Chapter Text
As anyone who has ever been searching to buy a house will tell you, it is not an easy task. And it is certainly not a cheap one either. Once again the former military men had had their socks knocked off by the prices of the houses in and around London, and had quickly decided that living in London might not be for them anyway. Outside of the ridiculously high cost of living in the city, it was also very much a fast-paced way of modern life that neither of them were quite sure they were suited for yet. The hustle and bustle of the big city could sometimes be quite much, and though they both loved the city dearly, they felt like a quieter life would suit them much, much better at this time of their life.
Captain was nervous about going to look for houses for all of two reasons.
Reason 1 was that they would of course be looking for a house… away from Button house. This was to captain not a big problem in itself, in fact- he had been the one to make the suggestion. But after years and years of staying in a house with eight other people, he’d grown used to there always being someone around. It wasn’t so much the moving into the new house, but it was the moving out of the old house that he couldn’t seem stop getting a bit slightly emotional over.
Reason 2 was, that being an official couple in want of a residence, they would of course be looking for a house… together. William had been the best partner Theo could have ever asked for, but somewhere in the back of his mind he had doubts about moving in with another man. What would the neighbours think? What would they talk about all day? Would they truly be happy together, settled into their own lives- completely separate from the life he’d spent at Button house for the last 80-odd years? Would William not tire of him?
William Havers, on the other side of the car, was behind the wheel- having a bit of a panic of his own. He had been waiting for Theo to be ready to move on from Button house for a few months now, wanting nothing more to have the man for himself. It was selfish, he knew- taking the man away from the family he’d spent so long developing bonds with. But he’d also realised it might have been a positive thing for Captain to start his own life back up again. He was no longer a ghost at any rate, and it would do nobody any good if he’d continue to act like one. Captain had fully stood behind the statement when he’d brought it up, and then suggested they should go out looking for a small house of their own.
But the thing was, they’d spent so long browsing the papers, the internet (the correct operation of which was a major victory to them), and even the local realtor had not been able to find anything that fit their criteria anywhere near Horsley. William then, about two weeks ago, had been laying on the bed next to Theo, when he’d sat up with a gasp. He’d remembered one particular instance of his travels, one that had refused to stop clinging to the back of his mind. One of salty air, a small house with a large front yard and an older him with a face that seemed far less troubled than he'd seen on himself in a long, long time.
He could of course, forget that memory… to try and make a completely new future for them altogether.
But... what harm could it do to look around?
William, with a grin, had turned to Theo and whispered: “What do you think of Brighton?”
That was how they ended up here, in the car, on their way to the sixth open house of the week. Though William had gotten a quite a good look around him when he ended up in the future, he had yet to recognise anything from it in the present. They’d viewed five houses around Brighton so far, and none of them had been the small house with the amazing yard he’d seen in his future. But to be completely honest with himself, he’d nearly forgotten what the house had even looked like. He remembers the big and lush garden framing wide windows, walls of a small house covered in Ivy. Theo hadn’t been very enthusiastic about any of them either. Arriving at the last place, he could already tell that this was not the same house at all. He was almost ready to give up the search and ask Theo if they should just go home, when they spotted their realtor’s red Kia Rio park across the street from them. He supposed it would be rude to just drive off now, when they’d made her come all this way. They parked the car and quickly got out when they saw their realtor get out of her own car- a young but ambitious, warm woman whose smile was always as bright as that twinkle in her eye when she got to talking about the properties she was selling.
“There you are!” She welcomed them with a bright smile, before continuing on.
“You are lucky, this one isn’t even officially on the market yet! It’s still being made ready for official open houses, which is why it isn’t in the best shape yet. But from the things you both told me this could be exactly what you’re looking for, so I made some arrangements for you.” She began. She started explaining about the house almost right away, opening the gate and leading them onto the cracked paved driveway leading up to the house. The lawn that spread on either side of the asphalt was either in very dire need of some rain, or already dead, a few brave poppies stubbornly clinging on to life here and there. If William was honest, it was a bit of a pathetic sight. Captain didn’t seem to notice the neglected garden, instead focussing on the house itself.
“And as you can see this neighbourhood is absolutely excellent. It’s very close to the sea, so in the summer you’ll practically have the beach as your backyard!” The realtor was blabbing on about the house, and how it was an older property that had not been renovated in a while. “But I suppose that builds character, doesn’t it?” she jokes, jamming the key into the front door, opening it. It groaned as it did so, its hinges obviously in need of some oil or grease. The hallway was small, but not overly so. The wallpaper was hideous, and the dresser pressed against the side of the hall was covered in a thick layer of dust. Needless to say, the first impression on William was not great- along with the fact that this once again looked nothing like the house he saw in the future, made him doubtful this was going to go anywhere. But as William glanced the Captain’s way, the other man glancing past the woman into the living room beyond the open hallway door, the look on his face already told him everything he needed to know.
Theo had already absolutely fallen in love with this house.
They were lead into the living room, a spacious room with a big but uncomfortable looking sofa, and a solid wooden coffee table that underneath the grime could potentially be quite nice. But Theo wasn’t looking at the furniture, he was looking around wildly, taking in as much as he could. “Look at the size of this room! And the windows! Look at the way the light falls into the room. Absolutely magnificent. And look!” He says, barely containing his excitement. “The roof has original support beams, how beautiful would they look should we paint the ceiling white and leave the beams bare.”
He was right though, looking around the living room. The massive windows, that almost stretched from floor to ceiling, with a glass door in the middle leading to the backyard, a backyard that was practically bordering the beach. In the distance he could see the sea, its waves lapping softly at the shore. The front windows, not as big as the back ones, but still stretching over halfway down the wall, let in the bright late July sunbeams, its light illuminating the tiny dust particles dancing in the air around them. If William would be willing to set aside his itchy nose for a second, he’d almost say they made it look like the entire room was sparkling.
William followed Captain as he moved on to the kitchen. The cabinets were old, but according to the realtor ‘only needed a good clean’. And sure, he’d heard that before in one or two of the other houses, but once he saw the kitchen his mouth dropped. He’d always been a fan of cooking, and had been meaning to get back into it as a passive hobby. However the modern kitchens had been the bane of his existence for the last few months. He could not for the life of him work out how to correctly cook on an electric stove. This kitchen however, was an absolutely gorgeous late thirties styled kitchen, along with a black and flowery decorated gas oven, a matching gas stove and the exterior of an older refrigerator- where they had very cleverly hidden a newer fridge inside. Havers might be a fan of the older appliances, but he’d quickly learned refrigerators had come a very long way since the nineteen fourties, and he was not sure he could ever go back to those.
This kitchen, along with it’s white marble countertop and the small black cabinets, was already his favourite place in any of the houses they’d seen so far. Captain seemed to be in awe as well, opening the oven and cabinets to inspect their storage space.
They’d toured the whole house like that, finding most rooms in fairly good condition compared to the living room. It had three bedrooms, one bathroom and two toilets. They were all styled horribly old-fashioned, but Captain and Havers were probably the only two people who would not mind the older style as much. The realtor ended the tour at the backdoor, opening it and stepping out into the backyard, which wrapped around the entire house and connected to the front lawn. The grass here was equally as dead as the grass in the front, but at the back of the garden William spotted a surprisingly well-maintained greenhouse. He pointed it out to the lady, and she smiled. “Oh yes! The previous owner used to love gardening. The entire backyard would be filled with flowers during the spring and summer. The entire neighbourhood would walk past to take a look at them! He’d had the greenhouse built a few years ago to continue his hobby during the harsh winter month.” She informed them with a fond smile on her face.
“I actually love gardening as well. I used to work in a flower shop.” Havers replies smoothly, quickly involving the woman in a conversation about different kinds of flowers, while Captain went back inside to inspect the wood on those beams again.
Nearly an hour later the couple stood outside on the curb again, the realtor closing the front gate to the garden back up. As she gets up from the low gate she shoots them both a smile. “It was lovely to see you again. And I must say, I don’t think I’ve seen either of you this interested in any of the previous houses I showed you. I personally think this one could be a perfect match for you. Should you want a second viewing, or perhaps another property…” she said, tapping her phone. “you know how to reach me.” She paused for a second, smiling knowingly as she took in how both men took one last glance towards the house before she turned around and left. “Although something tells me you won’t need to.” She said to herself once she was out of earshot.
William had decided right there, that it didn’t matter what house he’d seen in his future. The only thing that mattered was that Theo, and by extension him- had instantly connected to the house. None of the other houses had seemed as perfect to them as this one had, despite it needing some extra love and a personal touch here and there.
Not even a week later they’d completed the purchase.
A month later they received the key.
It was eight months after that their entire garden was overflowing with colourful flowers, Ivy starting to climb its way onto the sides of the house, sneakily framing the windows on the front.
A year after that they’d gotten a dog- which they'd aptly called Barry Jr- and life to them could not have been more perfect.
It wasn’t until almost twelve years later when he pulled his recently painted green front door closed after him (rather a bit too harshly, as he had tended to do for the past fourteen years), carrying a bag that held a regency costume dress and his coat he hadn’t had time to put on, just answering a phone call from ‘Teddy’, that turned out to be his daughter on his husband’s phone, that he got that all-encompassing feeling of déja vu. During the last fourteen years he’d travelled a lot, so the feeling wasn’t a new thing to him. But he’d learned a lot over the years, both within his relationship with Teddy and about his abilities.
He’d learned how to accurately jump to specific points, both in the future AND the past. He’d practised sending other people back into the past with a single touch - even learning that he could put up a ‘mental shield’ as he’d like to call it, to stop himself from merging with his past self for just a few minutes. (that one took a lot of trial and error- not the most pleasant few months of his life, but incredibly worth it.) That feeling of déjà vu would usually subside within a few seconds, however today it only got stronger as he made his way down their (no longer paved) path down to the road where his car was parked.
‘Dad! Are you listening to me? You’re going to be late! Can’t you go by bike? Maybe it’ll be faster! I really need that costume…’ His daughter’s voice pressed through the speaker.
“Yes Darling, I know. But I still don’t think it’s a good idea…” He replied, he’d never been one for bikes. He still had a scar on the inside of his lip from that time he took the bike to the flower shop from Button House and he fell flat on his face.
“Okay… well, can you please hurry? I’m really nervous…” His daughter’s voice rang again. His heart swelled. This was her first performance with the theatre club at school, and in their hurry to get to rehearsals on time, they’d totally forgotten her costume at home. He’d rushed back to get it while Theo stayed with her.
“Yes I’ll hurry… Well it’s only a ten minute drive. Don’t worry, I’ll be on time.”
“This isn’t going to be like last year’s flash mob right?”
“No this is not like last year. I was there, remember?” He said, finally reaching the gate again as he fished his car keys out of his pocket. . I always find a way to be on ti-” Right at that moment he turned around, and he knew exactly what that feeling of déjà vu would not leave him alone. He froze in his tracks, as he stared right into the face of himself. Himself… from 15 years ago. God… where had the time gone? His younger self’s face was smooth, his hair not nearly as gray, and not a single wrinkle in sight. And he did not look like he was having a fun time travelling around for fun. In fact, William knew exactly what his younger self was doing there. He’d never forgotten that night. How could he? It was the night his life changed forever- in the most wonderful way.
He was pulled out of his thoughts by the voice of his daughter again.
“Dad? Are you still there?”
“I’ll call you back.” Was the only thing he could manage to force out before he put his phone down and hung up the call. They both stood frozen for a moment, staring at each other. He’d forgotten. How could he have forgotten this moment? This had been one of the most important moments of his life! Of course he’d known it was coming… but how was he to know it would be so soon? Reality really did hit when you least expected it, who would have thought?
Glancing at the time, that was getting dangerously close to the start of his daughter’s play, he decided to break the all-encompassing silence.
“What are you doing here?” He asked, in a hushed tone. He gently nudged his past self around the corner of his brick fence wall, behind a big bush and most importantly- out of sight of his neighbours. He supposed it would look very strange to be seen talking to someone who looks exactly like yourself but nearly fifteen years younger. He exhaled heavily, still unable to wrap his head around it. He just hadn’t been expecting this to happen today.
“God I should have remembered. How could I forget? I’ve lived through this. Good lord-” He says out loud without even thinking about it, realising that is exactly what his older self had said fifteen years ago, when he had been the one standing on the other side of this conversation.
William remembers this moment so well. Their entire interaction was engraved into his memory like the vows that were engraved on the inside of his wedding ring. He remembers thinking that older him had both seemed like a man that had his life together, and also a bit of a prick. But standing before his younger self, he had to do his best to hold in his smirk. It was easy to play it cool now, knowing the way things were going to end. He had the fortune of knowing that everything was going to turn out better than anyone had ever hoped, so for present him there were absolutely no stakes to this situation. For his past self however, who at this point had squeezed his eyes shut rather tightly in an attempt to stop himself from merging, this was still a vital and very tense moment of his life.
When his past self finally opened his eyes, after noticing no merge of any sort was happening, he opened his mouth too, whispering a soft: “H-how…”.
All he could give the man was a sheepish grin as he rubbed his neck (a nervous habit he’d picked up over the years).
“Well… I mean if you travel a lot you tend to forget the details… It’s not really that unco-“
“No, I meant how did we not… you know.” His younger self asked hesitantly.
“Oh! Merge! Yes! Good question, can’t answer. Spoilers I’m afraid. ” He replied quickly. He was enjoying this. He remembers it frustrating him to no end for years after this conversation- trying to figure out how to do it. Truth was, he couldn’t really explain even if he wanted to. Not with the time they had. It was something he had to figure out on his own, just like his younger self would come to do, in time.
“What do you mean? How is that possible? George said… and spoilers? Wait, what date is it?” William asked, clearly confused as all hell, but trying to keep it together.
“Ah, well. George doesn’t know everything apparently. And it’s December 10th, 2028.” He replied, checking the time again subtely.
“2028?! Wha-“ His younger self began, his voice rising subconsciously. William held out a hand, gesturing for the younger man to quiet down.
“Shh! Don’t want my entire street to know about this… incident.” He said, again in a hushed tone- stealing a glance back towards his house- and then his neighbour’s house.
“You live here?!” Younger William replied, checking out their home in disbelief.
“Yes! No!” God! He doesn’t remember getting the impression that his older self fumbled through this conversation this bad. “Look! I’ve already said too much. You need to leave.” He finally managed to finish, ushering his other self onto the street, where he would have more space to do what he was his older self still grateful for to this day.
“I’ll drop you off myself if I need to. I know where you were going anyhow.”
“No, I can handle it...” Younger William replied, despite them both knowing that was a mountain of a lie.
“...Probably. But about this merging thing-” he continued, before William cut him off.
“No! No more spoilers.” He said, getting nervous that maybe he’d revealed too much already. Had this been what his older self had said? Or had he said something else? His mind had suddenly gone completely blank. He decided it didn’t matter now anyway, he just needed the younger man gone. They both had important places to be.
“You’re going to have to find out for yourself. I had to, the me before me had to, you’ll get to- we’re all pricks. Now please leave. I have a play to attend that is starting in…” He paused to shove his bag and coat up his arm to see his watch. He could have checked his phone for convenience, since it was right there in his hand, but this was much more dramatic, don’t you think? “Twenty minutes. So goodbye, good luck and safe travels.” He said, bringing his finger over to William’s shoulder in one steady sweep, and doing what he had been practising for a few years now, sending someone else through time. To a specific time in this case. December 11th, 1945. He watched as the younger man disappeared in that signature swirl- in not even the span of half a second, and he was once again alone.
He silently wished his younger self good luck with a heavy sigh of relief- though he knew he wouldn’t really need it, and with a content smile grabbed his keys again and called back his daughter.
“Hello? Darling?” He said, pressing the phone to his ear as he unlocked the car and climbed inside.
“Hi! What was that about? Why did you hang up all of a sudden?”
“Sorry sweetheart, something came up. But I’m on my way now, I’ll make it to your play.”
“You better. See you in a few.”
“See you, Rebecca love.”
“Yeah, see you dad.”
And as he took one last glance at the house, he suddenly realised how he had not recognised this house when they’d first looked at it. It had been their future house, sure… But it hadn’t been their home.
Not yet.