"Toby, what do you wanna do?"

I sat up bolt right, slowly blinking as I gently shook my head. "I wanna help." I answered, resisting the urge to stretch and yawn. Fuck, science was boring.

Cody gave me a look, pushing away from his desk, so his swivel chair rolled backwards. He shook his head in response, "You fell asleep, Toby. C'mon, you wanna do something else. We can go do something else." He replied - he wasn't angry, he rarely did get angry with me. If anything he was holding a small smile.

"No, no! I wanna science. I love sciencing." I rambled, "And I was not asleep-" I continued, with a small glare - clearly being light hearted.

"Toby, I had a petri dish on top of your head for a whole five minutes. You didn't move." Cody replied, nonchalantly as he stood up and pushed his chair back into his desk.

"I didn't move because I didn't want to spill anything!" I fired back, beginning to stand up as well - grabbing the stool I'd sat fallen asleep on to return it back to the haunted storage room.

"Te amo, pero eres tan estúpido." Cody mumbled, shaking his head, "Don't forget to put that bear back, you don't know who it belonged to." He added, gently picking up the stuffed animal with care. He'd always believed in ghosts and demons, from what I remembered. I had been skeptical until I'd gotten here - I think. I faintly remember being on the fence about a lot of things; politics, religion, this. Cody had always known what he was aligned with - a left realist and he was a big believer in the supernatural. Though, he didn't believe in a god.

I furrowed my eyebrows, looking up to Cody, "Wait - wait, both times you've said 'te amo' you've called me an idiot or stupid afterwards." I pointed out, "So what does it mean? Some kind of insult?" I asked, taking the bear from him. I preferred holding the mouse. The bear's fur was matted, rough and flat - like it'd been covered in something. By the looks of faint staining, it was most likely that.

Cody shrugged, "It depends on your standpoint and relationship with the person, I guess." He answered, titling his head to the side as he began to open the lab's door.

"Well, what's the direct translation?" I asked, beginning to walk through the door - the stool in one hand, the stuffed animal in the other.

He shrugged, averting his gaze to the door, "Well, it means that you're a dumbass."

I felt my brow furrow, almost in a scowl-like fashion. "Why would you call me a dumbass and stupid in the same sentence?" I grumbled, "Maybe you're the dumbass!"

"If you weren't a dumbass, you'd know what te amo means." Cody retorted, shrugging as he reached behind him to close the door - quickly locking it with a smaller key, that he kept on a chain in his pocket. "Your accent could do with some work, too."

"It means dumbass, Cody, you literally just told me that!" I snapped (lightly), though I wasn't frustrated at him - moreso annoyed at the language barrier he was creating. "Du bist so nervig." I mumbled, quickly heading to the door leading to the room of clutter, carelessly tossing the stool into it. Though, I kept ahold of the bear.

Cody walked up to me, gently taking the bear out of my hands with a sigh, "It doesn't mean dumbass, but it implies that you are one." He corrected, gently taking the plush from me. "And I don't speak German." He teased - reusing my own words. He walked into the room, gently placing the bear onto a cabinet. Though, he did bend over and pick something else up.

He turned around to look back at me - passing over a brightly coloured box. Not the fucking wind up thing again. "There, play with this, instead." Cody suggested, pushing it towards me with a small shrug.

With reluctance I took it, grimacing. "I don't want it, it's got a stupid clown on it. Plus, it says Jack on it. Every Jack I know is a prick."

"So you'll play with a teddy bear covered in old blood, but you won't play with a jack-in-a-box?" Cody asked, clearly teasingly as he titled his head to the side.

I pulled a face of distaste. "That was dried blood?"

The man only scoffed, "The fact you didn't know that and you interact with blood more than I do says a lot, Toby."

I rolled my eyes, dropping the rainbow box on the floor - another squeak leaving it, this time it sounded more deflated. "Well, to answer your question, yes." I muttered, glaring at the box, nudging it with my foot.

"I just find it hilarious that you're afraid of clowns. I've seen you beat someone's skull in with a dull hatchet, but no, you draw the line with balloon animals and red noses." Cody rambled, with a small smirk.

I scoffed, "It's weird. Okay? I just don't fucking like them." I grumbled, before looking to him with a glare, "Well, that's also big talk coming from a guy afraid of rabbits."

Cody chuckled, beginning to walk passed me and down the stairs. "I'm not afraid of rabbits, Toby. What makes you think that I am?"

I followed behind, stuffing my hands into the pockets of the hoodie he gave me. "Well, you never test on them. It's always humans or mice." I huffed, "And you have to be afraid of something stupid. Chickens?"

Another laugh escaped from him as he shook his head, "No, no, I'm not afraid of chickens, either. And I don't test on rabbits because I like them. I think they're cute." He explained, glancing back to me with a shrug.

"That implies that you don't like humans."

Cody only paused, continuing to walk down the stairs, "Eh. Some are okay. We're slowly draining the very thing we walk on, though, as well as societies draining themselves. Everyone's hypocritical and closed minded, in their own way. Even I am. We carry disease, we spread disease - killing each other and the planet." He rambled, quietly.

Is that were his interest in viruses came from?

"What's your problem with mice?" I asked, tilting my head to the side.

The man seemed more comfortable with this question, shrugging. "Similar thing. Spread disease. Plus they're a nuisance to catch. One in your house and it's pregnant? You're fucked. That isn't your house anymore."

"So... You're afraid of mice?"

"No - Toby, I dislike mice."

"Then what are you afraid of?"

"Let's just grab your clothes from yesterday so we can get them dried at your cabin. Okay?"