#TFC Spoilers

[hella1975]

ur making it pretty hard to not be curious about aftg like what is going on can you infodump ur worst to me

so basically it's about a guy called neil who's not actually called neil bc turns out he's the son of a HIGHLY abusive mafia hitman and him and his mother have been running from this guy for years which ofc means changes in identity and a SHIT ton of issues ranging from good old fashioned paranoia to lighting cigarettes not to smoke them but to let them burn down bc the smell reminds you of your mother's burning corpse. but neil is obsessed and i mean OBSESSED with this made up sport called exy which is like lacrosse but with the violence of ice hockey and he joins a pro-team despite aforementioned ABUSIVE MAFIA DAD AFTER HIM and guess what! the guy who signed him is called kevin and his ex-team are affiliated with the mafia too! including neil's dad! neil just screwed himself over big time! but who cares when you have exy! enter: andrew minyard. andrew is a blonde, 5ft, ex-juvie, under-court-surveillance-for-grevious-bodily-harm goalkeeper currently working unofficially as kevin's bodyguard and, while we never get an actual diagnosis bc god forbid we handle mental health properly in this thing, it's implied that he has some kind of psychosis and, as part of his plea bargain, is legally obgligated to take incredibly mood-altering medication that makes him manic in exchange for being allowed to stay on the team (aka with kevin who he's VERY possessive of), done entirely for the wellbeing of those around him and effectively against andrew's will. does he stick to that deal? fuck no! but it doesn't stop there! andrew proceeds to spend the entire book being as violent and unpredictable and generally cunty as possible in order to figure out What Neil's Deal Is bc neil is capital S Shifty and andrew is convinced he's from kevin's old mafia cult team trying to hurt him. we spend an entire book watching the three of them wrestle between neil's paranoia, andrew's protectiveness and kevin's desire to Please Can We Just Play Exy. there are some keys involved. someone dies. there are two more books. inexplicably two of the characters can speak fluent german purely from high school classes.

[yaynotgaybutbi]

Neil's You know rant becomes so much hotter and unhinged when you realize that the music that might have been playing during it (according to Billboard charts and Further down a stereo system started blasting what passed as popular music these days,...) might as well be:

a. SexyBack by Justin Timberlake

b. Buttons by The Pussycat Dolls

c. Promiscuous by Nelly Furtago

How did Andrew hold it together is beyond me...

[vongutundbose]

[tfc graphic novel spoilers]

[eeriethacus]

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry that he hurt you, I’m sorry that you’re still afraid to talk about it, and I’m sorry that you think I’ll never understand. I’m sorry that he tricked you into thinking you deserved it."

[oblivionsdream]

Don’t mind me just crying over Jean Moreau.

I can’t wait to see him continue healing in book 2. 😭

[swampthingking]

obsessed with jean’s colorful insults/descriptions so here’s a compiled list of them in order

you arrogant fool (abby)

you imbecile (kevin)

your ball-battered brain (kevin)

you feckless child (kevin)

those clowns (trojans)

pet goalkeeper (andrew)

the tiny bastard (neil) [LMFAO]

kevin’s pet monster (andrew)

the sunshine court [derogatory]

wholesome in an unsettling, unhealthy way (the trojans)

unhinged optimist (renee)

some plump shrink (bee)

that creepy little goalkeeper andrew minyard [PLEASE i was fucking DEAD he has no idea how funny he is]

you tedious malcontent (neil) [probably my favorite one]

an abominable cockroach (neil)

the wayward child (neil) [jesus christ he is not taking it easy on neil]

andrew’s twin

worthless trash bags (foxes, past tense)

a rabid little fox (neil) [hey. remember when neil described andrew as a ‘rabid goalkeeper’ ???]

annoyingly easy to look at (jeremy)

strange and misguided (the trojans)

the cruelty of these nonstop temptations (kevin, renee, jeremy)

the sunshine court [less derogatory]

“I was hoping he would bite his tongue off in the fall and save us both some grief in the long run.” (lucas)

wretched beast (gr****n)

your ignorant mouth (lucas)

“Your apologies are as useful as perfume on a frog.” (lucas)

neil, being the person he was,

you ignorant child (neil)

miserable wretch (neil) [giving his everything to neil’s insults]

ok that’s all. unless i missed some. and if i did you have to add them it’s just law

[curiousity-cell]

i keep thinking about jean’s POV of riko going to hit neil.

in aftg, neil is so focused on riko coming down with his racket to hit him that it seems like andrew comes out of no where to save him but i love that jean sees it. and it’s not like he just moves out of goal or anything, no, he HAULS ASS to get to neil to save him. that to me says everything. i love them so bad

[herojourney]

neil josten ordering two thai iced teas and a mafia hit on the same page. he is god's perfect babygirl.

[back2beesness]

I’m rereading aftg after reading tsc and honestly the difference between Jean and Neil as narrator is really hitting me, like Neil is so fucking attuned to Andrew at all times, even at the beginning when it’s like a threat analysis thing. Neil’s narration is fucking laser focused on Andrew, meanwhile Jean’s over here getting distracted by Kevin and Renee and Jeremy, it makes me appreciate Andrew and Neil even more just because of how clearly obsessed with him Neil is

[dawnatlas]

"Stitch by stitch, tape and gauze, Jean had done his best to keep the wayward child moving. The helpless anger—why the fuck did he get caught—had been mitigated by a more foolish what-if—what if he stays?"

[luneillusoire]

who wore it better?? 🌈

[rise-deepseamonster]

Jean: *sees Jeremy in swimming trunks*

Jean: This is worse than the time Riko flayed me open with knives and waterboarded me

Jeremy: Worse than WHAT-

[kevindavidday]

if i had a nickel for everytime nora wrote a book about a terrified protagonist who shows up to the airport with one singular bag as his luggage then lets a blond boy pick him up and drive him to meet people who will eventually become family to him only to end the book with said protagonist finding a home when he thought he never would and calling it as such, i would have exactly two nickels which isn't a lot but it's great that it's happened twice

[deklo]

some tsc jeremy :-)

[quiescentdestiny]

Getting Jean's perspective of Neil has casually reminded me that Neil really was out here in tfc acting like Andrew was insane for thinking he was a mole for the Ravens.

Like the man was so offended that Andrew would assume that, even though he spent every moment before that being completely fucking feral, having a literal shrine to Kevin and Riko in his bag at all times along with $250,000 in what amounts to cash, knew french well enough to not only yell at Kevin with no context, but say something that got Kevin to throw him against a wall in retaliation....

This is the man who had the audacity to act like Andrew's assumption that he was hired by the Moriyamas was completely unreasonable.

[thoushaltnotlive]

I love how Jean is so focused on Kevin and Neil that whenever there is a scene with them he always just say: oh yeah and Kevin's pet goalkeeper is there too I guess (because Andrew is always there for them) before he starts spiraling hard.

It's so funny that in Neil's pov Andrew was always lager than life, this heavy, commanding presenc that always took up all of the attention in the room ect... ect...

And now we can see that he's really just a dude most of the time (when he isn't high as fuck) and Neil was just very very very gay for andrew, without even realising.