I'm in the mood for PH but... Long story short, I'm writing this.
Alice was mad. Not that it was particularly hard to tell, really, seeing as how she kicked the wall at irregular intervals and was muttering loudly but incomprehensibly.
No, it really didn't take special training to realize Alice was mad. He wished he knew what had upset her, though, as he had the rather violent urge to fix it for her.
He briefly considered shaking the answer out of her, but that would probably only redirect her anger towards him... As they were getting close to a staircase, he would really rather delay that for as long as he could.
It was just bad luck that Alice chose that particular moment to swivel and glare at him. "And why are you following me, you stupid manservant?" she roared suddenly, shaking with earnest fury.
Oz followed the advice of his animal brain and just froze. Maybe she would ignore him?
No such luck, she started stalking towards him, her teeth bared in a bloodthirsty snarl. He should have started running, it would probably have been the smart thing to do, but his body stubbornly insisted freezing was his best defence. If he had run Alice would have chased him, she would probably have caught him with a flying tackle, they would have tussled for a bit before Oz would have mewled his defeat with a significantly mollified Alice sitting on top of him.
As it was, Alice made an almost careless flick of her wrist that sent him flying (probably just stumbling, but it felt too dramatic for that) into the wall, following that with slamming herself into him, angling him upwards so his feet lifted up off the floor, despite holding him up more by leaning into him, thus catching him between her body and the wall, than by her own strength, there are still few things as intimidating as having somebody heave you off the ground and hold you there.
He wasn't quite certain if he made any sound, but it could have been anything from a huff of air to squealing like a burning pig.
Either way, it didn't have any effect on Alice who simply kept the snarl in place, growling her question again. "Why were you following me?"
Airy thoughts started drifting through his mind, pleasant little thoughts, like how nice her eyes looked this close and how good dinner last night had sounded and how interesting that book he'd started reading yesterday had been and she smelled very nice and did she like the way he smelled as well? He couldn't smell as good as she did, of course, Alice smelled like spring and summer and sunshine and there was just no way he could smell as good (he didn't).
"I want to know what's made you angry," he said, sounding like his mind had suddenly taken a leave from his body.
Alice took a step back, unceremoniously dumping him on the ground. She muttered something and stalked off again, pausing only long enough to kick the wall a bit further down the hall.
It was a few minutes before it seemed to get through to Oz what had happened, but when it did he jumped to his feet and tried to track Alice. It proved quite easy, seeing as how the heel of her boot had made a dent in the wall every time she'd taken out her frustration on it.
It led, by the most convoluted path possible, to his/their room (she owned everything he did and she could get really lonely at night). Granted, she could have gone three more steps down the hall and into her own room, but his intuition told him that wasn't the case. And indeed, looking in revealed a lumpy shape lying on the bed hidden under the covers.
Probably Alice. Or Break trying to freak him the heck out, but the shape looked like Alice. And her boots were leaning against the bed, almost covered by her signature red coat.
He didn't realize he'd fallen so far behind.
He walked over to the foot of the bed and gently pulled the duvet down a bit, then a bit more, and a little bit more... Goodness, the girl was short! Generally it worked to make her seem even cuter (or rather, deceptively cute).
When her head finally emerged he decided enough was enough and went to look at her. She was glaring sullenly into the wall.
"Are you going to punch me again if I ask you what's wrong?"
"No," she mumbled, turning her back to him.
"Okay, then, what's bothering you?"
"None of your business."
Well, he should have seen that coming. "Alice! It is my business. My mistress' well-being is one of my major concerns!"
She huffed, but refused to let go of her anger.
"Wanna cuddle?" It was a ridiculous question, no matter how you looked at it, but it was the only thing he could think of.
Alice grumbled something that could have been anything from 'I'll kill you' to 'Yeah, sure, go ahead'. He sort of hoped it was the latter.
He slipped in behind her, pulling the duvet back over their heads. He slipped his arms around her waist, pulled her closer and buried his nose in her hair. It was going to get hard to breathe in a little while, but until then he was going to enjoy drowning in her scent and the feeling of being in a world where only he and Alice existed.
"Hey, Alice?" he asked drowsily, when he could feel the tension slowly leaving her shoulders.
"What is it?" She sounded more aware than him, but not as angry as before.
"Why did you come here? Why not your own room?"
Alice was quiet for a while, something about the silence spoke embarrassment. Then: "This bed is softer than the one in my room. Besides, it smells better in here."
That first was probably a straight-faced lie, but the other half...
Oz grinned and momentarily tightened his grip. "I'm going to make you tell me what had you so upset at some point, you know. Not now, though."
I started off with a pissed off Alice and just sort of went from there... So I have no idea what happened here whatsoever. Oh, but, hey, the good news are that I updated and that there is nothing remotely spoiler-esque about it. =D
Please review and tell me what you liked/disliked. ^_^