ST 30 Kisses #23 Candy
Title: Dessert
Author: hlfbldprincess
Pairing: Sweeney Todd/Nellie Lovett
Rating: T
Fandom: Sweeney Todd
Promp 30 Kisses #23: candy.
Word Count: 1,535
Disclaimer: All I own is a computer.
"Want some dessert, love?" Nellie asked, glowing, as she stuck a plate of wiggling blobs in front of his face.
Sweeney reeled backwards from where he stood by the window, his face pleating in disgust. "What the hell is that?"
She offered the plate towards him, cackling when he drew away from her as hastily as though she were offering him diseases rather than food. "Oh, simply a little something I cooked up . . . don't look afraid, love, I'd never try and hurt you. It's only a little jelly. I just want someone to taste it and tell me if it's any good before I offer it up to the customers."
Nellie often bounced up to his shop like this, wanting him to try some new concoction or other, and he was getting bloody tired of it. He didn't enjoy eating anything, much less her experiments: they were always disgusting, and even if they weren't and he could tolerate the sample, she always made him eat even more of it if he showed even the slightest sign of not being absolutely repulsed.
But today, Sweeney Todd was putting his foot down. Nellie Lovett would make him taste no more of her fodder.
He circled around her, slowly, until he had charted a half moon upon the ground and stood just behind her. Placing his hands upon her waist, he leaned his chin atop her scalp, dancing his fingertips up her sides and murmuring into her hair, "I live by the phrase 'never trust a thin chef' . . ."
She dove out of his grasp and spun to face him, eyes capering like gleeful fiends over his face as his expression drooped Dammit. f she couldn't even be distracted by sex, then he had absolutely no hope of escaping this food tasting.
"Nice try, love," she trilled, reading his mind. She spooned up a bit of the gelatin and held it out to him. "C'mon, now, just a little taste."
He eyed the spoon warily and did not move to take it, mind working furiously: was there any other way he could possibly get out of this . . .?
Nellie took a step towards him, wavering the spoon in front of his nostrils as one might try and tempt a stubborn toddler. "Mmmmm . . ."
Sweeney moved backwards a pace, but she merely took another step forward. Backward, forward, backward, forward, they went - and then Sweeney's back hit the wall. He swore under his breath. Now he was well and truly trapped.
"What on Earth possessed you to try and sell gelatin, anyway?" he asked. If sex couldn't distract her, maybe talking could. She liked babbling nearly as much as sleeping with him, after all. It was a desperate card to play, yes, but it was the last card he still held.
"I dunno," said Nellie, contemplating the spoonful of wiggling jelly. "Just had the urge to try something new, y'know?"
"But - the pies are selling so well - "
"Oh, more than well, Mr. T!" she giggled. "They sell better than hotcakes. I'm just looking to expand my repertoire, I guess. Not get stuck in some sort of rut with just the pies all the time."
"But - you haven't been to the butcher's - so where did the cow for the gelatin come from - "
His eyes grew wide.
"Eleanor," he said, struggling to remain calm, "you didn't - "
Taking advantage of his slack jaw, Nellie popped onto her tip-toes, grasped his chin between her fingers, stuck the spoonful of jelly upon his tongue, and pushed his mouth shut.
"I most certainly did, love," she said matter-of-factly. Her hand remained at his chin, forcing his jaw closed and her dessert to remain in his mouth. "It used to just be that I'd toss all those bones into the oven and watch them char to ashes - but d'you realize how large human skeletons are? Such waste, I always felt . . ."
He made a coughing sound, cheeks burning with disgust and ire and humiliation, trying to free his jaw from her grasp enough to part his lips and spit the stuff in her face Dessert, indeed!
"But then I realized I could make something of those bones," she continued, beaming, basking in the genius of her epiphany. "I could boil them, wait for the stuff what comes out of the boiled bones to solidify - and make some lovely jelly.
"So - " she grinned toothily up at him " - how's it taste, love?"
Sweeney seized her wrist, wrenched her hand away from his face, and hurled the glob of human jelly from his mouth and onto the floor. But - dear God - he grasped his throat as though strangling himself: he could still taste it - he spat upon the ground again but the flavor was still there - everywhere - he inhaled, desperate for a respite, for breathable air -
"Toby quite fancied it," Nellie continued, still smiling, "and so did Jamie - oh, I know cats ain't s'posed to eat human food, but she begged for a taste so earnestly, what was I to do? - but I wanted your opinion too, love."
The taste burned his cheeks, his tongue, his throat - worse than fire, worse than rotten eggs, worse than anything imaginable - he fell to his knees, convulsing, choking, gasping through clogged lungs -
"You know how much I value what you think about my cooking," she chattered on, examining the plate of gelatin with loving eyes, calm and phlegmatic as ever, as though her lover were not writhing in agony upon the floor.
He glared up at her through watering eyes. Couldn't she at least show shred f pity and fetch him a tumbler of gin?
As though noticing Sweeney for the first time, she glanced down at him, eyebrows raising. "Well, there's no need to make such a scene, love. It can't b that ad: jelly's largely tasteless stuff anyway. This one's only got a bit of sugar mixed in - "
"What - I - you fed me human gelatin," Sweeney spluttered, swallowing large gulps of fresh, glorious air. "We'd agreed - neither of us ever eat your pies - how could you make me - "
"Oh, honestly, Mr. T," she chided. "It's not as though there's any actual flesh in that stuff - it's just the stuff that oozes out of the bones - "
"People ones!"
"I guess yours is a 'nay' vote, then." She started for his shop door, eyes averted, mouth frowning. "Sorry I bothered you, love. I'll remember not to in the future with my nourishments."
Shame flooded over him: he hadn't meant to hurt her feelings - and, well . . . he licked his lips: the jelly wasn' that ad, really, he had to admit to himself. It was more the thought that disgusted him than the actual taste.
"Eleanor - wait."
She froze, hand on his door, and turned back to him slowly, eyes skeptical and guarded.
Sweeney rose to his feet and crossed over to her. Lifting the spoon from her grasp, he carved out another piece of gelatin, fitted it upon the utensil, and placed it in his mouth.
"You don't need to pretend to like it just for my sake," Nellie grumbled.
"I'm not," he said around a mouthful of her dessert.
She glared at him, disbelieving.
He cupped her cheek in his palm and stroked his thumb across her skin. "I'm sorry, pet. You're right - it's not as bad as I was making it seem - and I didn't mean to upset you."
Bringing his face closer to hers, he whispered, "Let me make it up to you . . ."
He kissed her on the lips; she remained unyielding and apathetic beneath his touch for a moment, as she always did when she was angry at him - but, as always, she could only clutch her fury and resist him for so long: soon her body was melting in his embrace, her hands pawing at his shirt, her lips parting against his -
And he delicately pushed the tiny bit of gelatin sitting upon his tongue into her mouth.
Just because he felt ashamed about hurting her feelings didn't mean his usual desire for revenge - whether because of being sent to a prison colony, or because of losing his wife, or because of being made to eat human jelly - could be left unfulfilled.
"BLERGH!" he shouted as she tore herself from his grasp and spat upon the ground, ogling the lump of spittle and gelatin as it undulated against the floor. "What the hell - "
"This is why I live by the phrase 'never trust a thin chef,'" said Sweeney. "One must always sample their own wares to know if they are any good, my dear."
When she turned her glare up to meet his eyes, he only smiled. Oh, yes, revenge did tast so weet - he licked his lips and eyed the gelatin still in her hands, alarm bells sounding in his head as he realized that his tongue actually craved a third taste &ndash n - the taste of revenge was all that Sweeney Todd enjoyed, for revenge tasted so sweet -
Yes: even sweeter than jelly . . .
Author: hlfbldprincess
Pairing: Sweeney Todd/Nellie Lovett
Rating: T
Fandom: Sweeney Todd
Promp 30 Kisses #23: candy.
Word Count: 1,535
Disclaimer: All I own is a computer.
"Want some dessert, love?" Nellie asked, glowing, as she stuck a plate of wiggling blobs in front of his face.
Sweeney reeled backwards from where he stood by the window, his face pleating in disgust. "What the hell is that?"
She offered the plate towards him, cackling when he drew away from her as hastily as though she were offering him diseases rather than food. "Oh, simply a little something I cooked up . . . don't look afraid, love, I'd never try and hurt you. It's only a little jelly. I just want someone to taste it and tell me if it's any good before I offer it up to the customers."
Nellie often bounced up to his shop like this, wanting him to try some new concoction or other, and he was getting bloody tired of it. He didn't enjoy eating anything, much less her experiments: they were always disgusting, and even if they weren't and he could tolerate the sample, she always made him eat even more of it if he showed even the slightest sign of not being absolutely repulsed.
But today, Sweeney Todd was putting his foot down. Nellie Lovett would make him taste no more of her fodder.
He circled around her, slowly, until he had charted a half moon upon the ground and stood just behind her. Placing his hands upon her waist, he leaned his chin atop her scalp, dancing his fingertips up her sides and murmuring into her hair, "I live by the phrase 'never trust a thin chef' . . ."
She dove out of his grasp and spun to face him, eyes capering like gleeful fiends over his face as his expression drooped Dammit. f she couldn't even be distracted by sex, then he had absolutely no hope of escaping this food tasting.
"Nice try, love," she trilled, reading his mind. She spooned up a bit of the gelatin and held it out to him. "C'mon, now, just a little taste."
He eyed the spoon warily and did not move to take it, mind working furiously: was there any other way he could possibly get out of this . . .?
Nellie took a step towards him, wavering the spoon in front of his nostrils as one might try and tempt a stubborn toddler. "Mmmmm . . ."
Sweeney moved backwards a pace, but she merely took another step forward. Backward, forward, backward, forward, they went - and then Sweeney's back hit the wall. He swore under his breath. Now he was well and truly trapped.
"What on Earth possessed you to try and sell gelatin, anyway?" he asked. If sex couldn't distract her, maybe talking could. She liked babbling nearly as much as sleeping with him, after all. It was a desperate card to play, yes, but it was the last card he still held.
"I dunno," said Nellie, contemplating the spoonful of wiggling jelly. "Just had the urge to try something new, y'know?"
"But - the pies are selling so well - "
"Oh, more than well, Mr. T!" she giggled. "They sell better than hotcakes. I'm just looking to expand my repertoire, I guess. Not get stuck in some sort of rut with just the pies all the time."
"But - you haven't been to the butcher's - so where did the cow for the gelatin come from - "
His eyes grew wide.
"Eleanor," he said, struggling to remain calm, "you didn't - "
Taking advantage of his slack jaw, Nellie popped onto her tip-toes, grasped his chin between her fingers, stuck the spoonful of jelly upon his tongue, and pushed his mouth shut.
"I most certainly did, love," she said matter-of-factly. Her hand remained at his chin, forcing his jaw closed and her dessert to remain in his mouth. "It used to just be that I'd toss all those bones into the oven and watch them char to ashes - but d'you realize how large human skeletons are? Such waste, I always felt . . ."
He made a coughing sound, cheeks burning with disgust and ire and humiliation, trying to free his jaw from her grasp enough to part his lips and spit the stuff in her face Dessert, indeed!
"But then I realized I could make something of those bones," she continued, beaming, basking in the genius of her epiphany. "I could boil them, wait for the stuff what comes out of the boiled bones to solidify - and make some lovely jelly.
"So - " she grinned toothily up at him " - how's it taste, love?"
Sweeney seized her wrist, wrenched her hand away from his face, and hurled the glob of human jelly from his mouth and onto the floor. But - dear God - he grasped his throat as though strangling himself: he could still taste it - he spat upon the ground again but the flavor was still there - everywhere - he inhaled, desperate for a respite, for breathable air -
"Toby quite fancied it," Nellie continued, still smiling, "and so did Jamie - oh, I know cats ain't s'posed to eat human food, but she begged for a taste so earnestly, what was I to do? - but I wanted your opinion too, love."
The taste burned his cheeks, his tongue, his throat - worse than fire, worse than rotten eggs, worse than anything imaginable - he fell to his knees, convulsing, choking, gasping through clogged lungs -
"You know how much I value what you think about my cooking," she chattered on, examining the plate of gelatin with loving eyes, calm and phlegmatic as ever, as though her lover were not writhing in agony upon the floor.
He glared up at her through watering eyes. Couldn't she at least show shred f pity and fetch him a tumbler of gin?
As though noticing Sweeney for the first time, she glanced down at him, eyebrows raising. "Well, there's no need to make such a scene, love. It can't b that ad: jelly's largely tasteless stuff anyway. This one's only got a bit of sugar mixed in - "
"What - I - you fed me human gelatin," Sweeney spluttered, swallowing large gulps of fresh, glorious air. "We'd agreed - neither of us ever eat your pies - how could you make me - "
"Oh, honestly, Mr. T," she chided. "It's not as though there's any actual flesh in that stuff - it's just the stuff that oozes out of the bones - "
"People ones!"
"I guess yours is a 'nay' vote, then." She started for his shop door, eyes averted, mouth frowning. "Sorry I bothered you, love. I'll remember not to in the future with my nourishments."
Shame flooded over him: he hadn't meant to hurt her feelings - and, well . . . he licked his lips: the jelly wasn' that ad, really, he had to admit to himself. It was more the thought that disgusted him than the actual taste.
"Eleanor - wait."
She froze, hand on his door, and turned back to him slowly, eyes skeptical and guarded.
Sweeney rose to his feet and crossed over to her. Lifting the spoon from her grasp, he carved out another piece of gelatin, fitted it upon the utensil, and placed it in his mouth.
"You don't need to pretend to like it just for my sake," Nellie grumbled.
"I'm not," he said around a mouthful of her dessert.
She glared at him, disbelieving.
He cupped her cheek in his palm and stroked his thumb across her skin. "I'm sorry, pet. You're right - it's not as bad as I was making it seem - and I didn't mean to upset you."
Bringing his face closer to hers, he whispered, "Let me make it up to you . . ."
He kissed her on the lips; she remained unyielding and apathetic beneath his touch for a moment, as she always did when she was angry at him - but, as always, she could only clutch her fury and resist him for so long: soon her body was melting in his embrace, her hands pawing at his shirt, her lips parting against his -
And he delicately pushed the tiny bit of gelatin sitting upon his tongue into her mouth.
Just because he felt ashamed about hurting her feelings didn't mean his usual desire for revenge - whether because of being sent to a prison colony, or because of losing his wife, or because of being made to eat human jelly - could be left unfulfilled.
"BLERGH!" he shouted as she tore herself from his grasp and spat upon the ground, ogling the lump of spittle and gelatin as it undulated against the floor. "What the hell - "
"This is why I live by the phrase 'never trust a thin chef,'" said Sweeney. "One must always sample their own wares to know if they are any good, my dear."
When she turned her glare up to meet his eyes, he only smiled. Oh, yes, revenge did tast so weet - he licked his lips and eyed the gelatin still in her hands, alarm bells sounding in his head as he realized that his tongue actually craved a third taste &ndash n - the taste of revenge was all that Sweeney Todd enjoyed, for revenge tasted so sweet -
Yes: even sweeter than jelly . . .