly, definitely a snack. He was significantly bigger than either himself or the vampire, with black hair and a small tattoo of a chess piece on the crest of one cheek.

The vampire did not seem to share Andrew's opinion. His pretty face screwed up in distaste, those damn-near cerulean eyes flashing with ire. "Ugh. No way. I only drink from Kevin when I'm on my deathbed."

"Is that your way of telling me that he's your boyfriend and you nip him every night, then?"

"What? No?" The blatant confusion on the vampires face had Andrew sighing. The vampire shook his head. "Look, I'm sorry about the lemonade. I was going to pay for it, but it couldn't wait." The skepticism must have been visible enough on Andrew's face for even this idiot to be able to read it because the vampire sighed and continued after just a short judgmental pause.

"I don't drink human blood. That brand of lemonade in addition to regular food can keep me going for weeks at a time without me having to go after animals either."

A vegan vampire, now Andrew had seen everything.

"Right, so why is your boyfriend passed out?"

"Not my boyfriend. The dumbass decided to go out while sick with moon-fatigue. He fainted."

Moon fatigue? Andrew looked back down at the man in the vampire's lap. That meant that 'Kevin' wasn't a human at all, but a were-something.

Instead of commenting on this, Andrew refocused on the vampire's face and said, "You sure you aren't dating?" Because it seemed pretty fated, a dumbass vampire who starves himself to the point where he has to raid the local grocery store for magical lemonade, hooking up with a dumbass were-somethingorother that resisted the change to the point where he got sick and then went out like that, thus necessitating the aforementioned situation where stupid starved vampire has to come rescue him. Speaking of... Andrew took another look at the carton in his hand and memorized the brand. There was no way he was ingesting anything that was able to keep a vampire off his bloodlust for weeks on end.

"Very," the vampire confirmed. Then he sighed and looked down at his friend for a moment before smacking him sharply enough that the sound even got a little echo. "Wake up, asshole!"

Kevin jolted awake with a lurch, then moaned and covered his face his hands. "The liiiiiights, they're so briiiiiight. Neiiiiiiiiiil where aaaaaare weeeeee?"

The vampire - Neil - rolled his eyes and gestured to the man in his lap. "See what I have to deal with?" He shook his head and shoved Kevin off his lap before standing. He was a little shaky as he rose, but managed to keep his feet. "Get up Kev. Thanks to you there's a huge ass fucking mess and if we ever want to come back again we're gonna have to help clean it up."

"Nooooooo."

"Yeeeeeees."

Kevin peaked his eye open, saw Andrew, and pointed. "Make him do it. Its basically his job!"

"I don't work here," Andrew said immediately, despite the violently orange vest he was wearing that sported both a name-tag and the logo for Palmetto Grocery.

Then a truly awful thing happened: Neil grinned at him. It was like the goddamn moon rising over an enchanted fucking lake, is what it was. Those blue eyes shined and his whole face softened. Two perfect dimples winked at him, his fangs flashing in a way that was both really sexy and kinda... cute. Even with the blood-spatter on his face the man was downright captivating.

Kevin woozily stumbling to his feet snapped Andrew out of his momentary stupor. The were looked from Neil to Andrew and sighed, shaking his head. "Tiny assholes. I am surrounded by tiny assholes." Then he turned and began to shuffle around, picking up boxes of Twinkies and stacking them in one arm.

Andrew turned back to Neil. "So if all you are here for is lemonade, why are you covered in blood?" It distantly occurred to Andrew that this probably should have been the first question he asked.

Neil shrugged. "Had to kill someone when I picked up Kevin."

Ah, well, that was that then. Andrew nodded his understanding and the two of them joined Kevin dealing with the mess. It was after Andrew had righted the display fixtures and Neil had started stacking all the boxes on them upside down that Neil looked over at him and asked, "Do you usually work nights?"

Andrew paused, blinked, and looked over at him. "Why?"

"Just curious. Kev and I are new to town."

"I am not a tour guide."

Ugh, no there it was again - that grin. This time accompanied by a short, bright laugh.

"Understood." Neil placed the last box on the top of the fixture, somehow getting it to balance on a single corner. Satisfied, he then looked back at Andrew, still fucking smiling. "I guess I'll see you around, then."

"You confuse me," Andrew said, almost without meaning to.

Another fang-flashing grin. "I'm a bit of a puzzle."

Andrew studied him for a moment, considering. He wondered if the idiot vampire even realized he was flirting with him. It sure seemed intentional - but he hesitated to give the dumbass that much credit.

"I guess I will just have to solve you then," Andrew finally said.

"Guess so." Neil then had the audacity to wink, and Andrew's ears turned pink. Intentional then, definitely intentional.

Luckily, Neil had turned to collect his friend, so probably didn't see his traitorous ears. The vampire looked back at him one more time, just long enough to raise a hand in farewell, before leading Kevin away from the refrigerators. Andrew tracked him with his eyes until they turned the corner, and were gone.

Well, if nothing else - Palmetto sure as fuck got a hell of a lot more interesting.

[kevindayswhore]

aftg but it’s shit my friends and I have said pt 2:

~

Renee: I thought I heard god

Dan: and?

Renee: it was a train

~

Andrew: he’s a Mormon

Neil: that’s great ?

~

Nicky: go up to a hot guy and be like ‘yo. grab me by the pussy’ then get married and live happily ever after.

Neil: Andrew.

Andrew: yeah?

Neil: grab me by the pussy

~

Allison: my forehead absorbed all my brain cells

~

Neil: my favorite flavor: death and mourning, non-consensual organ donations

~

Renee: I’m so asexual it’s not even funny. I just like boobs a lot.

Allison: understandable

Renee: pillows but not money

Renee: wait- BUT FREE*

Aaron: boobs are good for pillows

Allison: why can’t you just be normal

~

Neil: too late to abort me now, bitch

~

Neil: also did Jake gyllenhaal play a gay cowboy or am I being misled

Neil: okay I’m not being misled

~

Nicky: iron deficiency gang rise up (but not too fast)

Andrew: that’s a personal attack

~

Riko: uwu is that the smell of rotting flesh and pumpkin spice lattes?

Jean: it must be fall

~

Nicky: anyway I’m gonna sell my soul for these socks

Kevin: well hopefully someone nice buys your soul :)

Nicky: whoever offers the most money gets it.

Nicky: s o c k s

Neil: just not mark zuckleburge

Nicky: well...

Neil: he’d sell it to facebook’s algorithm

Nicky: that’s okay. As long as I get my socks my soul can be trafficked.

Nicky: I really want these socks can you tell?

~

Kevin: ugly gang rise up and- oh fuck never mind please sit back down

~

Kevin: Cali is a cursed state

Andrew: yeah and

Neil: we been knew

~

Nicky: I’ll bring bleach and dye to school and follow you around

Dan: that’s a strangely threatening sentence

Neil: and seemingly weridly ineffective

[buriedinbaltimore]

Indie Karaoke with the Foxes

One day Nicky decides to host a karaoke night for the foxes. He is not here for basic karaoke though, he refuses to listen to anyone sing “Don’t Stop Believin’” and stipulates that everyone must chose an indie song. The foxes get surprisingly into it.

Nicky acts as the host/MC and opens the night with “Let’s Have a Kiki” By Scissor Sisters.

A kiki is a party For calming all your nerves We’re spilling tea and dishing just desserts one may deserve And though the sun is rising Few may choose to leave So shade that lid And we’ll all bid Adieu to your ennui

Kevin sings “Cheap Queen” by King Princess

I’m gettin’ too cocky since everyone wants me It’s harder to be myself (cheap queen, queen) (Smiling to the audience) But I see you love me It’s better than money to know that you’d call me out (cheap queen) But when the money’s out I can make grown men cry

Matt does “We’re Going to Be Friends” by The White Stripes

Fall is here, hear the yell Back to school, ring the bell Brand new shoes, walking blues Climb the fence, books and pens I can tell that we are going to be friends I can tell that we are going to be friends

Nicky goes again, because his first performance was just the opener for the night. This time he does “Queer as in Fuck You” by Dog Park Dissidents (I have a hc that Nicky is really into queer punk music)

You want to celebrate a gay man on your cable TV While trans lesbians of color dig in garbage just to eat You’ve paved the road for CEOs to suck on some dick While all the kids on the street are getting pelted with bricks

I don’t want to be equal ‘Cause I know I’m fuckin’ better than you Your moderation is lethal Get out of my way, let me do what I need to

Dan does “Locked In Closets” by Solange

And now I’m just a girl living in the satellite Took what I needed from this town and getting down at night Street light shining in my room Getting out the suns up soon

Renee does “Good to Love” by FKA twigs

But when you give yourself away It always hurts too much So you pray to get it back Only God can give you that Make my body come alive I’ve got a right to hurt inside So will you hold me while I cry? And let me lay against your side

Aaron does “The Fever (Aye Aye)” by Death Grips and doesn’t miss a single word.

Sprayin’ execution, witch fingernails clawin’ through them Crawlin’ through them tunnels, losing touch with everything I’m doin’ Argh, mass confusion, can’t make more electrocution Half cocked, full tilt, rabid dog, filth, argh, know what I’m sayin’? Fuck it, upside down in a soft top bucket, screamin’, shred it

Andrew does “Criminal” by Fiona Apple.

Heaven help me for the way I am Save me from these evil deeds before I get them done I know tomorrow brings the consequence at hand But I keep livin’ this day Like the next will never come

Allison does “Date With the Night” by Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Don’t tell me to fix her Just take a bite No hanging no picture Flying out my sight Dropping brides at the altar Both thighs squeeze tight Choke, Choke, Choke

Neil ends the night with a beautiful performance of “Andrew in Drag” by The Magnetic Fields

There is no hope of love for me From here on I’m a stag The only girl I’ll ever love is Andrew in drag

Everyone tell me what other songs you think they would have sung!

[aftgficrec]

Thanks for doing this kind of stuff! I was wondering if you guys had any fics that dealt with the aftermath of drake, either directly after the dinner incident or more of a recovery type of thing. In general I just really like reading about Andrew centric hurt/comfort or angst stuff so if you can’t find anything specifically regarding drake/the dinner I’d also be down anything in that ballpark. I don’t have a word limit or anything. Again! Thank you sooooooo much for this

Andrew’s abuse at the hands of Drake and others is at the heart of his struggles with mental health issues, and there is a lot of hurt/comfort written for him with varying degrees of angst, trauma, violence, and personal violation on the hurt side of the equation. We try to guide through this minefield with detailed trigger warnings, and we sometimes upgrade fic ratings if warranted. If you see something G or T rated, please be aware it may still carry heavy themes. - A

previous recs:

contains bulk of previous asks: Andrew bad day comforted by Neil/Foxes here

Thanksgiving pov Andrew or Kevin here

Andrew dealing with past sexual assault here

Andrew sees Cass post canon here

Neil kills Drake 1 here 2 here

Andrew + self harm here

Andrew’s childhood before Neil here

Neil helps Andrew overcome insecurity here

angst w/comfort Andreil/Nerik here

people being protective of Andrew here

Foxes react to Andrew’s past here

Andrew or Jean’s mental health here

Andrew + therapy here

Bee & Andrew’s relationship here

‘right side of rock bottom’ here

‘No Hope in Solitude’ here

‘Haunted’ here

‘Sometimes I’m (not) Alone’ here

‘until i see the light’ here

‘I'm No Good Tonight’ here

‘The Words that Cut’ here, now with fanart by @ajaxcos on twitter

‘Baby, Don't Tread’ and ‘Speaking In Silences’ here

‘tealights in the dark’ here

‘When love takes you home and says you belong here…’ here

‘Serendipity’ here

‘never fallen (from quite this high)’ here

‘on tenderness; a guide to taking better care of yourself’ here

‘copper sea turtles’ and ‘Andrew Needs a Break’ here

‘I Know You From A Nightmare’ and ‘The Marks We Make’ here

‘like someone you've chosen’ here

‘Something Better’ and ‘If you must’ here

‘it's all semantics, isn't it,’ ‘by my side when i fall asleep,’ and ‘on quietness and the refuge found within it’ here

‘Even the Darkest Night Will End and the Sun Will Rise’ here

‘Sleeping with ghosts’ here

‘monster (under my bed)’ here

‘If I Don't Keep Up My Light’ here

‘claw marks’ here

‘Neon Lights’ series here

‘Two Roads Diverged’ here

‘Not the Final Dance’ here

Hail Mary by JuiceGremlin [Rated M, 3493 Words, Complete, 2021]

Part 2 of Journey to Feeling (Andreil) series

They amble along the highway for what could be any amount of time. Neil reaches over to turn on the radio at some point, leaving it tuned in to Andrew’s usual station. He tries to focus on the faint beat of the music and not the way Neil is looking at him from the passenger seat, trying however successfully to read Andrew’s mind. These days, he might actually be good at it.

It’s an unsettling thought. It shouldn’t be. After all, isn’t that what Andrew has always wanted? To be known? Understood? Believed? Isn’t that why he spent countless parts of himself to belong to families that never really saw him?

Neil is here. Neil sees him.

So why does Andrew feel scraped raw?

tw: implied/referenced rape/non-con, tw: implied/referenced abuse, tw: implied/referenced self-harm, tw: nightmares, tw: ptsd

Fall Apart In My Arms by Fuzzzzzz [Rated M, 13130 words, Complete, 2021]

He thought about what he could do or say that would make things a little easier for Andrew to deal with, without Neil next to him. “Can we go sit out on the balcony?”

“We?” Andrew asked, confused.

“Yeah. You go sit in yours, I’ll go sit in mine." Neil took a small sip of his drink. "Tell me about the stars.”

*

Or, where Andrew has a nightmare and Neil flies down to surprise him. Featuring a blue hoodie, bubble baths, discussions about stars (and baking shows) and a pair of adorable cats. Oh, there's a sprinkling of Exy in there too!

tw: implied/referenced csa, tw: implied/referenced self harm, tw: urge to self harm

do i hold the answers (should i find them in the silence?) by cake_lovin_ace [Rated T, 9458 words, incomplete, last updated Aug 2021]

Part 4 of light a spark and let it burn (keep the flame alive) (parts 1-3 recced here)

….a story about andrew's inner journey as he struggles to reconcile with his wounded inner child.

tw: ptsd, tw: nightmares, tw: implied/referenced csa, tw: implied/referenced child abuse, tw: vomit, tw: depression, tw: mental breakdown

no one wants to know whats in his head (it should be enough) by alwaysayes [Rated M, 1283 Words, Complete, 2017]

“I don’t want to be alone this time.” Andrew’s voice broke on the last two words as he fought back the tears that were threatening to spill. He bit his lip.

“Oh,” Neil said. Andrew nodded. Andrew’s shoulders were shaking with silent sobs because someone was actually staying with him for the first time in his life.

The Consequences of Falling by imagined_melody [Rated G, 1048 Words, Complete, AFTG Valentine’s Exchange 2017]

Andrew thinks about falling, and the things that keep his feet on the ground.

tw: implied/referenced csa, tw: depression

Silent Gestures by illusionistweiss [Rated G, 1605 Words, Complete, 2020]

Part 3 of the Recovery series; find Part 2 ‘A Firm Reminder’ here

In which Andrew has a rough night and Kevin and Neil let him know he's safe with them.

tw: ptsd

I wanna come home (to you) by aceofreaders (Kickasscookieeater) [Not Rated, 2116 Words, Complete, 2018, Locked]

Andrew Minyard used to live in California.

In South Carolina.

In Boston.

Always so lonely.

Andrew Minyard lives in Denver. In Colorado. And he does not live alone.

Just hold me by xSmallTownGirlx [Rated G, 2266 words, complete, 2018]

Neil had seen quite a few of Andrew's bad days over the years they spent together but there hasn't been one this bad in a long while. Andrew wouldn't move, he wouldn't speak. He'd just lay there in their bed, on his side and do nothing. He was wandering in his mind, lost in bad memories and hurtful pasts.

(Andrew has a very bad day and Neil just wants to help him. Hot Chocolate, Ice Cream, cuddles and talking about feeling involved.)

tw: depression

I learned from my pain by aceofreaders (Kickasscookieeater) [Not Rated, 3095 Words, Complete, 2019, Locked]

When love is bleeding, and love is pain, you learn not to bother with it at all. You learn to sacrifice instead. You learn to close your eyes and wait until it's over.

But then.

One day when you're all grown up, you start to relearn. And it's strange and new and you don't understand it.

But it's Valentine's Day and even though Andrew Minyard doesn't want to relearn love, it's happening anyway.

tw: implied/referenced csa, tw: implied/referenced torture, tw: alcohol, tw: referenced conversion camp

Hazes by orphan_account [Rated E, 5553 Words, Incomplete, Last Updated 2016]

Their entire relationship could be viewed through a series of hazes - ranging from the sweetest of affections, to the deadliest of diseases - that broke down their carefully constructed defense mechanisms. When Neil felt the need to run, Andrew always grounded him to a home. When Andrew felt the need to self-destruct, Neil always gave him a reason not to.

For that, Neil will take on their difficulties any day.

tw: suicidal thoughts, tw: implied/referenced rape/noncon, tw: implied/referenced torture, tw: violence, tw: blood, tw: nightmares

breathe by carminesunset [Rated G, 724 Words, Complete, 2018]

neil wakes up bc andrew is having a nightmare and whispering ‘please’ in his sleep

tw: implied/referenced rape/noncon, tw: nightmares

Rain isn’t a friend by Rennie_5 [Rated T, 216 Words, Complete, 2020]

Andrew’s memories resurface in the middle of the night and Neil helps without knowing

tw: implied/referenced rape/noncon

The first Thanksgiving after the disaster that was Colombia by @i-want-delfeur [Tumblr, 2017]

OK so the first Thanksgiving after Colombia is utter chaos. The Foxes are all there, plus the freshmen. And come on, the thing with Drake was highly publicised, so the freshmen all know just how important / horrific Thanksgiving and the weeekend before it are for the Foxes. This is what happens…

Andrew and invasive interviews by @crows-and-crumbs [Tumblr, 2021]

Tw: Andrew’s Past and all that entails

So the Drake case was part of a media frenzy, even though they weren’t let into the court they must have known some of the details however vague

it’s currently time to make my comfort characters suffer along with me by @one-black-coffeee [Tumblr, 2021]

- Andrew locked that word away long ago. a hastily designed cage to muffle the resounding trauma. he tightened the bolts until all that was left was ringing silence

NB: Referenced in the post, we recced ‘Of Monsters and Pain’ here

[nekojitachan]

Hmm, got a new story idea the other day (actually, have had a couple in the past couple of weeks, but this one requires world building). I might be playing around with this a little - I never do too close a retelling of canon because... well, I like to shake things up a bit and make them interesting, but it’ll probably start out a little similar to TFC and then the changes will snowball from there.

I think this gives an idea of some of the world building, though.

*******

I Am Fire

******

Nathaniel stood near the old sedan while it burned, while the acrid stench of burnt plastic and rubber didn't quite mask the sickening odor of his mother's body slowly breaking down beneath the flames under his command. For a moment he almost made them burn even hotter, made them reduce her thin, worn body to nothing but ash (like he should, like she'd always told him to do if the worst ever happened... like it had happened) but the thought of losing her so completely made him banish the flames before they finished their job. Some still licked at the metal frame of the car as he reached into its ruined shell to fetch his mother's remains, the heat inconsequential to a Fire as powerful as him (not powerful enough, never powerful enough when it came to his father), to gather her charred remains.

He used a broken piece of metal from the car to help dig a hole in the sand as the waves washed onto the shore, then buried what was left of Mary Jamilyn Wesninski (nee Hartford) in the shallow grave, smoke rising from the remains. Once the sand was hastily smoothed back in place, the cold Pacific water lapping at his heels, Nathaniel used his power to turn it to glass, to seal the unmarked grave and give his mother as peaceful a resting place as possible. He bowed his head for several heartbeats, not so much in memorial as an impromptu breakdown, as despair and bone-deep weariness bore down on him.

Then he forced himself onto his feet and to take a step forward, to take another one and another, to keep moving because that's what his mother had told him to do - to keep running and to never stop. He only paused to gather the backpack he'd assembled from both their supplies before he'd set fire to everything else, which contained what he needed to survive for the foreseeable future (except a phone, which had been reduced to melted parts in the car), should help keep him alive long enough to buy a new ID in Reno. Then he unleashed the flames on the car once more, let them feed until the damn thing would be nothing more than a twisted hunk of metal and walked toward the nearest leyline without another glance.

*******

Andrew hummed in boredom as he rolled the handle of the striker’s racquet (Josten’s) he’d picked up to play with between his hands – bored and hyped-up and oh so done with everything already.

“Put it down before you break it,” Kevin ordered, perched on top of an entertainment center and busy reading through Josten’s stats yet again, as if he hadn’t memorized them in the last few days.

“Oh, what a shame if that happened,” Andrew drawled while he grinned, while he swung the racquet through the air just to annoy the bastard. When Kevin’s green eyes took on a golden cast, his grin widened and ice began to form on the racquet; two could play that game. Mindful of the reason they were in this shithole of a town and their ‘beloved’ coach’s instructions to ‘behave’ while he went off to talk to their quarry, Kevin quickly stifled his power and shook his head.

“Don’t do anything to scare Josten away, Hernandez warned Coach that he’s a bit… squirrely.”

“I’m not the one who started it,” Andrew reminded the arrogant bastard as he resumed spinning the glorified stick between his hands. “And so what? Just find another rookie,” he needled with a faint shrug.

As expected, Kevin took the bait. “Another roo- we were lucky to get Josten’s tape, dammit!” he hissed, mindful to keep his voice pitched low. “You think we’re going to find another striker who’s a fire elemental, any fire elemental out there at this point who’s unsigned, let alone with half his potential?”

“What potential?”

Kevin shook his head at Andrew’s unimpressed scoff.

“No, it’s there, it is,” he swore. “Hernandez said the Dingoes haven’t gotten this far in years, not until Josten showed up. That he hasn’t seen a Fire with his potential in all his time coaching, even if he’s still rough on the court.” Something hungry flashed across Kevin’s face for a moment as he set the papers aside to rub his scarred left hand. “He’s right, too. The way he plays, the way the team comes together whenever he’s out on court… it’s there, that promise. The Foxes need it, while Coach and I will make him better. You’ll see.”

So boring – Andrew had already heard this over a dozen times before, back when Kevin had argued for Wymack to chose Josten to replace poor, poor Smalls (maybe not so ‘poor’ since she didn’t have to suffer the Foxes now) and then as they flew to shithole Millport, Arizona. He already knew that his life was one big joke, but the past week had been a never-ending punchline of ‘oh wait, let’s really rub it in, shall we?’

Oh well, at least he could sit back and watch Gordon’s reaction when the asshole realized that Wymack had recruited a fire elemental more powerful than the homophobic druggie. The senior should have been replaced ages ago, except Fires weren’t easy to find, so any of real talent were scooped up by the many, many better teams out there.

Which made one wonder, why was such a diamond in the rough like Josten just waiting for Kevin to find him like this?

Just a little suspicious, yes?

Mistrust merrily bubbled along with the drug-fueled euphoria and boredom inside of Andrew’s head, which didn’t help with the whole ‘must not start smashing’ things. Oh, Wymack and Kevin owed him for this, yes they did.

He was swinging closer and closer to the racquet stand when there was the pitter patter of swift feet – was the little squirrel pulling a runner? Oh, clever boy, to want to get as far away from Wymack and his do-gooder self as possible, but Andrew had suffered on this fool’s errand for a reason, so that meant squirrelly-boy (or perhaps ‘rabbit’) would suffer, too.

Now things were getting fun.

Andrew braced himself in front of the nearest exit, the door leading out to the parking lot, with the ‘borrowed’ racquet held in both hands ready to lash out, but he literally felt rabbit-boy near – felt a rush of fire from the panicking kid (rabbit indeed). The tingling sense of pulsing heat laced with a simmering anger/threat made his own water magic rise, made the surrounding chill as it prepared to protect him.

A vague, shimmery shape propelled itself forward, toward the door, only to slid to a halt as fire and water slammed into each other; Andrew lashed out with the racquet but their elements, their magic, created enough of a buffer between them that the end of the stupid stick barely brushed against the kid’s chest.

Huh, maybe Kevin was right about Josten being a powerful Fire.

Andrew wavered on his feet from the backlash of their elements smashing together, somewhat inured to it after a year of collegiate Exy, of dealing with Kevin, of being somewhat prepared for the rabbiting Fire rabbit, while Josten ended up falling down hard onto his ass. He stared up at Andrew with dark eyes wide as his power receded, the shimmering effect around him fading away to reveal the lean, underfed kid with overgrown black hair and baggy, worn clothes and too-attractive features in the one picture which Hernandez had sent.

“Water,” Josten choked out as he gazed up at Andrew, as Andrew felt a traitorous flicker of interest overtake the boredom, both over that too-pretty face and the lingering feeling of intoxicating warmth from Josten’s element.

Uh-oh.

“Goddammit, Minyard, this is why we can’t have nice things!” Wymack bellowed as he and Hernandez finally caught up to the little rabbit, his dulcet voice echoing through the lounge as he took in Josten sprawled out on the floor and Andrew leaning against the racquet. “Are you all right, kid?” he asked and held out a hand to help Josten off the floor, which of course was ignored.

“Oh Coach, if he was nice then he wouldn’t be of any use to us.” Andrew ‘grinned’ at Josten, who managed to stand up on his own, his attention focused on Andrew with a wariness which made it clear that he’d an idea of just how powerful Andrew was, even though Andrew had only used a fraction of his talent. Huh, someone wasn’t adding up, not if he sensed Andrew so easily, not if he’d recovered so quickly, not if he made Andrew want to lean forward to soak in that odd, tingling sense of warmth….

“Besides, he looks good as new. Or, well, second-hand new,” Andrew said with an exaggerated grimace as he motioned to the kid’s outfit, as he leaned away instead of closer.

“Fuck off,” Josten muttered as he clutched at the handles of the battered duffel bag slung over his left shoulder. “And what’s with the racquet?” His wary look morphed into a glare after a brief flare of recognition. “Hey, that’s mine!”

“So grouchy,” Andrew complained then once more grinned. “Here you go!” He iced the racquet before he threw it at the kid, and felt a rare spark of amusement over the way that Josten cursed beneath his breath as he fumbled to hold on to the slippery object.

He also noticed how quickly the Fire negated the ice without blasting everyone with steam, which required skill along with power.

“What the hell?” Hernandez demanded as he approached Josten (who skittered out of reach, which was also interesting). “You okay, kid?”

“Andrew’s a bit raw on manners,” Wymack said in an attempt to smooth things over as he got between Josten and Andrew in a clear sign for Andrew to back off and stop with the ‘fun’ tricks. “But he’ll behave from now on. So what about it, Neil?” Over on the entertainment center, Kevin, who had been oddly quiet the entire time, leaned forward in interest.

Josten shook his head and once more clutched at his duffel bag (hmm, security blanket or something more?) while he shoved the racquet at Hernandez. “I’m fine. Just let me go,” he insisted as he shook his head again.

“We’re not done.”

“Coach Wymack.” Hernandez seemed rather protective of a certain rabbit – how odd, especially since he’d ratted him out in the first place.

“Give us a second?” Wymack somehow summoned a measure of charm (and a good dose of his earth magic) to put Hernandez at ease (Andrew sensed a weak amount of air magic in the man) which made the Dingoes coach grumble and agree to leave after giving his precious striker one more look and a promise to be back soon.

As soon as he was gone, the rabbit found his voice again (could a powerful Fire be a rabbit? Something to ponder). “I already gave you my answer, I won’t sign with you,” Josten insisted as he gazed at the door as if desperate to go through it, too.

Sighing as if tired already (Andrew knew that he was, and eager to hit up the pathetic minibar in the hotel), Wymack rubbed along the back of his neck "You didn't listen to my whole offer," he said slowly as if in hopes that the words would sink in that time. "If I paid to fly three people out here to see you then the least you could do is give me five minutes, don't you think?"

There was another flare of fire magic as Josten must have finally realized that it wasn’t just the three of them in the room, as his face paled and ugly dark eyes widened yet again while he searched around the room as he stepped away from Wymack (oh, yet another fascinating and suspicious reaction). “You didn’t bring him here.”

"Is that a problem?" Wymack’s earth magic pulsed out in an obvious attempt to calm the panicked kid (to keep them all from being flambéed – well, Andrew could protect himself, and he supposed Kevin).

"I'm not good enough to play on the same court as a champion." The kid sounded as if he believed that – and about two seconds away from the flambé thing.

"True, but irrelevant.”

Ah, finally, Number Two had spoken, and as usual, didn’t appear impressed with what he saw. Yet he added his earth magic to Wymack’s, though it didn’t appear to calm down Josten at all.

"What are you doing here?" Josten asked while he continued to edge toward the door, which Andrew moved to block once again.

"Why were you leaving?" Kevin countered as he leaned forward, his attention focused on the Fire with an intensity reserved only for Exy.

Josten didn’t seem to care for that intensity – that or for Kevin. "I asked you first." Oh, wasn’t that mature?

"Coach already answered that question.” Kevin sounded a bit testy over having to point that fact out, while Andrew was almost amused over the exchange – almost. He’d need another dose of his medicinal chains soon, judging from the way his skin itched and stomach churned. "We’re waiting for you to sign the contract. Stop wasting our time."

"No.” Both Kevin and Wymack appeared stunned over that flat denial, especially Kevin, Exy’s precious Number Two. "There are a thousand strikers who'd jump at the chance to play with you. Why don't you bother them?" Oh, Andrew might have an iota of respect for the pain in the ass, but he just wanted to go back to the hotel and start drinking instead of suffer through this scintillating wordplay.

“None of them are fire elementals,” Wymack said as he folded his tattooed arms over his chest. “We want you.”

"I won't play with Kevin,” Josten declared as he once more eyed the door. “And you already have a Fire.”

"He’s not good enough, and you will," Kevin shot back without pause, which earned him a brief glare from Wymack.

"Maybe you haven't noticed, but we're not leaving here until you say yes,” Wymack warned Josten once he finished giving Kevin a dirty look for insulting Gordon. “Kevin says we have to have you, and he's right." The kid didn’t look happy about that.

Kevin opened his mouth again, definitely to argue more with the kid, most likely to insult him a good bit (the true Kevin Day way), maybe, just maybe to mention that the rookie striker did have some potential beneath the roughness, had one hell of a drive while out on the court (there was a reason for them to come out after him, after all, and not just because of his element), but Andrew was tired and bored and needed to get away from a certain too-attractive Fire enigma right then.

“Coach is right, he’s not going to let this go, so why don’t you, someone who supposedly plays as if he has everything to lose, save us all a lot of time and jump on the chance to get out of this boring hellhole, hmm?” Agree to sign, and then Andrew could spend the summer figuring out just what Josten was hiding, why a Fire with so much potential was hiding in Millport, of all places, and appeared freaked out by Kevin.

Was this a Moriyama trick? Planted bait?

“But… but I’m not good enough,” the kid tried to lie even as his distasteful magic kept making Andrew’s insides tingle in a disturbing counterpart to the damn drug’s withdrawal.

Kevin jumped onto his feet but one look from Andrew kept him from approaching Josten. “Not yet, but we’ll get you there. Give us some time to train you and your talent, and you will get there.”

When Josten stopped eyeing the door to focus on him, Wymack piled it on as well. "It actually works in our favor that you're all the way out here," he argued. "No one outside of our team and school board even knows we're here. We don't want your face all over the news this summer. We've got too much to deal with right now and we don't want to drag you, some unknown Fire, into the mess until you're safe and settled at campus. There's a confidentiality clause in your contract, says you can't tell anyone you're ours until the season starts in August."

Josten was quiet for a few seconds before his shoulders slumped forward, a sign that his defenses were weakening. "It's not a good idea,” he announced after he looked away from Kevin.

"Your opinion has been duly noted and dismissed," Wymack said while Kevin grinned in victory. "Anything else, or are you going to start signing stuff?" Just in case, Wymack ‘pushed’ a little with his talent, gave off soothing waves as if to calm Josten.

The kid was quiet for a few more seconds before he mumbled some bullshit about needing his mother’s permission, even though Hernandez had warned Wymack out how Josten’s parents were never around and might be abusing the striker. When he kept going on about them, Wymack glanced over at Andrew, who gave a quick shake of his head.

The kid was lying – he was interested in the contract, but it was pure bullshit about him needing his parents’ permission, from what Andrew’s magic could sense.

Wymack’s lips thinned before he told Andrew and Kevin to go wait in Hernandez’s SUV, which would take them back to the hotel. Kevin wasn’t happy about the command, but as (almost) always, obeyed their benevolent tyrant which meant that Andrew followed.

“Is he going to sign?” Kevin asked once they were outside.

Andrew cocked his head to the side and ‘thought’ about it for a moment; water elementals weren’t exactly precogs (or the majority of them weren’t), at least not beyond a vague impression of the future and people. His ability lay in knowing if someone was telling him the truth or not, if they were ‘safe’ or not – and the impression he got from one Neil Josten?

LIARLIARLIARLIARLIARLIARLIARLIARLIARLIAR…..

Yet he’d felt something toward the end there which led him to believe that the young man would show up at PSU, after all.

Now that he thought about it… it was probably an impending sense of doom.

“He’ll sign,” Andrew sighed as he went to the back door of the SUV to fetch the bottle of water he’d left with his backpack while motioning for Kevin to throw him his bottle of pills, all the while ignoring Hernandez. Josten would show up just to annoy the fuck out of him, he was certain.

He used his talent to chill the water, which was warm from sitting in the vehicle for the past half an hour, then forced himself to take the pill, biological clock all fucked up (ha, more than just that) because of the time difference. After a few minutes and a cigarette, Josten finally left the building with Wymack and Hernandez at his heels, and when Josten made to walk past the SUV, Andrew opened the back door with a wide grin and a slight, mocking bow. "Too good to play with us, too good to ride with us?"

The Fire gave him a cool look (ha!) before breaking into a run; Andrew had to admit he made just as pretty a picture fading off into the distance with that lean form and long legs. Hmm, as much as Exy annoyed Andrew most days, he had to appreciate its effects on the human physique.

“Well?” Kevin snapped at Wymack once they were in the SUV, in what probably was meant to be a demanding tone but contained too much anxiety, considering that they had to sign a new striker or else.

Wymack picked up on it, too, considering how he pushed more of the ‘soothing’ bullshit while he shook out a cigarette. “He’ll be spending the summer with us, as soon as he graduates.” He twisted around in the front passenger seat to glare at Andrew. “No rough shit with the new kid, do you hear me?” Next to him, Hernandez radiated displeasure while he drove. “He’s a Fox now.”

Mindful of the non-Fox in the car, Andrew merely bared his teeth and gave his coach a two-fingered salute before he slumped back into the seat as the drug began to take effect. He hummed a little and closed his eyes while he thought about the alcohol awaiting him in his hotel room, and tuned out Kevin and Wymack arguing about the best way to go about training a rookie Fire.

Wymack could bitch and moan all he liked, but the more Andrew reflected back on his encounter with Neil Josten… oh yes, too many pieces which didn’t fit together. Someone was a too-attractive, too-powerful liar, which meant that Andrew had a new toy to play with that summer. A toy he would poke and prod and twist about until either all the pieces fit, or it was broken badly enough that any danger to him and his was all gone.

As he thought about that sharp-boned face and addicting tingle of magic… he hoped it was the latter.

*******

[tripentertainment]

New Movies To Watch This Week: ‘Malcolm & Marie,’ ‘Falling’ And A New Studio Ghibli

February is shaping up to be something special. In response to a pandemic-extended awards season, the sort of films that used to crowd the release calendar just before New Year’s in an effort to Oscar-qualify while also still maintaining some measure of last-minute/latest-thing freshness are now arranging to come out over the coming weeks.

Think of that as a teaser of such upcoming films as “Minari” and “Nomadland” more than a reflection of this week’s lineup, although a couple of this week’s releases feature elements the marketing departments would be happy to hear described as “Oscar worthy.”

The first is Viggo Mortensen’s directorial debut, in which he plays a gay man dealing with his father’s dementia (featuring a raging performance by Lance Henriksen). The second is Sam Levinson’s resourceful two-hander “Malcolm & Marie,” made during the pandemic and featuring two terrific, on-fire performances from John David Washington and Zendaya. (Variety critic Joe Leydon also floated the suggestion that Brian Dennehy’s performances as a spiteful Klansman in the Spike Lee-produced “Son of the South” is deserving of posthumous attention.)

Here’s a rundown of those films opening this week that Variety has reviewed, along with information on where you can watch them. Find more movies and TV shows to stream here.

New Releases on Demand and in Select Theaters

Falling (Viggo Mortensen)Distributor: Quiver DistributionWhere to Find It: In theaters, on digital and on demandDrawing on his own upbringing while touching on universal themes of family and loss, Mortensen reimagines the relationship with his parents — doting mother, difficult father — through the protective filter of fiction. In the process, the actor reminds that his best work comes from a place of emotional vulnerability. Dad was clearly a piece of work, portrayed here as a scorpion-tempered patriarch who dominated his family for decades, growing even more difficult with the onset of dementia (as seen in the present, where Lance Henriksen brings the hellfire). — Peter DebrugeRead the full review

A Glitch in the Matrix (Rodney Ascher)Distributor: Magnolia PicturesWhere to Find It: In theaters and on demandThere are words, and many metaphors, one could use to describe simulation theory: the belief, popularized two decades ago by “The Matrix,” that the life we’re living — the people we know, the experiences we have, what we see, touch, think, and feel — is literally an illusion, an artificial façade orchestrated by minds far more developed than our own. … “A Glitch in the Matrix” gives each of those metaphors a workout. The movie takes the pulse of how science fiction has merged with our imaginations. — Owen GleibermanRead the full review

Little Fish (Chad Hartigan)Distributor: IFC FilmsWhere to Find It: In theaters and on demandWith COVID-19 still raging around the world, a melancholy love story about a 2021 viral pandemic that ravages people’s relationships, romances and sense of self is perhaps not the easiest sell at the moment. Such timeliness proves both a blessing and a curse for “Little Fish,” writer-director Chad Hartigan’s heartfelt tale about a couple struggling with a global epidemic of memory loss. A portrait of life’s impermanence, it’s a bittersweet small-scale saga whose occasional sluggishness is offset by its sensitivity. — Nick SchagerRead the full review

Rams (Jeremy Sims)Distributor: Samuel Goldwyn FilmsWhere to Find It: In theaters and on demandNearly six years ago, “Rams,” a touching humanist drama from Iceland directed and written by Grímur Hákonarson, won hearts — and prizes — at the Cannes Film Festival. Now, in trots an Australian remake. Adapted with winning cultural specificity by former newsman Jules Duncan, it’s longer and more broadly comic than the Icelandic version and boasts a tacked on, feel-good ending. Beloved Antipodean stars Sam Neill and Michael Caton play the two estranged brothers who must pull together to save what is dearest to them: their sheep. — Alissa SimonRead the full review

The Reckoning (Neil Marshall)Distributor: RLJE Films and ShudderWhere to Find It: In theaters, on digital and on demandMarshall returns to his traditional horror roots with “The Reckoning,” an uneven melodrama about an innocent young widow accused of witchcraft during the Great Plague of London, 1665. Striving to be a rousing tale of female empowerment in the face of brutal patriarchy and religious extremism, “The Reckoning” has some powerful moments but relies too heavily on fantasy sequences to deliver scares, and its credibility is significantly compromised by the heroine consistently emerging from extreme torture sessions with barely a hair out of place or a smudge on her makeup. — Richard KuipersRead the full review

Son of the South (Barry Alexander Brown)Distributor: Vertical EntertainmentWhere to Find It: Available on demandAlthough he occasionally uses a broad brush dipped in primary colors while fashioning his admiring portrait of Bob Zellner, the grandson of a Ku Klux Klansman who improbably evolved into a civil rights activist during the early 1960s, Brown shrewdly and intelligently avoids most of the “white savior” clichés common to such scenarios. His well-crafted and period-persuasive biopic strikes a dramatically sound and emotionally satisfying balance between the moral awakening of its white protagonist and his relationships with sometimes encouraging, sometimes skeptical Black leaders and foot soldiers. — Joe LeydonRead the full review

Two of Us (Filippo Meneghetti)Distributor: Magnolia PicturesWhere to Find It: Available in theaters and on demandNeither a hot-blooded tale of sexual discovery like “Blue Is the Warmest Color” nor a coolly alluring bauble like “Carol,” Meneghetti’s debut feature “Two of Us” is an entirely unique and uniquely vital lesbian love story. The tale of two older women whose decades-long secret relationship is threatened after tragedy strikes covers emotional and thematic ground that transcends the sexual preferences of the two main characters. This often-moving film is an affirmation of our universal desire for emotional intimacy and how the right connection can overcome all social and physical limitations. — Mark KeizerRead the full review

Bliss Courtesy of Amazon Studios

Exclusive to Amazon Prime

Bliss (Mike Cahill)Where to Find It: Amazon PrimeThe biggest challenge of discussing “Bliss” lies in describing its premise without making it sound considerably wilder and more interesting than it actually is. In short, the film stars Owen Wilson as a sad-sack office drone who, after accidentally killing his boss, is rescued by an intense, shamanistic homeless woman played by Salma Hayek, who not only informs him that they are soulmates, but also that they are among the few flesh-and-blood humans inhabiting a complex computer simulation. See? Sounds intriguing enough, doesn’t it? — Andrew BarkerRead the full review

Earwig and the Witch Courtesy of GKIDS

Available in Theaters and on HBO Max

Earwig and the Witch (Goro Miyazaki)Distributor: GKIDSWhere to Find It: In select theaters and HBO MaxErica Wigg, the main character of Goro Miyazaki’s made-for-TV feature “Earwig and the Witch,” is both a brat and an orphan. Those two traits seldom go together in children’s stories, and the combination provides a modest starting point for this intermittently amusing CG entry from Studio Ghibli — back in business but a shadow of its former glory. While the story doesn’t feel terribly original, Erica’s attitude manages to set her apart from such relatively well-behaved orphans as Harry Potter and Roald Dahl’s Matilda. — Peter DebrugeRead the full review

Malcolm & Marie Dominic Miller/Netflix

Exclusive to Netflix

Malcolm & Marie (Sam Levinson) CRITIC’S PICKWhere to Find It: NetflixWhile not nearly as ambitious as “Eyes Wide Shut” in theme or technique, Levinson’s feature feels every bit as raw and honest in exploring the fissures in a relationship with a bit of wear on its tires. Not too shabby for a film dashed off and shot during the pandemic. It’s “the biggest night of my life,” Malcolm believes, and we observe as they alternately appreciate and abuse one another, making love and war as they test and tentatively reestablish where they stand. The result is like Edward Albee’s “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” minus the booze and the cruel mirror a second couple provides. — Peter DebrugeRead the full review

Strip Down, Rise Up (Michèle Ohayon)Where to Find It: NetflixThe class at the heart of “Strip Down, Rise Up,” upends expectations. So does Ohayon’s cinema verité movie. Debuting on Netflix (where the subject might attract the wrong kind of audience, or precisely those who’d connect with it most), the doc is poignant, surprising and deftly reawakens questions about “patriarchy” — not by being a pole-dancing polemic but by foregrounding its characters’ experiences. The film isn’t concerned with strip clubs and their habitués [but rather what the class instructor] calls a “feminine lifestyle practice.” — Lisa KennedyRead the full review

Life in a Day 2020 Courtesy of Sundance Film Festival

Exclusive to YouTube

Life in a Day 2020 (Kevin Macdonald)Where to Find It: On YouTube Feb. 6It’s been precisely a decade since the first edition of “Life in a Day” debuted at Sundance, though in internet years, that amounts to several eons. So, what can “Life in a Day 2020” now bring to the table? Nothing groundbreaking, certainly. Macdonald’s followup collage neatly matches its predecessor in form and function, serving another enjoyable but unavoidably surface-level survey of how the other half lives. Videos flood in from Mongolian livestock farmers, Eastern European high-rise dwellers and American suburbanites alike, connected by little more than their access to a smartphone Cell Phone Belt Holder . 

[olko71]

New Post has been published on All about business online

New Post has been published on http://yaroreviews.info/2023/04/renting-shortfall-of-properties-creates-frenzied-market-surveyors-say

Renting: Shortfall of properties creates frenzied market, surveyors say

Getty Images

By Kevin Peachey

Cost of living correspondent

A shortfall of properties to match demand from tenants – causing a rise in the cost of renting – is striking in its consistency, surveyors say.

One agent said the rental market in his area was “frenzied” owing to fierce competition for homes among tenants.

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) said the proportion of its members reporting growth in demand was at a five-month high in March.

Rents are expected to rise across the UK, averaging a 4% annual increase.

Simon Rubinsohn, chief economist at Rics, said the rental sector was constrained by a lack of homes. Surveyors reported that tax and regulations were leading many landlords to consider whether to continue or sell up.

Andrew Oulsnam, a surveyor in Birmingham, said that demand for properties far exceeded supply, with many landlords deciding to sell whenever a tenant left.

“There is no end in sight for a serious shortage of properties to rent,” he said.

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Your device may not support this visualisation.

Although the imbalance between demand and supply – particularly for family homes – was pushing up the cost of renting, there were also warnings that tenants already faced financial strain from rising bills and prices.

“Tenants’ budgets are coming under pressure due to the rise in the cost of living. Landlords who choose to price sensibly are attracting the most interest,” said Alec Harragin, from Savills estate agents in London.

Emily

Emily, her partner, and their baby son MJ had been renting a two-bedroom flat in Aylesbury. The landlord wanted to put up the rent at the end of their current tenancy but the family couldn’t afford it. They began searching for somewhere else to live, but it’s been frustrating.

“There’s been times when I’ve said, ‘Yes, I’ll take this one’,” Emily told the BBC last month. “I love it, it’s perfect, and then they’ll say, ‘It’s gone’.” It has been, she says, “the most stressful time of my life – other than having a baby,”

After months of searching, the family had to move out of their home earlier this month. But they hadn’t found somewhere new, so they had to move back in with their families – which means Emily and her partner staying under different roofs.

“On our actual relationship it’s been really difficult,” she says.

The family now have one goal: “To find a two-bed house, because then it’ll have enough space for us three.”

‘We were kicked out of our flat after complaining’

Three ways to win the rental property race

The sales market was reported to be much calmer, with a lack of activity proving to be the key issue, according to RICS.

The survey suggested that surveyors were most likely to report falling levels of interest from buyers, fewer homes being put up for sale, and house prices falling.

The expectation was for slower levels of sales to continue in the coming months.

“Deals are being done, but a theme coming through in the anecdotal remarks is the need for vendors to recognise the shift in market dynamics,” said Mr Rubinsohn.

Over the medium-term, the picture was more settled with an expectation that interest rates may have peaked.

A slight rise in activity and house prices was predicted by surveyors in a year’s time.

What are your renting rights?

How much can my landlord increase the rent? It depends on your agreement but rises must be fair, realistic and in line with local properties and there’s usually a months notice.

Can my landlord evict me? Landlords need to follow strict rules such as giving written notice. Once the notice period ends, the landlord can start eviction proceedings through court.

Can a landlord refuse people on benefits? No. DSS policies are unlawful discrimination. says charity Shelter. Some councils have lists of private landlords who rent to tenants claiming benefits.

There’s more on your renting rights and where to go for help here.

Related Topics

Money

Personal finance

Housing market

Renting

London

Aylesbury

More on this story

‘We were kicked out of our flat after complaining’

29 March

Six out of 10 renters live in energy-inefficient homes

6 days ago

Rent prices: Have they gone up in your area?

29 March

[ellesimagines]

That’s my boy!

Fandom: Riverdale

Pairing: Sweet Pea x fem!reader

Warnings: High school drama, other than that, just fluff

Requested: Yes (riverdale - sweet pea x reader. reader is a northsider and stands up for them and sweet pea won't stop talking about her) (feel free to request something yourself x)

Word count: 2271 words

I do not own the gif, Riverdale or most of the characters mentioned in this story

Hey guys (again)! This is my first imagine. Thanks to the lovely anon for requesting it! I hope it’s how you imagined it. It’s set in 2x10, and I tried to copy the lines they say, but failed a few times. And again, English isn’t my first language, so excuse some mistakes. Hope you enjoy reading it, and I’d love to get some feedback (or more requests)! Also, feel free to send in questions about me if you want to get to know me, or just start a chat with me. I’d love to interact as much as possible with all of you, and this is a perfectly safe zone for you to talk free and to send in all your imagines and fantasies! Lots of love, Elle x

“Friends!”

Veronica’s excited voice rang through the crowded hallways of Riverdale High School. Her lips were lifted to a just as excited smile, as she greeted the newly transferred Southside students to the school.

Y/N’s eyes wandered over the group of leather clad teenagers on the other side of the table Veronica set up earlier this morning. To her, they didn’t look half as dangerous as everyone described them. They might be gang members, but after all, they were just teenagers trying to fit in with a crowd. Like everyone else in this town.

While Veronica went on about all the useful information that she gathered to make their transition as simple and easy as possible, Y/N looked over to Kevin, who’s eyes were sparkling with excitement.

“We encourage each and every one of you to drink deeply from the cup that is fair Riverdale!”, Veronica says to the Southsiders, still smiling brightly at them.

“Stand down, Eva Perón.”

Cheryl’s voice makes Y/N and her friends turn towards the stairs, where the red-head was walking towards them, Reggie and a couple of bulldogs and River Vixens behind the two.

Y/N sighed. Cheryl harassing students was nothing new, she was the self-crowned HBIC of the school, very well known for crushing one or the other self-confidence of fellow student.

“Here we go again”, Y/N muttered to herself, overhearing Jughead say something about the school spirit.

“Cheryl, no one invited fascist Barbie to the party”, Veronica says to Cheryl as she takes a proud stand in front of the group.

“Wrong, Veronica, no one invited Southside scum to our school”, Cheryl tells her. “Listen up, raggamuffins, I will not allow Riverdale High’s above average GPA to suffer from classrooms that are overcrowded with… underachievers. So please, do us all a favour and find some other school to debase.”

Y/N could see the discomfort in the Southside students eyes and the air in the hallway became thicker and thicker with the tension rising.

Y/N was always a quiet student, she was always trying to get a fairly good grade and to just fit in with the rest in an attempt to be nearly invisible to trouble and typical High School drama. She chose extracurriculars in which Cheryl Blossom wasn’t. Because she knew, where Cheryl was, drama was just around the next corner.

But today, however, she felt this urge to take a stand with the Southsiders. They didn’t have a choice after their school was closed, and Cheryl has destroyed enough people’s High School experience.

“They can’t debase this school more than someone who’s father killed his own son”, Y/N said, looking at Cheryl with a straight face, as the red-head turned to the girl slowly.

“What did you just say?”, Cheryl asked Y/N.

“You heard me very clearly, Cheryl. Anyone who looks at Riverdale High for longer than a second will see the real problem here. And that surely isn’t the Southside High students that just transferred, that is some self-centred red-headed bully walking through this High School with a cheer uniform which got HBIC written on it’s back. With such a family background like yours I wouldn’t open this mouth too wide, especially if it’s only senseless crap coming out of it.”

Y/N’s friends looked at her just as stunned as the Southsiders and Cheryl. She never got into a fight or caught up in some drama, she never raised her voice against Cheryl Blossom and never did she use someone’s problems against them.

But she had enough. They all came to this school as no one’s once, and just because Southside High School had a bad image with it’s gangs, drugs and it’s teacher uninterested in teaching, who was to say, that they didn’t want to actually achieve a proper education and go on to do some good in this messed up town? After all, High School was where future’s are made.

“Guys, everyone, can we just put our Northside/Southside differences apart and start over? A new slate?”, Archie asks, moving Cheryl’s attention from Y/N to him.

As Y/N saw Cheryl moving away from her, she let out a breath she didn’t know she held in.

“You don’t speak for the bulldogs, Andrews. And do I need to remind you? These snakes showed up at your place, trying to kick your ass”, Reggie says to Archie.

“Why don’t we finish what we started?”, a tall Serpent asked, taking a step toward Reggie, before he was held back by Jughead.

As Y/N’s eyes rested on him, she couldn’t help but think that he was quite good looking. Tall, broad-shouldered and dark haired. His eyes met Y/N’s for a split second, and as he looked at her, he looked intrigued by the girl. As if she was some mystery just waiting to be solved, preferably by him.

“I’m so over the toxic masculinity in this hallway right now!”, Veronica says, trying to put an end to this feud.

“Alright, everyone, let’s get to class!”, Principle Weatherbee announces, making the groups of students in the hallway split up in different directions.

“Okay, but honestly, who is she?”, Sweet Pea asks his fellow Serpents and friends, as they enter the Whyte Wyrm after school’s over, for the 10th time this hour.

Toni looked back at him with a smirk, well knowing, that Sweet Pea was about to develop a crush.

“Why do you even want to know that? Got a little crush?”, Fangs asked amused, teasing his best friends while wiggling his eyebrows at him.

“Shut up”, Sweet Pea says to him, looking at him with threatening eyes. “I’m just asking. We should thank her, she stood up to Cheryl for us.”

Jughead and Toni share a quick glance, before he says: “Her name is Y/N Y/L/N. She’s Kevin’s best friend, quiet student, and she never gets into fights. Today sure was a first for her. You really should go and thank her tomorrow, Sweet Pea.”

Sweet Pea looks at Jughead as if he’s about to punch him.

“I can’t believe you guys. I’m just trying to make a good first impression at a better school”, Sweet Pea sighs, falling down on one of the bar stools.

“A good impression? Sorry, buddy, you missed that train. After you nearly punched star football player Reggie Mantle this morning in the hallway, I’m pretty sure that isn’t the way to make a good impression”, Fangs says, shrugging his shoulder at the taller Serpent.

“That was before I decided to start over”, Sweet Pea tells him.

“Sure”, Fangs nods, laughing quietly to himself.

A few hours later, Sweet Pea’s had enough of the constant bickering of his friends. They were trying their best to get Sweet Pea to accept that he’s got a crush on Y/N, but he wasn’t going to budge.

The tall Serpent was fiddling with his phone in a booth at Pop’s, trying to hide the screen from his friends as he looked through Instagram. But he didn’t notice Fangs craning his head to get a better view of his phone.

“Oh god, now you’re stalking her on Instagram! Just text her already!”, Fangs says, nudging his best friend.

Toni and Jughead opposite them were laughing at the two, as Sweet Pea stared at his best friend again.

“Or maybe -”, Fangs began, his eyes wandering towards the entrance of the diner through which Kevin and Y/N walked at the moment, making him smirk, “- you can just go and talk to her right now.”

Confused, Sweet Pea looked around, but Kevin and Y/N have already taken a seat in a booth a bit further away from them. Sighing, Fangs gave his best friend a little push, making Sweet Pea nearly fall off the bench.

“What is your problem, Fangs?”, Sweet Pea asked, annoyed.

“You’re just too proud to accept that you’re crushing on a Northsider. Remember? A new slate. We go to the same school as the Northsiders do now, so go and befriend some. Or do more than just befriend them. Any way, you won’t shut up about her. Ever since school finished, she is the only thing on your mind. If you don’t go and talk to her now, I will do it for you”, Fangs says, motioning towards the booth that Kevin just left to go to the toilet. “There’s your chance to get her alone, buddy.”

Sweet Pea just shook his head furiously at Fangs, but soon enough, Fangs gave him another push, and Sweet Pea was standing up. Sighing, he decided to go and at least thank her, if that means they will shut up about it.

As he got closer to the booth, he saw her looking out of the window, and he hoped he wouldn’t scare her when he would speak up.

“Hey”, he says, and her head turned towards him.

“Hi”, Y/N says, smiling at him genuinely. “Take a seat.”

She motioned for him to sit down opposite her, and he quickly did, hoping to not look too helpless.

“Your name is Y/N, right?”, he asks, and as soon as he says those words, he’d like to punch himself.

Now he looked like a stalker to her.

“Yeah, and your name is?”, she asked him, still smiling.

Sweet Pea thought she was only still smiling to be kind, she must think he’s weird.

“My friends call me Sweet Pea”, he says, giving her a quick smirk.

“Nice to meet you, Sweet Pea. And sorry for the drama earlier. I’m afraid you’ll have to keep up with lots more of that over the next few years at Riverdale High. Cheryl’s ego is just sickening”, she laughed.

“Actually, I came to thank you, for earlier. You know, for standing up for us. Not many people do that, especially not if they don’t know us”, he says, sending her a smile.

“No big deal. Cheryl just had to be told off for once, not exactly my forte, but whatever.”

He smiled at her, not knowing what to say now. Y/N sighed, looking at him apologetically.

“Sorry, I don’t usually stutter while talking”, she says, looking down to her fingers which were fumbling with the fork.

Sweet Pea didn’t even notice her stumbling over her words, he was too concentrated to not sound too nervous himself.

“Don’t worry, it’s cute”, he says, making her laugh.

You idiot, Sweet Pea thought to himself and rests his head in his hand, sighing.

“I think I should go back to my friends, Kevin should be back any minute anyway, but thank you again”, he says, hoping to make a swift exit, but as soon as he stands up from the bench, she calls out his name.

“Yeah?”, he asks, turning around to her, as she smiles at him again.

God, that smile is going to kill me, he thought.

“Here”, she says, holding out a napkin for him to take.

As he takes it from her hands, their fingers touch for a minute, and that beautiful smile returns onto her lips. Shyly smirking, he looks down on the napkin to find a phone number written on it.

The smile on his lips changed from shy, to proud the moment he looked up to meet her gaze.

“I really hope it’s not too weird of me to just give you my number, assuming you’d want it”, she says, looking at him slightly insecure.

“No, of course not. Did you just write it down or did you have it prepared all along?”, he asks, smirking at her.

“I just wrote it down, it’s not like I’ve got hundreds of napkins in my bag to just hand out to guys who talk to me once, like flyers, I’m not that awkward”, she laughs, her eyes lighting up.

“Yeah, of course, sorry”, he laughs, feeling his confidence falter again.

How could he be so stupid and assume she had it written on that napkin before she came here?

“I’ll text you later, so that you’ve got my number as well”, he smiles, waving at her before quickly walking back to the booth his friends were sitting in, waiting for his return in anticipation.

As he sat down again next to Fangs, he quickly hid the napkin in one of his jeans pockets.

“And?”, Toni asks.

“She gave me her number”, Sweet Pea smiles proudly.

“That’s my boy!”, Fangs says triumphantly, patting Sweet Pea on the back like a proud father.

A couple weeks later, Sweet Pea walked straight past Fangs and Toni as he entered the school, making his best friends look at each other in confusion.

“Hey”, he says, making Y/N slightly jump before closing her locker to look at him.

“Oh god, don’t scare me like that”, she laughs, hitting his chest playfully.

“Don’t worry, it’s just me, babe”, he laughs, pulling her against him to press a kiss to her lips.

She smiled into the kiss, and as their lips separated, he took the books out of her arm and threw his other, free arm over her shoulder before walking her to her next class.

Fangs had a proud smile drawn on his face, while Toni’s expression was blank.

“That was quick”, she says, looking at Fangs next to her.

“Honestly, that wasn’t quick enough. He wouldn’t shut up about how amazing she is”, Fangs says, still looking after Sweet Pea and Y/N.

“Good for them, and for you”, Toni laughed.

“I’m so proud of my boy”, Fangs says, turning to Toni, still smiling.

“We both are”, Toni says, patting Fangs on the shoulder, before pushing him towards their shared chemistry class.

--- 

@asongofmarvelanddc

[ao3feed-thefoxholecourt]

How They Saved Day

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2KhCtZ0

by SquishiChaos

Kevin sees his life in three parts: his rise, his subsequent fall, and now--here--where he must recover one long day at a time with the help of one flirty mechanic, his shitty partner and a family he didn't ask for.

Words: 4141, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Fandoms: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic, Pacific Rim (Movies)

Rating: Mature

Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence

Categories: F/F, M/M, Multi

Characters: Kevin Day, Nicky Hemmick, Seth Gordon, Neil Josten, Andrew Minyard, David Wymack, Allison Reynolds (All For The Game), Renee Walker (All For The Game), Matt Boyd, Danielle "Dan" Wilds

Relationships: Kevin Day/Nicky Hemmick, Kevin Day/Seth Gordon, Seth Gordon/Nicky Hemmick, Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard, Katelyn/Aaron Minyard, Allison Reynolds/Renee Walker (All For The Game), Nicky Hemmick/Erik Klose, Matt Boyd/Danielle "Dan" Wilds

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Asshole Kevin Day, Nicky is not subtle, expect future smut

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2KhCtZ0

[jemej3m]

careful sleepers

in light of the dark and scary shit ive been writing over on ao3, here’s my antithesis.

Neil dreams of soft colours: Pinks. Maybe some mint greens. He never remembers them when he wakes, just like he never remembers the specifics of traumatic moments. He just feels them. The weight on his chest. The wedge in his throat. 

But the pinks and greens, yellows and purples and blues - they leave him feeling soft. And light. 

He opens his eyes. 

The tacky curtains Nicky bought for their dorm room are illuminated by the morning light: The patchwork of soft pink, baby blue, sunflower yellow, mint green and lilac purple glows as it shields the rooms patrons from the rising sun. 

Neil’s in exactly the same position that he was when he went to sleep, because he forced himself to learn how not to move or fidget with his mother: On his back, his head tilted to the right, his right hand on his stomach and his left arm stretched across his pillow. 

Their pillow. 

Andrew sleeps here too. Despite the small mattress, despite the freely available bed that is above them, Andrew pulls Neil down to sleep here every night, in spite of Kevin’s glares, in spite of Nicky’s cooing. 

Neil’s chest always squeezes when Andrew squeezes his hand, urging him to stay. But sleeping on the same mattress didn’t mean entwining themselves with one another. No: Neil usually slept on his back, and Andrew stayed on his side, his back to the wall and his hand curled into a fist on the pillow between them. 

This morning is different. 

Andrew has abandoned the wall: The arm Neil has stretched out across the pillow cushions Andrew’s head, and the fist that Andrew usually has clenched in the pillow has taken a handful of Neil’s shirt instead. 

Andrew’s head is on Neil’s shoulder, and half of his chest covers Neil’s own. Something shifts: Andrew’s cold foot wedges under Neil’s knee. 

Still, Neil doesn’t move. Andrew’s breath stutters, but he’s definitely asleep. 

Neil isn’t the type who cries, nor dwells on such simplicities, but he allows himself a teary twitch of the lips as he gazes up at the loft above him. The hand that he’s rested on his stomach moves to rest by Andrew’s: Not touching. Just there. 

He lets his eyes fall closed. He doesn’t have to do anything today. He’s not going to disturb Andrew if he can help it. 

Andrew’s mastered the art of defensive sleeping: Keeping still, keeping the wall at his back, keeping one eye open. His sleeping schedule had once been an absolute mess, ruined by horrific dreams that plagued him in his waking hours. 

Now it was more or less routinely. He took some melatonin if he felt too wired, but usually, by the time Neil and Kevin got the Exy out of their systems, and Andrew got Neil out of his system (with a nightcap and a kiss on the roof), Andrew would feel sleepy as he and Neil brushed their teeth side-by-side, before clambering into bed. 

More often than not, Andrew pulled Neil under his covers. Having Neil next to him made it easier to fall asleep. He had a wall at his back and his shield at his front. He was safe. 

And because Neil was stupid, Andrew needed him within his reach. If Andrew couldn’t reach him, Neil was probably pissing someone off. If Andrew couldn’t see him, Neil was probably being hurt. 

So it doesn’t surprise him when he wakes up that he is plastered across Neil’s chest like some rash, some weed that had sprouted and taken over Neil’s form. He doesn’t move: Neil was still breathing evenly enough that he had to be asleep. Instead, he looks at Neil’s chest, where Andrew is gripping his shirt in a loose fist. 

Neil’s hand rests close by. 

Andrew links their fingers. It is not an instinctual behaviour. Every time Andrew makes contact with someone else, it is methodical. It is a well considered choice. 

But there isn’t really been any other option. Andrew just wants to.

A hand drifts across the pillow, so Andrew must be wrong about his evaluation that Neil is asleep: Andrew feels Neil’s fingers comb through Andrew’s hair, before resting above his ear. The weight is irresistible: Neil’s heartbeat, thudding beneath the scar tissue, lean muscle and sinew that had no right in being this comfortable, quickly has Andrew surrendering to the drowsiness. 

From there, it is easier to fall asleep than stay awake. 

Neither get up for another hour.

[sixinsultsago]

i hold it there in my hands

domestic andreil again because i do not quit. post-canon, fluff.

read on ao3

*

Like a snake, my heart has shed its skin. I hold it there in my hand, full of honey and wounds.

*

The trick to loving right Andrew Minyard is, surprisingly enough, expectation.

Andrew has an ego that demands he stay one step ahead of the competition, but that’s for threats. When you’re on the correct side of him, he craves to be anticipated. Andrew makes it embarrassingly easy. After a childhood being overlooked — or worse, noticed for all the wrong reasons — Andrew kind of… crumbles when another person sees him. It’s how Renee secured him as her best friend without a deal. It’s how Matt inducted himself into the Monsters in his senior year.

It’s how Neil is sitting cross-legged on a pretentious marble counter-top, eating crunchy peanut butter from the jar.

Andrew is facing the stove top, his strong back covered by a typical black shirt. Every time he moves Neil can just about taste it. He might as well be shirtless for all the good the useless fabric is doing for his modesty.

Okay. Neil needs to not think about that.

Andrew purposely bangs his spatula against the side of the saucepan, fed-up. “Don’t you have anything better to do?"

The idea of Andrew feeling Neil’s gaze is almost embarrassing, just not enough for Neil to look away. “I don’t have eidetic memory; I need to take the time to memorize you.”

“You did that enough during college.”

“You look different from then,” Neil protests. Andrew is broader, thicker in his arms and stomach and thighs. His hair is longer, the scowl lines around his mouth less pronounced. Neil doesn’t love Andrew any less now than when he regularly pulled knives on their teammates, but he can’t deny a certain fondness for an Andrew who lets himself smile when he texts Bee about Halloween costumes.

Andrew doesn’t deny it. Neil smiles around his spoon. “What are you making?”

“Sandwich.”

“Why are you frying it?”

“Nicer this way.”

He flips the sandwich. Something sizzles. Neil doesn’t think it is oil. The smell is — putrid.

And familiar.

Neil’s stomach turns at the same time he realizes what that smell is. “Fuck. Are you eating that stupid maple syrup and cream cheese toastie garbage?”

Andrew throws him a flat look over his shoulder. “Why do you sound offended. I am not making you eat it.”

The ‘stupid maple syrup and cream cheese toastie garbage’ is a Andrew Minyard special. He puts maple syrup in a pan, brings it to a spitting boil, and fries a cream cheese sandwich in it. The first time he made it, he happened to do so in front of Kevin. Kevin dry-retched so bad he ended up crying. Allison had it on camera.

“Andrew,” Neil starts, incredulous. “There’s no way your nutritionist approved that!”

The blond shrugs. “I’m hungry.”

“Oh my god.”

“Shut up and eat your peanut butter, hypocrite.” He slides the toasted sandwich out of the pan and pulls it apart into skinny, little pieces without waiting for it to cool down. It clearly hurts. Andrew doesn’t stop doing it, because he is as stupid as the people he surrounds himself with.

Neil’s stomach shrivels up and dies when Andrew meets his eyes and takes a pointed bite. He chucks his spoon into the sink and declares: “I’ve lost my appetite.”

Andrew points at him with two fingers, directing him to look at the lounge set-up behind Neil. “That is your problem, Neil. Go into the other room and eat alone if you must.”

“You’re going to have a heart attack.”

“And that would be my problem to deal with. See how this works?”

Andrew eats slowly deliberately these days, mostly to prove he doesn’t have to choke down whatever is put in front of him before it’s taken away. Neil resents the practice for the first time in months. “We’re going grocery shopping when you get back from practice tomorrow,” Neil decides. “You know, I don’t want to be eating peanut butter out of the jar, but your cupboards are bare. How do you live like this?”

Andrew freezes mid-chew. His eyes narrow subtly. To anyone else it would be a warning. Neil recognizes the expression as exasperated.

“Neil,” Andrew starts.

Oh no, thinks Neil.

“You were arrested last month because an officer thought you were homeless and sleeping on a park bench. However bad you think I am, I can guarantee you are exceedingly worse.”

That had happened. Neil was tired after his run, saw a park bench, and decided to rest his eyes. The next time he woke up, a concerned mother was watching him, clinging to her child, hiding behind a police officer who genuinely did try to arrest Neil. Ironically, it was a first for Neil, who’s been homeless plenty of times before and got away with it, but actually wasn’t the one time he was caught.

“At least I have food in my fridge.”

“Take-away,”

“I have other things.”

“An unnecessary amount of fruit.”

“I eat it,” says Neil defensively. Andrew looks at him like Neil admitted to murder. Except not at all, because if that were the case he’d be marginally more turned on. “We’re going, Andrew. It'll be good for us, and I'm not eating peanut butter for the rest of my vacation. Abby would drive over specifically to kick your ass.”

“Ha-ha,” Andrew replies, emotionless. “What would I do with groceries.”

“Cook them. I think.”

“You think.”

“Shut up. This isn’t a discussion. Wal-Mart, tomorrow, get excited about it.”

Andrew, finished with his unholy meal, sets his empty plate in the sink and slinks forward. He puts his hands on Neil’s thighs and lightly traces them down until they catch in the crease of his knees. One quick tug unfolds Neil’s legs, allowing Andrew to slide in close. Andrew tips his head back. His nose barely brushes Neil’s chin.

Neil bites on his bottom lip to smother his smile. 

Here’s the thing. Andrew looks very comfortable having Neil an extra couple inches above him; it’s amusing because he frankly cannot be as happy about the new height difference as he’s pretending. 

He’s angling for something. Neil doesn’t care what: he’ll play along if it keeps Andrew right where he is.

It is nice having the bed to himself, sure, but Neil notices Andrew’s absence like a missing limb. It aches all the time. He gets phantom pains everywhere. He turns around at practice to meet eyes that are not there; twists around in bed searching for his warmth; at one point Neil bought a pint of ice cream just to fill the empty space in their freezer. Nicky assures him it will ease, that sometimes he will forget he needs Andrew around constantly. It hasn’t happened yet, that brief stretch of time when Neil doesn't miss him. Neil’s nervous for when it will hit. If it ever does. Even if it didn't seem unfair to Andrew not to want him twenty-four seven, Neil just isn't sure he is capable of being completely happy with this distance between them.

Like Andrew can hear his thoughts, he tips forward and presses his mouth to Neil’s neck. Resting there. Staying close. His lips barely move when he says, “Your heart is racing.”

Neil closes his eyes. He catches Andrew’s wandering hands and tangles their fingers together. He can’t imagine letting go for anything.

“Andrew,”

“Mm?”

“Andrew. Look at me?”

With a begrudging sigh, Andrew pulls back. He freezes when Neil catches his face and smacks a sloppy kiss to his nose. Neil feels Andrew’s cheeks start burning hotter, experiences his own heart swell twice its usual size.

Andrew’s eyes go wide and exceptionally golden when he’s happy.

Neil does it again and again and again. He kisses Andrew’s chin, cheekbones, both eyelids, along his jawline. He punctuates his journey with a final press to Andrew’s forehead, drawing back with a grin so wide it hurts old scars. Andrew huffs impatiently, pushing up onto the tip of his toes. Neil allows their noses brush, then leans away.

“I’m not kissing you properly, not when you just ate that shitty toasted sandwich.”

Andrew stares at him. He covers Neil’s hands, gently framing his neck, with his own. He guides them down to lay flat on the counter. They stay there.

“I am not going to Wal-Mart.”

“Okay. Walgreens?”

“Fine.”

“Fine?”

Andrew glares. Instead of repeating himself, he says, “I’m going to call Nicky.”

Even though Nicky would be thrilled, Neil feels obliged to step in. “He’s going to notice you’re all…” Neil doesn’t know how to say ‘spoiling for a blow job’ without triggering Andrew’s pettiness and getting himself quarantined to his own side of the bed. At a loss for words, he gestures at Andrew expressively, which seems to communicate his point. Andrew pinches his thigh, unimpressed. “What?”

“You are not nearly as cute as you think you are.”

“Pretty sure I’m as cute as you think I am.”

Andrew looks prepared to walk out of the apartment altogether. “One day, you’ll learn to stop talking,” He says wistfully. Two fingers press down on Neil’s lips on the edge of too rough. Andrew strides into his bedroom, the door hanging open behind him. Neil hears the tingy sound of a Skype call ringing out, followed by the pop of an answered call.

Seconds later, Renee’s warm voice is saying, “Oh! Hello, Andrew. This is a surprise. Is Neil there?”

Andrew doesn’t answer. Renee explains without being asked: “You get a certain look on your face when—”

“This was a mistake,” says Andrew. Neil guesses the only thing that keeps him from hanging up is Renee’s sudden cresting laughter. She continues unhindered, “No, no, I was just kidding. It really is nice to see you! Neil? Neil, are you there?”

“Hi, Renee.”

She somehow hears him, calling back, “Hello! It must be nice for you to two to be together again. Well, what are you doing, Andrew? How is your practice going?”

Andrew proceeds to talk to her in a near whisper. Neil lets his rising and falling murmur slow his heart rate down. Once the giddiness leaves his head, Neil finds his feet again. He cleans up the kitchen so Andrew won’t need to do it later, then starts his hunt for a scrap of paper and pen.

It was time to draft his first ever shopping list.

[lnzzzz]

Music

These just make sense to me

Neil: Who Are You Really by MIKKY EKKO, Run Boy Run by WOOD KID and I'm a Wanted Man by ROYAL DELUXE

Andrew: Sociopath by STAY LOOSE, BRUCE FOX and Can I Get a Witness by SONREAL

Aaron: I don't really know. I couldn't find a song that would suit him. Sorry. Maybe My Brother by MISTERWIVES

Nicky: I Wanna Dance With Somebody by WHITNEY HOUSTON and Wild by TROYE SIVAN

Kevin: Without Me by HALSEY (not in a romantic way. just bc of Riko and how Riko is at the top bc of Kevin) and Heathens by TWENTY ØNE PILOTS (I mean srsly. one is a midget with attitude problems, the other is a midget that'll kill you, one is disaster gay ™️ but is actually a cinnamon roll and the other is another midget that wouldn't give a flying fuck if you fell down and broke an arm)

Bonus:

Neil and Andrew: Hold Me Tight or Don't by FALL OUT BOY, For Him by TROYE SIVAN, Strawberries & Cigarettes by TROYE SIVAN and We Must Be Killers by MIKKI EKKO

Allison: 7 Rings by ARIANA GRANDE (duh. as if you didn't see that one coming.)

Dan and Matt: Tattooed Heart by ARIANA GRANDE

Renee: When The Darkness Comes by COLBIE CAILLAT (idk. she just seems really holy to me) and Beautiful by BARRETT WILBERT WEED (from Heathers the Musical)

Andrew, Renee and Neil: The Zombie Song by STEPHANIE MABEY (bc of their weird conversation)

The Monsters: Monsters by RUELLE and Glory and Gore by LORDE

The Seniors: Fix You by COLDPLAY

Kevin and Neil: Watch Me Rise by MIKKY EKKO

The Foxes: Our Own House by MISTERWIVES, We Are the Kids by WALK THE MOON and Reflections by MISTERWIVES (I just imagine them bopping and goofing off to this song while Neil and Andrew watch from the sidelines with Neil smiling at the family that took him in and Andrew being happy that Neil's happy and safe but doesn't show it.)

The colors might be confusing bc I used orange a lot like for Andrew, Aaron and the collective terms or green for Kevin and Dan and Matt but it's not like Tumblr gave many choices. Personally, I would use a darker blue for Kevin and golden yellow for the twins. The orange for the Foxes (collective) is fine but I would use a darker shade of it for the Monsters.

I wish they would add an option to adjust/customize the colors the way you can change the theme of your blog. (Tumblr. Hai. Please make this happen. Thank you.)

[wematch]

Avatar: The Legend of Neil CH5

For many years, the four nations lived together in harmony.

Then, everything changed when a conspiracy to start a war began.

Only the avatar, master of all four elements, could stop it, but when the identity of the new avatar was found, he vanished.

Many years passed without anyone knowing where he was. Then he appeared in a farm in the Earth Kingdom, disguised as a firebender named Neil. And although his bending skills were weak when he got there, with practice he grew stronger every day that passed.

Now with a war looming by, Neil must find his own path into becoming the new avatar and bring balance to the world.

***

A huge thank you to @tntwme​ for being an amazing beta! Your amazing feedback made a huge difference<3

This fic was inspired by this amazing piece of art by @aymmidumps​, go check it out! [here]

You can also read it from the start on [AO3]

Book 2: Water

Chapter 1: Trust

Andrew starts to walk in his direction and Neil just stands there, not knowing what to do or say. Andrew knows he’s the Avatar now, he’s sure Andrew must have some questions and when Neil tells him he’s being chased by some of the worst firebenders that work for his father, he’ll want him gone. But Andrew doesn’t speak, he continues to walk until he passes Neil, bumping shoulders with him. Neil, confused, turns his head to follow him.

For a moment he watches as Andrew gets further and further away, unsure if he should follow him or not. He spares a glance at Wymack and the older man is just standing there watching them both. “Don't kill each other,” he says loud enough that Andrew can still hear from where he is. 

Wymack turns around and walks away in the other direction so Neil takes a deep breath and follows Andrew. He walks in silence until they're close to Neil's camp. Andrew sits down at their usual spot and Neil sits by his side waiting for Andrew to speak. However time passes and he still doesn’t say a word. Neil glances at him, and tries to understand what he's thinking but he can't. Neil opens his mouth but he doesn't know what to say and looks down at his hands. He never chose to become the avatar, he never asked for this power and for most of his life he has been running away because of it. He clenches his fists. “Andrew--”

“Shut up,” Andrew interrupts and turns to face him. “Why?” he asks and when he sees the confused look on Neil’s face he adds, “why are you running from your father?”

Neil brings his legs up and puts his arms around them. “I don’t even know where to start.”

“Start from the beginning,” Andrew says. “I have nothing but time.”

Neil takes a deep breath and does it, he tells him who his father is and his plans with the Moriyama family. He tells him about his years on the run and about his mother’s death. Not once does Andrew's expression change, he listens and doesn't pity him for his mother's death or his father's abuse. And when Neil’s done spilling all his secrets, he takes a deep breath and watches as Andrew gets up. 

“Go grab your things,” Andrew tells him. 

For a moment Neil freezes. Andrew wants him gone. He gets it, he’s putting a target onto all of their backs, so without a word he goes to the cave to grab his things. He unties the ostrich horse, puts his bag on his shoulder and goes back to where Andrew is.

“Come on,” Andrew tells him and begins to walk down the hill. 

Neil grips his bag and follows him. He should never have stayed this long in one place, and now it was time to go. However, he’s confused when Andrew turns to the farm instead of the road. When they get closer to the camp where everyone is he wonders if Andrew’s going to wake up the others and tell them who he is, but that doesn’t seem like him. So Neil continues to follow him.

Andrew comes to a stop in front of one of the cabins and positions himself with his knees flexed. Neil watches confused as Andrew takes down the cabin and builds a bigger one in its place, just like the ones he had built for everyone else. Then he puts a wall in the middle of it and turns around to face Neil.

“Left side is yours.”

“What?” Is Andrew giving him a place to stay after everything he just told him? He thought he wanted him gone, it makes no sense that he’s letting him stay.

“Do I have to spell it out for you?” Andrew questions, with his eyebrow raised.

“No,” Neil answers and feels relieved, for once he didn’t want to leave a place and now Andrew knows who he really is, and he still wants him to stay. “Thank you,” he tells him.

“Shut up,” Andrew answers as he enters the right side of the cabin, “and go put your ostrich horse in the barn before it escapes,” he adds. Neil nods and Andrew, with a hand movement, closes his side of the cabin.

Neil barely gets any sleep, he keeps thinking about everything that he told Andrew, and that despite everything Andrew still let him stay. Dawn comes and Neil decides to get up. He stretches and sits down at the entrance of his cabin, waiting for everyone else to wake up. And it doesn't take long for him to start hearing movement in the other cabins. 

Renee is the first one to exit, she looks at the sun beginning to rise for a moment, and then she notices him and a gentle smile appears. “Hello Neil, good morning.”

“Good morning,” Neil replies.

Nicky immediately exits followed by Aaron. “Good morning? You're joking right?” he yawns. “I'm so tired I feel like I could sleep the whole week.”

“Let's go eat. I'm starving,” Aaron tells them.

The three begin to walk when Nicky suddenly stops and turns to him, making the others stop too. “Wait, when did you move here?”

“Last night,” Neil replies.

“Took you long enough,” Allison comments as she steps outside, lazily combing her hair with her fingers.

Matt steps out of his cabin holding hands with Dan and they all begin to walk towards the farm. Neil begins to follow them but when the sound of earth moving behind him starts, he stops and looks back. He sees Andrew get out and walk in their direction so Neil waits for him. Aaron passes at his side on his way to the farm and their eyes meet for a moment. Aaron gives him a dirty look that Neil doesn't get. He barely talks to him so he sees no reason for this. He waits for Andrew to reach him and they walk the rest of the way in companionable silence.

***

When Neil arrives at the practice clearing, Kevin is sitting on the floor scribbling down in his notebook. Neil stops in front of him but Kevin is so focused that he doesn't seem to notice him.

“Is that some new exercise for me?”

Kevin looks up, startled. "This? Oh, no. This is something else I’ve been working on." He slips the small notebook into his pocket and gets up. "Let's go work on the range of your fire blasts today."

Matt walks up to them. “Hey, anyone up for a match?”

Kevin nods, looking serious, Neil's exercises immediately forgotten. “You don’t stand a chance.”

“We’ll see about that,” Matt grins and turns to Neil. “Neil, care to join us?”

“Me?” The only person he had fought before was Kevin and it had been a pathetic display of his skills. He’s been improving but he’s not sure he’s up for the challenge yet, but the idea seems too good to pass.

“Why don’t we make teams?” Dan cuts in.

“Yes, that’s a great idea!” Matt replies, putting an arm around her waist to bring her closer.

Dan grins. “I pick Neil.”

“You what?” Matt asks, immediately taking his arm from around her waist and stepping back to face her. “How can you pick him, instead of me?” He says, sounding hurt.

“Don’t be like that, it will be fun.”

“Actually, the smart move would be to pick me. I’m far more skilled than any of them,” Kevin points out. To which Matt rolls his eyes.

“I’m picking Neil,” Dan says more fiercely. “Besides, I don’t need him to beat any of you,” and with that, she begins to walk to the left side of the clearing.

Neil tries to fight his grin at seeing both Kevin and Matt sharing an apprehensive look. “Okay, I guess this is happening,” Neil says and follows Dan. 

“Three,” Nicky, Allisson, Renee and Aaron begin to chant the countdown. Neil glances to where they’re all sitting and sees Wymack and Andrew joining them. He focuses again on Kevin and Matt in front of him and feels the adrenaline kicking in.

"Two," They shout and Neil glances at Dan and they nod at each other.

"One!" 

Fire immediately comes blasting in their direction. “I got it,” he tells Dan and jumps in front of her. He puts his hands together to create an opening into the fire and when it passes, a wave comes their way. Dan is quick to freeze the wave for a moment and then send it back again and Neil sends fire blasts, one after the other in Matt’s direction.

Matt and Dan begin to throw ice disks at each other. Kevin sends a few fire blasts in their direction to which Neil creates a wall of fire to block it. They continue to trade between attacking and defending, and Neil notices that they’re slowly advancing closer towards where Kevin and Matt are. Wymack, after another one of their attacks, appears to their side near a tree. “Dan, why don’t you give Neil some height to distract them, they won’t be expecting it,” he suggests.

Neil isn’t sure what he means but Dan seems to understand and immediately starts to pull more water from the river. “When I tell you, drop the wall and be ready to attack from the air. Okay?” Neil nods and feels water enveloping his waist. Then Dan crunches and says “Now!” and the moment he drops the wall, Dan launches him into the air.

He immediately starts to punch fire in the direction of Matt and Kevin. It takes them a moment to adjust and turn their focus to him in the air, but it’s all it takes for Dan to redirect the water around Neil and freeze Matt to the nearest tree while he’s distracted. Neil falls to the ground but he’s too late to fall properly so when he’s about to hit the ground he puts his hands up to protect his face and unconsciously uses airbending to ease down the fall. Instead of falling and hitting his head, he rolls twice on the ground before he manages to stop. 

When Neil looks up again, Kevin has both his feet frozen to the ground but he’s still throwing fire at Dan to keep her away but she avoids all his punches and with a whip of water she envelops Kevin and blows on the air to turn it to ice, making it impossible for Kevin to move. 

Neil gets up and quickly looks around to see if anyone near him is looking in his direction but everyone is clapping and laughing at Kevin’s annoyed expression to have noticed his use of airbending.

 “I think the clear winners for today are Dan and Neil,” Wymack announces and that’s the moment Dan unfreezes both boys. Kevin stomps out of the clearing looking pissed, much to everyone’s enjoyment.

Neil sits beneath a tree to try to catch his breath and begins to smile. He can’t remember the last time he had so much fun. Andrew comes to sit at his side not long after that. “Junkie.”

“What?” 

“This is what you consider fun, isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” Neil replies, still grinning. "It is fun, you should try it sometime.”

“Pass.”

“What do you care about then?”

“I don’t care about anything.”

Neil hums. He highly doubts that’s true but decides not to comment further. They watch as Renee and Allison begin to practice throwing knives into a target, blindfolded.

“I saw your little trick at the end,” Andrew comments.

Neil turns to stare at him, the remains of his grin completely gone.

“Don’t worry, no one else noticed,” Andrew continues, ”they’re too busy witnessing Kevin throw a tantrum.”

Neil takes a deep breath. Somehow he trusts that what Andrew is telling him is the truth. That no one was paying attention to him at that moment, too busy with what was happening. Except for Andrew, who always seems to be paying attention to him. And for once, Neil thinks that perhaps he doesn’t quite mind it.