Work Text:
“You will not call on my sister again.”
Rupert spoke with as much patience and dignity as he could muster—which was to say, not much.
Tobias Winslow relaxed into the armchair opposite Rupert and laced his fingers together over his waistcoat. He tilted his head with an air of interested curiosity. “Why not?”
His mild tone was perfectly calculated to crawl under the skin, while giving no appearance of offence. Rupert had found that talent of his hilarious when they were school boys, and Tobias was able to make the headmasters turn red in apoplexy. Finding it turned upon himself now, he was less amused. In fact, he couldn’t think of anything but popping Tobias in his smug nose.
Rupert curled his hands around the sculpted wood arms of the drawing room chair. “You’ve called upon Eleanora five—”
“Six,” Tobias interjected.
“Six,” Rupert amended through gritted teeth. “Six times over the past two weeks. If you were serious about making an offer, you would have done so. Whatever your game is, it’s over.” He’d heard Eleanora’s giggles mixed with the warm laughter of Tobias’ voice, carrying up the hall as Rupert paced the study, seething. The thought of Eleanora nursing a broken heart over Tobias when he inevitably proved himself false was too much to bear. One broken heart in the family over Tobias Winslow was more than enough.
Rupert cleared his throat. “You will not court my sister, and that’s all there is to it.”
Tobias assessed him with a sweeping gaze that was as insolent as a slap to the face, and hummed thoughtfully. “Unless things have changed significantly in my time abroad, you are not the head of the household, nor charged to make such—”
“Many things have changed while you were abroad!” Rupert snapped, coming to his feet.
Tobias’ mouth dropped open in surprise, and Rupert turned on his heel and paced away from the armchairs by the unlit fireplace. Damn him for thinking this could be a reasonable, amiable chat, how foolish and naive could he be? Nothing was ever reasonable where Tobias was concerned. He stared out the study window at the Mayfair street below, with the afternoon traffic of people circulating for calling hours,
“Rupert,” Tobias said. It was unbearably soft.
Rupert took three measured breaths to regain his composure before he rolled his shoulders and turned back to face Tobias.
The arrogant manner had fallen away, leaving an unguarded expression that softened his mouth from the sharp, thin smile that Tobias wielded like a knife. In the set of his eyes, Rupert saw a flash of his old friend, the boy with whom Rupert had spent many summer days climbing trees, swimming and hunting; whose steady presence had helped him through many a miserable year at school when it all seemed too much to bear; who knew him so well, he might as well live inside Rupert’s heart.
And when he’d seen fit to leave for the continent as soon as he’d had the chance, without so much as a note to say goodbye, Rupert felt as if a hole had been ripped through his chest.
“Rupert,” Tobias said again, and took a step towards him.
Rupert balled his fists and steeled himself against the longing, fixing his gaze on the wall beyond Tobias’ shoulder as he spoke.
“Mister Winslow, I apologise for my rudeness. You are correct, I am not the head of this household. But in the year you have been gone, things have changed. My sister is in her first season, and she does not need the attentions of a….” Rupert paused, looking for something more politic than disreputable rake , “a well-travelled gentleman such as yourself. I suggest you seek more…worldly company elsewhere.”
Tobias’ jaw twitched as Rupert’s snide words landed, and his back straightened. He’d grown in that endless year; both in height, and in the breadth of his chest. With an irritated glint in his eye, he cut an intimidating figure. Tobias’ nostrils flared, and then he favoured Rupert with a thin smile. “Some things haven’t changed. You still wield a dangerously sharp tongue.”
A thrill that wasn’t entirely anger ran through Rupert, and left a sick fluttering in his stomach. God, why couldn’t he look at Tobias without losing his head?
He knew perfectly well why, and it had everything to do with those broad shoulders, and that curl of auburn hair over his forehead, and the way his warm hazel eyes bored through Rupert. Rupert tore his gaze away and stared at a vase on the table next to the door, to give himself something to fixate upon and not look back at Tobias. His cheeks were too hot, and he felt like he would choke if he didn’t free himself from the suddenly stifling atmosphere of the study.
“I think it’s time you left,” Rupert forced out.
There was a long pause broken only by the muffled clatter of a carriage passing in the street. Finally, Tobias gave a quiet sigh. “Very well, Mister Harrington. I bid you good day.”
Tobias’ footsteps paused at the door of the study, as though waiting for Rupert to respond. Rupert did not acknowledge him, unsure he could maintain his composure through another interaction. Perhaps when Tobias left without a goodbye, it had been a mercy. This felt like agony.
There was a soft curse, a creak of floorboards, and then a flash in Rupert’s peripheral vision; he flinched and looked up to find Tobias before him, moving with swift and deliberate intention. Rupert took a fumbling step backward in surprise, and his back knocked into the wall as Tobias leaned a hand on the wall next to Rupert’s head, and swayed in close enough that Rupert could smell his shaving soap, and the heat of his skin. The intensity of his sudden nearness spurred Rupert’s heart to rabbit-like quickness.
“The most irritating part,” Tobias said, voice low and dark as night as his hazel eyes dipped to Rupert’s mouth, “is that I’m going to owe Eleanora a guinea.”
“I—what?” Rupert stuttered.
It was all he could manage before Tobias’ lips were on his. He made a shocked noise as a bolt of lightning shot through his limbs. Rupert clutched at the lapels of Tobias’ jacket as his knees softened and threatened to give out from under him. In response, Tobias growled into his mouth, a sound too raw to be triumphant, and he fisted a hand in Rupert’s hair as the full weight of his body crushed Rupert to the wall.
Rupert considered himself a steady man, and in most areas of his life, he was, but any reasonable protest evaporated under the heat of Tobias’ kiss. Their bodies entwined like strands of braid, making the evidence of their mutual excitement obvious as they pressed against each other. When Tobias broke the kiss, both of them were panting and flushed, and Tobias seemed as stunned as he was by the sudden fiery passion that had broken loose from that kiss.
“I’d apologise,” Tobias said between heaving breaths, “but I’m not sorry.”
“You never are,” Rupert snorted. He felt drunk and unmoored.
Tobias’ expression fell, and he closed his eyes as he swallowed. “That’s...no. I am sorry.” He met Rupert’s gaze again. “For running away. For not understanding. I was…frightened.”
Rupert tensed, a sudden feeling of being trapped overwhelming him, but before he could try and wriggle free, Tobias grazed the pad of his thumb over the curve of Rupert’s bottom lip. Sensitive and swollen from the kiss, the sensation on his skin made him shiver, and a tight knot of heat kicked in his belly.
“I was a fool, and it took me a year to recognize the magnitude of my folly.” Rupert held his breath as Tobias spoke, his gaze following the caress of his thumb, moving from his lips to his jaw, and the line of his cheekbone. “When I did, I could only kick myself for my idiocy. I’m sorry.” Tobias gave him a slightly cheeky smile, but there was a hint of uncertainty in it. “If you can find it in you to forgive me, I will try to be less of an ass in the future.”
That startled a laugh from Rupert. “Pestering my sister is one hell of a way to show it,” he said.
“What was I supposed to do?” Tobias complained. “You refused to see me. If not for Eleanora’s delight in winding you up, I’ve have had to resort to housebreaking or kidnapping to gain your company.”
“This was Eleanora’s idea?” Rupert demanded, affronted. “And you were laying wagers? On what?”
“She said you wouldn’t crack and I’d have to grovel, but I was sure you’d unbend eventually.” He brushed a kiss against Rupert’s cheek. “But I forgot how stubborn you are.” Tobias moved, this time kissing the corner of Rupert’s mouth, long eyelashes fluttering against his skin, and Rupert shivered. “And I hadn’t taken into account how blindingly attractive you are when you’re furious.”
The discordant notes of heartache threaded through the foggy pleasure of Tobias’ touch, and Rupert turned his face to stop Tobias from catching him in another kiss as he pushed Tobias away, suddenly needing space between them.
“Has this all been a game to you?” he asked, ashamed at the way his voice faltered.
“No!” Tobias said, eyes wide. He seemed to be searching for words that he couldn’t find, and then his shoulders slumped. “I suppose I had too much pride to just talk to you—to grovel, because God knows you deserve it. I was afraid you would refuse my apology.” He made an abortive reach for Rupert, but stopped himself, hand dropping to his side once more. “And I still fear it. Please, forgive me for running away. I know I’m a year too late in saying this, but… I love you, too, Rupert.”
Rupert’s heart seized painfully in his chest, and the wall at his back was the only thing holding him upright. The earnest desperation in Tobias’ expression was a stark contrast to the blank, confused silence that had met Rupert a year ago. Freshly graduated, two boys just become men in the world, they’d had nothing but adventure before them. Carried away by wine and joy, the confession had burst from him like bubbles from champagne.
Two days later, Tobias was gone. A tour of the continent, swiftly planned. He said not a word to Rupert before he left.
Tobias took his hand, and Rupert blinked to meet his hazel eyes, warm with concern. “Rupert, please. Will you forgive me?”
Tobias was many things, but he had never been a liar. Rupert drew a deep breath and exhaled, feeling the tension of a year ease. In answer, he pulled Tobias close to him and tilted his head up to kiss him. The soft moan he received in response was beautiful, and Tobias wrapped his arms around Rupert and held him close with a hand in the small of his back. They were lost in each other until the chime of the study clock struck five, startling them from their kiss.
“I’ve long overstayed my welcome,” Tobias said, smiling.
“Mm,” Rupert agreed. “But since you have, you might as well stay for dinner tonight.” He stepped back, straightening his jacket and waistcoat from where Tobias’ hands had snuck beneath. “During which you and Eleanora can stage an adequately convincing disagreement to quell the effervescent hopes of Mrs. Dalloway that she will be planning an autumn wedding.” He grimaced and pointed a finger at Tobias. “And may you pray she has not sent a letter to my mother and father in the country over this matter, or you may have an autumn wedding, like it or no."
“I will be suitably horrendous,” Tobias grinned, then rolled his eyes with a groan. “Oh, she'll be insufferable when I pay up.”
And indeed, the only thing that made suffering through Eleanora’s smug looks over dinner was knowing that for the rest of his life, Rupert would never regret telling Tobias Winslow that he loved him.