Follow Your Passion: A Seamless Tumblr Journey
This reminds me of Neil Abram Josten.
for the requests: 24 but like,, the opposite?? do whatever you want but also have this embarrassing story of mine for free because i have LIVED this and it is HORRIBLE!! I don’t know what was going through my mind but it was my friends bday and she went to give me a fist bump but instead of returning it I just grabbed her fist with my hand (scissors beats rock style) and we both stood there in silence for a moment staring at our hands until I turned it into a sort of handshake when I just started to shake where I had her fist gripped in my own hand up and down for a solid 10 seconds
24. "confusing a handshake for a fist bump" - but the opposite lmao
minyard-josten rivalry, y'all know where it's at
so these two dumbasses keep their relationship a secret from everyone, including their managers and PR team
anyways, i imagine that there's some sort of pre-game interview happening, to create some hype for the shitshow that's going to be a minyard v josten game
the problem is... no one knows how to predict their moves
andrew's PR team tells him to be professional — maybe shake neil's hand instead of ignoring it like how he always does
neil's PR team tells him to do something more casual, to reduce the animosity he's such a natural at creating
you can probably see where this is going...
so. andrew, neil, and few people from each of their teams come out in front of the cameras
the teammates + managers on the sides are just staring very intently at andrew and neil
neil sighs and shoves out his hand for a first bump with his boyfriend of very many years
andrew however. look, he hasn't seen neil in weeks and he the cats miss him and give andrew lots of sad meows and really seeing neil is a relief so his children not his children, his CATS, can stop being so upset
basically, he has a bit of a gay panic while looking at neil — the shape of his face, his eyes, his hair (good lord, that needed to be cut three years ago)
and so when neil puts out his hand in greeting, andrew really can't be blamed for being distracted!
he slams his fingers into neil's fist.
they stare at each other for a few moments as the only sound is cameras flashing. slowly, andrew curls his fingers just as neil straightens out his fist bump.
neil's hand now gets stuck in andrew's fist.
andrew blinks at their joined hands, promptly lets go of neil's fingers, and turns around to walk away. his teammates try to grab onto him to bring him back but like honestly most of them are laughing too hard to do anything
so the game continues as usual (with a little bit of teasing towards neil and andrew by their teammates)
and at the end of the game during the handshakes, one of the announcers says "minyard! josten! maybe figure out if it's handshake or fist bump beforehand this time!"
andrew internally flips off the cameras
(it's only not external because he knows aaron's kids are watching the game tonight and he is determined to be the more mature uncle out of him and neil)
so instead of making a fool of himself again, andrew decides to just nod at neil and walk away
no sooner than a second later though, he feels a bonk on his head. neil just bonked him. on the head. in front of millions of people.
he has to salvage his reputation so he puts his hands up in a threatening gesture and says something menacingly, but no one in the audience can hear what he says
all they see is andrew looking scary and neil... doubled over laughing
instantly, there are whispers going around the stadium about what happened, so neil's coach is like 'nah we aren't letting this kid do the pre and post-game interviews' — andrew had accounted for this in his attempt to rebuild his persona
so they try to sneak neil out the back, but what andrew hadn't accounted for was a sneaky reporter who catches sight of neil and asks loudly "what was andrew minyard saying to you on the court?"
neil smirks and draws up to his full height (which frankly, is still tiny enough for andrew to give kisses without too much strain. it was the ideal height gap, if anyone asked him. not that anyone was asking him this)
"well," neil said. "he said rock" — neil makes a fist bump — "paper" — he extends an arm out for a handshake — "and then... " — neil makes a scissor symbol — "snip snip motherfucker. we're cutting your hair when we get home."
"wait, you two live together— "
part 1 of the andreil coming out thing here
ok, so andrew and neil aren't the most openly affectionate
there's no hints to the public that they could possibly be together, considering their little... rivalry
however, with andrew out now, a few people like to believe that andrew and neil could have an "enemies-to-lovers" situation
some people even think that they're already together
nevertheless, this is a very small population in the grand scheme of exy, and most of this is indulging in fantasies anyways — few people really believe in these theories
and as months pass after andrew's coming out, people stop pestering him every 0.2 seconds about who his boyfriend is
andrew and neil think they're finally free of all the annoying paparazzi and slightly overbearing fans
and it's under this false sense of security that shit hits the roof
it's a random september night when it happens, nothing terribly significant
but the whole week, andrew had been craving a closeness with neil, the kind that comes with not seeing your person for weeks
so he booked a flight to where neil was, realizing that had this occurred a few years back, andrew probably wouldn't have even acknowledged that he missed neil, let alone made steps to actually see him again
on a flight.
(he thinks bee would be proud)
anyway, he reached neil's apartment with minimal damage and proceeded to be drowned in kisses
it's a good few days.
and then, on that fateful september night, andrew is hit with the urge to take neil out
(not like murder. more like... a date?)
they don't usually go out on those, but it's not like they've never done so before
so andrew books a dinner reservation at a fancy restaurant, fully intending to take his man out on a nice. fancy. relaxing. drama-free. date.
of course, the universe has other plans
andrew and neil arrive at the restaurant (a little late but neil's lips were a good distraction for a few hours, okay? (they may have left the kitchen in disarray from lunch, but that's irrelevant))
their table is a secluded corner where they're pretty much hidden from view, save for one or two tables, and the seemingly solid privacy relaxes andrew and neil
their dinner goes by relatively uneventfully
(excluding when andrew gave a small smile to one of neil's dumb jokes, who proceeded to dump marinara sauce into his water instead of next to his garlic bread while staring dreamily at andrew, and then nearly choked when he took his next sip from the glass)
(also excluding when neil gave a not-so-innocent suck on his fork and andrew, frustrated over laws about public indecency, stabbed his brussel sprouts aggressively, causing one to fly up and hit and burn his eye)
(also also excluding— )
ok, so maybe it was more of a mess than andrew was ready to admit
but andrew dug into his panna cotta feeling lighter than he had in weeks as neil teased him about his sugar addiction and held his hand under the table
it was as andrew leaned over and kissed some cream off the side of neil's lips that he got the feeling of being watched
he whirled around, hair nearly hitting neil's face, as his gaze landed on a cell phone camera pointed at them
he caught the eye of a very guilty looking man, made even more errant when said man proceeded to leap out of his chair and run out of the restaurant
andrew was half-out of his chair to follow him when neil tugged on his shirt sleeve, an instigative glint in his eye
"neil. do you want to see this on every gossip magazine in the next few hours?"
"well no, but that fuckwad is always going to have those pictures. we, however, can make sure he doesn't get the headline he wants"
"... i'm listening"
about 40 minutes later, back at neil's apartment, neil posts a picture of his extremely messy kitchen on twitter
@neil_josten_official: well fuck me 🥴
@03andrewminyard: if you insist
~ 30 minutes later ~
@neil_josten_official: *image attached: andrew is laying his head in the crook of neil's neck as neil kisses him on the top of his head, andrew's fingers running through neil's hair. they both appear to be shirtless*
@neil_josten_official: BREAKING NEWS: just had sex with my (very hot) boyfriend to get revenge on unfulfilled gossip "journalists." life really couldn't be better :)
@neil_josten_official: ok but really, stop trying to out closeted celebrities (and people in general). it's not cool. it's not trendy. our lives aren't a scandal to report on. you're all just assholes and fuck you
@neil_josten_official: but not literally. a metaphorical fuck, if you will
@exykevinday.official: I'm proud of you for coming out and finally ending your ridiculous rivalry @neil_josten_official and @03andrewminyard, but was there really no other way you could have done so without informing me about your sex life?
@03andrewminyard: haha. no.
needless to say, the internet erupts in shock at neil's tweets
theories emerge left and right about how, when, why andrew and neil got together
the two of them get requests for so many interviews, talk shows, panels, magazines, all of which they turn down
of course, there's the occasional question in a post-game or team interview that's hard to avoid, and for the most part, these rare moments provide the only things the public knows about what they affectionately call "andreil"
but apparently when you're in a very public relationship, there are certain expectations fans have about how much of it you disclose
and while andrew doesn't necessarily want to divulge their private life to millions of people, he also can't help but be reminded of how seeing nicky and erik's comfortable relationship in his late teenage years solidified to him that him liking guys wasn't a bad thing
and it's with that in mind that he posts a picture on his instagram from earlier in june of him and neil curled up on the sofa, a massive rainbow flag draped around them with neil kissing his cheek
it's one of the few pictures he posts of the two of them (photos are more of neil's thing (when the hell did he take such model-esque photos of andrew?))
but andrew constantly @'s neil on twitter for literally anything
@03andrewminyard: don't forget the cat food the spoiled idiots take the most expensive stuff @neil_josten_official
@03andrewminyard: hey @neil_josten_official get me the mega stuff oreos from the store ok bye
@03andrewminyard: i- @neil_josten_official. why. is. there. neon. orange. paint. all. over. my. socks.
needless to say, neil's retaliation of posting gorgeous photos of andrew always flusters andrew
and if andrew needs to press soft kisses to his lips to stop neil's gleeful laughter and his own flightful smile, well, that's no one's business