Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Usually, Aaron can rely on village gossip to quickly shift focus after two or three days, but for almost a fortnight, he’s been hearing practically nothing but how Robert Sugden is going to return home (hopefully not for long, most of the whispers from humans and shifters alike add).

His mum and Diane have been fussing over Katie and Andy, and if Paddy makes him promise one more time he’ll never hunt rabbits down by the quarry alone so long as Sugden is in Emmerdale-

He gets it, really. Robert Sugden is an even more skilled hunter than Jack Sugden was, he once tried to kill Andy, and yes, Aaron has flipping blue-wolf eyes. Somehow, he always manages to remember this well enough on his own every time he looks at a picture of Jackson or goes to visit his grave.

Now, Adam is practically cuddled against him in the bar, and he’d object, but Adam has a hand on the back of his neck.

Crushes can disappear completely, he’s learned, but the soft feel of calloused palm and fingers on the back of his neck will always make him settle and infuse him with safety.

“I’ve heard he uses wolfs bane and mountain ash, mate,” Adam says. “You can’t go around challenging him.”

“Why does everyone think I’d even want to,” he grumbles. “And Paddy uses wolfs bane and mountain ash.”

“For vaccines and to protect the animals down at the clinic. He’s never used either on-”

He pauses, and Aaron knows he doesn’t need to bring up the time Paddy did use mountain ash on a werewolf.

“Yeah, well, you deserved that,” Adam barrels on. “If he hadn’t- anyway, the point is, Vic’s thrilled her big brother is coming back, but even she’s worried, mate, about what he might do. Um, look, swear to me you aren’t going to bring up the time you and her- Because, I swear, Aaron, if he says or does anything to her, I’ll kill him. I don’t care that he’s a hunter, I’d find a way.”

“Yeah, I know,” Aaron quietly tells him. “C’mon, Adam, mate, have I ever thrown that in any hunter’s face?”

Adam relaxes but only slightly. “Don’t throw anything in his face, yeah? ‘Cause, if anything happened ta ya-”

“I know, you’d be all heartbroken and stuff, right, cry yourself to sleep-”

Pinching his neck, Adam digs his dirt-covered fingers into Aaron’s pint.

“Oi!” Flashing his eyes, Aaron chases Adam outside.

…

When he and Adam get back, they see DS Wise is chatting with his mum.

Rolling his eyes, he lets Adam drag him back to their booth. “You’re human, and even you can tell-”

“Your mum is worried about you, mate,” Adam says.

“Why? What have I done recently?”

“I mean, she’s worried how getting involved with someone else, especially a human, and a copper on top of all that-”

“Yeah, I got it,” he grumbles. “But here’s what I really don’t get: No one’s driving Cain mental over the fact this Sugden bloke is coming to town. Cain and Jack Sugden, they once almost killed one another, right? And it’s not like Cain’s ever gonna let go of that time Robert tried to kill Andy, either.”

As far as he can remember, he’s never even met Robert despite seeing him around the village a few times, but privately, he’s always going to- he wouldn’t go so far as to say he takes a strange hunter’s side, but he can’t quite condemn him, either. No one knew a telepath was messing with Andy’s mind and taking control, but everyone knew a werecoyote was hurting his human wife. The police weren’t doing much (he’ll always believe it was because they felt any human who married a shifter deserved it), and no one else could do much of anything. Once it became clear what was going on and the telepath had been arrested, Robert left almost as quickly as he appeared.

Memories of Paddy and the lack of telepath involved swirl in his head, and he takes a long drink of his warm, rank-tasting pint to chase them away.

“Well, for me personally, you matter more than Cain,” Adam bluntly says. “For the others, it’s not that you matter more, it’s that, they aren’t ready to resign themselves to losing ya too early. They resigned themselves to that with him a long time ago, mate.”

He can’t argue the point, even though, part of him would really like to.

…

After Adam goes home, he and his mum fix dinner and settle in front of the TV.

“Mum, ask DS Wise out, or say yes if he’s already asked you out,” he orders.

Looking over, she raises an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”

He’s tempted just to leave it, but steeling his resolve, he continues, “Everybody knows how much you want him, and the shifters, at least, know how much he wants you. He seems decent.” Quietly, he adds, “And I don’t want to be the reason you aren’t going for something that makes you happy.”

“Oh, love.” She wraps her arms around him and kisses his cheek.

“Ugh.” He squirms away.

Laughing, she says, “It’s not that- it’s complicated, baby.”

“Eh, it really isn’t. You dress up a bit, you and him go somewhere, you talk, and if things are good, you go back to his place so your son doesn’t have to-”

Smacking at him with a pillow, she says, “Alright, smart arse!”

Once she puts the pillow down, he reaches over and swipes one of her biscuits.

“His grandmum was a hunter,” she quietly tells him.

He pauses in the middle of stuffing the biscuit in his mouth.

“He’s one of those who thinks hunters should be classified as vigilantes. He’s always been fair to all suspects and victims, no matter what they are. But-” She sighs. “He’s a human copper, sweetheart, who had a hunter in the family. I just don’t want to risk somehow being wrong and putting our pack in danger. Especially you, love.”

Not much of a pack to begin with, are we, he almost says.

However, he does have a sense where she’s coming from.

He often wishes his dad and mum had listened to societal disapproval and never gotten together and had him, but Victoria, Holly, and Ed are all humans, and he’s forever annoyed and defensive at insinuations there was something wrong with those relationships just because it was a shifter and a human. He never thought he was putting anyone in any danger by dating Vic; her father was dead, and though much healthier, she’ll always have a weak heart.

Even with all this and all the self-destructive things he’s done, he’d never, ever get involved with a hunter. Doing so wouldn’t just hurt him, it’d put everyone in his pack in actual, serious jeopardy.

“I understand,” he tells her. “But try thinking of it like this: Even if he is, no human copper could ever hope to bring the Dingle pack down. We might be a messed up, scattered out lot, but after 113 years, the pack still lives on.”

Smiling brightly, she pulls him into another hug.

This time, he stays.

“Will do,” she agrees.

He settles against her on the couch and finds himself hoping Robert Sugden will leave soon after he arrives. He’s tired of the repetitive gossip and the uneasy, sharpened focus on hunters as of late, and he’s confused and irritated by the fact some boy who was more-or-less driven out when he was nineteen is somehow managing to influence the feelings and actions of so many people, including Aaron’s own pack and loved ones, before he’s even arrived back.