Title: The Boy and Mr Barrow

By: alternativebrooke

Warning: Downton Abbey season 1-3 spoiler and potential M/M

CHAPTER 3

"Oh, Thomas you won't need to observe the dinner tonight, I'm going to need you to show Alec around the place" said Carson.

"Yes Mr Carson" replied Thomas promptly.

"You may as well start with his bedroom so he's able to get properly unpacked before he starts with his work tomorrow" said Carson.

"Of course Mr Carson, and which room would be his?" asked Thomas.

"Well about that, seeing as Games keeing is a new position here and there are no separate quarters for game keepers as of yet he will be staying in the servants quarters for now, the room at the end of the hall to be exact" replied Carson whose voice rose every time he mentioned a change in the tradition.
"That's also why he will be eating in the servants hall with the rest of us for now, until separate quarters are sorted out" said Carson and with that he left Thomas and Alec alone.

"So where are your bags then Alec?" said Thomas who still had a slight smirk on his face after finding out that he and Alec will be staying in the same quarters.

"Oh, the Chauffeur took them, he said they would be in the room with the dark tiled floors, although I have no idea where that is" said Alec who was obviously confused.

"I think he means the day room at the end of the hallway, come on I'll show you" replied Thomas with a small smile as he started to walk towards the hallway motioning Alec to follow behind him.

Thomas and Alec walked together in a comfortable silence until they reached the large seemingly empty room with the dark tiled floors.
"My bag's over there" said Alec as he and Thomas both walked in the same direction,Thomas looked down at the one small bag.

"Are these all of your things?" questioned Thomas who was obviously concerned.

"Yes, I've never really had much stuff of my own, most of it was borrowed from my last employers, which I had to return" replied Alex in a soft and almost embarrassed voice.

"I see" is all Thomas could say. They both reached down at the same time to pick up the bag, Thomas' fingertips grazed over the back of Alec's hand causing him to blush and look up at Thomas who looked back down at him, Thomas noticed Alec had an small smile on his reddened face to which Thomas smirked back at as he moved his hand away from the bag and straightened his posture.

"Take your bag and we'll head up to your room" said Thomas as he walked over to the door, Alec followed behind him quickly with his one bag in his hand, they made their way to Alec's room and Thomas unlocked it with the key Carson gave him.

"I've never seem a room this nice before" said Alec while putting his bag down his eyes wandering around the room in awe.

"Really?, I always thought it was pretty average myself" said Thomas.

"Nonsense, look the walls are painted all neat and I even get my own window" Alec said while walking over to the window to check out the view, Alec placed his hands on the glass while looking out at the lawns and gardens of the Abbey in fascination.

"Come and look at this Thomas" Alec said eyes still staring outside. Thomas walked over to the window and stood half a metre from Alec's side although the window was quite small and from the position he was standing in he couldn't see much.

"Thomas you won't be able to see from there come here" said Alec as he grabbed a hold of Thomas' arm with his own and pulled him closer until the whole sides of their bodies were touching.

"Isn't this view amazing Thomas?" asked Alec turning his face towards Thomas' their faces were only centimetres apart now, Thomas could feel Alec's breath on his face, his eyes flickered to Alec's lips.

"Yes, the view is amazing" whispered Thomas as he watched Alec's cheeks start to flush and a small smile tug at his lips, Alec moved his hand closer and closer to Thomas' damaged one until he touched it lightly with his fingers, at first Thomas was surprised and didn't respond until he looked at the reassuring smile on Alec's face and then interlocked Alec's fingers with his own, Thomas felt the warmth of Alec's hand coming through the glove on his mangled hand, It was the warmest Thomas had felt in years. With their hands interlocked Thomas and Alec turned until were facing each other Alec moved his free hand slowly until it was around Thomas' waist and took his other hand from Thomas' then gently placed it around the other side of Thomas' waist he looked into his eyes and started pulling Thomas closer until they were pressed against one another.

They looked at each other again but this time was different, it wasn't filled with surprise or fascination, this time it was filled with lust, Thomas placed one of his hands to the side of Alec's face, Alec's gaze flickered between Thomas' eyes and lips as Thomas slowly moved his face closer and closer to Alec's, his other hand now placed onto the opposite side of Alec's face their lips were now millimetres away

"THOMAS?!" shouted Carson from the other end of the hallway, Thomas pushed himself away from Alec and moved over to the door, a few seconds later Carson rushed into Alec's room.
"YOU'RE NEEDED IN THE DINING HALL NOW ALFRED HAS FALLEN ILL AND WE NEED A SECOND FOOTMAN!" boomed Carson who was out of breath from making his way quickly up the stairs.
"YOU'RE GOING TO NEED TO CHANGE IMMEDIATLY, NOW GO!" shouted Carson as Thomas left the room quickly to change his clothes.
"Sorry for cutting your tour short Alec, but this is a matter of urgency, unpack your things quickly I'm going to need you to be in the dining hall in 15 minutes, Lord Grantham wants to meet his new Games keeper" said Carson who made his way out of the room quickly to get back to the dining hall.

Alec was left alone in his room, he exhaled sharply as he made his way to the seat in the corner of the room and sat down
'This proves it, he must actually want me' Alec thought as he let out a small laugh, it was hard for him to believe a man could ever actually want him the way he wants them, especially a man with Thomas' looks or career status, Alec smiled to himself, he thought of the way Thomas looked at him and the way that Thomas cupped Alec's face in his hands which caused his already wide smile to widen even more, Alec walked over to his bag and started unpacking his things although it didn't take him very long because he had very few things to unpack he was finished barely 10 minutes after he started, he looked at the clock on his table and headed downstairs to wait outside the dining hall door.

A few minutes later Carson opened the door and told him to come in, Alec noticed the remainder of the dinner was being cleared away by the blonde footman and Thomas whose eyes flickered to Alec on his way out of the room.

"Your Lordship this is Alec Scudder, he's the new Games keeper" Carson said formally.

"Hello there Alec, it's nice to finally meet you. I hope you like Downton so far" said Lord Grantham politely.

"It's a very beautiful house my lord and I'm very glad to be working here" replied Alec with a kind smile on his face.

"Well that's good to hear Alec, I expect that we'll speak again soon" said Lord Grantham Alec gave Lord Grantham and the rest of the family a warm smile and turned to leave the dining hall.

He decided to head to the servants hall to wait for dinner, upon his arrival he noticed that nearly all the staff were sitting down and talking amongst each other eagerly awaiting dinner after a hard day at work, Alec looked around the table for a spare seat although the first place he looked there seemed to be two seats empty, Thomas wasn't sitting in the seat he was sitting in yesterday instead he was leaning against the wall. Thomas looked at Alec and started walking over to the door that leads outside he motioned his head towards the door suggesting Alec to follow him he then opened the door and left with Alec following a few metres behind him.

Authors note: Hey guys! thank you all so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Also I apologise for any spelling, punctuation and grammar mistakes I've made, I have never been very good with this sort of thing but I am trying my hardest :)

Please leave reviews if you can to let me know if you like it or not or if there's something that I did wrong.

Thank you all again. :)