The One That Got Away

I know there is a lot of discourse (tm) around this right now but listen to me

If I were lean down and say “unfortunately the big beach ball for some reason fills you with such an unadulterated rage that is beyond human comprehension that you scream until you pass out, so mama had to remove the beach ball from the premises until you can better regulate your emotions” she would simply stare at me like I had 3 heads full of equal betrayal.

Robert spluttered into his pint as Sadie walked into the pub, commanding attention from everyone present. Aaron frowned at Robert in confusion as he tried to clear his throat, Sadie turning to Chas behind the bar. "Who is that?" Aaron asked Robert as the hubbub kicked up again. "You clearly recognised her."

"Someone from a lifetime ago," Robert said, taking a more measured sip this time.

Aaron looked at Robert, eyes narrowed. "You slept with her, didn't you?" It wasn't really a question.

"Er... yeah. A long time ago." Robert looked almost embarrassed, and a little concerned Aaron was going to kick off. He wasn't, Aaron found this a little bit funny.

"How old were you?" Aaron asked.

"I don't remember," Robert said. "Er... eighteen maybe?"

"Oh, Robert."

"What?! I like sex!" Robert said, but quietly so other villagers couldn't hear him. "You know that about me, it's not a personality flaw!"

"Yeah, but... wasn't that Jimmy's first wife?"

"Oh, come on, like you've never slept with someone you shouldn't," Robert fired back.

"Well, yeah, you," Aaron said, eyes sparkling. "You're top of that list."

“You know, I’m happy to help.”

Aaron couldn’t help but smile to himself as he heard Robert speak, the mirth in his husband’s voice reassurance that he wasn’t about to walk into an argument. As he made his way across the field, Robert and Seb came into view, their very determined ten-year-old holding tightly to a fence-post.

Seb glared up at Robert, the feisty look in his face all Aaron, in moment’s like this. He didn’t like being told what he could, and couldn’t do - it was the first thing they’d learned about their son when Angela had allowed visitation, when they began that slow road to bringing their child home.

“It’s not heavy,” Seb huffed out, the strain in his voice giving away the fact that wasn’t entirely the truth. “I’m stronger than I look, you know!”

The expression on Robert’s face was nothing but affection as he hummed his agreement. “You’re very strong,” he agreed, the early autumn wind whipping at his hair, giving Robert that tustled, out in the fresh air kind of look like Aaron was sure could make the cover of a farming magazine if someone else was to see.

Robert Sugden, poster-child for what it meant to be a sexy farmer.

“But,” Robert continued. “I can’t lift those posts on my own. I need help to,” he said, and Aaron couldn’t help but be struck by how naturally parenting seemed to come to Robert.

He had seen it, all those years ago now, with the gentle - but firm - hand that Robert had when it came to Liv, but it was another thing entirely to see it again, and not only rely on the memory of it.

The baby stage had been hard, for Robert - but this, with an older kid, one not too far off the age Liv had been when they’d taken her in, that seemed to come naturally.

Seb gave his dad a curious look. “You do?”

Robert nodded. “That’s why we’ve got Matty, and Serena, and Mack, on the farm,” he explained. “I can’t do it all by myself. I need to ask for help a lot of the time too.”

Aaron decided it was time to make himself known. “He asks me for help all the time,” he hummed, letting Robert pull him in for a quick kiss. He’d left early on a scrap run, and so hadn’t had the chance to even say good morning before he’d been on the road.

Aaron hated those mornings, when he missed out on the slow, giggly breakfasts with his husband, and son. He liked the life they had built on the farm, and he never liked to miss out on any of it, not when the school holidays were almost over, and the novelty of having Seb under their feet all day, everyday, was about to be replaced by a busy year at Hotten Primary.

“Hi, dad,” Seb beamed, and it never got less exciting to hear the word ‘dad’ coming from their bright, brilliant son. It had taken a while for Seb to feel comfortable calling Robert dad, and longer for him to settle on wanting to call Aaron the same, and so Aaron would never take it for granted.

“Hey, kid,” Aaron grinned, running a hand through Seb’s already messy hair.

He needed a haircut before he went back to school, but for now, the sun-bleached blonde hair was a mirror image to Robert’s own, and once again, Aaron was struck by the thought of what an utter fucking delight it was to get a mini Robert to love on top of Robert himself.

“So,” Robert fixed Seb with a serious look, arm never leaving Aaron’s waist. “Are you going to let us help you so we can get this fence fixed in time for tea, or do you want to keep struggling?”

Seb huffed out a breath, clearly tempted by the thought of an eye-roll before he decided it wasn’t worth the trouble. It was a bad habit he’d picked up from Issac, and one they were determined to put a stop too.

“I’d like some help, please,” Seb finally relented, and the smattering of freckles across the bridge of his nose made him look more like Robert than ever - even if the refusal to accept help was a straight shared by Aaron and Robert equally, and one Seb was always going to end up inheriting.

Aaron pressed a kiss to the corner of Robert’s mouth, grinning at his son. “What do you say we get this fence built extra quick, and we convince your dad to drive to Hotten to pick up Chinese?” he offered, keeping his voice low, because he liked to spoil his kid - sue him.

Seb glanced over to the trailer where Robert was rooting for tools, and grinned. “It’s a deal, dad.”

Aaron can’t help but feel grateful that their bedroom isn’t upstairs, as he makes his way through the creaking old farmhouse, doing his best not to make too much noise. It felt like a stark contrast to the modern renovation of the Mill, the way the farmhouse creaked, and groaned, as though it had something to say about the life being lived inside of it.

Maybe it did. Aaron was sure there were generations of crotchety old Sugden spirits stuck in the walls, horrified at the thought one of their own was playing house with another man.

It made it all the more satisfying, really.

Blindly, Aaron undressed, not wanting to turn the light on and disturb a fitfully sleeping Robert.

He had been away at a scrap run, and hadn’t been due to come back until the next day, a planned stopover in Birmingham for the night - but Aaron had hit Birmingham, and the thought of checking into his room at the Premier Inn he’d booked had felt like the most miserable prospect of all time, so he’d stopped at a services for an energy drink and he’d kept on driving.

Some people - including his mum, sometimes - might say Aaron and Robert had become concerningly co-dependent, but Aaron didn’t really care. He’d nearly lost Robert so many times, in so many horrible ways, that he felt like being co-dependent was the only reasonable response.

Gently, Aaron peeled back his side of the duvet, rousing Robert, despite how quiet he was trying to be.

“Aaron?” Robert mumbled sleepily, confusion evident in his tone.

“Yeah, it’s me,” Aaron replied softly, sliding into bed. Robert was all over him in an instant, warm body pressed against Aaron’s cold one.

“You weren’t due back until tomorrow,” Robert said hoarsely, his grip on Aaron’s waist tight. He clearly hadn’t been sleeping too deeply, which wasn’t entirely unusual for Robert nowadays.

“I wanted to wake up with you,” Aaron found himself saying.

It was cheesy, really - a bit over-the-top and romantic, for two o’clock in the morning, but it was the truth. Aaron savoured every morning he got to wake up with an armful of Robert Sugden now, because he’d gone far too long without getting to do it.

Robert burrowed his face in the crook of Aaron’s neck, mumbling something incoherent.

“Go back to sleep,” Aaron hummed, pressing a kiss to the crown of Robert’s head. “I’ll be here in the morning.”

Robron week 2026 day 7 : 2025

they're at the kingfisher after a game in new york and scott and some of the other admirals are there along with a majority of the cens and they're all having a good time. ilya and some random admirals player are chirping each other and ilya says something a little mean in the asshole way he does with a small tilt of his lips. and shane can suddenly feel eyes on him from scott and carter and troy and various other players, and for a second he doesn't get it. he doesn't get it, until all he does is snort in response, because well, it was true and also pretty funny and ilya really is the funniest person he knows, okay, and ilya nudges him with a small smile when he hears it, but then the stares slowly morph into something like confused gapes, and all of a sudden, he gets it. it's not the first time it happens and it definitely won't be the last, but shane starts noticing it a lot more and it continues to piss. him. the. fuck. off.

hayden giving him an expectant glance when ilya is half-yelling and groaning with a few cens in the bar at the soccer game on tv, like shane is for some reason gonna tell him to quiet down. scott giving him a quick side-eye when ilya chirps about his age on the ice, like shane is gonna tell him to stop; like he doesn't find the multiple layers to ilya's chirps to scott genuinely impressive, like he doesn't find it amusing. evan, though to his credit he was mostly joking, making a sly comment about shane needing to hold ilya back from fighting during a game, like shane would do that when ilya is well-fucking-aware of when to pick fights and when not to because he is the second-best hockey player in the league; like shane doesn't also find it unbearably hot when ilya has a little blood on his knuckles and dripping down the corner of his lips as he calls out mean little quips at the other team with a smirk on his face

because the thing about their relationship is that shane is undeniably attracted to ilya being an asshole. he thinks it's funny. it almost definitely also turns him on. and he likes when ilya is mean and smug and rowdy and a little shit. he likes when ilya is an asshole to him because that's their banter and their foreplay. he likes when ilya is an asshole to other people because he pretty much always thinks what ilya says is hilarious. (plus it's the fact that shane is also an asshole; it's just that ilya says it out loud more often than he does)

and so the thing about their relationship that, for some fucking reason, other people don't get is that shane, from the very beginning, has always and will continue to like when ilya is an asshole. and yes, they're married (shane also thinks some people seem to forget this, because why would shane marry ilya if he truly doesn't like ilya's personality. he thinks other people are a little stupid sometimes.) but they're also best friends and bond over being the best at what they do and how competitive they are and that they're both a little bitchy at times

Robron week 2026 day 5 : 2018