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The train sped through the Yorkshire countryside on their way back to Emmerdale, past rolling green hills, fields of lavender and yellow, and Adam felt his eyes start to close. Then Victoria nudged him with her elbow and he jerked awake. ‘I wasn’t sleeping!’ he grunted.
Vic put a finger to her lips and nodded to the seats opposite them.
Adam frowned and looked: on the other side of the train, in seats that were facing their own, Aaron and Robert were sitting. Robert had his head lying on Aaron’s shoulder, whilst Aaron flicked one-handed through a magazine that was perched on his lap. He couldn’t help himself and reached for his phone in his pocket.
‘What’re you doing?’ Vic hissed.
‘Takin’ a photo.’ He muted the phone and surreptitiously captured the moment. He grinned. ‘I’m never gonna let them live this down.’
Victoria rolled her eyes fondly. ‘Leave them alone. You know it’s not often we see them like this.’
And it really wasn’t. But this weekend had been an eye-opener for them.
****
‘Robert!’ Aaron yelled up the stairs to their room. He shook his head when he heard his boyfriend’s muffled voice telling him he was on his way.
Vic huffed, folding her arms and tapping her foot. ‘He does know that the train leaves in an hour, doesn’t he?’ she said.
‘Calm down, Babe,’ Adam chuckled. ‘You know Robert has to make himself beautiful for me!’
His wife and his best friend both groaned. Aaron even went so far as to look for something to throw at him. That was when they heard Robert’s footsteps on the stairs.
‘You’re as loud as Liv coming down those stairs,’ Aaron said.
Robert grinned as if the comparison didn’t matter; or like he had heard it before. ‘Sorry, Baby,’ he said. He held out a white shirt to Aaron. ‘Found this on the bed, by the way. Thought you were gonna pack it?’
Aaron squinted at it, then took it from his boyfriend. ‘I was. Thought I had packed it.’ He shrugged and just stuffed it into his bag.
‘For god’s sake, Aaron. You know that the hotel probably won’t have an iron in the room.’
‘And what the hell would I need an iron for?’ he asked zipping his bag up.
Victoria intervened before they could go any further into their domestic. ‘Rob, let Aaron put the shirt in any way he wants; Aaron, you know what Robert’s like with creased clothes. Now, can we go please, because the train leaves in 55 minutes!’
They sped out of the pub on Vic’s demand.
Vic was the one who had suggested a weekend away, the four of them. At first, Aaron didn’t seem that interested, until Robert won him round with talk of hotel rooms, just the two of them, for two nights. Aaron, biting his lip, had nodded and his eyes flitted to Robert’s soft pink mouth.
‘Er, you two aren’t gonna go at it right in front of us, are you?’ Adam said nervously. They were on the train to London, sitting around a table that they had somehow managed to get in the busy-ness of midday travel. ‘’Cause I don’t know if that’s legal.’
‘Adam!’ Vic slapped her husband’s arm lightly. ‘Leave them alone!’
‘Well, they’re doin’ that heart-eyes thing at each other!’
Aaron frowned. ‘We don’t do heart-eyes!’
‘You do, actually,’ Vic said. ‘You both get this really faraway look.’
Aaron fidgeted. ‘That’s enough now, you two,’ Robert said sternly. They shut up when he gestured at Aaron, and noticed his uncomfortable stance. But when their friend smiled gratefully at Robert, they stopped and stared. Maybe it was because they didn’t hang out all together very often, or because neither of them had taken the time to notice, but they had never witnessed before how well Robert knew Aaron; how he read his every move, checked the smallest twitch on his face to tell him if he was happy or uncomfortable.
The four of them chatted idly on the train, talking about what they planned to do on the weekend, what clubs they could go to, the hotel itself and its warmed pool. Adam grinned at Vic at the mention of a hot tub and Aaron rolled his eyes whilst Robert scrunched his nose in disgust.
‘Think of this as payback for all the times you’ve embarrassed me!’ Vic said, grinning at Robert’s unimpressed face.
‘I didn’t think marrieds had sex anymore,’ Aaron said with a smirk.
Robert nudged him, ‘Well in that case, you and I are never getting married.’
Aaron grinned. ‘Like I’d have you anyway.’ They kissed—more of a quick peck— and Adam groaned.
‘Seriously, guys!’ He nodded at Aaron. ‘I thought you didn’t do PDA?’
Aaron shrugged. ‘Guess I came ‘round to the idea.’
They had been together for a while now (nearly a year, Robert had told Vic proudly a fortnight ago), but Adam couldn’t imagine Aaron being the type for PDA with anyone. He didn’t know what he had been like with Ed, but even then, it was still hard to imagine. But here was Aaron, sitting quite close to Robert, Robert with his left hand conspicuously under the table, and Aaron with a smile on his face. Stranger things, he supposed, had happened.
****
They arrived in London by mid-afternoon and found their hotel easily. After checking in and going to drop their bags off at their rooms, they went out to dinner, something that Robert insisted he’d buy.
‘Guess he has his uses,’ Adam said when they sat in a restaurant by the river, good menu and better service. Vic slapped him again. ‘Oi! I’m gonna have bruises by the end of this weekend!’
‘Well-deserved bruises,’ she said with a smile. She kissed his cheek anyway. Robert huffed and slammed a menu in front of them.
‘Menu. Food. Choose before I lose my appetite!’
‘I need to go to the bog,’ Aaron said (‘Lovely,’ Vic remarked). ‘Order for me, yeah? You know what I like.’ Robert gave him a smirk, which said a lot more than either Vic or Adam really wanted to know, before turning his eyes to the menu again.
‘Actually,’ Adam said, ‘I need to go as well. Back in a sec.’
The siblings looked at each other. ‘They do say that friends that pee together stay together,’ Victoria laughed. She grinned when Robert chuckled. ‘So… you and Aaron are very cosy these days.’
‘Are we?’
‘Mhm. You must be ready to move out of the pub at least, mustn’t you?’
‘Must we?’
‘C’mon, Rob! Give me something! I didn’t plan this trip away only to get no gossip from my brother!’
‘Ahh, and it all becomes clear,’ Robert said, setting his menu down. ‘I wondered why you were so keen to get us on this weekend away!’
‘Yeah, well, I hardly ever see you. What with you and Aaron playing happy families with Liv. I’m not having a go!’ she hastened to add when Robert’s face dropped. ‘I’m just sayin’… it’s nice to spend some time with the only brother I’ve got left in the village now.’
Robert smiled. ‘Yeah, things are going well,’ he said. ‘We haven’t talked about getting our own place yet though, we’re still struggling a bit with finding a place that we all like.’ She nodded as if knowing the hardship. ‘But for now, we’re all happy at the pub. Charity keeps telling us to get soundproofed walls, but I think she’s only joking.’
‘Oh God!’ Victoria laughed. ‘Does she actually say that?’
Robert frowned in remembered disgruntlement. ‘She said it to Aaron, actually. God, he was so embarrassed. After that, I made sure I always went downstairs first in the morning in case she decided to say anything else!’
Her eyes softened and her jaw dropped in wonderment. ‘Look at you! All protective!’
He rolled his eyes. ‘Have you chosen what you want yet?’
****
Aaron looked behind him and frowned when Adam followed him into the men’s toilets. ‘You do know that you missed your chance years ago, don’t you?’ he said drily.
Adam’s face creased in confusion, until he realised what his friend was getting at. ‘Haha, yeah, funny mate.’ They stood next to each other at the urinals. ‘As if I could drag you away from Robert anyway! You two are joined at the hip these days!’
‘No we’re not!’ Aaron scoffed.
‘Hey, there’s nothin’ wrong with it,’ Adam said. ‘It’s nice to see you… settled.’
Aaron frowned. ‘Settled?’
‘Yeah. You know, ‘cause you went for a long time bein’… y’know—’
‘Bein’ me?’
‘I didn’t say that! You spent a long time being unhappy. So it’s good to see you, well… happy now.’
Aaron smiled. And he didn’t say it, but Adam knew that he was happy.
****
After dinner (Robert apparently did know what Aaron liked, because he made a very embarrassing noise as soon as the food touched his tongue), the four of them went back to the hotel to change, ready for a night out. It was the first time in ages that either couple had been on a proper clubbing night, and they were looking forward to it.
‘D’you think they’re ready yet?’ Vic asked.
Adam checked his phone. ‘Surely by now. They take longer than you to get done!’
They left their room and knocked on the door next to theirs. ‘They’d better not be havin’ sex in there,’ Adam grumbled. Vic’s nose scrunched in discomfort, imagining her brother like that. ‘Happened once in the cabin, y’know,’ he continued, oblivious to Victoria’s reaction. ‘Opened the door, there they were goin’ at it, Aaron bent over the—’
‘Adam! Shut up!’ She knocked again, harder this time.
The door was opened by a harassed-looking Robert, who sighed. ‘Uh, change of plan. I don’t think we’re goin’ with you.’
‘What?’ Vic screeched. ‘Why?’ Without waiting for an explanation, she pushed her way into the room.
‘I’m—I’m not feelin’ up to it, that’s all,’ Robert said.
Vic and Adam looked stunned. ‘But, you were looking forward to it an hour ago,’ Vic said. ‘Wouldn’t stop goin’ on about it.’
He shrugged. ‘Changed my mind.’
Adam sighed. ‘Well, no offence, Rob but the three of us can still go out, can’t we?’
‘Adam!’ Vic hissed.
‘What? We can still enjoy ourselves. And we’ll keep an eye on Aaron. Where is he anyway?’
It was then that the bathroom door opened and Aaron emerged. It looked like he had been crying. ‘Mate? What’s up?’ Adam’s voice was low-pitched with concern. ‘Hey, if you want to go out, but the old geezer won’t let you—’
‘You what?’ Aaron asked, voice hoarse. He looked at Robert.
‘Well, Rob was tellin’ us that he didn’t feel up to going,’ Vic said. She and Adam shared a confused look at the way Aaron was gazing at Robert. ‘Aaron? You still up to it?’
He looked at her as if pulled back into the room. He shook his head. ‘No, um, it was me, actually. I was the one that didn’t want to go.’
‘Baby, you don’t have to—’
‘I just,’ Aaron interrupted, ‘It’s been a while since I had a night out.’ He shrugged. ‘Feelin’ a bit anxious about it I guess.’ His voice got smaller and smaller and he seemed to fold in on himself. But Vic and Adam watched as Robert reached out and took his hand, pulling Aaron to sit beside him on the bed. Aaron’s shoulders started to straighten again, as if he was drawing strength from his boyfriend.
They had never seen them like this, not really: a unit, a team.
‘Well,’ Vic said slowly, ‘we don’t have to go out tonight. We could stay here? Get some drinks brought to the room?’
Adam nodded his agreement. Robert smiled at her, but turned his attention to Aaron. ‘Baby?’
‘Yeah. Sounds good.’ His lips lifted in the corners, the tiniest hint of a smile. ‘Thanks.’ Then he looked at Robert and the two of them seemed to have an entire conversation with their eyes, and through a nod of the head.
So they ordered beers, wine, and a few spirits for shots. They had a laugh and they talked, and as Aaron started to get more and more tipsy, the closer he seemed to press himself to Robert. Not in a sexual way, but in a way that showed that he wanted his strength; that he was comfortable where he was; comfortable with Vic and Adam knowing this side of them.
For his part, Robert cast little glances at Aaron, every so often pecking him softly on the temple. He watched his every move, listened to the way his voice changed with each passing comment, smiled wider when Aaron laughed. It was like he was a heightened reflection of Aaron’s emotions.
Then, when they had seen midnight come and go, and when Vic was starting to fall asleep on Adam’s shoulder they called it a night. Victoria stumbled her way to their room, Adam carrying his jacket and the shoes his wife had abandoned after nearly falling over on the way to the bathroom.
****
They woke to their alarm clock the next morning, Adam groaning as he tossed the phone back on the bedside cabinet. Vic grunted next to him, then leaned across for a morning kiss. ‘Oh god,’ she groaned. ‘Your breath is horrible.’
Adam snorted. ‘Yeah, and yours is like a demon’s backside,’ he teased. She slapped him playfully and squealed when he grabbed her wrists pinning them to the pillow either side of her head. They were about to gravitate towards each other again (bad breath be damned), when they heard the rhythmic creaking of bed springs from next door. They looked at each other in horror.
‘I’m gonna get dressed now,’ Vic said loudly.
‘Yeah. I’ll… put some music on.’
Vic bolted to the bathroom and slammed the door forcefully behind her. Adam cringed and hunted for the music on his phone, trying desperately not to hear the sound of his best mate and brother-in-law going at it next door.
****
‘Thanks for the cock block this morning, mate,’ Adam hissed at Robert when they were outside. Robert frowned and squinted at him. Adam rolled his eyes and nodded to Vic, who was walking with Aaron up ahead. ‘This morning? Heard you next door, just as we were about to—’
‘Oh, god Adam.’ Robert made a disgusted face. ‘I really don’t want to know what you were about to do to my little sister.’
‘Well nothin’ was done, thanks to you,’ he hissed. ‘All that… creakin’.’ He shuddered and saw Robert’s smirk out of the corner of his eye. Then Robert seemed to sober.
He cleared his throat. ‘Don’t, uh—don’t mention this to Aaron, will you?’ he said. ‘He gets enough stick off Liv at home.’ He shrugged one shoulder. ‘It was nice for him to get away from all that.’
Adam looked at him in something like shock. He had thought that Robert would want to rib him for not being able to do what he wanted to do this morning, not turn into this caring human being. ‘Yeah, sure,’ he mumbled. Not for the first time—but certainly in the oddest setting—Adam found himself feeling grateful that his best mate had someone like Robert who would take care of him like this.
****
Just before lunchtime, Vic had managed to drag them into a clothes shop. The three boys rolled their eyes but ultimately couldn’t deny her anything, and Adam grinned ear to ear when she kissed him quickly and bounded off between the railings of clothes.
If they turned their music up really loud tonight, maybe they could pick up where they got interrupted this morning.
He was pulled along by Aaron, who rolled his eyes and said, ‘C’mon, Casanova.’
The three of them wandered around, Aaron and Adam inevitably looking at similar things, whilst Robert became more interested in the shirts on display. Then Aaron grabbed a grey jumper (which Adam thought wasn’t quite his style) and shoved it in Robert’s arms.
‘You need to get this!’ he said.
‘Eh? Why?’ He held it up and looked at it. It was just a plain grey, cotton jumper but for some reason seemed to make Aaron unconventionally pleased.
‘It’s like the one you used to have,’ he said, ‘the one you don’t have anymore. I really liked you in it.’
They gravitated towards each other, and as much as Adam wanted to look away, he found himself curious about the way that almost everything else in the world seemed not to exist in those moments they were talking and looking at each other in that way.
‘Really?’ Robert was saying softly. Aaron nodded and nibbled his bottom lip softly.
‘I thought maybe you could… wear it tonight? When we go out?’
‘You want to go out?’
‘Yeah. I know last night I didn’t, but I want to try tonight. We can’t come to London and not go out.’ He nodded at the jumper. ‘So?’
‘Whatever you want, Baby.’ But Robert was smiling so wide and so proudly.
****
They did make it to a club that night, and whilst Adam and Aaron went to get drinks, Robert and Victoria found them a table. She cleared her throat and leaned over to shout in her brother’s ear. ‘How’d you convince Aaron to come out tonight?’
‘Didn’t!’ he yelled back. ‘Decided on his own.’
She gave him a knowing look. ‘Nothin’ to do with the racket from your room this morning?’
Robert groaned and rolled his eyes, something she swore he had learned from Aaron: he had never done it this much before. ‘Adam has already been on at me for that!’ he said. Then he spotted the two of them coming back and said urgently, ‘Don’t say anything to Aaron! You know how he gets.’
Vic nodded sincerely and accepted her drink and a smile from her husband. She watched as Aaron sat next to Robert, but kept looking around, a little wary of his surroundings still. She had expected Robert to link their fingers, maybe give Aaron a soft smile, but he punched Aaron lightly on the arm instead. For some reason, that made Aaron smile and relax a little. She would never understand them, no matter how long she studied them.
****
It was getting to the middle of the night. Aaron had relaxed quite a lot since they first arrived, courtesy of the drinks that Adam had bought for him. Robert had paced himself, as had Vic, keeping watch over their beloved men. Adam had dragged Aaron off for a dance (Adam had pulled at Vic’s arm first, until she resisted enough that he let it go. She had been dancing most of the night, and her feet were hurting) and Robert watched them like a hawk for a long while. Vic nudged him. ‘He’ll take care of him, you know,’ she shouted over the music.
Robert nodded. ‘Yeah, as much as I hate to admit it, your husband is responsible.’
She grinned. ‘I’m sorry, what was that? Did I just hear you praising Adam?’
‘The first and only time!’
‘Oh, I’m sure it is.’ She pulled her phone out. ‘Mind repeating it again though so I can record it?’
He laughed and batted her hand away. Instead, she fumbled through her passcode and opened her camera app, snapping a few blurry pictures of Adam and Aaron dancing. ‘Can’t wait to show them these!’ she giggled.
‘Lemme see?’ He leaned over and grinned through each one.
‘Remember when you were jealous of them?’ Vic said.
‘Eh?’
‘Of Aaron and Adam. Remember? You asked if he was Aaron’s new boyfriend the first time you saw them together.’
‘Ugh, Vic, that was ages ago!’
She shuffled in closer to him. ‘Yeah, so? Were you?’
‘Why d’you want to know that.’
She threw up her hands, and smiled winningly at him. He sighed. ‘A little.’ He cringed when she let out a noise of triumph. ‘Shut up now, yeah?’
‘Alright!’ She leant across and kissed him on the cheek. ‘You know there’s nothing to be jealous of, don’t you?’
‘Vic,’ he said warningly.
‘I’m just sayin’, Aaron may have had a thing for Adam years ago, but I’ve never seen him like this, the way he is with you. Like, comfortable, you know?’
Robert nodded, as if he did know, and he must have. They must have had tonnes of conversations like this. Then she saw the way, as Adam and Aaron walked towards them from the dance floor, that Aaron looked at Robert; the way he grinned, and the way Robert grinned back, and realised… maybe they didn’t need to say it.
****
They had to set off early the next day. Well, earlier than any of them would have liked to, especially after getting back to the hotel and, this time, going to Vic and Adam’s room where the four of them talked until they heard Big Ben strike 3am. When Adam’s alarm went off the next morning, they both woke with pounding heads, made even worse by the sound of a knock on their door.
Adam groaned and stumbled to the door. Robert was standing there with a smile on his face. Much too early for that.
‘What?’ he groaned.
‘Just wanted to make sure you’re both awake,’ he said. He peered around Adam and saw Vic propping herself up in bed, her hair in all directions, her mascara smeared over her cheeks.
‘Rob, get out,’ she groaned. Payback for teasing him yesterday, she thought. Petty bastard her brother was. He just grinned and walked away.
****
They were on the train back, each couple sitting on either side of the much fuller train. Robert had been a pain in the backside again, until Aaron told him to wind his neck in. Robert shut up right away, not telling Aaron why he was being a royal pain, and not arguing.
‘It was strange, y’know, this weekend,’ Adam said. Vic made a soft, questioning sound. The train was rocking her side to side, making her feel sleepy. ‘Seein’ them like that. I mean, I know we’ve seen them together before, but I dunno, seein’ your brother… being understanding like that… it’s—’
‘Nice?’ Vic said.
‘I was gonna say “weird”!’ He jumped when Vic pinched his arm. ‘No, it is nice though, innit? Seeing him carin’ about Aaron like that.’
‘Yeah,’ Vic said softly. ‘It is.’
****
Adam showed Aaron the picture the next day at work. He didn’t say it, but his eyes softened, and he smiled a little, and Adam knew he liked it.