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i just think from an outsider pov andreil is insane because you have neil abram josten, the prettiest boy you've ever met, insane colouring because he has auburn hair and electric blue eyes, son of one of the most infamous serial killers in america, connections to the mafia, was part of the reason the worst team in the nation won championships, mouths off to the press, and then you have andrew, who, for all intents and purposes, is just Some Guy™.

idk why people seem to think neil is like unaware of like slang and trends and certain jokes/innuendos like??? yes he never stayed in one place for a long time and his only consistent company was his mother ok??? he still went to school, got an education and did spend time with other people his age? he watched tv and the news and given how much he travelled, is probably actually very worldly and aware of what's happening around him. he didn't have any long-term friends that doesn't mean he didn't talk to other people his age and listen to their conversations just cos he's not chronically online doesn't mean he doesn't get dirty jokes and obvious references. sm of his and his mother's goal was for him to blend in so obviously he would've been in with all the people his age?? idk this fandom has to stop babying him i swear to god he is an adult.

sometimes i just smile and think about andrew being helplessly charmed by neil's messiness. his tendency to run his mouth at the worst times to the worst people. picking fights and booking it immediately. telling people exactly what he thinks of them. turning andrew's own words against him. his witty wordplay and easy back-and-forth with andrew, when andrew is usually so slow to converse with anyone. just. andrew being in love with neil.

nononononono y'all have it all wrong with the aftg royalty au's. kevin is the prince. andrew is the knight/bodyguard. neil is the ASSASSIN???

aftg pjo au what is everyone's cabins. i feel like neil is ares, jeremy is apollo, kevin is nike, allison is aphrodite, renee is athena, aaron and andrew are nemesis, nicky is iris, jean is hecate, matt is demeter, dan is nike.

so we have the trojans and jean is paris. kevin is helen of sparta and neil is achilles and andrew is cassandra???

andrew "so they killed cassandra first 'cause she feared the worst / and tried to tell the town / so they set my life in flames, i regret to say / do you believe me now? / they knew, they knew, they knew the whole time / that i was onto something / the family, the pure greed, the christian chorus line / they all said nothing / blood's thick but nothing like a payroll / bet they never spared a prayer for my soul / but you can mark my words that i said it first / in a morning warning, no one heard" minyard

neil "either way, we're not alone / i'll find a new place to be from / a haunted house with a picket fence / to float around and ghost my friends / no, i'm not afraid to disappear / the billboard said "the end is near" / i turned around, there was nothing there / yeah, i guess the end is here" josten

andrew "i'll drive you home / you drive me crazy / but that's not gonna stop me / i'll call you out / you call me "baby" / but that's not gonna stop me / from lying to my therapist" minyard

andrew "i'm lying to my therapist / i keep saying things like / "i never saw him and we never kissed" / now i think somehow in my mind / if i can convince her if she doesn't see it then maybe it doesn't exist / i think she's onto me / every time i say / "i'm over that son of a bitch" / i'm lying to my therapist" minyard

neil is so much of an instigator that he causes problems in order to fix them.

NEED to know what andrew's reaction to the riko roast was. like the one at the fall banquet. i NEED it. like he was high at the time so was he just grinning as neil absolutely CLOCKED riko??? did even he look a little surprised??? how was he feeling?? was he shocked??? a little attracted??? did he think, fuck, he is good. did he laugh a little and for once it felt sincere?? PLEASE NORA I NEED TO KNOW.

andrew's such a fake idgafer no way anyone ever thought this man was apathetic or soulless like...he cares so fucking much??? he beat up four grown men trying to hurt nicky (as a teenager, btw). he enrolled them all in psu so aaron could become a doctor. he threatened nicky at knifepoint not to hurt or touch neil (and this wasn't about neil specifically this was because he's been there, he's been a victim, and he wouldn't want anyone else, even this strange know-nothing kid who he finds suspicious, to experience it). he says "spoil the ending for me, did you kill him?" when renee told him about the man who raped her and she can tell he cares about her answer; he cared to know if she escaped the man who abused her even though he barely knew her at all at the time. he punched matt (a guy like twice his size) for hitting kevin. he nearly choked allison to death for slapping aaron. he freaked out so badly when neil was kidnapped; he literally strangled kevin, lapped the campus multiple times, went through his bag and phone, checked hospital records, felt fear for the first time in years...and everyone's still just like "oh yeah he doesn't have a soul." what??? he yells at someone for the first time when bee has a heart attack. he didn't tell bee about neil even though he told her about so much else because he didn't want to risk her disapproval. he had to sit in silence for a few minutes just processing how easily aaron and bee accepted his relationship with neil. he said "everyone knows now, bee" after they all found out about dr*ke's assault because he couldn't stomach the fact that he thought his loved ones wouldn't trust him to protect them now that they thought he couldn't protect himself. he bought neil armbands to match his so he wouldn't have to see the scars his father's people made on his arms. he ran to neil like all of hell was at his heels when riko threatened him. who the fuck ever thought he was apathetic or soulless.

something i think about all the time is genuinely how smart and perceptive of a person neil is. like obv it's a running in joke within the fandom that he's oblivious asf sometimes, esp about emotional and relational things but i feel like it's a pretty large part of his character just how much he sees people, especially the people he's close to. it's also what makes him so good with words, and how he always seems to know what to say, because he's so good at taking stock of situations and people. why did the riko roast (all 29390431 of them) land so perfectly and hit riko's sore spot so well? because neil could see right through riko. even though they didn't even know each other, neil knows about riko's inferiority complex, his family issues (esp regarding his father) and he goes right for the throat. obviously his conversations with andrew are also another focal point because the reason why andrew genuinely seems to enjoy conversing with neil isn't just because he has a crush on him (tho that's definitely a part of it) it's the fact that neil understands andrew as a person, and knows where to push and where to give ground in the conversation. he asks all the right questions and almost always comes to the correct conclusions with the information andrew gives him. he understands and sees andrew so profoundly and that's why so many of his words hit andrew harder than they would if it came from someone else. when he says "i want to see you lose control" it's him telling andrew that he knows andrew isn't the out-of-control psycho everyone paints him as. it's him telling andrew that he knows andrew keeps his emotions to himself, but he isn't afraid of them. when neil tells andrew "if it means losing you, then no" he's communicating to andrew that even tho andrew promised to protect neil, neil isn't willing for andrew to come to harm in his stead and in order to protect him. he cares more about andrew than he does about keeping himself safe, and that's probably the first time anyone's ever expressed that towards him (aaron probably feels the same way, only he's never vocalised it so clearly). and i think if you really want proof of just how smart neil is with his words and his understanding of the situations he's in, just go read the negotiation scene with ichirou. he's almost entirely honest during that scene and says everything he feels in the ice-cold manner of a wesninski, which is what he's trying to convince ichirou he is. while we don't know exactly what convinced ichirou, neil's persuasion definitely plays a part in it. he knows what ichirou wants, and he knows the right angle to push where he can just make it out alive and fine. even just the scene after baltimore when he thanks wymack for taking a chance on him, he just has a way with words, like he isn't a very emotional person, but he conveys all his feelings so well in the way he speaks and what he says. and despite everyone saying he's a pathological liar, i genuinely think he's one of the most honest characters in the series.

it's the way andreil could never have been casual or just a fling the way neil makes it out to be. it was never just physical. it was never just hate sex. because, they were literally in love with each other before they got together and them starting a relationship (or "nothing") doesn't actually change anything except sealing the deal and making it physical too. they actually know and understand each other maybe better than anyone else, and it might have just started out as physical attraction for andrew but you know that changed after he realised neil was more, neil was interesting, he trusted andrew despite everyone telling him not to. he took andrew at face value and was the first person to simply ask him. he respected andrew's boundaries and didn't consider andrew a monster or a psychopath for reinforcing them and protecting his loved ones. he kept his promises and fought in the face of all the odds stacked against him, all the monsters and abusers he's had to face on his tail and he refused to give up even though it might have been smarter to, safer to. and for neil, andrew is the first person to really understand him. even when neil gives his half-truth to andrew after that first trip to columbia, andrew doesn't flinch in the face of it. he doesn't look away, instead he looks at neil with "perfect understanding". andrew has felt the same desperation neil is feeling right then. he's been there, hanging on by a thread and sure he's going to die before he turns twenty, and he isn't scared of neil's past or the people after him. he tells neil to stay, and maybe that's the first time neil's ever heard anyone say that to him. andrew's the first person ever to really give neil a home, and if you think about it, he's also neil's first real friend (much as they'll both deny that they're friends). and also just andrew as a person: he is labelled as monstrous and out of control but neil knows what real monsters are, and andrew isn't one. andrew asks "yes or no?" and keeps all his promises, holds up all his deals, protects those he holds dear to him. he pretends not to care, but neil knows, he cares so much. how could anyone ever think they were casual.

after reading several of the popular aftg fanfics i am convinced: no one writes andreil better than nora sakavic herself

right so i think about this every fucking day

andrew is so real for thinking neil is a hallucination cos now that we have outsider pov on him it's actually insane that he's a real person. like this is neil josten: he's the prettiest boy you've ever met. he's the runaway son of a serial killer. he has a million dollars but is afraid of spending money. he folds his clothes a specific way so he can tell when someone's gone through his stuff. he keeps a stalker's journal on the two greatest exy players of all time. he wears coloured contacts and they're brown. he paid a busboy $100 to knock him out cold. he insulted a celebrity athlete on live tv after trying to keep a low profile. he says he's trying to stay alive while running towards death like it's a race. he mouths off to the mafia. he respects your boundaries and is the first person ever to take you at face value and not consider you an out of control psychopath. he orders hits on your abusers. he has the most electric blue eyes you've ever seen. he looks great in clubbing clothes but dresses like he's homeless. he insults someone for their "intricate and endless daddy issues" while his father is a convicted mobster and serial killer. he didn't give a fuck when his teammate was killed. everyone seems to like him even though it's clear he's hiding a million secrets. he doesn't catch on to the many many hints you're giving him. he calls you out not for being a danger to others but for being a danger to yourself. he thinks you should be protected as well as trusting you to protect him (and you think, how can someone be a victim and a protector?). he doesn't give a flying fuck what literally anyone thinks about him. he comes back from being waterboarded and tortured and abused for weeks (to protect you) and is still as feisty and bitchy as before. except now he's a redhead and has many more scars. he is possibly the first person to ever make the active decision to protect you. he's willing to put himself in harm's way again and again and again so he won't lose you. he always has a cigarette but he never smokes. he says "you're not actually a sociopath are you?" and "the next time someone calls you soulless i might have to fight them". even though he's messy and a little oblivious he's sees you. he might be the only person to ever want you off your drugs. he wants to see you lose control, is aware that you're not out of control, you're actually so controlled and restrained all of the time and he wants to see you feel something, he wants you to be angry, be angry at him. he riles you up on purpose to see you show emotion, feel something. he's a runner and yet he's still possibly the bravest person you've ever met. he gets kidnapped and comes back even more bruised and battered than before and he's still a mouthy little shit who bitches at the press and cuts deals with the yakuza. he's most of the reason why the worst team in the nation ends up winning championships. he shoves a guy clean off his feet because they body checked you. he punched celebrity athlete riko moriyama in public, for you. he threatens him, for you. he's almost killed on live tv. he mouths off to the fbi. he watches the (second) best exy player in the world get shot. he also watches his father, notorious serial killer and gangster, get shot in front of him. and he laughs. he smiles. he kisses you and is never gonna run again and he's free and he wants to be with you, he wants you.

aaron saying "neil isn't family, not with the way you look at him" further cemented my STRONG belief that even tho andrew doesn't verbally express his feelings a lot and is described as being deadpan he has the BIGGEST heart eyes for neil "pretty boy pipe dream" josten.

actually neil hating baseball is the realest thing about him

andrew "told my friends i hate you but i love you just the same" minyard and neil "pick your poison babe, i'm poison either way" josten

i think some people need to understand that saying a character is an objectively terrible person is not robbing a character of nuance.