#the mystery of jeremy knox

[dustisus]

I'm just going to post this idea for a fic on here because it doesn't want to be written:

A couple of years after Jeremy has graduated, he's playing for a team on the other side of the country of California and it's not going great. The distance means he's lost some contacts from the Trojans, and phone calls and texts with his friends are not enough. All of this, added to the fact that he's struggling to connect with any of his new teammates, means he's not playing his best and it's been mentioned he might get cut from the team after the coming season if he doesn't improve.

He comes back from the off-season to what he thinks may be his last season of pro Exy to see that Andrew Minyard, newly graduated, is one of the new recruits. Jeremy instantly gets stressed to see him (but we don't know why yet). Andrew gets on the wrong foot with the team right away, and he and Jeremy become the team's outcasts. Jeremy avoids Andrew until he can't anymore, when something comes to a head and they are forced into a confrontation.

The problem is this: Jeremy Knox is not real, and Andrew Minyard knows it. He was there to see Jeremy Knox being created, in a juvenile detention center in California, when Andrew was 14-ish and Jeremy 15-ish. Andrew knew Jeremy by a different name then, but he recognizes him.

Jeremy had been admitted for a few weeks when Andrew is admitted. Jeremy is tight-lipped about whatever had put him there, and tense, and ready to butt heads with Andrew when they are roomed next to each other. They are forced into a confrontation this time too, probably about Jeremy making noise when Andrew wants to sleep. The noise is from the bouncing of an Exy ball on his wall. He only stops when Andrew agrees to join him on the small court in the juvie's courtyard.

That's how Andrew learns to play Exy; standing in goal when Jeremy shoots ball after ball at him, until they are disrupted from someone calling for Jeremy to step away for a second and talk to someone who's there to see him. When he comes back, the strength and furrowed brow that's normally visible when he's playing is gone.

The story comes out: Whatever act that had put Jeremy in juvie had been bad enough to get rid of him. He has two choices: to continue being Jeremy, or to become Jeremy Knox. His family has the money and contacts to get rid of all traces of who he had been, and officially, the story would be that whoever he had been had died. Jeremy Knox would be his surviving brother.

Andrew doesn't say so, but he's disappointed when Jeremy assumes his new name and identity and leaves. Not long after, Luther Hemmick comes to speak to him.

All these years later, Andrew calls him by his real name and Jeremy snaps. That's not who he is anymore. But Andrew has seen Jeremy's weak shots and soulless plays, and tells him that if he wants to continue playing Exy, that's who he needs to be.

And then there's the problem of where the plot goes from there. I haven't figured it out for the weeks that I have been thinking of this premise and I can't write Jeremy nor Andrew well so it will probably never be posted as a fic (at least by me). Oh well. This idea is still my baby though so don't be mean to it.

[wherethemothsgrow]

Picture it, it’s 2007. Jean Moreau is in a dark grey Carhart jacket, The Navy Shirt TM, nice jeans and some adidas shoes. He’s tall and brooding, sharp jaw, strong Roman nose that’s crooked a bit. Jeremy Knox is on the floor hyperventilating. Something like this probably 👇

[chauves0uris]

it's november

only one more month left to tsc2

ONE MORE MONTH AND OUR BELOVED JEAN-YVES WILL RETURN TO US i can't fucking WAIT

[dustisus]

bryson perhaps…

Jerejean aside what the fuck did Laila mean ppl had tried to break into her house before

[joejhang]

so we all agree that nora sakavic is doing The Second Book Thing with tgr right.

[kazbiter]

don't get me wrong I LOVE how everyone in the aftg universe is just casually aware of the massive obsession that kevin has w jeremy and it's kind of semi-jokey but the way that jeremy chose to play the foxes vs trojans game in TKM really illuminates why it makes so much sense for kevin to admire him that much in a way I really just find so good & excellent!!! bc imo jeremy embodies what it means to genuinely LOVE kevin's mothers game!!! yes he wants to win but more than that jeremy wants to PLAY!!! maybe we will lose but we will learn. maybe it won't end the way we hope but god won't it be fun to find out anyway. he wants to be good by experiencing the sport, by having fun with it, by giving the game room to be all that it can become and getting to be a part of it. exy is not a tool for jeremy to gain power and prestige as it was for the ravens. it's a game!!! you're meant to play it! you're meant to have fun with it! jeremy honors of the truest intention of the sport and welcomes it as it is, not trying to twist it into something that can be leveraged and wielded. it's still all for the game for him, just in a different way: in a way that kevin was never going to be allowed to play it. but someone still does it, and does it well, and shares it with others. and now he's sharing it with the boy that kevin could never quite set free from a place that made it something else. and kevin gets to see it, living proof of what the game could be, what it should be, what it truly is.

[hyperboleigh91]

"What if Jeremy actually did something horrible to his family."

I don't know... Because the butler is nice to Jeremy. And someone who works for rich people wouldn't be able to tolerate a rich child who did something horrible and got away with it. The butler is kind of definitive proof that Jeremy's family is in the wrong. And based on the butler trying to help Jeremy avoid his older brother, and the fact that Jeremy was who Lucas felt safest calling when Grayson hurt him, I think Jeremy's older brother is the problem.

Maybe Jeremy's older brother did something terrible to Jeremy and Jeremy's family tried to insist on sweeping it under the rug, refusing to get the law involved because they don't want their family to look bad, but his older brother did whatever it was again Jeremy's freshman year when Jeremy thought he'd be free and able to go live on campus for college, so Jeremy told... and all hell broke loose. Jeremy's family blamed him and did everything they could to bury whatever happened. Maybe if it got out, they even threw Jeremy under the bus and made it look like his fault or made it look like he was exaggerating for attention, and then to further prove their point, they made him live at home as a "Look, he has no problem with his brother and everything is perfectly fine here" thing.

Or it's still an older sibling who did something to him, but it's the missing one and that one got sent off to "heal" because the family refuses to admit that whatever he did to Jeremy was anything other than a misunderstanding or something that can be fixed if he reflects on it and just works on himself for a while.

Or maybe whatever older sibling did something to Jeremy is a cop, hence Jeremy's discomfort when he saw the group of cops (who would, like Jeremy's family, look out for Jeremy's brother and vilify Jeremy).

[itsalittlebitchilly]

I love how Jeremy being gay/coming out is a valid/realistic reason why Jeremy's family is... like that but everyone breezes over that because that's too simple

[mithriel-of-mithlond]

I've seen couple of posts now about Jeremy being aware of the reader and hiding everything and it made me think about Deadpool knowing he is a character and being able to break the 4th wall..

[fungus-amongus00]

keremy romance novel, hell yea

[allforthesapphic]

honestly most shocking part of the sunshine court was jeremy knox being an english major

[dustisus]

hilarious if the way we find out about jeremy’s past is andrew (and co) get him high and drunk and he doesn’t have the forethought to have someone knock him out

[bisexualchaosdemon]

Jeremy: Of course I can 😊

1. I'm studying English

2. I'm not a natural blond

3. I can't cook to save myself

jeremy knox i love you so much can you please tell me 3 facts about yourself

[inafieldofstarflowers]

My ⋆｡*Jeremy Knox Evidence Board⋆｡°

aka: I scoured TSC for all the crumbs I could find about Jeremy Knox and the mystery of his tragic and/or questionable past and tried to sort the information into sections

1. Whatever happened has something to do with Exy

Jeremy mentions "the fall banquet that broke [the Knox] family in half" in his freshman year

Before this banquet, Jeremy's sister Annalise always went to his games, after it, she not only stopped attending but went "out of her way to forget everything she knew about Exy" and had "never forgiven [Jeremy] for sticking with it"

Annalise suggests that their step-grandpa will have an opinion on Jeremy recruiting Jean and states that this recruitment is "a new scandal" which will make Jeremy "End the way [he] started"

2. Jeremy Goes to Therapy

Cat says that this therapist was "legit life changing" for Jeremy

Jeremy's mom was the one to find him this therapist, and she's both very good & very expensive

The therapist has walked him through how to push back against his family (or, at least, Annalise's anger at him sticking with Exy), suggesting that she believes his decision to continue playing after whatever happened is legitimate

3. SOMETHING is up with the Knoxes

Jeremy acknowledges that his family has their issues, though he specifies that his mother never raised a hand to hurt them physically

Again, whatever happened at the banquet "destroyed the family"

There's specifically tension between Jeremy and his stepdad/step-grandpa

- Jeremy is "permanently on his stepfather's bad side"

- Their step-grandpa is a Congressman, and the Knoxes are a "picture perfect family" who are "duty bound to dress up and smile" to make him look good

- When Annalise brings up their step-grandpa it is apparently "obvious bait" which Jeremy rises to by saying that he "isn't their grandfather"

- Him saying this makes Annalise respond "don't destroy my future"

Jeremy's parents are presumably divorced rather than his dad being dead (Jeremy uses the present perfect tense when he tells Jean "Dad's been stationed [in Europe] a couple times"

There's weird energy between the Knox siblings

- Cat identifies three: two brothers and one sister. We know Annalise is the younger sister and Bryson is the older brother, but the third is an unknown. Also, Cat noticeably pauses before saying that Jeremy has three siblings, but Jean doesn't ask about it

- Annalise has a grudge against Jeremy, and he avoids Bryson, who is apparently a jerk

- Jeremy mentions that "most of his siblings" wanted to get out of LA when stating that he wanted to stay because of his love for USC

Jeremy's family is upset when he bleaches his hair (presumably because of how it affects the family's image)

- He's "uninvited from the family table for the state of his hair"

- When Laila asks what happened to frosted tips, Cat says it was "something about how going beachboy mode was more acceptable than looking like a one-hit wonder dropout" and Jeremy says he might do tips next year "after I've graduated and don't have to deal with the fallout"

Jeremy gets "tense and distant" when his mom texts him

- Also her text tone is an "awful noise" (which could mean nothing but also Jeremy has curated specific text tones for everyone so I do NOT believe this is a coincidence)

4. Jeremy's housing situation is weird

In his own words, Jeremy stays "[with Cat and Laila] from June until the start of the school year" and then once school begins, is "usually only over on the weekends" and lives at his house

- When Jeremy explains this, Jean notices "the way Jeremy's gaze slid past him to peer into the distance" and "the tight tug at the corner of Cat's mouth"

- As @drunkinourtears pointed out, “apparently only [Jeremy] (out of all his siblings) is required to live in their family house the whole year,” referencing the passage "Unlike Bryson, who always came home for the summer, [Annalise] insisted on keeping her own place on the other side of the city year-round." This emphasizes that “Jeremy is the only sibling to be put on a tight leash” regarding his living situation, as both his older brother and YOUNGER sister are allowed their own choices on where to live

Jeremy sneaks in and out of the house "to avoid conflict" and is aided and abetted in this venture by the family's butler

- He says that "the trick to starting Saturdays off on the right foot was to get out of the house as early as possible"

5. A deeply weird financial situation

The Knoxes have money (as evidenced by the butler & mentioned private chef), and Jeremy has access to it to some extent

Jeremy has to deal with his mother's bookkeeper regularly enough that he has the practiced thought that he gets a receipt "so he could file it later" with the thought that it is "always best to have a paper trail"

- He gets receipts three times: when he buys coffee & the gift card for the man in line behind him, when he keeps the receipt from Jean's shirt, and when he gets the receipt for his hair dye job (adding a note with the amount for the cash tip on the top of this one)

Jeremy gives Cat and Laila cash to help with groceries and rent, and Cat "knows how many hoops" he has to jump through to get the money as a result of being on his stepfather's bad side

- As a side note, it's interesting that Jeremy's finances seem to both require his stepfather's approval and are then confirmed by his mother's bookkeeper

- This also ties back into the weird living situation: Jeremy seems to have some financial freedom (he can get his hair done on the book, even though his family does not want him to), but he has to scramble to be able to give Cat and Laila money for the time he lives with them (possibly to disincentivize him from staying there?)

- Annalise, by contrast, has her own place in the city she can stay in year-round, which suggests that she has easier access to the family’s money, or at least more freedom to work with it in regards to her housing situation (shoutout @drunkinourtears for pointing this out!)

6. Jeremy's weird comment about cops

I will just quote this in full because: “There was little to no chance he’d know them, and no reason they’d recognize him, but Jeremy kept his gaze forward and his mouth shut until they were past.”

- This is never expanded on, and it's such an ambiguous passage in terms of what Jeremy means. First, why say there's "little to no chance" he'd know them and not just "no chance"–why would they know him? His politician step-grandpa? Something he did? It just reads less as a general discomfort with cops and more as an avoidance with a specific reason

- Second, "and no reason they'd recognize him" could just mean that they wouldn't know Jeremy Knox, but again, that would be such a weird thing to say. Would they know his name/know about something he did in the past, but just not know his face?

- All in all, this passage reads to me like there's something in Jeremy's past that has made him uncomfortable around cops, and while there's no reason these particular ones would recognize him from that or know about it, the very idea that they might puts him on edge (is there a potential tie between this discomfort and whatever happened in Jeremy's freshman year?)

There’s also Rhemann’s comment after Grayson’s attack: when he wants to bring the police in, he tries to reassure Jean by saying “I’ll send Jeremy away first,” Rhemann said, like that somehow would win Jean over.” It’s easy to read this as Rhemann thinking Jean wants privacy in this moment, but that doesn’t hold up as much considering the specificity of sending JEREMY away, suggesting he assumes Jean is concerned about Jeremy having to be around the cops

- As @drunkinourtears pointed out, his comment suggests that Rhemann knows about whatever Jeremy’s issues with the cops are, and him saying this in front of Lucas and to Jean “implies that Jeremy's situation with cops is common knowledge for the team and [Rhemann] assumes Jean also knows about it” (I 100% didn’t pick up on this until reading the comment about it and it is FASCINATING)

7. Cat and Laila know about whatever happened

Throughout the book, Cat and Laila either trade looks or make faces or almost slip out information about what happened when things come up about Jeremy's past

- They're solidly on his side about it whatever's up with his family, seeming to dislike them quite a bit

- Cat mentioning that therapy helped him out a lot does suggest that they didn't think he was in a good place before

- Cat knows even though she wouldn't have been at the freshman year banquet, only the fifth year seniors would have been (that suggests that the only people who DEFINITELY know would be Laila, Cody, Pat, Derek Thompson, and Shawn Anderson)

Addendum 1: Jeremy is particularly uncomfortable around discussion of suicide

Obviously, this is a very sensitive topic, and there’s every possibility that Jeremy is just uncomfortable because any conversation about suicide is going to be hard. However, as @welcome-to-the-end-of-eras and @catalailas pointed out in the notes, Jeremy’s reactions are generally heightened compared to those around him when suicide comes up

When Jeremy finds out about Wayne, Jean notes that: “In one heartbeat, Jeremy’s entire demeanor changed. Jean watched the blood drain from his face even as Jeremy hopped off his stool and turned away from them. The line of his shoulders was rigid as he listened to whatever Cody had to say.”

Additionally, when Jean suggests Grayson might kill himself like Wayne if he goes to therapy, it’s followed by “That isn’t a joke,” Jeremy said, with unexpected ferocity.”

- Again, these could just be a natural reaction from someone who’s removed from the mafia stuff in a way the other main characters aren’t, but the section about Grayson is also followed by the statement that “Cat winced, but kept her eyes on Jean,” which suggests it might be something more personal to Jeremy, & Cat knows what/why

If there are any other notes you have to add to the evidence board, let me know! Also, if you have any theories about how these things connect and what exactly is going on with our boy Jeremy, I would LOVE to hear them and I WILL add any substantial evidence I missed

[joejhang]

tgr spoilers !!!

ive JUST finished it it is 2am where i am rn these r my very incoherent and chaotic first thoughts:

canon jeandrew interaction SAVE ME the way they talk about neil makes me sick god GOD

the interview...everything surrounding it...hannah bailey when i catch u...

FUCKBOY JEREMY KNOX YOU OWN ME GOD HE'S ACTUALLY HHHHHHH

jeremy i'm sorry i was truly TRULY unfamiliar with your game

reading this like: oh jeremy gets BITCHES (leo, faser, elias, the sheldon guy???, mystery guy with the shirt and cologne, dexter...this is getting out of hand)

NEIL...get UP my baby bunny GET UP GIRL

sorry but the image of neil getting his ribs bashed in and curling up on the floor of the court in a ball...like that's my shayla...that's my bunny rabbit what the fuck ru doing to him....

grayson's dead WHO ELSE CHEERED

kevjean...oh they make me sick they make me SO SO SICK the way they interact with each other...there's so much flavour oh god

kevin being like "did u actually read any of the trojans' articles or where u too busy staring at jeremy's photos-" and jean elbowing him to shut him up KEVJEAN YOU ARE SO DEAR TO ME

kevin defending jean to the press YEP YEP I KNEW IT WHAT DID I FUCKING SAYYYYY

wow jer's backstory is even MORE fucked up and messy than i thought

that MESSY AHH ravens v foxes game...andrew's broken CLAVICLE god i was shaking

INSANE jerejean scene when they were getting ready for the banquet absolutely INSANE

jeremy lore goes CRAZY

andrew and his insanely acute gaydar...how i love you

andrew asking jean if grayson touched neil...andreil you make me so sick so insanely unwell about them

kevin and andrew not knowing abt neil's little visit to jean is SO funny to me

NEIL STILL BEING A LOUDMOUTHED LITTLE SHIT TO THE PRESS UGH I LOVE YOU SO

"fuck what i deserve. what about what i want?" modern poetry. to me.

jean beating bryson's ass...laila was SO real for being like that was so sexy...as a lesbian too...real asf

more of jeremy being a piece of shit please i love it so much jean was right it makes him SO much more interesting

kandrew and kevneil still going strong

jerejean is absolutely insane in this book like...it would be less obvious if they kissed tbh

"give me a name. i will kill him." GO FERAL JEAN GO FERAL GOD HE IS. SO FINE.

the way jean staring at annalise left a bad taste in MY mouth asw, jer real asf for getting jealous

jabberwocky moreau you are MINE

"why can't you fuck someone who respects you?" wow. what do i even say to that. wow.

teenage dirtbag jeremy is real and dear to me. sneaking into his ex-situationship's house through the window??? jumping down and stealing his mother's roses??? he's so sexy i'm sorry

JEAN you are HEALING how i love this man

"he's handsome. the dog is cute, too." AHHH RENEE I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU

i like how the "spicy scenes" in this book were literally all just jer's hookups with random guys every five chapters or so

service top jeremy...he's like...always on my mind

jeremy CLOCKING kevjean so fast was crazy to me and kevin clocking jerejean asw...the trio we didn't know we needed

cody noticing the way jean says jeremy's name had me CRYING they were so real for that

cody and jean the best duo ever methinks

i like how every time jean thinks of jeremy in a romantic way he immediately backtracks and is like "let's not think about this"

"emotional procrastination" is one of the funniest terms i've ever heard

jean kissing cat's temple...he makes me violently, violently ill

jeanneil save me...i will always come back to you...

will not be recovering any time soon do not attempt to contact me

[allfortheslay25]

Happy birthday Kevin 🎉 2/22

He asked for no pickles☝️

Some Kevin hc of mine

Doesn’t like his food to touch

Shaved a slit into his eyebrow cuz he thought it was cool and it never grew back

Got his freckles/moles from his mom

Likes watermelon cuz it’s not too sweet

When talking about his mom or Ireland, he gets a bit of an accent

Bi and Ace

Gets a pet dog after Palmetto (he misses his running buddy aka Neil)

On the spectrum

Has found all of the Foxes attractive

Facial hair makes him look like Wymack

Very interested in historical mysteries (specifically Theodosia Burr)

Lana Del Ray energy (I cannot explain this)

His type is ‘murderous and pissed off’ and Jeremy Knox

Would love Six the Musical not cuz of accuracy but cuz queens

Platonically loves Neil

Lots of face and hair routines

Has wavy hair but styles it to be straighter

Cares about his clothes

Likes competitive games

Really sweet with fans

Doesn’t want to get married no matter how much he loves his partner

Goes crazy for trivia

Listens to music on his runs

Likes his coffee black

Can’t drive