Kevaaron have none chill about baby Seth and neither do i.
Dan got the picture from one of her Sisters, back when they had all made a collective baby album of themselves cuz all their parents and families suck
Matt obviously called Momma Randy and she sent over sooooo many files; he picked that one bc, and i quote, “i be looking fresh n fancy as hell”
Allison has multiple photo albums of herself, duh. Her portfolio game is insane, they’re all organized by age and the photos are color-coded by outfits
Stephanie worked overtime to get that photo of Renee… she’d never been interested before, believing in letting the past be the past, but Renee talked about it with her mom and yeah, having this baby pic could be healing too. So many calls and emails to find someone who had a piece left of Natalie’s files, though.
Seth asked his older sister in Alabama, the only family he’s still in contact with, who was brave enough to search the family house for him. She chose her favorite. She punched their dad too.
can i ask you to elaborate on matt's mom finding aaron as her favorite fox? it's been a while since i read the books
YES i can. i got so excited to answer this because it's such a scrumptious concept to me
in the books there isn't much between them, besides the fact that Matt's mother (Randy) pays Aaron's bail and Aaron spends Christmas with her in New York (which happens off screen so there could've been loads that happened then).
but there is this scene in the EC where Aaron chalks up the strength to go up to Randy and thank her when she comes to Palmetto to watch a game. (this is from a draft where Aaron and co don't spend Christmas break with Matt, so this is the first time Aaron actually meets her. this scene could have easily still happened though, just in NY, and i consider it canon.) and there's this. fucking wholesome as fuck moment where she hugs him until he sinks into it and tells him that she's proud of him and calls him family and i think, EC or not, it's genuinely one of my favorite scenes in the entire series:
It took Aaron most of Thursday afternoon to work up the courage, but he finally approached Randy at the end of practice to thank her for paying his bail. Neil was in charge of the stick rack and ball buckets today, but he deliberately slowed down his work to eavesdrop. Aaron's gratitude was the stilted mess of a man not used to admitting when he was wrong.
Randy looked a bit baffled, then recovered enough to stress, "You gave me back my son. Do you understand? There is nothing I can do to make that up to you."
Aaron was honest enough to say, "That wasn't my decision."
Randy reached for him, but Aaron flinched at the first brush of her fingers against his shoulders. Aaron recovered quickly, but the damage was already done. Randy's smile vanished and the look she gave Aaron was heavy enough to make Neil uncomfortable ten feet away.
Last summer Neil had recoiled from Wymack much the same way, so certain of being hurt for his transgressions and stupidity. For months his stomach had knotted a bit every time Wymack raised his voice at practice. Even as recently as January Neil willfully told himself Wymack's concern was anger because fear of older men was a powerful enough motivator to get Neil through his second thoughts and nightmares.
Only now did Neil understand that a person could fear an older woman the same way. Neil's mother had hit him and screamed at him, but she'd always been on his side. She'd always been his mother first. He'd known Aaron's mother was abusive, had heard it from Nicky and had it affirmed by Andrew back in November. He'd thrown it in Aaron's face knowing it would hurt, but somehow he'd still always thought it a different matter. Neil couldn't imagine a world where mothers weren't actually mothers.
Neil finally understood, though he didn't know if it was stupidity or prejudice that had blinded him this long. Cass Spear could have been Andrew's mother once. These days Andrew leaned on Betsy Dobson. Aaron, on the other hand, never had anyone to fill that role. Aaron wouldn't let the Foxes in because of Andrew, but he couldn't let Nicky in because he didn't know how. He'd gotten this far in life on his own, surviving on willpower and sheer desperation.
For a moment Neil thought Randy would take offense at Aaron's reaction and walk away. Instead she slowly raised her hands to Aaron's face and cradled his cheeks in her hands.
"Hey," she said, more subdued than she'd sounded all day but somehow still hard with conviction. "I'm so proud of you. Do you hear me? I'm so proud of you. You did what you had to do to defend your family, and tomorrow you're going to do whatever it takes to defend our family. Okay? It's going to be okay."
Aaron stared back at her, silent and frozen. Randy nodded at whatever she saw on his face and made a slow attempt at hugging him. Aaron didn't fight her off, and Randy held on until Aaron finally relaxed.
for a second i was going to take out some of Neil's commentary but i actually think it's good in showing how much this actually fucking means. his perception alone implies that Randy could be so much more to Aaron
anyway. that's as far as canon takes you but i believe that their relationship grows over the years, one way or another. grows into something that is very good for Aaron, something he needs. i also believe that Matt and Aaron get closer (I've got a wholeee post on that i think tho) and that either helps or is helped by Aaron and Randy's relationship. given the logistics they probably don't interact face to face often (maybe NY Christmases become a thing though) but that doesn't matter. Aaron has someone in his corner, not Nicky or Coach or Katelyn but someone just far enough outside the vortex of PSU to maybe take on a little bit of the weight he's always had to carry, maybe ease the solo war against the world that he's been fighting every day of his life.
