kevin gets a lot of shit but since it’s his birthday let’s talk about the queen of exy
people tend to forget how much kevin has gone through and talk more about what neil and andrew endured
but upon his mother’s death, kevin wasn’t given a chance to really process his grief, being thrown directly into the raven’s nest, into the path of riko and tetsuji who’d never give him that chance, who’d physically and emotionally abuse him for years to come
from that point, he was told he needed to perform well in exy, told that nothing else was important, that he had no business caring about even his studies, was told there’s be consequences if he didn’t
so he threw himself headlong into the only thing he knew, the only thing he had left that reminded him of his mother: exy. he built his life around it, allowed it to become his center, his driving force, his crutch, his escape
exy was the only thing that could make kevin feel something, make him feel alive
it was the only way kevin could avoid the physical abuse the others endured
it was something he was good at—something he had to be good at
until he was too good
and then not even exy was safe
because, at the end of the day, riko tried to take that away too. he’d been jealous enough of kevin to want to destroy the only thing he truly cared about, to take away the one thing that provided him with release—with regimen, to do the one thing that kevin might never recover from
but he did
he not only taught himself to play with his right hand, but retrained himself to play with his left once it healed to show himself that he could, to show riko that he had no claim over his life anymore
he covered his tattoo, voiding out the title riko had given him, the place he was meant to maintain but not surpass
instead, he became the greatest exy player of all time
instead, he found a home and people to lean on
he found a family
so yeah kevin’s obsessive and he’s flawed but he’s strong and human
happy birthday to the queen long may he reign
