Chapter Text
Now
Stark Mansion is behind walls.
There are walls and dogs and a rotation of European mercenaries guarding the house. Howard Stark has no shortage of enemies, not after spending four years building weapons for the triumphant North. He knows there are ex-slave owners who want to see him and his family dead, so he pays often and well for his family’s protection. The measures work. There has never been a successful attack on Stark Mansion and the stories of the survivors work as an additional deterrent to keep people out.
For Howard Stark’s omega son, it all works to keep him in .
But Tony has been studying. He knows the movements of the guards, knows where the walls are starting to crumble, knows when the dogs are fed and the last time a guard will check on them before the morning. He knows all of this. There’s a pile of blueprints of the house and grounds hidden in the slit in his mattress that he’s memorized. He’s studied and prepared for months. He won’t be any readier if he waits.
And the fate awaiting him if he stays is far worse than being torn apart by the family’s dogs.
Two Months Ago
Tony is an attractive omega. Not just because he’s lovely, although he is, despite being older than the average unmarried omega, but also because he comes with money and power as the heir to the largest guns manufacturer in the States. Tony grows up knowing that his position ensures his marriage will be the result of a shrewd business move. He hopes he’ll be able to grow to like his future spouse but he also knows that love will have no place in his life.
But even he could not have imagined Tiberius Stone.
Stone is a European alpha whose family owns several iron ore mines in Australia. The rumors reach Tony long before Stone himself does: rumors of cruelty to those he deems inferior, of the terrible treatment of the convicts in his mine, of the omegas left bleeding and bruised after nights with him. Tony pleads with his parents, Not him, anyone but him , but Stone is gaining a stranglehold over the sale of raw materials and Howard, who rarely denies his son anything, reluctantly agrees to a match.
As Tony waits by the docks to meet his alpha, he imagines that Tiberius will be as ugly as the stories have made his heart out to be. He imagines that he will be twisted and ruinous, perhaps scarred with burns or with a mangled arm, perhaps he has been shunned, anything that will explain his dark outlook on humanity.
Tiberius isn’t any of those things though. Tiberius is tall and handsome with hair the color of wheat fields and eyes a deep sapphire blue. Tony runs his gaze down Stone’s muscular body. There’s no denying it. Tiberius Stone is an alpha’s alpha and when he bends over Tony’s hand to brush a kiss over it and murmurs, “Absolutely lovely,” despite his forwardness, Tony can’t help but try to suppress a shiver.
Tony’s parents had extended an invitation for Tiberius to stay at the mansion during the early days of their courtship, at least until other arrangements could be made. As Tiberius settles in at Stark Mansion, the alpha is nothing but courteous over the next several days. He greets Tony each morning with a sweet kiss to the cheek, calls him pretty omega and then clever omega when he notices that Tony doesn’t like the first name. Never seems to mind that Howard and Maria give Tony the liberty to speak his mind, and only laughs good-naturedly when Tony forgets that he’s supposed to be entertaining his guest and instead spends most of the day in his workshop.
By the time Tiberius arranges a townhouse to stay in while he courts Tony, the omega is quite smitten. He leaves with a soft kiss to the corner of Tony’s mouth and a promise to call on him the next day. Tony doesn’t really believe it though. He fully expects that it’s the last time he’ll see Tiberius before the wedding.
But Tiberius surprises him by showing up at the mansion the next morning to escort him to the park. The outing is just the beginning. He takes Tony to the opera and to the museum. They go on outings to the park and long walks in the Starks’ garden. He’s the perfect gentleman, never placing his hand somewhere it might be inappropriate, never minding the presence of Tony’s chaperone, Mrs. Arbogast.
Six months into the courtship, Tiberius officially proposes, although they’ve all known it was coming, and Tony accepts. He still remembers the rumors but there seems to be no truth to them, at least not any that Tony’s seen.
They throw a party to celebrate their engagement. Tony dances the first dance with Tiberius, as is custom, and then exchanges partners with Janet van Dyne, his closest friend from childhood and another omega, who laughs at something Tiberius says as he sweeps her into a waltz. He dances two more dances with other alphas, as it isn’t considered proper to only dance with Tiberius, and then goes to dance again with his fiancé, only he can’t find Tiberius anywhere.
He excuses himself to the sides of the room, expecting that he’ll find Tiberius along the walls. They’ve attended parties together before and, while it had been unseemly to dance solely with each other, Tiberius had never danced with anyone else, choosing instead to wait at the sides of the room until he could dance with Tony again. But Tiberius isn’t there today. A small flutter goes through Tony’s heart. He hasn’t yet had any cause to believe the rumors he’d heard, but the absence of his fiancé at their own engagement party is concerning.
There’s a hot burn of shame in his chest. He’s probably overreacting. Tiberius has been nothing but good to him. Tony’s seen no evidence of truth to the rumors of cheating and brutality that followed the alpha. He should be ashamed that he’s giving credence to them now just because his fiancé isn’t in eyesight.
His gaze falls on one of the balconies and his body goes cold. There are two darkened silhouettes leaning against the railing. Tony knows both very well. One of them—the one with the broad shoulders—belongs to Tiberius. The other—with the long reddish-brown hair and the tiny stature—belongs to another alpha Tony knows well: Sunset Bain.
Tony has been engaged before, just after he turned eighteen. His first alpha had been an alpha with hair the color of Christmas gingerbread, a scent like cinnamon, and a smile that could light up a room. She’d showered Tony in gifts and honeyed words and Tony had adored her for it. But she’d been hiding her vanity and cruelty behind a pretty exterior. She had hit him only once before he broke off the engagement—facing a banishment from society for it that had only recently lifted—and he thought he’d learned his lesson. He’d thought Tiberius was different. But if he’s hanging around Sunset…
Maybe he doesn’t know , he tells himself. But his hopes aren’t enough to stop himself from sneaking closer. The balcony door is just barely cracked, devoid of anyone else around it save for Tony and the two alphas outside. He steals behind one of the heavy curtains framing the doors, hiding himself in the draping folds.
“Have you bedded him yet?” Sunset asks.
“No,” Tiberius replies, sounding disgusted. “Little chit’s playing coy.”
“Come now, he’s not that bad.”
Tiberius snorts. “You must not remember his ridiculous opinions then. Omegas shouldn’t have any opinions, let alone ones like his. Surprised his parents didn’t beat it out of him.” Tony’s heart drops into his stomach.
“You’ve seen them,” Sunset says drily. “They dote on him.”
“Well they shouldn’t. He’s stirring up trouble. An omega’s place is—”
“—behind their master. I know. You’ve said it before.”
“There’ll be none of this argumentativeness from him once he belongs to me.”
Sunset says lazily, “And just how do you plan to make him stop?”
There’s a sound like hand striking flesh then a snarl and a thud. Sunset growls, no longer playing around, “Don’t you dare raise your hand to me again.”
Tiberius sounds entirely unbothered when he says silkily, “My apologies, Miss Bain. I assumed you wanted a demonstration.”
There’s a brief pause. “Why are you out here anyway? Surely your omega must be looking for you,” Sunset says.
“As though I give a damn. I needed to get out of there. His prattling was going to drive me mad.”
“You have to live with that prattling,” Sunset points out.
“All I need,” Tiberius says darkly, “is access to the Stark fortune. And remember, no one cares what happens to a mated omega.” He chuckles. “But you’re right. He’ll be looking for me. It wouldn’t do to show my hand too early. May I escort you back to the party?”
The door opens fully. Tony scrambles deeper into the shadows of the curtains as Sunset and Tiberius pass by, chattering now about wedding plans. Tony hears them as though through a thick fog, his heart pounding dully in his chest. He’d thought he’d be safe when he got away from Sunset’s abuse. But it seems as though he traded one abuser for another. He slides down the wall to curl up on the floor, silent tears sliding down his cheeks as he trembles.
Now
The dogs get fed promptly at seven. At nine, when the household begins to retire, one of the guards will remove the dogs from their kennels and station one or two beneath each first-floor window and four at each door into the house. They’re meant to keep intruders from getting in but that doesn’t mean they can’t stop someone from getting out.
Tony, like Howard and Maria, was raised with the dogs. He was present for the birth of each puppy and he played with them as they grew. The dogs know his scent. They’re here to protect him. Anyone else, who doesn’t scent like his family or their handler, they’ll attack. But in the dark, when he’s just a shadow against the night, he’s not certain they’ll recognize him in time to keep from tearing him to pieces.
He’s spent every evening for the last two months in the kennel, spending time with the dogs, reinforcing his scent—and more importantly, making sure that the guards know him being there is becoming a habit.
He knows his reticence has started to get to Tiberius. Every time Tony turns the alpha down for a night out, Tiberius’ nostrils flare slightly like he can’t believe the nerve of the omega for disagreeing with him. It isn’t like they even see each other any less though. To keep from looking suspicious, Tony still accepts Tiberius’ invitations for daily outings to the park or the museum. The only thing that’s changed is their nightly outings and yet that’s enough to make Tiberius angry. It makes Tony shiver, unable to believe that he’d almost missed it.
At eight, he heads down to the kennels. By now, most of the dogs have already eaten and are now chasing each other around the kennel. The moment Tony’s scent hits their nostrils, many of them cluster around the gate, jumping up with lolling tongues and wagging tails to greet him.
“Alright,” Tony laughs delightedly. “I’m coming.”
He lets himself in and is promptly tackled by the dogs. He laughs again. It’s impossible to be worried when these wonderful faces are looking forward to seeing him. He spends the hour with them, throwing a ball for them and giving them belly rubs. At ten minutes until nine, he stands, wipes his hands on his trousers, and goes around to the water dishes, pouring a few drops of chloral hydrate in each one. Then he waits for the handler, says his good nights, and leaves.
The sedative, he knows, takes at least twenty minutes to take effect. That should be more than enough time to get the dogs out to their posts. Not all the dogs will drink the water in the kennels so Tony had gone around earlier that evening and spiked the drinking water with the sedative as well.
He goes back upstairs to his bedroom. The dogs are well-trained. When they’re on duty, they don’t bark unless there’s an intruder so it shouldn’t seem odd to the guards for the dogs to be silent. Tony double-checks his bag. He’d packed light, unsure if he would have to run for it. Tiberius shouldn’t know that he’s gone missing but if his parents realize he’s left before he’s out of the city or if the guards catch him before he makes it off the grounds, he’s sure he’ll have to run.
A few minutes after nine, he hears the handler tying the last dogs to their posts—the ones just below Tony’s window. Not for the first time, he thanks mankind’s inherent need for routine.
Then he settles down to wait.
One Month Ago
Janet says Tony’s a lucky omega.
She says it for a lot of reasons but right now Tony thinks it’s because Howard doesn’t just give him an allowance but also pays him for every single invention he comes up with. Usually, Tony promptly spends whatever money he gets—on pieces of scrap metal from the blacksmith, on pretty hats and ribbons, on pieces of candy from the grocer. Not anymore though. Now, he’s saving everything he can get his hands on. He’s never been more productive than he has in the last month, churning out plan after plan and passing it on to his father, trading it in for a few dollars. He asks for the pennies that his mother receives in change, claiming that he wants them to buy food for the birds and instead squirreling them away into his pockets. He buries money behind the loose brick in the wall behind his bed and counts it obsessively each night.
Soon he’ll have enough.
The first time Janet takes him out shopping after Tony finds out about Ty, Tony nearly buys a new bracelet before he remembers that he’s supposed to be saving up for his escape. He reluctantly sets the bracelet back, pretends that he hadn’t been looking at it as closely as he had been, and continues looking around the shop.
Janet eyes him curiously. “Is everything okay?” she asks, picking up the bracelet herself and setting it in her basket.
Tony nods. “I’m saving up for, you know—” He forces out a giggle and then lowers his voice. “For the wedding night.”
Janet squeals with laughter and Tony turns away so that she can’t see how sick with anxiety the very thought of marrying Tiberius makes him. After a moment, Janet’s laughter dies away but Tony’s now pretending to examine a ruby necklace so he misses her watching him with narrowed eyes.
Janet ends up buying the bracelet. Tony feels a small pang of sadness as he watches her hand over the money. It really had been a lovely bracelet, exactly the kind of thing Tony would have bought if he wasn’t saving up. They walk back outside arm in arm and, without him realizing it, Janet slides the bracelet off her own wrist and onto Tony’s. He looks at her with shining eyes. This is why he absolutely adores her, for her incredible kindness and the way she’s always thinking of someone else.
“Thank you,” he murmurs.
She downplays her generosity with an airy wave of her hand. “I thought maybe if I got it for you, you might tell me what’s really going on.”
Tony whips his head around to stare aghast at her. “What makes you think there’s anything going on?” he manages to say.
She reaches over with a slim finger and shuts his jaw. “Anthony Edward Stark, you and I both know that I’m making everything for your wedding night. So clearly, you’re not saving up for that.”
“You don’t know that,” Tony grumbles. “Maybe I don’t want what you’re making me.”
“Well that’s a lie,” Janet says simply. When Tony still doesn’t reply, she gives him a concerned look. “Is it really that dreadful?”
Tony looks around as surreptitiously as he can (which probably isn’t very surreptitious at all, he decides, considering that he’s unused to the world of espionage). He’s pretty sure he doesn’t see anyone who’s directly friends with Tiberius, but he also spies Mrs. Baxter, who’s an absolutely terrible gossip. He certainly doesn’t want her overhearing his plan.
He says quietly, “Not here.” Janet’s starting to look positively alarmed but she follows his lead as they stroll leisurely down the street until they’ve turned the corner. Tony glances behind them to make sure Mrs. Baxter hasn’t followed them and then walks straight into the nearest alley.
“Tony!” Janet exclaims, even as she follows him. “What’s gotten into you?”
“I—Mister Stone—” he begins and then stops helplessly. What does he tell her? That he thinks Tiberius is planning to beat him, that he might actually be planning to murder him if Tony doesn’t go along with his wishes? Does he tell her that Stone’s just marrying him for his fortune? Does he tell her he’s going to run because he’s not sure he’ll have any support after he’d already broken his engagement with Sunset?
But Janet’s quick. She seems to take it all in just from his face and nods understandingly. “You need to get out,” she says. “Probably for Europe.”
“Europe?” Tony exclaims. He’d been thinking maybe further west or up to Canada but Europe was awfully far. And, after all, Tiberius is also from Europe. Surely it’ll be easier for Tiberius to find him if Tony’s hiding in his own backyard.
“Europe,” Janet repeats firmly. “Mister Stone will underestimate you because you’re an omega. He’ll think that you’ll want to stay on the continent.”
“Janet, I don’t think I’ll have enough money for a boat before the wedding,” he admits shamefully. He’s been doing his best to save up but he’s not even sure he’ll have enough for a train ticket before the wedding. He’s been slowly building up his courage to go to Jarvis and plead with him for what little he can spare to help Tony get out of the city but he hasn’t wanted to admit just how much trouble he thinks he’s in.
“Yes you will,” Janet promises him. She purrs comfortingly. “I’m going to help you.”
And with that, she opens her purse and dumps every last dollar she has into Tony’s purse.
Now
The guards make their rounds once every three hours, at which point they circle the grounds and then change posts. Tony supposes it keeps them awake but it does mean that he has to time his escape carefully. He watches them for two weeks, sacrificing sleep to watch, and comes to the conclusion that if he times the escape for about the two-hour point of each shift, the guards will be just tired and bored enough to miss Tony slipping by them.
Tony watches from his window as the shift changes at midnight. At two, he grabs his bag, leaves a letter to his parents on his pillow explaining what he’d discovered and his plan to travel west, and steals out into the hallway.
When Howard had designed the mansion, nearly all of the windows on the second floor had been matched with a window on the first floor. His father, knowing what an opportunity an unguarded window could be, had had the guard dogs stationed at each first-floor window. There’s only one window in the entire mansion left unguarded: a second-floor window that doesn’t have another window below it. Fortunately, that window is at the end of Tony’s hallway. Unfortunately , his father had had that wall built with as smooth a brick as he could find and mortar evened out so that the wall had no natural footholds. It does have a small ledge right outside the window and a desk in the hallway, heavy enough that Tony can secure a rope to it.
When he’d first begun planning his escape, he’d gone through a fit of furniture rearranging. His mother had been ecstatic, sure that it had been a sign of him nesting and preparing for his future home. He’d been very careful to keep himself from laughing as she went into raptures over the way he’d rearranged the upstairs hallway—including moving the desk ten feet closer to the window.
It’s not directly below the window. Tony had tried to move it there originally but his father hadn’t wanted it so close so he’d compromised on a few feet away. He shoves it closer to the window now. It screeches loudly as it moves across the floor. Tony winces, sure that the noise will bring someone running. But his parents’ bedroom is on the other side of the house and Ana and Jarvis’ room is on the first floor and none of them must be close enough to hear the noise because no one comes to investigate.
He ties the rope to the desk leg and tosses it over the side of the window. There’s a soft thud as it falls back against the wall but none of the guards are stationed close enough to hear. Tony’s sure of that at least.
Tony pulls on a pair of Jarvis’ gloves to protect his hands. He hadn’t wanted to steal them, had in fact considered sacrificing some of his precious escape money to buy another pair, but he hadn’t had much of a choice. Tony couldn’t buy a pair of the heavy gloves for himself, not when society omegas were expected to wear only the finest silks and satins, but he also had so much trouble justifying taking something that Jarvis wore without replacing them. He needs the gloves though. He’d rip up his hands on the rough rope without them.
Certain that if he delays any longer, he’ll end up meeting with the guards, he swings a leg over the windowsill and begins his descent. It’s slow going. He balances on the wall with his feet and practically walks down but he still has to be careful not to lose his grip on the rope or he’ll fall. If he’s terribly unlucky, he’ll break an ankle or worse, his leg, and then where will he be? He’ll be stuck here and Tiberius will know that he’d been trying to escape.
After what seems like ages, he finally reaches the ground. He doesn’t have anything like the clock in his bedroom with which to check the time—he sets that thought aside for later, maybe to tinker with on the ship—but he’s studied the stars enough to estimate that he still has a little over half an hour before the watch changes. Tony nods to himself and sets off across the grounds.
Three Weeks Ago
“I believe there’s still a first-class cabin on the RMS Scotia available,” the agent says.
“I’ll take it,” Tony says immediately. “How much will it be?”
The agent checks the listing. “It looks like it will be twenty-five dollars now, and the remaining fifty, one week before boarding.”
Tony nods to himself and makes a note to ask Janet to raise the price of her next commission. She’s due to have Mrs. Anderson’s dress finished in the next couple of days, which will still leave Tony a couple dollars short. But he’s pretty sure she’s getting ready to accept another commission. Hopefully, she’ll be able to charge a little extra on that one.
“What time does the ship leave?” he asks.
The agent gives him a sharp look. He hastily affects an innocent expression though Tony’s not certain he’s fooled. Either way, after a pause, the agent says, “First-class boarding is at nine in the morning. The ship leaves two hours later.”
“I assume second-class can board earlier?”
“That would be correct.”
“What time?”
The agent pauses again. Tony doesn’t even try to look innocent this time as he’s fairly certain he’s already failed. It’s clear that the agent is about to ask something. Tony hopes it’s whether or not he’s in trouble and not if he is the trouble. In desperation, he slides an extra twenty dollars across the table.
“For you,” he says, hoping that his tone conveys everything it needs to.
The agent shuts his mouth. The money disappears. And Tony makes another note to ask Janet to raise her commission price just a little bit more.
“Second-class may begin boarding at five the previous night,” the agent says.
“What happens if I show up earlier?” Tony asks.
The agent doesn’t say anything but he does look at his purse significantly. Tony nods again and makes a note to figure out which of his jewelry pieces he thinks he can part with.
Now
Most of the wall surrounding Stark Mansion is both well-guarded and well-kept. But there’s a spot back behind the garden where the guards sometimes go to do their business if they’re stationed away from the guardhouse. The wall back there is starting to crumble, just a little. Tony isn’t certain but after listening in on the mercenaries’ conversations for two months, he thinks it might be because it’s the spot where the whores will sometimes come to tease the mercenaries. And while they can’t go outside the wall for a tumble, they can certainly bring the whores in and it’s much easier to bring someone inside if the wall is falling apart.
This, Tony thinks ruefully, is why his father shouldn’t have hired mercenaries, but he can’t complain when it works out in his favor.
He steals across the grounds as quietly as he can, darting from shadow to shadow. His luck seems to have held out with the dogs at least, as they’re silently slumbering along the edges of the house. The guards may be another matter altogether but they’re all stationed at the wall. Beyond that, Tony doubts that they’re watching the grounds at all. They’re likely watching the streets outside.
There’s a guard back there now, peeing a pattern on the wall. Tony wrinkles his nose at the thought that he’ll have to climb over that spot but there’s nothing he can do about it now. He lurks behind one of the maple trees, hoping that the shadows are deep enough and the tree wide enough to hide his figure.
The guard doesn’t seem to notice him as he finishes. He fastens up his pants and then ambles back to his post, none the wiser that Tony is there. He waits until the man has faded out of earshot before he approaches the wall.
He stares up at it in trepidation. The problem is that, unlike when he’d been climbing out the window, he actually has no idea how to climb a wall, even one that’s falling apart. Now that he’s thinking about it, he probably should have stayed at Janet’s tonight and escaped from hers. He’d been so caught up in the romanticism of his escape that he probably hadn’t thought it through very well.
Nothing for it now , he thinks to himself. The drugged dogs, the desk moved closer to the window, the rope he’d had to leave behind—someone will figure out that he was trying to escape. He’ll never get another chance.
Tony digs one foot into one of the crumbling bits, reaches up with his opposite hand, and starts to climb.
It takes him longer than he’d like. He has to start over twice when he gets a few feet up and realizes that the next handhold is too far away for him to grasp. He tears up his hands, even through the thick gloves, and he skins his knee against the rough stone when he slips a bit, but he eventually makes it up and over the wall just before the next shift change.
He drops the last few feet to the ground and turns to face the city. He’s never had to face New York at night before, not alone and unescorted. He takes a deep breath. The only way out is through as Jarvis would say. Tony hitches his bag up higher on his shoulder and sets off into the darkened streets.
Two Days Ago
Tony is stuffing his bag back under his bed after yet another check of everything he’s packed when he hears Jarvis say, “Were you really going to leave without saying goodbye?”
He wouldn’t say that he jumps (though Jarvis probably would) but he’s certainly startled. As he extracts himself out from under the bed, he manages to slam his head against the underside of the bedframe and get his hair tangled in the siding.
“Ow,” he says plaintively.
He hears a long-suffering sigh and then slim fingers are picking through his curls, untangling them from the mattress. Tony slumps onto the floor, relaxing into the gentle touch. It reminds him of when he was younger and the old beta would brush his hair every night before bed. Jarvis hasn’t done that for a long time, not since Tony turned eight and insisted it wasn’t necessary anymore. Tony hadn’t realized how much he'd missed it. For a moment, he has to sit there and fight back tears because—for as much as he’s going to miss his parents, as much as he’ll miss Janet—he’s going to miss Jarvis the most.
Jarvis’ hand reaches back out to help pull him to his feet. He casts a critical eye over Tony’s dusty clothes and begins dusting him off briskly, nearly distracting Tony from him repeating, “Now, Master Anthony, you weren’t really planning to leave without saying goodbye, now were you?”
Tony jerks his head up to gape at him. “You knew?” he asks. There’s no use in denying it.
“The servants know everything,” Jarvis reminds him and that’s certainly true. Jarvis had always seemed to know when Tony had stolen an extra cookie or trampled through his prized garden. After a second, Jarvis’ gaze softens. “I’m glad you’re going. I told your parents not to accept Lord Stone’s suit but your father needed the mining contracts.”
“I almost fell for it,” Tony admits shamefully. That’s been the worst part of the whole ordeal, the fact that Tony, with all his brains, had fallen for Tiberius’ pretty looks and suave charms.
“Almost ,” Jarvis says gently, “is not the same as did . You saw through his lies.”
Tony’s throat clicks with unshed tears. He hasn’t cried since the night he found out about Tiberius’ true nature but he’s sure that as soon as he gets away, the stress will finally overwhelm him. “I wanted to break off the engagement,” he whispers. “But after Sunset—”
Jarvis doesn’t say anything. There really isn’t anything that he can say. After Tony’s first ruined engagement, a second would ostracize him from society and quite possibly ruin his prospects. But Tony running away will just as surely put a black stain on the family’s reputation. He’s fairly certain that Howard will be able to recover but it won’t be easy. Tony had even considered staging his own kidnapping but he doesn’t want Tiberius to try to follow him.
“Ana’s family still lives in Buda,” Jarvis says eventually. “And while mine are mostly gone, there are still some people in London who remember the name Jarvis. We could send you with letters of introduction.”
“I think I’ll need to avoid England altogether,” Tony says quietly. “And if Tiberius goes looking for me, the first place he’ll start is with your family.”
Jarvis nods sadly. “Ana and I thought you would say that.” He clicks his tongue and holds his arms out for a hug. Gladly, Tony moves in, wrapping his arms tightly around the butler. “We don’t want to send you out into the world alone. It won’t be easy for an unmarried omega, even one as clever as you.”
“I thought I could find work as a tutor maybe,” Tony suggests.
“You deserve so much more than that.”
Tony smiles to himself. That’s just like Jarvis, always wanting the best for Tony. “I’ll write when I can,” he promises.
Jarvis chuckles and maybe his laugh sounds a little watery but Tony sees no reason to point it out. “No you won’t.”
No, Tony probably won’t. He’s dreadful at remembering to write letters even to his grandparents. He’ll probably keep putting off writing to Jarvis until he’s certain it will be safe, at which point he’ll have completely forgotten. But he doesn’t want to say that. He wants to hold onto the illusion that he won’t forget Jarvis and Jarvis won’t forget him. He wants to pretend that one day he’ll be able to come home again and everything will be like normal.
There’s a small clinking noise as Jarvis withdraws a leather pouch from his pocket. He presses it into Tony’s hand. “Ana and I have been saving this for you.”
“Jarvis, no,” Tony protests. “I can’t take this.” He doesn’t know what it was originally meant for but judging from the weight of it, it’s probably everything Jarvis has earned over the last month.
“Master Anthony,” Jarvis says insistently. “You’ll need to get as far as you can. Let me and Ana help.”
“But—”
Jarvis brushes Tony’s curls out of his face. “We’ve helped raise you since you were barely an infant. We have no children but you are as good as. Let us help you start a new life.”
And Tony wants to protest but Jarvis is right. He does need to get as far as he can. He’s already going through money quickly just with the passage on the ship and the bribes he had to pay to the Cunard Line’s agent. He has no idea how much more he’ll have to spend before he reaches his journey’s end. He closes his hand around the pouch and whispers, “I’ll make you proud. You’ll see.”
Jarvis smiles sadly. “My darling boy, you already have.”
Now
The porter looks at him oddly when he boards before sunrise but ultimately doesn’t say anything. Tony doesn’t even have to use the bribe money he’d put aside in anticipation. Instead, he strolls up the gangplank and gets his bag stowed in his stateroom and spends the rest of the time waiting in his bunk until they’re just about ready to cast off. Then he makes his way back to the first-class deck.
It’s probably foolish of him. He has no idea if Tiberius will be at the dock looking for him. But he wants to be able to see his homeland one more time before he leaves it behind forever. Doesn’t he deserve that at least?
He scans the crowd watching the ship depart, looking for any sign of Tiberius or his friends. He doesn’t spot any of them but, to Tony’s immense surprise, he does catch sight of Ana and Jarvis both watching the ship anxiously. He casts one more look around the dock and then, when he thinks he’s clear, he raises his hand to wave. He’s not even certain if they’ll see him. In fact, he’s almost completely certain that they won’t. But it makes him feel better, knowing that his last glimpse of New York will be the sight of Ana and Jarvis.
And then, as the ship pulls out into the harbor, Jarvis catches sight of him. He taps his wife’s shoulder urgently before pointing at Tony. Ana’s face brightens and she blows him a kiss. Tony laughs delightedly and blows one back at her. He waves until they’re no more than tiny specks on the horizon.
Then, and only then, does Tony turn to look east—toward the sea and whatever better future awaits him.