#aarobron

[capseycartwright]

7 for the prompts xx

hello this got wildly long and out of control and is also on ao3 here. thank u pal and hope you enjoy

7: i can’t go on like this

Aaron didn’t mean for it to happen, him and Robert. He knows how it sounds, how it would look to the rest of the village if they found out – how they’d tut, and sigh, and wonder why Aaron didn’t just leave John at the altar if he was going to end up back in Robert Sugden’s arms again – but the truth was, Aaron didn’t mean for it to happen again. He’d tried, he’d really tried, he’d kept Robert at arm’s length, he’d been cruel, and unkind, and he’d told Robert to go, over and over, and over, but Robert hadn’t listened.

Or maybe, the truth was, Aaron hadn’t wanted Robert to listen – when Robert had started to stay away, shoulders slumped as he tried his best to keep his distance, to let Aaron move on with his life, with John, Aaron had felt this strange sense of panic take over: if Robert listened, and he left Aaron alone, maybe he’d move on too. He knew Robert had been going on dates again – the first one had sounded like a bit of a disaster, frankly – but weeks after, Victoria had let it slip that Robert was in Hotten on a first date again. Aaron wasn’t supposed to know, and Victoria had begged him to keep it to himself, so Aaron had gone home to his husband and sat and spiralled about who the date might be with, if Robert was having fun, if Robert might go home with them, if he might fall in love, and move on and forget all about Aaron.

He should have wanted that to be the case. Aaron should have wanted the story to go that way – for Robert to meet someone new, and for him to leave Aaron, and John, by association, alone – but he hated the idea so much it had him up until all hours of the night, his sleeping husband completely unaware as he snored next to Aaron.

(John snored so fucking much – it made Aaron long for Robert’s tendency to kick in his sleep, remember those nights when Robert would toss, and turn, and the only way to stop it was to wrap his own legs around Robert’s restless ones, Robert more delighted by being wrestled into being the little spoon than he’d ever admit).

Aaron hadn’t meant for it to happen the way it did – but a week after he saw Robert on a third date in the Woolpack, he let himself into Victoria’s house, and he kissed him, and just like the last time, the rest was, well, history.

“Robert?” Aaron squinted, groggy as he roused himself from sleep. The right side of the bed was empty (the right side, not the left, John insistent from the beginning of their relationship that he had to sleep on the left, leaving Aaron disjointed as he slept on the side he’d come to know as Robert’s, regardless of what bed he was in), Robert sitting by the window, jumper pulled down over his wrists, his pale legs bare and glowing in the moonlight sneaking in the gap in the hotel curtains.

“Robert?” Aaron repeated, swinging his legs out of the bed, padding across the carpet to where Robert was sitting. The hotel was a far cry from the plush hotels they’d met in the first time around, Robert still married to Chrissie, but Aaron couldn’t spend that much money without John noticing, and Robert had only managed to get himself parttime hours with Caleb, so it wasn’t as if he was flush with cash. Life was different, now. “Are you alright?”

Robert turned his head, and Aaron’s heart sank as he realised that those perfect blue-green eyes he’d come to love so much – the ones that looked like the sparkling waves of the Welsh coast where they’d gone for a week every summer, when they were together – were filled with tears.

“You know,” Robert heaved out a breath, a different man to the one who’d gone to prison all those years ago – tired, and frightened, a lot of the time, but more open, in a strange way, honest in a way that still unnerved Aaron sometimes. “I never appreciated how hard it was for you to be on the other side of the affair, all those years ago.”

“Robert…” Aaron trailed off, chewing the side of his lip. It was sort of uncharted territory, this, neither of them willing to address the John-shaped elephant in the room as weeks turned into months and this rendition of their affair ran as long as it had the first time around.

“I never understood how much it must have hurt you, to watch me leave, and go back to Chrissie, over, and over, and over,” Robert wiped roughly at his eyes, looking younger than his near-forty years old, his hair free of product and flat against his forehead. Aaron was trying to forget all the times he saw that same hairstyle on Robert from across a prison visiting table. “But it hurts – it’s like this ache, deep in my chest, and I can’t do anything about it. I feel – I feel powerless. Is that how I made you feel?”

Aaron didn’t think about their affair – their first – all that often, anymore. His memories of stolen kisses in barns and clandestine meetings in hotel rooms had long since been replaced with sweet kisses in the Woolpack and a shared nightly routine in the Mill. The affair wasn’t what Aaron missed, about Robert, when he was inside – Aaron missed the version of Robert had had married (twice), the one who loved him so openly, unashamedly.

But if he thought about the affair, about the younger version of himself who had been so desperately in love with Robert that he had been willing to accept scraps, then –

“Yeah,” Aaron admitted, his voice hoarse. “That’s how it felt for me then.”

Robert offered him a sad smile. “I guess I finally know how you felt. Maybe it’s the universe finally getting me back for all the ways I hurt you, back then,” he said, and Aaron hated that there was so much truth in that – as much as he and Robert had loved each other, and Aaron loved the bones of Robert Sugden, even when he pretended he didn’t, they had always been just as good at hurting each other as they were at loving each other, knowing what words would hurt the most, how to dig the metaphorical knife in and make each other bleed.

They deserved each other, for better, and for worse.

“Every time I have to watch you go back to him, it feels like a part of me dies,” Robert admitted, glancing out the hotel room window. “And yet, I still keep coming back for more, Aaron.”

Aaron knew how that felt, too.

Crouching in front of Robert, Aaron placed his hands on Robert’s knees, the touch slow, and gentle. Slow was the most important thing, about this new version of Robert, Aaron had discovered – he needed to know there was time to get away.

Robert didn’t move.

There was a scar on Robert’s knee that hadn’t been there before prison – long, and jagged, the scar went as far as his calf, the skin silvery, and white, as though the wound was long healed. Maybe it was, physically, but Aaron knew the emotional scars ran deep, that Robert went through more inside than he’d even admitted to Aaron – and Aaron was the one person he had been unfailingly honest with.

Taking one of Robert’s hands in his own, Aaron pressed a kiss to the cold skin of the back of Robert’s hand. He was always cold, was Robert, hands and feet icy. It had annoyed him, once upon a time, but he missed it now, craving the way Robert used to shove his hands up Aaron’s pyjama top at night as he lay next to John, his current husband an unbearable furnace to sleep next to. “I’m sorry,” he said, and maybe that wasn’t entirely honest either – Aaron wasn’t sure if he’d ever feel sorry about wanting Robert, about taking what he wanted, what he needed, from the man he’d once promised to spend his life with.

“You’re not sorry, Aaron,” Robert returned, and the tone wasn’t accusatory – it was sad, more than anything, accepting of the reality of the situation they were in, a situation that wasn’t at all unfamiliar: it was just that this time, Aaron was married, and Robert was the one begging for more.

Maybe that was just what they were destined to be – mirror images of each other, good and bad, destined to repeat their mistakes over, and over, and over, until finally, someone caught in the crossfire of the great Aaron and Robert love story has enough, and burns it all down on their behalf.

(Sometimes – sometimes Aaron worries that John might be that person. That their luck has run out and the man who’d put the gold wedding band on Aaron’s finger might be the one responsible for his downfall.)

Robert gave his hand a squeeze. “I can’t go on like this, Aaron,” and Aaron knew it was the truth – that Robert was tired, was exhausted of the sneaky kisses and secret hotel stays, of their love being hidden all over again. Aaron knew, because he’d felt it all before, when he was in Robert’s place – and that’s how he knew, that as truthful as it was, as much as Robert meant it, Robert would still come, when Aaron called. He knew, because he’d always come when Robert had called him, once upon a time.

In a strange way, doing this, sleeping with Robert behind his husbands back – it made Aaron feel oddly sympathetic to a version of Robert he’d once hated, the one who’d kept going back to Chrissie, who had worn the weight of a wedding ring on his finger even as he’d used those clever hands to take every inch of Aaron apart. It hadn’t been easy to be the dirty little secret, but it wasn’t easy to be on this side of it, either.

Leaning in, Aaron pressed a soft kiss to Robert’s already kiss-bitten lips, the other man relaxing into his embrace. “Come back to bed,” he pleaded, because talking about this was never going to get them anywhere – Aaron had lived through it all before, and he knew how this ended: with him, and Robert, standing amongst the wreckage of their lives, of all the lives they’d managed to ruin because they’d never learned to love each other the easy way.

Aaron didn’t know how to fix it, how to end it with John, how to want to end it with John and chose Robert, knowing Robert had never been the safe choice – but had always been the best choice he’d ever made.

Nodding, Robert allowed Aaron to pull him up out of the chair, and led back to bed, Aaron sneaking his hands under Robert’s jumper as they burrowed underneath the duvet, palm pressing to the curve of Robert’s belly, the skin there warm.

“I love you,” Aaron said, and he knew Robert wouldn’t say it back – Robert never did, these days, and Aaron didn’t begrudge him that either, not when he’d done the same himself all those years ago. “I love you,” he repeated, burying his face in the space between Robert’s face, and shoulder, breathing in the familiar scent of Robert’s cologne, the same one he’d worn before he’d gone to prison.

(Some things never changed).

Love wasn’t enough, Aaron knew – but for now, it was the only answer he had.

[bobbie-robron]

Robron Fanfiction Recommendations (Mar-2025)

The below were recommended on both 🦋 and the Voldemort site in March 2025.

Pull Me Under (2020) 50.2K words, sweetly_disposed

Bodyguard AU (a fave). High profile businessman Robert is the CEO of S.R. Sugden’s and he’s been getting escalating threats which the police now categorize as threat-to-life. The police place Aaron in charge of the daytime personal protection team which includes Adam and new addition Finn. What the news media has reported on Robert (codename Gemini) seems to match when they meet him… he’s an arrogant prat. But Aaron begins to see under that public persona soon enough… that he is lonely and far different that the press make him out to be. Feelings further change for both after a failed attempt on Robert’s life at his company.

The Perfect Christmas (2018) 6.0K words

‘I don’t do Christmas!’ And so begins what Robert hoped to be his and Aaron’s first perfect Christmas together. But as Aaron explains his reasons, Robert makes it his mission to change Aaron’s (his grumpy grinch) outlook that Christmas can be a happy time and he only has five days to do it!

And now i’m covered in colours (2018) 14.9K words

Two pov’s, one chapter each, Aaron then Robert. Each pov takes you through their individual lives, from childhood to post-Gordon’s trial, and how the strength (or lack) of their connection to others (family, friends and others) turned into smears of colors on their body. What is clear when the two appear in each other’s orbits is that the smears of colors are the brightest for each other.

The Proposal (2016) 4.0K words, robertsaaronsebastianskurt

Robert has been thinking of asking Aaron to marry him but he’s unsure what Aaron’s views are on subject and if he’d even think of marrying him in particular. Enter Robert’s sister whom he asks to help get said answers but will they be the ones he wants to hear in the end?

Being Normal (2015) 4.0K words, dirtylittlegreasemonkey

We saw how the prologue played out on screen for Home Farm day er week on 30th of March in 2015. Now it’s time to read up on what took place immediately after the episode ended. How about some beer, talk of the past, pizza, DVDs & getting reacquainted physically.

This is the way that we love (like it’s forever) 3.8K words, aarobron

Robert and Aaron literally run into each other and it’s only eyes for each other from the start. But Aaron has a daughter, Abigail Holly, and Robert fears he’ll be a bad influence because he’s not a ‘good person’ and there was Lachlan. Will Robert talking to his sister make him realize just how important the two are to him to make that leap… having a family.

It’s a date but it’s not (2017) 4.7K words, calthighway

An alternative reunion 2.0 that takes place after Liv returned in late hell year with no White revenge or baby in sight. Here we have Vadam (separately) and Liv nudging the lads back toward each other. There are certain plot points altered to focus on the lads and Liv rather than how they were presented originally. A lovely what could have been.

If You Want It. Come and Get It. For Crying Out Loud. (2017) 4.0K words, AmandaJane (Cometgirl71822)

Taking place after the hell year reveal, the lads have not seen each other for a week. Aaron’s at a bar with Adam where he is chatted up by a bloke Roger. As the drinks flow, Aaron tries to forget Robert but the opposite happens. When Robert receives a voice message from Aaron, he believes the worst after only listening to it partially. Will they be able to connect in the end to sort things out?

A Good Servicing (2017) 4.4K words, dirtylittlegreasemonkey

AU. Aaron is on his third callout to fix a broken boiler, this one belonging to Robert. Robert may be rude but Aaron can still see him as fit. Things take a turn as Aaron heads upstairs and sees a LOT more than he expected to see leading them to get better acquainted. There’s a twist at the end.

Christmas 2017 series (2017) 17.8K words, thesnowyswan

Two stories, each with a different pov, first Robert then Aaron. As the series suggests, this is Christmas hell year but one different from what we got on air. Here, the accident is caused deliberately which leads to Robert’s coma nightmare with Katie as his guide. The visions have nothing to do with the Whites but are more substantive to Robert’s life. The reunion still occurs but not quickly for reasons that make it more organic for all involved including Liv.

Footsies and Fireworks (2015) 4.0K words, robertsaaronsebastianskurt

Takes place during 2015 affair era. Robert’s sister arranges a lads night out which includes the lads, Andy, Finn, Adam and Ross to settle bad blood amongst them. What follows is a game of Never Have I Ever (where new some tidbits are learnt) while the lads play footsie. Then comes some ‘interesting’ dancing at a straight bar. Jealousy is on the plate for Robert in both settings.

Bite Your Tongue (2016) 4.9K words, perksofbeingaiko

Reunion 1.0 Alternative version. The lads are just mates. That’s what Aaron constantly tells Adam or any nosy villager that appears to be keeping a close eye on both him and Robert these days whenever they hang out together. But maybe, just maybe, it’s time Aaron reconsidered the mates status quo. Robert did say he’d wait far him however long it took but is that still true (that really is a rhetorical question, Aaron, if there ever was one)?

[robronfic]

tell my love to wreck it all by aarobron / @aarobron rating: general audiences status: complete length: 1.1k summary: a stolen moment after robert is released from prison.

[dreamlandbarnes]

kip by fleeceframe

raised on little light by nightcabret

puzzled together again by anotherlongstoryshort

want you to be (the heavens above me) by ericdire (aarobron)

what comes in threes by emelinelou

i hope you feel better!! sending you lots of comfort <3

Feeling sad and could really use a RJ or RKJ hurt/comfort fic. I’ve read most of the OT3 ones, but if you have any suggestions for RoyJamie hurt/comfort, please send them on!

[babygirlgalitzine]

the football leagues are all paying upwards of 4 million for private testing tho? plus donations to the nhs. if broadcasters wanted to do it, they would

that’s so much😬😬

[robronsecretvalentine]

robron football au I a dark world aches for splashes of the sun gifted to the absolute wonder @aarobron all words are her talent, happy valentines day!

[francoisceverts]

aarobron replied to your post: say mean things abt marcus rashford and die by my...

hes shite

[robronsecretsanta]

For @aarobron

I really hope you enjoy these little games I put together for you! Let me know how you did if you want :)

Robron - Little corner of games

Quotes Crossword Puzzle

Robron Wordsearch

The Kisses Memory

One and Two

Merry Christmas and have fun,

Your Secret Santa

[luststricken]

happy birthday angel!! have a fab day xxx

thank you so so much lucy!!💖☺️xxx

[whatdoiknow]

Emmerdale Big Bang Round 2 - so at ease in the midnight sky  @aarobron

“The Dingles Travelling Circus. They’re not hard to find - posters everywhere, plastered in shop windows and bus stops and on railings. What town they’re in, where they’re going next. Dates and dates and dates, white text on black, and Aaron stares at them until it’s all memorised and his eyes are watering.”

[bobbie-robron]

Robron Fanfiction Recommendations (Feb-2025)

The below were recommended on the Voldemort site and 🦋 in February 2025.

He Belongs to Me (2019) 16K words, danveresque

Reunion 3.0 AU. Robert was only meant to play dead for only a few months to avoid arrest (and he was in clear soon after) but circumstances land him in a coma for THREE YEARS and coming back as Aaron is marrying… doc boring (remember AU 😂). That’s a minor issue to him. All Robert has to do is follow the honeymooners to Paris and get his husband back, right? Add in Robert having his own personal coven of dead witches to keep him mental company as well as calls with various female villagers. Soulmates are meant to be!

These scars (never go away) (2016) 3.0K words, thisissirius

A revisioning of the 16-Nov-2016 episode where the lads visit Sarah’s grave and Diane spews her disappointed bs at Robert using Sarah’s pov. Here, we have Aaron being the protective fiancé to Robert and there finally being a chat between Diane and Robert about the cutting comment… and Andy.

I’ll Be Your Gravity, You Be My Oxygen (2019) 24.5K words, lovesnarf (snarfette)

Superpowers AU. Aaron is gifted with the ability to heal people. When Aaron goes too far healing Belle from an accident, Robert arrives on the scene with energy boosting Aaron’s to the point he is fine. The two also find their powers complement and another and they themselves are drawn to each other. But it’s not smooth sailing as Robert’s concern for Aaron’s lack of self preservation when healing causes constants problems. When an event causes Aaron to overstretch his own limits, Robert comes to his rescue as always but the ramifications may not be enough for the two stubborn individuals to stay together…

Begin Again (2020) 4.8K words, Daily_Scenarios

Reunion 3.0. In a scenario many of us would have liked to happen, Sebastian’s mum perishes (how? who cares really) and Aaron receives the okay from Robert via letter to raise Sebastian which he does after getting himself together and the two become inseparable. On Aaron’s 30th birthday, he just wants a quiet day with his son but that’s not happening, he’s getting a party, a very special one, which unbeknownst to him, a certain wish is being fulfilled at long last!

The man for the job (2018) 18.3K words, montecarlos

Robert is the newly elected Prime Minister from the Labour party, having bested Pollard of a potential third term. His main focus is to pass an LGBT marriage equality bill but he also has to juggle fiancé Chrissie and their upcoming nuptials, starting an affair with one of his two security detail… Aaron… and hosting the President briefly (who tries to steal Aaron for his own detail). Things get dicier as Robert and Chrissie’s lives hit the headlines. Will Robert’s time as Prime Minister survive the chaos and what of his ‘thing’ with Aaron?

Drowning in your light (2018) 8.0K words, softlyspoken

Abuse era AU. Aaron meets Robert at a (karaoke) bar wanting to get his mind off of the trial that is taking over his life… he wants something disconnected from it all and Robert fits the bill. It doesn’t matter that Robert has a girlfriend and a life of his own, what matters is he becomes a safe haven with no feelings involved… or so he thinks. That’s when things get messy and even messier when Robert learns more about him inadvertently. The thing is… when things are dark, there’s a light that punches through it but is Aaron prepared to embrace it or lose it altogether?

This time i’m not leaving without you (2018) 3.3K words, aarobron

Alternative Valentine’s 2018 (written before the episode aired). The circumstance is a little different from what aired and the lads go a bit further than the almost kiss.

Crush (2017) 6.9K words, lullabelle_moon

Simply, Gabby gets a crush on Robert. Aaron and Liv notice and place a bet between themselves on how soon Robert will get a clue about it. It does take a while for Robert to see it himself but what will it take for it to get through to Gabby it is simply a crush and his eyes are solely for Aaron…

(We will be together) if the fates allow. (2018) 9.8K words, vicbartons

Coffee shop AU. Aaron is a coffee shop owner for the past year and, as he is working the Christmas Eve shift, comes across a customer he didn’t think he’d see again… Robert. Robert is at a crossroads on the way to see his sister and stepmum but makes a pitstop in Leeds where he runs into the man (the owner) he’s never forgotten. The two cautiously begin talking… where will it lead? NOTE THIS IS INCOMPLETE AND MISSING THE FINAL CHAPTER!

[robronfic]

feed the fire by aarobron/@aarobron

rating: teen and up

status: complete

length: 3.2k

summary: 5 times aaron stands up for robert, and 1 time robert stands up for aaron

[rustandruin]

happy birthday pal! xxx

Thank you Lucy! Hope you had a great day too! 

[inthedreamatorium1]

🌹😘

oh my lucy.

you’re one of the first people in the robron fandom who took the time to get to know me. i miss our late night conversations about all of the things. i appreciate how honest and blunt you are. you don’t take crap for anyone and you’re never afraid to call someone out if they’re being inappropriate. i admire that about you so much. you always have an uncanny ability to know when i’m feeling like crap.

thank you so much for all the laughs and talks and drinks and for not hating me when you hate so many other people! i had so much fun drinking with you last year and getting to know you even better. i better see you in july…

[babygirlgalitzine]

short

literally the first thing you said to me i swear to god

[wheelernancy]

happy birthday lucy! i hope you've had a great day x

thanks so much lucy, i’ve had a lovely day <3333