Riker laid the breakfast tray down on the nightstand and moved to the large window to briskly open the curtains. Morning sunlight flooded the room. It looked like today would have a splendid weather.

The covers in the bed moved, accompanied by a weary groan. "I'm tired. Let me sleep..."

He returned to the bed and rolled the covers back to reveal tousled brown hair, followed by bare back and arms. "Young master, you have two meetings before lunch. You need to wake up now."

The first reply he got was a non-committed grunt. Then, "What's with the formal tone? Forgot my name already?"

Riker smiled fondly. "Oscar, you know that valets shouldn't be too...casual with their masters."

"I know." Oscar sat up and stretched his arms above his head. "Lots of things valets shouldn't be doing with their masters. My father isn't here, and Mother doesn't say anything as long as it stays in the house."

Riker poured him a cup of tea and gave him a quick kiss before stepping away. "I will bring your clothes in a minute. And a washcloth."

Oscar yawned. "Just how can you be so awake and alert already?"

He chuckled. "Part of the job. Although I do hope to catch a few hours of sleep while you are out, especially if you have plans for tonight again."

It had all started as a casual fling. He had first run into the very drunk young nobleman on the streets a few years ago, but somehow – instead of pulling a carriage over for him or something – he had ended up taking Oscar home with him. After a very...heated moment in the alley behind some bar. He had not exactly been sober either, so the details were a little hazy in his memory. He had thought that would be all, that they'd never meet again after that morning, but he had soon found out that Oscar had different ideas.

Long story short, Oscar had known exactly what he wanted and had even gone as far as hiring nothing more than an uneducated factory worker as his personal manservant – apparently there had been some problems with his habit to sneak into poorer neighborhoods at night.

At first, Riker had only seen it as his ticket to a better life. They had always had great chemistry in bed, but that alone would not have pulled him away from his familiar surroundings. No, this way he could become something more than just another expendable worker who lived and died dirt poor. But by the time he had learned the ins and outs of the high society life and could have struck out on his own, he didn't want to leave. Oscar had completely captured him with his easy charm.

He straightened out the last wrinkles in the young master's shirt, folded his clothes on one arm and grabbed the water basin with his other hand. Oscar had quite a lot to do taking care of the family business here while his father traveled and built trade relations abroad, but maybe they'd have time for a picnic in the garden in the afternoon. Oscar's cousin Charlotte would probably be happy to accompany them, to make it seem more socially acceptable.

Sometimes he wondered if it was more common than he thought for manservants to have "forbidden" relationships with their masters. Many certainly seemed willing to accommodate for their closeness and yet keep quiet, even though they probably had their theories. Women could be scarily intuitive, after all.

Oscar would marry eventually, of course. He didn't know what would happen then. But he was far too busy to worry about some distant future. Right now, life was good.