To Anyone Who Had An Emotional Connection To Wymack While Reading Aftg: I Know What You Are

To anyone who had an emotional connection to Wymack while reading aftg: I know what you are

(I'm crying over a fic because Wymack hugged Neil)

For all of aftg’s tragedies, the one that gets me the most is the fact that it isn’t real and I will never see an edit of Kevin Day switching his racket.

"omg those are the exy monsters they're so scary"

you mean nicky? with a mortgage, husband and two kids?

neil? canonically a math nerd who enjoys cross country?

aaron? the pre-med student dating a cheerleader?

kevin? worlds first almond-mom-history-nerd?

andrew? the boundary respecting ice cream addict?

like yeah ok they've killed people but like also they have a cheese drawer so just calm down, be respectful, and don't start punching people - you'll be fine.

hc that immediately after the events of the trilogy neil crashes so hard. from christmas onwards his body has been abused and in various stages of healing and he is running through it all on adrenaline. this boy wins the championship and secures his safety and i bet just turns off.

there's no nathan or riko to be running from. the season is over, he has his trophy. there is nothing immediately pressing that concerns his performance on the court or his/andrew's/the team's safety and his body finally gets to come out of fight or flight and man is he fucking tired.

hey hold on a sec. we talk about what baltimore was like for kevin, neil, andrew, but can we talk about wymack for a second. Can we just.

the year before the twins and nicky signed at psu, two of wymack's foxes, ian and kirk, died in a car crash.

the next year, kevin day broke his hand and went to wymack, the only person he thought would keep him safe.

the year after that, seth gordon, the only surving member of wymack's original lineup, overdosed after he was so nearly clean, and it almost destroyed allison.

months later, andrew was attacked in columbia and committed to easthaven. aaron killed someone. andrew was gone and the others came back shattered.

then neil claims to go home for the holidays, they don't hear from him all of christmas break, and on new years, neil calls him and asks wymack to pick him up from the airport. he's there instantly and god, he looks half-dead. neil sees the 4 tattoo and tries to cut it off his face. all he can say is that he didn't sign to the ravens.

then there's the blood in the locker room. wymack can't push away the feeling that something's getting closer, something is coming to hurt his foxes and there's nothing he can do to stop it.

then. the game at binghamton. neil looks on edge but wymack doesn't ask what's wrong. neil and andrew are above his paygrade. then the riot. he can't see any of his kids in the crush. he finally pulls them all out, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight–

neil's gone. neil's gone and they can't find him. andrew can't find him. neil got taken by someone. what was that like for david wymack? did it feel too familiar? did he look at his kids and think not again, i didn't lose another one again. does it ever scare him. does it terrify him. when aaron came back from the police station in columbia, twenty four hours in holding and he couldn't look wymack in the eye, did he think what if i can't save these kids? when andrew was lying in a hospital bed, too drugged to react, did he think what if i can't give them their second chance? when neil grabbed that knife, when he fell to pieces on wymack's kitchen floor, when he came back to them in baltimore, bloody and broken, did wymack think why am i always too late?