title Nonsensical Whimsicality

author pinkeop

summary "One step at a time, now, Mr. T."

authors note A short little one shot I thought I would write for my buddy Brina, since she gave me a prompt last night. And I figured it would tide you silly bastards over for a while, eh? Read and review as always because I LOVE you! I always prided myself in writing unique one shots and I've been getting ideas that've been resycled and used before and I just needed something NEW.

I dont know if this is NEW exactly, but I at least haven't read a one shot to do with it.

Shall we proceed?

Love!

Pink Elephants on Parade

--

Nonsensical Wimsicality

We live and we learn to take

One step at a time

There's no need to rush

It's like learning to fly

Or falling in love

It's gonna happen and it's

Supposed to happen that we

Find the reasons why

One step at a time

Mrs. Nellie Lovett stared quietly and oddly subdued out the large bay window in the barber shop. It was a warm day but a slow one. Toby was happily, or at least contendedly, sitting at the bottom of the stairs playing with cards. Mr. Todd was sitting in his chair without a word, cleaning his razors carefully, making sure each of his darling friends gleamed like silver should. Nellie was enjoying the silence for the most part, as the barber had not bid her good day as of yet and forced her out with a rough grip on the arm to exit the shop. It was a love hate relationship, really. As in, she loved him and he hated her. Well, perhaps not hate, but the next best thing to it.

Nellie sighed softly and turned away from the window, tilting her head at the man. He turned his own slightly to look at her. His face was relaxed and she was sure the reason for this was that the shop door was wide open and the warm spring air was coming in from that open threshold. Without the creases and frown-lines, he looked much younger and a lot like the Benjamin Barker he'd once been. She smiled warmly at him and the barber rose his brows curiously.

"Such a lovely day, innit Mr. T?" she purred as she turned back to the window, peering out over Fleet Street. "All sunny an' such... I bet if we packed up now we could go fer a picnic down in Hyde Park..." She placed her elbow on the window sill and her chin in the palm of her hand. "Wot say you, Mr. T?"

The man grunted and turned back to his razors, not at all concerned about the baker and her plans for a sun-filled day. Nellie looked over her shoulder and wrinkled her brows, placing her hands on her hips as she turned to look at him. "Wot was that?" she snapped.

"Nothing, pet," Mr. Todd practically purred, turning his head to look at her in a very unamused way, but it mollified her and Nellie sighed with bliss, clapping her hands together.

"Or maybe we could go for a trip to the market," Nellie went on. "I could always do some shoppin', an' I 'ad to threw out three of yeh white shirts- we could go to the tailor, today, too..." she trailed off.

"Anything you say, love," the barber grunted, speaking for the sake of, hopefully, shutting her up. But his Mrs. Lovett ( for she was his and no one elses ) was not derailed so easily, and she simply went about chattering as she did with no real direction in her conversation.

"I could get them flowers I always be 'arping about, yeah?" she said, tapping her finger against her chin. "Dasies and gilly an' maybe even some pretty roses..." She sighed blissfully.

"No flowers, my sweet," Mr. Todd mumbled dejectedly.

"An' when we're pickin' up yeh some clothes from the tailor I can get meself some more thread an' knit lit'le Toby a nice muffler- the nights is still a bit cold down in the par'la..." Nellie tilted her head thoughtfully as she began to do so out loud.

"'E would be elated, pet." Mr. Todd murmured, no emotion coating his voice.

"Wouldn't that be nice, Mr. T?" she asked, smiling so warmly that she was sure that he could feel the warmth radiating off her.

"Smashing, Mrs. Lovett." Was his dull reply.

"Such a nice day just makes yeh wanna dance, don' it, Mr. T?" She exclaimed suddenly, turning back to the window but throwing him a smile over her shoulder. Mr. Todd shrugged his shoulders and grunted.

"No," he snapped.

"Do yeh dance, Mr. T?" Nellie asked with a sigh, moving to his side. She placed her hands on his shoulders and moved around the chair. She slid into his lap, sitting quite innocently on his knees, curling one arm around his shoulders. His eyes snapped to her and he curled his lip back in a snarl.

"I don't dance, Mrs. Lovett." He replied.

The woman chuckled and shook her head. "But yeh danced wiv yeh Lucy on yeh weddin' day, didn't yeh?" She asked.

Mr. Todd looked away and stared distantly distracted at the corner of the window. Nellie eyed him casually.

"Yeh didn't?" she asked quietly. Mr. Todd wrinkled his nose and she could see the flash of annoyance in his eyes. He hated, more than anything, two things about her- these of which she knew very well, for he wasn't too keen to hide it from her. He hated when she sat upon him, even so innocently. He hated when she forced any sort of physcial touch upon him, even when it had never been anything less than innocent. And secondly, he hated when she knew that he was flawed in some small, insignifcant way. And now, as she sat on his knees with her arm around his shoulder and prodding at his dancing skills, she could tell he was two shifts from killing her right then.

But Nellie knew just how to handle him. Setting her jaw, the woman raised her other hand and forced his chin towards her, which he immediately jerked out of her delicate touch. "Can you dance, Mr. T?" she asked softly, furrowing her brows.

"I'm sure that is none of your business, dear," he spat. Nellie shook her head.

"Now, Mr. T!" She scolded. "Yeh has to know how to dance! Yeh grew up in a nice family, di'n't yeh? Went to plenty of balls growin' up, yeah?"

The barber wrinkled his nose and shoved her off his lap quiet easily. The baker dropped with a squeal onto her bottom, her skirt piling up around her hips. She glared at him as she smoothed down the skirt of her dress, watching as his eyes danced with tolerant amusement, a smirk dripping over his lips like the stinging verbal barbs that seemed to always slip from his vocals.

"Or did yeh sit along the wall lik'a lit'le flow'a?" she snapped as she stood, brushing off the dust that clung to the dark fabric of her dress. Mr. Todd's eyes darkened from the amusement and he snorted again.

"Blasphemous!" she exclaimed, hands on her hips. "Mr. T, you can't dance!"

"I never said that!" the man snarled. "I said that I didn't dance! Bloody woman, can't you hear over your own running mouth when someone speaks?"

"Yeh never said yeh could, either!" Nellie boistiously talked over the second half of his sentance and could see the flash of annoyance in his eyes again as he slowly raised himself from his barber chair. She took a measured step back as his hand snapped open the razor quietly and speedily, the only sound the silver shing as it flung open. An empty threat. Nellie tilted her head and her lips twisted upward. A sudden excitement entered her and she leaned forward slightly.

"I could teach yeh," she half-whispered, biting her full bottom lip in hope as his expression shifted to a slightly surprised one, but then it darkened yet again. He pulled his lip back.

"Wot?" he asked flatly. Nellie took advantage of this and took three graceful steps towards him, swishing her skirts around her as she grabbed at the hand that held the razor and carefully slipped that closed, pushing his wrists to his sides. She leaned up on her toes, excitement in her big brown eyes as they met with his large, black ones.

"I could teach yeh to dance!" she said excitedly. "Lucy was always dancin'," she went on. "Silly lit'le thing. Days when you were locked up in yeh shop wiv a thousand customers, she'd miss yeh terribly, but she was always dancin' 'bout the shop..." She bit her lip as she saw his expression change- to one of slight wonder and grief. Perhaps it was sly and black hearted of her to do these things, but Nellie found that when she recounted tales of his Lucy, the sides of her that she only saw being the younger woman's friend, it was considerably easier to get Mr. Todd to do what she wished. Your Lucy loved to walk in the park. We'd got all the time when yeh was in Bell-Yard an' I didn't need to be in the shop. She'd gotten him to go to Hyde Park with her one warm afternoon in the spring. Your Lucy, she loved helpin' me make the pies. Sit in the shop all day long she did. She'd gotten him to sit with her on nights that she'd normally be alone, washing his clothes and putting together pies. Your Lucy always loved when yeh gave her flowers. Silly thing would coo about them all day long when a pretty rose would show up for 'er. Poorly picked flowers the very next day had shown up on the booth in the shop. "Don't yeh think yeh Lucy'd want yeh to learn?"

Mr. Todd wrinkled his nose down at her once more and tilted his head as if he were regaurding her very carefully. Moving to grab his hands, Nellie took hold of them, wraping her small fingers around his large ones. "Won't take long'a than a tick ta learn the basics, Mr. T!" she purred happily, watching his resolve disappear. An annoyed sigh escaped his lips and he rolled his eyes heavenwards.

She pulled him away from the chair and into the middle of the flat. "'Ere," she said, taking his hand and placing it on her waist. He looked appalled, but did not fight her on her instructions. The other she grabbed in her own and she placed her right hand on his shoulder. "Yeh lead me," she told him. "Yeh push me arm forward or back dependin' on where yeh want me to turn wiv yeh."

Mr. Todd looked at their clasped hands with a lost expression.

Nellie snorted a laugh, but covered it with a poor cough when he glared at her. "'Ow 'bout I lead this'un, love?" she asked politely. Brows furrowed, the man simply nodded his head a fraction of an inch.

She moved away from him. "Watch my feet." The baker instructed. She held her arms aloft, as if she was still holding him to her, an invisible dance partner. And, with her skirts swishing around her, she began to move, dancing with just herself, but ever so gracefully that she certainly didn't need a partner to radiate long, practiced grace. And, as the barber watched, it could be guess that such thoughts entered his own mind, for he was not watching just her feet, but the rest of her body as well, the way the outline of her legs pressed against the thick skirts as she moved with spontanious turns, so it seemed, dancing circles around him and the room. It's unable to be certain what enters the barbers thoughts, but as his eyes traveled across Nellie Lovett's body, it is certain to say that he was not just watching her feet- even the barker herself knew this. Her grace and warmth and knowledge for whatever learning and teacher opprotunity was what caused the man with the spiney white streak to stare closely at every hidden muscle that twitched and glided beneath her smooth skin underneath the tight, corset draw dress.

It was like he'd been slapped from a dream then when she landed back in front of him, dropping her arms. Nellie saw the look in his eyes- awe, and mistakes it for uncertainty in himself. So she moved back to him and placed his hand on her waist and hers on his shoulder, clasping their hands together then.

"One step at a time, now, Mr. T," she said softly. Pushing on his arm, she moved her foot forward, watching as the man glanced down in a panic at his own feet, taking a clumsy step back.

"No," she said sharply, forcing him to glance up in frustrated annoyance. When he opened his mouth to protest that he'd done anything wrong, the woman shook her head. "No," she said more softly. "Look at me. Trust yeh feets and look at me."

Mr. Todd's brows furrowed. Again, it was uncertain to say for sure what crossed his mind, but Nellie could see curiosity and surprise in his eyes. She moved forward again, taking a slow step. The man took one backwards. Another step. She started simply- no turns. Just simple back and forward movements. Perhaps it should have been awkward locking her gaze with Mr. Todd's so long. Weirdly not, perhaps it should have been, but her face felt pale and cool and relaxed, not warm and hot and flustered as per usual when she met his gaze. And he neither looked uncertain- determination blazed behind the black irises, freckled with warm honey brown hiding somewhere in there. He did not break her gaze as she instructed. Of course, when she moved to turn them in an elegant spin he was taken by surprised and he looked down at his feet.

"Ah, ah!" she reprimanded. "Look at me, Mr. Todd."

"You could 'ave warned me yeh was turnin'," the man snapped, taking his eyes off his awkward feet and back onto the woman that stood so close to him now. She was not repulsive, at least she did not think herself to be. She wondered what he thought of having her so close. She knew that in the back of her mind, she was having a little party of her own, elated to feel his body heat- soft as it was -radiating against her own, much stronger, and hopefully filling him with how close she was standing. When she turned them again, he was ready and took it in stride. The grin of approval could not be surpressed and in his own human nature, the barber copied that large, toothy smile, triumph leaking off him. In a fraction of a second, the dance changed.

He was pushing her.

Nellie obediantly allowed him to lead her around the room, slightly more clumsy than she had managed to make them dance. But he didn't look down- no, he looked right into her big brown eyes, fire burning, and she stared right back. His grip on her waist tightened, and their steps quickened. She felt him hold onto her hand as if she were going to fly away from him. Her own grip on his shoulder hardened and her nails dug through the white shirt and into his skin. They both hissed out a breath of air. Neither was certain where the dance grew almost violent, almost trying to throw the other off.

Finally, Nellie felt them spin around in a violent circle, and her back was pressed against the wall with a harsh thud, his body anchoring her there. They both stood panting for a sort moment, staring down and staring up, locking gazes, each with their own feelings. Nellie, well, she was elated and warmed and thrilled all at once. And god only knew waht Mr. Todd was thinking- but by the wild look in his eyes, the emotions couldn't far differ from the baker's. Slowly, her looked past her eyes, his gaze trailing down her throat to the swell of her breast, anything futher hidden by where he pressed his own body against her. He looked back up and gently released her. He moved back and they were both able to breath again, as if before the air had been sucked from their lungs.

Nellie fussed with her hair, the flush finally settling over her cheeks.

"Well, now, Mr. T," she said as she moved to him and pat her hands on his shoulders just as he threw himself down into his chair. "Let's hope yeh can find yehself a reason to be dancin' real soon-like."

The man snorted and turned his head slightly to gaze out the bay window. "'Aven't you got somewhere to be?" he hinted.

Nellie snorted. "A'right, a'right, I'm goin', I'm goin'," she huffed. She leaned down and swiftly placed her lips against his temple, and he grunted, waving his hand towards her face. But that hand gently cupped her cheek for half a second before letting her go.

Smiling, Mrs. Nellie Lovett held her head high and bound from the barber shop, her feet still moving with the grace that had been bestowed upon her as she danced with her barber.