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- it's not often, and hardly ever when other people (the foxes in particular) could see them.

- the first time, it's on the bus as they arrive to the stadium. All the other foxes have left, Neil was by the window for a change. Andrew got up, holding his hand out in silence for Neil to take to help him up, but once he was standing Andrew didn't let go. He led him down the bus, hand tightly wrapped in Neil's, and only let go as he stepped onto the tarmac, before anyone else could see.

- the second is on a drive. Andrew needed to get out of Fox Tower, so he approached Neil and held up his keys in question. Neil follows him out and they get in the car and hit the open road, driving without a destination for Andrew's mood to improve. Midway through the drive, Andrews hand absentmindedly reaches over to Neil thigh, next to his hand. Neil thinks he'll leave it there, but regardless Neil turns his hand over, palm up, inviting Andrew to hold it if he wants to. And he does, lacing his fingers through Neil's. He lets out a small sigh of relief that Neil barely catches. They pull up eventually in a seaside town and eat ice cream until they feel sick. Neil drives home, Andrews hand in his once again.

- The first time the foxes catch them, it's Allison (of course, it's the worst person who can catch them). It's during movie night. Andrew and Neil are sitting behind the rest of them on the sofa. Neil has his arm around Andrews shoulder, and Andrew is loosely holding the hand that rests over his collarbone. Allison nudges Dan to look, but by then Andrew has released his hand in favour of holding up a middle finger to her. Neils hand instead has gone discreetly into Andrews hair. No one believes what Allison saw.

- It becomes more frequently then. Movie nights and bus rides and car journeys. Sometimes Andrew might reach for Neil's hand to guide him somewhere rather than his elbow or lower back.

But when Jean’s mii unexpectedly falls for Kevin instead, Jeremy is surprised to realize… he doesn’t actually mind. After all that effort, he somehow ends up genuinely happy with the outcome. What surprises him more is catching himself googling, “Are throuples possible in the new Tomodachi Life?”

Jean once caught him playing and was fully prepared to comment that his mii doesn’t even look like him (it absolutely does), but he went quiet the moment he noticed the pink arrow labeled “Soulmates” between himself and Kevin.

For a few seconds, everyone was petrified. Cody started laughing so hard they could barely breathe. Andrew (who had obviously tagged along with Kevin) immediately started filming so he could show the disaster to Neil later. Cat already knew about the existence of the island (it's her switch, there was no way she wouldn't notice a mysterious extra account) and she may or may not have hoped for something like this to happen.

I like the idea of Kevin’s public persona freaking out the Foxes. Not only in the sense that it’s weird to see Kevin being so polite and proper. But that there’s something eerie about it all that puts them on edge.

Kevin doesn’t just put on a smile and call it a day no his entire demeanour shifts.

Everything from Kevin’s posture to the way he breathes completely changes. The smile on his face looks more natural than his actual smile. They watch as the panic leaves his body and morphs into this false sense of ease as if he were drunk.

When Kevin’s in front of the cameras his friends come face to face with the broken boy Tetsuju created. A picture perfect doll built to smile and please. He shakes hands and plays along when people twice his age joke about what they’d do if they got him alone.

Every move Kevin makes on stage is one someone else decided for him and drilled into his brain. It’s so easy to lose the progress he’s made and fall back into the familiarity of being a puppet and submit to the programming that was beaten into him.

Kevin can’t mess up not even a little because if he reveals that beneath it all he’s a living breathing person well he’s not the only one who’ll be paying for it. He hugs the man that was once his brother as if he never broke him. Both of them talk and laugh and none of it’s real but it has to look at it.