The Boy and Mr Barrow
by alternativebrooke
Warning: Potential Downton Abbey series 1-3 spoilers and M/M
Chapter 5
Thomas woke up at 4am to prepare for Matthew and Mary's departure, he dressed in his navy coloured suit that he usually wore during outings, he was excited to go into town as it had been a very long time since he had left Downton, although the thought of Alec spending time around Jimmy and Alfred worried him .
Thomas left his room and looked down the dimly lit hallway knowing everyone who could make his life better or worse was asleep in their beds. He continued to Matthews room and knocked, after what seemed like 5 minutes later Matthew appeared from his bedroom with Lady Mary at his side.
"Right then, we seem to be ready to head off now Mr Barrow".
"Absolutely, My Lord" replied Thomas.
Thomas lead Matthew and Mary outside to their car and ushered them in, before getting inside the car himself.
Alec awoke around to the sound of someone banging on his door.
"Scudder you in there?" called a somewhat erratic voice from outside.
Alec leapt from his bed and moved quickly to the door, still in his white t-shirt and Pyjama pants he turned on the light and opened the door, standing in front of him Jimmy, fully dressed in uniform.
"Jimmy?, what are you doing? we don't have to be up for another hour and a half yet?" whispered Alec his voice husky from having just woken up, he didn't even want to think about how he looked.
"I know, but I was going to ask you a favour, mind if I come inside?" asked Jimmy his voice sounding almost pleading.
"Yeah, ok uh.. come in" Alec replied opening the door wider and stepping aside so Jimmy could enter.
"Alright, so yesterday Alfred and I were polishing the silver and it was getting.. well.. really boring, so we thought we could finish off the job in the morning but I just went into Alfred's room and he's too sick to work today, and I really need your help, there's way too much silver for one person to polish in an hour and a half" Jimmy's voice sounding obviously distressed.
Alec ran a hand through his hair and let out a huffed breath.
"Uh yeah I could help you out, just let me get changed".
"Thank you so much Alec! I know we don't really know each other but it's just Carson.. he would hang me himself if he got downstairs and a job from last night hadn't been done " Jimmy said who didn't leave but instead started pacing in Alec's room as he waited for Alec to get ready.
Alec walked over to his wardrobe cautiously obviously feeling slightly uncomfortable with Jimmy staying in his room while he changes, he opened his wardrobe and pulls out: a white button up shirt, black tweed vest, and lengthy black coat with his black hunting pants and leather boots. he looked over to Jimmy holding his clothes tightly in his arms.
"Alec, not to rush you but could you please hurry up or we won't get the polishing done" said Jimmy who was getting more nervous by the second, obviously not taking in Alec's discomfort with his presence.
Alec sighed as he put his clothes down and began to undress, starting by pulling his t shirt over his head and replacing it with his white button up shirt, he noticed Jimmy trying to keep his eyes anywhere but on Alec. he removed his pyjama pants and picked up his black hunting pants, he glanced at Jimmy who still pacing around the room impatiently. Sensing Jimmy's impatience Alec put on the rest of his clothes quickly.
"Alright I'm ready lets go" said Alec.
"Great, come quickly" said who was already stepping out the door, Alec had to jog a little bit just to keep up with Jimmy's very quick pace.
Upon reaching the kitchen Jimmy opened the cabinet doors and pulled out 3 full trays of silverware and 2 cloths and placed them on the staff table in the dining hall.
"Here" Jimmy said, throwing a cloth at Alec and motioning him to sit next to him.
Alec sat down next to Jimmy and started polishing the silver, he looked over to Jimmy who had already polished twice as many as Alec had.
"I really appreciate this Alec, I know it's not your place to be polishing the silver so.. thank you I really owe you for this" said Jimmy kindly, but still furiously polishing the silverware with his hands.
"No it's no problem, I certainly wouldn't want to be on Carson's bad side" Alec looked at empathetically.
"I'm already on Carson's bad side, I just don't want to give him a real reason to fire me" said Jimmy sucking in a deep breath, his eyes dropping to the table and his hands slowing in pace with the polishing.
"What do you mean, did something happen?" questioned Alec who was now feeling slightly concerned for Jimmy.
"Something happened alright" Jimmy replied his face now angry and his polishing pace back to being fast again. "The worst part is I shouldn't be the one that everyone's so disappointed in" Jimmy continued his eyes now on Alec's.
"Who's to blame then?" replied Alec curiously.
Alec watched Jimmy whose face was flicking through different emotions so quickly Alec couldn't decide how Jimmy must have felt, he saw anger, embarrassment and something he didn't expect to see..guilt. Jimmy looked back over to the trays, picked up another piece of silver and started polishing, slower this time.
"It's not important right now, we've got to get this done everyone will be down soon" said Jimmy whose face was back to calm.
Alec and Jimmy continued to polish in silence for the next half an hour. Jimmy put down the last piece of silverware and let out a dramatic deep breath.
"Done! and with 15 minutes to spare, you're not a bad silver polisher Alec I'll give you that" Jimmy stated with a large grin on his face as he shoved Alec playfully on the arm.
"Uh thanks" Alec replied with a laugh.
"You're a good man to do this for me" Jimmy said getting up from his chair to pick up the trays and put them back in the cabinet.
Alec got out of his chair and followed Jimmy to the kitchen where the cabinet was.
"We should head back to our rooms now, before Carson and the others wake up, come on" Jimmy said as he motioned Alec out the door and continued to walk up the stairs alongside him. Jimmy and Alec eventually made it to the servants quarters, with 5 minutes to spare.
"I wonder what Mr Carson's going to do about a second footman seeing as Alfred's sick. especially because Thom.. I mean Mr Barrow isn't here" said Alec nervously after almost mentioning Thomas' first name.
"OH GOD!, I'd forgotten about that! Carson will be on a rampage once he finds Alfred sick and no fill in footman" said Jimmy almost too loudly.
Jimmy and Alec heard the sound of someone walking around in one of the rooms and dashed back to their bedrooms.
Alec entered his room for no longer than a few minutes before he heard Carson's booming voice from the hallway.
"YOU'VE PICKED AN EXTREMELY INCONVINIENT TIME TO GET SICK ALFRED!" shouted Carson.
Alec opened his door and walked out into the hallway where Carson was talking to Jimmy, loudly as usual.
"WE DON'T EVEN HAVE MR BARROW HERE TO FILL IN, WHO'S GOING TO BE SECOND FOOTMAN JAMES? WE NEED A PLAN AND QUICKLY" yelled Carson who was starting to become very distressed and by the looks of it Jimmy was too.
"Um.. Mr Carson.. if you need a fill in that badly I could offer myself as a temporary replacement" offered Alec whose voice was almost a whisper from the other side of the hallway.
"ALEC? I DON'T THINK YOU WOULD BE SUITED FOR THE JOB OF A FOOTMAN, YOU DON'T HAVE ANY EXPERIENCE IN THE SERVING INDUSTRY, DO YOU? questioned Carson who was confused about Alec's offer.
"Well... actually I've done the serving at my old job a few times when the footmen were unable to, and there's really not much of a choice " said Alec politely
"RIGHT.. OKAY" Carson took in a deep breath " Alec you need to get into a footman's uniform immediately, Jimmy give him one of yours, both of you be downstairs in 15 minutes" said Carson as he quickly left the servants quarters. Jimmy's face was unreadable as they both went into Jimmy's room.
"Wow.. I'm impressed, someone who actually signs up to be Carson's lap dog for a day" said Jimmy laughing and giving Alec a pat on the back.
"Well I don't think I had any choice really, Carson looked like he was about ready to explode and take you out with him" Alec said mockingly as he watched Jimmy pull out a full footman's uniform from his wardrobe.
"Well again, you've made my life a hell of a lot easier.. and you haven't been here very long" Jimmy's voice sounded pleasant and relaxed "Here, put this on" Jimmy continued handing the uniform to Alec.
Alec started changing, now less concerned with the fact that Jimmy was in the room after earlier this morning. Once Alec had completely put on his uniform he turned to Jimmy "What do you think?"
Jimmy took one look at Alec and burst out in laughter, he had to hold himself up on the desk in his room to keep him from falling to the ground. "Oh god! Alec.. look at your jacket" Jimmy's body was still hunched over with laughter "You've put the wrong button in the wrong hole, now the whole jackets uneven, if Carson caught you like that" Jimmy's words were hard to understand though his bursts of laughter "Here.. let me fix it" Jimmy walked over to Alec and started undoing the buttons.
Alec's face was flushed with embarrassment.
"I hope you serve better than you put on your uniform" Jimmy stated, who had calmed down from his previous outbreak of laughter but was still trying to catch his breath. "Okay" Jimmy said standing back from Alec once he fixed the jacket and looked Alec up and down "Much better, except your hair.. that'll need to be neatened" Jimmy walked over to his bedside table and took a jar of hair product from the drawer.
"Now I'm assuming by your current hairstyle, you would have no idea how to use this correctly" said Jimmy holding his jar of product and studying the brown curly mess of hair on Alec's head "Sit down" Jimmy pulled the chair from the corner of his room to the centre and motioned Alec to sit down
Alec sat in the chair, he really didn't have any idea on the standard hairstyle that a footman at Downton would wear. Jimmy stood in front of him and started running his gel covered hands through Alec's hair trying to make the best style he could from Alec's unruly curls.
"Okay that's a lot better" Jimmy said rubbing his gel covered hands together "I've just got to wash this off now, I'll be back in a minute" Jimmy darted out the door to the basin.
Alec went over to the mirror in Jimmy's bedroom, he liked the footman's uniform, it was nothing like he had ever worn before he also really liked the way his hair looked; it was mostly slicked back except for a curl that was sitting on his forehead.
"Finished checking yourself out there Alec?" Jimmy's eyes on Alec from the door. "Come on, we have work to do" Jimmy waited for Alec to get to the door and they both walked to the kitchen together.
Hey guys! I'm so sorry about how long this chapter took, but life's been hectic lately. I promise the next few chapters will be written a lot faster.
Also I know this chapter may have been a bit boring because of the lack of Thomas, but don't worry he'll be back in the next one! :)
Leave a review if you can to let me know if you like it or not, or if there's something that needs to be improved on (other than the spelling and grammar because I know I'm not very good with that haha)
Thanks so much for reading! :)