Work Text:
"How come you left the Ravens for the Foxes, Mr. Day?"
"The Ravens are the best Exy team and you leave them for the Foxes?"
"Others would kill to play for the Ravens."
"Tetsuji Moriyama is one of the best coaches. I'm sure your mother would be happy with the way he's upholding her legacy."
"Would your mother also be involved with the Ravens or have started her own team like Tetsuji Moriyama did?"
Kevin turned off the television. He had answered all the questions. With a smile on his face. Just like the master had taught him.
Be the perfect exy player. Friendly. Polite. Modest.
Smile for the cameras. Wave for the fans. Hand out autographs. Pose for pictures.
Score goals. Don't get a yellow card. Be brutal but efficient.
Don't complain. Stick to the rules.
Don't scream. Don't beg. Grit your teeth and don't cry. Don't show weakness. Don't show bruises. Injuries only where the press can't see them.
Watch your diet. Don't have your own opinion. Always be with another person.
I am your master.
I am your king.
You are our pet.
Our toy.
Number 2.
The prince of Exy.
A nobody.
Worthless.
Your mother was ashamed of you. She's glad to be dead now and not have to see you anymore. You were a disgrace to her.
"Kevin! What the...?!"
"Are you crazy?"
"What happened?"
The voices are too loud. They're talking in a jumble.
Kevin didn't bother to look up.
"How many bottles did you have?"
"I think it´s the second one."
"Leave him alone."
That's right, leave him alone. Let him waste away on the couch. Just leave him alone.
He's not worth it. He's not worth saving. To be loved.
He's not worth it.
Not worth it.
Not worth it.
Not worth it.
"Kevin!"
"Nicky, leave it."
"But..."
"Nicky!"
"Okay..."
"The Ravens have won."
"He won't care anymore."
"Kev, drink some water."
Kevin blinked and the world suddenly came back into focus. The sounds suddenly made sense again.
He stared at the glass of water Nicky held out to him, but he didn't take it. Nicky continued to hold it under his nose.
"Drink and you'll feel better."
"She would never have let it happen."
"Who?" Nicky squatted down in front of him, still holding the glass, which Kevin took from his hand with trembling fingers.
"Mom."
Andrew and Aaron appeared in his field of vision. It was an unusual sight to see them standing so close together. Usually Nicky or Kevin was always between them. Or Neil.
He appeared behind Andrew and tilted his head slightly. "What would she never have allowed?" he asked.
Nicky reached for the bottle of vodka Kevin was still clutching tightly in his left hand, but he didn't let go when Nicky gave it a gentle tug.
"Kev," Nicky mumbled presumptuously and pulled a little harder.
Kevin was too drunk to resist and let go of the bottle.
"Drink," Andrew urged him, pointing to the glass of water Kevin was holding in his right hand.
Since when did Andrew care how much he drank? If he drank water?
Kevin wanted to throw so many things at him. For example, that he was a really shitty friend. That he was fucking short and that he sometimes looked funny when he tried to look so threatening.
Andrew raised an eyebrow and Nicky, Neil and Aaron tried not to laugh out loud. Nicky let out a quiet snort when he couldn't stifle it any longer.
Had he said that last part out loud? Kevin didn't know.
"Drink the water and go to bed, Kev." That was Aaron. Since when did he call him Kev? They weren't even friends, although Kevin sometimes thought they were. Just like Neil and Nicky.
Neil was definitely his friend. Maybe even his best friend, although that wasn't true. Andrew was his best friend. And Nicky was nice to everyone. He probably saw Kevin as just another person he could save. Just like he had done with the twins.
Nicky had the big problem of always wanting to take care of others. Sometimes Kevin wondered who Nicky was apart from that.
Who was he apart from Exy?
Who was he when he wasn't drunk on the couch or playing Exy?
The past few years had been all about Exy and since he'd joined the Foxes, alcohol had been added to the mix.
Alcohol was a great invention. It silenced emotions. It made everything dull and blurred. As if Kevin was no longer in his body. Was that one reason why Matt and Aaron had taken drugs? Probably.
"Why do you like Exy?" Kevin tried to focus Neil with his gaze, but it didn't quite work.
"Because Exy is a great sport."
"Boring."
Neil raised an eyebrow. "Because Exy was the only good thing in my childhood. I felt free when I played. Like nothing could touch me. I like the adrenaline, the violence, the speed. The fact that anything can happen. I like playing in a team. To be part of something bigger."
"I hate Exy."
"Kevin." Nicky sounded hurt. Kevin hadn't hurt him.
Kevin just shrugged his shoulders. "Exy was...surviving. If I didn't play, they hurt me. If I failed, they hurt me. If I wasn't good enough, they hurt me."
"Who?"
"You know who," Andrew hissed to his brother, who winced.
"Kev, what did they do to you?"
Again Kevin tried to focus on Neil. His scar. The place where a 4 had once been embossed. The sign that he was in the Nest. That he had survived and escaped.
"You know what they did."
Neil paled a little and averted his eyes. Andrew gave him a look and tensed.
"Speak!" he urged Kevin, but he shook his head and took a sip of water.
"Mom would never have let that happen."
"What?" asked Nicky.
"The Ravens. Mom would never have let the Master treat us like that. She could have saved Riko."
"That asshole is dead, Kevin. You don't have to think about him anymore."
"He was my brother!"
Kevin knew how wrong it was. He hated Riko, but he also loved him. He loathed the way he had ended up, but he would forever carry in his heart the little boy who had given him a second family. The one who had stood in front of him when Tetsuji wanted to punish them. He would always remember Riko as the boy who took care of his wounds. The one who let him sleep in his bed when he had nightmares.
Kevin pushed the day Riko hit him for the first time out of his mind. The first time he humiliated Kevin. Made him feel worthless. Only number 2. Never the best. Never first. Doomed to live in his shadow.
"Mom would have taken him in if she'd known. She could have given him a home. A second chance like Dad gave you."
Dad - Coach Wymack. The man who always put everything on the line for his broken foxes. The man who unknowingly gave him another chance at life.
"Mom would have torn down the nest. She would have destroyed Tetsuji. Exy was everything to my mom. Her first baby. Her biggest project. She loved it more than me. She would never have allowed it to be defiled like that. Throw it in the dirt like that."
"Kayleigh Day was the first Queen of Exy," Neil said quietly.
Kevin straightened up a little more. "We knocked Riko off his throne and crushed his kingdom. It's time for us to build our own empire. That we reclaim what is rightfully mine."
Normally one of the others would say something stupid or tease Kevin about being dramatic, but the other four just looked at him and a smile slowly spread across Andrew's face.
"No one cares about people like us, but they'll learn to fear us," Nicky finally said, breaking the silence.
"Long live the Queen."