“Blimey, woman!” Fred laughed as he was pushed out of the way, staggering back to balance for a couple seconds, gripping the countertop so he wouldn’t fall over. He honestly hadn’t seen that one coming and it felt a bit stupid that such a tiny little bird could bump him out of balance. He needed to start standing more securely on the ground, didn’t he? Alright, maybe she wasn’t such a teeny thing, being rather tall and all, but still. He had his manly pride, hadn’t he? (He was almost sure he had, but then again, maybe he’d just eluded himself into thinking he had? Whatever.)
Fred stepped back to Verity’s side, standing pretty close again, peering nearly over her shoulder. “Filter. Right. I knew that!” he sounded quite the opposite, but let it slide as he reached over to get one of them, twirling it in his hands as he got it down. “So, filter. Now we’ve got one. What happens next? Oh, by the way, your hair smells nice,” he gave Verity a crooked grin as he spoke, but seriously - she did smell nice and he was most definitely near enough to smell it.