A/N Thank you for the guest reviews! I'm pleased you like this. This is slightly shorter, and the next chapter will continue on from it. Title is from The Staves. Needle xx (as I'll remain in this fandom :) ).

June 1909

{drag me through the best of years}

"Tom are you even listening to me?"

"No, I'm not."

"Well, that's flattering." Miles pulls the essay out from under his nose; his pen smears a long line of ink across the line he was writing.

Thomas groans. "You are honestly the most annoying person I've ever met."

"We've been friends for two years, you should be used to it. So, what I was saying…"

"Can I have my essay back?"

"Five minutes. Please, I've been trying to invite you to the dinner party my parents are throwing for my birthday for the last week."

"I've been busy."

"Yes, I know, end of third year exams are three weeks away. You'll pass them with flying colours, you always do. Now, seriously, listen."

Thomas turns around to see Miles draped languorously across the neatly made bed, holding the essay hostage behind his head. "Fine. Five minutes."

"So are you coming or not? It's the Saturday after our exams end, and I know you're free because your internship doesn't start until the beginning of July so don't even try to use that as an excuse…"

"Miles, thank you but…"

"Yes I know you don't feel comfortable in that sort of situation, but I promise that it's going to be low-key, well, as low-key as my mother knows how. Just family, you and a couple of our friends from lectures."

"Well…"

Miles smiles in a way that makes Thomas feel that he's a fish swimming blindly into the back of a carefully-placed net. "My father and both of my uncles are surgeons; they'd like you anyway, but if you talk surgery to them, well, my father might want to adopt you. You know he's always despairing over my pretended lack of interest."

"I'm sure he knows you do it just to irritate him," Thomas tells him, feeling a small smile tug insistently at the corners of his lips.

"So you'll come?"

"Fine, alright."

"Victory!" Miles punches the air and Thomas can't keep from laughing.

"Shout a bit louder, Miles, I don't think Mr Clark heard you from the porters' office."

"I don't care. You're coming to a party – my evil plan is complete."

"You're ridiculous. Can I have my essay back?"

"Manners?"

"Please, Miles, can I have my very important essay that is due in at the end of the week back so I can finish it before dinner?"

"Because you asked so nicely." The wad of papers lands in front of him again, and then he's alone with the quiet click of the door and lines and lines of scrawling handwriting…and the lovely smeared ink splodge right near the bottom. He sighs out his frustration and gets back to work.

"No, you can't wear that. Mother would have an absolute fit."

"Why ever not?"

Thomas feels an irritated headache coming on behind his eyes. There's nothing wrong with the suit; back home, this would be considered very smart indeed – not patched, not darned, the material still thick enough to wear on a cold winter evening when needles of freezing rain sliced through wool and skin and bones.

"Well for one it's too small for you, and that's not even mentioning how faded and fraying it is."

"Your mother will just have to cope. It's the only thing I've got."

"None of mine would fit you, you've got broader shoulders than me. I'm sure we can find another one somewhere – my father's haberdasher should be able to run something up…"

"Miles, just leave it." What can Thomas even say? Miles knows he hasn't enough money for a haberdasher, he's never normally this insensitive…

"Well, I'll get it and it can be an early birthday present. I know your birthday isn't until September, but you can wear to mine and then I'll hide it afterwards. I didn't know what I was going to get you anyway."

"That's far too…"

"Don't you dare say generous, and no, there's no way you can talk me out of it."

"Fine."

"If you really want, you can consider it a loan and pay me back when you start earning with this internship. But only if you really want."

"Thank you, Miles."

"You're welcome. How about we go this afternoon, after that last revision lecture? We could go out for dinner too, there's a place with a very pretty waitress who seemed quite interested last time I was there…"

"Interested in getting as far away from you as possible?" Thomas laughs. Miles scowls good-naturedly.

"I'll have you know they all think I'm very dashing."

"Oh of course, how could I forget how dashing you are?"

"It's unbelievable that it slipped your mind."