You're a Pipe Dream

sideblog of itsalexmarsh WhenInDoubtSleep on AO3

[allfortherot]

in hockey, the goalie pads and helmet are usually customized by the goalie with something of significance (other places they've played, teams they've been on, awards they've won, etc)

what about andrew minyard's goalie pads just having deadass neil's face painted on it. ik its not realistic but im dying at the vision of this 5 foot goalie with neil's face on his legs. imagine being an opposing player and seeing THREE faces of neil. and two of them aren't even real. i think he might actually do it js to throw people off and keep everyone on their toes. it becomes the new exy scandal--does minyard want people to direct shots to neil's face? he is blocking shots with his legs, which have neil on them.

or more realistically i think he'd get them painted in neil's exact eye color because he knew it would piss kevin off. look, usually the goalie pads are painted with some connection to the team, or atleast in the teams colors. and andrew's is BLUE. fucking blue. opposite of orange. kevin would be FUMING (also imagine him in a game and its just. a tiny blue dot in the goal lmao)

or maybe he'd get a chess queen on his goalie pad. and a knight. it'd be on the news 24/7, what does this mean? and also it would probably piss kevin off because why the hell would he do that

[unanuvola]

LEE KNOW×I.N • "RUN IT" IN SEOUL DAY #2

[rainpeacetea]

“I asked ChatGPT,” well I asked Kevin Day and he says I need to lock tf in.

[tinmate]

Yeah yeah Andrew is dead inside but he’s also really fucking funny? Saying Neil should go as milk carton with a Have You Seen Me poster for Halloween Looking over his shoulder when Wymack was looking at him to check if there was a third goalkeeper hidden somewhere Watching the ball sail by him without moving when the other team made a bad shot Calling Jean “Jean Valjean” Saying Neil’s learning curve is a horizontal line

Like come on, once this man gets away from his Very Bad Sophomore Year and gets some therapy and stable relationships he’s gonna be so funny

[butchandrew]

it must have been a dark day for the kevriko rpf fans when renowned ao3 author "perf_court" deleted his account & all his fics before ghosting for months just to come back online to be like 'sorry for the hiatus my serial killer dad caught me but its chill & kevriko is my notp now' like the ao3 fanfic.net curse really gets anyone

[butchandrew]

if it isn't obvious this ends in Neil writing Kandrew and then someone is like "What about KevNeil/Kandreil" Which means he has to do "research" of making out with Kevin after practice and like a month later is like "Perf_Court was a sociology experiment, goodbye" and to this day people debate on if Perf_Court was actually Kevin Day the whole time

[thenerdwithadhdanddeppression]

Neil, watching Andrew play subway surfers: hey I've done that

Andrew: you've done fucking what

[vatbis]

My head is going to explode because I think too much about that moment when someone pushed Neil aside at edens and he was involuntarily pressed against Andrew and froze for a second because he didnt expect Andrew to be that solid and imperturbable. Like omfg that was one of the first physical contact they had and he really went insane about it.

I know Andrew went insane too but for other reasons

[allfortherot]

that one hopecore message thats like "i WILL make it because i am crazy" but its neil josten who let his fucking countdown go down with no plan, no backup, no one even aware. lmao yes he is just that crazy. fate bows to his contumacious nature

[linskiiii]

"Another bit of unexpected honesty"

[viiiiiliiiii]

Neil is hypersensitive whenever Andrew’s warm, calloused hands glide over the scarred stretch of his side, tracing the line left behind by that unfortunate fall from the car. without realizing it, Neil quietly props himself up on his elbows, his eyes never leaving Andrew’s hands. he doesn’t even notice the way his back instinctively arches into the touch, pressing himself closer in silent search of more, clinging to Andrew’s hands with the quiet devotion of a cat seeking out its favorite warmth.

[serafinapickelda]

Obsessed with how Nora wrote Neil a beautiful love story where his demisexuality is something that his partner loves about him and which brings both of them joy.

Neil being demisexual is literally perfect for Andrew. When they first meet, Neil "not swinging" gives Andrew assurance that Neil won't be sexually interested, which allows Andrew to feel safe enough to eventually become close to Neil. I think that Andrew's fear of being the object of sexual attention is partly why he exclusively spends time with people who won't develop sexual desire towards him (the monsters: his relatives + a straight dude; and Renee, from whom he extracts the reassurance that "I don't kiss heathens").

Then, once Andrew gets close to Neil and starts developing feelings for him, Andrew ALSO gets the reassurance that Neil actually does swing. For him, specifically. And Neil's swinging is nothing to do with the physical features of Andrew's body or with Andrew being available and willing. Instead, Neil values and loves the parts of him that Andrew himself has already offered Neil. This couldn't be more perfect for Andrew! Neil is a pipedream. A man for whom loving and respecting Andrew as a person is a precondition for even wanting to touch; a man who won't ever push Andrew to cross a boundary, because his own desires are completely enmeshed with his love for Andrew. Andrew has won the lottery of life.

And for Neil, too, his demisexuality is overwhelmingly a positive thing. It means that Neil doesn't have his head turned when it would have been dangerous for him. Instead he falls for a man who makes him feel safe and cared for. In fact, Neil himself acknowledges this when he first decides to kiss Andrew, reasoning that "the idea of Andrew was so intertwined with the idea of Neil's safety that this too was a means of self-preservation". Also, once Neil recognises what he feels for Andrew, he never has reason to doubt it. Neil doesn't get casual crushes, so he knows that what he feels is The Real Deal.

Anyway, this is beautiful to me. Just the fact that aftg has a demisexual protagonist who finds love is amazing, but then that Nora also gives him someone who doesn't treat Neil's demisexuality as a burden or an obstacle or something to tolerate... that she writes his demisexuality as foundational for the main romance of the books, as fantastic for both Neil and for the man that he loves... infinite applause.

[queenclacker]

Btw if you search Kevin day on Tumblr and go to recent its 80% my posts ....... Slowly healing the #kevinday with love instead of the hate and I think that's awesome

[deja-b00]

you ever think that maybe after the girls graduate, the meaning of ‘the monsters’ could get completely altered??

like that’s THE kevin day and the captain of the palmetto foxes neil josten and the best goalie in the league andrew minyard. and while aaron and nicky might not be exy stars, they are integral to the team and aren’t afraid to start or finish a fight during a game. so the incoming freshman and maybe even other teams just think that the term ‘the monsters’ comes from them being monsters on the court.

dan and allison come to visit for a game and find out all the lower classmen say monsters with worship and awe. “the other team doesn’t stand a chance. we’ve got the monsters on our team” “did you see the monsters’ defense??” “we’re totally the next gen monsters.” and dan and allison are appalled.

but as much as they hate it, no one will ever hate it more than andrew does.

[just-another-dream-about-yuu]

take my body and soul

[phkin]

it’s genuinely so fucking funny to me that the fox’s are all bonded over trauma yet not a single person know wtf to do abt it

everyone’s like:

“oh shit… alison’s bf just died??.. do we wanna bet on her reaction??? or ??”

*scratches back of head* “sooo andrew just got assaulted and has been for the majority of his childhood?? also aaron killed the guy who did it?? do they need us for the trial or can i do my hw?”

“oh my god?? neil got beat to shit while away with his uncle???? or wait..he ran away to join the abusive cult college sport team for some reason and is now genuinely dissociating so bad he’s having skips in his time and memories but we aren’t allowed to talk abt it??? ok cool ig we won’t talk abt it then”

like guys wtf are we doing here

[malekyla-001]

This is the cutest moment in the book, there is nothing better. :3

[max-worm]

oblivious neil/jealous andrew but it's not just andrew who gets jealous. all the foxes see some guy flirting with neil, and every single one of them immediately starts to intervene because hey wtf you can't do that! that's neil! neil is andrew's! this cannot happen it is preposterous get away from him!!???