#post aftg

[biscof]

Sometime after Andrew and Neil become public Andrew is in an interview

Reporter: You and Neil Josten recently revealed a long term relationship

Andrew: *just starting blackly*

Reporter: is there any reason you previously have not been open about your sexuality? You don’t seem very um… stereotypically queer?

Andrew: *keeping the same blank face* ✨slay queen✨💅

Andrew: *walks away*

[interstellar-productions]

I want to continue my earlier post about Aaron and pastels. More specifically i want to talk about why i think he would naturally lean to pastels. (Outside of my own personal bias of putting pretty boys in pretty colors)

If we’re bringing in my Aaron post yesterday (about how he copes with his traumas) then i think he’d lean naturally to pastels for similar reasons as to why the rest of the OG foxes like the vibrant orange of PSU. Aaron doesn’t want people to see him or look at him, he wants people to glance right over him. The artist part of me considers the symbolism of colors and how they can be used to convey messages.

With that i bring you this. The foxes use bright orange as their colors so that way they can’t be looked over. This has more then one meaning to me as a psych major and art enthusiast. The general public doesn’t like to acknowledge people like the foxes because their living breathing proof that the world is an ugly place. These are people that have been used and abused to a point where they’ve been severely damaged. By the foxes colors being bright orange its a statement that forces people to acknowledge their existence, their survival. “You ignored me when I was being broken. You will NOT ignore me now that I have to live with the aftermath of your ignorance” for the foxes the bright colors are an act of defiance.

Aaron hates the bright orange, he doesn’t want people to see him because people seeing him means that he has to admit what happened too him. That’s why he hates the bright orange because everyone knows what it represents and more importantly it’s such a bright color he can’t hide when he wears it. He’s forced to stand out and be seen.

Thus we move forward to several years down the line (in my mind he starts with socks in his senior year) he’s made peace with himself and what happened to him. Therapy and strong support system and building better relationships with his family (the foxes). He might never really get to the point of wearing or being comfortable in the bright fox orange (I imagine that all the foxes still have certain things that are fox orange, I also imagine that Aaron has never felt comfortable in the color). But i think at some point he gets used to wearing pastels. Aaron and Andrew wear dark colors a lot in the books and i have to think that for Aaron it comes from needing to blend in and Andrew it comes from a place of intimidation.

So as Aaron gets more comfortable and heals he starts to unconsciously lean to pastels colors. The foxes use neons to make themselves seen. Aaron leans into pastels.

The foxes: im going to make you notice me so that way you’ll never be able to say “i didn’t know” again.

Aaron: its ok if you look at me, I’ve made my peace with what i am

The foxes what you to see them, thats how they heal.

Aaron grows to be ok with being seen even if he doesn’t go trying to make people notice him.

Just Aaron whose version of healing is him going from so violently wanting not be noticed and wanting to be normal so bad it physically pains him, growing to be comfortable with maybe not being completely normal and becoming ok with standing out just slightly. Just enough.

Aaron going from being scared of being noticed to be ok with it if it happens.

Making peace with it. Making peace with himself.

And it all starts his last year at PSU when he’s at the mall and comes across a pair of socks that will be so comfortable with his scrubs and work shoes. He doesn’t even care that their sky blue with pastel creamsicle orange fox silhouettes.

[froggisarethebest]

you know how most fandoms have that one fanfic that every person in the fandom HAS to read at some point in their lives or otherwise they’re not part of the fandom FANDOM fandom ??? like it’s a well known, deliciously written, scrumptiosly (i don’t know what that word means) plotted out, and everyone loves it??

yeha. what’s that for the aftg fandom?? like, what’s that one FIC that everyone has to read to fully grasp the stick ball experience? to be one with the books until thy souls merge together for eternity?

(this is not at all so i can a have a list of the most 50,000k, slow burn, hurt-comfort, neil josten, andrew minyard, found family, fanfics ever)

[nekojitachan]

Now I’m imagining Neil with ‘Minyard’ on the back of his jersey T^T God Tier (Especially when they’re on the same team oooh that’s so great)

Ha! I can imagine Neil calling Aaron and teasing him that he’s been assigned the number ‘5′ by the Colonials and will do the number much better justice as a Minyard than his brother-in-law ever did, only to finally admit he was joking when Aaron starts yelling at him and that he’s still #10.

But can you imagine the poor commentators?

“And Minyard -”

“The short one?”

“They’re both short, Tom, I mean the fast, mouthy one, #10, not the grumpy one, #3....”

[taller-than-wall-rose-blog]

So i have this hc that Neil likes to bake, not the occasional cake but weekly... But with this comes Andrew. Now ice cream Andrew loves but Cake? Cake is a whole other ball park. And not just cake but everything that goes with it. So Neil buys the candied fruit pieces, chocolate chips, marshmallows and all that jazz to make the cake with. Andrew? Andrew never lets it get into the cake. First he would relieve Neil of the shopping bags and blatantly dig through them to get the extra chocolate and sweets. Secondly, he would level stare Neil almost daring him to make a quip about his diet (heads up I'm pretty sure Neil has given up, Kevin not so much). Thirdly, Andrew would definitely leave Neil to put the shopping away. Fast forward a couple of days.. Neil goes to bake the cake, he put the choc chips on the top shelf to be a deterrent. There are no choc chips. But Neil would know this so he brought extra. Hidden around the kitchen are other packets. Yet they have been severely reduced in amount and size. Goddammit Andrew. Neil bakes the cakes without them. But he still plans to decorate them. While Andrew is out (gone to visit Bee, most likely) he feels safe enough to leave them to cool. Returning home, Neil finds empty wrappers and crumbs, no cakes, no andrew, no frosting. Neil swings by the front room and chucks the chocolate at andrew. He has done this so many times tgat he has learnt to keep back up stuff in the utility room. .... Andrew has had that as well.

[froggisarethebest]

real pain is not being able to sit down to read TSC bc u have to read other four books this month for a uni investigation project that you came up with, and also another additional book for a book exchange that you organized and have to annotate for another person, and finals are coming up so a shit ton of projects AND PLS I LIT HAVE THE KINDLE RIGHT THERE ITS SO CLOSE YET SO FAR AWAY I JUST WANT TO READ AB THE STUPID GAY SPORT AND MAFIA PLSSSS PLSSS

[i-dvnt-share]

Things Andreil do in their NY apartment which may or may not be hot af but are actually more than that to them and actually kinda soft and fluffy

// Fluffy but maybe NSFW / kinks implied???/ idk its meant to be soft but it might not be so / welp //

“Coordinates and a map”

So maybe they’re in bed or lazing on the sofa or window seat or maybe they’re on the rug ok point is it’s a lazy day and they’re chilling and relaxing and totally content. Lazy kisses happen because obviously. And then Neil remembers something Andrew said a few years ago Neil’s first year at Palmetto. He gets up slowly with a murmured “Back in a minute” to which Andrew grunts.

Neil comes back  with a Sharpie and kneels beside Andrew, who flicks him a bored look. Neil just uncaps it and looks at Andrew, knowing fine well Andrew remembers that conversation. Andrew shrugs slightly and lols his head back, closing his eyes - Neil’s heart always melts when Andrew does this cause fuck he trusts him so much. Both of them are just in sweats, no shirts and no armbands or knives because they know they don’t need them when it’s just the two of them.

So Neil sets to work, mapping out coordinates over Andrew’s skin. He starts at his neck, “Kiss here” on the left and “Bite here” on the right, closer to Andrew’s collarbone (Andrew can’t help but shiver aat this and Neil is grinning like a fool). “Hold here” goes at the back of Andrew’s neck (he’s on his back but lets Neil move him around cause they’ve gotten to that level). “Careful here” goes on Andrew’s inner arm, over his scars. “Hold here” goes on the back of both hands. “Press here” goes in the centre of his chest. “Trace here” goes over his ribcage. “Tickle here” goes down his left side at his waist (Andrew lets himself jerk and smile gently at this and Neil is so gone). “Drum here” goes along his back, just above his hips - yk, that bit of his back that dips a bit. “Careful here” goes along his hipbones, and “Gentle here” goes on one hip because Andrew once told Neil someone always pressed that hip into the bed more, but now they’re working together to replace Andrew’s triggers with posive memories and Neil’s allowed there which is gahhhh. Neil slips Andrew’s waistband down a bit - not down down but just enough that his whole V-line section is exposed. “Kiss and lick here” goes between his hips and down his happy trail. Then  Neil slips his fingers under the waistband of Andrew’s sweats and waits - Andrew nods slightly, then grunts “Yes, idiot” when Neil doesn’t immediatly move. Neil is grinning like fuck because Andrew trusts him??? so much??? so Neil takes Andrew’s sweats off (the boy’s in underwear, don’t freak) and continues his map - “Hold here” goes along one thigh, “Squeeze here” goes along the hem of his boxers at the back of both thighs. “Pinch here” goes on one knee, and “But not here” goes on the other. “Trace here” goes down his shins, “Massage here” goes down his calves. “Don’t hold here” goes around his ankles. “Careful here” goes on the top of both feet.

From there, Neil draws dotted lines to connect all the areas, and puts numbers on each (the dates Andrew decided to trust Neil enough to let him touch / kiss / explore / map out that area for the first time because he’s sentimental like that). Over Andrew’s heart, Neil draws a treasure chest and puts an ‘X’ just underneath it. When he’s done he caps the marker and sits back to admire his handiwork. Andrew cracks an eye open at him. He looks bored but Neil knows he’s curious, so shrugs and stands up, heading to the bathroom, both of them knowing Andrew will follow.

Andrew looks at the map in the mirror, back, front and sides, before kissing Neil’s smug smirk off his face and a muttered “Fucking junkie” over and over for the rest of the afternoon and evening.

“Collar and leash”

So this is Andrew’s idea. One day he goes to a petstore while Neil’s out for his morning run (niether of them have plans for the day, or so Neil thinks). Andrew buys a basic collar and leash, then goes back to the apartment. Neil gets back, goes for a shower, and when he comes out Andrew shuts the bedroom door behind him and Neil automatically knows Andrew’s wanting to test a new line - they usuallly leave the door open if they’re doing stuff they both know they’re fine with.

Neil looks at Andrew, who holds up the leash and collar and just asks “Yes or no?” Neil is confused af but he gets the idea (Andrew wouldn’t have shut the door to ask if they could get a dog, Neil knows that much). “Yes” he says cause he knows Andrew will understand it’s a “Yes I want to know what you’re thinking” rather than a full-blown yes. So Andrew walks over and hands both objects to Neil and turns his back on him. Neil knows not to ask Andrew if he’s sure (Andrew wouldn’t have offered otherwise), so puts the collar around Andrew’s neck, buckling it tight but loose enough he can fit two fingers in the gap cause Andrew still has to breathe. Neil clips the leash on and Andrew turns around. “Still yes,” Neil says before Andrew can ask, and Andrew just looks pointedly at the leash in Neil’s hands. After a second or two Neil gets it and tugs gently, pulling Andrew closer for a kiss. Things escalate and they end up in bed and then the shower (Neil always being hyperaware of Andrew’s body and microexpressions and movements cause he really doesn’t want to fuck this up) before they’re lying in bed again, Andrew sort of beside / on top of Neil, collar and leash still in place, and the handle held limply in Neil’s hand. “I thought you said no one puts a leash on you,” Neil says. Andrew looks at him and smiles softly. “Guess I’m not right about everything,” he replies, and then kisses the grin off Neil’s lips.

“Hands off my things” AKA “You’re all fucking mine” AKA “I’m yours”

So this happens after a game once Andreil are out so it’s a few years down the line. At a press conference (or something???) someone makes the mistake of putting their arm around Neil’s shoulder and pulling him way too close - Neil tries to pull away but the person just laughs and pulls him tighter again. Neil looks around for Andrew cause this person just wont. let. go.Cue Andrew pushing the person away and putting himself slightly in front of Neil with a growled “Hands off my things.”

Jump to them at their apartment after the fact, and Neil thanks Andrew. Andrew’s feeling territorial af that day, so puts his hand around Neil’s throat and presses him against the wall - at some point Neil asks something dumb about the person (seriously??? Andrew is kissing you mindless and that’s what comes out your mouth???) and Andrew justs looks at him, growls “You’re all fucking mine,” and frowns a few seconds later when Neil’s grinning too much to kiss him properly. When Andrew *asks why Neil’s grinning (*read: glares at Neil’s grin) Neil just shakes his head and says “I’m yours,” which earns him more hard kisses.

“I thought you don’t swing”

Andrew comes home and finds Neil has bought a hammock. The idiot is lying in it and looking way too fucking attractive for his own good. Yeah it’s hammock / swing sex waiting to happen. “I thought  you don’t swing.”

“But I do for you.”

“Shut up,” is exchanged at some point.

“You said you wanted me to lose control”

They’re in the kitchen and it’s a lazy chill Sunday, and Andrew’s just closed the fridge when he asks “Yes or no?” to which Neil replies “Yes.” Instead of kissing him though, Andrew walks around the counter and scooshes whipped cream onto Neil’s nose, before kissing / licking it off. When Neil just grins at him Andrew repeats “Yes or no?” now that Neil knows what he’s asking. “Yes,” Neil says again, and Andrew proceeds to scoosh whipped cream down Neil’s neck, over his shoulders, down his arms and over his chest, over all his scars on his face too. He kisses / licks it all off and yeah Neil is a mess.

Then Andrew scooshes some in his own mouth and kisses Neil. Neil doesn’t really like whipped cream but he likes Andrew’s kisses so it’s a good middle-ground.  When Andrew pulls away Neil looks confused and amused so Andrew puts more on him and in his own mouth with a bored “You said you wanted me to lose control” said around a mouthful of cream. Neil grins and it’s a whole load of whipped cream kisses and they both wind up in the shower afterwards and have to go buy more whipped cream cause Andrew used up the entire cannister