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It was a simple enough plan, really. So she couldn’t fathom how it had gone so utterly and horribly wrong.
Medusa had her eye on him from the minute she slithered her way into a job at Morte University. Tall, handsome (if not a bit disheveled-looking), and with a touch of madness in his soul. She could use that. She wanted that. She wanted Franken Stein, the Biology 1 teacher. And as a witch, most things were easy for her to get.
A boyfriend could be good for her. It might liven up her experience in this dreadfully empty college town, bordered on one side by the sound and the other by ocean, ocean, and more ocean. Make that boyfriend an easy pawn and Medusa found herself drawn to Stein like a magnet.
Yet, with every attempt she made to get herself close to him, the witch found herself getting more frustrated. He had already made it clear that he didn’t trust her, and he had even stated that he suspected that she had something to do with Joe Buttataki’s suspicious disappearance. As a result, her every advancement towards him had been brushed off like dust swept out the back door. It fact, it seemed to Medusa like he was pointedly ignoring her.
Well, she could remedy that.
The small vial sat tucked in her pocket, moving against her hip as she leaned against the counter in the teachers’ lounge. She sipped her coffee idly, watching the doorway. If her observations had been correct, then Stein came in for coffee about that time every day, right before he went home. All she had to do was slip the clear love potion into his drink when he wasn’t looking, stand directly in front of him, and watch him go head-over-heels when she’s the first woman he lays eyes on.
Medusa perked up as she saw him walk in. His glasses slipped down his nose, his gray hair appeared to be uncombed, and his five o’clock shadow plainly dusted his jaw. Rugged, just how she liked them. The witch smiled pleasantly.
“Good afternoon, Stein,” she greeted. He simply hummed once in reply, moving towards her to the coffee machines. She hid her irritation well; the least he could do was look at her. Perhaps admire the lipstick that brightened her lips, or comment on how her eyeshadow brought out the gold of her eyes.
She didn’t expect him to say any of that, of course. But it would’ve been nice.
Stein cast a side glance at her as he made his own coffee. “Don’t you have somewhere to be? Or anywhere else?” he remarked curtly. The fight to hold her cheerful expression became increasingly difficult.
“No,” she replied casually. “I’m done teaching for today.”
He hummed again, turning back to the machine, and the conversation was ended. Medusa watched as he poured the contents of the pot into his mug. Now to simply get him to look away from his cup.
With a flick of her wrist behind her back, a trophy fell from a nearby shelf and crashed to the floor. However, Stein didn’t even flinch, barely glancing at it before lifting his mug to his lips. Medusa frowned as he took two large gulps. If she didn’t provide a good enough distraction, he’d finish the coffee before she had the chance to mix her concoction into it. Her eyes quickly scanned the room, searching for anything she could use to pull him away from the cup, when her sight settled on the light switch.
The witch allowed herself to smirk a little. Her hand flicked behind her back again, and the light switch flicked off, draping the room in darkness. She heard Stein grumble to himself, but she could hear him set his mug down.
“This room is rather accident-prone today, isn’t it?” he muttered, his footsteps moving over to the switch.
Medusa struggled to keep the satisfaction out of her voice as she pulled the potion from her pocket, feeling for the mug. “It seems so, Stein,” she said. She had just finished her task and put the vial back in her pocket when the lights switched back on. Stein made his way back to the counter, back to his mug, and back to his drink-turned love potion. The witch watched eagerly as he lifted the coffee to his lips, his eyes closing as it poured down his throat.
This was it. This was her moment. As soon as he pulled the drink from his mouth, as soon as he opened his eyes, he’d he infatuated. Then he’d be all hers, to control, to kiss, to use, to-
“Hi, Franken!”
Medusa froze.
Oh. No.
Stein turned towards the voice, opening his eyes as he set his mug down behind him.
No no no.
Marie Mjolnir. That cheerful one-eyed sociology professor was so sickeningly like a warm summer’s day that Medusa could almost feel herself getting an aching sunburn whenever she was around. And she just so happened to be the first person Stein laid eyes on after downing the love potion.
Medusa could feel a killing spell on the tip of her tongue, begging to be uttered and send a snake at Marie to strike her dead where she stood. But that certainly wouldn’t earn her any points with Stein. Instead, she seethed, glaring daggers at the two, waiting for the typical dopey lovesick grin to spread across his face. Every other victim of a love potion had those exact symptoms, and she’d have to whip up the antidote as fast as she could to try and revert the damage.
But Stein didn’t break into mushy giggling. He merely nodded once, said a mere “Hello, Marie,” and went back to his coffee as the other blonde strode over to him.
Medusa stared at him, dumbstruck. There was no way the potion could’ve failed; that was the exact recipe she had used before. Every single time it had worked to perfection. But the scene before her was the opposite of her typical results. Had it not mixed with the coffee correctly? Had he not drank enough?
Marie slid up to Stein, casually asking him about his day, to which Stein replied in detail about how badly Blackstar had behaved in class. At Marie’s laugh, Stein smiled again, and the answer to Medusa’s failure slapped her in the face like a wet towel.
The love potion didn’t work if whoever took it was already in love with the first person they saw.
Medusa stared at them for a moment longer. How could she have missed it? The way his shoulders relaxed, how his cold gaze softened, how he didn’t shy from her touches like he did with everyone else. Even the tint of madness pulsing from his soul lessened when he was around Marie.
The blonde in question met Medusa’s gaze for a moment. “Oh. Good afternoon, Gorgon,” she said casually. “Here for coffee?”
Medusa plastered a smile back on her face as she pushed off from the counter. “No, actually,” she said, striding towards the door. “In fact, I was just leaving.”
Marie didn’t reply, as Stein had grabbed her attention once more. Medusa rolled her eyes and made sure to toss the empty vial in the trash on her way out the door.