(A/N: This is a repost from my AO3. I'll include the link here if you'd like to read it there; if not, that's quite alright. I hope you enjoy!)
But maybe her last boyfriend had just been a selfish ass who didn't like spending time with her, judging from the way Handong so casually talks to her and makes an effort. It's almost often enough that the Friday night rule isn't so much as rule as a suggestion that Gahyeon clings to for a sense of stability.
She snaps her attention back to her work at hand just in time for the dropper of dragon's blood in her hand to slip right into the flask bubbling merrily away on top of her Bunsen burner. "God dammit," she mutters, wiping the splash back off of her face and leaning back. "Not again."
Her desk is scattered with various potion making equipment - tiny glass bottles stoppered with wood; wooden, marble, iron stirrers and sieves; a pewter mortar and pestle - and she knocks some of it aside in a desperate search for her tweezers. The flask that is her potion final has turned a disheartening shade of magenta. She groans, picks up the tweezers, and fishes the tiny bottle of dragon's blood out of it. Yet another attempt down the drain. And she's almost out of dragon's blood. She picks up the flask of failed potion and dumps it in the trash. It sizzles in the bottom of the bin. She wrinkles her nose at the smell of melting plastic.
On paper, the assignment for her Animal Potions 102 final is easy. Pick one of the potions we have studied, but not made, and make it; provide photographic evidence of the efficacy of said potion and a sample. Gahyeon's succeeded throughout the semester - she's got a B+ in the class, which is better than her other two classes - and the teacher likes her. Of the four potions she has to choose from, of course she chooses the most difficult one. Maybe, she's bit off more than she can chew.
She picks up the last flask that she has left to cook the potion in and sets it on the Bunsen burner. The flame glows a gentle blue. She leans over her stained and yellowed textbook and squints at the ingredients for the True Shifter potion. "Two pints moon water, a leaf of basil, four drops sage oil, three drops dragon's blood, a dash of cinnamon," she reads aloud. "Stir counterclockwise fifteen times. Alright, now where do I keep messing up?"
Meticulously, she picks up each ingredient and adds it to the flask. The potion smells much like an interesting soup. She twirls her favorite wooden stirrer in her fingers, scans the next few steps. Stir, add juniper leaf powder (as much as necessary) and a dash of fairy dust.
" Leaf powder!" she says. "Dumbass, you were adding juice!"
She stirs the potion exactly fifteen times and tosses the powder in. The potion turns a lovely, electric shade of green, much like the Mountain Dew that's been fueling her studying. It matches the picture in the textbook much better now. She grins and turns the Bunsen burner off, letting the potion cool as the recipe declares. Here's the difficult part - if she doesn't work quickly, the dust will gelatinize the potion and she'll be back to square one.
In a flurry of activity, Gahyeon sweeps three small bottles into her hand and drops the final ingredients into the flask. "Dongmul-idoeda!" she says, running her hand over the glass. Magic flickers and sparks from her fingertips; the potion begins to glow. Her face splits into a grin. "Oh, fuck yeah!" She pushes away from the table and whoops. "Finally! I got it right!"
Maybe date night is safe after all. Now to put the potion in a bottle and track down the squirrel she'll test it on. She leans over her desk and searches for the right glassware. Unfortunately, she finds nothing empty, save for a huge glass cup way too big for transporting in her backpack. She purses her lips, leans back, taps her chin in thought. There has to be something she can put it in.
Her gaze drops on the empty bottle of Mountain Dew sitting next to her supplies. Eh, it'll work for now. She picks up the cool potion and slowly tips it into the bottle. It fizzles and bubbles, much like the soda that once occupied the container. In fact, when she screws the lid back on, it's barely distinguishable from a half empty container of Mountain Dew. Oh well. She'll be fine.
She gathers together her dirtied supplies - of which there are many - in her arms and moves from her desk to the little kitchenette that takes up about half of her and Handong's apartment. The sink is small, but it'll do, especially if she takes her girlfriend out to eat tonight. As delicately as she can, she dumps the glassware into the basin and turns on the hot water. Maybe she should just leave it to soak.
She picks up the dish soap and squirts some into the basin.
The door opens. "Gahyeonie?" sings Handong from the front. "Are you in here?"
Gahyeon yelps as the water gets too hot and pulls her hand away from the sink. "Uh-huh! Sorry about the mess, I was just finishing up my Potions final." She fishes out a wooden spoon from the bottom of the basin, not without muffled swears and perhaps a mild scald. "Didn't want it to interfere with date night tonight, y'know?"
"Oh, dear," Handong says. She comes around into the kitchenette, loops her arm around the smaller girl's shoulders, and smiles warmly at her. "You know your work takes precedence, right? We can miss one date night."
Gahyeon brandishes the spoon and shakes her head. "Absolutely not. That's not allowed."
Handong rolls her eyes. "We're literally roommates, dear. I don't think I could forget about you if I tried." Even so, she seems to be conceding; she lifts her arm off Gahyeon and steps back. "I'll go get ready, then. What are we doing tonight?"
"There's a cool horror movie coming out tonight," Gahyeon says. She stirs the glassware around the basin with the spoon. "Maybe we could go there, then get dinner? Or dinner first? Which sounds better to you?"
She can't see her girlfriend from this angle. "That sounds fun," Handong says. Rustles something like she's sitting on the bed. "Where would we go? Also, hope you don't mind, but I'm finishing your drink. I haven't had anything to drink in hours."
"Go ahead," Gahyeon says on instinct. She sets the spoon aside and shakes some of the water off her hands. "I was thinking AMC? They have the- Wait, what drink?" She rockets out of the kitchenette, just in time to see Handong drinking what is definitely not Mountain Dew earnestly. Gahyeon squeals, rushes forward, and knocks the bottle out of the other girl's hands. "Holy shit, no!"
Handong flinches back and falls onto the bed behind her. "Okay, that was definitely not what I was expecting," she says, wiping the remnants of green potion from her lips. "Wait, was-"
Gahyeon practically throws herself at the ground and tries to scoop what's left of the spilled potion back into the bottle, but much of it has already absorbed into the beige carpet. "My final," she wails. "You drank my final." She stares at the weird green stain and her hands.
"What's going to happen?" Handong asks.
Gahyeon doesn't get a chance to answer, because when she turns around, there's a brilliant flash of light, and her girlfriend is no longer sitting there. Instead, there is a lump of white cardigan and t-shirt. Gahyeon claps her hand over her mouth and squeaks. "Handong!" She shuffles over to the bed and puts her hands on the clothing. "Oh, my God, are you alright?"
A small, furry brown head pokes out of the neck hole of the t-shirt. It blinks at Gahyeon with deep blue eyes and meows.
~*~
Friday night is date night; this is the rule. Gahyeon established that six months ago back when she and Handong made it official - every other Friday, they are going to have a formal date, because Lord knows the life of a university wizard is a busy one indeed. When they had established this rule, Gahyeon feared that they'd get bogged down in work and never see each other, much like what happened with her previous relationship.But maybe her last boyfriend had just been a selfish ass who didn't like spending time with her, judging from the way Handong so casually talks to her and makes an effort. It's almost often enough that the Friday night rule isn't so much as rule as a suggestion that Gahyeon clings to for a sense of stability.
She snaps her attention back to her work at hand just in time for the dropper of dragon's blood in her hand to slip right into the flask bubbling merrily away on top of her Bunsen burner. "God dammit," she mutters, wiping the splash back off of her face and leaning back. "Not again."
Her desk is scattered with various potion making equipment - tiny glass bottles stoppered with wood; wooden, marble, iron stirrers and sieves; a pewter mortar and pestle - and she knocks some of it aside in a desperate search for her tweezers. The flask that is her potion final has turned a disheartening shade of magenta. She groans, picks up the tweezers, and fishes the tiny bottle of dragon's blood out of it. Yet another attempt down the drain. And she's almost out of dragon's blood. She picks up the flask of failed potion and dumps it in the trash. It sizzles in the bottom of the bin. She wrinkles her nose at the smell of melting plastic.
On paper, the assignment for her Animal Potions 102 final is easy. Pick one of the potions we have studied, but not made, and make it; provide photographic evidence of the efficacy of said potion and a sample. Gahyeon's succeeded throughout the semester - she's got a B+ in the class, which is better than her other two classes - and the teacher likes her. Of the four potions she has to choose from, of course she chooses the most difficult one. Maybe, she's bit off more than she can chew.
She picks up the last flask that she has left to cook the potion in and sets it on the Bunsen burner. The flame glows a gentle blue. She leans over her stained and yellowed textbook and squints at the ingredients for the True Shifter potion. "Two pints moon water, a leaf of basil, four drops sage oil, three drops dragon's blood, a dash of cinnamon," she reads aloud. "Stir counterclockwise fifteen times. Alright, now where do I keep messing up?"
Meticulously, she picks up each ingredient and adds it to the flask. The potion smells much like an interesting soup. She twirls her favorite wooden stirrer in her fingers, scans the next few steps. Stir, add juniper leaf powder (as much as necessary) and a dash of fairy dust.
" Leaf powder!" she says. "Dumbass, you were adding juice!"
She stirs the potion exactly fifteen times and tosses the powder in. The potion turns a lovely, electric shade of green, much like the Mountain Dew that's been fueling her studying. It matches the picture in the textbook much better now. She grins and turns the Bunsen burner off, letting the potion cool as the recipe declares. Here's the difficult part - if she doesn't work quickly, the dust will gelatinize the potion and she'll be back to square one.
In a flurry of activity, Gahyeon sweeps three small bottles into her hand and drops the final ingredients into the flask. "Dongmul-idoeda!" she says, running her hand over the glass. Magic flickers and sparks from her fingertips; the potion begins to glow. Her face splits into a grin. "Oh, fuck yeah!" She pushes away from the table and whoops. "Finally! I got it right!"
Maybe date night is safe after all. Now to put the potion in a bottle and track down the squirrel she'll test it on. She leans over her desk and searches for the right glassware. Unfortunately, she finds nothing empty, save for a huge glass cup way too big for transporting in her backpack. She purses her lips, leans back, taps her chin in thought. There has to be something she can put it in.
Her gaze drops on the empty bottle of Mountain Dew sitting next to her supplies. Eh, it'll work for now. She picks up the cool potion and slowly tips it into the bottle. It fizzles and bubbles, much like the soda that once occupied the container. In fact, when she screws the lid back on, it's barely distinguishable from a half empty container of Mountain Dew. Oh well. She'll be fine.
She gathers together her dirtied supplies - of which there are many - in her arms and moves from her desk to the little kitchenette that takes up about half of her and Handong's apartment. The sink is small, but it'll do, especially if she takes her girlfriend out to eat tonight. As delicately as she can, she dumps the glassware into the basin and turns on the hot water. Maybe she should just leave it to soak.
She picks up the dish soap and squirts some into the basin.
The door opens. "Gahyeonie?" sings Handong from the front. "Are you in here?"
Gahyeon yelps as the water gets too hot and pulls her hand away from the sink. "Uh-huh! Sorry about the mess, I was just finishing up my Potions final." She fishes out a wooden spoon from the bottom of the basin, not without muffled swears and perhaps a mild scald. "Didn't want it to interfere with date night tonight, y'know?"
"Oh, dear," Handong says. She comes around into the kitchenette, loops her arm around the smaller girl's shoulders, and smiles warmly at her. "You know your work takes precedence, right? We can miss one date night."
Gahyeon brandishes the spoon and shakes her head. "Absolutely not. That's not allowed."
Handong rolls her eyes. "We're literally roommates, dear. I don't think I could forget about you if I tried." Even so, she seems to be conceding; she lifts her arm off Gahyeon and steps back. "I'll go get ready, then. What are we doing tonight?"
"There's a cool horror movie coming out tonight," Gahyeon says. She stirs the glassware around the basin with the spoon. "Maybe we could go there, then get dinner? Or dinner first? Which sounds better to you?"
She can't see her girlfriend from this angle. "That sounds fun," Handong says. Rustles something like she's sitting on the bed. "Where would we go? Also, hope you don't mind, but I'm finishing your drink. I haven't had anything to drink in hours."
"Go ahead," Gahyeon says on instinct. She sets the spoon aside and shakes some of the water off her hands. "I was thinking AMC? They have the- Wait, what drink?" She rockets out of the kitchenette, just in time to see Handong drinking what is definitely not Mountain Dew earnestly. Gahyeon squeals, rushes forward, and knocks the bottle out of the other girl's hands. "Holy shit, no!"
Handong flinches back and falls onto the bed behind her. "Okay, that was definitely not what I was expecting," she says, wiping the remnants of green potion from her lips. "Wait, was-"
Gahyeon practically throws herself at the ground and tries to scoop what's left of the spilled potion back into the bottle, but much of it has already absorbed into the beige carpet. "My final," she wails. "You drank my final." She stares at the weird green stain and her hands.
"What's going to happen?" Handong asks.
Gahyeon doesn't get a chance to answer, because when she turns around, there's a brilliant flash of light, and her girlfriend is no longer sitting there. Instead, there is a lump of white cardigan and t-shirt. Gahyeon claps her hand over her mouth and squeaks. "Handong!" She shuffles over to the bed and puts her hands on the clothing. "Oh, my God, are you alright?"
A small, furry brown head pokes out of the neck hole of the t-shirt. It blinks at Gahyeon with deep blue eyes and meows.