"Salt and Sensibility" - Crimson Peak, Thomas Sharpe

[RiversD]

This is pretty short, but I figured it could have it's own topic. Set after Thomas and Edith's wedding, on the voyage to his ancestral home. Before everything went Lucille-shaped, essentially.

Fandom: Crimson Peak

Character: Sir Thomas Sharpe, Baronet.

Summary: Too much sea air makes Thomas sneezy. Edith loves him regardless.

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There were a few minutes left before luncheon became an important concern. Edith lay back on her bunk, listening to the thrum of the ship’s engines and pondering the strangeness of her life. Her father’s death seemed at one and the same time to have happened worlds away and yesterday. And she was married, before the law in any case. Orphaned, married, and now carried away, every minute taking her further away from all that was familiar and beloved to her.

Well, not all that she loved, of course. Thomas was coming with her. Life by his side would be worth all the oceans crossed, she was sure of it.

As she meditated on her choices, she became aware of an unusual noise coming from the cabin next to hers- Thomas’, she recalled after a moment’s thought. She sat upright on the bed and listened more closely.

There it was again, a small, desperate sound too arrhythmical to have an inanimate source, but sufficiently muffled by the partition that she could not be certain exactly what it signified.

Another soft rush of sound, this one followed by an unmistakable moan. Something was wrong.

Her own troubles temporarily set aside, Edith rose and went to investigate what could be troubling her husband. She stepped out into the long corridor that ran the length of the passenger decks and knocked on his cabin door.

Thomas answered quickly, and at first she thought he might have been crying. His eyes were damp, his hair beginning to disarrange into its natural wild curls, and there was a flush creeping along the fine curve of his cheekbones.

“Edith?”

She hesitated on the threshold, realising too late that she hadn’t planned what she was going to say.

“I thought I heard- Is everything alright?”

Thomas blinked uncertainly at her for a moment or two, and then turned swiftly away with a soft gasp, raising the handkerchief he had held crumpled in his right hand.

“Forgive me, Edith, I-” the words stumbled to a halt and he sneezed ticklishly into the handkerchief.

“hh’etschhue! Excuse me.”

He straightened up with an irritated sniff, and Edith realised that not only were his cheeks flushed, but his nostrils too. Those subtle curves were usually as alabaster-pale and composed as the rest of his face, but now they were an inflamed shade of pink and captivatingly… active.

She recovered her manners and asked;

“God bless you, Thomas. Are you well?”

“Quite.” Thomas shot her a reassuring smile as he made his way to one of the small armchairs inside the cabin. “Though I suspect I spent a little too long on deck this morning.”

He paused, apparently becoming aware of the faint congestion misting his voice. He gave a sharp sniff to clear it and cringed, his face taking on an aspect of taut anticipation as his breath caught high in his throat. Then the moment passed, and he relaxed back into his accustomed composure. He continued, somewhat sheepishly;

“An overindulgence of salt air can take me in this way, I’m afraid. The pity is that the damage is generally done long before I realise anything’s amiss.”

He thumbed bashfully at the reddened arch of one nostril, which flinched from the touch and set his breath hitching towards the precipice again.

This time the moment came to fruition and he tipped over the edge with a helpless gasp and a vigorous sneeze.

“hh’echt’ssheue!”

Edith hovered over him in wordless concern, blessing arrested on her lips as she watched his face.

The irritation hadn’t been fully dealt with, that much was obvious. Thomas’ eyes were rapidly flooding as his nose, a few inches above the waiting handkerchief, twitched and flared in indecision. Trapped in torturous limbo, he gasped once, twice, three times, and mercifully spilled over into another purging sneeze.

“hh’TSSCH’eue! ohh…”

“Bless you!” said Edith, feeling almost as relieved as he looked. He dabbed at his eyes and she squeezed his shoulder in sympathy.

“Perhaps I had better collect luncheon enough for both of us, and we can eat together here,” she suggested.

Thomas lifted his head to look at her. He seemed genuinely surprised.

“Are you sure you wouldn’t rather spare yourself my company while I’m…”

He wrinkled his nose and sniffed wetly, whether for emphasis or from unavoidable need, it was hard to tell. Edith frowned at him, though there was no real censure in her looks. She was wondering just how little kindness Thomas had been shown before, that he should look at her with such bewilderment now.

“Now, what kind of wife would I be if I wanted that? In any case, I’m hardly likely to catch salt-sneezing from you.”

Thomas’s cheeks blushed prettily in the light from the window, and he smiled. Weak though it was, it seemed almost more genuine than all the smiles he had shown her yet.

“Then I should like that very much, Edith. Thank you.”

[Subtly Clashing Wishes]

Aww... So sweet. 

[Spoo]

I already flailed at you about this on Tumblr, but AHHHH!  I'm always jazzed to see Crimson Peak/Thomas Sharpe material. Your details are lovely and I love the setting. Like, I would have never even thought of their time spent sailing?? In fact, you might have inspired me...

This bit right here was just  :

 

On 5/1/2017 at 11:04 PM, RiversD said:

“An overindulgence of salt air can take me in this way, I’m afraid. The pity is that the damage is generally done long before I realise anything’s amiss.”

He thumbed bashfully at the reddened arch of one nostril, which flinched from the touch and set his breath hitching towards the precipice again.

This time the moment came to fruition and he tipped over the edge with a helpless gasp and a vigorous sneeze.

 

Edith is so sweet (POOR GIRL), and it's cute how she and Thomas interact.  Lovely lovely fic!

[RiversD]

On 03/05/2017 at 11:57 PM, Spoo said:

In fact, you might have inspired me...

*rubs hands together*

The best possible outcome...