#anth tag

"We need to talk to you about your husband," the DI had explained after they'd introduced themselves and flashed their badges. Then she'd told them, because Robert's still the next of kin and they have to inform him, that Kev had been found dead in his stupid cake van a few hours ago. She hadn't called it stupid. Aaron added that part.

AO3 link

i go on about this a lot in the gc but it's so important to me that seb is a mini aaron

he's clever and quick witted like his mum and daddy robert but he's also a kid that's been abandoned time and time again and feels utterly and completely alone and unlovable as a result. why else would he be living with an elderly great aunt and not his parents?

and what if that trauma doesn't hit him until he's in his teens? little kids don't always process trauma immediately, instead it lays dormant until puberty hits and all the hormones in their body sets it free when they can suddenly comprehend what they've been through better

so it's say. 14 year old seb who's been living with robert and aaron for a couple of years and suddenly it starts to dawn on him that this could be taken away at any moment. he lost his dads overnight, his mum and ross too, who's to say that life on the farm will be forever? a little too good to be true

so he starts acting out, testing the boundaries just like aaron and his auntie liv did. and aaron is the perfect person to realise that that's what he's doing, since he was doing it at that age and was still doing it to chas as late as in 2023. and it would break him, that he's part of the reason why his son feels the way he did, even if he didn't play an active part in it

cue a scene where seb is screaming and throwing things and aaron comes at him with unconditional love and understanding and they hug tightly and cry and cry and cry and it doesn't get better immediately but aaron gets to channel his inner paddy and slowly help seb - and by extension their family - heal

would you mind sharing a comparison how the characters would've ranked without the weighted system? I know you mentioned some differences but I'm soo curious how different it would've looked 👀

anth!!! counting my blessings with how lucky i am to have you as a friend, thank you so much for your compliments <33

i don't have a pretty graphic for this because there were a lot of methods involved in the addition🥴 but i do have the final results scored side by side in a spreadsheet so i'll post that under the cut!

okay anth, as discussed, i have slept on it and asking me to pick my top three noah songs is impossible, so i'm focusing on the second half of the question

i believe my first comment on the great divide in the gc was that the album should be renamed "sugden family dynamics" and that noah himself is a robert stan

if we're talking robxandy, willing and able (look at you leaving again it's all you know how to do) is an obvious choice but i would also put forward deny deny deny (when i ask about the past you deny-ny-ny) and haircut (you got up mad as hell, told me that i had it all) - these songs all have that underlying "you're a bastard" vibe along with a yearning to just get along for once, and are very clearly steeped in a history that is too twisted and complicated to ever fully acknowledge or move on from, and baby, that's robxandy

if we're talking robvic, headed north (it's gone to shit without you, it was shit before but at least i had you) and american cars (honey we're fragile, you always were so tough), both about yearning for someone to come back and fix things, and i can't think about baby vic missing her big brother and the many ways robert has tried and failed to fix things for her over the years or i'll cry and it's too early for that

if we're talking robron, there are simply too many to choose from (everywhere, everything, she calls me back, orbiter) but the number one for me here, especially with recent robron, is doors. really the whole song but these lyrics in particular:

robert being convinced that aaron would be better off without him and that he only causes him trouble and being so confused when aaron doesn't leave and doesn't want him to go back to prison? that's doors

however you asked about robert specifically, so i have to go with false confidence (i wonder why i tear myself down to be built back up again and why won't you take me seriously and look at you, all dressed up for someone you never see), godlight (to know me is to hate me, is to hate what i've become and are you tethered in your doubt? have you breathed it in 'til it's medicine that you cannot live without? and i'm not the way i was)

but the number one noah kahan song that is about robert sugden this is true noah told me himself is paul revere

i want to keep going (did you know "dan" is actually about robert and max?) but you asked for three and i've given you 12 so i'll leave it here, thank you for listening to my ramblings

It's a lot of running his hand through it in distress and Aaron grabbing onto it during sex, hope that helps 🥰

oh of course silly me!!