The Boy and Mr Barrow
by: alternativebrooke
WARNING: Potential Downton Abbey series 1-3 spoilers and M/M.
Chapter 6
The day had been successful so far, more successful than Alec had expected it to be. He was exiting the Crawley's dining room for the second time after having just served the family their lunch.
"Well look at you" said Jimmy as soon as Alec made it into the hallway he was staring at Alec, his smile slightly crooked "Are you sure you weren't a proper footman at your old job Alec?"
"I've never been a proper footman, only a fill in.. on occasion" replied Alec who was smoothing his hair back with his hand.
Jimmy just laughed under his breath "What can't you do?" Jimmy's eyes were again on Alec's, "Please, if you're bad at something let me know."
"Well I'm bad at putting on my uniform correctly, If you remember?" Alec replied with a laugh.
"And the styling of your hair.. obviously.." Jimmy grabbed Alec's hand to stop him from smoothing down his hair, which he had forgotten he had been doing for the last few minutes.
"You don't want to smooth all of your hair down, it makes you look far older than you are" Jimmy stated as he let go of Alec's hand. "Now come on, I'm sure Mrs Patmore has some lunch prepared for us back at the servants dining hall"
Jimmy and Alec walked alongside each other to the dining room, upon arrival Alec noticed for the second time today Ivy and Daisy held his gaze as he walked in, he also noticed Ivy's cheeks appearing rosier the closer he got. There were not many staff members in the dining hall today, he counted only six, two of them being he and Jimmy.
"He-llo..Alec" the words sounded as if they were being strangled from Ivy's throat. Daisy just looked at Ivy with her eyes opened wide.
"Hello Ivy" replied Alec as politely and as formally as he could sound.
"Oh.. my.. I- I didn't know you knew my name" The words wrestling were themselves out of Ivy's mouth.
"Well yes, Jimmy told me" Alec said gesturing his head towards Jimmy noticing an annoyed expression on Jimmy's face.
"Oh okay so d..." at that moment Ivy was abruptly cut off by Jimmy "Ivy if you wouldn't mind, Alec and I have been busy all day and would like to have something to eat instead of..well.. talking to you".
"Oh..of course.." Ivy flushed and look down at the table.
Jimmy went to sit down in his usual spot, Alec was standing there mouth gaping not sure if he should say something to Ivy or not.
"Alec, were you going to sit?" Jimmy called from his seat looking at Alec curiously. Alec made his way over to the seat next to Jimmy and sat down.
Jimmy and Alec began eating in silence, today's meal was some kind of soup and again it was delicious 'I could get used to this' Alec thought to himself, when he was finished he picked up his bowl and brought it to the kitchen, Jimmy following close behind him with his own finished bowl.
"You've done very well today Alec, I might even say I'm impressed with your efforts" said the very loud and familiar voice of Carson who was standing behind the boys in the kitchen.
"Oh, thank you Mr Carson. It was my pleasure" Alec responded with a smile.
"Usually I wouldn't do this but you two have impressed me today even though I've inconvenienced you, If you would like you can take a two hour break, be back here at 3pm sharp though because there's still more work to be done" Carson exclaimed giving the two boys a quick nod before leaving the kitchen.
"Thank you Mr Carson" Jimmy and Alec said almost at the exact same time, which caused them both to snigger.
"My God! you should be second footman more often!" said Jimmy said ecstatically while patting Alec on the back. "Come on it's warm outside today and I've been dying to get some sun" Jimmy kept his hand on Alec's back as he lead them both outside.
Jimmy was right it was warm out today, Alec couldn't even remember the last time he enjoyed a sunny day like this when he wasn't busy working. "This one!" Jimmy found them a wooden bench to sit on, Jimmy sprawled himself over the bench trying to get as much of his body facing towards the sun as he could which left little room for Alec. Alec examined the limited space Jimmy had unintentionally left for him, there was hardly enough for a small child let alone a 23 year old. Jimmy noticed Alec had not sat down after about a minute or so and realised what he was doing.
"Oh Sorry.. sometimes I swear I don't think" said Jimmy apologetically changing his position so his back was against the side rail of the bench and his legs were bent at the knees so they would only reach to the middle of the seat to make room for Alec. As Alec sat down Jimmy took off his jacket and started to undo the buttons on his uniform until some of his chest was bare in the warm afternoon sun, Alec's eyes couldn't help but wander over Jimmy in this state, Alec had never seen him so relaxed and he had to admit Jimmy was a very handsome man but anyone could see that.. although not as handsome as.. At that moment realised how much he wanted to see Thomas again, he missed the way he could make Thomas' face light up just by smiling at him "I see you've got an admirer" said Jimmy blankly
Immediately Alec assumed Jimmy was talking about Thomas "WHAT!?" said Alec who's voice was almost a shout.
"Ivy, she fancies you..didn't you see her face when she was talking to you she was as red as a tomato, not very subtle that Ivy, trust me she did the same thing to me.. I know it when I see it" replied Jimmy.
"Oh! Ivy" Alec let out a sigh of relief "She did seem a bit nervous, I just thought that was because she was shy though".
"Are you kidding me? Do you even know how girls work Alec? asked Jimmy curiously.
Alec realised that was a question he had asked himself before, he had never in his life been interested in how girls worked or for that matter interested in them what so ever "Well.. I.." Alec stopped when he and Jimmy heard a car coming down the drive way of Downton they both watched the car until it was parked at the front of the Abbey about 20 metres away from the bench they were sitting on.
"Whose car is that?" asked Alec.
"It would have to be Matthew Crawley and Lady Mary coming back from their trip into town" Jimmy replied.
The car door opened and the first one to step out was Thomas, Alec's eyes were immediately on him, Thomas was wearing a navy coloured suit which Alec had not seen Thomas wearing before and he liked it, it made his beautiful blue eyes stand out even more. Thomas' hair was slightly dishevelled due to the bumpy ride back to Downton. Thomas went to the door of Downton and opened it for Matthew and the Lady Mary he was about to enter himself when he looked over to the direction Alec was in, Alec smiled at him when their eyes met and Thomas smiled back until Thomas looked at who was on the other side of the bench. Alec could see Thomas' change in expression from where he was sitting, Thomas' face became paler than usual and his smile disappeared. Alec became concerned he wanted to see if Thomas was okay but Thomas disappeared inside too quickly.
"Alec, we should probably head inside now it's nearing 3pm" said Jimmy as he started buttoning up his uniform and smoothing his hair back into place.
Alec leapt up from the bench, he was eager to get inside mostly to see Thomas again, Jimmy and Alec walked back together, when they got to the dining hall Thomas was sitting at the end of the table in his usual spot talking to Carson about the trip into town, once Carson had finished speaking with him he walked over to Jimmy and Alec.
"Ah Boys, you're back. Now James I need you to start winding the clocks in the main bedrooms upstairs seeing as you know how to do it, And as for you Alec I was thinking Thomas could teach you how to wind them in the guest bedrooms" ordered Carson.
"Of course Mr Carson, see you at dinner Alec" said Jimmy as he left the dining hall.
"Well I think we'll start with the first room in the east wing" Thomas' smouldering voice came from behind Alec.
Alec turned to look at Thomas, his breath couldn't help but hitch when he saw him. Thomas' in his navy coloured suit and dishevelled hair looked even better when it was up close than when he saw it from a far.
"Come with me" Thomas ordered and Alec followed, they continued to the east wing together
"How was picking out clocks with the Crawley's today?"Alec asked but keeping his eyes on the way Thomas walked, Alec noticed Thomas walked with a real confidence, this confused Alec because to him Thomas didn't radiate confidence when he spoke to him.. especially when he touched him.
"Honestly?, quite uneventful.. Lady Mary has an extremely difficult time with making decisions.. which can be..really frustrating" Thomas replied who seemed kind of frustrated himself.
Upon reaching the room Thomas opened the door for Alec and Alec walked straight in, Once the door was closed Thomas went over to the clock and opened the glass cover he started examining the hands of the clock. Alec was too busy looking at the room, it was one of the most amazing rooms he'd seen; the wallpaper was flawlessly matched, the bed was huge it looked about three times as big as his own and the floor was one of the cleanest he'd ever seen.
"Um, Alec.. did you want to come over to the clock, it's a little hard to teach you when you're over there?" asked Thomas watching Alec curiously stare around the room.
"Oh I'm sorry, isn't this room amazing though Thomas? I've never seen a bedroom like this before" Alec was now at Thomas' side, Thomas was glaring down at him with a wide grin on his face.
"You've really never seen a place like Downton before have you?" Thomas asked curiously, his eyes now beaming into Alec's.
"Never this extravagant.. but then again everything seems to be extravagant here.. the food, the gardens and especially the people" Alec slowly lifted his hand placed it on the side of Thomas' neck, he used his finger to gently stroke behind Thomas' ear, Thomas leaned into Alec's hand and smiled down at him.
"So I see you've been the acting second footman today" Thomas whispered softly while gesturing his eyes up and down Alec's uniform "It suits you" Thomas put his arms around Alec's waist and pulling him closer, Alec put both of his arms around Thomas' neck in response "I especially like what you've done with your hair" Thomas whispered in Alec's ear then moved his head back to place a short kiss on the top of Alec's head
"Well that's a coincidence Mr Barrow" whispered Alec now playfully running his fingers through the hair on the back of Thomas' head "Because I really like what you've done with yours" instead of kissing Thomas' head Alec planted a quick kiss on his lips "Now weren't you going to teach me how to wind this clock, we are still suppose to be working aren't we?"Alec said mockingly.
"If I must" answered Thomas who followed it up with a very overdramatic sigh which made Alec chuckle as he hadn't seen that side of Thomas before, he didn't know Thomas had a playful side.. but the idea of a playful Thomas made him happier than he was already.
Thomas and Alec released each other from their embrace and Alec watched as Thomas gave him a demonstration on how to wind a clock correctly afterwards and they moved to the next bedroom so Alec could try to wind a clock for himself. Alec could tell his first try was wrong because he could hear Thomas sniggering behind him.
"Alright what have I done wrong?" Alec asked looking back at Thomas pouting
"Well..nothing major..just... Ok let me help you" Thomas walked over and stood directly behind Alec, so close Alec could feel Thomas' hot breath on his neck "Now what you've got to do is turn this before you start on the hands" said Thomas pointing to a little gold knob, Alec did what he said and then started on the hands "Perfect" Thomas whispered in Alec's ear "I knew you could do it" planting a kiss on Alec's neck Thomas stood back and Alec shut the glass cover of the clock.
"Only a few more rooms then we've got to get you back to the kitchen to serve the family, which I'm really looking forward to seeing by the way". Thomas said mockingly
On that note Alec and Thomas left the room together.
Thanks for reading guys! Hope you liked this chapter :)
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