An Earl’s Apology (Closed Rp)
Continued from here / @orderedheart
If there was anything, and there was quite a lot, that Charles Grey was good at... well, among those things included negative traits - instigating situations, arguments even, and saying things that he had never meant to say. Lashing out, some called it, and perhaps that was accurate. He had never really known why he behaved that way, though certain causes for irritability likely played a role in it these days, not to mention this odd sense of jealousy he felt over things that held no merit to such an emotion...
A bit of dwelling on these thoughts, regardless, quickly proved that he hadn’t had a right to lash out this time. His own voice echoed in his head, filled with toxicity: ‘I hate you!’
‘Why... why did I say that to him?’
That thought was the final straw in deciding that he, in fact, needed to apologize. Poking his head into the office space that Phipps had settled in, his own thoughts rolled from his tongue before any actual apology could, but the attempt was something that his partner could figure out... more or less.
“Quite... Of course I didn’t.”
A faint sigh, and at first, the words were rather mumbled. Now that, in and of itself, was proof that Grey genuinely felt bad about this one. After all, servant or not, he was still an Earl - and nobles aren’t to be caught dead mumbling, of all things. Yet there he was, leaned against a doorway, doing precisely that - eyes even downcast despite his usual attempt at a near-royal demeanor.
These quiet words hung in the air for a moment, and then another sigh passed his lips before silver eyes finally flickered to look at his partner - the look was brief, and then they flickered back down; in the same moment, he shifted into the room properly, swallowing down the rest of his pride. What happened next, it wasn’t something that anyone other than Her Majesty had gotten from him - genuinely, that is - more than once, and surely his partner had never: Just as the Earl’s frown sharpened, he shifted to pull an actual bow, his tone briefly taking on that of his butler demeanor despite the fact that, in all technically, he was above the other in class.
“My apologies.
Such behavior was entirely uncalled for.”
Grey paused briefly, as any servant in the world would have - despite being so much more than most ordinary servants - and then straightened his back once more. Even his usual, casual slouch was gone. Remorse was not a common feeling for him, but his actions proved clear-as-day that he felt it this time.
