Dinner For Two

"I need a favour."

"Aaaah!! ..Dammit!! Don't do that!"

Adelle stared at the back of Topher's head, said head was covered with papers that had gotten airborne the minute she'd spoken, it seemed he wasn't prepared for the surprise visit. Quickly he gathered up all the papers and not being careful when he pushed them all down the first drawer he´d open.

"Adelle! Hi! Uhm, favour?"

"It's more of an request actually."

"Hey, you're the man.. Uh, boss! I mean, boss of course."

She smiled stiffly at him, with her hands behind her back. She wasn't curious about the papers, she owned this place and could easily have them at her desk if she felt Topher did something he shouldn't. His office had, as usual, the same kind of chaotic sort of balance. For her it looked like a mess, but Topher could just like that, find his needle in his haystack. They were very two different people.

"Yes, I understand what you mean Topher."

"Right, sorry, you just caught me off guard, that's all."

"What were you doing anyway?"

"Uh... Nothing, just.. you know, reading?"

"Hmm.. Very well than."

Topher smiled, a real genuine smile that made his eyes squint a little bit, from what Adelle had heard, this had an soothing effect and was somewhat contagious. She raised one perfect eyebrow and sighed. What people saw in Topher, she never knew nor understood.

He on the other hand, got up from his desk and went to his fridge to get a soda, being around Adelle sometimes made him thirsty, he suspected that if he wasn't so sensitive towards alcohol, he'd have a beer instead.

"Do you want one?"

"No, Topher, I'm fine."

"Okay, so what's the "favour-slash-request" you want?"

"I need you to have a look-out on Dr. Saunders for me."

"On Claire? Why?"

"Well I know you two are close, correct?"

"Uh, sure, yeah."

"I'm worried about her, so it wouldn't seem wrong if you asked her questions about her well-being, than have Laurence do that, don't you think?"

"Yeah, you're totally right. He's kind of a stuck-up, you know?"

"Hmm.. Right.. Whatever, just keep your eyes open and report back to me."

What met Adelle's eyes, were Topher with a confused look on his face, one hand holding a soda, the other scratching his head. And this man claimed to be a genius?

"Sure, but is there something I should know?"

Once again, she sighed and Topher knew he had asked too many questions, like he always seemed to do, but seriously, he was a curious guy and his boss wanted him to keep an eye on Claire? He couldn't help but wonder about it.

As his thoughts started to go over the why's and how's, Adelle went over to his fridge and opened it. She wasn't surprise to find it stuffed with sugary substance by every kind, either you ate it or drank it, it was disgusting. What did surprise her however was a plain boring greyish box, almost hidden insight and seriously, if anyone is in front of a fridge, you start thinking about food. Except Topher only kept candy and such in his, so this boring little box made Adelle wish for it to contain something she could eat. She was rather peckish when she thought about it and decided to take a chance with the mysterious box. As she opened it, she was greeted by a wonderful sight. Actual home-cooked food! Who knew?

"Oh, I see you've found my lunch?"

"You're... This is you're lunch??"

"Hey, hey.. It's good for my brain, okay? Don't need to look down on me or anything!"

"What? Oh God, heavens no! This is.. Did you make this?"

"Actually, yeah I did."

Topher started to fidget, he wasn't hungry at the moment, but he was a little bit worried what Adelle was planning on doing with his food, he may have an important job here, but his food was precious, in a weird way, it was his safety-blanket. Eating home-cooked always made him relax easier.

"You cook?"

"Hey! So I'm a guy who cooks, so? I mean... Don't you?"

"Because I'm a woman, you mean?"

"What? No, no, of course not! I just... God, I don't know okay? Just... Explain to me again about Claire? And please, put my lunch back?"

"God, I'm just so hungry and this smells wonderful, I could eat it with my fingers!"

"Uh.. Desperate much?"

"Right, sorry.."

"No, it's okay, I understand."

With a slight pink tinge on her cheeks, Adelle put Topher's lunch back into the fridge and took a seat on his couch and waited for him to do the same. It took a while for him to get to picture, she was almost tempted to pat the spot next to her to signal him, but he beat her to it and just sat down and leaned back with his head tilted upwards.

She turned on her seat as to face him, still sitting on the edge of the couch, making her look stiff and professional. This of course made him impossible to relax completely and it annoyed him.

"Take a picture?"

"What?"

"Nothing.. Claire?"

"Right, well I spoke with her earlier.."

"..Yeah, about that, she seemed pretty upset once she left, what was that about?"

"As I was trying to say.."

"..Sorry.."

"..She was rather upset when she left, she tried to hide it of course, but I think we both know that she's not really that good with that, right?"

"She kind of suck at it."

"To say it bluntly, yes, she does and we need to make sure she doesn't.. Do something that will have consequences, to her or the dollhouse, but mostly her. If she does something that in anyway harms her, it will affect the dollhouse, do you understand?"

"So this isn't really about her, it's about this place?"

"Can it not be both?"

"Sure.. Sure.. Al right, I'll... uh, let you know if I notice if she's downing to much tequila"

"She's got tequila in her office?"

"Uh, no I just.. Never mind. Anything else?"

Adelle twisted her body and leaned back, she hadn't planned to stay long. Just make him understand what she needed from him and then leave, but she couldn't get that wonderful smell out of her system and she was pretty close to starvation. One hungry stomach always made you exaggerate, not to mention grumpy. She sighed and closed her eyes and went for the kill.

"I don't suppose there's enough for me?"

He turned his head that was still resting on the back of the couch, watching her. Almost making it look like he had it in a weird angle, but surprisingly for him, it was comfortable. She noticed this of course, feeling his breathe by her ear and opened her eyes and turned her head to him, it was a smaller couch than she thought. If she'd wanted, she could've easily have kissed him. She kept his stare and waited to see what he'd do or say. For once he was actually quiet and still.

"Topher?"

He flinched and shook his head, as if to clear away thoughts and questions he always seemed to blurt out, when he shouldn't. With a groan he started to sit upright and then, nothing.

"Don't take this wrong, but.. Don't you have access to fancier food?"

"Do you have any idea how long it's been since I ate something none-fancy?"

"Uh, no idea.."

"Actually, If you wanted an answer, I'm afraid I can't give you one, I hardly remember!"

This brought a laugh from Topher as he sat back again smiled at her.

"How about we share? I'm not really hungry now, but I could eat a little bit, deal?"

"Sounds wonderful."

"Cool, I hope you won't mind eating out of the box, less dishes to take care of you know?"

"Of course."

As Topher went to retrieve his lunch, she couldn't help but smile to herself and maybe just a little, acknowledge that there was something about Topher that got you relaxed and happy. She could almost see what Claire saw in him, just a little bit.

She just had to remind herself about his jumpy, jittery ways, just in case. They were only employee and boss and nothing more, not even friends, but for now, she would just pretend that they could actually be something like that. Yes, starvation truly had a weird affect on people.

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AN; Thanks to "shattered-demon", "juajua", "CptKaydeAdama"