clear as glass | KOTLC

Fitz and Dex ✧ 1

Fitz pauses, glancing at the array of vials and serums that lined the metal shelves of what he supposed was a storage room. Items and bottles of all sizes, shapes, and colors decorated the area, making it look like there was rainbow vomit coloring every corner of the room. It was quite cramped between the shelves, so Fitz supposes this was where they stocked and restocked their items in Slurps And Burps. In the front of the room was a simple, long white desk, cluttered with tools and mechanics. An unfinished gadget stood in the middle of all the messy springs and pieces.

"What's that?" he asks Dex, who was pulling vials off of shelves too high for him to reach. Dex turns from where he stood on his tip toes, his eyes landing on the metal animal.

"Oh, that? I've been wanting a gremlin, but my dad says it would create too much trouble here. So, I tried making one that could move around on its own, but also level down the damage it could cause," the strawberry-blonde boy says, looking quite prideful at the mention of his current invention. Fitz hums, observing the metal creature, which laid slumped on the desk, presumably powered off.

"How does it work?" the brunette blurts out before he could stop it, and not even moments after, he wonders why he happened to ask such a question, because he could never decipher any of Dex's Technopath ramblings anyways.

But Dex is giddy with poorly contained excitement, immediately shifting into a lengthy description of the gadget's many functions and controls, all which were out of Fitz's area of expertise. He listened on anyways to the mysterious and extensive words that flowed out of Dex's mouth, and he can't help but notice how thrilled Dex sounded whenever he talked about one of his gadgets or inventions. He looked joyful, prideful, even, at the chance of being recognized, and Fitz can't help the smile on his face when Dex comes over, pointing at different areas around the gadget to specify different functions.

"I suppose you can say it's similar to an electronic car, but it's a lot fancier, and the slight differences make a huge difference, y'know?" Dex says, and Fitz didn't really get what Dex was trying to say, but he listened anyway with a soft smile on his face. Something in him was always content with even the sight of Dex's smile. Perhaps it was the blonde's happiness radiating off of him. Or maybe it was the brightness and wideness of the rare, genuine grins that Dex had on his face.

The brunette smiled, and Dex continued to speak, the elixirs they were supposed to pick up forgotten. Fitz had asked for some elixirs to stock up on in his mini hospital room, AKA his bedroom. Ever since the Neverseen, he always felt safe when there were medicines and bandages and treatments he could use in a swipe whenever he needed it. Even after the Neverseen's delightful defeat, he still kept stock of his shelves. It had become a routine every month.

"Oh, right, I should get you those elixirs," Dex realized.

"It's fine. I like listening to you talk," Fitz says, and forgot to catch himself with the last part.

He hopes it didn't sound too sappy.

No, he hopes Dex hasn't picked up on his hopeless crush by now.

The periwinkle-eyed boy froze for a moment after he said that, before letting out a small squeak and retreating to the shelves of elixirs and vials.