#autistic Kevin day

[aftgphoenix]

I know autistic Kevin is a popular hc around here so consider this: Aaron is the first to realize (because he was learning about it in his classes) and slowly helps Kevin by suggesting things that would support him.

For example, he realizes that one of Kevin’s special interests is history and will ask him questions while he plays video games. Later, Aaron realizes that Kevin seems to like pressure on him (maybe Kevin has a tendency to rest his backpack on his lap or something). He gets Kevin a weighted blanket and leaves it on his bed.

I don’t think he would tell Kevin about his suspicions. For one thing, he’s not totally sure it is autism and he doesn’t want to pathologize his friend. He’s also not sure how Kevin would react. But the little supports seem to help Kevin and there’s no harm in it, he thinks.

Or maybe it isn’t Aaron. Maybe it’s Katelyn who realizes that Kevin has a lot of autistic traits and helps Aaron start accommodating them.

I don’t know, I think there’s a lot of potential though. Maybe it’s Kevaaron, maybe it’s Katekevaaron, maybe it’s just Aaron and Kevin friendship! All I know is that I was reading @ok555ficideas’s fic Poet, Soldier, King and I couldn’t stop thinking about this!

[ok555ficideas]

Kevin knew he was difficult to hang out with. No one ever wanted to listen to his rants about Exy, except for Neil and even the redhead got easily annoyed by him at times. He tried to talk about his other interests, but despite his best attempts he always sounded like a know-it-all. He didn’t want to make other people feel inferior, but he always had trouble modulating his tone into a gentler one. 

He used to not care about that. With the Ravens it was expected of him. He didn’t need to respect them, his job was to play and criticize them to make them better. The only people he had to try and behave around in the nest were Riko and the master. He remembered all those times when he got beat up, not knowing why. He thought he was talking normally and just sharing his thoughts but both men always found his attitude inappropriate. 

Growing up with them was tough. Kevin always felt different growing up. He hated not knowing what was expected of him. He made instructions in his head for every situation, for every person, just to not make any mistakes. With the master and Riko it was difficult. There was no way of predicting how they would react to a situation. Kevin tried really hard to be obedient and to play by their rules, but the rules were always changing. He was scared and confused and more times than not he took it out on other people. He was allowed to torment other players, he was even encouraged to do so. Every time he saw Riko smile, because he obliterated someone else with his words, he felt like he had finally cracked the code. He felt like this would gain him some points in this sick game, but it never did. It didn’t make Riko any less ruthless.

The first time he felt like he could be himself was with Jean. He still remembered the scared little kid entering the nest with the heart of a lion. Jean was scrawny, not yet hovering over others at the age of fourteen like he was now. Yet he was so much braver than Kevin ever was. He was so unapologetically himself, until Riko tortured it out of him. Still, when it was only two of them Kevin felt more at ease than he had felt his entire life. Jean understood him, Kevin didn’t need an instruction for him, because with the backliner he felt like he was allowed to make mistakes and he would be forgiven. 

Almost any mistake, because he wasn’t sure if they would be able to go back from his last one. He hoped that Jean would at least now have a happy life with the Trojans and that some day they would be okay again. 

He tried with the Foxes as well. He wanted them to get better and he was tired of masking all of his emotions so he just let them out. He realized fairly quickly that he was not a friend material and he refused to be scared of them like he was of Riko and didn‘t want to waste his time on playing nice like with the press. But unlike his jabs at the Ravens, the ones he was throwing at the Foxes were filled with gratitude and hope for them to get better. 

part of Soldier, Poet, King where I decided that Kevin will be an outlet for my frustration with growing up autistic without knowing it.

[little2nerdy]

you’re telling me that kevin day the man who obsesses over two things and makes them his entire life, uses alcohol to cope with his insane anxiety, and has a designated public persona he slips into isn’t autistic? sure…

[koldefingre]

The son of exy fell from grace by the hand of his so called savior. Fuck you Riko Moriyama, thank you Neil Josten

Also I don’t know if I am him, or in love with him. But it’s fine.

[wordvomit555]

....................….me projecting myself on them....................... Asexual Neil 🤝 Autistic Kevin

[that-vampire-loser]

GIVE KEVIN A BREAK JEAN USC IS HIS SPECIAL INTEREST

[satanic-foxhole-court]

HC Kevin autistic still standing strong for me, his fierce need to adhere to strict rules, upset or feeling some level of frustration when said rules aren’t followed? Autism babey!

[sleepycloudss]

brat summer is over, let witch bitch autumn begin

[fivescocoa]

kevin’s love of exy goes way beyond normal dedication and straight to special interest levels. it’s all he Wants to talk about and every aspect of his life and motivations ties back to exy. like, seth dies and his first reaction is how this impacts his special interests. a clear social faux pas to most, but he’s entirely unaware that there’s anything wrong with responding to a death of a teammate in this manner.

his exy skills are all pattern recognition and stats based. he’s calculating angles of shots and the like all in the moment, rather than playing with heart like neil. it’s very logical and strategic.

his alcohol dependency also screams of asd to me. he takes exy so so seriously but he puts it in danger with his excessive alcohol use and cracker dust because he Can’t cope without this crutch. also just. clubs are sensory nightmares.

looping back to how he is socially.

hes incredibly blunt, with those in his inner circle he doesnt sugarcoat anything. he says what he means. if he thinks you’re playing like shit he straight up says that, not with the intent to belittle but to get things to his high standards.

his public persona has heavy masking energy. he’s mimicking his media training recycling words he’d been taught and his smiles are practiced and perfected. half the time we see him with the public persona on in a non interview / media circumstance, he’s not sober, using that crutch again to get him through. i’m thinking about the first winter banquet where he mingled very amicably with the other teams (after being scared half to death by the ravens and neils past). and he’s absolutely WIPED after this banquet, i would say not only because of riko’s bullshit but because of the masking. the exhaustion is evident both in neil suggesting he talk to kevin and andrew telling neil “you can have him tomorrow” knowing that kevin couldnt handle anything more that night. then the next day kevin is literally just Sitting in the middle of the court. he didnt spend his time waiting for neil by running the stairs with andrew or doing exy warm ups. hes just sitting in the comfort of the court in Silence.

in the same vein i think constantly about in tkm after ichirou makes the deal with neil to have neil, kevin and jean be main family investments, it’s REALLY Noticeably hard for kevin to handle this change.

this quote: “Kevin couldn't recover that quickly from having his world upended, though, and was distracted the entire afternoon. He missed shots he should have made with his eyes closed and spent his breaks sitting alone in the stands.”

cannot convince me this wasn’t an autistic shutdown. everything about his life shifted on a dime. riko has no claim on him any longer, his entire future looks entirely different to what he’d always imagined it to be, and now the main mafia family has an interest in him. that’s A LOT of new, and he collapses in on himself.

also as theyre at dinner, neil has this thought “Neil wanted to say Andrew was conserving all his energy for Kevin's quiet meltdown, but he wasn't sure how to say it without drawing Andrew's ire.”

where we get neil saying kevin is having a “quiet meltdown” which is quite literally the equivalent of a shutdown. hes imploding on himself. and, of course, with the way he grew up all his meltdowns happen in silent destruction, hurting no one but himself.

i could talk about autistic kevin day for an eternity. its SO important to me

I sense autism in kevin day but i cant remeber scenes were he showed any signs. Like its just have a feeling. Anyone remeber any autistic coded moments?

[skeletonoli]

I have decided that from now on, i will believe that whenever Kevin Day has had too much to drink (in a non depressing social setting) he just starts talking people's ears off about Irish history and no one can now convince me otherwise

[chaoticas-hell]

Kevin: after much consideration I have come to the decision that you are, unfortunately, my best friend.

Neil: a horrible decision really. My condolences.

[ok555ficideas]

I already posted a fragment of it, but I said that I have no idea where the fic is going, but literally after hitting post, it came to me exactly where the fic is going:

Title: Loving you is a losing game.

Both Renee and Kevin are pining over Jean, who is in the middle of falling for Jeremy. Renee is mad at Kevin for sending Jean away and snaps at him during practice, which she later beats herself up about. They bond over their unrequited love for Jean and get closer and closer until they get into a weird friends with benefits situation. I'm thinking of making them both ace, because I need something self-indulgent, especially because I can't imagine there will be a lot of readers for this so, I might as well. On that note, Kevin is going to definitely be autistic in this. No matter how close they will get to each other, both of them won't be able to forget about Jean.

[fivescocoa]

NO BECAUSE EXACTLY THIS. i Also have had my feelings hurt by fics that shut kevin down so hard for things that are literally just autistic traits.

the most ooc thing is anyone portraying andreil Not loving kevin. like did you not read the part where andrew almost refuses to get off drugs he hates because he doesnt want to leave kevin alone and then neil is like i care about him just as much as you do, i’ll watch him. what about that reads as andreil not liking him / wanting him around???

LET KEVIN HAVE HIS AUTISTIC TRAITS AND STILL BE LOVED BY THOSE THAT CANONICALLY LOVE HIM!!!

More than a little frustrated trying to find fanfic or any other sort of media within the fandom that doesn’t act like everyone on the team (but especially Neil and Andrew) hates Kevin and are constantly annoyed by him or pissed off at him. Like yes, Kevin can be an asshole. Yes, most people don’t share Kevin’s level of passion for Exy. But that doesn’t mean his team and his two actual best friends are constantly walking around acting like he’s the dirt under their shoes.

[koldefingre]

I actually love him, this is not a drill.

[wordvomit555]

Im stressing out about writing autistic Kevin inaccurately as if I’m not autistic myself, literally projecting onto him.

[catlailasgf]

kevin day is autistic with a special interest in exy and a hyperfixation on the trojans, can i get a hear hear!!!!