Attention {Paperhat}

~ Chapter Four ~

Flug slowly removed his lab coat, his tense joints and muscles ceasing to relent. He let it drop to the ground before plopping down on his small bed and bending down to untie his shoes. His socks, shirt, gloves, and pants were removed and thrown into the hamper he kept at the foot of his bed, and he changed into the soft cotton pajamas pants and white t-shirt folded up on the inn table next to said bed.

"Fluuuuug, are you asleep?" Demencia called from the other side of Flug's bedroom door.

"No. Not yet, Dem. Something wrong?"

"Can I come in?"

"...Sure."

Demencia quietly entered Flug's room and the first thing the young man noticed was the head-less teddy bear she held in her arms. Strange, but normal.

"Is there something you need?" Flug asked, holding his hands close to his chest.

"How'd it go with Black Hat?"

"Fine... I think. I kind of wished it would've gone a little better, and he seemed irritated that I didn't have the second batch fully completed."

"Yeah, I heard a little bit of that."

"You-- Were you listening through the door again?"

Demencia grinned and squeezed the head-lee bear against her chest. "What can I say? I loooove Black Hat's voice. So powerful and strong!"

"And cocky and arrogant and-"

"Fluggy, you know he's probably listening right now, right?"

The scientist groaned and dropped onto his bed, putting his face in his hands. Demencia walked over and plopped down beside him, leaning her head on his shoulder. Her eyes flicked up and she could see something just below the bottom of Flug's bag: a burn. What she saw of it was small, but it seemed to only be a part of something bigger that was higher up under the bag. The skin was light pink and slightly pinched; it had clearly hurt him in the beginning.

"Dem, be at least 75% truthful; am I a failure?"

"Why would you think that?"

"Nothing I do ends up just right and if it does, it's either taken me hundreds of times to do so, or it's just right, but screws up in the end. I can't do anything right."

"...What about 5.0.5.?"

Flug snorted. "5.0.5. was supposed to be another weapon of destruction. Something that would make humans and heroes tremble in fear at the mere sight of him. Instead, he's a big cuddly teddy bear. God, Black Hat got me for that one. I think-- Yeah, I'm pretty sure--" he stopped to hook his right thumb under the collar of the left side of his shirt and pull it away from his shoulder.

"See these two scars right here?"

Demencia nodded her head, her eyebrows furrowed.

"These are from the night I created 5.0.5. and Black Hat told me to come to his office. It went as usual: he stood barely an inch away from me, yelling at the top of his lungs about what kind of failure I was and how big of a mistake I'd made. He-.. He ended up grabbing my shoulder and his claws dug a little too deep."

Demencia gulped. "I-I'm sure he didn-"

"Didn't mean to? Well, sorry to break it to ya Dem, but he did. After it started bleeding and soaking through my lab coat, he just scoffed and yanked his claws out of my arm, making some off-hand remark about how weak us humans are. Then he told me to go to my room and he'd send 5.0.5. with bandages and other things I'd need to clean myself up. Dem, he always means to do things when he does them. Some times, I ask myself why I'm still here doing all of this. But then I remember: I've got 5.0.5. to keep me grounded, and I've got you."

"Me?"

"Yeah. When you're not destroying everything in your path or screaming in my ear, you're nice company."

The young woman giggled and stood up. "Well, I just wanted to talk a little. See ya in the mornin', Fluggy."

Flug waved goodbye and watched the girl leave before flopping onto his back and staring up at the ceiling. He didn't know why it was so interesting, but he supposed he subconsciously just didn't want to think about today. All he wanted to do was sleep and be up early enough to get started on some new blueprints and maybe even finish the other batch of spiders. He reached up and slowly removed his goggles and paper bag, releasing his slightly frizzy brown hair from its hold. He ran his fingers through his hair and slowly made his way under the covers. The man waited before turning onto his side and reaching over to his bedside lamp, turning the switch and sending him into complete darkness.

~~

Black Hat stared at his wreck of an office and grimaced. Deep claw marks lined the dark walls and raked across his desk. The papers that had been neatly stacked on the side of said desk were now torn and scattered around the room. Glass shards shimmered under the light of the moon that bore in through the single large window behind him. With a heavy sigh, he dropped into his chair, which had miraculously been untouched by his tantrum. With a snap of his fingers, the claw marks filled in, the papers flitted back onto the desk, and the glass shards seemed to rewind as they reformed into a small glass cup that flew up to rest on the top right corner of the desk.

"Damn," he muttered to himself, sinking down in the chair.

He reached up and ran the tips of his fingers over the rim of his hat as he glanced around the room. A single picture on the wall caught his eye; it was of him and Flug standing side by side. From the looks of it, it was their...third successful convention. They'd sold hundreds of weapons that day, and Black Hat couldn't have been prouder of his little doctor.

With a sneer, the eldritch snatched the cup off of the desk and threw it as hard as he could. It shattered on impact and the picture was knocked off of the wall, landing face down on the floor.

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I meant to get this up waaaaay back, but I've been busy with school and shit so I haven't had the time to be on here.

I'm really, really, really fucking sorry that this took so long, as well. I had writers block for the longest time and I wasn't sure how to continue. BUT! Now I'm out of my slump, and I'm ready to get back into it.