The Foxhole Court Tumblr

On tying people up

I think the question was "I'm thinking about writing something about them, so was tying him up a common occurrence?"

Luckily this is the one question of the night I wrote in Notepad instead of in Tumblr, because it got so long that I wanted more room to work on it.

Before I answer this (because I know this is gonna get long—hey, this is me we're talking about), I want to start with two things:

1. This is my take on the situation, but it doesn't change anything. Everyone's free to interpret the characters how they like and do with them as they wish!

2. It is not my intention to offend anyone with anything that's said in here. People like what they like, and need what they need, and experiment with things that interest them, so on and so forth. That's healthy and normal and fantastic! But the men we're about to talk about are not at all healthy, and the attitudes I'm trying to explain in this (never-ending) ramble are theirs.

Here's the two-sentence version of my answer:
I never considered it to be an ongoing thing with them—I just saw it as the final evolution of their trust.

And the essay longer answer ya'll knew was coming:
It's not something I would say is a common occurrence, no. But because my answer is no I want to explain why it even made an appearance in another Ask and why my answer is what it is.

Eventually Andrew will understand that it's okay to tie Neil's hands out of the way once in a while, but I can't see him doing it with any real frequency. Neil is the first person in Andrew's life who is allowed to touch Andrew, so tying him up cheats Andrew out of something he has never before been able to have and enjoy. Getting from where they are in King's Men to where they are after Nicky's wedding takes a lot of work and many years.

Let me see if I can make this make sense.

Roland makes good on his joke and gives them a pair of padded cuffs. He waits until the end of the summer, because the first half of the summer the Foxes are struggling with Aaron's trial and six new faces on the court. But in August he gives Neil a box and tells Neil to open it when he's alone at Fox Tower. I forgive him—he means well, he is just so happy that Andrew finally found someone who will stick with him, and he knows firsthand how much Andrew loathes being touched.

So yeah, they're partially a joke, but they're partially a "Go get 'im, friend!" show of support. He doesn't know any better, and luckily for him Neil and Andrew are too bruised by the gift to ever tell him what they honestly think of it. ((Andrew tries to throw the cuffs out the closed window of their dorm room. Luckily they're not heavy enough to break the glass, just crack it. Matt replaces the window when Neil asks him to but never gets an explanation as to what happened.))

Here's the thing ((that ya'll already know)): Andrew is an untrustworthy ball of issues and he & Neil still have a lot to work on when King's Men ends. But Andrew trusts Neil to stop if he says stop, and he trusts Neil to keep his hands to himself if Andrew's not comfortable with Neil reaching out for him. Neil knows and understands and respects the fact that a Yes today is not a Yes tomorrow when it comes to Andrew—today Andrew might let Neil put his hands on his back, and tomorrow he might push Neil's hands away, and Neil knows it has nothing to do with him in the end. It is about a comfort zone that has been breached too many times and Andrew learning what he is and isn't okay with.

Andrew tells Neil at the end of King's Men that he knows Neil can respect that about him, so turning around and tying Neil's hands feels like a "Just kidding, I don't fucking trust you" as far as Andrew's concerned. It turns Neil's "I trust you" into "I trust you, Andrew, but it's okay if you don't trust me enough in return." It turns Andrew into the men who pushed him down and wouldn't let him fight back. Andrew won't—can't—become that person.