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Herbert swirled the bright pink liquid in its beaker. He assessed it skeptically. This was not the color of the reagent. He puzzled over his notes. Everything had been mixed and measured perfectly. He had checked and rechecked. He wrote down his measurements at every stage, his notes were meticulous. This must be the reagent, but why was it pink? He reviewed his notes again and, finding no errors, he reasoned that the reagent must have reacted differently with the novel suspension to form the rose pink hue that he was observing in the beaker.
This batch was experimental. It was in a new suspension designed to be taken under the tongue instead of injected. The bruising along his arms had become extensive and was beginning to attract attention. In spite of the regenerative properties of the reagent, his veins weren’t holding up to the task of regular injections, so a new method of administration was necessary in order to continue his habit. That’s when he had come up with the sublingual suspension.
Finding no reason not to continue with the experiment, Herbert transferred the liquid into a small plastic bottle fitted with a dropper. He gently mixed it again in its new bottle before pulling up the liquid into the dropper. Lifting his tongue up and out of his mouth, he applied three drops of the liquid under his tongue. It pooled around his mucous membranes and was sweet enough to make his mouth water. That was unexpected, he had assumed the reagent would be bitter. He made a few notes in his notebook then checked his watch. Five minutes passed, then ten, then fifteen; the injectable version of the reagent worked within seconds. He knew that absorption through the mucous membranes would take more time but he had expected to feel something at this point. He made a few more notes, disappointed, and began to clean up the lab, setting aside the new suspension. This new formulation had failed, but he was tired and didn’t have the energy to work through why it had failed at this very moment.
While washing out the beakers Herbert noticed that he was beginning to sweat. He became acutely aware of the sensation of his shirt rubbing against his skin. He was itchy all over. His skin crawled. Everything felt too tight, he needed to peel out of his flesh. He loosened his tie and tried to take some deep breaths. The sensation of his chest expanding and contracting against the soft fabric of his shirt pulled goose bumps up from his skin. He hissed and released a shuddering breath.
Focus wasn’t an option. The almost painful tightness in the front of his pants prevented him from being able to think clearly. Sweat dripped from the tip of his nose onto his notebook, making him curse. Seeing no better alternative, Herbert finally decided that the best option was to relieve himself of the distraction. He gasped when he fished his cock out of the front of his pants. With only efficiency in mind, Herbert brought himself quickly to orgasm. Leaning heavily against the metal table, he came into a clean cloth that he would normally use for wiping off beakers. His legs still trembled slightly as he tucked himself back into his trousers, making sure his shirt was neatly tucked as well, and tossed the cloth into a laundry basket.
No harm done, he thought to himself, and now I can get back to work. Herbert finished cleaning and storing the beakers, spatulas, and burettes. He carefully shelved all his scales and burners. When he returned to his notebooks he realized he was beginning to sweat again. He dabbed at his forehead to keep his sweat from dripping onto his notes but that didn’t stop his erection from pressing at the front of his pants again.
“Something’s not right.” He murmured.
The bright pink solution that he had created earlier twinkled back at him benignly. Oh no. He dug through his notes and compared them with the reagent recipe. Everything had been exact. How did this happen? He pulled all the chemicals down to check them as well and almost immediately discovered the problem. One of the powdered chemicals had been mislabeled. The jar had an appropriate label, but the wrong lid had been put on top. He had mixed in the entirely wrong ingredient. Oh no.
This wasn’t good. He tried to consider the fact that he had inadvertently poisoned himself with a completely unknown compound, but couldn’t get his thoughts around the problem. Every time he shifted or moved he felt the fabric of his clothes move against his skin, the sensation was deeply arousing, and made his already hard cock ache. I need a cold shower, he thought.
Upstairs he realized that his sense of smell had also been heightened to a high degree. He felt like he could smell even the dust on the shelves. It was overwhelming. He pushed into the bathroom and turned the shower on. He could smell the mildew growing under the bathtub and the dried urine on the edge of the toilet bowl. His stomach turned.
His sweaty clothes clung to him as he peeled them off his body. He gasped at the sensation of cool air against his aching cock. Just get in the shower. He forced himself forward. For a brief moment it felt like it was going to work. The cold shower was a shock to his system. It immediately cooled his too hot skin. It felt great. It felt really good. It felt really, really good. The cold water on his back felt like sharp needles. He imagined it was what nails might feel like scraping into his back.
“Mmmm.” He groaned, tilting his head back.
His hand drifted, almost of its own volition, to his cock and began stroking slowly. He imagined nails on his back again. Nails pressing deep into the flesh and peeling away the skin, revealing what was underneath. They would open him up, expose him, muscles, tendons, nerves—
“Aaaah!” He cried out as he came into his hand.
Now he was just shivering under the cold water. So much for that, he mused to himself. Getting out of the shower he was accosted by the overwhelming smell of the place once more, he gagged. As he hurriedly pulled his robe on, he smelt something more interesting. He sniffed the air, it was definitely familiar, and very enticing. He followed the smell to its source under the bathtub. He reached in and pulled out a pair of damp running shorts. Dan.
Herbert huffed, he had told Dan a hundred times to take his sweaty workout clothes out of the bathroom to be washed, but he always dumped them there during his shower. Obviously Dan had kicked this last article under the bathtub to keep Herbert from finding them after forgetting to gather his running shorts again.
They smelled incredible. Herbert took a deep breath, inhaling the scent. Dan’s sweat was repugnant, it was delicious. He couldn’t stop inhaling it. It wasn’t long before he was hard again. Dramatically decreased sexual refractory period, he thought distantly, taking note of the compound’s effects.
“Mmmm.” He shuddered.
His hand drifted to his cock again and he was startled to find himself achingly hard again. This time he didn’t bother trying to stop himself or reason himself away from the sensation. He came onto the bathroom floor with his nose buried in the crotch of Dan’s running shorts.
Herbert cleaned the floor before retreating to his bedroom. He took the shorts with him. He couldn’t explain why, he just found their smell to be particularly tantalizing in a way that he couldn’t bear to part with. If Dan wanted to keep them then he shouldn’t have left them on the floor, he reasoned.
Herbert settled himself at his desk and began jotting down notes. He documented everything he experienced from the new compound. Increased arousal, hypersensitivity to smell and touch, decreased sexual refractory period, sweating, abnormal sensation…. This was what Herbert was good at, this was always what he took comfort in. He could calculate, he could observe, he could document, analyze, compartmentalize, and classify. It made him a great scientist, but it was also his safeguard against the world. Anything could be assessed and analyzed, anything. It was all just numbers. The feelings didn’t matter, his feelings least of all. Only the numbers mattered. At least he could make sense of that, feelings never made much sense to him.
He groaned as his groin began to ache again. It briefly occurred to him that this might be a real problem, but smell distracted him again. Dan’s running shorts had been tossed on the bed. The smell seemed so strong that he couldn’t focus on anything else. He lowered himself to the floor, not trusting his quivering legs, and crawled across the room to the bed.
Herbert sat on the floor, back against his bed as he huffed Dan’s sweaty running shorts. There was some part of him that realized that this really wasn’t helping his condition, but he couldn’t bring himself to stop. They smelt so good. Smell wasn’t enough, he needed to taste. His tongue made contact with the fabric experimentally. It was delicious. He moaned as he pushed more and more of the fabric into his mouth.
He soon had almost the entirety of Dan’s shorts stuffed into his mouth, he was gagging on them, and it still didn’t feel like enough. One hand gripped the sheets over his shoulder, the other grasped his sore cock firmly. His eyes rolled back as he began to pull himself to another orgasm. It was painful, but he couldn’t stop himself. As sore and painful as he was, the ache and desperation for release was far worse. His breath became rapid, he whimpered and moaned against the shorts in his mouth. They dampened but didn’t eliminate the sound. His whole body shook when he came again, he cried out against his self-made gag.
He whimpered, legs trembling as he glanced up. Herbert froze. Dan stood in the doorway, staring with wide eyes, jaw dropped nearly to his chest. Herbert opened his mouth, letting the shorts tumble out from between his teeth. Dan made a startled expression, he wasn’t able to identify what was in Herbert’s mouth before but now he could.
“This…this isn’t what it looks like.” Herbert squeaked, trying to get his voice back while trying to pull himself into standing.
Dan made a non-committal sound of shock.
“It’s just…I…” Herbert was embarrassed, he became defensive, “I had the door closed for a reason! I was under the impression that this was a private room, Daniel.”
Dan pointed, dumbfounded, at the shorts on the floor.
“Those are mine.” He finally said.
“They were on the bathroom floor, again!” Herbert protested, but Dan was still in shock.
“Daniel, are you listening to me?” He hissed.
“Put those back in your mouth.” Dan demanded.
Herbert took a step back. “What?”
Dan stepped into the room and closed the door behind him, he pointed at the offending shorts.
“Put them back your mouth.” He said again. “Now.”
Herbert tried to move back but tripped and fell onto his bed. He wanted to protest against Dan’s domination, but he also desperately wanted whatever Dan had in mind. He didn’t resist when Dan picked up the shorts and presented them to his mouth. Dan watched in fascination as he was able to push more and more of the fabric into Herbert’s willing mouth.
Dan’s eyes were still wide with fascination when he slid down Herbert’s body and took his, once again, hard cock into his mouth. It made Herbert feel a little better, to know that he was being observed, perhaps even experimented on. That didn’t feel so bad. This is all just an experiment, he told himself, nothing more, nothing less. He tried to let the thought comfort him when he flushed with embarrassment at the pathetic sounds he was making. He didn’t like being so exposed to his roommate. Dan is just a fellow experimenter, he thought. It occurred to Herbert that Dan had no idea that he was under the influence of a mystery compound. It’s a single blinded study, he reasoned.
That was as far as his thinking got with Dan’s mouth around his cock. When he got close he tried to deepen his breath and relax to prevent what he knew would be another painful orgasm, but he gagged on the shorts. The abdominal contraction of his gag triggered him to come. His eyes rolled back, his back went rigid as it arched up off the bed. He felt Dan’s hand brace the small of his back to support him. When Herbert’s eyes fluttered open Dan was grinning at him and wiping his mouth.
Herbert sat up abruptly and pulled Dan’s shorts out of his mouth. They were less appealing now that they were covered in his drool. Already he wanted more. Already he ached, but he knew fucking his hand wasn’t going to be enough. He turned to look at Dan gravely.
Dan frowned. “Herbert? Are you okay?”
“Don’t call me Herbert.” He said with a shake of his head.
He grabbed the front of Dan’s tee shirt and pulled him close. His expression was serious.
“Daniel, I need you to fuck me.”
Herbert was never one to mince words, but this shocked even Dan. He blinked back at his roommate before giving a single, curt nod.
“Alright.” Dan said.
“Alright.” Herbert said.
Herbert stood and walked out into the hall, towards Dan’s bedroom. Dan followed after him, still in a haze of confusion.
“Where are you going?” Dan asked.
Herbert turned, his expression suggested that he thought Dan’s question was deeply stupid.
“To your bedroom.” He said simply.
“Why?” Dan asked.
“Do you have lube?”
“Yes?”
“Okay. I don’t.” Herbert said.
“Oh.”
Dan followed after him dumbly. He realized that he had just assumed that Herbert would have lube, but Herbert never had people over, and definitely not women, or men that he thought Herbert might be interested in fucking. Dan then realized that he wasn’t sure what kind of a person Herbert might be interested in fucking. Of course, Dan didn’t think that Herbert was really interested in fucking anyone until right this very moment.
“Dan?” Herbert’s voice from down the hall broke into Dan’s thoughts.
He followed after Herbert and closed the door behind him. Herbert watched him expectantly.
“Right now?” Dan asked, dumbfounded.
“Yes, right now.” Herbert snapped.
“Oh. Alright.” Dan nodded and fished the lube out of the drawers in his desk since he had no nightstand to speak of. It took him a moment to pull himself together.
“Okay, lay down.” He directed, gesturing to the bed.
He knew immediately that he had made a mistake. Herbert hated being told what to do, he was going to fight him now. True to form, Herbert looked stiff as a board standing upright when he turned around.
“I’m not going to fuck you standing up. That’s not going to happen.” Dan said.
“Well,” Herbert huffed, “I don’t want you flopped on top of me.”
Dan sighed heavily, there was no way around this, he had made the critical mistake of giving Herbert a direct command. There was no winning from here. He wasn’t sure why Herbert had been so compliant before, perhaps the shock of being found out, but the mood was gone now. He would have to entice Herbert to do what he asked. A lot of drama for someone who is demanding that I fuck them, he thought. Dan crawled onto the bed and laid back, one hand behind his head and the other loosely stroking his cock. Herbert chewed his lip. The display was tantalizing.
Herbert slowly climbed on top of Dan. Dan only smiled up at him benignly, as if Herbert wasn’t exposing every embarrassing part of himself right now. It made Herbert sick. He moved to pull away, having second thoughts, but Dan was faster. He wrapped his legs around Herbert’s waist and rolled, flipping Herbert onto his back.
“Don’t!” Herbert protested, his hands flew up to try to defend himself, but Dan wasn’t done.
He grasped onto Herbert’s hips and flipped him onto his chest. He pinned Herbert’s flailing hands behind his back, holding the smaller man down against the mattress. Herbert struggled and writhed beneath him.
“Daniel!” He hissed.
“Just relax, West. Trust me, this is the best position.”
Herbert pulled at his wrists uselessly, he was at Dan’s mercy now. Dan leaned down against Herbert’s ear.
“Are you going to be good?” He purred.
Herbert moaned and shivered. Dan thought that was good enough and released his wrists. Herbert grasped onto the sheets over his head while Dan coated his fingers with lube. Dan cautiously pressed one finger against the firm ring of muscle at Herbert’s ass. Slowly, he pressed inside, taking his time to gently stretch the muscle.
“God, Herbert, why are you such a tight ass?” Dan smiled at his own joke.
Herbert didn’t think it was as funny.
“D…don’t call me Her…Herbert.” He whimpered. “M…more. Please.”
“You asked for it.” Dan murmured as he pressed a second finger into Herbert’s ass, stretching the tight ring of tissue a little further.
Herbert cried out. He panted, every breath was a little moan. He was loud. Dan was intrigued. He pressed a third finger against his hole and was surprised when Herbert’s hips rolled back to fuck himself on his fingers.
“Easy.” Dan purred.
Dan slid his fingers out of Herbert, making the smaller man cry out in frustration and writhe underneath him.
“You’re so impatient.” Dan huffed as he slowly pressed his cock into him.
Herbert moaned loudly before burying his face in the mattress. Dan grinned, this was good. He bent to press his mouth against Herbert’s ear as he began to thrust.
“Good. Good boy.” He sighed.
Herbert grunted. “I…I’m n…not a boy.” He panted out.
Dan rolled his eyes. Of course Herbert would object to the term.
“Just relax. You’re doing a great job, West.”
Herbert trembled beneath him and moaned. Gotcha, Dan thought. He felt he was one step closer to figuring out what made Herbert West tick. It had always been a mystery to him. Herbert was so good at manipulating him, he seemed to know every string to pull and when, but Dan had almost no recourse. He felt he knew nothing of Herbert’s inner workings and he was determined to unwind him.
“Good. You’re doing such a good job.”
Herbert moaned loudly and pressed back against Dan as he continued to fuck him.
“That’s it.” Dan encouraged. “Good. Oh god, West, you’re perfect.”
The high pitched whine that Herbert made let Dan know that he was getting somewhere with this. Dan had always assumed that domination was the key to Herbert’s heart, but now he suspected that a much softer approach might be needed. Apparently, praise was what could make Herbert come undone. He would keep that in mind for later.
“Are you going to be good?” Dan asked again.
Herbert whimpered.
“Just relax.” Dan said into his neck. “I’ve got you. I’m going to take good care of you.”
Herbert nodded and let Dan press him down into the mattress.
“That’s it.” Dan encouraged again. “That’s good. Good job. Just let me take care of you.”
Herbert moaned. Dan continued to thrust into his roommate. Herbert was tight and it didn’t take Dan long to get to the edge of orgasm. He licked at Herbert’s ear.
“God, you’re so good. You’re gonna make me come.”
Herbert suddenly spasmed against him and screamed as he came. Dan grinned, thrusting in against Herbert’s orgasm with more force. Herbert moaned and trembled underneath him.
“D…Daaaan.” He whimpered.
“Ah, fuck.” Dan hissed as he came.
Dan unceremoniously collapsed onto the bed beside Herbert. He sighed and stretched and rolled onto his chest. Herbert was already off the bed.
“Where are you going?” Dan mumbled into the sheets.
Herbert climbed up onto the bed next to him, then straddled him. He licked a line of sweat off Dan’s back. It tasted incredible. He groaned as his cock slowly began to harden again.
“It’s time for me to fuck you now.” He said against Dan’s skin.
Dan huffed a laugh. “Herb, you can’t possibly be hard enough again to—ah!”
Dan moaned and rolled his hips back as Herbert pushed into him.
“Ah fuck, okay…I was wrong.”
“Don’t call me Herb.” Herbert hissed from behind him as he nipped at the skin between Dan’s shoulders.
Dan only nodded as he panted. Herbert’s thrusting got faster and harder.
“Ow! Fuck. West! Easy! Easy!” Dan hissed at him.
“S…s…sorry.” Herbert panted.
Dan frowned, Herbert didn’t sound right. His voice was tight and frantic, like he was holding back tears. He could barely catch his breath. Dan was getting concerned.
“West?”
Herbert didn’t respond, he continued aggressively thrusting for a another minute then moaned against the skin of Dan’s back as he came again. Dan could feel him shaking above him. Herbert bent to lick at the sweat along Dan’s back. He was panting so hard that Dan was concerned that he was going to pass out. Dan rolled over and look up at Herbert. He looked bad. He was barely keeping himself up on hands and knees, his body trembled. He was breathing in rapid wheezes, every breath seeming to take enormous effort. He looked like he couldn’t breathe.
“Hey, easy.” Dan lowered him onto the bed to rest.
Herbert continued to tremble and pant on the bed. Dan grasped his wrist and took a pulse.
“Jesus, Hebert!” Dan was alarmed as he noted Herbert’s dangerously high heart rate. “You need to relax. Just take a deep breath.”
Dan moved to support Herbert’s neck. Herbert moaned and arched up into his touch.
“M…more.” He moaned quietly.
“West, I don’t think you can take any more.”
Herbert whimpered. “Please!” He begged quietly. “More.”
With Herbert writhing beneath him, Dan noticed that his roommate was hard again. That’s not physically possible, not normally anyway, he thought to himself.
“West, are you on drugs?”
Herbert shook his head. “N…no. Noooooo.”
He moved straddle Dan’s thigh and started to hump his leg.
“More.” He whimpered quietly.
Dan caught his jaw to force him to look him in the eyes. Herbert’s eyes were huge, his pupils were so large that Dan couldn’t see the colored irises. He’s definitely on drugs, Dan concluded. He stood up off the bed. Hebert sat up abruptly, barely able to support himself on his shaking arms.
“W…where are you going?” He panted, his voice was worried.
“I’m just going to get you something to drink, you’re dripping sweat.”
“I’ll come with you.” Herbert tried to make a move for the edge of the bed, but Dan held him down.
“Just stay here. Relax, I’ll come back for you.”
“But…”
“Just stay here.” Dan pressed a thumb into Herbert’s mouth, which they eagerly accepted. “I’ll give you what you want when I get back.”
Herbert nodded and seemed sated for the moment, so Dan pulled away and retreated to the kitchen. There was definitely something wrong with Herbert. Herbert had never acted this way before, and while Dan was deeply intrigued he was also more than a little concerned that Herbert would just let him fuck him until his heart exploded. What the hell has gotten into you, Herbie?
Dan started a kettle of water to make tea then rushed into the bathroom, formulating a plan. He turned the faucet on full blast so hopefully Herbert wouldn’t hear him shaking some tablets out of a prescription medication bottle. They were Meg’s sleeping pills. She had given a few to him to try out when he couldn’t sleep. He grabbed a couple of them for Herbert, and with his pills collected he skirted back into the kitchen. He used a spoon to crush them into fine powder that he dissolved into the hot water with some chamomile tea.
“Dan?”
Dan jumped at Herbert’s voice behind him. Shit! If Herbert had just witnessed him spiking his tea, his plan was over.
“Hey. I have this for you.” Dan said.
He stirred the drugged tea before handing it off to Herbert. Herbert stared at it suspiciously.
“What is this?” He demanded.
“It’s just chamomile.”
“You made me tea?” Herbert lifted an eyebrow, he was suspicious.
“I did. Your heart rate is astronomical right now West, I was hoping it might calm you down a little.”
Hebert set the mug aside and pressed in against Dan’s chest.
“I’m feeling much better now.” He insisted.
Herbert’s eyes were still huge. He was the picture of desperation. While Dan always wanted to make Herbert beg he was also convinced that Hebert was under the influence of something.
“Tea first.” Dan insisted, pressing the mug back into Herbert’s hands.
“But—”
“If you drink it all, I’ll blow you.” Dan interjected.
This peaked Herbert’s interest immediately. Herbert was impossible to negotiate with, the only way to get him to do anything was to give him something that he really wanted, and right now, inexplicably, what Herbert really wanted was sex. He gave the tea one last skeptical look but, being unable to resist the offer, he drank it. Dan watched him and tilted the mug back into his mouth when he attempted to only take a few sips.
“No.” Dan insisted. “All of it. You need to stay hydrated.”
Herbert drank the rest of the tea then looked to Dan expectantly.
“I’ll meet you in the bedroom.” Dan said.
Herbert frowned.
“Don’t pout at me.” Dan teased. “I’ll meet you in there.”
“Fine.” Herbert left the kitchen and disappeared into Dan’s bedroom.
Dan sighed in relief. So far so good, he thought. He waited in the kitchen for a few minutes to let the drugs start to take effect. Herbert was still awake when Dan found him in the bedroom. He was leaned against his desk, trying to stay upright. Oh no, Dan thought.
“What did you do to me?” Herbert hissed at him.
“It’s a mild sedative.” Dan explained. “You’ll be okay.”
“Why?” Herbert screeched as he stumbled towards the door.
Dan caught him around the waist and tilted his jaw up to look at him.
“Something is very wrong with you West. I couldn’t get you to calm down and your heart rate was—”
“You snake!” Herbert hissed, still trying to push past him to get out the door.
Dan sighed. He wrapped his arms around Herbert’s waist and carried him over to the bed. Herbert screamed and kicked.
“Put me down!”
“Just relax, West.”
He held Herbert down on the mattress, he could tell by Herbert’s drooping eyelids and weakening resistance that his roommate wouldn’t be conscious for long.
“Just let it take you, West.”
“No! Let go of me, you filthy…!” Herbert thrashed in Dan’s grip.
“Stop struggling. You’re just making it worse!”
“No…no…nnnnn…”
“That’s it. Good. Just let it take you down.”
Herbert groaned but his body stilled. Dan laid there frozen for a moment before he heard Herbert begin to gently snore. Finally, he sighed, god, what did you do to yourself Herbie?
…
When Herbert woke he was laying out on the table in the basement lab. His head was propped up on a pillow and a thick blanket covered his aching body. He was sore, and groaned as he tried to sit up. He was frustrated to find that he had been bound by the restraints at his wrists and ankles. When he couldn’t easily break free he became angry.
“Daniel!” He yelled, but his voice was hoarse. “Daniel get down here and let me go!”
He struggled against the restraints for a while before drawing a breath.
“Daniel! Get—”
“I’m right here, West.”
The voice came from slightly behind him and he craned his neck to try to find Dan.
“Daniel.” He hissed. “Let me go or so help me—”
“I have some questions for you first.”
Dan came to stop next to him on the table and crossed his arms.
“Dan—”
“How are you feeling?” Dan cut in again. “Feeling particularly…amorous?”
Herbert ground his teeth. “I’m feeling particularly enraged.” He snapped.
“Okay, I’ll take it. What’s this?” Dan lifted up the pink compound in its dropper bottle.
Herbert paled. “I don’t know.” He said simply.
Dan gave a skeptical hum before lifting up Herbert’s notebook. “Really? Because this says, and I quote, ‘the mystery compound increases the sensitivity to smell and sensation, leading to intense arousal. It also dramatically reduces the sexual refractory period. Therefore it seems to function as a kind of aphrodisiac.’ Does that sound familiar Herbert? Because these are your notes.”
Herbert rolled his eyes. “Don’t call me—”
“Don’t lie to me West! How much of this did you take?”
“I—”
“How much?” Dan demanded.
“Fine.” Herbert huffed. “Three drops under the tongue. I didn’t know what it was when I took it! It was created by…mistake.”
He mumbled the last word, embarrassed by his own failure. Dan didn’t seem to notice.
“Three drops? This is…very potent West.”
“Will you let me up now?”
Dan sighed. “Sure.”
He unfastened the restraints and handed Herbert a robe to pull on.
“Thank you.” Herbert said quietly.
“Are you alright?”
“I’m fine. I think we can both agree that this was a very embarrassing incident, and while we have gathered good data it—”
“I’m not embarrassed.” Dan said simply.
“Um…” Herbert wasn’t sure what to say now.
“I’m not embarrassed.” Dan repeated. “In fact, I’d do it again. No industrial grade aphrodisiac required.”
Herbert stared at him.
“And if I recall correctly,” Dan grinned as he leaned over Herbert, “I think I offered to blow you.”
Herbert was darkly flushed. “I um…well I wouldn’t expect…I just…”
“Well, whenever you’re interested in experimenting without the compound, you let me know.” Dan smiled warmly.
His sincerity was almost more than Herbert could take. He looked away, embarrassed.
“We should dispose of that.” Herbert said simply.
“Not a chance.” Dan grinned. “I’m keeping it, to remind you about the dangers of self experimentation.”
Herbert snorted. “Just be thankful I didn’t test it on you first.”
Dan lifted an eyebrow. “That could’ve been interesting.”
“Interesting, indeed.” Herbert mumbled, trying not to think about it too much, no matter how pleasant the idea. “Interesting, indeed.”