Thinking again about the three times Bunny and Raffles lived together, about the three dynamics they took on and the circumstances around them.
Because the rest cure is an outlier in the Albany era. They never lived together as flatmates, despite Bunny's mount street rooms being up for rent since the very beginning, it is just never suggested as a possibility. It's a line they never cross, and never want to; Raffles only gave Bunny his key because he felt he had to return the favour.
But there's that one week, that offer seemingly extended on impulse, but then why was Raffles seeking him out to begin with? There's the bedrooms and the breakfasts and the whisky and the dress and this tiny incident of domesticity which is a play-act of a life Bunny had once imagined for himself and something altogether different for Raffles, because even this is still a balancing act, still burning the candle at both ends, still building a foundation of half truths and being unsurprised when it caves in.
(Also, Bunny's role in this story as forcibly 'stay at home' is really interesting to me and all of the subtext and text about this very gendered externalisation of their dynamic just absolutely begs to be read into by somebody with more tact than i have.)
Then it's Earl's court, and they've both changed more than they're willing or able to admit and they're both raw and desperate and grieving a hundred different things which will never be the same, and a live in nurse is the only suitable excuse for this cantankerous old man without a friend in the world to have somebody close. They're together, under pretence, and under the eye of anyone who cared to peek into that little flat. Bunny sleeps on a cot like he must have slept on Raffles' settee when he was young and conflicted and could afford to drink too much, and Raffles lies in his sickbed knowing that for the first time in their lives he need only call. But the real way they live together here is by always knowing, always following, always being aware of the other and his absence or presence. They live together in that when Raffles is gone Bunny knows it by the door closing behind him. They live together in that they slink around on their shared roof in pyjamas, in that when Raffles hints at a crime Bunny rejoices in it. There are secrets, of course, there will always be secrets, but it's become much harder to hide.
then, finally in every sense, ham common. Raffles is somebody new again, but closer to himself than he had been, so close he uses his own name. Though, not really. A.J would be reserved for the two of them together, and not another soul would breathe the name; for his now is Mr Ralph Manders. They watch two summers goes by together in that cottage, they find themselves a compromise, many compromises, too many, really, though the most trying ones are made with circumstance itself. They must stay close, they must stay low, they must be contented with being alive and together. The landlady loves Raffles, and she is kind enough to Bunny that he spares her name in his recounting of that time. They take bicycle rides in the park and out at night to pick their next mark, they eat their meals at the same table, though Raffles no longer cooks, they take their papers and their walks and they try not to feel the loss of what they used to be. Bunny has started writing a new novel. He calls it The Amateur Cracksman knowing he'll never tell the story wherein Raffles renounces the title. They are family, they are quiet, they are trapped in consequence and the cracks have been showing for far longer than than Bunny wants to admit. They have never shared a bedroom for longer than the night, but they will share a tent for the rest of their lives together.
