Heart eyes.

He thought he'd gotten used to them, the unberably innocent, glazed-over eyes he'd been forced to observe for hours during his experiments. Eyes that were soft and heavy-lidded and filled with enough warmth to make his heart stutter within the confines of his ribcage. Eyes framed by the prettiest lashes fanning across cheeks dusted with the most perfect shade of pink. That was how you were looking up at Blade from where you sat on the examination table, idly swinging your feet and offering him a dreamy smile when you noticed his gaze sweeping over your features.

He turned away, pretending to busy himself with jotting down notes on his clipboard when really, his poor heart just needed a break from the sight of you all lovestruck and pliant. This was meant to be far easier than he'd initially thought. He'd thought exploring love and the effects of natural plant aphrodisiacs on the body would make his botany thesis stand out among other PhD candidates. And knowing you'd always had a bit of a crush on him, Blade already had a willing test subject. It was supposed to be so simple, but somewhere along the line, his heart had gone awry.

He strained to think while he noted down your elevated BPM. Perhaps he would always unknowingly inhale some of the red ginseng and ginkgo powder he'd use while mixing up a dose for you to take. Maybe that was why he felt the way he did. But that didn't explain why he'd find himself laying in bed later the same night with his mind fixed on you, long after the effects were meant to wear off.

He tried to swallow down the strange sensation coiling in the pit of his stomach, shuttering his expression as he turned back to you and brushed his thumb under your eye to ever so slightly tug your lower eyelid down and observe the way your pupils dilated at the sight of him. The way your lips parted so eagerly when he brought the thermometer under your tongue.

"5 to 6 millimeter dilation of the pupils... Body temperature elevated by 0.8 degrees..." he muttered to himself.