Chapter X (I): Gifts and revelations
The earliest of the four people, as well as the 'landlord' wakes up around seven in the morning.
He pauses for a moment to ponder that Barty is sleeping only a few walls away.
- Who knows how he sleeps, on which side of the bed, what expression he makes, what position he takes, will he hold his wand to himself? Oh, I wish I could be that wand so badly ... -
He would just have to go to the bathroom and open the door that leads to the Death Eater's room, open or not.
He has a sonic screwdriver, after all.
However, the Time Lord postpones his plans because he remembers a promise he made to him.
- If I get down to work at a good pace, I'll be capable of making him find his beloved Slot Machine when he wakes up. -
To go to the room where he keeps all his equipment the Tenth Doctor must necessarily cross the entrance to the TARDIS and it is there that he notices an unfortunate fact.
The doors are ajar and the key is stuck inside.
It means that someone has escaped and he also knows all too well who it could be.
He retraces the journey backwards, passing Peter Vincent's room, Kevin's, and then arriving where he can verify his suspicions.
Peter Carlisle's room is empty, the bed almost intact.
"He hasn't even seen my gift " he mutters in disappointment, closing the wardrobe that his guest must not have even opened.
His construction projects are hopelessly postponed.
A manhunt is required.
"Wake up, wake up, it's an emergency, hurry up!" he yells, knocking on every occupied room.
He doesn't have to wait long for all of his Companions to come out… except that one of them was in too much of a hurry to do so.
"Peter, get dressed!" the other three exclaim at the same time, quite embarrassed.
"I thought there wasn't a minute to waste, Doc!" shrugs the illusionist, totally naked and without showing any discomfort.
"Trust me, you can lose at least the minutes to get dressed," the Doctor patiently explains. "And please, not Doc, never Doc," he shakes his head with an annoyed grimace. "I'd rather Ten, if you want a new way to call me!" he adds, before the illusionist follows his advice, returning to the room.
If not the advice from Ten and Barty, surely Killgrave's command convinces him.
"Anyway, it's my duty and pleasure telling him what to do!" the persuader retorts, showing clear symptoms of jealousy.
"Why Ten? Barty asks him curiously.
- What should I do? Am I already talking about regenerations? Like two days ago I practically told everyone, including me, that we don't really exist except in our universes, which can communicate with each other ... there is no need to upset them with other revelations, I will delay the argument as much as I can! - he decides.
"Oh well, I like the way it sounds, that's all. And ten is my lucky number! " he invents an excuse and the Dark Wizard does not insist any further.
"But I can always call you my Second Dark Lord, can't I?" he asks him hopefully, widening his eyes, in an expression so paradoxically tender that the Doctor feels he cannot deny him anything.
"I'm starting to get attached to that way you use to call me..." the alien reveals, looking down not to meet his gaze.
"My Doctor, I've never known a softer bed than the bed you got me." Barty looks at him adoringly and gratefully.
- Maybe your chest, my Second Dark Lord, could I ever aim for such a goal? - the Death Eater daydreams about it.
"I am pleased to know it!" the Doctor gives him a toothy smile.
"And I've never seen more beautiful and fragrant flowers than the ones you made me find in the room." Barty relaunches.
"Enough, I'm going to ask a passer-by to tear out my ears, so I won't have to hear you anymore!" Killgrave rolls his eyes, walking away, but at least he's heartened.
- I have no reason to be jealous. Those two are crazy about each other and don't even realize it! -
"And then?" the Doctor urges him to continue.
"And then what?" Barty frowns.
They haven't even noticed that Kevin isn't with them anymore.
"Huh, yes, sure, the sheets were gorgeous, my Lord, you guessed my favorite colors…"
"Uhmm. The sheets, okay. " grumbles the Doctor, a bit disappointed.
- It means he didn't like my present. -
Peter reappears in all his glory, now dressed, with a black shirt and a new jacket that the Doctor made him find.
He approaches Kevin, who obviously just pretended to want to go out and be maimed.
"Order executed, as you wanted," he turns around himself, making Kevin admire him. "Of course next time you could make it a little more challenging!"
"Such as?" the persuader asks him, his mind drifting back to the picture he sent him and how he reacted.
"Something like 'Peter, go get dressed while I look at you and try to stop you'!" he tries to imitate his accent, then clicks his tongue sexyly.
" Okay, I'll go out and have my ears and eyes plucked out !" Kevin meditates, desperate, finding it wiser to go back in the direction of the other two.
"Oh, I forgot, Doctor, thanks for the gift, I'll wear it for a special occasion." the charmer smiles at him, reciprocated.
Barty doesn't really like that kind of interaction, nor the fact that those two have some sort of secret between them.
"So, what is all this emergency?" Peter snorts .
"Don't you get it on your own? Who is missing here in our crowd? Your namesake has fled! " the Time Lord replies, and then turns to Killgrave. "Since you ordered him not to ask questions, couldn't you also make sure he didn't run away?" he blames him.
Peter slides next to Barty like a tempting snake.
"Oh. It seems that someone has been very careless, he deserves that painful thing with the wand! "
- If you don't want to give yourself to me, my dear brain-fucker, then it is right that you suffer a little! - he meditates, mercilessly.
"Nope, he doesn't. I like what he does way too much for doing that to him. " Barty shakes his head, not even considering that possibility.
- Stupid complicity from these two Psychos who have become best friends out of the fucking blue! - the illusionist pondes, rolling his eyes.
"What do I have to do with what happened? You could have paid more attention, avoiding to leave the keys at everyone's disposal, you idiot! " Kevin strikes back, resentful.
Barty's mood changes at the speed of light.
"Don't insult my Second Dark Lord again or you'll befriend my wand and, trust me, it won't be a pleasant experience!" he growls at him, brandishing his fearsome weapon, menacingly.
Peter laughs.
"Thank goodness you liked him! You would kill even your own father if he insulted your precious Doctor! " he teases him, amused.
Barty grins sadistically.
"Oh yes, regardless of everything, if only he was still alive, I would gladly kill my father… again! " he comments, with an eerie light sparkling in his eyes.
Peter grows pale and seeks refuge towards Kevin, who seems all too fascinated by the Death Eater's speech.
"I admire you, you know? I can't wait to make someone kill mine! " the persuader informs him, catching the Dark Wizard's interest, who shows him a big grin.
The complicity between them is definitely restored.
"Stop talking about patricides, I remind you that we have a fugitive!" the Doctor who doesn't like that kind of talk at all brings them back to reality.
"He must have gone to the nearest pastry shop anyway!" the illusionist shrugs.
The others don't even pay attention to him.
"I could cast a spell to locate him, if only he left an item of his here…" Barty considers.
"There is one that could have been his, but he didn't even take it into consideration ..." the Doctor mumbles, making the Death Eater suspicious again.
"Another secret, my Lord? Why don't you have any with me? "
"If I were a detective, what would I do?" Ten wonders aloud.
"I would try to track down my nemesis while I get impossibly drunk, doing research on the computer, before falling asleep in my underwear, without even hitting the bed." Kevin replies, but everyone looks at him dazed.
"Oh, but you meant that detective!" he repents, scratching the back of his neck. "I don't know, but I can extract information from people like nothing!"
"I tell you it's at the pastry shop!" Peter repeats.
"Don't talk nonsense, it's the first place we would look for him, it doesn't make any sense!" the Doctor protests, with the other two nod.
"Do as you please!" the vampire hunter snorts "By the way, thanks for the gift, Ten!" he smiles at him, calling him as the Doctor has urged the others to do.
"You're welcome, but don't make me regret it!" the other winks.
For Barty it is too much.
"Tell me, Ten , what's this about that you gave everyone but me a gift?" he questions him, between disappointed and irritated.
The Doctor lights up with enthusiasm.
"Oh, but then it's not that you didn't like it, you haven't seen your gift yet!"
Barty lights up with enthusiasm, perhaps double than Ten's.
"Did you give me a gift, my Doctor?"
"Whatever he gave you, you won't find out now, we have a fugitive to find!" Kevin reminds everyone, as he and Peter drag him out of the TARDIS.
A deja vu of what happened at the Arcade.
And it is precisely there that they begin to search for Singy, passing through the police station, Ripley's villa, the non-profit agency where his wife works, the beach, the pier, the port ... before even passing by the pastry shop but, thus, without believing it , just to please Drinky.
They must change their minds when they spot the detective from the window.
" See? What did I tell you? The dickhead is here! " Drinky proudly reiterates.
"For being a Muggle, you had a pretty clever intuition," the Death Eater acknowledges.
"It rarely happens, but the obvious hypothesis may also be the correct one, I should have trusted your judgment," is the Doctor's way of apologizing.
"Peter, I ..." Kevin murmurs.
"Nope, dude, you don't get along that easily," Peter stops him immediately. "With your apologies, I'm not giving a shit! Do you want to be forgiven too? Give me a full day without being under your control. " he suggests.
Kevin thinks about it for a while, he's asking him a lot, indeed.
- Yes, that's right ... assuming that, if he decides to come with us, I'll have the other Peter to check ... but he's not as funny as this Peter and not as sexy ... okay, except when he eats ... -
"Uhm. Okay, you're right, I owe you ." he agrees, before imposing that important command" From now on, for the next twenty-four hours ignore any attempt I make to command you." he decides to please him.
Peter does something Kevin would not have expected: he hugs him.
"Thank you, it will be twenty-four hours that I will not forget." he murmurs happily.
Only after that, all the four people approach Singy, but it is Drinky who abandons himself on the only free chair in front of the detective, also emitting a sigh of liberation, pelvis forward, legs open, as if he couldn't sit on a chair properly.
He has practically forgotten that he is in the body of a woman wearing a miniskirt, otherwise he would not be surprised by the glances that the customers of the pastry shop throw at him. Kevin looks all around him, menacing.
He doesn't like how they are looking at his Peter. He has the command on the tip of his tongue, but has just promised to let him go for twenty-four hours, so he forces himself not to think about it, going to get another chair.
Barty is carrying his chair and the Doctor's with magic.
"I appreciate chivalry, Barty, I really do, but ... couldn't you just go get them?" the Doctor asks him, putting an open hand on his forehead, enough to be able to squeeze his temples with his fingers.
"I'm not a Muggle! "The Dark Wizard takes offense.
"But this way people can see you! "
" No, don't worry, no one is looking and it takes me just a little while! " the other insists, completing his gesture.
"But ... the one for Kevin?" the Time Lord wonders, taking his seat.
"He's taking one on his own! Barty shrugs. "Or maybe not ..." he adds, observing him.
As a matter of fact, in a juncture of a second that Kevin did not use to cast glances of fire at Peter and his desire for provocations, the persuader caught the eye of the first unsuspecting passer-by.
"You want to give me your chair. "He says affably and while the man executes he immediately goes back to monitor his Peter, who is getting busy with the other Peter… not in a sexual sense, fortunately. "And you, little thing, are allowed to ask more questions." He decides, taking a seat next to his Peter.
"Of course you're not a fucking escape genius, are you?" Drinky starts teasing Singy, even though the detective is so engrossed in his pile of pancakes full of chocolate and chopped hazelnuts that he doesn't even seem to be listening. His eyes are scattered somewhere towards the horizon, as he relishes his food.
"So, what kind of pastry would you recommend in this pastry shop?" the Doctor asks him in a friendly tone, trying to attract the attention of the detective still lost somewhere in his taste buds.
As it's easy to imagine, the young man blinks in surprise. He seems to wake up only when he hears the word 'pastry'. He looks up and stares at them, one after one.
"Uh, are you here?" he asks, not at all surprised that his kidnappers have already found him, after all, he was the one hiding in the pastry shop. "What do you want, apart from kidnapping me?"
He repeats the question, looking around for an escape route, although it would be a shame to leave his pile of pancakes still half intact. In the meantime, he could buy more time chatting with them and watching them interact. At least until it's full enough to wait until lunchtime.
"What the fuck, he just asked you what fucking pastry would you recommend!" the other Peter brings him back to the present, still pissed off because he didn't listen to him when he spoke to the detective first.
"Pastries, huh?" he asks thoughtfully. He takes his time and rethinks about the various characters of the subjects in front of him "Um… for you, Doctor, I would recommend an Italian food, the Millefeuille. It is made with various qualities of chocolate. For you, Barty, always something Italian, but a little more mysterious, a Black Truffle. " he continues, before turning to his namesake. "You are the most difficult. Something with dark chocolate and.. also a little spicy? Um ... no, maybe more something alcoholic? " He clicks his tongue, continuing to stare at the void, bringing a chocolate-stained finger to his mouth and sucking it lightly. " I got it! A Neapolitan Baba with custard. " Finally, he turns to look at Kevin. "You are certainly suitable for a Mont Blanc, so elegant .." he mutters.
"Wait a minute!" the Doctor stops him immediately "First tell us which pastry you are ... something tough that cannot be easily discovered and that at the first opportunity ... melts?" he looks for the proper metaphor and Singy seems to understand.
"You mean I got a little harsh on you and then ran away? Maybe I'm a Nougat Semifreddo… icy at first, but very sweet if you let it go a bit… but we're not talking about pastry and sweets anymore, are we? "
"I think we've never really talked about sweets. "The Doctor smiles at him.
"Okay, I admit it, I was wrong, but you too ... I see myself kidnapped by four people identical to me who did not give me even a shred of explanation." Singy tries to defend itself. "However, this Pastry has nothing of what I have recommended, except Mont Blanc. So I'd say… a multilayer cheesecake for you, Doctor, since you have so many facets, a rum-soaked chocolate and chili brownie for Drinky and… is a Black Forest dark enough for you, Barty? " the detective makes him laugh, even though Barty's eyes are fixed on his Second Dark Lord.
He is devouring him with his eyes, even if he tries not to be too obvious.
Meanwhile, the waiter has come to take orders and Drinky seems to be attracted to the boy. The sight of his shoulder-length blond hair, lightly tied with a black ribbon frames his marble face, his eyes are shyly bent towards the paper he is writing on and, as he turns his cerulean gaze on the Peter Vincent he sees in female clothes and features he cannot help but show a certain redness on his cheeks. His eyes flutter boldly over the boobs that the woman in front of him is showing off. He is fortunate, therefore, that the vampire hunter has had time to get up and sit down composed, leaning his torso slightly towards the handsome waiter.
"So what would you like?" the young man asks in a beautiful warm voice, unable to take his eyes off the wonderful woman in front of him. Peter bites his upper lip in the most sensual way possible, looking at the young man with a flutter of eyelids.
-This fucking time, my dear brain fucker, you won't be holding those fucking reins on me! Holy shit, this guy is beautiful and he is so tall that I wouldn't mind having some fun with him! - Peter laughs internally, starting a flirting of looks with the young man.
He is perfectly aware that Kevin has followed every step of those looks and has stiffened in place.
"Bring us a cheesecake, a Black Forest, a Mont Blanc and… would you recommend a chocolate and chili brownie, sweetie? Much drowned in rum, please. " he brings his hand to the side of his face taking a non-existent lock of hair and rolling it around his finger, before sliding it away, playing with it lightly, while modulating his voice into an obvious more sensual tone. It all has to have a certain effect on the young man, considering his way of swallowing and blushing, his eyes on what he sees as a she.
"S- sure, madam! " the boy stutters.
- Holy shit, how shy he is! - Drinky smiles delightedly at the boy.
"Great, then bring me one, please!" he winks at him for good measure.
"You're right, Singy, we made some mistakes too. "The Time Lord returns to the main speech, meanwhile, glaring at Kevin.
"Hey, don't look at me, it was late, I was tired and I needed to do things quickly! " the person concerned justifies.
He has more serious trouble at the moment.
- I was not so jealous since in that restaurant in Paris the waiter looked at my Jessica too boldly… oh how fun it was to make him use the dishwashing liquid as if it were an eye drop! I can't do the same thing now ... can I? Nobody should look at my Peter like that! Nobody but me! -
His jaw so stiff and his eyes glaring at the poor waiter who hasn't actually done anything wrong. That's why he doesn't hear the Doctor start talking to the detective about what's going on.
"You must know that we all come from parallel universes where ..." says the Doctor, starting his explanation with Singy, under the bewitched gaze of Barty who is dazed to watch as his Second Dark Lord moves his hands and mouth imagining how it would be if he moved them over his body.
Luckily the waiter leaves before he can get some orders from the persuader who can, however, reproach Peter, especially because he is following the blond with his eyes.
"Holy shit that ass, I would fuck such a beauty!" Peter exclaims aloud when the blond has strayed far enough not to hear him.
The persuader can no longer restrain himself, not after that exclamation.
"Stop thinking about that young man and come here!" Kevin orders, practically growling. Peter doesn't seem to hear him, in fact he concentrates even more on thinking about the young man, which leads to even more angry jealousy on Kevin's part.
"Stop looking at that provocative woman, everyone!" he looks around, angry. If he can't control his Peter, he'll control whoever dares give him those gluttonous looks.
Luckily for him, his power is still active.
"Stop breathing if you even dare to look at this woman for more than a second! "He yells, not happy with the first order.
Peter smiles brightly at those words.
"So it's true that he cares about me!" is the fleeting thought that crosses his mind before a "He's so fucking sexy when he gives orders to anyone other than me, this damn brain fucker ... he deserves a prize! " he gets up and slides to sit on Kevin's lap.
The persuader seems surprised to feel the pleasant weight of Peter's body on his legs, as he goes to embrace him by the waist with his arm, holding him close.
Peter Vincent, however, is not the only one who seems to be interested in hearing those words, even Barty looks away from his Second Dark Lord, to look briefly at Kevin, noticing that Peter has sat on his lap.
-Why does my Second Dark Lord never do certain things? He never shows he's jealous when it comes to me… that would be so cool! What would I do in response? - he thinks, indeed, comfortably returning to turn his attention to the Doctor who is still speaking, a new smile on his lips.
For a few minutes, no one even looks at the table where they are sitting. Kevin's first order works in the best of ways, so much so that Peter begins to enjoy turning his gaze to passers-by.
"It seems that not many people will faint today, you could not have given the second order!" he makes fun of Kevin, only to be able to lower his lips to his ear.
The persuader cannot help the shiver that runs through his spine.
- Bloody hell ! - he thinks, as he feels Peter move on him, almost as a tangible reminder of what had happened just the day before at the Casino.
He's lucky, therefore, when the same blond waiter walks towards them carrying the orders. For Kevin's pleasure he is staring at the tray almost fearing that he will make the various sweets fall, even though his face is still red.
The young man has the time to place the tray on their table and distribute the orders before turning his gaze to the beautiful girl who spoke to him just before. He is surprised to see her sitting on the lap of that young black man.
Peter, however, orchestrated the moment well, smiling at the young man, even as he has an arm wrapped around Kevin's shoulders.
"Thanks, that was…" he stops, preventing himself from cursing "… very kind. What time do you get off? "
Kevin tensed even more in Peter's arms at hearing those words, not noticing the smug grin of the vampire hunter.
The blond didn't even realize he was holding his breath, enthralled as he is. He opens his mouth, but cannot find the words to respond to what is a vision for him.
"Ah, that's okay. I'll leave you my number when we leave. " Peter winks again at the waiter who starts walking away still too surprised to say anything.
The first to collapse unconscious to the ground, with a great thud and the consequent overturning of the tray he was holding, now fortunately empty, is just the young waiter, as it's easy to guess.
(End part I)
Notes:More, so much more to come.
About Kevin's jealousy, you can find the same memory (among the others) of the waiter in Paris, also in the last chapter of my fluffy J/K fic 'Best Intentions, Wrong ways!' ;) , I mean, I can still from myself, lol, plus, this is so canon imho XD
Did you like Singy's and Ten's psychology through pastries? ;)
Try to guess what Barty's gift from Ten could be ;)
Hope you'll still like it, let us know 3
L&L