Outpoint - Gloves Up SmackDown Contest

A Man's World - Round 1 Bonus Submission

A/N: And here I am again, with my next submission to the Gloves Up Smackdown contest, with a genre of steampunk!
Hope you enjoy!
Word count: 749

The doorbell jingled merrily. Eva set down her tools and turned around, unsmiling.

"Welcome, how can I help you?"

The man was tall, with features that were mostly forgettable. He shifted a lot, though, giving away his anxiety.

"Sir." He faltered. She wanted to laugh at the way he was addressing her - he was surely older than her. She should be the one calling him 'sir'. "I have a request to make of you."

"Well? Go on." She raised her eyebrows at him.

The man hesitated for another moment, before blurting it out. "Would you consider giving me a job, sir?"

Her eyes widened, taken off guard by the question. "What?"

The man's cheeks bloomed with color. "Please, sir. I'm not skilled in this kind of work, but I am willing to learn. I need the money. For my family."

She considered him for a moment. Everything about him radiated sincerity.

She had never employed anyone before, but why not? She could use the help.

"What is your name?"

"Oliver, sir. Oliver Dorsett."

"Well, Oliver." She wiped her hands on her clothes, then stretched her right arm out to him. He reached out and took it, and she gave it a firm shake. "Welcome to the team."

* * * * *

"Oliver!"

Her employee popped his head through the open back door. "Yes, sir?"

"How many times do I have to tell you not to call me sir? It's Evan."

Oliver grinned, half sheepishly and half teasingly. "But it's only respectful, sir!"
She wagged a finger at him. "Don't pretend that it is about respect! You do it simply to tease me."

"So what if I do?"

It was only his luck that allowed him to narrowly dodge the tool that came flying at him.

"Oliver!"

* * * * *

"Oliver, Oliver, Oliver!" She bounded over to him, unable to suppress her wild grin. "We must get going immediately! One of the wealthiest people in town wants us to fix his airship! He will be paying us handsomely if we can finish it by the end of-" She stopped in her tracks as she noticed the bewildered expression seemingly frozen on her employee's face. "Oliver, what is the matter?"

Oliver didn't reply.

"Oliver?"

The second time she said his name, he seemed to snap out of his catatonic state. "You- you are a woman."

The words made her freeze with shock. For the first time, she had forgotten to suppress her feminine smile.

No. No. No.

She had to salvage the situation. She couldn't afford for him to know - not when he could hold the power to ruin her.

She cleared her throat. "No, I am very much a man, Oliver. What is wrong with you?"

"With all due respect, uh, m'lady, there is nothing wrong with me. You are absolutely a woman."

At this, she finally gave up the act. Her shoulders slumped with defeat, but only for a second.

She straightened up quickly, and gave Oliver her hardest glare. "Yes, I am a woman. So what?" She took a step closer. "You shan't tell anyone, understood?"

Oliver didn't protest, like she'd expected. Instead, he just nodded, and kept staring at her, something distinctly different in his gaze.

"What?" she snapped, her face contorting into a scowl. "Do you think that just because I am a woman, I cannot work on airships and weapons? Do you think that I cannot invent, cannot follow my passion, just because I am a woman?" She stepped closer to him, jabbing a finger in his chest. "Because I can, and you cannot stop me."

These words seemed to snap Oliver out of his state. "I'm sorry, m'lady, for staring." He bowed his head. "And I do not believe you cannot work a man's job, rather, I find myself in awe of you."

"What?" She reeled back, surprised.

"You are able to do what few women in our age can; survive in a man's world. I know it is not easy, so, for that I admire you," he confessed.

"Well," She found herself at a loss for words, at Oliver's unexpected response. "Thank you."

"May I ask you something, m'lady?"

"Go on. And don't call me m'lady, please."

"Who are you?"

She tensed at the question, but responded nevertheless. "Formerly, Lady Evangeline Bennetts. Now, I am just Eva."

"Eva," he tested the name. "It's nice to meet you."

She smiled, a weight being lifted off her heart. "It's nice to meet you too, Oliver. Now, shall we get back to work?"

A/N: What did you think?
Honestly, I'm not too happy with this story. I wrote a better one, with more background on exactly why Eva is hiding her identity Mulan-style and running a repair/inventing shop, but I had to scrap it because all the background took up too many words. But, in short, she hated her life as the daughter of a Count, and had a passion for inventing, which was a man's job, so she ran away after she heard her father wanting to marry her off. Maybe it's a bit cliché, but the Victorian era topic that caught my attention the most was women's rights. Did you know that once women were married, they had about the same number of rights as minors, criminals, and the insane. Like, what?! 
Before anyone questions me, yes, contractions like the ones I used are historical. Go read Oliver Twist or Huckleberry Finn if you don't believe me.
Writing such short stories is hard. Anyways, again, I hope you all enjoyed it!