He spent the rest of the afternoon doing what every other bodyguard did: guarding Theo from afar while allowing the man his privacy. By the time his shift was up, he'd grown restless and thirsty, and wanted nothing more than to escape this house and find himself a distraction from his own thoughts. He knew it would look bad. He knew what Theo would think of him. Seeing as the man didn't want to talk about it long enough to clear the air on the matter, he found that he didn't much care at the moment. Or maybe that was just the lie that he told himself.
He made his way into town in the evening, bundled up against the chill, with coin in his pocket ready to spend on vices and Yule gifts alike. He took his time wandering the night market. Found a set of hair pins with frogs on them for Neish, and some cigars for Tiff. He fought back memories of Theo in the cloak, and when they would no longer stay at arm's length, he left and found a pub — a different pub from the one they'd been to.
Hours later, when all was cold and quiet and the occupants of the manor had long since gone to sleep, he stole back in through the servant's entrance and snuck up the stairs to his room. There, he dumped his gifts into a drawer drawer, had himself an unnecessary nightcap on top of his already comfortable buzz, and began to ready himself for sleep.
