#kevriko

[farawaydoe]

one thing i particularly love about kevin day is that despite all his trauma, pain, grief and guilt he's never really lost his confidence, his self worth. like they took everything from him but they couldn't gaslight him to the point of thinking he's the second best bc that mf always knew he's that bitch. he knows he's better than rico, he knows he's the one and only real son of exy, he knows he's expensive, he knows ppl listen to him and devotedly follow him, he knows he's smart and beautiful, he knows he can allow himself to be arrogant bc he's deserved it, he knows he can enter a building and charm everyone, he knows the stadiums will go absolutely wild just at the motion of his hand. and once they came after that very hand to indefinitely put him down he's bitten back and raised from the ashes to fully claim his throne, the best of the best, the Queen, the GOAT. you just can't take that away from him, "checkmate". and i think this is why he rubs certain ppl the wrong way bc they can't self insert or empathise with that. bc yes he's damaged but goddamn he's not insecure. he's a victim who doesn't act in a traditional way, who keeps his head high, and believes life is worth it, for himself and for others. and to me, that's what makes kevin day an inspirational, important character to have in dark books, the flawed hero, but hero nevertheless.

[pretend-theres-a-name-here]

”this fandom ships Kevin with everyone” “Kevin and his 8 situationships” bro KEVIN ships kevin with everyone. that man’s greedy as hell

[tswizzlesfan]

in order to date kevin day you have to defeat his 7 evil situationships and Exy lust

[constelationprize]

I think we don't do enough with the fact that Kevin and Riko canonically were drafted to a professional team pre-canon. I don't remember whether it's canon that they actually played a season or not but like they have to at least have MET the team right. Imagine you are a grown ass exy player (preferably from a normal collegiate team like that one college we all don't care about) or like a PA or physical therapist or something and you have to bear witness to kevriko weirdness at their prime. You could have kids and a mortgage and joint pain and two weird eighteen year olds are doing insane pseudoincest traumabond child star shit within spitting distance of you. And then over your break they both drop off the grid and one of them was badly injured and gets dropped by your team and when the other one comes back he refuses to address it honestly and there's clearly been some kind of catastrophic nuclear fall out between them. And then you go on break again and the kid kills himself and subsequently a bunch of his teammates kill themselves also and the rest are placed on suicide watch. And you like have to make peace with the fact you're never going to figure out what really happened, because even though the other one's back to playing but you were not that close and it's unlikely he'll sign your team again now, and it's like an insensitive topic to bring up anyway. Anyway time to put the kit on and go beat each other up on court for money let's hope none of the implications catches up with us

Once again being an extra in the AFTG universe brings so much fascinating implications.

[falafels]

kevin day having a full on meltdown after seeing bunk beds in ikea. everyone’s best guess is maybe he and riko used to have bunk beds before the nest and it reminds him or a still-very-bad-butasignificantly-better-than-later time, but that’s not it, they never had bunk beds in the master’s house.

no, the bunk beds were in kevin’s bedroom back in kildare. it was only his room, so he always slept on the top bunk and used to put his clothes out for the next day and his exy gear on the bottom bunk. but it was for riko, because kayleigh had always assumed he’d come to stay at some point. yes, the summers kevin stayed at edgar allan were sort of weird and a bit scary, but he had his friend, so surely one year he’d come to them instead? and that would be fun, that would be better, he could show riko around, take him to the park and get to the swings faster than the younger kids, lie to kayleigh that they were at the park and then go to the shop on the corner to buy sweets and they could eat them in kevin’s room and it would be like a long sleepover.

and it was a thought he’d repressed so hard he couldn’t remember ever thinking it until he sees those fucking bunk beds, with the dinosaur duvet like he used to have, and matching teddy bears on both beds.

kevin compartmentalises, that goes without saying. he’s at the top of his field and that’s not about exy, nobody else even comes close to his ability to rationalise, suppress, ignore, and exist as a shell. but this gets to him before he can logic his way into forgetting. he won’t let the dam break, because nobody would survive that, but his heart speeds up and his whole body heats, and he’s sweating, and tears are welling up - how are there tears? and he’s wringing his hands and he’s CERTAIN he’s going to throw up right here in this ikea, with those FUCKING bright white lights, and he has to leave, he has to GO, but the layout doesn’t afford him an exit. only an audience. andrew clocks it when kevin starts to look like he’s actually having a heart attack, and forcibly drags him out to the parking lot, he can barely see as they go, doesn’t even know who’s taking him or where they’re going. the fresh air and sunlight hits like cold water, and kevin doubles over to vomit and just sobs. andrew, believing this to be A Riko Thing, is entirely unsympathetic, and waits by the car.

[naturecalls111]

EXY IKEMEN: RIKO & KEVIN! (for the AFTG binder zine!)

[vastlyblindingfragment]

I pose to you a deliberately ignorant Kevin instead of oblivious Kevin. A Kevin who learned to ignore others interests in him because acknowledging the attention meant putting them direct danger of Riko’s wrath . A deliberately oblivious Kevin as a coping/protective mechanism. One that takes a while to unlearn.

[helsnyc]

you know what keeps me up at night? how kevin is searching for riko in every relationship he makes. how, whether he knows it or not, he tries to replicate that same toxic, violent dynamic.

and then i think about andrew. kevin's new partner. the one that anchors kevin now in a post-ravens world. riko's replacement.

and i think about andrew telling neil: I won't be like them. I won't let you let me be. i think about this man, this boy, who is utterly haunted by the thought that he would become like his abusers, like drake.

and here he is with kevin, who looks at him and chases the shadow of the brother/abuser he sees in andrew.

kevin must have given him fucking nightmares holy shit.

also: some of my favorite commentary from nora on some of her old drafts: