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It was no secret Kevin Day loved Exy. No really, everybody and their dead mothers knew that Exy was the only lifeline Kevin Day had and, to nobody's surprise, he excelled in it.
In basically no time at all, he had risen to Number 2 just beneath Riko Moriyama who held the top spot. To the media, it had been great, the best two players from the same team and were just as excited when Kevin overtook Riko as the best Exy player.
The joy was short-lived when Kevin Day had a skiing accident and broke his left hand making it impossible for him to pick up an Exy racquet ever again. Kevin Day had reached his peak and now had fallen. That's what the media believed at least.
So, it was even more of a shock to learn that the very same Kevin Day had signed on with the Palmetto State Foxes, one of the worst teams in the league. Kevin Day was under the spotlight, one that wasn’t disappearing for a long time.
Even when they were well into the season the spotlight was constantly on Kevin Day. You could probably assume he was used to it, considering his calm reserved smiles and words, giving exactly what the press needed to leave him and his team alone. Many people could argue he seemed more at home here than beside Riko Moriyama’s side.
And honestly? Kevin Day would be prone to agree. The Foxes had provided more warmth and light into Kevin’s life than the Ravens could ever even hope to offer. Yet sometimes their shadow loomed over him, terrifying him into obedience that wasn’t warranted here. But those were only some days. I am a Fox, he would remind himself, and would be comforted by finding no lies in that statement.
However, it wasn’t common news to the Foxes that Kevin Day cared about them.
They were unsure of sorts, whether the nagging of their diet and concerns for their welfare and school activities was because Kevin Day worried for them or because he simply needed them for Exy.
But Kevin did care, in his own stand-offish routine. And Kevin was happy to keep the façade up because there was no way the Foxes were going to find out Kevin actually liked them. Yet there were rare times did his perfect façade crack. Except those rare times were becoming extremely common and nobody had a single complaint against it.
Incident 1
The first incident happened to be on the court. It hadn’t been too long after their final match against the Ravens where Kevin had told the world Riko Moriyama had broken his hand and they were up another team, not as bad as the Ravens but they played just as dirty.
They had been tripping them up, taunting whispers close to his ear, constantly attacking his left hand. Kevin just wanted this to be over with. He didn’t care so much about the taunts towards him, nothing that hadn’t already been said. He was, however, concerned about slowly losing feeling in his hands,
This game is dragging on too long. He thought. He looked around to see the rest of the Foxes just as tired as himself. Neil who’d been running around every moment of this game looked hazed and out of breath, Matt was clutching his knees trying to steady his breathing, and the rest varied from still standing to just sick and tired.
The backliner against him wasn’t cutting him any slack, the constant snide remarks and obvious attacks aimed straight at his left hand didn’t go unnoticed by any of his teammates either. Even from where he stood, he could feel the burning gaze of Andrew drilling into him.
The match started up again, Kevin face to face with the backliner whose name he didn’t care enough to remember. The ball took off and Kevin dodged his way past and immediately chased after it, his speed not slowing down once towards the opposite end of the goal.
He had almost reached it (Neil just behind him) just about to grab it within his net. That was until a large mass barrelled into him, knocking the wind out of his lungs and sending him with a crash to the ground.
He landed on his left hand causing pain to spike through it. Wincing, he stood up only to see the backliner he just faced to face with standing before him.
“Careful there, Queen, we wouldn’t want to damage you any further.” Kevin scowled at him. He said ‘Queen’ like it was some dirty insult that should have Kevin shaking, only to be sorely disappointed when Kevin paid him no heed and wisely stepped back as Dan headed towards Kevin.
“You okay Kev?” She asked, grabbing his hand, making sure it was still functional and not broken. Kevin smiled, instead focusing on the score. 10-9 Foxes favour. Kevin looked around to see Foxes fans cheering and waving and Wymack with his unusual jovial smile. We won!
“I’m fine, Dan.” He said as he twisted his hand around to show it was still working. Dan looked slightly more relieved at that and patted him on the shoulder before walking out of the court, reminding him to let Abby check it later. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Matt arguing with the ref and Neil and Andrew right beside him. He caught snippets of their conversation, "He should be taken off-" "No way you're going to let that slide-" and realised they were arguing for him. They saw him looking over and he waved them off.
I’m fine, there’s no point don’t waste your time.
They understood his message although not very happy about it and left the referee alone with one last scathing look. Kevin turned around to head back to his team, but as he had taken no less than five steps the backliner that had just knocked him over said with a loud voice,
“So, your captain huh?” Kevin felt himself wanting to freeze but willed himself to move. The backliner followed. “I heard she used to do a bit of night business.” Kevin clenched his fists.
It was no secret and if anything, Dan was proud of herself, and Kevin was too. He wasn’t going to be ashamed of what she had accomplished by herself. Dan also wouldn’t want Kevin fighting her battles no matter how much he wanted to-
“I bet she comes cheap.” Kevin sucked in a breath, ignore him ignore him ignore him, he chanted in his head. He wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of replying.
“You know, after selling her body so much I wouldn’t pay more than-,” whatever he was going to suggest next was knocked out of his breath when Kevin’s fist collided with his face sending him sprawling to the ground. Whoops. When did he get here?
He stepped forward, dropping his racquet and grabbed a fistful of the back liner's uniform pulling his head up to level with Kevin. His nose bleeding gave Kevin some wide satisfaction.
“What Dan used to do has nothing to do with you,” He spat, “If you expect me or anyone on this team to be ashamed of her, you’re dead fucking wrong. You’re not even worth half of her let alone enough to be speaking on her like you think you can. Keep your mouth shut and focused on your shitty playing and maybe, just maybe, when you can get a team like us as cohesive as we are now, come meet me again.”
Kevin laughed.
“Except with your skills? You’ll be lucky if you’re not replaced by a first-year the next time we meet. Keep your stupid, idiotic thoughts in your head in case the rest of us catch it from you, bastard.” He dropped the part of the uniform he was holding and let the latter’s head fall with a resounding thud on the floor and stalked away fuming to himself.
He didn’t notice the deadly quiet room, nor the stares from his teammates and opponents alike, and most definitely did not see the absolute mess the reporters had become.
“Kevin, what just happened?”
“Mr Day, can you tell us why you punched-?”
“Kevin-”
He tuned everything out, ignoring everyone and made his way over to the Foxes who were all safely surrounded by security. He trailed into the changing room, pushing past the groups of people swarming him and started changing out of his uniform. On both sides of him, Andrew and Neil leant against their respective lockers, studying Kevin intensely.
He wasn’t really bothered by their staring; he was more focused on his slightly throbbing left hand- the same one he used to punch that bastard kid.
He put the thought to the side for a moment and grabbed his bag to sling it over his shoulder. It come crashing down the minute Matt jumped on him, but Kevin didn’t mind, he was more preoccupied with making sure they both didn’t fall.
When he saw her out of the changing room, Dan did not punch Kevin for fighting her fight for her. Instead, she thumped him on the back and led him to the bus and stood, looming over Kevin as she forced him to sit down and thrust his hand to Abby.
“It’ll just bruise but try to not extort it too much, dear.” Abby sighed letting go of Kevin’s hand. Kevin nodded, thanking her and then chose an empty seat in which he slumped down, closing his eyes.
“No, I’m not sleeping I’m just resting my eyes.” He muttered before they got any ideas. The last time he had fallen asleep he'd woken up to multiple drawings on his face that took days to come off. He heard multiple snorts and giggles around the bus.
“Nobody asked Kev.”
“Just letting you guys know.”
Incident 2
Neil and Andrew were not secret with their relationship but at the same time not open out to the public. To the team though? You had to be Neil-like oblivious not to know.
The funniest bit, in popular opinion, was them telling the team they were together, a memory Kevin found absolutely hilarious. It was the most emotion Andrew had ever shown, faces of annoyance disgust and a smile. All within half an hour. Nothing short of a miracle.
Last year he had made a comment to Neil about it being “Easier to stay het,” and he wasn’t wrong. That’s how he lived most of his life, in the closet. Nobody knew, not even his teammates and it wasn’t that he didn’t trust them, it was more of an internalised fear.
The Foxes weren’t like the Nest, there was no Riko, he wouldn’t be hurt for admitting… that. But he was in the Nest when Riko (Kevin didn't know how he found out and was willing to stay in ignorance) discovered he was bisexual. Kevin knew now that there was nothing wrong with that but back then... he shuddered, recalling it.
He was locked up in his room for days with no food practically wasting away, missing practice which later resulted in more punishment, and at every opportunity Riko would like to torture him, grinning he carved out another scar for Kevin to add to the collection whilst Kevin’s screams were like a piece of fitting background music for him.
“It’s easier to be het.” He would tell him every time. And every time Kevin would shake and tremble and agree.
He wasn’t sure how long it took to convince Riko, but eventually, Riko believed it was just a baseless rumour. But by that time Kevin was already half dead.
Call it trauma, Kevin called it character building (it’s trauma).
When he had finally escaped, he was surprised to meet people who didn’t need to hide who they were, who didn’t feel the crushing weight of their abusers’ eyes watching and controlling his every movement. He crushed down the jealousy he had felt and focused on more important things- Exy.
What he said to Neil was probably not the best way he could’ve conveyed his concern. He didn’t realise it sounded vaguely homophobic but he was more stunned that he had used Riko’s own words against Neil, something he could not stop regretting.
So, when Andrew and Neil told the team, Kevin was one of the first to accept and move along. He wasn’t the type for sappy speeches and words of encouragement (Nicky did enough for both of them) but he knew that they knew he supported them. If it was anything by them acting couple-y (trading, I hate you’s) in front of him, something he really wished they’d stop doing.
When they came out to the media everything was hell. Kevin took away their devices and constantly monitored them to make sure they stayed off social media. He knew maybe better than everyone how they can tear everything to shreds. Neil wasn’t so much of a worry, but Andrew slightly was.
It was at the next match; things went slightly off course. They had won the match (naturally) and were already on their way out of the venue. And like every match, Kevin was surrounded by reporters instantly, all of them swarming around him and shoving microphones and cameras in his face. What a sin it was to be Kevin Day.
He wasn’t so surprised when he looked over to see the Foxes being pulled together by security by their bus and a few other staff fighting through the crowd to get to him also. Wymack looked at him and flashed his hand in a thumbs up and then a thumbs down.
Can you do press or not?
Kevin gave back a thumbs down, he did it last time too and besides, today was Renee and Allison’s turn. He tried to make his way through the sea of reporters but failed as they pushed him back.
“Kevin, do you have anything to say about the relationship status of Neil and Andrew?”
“Mr Day, has the new news created any tension between the team?”
“Kevin, will the new relationship status of Andrew and Neil be a hindrance to the team? Are they still able to play? As one of the top Exy players, you should know-,”
Kevin turned sharply, glaring at the reporter who jumped back slightly but moved forward again.
“Can they still play Exy?” He asked, starting to get pissed off. He just wanted to go home now and sleep away for the rest of the day.
“Huh?”
Kevin stared, turning full body to stare the reporter dead in the eyes.
“Does Andrew and Neil fucking stop them from physically picking up an Exy racquet and moving?” Silence.
“I-I suppose not,” The reporter stuttered under the scrutinising gaze from Kevin.
“Then I don’t care.” He heard a laugh from the back of the venue that sounded a lot like Neil, but he chanced it off. The reporter didn’t seem happy to be brushed off so quickly and tried again. Kevin was quickly getting annoyed.
“But they’re queer-,”
“Okay? Congratulations to them.”
“Yes, but-,”
“Are you stupid or do you just have no clue what I’m saying.”
“I do! It’s just difficult to imagine Exy players like them in a relationship!” Kevin was getting really annoyed now. The last time he was harassed about his relationship was when they found out about Thea. Thea and his relationship was... well not the best to put it simply. In the Nest, Kevin was looking for any place, any person he could go to without being hurt. Thea took advantage of that and Kevin was too young and inexperienced to know any better. Nobody had questioned that so why were they questioning Andrew's and Neil's relationship?
“Goodness knows how you are going to react when I come out as bi.” It had just slipped out, he hadn't meant to say it. It was supposed to be a thought that stayed in his head. Kevin froze. Fuck, he hadn’t meant to come out. Kevin snorted at the sudden eerie silence, but the sound had no inkling of happiness. Abort, Abort, Abort! His mind yelled and frankly, Kevin was one to agree.
He decided to ignore his mind and go back to the conversation. Strangely, apart from the stupid feeling of “What the fuck did I do?!” and anxiety (that shit was always there), he felt at peace. Coming out like this wasn’t exactly what he’d hoped for, but he’ll take what he can get. Kevin looked around at the dozens of people staring white-faced up at him.
“What? Nobody’s going to tell the Number 1 Exy player to not be gay but they’re fine with harassing his team?” A short pause, “Also did you guys just ignore this-,” he waved to his Queen tattoo, “The professionalism around here is a fucking joke.” Everything unfroze.
“Kevin-,”
“Mr Day.”
“Kevin Day, do you have a special someone?”
Kevin fought off the urge to laugh, was this grade school? His eyes flitted over to Andrew and Neil suggestively before replying a curt “No.” alongside his world-winning celebrity smile.
Security finally got to him by that time and gently pulled him away from the sinking claws of the reporter when he heard the same reporter he was glaring at earlier, speak loudly to her cameramen thinking he was out of earshot.
“Fucking, Queen of the Court. We don’t have anything solid to even work with.” She paused, thinking, “Do you think we can hire someone to trash their shit and then blame it on Neil? Or Andrew, I'm not sure, but both of them have criminal ties so it would work out. Mafia boy with his Murderer boyfriend a match made in heaven.” She giggled, “Or hell-,”
Kevin really needed to stop punching people. At least with his left hand, he could already imagine Dan lecturing him. Before he even registered what he was doing, his fist had already collided with the Reporters cheek, glaring down at her. So much for not doing press duty today, he thought absentmindedly. The thought was shoved aside by his years of immense annoyance with the press bubbling up, and it seemed it was finally time to open the bottle.
“I don’t know why Andrew and Neil have you so pissed off. I was fucking groomed in the Nest, but everyone treated me and Thea like the best couple ever and nobody even questioned it.” He laughed emptily, ignoring the sinking feeling in his stomach that was overridden by the bright, vivid anger.
“But god forbid Andrew and Neil have a safe and consensual relationship with each other because they both they’re both dudes.” He moved away, “Don’t bother pressing charges,” he said, pulling out his phone and tapping away at it. The next moment the reporter's phone released a small “Ding!”.
“You’ve already been reimbursed.” And when he walked towards the bus, not a single person stood in his way. Maybe I should do this more often, that's the quickest they've ever let me through.
When he finally sat down, almost all the Foxes surrounded him in a relaxed routine. He didn’t mind though; they were nothing like the press. Next to him, Andrew and Neil were studying him again, even with his eyes closed, he could feel their burning gazes on his face.
“You’re Kevin Day.” Andrew phrased it more like a question than a statement, but Kevin paid no heed.
“So I am.”
Incident 3
The press was a bunch of dickheads, this was news to absolutely nobody. Even after years and years of being in the spotlight, that fact never changed. They were the reason Coach Moriyama and Riko had drilled it into him relentlessly that he had to have the picture-perfect press persona. Whatever that meant.
With the Ravens it was easy. He wasn’t to speak until permitted to and when he was, it was the same practised lines Riko had made him say over and over again. But with the Foxes, it was… difficult to say the least.
They were unruly with no sense of tact or care for how they looked to the rest of the world. Kevin liked that about them, no matter how much his heart jumped to his throat when anyone went on press duty without him. Of course, you had the sensible people, Renee, Andrew, Aaron and Dan but then you had Allison, Neil and Matt who decided, for all its worth, to make his life a living hell.
What Kevin Day, Queen of Exy, the Number 1 player in the world, didn’t know, was that he was part of the latter group when it came to press. At first, he had been rigid and uptight but after a while with the Foxes, he had loosened down into the sarcastic, asshole-y personality everyone knew he was carrying deep down.
To Kevin, he was the same as he always had been. To literally everyone else in existence he had changed so much and for the better. For however long he had been scared and kept quiet about everything, the more his inner turmoil and anger grew, and now that there was nothing to tie it down it was all rushing back up.
If Neil had learnt anything from being a Fox in the past year or so, there was only one thing he could say confidently: the press were out for Kevin since day one.
Now Kevin, you know, being Queen of Exy and all, being under the spotlight 24/7 made Neil understand why he had crafted the press persona. He still remembered when Kevin had scowled at Aaron and the press were still running their mouths to this day. They took the smallest thing Kevin did and spun it into a whole controversy.
There was also the time Kevin told Neil to fuck off and suddenly there were articles upon articles about how he needed to be taken out for “bullying”. The thought of it made him laugh, it totally wasn’t like both he and Kevin had survived the Japanese equivalent of the Mafia.
And it was so stupid how much the world just waited on Kevin to slip up, and his recent adventures hadn’t really helped- not that Neil was complaining, he loved seeing Kevin unhinged. God knew he needed it.
It was amazing how Kevin could deal with the press, he did it in such few words and picked out the most relevant questions and close off with a finality that nobody could go against. Neil was sometimes jealous of his calm demeanour but at the same didn’t, because the amount of fucking pressure on Kevin would’ve snapped him in half by now.
So, when he caught Kevin ashen-faced, stumbling out of his room and looking for a bottle of vodka (that wasn’t there because he was 3 months sober) he knew something was wrong. Kevin sunk down onto the floor against the wall between the kitchen and the living room, his eyes unfocused and glassy as he curled up into a ball.
Kevin had panicked plenty before, if Neil didn’t know better, he would’ve just thought Kevin was a bundle of nerves and anxiety. Then, when Allison barged into the room without even a knock on the door with the upperclassmen and Wymack on her heels, he was 100% sure something was wrong. It took about 3 seconds of far too many people walking in the room for Andrew to emerge, a bit tense but then loosening seeing who it was, only to tense again once he saw Kevin.
Kevin by this point was in a full-blown panic attack, chest heaving up and down as he tried to breathe, his left hand clutched into his chest whilst his right arm rested on his knees in front of him. Andrew immediately went over, reaching for Kevin’s left hand, which turned out to be a mistake as Kevin physically recoiled, jumping back into the wall behind him.
Panic attacks were normal for Kevin. Flinching away from Andrew was not.
Kevin hated this. The urge to drink until he couldn’t feel, the urge to drink until he could look in the mirror and imagine, he wasn’t just a kid playing pretend, the urge to drink until Riko had faded back into the shadows.
It wasn’t fair, why did Riko get to take away everything from him? His left hand hurt and hurt and hurt so bad, and suddenly he was back to that night. He was on the cold floor of the court in the Nest. His hand kept feeling something sticky and warm and his brain was screaming out to his nerves because everything just hurt.
His voice was like needles in his throat, whatever he was screaming was landing on deaf ears and it hurt. He gasped in, he couldn’t breathe, he was going to die here, he was never going to play Exy again.
He couldn’t feel his left hand, nothing except pain and hurt and- Kevin sobbed. He should’ve known better than to outshine Riko, he should’ve known to stay in his place: Number 2. That’s all he would, all he could amount to. A number. He moved his hand to his chest, ignoring all the voices in his brain screaming, “Pain! Pain! Pain!”.
Curling up, defensively, there was nothing more in this world that Kevin wished for more than in this moment to just be dead. He wished he killed himself when he had the chance, he wished he’d realised that Riko wasn’t the kid he used to know earlier, he wished he wasn’t such a coward that he let Riko run his life, hurt him, play with him, abuse him as he did.
Riko Moriyama owned him and that was an indisputable, irreversible fact and nothing would ever change that. He choked out another sob, trying to calm his breathing but Riko was looming over him, Kevin could just see his sneer in front of him, the heel of his boot repeatedly crunching into his hand.
“Kevin.” Kevin kept his eyes closed, if he opened them, he’d see Riko and Riko would hurt him and he was already in so much pain.
“Look at me,” Kevin didn’t speak German, but he recognised it instantly. His eyes remained shut though, there was no way for him to escape Riko. He laughed, a haunted and empty sound leaving him gasping for more uneven breaths.
“Breath Kevin, you’re safe, open your eyes.” French. French is safe. German is safe. His eyes flew open, unfocused at first and flattened into the surface behind him. Then his eyes focused on and saw Neil. His right hand left its position of defending his left and reached out, it couldn’t be fake, if it was fake then- Kevin squeezed his eyes shut.
Neil immediately grabbed his hand, tapping out a smooth rhythm. He was real. He didn’t know how long it took but his breathing eventually evened out, allowing him to take stock of the situation. He looked around to see Andrew right behind Neil in an expression everyone would’ve deemed as bored but Kevin could see the small furry of his eyebrows.
He was worried.
Kevin looked around to see the rest of the Foxes all there too. Just the Foxes, no Riko.
“He’s not here.” He breathed out shakily.
“No,” Andrew agreed, “He’s not.”
Then, out of nowhere, he was slammed into the reminder of what sent him into this state and doubled over losing focus of the room. The only thing preventing his spiral was Neil’s constant tapping on his hand allowing him to recover.
“Kev.” Nicky’s voice. Nicky is safe. Nicky is warm. Nicky doesn’t yell.
“Buddy, can you look up?” Matt. Matt has punched him before. Matt has also punched for him. He smiled, thinking of Matt tripping up Riko, he liked Matt.
“Great, look at him smiling he’s lost it.”
“Shut up, Aaron.” Kevin winced at how gravelly his voice sounded but if the others noticed they didn’t let it show. Except for Nicky who went to make him some tea.
Kevin was starting to recover from his panic attack and let his left hand drop to the floor. He picked up on Andrew staring and it and lifted it towards him in a silent invitation. Andrew reached out pausing for a moment, and once Kevin had given a small nod, grabbed it, tracing over Kevin's scars in a practiced, familiar movement.
“Who knows? About… that.” He asked, slightly afraid of the answer.
“The upperclassmen, Nicky and Aaron.” Neil replied instantly, “And Coach.” Kevin hummed.
“So, you and Andrew don’t?” A shake from both of them. Kevin slumped against the wall waving absently to the upperclassmen,
“It’s easier if you show them.”
Riko Moriyama should be glad he was dead, and even more glad he got an easy death at that because if he was still alive Andrew would’ve made sure he wasn’t. He could feel his nails digging into his palm the more he watched the video posted by an ex-Raven.
It was CCTV footage of the court in the Nest dated to the day Kevin broke his hand, Andrew noted immediately. He just hoped it wouldn’t be footage of that. Of course, the world liked to prove him wrong, despised the sight of him getting his way for once and was dedicated to making him suffer.
He watched, next to a bristling Neil, as Kevin was led into the court by Riko, nothing like the high and mighty Queen of Exy now. He kept his head down and everted his gaze to anywhere but Riko. It was so unlike him that it made Andrew immediately uncomfortable.
Riko, on the other hand, was staring at Kevin with an unsettling smile and his eyes were glittering so maliciously in a way he just wanted to yell at Kevin to run, run and never look back at Exy once.
Of course, Kevin would never, he often described Exy as life-or-death, and there wouldn’t be a single moment where would go without it. Andrew could feel Neil shaking as they watched Kevin be pushed to the ground, not putting up a single fight.
“Oh, Kevin,” Riko tutted, standing over Kevin who flinched so, so violently. Riko laughed. He laughed watching Kevin curl into himself to try and make himself as small as possible, trying to protect himself from him.
He crouched down to be eye-to-eye with Kevin and placed his pointer finger on Kevin’s forehead causing him to shudder. Andrew wanted to break Riko finger by finger just for that.
Riko spoke again, not moving his finger, but when Kevin looked away, he harshly grabbed him by his hair forcing Kevin to look at him.
“Do you really think you’re better than me? Did you really think that you of all people could surpass my legacy?" He let go of Kevin's hair, letting Kevin's face drop down defeatedly. "Remember that you got here because of me, and I will take it away, Number 2.”
Andrew wanted to break the screen and throw up at the same time because Riko referring to Kevin by a number, stripping him down to just his property was sickening.
Andrew had often heard Kevin referring to himself as property by the Ravens but watching how it was drilled into him, he felt sick to his stomach.
“N-no Riko, I could never be better than you-,” Kevin stammered, the fear in his voice tense and immense. Riko pushed him down onto the court floor with a loud thud and Kevin’s eyes scrunched up in pain as his head connected to the ground.
And Riko smiled. That bastard smiled whilst inflicting pain on Kevin.
“Of course, Kevin,” Riko spoke as if he was speaking to a child. He took Kevin’s left arm and splayed it out to the side and Kevin just let him, a defeated look in his eyes.
“And just to make sure the lesson sinks in, that you can not surpass me, I’ll make sure you remember your place.” He smiled, lifting his boot, “Beneath me.”
The second Andrew heard Kevin’s bloodcurdling screams he broke the nearest thing next to him which happened to be a glass of water Nicky had left out. But he couldn’t bring himself to stop the video, he and Neil watched and watched as pleas spilt out of Kevin’s lips- begging, begging for Riko to stop.
And Riko had this maniacal grin on his face, that ended up getting wider with every scream and plea Kevin had let out. And when tears had sprung to Kevin’s eyes, the psycho started laughing. Even when Kevin had gone quiet, Riko continued, tracking the movement of Kevin’s blood spilling out onto the court.
With every crunch and shatter of his bones, Andrew and Neil watched the hope die out of Kevin’s eyes, the sorrowful resignment that he would never play Exy again, that his life’s work was for nothing.
Once Riko had his fill, he stooped down and grabbed Kevin’s arm harshly, grinning as Kevin cried out again, and inspected the damage. He surveyed what he had done and nodded, satisfied.
Riko tapped the tattoo he had branded on Kevin’s skin, “I think this lesson will stick with you well, Number 2.” And with that, he stood up and left.
The video ended, frozen on Kevin Day, star of Exy, Andrew and Neil’s Kevin bleeding out on the court, dried tear tracks on his cheeks and his dreams of ever playing Exy remaining in his left hand, staring up at the ceiling, eyes clouded over and dead to the world.
Andrew looked up at Kevin- the real Kevin (who surprisingly didn’t go into another panic attack) and just stared. Then he got up and sat down next to him against the wall. Almost everyone had done something similar and situated themselves in weird places around the kitchen and living room. Not a single word was spoken, everyone waiting for Kevin to speak.
Kevin sat still slumped against the wall defeatedly, eyes haunted and alert but also softened when landing on the Foxes, revelling in the comfort.
“You know if Riko walked in right now he’d have a hell of a lot of people to get through.” Kevin laughed like it was funny, but it was devoid of any true joy.
“He wouldn’t make it that far,” Renee muttered.
Kevin hummed, “I’d hope so.” When he spoke next his words were said shakily, like he was trying to prevent another panic attack.
“W-when I was in the Nest,” everyone bristled. Kevin had never spoken of what had happened to him in the Nest outright, just hints and vagueness, “It was dark. And I don’t mean like mood or anything but that was dark too but no. It was genuinely dark I think they were allergic to the light or happiness in general.” Aaron snorted alongside Kevin.
“Ever since I was a kid, I knew I’d be Riko’s number 2. It was like they spun a wheel and stuck me to one fate, but I was young. I didn’t question it, all I wanted to do was play Exy.
Coach Moriyama- the Master, well to put it simply, he wasn’t the nicest person to a child. Think he enjoyed hurting me honestly. Riko was beside me this entire time and I had this view of us on the court together. We looked after each other when the Master had been especially unkind.
But slowly he was turning into the Master. I think I realised too late because by the time I realised what had happened the damage was already done. That’s when I let go of the Riko Moriyama I knew because he no longer exists.
I let go of that Riko, but the new Riko had already grabbed hold of me.” Kevin laughed wetly.
“It’s a weird thought. The one patching up your cuts one day is the one inflicting them the next. But Riko was crueller than the Coach. He didn’t like that I was close to anyone except him. “You’re my Number 2,” he would tell me.
Every time he hurt me, which was often enough, he would remind me of my place. That I was beneath him, that I was always Number 2. I still remember the day he got it tattooed on me.
I tried to argue against it, you know, I think that’s the last time I ever did though. Just before we left, he locked me in our room tied to my bed and, and-,” Kevin dissolved into harsh breaths, tears threatening to spill out.
“Kevin, it’s ok, you don’t have to tell us,” Dan whispered patting him on the back, but Kevin shook his head.
“He told the upperclassmen on my team that- that I was had been bad. That I needed a lesson. That day fucked me up so badly that I don’t remember most of it. It’s a shame because it made everything else seem tame, so much so that I can vividly remember most of it.
Then the tattoo came. I think I was so out of it when the upperclassmen were done with me like I was covered in blood and grime, and I couldn’t move that much. I still did anyway, if I missed anything then it's over for me.” Kevin dragged a thumb over his neck.
“After the tattoo came Riko had no problem reminding me I was his. He had branded me, and I was always going to be his property no matter what. I wasn’t Kevin Day anymore, I was Number 2, and everyone was to call me as such,
Exy was all I knew, all I had, and it was quite literally life or death. One underperformance could mean a knife through my heart in the night. So, I trained, I trained so hard that I accidentally became better than Riko.
And that was my biggest mistake. I became better than him and he destroyed my hand. I still remember that day. Every single moment is ingrained in me and if I close my eyes, I can still see him looming over me.”
Kevin stretched out his left hand, turning it around like he was expecting it to be covered in blood.
“It was my weakest moment, and now everyone can see it. I was never the first choice; I was never cared for and honestly after that panic attack and talking about it I can’t find it in me to care.”
“I think you should care, Kevin.” Andrew looked towards Neil, who crouched down next to Kevin.
“It’s not fair you had to go through that and then have it published to the world to see.”
“If life was fair Neil, we wouldn’t be Foxes.” That cracked a smile out of everyone. There were a few more moments of silence whilst everyone let the information settle in. Kevin on the other hand got up from his place on the floor and poured himself some juice and then sat back down.
“Ok, I have a solution!” Matt exclaimed abruptly jumping up.
“To what?” Kevin asked confusedly. Matt ignored him.
“Sleepover!”
“Is that your go-to method for fixing everything?”
“No, it’s my go-to method for comforting.”
“I don’t need comforting.”
“Oh, buddy you have no idea.”
Kevin waved them off, muttering a silent agreement knowing there was no way he was going to convince them otherwise, especially when everyone (read upperclassmen Nicky and Neil) perked up and immediately dissolved into a conversation about it. Andrew could tell Kevin preferred that over the silence, watching his contented smile whilst looking at the others.
“Softie.” He whispered over. Kevin immediately scowled but it didn’t quite work since his eyes were still smiling.
“Never accuse me of such a thing again.” Andrew snorted. Kevin Day could pretend he wasn’t a softie, but Andrew had been around him long enough to know what he was thinking about. And read his diary.
“Liar. I know you’re planning on buying a house and keeping one room as a sleepover room for us with blankets and photos of us on the wall and a separate TV.”
Kevin made a strangled noise, causing everyone to look over in concern but immediately relaxing when Kevin smiled at them- a real Kevin Day smile. He turned, affronted to Andrew who was trying to hold back a snicker.
“You read my diary bastard!” He hissed over.
“Don’t leave it in the open then.”
“It was in the back of my third draw?!”
“Yeah. The open.”
Kevin gave up, leaning against the wall again. “Bastard,” He muttered to himself, and Andrew couldn’t stop himself from laughing. They sat contently in silence watching the others plan over the sleepover, only to be disrupted when Neil grabbed both of them and forced them to participate.
Kevin Day knew the Foxes inside out. To their weaknesses and strengths on the court to their favourite colours, to their birthdays and allergies and diets. So, knowing them this well meant that he also knew that Foxes were absolute shit with words. Half of them had gone 90% of their life without a kind word towards them so Kevin understood.
This was how they were trying to comfort him, to show him that they cared. By giving him the comfort, he desperately needed even if he claimed otherwise. The Foxes were people of action, not words.
Somewhere in the midst, Allison had disappeared and Renee told him not to worry about it so he let if leave his mind. When she came back, she waved her phone triumphantly,
“We’re suing!” Kevin’s jaw dropped,
“You can’t do that?” Aaron nudged him rolling his eyes,
“Don’t act surprised Day, you literally did the same thing for Nicky.” He told him and Kevin was about to try and argue but decided against it. If Aaron of all people was telling him to accept it, there was no way he could fight his way out. Aaron was the most disagreeable person ever so this fight was already lost.
“How much? At least help me pay-,” He tried to offer but was immediately cut off,
“She’s rich.”
“She’s loaded.”
“She spends that much as pocket money.”
“I’m literally rich.”
Kevin gave up. There was no point in trying to fight a losing battle. Involuntarily a smile curled on his face, watching Neil chase Nicky around for saying god knows what, and the upperclassmen all planning a sleepover and secretly (they weren’t doing a job of it) trying to figure out what Kevin would be interested in watching.
Andrew decided to put them out of their misery and went over to the table and scribbled down a note saying, “History movies. Fantasy.” That was his fatal mistake as he was immediately roped in by Matt to help plan. For once, Exy and Riko weren’t on his mind, and he was pretty sure the latter would stay that way.
The next morning Kevin woke up surrounded by snoring Foxes. Andrew was on his left, holding Kevin’s left hand to his chest as Kevin would when protecting it, and Neil was on Kevin’s right with one of his legs splayed over both of his and his arm over Kevin's chest, pinning him down.
Matt’s head was right next to his and his hand was halfway through the motion of ruffling Kevin’s hair. It was such a brotherly action (he wouldn’t know, the brother he had broke his hand) Kevin almost cried.
He reached groggily over to his phone and winced as the brightness hit his eyes. The sleepiness didn’t last long as he checked his social media. His timeline was flooded with the Foxes trashing everyone involved with the Ravens to absolute filth.
Even Andrew (who had one post which was making fun of Kevin) and Neil (social recluse) had made lengthy threads filled with so many threats he was unsure how they weren’t suspended.
He was even more surprised to find Jean insulting the Ravens, but then Kevin figured it was probably therapeutic for him. He was strangely comforted by Jeremy being mad on his behalf of him too. The most surprising thing, however, was seeing how Edgar Allen had a freak fire accident yesterday, damaging the court intensively. He switched his phone off, staring at the ceiling. If Andrew and Neil smelt like ash, that was none of his business.
Maybe this is just a too good of a dream to be true.
“Oh, shut up, Day it’s very real now be quiet and go to sleep.” Kevin jumped hearing Andrew speak but immediately relaxed. He hadn’t realised had spoken out loud. Settling back in, he release a contented sigh and slipped back to dreamland.
Exy was the last thing on his mind that day. Or for a while.