Curate, connect, and discover
parts 1, 2, 3, 4, aaaand 5 you wonderful human beings || part 7, 8
so aaron isn't the biggest fan of neil's relationship with his brother
he has made that very clear. to everyone
is he glad that andrew is a bit less murderous now? yes, of course
is he upset that andrew's dating the guy who brought a mob war upon the foxes? just a smidge
despite all his... reservations, aaron can tell that whatever andrew and neil have, it isn't just "hate sex"
(granted, aaron doesn't want to spend much time considering his brother's sex life in the first place, but that's beside the point)
but no matter how annoying josten may be, he does want to have a decent relationship with his brother by the end of college
and unfortunately, that includes moderately tolerating his brother's loudmouth boyfriend
the very boyfriend who forced andrew and aaron to have joint therapy sessions
and look, aaron isn't as stubborn as he acts, he can acknowledge that the therapy sessions are helping
he would just... never admit it to josten's face. the man has enough of an ego as it is
anyways, dobson had told him weeks ago that in order to start understanding the whole of his brother, he had to be willing to accept all the different parts of andrew
and that entails spending time with the people andrew is close with
aaron likes renee enough. she's a bit too happy for his taste, but she's not too bad
aaron wants to kick kevin in the balls whenever he lays his eyes on him, which he is forced to do far too often in his humble opinion
and then there's neil, who aaron should probably start making amends with
dobson (unfortunately) agrees with that idea
so aaron starts spending more time with neil —walking to classes, studying, teaching neil how to play video games (for someone with such solid reflexes on court, neil is shockingly bad at figuring out game controllers)
(he's also 90% sure andrew told josten why aaron was hanging out with him all of a sudden, considering the slightly limited snark neil speaks to him with now)
and much to his chagrin, aaron actually kinda... enjoys hanging out with neil
he's sarcastic. annoying. moderately threatening. neil would be the ideal bro if he wasn't literally dating aaron's brother
(oh, and the mob war thing. can't forget about the mob war thing)
but maybe aaron is being the slightest bit presumptuous
because that week, dobson has to push back their appointment to thursday evening instead of wednesday afternoon
neil offers to drive aaron and andrew over to Reddin, saying that he was going over to the nearby cafe to work on some project anyways
so neil and andrew have their weird eye-contact conversation thing at every stoplight. aaron sticks to just texting katelyn.
he's so engrossed in his phone he barely realizes when they've stopped, and then wonders why andrew hadn't told him to get out yet
he glances up, ready to scramble out of the car, when he witnesses the single craziest moment of his life
neil and andrew, oblivious to aaron, are staring at each other. very intensely. it's a bit disconcerting how long they can keep their eyes open for
(maybe aaron should go into optometry, for his brother's sake)
anyway.
so aaron slowly holds onto the door handle, about to leave the car, when neil goddamn josten kisses his brother. ON THE NOSE
and his brother is blushing. BLUSHING
aaron's mind comes to a halt. what. is. happening.
he practically leaps out of the car, trying to pull his jaw back up from where it dropped as andrew emerges from the car and walks towards dobson's office, ears pink
(oh god. does aaron look like that when katelyn is around? that's embarrassing as hell)
shit. aaron had betted against andrew and neil on the kiss bet. nicky must have known something he didn't, considering how excited he looked that day...
bastard, he texts nicky with no explanation, hoping it leaves his cousin floundering in confusion
and fine. maybe josten isn't that bad for his brother
but he's also the reason why aaron is going to be in crippling debt soon
but. if he and neil become closer, surely he'd have the insider information on his brother's relationship
hmm. if he plays his cards right, this new, tolerable almost-friendship with josten might actually help him to win some money in the future...