nicky has super soft skin pass it on
If I ever get a chance in an AU fic to have Nicky work at Lush I’m gonna, you know that boy EXFOLIATES and MOISTURIZES!!!The upperclassmen and drunk Kevin have multiple times been like “ooooo soft” and patted Nicky’s face or arms in wonder. Nicky, who craves attention and physical contact, is Lovin It
The real unsung hero in AFTG was Nickys high school teacher who saw how depressed he was becoming and decided that he needed to be as far away from his parents as he could get.
a few years after neil and andrew go pro and the minyard-josten rivalry is put to rest, they decide to come out
the rivalry was fun while it lasted but really, andrew and neil just want to be able to be together without having to pretend that they hate it each other (because they don’t, quite the opposite actually)
so they hold a press conference with a trusted reporter (one neil can actually get along with. there’s only minimal banter) and they reveal to the public that they’re in a relationship, have been since college actually
and there’s a lot of backlash
a lot of bad backlash
it sparks a discussion that not only affects neil and andrew, but affects every single lgbtqia+ player in the league
should homosexuality be allowed in sports?
exy isn’t as bad as football, but it’s still not great for lgbt players. especially players who are out and planning (or are, in andrew and neil’s case) to go pro
neil is FUMING. andrew is a bit disappointed, but mostly irritated. he wanted to be left alone but now he can’t go anywhere without a microphone being shoved into his face
andrew and neil are hounded by press for weeks. when they play, slurs are hurled at them like grenades
they’re not allowed to give interviews after games anymore (reporters don’t care about the game, and put neil josten in front of a camera when he’s already on edge and pissed off and you will dearly regret it. andrew simply flips off every camera he sees, which is also not good)
neil gets benched for two games after punching a reporter in the face after they said something compeletly insensitive
there is even talk circulating about not letting andrew or neil play at all, at least for the rest of the season
it’s really, really bad
kevin told them this would happen. it’s easier to be straight while playing exy. kevin knows this, and he told andrew and neil that this would happen
but they’re his friends, his teammates, his family
and he can’t stand by and listen to the horrible things said to them or let them be kicked out of the league
andrew is the best goalie to ever exist and neil is a phenomenal striker. barring them from exy simply because they are in love just isn’t right
and it’s time for kevin to face some things about himself as well
so when kevin is asked to hold a press conference with all the big-name exy associates, he has never felt so nervous since college when he told the world the truth about his broken hand and who his father really is
kevin walks into the room, lined with reporters and people responsible for every pro team in america. cameras start flashing immediately
this is kevin day, olympic champion kevin day, son of exy kevin day
he’s easily the most influential person in that room. queen
kevin walks through the room of reporters and cameras and ignores all the questions thrown his way like a queen ignores the people below him
“kevin, kevin day, what are your thoughts on teammates minyard and josten coming out? do you support them?”
“do you think they should be allowed to continue playing?”
“answer the question, mr. day.”
and kevin signals out one, single reporter. the man perks up because he, out of all the reporters in the room, has caught the attention of this exy legend
this is live, broadcasted across the entire country, the entire world, even, and everyone is on the edge of their seats because kevin day is about to speak
“kevin day, should lgbt exy players be barred from the game?”
kevin leans in close to the microphone, his eyes never wavering from the camera trained on his face and says:
“i’m bisexual.”
I need to fucking go off on one because this is a load of barnacles:
After Kevin tells Wymack he’s his father, no one asks Kevin if he’s OK.
No, “that must’ve been really hard for you, Kev, let us know if we can do anything,” no, “hey, that was really brave of you,” no, “I hope you and coach will work this out together.”
Nothing.
Dan talks to him, except she’s pissed off at him for hurting Wymack, which of course I understand, and yes, Wymack’s feelings are important, too, but Dan, babe, can you put yourself in Kevin’s place for a hot second?
It even says in the book that Matt had to talk her out of hitting Kevin where bruises would show, what the fuck? And after they talk, Dan goes and sits on Matt’s lap, AND KEVIN GOES AND SITS ON THE OUTSKIRTS ALONE. Like he’s being punished for being a complex human being.
He doesn’t even talk for 20 pages! He says nothing from the moment they decide to go to the cabin to the beginning of the next chapter!
Kevin needed someone that trip, and as per usual he was let down, because he’s evil trash, I guess, and doesn’t deserve to be understood or empathised with, apparently.
My boi was done fucking dirty in general, but I’m genuinely so angry about this.
Some of you have never thought about Nicky’s PTSD from his time in conversion therapy, and it shows.
Started rereading the Hunger Games series and I feel like it’s so overlooked how in 74th and 75th Hunger Games, we don’t know every Tribute’s names, with Katniss only referring to them by their District numbers but in TBOSAS, we knew every single Tribute by name. We associated them with the clothes they wore on the Reaping Day and Suzanne even goes so far as to describe how they looked, however briefly. We see these Tributes and we’re familiarized with them by the little tidbits provided to the mentors and to Snow and Lucy Gray. But we never get this in the original trilogy.
In two generations, President Snow alienated the Districts from each other so much that Katniss didn’t even care to know all the names of the Tributes sent into the Arena with her, with the exception being those who posed great risk against her safety and those she felt great compassion for (e.g. Cato, Thresh, Rue, Mags, Betee, Wiress etc.). Katniss even went so far as to call the D6 Tributes in the 75th Hunger Games morphlings, for their affinity to imbibe in the drugs that help them forget their own traumas (an incredibly hurtful description, in my own opinion, to be known by the qualities you hate the most about yourself). We never know the real name of the 74th D5 girl, with Katniss only referring to her as Foxface and we don’t even know Marvel’s name until we get to the second book and he was Katniss’ first personal kill. Katniss even kills the D4 girl in the books with the same tracker jacker venom that killed Glimmer and yet still, we don’t know her name. We are so removed from the identity of the other Tributes that we don’t even know what some of them looked like beyond brief descriptions of mangled bodies and dead Tributes in the bloodbath at the Cornucopia.
And, the thing is, Suzanne established the importance of names in the series. Even in real life, we recognize the importance of being named. It is a fundamental aspect of being human. If you’re ever in a perilous situation where a person might be placing your life in danger, we’re told to remind the person that you’re human. “Keep saying your name, how old you are, where you came from. Remind them you are a human being just like them.” Before any propaganda can work against a group of people, refusing to recognize a person’s name is the first step to dehumanization. And just like the people of the Districts, we don’t care enough about the other Tributes to even want to know their names. Their propaganda worked on us, the readers.
In two generations, President Snow completely wiped out any sense of familiarity and camaraderie the Districts may have shared with the other. In two generations, Snow sowed the seeds of distrust and division into the Districts so deeply that even we, the readers, were affected by the effects of Capitol propaganda. In two generations, the Districts ceased to genuinely care about the others beyond the vague sense of injustice they feel for their shared plight. It’s why Career Districts don’t seem to care about killing the other Tributes. How can you care, to show your compassion and humanity, when you can barely see them as people? Yes, they may have been in the Arena with you. Yes, they may have been starved and beaten and forced into labor like you were. Yes, they might be children just like you. Yes, they might be subjected to the same deplorable system that turned you into virtual slaves. But they are not your friends. They are not your allies. They are strange, with different customs and traditions that you have. You do not share the same values. They do not care about you. At the first chance they get, they will kill you with your bare hands and they will do it with alacrity if it meant their survival. There can only be one Victor and it can’t be them. It has to be you.
This fandom needs more love for Nicky, cuz we all know he’d have more for us
☕️and I think that the foxes winning the championship thing and literally going from zero to hero was a lot of Kevin’s doing. Of course it was team work but i mean they thanked Neil like a 100 times for bringing the team together which ist completely valid but Kevin did a lot on the training part , the raven drills etc but ok I could talk forever about Kevin not being appreciated enough ☕️
Kevin did so much for them but all they want to focus on is Neil 😤
In this house we love and support Nicholas Hemmick
lets be honest here, no matter how many compliments kevin has gotten in his life, he never ever gets used to them, especially if they’re about anything other than exy or his looks. anytime anyone compliments how smart he is or says something nice about his outfit or personality or whatever, he turns as red as a goddamn tomato and you know it. and the cutest thing is he’d like ?? try to hide it ??? but he’s blushing. i know it you know it oprah winfrey knows it obama knows it the aliens know it. we all know it.
The real unsung hero in AFTG was Nickys high school teacher who saw how depressed he was becoming and decided that he needed to be as far away from his parents as he could get.