Archive of Our Own

Dot stirred awake as he felt sunlight beaming on his face. He yawned and sat up, running a hand through his messy red hair. Right, it was another day for the main character to conquer! Dot thought about the great things he’d do; ace every class, say hi to cute girls, maybe even go out with Lemon! This day looked like it was going to be—

“Hurry up. We’re going to be late.” Dot looked at his roommate, Lance, who was gathering his textbooks. That bastard interrupted his internal monologue!

The redhead glanced at the clock. Class started in… 15 minutes?!

“Why didnt you wake me up earlier?!” Dot cried, bolting out of bed and stumbling over to his wardrobe.

“Didn’t feel like dealing with your attitude,” Lance retorted.

Dot rolled his eyes dramatically as he buttoned up his shirt. “Shut up. You have even shittier attitude.”

Being the main character, of course Dot had a rival, which happened to be his roommate.

His insanely good looking roomate.

Dot absolutely hated pretty boys like Lance. Stealing all the girls’ attention, and not even caring! If he were Lance, Dot would gratefully accept every single confession letter from every girl.

He loosely tied his tie and left one button of his undershirt undone. Throwing on his Adler dorm robe, Dot hurried to grab his books before Lance left without him. He found Lance at the door, who was looking at a photo of his younger sister inside a silver locket.

“Let’s go, siscon.” Dot lightly punched Lance on the arm. That was another great part about being the main character — he could call all the shots!

“I shouldn’t have even waited.” Lance sighed, snapping the locket shut. “We’re late because of you.”

“Oi!” Dot shouted. “If you had left without me, I would’ve killed y—“ He instantly shut his mouth when Lance gave him a deathly stare. Dot didn’t want to be graviole’d into the ground first thing in the morning.

Not only did Dot and Lance argue the whole time while walking to class, but they were constantly bickering throughout the entire day. It was unfortunate that Dot shared almost every class with Lance. It was even more unfortunate that Dot had to watch the other boy get drooled on by a fan club of girls!

Dot watched a few girls sending Lance flirty glances and giggling near him. The blue haired boy payed no attention to any of them, focusing on the teacher’s lecture instead. Dot was about ready to snap his quill in half.

This is absolute bullshit! Dot wanted to scream. He was the main character! The girls should be blushing at him, not Lance!

Dot felt a strange tug inside his chest. He internally sighed. Recently, he’d been feeling strange feelings in his chest or stomach whenever he was around Lance. It was especially noticeable when he came back to the dorm holding confession letters he never bothered to read. Dot labeled the feeling as jealousy.

Finally, the last class of the day started — Potions class. Dot was exhausted and felt defeated. Probably from seeing Lance waste so many opportunities with so many willing girls. Ugh. He just wanted to go back to his dorm and sleep.

“Now, students,” the teacher said, walking around the room, “adding too much or too little of one ingredient can cause the entire potion to change.” She looked approvingly at one group’s cauldron and said something else, but Dot wasn’t paying attention.

What potion were they even making again? Dot couldn’t remember, because he was too busy glaring daggers at Lance. The double liner was giving advice to Lemon, pointing at different ingredients on the table. Lemon should be talking to Dot, not that fucking siscon!

Die one hundred times. Die one hundred times. Dot chanted in his head while staring at Lance. Die one hundred times. Die one hundred times. Die one hundred times. Die one—

“Oi.” Lance shoved a handful of vials into Dot’s hands. “Go be useful.”

“Die one hundred times!” The redhead exclaimed. He began to mix different liquids together, trying not to pay attention to Lemon and Lance discussing the next steps.

He dumped the first round of liquids into the cauldron before blanking out. Was he supposed to add these herbs too..?

He shrugged and decided to throw the leaves in just to be safe.

“Mash, this is no time for eating!” Finn lightly scolded Mash. Dot glanced over at his friends working at the desk next to him.

“I’ve got it,” Mash said in his monotone voice, stirring the cauldron with one hand and holding a cream puff in the other.

Mash and Finn seemed to have things under control. Probably.

“Did you add the mixtures?” Lance appeared next to Dot and inspected the cauldron.

“Yeah, yeah.” Dot waved his hand dismissively. “Where’d Lemon go?” He looked around, spotting her with Finn talking to the teacher at the front of the room. Ah, Lemon was so cute!

“Take this seriously.” Lance gritted his teeth. 

“Why don’t you just do everything yourself then?” The redhead snapped back. “What are we even making?”

“Of course you weren’t listening.”

“Just tell me—”

“Mash!” Lemon’s voice rang out. “We got the vial! Let’s finish up!” She handed him the empty vial while Finn poured their potion into it.

“We should finish too, I guess,” Lance said.

Dot nodded and grabbed the same vial that Lemon did and went back to their desk. He poured the potion into the small bottle with a grin. “We’re going to ace this!”

Lance leaned forward, staring at the bottle skeptically. “Did you add those herbs?”

“Yep, just in case!”

“You idiot,” the blue haired boy groaned. “The teacher told us not to put those in. Give me that.”

“Hold up! There’s literally no time to redo this!” Dot argued, holding the vial as far away as he could from Lance.

“We’re going to get a bad grade. Hand it over.”

Dot backed up a few steps. “This shit took forever to make!”

Lance glowered at Dot, reaching for the potion. “Give it to me. Now.”

“Hell no!”

“You bastard—”

“Say that to my face one more—”

“Ah, oops. I spilled.”

“Watch out!” Lemon cried.

It happened in slow motion.

Dot stepped back and slipped on something… er, slippery. Some kind of liquid. But he couldn’t tell, because he was falling backwards and his free hand scrambled to grab onto the nearest thing to brace himself.

Which happened to be Lance’s shirt.

“You—!” The blue haired boy fell head first. The vial flung out of Dot’s hand, and the potion splashed all over both of them.

And to top it off, the two boys tumbled to the ground, landing in the unknown liquid.

“Shit!” Dot groaned. Perfect. His ass hurt and he was drenched in two different potions. Dot barely registered the hand on the back of his head until he saw Lance half on top of him, one hand braced on the ground. Lance sat up just before Dot was about to shove him off.

“I’m sorry, guys.” Mash looked sad again. “I accidentally spilled some of the potion on the floor.”

A rare look of shock was displayed on Lance’s face. He slowly turned to Dot with a murderous glare, ignoring Mash’s apology completely. “You. Fucking. Idiot.”

“Mash was the one who made me slip in the first place!” Dot cried.

Finn called the potions teacher over. There was no need for an explanation — the teacher looked at Dot and Lance and sighed. The two boys were excused to the infirmary for an inspection to make sure the potion didn’t burn or damage their skin. 

Dot felt a lot better as he stepped back into his dorm later, freshly showered. He draped a towel around his neck, drying off his wet hair. But even after a long and thorough shower, Dot’s skin felt tingly all over.

Eh, whatever. He was probably imagining it.

He flung his towel on the ground beside his bed and clicked his tongue. It was all Lance’s fault, anyway. Why did that pretty boy have to be so damn stubborn?

He grabbed his textbook and opened it with more force than necessary, trying to get Lance’s stupid face out of his mind.

“Stupid pretty boy,” Dot muttered, plopping on his bed. He felt a dull throbbing in his lower back and ass. Ugh. He was lucky he didn’t crack his head open from that fall.

Come to think of it, his head wasn’t hurting. Why was that? Dot thought back to the moment. Something had cushioned his head from the fall… Was it Lance?

Said boy suddenly appeared in the room. He had just come from the showers too, his blue hair wet.

And the bastard was shirtless!

“Why are you naked?!” Dot shrieked.

Lance blinked. “I’m not.” He gestured at his sweatpants.

He headed towards his wardrobe. From the corner of Dot’s eye, he could see Lance pulling a white T shirt over his head. Dot never really paid any mind to Lance’s body. Both of them were the same height, and had the same build. No, if anything, Dot was way more muscular!

Well…

Seeing Lance’s toned back and arms, Dot felt slightly self-conscious. If he hadn’t known the guy, Dot would’ve thought Lance was some famous model from a front cover magazine.

He felt his face heat up, obviously from jealousy, and the strange feeling in his chest returned. It was quite unfair that someone with such a garbage personality had such a pretty face. Like, come on. Why was Lance, of all people, blessed with smarts and good looks? His stupid hair, with each piece falling  perfectly into place, and his stupid sharp jawline, and those stupid eyes—

“What are you looking at,” Lance flatly asked.

Crap! Dot quickly averted his gaze back to his textbook. “N-not everything is about you, siscon!”

Lance scoffed. “Says the guy with Main Chatacter Syndrome.”

“Shut up! You were being so annoying during Potions class!”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Lance said with a tsk. “There was plenty of time to redo it. We still got a bad grade because of you.”

Dot slammed his textbook shut. “Oh, I’m sorry that the perfect Lance Crown didn’t get a perfect grade! Get over it!”

Lance’s gaze darkened. “Get over what? That my idiot of a partner was incapable of doing such a simple task?”

“Not everyone can be as smart as you!”

“It wasn’t that hard to mix a few ingredients! You should’ve been paying attention!”

Oh, Dot was about to explomb Lance a hundred times! “Why would she give us those herbs if we weren’t even supposed to use them?”

“If you had been paying attention, then—“

“I’m sorry I have a shitty attention span! It must be sooo easy to be our grade’s top student—“

“You think it’s easy being me? Well, it’s not!” Lance yelled. He had a bitter look in his eyes that made Dot pause. He opened his mouth but didn’t know what to say.

“Just— whatever.” Lance muttered, closing his long forgotten book and heading towards the door.

A pang of guilt struck Dot. Maybe he shouldn’t have said anything to begin with.

Dot didn’t see Lance for the rest of the evening, even when it was lights out time for the dorms. He went to sleep with a heavy weight on his chest, hoping he’d catch Lance in the morning to apologize.

-

Dot woke up to something shaking him. Or someone shaking him. He tried his best to ignore it, even half-consciously slapping the mysterious entity away. It was probably his stupid roommate. What time was it? He couldn’t feel those rays of sunlight on his face that woke him up every morning. What could be so important that Lance had to wake him up at ass o’ clock?

Dot did fall asleep a bit earlier than he usually did, though. He dreamt of crazy things, but couldn’t quite remember what they were about. There were voices, and… people? His friends? Was Lance in his dream? Dot tried his best to recall—

Okay, seriously. Why the fuck was Lance still shaking him?

“Go away, siscon,” Dot mumbled. Huh, his voice sounded deeper than usual. Damn. He must’ve been coming down with a cold or something. 

“Get. Up.” At the sound of that voice, Dot’s eyes flew open. 

The first thing he saw once his vision focused was unmistakable fiery red hair, sticking out in every direction. 

“What the—“ Dot stared at Lance.

Or rather, stared at himself.

Standing above Dot was literally himself, wearing a sharp gaze he’d never seen before. Er, seen on himself before.

Dot yelped and bolted upright, scrambling to the corner of his bed. What kind of fucked up dream was this?! But he couldn’t move back anymore, because there were so many Anna plushies on his bed. 

Wait.

Anna plushies?

I’m dreaming still, was Dot’s only reasonable explanation. He pinched himself on the arm, and dread came crashing down on him when he felt the sting.

No.

No no no no no.

There’s no way in hell this is happening. 

“Oh yes it’s happening,” Lance replied to Dot’s voiced thoughts. 

Dot sprung out of bed and stumbled over to the full length mirror, jaw hanging open at his reflection. Staring back at him was the guy with the garbage personality, perfectly styled blue hair, sharp jawline, beautiful crystal eyes—. 

“Snap out of it,” Lance said, smacking Dot on the head. “This must’ve happened because of the spill in Potions class yesterday.”

“Y-you’re kidding…” Dot whispered. His head was spinning. Main characters do not switch bodies with their most hated rival.

“Thanks to your fucked up potion, we’ve turned into each other.” Lance sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Anger immediately overcame Dot. Fuck the apology, this bastard doesn’t deserve one!

“You should’ve been helping me instead of talking to Lemon, then!” He exclaimed, grabbing his wand off the nightstand, which was actually Lance’s wand. “I’ll explomb you out of the building!”

“Just shut up!” Lance snatched the wand out of Dot’s hand, throwing it on the ground. “We need to come up with a plan. Classes start in an hour.”

Dot blinked. He glanced at the other side of the room, seeing sunlight shining down on his own bed. So it really was morning.

“We’re going to have to take each other’s places for now, until this wears off,” Lance said. “That would cause the least trouble.”

“Yeah, sure.” Dot scoffed. “And what happens if this never wears off?” 

Lance silenced him with a glare. There was no room for argument. 

“Fine, whatever.” Dot crossed his arms. “Let’s go tell Mash and the others before class—”

“Out of the question.” Lance interrupted. “All of them are terrible liars. We’re going to get expelled for sure if any of the teachers find out.”

Dot bit his tongue in order to not lash out again.

He sighed instead, looking down at his hands. His annoyingly beautiful hands. Dot had the good looks now, but at what cost? He walked over to his roommate’s wardrobe, changing into Lance’s uniform for the school day. They wore the same sized clothing, so Dot didn’t understand why he couldn’t just wear his own uniform.

But when he put Lance’s robe on, Dot could immediately tell the difference. Or more like smell the difference.

Lance’s uniform smelled completely different. It had a fresh scent, like it had just been washed, almost… flowery? The aroma made Dot’s chest tighten. It was because he was accustomed to his own robe smelling burnt from his magic.

“Oi.” He looked up at Lance. “You’re going out looking like that?” 

Actually, Lance looked better in Dot’s body than Dot himself. His signature headband was ditched, red hair styled messily in a way that looked effortlessly perfect. Lance’s usual cold expression looked good on Dot’s face, much calmer than Dot’s permanent smug look. Damnit, Lance really did have a good sense of style. That’s probably why he was swarmed with girls all the time. 

Dot would rather die a million times than say that to Lance’s face. 

“The real question is, are you going out looking like that?” Lance’s gaze swept over Dot’s… fashion choices. 

“What do you mean?!” Dot cried. All he did was add a little bit of hair gel and loosen up his uniform a little… at least he didn’t try to wear his own headband in Lance’s hair. 

Lance walked over to his roommate. He fixed whatever Dot did to his hair, running his fingers through the light blue locks. Then, he buttoned up Dot’s shirt all the way, and properly tied his tie. 

“Lance Crown doesn’t wear his uniform like this.” Lance clicked his tongue, looping the tie around Dot’s neck.

Well, Dot Barrett doesn’t dress like that either, Dot wanted to say, but the words were stuck in his throat. He was absolutely speechless. It was strange to watch Dot’s own body fix his hair and uniform. The worst part was that he knew it was Lance deep down.

He didn’t even realize his pulse was racing until Lance stepped back.

“Here.” Lance grabbed Dot’s hand and placed his silver locket on his palm.

Dot cleared his throat and quickly looked away. “Uh, are you sure?” It was surprising to see Lance trusting something so treasured to someone so irresponsible.

A mumbled “Don’t lose it” was Lance’s only response.

“Yeah, yeah, I promise I won’t—“

Lance suddenly fisted the front of the other boy’s shirt, bringing his face to Dot’s ear. “Because if you do lose it, or if anything happens to it, I’ll kill you with my own hands.” His lips brushed the shell of Dot’s ear, making the latter shiver. 

“Y-You can’t just—!” Dot darted away from Lance, cheeks heating up. Dot fumbled to clasp the locket around his neck, feeling the weight of Lance’s trust on his chest. He muttered something along the lines of stupid fucking pretty boy and crossed his arms.

The two boys quickly reviewed each other’s schedules before heading to their first class. 

Even though they shared a handful of classes together, Dot knew Lance’s schedule by heart. He tried not to think about that too much.

-

Magic Utilization class: the time for students to practice offensive and defensive magic, along with participating in magic sparring matches. It was a class Dot secretly enjoyed, even though Lance kicked his ass in dueling every time.

That’s not why he enjoyed it.

Dot and Lance were partnered up again, since they were on similar skill level. (What an honor for that siscon to be compared to Dot, the best magic user ever!)

Seeming to have forgotten the situation they were in, Dot instantly pulled his wand out of his pocket and aimed it at his roommate. “Explo—“

“Idiot!” Lance said loudly, both hands cupped around his mouth. Dot, along with a few other nearby students, stared at Lance in confusion.

“Er,” Dot coughed, remembering that he wasn’t in his own body. “G-Graviole.” The spell shot down on himself, and he yelped in surprise.

“He really is an idiot.” Lance shook his head. “Explomb!” He cast the spell in a very Dot-like manner, pointing the spiked wand at his roommate. Explosions fired all around, hitting Dot in the process. It wasn’t as powerful as it should’ve been, but still impressive nonetheless.

Pretty boy can use my magic but I can’t use his? Dot winced at his injuries. “Graviole!” He said with confidence, finally managing to land one on Lance.

Finn and Lemon stood off to the side, watching the strange battle between Lance and Dot.

“Lance seems off his game today,” Finn said worriedly.

“Maybe the potion spill yesterday made him sick?” Lemon frowned.

“He doesn’t look sick to me. Maybe he’s letting Dot win today.” Mash commented, rapidly lifting a dumbbell with one hand and holding a cream puff in the other.

Dot’s injuries were mostly because of his own inability to control Lance’s magic. The two boys headed back to their three other friends, covered in scratches and breathing heavily. Well, that was mostly just Dot.

“I’ll… get you… next time,” Dot huffed.

“You suck.” Lance blew the red bangs out of his face, dusting off any debris and ash on his uniform. Dot scowled. Stupid siscon didn’t even break a sweat!

“Lance, is everything okay?” Finn asked.

Dot froze. “Uh, yeah, I’m just feeling a bit tired today.”

“That’s nice of you to let Dot win today,” Mash said.

Dot opened his mouth to protest, but Lance quickly interrupted. “I beat him fair and square, of course,” Lance said in a proud voice. “Pretty boy never stood a chance against me.”

He gave Dot a glare that said, Watch your damn mouth! Dot immediately looked away, trying his best to maintain a stoic expression. Finn still looked concerned, but thankfully didn’t say anything else.

As the rest of the day continued, Dot began to realize how much pressure he was under. Teachers gave him surprised looks if he got the answer wrong, and was even caught dozing off during class. Lance seemed to be unaffected, taking notes and paying attention the entire day.

How does this guy do it? Dot seethed. He took it all back. Being Lance Crown is not easy. The only good thing about being Lance is that he gets girls.

Well. Even in a pretty boy’s body, Dot still doesn’t get girls. Which is absolute bullshit!

“I’m beat!” Dot faceplanted onto his bed later that evening.

Lance ran a hand through his hair. “This is such a hassle. It’s ridiculous that I have to act like an idiot all day.”

“Oi! I’ll—“

“Kill me a hundred times,” Lance finished. “I know. Just focus on looking for a cure.”

Dot unhooked the locket around his neck and carefully placed it on his nightstand. (He’d never throw the pendant on the ground in front of Lance — that’s basically a death wish!)

He sighed into his pillow, letting his mind wander. There was one particular thought that had been stuck in his head all day. It scared Dot, and although he would never admit it, he couldn’t help but voice his thoughts.

“Lance,” Dot said, voice muffled. “What if we never change back?”

The seriousness in Dot’s voice surprised Lance a little bit. There was no response at first. Dot then heard footsteps and felt the end of the bed dip.

“We’re going to find a counter potion,” Lance said with such finality that Dot felt his chest tighten again.

He heaved himself up to meet Lance’s determined gaze and nodded firmly.

“Yeah.” Dot clapped his roommate on the shoulder before getting off the bed. “I’ll be in the library. I expect you to be researching hard too.”

“Shut up. I’ll research even better than you.”

“No you won’t! I’ll find a thousand cures before you even find one!”

With his newfound motivation and a sudden spark of hope, Dot left his room in search of a cure.

-

Dot’s hopefulness disappeared as quickly as it came. He had given up when the clock struck midnight. He was already exhausted from the school day, why’d he think researching shit in the middle of the night was a good idea?

Dot had read every book on out of body experiences, soul bonding, crazy ghost myths, anything that could relate to his shitty situation. There were no mentions of a cure or reverse potion in any of the books. How did he even get so motivated in the first place?

Right. Lance.

Tch. Just the thought of him made Dot’s stomach churn with irritation. Pretty boy was the whole reason why they were in this mess!

But still, Dot only stayed up as long as he did because of Lance.

He stretched his jaws wide open in a yawn, pushing his dorm door open as quietly as he could. It was dark, save for the moonlight filtering through the window. Dot’s eyes adjusted to the darkness, and he saw Lance already fast asleep. There were books neatly stacked on Lance’s nightstand, along with a plain notebook and a quill. Looks like he’d been searching for a counter potion as well.

Dot crashed down on his bed again, not even bothering to change out of his school clothes. Even in the absolute worst of the situation, at least he could come back and sleep in his own bed. No way in hell was he sleeping next to images of Lance’s little sister.

He couldn’t fall asleep. What the hell, Lance’s body. Dot’s mind was racing a hundred miles a minute, but about what? He couldn’t even tell himself. Sighing, Dot sat up, deciding to change into sleepwear after all. The scent of Lance’s uniform was distracting him in the worst way possible.

He smells really nice, Dot’s brain supplied.

No! Lance Crown does not smell nice!

Suddenly feeling annoyed, Dot threw Lance’s robe on the ground, along with his undershirt. On his way to his wardrobe, he stubbed his toe on the corner of his nightstand.

“Motherfu—!” Dot had to bite into his hand to stop himself from cursing loudly. He glanced over at his roommate. Phew. Lance was still asleep. Lance was usually a light sleeper, but there were some nights where that boy couldn’t be woken up by the sound of a thousand explosions. Tonight is one of those nights.

Dot let himself stare. It was weird seeing his own body sleeping in Lance’s bed. And in such a stiff position, too. That boy slept like a dead body in a coffin. But Lance still looked really peaceful, eyes closed and breathing evenly. Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale.

Now clad in a pair of shorts, Dot headed back to bed. He caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror and froze in his tracks, still not used to seeing Lance as his reflection.

Dot looked way too relaxed to be Lance Crown. His blue hair was kind of a mess, posture slouched, and the frown on his face was nonexistent. Heh. Of course Dot, the main character, could pull off being Lance more than anyone else! Even more than Lance himself!

An idea came to Dot, a really ridiculous one.

“Dot Barrett is the best,” Dot whispered. Hearing the words in Lance’s voice boosted his ego. That was extremely pathetic. Lance still showed no signs of waking up, so Dot continued.

“Dot is so cool and smart. He is so much more powerful than I, Lance Crown, a double liner. I’m so jealous that Dot gets so many confession letters. I wish I could be as awesome as Dot—”

He paused. Siscon doesn’t really say my name that much, Dot realized. His nickname for Dot was idiot or dumbass or some other kind of insult. Hearing his name in Lance’s voice made Dot’s heart flutter.

“Dot…” he said a little louder. And to his surprise, Dot felt his heart skip a beat.

What the fuck.

There’s no way!

Okay, that’s enough experimenting. Dot shoved those thoughts in the deepest, most abandoned corner of his mind. He’ll revisit them another day. Or never.

He laid flat on his back, staring at the ceiling. His pulse returned to a normal speed, and his mind quieted. Finally. Dot closed his eyes. Time to go to sl—

“Lance! Dot! Are you awake yet?” A voice sounded from behind the door.

Dot refused to open his eyes. He was definitely hearing things. It was still midnight, he had just got back from the library. The moonlight was still shining down on his face. Wait, was moonlight always this hot? And bright?

Cracking one eye open, Dot was met with a blinding light that was definitely not coming from the moon. It was morning already?!

“Guys! We’re gonna be late!” That was Finn. Right, Dot and Lance had agreed to walk with Mash and Finn to class the next day. Except the next day was today!

“I’m coming in.” There was a loud clank!, like someone had ripped the door off its hinges.

Oh shit.

Dot bolted upright to see Mash and Finn standing in his doorway that had no door.

“Mash, this isn’t our room!” Finn cried. “You can’t break Dot and Lance’s door!”

“Sorry, I couldn’t remember if I had to push or pull the door,” Mash apologized. He stared at Dot. Then he looked at Lance, and then back at Dot again.

“Uh, Lance. I think you and Dot were sleeping in the wrong beds.”

“Uhhhhh.” Dot’s brain couldn’t catch up. It was way too early for this. He cleared his throat and put on the most grumpy, most Lance expression ever.

“That idiot fell asleep in my bed, so I just took his,” Dot said in a flat voice. “The only reason why I didn’t kill him is because, uh, he did me a favor earlier.”

Finn looked completely unconvinced. “Is everything okay?” He asked slowly.

“Everything is fine.” Don’t show emotion. Keep a monotone voice.

“Okay then…” Finn said, backing out of the room. “We’ll just wait outside for you guys.” And with that, Mash shoved the door back in the doorway with another loud crash!

“Siscon!” Dot hissed, kicking Lance’s bed frame.

“Hm?” Lance mumbled, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. “Was that Mash and Finn?” Dot nodded furiously, and Lance was suddenly aware of where he was. Or more like, who he was.

Lance groaned. “This is so fucking annoying.” He got up and quickly changed into his uniform. “We’re gonna spend the entire day researching for a counter potion and I don’t want to hear your shitty remarks.”

“Says the guy who’s complaining!” Dot retorted.

“Admit it. You like being me.” Lance said.

“A joke coming from Lance Crown?” Dot gasped dramatically.

“I never said I was joking.”

“Well, you sound like you are!”

“Admit you like being in my body.”

Dot didn’t comment on how wrong that sounded, huffing and crossing his arms instead. “There’s absolutely nothing good about being you. Girls haven’t even approached me yet!”

Lance rolled his eyes. “Maybe they can sense that you’re me.”

“That’s impossible!” Dot cried.

“Idiot.” A ghost of a smile appeared on Lance’s lips. Well, actually on Dot’s lips, but knowing that he made Lance smile made Dot’s heart—

Okay, time to think about something else!

“I’ll kick your ass right here and now!” Dot threatened, but there was no real bite to it.

“You can’t even beat me in your own body,” Lance pointed out. “Plus, you can’t control my magic. And your form is weak. And your technique is absolutely garbage.”

“Now you’re just insulting me!”

Lance cleared his throat. “Dot Barrett here! I’m the biggest idiot in the world, and none of the girls want to date me!” He said with a smirk, imitating Dot.

Dot growled. Two could play at that game. “Well, I’m Lance Crown, and I hate having fun. The only thing I want to do all day is study and hang out with my little sister.”

“I’m actually a huge nerd, ‘cause I love my stupid violin and my ridiculous collection of tea—“

“Don’t talk about my violin that way!”

Lance’s voice then dropped into a sultry whisper. “And I’m secretly in love with Lance. He is just so pretty and sooo—“

Dot suddenly lunged forward and slapped his hand on Lance’s mouth. Hearing those words being spoken in his own voice made him feel things he didn’t want to. He prayed that the extreme heat he felt on his face wasn’t noticeable.

“Ow,” the double liner said, voice muffled. His skin felt a little hot under Dot’s hand. Maybe Lance just had really cold hands. Dot had never payed attention to Lance’s hands until recently…

He suddenly felt something warm and wet on his palm.

“You bastard! Did you just lick my hand?” Dot shouted, swiping his hand away.

“Technically, it’s my hand.”

“Oi, you wanna fight?”

Their bickering escalated and could be heard from outside their room, where Finn and Mash were waiting. Finn shook his head affectionately.

“Some things never change, huh Mash?” He laughed.

It took Lance and Dot longer than it should have to get ready for the school day. And it was all Lance’s fault, of course!

After another long day of classes, the two of them went straight to Mash and Finn’s dorm for a group study session. Lemon unexpectedly joined, after seeing her beloved Mash.

“Lance, do you know the answer to this question?” Lemon asked.

Lance, who was sitting next to Dot, nudged his foot. “Yeah Lance, what’s the answer?”

Right. Dot was Lance. Things were starting to get hella confusing. He answered Lemon’s question with the most inexpressive face ever, but inside he was dying a little bit. Lemon was just too cute for this world!

Dot noticed how his heart didn’t skip a beat anymore when he was around Lemon. Strange. Maybe because he was in Lance’s body, and since Lance didn’t have a crush on Lemon… Yeah! That was exactly it!

“Ah. A spider.” Mash pointed to his textbook page, where the bug was crawling.

It was a small spider in Dot’s opinion, but he still felt Lance stiffen next to him. Oh, crap. This was not good.

“Dot, are you okay?” Lemon asked worriedly. “You look a little pale. Are you feeling sick?”

“Uh, no, because main characters don’t get sick!” Lance forced a grin on his face.

What a stupid response. Lance had his fists balled up in his lap, shaking. Dot could see that it took everything in the other boy not to scream and run away.

Damn Lance’s fear of bugs! It wasn’t even that big of a big spider!

Finn blew the bug off of the book. “All gone,” he said with a smile.

“Seriously, Dot, you’re shaking!” Lemon pointed out. “Was it the potion spill a couple days ago? Did it give you any side effects?”

At the mention of the potion accident, Dot abruptly stood up.

“We gotta go.” Dot said, gathering his study material in record time. He pulled a shocked Lance along with him out the door, not bothering to say a formal goodbye. A very Lance thing to do, in Dot’s eyes.

Once they were back safely in their own dorm, Dot was about to tell Lance to get his shit together, but he was still clearly afraid. The spider was gone, damnit! Why was Lance still scared?

Not knowing what else to do, Dot grabbed both of Lance’s shaking hands. He didn’t say anything because… well. He didn’t know what to say. The two of them stood like that, holding hands, until Lance calmed down.

“Not a word to anyone,” Lance said, taking a breath.

“Seriously? That’s how you thank me?” Dot exclaimed. “I just saved your life back there!”

“Fine. Thanks.” Lance flatly said.

A beat of silence.

“Does your body always run warm?” Lance asked.

“Yeah. Does your body always run cold?”

“I guess.”

Another beat of silence.

Dot didn’t realize they were still holding hands until Lance’s eyes flickered downwards.

“Well, anyways! I’ll go uh, look for a reverse potion or something in the library! Y’know, so we can both have our bodies back!” Dot rambled, quickly snatching his hands away. “See ya!”

He made a beeline for the door, feeling confused as ever.

-

A week. It’s been a whole week since Dot and Lance switched bodies. All of Dot’s free time and nights were spent looking for a cure. He found nothing.

There were some things he’d grown used to, like the fresh scent of Lance’s clothes. (Dot wanted whatever laundry detergent Lance was using. Wait! No he didn’t!) There was also the silver saturn earring that dangled from his ear. And the locket hanging around his neck. Seriously, why does pretty boy wear so much jewelry? It was getting quite annoying.

Dot still couldn’t get the hang of Lance’s magic, though. Even in the body of a double liner, he still had the skills of a single liner.

He sat at a table in the library like he had been doing for the past how many nights. And of course, Dot had found nothing. He didn’t understand the point of researching at the library. It was just the same shit over and over again. It’s not like any new books with answers would appear overnight.

Dot flipped the page, eyes half closed. He was exhausted. Exhausted from being in Lance’s body, exhausted from reading useless books, exhausted from reading the same damn sentence over and over again.

“Counter cure for body swapping magic,” Dot read aloud in a bored voice. “This is the most annoying fucking book— wait what?!”

His eyes were wide open now, exhaustion forgotten. Dot reread the sentence again to make sure he wasn’t hallucinating. Shivers ran down his spine. His first lead! Finally!

But that excitement twisted into horror as he read the next few words.

“Mouth to mouth contact.”

A kiss.

To reverse the body switching magic, Dot and Lance had to kiss.

The thoughts that Dot locked away in the archives of his mind burst out of the gates and flooded him at all once. His face exploded into flames and his heart slammed against his ribcage.

No way was he swapping spit with Lance fucking Crown!

Okay, it’s not like Dot was actually kissing Lance. He was technically kissing own self. His own body. It was fine!

But his brain knew that underneath Dot Barrett’s skin was Lance Crown. And he couldn’t unsee it.

Dot’s chest tightened again, even more than usual, and he finally realized why. It hit him like a punch to the gut.

All those times there were girls surrounding Lance. The feeling that made his heart pound and face turn red wasn’t out of anger. And he wasn’t jealous of Lance.

He was jealous of those girls.

Because Dot liked Lance.

The room felt like it was getting smaller and smaller. Dot couldn’t get his pulse to slow down, and his breaths came short and quick.

There had to be another way. Any other way. He couldn’t kiss Lance.

Lance was a boy. And so was Dot. Kissing a boy would be wrong.

He thought of literally anything else. Girls. Girls. Lemon-chan. Lemon’s a girl. I like Lemon. I like Lemon. I like La— LEMON.

“Fucking bastard,” Dot cursed with a shaky exhale. He bolted out the library with the book in his hands, not bothering to officially borrow it. The librarian could come after Dot, he didn’t give two shits.

He ran back to the dorms, suddenly stopping in front of his door. What was he even thinking, coming back to the dorms with that book? What if Lance found it?

But he needed the book no matter what. It was his only lead to finding a cure.

An idea came to Dot. He convinced himself it was the best idea he’d ever come up with, even though he knew it was one of the worst. He’ll just hide the book in the dorm! Maybe under his bed, or in his closet, or—

“Oh, you’re back.” Lance turned his head at the sound of Dot opening the door not so discreetly.

“Y-You’re still here?!” Dot exclaimed, hiding the book behind his back.

“Where else would I be? It’s nighttime.”

“Uh, right!” Dot slipped into the room, making sure not to face his back towards Lance at all.

But of course, his strange behavior made Lance suspicious.

“What are you hiding.” He narrowed his eyes.

“Nothing,” Dot replied way too quickly.

The other boy looked like he was debating between tackling Dot or staying silent. Thankfully, Lance chose the latter. While his back was turned, Dot swiftly placed the book under his bed. Phew. Maybe the universe was on his side for once.

For the next few days, Dot’s mind wouldn’t stopped reeling. He did another sweep of the library to find any other cure that didn’t involve mouth to mouth contact. He casually brought up body swapping magic in conversations with Finn and Mash, but they didn’t know much on the topic. Dot even went as far as going through Lance’s notes to see if he had any leads, but there were none.

And he did all of this while avoiding Lance, of course.

Well, it’s not like Dot could avoid Lance when he was Lance. He especially stayed away from reflective surfaces, because Dot hated how his heart betrayed him at the sight of Lance.

Don’t even ask Dot how he was able to shower. He had to close his eyes the entire time, and he always showered with cold water to keep his mind from wandering. Thoughts of Lemon is so cute! always turned into Lance is so good looking and strong and smart and—

See!

After cleaning himself, Dot stood under the cold shower water for a good five minutes to clear his mind again. Then he toweled off and threw on some clothes before heading back up to his room. He opened the door to see Lance sitting on the ground.

“Thought you would’ve been in the library,” Dot said, approaching Lance from behind. “What’cha reading?”

Lance looked up at Dot with hollow eyes and an unreadable expression. “What is this?” He asked slowly.

Dot felt like he’d been doused in ice water again.

Lance had found Dot’s book.

“A cure,” Lance answered his own question. And then he turned on Dot. “You found a cure, and you were trying to hide it from me? What the hell is wrong with you?”

“I-I wasn’t hiding it!” Dot objected weakly.

“Then what?” Lance yelled, standing up and grabbing Dot by the shirt. “What would you have done if I hadn’t found it? Would you have kept this a secret from me forever?”

“No, I—!” Dot’s voice broke off. He couldn’t defend himself. He didn’t even think that far ahead. What would he have done?

“You think I enjoy being in someone else’s body? Your body, of all people?” Lance’s voice kept rising, and his face was way too close to Dot’s. “I’ve been sacrificing all my time to study to search for cures! I went to almost every potion shop, asking if they knew any counter potions for our situation! I was supposed to visit my sister but I couldn’t because of this mess!”

Dot’s heart clenched at the sight of intense look of hurt and anger on his own face.

“Yeah, well, do you know how hard I’m trying to not ruin your reputation?” Dot lashed back. “Me, a complete loser, in Mr. Perfect Lance Crown’s body! I haven’t abused your good looks once!”

“I didn’t ask you to uphold whatever reputation you think I have!” Lance yelled, knuckles white from his iron grip on Dot’s shirt. “Do whatever the hell you want!”

“I’ve been researching my ass off all week too, y’know!”

“So have I! You’re not special!”

“You think I wanna stare at myself every time I talk to you?” 

“Then close your eyes!” 

“God, can you just shut up?” Dot did exactly what Lance said for once and closed his eyes. 

And then, on pure impulse, he grabbed Lance’s face and smashed their lips together. 

The kiss was forceful, but barely lasted for a second. Dot pulled back quickly, meeting Lance’s cold blue eyes.

The cure worked. They were both back in their own bodies.

But Dot didn’t even care at the moment.

“Was that so hard?” Lance was still shouting. “Congrats, you had your first kiss! Sorry I’m not Lemon or some cute girl! I don’t know why you were so against—“

“Because now my feelings for you are actually real!”

There! It was out now! Fuckin’ finally!

Lance’s eyes widened. The look of utter shock on his face made Dot wish he could sink into the ground and die forever. He lowered his head, not daring to make eye contact with the blue haired boy.

“You… I thought you liked Lemon,” was the only thing Lance could say in response. His voice sounded strained, like his words were being forced out of his mouth.

“I don’t want Lemon.” Oh. Dot didn’t mean to say that. “I don’t care about your dumb fan club. None of them matter.” Stop talking! He couldn’t control his own words.

“But what about—”

“I like you, Lance! Are you dense?”

And with that, Dot slapped his hand over his mouth before he said anything more. Well. It’s not like things could get any worse for him. The silence was deafening. The only thing Dot could hear was the pounding of his heart. Seconds ticked by, but it felt like an eternity. He waited for Lance’s disgusted response, or a “we can’t be friends anymore”, but it never came.

Instead, Dot was pushed backwards and slammed into the wall.

Wincing in pain, he yelled, “What the fuck is wrong with you?”

He looked up to see Lance’s face mere centimeters away from Dot’s. Now it was his turn to be surprised.

“To answer your question,” Lance whispered, “I’m not dense.” And the space between them was gone.

Soft was Dot’s first thought. Of course Lance had soft lips.

This was way better than kissing any girl. Not that Dot’s ever kissed a girl, but he didn’t want to, especially not after knowing what Lance tasted like.

Dot’s heart was beating at a million miles per second, his entire body was overheating, and his thoughts were everywhere and nowhere at the same time. Is this Lance’s first kiss? How come he’s so good at this?

He could stay like this forever. He’d actually be happy if he died right then and there in Lance’s arms.

Dot felt immense pride when he pulled away and saw Lance’s face. The stoic mask he wore was cracked now. Lance’s cheeks and ears were flushed, with his blue hair all messed up. Those cold eyes were filled with warmth, and his lips were red and swollen.

He’s all flustered ‘cause of me. Dot’s face split into a grin.

Then Lance suddenly grabbed Dot by the shirt and pulled him close again. Their bodies were flush against each other and Lance brought his lips to Dot’s ear. 

“Kissing me to shut me up, huh?” Lance murmured.

The redhead felt his entire body heat up again. “I’ll do it as many times as I need to if it means you’ll shut your mouth.”

“Oh?” The double liner slowly moved his face down Dot’s neck, lips barely touching skin. “And how often would that be?”

“I-I dunno.” Dot turned his head to the side, a silent invitation. “Whenever you annoy the fuck out of me, I guess.”

Lance’s lips brushed over Dot’s exposed skin. “Am I annoying you now?”

“Sounds like you want me to kiss you real bad.”

A pause. With half-lidded eyes, Lance brought his face back up. “And what if I do?”

And Dot would’ve completely folded at those words, but instead a pout formed on his lips.

Lance mirrored Dot’s frown. “What?”

“Aren’t you gonna say it back?”

It took the double liner a moment to realize what Dot meant. He playfully asked, “Say what back?”

“Shut up! You know what I’m talking about!”

“I have no idea what you mean.”

“I’m not gonna kiss you then!”

Lance huffed out a small laugh, brushing a thumb over Dot’s lips.

“I like you too, Dot.”