Of Sunshine And Foxes

Cringey 2000s kids

biblically accurate andreil

He wasn’t ever that warm and fuzzy big brother who played games with you or gave you pep talks to ask out your crush. He didn’t give you falsehoods about your new family or even about your old one getting their shit together in time to get you back. He didn’t care if your girlfriend broke your heart, or if your dad didn’t show up to visitation again. He wasn’t KIND, even, not in the way that people think of kindness.

But if you asked him before lights out, he’d let you come into his room at night and he’d let you stay in there with him, he’d even give you his bed and he’d sit on the floor at the foot of the bed, eyes tired but staying awake and watching the door. If you came home from school with tear tracks or bruises bc of a school bully, he’d be late to his first class the next day so he could walk you to yours and say too loudly to you “on accident” that he didn’t mind going back to juvie for beating a kid’s face in, even if they were younger than him. If you got in trouble for bad grades, he’d help you study as long as you didn’t fuck around on his time. If you told him about the bad people - that Bad People, that is - he would tell you to go to his closet and not come out until the morning, and nobody ever knew what he did but the caseworkers came and took you to a new house and the Bad People didn’t get you again.

When he finds out, the first thing he does, as soon as he is able to talk to Neil in private, is tell him to RUN, bolt, save his life. They are going to lose the season, yes, It is going to suck, but Neil needs to run before It is too late.

Neil tells him he doesnt want to. Explains his decision to him. And Kevin....respects it. Because there is no good choice for Neil in the moment. He can stay and die or he can run and maybe delay his death in a few years. This is not a easy choice to make and Kevin respects and accepts whatever Neil has decided.

This doesn't mean he likes It or that he is fine with losing Neil. Just means that there is nothing either of them can do about the fact there are way too powerful people who want Neil's head on a silver platter.

Then Neil asks Kevin to not tell Andrew, and Kevin immediately understands why. He says with all the words: "Andrew wouldnt respect your choice"

Because Kevin understands there is no good or safe choice for Neil and he understands the least he can do is allow Neil to autonomy to decide.

Most of all, Kevin keeps Neil's secret. Not because he wants to keep It, but because Neil asked him to. Kevin understands this is the most he can do for Neil in that situation.

He cannot fight the Butcher, much less the Moriyamas (neither can Andrew). He cannot make Neil stop being Nathaniel. He cannot stop the people that are after him

But he can respect Neil's choice and keep his secret. So he does. Even If he knows this will make Andrew mas at him. Because for most of Kevin's life, he had all his choices made for him, because where Kevin comes from, keeping secrets was the most power he could ever have.