Have we considered the delulu though of JEAN one day finding Neil’s binder of all things Kevin (and Riko, but Neil has long since ripped those sections out) and Jean just shaking his head, nitpicking thru some of the facts & statistics written down, going thru an interview and using his finger to read along as he says “The press got this side of the story, but there is another.”
Neil hitting the seat beside him so fast it’s a wonder he doesn’t break the chair, equipped w/ a highlighter and pen. Neil demanding to know this ‘other story’ so he can add it, meanwhile Jean would consider the binder odd under any other circumstances, but this is Nathaniel and so it makes sense that he’d be just as fiercely dedicated to and obsessed with Kevin as Jean himself once was is and so he starts babbling all about this game and that interview and that one other press conference.
The two huddled together going crazy over all things Kevin Day, meanwhile Andrew is sat in the corner shaking his head and lighting a new cigarette even though he just finished the last, because “Oh for fuck’s sake, now there’s two.”
the inside out movie, but instead of Riley we’re inside neil josten’s brain. the emotions in his arsenal are:
Panausea (Panic and disgust’s love child, nephew of Anxiety), responsible for every “Neil felt sick to his stomach” moment
Rage (Anger’s older brother that was excommunicated from the family), responsible for every single thing Neil has ever done in proximity to Riko
Adrenaline (Joy’s coke addict uncle), responsible for the Exy Junkie side of things
and Horny (there is no documentation on where Horny came from, she just sorta appeared when Andrew came along and it was a shock to everyone), responsible for, well, a lot of gay shit
The fact that every single Fox who has met real monsters Immediately sees that Andrew isnt one is very telling
Kevin, Neil and Renee. They have all seen some of the worst people out there. Not one of them ever sees Andrew as a monster.
And yes, the other Foxes have suffered, but none of them have really met the kind of evil those three had to deal with.
Kevin, Neil and Renee have looked literal souless monstruosity in the eyes and neither of them finds it when they look in Andrew's eyes. Because It isnt there.
Andrew is violent, controling and slightly posessive. But he is no monster in any way shape or form. He cares, way more than he lets on. Andrew's main issue is that as much as he doesnt wanna feel, he still does, has never stopped.
Andrew is a victim of monsters, not a monster. And the three others on the team who have also been victims of monsters Immediately clock the truth.
Andrew Minyard uses violence as communication because it is the only language that has ever worked.
People treat Andrew’s violence as random, impulsive, or gratuitous. They frame him as volatile, dangerous, uncontrollable. And while those statements have some weight, none of them tell the whole story.
Andrew is precise.
He doesn’t escalate emotionally. He doesn’t beg. He doesn’t explain himself more than once. He doesn’t argue to be understood. When Andrew acts, it’s because every other form of communication has already failed, or was never available to him in the first place.
Andrew learned very early that words do not protect you.
Words didn’t stop Tilda.
Words didn’t stop the Proust.
Words didn't stop Drake.
Words didn’t matter unless they were backed by force.
So Andrew stopped using them.
Violence, for Andrew, is not about rage. It’s about clarity.
When Andrew hurts someone, he is drawing a line so unmistakable that it cannot be crossed again without consequence. Violence becomes punctuation. A period at the end of a sentence he has already tried to say quietly.
This is why Andrew’s violence is almost always reactive, not proactive.
He does not seek out conflict.
He does not explode over misunderstandings.
He responds when boundaries are ignored, consent is violated, or someone he loves is threatened.
When Andrew hits Allison, fandom loves to flatten it into senseless brutality. But canon makes it explicit: Andrew was doing what he believed he had to in order to defend Aarob.
Because arguing would have taken time.
Because explaining would have required trust.
Because people don’t stop when they think they’re right.
They stop when they’re afraid.
Andrew understands that.
This is also why Andrew’s violence is targeted.
He doesn’t lash out at bystanders.
He doesn’t escalate situations that don’t involve him.
He doesn’t harm indiscriminately.
His actions are always directed at the person crossing a line.
Andrew’s relationship with Kevin is another example. Andrew protects Kevin not with reassurance, but with presence. He stands between Kevin and Riko without posturing or speeches. He doesn’t tell Kevin he’s safe: he makes him safe.
Because Andrew knows that safety is not a feeling.
It’s an outcome.
This is also why Andrew’s rules are so rigid.
“Yes or no.”
“Do you want this?”
“Don’t touch me.”
These aren’t quirks. They’re preemptive violence avoidance. They are Andrew’s attempt to replace physical force with verbal consent. When those rules are respected, Andrew doesn’t need to escalate.
When they aren’t, he does.
Andrew’s violence is not the absence of empathy, it is the result of too much of it, filtered through trauma.
He understands exactly how much damage people can do when they feel entitled, righteous, or justified. He has lived on the receiving end of it. He knows that harm rarely comes from villains: it comes from people who believe they’re allowed.
So Andrew removes the illusion of permission.
And here’s the quietest, most devastating part of it:
Andrew does not enjoy being violent.
He tolerates it.
It is a tool he learned because nothing else kept him safe.
This is why Andrew’s growth isn’t about becoming less violent, it’s about needing violence less.
With Neil, Andrew begins to trust that words might hold weight. That consent might be respected. That boundaries don’t have to be enforced with blood every time.
And still, Andrew never stops being capable of violence.
Because love, to Andrew, isn’t gentleness.
It’s readiness.
Andrew Minyard doesn’t use violence because he doesn’t feel.
He uses it because feeling was never enough to stop the harm.
And until the world proves otherwise, Andrew will continue to speak the language it taught him.
We love to call Neil oblivious or dense for not noticing he was in a slowburn romance with Andrew but how many of us were smacked in the face with the “that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t blow you”the first time you read it then of course you go back and reread and andreil was very obviously there the whole time you just get so caught up in thinking like Neil Josten that you also become oblivious so props to Nora for that
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