In Aftg, Words Often Go “in One Ear And Out The Other” When Neil’s Listening To Others, But Never

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

the real reason seth had to die wasn’t so that the team could all work together and make it to the finals, bc honestly i bet they could’ve done that with seth there. no, it’s because he was way too hetero

i absolutely ADORE when people say stuff like “head canon that neil and andrew dance to christmas music when no one is watching🥺” because like they absolutely do not but i love the enthusiasm

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

Marissa: hey neil, what's your number?

Neil, visibly texting: i don't have a phone.

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- 

neil actually cleaned out his cuts and burns after lola tortured him??? while he still thought he was going to die???? like i cannot emphasize enough how much that hurts. i literally had a blister that rubbed off on my foot and cried for days afterwards whenever i tried to clean it out with water, and here neil is even using s o a p?????? it paid off bc he lived and his wounds didn’t get infected but ow

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 need to reread all for the game

my knowledge of west virginia comes solely from aftg and that one song, and i would like to suggest aftg where everything is the same except the ravens’ fight song is “take me home, country roads”