The way Robert looks away and doesnāt know how to answer when Aaron asks if heās been crying at the hospital is so painful to watch.
Heās looks shameful, but also worried and scared and like heās trying to hide all that from Aaron while just pleading for someone to just give him the space to deal with all this, even if itās on his own. He clearly just wants a break from all the pressure coming at him from all the people in his life who donāt hardly know the first thing about the situation and are constantly reducing it to a black and white crossroads.
Heās not an emotionless husk or a scheming liar anymore. Heās been through 6 years of straight trauma and Kev is the only person who ACTUALLY understands any of that (as much as Aaron says he does, he doesnāt). Theyāre trauma bonded in a way thatās deeper than just getting out, moving on, and collecting the check when Kev dies. Thereās obviously a reason Kev is leaving everything to Robert. He wants to know that the one person he loves and cares for the most is looked after when heās gone. And Robert doesnāt want this man whoās implied to have sacrificed a lot for him, to die alone and heartbroken. And that type of care doesnāt just spawn out of nowhere. Theyāve been through a lot together, and it says a lot about their dynamic, the way they both are still looking out for eachother.
Their lives existed together for six years completely separate from emmerdale village and anyone in it. Robert had no one but Kev. Kev had no one but Robert. They spent over 2000 nights alone in that cell, with nothing to do but get closer. Even if heās not in love with him anymore, thatās huge. People in the fandom like to forget this but Robert IS a human being, and his feelings and actions towards Kev are extremely human given their history.
He clearly cares for Kev in a way that no one else gets and heās not just gonna check his teeth in the mirror while Kev dies in the background, like he did with Lawrence, years ago.
Robert coming face to face with Kevs mortality today, and knowing that he will lose him for good sooner rather than later, has gotta be a harrowing and conflicting thing to come to terms with.
So seeing him falling apart about it, trying to be strong for Kev, and then not having the strength to stop crying but clearly feeling like he canāt look Aaron in the eyes and give him a straight answer about why he could possibly be crying, is so sad. No one in his life is a safe space right now, not entirely at least. Bcuz they all seem to think that he just went away live abroad for 6 years and nothing about him is different now.
People on here have already said this but Iām saying it again, Aaron does not in any capacity understand what Robertās life has been like for the past six years, and Kev does. Robert loves Aaron more than anything but heās a completely different person now and itās gonna take a while for him and Aaron to get to know each other again after theyāve lived what feels like a lifetime of trauma without each other. Robert canāt offer Aaron what he used to be able to. That unconditional support and comfort, isnāt something he has the strength give right now. This is the least clued into each others lives theyāve been since 2014. And if Aaron wants to truly be with Robert he needs to stop talking and listen for a change, cuz he doesnāt understand, and Robert deserves the chance to explain, seeing as no one in this entire village experienced even a second of his time inside, and no one in this village knows Kev either, or how meeting Robert mightāve changed his life.
Also not even that long ago Robert was begging Aaron to tell John about them too, and he couldnāt do it either. In fact he told Robert over and over to forget it, and to leave him and John alone after sleeping with him and basically acting like he wanted to be with Robert instead. Aaron is human too and I understand that he feels blindsided after Robert āchased him for monthsā but Aaron also strung Robert along multiple times since he returned, and still stayed with John right in front of his face. And he wasnāt going to Robert reassuring him that āheās the one he wants to spend the rest of his life withā the way Robert is trying to do. At least Robert is making an effort to fully explain himself instead of doing what aaron did: stringing Robert along and then running away from his feelings, leaving him to pick up the pieces and figure out why heās never enough to stick around for.