#aftg + trc crossover

[contrarianwitt]

was a little suprised about jeremy becoming one of my favourite aftg characters until i realized… has a weird thing with his last name… holds immense guilt over a teenager named noah’s death… is from old money and feels guilty about it…loves his friends so much that they become family…

[starsstardust]

“Stupid, beautiful Kevin” has the same energy as “his stupid and kind and marvelous best friend Gansey”

[tigtree]

i'm a simple creature. sometimes i think yeah, i'm in the mood to work on a fic. and then i open my docs, scroll past all of my unfinished wips and go yep. that was enriching. and then i watch a movie

[seafoamandtragedy]

Ronan & Adam get together:

Gansey: FINALLY! AH I've been waiting for the day the two of you, my beloved friends, would finally find each other and get to live the life you both so dearly deserve with each other ugh when's the wedding?

Meanwhile

Neil & Andrew get together:

Kevin: .....Disgusting. Find a room- NO DON'T STRIP IN FRONT OF ME YOU NASTY FUCKS KEEP IT IN YOUR PANT-

[sourcherrrysnow]

i need maggie stiefvater and nora sakavic to join forces once and for all a release a special in full that’s so suite life of hannah montana style

[eliotquillon]

the sunshine court, 2024 // wayward, 2022

I Am So Normal About Media And Do Not Gravitate Towards The Same Characters Over And Over Haha!!!!

[minnnoru]

not to be dramatic but I need the trc x aftg crossover you mentioned on twitter or i might die

The morning air in Henrietta is heavier than Nathaniel expects. It’s warm but sticky, something thick and unseen pressing against his skin. Maybe it’s the town itself, breathing slow and steady, wrapping around him like a lull he doesn’t trust.

They’ve been here two nights. The longest they’ve stayed anywhere in months.

Mary keeps to herself, watching from the motel window, ready to leave the second something feels off. He knows she hates it, stopping like this, but they need rest. He needs rest. And food.

Nathaniel picks Nino’s because it looks like the kind of place where no one asks why you’re alone at 3 p.m. with shadows under your eyes and a limp in your step. The bell chimes when he pushes the door open, the scent of grease and coffee greeting him immediately.

A handful of people are scattered inside—locals, from the way they sit with easy familiarity, their conversations unhurried. He slides into a booth, back to the wall. No one spares him a glance except for the waitress, who looks vaguely tired and doesn’t ask questions when he orders the cheapest thing on the menu.

He’s halfway through the toast when he notices a boy.

Sitting two booths down, hunched over a notebook, mechanical pencil tapping absently against the page. He’s got a cup of coffee beside him, untouched, and a textbook open, something dense and math-related. He seems to be about Nathaniel’s age. Unfamiliar school uniform, collar wrinkled, sleeves pushed up.

He looks like a sepia photograph. All soft browns and old gold light, edges blurred like he doesn’t quite belong in the present. Like someone pressed pause on a feeling and forgot to hit play again.

Nathaniel doesn’t mean to stare, but something about him catches. The tension, maybe. He wears his uniform like armor and has this stillness about him, like he’s holding his whole world together by sheer will.

Nathaniel stares too long. The boy looks up.

Their eyes meet.

For a moment, they just hold each other’s gaze. There’s something calculating there but not unkind.

Nathaniel drops his eyes to his plate.

But a minute later, there’s movement, and suddenly the boy is standing at his table, looking down at him.

“You’re new.”

Nathaniel tilts his head, considering him. The accent is southern but not thick.

“You always walk up to strangers and announce that?”

The boy doesn’t flinch, just pulls out the chair across from him like he’s made a decision. “Only when they look like they’re passing through.”

Nathaniel hesitates. He should tell him to leave. But his mother always tells him to blend in, so he tries. “Well. That’s not creepy at all.”

The boy smirks, something unreadable beneath it. “I’m Adam,” he says. No last name.

Nathaniel watches him for a beat, then sighs. “Chris." No last name, either.

Adam doesn’t pry.

------

And just like that, it’s a thing. They share a booth now. Adam still does his homework, and Nathaniel pretends not to look. Sometimes they talk. Quiet things, trivial things. Weather. Coffee. The fact that Nino’s jukebox hasn’t worked in five years.

Nathaniel learns that Adam works too much and sleeps too little. That he fixes cars and still uses an old phone because, “if it works, why change it?”

Adam learns that Nathaniel knows more about hand-to-hand combat than any teenager should and that he doesn’t have a phone at all.

One afternoon, when the sky outside is a hazy, sun-faded blue and the diner is nearly empty, Adam looks at him for a long time.

Then he says, almost like he didn’t mean to say it out loud, “You’ve got the bluest eyes I’ve ever seen.”

Nathaniel freezes, caught mid-sip of coffee.

Adam doesn’t look away. Just studies him, quiet and steady. “Must be nice carrying the sky around with you.”

Nathaniel sets the mug down, slower than before. “You say that like it’s a good thing.”

Adam watches him for another beat. His voice drops, softer than before.

“It is,” he says. “Like you’ve got freedom stitched into you.”

Nathaniel huffs a quiet laugh, more breath than sound. “Freedom’s overrated when you’ve got nowhere to land.”

Adam’s gaze drops, his expression tightening at the edges. “Maybe. But being stuck somewhere doesn’t mean it’s home.”

They sit with that for a moment, both staring past each other, into corners of the diner where the light doesn’t quite reach.

Then Adam glances back at him, slower this time, like something’s just clicked. “You’re trying to take root.”

It’s not a question. Nathaniel feels it like a pin pressed into his chest.

So he does what he’s always done. He strikes back with something sharp enough to keep distance.

“And you’re trying to break loose.”

The laugh they share isn’t really a laugh at all. It's something heavy and honest that neither of them meant to give away.

“Hell of a pair,” Adam says.

Nathaniel doesn’t disagree.

Another morning, Nathaniel gets stuck staring at one of Adam’s textbooks.

Adam catches him looking. “You like math?”

The lie comes easy. “Not particularly.”

Adam hums, flipping a page. “You were staring like you did.”

Nathaniel raises a brow. “You always analyze people like this?”

Adam just smiles. “You always avoid questions?”

Nathaniel smiles back, feeling honest for once. “Yeah.”

------

On a Friday, after two weeks in Henrietta, Nathaniel comes in late. Mary is restless, checking their exit routes again, but Nathaniel just needs air.

Adam is already there, a plate of fries in front of him, his sleeves pushed to his elbows.

It’s the first time Nathaniel notices the bruises.

Small ones, fading to yellow, near his wrists. Not new, but not old, either.

Adam sees him looking, and for the first time, something shifts in his expression. A flicker of something dark.

Nathaniel is too well-trained not to school his own face into careful blankness. He knows what it’s like to be seen when you don’t want to be.

So he just sits.

Adam doesn’t say anything for a long time. Then, without looking up, he says, “You don’t ask a lot of questions.”

Nathaniel shrugs, picking up a fry. “Neither do you.”

Adam tilts his head. “I could.”

Nathaniel snorts. “I’d lie.”

That earns him a quiet huff of laughter, and for some reason, it settles something uneasy in Nathaniel’s chest.

There’s a long pause before Adam finally says, voice quieter, “I’d lie, too.”

And just like that, they understand each other.

There’s no need to say it out loud.

Nathaniel doesn’t ask where Adam’s bruises came from. Adam doesn’t ask why Nathaniel flinches when the bell over the diner door rings too loud.

Instead, they just sit and share a plate of fries.

------

Nathaniel meets them by accident.

Earlier that afternoon, Adam had waved vaguely in the direction of friends when they crossed paths, and Nathaniel had shrugged, uninterested. But later, as he cuts through the gravel lot beside Nino’s, there they are.

One of them looks like he stepped straight out of a boarding school brochure—crisp button-down, polished watch, hair that probably costs money to maintain. He’s mid-monologue about “kingship” and “Camlan,” his voice full of breathless reverence. The kind of rich-boy obsession that makes Nathaniel instinctively reach for a knife he doesn’t carry anymore.

On his left sits a boy built like a coiled spring, all sharp lines and sharper eyes. He looks like the world bores him unless it’s bleeding. He introduces himself as Ronan.

Ronan just nods once at him, short and flat, like anything more would be a waste of energy. Nathaniel respects that.

Then there’s the girl. Dressed like a thrift store exploded but on purpose, fidgeting with her rings and studying Nathaniel like she might try to read his palm.

“Oh,” she says as he gets close, squinting slightly. “You have an aura.”

Nathaniel stops dead. “I have a what?”

“Never mind,” she replies, narrowing her eyes like she’s filing him under suspicious. “You’re not from here.”

“No shit,” he mutters.

Gansey (because of course his name is Gansey) sticks out a hand, all manners and forced charm. “Richard Gansey the Third. Have you heard of Glendower?”

Nathaniel stares at the offered hand. “I have literally no idea what that sentence means.”

That’s all the encouragement Gansey needs to launch into a speech about Welsh kings and sleeping legends and the geometry of ley lines, like Nathaniel had actually asked. The girl (Blue, apparently) chimes in only to insult him or ask invasive questions.

By the time Adam appears, tired and dusted with oil from work, Nathaniel is already halfway out of the conversation.

He doesn’t stay long. Says he’s got somewhere to be. Doesn’t say where.

Gansey tries to shake his hand again on the way out. Nathaniel doesn’t take it.

Later, as they walk through the quiet of early evening, Nathaniel mutters, “Your friends are weird.”

Adam shrugs, a found smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “Yeah. They are.”

“You’re weird, too.”

Adam snorts. “You’re the last person who gets to say that.”

------

Adam’s new place is small and crooked, a converted room above the old church where he used to sleep. Nathaniel knocks and hears a muffled “One sec!” before the door creaks open.

“Hey,” Adam says, already pushing his hair out of his face. “You found it.”

“Yeah. Guy downstairs gave me a look like I was here to steal communion wine.”

Adam grins. “Welcome to St. Agnes.”

Nathaniel holds up a little box—plain brown, tied with string.

“What’s this?”

“Housewarming.”

Adam eyes him. “You don’t seem like the gift type.”

“I’m not. But my mother said it was polite, so.”

Inside is a small utility knife, sleek and silver with a clean flip blade. Tucked beneath it, a folded pack of high-quality pencils.

Adam laughs—just a short breath through his nose—and says, “You’re a strange kind of thoughtful.”

“I know.”

When Adam sets it down, his sleeve rides up, revealing a violet bruise stretching across his forearm. Nathaniel opens his mouth to say something, but Adam turns to look at him—

And sees the split lip blooming on Nathaniel’s face.

They stare at each other for a beat. And then both of them burst out laughing.

It’s not pretty laughter. It’s breathless and sharp and cracked around the edges, like they both needed to let it out or drown.

“God,” Adam gasps, “we look like a before photo in a self-help book.”

“Or an after photo in a cautionary tale,” Nathaniel offers, grinning despite himself.

They sit on the floor. There’s no couch yet. Just lamplight and silence and the occasional creak of the building settling around them.

After a while, Nathaniel says, “I’m leaving. Tonight.”

Adam doesn’t look surprised. Just tired. “Where?”

“Don’t know. Wherever she points next.” He means Mary, but he doesn’t say her name. “Just thought I’d—”

“I know,” Adam interrupts. “Thanks for coming.”

There’s a quiet moment. Then Adam gets up, crosses the room, and returns with a small stack of thick cards. They’re wrapped in a worn ribbon, blue-gray and frayed at the ends.

“Take these,” Adam says, handing them over. “It’s a tarot trading deck. You pick your three. Keep them.”

Nathaniel raises a brow. “Is this like… magical or just metaphorical doom?”

Adam shrugs. “Dealer’s choice.”

Nathaniel unwraps the cards, flips through them slowly. His fingers hesitate on three before pulling them free.

He lays them down on the floor.

The Tower. The Eight of Swords. The Hanged Man.

He doesn’t ask what they mean.

Adam looks at them, then at him. “Jesus.”

“What?”

“That’s…” Adam swallows. “That’s brutal.”

Nathaniel stares at the cards. “Fitting, then.”

Adam doesn't touch him, doesn't offer false comfort. But his voice is soft when he says, “You can come back, Chris. I hope you know that.”

Nathaniel picks up the cards and tucks them into his jacket pocket like talismans. He stands.

“Yeah,” he says. “Maybe.”

They don’t hug. They just look at each other for a long time.

And they know.

[flaccid-rats]

Instead of a trc/aftg crossover I want a rwarb/aftg crossover where Alex played exy in high school instead of lacrosse and he and Neil went to the same school, and while they were never friends they knew each other bc they’re both on the exy team (obviously) and were in some of the same classes together, and one day after practice Neil asks Alex to help him dye his hair in the school bathroom and Alex is like ‘odd request but alright’ and now they just have this Weird Bonding Moment that they never address and eventually Neil leaves for Palmetto and Alex is shipped off to DC and they kinda forget about each other (except when Neil ends up on the News a year or so later bc holy shit his dad is the Baltimore Butcher? The guy I went to school with has a serial killer dad??) and then years and years later Neil is playing for the national exy team at the Olympics and Alex and Henry are in attendance and the bump into Neil and Andrew after they just won gold and Neil and Alex just Stare At Each Other and then Neil looks at Henry and Alex looks at Andrew and neither of them know what to say until Alex finally asks ‘did you ask me to dye your hair because you were on the run from the mob’ and Neil just goes ‘yea’ and then just like that they’re friends Neil is texting Alex daily pictures of their cats and Alex is texting Neil daily pictures of their dog

[heimonas]

okay so since I've been obsessed with aftg lately and haven't written for it in sooo long I was thinking of reworking/finally finishing some old fics of mine! your opinion is appreciated 🙏

details about the fics under the cut! 🫶

deadly encounters ! my vampire!andrew vs immortal!neil fic tehee I like how it is as a standalone fic and it's one of my newer ones so I don't think it's bad but maybe? I could expand it a bit? write one more little instalment? (basically Andrew drains Neil one halloween night but Neil can't die so he wakes up next morning and freaks out because. vampires are real?? and one just killed him??)

rayons du soleil ! well, a jerejean hanakaki au written too long ago. the characters are extremely off to me now and I would like to write something jerejean so it would be a good chance. I'm not crazy about hanakaki aus now but hmm.

just couple things ! one of my most famous fics lmaoo it's that one where andreil starts dying their hair all the time in all colours to fuck with the press etc. it's a bit old so I think I can write it better now

the trc/aftg crossover ! Matthew gets signed at the foxes and the monsters take him to Columbia... well after ronan sees his little brother hurt he moves there to look after him and discover what the hell happened because Matthew ain't talking. I want the rest of the trc gang to be there too but I haven't figured it much

the sense8 au ! that definitely needs a new title. well you might have seen it. due to unforeseen circumstances (I destroyed my laptop) I never finished it although I only needed like. two more chapters... I remember doing such intricate plans for it and maybe it would be fun to pick it up again

something completely new? taking suggestions

[merceyca]

WIP Game

Rules: make a new post with the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it! and then tag as many people as you have WIPs

Thank you for tagging me @vykio 💕💕

I have… so many WIPs. I’m a chronic ideas man with a full time job, what can I say?

Here are the current ones:

runnin’ down a (pipe)dream (AFTG Band AU)

Awfully Unkissed (Andreil 5+1)

Memory Lane — Butcher, Monster, Pawn (AFTG Jeandreil Slasher AU)

Eyes On Your Target (AFTG Timeloop Fic Seth POV)

sweet revenge (AFTG Renkevjean Bridgerton AU)

The Smallville Court (AFTG Smallville AU)

Soulscars (AFTG x TRC crossover fic)

my one & only (Kevin/Robin sequel)

The Game is Called Bullsh*t (AFTG How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days AU)

Have at it if you’re comfortable!! I’m gonna tag @kweenkday @likethedawnirise @billdenbrough @thousandstories @ashestoashes7 @cozyrosykay @slidetoleft @codename-adler

[rikomoriyama01]

I want to know about all the rps except mukade becuz I'm frightened of bugs so I'm scared what might be revealed to me 😭😭

honestly yeah you DO NOT want to know that one lemme pick few 4 you Two Raven Kings one of my personal favourites actually it's aftg/TRC crossover instead of shooting riko ichirou sends him to study in hendrietta, away from exy and everything that was making riko's world *his*- as we find out later this is the school he himself attended riko is looked after by assistant named Taki (my li love note to ao3 fanfic Brothers 🥺), meets kavinsky and blueballs him because the man looks too much like kevin and Riko decide he will avoid all kevin looking ginger looking and blond looking men which leads him to meet Declan Lynch (and will carry bad consequences) - riko kind of replaced blue the boys still go to the house for some tarot readings - riko tries to get private reading to talk to his dead mother but when he reveals that his question is "did she loved me " the women shot him down and tell him to just go home. - riko shows those lacrosse bitches how it's done sorry cant say more just know that declan spend at least 1 week thinking he hooked up with guy who killed someone in prizon because Declan thought the 1 under his eyes was like tear tattoo Two of Them Riko has twin brother who spend his life living in one room of moriyama mansion kept there specifically as organ donor for ichirou and kengo , after ichirou causes kengo's death to help his brother , the Riko2 who is also called Riko because this family doe snot care to let people be people tells him to fuck off and goes to meet Riko1 feeling entitled to his attention and relationship as his twin, he end sup meeting foxes who inform him that riko1 (already part of fox lineup in this au) is currently on suicide watch in psyh ward and spend few days with this absolute oddity (kevin and riko2 nearly get into a fight 3 times over the title of riko's brother) The biggest fan Riko and Kevin get kidnapped right before the final game in TKM and driven fuck knows where where they get locked in basement of some ultra rich man who wants to keep them as collectors merchandise, they have underground apartment all for themselves with room service and all their needs meet. Riko realises in that moment that this is how heaven feels like , nobody beats him here there is no pressure here , it's his ticket to chocolate factory - kevin is with him too and he can not leave him ever again. Kevin though been out of nest for 2 years now he wants to see his father and his friends again and if he wont convince riko to get out of this mess he will ave to work against not only the kidnapper but his brother too.

[contrarianwitt]

okay going off my last post that mentioned matthew playing exy… it’s lived in my head for a while but imagine him being one of the fox freshman after neil!!

wymack looking at his photo and history and seeing obviously a sheltered rich kid who had loving family members, but also someone in desperate need of connection and a purpose

declan acting as his pseudo manager negotiating with wymack (even tho there’s literally nothing to negotiate)

ronan and declan both come to drop him (and ronan brings chainsaw which makes neil very very angry. not a fan of ravens)

literally everyone just has to love him, (neil and andrew are definitely wary at first and kevin thinks he’s kinda dumb but he has this unabashed positivity and drive for the game that neil and kevin respect)

he’s literally the kindest, easiest person to get along with. until one of the other freshman makes a homophobic comment, and he gets there before the rest of them and beats the shit out of them

him and renee go to church together when he gets homesick, and him and matt go boxing as well together

they literally think he has three brothers because he mentions adam just as much as he does declan and ronan

literally has the most visitors out of all the foxes. sometimes blue and gansey come to see a game, declan and jordan make the trip up, ronan and adam come from cambridge (doesnt ronan move?? or is that a hc) but he is very loved

one day they’re talking about car trunks and neil makes a joke about being put in one during baltimore and everyone is horrified except andrew ofc, but matthew just like “yeah man that happened to me in high school! it except it was my brothers crazy ex who wanted to blow the car up for 4th of july haha”

one time he gets inured in a scrimmage and the foxes have the pleasure of dealing with adam, ronan, and declan in the hospital which basically turns into the three of them bickering over matthew in the waiting room while the foxes watch

[rekikiri]

hi ask game!

send me an emoji relating to one of my WIPs and I’ll post a couple lines or a note written for it that isn’t posted yet !

✍️something original

🐦‍⬛🦊the raven cycle x all for the game crossover (aftg x trc)

🐦‍⬛raven!neil (aftg)

🐰different first meeting / amputee neil (aftg)

♠️ ace aaron (aftg)

🎶my conan gray song fic series (aftg)

🌶️something spicy 👀 (aftg)

🎸andrew and aaron pre canon (partially posted)

🧡something else not listed (mha, haikyuu, aftg, trc, in repair, icebreaker)

[aaronstveit]

20 questions for 20 writers!

tagged by the bestie @afaramir abby thank you so much for giving me an excuse to avoid writing tonight <3

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 45!

2. What’s your total AO3 word count? 492,078 and literally a solid quarter of that is from c&b oh i'm laughing.

3. What fandoms do you write for? right now only for les mis but most of my works are trc and in 2019/2020 i wrote a bit for soc and aftg.....

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos? oh i'm laughing these aren't even GOOD.... 1. [redacted soc fic] 2. makes me feel a little bit closer to you - pynch clothes sharing fic 3. c&b (my most beloved this is the only valid entry on this list) 4. i ain't gotta tell him (i think he knows) - pynch ithk songfic 5. all the time, all the time (i think of you all the time) - pynch fic where ronan is tutoring adam in art

5. Do you respond to comments? mostly yes! for like a solid 2 years i didn't but now i do again <3

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? ummm i think the only actually angsty ending i have is all too well adansey fic? i'm such a happy ending girlie that's the only one i can think of that doesn't end happily. for obvious reasons.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? i like to think pretty much everything i write ends happily but c&b proposal fic is what comes to mind since i finally finished it THREE ENTIRE YEARS LATER very recently

8. Do you get hate on fics? no i have been very lucky so far actually!

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? no because i am afraid

10. Do you write crossovers? i do not!

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? not that i know of!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? nope not yet!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? only the theoretical AUs that coco and i like to talk about but never commit to writing <3 although really you could consider coco my cowriter on most of my fics (especially c&b) like so much of them comes from her fr. love you coco <3333

14. What’s your all-time favorite ship? oh i can't pick. that's like asking a mother to pick her favorite child. right now those dead gay french revolutionaries have my heart but tomorrow, who knows?

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? ugh i hate admitting defeat but. but. i am aware that beloved beloved pynch band fic will probably never be finished. which is a SHAME because i have soooooooo much of it planned out i mean like. i've got full albums designed. most of the beats are mapped out. i've got fake tweets written up, i've got chapter titles and scene drafts. like the entire concept is there and i'm so obsessed with it. but i just. after all these years it is extremely unlikely that i am going to actually, you know. write it.

16. What are your writing strengths? beginnings. i am so good at beginnings. that's why i have so many wips. also i like to think i'm good at dialogue. i try to write conversationally even when it's not actually a conversation and i think that translates well to actual dialogue it's fun.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? endings. i can't end anything to save my LIFE. also just plots in general escape me. and i always end up writing 10k more words than i meant to.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? um other people who can do it definitely should! i however cannot do that. i did however use my extremely limited knowledge of the french language for the section headings in my most recent fic and i like the effect it produced i think.

19. First fandom you wrote for? all evidence of their existence has been wiped from the face of the earth but my very first fics were one star wars fic and one agents of shield fic circa like. 2015.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written? legally i'm obligated to say c&b but right now actually i'm still very very happy with how exr rooftop fic turned out. literally the entire time i was writing it i was just having a blast. i love writing angst and stuff it's like chewing on a polly pocket toy. now that i'm evil i never wanna write fluff again. i'm torturing those fictional guys fr.

tagging besties @television-bodies @gingerpeachtea and anyone else who wants to do it! ♡

[seafoamandtragedy]

Kevin Day and Allison Reynolds are literally what would've happened if the greenmantles had children. LIKE. THOSE TWO ARE YOURS🫵

[dayurno]

🤔I was thinking that some of the popularity could be because of the massive overlap between the trc and aftg (and somehow six of crows), or maybe it's just bc the aftg was being passed in book tumblr circles and soc and trc are popular on tumblr too, but there was this venn diagram that was inescapable back in the day with all three books, and trcs rlly popular, tradpub, loads of book instagram/youtubers made videos about it in 2016/17 then you'd look for recs with books like trc and people would recommend aftg though the books are way different to trc, there's crossover fan works too, maybe it's just because there's gay characters and both books deal with abuse. Idk this is probably the worst example ever but it's like how people would watch the untamed which was extremely popular then get into danmei, aftg would be a fairly hard series to find or to get get recced unless you were on tumblr maybe?

While writing this I realised for the book to even go around in ya tumblr circles it would've had to have been kind of popular in the first place🥲I wasn't here in 2016 but I was in 2018, I do think that if you got into trc and maybe soc which are more easy to get into since they're just more well known and find in bookstores you'd go on tumblr and find something to do with aftg the overlap between the two fandoms is crazy

OH FOR SURE i have not read soc but i did read trc and honestly it was shocking to me how different it was from aftg! the idea that these books overlap in anyway is insane to me. trc is a magical story about teenagers and friendship, aftg is a self-published sports anime masking as dead dove. perhaps people feel like trc's friendship theme is in any way alike to the foxes, but the idea just feels absurd to me; the foxes are barely even friends. sure they are neil's family, but each other's family? hard to say. for the upperclassmen, yes, sure, if they can ignore kevin and andrew and aaron. for the monsters i will gracefully decline to comment

now re: the untamed and getting into danmei............................. danmei is mostly if not entirely self-published and known for heavier themes, and to have a story blow up among chinese readers is already hard as it is; to blow up among international fans feels even crazier. it's a pretty fair comparison! i guess in a way soc and trc did pull most of aftg's fanbase, but i don't know if it was all of it. like fallenstarzz said, it was probably a strike of luck mixed with the general lack of complex yet easily accessible (white american) queer content at the time. we rave about the toxic yaoi now but in 2014-2018 the most 'problematic' queer content i can think of is killing stalking and its disciples, most of which were published by authors of color outside of the imperial core. i imagine aftg owes much of its fame to the whiteness and nearness of its cast and setting too. it was more than dead dove. it was toxic yaoi for white people