“So what are we doing?” Cody asked when they made it into the bathrooms. Jasper glanced around. Good, no one else was here.

“Fill your mouth with water, tilt your head back  so I have a good shot, and blow out your nose on the count of three.” Jasper instructed.

“A good shot?”

“Just a little energy shot.” Jasper chided. “It’ll disrupt the water, and if you’re blowing out your nose, the water will follow with enough force to take the rice all the way out with it! Front door! Just really hold that throat closed.”

“Your solutions to things are… interesting.” Cody said. Possibly a reference to when Jasper dumped a bottle of glue on an entity last semester.

“But they’ve worked so far!” Jasper said. “Bottoms up!”

Cody gave Jasper a look that said, I can’t believe I’m about to trust you on this, and then brought his water bottle to his mouth.

He squirted it in, because he had one of those bottles. The ones Jasper secretly desired but refused to swing the extra dollars on (and also, those caps had to be a bitch to clean).

Cody set his bottle on the sink and leaned back, his mouth now a reservoir of grand H2Opportunity.

Jasper steadied the back of Cody’s head with one hand, feeling the short soft prickle of his dirty blonde hairs and his neck folded back. Jasper’s face was getting warmer, for excitement and for another very obvious reason he didn’t want to point out.

Jasper took his other hand and made an exciting finger gun. He was having a lot of fun with this.

Cody was side-eyeing Jasper, probably not thrilled that Jasper was smiling.

“Don’t worry, I won’t fuck it up.” Jasper said. “Blow out on one… two… three!”

Jasper fired a light energy shot right into the oral pool of water. In that instant, Cody made a spraying hacking sound and shook his face in what Jasper could only describe as a water-logged confusion.

Cody sprayed water everywhere, droplets splattering over the mirrors and falling on the floor and colliding against all of Jasper. Jasper’s elbows and shoulders immediately rose up in disgust.

“UGH!” They both exclaimed in unison.

“Why the hell did we do that?” Cody asked with red eyes and a dripping face, water spilling from his mouth like blood from the monster in a cheesy horror movie. Cody proceeded to squint his eyes and scrunch his nose and wipe his face, which appeared to be recalibrating.

“Well did it work?!” Jasper asked in anticipation. It was his idea, a certain pride came with such things working.

“You’re ridiculous.” Cody said. “But I think it… d…”

Cody, staring directly at Jasper, went wide-eyed and began laughing.

Jasper looked to the mirror, distorted through descending droplets. A single piece of rice rested on his left cheek. Jasper immediately gagged.

“Your SNOT WATER is on my FACE?”

Cody was barely keeping it together, but also grabbing paper towels between laughs. “But it worked!” he said with a smile.

A tremendously bright and dazzling smile that made Jasper stumble a bit. This man had agitated eyes and a wet face, had just defiled Jasper in unthinkable ways (even though said snot-water was technically a result of Jasper’s idea), and now he was committing psychological warfare. His bright teeth shone under the upward sliver of his his just-puffy lips, and his face was beaming with a happiness that couldn’t compare to any past experience Jasper had with the guy.

This kind of joy in a person was special, and Jasper was already forgetting the dilemma on his face and joining in the laughter. Forgetting why he was being dramatic. Forgetting where he was. Forgetting why he did anything ever, as if existing was only for this moment where Cody was wiping his face off for him.

Cody placed his other hand on Jasper’s shoulder, its warmth dropping further into Jasper’s body than he ever thought it would. Cody grabbed the piece of rice in his paper towel and wiped the water off the rest of Jasper’s face. 

Jasper had never stood so still in his life. For the first time in this mortal existence, he didn’t have a winded-up reaction to something. He just… enjoyed it. Even the ‘cheap & rough’ brand paper towel felt like sweet silk with Cody’s hand behind it.

“There.” Cody said as he finished. “You’re free of my phlegm water.”

Cody backed away to toss the paper towels, and Jasper suddenly realized he was smelling something earthy but hinted to be sweet, like cedar and peach. They were so close together that… if Jasper were to be in that position one more time, he might just lean in over Cody’s collar.

Ahh, fuck. There was no denying the crush after today. It was a bad one too. No sense in fighting it, even if Jasper would sarcastically berate its existence and the impact it had on his life from this point on. Crush. He had one. What was being crushed in a crush though? His sense of better judgement?

Jasper would still split the Earth before letting Maria or Josephine ‘help’ him with this situation.

When Cody returned from the trash can, Jasper laughed again. “There’s still water leaking out of your nose.”

“I think there will be for a minute. Tastes fine, though.” Cody licked his upper lip.

If the context of the situation were different (not snot-water), Jasper might’ve liked that action a little too much. Instead, he gagged in the way he didn’t want.

Oh, are we really just abandoning normal thoughts? If Cody knew what was going on in my head…

Jasper went to grab another paper towel, then stuck it flat on Cody’s face with an open palm. He could feel Cody’s nose in the middle of his hand.

“Gee. Thanks.” Cody said through cheap absorb-paper and Jasper’s palm.

“Welcome.” Jasper said as the towel caught on a few of Cody’s face droplets. “Just give it a sec, so I can get everything.”

Cody grabbed Jasper’s wrist and moved it out of the way, laughing. “Need I remind you this is your fault.”

“And again, I say you’re welcome!” Jasper said, unable to keep his composure either. Cody was still holding his wrist, and Jasper couldn’t help but fix his gaze on it. “Are you holding me captive so you can blow your nose on me again?”

“Oh, is that what you’re into?”

“Yes.” Jasper said bluntly. “It was all an act. This was my master plan, so I could have a mucous-y memory to fantasize to.”

“And the jerk chicken! You even got Maria involved!” More the other way around, but was Cody making a sexual joke here??

“I take it back.” Jasper said. “I have to tell you, it was all Maria’s plan. I’m innocent. If you have to hit me for punishment, do it softly.

“Brazul.” Cody incanted strength with a mischievous smile.

“Oh, hell no!” Jasper broke free and ran out of the bathroom. “At least wait until after the cake!” he shouted back at the man chasing after him.