Chapter Text
“I won’t be a second! Feel free to have a look around!”
Kate called out from the back room at the sound of the bell above the door. Whoever it was didn’t respond but she heard an awkward shuffle of footsteps telling her they hadn’t left. Hell, they’d hardly even moved. God, people always rushed in as soon as Agatha went on her break.
Kate took a pin out of the cushion on her wrist and placed it into the pair of tweed trousers she’d been hemming before she stood. She looped the tape measure back around her neck and made her way out onto the shop floor.
“Hi, How’s your… day… been?” Kate’s voice nearly trailed off halfway through the question in surprise. The man standing nervously front of her was hardly a man at all. He barely looked older than she was. Barely eighteen. His thick brown hair tumbled over his forehead as he stared at her and Kate could tell there’d be a dimple in his cheek when he smiled. But he wasn’t smiling today. He was frowning at her slightly, his hands tucked into the pocket of his navy jacket, the collar was turned up slightly against the cold rain outside.
The corner of his downturned mouth twitched. “I’ve probably had better days.”
It seemed so strange to see someone so young here. Not that it never happened, only that usually when someone his age came in to a shop that specialised in tailoring they were accompanied by someone else. A father, or an uncle, an older brother even. Yet here he was alone.
Kate wasn’t really sure what to say, “I um… yeah terrible weather out there today.”
The boy still hadn’t made a single step towards any of the clothes racks. As far as Kate could tell he’d hardly glanced at them. He just stayed scowling handsomely at her.
He glanced towards the shop window and his eyes widened as though he’d only just noticed it was raining. As though he hadn’t just walked through it moments before. “That as well.”
Kate cleared her throat, looking for something else to say. “Is there anything particular you were looking for today? Or just happy to browse? Anything we have will be tailored in house so let me know if you want to try anything and I’ll fit it for you.”
He stayed silent for another long moment and a muscle in his jaw clenched before he swallowed thickly. “I need a suit. Is it possible to have it for Thursday?”
Every word was clipped, as though the very last thing in the world he wanted was to be saying them. Kate blinked at him, “Tailoring a suit for… Three days time is… very tight.”
“Thursday is in four days.” He held his fingers up matter-of-factly.
“I assume you’d want to collect it Wednesday, if the event’s on Thursday.”
He let out a dark chuckle. “The event. Right.”
Kate ignored him, “I have… some things that are already partly done that might be workable. I think with your colouring a sapphire blue would-“
“It can’t be blue.” He looked as though it was costing him a lot to stay standing in front of her.
“Okay,” Kate sighed trying to forge ahead, “I’ll try to work within your preferences but we’re a bit limited for time-”
He let out another incredulous laugh that sounded bitter. “Oh well, next time my Dad drops dead I’ll try to get him to give us a bit more warning.”
Kate felt her stomach drop abruptly and her mouth fell open, “Oh my god, I’m so sorry!”
His eyes darted away for a second and his voice cracked. “You weren’t to know.”
“Still, I shouldn’t have… given you a hard time.”
“Normally, I would have enjoyed it.” His smile was a ghost of a thing. A shadow really. The tiniest indentation of a dimple before it disappeared. “I do still need a suit though.”
“Absolutely,” Kate cleared her own throat, glad for something to do. “I can help you with that and I can have it done by Wednesday no problems.” The pants she’d been hemming before could wait all week as far as she cared. This boy was having the worst week of his life and she couldn’t do anything about that. But a suit she could fix.
“I appreciate it, thank you. I can pay a sort of… rush fee.”
“Don’t worry about it.” Kate shook her head, “You seem pretty…” She trailed off. “I don’t think it’ll take much work.”
That same shadow smile flickered across his face again. “My dad, he likes velvet jackets.” He stopped himself, “Liked, I suppose. He would always pick one if he could. Do you have anything like that? I want to sort of… honour him that way.”
“Of course, yes. I can do that.” Kate gestured towards the stalls in the corner. “There are some changing rooms over there, if you want to set your jacket and things down I’ll take a free measurements and pull some samples.
He inclined his head and his eyes flickered from her face to the gold badge pinned on her waistcoat. “Thank you, Kate.” He took a step towards the changing room and then looked back uncertainly. “Any one?”
“Any’s fine.” Kate nodded, “Sorry, what should I call you? It just makes things a little easier.”
“Oh sorry, I’m being rude.” He held his hand out as if it mattered, “I’m Anthony.”
“Anthony. Great to meet you.” Something flickered through her as she shook his hand and their eyes met. She watched him hang his jacket neatly on the hook by the door and then he looked hopelessly back at her. Out of instructions. “Boots on or off?”
“Off please, Just to make it easier for try on.”
Anthony sat immediately and took the time untying his boots rather than just kicking them off, resting them neatly under the bench.
“Now we take some measurements.” Kate tugged the tape measure from around her neck and stepped into the cubicle. “I’ll take a neck for the shirt as well.”
She pulled the pencil out from behind her ear and laid the notepad down on the table.
Anthony swallowed as she wrapped the measure around his neck.
“Don’t worry, I don’t bite.”
He let out a huff of a laugh, “Somehow I don’t believe you.” He paused as she scribbled down the measurement. “Do shirts just not come in Medium and Large anymore?”
“I’m sure they do at ASDA.”
Anthony let out a bark of real laughter, one that reached his eyes this time and it seemed to startle her as much as him. As though he hadn’t done it in days. Maybe he’d felt like he’d never do it again.
Kate suddenly felt guilty for it. As though she’d taken something he probably wasn’t ready to give up. She remembered when Mary had lost her mother last year. How she’d sat at the dining room table so withdrawn for weeks and weeks, almost half the person she was. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t… say things like that.”
She wrapped her tape measure around his chest, carrying on with her measurements. Anthony sighed, “Come on now, don’t let me off easy. You were being lovely and argumentative before.”
She measured his waist, “Well, I don’t want to completely wreck your ego. You might not come back.”
“But then where would I get a custom flat cap made?”
Before she could stop herself Kate flicked the end of his nose with the tape measure. “Cheeky. You get to pick your own tweed and everything. Okay, I’m going to pull a sample.”
His smile became a half smile as she stepped back out of the room and Kate took a deep breath as she stepped out onto the shop floor again.
Fucking hell. Flirting with a grieving customer had to be a new low for her. Surely she she couldn’t have done anything as ridiculous as that before. No matter how hot he was. No matter how cute his smile had been when he’d laughed for real.
She flicked through the black velvet jackets and plucked out two that fitted Anthony’s rough size before she made her way to the trousers. She chose a pair of tuxedo pants and then a shirt and made her way back.
She rapped her knuckles against the wood of the door before she opened it and stepped back inside. Anthony was once again sitting straight backed on the small bench in the corner, waiting patiently for her to come back.
“Okay, so the biggest choice we have to make is double or single breasted? And waistcoat or no waistcoat?”
“Ah just… one row of buttons? That feels like enough.” Anthony swallowed thickly. And… no waistcoat?”
Kate smiled at him, “There’s no right or wrong answer. Whatever feels right for you is the right thing to wear.”
She stayed holding onto the double breasted jacket and the waistcoat, hanging the rest on the hook. “Okay, if you just want to get changed then give me a should and I’ll come in and look for adjustments.”
“Okay, thank you.”
Kate slipped out and found herself leaning against the counter. She supposed she could have gone back to the pair of trousers she’d been tailoring before Anthony had come in but for some reason she didn’t want to leave him alone. Maybe it was the look in his eyes every time she ducked away from him. Maybe it wasn’t. Eventually she heard the dressing room door open and Anthony cleared his throat awkwardly.
“I’m ready.”
He looked even younger somehow, his eyes wide and unsure as he held his arms out. “I actually think it’s pretty good. Might not need any alterations.”
Kate fought the urge to snort. He was tall but she could see the pants bunched awkwardly at the ankle and the jacket wasn’t fitting well at his shoulders, and a little too long in the arms.
“I can see from your face that you don’t agree.”
Kate sighed and stepped forward, already plucking a pin from the cushion around her wrist. “Well, I’m not going to send you out into the world like this. People will think I don’t know what I’m doing.” She flapped her hands at him. “Shuffle back please. Back into your box.”
His smile almost reached his eyes again as he diligently shuffled back inside and let her kneel in front of him, pinning the loose fabric at the bottom of his trousers. He let her work quietly for a moment before he blurted out. “How old are you?”
Kate lifted her gaze to his, his eyebrow arched, “I’ll be 18 in April. How old are you?”
His lips quirked again, “I turned 18 in September.”
“Ah, an older man.” She nearly gasped out loud as she heard herself. Screwing her eyes closed for a second before she turned them back to the trousers.
“You’re very glib, aren’t you?”
“Usually, yes.” Kate sighed, taking out another pin. “Gets me in all sorts of trouble.”
“You do seem like trouble.” He said it almost under his breath, a tiny whisper to himself. Then he said louder, “I just thought you seemed sort of young to be… running a tailors.”
“I’m just the apprentice. Agatha’s at lunch.”
“And Agatha encourages you to be sassy does she?”
“I assure you, she’s worse than me.”
“Looks like I came at the right time then.” He stayed silent for a moment before he cleared his throat again. “So why’d you pick this? Tailoring?”
He was clearly trying to drag his mind off what had to feel like the walls of his life crumbling around him and Kate decided to let him. “I really like the attention to detail. I love customising things, making them sit just right. It’s a form of self expression and honestly I think we went the wrong way as a society, buying clothes off the rack.”
“My dad used to say the same thing. Tailoring never goes out of style, Ant. he used to say that to me all the time. That’s why I decided to…” He trailed off and when Kate dared to look up his eyes were glassy, his teeth biting into his lip as he took in the sight of himself, the suit starting to take shape. He ran his hands gently over the velvet, his Adam’s apple bobbing thickly. “Anyway, I’m just… thank you, for agreeing to do it.”
Kate pushed down a lump that had risen in her own throat as she turned back to the jacket, pulling the slightly loose fabric at the back. “I probably shouldn’t tell you this but this is actually one of the first jackets I sewed myself.”
His eyes widened as he stared back at her in the mirror, “You make all the clothes here as well?”
“We do.” Kate placed the final few pins. “And I’m… glad this one’s going to someone who’ll appreciate it. You’re all done. If you just hang them up in here I’ll get them sorted, pop back in Wednesday afternoon and they’ll be ready.”
Anthony’s hand closed around hers and he squeezed tightly as his eyes burn into hers, “I really do appreciate it, Kate.”
“No problems, Anthony.”