#aftg bonus chapters

[lightlytoastedcashews]

the biggest thing i took away from the short stories is how much andrew minyard cares about people. he signed onto the foxes to give aaron a chance at college. he went through with the kit to give aaron a legitimate chance at trial. he gave neil the armbands so that he wouldn’t have to look at his scars all the time. he constantly sacrifices himself for others so much so that he ends up harming himself sometimes. andrew minyard, who still gets called heartless when he has one of, if not the biggest, hearts in the series.

[bees-figurines]

Andrew Minyard passively saw his long lost brother watch a medical tv show and say 'I want to do that' while his abusive mum laughed and dismissed him and he said to himself I will get you into med school. You will do that. AND HE DID.

[joejhang]

a list of my favourite things from the aftg bonus chapters (spoilers ahead !!!)

aaron bitching about neil endlessly

bee and andrew !!!

mama bee

"everyone knows now bee" (KMSKMSKMSKMSKMSKMS)

"who fears the monster that knows the taste of a whip?" (shakespeare was gagged)

andrew calling neil the bane of his existence (they're in love your honour)

bee telling andrew she's sorry about what happened to him and is proud of him (who else cried)

more outsider pov of andreil (i need this shit like drugs)

"would you like to talk about neil today?" "no." "yes."

"you know i asked him (neil) about you. i asked him if he was taking advantage of you. he tried to punch me out." (and andrew's reaction????? i SCREAMED)

"i like neil's promise ring, by the way." (GOODBYE AARON'S SO FUNNY)

"his (neil's) father's people tore up his arms with a lighter and knives, and none of it is going to fade. he doesn't need to see those" (I'M CRYING HE CARES HE CARES SO MUCH I'M GONNA BE SICK HE'S SO HONEST)

andrew SMILING????

andrew calling aaron "an ignorant little shit"

andrew wanting aaron and bee's approval (AGAIN. HE CARES SO MUCH.)

KATELYN AND AARON <3333

"neil is not our family, not with the way you look at him." (i SCREAMED it's the way aaron can see through andrew so clearly. HOW DOES HE LOOK AT NEIL AARON. HOW DOES HE LOOK AT NEIL.)

aaron taking any chance he can get to yap about katelyn (they're soulmates wtf)

i blame us both. (i threw up)

"i don't want to lose you" (TWINYARDS YOU WILL ALWAYS MEAN EVERYTHING TO ME)

"peace?" "we're foxes. there's no such thing." (no you don't get it. they're FOXES)

"give her to me andrew." "you will regret it." "says the man dating a mafioso." "i'm not dating him." "liar." (FOAMING AT THE MOUTH. NEIL "MAFIOSO" JOSTEN IS CRAZY. MIND YOU NEIL CALLS ANDREW A TERRIBLE LIAR LITERALLY LATER ON THIS WEEK FOR DENYING THEIR RELATIONSHIP. HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE CLOCKED BY YOUR BROTHER AND NEIL MF JOSTEN ABOUT THE SAME THING, ANDREW. HOW DOES IT FEEL.)

anyway as you can tell i enjoyed the bonus chapters. a lot.

[cheerupqueerup]

AFTG new bonus chapters moodboard

[s-exy-sapphillean]

I'm losing my fucking mind at this fandom constantly trying to minimize aaron's complexity and woobify him

I can't stand anyone who looks at a chapter of aaron getting to confront andrew's hypocrisy but also getting confronted with his own shitty behavior and the main thing u take away is "omg he said he doesnt hate gay people anymore! Confirmation he's not homophobic!" or "andrew is a horrible person and aaron has done nothing wrong (or the reverse)"

Aaron is literally doing a "i'm not transphobic, i only misgender those trans people who are bad people" but about nicky's sexuality. Him justifying them with nicky's own shitty behavior does not make the remarks he's made any less homophobic. The entire chapter, the way bee questions him and the way he realizes he actually has to explain to andrew that he doesn't have a problem with him being gay shows how much these remarks have not existed in a vacuum, have never only affected nicky, have always, in effect, been homophobic.

This is not me wanting aaron to be homophobic, this is me being pissed about people wanting to rob aaron & his relationships to his family of layers of complexity. About people trying to make a person unlearning bigotry he's aware of and has admitted to into something simple and easy and quick. About people viewing bigoted actions and remarks as only defined by their intentions and not their effect.

Aaron is a damn complex character. He was raised with shitty worldviews and shitty behavior. He literally did used to hate and be disgusted by nicky for being gay. He's unlearning that shit. He's still grossed out by nicky for being a creep. And now he's confronted by the fact that his history of actual bigotry and his displays of disgust at nicky's remarks about others simply do not exist separately from eachother and that that has affected his relationship with andrew. And he gets to sit there and has to actually convince his brother that he doesn't hate him for being gay. Stop trying to minimize the importance aaron's past homophobia and homophobic remarks play in the twinyard's relationship.

Also i'm pissed off how little people are talking about aaron finally FINALLY getting a dig in at andrew's hypocrisy. About how andrew's actions also aren't only defined by his intent to protect but have cause a lot of hurt. About how unfair he's been to others, to katelyn, because he himself hasn't even tried to reflect on his own presumptions and prejudice against the people aaron wants in his life and how they might be wrong.

This bonus chapter is so important to me because it's practically everything i've always imagined their shared therapy sessions would be like. And because andrew getting pushback and aaron getting a chance to voice his stance and perspective and andrew actually having to listen is so important to me. Most of the canon material is so dominated by perspectives sympathetic to and/or protective of andrew and it's so good to get a chapter that isnt that. And obv Aaron's perspective isnt unbiased either, but it balances out somewhat against neil's perspective dominating the narrative. And while bee ofc isnt a perfectly impartial party, therapy with her is the perfect setting to provide this perspective.

I love the TKM bonus chapter and i hate how a lot of people are choosing to talk about it

[neil-jostenminyard]

andrew NOT talking to betsy about neil 👀👀👀

[sunny-three]

​both the twinyards are willfully in denial spiteful hypocrites and I love that about them

[the-inner-musings-of-a-worm]

“everyone knows now, bee”

what if i threw myself off a cliff

[awildtei]

Some very unpolished thoughts I scribbled down on my first read of the bonus chapters (SPOILERS AHEAD):

David

-Wymack trying to steer Kevin away from alcohol and into therapy feels a bit retcon-y. I know it works just fine, but I kinda liked that for all his good intentions and overall positive impact Wymack was a very flawed father figure, particularly with something he seems to use as a crutch himself like alcohol is.

-"I don't trust [Betsy]." Interesting in many ways: (a) that makes Neil the third, not second, team member to distrust poor Betsy. (b) he doesn't trust her not to reveal his secrets, so clearly he trusted her just enough to tell her those secrets in the first place. (c) I think it adds a very interesting layer to Kandrew's dynamic, both because Kevin sees Betsy as someone who could get in between them and ruin it and because it's a secret Kevin and Jean shared but Kevin won't share with Andrew (the closest thing to a partner he has with the Foxes).

-"No. Don't ask me that." Exactly what Andrew says on the phone with Higgins. The immediate refusal, the automatic yet almost panicked order... mmm.

-Maybe Kevin's age when Kayleigh died had already been confirmed somewhere but I don't think I knew it, so. Nine. Old enough to (probably) remember her pretty well, to have learned from her and loved her and miss her. Young enough to be shaped into a Raven.

-"but Kevin would always be different." "You're not just a Fox. You're Kayleigh's son." Kill me.

-Kevin's reaction to Wymack talking about his mom is very validating of what I've always imagined he feels about her.

-"When he started thinking about rings he put himself on a plane home." *Holt's voice* VINDICATION!! I've seen people shit on Kayleigh way too often as some kind of cold-hearted bitch who cut Wymack out her life with no hesitation, but he left!! He failed to keep it casual so he left!! "He'd never called her again."

-"Coaches have no honor." Considering what we learned from Jean about Raven coaches... yeah, not shocking. (Did Kevin know Raven coaches were the exception while he was in the Nest? Or did he run to Wymack thinking all coaches are the same, that he would be beaten and punished but what made Wymack a good man was the he would allow him to stay? Did he have to slowly learn to trust that Wymack wouldn't hurt him like Jean with Rhemann?)

-"Your word is enough. Just yours." Throwignnn up :(

-"Nicky wasn't the only one so easily swayed" wait what. Is this about Andreil? Am I missing something? It's definitely about Andrew right?

-Nicky's terrible driving doesn't show up nearly enough in fics methinks.

[feelingthedisaster]

"everyone knows now" what if i cry my eyes out what if

[jeanmoreausautismstickers]

Honestly I could take the whole "aaron said I don't hate gay people I just hate nicky" as hyperbolic BUT the dumbest take I've actually seen in regards to the new aaron chapter is someone point blank refusing to read it cause they don't like aaron

i laughed so loudly WHAT

thats so embarrassing. I hate riko but I'd still read a chapter about him??? he's still a vaguely interesting character when I put aside my need to wring his neck???

i fear you beat me in the dumbest takes department because thats genuinely insane

as someone who would devour anything Nora sakavic writes I cant imagine not reading something because I dislike a character in it oml

[bees-figurines]

Something so painful about the way trauma often makes you mature earlier and relate more to adults in Andrew sitting with Wymack and Bee and him opening up to Bee as a peer in a way he’s never behaved with his teammates.

[kevgansey]

oh i won't be over kataaron.

[sunny-three]

Anyways this is reminder that Aaron literally made a rape joke about Neil and left him drugged and alone with Nicky when Aaron knew about Nicky’s comments and literally saw nothing wrong with letting Nicky bring him into his room despite literally saying that he would punch anyone that made comments like that about Katelyn

I have always been apart of the twinyards are both hypocrites but this is the proof

Aftg fandom respect and include Aaron minyard hypocrisy and complex character in your fics and meta about him or die by my sword

[bees-figurines]

No but you don't understand after the whole Drake thing went down he only worried that the others knew because HE FEARED HE COULD NOT PROTECT THEM ANYMORE.