That's what friends are for! (Serge DurandalxAmelia Nile)
Some Amelia love!
Unedited because I'm lazy
Genre: basically dis a romcom 🤷🏻♀️
Summary: You better come get your man; I think he wanna be way more than friends. (Juice by Lizzo)
(Third person point of view)
"I'm tired, Amelia...he'll never feel the same way towards me..." Liz sighs, staring at their shared dorm's ceiling.
The ginger frowns, "Come on; don't say that. I'm sure he likes you. Maybe he's just...I don't know- not ready to confess yet."
"Amelia, he's THE Emperor. All girls like him; why would he go for the clumsy idiot?"
Amelia sighs, "Liz, he makes you clean his desk, doesn't he?"
"Yeah?" She looks back at her roommate in confusion.
"See? He totally likes you!" Amelia beams.
"Amelia, that makes no sense..."
She rolls her eyes, "Liz, you really don't understand men, do you? Think about it. Klaus isn't lazy, so why would he make someone else do his work for him? He's always around when you do it too, right? What do you think he's trying to do?"
"Torment me?"
"No! He's trying to spend time with you! I bet he even tries to start conversations with you."
"I mean...he yells at me a lot if that counts..."
"Hmm.." The ginger brings her her fingers to her chin, pausing to think for a bit. "Well, every guy has a different way to express affection, I guess." She shrugs.
Regardless of how unreasonable Amelia was being, Liz wanted to believe her. "You think so?"
"I know so! You just need to get him to realize he should confess to you."
She sits up to face her friend, "How do I do that?"
A few moments of silence pass before Amelia speaks up, "I have an idea."
Liz perks up in excitement.
"But you won't like it..."
She slumps back once more. "I should just forget about it and move on."
"Liz! How could you just give up on Klaus Goldstein?" Amelia scolds.
"That's the point, Amelia! He's Klaus Goldstein!" The brunette retorts.
Amelia sighs, "I'll help you out. Just leave it all to me."
×××××
"I don't understand how lemonade is supposed to help..." Liz ponders.
"Just do as I say, and you'll see for yourself."
"If you say so..." Still uncertain, the small brunette pushes the door open gently. "Prefect Klaus?"
"Oh, come in, Liz. Klaus is teaching a class at the moment, but you can wait here if you want." A familiar, cheerful voice invites them inside.
Just as the girls had planned, Klaus would still be busy for the next couple of minutes, and Serge was alone in the Prefects' room- the plan would turn out nicely.
Amelia nudges Liz the second they step into the room.
"Oh! We brought you lemonade!" Liz hesitantly approaches Serge, who happily accepts the suspicious drink. Liz hopes she isn't unknowingly poisoning her friend; surely, that couldn't be Amelia's oh so smart plan, right?
A few confused sips in, Serge drops to the floor, smashing the glass of lemonade in the process.
Liz barely manages to save his head from a concussion or worse. "Is that supposed to happen?!" Her head snaps to an equally horrified Amelia; the answer was a clear no.
Amelia rushes to place herself on top of an unconscious Serge, "Serge?! Serge!!" She holds his face in her hands.
"Amelia, what did we give him?" Terrified of what her friend's bizarre instructions had lead to, Liz hopes they could still save Serge (preferably, before Klaus comes back).
"A love potion; I was hoping we could try to get Klaus jealous, so he'd confess to you, but-" She frantically tries to explain before getting cut off by a ray of hope.
Serge moans in pain and confusion. "What's happening?" His eyebrows furrow together.
"Serge?!" The girls exclaim in happiness and relief.
"Oh, Amelia, I'm so happy to lay my eyes on such beauty." He dreamily rubs his face into her hand.
"Uh, er, I- you mean Liz?" Blushing, Amelia retracts her hands and tries to redirect the situation to the original plan.
"Well, Liz is not the one straddling me, is she?" He shoots a cheeky grin at a flustered Amelia.
She fumbles to get off but he grips her thighs, holding her in place.
"I- Serge, what are you doing?!" Liz semi-screeches.
"Mmhm, nothing." A dumb grin remains plastered on his face, as he continues to stare at Amelia.
"S-serge, I- this isn't-" Before Amelia could put together a sentence, someone barges in.
"Hey, I thought I told you- um...what exactly is going on here?" Klaus's irritated tone quickly switches to one of plain confusion and a lil bit of...suspicion? Disgust? Who knows?
"Prefect Klaus!" Amelia quickly pushes herself off of Serge while he was distracted by the interruption.
"That's me; yes." The blond raises his eyebrows, "still waiting for that explanation though." He crosses his arms.
"It's, uh, for a play!" Liz offers.
"A play?" Klaus repeats.
"A play!" Liz nods vigorously, eyeing a very confused Amelia. "Serge and Amelia are playing two lovers, so they were practicing!"
"Is this true?" Klaus stares right at Serge.
He giggles in response, "yes, in fact, we were just about to get to the kissing scene!"
"W-what?!" Amelia blushes furiously.
"What?" Serge blinks innocently.
"N-nothing! I think I have to go!" Amelia tries to escape the weird situation she found herself in, but Serge grips her wrist.
He pushes himself off the ground, "Aww, so soon? We haven't finished practicing the fun parts!" He pouts.
Amelia's face heats up even more; how was that even possible? She didn't know.
This was all going horribly wrong; Liz was the one he was supposed to be after not her!
"M-maybe later..." She frees her hand from his and quickly rushes past Klaus, her face remaining as red as humanly possible.
"Amelia!" Serge calls after her, but she doesn't look back.
Unfortunately for her, Serge soon catches up to her, "Amelia, wait!"
She almost stops, but her embarrassment pushes her to keep going until Serge grabs her by the wrist.
"Okay, okay, maybe I took it a little too far; I'm sorry." His other hand finds the back of his neck, as he gives an apologetic smile to a red faced Amelia.
"I- huh?" She faces him.
"You have to drink the whole thing for a love potion to work, Amelia; I just wanted to mess with the two of you."
"Oh." She responds before it registers in her brain what that actually means.
"Oh." She realizes. Then takes off sprinting.
"Amelia??" Serge is left behind, dumbfounded, "What just happened?"
×××××
"You ran away?!"
"Yes, Liz, I ran away; what else did you expect me to do?!" She groans into her pillow.
"Well, I guess I've done that before too, if I'm being completely honest." Liz chuckles, "but you're gonna have to face him eventually; plus, didn't you kind of have a thing for him anyways?"
"I'm gonna run away. Or fake my death." She groans louder.
"Amelia, come on, it's not that-" a knock on their window interrupts Liz.
Liz pushes herself off the bed and walks towards the window. She pushes the curtains aside and almost falls back in surprise.
"S-serge?" She pushes the window open, and he climbs in.
"Hey, Liz!" He beams, like he didn't just jumpscare the hell out of her.
Amelia moves slowly, pulling the covers over her head, hoping she won't get noticed.
Alas, things don't work that way.
"Hey, Amelia!" She jumps at the mention of her name.
"Hey, Serge..." Amelia slowly uncovers her head to look at the intruder.
"Oh, I just remembered I...have to be somewhere...important!" Liz exits the room, leaving Amelia to face her crush on her own.
"That little-" Amelia mutters.
Sighing, Amelia directs her attention back to Serge. "So, what brings you here?"
"I came to ask you out!"
"Huh?" Her face heats up; she really needs to work on that.
"See you at 7; wear something comfy!" He jumps back out the window casually.
"Hey, I didn't even say yes!" She calls out, but he was already gone. "Is this guy insane?"
She falls back on her bed, "well...guess I'm going on a date tonight..."
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Temptation Potion - Spin Off
A/N: So this is a response to a request based on this Lulias fic. It’s a Klaus/Serge story, but I’m not super into the ‘Kandy’ ship, I just love their relationship as friends. Given the name though you can expect it to get a little smutty.
Summary: Luca has commissioned Randy to make a temptation potion that he can use on Elias. Randy tests it out on Klaus first, to make sure it works.
Words: 6970 (sorry it’s so long)
***
It was a quiet afternoon, classes were over, but the work for the Prefects still carried on. Klaus was busy at his desk, grading papers for one of Professor Merkulova’s classes, and Randy was… doing something. Klaus wasn’t sure what the pink-haired man was doing, and at this point he didn’t really care. As long as he finished his share of the workload before he took off for the night, he could do whatever he wanted.
Klaus couldn’t help but wonder what was going on though. Randy and his familiar were madly whispering to each other over a small mixing bowl. By the looks of it, they were concocting some sort of potion, and it probably had nothing to do with getting his work done. He’d have to lecture Randy again before the day was through and remind him to focus on his work and not his inventions.
That was a problem for another hour or so though. He still had plenty of work to get done, and wasn’t in the mood to lecture the man-child, for once. As long as they weren’t interrupting him, they could do whatever they wanted.
Unfortunately, it didn’t stay that way for long.
The teddy hopped down off the other Prefect’s desk and slowly crept over towards Klaus, a dramatic tip-toe in his step. Klaus could clearly see the teddy at the side of his vision. ‘Don’t come any closer.’
Taffy stopped, his paws flying straight up in the air in a demonstration of innocence. ‘Me not coming any closer!’ he protested.
Klaus turned his head to look straight at the toy. He stared directly at the stuffed creature, a contest of wills between the two of them, and spared a brief though for the absurdity of the situation that seemed to have become a regular occurrence. The teddy didn’t move, not a step forward nor back, and staring at it was wasting his time, so he returned to his grading.
Taffy made a break for it, assuming he was no longer in Klaus’ line of sight. He took a few running steps before launching into the air, straight at Klaus, but Klaus was prepared for it, raising a hand to swat away the airborne teddy, flicking him into the wall.
‘Oof!’
He hit the wall with a soft thump and then slumped to the floor.
‘Taffy, are you okay?!’
Randy looked over to his familiar as the teddy pulled himself up from the floor. ‘Me okay,’ he murmured, rubbing his belly where Klaus had struck him.
‘Whatever you’re up to, I want no part in it,’ Klaus announced. He had made himself clear, he thought, and left it at that, carrying on with his work. The teddy raced back over to Randy’s desk, jumping up to sit on the desk again. From the corner of his eyes he saw the wizard and his familiar exchange excited whispers, but decided to pay no mind. Randy wasn’t dumb enough to try something with Klaus, surely.
For another half hour or so the pair whispered back and forth, Randy reaching into the cupboard behind his desk for various ingredients to throw in the mixing bowl, and occasionally casting a quiet spell on the bowl for water or fire. Klaus kept one eye on the mischievous pair, trusting that Randy couldn’t possibly be idiotic enough to try to slip him a potion again. Not after last time.
Or could he?
‘I think we’re done Taffy,’ the wizard announced aloud, sitting back in his chair.
‘It’s done?’ the teddy repeated.
Klaus watched from the corner of his eyes as Randy took the mixing bowl and tipped the contents from the bowl into a glass. It was a viscous pink fluid with a shimmering glittery effect, catching the lights from the ceiling and sparkling like diamond dust. Randy took a deep excited breath and murmured, ‘I hope so.’ He swirled the potion in the cup a few times, eyeing off his latest invention with nervous anticipation. He was sure this was right, but he still had to test it first, and Klaus was going to be the test subject. ‘Klaus,’ he said to the grumpy wizard on the other side of the room. ‘I need your help.’
‘Whatever it is, the answer is no,’ Klaus said, not lifting his gaze from the papers in front of him. There was not a chance he would take another one of Randy’s poisons.
‘Please, Klaus,’ Randy pleaded. ‘It won’t hurt you, I promise.’
‘No.’
Randy swirled the cup in his hands and smiled brightly at Klaus. ‘It’s for your brother,’ he persuaded. ‘I just need to test it to make sure it works first! Please?’
Something didn’t quite add up about Randy’s story, but Klaus didn’t need to give it much thought before he realised it was Elias. No Goldstein, Elias especially, would ever do something so reckless as take a potion from Randy. ‘Elias would never ask for a potion from you.’
Randy didn’t try that story again, proving that Klaus was right. Instead, he just asked, ‘please Klaus—’
‘No!’ the stern man repeated. ‘I am not drinking one of your godforsaken poison concoctions ever again! Willingly or otherwise.’
‘Why not—’
‘Why?!’ Klaus cut off him before he could finish his question. ‘Let’s think, Serge.’ He used the fluffhead boy’s real name to demonstrate his irritation. ‘Five times, you’ve slipped me one of your stupid potion inventions.’ He counted off his fingers as he recalled some of the worst memories of his relationship with Serge Durandal, and said, ‘I’ve ended up in hospital; floating away in the sky; I was invisible for six days! You’ve nearly killed me, twice! I am not taking anything you’ve made.’
Serge laughed, recalling the memories with Klaus. He argued with a cheerful grin, ‘but that’s the good part, you’ve don’t even need to drink this! I’ll take it! I just need you to tell me if it works.’ He looked at Klaus with earnest strawberry eyes and added, ‘you’re the only one I can trust to do this.’
‘What--?’
Serge raised the cup of pink potion towards his lips. ‘Just tell me if you notice anything, okay?’
‘No, I’m not—’
‘Cheers!’ Serge raised the cup in a small toast, before holding it to his lips and tipping it up, swallowing the whole potion.
Klaus groaned and rolled his eyes, knowing that this wasn’t going to end in anything pleasant. But what was done was done, and there was nothing he could do now, just hope that whatever stupid potion Serge had created wouldn’t have any adverse effects. He muttered darkly, ‘you’re an idiot,’ and returned to grading his papers.
‘Just tell me if you notice anything, okay?’ Serge asked once again.
He wasn’t going to give up, and the easiest way to get out of this was to just agree to his puerile request and ignore him for the rest of the afternoon. With any luck his potion wouldn’t have any effects, and Klaus would get out of the office unharmed. ‘Fine.’
Klaus returned to his grading work and Serge even seemed to put his experiment to the side for a moment, drawing a small pile of papers towards himself to start on his actual work.
Perhaps this potion is a blessing? He’s actually working for a change.
He must’ve graded at least three papers over the next half an hour, and not once did he speak, fidget, or cause any disturbance. The teddy ran around on the desk, doing god knows what, but eventually Serge even stopped him, whispering to him for a few moments. The teddy nodded and with a quick ‘yes master,’ jumped down off the desk and ran over to the door. He opened it with another freakish jump, slipped out of the room, and closed the door behind himself, leaving Serge and Klaus in peace.
Klaus contemplated for a moment if he should advise Serge of the change in attitude, it could be an effect of the potion, but decided against it, hoping that he would’ve forgotten about the potion and just wanted to finish his work.
It was probably another ten minutes after the teddy left that he started to notice the smell. It had been lingering in the air for a while now, that sweet cotton candy scent that Serge always seemed to exude, but it was becoming stronger. He glanced over at the pink wizard’s desk, wondering if he had snuck a snack up from his desk drawer, but couldn’t see any food, let alone cotton candy on the desk.
But he had to be eating something, that smell was ridiculously strong. Annoyingly so, even. Klaus asked, curiosity getting the better of him, ‘what are you eating?’
‘Huh?’ Serge appeared to have been lost in his work and was startled by Klaus breaking the silence. He answered, ‘I’m not eating anything.’
‘I can smell sugar,’ Klaus said, looking over at his desk to see what sweets he was hiding. It was almost dinner time and Klaus was growing hungry. He didn’t see why Serge shouldn’t share, especially after he had agreed to help with his stupid potion experiment. But there was no food on Serge’s desk, no sweets anywhere. ‘What are you doing?’
‘Oh!’ Serge looked pleasantly surprised at Klaus’ question. ‘You can smell sugar? That’s interesting…’ He grabbed a nearby blank sheet of paper and pulled it towards him, scribbling something down furiously. He asked as he scrawled, ‘any particular type of sugar?’
Klaus eyed off Serge for a minute, wondering whether or not he should answer the question. It seemed pointless to withhold such frivolous information, so he admitted, ‘cotton candy.’
‘Hmm…’ Serge murmured, adding more to his notes, ‘interesting effect…’
Klaus inhaled the sweet scent again, and it dawned on him, like a lightbulb switching on above his head: the potion Serge had taken wasn’t going to affect Serge. It was a circumambient potion, effecting the people around the drinker, not the drinker themselves. Serge had experimented with these potions before, one distinct memory jumping to his mind. Klaus sighed and removed his glasses to rub his eyes between his thumb and forefinger. With his eyes closed, the scent became even stronger. ‘This potion isn’t going to effect you at all, is it?’ he asked. ‘This is like that damn sleeping miasma potion you made, isn’t it?’
Serge’s smile and innocent laugh lit up his face. ‘I guess,’ he joked, ‘you could say that.’
‘Great,’ Klaus muttered. ‘Dispel it, now Serge.’ He didn’t sign up for this prank and wasn’t going to play along any longer.
‘I will,’ he laughed, ‘in a bit. I just need to make sure the potion has the right effects.’
Klaus groaned internally, shooting scathing glares at the pink-haired wizard on the other side of the room. If he wouldn’t dispel it, he at least wanted to know what to expect, so he asked, ‘what is it supposed to do?’
‘I can’t tell you that!’ Serge teased with another bright grin. ‘It’d ruin the blind condition of the experiment.’
Klaus rolled his eyes once again. The cotton candy smell was becoming overpowering, drawing his attention back to the devilish-yet-innocent man. It was so sweet, so delectable. Klaus hadn’t eaten cotton candy in years, over eight years, since before he had met Serge Durandal, the fluffy-pink-haired, would-be great wizard putting him off what was once one of his favourite treats. But now that smell was so delicious, he could almost feel the sugar melting on the back of his tongue as it washed down his throat. It was his hair that always smelled of cotton candy, it even looked like cotton candy, the thin wisps of spun sugar hair that fell in a curled mess around his face. Klaus knew he was staring, but he couldn’t take his eyes off of Serge, he was just drawing in his every feature. The way the light reflected off his smooth pale skin, unblemished, youthful and pure, the shadow his nose and lips cast under the overhead light. His lips were so perfectly pink, a shade or two lighter than his hair. His top lip was slender, his cupid’s bow giving a graceful curve to his upper lip, while his lower lip was a little fuller and looked wonderfully soft. I wonder if it tastes like sugar? No doubt it would, from all the sweets he eats.
His eyes followed the shadow of Serge’s lip, down his long neck to the small triangle of his chest that was showing through his half-buttoned shirt. Serge Durandal had never been great at tying a tie, and it had always infuriated Klaus from the first day they met, but he had never noticed just how much of the younger wizard’s chest was visible past the sloppy knot. He could see the definition of his muscles under his shirt, the tie barely obstructing his view. Klaus had an urge to get up and fix the tie, either tie it up right, or remove it entirely. The scent of cotton candy had enraptured him, filling his chest with a warmth, a tingling that made him feel happy, relaxed, excited.
It was the excitement that tipped him off, the nervous happiness in his chest that made him want to try something new, something different. It wasn’t something he usually felt, which meant it had to have something to do with the potion. There was only one potion that could make the usually stoic Klaus Goldstein want to remove someone else’s clothing, and somehow, for some reason, Serge Durandal had cracked it, hacked it, and modified it to be used like a weapon against a specific target.
‘Serge!’ Klaus cursed, gritting his teeth and shutting his eyes. ‘That was a temptation potion, wasn’t it?’
Serge laughed again, his happy chuckle piercing Klaus’ ears, making him want to look, want to go and touch. ‘I just said, I can’t tell you,’ Serge said.
Serge wasn’t going to play along, but if it was a circumambient potion, he knew the spell to end this curse. Klaus pulled his wand from his jacket pocket and with a smooth flick of his wrist he chanted, ‘Integrum Aura,’ to finish the effects of the temptation potion.
Klaus expected the cotton candy scent to start to fade, but nothing changed. He sat there and stared at the cotton candy haired man, at his sparkling strawberry eyes and the little smile that slowly grew upon his soft, sweet lips.
Sweet?! What on earth--?
His mind wasn’t working right, and the potion was still in effect. ‘What have you done?’ he demanded.
Serge’s soft little chuckle whispered across the room, his eyes casting down. He was thoroughly impressed with the effects his potion was having, enjoying every second of it. He explained, ‘I had to make sure you couldn’t just wave your wand and dispel the potion.’
Frustration built up in the pit of Klaus’ stomach, battling the fuzzy cotton candy warmth that was still spreading through his chest. ‘What have you done?!’ he demanded again, determined to find out how to dispel the stupid potion’s effects before they got the better of him.
Serge shrugged unabashedly and said, ‘I just added a little Hop-Toad poison, to make sure you couldn’t break the spell too easily.’ He flashed a charming smile at Klaus, trying to make amends for roping the unwilling and unwitting Klaus into this predicament.
Klaus didn’t accept his smiling apology though. He stood, taking his wand with him and growled as he crossed to the door, ‘you’re unbelievable.’
‘Sigilum.’
Serge cast the enchantment to seal the office door, Klaus’ escape, before Klaus could get to it.
Klaus stopped short of the door, knowing that escape was now futile with Serge sealing the door. The only way he would get out was if Serge let him out.
‘Serge,’ he said in the steadiest, calm voice he could summon, ‘open the door.’
‘Sure thing!’ he said happily. ‘Just answer a few questions first.’
The cotton candy scent was reaching him even on the other side of the room, the sugary warmth spreading from his chest down into his stomach, and out into his fingertips. The frustration that had fuelled him a moment ago had now become a snake of fear, writhing in his stomach, growing larger with every drip of warm sweet cotton candy that seeped through his body. He wanted to get out of the room, before he said or did something he would regret. He repeated, keeping his voice low and calm and his back to the other wizard, ‘open the door, Serge.’
‘How do you feel, Klaus?’ Serge asked, his voice sweet and soft. He had never enjoyed Serge’s voice, the one that had not stop talking since the day they met (save for that six-year hiatus), but now it was sending shivers down his spine, the warmth in his body driven lower. It was so gentle, so smooth, like a feather running down his back. ‘Is there anything you want to do?’
Do?
His mind jumped back to a few moments ago, sitting in his chair and staring at the triangle of bare chest underneath Serge’s tie. All he wanted to do was fix the tie or take it off. If he took the tie off, what else could he do?
Nothing, I’m not doing anything, I’m getting out of here.
He gritted his teeth once more, willing the fearsome snake in his stomach to burn with anger. ‘I want to get away from you,’ he growled.
‘Oh…’ Serge murmured, disappointment heavy in his tone. ‘Maybe the potion didn’t work then,’ he thought aloud. ‘Perhaps I put in too much powdered oyster shell…’ he trailed off, muttering to himself quietly, his silken voice lingering in Klaus ears.
Klaus balled his fists, digging his nails into the palms of his hands, hoping the pain would bring him back down to earth, but it didn’t help, not nearly enough. He was still floating on a cloud of warm sugary sweetness. Cotton candy was all around him, melting on his tongue, brushing against his cheek. He wondered for a moment what it would be like to feel his soft cotton candy hair against his cheek, to hold the younger wizard close, close enough to be able to taste him.
Stop it! Don’t think such stupid—
Klaus reached for the handle of the office door, vainly hoping that the sealing spell had worn off by now, but it hadn’t. He waved his wand, chanting the opposite spell, ‘reserare,’ to open the door, and tried it again, but with no success. The heat was no longer just inside his body, it was all around him now. The potions effects must’ve also been sealed in the room by Serge’s spell, and with nowhere to dissipate, it was intensifying fast. Klaus’ whole body had become hot, and he could feel the blood pumping through him, to his cheeks, tinting them light red, and down his stomach, stirring him up. The thought of holding Serge close enough to taste his soft hair, close enough to kiss, was making his body react in ways he never would even imagine be possible at the thought of Serge Durandal.
‘Unless,’ Serge said, his tone louder and cutting into Klaus’ train of thought, ‘you lied to me about the way you feel?’
The scrape of a chair meant Serge had stood up. Klaus glanced back over his shoulder and saw the grinning man circle around his desk and cross over the room towards him. He turned to face Serge, because the last thing he needed was Serge at his back when he was already feeling so vulnerable, but facing him wasn’t much easier either. He held out his wand and backed away from Serge as he approached, but it was only two steps before he was standing in the corner of the room. Serge came to stand in front of him, revealing that Klaus was the taller of the two, even if by only an inch or so, giving Klaus a little reassurance, but his proximity now meant that Klaus could only breathe in the potion’s scent, or not breathe at all. He opted to limit his breathing, drawing in slow and laboured breaths.
‘Just a few questions, Klaus,’ Serge asked sweetly. ‘Don’t make me put a truth spell on you too.’
‘Don’t you dare!’ He gritted his teeth and leant back, trying to stay as far away from the sweet young man as possible. His outburst made him exhale his breath, and he had to draw another in breath of sweet, hot, sugary air.
Serge wasn’t taking no for an answer, and pressed on with his innocent smile, ‘how do you feel? Do you feel hot, or cold?’
Serge took another step closer, standing far too close now and forcing Klaus to lower his wand or have it come into contact with Serge. He folded his arms across his stomach, keeping his wand up and pointed at Serge from the side. That last breath that Klaus had taken was causing his head to spin. He knew that if he just gave in to temptation, if he touched Serge, held on to him, the room would stop spinning. If he kissed him, everything would be fine, and his burning need would be satisfied. Serge would no doubt be shocked if he kissed him, but then he had always enjoyed that nonplussed expression, it brought a smug satisfaction to Klaus every time. He would definitely enjoy watching that confused surprise widen Serge’s strawberry eyes as he took hold of his jaw between his thumb and forefinger to bring his face up to meet his.
Stop it! Stop thinking such ridiculous things!
He had stopped breathing, desperate to stop the sugary scent from affecting him any further, but he couldn’t hold it much longer. He had to draw a short breath and murmur, ‘let me out of here Serge.’ He couldn’t make a single move, he was completely paralysed, knowing that if he made a move, it would end up with his hands somewhere on Serge.
A wicked, Cheshire-Cat grin spread across Serge’s face and he shook his hand to draw out his wand again. Klaus knew he should’ve grabbed his hand, stopped him, done something, but he was completely immobilised by his fear of the potion’s effects, and before he could do anything, Randy waved his wand at Klaus and cast, ‘Veritu.’
The truth-telling spell didn’t have any immediate effects, but as soon as he was asked another question, he wouldn’t be able to hold back his answer. Perhaps under normal circumstances he would’ve been able to fight off the truth-telling spell, but while most of his energy was consumed in fighting the temptation potion, he couldn’t fight off this spell too.
‘Do you feel hot or cold?’
‘Hot.’ The word was pulled from Klaus’ mouth before he could stop it.
Serge’s grin widened. He pressed further with another question, ‘what do you smell?’
‘Cotton candy.’ Again, the words were drawn out from Klaus’ lips before he could muster the strength to stop them. The writhing snake of fear had reared its ugly head again, squirming about in Klaus’ stomach. He knew he had to get a hold of himself if he wanted to get out of this stupid situation and away from Serge. He drew a steady slow breath, drowning himself in cotton candy, but instantly hissed it out slowly between his teeth.
Serge probed again, ‘is there anything you want to do?’
The snake in his stomach came in handy, fear holding back the words before they were torn from his mouth and weakening the truth-telling spell. The last thing Klaus wanted to do was blurt out everything he had thought of doing since the cotton candy scent had first washed over him.
‘Veritu,’ Serge cast again, the mischievous glint shining in his strawberry eyes. ‘Is there anything you want to do?’
The full power of the truth-telling spell gripped Klaus’ throat again, but his own power was fighting back, strong enough to stop himself from spilling any humiliating thoughts. It was a battle of wills, and with Serge’s strong and determined eyes against Klaus’ already struggling constitution, he wasn’t going to be able to avoid answering the inquisitive wizard’s questions. He gritted his teeth and wracked his brains for an answer that would get him out of this situation. Everything that came to mind, leave, escape, choke you, he couldn’t spit the words out, because they weren’t the truth. There was only one word he could say.
‘Kiss.’
Klaus at least got to see the nonplussed expression Serge so often bore after all, although it only made him want to take hold of his jaw and press his mouth against those pale pink sweet lips. Fortunately, Serge’s expression swiftly changed back to his delighted inquisitive grin, as he murmured, ‘so it worked…’
‘It worked,’ Klaus agreed, ‘Now let me out. I can’t breathe.’
‘If I do this…’ Serge said, reaching a hand forward between their bodies, ‘does it make it better or worse?’ His cool fingers slid into Klaus’ hand under his folded arms.
Klaus’ racing heart stopped for just a moment, the cool sensation of skin on skin intensifying the warm, fuzzy cotton candy happiness that he was drowning in. Ordinarily he would’ve drawn back, flinched away, done something to escape Serge’s touch, but he couldn’t pull his hand away. He wanted to touch more soft, pure, bare skin. He gripped Serge’s hand, his fingers tightening as he tried to fight every fibre of his being urging him to pull him in closer, bring his sweet lips in towards his own. The truth-telling spell was compelling him to answer Serge’s question, and he answered with his honest opinion, ‘worse.’
Serge was thoroughly enjoying himself, his eyes sparkling with delight. He didn’t even seem to mind his hand being crushed by Klaus’ powerful grip. He pressed further to his previous question, ‘in what way?’
‘For god’s sake Serge, let me out!’ Klaus shouted. Serge clearly had no idea the level of danger he was in, the things Klaus was imagining doing to the younger man. Klaus, unfortunately, knew all about Serge’s proclivity for using pink ribbons to tie up a partner, immobilise a girl so he could tease her body, and he wondered if Serge would enjoy it as much if he was the one bound in pink silk. Would he cooperate if his hands were tethered behind his back? Would he stop talking if he had a pink ribbon tied across his mouth?
No, Serge had no idea what Klaus was thinking, but he seemed to want to know all about it. He flicked his wand with his left hand, once more chanting ‘veritu.’ He stepped forward, his jacket now brushing against Klaus arm, still holding his hand and asked again, ‘in what way, Klaus?’
Harder. It makes it harder.
The first word that came to his mind was the last word he wanted to utter, and he used the writhing snake in his stomach once more to hold back the word. He still had to say something, and quick, or the truth-telling spell would pull out from his mouth words he never wanted to say to Serge. ‘Stronger,’ he muttered with the limited breath he had left. ‘It makes the spell stronger.’
‘Hmm,’ Serge pondered. ‘You seem to be resisting it pretty easily though.’
Serge was just teasing now, Klaus warm tingling body burning hotter with frustration. ‘This is not easy!’ He shouted. ‘Let me out Serge!’ he considered making a break for the door, but that meant having to push Serge out of his way, and that much contact with the temptation potion still smothering him was not worth the risk, especially with the sealing spell still in play.
‘Oh?’ Serge teased, ‘how hard is it?’ Klaus knew his question was in relation to the spell, but he also knew Serge was forcing him to think of his body’s reaction to the situation. Serge added after a moment’s pause, ‘to resist?’
This line of questioning was nothing to do with the experiment anymore, Serge was just enjoying tormenting him, Klaus was sure of it. There was no word that could quantify how incredibly painful it was becoming to hold back against the temptation potion, no word for the truth-telling spell to draw from his lips, so he couldn’t answer Serge’s question. Instead, he snapped in frustration, ‘enough questions! Let me out, or I am going to hurt you!’ How he intended to hurt Serge, either out of passion or vengeance, remained to be seen, but something was going to happen if he didn’t escape.
Serge seemed to finally realise this. He had claimed victory in this battle and that was enough for him, it was time to let Klaus go. He wasn’t even particularly interested in finding out what Klaus would do if he pressed on, his preferences didn’t lean that way. He had just wanted to see how far he could push the strong wizard. The only thing that could make this victory any sweeter was if Klaus had said please, but that would just be salt in this grievous wound to the proud man’s ego. Serge stepped back, Klaus still gripping tightly onto his wand hand, so he had to use his left to cast at the door over his shoulder, ‘reserare.’
Freedom!
Klaus made a break for it, knowing he had to push past Serge, brushing against his chest as he dove for the door. His hand was caught though, unable to reach for the handle. It took him a moment to realise that he was still gripping Serge’s hand and had to let it go to open the door. With every ounce of willpower he had left, he opened his fingers, Serge drawing his hand back, and Klaus was free, racing from the room and slamming the door behind him.
The thought crossed Serge’s mind, wondering if he had gone too far this time. He dismissed it, assured that Klaus would forgive him, with time.
The corridor was empty of any other students when Klaus left the office, and for that he gave silent thanks. He needed to get to the bathroom quick, for a splash of cold water and to hide his body’s awkward reaction. He raced the two doors down the hall to the nearest bathroom and slipped in without being noticed.
Again, the room was empty, and Klaus gave more thanks. He went straight for the basin, turning the tap to send cold water gushing from the faucet into his cupped hands. He brought handfuls of water to his face, splashing his cheeks, his forehead, his eyes, his lips. The cold helped, but he could still feel the warm cotton candy fuzz inside his chest. He had spent too long under the power of the circumambient potion, it would take a while before it wore off. If he could get back to the dorm he could sleep it off and not have to think about Serge again. A disgusted shudder ran through his body, recalling all the ideas that had seemed so tantalising just moments ago. He held onto the basin, doubled over and breathing heavy. The lack of air and the exertion fighting off the temptation potion and truth-telling spell had taken was making him feel dizzy and weak. He needed to get back to the dorm to rest. With a quick hand down the front of his pants he adjusted himself to hide the embarrassing reaction that wasn’t going away quick enough and made his way out of the bathroom for the journey back to the dorm.
His trip back to the dorm was as quiet as he could hope for. He passed by two groups of students who were also on their way back before curfew, as well as Sigurd who called out something about dinner, but Klaus paid no mind, pretending to have not heard him and escaped back to his room. For the first time in his life he was thankful to share the room with Serge, knowing that he wouldn’t be disturbed for a while. With a flick of his wand and a short spell he drew the curtains closed to darken the room and then collapsed on the bed flat on his back, one leg hanging off the edge, and took a deep breath of clean, sugarless air. His lungs filled with the unpolluted air, but cotton candy was still on his mind, and filling his chest with that fuzzy warmth. He had fought so hard against the potion’s effects but now all he wanted was the sweet sugar melting in his mouth.
Serge’s bottom drawer of his side table was always filled with sweets and candies, and Klaus was sure he’d recently seen a bag of cotton candy stashed in there. He hated giving in to temptation, but this time he didn’t particularly want to resist. Besides which, he could easily justify it, telling himself that he needed the sugar to help him recover some energy after the afternoon’s exertions. He rose up from the bed and circled around his roommate’s bed to the nightstand on the other side. Clothes and stuffed toys were littering the floor on Serge’s side of the room, but Klaus walked over them all and dropped to one knee in front of the drawers. He opened the bottom drawer like an adventurer opening a treasure chest to reveal a collection of candies and chocolate bars of every variety. Stuffed up the back of the drawer was one half eaten bag and one unopened bag of pink cotton candy. Any other time Klaus would’ve gone for any one of the various chocolate bars in the drawer, some of his favourites were even in there, but right now the only thing he wanted was the sweet spun sugar. In the back of his mind he knew that this wasn’t exactly what he wanted, his mind flicking back to the sweet smile and soft hair he wanted to run his lips over, but this soft sweet treat would have to do. He grabbed both bags of cotton candy and shut the drawer.
Before he stood, he noticed under his knee was Serge’s favourite jumper, the light brown hooded jacket he usually wore draped over his shoulders on his days off and had lately been wearing to bed on these cold nights. Klaus couldn’t give it a second thought, because he knew he’d never find a justification for wanting to steal Serge’s clothes but in that instant he wanted to, so he collected it up with his cotton candy as he stood and took it back over to his bed.
He laid down on his back again, the jacket under one arm and draped over his shoulder next to his cheek, the cotton candy on his chest. He reached into the first, opened bag rubbing a small strand of the sugary fluff between his fingers for a moment. Curiosity was stronger than his will and he let himself wonder if the candy in his hand or Serge’s hair would be softer. He decided that Serge’s hair would be the softer of the two, and also probably wouldn’t melt like the sugar was, before quickly slipping the first strand into his mouth. Like the taste that had been on his tongue all afternoon, it dissolved quickly into a sticky sweet ooze and ran down his throat. It was almost exactly what he wanted.
There was no use in fighting it anymore, he just had to wait for the potion’s effects to wear off, so he relaxed and indulged in the delectable sweet treat he hadn’t tasted in years and let his mind wander wherever it wanted to go. It seemed to keep wandering back to a few specific memories of his younger days with Serge Durandal, rare but happy moments when he had enjoyed the boy’s sweet smile.
***
Much later than usual a very tired Serge came back to the dorm. He had finished all his work, but then as he was about to leave he noticed Klaus’ unfinished grading work on his desk and decided to try to make some attempt at an appeasement, taking the unfinished papers back to his own desk and continuing for a few more hours. Taffy had returned with the key ingredient he needed to make the potion for Luca shortly after he started on Klaus’ work, so he decided to finish that off as well before turning in for the night. Taffy had fallen asleep on the couch halfway through Klaus’ papers and Serge left him to sleep while he finished things off, then carried him in his arms back to the dorm.
He tried to be as quiet as humanely possible as he crept into the room and laid Taffy down in his shoebox bed, trying to not disturb Klaus. By the light of the hallway he could see the blond man laying on his bed, flat on his back, one hand resting at the bottom of a plastic bag on his chest. A few stray crumbs of sugar and one wisp of cotton candy lay at the bottom of the bag. Serge chuckled to himself as he crossed over to Klaus’ bed to free his hand from the bag, knowing that the rustling plastic could be very distracting when trying to sleep. One step landed with the familiar crunch and Serge noticed on the floor was yet another empty plastic bag.
‘Wow…’ he murmured. He’d never seen Klaus eat cotton candy, he always assumed he didn’t like it, but it looked like he was wrong. He kicked the bag on the floor over towards his bed and knelt down beside Klaus. He lifted Klaus’ hand by his wrist and peeled off the sticky plastic, trying to be as quiet as possible. Klaus grumbled at the disturbance but didn’t say anything aloud.
Serge’s chest was tight with guilt. He wanted to apologise, he’d forced Klaus to do and say things today that should never have even been possible for the proud man. He considered leaving it until morning to apologise, but he knew Klaus wouldn’t even want to talk to him in the morning, so now was as good a time as any.
‘Klaus,’ he whispered, giving his hand a little shake.
‘Mmnmn.’
Klaus grumbled back and didn’t move.
‘Klaus!’ he whispered a little louder, giving his hand a little more vigorous shake.
Without opening his eyes Klaus muttered, ‘what, Randy?’
It was as close to consciousness he was going to get, so he said softly, ‘I just wanted to say, I’m sorry.’
Klaus was silent for a moment, and Serge wondered if he had heard him, or was going to accept his apology. Eventually, Klaus muttered back to him, ‘I hate you.’
Serge’s heart fell. He was hoping Klaus would forgive him, or at least acknowledge that he was sorry he had to do it, but all he got was affirmation that his closest friend was still upset with him. He tried to explain, hoping that it would help Klaus to understand, ‘I just knew you were the only person I could trust to not fall prey to the potion.’
Klaus took a deep breath, his chest rising. ‘Do not talk about this,’ he said, his voice dangerously low. ‘Ever again.’
‘I won’t tell anyone, I promise,’ Serge said, raising his right hand and placing his left on his chest.
Klaus’ violet eyes cracked open enough to glimpse the silhouette of his roommate, solemnly swearing his secrecy. He believed he could trust Serge, but he added to be sure, ‘if you do, I will kill you.’
Serge laughed, not taking his threat seriously, and happy that his friend had at least acknowledged his apology and his reasons. ‘Okay,’ he said with a chuckle as he stood up. He collected the two empty plastic bags to take them to the bin and asked, ‘did you enjoy the cotton candy?’
‘Don’t talk to me.’
Strangely enough, Serge felt a little relieved, knowing that his friend had gone back to normal. He stuffed the plastic bags in the wastepaper basket and said quietly, ‘okay. Good night Klaus.’
Klaus didn’t respond.
Serge set about getting ready for bed. He didn’t feel like taking a shower, he could have one in the morning, so he quickly stripped off his uniform, assured that Klaus wouldn’t be looking despite their afternoons’ events, and changed into his pyjama pants and shirt. Somewhere in the pile of clothes beside his bed was his jumper that he’d been wearing at night to keep him warm, and he could’ve sworn it was right next to his pyjamas when he took it off that morning, but he couldn’t find it. He rifled through every article of clothing on the floor, probably making enough noise to wake Taffy and Klaus, but he still couldn’t find his jumper. ‘Dammit, where is it?’ he muttered to himself. He searched under the bed, in case he had accidentally knocked it under there, but no luck. He resigned to the fact that he’d have to wear a different jumper tonight and wondered which his next most comfortable jumper was, but as he sat up, folding his arms on the side of the bed he was caught in the face by the soft, fluffy jacket flying across the room. It was already warm, and mixed in with the usual familiar scent of his clothes was a stronger scent of cotton candy, and the spiced undertones of Klaus’ cologne.
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