olden times for Tommy

[oohforeshadowing]

The great country pile isn't their speed, really.

Double had their lovely house in London, bought and paid for by their adoptive father - a High Fae of some high regard, who'd been fretting about their lands and accounts falling into strangers' hands when he passed on. It was a heartrending story, of course, and Double was...well, positively delighted to be anything the old man wanted them to be. For the right price.

Shapeshifters have long since had a bad reputation for sliding into the upper echelons this way. They hadn't been in penury to begin with, by any means, but 'lovely house in London' money and 'vast estates with mining wealth and hundreds of rate-paying tenants' money is not the same by some order of magnitude.

The old man died peacefully in his bed, well over a century old, and left the manor house and everything that went with it to their sole heir. Who is going to sell it all, eventually, but it feels tasteless not to even let their 'father's' body grow cold.

They move in after the last of their furniture has been transported, and lets the housekeeper give them the tour. They cut quite the figure: long blond hair pinned up in curls, a jacket and blouse tailored tightly to a corseted waist, the snug high-waisted breeches favoured by most males. Their tail is the most exposed part of them and the woman they're following keeps eyeing it like she's not sure if it's obscene or not.

"...show you the stables, your grace," she says, as she walks ahead to the outbuildings.

"Ah. I suppose we ought."

Comments

[oohforeshadowing]

"He punched you? My goodness," Double murmurs, stroking his jaw. "I'm not sure that I would dare. Your lovely face."

They lean over to kiss his cheek.

"Mm. There are some sweets in the drawer, if you could...?"

They gesture at the bedside cabinet on Tommy's side. They're feeling a bit at odds.

[bleak_midwinter]

"Of course." Enough talk about violence and distress. He leans over to get them, hard candies and toffees. He unwraps them from their wax paper and feeds them one.

"Shall I ring so you can order some tea or coffee?"

[oohforeshadowing]

"Oh - yes, that would be lovely. Thank you."

They bite into a toffee and close their eyes at the rich, treacly sweetness of it.

"I've had the house fitted out with heating glyphs, by the way. Before all the...unpleasantness."

[bleak_midwinter]

He gets up to pull the rope that'll summon someone, and gets back into the furthest end of the bed afterwards. He's not interested in being publicly known as a sort of concubine.

"Did you? Are you cold?"

[oohforeshadowing]

"Often," they sigh. "And I like very long, very hot baths. Asking for that to be facilitated by hand seems a little...unreasonable."

[bleak_midwinter]

"Then I'm going to ask to take advantage of your cold blood and take a bath before I leave here." He gives them a look, smiles - using a few of the perks of fucking the boss doesn't make him a terrible person, right?

[oohforeshadowing]

From Double's smile, they would never argue that point.

"I'm delighted to tell you that the tub will take two," they tell him. "Just a moment."

They get up, with a slight groan, and snag a robe on the way - going to meet a maid at the door without running any risk of her seeing Thomas.

[bleak_midwinter]

The maid obviously already knows what's going on, since she seems quite happy to be bringing them something else to drink so that she can come back again later and maybe catch a glimpse of the stablemaster's arse.

When the door closes again Tommy snorts. "Wasn't she just eager to help you out at this hour?"

It's quite the middle of the day.

[oohforeshadowing]

Double laughs softly and drops the robe around their feet.

"I'm sure I can guess what she was hoping to see," they murmur - and then shift into Thomas' double, identical but for the bruises they're choosing to leave as they are. L

[bleak_midwinter]

"Please don't," he says, long-suffering but laughing and covering his eyes. "It's too strange, Double, I can't have it."

[oohforeshadowing]

"No? Some people find it quite exciting," they say, chuckling, but their skin shimmers as they return to their own form. "I do think it's best that there's only one of you. Not even I could compare."

They crawl back onto the bed, half-covering his body with their own, snuggling in.

[bleak_midwinter]

"You're flattering me," he says, pulling them in with both arms. "It's very nice, even if it's not true. You very much do compare."

[oohforeshadowing]

"Well. Maybe I have my moments."

They kiss his lips lightly.

"...will it bother you? The others being able to make some, ah, educated guesses?"

[bleak_midwinter]

He smiles at them again, but this time it's a little wistful. They truly don't know how it works with servants, do they?

"Your Grace," he says, a little jokingly - the title, just for now, "they knew the moment we came back from that first ride."

Does it bother him? That's a little harder to answer.

[oohforeshadowing]

"Ah," they say, lightly, and without embarrassment. "That...doesn't answer my question, darling."

[bleak_midwinter]

He makes a face at them - damn them for noticing.

"I wasn't terribly close with them before, so if they have an opinion of me that's been changed by what we're doing together - well, then they can take care of themselves, can't they?"

He takes a breath, and slowly lets it out again. "But I was never the type to... be overly friendly with the Realmers that came here. With your father. I served him, and his guests, but I never visited like this. I had a - a reputation. Having that change, I find, doesn't leave me completely unmoved."

[oohforeshadowing]

"I see."

They lift their eyebrows. Speaking of things they've noticed:

"You told me on that first ride that you'd been intimate with some of Papa's friends. How did that square with your...reputation?"

[bleak_midwinter]

"That just made me loose, not the master's pet," he decides to say, more bluntly, though he's still stroking their hair. "They always left a few days after. Some of them were even wanted by the others, and then that made them jealous."

It's very fickle, being part of a group like this, stuck out on an estate like this.

[oohforeshadowing]

Double tsks.

"Well, darling. They'd be envious of the visitors, if they knew what I knew about your many talents."

They're quiet for a moment, and when they speak again it's more sombre.

"...I know you may not have always felt that those encounters were...entirely your choice. And I honestly don't know that I will make any friends here. But if I do, I will not be giving them the run of my staff."

[bleak_midwinter]

"No one ever held me down and made me," he clarifies, softly now. "But when you're in service, the lines aren't that clear. It isn't all black and white. You may say you wouldn't want guests trying it on with the staff, but that isn't just up to you. There are many things at play."

[oohforeshadowing]

Double's eyes narrow and their limbs tense as they rise up and kneel over Tommy's body, making themself the sole object of his attention.

"Thomas. I am aware that there are many unpleasant things that must be endured in life, and all the more for those in positions like yours. But if anyone lays a finger on you without your express permission, I will take it off with my teeth. Do I make myself clear?"

[bleak_midwinter]

"That's very promising." He likes the idea of violence on his behalf. He raises his hands and cups their narrow jaw in his hands.

"Thank you. I don't- I didn't think I needed defending. Perhaps I don't. But it's good to know you'd do it if need be."

[oohforeshadowing]

They relax a little, and turn their head to kiss his palm.

"...there are...things said, about shifters," they murmur, not meeting his gaze. "Things that make it all the more likely for my social circle to believe I would let misbehavior pass without so much as a comment. I won't."

[bleak_midwinter]

"What could be said about your kind that would indicate it?"

It's useful to know the stereotypes, after all.

[oohforeshadowing]

Double hesitates, but they know by even bringing it up they've committed to telling the full story. They settle down against his warm body, tail draping lightly over his legs.

"...To explain that, darling, I need to take a step back. The way that we reproduce is...unusual. Of course it can simply be the case that two shifters meet and love one another very much and so on, but...it can also be the case that one shifter lies with a man of some other race and bears a shifter child, or with a woman, in which case there's a chance the child will be a shifter.

"My birth mother, for example, was Fae. And so was her husband. And I would like to imagine that she knew exactly what she was getting into when she had her dalliance, but I can't know."

Shifters are not known for an enthusiasm for informed consent, is what they're driving at.