perfectcourts

[perfectcourts]

*forfeits my humanity to read a trilogy in a week* oh man

[perfectcourts]

“you don’t know fear until you know me.”

poem from the blog widowbitesandhearingaids

don’t repost | my instagram 

[perfectcourts]

i know a lot of people think that neil isn't a huge fan of touching or cuddling because his mom never showed him a lot of affection. but i think in the books he mentions how his mom never really showed affection towards him, but he knew how much she cared about him because of how tightly she held him at night while they slept--he knew, at least subconsciously, that he was her baby, and she'd do anything to keep him safe. so in my mind, one of the most important pieces of neil's love language is being held.

i think after a tiring day of class, a rough game, a sleepless night, or just a long day, neil goes to andrew and holds out his arms, question on his face. andrew will allow a couple seconds of fronted apathy, then carefully bundle neil into his arms and hold him tight. neil curls into himself, making himself and small as he can, and buries his face in andrews neck, curls his fingers in andrews shirt or locks his arms around andrew's neck. sometimes neil will wordlessly tug andrew to the couch or bed and andrew will let him curl up against andrews chest. andrew pretends to be exasperated, berates neil for being so needy; but it's obvious he enjoys it by how tender his touches become, how he breathes in neil's smell and kisses his hair. neil will make little contented sounds and andrew will kiss his head in reply.

this is how andrew starts re-associating touch with love and safety rather than danger: andrew is a protector, a caretaker, at heart, so holding neil when he needs it is easier than a lot of other kinds of touch. to andrew, this is just another part of looking after his boy. their love language is protecting/being protected; this act--not just cuddling, but holding and being held--is, in my mind, a big part of their relationship.

ugh. really i am just touch starved and andreil cuddling gives me lots of extra HP, so. yeah. here.

[perfectcourts]

I’m just never gonna color it.... neil gave no real description so here ya go

[perfectcourts]

🦊🥍🥍🥍🦊

[perfectcourts]

neil feels are no joke, name a more depressing person than this guy

[perfectcourts]

updated with a new andrew playlist my sister made!! the more the merrier

aftg playlist masterpost

i can’t seem to stop coming up with ideas for aftg playlists, so i thought i’d post them on here & update as i make more. (i can’t be the only one who gets to enjoy these materpieces)

1. andrew’s lot: imagine you’re one of the foxes and you’re waiting for practice to start, but kevin, neil, andrew, aaron, & nicky aren’t there yet. you’re frustrated and annoyed but you hear obnoxiously loud music approaching the locker room from the parking lot outside. basically, imagine the shit that andrew blasts in the maserati just to get a reaction out of kevin and aaron. that’s the playlist. [shuffle for best results]

2. bird set free: jean moreau. that’s it, it’s just jean moreau’s journey from the ravens to the trojans in a playlist. [best to listen in order]

3. andrew minyard: pretty self-explanatory, but it’s a chronological playlist of andrew’s life from his childhood to his time at the spear’s house, to juvie, meeting nicky & aaron, attending psu, meeting neil, thanksgiving, easthaven, and all the way to the domestic ending he gets featuring a boyfriend and two cats. [100% listen in order]

BONUS:

my sister has some sick aftg playlists too, so i’m gonna give her some free promo.

1. palmetto state foxes: ten songs. one for each character in order of the foxes lineup. brilliant.

2. kevin day’s ipod: yeah, kevin listens to avril lavigne on his walks between classes and queen while working out. trust me, she knows.

3. aaron minyard: aaron is one of her biggest comfort characters, so obviously she had to make him a flawless playlist. pls listen to this in order because it goes so smoothly from his childhood to meeting andrew to meeting katelyn to thanksgiving and everything. probably her best aftg playlist so far.

4. the emotions of andrew minyard: another andrew playlist!!! shuffle for best listening experience of all the emotions andrew goes through in all the books and i promise it’ll be worth it <3

[perfectcourts]

aftg hc of the day: on longer bus rides, neil will sit in the seat in front of andrew and lean over the back to talk to him just so they can spread out a little more. andrew doesn't mind at all except when neil falls asleep. he doesn't sleep much on the bus, but when he does his neck is always at the most uncomfortable angle, so of course andrew has to get up and sit next to him so he can rest his head on his shoulder

[perfectcourts]

ok listen i know nobody really wants to see all for the game get adapted because it’ll inevitably get screwed up but imagine a mockumentary tv series of the daily lives of the foxes. that would be so fucking funny. neil joins the show and we know absolutely nothing about him but we get a bunch of clips edited together of kevin knocking his racquet out of his hands during practice and avoiding even the most basic interview questions. interview clips of dan and renee trying to be positive like “yeah i think practice is going pretty well!” and we just get clips of matt and kevin yelling at each other and andrew upending an entire sports drink onto seths head. during allison’s interview aaron is also seen walking around in the background with nicky on his shoulders cackling and trying to hit the ball on the ground with andrew’s racquet. more domestic shit like kevin opening the fridge in the dorm to see it’s entirely filled with jars of mustard. (“andrew why is there only mustard in the fridge” “well you got mad when i used some of yours to make a sandwich so i figured i’d make it up to you. look it’s even the fancy french sort you like” *kevin looks deadpan into the camera while andrew proceeds to butcher the french on the label*)

[perfectcourts]

him, again <333

listen is there a neil josten aa i really think i’d need to go

[perfectcourts]

study with aaron

[perfectcourts]

more kevin and neil headcanons that no one asked for but im delivering anyways

☆they both have like 30 friendship bracelets from each other because it started as a joke but now its……….competitive ☆THIS VINE ☆kevin, texting neil: answer your phone i need to talk to you ☆neil: ok hold on i cant find it ☆kevin: ok ☆kevin, 5 minutes later: youre a terrible teammate you know. youre killing me. youre killing your striker ☆when press bring up the ravens at inappropriate times they both like to pretend theyve never heard of them and have no idea who they are ☆Physical Altercations over uno ☆before games neil sits on kevins shoulders and they wont stop challenging the other team to joust with their exy racquets ☆wymack: kevin neil is swearing on camera again, go clean up after him ☆kevin, rolling up to neil with the cameras still on: what the fuck dude ☆when the team stays overnight for away games kevin and neil like to go out and try to find the shittiest 2am diner they can get to, and then they rate it afterwards. they have a list ☆they tried to study together once but it backfired spectacularly and they spent 5 hours talking about exy instead. math final who ☆theyre Those Sport Dudes who yell at the tv and get up and walk around the room with their hands in their hair when they watch games ☆just sit down and shut the fuck up PLEASE ☆they go to those service dog training places and sit on the floor and let puppies slobber all over them  ☆blackout drunk kevin, mumbling barely distinct backstreet boys lyrics, gets fireman-carried by a furious neil back to the dorm ☆they enable each other too much. in all aspects of life ☆what im saying is they need a Mom Friend to tell them when to stop bc otherwise theyll keep hyping each other up until theyre dead ☆kevin: keep the kitchen clean and safe or so help me god ☆neil, a travesty to god and the church and everyone who witnesses him, who has been kicked from the kitchen 6 different times and is about to make it 7 by detonating the everloving shit out of this frozen pizza at 3750 degrees: of course ☆carly rae jepsen stans ☆kevin knows neil leaves his phone fuckall places so he very secretly calls it and when neil goes to pick it up and answers, kevin, on the other line, sitting on the living room couch 2 rooms away, pulls a ‘since youre up wanna get me the protein shake from the fridge’ and neil HATES. HIM.

[perfectcourts]

I LOVE THEM SO

[perfectcourts]

Spooky season?

Every platform already hate quality of this picture 💀

[perfectcourts]

big hands neil, big hands neil, big hands neil, big h-

[perfectcourts]

Happy Birthday, Twinyards!

I hope you guys enjoy this super short drabble :) I couldn't resist writing something for them!

----

The doorbell rang around four in the afternoon, and Aaron heard two pairs of feet stomp down the hallway to try to answer it first. He’d been in the middle of chopping some zucchini while Katelyn finished ordering the pizza for that night. It was going to be the weirdest dinner ever, because Aaron wanted ravioli and Andrew eventually decided on pizza after suggesting a cookie cake four times, which had also been purchased.

They were turning thirty five this year. Aaron had hoped it would take longer to start feeling old, but he’d been feeling old ever since medical school, so this year was no different. Just another day on the calendar that marked ‘you made it! Hooray!’ than anything else. Usually, celebrating his birthday consisted of hanging with his beautiful wife and daughters, talking on the phone with his cousin and calling his brother for a two minute exchange. But this year his oldest daughter Sophia finally understood the concept of twins and demanded to know what her Uncle Andrew does on his birthday if it’s the same day.

Aaron really had no clue, but he figured he spent it with Josten, so he told her as much. She asked if he got presents, and Aaron had hesitated long enough for her to get her answer. Now, they were finally having a joint birthday party for the first time in fifteen years.

It wasn’t for a lack of trying. Andrew and Neil lived almost three hours away, and birthdays just weren’t their family’s thing. Sophia and her sister, Isla, were used to parties, but Aaron knew that he and Andrew never were, so something private was more than enough. Still, Aaron had made sure to let his brother know that he was more than welcome if he wanted to come, even if it was out of the way and during the exy season. Andrew had declined every time, so if he was going to come this year, it couldn’t be Aaron who asked.

Andrew had the biggest soft spot for his nieces, spoiling them rotten and going out of his way to come babysit once in a while. Aaron remembered the conversation his brother and Sophia had pretty clearly: “Uncle Andrew, can you come here for your birthday?” she had asked, cradling Aaron’s cellphone in her hands. “Cause I made you a card but I don’t have stamps! How can I mail it without stamps, Uncle Andrew?”

Obviously, Andrew had suggested something terrible and probably illegal, because the next day Aaron could’ve sworn he saw his seven year-old daughter trying to bribe the mailman, but Katelyn had laughed at that suggestion and Sophia had never explained when asked. He blamed Andrew for teaching his children the art of avoiding the question as well.

“Hey,” Katelyn called, bringing Aaron out of his thoughts. He put the knife down and stared at the half-chopped zucchini, wondering how long he’d been lost in thought. “You good?”

“Yeah,” Aaron replied, and it was true. Honestly, he was sure he had been anticipating this moment, because there was a small part of him that wasn’t sure if Andrew would actually come. But hearing his daughters babble about random things as they led their uncles - oh shit - into the living room was just about perfect.

This night would be a disaster, but a welcome one.

~*~

By the time the food had been eaten, presents had been opened and the two girls got to scream-sing happy birthday, the sun had long since set and Aaron knew his brother wouldn’t be staying much longer. Andrew had walked out the backdoor, probably overwhelmed and needing a minute, so Aaron took that opportunity to find the small present he’d wrapped just a few days ago in his closet. He avoided the kitchen as he made his way to the backdoor, flipping the box between his hands a few times.

He couldn’t remember if he’d ever gotten his brother a gift before.

Opening the door and stepping into the chilly night air, Aaron was almost surprised to not smell any smoke from a cigarette. Instead, Andrew was sitting on one of the back porch steps, leaning against the railing and staring at the small splatter of stars in the dark sky. Aaron approached slowly, sitting down on a step below and shivering.

“Should’ve gotten a jacket,” Andrew said.

“Yeah,” Aaron agreed. He looked down at the box in his hands, wrapped in the pastel wrapping paper that Katelyn had gotten for the girls’ birthdays, trying to work himself up to handing over the gift. Andrew didn’t rush him, which didn’t help at all, because if he did then maybe Aaron wouldn’t feel like chickening out.

Was this seriously the first gift he’d gotten for Andrew?

Wordlessly, he turned and held out the small box until Andrew took it, then shoved his hands in his pockets. “Happy birthday,” he said quietly, staring at the porch steps. His heart pounded as he heard Andrew flip the little box over a few times, the contents rattling inside, but he didn’t take long to finally open it. Aaron almost held his breath while he waited.

“Aaron,” Andrew eventually said.

“It’s for emergencies,” Aaron quickly started to explain. “What if something happens and the girls need you? What if I break my leg, or something? Or if you’re going to watch them overnight and need to lock the door?” He paused for a moment, then finally looked up at his brother holding the silver key loosely like he’d hold a cigarette, staring at it intensely. Aaron cleared his throat and shifted. “You don’t have to keep it. But I’d prefer if you did.”

Andrew was still quiet. It was almost like he was frozen, and for a second Aaron thought he’d done the wrong thing, but slowly the furrow between Andrew’s eyebrows relaxed, and he moved to hold the key tightly in his fist. “I didn’t get you anything,” he mumbled, almost as if he was upset about it.

“You’re here,” Aaron pointed out, standing up and walking towards the door. “That’s what I wanted.”

Silence, again, but Aaron didn’t mind. He walked back into the warm house and into the kitchen, where his wife was trying to wipe frosting from the cookie cake off of Isla’s face and Sophia handed one of her toy teacups to Neil, who somehow managed to look both completely out of his element and also in it.

Yeah, it was a good birthday, he decided, stepping forward to join the fray.

[perfectcourts]

queer as in gay but also queer as in unusually and exceedingly peculiar and altogether quite impossible to describe