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'He can be so immensely focussed, and so immensely enthusiastic the next second. Or even both at the same time.'
Nefarious quietly watches the chemist at work, leaning in the doorway, slightly slumped due to his height. He'd been wondering what was keeping his companion so occupied that he hadn't showed up at the lunch table at their usual time. He was delighted to find the man lost in his work, down at his makeshift laboratory, as expected. Upon finding him he had decided to keep silent, as to not disturb his process. Although, it also made for an excellent excuse to observe doctor Brio in his natural habitat.
'His careful and delicate way of working precisely and cleanly, at all times. Be it chemistry or a plain peanut butter and jellyfish sandwich.'
The armorless time traveler watches Nitrus intricately add several droplets of purple into the beaker of green liquid standing on the workbench (clueless to Nefarious as to whatever these compounds are), then lowering himself to look closely at the substance from its surface level. An endearing deep chuckle escapes the working scientist, contagious to Nefarious, who feels a silent grin creep up on his face.
'Those adorable snickers and giggle fits over the littlest things. His uncontained pure laughter, making me tear up with him.'
Nefarious is unable to see what Nitrus is chuckling at. He extends his neck, trying to see past him from across the room, with peering eyes.
"N-nnefarious, you G-g.. gOtta come see this, ehehe!" Nitrus gestures hastily for him to come over, still staring at his project.
Nefarious flinches in surprise, not having realized that Nitrus had been aware of his presence for who knows how long. Not knowing what to say to this, he silently makes his way over, his boots clicking on the concrete floor.
The tall man glances over at his eager colleague, before leaning down to look at the beaker from Nitrus' eye-level, resting his hands above his knees. He feels a hand brushing his arm, sending a distracting rush of goosebumps upwards, as Nitrus softly utters "Look, look-", pointing at the substance.
Nefarious narrows his gaze and leans in slightly closer. “Errr… What exactly am I looking at?”
The gooey green liquid seems to gently swirl in its container, when a streak of pink suddenly lashes out against the glass, making Nitrus chuckle gleefully; "Ehe, there it is!"
Nefarious raises his eyebrows. “What on earth…?”
Nitrus nudges his arm, urging him to look even closer. And as he does, he finally makes out the barely visible suction cups. It's a tiny pink squid-like tentacle, squirming and curling against the glass, increasingly taking on form.
"My goodness," Nefarious mutters in awe. "Is that… alive?"
"-Ahuh~!" Nitrus proudly confirms, his eyes gleaming with joy.
"...you’ve .. created life!?" Nefarious turns his head around the beaker in astonishment, inspecting the odd worm.
"-Ohhnhnonono hehe, I m-mmmerely mmmutated some. It's a new p-p-prototype!"
"-...oHh… For … yourself?"
"-Yep, ehehe! I shall call it: The Kraken- AHeHEHEHE!"
The proud creator doubles over in an unstoppable giggle-fit before the title has even fully left his mouth, contagiously making Nefarious burst into a laugh of endearment, looking over at Nitrus, captivated by the man's charming giggles, no longer having eye for the tentacled blob still frantically gripping around its little suckers at the glass.
The chemist opens his eyes, still giggling, to catch Nefarious staring back at him, chuckling warmly, his wide shoulders shaking. As the tall time master is still bent down, leaning his hands right above his knees, his stunning face is now at equal level with Nitrus'.
His giggles die down as his eyes automatically dart over Nefarious' features, now that he has this rare opportunity. Nefarious follows the gleeful man's chocolate eyes scanning his grinning sharp teeth, the elegant beards on his chin lining his impressive jawline; He can almost feel Nitrus' gaze travel up his prominent blue cheekbones, tracing the laugh-wrinkles by his eyes. Their faces slowly relax as their eyes finally meet and lock in a calm, happy daze.
'Oh, why do you have to be so beautiful?'
'...So terribly cute.'
The wordless pair appears flustered, completely overcome with butterflies nervously fluttering through their systems; Nitrus even more so than Nefarious (his cheeks glowing 'an adorable shade of bright red…'), their mutual feelings of romance thickening the air between them, as Nefarious catches Nitrus shortly glancing back down at his lips.
'Do you …really feel the way I feel about you?'
Subtly, Nitrus shifts forward, prompting Nefarious to gently lean in towards him, his relaxed smile momentarily widening as a small chuckle escapes on his breath. His gaze lowers.
'...Or am I about to make a terrible mistake?'
Similarly, Nitrus' throat emits a nervous little noise of happy excitement, his hand resting on the workbench with fidgeting fingers, his eyes again shifting to Nefarious' soft lilac parted lips, ('...oh god, is this really…’) as they slowly move to-
!!-cLAsh-!!
With a sharp smash, the beaker of purple shatters onto the concrete, the dropper that sat in it bouncing off the floor before settling for a place among the many shards and purple fluids, the latter already mingling with the seams of the floor.
The pair stare down at the crash scene with wide eyes. The silence is deafening.
"Sshhhoot," Nefarious finally musters, still watching the strange bright liquid, now bubbling on the gray surface.
"Eeehhmm ErR-RIGHT-" Nitrus wildly gestures, seeming to snap out of it. Almost flailing, indecisively, he settles for a direction to turn to, and starts hastily pulling paper towels from a nearby dispenser.
Meaning to be of help, Nefarious squats down to pick up the dropper, as Nitrus approaches with the paper towels - alarmed when he spots Nefarious near the substance.
"C-c-c… CAREFUL! D-d-don't breathe that!" he shrieks. Nefarious meets his frightened eyes with his own startled expression.
"-Oh, right!" He tilts his head away, carefully picking up the dropper between two fingers.
"-NONONO-!" Nitrus snatches the tool from his bare hand, clamps it between his teeth to hold it (earning a variety of expressions from Nefarious), and proceeds to knead his slim fingers with the paper, holding his hand firmly by the palm. "Don touhhj datd eihger," Nitrus utters through his teeth. Their difference in body length makes it so that Nefarious, squatting down, is still almost Nitrus’ standing height, the shorter man only leaning in slightly.
Nefarious silently stares at him in bewilderment, watching his adorable scrunched face as he thoroughly wipes the entire lengths of his blue digits clean.
Nitrus freezes, realizing he might be overdoing it, looking up from the hand, eyes awkwardly locking all over.
'Wow, I've never seen doctor Nefarious this purple, what a fascinating shade -'
"-Erm, can I…"
Nefarious' eyes gesture for his hand. The feeling of Nitrus' hands on his is absolutely dazzling, yet the growing ability to smell the purple fizz seems more pressing.
"... have my…"
"-UHW!" Nitrus' eyes widen, an odd sound leaving between his clenched teeth, still gently biting down on the dropper. He releases Nefarious' hand, and removes the tool from his mouth, quickly sucking a chemical residue off of '...those smoochable pink lips!…', while slipping it into a lab coat pocket. Nefarious tries to suppress an uncontrollable grin, fighting to keep from completely swooning over his fellow scientist even further.
"G-g-go wash that," the timid man orders, quickly pointing at Nefarious' hand before returning his attention to absorbing the liquids off the floor using the paper - feeling the sweat squeezing from his pores and his ears burning in embarrassment.
"Got it," the Brit replies as he gets up to make his way to the sink.
Neither of them had noticed a pink gelatinous blob of tentacles in the meantime making its way out of the beaker and into freedom, leaving only a small trace of wet green, before quickly slipping off of the side of the workbench.