we're all stories in the end

• my ao3 is here (username wafflesofdoom if the one day the link doesn’t work)

Mr Thomas massages his temples, peering up at Robert with tired resignation. “You ought to take things more seriously, Mr Sugden. If you applied yourself, you could have prospects. Real ones. I hate to say it but right now, you’re going nowhere.” “Nowhere,” Robert repeats, unmoved. “Is nowhere full of geniuses, Sir? ‘Cos if so, I’ll fit right in.” “The arrogance of youth won’t serve you well come adulthood, young man.” “Is it arrogance if I know it to be true?”  “I think that may be the very definition, yes.” Robert hums. “Y’know, I’ll remember you when I’m famous, Sir. I'll make you a footnote in my memoirs. Nowhere Boy by Robert Sugden. Got quite a ring to it, don’t you think?”

i can only apologise to the group chat for how much i've been banging on about this fic... especially @sugdendeeznuts who is entirely to blame for its conception

i've not been online much recently so i actively encourage everyone to please bully me into reading / writing more again during this drought

hallo :)) thank u for the tag @robrondale <33

“What’s up?” Aaron asks, swinging around the staircase post and skipping back into his place between Gordon and Sandra. Sandra tucks him under her maternal arm and hugs him to her side. “Nothing, darling, we’ve just told Chastity about your new sibling.” “My mum’s pregnant,” Aaron gives Carl and Chas this big, shit-eating grin and lays his hand over Sandra’s stomach. See, the thing is, there's a plan. There’s a t-shirt wrapped in blue paper hidden in one of the kitchen drawers that is probably a couple sizes too small now Carl’s seeing the kid in person which boldly proclaims BIG BROTHER in chunky black lettering on a plain white background. After they ate tea, Chas was going to give Aaron the present and Carl was supposed to record his (likely painfully hollow or explosively negative) reaction so she could have it forever. Plans, Carl knows well enough, are always liable to change.

I was tagged by @robrondale 😊

A little snippet from chapter 5 of I’m Coming Home to You (posted at work from my phone so I hope it works)

Then there was Chrissie. That situation was somehow even worse. For the first couple of days Robert had carefully avoided telling her the real reason for his return to the village. He’d vaguely mentioned family matters and left it at that. Unfortunately, Chrissie was not stupid. Eventually she’d demanded the truth.

The resulting phone call had been spectacular. Chrissie’s voice had been so loud coming through the phone that Robert had found himself holding it away from his ear. She’d threatened to call off the wedding. Threatened to tell her father exactly what was happening. Threatened to have Lawrence remove Robert from the position he’d worked so hard to secure. That threat had got his attention. Robert couldn’t afford to lose either the job or the future he’d spent years building.

So he’d done what Robert Sugden had always done best. He’d talked. Calmly. Smoothly. Convincingly. He’d reassured her that she had nothing to worry about. Told her he loved her. Told her the papers were simply unfinished business and nothing more. By the end of the conversation, he’d almost sounded convincing enough to believe it himself.

Eventually Chrissie’s anger had softened. The shouting stopped. Her voice became warmer. By the time they’d hung up she was telling him how much she missed him. How she couldn’t wait for him to come home. How much she loved him. Robert had said it back automatically.

Today he would get the papers signed. Today he would finish what he’d come here to do. And then he’d go home. Back to London. Back to Chrissie. Back to the life he’d chosen.

tagged by the lovely @robrondale @jackiemerrick and @nerdyfangirl76 <33 haven’t done this for a week but hello!! actually took a break from writing because work has been taking it out of me 😭😭 but here's some of a criminal au hehe

Still, it's not like there’s much else going for him. The Kings have been amazing, but every second he spends in their house, he can feel the thick band of old guilt wrap tighter and tighter around his throat. He can’t exactly pop home and live in his sister’s spare bedroom either. The only Robert she'd known was the influential businessman who sent her postcards and rang for her birthday. The real him is a stranger. Maybe he should just do something stupid and go back to prison? The thought seems crazy at first, but it would make things easier. He would’t have to sort out the mess his life is - almost forty with nothing. The only other option he has right now is the offer from the Dingles. If this were the Robert of six years ago, he would've taken Mackenzie’s deal in a heartbeat. Working for that family would've always been a risk, but back then, he would've seen it as a challenge or an opportunity to weasel his way into the big leagues. But now?

tagged by @robrondale @jackiemerrick @nerdyfangirl76 @maybemystcha thank youuu <33

it is just barely wednesday here but this is one of the most hectic weeks I've had in a long time (busiest week of the year at work. job interview. grad-ing tomorrow?? letting my family whisk me away on a vacation to celebrate. the works) and I know for a fact I'm not going to have a minute to myself to share anything tomorrow on account of said graduation, so. have something now ❤️

"You didn't come see me in the hospital." It's a question, not an accusation. Robert sits with it for a long moment. "I couldn't," he says finally. "Why not?" "Well, I went back inside, for one," he says sharply. Aaron sees right through it. "And after?" Robert releases a breath. "I couldn't," he repeats. "I couldn't see you, look at you in that place, and know it was all my fault." Aaron arches a brow. "How'd you figure that?" "I made everything worse." Story of his life, he thinks bitterly. But it's the truth, isn't it — he's had loads of time to think about that day by the gorge, to turn it over and over in his head, and he knows that Aaron had a handle on things before Robert showed up, or at least a better handle than Robert did. It was Robert that sent John over the edge. Figuratively, at least.

i'm just a girl who loves a romcom, standing in front of a fandom with a poorly made canva graphic, asking if you want to partake in a robron romcom summer.

dear good people of the robron fandom -

what's more fun than summer? a robron romcom summer. in the spirit of creating another fun wee fic event for this lovely fandom, i propose to you this: a week of romcom inspired fic for aaron and robert, from july 6-12.

the rules are simple - we're going old school big bang style. there's a google form here with an arguably excessive list of romcoms for you to be inspired by. pick one - pick more! - and once you've chosen, it removes it from the list, so you get to keep that romcom all to yourself.

write an au, write a canon fic - write whatever you want, just make it inspired by your favourite romcom!