Work Text:
Flug knew he wasn't going to get any work done as soon as he heard a crash behind him shortly followed by a loud “Flug! Hey Flug! Guess what!?”
He sighed and steadied the vials he'd been about to mix. It was extremely precise work, and the smallest mistake could cause the chemical solution to explode. He managed to put the vials back into their stand just in time for Dementia to pounce on him, wrapping her arms around him from behind.
“You didn't guess!” She said, pitching the words high in a sing-song voice.
“What?” He asked, struggling. He wiggled, trying to pry himself from her grip. It didn't work though, the woman was freakishly strong, much stronger than Flug, and he resigned himself to the hug.
“That's not a guess-”
“Dementia,” Flug said, exasperated. “I'm supposed to be working and if I don't get this done Black Hat will be angry, so can we just cut to the chase?”
“Fine,” she sighed, loosening her grip just enough for Flug to wiggle out, ducking under her arms and hopping away a good step. Luckily she seemed put out enough to not try to scoop him up again.
“I'm bored,” she said, leaning an elbow on Flug's desk. He jumped as her giant ponytail almost dipped into another beaker, and he grabbed her by the shoulders and moved her ever-so-slightly to the right.
“Is that all you had to say?” He asked.
“I don't think you understand, I'm bored,” she said, throwing an arm up to her forehead dramatically and falling backwards. Flug squeaked and caught her, throwing his weight up against hers and holding her up so she didn't sprawl across the desk.
“Dementia,” he said, pushing her away from the desk while she dug her feet into the ground. “I don't-”
“We should do something!” She shouted. She jumped to her feet again, causing Flug to stumble and start to fall. He accepted his fate, smacking into the floor, and scowled up at Dementia once he was lying on the ground. “But what?”
“You could always do your dishes-”
“A game! We should play a game!” She snapped her fingers, blatantly ignoring Flug.
“I can't believe-”
“Do you know any good games? We can even get 5.0.5. on it!”
“I don't have time to play a game, I have to work,” Flug sighed, letting his head fall to the metal floor with a thunk.
“Playing games are we?” A voice asked, causing Flug to jolt.
“No,” Dementia said, looking somewhere behind Flug and out of his sight. Flug repressed a groan, and reached up to cover his eyes. Of course Black Hat would choose now to check in on him.
“Really? Are you telling me I heard wrong?” Black Hat asked. Maybe Dementia would take the fall for this one, it was her fault after-
“Flug's lying on the floor!” She said, diverting attention. Flug peered through his fingers to see her pointing at him.
No honor among villains he supposed.
“I can see that,” Black Hat replied, finally entering Flug's line of sight. He stood above Flug's head looking directly down at him and smiling in a really concerning way. “Sleeping on the job, doctor?”
“No sir,” he replied.
“Oh is this the game then?” Black Hat asked, raising an eyebrow. A thought struck Flug.
Flug cracked a smile, even though nobody could read his expression under the bag.
“Playing dead,” he responded, “Is it working?”
Black Hat gave him a look, “Wouldn't that require you being quiet?”
“Oh drat, forgot that part,” Flug said, sitting up. “That was a silly game anyway.”
Black Hat's smile faltered and he gave Flug a confused look. Usually at this point Flug would be making excuses, but he had an idea that would kill two birds with one stone.
“Hey Dementia, I've got a new idea, why don't we play hide and seek?”
Dementia, who had been slowly inching away, looked back at Flug and lit up.
“That's a great-” her expression of glee froze, gaze darting to where Black Hat still stood, “Uhhh...”
“You hide, I'll seek,” Flug said, making an encouraging hand motion. “If you see 5.0.5. let him know to hide too.”
She looked from Flug to Black Hat, who had refrained from exploding so far. She raised an eyebrow at Flug, obviously asking 'Are we not in trouble then?'
Flug made another hand motion to try and communicate with her, but she just stared. Suddenly a look of understanding crossed her face and she grinned. (Sometimes she had an evil smile that rivaled Black Hat's, reminding Flug that he lived with a bunch of sadists.)
The two of them had experience defusing plenty Black Hat Anger Bombs in the past whenever they were caught doing things they weren't supposed to be doing. Right now, as Flug saw it, Black Hat had already come in more amused than angry, and they'd already gotten past the initial evil-grin malicious stage that signaled some devious plan by confusing him. Hopefully he would just get exasperated with them and leave if they kept it up.
“Is Black Hat going to join too?” She asked, leaning forward and batting her eyelashes. If she were a cartoon instead of a person, her eyes would have changed to hearts. She clasped her hands together excitedly, and began to step towards Black Hat.
Here was where their boss would lean away, avoiding her contact, and huff at them to 'Just get back to work,' annoyed that they hadn't reacted sufficiently terrified. It worked, like, 75% of the time. Once Flug had realized their boss didn't actually want to hurt them, just scare them out of their own skins, he'd developed a balance of playing along and playing it off.
There were still a few times where Black Hat still managed to terrify him as he had when he'd stared working here, usually when he acted unexpectedly.
When instead of getting annoyed and bored, Black Hat smiled widely and crossed his arms, Flug had the sudden sinking feeling that this might be one of those times.
“Why I'd love to, Dementia, Flug,” he said, looking at the both of them in turn. His grin widened as the love-struck look fell right off Dementia's face (revealing it as fake) and she blinked in shock and Flug froze in place, mid motion to adjust his goggles. “Though, I've got a better idea, why don't you two hide, and I'll seek.”
“I wasn't actually going to - " Flug said, before catching the look in Black Hat's eye, " I mean, that's – uh – that's... a great idea... boss.” He shot a look somewhere between confusion and concern over to where Dementia stood, open-mouthed.
Her look of shock morphed into one of glee, and Flug couldn't tell if she was misreading the situation or just was that masochistic. She clapped her hands together in excitement and ran in place for a second.
“I'll let you two get a head start,” Black Hat said, tugging on his coat and turning to stroll out of the room. “You've got two minutes.”
He shot Flug and Dementia one last smile, adjusting his hat, before disappearing from the room.
Flug stared in horror at the doorway, still from his seat on the ground. There was absolutely no way this would end well. This was terrible.
“This is great!” Dementia squealed, hopping in place excitedly.
“No, it's really not?” Flug turned to look at her. “Do you know what he's going to do to us?”
“Do you?” She countered, crossing her arms and pouting. “You're no fun. The boss is actually playing along and I for one, am going to love this.” She spun and struck a pose, “This is going down in history, how do I look?”
“You realize that – at best – he's just using this as an a way to figure out our hiding places, and... at worse...” Flug grimaced.
“What do you mean?” She asked, dropping her arms and frowning.
“Well at worst he might–”
“Nah, the first part.”
“Oh, well I mean – you have places you hide when Black Hat gets really angry right?”
Dementia crossed her arms and shrugged.
“Yeah the mansions' full of 'em,” she said.
“Well if he finds you there, you can't hide there anymore,” Flug explained.
“Oh,” she pursed her lips and shrugged again. “Oh well, I have plenty.”
“I don't,” Flug said, exasperated, “I can't hide on the ceiling!”
“Sounds like a you problem,” she stuck out her tongue at him and winked, before spinning around and posing again. “I'm going to go hide, good luck with your weak nerd body, nerdy boy.”
She scampered away laughing as Flug sighed. He contemplated just laying down and playing dead, for real this time, but then Black Hat would probably get annoyed even more. Was it better to not play along and risk angering him further, or play along and risk – whatever Black Hat had planned?
He gazed forlornly at the rack of vials still sitting on his desk, now eye-level.
Guess that was the end of any chance of being productive. With his luck, Black Hat wouldn't even take 'Black Hat' as an appropriate excuse for not getting the potion done on time.
He sighed and finally got off the floor.
In the end, he picked his worst hiding spot that still passed as kind-of trying. He shut himself in a cabinet at the other end of the lab, pulling the door shut behind him but leaving it open a crack. The specific cabinet was heat insulated (blocking Black Hat's infrared vision), originally used for storing heat-sensitive chemicals before he'd emptied it out back when he used to be really scared of Black Hat, scared he was going to kill him and flinched as his every move and dove into hiding places whenever the villain seemed the tinniest bit angry.
Now, he didn't really have any use for it, but it never hurt to have a place to sneak away too when his anxiety got to be too much. He'd hadn't been in here for over a year, last time being when he'd suffered from a minor panic attack when he realized he'd accidentally given Black Hat the wrong chemical solution to take to an auction.
It had turned out fine, apparently it worked even better than intended, but hey, anxiety was anxiety.
At the moment however, Flug was just annoyed that he'd been drawn away from his work. He'd debated taking something in with him to work on it, but with how the cabinet was insulated any chemical fumes would build inside and any sparks or heat from a machine would burn him. So instead, he sat alone in a cabinet just barely big enough to fit him, and crossed his arms, irritated.
This was all Dementia's fault.
Some time passed like that, and despite the fact that he was just sitting there doing nothing, it was starting to get hot in the cramped space. Maybe his breath was heating the space. He even started to sweat inside the bag.
He was so overworked and tired, that the heat of the cabinet started to feel kind of cozy. And without thinking, he dozed off.
“Found you.” A voice hummed.
Flug startled awake and jumped, knocking his head on the roof of the cabinet as the door was yanked open. There stood Black Hat, wearing that concerning smile. Flug froze. Like before, when Black Hat had agreed to the game, he couldn't really read his boss' mood. Which was usually not good, but Black Hat looked almost playful.
Like, actually playful, not torture playful. Which was new.
So Flug decided to play along.
“Come on out now doctor,” Black Hat said. He didn't bother to move from where he stood though, blocking the doorway. He leaned down, resting his hand on the top of the cabinet door. If Flug were going to get out, he'd have to get past Black Hat, who didn't seem like he was going anywhere.
“The doctor's not in right now,” Flug responded.
“Oh really? Then where might I find him?” Black Hat leaned in further, caused Flug to lean even further backwards.
“I don't know, but I can take a message if you like,” he replied, smiling nervously and looking around. It was his instinct to look for escape routes, but again, there were none to be found.
Maybe an enclosed space hadn't been the best idea of a place to hide.
“Tell him I'd like to meet him in the lab, now,” Black Hat said. He still wasn't moving though.
“Okay, just give me a second – ” Flug turned his head to the side for a second, pretending to talk to someone else, before nodding and turning back. “He says he doesn't want to.”
“Then I just suppose I'll have to get him myself,” Black Hat said, grinning. He leaned forward, and reached into the cabinet.
“Oh no, wait, I changed my mind – !” Flug scrambled to his feet (as much as he could in the cabinet, so more like scrambled to a crouch). As Black Hat's hand reached for him, he dodged and crammed himself further in the space.
“Is the doctor actually here then?” Black Hat exclaimed, feigning surprise. He didn't stop his advance though, following Flug into the hiding space.
“Yes! The doctor's in! And he'll be out if you'd just – ah! – “ Flug dodged Black Hat's hand again, trying to scramble further away.
Black Hat had basically crawled into the cabinet himself now, taking up the remainder of the space.
“Did he tell you that himself?” Black Hat was still gleefully enjoying Flug's rising panic. He had nowhere else to back-up too, so Black Hat's hand finally caught the front of Flug's shirt and prevented him from darting away.
Flug held up his hands in the air as if he could psychically push Black Hat back without touching him, wouldn't that be something. It didn't work of course, and Black Hat just got closer as Flug leaned further back, back hitting the back wall of the cabinet.
“Okay – okay! I'm sorry! I'll get out – just, could you just back u-”
The door shut behind Black Hat with a thud. Which cut off all the light from the small space.
Which wasn't great, but it would have been fine if not for the distinct click Flug heard after the door had already closed. He froze, cutting himself off.
“Playing dead again?” Black Hat asked, still amused.
“Uh, sir, did – can you check the door?” Flug asked, deadpan.
The sudden lack of panic in Flug's voice apparently threw Black Hat off, because he only paused for a second before backing off slightly to push on the door.
It didn't open.
“Oh, okay then,” Flug muttered. So this was how he died. Locked in a cabinet with Black Hat.
Could have been worse, he supposed.
“Did you seriously hide in a cabinet that locks from the inside?” Black Hat asked.
“Apparently,” Flug replied.
Flug expected an outburt from Black Hat, calling him stupid or rattling him around. When instead he just said, “Well looks like we're stuck in here until Dementia finds us,” Flug blinked in surprise.
He wasn't angry?
But even if he wasn't angry...
“Couldn't you just – “
“Wonderful.”
-break the door off?
“Uhm, won't Dementia still be hiding?” He tried instead.
“Oh no, I found her immediately,” Black Hat said, sounding bored.
“Oh.” A moment of silence passed, where Flug became acutely aware of how Black Hat was still hunched almost over him, boxing him into the back of the cabinet. “...where was she?”
“On the ceiling.”
“Yeah that sounds right.”
Okay this was weird. Flug fidgeted, but froze when he brushed against Black Hat. It was only another weird occurance in this day of weird occurances. He couldn't read Black Hat and when he couldn't read Black Hat that always meant bad – but everything seemed okay.
Well, they were locked in a cabinet, but Black Hat hadn't broken anything (specifically Flug, he hadn't broken Flug, so that was pretty good.)
It was getting kind of hot in there though. Flug remembered suddenly that the cabinet was heat-insulated, which meant it would only keep getting hotter.
A couple minutes passed like that, and Flug had never noticed before just how much of a furnace Black Hat was. It was making Flug sweat, and the silence and oddness of the scenario only made Flug more anxious. He was going to suggest Black Hat break the door open, when Black Hat finally broke the silence.
“Okay, this is uncomfortable,” Black Hat announced. He was still hunched over unnaturally.
“We could always just break-” Flug tried, jumping on the opportunity. It was getting really warm now.
He was cut off by a yelp as he felt Black Hat grab him by the sides and pull, yanking him forward. His eyes squeezed shut and his hands shot out to steady himself, landing on Black Hat's shoulders. His head almost hit the roof of the cabinet, and he was sure he was going to knock into something, before the movement ended and he settled into place.
Directly on Black Hat's lap.
“Uhm, sir?” He asked. He tried to pull his hands back, off of Black Hat, but because of the cramped nature of the cabinet and because he couldn't sit up straight, it set him off-balance again. He was forced to put them back, leaning the majority of his weight onto Black Hat's shoulders.
“Much better,” Black Hat said, stretching out his legs. His voice almost rumbled, and – okay whew, it was definitely getting hot in this damned oven.
He was now in a sitting position, hands still resting on Flug's side, settled right above his hips. Flug felt a little dizzy for a second, caught between wanting to bolt and wanting to lean into the touch (and he chose to distinctly ignore that second one – that was a feeling that he'd been pushing down for forever and he wasn't about to make a fool of himself now but oh my god this is how he dies.)
Since he couldn't pull away without falling right back forward, and move otherwise without somehow making further contact with his boss, Flug just kind of froze in place.
“I think I'm lightheaded,” Flug said. The world did seem to be spinning a little bit.
“Really?” Black Hat said (can demons purr? because that was a purr) “Why's that?”
“I think I'm overheating,” Flug responded, deadpan. His vision was starting to narrow.
Black Hat's eye lit up, and he smirked. He opened his mouth to make some comment before pausing as Flug swayed slightly. He furrowed his brow. “Wait, are- are you actually?”
Black Hat looked almost offended as he moved one of his hands up to touch Flug's neck. Flug jerked, surprised by the touch, but pleasantly surprised at the demon's concern.
“I can't believe you,” Black Hat huffed, looking put-out. Flug wondered why that was. “Just take the damn bag off, you're probably suffocating yourself in there.”
The words took Flug by surprise, and he flinched.
“No!” Flug actually did pull back this time in an attempt to distance himself from Black Hat. “Don't – Don't.”
“Hey – calm down!” Black Hat ordered, grabbing back onto Flug's sides and preventing him from moving any further. It amplified the feeling of being trapped, and Flug began to hyperventilate.
“I don't want-”
“I'm not going to take the fucking bag off!” Black Hat exclaimed, gripping tighter on to Flug as he struggled.
“I – I”
“I'm not going to do anything! Shit, calm down, you're only making it worse!” Black Hat growled.
Flug stilled. The heat of the cabinet and having Black Hat so close was making his head spin, but Black Hat wasn't wrong. He tried to breathe, but his breath just got caught in the bag, pooling around his face and conserving heat and depriving him of oxygen.
“Just – ah fuck I don't know, take deep breaths or something?” Black Hat looked annoyed now, but relaxed his grip slightly when he saw that Flug had stopped struggling. He muttered something Flug didn't quite catch.
Flug sat still for a moment, still caught in Black Hat's lap and locked in with him for who knows how long.
The cabinet wasn't airtight it wasn't actually going to suffocate them, but if he kept hyperventilating, his bag just might.
He hesitated, before lifting one hand off Black Hat's shoulder. The others attention shot back to Flug as he reached up to his face. His visible eye widened, and he sat completely still.
Just a little bit. Flug pulled the bag up, uncovering his nose and mouth. Suddenly, the cabinet wasn't too hot, and he took in a couple deep breaths, steadying himself.
It cut off his eyes, but there wasn't much to see in the cabinet. That's what he thought anyway.
Black Hat's grip on his sides tightened, and Flug winced.
“Hey,” he began, but stopped when he felt movement.
He felt Black Hat's breath brush against his lips and he froze. He'd leaned forward, decreasing the distance between the two. The atmosphere got charged, and Flug sensed a change in Black Hat's attitude, even if he couldn't see him.
Ironically his first thought was: So he does need to breathe.
Only after a second he questioned why Black Hat had gotten so close. A thrill ran through him and his blood pumped faster. He wanted to see what the other was doing, but the bag blocked his vision and he was left completely blind, which was terrifying (and exciting, but again, he didn't want to think of that.)
It was only a moment but it felt like hours. When nothing happened, Flug nervously reached up to pull the back back down so he could see out of it.
His breath caught in his throat as he felt Black Hat's hand leave his side to quickly catch his wrist before he could grab the bag. Flug made some kind of strangled sound, and tugged slightly.
Black Hat's grip was weak, he could pull out of it if he really wanted to, but something stopped him.
That something being Black Hat's other hand moving, touching the bottom of his cheek that was uncovered.
They sat like that for a second, frozen. Flug was pretty sure he stopped breathing, but he could still feel Black Hat's breath on his lips. The moment dragged on, and Flug realized Black Hat wasn't going to move.
He could just pull back and pretend this didn't happen – he might be misreading this. Hadn't Black Hat been pissed at Dementia and him like, ten minutes ago? Wasn't that why he'd done this? Was trapping Flug in here with him part of the game? Was this?
But on the other hand, you only live once right?
Flug leaned forward, closing the gap between them. He was a little off, seeing as he couldn't see where Black Hat's face was, but he still managed to press his lips to the other's.
He squeezed his eyes shut (despite not being able to see anyway), and tightened his grip on Black Hat's shoulder, and just hoped.
He felt Black Hat tense, as though he were actually caught off guard, before he relaxed and reciprocated. His hand let go of Flug's wrist, and settled on the small of Flug's back and pulled him closer.
Flug's brain shorted out as he realized this was actually happening. He'd had “feelings” for Black Hat that had popped up shortly after the fear and excuses had turned to – oh my god had it been flirting? – but he'd never expected Black Hat to ever reciprocate.
But even if Flug was bad at reading situations, this was one he couldn't really misread.
He squeaked as Black Hat bit at his lower lip, and made a noise when he tasted copper.
“Sorry,” Black Hat purred, clearly not sorry.
Well if that was how it was going to be.
He wrapped both his arms fully around Black Hat's shoulders and threw his whole weight against the other. Black Hat made a noise of surprise, before it changed to one of delight as Flug nipped at him. Only returning the favor.
Black Hat opened his mouth and Flug followed. He suddenly froze for a second. Would now be a bad time to ask if Black Hat's saliva was always acid?
He didn't have time to really consider it, because Black Hat was kissing him again, tongue running over Flug's teeth.
It didn't burn, so he figured he was in the clear.
Black Hat's hand raked across Flug's side, scratching him just slightly. He moaned and leaned into it. They pulled back for a second for Flug to catch his breath.
“Oh really?” Black Hat murmured. Flug still couldn't see him, but he knew he was grinning.
“Uhm,” Flug spluttered, still trying to take a deep breath.
It was still really hot in there. Like, really really hot.
“Should I-?” He ran his claws lightly over Flug's side again.
“Uhm,” Flug shivered.
“Flug! Black Hat! Where are you guys!?”
Flug jumped, knocking his head into the ceiling again. Black Hat too seemed taken off guard, Flug heard a loud bang as he knocked an elbow into the metal wall and hissed.
“Fuc-” Flug slapped a hand over his own mouth, quieting himself. He tugged the bag back down so he could see again.
Black Hat was rubbing at his elbow, frowning. Do demons have funny bones? Merits further investigation, Flug decided.
“Guuuuys?”
“Should – uh, should we-?” Flug whispered. “She's gonna leave in a second, we could just...”
Black Hat looked from the door back to Flug. He pursed his lips, and seemed to be contemplating something. He raised a hand again and Flug felt a thrill, but it settled against his neck again.
“What are you-?”
“Dementia!” He shouted, making Flug wince at the loudness of it. “We're in the cabinet!”
“What? Why??” It was muffled, but Flug could hear her getting closer.
“The door locked.” Black Hat sat up now, pushing Flug off his lap.
His mind might have been a little fuzzy, but for some reason this made Flug upset. The building glee that had been making his chest pound froze to ice and shattered to pieces. Black Hat reached over and straightened Flug's bag before retreating completely, not touching Flug at all. Flug wanted to reach out and tug on Black Hat's jacket, pull him back, but instead he pulled his knees up and grabbed them.
This had been a bad idea.
He was surprised at himself as tears sprung to the corner of his eyes. He blinked them back quickly, glad Black Hat couldn't see his face under the bag.
“Why didn't you just break the door??” Dementia asked, apparently outside the door. Her voice still sounded like it was a room over, despite the fact she was just on the other side of the cabinet door.
“Does it matter? Just unlock the damn thing!” Black Hat shouted. Flug winced and reached up to shield his ears from the sound bouncing around.
“She can hear you fine you don't have to be so loud,” he snapped. Black Hat looked back at him, surprised by the bite in Flug's tone.
“What's wro-”
The door swung open, flooding the cabinet with light and fresh air.
“Oh thank god,” Flug gasped as he felt the cool air touch his skin.
Dementia looked in, brow furrowed. Like Black Hat had earlier, she leaned down and peered in. She took a moment to stand there, hand on hip, before rolling her eyes and pulling back.
“I'm not gonna ask,” she said, pursing her lips.
She always hated when, in her own words, Flug "got more attention,” so it wasn't a surprise when she just pouted and stood back, letting them out.
Black Hat got out first, before turning and offering a hand to Flug, who ignored it and scrambled out by himself.
Black Hat gave him a confused look. Dementia sighed.
“Everybody okay?” She asked. She looked at Flug, who swayed slightly, still slightly lightheaded.
“I'm fine,” he replied. He didn't feel great though.
“Well then I'm going to bug 5.0.5.” she said. “Maybe he'll be better at hide and seek.”
She gave Flug one last look, communicating something Flug didn't understand, before turning and leaving the lab.
“What's wrong with you?” Black Hat asked, annoyed again.
“Nothing,” he said, gritting his teeth. “I'm just going to get back to work.”
He tried to pass Black Hat and head back to his station, but Black Hat caught him around the waist and spun him back around, holding him to his chest.
He pressed a hand to Flug again.
“What-”
“Are you actually suffering from a heat stroke?”
“What no I'm fine I just – okay now I'm confused,” Flug said as Black Hat pulled him closer.
“Why?”
“I thought-” he stopped as Black Hat gripped his chin and tilted his head up.
“Yes?” Something in Black Hat's gaze made his heart skip a beat again and his breath catch.
“Nevermind, everything's fine, my bad,” Flug replied, leaning further into Black Hat's chest.
Black Hat just gave him a confused look again, but shrugged.
“I think you should go cool off doctor, then maybe we can resume.”
Ohhhh.
“Sounds good – no, sounds great! Amazing!” Flug replied, straightening up. Black Hat gave him a look that read 'I'm still not entirely sure you're not suffering from a heat stroke,' but he let Flug go.
“I'll just, uh, I'll just get like a bottle of water or something, and then I'll be just good to go!” Flug said, walking backwards keeping his gaze on Black Hat. He still couldn't believe this was happening.
When he walked past his desk he froze, staring at the chemicals sitting there.
“Uh, about that potion...?” He asked, looking back at Black Hat.
“Oh, I'd forgotten,” Black Hat replied, looking at them. A moment passed before he shrugged and looked back at Flug, grinning. “I have a much better job for you anyway.”
“Sounds good!” Flug replied, clapping his hands together. “Should I just-”
Black Hat shook his head, probably amused.
“Cool down and meet me in my office,” he said, resting a hand on Flug's shoulder and squeezing before he drew back and moved to leave. “Humans, so fragile.”
Flug opened his mouth to defend his species, before deciding he didn't really care all that much.
He quickly put away the chemicals and ran off to get some water.
That was one way to get out of work.