Six Minutes

Deryn's POV

Breakfast in the Zoological Society is just like breakfast on the Leviathan. Tasteless food, cramped quarters, and a "you-have-six-minutes-eat-fast" warning from Dr. Barlow. Really, it's kind of annoying.

So when you're presented with a chance, you have to take it, right?

…

Deryn was hiding behind her chair, armed with a bowl of oatmeal, when Alek stumbled into the small room the zoo used as a dining hall for their assistants. His hair was sticking up in all directions and his shirt was wrinkled. To put it frankly, he was a barking mess. About to get a bit messier, too, Deryn thought with a smirk.

Checking first to make sure no boffins or zoo keepers had snuck into the dining hall, she stood up, and in one fluid motion, launched a spoonful of oatmeal at Alek. It splattered onto his chest with a wet sound and stated to slide down onto his boots.

He looked around wildly; startled fully awake by what was supposed to be his breakfast hitting him in the chest. Deryn snickered at his expression.

When he saw who had thrown it, he didn't laugh. "That," he said through clenched teeth, "was my only clean shirt." And he marched up to the table, grabbed Deryn's glass of milk, and flung the contents in her face.

So began a food fight like London had never seen. Bits of toast, slashes of water, gobs of oatmeal all flew through the air like they had suddenly sprouted wings. Alek's shirt no longer even resembled the color white and they were both giggling. Sometime during the chaos one of them had fallen on the other and they now lie in a heap on the floor.

Alek's POV

Alek's breaths became short and clipped when he realized how close he was to Deryn. He must have tripped and fallen, though he didn't remember it, and landed on top of her. She was panting too, and Alek allowed himself a split second to think about what he was doing—turning crimson in the process—before he let his curiosity take over. Alek had only seen her up close like this a few times (one of them being when he had a concussion, and memories of that encounter were a bit jumbled) and he noticed things about Deryn Sharp he hadn't before. Like the little flecks of sapphire in her sky blue eyes and the tiny crumbs that had landed in her hair and the way she smiled like she knew what he was thinking and he knew right then that he was going to kiss her no matter who came by and caught a glimpse—they did have six minutes, after all and—

"Ahem."

But their six minutes were up apparently.

The two assistants lurched to their feet, their faces burning bright red. Dr. Barlow just raised an eyebrow.

"Um…" Alek stammered. "We were just…"

"We were…" Deryn tried. "We were leaving."

"Leaving," Alek confirmed, blushing yet again.

And they slipped past the boffin and out of the room, waiting until they reached the end of the hall to dissolve into laughter.

The end. Anyway, I thought of this while eating my waffle earlier this week. Something about the combination of Dalek, food fights, and Dr. Barlow is just too good to pass up. Ah, poor Alek.

So, tell me what you think. Good reviews, bad, have any instructions on how to make this better, hit me with a review. Bye!