Soft spot (paper hat)

Twenty Two

(Flug's POV)

I had started working on the security for the manor. So far, I've made a force field generator for the portals, but it doesn't cover the whole manor yet. I'll need to make it stronger, so I'm going to have to add more energy to it.
Now where did I put the batteries?
I moved them because I thought I was done using them, but I was wrong. It's all trial and error with this stuff. I looked around on the counters, quickly finding the batteries I need. I sat back down, setting a few more batteries into the container.
"Whatcha doin'?" Blackhat's voice said, drifting in from the doorway.
"I'm making a force field for the manor. It's specifically for portals, and can be sold if we wanted a bit of extra money."
"Flug, I'm rich as hell." He paused, "But yes, I would like to make it a product." He grinned, but not in the normal terrifying sense, it was more of a mixture of smugness, and happiness.
I nodded, smiling.
"Yes, Sir."
"Flug, you don't have to call me Sir all the time. Just say my name when we're alone together, okay?"
"Oh, alright!" He stood behind me, leaning over to look at me. I leaned onto him. For the amount of times and the long periods of time when he looks down, if surprises me that his hat's never fallen off.
Now that I'm thinking about it, I've never seen him without a hat. It's either his top hat, or a bowler hat. There's never not a hat on his head.

"If you don't mind me asking, why do you never take off your hat? Fully, I mean."
"Think of it like how you are without your bag. It's probably about the same thing."
"So, Its because you're insecure?"
"Well....yeah."

I closed my eyes, it's really calming to be around him. Unless he's mad, that's a different story. I don't know why, but he's the one that makes me feel safe. It could be because he's powerful, and strong, and handsome. Or it's because he's kinder than most think. Or a mix of both. To be honest, It's probably a mix of both.
I opened my eyes. He was there, but it seemed his mind was elsewhere.
"Blackhat?"
He snapped back to reality, "Yes, Flug?"
"Are you alright?"
"I'm fine, why do you ask?"
"You were just staring into space for a little bit, so I was just checking."
"You're too kind, Flug." I laughed, "I'm serious."
"It makes you wonder how I even got here, doesn't it?"
"Well, no, because we both know how you got here. But how close we've grown and how long you've been working for me, it is quite astonishing."
"Yeah, it is." I got off him, turning to him on my seat, "Say, why did you keep me around this long?"
"I..kept you around because of how well you worked, you hardly stopped. It amazed me, I'd never seen a human work that hard before. Then I started warming up more to you, and well, we're here now."
"Oh, well, that's great to hear. I'm glad you kept me around."
"Me too Flug, me too."
"Hey Flluuug???" Demencia peeped in.
"Yeah, Demencia?"
She spotted Blackhat next to me, but still stayed.
"Soooo, you know how we all have like doubles?"
"Opposites." I corrected.
"Right. Well, when can I meet mine?"
"Hopefully never. I doubt you'll like her."
"What? Why?"
"Since she's your opposite, she hates what you like, and likes what you hate. In most cases, that is."
"Oh. But I still wanna meet her! Like, what's her name? What does she look like? How does she get along with Flug's opposite?"
"Calm down with the questions, Dem. 1. Her name is Clemencia. 2. Instead of neon-y more vibrant colors, they're pastel. Other than that she looks exactly like you. 3. Slug and her get along mostly well."
"Hm. So we're not total opposites?"
"Yeah, me and Slug aren't either. And so is Whitehat with Blackhat."
Blackhat rolled his eye at the name 'Whitehat'.

Brrrr brrrrrr brrrrr
The phone rang, which Demencia ran to pick up. I watched her fumble with the phone.
"Hello?" She looked over to me. "Flug, It's for you."
Confused, I walked over to Demencia, taking the phone from her.
"Hello, Blackhat Incorporation, Dr. Flug speaking."
"Heya, Flug!"
"Slug? Why'd you call?"
"Well, ya know the force field you've been making?"
"Yeah. Wait how did you-"
"Well, what if we also made a way to travel through faster?"
"That'd be awesome! But what do you mean by 'we'?"
"Both of us would do it. Just so there's one on each side of us."
"Yeah, that makes sense. I'll get to work on it after the force field is finished."
"Alright, talk to ya later."
"Okay, see ya."

I hung up the phone and turned back to Demencia and Blackhat.
"Why was he calling?"
"Just catching up." I partially lied. "I need to get back to work."
"That you do, Doctor." He was trying not to smile. His lips and eyes moving to adjust back to his calm, stone face.
God his lips look so kissable.
I pushed the thought back, but let it wander around my mind. I walked to the lab, my mind wandering through memories of when Blackhat and I first became a thing.
It was odd at first, but it felt right. I sat there in thought for a while, zoning out into my blueprints.

Click Clack Click Clack

Footsteps echoed through the hallway, snapping me out of my thoughts. I panicked, realizing that I had been zoning out way too long, having no progress on the blueprints. I started quickly sketching little parts onto the original. Only to see that I really only needed new extensions instead of more. I erased the new additions as Blackhat walked into the lab.
"How you doing Flug~?"
His tone was different, not in a bad way, but it was just different.
"I'm doing good, Blackhat."
"I can make things better~"
I found the word I was looking for previously, lust. He was lustful. It was rolling on his tongue with every word.
He grabbed my waist, leaning in for a kiss.