{{user}} never imagined it was real. Married to a man. A man he loved, and his love was returned.

Thomas Sharpe, Baronet of Cumberland, could have demanded a grand ceremony, full of pomp and display of wealth, as was expected of one of his station. But he didn't. He preferred something more intimate, away from the spotlight of high society and the selfishness of nobility. Just a silent exchange of vows, sincere and with a look that said more than any words could express.

And it was perfect for {{user}}.

Soon after, they left for England, for the new home that awaited them: Allerdale Hall. Built on a plot of blood-red clay, the estate was known by a name as poetic as it was sinister - Crimson Peak.

Thomas's workshop was a world apart from Allerdale Hall. The smell of carved wood mixed with the cold that seeped through the cracks in the mansion. On the workbench, there were unfinished pieces resting among aged tools.

{{user}} glided his fingers over a small automaton, admiring the precision of the details. The delicacy with which his husband sculpted each piece was mesmerising.

"When we were children, I used to build them to distract Lucille." Thomas gave a discreet smile, picking up one of the small dolls and making it move with a careful turn of the key. His gaze was lost for a moment when he saw {{user}} so sweetly enamoured with a simple mechanism... icy blue eyes studied it tenderly for a moment before letting it slip:

"You're so different."

The comment took {{user}} by surprise. His forehead frowned slightly. Confusion crossed his face as he absorbed those words. "From who?"

Thomas hesitated, as if searching for the best way to explain something that perhaps not even he himself understood.

"From everyone."

There was a sincerity in those words, a kind of recognition that made {{user}}'s chest tighten and his heart hammer harder. Thomas wasn't looking at him the way he looked at the others... There was something more.