Noticed (Villain Academy AU Paperhat)

8 - Disbelief

Black Hat, Flug, and Dementia appeared in a dark office, the room so grand that the two new employees felt they were majorly underdressed for the occasion, the scientist still in his uniform while his friend was in her more casual clothes, some of them torn in an almost fashionable way.

There were countless trophies around them, most of them secured in perfectly glistening glass and lifted above their eye level, paintings of the eldritch evenly hung even further above, though still not even close to the abnormally high ceiling, making them feel all the more inferior before the eldritch.

Flug figured that they should both get used to it, as they were henchmen, but when he glanced at Dem, he understood that she was way too excited to acknowledge this feeling, at least at the moment.

As the human returned his gaze to his boss, he saw him pushing back his plush-looking chair, which was most likely really sharp at the top, where a top hat was almost engraved into the back of it. The demon then smoothly lowered himself into the seat, hands weaving together while his elbows were being supported by the wide mahogany table, which held an anatomically correct ruby skull and a golden plaque with Black Hat's name on it. The man himself was perfectly centered in front of the tall red window behind him, which showed the beaming sun in a clear sky, casting a shadow silhouette of the immortal being over the whole room and serving as the only light source, since the curtains arching over the pane were neatly tied closed at their base and no light bulbs were present in the office.

As the two friends took their last step towards the desk, they saw the plaque shine the same way their boss's grin did, the latter being the only thing left visible on his face. When they managed to take their eyes off the riveting way the demon looked at the moment, their sights fell back down on the table, where they saw two contracts laying on the wood, with pens neatly placed next to them.

Flug instinctively figured he should read what the slightly aged-looking paper really held, but as he saw Dementia write her wobbly signature in a rush in his peripheral, jumping excitedly afterwards and looking at him, he almost couldn't bear to be the thing holding them back. He only fully snapped when the pressure of the demon's unnerving gaze was placed upon him, strangely affecting him physically somehow.

Immediately upon signing, he felt a faint burn in his outer forearm, just below his shoulder.

The feeling grew more intense in the following moments, and his panic grew with it, forcing him to look over at his friend with wide eyes. She was trying to manhandle and stretch her arm to see it better somehow, intending to gaze at the very same position where the scientist's pain appeared. The latter mimicked her actions, although simply scooting his arm closer instead of trying to tug at it. He saw a glimpse of something akin to ink, what he assumed to be a tattoo, and his eyes widened further as his eyebrows shot up.

He barely registered that, in his peripheral, he could see a small handheld mirror being offered to him, but once he did, he also realized he had missed his opportunity — Dementia already reached out for it, visibly savoring the slight skin-to-glove contact she got with their boss, before actually looking at her new mark.

The human was okay with her stealing the object, though, as he knew he wouldn't be able to handle physical contact with his crush without being weird about it either later or immediately after the fact, however much he despised that knowledge. He could also pretty accurately guess that the lizard would obsess over the ink magically burned into her shoulder, probably getting her kicks from being property of the BHO, and the wild grin on her face clearly supported that theory.

He peered over a little to get a better look at her mark in the mirror, finding it to be a symbol — the BHO logo. He assumed he had received the same "gift", not finding the need to angle his arm weirdly to confirm.