#arjun patel

Everyone assumes Dr. Aaron Minyard is the nightmare attending. He’s cold, he’s efficient, and he has a reputation for shredding surgical egos during rounds. Naturally, the administration dumps the "problem residents" on him: a girl from the South Side who fights back, a legacy kid terrified of failure, and a genius who’s stopped trying.

Aaron intends to teach them Neurocritical Care. He doesn't intend to defend them from bullies, fix their protein deficiencies, or introduce them to his wife (the nicest pediatrician in Chicago).

Unfortunately for Aaron, he has a bad habit of adopting strays.

Anyway I love them so much and want to know everything about them!

Ahhh yes! My kids!! I have a sketch thing Ive been working on of them but its super WIP so dont judge how garbage quality this is LOL. Left to right is Aaron, O'Malley, Patel, and then Wei.

For fun facts GOD idk where to start soon.

Dr. Arjun Patel:

​- The nurses started a "Sorry Jar" for him in the breakroom. Every time he apologizes for doing his job correctly, he has to put a dollar in. He funded the entire unit's pizza party in three weeks.

​- He has three high-end pens, right?. They aren't just color-coded. They are ranked by "Severity of Diagnosis." He uses the Montblanc for "Good News," the Parker for "Routine Labs," and the cheap Bic for "I have to call a consult and they are going to yell at me."

​- Because he is terrified of human interaction, he learned the hospital computer system better than the IT department. He can find a patient's chart from 1998 in four clicks. He once recovered a "deleted" MRI scan just so he wouldn't have to call the radiologist back.

​Dr. Sarah O'Malley:

​- She is weirdly good at braiding hair . It started as wound care (getting hair out of lacerations), but now, if a patient has been in a coma for weeks and their hair is matted, O'Malley will stay twenty minutes post-shift to French braid it. She threatens anyone who mentions it with a reflex hammer.

​- She has ascended past the need for normal coffee. She drinks the sludge from the bottom of the pot at 4 PM. She once drank a quadruple-shot espresso and immediately took a nap. Her blood type is purely Arabica and spite.

​- She uses a step-stool in the trauma bay, but she kicks it into position with such violence that nobody dares to make a joke about her height. She calls it her "Tactical Elevation Platform".

​- After that first dinner, she becomes Katelyn's bodyguard. If a parent is rude to Dr. Katelyn Mackenzie in the PICU, O'Malley will magically appear in the doorway cracking her knuckles. Aaron approves of this.

Dr. David Wei:

​- Because he refuses to go home, he has mastered the ability to sleep while standing up, leaning against a wall, with his eyes slightly open. It terrifies the medical students.

​- He really can hear the ventilator rhythm is off before the machine alarms. He also hums classical piano concertos while doing central lines. It’s the only time he looks peaceful. If he stops humming, the patient is about to crash.

​- He knows exactly which vending machine in the hospital is broken and gives free sodas if you hit it in the right spot. He calls it "The Foster Kid Discount".

Love your fics btw 💕

Thank you!!

Oh, they absolutely know. There is zero doubt in my mind that they have known since before they even set foot in the hospital for their first shift. Medical residents are, by definition, high-achieving, neurotic researchers who run on caffeine and anxiety. The second they got their match letters and saw "Attending: Dr. A. Minyard," they 100% Googled him to see if he had published any papers they needed to memorize to suck up to him. And instead of a boring article on beta-blockers, they found "State vs. Minyard" and a very high-profile acquittal for bashing a guy’s skull in with a racquet.

I just dont think Aaron would have had a conversation with them about it until later in their residency, definitely not their first year as his interns. By the time he talks about it, they understand him better as a person anyways and they see it for what it is. Aaron killed someone to protect someone he loves, and that distinction matters. It probably played a little into why Patel was so scared of him initially. I think Wei would have logic-ed it out at first. And O'Malley has a Juvie record for protecting her little brother. So if anyone gets it, its her.

As far as Popo goes, Wei took it MUCH harder than expected. Aaron and Katelyn gave Popo's collar to Wei as a departing gift because Wei had gotten so attached so quickly. Its one of the only times Aaron sees Wei actually cry.

It also leads to a conversation between Aaron and Wei where Wei finds out Popo was a rescue and opens up about his own past with foster homes. I have that partially drafted as a oneshot but I haven't decided if I want to post it or not because it's pretty heavy.

"Brother-in-law?" Patel piped up from the sofa. "Wait. You have a twin. And a brother-in-law? How many people are in this house? Is there a chart? I feel like I need a flowchart."

Aaron brings his residents home for Christmas Eve dinner. Nicky brings the energy. Neil brings a butterfly knife. Andrew brings... Andrew. A story about mentorship, survival instincts, and the horrifying realization that Dr. Minyard is actually the normal one.

Mirrors 🥰

Their interpersonal relationships also change over time, to be fair lmao. They're living in the same apartment (cheaper, in O'Malley and Wei's case, and Patel jumps on board to distance himself a bit from the Legacy Kid thing) so they have a lot of time together outside of work too.

I think it would have been rocky at firstly with all three, trying to find a balance that works with how different their personalities are, and things like class difference etc. But once they've kind of figured everything out, they're all pretty close. Sibling trio energy, if that makes sense.

I think it also evens out once Patel's future BF and O'Malley's future BF get added to the mix, ironically. (Wei is aroace for what its worth) Functioning unit and all that.

For tats, I haven't really thought about it beyond the discussion @thegoliathbeetle and I have had about Aaron getting a caduceus tattoo over his self harm scars in the future. (I know people are weird about that being a valid medical symbol, but snakes also symbolise rebirth so it doubles, shush)

Sorry if I keep sending too many asks let me know if it’s bothering you (the Aaron brain rot is getting to me)

I do think they eventually at least meet Kevin just by association because I think Kev visits sometimes when Andrew and Neil do. Im less sure about the other Foxes because idk how often theyre in Chicago or around Aaron in general????

Specific opinions under the cut.