The Poor and the Noble

1903, October

The dead leaves by the road rustled under Jesse’s shoes, and the pale morning sunlight peeked through the trees. It was a nice, crisp autumn morning and Jesse would have enjoyed it more hadn’t he been so nervous.

Jesse checked his watch and supposed he should be arriving soon; the man in the village had said it was around twenty-minute-walk from the train station. He had been wishing the walk would help him calm his nerves but it wasn’t really working. His stomach was still twisting unpleasantly, so much so that he hadn’t even been able to eat the breakfast sandwiches his mother had packed for him for the train. Now the sandwich package was squished somewhere in his suitcase.

Jesse switched the case from one hand to another (it was quite heavy) and hurried along the road. It took a slight curve to the right and he saw that the trees suddenly gave away to vast grassfields and–

Then he saw it.

Behind the trees the enormous building finally came to view, and with its towers, countless windows and spiky roof, to Jesse it looked like an actual royal castle. In the glowing morning sun it sure looked majestic.

Downton Abbey. His new workplace. (His stomach turned yet again.)

Jesse cautiously approached the estate along the road that led towards what he supposed was the main entrance. He was wondering whether he should enter there? Or perhaps there was some kind of back door for the servants? He slowly inched closer to the building, still marveling at the facade and the size of it all. It was so huge. How could he ever learn his way around all the rooms and corridors…

“Um, hello?” came a voice behind him, startling Jesse. He spun around.

He saw a guy around his age with a beautiful chestnut horse that he seemed to be walking across the yard. Judging from his clothes, he was a servant of some kind. He looked at Jesse curiously.

“Hello,” Jesse greeted hurriedly.

“Can I help you with something?”

“Uh, I’m supposed to start working here today but I don’t know where I should enter…”

The guy’s face brightened up. “Oh, you’re the new footman!”

“Yes.”

“Follow me, I can show you where the back door is,” the guy gestured at him, smiling, and turned the horse around. Jesse wondered whether he should be flattered or scared that his arrival was so expected, but the guy seemed friendly enough so Jesse followed him (and the horse).

The guy took Jesse around the estate to the backside, where there were immediately more people around: a newspaper boy on his bicycle, a farmer delivering vegetables and eggs to the kitchen, some maids and servant boys hurrying about.

”That’s the servants’ entrance,” the guy pointed at an open door, through where people exited and entered.

”Just go in and ask for Mr. Inohara, the butler.”

”Thank you so much!” Jesse said, relieved. ”I’m Jesse, by the way, nice to meet you.”

”I’m Shintaro,” the guy said, touching the brim of his cap as a greeting. ”Welcome to Downton! Now I need to get going but we’ll see each other later for sure.”

With a wave, Shintaro walked away with the horse and Jesse turned towards the door. He took a deep breath and stepped in.

Jesse came to a long narrow corridor, passing multiple doors and smaller rooms as he walked on. The morning flurry seemed to be on, judging from the servants running around, voices calling out and dishes clinking in the kitchen somewhere. Jesse felt somewhat lost and he’d already forgotten the name of the butler he was supposed to ask for.

”Excuse me!”

Jesse jumped and flattened himself against the wall, letting a bunch of maids and servant boys pass him. He let out a small huff when suddenly the wall he’d been leaning on disappeared behind his back.

”AAH!”

Jesse staggered and stumbled backwards into a room — the wall had been a doorway — and somehow miraculously managed to avoid falling over. His heart now somewhere in his throat, Jesse found himself face-to-face with a young man by the door. The stranger looked at him with surprise and maybe some annoyance, too.

”Who are you?” the man asked. He was lean and had a narrow face with high cheekbones and quite piercing eyes, Jesse thought. He was wearing a neat tuxedo so he had to be one of the footmen. Or could he be the butler?

Jesse straightened his posture and his coat, like the first impression could still be saved somehow. ”I’m Jesse Lewis, the new footman who is starting here today, sir. I’m looking for the butler.”

The man raised his brows. ”I see. Well, you can actually wait here, Mr. Inohara should be back at any moment.”

”Thank you, sir,” Jesse nodded his head a bit.

Now the man looked slightly amused. ”You don’t have to ’sir’ me, I’m a footman like you. My name is Juri.”

“Nice to meet you! And forgive me, I’m quite bad with all the titles and ranks.”

Jesse finally put down his suitcase and, trying to be discreet, quickly wiped his palms on the hem of his coat. The hustle and bustle of the other servants could still be heard from the corridor. It was all rather overwhelming, and he was barely inside. But at least, Jesse thought, he hadn’t fallen over in Juri’s feet like a complete idiot.

”Is it your first time in a big manor like this?” Juri asked. He was watching Jesse fixedly.

Jesse nodded. “I’m not really used to anything like this, where I’m from.”

”Don’t worry. You’ll get used to it and learn. I did, too.”

“How long have you been here?” Jesse asked curiously. Juri looked around his age, and he was also a footman so Jesse wanted to hear everything about him.

“It’s been around–”

“JURI! Come here AT ONCE!”

They both jumped at the loud voice. Juri made a face at Jesse.

“Not long enough to avoid that,” he said quickly in a low voice and sighed. “Sorry, I have to go… Though, you can come with me, you wanted to see Mr. Inohara. Follow me.”

Juri left the room with Jesse in tow and took him to the end of the long corridor next to a spacious kitchen area, where the cook and maids were preparing breakfast. There by the kitchen door stood a stern-looking older man, who couldn’t be anyone else but Mr. Inohara. He started lecturing Juri about the morning papers but stopped as soon as he noticed Jesse lingering behind Juri.

“Who is this?” Mr. Inohara asked promptly.

“Jesse Lewis, the new footman,” Juri answered.

Mr. Inohara’s expression and voice changed so quickly it was almost comical. “Is that so? Excellent!”

He cleared his throat and gave Jesse an apologetic smile. “Excuse me for the earlier. Welcome to Downton. I’m Inohara, the butler.”

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Inohara,” Jesse said, a bit cautiously.

“Do I remember correctly that you are able to start working right away?”

“Y-yes, sir!” Jesse agreed. “I’m prepared for that.”

“Great,” Mr. Inohara looked pleased. “We can go to my office to fix the contract and then I can find someone who can–”

“Mr. Inohara, I can show Jesse his room and the way around the house,” Juri offered quickly.

“Alright then,” the butler said slowly. “Now follow me. But don’t think I’ll forget about the newspapers because I won’t.”

He fixed a pointed look at Juri, who looked sheepish. But when Mr. Inohara turned his back at them, Juri gave Jesse a quick grin before following the butler. Jesse decided he liked Juri already. If Juri helped him, maybe he would be fine.

By the first evening in the house, Jesse was completely exhausted, both physically and mentally. After supper, he followed Juri upstairs to the servants’ corridor and into the small, simple bedroom that he’d be sharing with the other footman from now on. Jesse walked to the left bed that was to be his and immediately flopped down on it. His suitcase was still standing unpacked beside it.

“You need to change and wash first,” Juri said, smiling a bit. “Mr. Inohara won’t like it if he sees you slouching on the bed with your livery on.”

“What, does he come here to check?” Jesse sat up at once.

“Sometimes,” Juri shrugged.

Jesse heaved a heavy sigh, but got up and started unbuttoning his vest. “There are so many rules and invisible etiquette. I don’t know if I’ll ever learn it all.”

“Of course you will, just give yourself time. It won’t happen in a day,” Juri said encouragingly. “And you did well today!”

“I don’t know…”

Jesse had followed Juri around the whole day like a useless shadow, while Juri had shown him the house, all the main rooms and passages for the servants. Jesse still couldn’t say he knew his way around; his head was spinning with dining rooms, drawing rooms and the library, not to mention the dozen different bedrooms on the second floor. And everything was so grand and majestic to him; the high rooms, the pillars, the dark wood and all the expensive looking furniture, rugs and huge paintings on the walls. To him, the Abbey felt as magnificent as Buckingham Palace.

Then there was setting the table for breakfast, lunch and dinner, all with a little different cutlery, silver and china carefully chosen by Mr. Inohara. Jesse had helped setting the table, copying everything Juri did and then watching how Juri slightly adjusted the knives or glasses he had set so that everything lined up perfectly (“Mr. Inohara will notice if anything is out of place and you will hear about it afterwards, believe me,” Juri had said).

But the most nerve-wracking part of the day, and the moment to make all the possible mistakes, had been waiting at table while the family ate. Jesse had never done it on such a large scale and he had been concentrating so hard not to drop a tray or spill anything that he had almost no proper memories of lunch or dinner. He had felt Mr. Inohara’s eyes boring on his back the whole time he had been serving the Lord and the Lady. Somehow, he had made it without any bigger incidents, though afterwards Mr. Inohara had given him a list of things he should improve.

The family itself had been quite friendly. It had only been Mr. and Mrs. Kyomoto this time. Their eldest son was living and studying in London and the younger son was visiting the capital for a couple of days, so Jesse had heard. Mr. Inohara had introduced Jesse to the Lord and Lady at lunch and they had given him polite smiles and wished him welcome. It was more than Jesse had expected, to be honest. They had both felt elegant and distant, Mr. Kyomoto handsome while his wife was very beautiful with fair skin and soft features.

“What do you think about the family?” Jesse asked Juri after a moment. “Since you’ve been here sometime already.”

Juri put his livery carefully in the cupboard before answering.

“I think they’re good employers. The Lord and the Lady have always been kind to me, and to other servants, too, from what I’ve heard.”

“And what about the sons?” Jesse found that he was quite curious about the two younger Kyomotos.

”Well, Mr. Ichiro lives in London so he’s seldom here. I think I’ve only seen him a couple of times while I’ve been working here. He seems serious and reticent. And then Mr. Taiga…”

Juri trailed off, clearly pondering what to say. He looked over at Jesse and lowered his voice.

“I don’t want to, and I really even shouldn’t, say anything bad about the family members, but I think you should be aware since you’re new. Mr. Taiga can seem a bit arrogant and harsh at times. He’s not the kindest towards the servants but it’d be best to just ignore it, if you ever see it or experience it. That’s my advice.”

“Huh. So he’s a rich lad, who’s a,” Jesse dropped his voice to a barely audible whisper, “prick. Not very surprising.”

Juri shrugged. “I suppose. At least we don’t have to serve him so closely. As long as you do your duties well and stay out of Mr. Taiga’s way otherwise, you should be fine.”

Jesse nodded slowly and opened his suitcase. “Yes, I can do that.”

–

The following day, Jesse was momentarily feeling like he could do the job. Morning with ironing the papers and setting up breakfast had gone rather smoothly. He also wasn’t tailing Juri anymore as Mr. Inohara had given them separate tasks to do. Jesse hadn’t seen Juri after the family’s breakfast. Now, Mr. Inohara had sent Jesse to deliver a couple of letters for Mr. Kyomoto to the library.

Clutching the letters like they were from the King himself, Jesse strode across the empty entrance hall. The whole house felt quiet and empty at the moment; the Lord and the Lady were both out somewhere and all the servants spread around the house, quietly carrying out their tasks. Jesse entered the library and placed the letters on Mr. Kyomoto’s writing desk according to Mr. Inohara’s instructions. His eyes flew over papers and books that were piled on the mahogany surface, but then he caught himself and hastily lifted his head and looked out of the window instead.

“Hello…?”

Jesse jumped a bit at the sudden greeting and turned towards a man that had just entered the library. He was young, around Jesse’s age, and dressed in a dark grey suit, hair combed up neatly. With pale skin and noble features, he looked weirdly familiar but Jesse was quite sure he had never seen the man before.

“Good afternoon, sir,” Jesse greeted instantly, straightening himself. “I’m afraid both Mr. and Mrs. Kyomoto are not available right now, but if I can help somehow…?”

Jesse did not know how to proceed with surprise guests when the family was not home. He supposed the man would have to wait in the library while someone fetched Mr. Kyomoto…

The young man snorted quietly, looking amused. “Who are you? The new footman?”

Jesse blinked. How did a guest know that?

“Y-yes, my name is Jesse Lewis. I started here yesterday.” He didn’t know why he added the last part. Just answer the question and don’t babble.

The man looked him up and down, amusement still prevalent on his face. “And you do know who you’re serving here, right?”

Jesse was confused. “Uh, I…”

“What is going on? Why is there a suitcase in the hall–” Mr. Inohara strode to the library at that very moment, looking from Jesse to the stranger. His eyes widened slightly and he bowed his head at once.

“My lord! Good afternoon. I’m very sorry, I wasn’t aware that you had arrived.”

Jesse flinched. What?! My Lord? It couldn’t be…

“Jesse!” Mr. Inohara snapped. “Why didn’t you take Mr. Taiga’s luggage when he arrived?”

Oh dear. It took Jesse a moment to find his voice. “Uh, I was just delivering the letters when, um… When…” He trailed off helplessly.

“Yes?” Mr. Inohara looked impatient.

“I think,” the young man, Mr. Taiga, said, “what happened was that this footman didn’t quite recognize me upon my arrival. Which is an honest mistake, of course, given that we’ve never met before.” Despite the words, his tone was full of ill-disguised mockery.

Mr. Inohara looked perfectly aghast, like he was ready to eat Jesse alive, while Mr. Taiga seemed to be enjoying the whole situation. The silent amusement on those refined features made Jesse’s face burn with embarrassment. He remembered Juri’s words from last night, and couldn’t quite believe that he was already in the situation Juri had warned him about. He also had to admit that Juri’s description of Mr. Taiga was perfectly accurate.

—

“I’m sorry, what happened?” Juri looked absolutely incredulous. He had just taken a seat next to Jesse in the servants’ hall, now looking between Jesse and Shintaro. Jesse was leaning his head against his hand, not wanting to discuss the matter with anyone anymore. Across him, Shintaro was trying his best to suppress his laughter.

“You heard me,” Jesse said flatly.

“But… You couldn’t…? How? Boy, Mr. Inohara must have been mad.”

“Oh, he was.”

Shintaro’s laughter had died down and he apparently took pity on Jesse, patting his arm.

“Hey, cheer up! Everyone makes mistakes. When Juri started here, he broke a glass during one dinner and then almost spilled wine on Mr. Kyomoto’s mother.”

Juri threw a dirty look at Shintaro. “Thank you. And who was it that almost drove the car in a tree on their first day as a chauffeur?”

Shintaro just shrugged. “Yes? My point exactly. We all make mistakes and it’s not a big deal. And later we can even laugh at them. Well, Juri apparently still hasn’t learned that, but maybe he will, too.”

Jesse couldn’t help but smile at that, while Juri evidently kicked Shintaro under the table, but there was a smile on his lips, too.

Mr. Inohara marched into the hall right then, and they all scrambled up from their seats. Jesse couldn’t help but glance at the butler and saw his eyes flash dangerously over at Jesse, Juri and Shintaro. Some maids in the middle of the table had been giggling and now looked like they wanted to ask something but Mr. Inohara raised a silencing hand over them all.

“I do not wish to discuss the earlier incident any further nor do I want to hear talk about it in the servant’s hall, is that clear?”

“Yes, Mr. Inohara,” they all muttered in unison. Jesse personally was more than fine with this rule.

Now the only thing he wished he could solve: from now on, how to avoid Mr. Taiga as much as possible?

“Just in case,” Juri said to Jesse the next morning before the family’s breakfast, “keep a low profile with Mr. Taiga for a while, if possible. Don’t draw any more attention to yourself.”

“I’m not trying to, believe me,” Jesse huffed. “And how do I keep a low profile when I have to wait at the table and be available for them all the time?”

“Well, you could ask Mr. Inohara…”

“Ask me what?”

Jesse and Juri both jumped at the sudden appearance of the butler. He gave them a scolding look. “I wasn’t aware that there was a break time now. Breakfast is about to start!”

Juri glanced quickly at Jesse, who threw caution to the wind.

“A-about that, Mr. Inohara. I was wondering if I could switch places with Juri for breakfast. He could wait and I could polish the silver…”

Jesse knew it was fruitless even before he finished his request. The look on Mr. Inohara’s face told so much.

“Absolutely not!” the butler refused. “You will go where I tell you, and today you’ll help with breakfast. And you will be exceptionally considerate towards Mr. Taiga, to make up for yesterday’s regrettable mishap. Is that clear?”

“Yes, Mr. Inohara,” Jesse said flatly. He gave one last suffering look to Juri before following Mr. Inohara up the stairs.

Breakfast was an easy task in a way that they didn’t have to wait all the time, just be ready to pour more tea or coffee if needed. So after the family had sat down to eat, Jesse stood silently next to Mr. Inohara, staring into the distance. Mr. and Mrs. Kyomoto were both reading the morning papers while eating while their son was stirring his tea, looking rather bored. Jesse wished he’d keep that way.

“Oh, by the way, Inohara,” My. Kyomoto said after a moment. “Kochi is coming to teach Miss Ayako today and he’ll stay for dinner. Please let Mrs. Sato know.”

“Very good, my lord.”

“Father, it seems we’ll have to put up an advertisement after all,” Mr. Taiga spoke up then and heaved a sigh. “Hayashi is leaving.”

“Well, that is unfortunate,” his father commented. “And you can’t persuade him to stay?”

“I tried, it didn’t work.” The younger Kyomoto didn’t seem to be sorry at all about the matter.

Jesse knew this Hayashi was Mr. Taiga’s valet, he had seen the man briefly yesterday and today at breakfast. If Mr. Taiga acted the way Juri had described and Jesse witnessed towards his valet as well, Jesse wasn’t at all surprised that the man might want to change jobs. In fact, good for him. And bad for the poor valet that would follow him.

“It’s so hard to find good workers these days, don’t you agree, Mr. Inohara?” Mrs. Kyomoto said.

“It can be, my lady.”

“And speaking of which,” Mr. Kyomoto put in and turned to look at Jesse, “how is our newest worker doing? Uh… it was Jesse, right?”

“Y-yes. Very well, my lord, thank you,” Jesse answered politely.

“I wonder,” a low, yet audible comment could be heard. Both Jesse and Mr. Kyomoto looked at Mr. Taiga.

“What’s that now?” Mr. Kyomoto asked, puzzled.

Taiga raised his brows slightly, smiling innocently. “Oh nothing, just that Jesse here seems like he isn’t quite used to a big house like this one. But I’m sure he’ll get the hang of it eventually.”

His smile was pleasant, and tone seemingly polite the whole time, yet Jesse could hear the same mocking undertone as the day before. He clenched his fist by his side, and was already opening his mouth when Mr. Inohara spoke up.

“That’s very kind, my lord. I am teaching Jesse diligently and he’s a fast learner so I shouldn’t be concerned.”

“Very good,” Mr. Kyomoto said, looking pleased. “Thank you, Inohara. And Jesse.”

Jesse nodded his head a bit stiffly, and Mr. Kyomoto went back to his newspaper. Then, for a fleeting moment, Jesse met eyes with Mr. Taiga across the room. Jesse knew he wasn’t supposed to look at him like that, but he couldn’t quite turn his gaze away. The young lord stared at him boldly, and there was a faint smirk playing on his lips. As though he was still mocking Jesse silently. Then he went back to his tea and didn’t pay Jesse any attention for the rest of the breakfast.

“So Hayashi is leaving, I told you!”

“I heard he’s moving to London.”

“How will they find anyone to replace him…?”

A bit before morning tea, Jesse sat down next to Juri in the servant’s hall. Juri was on his seemingly favourite pastime: gossiping with the maids at the end of the table. Jesse was still a bit unsure with some of the names, but he thought he recognized the two maids sitting with Juri now: Mina and Sana. They both smiled at him and leaned closer once he was sat.

“You were at the breakfast,” Mina whispered eagerly. “Did he say why Hayashi’s quitting?”

Jesse shook his head. “Just that he had tried to persuade him to stay but with no luck.”

“No wonder,” Sana mused.

“Indeed,” Jesse huffed, still rather annoyed at Mr. Taiga and his weird antics. “No one could pay me enough money to do that job.”

“...I’d maybe like to try,” Juri said after a short silence, earning three shocked, incredulous looks from Jesse, Mina and Sana.

“You don’t mean that,” Mina said.

Juri shrugged. “Why not? I want to be a valet one day and this would be a good opportunity to start, I’ve been in the house for some years already.”

“But his valet?” Jesse asked and made a face.

“Like I said, I’d be ready to try. I know it wouldn’t be easy.”

Jesse was still majorly surprised, but then again, he had only known Juri for a couple of days. Maybe the other footman was the kind of person who would endure absolutely anything to reach his goal. Even serve Mr. Prick to be able to become a valet. Jesse thought it was mad but also kind of admirable.

“Well, all the luck if you decide to do it,” he told Juri and patted him on the shoulder.

“Thanks. We’ll see when they put up the advertisement.”

Shintaro joined them just then, sitting down opposite Jesse. Jesse wanted to hear the chauffeur’s thoughts on Juri’s mad idea, but he didn’t get a chance to start as a strange man entered the hall right then. He was wearing a tweed jacket over a brown suit and carrying a thick leather briefcase. He had a friendly looking face that lit up once he noticed Juri, Shintaro and the others.

“Hello!”

“Kochi!” Juri greeted happily. “It’s been a while. Come and join us for tea!”

“Oh, thank you, but I’m in a hurry. Miss Ayako is probably already waiting for me upstairs. I just wanted to drop a book to Mrs. Sato before going up. But see you at dinner?”

“We’ll be there,” Juri joked and patted Jesse on the back. “Me and Jesse. This is Kochi Yugo, Miss Ayako’s homeroom teacher, who sometimes graces us with his presence as well.”

Kochi looked at Jesse and gave him the same warm smile as the others. “The new footman? Nice to meet you! I’ll try to come down and talk to you all properly next time, now I must run.”

They wished Kochi happy teaching and watched him hurry off along the corridor.

“He seems nice,” Jesse commented.

“Kochi’s the best,” Shintaro said heartily. “He once tried to teach me and Juri some French but gave up pretty quickly.”

Juri, Sana and Mina all laughed at the memory.

”I’d want to learn French, too,” Jesse said, getting excited. ”Do you think he’d teach me?”

”You can ask,” Shintaro said. ”And Kochi is kind so he’ll probably say yes. We could all learn together! How about it, Juri?”

”It went so well last time…” Juri was still smiling.

Mina and Sana started re-enacting what Jesse guessed was Juri and Shintaro’s poor French pronunciation, and all of them laughed hard at that.

Jesse was smiling along, though the memory wasn’t his. It occurred to him suddenly at that moment, that despite the few negative experiences, he was grateful to be part of the house staff, and especially grateful for his wonderful co-workers.

November, 1903

Maybe a bit surprisingly, Juri really liked his job. He was proud to be able to say that he was a footman in a great house like Downton Abbey, and he really wished he could continue working there and maybe even earn a higher position someday. People sometimes told him he lacked real ambition, but lately it felt like he’d discovered some towards his job.

Therefore, when the position for Mr. Taiga’s valet suddenly became available, Juri thought it was a sign for him. Despite disliking the youngest Kyomoto, Juri carefully wrote an application for the position, keenly encouraged by Shintaro and Jesse.

After a couple of days, once the workday was over, Juri walked into Mr. Inohara’s room and handed him the application letter. The butler took it and, upon seeing what it was, looked at Juri with a curious expression. It was a mixture of surprise and – contentment. His smile was warm when he told Juri that he’d keep him informed about the process.

After that, Juri waited. And waited. A week went by, then another. Hayashi was still there, but he’d be gone by the end of the month, so Juri had heard. Still, whenever he carefully inquired about the application process from Mr. Inohara, the butler just said he had nothing new to tell Juri.

“How long can one application process take?” Juri huffed and took a drag of his cigarette. He looked at Shintaro, whom he had half-forced to accompany him to his afternoon cigarette break. “Maybe the old Hayashi isn’t leaving after all…”

“Oh no, he’s leaving,” Shintaro told him. “He already made sure I can drive him to the station at the end of the month.”

“Why then? This waiting is killing me.”

“I think it’s just Mr. Taiga being difficult as always,” Shintaro said. “Can’t decide which candidate to choose, or something.”

Juri heaved a long sigh. “I know it probably won’t be me but I still keep hoping…”

Shintaro immediately nudged him with his elbow. “Why wouldn’t it be you? You’re good at your job! And you’re already part of the household. I’d say you have a huge advantage against anyone. Cheer up!”

“Thank you,” Juri said and couldn’t help a small smile. At least someone believed in him if he himself didn’t all the time.

–

A couple of days later, Juri was in the dining room setting up the table for the family’s dinner with Jesse. Jesse used the measure stick to make sure all the chairs were equally far from the table, while Juri checked the cutlery and glassware.

“How long until they decide on the new valet?” Jesse wondered aloud. “It’s been ages already.”

“Tell me about it,” Juri said.

“I have a feeling it’s going to be you,” Jesse told Juri with a smile. “How could they have found anyone better?”

Juri snorted. “That’s too flattering, but thank you.”

They continued guessing what kind of other candidates there could’ve been and how Juri could possibly deal with Mr. Taiga if he was chosen for the position. They were just finishing with the setting, when Mr. Inohara suddenly walked into the dining room. Juri and Jesse fell silent and straightened their posture at once.

“We’re almost done here, Mr. Inohara,” Juri informed the butler, worried that they’d imperceptibly taken up too much time.

“Good, good,” the butler said, but didn’t seem to be interested in the dinner table. “If you could finish up the table, Juri? And Jesse, I’d need you to come with me for a moment.”

Juri and Jesse quickly exchanged confused glances. The request was a bit out of the blue, and to Juri’s eyes, Mr. Inohara also seemed somewhat tense, which was unusual for him.

“Is something wrong, sir?” Jesse asked, concerned.

“Oh no, nothing like that. I just need a moment,” the butler ensured and gestured towards the door.

Jesse gave Juri one more baffled look before marching out of the room in Mr. Inohara’s tow. Juri was left alone to wonder what was so urgent that couldn’t wait until after the dinner. He supposed he’d hear all about it from Jesse later. Returning to the task at hand, he did a final check for the setting and straightened the last few chairs before returning back downstairs.

—

Juri didn’t get a chance to ask Jesse about the matter before dinner. He was barely able to exchange a few sparse words with him while they were waiting for the dishes to take them upstairs.

”What was it earlier? With Mr. Inohara?” Juri asked Jesse when they stood in the kitchen and the cook Mrs. Matsuda and kitchen maids laid out the dinner dishes to the trays.

”Uh, I’ll… tell you about it later,” Jesse muttered as an answer.

”Enough babbling!” Mr. Inohara chided behind them. ”Let’s take the first dishes up.”

Juri sighed, took the appetiser tray and followed Mr. Inohara upstairs. After that, it was impossible to even think about chatting with Jesse. To Juri, the other footman looked a bit preoccupied during the dinner and didn’t meet his eyes across the room like usual.

Juri got his answer to all this peculiarity right after dinner. Not from Jesse, though. Mr. Inohara called Juri to his room the moment the cleanup after dinner was done. The butler looked so serious that for a moment Juri thought he and Jesse were in some kind of trouble after all.

”Take a seat,” Mr. Inohara offered once he’d closed the door and sat behind his desk.

Even more ominous, Juri thought in passing while sitting on the chair in front of the desk. Mr. Inohara fiddled with some papers for a moment before resting his arms on the desk and looking at Juri. His gaze was surprisingly sympathetic. Suddenly, with a weird premonition, Juri knew what was coming.

“I’ll get straight to the point,” Mr. Inohara said. “They have chosen the new valet, and I regret to inform you that the final choice was not you.”

“Oh. I… I see.” Juri had known, and yet upon actually hearing it aloud, he felt the disappointment pierce his body, leaving it numb all over.

Mr. Inohara looked at him almost apologetically. “I really am very sorry, Juri. I think you would’ve made an excellent valet, but–”

Weirdly, Mr. Inohara’s regret made Juri feel even worse, so he dared this once to interrupt him.

“Who got it then?”

“Excuse me?”

“Who got the position?” Juri wanted to know to whom he had lost. Surely the man came from another great house, perhaps from an even bigger city. Surprisingly, his question made the butler look somewhat uneasy.

“Well, we’re about to announce it to all the staff in a moment, actually,” Mr. Inohara said slowly. “But I’ll make an exception for you, since you were also an applicant and… Yes. It may be surprising to you, perhaps even shocking, but you must understand that the decision was ultimately Mr. Taiga’s. He insisted on it and his Lordship, as well as I, eventually agreed.”

“Who is it, Mr. Inohara?”

One last sympathetic look. “It’s Jesse.”

It was like someone had poured icy cold water to his insides. Juri just sat there, completely appalled, barely even hearing what Mr. Inohara was saying to him. He felt cold, empty, sick. He didn’t know one could feel disappointment so strongly.

Mr. Inohara kept talking, and Juri felt himself nodding and heard himself giving short answers, though in reality his mind was totally blank. The next thing he realised, the butler was kindly walking him out of the room. He said something about the announcement, servants’ hall, and how Juri didn’t have to be there if he didn’t want to. Juri nodded mutely, and was left standing frozen in the corridor after Mr. Inohara walked off.

Upon Mr. Inohara’s call, all the servants started gathering in the hall, and Juri eventually followed the maids and hall boys into the room. He lingered back, by the wall. Over everyone’s heads, he saw Mr. Inohara at the front, and Jesse was there beside him.

Another icy wave washed over him, and suddenly Juri couldn’t be there anymore. He couldn’t bear the expectant and excited atmosphere of the other servants, couldn’t bear standing there watching Mr. Inohara announce Jesse as the new valet.

Juri spun around and rushed along the corridor, to the back door and out. The cool night air welcomed him, and he stood at the back yard for a moment, taking deep breaths, trying to calm the turmoil inside him.

Juri paced back and forth a couple of times, uncertain where to go or what to do. The fresh air and the silence did clear his head and mind a bit, and after a while his steps led him away from the back yard. He walked towards huge oak trees that grew by the stable building, and flopped down on a low stone fence circling under them.

He hadn’t sat there for very long when he heard steps on the gravel behind him. He really didn’t want to talk with anyone, but he also didn’t feel like running away so he just sat there, grumpy, listening to the steps approaching.

That someone hopped over the fence and sat down next to Juri. It was Shintaro. Of course it was.

”I kind of came here to be alone,” Juri said after a short silence.

”I know,” Shintaro answered right away. ”Still thought I’d check in. That was quite a surprise, huh?”

Juri didn’t even bother to answer, the disappointment still burning painfully in his chest. Why? He heaved a deep sigh.

“Look, I’m sorry,” Shintaro said softly. “I know how much you wanted the position. But… Um, I hope you’re not thinking of leaving Downton now?”

“What?” Juri glanced at Shintaro, totally taken aback by the question. The chauffeur looked almost sheepish, shrugging.

“You clearly want to be a valet, so I thought… If this didn’t work, you’d maybe want to try on some other house.”

“No. I mean, yes, I’d want to be a valet someday, but I don’t want to leave… Downton. Not yet, at least.”

Shintaro broke into a wide smile, looking relieved and content. “Thank god! How could I survive here without you?”

Right back at you, Juri thought. He really wouldn't be able to leave Downton anytime soon. Despite himself, he felt a smile tug at his lips when he watched Shintaro beaming at him. For a second, he even forgot his anger and disappointment. But only for a second.

“Hey, don’t be too mad at Jesse, alright?” Shintaro asked him then. “I don’t think he meant to hurt or offend you.”

“Well, too late for that.”

Shintaro sighed. “Then be mad at him for tonight, get it out of your system. And starting tomorrow you can try to move past it? Perhaps?”

“Can’t make any promises on that.”

—

Unfortunately, they still shared a room. Juri did his very best to be in bed and pretend to sleep before Jesse would turn up, but didn’t succeed. He had just opened his duvet, ready to dive in, when the door opened and Jesse was there.

Both of them stopped on their tracks, looking anywhere but at each other. Jesse was swaying slightly, and Juri had noticed his reddened cheeks. Shintaro had said that Mr. Inohara had opened up a bottle of wine as a celebration.

“Congratulations!” Juri then said, talking towards his bed, his voice coming out strained and mock cheerful. “Though it would’ve been nice to hear beforehand that you were also after the position, you know?”

“I wasn’t! I didn’t apply–”

“I don’t want to hear it!” Juri snapped, finally glancing at Jesse. The anger flamed up again inside him. He didn’t even want to look at Jesse. He wondered if he would be allowed to switch rooms…

For now, he climbed in the bed, pulling the cover up and turning promptly away from Jesse.

“Juri… Please–”

“I want to sleep, be quiet.”

Uncomfortable, loud silence fell into the room. Jesse apparently stood frozen in the doorway as Juri didn’t hear him moving. Something was broken between them, Juri knew it, and underneath all his anger he felt bad. But the burning bitterness and disappointment kept him still.

He squeezed his eyes shut, willing for sleep to come, but for once it didn’t. He listened to Jesse moving around in the room and finally lying down, too. The last candle was blown out.

Juri lay awake in the darkness for a long time. And had he noticed the lack of soft snoring from the opposite bed, he’d have known that Jesse wasn’t sleeping either.

Jesse woke up after what felt like five minutes. For a blissful second or two that it took his sleepy brain to catch up with reality, he felt only tired. Then his mind caught up and memories from last night billowed over him, leaving him miserable and hopeless.

He turned his head to look at Juri’s bed, where the other footman was still soundly asleep. It was still dark, and when Jesse peered at the clock on his bedside table, he saw that it was only a bit after five. After some consideration, he threw the cover aside and got up as silently as he could. He figured it'd be better for both of them if he was gone before Juri woke up.

Downstairs, the kitchen maids were already preparing the servants’ breakfast. Jesse walked past Mr. Inohara’s room and for his surprise, saw the butler behind his desk like he’d never even slept. When he noticed Jesse, he waved him to enter.

“Ah, Jesse! You’re up very early. I hope you’re not too nervous. Today you can accompany Mr. Hayashi and he shall familiarise you with the job.”

“A-alright.”

“And there’s one thing…” Mr. Inohara added. “I wonder if you’d be ready to help with the footman duties for a little while, before we can find a new one? Only temporarily and balancing with your new tasks, of course.”

“Oh. Yes, gladly,” Jesse agreed, though he silently wondered how he could work with Juri in this situation… Well, Mr. Inohara didn’t need to know everything.

The butler smiled at him, looking pleased. “Excellent! Thank you.”

If Jesse had had slight hope that Juri’s anger and bad mood would’ve subsided during the night, he was proven wrong during breakfast. Jesse sat on his usual spot in the middle of the table and looked over expectantly when Juri walked in. However, without a single glance at Jesse, the other footman walked to the end of the table, sitting beside the hall boys, as far from Jesse as the seating plan allowed.

Shintaro walked in after Juri, but unlike the other, he didn’t treat Jesse like air. “Morning,” he greeted as he stopped behind the empty chair opposite Jesse, and after a quick glance over the table, sat down on it.

“Don’t mind him too much,” Shintaro then said, having followed Jesse’s eyes to Juri at the end of the table. “He’s upset about the situation now but he’ll get over it eventually.”

“Will he though?” Jesse wondered miserably.

–

Jesse didn’t have time to wallow in sadness and self-pity over his and Juri’s broken friendship too much, as right after breakfast, Hayashi ushered Jesse along. There were many things he needed to know in order to be a proper valet for Mr. Taiga, apparently, and many of them involved knowing which piece of clothing the young lord would be needing at which time of the day. Making sure Mr. Taiga had appropriate garments prepared for him and mending them was his most important task according to Hayashi.

”You dress him, take his clothes to the laundry, mend and patch them up if needed, polish his shoes, keep track of his daily schedule, post his letters and run any errands he asks. Basically be there for him all the time,” Hayashi recounted as they entered the shoe room, Jesse’s mood dampening with each word.

”Also, you’ll accompany him to London every now and then.”

Oh. Jesse had forgotten about that aspect.

”Does he go to London often?”

Hayashi shrugged. ”Fairly. Maybe once every two months. To see his brother or acquaintances there.”

Jesse had never been to London, but he automatically started imagining the big, bustling city with all its people and endless streets… One good thing about the new position at least, he mused.

It’s like Hayashi had read his thoughts, as he said pointedly: “But. You won’t be going to London unless you’re a decent valet.”

He grabbed a pair of shoes from the shelf, laying them on the table and looking at Jesse.

“Ever polished shoes, son?”

–

The further the forenoon progressed, the more Jesse started regretting his new career choice. Hayashi was very thorough, clearly wanting to ensure that Jesse got all his knowledge. Whether it all would actually stay in his head after Hayashi himself was gone, was subsidiary.

Jesse learnt the right way of polishing shoes, mending small holes or ripped seams as well as choosing the outfits for the young lord. Hayashi told him the usual structure of Mr. Taiga’s day (which sounded rather boring and uneventful for Jesse) and small details like how he liked his tea or how long he usually took time to dress before dinner. All in all, it sounded like Mr. Taiga enjoyed solitude and only called up the valet when absolutely necessary, which suited Jesse more than well.

The real crucible of his new position came shortly after the family’s breakfast when Mr. Hayashi took Jesse upstairs to the bedroom corridor.

“Mr. Taiga will go riding with His Lordship and other lords,” Hayashi told Jesse as they approached Taiga’s room. “We’ll help him change for that.”

Hayashi pushed open a door that revealed an elegant, dark-toned room with ornate reddish wallpaper and a large canopy bed. Jesse entered the room a bit timidly and saw that Mr. Taiga’s riding clothes were already neatly laid out on the bed. He nervously noted that while the outfit reminded him of a common suit he still didn’t have any idea how to start dressing someone in it.

Like an answer to Jesse’s thoughts, Hayashi said: “I shall dress Mr. Taiga now and you can observe and learn. There are a few tricks with the riding outfit one must know.”

Jesse barely had time to feel relieved at Hayashi’s suggestion, when suddenly the sound of brisk footsteps carried from the corridor and Mr. Taiga himself marched in. Jesse’s stomach tightened instantly and he fixed his posture.

”Alright, let’s get this over and done with, shall we?” the young lord muttered as he stopped in the middle of the room, fiddling with the sleeves of his suit. He sounded somewhat tense and when Hayashi approached him to help his suit jacket off, Mr. Taiga turned ever so slightly and raised his hand to halt him.

”What’s this?” he asked. ”Shouldn’t my newly hired valet dress me? How will he learn otherwise?”

Hayashi bowed his head. ”Very true, my lord. I just thought it easier if I do it now and show Jesse how it’s done—”

”He’ll never learn properly by just watching,” Mr. Taiga stated. ”He shall do it.”

”As you wish, my lord,” Hayashi said, stepping aside and gesturing Jesse forward. ”Alright, Jesse. I’ll instruct you.”

Jesse wanted to decline, run out of the room and hand in his notice for His Lordship, telling him that this valet business had been a huge mistake on Jesse’s part. But he didn’t. Instead, he suppressed the screaming side of himself and timidly stepped closer, silently gritting his teeth. He willed himself to just do whatever Hayashi told him like a marionette. He could manage that.

Turned out he was a very poor marionette. Hayashi did his best to instruct Jesse, but he was still very slow, fumbling with buttons and cufflinks, the vest and especially with the white neckcloth that was to be tied around the collar and fastened by a pin at the front. His hands were shaking and his face burning with embarrassment as he struggled to smooth the cloth and pin it correctly. It definitely didn’t help that he could feel Mr. Taiga’s gaze pierce him. Jesse had made the mistake of meeting his eyes a couple of times while dressing him, each look more icy and judging than the previous.

When Jesse just couldn’t get the cloth right after the third poor attempt, the young lord finally heaved a long sigh.

“Hayashi, fix the cloth. I’ll soon miss riding completely.”

“At once, my lord.”

Jesse stepped aside while Hayashi took over and swiftly and oh so easily straightened the cloth and fastened the pin. After that, he handed Mr. Taiga his riding gloves and the top hat.

”I sure hope you’ll learn faster in other aspects,” Mr. Taiga said while sparing Jesse the quickest glance, disappointment clear in his voice. ”Otherwise I’ll have to rethink the position.”

With that, he marched out of the room. Once the footsteps had faded, Jesse felt himself deflate both mentally and physically.

”Don’t worry, son,” Hayashi was saying. ”No one’s born a master. It’ll already be easier the second time.”

“But,” he continued emphatically, “we still have quite a lot of work to do while he’s away.”

Hayashi walked to the huge wooden wardrobe at the end of the room and opened the doors.

–

Afterwards, Jesse couldn’t quite tell how he survived the first day as Mr. Taiga’s valet. It was easily the worst day he’d yet had in the Abbey. But somehow it, too, passed. The evening fell, he was eventually dismissed from his duties and for a moment, he was just Jesse again.

After the servants’ evening tea, he sat outside in the backyard for a moment, to catch some fresh air before bed. And partly to let Juri do his evening chores in their room before Jesse would go up. The other footman was still acting like Jesse was air, but regardless he thought it best if he stayed out of Juri’s way as much as possible. For now.

Jesse heaved a sigh. He was weary, and his head was spinning with all the new information and instructions, dos and don’ts that he was afraid would somehow slip away during the night. Hayashi would still be with him tomorrow but after that the old valet would leave and he’d be on his own.

Jesse was pulled back from his blue thoughts by the sound of the backdoor.

“Ah, here you are,” Shintaro said as he stepped out. He looked like he was on his way to his cabin for the night. “How was your first day as a valet? Didn’t have time to ask during dinner.”

“Quite lousy,” Jesse admitted.

“Hmm,” the young chauffeur said, looking sympathetic. “Is Mr. Prick as bad as we thought?”

“Quite so. He wasn’t as vile as he could’ve been, probably because Hayashi was present, but he was still unkind. I honestly don’t know how anyone is able to work with him if he’s so unpleasant all the time!”

“Honestly, me neither,” Shintaro said.

Jesse let out a frustrated huff he’d been keeping in the whole day. “I don’t know how I’ll be able to do this. It was just the first day and it was already so awful…”

Shintaro looked at him with a thoughtful expression. “Can I ask you something? Why did you apply for the position when you knew it would be awful?”

“I didn’t apply!” Jesse said right away. “I honestly didn’t. They just offered it to me.”

Shintaro blinked, clearly surprised. “Oh! I see. That’s peculiar.”

“I know…”

“But then, why did you accept? You could’ve just passed and Juri would’ve gotten it like he wanted.”

Jesse sighed, Juri’s hurt expression still too vivid in his mind. “I don’t think he would have. Or that’s the impression I got when I talked with Mr. Inohara and His Lordship when they offered the position to me. I–I don’t know, they encouraged me. They complimented me as a footman and somehow I thought I could learn the valet duties just as easily. Naïve, I know it now.”

Jesse shrugged and fiddled with the hem of his coat. “They reminded me that the pay would be better too, so I immediately thought I could send more money home to my mother and sister. Thought I could endure a mean young lord for their sakes.”

Shintaro nodded slowly. “I see. So, will you? Endure it?”

Jesse thought about his family back in Leeds, and then Mr. Taiga’s annoyed expression and prickly comments that day. “I want to,” he answered eventually.

“Then you’re already halfway there,” Shintaro said with a smile and lightly shoved Jesse’s shoulder. “I think you should show Mr. Prick what you’re made of. Don’t let him dishearten you.”

Jesse chuckled despite himself. “You’re right. Thank you. And,” he then added, “thank you for believing me. That I didn’t apply for the position.”

“Of course,” Shintaro said.

“I wonder why Juri can’t believe it so easily…”

Shintaro sighed and looked apologetic. “Give him time. He’ll come around eventually.”

“I sure hope so.”

After saying good night to Shintaro, Jesse entered the house and climbed upstairs, his mind and heart lighter than a moment ago.

The next day, he woke up more determined; remembering Shintaro’s words, he let Hayashi teach and guide him through the day again and this time tried to actively absorb everything the old valet said. He also faced the prickly young lord without wavering, and though he was still fumbling while dressing him, he also believed that he would and could become better.

The proof of that came a week later, on one evening when Jesse had just dressed Mr. Taiga for dinner. The young lord looked at himself in the mirror and instead of complaining or asking Jesse to fix something like usual, he just nodded shortly.

“Good. Thank you.”

Jesse almost couldn’t believe his ears, and fought against too wide a smile.

“So you do learn,” Mr. Taiga noted. “Slowly, but still. I’m relieved since I just heard we’ll be getting a guest at Downton soon. And I’d hate for them to see anything sloppy while here.”

“A-a guest, sir?” Jesse dared ask. “Who?”

“I’m sure Mr. Inohara will notify you all soon,” the lordling said mysteriously. He looked somewhat pleased to be able to share the information with Jesse, and Jesse imagined what a gossip it would be downstairs.

“So keep this up, will you?” Mr. Taiga asked and spared Jesse a glance before marching out of the room. Little progress, Jesse thought. But better than none.

He left downstairs wondering about this mysterious guest.

“Wait, wait, no! Do it again.” Mr. Taiga was looking at the mirror with his brows slightly furrowed.

Jesse swallowed a sigh, like so many times before and just said monotonously: “Yes, sir.”

He undid the (granted, a bit poorly done) tie knot and straightened the auburn, silky tie to try again. He was still getting mixed up with trickier knots like pratts and kelvins, and sometimes Mr. Taiga would specifically ask for one of those just to test him. Like today.

Jesse was muttering under his breath while tying the knot again slowly. Mr. Inohara had kindly shown him the trickier knots a couple of times, and Jesse almost remembered them all. Almost. Now he concentrated particularly hard, as he didn’t care to redo the tie for the second time.

“There you go,” Jesse said when he was finally done, tightening the knot up to the collar. He was quite pleased with the result. He stepped aside so Mr. Taiga could check himself in the mirror again and gave himself a mental pat on the back when the young lord nodded approvingly.

Just then, there was a faint knock on the door, and Mr. Kyomoto peeked in.

“Excuse me, may I enter? Good morning, Jesse.” His Lordship seemed to be in good spirits as he stepped in, waving a letter in his hand.

“This came in the morning post,” he told Mr. Taiga. “Hokuto will arrive tomorrow in the afternoon. I already asked Shintaro to pick him up at the station. And we shall all be here to receive him.”

“Very good, Father,” Mr. Taiga said. He didn’t sound as peppy as his father.

Once Jesse was dismissed, he returned downstairs, wondering about Mr. Taiga’s halfhearted attitude towards their guest. It was somewhat surprising. Jesse would’ve thought that having a peer staying at Downton would be a welcome change to the young lord. But perhaps he’d misjudged. It wasn’t like he knew anything about this Cousin Hokuto, other than that he lived in Scotland, was a younger son of a local earl, and around the same age as Mr. Taiga.

Jesse presumed he’d have known more, had he and Juri still been friends like before; he’d seen Juri gossiping with Momo, Sana and Mina the second Mr. Inohara had announced that Mr. Hokuto would come and stay at Downton for some time. Apparently the last time he’d been here was years ago, so no one but Mr. Inohara knew him. That naturally hadn’t stopped the servants from talking about him. Jesse had so wanted to walk to Juri and the others and join in on their gossiping. He missed that.

Jesse and Juri still weren’t talking like before, though the sharpest edge of Juri’s anger seemed to have faded. If they needed to talk, they were very formal and curt with each other. Jesse also tried to keep out of Juri’s way if he could, hoping this would help the footman relent faster.

Speak of the devil, when Jesse now walked into the servants’ hall, he saw Juri sitting by the table, talking excitedly with Momo and Mina. He was smiling happily while the girls were congratulating him, but the second Juri noticed Jesse in the doorway, he fell silent.

“What’s happened?” Jesse asked, deciding not to pretend like he hadn’t overheard something.

“Something I’m not supposed to talk about yet,” Juri said after a short silence. “But something nice for me, too, finally.”

“Oh. Well, whatever it is, I’m happy to hear that,” Jesse said, and meant what he said.

“Well, I should get back to work,” Juri said to Momo and Mina like he hadn’t even heard Jesse. They got up from the table, and Juri marched out of the room without even a glance at Jesse. Momo and Mina at least had the courtesy to look apologetic as they passed him on the doorway.

—

Later that evening, Jesse found himself in Mr. Taiga’s room again, but this time not to dress him. Oh no, it was something completely different.

Jesse stood still, stiffly, and tried very hard to keep his eyes on a specific wallpaper ornament, close to the corner of the room. He tried. He could feel sweat beading on his forehead and temples from the humidity created by the steaming bath water.

The room was silent, save for faint splashes of water whenever the young lord moved in the bathtub.

Nothing in Jesse’s earlier valet training could’ve prepared him for this. He’d known it was part of his work, but somehow he hadn’t realised it would be to this extent.

A new splash and a faint thump made Jesse automatically drop his gaze, to the gap between wooden dividers which allowed him a (way too good) sight to the tub. When he saw Mr. Taiga just reaching for a block of soap, he immediately averted his eyes again.

Even so, the scene in front of him stayed burned in his mind like an afterimage. Mr. Taiga’s bare back in the water, his lean shoulders and slender arms that reached for the soap.

Jesse felt his neck and face burning, and he wasn’t even sure why. Maybe he just felt uncomfortable to be present in such an intimate thing as bathing, be it part of his work or not. He wasn’t used to that.

Furthermore, maybe he hadn’t been prepared to see the annoying, prickly and cold Mr. Taiga in such a setting. Without his fancy clothes and the usual noble facade everyone expected of him, he seemed smaller somehow, more humane and raw. Once or twice Jesse even heard his master humming in a low voice.

Wisps of steam rose in the air. The water gleamed in the light of the fireplace, as did the fair, wet skin.

Jesse averted his eyes yet again. He closed them. It would be over soon.

He heard the humming again, splashes, washcloth rubbing against skin, and wondered how many weeks it would take for him to get used to this.

“Jesse?”

It was so hot too, he could feel a sweatdrop running down his spine…

“Jesse!”

Jesse opened his eyes, returning back to reality. “Y-yes, sir?”

“Could you pass me the towel? I’m finished.”

Jesse hurried to fulfil Mr. Taiga’s request, slipping past the dividers and grabbing the towel from a nearby chair. He then stepped closer to the tub, holding out the fabric. Again, he tried not to look, but it was considerably more difficult up close. He felt his face burning again.

“Here you go, sir,” Jesse said, sternly looking away.

“Thank you.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Jesse saw Mr. Taiga standing up in the tub and grabbing the towel. Then – everything happened very fast.

Mr. Taiga yelped, suddenly losing his balance, and Jesse instinctively grabbed onto him.

The water splashed, the towel fell, but the young lord didn’t. Jesse held onto Mr. Taiga’s arm he’d hastily grabbed, his other arm around his master’s waist, supporting him. He automatically pulled Mr. Taiga closer to help him regain his balance.

“A-are you alright?”

Jesse’s mouth was dry, and his heart beating in his throat.

Everything was suddenly much worse. Mr. Taiga’s body against him, soaking his livery; the hot skin under his fingers; the annoying yet handsome face suddenly only inches away from his. Jesse looked into the beautiful, dark brown eyes; saw the water drops on the wet strands that framed Mr. Taiga’s face.

He smelled of sandalwood.

The moment seemed to stretch on forever, until finally Mr. Taiga uttered: “I–I’m good, thank you.”

He then averted his gaze, his face suddenly weirdly red, though Jesse wasn’t sure if it was because of the bath and the fire. Mr. Taiga moved slightly, like pushing Jesse away, and Jesse was suddenly painfully aware of the fact that the towel had dropped somewhere.

“Wait, let me grab the–”

“It’s quite alright–”

“But–”

“I can get the towel,” Mr. Taiga said firmly. “Just. Bring me the dressing gown.”

Complying, Jesse carefully let go of the young lord and spinned around as quickly as he could. When he walked back with the gown, Mr. Taiga had gotten out of the bath and wrapped the towel loosely around himself. Jesse’s eyes deceived him again, running along the exposed stomach and chest, before Mr. Taiga turned and let Jesse help the gown on him. Jesse noticed his master’s neck and ears still being bright red.

As soon as he’d wrapped the gown around himself, Mr. Taiga turned away from Jesse.

“That would be all,” he said curtly. “You may go. Tell the other servants to come and clean up.”

Jesse was puzzled. He thought that was his job, as well.

“But, sir–”

“Do I have to repeat myself?”

“I… No, sir. Good night.” Jesse bowed his head at Mr. Taiga’s back and left the room, relief and confusion swirling inside him.

On his way downstairs, Jesse had to stop in a lavatory to calm himself and the sudden turmoil inside. While splashing his face with cold water, he willed the images in his mind to disappear. But the more he tried, the more vivid they became.

He could still feel the touch of the soft skin and smell the scent of sandalwood.

***

The train station was relatively empty on an early Tuesday afternoon. Shintaro was standing on the deserted platform, his gaze flicking between the iron clock overhead and the tracks that disappeared behind a curve. He was a bit early, but the train should arrive in seven minutes or so. He was to look for a tall, young man in a light grey suit, so they’d told him. Shintaro wished there wouldn’t be many travellers matching the description on the train.

In any case, Shintaro was kind of excited to be the first one to see this mysterious guest coming to Downton. Downstairs had been in a buzz for the last week or so since Mr. Inohara had told them the news. Everyone was eager to see the young (presumably handsome) cousin of Mr. Taiga’s. And so was Shintaro.

He started pacing back and forth, watching the hand of the clock approach number 12 agonisingly slow. Other people started flowing to the platform once the hour ticked closer, others with luggage and others clearly picking someone up, like him.

Finally, Shintaro heard a high whistle and saw the approaching train that slowly billowed to the platform through puffs of steam. As soon as the locomotive had stopped, the doors of the carriages swung open and Shintaro hurried towards the first class car. He watched the people getting off until he saw a young man who was looking around like searching for someone. Shintaro almost started towards him, when he realised the man’s suit was dark, and he wasn’t that tall either. Shintaro stopped on his tracks and sure enough, an older couple soon walked up to the man, greeting him warmly.

“Um, excuse me?”

A faint question made Shintaro spin around.

He saw a young, lean man with wind-tousled, dark hair. Shintaro did the checklist quickly in his mind: tall, light grey suit, two big suitcases. And handsome. Oh, he was definitely handsome.

“Do you happen to be Downton Abbey’s chauffeur?” the man asked. His voice was surprisingly soft and hushed.

“I am! And you must be Mr. Hokuto?”

The man nodded and smiled slightly. At first sight, he had this same sophisticated and elegant aura as Mr. Taiga, but he somehow seemed more friendly and approachable than the young lord, though Shintaro couldn’t quite pinpoint why. …And then he realised he was probably staring too much.

“Uh, welcome to Yorkshire!” he said hurriedly. “If you could follow me, I have the car parked right in front of the station.”

Shintaro grabbed Mr. Hokuto’s luggage (which was surprisingly heavy) and led him out of the station. Once Mr. Hokuto spotted the car, he let out a delighted gasp.

“I can’t believe I get to ride in one,” he said, looking like an excited child while walking around the car and marvelling at it.

“You haven’t ridden in a car before, sir?” Shintaro asked while loading the luggage in the car.

“I have sat in one, but it wasn’t moving. You don’t see that many cars in Scotland yet.”

“Well, I hope your first ride will be enjoyable,” Shintaro said with a smile and opened the back door to let Mr. Hokuto climb in.

While he was driving on the main street and through the town, Shintaro couldn’t help stealing glances at his passenger every now and then when he had a chance. Mr. Hokuto was keenly looking around and also seemingly admiring the car. Shintaro was smiling to himself, trying to remember how it had felt for him to see and ride a car for the first time.

“Is it your first time in Yorkshire, sir?” he asked after they’d passed the town square and taken a left to the road that led to the Abbey.

“No, I’ve been here as a kid once or twice, but it’s been years since the last time. It’s nice to be back.”

Mr. Hokuto fell silent for a moment, then suddenly asked: “Is it hard? Driving the car?”

Shintaro thought for a moment. “Not really. Of course it took some practice, but once you get the hang of it, it’s pretty easy.”

Shintaro saw Mr. Hokuto leaning forward and peeking over the backseat so he could see the front of the car. He was suddenly very conscious of his driving, and fixed his posture ever so slightly.

“It’s amazing,” Mr. Hokuto said admiringly. “And driving looks intriguing. Do you think… I could learn to drive, too?”

Shintaro looked at him, surprised by the question. “I don’t see why not, sir,” he finally answered.

“Would you teach me? If you have time besides your work, of course.”

“I…” Was Mr. Hokuto really suggesting that? If it was up to Shintaro, he’d do anything this young lord asked. But it wasn’t up to him.

“I think you’ll have to ask His Lordship about that. But I wouldn’t mind teaching you.”

Mr. Hokuto’s face brightened instantly. And quite adorably, Shintaro found himself thinking.

”You wouldn't? Great! Then I shall ask Mr. Kyomoto about it.”

He leaned back on his seat, turning his eyes to the surrounding scenery again.

They drove the rest of the way in silence.

When Shintaro stopped the car in front of Downton, he saw the front door opening and Mr. Inohara stepping out. He supposed the family would be receiving Mr. Hokuto in the library. Shintaro hopped out, rounded the car and opened the back door for Mr. Hokuto. When climbing down, the lordling suddenly looked at Shintaro.

“I forgot to ask your name?”

“Oh. I’m Shintaro, sir.”

Mr. Hokuto gave him a quick smile. “Thank you for the ride, Shintaro. I look forward to the next one.”

And with that, he passed Shintaro and walked to Mr. Inohara. The butler warmly welcomed him to Downton and led him in. When they’d gone, Juri appeared from the back with Reia, the newly recruited footman. They swiftly unloaded the luggage from the car, and Juri called out to Shintaro on the way: “See you downstairs in a jiffy!”

Shintaro parked the car in the garage and hurried downstairs, where most of the servants were buzzing, waiting for news of the guest. When they noticed Shintaro, they quickly crowded around him, Momo, Sana and Mina at the front.

“Well? How was he?”

“Is he as handsome and tall as they say?”

“How was his accent?”

How was he, indeed? Handsome, mysterious and intriguing, Shintaro thought to himself. Surprisingly friendly. His head was still full of that small smile at their arrival.

“Uh, he seemed polite and pleasant,” he said out loud. That wasn’t nearly enough information, judging by the looks he got.

“Polite,” Sana huffed. “What about his looks?”

“Alright, please scatter!” the housekeeper Mrs. Sato told them as she walked into the servants’ hall, looking stern. “You’re not paid for gossiping, so back to work.”

Muttering to themselves, the servants dispersed around Shintaro, which he was thankful for. He sat down by the table, and only then noticed Jesse, who’d been loitering around farther. He seemed curious as well.

“Just polite and pleasant?” Jesse confirmed while walking closer, a knowing look in his eyes.

Before Shintaro managed to answer, Juri and Reia hurried into the room, as well.

“Well, what do you think?” Juri instantly wanted to know. “We just took the luggage upstairs, and managed to see a glimpse of him in the library. He looks like a regular uptight aristocrat to me.”

“I don’t know,” Shintaro said slowly, suddenly hesitating. He was unsure whether he couldn’t or didn’t want to express all his thoughts, even to Juri and Jesse.

“To me, he seemed quite friendly,” he finally uttered. “Friendly and… approachable? So you should be fine.”

He smiled at Juri, who seemed a bit surprised by his words. “Really? Well, good if so.”

Juri would be acting as Mr. Hokuto’s valet while he stayed in Downton. While that wasn’t Juri’s original aim, Shintaro knew his friend was still happy to be trusted with the task.

”And? Is he as handsome as everyone says?” Jesse then asked, grinning a bit. ”You can tell us, the maids are gone.”

Shintaro tried to sound nonchalant but couldn’t help grinning a bit as well. ”He is.”

—

The next day, Shintaro was sitting in front of the garage, checking the right front lamp of the car. He’d noticed it didn’t burn. He was so concentrated on the task that at first he didn’t notice someone approaching.

”Good morning.”

Shintaro looked up and almost dropped the lamp upon noticing who was talking to him. He scrambled up to his feet.

Mr. Hokuto walked up to him, smiling. He looked well-rested and was wearing a casual, dark blue lounge suit.

”Good morning,” Shintaro greeted when he finally found his voice again.

”I hope I’m not interrupting?”

”No, no, not at all.”

”I happened to see you here and just wanted to let you know that I talked with His Lordship about… the car matter. And he said if you’re really willing to teach, I can learn to drive!”

Mr. Hokuto looked giddy about getting the permission, and Shintaro smiled at him.

”Good! It’s settled, then.”

”We can discuss the details and such later. I just wanted to let you know. Now if you’ll excuse me, we’re going to walk around the estate.”

Mr. Hokuto glanced across the yard and Shintaro saw Mr. Taiga sauntering there by the mansion. He looked rather sour, as per usual. He couldn’t help feeling sorry for Mr. Hokuto.

After Hokuto had taken his leave and joined Mr. Taiga, Shintaro followed the pair with his eyes.

”What did he want?” Juri stopped by the garage, his eyes also on the young lords.

”He… He wants to learn to drive a car and His Lordship gave permission to that.”

The look Juri gave him was incredulous. ”And you are going to teach him?”

”Yes.”

”Is that even appropriate?”

Shintaro shrugged. ”If it’s alright for His Lordship, I don’t see a problem. And he seems really nice all in all. Don’t you think so?”

”He’s alright, I guess,” Juri said elusively. He seemed to be in a bad mood suddenly, and Shintaro wondered why. Before he even thought of asking about it, Juri muttered that he should go and prepare for luncheon, telling Shintaro that he would see him at dinner in the evening.

Once alone again, Shintaro walked into the garage, trying to concentrate on the lamp problem once more, though he noticed his thoughts escaping to the just arrived young lord and their upcoming driving lessons.

”Did you hear that they’ll arrange a huge party for Mr. Hokuto?”

”I heard one of the maids say that all the big families from the area are invited.”

”And some from London as well!”

”Do you think Mr. Ichiro will come, too? He hasn’t been home for some time…”

”I don’t know but I hope we’ll have many handsome lords coming!”

If Jesse had learned something during his time at Downton, it was that news, rumours and hearsays travelled faster than light downstairs. He had heard the family mention the party a couple of times, but that was it. Mr. Taiga hadn’t told Jesse anything, and in general he had seemed rather morose since Mr. Hokuto’s arrival.

The bath incident had gone unnoticed, too. Mr. Taiga had acted all normal afterwards, and so had Jesse. Or so he tried. He’d found it surprisingly hard to wipe the images from his mind. No matter how hard he tried, they kept coming back, especially during nights, when the lights were out and he lay awake listening to Juri’s snores. Also, when dressing Mr. Taiga, he sometimes caught the whiff of sandalwood and his mind immediately jumped back to the bath moment.

It was frustrating, infuriating even. But despite everything, Jesse tried his best to do his work smoothly and to be on his best behaviour. And something with Mr. Taiga’s gloomy mood made him want to be particularly positive and nice with him.

He had that in mind one morning, a few days after Mr. Hokuto had arrived at Downton. After breakfast, Mr. Inohara had handed him a letter for the young lord, so Jesse hurried upstairs to look for him. He found Mr. Taiga in the library, with Mr. Hokuto and, surprisingly, His Lordship. Jesse halted in the doorway as the lords seemed to be in the middle of a conversation.

”Do you ride, Hokuto?” Jesse heard Mr. Kyomoto asking.

”I do. I quite enjoy it.”

”Do you really? What about hunting?”

”I haven’t been lately but if there’s a chance…”

”Excellent!” His Lordship sounded delighted. ”We absolutely have to arrange a hunting trip, then. And how about we go for a ride after luncheon? You could see the whole estate.”

”I’d be delighted,” Mr. Hokuto said.

”Then it’s decided! How nice it is to have someone who’s willing to accompany me for riding! My own son almost never wants to go, regrettably.”

”Yes, I don’t really enjoy riding, I’m afraid,” Jesse heard Mr. Taiga’s voice. It sounded a bit strained to his ear.

”I know that…” His Lordship’s voice was full of disappointment.

There was a silence after that, and Jesse finally dared to knock on the ajar door — also to break the possibly uncomfortable moment following His Lordship’s words.

”I’m sorry to interrupt, my lords,” he said, stepping into the library. ”I have a letter for Mr. Taiga.”

They were all seated on the sofas before the fireplace, but while Jesse brought the letter to the young lord, Mr. Kyomoto rose up promptly, uttering: ”I shall be off. Let’s meet at the stables after luncheon, Hokuto?”

”Very good.”

Even after His Lordship had strided off, the mood felt somewhat tense to Jesse. He lingered by the sofa, watching Mr. Taiga turn the letter over in his hands. He didn’t open it.

”Did you have something else, Jesse?” Mr. Taiga asked.

”Uh, no, my lord. I shall be off…” Jesse felt a bit stupid, having forgotten himself like that. He bowed hastily and hurried out of the library, leaving the young lords and the uncomfortable atmosphere behind.

During the rest of the forenoon, Jesse was busy cleaning Mr. Taiga’s shoes and mending his clothes downstairs. He was still rather slow with it, so it was already way into afternoon when he finally returned the clothes to Mr. Taiga’s room.

When returning downstairs along the main staircase, Jesse wondered in passing how the house seemed rather quiet until he remembered that His Lordship was off riding with Mr. Hokuto, and Mrs. Kyomoto had gone to York for the day with little Miss Ayako. No wonder it was quiet.

Like an answer to his thoughts, Jesse suddenly heard a faint piano tune carrying from somewhere. It got louder the closer to the main hall he got, and when down, he realised it was coming from the drawing room. The door was a bit ajar. Jesse stood in the middle of the hall for a moment, hesitating.

He knew he should return downstairs at once, he had more chores there, but the music intrigued him; he had seen the piano in the drawing room but had never heard anyone playing it until now. And whoever it was, they played well.

After glancing around quickly to make sure there was no one else around, Jesse slipped across the main hall towards the drawing room. He approached carefully and quietly, stopping by the doorway so that he only saw a sliver of the light green room. The music was loud and clear there, the melody flowing and beautiful, yet unknown to Jesse. He stood listening for some seconds before he dared to take a step forward and crane his neck to see inside.

There, across the room behind the piano sat Mr. Taiga.

He looked concentrated yet relaxed, completely engrossed in the music he was playing. The earlier tension Jesse had noticed seemed to be gone. Jesse knew the basics to piano himself, and to him Mr. Taiga’s playing looked smooth and effortless. The light, beautiful tunes echoed nicely in the room that was usually so quiet.

Jesse didn’t know for how long he stood there in the doorway, watching Mr. Taiga and listening to the music. Clearly a moment or two too long, as he inadvertently leaned in a bit too much, and had to grab the door handle to steady himself. Unluckily, the door swung open, creaking slightly, and Mr. Taiga finally noticed him.

He stopped playing at once, his surprised gaze locked to Jesse in the doorway.

“Jesse? W-what are you doing?”

“I’m so sorry, sir,” Jesse apologised hastily. He could feel his face heating up. “I just… I–I heard the piano and got curious, sir. I’m ever so sorry, I shouldn’t have eavesdropped.”

Mr. Taiga eyed him for a moment before dropping his gaze and huffing a bit, almost like a laugh.

”It’s quite alright. Do you play piano?”

The question surprised Jesse. ”A bit,” he said. “My mother used to teach me.”

”Really? That sounds nice. My mother also supported me with it, but my father thinks it’s a total waste of time.” Mr. Taiga lifted his eyes and looked outside of the window, his voice suddenly full of resentment. “A son should be out and ride and hunt and not sit inside reading or drawing or playing. That’s all I’ve ever heard.”

The words were biting and bitter, and Jesse immediately thought about the conversation he’d happened to overhear in the morning. No wonder Mr. Taiga played now when the house was all empty. But it was also a shame.

”For what it’s worth, I liked your playing, sir,” Jesse said carefully. I wish I could hear it more, he realised thinking, but that he didn’t dare to say aloud.

Mr. Taiga turned back from the window, a queer expression on his face. He gave Jesse a small smile.

“Thank you, I appreciate it.”

Jesse returned the smile and, sensing it was his time to leave, bowed slightly before exiting the room. While closing the door after him, he could hear Mr. Taiga continuing the earlier song.

Jesse walked back downstairs smiling to himself. It took him a while to realise that the short exchange in the drawing room had been… pleasant? He’d been nice to Mr. Taiga and the young lord had been nice to him. That had never happened before. Jesse was so astonished by the realisation that he halted at the bottom of the servants’ stairs and only moved when Momo hurried down, ushering him out of the way. He wondered in passing what Juri would say about this, him being nice with Mr. Taiga the prick. Well, Jesse wouldn’t know about that, since Juri still wasn’t speaking to him any more than necessary.

Jesse shook himself mentally, trying to get his mind back to the present, and went on with his daily chores. However, Mr. Taiga’s small smile and his piano melody stayed in his mind for the rest of the day.

***

After the breakfast, Juri was suddenly summoned to Mr. Hokuto’s room to put his riding clothes ready. Juri went, swift and obedient, because he wanted to show that he was reliable as a valet. Even so, he still thought that Mr. Hokuto was as dull as dishwater. He was nice and polite enough, though sometimes slightly timid, yet his face and whole being irritated Juri somehow. But he never let it show.

Not today, either. Juri helped the young lord put on the riding clothes (paying extra attention to correctly tying the scarf; he’d heard from Mr. Inohara how Jesse had messed it for Mr. Taiga once) and sent him off with a bow and a smile that he dropped the second the lordling was out of the room.

While Juri was neatly putting away Mr. Hokuto’s suit, something suddenly crossed his mind and as soon as he was done, he hurried downstairs. After checking that nothing urgent required his attention, Juri made his way to the back door and stepped out. He crossed the backyard and stopped at the corner where he could see the stables.

He waited there for a moment, trying to look nonchalant (he received weird looks from some servants passing him) until he finally saw Mr. Hokuto coming out of the stables – with Shintaro. Shintaro was walking a beautiful chestnut horse, which was clearly all saddled up for the ride. They seemed to be engrossed in a conversation, both smiling.

Juri felt an unpleasant lurch in his stomach as he watched them.

“Juri! There you are!” Sana’s sudden call startled him. “Mr. Inohara was looking for you, you’d better come.”

Juri was actually glad to get a reason to turn his eyes away from them. He stormed back in after Sana, now fostering a new kind of spite towards the annoying and dull lordling.

Juri found himself thinking how he’d want to vent about it all to Jesse. It had been weeks already, and the current distant and curt mutual agreement of theirs had stretched on for too long. A couple of times Juri had thought about reaching out, apologising, doing something to salvage their friendship but hadn’t in the end. Sometimes he wondered if Jesse would even forgive him, after all this time…

These thoughts were wiped out the second Mr. Inohara gave his orders. He had summoned Juri and Reia, the newly recruited footman, to the servants’ hall and as soon as Juri stepped in, he knew what was coming. The table was full of silverware: plates, trays, cutlery, candelabras and so on. Juri wanted to wail.

“In preparation for the party,” Mr. Inohara started, “I want everything to be top notch, starting from the silvers. Juri, I trust you will instruct Reia with polishing–”

“Excuse me, Mr. Inohara,” Juri interrupted, trying to keep his voice as level and polite as possible, “but where is Jesse? We could really use the help with all the silver.”

“Why, but Jesse is a valet now!” Mr. Inohara said it like the most obvious thing ever. “He has other duties. I trust you will manage this just fine. You can continue tomorrow if needed. Well, I’ll leave you to it!”

Once the butler had gone, Juri turned towards the rows of silver, seething inside. Reia was hovering by his side, clearly waiting for Juri to instruct him like Mr. Inohara had said.

“Um, is everything alright?” Reia asked carefully.

“Yes, perfect,” Juri muttered, grabbing the polish and the cloth from the table. “Everything’s just perfect.”

—

That night, after the supper, Juri was sitting at the end of the servants’ hall table with Sana and Momo, nursing the end of his tea and vaguely listening to their talk, which was mostly the usual gossip and babbling about the upcoming party. Shintaro also joined them at some point, but Juri had even less urge to talk with him right then.

Juri stared silently into his tea, feeling grumpy. His hands still hurt from all the polishing and they’d still have to continue it the next day. All the while Jesse got a free pass because he was a proper valet.

“Hey, Juri,” Momo said, pulling Juri out of his gloomy thoughts. “Can you ask Mr. Hokuto if he knows anything about the guests? It’s a party for him, after all.”

Juri sighed. The endless talk about the stupid party tired and frustrated him. Everyone seemed so excited while Juri couldn’t have cared less.

“No, I cannot,” he answered.

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t want to talk to him any more than necessary.”

Momo rolled her eyes. “Well, I’ll have to ask Jesse then. I’m sure he’ll be more helpful.”

“I don’t wish to hear about him, either,” Juri muttered.

“Of course you don’t,” Momo said, sounding slightly annoyed. She turned to Sana. “Maybe it’s better we go.”

She and Sana took their leave, wishing them good night curtly. Shintaro remained seated across the table, though Juri pointedly kept his eyes on his mug, not looking at him.

“Is everything alright?” Shintaro asked after a moment.

“Sure, why wouldn’t it be?”

“I don’t know, you’ve seemed a bit tense lately?”

Juri snorted. “Have I, now?”

“I thought… that you’d be happy to be able to do valet duties with Mr. Hokuto? He’s not as bad as Mr. Taiga.”

“Of course you’d think so,” Juri said with a biting tone. He didn’t want to be this snappy, especially not with Shintaro, but he couldn’t help it.

“What?”

“Why are you so friendly with him?” Juri demanded, finally looking at Shintaro. “He’s a lord, he’s above us, a different rank altogether!”

“So?”

“So it won’t do to be too familiar with them. They don’t care about us in the end, and you might get into trouble.”

“I don’t see how being nice to him when he’s being nice to me can get me into trouble,” Shintaro said stubbornly. “He seems a bit lonely to me, to be honest.”

“It’s not your job to play his friend.”

“What is up with you?” Shintaro sat up straighter and glared at him, looking as vexed as Juri himself felt.

Juri averted his gaze. “I’m just… worried about you.”

“You have a weird way of showing it,” Shintaro said coldly. He pushed his chair back, its legs screeching against the floor, and stood up. “I’m going to bed.”

Shintaro stomped out, leaving Juri alone, feeling even worse than before. He slumped lower in his seat. Shintaro was right. Juri wasn’t his usual self, hadn’t been for a while. Frankly, he disliked his current self, but he didn’t know how to go back. How to stop being so bitter all the time…

When Juri went up to his room a bit later, Jesse was surprisingly still awake. During this weird arrangement of theirs, they’d usually made sure to be in bed already before the other came up. Jesse was in bed, but leaning against the headboard, reading a book. He quickly glanced up at Juri, then dropped his eyes back to the pages.

Juri turned away from him swiftly and walked to the closet. While changing out of his livery and then washing his face by the basin, he saw from the corner of his eye how Jesse slowly closed the book and then put it away. Juri thought he saw Jesse’s eyes flicking his way again and again. Somehow it felt like he would’ve wanted to talk.

Juri took his time drying his face and his hands, waiting, almost hoping Jesse would say something.

But he didn’t.

And neither did Juri. Eventually, he put the towel away and walked to his bed, slipping under the covers. He turned his back towards Jesse, the stubborn silence still stretching between them.

—

The day of the party rolled around, and the downstairs was in a flurry since early morning. The cook Mrs. Matsuda and her kitchen maids were busy creating the delicious menu for the grand dinner while maids, hallboys and footmen were running around each on different errands, and Mr. Inohara was overseeing it all, looking rather stressed.

Juri passed the butler on the stairs while he was going down, and he heard Mr. Inohara muttering something about wines and His Lordship.

Juri headed towards the servants’ hall, his aim to sit down for a minute or two, when he saw Jesse wandering around in the corridor, something draping from his arm.

“Oh, did you happen to see Mr. Inohara?” Jesse seemed to be in a real hurry since he spoke to Juri.

“He just went up and looked quite occupied,” Juri answered. “Why?”

“I just wanted to ask…” Jesse hesitated a moment before showing Juri the cloth on his arm. It was a tailcoat. Jesse rubbed a light stain by the hem.

“There’s this smudge on Mr. Taiga’s tails and I can’t seem to get it off. I wanted to ask Mr. Inohara for help.”

“Oh,” Juri said. “Well, I can also help you with that? I think I know what could work.”

Jesse looked at him with a mixture of surprise and gratitude. “Could you…? That would save me! I don’t have that much time before the party…”

“Of course, follow me,” Juri said and led Jesse along the corridor.

Part of him actually wanted to help. Truly. But the bigger part was still bitter, still secretly hoping that Jesse wouldn’t do so well as Mr. Taiga’s valet. So instead of a pack of soda crystals that would’ve probably helped with the stain, on a whim Juri reached for the bottle next to it, handing it to Jesse. The text on the label had luckily been worn off.

“Use this on it. That should do the trick.”

“Thank you so much, Juri!” Jesse looked so relieved Juri immediately felt a pang of guilt. But he said nothing, just gave Jesse a small smile and a nod before the other hurried off with the bottle and the tails.

When Juri walked back towards the servants' hall, he saw Shintaro stopping in the doorway, looking after Jesse.

“What was that about?” the chauffeur asked.

“He needs to get a stain off Mr. Taiga’s tails.”

“And you helped him? Did I hear it right?” Shintaro raised his brows at Juri.

Juri shuffled his feet under Shintaro’s eyes and his on-point suspicion. The guilt in him just grew heavier. He felt bad. He had just made up with Shintaro after their argument a couple of days ago, so he didn’t want to lie to Shintaro, but he also absolutely didn’t want to reveal what he’d just done.

“I…” Juri broke down, running his hands through his hair. “Oh Shintaro, I just did something stupid!”

“What? What is it?”

“I’ll explain later, now I need to run after Jesse!”

Making the decision in a split of a second, Juri hurried to the staircase and up. He never caught up with Jesse, though.

Juri ran into Reia on the stairs just before the first floor, and the younger footman blocked his way.

“Move, Reia!” Juri commanded. “I need to find Jesse.”

“No time for that, Mr. Inohara wants us in the dining room now,” Reia said, gesturing behind him towards the main hall. Probably sensing that Juri was about to argue, he added hastily: “Please come, I feel like he might sack me if I fail to fetch you right away…”

Juri looked at the young footman, then glanced up the staircase, but couldn’t see anyone there. He wondered if Jesse was already somewhere ruining Mr. Taiga’s coat by accident. He groaned, cursing his own stupidity. He’d have to deal with all the consequences later.

But for now…

“Alright, I’m coming,” Juri muttered and followed a relieved Reia to the hall.

***

Jesse was both irritated and anxious.

It was an hour until the start of the party, and Jesse was in Mr. Taiga’s room, dressing him. As the last piece, he helped the tailcoat on Mr. Taiga and could only watch with resignation how the young lord took a closer look at the coat through the mirror.

“What’s this?” He touched the right front panel.

Jesse closed his eyes momentarily. Juri had been right, there was no smudge anymore, alright. But there was also no fabric anymore, either.

“Uh, there was a smudge, sir…”

“I know there was, but you didn’t have to burn it away.” Mr. Taiga glanced over his shoulder at Jesse. Surprisingly, he didn’t look angry, only a bit confused.

“I… I’m ever so sorry, sir,” Jesse said, lowering his head. He felt stupid. Stupid for not knowing how to deal with the stain alone, and stupid for trusting Juri. He could already hear Mr. Inohara’s reprimand once the butler heard about this.

“Hey, no need to look so gloomy, nobody’s died. I’ll just have to wear my dinner jacket, I guess.”

Now it was Jesse’s turn to look confused. Mr. Taiga shrugged the ruined tailcoat off, sounding very much unbothered by the turn of events. Was this the same lordling that had complained about Jesse's poor tie knots just a week or two ago?

“A-are you sure, sir?”

“What choice do I have? Just find the dinner jacket.”

—

The drawing room was full of grand looking lords and ladies, standing in small groups of three or four and chatting pleasantly. Jesse was circling around them, serving them the first drinks before dinner. He’d been asked to help Mr. Inohara there as Juri and Reia were apparently receiving the guests in the main hall. There were quite a few of them. Jesse saw Mr. Hokuto walking among the guests, greeting them and exchanging a few words.

Since Jesse was in the drawing room, that meant he also saw Mr. Taiga walking in some minutes before dinner, and watched with hidden horror how his master approached his parents and grandmother in his dinner jacket and black tie. He could hear low murmuring and some stifled laughs around the room.

Jesse would’ve wanted to stay as far from the family as he could but an elderly couple quite close to the Kyomotos were without their drinks, so Jesse walked up to them dutifully. There, he happened to overhear part of the conversation.

“What are you wearing?” The old lady Kyomoto was asking, clearly taken aback. “Why are you in play clothes at an event like this?”

“Yes, what on earth has happened, son?” My. Kyomoto asked, sounding slightly indignant.

Jesse turned away, his ear burning, but he still managed to hear Mr. Taiga’s reply.

“I’m afraid I was a bit clumsy and got a stain on my tails just now. This was my only choice. Forgive me, granny?”

“Well, at least you’ll give people something to talk about…”

Jesse hurried off, not wanting to hear more, but he couldn’t help stealing a glance at Mr. Taiga as he walked across the room. Their eyes met for a few seconds and Mr. Taiga surprised him again; he gave Jesse a quick eye roll and a smile before turning back to his grandmother.

The gesture was small but it cheered Jesse up all the same. At least until he saw Mr. Inohara staring daggers at him across the room once the butler had seen Mr. Taiga’s attire.

It was lucky that the guests were called to the dining room just then, and Mr. Inohara had to go with them to oversee it all.

—

The rest of the party was rather uneventful for Jesse; he stayed downstairs on stand-by, and tried avoiding Juri while at it. The first guests started leaving around midnight, and Jesse would’ve gone up to help see them off, but the unexpected ringing of Mr. Taiga’s bell right then ushered him upstairs instead.

When Jesse entered Mr. Taiga’s room, he found the young lord sitting on his bed, still fully clothed. As soon as Jesse walked in and closed the door, Mr. Taiga sprang up on his feet and spread his arms.

“Jesse! So nice to see you. I was looking for you downstairs.”

“Oh? Was there a problem?” Jesse still wanted to grimace when looking at Mr. Taiga’s faux pas dress, so he quickly walked behind his master and took off the jacket.

“What? No, no. But there was this young footman chap serving us during and after dinner, and I wanted you there.”

Jesse froze. “W-what?”

Mr. Taiga turned around, looking at him. Jesse suddenly noticed how the young lord was swaying slightly, and that his face was a bit flushed.

“I wanted you there,” Mr. Taiga repeated. “I asked Inohara for you but he said you were busy. Were you?”

“Y-yes, I was,” Jesse heard himself saying. His heart was suddenly hammering in his chest.

“Oh. Pity.”

“I’m sorry, sir,” Jesse said quickly as the lord’s face fell a little. He reached for Mr. Taiga’s cuffs and removed the cufflinks, taking them to the box on the dresser. “But I hope you had fun? Despite the clothing disaster…”

“Oh, but that was hilarious! You should’ve seen the faces of all the uptight and pretentious bores that were there.” Mr. Taiga actually sniggered like an unruly kid, and Jesse felt relieved again.

“But… His Lordship and Lady Kyomoto?”

“Pfft, they’ll live,” Mr. Taiga said. “And I guess I made the holy cousin Hokuto look even better like this.”

“Don’t say that, sir.” Jesse walked back to Mr. Taiga and slowly pulled out his black tie. Being this close, he could smell the faint whiff of alcohol on his master’s breath.

“But it’s true,” Mr. Taiga said softly, looking up at Jesse. “I’m quite disliked here, as you’ve probably noticed.”

“Not by me, sir.”

A week or two ago Jesse couldn’t have imagined ever saying that, but right then, he really meant it.

Mr. Taiga’s smile was small, soft, almost shy.

“Thank you, Jesse. You’re a good valet, you know.”

Mr. Taiga was suddenly leaning a bit forward, his eyes fixed on Jesse’s—no, actually fixed on his… mouth? Jesse automatically took half a step back, not really understanding what was happening. Noticing this, Mr. Taiga blinked and leaned back, quickly averting his gaze from Jesse.

“Y-you should go,” the young lord muttered. He turned his back towards Jesse and started unbuttoning his shirt.

“But sir, I’ll help you–”

“I can handle it by myself,” Mr. Taiga said. He turned his head a bit, but still didn’t look at him. “Thank you, Jesse. Good night.”

Jesse could only wish his master good night in return and retreat to the dim corridor. There, in the silence, his pounding heart felt so loud. He repeated Mr. Taiga’s words in his mind, but was too tired and overwhelmed to dwell on them too much.

Furthermore, there was most likely still another ordeal for the night waiting for him downstairs.