Aaron Minyard - Blog Posts
fav hc is that aaron is a girl dad and neil and andrew are THE gay uncles(nicky is eternally pissed-erik loves it)
all i can imagine is aaron having had to deal with neil being a capital-t terrible patient for hours on end because you’re right, he would not behave. like he would be trying to get up every few minutes, especially when aaron steps out to check on one of his other patients which means aaron feels the need to be in neil’s room more so that he doesn’t injure himself and aaron isn’t accountable for his dumb ass decisions. and neil would be lying about the pain to try to get himself discharged early. even after aaron turns up the morphine drip (or whatever it is lol, my medical “knowledge” comes from medical dramas), neil is still lying through his teeth and aaron is just like what the actual fuck. because there no way neil isn’t in pain, he’s actively bleeding cause he pulled his stitches trying to get out of bed like an idiot
and then andrew arrives and neil is still trying to say he is fine and can be discharged. and aaron is blocking him out, too busy freaking out over his look-alike and too tired to deal with neil’s obvious lies. but andrew is arguing back and calling him a junkie and all aaron can focus on is “omg his voice sounds like mine too wtf wtf wtf”
he must make some sort of noise, a gasp or that choking in the back of his throat is accidentally vocalized, cause next thing he knows neil is sliding him a cool glare (and again, how the fuck is he still acting like this on so much morphine) and switching to german. his doppelgänger rolls his eyes but follows him into the other language and now aaron is even more convinced that he is losing his mind. screw whatever his coworker said, he no longer believes her. they’re both exhausted, why should her mind be trusted more than his own. clearly this is some sort of hallucination because no way he encounters someone who looks like him, sounds like him, and speaks german too. he needs to listen to katelyn and get more than 5 hours of sleep before a shift and stop having multiple energy drinks. that’s what this is. there is no other reasonable explanation.
he goes to leave the room, needing to escape the insanity and completely okay with leaving one character of his hallucination to deal with the other. he’ll come back. he has to and hallucination or not, he will not be a bad nurse. just maybe after he asks his charge nurse to check his vitals.
he gives neil’s monitors a quick look over and tries to ignore the two arguing in german. but hey its not his fault he can understand them, even if he’s trying to not listen. but then neil says something about needing to be back on the court by thursday and he’s reaching for his IV line like he’s going to pull it out and before aaron can stop himself, he’s saying “don’t,”quick and angry in german and covering neil’s IV with his hand. two sets of eyes whip around to stare at him and that’s it, he’s fleeing. he will deal with this later.
An AU where the twinyards don’t meet until even mater in life— as in after college where everything from Andrew’s end goes almost the same minus Aaron and Nicky being in his life. He still makes it Palmetto, still meets Kevin and Neil and goes pro. Aaron on the other hand becomes a nurse (I have my reasons for this) never goes to Palmetto, and they only meet because one injured Neil Josten ends up on his unit. Aaron is about at his wits end because Pro Exy player Neil Josten (whoever that is because Aaron doesn’t follow Exy), who is on a lot of pain meds, keeps calling him Andrew and Aaron is about 5 seconds away from making the on-call resident very upset by requesting another CT scan of Josten’s head because surely his brain is scrambled. There’s nothing more that Aaron wants than to go home and fall face first into bed which is of course when his charge nurse walks up to him with a sheepish look, nearly begging him to stay another 4 hours because his relief’s kid is apparently sick and she can’t come in until 11am, which makes Aaron want to die so naturally he agrees, which means another 4 hours of Neil Josten at the end of his shift hooray.
And so of course Neil Josten calls him “Andrew” once more while Aaron is checking his IV (note: it’s now visiting hours), and Aaron, exhausted and cranky and just had to dodge a bedpan being thrown at his head, feels his eye twitch violently as he politely (read: thru clenched teeth) reminds Pro Exy Player Neil Josten once again that he is not Andrew—
Which is when another voice pipes up from the doorway, fresh scent of coffee in the air that nearly has Aaron salivating, who says “correct, you are not Andrew. I am.”
And Aaron turns around to see his mirror image standing in the doorway.
An AU where the twinyards don’t meet until even mater in life— as in after college where everything from Andrew’s end goes almost the same minus Aaron and Nicky being in his life. He still makes it Palmetto, still meets Kevin and Neil and goes pro. Aaron on the other hand becomes a nurse (I have my reasons for this) never goes to Palmetto, and they only meet because one injured Neil Josten ends up on his unit. Aaron is about at his wits end because Pro Exy player Neil Josten (whoever that is because Aaron doesn’t follow Exy), who is on a lot of pain meds, keeps calling him Andrew and Aaron is about 5 seconds away from making the on-call resident very upset by requesting another CT scan of Josten’s head because surely his brain is scrambled. There’s nothing more that Aaron wants than to go home and fall face first into bed which is of course when his charge nurse walks up to him with a sheepish look, nearly begging him to stay another 4 hours because his relief’s kid is apparently sick and she can’t come in until 11am, which makes Aaron want to die so naturally he agrees, which means another 4 hours of Neil Josten at the end of his shift hooray.
And so of course Neil Josten calls him “Andrew” once more while Aaron is checking his IV (note: it’s now visiting hours), and Aaron, exhausted and cranky and just had to dodge a bedpan being thrown at his head, feels his eye twitch violently as he politely (read: thru clenched teeth) reminds Pro Exy Player Neil Josten once again that he is not Andrew—
Which is when another voice pipes up from the doorway, fresh scent of coffee in the air that nearly has Aaron salivating, who says “correct, you are not Andrew. I am.”
And Aaron turns around to see his mirror image standing in the doorway.
afab twinyards but aaron is a trans guy and passes decently so he's really confused about how higgins got him confused with his twin sister. until he meets andrew and she's a butch lesbian. they have the same haircut
neil josten definitely picks at his scabs. and it annoys aaron to no end. imagine that aaron just starts swatting at his hands whenever he tries to pick at scabs because he can’t deal with neil having them for any longer. and andrew just lets him because he knows it’s better if neil actually lets his injuries heal and honestly, it’s funny
whether the monsters would fall while drunk running:
neil: absolutely not. that boy has been running since before he could walk and there is no way after all that running under so many kinds of pressure that he wouldn’t be able to handle drunken shenanigans
aaron: can run drunk surprisingly well but also will lose the ability to handle curbs or stairs and has tripped and ended up on the ground before
nicky: yes, 110% yes. definitely a drunk runner. cannot let him out of your sights bc he might decide to go on a little adventure and he largely overestimates his coordination and will be on the ground before he knows it
andrew: honestly i can’t imagine him running while drunk…….. but i don’t see him falling either. he has too much decorum
kevin: yes. less than nicky but yes and he will swear to you otherwise. you’d think after drinking so much he would have a better handle on things but there’s a reason he doesn’t dance and he only had practice controlling his speech and facial expressions while drunk
there's this artist i follow @clementinecloudz who does younger version art of particularly andrew but they've started drawing lil neil as well and now my brain is full of kid headcanons.
- aaron and andrew live with betsy
- kevin and neil live with wymack and abby.
- kevin was obsessed when wymack started dating abby. he loved her, wanted to be her friend right off the bat. neil was suspicious asf and still isn't a big fan of her living in their house.
- aaron and andrew have entirely opposite tastes for food and it drives betsy crazy because whatever one likes the other doesn't so she's always making two different meals.
- andrew is all over the place and the thought of bringing him crowded places stresses betsy out because what if she loses him, but the first time they go to the zoo on a super busy day, he will not let go of her hand.
- aaron on the other hand, absolutely refuses to hold betsy's hand. he'll hold andrew's though.
- andrew, neil, and aaron are absolutely the kid who would shove another kid on the playground.
- kevin loves hanging out with the whole group, but will put on a show of rolling his eyes and complaining about having to hang out with little kids.
- the wymack household will go through a box of bandaids a week and solely due to neil.
- kevin and neil wrestle when they play and it stresses wymack out. they've broken a coffee table and two lamps.
- andrew, kevin, and neil are way more into exy than aaron.
- betsy meets wymack when he starts coaching the little league team for andrew/aaron's age group.
just got home after a night out and i’m drunk and thinking of the monsters getting to their columbia house drunk af and crashing the way i’m about to
dude i was dancing in a circle of my friends while leaning against the back of a stranger and i couldn’t think of anything except nicky and aaron on the dance floor week after week just getting drunk and turning up. partying with them would be so fun i can’t
i will forever support this and their friendship will never move into the circle of acknowledging it
Neil and Aaron are best friends actually; they just don’t know it yet
HEY YOU! HAPPY TWINYARD DAY!!!
I was testing my pen at 3 am
Aaron and Andrew Minyard
Hard to draw on paper, but they looks cute
Hee hee Kevaaron for @sadboyayeron lol sorry it’s late I struggled 😭
Wait is it confirmed that Katelyn is a ginger? Cause I love the hc that Aaron is on a date with Katelyn one day, gazing at her affectionately while she talks about her day at uni or something. Looking at her auburn silky hair, her ice blue eyes. Her overpowering personality. And then it hits. Shit.
Andrew doesn't notice it much earlier cause he could care less about Katelyn BUT when he realizes. Oh man.
(After Evermore)
Neil: Did I screw everything up?
Aaron: No we threw out your opinion, so you couldn't do that.
(The foxes trying to ask neil to tone down his animosity. )
Matt: I don't want you to think you're kind of some-
Aaron: Stupid, dirty, rotten, filthy, silly, no good for nothing, white, rat, scoundrel, bitc-
Matt: okay, thank you, Aaron, for your help.
Aaron: You're welcome.
Twinyards have me crying so bad rn because I mean imagine the difference in celebrating each other's birthdays? Will andrew have celebrated his birthday at least ONCE? I can't help but imagine andrew passing a small birthday cake to Aaron through the bathroom door while andrew was trying to get him off drugs.
this will interest exactly zero people but I've been thinking about it for a while now and spent like four hours on this so may I present:
AFTG characters in a Dracula! au
featuring Jean's glasshouse, a grey-haired Neil and Renee with a Dutch accent
disclaimer 1: if u see my aftg mina and lucy and ask how their friendship is supposed to work in this case I expand on that and some other interactions down below*
disclaimer 2: aftg obviously has way more core characters than dracula and I tried out a lot of combis but I'm still doubting the results so yeah... and also while I altered some relationships I tried to preserve the og dracula feel as much as I could
so here goes:
Jonathan Harker - Neil Josten (main character with zero survival skills, tries to lie low but can't NOT stir some shit up, had a lovely few weeks at Castle Dracula/Castle Evermore, dramatic hair colour changes by the end of the story)
Mina Harker - Andrew Minyard (clever™, done with everyone's dramatics, has to deal with Jonathan/Neil's shenanigans, quiet observer, the only one who seemingly has their shit together while actually suffering a lot but not wanting to let others be preoccupied by that)
Count Dracula - Riko Moriyama PLUS some others (it was difficult to place just one big bad guy because aftg has different layers of antagonists so while Riko is the primary Dracula 1.0 in his Castle (Evermore) whom Jonathan/Neil and the gang opposes they later on encounter another vampire, an ally of Dracula's from the west — Jonathan/Neil's father Nathan (the Butcher of Bristol) (no shade towards Bristol it just sounds neat) whom Neil thought he was long rid of in his life (Neil didn't know he became a vampire), think of him like Dracula 2.0, not less of an enemy than Riko)
Lucy Westenra - Jean Moreau (the epitome of being a victim of circumstances (made a target of Dracula/Riko's because fate just oh so wanted to screw them over), somehow simultaneously sweet summer child and hot icon, everybody wants them, lively extrovert (Jean IS canonically a sassy extrovert we just don't see a lot of it in tsc because his very fresh trauma dampens it but in tgr in becomes clearer)
Arthur Godalming - Kevin Day (the it girl, aristocrat (queen parallels), despite earnestly caring about Lucy/Jean still oversees a huge part of their pain; in my au Lucy/Jean doesn't choose him as husband)
Quincey Morris - Jeremy Knox (southern American sunshine, loyal to death and extremely protective over Lucy/Jean, quote from the og novel 'a rough fellow, who hasn't perhaps lived as a man should' (freshman jeremy giving a huge side eye rn) (his pupils are suspiciously diluted), the only one who does not canonically journal (concentration problems lol); in my au Lucy/Jean chooses Quincey/Jeremy over Arthur/Kevin)
Jack (John) Seward - Aaron Minyard !!! I swear !!! not just because they are both doctors it makes sense okay???? (logical thinker, has to deal with mentally unstable people on a daily basis, sceptical, secretly a softie, truly wants to help people get better; in my au he's crushing on Arthur/Kevin instead of Lucy/Jean but doesn't admit to it for a while because Art/Kev is a lordling and he is a common psychiatrist and also Art/Kev is too obsessed with Lucy/Jean to notice him (only at first though I'm a sap I like HEA))
Van Helsing - Renee Walker !! hear me out on this one before you ask wtf !! (seems like a cutie patootie but knows how to saw off a head, seen some shit in their life, has a deeper understanding of Mina/Andrew's intelligence, steps in to save Lucy/Jean's life, does not fear Dracula/Riko (or more like is not hesitant to challenge him despite the fear)
Renfield - this one was such a PAIN to place my first thought was Jean but I ended up giving him Lucy so after turning it this way and that way I thought maybe Seth Gordon would work? he died as a prop in Dracula/Riko's sick game so that fits but the overall dynamic still seems a tad off to me, let me know if you have a better take on aftg Renfield
* Lucy&Mina/Jean&Andrew:
so as I see it Andrew and Jean could actually have a nice platonic dynamic:
I think they are very compatible. In canon if Andrew was not (understandably) unable and unwilling to fully trust anyone but Neil (and Bee but to a certain degree) and if Jean was not royally fucked over by his time as Riko's property I believe they could have been friends or at least have a good understanding because they both couldn't care less about exy (and Kevin and Neil being exy junkies are the bane of their existence), they are sharp, sarcastic, often amused (but don't show it openly) by others' stupid behaviour (or what they perceive as stupid regardless of whether it actually is such).
In my dracula! au Andrew met Jean when he was ten and Jean nine after being thrown around various fucked up orphanages. He was separated from Aaron (who ended up adopted by a local physician) at birth.
Jean was adopted, too, when he was little (the Westenras saw a broody abandoned toddler on the streets of Marseille while on vacation and were like welp guess we have a kid now huh). His adoptive parents, the Westenras, took Andrew in because they thought Jean was lonely as a teenager (he was okay with the company of his dogs and the bugs in the garden and the swallows living in a nest under the slope of the roof by his room's window but whatever). The Westenras are the kind of wealthy who are trying to 'make a difference' and not be like those other rich folks or something like that but my world is all sunshine and rainbows so they actually are THAT nice and did not adopt the boys for public appearances only. They wanted to give Andrew a chance at good life though Andrew obv has the impression of it all being bs at the beginning (who can blame him he's been through Things). Jean was very patient about his attitude and supported him on the journey of healing from the childhood abuse so they are practically siblings. (Aaron is very hurt and bitter because his brother feels like that about some random ass obnoxious French guy and it makes him dislike Jean initially which is only made worse when Kevin ends up fawning over him but as they are forced to work together when Jean is targeted by Dracula/Riko Aaron sort of starts seeing more of his actual personality and they actually get to know each other outside of Aaron's jealousy). (Jean was actually not at all hostile and very curious (ahem) about Aaron at the start, the young gentleman who appeared exactly like his adoptive brother at first glance but somehow completely different, so contemplative, unreachable, oftentimes letting out bitter quips abot this and that, a competent doctor, so mysterious and lonesome, for some reason reluctant to respond to Jean's attempts at getting to know him better. But then Quincey/Jeremy turned up and Jean was done for lol).
The dracula!au version of Jean and Andrew not giving a damn about exy would be them not caring about high society soirées and such, they would rather go explore some ancient abbey ruins together, read a book or study shorthand (in Andrew's case) or do some gardening and pottery (in Jean's case), while Arthur/Kevin organises all these high society events and cricket games and whatnot desperately trying to spend some time with his bestie (Andrew, remains unimpressed) or engage Jean's attention (unsuccessful, Jean would rather visit Kevin's good friend Aaron at the asylum to hover at his side while Dr Minyard speaks to some guy expanding on how he would prepare Aaron for dinner should he have a chance to strangle him, or listen to yet another good pal of Kevin's, an eccentric American with tan arms and cute freckles rambling about rare plants he encountered on his journeys which he swears he could acquire for Jean's winter garden should his dear Mr Moreau express such a whish) (Jean has scored with this one lol the neighbourhood's ladies will be foaming at the mouth at the mere sight of his gorgeous conservatory)
**bonuses:
Swales (old guy in Whitby who sences Dracula's coming) - Wymack (ngl I chose this one because it's objectively hilarious: just an old man who's seen it all and does not hesitate to openly say his opinion on anything with no filter whatsoever, also kinda the voice of wisdom to Mina/Andrew although they do not take him very seriously but he ends up being right every time)
the three vampire women in Dracula's Castle - Lola, Romero and Jackson (basically Dracula 2.0/Nathan's sidekicks)
***what's up with the rest of the characters (not exactly based on the novel but I tried (emphasise on tried) to be loosely historically accurate to the Victorian era setting):
Matt and Dan are a married couple, both children of formerly enslaved abolitionist activists. They are working at Jonathan/Neil's solicitor office and are thoroughly baffled by him skipping work (he left a cryptic note temporarily transferring his responsibilities to them) after being abroad to work with a private client and showing up a couple weeks later completely grey-haired, stacking the office cupboard with gallons of holy water and decorating the space with awfully smelly flowers. Obviously, knowing Dan's character, she (with Matt's support) was also an active advocate for equality (for women's rights as well as black people's rights)
Allison is a countess. She's friends with Arthur/Kevin and although he is supportive of her he does not always get her since she mostly spends her time exploring the life of lower classes all over England and travelling around the world shooting documentaries about different cultures (of course she has early access to the curious new invention of moving pictures). She meets Van Helsing/Renee during her stay in London and they bond over interest in science and being explorers in their respective fields
Nicky Hemmick is a renowned tailor, his clothes are worn by every self-respecting Londoner who can afford it and quite a few aristocrats all around England. He discovers his relation to the twins a bit later in life than he would have wished but he tries to be there for them both as much as he can. He loves tailoring but he also runs his salon as a front for what is basically a safe space for queer people since they are targeted by the Labouchere Amendment. Nicky doesn't know it but Andrew (using Kevin's ties) watches out in case Nicky falls under the government's suspicion because of such activities. Also, Nicky is friends with Oscar Wilde :)
Cat and Laila live in their own little paradise on a ranch in Texas, Jean and Jeremy will secretly elope there eventually after the gang deals with all the vampires because I refuse to kill them off in this au
Okay I think that was it for now. What am I doing with my life
treating tumblr like a diary again sue me:
I'm currently reading a fic where Aaron is written like an almost perfect mirror of myself and when I tell you I did NOT need to get called out like that--- also if you'd've told me 2025 would be the year I start shipping kevaaron and randomly get (back) into a Hozier phase because of none other but Aaron Minyard I would have probably scoffed at that
so i definitely vibe with the headcanon that andrew gets a medusa tattoo, but hear me out:
so in the actual myth, athena doesn’t curse medusa out of pity or to save her from the men that aim to assault her. she did it out of rage and vengeance after medusa’s rape basically defiled her temple. on top of that, when she is beheaded by perseus, athena then puts her head on her shield to protect herself against enemies.
with this in mind, i think andrew having a medusa tattoo, or relating to medusa in any way, is kind of ironic and takes on a different meaning when you think about it.
he dealt with unwanted attention and sexual abuse his whole childhood. he was raped in cass’s home, a place where he put up with so many advances and assaults, and so much pain and confusion. he loved and respected her, and wanted to protect his brother.
in the end, he was punished for being assaulted by so many people in his life. It’s insinuated that cass knew what was going on, and she let it happen. his uncle blamed him, and his brother resented him in his ignorance.
then he was labeled as a monster, and used for his protection by so many people in his life.
i just think it’s a interesting comparison to make.
so i definitely vibe with the headcanon that andrew gets a medusa tattoo, but hear me out:
so in the actual myth, athena doesn’t curse medusa out of pity or to save her from the men that aim to assault her. she did it out of rage and vengeance after medusa’s rape basically defiled her temple. on top of that, when she is beheaded by perseus, athena then puts her head on her shield to protect herself against enemies.
with this in mind, i think andrew having a medusa tattoo, or relating to medusa in any way, is kind of ironic and takes on a different meaning when you think about it.
he dealt with unwanted attention and sexual abuse his whole childhood. he was raped in cass’s home, a place where he put up with so many advances and assaults, and so much pain and confusion. he loved and respected her, and wanted to protect his brother.
in the end, he was punished for being assaulted by so many people in his life. It’s insinuated that cass knew what was going on, and she let it happen. his uncle blamed him, and his brother resented him in his ignorance.
then he was labeled as a monster, and used for his protection by so many people in his life.
i just think it’s a interesting comparison to make.
"Do you believe in fate?"
"No. Do you?"
"Luck, then."
"Only the bad sort."
@yufi_chi on instagram
I’m so glad I got on tumblr and found out that other ppl love Aaron bc when I was reading the books this is how I was imagining him constantly
Everytime I reread tfc I try to find a reason as to why Columbia needed to happen and I genuinely cannot find one. Like why did they do that??? I could never be Neil cause my sensitive ass would have quit immediately.
I love aftg because it’s literally impossible to water down the characters. Literally everything that they do is based on the unique intricacies of their circumstances. Like there’s no surface level behavior for them because they’re all so individual and have different responses to the situations they’re placed in.
This is also abt how annoyed I get when people try to dumb characters like Neil Josten to “short and feral and depressed” or Andrew to “angry and spontaneous bad boy” when they’re SO MUCH MORE THAN THAT RAHHH
just thinking about how the foxes were probably studying for midterms while fighting the literal mafia
Classmate: hey Aaron, did you finish the study guide for chemistry?
Aaron: no sorry my teammate was almost tortured to death and I was locked in a room by the FBI
sjfdhlwk i saw a little kid today and she was copying everything i was doing so i did the two-fingered salute thing at her and she did it back to me! it was the single cutest thing ever
now i can't get the image of andrew doing these salutes with aaron's young kids out of my head. and like. aaron wants to be annoyed because what the hell are you teaching my children, andrew but at the same time their chubby fingers trying to do a salute back to a full grown man is just adorable
okay, maybe it's hard to know if you're not from the area, but andrew and aaron literally grew up so close to each other. like oakland (where andrew was) and san jose (where aaron was) are literally 40 minutes apart
i mean these are obvs two HUGE cities in the bay area, but the twins probably felt even more shitty when they realized that despite close together they grew up, they still couldn't have a childhood with one another
an incomplete list of northern-californian andrew minyard shenanigans
he gets pissed if anyone asks him if he can surf
the beaches are cold and rocky and gross, no one wants to learn surfing up here
he's totally used to weird weather (a 90° day can have a 50° night) but he absolutely cannot stand extreme temperatures
anything above 100° is reason to riot, and anything below a 40-50° is a good excuse to stay under blankets the whole day
hot days are more common in the bay area than hail, and there's never any snow, so moving to south carolina was a slap in the face
"nicky, do i need more warm clothes or more summer clothes?"
"both, andrew. both."
"why do you not have normal weather systems? just pick one"
andrew literally always carries a jacket with him out of habit
in the south, weather can fluctuate every few days, whereas in california, the weather literally changes every hour and there's almost always a breeze in the bay area
it takes him a long time to realize that hot days in the south just... stay hot. no need for a jacket.
(he still usually has one on hand though. never hurts to be prepared)
san francisco is so. goddamn. boring.
he might not have been there very often as a foster kid, but living like 20 minutes away from it in oakland makes the city really lose its novelty
(also the sfo and oakland rivalry can get very passionate at times. he was just always destined to dislike san francisco)
unironically uses the word "hella." he didn't realize it was a californian thing until it accidentally slipped out in front of the foxes and he got some very confused (and gleeful) stares
andrew calls the two main parts of california "norcal" and "socal" (for northern california and southern california). he cannot for the life of him understand why everyone else is so confused
he has a sort of inherent dislike for socal. he may have literally never been there but... the vibes. he just can't stand them
(andrew refers to socal as "fake california" in his head, as many norcal people do)
honestly, he's a pretty environmental person (aside from the smoking). you really can't live in the bay area without being overly conscious about recycling and sustainability
(he'll constantly bully kevin into separating trash, recyclables, and compostables. kevin never had to do that in the nest but andrew? he's very particular about this.
"kevin. how can you say you're healthy when you're making the planet unhealthy?"
"it's really not that big of a deal—" "it is. shut up and recycle.")
andrew absolutely detests the "sunny, warm, beach" stereotype of california, seeing how inaccurate it is for most of the state
neil likes to joke that jeremy and andrew represent the two extremes of california — sunny and bright vs cold and cloudy
andrew does not find this funny
(okay, maybe a little)
the biggest shock he ever faced was that safeway (a grocery store) wasn't a nationwide chain
apparently it's just a california thing (update: maybe a pacific coast thing?? idek)
"aaron, if tilda's not going to buy groceries, we will just go to safeway ourselves"
"andrew. there are no safeways here."
"... what"
"i was shocked too"
(it ends up being the first thing the twins bond over when they officially meet)