Hello everybody, Fred fans and non-Fred fans. This is my first blog post about Fred lol, and I am happy to enlighten anybody who is just curious and knows nothing, because that is hilarious.

The purpose of this blog post is to explain the canon history behind Fred and Kevin, mostly in the Nickelodeon canon since that expanded on the lore so much. In the original web series and in the animated series, Kevin basically only serves as the stereotypical bully character who never lets up. However, the Nickelodeon canon is a bit more nuanced, because I mean, it kind of had to be, in order to make three movies and a TV series. And I'm just going to cover the points in their history that I deem important, and then talk about my own theories and stuff.

Canon history and dynamic

So, the earliest established canon seems to be that Fred and Kevin were actually friends when they were really young, but, as we see in the episode ("Best Freds Forever", season 1 episode 9), it was so early on that neither of them really remembers. Both of them are equally surprised (and horrified) to find out they used to be friends when Fred finds the old pictures and BFF contract in the back of his closet. And all this could remain true when partnered with earlier Nick canon as well, because even though we saw a flashback in Fred 2: Night of the Living Fred where Kevin is clearly being mean to Fred, that could have easily taken place after they had their little friend breakup. Since then, they've always lived on opposite sides of their cul-de-sac, gone on to attend the same joint middle-high school, and continued to hate each other.

It is unknown why they had a falling out as kids, as in there's no canonical explanation. But I'll get to my theories in the theory and headcanon section lol.

It is implied throughout the franchise that Fred and Kevin are actually more similar than they'd like to admit, or even than they realize. In season 1 episodes 2 and 3, "Evil Fred" (it's a two-parter), it is revealed that they both like the same math-themed band: Matthew and the Equations. They also both instinctively do the explosion thing after a fist bump, despite being opposed by others. But on a deeper level, they also both kind of come from broken families. Obviously, Fred's dad left and, if we go by web series lore (which hasn't been entirely debunked or confirmed in the Nick canon), is in jail. That is common knowledge. Strangely enough, it is only implied that Kevin's parents do not have a good relationship (see the passive-aggressive exchange between Fred's mom and Kevin's mom in Fred 2, and the car conversation between Kevin and his mom in the first movie). In Fred: The Show (season 1 episode 8, "Fred and the Scary Movie"), it is casually alluded to that, at some point after the events of Fred 2, they got divorced. Might explain why Kevin and his mom suddenly have a different last name after Fred 2?

Despite their similarities, they remain at odds. It would seem that Kevin started bullying Fred because of his own insecurities and desire to maintain a good reputation among other students.

The two of them have genuinely teamed up a few times, without there being a catch! Apparently, the new music teacher possibly being a vampire (Fred 2) and both of them potentially being sabotaged in a class election ("Class Election" parts 1 and 2) are examples of things that overpower their rivalry, and they demonstrate genuine teamwork and/or respect for one another in those cases.

Possibly the deepest moment they have ever shared was in the episode "Fred the Teen-Sitter". The premise of the episode is that Kevin's mom asks Fred to essentially babysit Kevin because she's worried that he might host a house party while she has to make an emergency trip somewhere. Kevin tries to find ways around Fred, but none of them work, so he acts annoying on purpose... until he sees through Fred's telescope that his mom is actually just at home, and there was no emergency trip. He gets all sad about this and comes to the conclusion that his mom doesn't love him. Fred genuinely tries to comfort him and even inspires him to be a nicer person. It's a heartfelt moment. But as you might expect, all of that is pretty quickly undone at the end of the episode lol.

There are several instances where it feels like they are honestly so close to being friends again, but one of them just has to hold a grudge against the other or continue to be immature. "Six Degrees of Kevin's Bacon", for instance, has Fred accidentally injure Kevin and want to make up for it by taking care of him. In a predictable turn of events, Kevin abuses this and fakes the injury after he heals so he can get Fred to do things for him, and he also just acts purposefully annoying the whole way through. As mentioned before, in the episode "Best Freds Forever", Fred literally blackmails Kevin into hanging out with him using the old pictures of them, which not only ruins any chance of Kevin actually also having fun, but also causes Fred to become mad with power. Then there's Kevin trying to sabotage Fred's team in Fred 3: Camp Fred. And, even though it was necessary to save Devlin's reputation, Fred pretending to be a vampire and then continuing to use that to scare Kevin for months afterwards (at least) is another example of their potential friendship being ruined.

Also, there is some ship-teasing stuff in the actual material lol. Literally the first episode of the show, Kevin gets hit with a love potion by accident and falls in love with Fred, who is taken aback and unsettled by the drastic change, but to be honest, I don't think he totally minds it.

Why do people ship them?

To be honest, it's that "they're so close but too immature to actually end their beef" element that makes their dynamic so interesting to me lol. I could honestly see Kevin going through some arc or something in order for them to become friends again. Like he has to have his entire reputation as a bully destroyed. You know the Equestria Girls special "Forgotten Friendship"? I feel like it would be something like Sunset and Trixie there. This might sound weird but think of Fred as Trixie here and Kevin as Sunset lol. I mean, it wouldn't be the same because Kevin has almost never been nice, anyway. But if a lot of memories people had of him suddenly got stolen for some reason and he didn't have any power anymore, I feel like Fred would be there for him and he would be so desperate for any friend that he would give into it, finally. Fanfic idea...?

Also, who doesn't love rivals to lovers?

In the DVD commentary of the first movie, the director or writer made some comment about how it's so clear that Kevin needs Fred to exist to boost his own reputation. That is absolutely true. In that sense, they're kind of Tom and Jerry-ish in a way. They're frenemies. This can also be flipped to be a ship thing in an interesting way.

Another thing is that Lucas Cruikshank (AKA, creator and actor of Fred, and gay man himself) has, perhaps somewhat jokingly, shipped Frevin in some of his videos reacting to the movie and show. He also alluded to the ship on the official Fred TikTok account (although Fred's feelings might be one-sided there). On the topic of Fred's sexuality, he said that Fred would probably be unlabeled, which sounds pretty in-character. He's actually gone back and forth on this subject, which is very interesting and entertaining for me lol... he's said at various points that Fred might actually be straight or could be gay. Currently, his feelings on it seem to be that it doesn't make much sense or feel right for Fred to be straight since Lucas isn't, so it's canon that he probably isn't because 1) it's kinda funny, and 2) the entirety of the later parts of these characters' lives is left completely up to interpretation.

After Judy got written out in Fred 2 due to Pixie Lott being too famous and Fred: The Movie being too critically panned, none of the other potential love interests for Fred really stuck, and there ended up being quite a lot of ship-bait for Frevin in the series, seemingly as a result of that. And there's also something interesting about Judy, a crucial part of all Fred media, being written off so early in the Nickelodeon canon (by far the most well-known canon of the entire franchise). Which brings me to my next section.

Theories and headcanons

First thing's first, it would be most logical for me to continue on about Judy lol. In Fred 2, we find out that Judy is the one who broke things off. I have had a multi-chapter fanfic in my google docs about the apparently very eventful stretch of time between the first and second film, and I don't know if I'll ever finish it because I'm very bad at planning out multi-chapter works. Basically, the way I was going to pan things out would be that Fred and Judy don't really have that much in common, but they still enjoy being each other's friend. It's just that they were really never meant to work out as a romantic couple. I could totally see Fred only being in love with the idea of dating Judy, and it just being an exaggeration of wanting to be friends with her. In the DVD commentary of the first movie, it is hinted at that Fred and Judy, in the Nick canon, used to be friends when they were very little, and they outgrew each other. That's a really tough thing. And maybe the fact that Judy is apparently the only character of our main group that comes from a stable family is part of that desire to get closer to her, you know? The way she's characterized in the movie is very much like she's this perfect, unattainable girl, in pretty much every single way.

Why did Fred and Kevin stop being friends? So, this is just me inferring things off of the characterization we are given lol. Kevin's mom seems like the type of person who wants things to appear good to other people even when they aren't -- why else would she have stayed with her husband despite all their issues for so long? And I think that self-consciousness/shame bleeds into how she sees other people, because look at how she spoke to Fred's mom in that scene in Fred 2. So judgmental.

Since we know that Fred's dad left very early in his life (he says in Fred 2 that he misses his dad, but we can chalk that up to vague, early childhood memories, I think), that's probably when things started to collapse a little bit, with Fred's mom's drinking problem and working as a prostitute and stuff. So, ngl, I could totally see Kevin's mom gossiping about the whole situation to her husband at the time lol. Why? Because my parents are kind of also in that situation where they kinda hate each other but are still trying to stay together because of how it would look to other people in our community if they got divorced lmao... and they can be like this! The whole thing is that parents like this, I'd imagine, get insecure about their personal situation, so they feel the need to kind of privately look down on others who have it worse, because they can use that to convince themselves that things aren't so bad after all. And guess what happens sometimes when parents say stuff in front of their young kids? The kids start adopting that perspective.

Doesn't it seem so plausible that, as a little kid, Kevin would hear his parents talking badly about his friend's family situation, as if they were so much better than that, and get the idea that he should feel ashamed of associating with that friend? Even subconsciously? I think so. And that aligns with Kevin's consistent insecurities about the way he's seen by other students. It also makes sense that Kevin's mom wouldn't really notice that it might be her fault, so it still makes sense that she's trying to push them to hang out and stuff. She probably either genuinely finds Fred endearing (compared to her own son lol) or feels bad for him and wants Kevin to hang out with him for either reason.

Another potential factor in Kevin and Fred's falling out as kids might have been Judy moving to their school. It seems like such a cheap plot point, but I could see them fighting over her even back then. And Kevin would have started the argument lol. After all, if we go by the web series canon, he was her "boyfriend" for some time in elementary school. It's such a silly little thing lol, but for these two, I could see it being the last straw for their friendship, after all the deeper reasons why Kevin would distance himself from Fred.

It's also my personal headcanon that Fred and Kevin are like, two of the only fans of Matthew and the Equations in their age range lol. It's a math-themed band. It's probably for tween kids, but they both randomly still listen to it.

In conclusion, there is solid evidence to support the idea that they could at least be good friends if they both weren't so extremely immature. For Kevin, his reputation almost always takes top priority over considering being Fred's friend. For Fred, some grudges are just impossible to let go of! And for every frenemy dynamic out there, there's probably potential for a rivals/enemies-to-lovers ship.

Let me know if you want me to talk more about Fred things lol.