Chapter Text
In retrospect, there had been numerous signs leading up to The Alteration, as he eventually came to think of it, but what initially tipped Laurence off was the candles. Or rather, Tharkay’s reaction to them.
“Oooh, candles,” he purred, as he stepped in from the cool spring evening, shrugging off his coat and hanging it on the banister, which was his habit. “How romantic.”
Laurence had blinked at this. Yes, he supposed it was romantic, in that tripping over the edge of the doorframe and spilling wine all over because one could not see would not be romantic in the least.
Nonetheless, it was an idle enough comment, and Laurence had not inquired after it. Instead he served supper, a rather lovely vegetable risotto with sides of veal, cooked by their chef earlier and left to keep warm in the oven. After a long day spent with Temeraire, preparing the estate’s fields for planting, Tharkay had been deeply appreciative of the food and wine both. They had enjoyed the meal over conversation regarding plans for this year’s crops, while idly batting at one another’s feet under the table.
By then, Laurence had been feeling quite energetic indeed, and so he had been disappointed by Tharkay’s suggestion he do the dishes first. Laurence had allowed him to go, taking it in the spirit of a graceful decline of his advances.
Only Tharkay had finished the chore remarkably quickly, and the pair had quickly proceeded up to the bedroom. The next hour passed very pleasantly indeed, with Tenzing showing a remarkable inventiveness in some of the positions which Laurence made sure he expressed his appreciation of.
They found themselves lying there, Laurence curled small in Tenzing’s graceful arms, breathing together in contended lassitude. With each blink, it became a little harder for Laurence to open his eyes, and he would have been quite content to nod off like that.
He squeaked in protest, reaching out to tug his lover back into bed.
"I am not going far," Tenzing said. "But bathing would not go amiss, I think."
Laurence's eyes flickered open properly, and he leveraged himself up on one arm. "You intend to draw yourself a bath? At this hour?" With the servants dismissed, so they could not even help fetch the water?
"Not a bath, just a shower," said Tenzing.
"Pardon?" said Laurence.
Tenzing arched a single eyebrow. "You are welcome to join me, if you so wish."
That most certainly made Laurence's heart race with excitement, but it was not half curiosity which carried him after Tharkay into the closet.
Only it was not a closet, not anymore.
The plain stone walls had been covered entirely in smooth shiny tile, shades of white and blue. One entire wall was covered in a mirror, below which was a sink. There were cabinets on another wall, and a holder of towels, but by far the most defining feature of the room was now the large bathing basin, built directly into the wall, with an odd protrusion of grey piping sticking out from it.
Laurence blinked. "When did we get this?"
Quite absently, Tharkay said, "Oh, the bath curtain has been purple since last week, didn't you notice?" He brushed said curtain aside, pulling on one nob. An odd rushing sound emenated from the far wall; then Tharkay pulled another, and gracefully twisted out of the way just in time to avoid a heavy stream of water from hitting him directly in the head.
Laurence stared, openly. He took a step forward to touch the stream. The force was quite prodigious, quite like that of a Japanese sea dragon.
"Give it a sec, it'll need a moment to heat up."
But it was already quite warm, which was odd in the extreme, considering the last of the snowmelt had finished no less than a fortnight ago. And they were not built over any hot springs, as in Loch Laagan; Temeraire had complained as much the last three winters ("Not that I wish to insult your estate, Tharkay"). Yet even as Laurence held out his hand, the water heated incredibly quickly, until it even began to issue steam.
Tenzing came over, lightly pressing into his side. "Are you alright, Will?"
"I am fine, merely— merely confused. How did you get this installed? When did you get this installed? How does the mechanism even function?"
Tharkay rolled back onto his heels. "Well.... to answer your questions in order;
"One: I didn't.
"Two: My father had the shower installed twenty-five years ago.
"Three: The boiler heats the water and the pressure carries the water up the pipes."
He said this all with a mock casual air, as if temporarily affecting the tone of a bored teacher. But while Laurence was no particularly skilled scholar (despite Temeraire's attempts to so encourage him), he did at least attempt to keep up with the basics of modern science. "Twenty-five years ago? Tenzing, there is certainly no possibility such a device is anything more than six months old."
There was a quite long pause. "Will, if this is a roleplay thing, you're going to have to give me a hint."
"Roleplay? I am not acting, Tenzing!"
Tharkay fixed him with a close, scrutinizing look. "Hmmn... If you say so. Is it edibles, then? Or did you let Granby talk you around on microdosing shrooms?"
"...What? Tenzing, I haven't the faintest idea what you mean. This room was near-empty, yesterday."
For a moment, Tharkay's expression grew more pinched, his lips pressing into a thin line, just as he did when he considered solutions to particularly troubling problems, such foreign armies at the gate. And then, in an instant, like a bubble popping, it vanished, replaced with something light and playful. "A man takes a single visit to lush, and now his fiancé will not stop teasing."
"Fiance?" Laurence exclaimed, his mind now redirected to another topic entirely.
Tenzing did finally pause a moment, and this time the concern did not clear from his face. “Will, have you—you have not hit your head again?”
“What? No, I am—I have not forgotten anything.” Unless—perhaps he had? But this was a single, bizarre room, not eight years of his life, entire. He cannot imagine a head wound with such specificity.
Tenzing relaxed at that. “Well, the rings are in the dresser, and if you would like another proposal, I’m sure we can arrange another date.”
“I—proposal—no, I’m quite happy of course,” He said, for he was, even if he could not understand. “I am just…”
"Tired and distracted and, frankly, rather sticky?"
All of that was true, so Laurence conceded the point with an incline of his head.
"How about we shower then, and if you're still feeling out of sorts tomorrow morning, we can address things then?"
"Yes, I suppose..."
Tenzing put his hand under the spray of water and smiled in satisfaction. He carefully climbed over the side of the—it was still a bath, if a strange one—and then reached out a hand to steady Laurence as he climbed in after.
He did not release Laurence once he was over the side, instead tugging him directly under the spray. The first second was almost painfully hot, and Laurence could not help but twitch under the onslaught, but within seconds he had adjusted and—heavens, that felt divine. It was not just the amazing heat on the tired muscles of his back, but the pressure of the pouring water, kin in sensation to Tenzing’s fingers digging into his shoulders after a long day.
He must’ve made a sound, because Tenzing huffed a laugh and reeled him in for an extremely wet kiss. “I’m not up to another round tonight, I think, but will you let me at your hair?”
“I am at your disposal," Laurence managed, trying not to melt into the tub.
There was a smug satisfaction on Tenzing’s face as he reached for one of the many opaque bottles on the little shelves in the “shower,” pouring some sort of soap onto his hands and reaching up to run his fingers through Laurence’s hair.
Laurence’s eyes slid shut involuntarily, swaying to the side until one elbow was resting against the wall. The soap smelled of spices.
"See, I told you you would like it. Navy standard issue 3-in-1 shampoo/conditioner/body wash has its place, but it's not in this bathroom."
Laurence did not understand many of the words, but he nevertheless made an appreciative sound.
The rest of the “shower” was much the same, and he only roused enough to get himself out of it after Tenzing reached around and turned the water off, laughing softly at him.
There were fresh towels hanging on the wall, thicker and whiter than any he’d ever seen, and when he helped Tenzing get the moisture out of his hair they were soft and fluffy in his hands.
From there, it was so very easy to allow himself to be guided back into bed, a ship under tow. The sheets had cooled enough to be pleasant on his heat-scoured skin, but not so much as to be cold, and when they settled around him the bed felt simultaneously softer and firmer than he was used to. He drifted off, an arm casually flung over his lover, thinking that surely, all his questions would have simple answers in the morning.
They did not.