#same with neil josten tbh

[strialternatives]

i read nine books with several similar yet conflicting ship dynamics in two weeks and i promise i am SO normal about all of them-

[exy-shmexy]

I love how genuinely authentic Neil gets when someone asks him if he's stupid and he just answers "yes??" like me too homeboy don't worry

[scarletfish]

tsc proving that neil has Percy Jackson Narrator Syndrome:

like, we spend an entire series in his head with front row seats to his private meltdowns, his anxieties, his "I know I can't win this fight, I'm nothing, but I'm willing to die for my friends"

and then we get ONE (1) side character perspective and it's all. "this kid is feral. he's insane. there's no WAY he even SPOKE to- he made a bargain with Ichirou?!? fuck. he's casually ordering mafia hits while sipping a thai tea. he's terrifying. good god."

[moonsnqil]

yall think andrew ever sits there and for just a moment wonders what his life could have been like if tilda wasn't his mother? if him and aaron were never separated? if he was never passed through foster home after foster home? if he was never abused? never sent to juvie? never put on meds? yall think he ever grieves the person he could have been? it'd be just a fleeting thought for him.

[jeanmoreaue]

Hello!

I’m the same anon that asked you to rank the AFTG characters’s attractiveness (based on the general public’s opinion) weeks ago

Now rank them as exy players based on the general public’s opinion😈 Like if you had to guess how much a pro team would be willing to pay to have them on their team judging by how good they are. Talk about them like how people talked about Mbappe Messi Griezmann.

omg hellooooo hope you’re doing well i love ranking things and i love you so here’s a top 10 list of the players we know enough of for me to rank lol:

1. Kevin Day - i think this one is pretty obvious. he was on the olympic team at like 18. even w the hand injury

2. Jean Moreau - okay personally i think that once Jean is healthy he could be as good as if not better than Kevin. it’s telling that the Ravens only lose once Jean leaves, not even when Kevin leaves. once he’s in therapy and healed from his injuries other teams won’t even know what hit them 😤 (but i could go on about how sports stars are a mix of talent + personality and Kevin is a little more appealing to teams than Jean since he’s so media trained)

3. Andrew Minyard - maybe idk enough about sports but the fact that he blocks as many goals as he does per game and can remember stats so well has got to be super appealing to pro teams. i mean maybe him putting in such low effort should make him lower on this list, but i still think he’d be in pretty high demand

4. Riko Moriyama - i’m genuinely not putting him here out of spite lmao Kevin lost his hand bc people were saying Riko was holding Kevin back + Neil was able to successfully shut out Riko in the Foxes v Ravens championship game by playing a position he only has a couple weeks experience in.. embarrassing for Riko truly

5. Jeremy Knox - tbh i think that talent-wise there are probably better players than Jeremy, like he’s really good but not like The Best. but i think they mention that the Trojans are in pretty high demand bc of their sportsmanship and i think Jeremy’s leadership/attitude do him a lot of favors (+ Kevin wouldn’t care about him unless he was really good lol). i’m undecided on whether Jeremy will go pro though (i think he’d make a good dude narrating games or coach etc)

6. Neil Josten - I think Neil has the capacity to be higher on this list and in time would be better than Riko and behind Andrew (i think Andrew’s better than Neil lmao <3). however i do think some of the Neil drama in the press might have him here. the PR of the pro team Neil joins is gonna have their work cut out for them

7. Zane Reacher - it’s unfortunate that he’s on this list, but Jean gave his stamp of approval that he should’ve been given a perfect court number so here he is

8. Laila Dermott - again Jean’s first words to her are “you’re very good”. Jean speaks and I listen fr 🙏

9. Grayson Johnson - 😔 unfortunately i think the implication was that he was next in line behind Zane. but he will soon be rotting in hell so he will never join a pro team!

10. Matt Boyd - keeps up with Kevin Day. won a championship. Matt is slay and a good candidate

[ninyard]

thanks for answering my previous ask‼️‼️ it’s okay if you can only write tips for your pov, i asked you YOUR process not someone else’s cus i like whatever it is you do to write, if that makes sense? i also don’t mean to shit on the way other people do things tho sjsjdnddjdj. you weren’t rude at all and i do see where you’re coming from‼️ i guess if i need to ask more specifically, how do you plot out ur socmed posts? i think that’s what i struggle with when it comes to writing my own? like i can find funny haha tweets or tumblr post for my/my friends charas to say but i wanna be able to write funny original stuff too? if that makes sense? 🫶🏽

I get that!!! This got long and it’s really messy so,, sorry if it doesn’t make sense~~

When it comes to making posts I personally don’t like to use already existing tweets. sometimes I can find inspiration in em but I’ve never intentionally looked up tweets to use for my socmed stuff. To each their own but it’s not for me! I don’t think they’re really socmed aus so much as like… incorrectaftgquotes type things? And I don’t really find much inspiration from it tbh. I might have one or two somewhere that are loosely based on a tweet I seen but I try my best to avoid that n make most of them as original as possible.

I guess know what kind of thing you’re going to make, in a way. My Exy fans au is essentially every big event in canon from an in-universe fans perspective. So that one’s easy to plot because it already exists and it’s just about coming up with the posts. Sometimes the fox tweets will just randomly branch off into their own things (like the Kevin-outing-Jeremy au) or sometimes they’re just their own standalone au series’ (like the andreil outing au).

I don’t really make long multiple-post “plotted” socmed stuff in the same way someone like Jas did with the Trojans au, but that’s just my personal preference. it takes a lot of work and it’s a lot like a fic in some ways!! It’s like writing a fic except it’s all dialogue and the dialogue has to be under 260 characters. And SOMETIMES there’s pictures. But they’re kind of just the same thing when it comes to plotted stuff. So maybe just do what you’d do if you were writing a fic!

In terms of coming up with funny things I guess it’s just like… don’t force it. If you’re finding something isn’t working, then don’t force it to work. I have all these ideas and scrapped tweets that just didn’t quite work for the post I had bc sometimes ya gotta accept something isn’t quite right. If you don’t want to just copy tweets and use those then try to find somewhere to start - for me that’s the hardest part of the ~random~ fox tweets and why it’s 1000000x easier to make a post that has purpose (like the party, or the q&a, or X au). I think finding pictures is a pretty good place to start, but I swear I’ve spent more time staring at a wall just trying to get into the zone of making tweets than time I’ve spent actually making them.

And I suppose it’s important to check like,,, are you (in the general sense) making them because you want to and have a funny idea, or is it because other people are/fomo/you see how many notes some of em get? Neither answer is wrong! But it’s easier to be funny, in my opinion, when I’m making them because i just randomly thought of a funny idea, versus making them because I feel obligated to or forcing things that aren’t funny because I “have” to post. Does that make sense? I always like to see when peoples’ socmed aus have some sort of story or reason, like the psu intern, or the foxes kids, or the Trojans au, or the au where Seth is still alive and tweeting like the menace that he would be. They’re always more interesting to me than posts that are just reposted tweets with Neil Josten slapped on em. But again that’s my personal preference!!!! Do whatever you want!!!!

Do you care if it’s ooc or not? Is it something that could happen in canon, or canon adjacent, or is it just an au where canon compliance doesn’t really matter at all? For me I try to make them as in-character as possible (with the exception of the fact that I don’t believe Neil, Andrew or Jean would tweet at all irl). I know it doesn’t bother some people if they’re ooc because they’re just for fun and that’s fine too. But them being “in-character” for me takes up a lot of space when it comes to coming up with the “plot” of the posts, if that makes sense!! (There’s always leeway when it comes to this tho - they’re never going to be 100% book accurate)

For me I almost have the characters as their own characters in my posts - which sounds crazy but bear with me. Like Kevin always typing with proper punctuation, and Dan always typing in lowercase. Neil doesn’t use text speak or shortened things like ‘bc’ or ‘lol’ whereas Nicky and Allison do. Nicky uses a lot of punctuation marks, Andrew uses proper grammar but doesn’t always use periods at the end of his posts, and he’s more likely to just post a picture than type out words sometimes. Does that make sense? Figure out how your characters are going to somehow have an individual voice through tweets. And it’s little things that probably don’t make a huge difference to most people but I care about those kind of little things way too much!!

TLDR; Why are you making them? Find where to start, don’t force it, and how in-character do you want them to be? Come up with your characters “voice” - how do they type/tweet? Just have fun!!! And don’t care about what other people are gonna think!!!!

[jeanmoreaux]

I think it’s so interesting and weird that we can remember the books we read so differently (how we interpret characters or our POV in general)

For example with SoC, Wylan was very much ‘tame’ to me and was this runaway rich kid just making stuff up on the go because his dad just decided he was disposable now

And for aftg—I see a lot of posts about how Kevin has a drinking problem but honestly I was reading through that series being like “of course, they’re college kids and under these specifically triggering circumstances I can totally understand why he wants to drink”

GAH 🤣🤣🤣 just a random observation!!!

oh, very much! what you get out of a book is so heavily influenced by what of yourself put into it as a reader. since all our experiences and thought patterns and approaches to a text are so different, we all read the same text but come away with different impressions of the same story. that's soooo fascinating to me and one of the main appeals of reading (or fiction in general). the way you engage with a piece of fiction is so personal.

wylan, for me, always felt like an alter to kaz. i think they have a similar makeup, but circumstances and environmental influences shaped them very differently. kaz is more cunning and violent and all that because he had to be, while all these qualities are much more toned down in wylan, but the potential for them is definitely there. i always explained the fanon 'soft boy' characterisation of wylan with this implicit comparison between him and kaz tbh. since he's a much tamer version of a similar set of characteristics that tameness is sometimes exaggerated in the fandom, i think. and ofc the narrative, at least in the beginning, tries to convince you that wylan isn't like the dregs, which probably adds to this 'soft boy' interpretation as well—even though that expectation is subverted later on. he does have little shit energy (in the vein of e.g. neil josten), but that's very often ignored from what i have seen.

as for kevin, i DESPISE when people make kevin's drinking into an integral part of his character. like, despite what some people might say, he's NOT an alcoholic. he doesn't meet the criteria for a substance abuse disorder. people should focus less on the drinking itself and more on what the drinking means in context. it's meant to show us how poorly kevin is doing mentally AND that he has maladaptive coping mechanisms to deal with the circumstances he's thrown into. like you said, it's not surprising he feels incline to numb some of what's going on around him with alcohol since his life is–and has been–pretty fucked up since early childhood. Drinking alcohol to deal with all the stress is not great, but he just doesn't know any better way to cope. he has never learned to deal with his issues in a healthy manner, but he is getting there with time and help (if the extra content is to be believed). anyway, like i said, it's not so much a drinking problem as it is a coping problem.

i feel like engaging with fandoms always makes you hyperaware of how different and copious interpretations of the same story are. it's as amazing as it is infuriating at times.

[unwillingtoreachout]

Adding to this so I can explain my reasons behind international latin, and tbh my reasons are very straightforward: ✨paso doble✨

Firstly, it's a style that's more preoccupied with emotional expression and structure, so there's less focus on technical details, which is why I think Neil would probably take to it (personally I'm also of the idea that he would be into jive and he'd probably be good at it, especially bc jive is very bouncy style, for lack of a better word, and Neil canonically has a lot of stamina and endurance).

Secondly, (I'm gonna use quite binary terms to explain this next part, I'm sorry) paso doble is meant to evoke the imagery of a bullfight, so the man takes on the role of the bullfighter and the woman is his cape (I would like to add that bullfighter in spanish is "matador" which kinda has butcher vibes if you know what I mean). Because the man is acting as the bullfighter, he's supposed to be the focus of the dance and also display confidence, strength and even arrogance. You might have noticed that Neil is not about that vibe, he actively tries to go unnoticed and not draw attention so being confident and arrogant are things that his perception of "Neil Josten" should not be but, at the same time, dancing could be his one way to break this pattern and face the past he's running away from (Nathan).

This is where Aaron (or Aria) becomes important, because her acting as the cape means that she's actively giving him the ability to fight instead of running away, she's acting as a tool that lures the threat towards him which in turn forces him to face that threat head on (forces him to stay and stand his ground if you will). This is a contrast to andreil's dynamic since Andrew gets Neil to stay by offering him protection.

Also, let's talk about height differences because even though height isn't really that important when it comes to ballroom it is still considered something that can help the visual element of it. Anyway this is all to say that, considering the footwear, Neil and Aaron would basically be the same height and I just think that's so cool because it's almost like they're on the same level (and I'm a firm believer that Neil and Aaron are very similar and this would be a nice, subtle way to emphasise that conceptually). Plus, this whole dance concept is very metaphorical to me, so I think it would be interesting to blur the lines between who is actually leading the dance, in the sense that they are both empowering each other but also struggling for power at the same time.

So this is a very vibe motivated au that I came up with (as in there are too many aspects of the canon plot that would have to be re-examined but that's not a job for me) and it was mostly a hypothetical for "what if the twinyards were fraternal twins of opposite genders and had a way worse relationship than they do in canon?"

And the answer is a ballroom + fem Aaron au apparently. So basically all I have is the following:

Aaron (Aria in this au) breaks the deal with Andrew in highschool which prompts them to go their separate ways in college

Neil (trans) stays at millport for longer (he still plays exy but he's also introduced to ballroom) and he's again recruited by wymack

Not sure whether to have Aria study in PSU with a dance scholarship or not, but anyway the point is that she befriends Neil and convinces him to dance with her

I guess it would make the most sense for them to dance American rhythm but in my head they also dance international latin

Kateaaron endgame (they're roomates)

I would imagine that thanksgiving is the first time Andrew and Aria have been within close proximity to each other in a while (which makes what happens probably a lot more complicated bc yes, Aria does kill drake)

One of the main conflicts I originally thought of was based on Neil's love for exy vs his love for ballroom, and I think it would be interesting if he's forced to keep playing exy bc of his deal with ichirou but he didn't actually want to

[milocelium]

You know, there is a lot of valid discussion and criticisms for aftg even to this day but I have been in this fandom for five years so I have elected to simply ignore it from here on out <3

[andrews-left-nipple]

renee neil

-🤝-

✨Fried hair gang✨

[thisisnotourlasthunt]

Aaron: You gotta stop spending money on stupid shit

Andrew: ...ok

~ Later that day ~

Aaron, face buried on both his hands: Andrew! We fucking talked about this!

Andrew on a segway with Neil on the back: YOU talked, I just pretended to listen.

Neil: Besides, we didn't BUY it, we STOLE it.

Aaron: THAT'S WORSE!

[downbeatofsix]

......................................... those of you who say......... aftg ......... is bad ..................... no. it is simply........................................ ................................................................................................................................. camp. you fools

[lavendesugar]

My girlfriend really likes to remind me that we actually have Neil and Andrew heights, so when I look down at her I know that this is the same as Neil looking down to Andrew hahaha.

[forget-me-yes-21]

Can we please just talk about Andreil and the parts they both played and the Foxes played in their healing processes? Please?

Because in the beginning, Neil runs and doesn't let himself be a real person because he doesn't feel safe enough. He doesn't feel secure enough to love or stable enough to make attachments at all. He won't let people help him because he isn't used to it. He isn't used to a soft hand or having someone to fall back on. He doesn't even think it's possible for him to have something like that because of all his baggage. (And even if he did, it wouldn't matter. Neil has accepted he will die) And then come the Foxes. And the Foxes see him as he is despite himself. They see his baggage laid out in front of them and they take him as he is. They love him as he is. They offer him support and stability where there used to only be fear and uncertainty. And Andrew. God, Andrew does all of that and more. Because where the Foxes may have winced but accepted, Andrew is unshakable as he accepts all that Neil is. And what's more? Andrew likes all that he is. Andrew wants all that he is. He places a key in Neil's hand, knowing what home means to a runner like Neil. Andrew tells him to stay and in doing so Andrew becomes a constant that means Neil is real. And for once it isn't terrifying. For once, it means Neil gets to live. (Neil no longer accepts death).

In the beginning, Andrew closes off the world and stops feeling. He stops feeling because if he felt one thing he'd have to feel everything. And all his past would come crumbling down in a landslide rather than in the steady controlled trickle he allows. But Neil Josten is a goddamn wrecking ball. Neil is a wild, reckless force and Andrew protects him where Andrew could never protect himself. But Neil is more than destructive. He's also observant and calculating. And he saw right through Andrew's carefully crafted safety mechanisms. And suddenly without warning, Andrew is feeling. He is feeling everything and it is like being in the same vulnerable state he used to be in every night as a child. But where there used to be cruel force, Neil just stands at the door. And Neil simply. Asks. And that's all Neil ever has to do. Ask. Ask where no one used to. Neil asks for the simplest things out loud. Can the rest of the Foxes come to Columbia? Will you play like you mean it tonight? Can you protect me? These are all stupid questions. Neil wordlessly asks Andrew to feel for him, with him. Andrew says yes. Because maybe if feeling means loving Neil, feeling is worth it.

There's more. They mend so many aspects of each other. I could do one for all of the Foxes too tbh. Because their healing processes are beautiful and detailed too. God that's why we love this series, isn't it? Their healing, is healing.

[awesome-llama01]

ok so Neil and Andrew at the met gala (guilded glamour)

- firstly they hate it but will go because Allison dressed them and Renee will be there.

-Allison is one of the hosts and as she is a designer she has a table for herself, so inviting Andrew and Neil seemed a good idea. Renee is there as her plus one and also because Allison will make sure the four of them are the hottest people there.

- Andrew has an understated passion for fashion (so is a little bit excited underneath the scowl to just be bitchy and judgy about the outfits he doesn’t like) (it’s one of the few things he has in common with Allison- beside loving neil)

-Neil just complains the entire time, because he hates the amount of cameras and interviewers who always ask about his scars

-Andrew approves of the outfit Allison chose for him. A black suit, matching black shirt with gold tips on his collar. On his blazer the lapels are a metallic gold in a 1920’s art deco style pattern. He has black stompy boots with gold buckles that add a few inches to him. There is a small bit of smudged eyeliner on the corners of his eyes and a gold shimmer placed on his inner corner. His hair is tousled but not too wavy or too spiky. His usual silver helix piercings are swapped for a gold rings and a matching gold industrial in his left ear. He looks good and he fucking knows it.

-Neil struggles not to stare at him, cus sue us Andrew is pretty.

- Neil is put into a duck egg blue satin suit, with silver art deco styling covering the entire blazer, a pale salmon pink satin pussy bow blouse and a chain of silver and pearls. He has shiny silver boots that add a few inches to his height and extenuate his lean legs. His usual piercings are maintained with simple small silver hoops in his seconds and pearl studs in his firsts, and a silver hoop in his nose. Neil’s hair is giving beach waves that curl around his ears and over his forehead. A subtle silver shimmer is placed over his eyelids and a pink tinted lip balm for his ever chapped lips. (it’s giving gender envy vibes tbh)

- it’s no Edens Twilight outfit, but still Andrew offers a quiet “looking good, josten” and it’s enough to keep a smile on Neil’s face all night.

- Allison and Renee are in matching gold and black dresses. Allison in a fitted gold bodice with gold detailing strapless dress with a sleek black skirt and gold louboutins, cartier jewellery and a gold to black smokey eye. Renee is in a black fitted bodice with shimmery black detailing strappy dress with a sleek gold skirt and black louboutins, cartier jewellery and plain black smokey eye. All courtesy of Allison and her brand of course.

- At this time they are midway through their careers and the Minyard-Josten Rivalry is at its peak and the reporters are going mental over the fact they’re here at the same event and thinking that something will happen, likely a fight or something. Of course they are completely unaware they woke up in the same bed that morning to soft kisses and room service breakfast in bed. And that later they shared a bath and piled bubbles on each other’s heads and drank champagne and laughed like they’d finally found the joy in life.

- At the event, as usual neither of them really smile, offering expressions that weren’t all that bored and scowls that were almost reduced to ‘having fun’. Neil offered a few small smiles but never enough show his teeth. Andrew goes first onto the red carpet and poses as he should, with his hands in his pockets and the semi permanent scowl and the bored eyes. Neil can’t help but stare after him, he’s beautiful. Neil is next to walk the carpet using the poses that Allison made sure to show him, a simple stand with chin up and shoulders strong, one leg slightly in front of the other.

- The interviewers ask all the same questions. ‘who are you wearing?’ ‘andrew minyard is here tonight, is anything gonna happen? how do you feel about about him being here’ ‘you look so hot with those scars’. Neil always gives small answers and nods uncomfortably when he can’t, biting his tongue hard. Allison made him promise not to start any fights with the reporters and if he wanted to remain in her good books he will do as he’s told.

- he meets Allison, Renee and Andrew at the top of the stairs where he’s greeted with a kiss on the cheek from Allison and a quiet ‘well done, baby, you look fabulous’ in his ear. A smile and a ever polite greeting from Renee. He grumbles back and moves to stand nearer Andrew, who looks up and down his body, with a suggestive glint in his eye, only one Neil has learnt to read after so many years together. Suddenly the noise of the carpet quiets as the reporters stare at them in baited breath, waiting for a fight. Andrew just rolls his eyes and tugs on Neil’s pinky finger to pull him inside the Met.

- Once seated, and Allison went off to find her way to the stage, Neil whispered in Andrews ear “When can we go? This is awful” to which Andrew replied “Can we at least stay for dessert, Allison made sure I get plenty of ice cream with mine. Besides I want to be prepared for when i rip that suit off of you later…” Neil let out a huff that Andrew took as a laugh, he didn’t need to turn around to know about the flush on his partners cheeks.

-All in all everyone had a good night, and Neil was rewarded for his patience lol.

sorry this was weird but i woke up this morning to all the pictures from the met gala and couldn’t get this out of my head lol?

[thesoupinursocks]

picture this:

neil josten making exy jokes but in the same sence you would make a shitty egg joke.

everyone hates it. it just makes neil want to do it more.

"this is not a very exy-lent situation were in right now."

"neil you just got stabbed can you not with the exy puns."

"respectively fuck off"

or neil using exy as a adjective for no reason other than it pisses everyone off, andrew especially.

"that is so exy tbh."

"what does that even mean???"

"nobody likes you kevin shut up"