#the foxes

[popcornhee]

Hmhhm Neil Josten

[polartss]

Renee! 🤍

[la-crospa]

Joan of exy

[instigatorjosten]

the notion of andrew slowly learning that being physically affectionate is okay and not a show of weakness is great. can i propose: for a while there the only sort of hug he can manage is hugging Neil from behind. partially bc it means he can touch Neil while Neil can’t do more than hold onto his forearms, but also so he doesn’t have to look him in the eye for it. he can just bury his head in Neil’s back calming himself down and rationalizing this is normal and nobody is gonna judge him or take advantage of his very clearly, very soft spot.

this is also huge for Neil’s growth too, he is literally giving his back to Andrew, that’s subtle trust but trust nonetheless. and it slowly also desensitizes Neil to people sneaking up to him from behind

[viiiiiliiiii]

[busyliving-busydying]

Andreil study

[mcmilkan]

A little thing I headcannon is that Andrew never asks where Neil is. Neil is CONSTANTLY asking where Andrew is if he hasn’t seen him for approximately 0.5 seconds and even Jean notices how they give “lingering looks when one fell out of orbit for too long”, but Andrew never asks, wanting conceal to the others how much Neil is a weak spot for him. Instead, his eyes slide across the room, scanning, and if he can’t see Neil then Andrew simply gets up and goes in search of him, he knows all of his spots anyways. The foxes, initially just put Andrew’s abrupt leave up to his blatantly disrespectful self, deciding he wasn’t interested enough in the conversation, so they don’t really care. However, that isn’t until they notice the pattern. First, Renee, then Dan and Aaron, and soon the others catch on. They observe the way Andrew’s fingers start tapping at his sides when his head swivels round and cannot find his specific ginger. They observe the way he gets up immediately and strides towards the door. They also observe the way Andrew hands still slightly as Matt says, “he’s on a run” or Kevin tells him Neil’s just practicing on the court. Andrew doesn’t acknowledge it openly of course, he never asked and would’ve been able to find him himself easily, but they all don’t miss the way his head lowers for a second, giving a subtle nod, placated by the fact someone always knows where Neil is. I guess they all know the alternative, when his hands were shaking, wrapped round Kevin’s neck in Baltimore. He didn’t ask, “Where’s Neil?”, he screamed it. And the others didn’t know. And Andrew couldn’t find him.