Imagine: Neil Resting His Elbow On Andrew’s Shoulder Every Opportunity He Gets Just To Flaunt His 3

hc that andrew smashed all of bee’s glass figurines at one of their first sessions by throwing his hot chocolate mug at them, just to see how she’d react. when she remained calm and pleasant and wasn’t phased, he finally started to warm up to her ever so slightly and he has been building her collection back up ever since 

it’s funny to think that kevin was completely oblivious while watching exy in the bedroom when neil and andrew were making out right outside the door. BUT it’s even funnier to imagine that since he likely already knew andreil was a thing/not-a-thing and he heard the nicky leave, he was just,, sitting in there and trying so hard to focus on the game while turning his headphones to max volume and internally screaming at himself not to leave the room 

neil “i’m fine” josten telling wymack after coming back from evermore that no, no, he’s not alright just... pierces my heart every time i think about it. you can really see how much neil’s grown by how he finally begins to trust someone other than himself or his mom. he puts himself in such a vulnerable position when he reaches out, especially by asking for help from an older man (given his past). and the way that wymack drops everything during winter break to immediately rush to the airport, i just- 

Forehead kisses.

neil actually cleaned out his cuts and burns after lola tortured him??? while he still thought he was going to die???? like i cannot emphasize enough how much that hurts. i literally had a blister that rubbed off on my foot and cried for days afterwards whenever i tried to clean it out with water, and here neil is even using s o a p?????? it paid off bc he lived and his wounds didn’t get infected but ow

creed from the office would be neil in the future if he’d never signed with the foxes

it’s SO ADORABLE how eager matt was to join neil and kevin’s convo at the end of tkm when neil switched it back to english. like, no hesitation, he just jumped right in and offered his opinions and acted like it was totally normal. and all the while he was probably internally combusting of happiness because !! neil purposely brought the conversation back to english !!! specifically so that matt could be included !!!!!

honestly andrew probably got to neil in time by booking it across the court the second neil opened his mouth after the final match bc he just knew it’d be some dumb shit that would make riko want to kill him 

“My Things”, Part 2 of this project complete! If the last one was an action heavy climax from Neil’s perspective, this is the cool down from Riko’s perspective. And what could cool down something better than Andrew and Neil’s icy stare?

My gosh, trying to capture Andrew’s ‘bored’ stare-down is like capturing lightning in a bottle. Neil’s shit eating grin, I can’t decide, is either trailing from his baiting Riko, or his exhilaration at Andrew’s definitive intervention. (probably both)

This was such a fun project - and a great exercise in anatomy and lighting. By popular request, this pair of artworks is available in my print shop that will perpetually donation portions of proceeds to The Trevor Project! (link posted in bio ❤️ )

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