Work Text:
The country house lay quiet on Sundays. Camilla slept late. She would often come down around noon, make tea, and retreat back to her room an hour later. Charles and Francis would go on walks which seemed to last forever. However, this day was different. The three of them, as well as Richard, were out in the backyard. And Henry and Bunny were nowhere to be found.
Richard stared at the trio with a somber look. Camilla was being chased through the long blades of grass, Francis close behind as Charles began to slow done and bend over, puffing out tired breaths. All three were laughing. It was the most relaxed Richard had seen any of them in a long time. Camilla wasn’t too busy gawking over Henry to let loose, Bunny wasn’t around yelling obscenities at everyone. Richard couldn’t help but imagine an alternate timeline in which this could be the normality. Everyday could be like this. A few hours in the garden, a game of Go Fish by the light of the fire. Normalcy.
‘Camilla, slow down!’ He heard in the distance, although he wasn’t too sure who said it. She was at least 6ft ahead of them both.
‘Rich, go get me a soda, would you?’ Charles had said this, looking at him as he stood, red in the face. ‘I’m exhausted.’
Before he knew it he was standing up and walking towards the back door. The house had a beautiful emptiness to it on days like this. Books were discarded on the breakfast table, crumbs of the breakfast they had had only hours before now sat on empty plates. If Bunny were here to see this he would surely start to shout and warn them all of mice. This thought caused Richard to stop. Where was Bunny? He wasn’t the kind to shy away from the outside, his achievements on the football team back at Hampden showed a secret athleticism to Bunny that one would not assume upon meeting him.
‘Bunny?’ Richard called, falling on deaf ears.
Walking up the stairs he began to hear that familiar voice. It came from the study. A room that was not often occupied by anyone, at least on their holidays, other than Henry. Richard opened the door slightly, not enough to create any sound of movement, but enough to see the scene in front of him. Henry was sat on the chair, facing the large backyard window, with Bunny on his knee.
‘Aren’t they nuts, Henry?’ He asked, gaining only an unenthusiastic hum in response.
This was no surprise to Richard. The pair of them were seemingly always closer than any other two within the group. In fact, Richard couldn’t remember a time where Henry and Bunny were separate identities. They had always been just that. Henry and Bunny. He stepped forward as Henry began to murmur, causing them both to freeze and Bunny to turn as Richard ducked.
‘It’s nothing, Bunny. Get off me.’
Bunny answered this demand by completely ignoring him and shuffling further on top of him. His legs had swung over the right side of the armchair, almost cradling himself to Henry. It was impossible for Richard to see if Henry was reciprocating this gesture, however.
‘Christ, but, Camilla can run fast, no?’
‘Yes, I see her.’
‘I think I’m faster.’
‘I’m sure you are, Bun.’
This was the monotonous conversation Richard was used to, although, Henry’s words had a fonder touch to them than usual. Richard often wondered if Bunny controlled a larger part of Henry’s brain than he would’ve liked to admit. But here they both were, one in the other’s lap, watching their friends from the gaping window of the study. And here was Richard, watching them watch.
‘Are you excited for Italy, then?’ Bunny asked.
‘I suppose. It’ll be a good learning experience.’
Bunny laughed at that, his head flying back. ‘Oh, come on Henry. It’ll be fun! Never mind a learning experience.’ He said the last part with his usual mocking tone. Henry laughed. Something only Bunny could make him do.
‘Don’t laugh! Really, we’ll get drunk and buy suits and eat gelato in the piazzas.’ He said in the most obnoxiously fake Italian accent that Richard had ever heard.
‘Of course, Bunny.’
They were interrupted by loud footsteps downstairs, followed by a loud:
‘Richard! The drinks?’ Charles. He had forgotten all about them and, when he had looked back, Bunny had already Sprung from Richard and was standing against the window. Henry remained sitting.
He walked carefully to the stairs, going down and coming face-to-face with an unhappy Charles. ‘I’m dying out there, Rich! It’s boiling.’
‘Sorry.’
‘What were you doing?’
‘Oh! Just using the restroom.’
‘Right, well, are Henry and Bunny coming down anytime today? Milly wanted to play cards.’
Richard thought for a moment, of how close Henry and Bunny were, and how that was merely a glimpse of their private relationship. Why Bunny acted the way he did in public Richard would never fully know. However, he expected it had something to do with keeping up appearances. His long list of brothers were surely not accepting of something like that.
‘I’ll go ask, shall I?’
However, as Richard made it upstairs, he found them both standing by the window now. Henry murmuring a poem all too familiar. And, years later, when it was Bunny Corcoran’s time to rest, Richard would hear that poem again.
He would recall this moment, and many after, in which Henry and Bunny seemed completely lost and yet completely aware within each other. And he wished again for that normalcy.
He never did ask them to join. He allowed them their moment.