#kevnee

maniacally rubbing my hands together. yesssss. yessssssss.

so Kevin/Renee has been floating in my brain for a while, but it is a lot of disjointed Thoughts so bear with me here.

first, of course, is the Jean of it all. these two people brought together by an unobtainable love they both have for Jean. Kevin, as the one who had to leave Jean to keep them both alive, and who knows that that is unforgivable on some level. Renee who was Jean’s avenging angel who pulled him from hell, but it was the wrong time and place, and they both had to leave each other. just. ugh. He hangs like a specter over their relationship and it’s so good. I am open to poly-ing it.

but onto Kevin/Renee

To me, they start coming together in Neil’s sophomore year. The year Jean starts at USC.

A lot is going on at this time, Kevin is rooming with Andreil and is practically their platonic third, but Kevin is also noticing that for the first time since he was a kid, he does not have a partner. Andrew and Neil are spending more and more time alone. Aaron is with Katelyn. Nicky is going through something and only wants to talk about Erik lately.

So Kevin starts spending more time with the upperclassmen.

Which generally leads to spending more time with Renee, because Matt and Dan are a set, and Allison is in a new chapter of post-Seth grief where she’s going out a lot.

And at first they don’t have much in common. But soon they both start talking about Jean. then deeper life things. and things progress.

Renee at this time is silently mourning leaving her friends at the end of the year, and generally about losing relationships (this girl has unexplored abandonment issues. to me.)

Kevin is also dealing with his drinking, which in the light of a year not being terrorized by Riko, seems to be much worse than it had before.

And one night, he comes to Renee’s dorm, drunk and sexiled by Andreil, about to cry in a rolled up mess of grieving his brother, missing his best-friend-other-half-dear-Jean, feeling abandoned by Andrew who broke their deal, and Neil who still thinks he’s a coward, and feeling like a hopelessly bad son. (All of which he’s mainly feeling because he’s drunk, but hey)

And Renee lets him in and takes him to her room. (Dan and Allison are raising eyebrows at this but genuinely cannot fathom that this may be a Thing)

And one thing leads to another. Drunken kiss. Rejection of taking anything further. Kevin falls asleep. Renee stays awake, almost scared that this may or may not mean something.

It does progressively become a thing

And the funniest part is, no one suspects anything. They aren’t trying to hide it when they start actually being together. But no one guesses.