Toby knew what was going on. He was young, yes, but he was not naive. He knew what a married couple did on their wedding night, and that was exactly what Mr. Todd and his Mum were doing, often. Often enough to start rumors around Fleet Street. You could practically hear them across the street. When he went out to the grocer or the market, people would stop him and ask him if it was true, that the barber and baker were having a scandalous affair, but he merely just kept walking like he never heard anyone. He couldn't expose Mrs. Lovett like that, and who knows what Mr. Todd would do to him if he ever did answer the gossipers. The man scared the daylights out of him.
He didn't know when the encounters started between the two. But one night about a month ago, he heard it. Coming from her room in the middle of the night. At first he thought his adoptive mother was in pain. He never heard her moan or cry out like that ever since he started working and living there. He only heard things similar to her cries of pleasure when he had worked with Pirelli, when he would take women off the street and push them into his tavern. But this was different. The women then had been actually crying, with pain, screaming violently. Mrs. Lovett certainly had not been moaning in pain. He figured it all out when Mr. Todd had emerged from her room the next morning.
His mum's moans and Mr. Todd's groans soon became a regular sound that filled the house late at night a few times a week, much to his unenjoyment. Those nights he couldn't sleep, it was impossible because of how much noise they made. They would go at it the entire night... How did they not know how much noise they made?
When she would come into the kitchen after the encounters in the morning, preparing his breakfast for him, he could barely look her in the eyes as she chatted away to him. On one particular occasion, she was curious as to why he was not speaking to her.
"Love? What's wrong?"
"Nothing, mum."
He was sitting at the table and nibbling at his blueberry muffin, facing away from her. He heard her approaching footsteps behind him.
"Ya haven't spoken to me since last night's dinner rush, dearie."
He gulped, not knowing how to respond. He wasn't ignoring her, he just didn't know how to talk to her now. He felt uncomfortable.
She placed a hand on his shoulder, squeezing it lightly. "Ya know, if something is troubling ya, ya can always tell me. I can listen well too besides chattin!"
He turned his head and she gave him a warm smile, settling herself down next to him. "Now, tell your auntie Nellie."
"Why do you make those noises at night?"
He knew why she made them, he just wanted to see the look on her face and her reply. She was obviously oblivious to him hearing her and Mr. Todd.
"W-what do ya mean?" she stuttered quickly, standing up and walking back to the counter. He watched as she fumbled with a washcloth, clearly distracting herself from the question.
"Nevermind, mum."
More than once he would catch them by accident. One time she had sent him to the market to buy more flour, but he foolishly didn't know it was an excuse to get him out of the shop for a while. Because when he returned, he had wished he hadn't. He walked straight in on them in the parlor.
"Sweeney..mmmmm.…oh!"
The barbers head was in between her thighs and she was spread out across the sofa, her skirts pushed up around her waist and her dress bodice pulled down, exposing her entire front. Mr. Todd was grabbing her chest and fiddling with her nipples while her hands held his head in place.
He instantly walked away and back outside, his eyes wider than saucers.
Another time he caught them in the most common place they would do it, in her room. He had had a terrible, horrid nightmare about the workhouse and was left completely shaken. Before Mr. Todd had started coming down each night, he would crawl into Mrs. Lovetts room and lay with her until he wasn't anxious. She would whisper sweet things to him and hold him gently. Completely forgetting about the arrangement happening, he had turned the door knob and was about to walk in until he saw them yet again. She was on top of Mr. Todd, his arms planted on her hips and her palms planted on his shoulders, both of them furiously pounding their hips against each other.
"Oh god...oh fuck…"
"Nellie...there you go...mmm"
Quickly slamming the door shut, he ran to his room and crawled under the covers, not expecting to get any sleep.
Will it ever end? Probably not. Would she ever tell him what was happening? Most likely not either. He would just have to live with this, So Toby carried on, minding his own business every morning, wondering if he could ever think of his mum the same way as before.