Tainted Love Potion
[[I am so sorry this is coming in at the eleventh hour. And that it is a bi short and derpy. The cortisone has made me so fatigued, lately, but I wanted to submit something. And this idea was too silly not to submit xd I just wish I could have done it a little more justice but...enjoy, hee hee!]]Romulus stood in his study, hands shaking slightly. No, it couldn’t be. He could not have truly done it. A slow, incredulous smile spread across his face as he leaned against his desk, studying the formula before him, before peering down at the vial. The liquid within hardly looked appetising but, then again, his medicines rarely did. He was a firm believer that, so long as the medicine did its job, taste was an unnecessary perk.
Taking a deep, steadying breath, he set the formula aside, carefully, and raised the vial. Here it was. This was it, Romulus was so sure of it. This would either cure his Lycos…or kill him. Either way, he had nothing to lose. He shut his eyes and swallowed the rapidly congealing mess. Then he carefully set the vial down, again, and waited.
And waited.
After a few long minutes, nothing spectacular had happened. Romulus frowned. He wasn’t dead but he certainly didn’t feel any different. Then again, he was in his study, shrouded from the outside world. Safe in here, his Lycos symptoms were unlikely to billow up. Still frowning, Romulus hesitated before heading back upstairs to grab his coat. He had no desire to be out in public, especially after consuming a previously untested concoction but…this was the only way to test it. Though, it would have been better to have someone observing him and protecting him – and the unsuspecting public – should things go awry.
Next time, he would remember.
Pulling on his coat, and taking his house keys back from one particularly stubborn vine, Romulus let himself out and headed down the small path through his garden, to the street. He shut the gate then paused, considering his options. He could stay close to home, just in case he needed something from his study. However, he could spend all day waiting for someone to annoy him. Perhaps, if he went to town, he would find someone irritating enough to trigger an attack. Though, if the cure had for some horrific reason not worked, triggering his Lycos in public would be even more dangerous.
He nodded to himself. The centre of town was the best place to go, but not unsupervised. There was one other person he could trust with this secret – and, of course, to gloat over when he proved the cure worked. Hands in his pockets, Romulus headed quickly in the direction of Vilos’ home. He could swing by there, call Vilos away from whatever folly he was doing for the Technoguilden, and they could experiment. Then, when he had proved the cure worked, I would be a small matter of a day to whip up a vial for Vilos, before producing enough to take to the guilden. Then, ha, he would no longer have to worry about Jax and her covert little plans to have him arrested.
Oddly, though, the thought of Jax made him suddenly…wistful. In fact, he had the oddest inclination that, had the woman suddenly shown up at that very moment, he wouldn’t mind inviting her inside for a drink and, perhaps, another round of…no! Romulus scowled at himself, shoving his hands, now balled into fists of annoyance, deeper into his pockets. What on earth had that been about? As…pleasant as the night had been with Jax, she was – for all intents and purposes – a possible enemy. Thinking about her like that was not helpful. Especially when his mind seemed pleased to meander past a simple one night stand to maybe something…more…
Still scowling, and furiously trying to wrest his brain off its sudden romantic tangent, Romulus hurried out of his neighbourhood and into the outskirts of town. It was early and there were still too few people up to get much of a rise out of his condition, even if he was already a little irritated. It didn’t take long, then, to catch wind of a familiar voice that caused the hairs on the back of his neck to stand up on end.
“So, like, we’ve totally got enough saplings for you to, you know, start off with your greenhouse…unless, like, you wanted more or something because then we could definitely find more, I just thought this was a good start and we’d be able to get things going a little at a time but, you know, if you need something bigger we can totally get more, I don’t want to presume…”
A laugh cut through Lily Bischoffs’ ramblings as Romulus turned. “Lily, I’m sure it’s fine. I think we have enough, anyway.” Romulus eyed the pair. Ah, yes, there they were. Miss Bischoffs and Vilos’ nephew, Yulian. Both of whom were wearing annoyingly besotted looks on their faces. It would really do them both better to stop lording their apparent romance over everyone else. Especially since, if any couple could set Romulus’ symptoms off, it would be the pair of them. Especially Miss Bischoffs.
Romulus shook his head, again, as he watched them. The girl was an enigma, truly. How could such a brilliant mind be trapped in such a vapid brain? The way the young woman mangled the English language was a marvel. Yes, she was not English born, but Romulus had yet to meet anyone, of any other nationality, insert so many “likes”, “you knows” and “totallys” into a single, breathless sentence…uttered from those delicate, pale red lips. She was pretty, Romulus could not deny that. Extremely pretty, despite the fact that many expeditions had obviously weather-worn her skin and face.
She always dressed nicely, too. Like a lady, unlike some women he saw about, these days, wearing pants. Sure, that was all well and good for expeditions, but not for day to day life. Almost worst were the skirts coming into fashion. Hems that reached the knee left nothing to the imagination. Miss Bischoffs, however…there was much that could be left to the imagination.
And Romulus’ was pleased to provide him, rather suddenly, with some quite detailed imaginings. He stared at the pair – mainly at Lily – as they nattered over a stall, as the harried looking owner busied himself bundling their purchases into a small wheelbarrow. Undoubtedly they were working on Yulian and Vilos’ greenhouse. That fleeting thought was crushed as Romulus’ mind clung to Lily and…the odd urges bubbling their way through him, striving to free themselves. She really was quite a remarkable woman. Intelligent, brilliant, ahead of her time in her field, and beautiful, and somewhat dignified as well.
Romulus didn’t realise he had crossed the street and had joined the pair, until he vaguely heard Yulian’s surprised (and slightly guarded) voice. “Mr…Chase?” he asked, as Romulus ignored him, staring down at Lily. The girl, under Romulus’ seeking gaze, coloured and looked to Yulian for help. “Are you alright?”
Romulus didn’t answer. Instead, he threw caution to the wind (which…was surprisingly easy, all of a sudden) and pulled the girl to him, kissing her firmly. Lily wriggled and made muffled noises of protest, as Yulian gibbered in shock beside him. Romulus ignored them both and would have been happy to continue, if Yulian and the stall holder hadn’t taken the initiative to suddenly started pulling and slapping him away from the beautiful Lily.
“What the HELL do you think you’re doing?” Yulian demanded, still guardedly, as he pulled Lily away and backed up a good few feet. Lily simply stared in shock, a hand raised as if to wipe her mouth but paused there, in mid-air, as if she was considering how socially appropriate an action wiping her mouth would be.
Romulus watched, slightly shell-shocked himself, as Yulian, wisely, backed away, keeping the stall holder between them. The young man, after all, obviously had an inkling that Romulus and his uncle shared the same condition. And, under normal circumstances, Romulus would have appreciated the gesture and the space to calm down. But, right then, Lily’s departure only made him feel worse. It had set off a spark inside him. Now he definitely would not have objected to another of Jax’s “fainting spells”.
Growling slightly under his breath, confused as to what the hell was going on with himself and everyone else that morning, Romulus turned on his heel and headed onward to Vilos’. Undoubtedly, there, he would have to encounter Yulian again but he didn’t particularly care. If the boy wanted to keep his hold on the beautiful Lily, then he’d have to fight for her…for some reason. Romulus scowled. Where on earth had this sudden, violent, infatuation been born from?
Running the scene over in his head, basking somewhat in the memory of kissing a woman after so long (Jax notwithstanding, of course) Romulus made his way up to Vilos’ home. Still lost in thought, he knocked soundly on the front door. Perhaps it was merely the euphoria of having finally finished the cure? Perhaps, all these years of denying himself, of holding back from having someone in his life, had finally caught up to him. He could hardly be blamed for that, now, surely.
It had been harmless, too. It was not as if he wished to steal Lily from Yulian. He wasn’t some kind of deviant, after all. It was as this thought was passing through his head, that the door opened. Romulus looked up to see Vilos standing there. Vilos, his only real friend of these past, long years. Vilos, who, despite his harried, haggard looks (Romulus knew that look of exhaustion well) was actually not an unattractive man.
Romulus licked his lips, slightly, as Vilos raised an eyebrow. “Romulus? What on earth are you here, for?” the man hesitated, then sighed. “Do you wish to come in?”
“I…” Romulus began, with every intent to tell Vilos about the Lycos cure. But…he couldn’t stop looking at the man’s face. At his dark eyes. At his lips…
In one swift move, Romulus pushed his way into the room, grasping Vilos’ head gently, yet firmly. The other man, too shocked at first to do more than move along with Romulus, suddenly fought back. “What the HELL do you think you’re doing!?” the man boomed. Romulus felt a small sense of déjà vu as he ignored the struggling man and went in for the kill. Or kiss, both seemed appropriate at that moment.
“Get off me, you idiot!” Vilos said, getting his hands balled into Romulus’ shirt, as Romulus tried to close the gap between them. There was a moment’s violent struggle, as the two men wrestled. A loud clatter echoed through the house over their grunts of exertion, the sound of a small vase toppling to the floor, before Vilos gained the upper hand. The Lycos, pumping through his veins, rose up and, with a final roar and a powerful shove, Vilos sent Romulus spinning painfully into a wall, the back of his head cracking loudly against the timber.
Romulus managed, just, to stay on his feet as he saw stares. Vilos stood, not too far away, regaining his breath and glaring daggers in his direction. As his vision cleared so, suddenly, did Romulus’ head. It was as if, all morning, he’d been walking through a fog. A haze of giddy daydreams and infatuation. A giddy haze that had…Oh God.
Romulus’ stomach turned, and he felt somewhat nauseated, as the event of that morning suddenly came to him more clearly. Not only had he dared to “lock lips” with that vapid little waste of space, Bischoffs but he had…he very nearly had…he had been about to…with Vilos…
All this had happened after drinking…the “cure”.
“WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM!?” Vilos roared, storming over to him, finally, now that it seemed Romulus was not attempting to introduce his tongue to Vilos’ throat. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?”
Romulus stood there a long moment, considering how to answer, before scowling right back. Straightening, and adjusting his coat, he headed back for the door. “I’m going home,” he said, gruffly, ears burning.
“To burn a formula.”
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