The Quiet Man (Compton/Tallis)
Title: The Quiet Man
Author: subplotter
Fandom: The Tudors (Showtime)
Pairing: Thomas Tallis/William Compton
Rating: PG
Summary: Thomas reflects on the death of Sir William.
Disclaimer: If I owned The Tudors, William Compton wouldn't have died dammit, and Thomas Tallis wouldn't have had two rebound girlfriends.
Word Count: 218
Thomas Tallis didn't believe in love, which is why he'd never told William Compton that he loved him. He'd settled on "I'll miss you," but he hadn't believed that either. Sir William was an uppercrust man he'd been too poor to refuse, and that was all.
But Thomas hadn't expected the sweating sickness to reach the rich. They were immune to troubles, weren't they? Wynates had always been a place of safety for Thomas, where money and marriage--for Thomas, at least--had no pain to them. Lady Hastings had said they'd bled him; but did William Compton bleed?
Yes. He was human. He lived, and he died. And his grave marker was a sad one indeed. It should have been made of gold--not wood, with an abbreviated name lacking the titles "Sir" and "Lord." And where had his possessions gone? His servants had stolen them. Nothing remained of a kind man's life but a decorated box left to the king and fragments of Thomas Tallis's lute surrounding a grave marker. For the first time in his life, Thomas Tallis did not care for music.
"I don't know what to say to you," he told the marker, for the voices in his mind all spoke at once. I love you, I miss you. I am a quiet man, my lord.
Author: subplotter
Fandom: The Tudors (Showtime)
Pairing: Thomas Tallis/William Compton
Rating: PG
Summary: Thomas reflects on the death of Sir William.
Disclaimer: If I owned The Tudors, William Compton wouldn't have died dammit, and Thomas Tallis wouldn't have had two rebound girlfriends.
Word Count: 218
Thomas Tallis didn't believe in love, which is why he'd never told William Compton that he loved him. He'd settled on "I'll miss you," but he hadn't believed that either. Sir William was an uppercrust man he'd been too poor to refuse, and that was all.
But Thomas hadn't expected the sweating sickness to reach the rich. They were immune to troubles, weren't they? Wynates had always been a place of safety for Thomas, where money and marriage--for Thomas, at least--had no pain to them. Lady Hastings had said they'd bled him; but did William Compton bleed?
Yes. He was human. He lived, and he died. And his grave marker was a sad one indeed. It should have been made of gold--not wood, with an abbreviated name lacking the titles "Sir" and "Lord." And where had his possessions gone? His servants had stolen them. Nothing remained of a kind man's life but a decorated box left to the king and fragments of Thomas Tallis's lute surrounding a grave marker. For the first time in his life, Thomas Tallis did not care for music.
"I don't know what to say to you," he told the marker, for the voices in his mind all spoke at once. I love you, I miss you. I am a quiet man, my lord.