Lex

23 They/Them

[cryptidcharlie]

idea from this tweet

[rayghosts]

tim drake is a rare case where every wild, out-of-context thing you hear about him gets even wilder with context

made up a fake uncle to avoid getting adopted? first he had to steal his dead dad's will and change it to include the name of his fake uncle, then he forged an entire legal paper trail to fool even batman, and finally hired an out-of-luck actor to play the uncle and had brainstorm sessions with him about his character backstory. judging from his surprised reaction when bruce offered to adopt him, he probably did this to avoid being put into foster care and didnt even consider that bruce might want to adopt him (even though he already adopted three orphans before him) (and then bruce learned about this and gave him more freedom and crimefighting gear so tim could like him)

snuck into gotham during no man's land? he did this twice, first by himself to meet his girlfriend in the hospital while she was giving birth (he snuck into the ER as a nurse), then with his young justice friends who thought he was having daddy issues with batman and wanted to help (this was before he was adopted by bruce) (they also picked up an atlantean tourist on the way who wanted to sightsee gotham)

blew up several of the league of assassins' secret bases? before that he spent days working with them as a member to gain their trust (this was when he robbed that art museum) and all the while they were holding his dad's coworker's daughter who came to search for tim and learned about his secret life as an assassin before she learned he was robin (and then somehow fell in love with him)

becomes evil batman who kills in the future? not only that, he also convinces his friends to be evil with him and then takes control of half the country right after he kills every rogue in gotham and also his aunt. tim fought this version of himself at least three times, and each time swore that he would never become gun batman (he still becomes gun batman)

used his own legal last name as a hero name? he didnt even come up with the idea for that, he met an alternate earth version of himself (also evil) who was using that name and thought "oh that's a good name" and stole it for himself. he didnt bother to check if other drake's identity was public before he started using it. then he got pulled aside and told off personally by batman for using such a dumb name and that's why he's not called drake anymore

insulted jason to his face while he was trying to kill him? did this multiple times and even kicked jason in the nuts once (not while they were fighting, just as payback) (he's jason's favorite brother now)

and then anything that happened with young justice doesnt need any context because it's exactly as weird as it sounds. yes, he did save the fate of a planet by playing baseball with his friends. yes, they did invade an entire sovereign nation to rescue their one friend's parents who had turned into babies. yes, they did see santa claus die in a fiery explosion

[daisyqiaolianmay-deactivated-de]

being in a toxic fandom like

[spicy-apple-pie]

Thank you to the lovely @shewhowillrise for the commission!! They're making a Hunger Games au for the batfam and even has a draft for this scene that you can read here. It's been really fun talking to them about it and I'm excited to see where they go for it!!

If you want a commission like this, check out my commission sheet and dm me if you have any questions!

[moaloves]

Will never get over how much labour by Paris Paloma reminds me of Kayleigh (and by extension Kevin) Day

“Emotional torture from the head of your high table”-Kayleigh being killed by Kengo, the true head of the Moriyama family, the fact that even being one of the ones "allowed" in didn't truly save her.

“If our love died, would that be the worst thing?”-whatever fucked up “love” Tetsuji had for her.

“For somebody I thought was my saviour, You sure make me do a whole lot of labour”- She literally built a sport with this man and loved him at least at one point but likely died without fully knowing how evil they were and forever trapped her son with them.

“I know you're a smart man (I know you're a smart man), And weaponise, The false incompetence, it's dominance under a guise”-The entire Moriyama family managing to successfully hide being a yakuza family while the second branch becomes more and more famous. How will anyone be able to prove anything if they can hide in the spotlight so well?

“If we had a daughter, I'd watch and could not save her” the Kevin Day of it all </3

“The emotional torture from the head of your high table” Tetsuji who has custody of the child who looks just like the woman he loved and got killed and who tortures him. A lot of thoughts of Kevin being describes as the mirror image of Kayleigh and if he actually is or if those that have lost her always superimpose her image on her son.

“She'd do what you taught her” Kayleigh being described as always having fought and fighting tooth and nail for everything while never backing down; Kevin continually being called a coward because he can never stand up to his abusers. They couldn't break Kayleigh but they'd do everything in their power to break Kevin.

“She'd meet the same cruel fate” Kayleigh accidentally trapping Kevin in the cycle of abuse, removing him from everyone but her and accidentally thrusting him directly into the hands of his abusers which indirectly led to Kevin’s hand eventually being smashed.

“All day, every day, therapist, mother, maid, Nymph, then a virgin, nurse, then a servant, Just an appendage, live to attend him, So that he never lifts a finger” Something very haunting about Kayleigh refusing to be this and instead trapping Kevin into this fate.

“It's not an act of love if you make her” Kayleigh not being willing to give up Kevin, fighting tooth and nail for her kid-the kid she took with her everywhere, she chose to do it on her own and by god she would, and that being what got her killed in the end.

[patronsaint-ofmystery]

every episode of boy meets world revolves around cory and topanga breaking up for the umpteenth time while in the background shawn goes through horrors that neither of them could possibly fathom

[burrito-fight]

kevin day, at 38 years old, is the oldest player on the us court, back to win a gold medal. comms never let the audience forget it, they're always saying "here comes 38 yo kevin day, oldest man here for exy", "and even at 38 yo, day still has it!", etc. media's always asking him about his career, and he finally gives in and tells them: "this will be my last olympics with the us court."

fans from all over gather to watch every us game, even if they're rooting for another country. this is kevin day's last time playing with the us court. no more gold medals after this one. his retirement from the nel is likely coming soon too. he's already the oldest player there, even if he's still producing. they watch, and the gold medal game for exy is the most watched event of the entire olympics - 35 million people coming together to watch kevin day's final stand. and he takes home the gold with the us one last time, because of course he does.

four years later, exy fans are preparing for their first olympics without kevin day in 20 years or so, and then there's a press release that shocks them all. kevin day is going to play at the olympics... for ireland. he claims that will be his "final olympics. period", but he's doing his last one with ireland. his birth country. something he's doing for his mother. and his younger self.

he takes to the court in those colours for the first time and all of the exy world is emotional. kevin day, wearing the same colours his mother used to play with. kevin day, who's known for the number 2 on his back, changing his number this once so that it's the same one his mom wore. photos comparing them go viral, and kevin saves every single one. he plays every game for her, a quiet dedication before he steps on to the court. and when he wins gold, he dedicates that to her too.

kayleigh day might've never won an olympic gold with ireland, but there is one day out there who did.

[nawiedzona]

Matt and Dan loves Neil!

[v11chel]

Some mechanic AU stuff for Andreil, Neil works as a mechanic at a shop with Matt.

Andrew (and the other foxes) are illegal street racers and eventually start going to Matt and Neil for any work needed! Neil, after Kevin harasses him, joins them lol. He’s got natural talent and a foundation (from his time on the run).

[kazumi404]

isn't she...lovely?

[jell-o101]

"We want more complicated female characters!"

Ya'll couldn't even handle HER.

[blackstar5078]

Important tags to include actually.

[wuzeio]

AFTG art dump of characters who ARENT just neil and andrew :)) featuring renison, seth, kevaaron, kevjean, andddddd riko who is depressed and high

[kefcioart]

“I believe we all have the choice to be better than the hands that shaped us.”

― Nora Sakavic, The Sunshine Court

A bit of domestic jean with cat

[rafalopesart]

[dustisus]

the trifecta

[lily-s-world]

A couple more from the reblogs...

And there was one about Jean, but I can't find it.

[jetsjunkdrawer]

I want to take a moment to talk about what Jean meant. I think a lot of the weight of Jean, both as a whole within the Perfect Court (and thereby the story) but also to Kevin himself, gets obscured by a) Neil not actually being part of any of that element of the story, and b) Jean's take on him and who he is and what he means to others is wildly warped.

But if we actually peel things back a little we can see that Jean Moreau is the character that changed the whole narrative. Not Kevin. Not Neil. Not Andrew. Jean.

But let's take a second to review the facts:

- If Neil had stayed and not run away, Nathaniel Wesninski would have been the number 3 of the Perfect Court. Kevin was a planned capture (his mother's death an impulse to obtain him but Tetsuji always had designs on Kevin training with him). Riko introduced the Perfect Court as a means to shore up his ownership of Kevin and his rise as an exy star. Nathaniel was introduced as a way to make an asset out of a Moriyama's servant's inconvienent son. Riko felt a right to Nathaniel as a Moriyama. He was an easy addition to the Perfect Court. Riko, undoubtedly, believed that Nathaniel would not be an issue in concerns to Kevin (I actually have more theories on this and on Nathaniel as number 3 but I digress). Nathaniel is 10. Kevin is 11-12. Riko has them under his thumb. It's fine.

- We don't actually know the ins and outs of Kevin's abuse, and if you check my other post on why this is actually incredibly hard to gauge due to inconsistencies, or my post on the theory of Kevin being an SA victim, you'll understand how maddening this is. Hell, even my post on scarring and how we don't know is annoying. The things we do know: Kevin was abused (heavily), Kevin had extreme violence used as threats against him (the Butcher taking a man apart in front of him was used as a warning), Kevin had cuffs on his bed to lock him down, Kevin was isolated from the world, Kevin has deep trauma responses including heavy dissociation, Kevin shows signs of extreme depersonalisation, Kevin doesn't trust therapists, Kevin only is capable of measuring himself and his life against exy, Kevin almost never says please, Kevin doesn't talk about his mother. We also know that as a teen and young adult Kevin was sleeping for 4-5 hours a night, keeping up his academics, doing tours, training exy, on multiple exy teams including the national, doing press. In college he also did all of Riko's academic work. And he learned to speak French fluently in secret with no use of books, tutors or lessons for that. (As a child he also had to learn Japanese fluently and got in trouble for being left handed? Poor boy). His time... his body and mind?? (I need to make another post about how Kevin, Jean, Andrew and Neil are all varying degrees of insane prodigies one day.)

- Jean Moreau WAS NOT PLANNED. I cannot stress enough how much Jean was not planned. Nathaniel was a plan that Riko had time to mould around, even at a young age. Jean was used haphazhardly to pay a debt, he was sold to Kengo and Tetsuji swooped in to buy him for his talents. Then he dumped him on Riko to make obedient and work with him and Riko tried to shove him into the Perfect Court. And this, Jean joining them, unravelled everything.

- One more thing before we move on, I want to also remind everyone that Neil does not remember most of his time at Evermore. He was there ONLY 2 WEEKS. And he dissociated most of it away. And Jean lets it happen because that is all he can do and pieces Neil back together the best he can (and is traumatised by doing it). Please consider this fact as we try to place ourselves in Kevin's shoes.

So let's get into it.

You're Kevin Day. You're 15-16. You dissociate everything. It works for you. You survive. You get up every day, after less than five hours of sleep. Your body aches from the extreme workout you put it through, on the daily, but also the relentlessness of your masters. For one, anything less than perfection is Not Tolerated and punished as such in whatever way he sees fit. For the other, his own misery and his own violent delight and curiosity of his own power leads him to brutalising you in whatever way he sees fit. So you go through your gruelling life. And your brain shields you from being part of most of it. You don't remember a lot of things. In fact you'd probably be better off dead. Maybe you've tried, and never been able to manage it. Maybe you're too scared to because if it goes wrong Riko will make your survival so much worse. You are His. He makes sure you know that. Everything you are is His. In fact, he (and the Master) made sure that you are completely isolated. You do your entire schooling with Moriyama picked tutors. You are constantly monitored. The only other person your age is Riko. The Ravens don't want a bar of you even if you did try because you're young and you show them up. Any other team you play with is the same, and Riko won't let you get away to talk to anyone anyway. Most of the time you don't even know what day or month or year it is. You're only informed when you're taken out to play an away game or going on a press tour. You don't even remember your own birthday. This is your life. It disappears like sand. Miserable and lonely and brutal. You are allowed Riko and you are his pet and possession and doll and that is all.

And then Jean Moreau comes in. Jean who is fourteen and an amazing exy player and full of life. Jean who rebels and curses and pushes back. He is everything. He is EVERYTHING. You forgot what life was like before Evermore. You forgot what passion and anger looked like. You forgot about being around someone else. You forgot about seeing Exy played in a way that wasn't violent. And when you see him hurt over and over you realise you even forgot what it was like to feel. Jean makes you feel things. Jean is lighting up your insides until you claw your way back to being a person. And you can't do anything, not right away. You can't stop Riko or the Master, you know that even trying will lead to you being hurt so badly you're useless to Jean or being put in solitary so you can't interfere. But when you see Jean start to slip, to give up, you realise you have to keep him a float. It becomes your new mission: to protect him as best you can and keep him alive. You have a purpose. Finally. Something meaningful. And you care, already, about this boy. He doesn't deserve to be here. He doesn't deserve any of this. But you can make some of it better. You have to. You offer him the lifeline and you learn his language no matter what it costs you. And you patch him back together after the brutalities. And you deflect as best you can when others go after him. And when he tries to end his own life you make him promise not to, knowing that you are solidifying your own choice not to end your miserable existence. If you die, this beautiful boy dies too. And that can't happen. He is the only thing you care about. You don't like yourself. You hate yourself. But you love Jean. Anything to make him smile, even ducking away from your leash to bring the outside world to him. The problem is he loves you too. And you can never belong to Jean. Because you belong to Riko. You are His. Anyone wanting you is in the line of fire. And you can't protect Jean from everything. Because it's Riko. But you stay strong. Unbreakable. Unmoving. Jean needs you to be. He relies on your strength. You must do this for him. He might not be aware just how much you care, which is probably for the best safety wise, but he does rely on you. And what you get, those small moments where it is just the two of you talking in French? It lights up the darkness of Evermore. Everyone else can hate you if you get to keep Jean. You don't care about the Ravens, you traded them in for Jean long ago. After all Riko doesn't like you having anyone else at all. But he has to allow Jean somewhat. He's Perfect Court. Everything will be okay because one day your worth as an exy player will be big enough to keep both you and Jean safe. Except... then Riko takes that away. You will never be an exy star. You cannot keep you or Jean safe. Your value plummets. And if you stay, they might kill you. And then Jean is dead. If you try to take Jean with you, he will not come, and he will sabotage you in his fear and panic (not that you blame him). So you make the decision - leave now and try and restore your worth and get Jean later. If you don't it's a death sentence for both of you. And you know you might never come back from this choice. But you made that promise long ago and you have to keep it.

But okay, so, let's flip this now and do Riko. Because I'm not sure it's clear yet how fundamentally Jean changed everything.

You're Riko Moriyama. You had the plans for the Perfect Court but that pesky redhead went on the run. For years you made do with just Kevin. And that's fine. Kevin is your partner. Kevin is your toy. Kevin is yours. Kevin is all you've ever really had, isolated as you are from everyone else. He is the closest thing to a friend, and you also despise him. He makes you want things you shouldn't. And you crave his affection and his attention and that's pathetic. You're Riko. You can have anything you want, to a point. But Kevin is the neverchanging point of your existence now. And you have hurt him too much for him to ever really love you. But maybe if you force him to he will love you. And it's not weird to possess him like that when he's a pet more than a partner or a person.

And then Tetsuji comes to you with a new addition - some stupid French boy. At first you are delighted. Ah! A new toy! I can mark him up and hurt him and look, he fights back, it's been years since Kevin bit back. Fun! Interesting! But it doesn't stay that way for long. This stupid French boy is someone else. Kevin hasn't had someone outside of Riko since he was 9 years old. Now Jean sleeps in their room with them. Now Kevin asks Riko to be lenient on the boy. Kevin cares about this boy. Kevin's attention keeps shifting. Kevin wants time with the boy. And on. And on. And it's not like when Nathaniel was a consideration - Nathaniel didn't have this fire, maybe because he was ten or maybe because of the Butcher at the time. And Nathaniel had been younger, easier to mold. They had all been younger. He could have easily made sure no one was queer, or wanting, or coveting. And Kevin would have had ample time to understand he wasn't allowed to care outside of Riko. And sure, he uses Jean to coerce and control Kevin as much as possible now. Do this or Jean suffers. Do that or he suffers more. But you hate having to. That Kevin cares that much. Kevin should know his place is under you, Riko. Kevin should always know where he belongs. In fact, fuck him, he should know he will never be better and there is nothing that says he will ever be anything more than Riko's bitch. He can stand on the sidelines and pine forever. And accept the benevolence of licking your boot. And when he turns to talk in French to Jean, pleading and begging like Jean is all that matters in their own secret language? It's all the self control that you have not to murder them both on the spot. Blame it on some hit and run like that time Tetsuji killed a freshman.

And then Kevin... is gone. Left. Riko broke him and he didn't stay. Jean taught him to live and to care and Kevin didn't stay.

Jean is the catalyst. If Jean didn't come into the mix Kevin might not even be alive after the age of sixteen. Without Jean he might not also have learned to feel or live or want again. Or care. About anything. Kevin's tenderness and devotion to Jean ("at least you're not there" "jean is", not getting his tattoo altered until Jean is out of the nest in case of blow back, gently and tenderly checking Jean over, "take care of him") is miles different to how he openly acts with anyone else, and is different again to the affection we see with him and say Andrew. This is because Jean did become everything to him. And it wasn't just Jean's love for Kevin that made Jean a target for Riko, it was Kevin's love for Jean. Jean's existence entirely shook up the structure and cohesion of Riko's life. Nothing Neil goes through in the books would have happened if Jean was not sold to Tetsuji.

(Or worse, if Kevin did not care about Jean).

[fallen-jpg]

summer rain. redrew parts of an old drawing

BONUS:

he did that on purpose. bonus bonus: