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The sky outside the window of their little house was yet dark and gloomy, but within, two souls arose from bed, their morning preparations lit by two little candles at either side of the room. In this manner did Herbert Pocket button himself into his undershirt, and so too did Clara Pocket lace herself into her corset, and in a few moments, Pip -- whose last name was Pirrip, not Pocket, but not for lack of trying -- came into the room, too, bringing with him his own candle, which dispelled all remaining shadows from the corners of the room.
After placing his candle on the bedside table, Pip, still wrapped in the last vestiges of sleep, wrapped his arms around Herbert's waist (for he was the nearest of the two) and buried his head in the collar of Herbert's undershirt with a heavy, contented sigh, muttering a muffled greeting.
"Good morning, Handel," replied Herbert, touching Pip's cheek briefly. Being thus encumbered, he settled for fixing his hair in the mirror, then running a hand through Pip's curls in a passing attempt at taming them.
"Good morning, Pip," Clara said from the other side of the room, and Pip accordingly separated himself from Herbert to greet her.
Though her sleeves were only half on, she welcomed his tired embrace with a smile, kissing him on the cheek when he withdrew. Pip, who was waking up by degrees, smiled down at her in turn. "Good morning, Clara. How did you sleep?"
"Well enough," said she, beginning again to wrestle herself into her dress sleeves, "But without you it is so terribly cold, for you're as good as a fireplace in these winter days, and I've gotten quite used to it."
Herbert laughed. "Look how we've gone and spoiled you. But," he replied, ignoring Clara's indignant glare, "I must agree. You are better than any quilt."
Clara, who was quite put out with Herbert at the suggestion of being spoiled (though only in pretense, for both Herbert and Pip could see the smile through the cracks in her performance) and now only having the clasps at the back of her dress to do up, turned to Pip, silently asking for assistance. He of course did, moving to the back of her. Clara, meanwhile, delivered Herbert a fearsome look. "Well, if that doesn't make you just as spoiled as me, Mr. Pocket."
"Well, Mrs. Pocket," said Herbert jovially, "I never said anything about not being spoiled myself." And here he paused in the tying of his cravat to look over her shoulder, for Pip had put on such a grimace that it had distracted him immediately. "Are you quite alright, Handel?"
"Fiddly little things," replied Pip, frown only deepening.
Clara caught sight of him in the mirror and let out an affectionate laugh. "Don't hurt yourself, Pip, let Herbert have a go."
Pip, looking quite put out himself -- and more genuine about it than Clara -- stepped aside to make room for Herbert, who caught him squarely by the chin and gave him a solid kiss. Being thus cheered, Pip moved to take Herbert's place at the dresser and fish his own clothes out of it.
While Herbert took his turn at Clara's dress, Clara watched Pip with an admiring eye. From his dressing gown to his undershirt to his vest, he dressed, all the time casting amused looks over to Clara. He was halfway through tying his cravat when he cast another amused glance to Clara, saying, "Herbert, are you quite alright?"
And Clara at last realized Herbert was still fiddling with the clasps at the back of her dress. After finally tearing her gaze from Pip's shoulders, she at last looked in the mirror to Herbert's face and found him quite confounded. His brows were drawn tight, his gaze was fixed upon his fingers, and, Clara noted from the cold air on her skin, the clasps were still wholly undone.
He dropped his hands, giving Pip a despairing look. "Fiddly little things," he echoed.
Clara laughed. "Don't worry, Herbert, I'll manage somehow."
Herbert stepped down from his post at Clara's back, rubbing an apologetic hand across her shoulder as he went.
Clara shooed Pip away from the mirror, turning her back to it and reaching behind her to do up her own dress.
In the meantime, Herbert turned to Pip, smoothing out the wrinkles in his shirt and fixing his cravat. Pip caught his hands and brought them up to kiss the back of each one. "I'm afraid we've both rather coarse hands, my dear Herbert."
Herbert hummed. "Perhaps so, Handel." A smile, which he seemed not entirely conscious of, came over him. "You really must retire earlier, my dear boy. It's much easier to wake in the morning when I've the both of you to look forward to."
Pip took the opportunity to smooth out Herbert's shirt in kind before giving him a sly look, settling his hands on Herbert's waist. "Are you certain it's not purely for my warmth that you desire me in your bed?"
Herbert returned his sly look, finding the waistband of Pip's pants. "Well, my dear boy, you are pleasantly hot in bed-"
"Finished," said Clara, turning her attention back to her boys, her dress all cinched up in only a minute or so. "And I've done it all myself, too."
Herbert looked over at her incredulously, fingers still under Pip's waistband. "So quickly?"
"What was that you were saying about being spoiled, Herbert?" Pip said, a laugh just below his words.
Clara smiled at them both, taking them both in. "It isn't terribly hard if you've had to do it up without help your whole life. It's only that you haven't, and I have, and," she said, "I do have rather small hands." As an example, she raised her left hand, her ring finger adorned with her wedding ring, and her little finger graced by the promise ring Pip had given her on the same day.
With a sigh, Herbert withdrew from Pip and kissed Clara's cheek. "Well. I'll go and get breakfast straightened out, then, shall I?" He said, to the general agreement of the room.
When he had left, Pip returned to the mirror, now making an attempt at straightening his hair with a comb (a rather fruitless endeavor he nonetheless pursued daily). Clara took a shawl from the closet, wrapped it about her shoulders, and made a display of shivering, eliciting a smile from Pip.
She watched him a moment more, then, as she made to step out of the room after Herbert, laid a hand upon his arm and gave him pause. "You know, Pip," she said, voice low and conspiratory, "you are pleasantly hot in the evenings. I do hope you'll join us tonight and warm us up."
She gave him a teasing, chaste kiss on the cheek and swept out of the room, leaving Pip to shiver in quite a different way, mind now preoccupied by more than just his hair.