Esteemed Malevolence

Unconventional Bonding

The couple were doing remarkably well. It was a surprise how efficiently they had moved the corpse - ever so quickly, ever so quietly. Even though it was fairly busy, no one had so much as batted an eyelid in their direction.

It was obvious the two had done this before. Or at least, that's what their keen observer thought, peering over the roof's ledge, brim of the stove-pipe hat acting as a veranda to cast a shadow over their face. Their pale, slender hands clutched to the crumbling tiles, physically gripped to the scene occurring over the cobbles below. Their knuckles were chapped and red raw. However the cold didn't seem to bother them as they were too amazed by what they were seeing.

The barber and the baker had reached half way across Fleet Street - although it seemed that the body's arm now had a mind of its own as it kept falling down to swing loosely by the man's side... and it was proving difficult for Sweeney not to express his annoyance, but he gritted his teeth and merely folded the arm back into its place. Over. And over. And over.

Mrs Lovett on the other hand, was completely at ease. Unlike Mr Todd, she moved dead bodies on a daily basis and sometimes much heavier ones than the blighter they were transporting now. The fact she had help made it easier though, and not quite as stressful on her bones as it usually was.

'Not to mention, I 'ave an excuse to only look at 'im... ' she thought to herself, corner of her mouth curling up into a smirk.

She could have gotten used to this.

It wasn't long until they had finally reached her shop.

The watcher was still present as Eleanor backed into her shop's door, shuffling in backwards as Sweeney followed, still gripping tightly to the body. Before he entered the door, he paused.

And took a brief glance to the left.

And then to the right.

"Everythin' alright, love?" Mrs Lovett asked, her voice full of concern yet somehow still so airy like what the two were doing was a habitual activity.

It really wasn't.

"Yes." he replied emptily, turning his head to stare back at her - his eyes revealed his frustration, though she imagined it wasn't just because of the deceased victim in their arms. "I'm fine. Now come on, let's get 'im to the bake'ouse."

He wasn't fine. He was everything but fine.

She continued heading backwards slowly, but almost tripped when she felt him impatiently pushing the body towards her - forcing her to speed up her actions. She skidded back into the middle of her shop, almost hitting the counter.

She really wished that she was the one who could see where they were going - she didn't really trust him to raise his voice if she was about to walk back-first into something dangerous.

She loved him. Adored him. Lusted after him.

But she didn't trust him.

He would always be devious.

Then again, that is perhaps why they were the perfect match.

Because so was she.

The two of them wrestled with each end of the dead man as they attempted to shove him through the door to the parlour. Eventually they managed to push him through, although the two of them had wasted a lot of energy doing so, and were both breathing excessively hard.

They carried the carcass over to the doors of the bake-house...

The two of them stood there for a moment, still holding onto the body as they caught each other's gazes, hints of smirks forming over their lips.

It would have been awkward if anyone else had been there to observe the scene.

The dead man was seemingly an unknowing third-wheel, not that he was interrupting their date too much... in fact it seemed that the 'relocation of the deceased' activity had brought them both together slightly. Not that either of them would have admitted this.

They didn't need to.

"Drop it." he ordered in a whisper - she was sure that he had probably intended to growl out such a thing, but it appeared that he couldn't bring himself to do so.

The man hit the floor with a dense noise of what sounded like meat smacking wood.

Meat was going to be the only thing he would end up being.

No funeral for him.

He'd be embalmed in a brown, thick, stew-like sauce. And then laid to rest in his coffin, which would be wonderfully crafted out of cardboard-like pastry. If he was very lucky he might have a few herbs mixed into his flesh.

Mrs Lovett unthreaded the catch over the cupboard doors in order to open each one outwards - the creaking of the action caught Mr Todd's attention and he narrowed his eyes at her bent form in interest.

As she stood back up and turned to face him, she jumped when she realised that he was completely focused on her. She blinked a few times, clearing her throat as she patted the front of her dress down. Her habit made him smirk and his eyes darkened.

"M-Mr T?" she stuttered, confusion plastered clumsily over her features.

"Mm?" he hummed in reply. He wanted to indicate he was listening but felt like answering with minimal words was the best thing to do - that way he didn't really give away how he was feeling.

"Why ya still 'ere?" she continued in a quiet tone, those chocolate eyes emitting so much hope that it forced him to swallow.

"Well," he began in monotone, masking his true interest with a blank expression. "I made this ridiculous mistake, Mrs Lovett. I don't think it proper for you to dispose of it seeing as it was killed elsewhere."

She rolled her eyes, letting out a breath of air as her hands automatically placed themselves on her hips. What did it matter where the man was killed? What else would they do with the body? Either way, Sir Alexander was going into an edible, crusty grave.

"I've been a fool." he pressed on, frown suddenly giving away his emotions. "A distracted fool, Mrs Lovett. I took far too many risks today, and for what? For this rat to stop breathing?"

Her eyes widened and she gasped, "Mr T! Don't say ya 'avin' second thoughts! You never 'ave second thoughts!" This was completely unlike him.

His frown deepened and his black eyes looked up at her, head lolling down slightly.

"No, I am not. He had to die. I just... didn't think of the consequences. I put everything at risk. Not only myself, I was endangering you as we - "

Both of their eyes widened at what he'd said, his mouth snapping shut when he realised what he'd just voiced. She bit her lip to stop herself from bursting out in happy giggles, after all, it was obvious that he hadn't meant to confess his concerns to her. She stepped over the body, so that she was right in front of him, hypnotised by his black eyes.

His voice was suddenly so quiet.

"What I meant to say was that I - "

She pressed a half-gloved index finger to his lips, her lashes fluttering as she carefully stroked down to the bottom of his chin.

"Don't say anythin'. Let's jus' move 'is bugger, love." she whispered.

He nodded, lightly batting her hand away from him with his own in order to move past her. He crouched beside the dead body, gripping onto the side that Eleanor had been holding prior. He'd sensed that she hadn't been comfortable with going backwards... and he was getting tired of carrying the great lump...

She went to clutch the opposite end of the body but Sweeney had already started dragging it away from her, towards the descending blackness of the bake-house. He grunted as he managed to yank the man onto the second step. He left him there for the time being, squinting back to the light of the parlour - where Eleanor's shadowed figure was stood.

"Do you 'ave any matches?" he asked, raising his voice enough so that it echoed around the enclosed walls of the stairway.

" 'Course! 'Ere y'are, dear." she replied happily, smiling as she took a box of matches from the depths of her cleavage. She saw his eyes gleaming at her, even in the darkness in which he was enveloped in.

His footsteps echoed perfectly as he took a few steps into the light, watching her slide the match box open. She was about to draw one out but he beat her to it, snatching his hand forward to take a random match. She gaped at him as he struck the metal grate that was on the side of the box. The stick had lit immediately and he held it up to the side of her face, his eyes studying over her illuminated features for a moment.

"I'll move it." he breathed, the reflection of the sparkling flame in his hole-like eyes causing her to swallow and shiver. "Don't you worry."

He darted away from her, turning towards the location of the body - which was still sprawled out in the most painful looking position imaginable on the top few stairs.

"Do y'think that this will last the week?" he asked in genuine curiosity as he held the match out in front of him in order to light up the next couple of steps.

She placed her hands on her hips again, watching him strip off his waistcoat - it was a wonder how he hadn't set anything alight with his way of doing so... he wasn't exactly careful.

He obnoxiously threw the piece of clothing her way and she caught it just in time before it hit her in the face. She frowned at him in annoyance but he carried on with his actions, crouching down by the body's feet. She continued to scoff back a cheeky retort - she knew it would probably cause him to have a change of opinion about heading down to the bake-house with her if she did so...

"Well? What do you think, Mrs Lovett?"

But she couldn't resist messing with him.

"Oh no, Mr T!" she exclaimed loudly, eyes widening when he turned his top-half around to face her, flickering flame in front of his eyes. "I know 'e's a big bugger but that ain't nearly enough! We're gonna need lots more than 'at! We're approachin' Christmas Eve for chris'sakes! We're gonna sell outta pies like 'otcakes!"

His brows raised in surprise.

"In that case, pet... the more dead vermin, the better." he replied lowly, swivelling back around so that he could pull one of the motionless legs into a straighter position.

She watched in shock as he stood up in a hunched manner, head looking down towards the dead man's face... and then swung his right leg back to give the skull a shattering kick - there was a splitting sound and then the body started to move, swiftly sliding down each of the grimy stairs. Each step came with a new crunch or thwack as the body travelled faster and faster, gaining rapid speed...

Until it finally came to a stop after rolling across a few of the slabs that completed the bake-house floor.

Sweeney's smirk seemed to flash across his face as he slowly followed the body down the stairs, arm bearing the match outstretched. Mrs Lovett kept a bit of distance between them, she was afraid that if she got close to him again she would get lost in him completely. And now was certainly not the time to be distracted.

As she reached the bottom step, he'd already began dragging the carcass again, the scratching of the tailored clothes over the cobbles causing the two of them to wince.

He continued tugging the body until he neared the dreaded meat grinder. He took his hands away from the man's shoulders, causing the lifeless skull of the man to slam down onto the ground loudly. Sweeney let out an exasperated sigh and stood upright, turning his attention to his accomplice. As she neared, it was clear from the look in his eyes that he seriously wanted to leave there and then.

Body disposal was her thing.

Not his.

Yet his legs were glued firmly in place - his body was telling him to stay put, his heart pounding along to the sound of his rushing adrenaline as she stopped in front of him.

He frowned as she thoughtlessly dropped his waistcoat onto the slimy floor and sunk her body down slowly, eyes still peering up at him as she spoke, "We take 'is clothes off first."

"What?" he whispered incoherently with his eyes wide, causing her to roll her eyes as she began to push off the rather dapper coat the man had been wearing. "Why?"

"Oh come on now, Mr T!" she breathed out in a loud, amused gasp, her magnetic brown eyes attracting his cold, dense stare. "We can't leave 'em on, can we? Or else woven fabric'll 'ave t'be added as one 'o the ingredients! An' I'm not sure that me customers are gonna wanna eat that!"

His accusing expression eased and he nodded, feeling rather like a spare part once she was setting to undressing the man's top-half.

"What 'appens with those, then? You can't well sell 'em. What is it you do with them?" he asked, taken aback when she paused and rudely slung the dead man's jacket and waistcoat towards him.

He let out a breathy snort of irritation as he quickly managed to react and catch them - it seemed she was playing some sort of game with him, not that he had thought anything wrong about throwing his own waistcoat at her earlier.

Now he was certainly contemplating his previous actions. Perhaps even regretting them.

"Add 'em t'the wood." she instructed lightly (but he could tell she was extremely serious), continuing with removing the rest of the corpse's attire. He frowned at her but saw that she gestured towards the oven and he nodded in a soldier-like manner before he silently set to his task.

She glanced his way for a moment as she shuffled off the bottoms from the body, biting her lip when Mr Todd bent over to place the unwanted clothes in the fire - there was something about how his trousers fitted so snugly to his legs that made her weak at the knees - luckily she happened to be half on the floor already, so she'd not given herself away.

She quickly tore her gaze away as he slammed the oven door closed, firmly setting the latch. He swivelled himself around to face her, frowning with an empty expression as he watched her awkwardly struggling to take off the man's trousers. He swallowed back his disgust and marched towards her, his determined footsteps causing her to back away slightly.

He'd envisioned her being more chatty whilst she was grinding up his victims. The fact she was currently quiet, made him wonder whether it was a good thing or a bad thing.

He crouched down next to her, taking hold of a hem on one of the legs, Mrs Lovett taking the other. They shimmied them and yanked in unison, more focused on stealing glances at one another to care how well they were progressing. To make matters worse, their hands kept on brushing against each others, and that only made their lust even more intense.

Intense, but manageable.

"Where do you start?" he asked hoarsely, as they gave one last pull each and finally the trousers were prised off - to which they let out breaths of relief... then grimaces, for the body was now completely stripped.

"Torso first. Limbs second, and then anythin' else we can manage to salvage..." she trailed off, their eyes meeting again, his face closer than she'd recalled it being before. He smirked at her words, then brought a callous hand upwards to cup her cheek - her expression was almost in a state of panic.

"The organs first, then?" he breathed, grasping her chin to tilt her head back in order for her to look up to him, her skin glowing from the fine strips of light breaking through the cracks in the brickwork here and there. "I s'pose that makes perfect sense."

He leaned forwards, grazing his lips over hers, their eyelids drooping with intoxication.

"And the bones?" he whispered, eyes dancing with desire, and genuine curiosity.

"I grind 'em down when I've lots of 'em. They make out to be a good substitute f'talcum powder..." she replied lowly, pausing as he almost kissed her again.

"How practical..." he complimented, bringing up his other hand to caress the side of her face. "No wonder you were more than 'appy to give me some for free. I could tell there was somethin' different about it."

"Don't bother ya, does it?"

"Of course not. I don't use it, I only use the one you gave me for customers."

She let out a wheeze of amusement and he grinned evilly back at her, their mouths almost completing the kiss.

"You're a bleedin' devil, Mr T..."

"Oh, but then so are you, Mrs Lovett," he teased. "so are you."

When she leaned in even more, he slid back and turned away from her, standing up all in a hunch. She had the look of pure rejection painted over her face, but this was something he missed since he was too busy getting on with things...

On the stone-cut step on which the grinder was situated, there was a selection of tools all neatly arranged in a little line, the metal from each one glinting from the dim light.

He squinted in thought as his hand hovered over each one, but naturally he decided to pick the nastiest looking one. He snatched up a grey-coloured curved hook with haste, rusted edge causing his eyes to study the blade with enthusiasm.

Mrs Lovett looked up at him as he turned to her, his fingers curling around the grip at the base of the hook. She sat back on her legs, falling back on her skirts as she observed him in interest. She hadn't expected him to get on and hack up the body, she had been fully expecting him to watch her do his dirty work.

Sweeney crouched down next to her, deciding that he didn't want to kneel down in case anything red leaked into his pinstriped trousers. He had the most disconcerted expression on his face as he poised the end of the hook over the body's skin between the centre of the ribs down to the abdomen. His awkwardness for the situation soon vanished as he had that maddening glint in his eyes that she knew all too well...

" 'Ang on!" she exclaimed highly, one of her hands closing over his which was still coiled around the bladed instrument. Her other hand pressed to the side of the corpse's stomach that was farthest away from them. It was mainly to hold the body still, but also to keep herself steady - she felt quite faint, although she wasn't sure whether that was because of the situation, the lack of air, or the company...

It was probably the latter.

He frowned in confusion at her, but then she looked back at him and nodded, and he quickly averted his gaze, focusing on the body.

He hovered the hook over the bottom of the man's ribs and finally forcefully sunk the tip of the blade into the ghoulish skin. Blood trickled from the wound, spraying over both Sweeney and Eleanor's hand - the warmth of her palm around his hand caused him to concentrate his choice cut even more...

Soon he sliced downwards, towards the hand of his accomplice which was placed near the belly, but ensured that his hand remained steady in order to stop before reaching her fingers. The man's innards were now revealed and it wasn't exactly the prettiest of sights, but the two of them didn't seem too phased by it all...

Although the two of them didn't speak as they got on with ripping the grey skin and muscle from the rest of skeleton, they would exchange glances now and then. He was in complete awe with her, and how efficient she was. He had been magnificent with the hook and later on, the cleaver - but it was her that really shined with her bare hands, pulling the meatiest skin from bone.

It wasn't long before body parts piled up - first the inner organs, then the flesh of the arms, the legs, then the odd toe, or finger...

Sweeney had only recently changed into a clean shirt, but now it was completely soaked in wine-like blood.

And for once, Mrs Lovett was also completely covered. Then again, he had rarely seen her after chopping up bodies.

If he was honest he found the sight of her to be incredibly attractive.

The two were silent as he handed her each fleshy body part from his place on the ground, and she was stood, taking the meat from him to throw it into the funnel - where it would hit the basin with a thud, awaiting to be transformed into delicious sausage-like meat.

Once all the meat had been loaded up, she began to turn the crank with little difficulty. Clearly because she'd been doing it for quite a while now, her muscles had become accustomed to doing such a thing. Nevertheless, he was certainly surprised at how strong she was considering that she was quite a bit smaller than he was.

Always so underestimated.

"I can do that." Sweeney said in monotone, but his eyes were studying the way that her body was moving, backwards, forwards, backwards, forwards...

She smiled as she continued to grind away, " 'S alright, love. I don't mind. You go an' wash ya'self up, you look a right fright! Might wanna ditch that shirt an' all. There's no way I'm gonna be able t'get them stains out!"

She panted out breaths of air as he gave her an unsure look.

"You're sure?"

" 'O course! I'll be with ya in two shakes..." she puffed out, not once taking her eyes away from him, not showing a flicker of fatigue - once again demonstrating her multi-tasking skills. "That is... if ya want me t'company ya..."

"Of course." he replied shortly, causing her to pause mid-way through her action out of surprise. With that, he gave her a nod of his head and he turned on his heels, already making his way towards the bake-house stairs - at this point Eleanor's eyes widened.

That shirt really was going to end up being useless.

Even the back was completely splattered with different shades of deep red, so much so that it looked almost black.

His footsteps echoed as he quickly ascended up the stairs, to which she continued cranking, her bones suddenly aching now that she'd paused.

Despite the situation, she found a smile gracing her lips as the bake-house doors creaked and the faint sound of his tuneful whistling told her that he'd finally exited - he'd even left the doors open for her. Perhaps he was getting more considerate towards her?

It was another twenty minutes before Eleanor emerged from the the murky black to pass through the homey doors of her bake-house. Her dark red hair was even more matted from the clots of blood, her dress tinted a faint burgundy from spatter and her arms littered with dry speckles of the crimson liquid.

Mrs Lovett didn't know it, but she looked just as frightful as Mr Todd did.

Deciding that it was probably best to get the wash basin (there's no way she could possibly hang around her shop without someone noticing her appearance and she felt rather grimy too), she carefully shut the doors, only just remembering to lock the latch which she pulled over to perch between the two door handles.

Cautiously, she stepped through the parlour door and into her main shop...

She gasped aloud, freezing when she saw that Mr Todd had not gone upstairs to change his shirt at all...

In fact, he seemed quite content as he was sitting in one of the shop's booths, hand steadily clasped around a glass of homemade gin...

... half-naked.

She hadn't expected this! She felt ridiculous just stood glaring at him, but she couldn't help the furious rush of blood to her cheeks, only accompanying the red of her hair, and the red of the blood which decorated her from head to toe.

She needed mental preparation for such a sight.

She had to take a deep breath in - quickly - in an attempt to not to faint.

His appearance was a lot to take in, especially because he appeared to be utterly oblivious that she was gawking at him... then again, who knew with that man? He was a cold enough person to know very well how flustered and distracted him being sat there would make her feel. And he was definitely cold enough to not even give her the faintest glimmer that he was truly aware of her being there.

She blinked a few times, and saw that his bloodied shirt was strewn over the floor in her peripheral vision. Deciding that she couldn't stay quiet much longer - his toned muscles made her want to emit a love-sick squeak but she swallowed the sound back and kept her cool - she cleared her throat, twirling a lock of her hair like she had been busy doing such a thing before she announced her presence.

He briefly glanced over at her, bringing the brim of the glass up to his lips, those dark eyes were her indication that he already knew she'd been there... he'd known how weak he'd made her knees.

"Mr T?" she addressed, taking a few steps forward, and then some faster ones once he took his attention away from her to bore his eyes out into the darkness through the window.

How long had they been down there? It was pitch black outside.

"Mrs Lovett." he replied emptily as she came to a stop by his left side, her eyes darting around nervously - the poor woman didn't know where to look.

As she opened her mouth to say something, the previously quiet sound of the street outside suddenly grew in volume.

Heavy approaching footsteps. The dense clack of well made shoes reverberating over the cobbles...

The two of them froze and glared in worry at one another.

Despite the sign on the front door reading 'closed', the stranger seemed intent on entering the establishment by any means. The door had been left unlocked to the stranger's delight and Eleanor mentally scorched herself for forgetting to lock it...

Then again, the two of them had been in a hurry.

The glass panels rattled as the door swung open, the sound of the man entering causing them both to darken their gazes, the two of them smirking at one another.

There they were, smiling at one another even at the possible brink of their discovery. Smiling, when Sweeney was half-naked, and Eleanor was caked in vermillion patches of blood. Smiling, when it was unlikely that they would come up with a good enough excuse for both of their attires... and another for why Mr Todd was in Mrs Lovett's shop at such a time at night.

The murderer and accomplice didn't take their eyes off of each other, even as the bell sounded out as the door slammed shut.

Their worry was non-existent.

It had been replaced with exciting, adrenaline-fuelled anticipation.

The person who had entered was extremely silent. There was no way that they had missed the scene before their eyes... then again, they could only see Eleanor from her side, and it was rather dimly lit in there, perhaps they couldn't tell she was covered in blood?

"What are you both doing here at this ungodly hour?!"

There was only one person with that smug, pompous tone of voice.

It was Beadle Bamford.

How could they possibly get out of this situation?


A/N Thanks so much for reading again! The response for this story since the chapter has been amazing! Thanks for the reviews, favourites and follows, it means a lot to know that people are still interested in this fandom, and my addition to it. I know that not much really happened during this chapter other than body disposal, but I've always wanted to have a go at including a chapter that was focused on that. I hope you all enjoyed, and it shouldn't be as long for the next instalment. :)