A/N So this is just something I've been sat on since 2013/14. I decided to post it because I hated it just sitting there, not being read. I may indeed add to it, maybe a couple more chapters, who knows? I might even add some random Sweenett one-shots in there too, just adding to this 'series' whenever I feel like it xD Anyway, please enjoy :) Review if you want more (i think there'll be a few more parts to this first chapter before all the one-shots start being uploaded) :)

Esteemed Malevolence

Bottles Filled With Anger

Mrs Lovett was delusional, devoted and dazedly in love with the barber she slaved herself to the bone for in that dreadful bake house. Clearly, being so selfish and single minded, the murderous man never once thanked her for what she did for him. Not when she'd climb those steep stairs (even in deep snow) to set a tray of food down for him. Not when she'd wash the flaked, grisly blood out of his clothes or mend any torn shirts that he'd acquired from his bloodthirsty act. And of course, certainly not when she worked down in the bake house until god knows what hour to chop up the kills he'd gotten that day.

Yet he would occasionally moan about etiquette to her whenever he rarely spoke. Even though that was entirely hypocritical of him since he never damn used his! "Whatever happened to manners in this world?" he would often comment whenever he found his voice, not wanting an actual answer from her, or at least he blocked her reply out if he did get one.

The fact she was receiving less recognition every day that went by, really grated on her nerves - in the last week he had grunted less and less, until he never even hummed for her to continue jabbering on. So, she'd just huffed and stormed out of his room, making sure she let the door slam to make that infernal bell ring his ears.

But don't think she was an innocent little mouse in all of this.

She always got her own back. Of course, to any bystander she seemed to just slave away for him and live most of her life in her expectant daydreams that she always had, yet she would always find a way of getting her own revenge on him. Even if it would be the tiniest thing.

And nine times out of ten, Sweeney Todd was utterly oblivious to her scheming ways.

To him, she was a dizzy, ditsy baker who just did... whatever she did, because he never paid any attention to what she actually did with her life. Yet little did he know, that if he scratched at that innocent, dreamy surface she plastered on every day, it would reveal a whole new person to him...

... someone who was clever, cunning and calculating, rather like he was. However she was quicker than him to express her ideas, which more often than not involved something unorthodox and inhuman; yet this was not always a blessed gift, as it got her into some right palavers with what she often let out of her mouth or even when she let her mind wander...

And sometimes, particular feelings she had would then be bottled up and stored away inside her, unseen for anyone's preaching eyes. But from time to time, these feelings would re-emerge, stirring a whole rush of that particular emotion in a single sonic wave all the way through her.

And all of the irritation, this fury she had always held back from the barber, had one day reached her bottle's top...

And for once, that very bottle top was blown clean off.

"Brought some hot tea for ya love." she said, tray with a precariously placed teapot on it in one hand, the other hand closed the door caringly, ensuring that there was no noise to disturb the barber. "I made sure it wasn't too hot, I know y'don't like it when it's awful hot."

He didn't say a word as he stared out of his clear panes, his arm rested on the edge of the window frame, as he narrowed his eyes over the murky, mucky London skyline. She set the tray on his desk, cautiously moving some objects on his vanity to place it there.

After doing so, Eleanor turned, hands on her hips as she rolled her eyes at him.

Oh, surprise surprise.

It was the same old bloody Sweeney Todd routine: She leaves the tray. She stands. He doesn't move, doesn't say a word. She attempts to have a conversation. He (up until recently) grunts along yet is truly deaf to her. She sighs. She knows she's not wanted. She leaves him in peace.

Yet today, she'd just about had enough of this habitual get up.

Eleanor scowled and scoffed, marching towards him with heavy, confident steps to alert him that there was to be a change in the schedule. She bit her lip to stop a smirk reaching her lips when she noticed his back stiffen.

Her hands balled into fists and her expressive chestnut eyes toughened into hard nails as they fiercely hammered into the back of his neck. She halted with two inches between the two of them, yet he still hadn't turned.

"Whatever happened to manners in this world Mr Todd?!" she mocked, in a threatening tone that was so unexpectedly snide that Mr Todd's eyes actually widened and his mouth opened in a little half 'O' of surprise. "Surely the world would be a better place if we all used 'em!"

In a blink, he had swivelled to face her, a strange emotion on his face. It was a mix of shock, surprise and unfortunate amazement. He looked almost... proud of what he was seeing her do one moment and then in the next he looked totally confused.

"Don't you dare look at me now!" she bellowed lowly, fury and stress being unleashed in an erratic wave towards him, fist shaking close to his head. "After all this bloody time, I actually 'ave to make myself angry just t'make you look at me!"

Sweeney opened his mouth wider, like he was about to actually speak.

"Oh! And talkin' too are we?! Well look at that! Looks like you're not mute after all!" she drawled, waving her arms about at him in a frenzied manner. "You have no idea how much 'o my life is taken up by you! You think I don't mind, but I do! I do mind when I'm never damn thanked! I do mindwhen you don't even bother to look at me, or say good mornin'! You annoy me to the brink of suicide some days! You abuse me! You ignore me! You treat me like I'm nothin' 'part from another particle of air! An' you constantly crush me dreams - and y'know the funniest thing 'bout it?! You don't even know you're bloody doin' it! Most people would never put up with such... shit. And 'eaven knows I shouldn't!"

He felt like he should speak but found himself waiting for more, like he was too engrossed by what he was hearing to butt in now. She was so... mesmerising when she was angry. It was like she and he were the only ones on Earth. He knew it was wrong to feel this, but he did. He'd never seen her like this before.

Her face was hot and flushed with a shade of red that almost matched her hair, her eyes now watering and bloodshot from her pure anger. She was breathing in and out in a rapid pattern, soft frown grinding further and further down into her own skull.

Suddenly she let out a heavier breath, uncurling her fingers from her palms. Her eyes didn't change but her brows lifted, her cheeks were a light pink now.

"Ya know why I do all this?! Ya know why I'm livin' with your... unreasonable behaviour?" she asked, demandingly at first, but then it mellowed into a softer, more sorrowful tone. "It's 'cos I love ya to the point where... just standin' at the side lines ain't enough. I have to be 'round ya all the time, and whether you shout at me or smack me, your voice and your touch is enough. It's 'cos in a way, I'm still close to ya, without ya knowin'... and I know that I'm the only one you 'ave to dep..."

Eleanor didn't finish, she just sighed and lowered her tired, defeated gaze to the floorboards, not noticing that he'd shifted an inch closer, leaving one last final inch between them.

He sighed, internally shouting because he found it really hard to know what to say to the woman. Or maybe he was just cursing himself for what he was about to admit.

"You're right," Sweeney started hoarsely, the sound of his softer tone of voice making her face him again. "My whole being is literal shit. And I was born out of it. Now I've pulled you into this corrupt void too... I shouldn't have, I should have never come back here. I should leave, I should find place for vengeance elsewhere."

"No!" she exclaimed, suddenly flinging herself at him, squeezing him into a hug between her arms. He frowned at her and didn't respond. She gasped and immediately left his body, blushing at her actions.

" 'M sorry Mr T... I just..."

"I know. If you feel that you're fine with me being here, I shall stay. And now I know how you feel then I s'pose I'll have to treat you better."

She smiled warmly.

"But ..."

Her smile fell.

"... You'll have to stop pesterin' me when I'm working. If you stop that, then I assure you that I'll treat you properly."

She thought about it. It wasn't that bad for an offer was it? After all, she could always do something else instead of 'bothering' him... like... reading, or napping...daydreaming.

"What 'appen's if I break the promise of leavin' you in peace?"

"We go back to how we are at present."

She stayed quiet, not moving a muscle.

"Do we have a deal?" he asked, keeping the serious emotion on his face when she beamed him a gleeful grin.

Eleanor nodded quickly, "Yes, we do."

She held out a hand for him to shake, a gesture all good business deals ended with.

And that was the moment when Sweeney dipped his head and left a small chaste kiss upon her lips, lightly patting her shoulder as he turned away and casually walked off to his bedroom.

Eleanor was left there, blinking in bliss and awe as a furious magenta blush painted her face and a daze came over her. The scene played out again and again and again before her.

Is this what he thought about how she 'should' be treated? Or was this another game to manipulate her?

She didn't know and frankly didn't care.

She touched her lips, which were now bearing the warmth that his had left.

For once, anger had led to something good.