Dust
Disclaimer - Emmerdale & its characters do not belong to me, they belong to ITV
A/N - I know this took a while to be posted and it's all Katie's fault. Blame Katie, she's slow and easily distracted.
"Why?"
Jackson was in the kitchen of Smithy making himself a packed lunch to take to work with him. He was working nights on a refit for a company, him and a few other guys he had had to recruit to do the job, it was the first night and he had to be there early but Aaron wasn't making it all that easy.
"Aaron" he sighed, putting down his butter knife and his shoulders sag forward. They had been over this exact thing time and time again for the past two days. He had only accepted the job two days ago and Aaron was less than impressed.
"You moaned at me until I got Cain to give me time off, then two days later you take up this?" the young mechanic snapped, annoyed at being dumped for work especially when Jackson was the one complaining about the lack of time they had been spending together.
"It's only for five days" the builder reminds him as Hazel, who had been sitting at the table witnessing the exchange shoves her son out of the way saying "I'll make this" she looks between the two of them "You two sort out you're little lovers' tiff alright?" she gives Jackson a hard push towards the teenager and he glares at her. He loves her but he hates when she butts into their relationship and he knows Aaron does too.
"Come on!" he says pulling on Aaron's tshirt, pulling him into the living room where no one currently was.
"That's right" Aaron says sarcastically "do as Mummy says"
Jackson ignores the sarcastic comment. The last thing he wants to do before starting nightshift for the first night is argue with Aaron. It'll only put him in a bad mood and he hates being in a bad mood at work.
"Aaron. It's good money" Jackson says once he's closed the door leading between the kitchen and the living room "That's the reason I took it, I'm making two hundred a night. I'm not turning that down because you're throwing a tantrum"
"£200 a night?" Aaron asks, this was the first time had heard that fact, he didn't think he minded as much now. He could spent give nights without him if it was going to bag them a thousand pound for the five nights, right? He was sure he could.
Jackson nods
"You didn't tell me you were getting that" Aaron complains, part of him doesn't want to back down but part of him already is "I'm telling you now" he states, stepping closer "I wouldn't have taken it otherwise, I was the one that told you to take time off, wasn't I?"
Aaron nods, all the fight had left him now, and he couldn't bring himself to argue over it anymore. "I only got a week off" Aaron feels he has to remind his other half "That leaves us what? 2 days and you'll be knackered"
Jackson takes a deep breath; Aaron does have a point "Won't Cain just let you start your week off next week?"
Aaron gives him a look
"Alright, what about Debbie? It is her business after all"
Aaron laughs "I'm not going to ask Debbie after asking Cain. I don't have a death wish" he points out "We'll work something out, right?"
Jackson nods and closes the last remaining few feet of distance between the two of them and hooks his arms around the teenagers neck "Yep" he says with a genuine smile "Even if I need to be knackered at work tomorrow night we'll manage to spend time together. This was my idea and my fault it's being wasted"
Aaron's hands link at the bottom of Jackson's back, pulling the builder's body closer to his. For a couple of seconds they just stand there, losing themselves in the other's eyes, both content just to stand there and look at each other. Aaron moves forward, slowly and presses the faintest of kisses against Jackson's lips before pulling back and saying "what time will you be back tomorrow morning then?"
"I'll finish about eight, shouldn't take me more than half an hour to get home"
"I'll still be in bed at that time" Aaron points out, to which Jackson laughs "what?"
"You'll be in bed until at least twelve" Jackson points out "it's hard enough getting you up at that time for work, never mind anything else"
Before Aaron can respond to that the door to the living room from the kitchen is opened and Hazel pops her head around the door frame "Everything OK?" she asks "You haven't fallen out with each other again have you?"
Detangling himself from Aaron Jackson turns around and smirks "We're good Mum" he reassures her
"Good" she says with a nod of her head "I never know with you two, you're up, you're down, you're cold and then you're hot again. It drives me nuts"
Aaron pulls a face and grabs Jackson's sleeve, pulling him back through to the kitchen "shouldn't you be going?" he asks, wanting to get far away from Hazel before she could say anything more about their up and down relationship.
"In a rush to get rid of me now are you?"
"Well" Aaron says with a smirk "You're leaving me anyway, might as well get it over with, eh?"
Jackson rolls his eyes and scans the kitchen, looking for his lunch "this what you're looking for?" his Mother asks, handing him a bag. He grins "Thank you you're a lifesaver" with that he kisses her on the cheek and heads for the front door, snatching his keys up as he goes. Aaron follows him out and leans against the door frame.
"Sorry"
"I'm over it"
"Really?" Jackson asks not sounding convinced by that and Aaron shrugs "not much I can do about it, is it? You need to make money to take me on holiday"
"I'll text you later"
"Make sure you don't wake me up, I'll be asleep at some point you know"
"As if sending you a text could wake you up" Jackson points out "Pretty sure a bomb wouldn't even do that"
"Yeah, yeah, see you later"
Aaron stands at the door until the van has disappeared out of his sight then, with a sigh, he swings the front door closed and steps back into the kitchen.
Hazel is stood against the kitchen counter, staring at him as he walks back into the kitchen "What?" he asks after realising that she's not about to stop staring at him anytime soon. She clearly has something to say to him.
"You should have done that"
"Done what?" he genuinely has no idea what the hell she is talking about.
"Made him lunch"
Aaron scoffs and makes his way back out of the kitchen, he was going to have a can but now he's going to the Woolpack, anything to get away from that woman "Uh no" Aaron states "I'm his boyfriend, not his Mother" with that he walks out of Smithy and slams the door behind him. He keeps waiting on the day that she goes back off of her travels; the day can't come quick enough for him really.
Xxx
At half eight the next morning Aaron's sleep was disturbed. First by the sound of the door opening, usually this wouldn't have bothered him but subconsciously he had been listening, waiting on Jackson and second his sleep was disturbed by the bed dipping and the duvet being pulled from his body for a short period of time, enough time to allow the cold morning air to get to him though.
"You're freezing" Aaron complains sleepily as Jackson slides up against his warm body, he tries to pull away but Jackson's grip is firm, he's going nowhere.
"You'll warm me up, right?" Jackson mumbles, he's tired. He's had a hard night and all he wants to do is sleep, preferably next to Aaron for as long as possible.
Aaron turns, intent on doing just that and possibly keeping him awake in the process but once he's settled on his side and he's facing his lover he notices that Jackson is already fast asleep. Rolling his eyes he leans forward, pressing a soft, tender kiss onto Jackson's forehead before dropping his own head down onto the pillow next to Jackson's and following him back into the land of nod.
Xxx
It's half eleven when Aaron wakes up again and Jackson is still fast asleep, only this time he's no longer facing him he has rolled over and is practically on the edge of the bed. He contemplates wakening him up but, he's only been asleep for around two to three hours, he wasn't that cruel, he could manage without him for a couple of hours. He'd managed it the previous night, although, if he was honest with himself sleeping all night in a bed that didn't also contain Jackson was a little weird. He hadn't done it in so long, it was just strange to him, he had felt much better once Jackson had crawled in at half past eight that morning.
He pulled himself from the bed and headed in the general direction of the shower, it wasn't the start of Jackson's day but it was the start of his, he had to find ways of keeping himself entertained. He was sure he could find something.
Xxx
Aaron was sat at the table eating the lasagne prepared by Hazel when he heard footsteps coming down the stairs. It could only be one person as everyone else was out at the Woolpack or somewhere.
"Up finally are you?" he called out just as Jackson rounded the corner.
"You should have woken me up" Jackson complains as he rubs his eyes, he's only wearing boxers and Aaron can't help but eye him up. He was only human after all.
"And listen to you moan? No thanks"
Jackson reaches over Aaron and snatches a couple of chips from his plate "yours is in the oven" he tells him, pulling his plate away.
"Don't tell me you cooked" Jackson says as he pulls the oven open "No, your Mum did"
"Thought so" Jackson grins, he touches the food, it's still warm, so he drops down into one of the empty chairs opposite Aaron.
When he's done eating Aaron watches Jackson eat, he could move, go watch some TV or go out and see Adam but Jackson will be leaving for work soon and he's barely seen him, actually he hasn't seen him, not really, all day.
Jackson looks up from his food and smirks "I know I'm hot Aaron but you've seen me before"
Aaron scowls at him but can't help but smile "What time are you leaving?"
"Half seven"
"What time is it now?"
"Just after six" Jackson informs him "I have to shower, make lunch and get ready, I can do that"
"You don't have to make lunch"
"No? Did my Mum make it again?"
"No" Aaron says, a blush creeping up over his features "I did" the smile that forms on Jackson's face at those words makes Aaron's heart skip a beat "You made me lunch?"
"I had a spare few minutes, it's no big deal"
It was a big deal, it was a big deal to him and Jackson wanted to make a big deal out of it but he didn't, for Aaron because he knows he doesn't like a fuss "cheers, I just have to shower and get ready then"
"Alone?"
"Sorry?"
"Are you showering alone" Aaron asks and Jackson shrugs "I have to leave at half seven"
"That's an hour and a half" Aaron points out "We won't take that long"
"We better not" Jackson says, standing and grabbing Aaron's hand, dragging him towards the bathroom.
In the end he wasn't late and it was no thanks to Aaron, he tried to keep him back, well keep him in the shower but Jackson managed to convince him to let him go, at reluctantly he agreed.
Xxx
After his second night of night shift Aaron didn't see Jackson at all the next day. It bothered him. It bothered him a lot. He hoped to catch him before he left for work but Adam had asked for his help on the farm and by the time he had gotten back from Butler's Jackson was gone. It pissed him off.
The morning after the third night and Aaron didn't wake when Jackson got into bed that morning. When he woke up he wanted to wake him to but he looked so tired and so comfortable that he couldn't bring himself too instead he got out of bed, made his way downstairs and made himself something to eat and made Jackson's lunch. It had kinda become his routine, as long as no one else was around anyway.
He was in the living room waiting until Jackson came down for dinner but at twenty past seven he heard him bounding down the stairs "You're going already?"
"I just woke up" the builder explained "last night was tiring"
"I haven't seen you in two days Jackson, come on!"
"There's only three more night Aaron, come on. Don't start alright? I'll see you in the morning" with that Jackson grabbed his lunch off of the counter top and dropped a kiss onto Aaron's waiting lips "see you tomorrow" with that Jackson walks out of the house and a few seconds later Aaron hears the roar of the van as it pulls out of the drive.
"Damn it!" he swears, thumping his fist against the door frame. He's taken a week off of his work for what? To spend sat in the Woolpack or watching Jackson sleeping? It was annoying him, he wanted to spend at least some time with Jackson. There was only one thing for it. If Jackson was working and he couldn't spend time with him at home then Aaron would have to go to his work. It wouldn't be that bad would it? Jackson would mind. That's what he would do, he wanted to be with Jackson and the only way it seemed like he would be able to do that was to go to his refit.
Xxx
He knew that Jackson and the guys that were running it were more than likely the only ones around but either way he didn't really care. Jackson was the foreman on this job, it was his business after all so he was the only one that could really complain about him being there and the chances of him doing that were extremely slim.
At half past eleven, after giving him enough time to start whatever he would need to start Aaron turned up at the site. The front door was open, obviously to give them air and no one was around, well at the front of the shop anyway. There was an empty chair in front of a table that had papers and whatnot littered across it, Jackson's stuff, Aaron recognised it. Instead of going searching around a building he didn't know Aaron opted to sit in the seat he guessed Jackson had been sitting in not so long ago, he was bound to come back sooner or later.
He had been sitting there, with his feet up on the edge of the table, arms behind his head casually comfortable for around five minutes when someone he didn't know approached him.
"Uh, who are you?"
Aaron looks up at the guy but doesn't say anything, he just scowls before turning his attention back to the newspaper he had been reading "mate you can't be here" again Aaron ignores him. "Am I gonna have to get someone to get rid of you?"
Aaron looks at him again and this time he smirks but doesn't say anything, just turns his attention back to his newspaper "mate, move eh? It's not safe for you to be sitting around here. I'm sorry if you have nowhere to go but you can't sit here"
Aaron pulls a face; did he look like a homeless tramp? He didn't think so. "Jase, what's up?" Aaron heard someone else call out from behind the guy.
"Some guy here won't move or tell me why he's here, gonna have to let Jackson know and call the police or something"
The guy who Aaron couldn't see at first appeared at the side of this 'Jase' guy and laughed "I don't think Jackson is going to do that" he explains
"Why not?"
Aaron is sure he knows this other guy, he recognises him but he isn't sure from where "cause he's his boyfriend"
Aaron turns to Jase once more and smirks "Alright Aaron?" the other guy says shaking his head and smiling
"Yeah, you?" and try as he can Aaron cannot remember this other guys name "Jackson around?"
"I'm good mate yeah, Jackson didn't say you'd be coming around, coming to give us a hand are you?"
Aaron laughs at that "No that's-" he's cut off mid conversation by the other guy saying "Jase, go get Jackson"
"Sorry, you were saying? Come to help yeah? We could do with it; the owners of this place are a joke"
"No" Aaron tells him "I'll stick to fixing cars"
Aaron and the guy whose name he can't quite remember make small talk for the next few minutes, mostly about the job and how it's going until Jackson turns up "What are you doing here?"
Aaron turns towards the sound of his boyfriend's voice "I had nothing better to do and it's not like you do a lot of work anyway"
The guy laughs and says "He's got your number" Jackson glares at the guy and says "I could sack you you know"
"You could but you love me too much"
"Don't you have work to be doing Shaun?" Jackson says giving him a pointed look "Aww" he grins "I get it, you want to be left alone with lover boy here"
Aaron watches the whole exchange with a scowl on his face. They seemed a little too friendly for him, had something gone on between them before? Did this Shaun fancy his boyfriend? Shaun walks off back towards the back of the shop and Aaron turns to his boyfriend "Hi" Jackson says with a smile, a smile that Aaron returns as he moves his body in closer.
"Hey" he smiles and without thinking, without looking to see who could possibly be watching he leans forward and brushes his lips against those of his lovers, letting out a soft, contented moan as he does so.
"What are you doing here?" he asks once he pulls away and Aaron shrugs "Just thought I'd come hang out, not a problem is it? I'm not interrupting anything?"
"What could you be interrupting?"
Aaron shrugs
"You're not talking about Shaun are you?" Jackson asks, he could read Aaron like a book and again the mechanic shrugs "I have a thing for a mechanic's" he tells him "builders' don't do it for me"
"Good to know"
"They do it for you though, right?" Jackson asks with a grin and Aaron wants to deny it but he can't although he's not sure of it is builders or just one because Jackson, as far as he's aware is the only builder he's ever been attracted to.
"Oh yeah" Aaron retorts with a grin "Dust, dirt and the general state of you after working really gets me going"
"I'm fully aware of that" Jackson says side stepping his boyfriend and sitting down on the now vacant chair "I was sitting there" Aaron complains
"It's my chair" Jackson points out "It's where the I make all the decisions for this refit you know"
Rolling his eyes Aaron perches himself on the edge of the table and rests on of his feet in-between Jackson's legs on the chair
"How long are you hanging around for then?"
"In a hurry to get rid of me?"
"Don't be daft. I'm just wondering how long I have the pleasure of your company"
"Till morning?" Aaron shrugs "I have nothing better to do"
Jackson pulls a face at that "What?" Aaron snaps, did he not want to be with him "Nothing" Jackson says quickly "it's just...Not very professional is it? Bringing my boyfriend to work with me, I wouldn't let any of them bring their boyfriends or girlfriends"
"There's a reason for that"
"Oh yeah?"
"They don't own the company but if you want me to go..." Aaron starts, getting up and moving away. He hopes beyond hope that Jackson will follow or stop him because he know if he doesn't that he's just going to be in a bad mood, probably for some time to come.
"Sit down" Jackson barks quickly shaking his head "I'm glad you're here" he says "You can help me with the heavy lifting, saves me getting one of the guys to help me"
"Can't carry it on your own?" Aaron retorts sarcastically "Skinny little..."
"It's awkward" Jackson points out, pointing at the rows of shelving, bricks and other things that need to be moved "I'm not the weak one in this relationship"
Aaron ignores the comment in favour of asking his own question "Are you paying me?"
"Yeah. I'll pay you" Jackson says and Aaron's eyes widen in surprise before Jackson adds "In kind. In our bed"
Aaron thinks this over for a few minutes before slapping his hands together and saying "Where do I start?"
Jackson smiles and pulls Aaron towards him; pulling him down so he can drop a kiss onto his lips "thanks for coming" he says sincerely "I've missed you"
"Don't be soft, come on" Aaron pulls Jackson up off of his seat "Where do we start?"
The remainders of Jackson's nightshifts have an extra worker in the form of Aaron. He leaves with him every night and falls into bed with him every morning. It wasn't how either of them wanted to spend Aaron's week off but they were together and really that's all that mattered to either of them.
A/N - LIKE IT? LOVE IT? HATE IT? REVIEW PLEASE! :)
