Authors Note: Todd/Lovett pairing.
Disclaimer: Nothing Belongs to me.
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Ace of Spades
In a tiny, tiny, box in the corner of the barbershop, collecting lays of dust sat a deck of cards. Or rather once sat a deck of playing cards.
Just a regular deck, 52 cards, of four suits. Nothing special. But now it seemed like the worlds most important thing to Mister Sweeney Todd.
He ran around his small shop, franticly searching for his missing box of cards.
He cursed to himself as he dug through piles of clean white shirts, and then through all of his pockets. Truth to be told,
The cards had been stolen. Well, perhaps borrowed is more of the word. You see, several hours ago, his landlady, the oh so famous, Madame Lovett brought up his laundry while he had paid a visit to the market.
She wasn't technically snooping. She had noticed the small rectangular box sitting in the corner, and picked it up, and then left with it. It was a simple as that. Now she sat downstairs, eyes focused on her cards, a mug of untouched gin next to her. "Damn." She cursed to herself, unaware that Mr. Todd had taken his one man search party downstairs. "Mrs. Lovett," he said, razing an eyebrow at her.
"Not now Mr. Todd." She responded, cursing to herself again. "Mrs. Lovett." The dark man tried again. "Rent's not due 'til Tuesday, Mr. Barker." She replied this time, clearly fully absorbed in her little game. He thought about lashing out at her right then and there, but realized she probably wouldn't react with more than an "ouch," a good thirty seconds after he hit her.
He sighed and asked the only question she would possibly answer. "May I join you, Mrs. Lovett?" he whispered, only loud enough for her to hear. "Solitaire's a game for one." She replied smirking. "Your good." He told her ignoring her last comment. "You can't be good, Mr. Todd. Half of it is getting lucky. Besides, what do you think I did for fifteen years?" she said, not bothering to look up from the cards. A moment of silence hovered over them. His head swarmed with ways to get his landlady's attention.
Without a second thought, he kissed her, long and hard. And his purpose was forgotten.
A longing in both their eyes, but the past keeping them away from each other. Her lonely eyes searching for his, and his dark, cold ones (gained from years of hardship) searched for hers. For a moment, their eyes met, but he quickly looked away. He leaned in for another sorrow filled kiss. As soon as their lips locked, all the years that had vanished before their eyes felt so close. The memories that had evaporated and became the air around them found themselves hovering like a cloud over them.
They broke apart, she whispered, "solitaire's a game for one; but I suppose we can make an exception. Just this once." Her full red lips against his ear, reminding him of how it could have been. It should have been. But it simply wasn't how things were. Her fingers lingered on the last card in the deck to reveal the ace of spades.
She looked down at the card, and smiled, placing it next to the other ace's and slipped the two of spades on top of it.
Finally, she could possibly finish. It was the last card in the deck, but the only cards she needed to complete the game. "An ending—is always a beginning." She says, placing the four of hearts on top of the three. She took his hand and squeezed it, allowing him to place the four on top of the three of diamonds. "Ellie." He whispered weakly. "Shh…" she placed a finger to his lips, and shushed him.
He didn't protest. They finished the rest of the game in silence. An invisible layer of thick lust surrounding them. At the end of the game, she took that ace of spades from the bottom between two fingers and waved it in front of him. "Solitaire, is a game for one. Perhaps someday it'll be a game for two." She began to back away slowly. "When you're ready for that beginning, ready to move on that is, find me, and the card. It'll be sitting by my bedside table. Take it, and I'll now you're ready. Game rules." She said and smiled.
"I'll be waiting as long as it takes." She leaned in and kissed him softly, and then left. Her hips swaying, a bounce in her step, teasing him all the way until he heard the door slam. He smirked. "Game rules, eh?" He thought to himself. He would plan his moves perfectly, for you make one wrong move, and your little game of life could be over. "A beginning…" He thought. "And that ending…"
Sunrise to sunset.
He walked back up this barbershop quietly, leaving the forgotten 51 cards lying silently on the table. He walked back up, the corner of his lips curling up, wondering what she had in mind. She always looked like she knew something you didn't. And he liked that. But there was only one way to find out. But it would take time, and he knew that this didn't matter, because she had said that he could take all the time he needed.
Inside the bedroom, Mrs. Lovett had her face buried in her hands. She wanted more than anything to start a new life with the man she unconditionally loved. She'd wait—patiently until the day of the ace of spades was missing from her bedside table. Until then, solitaire would always be a game for one.
Fin.
End Note: Based around the characteristic of longing and loneliness. Solitaire (like in French it means loneliness) kind of represents that in a way. They're both like lonely people who don't really see that they have each other. Short and Sweet. )
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