Chapter Text
“And, sitting next to me, a man who recently confided in me that he only likes Valentine's Day for the chocolates, which he hides from his wife in the bottom of his pants drawer! It's… Little Alex Horne!”
The audience bursts into applause, as does Alex, who is nodding his head in serious mock agreement at Greg's introduction. The applause dies down and Greg shifts in his throne to look at Alex, waiting for the banter to begin.
“Yes, hi Greg,” Alex says with a little wave. “I thought that since today is Valentine's Day, I'd get a little treat?” He looks at Greg hopefully.
Greg raises an eyebrow. “Oh, you think you'd get a treat today, did you?” He taps the cue cards on his leg in time with the last two words.
“Yes please,” Alex nods, and reaches into his inner jacket pocket to bring out a small tin of chocolates. He holds it out to Greg, but just out of reach so he wouldn't be able to bat it out of his hand.
“As you know, I'm not allowed to eat anything unless you feed it to me,” Alex deadpans. The audience laughs as Greg quickly catches on.
“Right.” Greg reaches out to take the tin and unscrews it quickly. He reaches in and grabs a chocolate ball, rolling it between his fingers as he grins at Alex and says, “Open up!”
Alex obediently obliges, leaning forward toward Greg, who pops the chocolate into Alex's open mouth. Alex closes his mouth and chews, giving a thumbs up and a hum of appreciation.
Greg's already taken a couple more chocolate balls out of the tin and he holds them out to Alex, who is still chewing. Alex knows what's coming then, and the words ring in his head. All of it.
“Come on then, we haven't got all day.”
Alex opens his mouth again and Greg shoves two more chocolates in. The tips of his fingers brush along Alex's bottom lip. Alex represses a smile as he tries to concentrate on chewing, but Greg is stuffing more and more chocolates in and before he knows it the tin is empty and Alex is covering his mouth with a hand to try and keep everything in. Greg is giggling, along with the audience.
“Banter done?” Greg asks, knowing full well Alex can't answer with a mouth full of sweets.
Alex chokes out an affirmative through the chocolate, and settles for giving another thumbs up instead.
“Right! Prize task time!” Greg grins over at Alex, who is still chewing. “What have we got this week?”
Alex goes red, furiously chewing, and the audience continues laughing. He knows they'll have to redo this part anyway so he chokes down the rest of the chocolate that's in his mouth and takes a gasping breath before he gets on with the show.
“Well Greg, this week you've asked them to bring in…”
His face is still red, and he wonders if it'll be visible in the final edit. He also wonders whether he should have brought in a bigger tin of chocolates.