Andrew's approach of treating kid Neil like everything he does and says is normal is definitely the right choice but man, you could use your voice a little. We all know what's under that shirt you gave him. You can take his hand to stop him from touching you and also explain Andrew. You know, tell him you're coming back.
Lol only Aaron would be willing to continue his beef with a literally five(? six?) year old. But I also assume that this is actually really miserable for him to watch. Here is a quiet, pretty angry, kid who anyone paying the least bit of afternoon would see is being physically abused - at the least. Aaron is looking at someone he already finds annoying AF and realizing they were really similar little kids
I'm fairness to Kevin I have no idea when Neil would have started little league lol.
And there's the child abuse that was lurking around.
Yeah could've just said he was better friends with people in that dorm or him and Andrew are closest with each other. You didn't have to get all "do we tell him he's in a gay relationship with Andrew?" while the poor kid just watches lol 😭😂
Begging Neil to call them toys to Nicky and Matt. Pls
Kevin might actually have some luck making it clear he knows what's actually going on and that Neil doesn't have to worry about letting something slip.
I wonder if Neil would recognize anything in the book? I guess only if he knew anything about it as a kid.
This was a great chapter. I love fics where Neil turns into a kid so I'm really excited to see where this goes!
Oh… Honestly, it’s super tough to respond to your comment without dropping spoilers, but I’ll do my best 😎
First off, I should clarify that I haven’t read any fics where Neil turns into a kid, so this fic isn’t typical kid!fic (is that even the right term for this genre?). I worked hard to keep the characters as close to canon as possible, spending a lot of time thinking about how they’d react in a situation like this
Short answer: denial
Slightly longer answer: The Foxes (most of them) are still struggling to accept that Neil is a kid now. Some (not pointing fingers at Nicky) are trying to joke it off and act like nothing’s changed. Others (love my girl Allison) can’t separate kid Neil from adult Neil, so they’re just treating him the same as always
Andrew… ugh. His deal will come into focus in chapters 4 and 5. Right now, he’s in full “I have to fix this, I want my Neil back” mode. Can’t say more without spoiling!
Aaron. My sweet Aaron… He wants nothing to do with this situation and would rather not even think about it. Sadly, he’s barely in the story moving forward, which bums me out. But if he did show any interest in kid Neil, it’d probably be purely scientific. By the way, that’s exactly what he was talking about with Kevin in the girls’ room (srry, I only hinted at that convo in the fic)
Kevin. He’s freaking out and pissed. Like, really pissed. At the situation, at Andrew, at the Foxes’ behavior, and at the possibility of the team falling apart without adult Neil. More on that in chapter 3, but that’s all I’ll say for now
(BTW, Neil started playing Exy when he was eight)
Renee. She gets what Andrew’s going through, even if he hasn’t fully processed it himself yet. She hasn’t had a chance to feel bad for kid Neil, but like Andrew, she’s already jumping into damage control mode
Dan. There’s not much about her in the fic yet, but she’s still figuring out how she feels about all this. Mostly, she’s at a loss for how to handle a kid or what to make of him
Matt. He’s probably the only one who’s accepted the situation for what it is. He sees a kid in front of him and treats him like one. You’ll see this more clearly in the next chapters. To Matt, it doesn’t matter how old his best friend is—Neil’s always Neil
As for the Foxes as a whole… they’re all kind of clueless about how to deal with a kid like Neil. Allison summed it up best:
“It’s so weird it’s almost creepy,” Allison said quietly, then, noticing the surprised looks, explained, “Neil turned into a kid who was still Nathaniel back then. Kids are usually more talkative, but he just goes along with everything we say, no extra questions. It’s odd.”
You could boil down their behavior (and how they treat kid Neil) to this: he doesn’t complain, doesn’t ask questions, and seems serious. So, they’re just acting like it’s business as usual
(Matt’s trying to get through to them that it doesn’t work like that, but so far, no luck)
P.S. I genuinely tried to figure out what this sentence means:
“Begging Neil to call them toys to Nicky and Matt. Pls.”
No clue! 🙏🏻
P.S. [2] maybe I shouldn’t have written such a long comment... but for some reason, I really wanted to briefly cover each character haha
I obviously write atrociously long comment so please feel free to be responses as long or short whe n b able/for.
Honestly it's surprising wljkk f go m homeless of probably
I definitely got the impression Aaron was throwing all of his effort into looking at the problem. Scientifically. I think if he hadn't forced himself to it would have become personal.
Thanks! Being concise is definitely my weak spot, especially when it comes to fanfics 😅
Yeah, Aaron’s really trying to keep his distance (emotionally) from the whole thing because it’s stirring up some strange feelings—and he definitely doesn’t want to dig into what’s causing them
(He absolutely doesn’t want to feel sympathy for this little kid who’s somehow a bit like he was as a child)
((It’s way easier for Aaron to get angry, push kid!Neil away, and stay detached—that’s the route he’s going with))
I feel you. I write my comments as I read the chapter usually so I actually talk about what's happening. I end up working a small essay x.x
I was half asleep when I wrote that I meant to say - I was talking about Neil listening to Nicky and Matt talk about all the special features their consoles have. To which Neil mentally was just like, okay, the toys aren't the same. Cool.
Thanks for clearing up the "toys" thing! Yup, Neil is so Neil
I bet both versions of him (adult and kid) would be totally clueless about the difference between consoles and their perks
(In the next chapters, Matt’s gonna keep trying to find a way to connect with Neil)
P.S. Tiny spoiler: in chapter 5, Andrew picks a video game for kid!Neil
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