"And...you're sure?" Flug asked for about the tenth time. "Because, you were drinking too, weren't you? A-Are you sure you didn't-"
"I know what I saw, Flug." Black Hat said firmly.
Flug racked his brain, trying to remember that night. Drinking and talking with Aurelio. He had turned his back on him, to watch Demetra. It couldn't have been more than a minute, maybe two, that would've been plenty of time. He did remember Aurelio handing him another cup, and that's really where things started to get fuzzy. According to Black Hat, who claimed to have seen it with his own eye, Aurelio had slipped something into his drink. Which...would explain why everything from that point onward was so fragmented and difficult to recall.
"Do you remember what the contract said?" Black Hat asked.
"I-I'm sorry, what?"
"The contract. You can't sleep on your own, but you can still pass out if you take drugs. Isn't that what it said?"
Flug thought back. Yes, he did remember something like that being part of the contract. Sleep wasn't something he needed anymore, if he wanted rest meditation or hypnosis would work as an alternative, and while he couldn't sleep or dream he could still lose consciousness from recreational or medicinal substances.
Which he may have just experienced. He...had actually had to wake up Saturday morning. Something that almost felt new after he'd been awake for so long.
Flug ran his fingers through his hair and whispered "What the fuck?" to himself.
"Sorry to end the evening on such a sour note," Black Hat said. "But I really couldn't put off telling you any longer. I had hoped to...ease you into it. I'd have told you yesterday but, well, I think things got away from the both of us."
"I understand." Flug said rather numbly. God, he wasn't sure he felt anything at all right now. Not even the couch underneath his rear or Black Hat's arm brushing against his own. "Thank you for telling me." Really, it probably was for the best he find out about this now. Even if it kind of dampened the evening. Black Hat was right, it couldn't be put off any longer. It had already been put off long enough. It wasn't as if there was ever a "right time" to tell someone something like this. Flug was glad that Black Hat and Demetra had been there to help him. Who knew what might've happened to him otherwise. Where he might've woken up. What he might've woken up to. What would Aurelio have done to him if Black Hat hadn't intervened?
"Why did you let him come into my home?" Flug asked, not looking at Black Hat.
"I make it a point not to kill the people around me. Doing so would arouse suspicion. I needed to make him leave, so I put on a bit of a show. He seemed very confused and not at all happy to see how familiar I was with your apartment."
"Because you broke in. Multiple times."
"A detail he doesn't need to know."
Flug scoffed. "Yeah alright. So what now?"
"Do you want to confront him about it?"
"Why didn't you, if you really saw him drug me?"
"What would I have said to him? Threaten to tell you if he didn't back off? Would you rather I had done that? Would you rather I had kept this from you?"
Flug shivered lightly. "No."
"Would you like to continue with our plan of pretending to be romantically involved?"
He thought about it for a second. "Yes."
"Then, nothing really changes does it?"
"I guess not." Although he wasn't sure what exactly he would do the next time he saw Aurelio. What on earth would he say? About anything? About what Aurelio had done, about he and Black Hat, hell what would he say about what he'd almost done to Demetra? What, was he going to just immediately shoot Aurelio down if he tried to talk to him by saying, Um, I have a boyfriend.
Ah shit was he actually going to be calling Black Hat his boyfriend in public? Was he really going to be able to do that? Was Black Hat going to try and kiss him in public? Or touch him in places? Like, like typical couples would? Oh God the thought made Flug's body seize up.
"Black Hat," Flug said in an even voice. "I don't want to be physical with each other in public."
"Oh no?"
"No. Even if it wasn't just our cover story, even if we were actually dating, I don't like being so...open, about myself. So, can we just..." He searched for the right words. "Can we just, act like we normally do?"
Black Hat sighed as he stood up and stretched. "So, business as usual, but we refer to each other as boyfriends?"
A shudder went through Flug's body at the word boyfriends. "Yeah I guess so."
"Very well then. I'll see you tomorrow." The man in the top hat walked towards the door. "And Flug?"
He raised his head to watch him go.
"Don't cover your neck." With that, the man opened the door and swiftly exited the small, unkempt apartment and left his underling (and fake-boyfriend) to stew.
God, how was he going to do this? Even if they actually were dating, he'd still be so very reluctant to do any sort of thing in public that was even a little bit intimate. Hell, if Black Hat walked too close to him it'd made him nervous about what other people were going to say. What was he going to do tomorrow?
Black Hat had agreed that they'd just act like they usually would, but was he really going to do that? Could Flug trust that he wouldn't start acting kind of...affectionate in front of other people, just to make it clear that they were together, as far as anyone else was concerned?
He better not try to call him his "Pet" in front of other people. Oh Flug swore he would just up and die if he did that!
He wondered why he'd even given his "ok" for Black Hat to call him that in the first place. Or why he'd called him his "Master" again. If he really thought that their "relationship" should stay professional behind closed doors, why was he adding to the multitude of mixed signals between the two of them?
Admittedly, he did...kind of like it when he called him that. And maybe he also kind of liked the thought of having a Master. Although, according to the soul contract, Black Hat actually was his "lord and master". So it didn't have to be a sex thing, per se, that he called him that. It could just be a thing. That the both of them went along with.
Oh Lord was he really trying to justify why he wanted to call someone his Master?
With a sigh and a shake of his head, Flug went to his bedroom. He wondered if when he finally moved in with Black Hat, in a giant hat in a town called Hatsville, if he'd even have a bedroom. Well, he didn't really have any need for a bed anymore. He supposed he could just get, like, a really comfortable couch or something and just furnish himself some small little sitting room to unwind in. In terms of comfort, he didn't really need much. Just somewhere to relax. Relax, take his pants off, and listen to hypno-tracks.
At least this shirt really hadn't gotten any more than a few drops of his blood on it. Flug could probably just throw it in the wash real quick and it'd be good as new. One more nice shirt to bolster his collection to about three nice shirts. He'd have worn his new skinny jeans as well, but even he figured that'd be pushing the casual limit. Not that he was any match for Black Hat's fashion sense anyway. Everything he wore seemed tailor-made for his figure, even the damn apron!
Speaking of his figure...Holy Hell it was hard to think about Black Hat without coming back to the mental image of what he looked like in nothing but his underwear. And socks. And how it'd felt having him hold him down against the bed as his tongue ravished his mouth. Or the feel of the both of them being pressed flush together, grinding against each other. Or the feel of those long thin scars trailing down his back. Flug still wondered what those had been from. He hadn't gotten to see the man's back.
Dear God why had he agreed to fake-date this guy? Who was already type-casting him as the bottom. Well, he kind of wanted to be anyway, but hell he could've asked at least once. It's rude to just assume stuff like that, isn't it? Really, how hard would it be to just go, Hey, you mind if I top? It would take all of two seconds. Maybe the two seconds necessary for Flug to go, At least buy me dinner first, damn. Which actually kind of ended up happening, strangely. Well, he'd made him dinner. Close enough. Wherein Flug actually did manage to reel in the situation before it could get out of hand. He was proud of himself, he didn't just roll over and let Black Hat do whatever he wanted to him.
Although the thought of doing just that was quite enticing.
Flug ran his fingers through his messy brown curls. Why had he agreed to this? ANY of this? Was he really going to be able to go along with this madness? Perhaps things would be clearer in the morning. He might not be able to sleep on things, but he could always just continue putting off dealing with his troubles til he was forced to confront the issue. Like he'd probably have to end up confronting Aurelio at some point. Maybe. Maybe they'd just never run into each other again and Flug could just pretend nothing ever happened. Maybe he could just do that with Black Hat as well. Just act like nothing happened, business as usual. Yeah. And if, on occasion, Black Hat wanted to suck at his neck again, well fine. The man himself had said that it didn't have to go any further than Flug's neck. It would just serve as a reason that they were always together and would sometimes meet up on the weekends. As to why they did nothing publicly, well, Flug valued his privacy. It just wasn't anyone else's business and he wasn't comfortable being so...out. It wasn't exactly a secret, it was just a private, personal matter. And he hoped that Black Hat, whether as his boyfriend or boss, would respect that.
Flug caught a glimpse of himself in his mirror. God, his neck was going to be a fucking map of bruises and scabs tomorrow, wasn't it? Fully marked by Black Hat. Even if no one made any specific connection to him, they'd know Flug had been with someone. He took in a deep breath and let it out slow. Perhaps those breathing exercises were good for something after all. So now he'd just spend the rest of the night watching hypno and clearing his head. If nothing else, it'd put him in a better state of mind tomorrow and he could think on things further if need be.
Flug sat on the edge of his bed, his headphones on, and started the audio file up while he got comfortable. From the first few words, though, this one seemed a bit different from the ones he'd listened to before.
"The volume should be turned down, so that you can only just barely hear my voice." The man said. "For best results, you should be doing some sort of task or chore so that you aren't focused on my words."
That was new. Typically, the only prep work these things required was for Flug to get in a position he felt comfortable in. Sitting or laying down, either worked, so long as it was a position he could stay in for 20-60 minutes without being disturbed. It wasn't even a necessity that he look at the spiral, if it was a video instead of an audio file. Beyond that they all had a pretty similar routine; clear his mind, breath in and out, occasionally there would be one that had him perform some repetitive motion (to give an example, opening and closing his eyes in time with his breathing), but usually all they had him do was stare ahead and lose himself.
Apparently this one was meant to serve more as background noise, probably to really sell the whole "planting triggers in the subconscious" schtick. Flug still didn't know if he bought into it fully, but they gave him something to do throughout the night and...he kind of enjoyed the idea that someone could send him into a more submissive state of mind just by saying a few particular words. The reassurance that only he, or someone he trusted, would be able to use the triggers giving him more peace of mind. No one knew the words, and even if they did it would have no effect on him unless he wanted it too. If he didn't want to be in a more complacent state for them, he wouldn't be made to. He wouldn't, and they couldn't make him.
Back to the matter at hand, should he just switch to one he'd already listened too? They did claim the effects would be more potent with repeated sessions. But he liked to browse, see what different people had to offer. See what other videos and audio files were out there. He thought that if he repeated them one to many times, it might take him out of it. That he'd start to get bored with the process of hypnosis and just skip to the end, where the commands were implemented. Which didn't feel as arousing without all the build up. Or rather, break down of his inhibitions.
It was one thing to be told to be a slave when commanded, it was another to sit there for half an hour getting used to obeying a voice and slipping into trance and then be told to be a slave when commanded.
Not that Flug had ever tested out whether or not the command actually worked on him. So he supposed he had no idea if it actually did ruin the effectiveness of the hypnosis.
And, even for science, he wasn't very eager to test that little matter out.
Honestly, who even was there that he'd ever feel comfortable enough with that he'd tell them that he so much as watched these kinds of things? Let alone tell them the trigger words to send him into trance and make him an eager-to-please puppet for them.
He really wasn't sure where this (what to call it, a fascination? A fetish?) interest with things like submission or objectification stemmed from. To Flug it was kind of like...like a way of showing his commitment. The way he could show how invested he was in the relationship, in the other person. The lengths he would go to for another. What he'd let someone do to him. What he was willing to go through when he felt so strongly about someone.
Or just what got him off. As scared as he was of being taken advantage of, it was a kind of...thrilling idea that he could be made to submit so completely to another. That someone could hold such power over him, could utterly own his body and mind. Do whatever they wanted and leave him powerless...use him, even, if it pleased them. In whatever way was satisfactory to them, regardless of what he felt. Make him little more than an object for their pleasure.
But, of course, it wasn't as if he could do something like that with just anyone. Not as if he could possibly share these dark fantasies he had and be comfortable maybe acting one out with someone at the drop of a hat. He couldn't just give himself over to someone like it was nothing. It'd be...it'd be everything for him to do that! It'd be him giving his literal all to another person, and something like that required...much. Hell, Flug himself wasn't completely sure what exactly it would take to make him trust someone enough to let them have him in that dark, subjugating way he imagined. The idea of having such faith in another was such a foreign concept, he'd lived his life with so much hidden he wasn't sure if he really knew how to give himself like that. As badly as he wanted to.
And even if he did think maybe he could, there was no guarantee that the other person would accept that side of him. There was no telling whether or not they'd enjoy or even so much as tolerate his twisted fantasies. If he misjudged whether or not they'd go as far for him as he would for them, well, that was a bit of a messy situation now wasn't it? And, when he ended up hurt that he'd made such an error in judgement, when he was rejected, it'd be his own fault for thinking anyone would want him like that.
It kind of made him think of Julio, in a sad sort of way. He wondered how he was these days. He hoped he was well, or as well as he could be being wheelchair bound.
Something else that was all Rocinante's fault. He should never had involved Julio. Should never have convinced him to commandeer that plane with him. If he had only crashed that plane alone...
He might've died. Died without Julio to shield him from most of the damage. If he hadn't been there, Flug would've probably died along with all of his tormentors.
Flug got up and went to his desk. He pulled out some blueprint paper he kept in his desk drawer and just let his hand glide along it's surface. He decided that if this was intended to just be some white noise while people went about their day, he might as well see if it worked. He liked having background noise while he sketched out blueprints. It was one of his favorite feelings, to lose himself in his mind and allow his body to operate on reflex. Half the time he wasn't even fully aware of what it was he was doing, he just let his hands put to paper what his mind slipped out.
Hours later, as the sun peeked in through the blinds, Flug looked down and wondered just what it was he pulled out of his head. He glanced over at the small stack of blueprints he accumulated through the night. He should really show these to Black Hat. Get his input. He made them for him, after all. He should really see what his boss thought of his future armada. He hoped he would like them.
"Well, someone had a good weekend,"
Flug was jarred out of his thoughts by the girl who sat next to him in his Computer Science class. Emily, he was fairly sure was her name. He was sort of friendly with her, they had sat next to each other for the entire semester and occasionally would talk or joke around a bit. And she was giving him an unusual sort of smile.
At first, he didn't know what she was talking about. Then he remembered how his neck was full of hickeys and scabs. Which everyone could see.
"Oh, uh, y-yeah," He fumbled his words, grinning a bit as he averted his gaze. Not because he was embarrassed, strictly, more because he was trying to play off how ill-prepared he was to go along with this. He and Black Hat really should've come up with a better story than just, We're dating now. God, imagine if someone starts asking about how they got together. Well, together together. What if they couldn't keep their stories straight?
"Look at you, getting all bashful and everything." She teased. "You finally get some action in your life?"
"You could say that," He said, looking all around the room. She wasn't wrong, exactly. He was getting a bit more, ahem, action lately. Though not for the reasons she thought. If only those marks on his neck were truly marks of legitimate passion. He wasn't fully convinced they were. Sure, things got pretty heated, but he didn't think Black Hat really liked him that way or anything. At least not in any form going beyond the physical realm. It was probably just the innate pleasure of the thing. Flug felt weirdly proud that he'd apparently been doing something right, with as little experience as he had.
He wondered if that was something Black Hat intended to continue doing though. Leaving him with bites and hickeys and things beyond. He said they didn't need to, but also said that it would help to make it more convincing that they were involved with each other. And if Flug was so hesitant to publicly make their "relationship" known, what else would there be really? It at least fit his personality to be so private with his personal life, he never really did talk about himself all that much. Nothing out of the ordinary there.
But then, maybe he should be hiding his marks? If that was the story they were going with, then shouldn't Flug be a bit more secretive about it? Should he just act like it slipped his mind that his neck was one giant poster that screamed "SOMEONE WAS SUCKING AND BITING ME!" ? That was a bit out of character, he was usually far more careful than that.
Oh God he was just going around and around in circles thinking about this. He had absolutely no idea what on earth he was doing or what Black Hat was doing or anything.
And he could NOT focus on the lecture with all these thoughts swimming around in his head!
"So, what do you think?"
"I think you have horrible handwriting." Black Hat said. "I mean, what does this even say?"
"LED lights." Flug said, translating everything Black Hat pointed to. "Hydraulic brakes. Radar scanner. Jet propulsors. I can read this perfectly fine, I don't see what the problem is."
"Well I would hope you could, given that you're the one who wrote it." Black sipped his coffee as he looked over the blueprints. "I'd hate to be the one who tries to cheat off your paper."
Flug rolled his eyes. It wasn't that messy. Admittedly his penmanship here wasn't the best, maybe he'd been a bit spaced out when it came to labelling and notation, but it was still legible. The design itself hadn't suffered so it couldn't have been that indecipherable. It was easier to understand than Black Hat's chicken scratch of a name, that was for sure.
"Oh, Dem! Dem!" Black Hat flagged her down as she passed by their table and shoved one of the papers in her face. "Can you read this?"
"Whoa, is this like some giant robot thing?!" She exclaimed. "Cool! Did you draw this?"
"Flug did."
"Oh dude, this is seriously awesome! I didn't know you could draw! Can you draw me?"
"Uh, I mean, I guess I could." Flug said, playing with his hands. He'd taken a drawing class to steady his hand, but no one had ever really complimented any of his sketches before. Maybe it would've helped if he had actually shown other people before now, aside from the people in his club. Who were just as skilled if not better than him.
Artistically at least.
"Dem," Black Hat prompted. "Can you read any of his notes?"
"Huh? These are supposed to be words?" Demetra flipped the paper around a few ways, squinting her eyes trying to make out the letters.
Flug rolled his eyes again. "C'mon guys, it's not that bad."
"Chicken...permission..." Demetra said slowly. "Blind...refugees...bard beer skew brick skid...mack jabroni...bone altitude? Dude, what?"
"Where did you get any of those?!"
"Well, what is supposed to say?"
"It says 'rotary blades,'" Flug said impatiently, pointing to his scribbles at the edge of the paper. "And 'piping system.' And 'valve gears.' Honestly, why can't either of you read this?"
"Cuz you write like a toddler!" Dem said, slapping the blueprint back on the table with the others. "Oh, you have more?"
"Yeah, and they're all written like that." Black Hat said. "And don't slam your hands on the table, you'll spill something and ruin them."
"March...infection..." Demetra read aloud from one of the others. "Phone apple...jeans? Car thot? What the heck is a car thot and why it is suspiciously close to your robots' crotch?"
"That's not...oh forget it." Flug said, taking a long swig of his coffee.
"Ready for a refill, Flug?"
"Yeah, thanks."
"No problem." Demetra said, taking his cup and strolling off. "Just keep the tips coming so I can move out on my own one day."
Flug chuckled a bit. More often than not, she was the one who ended up waiting on them whenever they came in. And even if she wasn't she usually made it a point to stop and greet them. Usually nothing more than the short "Hey guys!" with a casual wave. And, well, since they were kind of friends, sort of, maybe, he especially had been a bit generous with his tips lately.
Perhaps it was just his way of saying thanks. For giving him a place to indulge in his caffeine addiction and share his Hat-Bot blueprints with his future boss/fake boyfriend.
"I'd ask if you were half asleep when you wrote these," Black Hat said. "But we both know you weren't. Honestly, how has your handwriting fallen so far in such a short amount of time?"
"Well, look at it this way; anyone ever steals any of my blueprints, they'll never be able to decipher any of the things that explain how it all fits together."
"I don't know, you're a very talented artist. Your sketches alone may be enough for a good engineer to guess at the inner workings and come up with something functional."
"Yeah, well, there's good, and then there's me." Flug said, a bit cockily.
"Is that a fact?" Black Hat asked with a grin and a cocked eyebrow.
"According to my teachers, my peers, my parents, my grades, and you since you had me to sign a lifetime commitment soul contract, I'd say so, yes. I wouldn't think you'd go so far out of your way to get me on your team if I was just 'good' at what I do."
Black Hat chuckled darkly. "Well, you got me there. At least you've got the handwriting of a doctor already. Not that anyone can read it."
"What?"
"You are studying to earn your doctorate, right?" Black Hat asked.
"Yeah, I am. Don't see what that has to do with my handwriting."
Black Hat stood up. "I'll be back in a bit." Flug picked up all his blueprints and placed them neatly to the side. Black Hat was right about there being a spill hazard. Flug figured Black Hat was going to the bathroom or something. And faintly wondered if he kept his gloves on even then. He had to take his gloves off at least just to wash his hands, right? If not, he wasn't sure he was comfortable with Black Hat touching his stuff anymore. It wasn't as though Flug could just ask about something like that, could he? It just sounded so weird.
Demetra came back with his fresh cup of coffee; sweetened enough to give him cavities, just the way he liked it. And started whispering to him. "So Flug, how'd your date go?"
"What?"
"Your date. With Black Hat. How did it go?" She asked with a ginormous smile.
Flug gulped. "Oh-oh, uh, Black Hat told you about that?"
"He may have mentioned it." She played around with her long ponytail. "Something about dinner at his place?"
"Uh, w-well, yeah." Flug fiddled around with his glasses to distract himself. "We-We did have dinner...at his place..."
"And?" She leaned in close.
"A-And?"
"How'd it go? What happened? How far did you get? What's his place like? Give me the deets!"
"P-Penthouse apartment." Flug blurted out. "I-I-It was re-re-really nice. He made me dinner, we talked, we, uh, we m-m-made out," Flug could feel his face flush cherry red. "And-"
"And?" Goddamn had no one taught this woman the meaning of personal space?! They were almost nose-to-nose! "What else what else what else?"
Flug felt some sort of whimper sneak its way out of his throat. His voice came out small and high pitched. "N-N-Nothing e-e-e-else. Th-Tha-Tha-That's all."
"Aw, what? That's all? Nah, that can't be all that you did." She backed off with a smirk. Her eyes glided down to his neck. "It looks like you two did more than just make out."
Flug squeaked and ducked his neck down. Oh Lord did it really look like more had been done than just making out? Did it look that way to everyone? Did they think that they had-
"Th-That's all." Flug choked out.
"Aw man, that's 200 pesos down the drain. Must've been a hell of a make out." Wait, WHAT?! "Well, how far did you go with your hands? Anything come off? Who touched who where?"
"Th-That-That's n-n-n-none of your b-b-bus-bu-business!" Flug silently screamed. His face felt like it was on fire. He kept darting his head around like he was worried someone was listening in and judging him.
"Whoa, Flugsy, calm down. No need to be shy. I'm just having fun with ya."
"Yeah, well, c-c-c-can you, like, not? Please? Can y-you keep this ju-just between the th-thr-three of us?"
"Why?" She asked. "It's not like you're doing anything wrong. Hell, if I was you I'd be bragging to everyone that I was dating the mysterious hot foreign guy. 'Specially if he's that intense. He leave anymore of ya all marked up?"
Flug covered his head with his arms. This was not happening, this was not happening. He was not getting grilled on his weekend escapades by his waitress acquaintance. He didn't want to deal with this. He didn't know how to deal with this.
This was probably very normal. Friends probably teased each other about their relationships all the time. Nothing wrong about that either. Just light hearted playing around. It wasn't as if she was trying to make fun of him. Hell, she was probably genuinely happy to see Flug and Black Hat together so often. She was like the founder of their fictitious romance fan club. It was just idle gossip, or it would be until Flug confirmed it and then everyone would know and he just wasn't ok with that.
Yeah, he knew intellectually there was nothing wrong with dating Black Hat (not that he actually was), but his insecurities told him different. They told him that he couldn't be so candid about himself. The possibilities, all negative in his mind, terrified him. He had no idea what people would say about him if they knew. If they would still treat him the same, if they would think of him any differently. And he didn't want to take that chance with the world when he couldn't even bring himself to take it with his parents yet.
"Demetra," A voice said. "Leave him alone."
Flug peeked up to see Black Hat, straightening his tie and taking his seat across from him.
"Ah, come on! I'm just asking!" She protested. "If you're not going to give me any juicy details, who will?"
"Dem, what we do behind closed doors is our own business."
"Then you leave me no choice but to leave it up to the imagination." She said dramatically. "And I'll have you know I have a very vivid imagination."
"So you draw porn on the internet?" Black Hat asked in a monotone voice.
"No, I don't draw porn. Least not anything more than stick figures."
"How crude."
"Um, excuse you, that is art!"
"It's an abomination."
"Black coffee is an abomination!"
"That's how coffee is naturally." Flug pointed out.
"I will not sit here and be mocked for my sensual stick figures by two men living in sin!"
"Wouldn't we be living together if that were the case?" Black Hat asked, raising his cup to his lips.
"Aren't we planning to?" Flug asked.
Flug saw Black Hat's eye go wide and he sputtered on his coffee. He choked hard on the hot liquid. "Well, uh, that is, I mean..." Black Hat scrambled to recompose himself. Mainly by shoving napkins to his mouth and trying to form a coherent sentence.
Flug wondered what had made Black Hat react like that. Were they not planning to live together in some giant hat of evil and villainy once it was finally built and they got on with putting that whole 'rule the world' plan into motion? Did he misunderstand something? Were they not both going to live there? Them and anyone else who Black Hat managed to get on board with his scheme?
Then it hit him. He was talking about he and Black Hat living together. While they were supposed to be dating. Or, shifting from being casual hook ups to dating. He still wasn't fully sure how they were gonna spin this. And they were only like a day into that plan.
And he was already talking about living together.
In front of Demetra.
He felt his face heat up as he registered what a clingy over-eager weirdo he sounded like. Demetra's eyes went wide, but she was quick to recover.
"Flugsy, my man," She said with a cocky grin as she backed away towards the tables she'd been neglecting. "Just cuz a guy takes you home doesn't mean he wants you to move in. Did ya make him breakfast, too?"
Flug covered his flushed complexion and watched her go with a goddamn smile on her face apologizing to the partons she'd been keeping held up while getting the latest scoop. Dear God what was wrong with him? How could he have said that? Why had he said that? In front of her? He was such an embarrassment!
"I mean, we are," Black Hat said in a whisper. "But I figured we shouldn't have that going around when we're supposed to be dating. And just now getting quote unquote 'serious.'"
"Y-Yeah I-I-I'm sor-ry." He stuttered out. "I-I don't know where th-tha-that came fr-from. Sorry."
"Seriously, maybe hold off on talking about that in front of others for a few months. Or whenever it seems a more suitable time to start thinking about moving in together in a relationship. Wouldn't want to rush things now would we?"
"N-No, you're right." Flug said, calming back down. "We should re-really make sure w-w-we have our story straight. So there's l-less chance of either of u-us slipping up."
"Yes," Black Hat stroked his chin. "We should make sure it's very clearly defined. But let's not discuss it here. Wouldn't want her to overhear anything."
Yeah, good call. She more than anyone needed to buy this little ruse. Not that she was at all hard to fool. Demetra was nice but had no filter, and if they let her she'd probably single-handedly get word around to the entire school that he and Black Hat were now an item (as far as anyone else was concerned). And get them all betting on how far they'd gone. Oh sweet Jesus it would give Flug a heart attack if more people than just the Cafe Triste staff were privy to their relationship. At least Flug knew everyone was cool, and probably only interested because Demetra was making a game out of it. Everyone else could speculate if they wanted but so long as Flug wasn't getting bombarded by strangers asking about his boyfriend he could handle this. Yeah, yeah he could do this. He could be fine around Black Hat. It seemed like he was willing to go along with Flug's condition of acting like nothing had really changed. Like Black Hat told Demetra, what they did was their own business. They just needed to stick to that and everything would be fine. They could pull this off. They could do this. They just needed a script Flug could stick to, and they could definitely totally for sure do this.
So long as both of them stuck to the script...
"So, y-you told her about our date?" Flug asked.
"What?"
"Demetra. Sh-She said you told her about our d-date." Flug said.
"Yeah, I told her. " Black Hat said with a bored expression. "Why?"
"C-Can you n-n-not encourage her like that? She r-r-really can't keep her mouth shut and I'd like us to be able to control what exactly is going around ab-bout us."
"That was Saturday, after I left your place. We hadn't even been on our date yet. And I've told her nothing since about anything we did on that date."
"Y-you could've t-t-told her about Saturday." Flug said. If it was indeed after Black Hat had left his apartment, it would've all been fresh in his mind. And it would've technically been before Flug asked him to keep their "relationship" private.
"Mmm, I could've." Black Hat picked a blueprint up off the stack. "But I didn't."
"Y-You didn't?"
"Of course not."
Black Hat looked past the paper over to Flug, fixing him with a smile. "A gentleman never kisses and tells."
Flug wasn't sure if Black Hat winked at him right then, or if he was just blinking. The timing was suspicious. As was his thin lipped grin. Flug chose to believe that it was just a blink and sipped his coffee.
"I like these." Black Hat declared, putting the paper back. "Especially the fifth one you came up with. There's just one thing, though."
"What's that?"
"It needs a camera."
"A camera?"
"Yes. Both for security purposes, and viewing pleasure."
"Uh, viewing pleasure, Black Hat?" He understood having a camera on the Hat-Bots for security reasons, since one of their functions would be as sentries, but what did Black Hat mean by-
"Yes. I enjoy the prospect of watching trespassers and heroes ripped apart by these Hat-Bots. The best possible angle I can imagine is from the perspective of what's actually doing the deed. So, it will need a camera. And a high definition one at that. It will need to capture in the most perfect clarity possible the exact moment of their demise."
"Oh." Flug said. "Ok then. Sure. You got it, boss." So, Black Hat liked to watch? Well, alright. Far be it from Flug to deny him his viewing pleasure.
"Just imagine how we could market that!" Black Hat exclaimed. "For people who lack the strength to rend their enemies with their bare hands, the Hat-Bot! All the strength, none of the compromising ego, and all the best angles to watch the light leave their eyes again and again and again! It will deal with foes swiftly and without hesitation! A perfect machine of malvagità !"
"You're getting kind of loud, Black Hat." Flug said.
"Oh, uh, sorry." Black Hat dialed down his voice of just above a whisper and fiddled with the brim of his hat. "Sorry about that." He actually did look a little embarrassed by his little outburst. "Guess I got a bit carried away at the thought of actually having one of these."
"It's ok." Flug said, trying to comfort him. It was odd, to try and be reassuring to someone else for a change. More so because there was the table between them. Had they been closer, next to each other for example, perhaps Flug would feel a bit better about reaching out. Doing something small like...I don't know, holding his hand or something. "We'll have a whole military force of Hat-Bots. I'll make different versions and they'll have little battalions that specialize in attack formations and weaponry."
"That sounds great, Flug." Black Hat said with a small smile. "I'm looking forward to it."
Flug smiled back. You know, this really wasn't all that hard. Maybe he really could do this. It wasn't like Black Hat wasn't enjoyable company, and Flug was getting nicely settled into their little routine. So, maybe it wouldn't be so bad, pretending to be dating him.
And that's what he thought for a day or two until he caught Black Hat stealing glances at his defaced neck when he thought he wasn't looking. And smiling broadly. Which only served to remind Flug that he was indeed showing off Black Hat's handiwork. Which made him think of how he'd touched him this past weekend. How his hands had felt on his body. The taste of his tongue in his mouth. The sight of his shirtless form before him and on top of him. In bed.
And how Demetra remarked that it looked as if more had been done than just making out.
There was no way in hell he was going to be able to go through with this.
Translations:
malvagità = evil (Italian)
Notes:
I actually meant to upload this a day or two ago. Sorry, life happens.
And, I think I'll be taking one-shot requests. Leave me a review here giving my a prompt, or leave one on my tumblr at: As a little way that I can say thanks to everyone who's kept reading this for nearly a year now. Any one-shots I do at request will probably go up in December or early January
