the alchemical potion of love

1- on his nerves

varian believed the elder alchemist had made it his soul purpose to get on his nerves. He assumed he would just keep prodding the bear with a stick until it would bite back. except varian was not biting.
he had other things on his mind, like the next trial.
Yong had warned varian about allowing their newest member to join their companion ship.
He had felt intrigued by the guy, the way that he used his words, the way he had casually hung back while varian and Yong had whispered about his fate to be part of the group.
he thought it had been confidence he himself did not possess a great deal of but he quickly learned it had been arrogance.

Varian was hidden away in his small tent, sitting on his sleeping bag, rereading the words of his mother his journal for the 500th time and scribbling new found things out on a piece of parchment.
he had not seen Hugo neither Yong for atleast 24 hours, they had come to discover not to interrupt varian while he was working and clearly obviously sleep deprived.
it was not much longer before the words became hazy infront of his eyes, he blinked sharply but it took ruddiger climbing on his shoulders to regain is wake composure again.

'I don't get what I am doing wrong bud.. if I am supposed to follow this journey, how am I not even able to figure this out!'

varian heard some ruffling against the fabric of the tent after he had spoken. He quickly grabbed a screw driver in his hand and held it up defensively, his tired mind not thinking of his belt with his many potions and bombs.
the flap at the entrance got pushed open and some blonde hair peaked through, the morning sun only revealing itself to varian now which made him realise perhaps it had been a bit longer than 24 hours.
Hugo peaked inside and he did not appear surprised to see the younger boy still up.
his green eyes were sharp yet his smile was smug.
"fixing world problems?"
varian did not invite him in, he wanted him to leave yet the blond sat down in the entrance, leaning back on his fingerless gloved hands.
"sure, yes. what do you want?"
hugo let out an amused laugh.
"well that doesn't matter, but clearly you want sleep, goggles"
he tilted his head at the sight of varian his mess of a hair, his goggles were balanced on top of it, hair peaking out and under them from all sides and the teal mixed with black strand of hair covering part of his eye.
"if you are here to torment me with your existence and smart ass comments, kindly, not so kindly... leave."
Varian offered him the most sarcastic smile he could master right now which just extracted a snort from the other.
varian tried to scare him out by waving his hand in the air, ruddiger getting quickly annoyed by the movement jumped off of varian his shoulders onto the sleeping bag.
"Listen, I'm sure that..."
hugo glanced over at the parchment spread out infront of the boy, seeing a bunch of chaotic words across the paper in no order what so ever.
when varian realised that he was looking he defensively covered his work with his hands in the best of his ability.
"whatever it is you are keeping yourself busy with is.. important. though rest is crucial to avoid making mistakes, which you seem to already make many of even when wide awake.. so rest."
Varian opened his mouth to defend himself but hugo cut him off, snapping his fingers.
"Remember when you nearly burned our camp down because you screwed up your little science project?"
Varian grumbled, his work was not a so called science project but he knew arguing would get him no where but having hugo stay longer in his tent than needed.
In a quick movement hugo snatched the journal from underneath varian his nose and he leaped up, out into the morning breeze.
"hey-- HUGO!"
varian suddenly felt a burst of enegery and he ran after the taller boy who now held the book in an outstretched arm, out of varian his reach.
"Quiet down, you want to wake up Yong?" varian wished he could burn the amused expression off his face and he crossed his arms, the longer he stood still the heavier his legs got.
He usually did not allow hugo to look in the journal so the fact he walked over to the fire and left the other boy standing confirmed truly to hugo how tired he actually was.
varian sat down on the ground, his back against a log they had rolled over when they first arrived here.
he tried to warm his hands up on the fire as he was grown used to the warmth of the gloves he had usually pulled over them.
his hands now just were stained with chemicals, ink and charcoal.

he heard the footsteps but didn't have to look to know it was hugo, he was the only one up and he had a certain way of walking, it was quiet not loud like Yong.
You would not be able to hear hugo in the dead of night unless you really focused on it.
He took place next to varian keeping the right amount of distance between them.
"you'll get it back tomorrow, I won't read it."
varian partly believed him but he knew he once again would not win this argument so he simply nodded his head.
he leaves his head back, looking through the treetops to the still dark sky. in the horizon the sun was peaking slightly through, not long until he would no longer be looking at the moon but the sun instead.
he heard the birds quietly around him, the water of the creak in the distance softly moving against the rocks that held it together.
before he knew his eyelids started to slip, the cosy heath of the fire making him doze off until everything went black.