(because this became an essay and got super out of hand)
I wrote a post earlier in which I pointed out a number of lines regarding Kevin and some of things said in TGR. But I’ve been thinking more and more about not just those lines, but also some of the other lines in the original trilogy and in the extra chapter David, published in the special editions.
The short answer to the above question is… yes. I do think Kevin is an SA victim. The real question to me here is who perpetrated it. I have a few ways to show why I think that and who I think did it.
First I want to examine Kevin’s reaction to Andrew and Drake.
Neil only had the bloody sheet partway over Andrew's body before Kevin reached them. Neil didn't know how much Kevin saw. He couldn't look back to see Kevin's reaction, but the thud said Kevin recoiled from the sight in front of him and backed right into the doorframe.
A second later Kevin was gone again.
This at first doesn’t ring alarm bells, but then we get into this section.
"Oh, no," Andrew interrupted him. "No. Don't ask what. You know better. You know better," he said again, with heat. Andrew tilted forward as far as he dared. He started to sway, but Neil caught his shoulder to keep him from falling. "Looks like I was right about him after all. Or do you still think this is all a big misunderstanding? Go on, tell me again how I'm too unbalanced to understand normal brotherly affection and love. Tell me this is natural."
Nicky looked like he'd been sucker punched. Aaron's flinch was full body. Across the room Kevin was staring at Andrew like he'd seen a ghost.
Chapter 13 of TRK goes on to have Kevin act in very dissociative ways. He does say this:
"We researched him," Kevin said at last, voice thick with some unknown emotion. It wasn't grief and wasn't quite guilt. "We looked before we offered him a spot on the line. We didn't see anything about this. No one knew."
After all that happened to Andrew this is their exchange:
"Kevin," Andrew called from out of sight.
Kevin nearly knocked the chair over in his hurry to answer. Neil watched from the doorway as Andrew stopped almost right up against Kevin. Andrew pat Kevin down for imaginary injuries and Kevin stood motionless until he was done.
Then after it’s revealed that Andrew is going to a facility.
Kevin was staring hard at Wymack as if waiting for Wymack to put an end to this. Wymack ignored him and saw the lawyers out.
“I can't believe you're sending Andrew away," Kevin said, a little sharply.
"Technically I'm not," Wymack said. "Betsy is. And it doesn't really matter what you believe, because it's already settled."
"What about the season?" Kevin asked. "What about Riko?"
"What about Andrew? Attempt to think about someone and something else for just a moment there." Wymack waited a beat to make sure that accusation sunk in.
"Riko is going to tear us apart," Kevin said.
"She shouldn't have taken Andrew away," Kevin said in a low voice.
Nicky shot him appalled look. "You don't really think that."
"You've always been the biggest critic of his drugs," Dan said. "What changed?"
"The timing," Neil said. "There are two games left this season and we're pretty much a shoo-in for spring championships. If the ERC decides Andrew isn't part of our line-up anymore, we're beneath size regulations. They'll strike us from the roster and our year is over. You can bet Riko will be the first one we hear from if that happens. Kevin's afraid."
"Screw the season," Nicky said heatedly. "I'm sorry, but Andrew's my cousin, and I'll take him over championships any day. If Betsy actually left him on his medicine after what just happened I'd—" He couldn't make himself finish, but he gave an emphatic jerk of his hand.
"As if you feel any differently," Kevin sent Neil.
Neil fixed Kevin with a stony look. "Maybe if you'd stuck around a moment longer you'd understand why I don't care anymore. When you came upstairs, did you hear him laughing, Kevin? He was," he said, ignoring the way Nicky flinched and the quick look Dan shot Matt, "before Drake even hit the ground. So yes, even I would give up this season. And after everything he's done and every risk he's taken for you, you'd better feel the same."
"It's not that simple," Kevin started.
"Then simplify it," Neil cut in.
Kevin went quiet. A minute later, he started drinking in earnest.
Kevin gets a lot of shit from both the other Foxes and from the fandom for this section of the books, but if we look closely at what Kevin is and isn’t saying with his actions and words it kind of becomes clear that there’s a lot more going on. Especially in the bigger picture of Kevin across the books at large.
Andrew himself is very protective of Kevin. Not only does he help Kevin integrate into society slowly, he is the first to threaten anyone who touches or threatens Kevin in any way. I’ll probably write a post on them as a whole, but I want to note here that Andrew is very aware of something that Nora has mentioned outside of the books: Kevin has built his life around exy.
After the loss of his mother, Kevin needed something to centre his life around. He chose exy. I’d argue his relationship with exy is even more complicated than that, though. We see evidence that Kevin finds his only power and worth in exy, he doesn’t actually have anything outside of the game in terms of intrinsic value. He could only make his needs known and have a certain amount of safety and protection because he was an asset as an exy player within the Evermore system. Without his playing ability he had no means of keeping himself safe. So while losing his hand shattered the core thing he built his life around - meaning and purpose - it also destroyed his safety, power and worth at the same time. There was no guarantee that he could not be harmed or even killed after that point. Tetsuji never formally adopted Kevin. Kevin was an outsider to the Moriyamas and was never a part of their family. He was an asset and he was a pet. Furthermore, we also see that Kevin never talks about his interests outside of exy. We know he has them, we even know he fought to follow one of them in study (history). But he never talks about them. Kevin believes he does not have anything of value to add outside of his exy skills. For all the confidence and sassiness he has an esteemed exy player, it becomes pretty apparent that Kevin actively avoids stepping outside of that realm because he does not see himself as someone with anything worth saying on any other subject. Why would anyone want to hear what he has to say when it is not about the one thing he has purpose in?
Andrew is well aware of the root of this obsession - it was why all at once he supports Kevin’s needs (night practices) while also pushing up against it at every available opportunity (calling Kevin out for only talking about exy).
Now I want to highlight some parts of the extra ‘David’ chapter from the special editions. ‘David’ is a chapter written from Wymack’s POV and follows Wymack talking to Kevin when Kevin is in a crisis on his couch in TFC. I could talk a lot about this chapter but I’ll try and keep this focused.
"I spent all of spring on her couch," Kevin said as he set the mug down too hard. "This is better. Easier? Better."
"I've seen the bottom of a lot of bottles," David said. "It's not a real fix, just a temporary crutch, trust me. Give Betsy another chance."
"I don't trust her." Kevin tried refilling his mug, but he'd drunk enough by now to be clumsy with it. Half of what he poured ended up on the coffee table, and Kevin swore in a quick handful of languages. He set the bottle down, looked around for something to clean his mess with, and ended up patting at the puddle with his hand. "She's Andrew's. Did you know they text each other?"
It took David a moment to follow Kevin's train of thought. "I've known her for a very long time. She's a professional through and through. It doesn't matter what her opinion of Andrew is; she would never give away your secrets without your explicit consent."
"You don't," Kevin said stubbornly.
"You've already told us what happened to your hand," David reminded him. "You've told us who the Moriyamas are, both branches of them. What could you be holding on to still that would drive you this far away from her?"
"No. Don't ask me that." Kevin waited a beat as if expecting pushback, then reached for the bottle.
"You're not just a Fox," David said, before he could think to stop himself. "You're Kayleigh's son."
Kevin's expression fractured as he recoiled. David stared at the bottle he was holding onto even as Kevin retreated into himself on the next cushion. The silence that fell between them was wretched and deep, and David worked his jaw as he tried to find a way back from this dangerous territory. The secondhand of his watch ticking away each second seemed to grow deafening the longer they sat frozen, and David used it to count his breaths.
Jesus, Kevin looked so much like her, except Kayleigh had never looked so defeated and afraid. She'd been fierce and vibrant and fearless.
And then finally we get this:
"If she does, the deal's off, and I'Il reassign her away from our team. Coach's honor.”
"Coaches have no honor," Kevin said, ragged with renewed heartbreak and despair.
There’s a lot to unpack here. These are things that neither Neil or Jean have ever seen or mentioned. I don’t usually include or reference extra pieces that Nora posts online, but this feels fair game as it was published in one of the physical books.
Kevin has several big pieces here that intrigue me: their therapist is Andrew’s (according to him) and he doesn’t want Andrew to know one or multiple things about him, he believes that the confidentiality of a therapist is not real, when he’s asked what he could still be hiding outside of the yakuza cult sports team he shuts it down and expects David to argue with him on it, the mere mention of Kayleigh has him spinning out, and coaches specifically have ‘no honour’.
One more tidbit about Andrew and Kevin in relation to this topic specifically happens in TGR.
Kevin was due at court that afternoon, but Jeremy was on lunch break before he saw the photograph in his news feed: Andrew going down the stairs as Kevin went up them, as far apart from each other as they could be on the stairwell. Caught halfway between them was Neil, standing still as a stone as if he wasn’t sure which one of them he was supposed to be following. Jeremy found the answer by accident, when Cat showed him a news clip later: Andrew left by himself, and Neil accompanied Kevin inside.
Andrew has always protected Kevin and tried to shelter Kevin’s needs. Neil regularly does that on his accord, but often also follows Andrew’s lead or Andrew’s instructions when it comes to Kevin. Neil is conflicted here because he wants to support Andrew through this, but the likely instruction he has from Andrew is to follow Kevin and support him through this case.
