Lie About Us

Disclaimer - Emmerdale & its characters do not belong to me, they belong to itv

A/N - We're on the home stretch now... Not far to go. Enjoy.

He was pushing his way through the crowd of people but he still wasn't entirely sure what he was going to do once he reached his destination. His instinct was telling him to put this guy in his place and the way he would usually do that would be by hitting him but he knew that if he hit him Jackson would be less than pleased and in would end in an argument, he didn't want that. He'd have to do something that would surprise the builder and more than likely surprise himself at the same time.

When he reached him, Jackson had his back to him and so he slipped his hand up the back of Jackson's shirt and within seconds Jackson was spinning around to see who owned the hand, immediately calming once he saw that said hand belonged to Aaron and his eyes lit up "What are you doing here?"

" I came with you?" Aaron offered and Jackson rolled his eyes "I mean here, on the dance floor"

"I missed you" Aaron admits, a slight colouring to his cheeks at his admission and before Jackson can reply Aaron has stepped forward and claimed his lips in a sweet and tender kiss. When they pull apart Jackson is smiling at him and Aaron can't help but smile in return. He looks to the side and the guy is still stood there "Who's your friend?" Aaron asks and Jackson looks towards the guy and says "Uh…" at that very moment the builder was having trouble remembering the guy's name.

"I'm James" the guy says extending your hand "I'm guessing you're the boyfriend he can't stop telling me about?"

"That would be me" Aaron confirms, starting intently at the guy, trying to wordlessly tell him to back off and it seemed to be working, kind of. Ignoring James Aaron turns back towards Jackson "There's two drinks waiting on you, come on" he grabs his hand and leads him from the dance floor and without complaint or argument, Jackson follows.

It was right then, at that very moment, whilst Aaron was leading him back to their table that he realised something. He realised what was wrong in their relationship and how he could fix it, the only way he could fix it. Did he have the courage to do it? Did he want to do it? Not really but he wanted Aaron to be happy and accepting of who he was so he would just have to do it. He'd wait until after his birthday though, he didn't want to ruin it, not for him or Aaron.

Back at the table Jackson was surprised when, in front of everyone Aaron leaned over and kissed him briefly on the lips. It was over in a second but still… It was a major stepping stone for Aaron and Jackson could only look at him with a silly grin on his face, Aaron quickly dipped his head, cleared his throat then asked "Are we going somewhere else or what?" the group then started discussing their options for the night and where they should be heading next.

Before too long they decided on going to another club, this time it was a straight club but no one had a problem with it, more than half the group was straight and they'd spent half their evening so far in a gay bar so it was only fair. On their way to the new club Jackson ended up trailing behind, it was meant to be his celebration but he couldn't anyway to be happy about it or join in, not with what he had on his mind.

"Hey" Aaron says having noticed how slow he was going "What's up with you?"

"Just thinking"

"About?"

"Nothing, don't worry" he says flashing Aaron a quick, reassuring smile. Aaron doesn't look convinced but he doesn't say anything else, just bumps his shoulder against Jackson's and says "don't mind me walking with you, do you?"

Jackson's reply to that is just a look, a look that says 'What do you think' and Aaron smiles at him. He wants to touch him, he wants to touch his hand or throw his arm around his shoulder like he would do with Adam on a night out but with Jackson it's different. Jackson is no longer just his friend, he's his boyfriend and if anyone passing were to say something he'd hit out and it wouldn't be good for anyone.

"Come you two! Hurry up!" Adam called out as he stalled just outside the exit of the club and looked for them, they were quite a way behind "Come on" Aaron says pulling on Jackson's jacket and they jog to catch up with their friends.

Xxx

They'd been in the club for just over an hour, it wasn't very busy but they were enjoying themselves. Not many people were dancing, instead they were sat around drinking, chatting and getting to know each other. Out of nowhere a girl around twenty came and plonked herself down in a seat that up until a few moments ago had been occupied with Jackson, he had gone to the toilet.

Aaron looked at the girl "Are you lost?"

"No" she tells him with a smile "Thought I'd come introduce myself, I'm Katrina"

"Aaron" he says with a nod, before turning his attention back to his pint.

"I've never seen you in here before" she says "first time" Aaron answers without even looking at her.

"I come here often"

"Good for you" Aaron replies. Terri, one of Jackson's friends was sat opposite them and this girl suddenly turned to her and said "You his girlfriend?"

With a huge grin on her face Terri replies "I am not his girlfriend"

"Do you have one?" the girl asks, this time looking at Aaron "I'd quite like a dance"

"I don't dance" Aaron grinds out. He had suspected she was attempting to chat him up but now he was sure of it. How the hell did he get out of this one?

"Katrina" Terri says, taking pity on a lost looking Aaron, Katrina turns "You're not his type"

"What? What do you mean?"

Seeing Jackson coming back from the toilets Terri nods in his direction "See that guy over there"

Katrina turns "The one with the beard? He's cute"

"Yeah, him" Terri says "Well, he's Aaron here's boyfriend"

Katrina's eyes widen as she looks at Aaron, then Jackson before back to Aaron again "You're gay?" she all but yells and all Aaron can do is nod his head.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"You didn't ask" Aaron points out, just then Jackson reappears at the table "What have I missed?" he asks, noting their new addition that happens to be in his seat "Just Aaron here getting hit on"

"oooh" Jackson smirks and looks at the girl "He's high maintenance, I wouldn't go there"

Aaron glares at him. "Are you his boyfriend?" Katrina asks, "neither of you look gay?"

"How do you look gay?" Terri asks, before either of the boy's could say anything and for a second Katrina was struck dump and could only shrug whilst continually looking back and forth between the mechanic and builder.

"I think you've realised I'm not interested love now, do one eh?" quietly and quickly Katrina moves away from the table and Jackson takes his seat back, slapping his hand down onto Aaron's thigh he asks "Not tempted then?"

Aaron glares, again and Jackson holds up his hand "Hey, just asking"

"I'm with you and…"

"And…?"

"I'm gay… she doesn't really do much for me"

"Glad to hear it!" Jackson says, planting a smacker on his cheek before Aaron can even think of pulling away.

Xxx

Sunday morning found Aaron wakening up in Jackson's bed in Jackson's apartment. His head was banging and he could barely remember the previous night. Turning over he found Jackson fast asleep behind him and luckily the builder was still wearing his watch, grabbing his wrist Aaron checked the time. It was only half ten and he guessed that it was half ten in the morning judging my how sore a head he had. There was no way he would be getting back to sleep so he pulled himself from the bed and pulled on his jeans.

Walking out of the bedroom he found Adam stood in the kitchen, in just his jeans "Making coffee?" he asks making his friend jump "Yeah, want one?" Adam asks, turning around and spotting him.

Aaron nods

"You look like how I feel" Adam tells him with a smirk "You don't look too hot yourself" Aaron bites back "have you looked in the mirror?"

"No" Adam admits "That couch through there is a killer on the back"

"Should have bunked up with Amy"

"Victoria's in with her, we're recuperating for the next session"

"Next session?" Aaron asks, what was the farmer talking about?

"Yeah, you know, we're all meeting at the beach at two, gonna have a little beach party for Jackson's birthday"

Aaron couldn't remember that. His head was telling him that he wasn't going anywhere. "Jackson still asleep?"

Aaron nods and takes the offered cup of coffee "What time did we get back here? I can't remember"

"About four I think, we were all wasted" Aaron nods and Adam adds "Though… You and Jackson had some fun, you were practically ripping each other's clothes off by the time we reached the front door and then the two of you disappeared into his room" Aaron's eyes widened. He couldn't remember that, was Adam winding him up? He wouldn't put it past the builder.

"I'm not lying" Adam says at Aaron's look "Ask Amy and Victoria"

Aaron felt physically sick and lifted his mug "I'm going back to bed"

"Wake Jackson up!" Adam calls out "We're going to the beach!"

"Yeah, yeah" Aaron slams the bedroom door closed behind himself and tries hard to recall coming back to the flat just hours earlier. Had they been practically ripping each other's clothes off in front of everyone? God he hoped not because if that were true Amy and Victoria were going to be next to impossible to listen to, he may end up attempting to shut one or both of them up.

He climbs back into bed and Jackson is already awake "Got one of those for me?" Jackson groggily asks, reaching for the mug in Aaron's hands. "Nope" Jackson lifts the mug from Aaron's hands and takes a drink handing it back to him a couple of minute later. "Thanks" Aaron says looking into his almost empty mug.

"Do you remember what happened when we came home last night?"

Jackson thought about it for a minute before saying "Nope. Can't remember a thing. I must have drank a lot"

"Both of us must have"

"Why?"

"Adam said…he said…"

They way Aaron was stuttering with his words had Jackson wondering what was up with his boyfriend "he said what?"

"That we were ripping each other's clothes off when we came back from town"

Jackson's eyes widened and he suddenly had a mental image of Aaron pressing him up against the wall outside his apartment door and fumbling with the buttons on his shirt, he could also vaguely remember the presence of Adam and other's.

"I think I can remember that if I'm honest" Jackson admits and Aaron groans, dropping his head into the pillow and punching the mattress. Jackson runs his hand down Aaron's naked back "What's the big deal?"

"I just… Victoria?"

"She's alright with us" Jackson reminds him "I just think you have a problem with them seeing you kiss another man"

Aaron grunts and Jackson knows he's hit the nail on the head "Thought so" he says, slipping from the bed and pulling on his own clothes. "I'm tired of this" the builder says as he stands at the foot of the bed, staring at his boyfriend's back.

By the time Aaron turns around to reply Jackson is walking out the room and slamming the door closed behind him. "Great!" Aaron sighs, throwing himself back on the bed and closing his eyes. What was he meant to do now?

Xxx

Four o'clock saw Aaron, Jackson, Amy, Adam and Victoria walking towards the beach. Aaron and Jackson had barely shared two words since earlier on that morning and it hadn't gone unnoticed by the group. Amy and Victoria hadn't even had the time to tease them about their antics the previous night and they really wanted to.

"When are you two going to kiss and make up then?" Adam asks, elbowing the builder playfully as they walked. Taking a quick look behind Jackson can see Aaron, who's currently lagging behind the rest of them "We're not" he grinds out "He's too much of a drama queen"

"This about last night and what I told him you two were doing?"

Jackson only nods

"I don't get why he cares so much"

"Cause I'm a guy, if it had been him and Victoria he wouldn't have cared"

"None of us care. I don't care, he knows that"

"Yeah, well, he's stupid"

After that Aaron and Jackson spend as much time avoiding looking at each other and talking to each other as possible. It was just turning cold, around seven thirty pm when Jackson finally searched for his other half. He found him, he was around ten feet away from him and he was talking to some guy Jackson had been introduced to earlier as one of his friend's friends.

"What's his name again?" Jackson asks, indicating the guy with Aaron, his friend smirks "Jason? I think… Are you jealous?"

"What? No" Jackson denied quickly, he wasn't jealous. Even if Aaron currently looked like he was enjoying the other man's company "What does he do?"

"He's a racer"

"Cars? He races cars?" his friend nods his head and Jackson looks back in the direction of Aaron and this 'Jason' guy. He was a racer, which would explain what the two of them would be talking about. Aaron could and would talk all day about cars.

"You should tell your face you're not jealous" his mate says before he moves and is replaced by another one of his mates, Sol.

"If I was you" Sol says "I'd get over there because that guy was asking all about Aaron before he started chatting to him"

"He was?"

"Uh huh" Sol answers "I told him he was with you but it doesn't seem to have bothered him, he's been putting in on thick ever since… Looks like Aaron could be falling for it" Aaron was a cheat. Jackson knows Aaron is a cheat because that's how they started seeing each other. Would Aaron cheat on him? Jackson had never asked himself that question before but now he had… He couldn't answer the question because really he wasn't sure. Once a cheat always a cheat, right?

"I'd go get your man if I was you" Sol says pushing Jackson into action. Jackson isn't sure what he should do but he wants to know what the two of them are talking about and so he heads towards them.

"Hey" Jackson says alerting both men to his presence and sliding his hand up Aaron's back to rest on his neck "Haven't seen you in a while" Aaron looks a little confused and Jackson can't really blame him, they hadn't been talking to each other when they arrived at the beach. Covering his confusion Aaron says "Sorry, I was just talking to…" he trails off, having forgotten the guy's name. The guy look less than impressed by that and Jackson can't help the small smile that appears on his face.

"Jason"

"Jason" Aaron says with a nod as if he'd remembered it all on his own "I like to talk about cars"

"Tell me about it" Jackson says rolling his eyes.

"I was just inviting Aaron here to one of my races; I think he'd enjoy it"

"I'm sure he would" Jackson says with a forced smile. "I'm going home" Jackson says suddenly, surprising himself.

"You are? Why?"

"You don't have to" Jackson says "If you want to stay, stay"

Aaron frowns at that, why would he want to stay without Jackson? Not talking to Jackson most of the day had bothered him enough "Do you want me to come" Jackson's gaze flicks to Jason who is standing there without a care in the world, listening to them "What do you think?" Jackson fires back. He didn't want to argue in front of this guy, he suspected he would enjoy it a little too much.

"No, I'm coming" Aaron says nodding his head quickly "Ready when you are" Jackson turns around to walk away and Aaron says his 'goodbye's' to Jason and before they have barely taken two steps Jason calls Aaron back and hands him his phone number which is taken by Aaron, this does nothing to improve Jackson's mood especially when Jason accompanies it with "Call me" and Aaron says "Sure thing" Sure thing? What the hell was Aaron playing at? And with him stood right there?

Aaron said his Goodbye's to Victoria, Amy and Adam as they were staying and Jackson said goodbye to whoever he had to say goodbye to and then they left, for an extremely tense and quiet taxi ride home.

Xxx

Two hours later they are back home. Jackson has showered, turned down Aaron's offer of company and is now sat flicking through the TV channels. Aaron is bored. He's bored and confused.

"What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing"

"Nothing?"

"That's what I said" Jackson nods, keeping his eyes on the TV. He can't get earlier out of his head. Why had Aaron taken that guy's number? Was he keeping his options open?

"Are you going to be like this all night?"

"Like what?"

Aaron sighs, he can't explain it because he doesn't know how to but Jackson is just being… Off with him.

"Are you coming to bed?"

"I'm watching TV"

"You're not watching anything"

"Just go home Aaron!" Jackson suddenly snaps, his anger getting the better of him.

"You what?"

"Go home"

"It's your birthday tomorrow, I can't go home!"

"I just told you to, go home"

Aaron looks around the living room and lets out a small laugh. Was this really happening?

"What is up with you?"

"I've just had enough of you… I mean, you've been here for what? Four days? I need some space"

Aaron didn't know what was going on but he did know that it was going to end in a huge argument if he didn't put some space between the two of them "Alright" he says as he gets to his feet "I'll be back in the morning"

"Whatever" Jackson calls out to his retreating back and after a few minutes the builder hears the door closed. It's only then that he lets his emotions get the better of him and silent tears run down his face. He knew what he had to do but just how the hell did he do it? It was going to break his heart. He was already crazy in love with the stupid mechanic.

Xxx

A/N - As always reviews are wanted, welcome and appreciated!