don't freak out

thank you for the tags @mellaithwen @illbeyourreasonwhy @capseycartwright @thatnervouswreck @barnbert @maybemystcha @nerdyfangirl76 @jackiemerrick and @robrondale xxxxxxxxx

this didn't exist 30 mins ago but fomo got to me so:

"We should take the day off," Aaron says, his breath tickling Robert's neck where he's tucked up against him as they sway in his, no, their living room. Robert smiles as he pulls back from the hug and plays with Aaron's fingers, looking at the ring back in its rightful place. "Celebrate."

"Oh? We didn't celebrate enough last night?" Robert asks, cheekily, as he slots their left hands together, joyfully relishing in the clink of the metal on both of their fingers.

"I'm not saying that," Aaron says, grinning at him fondly. God, Robert had missed that smile, and having it directed at him again almost makes him want to cry. "It's just… not every day you get the love of your life back." He looks earnest and open, and Robert actually might cry if he keeps this up.

thank you my beloved @mellaithwen for the tag!! 💗 this fic is taking wayyy longer than planned but it's nearly there so let's all manifest me finishing by wednesday 🙏

“Eight years?” Scott exclaims, but then he thinks about it and, well: “I fucking knew it.” Now, Hollander balks – eyes wide and face pale – and Rozanov glares at him in a way that’s probably only a degree or two below murderous. “How did you- um, why did you-” It’s only Shane’s stuttering that makes him play back what he said in his head. He’s had that fear before, the worry that he was being too obvious somehow. “No, hey,” he says, holding his hands up in surrender. “You weren’t obvious or anything. I just meant- well.” He huffs a laugh, hoping it might lighten the mood. “Your first All Star weekend? I was convinced I heard Roz give you his room number.” There’s a beat of silence and then- “I fucking told you,” Shane snaps indignantly, whirling on Rozanov who’s currently staring at the sky like he’s asking God for patience. After heaving a frankly dramatic long-suffering sigh, he scowls at Scott. “I cannot believe you have just cockblocked me at All Star weekend for the second time, Hunter.”

thank you lovelies @robrondale @jackiemerrick @nerdyfangirl76 @maybemystcha @barnbert @capseycartwright for the tags 💕 actually got it down to seven sentences today, enjoy <3

Alex will never hurt you like that, she doesn't need to say, and she's right. He won't. Alex will never hurt Aaron like Robert did. He won't ever be able to. No one will. And maybe that's the point. Maybe that's why he needs to resign himself to a lifetime of Alexes who will never know him enough, love him enough, see him enough, to ever know how to carve themselves a place under his skin the way Robert did.

embarrassingly i have nothing written for my own romcom event yet but i do have a random wee excerpt from a fic about letters robert wrote in prison for you (and this is part of one of said letters)

The thought of you moving on with someone else makes me want to die, frankly - but I can’t chain you to me for the rest of your life.

I don’t know when I’m getting out of here - which is fucking terrifying to say, honestly. They might say no to parole, even after fourteen years. In fourteen years, I’ll be nearly in my fifties, and that’s the best case scenario. I can’t ask you to put your life on hold for that long.

Just because I’ve ruined my life, doesn’t mean I should ruin yours too.

I love you - forever.

I’m sorry.

I hope that even if you can never forgive me for it, that one day, you might understand.

tagged by the lovely @robrondale @jackiemerrick @nerdyfangirl76 and @stuckinanothertimezone <333 here's sevenish sentences of daddy sugden au :))))))

Robert lets out a shaky sigh. “He’s been dealing with, uh, separation anxiety. Nightmares, panic attacks, that sort of thing — sometimes he can barely keep food down at school.” Aaron nods softly, his heart breaking at the thought of that brilliant little kid in pain. “He’s been a bit better, though, since—” Robert cuts himself off, avoiding Aaron’s eye. “Since, uh, we met you, actually. You’re the first person Seb’s actually wanted to be babysat by.”

“It’s my birthday soon,” Katie informs him. “Good for you. I have one of those every year myself, as it happens.” Luckily Katie’s finished her drink now, so she can’t give in to the twitch in her fingers that betrays her temptation to throw it at him. If she were one of the Hotten Comp girls, she’d just lob the glass, but it seems the grammar school girls have a little more decorum about them.  “I’d like some live music at my party,” she says slowly, like she’s talking to a particularly thick child. “And you’ve got a band.” It registers then, what she’s saying. Robert feels a grin pulling at his lips as he asks, “Are you trying to hire my services, Katie?”

this fic has taken over my brain like a parasite and i'm resisting the urge to post the first chapter right now...

thank you @robrondale for the tag <33 been working on chapter two of my beloved fic i posted the other day so have around about seven sentences of a rough first draft of that

John, just like Victoria, has grown up while Robert’s been away. He’s sporting facial hair now, and a stature that’s toned but not exactly muscly. He looks just like the pictures of their dad when he was twenty-something.  “Vic messaged me, you’re- Are you back?”  “Flying visit.” “He’s engaged,” Vic chips in, nodding at John with her eyebrows as well as her head, expecting him to join in teasing him. John’s face stays flat as ever.  “Congratulations.”  “And to you, Vic mentioned you’re going back into the army.” “Maybe. It’s- It’s a bit up in the air at the minute.” “Up in the air?” Vic exclaims, laughing, “You were all but packing last night!” “Well, you know,” John says, eyes not leaving Robert for a second, “plans can change.”

Thanks for the tags @robrondale, @jackiemerrick and @nerdyfangirl76. I'm racing to finish this fic today just in case we get more spoilers about this tomorrow.

“Serena,” Aaron says suddenly as a thought occurs to him halfway to Hotten General. “We can call her when we get there,” his mum reassures him. “No, I mean Robert said she was around just before. She was on the farm but I haven’t seen her since!” Aaron can’t tell if his mum’s silence is scepticism or if she’s just concentrating on driving so he carries on. “Robert said the trailer was secure, you know he’s not careless, he’s obsessive about safety. He wouldn’t let something like this happen. Someone else must’ve done something, tampered with it somehow and she was there!” “Maybe she’s one of those copycats,” Chas suggests. “Maybe that’s why she’s so interested in John.”

Romcom is becoming a bit serious, but I'm glad the muse is back after a couple of harsh days.

“He’s a hard man, your dad.”

“Hard as a hand he raised us with.” Robert says without thinking and Aaron’s expression morphs into a frown, and Robert backtracks so fast he might as well get a whiplash, “He’s a tough guy, I mean.” he clears his throat, “Would you like to go to the town for a few? Nothing crazy, I’m not that much into day drinking, but-” his brain actually freezes now, and Aaron watches him for a moment, intense and searching, before giving him a slow nod.

“Alright, then.”

They go back to the living room, where Aaron announces that he’s stealing Robert away, taking all responsibility for their early exit.

“Thank you for the lovely meal. You have a wonderful home.” his arm drapes around Robert’s shoulders as if it was created to do so, “No wonder-” he tugs Robert closer, looks at him in a way that could honestly earn him a BAFTA, “- no wonder that you raised such an amazing son in here.” he says before leaning in, the touch of his lips just a brush against Robert’s, and yet it feels spine-splintering, oddly genuine and almost not like an act at all.

Oh boy is this several.

Was really on a roll this afternoon and I'm so proud of this section so I'm going to share it all.

You can probably guess what it's from haha.

Thank you to the insanely talented: @robrondale @jackiemerrick @maybemystcha @nerdyfangirl76 & @stuckinanothertimezone <33

It’s what he used to do with Adam. Clinking their cans together either by a fire or round the less-than-comfy sofa, inviting the beverages to keep their lungs warm when it became too frosty and it was effort to speak of any of their tribulations that week. Now he was participating in that same activity. In the village where everything began. With his very absurdly rich boss. The image was a striking juxtaposition. A sigh of an old friend when the drink touched his cracked bottom lip. He let his teeth scrape over the dryness before bravely cutting through the silence: “What does a certain Mr. Sugden do with his free time? Now that he’s not got girls on a revolving door? Or money to flutter on the latest spin of a roulette wheel?” “Roulette wheel?” Robert mocked, lips twitching. Aaron instantly shrugged, “I dunno. What you posh folk do, innit?” Aaron served back and he had to pretend his insides hadn’t just chewed themselves apart at the language of which he used to formerly speak. “I mean-“ Aaron coughed a tad awkwardly, none the wiser that Robert was looking at him like he’d invented English. “It’s what you rich do. You spend money because it is pennies to you. Not thinking about how people with nowt would give their right arm for even a fraction of what you get to spend on an average Tuesday lunch. You behave like it’s infinite.” Aaron’s voice turned passionate before he had control over it. Letting the conviction bleed into every syllable. He genuinely wasn’t trying to make Robert feel guilty. Aaron had clearly been carrying a lot of resentment, especially when their values were starkly different and it was not exactly a hidden concept however, Aaron had learned a lot about his boss from their short time in the village so far. From how conversations had run, he was starting to understand there was a few similarities to them; despite the fact he hated how smug he was, the clothes he wore, how he could have a woman in his orbit before even finishing his last name for pleasant introductions– although he wasn’t sure why that one itched at his skin so hard.

Hope you all liked! I'd really appreciate feedback!

thank you @robrondale @jackiemerrick @nerdyfangirl76 and @barnbert for the tags!!!!

i swear i have so many wips atm but one of them shouldn't be a wip for much longer, so here's roughly seven sentences (upon counting its six lol) of my alt!2017 fic, now officially called do you have to let it linger?

he knew Aaron, knew him deeply, intimately, knew that he was a man who, at his core, could never mean to hurt people. Robert wasnt like him. Robert was ruin, and Aaron was the opposite of that. he wasnt in his right mind, and even if he had been, Robert knew he would have deserved it. he deserved everything that came to him, really. it took Michael a good few sessions to even suggest that Robert hadnt deserved what happened That Night too.