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Never in a thousand years did Edgar imagine himself sharing a small inn room with three other men. He had fallen far from his Prefect days when he ruled Weston High and ate his daily biscuits and tea at the Swan Gazebo. If there was any comfort in his hovel among the commoners, it was that he shared this burden with his closest friends and fellow ex-Prefects. They ate together, studied together, murdered together, and now slept together.
“Ernie, you left your cricket bat on my bed again,” Edgar mumbled, tossing the bat to the rumpled carpet at the foot of the bed.
“Don’t you mean our bed, Edgar?” Hermann said, scowling at the other blonde.
“Don’t remind me,” Edgar replied.
“Both of you, calm down,” Lawrence added from the other side of the room as he put down the shirt he was ironing. “We wouldn’t even have beds if it weren’t for the Viscount’s generosity. You should be grateful. Especially you, Redmond, or did you forget the time you punched your uncle in the face?”
“It was only the one time!” Edgar protested, crossing his arms. “And he should still be the one begging for my forgiveness after what he said about my girl.”
“Oh no, did he call her a little whore? She did end up cheating on you anyway.”
Edgar sighed. “If only it were that simple. I *wish* that he’d just insulted her, we all get angry sometimes. You’ve met my uncle, Law. The Viscount is a cruel and vicious man with no scruples to speak of. If all he did was animate the dead, maybe he’d be someone I wasn’t ashamed to be related to.”
“You have a habit of pissing me off with your tendency to dance around subjects, but I’ll allow you this one,” Lawrence said, feeling a shiver in his spine. “Something tells me that I will regret hearing further.”
”Smart choice, Lollipop,” Edgar said with a smirk.
“How many times do I have to tell you to stop calling me that?”
“Oh, my sweet Lollipop, one thousand and more times will you have to cry, but still I would not stop for I would miss the red of your cheeks and the tremble of your lip.”
Sitting on the bed he shared with Lawrence, Gregory snickered while Hermann did his best to ignore everyone and dress into his nightgown. He would never say it aloud, but he also found Lawrence’s easy blushing all too amusing.
“Redmond, I am going to choke you in your sleep,” Lawrence spat, his ears bright red.
“Oh please do, my Lollipop.”
Lawrence sighed. “You know, for someone who curses his name day and night, you’re more like your uncle than you like to let on.”
With a gasp, Edgar’s eyes widened and threatened to spill tears. “Lawrence, do you mean that, truly?”
“Edgar I—No, I suppose not. But would that be such a bad thing? He’s a bit of a pervert, sure, but doesn’t he run several charities for orphans and hospitals?”
”He does,” Edgar muttered blandly. “And zoos, too. Many families are grateful to him for paying their loved ones’ funerary services. But after that night, I can’t help but wonder what he was really up to with those bodies. Did he truly send them off in a casket as he promised, or did he pretend to bury them and keep the bodies for that research buddy of his? Why are they so interested in resurrecting the dead? What else don’t I know about my uncle?”
Hermann sat next to Edgar, who was still standing fully dressed in daywear. “You should sleep, Ed. Ruminating like that won’t help anything. If he is even more evil than we thought, it doesn’t have to do with you. You’re a good man, and your faith in the kindness of people’s hearts is admirable. You bring warmth and comfort with you wherever you go, which is so much more than I can say of myself.”
“And what good has that done me, Ernie? You were right about Derrick, you were right about Maurice, and you were right to trust Midford. Er, not that I ever disliked him, that is. But I can’t help but be jealous that you got it right the first time while I kept picking turds covered in gold and caused everyone trouble because of it.”
To everyone’s surprise, Gregory walked over to the two blondes’ bed and trapped them both in a tight hug. “You are both wonderful blokes, alright? For all your fuckups, nobody can say you didn’t try to help at least. Doesn’t that count for something?”
The other two hugged Gregory back, the three locked in a sweet embrace when Edgar pressed his forehead to Gregory’s and Hermann’s. “Oh, Rory. How is it you know exactly what to say to still my heart?”
“Well said,” Hermann sighed. “You’re so quiet, but always thinking. And you, Law, get over here won’t you?”
“Me? Why?”
“Get in the group hug, dumbass,” Edgar let out between tears.
Lawrence chuckled at the usually poetic Blonde’s words. “If you’re that sentimental, I suppose I have no choice.”
Once the four men were huddled together on the squeaky mattress, Edgar whispered, “I love you all. I don’t know what I’d do without any one of you.”
“Me too,” Lawrence quickly agreed.
“And me,” Hermann added.
Gregory hummed in approval.
They stayed like that for a while, but Lawrence was the first to pull away and assign himself the duty of putting the others to sleep, reminding each of them (and himself as well) that they must rest, for tomorrow would be a long day of job searching and planning for their still-bright future.