Chapter Text
“No, you cannot pull the safety shower, Micheal. I said that before we left.”
I shot a stern look over in his direction. The devious smile I got in return was not comforting.
Today’s mini-field trip over to the high school’s biology lab was going well so far, minus the occasional grabby hand that needed redirection. This year’s class generally trended on the less feral side, so I got to do more fun stuff with them. And Adrian had rewarded their AP Microbiology class with no free-response practice this week, and instead with guiding my kids through an eighth-grader friendly project. So all I had to do was make sure they stayed on task and didn’t do something like use the eye-wash station as a water fountain.
“That one reminds me of a certain someone.” Adrian smirked and elbowed me in the side.
“Nah.” I laughed. “Rocky wouldn’t have asked, he would’ve just pulled the thing. And probably found a way to blame one of us.”
Adrian laughed in return. Their husband was a menace, a delightful menace, but a menace none the less. The three of us had met in our general chemistry I lab freshman year of college, and Rocky had taken any and all chances to get up to antics back then. A lot of that probably came from him trying to win over Adrian, despite the fact anyone with eyes could see that those two had always been infatuated with one another. I could still remember having to drag him to the clinic on campus after he shotgunned what was supposed to be neutralized potassium hydroxide. It was not.
By some miracle or, maybe divine punishment on Adrian’s behalf, that had actually been what got them together. And now, said alkali-drinker was a chemical engineer for the National Science Foundation, and married to a biochemist so successful they got to retire at just twenty-six and be a schoolteacher for fun.
“Imagine him as a teacher.” I leaned back against Adrian’s desk. “How long do you think it would take before he got fired for being a bad influence?”
“They wouldn’t get the chance. He’d probably fight a parent in the parking lot on the first day. I’d give it-”
“Tamara!” I shouted and leaped forward just as one of my students knocked over a nearby jar. I managed to shove her out of the way before the glass shattered, but my left hand was less fortunate. A shard embedded itself between my middle and pointer fingers. I could feel the warmth of blood dripping its way down my arm. Whatever liquid had been in the jar quickly spread across the floor, and something flopped onto the ground with a wet thud.
“Fuuuuuuuuuuuudge…” I hissed, just barely avoiding the less family-friendly version.
“Mr. Grace! I’m so sorry!” I looked up from my bloodied fingers to look over Tamara. She was unharmed, at least physically. She was a good kid, and I could see the guilty tears in her eyes.
“It’s okay, but you need to pay more attention next time. There are chemicals in here that can do a lot worse than cut you.”
She nodded her head solemnly. By now, both classes had gone quiet and had all eyes in our direction.
Adrian lightly grabbed my wrist and turned it over to observe the damage.
“It’s not deep.” They stated as they extended my fingers. “But since that was preserved in formalin, you should go see the nurse.”
I hadn’t even gotten a chance to look at what was in the jar. Adrian had strange specimens for their zoology classes, and it would be just my luck that I get some never-before-seen flu from a pickled slug.
“Where did whatever it was go anyway? I might need the venom.” I joked, trying to decrease the tension in the room.
Adrian gracefully leaned over and picked up the body from the glass with a pair of nearby tongs.
“No venom, just electroreceptors.” They held up the body of what looked to be a type of eel. It’s jaw hung open, displaying teeth that were much too long and sharp for what should be able to fit in its mouth. I shuddered in response.
“Are you sure that’s a normal eel? It looks… pointier than normal.”
Adrian placed the eel back onto the counter and motioned for one of their students to go get a nearby empty jar.
“It’s actually a recently discovered species. They are the descendants of knifefish that lived in areas with high radioactivity. Apteronotus aperisanguineus, or Blood Eel, can't produce its own electricity, so it releases its irradiated blood in place of it.”
I cringed at that. Not because of the eel itself, but because I’m sure I would have to explain to a few middle school parents why their kid came home talking about radioactive blood eels. Despite the fact that Adrian was the one to get me into teaching, they never really settled into the filter of what you should and shouldn’t mention in front of students. Probably a side-effect of being married to Mr. every-gorey-detail himself.
“I assume this one isn’t still glowing? Or should I tell the nurse to get a geiger counter?” I made my way towards the door.
“You should be fine without, go down the hall to room eighty-three five. That’s the senior nurse’s office.”