“are We? Friends?” Crushes My Heart EVERY TIME, Like - Neil Had Never Had A Friend In His Life. There’s

andrew’s the type of person that won’t move an inch when neil falls asleep on him but then grumbles about it when neil finally wakes up

i really wish we’d had more hernandez content, because he was obviously important to neil. like neil didn’t flinch at all when hernandez reached to help him up after andrew slammed him w the racquet, he clearly cared for neil and wanted to see him succeed, he was probably the person neil most trusted (although still warily) in millport. like i bet he puts up all the newspaper clippings about neil that he can find, and i bet he follows neil’s life through the news (and is shocked when the truth about his past comes out). i hope that neil gives him a ticket to watch him at the olympics. anyway, i want more hernandez content 

andreil would die for each other in a heartbeat, and i think that’s from a mix of wanting to protect each other and not wanting to be the one left behind. if one of them dies, they want it to be themselves - because, yes, they want the other to continue living, but both of them also finding the thought of living without the other unbearable

okay hear me out:

mary and neil always had tea on hand

yes, i know they only packed the essentials 

tea is essential

they would cram it into their duffle bags wherever it fit, and made sure to never run out

the only mugs they used were travel mugs, because regular ones would break too easily

tea became neil’s comfort drink over the years

it was something constant in his life, something that was always there for him after a long day or sleepless night

he guzzled tea after he’d been shot

his mom made it better than he did

their travel mugs were warm and full in the cup holders when mary was bleeding out

neil had to reach over them to shake her shoulders, trying to keep her awake when her eyes so desperately wanted to flutter closed

he tried to pass mary her mug to keep her conscious, tried to get her to drink just a sip mom, please, you can do it

the mug slipped out of her hands, covered in blood

neil let it burn in the flames of the car

he doesn’t drink tea anymore

but it doesn’t matter. he has a new comfort drink. andrew makes the coffee every morning

andrew makes it better than he does

the foxes love neil bc he’s like a lil stray that they feel like they need to take care of half the time and are terrified of the other half, but like... he’s such a Bitch™ to literally everyone else. not even just his considerable amount of enemies but... the cheerleader that he shot down, bee, basically every exy player that isn’t on his team, the doctor in baltimore, etc etc etc. i love him for it, but i also know that if i met him irl he would tear me to shreds

andrew really said “if you’re afraid to die, you have no place on our court” and neil said “bet”

young nathaniel so small and scared when he has to run away in the middle of the night, even though he’s leaving his monster behind. young abram confused and wanting to go back and play exy with the first almost-friends he ever made, but instead running forever and never able to slow down. young no-name boy answering to many, learning new backstories for every new city and wishing his life was anything like the people he pretended to be, anything other than his reality. young neil hurt and grieving and all alone in the world, no one but himself to protect him, looking over his shoulder for living nightmares and roaming monsters that want to hurt the boy who only ever wanted to play exy.

so i'm currently consuming only orange food (on accident) and my mind just decided this needed to happen so consider this:

it's neil's sophomore year and they've managed to make it to championships again

this year it's a home game, so they don't have to travel anywhere

enter neil

it's the morning of the game, and as he pulls an orange from their fruit bowl he gets an idea

how much orange food do you think can he eat before the game?

he tells no one, but eventually they all catch on

the foxes were never one for superstition or pre-game rituals

the closest they got was tapping the "riko racquet" before each game

but suddenly it's like they're on a mission

that first year it's mostly neil, but after he scores the winning shot of the game it's cemented in the team forever

the next year almost all of them join in, going to every length to keep it orange

neil buys orange ice cream and special orders all orange m&m's to try and get andrew to join, to no avail

his junior year he stops to pick up coffee (the one thing they agreed to allow, though they usually shoot for orange mugs) when he has an idea

"do you think you could make an orange coffee"

the barista: 👁👁 can i what now

turns out they can

when neil shows up at the dorms with orange coffee for everyone andrew has never been so close to murdering him

nicky all but loses his mind when he sees the tray

matt very excitedly adds it to their running list of orange foods held to the fridge with a fox magnet

when neil graduates allison frames it and they hang it next to the trophy stand

by his senior year andrew still outright refuses to join in

until it's his last college championship game

neil comes home from his run early and flips on the kitchen light to find him on top of the counter

3/4ths of the way through a pumpkin pie, orange whipped cream and all

and halfway through a two liter of orange crush

they both freeze

for a long moment nothing is said

a clock's ticks echo through the room

neil grins, "don't believe in superstition, huh?"

"shut up, junkie"

"i'm not the one devouring an all orange pie like a gremlin right now"

"i will kill you"

"you'd have to put down the pie first"

eventually he does, in favor of a very different pre-game ritual

the binghampton bearcats are such assholes ??? i haven’t really seen this brought up before (i feel like they’re just overshadowed by the ravens lol), but they’re genuinely horrible people. neil was kidnapped and tortured after a riot broke out after their game at their court, and they then proceeded to face the foxes again and played horribly dirty just to try to red card one of the remaining foxes to put them at a further disadvantage ???? like what the actual fuck