For The Requests: 24 But Like,, The Opposite?? Do Whatever You Want But Also Have This Embarrassing Story

neil: hoards bananas, oranges, apples, blueberries — basically every fruit imaginable

nicky: see?? i told you he was a bit fruity

So I am once again reading through the extra content like one does and I found a little thing that send me to my knees okay

I’m reading about Abby and Wymack and how they move in together and how they’re just in love and stuff

And it says Abby makes him stop smoking because she doesn’t want the smell in her house

Andrew finds out when he visits Neil in his fifth year and he pulls out a cigarette to smoke, but Coach takes it, breaks it and throws it on the ground, super grumpy about it because he can’t smoke

After Neil explains it Andrew just takes one look at Wymack and states “Abby’s doing”

All of this is all good and fun right, however it’s the next part of it that kills me

“If Neil told me to stop smoking, I’d kick him out.”

However small that is, it just made me all tingly?

I honestly think that that’s one of most obvious times Andrew acknowledge that him and Neil are really together

He normally does it in very subtle, private ways and especially not in conversations with others

He actually refuses to mention Neil to others at all

Which also brings me to the next thing that makes me very happy

He casually says this joke about him and his partner’s relationship out loud, to someone that isn’t Neil himself, and not it private, but to Wymack

That is an insane amount of trust for Andrew to put in Wymack with such a little comment and that is another relation we brush over so much in the fandom

Damn man just… I love this line???

That’s also his immediate response to find out that Wymack and Abby are together and that she made him quit smoking

He just compared himself and Neil to Wymack and Abby

He also used Neil’s name in a way that isn’t condescending or mean spirited, which is also pretty rare for him at least in the books

Anyways I might be reading into it too much, but I just thought it was such a nice little comment with more meaning to it than you’d think

hey i love your page!! can you post some renison hcs? they're just so underrated <3

ok yall know how I said that alvarez and laila were my fav lesbians? i lied, so is renison I CAN'T PICK

so renee and allison seem shockingly different at first glance — where renee is quiet, allison is brash, where renee is demure, allison is obscene

in reality? allison sobs at any animal story while renee can nod and smile through gruesome horror movies

most people outside of the foxes don't really get it, but they don't really care

what they do care about? one-upping each other. constantly.

look, canonically allison is buff as hell, that's the whole reason she was told to stop playing exy

and goalies tend to have really strong and defined arms, so renee has biceps

the two of them are constantly arm wrestling and have full on tallies and bets to keep score

bus stuck in traffic? arm wrestle. waiting for food to arrive in a restaurant? arm wrestle. players not subbing out fast enough in the middle of a game? arm. wrestle.

in their fourth year, allison impulsively asks renee to dye her hair

she dies the tips pink and purple (for the bi flag) and the two of them constantly flaunt their matching colored hair

(allison likes to gloat to andrew and neil that she and renee are the sup-queer-ior couple because they have matching gay heads)

alli and renee love playing laser tag against each other

they forget their "ooey gooey lesbian love" as nicky puts it in favor of fighting to be the first to kill the other

aaron has been trampled multiple times when renee saw allison behind him and ran him over to get her out

their favorite dates are the ones in fun, quirky places

playing pac-man in old arcades, thrift store shopping, outdoor movies

they're not basic, is what i'm getting at

neither of them are exceptional cooks (tbh most of their and dan's food comes from matt), but renee is known in the fox tower for making perfectly shaped pancakes and allison always gets her burrito-to-filling proportion perfect

they both like trying to make new desserts though

renee likes to experiment while allison is wayyy more of a picky eater

sometimes renee will randomly put in vegetables or just plain weird ingredients to trick allison (who ends up loving all these desserts but only before she finds out what they're made of. funny how that works.)

renee loves paper crafts, like paper mache, origami, etc

each year for special occasions (birthday, anniversary, holiday) allison always makes her a craft with a note written within the folds of the paper

(there is a decent amount of complaining to dan about how her nails are getting ruined. renee's smile makes it worth it, though)

on their graduation day, allison gifts renee a massive basket of all the crafts she made and they sit on their dorm floor and look through all the notes and memories they made over the years

andreil and goodbye kisses (pt. 7) ft. allison

parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 good lord why have i stretched this one concept out for so long skdflskj || part 8

allison thinks — nay, knows — that neil josten is just the cutest human being alive. certainly a badass. very threatening. will bite when provoked.

but still very cute. adorable. squish, if you will.

(also, have you seen those eyes??)

she likes to believe she is the mother hen of the newborn chick — the startled bambi — that is neil josten

and so, as an experienced, highly intellectual person, she... questions neil's taste in men

allison worries that andrew is just stringing neil along, ready to drop him whenever he pleases

(renee insists this is not the case, but what does renee know?)

anyways, allison concludes that andrew must be put to the test to confirm that he is good enough for her precious (and slightly rude) child

now, allison isn't one to perpetuate stereotypes, but andrew is a well-dressed gay man with plenty of experience in dressing up neil nicely

and, as the self-crowned queen of fashion, she knows that clothes can tell a lot about an individual

(for example, her clothes are wonderful, which means that she is flawless)

so allison decides that going clothes shopping with andreil (she cannot thank nicky enough for coming up with that ship name) is the only way to truly see if andrew is good enough for neil

so she plans. and one thursday evening, she corners andrew and neil and tells them what's going down

"neil. you and your boy— " "he's not my boy" "you and your boy will join me this saturday to go shopping at the mall. any questions?" "yes, actually— " "great, i'll see you then!"

to her surprise, andrew actually shows up with neil on saturday, twirling his car keys with a bored expression

"minyard. you are not driving"

"alright then. neil, let's go back to to bed"

"okay okay fine you can drive"

allison, with great dignity, regales herself to backseat passenger. at least this way she has a perfect view of the heart eyes transpiring between andrew and neil

(and if she sneaks in a couple of pictures of them — well, no one needs to know)

they finally reach the mall and allison is ready to start her sneaky observations

first: she spots a cute pink sweater in an egregiously bright shop window and drags neil inside, checking conspicuously if andrew follows him

he does

pleased, allison browses through the store, plucking the sweater she originally saw to try on later

after a little more looking, she emerges from the dressing room to show off the sweater to neil

"well neil? how do i look?"

"oh uh. pretty? andrew, how does she look?"

andrew sweeps an impassive gaze over her and promptly turns around without a word

allison is outraged. how dare he simply ignore neil! does he not think neil is important enough to respond to? does he not care at all? how can he just— oh

andrew returns with a pale blue sweater she had seemingly missed and throws it at her face

she goes back in to try it with a huff. surprisingly (and annoyingly), this one looks even better than the pink one did

she buys the blue one. but andrew's still on thin fucking ice

second: after the sweater fiasco, she leads andreil over to a shoe store. allison * very deliberately * walks through the men's footwear, hoping andrew will take notice of something he likes there for neil, before making her way to the women's section

she tries on a few sandals, showing them off to neil, and andrew wanders off in the middle of her runway strut

(she can't understand why. he might be gay, but surely he can still appreciate her legs, right?)

her questions are answered after andrew emerges from an aisle carrying a navy blue box, placing it in front of neil

neil stares at it. andrew kicks him in the shin

"oh am i supposed to wear it?"

andrew rolls his eyes and bends down, switching neil's old sneakers for a new pair of running shoes he found

allison nearly coos at the sight of the terrifying andrew minyard tying his boyfriend's shoelaces with such a focused look

neil loves the shoes. allison buys them for him. and maybe she approves of andrew just a little bit more

third: after a few more stores, allison is at the final stop of her experiment — clothes shopping for neil

she spends an agonizingly long hour searching for clothes neil might actually wear, but when she goes to give it to him, he's nowhere to be found

frantically, she combs through the store again, already thinking of private investigators to hire to find him

suddenly, allison spots his bright hair against the wall in the far corner of the store

she races over there, ready to give neil a piece of her mind for worrying her, until she sees what he's up to

he's kissing andrew. but it's not heavy making-out, it's not anything too explicit. it's just very adorable kissing

(allison has to bite back a laugh when she notices that andrew has to go on his toes to reach neil)

she goes to pull out her phone, but the clothes in her hand rustle, causing neil to glance her way

he winces at the massive pile of clothes, but presses a kiss to andrew's lips, then nose, before gingerly taking the clothes to try on

allison squints at andrew upon seeing the nose kiss. he scowls at her and promptly walks away in the direction neil left to

allison considers the sight she just saw. surely andrew wouldn't be willing to be so openly soft if he was just playing neil, right? right.

(damn, maybe renee did know some things after all)

allison gives a pleased smile — maybe andrew really is okay for neil — before suddenly remembering the bet that she's probably going to lose soon

but she doesn't mind losing some money anymore; she has plenty of it

all allison wants is for neil to be happy. and if andrew brings him happiness— well, she doesn't really understand neil's taste, but she supports it anyway

fuck. when did she get so soft?

andreil and goodbye kisses (pt 2) ft. kevin

you can find part 1 here :) you probs need to read that to understand this one!

part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8

neil tries to kiss andrew out of sight of the other foxes, but it's not always easy

matt knows already, of course, about neil's newfound way of saying goodbye

but keeping the others away proves to be slightly... impossible

kevin catches them first

the three of them are at night practice, but andrew was refusing to participate

"this is homophobia, you can't force me to play, kevin"

"what the fu-"

anyway. so neil and kevin are practicing. they do their thing

(andrew is most definitely not staring at neil's shorts, of course not surely he has more self-control than that)

(spoiler alert: he does not, it turns out, have that much self-control)

about an hour in, kevin and neil go on a short water break because hydration

neil jogs up to the bleachers where andrew is sitting and quietly speaks to him, out of kevin's sight

kevin leans against the wall of the court, drinking water and scrolling through his East Asian Studies group chat (no Jackson, the Chinese were not "blazing it" during the Opium Crisis)

he gets so caught up in his rant that he realizes the time is now 10 minutes after their break was supposed to end

and that's certainly unusual isn't it? because neil is just as obsessed with exy as kevin is, and it's really weird that he hasn't come to tell kevin to start practice again, oh god what if something's wrong, what if kevin wasn't paying enough attention and something bad happened shit shit SHIT

so kevin runs over to the bleachers where he remembers andrew and neil usually sit and finds... them in a very heated make-out session

and yes, kevin can admit that he feels some relief that everything's okay. it's mostly just annoyance though. what did he ever do to be cursed to see this much PDA from his roommates?

"ahem. neil. josten. get off of andrew's lap right now, we're supposed to be practicing"

neil quickly twists around at kevin's voice, nearly toppling off of andrew. he regards kevin with a sheepish look

"ah right yes i just got a bit, um, distracted"

"evidently"

so kevin thinks neil will go about disentangling himself and starts to turn away

but of course, neil lives to surprise him

instead of getting off of andrew immediately he leans in once more

kevin is resigning himself to have to physically break the two apart at this point

but instead of going in for another long kiss, neil brushes his lips on andrew's nose and gives him a softer smile than kevin is used to seeing on the striker's face

kevin cannot believe his eyes

but the pink on andrew's cheeks is certainly real. so he couldn't have imagined that

quite frankly, kevin doesn't think he has the brain capacity to come with something like that in the first place

but he doesn't say anything. yet. he and neil practice as usual, and after some cool-down stretches and a quick shower, andrew drives the three of them back to the tower

andrew shoves neil into the their room and emerges again outside to where kevin is waiting

"spit it out day, why are you acting weird?"

"nothing really. you're just... a lot softer these days. with neil at least"

"what, do you want me to start kissing you too? i thought it was easier to remain heterosexual"

kevin rolls his eyes at this

"shut up. ugh. i guess i'm just glad he's making you a bit happier"

andrew gives him an appraising look (it's not as intense as he thinks it is considering the height different but kevin decides not to bring that up)

"and if i told you i'm never happy? that i may never be happy?"

kevin shrugs. "then i'll be glad that he's helping you feel safe enough to tell me that"

andrew is quiet for a moment. then—

"don't go around giving josten all the credit for that. he already has a big enough ego"

andrew turns on his heel and walks into the bedroom, leaving kevin to realize what andrew just implied

kevin lets himself smile for a moment. no matter what he says, he really is happy for his friends. even if what he saw today was horribly sappy

he goes to bed with the knowledge that andrew and neil are in good hands with each other

(but really, he's already drafting plans on banning PDA in the court because he desperately does not want to walk in on neil and andrew again)

look this has no right being so accurate but i— the cucumber thing, i just had to expand on that

it comes to light in an interview with two other teammates

it’s supposed to be one of those chill “get to know about this celebrity” ones, so it’s more personal and less exy-oriented

so these athletes are reading tweets with questions that fans wanted to ask them

and one of them is “andrew, what are your three biggest fears?”

andrew: i fear nothing. you should fear me

his teammate: ok drama queen just answer the damn question

andrew pauses for a moment (for the dramatics of course)

“heights. bugs. cucumbers.”

“cucumbers??”

anyways, andrew doesn’t explain this answer any further and when the video drops, everyone is very confused

fans are tweeting and asking for answers

every comment section on instagram is full of questions

post-game interviews are buzzing with inquires about this very strange fear

and then one day, the internet finally solves the mystery

the video circulates around social media for days, with everyone cooing over it

there's a little kid, maybe 5 or 6 years old, with a Minyard jersey on who meets andrew in the streets and asks for a picture

(andrew, being an absolute kid-lover, complies)

so the kid puts her arms out demanding to be picked up, and while she's in andrew's arms, politely asks "mr. minyard, why are you afraid of cucumbers?"

andrew, very seriously, replies "too many shades of green. they're dark. medium. light. it's very disturbing"

the video ends with andrew ruffling the kid's hair and her running off camera

after the initial cuteness, people realize how absolutely hilarious it is that scary, buff andrew minyard is scared of cucumbers because of how colorful they are

and so it starts

at meet and greets, fans present him with cucumbers

people tweet cucumber pictures and facts to him

edits are made with andrew and cucumbers

his pr box is full of custom shirts with cucumbers on them to "brighten up his wardrobe"

numerous compilations are made about andrew's reactions to these cucumber gifts

one person even writes a multi-chapter andrew x cucumber enemies to lovers slow-burn

(one of the foxes (aka nicky) prints this whole thing out and gifts it to him for his birthday)

finally, finally, a 32 second video entitled "andrew minyard EATS A CUCUMBER ." gets uploaded on youtube on the account "jorts"

it's super grainy, vertical, and the camera is constantly shaking as the person filming laughs

but it appears to show andrew at his kitchen dunking a cucumber into a flute of champagne at 3 am

the video gets millions of views

nobody knows who's behind the account, but every few months it posts an absolutely feral video of andrew that just crashes the internet

(spoiler alert: it's all thanks to neil)

Andrew is like a cat

You can’t back him into a corner

You can’t touch without permission

Must feed him to earn his love/respect

Will fight you at any moment without warning

Stabby bits sticking out from his hands

Will get scared if you surprise him with a cucumber

Can nap anywhere at anytime

Will judge literally everything you do, but say nothing

Small

Would jump out a window to escape a situation

Thinks you’re stupid

Would probably give you a dead animal… for various reasons

Prefers cats over people

can i just say that neil, having been on the run, would be so good at hiding from the paparazzi.

like, this is why no one finds out that he and andrew are together for so long; he just parkours away from reporters and photographers and leaves andrew to deal with them (aka stare them down)

hey uh— never done something like this before but send me a number and i'll... do something with it? (lmao there's a 99% chance that this will all be andreil but that's fineeee)

physical affection prompts!

pats on the head

interlocking pinkies

smiling into a kiss

a hug after not seeing someone for a long time

giggly cuddles

chasing someone’s lips after they pull away

squishing their cheeks

brushing hands by accident

wiping away someone’s tears

lifting someone up out of excitement

back hugs

an incredibly loud and painful high-five

kissing someone’s forehead

play wrestling

the biggest, warmest hugs

kissing knuckles

tugging on the bottom of someone’s shirt

wiping away food from someone’s lips

peppering their face in kisses

chest bump

accidentally knocking your head into someone’s chin

kissing someone’s cuts/bruises/scratches

a hug that some might consider as ~too long~

confusing a handshake for a fist bump

playfully biting someone

bonus: touching feet and immediately screaming and recoiling

representing Percy Jackson’s neurodivergence

ok! so now that we have the official green light for PJO casting, i really hope that the show will integrate ADHD and dyslexia into the characters’ everyday lives and that the directors/people involved in the show will help neurotypical actors to properly portray what it’s like to have ADHD and dyslexia (or you know. just have neurodivergent actors)

I want Percy fidgeting with Riptide and accidentally taking the pen cap off and randomly ending with a sword in his hand. i want Annabeth zoning out in the middle of conversations. i want Luke giving a huge villainous speech and forgetting what he’s saying in the middle of it. I want these characters to have headaches from reading for too long, have trouble understanding maps, taking a few seconds to understand words when people speak to them

PJO has always been so advanced in including representation especially to a younger audience (even if sometimes the execution is... questionable), but I really hope that these small snippets of reality with ADHD and dyslexia in such mainstream media can help normalize neurodiversity in the common world

andreil and goodbye kisses (pt 1)

pls this is so soft i cant 😭(also a lot longer than i anticipated but that's FINE 👀)

part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8

gang we got this ADORABLE art from @super-yellow-paris go give them aaaalll the love

so andrew and neil aren't too big on PDA, but after Baltimore, leaving the other is always followed by a lingering fear

neil notices how andrew always tenses a bit when neil leaves him, even if neil told him he was going somewhere beforehand

it could him going be to the mall, a restaurant, even just lectures

neil really doesn't like seeing andrew so tense but he can't figure out what's wrong

so one night on the roof, neil straight up asks "why do you always look so stressed whenever I go anywhere?"

andrew doesn't answer for a few moments, and neil assumes he's not going to get an answer but then—

"last time you left, you barely made it back. do you really expect me to trust you now?"

oh, neil realizes. oh, he's afraid i won't come back

andrew looks like he wants to drop the subject, so neil doesn't bring it up again, choosing to rant about his Intro to Stats teacher instead

but he doesn't forget. and he starts noticing how other couples leave one another

matt and dan kiss or hug, nicky and erik say "i love you," aaron and katelyn squeeze each other's hands and look into each other's eyes

it's all very... comforting. reassuring. and neil realizes that that's exactly what he needs to do. he needs to make sure that andrew doesn't forget that neil would never leave him again, not on purpose

so he thinks and thinks and thinks

(he quickly learns that paying attention in his Sports Medicine class is a lot less interesting than thinking about andrew)

neil knows that andrew wouldn't want showy affection with lingering kisses and they haven't really gotten to the "i love you" stage yet, so he needs to figure out a compromise

and then on a cloudy monday morning, the perfect solution hits him

he and matt study together almost every thursday, so 3 days later, they have a plan to head over the library to do some homework

so matt comes up to the monsters' room where neil and andrew are to tell neil that it's time to go

neil hops up from his place curled under andrew's arm on the sofa and goes around collecting his stuff — as usual

and andrew's shoulders begin coiling up with near-unnoticeable tension — as usual

this time though, instead of walking out the door directly, neil pauses in front of andrew and sets down his books on the coffee table near the sofa

and before andrew or matt can react, neil does it

he reaches over, gently cups andrew's face in his hands, and kisses him on the nose

it's feather-light and short, but andrew freezes, his face more expressive than he usually shows, eyes wide

neil gives him a small smile shit shit shit andrew's heart is beating so fast, come on andrew get a hold of yourself say something do something and then he picks up the books delicately and leaves with a gobsmacked matt

andrew doesn't really know what to do with himself and just sits there until kevin arrives 5 minutes later and asks why andrew is so red, if he's okay, does he has a fever, can he still play exy?

andrew shakes out of his stupor, stomps over to his room, and flops helplessly on his bed to be very gay

(this is how neil finds him 1.5 hours later. he tries (and fails) not to laugh. andrew gives him a bruising kiss to shut him up)

it becomes habit though. neil treating andrew like he's something precious, holding his face so reverently, kissing his nose softly

and andrew doesn't know what to do with himself. every single time

but it's okay, he thinks. because while goodbyes might sound permanent, kisses are a promise that the other will come back