#uttersonxhyde

“So many French petits fours.” The black-haired man raised an eyebrow and smirked. “Where is your patriotism, love?”

“When it comes to food, I think we should emphasize on the quality of it and of the recipes rather than their origins. Patriotism doesn’t bring food on the table.” Gabriel avowed, sitting near his guest. “Keep that for yourself.”

Hyde snorted and bit into the small pastry, scanning the wide selection in front of him. His eyes widened when Gabriel took a small chocolate delicacy before pouring them some tea.

“I thought you did not like sweets?” he could feel Jekyll starting to fuss at the back of his mind, worried that his beloved deprived himself of those sweet little treats to offer him his part.

“It’s not that I don’t like them,” Gabriel replied after taking a sip of tea. “I am exceedingly picky when it comes to desserts.”

A short silence followed, Edward finished his macaroon and took a pink madeleine from another plate.

“That is?” he asked, his curiosity excited.

The lawyer’s eyes gleamed now like ambers and a slightly roguish smile emerged on his face.

“I like my dessert like my lover: sweet, slightly spicy with a small bitter note; either crispy or soft when I sink my teeth into it, depending on the availability, which melts under my fingers and my tongue.”

What was left of the pastry fell soundlessly on the table, Edward’s face had become as red as a cherry.

“Heavens, Edward! We created a monster!” Henry’s voice moaned helplessly.

“I don’t care! I regret nothing!!” Edward retorted mentally before he quickly swallowed the small cake he had started and got up.

“Take me, now.” He commanded, his voice trembling with impatience as he started undressing.

“Don’t you want more?” Gabriel teased, not raising from his seat.

“Cut it out and ravish me!” Edward almost pulled some buttons off his shirt as he hastily opened it. “And for your information, I don’t like to do this with a full stomach!”

The taller man chuckled, finally getting up, and pulled his lover to him. Edward immediately gripped his beloved clothes and pitched his head back with his eyes closed, offering his lips to him. He did not have to wait long, Gabriel kissed him right after he gently moved some locks of his hair out of the way.

They both kissed hungrily and shortly after, Hyde found himself laying naked on his lover’s couch, spreading shamelessly his legs for him and moaning with abandon under Gabriel’s soft caresses. His nails sunk into Gabriel’s back as his reciprocal movement became harder and more precise, his moans then turned into blissful cries.

“Edward, my beautiful Circe!” Gabriel called him softly before whispering sweet nothings to him, covering his face with kisses.

The lawyer’s grip on Hyde’s hips tightened when he got closer to the edge, the latter wrapped his legs tightly around his hips in response.

“Don’t stop, not yet!” he had no idea whether he sounded commanding or desperate, but he found he didn’t care and went to bite Gabriel’s neck.

The latter grunted at that and slowed down to change their position. The two lied on their sides, their limbs tangled, their mouths connected while Gabriel kept thrusting inside his lover, building their pleasure up in a slow, steady rhythm.

After the two reached their peak in turn, they stayed snuggled together for a while. Hyde had closed his eyes, enjoying how warm he felt in his beloved embrace; and opened them in surprise when he felt it shifting.

Amber eyes were now staring hungrily at him, and he felt the other’s now long hair against his skin.

“Sweets to the sweet.” Edward quoted, mirth and desire mixing in his tone.

They arrived at the restaurant and, just as expected, received uncomfortable stares, because of Hyde. Also just as expected, they received a table behind a screen.

Normally Utterson would have protested, but the screen would grant them some privacy. So he left it at a frown at the waiter.

“Don't be irritated”, Hyde murmured, when he saw the lawyer's expression. “I don't like to be stared at anyways.”

“Well, there is always the option of looking somewhere else”, the lawyer hissed irritably, but sat down.

“Let's not dwell on that”, Jekyll intermediated. “How has your work been treating you, Mr. Utterson?”

“I've been very busy lately”, Utterson played along. “Yesterday morning I had a very irritated client. Angry, because his wife passed away and he has no claim to all her lovely money. She made no will, therefore everything will go back to her brother's family. And now he's throwing a tantrum, because apparently he has made a lot of debt and hoped that the inheritance from his wife would help him pay it off.”

Jekyll and Hyde laughed.

“Good thing we don't have to worry about that, eh?”, the Doctor giggled.

But Hyde looked down all of the sudden.

Utterson noticed first and took the young man's hand.

“What's the matter?”, he asked with a whisper.

Hyde sighed sadly. “I just thought … I'm so much younger than you two. When you die … I don't know what I would do. Where's the point in inheriting Jekyll's whole fortune, if he's not there … if neither of you is? If you're both gone because of old age and I'm all alone? The only other friend I have, who's around my age, is Alma (and maybe Lucy, if you'd consider her my friend). But she's not you, you are …”

His voice failed and he swallowed.

Utterson, sensing what the brunette needed, took his hand. “Hey now. Let us not think about death yet. We're healthy men and not going to die tomorrow. Let's just enjoy this beautiful day.”

Hyde relaxed, just a bit. “You're right. Sorry. I'm still having the morbs from what has happened lately.”

“Happens to all of us”, Jekyll assured him. “But we shouldn't talk about inheritance in a restaurant anyway. Someone might be eavesdropping and making untrue assumptions.”

Suddenly he frowned. “Speaking of which.”

He stood up to look over the screen.

“Sir, we would quite appreciate if you minded your own business”, he told someone on the other side.

The voice that stuttered an excuse made Utterson and Hyde listen up and the former looked around to see if it was who he thought.

Sure enough, Enfield was looking up to Jekyll with a red face and stammering apologies.

Utterson went to greet his cousin.

“Enfield! Fancy meeting you here!”

Enfield looked to the side and finally spied him.

“Oh, Utterson! What a surprise-”

“No, it's not”, Utterson cut him off. “You knew that it was me. That's why you eavesdropped. You know what, young man, come around. You should at least talk to us face to face.”

Enfield came around sheepishly.

But his sheepish expression vanished immediately, when he laid eyes upon Hyde.

Both men's eyes widened, before narrowing and gleaming with despite.

Hyde was the first to recover. “Sir”, he greeted coolly.

“Sir”, Enfield requited with equal coldness.

Utterson rolled his eyes, before introducing them.

“My friends, I would like to introduce you to my cousin Richard Enfield. Enfield, this is my chuckaboo, Dr. Jekyll. And you have already met Mr. Hyde.”

“Certainly have”, Enfield stated, threw Hyde another hateful glance (that was requited with equal hatred) and shook Dr. Jekyll's hand.

Jekyll smiled amiably. “It's a pleasure. Utterson has told me a lot about you. He told me about what a nice young man you are.”

I did?

Enfield blushed up to the ears. “No, he has not”, he laughed awkwardly.

“You're right, he has not”, the Doctor admitted humorously. “Young Hyde here has spoken of you (a bit rudely, I'm afraid), but I didn't know that he meant you, until Utterson mentioned you.”

What followed was an awkward and short conversation between then four, that was held up almost entirely by Jekyll alone (and a bit by Utterson).

It had been a while (not after the catastrophic gala), since Utterson had been able to witness Jekyll use his charm so generously. But it was plain that despite the months of affliction, the blond hadn't forgot how to wrap others around his fingers; he was so charming and amiable, that (just like almost everyone else) Enfield was taken with him within ten minutes.

Fortunately, the strawberry blond quickly said his goodbyes and left.

Once he was gone, Hyde turned to Utterson: “So, when were you planning to tell me, that this man is your cousin?”

“When I could be sure that you're not plotting his murder anymore”, Utterson retorted. “And judging by how you reacted to meeting Dr. Faust, I decided that I couldn't be sure yet.”

Hyde blinked. Then he shrugged. “Point taken.”

“Whelp, that date was terrible”, Jekyll sighed, when they were back at his home.

“I'm awfully sorry for that”, Utterson apologised, “I really need to talk to him about that.”

“Hey, you couldn't see it coming”, the Doctor assured him. “Do you want to try that again, some other time? After all this was supposed to be a romantic date.”

“Speaking of which”, Hyde spoke up, “Does he know what is going on between us three?”

Utterson decided to come clean: “Yes and no. He saw me and you, Edward, on that rainy day in the park and confronted me about it.”

“What?!”

“He didn't see us kiss though. He just saw me out and about and chatting and smiling with someone he had seen do something terrible and demanded to know why.”

Hyde was tense. “What did you tell him?”, he questioned.

The lawyer shrugged. “I might have told him a half-truth. I told him that you're my future ward – being Jekyll's heir – and that I therefore have to be affiliated with you. When he asked, how someone like you could make me smile and chat, I told him that I'm fond of you as if you were my son, now that I know you closer.”

The brunette laughed: “A half truth indeed! We both know that-”

“You're much more to me”, Utterson finished for him with a coy smile.

Hyde gawked at him and blushed scarlet.

The lawyer laughed: “Why so surprised? Do you think I would kiss you or let you kiss me, if it wasn't so?”

The young man laughed awkwardly. “Hehe … no, probably not. You're not the type for that.”

When they arrived, Hyde was surprised to see the old Poole run outside to meet them.

Did he see us coming from the window?

“Oh thank goodness!”, the old butler cried, “You're back! The Doctor is still having his breakdown and Mr. Utterson on the brink of- Master Hyde!”, he exclaimed in surprise, when the brunette stepped forward from behind Lanyon's back.

Hyde expected the old man to haul him over the coals, along the likes of “you have some nerve showing your face around here, after what you did”.

But no.

The brunette was taken by surprise, when the seventy-year-old man gave him a light embrace.

“What the-?”

“I never thought I would say this, but it's so good to see you, Master Hyde! You have no idea how desolate Dr. Jekyll has been without you!”

Damn.

It had to be really bad, if Poole was desperate enough to hug him.

Awkwardly the young man patted the butler's back, before freeing himself.

“Where is he?”, he demanded to know.

“In his private rooms – right now, he's in his dressing room, but-”

That was all Hyde needed to hear. He darted past the two older men and ran upstairs.

Shortly before he arrived at the dressing room, he bumped into someone.

But before he could lash out at that person …

“Edward?”

“Gabriel?!”

It was indeed Utterson, who was holding him back by the arms. The lawyer promptly cupped his face and burst into tears.

What the-?

“You're back! You're really back! Thank god! Oh thank god!”

“No, thank Lanyon. It was he, who-”

He didn't get further, because his mouth was suddenly quite occupied.

Whoa there!

Hyde really wasn't here for this. But gave into his instincts, wrapped his arms around the lawyer's neck and kissed back.

“I missed you too”, he gasped, when they finally parted. “But … how is Henry?”

Utterson cried again.

“He's more than unwell … he's going mad and at the same time he could be dying and I don't know what to do … oh god, it's so good that you're back!”

The black-haired man's hug tightened around him and Hyde squirmed, when he couldn't breathe.

The lawyer mumbled an apology and let go.

“Where is Lady Summers? Can she not help him?”, the brunette inquired.

Utterson shook his head. “She does all she can and comes to visit as much as possible. But it's impossible for anyone to reach him and she has other clients to attend to.”

Oh. Right.

Hyde took the other man's hand.

“I'll try it, then.”

That statement was rewarded with a tender kiss from the lawyer.

“Chin up, pretty lawyer. Everything will be fine”, Hyde cooed.

“I know. I trust you”, Utterson confided in him.

The brunette blushed and would have pondered on what the hell this was doing to him, but there was no time for this now.

They went the rest of the hallway to Jekyll's dressing room.

Utterson knocked on the door, but didn't wait for an invitation. That wasn't his style, Hyde knew, and almost giggled. But the situation wasn't funny.

As they entered the room, Hyde was immediately struck by how cold it was.

No wonder, the fire in the chimney was almost dead and it was pretty cold for May.

“Henry, I'm back!”, Utterson announced and closed the door behind them.

The response came from the armchair near the fireplace: “Did you forget something?”

“No. You have a visitor.”

The young man frowned at Utterson – visitor?!

But the lawyer winked at him. Oh. So it was just a trick.

When Jekyll replied, Hyde could hear the frown in his voice: “A visitor? Gabriel, everybody knows by now that I'm not seeing anyone.”

Now the brunette laughed softly: “Oh, but Dr. Jekyll! Is that how you receive your soulmate?”

Jekyll's head shot out from the armchair and he stared at him like he was a ghost. The blond gasped in shock (and so nearly did Hyde – his creator was looking awful!) and jumped up way too quickly.

The brunette feared, that the blond would fall, but he just managed to grab the armchair in time.

Jekyll tumbled across the room, looking desperate and very much off his head.

He touched Hyde's shoulders hesitantly, as if he couldn't believe-

“It's you!”, he breathed, began to tremble and his eyes filled with tears.

“Yes, yes, it's me! Who else would it be, the emperor of China?”

Suddenly the older man was running his hands all over his upper body and rambling: “It's you … it's you!”

Over and over.

At some point Jekyll fell onto his knees and cried into Hyde's chest.

Hyde understood. He cradled his creator's head and stroked his tousled, blond hair.

At some point Utterson left the room.

Good. Now he could really focus on the man, who was clinging to him like his life depended on it. Perhaps it did.

Jekyll couldn't believe this was happening.

But it felt so real.

He could hear the heartbeat and the husky voice whispering words of comfort into his ear.

He could feel the heat from the body and the spidery fingers running through his hair.

He could grasp the slight, small body of the man, who was holding him.

“Edward …”

“Shhhh. It's alright, Fairest. Don't believe the shadows that whisper doubts into your head. Believe me. Believe your eyes, your ears and your hands.”

Fairest … only Hyde calls me that.

The blond doctor tightened his grip on the younger man and buried his face in his chest again. Now he could close his eyes and just inhale the familiar scent of cherries and pomegranates (and something else that Jekyll refused to comment on).

An uncertain amount of time later, he looked up, into the glowing green eyes he had missed so much.

“Edward …”

Hyde smiled and kissed the top of his head. “That's my name, my dear soulmate. And you would know, after all you gave it to me.”

Jekyll giggled and rubbed his cheek against the clothed chest of the other. Very catlike behaviour, but he couldn't help himself.

But all too soon, Hyde spoke again: “Henry. You need to stand up.”

The older man withheld a whine (or did he?) and stood back up with some effort.

The brunette skimmed over him with his eyes and shook his head. “Really, you look like hell. Time for you to take a bath, old man. Wait, I will ring for Poole and ask him to ready one for you. It'll do you a world of good.”

Reflexively, Jekyll tightened his grip.

He could practically hear Hyde roll his eyes as a result. “Jekyll, I have to go to the door and call for your butler. After that you can be as clingy as you want.”

The blond was unwilling to let go, but complied.

But before Hyde even reached the door, Poole opened it and announced that he had prepared a herbal bath.

The brunette laughed: “Looks like Lady Summers isn't the only psychic person in this district anymore.”

The elderly man shrugged. “That's just my butler's instinct.”

Utterson almost sobbed in relief, when Hyde and Poole came out of the room together with Jekyll, each holding one of the blond's hands.

He resisted the urge of giving each of them a hug and just asked Jekyll, if he was feeling better.

The blond smiled and nodded. “I am now.”

Then the three left for the bathroom.

The black-haired lawyer took a deep breath and leaned against the wall.

One moment later, Lanyon stood next to him.

“And?”, the hoary doctor inquired.

“Henry finally came outside”, Utterson informed him.

Lanyon nodded. “Good. Just as planned. That means everything will be fine now.”

Utterson: 

The sun is nearly gone,

the light are turning on,

a silver shine that stretches to the sea.

We stumbled on a view,

that’s tailor-made for two.

What a shame those two are you and me.

Somewhere a girl and guy

would love this swirling sky.

But there’s only you and I

and we’ve got not shot.

This could never be.

You’re not the type for me.

Hyde:

(*scoffs* Really?)

Utterson:

And there’s not a spark in sight,

what a waste of a lovely night

Hyde: 

*grins* You say there’s nothing here?

Well, let’s make something clear:

I think I'll the one to make that call.

Utterson:

(But you’ll call?)

Hyde:

And though you look so cute

in your polyester suit.

Utterson:

(It’s wool.)

Hyde:

You’re right, I’d never fall for you at all!

And maybe this appeals

to someone not in heels,

or to anyone who feels, 

there’s some chance for romance.

But I’m frankly feeling nothing.

*takes his flat shoes out of his bag*

Utterson:

Is that so?

Hyde: 

Or it could be less than nothing.

*struggles to take the high heels off*

Utterson:

Good to know!

So you agree?

Hyde: 

That’s right.

*finally wearing his normal shoes*

Both: 

What a waste of a lovely night.