#i did not list seth/allison but

[jeanmoreaue]

Please rank all the straight ships 🫶 renee/aaron better be #1 💒

renee/aaron sends me 😭

1. Matt/Dan - i would want to be friends with them

2. Abby/Wymack ?

3. everyone else

this is what my google search history looks like now:

[yeoldenews]

A Guide to Historically Accurate Regency-Era Names

I recently received a message from a historical romance writer asking if I knew any good resources for finding historically accurate Regency-era names for their characters.

Not knowing any off the top of my head, I dug around online a bit and found there really isn’t much out there. The vast majority of search results were Buzzfeed-style listicles which range from accurate-adjacent to really, really, really bad.

I did find a few blog posts with fairly decent name lists, but noticed that even these have very little indication as to each name’s relative popularity as those statistical breakdowns really don't exist.

I began writing up a response with this information, but then I (being a research addict who was currently snowed in after a blizzard) thought hey - if there aren’t any good resources out there why not make one myself?

As I lacked any compiled data to work from, I had to do my own data wrangling on this project. Due to this fact, I limited the scope to what I thought would be the most useful for writers who focus on this era, namely - people of a marriageable age living in the wealthiest areas of London.

So with this in mind - I went through period records and compiled the names of 25,000 couples who were married in the City of Westminster (which includes Mayfair, St. James and Hyde Park) between 1804 to 1821.

So let’s see what all that data tells us…

To begin - I think it’s hard for us in the modern world with our wide and varied abundance of first names to conceive of just how POPULAR popular names of the past were.

If you were to take a modern sample of 25-year-old (born in 1998) American women, the most common name would be Emily with 1.35% of the total population. If you were to add the next four most popular names (Hannah, Samantha, Sarah and Ashley) these top five names would bring you to 5.5% of the total population. (source: Social Security Administration)

If you were to do the same survey in Regency London - the most common name would be Mary with 19.2% of the population. Add the next four most popular names (Elizabeth, Ann, Sarah and Jane) and with just 5 names you would have covered 62% of all women.

To hit 62% of the population in the modern survey it would take the top 400 names.

The top five Regency men’s names (John, William, Thomas, James and George) have nearly identical statistics as the women’s names.

I struggled for the better part of a week with how to present my findings, as a big list in alphabetical order really fails to get across the popularity factor and also isn’t the most tumblr-compatible format. And then my YouTube homepage recommended a random video of someone ranking all the books they’d read last year - and so I present…

The Regency Name Popularity Tier List

The Tiers

S+ - 10% of the population or greater. There is no modern equivalent to this level of popularity. 52% of the population had one of these 7 names.

S - 2-10%. There is still no modern equivalent to this level of popularity. Names in this percentage range in the past have included Mary and William in the 1880s and Jennifer in the late 1970s (topped out at 4%).

A - 1-2%. The top five modern names usually fall in this range. Kids with these names would probably include their last initial in class to avoid confusion. (1998 examples: Emily, Sarah, Ashley, Michael, Christopher, Brandon.)

B - .3-1%. Very common names. Would fall in the top 50 modern names. You would most likely know at least 1 person with these names. (1998 examples: Jessica, Megan, Allison, Justin, Ryan, Eric)

C - .17-.3%. Common names. Would fall in the modern top 100. You would probably know someone with these names, or at least know of them. (1998 examples: Chloe, Grace, Vanessa, Sean, Spencer, Seth)

D - .06-.17%. Less common names. In the modern top 250. You may not personally know someone with these names, but you’re aware of them. (1998 examples: Faith, Cassidy, Summer, Griffin, Dustin, Colby)

E - .02-.06%. Uncommon names. You’re aware these are names, but they are not common. Unusual enough they may be remarked upon. (1998 examples: Calista, Skye, Precious, Fabian, Justice, Lorenzo)

F - .01-.02%. Rare names. You may have heard of these names, but you probably don’t know anyone with one. Extremely unusual, and would likely be remarked upon. (1998 examples: Emerald, Lourdes, Serenity, Dario, Tavian, Adonis)

G - Very rare names. There are only a handful of people with these names in the entire country. You’ve never met anyone with this name.

H - Virtually non-existent. Names that theoretically could have existed in the Regency period (their original source pre-dates the early 19th century) but I found fewer than five (and often no) period examples of them being used in Regency England. (Example names taken from romance novels and online Regency name lists.)

Just to once again reinforce how POPULAR popular names were before we get to the tier lists - statistically, in a ballroom of 100 people in Regency London: 80 would have names from tiers S+/S. An additional 15 people would have names from tiers A/B and C. 4 of the remaining 5 would have names from D/E. Only one would have a name from below tier E.

Women's Names

S+ Mary, Elizabeth, Ann, Sarah      

S - Jane, Mary Ann+, Hannah, Susannah, Margaret, Catherine, Martha, Charlotte, Maria

A - Frances, Harriet, Sophia, Eleanor, Rebecca

B - Alice, Amelia, Bridget~, Caroline, Eliza, Esther, Isabella, Louisa, Lucy, Lydia, Phoebe, Rachel, Susan

C - Ellen, Fanny*, Grace, Henrietta, Hester, Jemima, Matilda, Priscilla

D - Abigail, Agnes, Amy, Augusta, Barbara, Betsy*, Betty*, Cecilia, Christiana, Clarissa, Deborah, Diana, Dinah, Dorothy, Emily, Emma, Georgiana, Helen, Janet^, Joanna, Johanna, Judith, Julia, Kezia, Kitty*, Letitia, Nancy*, Ruth, Winifred>

E - Arabella, Celia, Charity, Clara, Cordelia, Dorcas, Eve, Georgina, Honor, Honora, Jennet^, Jessie*^, Joan, Joyce, Juliana, Juliet, Lavinia, Leah, Margery, Marian, Marianne, Marie, Mercy, Miriam, Naomi, Patience, Penelope, Philadelphia, Phillis, Prudence, Rhoda, Rosanna, Rose, Rosetta, Rosina, Sabina, Selina, Sylvia, Theodosia, Theresa

F - (selected) Alicia, Bethia, Euphemia, Frederica, Helena, Leonora, Mariana, Millicent, Mirah, Olivia, Philippa, Rosamund, Sybella, Tabitha, Temperance, Theophila, Thomasin, Tryphena, Ursula, Virtue, Wilhelmina

G - (selected) Adelaide, Alethia, Angelina, Cassandra, Cherry, Constance, Delilah, Dorinda, Drusilla, Eva, Happy, Jessica, Josephine, Laura, Minerva, Octavia, Parthenia, Theodora, Violet, Zipporah

H - Alberta, Alexandra, Amber, Ashley, Calliope, Calpurnia, Chloe, Cressida, Cynthia, Daisy, Daphne, Elaine, Eloise, Estella, Lilian, Lilias, Francesca, Gabriella, Genevieve, Gwendoline, Hermione, Hyacinth, Inez, Iris, Kathleen, Madeline, Maude, Melody, Portia, Seabright, Seraphina, Sienna, Verity

Men's Names

S+ John, William, Thomas

S - James, George, Joseph, Richard, Robert, Charles, Henry, Edward, Samuel

A - Benjamin, (Mother’s/Grandmother’s maiden name used as first name)#

B - Alexander^, Andrew, Daniel, David>, Edmund, Francis, Frederick, Isaac, Matthew, Michael, Patrick~, Peter, Philip, Stephen, Timothy

C - Abraham, Anthony, Christopher, Hugh>, Jeremiah, Jonathan, Nathaniel, Walter

D - Adam, Arthur, Bartholomew, Cornelius, Dennis, Evan>, Jacob, Job, Josiah, Joshua, Lawrence, Lewis, Luke, Mark, Martin, Moses, Nicholas, Owen>, Paul, Ralph, Simon

E - Aaron, Alfred, Allen, Ambrose, Amos, Archibald, Augustin, Augustus, Barnard, Barney, Bernard, Bryan, Caleb, Christian, Clement, Colin, Duncan^, Ebenezer, Edwin, Emanuel, Felix, Gabriel, Gerard, Gilbert, Giles, Griffith, Harry*, Herbert, Humphrey, Israel, Jabez, Jesse, Joel, Jonas, Lancelot, Matthias, Maurice, Miles, Oliver, Rees, Reuben, Roger, Rowland, Solomon, Theophilus, Valentine, Zachariah

F - (selected) Abel, Barnabus, Benedict, Connor, Elijah, Ernest, Gideon, Godfrey, Gregory, Hector, Horace, Horatio, Isaiah, Jasper, Levi, Marmaduke, Noah, Percival, Shadrach, Vincent

G - (selected) Albion, Darius, Christmas, Cleophas, Enoch, Ethelbert, Gavin, Griffin, Hercules, Hugo, Innocent, Justin, Maximilian, Methuselah, Peregrine, Phineas, Roland, Sebastian, Sylvester, Theodore, Titus, Zephaniah

H - Albinus, Americus, Cassian, Dominic, Eric, Milo, Rollo, Trevor, Tristan, Waldo, Xavier

# Men were sometimes given a family surname (most often their mother's or grandmother's maiden name) as their first name - the most famous example of this being Fitzwilliam Darcy. If you were to combine all surname-based first names as a single 'name' this is where the practice would rank.

*Rank as a given name, not a nickname

+If you count Mary Ann as a separate name from Mary - Mary would remain in S+ even without the Mary Anns included

~Primarily used by people of Irish descent

^Primarily used by people of Scottish descent

>Primarily used by people of Welsh descent

I was going to continue on and write about why Regency-era first names were so uniform, discuss historically accurate surnames, nicknames, and include a little guide to finding 'unique' names that are still historically accurate - but this post is already very, very long, so that will have to wait for a later date.

If anyone has any questions/comments/clarifications in the meantime feel free to message me.

Methodology notes: All data is from marriage records covering six parishes in the City of Westminster between 1804 and 1821. The total sample size was 50,950 individuals.

I chose marriage records rather than births/baptisms as I wanted to focus on individuals who were adults during the Regency era rather than newborns. I think many people make the mistake when researching historical names by using baby name data for the year their story takes place rather than 20 to 30 years prior, and I wanted to avoid that. If you are writing a story that takes place in 1930 you don’t want to research the top names for 1930, you need to be looking at 1910 or earlier if you are naming adult characters.

I combined (for my own sanity) names that are pronounced identically but have minor spelling differences: i.e. the data for Catherine also includes Catharines and Katherines, Susannah includes Susannas, Phoebe includes Phebes, etc.

The compound 'Mother's/Grandmother's maiden name used as first name' designation is an educated guesstimate based on what I recognized as known surnames, as I do not hate myself enough to go through 25,000+ individuals and confirm their mother's maiden names. So if the tally includes any individuals who just happened to be named Fitzroy/Hastings/Townsend/etc. because their parents liked the sound of it and not due to any familial relations - my bad.

I did a small comparative survey of 5,000 individuals in several rural communities in Rutland and Staffordshire (chosen because they had the cleanest data I could find and I was lazy) to see if there were any significant differences between urban and rural naming practices and found the results to be very similar. The most noticeable difference I observed was that the S+ tier names were even MORE popular in rural areas than in London. In Rutland between 1810 and 1820 Elizabeths comprised 21.4% of all brides vs. 15.3% in the London survey. All other S+ names also saw increases of between 1% and 6%. I also observed that the rural communities I surveyed saw a small, but noticeable and fairly consistent, increase in the use of names with Biblical origins.

Sources of the records I used for my survey: 

Ancestry.com. England & Wales Marriages, 1538-1988 [database on-line].

Ancestry.com. Westminster, London, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1935 [database on-line].

[thefoxholecast]

The Original Foxhole Court Extra Content (Archived from Nora Sakavic’s Tumblr)

We copied the following text directly from the pre-2024 version of the Foxhole Court Extra Content page on Nora Sakavic’s Tumblr blog (korakos.tumblr.com/fox). In March 2024, she did “some spring cleaning” by shortening the list of links and deleting/hiding old posts. The links in this copy lead to archived snapshots of the old posts on the Internet Archive Wayback Machine.

Some of the links are broken. If you have copies of these posts, please let us know so we can fill in missing content!

Because Tumblr only allows up to 100 links per post, we're unable to replicate the full list here. View the full list of links on our blog here: thefoxholecast.tumblr.com/FoxArchive

The Foxhole Court

ETA 2023: most of the posts here are from 2013-2015. Some of them overlap with older drafts. Some answers have evolved over time, even if they haven’t been updated here. Most I haven’t changed my mind on, for better or worse. Take ‘em or leave ‘em, and good luck making sense of ‘em around all the drunk rambling and detours. One day if I have the energy I’ll just sort it into a coherent reference.

~~

Two sections here: the questions submitted by tumblr users, and a miscellaneous collection of stories & factoids pulled from the oft-neglected blog. The questions aren’t in any particular order, though I did try to organize them by subject matter. Ish. Once the dust is settled a bit I’ll try to find a better sorting system. Also, the tumblr tag I use for questions is http://korakos.tumblr.com/tagged/foxhole-court-questions-and-spoilers

Lots of spoilers for The Foxhole Court ahead!

Preface: Why are Asks disabled in 2016?

COURTING MADNESS

—Exy Rules & Regulations

—Exy: A History of the Sport

—Palmetto State University

—The original “What Happens After King’s Men” post

—SON NEFES, the cousins’ freshman year through Renee’s eyes

——One . Two . Three . Four . Five

—Nicky Hemmick

—Seth Gordon

—Aaron Minyard

—Matt Boyd

—Kevin & Andrew

—David Wymack & the Monsters

—Wymack & Andrew re: Neil

—Dan Wilds is recruited to the Foxes *

—Allison through Dan & Renee’s eyes *

——pulled from an abandoned, unfinished book about the Foxes’ women

TUMBLR

NEIL

—Neil’s life on the run

—Do they ever celebrate Neil’s birthday?

—What if Neil told the truth earlier?

—Neil through the Foxes’ eyes

—Neil through Ichirou’s eyes

—Neil’s looks post-book and relationship with his reflection

—Does Neil ever talk to Bee?

—Neil’s millions

—Neil’s fight training

—Who’s Neil closest to beside Andrew

—Neil’s fashion style

—Cellphone ringtone

—Christmas/birthday presents for Foxes

—Does Neil ever cry?

—Neil’s lonely fifth year

—When Neil’s overwhelmed

—Does Neil crush on his teammates?

—Neil & Ichirou’s intimidation

ANDREW

—Andrew’s sober look at his teammates & Neil

—How did Andrew react to Cass’s letter?

—Andrew’s medication and the follow-up

—Has Abby seen Andrew’s scars?

—Andrew & Mama Bee

—Andrew & Roland

—How far has Andrew willingly gone?

—What animal figurine did Andrew buy Betsy?

—Andrew’s eye color

—Andrew’s opinion of the cats

—What’d Andrew say to Nicky in TKM?

—Andrew’s honest opinion of Exy

—Andrew’s thoughts on Neil’s binder

—Andrew and his sexuality

—If Andrew had met Neil’s mother

—Andrew’s thoughts on Neil’s sexuality

—Andrew’s fondest memory of Neil

—Andrew’s aforementioned withdrawal

—Do you think Andrew is really really really awesome?

—Proust and Andrew

—What happens to Proust?

—Andrew’s reaction to Neil’s bday blood

—Andrew on Neil eventually changing out

—Does Andrew get grumpy?

—Does Andrew get less dead inside?

—Does Andrew call Neil by his name?

—Why give the Foxes crackers?

—Andrew’s first choices in winning a fight

—Who liked knives?

—What got chopped from Drake’s arc?

—Does Andrew get off thinking about Neil?

—Post Andrew & Bee’s side story?

—When did Andrew start thinking Neil was interesting?

—Any other words he can’t stand?

—What does he think about nicknames?

—Explain Andrew’s fatal disease in the comic version

—Andrew’s canon mental state

—How did Andrew not know about Tilda’s abuse?

—Why punch Neil for “Sorry”, and when Andrew is sick

—What’s with Andrew and promises

—Andrew’s thoughts on Roland’s premature confession

—Andrew’s arrest

—Wanting nothing vs not wanting anything

—Why was Andrew laughing after Drake?

—If Neil had chosen Dan & Matt over Andrew

NEIL & ANDREW

—The other 10%

—Which teammate caught on first?

—Do Andrew & Neil go on dates?

—When did they first hold hands?

—When did Andrew clue in?

—Exites self-censure

—Betsy’s & Aaron’s reactions to the news

—Roland’s opinion of things

—The breaking point

—Who tops?

—On tying people up

—Their domestic life aka Sir Fat Cat

—I love you

—Andrew and the bed issue

—Nightmares

—Do they learn to talk to each other?

—Blaming Neil for Drake

—Andrew comforting Neil?

—Neil’s fondest memory of Andrew

—Neil getting Andrew off for the first time

—Neil seeing Andrew naked

—Neil & the sex how-to

—How was the first time

—Where’d it happen?

—When was their first hug?

—“I won’t let you let me be”

—Their roadtrips

—Neil waking Andrew up

—Andrew’s real smile

—How does Andrew show appreciation for Neil

—Their happiest moments

—Does Neil ever make Andrew laugh?

—Does Andrew take comfort in Neil

—Does Andrew get protective/possessive?

—Doesn’t Neil crave affection?

—Andrew re: Neil’s panic attacks

—Media reaction to Andrew/Neil

—Further reaction to Andrew/Neil

—On “accidentally” sitting in laps

—What if Andrew died?

—What if Neil died?

—Reaction to getting hit on by others

—Do they celebrate anniversaries?

—The first time Neil pushes Andrew down

FOXES

—How tall are the Foxes?

—Why is everyone so short?

—Where did their names come from?

—What were their majors?

—What do the Foxes look like?

—What are their Hogwarts houses?

—Reaction to the kidnapping

—Do Neil & Renee become friends?

—What did Allison do with Seth’s urn?

—Nicky’s evolution over the drafts

—Do the Foxes get their skiing trip?

—Does Andrew know Nicky kissed Neil?

—When did Aaron & Katelyn fall for each other?

—How did Andrew and Wymack end up handcuffed together?

—Kevin’s favorite things

—Kevin and Andrew’s on-court kerfuffle

—Dan’s haircut

—Dan & Matt’s relationship

—Dan & Matt’s first kiss

—Matt bouncing back from Columbia

—Matt rooming with the monsters

—The other what-if OT3 aka D/M/N and the dynamic

—Do Allison and Renee have the hots for each other?

—Matt forgiving his father

—Any mistletoe shenanigans?

—Thanksgiving and the Foxes

—Kevin’s best friend

—Janie Smalls

—How did Kevin and Thea meet?

—Foxes’ favorite ice cream flavors

—Kevin & Andrew’s on-court argument

—Foxes’ taste in music

—Kevin’s middle name & drink of choice

—Do Kevin & Neil want to kiss?

—Which Fox would Kevin kiss, then?

—Kevin’s best non-Exy memory

—Allison’s three bets

—Why is Allison’s middle name Jamaica

—Kevin, Andrew, and Neil staying friends

—“Joan of Exy”?

—Can the Foxes sing?

—Some of the Foxes’ previous bets

—Do Nicky & Allison become friends?

—Are Foxes based on RL people?

—Nicky when Neil asks about friendship

—Dan & the monsters in Columbia

—What if Kevin was killed?

—Renee and her near-death experiences

—More background available on Renee?

—Why doesn’t Aaron let the Foxes in?

—Team’s reaction to Drake, Andrew’s reaction to being outed

—Andrew & Aaron’s time with Tilda

—Does Aaron reconcile with Andrew over Tilda?

—Nicky & his parents after Drake

—Foxes thoughts in Baltimore

FOXES POST-TKM

—The Pro Teams

—The Weddings

—Neil as the Best Man?

—Kevin after TKM —Thea, Jean, Foxes, and Riko

—How does Kevin & Wymack’s relationship evolve?

—Renee after TKM

—Nicky after TKM

—Aaron after TKM

—Allison after TKM

—Dan & Matt after TKM

—Dan and the US Court

—Any pro-period scandals?

—Andrew & Neil’s relationship with their team

—Would Neil hold Matt’s children?

—Neil & babysitting the Foxes’ kids

—Which Fox’s child would curse first

THE FUTURE FOXES

—Who is Robin Cross?

—Neil and Jack

—Andrew’s reaction to Neil punching Jack

—Foxes’ reaction to Neil punching

—Kevin and Jack

—Neil’s new recruit

—Andrew and Jack

RIVALS

—Who is Riko Moriyama?

—Riko & Kevin’s evolving relationship

—More about Riko & Kevin’s past

—How did Riko break Kevin’s hand

—Riko’s brutality toward Jean

—Any draft where Riko wasn’t killed?

—Were Riko, Kevin, and Jean involved sexually?

—Does the Fox-Trojan rematch happen? Also how do the Trojans & Jean get along?

—Do Alvarez & Laila (Trojans) have backstories?

—Thea’s number & thoughts on Raven brutality

THE “ADULTS”

—Kayleigh Day & David Wymack

—Abby Winfield & David Wymack

—Wymack’s parents

—Did Wymack cry during the trilogy?

—Did Kayleigh know about the Moriyamas?

.

.

.

.

Nora & the Foxes

—Fancast and Andrew

—Changing opinion of Foxes over the years

—Bits of the scrapped K/N/A threesome here and here

—The KxAxN AU where Kevin died

—Will there be a sequel?

—What inspired you to develop Exy?

—Fox fanfictions, collected by coldsaturn

—Why a pseudonym?

—What came first, characters or story?

—Were you the artist of the comic version?

—What did the comic-Foxes look like?

—What do you do when you’re not writing?

[broken-heart-raven-queen]

Someone made me think today about the Foxes (+ some others) as forms of art, so here is a list.

Neil: oil painting

Andrew: watercolor painting

Kevin: rock sculptures

Aaron: street art (grafitti)

Nicky: music, but that kind of music you dance a long yo bcs the rithm is a bang and when you read the lyrics the story is soul crushing

Dan: macrame

Matt: crochet (previously he was street art)

Allison: photography

Renee: dance, but specially ballet

Seth: I don't really know if it has a name, but, did you ever see a wall in a public space that was full of posters, stickers, gum, drawings, etc and sometimes is written all over?? Well that is Seth coded.

Jean: glass blowing/ glass sculptures

Jeremy: book annotating

Ichirou: metal welding like to do knifes, swords, daggers, etc

Riko: ice sculptures

Wymack: tattoos

Abby: cooking (salty)

Bee: cooking (sweet)

I have really good explanations for all of these too.

[skyddish]

a list of foxes i would invite to the sesh andddd who i think would crash out

((that nobody asked for))

No! — Andrew, Neil, Nicky, Matt, and Renee

Invited— Aaron, Kevin, Allison, Dan, and Seth

Aaron - absolutely invited. no questions asked: he's invited. he rlly wouldn't attend for various reasons, but i think he'd consider it once i told him Andrew wasn't allowed to come

Andrew - Hell No. lmao. I don't think he'd smoke weed in any timeline, but i'm not taking any chances. he'd have a bad reaction but not mention it. mellow demeanor, but his internal monologue would be SCREAMING bro. I love andrew as much as everyone else, but i Don't need him harshing the vibes. nobody would b able to relax . andd on that note—

Neil - HELL NO! HAHA! EVEN LESS INVITED THAN ANDREW LOL i feel like i don't need to elaborate, but getting stoned would make neil much worse. CRASH! OUT!

Kevin - surprisingly yes. i think he could handle the existential thoughts, and it might even sort him out . <3 the conversations with him would be stellar, especially because of his interest in history. We would not talk about exy.

Nicky - Nah . He's fun other times but I wouldn't want to talk to him. he'd give ME a weed induced panic attack . NO.

Allison - FUCK YEAH 100% . huge bonus because she knows what she's doing and i wouldn't need to trip sit or b worried about making sure she's having a good time . she'd be perfectly fine

Renee - guaranteed crash out. if she DID smoke, i'd keep an eye on her because she seems the type to cry, but i wouldn't mind tbh —she's allowed to show up (cmon i'm not gonna disinvite renee) but she would not have a good time lol

Dan: yes. Captain privileges plussss she'd also be making sure everyone was having a good time . i'd NEED HER in my corner . as a bonus i think she'd be hilarious lmfao dan's a great time

Matt: no... um. I don't rlly i have any good reason why he's not coming, but i don't like his energy. 1v1 would be fine, him and Nicky combo would also be fine , but any more people than that would ruin my life i fear. no. not allowed.

Seth: mhmm—hesitant yes. funny asf guy when he's not being insufferably mean spirited . he'd show up if he had nothing better to do, and then act like he was too cool for us (ok.) then only talk to dan and allison . i wouldn't worry too much abt him and kevin

[earl-grey-orange-tabby]

my aftg fan cast

disclaimers:

a lot of these, especially in the next part, aren’t actors, so this is less a fancast and more of a “i have a horrible imagination and need to visualize characters so they feel more real to me” list

if they don’t look like what you picture, agree to disagree! i love seeing other ppl’s perspectives of what the characters look like and i hope you do too

without further ado,

neil josten - benjamin wadsworth

okay listen just because i picked the most used neil fancast DOES NOT MEAN THE REST OF THIS LIST IS BORING!!! he’s just so neil-coded to me in deadly class! i even put him into a photo editing app to change his hair and eye color and he still fits!!! plus the top right pic is exactly how i imagine a nathaniel smile.

andrew/aaron minyard - vlad konoplev

i’m gonna give credit to @kalu_aftg on tiktok for this, because i saw this actor in their tik tok. he’s in a russian series called my biggest secret (i watched a couple clips but i haven’t seen the show)

but come on!!!! this is andrew minyard!!!! and always with andrew fancasts it’s difficult to see them as aaron but i feel like this could go both ways, especially in the bottom right pic. identical, but different vibes, yk?

dan wilds - kiersey clemons

i first saw kiersey clemons in new girl as kc and she feels so dan! then i saw the pic on the top left and i was like YES! this. is. dan. she seems very sweet and friendly but i know she could give a great game face.

nicky hemmick - conor husting

even his pics give off major nicky vibes. he also has a very similar hair length to what i picture nicky with. fun fact: he’s also half-mexican on his mother’s side which is strangely accurate lol!!

allison reynolds - jessica lord

i’m gonna be honest i just searched up “blond actresses 20’s” and that top left photo popped up and it was just so so so allison!! i included a couple pics of her in the ballet movie “find me in paris” because i couldn’t find a lot of pics of any of these actors in active wear and this felt close enough.

kevin day - nicholas galitzine

honestly i got this idea from an instagram live he did where he was yelling about being 6 foot and my brain was like “that is kevin day IN THE FLESH”. i originally saw him in bottoms and he totally cracked me up.

matt boyd - daniel ezra

like come on!!! his smile is so bright and inviting, it gives off such strong matt energy. he played spencer james in all-american and i haven’t watched it but ive seen ppl say good things. bonus: he’s the only one i could find with any form of a face guard (even tho nick galitzine also played a football player in bottoms lol)

renee walker - sydney park & lana condor

okay SO my criteria was soft-looking people that can look sharp in other pictures, and i came up with these two! it’s kinda hard to picture renee without the pastel/white hair but let’s suspend disbelief.

seth gordon - young david beckham

speaking of suspending disbelief, LMAOO. just hear me out, okay. seth was a fifth year, slightly older than the rest of them, so i was looking for that + blond buzz cut and this is the result!

and that’s all! i have more so i’ll probably make a part two, but im having trouble finding a nathan because it’s so hard NOT to picture nathan as a redhead but that means he probably won’t look like benjamin wadsworth.

[aboutnavi]

I was brushing my teeth, reflecting about life, & my mind went back to AFTG and there is a scene on the first book that it has been stuck on my brain since I read the trilogy again this January and it's about Seth. Now, I know the fandom -in general- barely talk about Seth because Nora decided to kill him off for shock value and when people try to talk about him, it always comes back to 'he was a homophobic, disgusting piece of shit' which yes, valid but also, are we forgetting Aaron? The babyfication of Aaron in this fandom had everyone collectively forgetting he was exactly like Seth (even worse: towards his family!!!). Two wrongs doesn't make one right & I'm in no way justifying Seth's action but if we never talk about characters on AFTG just because they were problematic, we are not talking about any of them, ever (ok maybe some of them, but still).

My point is: the scene. Neil is confused as to why Seth hates Kevin -specifically him- so much, since Seth could get along with most people if he wanted and tried hard enough but he refused to give ground to Kevin & his answer is just so humanly heartbreaking it goes to my list of moments Nora did something right in AFTG. The scene goes like this:

Neil: Why do you hate him?

Seth: Because I'm sick of him getting everything he wants just because he's Kevin Day. Do you know what fame gets you, shitface? Everything. All he has to do is ask for it, and someone will give it to him. Doesn't matter what. Doesn't matter who. The world is dying to give him anything he wants. When he broke his hand, his fans cried for him. They flooded our locker room with letters and flowers. The amazing Kevin Day can't play anymore. Their lives were over. They'd grieve the loss forever. But tell me when's the last time anyone cried over you? Never, right? They're there for Kevin every step of the way, but where were they when we needed them?

Neil, stupidly: So you're jealous.

Seth: His life is not more important than mine just because he's more talented.

Neil first instinct is to say jealousy because jealousy is something he understands (he felt jealous of Kevin for having a future, for being able to play, for the talent, for the life he never got to live when his mother ran away, etc.) but for me what Seth is trying to portrait is more like the painful awareness that you get when you realize you're also worthy of love and care. Seth is such an unexplored character who had so much potential if Nora hadn't killed him for the sake of showing how Riko could be/was dangerous (and she could have done that in so many different ways!!!) & you can see that on, for example, Nora's post about his life. Seth was always the no-priority person, the kid no one payed attention to, the boy that if killed, not even his mother would come for the funeral. He was every aspect a Fox and he spent his entire life being told he was no one and to be able to say his life is not more important than mine shows so much development; the chance he had put on himself for being open to love, to care, to second and third chances... it was all there. It breaks my heart that he never got the chance to become something. & I do not believe he was an inherently bad person? They are so young in AFTG, all of them. Maybe Seth wasn't bad; maybe he was just twenty-two, you know?

& on the extra content when they tell Allison he died and she goes 'He called me not even an hour ago! He was drunk and rambling but he was happy for the first time in weeks. He was talking about how he finally thought graduating would be okay, about how he wanted me to help him look into grad schools. He wanted to go into social work and help people like he helps us. I know he wanted to die! Everyone knows he wanted to die! Every time he said he was done with life I walked away from him and every time he came chasing after me. This is the first time--he wanted to live.' breaks my heart.

Because, ok, Seth dies. Let's pretend it was a good idea for him to die to set some sort of impact on the story for a second. Except his death goes without much fuss. The shock Nora wanted is felt for maybe three seconds, in one paragraph in the last page of TFC and then we barely talk about Seth on TRK and TKM. Neil can't even understand how impactful was Seth's death - he only cares about how it will affect the game & his guilt is more about how Allison would feel towards him then sadness over losing a teammate - and this insight we get from Allison is from the extra content and not everyone goes on to read those so if Nora wanted something out of his death - pity, shock, sadness, or whatever - she should have put this scene IN THE BOOKS.

[cubbyyyy]

A post about my favorite aftg relationships/friendships because why not?

1. Andreil. Of course. I think I actually don’t need to explain more but yea, they were my favorite part in aftg. they quickly became one of my favorite shippings and in my humble opinion love isn’t even enough of a term for them. No one will ever understand another the way they understand each other. They showed me what perfect compatibility looks like because in tiktok term - no one matches each others freak the way they match each others freak. I can’t imagine a neil without an andrew. they are different enough to make the other improve and similar enough to make the other feel validated. they aren’t afraid to show their dark sides bc the other matches the dark sides.

2. Andrew and Aaron. Twinyards. After Andreil their relationship intrigued me the most. The way they seem so indifferent towards each other but caring so much anyways is just so bittersweet. I live for their improvements. The way they legitimately killed for each other is just everything. Neil making Aaron understand that Andrew did everything for him and that he did the same is just so dear to me. Yea they misunderstand each other, but the brotherly love they have for one another could burn cities.

3. Neil and Matt. I love how matt just adopted neil. Neil may be a little crazy but Matt just goes along with it. So when Neil punches a guy, Matt hypes it up. Matt caring for Neil from the start was precious to me since I still wasn’t sure about the “monsters” in the foxhole court. like they seemed honestly pretty much demanding as fuck and I just wanted Neil to have a save, rest space while figuring them out and that’s what Matt gave him. (I especially like the trio of Matt/Dan/Neil). Matt is just the definition of a best friend and I’m glad Neil has his bestie outside of the monsters.

4. Nicky and Neil. Okay hear me out - when I think about Nicky and Neil I just pretend the eden incident didn’t exist bc I can excuse a lot, especially in fiction, but sexual assault is never on the list. So I made the choice to pretend it didn’t happen (i mean the books also pretend it didn’t happen lmao). And when you see them outside of the incident, they were pretty nice. I think Nickys cheerful personality helped to loosen the tension in the team (and monsters group). I loved when Nicky flooded Neils notifications so Neil wouldn’t flinch about them anymore. I also feel like Nicky played a big role in Neils growth. Like telling him to think about more stuff besides exy. Making Neil realize he has friends now. All that stuff.

5. Andrew and Renee. I just love how they’re sparring partners and understand each other so well, that they were the jogging team where they talk about possible zombie outbreaks.

6. Kevin and Jean. They didn’t have much screen time in the aftg series and I haven’t read the tsc yet, but their relationship intrigued me. This one I could possibly even ship romantically since they are so bittersweet that I just wish to save their ending. they formed a bond so deep but yet so scarred that it’s unexplainable.

7. Allison and Renee. I love them. I love how after Seth died, Renee took care of Allison. They just seem so fitting and I’m still shook they weren’t an official thing in the books.

8. Aaron, Nicky and Andrew. The fact that Nicky took care of the twins when he was barely an adult himself is just very precious.

9. Wymack and Neil. Honestly I could put him higher, I just forgot till now to mention wymack so he’s here. The scene at the end of the kings men where Neil asks for wymacks help is just stuck with me for life.

10. Kevin and Wymack. The fact that Wymack is Kevins father surprised me at first but then it made sense? When Kevin said that his father watches all his games I was ready to shed a tear.

[capcavan]

AFTG battle royale on brain (i just realised there is too little foxes for proper play of the story so just supply fodder students into equation ig i would add ravens and trojans but that's project for another day) - dan and matt would be a two person team either trying to wait out together as long as they can without hurting anyone most likely hoping to wait out for the finale with matt ready to sacrifice himself for dan's survival bonus points if they did actually tried for a baby before game's end because dan wanted to have something after him - andrew would try his best to gather nicky aaron and neil into his group, Renee was on that list to but they were unable to meet her after the game started. They try to find a way out of the situation and save the foxes, truly though andrew is much more realistic then neil is, while neil tried tog et them out andrew tries to logically choose which of those 3 should survive the game , truly its choice between aaron and neil and in the end andrew decided that if only one of them can win then he does not want aaron to live without him. - seth died even before the game has truly started he talked back to the man presenting the rules of engagement and got shot on the eyes of the whole team - allison is disturbed and broken after seth's death she ran off but after discovering that part of her supply pack was mashine gun she wanted to take revenge on seth, this lead to her being killed by the security guards, she managed to take one out before going down. - renee took her cross off after getting out of the school , she carefully tucked it in her supply bag and traded it for a knife that was in there, Natalie will play the game and as always do what is necessary to survive - kevin got the gps tracking device he uses it to avoid people, he doe snot want to kill or to be killed

[inadvisablebutinevitable]

hellooo how would you rank the aftg characters personally? like in order of favorite to least favorite?

bestie I actually wrote a whole thesis essay response before realizing how unhinged it is so here is the abridged version: (note this is all for the canon versions of these characters, fanon ratings would probably be different)

Neil Josten

David Wymack

Nicky Hemmick (I know I know but it will take me 1000000 years to explain all my Nicky thoughts)

Kevin Day

Matt Boyd

Andrew Minyard (WHY IS HE THIS LOW?? Guys I don’t know I do love him I promise I would do anything for him)

Allison Reynolds

Jean Moreau (once again should be higher I love him I do)

Danielle Wilds (her and Allison could also swap places and I’d still be like “yeah that’s right” bc I love them both)

Catalina Alvarez (my fave tsc character besides Jean she means everything to me you don’t understand)

Jeremy Knox (I love him I do I just know nothing abt him)

Renee Walker (it physically hurts me to put her this low I love her so much I would die for her)

Laila Dermott

Aaron Minyard (don’t come at me pls I like him and I love fanon Aaron I just wasn’t Aaron’s number one fan in canon but I still have so much love and respect for him I swear)

Seth Gordon

I don’t really hate any of these characters I swear (except Riko he’s ranked so low he didn’t deserve a spot on the list) ((he’s a compelling villain tho)) (((Tetsuji is ranked like -100000000 I will never forgive Tetsuji ever)))

if you really want my never ending thoughts here they are under the cut:

warning for a long ass post I’m so sorry because sometimes even I can’t focus enough to read my own long posts

I have spent so long staring at this ask and trying to figure out how I can pit my children against each other but here is my best try: (this is in order of how much I enjoyed their characters personally when I was reading. The list would prob be different if I was ranking them as people and not as characters):

Neil Josten. It’s always gonna be Neil I’m sorry. Recency bias means that I’m currently thinking (and posting) abt Jean 24/7 but Neil Josten will always take the cake for me in ways I can’t even articulate. His dry humour and narrative choices always have me in stitches. He’s got so much trauma but he doesn’t want to do anything about it but push it down until he meets people he cares about and they found family him into actually healing. He cares so deeply and loves in such a subtle but incredibly strong way. I don’t know how to even express this without saying that the reason I can’t put aftg down every time I pick it up is because of Neil. He tells the story in a way that makes me want to know everything about literally every scene. It’s all Nora ofc but the personality between the lines is how I define “Neil” and I will never not love it. You’ve got me going and now I’m not gonna stop. I can’t even apologize for the length bc I will never apologize for yapping about Neil Josten I say that shit with my FULL CHEST

David Wymack. Do I even have to explain myself here? Those are his fucking KIDS and he would do ANYTHING for them while being a SASSY LITTLE SHIT about it the whole time plus he’s a DILF I would kill and die for him.

Nicky Hemmick don't shoot me pls LOOK do I think what he did to Neil in Edens was at all ok? Absolutely not. When I first read tfc I was HARDCORE hating on Nicky and then trk and tkm made him one of my favourite characters. I don’t think he’s perfect but I love the way he loves. It isn’t hard for him, none of the monsters had to prove themselves to Nicky, or even try to be a decent friend for Nicky to automatically decide that these were his people and that he cares about them. When we meet him Aaron is a homophobic dick to him and Andrew literally pulls a knife on him and yet we immediately find out that he willingly dropped everything and moved an ocean away from his home and his boyfriend to raise them both in the US and not ONCE does he act like he seriously regrets it. Me? I would be holding that shit over their heads every time they act disrespectful but for Nicky loving them despite the shit they put him through is not even a question. It’s not even just the twins too. That one scene where Neil asks “are we? Friends?” And Nicky is SO SHOCKED that Neil didn’t know and goes “oh kiddo of course!!” is my Roman Empire. Plus he’s hilarious obviously.

Kevin Day guys I love him ok, the first two books he compelled me but TKM he POPPED OFF. “I’ve never been skiiing” BANGER “I’m gonna be the deadliest piece on the board” GOOSEBUMPS, “My father comes to all my games” HAD ME IN TEARS. Don’t even get me STARTED on that sexy ass racquet hand switch at championships I’m going to combust. I love that he’s literally obsessed with exy and has the most complicated relationships with the mc’s of every book and yet steals the show every time. Kevin Day I love you.

Matt Boyd. I love him because he would love me for putting Neil first and kill me for not putting Dan before him. He loves his girlfriend and his homies and his sport and cars in that order. He’s a golden retriever who saw a team full of scary-ass wolves and still tries to be friends with them. He wasn’t a part of the “clique” that Neil was in but he did not let that affect his perception or love for Neil in any way. He’s been to hell and came out with just as much love in his heart as he did when he came in. He told Neil that he didn’t know if Andrew would be good for him but then he saw that Andrew fought Kevin for him and decided that he approved bc all that mattered to him was that Neil had someone who would defend him the way Matt would. Then he immediately becomes the #1 wingman right before the shower scene bc he would rather die than cockblock his homie. I love him so much

Andrew Minyard. Like Nicky, I was absolutely a HATER in book one and then he became one of my faves. I like that he’s brave and determined, standing despite everything when the world tried to put him down, but not without his flaws. I really appreciate that Andrew isn’t perfect, he struggles, he’s violent when it’s necessary and sometimes when it’s not. I love how he was always willing to protect Neil, despite everything in him telling him that Neil couldn’t be trusted. He’s a flawed man, but at his core, a good one.

Allison Reynolds is that girl. She reminds me of Andrew (both of them would kill me for saying that) because she takes no shit and gives no fucks. She’s who 16 year old me wanted to be when I grew up. She goes through every emotion in these books and comes out full of righteous anger and uses that to kick the raven’s ASSES and I’m so here for that

Jean Moreau. It’s weird to me that he’s so low because I love him he’s my special boy. I thought that he was interesting in TRK but Riko was a more compelling villain to me. Then ofc we learn that he was never meant to be the villain and he was ranked just below Kevin for me because I just wanted him to be happy. Then tsc happened and he became my hyper fixation. He has a VERY similar sense of humor as Neil except for Neil his jokes were directed at abnormal behaviour, and for Jean he just gets so appalled at the most normal things. I digress about his humor I love Jean and if u want to know why just read literally any of my posts

Danielle Wilds is my GIRL. Her story compels me so much and I really wish we got more backstory for her (obvs we got plenty considering the cast of characters is so huge but still… I want more). She loves her team so much despite everything and she works so hard to keep them together I wanna give her a hug and a kiss. (That scene in TKM right after Andrew breaks Riko’s arm Dan was the FIRST one to find Neil and she was so concerned about him she cares about him so much STOP they’re FAMILY I LOVE THEM)

Catalina Alvarez was my favourite character in tsc (aside from Jean) because I love her so much. @theresalwaysafiresomewhere said that cat reminds her of me and it was still to this day the best compliment I’ve ever received. I cannot name a single thing abt cat I don’t like so I’m just gonna keep going.

Jeremy Knox is only this low bc I still know nothing about this man. Reading his pov and seeing him thru Jean’s eyes was helpful in securing him a spot in my list of faves tho, I want to know everything about him please Nora please

Renee Walker also should not be this low it physically hurts me to put her here but like most other characters in this half of the list, she didn’t compel me as much until tkm. Just a personal thing I guess. I do love her though and I wish she got more time with Jean. It still bothers me that she loved Jean but was the bigger person about it and knew that they weren’t at the right place in their lives, and yet we don’t get to see how making this decision affects her. I think she deserves to be loved more. I hope she gets a happy ending the same way Jean does.

Laila Dermott I love her I just don’t really know enough abt her

Aaron Minyard I like him I promise I do he’s got some of the best one-liners! He killed drake did all that in college with an gf and all the power to him but really I think that fanon aaron just appealed to me way more. Canon Aaron just annoyed me because— gunshots actually you know what maybe it’s once again because unreliable narrator Neil hated him and Neil’s my fave so I had to be a hater too 😔

Seth. I know some fans love him and I respect that but I just… idk I don’t see the appeal. Fanon Seth is great tho I’m a fan.

Canon Thea is somewhere on this list near Laila again bc I love her but I don’t know enough about her to be like “yeah she’s my fave”. The version of Thea I created in my head based on the crumbs the books and the ec gave us, on the other hand… she’d probably be somewhere up there with Kevin

[torturedpoetskywalker]

As some of you may know, this month will be happening the fanfiction event Multiamory March (hosted by @polyamships), which is similar to Femslash February - but instead of fanfics centered on femslash ships, it's fanfics centered on polyamorous ships. So just like I did last month with Femslash February, I'll be taking prompts through all this month for Multiamory March and posting them in my account on AO3 iammyownsaviour (ant1hero). Here's the list of all the fandoms and ships I want to write on march, you can send me an anonymous or non anonymous inbox with your prompts which can be more than one (I'd actually love if people send multiple prompts 'cause it helps a lot) and you can even say in the inbox, in case you have an AO3 account, if you want me to gift the fanfic to you!

*I'll accept prompts from any prompt list you find, you can even create them if you want. I have a preference for AU's, Tropes and Taylor Swift lyrics but any kind of prompts is fine!

MULTIAMORY MARCH 2023

FANDOMS & SHIPS

SEND ME PROMPTS!!

Wednesday

Xavier & Wednesday & Bianca

Bianca & Wednesday & Enid

Atypical

Evan & Casey & Izzie

Game of Thrones

Jojen & Bran & Meera

House of the Dragon

Aemond & Luke & Rhaena

Gossip Girl (2021)

Audrey & Max & Aki

Gossip Girl

Blair & Nate & Serena

Serena & Dan & Vanessa

Blair & Dan & Nate

Blair & Nate & Jenny

Emily in Paris

Camille & Emily & Gabriel

Ferris Bueller's Day Off

Ferris & Sloane & Cameron

That '70s Show

Jackie & Hyde & Eric

Ginny & Georgia

Abby & Ginny & Marcus

The Magicians

Eliot & Quentin & Margo

The Shannara Chronicles

Amberle & Wil & Eretria

Riverdale

Betty & Archie & Veronica & Jughead

The Walking Dead

Rick & Beth & Daryl

Enid & Carl & Ron

From Dusk till Dawn

Richie & Kate & Seth

Richie & Santanico & Seth

Richie & Santanico & Seth & Kate

Cobra Kai

Johnny & Daniel & Amanda

Demetri & Eli/Hawk & Moon

Robby & Eli/Hawk & Tory

Descendants

Ben & Mal & Evie

Harry & Uma & Gil

Mal & Evie & Jay & Carlos

Outer Banks

JJ & Kie & Pope

John B & JJ & Kie & Pope

John B & JJ & Kie & Sarah

John B & JJ & Kie & Pope & Sarah

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina

Prudence & Sabrina & Caliban

Sabrina & Harvey & Roz

Prudence & Agatha & Dorcas

Sabrina & Prudence & Agatha & Dorcas

The 100

Bellamy & Clarke & Octavia

Bellamy & Clarke & Raven

Raven & Clarke & Octavia

Octavia & Clarke & Lexa

Stranger Things

Steve & Nancy & Jonathan

Mike & El & Max

El & Max & Lucas

Mike & El & Max & Lucas

Skam

Eva & Jonas & Isak

Noora & Eva & Jonas

Noora & Sana & Yousef

Eva & Noora & Vilde

Eva & Noora & Sana

Star Wars

Padmé & Anakin & Obi-Wan

Anakin & Padmé & Sabé

Sabé & Padmé & Dormé

Breha & Padmé & Sabé

Padmé & Anakin & Obi-Wan & Sabé

Sabé & Padmé & Dormé & Cordé

Luke & Han & Leia

Poe & Finn & Rey

Poe & Finn & Rey & Rose

MCU

Steve & Peggy & Bucky

Peter & MJ & Shuri

Jane & Valkyrie & Sif

New Mutants

Illyana & Roberto & Sam

Saiki Kusuo no Psi-nan

Mikoto & Saiki & Toritsuka

Teruhashi & Yuhemara & Mikoto

Cardcaptor Sakura

Syaoran & Sakura & Tomoyo

Steven Universe

Pearl & Garnet & Amethyst

HSMTMTS

Ricky & Nini & Gina

EJ & Ricky & Gina

Ricky & Nini & Gina & EJ

The OC

Marissa & Ryan & Seth

Ryan & Seth & Summer

Seth & Taylor & Summer

Ryan & Marissa & Seth & Summer

Ryan & Taylor & Seth & Summer

Anna & Alex & Lindsay

Doctor Who

Doctor & Rose & Jack

Eleven & Amy & Rory

Twelve & Clara & Missy

Ashildr & Clara & Missy

OUAT

Snow & Red/Ruby & Charming

Emma & Red/Ruby & Regina

Teen Wolf

Boyd & Cora & Erica

Scott & Allison & Isaac

Allison & Scott & Stiles

Scott & Stiles & Lydia

Scott & Kira & Malia

Stiles & Lydia & Cora

Malia & Stiles & Lydia

Allison & Erica & Lydia

Boyd & Cora & Erica & Isaac

Scott & Allison & Stiles & Lydia

Scott & Malia & Stiles & Lydia

Harry Potter

Harry & Ron & Hermione

Harry & Luna & Ginny

Harry & Cho & Ginny

Ginny & Luna & Neville

Hermione & Fleur & Ginny

Cho & Ginny & Luna

Astoria & Pansy & Daphne

Cho & Luna & Padma

Astoria & Narcissa & Pansy

Lily & James & Sirius

Snape & Lily & Narcissa

Bellatrix & Lily & Narcissa

Lily & Pandora & Molly

Godric & Salazar & Rowena & Helga

[aftgsucks]

NMFTG Chapter 22

First Date Attempted Homicides

holy shit I finally finished this chapter: ao3

renee and neil being friend dates to the christmas banquet below the cut

In the midst of nine different long winded anecdotes, maybe just enough waxing poetic about Dan, and a very confusing explanation of something called “love languages,” Matt managed to deliver a list of requirements: buy flowers, wear semi-matching outfits, compliment each other, and sit together.

A mission statement: “dates are about learning and sharing.” 

And a promise to “not gossip or interfere if Andrew tries to kill you, you strange, strange man.” As Matt was still somehow convinced Neil was living by a secret agenda that dictated he steal everyone’s girlfriends, despite Neil’s entire lack of interest in that or the blatant fact that Renee and Andrew weren’t together. And therefore Matt assumed Andrew would be killing Neil at his earliest convenience once he returned and learned of that. 

If only Neil would be so lucky. 

Neil was about ready to flip the picnic table they were sitting at and yell ‘scatter,’ when Matt slapped the table with an air of finality and asked, “Do you guys have any questions?” 

“No, thank you Matt, this has been informative,” Renee answered. 

“I’m happy to help and not gossip about this whatsoever. It’ll actually be pretty funny to be the only one in the know while you guys do this… experiment? What exactly is going on here? If not girlfriend-napping.” He asked. 

“We’re going to the banquet together,” Neil hedged. 

“Yeah, sure, no answers for Matt. Whatever. By the way, what are you guys doing for winter break?” 

“North Dakota,” Renee answered. “I’m bringing Allison and Seth again.” 

“I’ll be here, I guess, or in Columbia looking after Andrew’s little ducks.” 

Matt half-heartedly tried to hide his smile. “Okay, well, if you and Andrew’s little ducks want to come to New York with me, my mom and I would be happy to host you all.” 

Neil had never been to New York. “I’ll ask them,” he said. They’d probably say yes, if not Neil could just lower his voice and maybe they’d all think he was Andrew for a second and agree in a blind fear. 

“Awesome.” Matt said, completely ignoring the fact that if Andrew was going to kill Neil for anything it would definitely be this. 

They all agreed easy, way easier then Neil thought they would. But Katelyn was going to visit her parents for the holidays so Aaron didn’t care and once Kevin was told they’d have access to a court he agreed. 

Allison had gotten Neil a second suit for the winter banquet back when she’d gotten the first one. Neil showed it to Renee for the purposes of matching and getting flowers. It was dark brown with gold buttons and another white button up underneath. Renee had nodded sagely and Neil figured she’d sort it out. 

They went to the florist together the day before the banquet, paid what seemed like too much to a vaguely depressed looking florist and got yellow roses to pin to each other. 

“I don’t know if I really understand this?” Neil admitted as they walked back to the dorms. It was cold out and the straw hat did nothing to keep heat in, but Neil was determined to stick to his hat resolution. He could steal one of Seth’s beanies but it just wouldn’t have the same flair. 

“Well, flowers have a long history as tokens of affection. They’re pretty and most people like them. It’s probably more about the exchange of items and visual connection.” 

“I have a yellow flower, you have a yellow flower.” Neil nodded to himself. “Hey, Renee?”

“Yeah?”

“Have you ever wanted to actually do this with someone?” 

Renee glanced at him, “I have. I had too much going on before I was Renee. And then I had my religion and admittedly it took a long time for me to get past my own fears about what I wanted.” 

Neil raised an eyebrow. 

Renee shrugged. “‘I’ve been considering telling everyone soon, but I know you wouldn’t say anything anyway, I’m a Lesbian, Neil. I like women and that has not historically been approved of in lots of circles. I was afraid Stephanie would tell me I was going to hell. I was afraid I was going to hell.” 

“And then?”

“And then I talked to her about it and my fears were unfounded. And then I came here and while the team’s gotten better in recent times it was rough at first. So, I decided to keep quiet on the matter.” And then her and Andrew worked out their deal about banquets to keep the others off her back about it. 

“I’ve never,” Neil fiddled with the plastic bag that had the roses in it. “The few times I kissed anyone it was mostly about curiosity and then disappointment. I don’t really get any of it, to be honest. And I was never allowed to date anyway so it never seemed that important. But um, I’m asexual.” 

“There’s nothing wrong with that, or you for that matter.” She gave him a wry grin. “Not about this. Everyone’s different. I know you’re not one for religion so I’ll save the whole God thing. But, there are other people who feel just the way you do. None of us are as alone as we feel.” Her hand went up to her cross and Neil would put money on it being a gift from her mother. 

“Thanks for being my first date, Renee.” 

“Thank you for being mine.” 

Allison ‘got’ Neil to leave his hat at the dorms by promising to stop pretending to throw up everytime she saw him in one of his new outfits. She was a total sucker, Neil had already decided he didn’t want his hat to have to deal with the Ravens. They would sully its honor. 

Everyone piled onto the bus and Neil snagged Kevin’s sleeve and tugged him off to the side. “Look at me.” Neil said. 

Kevin was already in the beginnings of his pre-Raven panics but still had the leftover audacity to look irritated at Neil. Whatever, he could be as pissed as he wanted, it wasn't Neil’s job to keep him happy, it was Neil’s job to keep him alive and un-Ravened. 

Neil had pinpointed right before the bus ride as the best time for this chat, it gave Kevin long enough to ruminate on Neil’s words that he’d believe him but not long enough that Kevin would start having extra questions. 

“Do you remember what you asked me at Halloween?” Neil asked. 

“What?” Kevin asked. Of course he didn’t remember. The guy had been eight different sorts of fucked up that night. 

“You asked me why I don’t drink,” he informed Kevin. “The time and place for alcohol is when you’re in the process of bleeding out and need something to steady your hand while you’re stitching up your own wounds.” 

Kevin's eyes went wide. 

“You’ve seen me in the locker room, you can guess how many times I’ve had to do that. Drinking recreationally would just make it a less effective anesthetic in addition to making me vulnerable to an attack. You won’t be bleeding today. Stay sober, stay within reach of me or another Fox. Don’t leave with anyone who isn’t us. If anyone tries to corner you or get you alone you yell ‘I’m gonna throw up’ and run for the nearest Fox and then the nearest bathroom. Do you understand me?” Neil reached out and grabbed Kevin’s shoulder. “I will not let anything happen to you, but you need to listen to me.” 

“Okay,” Kevin said with a jerking nod. “Okay.” 

“Sober and in sight.” Neil said once more before marching Kevin up and onto the bus. Neil deposited Kevin next to Abby and then made for Renee’s bench, where she had saved him a seat. 

“Neil?” Seth asked. 

“What?” 

“What do you mean what?” Seth gestured to Neil and Renee. 

“You’re supposed to sit with your date.” Neil said. 

Renee made an amused sound next to him. 

“Date?!?” Allison yelled, with frankly too much disbelief and outrage. 

Katelyn shot up from her seat next to Aaron. And practically sprinted down the aisle to look Neil in the eyes. “What happened to ‘I’m not catholic and I’m not taking anyone to the banquet?’” She asked with a shit eating grin on her face. 

“Well, I’m still not catholic. And Renee asked nicely.” 

“I also asked nicely.” Katelyn said with fake offense. 

“No, you hunted me down while I was on a walk and tried to get me to be the scapegoat for your badly hidden secret relationship.” 

“We’re not in a relationship,” Aaron corrected from where he was still seated. 

“Aaron, I will beat the shit out of you and gleefully die at Andrew’s hands. Grow up.” 

“Neil,” Matt said carefully. “Do you want Andrew to kill you?”

Neil leaned his head back and looked at the ceiling of the bus. “We all have to die someday, Matt, and there are worse ways to go. If I get him angry enough he’ll even be quick about it.” 

“Well, that’s horrible.” Nicky said before apologizing to his date about everyone. 

“Andrew’s not gonna kill you, you little shit, you’re like his deputy or whatever.” Seth said. 

“Call him the sheriff to his face when he gets back and I’ll give you a hundred dollars,” Allison offered, already pulling out her purse. 

“There is nothing lawful about either of them,” Aaron complained. “They’re like weird murder buddies.” 

“Okay, if you say that to Andrew’s face I’ll give you two hundred dollars.” Allison said. 

“No one is allowed to get murdered,” Dan said. 

Dan would be very unhappy with Neil one of these days. Oh, well. 

“Renee, if Andrew doesn’t murder me when he gets back will you put me out of my misery?” Neil asked, remembering Matt’s rule about talking. 

“Sorry, Neil, the ten commandments forbid me.” She patted him on the shoulder consolingly. 

“This is so unfair.” 

The Winter Banquet was at Breckenridge that year. Kevin managed to somewhat listen to Neil and was close enough to sober for Neil to not bug him about it. 

They got changed in the lockers and met back up in the hall. Neil handed Renee the rose. There was a pin in the stem so Renee could attach it to the strap of her dress. 

“Your dress looks very soft.” He said, glancing over at Matt for support. And it did, it was velvet and just a shade darker then Neil’s suit. 

Matt gave him a thumbs up. 

“Thank you,” Renee said, handing him the other rose. “The orange hair goes well with the suit, you made an apt choice.” 

“Thank you.” Neil said. Although he hadn't been thinking of the suit when he’d dyed his hair. He pulled the lapel of the suit out a bit so he could jam the pin through it without stabbing himself. 

“This is adorable,” Dan said. 

“So cute I could throw up,” Allison said. She checked over Neil’s suit but didn’t fix anything about his appearance. He was vaguely proud of himself. 

The Ravens and the Foxes were both seated at opposite ends of the court. Evidently the last banquet being proof enough that the two teams should be kept far, far away from each other. Which was good as Neil had a few educated guesses about what Riko was planning and he didn’t like any of the possibilities. 

They sat with the Hornets and Neil left interteam relations to the upperclassmen. Instead he split his time evenly between chatting with Renee, distracting Kevin, and keeping an eye out for stray birds. 

Then Tetsuji got up to announce which teams would qualify for the spring games and Neil got so caught up in the euphoria of Palmetto just barely making it that he decided to ignore the strong possibility he wouldn’t make it to the end of the season. 

He slipped a hand into his suit pocket and thumbed at the keys he’d transferred from his sweatshirt. He just needed the rest of the team to survive longer, if they made it far enough before he died the ERC might let the others finish without him. Technically they’d still have enough players. 

Post dinner, the Foxes divided. Most of them headed off to the dance floor. Neil, Renee, and Kevin stayed at the edge of the dance floor watching the others. 

“Do you want to dance?” Neil asked, hoping the answer was no. 

“What would we do with Kevin?” Renee shook her head. 

Kevin, still mostly sober, just sighed deeply, not at all entertaining either of them. They should have brought him to the first date lesson with Matt, Kevin sucked at this. 

Neil said as much. 

“I am not either of your dates,” Kevin complained. “We’re not dating, I have a girlfriend.” 

“I totally believe you, Kevin.” Neil said. “Also, we don’t need to be dating to go as dates to the banquet.” 

“I need a drink.” 

“You don’t,” Neil disagreed. 

Renee opened her mouth to say something good natured and amusing, Neil was sure, but then Seth came up to them out of the dance floor. With his hands in his pockets and a complicated look on his face he avoided eye contact and managed to speak in an even and genial tone. 

“Renee, would you go dance with Allison? I need a break.” 

Renee looked to Neil, who shrugged. And then she smiled and made off onto the dance floor. 

Seth turned and watched as Renee went up to Allison and the two started to dance. 

“Be an ally, Seth,” he mumbled under his breath. “Wingman me.” He straightened up and spoke at a regular volume. “Okay I need to go find Coach, some place that isn’t here, see you later fuckos.” 

Neil let Seth go, in favor of not asking what any of that was about. But he couldn’t help himself completely and the second Seth was out of earshot Neil turned to Kevin. “Did him and Allison break up again?” He asked. 

“Okay, I’m getting a drink.” Kevin said instead of answering. 

Neil followed him over to the drink table, fully intending to spend the next ten minutes knocking cups out of Kevin’s hand. Which of course is when Riko and Jean appeared to make everything miserable. 

“Oh, yay,” Neil decided he would start. “My two favorite has-beens, what’s up? Fuck anything up recently?” 

Kevin poured himself a glass of punch and chugged it for half a second before putting it down with a look of disgust. That was the ‘this has no alcohol content,’ look of disgust, distinct and separate from all of Kevin’s other various disgust related faces. 

“Nathaniel,” Riko said with a grin. Fuck. “You will learn how to treat your betters. I will not tolerate this disrespect any longer.” 

“Come now, Riko, delusional isn’t a good look for anyone. You know my name is Neil.” Fuck, fuck, fuck. 

“I’d love to know what it is you think you’re doing here? Acting as if I don’t own you, but as everything you say is incomprehensible gibberish I’ll save us both the time. You will come to Evermore for Christmas break or a doctor in Easthaven will turn therapy into reenactments of the Goalie’s scandalous past. Or maybe something worse. Do you understand me, Butcher’s boy?” Riko reached out and slipped a piece of folded paper into Neil’s suit pocket. 

Neil grabbed his wrist and and hissed, “if you even think of touching him--” 

“If you want him safe you will be on that plane tomorrow.” Riko hissed back, wrenching his wrist out of Neil’s grasp and storming off. Jean followed obediently behind him. 

Fuck, FUCK. Neil couldn’t even begin to parse what the fuck Riko meant about owning him. 

Andrew, locked in Easthaven where no one could talk to him until the new year. Shit. No knives, coming off his meds. Fuck. 

Neil turned and saw Kevin, face pale as a sheet, not breathing at all. 

Even Dobson couldn’t talk to Andrew. 

“Is it true?” Kevin wheezed, eyes searching Neil’s face. 

The team had petitioned the courts because of him. Because of Neil and his big fucking mouth. 

Neil moved forward, Kevin flinched and Neil ignored it as he grabbed him by the elbow and pulled him out of the court, out of the party and into the hall. Kevin started babbling and Neil couldn’t make most of it out between his own panic and Kevin’s. 

“You have to go,” is what finally caught up to Neil’s ears. 

Neil pulled the slip of paper out of his pocket, the plane confirmation. “No, that’s stupid.” He said, ripping it in half. 

Kevin decked him in the face. 

Neil swore and stumbled back. 

“You are not leaving Andrew to die,” Kevin ordered. Now, where the fuck had this been while Riko was running his mouth? 

“I’m not. Fuckface.” Neil said. “I know you’re smart, rub two brain cells together and think for a minute. If I go we’ll both die.” Neil couldn’t protect anyone from the Nest. 

“He’ll kill Andrew if you stay!”

Kevin wasn’t wrong. 

“Just give me a minute.” Neil said. He reached up to staunch the blood coming from his nose. Goddammit, thinking with a broken nose wasn’t fun. But no one was gonna die to Riko fucking Moryiama. 

The other Foxes came pouring out of the court and Neil suddenly saw his solution. A beacon of white haired salvation. His date. Renee Walker. 

Renee who had sat on the other side of the hallway that whole night with him. Renee who had put one hand above his eyes to keep the soap away while washing his hair. 

Renee who Andrew trusted. 

Neil made for the group. 

“What happened?” Dan asked the second she saw the blood on Neil’s face. 

“Riko?” Seth asked, already building up a rage. 

“No, it was Kevin,” Neil dismissed. 

“Day, what the fuck?” Seth and Matt both made for Kevin. 

Neil grabbed both of them. “If you hit Kevin, Andrew will hit you when he gets back.” 

“If he gets back,” Kevin had stopped breathing again. He wouldn’t look at Neil. 

“No one hit Kevin,” Neil said. 

“Why wouldn’t Andrew come back?” Nicky asked. 

“Renee,” Neil ignored him. “I need to talk to you.” 

“No, you need to answer the fucking question Josten,” Aaron said with a pointed finger. Katelyn pulled a wad of napkins out of her purse and handed them to Neil. 

Sure, yeah, Neil could answer the question and they could all storm back into the court to rip Riko limb from limb in front of all the southern division teams. That would be great. A real fun time until they went to prison or got executed by the mob. 

Or Neil could run in now, swipe a stray knife off some table and jam it through Riko’s stupid neck. Then he’d be the only one in trouble. Maybe he’d end up in the same prison as his father. 

Coach stormed out into the hall, “what the fuck are you all doing out here?” He barked. 

That wouldn’t get Andrew out of Easthaven.

“Coach, we all gotta go,” Neil said. “Or else I’m going to very publicly make an attempt on Riko’s life.” He shoved the ripped pieces of paper into the nearest trash can and wiped some blood off his face with the napkins. 

“Oh, god,” Kevin groaned. “He wasn’t lying, was he?” 

“Later Kevin, one crisis at a time.”

[obsessing-over-fictionn]

pt. three of things i gathered while reading nora's extra content

parts one and two and four

[tws: non-consensual sex, torture, abuse, waterboarding, suicide]

- andrew's first consensual kiss happened when he was in juvie

- neil prefers fruits over vegetables !

- andrew likes eating things that can be eaten in small bites

- andrew went by 'aj' while living with cass

- the original andrew had a brain disorder that meant he could only remember things short-term

- renee first found out about andrew's attraction to neil, but kevin figured out neil's attraction and andreil's mutual interest

- nora believes that if andrew had named the cats, they would answer to "cat 1/ cat 2" and " stupid"

- nicky chose the name 'sir fat cat mccatterson' for one of neil and andrew's cats

- nora said that andrew forgot how to scream when he was a child

- in a previous draft, when nicky found out that neil and andrew hadn't slept together yet, he made them a how-to guide

- if andrew ever were to smile genuinely, it would only ever be in front of neil

- if ichiro ever killed andrew, neil josten would cease to exist and nathaniel wesninski would return

- if neil ended up dying under nathan's hand, especially if he hadn't gotten andrew to retract his protection promise, andrew would never let anyone in ever again

- he would be joyless, from neil's death to andrew's own and would spend his life watching out for kevin, but only because of the promises he made

- in the hypothetical that neil would die, jean would also return to the ravens after his injuries healed

- dan, riko, and neil are the only people who have stayed throughout all of the aftg drafts with the same names that they started with

- nora has a personal headcanon that andrew and neil learn russian to have their own private language that the cousins don't kno

- the foxes' harry potter houses according to nora would be

- dan, matt, allison, neil - gryffindor

- nicky, renee - hufflepuff

- aaron - ravenclaw

- andrew, kevin, seth - slytherin

- it took matt, renee, and wymack to pull andrew off of kevin after they learned neil had been taken to baltimore

- kevin likes history and classical music

- basically he's an old man /j

- kevin later learns how to play the piano

- kev's favorite color is red and his favorite season is fall

- "When Nicky picked up pints for everyone, he got Andrew whichever one looked like it had the highest sugar content, cookie dough for himself, mint chocolate chip for Aaron, vanilla bean for Kevin, and espresso for Neil. I can see Neil liking vanilla too because Neil likes boring plain things." - nora about the cousin's favorite ice cream

- dan and kevin were originally going to be bffs !!

- andrew would refuse to kiss beneath mistletoe

- the raven are even more gross than i previously thought and it turns out they often sleep with each other

- like. do the dirty

- it's gross

- foxes favorite music genres:

- nicky likes EDM(electric dance music), renee enjoys epic orchestral pieces, matt likes loud rock, seth likes NIN & Disturbed(whatever that is), allison and dan enjoy pop, though dan also likes nickelback, kevin likes classical, and andrew likes music that's too loud to think

- nora doesn't know what aaron and neil's would be

- "If I tried to list everything Riko did to Jean over the years, I’d never get to sleep tonight, so we’ll have to settle for some random examples. Here are a few numbers for you:

- Six: the number of fingers Jean’s had broken over the years. Three: the number he was ordered to break himself for Riko’s amusement. Zero: the number of days he was allowed to miss practice for these injuries.

- Four: the number of times Riko pushed Jean down a flight of stairs in Evermore. Two: the number of times Jean didn’t ball up fast enough and bashed his head open on the concrete.

- Two hundred and sixty-six: the total number of stitches Jean needed while under Riko’s supervision, not including the ones he received after Kengo’s death.

- Ten: the number of times Riko tried waterboarding Jean. Once to see if it was as effective and traumatizing as the news made it out to be. Nine more times because it really, really was.

- Sixteen: the age Jean was when Riko first ordered another Raven to fuck him. ((Riko will not engage in anything homosexual himself, but he is not above inflicting sexual trauma on others via others. See: Drake. See: Proust.))

- Five: the number of times Riko passed Jean around. “Only” five, because four: the number of times Jean whispered Please don’t do this to me; four: the number of times Riko hit him for insubordination and ignored that haunted look in Jean’s eyes. The fifth time Jean didn’t break his own heart by fighting back. The fifth time he let the other Raven into his bed without a word or token protest, and that was boring as fuck, so Riko didn’t orchestrate a sixth demonstration.

- One: the number of drafts in which Jean does not commit suicide.

- If Renee hadn’t stolen Jean from the Ravens & Neil hadn’t bought his safety: one hundred: the chance Jean would commit suicide graduation night." - nora about the abuse jean went through under riko's hand

[princeescaluswords]

People ship Petopher because they are both extremely good looking redeemed villains-- and therefore exactly the kind of character that's widely liked in a fandom. Deaton, on the other hand, isn't particularly good looking, and he's the 'mysterious mentor' archetype, not unlike Dumbledore. And it's not exactly homophobic of people to not ship Dumbledore with many people, is it? Race has nothing to do with it.

As for your observation that Seth Gilliam isn't particularly good looking, I'll let others do my talking for me first.

https://mediadiversified.org/2018/07/06/black-men-are-made-to-feel-ugly-and-we-need-to-talk-about-it/

https://greatist.com/grow/black-people-cannot-be-ugly

https://www.jstor.org/stable/40282626?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents

And I have to ask you -- do you really think that your belief that Seth Gilliam is less attractive than Ian Bohen or J. R. Bourne has nothing to do with him being black? That the discrepancy between the amount of shipping of white male characters and black male characters receive is completely due to an objective evaluation of physical attractiveness? Are you really going to go there and say that the reason that people ship Deaton less is that he's just not that attractive?

Now let's address "Deaton is a mysterious mentor like Dumbledore, and no one ships that old wizard!" We could talk about how Deaton has very little in common with Dumbledore in terms of power level, authority, reputation, or motivation. We could talk about how it's a little interesting that you compare a middle-aged Deaton (who was played by a 42-year-old actor when Teen Wolf started and thus is only a year older than J. R. Bourne and seven years older than Ian Bohen) with someone who was 108 when the action in Harry Potter started (and played by a 70 year-old actor and a 60-year old actor in heavy makeup).

On the other hand, those conversations would seem to me to be of little use, because I think it would be more productive to ask you some questions about the 'mysterious mentor' archetype.

First, how is Deaton more mysterious than Peter? Do you not recall how many things we simply still do not know about Peter's character? Let me give you a list.

How did Peter survive the fire?

How did Peter know how to resurrect himself?

How did Peter know that Lydia was a banshee?

How did Peter know about the ritual used to save Cora?

How did Peter know how to perform the memory claw ritual to summon Talia?

What was Peter afraid of Talia telling Derek about him?

How did Peter know about nogitsunes when Derek didn't?

How did Peter recognize the Berserkers?

Where did Peter get 117 million dollars?

How did Peter know about all those assassins?

Peter was far more mysterious than Deaton ever was. Furthermore, can you actually look me in the face and tell me that Peter didn't fulfill the mentor role for Derek in Seasons 2 and 3a? Hell, that's all he did in those seasons. And then he went on to train Lydia in Season 3B and advise both Scott and Malia in Season 4?

To be fair, the same also applies to Chris Argent. Didn't he start training Allison as a hunter in Season 2? Didn't he have an entire episode where he lectured werewolves in 3A? Didn't he continue to teach Allison and offer guidance to Scott and Isaac in 3B? Are you forgetting the mentorship he provided Scott in Season 4? You better believe he was mysterious as well. Wasn't he suspected of being the Darach in Season 3A? Didn't Allison complain "I don't know what my father is thinking!" in 3B? Wasn't his allegiances in Season 4 kept vague -- especially after Araya cornered him in his workshop or he stole that unique form of wolfsbane? Weren't we, the audience, left wondering whose side he was on repeatedly?

Well, a possible counter might be that Peter and Chris were more active, and that would be true, if you discounted Deaton traveling to Japan and poisoning a yakuza boss in 3B or fighting oni or an alpha werewolf or exploring a psychic mind scape in season 4, or traveling to Russia and getting abducted by the Desert Wolf in Season 5, or crawling into a fear pit in Season 6.

So I have to ask what makes Deaton the 'mysterious mentor' archetype while Peter and Chris Argent are not? Of course, other than your desire to see Deaton desexualized.

But maybe you're right. Maybe wise, mysterious mentor figures aren't shipped as much by fandoms. We can easily prove that point by heading to AO3 and seeing examples of figures who are closer to Deaton's role who aren't shipped. Let's look at the Star Wars fandom, no one would be shipping Qui-Gon Jinn ... uh-oh. Wait, that's too different from Teen Wolf. I know, we'll look at Rupert Giles in the BtVS fandom, and no one would ship ... uh-oh.

Apparently, people do tend to ship mysterious mentor figures. As long as they are white and not centenarians.

This is why I keep pointing out incidents such as this. In your example, you see three characters who fulfill similar though not identical functions -- adult males of similar ages who serve as mentors yet possess their own agendas -- in the same narrative and you choose to identify the two white characters with a trope which you consider sexy and shippable and you choose to identify the black character with a trope which you consider unsuitable for shipping and thus, unworthy of fandom's regard.

BUT IT'S NOT RACISM.

[thejostenator]

Golden Boy Orange: Chapter Four

....so it's been slightly longer than anticipated. whoops. BUT I'M BACK WITH THE NEXT CHAPTER, so there's that!

For those of you who don’t know, this is my project to tell AFTG from Matt’s perspective, and this chapter ALSO features a fully original scene! If you haven’t read the first three chapters (or if you need a refresh since it's been aeons since my last update) you can read them on Tumblr, or on Ao3.

Tagging those I know are interested (@youhaveahomeinmyheart, @pipebomb-malewife, @accal1a, @sickbunsbro, @tntwme, @shayebutterrrr & @stay-because-now-you-have-a-home) but if you want to be added to the tag list, just let me know!

TW: Seth-typical dialogue, homophobic slurs, etc.

Silence fell in an instant, swallowing the entire room. Matt’s stomach bottomed out. He let out a shaky breath, and Dan gripped his hand.

The Ravens. They would be playing up against the Ravens. The ERC would be pitting the worst team in the district against the best, already knowing exactly how it would go. It was complete and utter humiliation, simple as that. And Neil had known.

“No way,” Dan said sharply. “That isn’t funny, Coach.”

Seth clearly thought otherwise, beginning to laugh in the hysterical sort of way that always fucked with Matt’s sense of everything. He clasped his hands on his ears and rocketed to a stand.

That action must have broken the floodgates, because suddenly everyone had something to say. Allison let out a shrill noise of disbelief, and even Renee let out a small gasp, keeping her level gaze firmly on Andrew—cold, drug-made smile gone as if struck from his face as he stared furiously at Kevin—let out a small gasp.

“Why the hell would they do that?” Matt asked through all the chaos.

“And why the hell would the ERC approve it?”

“Hey, hey, hey? Coach?” Nicky gaped. “Tell me you’re joking. Coach, tell me you’re joking.”

Aaron’s eyes locked in on him. “They can’t do that, you can’t let them do that. Surely you can do something to stop them.”

Coach furrowed his brow. “Look,” he said, “they’ve made up their mind. They’re trying to follow through on the increased interest Kevin’s brought to NCAA Exy as a whole by pitting him against Riko, and nothing we say will convince them to change.”

“We can’t play against Riko,” Matt said, fully aware that he was the only one who would be directly playing against him. “They’re setting us up for failure.”

“Only if you give up,” Coach growled. “And you wouldn’t be here if you’d given up.”

“He’s right,” Dan said. “If we want to prove the Moriyamas wrong, they’ve just given us the chance.”

Matt swallowed air. No one said it, but everyone here knew what they were. The Yakuza.

Wymack pinched the bridge of his nose and opened his mouth to say something, but he faltered at the sight of Andrew’s face. His smile had returned, and it was all teeth, manic in every way.

“Hey Kevin,” he said. “Hear that? Someone really misses you.”

“The ERC shouldn’t have approved it,” Kevin whispered, echoing everything Matt had already said.

Andrew’s grin only grew wider, which Matt hadn’t even thought was possible. “You said he would come for you.”

“I didn’t know it would be like this.”

“Liar,” Andrew said, and Kevin flinched. “You did know about this. How long? One day, two days, three, four, five?”

“Coach told me when it was approved in May.”

Matt winced.

“May. May, Day. Mayday. A little curious, Kevin Day. When were you going to tell me?”

“I told him not to,” Coach said through gritted teeth.

“You picked Coach over me?” Andrew asked, laughing in a way that sent shivers running up Matt’s spine. “Ohhhh my. Favoritism, deception, betrayal, how familiar. After all I’ve done for you.”

“Andrew, knock it off,” Abby warned him.

“Help me,” Kevin said, almost a whisper.

Andrew’s face twisted. “Help you? Help a man who lies to my face for a month? How?”

“I want to stay,” Kevin said. “I’ll ask you again: don’t let him take me away.”

“You’re the one who would tell him yes,” Andrew said. “Maybe you forgot.”

“Please.”

“You know how much I hate that word.”

Matt looked away.

——

“The ERC will make their official announcement later this month. They agreed to wait until you were all here where it’s easier for us to protect you,” Coach said.

Abby stood behind him, watching Andrew rubbing his finger and thumb over the jagged scar that skittered over Kevin’s hand, courtesy of Riko.

“That doesn’t mean you can be careless. Chuck—that’s our university president, Charles Whittier, Neil—has reissued orders that reporters stay off our campus with a police escort this summer. You’ll see twice as many campus police around, and I need all of you to save their number to your phones just in case. Understand?”

Matt echoed the others with his reply. “Yes Coach.”

Neil stood. “Anything else, Coach, or are we finished?”

“This is a big deal,” Dan said. “It changes everything. You don’t understand.”

Wymack shook his head, and Matt leaned forwards, waiting for confirmation of what he already suspected. “Neil found out when Kevin did. I already had the talk with him, so he understands just fine. And no, there’s nothing else. Abby, they’re all yours. Do with them what you will.”

Neil started for the door without so much as a backward glance.

“Physical?” Dan called after him, but it fell on deaf ears.

Abby shook her head, suddenly ill-looking. “He’s done his physical,” she said conspiratorially, or maybe regretfully—Matt couldn’t quite tell. “Believe me, he’s done it.”

Andrew snapped his fingers. “Renee.”

Renee rose. “I’m going to go talk to him, explain he won’t be getting a ride back with Andrew.”

Andrew nodded. “Good idea, Renee. How considerate. I wish I’d thought of it myself.”

“Very funny, Andrew,” She replied simply, then followed Neil from the room.

A beat of silence hung over them all. Wymack watched them. “So,” Dan asked, clapping her hands together, “what did you all think of Neil?”

——

Neil stood silently by the door as Matt and Seth trooped back into their dorm.

Seth was mid-rant—the worst time to interact with him—and needed to leave his hands free for all his obscene gestures, so as soon as he got in the door he chucked his suitcases to the floor, where they landed with a clatter.

Neil flinched away, and Matt sent him a pitying look as he pushed the door shut, holding out Seth’s third bag for him. Seth stared him dead in the eyes, lunged forwards and jerked it from his hands.

“Fucking useless!” He spat, throwing it across the room. “Andrew’s lot are all fucking freaks, and they’re the ones bringing the shit to us—it’s Kevin’s fault you know, you heard King Mania over there.”

Neil snorted, and Seth rounded on him. “Did I ask for this?” He spat. “No the fuck I didn’t. But here it is anyway, unwelcome and unwanted.”

“Buddy,” Matt said slowly, placatingly, “There’s nothing we can do about it. We’ve just got to keep on going.”

“Do we? Do we? Are you going to talk bullshit in my face about how we’re all in this together?” Seth snapped. “Well, we’re not! Abby’s a bitch—”

“Seth,” Matt warned.

“Allison’s a whore—”

“Seth.”

“The Monsters are faggots and freaks—”

“Seth!”

“And to make it all worse, I get stuck with a fucking amateur as a sub!”

“Kevin approved him,” Matt said, moving to stand between the two of them.

“Like that makes me feel any better,” Seth snapped, glaring around Matt at Neil.

Neil stepped forward, around Matt, to stand in front of him. Apathetic.

“We were a bad joke; now we’re a practical one. When the others find out about this, we’re going to win our games only because they’ll be too busy laughing to take us seriously. We were supposed to make it this year. I trusted him to pick our sub because he said he could get us past the championship deathmatch. But this—” gesture to Neil “—is repulsive.”

“At least give Neil a chance.”

“Day’s fucking with us,” Seth said. “It isn’t right.”

“This attitude isn’t right,” Matt jabbed a finger at him. “Kevin would never recruit someone just to make us look bad——we do that well enough on our own. If you want us to win this year, act like it. We need a cohesive offensive line. Since you and Kevin are a lost cause, you’re going to have to make it work with Neil.”

Seth let out a short, sharp laugh that was more like a bark. “He’s short, he can’t play, and he looks like he has an attitude problem.”

“Coach says he’s got potential.” Matt turned to Neil. “Andrew says you’re fast.”

Neil frowned. “When did he say that?”

“When do you think, wiseass?” Seth asked. “We talked all kinds of shit about you after you booked it.”

“Dan asked what they thought of you,” Matt clarified. “Nicky thinks you need more time with us. Aaron says you have to be more aggressive. Kevin didn’t say anything, which would normally be weird since Kevin’s not known for mincing words, but I guess he’s distracted.”

Seth snorted.

“But Andrew bets you can outrun everyone on this team. Coach said you clocked a four-minute mile back in Arizona. That true?” Matt couldn’t help but look him up and down. “You’re a little short to run so fast.”

“I like running,” Neil provided.

“Fuck running,” Seth said. “Learn to score. Word is you still can’t score on Andrew.”

“No,” Neil admitted. “Not yet.”

“When you do, you can talk to me,” Seth said, grabbing his suitcases and storming away, into the bedroom. “Until then, stay out of my way and try not to drag down my line too much.”

Matt let out a sigh. “Welcome to the Foxhole Court,” he said drily.

[andrew-minyards-bitch]

the foxes as things people have done in my school: a thread 🧵

Neil: traveled three states in the span of a week

Renee: dyed her hair twice!! in the span of three days

Nicky: thinks he’s the happy bright soul but was later told he was the moody I want to k1ll my$31f one

Kevin and Seth: got in a fight in the boys bathroom

Allison: brought three juls to school and got suspended before stepping a foot inside the building

Andrew: slept for two class periods (we only had three days to complete the test) when he should’ve been doing the standardized test and got a pass plus on both language arts and math

Aaron (let’s pretend this was him in 7th grade): took the senior SAT test and got 1570 (1600 is the perfect score btw)

Also Aaron: had a mental breakdown over a pltw grade in the middle of math class when he got a C but confronted the teacher and later found out he forgot to check the box that said he was done with the assignment which was why the teacher didn’t grade it

Seth: cried (like full on “i am losing my shit kind of thing,, pretty sure it was tears of frustration) over the most basic pre algebra formula and the teacher had to sit down and explain for the full class period about negatives and positives in front of a number and how to solve it with an x=…he still didn’t get it

Renee: spat at a whyte boy for harassing her friend in the hallway and proceeded to slam him in the locker

Neil: manipulated the teacher so that Renee wouldn’t get in trouble (spoiler alert Renee was free of all charges)

Kevin: got caught almost hitting Andrew midair with his hand centimeters away from Andrew’s face (it was in like a joking playful matter “ur annoying me so I’m going to pretend to hit u” sort of thing)

Matt: sings off key in gym class and knows it but will not shut his mouth

Kevin: went on a full rant in social studies class about how historians fucked up Achilles’ story and reducing it to a great hero story when the whole point of it was to show that Achilles was still human at the end of the day despite his godly powers

Andrew: proceeded to bully someone for knowing “romeo and juliet” by shakespeare when they grew up in America and called them a “disgrace to the nonexistent live laugh lovers culture”

Andrew: never fucking shuts up about how “Merchant of Venice” is one of the best shakespearean play

Neil: stormed off the classroom and banged the door which caused enough commotion for teachers in surrounding area to check up on the team

Neil: ran a mile in four minutes

Aaron: wrote a hate speech about whyte male gays forgetting for a moment that he too is a gay male who so happens to be whyte (triple homicide)

Andrew: listed all the statistics on why men are the problem in the middle of the hallway DURING passing period because he overheard a random student saying women have it easier

Renee: absolutely dominated all the athletic guys in gym class on arm wrestling,, did not let them live it down

Kevin: knows every country names (and where they are located) and recites them under one minute

Neil: talks about Andrew 24/7 on the bus and got a slushy that was bought from the Speedway store near the school thrown at him

Aaron: memorized the periodic table and everything about Chemistry