Aaron
 | This page is pretty raw LLM output. |
| Aaron | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Gender | Male |
| Age | 14 |
| Birthday | 1994 |
| Species | Dog |
| Family | Rachel (Sister) |
| Occupation | Student |
| Residence | Rachel’s house |
| Debut | Bonding, page 3 March 3, 2007 |
Aaron is Rachel’s younger brother, a grey dog whose broken arm becomes one of the defining incidents in Rachel and Jessica’s history with Tess.[1] He is twelve in the hospital flashback that introduces him by name.[2]
Personality
Aaron has built a lot of his self-worth around soccer. In the hospital he cries that his life is over, asks what else he has if he cannot play, and compares himself unfavorably to his smarter sister.[3] Rachel calls him dramatic once she is out in the hallway, but the scene makes clear why the injury feels enormous to him: soccer is the thing he believes he is good at.[2]
He is also impatient enough to think lifting the broken arm might make it heal faster, then insists that it has to when Rachel tells him otherwise.[3] The flashback to the injury shows the same quick temper. Aaron runs over looking apologetic after his ball hits Tess, but raises a fist once she stabs and deflates it.[1]
Appearance
Aaron is a young grey dog with dark brown hair and long floppy ears.[3] In the hospital he wears a dark red T-shirt, with his broken arm in a cast and sling.[3] His later appearance in New Year’s Resolution has him bundled in a dark blue snowsuit and yellow scarf while playing ball with Molly.[4]
Significant events
Aaron’s injury is revealed in pieces. In Follow Me, Rachel slaps Tess and says that her brother still cannot play soccer after what Tess and Roger did to him, specifically naming a broken arm.[5] Bonding had already shown an unnamed crying boy clutching his arm as Roger walks away and Rachel rushes over; the later flashback strongly identifies that image with Aaron, although the page itself never names him.[6]
Pillow Talk eventually shows the incident directly. Aaron and Justin are playing kickball while Rachel watches. Aaron accidentally sends the ball into Tess, apologetically runs over, and watches her stab it flat with a switchblade. When he reacts angrily, Roger moves in and kicks him while he is curled on the ground, with Tess laughing beside them.[1] Aaron later lies in hospital with a broken arm, crying to Rachel that without soccer he has nothing.[3] Jessica watches from the doorway, and later compares the despair of her own freshman year to his.[7]
Years later Aaron is mostly mentioned rather than seen. Rachel confirms in Take Heart that he is her only brother,[8] and New Year’s Resolution shows him casually bouncing and kicking a red ball around with Molly at the park.[4] The scene does not establish whether he ever returned to soccer.
Major relationships
Rachel
Aaron’s hospital scene catches Rachel in the uncomfortable position of having every answer except the one he wants. She tells him not to move his arm and volunteers to tutor him when he says he is not smart like she is; he screams back that he needs help fixing his arm, not studying.[3] Outside the room she tries to laugh it off, saying her twelve-year-old brother is being dramatic and will be getting plenty of noogies once he is home, before breaking down because she cannot do anything for him.[2] Veronica’s commentary points out that this is the rare moment when Rachel’s usual cheer gives way, and that it happens because of Aaron and the people who hurt him.[2]
The injury remains a family reference point years later. In Method Acting, Rachel insists that the baseball-playing little brother with a broken leg in Jessica’s play is “clearly” Aaron; Jessica dryly reminds her that Aaron broke his arm, not his leg.[9]
Minor relationships
Aaron never speaks to Tess or Roger on page. Their contact is the attack itself: Tess destroys his ball and Roger physically injures him.[1] A 2024 creator answer explicitly confirms that Roger was the one who broke Aaron’s arm, while describing Tess as the instigator who escalated the incident.[10] Jessica only watches Aaron from the hospital doorway, but his meltdown stays with her strongly enough that she later uses it to describe her own freshman-year despair.[7]
Quotes
Yes it is! I’m good at soccer! What else do I have? I’m not smart like you are! Aaron, to Rachel from his hospital bed in Pillow Talk
I don’t need help studying!! I need help FIXING MY ARM!! Aaron, rejecting Rachel’s tutoring offer in Pillow Talk
Trivia
- Aaron’s exact birthday and present-day age are not established. The comic only gives a hard age for the hospital flashback, when Rachel says he is twelve.[2]
- What appears to be Aaron’s first appearance is the unnamed injured boy in Bonding, published years before Pillow Talk introduced him by name and gave him dialogue.[6][3]
- The Aaron who appears in Paulo’s childhood story in Flirting with Disaster is a separate, older character.[11]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Chapter 61: Pillow Talk, page 29
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Chapter 61: Pillow Talk, page 22
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 Chapter 61: Pillow Talk, page 21
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Chapter 119: New Year’s Resolution, page 21
- ↑ Chapter 32: Follow Me, page 7
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Chapter 34: Bonding, page 3
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Chapter 61: Pillow Talk, page 36
- ↑ Chapter 81: Take Heart, page 32
- ↑ Chapter 121: Method Acting, page 17
- ↑ “Ask response on who broke Aaron’s arm”. 2024-09-09.
- ↑ Chapter 27: Flirting with Disaster, page 4