Did I get emotional writing this little fic about Robert calling Aaron on the phone? Not for me to say.
"I'll call you."
The last few nights, he’d fallen asleep to the sound of Aaron’s breathing. He lay in bed now, the room dark except for the moonlight streaming in through the crack in the curtains, and listened as Aaron filled him in on the mundanity that had occupied his day.
Robert had been calling him every night for the last week and it had sort of become a treasured part of his daily routine. Every night at 10, he’d come out of the shower, roughly dry his hair with a towel, throw on some shorts and get settled under the soft duvet before he picked up his phone and hit the first number on his contacts list: Aaron.
He enjoyed hearing Aaron’s voice: his sighs of exasperation when he spoke about Chas being her usual overbearing self, the way his voice changed when he was smiling or when Robert made him laugh, the way he could hear it when Aaron rolled his eyes even though he couldn’t see him. His heart broke when Aaron’s voice got shaky speaking about John, about feeling like a fool for not seeing what was right in front of him, hearing him apologise again - apologies that rolled off his tongue so easily these days. In turn Robert filled him in about his days on the farm. It was back to business as usual now for the Sugdens’ and the Dingle-Bartons’ alliance. He loved hearing Aaron’s amused laugh as he ranted about whatever new nonsense Ross came up with on a daily basis, he glowed hearing Aaron’s words of encouragement and the pride he heard in his voice when he rambled on about helping Vic and Moira out with their plans and proposals.
Robert listened intently now as Aaron told him about his ridiculous encounter with Jimmy in the café. But the tiredness had crept into his voice. Sleep was about to hit him any moment. Robert could tell from the way his voice got lower and slower. He checked the time: 2am.
“I should let you get some sleep,” he said quietly into the phone, dreading having to hang up, to be left alone with his own thoughts and the nightmares that came hot on their heels when he didn’t have Aaron’s breathing and light snores to keep him company in the darkness.
“No, please stay on,” Aaron mumbled in reply. “You haven’t told me about- about how you got Ross to l- leave you alone earlier.”
Robert rolled his eyes as he heard Aaron’s yawns. He did this all the time on their calls: asked him questions he already knew the answer to so Robert would stay on longer. Robert acted like it was a nuisance but he secretly loved it, hearing Aaron want him to stay on just as much he needed Aaron to stay.
“Yes, I did. I literally told you about how I got Moira to tell him to remove all the hay bales back to the barn they were in this morning so he wouldn’t keep coming into the meeting. But sound for the great listening. Glad you care so much about what I have to say, mate.”
“Don’t call me that.” Robert smiled at Aaron’s sleepy irritation.
“Sorry, boss,” he grinned.
“Don’t call me that either,” Aaron's quiet voice was barely audible and within seconds Robert could hear the steady rise and fall of his breathing.
He left the call running as he did every night, his phone face down on his pillow beside his head - where Aaron’s head would be if he had been there with him - and allowed himself to succumb to sleep. He knew he’d wake up throughout the night, as he had done for the past few months, when the terrors grasped onto him in the vulnerability of the darkness. But he knew now that when his body jerked awake tonight, he’d hear Aaron’s breathing again and that would remind him where he was: safe, in his bed, his sister and his nephew asleep in the other rooms, and Aaron – Aaron there to remind him he was home.
