Chapter Text
“What on earth is a ‘hoo-had’?” Angelique muttered under her breath.
Phillip looked over to see what she was talking about. On the box she just sat on the table was ‘beakers, leakers, and hoo-hads, along with other miscellaneous do-dads’ written in Howard’s unmistakable handwriting.
“How am I supposed to know?” he responded.
“You’re his best friend, surely you’re used to him using all these nonsense words.”
“I’m used to him using them, sure. I still don’t understand half of them.”
Angelique sighed and opened the box to see what was inside. She rummaged around for a few moments, glass clinking together softly before she gasped.
“What is this?”
From inside she pulled out a strange construction of twisting looping wire that looked familiar. It took a few moments for Phillip to recognize what it was.
“That’s Howard’s retort stand.”
“His retort stand? I couldn’t even recognize it from how badly it’s damaged.”
“It’s supposed to look like that.”
Angelique sputtered, looking at Phillip as if he was insane. “You’re kidding. How would you even use this?”
Phillip shrugged. “Howard just does.”
She frowned at him then turned around to look at Howard who was currently sitting at another table on his own.
“Howard, where did you get this stand?”
Howard looked up from where he was busy sorting flasks into groups. He squinted at the stand she was holding up then smiled.
“Why that old thing I made by myself. I think it looks much better up on my shelf.”
Angelique pursed her lips together but said nothing else as she began to remove the rest of the box’s contents. Howard looked at Phillip, his expression a little lost. While Angelique was mostly a good sport about Howard’s eccentricities, certain things got under her skin.
“It’s fine, Howard,” Phillip said, having no clue if that was actually true.
“If you insist, but I fear there is something I may have missed.”
Howard glanced briefly at Angelique then returned to his sorting.
“As long as I don’t have to use it, he can use whatever wacky equipment he wants,” Angelique muttered.
“He won’t force you to.”
“I’ll take your word on that.”
Angelique shoved Phillip towards the door. “Get back to bringing in boxes before something gets stolen.”
“I don’t think anybody would try to steal anything with Nessie around.”
“Well then get out there before we get charged for murder because someone tried to steal something.”
Phillip rolled his eyes but headed outside anyways. Nessie was still lying out there, most of the boxes hidden in her shadow. She craned her neck towards Phillip as he approached.
“Just me, Nessie. They’ve got me moving more of the boxes today.”
She sniffed at Phillip’s hair then gave him a small lick of approval. He tried not to gag at the sensation.
“Thank you, Nessie,” Phillip choked out.
He looked at the boxes beside her. There weren’t many left that actually had things in them. Between him and Angelique they only had so much savings to put into getting brand new lab equipment, and Howard insisted on using his to buy furniture for their new rooms. Outside of equipment, only Howard really had possessions to move from their shared apartment to the lab.
Angelique and Phillip had been sent their things from inside their rooms shortly after the police raid on Morose’s island, but that was a rather limited amount. Phillip had never gotten his journal back. It was probably taken in as evidence of some kind, and he wasn’t exactly sad to see it go. Howard had saved the important parts anyways.
Phillip picked up a box at random, not bothering to see what the label on the side said. When he went back inside, Angelique was examining another piece of lab equipment. She turned to look at him and held it up excitedly.
“This is the best striker I’ve ever seen!”
She tried it out a few times, sparks eagerly flying away with every sharp click. It was modified with strange loops and dips in the exact same way the retort stand was, but it was clear to see how that made using it easier than its normal counterpart.
“I might just have to steal it from him.”
Phillip frowned. “I wouldn’t do that.”
“I was joking.” Angelique set down the striker but paused when she noticed Phillip’s expression hadn’t changed. “Is this one of those…” She trailed off, making a strange motion with her hand.
“Yeah, it is.”
“Is it all of his lab equipment?”
“The things he modified. He makes spots for them and freaks out whenever they get moved by anyone but him.”
Angelique pursed her lips together. “I see.”
She set Howard’s equipment off to the side then took the new box from Phillip, tilting it to see what was written on it.
“These are all my things. I’ll go put them in my bedroom real quick.”
She took the box and headed out of the room they were working in, leaving Howard and Phillip alone.
“Howie, where do you want your equipment?”
Howard didn’t even bother to look up from where he was working.
“You can leave them there for now, I am too busy sorting flasks and beakers anyhow.”
“I have another box for you to sort.”
That got Howard to look over with excitement.
“Oh Phillip, you shouldn’t have! Place it there so it’s easy for me to grab.”
He pointed at an empty spot on the table and Phillip dutifully placed it there. In scattered groups across the table were various flasks and beakers, arranged by type and then by volume. It was almost the entire lab’s worth of them and Phillip probably would have called it quits after the seventh box, but Howard had gleefully unpacked and sorted nearly two dozen by now.
He finished the box in his lap and handed it off to Phillip. Instead of starting on the next one he began to pick at his sleeve.
“Phillip… I have a fear that Angelique… well, she doesn’t like the fact that I am rather unique.”
“It’s not like that, Howie. She’s just not used to your eccentricities yet.”
Howard shook his head, voice lowering. “When we first met you know, she made a point to tell me she realized I was not slow. That she recognized there were brains in my head, that was along the lines of what she said.”
Phillip placed a hand on Howard’s shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. “She knows better now, that’s why she hired you.”
“She hired you too.”
“Are you calling me slow?”
A coy smile appeared on Howard’s face. “No, but it would be quite funny if I did though.”
Phillip shoved Howard’s shoulder and he laughed, grabbing the box Phillip had brought him and carefully balancing it on his lap.
“Now go ahead and shoo, we both have lots of work to do.”
He made a hand waving gesture at Phillip, eagerly opening the box to return to his sorting. When he turned around, Angelique was standing in the doorway and he jumped in surprise. Her brows were crumpled in concern.
“Is something wrong?” She asked when Phillip crossed the room to stand beside her.
“No, just Howard worrying about the usual things.”
She made a face like she didn’t believe him. “If you insist.”
Neither of them spoke for a moment.
“Can you finish bringing in all of the boxes?”
Phillip glared at her.
“Why do I have to bring them all in?”
“Because one of my arms is practically jelly and Howard is in a wheelchair. That leaves you.”
“I know for a fact you can carry things just fine.”
Angelique puffed out her cheeks. “Can you just go do it?”
Phillip sighed loudly. There was no way he was winning the argument and so he went to carry in the rest of the boxes.