Micah

Two years ago a rare herb had been discovered in underwater caves by rather daring deep divers. To everyones amazement, it had a serious link to old witchcraft. This discovery made the government make the herb mostly illegal, but under their supervision, legal to experiment with. After all, nobody had any idea what this thing was capable of. As a chemist, you had been one of the first to step up and take on the role of discovering all you could with this... magic.

I watched you scribble in your notebook, bent over your clean white desk with your neck craning down. I swallowed hard. I knew I shouldn't let my gaze linger too long on you, so I shifted my attention to the tube before me on the table littered with plants and all kinds of exotic herbs surrounding it. You had done most of the work so far, seeing as I had finally been allowed to work directly with the herb about a year ago and had been assigned to join you in your 'furthering of science', which was a fancy way to just say experiments. We had no idea what we were doing, but the more we screwed up, the more we could make things that actually worked.

I studied the glass tube of pink liquid hovering over a tiny flame, causing it to bubble and pop. I picked at my lip, before getting an idea. After all, this was just a small sample of the whole potion, so what could a tiny addition really hurt? Without consulting you, I reached for the wooden bowl by the tubes and pinched a bit of crushed rosemary between my fingers. I sprinkled it into the boiling liquid, studying it carefully. I dropped to my knees, at eye level with the tube. My eyes widened, hearing a crack as the liquid popped loudly, splashing around more violently before. I saw you spin around in the bent reflection of the glass, just as freaked out as I was as the cracking grew louder and more frequent, like a flurry of firecrackers.

Without much warning than that, a bang boomed through the lab, making our ears ring. I felt my back hit something and my vision filled with a pink cloudy substance in the air. I coughed, waving at it. I felt my heart constrict, the realization that I was probably going to get in trouble for just adding random things to the delicate potion without permission and causing an explosion. I heard you shout something, but I couldn't hear you over the ringing in my head. I bobbed my head to the side with my heart slamming against my ribs. The steel door to the lab slammed shut, locking us in. I groaned, knowing it would be a while until we could leave now. When any kind of gas got in the air as a result from experiments we were mandated to control its spread, just in case it was dangerous.

"Shit... s.. sorry..." I grumbled, finally starting to clear my head. You stood by me now, and I shakily got to my feet, my back letting its pain be known. I huffed, coming to it. I noticed your wide eyes and panic, so I forced a small smile. "I'm fine. I just... shouldn't have done that." I assured you, feeling guilt settling. I had kind of fucked up weeks of your work. I ran a hand through my hair, feeling my adrenaline starting to rise. I paused, confused. The explosion was already... over. I swallowed the lump growing in my throat. I blinked, noticing the way your pupils had started to expand to a curious amount. "...Ah. The potion... the explosion made the fumes airborne." I cleared my throat sort of awkwardly, feeling the room spike in temperature. Suddenly my white button down felt really hot. I pulled at the collar, trying to futilely relieve the tension. "It... it shouldn't have an effect if... if there was nothing there for it to work with, right?" I murmured. After all, the potion would only amplify any romantic attraction... which meant I was either fucked and be exposed, or find out the greatest news of my life. But maybe I could hide it. With that, my eyes swept the room, taking note of the decimated table that had been blown up by the mini explosion. "Lets... clean this mess up, seeing as we can't leave until the gas is gone..." I was starting to feel somewhat giggly. This wasn't going too well for me already.