Breakeven

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

"You don't have to do this" Jackson says as he watches Scarlett pack up her stuff. She turns around and smiles at him "I know" she tells him honestly "but you're married now, you need space"

Jackson and Aaron had been married for just over three weeks. It was great but not much had changed. They were still the same two people, nothing changed except they were married now. Which meant their relationship was a little bit more solid than it had been. People knew now that they wanted and loved each other and despite all of their fights they wanted things to work out between them.

Jackson rolls his eyes "We're still the same two people, nothing's changed. We don't need space" he tells her. He doesn't want her to leave because she feels she has to because she doesn't.

He's leaning against the door frame of her bedroom. She hadn't even said anything about planning to move out, just dropped it on him less than half an hour ago.

"I've lived here for over four years about time I moved on" she tells him "not going far though" she promised "we can still have a drink and stuff I just won't be under your feet"

Jackson sighs "You're not under my feet. We barely ever see each other. Don't move out just cause we got married"

Scarlett turns to him and just as she's about to say something they both hear the front door being opened then "Jackson?" Aaron's voice

"Up here" Jackson tells him and then they hear his footsteps as he climbs the stairs.

"What you doing?" Aaron asks as he walks towards him, he stands behind him, looking into the room. He notices her packing and his eyes light up "You leaving us?" he asks, trying to keep the smile off of his face.

She turns to him and smirks "gonna miss me Aaron?"

"Like you wouldn't believe" he tells her.

She shakes her head "see" she says to Jackson "someone is happy about me leaving"

Aaron looks at Jackson and frowns "yeah but he's a moron"

Scarlett laughs at that and Aaron pretends to be offended "Cheers for that" he says sarcastically "and here I was coming to take you to lunch on my lunch hour"

Jackson makes a 'Pfft' noise before saying "You must want something" before Aaron can reply Jackson is once again looking and talking to Scarlett "are you sure about this?"

Scarlett nods "Yep. Time to move on, I'm moving in with Katie and that lot. It should be fun"

"Saying we're not fun?" Aaron asks and she smirks at him once more "You? You're lucky if you can spell the word. Jackson on the other hand? Tons of fun"

Aaron grunts "Glad you're off" he tells her with a smile "hurry up now. Need help with the carrying?"

Scarlett shakes her head "No, thanks. Jackson's helping"

Aaron snorts "it was his help I was offering. I've got better things to do" he tells her "like washing my hair"

She practically snarls at him and Jackson elbows him in the ribs "Hey!" he complains pushing him "are you coming for lunch or what?"

Jackson shakes his head "Gonna help out here"

"Fine" Aaron says "don't say I didn't ask you" he kisses him on the lips quickly "see you later"

It's just after six and Aaron is in the pub. He hadn't gone home because well, Jackson could still have been busy with Scarlett moving and he didn't want to get roped into helping. He couldn't be bothered so he was having a pint of two before calling Jackson and seeing what he was up to.

He was in his own little world which is why he didn't notice Jackson walk into the pub or sit opposite him. It wasn't until Jackson clicked his fingers in front of his face that he realised he was there "hey" he says "when'd you get here?" he asks, his eyebrows pulling together showing his confusion.

"Couple seconds ago" he explains "you were staring into space. What were you thinking about?" Jackson questions but Aaron shrugs "No idea" he tells him and it's the truth.

"Nice of you to invite me along"

Aaron pulls a face "I invited you earlier, you chose to stay with Scarlett"

Jackson rolls his eyes "That was then"

Aaron shrugs "She gone now? We got our house to ourselves?"

Jackson nods "Yep. It'll be quiet with just us and Chuck" he says pulling a face.

"Can't wait" Aaron admits with a grin. His head tilts to the side as his eyes scan Jackson's body for the first time since he'd noticed him. He was dressed up, too dressed up just for the pub.

"Going somewhere?"

"Yeah" Jackson says "Stag do? Remember? You were invited?"

"Oh, yeah" Aaron scrunches up his face "Not going"

"Guessed"

"It's for the best" he explains "Cause that guy is just way too camp and I'd end up punching him"

Jackson nods at that and replies "yeah. I won't be there long. Show face, have a drink. Come home"

"I might be awake. You never know"

Jackson stands up and leans over the table, kissing him quickly. He pulls back and looks down at the pint on the table "many you had?"

"Why?"

"Thought you could give me a lift?" he says, his eyes sparking and a grin on his face. Aaron looks at his pint. It's half full and it was also his first one. He pulls a face "Fine" he agrees "I'll give you a lift but you have to replace that pint" Jackson nods and pulls a fiver out of his pocket. He hands it to Diane "that's for him" he nods at Aaron "for a pint when he gets back"

"Alright" she says smiling and also a little confused

"Get out the door you" Aaron says as he shoves Jackson towards the exit.

When Aaron gets back from town he parks the car at the garage, in the same spot it had been in then made his way back to the pub. Only this time Adam and Victoria were there, Aaron and Jackson were still the only two people that knew they were seeing each other.

"Aaron!" Adam called out as he spotted him "joining us?"

Aaron looked over at his two best friends and grinned. If he couldn't spend the evening with Jackson then they were the only other two people he could think of spending it with.

"Buy me a drink then" Aaron says as he shuffles in beside them "Adam" Victoria says, nodding at the bar.

With a heavy sigh Adam stands up and heads towards the bar "whipped" Aaron says with a cough which causes Adam to laugh and say "says you"

Aaron's eyebrows pull together "what's that mean?" he asks but Adam just shakes his head. Aaron looks at Victoria "what did that mean"

She laughed and slapped her hand down onto his thigh "he's winding you up" she tells him.

As the night goes on Aaron is getting a little tipsier with each hour that past "So Scarlett moved out?" Adam asked

Aaron nods "she did" he confirms "Jackson tried to get her to stay" he scrunches his face up "sometimes that guy is way too nice"

Adam laughs "He has to be. He put up with you"

Aaron grins "He does that for other reasons"

Adam almost chokes on his beer and smirks "keep it to yourself pal, I don't wanna know"

Aaron nods "will do" he tells him. He lifts up his pint and says "but if I have many more, I probably won't"

Victoria returns from the toilets and sits herself down on Aaron's knee "So…" she says with a coy smile and wraps her arms around his neck. Aaron has had too much to drink to care about the fact she was wrapped around him "Scarlett moving out means you're looking for a new housemate, right?"

Aaron dips his head and smiles "Not really. Why?" he asks even although he knows what she is getting at.

"Well" she starts "you know that I live with Diane…I love her and everything but I can't do what I want when I want. She's old"

"Right"

"And her and Doug are extremely annoying" she adds.

Aaron sighs and slides her off his knee and onto the chair beside him "We just got rid of Scarlett"

Victoria smirks "but you love me and you hate Scarlett"

"Fine" he agrees "you can move in"

"YAY!" she exclaims wrapping her arms around his neck "Don't you have to ask Jackson?"

Aaron shakes his head "He'll not mind" he tells her "he didn't want Scarlett to move out"

"When can I move in?" she asks excitedly

"Give it a few days, yeah?" he asks her "Give us time to have the house to ourselves"

It was half ten and the pub was due to close in an hour but still Victoria, Adam and Aaron were going nowhere. They were there until the pub closed.

"We should do this more often" Adam manages to slur out. Victoria nods agreeing and Aaron laughs "Like we don't already? We spend half our life in this pub"

The door to the pub opens and Aaron just looks over, casually to see who would be coming into the pub an hour before closing. His eyes light up when he sees who it is though. It's Jackson.

"Hey!" he says standing up and almost knocking the glasses off of the table in his haste to stand up.

"He- Hey!" Jackson says, grabbing hold of Aaron's arm to keep him upright "been here all night?"

Aaron puts a hand on Jackson shoulder to steady himself "yeah…nowt else to do" he shrugs "what you…why are you back?"

"Got boring" he informs him "said I had work in the morning"

"Haha" Aaron says sarcastically "you can't stand that camp twat either"

"Hey!" Jackson says pushing him but then he had to quickly grab him to stop him falling over "I'm too drunk to be pushed"

"I see that"

"Jackson!" Adam says, finally noticing the older man "want a drink?"

Jackson shakes his head and politely declines he looks at Aaron "I'm going home, you coming or staying?"

Aaron looks at his friends then looks at Jackson. He takes a step closer to Jackson so that they're almost touching "What do I get if I go home with you?"

"Safely" Jackson rolls his eyes "I'm not drunk"

Aaron's face scrunches up and he says "is that it?"

Over the past eight years or so Jackson has come to realise that when Aaron is drunk. He loses all of his inhibitions and would quite happily go at it with Jackson no matter where he was. It's amusing.

"What more do you want?"

"Well…"

"Take it home you two yeah? It's sickening you two all lovey-dovey at each other. Makes me feel sick"

"Aww!" Jackson says in a patronising voice "I'm sure Victoria will make you feel better"

Victoria glares at him then says "Not gonna happen. I'm going to bed. My bed. Alone"

"Good plan" Jackson tells her "I'll end up in mine alone too. He'll be up being sick half the night"

"No I won't!" Aaron says "I can handle my drink"

"Sure you can" he says grabbing him and his jacket "we're going"

They both say their goodbyes as they exit the pub Aaron using Jackson to keep him up. "I love you, you know that right?" Aaron asks while trying to attack Jackson's lips with his own.

Jackson avoids him and says "I noticed"

"Good"

Jackson has just managed to close the front door when Aaron has him pinned up against it. Suddenly a lot more coherent than he had been moments before "Hey"

"Hi" Jackson smiles back just before his lips meet Aaron's.

For the first time since they moved into that house, they didn't make to the bedroom for quite some time. In fact they didn't make it past the bottom of the steps for quite some time until it became uncomfortable and they fumbled their way upstairs. Still wrapped around each other, neither of them wanting to let go. They wanted each other far too much for that. They always did.

It was midday when Jackson was woken up by a constant banging on the front door. He heard Aaron groan at the side of him and then an arm was flung over his stomach "ignore it" Aaron mumbles pressing a kiss to his shoulder "They'll get bored and go away"

Jackson tried to ignore it. It fact he had been trying for about ten minutes but whoever it was, just wasn't giving up and he was wide awake now.

Jackson ran his cold hand down Aaron's warm back, watching Goosebumps appear as he did. Aaron shuffled about under his hand, trying to get him off "that's cold"

"That's the point" Jackson replies. The door was tapped on again and Jackson sighed "I'm gonna go see who that is. Maybe kill them"

He has just managed to push the duvet from his body and get one leg out of the covers when Aaron grabs hold of his arm "ignore it" he suggests "we can pick up where we left off last night"

As tempted as he was by that request he turned it down after looking at the clock for the first time since he had woken up "It's after twelve Aaron" he runs his hand over his head "time to get up" he presses a quick kiss to his forehead before pulling on a pair of jeans and heading to answer the front door.

As soon as he opened the door a huge box was thrust into his arms followed by an "it's about time. God what were you two up to that made you sleep this long huh?" It's Victoria "as if I need to ask!"

Jackson is confused and his confusion increases as she pulls a couple more bags into the house "Uh…Vic? What's going on?"

She looks at his confused face and rolls her eyes "He didn't tell you? Typical!"

"Aaron? Tell me what?"

"I'm moving in"

Jackson's mouth drops open and he yells up the stairs for Aaron to come down, "what?"

"Get down here" Jackson calls out "Now"

"Alright, alright" he hears Aaron mumble then hears his footsteps crossing the floor.

"When was this decided?" Jackson asks as he places the box he was holding onto the ground "Last night"

Aaron comes downstairs and his eyes widen as he spots Victoria and her boxes. He looks at Jackson "What's…?"

"Victoria is moving in" Jackson says and Victoria looks between them, a smile on her face "Surely you remember Aaron"

Aaron nods. He can remember, vaguely anyway "I think I said a couple of days"

Victoria nods "You did but Diane and Doug were driving me insane. I didn't think you'd mind" she suddenly stops then turns to face them "You don't, do you?"

Aaron looks at Jackson who just shrugs. He doesn't mind but it would have been nice to have been told "I don't mind"

"No, we're good" Aaron tells her and she nods "Great" she grins. She eyes Aaron's attire and he's currently only wearing boxers "don't let me disturb you. I've got this" she assures them and Aaron winks at her.

"So much better than Scarlett already" he says as he comes down a few more steps and grabs hold of Jackson's hand. He tugs on it and makes eyes at him, telling him to come with him. Jackson slips his hand into Aaron and allows himself to be pulled up the stairs.

Victoria just rolls her eyes and smiles, she could handle unpacking on her own and she was going to rope Adam into helping. She heard a door slam closed and couldn't help but laugh. She was looking forward to living with them, it should be fun.

A/N - LIKE IT? HATE IT? LOVE IT? LET ME KNOW AND I'LL WORK ON THE NEXT ONE!