Chapter Text
Andrew put his last box on his bed. It was unfairly tall; someone had raised it to the highest point and Andrew had no idea how he was going to reach it. Andrew glared jealously at his roommates chest height bed. That was a problem for another day, he could put up with fighting his way into bed until he could be bothered trying to figure out how to fix it.
There was no sign of his new roommate, the bed lying empty. Andrew looked from his stained mattress to his roommates. His roommates was slightly less stained. It was still bad, but not as bad. As far as Andrew was concerned, his roommate could suck it.
What followed was sixty minutes of struggling and what probably sounded like lewd noises to anyone outside the room. Andrew wasn’t weak, but his mattress was a weird shape and it really wasn’t making his life any easier. He managed it eventually and swore to himself that he would never mention it to anyone ever, lest he be eternally embarrassed.
The next step was logically unpacking his boxes and putting his clothes away, so Andrew dumped his boxes on the floor and didn’t do that. He just wanted to climb into bed and go for a long nap. He’d insisted that Bee not help him move in, because she tended to overdo it just a little but he was starting to regret it when faced with having to put the sheets on his own bed.
Bee had been doing it for him for years. She’d adopted him when he was four and too young to remember anything properly. Apparently she’d come in like a knight in shining armour and saved him from whatever hell he was living. Since then, she’d cooked his meals, made his bed and washed his clothes without fail. Now he was fending for himself in the big adult world and he had no idea how to use a washer or how in the hell he was meant to force a fitted sheet onto his mattress.
He gave in after twenty minutes and crumpled into his half made bed. He slid a quick text to Renee who had demanded that he text her when he got there. Renee was a girl from his high school and arguably his only friend. Even that only happened because she punched him in the face on the first day of freshman year and he’d unashamedly followed her around like a lost puppy every day after that. Since then she’d turned her life around in a weird one-eighty and done strange things like join a church and start calling Andrew sweetheart.
Renee’s reply was just a simple smile emoji. Andrew tucked his phone under his pillow and passed out.
He was rudely startled awake when his new roommate slammed the door unnecessarily loud. He jumped again when he realised the mysterious roommate had placed a mirror in an annoying position across from his bed.
Andrew sat up.
The reflection did not.
“What the fuck,” his reflection said, hazel eyes wide. Andrew was starting to doubt it was a mirror, unless he was either hallucinating or still asleep.
“That’s my face,” Andrew said, pointing at him, “why do you have my face?”
“Why do you have my face?”
“What the fuck. What. The. Fuck,” Andrew said. His roommate was exactly like him. Same blonde hair, pushed over to one side, same wide shoulders and strong arms; hell, even the freckles across their nose were the same. The only difference Andrew could see was that he would never in his life wear a yellow sweater. He didn’t even know where someone would find a sweater that colour.
“Have you,” the boy said slowly, “ever seen the parent trap?”
“You think we’re twins?” Andrew scoffed in return, “and we just so happened to be separated at birth, then run into each other here?”
“You have my face,” his not-twin reminded him. Andrew felt a little queasy as he hopped down from his loft bed.
“Each person has at least seven lookalikes in the world,” Andrew said haughtily, “and I don’t have any brothers.”
“This isn’t just a lookalike though, is it?” His roommate replied, folding his arms and scowling in a very familiar way. “What’s your mom's name?”
“Bee.”
The roommate blinked. “Oh. My mom's name was Tilda.”
“Was?”
“She’s dead.”
Andrew grimaced. “Oh. Uh…sorry for your loss?” The guy shrugged.
“Don’t be, her life insurance is paying for me to be here. Is Bee your real mom?”
“I’m adopted,” Andrew said. He was never going to be ashamed of that fact, not when Bee was Bee and possibly the best mom in the world.
“So that isn’t your mom's name.” Andrew’s reflection was getting agitated, fingers twitching against his arms. “Does she know your mom's real name?”
“She won’t tell me. She thinks it’s better if I don’t know.”
“I think now is the time to find out, you idiot!” His roommate snapped. “Call her or something.”
Andrew heaved a deep sigh but dug his phone out from where it had slipped down the side of his bed. Bee’s contact was still up from where he’d considered phoning her earlier. Before he could chicken out, he pressed call and the phone rang.
Maybe she’s busy, he thought after the first ring.
It’s book club night, he thought after the second.
Please don’t fucking pick up, I don’t want to have to deal with this, he thought after the third.
“Andrew?”
Shit.
“Hey Bee,” he said softly.
“How’re the dorms? I wasn’t expecting a phone call yet! Is your roommate nice?”
Andrew glanced at the other boy and grimaced. “About that…what’s my mom's name?”
“Why do you ask? You know I don’t want you looking for her after-“
“I know,” Andrew interrupted, “but you might want to see this.” Andrew turned it to FaceTime instead and at first Bee got a very flattering angle of his nostrils. Then Andrew held up his phone and turned so she could see his roommate too.
‘“Ah,” Bee said. “Hello. You must be Andrew’s roommate.”
“He’s also fucking identical to me, Bee,” Andrew pointed out.
Bee tutted. “Mind your language, Andrew, I can see that. What’s your name?”
“Aaron,” Aaron said. Andrew huffed. He had thought his name was boring and common.
“So?” Andrew prompted before Bee could attempt more forced niceties out of either of them, ‘my mom's name?’
“Her name was Tilda Minyard.”
“That was my mom's name,” Aaron whispered, mildly horrified, “I’m Aaron Minyard.”
“Okay,” Bee said, switching on her Dr Dobson voice as she sensed the growing tension. “There is no need to worry. I didn’t know that she had two sons, if you give me a couple of hours, I can do a little digging and see what happened, alright?”
“I need a drink,” Aaron complained.
Bee tutted again and rearranged her glasses on her face, doing that weird thing where old people hold the screen away from them and squint. ”I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that.”
“She’s a psychiatrist,” Andrew explained.
Aaron wrinkled his nose. “Ew.”
“I’m gonna smack you.”
“Not if I-“
“Boys!” Betsy interrupted, “keep it calm! If I hang up and phone your social worker, Andrew, will you two end up killing each other?”
“Probably not,” Andrew admitted, then looked at Aaron for an answer. Aaron stood stone faced and unhappy for a moment before he shrugged. Apparently that was enough for Bee as she hung up without saying goodbye. So much for a helping hand. The two boys stood and stared at each other in uncomfortable silence for a long moment.
“So…” Andrew said first, “hot cocoa?” Aaron breathed what seemed to be a sigh of relief and nodded.
Andrew was good at comfort drinks. Tea, coffee, hot cocoa, he could do any of them. Actual comfort, he was shockingly bad at, almost as bad as he was at small talk. He was certainly not very good at talking to his roommate who also just so happened to be his identical twin.
Over hot chocolate, they shared details. They were both born in California on November 4th (Ugh, Andrew just had to live with a fellow Scorpio), they both liked expensive whiskeys and hot cocoa. Andrew liked fast cars and Aaron liked books. Their mother was dead, passing away in a fatal car crash two years earlier. Aaron had been taken in by his- no, their- cousin, Nicky who, apparently, was pretty difficult to live with. Andrew briefly considered telling Aaron he was gay out of spite after one of Aaron’s snide comments about Nicky’s husband but held back. That was ammunition he should save for later. Aaron didn’t have a kind word to say about their mother and Andrew could recognise the exhaustion of a kid beaten down by life anywhere. The faded puncture marks on Aaron’s forearms weren’t exactly hidden either and it made Andrew shake a little with fury.
Andrew told Aaron all about Bee and growing up with her. Andrew considered himself fairly normal. Normal mom, normal school life, normal hobbies. Aaron’s eyes shone with jealousy as he told his story. Andrew felt queasy again when he realised that Tilda had most likely given him away. Bee had said that Andrew was in the system until he was four. Andrew remembered bits and pieces, but his eidetic memory could only take him so far.
Andrew knew the twins were thinking the same thing.
What does he have that I don’t?
Why did Aaron get to stay with their mom? Why did she keep him and give Andrew away?
Why did Andrew get this normal life with a nice mom? Why did he deserve that but I didn’t?
They inevitably ran out of things to talk about. Andrew’s patience for small talk was wearing very thin and he could only take so much more of having to pretend to be interested that Aaron was studying biology so he could become a doctor or that he never learned to drive.
Eventually, they lapsed into silence.
Silence was something Andrew could do better than anyone. They sat and sipped their hot cocoa and happily said nothing, staring in different directions. Andrew watched a little spider making a web in the corner of the ceiling and wonder if anyone would mind if he burned the dorm down.
It felt like too soon when Andrew’s phone rang again. Damn Bee and her never ending list of connections.
“How are you?” She asked without greeting. Clearly she was worried a murder would have taken place. Andrew rolled his eyes so hard she could probably hear it.
“Hello, Bee. What’s the word?”
Bee took a deep breath. “Tilda Minyard gave birth in St Josephine’s hospital on the 4th of November to twins. We can do a test and if you need me, I can come up to Palmetto but-“
“We’re twins,” Aaron interrupted. Andrew started feeling queasy during the long silence that followed his statement.
“…it would seem that way, yes. Are you two alright? I can come up if you need me.”
“We’re fine,” Andrew said, his voice quieter than he would have liked. Aaron was like a wall at his side.
“As long as you’re sure.” Bee didn’t sound convinced. Andrew looked at his twin and he was fairly sure that the way he read Aaron’s shrug as an I’m okay, was some form of twin telepathy. That was something they should test, though he couldn’t imagine future Doctor Minyard voluntarily wearing a tinfoil hat,
“We’re sure,” Andrew promised.
“Okay,” Bee said, sounding less concerned, “Remember you’re supposed to be phoning me every night, Andrew. If you forget I will tell Renee.”
“I’m not going to forget,” Andrew said. Bee hummed, unconvinced.
“You two boys have a good night. If you’re going to break any laws, don’t get caught.”
“Whatever,” Andrew huffed but added a soft, “we’ll be safe. Promise.”
“Aaron?” Bee prompted.
“Whatever,” Aaron agreed. Bee hung up finally after a long series of drawn-out goodbyes which just seemed to make everything so much worse.
Andrew stared at his own face on someone else and Aaron stared back.
Brothers.
Weird.