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Robert knew why Aaron was going out with Adam that night. He desperately needed to unwind from all the wedding planning. Adam was the only one who wouldn’t pester him with the colour of their suits, the flowers in the venue or the wedding menu. Unlike Robert, Chas and Vic.
The wedding was approaching at a rapid speed and their stag night was next week. Aaron was set on having a drink with just Adam before that, since he probably wouldn’t even have time to have a real chat with Adam while Robert was going to be thoroughly initiated in the Dingle clan and Vic would make sure to embarrass Aaron in one way or the other.
Robert figured Aaron would ban wedding talk tonight, but he was the type of person to hate surprises so Robert could really see him trying to coerce Adam to spill whatever he knew of their stag do and also Robert’s wedding gift.
It was absolutely top secret, so even if Aaron got Adam drunk, he wouldn’t find out anything. The only people who knew were Diane, Chas, Vic and Liv, all sworn to secrecy. When he had told Chas in the back of the pub, she had cried and hugged him. That was when Liv walked in, immediately worried about what was going on.
“I’m telling Chas what my wedding gift for Aaron is.” Robert had said breathily, still a bit taken aback how Chas had genuinely and with all her heart thanked him. The only other time she had spoken to him like that was after the car crash, when he had saved Aaron.
Liv had jokingly questioned, “You’re not going sing for him at the wedding reception, are you? ‘Cause then I’m gonna cry.” Robert had noticed the jab, but hadn’t reacted to it.
He had however explained what he had bought, nothing too expensive, but it was meaningful. And by the end of it, Liv was crying and angry with him that he was being too soft and sentimental.
When he told Vic, her eyes had softened, much like the time she had first seen the engagement ring. He hadn’t told Diane the entire reason, why he picked that gift exactly, but she was proud of him. Throwing money at things wasn’t everything.
Robert knew that now too, but he didn’t mind doing it to make their wedding absolutely perfect. Aaron for once wasn’t complaining that much about Robert’s tendency to throw money around. He had little arguments to use when Robert said, “But we’re saving a lot of money already by letting Vic do the catering.” Then he would use his charms and Aaron hadn’t been able to say no, not even a single time.
That was why they now had tailor-made suits and a honeymoon booked to Verona. Robert was very proud of his persuasive skills.
But there were some things that couldn’t be bought, one of them: the wedding vows. Stupidly enough Robert had proposed to write their own, so it would be more special at the ceremony. It had come up right after some mind-blowing sex and he was in an extra blissful romantic mood. Unfortunately Aaron hadn’t already been asleep, and he even agreed to do it.
He regretted that now, with his hands wrapped in his hair, tugging at the strands. He wanted to scream at his computer screen, 0 words on his document titled ‘My stupid mistake’. He had saved it thirty times even though he had written nothing in the past two hours. The only thing preventing him from punching his fist through the screen was Liv sitting across him, doing her homework for once. And Aaron would kill him if he disturbed her.
Aaron walked down the stairs, hair still wet from the shower and Robert let his eyes glide over his soon-to-be husband. Work at the scrapyard was doing him good, his arms were buffed and he looked healthy, which was all that mattered to Robert.
He grabbed his keys and walked around Robert, who quickly clicked away from his empty document. He pressed a kiss on Robert’s temple and grinned, “I know you haven’t written anything yet.” He stood behind Robert for a minute and gently stroked his thumb across his shoulders and neck, up his jaw.
Robert leaned into his touch and protested weakly, “You don’t know that, I have loads of ideas. You just wait.”
“You can always copy some vows, if you can’t wr-“ Robert wouldn’t let Aaron continue.
He shushed Aaron and shifted on his chair to look him in the eyes, “I want to write my own.” He answered self-pityingly. Once he had gotten the idea, he wouldn’t settle for anything less, but nothing could make the writing juices flow.
The worst part of it all, was that Aaron had written his already. Okay, Robert couldn’t deny he was flattered that Aaron had managed to write them so quickly. But eventually he figured it had much less to do with Aaron’s love for him, than his ability to put that love into words. Something Robert had never been good at.
Aaron pecked his lips softly and whispered teasingly, “Then you better start working on it.” He left after a giving Liv a gentle pat on her head, which she pretended she didn’t like, to meet up with Adam.
When Aaron was gone and silence once again filled the room, Robert and Liv let out a sigh simultaneously. The young girl looked up for the first time that night and met eyes with Robert above his laptop screen. Robert scoffed, “What are you sighing about? It’s just homework, not like something you’re going to have to say to your husband in front of your entire family and his very, very extended family.”
Liv rolled her eyes, used to Robert’s dramatics and retaliated in equal measure, “It’s not like you have to write an entire essay on a subject you can’t even pronounce.” She raised an eyebrow in emphasis and Robert knew it was stupid he felt annoyed that a teenage girl could win from him in an argument. Liv – 1, Robert – 0.
He’d only tolerate it, because she was Aaron’s little sister. The room went quiet again and Robert tried to focus on his black page again. Why couldn’t he concentrate?
Was it because he wasn’t old-school writing it on paper? That wasn’t it, because he’d tried that and Aaron had laughed when he found him asleep, face planted onto the table, bits and bits of crumpled paper around him. By the time Robert had woken up, Aaron pretended he had gone through half of the papers and Robert was mortified he would do such a thing. Aaron eventually told the truth, but it stopped Robert from writing with a pen on paper again.
Was it because he had doubts? That couldn’t be it. Robert’s entire universe revolved around Aaron and though he knew that wasn’t healthy either, he knew for a fact that he loved Aaron so much, he would die without him.
Robert rubbed his nose bridge and closed the lid of his laptop. He gave up. He officially quitted and he hoped Aaron wouldn’t mind he copied the first thing he found online.
He stared at Liv, who was just doodling on her papers. He tsked which made her look up. “You can’t just stop working on your assignment.”
She snorted, “Yeah, and you’re allowed to slack off?” She motioned to his closed laptop.
He pursed his lips, “You need good grades Liv in order to have a bright future.”
“And you don’t need a bright future with Aaron?” She argued.
Robert scoffed, “Liv, he’s not going to grade me,” He paused and chuckled, “God help me if he does.”
“But he might not want to marry you if your vows are lousy.” She retorted smugly and Robert knew she had a point. Dammit, Liv – 2, Robert – 0.
“Alright, no quitting. I’m just taking a short break and you… get back to studying.” Robert ended the discussion firmly. He stood up to leave, but Liv stopped him with a hand in his arm.
She whined, “I don’t understand a thing. Can you… help me?” It took her a lot of courage to say the words. In that way she was similar, almost identical, to Aaron.
Robert grabbed a chair and scooted closer, “Of course, what’s it about?”
She laid her papers out and groaned, “The Adro-, Andry… er…” She exhaled loudly, and leaned her head on one hand, giving up.
“The Androgyne Myth or well, Plato’s Myth.” Robert supplied helpfully, taking a look at her notes.
She muttered disgruntled, “It has like a hundred names, I don’t know what it all means.”
“That’s what you get with ancient texts, too much of a hassle and wrong translations. When do you have to hand it in.” Robert commented and looked pointedly at her when she bit the inside of her cheek guiltily.
“Tomorrow.” She said inaudibly, but Robert was able to lip-read.
He sighed, “I’m not going to be angry, because I was just like you. Always left it till the last minute and I’m sure Aaron was the same.” She smiled awkwardly and they started working on the texts.
Liv took out her notebook and started writing while Robert read aloud the most important parts of the texts. “It’s the origin of love. Humans are seen as creatures with four arms and four legs, two heads and each their own genitals. A human that was both male and female was a child of the moon, one that was exclusively female came from earth and one that was exclusively male came from the sun.”
Liv’s pen moved rapidly over the paper, not even thinking about what she was writing down.
“Those creatures thought they could overrule the gods, but Zeus split them apart so their only purpose in life was to look for their other half.” Robert tried to explain in a less academic way to make it clear to Liv.
She frowned, “So, kind of like soulmates? What happens when they meet?”
“They embrace each other so long they almost die from hunger and love for each other.”
Liv cocked an eyebrow, “Wow, tragic.”
He told her how that’s not the end of the story and if she stops writing at that point she’d get bad grades and her opinion on love is really dark and should change. “Not all love stories end with someone dying, Liv.”
“Romeo and Juliet?” She inquired.
“Puppy love, they must’ve not been true soulmates.” Robert argued and Liv stared at him as if she was trying to find out if he was talking sense or not.
She laid down her pen to give him her full attention, “How do you know? Whether you’ve found your soulmate.”
“When you know, you know.” He said, repeated the words he once said to Aaron. Only Liv didn’t take it without question. She wasn’t as easily charmed as Aaron.
“But when do you know?” She emphasised.
Robert groaned, “If I knew that I would’ve written my vows ages ago.”
“You think Aaron’s your soulmate?” Her eyes twinkled in the same way Aaron’s sometimes did and Robert didn’t really know what to say, what she would accept from him. She’d probably want him to be honest.
“Yeah,” He confessed softly before repeated it more determinately, “Yes, he’s my soulmate.”
“You just don’t know why.” She added for him and this, this had been what had been bothering him all night and actually whenever he’d been trying to write his vows.
He shook his head, “I know why. I only can’t put it into words. It’s indescribable.”
“Aaron could do it and you’re his soulmate.” She grounded him with that comment, while also pulling the ground from underneath his feet.
He stood up, his legs shaking but he tried to not make that too noticeable as he walked back to the other side of the table and open his laptop.
“Thanks Liv.” He murmured as he could finally save his document with some significant text in it. She only nodded in response, not acknowledging him more than she deemed necessary. They both knew they were never going to have that conversation again. They would have a similar one in a few years when Liv found her soulmate or she thought she found her soulmate and Robert would tell her with a knowing smile that she would know in her heart, what that person, whoever it may be, meant to her.
Later that night, Aaron crawled into their bed, smelling of booze and Robert groaned into Aaron’s mouth when Aaron kissed him deeply and slowly. He really didn’t like the taste of beer when he was tired and not planning to brush his teeth again.
Aaron wiggled out of his clothes and wrapped his muscled arms around Robert. He was super affectionate and peppered kisses all over Robert’s chest. The older man loved to have sex, but not when Aaron was drunk beyond the ability to make coherent phrases.
It was a tell-tale sign Aaron had indeed tried to get Adam drunk in order to get information out of him and he had gotten himself drunk in the process too. Robert suspicion was confirmed when Aaron muttered, “Just tell… me… secret. Damn… Rob…”
Robert shook his head with a chuckle and yelped when Aaron bit down on his collarbone in revenge. “So that’s how you’re going to play, huh?” He rolled them over until he was straddling Aaron and seeing him look up with the same twinkle playing in his eyes that Liv had before, Robert wrapped his arms and legs around Aaron like a little monkey.
Soulmates, two halves of one whole. Only sated when they were together, wrapped up in each other so much Robert sometimes forgot to breathe.
Four arms, four legs, tangled together. Robert’s head lay on Aaron’s chest, hearing his heart thumping in a steady pace. He knew his own heartbeat was almost twice that speed because Robert was in love with Aaron, his soon-to-be husband and soulmate.