⫶ potions basement

@－ ❛ ʀ ❜：mint ainsworth。⁰² Finch looked over at him and slightly widened his eyes before looking away again, chewing on his bottom lip. Somewhere it all made sense to him. He remembered asking Mint a couple of times to get him things of a certain color, but he'd always receive the wrong color. When he needed something blue, he sometimes got green, or when he needed something red, he got something pink. It didn't really bother him, he was only slightly annoyed whenever that happened, but he'd usually just get up and grab the thing that he wanted. "No, I should've known. I somehow knew..but not really. You'd always get me things of the wrong color. In the beginning I could always laugh at it, but as it happened more and more, I figured you just did it to annoy me, or something. But..now that I know the reason..it changes a lot. And it's even more cruel what the professor did then. I mean..assuming he knows about you being colorblind. What a prick, honestly." He mumbled and furrowed his eyebrows as he slowly shook his head in disapproval.

"I was? Wow, it didn't feel like I was unconscious honestly. All I know is..the cauldron exploded, we got knocked back and the next thing I knew I was lying on the ground with blood coming from my head. Ah..the explosion did a number on us, didn't it?" He turned to look at Mint and let out a soft laugh before moving to brush his hair out of his face as he turned to look at the cauldron which was repaired again. A small frown on his face. He wanted so desperately to redo the potion and finish it, but his friend was right. They should probably get looked at. Who knew, maybe they had some more serious injuries that couldn't be seen yet. "Okay, okay. You're right. Let's go get checked by a nurse. Besides..you're not looking too hot either. Here, let me support you instead. I can still walk despite my head hurting me." He mumbled and moved to support Mint instead, pressing the tissue against the wound on the back of his head. "Yeah, he definitely can and should clean the rest of the mess. He's still a prick, you know..?" He muttered out softly before chuckling as they headed towards the hospital wing.

((It's a bit short so, sorry! But you can reply in the hospital wing next if you wish to!))

@－ ❛ ʀ ❜：finch goldhorn。⁰² Just seeing Finch lying on the ground, blood on the back of his head, made Mint feel a choking panic rise inside him. It was too real, reminding him of what had once happened and he had to forcefully keep him in the reality. That he was safe, it had just been a potion exploding and no one was here to harm them, no one was here to hurt them. He took in deep breaths and checked on Finch – his pulse was there, he seemed over all okay aside from the nasty cut on the back of his head. , they needed to go to the hospital wing, for sure. And then he was awake and Mint had never been this glad to see someone open his eyes. His heart felt like it was breaking but also in relief. he was so glad.

“Shut up and stop cleaning,” he said and held onto Finch’s hand, not ready to take in all the things at the same time, still being to overwhelmed to battle his own secret trauma in his mind while trying his best to not just break down to a crumbling mess and end up kicking and fighting. As long as no one got too close he would be okay – at least no one but Finch right now because he would surely not leave the other alone. Not in that state, not when he knew his own stubbornness had caused this to happen to them. “I am colour blind,” he then said, just loud enough for Finch to hear it but no one else, no matter how close. “So I guess it is definitely not your fault.” Even if, who cared? They had their cauldron exploded into their faces, whatever mistake they had made, they would not make it again. He took in a shaky breath and saw the blood on the rag, feeling sick in his stomach. He had never been good with blood and even though he could not see the colour it was easy for him to recognise that it was definitely blood.

Hurriedly Mint repaired the broken cauldron with a swift move of his wand and looked at the other, still not entirely aware of what had happened but it would sink in bit by bit. “You were unconscious, we need to get you checked by a nurse.” And he would not accept a no or any kind of discussion. “My shoulder hurts too so-“ he started to have another argument to get them towards the hospital wing. He was mentally too agitated and troubled, he would not be able to concentrate on fixing that goddamn potion. Or redoing it. They could do that later, he could not care for it right now. He took a deep breath and looked at Finch, frowning. “Okay?” He moved a bit and his shoulder did hurt, just like his wrist, but it was probably just slightly strained and bruised, nothing too bad. He had had his bones broken in Quidditch before so he could tell if it was really bad. “The professor can clean the rest of the mess,” he then said, supporting Finch and handing him a clean tissue for the back of his head.

@－ ❛ ʀ ❜：mint ainsworth。⁰² Finch laid there on the ground for a few minutes, unconscious. The explosion wasn't that big or hamful, but it was big enough to knock them back and have him hit his head on the ground, knocking him out momentarily. He slowly opened his eyes and shook his head, moving his hand to the back of his head to touch it gently. Wet..it must've been bleeding. Was it really that hard of a hit? He just sighed out and moved to sit upright, glancing towards his roommate and friend as he came closer to him before nodding his head. "Yeah..yeah, I'm okay. Are you okay? That was..well, let's say I have never had that happen to me before. It was..amazingly scary, I guess? I think those are the right words to describe whatever just happened." Finch let out a soft sigh and hugged his knees to his chest, chewing on his bottom lip. "You know..I don't like saying this, I don't like being wrong, but maybe I did not measure it right, or I used a different flower or potion, I don't know..but I can't possibly blame you for it. So..I'm sorry for getting mad at you for this, really." He mumbled softly and slowly stood up, helping Mint up as well as he glanced at their cauldron, or what was left of it, at least.

"I think we should start cleaning this up, huh? But first.." Finch trailed off as he moved to get a small rag, holding it against the back of his head to momentarily stop the bleeding. He should swing by the hospital wing later, to make sure that he'd be fine. At first he didn't feel the pain due to the adrenaline, but as the adrenaline was slowly wearing off, he started to feel the pain of hitting his head. He would be fine, as long as he had some painkillers, and who knows? Maybe he needed a few stitches here and there, but he'd be fine. It wasn't that painful, it was more like a...stinging pain? Like a small wound you'd get from playing outside with your friends.

After a little while of pushing the rag against his wound, he pulled it away to glance at it. Who knew a head could have so many blood? Oh, well..he'll be fine for now. He put the rag aside and grabbed another clean rag to start scrubbing the table slowly. He furrowed his eyebrows and looked at the mess. If only he paid more attention, and maybe he shouldn't have been acting cocky, then everything would have been fine. None of this would've happened, and they would've been fine. Now the exploded their damn cauldron and ruined their potion in the process. Ah, well..he was more concerned with their safety by now. It didn't seem like his friend had any injuries, but he did seem shaken up. It wouldn't have been weird, as Finch himself was very shaken up as well. Like he said before, this had never happened to him before.

@－ ❛ ʀ ❜：finch goldhorn。⁰² Finch really ing knew how to make Mint angree. He was pressing all the buttons that would make Mint lose the last of his cool and patient and it was just not fair. He had really tried to be nice and work this project with his roommate but right now he just wanted to punch his pretty, well-structured face right into the cauldron. He did not, of course, Mint wasn’t a violent person but just the thought alone was already quite strong. He took a shaky breath to calm down but it wasn’t helping at all. “We decided as a team that I’d read and you put it in,” he said and frowned, trying to suppress his anger. “But sure, maybe it would look better then. Or worse, who knows, maybe you just-“ he stopped himself there, frowning and shaking his head. “Sorry, that was out of line,” he mumbled, more to himself but he knew Finch was a good student, smart, but they all had bad days and so did Mint too. And today was a really bad day.

“It’s what?” Mint said when he heard Finch call the colour almost white. Soft green. White. And he heard Finch mutter – yes, removing the labels had been extremely unfair especially as their professor knew Mint could not see colours. Even his greyscale would not help him for the love of God tell the pastel apart if they were too close in range or like this one, tell the powder apart or the goddamn potion colour. And Mint knew he should have told Finch, he knew, but it had never been such a problem before and it made him angry and annoyed the hell out of him.

Just when he realised what their mistake was it was too late. He should not have added any kind of powder if the colour was nearly white but it touched the liquid even before Mint could do anything or register what was about to happen. The blow was strong and he could see parts of the cauldron fly through the air before he hit the ground, covering his head with his hands. Panic. For a long moment it was panic in his chest and all he could see was vivid pictures or years ago, when he had put on his shoes and the front door had ripped apart, exploding through the small hallway of their cute little rowhouse in South Korea. Covering his ears he could feel how he held his breath – but then there was nothing more too come. Only a small pain in his shoulder and wrist from hitting the ground. Confused he looked around, wide eyes, like a deer in headlights. “Fin? Fin are you okay?” It was the first that got to him, realising he had just caused an explotion and endangered his friend. Because he had been goddamn proud and stupid. “Are you hurt?” he asked, worry in his voice and scrambling over to the other.

@－ ❛ ʀ ❜：mint ainsworth。⁰² "Hey, don't you put any words in my mouth. I never said that. I just said that I know I didn't mess anything up. I never explicitly said you're at fault, but hey if you want to say that, be my guest, really." Finch shrugged his shoulders and looked at the cauldron with a frown, slowly shaking his head with a sigh before he pushed his hair back and out of his face. "Then you must've read it wrong. And I study really hard. I'm sure I'd be able to tell the difference between the two." But was he able to though? I mean..probably? It was no lie, he did study hard and knew a lot of flowers and powders, but he wasn't sure if he'd be able to tell the difference that easily. He just wanted Mint to stop annoying him, but of course the other was too proud to do that, so bickering it was then.

"Don't try to shove this on me. I did whatever YOU said, but maybe that was the wrong choice. I should've done this all by myself. Maybe then we wouldn't be in this hot mess, huh?" Finch muttered and clenched his fists, chewing on the inside of his cheek. "Well, it's not. It's very, very light green. You could basically just ing call it white anyway." He glanced inside of the cauldron and immediately just backed away again. Looking at their failure would only make him even more annoyed and irritated than he already was, and he wasn't in the mood for that at all. "This is stupid. Why the hell did the labels have to be removed? 'To test our knowledge' oh, off, seriously. This is just some cruel prank."

"I did my part, now you do your part too. Besides, it was time we switched anyway, was getting tired of hanging above that cauldron the whole time." Finch sighed and walked closer to Mint to stand next to him as he looked into the book. He glanced at the powder Mint was holding and thought nothing of it. Wait, a second. Finch furrowed his eyebrows and looked at the powder again and then back in the book and then back at the powder. "Wait. Don't!-" Finch tried to warn the other but he had already sprinked the powder into the cauldron. He didn't even have time to react before the mixture inside of the cauldron exploded in their faces, knocking them both back and to the ground.

@－ ❛ ʀ ❜：finch goldhorn。⁰² A groan left Mint’s lips as he looked at Finch and huffed. “So now you are going to take yourself out of the equation so I’m the one who made a mistake, huh?” He hated this. He hated working with people in potions that were not Maël because he hated letting anyone know that the missing colour in his life could turn innocent potions to dangerous, deadly mixtures but he was too proud to tell. It was a vulnerable spot and he did not want to let anyone in, even if he did trust Finch. But it was different, still. “Maybe you measured it wrong,” he said and huffed. “Or maybe you put nightshade instead of nard, they do look alike sometimes,” he mumbled and grabbed the book, looking at it.

“What colour did the blossom have you put in? Or the powder?” Mint groaned and rubbed his forehead, feeling too tired to actually fight about something this stupid but he was getting so impatient. The potion should have been a different shade, he was sure. “It should be dark green by now,” he grumbled and grabbed some powder. “It should be easily fixed if you just missed a few grams,” he mumbled, not realising that the colour was to him almost the same as the one in the book but to Finch it was not a soft grey but a slight green. Mint couldn’t see it. The shade different was so small, to him it was just the same and they had no labels on it. Because their professor had thought testing their knowledge on it was a good idea.

“It’s supposed to be /our/ project, but sure, lean back and I’ll try to save it.” Mint muttered quietly, unhappy with this but too stubborn to tell Finch that maybe he had given him the wrong powder or flower without noticing because he literally could not see the difference. Pride sometimes was a bad thing and this time it might get them into some dangerous territory. And if Finch had looked at book and the powder Mint was holding in his hand, unscrewing and carefully taking out a few pinches, he would have seen the imminent danger they were in when the other sprinkled it into their cauldron. He should not have been this stubborn or proud.

@－ ❛ ʀ ❜：mint ainsworth。⁰² Finch rubbed his temples and furrowed his eyebrows. Normally he really didn't care about working together with someone or not. But Mint was really starting to irritate him slowly. With his small comments here and there. What did he know about the potion being wrong? He wasn't even paying attention to it. Finch was sure that he was right, although..the potion did look a little different...no, it probably wasn't his fault. He normally didn't blame anyone for things that went wrong, but he was so sure of himself that he did everything right and that he correctly followed the instructions.

"If it's so wrong..why don't you take over for me? I simply put in the stuff that you told me to put in, you know? So..unless, you're calling yourself wrong.." Finch mumbled and scratched the back of his neck slowly, before letting out a soft sigh. Okay. Maybe he didn't want to admit it, but it seemed like they went wrong somewhere. He wasn't quite sure where and when it went wrong, but it went wrong for sure. But how would they have been able to mess up? Finch listened to everything Mint said and read from the book itself. He was sure Mint wasn't blind or anything, otherwise he would've opted to read what it said instead. Then again, it's not really like they specifically decided one was going to mix and pour in all the stuff and the other was going to read. It just..kind of happened.

Finch furrowed his eyebrows and turned around to look at Mint. "So you do it then. You know how to read, don't you? So, I don't even know how we could have screwed this up. I followed your instructions, Mint. I'm not going to redo this thing, because I KNOW I didn't mess anything up." He mumbled and just stepped away from the cauldron, gesturing towards it. "The floor is yours." Maybe Finch was being a tad bit harsh, but he had never screwed up a potion. Never. And now because something went wrong, this was going to be the first time. Finch is a bit of a perfectionist, so seeing and hearing how the potion isn't right, was just pissing him off more and more. He brought his fingers up to the bridge of his nose and took a deep breath, slowly shaking his head. Maybe..just maybe, the potion was still worth saving.

@－ ❛ ʀ ❜：finch goldhorn。⁰² Working with people was something Mint really did not prefer. He was actually not a good team worker when it came to projects in classes. Not because he disliked people, no, he was really happy to always meet new people even though he often came off rather rough, but because he had never really learned how to work with people. He had never had a big group of friends he had to get used to for a long time, always changing school every few years, especially during high school, so now working with another person on a project was something he really ing disliked. Even if he really liked being around Finch, it was goddamn hard to hold back and not strangle his roommate.

“I’m telling you, this is wrong,” Mint said and pointed to the book, totally ignoring that he could not even see the colour of the potion. Barely anyone knew that he was colour blind, his whole world turned in black and white, and that it was not exactly helping during potion studies or projects. So yes, he was definitely right – and he was, however Finch was too and if Mint had told the other that he could not tell the colour of the potion maybe Finch would have told him that the tint was slightly more off than he was guessing and that his friend was also absolutely right. Or that they were both utterly wrong and clearly going towards a disaster.

“We should have added this differently,” he said, looking at his roommate. He hated having to work with anyone but Maël, not because he did not like everyone else, but because Maël knew all his little quirks and secrets and could easily notice when he was bothered by something or – just like now – when he was not considering the fact that his eyes were more limited than others. “I really do not want to redo this,” he then groaned and looked at the other, leaning back in his chair. This would cost them more than hours to redo, after all they had to let it rest overnight and he was way too impatient to do that now. That was probably also as he had slept horribly last night and he just wanted a good nap, but here he was, sitting with Finch, ruining their potion.