It's A Pet Peeve Of Mine When Ppl Frame Andrew As Hating Aaron And Being Needlessly Cruel To Him... Bc

it's a pet peeve of mine when ppl frame Andrew as hating Aaron and being needlessly cruel to him... bc while yes, their relationship is fractured and strained, Andrew genuinely cares about his brother and wants the best for him, he just doesn't know how to show that in a normal way.

like he might not know how to express it in a healthy manner but Andrew LOVES Aaron, like he truly just wants Aaron to be healthy and safe. It's like, his whole Thing. Aaron is one of the most important people in his life. Andrew wants him around. He'd do anything to protect him.

I guarantee Andrew wants to be emotionally close to Aaron too, he just doesn't have the tools to do that and the thought of letting someone in terrifies him. He also has no concept of what a healthy sibling relationship looks like, so he has no frame of reference to work from.

Aaron Minyard is a dick yes but he’s a dick because he’s a scared ex-addict kid who’s desperately clawing at anything he can to be “normal” and not a Fox™.

Date the sweet cheerleader who also wants to be a doctor, get the 4.0 gpa, become a surgeon, Stay Away From The Foxes because association means he’s damaged and he’s Not Damaged anymore and definitely don’t talk to the therapist because that means he needs help which he Does Not Need. Keep the appearance of the “normal Minyard”.

He grew up in an abusive home with an addict mother who made him into an addict. Keeping up the normal appearance has been the name of the game his entire life, it’s second nature. Don’t let anyone suspect anything. Being apart of the Foxes comes with a reputation and that scares Aaron, it threatens a rickety appearance he’s oh so carefully built to protect himself from others (and mostly himself tbh).

Being an asshole and outwardly a dick is his trauma response. It’s the result of his refusal to process and come to terms with his past. He’s a dick to others because he’s the biggest dick to himself.

(Me personally, I also think his homophobia comes from a place of internalized shame and homophobia. Once again, he grew up with it drilled into him that he Needs to be “normal” and put together and I assume he probably also grew up religious ((his uncles a homophobic pastor who boarder line hates his own son)). Aaron grew up seeing how Nicky was treated for being openly gay. If he started having any thoughts about being anything other than straight, his first response would be anger and shame that’s expressed outwardly.)

His response to his internal shame and anger is to lash outwards at others rather than process it. (which isn’t an excuse, I just don’t think he’s an asshole because he’s an asshole at his core but because he carries a lot of shame.)

I think him rooming with Matt is what would really help him improve his ability to process his shit. (Along with more joint therapy with Bee and Andrew). Seeing Matt, another ex addict, who is fiercely kind and protective of the Foxes, who’s unashamed of his past and how it affects him now would be an eye opener for Aaron. His past doesn’t define him but it’s not something he can deny either.

Matt helps him see the Foxes as a group who has overcome their struggles. Who are helping eachother continue to over come their struggles. And he slowly starts to realize he can let them in and he can accept his past and still be successful and have the life he wants. And start to process and change the way he reacts the way he does.

(And process his not straight thoughts bc bi Aaron is real in my heart)

Aaron may not have an eidetic memory like Andrew does but he has a damn good one and he can remember anything he puts even the smallest amount of effort into remembering.

After everything that happened in Baltimore Aaron starts to note every small possibly important (and unimportant) medical fact about the foxes. And he’s not even totally conscious he’s doing it.

He consciously remembers Andrew and Nicky’s blood types. He knows Nicky’s allergic to penicillin and he knows Andrew doesn’t react well to doctors so it’s best for everyone if he can be administered some kind of sedative right away.

And then he thinks he should probably know this stuff for Kevin, and begrudgingly Neil, because they’re part of his strange little family that Andrew’s created. So he quickly and easily finds this information on them (because he’s a Minyard and he just knows how to find the things he needs to know). So he knows their blood types and he knows Kevin still feels residual pain in his left hand but doesn’t show it and try’s to ignore it. He knows Neil heals annoyingly quick from his all too common injuries but he also knows he aggravates those injuries easily by pushing himself too soon.

But it doesn’t stop there, there’s a small itch in the back of his head driving him to find out the important medical facts about the rest of the foxes. So he allows himself to remember their blood types and allergens and tells himself he needs to know incase of an emergency.

But he also notices that Matt has a high tolerance to pain medication whenever he’s being treated by Abby for an injury during practice or a game. And he notes the one type that works for him and keeps multiple bottles on him and in their room. (It’s also the only type that works for Kevin and works best for Neil so he stocks their room with it too)

And he notices that Allison is a slight germaphobe and applies hand sanitizer anytime she has to touch a public door handle or they go out to eat. So he opens as many doors for her as he can despite the confused look he gives her every time and he just glares right back at her. He keeps an extra mini bottle of hand sanitizer in his backpack for her as well and silently passes it to her when she’s forgotten hers.

He notices Dans chronic knee and lower back pain that Abby is constantly treating and how there’s always a rotating rainbow of colorful KT Tape on her. So he keeps an eye on Abby’s stock of tape and when a color is running low he casually mentions it to her to order more and then walks away.

He notices how Renee always picks at the scabs on her knuckles that result from her sparring with Andrew. He figures the wraps she has are getting old and silently leaves a new pair on the counter the next time he’s in the girls dorm, along with a box of bandaids and a tube of antiseptic ointment. He leaves a matching set of supplies in Andrew’s dorm as well just to be safe.

He doesn’t consciously realize that what he’s doing is protecting and taking care of the Foxes. But the others catch on and smile fondly at him because he’s letting himself care for them and become part of their family.

And the one time Dan mentions what he’s doing for them he looks at her like she’s crazy. He tells himself, and her, that that’s not what he’s doing, he’s just a future doctor and someone needs to take care of these injury prone idiot athletes and no one else besides him and Abby are going to do it right.

Aaron would definitely be so observant and acutely aware of the Foxes physical well beings despite him insisting he doesn’t care and hates them all. But he basically becomes Abby’s right hand man and teams second nurse because it’s good practice for his future and he knows them.

Kevin Day squatting down to talk to Aaron Minyard like you squat down to talk to a child and subsequently getting tackled to the ground

🖤

🤲

when they're bored with the press, the foxes will try to stir up the most outrageous rumors about each other during press affairs. in interviews they make it a sort of game to try and steer the conversation as far away from exy as they can get away with. this drives wymack insane but the rumors all overlap and cancel each other out to the point where none of the public really knows what is true or not. some of the best ones are:

Renee is Irish and actually has a strong irish accent but covers it up

kevin's hair is the same color as neils but he dyes it

aaron is so short because he accidentally drank a mouthful of weed repellent when he was a child. Andrew, on the other hand, is just short

kevin is a dance major

Andrew is a massive little mix fan. (this backfired on allison when the media response caused him to look into them and actually become a lm stan)

nicky and allison are dating

Neil and allison are dating

matt and aaron are dating

matt and neil are dating

dan and allison and renee are dating

matt and neil and allison are dating

nicky and matt are dating

all separately and simultaneously

Kevin has a secret nicky hemmick stan account (this created a frenzy on Twitter trying to find it, thanks dan)

matt and neil are biological brothers (said completely seriously by a 5'3 auburn haired neil sat next to a 6'4 black matt boyd)

dan has a secret love child with benedict cumberbatch

the best one tho, the one that all the foxes grudgingly give the "best bullshitter award" (real thing) to, is when Allison looked a reporter dead in the eye and convinced them that Aaron and Andrew are not related