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Alfie Solomons loved going for walks with Cyril. He could spend hours outside in the woods near their house, exploring every route there is to explore. Tommy didn’t really enjoy the walks as much as Alfie did. Tommy enjoyed riding horses more, so Alfie and Tommy had different hobbies to pass time. That was fine, Alfie always thought, it was important for them to be able to do shit alone.
The only problem with Alfie going for walks, was the fact that he always lost track of time while he was in the woods. He could be gone for hours on end, spending whole days surrounded by the forest.
Alfie noticed it was getting late, so he set course to their house, Cyril following suit. It took him awhile to get there, but was relieved and happy when he saw the big house in the distance.
He took off his muddy boots and put his cane in its usual position near the door.
“Tommy? Tommy, love? You anywhere in the house?” Alfie barked while walking through their lovely landside home. Tommy and Alfie moved there right after they married five years ago. They found peace and happiness there. Well, it was a place where Peace And Happiness were the norm. Anything business related was conducted outside the house, in their shared offices in London.
The only business Alfie took care of in the house was fucking Tommy.
“I’m up in the big room, Alfie.” Tommy tried to shout back, but the sentence ended in a wet cough.
“On my way, love.” Alfie took his sweet time to walk up the stairs. He’d left his cane downstairs. No cane needed when he took Tommy from behind. Today was no day for spanking.
Alfie was met in the big room with another fit of wet coughs. Tommy looked paler than he did this morning and was wearing *a scarf*.
“Tommy, dear, what is going on? You look a bit under the weather.” Alfie walked up to Tommy and pulled him in a tight embrace. Tommy didn’t refuse.
“I think riding in the rain yesterday did a bit of a number on me. Don’t worry, Alfie. I’ll be as good as new tomorrow.” Tommy spoke to Alfie with a hoarse voice. Alfie kind of liked it, but did not believe a word his husband said. Tommy pulled away from Alfie and went to sit down behind his desk. There were some papers scattered on it from their ~activities~ two nights ago. Judging by aforementioned papers, Tommy hadn’t worked a lot since.
“Are you sure you are okay? Because it’s fine if you admit to not feeling fine. Even you, the almighty Tommy Shelby can feel off from time to time.” Alfie placed a cautious hand on Tommy’s shoulder and tried to gently get him to stand up. Alfie took the opportunity to feel at Tommy’s neck. The skin underneath was very hot, a true indication of fever.
“Tommy, please, let me get you into bed. I know we haven’t had supper yet, but I have a feeling you weren’t gonna eat any.” Alfie was surprised by how easily Thomas cooperated. That really was nothing like him.
“You know what, I’ll get you into bed and then I’ll brew a pot of tea. Then you are going to tell me all about your day. And while you do that, there will be spooning. I don’t care if you protest.”
Tommy wanted to protest. He really did. But he also wanted Alfie to take care of him. Tommy would only *never* let that know to the whole wide world. He was Tommy fucking Shelby for Christ’s sake. He was a bad man, who had killed, maimed and bullied.
Right now, that same bad boy was being led to his bed by the man he loved.
Alfie was telling a story, something about he saw in the woods today, but Tommy was too tired and too in love with the idea of his bed to follow anything from said story. Alfie opened the bedroom door and felt Tommy relaxing on sight. He slowly helped his husband undress and moved the covers so Tommy could lie down in peace.
“Okay, darling, what you are going to do right now is relax. I will be back shortly with a pot of tea and we will drink it and we will talk a bit and then you will sleep until you feel better again.” Alfie had a very serious look on his face while telling Tommy the plan for the next half hour. He knew Tommy usually only listened to a drill sergeant.
Alfie went downstairs to brew the pot of tea, and cursed at the kettle for not boiling any sooner. He had made a promise to Thomas and if the water would take a lot longer to boil, Tommy would already be asleep and Alfie would’ve broken his promise.
After some (a lot) of cursing, Alfie went upstairs with the pot and two cups. He tried to do so as quietly as possible, but his back started to hurt after the day outside and he regretted not letting one of the maids bringing the tea up.
He hid his happiness when he entered the bedroom, and found Tommy still awake. Barely, but awake.
“So, love, let’s have some of my famous tea.” Alfie put the tea on the nightstand and handed Tommy a cup. Tommy started sipping the tea and looked at Alfie, while he tried to lie down in the bed without disrupting Tommy. It was an entertaining sight.
“Tea’s great, Alfie. Thanks.” Tommy mumbled once Alfie positioned himself in the bed so he could face Tommy, but also be comfortable.
“Now, tell me about your day.” Alfie knew that getting Tommy to talk would make him fall asleep earlier. He may have spiked the tea with some rum.
Tommy downed the cup and put it on the nightstand. Alfie put his own cup down as a reaction. Thomas did the unthinkable, and scooted over to Alfie. In his reflex, Alfie put an arm around Tommy.
They were spooning. Actually *spooning*. Alfie didn’t even try to hide the grin on his face.
“Alfie?”
“Hmm?”
“I want a cat.”
“We’ll see about that, love.”
“No, I really want a cat. It can cuddle with us.”
Alfie stroked Tommy’s hair and didn’t dare to say anything else. He knew it was because Tommy was getting ill, because he was tired and almost drunk from a couple of sips of rum. But Tommy was opening up. After all these years together, after going through so much, he finally opened up.
And that’s all Alfie needed.
“Tomorrow, I will get you a cat. We’ll name it Cyril The Second.”
“I love you, Alfie.” Tommy yawned.
“I love you too, Thomas.”