Absence
Black Hat was not the patient type. Flug was acutely familiar with that fact, being the one that had the higher number of deadlines to meet. If not on inventions, then projects, recruitment, counseling, and a bit of everything that required a smart brain, something the other two inhabitants clearly couldn't help with.
But even with his usually saturated agenda, the past several weeks had been just outright ridiculous. Requests that just were impossible to meet, with Black Hat in a terrible mood, much worse than usual, snapping at everything and anything in such a way than even Dementia and 5.0.5. were starting to react accordingly.
Demencia — much like a cat — had started to bring back home things nobody asked for, like remains of defeated heroes and cursed objects that reminded her of the eldritch, footage of people's pain and misery and no small amount of broken bones; as tokens to appease him. Some worked better than others — even if Black Hat never acknowledged it — but the reprieve was always short-lived.
5.0.5. had taken the art of hiding from the eldritch to the next level. It had gotten so bad that, last time Flug noticed, the blue bear was now moving primarily by complicated maneuvers on the ceiling to avoid walking in the actual hallways, doing whatever was in his power to avoid crossing paths with their boss. El pobre pachoncito.
As for himself— well, the reason he slept in a cryobed was precisely so he could have some dreamless rest, but the last weeks what little sleep he could get was always plagued with nightmares. Some were the usual — so recurrent he was somewhat used to them — while others were new and so freaking horrible Flug was almost certain it wasn't conjured by his subconscious as much as it had to do with the eldritch he lived with.
To say that he was exhausted would be an understatement.
His eyes were closing on their own accord, head bobbling back and forth as he tried and failed to not fall asleep over the supercomputer's keyboard. Again.
"Flug!" Demencia forcefully smacked the sleepiness out of his system, quite literally as he was tackled to the lab's floor. "You need to wake up!"
"Ouph my poor lungs." Flug complained, making shooing motions at his partner in crime. His protests were ignored. "Demencia, get off—"
"I've found him! I've finally found the f— ooauh!" Demencia's last word was interrupted as Flug pushed her to the side, finally getting her off him. Thanks to previous experiences, he could tell that her last word wasn't 'allowed', thus the reason he was successful in the first place. There was no way he would have been able to do that under common circumstances.
"What the heel are you talking about?" He asked, self-censuring just in case. It was a bit hard to know which were allowed and which weren't, now that he was conscious of the limitation.
"No heels, I hate the stuff!" Demencia practically growled before shaking her head wildly, like a wet dog trying to dry up. "Forget that. We need to leave now!"
Her long, green hair moved on its own accord almost tail-like, trapping him before he could inquire more on the subject. "Wha— Demencia, wait! AHH!" She was going so fast, crawling on fours on the ceiling that he was getting motion-sick already!
"Don't be dumb Doc! If we wait too long, he won't be there anymore!"
"WHO THE F— mmnglh!" He had to cover his mouth as a wave of nausea hit him. Ugh, he should have known better than to try to say that one out loud.
"Well duuuh!" The lizard hybrid sing-songed mockingly. Flug couldn't see her face, but he imagined the stuck out tongue all the same. "The reason my love is all cranky, of course! Common Doc, aren't you supposed to be the smart one? For a genius, you can really be a piece of— ACK!"
Demencia crashed with the metallic door of the hat-ship, which was coded to open automatically only in specific circumstances. Crawling all over the external walls was not one of them.
"Oumph, oww, Demencia—"
"Dumb thing didn't open!" She justified pointing at the, now actually opening, door of the ship, dragging him inside as she went.
"Demencia! For heel's sake, just tell me!" Flug demanded, crossing his arms as he was forcefully placed in the pilot's seat, refusing to even turn on the engine. "I'm not going anywhere until you do!"
The manic girl looked at him like Flug was the crazy one.
"Flug, you can't be serious. You know Da-da visits like, once every two or three weeks, right? At most four weeks?" Who the heck was Da-da? "And that he hasn't dropped by in the last two months?"
"…what?"
"In the last two months Flug! One more and it will be a full QUARTER!"
"No, no, I get that… I think? What I meant is, who the fluck is Da-da?" He asked with both palms together as if in prayer, moving them from his nose to point at Demencia. He was too exhausted for this nonsense.
She had the gall to snort at him. "Alan, duh."
"Wait— what? He is Da-da?"
"Isn't he everyone's?" Demencia countered like it was obvious. "Don't call him anything other than Alan when ~my darling Black Hat ~ is listening though." Her voice turned dreamy, as it always did when mentioning their boss. Flug face-palmed outside of the paper bag.
"So you think," he started to summarize because surely he got it wrong, "that Black Hat has been… like… that, because Alan is not visiting as often?"
"For TWO MONTHS! Dude, I feel abandoned too. He promised me a new Black Hat figurine last time we—"
"Wait, wait, what do you mean he visits often? I've never seen him in the house, except for that one time when—"
"That's 'cause my love monopolizes him! If I hadn't trapped Da-da at the entrance last time—" Flug could picture Alan struggling among Demencia's hair all too well. "—he wouldn't have had time to play with me at all!"
But wait, recurrent visits meant that… no way.
"…what about 5.0.5.?"
"Bah, the blue bear always sneaks a hug or two either in welcome or when he's leaving." Demencia stated with a dismissive hand.
Which meant that Flug really had been the only one out of the loop when it came to that person.
"Oh."
"Anyways— wait." She paused, for once noticing the change in the air. "What— you've never…?"
"It doesn't matter." He didn't have time for pointless visits anyway, he told himself. It didn't lessen the sting, so he distracted himself with preparing the systems to fly. "If this helps Black Hat's terrible mood then let's hunt him down and drag him back to the manor."
Demencia looked at him with something akin to pity before taking her seat. Flug hated every second of it, so he focused on getting the Hat-ship out of the island as quickly as the machine could take them.
It was only after the dark, top-hat-shaped cloud was behind them that he noticed he didn't know where to go.
"…where is he?" Flug asked since he didn't have any other options.
"Atreno City." Demencia answered surprisingly softly, unblinking eyes still fixated in his paper bag. He didn't turn to meet her gaze, simply nodding in acknowledgement. "He was somewhere near that weird statue."
"…what an odd place to be." Flug muttered, trying to keep himself distracted.
"Yeah."
"How did you find him, in the first place?"
"The news. He was in the background."
"I see…"
They didn't talk anymore after that.
(x)
He parked near the river this time. It was still close enough to the golden statue, but much less noticeable for any flying heroes patrolling the area. For a city with so many political issues, it had a surprising number of heroes visiting for one reason or the other, so it was better to be careful.
Needing some space, Flug suggested they split to look for their victim— ah, their soon-to-be-guest. Demencia nodded energetically, already crawling over the nearest building to get a better view. He, on the other hand, had hacked into the city's traffic and security video footage a long time ago— and Atreno was far from being the only city in his system — so he activated the face-driven search in his device and started to walk towards the last place Alan had been recorded at.
Flug found him before Dementia could. The poor guy was being accosted by what looked like a Hat Witness.
"—of the Top Hat!" The older man exclaimed, offering a black top hat insistently. Huh, weren't those for the oldest members only? Why would it be offered to Alan on the street?
"No, really, I don't need it." Alan sighed while pushing the hat away, probably not for the first time. "No gracias."
"But you are the one and only—"
"Ahorita no joven."
"But—"
"Please don't make me snitch on you with—" Alan started to hiss, very much exasperated when he finally noticed his presence. "Oh, hey Flug! It's been a while!"
It was incredible how fast Alan's face went from fed-up to pleasantly surprised. The Hat Witness scurried down the street , apparently afraid; and if Alan was really going to complain with his 'son' then the man was right to flee, in Flug's not-so-humble opinion.
"Hey." He called back with feigned indifference, hands in the pockets of his lab coat. "Has it really? I never see you, so I didn't notice."
That… sounded more bitter than he had first intended.
"Oh, tell me about it!" Alan replied with a surprising huff. "Whenever I tried to sneakily go down the lab to visit, I was spotted and whisked away, either to the office if I was just coming in, or to the entrance if I was already leaving. He can be really petty, sometimes."
Wait, what?
"You would?"
"Of course! It felt weird seeing everyone but you whenever I visited—"
So he had actually tried?
"— but you know how he gets. Doesn't like to share, at all. Why, if it weren't for Demencia's frequent kidnappings—" Alan was walking closer to him. "— I probably wouldn't have been able to see her that much either." The man finished, rolling his eyes in a mildly exasperated manner.
"I— uh, oh..."
"So it's good to finally be able do this!" Alan grinned almost like a maniac, giving that one final step to squeeze the ever lights out of Flug. The hug reminded him of the loving blue bear, the only difference being that his feet remained on the ground on this instance.
All the exhaustion, conflictive feelings and stress accumulated in his body melted away for a few precious seconds, relaxing so much he was practically boneless. A non-crushing embrace from another normal person — or as normal as Flug could get to know anyway — was certainly nice.
"Finally, a hug that lasts," Alan sighed contently with a soft chuckle, giving a couple of friendly pats right between his shoulders before stepping back, "and is not from 5.0.5 I guess. Hah, do you know what happened when I tried to hug Dem?"
Flug snorted. He could imagine it very well, but shook his head negatively nonetheless.
"She slid off kinda like a snake, quite literally swiped me off my feet, and then used her hair to catch me but she was already spinning and cackling while I flew around like a pin—"
"DA-DA! HAHAHA!"Demencia interrupted what he assumed was going to be an 'off-limits' word, tackling the man from behind, which in turn made them collide with Flug so both males were a mess of tangled limbs painfully whimpering in the sidewalk, with the lizard hybrid unharmed on top.
"I was just talking about you Demy-Dem." Alan greeted with a strained voice, the position he was in looked like it made it difficult to breathe. The man seemed happy all the same though. "Nice to see you too."
"You gotta tell me!" She exclaimed with an accusing finger pointed at the man, poking his cheek.
"You gotta get off, Demensa!" Flug cried urgently because he was at the very bottom and any more pressure might as well break his freaking arm.
"Agreed with that. Please get ouph, oww— oh, man that's gonna bruise." Alan wheezed when she decided to get off via jumping instead of just stepping away like a normal person.
"You too please," Flug requested, pushing the other man off as gently as he could, but it still earned him a wounded groan.
"Ay mis hijos, ay." Alan muttered while holding his ribs in a very pained imitation of La Llorona, "Dem I love you, I really do, but I'd really appreciate—"
"No appreciation for you!" Dementia scolded childishly, squatting so she could poke Alan in his apparently bruised side. The poor man could only hiss in response. "Why do you never visit Flug, huh?!" She demanded like an older sibling protecting the younger and oh science, please no!
"No, no, no, Demencia—!"
"He was all sad and sulky—"
"Shut up!"
"— because you never visit him, you busy piece of— hmnph!" Censured by Flug's own hand, he couldn't help but wonder if the bag itself was on fire due to how utterly mortified he was. Even with the face covered, his blush was probably noticeable in his neck.
"I made him… sad?"
Demencia licked his hand, which made Flug get away with a disgusted Guacatelas! "Well duh, how else would he feel?"
"…shoot." Alan wisely self-censured, slowly moving until he was in a sitting position, "I'm really sorry Flug, it was never my intention to—"
"No, no, I get it, really!" He hurriedly squeaked, hands waving as if to physically dispel the unusual atmosphere. The gesture made Alan grimace.
"We… need a way to meet without third party interference." The man muttered at last, looking pensively at the clear skies. "Probably outside the manor, would be best."
In Flug's experience, trying to hide something from Black Hat never lasted for long, and the consequences were frequently too horrible to even mention out loud. Its own kind of curse, in a sense.
Alan snorted when he said as much. "Flug, that's not the idea at all. I'd mention it whenever I drop by his office! I would just see you first outside because, well, once I step in the manor I know I'll be unable to. That guy, really…"
Demencia poked him at the ribs again, which made the poor man jolt with an indignant hiss. "And me? What about me?"
"You, young lady, are grounded," Alan grumbled, slapping her poking hand away from his bruised side, "I will not give you any more Black Hat merchandise until you stop greeting me so roughly."
"What?! Nooooo, I'm behaving, I swear!" She shrieked, contradicting herself in the same sentence as she grabbed Alan by the shoulders and violently shook him. "Flug, tell him I can behave!"
"She very much can't, you might as well get used to it."
"TRAITOR!"
"Ok, ok, I'll think of something— for now please just stop." Alan all but begged, already looking faint, whiteish smoke coming from his mouth as if his very soul was trying to escape his body.
It was at this moment that Flug realized they had really fucked up.
Although Alan didn't look that bad — compared to the damage Demencia was capable of, at least — he looked like he had gotten into a scuffle, with dirty clothes and torn sleeves and a few scratches here and there, and Black Hat was going to brutally murder them if he saw this.
"Let's get you to the Hat-ship, I have a healing ray there!" He urged, passing one arm over his shoulders and gesturing for Demencia to grab the other. "You'll be good as new, pinky promise!"
"Hmn…? Ah, it's ok, I'm not—"
"Nope, noppity, no!" The lizard hybrid interrupted, apparently catching just what, exactly, was going to happen if they let him go like this. Particularly since the original plan was to make him visit Black Hat so the eldritch would stop being so short-tempered. "You look awful, let's get you cleaned up!"
"I can stand alone— Dem, I can walk alone." Alan muttered indignantly when he was picked up and placed in the relative safety that was Demencia's fluffy hair.
"La-la-la I can't hear you!" She sang among giggles, sprinting towards the Hat-ship with Flug jogging behind them — very behind, if he was honest. He couldn't keep up with her at all — which made him activate the skates in his shoes to speed up a bit.
When they finally arrived at the ship Alan looked like he wanted to throw up. Flug internally shrieked.
"Everything is going to be alright! Everything is going to be ok!" At this point he wasn't sure if he was saying it to himself or Alan. That damned healing ray better be here or they both were very much dead.
"You can take my little lovely love, in the meantime. It always makes me feel better!" Demencia winked while lending her Black Hat plushie to the man. It was a testimony of how much she cared for him, since she never let anyone else come even close to it.
"Thanks Dem…"
Where was the healing ray?
"Are you feeling better now ~?"
WHERE WAS THE— oh, never mind.
"Kinda? Yeah."
"This won't hurt in the slightest!" Flug exclaimed triumphally — even if not truthfully — aiming and firing since some people said that it hurt less if one wasn't expecting it.
Alan eeaked! his whole body tensing like a spring ready to be released, before relaxing with a relieved sigh. There was no trace of the scratches and colorful bruises that used to be visible on his face and hands. Success!
"Mentiroso." The man huffed, patting his previously injured sides heartily. "But it's effective, I'll admit."
"Now you only need a clean-up!" Demencia grinned while ruffling his hair, leaving it all messy. Alan snorted, giving back the small Black Hat plushie.
"And fix the sleeves, I'd say." Flug added, already searching for 5.0.5's knitting kit.
"I think I'm missing something here," Alan admitted with a raised eyebrow, "why do you want me to be so, uh, presentable, exactly…?"
"Isn't it obvious? We're taking you back to the manor with us!" The lizard girl exclaimed while hugging his shoulders, the most normal show of affection Flug had seen coming from her.
"It's… been a while since your last visit. Over two months, I think?" Flug added while turning his head away, continuing to search for the kit. This part of the ship was always messy.
Alan seemed to freeze on the spot.
"It's been two months?!"
"Uh-huh, you busy brute! You have no idea how much we've been missing you!"
"He, in particular, has been kinda… um, irritable." And wasn't that the understatement of the century?
"I can imagine, with how much I usually spoil him— oh guys, I'm sorry you had to endure that. Let me go to the restroom to freshen up and we can go." Alan muttered apologetically, already standing up.
The knitting kit was nowhere to be found, so they would have to leave the sleeves as is. It was a small detail, hopefully unnoticeable.
(x)
Black Hat's manor never had a welcoming air, but this was beyond anything Flug had ever witnessed before.
The darkness was prominent and heavy, what little light present was unnaturally red, and the silence was so absolute it was… eerie. A mosquito could be flying somewhere in his lab and Flug was sure he would be able to hear the buzz all the way to the entrance. It was that silent.
"It's been a while since we last played." Alan said softly with a nostalgic smile, stepping into the manor like this was a common occurrence. "With some luck I'll actually last a minute."
"What's the game?" Demencia whispered, crouching behind Alan as if for safety. Seeing the shadows flicker as if alive — slithering claws coming awfully close to him — gave him chills, so he followed her example and wisely stepped closer to the man as well.
Where was 5.0.5? Hopefully out of the manor running errands and not trapped in this horrible setting?!
"I either spot him before he can spook me, or, well, he gets to spook me." Alan stated simply, slowly stepping further into the room, eyes roaming everywhere, lingering specially around the corners. "Sometimes is a tie, because I don't see him on time, but he doesn't get to frighten me either, just surprise me."
That sounded like the perfect sentence to jinx whatever small hope for success they could have had.
"Ya valimos." Flug squeaked softly, choosing to link arms with the only brave soul that would label this dreadful, deathly atmosphere as playful. From the corner of his eye, he could see Demencia grabbing Alan's shoulders to ensure she wasn't separated either, the tip of the green hair curling around the man's waist.
"Don't be so pessimistic Doc, just help me spot him and we'll win!"
SLAM!
Doors and windows closed on their own accord almost at the same time as the staircase got consumed by dark, red liquid that could pass for a dripping river of blood. There was an ominous creak at their right, as a single door slowly opened. The only path available for them to continue.
Flug gulped. Demencia let out a small ohh even as she stepped closer to hide behind their breathing shield.
"Not going over there, then." Alan muttered almost to himself, walking towards the bleeding stairs like that was a perfectly acceptable alternative.
"Ah no, ni mayes!" Flug shrieked, planting his feet to stop the madman. "That one is surely going to get us slaughtered."
"Nah, the door would. The staircase just looks slippery— I think is oil?"
"I don't know Da— aaah woopsie~ " Demencia giggled with a small grin, boosting herself up with Alan's shoulders so she could fully cling to his back, piggy-ride like.
"What did you just say?"Black Hat's rumbling voice echoed around the darkened room at the same time as Alan's surprised yelp, long legs spreading to accommodate for Demencia's added weight. Flug pulled at the arm linked with his to help the other retain his balance.
"A warning would have been nice Dem!"
"We're so very dead."
"Hola guapo~ "
Black Hat had, indeed, appeared above them— or well, part of him did. The eldritch was little more than an amalgamation of eyes and sharp teeth and the eternally suffering faces of the souls he had consumed—
"Hijo!" Alan exclaimed enthusiastically to the dark being, grinning from ear to ear. "I spy with my little eye—"
"EAAAAAK!" Flug screeched when Black Hat appeared just beside him with an unsettling amount of sharp teeth that spoke of torture and death, a single eye twitching annoyedly.
"— the greatest villain of them all, haha!" Alan finished unperturbed, pushing a wheezing Flug behind him as he turned to face the eldritch, a gesture Flug appreciated to no end. "It's been a while son!"
Black Hat huffed, face returning to normal with one antenna-like eyebrow curling upwards. If Flug didn't know any better, he could have sworn the corner of the mouth had tilted up for a second, in a semblance of a pleased smile.
"A while?" Nope, annoyed, annoyed to hell and back!
He really hoped his gordito pachoncito was nowhere inside the house.
Demencia silently crawled down from Alan's back, cautiously stepping away, closer to Flug, who was trying to make himself invisible with nothing but pure willpower.
Needless to say, it was unsuccessful.
"You two, out." Black Hat ordered without raising his voice, leveling them with a glare that spoke volumes of what, exactly, would happen if they lingered for another freaking second.
"Si, si, compermisito!"
"Aye, aye, mi Lord!"
They both answered at the same time before scurrying down the nearest corridor, away from the entrance and from a very aggravated eldritch. The oppressive darkness and other eerie details were thankfully lifted for them to leave without issues, the manor going back to normal.
"I'm happy to see you too."
"Spare me the sentimentalism." Was the last thing Flug could hear before the distance grew too great, but he could have sworn the next phrase had been something akin to "what the hell is wrong with your clothes?"
(x)
The rest of the day passed by… slowly, but surprisingly calmly, all things considered. Flug had been pleased to discover 5.0.5 sleeping peacefully in his lab when he arrived, and he followed the bear's example and took a much-needed nap in the bed nearby. It wasn't as good as his cryobed, but he had been so exhausted it made little difference.
There was not a single beep from Black Hat or Alan not even after he woke up. Thus, he had reluctantly moved to eat dinner with 5.0.5 and Dementia in the kitchen, with nothing but the TV for background noise.
The repetition of the news allowed Flug to see Alan in the background, apparently entranced with a Podemos Bailar! Poster. It was no wonder Demencia had spotted him, the man had been the only one close enough to the camera to be recorded clearly among the faceless crowd.
"I dunno why he bothers." Demencia had muttered under her breath. "Obviously they won't be able to dance for long."
Flug had hummed in agreement, mouth too full to add anything else.
It was late at night, probably close to midnight when he finally stumbled over the pair once more. They were talking surprisingly softly, right in the space between the entrance and the staircase.
"—mean to be gone for so long, really."
"Don't let it happen again." Black Hat ordered with a displeased snarl, but his voice still had that… serene quality to it. It was strange.
"I know, I know, I'll do better."
The eldritch huffed and stood straighter, with both arms clasped behind his back, almost as if bracing himself. Alan took a step closer, halted, and then got back to his original position with a self-depreciating smile.
"Well, I better get going. It's getting late, and —"
"What the hell was that?"
"— I should be — hmn? Oh, well, I know you don't really like them, so… I'm trying to be considerate?"
Black Hat growled, teeth growing past the corner of the mouth and right into his cheek. "And who asked you to be?"
"...uhm, what?"
"Don't you dare decide for me. I do as I please." The villain scoffed, taking a single step forward, looking almost defiantly at his creator.
Alan looked as stupefied as Flug felt, frozen on the spot.
Black Hat got more annoyed by the second. "If you're expecting me to say it out loud—"
"Oh, no, no, no!" That finally snapped Alan out of his stupor. "I— thank you — I just— I'm just so happy!" The author smiled, somehow transmitting a lot of love and happiness and other pleasing things the eldritch usually couldn't even stand, let alone be the cause of.
Alan stepped closer to give the customary farewell hug to his creation. The eldritch tensed but endured without a single sound of complaint. Not returning the hug, but not escaping it either, the single eye looking down at the shorter human with something akin to—
Flug got the impression that he was intruding on something he really shouldn't be witnessing, so he silently got back, sharp ears still listing to the last few promises for frequent visits and the feigned nonchalance of the reply.
The following days Black Hat was noticeably in a much better mood.
Wisely, none of the inhabitants commented on it.
AN:
Can you believe I was going to dedicate a full chapter to Alan stopping hugs and other unnecessary contact out of consideration, and BH being all tsundere about it? I think adding that piece here was a much better way to cover it hahaha.
There's only 1 plot bunny left, at least at this point of time. It's been a while since I last wrote so much in such a short span of time! It's exhilarating! n.n
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