#taans headcannons

[aftgandotherbooks]

Neil would be used to sleeping in his day clothes and having running shoes with no laces he can slip on if he needed to get up and get out quickly. So he’s not used to having shoes with shoelaces right?

I can imagine he’s the type of person who forgets to tie their shoelaces up and then trips about a million times a day. One day Kevin forces Neil to wear shoes with laces on for a game thinking it’ll help him run better. BIG mistake. Andrew makes sure Neil ties his shoelaces this time because he knows how clumsy his idiot is. But Neil stupidly only ties one knot instead of double knotting like you should in a game. So, it gets to the last 10 seconds of the game, the foxes and the opposition are tied, everyone is tense. Nobody notices the Neil accidentally steps on the one end of a lace and undos his left shoe’s laces. So, Neil’s running with the ball in his net, he’s close to scoring, and on his tenth step, he trips on his shoelace and slams down, face first into the ground. What’s crazy is, while he’s falling like a baby bird’s first flight, the ball still ends up flying into the air, and while the goalie is focussed on Neil’s misfortunate fall, the ball whirls past his head and into the goal, scoring the Foxes’ final winning goal.

To this day, the video of Neil’s fall with Andy Williams’ Born Free playing in the background and the camera slowly zooming into Wymack’s face (looking like he regrets every decision he’s made in his life) is the most liked sports-related video of both TikTok and YouTube.

#aftg #all for the game #the foxhole court #andrew minyard #neil josten #kevin day #the raven king #wymack is a tired dad of nine give him a rest #aftg funny #funny #taans headcannons

[aftgandotherbooks]

Imagine with the salary that Andrew gets playing professional Exy, he’d bring up any excuse to spoil the living shit out of his nieces. The first time when he spent a buttload of money on Aaron’s twin daughters was when they were 5 years old and Andrew claimed he wanted them to learn to “clean up after themselves in the kitchen”. He bought them a whole play kitchen set with the small kitchen counter, the play microwave and stove and oven. But he didn’t stop there, he bought plastic fruits, vegetables, plastic cake, child-safe kitchen utensils, everything. Every time he came over to his brother’s house, he brought a different piece for the kitchen set. He spent every moment he could teaching them how to use everything, playing along with their role playing with a straight face. There were a few times where Aaron would come into the playroom where the play kitchen was and he would see Andrew and his two beloved daughters sitting around the small dining table with small chairs having a ‘tea party’. Andrew wanted them to learn the skills needed in the kitchen that he had to teach himself by his third foster home when he was eight years old where he had to make dinner each night otherwise he wouldn’t eat at all.

Andrew’s spoiling didn’t stop there. When the girls turned 10 he bought them each a Lacrosse set (half to irritate Neil, half to be able to segway their skills into Exy later on). He spent hours in their backyard setting up a small court for them to play without accidentally breaking any windows. They then played with him every time he visited their house (which was very frequent. He claimed he needed to check that his brother was keeping his favourite nieces alive). Eventually, Andrew allowed Neil to step in and teach them how to play “a real sport”. They loved learning from Neil because Neil was a completely different coach to them than he was to the foxes. He was kind, patient and would fake fall any chance he could to make the girls laugh. They ended up playing Exy in school after a few months of practice with Neil, which Neil and Andrew, and the girls’ parents would watch every game of theirs they could. Neil would take photos and videos every chance he could to send to the other foxes, being the proud uncle he was.

When the girls turned 16, Andrew bought them each a laptop for them to use for school. Aaron was particularly upset when he found out what Andrew had done, claiming that it was his responsibility to provide for his own daughters which Andrew shut down instantly. Andrew said with the most blank face and voice “Shut up. You’re a good father Aaron. You’re not your mother, you care for them and give them everything they could possibly need. You’re not our sperm donor either. You’re there for them. I do this because they need to be reminded that it’s not just their parents who love them unconditionally. They have other people there who care for them. It’s what we both needed.” Aaron was silent for the rest of the day, but smiled when he saw his daughters’ reactions to their gifts from Andrew.

#aftg #all for the game #the foxhole court #andrew minyard #neil josten #the raven king #aaron minyard #katelyn #aaron/katelyn #neil x andrew #uncle drew #aftg wholesome #Andrew is a good uncle #but Aaron is a good father too #they deserve so much happiness #taans headcannons

[aftgandotherbooks]

headcannon that Matt and Neil have art sundays where they have a pile of built up art equipment where they listen to music and do art together to destress

it started when Neil had a major panic attack after practice one Wednesday afternoon and ran for 3 hours straight without realising and everyone threw a giant search party to try and find him

no one wanted to admit how much it reminded them of Baltimore

so while Neil was laying on his bed recovering from the panic attack and the loss of feeling in his legs, Matt entered the room (Andrew sitting on the window bench having not left Neil’s since he was found on the sidewalk halfway to Columbia that night)

“hey buddy, I know you need to rest but I was wondering if you wanted to go shopping this weekend with me? I need to get some stuff and thought you might be interested to come along” Matt had said.

turns out, Matt wanted to get some acrylic paints at a small arts and crafts store five minutes away from campus to add to his growing collection (hidden under their bunk bed after Seth once found a watercolour paint set next to Matt’s bed and didn’t stop laughing and going on about how ‘girly’ art was).

Neil was overwhelmingly confused at the range of knowledge and understanding Matt had about the millions of types of colours, what types of brushes to use, what in the flying f**k is a painting palette knife??.

Matt- “Hey bud, can you grab me a tube of burnt umber oil paint?”

Neil- “A what amber?”

Matt- “ooooh I really want to try gauche, I heard it’s similar to watercolour but it’s so different”

Neil- “gu...ash? Gatch? Gwass?”

by the end of the shopping trip (two bags full of art supplies Matt insisted were for himself, but were really for his best buddy Neil and his fraying mental state) Neil was left with too many questions and a whole other perception of who he thought Matt was.

turns out, when Matt first got over his drug addiction, his mum sent him to weekly art classes for therapy and for Matt to use his hands in a way that is gentle and precise to counter the aggression he uses when learning to box. Matt stopped his weekly art sessions when he started university because he was too focused on not getting addicted to drugs again. 3 years later when seeing Neil starting to become overwhelmed with the lack of sleep from his nightmares, he thought that maybe art will help Neil as much as it helped Matt.

spoiler alert -> it did.

That Sunday when they got home, Matt dragged Neil to the small living room of the dorm Matt and Aaron now shared, placed a sheet of plastic on the floor (after throwing all the discarded clothes and shoes out of the way) and made Neil sit down beside it while he set a canvas on four small cups.

Matt explained acrylic pouring to Neil, showing him dozens of YouTube videos of tutorials and tips. They then mixed all the paints with the pouring medium. Matt made Neil choose the colours (Neil being the original one he is chose orange, black and a little brown like Andrew’s eyes, Matt added some gold to the final pouring cup as well for ✨aesthetic✨ purposes)

then the pouring begun. Matt’s insides slowly started coming apart while watching his always tense and alert best friend become absolutely transfixed on how the paint formed beautiful patterns and cells. It was like Neil’s anxiety was shut off for the hour they were making art.

Andrew also noticed how tranquil Neil had become compared to how he was just a few hours before when Neil went to their room that afternoon. He himself started to relax a little more knowing the one person who understood him more than anyone else had found something that can ease his anxiety in a healthy way.

Art Sunday’s became a regular part of Matt and Neil’s routine. As soon as the cousins, Neil and Kevin would come back from Columbia, Neil would head straight to Matt’s dorm where Matt would be waiting with a new art project set up.

Arts and crafts projects they’ve tried out:

-watercolour painting (Neil does not have the patience for the amount of layers needed, especially since he has a habit of never fully cleaning the brushes and his paintings always ending up a muddy brown colour)

-clay flower pot making (the first pot Neil made was in the shape of a fox, and it was actually really life-like. He gave it to Abby, who’s house may as well be a forest with the amount of house plants she owns Neil ends up loving clay pot making so much that he regularly makes flower pots for Abby who eventually starts giving some of them to Betsy since she does not have enough space left in her house)

-embroidery (Matt ended up having to call Abby for medical aide since his big burly hands got in the way and he accidentally stabbed himself with a needle when trying to make a cute rose design for Dan to hang in her dorm)

-Oil painting (Andrew refused to be anywhere close to Neil if he didn’t shower enough times to get the smell of turps out of his fingers because the idiot decided to ruin his hands by finger painting and using turps to soften some areas of the painting)

even after they were graduated, Matt and Neil still made time (an hour each Sunday) where they would video call and do fun arts and crafts which helped maintain their already strong friendship.

#aftg #all for the game #the foxhole court #andrew minyard #neil josten #tfc #andreil #matt.boyd.supremacy. #matt boyd #Matt x Neil #broship #best friends forever #art Sunday’s #headcannon #aftg headcanon #taans headcannons

[aftgandotherbooks]

I feel like the type of arguments that Andrew and Neil have are petty, and over stupid reasons. They don’t really have anything to seriously argue over since they understand each other so much, so when they do argue, it’s over the most minor thing and ends up with one or both of them acting petty for a day or two and then they get over it.

For example:

Andrew is the biggest neat freak, whereas Neil doesn’t think to clean up after himself because that was never on his mind when he was on the run with his mother. Usually, Andrew doesn’t care, he likes to clean things when he’s stressed and Neil leaving a mess gives him an excuse to clean. But, there’s one thing that Neil does that absolutely ticks Andrew off: he doesn’t clean off the toothpaste splatters on the bathroom mirror after he brushes his teeth. See, Neil is an aggressive and fast tooth brusher, preferring to get it over and done with quickly so he can move on to the rest of his morning and night routine. Unfortunately this results in small splatters of toothpaste on the mirror, which Neil doesn’t notice until one morning when Andrew asks him to clean after himself. Neil, in his rush to get changed and ready for practice, forgets. When Andrew goes to bathroom to get ready himself, he notices the toothpaste on the mirror and has to do a few breathing exercises to not go out there and drag Neil to the bathroom and rub his face in it. Instead, Andrew grabs the spare toothpaste in the cabinet and starts covering the entire mirror in toothpaste with his fingers. He then sends Neil a text saying “get back here and clean up your mess”. Let’s just say Neil’s late to practice, and when he eventually gets there (Andrew and the others having already left because Andrew likes to take his petty to the next level), he takes every opportunity to flip Andrew off, which is reciprocated every time. No other words spoken as their body language says it all. The rest of the team are confused as hell, but don’t mention it in case they become victim to the stand-off (flip-off) between the couple. The next day and every day onwards, Neil leaves the bathroom spotless after he brushes his teeth.

#aftg #all for the game #the foxhole court #andrew minyard #neil josten #the raven king #petty is the best motivator #neil x andrew #andriel #aftg neil #neil josten/andrew minyard #aftg funny #aftg headcannons #taans headcannons

[aftgandotherbooks]

TW: Drug use and talks of relapse.

Aaron and Matt become close when Aaron moves into the dorm. It’s not spoken too often about, but they’ve both suffered with addiction and bad parenting.

It started on the day Aaron was sitting on his bed, zoned out and biting his nails when Matt walked in. Matt, having come back from his lunch with Neil and the girls, noticed Aaron acting more out of it than usual the last few weeks and wanted to talk to him about it. So, Matt sat on his own bed opposite Aaron, and stared at him until Aaron looked up at him in confusion. “What?” Aaron bit out. Matt raised his eyebrows and looked at the side of the finger sticking in his mouth as he bit it subconsciously. “Oh” Aaron said just noticing it, and dropping his hand into his lap.

Matt looked him in the eyes and stayed quiet for a few more seconds, knowing that Aaron prefers silence over small talk. But, in the end Matt caved, hating the quiet sound of Aaron’s suffering. “So um, I’ve noticed you’ve been pretty quiet the last few weeks.” Aaron raised his eyebrow in question. Matt stuttered as he said “well, quieter than usual”.

Aaron glared at him for a few seconds and then sat back in his bed, staring at the corner where the ceiling met the wall in front of him. Matt continued, knowing this will be like pulling teeth, “I haven’t seen you go out with Katelyn once the last two weeks. You’re usually out nearly everyday. What’s up?” Aaron huffed then glanced at Matt at the corner of his eye. “We’re fine, if that’s what you’re asking. No bets to settle if there were any.” Aaron bitterly said. Matt rolled his eyes and tried again. “No, no bets. I’m just worried about you. Did-” Matt stopped. He knew this would go 50/50 in whether Aaron would respond or not. He tried anyway. “Did you want to talk about it? Bro, I know we haven’t spoken much the last three years, and that’s totally my fault. But… I’m always here if you need to chat.”

Aaron stayed quiet for a few minutes, Matt was beginning to think Aaron would just ignore him when he closed his eyes.

But then quietly Aaron said “I think I’m starting to relapse”.

Matt wasn’t expecting that. His heart dropped because he knew. He knew how it felt. He felt it the whole first two years at Palmetto. Matt decided to stay quiet and see if Aaron would go further. He did, “last month I-” his voice shook so Aaron cleared his throat. “I went to a party with Kate and a few of her friends, and we didn’t know they would have drugs there. Not cracker dust, like hard drugs. Like heroin. I think I saw someone sniffing cocaine at some point.” He looked at Matt’s worried expression and winced, quickly going on to explain “I didn’t do anything, and we left as soon as we saw what was happening. But-” Aaron stayed quiet again. Matt nodded and said “but you wanted to.” Aaron nodded.

Matt didn’t know what to say, he hadn’t felt that want in so long. “Yeah. And I’ve spent the last few weeks hating myself that I still want it.” Aaron shook his head desperately. “I just- I don’t want to be like her Matt” Matt assumed ‘she’ was his mom. “And I’ve made so much progress with Andrew, I don’t know how he would react if he finds out I was so close to getting high again. He’d probably try and kill Katelyn even though none of this was her fault.”

Aaron closed his eyes and put his hands on his face. Matt startled when he saw Aaron shaking, presumably from quietly crying in his bed. “Shit” Aaron bit out.

Matt had no idea how to handle this, so he did the only thing he was good at. “Aaron.” Silence. “Aaron can I-” Matt held open his arms. Aaron peeked through his hands and grimaced. But then he nodded. Matt slowly got off his bed and moved to Aaron’s side, engulfing him in a hug. Aaron, not used to this type of contact from anyone other than Kate, started sobbing in Matt’s shoulder. “I don’t want to lose it again. I don’t want to. I don’t want to-”. It was like a dam was broken now that someone has taken effort in asking Aaron if he was okay. Truthfully, Matt had a few tears escape his eyes as well, seeing Aaron break down like this.

After 10 minutes of silence that was broken only by Aaron’s quiet sobs, and then occasional hiccups, Aaron calmed down enough to speak again. “Sorry, you didn’t need to see that.” Aaron said shamefully. Matt sighed and shook his head, “No man, I should be the one apologising. I have no idea why I didn’t bring it up sooner. I mean shit you must be feeling like hell right now.”

Matt rubbed Aaron’s back one last time and moved back to his own bed, still facing Aaron. “Do you want to talk to Betsy? I know you don’t like speaking to her, but she helped me through it when your brother got me to relapse again. I have no idea what I would have done if I didn’t have her.” Aaron squeezed his eyes resentfully. Aaron had been contemplating seeing the therapist himself but he was afraid that Andrew would find out and then Aaron would spiral further thinking about his brother’s reaction to all of this. But in the end, he knew he needed to get help, plus Matt went through this himself. Matt went through it so much worse than what Aaron is going through and he’s so much better for it. Aaron nodded, “I- yeah I’ll probably have to.”

After months of therapy, and years of learning to not hate himself, Aaron learned to accept that he was a recovered addict, and that his family and friends aren’t leaving him for it. After that day, Matt was the one person Aaron would go to if he needed to talk or vent or just chill with.

#aftg #all for the game #the foxhole court #andrew minyard #aaron is so tired #aaron minyard #matt boyd #Matt just wants his friends to be happy #Matt the best hugger #tw: drugs #tw: relapse #taans headcannons

[aftgandotherbooks]

TW: Depressive episode

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Okay, imagine Andrew going through a depressive episode for a month and a half. Consequently, if it weren’t for Neil washing him when Andrew is at his worst, and helping him to the shower when he’s at his most energetic (which allows him a few steps to the bathroom where he would collapse on the shower floor while the water sprays on him), Andrew doesn’t have the energy to maintain his everyday routine of shower, shave, brush teeth and brush hair. This causes Andrew to grow out a bit of a scruffy beard. Eventually when he starts feeling back to his more apathetic self, he goes to shave it off, but Neil makes a noise (almost like pained puppy whose tail just got stepped on) and Andrew pauses to look at Neil with raised eyebrows. Neil tries his best to look everywhere but Andrew’s eyes, trying not to pout like a 5 year old. “What.” Andrew states. “Can you just…” Neil starts biting his lip which catches Andrew’s attention instantly. “What?” Andrew eventually says with more force after a moment of silence. “Don’t shave off your beard” Neil says more confidently. Then, “well unless you want to to shave it off then by all me-” Andrew puts his hand on Neil’s mouth. “Shut up Junkie, I don’t want anything”. Neil amps up his puppy dog eyes and Andrew’s resolve breaks. He rolls his eyes and looks back at his face in the bathroom mirror. With one hand still on Neil’s mouth (slowly moving to cup Neil’s cheek) Andrew looks at his beard, the result of one of his worst depressive episodes. But, he’s grown quite attached to it as well. He’s noticed the (not so subtle) yearning looks Neil’s been giving his beard when he thinks Andrew’s not looking. “Fine, I’ll keep it.” The noise Neil makes almost deafens Andrew and makes one of the cats jump up hunch backed and run way. Later on when Andrew and Aaron call for the first time in weeks (they had to stop when Andrew’s depression took over) Aaron’s first words are “thank god you don’t have my face anymore”.

#aftg #all for the game #the foxhole court #andrew minyard #neil josten #aaron minyard #tw: depression #tw: depressive episode #andriel #Andrew with a beard #but not the female kind #the real beard kind #beard meaning: hair on face #not beard meaning: being a stuck in the closet with a woman #kinda like Renee #but I don’t think she was a beard at all #but I just had to clarify #beard as in hair #taans headcannons

[aftgandotherbooks]

First time Neil cries in front of the foxes- Aaron

Aaron’s experience in witnessing Neil cry for the first time is quite different, and much more… passionate and confusing? You see, besides having Nicky take the twins in, and obviously having Katelyn in his life, Aaron hadn’t had much experience with kindness. Not many people have shown him what kindness is like, and thus he doesn’t know how to be kind. Which explains his asshole attitude

For Neil, until he met the Foxes, he had never experienced true kindness from anyone he considers family, or just anyone at all really. His perceived experience of kindness was the fierce and harsh protection his mother gave him. Aaron can relate to this as well with having his brother and his questionable means of protection.

One day Neil was in the library after Kevin’s 30-minute rant of why he has to actually try to pass his classes to be able to play exy.

He was sat at a computer trying to do the research for his psychology paper on the history of the DSM and how diagnosis of mental illness has progressed over the years.

Aaron, who also had a bio exam to study for was in the library trying to find a good spot to camp out for a few hours trying to wrap his head around the many factors of the nervous system.

After almost 8 months of joint therapy with his brother, he learned many things about himself, his brother… and unfortunately of Neil. One was Neil was fiercely protective of Andrew, as much as Andrew hates loves it. Aaron respects that.

It’s because of this begrudging respect, when Aaron saw Neil in the corner of the library hunched over a computer, he decided to sit next to Neil and pack out all his books and start studying.

Aaron had it all planned out, he was going to get through the parasympathetic nervous system the first hour and then move on to the sympathetic nervous system the next so that he can avoid falling behind with his meticulously made study schedule.

That is until he looked at Neil’s computer on what he was researching.

You see, Katelyn wants to be a neurosurgeon one day and has done a few psychology courses already. Aaron always loved listening to her passionate rants about mental illness and how completely unfairly the medical system had been treating and stigmatising those suffering with mental illness over the years and still today. Aaron himself has gotten very passionate about the topic.

So, seeing Neil who was completely oblivious to Aaron sitting next to him while trying to understand the journal articles he’s finding on mental illness and huffing every few seconds when not understanding half of what they say, Aaron kept an eye on him

After 5 minutes of Neil not moving past the same highlighted sentence, Aaron made a decision.

Aaron sighed as if trying to be nice is the worst chore he’s ever had to do, he said “the null is that’s there’s no difference between the two variables. You want to reject that there’s no difference”

Neil jumped, only then noticing Aaron as the person who was sat next to him. He raised his eyebrows. “What?”

Aaron rolled his eyes, “in the results section, where it says the research null hypothesis for the study was rejected, it means that what they were trying to find… was proven to be found in the study they conducted. That’s good, that’s what you want to hear.”

Aaron was… actually being helpful… kind…for once. Neil furrowed his eyebrows and read the sentence he’s been stuck on for the last 5 minutes again. And. Lightbulb moment.

It finally made sense! He clicked back to the other tabs of articles he’s been trying to figure out and it was like he just figured out a whole new language.

“Um… yeah thanks, that… actually helped a lot.” Neil said, refusing to look at Aaron.

“Yeah well… Katelyn’s been chatting my ears off after doing psychology stats last year” Aaron said, looking back to his own work.

Neil took a minute to process that Aaron actually helped Neil. Aaron, who spent a majority of his freshman year antagonising, or ignoring Neil’s existence completely… was being nice to him. Granted Neil wasn’t being very polite back.

It was quiet for a few minutes before Neil spoke again.

“Um… I actually found an article on the long-term effects of the different types of medications for bipolar. You should show it to Katelyn, she told me the other day that she’s interested in neuropsychology. She um… might find it interesting” Neil said in attempt of making conversation.

You see, Aaron and Neil having been trying to be civil after a major breakthrough in therapy when Andrew actually snapped and started yelling at Aaron about how ungrateful and pathetic Aaron had been acting for the few years they’ve known each other. After that, they started to communicate more, even if that communication meant playing video games with the occasional comment here and there, and sometimes grabbing lunch when they had a break between classes. Andrew and Aaron made a promise that they’ll actually try this time to be brothers. And this meant trying with their partners as well.

So, when Neil threw the ball, Aaron caught it.

Slowly and gruffly at first, Aaron started talking about what he learned from listening to Katelyn talking about how medication for mental illness should only be given when all other types of therapy have been attempted.

This conversation then moved onto medical trials and how unfair it is that medical trials were forced upon juveniles.

Which moved onto Andrew.

Turns out, when Betsy talked about the medication Andrew was forced to take and how severely Andrew was affected, Aaron spent days figuring out what exactly the medication was.

Aaron then told Neil about what he found. It was medication for major depressive disorder, and the medication specifically targeted the dopamine system… which would have been effective if the dose wasn’t so excessively strong for Andrew. Aaron told Neil about how instead of levelling the chemicals Andrew’s brain was lacking, it increased it past a healthy point, which resulted in making Andrew manic a majority of the time.

Neil listened to Aaron talk, taking notes for future research on ways to help Andrew overcome the trauma and side effects he faced from the long-term use of the medication alone.

The more Neil listened to Aaron’s passionate rant about the unfair treatment and mishandling of mental conditions, the more he saw how much Aaron really cared for his brother.

It got to the point where they were going on about how much Andrew changed over the last year and how he adapted to such terrible conditions throughout his life.

Talking about this was taxing to both boys. Neil actually started to get tears in his eyes, and Aaron too. Both refused to look the other in the eye, instead focussing on the computer screen in front of Neil.

When Aaron’s phone alarm went off to remind him to start studying the sympathetic nervous system, they both went quiet. They then looked at each other.

Aaron said “you’re still an insufferable asshole”

And Neil said “and you’re still an ugly midget dickhead”

“You’re dating my twin!” Aaron sputtered

“So?” Neil smirked and raised his eyebrow

And so, they both wiped their eyes, packed their things and left the library, (separately of course) and never spoke about their hour of bonding again.

#aftg #aftg headcannons #aftg headcanons #neil josten #andrew minyard #aaron minyard #aaron/katelyn #neil x andrew #twinyards #neil x aaron #psychology #kevin day #aftg wholesome #the foxhole court #the raven king #the king's men #all for the game #andreil #tfc #taans headcannons

[aftgandotherbooks]

First time Neil cries in front of the foxes- Nicky

TW- Mention of blood (Only a small drop of it though)

Nicky, unfortunately, has a bad habit of listening in on conversations in the car when he hasn’t been involved.

After overhearing Andrew and Neil’s conversation on how deprived Neil is on the best type of desserts, Nicky jumped in with a gasp, “you’ve never had cheesecake? Have you even seen a cake in your life? Have you ever even baked anything?” In which Neil responded with “no? I’ve never baked before”.

After having to remove himself from the conversation before he got too high pitched and heated, Nicky decided that it will be his lifelong mission to teach Neil to bake every existing sweet dish (within reason).

Thus, every time Nicky went grocery shopping, he bought ingredients for a new dessert each time.

They’ve made so many dishes, even some of Nicky’s favourite German desserts because it reminded him of Erik.

On the day Nicky first witnessed Neil cry, it started out innocent, and dare say even fun. Nicky and Neil were baking choc chip cookies to cheer up Andrew who was still recovering from a concussion.

Nicky was chopping up a slab of chocolate into smaller pieces with a knife because it’s so much cheaper than buying a packet of chocolate chips.

Because Neil was still quite new to the whole ‘baking’ thing, Nicky had to check on Neil every few minutes to make sure Neil wasn’t somehow lighting the kitchen on fire (“it happened once Nicky, and it was mostly Kevin’s fault!”)

He looked up to where Neil was kneading the dough (“fold it in from the sides Neil! It’s not a piece of hot ass, you don’t need to slap it!”) and saw that Neil was digging his fingers into the dough, instead of using the heels of his hands.

So, Nicky (knife still in his hand) stepped behind Neil and without thinking, grabbed the hand still in the dough to try and adjust it to how he should be doing it.

In an instant, Nicky swore it only took less than a second, Neil grabbed the knife from Nicky’s hand and held it to Nicky’s neck.

Nicky quickly breathed in, and tried to stay still as possible.

Nicky was used to Andrew threatening him with a knife, but he always knew Andrew would never really hurt him. However, this time, Neil’s eyes didn’t hold a blank type of anger (or pure joy from his manic times) that Andrew’s eyes held. Instead, Neil’s eyes held fear.

It was like Neil wasn’t even in his body anymore, the real Neil had floated away when he felt threatened by the unpredicted touch, and the sight of a knife.

The Neil that was holding the knife too hard to Nicky’s neck was glazed over, and so so afraid.

Nicky tried calling his name, even using “Abram”, which Nicky heard Andrew use a few times when Neil’s anxiety hit peak, to bring him back.

But it didn’t work.

Neil’s hand eventually started shaking, and due to the movement of his hand and the heavy pressure of the knife to Nicky’s neck, a small cut opened when the knife met skin.

It was the sight of the deep red blood pooling at the top of the knife and dripping down Nicky’s neck that bought Neil back with a startled jump backwards into the bench where the long-forgotten cookie dough sat.

“Nicky” Neil breathed, repeating the name as if reminding him that it was Nicky standing in front of Neil, and not his father.

Nicky took a step closer to Neil, but Neil shook his head and moved to the side and stepped back more, away from Nicky.

“Neil it’s okay. I’m okay. It’s just a small cut” Nicky gently said, hands out and keeping his voice calm in attempt to soothe Neil’s panic.

Neil shook his head again.

What stopped and broke Nicky’s heart more than the knife that was held to his neck a minute ago were the tears building up in Neil’s eyes.

Nicky is not afraid of emotion. He refuses to hide who he is and what he feels after living through what his parents put him through. Eric has taught him many things, one of which is that it’s okay to cry, even especially if you’re a man. Emotions are a part of the human condition, and to hell with anyone who claims that men aren’t meant to cry. So seeing Neil in such a state of panic and fear and guilt broke Nicky’s heart. From what he knew about Neil’s shit excuses of parents, he gathered that they most likely punished Neil badly if he showed any kind of emotion or ‘weakness’.

So, seeing Neil crying, Nicky slowly stepped closer to Neil.

This time, Neil allowed it, but he started crying harder.

With his arms still held out, Nicky slowly took the knife out of Neil’s hand, put it on the counter next to him and then turned back and asked “can I hug you Neil?”.

After the incident at Eden’s the first time Neil went with the group, and Nicky non-consensually kissed a drugged Neil, Nicky felt so much guilt, regret and self-hatred. He swore to himself to make sure he has to try harder in getting consent before making a move on anyone.

Today, he forgot to do so- hence knife incident.

When Neil nodded his head, and muttered a weak “yes”, Nicky hugged him.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry Nicky, I didn’t mean it. I wasn’t fully there. The knife... I... it…” Neil then sobbed into Nicky’s shoulder. “No Neil, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have just touched you, especially with a knife in my hand. I should have known better” Nicky says, apologetically.

Nicky stroked his back in a soothing manner, saying “shhh, it’s okay, I’m okay”. After a few minutes of hugging, the two broke apart, and Nicky, went back to his usual happy self (he was obviously still upset, shocked and sad, but he wanted to move past the intense moment and get Neil back to a calm and happy place) and said “okay! Let get back to it. Let me quickly clean my neck and wash my hands, and then I’ll show you how to knead dough with your hands, not your fingers you imbecile.”

And that’s how Andrew ended up with a box of choc chip cookies on his bed when he got home from an early session with Betsy.

#aftg #aftg headcanons #aftg headcanon #neil josten #nicky hemmick #erik klose #andrew minyard #andrew x neil #neil x andrew #the foxhole court #the raven king #the king's men #all for the game #neil x nicky #andreil #tfc #taans headcannons

[aftgandotherbooks]

First time Neil cries in front of the foxes - Dan

As all foxes know, Neil is probably the most stubborn hot piece of ass in the team (besides Andrew of course) and aside from his occasional panic attack in front of them (he mostly experiences symptoms of PTSD when he’s in his dorm room alone or with Andrew, or he leaves when he becomes too overwhelmed so they barely see that side of him), he rarely shows any other emotions besides antagonism and instigating chaos.

So when he does cry, it’s world-stopping (at least to some).

The first time he cried in front of Dan, the two were staying behind at court after practice. Dan was giving Neil a few pointers on being a captain since she would be leaving in 6 months and she wanted him to be well prepared for when she was gone.

What started out as them chatting on the benches of the court ended up with them trying to score a goal on each other.

After an hour of them trying different manoeuvres of getting past the other and scoring a goal, Dan pulled the most epic move of running towards Neil with the ball in her racket, throwing her racket up above his head, and leaping up over him by pushing down his shoulders and catching the racket with the ball, and scoring a goal when she landed behind him.

For a moment, it was silence. Both hearts pumping blood a mile a minute.

And then Dan was jumping and yelling. She just made an impossible move. Many exy players have tried and failed to get it right, and only a few were successful. Watching it is a spectacle, and being on the receiving end of it is the most infuriating and amazing feeling. Kevin has attempted it a few times but decided he should focus on less risky moves that guaranteed success if practiced enough.

So when Dan calmed down enough to turn around and look at Neil, she saw he was stood still, mouth wide open, shaking his head. He quickly snapped out of it, giving the biggest smile she’s seen and jumped up and hugging her out of congratulations and joy.

They hugged for a few moments until Dan heard a little sniffle by her left ear where Neil’s face was tucked in.

Dan slowly pulled him out of the embrace but held onto his shoulders to examine what was happening.

Neil had a few tears gathering at the corner of his eyes, his smile a little more dimmed on his face.

Now for Dan, Neil is probably one of the strongest people she knows, and seeing him being vulnerable like this made her value him as her friend even more. But she was also concerned as hell because Neil never cried. Never.

She asked “Neil, what’s wrong? Are you okay? Do you want to talk about it?”

And Neil “I’m fine” Abram Josten shook his head and shrugged it off, trying to wiggle himself out of her grasp to sit down on the bench.

She loosened her grip immediately and followed him. When she sat down next to him, she asked “are you sure you’re okay? Do you need me to call Andrew?”

Neil chuckled a bit while the tears kept streaming. “Dan I’m okay, I promise. It’s just…”

Neil then took a deep breath and looked into her eyes. (Something he’s been trying to work on lately since being able to look into people’s eyes was such a struggle for him, his mother beat that out of him, saying that eye contact is the easiest way to figure out people’s lies).

“It’s just… I didn’t really have the best relationship with my mum. She’s wasn’t a good person… but she was my rock for as long as I can remember.”

Dan breathed in, trying to neutralise her expression. Neil talking about his mother was a rarity, and they all knew she was abusive to him.

“Dan, she was really hard to love sometimes. But she was all I had, and she spent her life trying to protect me. She… She was so strong, Dan. So strong. And so are you.”

Dan closed her eyes, trying to keep her emotions in check. She didn’t want to start crying otherwise she wouldn’t be able to stop.

“I was getting coffee the other day and overheard a few guys talking about you. They were saying that having a girl as a captain is useless and that you shouldn’t even be on the team. They…” He huffed, shaking his head and closed his eyes.

“They said that girls were weak and shouldn’t be playing sports with other guys cause they make the team weak.” His eyes were glistening with fire.

“Andrew had to stop me before I showed them what weak shitbags they were” Dan smiled and shook her head. The tears inevitably came but she hugged him so fiercely.

“I can never understand why people like them think that women… that you of all people are weak. You’re so talented Dan. And that move you just pulled off, never in a million years would I be able to do that. My brain is still trying to process how the hell you did it” they both laughed at this. Neil’s short ass would never be able to jump over anyone besides the twins, obviously, he’d never be able to pull it off with a racket and a ball flying over his head. But neither would anyone else in the team.

“I can’t wait when you graduate and form the most fiercest and unstoppable team. You’re going to be an amazing coach who understands what it is like to have to fight for the respect you deserve”.

Dan was sobbing by this point. They spent another 20 minutes trying to compose themselves before heading back to the dorms. When Dan got to her dorm, she went up to Allison and Renee and hugged them both. Both whom were confused as hell but would never refuse a hug from Dan.

A.N: I’ll be adding the rest of the foxes as I complete them :D 

#aftg #aftg headcannons #dan wilds #neil josten #andrew minyard #mary hatford #girl positivity #exy #kevin day #aftg wholesome #the foxhole court #the raven king #the kings men #all for the game #andreil #tfc #taans headcannons

[aftgandotherbooks]

Father-Son Bonding

Kevin only knew about his mum from what he heard about Tetsuji telling him (which is almost nothing really) and barely remembers her himself. What’s worse is that he knows nothing about Wymack and his past. A few years after Kevin graduated, he decided to visit his dad for the Christmas holidays. Wymack was a man of habit and still lived in that one room apartment near Palmetto university, which meant that Kevin unfortunately had to sleep on the couch for the week. One night of an especially bad nightmare of Riko, Kevin moved to the kitchen to make coffee since he wouldn’t have been able to fall asleep again. Coincidentally it was also around the time Wymack usually wakes up to go out for his morning smoke. After a short and gruff “‘morning” *nod* “‘morning” *nod* exchange, both men headed out to the front porch. It was the long stretches of quiet that Kevin appreciated the most from being around his father. After spending years around people who always had something to gossip or complain about, the comfortable silences he shared with his father were a blessing. After an hour of bliss, Wymack looked over at Kevin and saw deep dark purple bags under his eyes and a surge of concern welled up in his gut. He cleared his throat and nudged his son’s shoulder, asking “couldn’t sleep?” Kevin, transfixed by the quiet morning air jumped at the sound of his father’s voice. “Yeah, um. Nightmare” he muttered, looking down at his hands that were fidgeting with the string of his pyjama pants. Wymack sighed and looked out onto the grass and birds singing their wake-up songs to the rest of the world. He nodded his head and looked back to his son. “That’s one thing that never seems to leave you alone. I had a bad one before you came. I could barely leave my bed for two days.” Wymack huffed. Kevin looked up to his father in shock. He always knew Wymack had a troublesome upbringing, but he never mentioned it. Of course, he knew something must have happened, otherwise the foxes and their reputation of ‘second-chances’ would have never even existed. However, Kevin would have never known his father was still affected by it to this day. As morbid as it sounded, it was comforting knowing that his father was struggling the same as him. Kevin had never asked about his dad’s past. Mostly because Wymack made an active effort to stay out of Kevin’s personal business after he graduated because the other Foxes had a tendency to go too far whenever Riko or the nest were mentioned. Kevin respected the fact that Wymack refused to be like that. But before that morning, Wymack never spoke of his own burdens. He barely spoke about Kevin’s mum, the pain of her absence too painful most of time for Kevin. That’s why Kevin asked “you don’t have to answer me but… what happened? Does it have something to do with mum?” Wymack was quiet for a few minutes. Kevin started to think that his dad would ignore the question altogether. But then with a quiet sigh, Wymack put out his cigarette and turned to face Kevin. “Look kid, I know you’ve been through too much shit in your life, and I wish there was a way that I could have known and stopped it. There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t wish I knew you before Riko got his hands on you. The point is, I didn’t want to put more shit on you that you don’t need. But... I guess it’s only fair you know more about me. I am your dad afterall.” Kevin nodded, hearing the solemn tone Kevin was too familiar with. The same tone was used whenever Wymack was faced with another kid with a messed up childhood. Wymack then closed his eyes, breathed slowly and methodically and squeezed his hands into fists for a minute or two. It reminded Kevin of the breathing exercises Betsy taught him when he was plagued with the anxiety attacks that came with his sobriety. With a neutral and emotionless tone, Wymack started speaking. “I was in prison for a year before I met your mother.” Kevin’s face snapped to Wymack’s. He opened his mouth to say something when Wymack held up his finger to shut him up. Wymack continued speaking. “I had just turned 18 and thought it was a good idea to get in a car with my drunk best friend after we left a graduation party one of our other friends held t their house. I only had one drink that night, I didn’t see the point of drinking. My old man was in a shit mood that morning and would have punched and kicked me to hell and back if I came home 10 at night, drunk. I kept going on about how I should drive since I barely had anything to drink, but he was too stubborn and I just wanted to get home early enough. So, my friend ended up driving, and we were blasting music, all that typical stuff teens do when they’re young and too stupid to care. It only took a second of us not paying attention that a kid crossed the road to fetch a ball. What sane kid plays with a ball at ten at night?” Wymack rolled his eyes. “anyway, I saw the kid before my friend did and grabbed the wheel to swerve it to the opposite side the kid was on. It just so happened that the car swerved too far and the road was still slippery from the storm we had a few hours before. And can I just say kid, the moment the car swerved and smashed into the light pole I knew we were screwed.” Kevin’s eyes were starting to water. It wasn’t at all what he was expecting. His father went to prison? “My friend, Alex, he died on impact. He was on the side the pole smashed into. I only got away with a bruised right leg, a broken arm and severe whiplash. The kid was fine. It was actually his mom that called an ambulance for us. When I told the cops what happened, they said that even though I saved the kid, what I did was technically manslaughter. That’s why I was sent to prison. My sentence was way shorter though ‘cause I barely had alcohol in my system, and Alex was way over the limit, so he was at fault for the reckless driving. Plus, the fact that my intentions were to save the kid, not to kill-” Wymack took a shuddering breath. “Not to kill Alex.” Kevin grabbed his dads tight fist and squeezed it. “Dad, you don’t have to keep going”. Kevin said, he could see his father’s defences slowly crumbling. But Wymack, the stubborn and persistent old man he was, shook his head and kept going. “Prison was… prison. Not a fun place, and there were things that I would rather never think or talk about. And when I got out of prison, I had nowhere to go. My old man used my sentence as an excuse to stop speaking to me again. Useless pig he was probably celebrated the day I left. My mom, well she’s been dead since I was 13, breast cancer. I’ve always wondered what she would have done about it all. So, I had nowhere to go, and no one to run to. I was working at a run-down diner because that was the only place that would take in a fresh out of prison convict. It was just a few yards off from where your mom lived. Her and Tetsuji would meet up every Saturday at my diner to grab lunch and work on the specifics of how Exy should be played. I always tried to be the one who would serve her, and then we traded numbers and started talking. We got real close for a few years until she asked me to join her first trial team for Exy. She’s the one who got me a job at Palmetto when I told her I wanted to expand the sport to other universities. She gave me the chance to move forward in my life when no one else would.” Wymack opened his eyes and looked at Kevin again. “She reminds me so much of you kid. Every time I look at you I see her commitment and passion.” Kevin looked down to their hands again, and smiled a watery smile. “Thanks dad. All I ever wanted to do was make her proud of me.” Wymack huffed again and said “I’m sure she is… I know cause I sure am.”

A.N: I have no idea how the criminal system works. Nor do I know how long, or even if Wymack would have been charged. I also haven’t read the books since last year so my knowledge of Wymack’s history is limited to other fanfics, so if I got anything wrong, I’m sorry. This is just my interpretation of how Wymack’s character and his personality were formed :)

#aftg #aftg fic #aftg headcanon #aftg headcannons #aftg headcanons #david wymack #coach wymack #Wymack #kevin day #kevin & wymack #bonding #riko moriyama #neil josten #andrew minyard #the foxes #taans headcannons

[aftgandotherbooks]

If the foxes played instruments:

Nicky: Electric guitar?? He’s got so much energy he can pull off the coolest riffs for sure. His parents made him learn the guitar as a kid but as soon as he got out, he switched to electric guitar because he loves how much more noise he can make, and he’s just extra like that

Allison: was taught the violin as a child but refuses to play it because it reminds her of her parents. She’s also a pretty good singer, but only really sings in front of Renee

Renee: she’s one of those people who can pick up an instrument and play super easily. Stephanie taught her music theory and Renee can read sheet music so as long as she knows the basics of an instrument she can play like a boss

Aaron: I feel like he’s a Bass kinda guy. Super chill, barely talks, but is hella talented on the bass

Dan: she’s never had the opportunity to learn instrument really, but she’s got amazing vocals. Like she’ll be driving with Matt and belting out Sia or Beyoncé songs like it’s no big deal

Matt: definitely an acoustic guitar guy. I feel like him and Nicky both jam all the time. PLUS he’s got the deepest vocals. Him and Dan can do a mean duet

Kevin: piano for sure. I feel like he’s got the commitment and passion to play classical piano, but when jamming with Matt and Nicky, he easily picks up all the songs they play even though he’s never heard of them, he’s just good like that

Andrew: drums!!!! Definitely a drums guy. He’s got enough anger and reflexes that he moves so fast you don’t even see his hands moving. Also I feel like he’s picked up playing the piano from being around Kevin all the time but only plays it in front of Neil.

Neil: poor, sweet Neil... as much as he tries, Neil cannot hold a tune or play any instrument on the right beat. Matt has managed to teach him the basic chords on the guitar but whenever Neil plays with the others, it’s so out of beat. But he looks like he’s having so much fun that the others don’t say anything.

#aftg #all for the game #the foxhole court #andrew minyard #neil josten #tfc #dan wilds #matt boyd #renee walker #nicky hemmick #aaron minyard #kevin day #allison reynolds #taans headcannons