Chapter Text
They won. They won and Kevin finally beat him, finally got to show how he is, and always will be, better than Riko. It all went so well, a textbook game that would've made the master disgusted by the plainness, but made the Foxes scream with joy. And made Riko scream in, well, pain.
Kevin remember turning his head mid celebration to watch referees swarm the court as fights broke out between the two teams, subs running on court to join the fray. He remembered looking down at Riko's crumpled form as he hunched over his broken arm; his broken playing arm. Kevin leaned down and, despite his mind screaming at him not too, extended his hand and helped Riko to his feet. Then he turned and left the court, leaving his brother behind. He felt so proud of himself in that moment, but now...
"Kevin, kiddo, wake up". Kevin tried to open his heavy eyelids, his light dream threatening to pull him back under. He would've fallen back asleep if it wasn't for the remote that was propelled into his temple. "For fuck's sake, Minyard, pick those batteries up!"
Kevin opened his eyes and rubbed his throbbing temple, groaning against the bright morning light, "who the fuck did that?" He rubbed his right eye and watched as Andrew shrugged his shoulders at him and glared at Neil.
"No, you're not blaming me, you little psycho", Neil stared back at Andrew until he turned away, instead choosing to look down at Kevin's disheveled state, "Morning". He tried to smile at Kevin, but Kevin knew a fake smile when he saw one: after all, he has practically mastered the art of masking behind a smile. "You might want to sit up for this".
Kevin stared blankly at Neil, unable to make out his tone, and sat up with a small grunt. "What are you doing here?" He watched as his father cleared his throat before sitting down gingerly at the edge of the bed. "Is this an intervention? If it is then don't waste your time, I don't care", Kevin waved his hand in a gesture of dismissal but Neil took it in his own, intertwining their fingers with a squeeze.
"I guess you haven't seen the news, seeing as how you sleep like the fucking dead, but..", Wymack cleared his throat and looked at Neil for help, "Riko is dead".
Kevin felt the world stop for a minute, the air leaving his lungs in one defeated breath. "No he's not, we saw him yesterday". His mind brought up images of his hand slipping out of Riko's as he walked away, the anger and pain in Riko's eyes as Kevin turned his back. Or maybe he imagined the pain, was Riko in pain? Neil gave his hand another squeeze, bringing his mind back to the present with a gut wrenching punch.
"The ERC has released news today from the Moriyama family that Riko was found dead at Evermore. He", Wymack looked away from his son and stared at the wall, "he shot himself".
Kevin felt Neil tense beside him but he didn't look up, he didn't want to see their triumphant faces. After all, the Foxes have wanted Riko dead for a long time now, and now their wish has come true. He chose to stare down at the duvet instead, hoping that if he stared long enough then..then what? Then the world would stop and he wouldn't have to feel anymore? Then he could fall asleep and wake up and this hadn't happened? No, the world didn't work that way and Kevin knew it. He learned that the hard way and he's lying if he says he wishes he didn't.
"Neil", Kevin whispered, slowly using the last of his energy to look over at his small redhead, "was it him that did it?" He didn't know why he needed the clarification, but maybe it would hurt less if he knew that it wasn't a suicide, because if it wasn't a suicide then he knows he couldn't have stopped it. But by the way that Neil tensed and looked away, Kevin knew it wasn't Riko's doing. Someone else did this to him. To his brother. And Kevin was wrong. Murder hurts worse than a suicide.
"I'm sorry". He heard Neil mutter next to him but he was already up and out of the bed, heading towards the grimy hotel bathroom. He locked the door behind him despite Andrew's warning and Wymack's protest and dropped to floor, lifting the toilet lid in time to dry heave into it. His empty stomach clenched painfully and his throat tore until it brought up bile and spit that burned Kevin's eyes. He squeezed his eyes shut and let out a sob, listening as it echoed against the walls.
He let his head hang for a moment before dragging it out of the toilet and flushing his bile away and dropping heavily onto his back. "I'm sorry", he whispered into the silence, "I'm so sorry". He closed his eyes and let his mind bring up all of the times that Riko stood up for him and treated him like a brother, though the memories were few and far between they still tortured Kevin. Maybe Riko was right, maybe everything was his fault. He did seem to fuck everything up.
He rolled onto his side and pressed his temple against the cold floor, ignoring the thoughts to pull himself up and away from the unclean surface. He felt dirty as it was so he didn't care anymore, maybe he deserved this. Kevin knew that he was a shit person, so maybe this was his punishment; maybe he should see this as a sign and finally let death catch up. If it was that easy to take a life then it couldn't be too hard to take his own.
"Kevin Day, you coward, you better open this door or I'll knock it down and kill you, myself". Kevin looked towards the door and saw Andrew's shadow as he kicked against it. He heard Wymack swear and Neil's quiet voice trying to calm Andrew down, but to no avail as Andrew kicked harder.
Kevin let out a small sob and sat up, a numb feeling slowly crawling up his body, threatening to take him down. He scrounged the last bit of energy he had to kneel and unlock the door, falling back to sit on his feet as Andrew swung open the door. "You're such a drama queen", Andrew muttered as he slammed the door behind him and dropped to his knees in front of Kevin.
"I can say the same for you", Kevin whispered as he let Andrew move his head from side to side, looking for injuries. He closed his eyes as Andrew ran his hands down Kevin's wrists, checking for familiar marks.
"You smell like puke", Andrew glared at Kevin and dropped his hands, letting out a quiet sigh as he found no injuries, no marks, no outer signs of Kevin's pain. He stood up and Kevin watched as he ran the shower, slowly taking off his clothes and motioning for Kevin to follow. Kevin stood up and dragged his heavy body to the shower, letting Andrew undress him and help him step into the bath underneath the blistering hot water. He closed his eyes and felt some tension leave his body as the water burned his skin, turning his skin a dark red.
"I'm tired", Kevin whispered in a monotone as he slowly sat down, pulling his knees to his chest and dropping his head, letting the water run down his head and into his eyes.
"You can't fucking sleep here", Andrew deadpanned as he grabbed Nicky's small bottle of shampoo and began to massage it lightly into Kevin's hair, "if you drown it's not my fault". Andrew climbed around Kevin and sat behind him, asking 'yes or no' before gently tipping Kevin's head back onto his chest. He massaged the shampoo out of Kevin's hair, ghosting a kiss behind his ear.
"Do you think I could've done anything to stop Riko..", Kevin swallowed and leaned closer against Andrew's chest. He was looking for reassurance in the one person he wouldn't find it, so he wasn't surprised when Andrew pulled lightly at his hair in a gesture for him to shut up.
"You should be happy that he's dead, there's no need to start feeling sorry for him now. He's not going to thank you for it", Andrew pushed Kevin off of him and stood up, pulling Kevin out of the shower with him, "brush your teeth, we're going back to Palmetto".
Kevin stepped back from Andrew, almost slipping in a puddle his wet hair has created, "what?"
"Palmetto. Home? You ever heard of it?",
Kevin shook his head and turned away, bracing himself against the sink.
"I'll leave you to your meltdown, I'll bring your clothes in a minute", Andrew stared at Kevin's back for a beat before leaving the bathroom and slamming the door shut behind him.
---
"We can't go back", Kevin was sat at the end of his bed staring numbly at his untied shoes. His body felt as if it was full of cement and his mind was a steady weight upon his shoulders.
"We can and we are, I don't want us staying here longer than we already have", Wymack stared down at Kevin's hunched figure and sighed, "I think it'll be better if we all go now. The others are already on the bus."
"I don't want to go", Kevin muttered just above a whisper, "I want to go to the funeral".
Wymack sighed and ran a hand down his face, "you maggots can get on the bus, there's no need to stand around doing nothing", he waved a hand at the other monsters who were staring blankly at Kevin. Aaron muttered something about Kevin being a coward and shot a dirty look at Nicky who smacked him on the back of his head.
"We'll see you on the bus, Kev", Nicky walked over and pressed a kiss atop Kevin's head before linking arms with Erik and leaving the room; Aaron close behind them.
"Come on, Kevin, we need to get going if we want to beat traffic", Wymack placed a hand on Kevin's shoulder, giving it a small shake.
"I'm not going with you, I'm going to see the funeral",
"Jesus Christ, I wish you weren't so stubborn. They've only just started planning the funeral, fuck knows when it will be and I'm not staying around long enough to find out",
"I am", Kevin leant forward and slipped his shoes off before digging around in his duffel bag for his comfort item: a small squishmallow of a fox that Andrew got him in his first year when Kevin first had a panic attack. He held it close and leaned back to lay down, staring blankly up at the ceiling. He heard Wymack inhale a 'fuck' before he heard a bag hit the floor with a loud thud.
"Fine, if you want to go see that dead piece of shit so badly, we'll stay. I'll call Abby to drive the others back to Palmetto, God knows they won't want to stay here any longer", Wymack turned his back and pulled his phone out of his pocket, leaving the room as it started to ring.
"If you want to see Riko so bad I'll take you to the morgue", Andrew walked over and sat at the end of Kevin's bed, looking around for a smoke detector before lighting up a cigarette.
"I don't want to see him dead, I just want to say goodbye", Kevin's monotone voice made Neil laugh and shake his head.
"You sound so thrilled to say bye",
Kevin glared up at Neil before dropping his head back down, "you're a dick sometimes".
"Sometimes? How about all of the time?", Andrew took a long drag before putting it out on the filthy carpet, "Coach better find us a better hotel to stay in".
Kevin shot his head up in confusion, "you're staying with me?"
Neil huffed a small laugh and came over to lay next to Kevin, "of course we are, has been". Kevin rolled his eyes and shook his head,
"I'm not a has been". He turned his head to rest it against Neil's shoulder, letting out a heavy sigh before closing his eyes and trying to get some sleep.