half agony, half hope

Ola | she/her | spanglish | bi & demiromantic | shawol

[dvrcos]

Aaron getting into medical school and leaving exy behind at Palmetto. He makes some friends, of course, and he doesn’t feel the need to mention to any of them that he’s family friends with multiple professional exy players, including the son of exy himself Kevin Day. He’s moved on from exy and while he’s proud of the Foxes he doesn’t want to be known for it while starting this new adventure.

But obviously he’s not gonna cut ties with the Foxes, so he continues to text them and call them and he’ll be included in some of their social media posts and occasionally he’ll post something with them in it. And his new classmates and friends start to catch on that he’s the Aaron Minyard, former starting backliner for the Palmetto State Foxes NCAA champions, brother of one of the best goalkeepers in the league and close friend of many other professional players.

And Aaron absolutely dreads it when they connect all the dots. Like he refuses to acknowledge that he knows them. People will ask him like “omg do you really know the Kevin Day?” or “is all that stuff about Neil Josten true?” or “are you actually Andrew Minyards twin?” and he’ll just deadpan stare at them and just go “who?” Even worse when someone tries to treat him like a celebrity or ask him about his time as a Fox and he just gives them the most disgusted stare until they eventually walk away.

Yet he’ll keep posting with them he even increases how much he posts with them because he proud of them because he thinks it’s hilarious to watch people get pissed off at him for pretending not to know who they are and then turning around and posting a picture of himself at their games or on their annual vacations.

And when Kevin signs with the team that’s located in the same city that Aaron’s in they start hanging out all the time. They’ll go out to a bar and his classmates are shocked that this kid from their anatomy class is taking shots with Kevin Day. Aaron will just ask them “who” when they confront him and immediately turn back to Kevin to continue their conversation.

Idk just something about Aaron being this random med school kid with 3 of the best professional Exy players trailing him is my favorite thing. Also him being proud of his foxes and showing it in his own asshole way

[konaiiro]

Neil & Andrew

A thank you for the writer of Deals With Devils, @toadlilyaus. Dialogue is based off a section in Chapter 41 (https://archiveofourown.org/works/47081227?view_full_work=true)

[fortheloveofexy]

The thing that gets me about Wymack is that he doesn't actually have to bribe Andrew into playing. Wymack already holds three very valuable bargaining chips: Andrew, Nicky and Aaron's free college education.

You see, Andrew doesn't give a shit about himself or if he gets kicked off the team and loses his scholarship. But what he does care about is keeping his promises and keeping his family together, and he can't do that if he and his family have to drop out. Plus, Nicky would be crushed, and Aaron would never forgive him for costing him his one shot at becoming a doctor.

So he needs Wymack, and he needs his family to stay on the team. Thus, it would be very easy for Wymack to use that as leverage to make Andrew play properly. Hell, Andrew probably even expected him to at one point.

And yet, Wymack never once cashes that in.

He doesn't, because doing so would be a betrayal of the fragile trust he's built with Andrew. It would be a power play, further proof for Andrew that older adults only want to take advantage and use him. Proof that Wymack cares more about winning than he does his players. Proof that Wymack isn't who he says he is.

Instead, Wymack plays Andrew's game. He lets Andrew extort him for alcohol and favors in exchange for saving their asses in the goalbox. He lets Andrew think he's getting one up on his coach. In the end, he lets Andrew find his own reasons to play on his own time.

[emry-stars-art]

@neilimfinejosten said coffee shop au last month so you’ll never guess what I’ve been thinking about

A few thoughts under the cut!

Andrew works at a coffee shop in a college town, so far with all the foxes except Aaron, and Neil’s been far away on the run. I’ve been putting Robin in this one and I bet Seth hangs around the shop for Allison. Aaron will pick up a shift or two but mostly he’s focusing on school.

Anyway one day in a cold winter a new guy comes into the shop looking to warm up, and Andrew just happens to be working the register (rare). It’s hard to tell with the mask, but this guy doesn’t seem to be much older than him or the team, and Andrew can catch glances of bandages and band-aids under his clothes.

He becomes a regular through winter, but none of the baristas can decide on his name because he gives a different one every time he comes in.

[typingwithmyhandstied]

So you'll lose me the best you'll ever have 🤝 I'm the best thing at this party / you're losing me

[dearreader-archive]

why did i only just now realize that the good witch starts with maisie saying she IS the iliad and ends with her saying that the men start wars yet troy hates helen?

like she literally opens the album by saying she is a long classic novel no one can read and figure out but ends it with the same story but highlights how no one can read it and that’s also the problem. because the men started the trojan war, and the iliad, but they still blame helen for it even though she was just kidnapped (in the most BASIC TERMS, i know the iliad is more complicated but just go with me)

like… it was right under my fucking nose????

her saying that the men start wars yet troy hates helen and how wendy will chose herself and lock her window but peter will throw his stones and call her a bitch and say it’s her fault.

like the iliad reference wasn’t just her saying that “i am a long complicated novel, of course you didn’t get me”. it’s her introducing the topic of the history of man from the beginning and saying that he didn’t get her from page one because that’s how the story of man goes.

but the difference is that in coming of age she’s taking back the narrative and trying to rewrite the story (when all i do is think about the past/make it a universe you can live in and i know i made you the BIG star/i let you butcher my big heart/but it’s my song and my stage and it’s my coming of age!) but ends it with openly admitting she can’t rewrite it. that no matter what she does the past is written and set in stone (not just the history of man but how their relationship happened and ended) and that she can’t change the past. just like how she’s been revisiting so many classic tales trying to find an answer to her heartbreak in them and realizing there’s nothing to do or change because this is simply how it goes…

baby, i am the iliad of course you couldn’t read me…the men start wars yet troy hates helen…i save you a seat and you say you want to stand

and so on

[amethystroselily]

Actually it’s so so so funny that when Andrew’s introduced it feels like he’s going to be the bad boy love interest that turns the main character’s life upside down and gets him involved in something dark and mysterious, but then (it literally just occurred to me) that’s NEIL actually, and Andrew is literally just some guy with serious childhood trauma.

[kairospy]

Do you ever think how Neil was trained to react to danger quickly? How it was ingrained into him since birth, to act on instinct, to act immediately, and still Aaron beat him to it?

How when it came to Andrew, Aaron didn’t even need that split second Neil took to assess the situation before he went for the kill? There was no hesitation, not when it came to him.

Aaron, who usually watches conflict from the sidelines. He’s not familiar with those instincts, his body doesn’t have that same muscle memory associated with violence.

And yet:

“Neil sees too much blood and too much skin. He knows what he is seeing, but can’t believe it yet. That doesnt stop him from leaping at Drake.

Aaron is faster.

Aaron barrels past Neil and brings Neil's racquet up and around in an underhanded swing so hard and fast air whistled through the tight strings.”

Faster than Neil.

[whoisflattery]

[luneillusoire]

this glass effect is so fun and it suits them

[stop-being-the-rabbit]

cannot get over andrew telling neil "you'll just learn to do what i say" in tfc and then proceeding to agree to anything neil and only neil asks him to do for the entire rest of the series

[faerieleavesandsticks]

they’re literally small

[elainiisms]

the circle of life

[elainiisms]

i only like couples where they are both just losers. like absolutely pathetically embarrassing. they are sooo lucky they found each other bc everyone else on the planet would rather be shot than be shackled to either of them

[koihoi]

When the moon fell in love with the sun.

[ravlykpavlyk]

Neil Josten is absolutely fucking incredible narrator.

He has his priorities straight and does not pay attention to anything else.

Do we know Katelyn's surname (well now we do)? Do we know ANYTHING about her appearance? Do we know anything about the appearance of HIS MOTHER? Yeah, she was short and ... and what? And NOTHING, THAT'S IT. She was short and paranoid. I'm sure we know about his father ONLY because they were similar and Neil had a couple of breakdowns because of it.

But let him start about Andrew's fucking broad and solid shoulders-

[spiltspit]

realized i never posted this one here either, so here ya go 🐇