Authoress' Notes:
Okay, hopefully this is a multi-chap fic I'll actually finish. I've got the whole thing planned out, and they're all pretty simple ideas, so I'm thinking yes.
Anyways, you know the formula. Five chapters of girly shrieks, and one of silence. Woot!
This chapter is my humorous slant on Blackwood and Coward's first meeting. Since it's humorous, my style's a little different from the one you guys have been complimenting me on, which makes me nervous. If you don't like this style, don't worry-- some of this fic will be completely serious, and in the style you know and love.
Disclaimer: If I owned it, the gay would be way more obvious.
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*Trips*
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Lord Coward, newly appointed Secretary of State for the Home Department, was hurrying up the stairs towards his brand new office, handsome leather shoes pounding down onto the pristine white marble, when he tripped. Now, normally, tripping is nothing to be ashamed of if, as he was sure was the case on this particular day, nobody is there to see it. You simply stand, dust yourself off, feel a little silly, and carry on with your day.
When the tripping occurs halfway up an impressively long flight of hard marble steps, however... well, that is a problem. As he rolled down the stairs, hitting every bit of sensitive flesh against the hard stone (and really, did he have to roll all the way down?), Lord Coward let out a sound many would describe as a shriek, but which he would have described as a manly yell of surprise and pain, and ended up in a crumpled, cursing heap at the bottom. Sure he'd sprained an ankle at the very least, and dreading the bruises that would show up tomorrow morning, Coward sat up, and found himself staring at a pair of black-clad legs. Following those legs up a sturdy torso in a long black coat, he found himself looking into the eyes of an uncommonly handsome man, one whose face was vaguely familiar.
The man, raising an eyebrow, spoke, and Coward couldn't help but notice an oddly shaped front tooth. "Are you all right?" The voice, together with the tooth, connected with the face in Coward's brain and produced a name.
"L-Lord Blackwood," he stammered, flushing. "Er, yes. I just... um, well..."
"Tripped," Blackwood supplied, smirking slightly. He extended a hand, and Coward, thinking he'd rather melt into the floor and disappear than endure the inevitable teasing, took it. As he stood, he hissed slightly. Yup, that was a sprain, all right. Blackwood reached out a hand to steady him, and Coward blushed even harder. Could he possibly look any more foolish right now?
Opening his mouth to thank the man properly, Coward met his eyes, and the words died on his lips. Blackwood's eyes, this close, had the most unusual green coloring, with fascinating hazel flecks throughout. As Blackwood spoke, Coward found his eyes drawn uncontrollably to the man's lips, except for when they flickered back up to that entrancing gaze.
Realizing he was staring at the man who had just helped him up, and who was now looking at him politely, waiting for a response, Coward flushed again. "Er, well, thank you for helping me up, my Lord. If you'll excuse me," and he hurried up the stairs, making it all the way to the top this time.
Glancing back, Coward saw Lord Blackwood giving him a very odd look, almost satisfied in a way, before he turned away. As he entered his office, Coward found he was trembling slightly. From his fall, of course. Not to mention the sheer embarrassment of looking like such a fool in front of a colleague.
That was totally it.
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Oh, Coward. (That seems to be my mantra for these fics, doesn't it?) So easily flustered. Here we see another dimension of my interpretation of their characters. Coward seems like he'd be so accident-prone, and Blackwood seems like he'd just LOL at Coward's expense, so long as it didn't mess up his plans or his hair. XD
Please review!