#the one and only text andrew ever sent on the groupchat

[cactiunderyourfeet]

[senorarelojes]

Fic: But Not Tonight (4/?)

Summary: Dave asks his best friend Alan to go to the prom with him. Pairing: Dave/Alan Notes: One of the silly little things I wrote for @pinksyndication @what-could-have-been @songsofgayanddevotion @rvphinas-blog!

Part 1: here. Part 2: here. Part 3: here.

.

Over the weekend, Dave’s mum and sister take him to Eastgate to shop for his prom clothes. Nothing catches his fancy, especially not the hideously old-fashioned tweed suits that his mother keeps insisting that he try on. Dave sneakily texts Alan to find out what he’s planning to wear so that he might get something matching, but Alan keeps insisting it’s a surprise.

In the end - with Sue as mediator - Dave and his mum finally agree on a single breasted white blazer from Topman, coupled with slacks, a black shirt and a skinny grey tie. The blazer is a little too loose around the waist for Dave, so when they get home, Sue fetches her sewing kit and helps him take it in a bit.

“Very fetching, very smart,” Sue teases him when Dave models the whole outfit in front of her full-length mirror as a trial run. When he stares at himself all he can see is a pale and terrified kid, he doesn’t feel smart. “Alan is a very lucky bloke.”

“What if he doesn’t like it?” Dave is aware that he’s just being dramatic, but it’s Sue - the only person who knows him better than Alan - so he doesn’t care. “What if he thinks I look hideous and changes his mind?”

“Then he’ll be the stupidest bloke in Essex,” Sue says firmly, grabbing Dave’s shoulders to turn him back to the mirror, her eyes quickly scanning his outfit for anything else that needs fixing. “But we both know he’s not stupid, right? You’re always going on about how smart he is.”

Dave is unable to help the dreamy smile that appears in the mirror. “He really is.” 

Sue rolls her eyes in affectionate exasperation. “Alright, alright, Romeo. Now come on, prom boy-- corsage, yes or no?”

***

Dave doesn’t see Alan much for the next few days leading up to prom, because Alan is busy with his Grade 8 exams as well as his final project for AV Club. They still text like normal, which assures Dave that Alan hasn’t changed his mind and they really are going to prom together. 

On the day before the prom, he's hanging out with Fletch and Mart in Fletch’s room and discussing the logistics for the dance. They have pooled together enough money to rent a fancy limo now, because Dave has thrown in all his savings from working at Asda all summer and Alan told them in the group chat to add in his earnings from giving the neighbourhood kids piano lessons. “Vince said his cousin works at the car rental place,” Fletch informs them, counting their combined money along with his and Martin’s contributions. “So he can get us a really good discount.”

“Thank fuck for Vince.” Dave twists one of his rings around and around his finger, wondering if his nerves will abate anytime soon. “So what time are we setting off?”

“I’ll go pick up the limo from Vince at 7.30,” Fletch says decisively. “Then we’ll go by the quickest route: first I’ll go pick up Mart, then we’ll swing by Alan’s, then you’re the last stop.”

Martin’s shaking his head. “No need, we can just pick up both Dave and Alan together. Right?” he says, shooting Dave a knowing look.

“Why?” The frown between Fletch’s brows deepens as he turns to Dave. “You two getting ready together?”

“Erm--” Dave rubs the back of his neck.

“Oh come on, An.” Martin is laughing now. “Haven’t you figured out that they’re each other’s dates?”

Dave’s face suddenly feels way too warm as Fletch’s mouth drops open in shock. “What the fuck?” 

“Andrew, language!” Mrs Fletcher scolds from the kitchen.

“Sorry, mum!” Fletch calls back with a wince, glaring at Martin and Dave who are giggling at him.

“Wait, how did you know?” Dave asks Martin. “Did Al tell you?”

“No, but you’ve been bloody nervous for the past few days,” Martin astutely points out. “You weren’t even this nervous when you first asked Joanne Fox to go out with you. So I inferred it must be someone truly important.”

“That doesn’t mean anything,” Dave says a little sulkily, although he doesn’t know why he’s bothering since he’s pretty much caught. Martin might be the quietest person in their group, but he’s also the most perceptive, and Dave has heard him make some horrifyingly shrewd observations over the years.

“True,” Martin says thoughtfully, picking up Fletch’s battered ukulele to strum on it. “However, for the past few days, you and Alan have been sending each other these annoying little emojis in the groupchat--”

“So that’s what those were about?” Fletch interrupts. Martin shoots him a pitying look.

“Have you ever seen them do that before?” he patiently points out.

“Alright, point taken, Sherlock,” Fletch huffs at him.

Martin turns to flash Dave his trademark crooked grin. “So, am I right?”

Dave figures they might as well know about it now instead of finding out tomorrow, so he quickly nods while Martin looks smug and Fletch is still blinking in amazement.

“Wait,” he says tentatively. “So the eggplant emoji Alan sent wasn’t about what he had for dinner?”

Dave can’t help it, he bursts out laughing while Martin pats Fletch’s knee in consolation.

[okneiljos]

aftg headcanons

sorry if this is a mess but i have a lot of feeling/thoughts about this

• matt has donned “true friend” by hannah montana his and neil’s song okay

• neil is a runner and goes on runs a lot when he needs to clear his head and stuff so like what if the foxes started running with him

— kevin goes with him first (nicky was chilling in the dorm eating some ungodly snack and kevin was glaring at him and had this disgusted look so nicky laughed and with a surprise attack got kevin to swallow two whole bites)

 • so kev is like no i need to work off these calories immediately and he sees neil getting ready for a run and just joins him 

       — he and kevin only talk about exy, it’ll take a while for them to actually be able to talk about anything else, but it does happen           

       • matt is second cause he sees them jogging out the window and is like “well shit i didn’t know neil was open to company on his runs (cause sometimes he’s not) and decides he’ll join him next time

— matt is neil’s best bro so they talk about whatever and neil is like since when has this happened but he’s fine with it and is actually glad for the company 

     • a few weeks later it’s dan, then nicky who won’t shut up and keeps blabbing his head off but by this point neil finds it endearing, then allison who tells neil how pretty he is and how she could make him look and i quote “bitchin’” if he let her do his make-up, he politely declines. renee asks him if she can join and neil was going to say no since she unnerves him but he’s trying hard to get over that and says yes and they don’t speak other than her occasional humming

• whenever “circle of life” from lion king and matt is anywhere neil he will pick him up and sing along and all the foxes have so many videos of this along with zoomed in pics of neil’s face while it’s happening and they all think it’s the funniest thing ever (they mostly put on the song just to see it)

• they all have so many videos and pictures of neil and kevin’s reactions to things. kevin mostly to their unhealthy food choices (so they purposely order the thing on the menu most likely to give them a heart-attack) and neil to like anything.

    — they have compilations of neil going off on press and then panning over to kevin who is standing with his hand over his face sighing and muttering things like “why does wymack even let him do this he knows by this point” and “i’m going to murder him at night practice” and “why do i even try like honestly god why are you so against me”

    — they all try to get neil to say his iconic “i’m fine” so they can record it and pan over to any one of the foxes faces like their on the office. they have to have hundreds of these videos by this point honestly. dan puts them all together and it’s more than an hour long, at one of the sleepovers they watch it all and neil is cursing them while they laugh and andrew is muttering “idiot, do you know the definition of that word?” 

• all of them have a lot of sleepovers. they’ll watch movies (they take turns picking) and eat snacks and junk food that kevin complains about and they sometimes play games and they fall asleep on each other and its just really wonderful 

• so when the upperclassmen graduate neil is proud but also feels a little lonely but he voice calls with them all the time but he decides that isn’t enough so he gets rid of the dinosaur (his phone that andrew gave to him so he doesn’t really get rid of it he keeps it in the drawer by his bed) and gets an iphone

— after that all hell is unleashed and he is always facetiming at least one of them. andrew mostly and then matt and dan (but he sees them the most cause of dan being assistant coach) and then nicky and kevin. 

— they all try to call each other at least once a week but theres a lot of them so they have a groupchat. they talk all day in this groupchat and at least three conversations are always happening at once and pictures from the good ‘ol days and recent ones are always being sent 

— bless the thing called skype and google hangouts because now he can talk to more than one of them at once and it’s really great and he loves it and them so much

• they also try to visit each other on any special occasion and when they can’t you best believe they send cards and facetime. 

• neil is most surprised by the times that kevin initiates contact with him after he also graduates. kevin will call and text him reminding him to train and eat properly and keep his reflexes sharp and to insult his skills because kev always records and watches his games. it’s few and far in between that kevin compliments him but when he does neil feels good and proud and awed but he’d never tell kevin that

    — kevin and neil become closer okay i don’t make the rules. they call each other and talk about things other than exy but lets be real these exy junkies mostly talk about exy and each others games and the players on their teams (usually to complain or insult them) and kevin gives him advice 

• when robin comes neil doesn’t feel all that lonely anymore and they are giving matt and neil a run for their money of the level of bro-ness 

• my wife allison plays professionally and you cannot fucking tell me otherwise i’m sorry i don’t make the rules, she becomes pro and is a badass and her team beats kevin’s team once and kevin is pissy about it but he can’t be that mad (although he makes his team practice twice as long for a week straight afterword)

      — speaking on my wife allison didn’t nora say she didn’t play pro and became a fashion designer or something? anyway she still does that and she makes sports gear and work out clothes that make you That Bitch but are also comfortable and practical and she becomes even more rich. everything comes in shades of bright orange, pink, and black

     — every time she sees any of the foxes she brings them clothes from her line and she promotes the line by making the foxes put them on and model them for her. 

     — the most popular ones are matt boyd in a bright orange crop-top and booty shorts, the second most popular being neil in tight compression pants that leaves nothing to the imagination and a pink muscle tee. as soon as the picture of neil is posted his phone is ringing and guess who it is, yes that’s right its andrew. allison shoots neil a wink

     —  eventually she gets a deal with nike and designs shoes and the same thing, though this time she makes dan and renee model them for her. nicky does it on his own and send her pics of him wearing them and she posts them

     — kevin adamantly refuses to model for her but he owns everything from her line but he would never tell her that and he shows his support by taking a picture of him at the gym in the gym mirror and he’s wearing them and allison reposts it and texts him a winky face

     — everything she designs she has them try it first to see if it can withstand practical use so even after they graduate more than half the shit in their closets is bright orange only now theres also varying shades of pink 

     — she also forces her current team members to model for her and they all don’t want to at first until they actually try them and now all her teammates are always sporting her designs while training or at the gym or on court and she’s so proud of herself because she’s made something of herself without her parents 

• now on to kevin, so he learns the piano i have a headcanon (i forget if its actually canon or not but) jean is like a piano prodigy so when he and jean have their bi-weekly calls he begins asking jean for tips and its hard but kevin picks it up a lot faster than he would have expected 

i have so many thoughts on these guys so i’ll do a part two more on like renee, dan, matt, the twinyards and kev. especially aaron cause i don’t think i mentioned him but i have so many about him also so that’ll be in the second part.

[palmettofoxden]

I still can't get over the “we love neil” chat from @local-astronaut​’s  a look into Matt’s phone post. She was sweet enough to let me turn this into a series, so please check out her original post too and give it some love!

(Also, seriously check out @local-astronaut​’s blog and her a look into the Foxes’ phones series because it is soooo good)

And here’s my take on the “we love neil” chat: part 3/?

Kevin finds out about the “we love neil” chat

It happens when Nicky’s talking to Neil, reading out the upperclassmen’s responses to a picture he sent of Neil

Kevin asks if the whole team is in the chat

Nicky says “Neil isn’t. Aaron isn’t. You aren’t.”

And Kevin’s like “Why am I not?”

And he's a little offended that no one even asked him if he wanted to be, but apparently someone asked Andrew

Or, worse, someone risked adding Andrew without even asking first

And Nicky’s all skeptical like “Do you want to be in it?”

And Kevin’s like “Maybe.”

Which really means ‘Yes, but I’m trying to play it cool.’

Nicky adds Kevin to the chat and tells everyone Kevin’s in it now

There’s a stream of responses all excited about how Kevin loves Neil and how lovable Neil is

“Neil’s so popular” “look how big his chat is!” “i would join twice if i could”

Kevin doesn’t send candids of Neil to the chat like the upperclassmen and Nicky do

He doesn’t gush about the pictures that are sent like they do

Kevin sends links to articles about Neil

And pictures of sections of longer articles that just mention him (with the Neil mentions highlighted)

Links to videos of Neil being interviewed

Screenshots of exy stats with Neil’s circled

Texts about accomplishments Neil has at night practice sent when practice is over

To Neil’s face, Kevin keeps pushing him and telling him how far he has to go because Kevin believes Neil really can grow that much and has that much potential and he wants to motivate him instead of letting him get smug and satisfied with his current ability

Kevin is so proud of Neil as his protégé in the chat and tells everyone about how much Neil is improving and how much effort Neil puts in

And, sure, it’s often in a why aren’t you like Neil tone, but the others understand Kevin enough that they only get annoyed by it sometimes

Kevin doesn’t show his love for Neil the same way the upperclassmen and Nicky do, but boy does he show it and boy does he spend a lot of time keeping track of how Neil is doing and how he’s rising to exy fame

And so even though it’s Kevin assaulting their chat with a bunch of exy articles and stats, the rest of the chat reads through all the stuff and responds with excitement about how well Neil is doing and how quickly he’s improving

“he really did that!” “i know him” “neil is on fire”

Even Andrew reads them, although he doesn’t respond and actively pretends he hasn’t seen the texts, let alone read the articles or watched the videos

But then when the upperclassmen are discussing Neil’s stats and trying to remember what one of them was and someone asks Kevin about it, Andrew doesn’t even have to stop and think

He just spews out the correct answer in a bored tone and everyone is surprised that he ever knew them, let alone remembers them

Maybe Andrew doesn’t care about stats, but he cares about Neil enough that he skims or reads through the articles and his eidetic memory stores the information

When asked about Neil in interviews, suddenly the Foxes are spewing out numbers and responding to articles and all informed about Neil’s exact abilities and the response he’s getting, all thanks to Kevin

They don’t know their own stats, but they sure know Neil’s

Kevin Day loves Neil and even he doesn’t always respond to others’ messages in the groupchat, he becomes a very active member of the “we love neil” chat

Because any time he finds anything mentioning Neil he sends it to the group

Any time Neil takes him by surprise and impresses him at practice, Kevin hides how impressed he is until after practice

And then he brags about it in the groupchat

Because Kevin Day is a proud big brother who may enjoy giving Neil a hard time, but loves him so much and wants everyone else to see how much harder Neil is working than they are and how much that hard work is paying off

Also, I’ve got ideas for two more of these posts  that will hopefully be coming soon:

One where Neil gets added to the groupchat

One where Aaron tells Nicky “Add me to your stupid Neil chat. I don’t love him, but I have something I need to send to it.”