#the vodka would be for if neil doesn't show up

[grooviestguru]

okay so near the end of tkm, after the foxes win against the bearcats, and aaron and katelyn kiss publicly, and they’re having a party with the vixens in the basement (stay with me, right), and andrew doesn’t stay longer than taking a bottle and going upstairs, RIGHT. now, after that, neil sticks around to watch his team a little, observe aaron with katelyn, matt and dan, he chats with dan and nicky, and is generally very Soft about his family, RIGHT. 

he literally doesn’t even think about andrew being by himself (yet, no doubt he was getting there), and certainly doesn’t see it the same way nicky and dan do when they tell him to take advantage of an empty dorm, and ultimately decides it’s more fun to go bug andrew.

HOWEVER while all this is happening, andrew is sitting upstairs, by himself. i can only imagine him absolutely VIBRATING with anxiety about will neil come, will neil not come, does he WANT neil to come up, will aaron say anything about switching rooms yet (if andrew even knows, which I suspect he does). here’s this boy in absolute love and i’d bet anything he was NERVOUS about whether neil was going to follow him up from the room, and the longer it takes, the more twitchy andrew gets. he acts all nonchalant when neil does get there, but you know andrew is so relieved. poor boy is so gone for the mafia kid.

[andrewminyardapologist]

A Kevin Day hc I assume I'm not the first to have:

We see Kevin drinking during the course of the series. Often, he uses it to relieve extreme anxiety, like when Wymack handed him a bottle of liquor at the banquet and told him "you have ten seconds, go."

(While that's really funny, it also shows how MUCH Kevin drinks because I think he got half a bottle down in that time. In a liter of vodka there is somewhere around 25-30 standard drinks I believe? So that would put anyone without a drinking problem on their ASS. I was a heavy drinker for several years of my life, to the point where I could be blackout drunk and act sober. I am a lot smaller than Kevin, but that would probably put me into a coma if I didn't space it out over a couple of hours. Not mention Kevin was not appearing to be drunk during the banquet. So this leads me to believe he drinks a LOT. More than we see.)

The other time we see Kevin drink is at Eden's, and around the other Foxes for card games or bonding nights. Things that make it easy to not spiral into a dark place because of the alcohol.

He's also very drunk when he gets the chess piece tattoo, and is alone that time, drowning in memories. That was SUCH a huge deal for him. And, he was ALONE.

This is why I think that Kevin probably spends a lot of nights getting wasted by himself. While outwardly he is often very analytical in terms of things like exy and relating to other people, for example his apathy regarding Seth's death or Neil's injuries. Internally, however, he is an extremely emotionally intense person.

This comes out only when he is around really significant trauma triggers, essentially only when Riko is mentioned or when he has to see him in person.

A lot of people joke that Kevin is a coward, but I don't think he is. I think the amount of abuse that happens at the Nest is so intense that the fact Kevin can be in the same room as Riko at all proves how strong he is.

I think what drives him more than fear is grief, that's buried so deep down he can't see it until he's wasted. Riko was his abuser, but they were also inseparable. It's hard to reconcile that.

Kevin is grieving the loss of a brother, he is coming to terms with the fact that someone he cared for so deeply, who was such a large part of his life, could betray him in all of the ways he did. He is grieving the fact that he left Jean there, knowing how horribly Riko treats him.

It is to the point where he needs Andrew to ground him to the Foxes, to not run back there for all of the things he has lost.

I think there are a lot of moments readers didn't get to see where Kevin gets really drunk and can't help but sob. Quietly, into a pillow, somewhere where he's alone and no one can hear. I think when that happens, he either finds Andrew or Andrew finds him.

Andrew doesn't comfort Kevin. Doesn't try to. He just listens to the sounds and if Kevin wants to talk he lets him, even though it's basically unintelligible or sometimes it's in French. Andrew takes the bottle from him and puts it out of reach when Kevin is getting too drunk to not get alcohol poisoning.

Andrew makes sure Kevin gets to bed and leaves a puke bucket within reach. For his sake, not Kevin's. On the worst nights, he's stayed up to make sure Kevin doesn't die in his sleep.

They never speak of this. Andrew doesn't know if Kevin remembers, but he does in bits and pieces. And he seeks Andrew out enough times for Andrew to know his presence is wanted and not an intrusion.

I think when he finally gets sober, Andrew is there for him like that too. Just a presence. Instead of keeping Kevin from returning to Riko, he keeps him grounded when he wants nothing more than to drown himself in a bottle of something. Years down the line, on the rare nights Kevin contemplates breaking his sobriety, he video calls Andrew.

Andrew always answers, and rarely talks. Kevin might say one or two things, but mostly they just sit there together on the phone, Kevin knowing Andrew will come after him if he thinks Kevin is relapsing. Kevin will get a look on his face when the urges get bad, and Andrew will see it and simply say "no," and for some reason that's always enough to drag him back.

[jingerhead]

You ready for this, my meme peep??? Go:

20. "When was the last time you smiled?" - as a sad Andrew snippet.

25. "This is a once in a lifetime thing and you want me to blow it off?" - but as a remix of Andrew's iconic "doesn't mean I wouldn't blow you" scene, interpret that as you will.

😘🧡

YOU WANT MORE SAD???? Y'all why do you want more sad. I will make it no don't you dare take that prompt away from me I WILL MAKE IT -

So yeah, I hope you like these tiny drabbles. Warnings for prompt 25 'cause it's that scene so I mention sex :)

20 - When was the last time you smiled?

Andrew had been sitting on the desk in the dorm room, smoking out the window in the middle of the night, when Robin had asked it.

"When was the last time you smiled?" she said in a small voice, like she was afraid to know the answer.

Andrew glanced at her out of the corners of his eyes. She'd been unable to sleep, her anxiety keeping her awake, and had followed him out here so as to not be alone. Andrew often smoked in the early hours of the morning, always waking up Neil and telling him to go back to sleep. Robin rarely made small talk, so there had to be a reason to her question.

"Why?" he mumbled around the cigarette.

"I've never seen you smile," she said, lifting her legs so that she could hug them to her chest. "I just wanted to know."

Andrew looked away from her face and decided to humor her. He thought back to when the Foxes played the Ravens his second year and all the months before that with a manic grin on his face. He thought about the smirk he gave Tilda before he jerked the wheel, about the fake smiles he gave to other boys in juvie.

He thought about the smiles he'd given Cass. He thought about the smiles he made when he was just a few years old, hoping that this time he'd get to stay in a house and go to school instead of having to move again.

He figured there must've been a point in his life that he'd genuinely done so. If he tried he could remember every time in his life he'd ever done so, every reason why he'd made his lips turn upwards and show off his teeth. But he was sure he'd never genuinely smiled around Neil, either.

It felt tempting to try it. To take the cigarette from between his lips and try to move his muscles in a way he hadn't in so long. Would they be able to do it? Would it hurt? Would it only bring him back to a time he couldn't stop himself from grinning all the time?

"I don't remember," Andrew went with. He blew smoke out the window and glanced at Robin once more, but she didn't ask anymore questions.

25 - This is a once in a lifetime thing and you want me to blow it off?

"Why does Roland think you're tying me down?"

Andrew paused with his mouth open, his drink nearly to his mouth. Neil slowly sat down in an open seat and did his best to ignore Kevin, who was clutching a bottle of Vodka like it was his lifeline, in favor of waiting for Andrew's answer. It took him a few seconds to finally get one as Andrew lowered his glass to the table, fingertips dancing on the rim of the cup.

"Presumably he thinks you're as bad as following instructions as he is," Andrew finally said.

He seemed to leave it there. Neil didn't know how to ask what he was thinking. "What instructions do you give him?"

"Roland knows I don't like to be touched."

Neil frowned. "But he does it, anyway?"

"He needs more management," Andrew reiterated.

"So you tie him down." This whole conversation was weird. "You tie people down?"

Andrew snapped his fingers. "Listen when people are talking to you, Neil."

They were quiet for a moment. Andrew started lifting his glass again. "Do you use rope?" Neil blurted.

The glass was lowered back to the table with a loud clink.

"Forget it," Neil decided, turning in his seat so he wouldn't have to look at Andrew.

"This is a once in a lifetime thing and you want me to blow it off?"

"Making fun of me isn't a once in a lifetime thing for you," Neil said, lifting a fist to his mouth and digging his teeth into his knuckles. "You do it every day."

"Neil."

Neil looked back after a second, doing his best to glare at Andrew as menacingly as possible. It didn't seem to have any affect. "What."

Andrew rolled his eyes. "I'm offering you sex."

"Huh?"

All Neil got back was an intense look from Andrew. It gave him shivers, so he tried his best to think. He'd just been offered...well, sex, and he didn't know what to think. Which was strange, because any other time Neil had been offered sex in his life, he'd turned away without hesitation. But now that he thought more about it...

"You like me," Neil concluded.

"I hate you," Andrew said back immediately.

[its-exy-bitch]

ok but imagine this with me: exy trading cards! on the card they have 2 pictures of each fox (one candid mid-game, the other their team photo), basic team info, & short stats. the foxes all receive a complimentary card of themselves, but that doesn't stop some of them from going to buy packs to collect them all. Most of the foxes collect at least one of each team member. Nicky keeps extras of himself to send to erik & his family, matt has the most neil cards (5 total), neil & kevin collect (1/?)

(2/?) collect other exy players besides the foxes because it’s exy, kevin will not trade his jeremy or jean cards for anything. Also neil keeps extra andrew cards & puts them Everywhere - used as a bookmark, one in his wallet, one in his locker, tapes one to the bathroom mirror (for the days he needs to focus on something other than his own reflection), and andrew finds one in his glove box. Andrew just has one of himself, aaron, nicky, kevin, renee, & neil at 1st. Andrew quietly keeps every(3/?) neil card that he gets. Andrew puts one in his wallet too, but the rest he says are “for when people ask me what my problem is”. Aaron has one of every fox, but keeps his nicky & andrew ones tucked in his binder. Allison hoards ones of herself that she passes out like business cards when people try to tell her what to do - “do you know who you’re talking to? *hands card* now you do.” (she also sometimes writes “fuck you” on them). Dan proudly frames her team (so does wymack). Renee gives(4/?) (renee gives-) away any extra cards she has if you ask nicely. This is how katelyn gets one of aaron’s cards (who didn’t think/know if she would want one). During one team movie night the foxes end up trading cards and somehow they create a game using the cards. Alcohol was involved and the words: “i’ll give you a matt card for your renee one” - “no way, a renee card beats a matt card” - “…wait what are the card rankings?” This is how there is much heated, drunken debate about the rules(5/?) of this newly made up game. This leads to even more card collecting, but they rarely include actual exy stats in their ranking system - which drives kevin insane. Side note, any r*ko/raven card is instantly thrown out or passed to andrew, who puts his cigarettes out on them. (Kevin is the only one who has a r*ko card, kept tucked into the back of his desk drawer because some things are not east to get rid of.) There is a special edition Kayleigh card that kevin buys multiple packs to get,(6/?) Kevin keeps the first Kayleigh card he gets, but he gives the second one to Wymack. Wymack keeps an extra Kevin card in his wallet. One day, at his weekly therapy session Andrew shows Bee the cards his teammates have been trading (& playing their increasingly complicated card game with). At the end of his session andrew leaves his card placed carefully in front of Bee’s contact cards she keeps on her desk. The next session he sees it framed on her desk. (i think i’m out of ideas, the end!)

I’m supposed to be studying for finals but instead I’m smiling like an IDIOT in the library. This is the cutest goddamn thing I’ve ever read. If you haven’t noticed, I know approximately nothing about 99% of sports, but I feel like trading cards for children must be a thing. Because are parents going to want to buy something super expensive that their child will loose? Absolutely not. Hence cards with ‘facts’ such as - the players favorite foods, favorite movies, ect (the majority of them are made up by the companies because pro athletes choosing ‘vodka’ and ‘not a movie, but just a compilation of Neil roasting the fuck out of Riko for 3 hours straight’ isn’t exactly role model material for children) are sold. Mayhaps Allison has words with some higher-ups about the photo of her they selected, but more importantly she offers forth a photo of Nicky drunk off his ass as a replacement for his team photo. Both requests are denied. A small kid informs Matt at some point that he traded his Andrew card for Matts’ and Matt dies a little on the inside. Everything you wrote about the foxes keeping their cards (plus Bee and Wymack) is so sweet and accurate it hurts. Perhaps it is my perpetually sappy personality, but I would like to believe that the foxes (Dan) make their own cards of Bee, Abby, and Wymack to give to them. Dan is prepared to give them the cards she made on printer paper, but Andrew insists ‘if you’re gonna make the effort, at least do it correctly’. A trip to Michael’s craft store is made, and card stock is purchased. (Andrew and Renee’s occasional hangout for armband embellishments and such). Also this is the early 2000’s is it not? Pokemon is still very much a thing, ergo somehow during the drunken madness, Pokemon cards are incorporated into the exy trading cards. An Aaron card is traded for a jigglypuff because ‘its so much cuter than Aaron’. The madness rapidly increases. (Haaaahaha this Charzard is taller than andre-“

This is literally the best thing i’ve ever heard. You are a god among men for bringing me this blessed concept. I can guarantee you that I will be thinking of this for the next 100 years.