Your Left Pinky Toe

So Nora has answered some questions regarding Andrew being protective/possessive in the past - although mainly about possessiveness/protectiveness surrounding defending Neil from people who wanna fight him more-so than people who wanna fuck him. Regarding fighting, she said: on the Exy court Andrew wouldn’t DIRECTLY intervene until the situation was dire - like how he immediately went to strangle Lane in TGR, but if someone did start shoving Neil a little too hard even for a rough sport like Exy, Andrew would, “retaliate by rebounding every ball he gets for the rest of the game at their head & feet.” OFF the Exy court: “Andrew would definitely intervene and settle things for him… Neil comments on it the first time, but Andrew ignores him in favor of checking Neil’s split lip, and Neil opts for finding it endearing rather than a slight against his questionable fighting skills.”

Andrew is physically protective of Neil against perceived threats. I think how he would react would depend on the severity of a threat - and sexual interest could definitely BECOME a threat & but may not always qualify as one depending on how the individual is displaying their sexual interest in Neil.

Additionally (a little tangent based on the information above) Andrew LOVES when Neil runs his mouth (canonically one of his favourite things about Neil) & Andrew is going to guarantee that Neil can keep talking shit forever without consequences & if someone does try to retaliate against Neil, Andrew instinctively protects Neil (probably by punching the other person twice as hard as they had hit/tried to hit Neil).

This makes sense considering what we were beginning to see of Andrew/Neil’s dynamic in TKM [so sorry to throw you under the bus here, Kevin, but these are two very good examples in TKM: The first is when Neil is shit-talking Riko & the Ravens to the reporters when they ask about his Number 4 tattoo, Kevin tries to get Neil to hush & then Neil overhears him complaining about him so he, “turned and shoved Kevin into the door as hard as he could… Andrew, who’d attacked Matt for hitting Kevin, took a neat step out of the way." Now, we contrast this scene with this second scene when Kevin is about to say something “negative and dismissing” about the Foxes losing to the Trojans, “Neil reached behind Andrew and popped Kevin in the back of the head to shut him up… Kevin froze for a startled second, then sent Neil a scathing look “No one wants to hear that right now,” Neil said. “If you hit me again,” Kevin started. Andrew cut in with a casual, “You’ll what?””

Both these scenes take place pre-Baltimore, as well. And then we all know what happened post-Baltimore. And also that post-Baltimore is when Andrew acknowledged to himself that Neil was IT for him & that losing Neil would be the one thing Andrew could not come back from.

Basically, Andrew plays favourites. VERY blatantly. His protectiveness : Neil can do what he wants without consequences & if anyone tries to enforce consequences upon Neil you will be dealing with ME. I think sometimes people characterize Andrew as… someone who isn’t interested in stepping into Neil’s business uninvited, which isn’t true. Andrew will make Neil’s business his business. Someone expressing interest in Neil/finding Neil attractive would definitely qualify as Andrew's business.

I think this is also why I say I don’t think the jealousy!trope works very well for established Andrew/Neil. [Nora once answered that Andrew would need a ‘must sign autographs’ clause in his Pro Exy contracts b/c otherwise he would just blankly stare at someone asking for an autograph until they walked away.] Andrew is not nice. He’s not interested in most people. Andrew & Neil are never going to behave in a way that will make the oner one jealous b/c they’re both fully aware of what they mean to each other & they are distinctly Nicer to each other than they are to other people, especially strangers. So, I don’t think Andrew would be jealous of someone else finding Neil attractive b/c he knows Neil (like Andrew) doesn’t give a shit about outsiders. Neil is never going to return a random stranger's attraction/interest. Andrew will not experience any fear of abandonment of Neil leaving him for someone else.

Nora also once answered a question about reporters asking future Andrew/Neil about their relationship if they were accidentally outed and they were a few interesting parts of her answer:

The Pro Team that Andrew & Neil both play for (Andrew & Neil also both start playing for the same Pro Team 3 years after Andrew graduated from college & 2 years for Neil. Neil only played on ONE other Pro team right after graduating college before Andrew’s coach snatched him up and that’s b/c the coach NOTICED that Andrew/Neil basically spent all their time together when they could) knew about Andrew/Neil since DAY ONE. B/c they are not hiding their relationship and apparently it’s quite obvious they are together. [We can see the start of this in TSC when Jean points out that Andrew & Neil orbit one another].

Neil says that Andrew/Neil are NOT embarrassed about being publicly outed when the reporter asks b/c there is nothing to be embarrassed about.

Neil confirms that he and Andrew are in a relationship but provides no extra details because the details are THEIRS and that “the only reason they don’t talk about it is because it’s no one else’s business.” [Neil/Andrew are private but they're also not hiding and I think this is an important distinction].

These are interesting tidbits for me when I think of post-Canon Andrew/Neil characterization b/c I’ve mentioned before that some people still write post-Canon Andrew/Neil as (Andrew in particular but sometimes Neil as well, which is strange b/c Neil was heavily insistent on the fact that Andrew/Neil weren’t nothing) saying they’re nothing or denying their relationship - even though that issue was resolved by the end of TKM [and Aaron even tells us in his POV Bonus Chapter that Andrew/Neil weren’t even bothering to deny their relationship to the other Foxes]. Andrew wasn’t ever/will never say Neil is nothing to him in front of others, either (outside of when he lashed out at Aaron but Aaron immediately called him a liar) - when he said it to Neil, it was with some understanding that Neil knew where Andrew was coming from (the danger of letting someone in). Andrew has enough critical thinking skills to know that some random is going to think (a) that Andrew is ashamed of his sexuality or Neil or (b) that one of them is available, which definitely isn’t the case.

And while Andrew & Neil are private people it seems as if Nora envisioned (and based on TSC & TGR) still seems to envision that it’s very obvious that Andrew/Neil are together. And because Andrew/Neil do things deliberately & are both critical thinkers aware of their surroundings and how they are perceived, I think Andrew/Neil must BOTH be aware that it’s obvious they are together.

And this information is important to this question (not JUST b/c I ramble on tangents, everyone… I swear it all makes sense in my brain) because I think this would inform Andrew’s behaviour on someone checking out or hitting on Neil.

Nora has said before that by the time they go Pro Andrew is certain in his relationship with Neil (what they mean to one another). I would say this certainty happens relatively early on post-Canon. I don’t think Andrew’s possessiveness would be b/c he is afraid someone could seduce Neil away (Andrew is very aware that Neil is demisexual & only attracted to Andrew). However, Andrew is canonically a possessive & protective person “my things” “it’s not just anyone when she lays a hand on what’s mine.” I don’t think these characteristics of Andrew’s will dull over time - in fact, I think the more people he has to let go of to live their own lives (Aaron to Katelyn, medical school, etc. Nicky to Erik, Germany. Kevin to Thea, his own Exy Team + life) the more he will cling to Neil especially as the culmination of his deal and ‘something to build his life around.’ We see when Andrew initially let’s go of Aaron, he clings to Nicky & Kevin a bit harder, but I think since Neil is his Favourite & as his and Neil’s relationship develops and they become closer, it’ll allow Andrew to focus a lot of his protectiveness/possessiveness solely on Neil (which, good thing Neil is accustomed to this/enjoys this as a sign of Love & the others get a bit more breathing room).

I think a brief, passing glance would be noticed by Andrew but easily disregarded. Andrew also thought Neil was attractive as soon as he picked him up from the airport. In Andrew’s mind, this would be basically harmless.

Repetitive glancing or someone then going out of there way to KEEP Neil in their line of sight (moving when Neil moves to keep their eyes on him, staring multiple days in a row) would have Andrew a bit more on guard. It’s one thing to notice that Neil is attractive - that’s a given. It’s another thing to then act obsessive about it. And I think particularly b/c we know Andrew/Neil AREN’T being subtle Andrew would take his claim on Neil as being easily disregarded/not noticed by some stranger as a personal insult. Andrew has a lot of pride in being threatening and off-putting and if some Random Stranger can ignore that and think they can Constantly Stare at Neil, Andrew’s going to be getting a bit annoyed. Not annoyed enough to do confront them (immediately) unless the staring progresses to literal stalking (randomly appearing where Neil is to continue staring at him) then there’s going to be a confrontation.

Now, if someone tried their hand at flirting with Neil, I think Andrew would initially let Neil handle it (depending). Neil has demonstrated a willingness to reject people when necessary (Nicky, Marisa) and would continue to do so - I also don’t think Neil is AS oblivious to being flirted with as some readers think, I think he just doesn’t Give A Shit about people who flirt with him but if they’re being blatant, he will reject them. I think if someone’s “flirting” was less innocent & more of a Creepy Remark, Andrew would certainly respond with a threat [he was threatened Nicky with a knife when he didn’t even know Neil and that’s b/c creepy flirtatious comments I think are a bit of a trigger for Andrew.] The amount of creepiness would determine Andrew’s level of a violent response.

If someone GRABBED at Neil - that would be an immediate violent response from Andrew. If someone tried to wrap an arm around him, slap his ass, touch him in any sort of way - Andrew is hurting that person. Whether it’s to grab their wrist and twist, punch them, slice with one of his knives, any kind of touching is going to demand immediate retribution. It’s one thing to stare at someone who belongs to Andrew, another to even try your hand at taking something that belongs to Andrew (good luck as far as Andrew is concerned, no one is taking Neil’s attention away) and something else entirely to grab and touch someone that belongs to Andrew.