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“Come on guys presents” Liv tells them jumping onto of the bed bouncing a little bit before jumping off when Aaron takes a swipe at her.
“Down stairs in five minutes coffee is on” She warns them pointing a finger at them.
“I hate early Christmas mornings” Aaron moans rolling over only to roll out of bed flailing at the last minute as he realises he was right on the edge he falls to the floor with a thump Robert protests as Aaron pulls the blanket off of him exposing him to the cold air.
“Aaron” Robert mutters rolling over then rolling over again trying to chase the warmth.
He huffs when Aaron doesn’t throw the blanket back on the bed so he sits up in a rush and rushes to the wardrobe grabbing a pair of sweatpants and a thick jumper to stop the cold.
“Get up off the floor” Robert laughs looking down at Aaron who’s managed to start dozing off on the floor the blanket wrapped around him like a burrito.
“I don’t wanna get up” Aaron tells him looking like a petulant child.
“Fine we will have this magical Christmas without you” Robert smirks down at him walking out the room poking Aaron in the head with his toe to see the younger man moan at him batting his foot away before he gets up and starts getting his own warm comfortable clothes.
After using the bathroom Robert makes his way down the spiral staircase inhaling three cups of coffee while Liv sits impatiently on the couch waiting for Aaron to finish in the bathroom.
When Aaron finally does come down the stairs he’s met with a glare off Liv and an uncomfortable looking Robert who’s eyeing up the stack of presents uncomfortably he looks pained as if he’s guilty about something.
“Presents time?” Liv questions smirking.
“Sure” Aaron shrugs grabbing Robert’s coffee and sitting on the couch cuddling up to him.
Liv gets to work diving on the pile of presents under the tree grabbing the first one it must have said Robert on because she tosses it to him going back under to find her own.
Robert opens his present as Liv opens up three of her’s in quick succession.
“Thanks Liv” Robert smiles looking over to the girl who’s not paying them any attention “It’s beautiful” he smirks showing Aaron the hideous tie she’d bought him.
Aaron managed to keep the laughter in but only because Liv throws two more presents there way a small one for Aaron and a tiny gift bag for Robert.
Robert opens his first under the beaming gaze of Aaron, Robert pulls out three plane tickets to Spain for January for the week of Aaron’s birthday.
“A week in Spain for your birthday?” Robert questions smiling.
“Yeah I thought we could go there and buy an apartment over there they seem to be really cheap and the flights out are super cheap as well so it could be a place for us to get away from it all” Aaron smiles he’s about to say more but Robert leans in and kisses him.
“It’s amazing” Robert tells him.
Aaron tears into the wrapping paper on his own gift and thanking Liv when he finds the new Call of Duty for his play station 4.
It’s just Liv’s presents left under the tree and she makes quick work destroying the hours of wrapping Aaron and Robert did on her gifts she thanks them both for the presents as soon as she opens them.
When she’s finally done she cleans the wrapping paper up so they can actually see the floor again and Aaron looks under the tree for his gift off Robert.
“Come on then where’s mine?” Aaron asks smirking coming over to pat Robert’s pockets.
“I haven’t got it” Robert tells him his voice strained and so full of hurt.
“Oh” Aaron nods trying to keep his face from falling Liv just looks between them looking awkward.
“I’ll have it tomorrow” Robert tries to tell him he feels guiltier.
“No, it’s fine don’t worry about it” Aaron tells him looking to Liv.
“Aaron don’t be like that I was supposed to pick it up yesterday but the place closed at three and I had to deal with a little crisis” Robert tells him standing to try and grab Aaron’s hand but Aaron moved out the way making his way to put the kettle on.
“Let me guess dealing with Rebecca or was it another one of the White family this time? Robert, you were the one that wanted a big family Christmas once we got back together you said you wanted a fresh start all the presents the whole shebang and it’s like you’re not even making an effort”
“Aaron, I do want the family Christmas I swear I got you the best present something you’ve wanted but I just had to help someone out first”
“Who’d you help out then?” Aaron asks spinning around to stare at him.
“It’s not something I can tell you” Robert tells him.
“Are you joking?” Aaron practically snarls.
“It was my fault” Liv shouts over the arguing.
“Liv you don’t have to” Robert says turning to the teenager giving her a reassuring smile.
“I do” She nods.
“You don’t have to until your ready we talked about this” Robert tells her going over to sit on the couch next to her.
“What’s he talking about?” Aaron asks coming to sit on the couch opposite them.
“Robert was on the way to pick up your present yesterday he really was, I’ve been helping him with all the finer details that we thought you’d like but he saw me crying in the bus stop aa he was going to get the bus into Leeds and he was helping me making sure I was okay, we just walked about for hours before I stopped crying I was an idiot but by the time I’d finally told him what I was crying about it was after four and the car dealership was closed” Liv tells him.
Aaron looks to Robert when she mentions car dealership but then looks back to Liv it sounds like she’s gone through something and that’s more important that a car.
“Why were you crying?” Aaron asks.
“You don’t have to say, not until your ready Liv you know that” Robert tells her placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
Aaron looks at Robert again usually he’d frown and start arguing about his sister keeping secrets but the serious tone in Robert’s voice and the caring way he’s acting is just making Aaron worry.
“No, it’s fine” Liv smiles to Robert but then looks straight at Aaron.
“My girlfriend broke up with me yesterday” Liv tells him her eyes boring into Aaron’s.
“Is that all? I was worried you were getting arrested or something and sent down” Aaron tells her laughing the relief on Liv’s face was instantaneous for some reason she obviously though her brother wouldn’t take the news very well.
“You know you can tell me anything, right? You don’t need to keep secrets or worry I’d ever judge you Liv if anyone understands stuff like that it’s me you know what I’ve been through, you certainly don’t need to sit in a bus stop alone and cry, come to me and we can do that together while watching the telly with a massive amount of fast food” Aaron smiles standing and grabbing his sister engulfing her in a hug.
“I don’t know why I was crying so much I was only with her for a couple months I just think it was because she dumped me before Christmas and I bought her a gold necklace spent all my money on it that’ the reason you’ve got crap presents” she smiles “I ended up giving the necklace to Chas instead”
“Teenagers these days have a habit of breaking up before Christmas or birthday’s so they don’t have to buy presents” Robert laughs.
“I swear Liv if she did do that don’t you dare get back with her” Aaron warns her.
“Don’t worry I won’t be getting back with her especially not if she finds out it was me and Robert that threw a brick through her bedroom window last night” Liv tells him before realising what she said and looks to Robert “Sorry” She laughs.
“We need to teach you how to keep secrets”
“Usually I’d tell you’s both that your idiots but nobody treats my sister like that so she deserves it” Aaron smirks leaning forward to kiss her head before looking to Robert “I’m sorry”
“You don’t have to say that it’s fine I’ve not exactly give you reason to trust me over the last few years” Robert tells him but Aaron just leans forward to kiss him.
“That’s behind us Christmas is a fresh start” Aaron lets him know pulling them both in for a hug mentally kicking himself for not giving Robert the benefit of the doubt.
After all Robert was helping someone else for a change and that’s huge for him.