#there was a video where they git tricked into kissing

[cheyj05]

They fucked in that igloo. Also the creators themselves have joked about it.

I'M NORMAL I'M NORMAL I'M NORMAL I'M NOR

[lunatens]

kidult

-

requested by anon <3 ty for requesting!!

prompt: “that was stupid.” “but also kinda cool, right?” “mmm no, just stupid.”

*part of my 2 years with luna event!

word count: 0.8k

genre: fluff

pairing: lee seokmin x reader

warnings: some slightly scraped wrists and knees from falling on pavement

learn to longboard together, they said. it’ll be fun, they said. well, it might have started off fun, but as you walk across the parking lot to your car for the first aid kit you have to disagree. you dig through your glove compartment for the small box, mumbling to yourself about how you should’ve just gone swimming or something instead. maybe then you wouldn’t need to be tending to the scrapes on your boyfriend’s wrists and knees right now. 

you jog back over to where seokmin sits on the grassy curb near where he wiped out. he flashes you a guilty smile as you approach him with a disapproving look. 

“show me your hands,” you demand as you squat down beside him, digging through the first aid kit for some bandages and something to sanitize his wounds with. you can’t help but think he looks like a little kid as he sits there with his arms stuck out towards you obediently.

“this is gonna sting a little,” you warn before you start cleaning his wounds as gently as possible. seokmin hisses dramatically, but is otherwise patient. 

“that was stupid,” you scold as you begin to apply bandages to his knees.

“but also kinda cool, right?” seokmin asks with a proud smile. 

“mmm no, just stupid.” you respond, looking up at him as you apply the last of the bandages. “where’s your board?” you ask, looking it around and not seeing it in the immediate vicinity. 

“just over there,” seokmin replies, pointing to the opposite side of the empty parking lot. 

“why am i not surprised,” you sigh before standing up to start walking. 

“y/nnnnnn~” you hear seokmin whine behind you. you turn to see him pouting and showing off his puppy dog eyes that you always insist have no effect on you (but really they’re your biggest weakness, and seokmin knows it). you raise your eyebrows at him in question and he gives you the biggest smile in the universe.

“you’re forgetting something,” he teases. you frown for a moment, thinking to yourself and going through all the steps; you’re pretty sure you did everything...?

“you gotta kiss it better!” seokmin finally tells you. you roll your eyes at his child-like behaviour, but you can’t hide the smile that blooms on your face.

“of course, how could i forget,” you say as you sit back down, delicately planting soft kisses on each of his injuries. “and one more for good luck,” you add before you lean forward to place a final kiss on his lips. he grins at you as you pull away, clearly satisfied. 

“let’s go get your board, then maybe we can go for some ice cream or something--it’s real hot out here,” you say as you stand up, offering your hands to help seokmin to his feet. he gladly takes your hands in his, and you pull him up, being cautious not to squeeze too hard on his bloodied palms. you keep one of his hands in yours, swinging them back and forth as you cross the parking lot.

“i’ll never understand why you thought you could pull off a trick like that so soon,” you comment.

“the girl on tiktok made it look easy!”

“that’s because she’s probably been longboarding for like, years.”

“i thought i had enough practice!”

“...seok, you first set foot on a longboard 20 minutes ago.”

“...okay i see your point.” 

“not to worry though, i got it all on video,” you say with a smirk, pulling your phone out of your pocket to show him as seokmin bends down to pick up his runaway board. you can barely contain your laughter as the two of you watch while seokmin glides along semi-smoothly before he attempts some fancy footwork and everything goes wrong. he loses his balance immediately and sends his board flying across the parking lot as he hits the pavement. 

“ah, i can’t wait to send this to the group chat,” you say, wiping a tear from your eye as your gits of giggles calm down.

“you wouldn’t dare,” seokmin replies, gasping dramatically and placing a hand over his heart feigning shock.

“oh come one, i know you love the attention,” you tease, leaning into his side.

“i don’t know what you’re talking about,” he says, but the cheeky smile on his face says it all. you take a moment to appreciate your boyfriend’s beauty, observing his rosy cheeks and glowing skin from spending time out in the hot afternoon sun. a gentle breeze tousles his hair lightly, and you don’t think you’ve ever seen a more beautiful person. 

you’re snapped out of your daze as you arrive back at your car, where the two of you toss your boards into the backseat. you slide into the driver’s seat, passing the first aid kit and the aux cord over to seokmin. as you pull out of the parking lot, music blasting and windows down, the two of you decide naturally you’ll come back tomorrow to try again with hopefully less injuries (no promises, though).

[btvcityarts]

Adjusting to Masks with Humor and the Arts

By Rebecca Schwarz, Art from the Heart Coordinator

This post is from Art from the Heart, a program of Burlington City Arts that is designed to help us feel connected, supported, and healthier through the arts. Blog posts will offer research backed creative responses to connect community to health, wellness, humor, and culture.

Using humor and movements helps to lighten us up and connect us with one another, which is why I feel the need to have a mask with a mustache on it, similar to my Russian immigrant grandfather’s handlebar mustache. 

Wearing masks when out and about is an adjustment. Playing with the idea of the mask with my silly mustache, I can smile and laugh more with the people around me. 

According to the Mayo Clinic, humor and human connection help us feel better. Laughter reduces stress, soothes tension, relieves pain, stimulates circulation, and improves immune systems. 

There is even a word for the study of laughter: gelotology, a word that almost sounds like a joke. Humor and human connections also create better conditions for learning in short- and long-term ways.

Comedy can help get to what is meaningful in fast and fun ways. Think of the court jester or trickster. Some fun might help us get through the adjustment to wearing masks.

Cloth masks (ideally made with soft thick fabrics like flannel, which lucky for us is a local favorite :), can give the feeling of being lost or hidden, unable to connect as easily with the people around us. We breathe, eat, talk, kiss, smile, frown, and express – all through the mouth. The place where our inner and outer worlds meet deserves special attention.

Breathing in the world through a filter makes me wonder, what creative filters we can put on? History has plenty of inspiration and guidance. Reasons for concealing our faces change, but the effects of masks creating character and personality traits remains the same.

Masks and dance go together. Using movements like greeting someone with a small nod of the head, or a small bow, helps us connect with people through the face mask. What if we think of ourselves as dancers in masks; how can our waves, nods, and bows step up to help us – from safe distances – feel connected? 

MASKS, MOVEMENT, MUSIC, KNOWLEDGE, SPIRIT

Special masks, movements, and music are found in social and ceremonial events from carnivals to wisdom traditions. Art as a Verb in Africa: The Masks of the Bwa is a view into to the start of the ritual season with processions, music, costumes, and masks.

Above: Dwo leaf masks. Dwo is the god of new life and springtime. “Art is a verb in Africa, it is something that is done. Art is a prayer, a performance, a statement, a process.”

These patterned masks make visible the spiritual laws and paths to success and respect, and are portraits of abstract beings who were met by the ancestors. 

The checkerboards represent the importance of lifelong learning; the black spaces are knowledge, the white represent a lack of understanding. Zigzags represent the paths of the ancestors. 

In the video, you can see the wearer spinning in place, rotating rapidly so the costume mimics the motion of god’s hands as the earth was molded from a ball of mud. Performers are continually inventing new innovative ways of interpreting the spiritual beings the masks refer to.

In the Northwest Coast of the Americas, Raven masks (the mask below is from the Fleming Museum) are far more than striking objects, they are costumes in dances of the Raven Clan of the Tsimshian people.

PBS video and information on the Git-Hoan Raven Dance and Native American Culture.

“Raven is a central character in Northwest Coast stories. He is believed to be the creator of the physical world and the bringer of light. Raven has supernatural powers, and is also a “trickster” who gets what he wants by playing mischievous tricks on others, changing his shape at will.” 

We too are changing our shape at will – wearing masks for greater health. 

ADDITIONAL CREATIVE AND MEANINGFUL MASKS

Clear face masks help lip readers. If you are hard of hearing, there is the double trouble of not seeing lips, and voices being even more muffled by masks.

DIY American Sign Language Mask:

Dunne-za and Swiss, Vancouver, B.C. artist Brian Jungen cut up and re-stitched Nike Air Jordans into ceremonial masks called Prototypes For New Understanding.

MASK MAKING INSTRUCTIONS

There are many many resources online for mask making. Here are a few:

No sew mask making instructions from the CDC 

For this no sew mask, try inserting some flannel for more filtering. 

For a sewn mask with a pocket for a filter, and a pocket for a wire to follow the shape of your face (makes a better seal, so glasses are less likely to fog up)

What are creative responses with masks that you have seen? Please share your trickster wisdom for making masks and new moves that help us transition to meet the challenges of this moment! @btvcityarts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Image credits (unless noted in text): Brian Jungen Air Jordan Mask; Bwa Masks from Christopher Roy, “Art as a Verb” video, and University of Iowa.

[sunken-standard]

New Drabble meme with fantastic options? How about: 41, 81 and 145? Separately is fine ( I say far too casually to be believed) or together (I shrug) ya know. Whatever works for you...

Take notes, sweetheart./ Excuse me forfalling in love with you./ What’s the biggest lie you ever told?

(This fell out of the badfic tree andhit just about every trope on the way down.  In the same ‘verse as Chapter 35 of Ficlet Cemetery)

*

Win a Mystery Date with SherlockHolmes! the splash page to John’s blog read.  The wholebackground was a high-res picture of Sherlock (John had changed theformat again, making it more like one of those trendy think-piecemagazine blogs that you had to scroll forever just to get past thedamn header), deerstalker tugged down low and coat lapels held closedover his face, leaving just his eyes visible, electric blue andintense as always.  He must have been in the sun a bit before thepicture was taken, she could just make out a few errant freckles (theexistence of which he vehemently denied) dusting his cheekbones.

Would not mind waking up to thatevery morning, she thought, then remembered that she did, infact, wake up next to that three or four mornings out of seven. Except the one she woke up to usually had his face smashed into thepillow with drool crusted in the corner of his mouth and Tim Burtonhair.

“I’m telling you, you need to doposters,” Molly said, shifting the phone against her ear so shecould type.  "How did you get him to agree to it?“

Mary laughed on the other end.  "Youreally think we told him?  Seriously though, it was his idea.  Seemslike he’s got a stalker.”

“Oh, that’s just Anderson,”Molly dismissed, typing a reply to one of the new comments on herlatest video.

“No, a real one,” Sherlocksaid from directly behind her.  She jumped, shouting as her phoneclattered onto the keyboard.

“Where did you even come from?”she accused, picking her phone up.  "Sorry,“ she apologizedto Mary.

"They have these new things calleddoors.  Rather frivolous, I doubt they’ll catch on,” Sherlocksaid, dragging ‘his’ chair over and flopping into it, nudging her outof the way of the keyboard.

“Well, I believe that’s my cue. Damien will be up from her nap soon, anyway,” Mary rung off.

Molly set her phone down and turned toSherlock, who was, as always, too close for comfort.  "So youhave a stalker,“ she said.  She wasn’t going to get her computerback anytime soon.

"Actually, you have astalker.  I started getting threats after that stupid YouTube video.”

“That was two months ago!  You’rejust telling me now?”

“I do get quite a lot of threats. Didn’t notice at first.  You’re perfectly safe.  Well, for now, atleast, but that’s why we’re nipping this in the bud.”

“So how is a fan going on a datewith you going to catch my stalker?”

Sherlock looked at her askance,obviously waiting for her to catch up.

Oh.  Of course.  "I’m going to winthe contest, aren’t I?“

Sherlock tipped his head and went backto typing.  In her comments, while logged into heraccount.  That tit. "We’re filming it and live-tweeting it, too. Mary said something about cross-promotion or advertising or…  Idon’t know, I stopped listening after 'scavenger hunt.’”

“So… this wasn’t your idea?”

“Using you as bait was.  The restwas all Mary.  She’s better at this sort of thing than I am.”

“Because she’s a woman?”  Itwas nicer than saying 'because she’d actually been on a date.’

“Because she’s an assassin. She’s got more experience with ambushes.”

*

“Oh for—would you stop lookingaround like that?  This is a date.  We are on a date. Not a stakeout,” Sherlock hissed from behind his menu.

“But it is a stakeout,”Molly said, tone measured.  

“Mary, God’s sake stop laughing,by the time you’re done editing there’ll be fifteen seconds of usablecontent.”

Mary coughed and forced her face intosomething serious.  "Just read the consolation prize card.“

Sherlock sighed and looked heavenward,pulling a card from inside his jacket.

"I swear his suits are like aTardis.  He carries all this stuff around and you can never tell. He’s got like a cricket bat, an espresso machine, and a badger inthere, it’s ridiculous,” Molly said quietly to Mary.  "Prettysure he’s got like half a pipe band and an entire double-decker busin his coat.“

"If you’re quite finished?”Sherlock said.  He plastered on a fake smile.  "And ourthird-prize winner in the 'Win a Mystery Date with Sherlock Holmes’contest is MarkOfTheBeast420—"

“…isn’t that Mrs. Hudson?”Molly whispered to Mary.

“No, she’s 221BlazeIt,” Marycorrected.

“Ah, right.”

Sherlock raised his voice a little toshow his displeasure with being interrupted (git; served him right)“—who gets dinner for two at Angelo’s in central London andyour choice of pink phone case or pocket-magnifier from theScienceOfDeduction store.”

“Where there’s always a candle onthe table,” Angelo said, leaning into the frame in front ofSherlock to place a candle conspicuously on the table while smilingnervously into the camera.

“Yes, thank you, do remember toorder off-menu, no request too exotic,” Sherlock said as Angelostepped back.  He stuck the corner of the card into the lit candle,flames quickly crawling up the edge to consume half of it before hedropped it off to the side (which happened to be onto the plate ofone of the diners at the next table over).

It was going to be a long day, Mollythought.

*

“—passes for two and a copy ofThe Man Who Made Vermeers.  I might actually like to readthis,” Molly said, flipping the book around and looking at theback cover.

“I have it at home, you can borrowit,” Sherlock said.

“Is it any good?”

Sherlock bobbed his head and did alittle wiggle that indicated 'not bad.’

Molly shrugged and set the book down,then tried to act natural as she walked to her mark.  "Oh look,our next clue,“ she said.  It was a typographic poster on aneasel; Mary didn’t really go all out.  Budget constraints.  

”'What’s the biggest lie youever told?’  Really?“  Sherlock scowled at Mary.

"Size doesn’t matter,” Mollyanswered quickly, wanting to beat him to the punch on just one of theclues.

“Wh—?”

“The question, aren’t we doing thething?  So, ah, something small like Vienna sausages?”

“No,” Sherlock said slowly,“I think you need to go a bit deeper than that.”

Molly opened her mouth, then closed itand shook her head.  She shared a look with Mary; too easy.

Sherlock closed his eyes and clenchedhis jaw.

*

“So you really think it’s a goodidea to bring my stalker to the place I work,” Molly said asthey went through the main doors of the hospital.

“We’ll spot him from the roof. And Mary says it’ll make a great texture shot.”

*

“How long do we have to be uphere?” Molly asked, fists balled in her cardigan.  It had been anice day, but the weather had turned overcast and a fine mist of rainhad begun to fall.

“Until the stalker shows.  Nextbus is in five.  Probably on it,” Sherlock said.

Mary had turned the camera off to savebattery, moving to the far end of the roof to call John to check in.

“Honestly, I don’t know why weneeded this plan in the first place.  There have to be easier ways ofcatching a stalker in the act.  And getting blog traffic.  I mean, wecould have just turned it over to the police, let them handle it.”

“Yes, because we both know howcompetent they are.”

She was cold, she was tired, and shewas feeling a bit bitchy.  "Did everything have to be soelaborate, though?  I mean, maybe he had to work today or somethingand wasn’t even following us.  Or, I dunno, maybe it’s just sometroll.  Maybe you’re overreacting to the whole thing.  You don’t haveto be so… protective of everyone all the time.“

"Excuse me for falling in lovewith you,” he muttered.

There’s no way she heard thatright.  "You wha—?“

"I said 'Excuse me for failing tofind the clue.’  If I’d been able to find the stalker through moreconventional means, I would have,” he sniffed, turning away tolook over the side of the roof again.

Yeah, that’s really notwhat he said, Molly thought, but wasn’t about to press the issue. At least, 1.) not on a rooftop, 2.) in the rain, and 3.) with Marythere.

Of course, that was when the door tothe roof banged open and eleven stone of weedy,surprisingly-otherwise-normal-if-a-bit-young stalker came lopingthrough brandishing a knife and babbling something about 'don’t knowhow to treat a goddess, Mistress Molly deserves respect, phony blahblah, tosser blah blah.’  Sherlock moved in front of her because hereally was that protective, hands up and trying to placate ratherthan provoke.

That is, until Mary jumped the stalkerfrom behind and locked an arm around his neck, digging a thumb intohis wrist so he dropped the knife.

“Take notes, sweetheart,” shegrunted.  "This is how you do a choke-hold, not those weaklittle lady-hugs that you give.“

Molly peeked out from behind Sherlockto watch the struggle, briefly glancing at Sherlock, who still lookedaffronted.

"Lady-hugs,” he grumbled. Then, glancing down at her, “Might want to get hospital securityon the phone.”

*

“—and if you click the linkbelow, you’ll find a discount coupon for 10% off any sarnie combofrom Speedy’s!  And, ah, that’s the end of my Mystery Date withSherlock Holmes.  Bye!”  Molly waved at the camera; Sherlockclamped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer.

“Aww, that was cute,” Marysaid, turning off the camera and capping the lens.  She promised toget a copy of the raw footage to Molly the next day and there werehugs and cheek kisses goodbye and then Molly was left standing aloneoutside of Speedy’s.  Well, alone with Sherlock, who was looking abit shifty.

“So would you, uh, like to come upfor coffee?” he asked.

She narrowed her eyes at him.  "Wejust had coffee.  Are you trying to trick me into washing your dishesagain?“

"No,” he said.  "I’vejust heard it’s the done thing when a date goes particularly well.“

"So you think our fake date wentwell?” she asked.  She might have been flirting, just a little,little bit.

“We did catch a violentstalker.”

“And I did get to go to aplanetarium.”

“So exciting you fell asleep,”he remarked, but there was no real bite to it.

She smiled at him and he smiled at her;it was definitely a moment.

“You know, I think I will havethat cup of coffee,” she said.

[wanna-be-missed]

Listen to Your Heart (Chapter 1/3 of my new Snowbaz fanfic)

Summary: After Baz makes a teasing comment about slipping Agatha a “Love Potion No. 9,” Simon comes up with the perfect prank to give him a taste of his own medicine: a love potion called “Listen to Your Heart” that would make him confess all his heart’s embarrassing desires. Too bad Simon’s plans never work the way he wants them to.

Getting back into fanfiction after a couple years, and this is my first Snowbaz fic, so let me know if I did alright! ^^; Keep on the lookout for chapters 2 and 3 coming out in the next couple days.

You can read the first chapter on A03, fanfiction.net, or underneath the cut.

Things hadn't really been going well between Simon and Agatha lately. He was starting to realize that maybe they never had. She always seemed to want something more from him, even when he did everything he could think of to make her happy. It was never enough. It was never what she wanted. He didn't understand what he was doing wrong.

"I can't wait until all this is over and there's no more war and you and I can get a house together, maybe even some kids,” he said.

Agatha's face looked beautiful even as her lips pursed into a frown.

"Uh... I mean only if you want kids, of course," he amended, quickly.

She sighed but didn't say anything.

"What's wrong?" he asked, completely bewildered by her reaction.

"Oh... I don't know,” she huffed. “I guess, you just skipped right past all the romancing, didn't you?"

Simon looked a little guilty. "Oh, I guess you're right. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy this part too. The romancing part. It's always great with you, Agatha."

"The romancing part…" Agatha had a faraway look in her eyes.

"Agatha?"

She looked up and smiled radiantly. Simon's worries always floated away when he saw her smile like that. "It's great for me too, Simon."

It wasn't a complete lie. Agatha wasn't even sure what was bothering her.

Simon hated feeling so insecure about their relationship. On some level, he knew that things between them just weren’t working, but he didn’t have the slightest clue why. And Baz being around just made him even more confused.

Whenever Baz tried to butt into their relationship, or whenever he teased him about taking Agatha away, it was like he was bringing to light everything that Simon was desperately trying to ignore. Why was Baz so fucking aggravating? Always forcing his way into Simon's life. Always there where he wasn't wanted: in his classes, in his room, in his thoughts...

“And so,” said Miss Possibelf as Simon snapped back to attention and looked away from the back of Baz’s head, “that’s why we learn about potions in Magic Words class and only spend about one chapter to practice making them. Potions are essentially just like everything else we’ve learned, except now we will be learning how to fuse those spells to liquid so that their power can be saved and kept in a physical state until the moment they are absorbed through ingestion. This does not have to be a spell that is obviously tied to liquid, though spells that only work on liquid do exist in spells such as a little liquid courage and Love Potion No. 9. Many other spells are acceptable. Even the beginner spell Up, Up and Away, if used properly, can be used to make a levitation potion. Now the trick is getting the spell to stick to another object. You see, you have to-”

Simon, who often became rather lost when Miss Possibelf started talking about this kind of thing, tore his eyes away from the back of Baz’s head once again and leaned over to look at Agatha's notes. He smiled fondly when he saw that she hadn't been paying attention either. Her notes were covered in drawings of birds in flight.

When he looked up again, his eyes met with Baz's. Baz was at the table diagonal from where Simon and Agatha were sitting, his chair facing away from them, so there was no convenient excuse for why he was looking in their direction. Simon concluded that the only plausible explanation was he must have turned around to leer at his girlfriend.

"Sod off," Simon grunted, trying not to speak too loudly so as not to interrupt Miss Possibelf’s lecture. Baz sneered, something playful glinting in his eyes. Simon knew the expression well. He called it Baz’s “plotting” face, for as far as Simon was concerned, Baz was almost constantly scheming about something.

"I'm giving you all a week to make one of these potions," Miss Possibelf continued, still unaware of the two students fixated on each other's gaze. "Any of the spells in the potions section of your textbook are acceptable. Just like many of the spells we’ve been practicing, the effects of some of these potions can be quite dangerous or embarrassing to the taster, so a demonstration of its power will not be required in front of the class this time."

Baz took advantage of the fact that someone asked the teacher a question to finally speak up. "Oh, too bad," he said teasingly, his gaze still locked with Simon's. "I was hoping that Wellbelove would do the honors of tasting my Love Potion No. 9."

Penny, who sat directly in front of Simon, frowned in distaste. "Have you ever actually heard that song? It would make her kiss everyone in sight. Girls, boys, anyone at all. It’s hardly something to brag about."

Agatha scrunched up her cute little nose at the thought.

"Ah, fair point, Bunce," Baz said with fake agreeability. "Besides, I'm sure it'd be more fun to woo her the old-fashioned way."

Agatha shifted in her seat at the word ‘woo,’ a slight pink coloring her cheeks. Simon didn't notice.

"Oy, that's my girlfriend you're talking about," he snarled.

"Oh?" Baz said, his voice dripping with fake surprise. "I hadn’t noticed.”

Without thinking, Simon shot out of his seat, and his stool screeched back against the stone floor. His first instinct wasn't to grab for his wand or even to summon his sword. Instead, he stomped toward Baz, his hand clenched into a fist, and he raised it in the air to-

"That's quite enough of that!" Penny said with alarm, launching herself at Simon to grab his fist and hide it before the teacher saw. It was just their luck that she had her back turned to them and she was helping someone with another question in the back of the classroom.

Simon sat back down, still fuming. Baz smirked haughtily and leaned back against his table, practically challenging the other boy to make a move. Just looking at him made Simon's face burn red.

He glanced at Agatha, almost remembering her as an afterthought. She was back to shading her bird drawings and looked like she couldn't have cared either way.

"What is with him? Can you believe that prat? Where does he get off making threats to cast a love spell on my girlfriend?" Even after class was long over, Simon couldn’t stop talking about Baz.  

"It is rather rapey," Penny agreed, not usually one to encourage Simon’s rants. (Once you got him started, there really was no stopping him.) "There's really no excuse for forcing someone to have feelings for you against their will."

"Someone should teach him a lesson. See how he takes his own medicine!" Simon said passionately.

"You want him to go around kissing everyone?" Penny asked, raising an eyebrow. “Somehow I think that’d be as much of a problem for everyone else as it’d be for Baz.”

Simon blushed bright red. "N-no! Not that. Oh god, not that. No." He shook his head, trying to rid it of images of Baz kissing girls, boys, and everyone else in sight... "Maybe some other potion. Something super embarrassing."

He idly flipped through the pages of his textbook, no particular plan actually taking form in his mind.

"Hmm..." said Penny. "I think Listen to Your Heart has the potential to be really embarrassing. It completely lowers people's inhibitions and makes them do or say what they truly desire in their heart. Ethically, it's a lot better than Love Potion No. 9 since it doesn't make people do anything that they don't want to do already. But having people know your innermost desires can be a bit troubling.”

Simon turned to the textbook entry for Listen to Your Heart and skimmed it hastily. As he read it, he grinned wider and wider. This was it. This would be his assignment. He was going to make Baz say all kinds of embarrassing things, and that git would regret ever making a move on his girlfriend. “Sounds perfect!” he said excitedly.

Penny didn't really approve of Simon actually pranking Baz with a love spell. It was fine in theory, but in practice it sounded like a recipe for disaster. But he seemed determined, so the least she could do was make sure that Simon didn't accidentally transfigure him into a literal disembodied human ear or heart. Simon’s magic tended to work that way.

“Alright, alright. I’ll help you,” she said, despite the fact that he hadn’t actually asked her yet. “But you owe me.”

Simon beamed down at his creation. He'd chosen to fuse his spell with water so that it looked clear, and thanks to a million tries with Penny, his magic’s usual burning smell was completely absent from it. It was now virtually indistinguishable from regular water. He'd made more than enough to turn in for his assignment, and he’d still have plenty left over to spell Baz with several times over if necessary.

He proudly presented Miss Possibelf with his finished product, secretly keeping the rest in a vial stashed away in his bag. (He even received top scores, and she said it was the most powerful Listen to Your Heart potion she’d ever seen.) Now all that was left was to somehow get Baz to drink it.

He would've preferred to make Baz reveal his secrets in front of the whole school, but the chances of being able to slip something into his drink while his lackeys Dev and Niall were around were slim. It was probably better to record him and send the video to everyone in school. It would definitely be easier to get him to drink it in their room while the anathema had him with his guard down. It protected him against poison or any kind of physical harm, but he was pretty sure that love potions were fair game.

A week and a half passed, however, before an opportunity presented itself. Simon was not a very patient boy. He was starting to seriously consider just shoving the potion down Baz’s throat before a Saturday morning came when Baz finally started getting ready to take a shower with an opened water bottle carelessly left near his bed.

It was all Simon could do not to jump for joy when he noticed it.

Baz paused after pulling off his shirt. “What exactly was that unsightly look on your face just now?” he asked. Simon’s gaze flicked back up to look in Baz’s eyes. If he hadn’t known better, he would’ve sworn that Baz looked a bit insecure.

“Nothing,” Simon said a little too forcefully. Baz wasn’t exactly a bodybuilder, and he was sometimes almost sickly pale, but he was rather fit from being on the school football team. He really didn’t have anything to feel insecure about, and Simon was well aware of this.

“I realize I’m fascinating to someone like you, but please do refrain from staring.” Simon looked away so fast that his neck hurt afterwards.

“Whatever,” he mumbled sheepishly. He just wanted Baz to leave so that he could tamper with his water bottle.

Baz hesitated and looked like he wanted to say something else, but by the time Simon looked up again he was gone.

A bright, mischievous grin broke out across Simon’s face, but he didn’t dare to spring into action until after he heard the water turn on. Then, as fast as he could, he grabbed the vial full of Listen to Your Heart from his bag and poured some into the water bottle on Baz’s side of the room.

It was the perfect plan… until, in his haste, the bottle slipped from his hands and fell. The majority of its contents emptied out onto Baz’s pillow, soaking it through.

Simon cursed his luck. He hid the vial in his pocket and set the water bottle carefully back on Baz’s bedside table. There was still a little bit inside of it. Maybe Baz wouldn’t notice the difference and this could still work…

Just as he was about to grab Baz’s pillow to switch it with his own dry one, the bathroom door swung open and a fully-dressed Baz walked back into the room.

Baz narrowed his eyes in suspicion when he saw Simon leaning over his bed. “Dare I ask?”

Simon’s mouth hung open, but not a single excuse came out. “Uh…”

“What the-? Is my pillow wet?” Baz’s eyes flicked from the pillow to the water bottle and then back to Simon, his eyebrows furrowed with judgement and distrust.

“It was an accident,” Simon said lamely.

“An accident,” Baz repeated, his mocking tone revealing not even a single hint of belief. He looked back to the water bottle and frowned thoughtfully. Finally, he grabbed it and stomped over to the bathroom to pour the rest of it down the drain. “I have no idea what you’re up to,” he shouted from the bathroom, “but I’m not falling for it.”

Simon collapsed back onto his bed and wanted to bury himself in the covers. So much for his great plan. He still had his head buried in his pillow when Baz came back into the room and began removing the pillowcase from his own pillow so that it could be washed and dried.

“What in the seven hells, Snow? Honestly,” he grumbled under his breath. “Right after we learn about potions. Do you think I’m a complete moron?” He sighed in exasperation, but seemed to deflate a little, like all of the energy was beginning to drain out of him. “You’re so- You’re just so-” Baz forgot what he was just about to say.

He stopped for a moment and just stood there, blinking.

Then, slowly, he turned toward Simon, looking distracted and spellbound. “Sorry I always yell at you,” he murmured finally. “I don’t mean it.”

Simon couldn’t believe his ears.