The Footmans Love

Chapter Seven

May 1913,

The month of May was never an easy month for Laurence.

It was always met by the bleak reminder of his parents deaths whenever he passed by his aunt Cora, she always said he looked like his father which could have only brought back old memories for her.

The Crawley house hadn't exactly been in the best condition since the death of Mr Pamuke, Mary especially had been feeling remarkably down.

Laurence looked towards the window, the sun was beginning to rise. While it was awfully early, and the servants had presumably only been up a short while, Laurence decided to ring the bell to attempt to get Thomas to his room.

Perhaps seeing his best friend would make the jarring pain lessen.

He slowly say up in the bed, reaching for the string that would ring the bell. He pulled it and laid back down, curling in on himself much like a child. Thomas most likely would not show up at his door. The servants were probably still asleep. He certainly wouldn't show up.

No tears left his eyes, he just looked at the rising sun.

He knew he should have pulled himself out of his bed when the knock was heard at the door. "Laurence" Thomas' voice could be heard quietly from beyond the door. "Come in" Laurence whispered, an attempt at speaking that had failed horribly.

The knock sounded once more, but before he could respond the door opened itself. The footsteps that echoed in his brain sounded all too familiar.

Another weight was on the bed sooner than Laurence could realize it.

Laurence shifted slowly over to face Thomas, looking up towards the black haired man pitifully. "You came" "you rang" "it's early" "servants breakfast just finished" they went back and forth for a while longer, simply enjoying the company of one another.

"Laurence..." Thomas began slowly, hoping to ease the younger man out of bed.

"I can't" the whisper that left his lips was barely audible. Thomas placed his hand on the top of Laurence's hair, brushing a bit of the mess of brown locks out of the others face.

"I assure you the day will prove much better than it seems" Thomas whispered, his hand running through Laurence's brown locks. "How can it?" The question dripped from Laurence's mouth like a plague that Thomas was all too familiar with.

"Laurence please, for me?" Laurence smiled softly, Thomas could have even swore he saw a touch of pink dance across the man's face. Laurence didn't respond, simply burying himself further within the sheets. "The fairs coming into the village you know" Thomas slowly pulled his hand away from the man, this was not how best friends acted towards each other in the slightest.

"It can pass me by, it won't care" the two sat in silence for a while, Laurence bringing his hand up to feel the scar with his fingers. When his fingers brushed lightly it was as if the entire memory of that day came flooding back into his mind.

"But I will" Thomas uttered, finally breaking the silence. Laurence looked at him, and it seemed as if stars were in the eyes of the footman. Unbeknownst to Laurence those same eyes were tracing every inch of his face, every perfect line and shape found upon it.

Thomas reached out his hand once more, desperately wanting to cup the other man's cheek while assuring him that he cared for him deeply.

But that wasn't what friends did, nor what two men should be doing.

Instead his hand went to Laurence's shoulder, helping the young man sit up in the bed.

Thomas quickly stood up, walking to the wardrobe that housed all of Laurence's fine attires.

Laurence placed his hand upon the cheek that Thomas had grazed while reaching for his shoulder.

"Now, I assume you will be going to see the fair with the young lady's" Thomas began, pulling a light grey suit out of the wardrobe. "I will, unfortunately we can only go during the day" Laurence responded, glancing up at the ceiling. The fair was always much better at the night, the crowd more lively, the lights shinning bright.

Laurence slowly shoved the bed sheets off of himself, perhaps Thomas was right. Perhaps the fair would liven his mood.

"I would much prefer to go with you" Laurence placed his feet upon the ground, exiting the bed in a manner that was unbearably slow.

Thomas shifted his eyes towards Laurence, pondering what the young man could have meant by that. "It's just, well they bicker constantly" Laurence continued, "it's never truly fun" he walked towards Thomas, his hand unconsciously making its way towards the stop in the wardrobe that held his stash of eye patches.

This just so happened to lead his hand right over Thomas' shoulder, which was a slight feat given that the man was decently taller than him.

This time it was Thomas whose cheeks blushed a slight pink, but he did not let that get the best of him.

In the next few minutes Thomas finished dressing Laurence, proceeding to leave the room to aid with the breakfast service.

As he watched the older man leave Laurence sat down in his chair slowly, reaching into his desk drawer to pull out his trusted fountain pen.

He would go down for breakfast but first he had to write a short letter to his grandmother.

His pen began dancing across the paper he had pulled out from a stack, the words begin written out expressing hopes about next years season, seeing as the Crawleys did not participate in the current one. The words soon turned into grief however, expressing remorse over the loss of his parents. It had been a little over five years since the incident that had changed everyone's lives.

His writing was interrupted by another knock at the door, he went to open it. His movements were still slow but faster than what they been just minutes ago.

Sybil's smiling face greeted him when he opened the door.

"Hurry, I have so much to tell you over breakfast" the girl grabbed his hand cheerfully, leading him down the hallway before he even had the chance to close his door.

"Mamas said it's my turn to get a new frock" the tone of her voice almost made the smile on her face apparent in Laurence's mind.

"That does sound quiet excit-" he was quickly cut off by Sybil's excited voice once again, this time met by her practically whirling around to face her cousin. "Oh you will come to the fair with us dear cousin?" She all but begged the boy. "Perhaps" he thought back to Thomas' words. Going to the fair could wipe the memory away for a short while. "Please" the girl drew the word out much longer than was necessary. "You can accompany Mama, Edith, and I" Laurence smiled slightly down at her.

"Oh alright, a dear friend told me that it would cheer up my mood around this time of year" Sybil continued to walk down the hall as Laurence spoke these words.

Of course Sybil knew exactly who the friend was, and that the friend may certainly well be more than just a friend even if Laurence himself didn't realize it.

For Thomas and Laurence, while attempting to hide their true feelings about each other, were painfully obvious about their love for one another.