Notes – For a prompt-fest that I recently posted. Zillabean wanted Layton and Rosetta under the prompt of "sexy and fun". Though actually this didn't turn out all that sexy, but I hope its fun enough. Set sometime post-PL3, but doesn't contain any spoilers.
"She seemed like such a nice lady and it would have been rather rude to make her wait outside, so I just invited her in for when you got back, Professor," Flora said, blinking up at him.
She really didn't understand the problem. She didn't get why Layton had a look of complete and utter terror in his eyes. She'd thought that the girl had looked really quite friendly. What could be troubling him?
Rosetta was in his house. That was what was troubling him.
The deranged woman he had to tolerate at Gressenheller everyday now knew where he lived and was somewhere in the building waiting for him.
He was doomed.
"That's… very nice of you, Flora. I hope you offered her some tea," Layton managed after a moment, "Did she by chance say what she was doing here."
"Just that she'd wanted to have a private study with you. She must be a dedicated student to come so far out of her way in her free time," Flora answered.
"Dedicated indeed…" Layton muttered under his breath, so that Flora wouldn't hear.
The problem was that what Rosetta was dedicated to wasn't at all her studies, it was Layton himself. She'd set her sights on him and had made several attempts to catch the man on his own so that she could have her way with him. Fortunately, Layton had always managed to avoid her, but she must be getting pretty desperate if she would come here knowing that Flora was always around. Rosetta hated the kids.
"She's just through in the living room finishing up some scones," Flora was saying.
"All right, I'll go through to greet her then…" said Layton, not adding that he wanted Flora to stay near a phone on the off-chance that he might need her to call the emergency services to rescue him from her clutches.
"Professor," Rosetta purred, the moment he walked through the door, "How wonderful to see you've got home at last."
"It's… a pleasure to see you too, I'm sure," Layton said, "To what do I owe the honour?"
"Didn't that little girl already tell you? I've come here so you can give me some home study," Rosetta clarified, not getting up from the seat she was perched in, tea cup clutched in a manner that almost looked sinister.
The thing about home study was that you usually did it at home. Preferably alone. Not in the teacher's house with him.
"It would have been nice if you'd checked with me beforehand," he said.
Frowning, Rosetta replied, "But you always make up excuses, so I wanted to catch you unaware."
She was actually admitting to it!
"You do know that my daughter is here," Layton said quickly.
"Why would that be a problem, Professor?" she asked. It would have been the picture of innocence if only he hadn't known her better.
"No reason, just checking…" he mumbled.
"I actually kind of like her more than I expected to," she said, much to Layton's surprise, "She might be a whiny kid but she does make good cheese scones."
"Really?"
This was the first time Layton had ever heard anyone say something positive about Flora's cooking.
"Sure. But I didn't come here to talk about scones or your daughter, Professor, I came here to talk about you," Rosetta backtracked.
"I thought so…" he sighed.
Leaning forward, she stated, "This semester has proven very, very hard for me. I really don't want to fall behind, Professor, so perhaps you could provide me with… a little assistance."
"If you were to tell me what subjects you're struggling with I'd gladly provide you with any advice you need," Layton gulped. Much to her disappointment he was looking her directly in the eyes and not at the part of her cleavage she was pushing forward for his benefit.
"I think my problem should be obvious by now," she teased.
Yes, but I'm an archaeology lecturer not a psychiatrist, he answered in his own mind.
"Your grades for theory studies have been declining lately," Layton agreed.
"No… I'm not talking about theory, Professor, what I'm talking about is really quite practical. Or would physical be a better word?" Rosetta corrected, getting up from the chair and edging closer to him.
"Th-there are no physical studies in archaeology!" he yelped, backing away from her.
"But I want to brush up on my Layton studies!" she squealed, pouncing at him.
Layton found himself held to the floor by her, torn between wanting to scream because then Flora would come in and maybe save him or not wanting to scream because then Flora would come in and definitely be scarred for life.
"Get off me, Miss Stone! This is not how a young lady should behave!" he hissed, trying not to be too loud about it.
Trying to tug his jacket off him, Rosetta answered, "But this is what you do to ladies like me, Professor, you bad boy!"
"I'm not the one behaving badly here!" Layton cried, pushing her off him.
She was momentarily taken aback, but soon recovered herself and made to strike once more.
"How very rough you can be, Pro-"
Rosetta froze in mid-pounce and then jolted forward a little, covering her mouth. It looked very odd.
"Are you all right, Miss Stone?" Layton hesitantly asked.
"My… ugh!"
She pushed past him and darted for the bathroom.
"Is something wrong with your guest?" Flora enquired, looking around from the kitchen door.
"I'm not entirely sure, she came over quite strange suddenly," Layton replied.
"Hm, I do hope she wasn't moving around too rigorously after eating those scones, I haven't quite perfected the recipe yet," Flora commented thoughtfully.
Though he wasn't entirely sure if he wanted to know, Layton said, "What is it that you've put into them today, my dear?"
"Anchovies. Everything tastes better with a little fish, wouldn't you agree? But they don't seem to react that well to the syrup sauce…" replied Flora, in full chef-mode.
"You put fish and syrup in a scone? What sort of maniac are you?" Rosetta hissed, coming out of the bathroom, still clutching at her stomach.
"I'd rather you didn't say things like that about Flora," Layton cut in.
"You seemed to like them at the time…" Flora mumbled, "But I guess this means that I just have to try harder! Excuse me, Professor, but there's much work still to be done." With that she disappeared back into the kitchen.
"Why would you let a demon like that cook food?" demanded Rosetta.
"She seems to enjoy herself…" Layton answered.
"Fine! Well forget it. I'm in no way feeling up to winning you over now," Rosetta growled, "But since I know where you live you now, you won't be seeing the last of me."
"I look forward to helping you learn about the wonders of archaeology," hummed Layton, sounding a lot more confident than he actually felt.
"There'll be wonders all right," she said, heading for the door. She couldn't keep this up with that unholy creation playing games in her stomach, "Well, see you soon, Professor."
"Looking forward to it," he lied, charmingly, tipping his top hat as she saw herself out.
Once Rosetta was gone he headed into the kitchen to see what Flora was working on.
"I'm surprised that the lady didn't stay longer," chimed Flora, mixing chocolate drops into a savoury flan pastry.
"Miss Stone had some other business to attend to," replied Layton, "And actually, if you're not too busy I wouldn't mind you baking something for me to take to work tomorrow."
"Oh, Professor! I'd love to!" Flora gasped, clasping her hands together.
She was so happy; it was the first time Layton had ever showed interest in her cooking.
Little did she know that he just wanted to use whatever she made to ward off potential Rosetta attacks.