love the idea that post The Situation thomas is just increasingly obtuse when it comes to jimmy's feelings.
so when one day mrs hughes mentions in passing at how much easier it is to handle james now he's settled down, thomas is incredibly confused. and a little bit heartbroken too of course.
it gets even stranger when on valentine's day alfred sulkily asks jimmy how many cards he's sent that year and jimmy merely shrugs and smirks. mrs patmore chastises them for gossiping and announces that surely, jimmy's only got one to be sending.
then one night, most of the staff are enjoying a rare night off in the pub. as usual, a host of pretty girls surround jimmy, and one particularly brave one asks jimmy if he's got any plans on one of his half days. jimmy throws her a cheeky wink and says "sorry, darling, but i'm spoken for."
thomas starts feeling really rather hurt. he's known all along that this would happen eventually - that jimmy would eventually move on and find a nice village lass, but it still stings to hear it. somehow, it hurts even more knowing that clearly jimmy has fallen for someone but he hasn't even told thomas.
thomas puts on a brave face and elbows daisy in the side. "d'ya hear that? jimmy's kept that quiet 'asn't he?"
daisy looks at him with a frown and cocks her head to the side. "well, not really--" but before she can say anything else she's swept up into the rowdy conversation of the table.
a few weeks later, thomas and jimmy are alone in the servants hall, with thomas reading the paper in his rocking chair and jimmy tapping out melodies on the piano. the tune he's playing is sweet and gentle, and thomas finds himself swaying his head along. as the song draws to a close, a gentle round of applause sounds from the doorway.
baxter stands smiling. "let me call you sweetheart is one of my favourites. it was beautiful, jimmy."
jimmy blushes prettily and stands, closing the piano lid. "thank you, mrs baxter. good night."
after he's gone from the room, baxter enters to fill herself a glass of water. she smiles fondly at thomas. "he's so smitten you know. head over heels." she rolls her eyes affectionately.
it takes months until thomas finally figures out the truth of what's going on. well, to say he figures it out is somewhat generous.
he's in the servants hall again, this time feeling a little despondent with a cup of tea. jimmy had gone to the pictures with alfred of all people, their friendship seemingly improved since jimmy's given up on chasing ivy's skirt. thomas is resolutely not waiting up to make sure jimmy gets home safe. anna is the only other person still up, and she sits opposite thomas stitching one of lady mary's hemlines in companionable silence.
thomas dwells on his own thoughts for a while, until anna rests her sewing on the table and fixes him with a worried look. "are you quite alright, mr barrow?"
"hm? oh, yes anna, i'm very well thank you." he takes a sip of his tea to hide his moue.
anna looks unconvinced. "thomas," she says seriously, "is it-- have you and jimmy had a falling out?"
that genuinely surprises thomas. for all his worry and sadness over jimmy's as yet unknown love interest, they'd never fallen out. "no, no, of course not. he's just busy, that's all, which is to be expected now he's, you know," thomas waves his cup vaguely in the air, "courting the mystery lady."
anna chokes on a laugh. "the mystery lady?"
"yes. he's-- he's courting someone, isn't he? everyone keeps saying that he's... or suggesting that he's taken with someone." Thomas adds somewhat bitterly, "seems quite serious if you ask me. not that he's told me anything about it of course."
anna stops giggling and looks at him oddly. "thomas you-- you can't mean--"
"-- do you know who she is, anna?" thomas interrupts a little desperately. he's becoming tired of it all and he just wants to know-- how bad it is, for how long he's going to have to tend to his broken heart.
"thomas. thomas, jimmy's sweetheart is-- well, it's you."
"me?" thomas has a brief, sickening memory of his feelings before, and how miss o'brien toyed with them so badly. but he knows in his gut, that anna would never, and could never do that. he knows she's being honest, as confusing and terrifying as the statement may be.
"yes." anna smiles. "he's like a little puppy when he's with you. surely you've noticed? he gazes at you with stars in his eyes. he wants to do everything you do, and it seems like every other conversation is all about what you've been telling him this week. he only ever plays love songs on the piano when you're in the room. he laughs at all your jokes and he's not even glanced in the direction of a girl since last year." anna shakes her head. "i thought you knew and were just letting him get used to it."
"no i didn't -- i didn't know, i thought," thomas can feel himself blushing, "i don't know what i thought."
anna stands with a stifled yawn. "you make each other very happy. if you really didn't know, i think you ought to talk to him. good night, mr barrow."
"good night anna. and thank you."
thomas is left in the still and quiet of the room, watching the steam spiral up from his cup. a private and hopeful smile spreads across his face. yes, he thinks, nodding his head, perhaps we should talk.
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Okay so people keep talking about Buck's coming out scene with Eddie, and I just want to talk about this part right here:
Buck: Is that weird?
Eddie: No. Absolutely not.
Because. Because! The look on Eddie's face. The tilt of his head, the steady eye contact and the immediate reassurance... Buck needed that. He's just come out. He's just done something brand new, out of his depth, and kind of terrifying. And no matter how well you know someone, there's always that fear in the back of your mind. That horrible little voice that whispers, what if they hate me for this?
And for someone like Buck, that voice doesn't just whisper, it screams. It's been screaming since he was a child. But Eddie. Eddie doesn't give it a second to get a word in.
Buck asks, "Is that weird?" And Eddie immediately and firmly replies, "No. Absolutely not." And then he follows it up with another reassurance, almost immediately:
"This doesn't change a thing between us."
Now I'm seeing a lot of people say that Buck looked disappointed at this, but I say he looked relieved. Because Eddie is his best friend. Eddie is the person whose opinions matter the most to Buck, even above the opinions of his sister. (Hell, I think the only person that Buck will be more concerned about coming out to will be Christopher.) But I think there was still a moment, a split second of doubt where Buck really thought that him coming out to Eddie would damage their friendship.
For Buck, one of the things he is most afraid of is being left behind. Being abandoned. Seeing the people he loves give up on him. Eddie knows this, he knows Buck. Whether you view it as romantic or not, Buck and Eddie do love each other. They're family. So having Eddie double down and say, "No, none of this is weird, and I'm not going anywhere, we're rock solid," is SO important. Buck isn't disappointed that nothing will change. He's relieved. He's free.
And Eddie responds in exactly the way Buck needs him to in that moment. Reassurance, some slight teasing, and encouragement for Buck to go after Tommy. To go after the guy he can't stop thinking about. He doesn't make it this big, heavy, burdensome thing. He doesn't get overly emotional or confrontational like some cishet people tend to do when their friends come out. Eddie has Buck's back with this as much as he does with everything else.
I think it's the best coming out scene we could've gotten with these two, and I'm beyond obsessed with it.
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