Eilatansayah told me in a review for "Quick Flashes" that it shouldn't be my only Aaron and Jackson story, so I wrote this. So. Continuing to ignore the depressing reality of the current storylines in Emmerdale, here's a short story about a random point in Aaron's and Jackson's relationship. Imagine it takes part in early 2011, maybe, so the crash is ignored.
This contains a very hilarious Andy and an even more hilarious Ryan, because I love Ryan.
"Morning, Andy."
"Ryan, quiet!"
"What – oh. Wow."
"You can say that again."
"Wow."
"What were they thinking?"
"I don't think they were thinking, mate."
"They must've been bladdered when they got in."
"Definitely. If they'd been sober, they'd have gone up to Jackson's room. A sober Aaron wouldn't be caught dead like that."
"They didn't even cover themselves properly."
"I know. That blanket could easily fall off if one of them moves, and then we'd be able to see all the dangly bits."
"Ryan! Well, we need to get the couch cleaned now, don't we?"
"Andy, did you have to say that?"
"What?"
"Now I won't go near the couch before we get it cleaned. Seriously."
"Ryan?"
"Yes?"
"Is that Aaron's boxers on the CD player?"
"I think it is."
"Oh, wow. Hey, what are you doing?"
"Taking a picture. You think I'm going to let go of such great mocking material?"
"You prat, he's gonna rip your head off. They both are."
"Steady on, it's not like I'll be flashing it at everyone. I just want it for my own amusement."
"How old are you?"
"Depends on the day and what mood I'm in."
"I'll believe that. Should we wake them up?"
"Well, Aaron needs to be at work same time as me, so we should wake him up soon."
"Wait, I think one of them moved."
And one of them did in fact move. Aaron stirred and shifted on the couch. The movement apparently woke Jackson as well, because he let out a low groan and moved a little as well. They both seemed to become aware of the very small space they were on at about the same time. Aaron looked around a bit, as if he was trying to locate himself and then he looked up at Ryan and Andy. Ryan did his best not to laugh, but he was pretty sure it showed on his face, anyway.
"Oh god," Aaron groaned. He ducked his head and hid it in his arms.
"And good morning to you, too," Ryan said in an overly cheerful tone.
"Get stuffed," Aaron grunted, but it was muffled by his arms.
"I don't think so, it's my house," Ryan said, maintaining the extra cheer in his voice.
"We fell asleep on the sofa, didn't we?" Jackson mumbled groggily.
"Yes, you did," Ryan replied. Jackson grumbled something that sounded like "Oh great," and fumbled around for the blanket. When he found it, he pulled it over himself and Aaron properly, and Ryan was a little relieved at that.
"Does anyone fancy some breakfast?" Andy offered.
"Yeah, go on then," Ryan replied. He wasn't going to say no to one of Andy's breakfasts, the guy was a brilliant cook. At least, he was a lot better than Ryan himself or Jackson. Ryan had a theory that it was because of all the farm work. Getting free meat like that, and having gotten it for years had probably sharpened his culinary abilities. Ryan, as a mechanic who'd lived with his mother until he was about twenty-eight, had not had much time to perfect such skills.
"Yeah, I'd like some," Jackson said. Andy nodded and headed for the stove.
"Aaron?" the rest of the question didn't need to be asked. Aaron, however, didn't answer. He just grunted something incoherent, making the rest of them laugh. "I'll make some for you as well."
"You guys might want to consider getting dressed," Ryan suggested casually.
"Now why would we want to do that?" Jackson asked jokingly.
"Shut up," Aaron sighed. He moved as if to sit up, but Jackson's arm around his chest held him back. "What are you doing? I need to find me clothes."
"They got tossed around last night," Jackson said.
"You can say that again," Ryan commented, earning him a quick glare from Aaron. However, a bonus to having worked with both Aaron and Cain for so long was that Ryan had become immune to glares and snarls. He'd also become very patient, perhaps the most patient person in Emmerdale. So Aaron glaring at him, stark naked and wrapped up with his boyfriend on Ryan's sofa, was really more hilarious than scary, by far.
"You and this blanket are the only things keeping me covered, so if you move, you take the blanket with you, and I'll be in the nude for everyone to see," Jackson explained, ignoring Ryan's comment. Ryan thought Jackson had quite a fair point. It would be rather embarrassing to all of them, especially Jackson, if Aaron just got up with the blanket. Aaron seemed to think that as well, because he bit his lip in thought and looked around for a solution. He reached over to the chair, stretching his arm and letting the blanket fall dangerously low again, and then grabbed the blanket that had been on the arm of the chair. He wrapped it around himself and got up, untangling himself from both Jackson and the first blanket.
"Happy now?" he asked as he made sure the blanket really was covering him.
"Yep, very," Jackson replied easily. Ryan snorted out a laugh that he couldn't hold back and watched as Aaron started gathering his clothes again. Somehow, his t-shirt had ended up hanging off a corner on the collage by the front door. But Aaron managed to find all his stuff and put it on without dropping the blanket covering him. When he was fully dressed again, he picked up another pair of boxers and threw them at Jackson.
"Now you as well," he said.
"I'll go up and change, thank you very much. Not that I didn't enjoy the show," Jackson said cheekily, and Ryan almost dropped his jaw when Aaron blushed. Not very much, but still.
Jackson went up to change, and he came down again when Andy was putting the food on the table.
"Perfect timing, you," Andy commented.
They all ate breakfast fairly quietly. Andy wolfed down his food and whisked off to work within minutes. Ryan and Aaron were close behind, heading to the garage just five minutes after Andy left for the farm, and Jackson was the last one out, heading to Manchester for a big job fixing some rich bloke's new house, courtesy of a call from Declan.
"Good night last night, then?" Ryan asked when he and Aaron walked down to the garage.
"What do you think?" Aaron replied with a smirk. All Ryan could do to that was laugh.
"Andy told me Ryan's got a picture," Jackson said as casually as he could manage. Aaron frowned.
"You what? What kind of picture? He asked.
"Of us, on the couch, this morning," Jackson replied, very carefully keeping his tone as casual as possible. Aaron's eyed widened and his jaw dropped and his grip on his pint loosened, making his hand fall onto the table.
"You are kidding, right?" he asked hopefully.
"Sorry, no," Jackson said.
"That git," Aaron mumbled angrily under his breath, and Jackson almost wanted to hug him. He was being just a little bit cute about it.
"According to Andy, Ryan's not planning on flashing it at anyone he just wants it for his own amusement," Jackson said, trying to reassure Aaron a little. However, he didn't look like it reassured him at all. "That's something, isn't it? Andy seems to think that the most he'll do with it is tease you. At least he won't be showing it to Cain or Paddy or your mum. That's something, right?"
"He'd better not show it to anyone," Aaron grumbled.
"It could've been worse," Jackson said.
"How?" Aaron asked incredulously. His tendency to overreact could be very endearing, but sometimes Jackson just thought it was plain annoying.
"He could be showing to Cain, Paddy, and your mum," Jackson said patiently. "He's not."
"I have to work with him while knowing that he's got a photo of me naked that he could easily show to just about anyone in the village," Aaron exclaims.
"Yeah, and I have to live with him while knowing the exact same thing," Jackson said. Aaron raised his eyebrows briefly, but said nothing. "Come on, Ryan's not mean. He's alright, he won't do anything to embarrass you in front of others."
"I hope you're right," Aaron sighed. "If he does show it to anyone, I'll kill him."
Jackson smiled into his pint. Yeah, Aaron could be rather endearing every now and then.
"Is the cost clear, Andy?"
"Yeah, don't worry Ryan. I don't think they'd want a repeat of yesterday. Chill."
"Can you blame me for checking? It was quite the sight we came down to yesterday."
"Yeah, and you photographed it."
"I did. It could be so amusing to tease Aaron about it."
"He knows about it."
"What? How?"
"I told Jackson, and Jackson told Aaron."
"Andy! The mocking material!"
"Don't get your knickers in a twist, you can still tease him."
"Yeah, you're right, I can. So where are they? I know I heard them come in last night."
"Jackson's room, probably."
"They haven't left yet?"
"I don't think so."
"I thought Jackson had a big job on these days."
"You know builders, and you know him. He works his own hours."
"Yeah, wish I could."
"Get your own garage, and you can."
"No chance. I barely get paid working for someone else, I don't have the money to start my own business."
"Hm, good point."
"Not to mention, I could never find as sparkling coworkers as the ones I currently have."
"Sparkling? Aaron and Cain? Sparkling? Are you mental?"
"Alright, they can both be miserable sods, but Aaron's been a lot more chirpy since he got with Jackson."
"Don't let him hear you say that.
"I won't, don't worry. I prefer to have all my limbs attached to my body."
"You want breakfast?"
"Yes, please."
"I'll cook, and you can go ask the love birds if they want anything."
"That's not fair!"
"Would you rather cook?" Silence. "I thought not."
"You can be a right bastard, you know that?"
"And I enjoy it as well."
