yknow how neil mentions the foxes collected his little quirks like gold? well here are some of their quirks neil absolutely loves
matt, who is a whole 6 ft 4 in (193 cm), is TERRIFIED of bugs
neil finds this out the hard way when he’s just chilling in the living room with andrew when matt, who’s supposed to be taking a nap, starts screaming bloody murder
neil and andrew bust in with knives out, ready to stab a bitch, and they see matt squatting on top of the desk
there’s a house centipede about the size of neil’s thumb crawling around on the floor by the bed
andrew is truly beyond any reaction, words, thoughts-
neil, on the other hand, doesn’t know whether he should laugh or cry
andrew, being andrew, swipes this bug off the ground with his BARE HANDS and drops it out the window while neil coaxes matt down from the desk
although the rest of the team teases matt mercilessly about bugs, neil takes this as an opportunity to further defend matt from the world
“at least we’re staying in a cabin because i do not do camping, but we’re still like surrounded by-” “it’s okay, i’ll protect you from the bugs bro” “bro”
renee does this thing with her hair sometimes where she ties up the front half, but because it’s so short, it’s just this little sprout waving around on top of her head
neil thinks it’s GREAT
when his hair starts growing out, he asks her to tie it for him the way she does so they can match on gym days or nights in as a team
one of neil’s favorite photos on the wall in the lounge is a candid of him and renee, sporting tiny ponytails on the top of their heads, running on treadmills and talking to each other
one day, neil discovers that kevin wears reading glasses when it’s been a long day and his eyes are really strained
but these aren’t cute boy-who-wears-glasses glasses. oh no. these are the flimsy, $20 at CVS, black rectangular frames that are too narrow and sit awkwardly on his nose kind of glasses
(this man rotates the same 10 t-shirts and identical Adidas joggers what were you expecting)
kevin, who doesn’t give a shit about wearing them, pops them on while the team is having a collective chillout and he wants to read another one of his obnoxiously dense history novels
nobody else reacts to this but neil is losing his mind
“do you wear contacts when we play??” “no, i can see just fine when we play” “but then WHY-” “my eyes get tired sometimes”
neil, now delighted: “you look like a cranky librarian”
kevin, offended: “fuck off”
allison can literally do anything in heels because catwoman was her childhood idol and she practiced running around and climbing things in her mom’s louboutin stilettos
neil discovers this when they’re walking to class and one of renee’s papers flies away from her
allison charges down a steep, grassy hill in the spikiest shoes neil has ever seen and doesn’t get stuck once
they also end up in new york city for a game and allison is strutting over subway grates with 0 hesitation
neil asks her to teach him how because he finds it fascinating, and that’s how they end up power walking up and down the hall in fox tower while their friends film and cheer them on
aaron mumbles to himself in german when he does math, which literally makes no sense because it’s not hist first language and he doesn’t even really care that much about being able to speak it
neil’s sitting next to him in the library one day and aaron’s working on some chemistry equations and he starts whispering “zwei, acht…sechzhehn”
for a hot second neil thinks he’s hallucinating and needs to get more sleep but no, aaron just does that
sometimes neil helps aaron with math because he is better at it (aaron HATES it) and he decides to start explaining in german
neither of them know why, but it just makes more sense to aaron when he does
andrew never learned how to ride a bike, and neil finds this out when the team goes to help stephanie walker move and they find renee’s high school bike in the shed
andrew super offhandedly mentions he doesn’t know how and the team drops everything to teach him
surprisingly, andrew doesn’t protest, and neil’s the one who holds the back of the seat as he wobbles around the cul de sac
he gets the hang of it really fast, and renee gifts him the bike to take back to campus because she doesn’t need it anymore
andrew starts riding this bike everywhere, and whenever neil sees him zooming around campus he gets the biggest smile on his face
dan LOVES flowers and neil notices how matt always surprises her with quirky bouquets at every possible opportunity
(not those edible arrangement-looking bunches of roses i mean like baby’s breath and tiger lilies and stuff like that)
this is what prompts neil to buy a bunch of flowers from safeway, take them back to the dorm, and put them all together while watching a diy flower arranging video on his laptop
it’s a little lopsided, but he ties it off with white and orange ribbon and proudly delivers it to dan
she cries
nicky plays the piano because it was a way to distract himself during church and stay away from his parents, but he doesn’t really talk about it
the team ends up in a mediocre hotel for a game and there’s an antique piano sitting in the lobby and he makes a beeline to it
the foxes are expecting him to just like smack around on the keys but instead he starts playing amazing grace and it is emotional
after nicky moves in with erik and neil gets his pro contract, he sees an opportunity
“hey would you mind measuring the space between your tv and the wall” “why???” “…no reason”
a steinway + a team of movers shows up on their doorstep a week after
(it’s one of the first things neil bought with his pro salary)
nicky frequently sends him videos of himself learning new songs and neil watches every single one multiple times
