Experience Tumblr like never before
andreil having chocolate fondue with strawberries to satisfy neil’s love for fruit and andrew’s love for sweet things
hc that andrew’s wardrobe is entirely black... except for his socks, which are super colourful with ridiculous patterns
when jean told neil that “fun is for children” at the winter banquet, he probably actually believed what he was saying. i doubt this traumatized man has genuinely had fun since he was a kid back in france - and even then it was probably rare bc let’s be real, if your parents sell you to the yakuza to pay off debts, it’s unlikely they provided a childhood full of sunshine
one of the many reasons that i love andreil is that they don’t fall into typical relationship... stereotypes? idk but like there’s not the soft one and the scary one, because they’re both TERRIFYING. i love that their relationship is so out of the ordinary and that they honestly don’t care what others think. i love that they feel so comfortable around each other and never feel pressured to do things just to make the other happy. they draw strength from one another and of course they do want the other to be happy, but they also know that their own boundaries are important and need to be respected. their relationship is built on so much unwavering trust and understanding and i love them
you know what’s painful? before the final match against the ravens when neil says that he can see how much matt loves his mom and that “sometimes he was still surprised at how blatantly that love was returned”
like??
mary did her best to keep neil alive and they had a complicated relationship but, ultimately, neil loved her
this quote hurts though, because neil obviously didn’t really get that love reciprocated - yes, in her own way, mary loved him and tried to keep him safe and as happy as possible given the circumstances, but overall his life on the run was full of pain and fear and his mom added to that
so of course it’s weird for him to see randy love matt so fiercely and so openly, but my heart still aches for him
okay you know what, andrew may have killed his mom but at least he’s a generous tipper. murder? excusable. tipping 5% at a restaurant? well now we’re gonna have to excuse another murder
neil “i’m fine” josten telling wymack after coming back from evermore that no, no, he’s not alright just... pierces my heart every time i think about it. you can really see how much neil’s grown by how he finally begins to trust someone other than himself or his mom. he puts himself in such a vulnerable position when he reaches out, especially by asking for help from an older man (given his past). and the way that wymack drops everything during winter break to immediately rush to the airport, i just-
wymack: sign with my team
neil: strANGER DANGER STRANGER DANGER
this idea just randomly came to me and i can’t get it out of my head so: the foxes as texters (we already vaguely know some info but i have stuff i want to add on)
neil is just the worst texter ever. like... one word answers, bland messages, leaves you on read 99% of the time. normally reads the texts at least, but he doesn’t text first unless he needs something, and he doesn’t make an effort to keep the convo going. phone is always on silent but with vibrations - he hasn’t figured out how to turn it off vibrate, and he doesn’t care enough to ask for help (esp since his phone is normally dead anyway). he gets better at checking his phone and answering calls when andrew leaves psu though
andrew either answers within 2 seconds or never answers at all. autocap is off and he never uses punctuation (not even for questions). messages are usually short and to the point, but he’s fun to text if he actually deigns to answer. mix of dry humour, heavy sarcasm, and obscure messages that you can only understand by remembering 6 throwaway comments
nicky is very enthusiastic!! lots of emojis, instant replies for all, only punctuation he uses are exclamation points and question marks. isn’t deterred by bland texters (re: neil) and will spam you with no regrets. also sends lots of pictures! and he never says “already seen it” when you send a meme that he’s seen before - he’s just happy when someone thinks of him
dan usually replies within a few hours. uses excessive amounts of question marks, and her texts are filled with abbreviations. autocap and autocorrect are off. sends memes constantly, never afraid to ask someone to meet up or to start a convo w someone she hasn’t talked to in a long time. sends a ton of short messages in a row rather than one big one. only uses periods if she’s mad or it’s important
matt’s texts have a ton of typos, even though autocap and autocorrect are both on - he mostly texts w capslock bc he gets easily excited. uses punctuation, but not at the end of texts. gets back as soon as he sees your message, but it could be a while, bc he always puts his phone on silent during practice and classes. uses cute emojis all the time
renee has autocap off but autocorrect on, and she uses proper punctuation. many :) type of emojis but rarely the actual face ones. takes a bit longer to answer bc she wants to formulate the right response, but she’s very quick to reply if it’s an emergency
allison doesn’t answer for hours, unless she actually likes you. always has a ton of unopened messages, and says she’ll get around to them eventually. texting style morphs from person to person - perfect punctuation w neil, no autocap or autocorrect w dan, enthusiactic w nicky, etc. won’t text first unless she likes you or has something important to say or ask for
kevin’s texts are very demanding. def has autocap and autocorrect on. not afraid to spam until you answer him. he’ll send a massive text and then a ton of short angry ones. texts people when he’s bored and drunk texts constantly (you could be getting a play-by-play of his fav exy moments, or an in-depth analysis of an important historical figure, or be completely roasted). he has french, english, and japanese keyboards, so sometimes his autocorrect gives you a multilingual message. sends memes to anyone that they remind him of or that he thinks will enjoy them, but hardly ever answers any memes or posts sent his way
aaron is the sweetest texter ever with katelyn, all cute emojis and smiley faces, but he’s pretty dry w basically anyone else. has fun texting w the monsters though, and he’ll never admit it, but he loves getting spam from nicky and memes from kevin. the only people he sends memes to are nicky and katelyn. the messages between him and andrew could all but be in a different language (and sometimes actually are in german) for how chaotic and obscure they are. he’s the type of person to open your message and then forget about it for a week before answering
seth is direct with his messages and you never know if he’s being sarcastic or just really mean. sends posts to allison all the time when they’re on, ghosts her when they’re off. short messages, but happy to help keep the conversation going if he likes you. no qualms about spamming you if you don’t answer. sappy drunk texts
if you made it through that... good job, this is just a dumping ground for my random thoughts lmaoo
I loved your hc about Neil doing Robin's hair so much 🥺 do you have any more Robin and Neil headcannons?
thank you so much!! and yes omg, i think about robin and neil’s friendship constantly, i’ll add a few of my hcs here :)
they go for runs together. it’s a good way for robin to become comfortable around him because they don’t really have the breath to talk, but she can get used to his presence. it took neil some time to adjust, since he’s used to running alone to escape his thoughts, but it’s nice to have a quiet, determined person with him. plus, it makes her faster on court, so its a sneaky way for neil to get her to be better at exy without actually playing exy 24/7, since she’s not quite as exy-obsessed as him
they bake together!! even though neil doesn’t like sweets, andrew does, and he normally saves them for him (he brings some w him when he goes to visit andrew after andrew leaves psu). robin likes knowing that she took all of these random ingredients and made something delicious. she shares with the team but also indulges in the treats that she’s been missing out on most of her life
sometimes the court is a bit too stifling, too cage-like, for robin, who has way too much experience being locked up. (even though it was the one thing in her childhood she associated w freedom, it’s different to watch the games than to have the heavy doors bolting you in). this is one area where neil and robin can’t really understand each other; robin was stuck for too long to want anything to hold her in place, while neil was on the run for so long that any hint of permanency is something that he latches on to. despite that, he’s always there to help talk her down from her panic, and never feels any frustration towards her when she needs to step out for a bit. those panic days are ones that always end w a quiet run together
they have secret movie nights together where they try to catch up on the movies that the foxes reference all the time, since they both are seriously lacking in that department. (the movie nights are secret because they don’t want to deal with other people). sometimes they think the movies are worth the hype, sometimes they don’t, but they always enjoy each other’s presence. this is also a great opportunity for neil to practice more complicated braids, and to coach robin on how to do some simpler ones herself
robin slowly becomes more vocal, being so close to neil. she never has any speeches quite as iconic as “you know, i get it”, but her dry humor and sarcastic smiles make her fans go wild
robin learns german! she can communicate w the monsters privately that way, which is something that she’s immensely grateful for. and in neil’s senior year (when the rest of them have graduated), robin and neil become closer out of necessity, like nora said. the german is super helpful then for developing inside jokes and having conversations without fear of everyone eavesdropping
i have to go finish up a final project rn, but i hope those are the sort of things you were looking for! if you want more in the future, let me know :) and same goes for any other character combo hcs you’d like to see!!
oliver wood crying after they lost the quidditch match and ignoring that harry almost died gives off VERY strong kevin day and neil josten vibes except lets be real, neil would be more upset about losing than almost dying too
i feel like we all just forgot that kevin’s on nicky’s List™?? okay a) this is further proof that kevin’s hot af b) does kevin know??? that nicky wants to bang him???? and c) nicky what a waste of a choice, kevin would never
neil and andrew definitely write sir and king into their will. but not as possessions, like... they leave their cats money. a lot of it
ok you know how neil counts to ten to calm down? has that worked a single time in this series?? i stg he always gets to like 6 and then just fucking SNAPS
neil: i hate it when people say “so, tell me about yourself”
neil: what do you want to know? my trauma or my favourite colour?
neil: because i’m telling you neither. fuck off.
the foxes love neil bc he’s like a lil stray that they feel like they need to take care of half the time and are terrified of the other half, but like... he’s such a Bitch™ to literally everyone else. not even just his considerable amount of enemies but... the cheerleader that he shot down, bee, basically every exy player that isn’t on his team, the doctor in baltimore, etc etc etc. i love him for it, but i also know that if i met him irl he would tear me to shreds
i just love the twinyards. many thanks to them for being tiny, terrible terrors that i love with my entire heart. either one of them could stab me or punch me in the face and i would thank them
okay hear me out:
mary and neil always had tea on hand
yes, i know they only packed the essentials
tea is essential
they would cram it into their duffle bags wherever it fit, and made sure to never run out
the only mugs they used were travel mugs, because regular ones would break too easily
tea became neil’s comfort drink over the years
it was something constant in his life, something that was always there for him after a long day or sleepless night
he guzzled tea after he’d been shot
his mom made it better than he did
their travel mugs were warm and full in the cup holders when mary was bleeding out
neil had to reach over them to shake her shoulders, trying to keep her awake when her eyes so desperately wanted to flutter closed
he tried to pass mary her mug to keep her conscious, tried to get her to drink just a sip mom, please, you can do it
the mug slipped out of her hands, covered in blood
neil let it burn in the flames of the car
he doesn’t drink tea anymore
but it doesn’t matter. he has a new comfort drink. andrew makes the coffee every morning
andrew makes it better than he does
andrew frequently wakes up in the middle of the night and tenses at the feeling of skin against his own, but he instantly relaxes when he feels the ridges and bumps of neil’s scars and callouses, completely at odds with the slick, groping hands of his foster siblings. the remnants of neil’s trauma help andrew cope with his own
andrew joins neil for runs occasionally and denies that it’s bc he cares for him (kind of like how cats are “coincidentally” in the same room as you 90% of the time) and neil chooses the routes that he knows andrew will like best, the ones with viewpoints where it seems like you’re on top of the world bc heights are always a sure fire way to ensure andrew feels something, even if that something is fear
and neil feigns confusion when andrew accuses him of slowing his pace down for him, but while andrew thinks that neil’s trying to coddle him, neil just wants to spend more time doing something he loves with the man he loves and seeing the way andrew’s eyes dart around as if to soak up the world and ingrain it all in his memory when he thinks neil isn’t looking, more interest than he normally shows while playing exy
they talk and neil laughs and they get home sweaty and tired to take lazy hot showers together. neil has always and will always love running, but his favourite morning runs are those precious occasions when andrew joins him and it’s just the two of them against the world. andrew will never admit it, but those just might be his favourite mornings too