"Well, all I was saying was we do do this a lot!"

"And your point?"

"Maybe we could do something else. Just for a change?"

"No." A quick fiddle with the lock and the shorter of the two was yet again out of the cage. Damn thing was easy to unlock. Sometimes he wondered why these people even bothered. It was basically like sticking him in a box with a damn door and no lid. Oh shit, he's out. We wonder why.

"One of the basic laws of the universe is that the one night that we don't make an effort would undoubtedly be the night I would finally conquer the world. We cannot stop trying, Pinky."

"Alright." Pinky didn't really feel like arguing, even if he had a hope in hell. "Whatever you say."

The other thing was the table. Why it had a smaller table next to it was beyond him...well, both of them, probably. It was literally a staircase onto the floor. The staff at this laboratory really didn't make it easy on themselves. Either that or they were idiots.

What was he saying? Everyone was a god damn idiot.

"It's April. The fifth. I don't know if you know what that means."

Pinky taps his head in mock thought. "Well, gee, I'd hazard a guess and say it's April the Fifth."

Brain stops for a moment. There's a sharp intake of breath.

"...Do you do this deliberately?"

"Sorry. Carry on."

"Anyway. It's April the Fifth. Well noted." Because he just said that, you moron. "Tomorrow is the Annual Rubber Duck Festival."

"The-"

"You can laugh. It's an important tradition to the state, though."

Pinky decides not to quip that he wasn't asking permission, and instead responds with "So what exactly should a rubber duck festival involve?"

A pause. Brain might have smiled a little. "Racing."

"Do they race the ducks?"

"No- Oh. Actually. I think they do. But there's also." Another pause, for emphasis. "A parade."

"Oh, that sounds marvelous." Pinky clasps his hands together. "Do they have duck merchandise? Duck costumes? Something like that?"

"That's not relevant." If he had a pencil to hand he probably would have hit Pinky with it. But sadly, Brain does not. Also they don't have the small ones any more and he can't really lift these ones. Damn thing's like a log.

"Pinky, are you pondering what I'm pondering?"

A beat. Brain silently tells himself no, of course he's not.

"...I think so, Brain. But I don't think Niall Horan's that enthusiastic about owls."

What.

"What."

Pinky opens his mouth and Brain cuts him off.

"No. Okay. Forget the parade. Let us brush that aside, for now. Because I would really like to know what's going on in your head."

"I-"

"Owls?"

There's silence, for a moment, before Pinky speaks.

"Well...it was the first thing that came to mind."

"Why?!"

Brain's fairly certain his eye just twitched.

"Well." Pinky doesn't sound like he wants to have this conversation.

"If. If you must know, Brain, I just sort of. Make these up. As I go along."

What.

"What."

"I. I make them up. I basically say the first thing that comes into my head. The owls thing was from a romcom I watched yesterday."

Brain's silent, for a moment, trying to process this. Eventually, he speaks again.

"But. But why. What possibly enjoyment could you get out of this?"

"Your reactions, mostly. I mean, no offense, but. I don't really get a lot of enjoyment out of all this." Pinky poits, and pauses. "Also, as much as I hate to admit it, it annoys you."

"...You do it to annoy me."

"Well, when you put it like that, it sounds mean."

Brain counts to ten in his head.

"Besides, you're not exactly very nice to me either! I don't really appreciate being slapped around, you know! Or having my input completely dismissed the majority of the time, or-"

Pinky cuts himself off. There's another awkward silence, broken only by Brain staring at him like a tool, attempting to get his head around this sudden outburst and failing miserably.

"...I'm not completely stupid, you know."

Eventually, Brain gets his ability to speak back. "I must say, you had me fooled."

"I'm going to take that as a compliment."

Brain makes a move towards the table. "I'm not sure how you could take it as such, but alright, Pinky. Whatever helps you sleep at night."

"But. But Brain."

"What."

"I don't sleep at night. I sleep during the day. At night, we do things like this."

Brain sits on the edge of the table and silently decides there were far too many awkward pauses in this conversation.

"...yes. Yes, you're right. My mistake."

"You're welcome." Pinky sits himself next to him. "Haha. Poit."

"I." Oh god, at this rate they were never going to get to the parade. "Could we please just get back to what we were doing? You've derailed us for about half an hour."

"Sure, Brain. Whatever you say."