The Boy and Mr Barrow
by: alternativebrooke
WARNING: Potential Downton Abbey series 1-3 spoilers and M/M.
Chapter 7
Alec had just finished winding the clock in the last bedroom, Thomas was leaning against the door with his arms crossed examining Alec's technique.
"You're a fast learner Alec, maybe you should try being a fill in under butler." Thomas mocked giving Alec a wink.
"Well if you ever need a day off I would be glad to help out, the shooting season doesn't start for a little while and all I've really got to do is mow the-" Alec was abruptly cut off by Thomas.
"Alec, I was kidding.. and if I was to have a day off I wouldn't like you to be working at the same time anyway." Thomas said smoothly his eyes on Alec.
"Oh." Alec chuckled "I see." His eyes met Thomas' and they both gave each other a subtle knowing smile.
A few seconds later the door Thomas was leaning on was quickly pulled open from the other side, Thomas stumbled back into the hallway and fell to the floor. the look on his face was of complete shock as he looked up to Jimmy who was standing next to the door with his arms crossed trying desperately to contain his laughter.
Jimmy's eyes were now on Alec's "I just thought I'd check to see if you were nearly finished Alec, and to let you know to head down to the kitchen as soon as you were." Jimmy went to leave, but not before giving Thomas a second look who was still on the ground, he didn't offer to help him up, he just left no longer bothering to contain his laughs.
Alec ran over to Thomas "Oh my god Thomas are you alright?." Alec asked helping Thomas up, Thomas looked horrified, his face was flushed and he didn't even make eye contact with Alec as he was helped to his feet.
"I'm fine, just...never mind" Thomas was dusting himself off now, he walked into the guest bedroom and checked how he looked in the mirror, smoothing down his hair and straightening his outfit.
"You look fine." said Alec who was standing a few metres from Thomas with an apologetic look on his face.
Thomas looked over to Alec and let out a sigh "I don't even know why I'm doing this, I've got to change into my uniform before dinner anyway, if you'll excuse me" Thomas left the room and headed for his bedroom.
Alec watched him leave, let out a sigh of his own and made his way to the kitchen.
"Jesus! did you see that, Barrow hit the ground like a ton of bricks" Jimmy was laughing and by the looks of his face he hadn't stopped since the hallway.
"I didn't find it very funny" Alec responded with a straight face.
Jimmy squinted his eyes at Alec "How could you not?! that was definitely the highlight of my week, no wait make that my year" stated Jimmy whose laughs had died down in volume after hearing Alec's response.
Alec met Jimmy's eyes "He could of been hurt, Jimmy".
"Oh God! please don't tell me you feel sorry for Barrow.!?" Jimmy had a shocked expression on his face that was similar to the one Thomas displayed in the hallway.
"I- " The boys concluded their conversation as soon as Carson entered the room.
"Okay! Alec, James I need you to start on the serving of dinner now. I'll keep watch of the first half of dinner and Mr Barrow will watch the second. Off you go" Ordered Carson.
Alec and Jimmy went to collect the plates to start serving the family.
Thomas sat on his bed with his head in his hands. He had changed into his under butler uniform now although his hair was still un styled. Hechanged the position of his hands and was now using them to lean his head on. He wanted to be angry at Jimmy for humiliating him, but he found that he couldn't be, not after what he did to him all those months ago. he thought before today that maybe Jimmy would eventually forgive him for the incident but now he knew that it would never be forgiven let alone forgotten. The thought worried Thomas. He wondered if Alec would do the same, maybe when he got bored of Thomas he'd treat him the same way Jimmy does now. He tried to push the thoughts as far from his mind as he could he had a dinner to supervise.
Thomas stood up and made his way to the mirror in his bedroom hair product in hand. Before slicking his hair down Thomas studied his face in the mirror; he noticed his skin did not have the same uncracked porcelain appearance it had when he first started working at Downton. He knew he wasn't old, he was only in his early 30's,he didn't believe age was the defining factor in his change of appearance. he remembered back to all the stressful sleepless nights he suffered during his service in the war and all the times he had been betrayed or been in trouble, realising there were almost too many to count Thomas gave up and focused his attention on his styling his hair.
Thomas arrived downstairs just in time for the second half of dinner. Carson opened the door to the Crawley's dining hall and allowed Thomas entry. Thomas straightened his uniform and walked in as Carson exited. Alec and Jimmy looked up to see who had entered the room, a smile appeared on Alec's face upon realising it was Thomas, where as Jimmy's face did the opposite his discomfort was made obvious with the frown on his face. Both Alec and Jimmy were circling around the table Jimmy was serving the food and Alec pouring the wine.
"You've been doing very well today Alec I know this isn't really your area of expertise but you've shown you're quite capable." said Robert with a nod "I wouldn't mind a glass of white wine though, I'm not really in the mood for red tonight if you wouldn't mind." Robert gestured his head towards the bottle of red wine Alec was holding.
"Of course my Lord" Alec responded without thinking, truthfully he had no idea where the wine was kept, he tried to subtly look around the room for a cabinet but had no such luck, right then he made eye contact with Thomas and walked over to him slowly. Thomas was looking back at Alec curiously. Alec stopped right in front of Thomas. he leant his head in and whispered "Um..Thomas can you show me where I might be able find the wine." Alec's expression was a mix of shame and pleading.
Thomas tried to respond professionally but he couldn't hide his smile as he found the situation slightly humorous. "Follow me." Thomas replied leading Alec out of the room, Alec looked back at Jimmy whose expression was unreadable.
"Okay, come in here." Thomas said opening the door to the wine cellar and leading Alec to the shelf where the white wine was kept "Alright, take this one.. it's the one his lordship usually has when he's not in the mood for red" Thomas said handing the bottle of wine to Alec.
"Well I feel like a right idiot, I was going to try so hard to impress you too." Alec said taking the wine from Thomas.
"Alec, you don't need to worry about that, you haven't stopped impressing me since you got here" Thomas responded, eyes widening when he realised how cheesy that sounded.
Alec stared at him astonished. "You know Thomas, sometimes I think I've got you sorted out and then you say something else and it just completely throws me again". Alec said as he gently grabbed Thomas' disfigured hand and held it in his own. "Anyway what do you say we brave the Crawley's again" Alec gave Thomas' hand a quick squeeze and let go.
The disappointment was evident on Thomas' face, he'd much rather of stayed in the wine cellar with Alec, but realising he needed to get back to work he nodded and opened the door for Alec "After you." said Thomas, Alec playfully bowed "Why thank you Mr Barrow". Thomas just shook his head and laughed.
Alec and Thomas walked back to the dining hall and entered. Thomas lead Alec to the corkscrew they kept on the bench where Thomas supervised and Alec unscrewed the cork from the bottle, heading straight over to Robert as soon as the cork was gone and poured the wine into the glass.
"Thank you Alec and thank you too Mr Barrow" said Robert with an entertained grin spreading across his face.
"No problem my Lord." replied Thomas trying desperately to keep a straight face. Matthew and Mary quietly laughed to themselves, even the Dowager countess had a smile on her face. Alec's cheeks reddened, slightly mortified he returned the bottle to the counter next to Thomas, Jimmy made his way over to the counter as well.
"Come on Alec, we don't need to be in here for 20 minutes we have to give them the chance to eat." Jimmy put his hand on Alec's back "We'll be back soon Mr Barrow." Jimmy's voice was insincere as lead Alec out of the dining hall. Thomas' eyes widening when noticed Jimmy's hand on Alec's back.
"Sorry about not showing you where the wine was kept I had no idea his Lordship would ask for a different wine." Jimmy said apologetically as soon as they were out in the hallway.
" No it's fine.. I just feel like a bit of an idiot, even Mr Crawley and Lady Mary were laughing at me." Alec rubbed his face with his hand and let out a huffed breath.
"You shouldn't let it worry you.. it's not your fault" Jimmy said patting Alec on the shoulder, Alec watched Jimmy's hand on his shoulder "Come on, we'll go and wait in the servants dining hall".
As soon as they entered the dining hall Ivy's eyes were immediately on Alec, Ivy and Daisy were the only ones in the room and were sitting with each other at the end of the table.
"How was serving the family tonight Alec.? "Ivy asked her eyes were unsubtly trailing over Alec from head to toe, this made Alec more uncomfortable than it probably should have, he never got any attention from girls and if this was what it felt like to get it he didn't want it.
"Um fine, Ivy." Alec replied with his eyes on the floor.
"W..Would you like to sit by me..well until you have to go collect the plates?." Ivy looked up at Alec her eyes glistening with hope, Alec could hear Jimmy making annoyed noises from beside him.
"Uhm.. I suppose so." He walked over to Ivy, hearing Jimmy scoff as he went. he pulled up a chair next to Ivy and sat down.
"I like your footman uniform Alec, you look so different...different as in good..not bad different." Ivy's face was bright red as the words struggled to get out of her mouth. Alec couldn't get his head around Ivy's inability to speak when he was around, she confused him the most out of everyone here. Alec knew he wasn't handsome like Thomas and Jimmy and he knew his accent wasn't smooth and British, All Alec could see when he looked at himself was a rough and messy looking boy. yet this girl seemed to be smitten.
"Thank you.. Ivy." Alec replied promptly, his fingers were curling and uncurling rapidly under the table, he didn't feel like this when he spoke to Thomas or Jimmy, He wasn't really sure what to say to a girl who was this nervous around him.
"IVY GET IN HERE." Mrs Patmore's voice screeched from the kitchen, Ivy got up quickly and went into the kitchen without a word. Alec just looked straight forward his fingers were still curling and uncurling underneath the table.
Jimmy noticed Alec's hands under the table and made his way to the seat next to him.
Alec eyes widened when felt someone grabbing his hand he looked beside him at Jimmy whose eyes were on him "You know you can relax Alec, she's just a girl..she's not going to bite you" Jimmy let out a small chuckle, Alec was still surprised at the fact Jimmy was holding onto his hand and straightening his fingers out. "It's alright..sometimes I get nervous around people too, you wouldn't think it.. but I do" Jimmy flashed a smile "Alright back to the dining hall, we've just got to clear the plates for the last meal of the day and then your work as a footman's over." Alec noticed a hint of disappointment on Jimmy's face with the last sentence.
They both got up and walked to the dining hall to start clearing the table, The family was out of the room when they got there, only Thomas was left. It was awkward at first no one really spoke and Alec could feel the tension between Thomas and Jimmy, in fact he had noticed as soon as he got to Downton. They seemed to dislike each other and he had no idea why.
Alec decided he was going to ask, but who would he ask, Thomas or Jimmy?.
Hey guys! Hope you liked this chapter. Thank you so much for reading!.
I've been getting a few questions lately (I love questions, so thank you :D) I thought I'd straighten them out for you here:
I know it seems Alec is moving along very quickly with Thomas, but the character of 'Alec Scudder' does that in Maurice. For anyone who wasn't aware he climbed through the window of another man's room and slept with him after speaking to him twice ha-ha so it's not unusual for Alec Scudder to move very quickly in a relationship. And as for Jimmy you'll just have to wait and see where that goes haha. :)
Please leave reviews if you can, I love hearing what you guys have to say. :D