random ass hc: andrew jsut has random stacks of books all over his dorm/apartment and uses them as coffee tables, coat racks, weapons, etc whenever convenient.
random ass(sad) hc: kevin is constantly talked over and ignored. it’s not always intentional. he’ll say something and people will just not reply or even look his way. they just keep on with their conversation.
random ass hc: andrew probably had an percy jackson phase in middle school. he had all the books and those were the things he made sure to always have when moving from one foster home to another. one time he forgot one and he ran back to the home in the middle of the night just to get the book back. Andrew didn’t leave until the foster parents let him go get it. from that day on he packed them first. he still has them. they even went to the olympics with him
when aftg takes place there isn’t a lot of queer literature for andrew to read(bc yes i belive he’s a reader) but as he gets older and moves farther and farther away from exy he starts to discover gay books. and he devours them. because he didn’t get them growing up when he was struggling w his sexuality and they just make him so happy and heard. he reads all genres from fantasy to nonfiction.
it leads to him writing his own memoir on his queer experience in a cis straight dominated sport. a book that becomes a best seller and leads to him quitting exy to become a full time writer may i add. reading helps him heal and accept that part of him finally. and it leads to something you truly loves and he never thought as something he liked: writing.
So I’ve been wanting to do my own twist on the Kathy Interview for YEARS, and I finally did it. Also did you guys know that Kevin turned down the choice to wear suspenders and I am upset.
i like to think andrew is the type of person to get hyper fixated on things that his friends talk about. It could be smth trivial like a tidbit about a classmate or a full on hobby like chorcteing but the moment he deems you as “his” he’ll go out of his way to learn everything to know about that topic.
eg, renee is obsessed with floriography and botany in general and the moment andrew found out, he borrows all the books he can find on the topic just to talk to renee about it
Even aaron. He takes the time to rmb all of aaron’s basic lessons on his classes. Endospore formation for microbiology?? ask andrew. Virus infection cycles and sites?? andrew knows them all
With nicky a lot of the time andrew tries to stay as far away as possible cause he’s annoying but everytime he hears nicky mentioning a certain type of softener or pipe cleaner, he’ll research the fuck out of them and drop little insights on their cost or effectiveness
With kevin, it helps that andrew has an eidetic memory because he reads up on all the different types of wars, revolutions and adaments just to give kevin someone to talk to
On the rare instances that andrew and allison “bond” they fit so well because andrew listens and may attentions to the products allison uses and duh allison uses fucking amazing products?? u bet ur ass andrew has the exact same ones to match allison
Andrew and Neil wear each other’s clothes a lot because Neil is always too hot and Andrew is always cold. Andrew, sticking to his aesthetic, never wears enough layers. Neil, being bad at forethought, wears too many. (It’s also how every blanket on Neil’s bed always seems to migrate to Andrew’s)
Renee is an incredible gymnast, like she can easily do a bunch of those fancy flips without even thinking about it and she’s just super flexible
Since they met, Nicky has been dragging the twins on what he calls ‘cousin dates’ where they go out to coffee or dinner and Nicky pays. Both twins absolutely pretend to hate it, but Aaron likes to just go out and do something and Nicky buys Andrew as much ice cream as he wants
Speaking of Nicky, he has Erik on FaceTime for games and puts his phone propped up in one of the court side seats so Nicky gets to feel like Erik’s there because he can just turn and see his face
Kevin despises cardio and would rather die than have to go on a run with Neil because he physically can’t keep up. His ego just can’t handle it
Dan & Matt have shared Pinterest boards for their wedding, their future house and cute kiddie activities
Wymack gives in and buys a spray bottle for the foxes so anytime one of them misbehaves he just sprays them like a naughty cat
Allison and Matt, because they were little rich kids, absolutely cannot cook. Like neither of them know that spaghetti needs to go in water to be cooked and they should not be left unattended in a kitchen
Every birthday, Andrew buys Nicky a No.1 mug. It can be No.1 anything. Nicky’s got No.1 grandma, No.1 colleague, No.1 Footballer, it literally doesn’t matter. Nicky cries when Andrew finally gets him one that says No.1 guardian
It starts with some shitty little fox that Nicky bought him as a joke because he found it in the baby aisle, but Neil fucking loves it.
He drags it around like a toddler with a blanket, taking it to all his games and sleeping with it every night.
Then, the fox starts to fall apart, mainly due to it being taken around the country every week for months (and that one time Aaron threw it out a window)
Neil says he’s “fine about it, it’s just a fox” so Andrew buys him a new one, because Neil just looks so sad when Andrew has to sew the tail back on for the 10th time.
Seeing how happy the new fox made Neil, Andrew buys him another one, a bear this time
Then a frog
Then a lion
Andrew keeps buying them because his bad days mean he can’t always cuddle with Neil, but stuffies don’t have that issue and Neil deserves hugs
(Also Neil does this little grin whenever Andrew hands it over and Andrew would die for that shit)
All of a sudden Neil, who has never been allowed to be soft nor form attachments to something as silly as a stuffed animal because they might need to leave it behind, has a shit ton of them
Like, he has to put them on the floor to physically fit in his bed
They all have names and Neil constantly forgets them because there’s so many, so he has to turn to Andrew because he’ll never forget them
He chooses a different one every night to sleep with so none of them feel left out
There’s always one at each game, in its own court-side seat
And Neil loves all of them, because he never really got to be a kid, never got to fret over something as trivial as the opinion of a stuffed animal and he’s making up for so much lost time
However, Andrew does debate when they move in together whether the smile was truly worth having to give up space in his own bed to an inanimate object
I know a lot of AUs of AftG/TFC have been done in the Avatar universe, but has anyone done an Avatar: the Last Airbender AU?
Kevin, the Avatar has been missing for 100 years, before he is unwittingly discovered inside an iceberg by estranged waterbender twins Aaron and Andrew and their nonbending cousin Nicky who live in the Southern Water Tribe. (Aaron and Andrew do not give me waterbender vibes, but changing the nations didn’t work that well, since either their trips would end up way shorter or the Air Nomads would be the world invaders. Which, no. Oh well, Aaron wants to heal people.) They find out he is the Avatar and reluctantly agree to accompany him to the Northern Water Tribe to learn waterbending. Along the way, they find out the exiled fire nation Prince Nathaniel is hunting the Avatar, in order to regain his honor. He is traveling alongside former General David Wymack, a taciturn man who nonetheless tries to guide and help his ward.
Along the way, they meet some interesting people and new friends including Roland, the leader of the Freedom Fighters, Dan, a young earthbender who Kevin helped break out of prison, and Erik, who leads the Kyoshi Warriors, and also encounter new enemies, including Commander Tetsuji of the Fire Nation. Once they get to the Northern Water Tribe, they meet the waterbending master Chuck. Initially, he wants to make Aaron go into warrior training instead of healing, as he wishes, due to the fact that male waterbenders are drafted to fight. But after a beatdown from Aaron, the Healing master Abby, and the fighting master Betsy (women fight here, they have an option but men have to) he agrees to let Aaron train as a healer. Andrew learns how to fight alongside Avatar Kevin. The Fire Nation invades, Kevin is briefly captured by Prince Nathaniel who Andrew defeats in a few seconds flat, and Commander Tetsuji tries to kill the Moon and is dragged into the Spirit World. Goodbye and good riddance to him.
So, next stop is the Earth Kingdom, where they look for an earthbending master. Eventually they find Katelyn, a young earthbending prodigy who was blinded in an accident as a child, and is therefore overly sheltered by her parents and sneaks out to fight in the Earth Rumbles. She travels with them to teach Kevin earthbending, and despite her disagreements with Kevin and Andrew (Aaron is immediately rather taken with her), she becomes a part of their group. They find out they have a new pursuer, the Crown Prince Riko of the Fire Nation and his two close nonbending friends, Jeremy, a cheerful chi blocker, and Jean, an apathetic swordsman (Knives will be Neil’s thing). Meanwhile, Nathaniel and Wymack end up pursued by Riko as traitors, and are forced to go incognito in the Earth Kingdom, taking on the names Kyle (idk, in honor of Kayleigh, okay?) and Neil Josten.
Their paths cross in Ba Sing Se when they meet the conniving leader of the Dai Li, Proust. They tangle with the Dai Li and the incognito Prince Riko who is disguised as Erik, who recently rekindled a romance with Nicky on their way across the Serpent’s Pass and was captured shortly after. After Nathaniel and Andrew are captured and thrown into the catacombs together, they talk, during which time Nathaniel expresses remorse for the suffering and personal trauma the Fire Nation inflicted on Andrew. He in turn, reveals that he is only after Kevin due to fear of what his father, Firelord Nathan, would inflict upon both him and Kevin’s group if he doesn’t obey, saying that while he is attemoting to capture Kevin to prove himself worth keeping alive, he is also trying to keep Kevin and the team out of his father’s hands. Andrew tells him to “stop being a martyr”. However, after they are freed and encounter Riko and Wymack in the catacombs, Nathaniel appears to change his mind and joins Riko in fighting Andrew, Kevin, and Aaron. Wymack surrenders himself in order to let the others escape. Riko mangles Kevin’s left hand and almost kills him but Aaron manages to heal him and Andrew promises to protect him.
The Monsters regroup incognito in the Fire Nation to wait for the Day of Black Sun invasion. The invasion day arrives and everything seems to be going as planned until Kevin, Aaron, Nicky, and Katelyn encounter Riko in the throne room instead of Nathan. Nathaniel confronts his father and escapes to join the Monsters and most of their allies end up captured, though their old Freedom Fighting friends Matt and Allison and the earthbender Dan escape with them. They arrive at the Western Air Temple to recuperate and attempt to think of a new Firebending teacher for Kevin. Nathaniel, who now goes full time as Neil Josten, arrives and offers to help. He is immediately scorned by Kevin and mocked by Aaron and Andrew. However, when the assassin Gorilla (sent by Riko) arrives to kill the Monsters, Neil saves them and they reluctantly accept him. He warms up to the group members one by one, helping Nicky break Erik out of the Boiling Rock and helping Aaron hunt down and kill his brother’s former tormentor Drake. While at the Boiling Rock, Jean makes a split second decision to save Neil, who he used to be close friends with, and Jeremy jumps in to help, resulting in their capture. After their “field trips”, Neil tentatively earns Andrew’s intrigue and Aaron’s reluctant acceptance.
The comet arrives and Kevin goes missing. The rest of the monsters find their old mentors including Betsy and Abby, and Neil discovers Wymack as well. They reconcile and he advises them about what to do next. As the comet approaches, Aaron, Katelyn, Nicky, and Erik travel to the airship base to hopefully meet up with Kevin as he confronts Firelord Nathan. Neil and Andrew travel to the Fire Nation to confront Riko. After an extended, tough battle, when all hope seems gone, Kevin manages to hit Nathan, momentarily incapacitating him enough to kill him. Riko challenges Neil to an Agni Kai which he accepts. He is winning until Riko aims lightning at Andrew instead and Neil dives in front of him. Andrew fights Riko and manages to chain him and smash his arm. As a result, he has a psychotic break and kills himself. Andrew heals Neil and yells at him for making himself a martyr. Neil says that he wouldn’t have done anything that might result in losing Andrew. He so explains that if he had turned on Riko in the catacombs, he would have been exposed, and his father would have stopped at nothing to break him, including torturing the Monsters. Andrew appears to accept the explanation.
And we know the rest: Kevin is crowned Firelord, and he, Jean and Jeremy, figure out where to go from there. Aaron travels home with Katelyn, Andrew stays to protect Kevin, and Neil stays with him, and Nicky and Erik leave to travel the world. Dan and Matt, and Allison and Renee get together and return home as well. And they live, not happily ever after, but something approaching it.
P.S. a few years later, Kevin goes on a search for his mother Kayleigh.
Kevin, having a bi crisis to the upperclassmen because Andrew, Neil, and Aaron could care less and Nicky is NOT an option: I don’t know! Am I? Do you think I’m bi?
Dan: I can’t tell you that, Kevin! That’s the whole point!
Kevin: Shit. I need someone to just tell me. How did you all know you were? Bi or straight or whatever?
Allison: I don’t know. I was in my junior year of high school, and I touched a boob. It wasn’t very profound. Nobody’s gonna write an Off-Broadway play about it.
Neil climbs the front pillars of the house, more a shadow than a creature, needing to see the stars and remind himself of where he is. For most of his life, he hadn’t known stars. He’d known dirt and stagnant air and nothing of this terrifying wonderland above ground.
A Hogwarts!AU where they all get snowed in during a randomly collective quidditch practice (really only Kevin is complaining) and Neil pulls a James Potter.
I had so much fun drawing this for you and coming up with all the magical details! I hope you like it! :)
Upright: End of cycle, New Beginnings, Change, Metamorphosis
Reversed: Fear of change, Stagnation, Holding on
My Death card for the @aftgtarotzine. I chose Jean and Kevin because I think both of them just embody the meaning of the card; changing, but also the resistance to change. Plus the symbolism of the setting/rising sun and the crowns and racquets scythe just seemed really appropriate for these two as well.
Also, I added the Kevin side up because, again, the meaning can work in reverse, but also because I just really like how both orientations turned out and I couldn’t decide which to post.
I can go on and on about this one because it’s probably my favourite thing I’ve drawn all year, but I’ll just leave it at that.
This was such a great project to work on and I highly recommend you check out the rest of the zine! You can get it HERE ! (if its still available, sorry this took me so long to post =__=“ Otherwise they have a lot of other peoples on the tumblr, so again check them out! Its a fantastic zine!)
“The story I gave you was mostly true,” Neil said. “I might have left out some critical details, but I know you’re not really surprised by that. If we survive this year and you’re still interested, you can ask me for them later. I think it’s your turn in our secrets game, anyway.”
————-
“You aren’t going anywhere,” Andrew said; the same words, same promise… “You’re staying with us. If they try to take you away they will lose.”
A gang of misfits intent on revenge against the world. Fuck the rules, fuck the other gangs, and most of all, fuck their so-called families.
There’s Allison Reynolds, a legacy on her mother’s side. Since she was born, she’s been set to take over her mother’s intelligence empire. But Allison prefers a weapon in her hands. She likes to do her own dirty work.
Renee Walker was Natalie Shields before she joined the foxes. There’s rumors that she used to run with one of the other gangs on campus. One that’s now mysteriously extinct. And she’s one of only two surviving rats in the sophomore class. She doesn’t talk about that much. Actually, no one really does.
Dan Wilds is the other sophomore rat. Underestimated since the day she arrived at King’s Dominion, Dan ruthlessly crushed anyone in her way to make it to the top of her class. Rumor has it that she’s one of the front runners of her class for valedictorian.
Kevin Day used to be right hand to Riko Moriyama. He used to be second best in every class, top marks every time. But now he’s not. And no one knows exactly what happened, or why.
Andrew Minyard is a rat with a reputation and an attitude problem. And he’s the most dangerous of them all, because he appears to have nothing to lose. Nothing he cares about. Nothing that can be used to take him down.
And then there’s Neil Josten, their latest edition. He’s a brutal killer, and a liar, and that’s the most about him that anyone can say for certain (except maybe Andrew, but he’s not saying shit).
![magazine covers: [3/?] ↳ andrew minyard, the goalie with more than just tricks up his sleeves](https://64.media.tumblr.com/1f4c657adcb703e57ca44f84fac12cf6/tumblr_onoy31vNnw1s91nryo1_1280.jpg "magazine covers: [3/?] ↳ andrew minyard, the goalie with more than just tricks up his sleeves")
![magazine covers: [2/?] ↳ neil josten, exy’s striking new it boy](https://64.media.tumblr.com/94f6f1bf7817ebbd2caee7ccd5cd4cb1/tumblr_onktnorFM81s91nryo1_1280.jpg "magazine covers: [2/?] ↳ neil josten, exy’s striking new it boy")
![magazine covers: [1/?] ↳ kevin day, the king queen of exy](https://64.media.tumblr.com/215d8324fdc724cda5bd3027153a0845/tumblr_ong52oa8FK1s91nryo1_640.jpg "magazine covers: [1/?] ↳ kevin day, the king queen of exy")
