#We Don't Talk About Kevin

[foxstens]

idk i just think their relationship is one of the most interesting in the entire series

[maddgical-boy]

i feel like we don't talk about how much madd distorts your sense of identity, especially if you have a paraself that is meant to be the person you want to be and/or cannot currently be. when i look at myself in the mirror i almost don't recognize myself because That's Not Me that's just like. idk. some meat suit i need to be alive on earth??

[mcgnussen]

[broken-heart-raven-queen]

This whole Thea thing made me reflect about Kevin and Neil's relationship in canon and why we don't really hear about her before Renee tells Neil that Kevin has a gf.

All Neil know (and therefore all we know) about Kevin's past is said by others. The media, other Foxes, Wymack, Kathy, etc. They didn't really had a heart to heart conversation about Kevin's life at the Nest, maybe some things exy related and that's it (I'm gonna come back to this in a sec).

And I think that's okay.

Neil himself doesn't talk with others (except Andrew and a little to Wymack) about his past either before Baltimore forced him to. And I feel like it was the same with Kevin in the way he hwd to told his story once when he joined the Foxes to make them trust him and also to protect them. Neil obviously wasn't in that conversation.

Kevin has trauma too and his own history with mafia and the Moriyamas that he doesn't wanna/need to tell everyone or relieve. In that past is Thea too. He probably told the team about her in that conversation because he's not close to Renee to tell just her and nobody else says anything when Thea arrives, they know who she is.

Also. Hope you remember I said I was comming around to Kevin and Neil basically talking just exy related stuff, well, I could do another very long post abou what I think of Kevin's relationship with exy, but for now I'm just saying he used it to avoid every other thing happening in the world and to communicate through it. Just like Neil does, like Andrew tells him in the awful talk they had. This two boys say a lot of things while talking "just about the game", their silence speaks volumes.

[amostimprobabledream]

You know, I was re-reading We Need To Talk About Kevin lately and for some reason I got some thoughts about Aizen from it.

But there's this whole thing in Kevin where it talks about how Kevin's father Franklin didn't really love Kevin - he loved the idea of Kevin. He fell for the fabricated version Kevin put on, because it embodied his idealised notions of Fatherhood and America and bringing up the next generation of upstanding American citizens and stuff, and Kevin never reciprocated any affection for Franklin because he knew Franklin only cared for a person Kevin was pretending to be, not the real Kevin he showed to his mother Eva. Eva was an awful parent and Kevin knew he was unwanted, but at least Eva was honest - the fact Kevin has this intrinsic bond with Eva despite (or perhaps because of) their mutual dislike is so interesting.

Anyway, but that lead me to think about Aizen and his relationship with Hinamori. Because we know Aizen is incredibly callous with other people because they are pawns in his eyes and he's never been able to connect with others because of the immense power he was born with. But why does he seem to have it out for Hinamori (and Hitsugaya) in particular? You'd think he'd at least have some tolerance for Hinamori, the girl who was utterly, slavishly devoted to Aizen above everyone else, who continued to believe in him even after he showed his true face and abandoned Soul Society, and made a point of betraying her in a particularly cruel way.

BUT, maybe that's exactly why Aizen seems to hate Hinamori especially. Because she fell in love with the kindly Captain Aizen, who by Aizen's own admission, didn't exist. He was a cultivated illusion he wore to keep everyone else in the dark, to be beneath suspicion while Gin drew the accusing finger by being...well, Gin. And so Hinamori didn't really love Aizen, she loved who he was pretending to be. An idealised image of the perfect Captain, on the level of Ukitake with his level of goodness and kindness...and so, did Aizen similarly resent Hinamori for being so easily duped by this obvious fake? For being loyal to an idea, not a real person? Maybe he knew that if he'd shown his true face to Hinamori, all her loyalty and devotion wouldn't have lasted, even though Aizen considers his true self to be the perfection. Perhaps he goes out of his way to break Hinamori because he resents her for being a reminder that, as powerful as he is, the real Aizen is not, and never has been, truly loved.

[deadliestpieceontheboard]

In honour of your tags on this post : Please tell me all your thoughts on Kevin Day! I love to hear anything you have to say about aftg in general, but there's never enough content about Kevin.

Oooh, I'll never pass an opportunity to talk about Kevin!

I really love that lately we've learned to embrace pathetic men. Kevin is a wet cat, he's scared and wounded and aggressive and really we just need to plunge him in a warm flea bath and he'll become a lap princess.

This is all great. Let us all accept weakness and be kinder to Kevin Day.

But!!! Let's not forget!!

This man is THE SHIT. He's the hottest girl in school. He's the best exy player since the sport was created. At 18!! He's the star of the most badass moment on the entire series.

He refused defeat, he refused half-assed attempts. He demanded the best because he could give nothing less and kept his pride because it was all he had left. Kevin Day couldn't afford to doubt himself because the entire world already did.

Kevin was left broken in the gutter and clawed his way back to the top. He dragged himself drinking and crying to the only acceptable outcome.

And there's nothing braver than a coward who chooses time and time again to keep going.

[marshmellowtea]

okay i see why defunctland's newest epcot video didn't catch on in the tumblr zeitgeist the way the disney channel theme song video did but with that said. that was a gorgeous piece of art and i spent most of it watching with my stupid mouth hanging open holy FUCK

[jewishraypalmer]

Nothing is sadder than seeing a tag full of hopeful lokius shippers like comrades this is still the MCU we're not getting anything

[reincarnatedintospace]

I know we talk about Neil and Andrew's relationship a lot but we can we just talk about Andrew and Kevin's friendship for a second?

I can't remember if there was anything in Nora's extra content, but I'm doing my annual re-read of AFTG and I'm realising how big of a deal Kevin and Andrew's relationship is.

Kevin was the first person to look at Andrew and tell him he was worth something, worth fighting for, when no one had. Andrew was the first person in Kevin's life to treat him like a human being, like a friend and actually care for him without expectations (other than Wymack, but that's a different dynamic).

Andrew may have made a deal with Kevin to protect him and keep him alive, but no one told him he had to protect his mental and emotional health too. There's multple times when Andrew sits with him, or takes him back to their dorm to hide and decompress, or when he tells Neil after the first banquet and finding out Neil's real name that he can't talk to Kevin til the next day. Andrew knows him well enough to know how much he can handle and that Kevin needs a night to deal with that fall out. And yeah, maybe we could argue that making sure Kevin had an even keel and kept his head in the game was so he could attempt to kept his promise to Andrew. But I think it goes deeper than that.

Especially when Kevin was the first person who looked at Andrew and saw how low and lifeless he was, how close to the edge he was with nothing to live for. Andrew didnt tell him that, Kevin was looking hard enough to see that for himself. Kevin, and then Neil later (Wymack and Renee to a lesser extent), were the only people who saw Andrew for who he really was, a human being with a heart and didn't write him off as insane, useless or incapable of feeling.

We know Andrew cares, quite a lot actually about the people in his life, and while that mostly comes down to protecting those people, his and Kevin's friendship is more than that.

They trust each other, and for two fucked up and traumatised kids, that's a big thing.

Andrew gives his medication to Kevin to keep hold of when he's adjusting doses or coming off them and that's an incredibly vulnerable thing to hand over to someone. Kevin could have used it against him in any numbers of ways, though Andrews not the type of person to let that happen. That takes trust to put that in someone else's hands.

Kevin, who is so single-minded and fanatic about Exy and is incredibly frustrated by Andrew constantly fighting him about it, still backs down and cares enough to tell Andrew to take his drugs when he's suffering through withdrawal. And yeah, we only see that when its not for a game but you don't do that for someone you don't care about. You don't hold someone elses forced addiction in the palm of your hand and not know what you have over them. Andrew didn't give those to just anybody, he could have given them to Renee or Nicky, and even though it makes sense for Kevin to have them in terms of their deal I still think it says volumes that he gave them to Kevin specifically.

You know what else Kevin does? What I think cements how much they care about each other and solidifies that trust between them? Kevin never gives up on Andrew or their promise. No matter how much Andrew fought him or how dark Andrew got or how scared Kevin was of the Moriyama's, or how much his defiance put his literal life in danger, he kept fighting for Andrew, and no one, apart from Neil, has ever fought for Andrew.

Now tell me they don't care about each other. I dare you. I will fight you like Andrew and Kevin fight for each other.

[grungepoetica]

memento mori two years, midterms kinda good this year, gen z killed the red wave, batman's in his grave, fifth of november, a million kinds of fervor, native kids under attack, au warrior cats, there's a tumblr renaissance, should i join mastodon, who's the prime minister, flamewars over eight dollars, checkmarks, elon musk, dream smp ending sucks, we didn't start the fire

[foxstens]

i still don't know how i feel about andrew choking kevin

i guess it's kind of significant for andrew's character, and his relationship with neil? it shows just how worried and afraid andrew was in that moment and that's something the other foxes and the reader definitely pick up on.

but i don't think it's handled particularly well. in fact i don't think it's handled, period. does neil pick up on what it means? despite the bruises being mentioned multiple times in the narration, neil himself doesn't seem to have any thoughts on it

we don't see kevin and andrew ever talk about it. how do they feel about it? that was most definitely andrew losing control, and he himself knows what it means even if he doesn't say it outright. but how does he feel afterwards. i know he doesn't do regret but does he feel in any particular way about it or is it just something completely insignificant to him. we don't know.

and kevin. kevin definitely knows what it means, and the narration seems to hint that he thinks andrew would do it again. he's back at andrew's side right after so it doesn't seem to cause much friction between them. but then andrew keeps choosing neil over kevin in other ways and to me that just feels like pouring salt on the wound. we don't know how kevin feels about it but even if he understood and he forgave andrew, it's still a thing that happened and i believe it should have been handled.

there's also how kevin was keeping neil's secrets which i don't think was wrong despite what andrew might think, and this happened after browning called them and they were on their way to baltimore so they would've found out anyway...

taking everything into account i just don't see what this scene does, narratively and for kevin and andrew. it happens off-screen, it doesn't change their relationship as far as we can see, and if it was supposed to change the foxes' or the readers' perspective on andreil, the baltimore hotel scene does that, and better. neil and aaron changing dorm rooms also does that, and better.

[eunchancorner]

name your current sm character you’re hyper fixated on

Y e s

[knickknacksandallthat]

is jerejean mad at kevin? like i feel like jean will kinda be pissed, but like mad enough to get into a fight with him when he comes back?

Ahhhh, I'm gonna have to plead the fifth on this one, anon. I'm sorry! I don't think I can answer this one without giving too much away...

Keep on guessing though! I'm loving the theories!

[waestlandbaby]

Something that stood out to me in my aftg reread was how unhinged the upperclassmen actually are.

Matt fucking Boyd and his willingness to absolutely go at anyone, anywhere, any time. There's a scene where Kevin tells him to foul another player on the opposing team and Neil specifically points out the unrepentant grin he has on his face as he waltzes off court after it happens. He also is described as the best player on the foxes line up multiple times by Neil and his play style is aggressive, he uses his height and build to his advantage and he doesn't hold back.

Allison and Andrew have the exact same style of serving cunt, in that if you don't interest them they will not even acknowledge your existence. A player from another team attempted to score on the goal and both Allison and Andrew stood still and watched them miss with such bitchy indifference it probably gave that player ptsd. They also both have a habit of cutting through bullshit and demanding truth ESPECIALLY regarding topics other people would shy away from. Badass blonde bombshells.

Dan Wilds is just as rabid about Exy as Kevin and her every first thought goes to the game first just like Kevin. She's just better at making her second thought go to something else. She literally knew the second Seth was out of the picture that there was an opportunity there and she didn't even really hesitate to talk to Matt about it. She looked at Neil and whatever fucked up little thing he had going on with Andrew (as it would have looked to an outsider, let's remember that they all knew Andrew took him to Columbia and drugged him) and was like, how can we use this to make the team stronger. Like Nicky used Neil to manipulate Andrew but Dan did it better and with much more calculation.

Renee I don't even really need to talk about because Neil was always wary of her but there is one scene where Neil let's slip about his father's penchant for knives and Renee's reaction and understanding gave me chills. Renee uses that part of her to protect and that's really great because she would be terrifying otherwise.

[maddy-ferguson]

Willing to be controversial but I think Riverdale has a better representation than Stranger Things and I am saying this as a dedicated Riverdale hater (and hate-watcher) since S2's that particular episode where Betty gave that weird *dance scene*. There is no way ST can beat Cheryl Blossom, Toni or CherylToni in any way.

on the lesbian front 100%...y a pas photo comme on dit

and of course very different genres there's less time to fuck around in st because they have an actual story to tell and because they're not a teen drama on the cw and yes robin's coming out scene is great i love it too but they really gave us nothing to work with with vickie it's actually insane. this summer when people on twitter were like um why are you shipping byler (a ship that will never happen) when there's OTHER Great queer representation on stranger things...babe. what stranger things are you talking about because it certainly isn't the one on netflix. vickie was on our screen for less than five minutes

for The Gays in general will and mike's character arcs are so well crafted that yk there's stuff you can dislike and criticize but it's still good writing in a good show vs (mostly?) good writing in a trashy show at the end of the day lol. i feel like if you're looking to watch a show for its gay content only riverdale might be better because there's less pain there😭

[owlarchimedes]

"Matt grinned like he thought Neil was joking and left." - the kings men

NEIL THE MAN THAT YOU ARE I feel like we as a fandom don't talk about this enough. Neil's casually sending out hits against abusers (Proust, Grayson), and admitting to wanting to murder Riko and the foxes are like, "ha, good one buddy!"

He's a feral little gremlin and I think the only people who see Neil clearly are Andrew, Kevin, and Jean