North drops the cup.

This isn't a surprise. Ananke knew he would do it even before she threatened him, because she knows him and what he'll do and this is exactly the kind of thing the superior officer would respond with. Anything to rile her up. Anything to fuck up her day.

What Ananke didn't expect is that when she reaches out to catch the thing, preferably in mid-air and without producing a mess, she misses. Her arm is more sore than she thought it would be. North drops it just a little faster than she'd anticipated. So instead of catching it, her hand bumps into it on the way down, the brown sludge splattering against her hand and the cup bounces onto the ground. The specialist watches as it skids across the floor. It gets on her tile. It's gotten on her hand. There's a little on her cupboard. Ananke takes a deep breath, exhales, and stares North in the eye.

And then she smiles.

Not a real smile, of course. Not a malicious smile either. Certainly not a big one. Just a tight, crooked twitch of her lips as she takes a deep breath and stares North in the eye.

"And now we're both covered in pudding. That's what happened."

She knows him well enough to know that if she'd snapped- yelled at him, even hit him- it'd just amuse him further. So she won't give him the satisfaction. This- the bland approval, the almost non-reaction- would bother him far more. The specialist lifts her hand, speckled with pudding. She almost shook it off by instinct, but that would just make exacerbate the problem. Her free hand roots around her counter for some paper towels. "And now I have to clean up your mess," Ananke says with a sigh. "Which will probably take all night. In fact, I'll probably be too busy with this to do anything else. What a shame."

North's smile is more annoying than usual. Maybe it's the sight of his teeth. Maybe it's the fact that he never takes it off. Maybe it's because he's doing it specifically to irritate her. Whatever it is, Ananke hates it, but she's not about to let him know that. They've played this game of chicken before, but just as North has never pushed the line between them so hard, Ananke is more determined than ever not to snap, because it's exactly what he wants.

So the specialist doesn't do anything but watch him like a hawk when he stands, when he closes in on her, even when he grabs her by the arm. It's just North being North. It's just North being a nuisance. It's just North... licking her hand like some kind of animal.

(A jolt shoots through her chest, like an electric shiver. Was that fear?)

Ananke immediately jerks her hand back as if she'd touched something burning. "What the fuck are you-" she almost never swears, not in the presence in a superior officer, and certainly not in front of North lest he catch on that he's truly getting to her, but that's not what cuts her off. Instead, it's a hiss of irritation as she realizes that his grip is stronger than she'd thought- how strong is he really?- and she only partially succeeds in pulling her hand away. The hand comes away. The bandages don't.

Now she's going to have to wash the pudding off, and the spit, and redo her dressings all over again.

This night just keeps getting better.

Now she's done it. North finally pushed too far, Ananke slipped, and he knows that he's actually gotten under her skin. She's never going to hear the end of it. She's never gonna live it down. Now that he knows how to break her, North is going to-

Wait.

"Sir?" North isn't acting right. He's not smirking. He's not teasing. He's just... backing away and staring. Not even at Ananke. At her arm. That same electric shock comes back, and the specialist realizes that it's not just fear, but an instinct to run away. Like a prey drive she didn't know she had, because she never considered the possibility that the man in front of her would turn out to be a dangerous predator.

She clamps a hand over the worst of the bleeding. It doesn't seem to help; North seems to be looking in her direction, but doesn't look capable of actually seeing her anymore. And then, he does the thing most unlike himself to date- he leaves her alone. “Well, I won't bother you anymore. You have a good night, Specialist.”

Said Specialist is still standing behind him, mouth agape, as he flees through the doorway.

"...what the fuck was that?"