Austin

> I never thought about getting old before. Not that I thought it wouldn't happen to me, just I thought I wouldn't make it that far.
> (to Elaine Nguyen)
>
>

**Austin Gabriel Grzegorczyk** is a side character in Frozen Pines.

## Physical Appearance

Austin is averagely tall and lanky. He mostly dresses in athletic wear or his work uniform (and he often is covered in dirt from either of those activities). At one point, he dyed his naturally black hair a blonde color, but rather than keeping up with the maintenance, he gave himself a buzz cut.

## Personality

Austin is stoic and extremely quiet, even to those he is close to. Some feel that Austin is rude, and sometimes he is, but more often he is just uncomfortable and doesn't know what to say. Elaine finds it endearing, but it hasn't won him any favors with Elaine's friends, who all dislike him to varying degrees. Despite how he may come across to strangers, once Austin begins caring about someone, he will show it in nonverbal ways, such as giving round the clock care to his grandfather, fixing things around the house, buying things for others, etc. The only person he truly opens up to and communicates with is Elaine. Because she is the only person in Austin's life who he feels comfortable talking to, she ends up bearing the brunt of many of his emotional struggles, though unintentional on Austin's part.

## Background

Austin's parents, both the children of Polish immigrants, met through the Catholic Church and were married in their early 20s. Shortly after having Austin, they got divorced and Austin's father moved to another city for his job. He and Austin have remained in contact and see each other a few times a year, but they are not close. At some point, he remarried and had another son, who Austin rarely sees.

Shortly before his entry into Frozen Pines, Austin's maternal grandfather, simply referred to as "Papa" became ill with many ailments, the most devastating of which being Alzheimer's Disease. He was unable to live on his own, but refused to enter a nursing home, so he moved in with his daughter, Cindy, and her son, Austin. Though they were both supposed to take care of Papa together, the care-taking quickly became solely Austin's job. He drives his grandpa to all his doctor's appointments, including dialysis three times a week, even if it means missing school or work. When Austin is at home, he is constantly providing care to his grandpa, who easily becomes belligerent when he is confused. Austin had to quickly become fluent in Polish as his grandpa spoke less and less English with time. Austin lets Papa carry a gun because it calms him down, but he asserts that the gun is fake and he takes it away before they leave the house, so no one can mistake it for the real thing, although he manages to point it at Elaine during the first and only time she met Papa.

## Relationships

### Friends

* Matt Chauhan - *Best friends since childhood*. They were the quietest, shyest kids in kindergarten, so they naturally gravitated towards each other. Despite this, they are not particularly close with regards to emotion. They prefer to hang out and do extreme sports (they've tried almost everything at least once) rather than talk. Occasionally, Matt opens up to Austin about his life, particularly when he was dating Stevie, but Austin rarely reciprocates. Neither of them mind this.

### Family

* Cindy - *Mother*. The relationship between Cindy and Austin is fraught with tension. Cindy is a tough, no-nonsense type of mother who rarely shows affection except in the most dire of circumstances. She shows her love through *doing*, which Austin has clearly inherited. Cindy works three jobs and is always exhausted, but she doesn't show Austin much sympathy even though he is also working around the clock to take care of his family. Things became more tense between them when Austin started dating Elaine, who Cindy greatly disliked and was rude to in the beginning. After Austin and Elaine got engaged, tensions eased a bit between all three of them.
* Papa - *Grandpa*.
* **Unnamed Father** **-** Austin can't help but feel some resentment for the way his dad lives compared to how Austin and his mom live. Despite this, there is no animosity between them. Austin mostly only talks to his dad for quick catch-ups and weekend visits in the summers.
* **Unnamed Half Brother -** He is 11 years younger than Austin.

### Enemies

* Stevie Donovan - Though Stevie and Austin never liked each other much, they remain civil. However, Stevie became a point of contention in Austin and Elaine's relationship. Things became more hostile between them after Austin and Elaine got engaged, due to Stevie's disapproval.

## Trivia

* Whenever Austin's full name would be shown, his last name would be partially obscured or shortened to just "Austin G." because no one ever pronounced it correctly. Because of this, Elaine didn't know what his last name was until after they were already engaged.