Kitchen Shenanigans
So, having lost this bet about me getting the seme post on the 69th page 11 69 pages ago, I agreed to write something on my most hated pairing in the Fandomly. Hope whoever it was now enjoys this long long long nonsense of a oneshot.
Kitchen Shenanigans
She didn’t like the sound of it. Hands were clasped tightly around the mug with tea that it was at risk of breaking under pressure. Why did he have to do this within her earshot?
“As much as I hate to cut a meeting with such a lovely lady short, I must go, love.”
Talon closed her eyes. ‘No, do not come in here. Whatever you do, don’t come in here.’ The grip on her mug tightened if that was possible. It was amazing she hadn’t burnt her hands yet due to the contents.
Whatever the female outside was saying, she didn’t really hear, though she could tell there was an obvious disappointed tone in her voice. All her attention was on listening to the creek of that door as it opened - as she was dreading. Her eyes were still closed, hoping that maybe if she didn’t see that smug bastard she knew had just walked in that he’d leave without bothering her.
“It would be easier to drink that if you tried lifting your cup to your mouth.”
Of course he wasn’t going to leave as she wanted. Sighing, she reluctantly opened her eyes to look towards Richard. He had that smug expression that she loathed, causing her to roll her eyes and deliberately turned elsewhere to not have to see it. “I know how to drink from a cup, thank you.”
“One wouldn’t know with that expression you held, my dear. It looked as if you were waiting for the tea to float out of its cup and into your month.” There was a clunk from the cane he held as he decided to finally use it as its purpose of something to lean while walking, instead of holding onto it as some sort of fashion statement. It caused Talon to glance in his direction due to the sound, but she almost jumped in her seat, not expecting him to be so close. He was only a few inches away - hadn’t he been half way across the room a second ago? “How do you keep doing that?”
He didn’t answer immediately, and instead his gaze drifted to something onto the table. Instinctively, Talon drew her cup of tea closer to herself, her own gaze narrowing at him. Richard looked back towards her, the smile he had when he entered the room fading. “You simply need to pay more attention to your surroundings.”
“And you simply need to learn to leave me the fuck alone.”
It wasn’t a smile, but his eyes lit up as if he were smiling. He tsked and wagged a finger at her, behaving like she was a child that needed to be reprimanded. “A lady shouldn’t be using such foul language.”
“I’ll use whatever fucking language I like.” The swearing that time being used intentionally to make a point, or rather to disregard what he had said. She then lifted the mug to her lips and drank from it before she continued. “I’m not one of your whores, so don’t try to boss me around like one.”
There was something about getting her irritated like this that always put him in a good mood. He never quite could put his finger on why getting her angry in particular was fun; she was prone to violence in this mood and he wasn’t in anyway a masochist so it didn’t make much sense. “There’s no need to insult anyone like that out of jealousy, love.” Expecting what was to come, Richard took the seat nearest her at the table. It was better to be comfortable to watch the “show” she was about to put on for him.
“Jealousy?!” The word came out as if Talon were choking on it. Her expression was incredulous. “Jealous of what?!”
“Of the fact that they are not ashamed of their feelings and can come out to me with them in order to get the man that you want.”
Forgetting her task of protecting her tea from being taken, she stood up and slammed her palms onto the table. Her hair seemed to bristle and the air around her cracked. “You egotistical and delusional bastard. I have no desire for you! Are you that fucking stupid? I-” Now she was turning toward him, pointing a long nailed finger at him; a few times he thought he felt the tip of that nail scratch against his nose. “You’re incorrigible! I don’t even- There is nothing I feel for you. I actually pity those girls for being stuck with a self-absorbed prick like you.”
It didn’t faze him. Where anyone else would take it as a warning to get away from her before she lunged at them and mauled them with her claws, Richard only took the abandoned mug on the table and sipped at it, remaining calm. By now he had seen her angry too often, there was no shock value to it and he was prepared on how to get out of this alive. “Of course, who wouldn’t believe that you have no feelings for me when you get so worked up about how indifferent you are towards me?”
She wanted to throw something at his face, and she very much looked as if she were about to except there was nothing within her reach to throw. “You-! Ugh!” Throwing her hands up in the air she then swiftly spun on her heel, unintentionally smacking Richard with her hair, and started to pace the kitchen. Before she spoke again she had a hand massage her temple, trying to calm herself.
“You annoy me. I get nothing but migraines around you. You’re also too fucking insistent about me liking you - which I certainly do not. I don’t care how much you’ve convinced your tiny mind into thinking- no, believing that I like you, but you pissing me off all the bloody time is not going to make me return your damn feelings.”
He didn’t move from his seat, but that was enough to wipe the satisfied look he had. “Return my feelings?” He placed the cup of tea he was drinking down on the table. “Speak of being delusional… my taste in women is more refined. I prefer to have a lady, not a violent brute without any sensibilities of proper etiquette.”
She scoffed. “Please, you want someone who can jump on command.” Now she had stopped her pacing and was facing him, her arms crossed.
“It’s called listening to reason. We have rules to keep things orderly and safe for everyone, and those rules should be heeded.”
“You only think it’s reasonable when they’re your rules.”
“And you only think about disobeying everything without thinking of the consequences.”
“Correction, I only disobey everything you say.”
A frown was forming on his face. He was supposed to be getting on her nerves, not the other way around. There had to be a way he could quickly turn this around on her; then he remembered the cup of tea. Picking it up, he noticed that he hadn’t left much inside and took another drink from it, also using this time to calm himself before he did something that ensured Talon won the argument. “I see there’s no point in staying here any longer in hopes for an intelligent conversation with you.” He drank the last of the tea in the mug, although he didn’t put it down after he was done. “However, you are good at making tea, and I will thank you for that.”
“Tea?” It only occurred to Talon that she had indeed forgotten the tea she had been trying to drink. When she saw the same mug she was drinking from in Richard’s hands, she glowered at him. “God dammit, you bastard.” She stormed up to him. “Stop taking my tea! Now give it back.”
“It would be my pleasure, love.” With a charming smile, he handed her back the cup. Immediately she was looking at its contents to find it empty, resulting her hitting the pompous male in the chest.
“Is there something mentally wrong with you that you can’t remember how to boil some water, pour it into a cup and dip a tea bag into it?!”
“I prefer using tea leaves.”
“But I don’t always use tea leaves, so what the hell is your reason for always taking my tea?!”
“It tastes better when you make it. You must have some secret technique to it.”
She slammed the mug onto the table, but not hard enough to break it. A finger was pointed at him and she opened her mouth to yell something at him, except nothing came out. That wasn’t an insult she was expecting and she had no idea how to take a compliment from him. Closing her mouth, she thought it over for a second or two then opened her mouth again to say something, though quickly closed it again. No, that wouldn’t be the best way to respond to that either. In the end she sighed and lowered her finger. “You’re impossible to deal with. I don’t know how anyone puts up with you.”
“It’s due of my charm and witty personality.”
“Which you don’t have either of.” Talon’s glare was replaced with a thoughtful expression. “No, I’d say it’s that pommy accent. You haven’t actually charmed any Brit… it’s always someone foreign.”
He gave her an indignant look. “There is more to my appeal than my accent.”
“No, that’s all there is to your appeal.” She moved to lean against the table, keeping herself up by resting her palms at the edge of the table. In this position she had to turn her head to keep eye contact with Richard. “You’re just lucky it’s enough for some people here to ignore how ridiculous you look.”
“Ridiculous? There is nothing ridiculous about trying to be well-dressed.”
“If you’re meeting the Queen. However, you are home and you’re always walking around in a suit and top hat. It’s pompous.”
“In your opinion.”
“Fine, don’t believe me. Though I’m the one that talks to those girls you keep flirting with about this.”
As she turned to look elsewhere in the kitchen, trying to appear uncaring towards their topic, Richard thought about that last statement. He honestly shouldn’t be getting advice from Talon of all people, especially as she’d have no problem in trying to troll him in revenge for drinking her tea again. However, the wording she used in that last sentence made him consider to possibly giving her some time of his day to listen. “So you admit to talking about me when I’m not around?”
Startled by the question, she only glanced at him for a second before immediately averting his gaze. “I only do it to warn people about you! It’s not like I have anything good to say about you.” Her argument came out too fast with that snap she was prone to using when being annoyed. He didn’t think she could fake that reaction so well for a trolling, so he concluded it only meant one thing.
“I understand. You would find me more attractive if I were dressed more casually for you.”
Talon coughed, choking on her own breath from how surprised she was by that statement. “That’s hardly the case!” Her head swivelled in his direction, her eyes most likely to have never been so wide when staring at him. “I don’t get attracted to others by appearance, remember?”
“Of course not.” The tone in his voice rang with disbelief. He moved from where he stood until he was just in front of her, also making her have to turn her head again to face him. “And I suppose you’re only informing me because you wish for those ladies to leave you alone about this, is that correct?” It was easier to see the expression in her eyes from this distance - they always appeared black and foreboding, but up close he could see the iris is indeed brown.
The grip she had on the table edge tightened and she tensed having him so close, but she didn’t make to shove him away… yet. “Actually, incorrect. I’m telling you this because I agree that you do look ridiculous going around like that.”
“Then what of the many suggestions I’m sure you’ve come up with do you believe will resolve that, my dear?”
“It doesn’t matter to me how you appear, you’d still look ridiculous to me.”
That should have been the end of that. At least, that was Talon’s expectation. He wouldn’t have taken anything she said seriously even if she had told him anyway. However, Richard didn’t move away. He was watching her expectantly, waiting for her to properly answer his question. It took a while of this silence to continue before she realised that he was indeed being serious about asking her for her suggestions. Her cheeks were turning pink, finding this behaviour of his to be unusual enough that was making her embarrassed.
Since he was waiting for a reply, she thought she may as well bite. Not like she had anything to lose if he was trying to get an answer out of her only to tease her about it later. She was used to that behaviour. “Well… I guess that monocle looks silly… you have twenty twenty vision so I don’t get why you need it.” She was hesitant about her answer, still expecting him to ignore it or laugh it off.
It wasn’t as bad as he first thought it would be. He even knew that much as she sometimes would pull the monocle off by its chain. Deciding to glance back at the door in case anyone had decided at that moment to come in, and seeing it still closed, he thought it wouldn’t cause any harm to humour this suggestion. It wouldn’t be the first time he went around without it. Not to mention, anything that got a blush to appear on her face was definitely worth doing. So he held onto the side of the eyeglass, where it was connected to the chain, and took it off, slipping it into his coat’s pocket.
“Was that all?”
She closed her eyes for a moment then opened them after a minute. ‘Did that just happen?’ The monocle was still off and he still stood there waiting though. The bottom of her jaw dropped from shock. This had to be a dream.
As much as he tried to resist smirking at that reaction, Richard couldn’t help but be amused by it. If there wasn’t anything more he liked than annoying her was to get her flustered; maybe he could get that blush a darker colour. With his free hand, he raised it to rest under her chin and slowly push the bottom of her jaw up to close her mouth. He leaned forward until he was besides her ear, humming at first before speaking slowly into it. “Why so surprised? This is what you wanted.”
“I didn’t think- you normally don’t do things for me.”
It was starting to get hard to stand like this. He was so close. As much as she usually wouldn’t do this under normal circumstances, she found herself needing to sit on the edge of the table to keep her balance. He felt warm. The only physical contact that they were making was that he still kept a hold under her chin, thus she was confused at why him leaning in would make her lose her balance. He felt calming.
Talon stirred her thoughts into something less distracting, such as giving him the suggestions he had asked. Raising a hand from the table, she rested it on his chest and lightly pushed him back. At least, until she could see his face again. That was a safe distance for her, a distance that wasn’t going to play with her mind or fluster her. “Your hat.” Her mind still seemed to be a little fuzzy, but she forced herself to clear her thoughts up and continue. “You call yourself a gentleman but you wear it indoors. That’s not proper etiquette.”
Her reaction was curt and almost indifferent, he wasn’t sure if what he had done had affected her at all. From what he could see, it hadn’t. Moving his hand from under her chin, he took the time to brush a part of her hair behind her ear, purposely brushing his fingers on her forehead and the part of her cheek closest to the ear he was putting the strand of hair behind. He saw her eyes follow the movement of his hand but that was the only reaction he managed to get out of her. ‘[i]No matter. I’ll have that shade of pink a nice red before she leaves this kitchen, one way or the other.[/i]’
He took his hat off and placed it on table. Though wearing his hat for so long left an odd pattern in his hair, with bits of it sticking up. In particular there were two pointed tuffs on either side of his head. The sight caused Talon to smile to suppress the laugh. “Ahem… you have hat hair.”
“What?” At first Richard thought of disregarding it, but then he noticed that expression she had. She may not have laughed but it was clear on her face she wanted to. “Are you laughing?” Quickly he had his hand in his hair, trying to pat everything down, however unsuccessful it was.
“You have devil horns. It’s very appropriate.” Seeing how he only made the mess in his hair worse, she decided to take some pity on him and slap his hand away. “Oh god, you’re hopeless. Let me do that.” Not even letting him respond to it, she was already using her nails to rank through his hair, acting like a brush.
Reluctant to let her play around with his hair, especially when he couldn’t see what she was doing to it, he almost thought to stop her. Yet he didn’t; she was actually touching him without intending to harm him by it. It was so rare for him to feel a soft touch from her, he hadn’t want it to stop too soon. He hadn’t thought of what he was doing, but eventually he was leaning into her hand. That action caused Talon to stop.
“There, that’s better.” She hastily said and recoiled her hand. Albeit, she wasn’t done with trying to fix his hair, but seeing as he was starting to enjoy the feel of it, she hadn’t want to try doing it again. She was not meant to be doing anything that’d actually please him. “Now for your clothes.”
With that calming sensation gone, Richard was once again on alert for the task he was meant to be fulfilling. “What is wrong with my apparel?”
“It’s too formal to be wearing around home.”
It was instinct for him to disagree with her, however he stopped himself from doing any such thing. She was asking him to undress for her, she could not be making this easier for him. It wasn’t even possible she even realised the implication of her suggestion. This time he didn’t even bother to hide that grin that had wanted to appear from since the beginning of these “suggestions”. “If that is what you want, love.”
He rested his cane by the side of the table, just next to where Talon was seated, before he started taking the coat of his suit off. As he did, he made sure to watch her reaction the entire time, waiting for when that blush he needed to see return. Thus far, she appeared to be very focused on him, or his shirt more likely. Her brows knitted and it looked as if she were frowning.
“You look larger without that jacket.”
The coat had been completely taken off by now, so she’d seen enough to tell that his shirt wasn’t sitting on him as it should if he were a lean man. In fact, it looked a little tight in some places. She looked up back at his face after he had hung his coat on the back of the chair besides them and only got a questioning expression from him. “Is that shirt the right size for you?”
“Yes.”
“Do you work out?”
“Could you honestly imagine me doing something that would require me to get that dirty and sweaty?”
“Considering your main hobby is all about getting dirty and sweaty, yes.”
Choosing to ignore that - as he lacked a proper response that she’d actually believe - he busied himself with loosening his tie. “We are still alone in this room?” Once he had taken his tie off, he gently pushed the back of Talon’s hair up and threaded his tie around her neck.
“Yes. Why do you want to know that? And why are you putting your tie on me?” She tilted her head to the side, confused.
He smiled as she still was oblivious to what he was planning. “It may seem silly to you, but I would rather no one else saw me like this.” Now he was undoing the first button to his shirt. “I thought my tie would look better on you.” He placed his left hand on the table, just between where Talon’s right leg and hand were, and leaned in closer. With his right hand, he was taking off the next button on his shirt. “And I am indeed correct.”
That light blush had returned, and she shifted nervously where she was. This seemed so unlike Richard. “What’s with the flattery? I thought I was that reckless brute with no manners?” She laughed, trying to make the situation seem light and joking to dispel the odd turning of her stomach. “Now stop that… if you undo anymore buttons you’ll be walking around shirtless.” She moved both of her hands to rest them on his to stop him from trying to undo that third button.
“You may be barbaric but I won’t deny that you are cute.” Though she had stopped him from showing her anything more than he had, at least he did have a back-up plan. He lowered his own hand and decided to twirl the end of his tie that was still around her neck.
“What’s this? Is my rival getting soft on me? Careful now, or you may no longer be any competition.”
She was smiling and sounding as confident as usual, but the rosy colour remained strong on her face.
“What can I say? I have a weakness for seeing you blush, love.”
Before she could reply, he tugged on the tie so that she wouldn’t move away, and quickly he pressed his lips on hers. She was so surprised by this that at first she didn’t know how to react. Her mind was completely blank; what was she meant to do? All that she registered was the fact that his lips were very soft and that her face was heating up.
He held onto that kiss a little longer than was acceptable for a prank, but she wasn’t resisting and he wanted to drag out the moment. When would he ever get a chance to kiss her again without being immediately refused? However he eventually did have to pull back; she wasn’t reacting and it only occurred to him that maybe she was taking it worse than he expected. “Talon, are-?” He couldn’t pull back by much because the hands she had up against his chest grabbed onto his shirt to stop him moving further away.
“If you two are going to continue, please take it somewhere where you won’t cause that much damage to property.”
Turning to look at the door, Richard felt the like the pit of his stomach had fallen, a feeling he was certainly not used to. “We were hardly doing anything like that.” He really should have planned this to be in a room with a door that locked to avoid this awkward situation. Especially to his butler who would very likely alert all the other Curses about this incident.
Sebastian raised an eye brow in disbelief. “Oh really? So you two were not about to get into a fight and break the table in the progress?” He shook his head and crossed his arms, appearing like he was older than Richard in this situation. “Look at how red she is… did you splash tea in her face?”
This whole time when he’d be watching her carefully to see that blush appear, Richard couldn’t believe he’d forgotten about it that moment he kissed her. He immediately turned back and as sure as Sebastian had said her face was as red as a tomato. Though she still hadn’t moved or spoken and instead of feeling accomplished he felt worried.
The attention to the colour of her face stirred Talon out of her stupor. What did Richard last say about having a weakness for her blush? One hand let go of his shirt and she felt her face, almost thinking that she could feel if the blush was there or not. “I’m red…?” Her brows started frowning and she slowly began to realise exactly where that kiss had come from. “You FUCKER!” She immediately smacked him in the chest.
She was glaring at him with gritted teeth, and suddenly Richard was regretting having not gotten away from her before. He did try to pull away now, though she clawed into his shirt to get a deeper grip. If he moved away now that shirt would be ripped.
“WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?! WHAT SORT OF SICKO GETS THEIR KICKS OUT OF THAT?!”
With her free hand she was smacking at him again.
“I FUCKING HATE YOU! WHY DON’T YOU FUCKING LEAVE ME ALONE YOU FUCKING ARSEHOLE?! I DON’T WANT TO SEE YOUR DAMN BASTARD OF A FACE AGAIN!”
Then she shoved him away and stormed towards the door, not even caring whether he stood from that or not.
The only thing that kept Richard up was that she had shoved him towards a chair and he caught himself on that. Now he was rubbing at his chest, where she had been hitting. It hurt a hell of a lot more than he was willing to show. However that wasn’t a concern to him at the moment. Talon was angry at him and that to him was a sign that she was back to normal. Of course despite her being angry enough to hit him, he still couldn’t resist but to add fuel to her furry. “By the way, thank you for the tea-”
“SHUT UP! I’LL SMASH THAT FUCKING SMUG CUNT FACE OF YOURS IF YOU COME NEAR ME!”
That time Talon’s yell had gotten so loud it came out as a screech, causing Sebastian to cover his ears as she was passing him just as it happened. It wouldn’t have been surprising if the upper floors of the mansion had heard that too.
Nothing else was said as she continued to leave the kitchen. Once Sebastian was sure his eardrums had not burst from that last scream, he looked at Richard who appeared to be far too calm as he was putting back on the pieces of clothing he had taken off. “Are you sure you’re not a masochist, sir?” He could never understand what appeal there was in angering someone until they were provoked into violence.
“How is this my fault? I was only attempting to have a civil conversation with her.”
With his coat and hat back on, and his monocle in place, he was facing Sebastian. Although his attention was hardly with the other male at all. He did consider that it would be a good idea to check on Talon later to make sure that kiss hadn’t shaken her up more than he intended. And by he he meant Sebastian - like hell he was going after a girl who had threaten to smash his face recently. Not to mention, she took his favourite tie.
“What was the supposed civil conversation about this time that provoked her?”
“She was reminding me why I like the colour red.”
Kitchen Shenanigans
She didn’t like the sound of it. Hands were clasped tightly around the mug with tea that it was at risk of breaking under pressure. Why did he have to do this within her earshot?
“As much as I hate to cut a meeting with such a lovely lady short, I must go, love.”
Talon closed her eyes. ‘No, do not come in here. Whatever you do, don’t come in here.’ The grip on her mug tightened if that was possible. It was amazing she hadn’t burnt her hands yet due to the contents.
Whatever the female outside was saying, she didn’t really hear, though she could tell there was an obvious disappointed tone in her voice. All her attention was on listening to the creek of that door as it opened - as she was dreading. Her eyes were still closed, hoping that maybe if she didn’t see that smug bastard she knew had just walked in that he’d leave without bothering her.
“It would be easier to drink that if you tried lifting your cup to your mouth.”
Of course he wasn’t going to leave as she wanted. Sighing, she reluctantly opened her eyes to look towards Richard. He had that smug expression that she loathed, causing her to roll her eyes and deliberately turned elsewhere to not have to see it. “I know how to drink from a cup, thank you.”
“One wouldn’t know with that expression you held, my dear. It looked as if you were waiting for the tea to float out of its cup and into your month.” There was a clunk from the cane he held as he decided to finally use it as its purpose of something to lean while walking, instead of holding onto it as some sort of fashion statement. It caused Talon to glance in his direction due to the sound, but she almost jumped in her seat, not expecting him to be so close. He was only a few inches away - hadn’t he been half way across the room a second ago? “How do you keep doing that?”
He didn’t answer immediately, and instead his gaze drifted to something onto the table. Instinctively, Talon drew her cup of tea closer to herself, her own gaze narrowing at him. Richard looked back towards her, the smile he had when he entered the room fading. “You simply need to pay more attention to your surroundings.”
“And you simply need to learn to leave me the fuck alone.”
It wasn’t a smile, but his eyes lit up as if he were smiling. He tsked and wagged a finger at her, behaving like she was a child that needed to be reprimanded. “A lady shouldn’t be using such foul language.”
“I’ll use whatever fucking language I like.” The swearing that time being used intentionally to make a point, or rather to disregard what he had said. She then lifted the mug to her lips and drank from it before she continued. “I’m not one of your whores, so don’t try to boss me around like one.”
There was something about getting her irritated like this that always put him in a good mood. He never quite could put his finger on why getting her angry in particular was fun; she was prone to violence in this mood and he wasn’t in anyway a masochist so it didn’t make much sense. “There’s no need to insult anyone like that out of jealousy, love.” Expecting what was to come, Richard took the seat nearest her at the table. It was better to be comfortable to watch the “show” she was about to put on for him.
“Jealousy?!” The word came out as if Talon were choking on it. Her expression was incredulous. “Jealous of what?!”
“Of the fact that they are not ashamed of their feelings and can come out to me with them in order to get the man that you want.”
Forgetting her task of protecting her tea from being taken, she stood up and slammed her palms onto the table. Her hair seemed to bristle and the air around her cracked. “You egotistical and delusional bastard. I have no desire for you! Are you that fucking stupid? I-” Now she was turning toward him, pointing a long nailed finger at him; a few times he thought he felt the tip of that nail scratch against his nose. “You’re incorrigible! I don’t even- There is nothing I feel for you. I actually pity those girls for being stuck with a self-absorbed prick like you.”
It didn’t faze him. Where anyone else would take it as a warning to get away from her before she lunged at them and mauled them with her claws, Richard only took the abandoned mug on the table and sipped at it, remaining calm. By now he had seen her angry too often, there was no shock value to it and he was prepared on how to get out of this alive. “Of course, who wouldn’t believe that you have no feelings for me when you get so worked up about how indifferent you are towards me?”
She wanted to throw something at his face, and she very much looked as if she were about to except there was nothing within her reach to throw. “You-! Ugh!” Throwing her hands up in the air she then swiftly spun on her heel, unintentionally smacking Richard with her hair, and started to pace the kitchen. Before she spoke again she had a hand massage her temple, trying to calm herself.
“You annoy me. I get nothing but migraines around you. You’re also too fucking insistent about me liking you - which I certainly do not. I don’t care how much you’ve convinced your tiny mind into thinking- no, believing that I like you, but you pissing me off all the bloody time is not going to make me return your damn feelings.”
He didn’t move from his seat, but that was enough to wipe the satisfied look he had. “Return my feelings?” He placed the cup of tea he was drinking down on the table. “Speak of being delusional… my taste in women is more refined. I prefer to have a lady, not a violent brute without any sensibilities of proper etiquette.”
She scoffed. “Please, you want someone who can jump on command.” Now she had stopped her pacing and was facing him, her arms crossed.
“It’s called listening to reason. We have rules to keep things orderly and safe for everyone, and those rules should be heeded.”
“You only think it’s reasonable when they’re your rules.”
“And you only think about disobeying everything without thinking of the consequences.”
“Correction, I only disobey everything you say.”
A frown was forming on his face. He was supposed to be getting on her nerves, not the other way around. There had to be a way he could quickly turn this around on her; then he remembered the cup of tea. Picking it up, he noticed that he hadn’t left much inside and took another drink from it, also using this time to calm himself before he did something that ensured Talon won the argument. “I see there’s no point in staying here any longer in hopes for an intelligent conversation with you.” He drank the last of the tea in the mug, although he didn’t put it down after he was done. “However, you are good at making tea, and I will thank you for that.”
“Tea?” It only occurred to Talon that she had indeed forgotten the tea she had been trying to drink. When she saw the same mug she was drinking from in Richard’s hands, she glowered at him. “God dammit, you bastard.” She stormed up to him. “Stop taking my tea! Now give it back.”
“It would be my pleasure, love.” With a charming smile, he handed her back the cup. Immediately she was looking at its contents to find it empty, resulting her hitting the pompous male in the chest.
“Is there something mentally wrong with you that you can’t remember how to boil some water, pour it into a cup and dip a tea bag into it?!”
“I prefer using tea leaves.”
“But I don’t always use tea leaves, so what the hell is your reason for always taking my tea?!”
“It tastes better when you make it. You must have some secret technique to it.”
She slammed the mug onto the table, but not hard enough to break it. A finger was pointed at him and she opened her mouth to yell something at him, except nothing came out. That wasn’t an insult she was expecting and she had no idea how to take a compliment from him. Closing her mouth, she thought it over for a second or two then opened her mouth again to say something, though quickly closed it again. No, that wouldn’t be the best way to respond to that either. In the end she sighed and lowered her finger. “You’re impossible to deal with. I don’t know how anyone puts up with you.”
“It’s due of my charm and witty personality.”
“Which you don’t have either of.” Talon’s glare was replaced with a thoughtful expression. “No, I’d say it’s that pommy accent. You haven’t actually charmed any Brit… it’s always someone foreign.”
He gave her an indignant look. “There is more to my appeal than my accent.”
“No, that’s all there is to your appeal.” She moved to lean against the table, keeping herself up by resting her palms at the edge of the table. In this position she had to turn her head to keep eye contact with Richard. “You’re just lucky it’s enough for some people here to ignore how ridiculous you look.”
“Ridiculous? There is nothing ridiculous about trying to be well-dressed.”
“If you’re meeting the Queen. However, you are home and you’re always walking around in a suit and top hat. It’s pompous.”
“In your opinion.”
“Fine, don’t believe me. Though I’m the one that talks to those girls you keep flirting with about this.”
As she turned to look elsewhere in the kitchen, trying to appear uncaring towards their topic, Richard thought about that last statement. He honestly shouldn’t be getting advice from Talon of all people, especially as she’d have no problem in trying to troll him in revenge for drinking her tea again. However, the wording she used in that last sentence made him consider to possibly giving her some time of his day to listen. “So you admit to talking about me when I’m not around?”
Startled by the question, she only glanced at him for a second before immediately averting his gaze. “I only do it to warn people about you! It’s not like I have anything good to say about you.” Her argument came out too fast with that snap she was prone to using when being annoyed. He didn’t think she could fake that reaction so well for a trolling, so he concluded it only meant one thing.
“I understand. You would find me more attractive if I were dressed more casually for you.”
Talon coughed, choking on her own breath from how surprised she was by that statement. “That’s hardly the case!” Her head swivelled in his direction, her eyes most likely to have never been so wide when staring at him. “I don’t get attracted to others by appearance, remember?”
“Of course not.” The tone in his voice rang with disbelief. He moved from where he stood until he was just in front of her, also making her have to turn her head again to face him. “And I suppose you’re only informing me because you wish for those ladies to leave you alone about this, is that correct?” It was easier to see the expression in her eyes from this distance - they always appeared black and foreboding, but up close he could see the iris is indeed brown.
The grip she had on the table edge tightened and she tensed having him so close, but she didn’t make to shove him away… yet. “Actually, incorrect. I’m telling you this because I agree that you do look ridiculous going around like that.”
“Then what of the many suggestions I’m sure you’ve come up with do you believe will resolve that, my dear?”
“It doesn’t matter to me how you appear, you’d still look ridiculous to me.”
That should have been the end of that. At least, that was Talon’s expectation. He wouldn’t have taken anything she said seriously even if she had told him anyway. However, Richard didn’t move away. He was watching her expectantly, waiting for her to properly answer his question. It took a while of this silence to continue before she realised that he was indeed being serious about asking her for her suggestions. Her cheeks were turning pink, finding this behaviour of his to be unusual enough that was making her embarrassed.
Since he was waiting for a reply, she thought she may as well bite. Not like she had anything to lose if he was trying to get an answer out of her only to tease her about it later. She was used to that behaviour. “Well… I guess that monocle looks silly… you have twenty twenty vision so I don’t get why you need it.” She was hesitant about her answer, still expecting him to ignore it or laugh it off.
It wasn’t as bad as he first thought it would be. He even knew that much as she sometimes would pull the monocle off by its chain. Deciding to glance back at the door in case anyone had decided at that moment to come in, and seeing it still closed, he thought it wouldn’t cause any harm to humour this suggestion. It wouldn’t be the first time he went around without it. Not to mention, anything that got a blush to appear on her face was definitely worth doing. So he held onto the side of the eyeglass, where it was connected to the chain, and took it off, slipping it into his coat’s pocket.
“Was that all?”
She closed her eyes for a moment then opened them after a minute. ‘Did that just happen?’ The monocle was still off and he still stood there waiting though. The bottom of her jaw dropped from shock. This had to be a dream.
As much as he tried to resist smirking at that reaction, Richard couldn’t help but be amused by it. If there wasn’t anything more he liked than annoying her was to get her flustered; maybe he could get that blush a darker colour. With his free hand, he raised it to rest under her chin and slowly push the bottom of her jaw up to close her mouth. He leaned forward until he was besides her ear, humming at first before speaking slowly into it. “Why so surprised? This is what you wanted.”
“I didn’t think- you normally don’t do things for me.”
It was starting to get hard to stand like this. He was so close. As much as she usually wouldn’t do this under normal circumstances, she found herself needing to sit on the edge of the table to keep her balance. He felt warm. The only physical contact that they were making was that he still kept a hold under her chin, thus she was confused at why him leaning in would make her lose her balance. He felt calming.
Talon stirred her thoughts into something less distracting, such as giving him the suggestions he had asked. Raising a hand from the table, she rested it on his chest and lightly pushed him back. At least, until she could see his face again. That was a safe distance for her, a distance that wasn’t going to play with her mind or fluster her. “Your hat.” Her mind still seemed to be a little fuzzy, but she forced herself to clear her thoughts up and continue. “You call yourself a gentleman but you wear it indoors. That’s not proper etiquette.”
Her reaction was curt and almost indifferent, he wasn’t sure if what he had done had affected her at all. From what he could see, it hadn’t. Moving his hand from under her chin, he took the time to brush a part of her hair behind her ear, purposely brushing his fingers on her forehead and the part of her cheek closest to the ear he was putting the strand of hair behind. He saw her eyes follow the movement of his hand but that was the only reaction he managed to get out of her. ‘[i]No matter. I’ll have that shade of pink a nice red before she leaves this kitchen, one way or the other.[/i]’
He took his hat off and placed it on table. Though wearing his hat for so long left an odd pattern in his hair, with bits of it sticking up. In particular there were two pointed tuffs on either side of his head. The sight caused Talon to smile to suppress the laugh. “Ahem… you have hat hair.”
“What?” At first Richard thought of disregarding it, but then he noticed that expression she had. She may not have laughed but it was clear on her face she wanted to. “Are you laughing?” Quickly he had his hand in his hair, trying to pat everything down, however unsuccessful it was.
“You have devil horns. It’s very appropriate.” Seeing how he only made the mess in his hair worse, she decided to take some pity on him and slap his hand away. “Oh god, you’re hopeless. Let me do that.” Not even letting him respond to it, she was already using her nails to rank through his hair, acting like a brush.
Reluctant to let her play around with his hair, especially when he couldn’t see what she was doing to it, he almost thought to stop her. Yet he didn’t; she was actually touching him without intending to harm him by it. It was so rare for him to feel a soft touch from her, he hadn’t want it to stop too soon. He hadn’t thought of what he was doing, but eventually he was leaning into her hand. That action caused Talon to stop.
“There, that’s better.” She hastily said and recoiled her hand. Albeit, she wasn’t done with trying to fix his hair, but seeing as he was starting to enjoy the feel of it, she hadn’t want to try doing it again. She was not meant to be doing anything that’d actually please him. “Now for your clothes.”
With that calming sensation gone, Richard was once again on alert for the task he was meant to be fulfilling. “What is wrong with my apparel?”
“It’s too formal to be wearing around home.”
It was instinct for him to disagree with her, however he stopped himself from doing any such thing. She was asking him to undress for her, she could not be making this easier for him. It wasn’t even possible she even realised the implication of her suggestion. This time he didn’t even bother to hide that grin that had wanted to appear from since the beginning of these “suggestions”. “If that is what you want, love.”
He rested his cane by the side of the table, just next to where Talon was seated, before he started taking the coat of his suit off. As he did, he made sure to watch her reaction the entire time, waiting for when that blush he needed to see return. Thus far, she appeared to be very focused on him, or his shirt more likely. Her brows knitted and it looked as if she were frowning.
“You look larger without that jacket.”
The coat had been completely taken off by now, so she’d seen enough to tell that his shirt wasn’t sitting on him as it should if he were a lean man. In fact, it looked a little tight in some places. She looked up back at his face after he had hung his coat on the back of the chair besides them and only got a questioning expression from him. “Is that shirt the right size for you?”
“Yes.”
“Do you work out?”
“Could you honestly imagine me doing something that would require me to get that dirty and sweaty?”
“Considering your main hobby is all about getting dirty and sweaty, yes.”
Choosing to ignore that - as he lacked a proper response that she’d actually believe - he busied himself with loosening his tie. “We are still alone in this room?” Once he had taken his tie off, he gently pushed the back of Talon’s hair up and threaded his tie around her neck.
“Yes. Why do you want to know that? And why are you putting your tie on me?” She tilted her head to the side, confused.
He smiled as she still was oblivious to what he was planning. “It may seem silly to you, but I would rather no one else saw me like this.” Now he was undoing the first button to his shirt. “I thought my tie would look better on you.” He placed his left hand on the table, just between where Talon’s right leg and hand were, and leaned in closer. With his right hand, he was taking off the next button on his shirt. “And I am indeed correct.”
That light blush had returned, and she shifted nervously where she was. This seemed so unlike Richard. “What’s with the flattery? I thought I was that reckless brute with no manners?” She laughed, trying to make the situation seem light and joking to dispel the odd turning of her stomach. “Now stop that… if you undo anymore buttons you’ll be walking around shirtless.” She moved both of her hands to rest them on his to stop him from trying to undo that third button.
“You may be barbaric but I won’t deny that you are cute.” Though she had stopped him from showing her anything more than he had, at least he did have a back-up plan. He lowered his own hand and decided to twirl the end of his tie that was still around her neck.
“What’s this? Is my rival getting soft on me? Careful now, or you may no longer be any competition.”
She was smiling and sounding as confident as usual, but the rosy colour remained strong on her face.
“What can I say? I have a weakness for seeing you blush, love.”
Before she could reply, he tugged on the tie so that she wouldn’t move away, and quickly he pressed his lips on hers. She was so surprised by this that at first she didn’t know how to react. Her mind was completely blank; what was she meant to do? All that she registered was the fact that his lips were very soft and that her face was heating up.
He held onto that kiss a little longer than was acceptable for a prank, but she wasn’t resisting and he wanted to drag out the moment. When would he ever get a chance to kiss her again without being immediately refused? However he eventually did have to pull back; she wasn’t reacting and it only occurred to him that maybe she was taking it worse than he expected. “Talon, are-?” He couldn’t pull back by much because the hands she had up against his chest grabbed onto his shirt to stop him moving further away.
“If you two are going to continue, please take it somewhere where you won’t cause that much damage to property.”
Turning to look at the door, Richard felt the like the pit of his stomach had fallen, a feeling he was certainly not used to. “We were hardly doing anything like that.” He really should have planned this to be in a room with a door that locked to avoid this awkward situation. Especially to his butler who would very likely alert all the other Curses about this incident.
Sebastian raised an eye brow in disbelief. “Oh really? So you two were not about to get into a fight and break the table in the progress?” He shook his head and crossed his arms, appearing like he was older than Richard in this situation. “Look at how red she is… did you splash tea in her face?”
This whole time when he’d be watching her carefully to see that blush appear, Richard couldn’t believe he’d forgotten about it that moment he kissed her. He immediately turned back and as sure as Sebastian had said her face was as red as a tomato. Though she still hadn’t moved or spoken and instead of feeling accomplished he felt worried.
The attention to the colour of her face stirred Talon out of her stupor. What did Richard last say about having a weakness for her blush? One hand let go of his shirt and she felt her face, almost thinking that she could feel if the blush was there or not. “I’m red…?” Her brows started frowning and she slowly began to realise exactly where that kiss had come from. “You FUCKER!” She immediately smacked him in the chest.
She was glaring at him with gritted teeth, and suddenly Richard was regretting having not gotten away from her before. He did try to pull away now, though she clawed into his shirt to get a deeper grip. If he moved away now that shirt would be ripped.
“WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?! WHAT SORT OF SICKO GETS THEIR KICKS OUT OF THAT?!”
With her free hand she was smacking at him again.
“I FUCKING HATE YOU! WHY DON’T YOU FUCKING LEAVE ME ALONE YOU FUCKING ARSEHOLE?! I DON’T WANT TO SEE YOUR DAMN BASTARD OF A FACE AGAIN!”
Then she shoved him away and stormed towards the door, not even caring whether he stood from that or not.
The only thing that kept Richard up was that she had shoved him towards a chair and he caught himself on that. Now he was rubbing at his chest, where she had been hitting. It hurt a hell of a lot more than he was willing to show. However that wasn’t a concern to him at the moment. Talon was angry at him and that to him was a sign that she was back to normal. Of course despite her being angry enough to hit him, he still couldn’t resist but to add fuel to her furry. “By the way, thank you for the tea-”
“SHUT UP! I’LL SMASH THAT FUCKING SMUG CUNT FACE OF YOURS IF YOU COME NEAR ME!”
That time Talon’s yell had gotten so loud it came out as a screech, causing Sebastian to cover his ears as she was passing him just as it happened. It wouldn’t have been surprising if the upper floors of the mansion had heard that too.
Nothing else was said as she continued to leave the kitchen. Once Sebastian was sure his eardrums had not burst from that last scream, he looked at Richard who appeared to be far too calm as he was putting back on the pieces of clothing he had taken off. “Are you sure you’re not a masochist, sir?” He could never understand what appeal there was in angering someone until they were provoked into violence.
“How is this my fault? I was only attempting to have a civil conversation with her.”
With his coat and hat back on, and his monocle in place, he was facing Sebastian. Although his attention was hardly with the other male at all. He did consider that it would be a good idea to check on Talon later to make sure that kiss hadn’t shaken her up more than he intended. And by he he meant Sebastian - like hell he was going after a girl who had threaten to smash his face recently. Not to mention, she took his favourite tie.
“What was the supposed civil conversation about this time that provoked her?”
“She was reminding me why I like the colour red.”