#robron fic
It’s been ages since I wrote some Robron! Here’s a snippet from a football au that I started tonight :) if people are interested, I’ll definitely write some more!
“Wow, never would’ve pegged ya for a footballer’s wife Vic,” Robert teases as he follows her to the benches for spectators.
“Shut it you!” Vic slaps his shoulder playfully. “I’m a chef in my own right thank-you-ready-much! I can’t help it if my wonderful husband to be is a football player!”
“W…wait! Is…that?” Robert suddenly feels too shocked to speak as he stares at the man currently bending over to tie an expensive looking pair of electric blue football boots with red tongues and studs.
“Him?” Vic replies, following his gaze. “Oh, it’s just Aaron!” She continues airily as she takes her seat on the bench. She waves at Adam who, in typical Adam style is standing with his hands on his hips looking every inch the football pin up in his Leeds City Rangers strip.
Robert scoffs. Just Aaron.
Despite living in London and Paris for the last couple of years he’s still a Yorkshire lad at heart and has always found time to catch up with his home team. He doesn’t know why it didn’t occur to him sooner that Vic and Adam would know Aaron.
Aaron Dingle. The star striker whose legendary hat tricks secured the team’s win that pulled them out of relegation.
He was right there, in the flesh. Just metres away and not in some glossy football magazine hidden in his desk drawer so that Chrissie wouldn’t find it. Like it was porn. Because, to Robert, it might well have been. In the office alone with that picture and his right hand and a creative imagination…
“Put yer dick away mate,” Adam’s voice snaps him out of his reverie.
“Shut up!” Robert hisses through gritted teeth. Does Adam Barton always have to sound like a bloody fog horn? The man seems incapable of anything lower than a bellow.
“Got a crush, have ya?” Adam’s eyes light up. He looks over at Aaron and waves him over. “Oi! Mate! Come and meet Vic’s brother!”
Aaron glances over before turning away and starting to jog the length of the football pitch, eyes focused, mouth set in a grim line of determination as he starts his warm up.
“That’s our Aaron,” Adam says, shaking his head and grinning. “Always gotta be the first one to start and the last one to finish,”
“Maybe he wouldn’t run rings round you if you put in some more effort!” Vic teases. Adam rolls his eyes fondly before giving her a kiss and running off to some of his team mates who are still at the stretching stage.
—-
And that was the other thing about Aaron Dingle. He was totally and unashamedly gay. In a profession where it was important to be liked by all the straight football fans and be a pinup fantasy for their wives and girlfriends, Aaron had come out.
Robert’s got the Youtube video downloaded to his phone. Some of the team are speaking at a press conference about getting out of relegation. Most of the questions are, of course, directed at Aaron. People want to know more about the local lad who appeared as if from nowhere and took the football world by storm with his amazing skill and prodigious talents.
Robert’s played the video so often he knows it off by heart, every word, every expression. He can perfectly describe the journalist who gets to his feet with his snide smirk as he asks “We’ve discussed your ball skills on the pitch. How about the rumours about you being spotted in a prominent Leeds gay bar last week?”
The gathered journalists chuckle nervously as they await a reaction. The moderator of the press conference steps forward as if to shut the question down entirely and then Aaron leans towards his mic with an almost bored expression on his face.-
“Well me dating life’s got bugger all to do with me footy skills mate,”
A nervous silence fell over the crowd before the moderator finally took the mic and said they only have time for one more question before the team needs to wrap up the session for the evening. Practically all the hands raise in the air, clamouring to be the one who gets the exclusive scoop.
It was, hands down, the bravest thing that Robert’s ever watched. Even now he gets a shiver down his spine when he thinks about it. He remembers thinking that if Aaron Dingle, soccer star, can come out to the UK’s press, he, Robert Sudgen can tell his family that he’s bisexual.
Yeah. That turned out real well for him. And he’s got the divorce papers to prove it.
Snippet from my newest plot bunny! Post Prison Robron with a side of PTSD inspired by @nooneelsecomesclose17 I’m sorry in advance :P
“Seb never told ya why he didn’t go that school dance last year did he?” Robert says. He doesn’t look angry anymore, just defeated. Exhausted.
“He did, he said his mates weren’t going,” Aaron replies with a shrug. “They were all staying in to play Call Of Duty or whatever,”
“They all went Aaron,” Robert continues flatly. “All of them except Seb. He’d asked a girl out in his class and she said yes. Made up he was. Except her Dad found out about me the day before the dance. He didn’t want his daughter getting mixed up with a murderer’s kid,”
Aaron feels as though he’s just taken a shot straight to the heart. He opens his mouth and closes it just as quickly.
“Of course he didn’t tell ya,” Robert replies. He’s smiling and shaking his head but his expression is far from humourous. “He told me. Had it out with me that night. I wasn’t even mad,” he shrugs. “He’s got a right to feel that way. That’s when I started to realise that I do more harm for the boys than good,”
“Robert…no,” Aaron protests. For the past few months he’s been feeling like his heart was breaking. Now he knows that it really is. “Don’t say that. We need ya. I need ya. The boys need ya-“
“The boys need you Aaron. You’ve been their father for the past fourteen years.” Robert’s face has become an expressionless mask. He looks so dead behind the eyes that it shakes Aaron to his very core. Whatever shit they’ve been through before, it’s always been charged with emotion. Whether it’s anger, sadness or happiness. It’s always been with passion. But the man standing before him, overnight bag in hand, is a shadow of his former self. A shell of Robert Sugden.
Aaron feels the tears well up and start to spill over. He wants to be able to say the magic words that will make all of this go away and bring his husband back.
“I need ya…” he repeats. He does. He does. He does. Always.
If Robert hears him, he doesn’t acknowledge it. His grip tightens on the handles of his overnight bag. He turns and walks away. The bedroom door clicks shut behind him.
Here’s a snippet from a post-prison Robron I’m working on (when I should be working on my two other WIPs….whoops!)
“Aaron,” Robert’s voice filters into his thoughts. His husband sounds exhausted. As exhausted as any parent who was raising two teenage boys. When had it all become so hard? They’re always so tired these days….“Yeah Rob?”
“Will’s locked himself in his room,” Robert says with a sigh. He sighs all the time these days. Even when he’s not exasperated. They always seem to slip out. Aaron wonders if Robert even notices any more. “And I’m about to deck Seb,”
With one absent father for most of their young lives, the boys often struggle to relate to Robert. All they’d known was Aaron’s way of doing things, Aaron’s expectations. Robert is a puzzle piece they’re still struggling to connect to.
“What’s going on?” Aaron asks. His own voice sounds dull and hoarse. He’s never exactly been a talker but in the past few months, he’s spoken even less. All of his thoughts, his feelings and his conversations seem to happen in his own head these days.
“No clue,” Robert shrugs. “Seb’s winding Will up about something as usual and Will’s taking it to heart,” he waves a hand. “You sort it out. You’re better at dealing with this shit that I am anyway,”
Robert wasn’t always this way. When he was first released he’d thrown himself into fatherhood full time. His days were focused on building a relationship with his two sons. He went to every single parents evening and extra curricular event. He was there on the front lines at all of Seb’s football games, cheering the team on and taking them all out for a pizza afterwards. He went to every single school production that Will was involved in, whether he was the lead role of a background character with two lines. Something changed over time and Aaron has a horrible feeling that it’s all to do with him.
Somewhere along the line he’d done something wrong. In the brief period that they were all together before Robert got sent down, his husband was a fully fledged family man. Until Aaron did something. There was no other explanation for it. Why else would Robert Sugden-Dingle, self confessed family man, become so withdrawn and act as though he couldn’t stand his own kids and husband?
“Well?” Robert says, irritated. Aaron realizes that he’s drifted off again. It’s happening more and more these days. He’s sure that if he mentioned it to his counselor she’d be able to tell him why but he’s reluctant to admit that, after being stable for so long, he’s starting to fall apart again just like his marriage. “Just deal with them ok? I’m sick of it,”
Robert turns on his heel, ready to stalk out of the room and away from the situation which is happening more often these days. And even though Aaron knows any protestation will start a fight, he does it anyway. After all, at least if they’re fighting, they’re talking right? He’s getting sick of the silent nights that seem to stretch out endlessly.
“Sick of being their father?” Aaron says coolly. Robert freezes in the doorway but doesn’t turn around. “This is what we signed up for Rob. Two kids. All that stuff we went through trying to find a surrogate so I could have Will. All the shit with the Whites. They’re our children Robert,”
If Robert’s hurt or angered by Aaron’s reply, he doesn’t show it. His shoulders are still set and he still doesn’t turn around.
“I’ll go make dinner,”
Aaron stares after his husband, torn between anger and tears. It’s a sad state of affairs when he realises that he wouldn’t be completely surprised if, one day soon, Robert turns and keeps walking. Out of the door. Out of their lives. He threatened as much during their last argument.
Robert may have been released from prison but it seems that the two of them have turned their home into one.
Here for the shameless self promo reblog ;)
Here’s a snippet from a post-prison Robron I’m working on (when I should be working on my two other WIPs….whoops!)
“Aaron,” Robert’s voice filters into his thoughts. His husband sounds exhausted. As exhausted as any parent who was raising two teenage boys. When had it all become so hard? They’re always so tired these days….
“Yeah Rob?”
“Will’s locked himself in his room,” Robert says with a sigh. He sighs all the time these days. Even when he’s not exasperated. They always seem to slip out. Aaron wonders if Robert even notices any more. “And I’m about to deck Seb,”
With one absent father for most of their young lives, the boys often struggle to relate to Robert. All they’d known was Aaron’s way of doing things, Aaron’s expectations. Robert is a puzzle piece they’re still struggling to connect to.
“What’s going on?” Aaron asks. His own voice sounds dull and hoarse. He’s never exactly been a talker but in the past few months, he’s spoken even less. All of his thoughts, his feelings and his conversations seem to happen in his own head these days.
“No clue,” Robert shrugs. “Seb’s winding Will up about something as usual and Will’s taking it to heart,” he waves a hand. “You sort it out. You’re better at dealing with this shit that I am anyway,”
Robert wasn’t always this way. When he was first released he’d thrown himself into fatherhood full time. His days were focused on building a relationship with his two sons. He went to every single parents evening and extra curricular event. He was there on the front lines at all of Seb’s football games, cheering the team on and taking them all out for a pizza afterwards. He went to every single school production that Will was involved in, whether he was the lead role of a background character with two lines. Something changed over time and Aaron has a horrible feeling that it’s all to do with him.
Somewhere along the line he’d done something wrong. In the brief period that they were all together before Robert got sent down, his husband was a fully fledged family man. Until Aaron did something. There was no other explanation for it. Why else would Robert Sugden-Dingle, self confessed family man, become so withdrawn and act as though he couldn’t stand his own kids and husband?
“Well?” Robert says, irritated. Aaron realizes that he’s drifted off again. It’s happening more and more these days. He’s sure that if he mentioned it to his counselor she’d be able to tell him why but he’s reluctant to admit that, after being stable for so long, he’s starting to fall apart again just like his marriage. “Just deal with them ok? I’m sick of it,”
Robert turns on his heel, ready to stalk out of the room and away from the situation which is happening more often these days. And even though Aaron knows any protestation will start a fight, he does it anyway. After all, at least if they’re fighting, they’re talking right? He’s getting sick of the silent nights that seem to stretch out endlessly.
“Sick of being their father?” Aaron says coolly. Robert freezes in the doorway but doesn’t turn around. “This is what we signed up for Rob. Two kids. All that stuff we went through trying to find a surrogate so I could have Will. All the shit with the Whites. They’re our children Robert,”
If Robert’s hurt or angered by Aaron’s reply, he doesn’t show it. His shoulders are still set and he still doesn’t turn around.
“I’ll go make dinner,”
Aaron stares after his husband, torn between anger and tears. It’s a sad state of affairs when he realises that he wouldn’t be completely surprised if, one day soon, Robert turns and keeps walking. Out of the door. Out of their lives. He threatened as much during their last argument.
Robert may have been released from prison but it seems that the two of them have turned their home into one.
My Brain - You should finish the Aaron Sick Fic and also the Ghost au fic you started writing and have already posted
Also My Brain - OH BUT WAIT THO. How about a fic where it’s 5 years since Robert came out of prison and he’s only just beginning to process the trauma causing a rift in his marriage with Aaron and relationship with a teenage Seb???
Look at what I have to work with here. T.T
