Dont mind me. Only just a little bit obsessed with the seven kingdoms au atm.Also completely fell in love with the Varian/Hugo ship so... that's what yall are getting.
To say that Varian regretted going in that cave was an understatement. He and the others thought it would be a good idea to split up and explore this labyrinth of a cavern. Yong and Nuru went together so that meant Varian and Hugo were cave partners for the time being. Perfect.
It wasn't that Varian disliked Hugo. He had the exact opposite problem, actually. He liked him. Alot.
There was something about Hugo that Varian found incredibly attractive. Maybe it was his knowledge of alchemy, or how smug he got talking about alchemy. Or it could've been the way his beautiful blue eyes reminded him of the ocean... and he was getting off topic. Point being, Varian had it bad.
Normally he was very good at hiding his emotions. Normally. Now, with it being just the two of them Varian didn't know how long he could last.
And then the flower incident happened.
They had been walking in silence for awhile before they stumbled upon a large pink flower. It was not a normal flower. They could tell because it was sparkly and glowing. So, naturally the first thing they thought was what implications it could have in alchemy.
Hugo carefully plucked it from the ground and twirled it slowly between his fingers. Varian watched him, slightly mesmerized by his actions.
"What do you think it is?" The blonde asked.
Varian shook himself out of his stupor and shrugged, trying to play the nonchalant card. "Heck if I know."
Hugo stared at him for a minute, an expression behind his eyes that Varian couldn't quite place. Finally he smiled and placed the flower in his bag. "We can find out later."
Varian nodded and they continued walking.
It had been almost thirty minutes and Varian could feel Hugo staring at him. He turned around and was shocked, almost frightened, to see Hugo's eyes were no longer blue but were instead a violety-purple color.
"Hugo?" He asked carefully.
The alchemist in question stepped forward, grabbing Varian's wrist and pulled him towards him. He raised his other hand and gently cupped Varian's cheek. The younger could only stand in shock. What the heck was happening?
"What are you doing?"
Hugo leaned forward and Varian's breath hitched.
"What I should've done a long time ago." And with that he kissed Varian.
Varian stood there for a second, completely frozen. He wanted to melt into the kiss. To just wrap his arms around Hugo and never let go but he couldn't do that. There was something wrong with his friend.
Varian shoved the blonde away from him. "What are you doing!"
Hugo didn't look deterred in the slightest. He simply grabbed Varian by the waist and held him closer. "Don't tell me you didn't enjoy that."
He felt a blush crawl onto his face. He put his hands on Hugo's chest and tried to push him away. "There's something wrong with you."
"The only thing wrong," He whispered, leaning closer. "Is that I didn't do this sooner."
Varian pushed him away again before Hugo could do anything. And this time he took extra precautions by sticky bombing his hands and feet to the cave wall.
Once Hugo was successfully detained, Varian took a moment to breathe. His lips were still tingling and his brain was going a mile a minute. There were no coherent thoughts, just the memory of what had happened.
Varian looked at his friend again and the expression he found was one he could only describe as lovestruck.
Then a realization hit him. The flower.
He quickly dug it out of Hugo's bag. It was significantly less glowy. That was something Varian decided was not good. And there was something about it that was strangely familiar. That's when Varian remembered reading about a flower like this back in Corona. He probably still had the book.
Varian reached for his bag and pulled out a book. It had a painted cover that was covered in intricately drawn leaves and birds. It was the last thing Rapunzel had given to him before he left. He opened it and conveniently flipped to the page he wanted on the first try. Lucky him.
The Lily of Aphrodite
Said to be found in caverns and dimly lit forests. This flower has the power to make whoever inhales it's pollen act on their strongest impulses of love. The infected will be drawn to whomever holds their affection.
These effects can only be reversed if the object of affection kisses the infected. (Note that the kiss will only work if the person who holds the infecteds affections reciprocates their feelings of love.)
Varian closed the book, his heart pounding. Okay, so the kiss would definitely work. That left him with a multitude of problems to face afterwards. He risked Hugo finding the book and discovering he loved him. There was also the fact that Hugo apparently like him too? Varian shook his head in an effort to clear these thoughts. Right now he needed to deal with the immediate problem.
He slowly stood up and looked at Hugo who was still staring at him. Scratch that. He was definitely checking him out. Varian didn't know how to respond to that. So he slowly and carefully approached him. He got right in front of him and placed a hand on his cheek, absentmindedly brushing some of his blonde hair away with his thumb.
"Wondering when you would come over here." Hugo said with a smile and Varian was helpless. That dang smile ruined him.
The younger alchemist could only stare as he ran through his mind what he was about to do.
"Varian." Hugo said in a sing song voice. "Are you just gonna stand there or what?"
Varian's resolve hardened. "Can't you just shut your dang mouth for once?" It was more of a demand than a question and before Hugo could respond with something flirtatiously snarky, Varian crashed their lips together.
The hand that was resting on Hugo's cheek slowly curled into his hair as Varian made the kiss alot deeper than he intended. This kiss was messy and was supposed to just be to break whatever curse had ensnared itself on the blonde but it ended up being so much more.
Varian finally broke the kiss, pulling back to see if it had worked. His heart leapt in his chest when Hugo's eyes returned to normal.
"Varian?"
"Hi."
Hugo was confused at to why Varian apparently had him pinned to a wall. He looked to his left to see his hand stuck against the cave with the pink goop Varian had made. He looked back at Varian. His fingers were curled into his hair and Hugo could only guess what happened.
"What um... what happened."
Varian seemed to realize what position they were in because he promptly dropped his hand and released Hugo from the pink, goopy prison.
"It's alot to explain." He laughed nervously.
Hugo looked to see the flower they'd found earlier lying on the floor.
"Sh-" He stopped himself and looked at Varian apologetically. "Did I kiss you?"
Varian nodded, a blush growing on his cheeks.
Hugo quickly put two and two together. "And you kissed me."
"T-to get you back to normal!" Varian retaliated, his face reddening. He stopped. "Wait. You said you didn't know what it was!"
Hugo looked away. "Suspension of disbelief." He walked over to the flower which had lost it's glow. He looked back at Varian who seemed to be struggling to find something to say. "Are you okay?"
"I... I- no! I mean, we- you and I-" He groaned and pulled at his hair.
Hugo found this extremely cute. "It's okay. We'll figure it out. For now... let's just get rid of the flower and make camp. I've got the feeling we'll be down here for awhile."
Varian didn't disagree with him but didn't say anything either.
Almost an hour later they were sitting by a fire. There had been no conversation at all and Varian seemed determined to keep it that way.
Finally Hugo couldn't bare the silence any longer. "Why are you ignoring me?"
Varian looked at him with surprise. "I'm not... I'm not ignoring you."
"Yes you are. You haven't said a word to me since the flower incident."
Varian stared into the fire, seemingly content with returning to silence.
Hugo was not.
"Listen Var, I know this wasn't the ideal way to get our feelings out into the open but they are now and I think we should deal with them now instead of later."
Varian finally met his eyes.
"Do you really want to know why I've been ignoring you?"
Hugo nodded.
"I'm scared." He admitted. "I'm scared that if I admit that I love you, then it'll be real. I won't be able to hide under a mask anymore."
Hugo took his hand. "What's wrong with real?"
Varian looked into his eyes and he was once again helpless. "It's daunting. If I admit it then I could lose you."
Hugo scooted a little closer to him. "You won't."
Varian leaned a little closer and what he said next was what made Hugo's heart stop.
"Can I kiss you?"
The blonde alchemist was stunned but quickly got over it and nodded. "Yes."
This time Varian did wrap his arms around Hugo and kissed him with everything he had.
Hugo rested one hand on Varian's waist and the other against his cheek.
Their lips moved together in perfect sync like it was something they'd done a thousand times.
Hugo curled his fingers into Varian's hair and the contented sigh the other alchemist gave made him melt.
When Varian broke the kiss and leaned their foreheads together, there was a small smile playing at his lips. "That was..."
"I know." Hugo brushed some hair behind his ear. "You don't have to ask, by the way."
"Hmm?"
"To kiss me. You don't have to ask."
Varian smiled playfully. "Really?"
Hugo nodded. "Yeah."
"That's fantastic." Varian said with a laugh and pulled him into another kiss.
Hugo absolutely loved the feeling of Varian's lips against his. It just felt so right in every way possible. There were moments when Varian would pull away to get some air before diving back into the kiss.
Everything about it was perfect and maybe, just maybe, Varian didn't regret going into that cave after all.
Yay! So you got Hugo kissing Varian while under the influence of a spell. Varian kissing Hugo to break the spell. And then the two of them making out in a cave. Aren't I a great author?
