May you spend today celebrating the best love story of all time! I heard you first fell in love with them in this moment, and I hope it makes you happy.
Inspired by the wonderful art by @scrapyardboyfriends: Champagne? Wow! That hotel has turned your head. From you Robron Valentine. Thank you for always creating the most wonderful art, you are invaluable to this fandom and we are so lucky to have you <3
Aaron doesn’t like champagne. He never has. It is bitter and too sparkly and he has never understood why people love it so much. He stares at the bottle in his hand and smiles wryly, before placing it in his bag along with some chocolate and other necessities.
Robert’s going to love this.
He has the whole thing planned out. Robert is going to come back from work Friday evening, tired and ranting about Jimmy never cleaning up after himself, and Aaron’s going to get him to shut up walk right back out of the door and to the car, which will be packed and ready to leave.
“But it’s not even Valentine’s Day, that’s next weekend!” Robert protests when Aaron marches him out of the door.
“Keys,” Aaron says, holding out a hand. Robert rolls his eyes, but he is smiling when he throws the keys to his new audi over the car. “I couldn’t do this on Valentine’s Day could I,” Aaron continues, “you always plan for a dinner at a fancy restaurant with at least three courses.”
Robert lets out a huff of laughter and gets in. “You’ve got other plans, do you?”
Aaron grins as he turns the car on and shifts into first gear. “I do, Mr. Dingle.”
The bag he packed also contains the keys to a small flat he has managed to snag for the weekend in Manchester. It is all he can do to contain his glee as Robert grows increasingly confused, scanning their surroundings as Aaron drives through the Yorkshire countryside.
“Aaron, are you kidnapping me for the weekend? If you do I need to call Vic and have her take Seb tomorrow,” Robert asks to force a reply.
“If you were being kidnapped you’d be in the boot,” Aaron says. “I’ve sorted it, so don’t worry.”
Robert presses his hands against his thighs and lets out a slow breath. “I’m not worried,” he says when a few seconds have passed.
“No?” Aaron asks, and when he looks over at his husband the late afternoon sun beautifully catches on his skin, making his smile glow.
“No,” Robert says. There’s a certainty to those words that sends a thrill down Aaron’s spine, even after years of marriage. “I’m not.”
Aaron drives on in silence, and Robert doesn’t say another word.
Robert’s eyebrows are quirked up as they pull into the parking lot close to the centre of town. Aaron pays for a 48h ticket and that has Robert smiling, eyes shining.
“What’ve you got planned?” he finally asks as they walk down the street.
Aaron bites his lower lip. “You’re so impatient.”
“I’m not,” Robert counters. He’s carrying his bag over his shoulder, knuckles whitening on the handle.
“You hate not being in control.”
“We both know that’s not exactly true,” Robert says, and it is laced with heat. Aaron can remember countless times where Robert has lost control, giving in to Aaron’s touch.
“Fine,” Aaron concedes. “We’re almost there.”
Robert laces his hand with Aaron’s as they walk.
“You’ve rented this place?” Robert asks. Aaron nods. They have settled in, placing their bags in the bedroom, and Aaron managed to pop the bottle in the fridge in the brief time it took Robert to go to the bathroom.
The flat is beautiful; all designer furniture and clean lines. The windows are wide, showing the view of Manchester; blocks of cement interspersed with Gothic spires, or at least that was what Robert said last time they were here.
“Where did you find it?”
Aaron shrugs. “I’ve got my ways.”
Robert barks out a laugh, wraps his arms around Aaron from behind and kisses him in the spot under his ear. Aaron can’t help but lean into it, place his hands on top of Robert’s, holding him closer.
“One of our business partners was so happy about our last deal that he said he owed me one,” Aaron admits.
“Ah,” Robert hums, lips still against Aaron’s skin. “So, since this is your plan, what’s next?”
Aaron turns in Robert’s arms and kisses him, softly at first but it soon grows hungry, desperate, a dance they are both all too familiar with to not know where it is going. Robert tugs at Aaron’s jumper, fingers slipping under the hem of Aaron’s shirt to graze the skin of his stomach, grabbing his arse and pulling him closer.
“I’m guessing you packed for this too?” Robert whispers as Aaron kisses him down his throat.
Aaron grins at him, and pushes him towards the bed. It isn’t long before all clothes are shed and both of them are panting against each other’s skin. Definitely how Aaron planned to start off the weekend.
Afterwards, when the sweat has cooled and they are lying under the duvet, arms wrapped around one another, Aaron remembers why he brought the champagne. Robert is already languid, limbs heavy and head pressed into the crook of Aaron’s neck; they are wrapped around each other completely, bodies intertwined and deliciously relaxed. If anything will make Robert relax even more, it is a glass of bubbles.
Robert protests as he shuffles out of the bed, but stops when Aaron walks naked out to the kitchen.
He walks back in a few minutes later, bottle in one hand and two glasses in the other. Of course a place like this has champagne glasses on display in the cupboard.
“Is that -” Robert starts.
“It is.”
Robert sits up, a grin spreading over his face.
“But you hate champagne!”
Aaron smiles. “You don’t, though.”
Aaron shuffles under the duvet again, pulling it up so it covers his legs and lower stomach. Robert moves closer immediately, pressing a quick kiss to his shoulder.
“You want to?” Aaron asks.
The ensuing grin makes all the trouble planning this thing worth it.
He takes a glass for Robert and deftly pours a respectable amount into it while Robert rests his head against Aaron’s shoulder, before he gets a glass for himself and does the same. Their glasses make a satisfying ‘clink’ as they raise them to their health and then, a sip. It is just as Aaron remembers it; despite everything he has been told about it, Aaron doesn’t like champagne. He takes a sip, containing his dislike as best he can but Robert starts laughing.
“You don’t have to drink it,” Robert says. “You know that.”
“We’re sharing,” Aaron says. “Plus, if you get a whole bottle you won’t be awake in an hour.”
Robert nuzzles closer, and Aaron lets him. “What’ve you got planned in an hour?”
Aaron grins. “Sushi… then sex, if you want.”
“I thought you hated sushi,” Robert says, eyebrows rising.
“There may or may not be some alternatives in there as well,” Aaron says. “But…”
“I love sushi?”
Aaron leans forward, pressing a deep kiss to Robert’s lips.
Champagne might not taste good, but the taste of it on Robert’s tongue has him desperate for more. It isn’t long before the glasses are placed on the bedside tables, and Aaron’s mouth is wrapped around Robert.
Aaron wakes before Robert does; he hasn’t done that in a while. Robert’s face is peaceful, his jaw slack and his hair tousled from the second and third rounds last night. It warms his heart to see Robert so relaxed and peaceful, especially after a stressful few weeks where Aaron has barely seen him outside of tea and bed.
Today he can’t stay in though, can’t wrap his arms around his husband and wait for him to wake up. Aaron has plans that are too important. moves the arm Robert has wrapped around his chest and quickly hops into some clothes, leaving the flat. The sound of the door slamming shut 20 minutes later must be what wakes Robert up, as Aaron hears a hoarse ‘Aaron?’ ringing through the flat.
“I’ve just got back,” Aaron says.
“Where’ve you been?” Robert asks as Aaron walks into the bedroom, groceries still in hand.
“Making a fry-up.”
Robert falls back into bed, a hand over his eyes.
“You really are treating me,” Robert says a few minutes later as he walks into the kitchen in nothing but his boxers. It is quite the sight to behold, even after all this time together.
Aaron shrugs. “I really love you, you know that?”
“Yeah, I know.”
Their eyes meet, and Aaron has never known something so fundamentally as the love that floods his chest for this man, the gorgeous mess of a man in front of him. Robert smiles, eyes more wrinkled than they were a few years ago, and Aaron shares it with him until it engulfs them both.
“Coffee?” Robert asks.
“You make the coffee, I’ll make the food.”
They move around each other seamlessly despite the new surroundings, years of routine kicking in.
While the sausages are cooking, Robert wraps his arms around Aaron, pulling him closer, bare chest pressed to Aaron’s back, hips pressed to Aaron’s.
“I’m cooking here,” Aaron says and makes a move to worm his way out of Robert’s grip.
“I’m not bothering you,” Robert counters, holding on.
“You’re an idiot.”
“Shut up,” Robert says into Aaron’s shoulder.
By the time they get back to the village, the strain in Robert’s shoulder has gone, and he has a light in his eyes that fills his face with happiness.
“Thank you,” he says, leaning forward to press his lips to Aaron’s. They’re warm, soft, and Aaron presses close across the gear stick.
“You’re welcome,” Aaron says.
“Right, you unpack and I’ll sort some tea?”
Aaron smiles, leaning in again to nip at Robert’s lower lip and the kiss turns heated in seconds.
“Or… we can chuck the bags on the sofa and go upstairs?”
Robert grins.
“You are terrible,” he says. Aaron’s grins.
“You can bring up another bottle, if you want.”
Robert rolls his eyes. “You like it now?”
Aaron shrugs. “Maybe I’m learning.”
Maybe it is the dopey grin Robert gets after a glass or two.
It doesn’t matter. All that matters is Robert’s lips on his, the bottle forgotten as they lose themselves in each other.
