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Description
~Isobaric~

Vladimir’s legs were dangling in front of you. He had a knack for knowing when something was troubling your mind, but instead of going with the normal friendship process of asking you how he could help you, he continued to pester you.

“Come on, _____________,” he grinned. “Say it!”

“No,” you pouted.

“Say it…” he urged.

“Not going to.”

“You know you want to,” your friend said in a singsong voice.

“Vlad, have you been picking up cues from the Magic Club?” you groaned. “It’s bad enough when I’ve got just you noticing these things, but Lukas and Arthur are two completely different cases.”

“What’s this about the Magic Trio now?” a familiar, friendly voice said from behind.

“Dimitar!*” you gasped.

“Hi, Dimitar,” Vladimir beamed completely unwary of your flustered state.

Your friend looked bemused and curious. “Are you two arguing about which is better again?”

“Eh?” you blinked. “Oh, right! Yeah! I was just telling Vlad, here, about how magic is far inferior to chemistry!”

Dimitar cracked an amused smile. “Still going on about that, I see.”

“And I will continue about it until just one of the Magic Trio give in!” you pronounced.

“Good luck with that, ______________,” Dimitar laughed. “It’s going to take a lot to convince Vlad that science is better than magic.”

“Th-Thanks…” you stammered.

“Dimitar, _____________ likes you,” Vladimir suddenly burst out. Your heart lurched to your throat.

“Gagh! Vlad, shut up!” you hissed and smashed your hand over his grinning mouth.

“D-Don’t pay him any mind, Dimitar,” you nervously laughed. “He’s just letting you know how much I like you as a friend just as a heads up.”

“Oh, I see…” Dimitar replied. He had a crooked smile twisted on his lips. You had often seen that expression before; it usually conveyed his skepticism. Nothing suspicious was able to get past that smile.

“Well, I’ll just leave you two alone, then,” he unexpectedly said. “I don’t think I want to be around when you two are arguing.” And just like that, he was out the door, leaving you and Vladimir alone in the classroom.

“Vlad, you stupid idiot!” you hissed and struck the pesky brat’s top hat off his head. “Why’d you say it straight out like that?!”

“Because if I didn’t do it, you’d never say it,” Vladimir whined and bent over to pick up his hat.

You snorted. “I would have built up the courage eventually.”

“No, you wouldn’t,” your friend replied breaking down all of your previous confidence. “It’s been almost three years, hasn’t it? You still haven’t worked up the courage to tell him.”

You sighed. “You know, what, Vlad? I think after all of this time, Dimitar only sees me as a friend. I mean, don’t you think he would have at least said something about me during that time?”

“Hmm…” Vladimir thoughtfully rubbed his chin like he had an invisible beard growing on his lower jawline. “Dimitar hasn’t dropped any hints to me at all. Maybe you’re right.”

“There, you see?” you frowned. “I was afraid it was one-sided.”

Just then, Vladimir’s ruby-red eyes lit up. “Oh! I know! ____________, I’ve got a great idea! One that will kill two birds with one stone!”

Skeptical, you raised an eyebrow. “And what would that be?”

“I can get my friends in the Magic Club to whip up a love potion for you,” he beamed. “Once it works, not only will you and Dimitar be together, but I’m sure you’ll definitely be convinced that magic is better than science!”

“I don’t know…” you reluctantly replied. “What if it doesn’t work?”

“It will! Trust me!”

-----

You wrinkled your nose. This was the last time you were going to trust a vampire-looking friend with a tendency to play little pranks here and there.

“It reeks,” you said. “I thought love potions were supposed to be girly colored and smelled like hopes and dreams.”

“Table salt is made of a highly reactive alkali metal and a toxic gas, but no one ever complains about the flavors it brings about,” Lukas, a member of the Magic Club, said as he reviewed the ingredients in the recipe book.

“Besides, you should be very honored that we’re even helping you out,” Arthur, the head of the Magic Club, joined in, stirring the yellowish thick contents of the beaker.

Your crossed your arms. “You know, for people who generally disagree with the sciences, you really like to hang out in the chemistry lab a lot.”

“That’s because the chemistry lab has most of the equipment we need for making potions,” Arthur explained. “As the president of the student council, our club has special privileges of having access to just about every classroom in the academy so as long they aren’t reserved or in use.”

“How privileged, indeed,” you sarcastically responded. Even if these three were considered some of the smartest students in the school, you weren’t convinced that a bubbling bowl of yellow goop was going to win you Dimitar’s heart. In a way, it even seemed wrong.

Ever since you became his friend, you had always appreciated his honesty and cheerful willingness to help you out and listen to your problems. To have to rely on a cheap trick of a love potion to win his heart just wasn’t natural. However, perhaps this would be the only way you could get him to return your romantic feelings for him now.

“Is it almost done?” you asked leaning over Vladimir’s should to get a closer look. By now, Lukas had emptied the beaker’s contents into a separate glass bottle with a tiled neck used for capturing distilled or condensing vapors in a separate container.

“Once this boils, it’ll be set,” he told you cranking up the little lighter on the bottom.

“It gets tricky right here,” Arthur said. “The heat has to remain steady or else the wrong states will get mixed together. We don’t want that.”

“Oh,” you said.

While the four of you were waiting, Arthur began to talk to you.

“So, ______________, why haven’t you just told Dimitar that you like him?” he asked.

You swallowed. That again…

Vladimir nudged you. “Go on, ______________.”

“I-It’s because he hasn’t said he likes me,” you shamefully answered. “I’ve always been hoping that maybe we’d be more than friends, but I think that’s where Dimitar draws the line.”

“What makes you think that he’s not just waiting for you to confess your feelings to him?” Lukas then asked.

You glared daggers at Vladimir who was wearing a crooked smile.

“Someone already told him that I like him,” you growled. “But Dimitar didn’t say anything out of the ordinary. He just took it as it was.”

“I wonder who that person could have been…” Vladimir said in a far-off voice.

“Yeah, I wonder who,” you responded in a sarcastic voice.

“Oh, it’s done,” Lukas suddenly said.

Sure enough, the potion had gone from a sickly yellow slough of goop to a translucent clear liquid void of any color.

“Oh,” you said. “Th-This is…”

“It’s a love potion, love,” Arthur chuckled at his own little joke and took a small vial and a pipette. He put a miniscule amount of the potion inside the container and handed it over to you.

“This should do the trick,” he said.

You frowned and looked distrustfully at the vial. “It’s so little…” you murmured. “And you guys worked so hard to produce this.”

Vladimir shrugged. “It’s not a big deal. Besides, if we give Dimitar too much, he’ll get an upset stomach. It’s a side-effect we haven’t been able to work out.”

“Is that so…?” you murmured. Nevertheless, you pocketed the potion and listened to further instructions.

“Now, there is a small period of time you have to wait for before the potion starts to take effects,” Lukas instructed. “You must wait two minutes after consumption upon which you will then have thirty seconds to say the words, ‘I love you,’ to Dimitar. Understand?”

“Wait two minutes after drinking, and I’ve got thirty seconds to say ‘I love you,’” you repeated.

“Good,” Arthur nodded. “I don’t doubt that anything should go wrong. And in the meantime, I think we’ll finally win the battle of whether magic or chemistry is better. After all, it’s incredibly difficult to make someone fall for each other over experimentation. You could die or go blind.”

You rolled your eyes. “Thanks for the graphic details, Arthur.” Then, you took out your phone. “I’m going to see if I can meet up with Dimitar right now.”

“Ooh, if you’re going to go out, you think you can bring me some chocolate on your way back?” Vladimir piped up.

-----

Dimitar was still waiting outside at a table. You had volunteered to get the drinks for the both of you since you planned on spiking his drink with the love potion before serving it to him.

Okay, ___________, you can do this, you thought and set the drinks down on the table.

“Sorry, for making you wait,” you chuckled and sat down across from your friend.

“Oh, don’t worry about it,” Dimitar smiled. “It wasn’t long at all. It’s very nice of you to suddenly take me out like this. Doesn’t this remind you of when we were able to sneak away from Vlad that one time?”

“Y-Yeah,” you joined in with his laughter. Vladimir and Dimitar were like two peas in a pod: they were never too far apart, and yet when they were together, their personalities somehow had a way of going hand in hand. The only problem was that Vladimir could sometimes be a leech when it came to getting free snacks and drinks. His strange taste usually made the moments awkward. At least this time around, he wasn’t anywhere to be seen.

Dimitar held up his cup. “Cheers, ______________,” he beamed.

“Cheers, Dimitar,” you forced a smile and began to take cautious sips of your drink. The moment you saw Dimitar swallow his first sip, you automatically began to count off the second in your head.

Now to bide my time, you thought. I don’t want to say it out of the blue, though. I should probably work my way up to it…

“Um, hey, Dimitar?” you spoke up after setting your cup down.

“Yes, _____________?” your friend responded.

You gulped. “Um, so how are you feeling right now?”

Dimitar looked confused. “About what?”

“Umm…” you hesitated. “Oh, you know, just this moment in general.”

“It’s…nice,” he replied. “I’m glad we get to hang out like this. It’s been a while since it’s only been the two of us, hasn’t it? It’s almost like a date if you think about it.”

You flinched. “Uh…funny you should bring that up, Dimitar, because…because…”

Dimitar was wearing a twisted smile. He was befuddled about something.

“Because…” he carried out.

A hundred and ten seconds…a hundred and eleven seconds…

“_____________?”

“Dimitar, I…” your voice trailed off.

“Are you feeling okay?”

A hundred eighteen, a hundred nineteen…

“___— ”

“I love you!” you burst out. The other customers looked at you for a moment before returning to their own business.

Dimitar looked as though he had been petrified. His eyes were staring blankly off into space like he had seen a ghost.

Oh, no… you thought. Was this supposed to happen? Did I do it too soon? No, wait, I couldn’t have…I made sure I counted just right.

“Uh, Dimitar, are you alright?” you quietly asked waving a hand in front of his face to see if he would waver. You were really starting to wonder if the love potion worked or not.

All of a sudden, your friend’s eyes began to blink, and before long, he snapped back to his senses.

“Oh, _____________...” he said. “Y-You said you love me?”

“Y-Yeah, I do,” you nodded. Is this really how the love potion works?

“Huh.” Dimitar smiled and brushed back a loose strand of his dark bangs. “Th-That’s…That’s wonderful. Wow…I’m so happy.”

“You are?” you asked immediately wishing you could take that back. Of course he loved you. The love potion had to be taking effects, after all.

“Mm-hmm,” Dimitar shook his head—only to correct himself. He had a bad habit of shaking his head to mean “yes” and nodding to mean “no.”

“That’s a relief,” you exhaled. “I was afraid you were going to say you weren’t.”

“Why would I?” your friend laughed. “_______________, we’ve known each other for so long. You’re a great person to be around, and you’re able to handle my weird friends.”

“This is going a lot smoother than I thought it would,” you chuckled. I really thought he was going to be saying sappy lines and smothering me with hugs and kisses or something.

“What?”

“Nothing,” you quickly said. “So does this mean you love me, too?”

“Of course,” Dimitar smiled. “I wish I had known this sooner. When Vlad told me you liked me, I thought he was joking. You know how he is.”

“Yeah,” you laughed. “But at the time I thought you only liked me as a friend. You never said anything to either of us.”

Dimitar sheepishly scratched the back of his head. “That’s because I felt the same way about you, ___________,” he bashfully admitted. “I thought I was nothing more to you than a friend. You always look like you’re more lively with Vlad, after all.”

“That’s because he’s such a handful,” you grimaced.

“I agree,” Dimitar laughed.

You sighed in relief. Looks like I’m going to have to give this one to the Magic Trio.

-----

Lukas let out a heavy sigh and flopped back behind the bushes. “He said he loves her.”

“I knew it!” Vladimir beamed.

Arthur furrowed his eyebrows. “Thank goodness for that. It would have been a disaster if he didn’t return her feelings.”

Lukas looked at his friends. “Are we ever going to tell her that we forgot to use a lock of her hair for the potion?”

“Absolutely not,” Arthur huffed. “This way, ______________ will undoubtedly admit that magic is superior to science.”

“And she’ll get me my chocolate,” Vladimir grinned.

“Then we will never speak of this to anyone,” Arthur said.

Description
~Isobaric~

Vladimir’s legs were dangling in front of you. He had a knack for knowing when something was troubling your mind, but instead of going with the normal friendship process of asking you how he could help you, he continued to pester you.

“Come on, _____________,” he grinned. “Say it!”

“No,” you pouted.

“Say it…” he urged.

“Not going to.”

“You know you want to,” your friend said in a singsong voice.

“Vlad, have you been picking up cues from the Magic Club?” you groaned. “It’s bad enough when I’ve got just you noticing these things, but Lukas and Arthur are two completely different cases.”

“What’s this about the Magic Trio now?” a familiar, friendly voice said from behind.

“Dimitar!*” you gasped.

“Hi, Dimitar,” Vladimir beamed completely unwary of your flustered state.

Your friend looked bemused and curious. “Are you two arguing about which is better again?”

“Eh?” you blinked. “Oh, right! Yeah! I was just telling Vlad, here, about how magic is far inferior to chemistry!”

Dimitar cracked an amused smile. “Still going on about that, I see.”

“And I will continue about it until just one of the Magic Trio give in!” you pronounced.

“Good luck with that, ______________,” Dimitar laughed. “It’s going to take a lot to convince Vlad that science is better than magic.”

“Th-Thanks…” you stammered.

“Dimitar, _____________ likes you,” Vladimir suddenly burst out. Your heart lurched to your throat.

“Gagh! Vlad, shut up!” you hissed and smashed your hand over his grinning mouth.

“D-Don’t pay him any mind, Dimitar,” you nervously laughed. “He’s just letting you know how much I like you as a friend just as a heads up.”

“Oh, I see…” Dimitar replied. He had a crooked smile twisted on his lips. You had often seen that expression before; it usually conveyed his skepticism. Nothing suspicious was able to get past that smile.

“Well, I’ll just leave you two alone, then,” he unexpectedly said. “I don’t think I want to be around when you two are arguing.” And just like that, he was out the door, leaving you and Vladimir alone in the classroom.

“Vlad, you stupid idiot!” you hissed and struck the pesky brat’s top hat off his head. “Why’d you say it straight out like that?!”

“Because if I didn’t do it, you’d never say it,” Vladimir whined and bent over to pick up his hat.

You snorted. “I would have built up the courage eventually.”

“No, you wouldn’t,” your friend replied breaking down all of your previous confidence. “It’s been almost three years, hasn’t it? You still haven’t worked up the courage to tell him.”

You sighed. “You know, what, Vlad? I think after all of this time, Dimitar only sees me as a friend. I mean, don’t you think he would have at least said something about me during that time?”

“Hmm…” Vladimir thoughtfully rubbed his chin like he had an invisible beard growing on his lower jawline. “Dimitar hasn’t dropped any hints to me at all. Maybe you’re right.”

“There, you see?” you frowned. “I was afraid it was one-sided.”

Just then, Vladimir’s ruby-red eyes lit up. “Oh! I know! ____________, I’ve got a great idea! One that will kill two birds with one stone!”

Skeptical, you raised an eyebrow. “And what would that be?”

“I can get my friends in the Magic Club to whip up a love potion for you,” he beamed. “Once it works, not only will you and Dimitar be together, but I’m sure you’ll definitely be convinced that magic is better than science!”

“I don’t know…” you reluctantly replied. “What if it doesn’t work?”

“It will! Trust me!”

-----

You wrinkled your nose. This was the last time you were going to trust a vampire-looking friend with a tendency to play little pranks here and there.

“It reeks,” you said. “I thought love potions were supposed to be girly colored and smelled like hopes and dreams.”

“Table salt is made of a highly reactive alkali metal and a toxic gas, but no one ever complains about the flavors it brings about,” Lukas, a member of the Magic Club, said as he reviewed the ingredients in the recipe book.

“Besides, you should be very honored that we’re even helping you out,” Arthur, the head of the Magic Club, joined in, stirring the yellowish thick contents of the beaker.

Your crossed your arms. “You know, for people who generally disagree with the sciences, you really like to hang out in the chemistry lab a lot.”

“That’s because the chemistry lab has most of the equipment we need for making potions,” Arthur explained. “As the president of the student council, our club has special privileges of having access to just about every classroom in the academy so as long they aren’t reserved or in use.”

“How privileged, indeed,” you sarcastically responded. Even if these three were considered some of the smartest students in the school, you weren’t convinced that a bubbling bowl of yellow goop was going to win you Dimitar’s heart. In a way, it even seemed wrong.

Ever since you became his friend, you had always appreciated his honesty and cheerful willingness to help you out and listen to your problems. To have to rely on a cheap trick of a love potion to win his heart just wasn’t natural. However, perhaps this would be the only way you could get him to return your romantic feelings for him now.

“Is it almost done?” you asked leaning over Vladimir’s should to get a closer look. By now, Lukas had emptied the beaker’s contents into a separate glass bottle with a tiled neck used for capturing distilled or condensing vapors in a separate container.

“Once this boils, it’ll be set,” he told you cranking up the little lighter on the bottom.

“It gets tricky right here,” Arthur said. “The heat has to remain steady or else the wrong states will get mixed together. We don’t want that.”

“Oh,” you said.

While the four of you were waiting, Arthur began to talk to you.

“So, ______________, why haven’t you just told Dimitar that you like him?” he asked.

You swallowed. That again…

Vladimir nudged you. “Go on, ______________.”

“I-It’s because he hasn’t said he likes me,” you shamefully answered. “I’ve always been hoping that maybe we’d be more than friends, but I think that’s where Dimitar draws the line.”

“What makes you think that he’s not just waiting for you to confess your feelings to him?” Lukas then asked.

You glared daggers at Vladimir who was wearing a crooked smile.

“Someone already told him that I like him,” you growled. “But Dimitar didn’t say anything out of the ordinary. He just took it as it was.”

“I wonder who that person could have been…” Vladimir said in a far-off voice.

“Yeah, I wonder who,” you responded in a sarcastic voice.

“Oh, it’s done,” Lukas suddenly said.

Sure enough, the potion had gone from a sickly yellow slough of goop to a translucent clear liquid void of any color.

“Oh,” you said. “Th-This is…”

“It’s a love potion, love,” Arthur chuckled at his own little joke and took a small vial and a pipette. He put a miniscule amount of the potion inside the container and handed it over to you.

“This should do the trick,” he said.

You frowned and looked distrustfully at the vial. “It’s so little…” you murmured. “And you guys worked so hard to produce this.”

Vladimir shrugged. “It’s not a big deal. Besides, if we give Dimitar too much, he’ll get an upset stomach. It’s a side-effect we haven’t been able to work out.”

“Is that so…?” you murmured. Nevertheless, you pocketed the potion and listened to further instructions.

“Now, there is a small period of time you have to wait for before the potion starts to take effects,” Lukas instructed. “You must wait two minutes after consumption upon which you will then have thirty seconds to say the words, ‘I love you,’ to Dimitar. Understand?”

“Wait two minutes after drinking, and I’ve got thirty seconds to say ‘I love you,’” you repeated.

“Good,” Arthur nodded. “I don’t doubt that anything should go wrong. And in the meantime, I think we’ll finally win the battle of whether magic or chemistry is better. After all, it’s incredibly difficult to make someone fall for each other over experimentation. You could die or go blind.”

You rolled your eyes. “Thanks for the graphic details, Arthur.” Then, you took out your phone. “I’m going to see if I can meet up with Dimitar right now.”

“Ooh, if you’re going to go out, you think you can bring me some chocolate on your way back?” Vladimir piped up.

-----

Dimitar was still waiting outside at a table. You had volunteered to get the drinks for the both of you since you planned on spiking his drink with the love potion before serving it to him.

Okay, ___________, you can do this, you thought and set the drinks down on the table.

“Sorry, for making you wait,” you chuckled and sat down across from your friend.

“Oh, don’t worry about it,” Dimitar smiled. “It wasn’t long at all. It’s very nice of you to suddenly take me out like this. Doesn’t this remind you of when we were able to sneak away from Vlad that one time?”

“Y-Yeah,” you joined in with his laughter. Vladimir and Dimitar were like two peas in a pod: they were never too far apart, and yet when they were together, their personalities somehow had a way of going hand in hand. The only problem was that Vladimir could sometimes be a leech when it came to getting free snacks and drinks. His strange taste usually made the moments awkward. At least this time around, he wasn’t anywhere to be seen.

Dimitar held up his cup. “Cheers, ______________,” he beamed.

“Cheers, Dimitar,” you forced a smile and began to take cautious sips of your drink. The moment you saw Dimitar swallow his first sip, you automatically began to count off the second in your head.

Now to bide my time, you thought. I don’t want to say it out of the blue, though. I should probably work my way up to it…

“Um, hey, Dimitar?” you spoke up after setting your cup down.

“Yes, _____________?” your friend responded.

You gulped. “Um, so how are you feeling right now?”

Dimitar looked confused. “About what?”

“Umm…” you hesitated. “Oh, you know, just this moment in general.”

“It’s…nice,” he replied. “I’m glad we get to hang out like this. It’s been a while since it’s only been the two of us, hasn’t it? It’s almost like a date if you think about it.”

You flinched. “Uh…funny you should bring that up, Dimitar, because…because…”

Dimitar was wearing a twisted smile. He was befuddled about something.

“Because…” he carried out.

A hundred and ten seconds…a hundred and eleven seconds…

“_____________?”

“Dimitar, I…” your voice trailed off.

“Are you feeling okay?”

A hundred eighteen, a hundred nineteen…

“___— ”

“I love you!” you burst out. The other customers looked at you for a moment before returning to their own business.

Dimitar looked as though he had been petrified. His eyes were staring blankly off into space like he had seen a ghost.

Oh, no… you thought. Was this supposed to happen? Did I do it too soon? No, wait, I couldn’t have…I made sure I counted just right.

“Uh, Dimitar, are you alright?” you quietly asked waving a hand in front of his face to see if he would waver. You were really starting to wonder if the love potion worked or not.

All of a sudden, your friend’s eyes began to blink, and before long, he snapped back to his senses.

“Oh, _____________...” he said. “Y-You said you love me?”

“Y-Yeah, I do,” you nodded. Is this really how the love potion works?

“Huh.” Dimitar smiled and brushed back a loose strand of his dark bangs. “Th-That’s…That’s wonderful. Wow…I’m so happy.”

“You are?” you asked immediately wishing you could take that back. Of course he loved you. The love potion had to be taking effects, after all.

“Mm-hmm,” Dimitar shook his head—only to correct himself. He had a bad habit of shaking his head to mean “yes” and nodding to mean “no.”

“That’s a relief,” you exhaled. “I was afraid you were going to say you weren’t.”

“Why would I?” your friend laughed. “_______________, we’ve known each other for so long. You’re a great person to be around, and you’re able to handle my weird friends.”

“This is going a lot smoother than I thought it would,” you chuckled. I really thought he was going to be saying sappy lines and smothering me with hugs and kisses or something.

“What?”

“Nothing,” you quickly said. “So does this mean you love me, too?”

“Of course,” Dimitar smiled. “I wish I had known this sooner. When Vlad told me you liked me, I thought he was joking. You know how he is.”

“Yeah,” you laughed. “But at the time I thought you only liked me as a friend. You never said anything to either of us.”

Dimitar sheepishly scratched the back of his head. “That’s because I felt the same way about you, ___________,” he bashfully admitted. “I thought I was nothing more to you than a friend. You always look like you’re more lively with Vlad, after all.”

“That’s because he’s such a handful,” you grimaced.

“I agree,” Dimitar laughed.

You sighed in relief. Looks like I’m going to have to give this one to the Magic Trio.

-----

Lukas let out a heavy sigh and flopped back behind the bushes. “He said he loves her.”

“I knew it!” Vladimir beamed.

Arthur furrowed his eyebrows. “Thank goodness for that. It would have been a disaster if he didn’t return her feelings.”

Lukas looked at his friends. “Are we ever going to tell her that we forgot to use a lock of her hair for the potion?”

“Absolutely not,” Arthur huffed. “This way, ______________ will undoubtedly admit that magic is superior to science.”

“And she’ll get me my chocolate,” Vladimir grinned.

“Then we will never speak of this to anyone,” Arthur said.