The Gilded Cage: Chapter 4
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And we're back again! Inspo is still low, teetering on writers block :/ This one is short, and doesn't have a lot of whump in it, full disclosure, but I needed to write one in Tyus's pov because I love him more than life itself. (I also wanted to give Mutt a quick break before things get bad.)
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Content: Pet whump, Dehumanization, Aftermath of whump, Fluff/no hurt, Caretaker heavy, A lot of fluff. Mutt is refered to as 'boy' in this one, but he is eighteen. Tyus is nineteen, and I didn't feel right calling Mutt 'man' 😂
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Guilt. Tyus had felt guilt plenty of times in his life. Though, looking back, the things he was blamed for mostly weren’t his fault, This, however, was.
He had tried to sleep, truly. Mutt would’ve felt bad if he didn’t. But every strike of lightning that night only reminded him that his closest friend, perhaps his only, was out in that storm, in a rusty cage, because of him.
So, all night, even after the rain stopped, he laid awake in his cot while the other staff around him slept peacefully, blissfully carefree of their boss, who was out in the rain.
Rivia had been furious with him. Like… worse than he had ever seen her. But he couldn’t blame her for that.
“Why can’t you ever take the fall for your own mistakes!?” She had whispered harshly not long after Burtsie had come back in.
Tyus had stammered, trying to muster some form of defense Something along the lines that Mutt had been the one to not say anything. That technically Mutt wasn’t in trouble for Tyus, he was in trouble for talking. But Rivia had just stormed off.
Tyus couldn’t blame her.
She and Mutt had been close ever since she started working, and Mutt had taken the fall for him nearly every time Tyus almost got into trouble. He didn’t know why, but every time Tyus did something dumb, or wrong, Mutt would do something dumber to draw attention away from it.
The first three times, Tyus considered it a coincidence. But then when it kept happening, he realized it was purposeful. Mutt had been saving him. Saving him from going back onto the streets.
He didn’t understand why. When he first met Mutt, he was so certain that the guy hated him. Like… a lot. Sure, he wasn’t rude, but he seemed to not want Tyus around at all.
He was sixteen when he started working for Norrix. He hadn’t wanted to, but his stepfather kicked him out at fifteen, and he had been desperate for any form of work.
Mutt and Tyus had become close fast. Overly fast, honestly.
Even though Tyus was older by a year, Mutt had always looked out for him.
Originally, he was first hired to be Mutt’s assistant. He followed him around with a little clipboard and a stick of charcoal. Originally, he hadn’t really been needed for day-to-day life, only when Norrix was hosting a party or a ball so Mutt didn’t forget anything.
But Norrix kept him on for day-to-day too, only thanks to a bunch of begging from Tyus.
He remembered the first time Mutt and he actually had a conversation.
He had been chasing after him during the planning of a ball, checking everything off that Mutt shouted back at him. It wasn’t until they stopped in the doorway down to the gardens that they paused.
“Uhm… so, I know this might seem… odd, but, how would I go about… asking for an advance on pay?” Tyus had asked.
Mutt had looked at him like his hair had spontaneously lit . “You…You want an advance your second week working?”
Tyus remembered losing all nerve. “Uh–I well, I only meant—I-I’d like to be able to afford a room in an inn, perhaps? I-I am currently sleeping in a hayloft and bathing in the creek, so I just hoped—”
Mutt had cut him off with an incredulous stare, then shook his head and walked away, yelling about how the servants were moving the flowers wrong. Tyus thought all hope was lost, until he was called into Norrix’s office.
Apparently Mutt had said he wanted Tyus to have room and board at the estate, and before Tyus knew it, he was sleeping in more than hay and bathing in an actual tub, not a secluded river in the outskirts of the city walls. And eventually he was promoted to being an actual servant, which he could feel Mutt’s fingerprints all over that little miracle.
Tyus had always wanted to repay him, but it seemed his debt to Mutt grew larger with every mistake he made.
Now, his mistake had landed Mutt in much worse conditions than ever before.
That morning, Tyus watched from the servants passage when Mutt was brought in, and Tyus thought the boy had never looked more like his namesake.
He was still sopping wet, even though it had stopped raining at some point in the night. His hair, usually a silky, smooth, black waterfall down his back, had been pulled free of the braided style and the strands fell around his face like limp noodles. He was shivering so hard it was a miracle he was still standing.
“Have you learned your lesson?” Nash asked, utterly pleased with the state of his prized pooch.
“Yes, Master.” Mutt choked out between his chattering teeth.
“Good. Go warm up. Your chittering is already getting on my nerves.” Nash waved a dismissive hand as he turned down the hall. “You have one hour. I want you waiting outside the door for breakfast.”
Mutt stood there for a minute after he left, then started moving towards the servant’s quarters.
Tyus was following him before he could really think about the consequences.
He really hoped Mutt wasn’t mad at him, but he also couldn’t understand how he wouldn’t be. Tyus knew he wasn’t good at his job. He thought things too literally, and overthought everything if an order or preference was implied rather than stated.
He knew that. Mutt knew it too. So, why has Mutt never gotten angry with him? Frustrated? Yes. Exasperated? Frequently. But never angry. Why?
It was a question Tyus wasn’t sure he wanted the answer to.
“Mutt!” He called after him when he realized he wasn’t turning around or noticing he was following him.
He did, and his entire posture eased like Tyus had cut the string keeping his back straight.
“Oh, hey, Ty.” He greeted softly, letting his friend catch up before he kept moving. “How’d the rest of the evening go?”
Tyus hesitated. He couldn’t believe how domestic Mutt was being with him. Though, it shouldn’t have been a surprise, after all, this was the same guy who had a private birthday party planned for him just days after Tyus had gotten him taken to the stocks.
“Uhm, fine.” Tyus said plainly, slowing his pace so he didn’t move too quickly for the shivering servant to keep up. “I mean, Burtsie was foul, and screamed at all the staff for like… ten minutes afterwards. And Rivia is fuming at me because it was my fault you were sent out, and Norrix has—”
Mutt stopped in his tracks, cutting Tyus off. “Why is Rivia angry with you? You didn’t do anything.”
“But… it was my fault you were put out there.” Tyus admitted softly.
Mutt rolled his eyes. “It was not. Nash is just a crybaby. She’ll get over it, and if she doesn’t, tough. Technically, that’s between you and me, and I’m not mad.”
Tyus and Mutt resumed their march down the marble corridor. They went in silence, until a rather violent shudder raked through Mutt, causing him to stop again.
“Oh… how mad do you think he’d be if I just fell asleep in the hall?” He asked, and based on the dark circles around his eyes, Tyus wouldn’t put it past him.
So, he did what his father used to do for him when he was tired, and bent his knees to a crouch.
There was silence. Then a snort that sounded like it would have been a giggle, had Mutt not choked it back.
“I’m confused.” Mutt said, voice still on the edge of a l. “You want me to climb on your back?”
Tyus glanced back at him with a grin. “Don’t sound too excited.”
“I’ll get your uniform all wet.” He protested, but the shivers were still ripping through him, which really muted his point.
“I’ll change while you’re warming up.” Tyus nodded. “Now get on before I scoop you up bridal style.”
Mutt groaned, but Tyus felt him clamber up behind him, muttering something about being called a pig. Once Mutt was securely on his back, he took off down the hall.
Mutt went boneless against his back, chin on Tyus’ shoulder. He was still shivering, but it was less violent now. Not like he had warmed, like his body was just too exhausted to remember how to function.
“I really am sorry, Mutt.” Tyus whispered. “I’ll make it up to you, though. I swear.”
“It’s really okay, Ty.” Mutt assured him with a sigh. “I’m not upset, just a little waterlogged.”
Tyus didn’t know what to say to that, so he didn’t say anything. They just moved in silence through the halls.
The corridors blurred past them, but the only thing on Tyus’s mind was not dropping the boy on his back. He hadn’t slept a wink, and his muscles weren’t as up to the task as he thought.
Rather than the exhaustion reigning over him, he focused on the scuff of his boots as he made it down the hall, and the polite nods he gave to some bewildered staff as he passed them. He focused on the snoring.
…Wait, snoring?
He froze where he was.
“Mutt?” He whispered, shifting him higher on his back.
No response.
Sweet stars, Mutt had fallen asleep.
The boy was dead weight against his back, chin resting on Tyus’s shoulder as he snored softly into his ear. Well, at least Mutt trusted him enough to fall asleep around him. Though he supposed he slept on a cot in Norrix’s room for the past six years, so it probably wasn’t the compliment Tyus thought it was.
He didn’t want to wake him, Mutt probably had gotten as much sleep as Tyus did, after all, but also, he only had an hour to be back outside the dining hall.
So, he eased his steps, but still hustled.
He knew Mutt had his private closet, and his own private bathing area, perks of being owned, Tyus guessed, but Tyus wasn’t about to just drop him in a closet and wake him up after five minutes, so instead he took him to the actual servant’s quarters.
He plopped him down on Tyus’s cot and covered him with the thin, pale blanket all the staff got. Mutt didn’t stir. He didn’t even shift, just kinda nestled deeper into the blankets.
Tyus paused before he could walk away.
Very rarely did Mutt ever look that at peace. Sure, Tyus hadn’t made it a habit to sneak into Norrix’s room just to watch Mutt sleep, obviously, that’d be creepy.
But, even in the day to day, Mutt always had tension in his shoulders. He talked big behind their backs, but when he was with Nash and Norrix, he never got smaller.
Maybe that was intentional. Maybe he acted small the same way Tyus acted dumb around anyone who wasn’t Mutt.
Being dumb was safe for Tyus. It had gotten him out of more mistakes than Mutt had. Maybe Mutt felt the same way about being small. Maybe being small was how Mutt survived.
It didn’t sit right. He’d always known how Mutt was treated was wrong. He’d always hated it, but he’d also known there was nothing he could do about it.
Now, seeing Mutt find peace in slumber while his waking world was like walking on a tightrope above fire ants, Tyus finally felt like he didn’t have a choice anymore. Something had to be done. If not by him, then by someone else.
~Taglist~
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