Work Text:
Elliot March was a busy man, and undeniably a hard worker. Being the second most important person in the chain of command in the Hatter family, there was a lot of work to be done. He was constantly outside doing jobs, giving orders to the servants within the mansion, struggling with paperwork, those kinds of things.
While Alice Liddell didn’t want to know anything specific about Elliot’s job, or any of the Hatters’ jobs for that matter, she was growing a bit concerned. While Elliot was granted short breaks here and there, he was starting to look a little ragged lately.
She thought long and hard about this problem, even going to some of the servants for advice, but in the end, she could come up with only one solution: baking. Elliot loved carrot food, though he denied liking raw carrots, and he was very knowledgeable about them. He particularly seemed to enjoy desserts. Though it wouldn’t compare to the mansion’s chef or even a restaurant’s desserts, she could at least make something that would at least keep him going through his busy schedule.
After all, she couldn’t do anything to help him to relax when he didn’t have enough time to do more than crash in his room, but she could at least help him have the energy to keep going. Therefore, with permission from the mansion’s chef and some of the servants, she had taken over the kitchen to make Elliot some carrot cookies.
Alice had thought about doing a carrot cake, but cookies were easier and quicker to eat, so in case Elliot had to eat on the go…
The oven had dinged, alerting Alice that the cookies were done baking. Bending over to pull out the cookies, the door to the kitchen abruptly opened with a tremendous bang!
“Alice!” In combination with the slamming door and the loud, unexpected voice, Alice started and, forgetting which hand had the oven mitt on, quickly reached for the cookies, only to burn her uncovered hand.
“Ouch!”
“Alice, you okay?” Elliot cried, dashing around the island to Alice’s side. Alice, having managed to slide out the cookies and put them on the stove for now, turned to Elliot with a weak laugh.
“I’m fine, I’m fine,” Alice assured whilst holding her burned hand behind her back. Elliot, completely unconvinced, grabbed her arm, trying to be gentle, and slowly brought it out from behind her. His face darkened ever so slightly to see her red, swelling palm.
“Did you burn yourself?” the concern in his voice also written plainly on his face. Without giving Alice time to so much as answer, he brought her over to the sink and ran it under ice cold water. Alice couldn’t help the slight sigh of relief as the water ran over her injured hand. Once it had been sufficiently cooled off by water, Elliot stared at her hand for a moment, eyes sad. That in turn, made Alice’s heart ache.
She berated herself for doing something so stupid and making Elliot upset rather than happy. It seemed like she just made trouble for him rather than helping him. While Alice was stuck in her negative thoughts, Elliot had finished treating her hand. When he was done, he asked her a question.
“What were you doing to burn yourself like that?”
Startled, yet again, Alice looked up into Elliot’s uneasy face. Deciding there was no point in lying to him, she told him the truth. She told him how she noted that he was looking tired recently. That she had been making carrot cookies, gesturing to the cookies on the sheet that were cooling off on the sheet, to give to him to give him energy to keep working. And when he barged in here, she had been so startled, that she used the wrong hand to grab the cookies.
Touched by what Alice was trying to do for him, his ears bouncing up and down with happiness, he hugged her tightly, nearly crushing Alice with his impressive strength. When Alice told him that she couldn’t breathe, he let go, smiling sheepishly. Then, he went over to where the cookies had cooled and popped one into his mouth.
“Mmm! These are good, Alice! It has the perfect balance of…”
As Elliot proceeded to go into detail of Alice’s cookies, Alice shook her head with a half smile. Even though it wasn’t as good as he was making them out to be, she was glad she liked them. That thought brought a full fledged smile to her face. When she looked back up at Elliot, she had realized that he was staring at her, eyes smoldering with emotion.
“You should try them, too, Alice.”
His voice, having gone slightly husky, made Alice blush and as she was about to tell him that she made them for him, his mouth was suddenly on hers. She could taste the sweetness of the cookie on his lips, but even more than that, she could taste the sweetness of Elliot. When they parted, panting for air, and Alice’s face was redder than a tomato, Elliot smirked, leaning down to whisper in her ear.
“Those cookies were sweet, but I think you are much sweeter. I think I prefer you.”
Alice shivered and in the next moment, her lips had been captured by that sweet taste again. And she would indulge in that taste for a long time to come.
End