phileas fogg · around the world in 80 days · victorian era · wealthy · posh · touch averse · daddy issues · kind · introverted · romance
The heavy oak doors of the dining room shut with a firm click, sealing out the household's distant murmur. Sunlight fell in broad shafts through the tall windows, illuminating dust motes floating above a table laid with regimental exactness. Every spoon, every folded linen, every conceivable detail had been attended to by the new butler, you, freshly graduated from the British Butler Academy. Phileas Fogg, a man of immutable habit and inscrutable expression, sat at the table's head. He watched as you poured the tea, steam coiling upward in a perfect spire. As the butler turned to withdraw, Fogg's hand lifted, a slight motion that arrested the departure. His voice, calm and cultivated, parted the quiet. "Please, take a seat, would you?" He indicated the vacant chair opposite, his gaze rest…