pismannie

First of all, I feel like it is important to make a distinction between moments in which the Foxes are just being Foxes (fighting, bickering, being assholes) and the moments where the critics to Kevin's treatment really are.

For example, Kevin and Seth's fights were totally an example of the first case. Kevin was frustrated, both with his hand and with the fact he was now in a team considerably worse than the one he came from(and frustrated because Seth being his pair striker was probably a very bitter reminder of everything that had happened to him). Seth was frustrated not only with Kevin's constants critics and harsh push for performance, but also because Kevin was a bitter reminder of everything Seth wasn't by simple virtue of birth. Seth grew up being one more among a bunch of siblings with clearly neglectful parents. He grew up being treated as completely unimportant. So of course having The Great Kevin Day there in his team felt like rubbing salt on a wound.

They were both going through a shitty time and took it out on each other by constantly fighting and bickering. They were hurting so they hurted.

This type of conflict appears through the whole narrative with different characters. It is gennerally a two way conflict.

There are also moments that involve great emotional distress and you can understand why a certain character might have taken a certain action, even if that might have caused damage to another character (i.e choking incident. I have a post somewhere analysing it, so I definitely won't do it now, because this will get too long)

But the point is, specially in TKM, there are plenty of moments in which the Foxes are just unnecessarly cruel or unforgiving towards Kevin, specially in moments in which he is fragilized and this isn't adressed at all

1-We already start the book with Matt punching Kevin TWICE because of what happened to Neil. Kevin, who was probably already feeling horrible, didn't react or tried to fight back at all.

I don't think I really need to explain why punching someone who isn't reacting is a bad thing.

And yes, he was shocked, worried and mad because of what was done to Neil. Assaulting Kevin didn't change anything and also didn't 'punish' the right person. It was absolutely pointless.

Yes, Kevin didn't tell them where Neil was going. Maybe he didn't say anything for the same reason Neil went there in the first place. If Riko had enough of a levarege to force Neil to go, than he definitely had enough to make Kevin stay silent about it(which was true. Riko had Andrew and Kevin knew it. If he stopped Neil from going, whatever happened to Andrew would be his fault. Kevin did the right thing by allowing Neil to decide what he wanted to do and respecting it). But of course, instead of assessing the situation for 5 seconds, we jump straight to assume Kevin didn't say anything for giggles and kicks.

(Just to make it clear, this is not saying Matt is a horrible person. This is just me saying in this instance he was wrong)

2-Andrew threatening Kevin with a knife because of that stupid trip.

I hate this scene so much and on so many levels that it is not even funny anymore.

It makes me so sad that this is what Nora has decided to do with Andrew and Kevin's relationship.

Because the thing is: Kevin was never afraid of Andrew.

There is one other moment in the series in which Andrew lifts a knife to Kevin and this is when Kevin literally presses him against a wall and ignores his warnings to let go. Andrew uses the knife to nip Kevin and make him let go, and that is it. They are mad at each other, but there is no fear.

It is a heavy scene, but Andrew was completely on the right and doing it out of self defense(honestly, Kevin had that one coming from a mile away).

But in this instance in TKM, Andrew threatens Kevin for what? Being against a vacation? This is literally the most stupid reason Andrew threatened someone over in the series.

And the worst part is: even though this is a bluff, this happens a few days after the choking incident and Kevin is actually afraid of Andrew. So instead of calling Andrew out on it, like he would probably usually do, Kevin actually stops talking.

In other words: he is now afraid of the one person who used to protect him and this person is using this as a way to control his behavior.

Wonderful

Gets even better because no one ever touchs this subject again. Is Kevin forever afraid of Andrew now? Or was this just because it happened so soon after the choking? Will Andrew keep on acting like this towards Kevin now?

No idea, we are pretending it didn't happen

To think their relationship was essentially based on kevin's unwavering trust that Andrew could protect him and that is where it is by the end of the three books.

(And this isn't shade on Andrew, but on Nora's writting choices. Andrew gennerally uses violence whenever he feels like there is a threat, but here he seems to do it simply for control and to me it doesn't make much sense with his character at all. It also doesn't make sense with what happens after, because Nora signals Kevin is now afraid of Andrew and doesn't adress it any further. It is a fucking mess)

3-Then we have the shitshow that was the Foxes finding out Wymack is Kevin's dad

I find this one the worst of them all, to be honest. Their reaction bordered on cruelty. It wasn't just the Foxes being the Foxes. It was a complete lack of any consideration for another person.

After Kevin talks to Wymack, he and Neil go back to the Fox Tower and Kevin is clearly on the verge of a panick attack when Neil leaves the car. He has his hand in his face and cannot even speak, gesturing for Neil to go away. Neil interprets the gesture however he wants (as permission to tell the Foxes the truth) and goes up leaving Kevin there.

(Honestly, I believe Neil's intentions were good here, that is not the problem)

Neil gathers everyone and the Foxes react as if Kevin not telling Wymack is the worst absurd ever seen and Kevin is selfish because of it(wonder why the guy who was raised wihtout a father, has scaped a mafia run cult and has no where else to go felt like it was better to not reveal this information). Also, Kevin literally doesn't owe the information about his patternity to anyone. Getting mad at him is fucking WILD.

Dan makes a literal scandal, turns the situation onto something about herself and her feelings and how she is mad because >Kevin< hurt Wymack. No, not Kayleigh, who literally lied in Wymack's face. Not Tetsuji, who had this letter hidden all along and also didn't say anything while he broke and abused Wymack's child for a decade. No, none of them. Kevin. The kid who spent a decade raised as a human pet because his mother trusted the wrong person. He is the one who hurt Wymack.

This gets even worse when we learn Riko almost put a hit out on Wymack as things were. Of course Kevin was cautios about revealling the truth.

The Foxes make sure someone stays with Dan to console and take care of her, meanwhile Kevin was literally left alone on the verge of a mental breakdown inside the car. And he is still down there, alone, inside the car.

Because of course, the one that needs support here is Dan. Makes all sense in the world.

Right after all of this, Kevin is forced to go on that trip he didn't even want to go in the first place, with the team that is now mad at him.

At some point, Dan pushes Kevin aside to talk to him and Matt tells her to NOT STRIKE HIM ANYWHERE IT WILL BRUISE.

We don't get to know if Dan did hit him or not, but there is no excuse whatsoever for what Matt said.

It would already have been absurd if that was anyone else. You don't hit someone for growing up without a dad and being afraid to tell their dad the truth. Kevin had the right to take however long he needed to talk to Wymack. It is not a son's job to tell a father he is a father.

But the fact he said this about Kevin, who would suffer physical abuse constantly, everything in places that either could be hid by clothes or where it wouldn't leave bruisess, is absolutely horrible.

Then both Kevin and Dan come back from that talk and Kevin specifically sits on the OUTSKIRTS, which is how he spends most of the trip.

All those scenes are only made worse when we learn from Jean that Kevin would read Kayleigh's letter all the time. Or when we learn in the EC that Kevin's best non-Exy memory was finding the letter.

Those are just a few examples, all from TKM, which honestly I think is the worst part.

The whole idea of the series is that team unites around Neil and on the process, the rifts between them start to close. By this point in TKM the relationship between all of the Foxes is considerably better than it was during TFC . Of course, it is not perfect, far from it, but definitely better. They are all on their way to healing.

Except Kevin.

His relationship with essentially everyone has gotten worse (except Nicky and Aaron, I feel like it remained the same), he is isolated inside the team and constantly being belittled, berated and more than once the victim of unprovoked physical violence or threats.

The funny part is that he was way more of an asshole in TFC, and still he didn't get treated half as bad as he does in TKM.

So no, Kevin is not a sweet victim of the Foxes mistreatment for most of the time. He knows how to be violent and how to be an asshole. Most of the time he gives as good as he gets. That is what happens during the first two books.

But then we get to the end of TKM and it is just a sequence of the Foxes kicking Kevin while he is already on the ground, and there is no resolution.

(But of course, Kevin and his obsession are very useful when he appears left handed to play against the Ravens. Then he is a part of the team. When he might have been in need of support after the hard conversation he must have had with Wymack, he got a "don't strike him where it will leave a mark". But when he is "dancing circles around the Ravens defense line" then the fact is an obsessive bitch is very useful.)

Jeremy tries to break the ice between them bringing up how much he would have loved playing with Kevin. Kevin barely engages bringing up that he would be nothing without Evermore. He may idolize the Trojans but he, Kevin, had to be a Raven.

But Jeremy is very direct with Kevin saying the truth out loud. "Your hand is broken because of Edgar Allan." There is no double speak, no innuendo, or implication. Keep in mind through all of Neil's trilogy the most we hear Kevin talk about his "accident" is the "Never been skiing" line. Something Jeremy directly points out in his later narration.

So we have the tone: Kevin is Nest born and made and Jeremy is not afraid to say the scary things out loud. This will go well.

Needle drop: Did you know about Grayson?

Again, Jeremy is not censoring himself or couching this conversation. It is straight forward and honest and of course it is. It should be! Jean has had his abuse hidden for years and deserves someone who can voice it directly. Ironically, this is exactly why Kevin sent him to California in the first place. Their kindness matters indeed.

"All Ravens know a variation of the story" is one hell of a way to phrase it. Not, "I knew-", not "Jean told me-". It's almost passive and offers nothing personal about his own feelings or views on Jean's assault. Not even what exactly Grayson did. It is uncomfortably neutral for what they're bumping against. It makes me wonder if he is feeling out how much Jeremy knows before getting into anything.

Jeremy then follows up asking if Kevin was assaulted and Kevin gives the Raven answer:

"They had no reason."

Jeremy reacts as anyone should hearing such a thing but Kevin keeps on because Jeremy needs to understand how The Nest and its "punishments" work. Its how the Ravens view it. It is how Jean, who still views himself as a Raven, still does. If they're going to talk about this then Kevin needs to get this central lesson and language out of the way: 'The Nest's abuse was purposeful and was in-built to make us think we deserved it.'

This was not a random act of violence but calculated abuse to break Jean.

This is the heart of this discussion: Kevin is trying to give Jeremy the language of the Nest and Jeremy is in real time having all the horrific things about the Nest be confirmed outside of message board rumors.

Jeremy moves on asking why Kevin didn't defend Jean earlier in the summer. The conversation is now shifting away from the nebulous Nest to Kevin himself.

This is a very fair question considering Kevin's pull as Exy's biggest name.

Kevin has been supportive of Jeremy in the past too which, with the context of Jeremy's freshman year, shows he isn't unwilling to put his neck out for someone. Especially if that someone IS JEAN! His ex team-mate!

If he was willing to support Jeremy publicly, why not Jean?

Because it would mean Jean would have to say something to defend the Ravens. He would never choose himself over them. These are the people who legally owned him and, to Jean, still owe him even if the leash changed hands.

Particularly the line: "He will always betray himself first." is so damning.

Jean was raised in a pit ripped away from his home and tortured daily by his teammates. He learned how to fawn, how to give up to survive, and only lived because he made Kevin a promise. When they assaulted him, he was made to say he wanted it. When they called him a whore, weak boned, etc he nodded along to their projected truths and labels.

Kevin will not sit there and make Jean say he wanted it or he liked it, not again. He will not make him publicly defend his abusers when having to do it to the Raven locker room alone nearly killed him. What would national attention do?

He cannot think of anything more cruel to Jean than outing his assault in the Nest, making him defend the ones who did it, and having countless people know what happened.

And keep in mind this is all happening in the wake of Aaron's trial where Kevin just saw the very same thing happen to his own Partner.

With this, it clicks together for Jeremy. This is a major step in his own arc of understanding how truly awful things were in The Nest. This is not a fault of Jeremy's but a reminder of how EXTREME Edgar Allan is.

Jeremy cares for Jean so much and frankly getting the worst crash course into "deprogramming your cult victim 101" possible. Everything about The Nest was schlock rumors on message boards to jealous teams ruining their image. Sure, they suck to play against but every team gets carded. But this?

And this is barely scratching the surface of how awful Jean had it.

And Jeremy can't accept it!

There has to be other Ravens who would side with him. Who will rally around him and support him if he went public. Jeremy's whole life is his team. They are the reason he's still alive and his own found family is made up of his teammates. There HAS to be another Raven who would side with him.

And what does Kevin say? "You don't know what his truth is."

What could Kevin be talking about? The fact they owned him? That it was a punishment for his sexuality? How much does Kevin even know about that side of things? Something completely unrelated we won't know until Kevin's books? Or how about never?

If Kevin still can't voice what he went through, how could Jean?

So Kevin digs himself in even deeper bringing up the age of consent to press how fucked it all is. The Ravens would use this loophole against Jean and use it to damn him. There is no case unless Jean puts himself out there and it will be their word against his own.

And Jeremy walks away. He can't stomach how legitimately awful all of this is. That his friend can't get justice for the horrific things he went through VOICED by someone he saw as a mutual friend! Someone he respects!

We also so rarely see Jeremy angry and he is furious in this scene.

But Jeremy doesn't want Jean's secrets. And Kevin doesn't want to give them away. Because this whole "fight" is about two people who desperately want to protect him and are using the language and tools they have to do so. Who both know he has had such little say in his life that taking away his choice in telling Jeremy just feels cruel.

And Kevin again affirms that the last thing Jean has for himself is the right to say nothing. Let the rumors exhaust themselves and live as he has been for the past few months. He knows this isn't fair but worse would be Jean having to play jester to the Perfect Court making a mockery of himself for the Raven's sake.

Jean has never been allowed peace. He has never been allowed a choice in his image, in his wants, in his life. Jean just told Kevin he has a hobby in cooking. He has likes! And friends! Real ones! And they seem to love him too.

This is more than he ever had and Kevin is not about to ruin this for some justice that he knows deep down would never come. Not with the police in the Moriyama's pockets as well.

But Jeremy tries one last time: What about you? Don't you want peace?

But Kevin shuts it down. He turns it on Jeremy who vetoes the conversation before it can even start. They're using each other's avoidant tendencies against each other and they stall out.

But the scene ends on a positive note. Jeremy affirms the still sees Kevin as a friend. That he understands what Kevin is trying to do for Jean even if Kevin cannot admit it yet due to his own guilt / complicated feelings irt Jean and his abuse.

And Jeremy ends it...we don't know. He skims over his own feelings on the fight and Jean and The Nest focusing on the safety Jean has now in their home. Oh Jeremy Knox the narrator you are.

In summary:

Jeremy wants better for Jean. He wants justice for Jean. He wants to give Jean everything he was denied for so long. Jeremy is not wrong.