#nicky nice

[40h40blunts]

Keine Ahnung, was sie sagen über mich, ja

schieb es auf die Drogen, doch am Ende bin es ich, ja

habe keinen Weg gesehen, vorbei an einem Blister

Makatussin, pour up, ich sippe 'nen Kanister

- Nicky Nice

[ninyard]

fox tweets (pt 2.5) ((ft. jeremy))

[emry-stars-art]

Also it’s still St. Paddy’s where I am so the Irishman himself ☘️

[aflawedfashion]

We still know almost nothing about Agatha and Rio's backstory, which I think just means Marvel owes us an entire series set in the past that goes into their history.

[columboscreens]

[oaksapling]

Rory, my angel oc who does NOT know how to mind their own business. He means well though.

[thecoyotescry]

Happy Wednesday, gang! Currently thinking about my 2 pretty girlfriends. 🤭😍

(creds to owner, keep up the amazing work capturing beautiful things)

[lost-in-fandoms]

Got caught up in my feelings last night and kept thinking about this until I was able to write it down.

Max's fingers moved deftly on Nicky's hair, braiding the long strands while reading out loud. It was a new book, something about a witch and a fairy being best friends and going on adventures, both of them endearingly invested in it.

Daniel took his place to the side of the door, leaning against the wall, eyes trained on the pair, as they both looked up to smile at him before going back to their story.

Max didn't do voices when reading books, he never had. At first Daniel had complained, sure that their daughter would only pay attention if he kept the reading as silly as possible, but then Max had started the new bedtime routine of braids and books. There was something in the way his voice changed over the dialogue, in the weird cadence of his, in his gentle rasp, that kept Nicky completely entranced in a way Daniel had never been able to replicate.

That and the hair styling. For some reason, whenever Daniel was the one to deal with elastics and bows and hairbrushes, things always turned out either wonky or tear stained or both. He had felt bad about it, felt like he was failing her, until Max had pointed out that he always struggled with getting her to finish all her food, and that if it had been up to him they'd be eating soup and various charred vegetables every night, and Daniel had felt better.

Max always knew how to make Daniel feel better.

"Page," Max said, pausing his reading to allow Nicky to turn the page, tying the braid off with a yellow elastic and tugging her closer against his chest, moving the hairbrush out of the way. They were almost at the end of the chapter, and Daniel smiled, knowing what was coming.

As expected, even before Max was all the way through the last page, Nicky started squirming, twisting to glance up at him, big eyes already pleading, but Max steadily finished reading and reached for the bookmark she was holding anyway.

"No, papa, please! One more?"

It was always the same. Max would finish doing her hair, finish their chapter and then she would beg for more. Honestly, Daniel couldn't blame her, not when he too would have liked to be sitting against Max's chest, listening to his voice.

"We had two already, because the other one was short," Max replied, kind but firm. He closed the book, pushing it to the side, then turned Nicky around so they could sit face to face, her little crossed legs bracketed by his spread ones.

Nicky was still pouting, but she had learned soon enough that there was no bargaining with papa. Not that Max didn't treat her like a princess and spoil her rotten, but he had rules, and rules were followed. Most of the time.

"So, what do you say?" Max asked, offering the book back to Nicky for her to hold, because just like Daniel she struggled to keep her thoughts straight if her hands were free.

Max had told Daniel once that this part was important for Nicky's development. That getting to talk through her ideas, offering opinions, making hypothesis for what was to come was good for the brain.

Daniel didn't doubt it, but he suspected that Max just liked to talk to her. Both their eyes were bright as they discussed what they had just read, Nicky bouncing slightly on the bed, unable to sit still, Max's hands moving in the air. Daniel loved them both so much.

When they were done, Max put the book down on Nicky's bedside table, turning on her ladybug nightlight and the lamp next to it, just as Daniel turned off the big light, leaving the bedroom bathed in warm shadows.

"What are you going to dream about tonight?" Max asked, tucking Nicky in and placing a kiss on her head.

"I will be a mermaid and I will find a big treasure!"

She was already clutching Bissit, her stuffed bunny, his name an unfortunate attempt of a toddler to pronounce Biscuit, and one of his ears ended up in her mouth as soon as she was done talking.

Max gently pulled it out, kissing her cheek as a distraction.

"Will I get some?"

"You will get one coin!" Nicky replied, giggling at her own mischief. Daniel could feel his own smile grow wider at the mere sound of it and Max's fake-offended face could not hide his fondness either.

"Just one?! What about daddy?" he asked, pointing at Daniel as if he was the culprit for the bad treasure sharing.

"Daddy will get..." Nicky paused, brows furrowed as she tried to think of a big enough number, "seventy-five!"

Daniel whooped as Max gasped in fake outrage, poking Nicky's tummy through the covers in retaliation, her delighted laughter filling the room.

Max sighed in mock resignation as Nicky quietened again, hand cupping her head gently.

"Will I at least get a good night?" he asked, his voice softer now.

"Good night," Nicky readily said, poking one hand out of the covers to grab his free one and bring it up to her lips, smacking a big wet kiss on it.

"Good night, liefje." Max gave her one last kiss before getting up, leaving an empty spot on her side, and Daniel knew that was his cue. Reading time was Max's special time with Nicky, but Daniel always got the last good night.

He kissed Nicky's forehead, one cheek, then the other, then the tip of her nose, listening to her giggles.

"I love you so much, baby," he told her, because he could never stop himself from telling her a million times a day. He was dreading the day she was going to become a prickly teenager and fight him over it. He hoped she never did.

"I love you too, daddy" she said back, because she was four and she still said it back every time.

He stayed with her a little longer, petting her hair, one of the very rare times during the day they could both be still and quiet, but when her eyes had stopped drooping and stayed fully closed, he turned the lamp off and went to look for Max.

He found him in the living room, slowly folding the laundry Daniel had abandoned earlier.

"I would have gone back to it," Daniel said just to say it. They both knew he was never able to get through all the laundry without getting distracted.

"No, you would not," Max replied placidly, not even looking up at him, poking through the pile to find the sock matching the one he was holding.

"No, I wouldn't have," Daniel acquiesced, sitting down on the couch behind him, leaning forward to wrap his arms around Max's shoulders.

Max paused his search to tilt his head back, eyes squinting into a smile as he accepted Daniel's kiss.

"I love you," Daniel told him, because his inability to hold it back wasn't limited to their daughter.

"I love you too," Max replied, because he was thirty-four and still said it back every time.

[quitonly]

MIKEY AND NICKY (1976) dir. Elaine May

[krimsnkramsart]

[justablah56]

did y'all know that the close family is very special to me

[andrewsleftarmband]

Foxes Walk Out Songs

Ive seen this done a couple times and wanted to do it myself!! Slight modern au cuz I’m too lazy to find period accurate songs.

Dan Wilds

The Greatest by Sia

I think she’d choose this one to sort of hype herself up, and hype her team.

The pre chorus repeat of “I won’t give up” is just so Dan to me and I think she’d agree.

Matt Boyd

My guy Matt is definitely charging into the court to the raucous melody of

Turn Down For What by DJ Snake and Lil Jon

My guy is picking the hypest song he can think of and he’s gonna get that crowd GOING

Renee Walker

Sunday Best by Surfaces

Idk I think Renee would want something upbeat and happy

This song is so Renee coded like “feeling blessed, never stressed” is definitely a sticker she’d have on her water bottle

Allison Reynolds

Allison is 100% picking a hot girl bop and a half

And that song is On My Mama by Victoria Monet

I think she’d pick this song obviously for the hot girl vibes but also as another fuck you to her parents. “They say she get it from her mama, imma say you fucking right”

Nicky Hemmick

Now Nicky is picking an iconic gay anthem to strut out to in the most flamboyant way he can

And that song is I’m Coming Out by Diana Ross

I think he’d find the literal interpretation funny, but also he’s definitely the type to shout from the rooftops that he’s gay and this is a way to do that

Aaron 100% rolled his eyes when nicky picked this one

Aaron Minyard

Okay here’s how this went (I read a fic where something similar happened I’m just changing the circumstances lol)

I think Aaron would just avoid choosing something for lack of caring

And I think Nicky would decide to choose for him

But when Nicky suggests Man in the Mirror by Michael Jackson, he almost immediately shuts the idea down

But then he sees a little quirk of andrews eyebrow betraying a hint of amusement

And he chooses Man in the Mirror

One could laugh at it, but one could also get depressed by looking too closely at “I’m asking him to change his ways”

But I’m choosing to laugh

Neil Josten

This one was hard, I went through a couple options before landing on what I think would be funniest while being something he might actually pick

I don’t think Neil would know what to pick so I think Andrew would just show him a bunch of songs until he picked one

And I think he would eventually land on Centuries by Fall Out Boy

For one thing Andrew def listens to the emo trinity

For another I think the song has Neil’s fuck you im going to win energy that he brings to the court

One could look more closely at Neil “I’m finally a real person” Josten picking a song saying “you will remember me”

I love it

Andrew Minyard

This was actually the hardest

Because I don’t think Andrew would actually care enough to participate

But I can also see him using it as an opportunity to be a little shit

So I think he’d look wymack directly in the eye and choose Crazy Train by Ozzy Osbourne

Just to watch him sigh and put a hand to his forehead in exasperation

And I think the rest of the team would find it funny

Anyways, lmk what you think or if I’m like way off the mark here.

[jtl-fics]

Fluent Freshman - Part 45

PREV

Renee Walker stands next to two of her best friends in the entire world holding up a hand drawn sign. There's an, admittedly crudely drawn, Fox on the sign that Allison had made up.

Renee had seen it and smiled from across the airport as she made her way over to where Dan and Allison were standing waiting for everyone to come. The team had managed to coordinate their flights to land all within about two hours of one another and Allison had exactly zero desire to go back and forth from the airport so her driver was waiting out at a nearby cellphone lot to come and get them once everyone was there.

"Is it nice having a driver again?" Dan asks Allison.

"I sometimes miss driving around in my car but it's a lot easier to do my makeup with him driving." she says with a shrug as they continue to catch up. Renee is holding up the sign since Allison had complained that she had lost so much of the muscle she had previously had.

"Yeah, New York City seems like a major pain in the ass to drive in too." Dan agrees as her phone buzzes. She pulls out her phone and looks at it before a huge smile fills her face, one that means she's talking to Matt, "Oh! They just landed!" Dan says confirming Renee's suspicions.

Allison looks at her watch, "Wow, 20 minutes early. They must have gotten through boarding quickly." she comments.

"Or some good tailwind." Renee offers.

"When are Neil and Andrew due up?" Dan asks looking at Renee who smiles back at her friend.

"Andrew said they're going to take a break halfway here so they'll be here tomorrow morning." Renee says.

"Get it Neil." Allison nods and it had been a wonderful thing last year to watch Andrew and Allison make peace with one another. Their mutual desire to dress Neil up a bridge towards....maybe not friendship but camaraderie.

It warms Renee's heart to see her friends get along.

"The plane got tailwind, Neil's getting tail." Dan jokes.

"I'm looking forward to meeting the new kid that I've heard about." Renee says gently moving the topic on from their friends getting together. It didn't bother her at all, but she knew that Andrew would prefer no one talk about what he and Neil got up to.

"Oh! Yeah, uh..." Dan visibly buffers.

"Dan, you're the only one of us that's met the kid. His name's Smith." Allison says with eyebrows raised in judgement.

"Look, when Coach and I went to recruit the kid my brain was like 90% on the fact that I needed to go to my interview." Dan defends herself.

"So he wasn't that memorable for you?" Allison asks.

"Yeah, I'm surprised that he's getting along so well with the guys." Dan says. "Getting stabbed over Thanksgiving feels more like a Neil move than the quiet kid Coach and I met." she adds.

That had been an interesting phone call from Andrew. Renee hadn't even realized that she had become Natalie describing the best way to get rid of the body until Andrew had clarified that it'd been an accident and Smith was alive. Renee had been a little ashamed.

She was excited to meet the kid who Andrew had spoken to her about. Glad that their strange found family was growing just a little bit bigger.

They wait around continuing to talk about plans for the break together. Allison wants to go shopping and she wants to do it once Neil and Andrew are back. Dan wants to skate at the Rockefeller center. Renee would love it if they could do Christmas Eve Mass.

They're sure that Kevin is going to want to check out an Exy game. They're mostly sure that Matt will want to check out the LEGO store in downtown manhattan and that Aaron will be as excited for that as Matt is but pretending not to be. Nicky wants to catch a drag show and has made it clear that he will be going regardless of what anyone else wants to do. Andrew and Neil will probably just want to be alone when they have the chance though Neil had expressed some prior interest in the EXITES superstore and Andrew will more than likely enjoy the day Allison has planned to go shopping since she wants to update Neil's wardrobe.

The new kid, Smith, will be a mystery, but they're more than willing to be flexible.

Eventually they hear the tell-tale sign of most of the boy's arrival. "Babe!" comes from across the airport and Dan's head shoots up and spots the sight of Matt Boyd approaching his arms out wide almost clotheslining four different families on his way to Dan.

Dan is not much better as she rushes to him arms as wide.

They embrace like they always do whenever they have to spend time apart from one another and Renee knows that part of the reason that Dan took her job as assistant coach where she did is that the Washington State Congress Team had been looking at Matt the year prior to scout him.

She looks beyond the passionate reunion and sees Kevin, Aaron, and Nicky. She frowns brows furrowing...

Weren't they going to bring-

Nicky throws his arm out and it wraps around a kid she hadn't even realized was there. She blinks startled by his sudden appearance and blank expression as Nicky was pointing them out. He points to her and he can see her name on his lips she gives a wave and a smile.

Smith nods back in greeting.

He seems quite nice.

***

Renee is at the end of her proverbial rope.

This kid is a threat and she doesn't understand how she's the only person who can see it.

Being a threat isn't really an issue when you're a Fox. It's almost a given that there's some part of you that can be dangerous when backed into a corner but no one seems to be treating him like a threat.

She watches as Nicky and Matt throw their arms around him. As Kevin pushes smoothie after smoothie into his hands as he blankly sips. As Andrew and Neil sit with him quietly. As Dan pinches his cheeks. As Aaron ribs him for being bad at MarioKart.

She can't feel anything from him, no joy, no anger, nothing.

She can't even track him.

Renee has always prided herself on her ability to keep track of those around her. Spacial awareness was incredibly important when you're in a fight and it had always been one of her strongest points. She always knew where she was in relation to everyone else.

Except Smith.

The kid had given her no shortage of heart attacks as he appeared and disappeared seemingly at random.

She had finally gotten Andrew alone to ask, "Smith's quiet, non-intrusive." Andrew says with a shrug.

There's just something about him that makes the hair on the back of Renee's neck stand on edge and she hates feeling like she's the only one. She hates it even more that there's no real evidence that there's something amiss with this newest Fox.

So she settles in to watch.

They're out shopping and Allison is doing her best to get Neil a proper wardrobe with Andrew's considerable help, AKA nodding in approval when Neil comes out. She's not skimping on any of them but Neil is her main focus.

"Smith, what's a color you like?" Allison asks as she's looking at hoodies.

"I like purple." Smith answers and Renee barely manges to stop herself from flinching as his voice comes from right next to her.

"Pass." Andrew says as Neil comes out in a charmingly orange sweatshirt.

"I like it!" Neil argues.

"You have 10 sweatshirts that are that exact shade of orange." Andrew dismisses. "Try the blue one." he says pushing Neil back into the dressing room.

"Which one?" Neil asks.

Andrew sighs dramatically in a way that lets Renee know that he's doing exactly what he wants to be doing, "I'll show you." he says going into the dressing room with Neil.

"I still don't know how it took Baltimore for me to realize they were together." Nicky says as he's holding up two different purple sweatshirts to Smith's body. "You look good in a more purpley purple." Nicky says putting the more indigo colored sweatshirt back on the rack.

"Pants are coming up next, I'll get a lay of the land. I know everyone else's but Smith what's your height?" Allison asks.

"Five feet, nine inches." Smith answers as Nicky pushes him towards the dressing room. "Nicky it's a sweatshirt, I can put it on out here." Smith says.

"I know but I need an excuse to go back there and make sure Neil and Andrew aren't defiling a dressing room." Nicky says with a grin that implies he'd be more happy if they were.

"Gross." Aaron says as he takes a picture of himself to send to Katelyn to approve of the new outfit that Allison was pushing for him to get. "Wait," he pauses turning to where Allison was looking through various men's pants, "you know our heights? Like you've memorized them?" he asks.

"Yeah." Allison says looking at a pair of black slacks. "Everyone's measurements." she says nodding to herself.

"Even bust sizes?" he asks, voice not as quiet as he likely thinks it is.

"You're such a boy." Allison laughs not even looking up from the very different rack.

"How much longer are we going to be here?" Kevin asks with a sigh.

"Well, at least the time that it took you to ask that longer. We'll be done when we're done Kevin." Dan says long having given up on stopping Allison when the woman is on a spree.

"She knows that EXITES closes at 5 PM right?" Kevin asks.

"More importantly," Matt leans in, "that the LEGO store closes at 8 PM right?" Matt asks.

"How is that more important? The LEGO store is open later?" Kevin asks.

"Because we're not going to EXITES today, but we are going to the LEGO store." Matt says.

"If we don't spend the whole day here we can do both-"

"We're not going to EXITES today Kevin." Dan says with a sigh.

"But-"

"We're not going to EXITES today Kevin." Renee says with an apologetic smile.

"But-"

"Kevin, we're not going to EXITES today. Just sit down and let me find pants that'll make your pin-up days look tame in comparison." Allison says.

"That's not what those posters were!" Kevin argues with a blush on his face.

"Sure." Allison dismisses

***

Renee is quite happy with the sundresses she found even if they won't do her any good here in New York City during the Christmas break. Their next stop on their shopping day is over to the LEGO store where Matt makes no attempt to hide his enthusiasm as Aaron very valiantly does try to pretend like he's not utterly entranced by the sets and builds.

Renee thinks it's all very charming.

"We could have gone to EXITES." Kevin says with a frown as he looks at a build of an Exy racquet. "Can you take my picture with this?" he asks but he's not quite looking at Renee.

"Sure." Smith says from beside her, where he had apparently been.

"Thanks Smiths." Kevin says and stands next to the Exy racquet of LEGOs and crosses his arms and leans back.

"Kevin, stop posing like this will be for the cover of a Forbes Magazine." Andrew says with a sigh as he comes to stand on Renee's other side.

"Shut up, it's a picture for me!" Kevin says and continues to stand with his arms crossed.

"Oh, can you get a picture of me next Smith?" Neil asks coming up eyes shining in excitement as he looks at the racquet.

"Sure. As an apology for letting Nicky-"

"Don't talk about it." Neil and Andrew say at the same time.

Kevin gets his picture and then Andrew hands his phone to Smith for Neil's since Neil had broken the lens on his camera ages ago.

They wander around and Kevin finds a set to build the National Court that he grabs without a second thought. Neil and Andrew find a little LEGO man of Kevin that they buy as their 'preferred Kevin'. Kevin of course threatens to buy their LEGO figures once they have them and refer to them as his 'preferred Andrew and Neil'. A threat that neither of them comment on but Renee does buy the little Jean Moreau she finds. She'll paint it Trojan colors and send it over to him as a little gift.

As she continues to browse with her purchase in hand she hears Nicky, "Smithy, if you like it you should get it!" Nicky insists.

"Is it the price?" Allison asks.

"Yeah, I don't want to spend that much." Smith says with a nod expression still worryingly blank.

"When's your birthday? It can just be an early or a late present from me." Allison asks.

"March 1st, but really I'm fine not getting it." Smith shakes his head. "It's not that I'd like it just my little brother liked trains." he says and Renee watches Nicky's face turn from joyful teasing to intense determination.

"We're getting this set." Nicky says grabbing it and marching over to the counter even as Smith followed after him.

Interesting.

***

They finish off their day with some ice skating.

Matt, Aaron, Andrew, and Kevin all fall into the 'challenged' category.

They get on the ice and all four immediately fall. Renee stifles her laughter as Andrew and Aaron scowl. "Are you okay?" Smith asks and Renee almost loses her balance as he skates by her.

"Why the fuck are you good at skating?" Aaron asks scowling even as he takes Smith hand. Renee skates over and offers a hand to Kevin as Matt and Andrew are being helped up by their respective partners.

"Oh," Allison says skating by, "have you been up to Canada or something often?" she asks.

"I've been to Canada a few times. It's more that there was a rink I would go to every once in a while." Smith answers before turning back to Aaron, "I can help you keep balanced." he says offering his other hand.

"Smith, I don't want to hold your hand. That's kind of gay." Aaron huffs letting go of Smith's hand only to immediately beef it again when he tried to move forward.

***

Skating was fun even if Aaron kept blushing as Smith helped him skate since he never really got his 'ice legs'. The rest of them all more or less skated on their own by the end or, in the case of Andrew and Matt, seemed fine to keep skating while holding on.

Renee was warming herself by the fireplace in Allison's home enjoying some hot chocolate as Allison took a seat next to her. There was a lot of commotion in the kitchen as the team was working to make dinner together. Renee had excused herself after Smith had startled her while she had a knife in hand and she'd almost stabbed him on instinct.

She's just relieved that no one seemed to notice the near murder.

"You okay? You seemed tense in there." Allison asks.

Well, almost no one.

"Yes, I'm fine." she smiles and hopes that Allison will believe it.

Allison looks at her and Renee does have the benefit that Allison is slightly drunk since she was told firmly not to help with the cooking since she'd paid for the majority of the day.

"I'm glad I got you alone, there's something I want to hear your opinion on." Allison says deciding, apparently, to let it go for now.

Renee relaxes smiling at her friend, "What's that?" she asks wondering what purchase or thing unpurchased Allison was regretting.

Allison looks at Renee, expression utterly serious. "Don't you think there's something...weird about this kid?" she asks.

Renee straightens up glad that Allison had also felt like something was off with the kid that her friends had brought along. "What do you mean?" she asks wanting to hear what Allison thought.

"Look, he seems really nice. I mean a little too nice to be a Fox to be honest but I mean I guess you're a Fox as well so..." Allison rambles slightly taking another sip of her wine.

"Yes, go on." Renee nods.

"Yeah, he seems nice and Matt said he's got his own stuff even if he didn't wanna go into what that stuff was." Allison continues and it's a good thing Allison is drinking white wine considering the white carpet and her gesticulations. "But...it's just.. okay you can't make fun of me. Even though this is about to sound crazy." Allison says.

"I would never do something like that." Renee swears.

"Promise me." Allison says expression grave as she lifts up a pinky.

Renee smiles despite herself and hooks her pinky with Allison's, "I promise to not make fun of you." she swears other hand over her cross.

"I think he's Justin Bieber."

MASTERPOST FOR ALL PARTS OF FLUENT FRESHMAN AU

[crazy-fangirl2524]

The setting sun was illuminating Andrew’s golden strands like a halo, highlighting his profile. Simultaneously, the sunset painted the sky with pink and purple and Neil who just recently got into photography wanted nothing more to capture this. With a cigarette in his hand, Andrew was nothing short of a masterpiece and Neil had to remind himself to breathe.

He ran inside their apartment and frantically searched for his camera and ran back out to the balcony where Andrew had turned towards him.

Neil answered his unasked question, “I want to capture the view.”

Andrew stubbed his cigarettes and started to head back inside.

“No,” Neil’s hand snagged onto Andrew’s palmetto hoodie, Neil’s hoodie to be exact. “The view.” He emphasised and pulled Andrew back to his original spot. It really showed how far they had come when Andrew wordlessly went back to where he was standing.

Andrew stood facing Neil with his blank face. Neil took a couple of pictures before asking Andrew to stand the way he was standing before. Rolling his eyes, Andrew turned his back towards Neil again. Neil’s hoodie was already oversize but Neil swore he could see Andrew’s back muscles outlined against his hoodie.

“Are you satisfied?” Andrew turned his head towards Neil once again. Neil had the wildest thought that maybe it was Andrew’s jawline that cut all those scars into him. If only.

With his hair highlighted by the sun and the pink and purple background, one of the cats had hoped onto the balcony and Andrew petting King, Neil captured the perfect photo.

“Perfectly,” Neil grins, he walked towards his masterpiece and wrapped his arms around Andrew’s shoulders. They stood on their balcony, in their apartment with their cats and Andrew in Neil’s hoodie and arms, and watched as the sun finally sank behind the horizon. The pink and purple had disappeared and gold that could never rival Andrew’s hair painted the sky. Neil never really looked at the sky but now he could not stop.

Beautiful, Neil thought, admiring the sky for another second before dropping a kiss to Andrew’s hair.

[mystycalypso]

[non-un-topo]

Outfits of the Guard from an older fic of mine, Tangerine and Roc. Supposed to be a bit of a mix of styles from Central Asia in the late 15th century as they go about their travels, with a little battle-ready touch.