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Rosie was someone who remained polished throughout altercations, whether a physical altercation or a battle of wit. Every smile was a graceful one meant to disarm your defenses and her soft touches were a calculated move to deceive you into relaxing. She was a powerful, cunning woman who had no qualms with killing a useless demon.
And yet, Rosie had dropped her tea cup from shock.
Hadn’t even noticed the sound of glass shattering across the floor, actually.
All of her attention was on Alastor, who stood at the door of her kitchen with a smug smile.
But Rosie knew Alastor like she knew the smell of fresh blood, knew every tick and tell that Alastor tried to hide. She saw the twitching eyebrows, a claw clenched around a cane, and the ears- oh, the ears were a dead giveaway. Alastor thought that keeping their ears perfectly forward and eerily still was natural, casual even. But all it did was let Rosie know that Alastor was internally freaking the fuck out.
Rosie was speechless, mouth open but words still missing.
“You’re supposed to catch bodies, not flies dear.” Alastor hummed, ears traitorously shifting back against their head as their eyes darted to the side.
“Oh, honey.” Rosie gasped, “You look beautiful.”
At Rosie’s words, Alastor flinched.
And Rosie really let herself look in that moment. Alastor wore a beautiful dark red dress, a modest sleeve that came down to their wrists and cut off just below the ankles. Alastor’s eyelashes looked longer than before, the effect of mascara, their eyes shifting back towards Rosie as they met each other’s gaze head on.
It was electric.
“I’m back to being called honey now, hm?” Alastor hummed.
“You-“ Rosie stuttered uncharacteristically.
How could she even think of being mad when Alastor looked like this?
Wait.
Wait a minute.
“You did this on purpose!” Rosie scowled, wagging a finger at Alastor.
“Hm?” Alastor innocently tilted their head, soft curls swaying to the side.
“Did you come out of the closet to force me to talk to you first?” Rosie’s anger was still present, but her glee was outweighing the need to throttle the other overlord.
“Well, I didn’t come out just for you,” Alastor sniffed, “But I won’t deny that I wanted you to be the first to see me, as I am.”
Rosie froze.
Alastor seemed to realize how vulnerable she had sounded, smile still painfully forced on her face as Rosie stepped over the shards of her tea cup. One of her hands reached up and curled possessively around Alastor’s waist, bringing their hips flush together. Her other hand had brushed gently through Alastor’s hair, before softly pinching her ear.
Alastor inhaled sharply.
“Well! Ain’t I a lucky gal?” Rosie tittered. “I wasn’t planning on getting another husband anyways...A wife, though, that sounds delightful.”
Alastor was uncharacteristically silent, mouth dropping.
“You’ll catch flies, dear.” Rosie cooed.
“I prefer to not be bound, if you haven’t noticed.” Alastor’s voice was suddenly flat, her eyebrows furrowing in irritation.
“Silly girl,” Rosie smiled softly as her words sunk in like claws, “You’ve been mine since the day we met, deal or not. You returned to me today despite no chains being around your neck.”
“…Let me go, Rosie.” Alastor’s voice was a bit shaky.
“Of course, dear.” Rosie stepped back politely, smile threatening to turn into a grin at how uncomfortable Alastor looked.
“…”
“Oh, is that not want you wanted? Did you want me to keep holding on despite your words?” Rosie hummed, enjoying how cutely she squirmed.
“I’m leaving.” Alastor hissed, turning around to attempt to storm off.
How naive for prey to turn their back to a predator, even a familiar one.
“What did you think was going to happen, Alastor? That after you cut our ties we would suddenly become what, equals? Partners?” Rosie laughed, cackles raising in volume, “Are you actually upset? How disappointing.”
Alastor turned around with a scowl, clearly unimpressed. “In what world would I be upset?”
Rosie let out a laugh at Alastor’s irritated twitch of the ears.
“I do not enjoy the way you are treating me akin to a cat playing with a mouse. Just because I’m a woman doesn’t mean that I want you to…” Alastor huffed, “I expected you to not behave like a scoundrel. It’s unbecoming.”
Rosie faltered.
Maybe she had gotten a little too excited.
“My sincerest apologies, darling.” Rosie gave her most disarming, angelic smile as Alastor raised an unimpressed eyebrow.
Alastor still paused, however, her body half turned towards Rosie.
“Let’s start over,” Rosie smiled. “Would you like some tea?”