Chapter Text
Aaron was going to get Katelyn to help. He didn't care if they weren't on good terms, Drake had done something to Andrew and Aaron was going to figure out what.
The only reason he was going to Katelyn in the first place was because he wasn't good with computers and she was the best in the school.
He walked over to the table nearest to the exit, completely ignoring Nicky waving him over to the one he normally sat at. He stopped once he got to the table and noticed that everyone stopped talking once he got there.
"Aaron! Have you met Neil yet?" Renee Walker asked. He knew her from when she came to their house to pick up Andrew for sparring. She was the only one at this table that he seemed to talk to regularly. He would talk to some of the other's occasionally, Matt, Dan, and Thea, and he's never actually talked to Kevin or Allison.
"I need to talk to you." He said to Katelyn, completely ignoring Renee's question. Katelyn looked around her tablemates before smiling at the new red-head with a fucked up face, then got up to follow him.
He led the both of them to the far corner of the cafeteria. He looked back and saw that her whole table was "They were Katelyn's friends after all, and --in Aaron's opinion-- completely overprotective.
"What is it that you wanted?" She asked in an--as far as Aaron could tell-- annoyed tone.
"I suck with computers-"
"Yes, and? What does this have to do with me?" She glared at Aaron and he had to restrain himself from shrinking back. The last woman that glared at him like that was his mom.
"I need you to help me with something. There's this guy named Drake that knows Andrew and I need to figure out who he is." Aaron told her. He knew he was going to have to answer many other questions, but that's all he was going to give her right now.
"And why should I help you?"
Aaron glared at Katelyn and pulled out his wallet. "I'll pay you twenty dollars for every hour you help me."
Her eyes sparkled as she entertained the thought "Thirty."
"Twenty Five."
"Deal." They shook on it and now he knew for sure he was going to find out who Drake was even if Andrew wouldn't tell him.
"When are we first meeting then?" Aaron glanced back at his table to see Andrew glaring over at him, he then looked to Katelyn's table to see all of her friends looking at the both of them. Renee was trying to start a conversation with Allison, but Allison was rudely ignoring her girlfriend in order to watch them.
"Renee and Andrew are sparring after school today, so from three to five will work." Aaron answered after looking back at her. "How did you guys even meet that kid?"
"Who? Neil? He's on the cheer team." Katelyn answered, "He looks hella good in a skirt too, all the girls--and guys--will be swooning over him."
"Does he know he doesn't have to wear a skirt or are you just deciding not to tell him so that he'll look gay." Aaron said, walking her back over to her table now.
"He knows, also that's stereotyping, I might have to tell Nicky or Renee to give you a lecture." Katelyn said then they got to her table. "Bye Aaron."
Aaron didn't say anything in response and just walked back over to his usual table. Nicky was rambling on about a guy on a TV show he just watched and Andrew had his phone out now and was ignoring Nicky.
Aaron didn't understand why Nicky sat with them when he could have very easily sat with anyone else. He could make conversation well and wasn't that intimidating by appearance(he could definitely defend himself though, all those time he had gone to the gym with Andrew had slightly payed off) Aaron assumed that it was just so that he could make sure neither of his cousins killed anyone that was annoying them, or eachother.
Lunch finished off with Nicky giving up on trying to talk to Andrew and moving on to Aaron instead along with Andrew leaving ten minutes before it was over. They went on their ways and didn't talk again until after school when they all went home together.
Andrew was the one who drove, it used to be Nicky for a while, but now that Andrew was off his meds he wouldn't let anyone drive the car again. It was an expensive car, a Maserati that he bought with his portion of their mom's will after she died. It was black and Andrew would literally stab someone if they touched it without his permission. He only let Aaron, Nicky, and Renee ride in it and only himself or Renee could drive it now that he's off his medication.
When Aaron got out of school Andrew was already waiting for them. The car was started and Andrew's feet were propped up on the dashboard with a cigarette hanging from his mouth. Nicky wasn't there yet, so he took the front seat and waited in silence for him to arrive.
After about five minutes of waiting for Nicky to come, he finally opened the door to the front seat, even though Aaron was already sitting in it.
"Get out." Nicky said once the door was open. His tone was sharp, it reminded Aaron of ice that just came out of the freezer going straight onto bare skin . He looked angrier than ever, which means something really bad must have happened, considering he usually was the happy go lucky one. Aaron, who had decided he didn't want to make Nicky more upset than he already was, leapt to the backseat.
As soon as Nicky was in the car and his door was closed Andrew pulled out of his parking spot and sped off to their house. Nicky didn't say anything the whole way there, which made it weirdly quiet compared to their other car rides.
By the time we got home Nicky had tears running down his face, but he still hadn't said anything. They went inside to see Bee leaning over the counter, the smell of brownies wafting through the air.
Nicky went right to his room, presumably to call Erik. Andrew collapsed onto the couch, melting into the cushions, then started browsing through channels.
"What's up with Nicky?" Betsy asked, walking through the door from the kitchen to the living room.
"I'm not sure, he was silent throughout the whole drive and started crying towards the end." I said.
"And you didn't think to ask him?"
Andrew and I were both silently staring at her and she rolled her eyes. "Of course you didn't, I forgot who I was talking to."
"Are we having brownies?" Andrew spoke for the first time all day.
"They're for later, we're having our new neighbors over for dinner. They're a nice gay couple with their sons." Bee said taking the remote off the couch and changing the channel from a baking show to a nature documentary.
Andrew sighed and tilted his head up to the ceiling. Aaron was not looking forward to meeting new people. He had already seen enough new people today. They had got the red head kid who couldn't dress for shit a week ago and he had seen him for the first time today--Neil his name was--, then there was the Riko guy with the shitty haircut who moved the same day as Neil, and lastly there was a French guy that got here yesterday and went to school for the first time today. He moved with his parents from France to South Carolina, and had the heaviest accent that had all the girls swooning over him, even the ones who had already found their soulmates.
"I'm sorry, but this was the only day that worked for them. You only need to come down for dinner, then you can go back up to your rooms, but I would like you to at least try to talk to their boys, they are both around your age." Bee picked up Andrew's feet to vacuum under them. Aaron hadn't noticed her getting the vacuum out, but before he could say anything about it Bee continued, "I would also like for you to clean your rooms and the bathroom, they'll be over by five. Andrew I know you're sparring today, so it's fine if you're late."
Andrew nodded and the doorbell rang. We all knew who it was and waited for Andrew to get the door that Renee was standing behind. She was wearing her regular smile.
"You have a key for a reason Renee." Andrew said in greeting as he opened the door.
"I didn't want to intrude." She responded, her smile forming into a grin.
"Oh please, you're basically family, we don't care." Betsy said from behind Andrew. Aaron figured this would be a good time to head up to his room to start cleaning before Katelyn gets there. As he ran past Nicky's room he could hear him talking to Erik on the other side of the door.
Aaron paused for a minute before deciding to push his ear against the door to listen. He might be intruding, but he needed to know what had his cousin so upset.
"He just kept hitting him, so I obviously tried to get him to stop, but he wouldn't" Aaron heard Nicky say through the door. Nicky's voice wasn't icy anymore, more like a melted ice cube, one that wanted to be a cold ice cube, but was just under too much heat to keep it cold.
"I finally got him off him but the kid was already beaten to a pulp. The other kid spit in my face and called me a fag then walked away. I tried to help the other kid up to try to get him to the infirmary, but the kid seemed to wake up and just got up and left. It was his first day at school and he's already getting bullied, what if it gets worse?" Ah, so it was the French kid. Aaron wondered how all the girls that were swooning over him would react if they knew their crush got beat up.
After a few beats of silence that Aaron assumed was Erik talking, Nicky spoke again. "He called me a fag Erik… I haven't been called that since… you know." Nicky paused for a second and Aaron hoped that Nicky wasn't able to hear him. Thankfully, Nicky continued--seemingly not hearing Aaron breathe--"They don't know, I thankfully had my panic attack before I went out to the car, but I snapped at Aaron and I think I made him hate me more than he already does."
Aaron made a noise that was too loud for his own good. He heard Nicky whisper something into the phone and instead of sticking around to figure out what he said he ran down the stairs and into the kitchen where Betsy was making dinner.
"You get bored of eavesdropping on your cousin and decide you wanted to help me with dinner?" She asked not even looking up from the pot that she was making the noodles in.
"You know the answer to that,"
"You're right, but it's okay to dream." She said, then finally turned to him.
"You wouldn't want me to cook anyway, plus Andrew usually helps when he's not sparring so he's already set the bar so high I don't want to disappoint you." Betsy rolled her eyes and the doorbell rang.
"That's odd, I don't know who would be coming over right now…" Betsy mumbled and went to open the door.
"Mom! Mom, I'm pretty sure that's for me. I'm having one of the cheerleaders over, she's gonna help me with one of my assignments." Aaron yelled, saying the first thing that came to his mind.
"Oh...sure," Bee stopped and winked at him.
"Not Like that mom, she has a girlfriend who just so happens to also be her soulmate." Aaron said, rolling his eyes and opening the door.
Katelyn was standing there on her phone, wearing a much more comfortable outfit than she was earlier today.
"Come on in then." Aaron said.
"Nice to see you too, bitch." Katelyn said, putting her phone away. They walked through the living room and were about to go up the stairs when Bee poked her head through the little window counter thing in between the kitchen and living room.
"Hello! It's nice to meet you." Betsy said, sticking her hand out for Katelyn to shake. "I'm Betsy, but you can call me Bee, that's what the boys usually do."
"It's very nice to meet you too Bee!" Katelyn smiled, taking Betsy's hand.
"I'm glad Aaron's finally starting to make friends. I haven't had any of the boys bring people home--other than Renee--since Nicky's last boyfriend." Bee said, and smiled brightly.
"Mom, you can't say that…" Aaron mumbled under his breath.
"Oh, I'm sorry, am I embarrassing you? Nicky's last boyfriend wasn't that long ago…"
"Mom, his boyfriend literally lives in Germany, and he hasn't come to the states in two years…" Aaron said a little louder while glaring.
"Well I can kinda see why you haven't had many people over…" Katelyn mumbled under her breath.
"We're going up to my room, okay? Get me when our neighbors get here."
"Okay, will do. Katelyn, are you staying for dinner?" Bee yelled as they headed up the stairs.
"I would-"
"She would love to, but she sadly has to be home by four fifty, sad, huh." Aaron yelled over Katelyn. She shot him a glare that he ignored.
"Okay, just checking!" Nicky yelled something about being a little quieter while he was on the phone a little after that exchange.
"This place is a mess." Katelyn said as soon as Aaron shut the door to his room. It was true, his room was a complete disaster. He hadn't got a chance to clean it because he got distracted by Nicky.
"I'm not paying you to insult my fucking room. Let's go." Aaron said, then opened his laptop on his desk. It was opened to an essay on Greek Mythology, he closed the tab, left his computer on his home screen and gestured for her to sit down.
"I still have no idea what you want me to do."
"Help me figure out who the fuck Drake is." Aaron said.
"Do you have a last name?"
Aaron thought for a minute, he didn't remember Pig mentioning a last name, he thought Drake might have been part of Andrew's life at foster, so that's where they should start.
"Andrew Doe."
"What?" Katelyn looked at him completely confused.
Aaron rolled his eyes, then elaborated. "Research Andrew Doe."
"Who the fuck is Andrew Doe?" She asked, but did in fact look him up.
It took a little bit of scrolling through pictures and websites about female deer named Andrew for them to come across something that might be worth it. "That one."
It was a website listing all the kids in San Jose's Foster Care System, which was the place where Aaron's Mom left Andrew. It went by Alphabetical order for first names. Some kid named Abby Markland was first, her parents died in a plane crash when she was 2.
Aaron was waiting for Katelyn to keep scrolling and after a while he realized Katelyn wasn't going to.
"Why'd you stop scrolling? Keep going."
"Aaron we're looking for stuff for Andrew right? So why are we looking for stuff on Andrew Doe, who--by the way-- is a Foster kid all the way out in California. This has nothing to do with Andrew Minyard." Aaron looked back at the screen and saw that it was now on Andrew's profile. There was no image for him so there was no way to show Katelyn that that was Andrew.
"That was Andrew's name in the Foster System, Andrew Doe." It felt wrong giving out his twin's information without his consent, but it was the only way Aaron was going to find out who Drake was.
"Andrew was never in the Foster System though…" Katelyn said.
"Yes he was."
"No, he wasn't."
"And how would you know?" Aaron asked, looking back to Katelyn.
"I just… I would…"
"How? Would he tell you? Because we all know how close you two are." Aaron rolled his eyes. If Andrew had told anyone in their godforsaken school it would be Renee, and only Renee and Renee would never tell anyone about it unless she absolutely knew Andrew was okay with it.
"He wasn't in foster care… was he?"
"Click on the profile and you'll find out." Katelyn did what she was told and opened Andrew's Profile. A new tab opened and more information about him read for two whole pages. This time a picture was shown as well.
The picture was of a younger Andrew. You could tell younger Aaron and Andrew apart easily if you were to put Aaron's younger picture next to it. Andrew had Freckles covering his face, because he hadn't started covering them up until he could buy makeup without his foster parents knowing, and when he smiled in the picture you could see his dimples. His eyes were still sparkling compared to the dead inside look he wore now. This picture seemed to be taken when he was younger than eight, more like five or six.
"Oh my god…" Katelyn choked out, "is that-"
"Andrew? Yeah."
"I didn't know he had freckles…" Katelyn Whispered, Aaron nodded along, "He looks so… happy…" Aaron nodded, he did look happy, especially compared to now. "What happened to him?"
"A lot of stuff. That's what I'm hoping to find out while researching Drake." Katelyn's eyes were wide while she looked at the screen. Aaron bet he looked just as shocked. It was weird to see his brother looking so happy after years of the only time seeing him smile being when he was on medication to make him smile. If Aaron was being honest, the only reason why he originally wanted to do this was to find out who Drake was and why the police kept on calling Andrew about him, but now it was more than that. If someone sucked all that happiness out of Andrew to make him this soulless then Aaron needed to know who they were and make sure they didn't have the happiness his brother was supposed to have.
Neither of them had said anything, but we silently looked at the picture for almost an hour. Katelyn decided she had to go, so Aaron paid her and told her when they should meet up again. They decided on Thursday because Andrew spars with Renee on Tuesdays and Thursdays and occasionally other days.
Andrew came home a few minutes later. Bee offered Renee dinner and Renee denied just like every other day, and everything was going like a normal Tuesday, and it wasn't until Betsy called Aaron down for dinner that he remembered they were having their neighbors over.
Their neighbors that just moved here.
That have kids their age.
Great.
This was going to be absolute hell.