I'm pretty sure I've put a pretty strong emphasis on how amazing it was living at the Hatter Mansion, but in case you have the attention span of like, Elliot or something, I figure I should reiterate it again.

It was, by FAR, the most freaking amazingly wonderfully delightful thing EVER.

So basically, as usual, I made Blood carry me home so I could take a nap. And when I woke up? Hot. Freaking. Chocolate. Right there on the nightstand! Like, seriously! The service in the mansion rocked, okay? Aido was quite certainly a boss at what he did, no matter what Blood might call himself.

Now, I should have sensed the warning signs; things were never that easy, not with Señor Mafioso afoot. I mean, he would never be that nice as to leave a warm, fragrant mug of beautiful, chocolaty goodness just slightly out of my reach, and to let me have it without a fight. By that point it was downright inconceivable that I didn't immediately decide it was a trap, especially given that he was the number one obstacle to reach the beverage in question.

"Oh Blooooo~d," I called as quietly as I was capable of doing, pushing on his shoulder a few times. He appeared to be asleep… Just to be safe, I reached down and traced my fingers along his hip (because obviously, if he was awake that totally would've blown his cover), and when there was no reaction, I decided the coast must be clear.

I stood up slowly and, with all the stealth of a ninja-raccoon cloaked in the shadows of the night, crawled over the lazy lump that was my boyfriend. Even with me sitting atop him, he didn't wake up, so I carried on.

I reached for my prize, slowly, gently, gracefully…almost there, almost got it…

Fwop!

Suddenly, I found myself on the floor, the mug still in its resting place safely out of my reach. Wow, Blood, you're cool.

Also, I'm just gonna put it out there that "fwop" is like, the WORST word to describe the sound of a tiny girl being thrown to the ground by a sneaky psychopath. I think I need to have a word with my manager or something. Like, seriously, fwop? FWOP? Eh… I'll get over it, I guess… (Pfft not likely.)

"Got you," he said with a sly grin. Dear god was it sexy, too.

"Are you sure about that?" He raised an eyebrow inquisitively. "You should never get in my way when chocolate is involved."

I was pretty serious about my chocolate indeed, especially of the hot variety with delectable mini marshmallows floating atop the surface. Of course, there was like, no way in heck I could actually take Blood on in a fight, but still. I can be pretty intimidating when I just woke up.

Usually at times like this, I like to let you guys just picture what's going on in your own little sick minds. Especially since I usually like to picture weird things happening in the background, like a turkey with a ferret strapped to his back flying in through the window, taking a book, and leaving. But, I will at least give you this—for about twelve to thirteen minutes, I used every ounce of strength I had in my weak little arms to push on the Hatter until finally I was totally exhausted and ready for another nap. Meanwhile, he just stared. He blinked a total of seven times in those twelve minutes, I tell you, and it was creepy. Creepy as insert-profane-word-that-I-won't-say-because-this-story-is-bad-enough-without-adding-bad-language-to-the-rating-too.

Then, he sat up. He just got off of me, and you know what he did next? No, you don't. You DON'T know what he did next. And I WISH I didn't know. I wish more and more with each passing day that I didn't have to witness what he did next.

Slowly, sadistically, he reached for the cup. He held me at bay so easily it was pathetic, simply holding one hand to my chest.

Then, with the most horrible, cruel smile… it was hardly humanly possible, really, he put the cup to his lips. "Blood, you don't even like hot chocolate," I whimpered, almost in tears (*dramatization).

"No, in fact I do not, Toki. But, you do."

And, as if taking the first sip wasn't satisfying enough for him, the jerk drank all of it. The. Whole. Cup.

It was enough to make me want to break up with him. I seriously contemplated it. I mean, what kind of freak gets off on drinking hot cocoa JUST so his girlfriend can't?

"But… but… Blood…" I made a pouty face as he stood up, wiping his lips with the back of his hand. "You… you jerk…"

And then he walked away.

HE JUST GOT UP AND WALKED AWAY.

HE PRACTICALLY LEFT ME THERE TO DIE, COLD, ALONE, AND WITHOUT CHOCOLATE.

Needless to say, I was over it in like, two minutes. At least, over it enough to want revenge. Nothing too clever, though; we all know how that worked out last time.

I stumbled about, harassing several of the locals as I did so, as I searched for Blood. When I didn't find him on the manor, I figured maybe his garden would be a good place to check. I didn't really go there much, seeing as the first time I did he took me back to his room and then strangled me with the intention of killing me, but… he DID say I was welcome there now.

Sadly, no Blood was to be found. There was his sister, at least; maybe SHE had some leads on his whereabouts.

"Um… Hello Vivaldi," I said with a dorky smile. After spending some time with her, I'd realized how freaking awesome she was. Of course, thank god she thought I was adorable, because no matter how much I admired someone, I totally sucked at the whole "not being offensive" thing.

"Ah, Miss Toki! Your presence here delights us," they greeted with the energy of a little girl. Err… little girls, plural. Something. Darn it, the whole "we" thing never really made sense to me.

"Um… thanks. Your presence delights me too?" Yes, just go with it, Toki.

"Please, join us for tea."

Crap. How do you reject an axe-crazy queen's invitation to sipping the most disgusting and horrible beverage known to man?

Sadly, you don't, I guess. I sat down, defeated for… what was this, like, the third time? I don't know, you've gotta give me credit for something there. I mean, I lived with the biggest (and probably only) tea fetishist in Wonderland, and he barely ever managed to get me to drink it.

By the way, I didn't have some traumatic tea-related experience in my childhood. I'm really not that deep. So you can get that image out of your pretty little head. Or ugly big head. I don't know, I really don't know what you look like, so I guess I can't really be the judge of your head size and/or quality of appearance.

"So, um… How have you been?"

"We have been fine. But we are much more interested in you."

She leaned over the little table, making the same face I'd seen a million times in middle school as my peers reached out desperately for some good ol' gossip to feed on. I didn't really have much though. "I pretended to be pregnant the other day, which would totally be possible by the way, just to mess with your brother because he was being a jerk to me before" wasn't very high on the list of things I actually wanted to say to people, and that was about all that really happened.

"Um… I don't know, things have been pretty… well, not boring, but… not interesting, lately."

This elicited a very… well, not friendly face. I think I seriously offended her, which probably gave me like, two hours to live.

Thank goodness for Blood having awesome timing.

"Good evening, Toki. I hope this old hag isn't boring you," he said, beaming as he sat down beside Vivaldi. She gave him a look on par with the one she'd just given me.

"Who are you calling an "old hag", you insolent child?"

"That would be you." He poured himself a cup of tea, and they resumed bickering for a bit before Vivaldi "had enough of his misogynistic nonsense" or something. I don't know what miso had to do with things, but I could go for like, a bowl of miso soup…

She trudged off in a huff, leaving me with Blood—who seemed to be on his most jerkish behavior possible this time cycle. He twiddled his thumbs for a bit and took a sip of leaf urine.

"Ah, it seems we're all alone now," he noted, putting his hand on my boob. I slapped it and inched back. "Is something wrong?"

"Are you drunk?"

He chuckled. "Perhaps, perhaps. Would that be a problem?"

"Perhaps."

"You aren't still upset about the cocoa, are you?" He sounded rather disappointed in me. "But, it was delicious. You really should have been faster."

You're steppin' on thin ice, Hatter. Thin ice.

"YOU should have been nicer." I crossed my arms. Why was he being so mean today?

"…No, I think I prefer this."

"Why, do you get off on my frustration?"

"Yes, actually." He grabbed a lock of my hair and brought it to his face, stroking himself gently with it like a total creep. "Certainly you didn't think I was referring to the chocolate when I said it was delicious?" Finally, I had enough, and I reached over and snagged his cup.

"Yeah, well, you know what?" I pinched my nose and tilted my head back, pouring the vile fluid into my mouth.

I nearly choked on something, however, and suddenly was very concerned. "Holy frick!" I shouted, spitting out whatever solid object had been hiding in the dark depths of the tea cup. Blood looked rather offended, but I noticed a weird smile sliding up his face and I tilted my head. It was like I'd just played right into some cleverly placed trap…

He reached down and slid his hand around, looking for something—presumably whatever I'd just nearly died because of—and when he found it, he looked up at me with a raised eyebrow. "Was that a no?" he asked, wayyy too seriously.

"Was what a no?"

He grabbed my hand and stared at me for a long moment, before sliding a ring on my finger.

"Toki, will you be my wife?"

/AN: AGH SORRY FOR NO UPDATES GUYS. I HAD A BAD CASE OF A SOCIAL LIFE.

But yeah, I really am sorry about the huge drop-off there… This chapter turned out to be about twice the length of a normal one, so… shhhh. Hehe, next chapter makes 50, so… bonus content! I wanted to get chapter 50 done for today, since… 3rd anniversary and all that, but… whatever. CLOSE ENOUGH GUYS.