#he's the reason protag even MADE tenet; he went back and informed the protag of the inverted time & he inspired the protag to create the

[season-two]

i think the beauty of tenet is that both the protagonist and neil know that it won't last forever but they want it to so desperately that they'll go back in time just to relive the memories

[iamtheprotagoneil]

@cutekitten6 okay let’s do this (reading through your tags on my posts is my one of my favorite things to do since i made this blog btw. you’re so precious. i appreciate you a lot, dude!)

#bruh the pure romance of their name meanings man #nolan really out here playing us lmaooo #but yo yeah neil introducing himself to protag with his real name #goes against what we saw established with clemence posey's character having strict division boundaries #to keep their identities hidden #even ives and wheeler could be pseudonyms because they are professionals who know the dangers #but neil? #neil just wants for his beloved to know his real name #when he sees him again #because you know when older protag sees young neil #neil def would flirt with him and not think twice about giving him his real name #regardless of whether he searched for tenet or was brought in #neil is just a sappy love bug like that wow #iamtheprotagoneil (via)

i think when it comes to neil, the protagonist was always willing to bend the rules a little. he would allow neil to use his real name - middle name or whatever you hc it as, really - because in his head, he couldn’t really think of neil with any other name (like us, really). he must have spent days, weeks, months even, obsessing over this one guy that showed up to save his life, then ultimately died for him. he called him neil so much in his own head as he went through the mission again, that he just couldn’t imagine calling neil as anything else. so he’d allow neil to use his real name, because the protagonist relied on it just as much.

and, god, neil would definitely flirt, but i don’t think he genuinely meant it – or at least, he didn’t mean it at first. he started out as just a way to get close to the protagonist. he put on this charming persona, always smiling with an alluring gleam in his eyes that he knew people wouldn’t be able to resist. he insisted on using his real name because he wanted to build a foundation of trust between him, wanted the protagonist to let him in – in ways that neil knew he wouldn’t with other agents, or people in general – so neil could finally figure him out.

and the protagonist allowed him all of it, easily. sure, he wouldn’t have access to any classified information, but the protagonist still trusted him with much more than he did any regular tenet agent. neil still held some doubts, but the closer they got, said doubts began to wade and wane. it was something in the way the protagonist’s said neil’s name – with warm, with familiarity, with a certain sort of affection that neil was beginning to catch for himself.

so yeah, neil flirted, at first, with hidden intention, but as it went on, it became less about getting a clue into the protagonist, and more about getting the protagonist all for himself.

#hmmmmm yeah #im actually now thinking about this #and what if its sorta both #what if neil is his middle name #and he usually goes by his first name but changed it to his middle because #1. job security in tenet is top priority #but also #2. the first time protag sees neil again and neil is shiny and new #he calls him neil (either as a 'do i know you" shtick) #(which makes neil think hes flirting with him) #(or in a breathy realisation that neil just so happened to hear and turned around being like yeH?) #and neil just decided that yup neil is what I'll go by now (via)

okay, listen....... what if, neil was the name the protagonist gave to him? what if, after neil recovered from his test – dying in some way for a mission, refusing to give up any information pertaining it and his teammates, just like the protagonist once did – the protagonist met with neil, and just casually, unthinkingly, called him neil.

neil would pause, looking at him strangely because the protagonist must have known his name already, must have read it on the files they had on neil. he didn’t voice his question, but the protagonist still saw it in his expression, in the confusion passing through his gaze.

“that’s your name, from now on,” the protagonist explained, in addition with what priya had once told him, that they needed the secrecy to protect not just themselves but also the mission they would go on. then, he added, a bit for forlorn, “if you don’t like it, you can pick another one.”

he said it, and there was nothing in his expression or his voice that betrayed his words, but somehow, neil could still hear the hesitant, the way the protagonist didn’t actually mean it – was hoping against it. neil watched him for a moment, trying to gauge more than what could very well be a delusion on his own parts, before shaking his head.

“no,” he said, titling his head a little, considering, “neil’s fine, i think.”

the protagonist didn’t exactly exhale in relief, but the relief passing was unmistakable. neil smiled, didn’t mention it, only thinking about how the road ahead of him would be so interesting.

(there’s just no shortage of ways we could go about this. n*lan handed us a giant sandbox that we can mess with as we please lmao)

#HAHAHAHAHA #i wanted to point this out in the fic you wrote out of my kat jealousy ask #because you wrote that neil left his older protag two weeks before he died #and i was like HMMMM THAT DOESNT SEEM RIGHT BUT ILL TAKE IT (via)

lkfjsdlkfjsdlkfj BRO THE SHAME. that was a giant bruh moment for me, goddamn. honestly competely forgot about that science mumbo-jumbo, only focused on protagoneil ripsdlfkjslkdjfsldkfj i’mma go back and fix that part of the fic later, right now that screenplay really needs a good reading 🙈

#bruh for some reason this gives me doctor who/river song vibes #not like i didnt have those vibes the moment the movie ended for me the first time lmao (via)

yeah, my friend chris directed me to river song/the doctor because i don’t watch doctor who and all i got to say is 😭😭😭😭😭😭

#BRUH I MADE A PROTAGONEIL COLLAB PLAYLIST A WHILE AGO #PLEASE ADD THIS TO IT IF YOURR INTERESRED HMU BECAUSE YO (via)

bro where can i find this playlist? i’ve been looking for some good songs that would fit these two for a while now. only that song by labrinth truly hits all the points for me.