Page 60 of Natural-Born Cullers

“You need cooking as well as driving lessons,” said Jan as he tossed the bacon in the bin now Gray had found a home for the pan in the sink. “Or just basic bloody safety ones when you’re in the kitchen. You know, for when you’re caught out with your hand in the hot cookie tray.”

Martin straightened and eyed Jan up. “You telling me Jack bakes fucking cookies?”

Jan tried so hard not to laugh. “His skill with iced dildos is more… refined.”

Martin pulled a face. “I find you behind me goingGhostas you and Jack handle one of those, I’m ramming it down your throat, we perfectly clear?”

“Not usually Jack’s objective with them,” said Jan, really trying not to laugh now, “but note to me: only get Jack to make small, iced dildos in future, fun size.” He measured one ice-cube between thumb and finger. “For whiskey glasses, like. And you’ve watchedGhost? You got a secret romantic side buried there, Mart?”

Martin flipped him the bird as he grabbed a cloth for the floor. “Fright-night TV. Nothin’ scarier than soppy shit. I was rooting for Michael Myers to get the bird in the end.”

“And that would be what’s known as shipping nowadays.”

“You looking to die, Jan.”

Jan buried another laugh, then to Gray—“Everything okay?”

“Give breakfast an hour, okay, Mart?” said Gray as he pushed a chair back in at the kitchen table and shook his head at Jan. “Then bring it over to the summerhouse.”

“Getting really tired of this service shit, Gray.” Martin slammed the cupboard door shut and didn’t look over. “Especially considering I don’t know how to fucking cook…like.”

Jan threw a look over to Gray before going over to take the cloth from Martin. A touch went to Martin’s abs, and as Martin scowled down at the contact, a whisper went to his ear off Jan. A look came Gray’s way a moment later, then—

“Fine. Burned fucking cornflakes in an hour it is.”

Jan winked Gray’s way, and Gray offered a nod as he carried on through to the hall. Rubbing at his head, he made his way up to the second floor.

Under Professor Baseman’s input as an ex-tutor at Oxford’s Department of Chemistry when it came to designing labs with teaching in mind, he’d had part of the east wing divided into three labs, each with a relaxed sitting area to allow Light time to study in comfort away from the lab setting when he needed to do paperwork. Although as Gray passed one now, it remained as untouched as usual, other than Baseman’s coat. The design and architecture of the labs themselves had been most vital. Gray was used to working in labs with explosion officers who were already trained and didn’t need teaching the way Light did, which was where Baseman’s knowledge was vital over exactly what was needed toteacha student. Gray himself had purely focused on what was needed to keep Light’s head clear of potential… borrowing chemicals as he tried to find the fire escape.

As he entered the lab that Light worked in today, a traffic light system in the corridor met him that was tied to all three labs. Green gave the all clear to stay and play, meaning it was safe and no spillage had occurred. Amber warned a spillhadoccurred and needed looking into, and red? That basically meant hazmat suit and evacuation. They’d had a few ambers, but no red lights yet.

But trying to keep Jack legging it away from the labs with a hazmat suit for a kink session had been… interesting.

Today, green played the hall, and Gray made sure to linger around the entranceway to avoid donning lab coat, gloves, and goggles just in case.

Despite the usual creative chaos found in a lab, they always played with calm, and this one was no exception. Baseman had designed it in order to keep the aesthetics light, with more windows built in for a panoramic view outside to allow more natural light sources. Added to the visual nature of the space with linear lines in mind when it came to the long white lab surfaces, high orange lab chairs broke up the colour, along with splashes of the same-coloured décor at the windows.

Taking the whole manor into consideration, laboratory ventilation had been the most vital when it came to long-term exposure to hazardous substances, especially as some chemicals couldn’t be seen or caught by other scent association. So each lab like this had at least eight fume hoods, and each made sure the vapours from the chemicals didn’t get released into the rest of the manor and were disposed of properly outside of the labs.

Gray hadn’t cut on expense either with safety or equipment, and Baseman had used that to the full. For characterisation, analysis, and purification of chemicals, the labs had everything from high-performance liquid chromatography, gas chromatography, and spectrometers, even right down to the basics of electronic balances to measure the mass of substances, ring stands and clamps needed to clamp laboratory glassware, and wire gauze used to support containers over a Bunsen burner. That didn’t even touch the various safety stations with spill kits.

But the chemical storage area had been Gray’s focus and design, more so with Light in mind. The basic of a good chemical storage area always started with making sure there were two self-return doors with fire blankets stored close to each, so if therewasa spill one end, there was always another way out the other. They remained locked at all times, with masonry block construction used in the building for fire protection, and with tiled flooring coated with spill-resistant covering. A comm point to security stayed inside in case anyone got trapped or hurt, and chemical shelving kept the chemicals at a safe distance from one another. A sink had its place in there too, along with equipment to wash skin, eyes, and body for any irritant spilled on the skin. Acid was stored in wooden acid cabinets because they didn’t corrode like metal cabinets, but mostly, through all of that, CCTV stayed tied back to Ray and his team to make sure no chemicals… disappeared.

Not that Light had shown any inclination over the months to steal anything, and Gray knew why now. His heart slipped with how he really had just been here… for the food.

As his security guard eased away from reading the morning newspaper, making sure it found the lab table by him, Gray rested by the entranceway, not really paying attention.

White lab coat folded back at the cuffs, long hair tied back to show off the full dark brown to his eyes despite wearing protective goggles, Light stood with his arms folded, looking between some chemicals, his set of jaw making Gray frown.

“Come on, Light.” Lab coat hiding his suit, Baseman stayed back by the whiteboard and the equation written across it. “Figure it out.”

Gray shifted slightly, and Baseman glanced over and gave a small nod, but his attention stayed on Light. “Where’s your head today?” He went over to where the substances sat on the table. “Ferrofluid.” Baseman tapped a petri dish. “Usually when it goes near a magnet, it forms spikes, suggesting a solid state, yet it still remains fluid, or it should.” He picked up a magnet, but as he ran it under the petri dish, the solid states barely formed any spikes. “What have I done wrong in the process, and what do I need to do to stop it partially solidifying and forming only semi-solid spikes?”

Light’s jaw tensed, but his look seemed only half focused on the chemicals in front of him.

Baseman tipped his head a little. “Did you get any sleep last night? You look tired, stressed. Do you need a break, because being around chemicals when you’re far from at your best is—”

Light shot him a look, then he crouched as the petri dish rested back on the table. “You’ve shop-bought the magnetite that goes into it, not made it from scratch,” he said eventually. “Because you can’t one hundred percent trust shop-bought, the magnetite concentrate hasn’t stayed the same throughout the process, giving the ferrofluid this overall poor quality.”

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