Roy Kent is so Autistic Coded
I know I've screamed about it in the past, but here's the master post oops.
The way when Roy realizes something he has to... fully reboot. Whether its him going in to kiss Keeley, realizing something about himself and what he wanted and then running or when later on Tartt is talking about his teammate needing space and Roy applies that to Keeley, we can practically see the autistic little gears turning. Roy looses the ability to mask when he has an "ah shit moment" and we get to see the weird lil robot man he is.
Inability to identify and talk about emotions. Classic alexithymia. Just.... no ability to understand the inner workings of his own mind. We see him get tripped up and choked up on his words any time he tries. It looks like it physically pains him to articulate his... feeling.
Inability to feel his emotions. Brain body disconnect. Can't identify emotions, can't feel them. He represses everything and feels anger, which is safe- expected, even. He only over starts to process his emotions after he retires- likely because he felt everything out on the pitch when he was still a player.
The way he uses less words and more animalistic sounds when having Big Feelings. The best example of this is when he finds out Keeley slept with Tartt after they made out. Even once he's decided he wanted to talk to Ted about it, he still can't bring himself to use words. It feels less like a deflection from his problem and more like an extension of the emotional shut down he was feeling. Roy didn't use words because he couldn't. And as soon as Ted talked him back, made him feel more comfortable, like he was fucking safe, Roy is able to open up and articulate himself a little better.
His weird freaky obsession with football and Jamie Tartt. One word to describe Roy would be.... intense. And I know "uwu he likes the thing it's his special interest" is kinda a weak argument but also.... Roy Kent has eat breathed slept football since he was fucking 9. NINE YALL. And he's still heartbroken when he had to retire. It's still all he can think about and talk about and identify with even after he's committed himself to fully leaving it. And then he comes back anyways and starts focusing on Tartt. Like... that is a hyper fixation if I've ever fucking seen one. Even Phoebe says Roy talks about Jamie all the time...
Invisible lat spread syndrome and his bum knee. We all know how co morbid hyper mobility and lax joints are in any form of neurodivergence. I'm not saying Roy is a EDS baddie I'm kinda saying Roy Kent is an EDS baddie but he does have.. unspecified joint injury... Also the way he walks, arms out, shoulders pressed back, chest wide, is actually really good posture for shoulder neck and collar bone stability. And all too often neurodivergent people find these physical movements on accident just because that is the most comfortable way to exist in their body,
The way he is with Phoebe. I know this is kinda a stretch but the only people I've ever seen who treat kids like... small adults are neurodivergent people. Idk why that comes so naturally to a lot of us, but it does and it makes us half decent around kids. That conversation he had with Rebecca when he had Phoebe and she had Sassy's kid??? I've had soooo many of those with neurotypicals. I could almost quote that whole scene after watching it once.
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