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Aaron stirred as he heard the door to his room open. He squinted to allow his eyes to adjust to the florescent lighting of the hospital room. Claire, his nurse, mouthed a greeting before checking his cannula and doing his routine observations. She gave him a thumbs up to indicate that everything was within normal range. As she changed his bag of fluids, she gave Aaron a friendly smile and nodded her head towards the end of the bed.
“You got a good one there,” she said. Aaron followed her gaze to a find Robert slumped forward in his plastic chair head on Aaron’s bed, in deep sleep.
“Robert?” Aaron asks, scrubbing his face with his hands.
“Yeah. Seems like the perfect boyfriend. Dedicated, concerned, easy on the eyes.” Claire said the last bit with a chuckle. “Shame he’s taken. I could do with a guy like that.”
Aaron furrowed his brow in confusion. “Who told you that he was my boyfriend?”
“Well…he did.” She noticed Aaron making a face. “It’s ok. I haven’t told anyone else. I get it, it’s no one else’s business. If you’re not out-” she backtracked, clearly horrified at the thought she had offended her patient.
Aaron looked to his former lover. The man that had told him countless times that he meant nothing to the brunette and then yesterday had told him he loved him with such sincerity that Aaron had allowed himself a tiny moment of hope. Robert Sugden, the man he had once loved, had loved him back. It hadn’t been all in his head. Aaron didn’t get why he had trusted Robert with his secret, after all that they had been through together, but sitting in that hospital bed, he was glad he had.
But for Robert to actually say that they were boyfriends, Aaron had never thought he’d ever see the day, let alone hear it when it was far from the truth.
He smiled despite the situation. “Nah, you’re alright. It’s just weird hearing you say it out aloud,” he said partly truth, partly as a way to appease her.
“Well, I’ll leave you to it,” Claire said, leaving the room.
As she left, Aaron felt the weight on the bed shift as Robert woke. The blonde man stifled a yawn. “Morning,” he said groggily. “How’d you sleep?”
Aaron rolled his eyes. “Better than you by the looks of it. So…?” Aaron paused.
“So...? What?” Robert said stretching, still half asleep.
“So the nursing staff just told me I have a great boyfriend. You wouldn’t happen you know anything about that would ya?” Aaron raised his eyebrows as Robert’s eyes widened.
“Err…I,” Robert spluttered as Aaron breathed out the smallest of laughs. For a second there, Aaron could have sworn he saw Robert’s face flush.
But the Robert Sugden he knew never blushed.
It was most probably the lighting.
Or something.