Felix woke up with a start, blinking in confusion as he tried to make sense of the room. It looked different than it had the night before—the sunlight streamed through the windows, casting a warm glow over the space. But as his eyes adjusted, he quickly realized the main difference: Marissa was sitting at the kitchen table, her head buried in a thick legal book.
It was only then that Felix remembered everything that had happened the night before. The magical marriage contract, the love potion, the weird spark of magic that had almost burned a hole through the apartment—yeah, that.
"Good morning," he said, his voice a little rough from sleep.
Marissa looked up, her brow furrowed in concentration. "Good morning," she said distractedly, before immediately returning to her book. "Do you know anything about magical contracts? Because I'm about to lose my mind."
Felix groaned. "Uh, no. Not really. But I'm guessing you've already read through every clause of that legal nightmare?"
Marissa nodded without looking up. "I have. And do you know what I found out?" She paused for dramatic effect. "That we're legally married. Like, legally bound together for the next six months unless we can break the contract. And don't even get me started on what happens if we don't—"
"Okay, okay, calm down," Felix interrupted, rubbing his eyes. "Let's take this one step at a time. We're legally married. Big deal, right? We can just get a divorce. No harm, no foul."
Marissa slammed the book shut, her eyes blazing. "Felix, you're missing the point! This isn't a normal marriage. The magic involved? It's complicated. We can't just 'divorce' like normal people. If we break the contract, there are consequences—serious ones."
Felix raised an eyebrow. "Consequences? What kind of consequences?"
Marissa opened the book again, flipping through pages furiously. "Let me find the part about the penalties... Ah, here we go." She cleared her throat. "'If the marriage contract is broken before the agreed-upon period, both parties are subject to severe magical retribution. This can include the loss of magical abilities, permanent bonding with an alternate partner, or the collapse of one's magical energy entirely.'"
Felix stared at her, processing the words. "Wait. So, if we try to break up, we could—what? Lose our powers? Become stuck with someone else?"
"Exactly," Marissa said. "It's not just a little 'oopsie' situation. It's a disaster waiting to happen."
Felix ran a hand through his hair. "Great. So we're stuck with each other for the next six months, and the only way out is some weird magical loophole."
"That's about the gist of it," Marissa said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "But, you know, I'm sure it'll be totally fine."
Felix exhaled sharply, trying to wrap his mind around the situation. "Okay, okay. What if we—what if we talk to a lawyer? Surely there's got to be a way out of this that doesn't involve losing our magical powers or getting stuck with some random person."
Marissa bit her lip. "I've already thought of that. But do you know how many actual magical lawyers there are? Like, three. And I'm pretty sure one of them is currently wanted for magical fraud."
Felix winced. "Well, that's... comforting."
"Yeah, I'm not feeling super optimistic either," Marissa said, her voice barely above a whisper.
Felix sat down at the table, his mind racing. "So we're stuck. For six months. And no matter what we do, there's no way out?"
"I mean, we could try to break it. But like I said—bad things will happen. Really bad things," Marissa replied, her voice soft.
Felix leaned back in his chair. "What if we just... try to make the best of it? I mean, if we're stuck together, we might as well try to get along. It'll be like... an accidental experiment in living together. In a totally non-romantic way, of course."
Marissa raised an eyebrow. "So now you want to play house?"
Felix shrugged. "Not exactly. But I'm not keen on having my magical abilities taken away either. And I can't imagine either of us wants to get stuck with someone else."
Marissa sighed. "Fine. We try to make it work. But no promises, okay? I'm not doing this for love or anything. I'm doing this because it's the best of a lot of bad options."
Felix grinned. "Fair enough. Let's just survive the next six months. That's all I'm asking for."
Marissa raised her coffee mug in a silent toast. "Survival. That's our goal. Six months of survival."
And with that, they both settled into an uneasy silence. But something in the air had shifted between them. Neither of them had said it outright, but for the first time, they both knew that their lives were no longer the same. They were married—legally and magically. And whatever the next six months had in store, they were going to have to face it together.
Felix and Marissa sat in silence for a moment, the weight of the magical contract hanging between them like an invisible barrier. Despite their determination to "just survive," the reality of their situation kept crashing into their thoughts. Six months. Married. And no way out unless they could somehow unravel the legal and magical threads that bound them.
"So, what's the plan?" Felix asked, breaking the silence. He was trying to sound casual, but the tension in his voice betrayed him.
Marissa looked at him, her brows furrowed in thought. "Well, I guess we should start by figuring out what exactly this contract entails. We need to know all the details, every little clause, so we can avoid making any... unfortunate decisions."
"Right." Felix nodded. "Because the last thing we need is to do something that makes this whole mess worse."
"Exactly." Marissa pushed the legal book toward him. "Here. Start reading. I'll go over the clauses on the magical aspects."
Felix raised an eyebrow. "You're the one who's been reading all morning. How about we trade?"
Marissa smirked. "Deal. I'll tackle the boring parts, and you can handle the spellbinding nonsense."
Felix grinned, grabbing the book and flipping to the first page. The terms were long, but Marissa had already gone over them. "Alright, what do we have here? 'By signing this contract, both parties agree to uphold the bond of marriage under magical law for the specified duration, unless a valid reason for dissolution can be proven.' Yeah, no problem there. I mean, what could possibly go wrong with that?" He glanced at Marissa sarcastically.
She rolled her eyes but didn't look up from the magical clauses she was studying. "At least you're reading the fine print. I'll admit, it's not exactly what I expected, either."
"'In the event that one party attempts to break the contract, both parties will be subject to the magical consequences stipulated in Section 5.'" Felix continued reading, trying to make sense of the dense legalese. "Well, there's Section 5. Let's see what horrors await us there…"
Marissa's eyes narrowed as she skimmed through the magical clauses. "Okay, this part's tricky. 'The bond of marriage will be enforced by the Binding Spell, which is activated upon signing and will compel both parties to stay within a set proximity to each other at all times. Failure to comply with this proximity restriction will result in temporary loss of magical abilities, followed by permanent incapacitation if the restriction is repeatedly violated.'"
Felix blinked. "Wait, so we have to stay close to each other all the time?"
"Yep," Marissa said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "Because nothing says 'true love' like mandatory proximity." She flipped through a few more pages. "Oh, and here's the fun part: 'If one party falls out of favor with the other, emotional reactions will trigger uncontrollable magical outbursts, which could lead to spontaneous combustions, extreme weather conditions, or accidental transformations.'"
Felix's eyes widened. "What? Spontaneous combustions? We're literally going to burst into flames if we get mad at each other?"
Marissa laughed, though it sounded a little nervous. "Well, that's one of the consequences. There's also this bit about changing forms if we're particularly upset. I'm guessing we don't want to test that out."
Felix let out a long, slow breath. "Okay, so staying close, avoiding arguments, and not turning into fire-breathing dragons. Got it."
"Yep. Sounds simple, right?" Marissa said dryly, her eyes never leaving the book.
Felix leaned back in his chair, processing everything. "We should definitely figure out how to handle this... proximity thing. I don't think either of us is keen on setting off any explosions just because we're annoyed."
"Agreed," Marissa said. "I mean, I didn't sign up for a marriage contract, but now that we're stuck with it, we might as well play it smart."
Felix gave her a look. "It's kind of strange, isn't it? Being stuck with someone, even when you didn't really choose them."
Marissa's smile faltered for a moment, and she lowered her gaze. "Yeah. It is. But it's not like we have much of a choice right now. We'll just have to make the best of it. If we can avoid setting anything on fire..."
Felix grinned. "I think we can handle that. Besides, I think I'm getting used to the idea of you being my 'wife'—for now, at least."
She looked at him, her expression softening. "Well, you're better than some of the other guys I've met. At least you don't immediately freak out when things go wrong."
Felix chuckled. "I think that's a low bar. But I'll take it."
Marissa sighed, stretching in her chair. "I guess we're partners in this... whether we want to be or not."
"Yeah," Felix said, his voice quiet. "Partners."
---
The rest of the day passed in a haze of legal jargon and magical research. Felix and Marissa spent hours poring over every section of the contract, trying to figure out how they could make this situation work. They didn't get much farther than understanding the proximity clause and agreeing to try to avoid fighting.
But one thing was certain: their accidental marriage was going to be a lot harder than either of them had anticipated.
As the sun set, casting long shadows across the room, Felix and Marissa sat side by side at the kitchen table, their faces tired but determined.
"Six months," Marissa muttered. "Six months of surviving this magic madness."
Felix nodded, rubbing his eyes. "Six months. We can do this."
But deep down, neither of them was so sure.