I have what I hope will be a fun little surprise theme for my April doodles - so I drew a(nother) thing for @anon-lemon stray cat Neil au because I still ABSOLUTELY ADORE it
Andrew knows the dangers of falling for the tummy scratches trick
my @aftg-mixtape fic for @jaydreamzzz is finally up! a kandrew second chances disaster of a fic featuring divorced girldad kevin and bakery owner andrew 💚 hope you enjoy this mess I very lovingly wrote 🫶
ftr yallre free to hate thea, it's unrealistic to assume every reader will like every character
bc you're against the 4yr/freshman-senior gap, bc she wasn't well-presented in her scene, bc i cxld the story that would've actually given her more time to breathe, bc you don't want Kevin with a Raven, bc her no-harm-no-foul approach to a man whose first response after any tragedy is "but can you still play", cool cool cool, that's fine by me. i have hated characters for less!
we're only revisiting her now because of the persistent argument that she somehow went out of her way to fuck a 14yo or groom kevin. unsure where or how it started, but at this point I have to assume something in the EC was blindingly unclear. so let's revisit it. not a rewrite or a retcon, but a reword of what we've already talked about before, in hopes it adds a bit of overdue clarification. and then I'mma mute her name, let the conversation die, and keep on keepin' on with my plans for her. thanks, lovies <3
Theodora Muldani "Thea"
Recruited to the Ravens as one of their token women. Advised from the get-go that the master is against both her race and her sex, and that she will have work twice as hard to earn her place. Spends years fighting her way up the ranks until the master finally approves her for starting line-up. Nominates self for vice-captain her senior year (soundly rejected). Had been seeing the captain at the time, but broke things off with him when he laughed off her irritation ("of course he wouldn't pick you, you're a girl"). Spends her senior year in a casual fling with the Ravens' starting goalkeeper.
Summer practices before her 5th year, the perfect Court officially join the lineup. Sees a lot of Jean, who follows her around wanting advice and insight. Sees more of Kevin & Riko (always together, since the two never leave each other alone in a room). Knows Riko is King, but is predisposed to be annoyed with Kevin who has already made snide comments about her goalkeeper and who dispenses nonstop opinions and judgment without invitation. They spend the next several months shit-talking each other's skills until Riko gets tired of it and tells Kevin to just fuck her already. Finding out that's why Kevin has been such a wretched bitch to put up with finally makes him interesting.
Thea drops things with her goalie, but Kevin is leery of actively pursuing her long-term when it puts her under Riko's microscope. They settle for harassing each other on the court and passing notes (sometimes using Jean as the bitter go-between). Kevin fusses at her for turning down the national team; she tells him he's better than Riko is. Bit by bit they see pieces of who they are past the Ravens, his love of history and her dream of climbing Kilimanjaro. Bit by bit they see how much they both want to be the best on the court, to be unchallenged and unstoppable. They're compatible, and Thea knows it, but Kevin has years at Evermore still, has a King!brother in his line-of-sight at all times and a master who is hawking him out to the press on a regular basis.
Thea promises to cut him out when she graduates. She has the national Court calling her back and professional teams trying to sign her to their line; she has enough to keep her busy and new lineups to hone her skills against. She'll focus on her own growth and let Kevin get through Evermore's hurdles. She says "Tell me if I should come back", and Kevin says "Yes". She jokes that he should get some practice in with the ladies while she's gone so he'll be ready for her: a joking insult against his skills to rile him up, a promise she'll wait as long as it takes, and reassurance that he isn't bound to her and can pursue other people if he so desires. Thea graduates, signs with the Houston Sirens and the US Court, and goes on to earn a fearsome reputation.
Almost two years later, the news is out: Kevin has been injured in a skiing accident and has vanished. Thea breaks her promise and tries to reach him, but his number is disconnected. She tries Jean next, and Jean tells her Kevin wants nothing to do with any of them anymore. Then Kevin starts helping at an unworthy scrap of a school, and he joins their lineup like he's not ashamed to be associated with dead-last losers. The future Thea was waiting for is burning; she puts everything she has into her own career and life to try and figure out where to go from here.
And then one day Kevin opens his mouth on live TV and says "Did you know I've never been skiing?"
She can't reach Jean for an explanation. She can't even reach Riko. So Thea breaks her promise a second time, and this time she buys a ticket to South Carolina to get the answers for herself.
(voice of a man slowly losing his mind) does it ever strike you that the plot of aftg is moved by little acts of kindness kevin offered to people who never had any semblance of it before. loving riko when no one would, befriending jean in the nest and keeping him alive through debilitating amounts of trauma, telling andrew he was worth it in a dingy high school locker room, teaching neil every night even if he knew he was about to die
Aaron the believer, Neil the skeptic, Andrew the main cameraman. Kevin does research probably. There's vague ideas for everyone else but mostly I laugh about Dan and Matt being the editors bc they make the funniest edits
Thank you @jtl-fics for enabling me and having great ideas as always 😂💕