in honor of the holidays here's some foxes and co going home for the holidays (set sometime in the future)
Somewhere in Wisconsin:
Matt Boyd just won his last game before their winter break officially started.
Dan and Matt make their rounds to say goodbye to everyone as the team dispersed to various cities.
They head out and grab a taxi, making a quick stop by their house to grab their luggage.
Theyâre headed home for the holidays.
Back to where their family was gathering.
Back to South Carolina.
They were unbelievably excited to see everyone.
They had a secret that they were finally telling the foxes when they got them all together.
Dan cradled her growing belly and smiled as she looked out of the window.
Somewhere in Colorado:
Renee compiled a list of care advice for her neighbor who is petsitting for her while sheâs in South Carolina.
Itâs a hefty list and Renee is once again grateful for her kind, elderly neighbor who had volunteered herself immediately after hearing Renee was going to be traveling.
She made her rounds saying goodbye to all her pets before grabbing her suitcase and keys and heading to the door.
She sent a text to Allison to let her know she was about to hit the road.
Text sent she said one last goodbye at the door before locking up behind her.
South Carolina, here we come.
Somewhere in New York:
Allison carefully packed her clothes into her bag.
Had she possibly packed too much for her two-week trip? Probably, but she hasnât seen anyone in a while, and she likes to look good.
Allison checked her phone for the time before grabbing her suitcases and putting them by the door.
She did one last walk-through to make sure she didnât forget anything before turning all her lights off and grabbing her luggage.
She closed the door and locked it before making her way out of her apartment.Â
She sent a text to Renee to let her know she was leaving and got in her car.
Somewhere in Germany:
âNicky, Liebling, if you donât get your ass down here weâre going to miss our flight!âÂ
Nicky swears as he collects his bags in a hurry, his feet pounding down the stairs of his and Erikâs apartment.
Germany had done Nicky a lot of good but he was undeniably excited to head back to the States.
Back to his family.
âIâm ready! I swear!âÂ
Erik laughed and herded him out the door.
They made it through the security check with 15 minutes to get to their boarding area.
They laughed as they ran through the airport, their luggage flipping and bumping into the back of their legs.
They were the last people on the plane, but they made it.
Nicky was going home.
Somewhere in California:
Kevin lugs both suitcases into the trunk of his car before he helps Amalia into the back seat and gets her buckled into her car seat.
They were driving all the way to South Carolina because Amalia had recently become deathly afraid of planes.
Settling in for the two-day drive, they'd barely made it 30 minutes into the trip before Amalia determined it had been a long time and it was time for snacks.
With a deep breath and a silent prayer to all things holy, Kevin pulled into a gas station to get snacks and have a bathroom break.
He knew the drive would be rough but 'Grandpa Coach' and 'Gran Abby', as Amalia had taken to calling her grandparents (maybe Kevin should have stopped calling them by name), would be more than willing to take Amalia when they got home.
Amalia spent the rest of the 36 hour drive rotating between excitably talking about seeing her aunts and uncles, singing the entire Frozen soundtrack at the top of her little 4 year old lungs, and sleeping.
Somewhere between Kansas and South Carolina:
"If you touch the stereo one more time, Josten, you're losing your hand."
Hands held over the console.
Hand kisses.
Smoke breaks.
Lots of snack breaks.
Neil gets fruit cups and Andrew gets candy.
Their cats joined them for the trip.
Sir sits in Neil's lap the entire ride but King gets the zoomies every 30 miles.
Andrew has to repeatedly remove him from his feet so he stops getting close to the pedals.
They call Bee halfway through the drive to make sure sheâll be there when they get there. She and Andrew chat while Neil takes a bathroom break.
When Neil comes back Andrewâs frame has relaxed a bit further.Â
They were both excited to see everyone but that didnât take away the anxiety of having that big of a group together again.
But the foxes were family and they couldnât wait to see their family.
Somewhere in North Carolina:
"Okay, and you packed the girls' blankets?"
Katelyn and Aaron may resemble headless chickens trying to get their 13 month old twins together and ready.
Katelyn has been tasked with the girls' things and Aaron has been tasked with actually getting the girls in the car.
One of the twins is passed out in their car seat and the other is sobbing and throwing a fit.
Aaron is trying to calm her down and Katelyn is driving.
It took about an hour to get her to stop crying and when she did Aaron took a deep breath and fell back in his seat.
He rested his head back and closed his eyes, letting the quiet sounds of the road soothe him.
That calmness lasts for a good minute before Katelyn lets out a loud, FUCK!
"I forgot our suitcase!"
Somewhere in South Carolina:
Abby fluffs the decorative pillow for the hundredth time in the past ten minutes.Â
Sheâs already vacuumed and swept every room in their house. Sheâs gotten all the spare bedrooms ready and taken out all of the blowup mattresses. Most of the kids were staying with them with the exception of those that had kids.
They hadnât all been together in so long and it felt imperative that the house looked good for everyone.
Wymack came up behind her and gently took the pillow from her hands before setting it back on the couch.
âThe place looks amazing, Abby.âÂ
Abby turned around and shot him a doubtful look.
Wymack laughed roughly and leaned forward to place a careful kiss to her forehead.Â
âTheyâre just going to be happy to be here. I donât think theyâd care if it looked like a pigsty in here. Everything is okay, and you know why?âÂ
Abby leaned her weight against Wymackâs chest. âWhy?â
Wymack pulled back slightly so he could send her a fond smile.
idk about yall but one of my most ever favorite aftg headcanons is that Andrew is really good with kids, and in the future when Aaron and Katelyn settle down and have kids, their kids will absolutely adore "Uncle Andrew", and he'll happily suffer through whatever sort of play the kids want to do with an as genuine and un-menacing smile on his face as he can manage, whenever he and Neil (and Kevin) come to visit
AFTG AU PT.2 where Katelyn and Neil are half siblings, and Katelyn got left behind with Nathan when Mary ran away with Neil.
Katelyn doesn't react well when she sees Nathaniel for the first time at Palmetto. She's been secretly going out with Aaron for a while so she knows there's a new guy on a team, that's a menace, that's trouble and that Andrew seems so intent on breaking but she doesn't know how he looks and his name âNeil Jostenâ doesn't ring any bells so she doesn't pay him much attention, really.
Their first encounter happens on a practice, the Vixens practice on court too but they don't share the same schedule with the Foxesâthat's why they haven't crossed paths yet. But practice got postponed and things happened and suddenly, the doors open and in come the Foxes. The Vixens don't mind them, their practice will end up soon anyway but someone catches Katelyn's eyes âa short guy, dark brown hair, brown eyes, and something so familiar about him. She doesn't realize she stopped mid stretch to openly stared at the guy until Maya hits her lightly on the shoulder. And then, Katelyn recognizes him.
Her first instinct is to run, her second instinct is to attack. Her third instinct, and the one she follows, is to scream at him to get his attention.
"This is very far away from home, isn't it?" the words feel like blades cutting her tongue, the language feels strange but she smiles to herself when Nathaniel stops on his tracks.
He turns around, eyes widened and tries to look for her on the ocean of Vixens, Katelyn takes a step closer to him. "You're not gonna say hello? I missed you."
Katelyn's words carry weight, the weight of endless punishments with Lola in the basement, the weight of endless lessons with Nathan. The weight of being left behind by both Mary and Nathaniel without a second thought. Mary wasn't her mother, and she knows it but she could've at least warned her mother and things would've been different. Instead, she grabbed her son and ran away.
"What are you doing here?" Nathaniel says, suddenly too close for comfort. Katelyn backs away and Nathaniel follows. "What? Afraid now? You literally yelled at me across the court."
Katelyn wants to laugh, she's not afraid. She had been trained to not be afraid, she doesn't laugh though. But she smiles and something akin to pride blooms on her chest when Nathaniel takes a step back. "What are you doing here? He would kill you"
She doesn't say what she really wants to say: 'This place is mine, I've been sharing the house back at Baltimore with your ghost. You don't get to steal this place from me too.' But it's a close thing, she can feel her chest tightened, her eyes burn and her fists closing over the imaginary handle of her father's knives.
"Locker room. Now."
She doesn't look back to see if Nathaniel follows her, but she hears his steps falling behind her and she nods to herself approvingly. Palmetto is hers, Nathaniel will do as she wishes him to do. She would no longer be the second. Not here.
Some tfc doodles I've accumulated on my phone lately because I haven't been around to finish any of my wips yet and I must admit I wanna slap myself pretty bad rn
đŠđŠI know my doodling qualities are not the most pleasing thing but I hope u enjoy anywayđŠđŠ
Katelyn would 100% have gone right up to Andrew intending to talk things out with him if it werenât for the fact Aaron asked her not to. Just look at how easily she started talking to Neil. She wanted what was best for Aaron and is an absolute queen.
"Shut up. They needed a babysitter, what did you want me to do?"Â
"Say no?"Â
âAndrew, he's your nephew"Â
"Whatever. Im not touching his poop"Â
"Very matureâ
Aaron and Katelyn had called them earlier, saying they had to go to a hospital function -to do whatever big shot doctors did to get donations- and their babysitter had bailed on them. Little Theo was only a few months old and Neil could tell Aaron looked a little sick when he dropped the baby over. Like Neil and Andrew couldnât watch a fucking baby. âHuh I took down the fucking mob, I can handle diapersâ Neil thought as he stared into Aaronâs suspicious eyes.
That bravado was short lived, though.
âI donât think thatâs how it's doneâ Andrew said as he oversaw the process of changing a diaper.
âYou could stand there judging or you could help meâ Neil replied while fighting against those stupid sticky bands, why the fuck did he think he could do this? âTold ya iâm not touching that mess. Good luck with Sir Poops-a-lotâ. Neil just rolled his eyes and consider the scene in front of him wishing he had some duck tape to secure the diaper in place.
-
Andrew couldnât understand what people saw in babies. They were soft and grubby, with big drooling mouths and freakishly tiny fingernails. All they did was eat, sleep and poop, not interesting at all. Sir Fat Cat could do all those things, but at least the cat gifted Neil with roaches, which both pissed Neil off and amused Andrew greatly.
He was watching TV at the couch with Sir, the cat, lying by his head on the armrest and Neil seated with Sir, the baby, next to him on the floor. He listened as Neil tried to explain exy to the kid and even felt some sympathy for the poor child. âAre you trying to bore it to sleep?â He asked. âStop calling him it. And no, Iâm just telling him how awesome exy is. Maybe one day heâll go pro as his cool unclesâ Neil said and then, making a stupid high pitched voice, added âIsnât that right Theo? Maybe youâll play defense like your dad, but unlike him youâd actually be good at itâ.
And thatâs when Theo started crying.
-
Neil tried everything. He walked around the room, he sang little tunes, he swayed softly cradling Theo on his chest, and nothing. The kid was turning red and Neil was slowly freaking out. âHave you fed it?â Drew asked from the couch. "Of courseâ Andrew raised an eyebrow as if in question and Neil continued âI gave him a bottle a while agoâ. Andrewâs eyebrow shot higher. âIt's been a few hoursâŠâ Neil concluded and Andrew finally spoke âItâs not a cat. You have to feed it more than once a day, Jostenâ. He got up and went to the kitchen, huffing out a breath like he always did when he couldnât believe Neil had lived this long.
-
When he returned with the bottle, Andrewâs ears were ringing. How did such a small thing have such powerful lungs he didnât know. He handed the bottle to Neil, but as his boyfriend held it by the babyâs mouth, Theo continued to cry. God, that sound was making him crazy. âHey, Sir Poops-a-lot, look at me. If you donât stop crying, Iâll hang you out the window by the diaperâ and the little fucker stoped. Drew smiled at himself, proud of having efficiently threatened an infant. But as he walked away, the crying returned, full force. âI think he likes your voiceâ. âNo, he likes Aaron's voiceâ Andrew realized. âOk, hereâs what we gonna doâ he addressed the little bundle of snotty tears âyou gonna drink your milk, and then youâll sleep and give uncle Andrew some peace and quietâ.
-
Neil watched, amazed, as Andrewâs voice worked its magic. Drew could lie to himself all he wanted, but he sounded nothing like Aaron. Neil managed to feed Theo and burp him, but only because Andrew didnât leave his side and kept talking about random stuff like: how he thought King Flufkins and Sir were plotting his murder or what he thought aliens actually looked like. Theo watched him with big eyes and once he had predictably covered Neilâs shoulders in barf, reached across to Andrew with his little arms.
âHe wanâŠâ
âNopeâ Andrew interrupted.
Neil wouldnât press, but Theo started to cry at the rejection and that broke his heart. âSeriously, Drew? It's just a kidâ â Abe, I⊠Iâll drop itâ and that was such a ridiculous answer it made Neil laugh âYou wonâtâ and then when he saw the doubt in Andrewâs eyes, he added âI'll be here, I wonât let you drop himâ. There was the slightest nod and Neil handed over the crying child. At first Andrew looked panicked, holding Theo at arms length like he was a week-old laundry pile. So Neil rested a hand at the back of Andrewâs neck massaging it gently and watched as he carefully moved the baby closer, holding him against his chest and⊠smiling. Neil was about to say something when Andrew looked at him âYou stinkâ.
**
As Neil returned from the bedroom with a clean shirt, he stopped by the door looking at the scene in front of him. Andrew laid down on the couch, King at his feet, Sir -as usual- lying by his head and little Theo resting on his chest, sleeping, like he was always meant to be there.
