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It was lunch time at Merlin Academy, and at a table near the the double doors of the entrance Uliana and her crew were sat eating, always preferring to arrive to eat later than most because it meant that the hall was practically empty at this point, as most of its students had finished and had vacated the hall to socialize, study or take part in their chosen extra-curricular activities.
A few students were still scattered around but all gave Uliana and her group a wide birth, as always, but today there seemed to be an even deeper sense of unease amount the student body, a particular energy radiating from the group of five delinquents.
Something was most definitely…off, the entire group was silent, and not in a companionable way or simply due to the fact that they were busy eating, it was an awkward state of silence broken only by the clink of cutlery or replacing a beverage glass on the table, and every so often on or two members of the group would raise their eyes, glance over at their companions and return to eating, none of them wanting to be the one to even attempt to break the tension.
What was most obviously out of place however? Hades and Maleficent were sitting as far apart as possible without completely breaking off from their group; Maleficent sat beside Uliana , while the boys sat opposite them, first Hook, then Morgie, and finally Hades.
Hades and Maleficent, the ‘it’ couple amongst the delinquents of Merlin Academy, the couple who would sneak out of their own dorms in the middle of the night to sleep in the same bed, the couple who could hardly go five minutes without exchanging some form of physical contact and had gotten more demerits and detentions for inappropriate forms of PDA, than they had for disrupting class and the harassment of other students, sitting so far apart meant only one thing.
They had been fighting.
Maleficent, who had lifted her glass to sip her drink, put down her glass
“James, dear, would you pass the ice water?”
Hooks’ eyes flicked to the jug to his right; it was nearer to Hades than him
“Do I get a magic word?” the pirate retorted, having to stand and lean over his plate to reach the jug with his hand.
Maleficent shot him a glare
“ Now ” She demanded sharply.
Hook gave her a smile and put the jug down where she could reach it
“Thank you, love”
Hades, however, scoffed
“Hook, tell Mal she doesn’t need any more ice in her veins, since touching her is like touching a glacier as it is”
They might have been sitting apart but Maleficent wasn’t deaf, of course she heard this, and in returned she bat her thick black eyelashes at the youngest member of their group
“Morgie, would you tell Hades to shove a coal in it and to choke while he does it?”
Uliana, the leader of her unruly crew, groaned
“For the love of all the seven seas, when are you two going to drop this?” she snapped.
Morgie was quick to agree
“She’s right guys, it’s been what, a week?”
Hook gestured with the fork in his hand
“Week and a half, a new record,” he corrected.
Maleficent rolled her eyes but went back to her meal
“So sad that you all have nothing better to do than tally Hades and I’s arguments”
Hades noisily pushed away his plate
“Well it’s better than flirting with someone else when they’re taken”
Hook, with wide eyes, held up both hands defensively
“Don’t bring me into this” he stated, picking up his drink.
Ignoring the pirate, Maleficent looked at Hades condescendingly, putting manicured fingers to her chest with feigned a look of surprise
“Oh, we are doing talking today? I’m honored”
She snapped the last line of that sentence, to make it clear she was, in fact, not honored before getting to her feet
"At least Hook showed me some attention instead of getting so obsessed with pranking the fencing team that he practically ignored me for two weeks!"
Hook stayed sat, wide eyed, pursing him lips uncomfortably, and Maleficent lifted the hem of her dress and got up from the bench, storming out of the hall
Hades couldn't resist one last pot-shot
"Lot of big words in that sentence baby, need a pain relief potion?"
Maleficent turned her head and hissed in his direction before slamming out of the hall, she could distantly be heard screaming at some first years to get out of her way before the door slammed closed.
This left the group to sit in tense, or exasperated, and annoyed in Ulianas’ case. Silence once again, if one didn’t count the way Hades aggressively and moodily stabbed the food on his plate with his fork, only to throw the piece of cutlery down as though it had personally offened him, and stormed away to cool off.
With one finger, and a mild look of disgust Hook flicked a crumb that had flown up to land on his cheek when Hades had thrown the fork
“I don’t know which is worse, when they’re in a fight and expecting us three to be in the middle, or them being all over each other like squids in heat, no offence Uli, love.” he added hastily.
Uliana reached across the table with one tentacle and cuffed the pirate upside the head, hard
“Regardless” she hissed
“Enough is enough, we’ve got to do something about those two; it’s getting in the way of our plot for disruption and chaos.”
Morgie, who had kept quiet, wanting to keep out of the situation as much as possible, until now, spoke up
“But how? How do we force them to talk to each other, a spell?” he suggested eagerly, eyes flashing bright for a moment.
Uliana slowly smirked, bringing her hands together beneath her chin, tentacles curling, with the front two coming together, pointed skyward in front of her - she was plotting.
Morgie led Hades down the hall of the school, almost running a little way ahead.
“Come on, Uliana said 4;00 on the dot, you know how she gets if we’re late”
Hades, walking with long but slow and casual strides, grumbled
“For someone who’s late for class and skips more often that she atten̈ds, she sure is a stickler for time keeping when it suits her”
He followed Morgie into an empty classroom, empty, no Hook, no Uliana , no Morgie! Having lost sight of the Le Fay boy, Hades spun around just in time to see Hook holding the door open, leading Maleficent by the hand into the room, but didn’t follow her.
Seeing what was coming, the flame haired god lunged
“Hook!”
“Have fun you two!” James chimed, slamming the door shut before Hades or Maleficent cold do anything!
Hades tried the handle, but through the glass window, he saw Uliana flick the outside lock
“You can come out when you can make up without putting us in the middle of your relationship drama!” She announced loudly.
Maleficent stomped her foot
“Uli let us out!” She ordered, to no avail!
Hades tried the door handle again, rougher this time but quickly gave up, putting his arm out, he guided Maleficent to step back, without touching her, and she batted his arm away from her anyway; Hades glared at her for a second but rolled his shoulders and took a run at the door.
He was already airborne when a bright yellow shimmer covered the door, and upon impact Hades was thrown backwards, slamming against the floor.
After taking a moment to lay there, regaining his bearings and assessing whether or not he was concussed from the impact, Hades sat up
“She spelled us, well, spelled the door.” he complained, leaning back on his hands.
Maleficent walked past him, giving him a kick to his waist with her booted foot
“The door opens inwards, you dolt. even if she hadn’t you wouldn't have been able to put enough force into opening it” she pointed out.
Frowning, Hades got to his feet in irritation while Maleficent had lifted herself to perch on the edge of a desk, crossing both arms and throwing one leg over the other.
Hades smirked
“Oh back to hiding behind that ice wall, Mal? Fine” he sneered.
Planting himself heavily in a chair, he locked his hands behind his head, closing his eyes.
Until a familiar rustling could be heard.
Oh no.
“Don’t you dare” the god threatened.
Smirking with an evil glint in her eye, Maleficent delicately put a strip of gum into her mouth, chewing quietly
“What?” she asked ‘innocently’ with a soft shrug of her shoulder
Hades didn’t open his eyes but remained tense, counting down from eight.
“3….2…1…”
Pop.
Hades snarled to himself.
Pop
‘Never punch a girl, never punch a girl…’ he thought to himself.
Spell them, sure, burn them to cinders, of course, insult them, especially when they get on your nerves, meh whatever. But physically punch, slap, kick or hit them for popping gum? He refused to sink so low; even he had some standards.
Pop
On the other hand...
Outside the door, Uliana, James and Morgie stood guard outside, it was perhaps ten minutes before the yelling started
“If you weren’t so stubborn we wouldn’t be locked in here” Hades pointed out.
Maleficent shrieked in response
“Excuse me, you’re saying this is my f ault? Who was the one who started this stupid argument in the first place…”
Morgie raised an eyebrow
“At least they’re talking, though this could still take a while.” he said with resignation, sliding down the wall to sit on the floor.
While the imprisoned couple continued to shout at each other, Uliana held her shell necklace with one hand, caressing the object almost lovingly as it’s magical glow faded
“Well they’d better get used to it, the spell will only break when they make up”
After almost 2 hours the screaming, yelling and the sound of items being thrown, and likely dodged, died down and came to a stop, Uliana and the boys all glanced at each other expectantly, only for the yelling to resume.
Back inside the classroom, Hades and Maleficent were stood just inches apart, still heated from their hours of arguing
“Why are we even still together, all you are is a walking thorn in my side!”
Maleficent scoffed
“And you’re just weak, why is your hair even blue? Fire is orange you idiot!”
Hades growled lowly
“It represents the color of death, or do you only have ice cubes in there instead of a brain?”
He fought the urge to flick a horn protruding from her head, that was good way to lose a finger. He was a god so he would heal, but maybe another time; if only to get him out of doing classwork for a while, not that he did that much any way but still.
Maleficent stewed for a moment before spitting out
"You're so obnoxious!"
Hades scoffed
"Witch"
Maleficent swallowed, her voice was hoarse, from screaming she told herself
“Jerk”
Hades pretend that his mouth didn’t quirk into a tiny smile that he turned into a sneer at the last second
“Brat”
Maleficent's eyes became bright green as she locked him in a prolonged stare, but Hades didn’t flinch, turn away or otherwise react beyond stare right back just as furiously.
Outside the room, the door glowed yellow once again, splitting and melting apart but the sudden silence seemed to stretch on and on with no sign of Maleficent or Hades.
“Maybe they finally killed each other” James suggested in a matter of fact tone, while holding his hook up to the light, scrutinizing it for blemishes.
This shouldn’t be possible given the spell, but Uliana decided to check just in case so she unlocked and kicked open the door, and was met with a sight so grizzly , a sight so nauseating, so horrific that she momentarily wanted to vomit.
The fae witch and the god were kissing, a lot. Hades was slouched in an empty chair with Maleficent perched across his lap, secure in his arms as they engrossed in a heated, and extensive make out session.
The couple broke apart but didn't acknowledge the other occupants of the room
"What were we fighting about again?" Hades asked, between chews of the gum in his mouth.
Maleficent, no longer chewing gum, put a hand to his cheek, digging nails into his skin
"Don't remember, don't care." she stated, yanking his mouth back to hers.
Uliana groaned
“I gotta go wash my eyes out with lemon juice, salt and razor blades” she announced, flouncing out the room in a flurry of blue and yellow braids and writhing tentacles.
She was quickly followed by Hook, who rolled his eyes dramatically, mumbling under his breath
"Squids in heat"
He then yanked Morgie, who was opening and closing his mouth like a stranded fish, from the room in order to leave the delinquent couple to it, while considering the idea that maybe the frigid silence, acidic verbal barbs and having to pass messages between them when they refused to acknowledge each other really was a better alternative.