same old me again today

Alysa Liu (USA): MacArthur Park Suite | 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics, FS

"That's what the f**k I'm talking about!"

The farmhouse is quiet, as Serena lets herself in, the low hum of a television turned all the way down the only noise to greet her home after a long day spent in Manchester.

Toeing off her boots at the door - not wanting to risk either Aaron or Robert’s wrath for having trodden muddy footprints through the house - Serena heads for the living room, careful, quiet, as she pushes at the half closed door.

The sight that greets her is almost sickeningly domestic - if she were more cynical, she might even think it over the top, but Serena has always been a hopeless romantic, and living with her cousin and his partner hasn’t changed that. If anything, living with Aaron and Robert had made it worse, had made her crave love, and partnership even more than ever before.

Aaron is sitting upright on the couch, only half paying attention to whatever match is playing on the telly, Robert lying across the rest of the length of his couch, his feet hanging over the armrest, her cousin much too tall to comfortably stretch out across the seat.

He did look comfortable, was the thing. Robert’s head was in Aaron’s lap, and he was snoring softly, in a deeper sleep than she’d ever seen him in.

“Hi,” Serena greeted, keeping her voice low, and soft. She knew that sleep tended to elude Robert.

She’d overheard enough hushed arguments between Aaron and Robert in the mornings about how little Robert had slept, had been woken by the creak of Robert pacing the farmhouse in the night enough times to know that sleep wasn’t a familiar friend for her cousin.

Things between her and Aaron were still frosty, at best, but he seemed to - slowly, slowly - be warming up to her; more now, that everything was out in the open and she’d given Aaron and Robert the only thing she had left, the truth.

Aaron’s smile didn’t quite reach his eyes, but it was a smile, at least, so Serena would take the win. He didn’t stop the gentle way he was scratching his fingers through Robert’s hair as he replied.

“Hi,” he returned. “How were your meetings?”

Serena tucked her feet under herself as she sat down, tugging one of the spare blankets up around. “Fine,” she shrugged, because they had honestly been boring, but necessary - so fine seemed to be the best descriptor.

Aaron followed her gaze to Robert, who was still sleeping peacefully. “He was awake all night,” he said, by way of explanation, and there was a quiver of worry to his tone that he rarely let Serena see.

He was determined for her to not get to know him, and Serena understood it, she did - but she was just as determined to not give up on making Aaron like her. Two stubborn people, who wanted entirely different things it could only work out well - Serena was nothing but a painful optimist.

“I’m glad he has you,” Serena said, after a beat of silence. “He - I saw what it was like for him, growing up. His dad was…” she trailed off, unsure of what to say. Her mum had always told her not to speak ill of the dead, but it was hard to find anything nice to say about Jack Sugden.

“A bastard,” Aaron supplied, and there was a twinkle of something wicked in his expression that made Serena even more determined for them to be friends.

“I remember his mum’s funeral,” Serena said, thinking back. If Robert had been fifteen, she’d have been nine - just about - and she’d never forgotten the simple navy dress her mum had put her in.

Children shouldn’t wear black to funerals, she’d explained, years later - and Serena had stood in the graveyard in Emmerdale and tugged her denim jacket around her and watched as her cousin had stood, stoic, refusing to let anyone see how upset he was.

Aaron looked a little surprised. “He doesn’t talk about it.”

Serena shrugged. “I get it,” she said, and she did. Robert had been a quiet twenty-four year old when he’d quietly slipped into the back of the church for her dad’s funeral, not long after his own dad had died. He’d hugged her tightly, and promised to be there for her, and he’d dutifully sent Christmas and birthday cards every year - right until he’d gone to prison.

She shifted, slightly, sinking into the plush material of the armchair.

“I’m just glad he has you,” Serena said, offering Aaron a soft smile. “I used to worry, that he wouldn’t let himself find a happy ever after - but he’s got that, with you.”

Aaron’s cheeks flushed, a little, and Serena would let him blame the fire. “It’s not always been easy,” he murmured, thumb gentle as it brushed across Robert’s cheekbone. Aaron didn’t always come across as a gentle person, but Serena got to see it in moments like this, Aaron’s gentleness on show.

“But it’s worth it?” Serena supplied, and really, if the two of them carried on the way they did, she might believe in love all over again.

“Yeah,” Aaron hummed, pausing for a second as Robert shifted in his lap, mumbling something sleepily. “It’s worth it.”

Serena allowed herself another minute to indulge in the picture-perfect sight of her cousin sleeping peacefully on his partner, Robert’s endless arms and legs chaos in the midst of such a picturesque moment of peace.

“I’ll make dinner tonight,” she offered, because she didn’t want to intrude any longer. “Lasagna sound good?”

Aaron nodded. “Yeah, sounds good,” he confirmed. “Thanks, Serena.”