• Neither of them had a game, and so they and a couple of teammates decided to go out for drinks 
• Neil wanted to get in an extra workout bc they had no game
• So he tells Andrew to go ahead, and that he’d catch up with them
• Andrew rolls his eyes and does as he’s asked bc believe it or not he does have friends on their team, and he was never one to turn down a night out 
• And it wasn’t the first time Neil had told him that he’d catch up with them, so he didn’t think much of it 
• Until Neil was running late
• And Andrew wasn’t worried, just ticked that he’s taking so long, so he calls Neil and it goes to voicemail, he hangs up
• He calls again a half hour later, he might be slightly worried when he doesn’t pick up, but then Neil calls back as soon as he hung up 
• “Hello?” But it’s not Neil “Who is this?” “Memorial Regional, are you related to Neil Josten?” “What happened” Andrew’s up and walking to his car “Car accident. I’m sorry, he’s undergoing surgery. Does he have any relatives I can call? He has no emergency contact, no next of kin.” “I’m on my way.” “Sir, are you -” Andrew had stopped listening after ‘car accident’
• Andrew’s not freaking out, he’s not. It’s ok. Neil’s gonna be ok. ANdrew’s calm. He is nOt panicking, not in the slightest. 
• When he gets there Neil’s still in surgery 
• He’s told to wait in the waiting room, but Andrew’s beginning to feel nauseous, he starts pacing 
• And then a nurse comes to him and tells him about a ruptured lung and broken ribs and a cracked sternum and internal bleeding and 
• and the room’s spinning 
• He calls Renee with numb fingers, “Neil - Neil, car accident. Surgery. Can you…Mem-Memorial Regional. Please.”  “Of course.” 
• Renee is a while away, she calls Matt, he gets there before she does.
• “Hey, hey man. What - uh, did they tell you anything?”  “It’s bad.” He tells him what the nurse did. Andrew’s not going to cry in front of Matt. He’s not. 
• Renee gets there as the doctor comes in to tell him that Neil’s out of surgery, in the ICU
• She hugs him tighter than she ever has but still not tight enough for Andrew
• He’s let into the ICU on account of Neil not having any family but a boyfriend 
• There’s tubes and needles and stitches and bandages and bruises and machines and a cast and his eyes are closed but it’s Neil. It’s his Neil. 
• It’s his Neil. 
• They’re gonna be ok. 

• a two second picture of his oatmeal in the morning
• a photo of his feet on the stands looking down at kevin and neil doing target practice on the court
• his hand full of taffy (so much taffy in his smol hands? how doesn’t he have cavities?)
• renee in her pads/gloves to spar
• neil, blurry, walking toward him with a bowl of popcorn
• the open fridge with a timestamp of 1:47 am
• a pile of folded sweatpants in all different colors and wears/tears
• neil’s arm hanging off the bed under a pile of blankets and the cats on his back
• andrew flipping off the tv/the worst espn exy commentators
• the cats (of course)

• andrew pushing neil’s hand/phone away with the ghost of a smirk on his face
• wymack losing his shit over how trippy face swap is
• allison holding a huge pile of clothes in topshop and dancing in the fitting room
• the blurriest video ever with a lot of screaming and a thud followed by a picture of a satisfied neil perched on matt’s back
• the flashing lights at eden’s twilight & nicky taking a shot
• renee lip-syncing to the radio and bouncing around in the car
• secret pictures of everyone sleeping on the bus on the way to games
• abby cooking dinner and handing neil a noodle to test before they eat
• andrew playing with the cats’ favorite feather toy
• kevin yelling “GET OUT” after neil comes in while he’s stuying exy tapes
• neil talking to his cats while he feeds them
• videos of fans screaming outside of his hotel room with the caption “appreciate you but stfu”

Ronan wrapped his arms around Adam, pinning Adam’s upper arms against him. He was contained. “Forsan et haec olim meminisse juvabit,” Ronan said into Adam’s hearing ear, and Adam’s body sagged against Ronan, chest heaving. […] His head rested miserably on Ronan’s shoulder, everything shaking, standing only because Ronan did not allow him to sink.

• has dimples that only show up when he’s smiling a very certain way.  very rare
• made excel spreadsheets and formulated equations that could very accurately predict what groceries his house would need based on the rate at which various food items are consumed, essentially predicting the weekly grocery list without anybody having to check the fridge & pantry.  his parents loved it.  bitty loves it.
• he was very tiny as a kid until very suddenly he wasnt.  has stretch marks from growing a whole foot in less than 6 months
• has an incredible inner ear and almost never gets dizzy.  he could spin around in circles forever and then walk a straight line like its nothing
• knows how to swaddle a baby.  
• brags about being able to swaddle a baby.  is challenged on his knowledge of how to swaddle a baby.  with the absence of actual infants in the haus, the team instead attempts to swaddle nursey in a blanket.  bitty frowns in abject horror the entire time.  its the least chill event ever
• ransom: [cradling an in-shock nursey in his arms] now rock the child to-and-fro to relax that lil fucker
• made homemade jandals (jean sandals) to give to holster as a present.  holster loves them and stores them next to his louboutin patent leather pumps
• on the subject of high heels: both ransom and holster can run in stilettos.  ransom, however, is the more powerful of the two in this vein, and can also walk on rain grates in heels

• Ronan dreams up some sort of magic to disguise Opal’s differences so that she can go to school and make friends 
• Shoes or pants or actual legs or a damn baseball cap or a chewable multivitamin, what have you 
• now imagine Ronan dropping her off and picking her up from school 
• And being such a dad 
• And worrying about her 
• And protecting her
• Some people think that he’s just her brother 
• But he dreams up documents and things giving him legal custody of her 
• so she’s legit his 
• And Adam’s maybe, like on the birth certificate or something he’s also listed as her father, after asking Adam of course (imagine that conv)
• Anyway
• Ronan’s her legit legal guardian and her dad and she calls him Kerah 
• And she calls Adam dad eventually 
• And she learns English 
• And Ronan and Adam and she speak Latin with each other 
• And they have playdates with friends from school
• and he helps her with her homework
• and she wants to play soccer
• and he goes to every practice, every game 
• what i’m trying to get at is soccer mom Ronan Lynch
• Blue’s never gonna let him hear the end of it 
• And just
• Ronan being an actual dad with Adam to their daughter Opal 

“There aren’t terrible ideas… Just ideas done terribly”