wondrousplace | olden times for Tommy

olden times for Tommy

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."

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"Oh. Oh, Thomas, I'm - that's abominable."

Most Fae have let these contracts be forgotten, if not formally extinguish them. Hard-won legislation protects such 'boons' from being kept as outright slaves; it still happens, regardless, and even 'legal' conditions of a claimed boonsman are punishing.

"Were you bound to him, specifically? Or to the estate?"

The difference is often treated as negligible, but it's important. If it's the former? Thomas would have suffered no consequence had he handed in notice the day their father died. If it's the latter? Then Thomas is tied to this land, and through it to Double themself, until the day he dies. And they, unable to wield Fae magic, have no idea if they could even dissolve such a contract.

He shakes his head. "Your father's familu didn't hold the estate when the bond was made. It was with him and any kinsmen."

And, Fae kin being what it is, that's a convoluted set of people. He's sure he'll never get out of it.

"Being here is keeping my family out of trouble. No Fae will bother them while I'm this generation's boon. That's my comfort."

Double nods, frowning. 'Kin' is a complex and changeable word as it applies to Fae culture. Back when the deal was made, it may have strictly been thought to apply to blood ties. Now? Harder to tell.

But he is right. What Fae avoid, then and now, are petty disputes between households. Bothering a human family who are the subject of someone else's bond pact? Not done. When Tommy dies, the debt is paid and then all bets are off, but...

"...I'm going to find out what I can do about it. You don't have to do anything with what I learn, but. I want to know what's possible."

They can't help but think about their first time, how...assertively they'd gone about their seduction. They'd been under no illusion about the ethics of their behaviour, but the difference between implicitly threatening someone's job and implicitly threatening to force someone to break a Fae bond is....vast.

Would they have done it if they'd known? Probably not.

It also explains the changes in how Tommy presents himself to them. Right now he can trust them to have his best interest in mind, at the very least, and he knows that their interest in him is genuine. Before, what could he be sure of? It was best to keep them at more than an arm's length, and keep everyone he could away. The risks were too high.

"Who knows. You might find something, considering your position."

He doesn't sound very hopeful at all.

It's heartbreaking, honestly. They snuggle closer, kissing the top of his head.

"...i knew that he could be an...unkind man. Even cruel, when the mood took him. But I hadn't imagined he could be so small in his thinking. So petty."

If he'd even known what the Shelby family had gained by their boon, why would he have cared? He'd had no reason to call in that favour beyond spite.

"My father was a very annoying person. Who knows what he did to infuriate him, to cause him to come to our house and punish those with the misfortune of knowing him. Or maybe he just needed a horseman. Or maybe he was in a bad mood, and in need of playing a game."

And humans are so very, very insignificant in the lives of Fae. Who cares about one more human life spent wasted?

Sometimes that really is all it takes. A quick flare of anger, and then a lifetime to extinguish it - but what does it matter, if it isn't your lifetime?

"He was...much more quick to anger than a lot of Fae I've known," they agree softly. "I could manage his moods, mostly, but...it wouldn't have taken much to push him to that kind of edge. I'm sorry."

It's not an apology, of course - they didn't know, and Tommy had good reason not to tell them. And it's not pity either. Just a solemn acknowledgement of the mess he's been forced into.

"You stayed on the good side of them and profited, and I..."

Well. He shrugs. He kisses their shoulder in soft apology.

"Not that I don't enjoy our time together, but it's come at a high price, and years and years of isolation."

They kiss the crown of his head again, stroke his hair, gentle and entirely untroubled. No offence intended; none taken.

"Do you know what the limits of the bond are? How much time you can spend away? If you're tied to me and not the land, then my consent should be all you need to see your family."

"I don't know. Your Father didn't let me go at all, not for that purpose. I was led to believe he'd know- track me, that sort. He's never told me if there are limits to be explored."

Too much risk. Even if he knows that Tommy couldn't have meant very much to him.

They frown, deeply unhappy with all this. They'd often felt like more of a pet than an heir to the previous Duke, but they'd thought that kind of treatment had been limited to them.

"But you would like to go back and see them, wouldn't you?"

He's silent a moment, and then reveals the real cause of his anger.

"...one of my brothers died last year. The men in the village who did the fireworks, they told me. I accused them of lying, but why would they? I'm sure they're right."

He desperately wants to see them. Those who are left.

Thomas accused a man of lying about a terrible thing, the man understandably took it badly, the situation escalated - then the split lip.

"...I'm going to find a reason to spend some time in Birmingham," they decide. "If you're bound to me, then you and yours will be safe if we both make the journey."

"It can't be the land, since I've traveled before, for the horses. Maybe you're right. Maybe."

He shifts now, and though his skin pulls painfully when he does it's worth it to look them in the eye.

"I won't try to talk you out of this. It means too much to me - you know, right? How important this is?"

"...I don't think I can know," they say, in the interests of honesty. "To know, I would need to be able to empathise, and...well, I had a smaller family and our relationships were...fraught. But I trust you when you say it. I can hear in your voice what it means to you."

"If I could see them again, show them I'm even alive, and in good health, and see them..."

He drops back down, rubbing a hand over his eyes.

"I haven't considered the option in years. I did the first few years I was here, but I haven't for so long. It would mean everything to me."

"Then I'll rent an apartment and spend a little while there. A month or two. And I'll...look into a more permanent solution."

Which carries a risk to them, if such a solution exists, that Thomas will simply decamp back to his hometown and they'll never really see him again - but that's something they can only accept.

"Double."

He sits up again, this time fully, so he can really look at them. "That's not - you shouldn't. You've got the estate to run, you can't..."

"Don't be absurd, darling. When I first arrived, I'd been planning to just look the place up and down and then return to London. Leave all this in Mr. Lancer's hands until I could sell up. This place can manage without me for a while."

They close their eyes and smile.

"Birmingham has theatres, hasn't it? I could fund a show. Patronage of the arts."

He takes a deep breath and takes their hand in his own. If he'd planned it like this it couldn't have gone any better, but he didn't plan it like this. Somehow it just happened.

"It has theatres. Museums. All those things you enjoy."

"Wonderful. I can bask in the culture, and if you happen to enjoy some fringe benefits, well."

They squeeze his hand.

"I've become accustomed to country life, after all. I'll need my own driver."

He picks their hand up and presses his mouth to it, then his forehead.

"Thank you. You have done more for me tonight than I can express to you, and I didn't even ask. Thank you."

"It's my pleasure, truly."

They lean in close to kiss his lips gently.

"...And as curious as I am, I will entirely avoid your household. You're entitled to your privacy."

Explaining why on earth they have any interest would take some doing, after all.

"...I think it's for the best," he agrees, somewhat regretfully. He kisses them back, and slowly (carefully) makes his way back down to them.

"It's been so long. I can't even imagine seeing them on me own, let alone together." He'd like the privacy.

"And for once, I don't want to be a distraction," they promise. "You can leave me to my silly Realmer pastimes and be with your kin."

If anything, they're a little envious Tommy has family he loves enough to miss so keenly - but they can't begrudge him that. They can admire it, from a distance.

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