Work Text:
The timer on Namjoon's phone goes off, tinkling through the silence of the shop and he jumps from the counter where he’s surrounded by spellbooks. It's time. He moves on autopilot now, well used to this routine; grasps his phone, clicks off the annoying ringtone before speed-dialling his boyfriend.
"Hoseokie—”
"I'm on it, babe," Hoseok chirps down the line. "Thanks for the reminder."
Namjoon softens, grinning even though Hoseok won't be able to see it. "You've gotten good at remembering."
"Well, there's nothing I like about turning into a bloodthirsty uncontrollable animal every month." A cupboard door slams down the line and Namjoon winces. Hoseok is talking in that strained tone of voice, forced light-heartedness like he's trying to joke about something but it stings a little too close to home. He's always a bit more stressed on the night of the full moon.
They don't hang up. Namjoon hears the screwing of the bottle, hears Hoseok hiss after he swallows. "You sure there's no way to make that taste better?" He asks, smacking his lips. "Five times a month, you'd think I'd be used to it by now."
"At least that's the last dose for this month. You'll be a docile little puppy tonight."
"I've never met a docile puppy."
"Anyway, I've been doing some research." The potion Namjoon brews for Hoseok and his other werewolf clients isn't pretty, but it's effective. Taken five times in the days coming up to the full moon it takes the edge off of the transformation – makes their wolves remain drowsy and quiet and effectively harmless, instead of the destructive beasts they usually are. It's not a pleasant process, but it works the best – and despite Hoseok's complaints he knows that there's nothing he hates more than losing that control. "I might try experimenting with flavours to make it less disgusting, but I'll just have to be careful. Can't risk anything effecting the other ingredients."
Hoseok hums. "I'm lucky to have the best witch in Seoul as my boyfriend," he says.
Namjoon scoffs. "I'm not the best witch. Technically there's no single way to compare us because we all master in different schools of—"
"Okay, okay. Let me rephrase." Namjoon can hear his smile. "Good thing I have the best potion brewer in Seoul as my boyfriend."
"You only love me for my wicked skills."
"Your dimples are pretty cute too. They help your case."
Namjoon laughs. "Are you at home?"
"Yep." The sound of a door opening and closing. "Well, not anymore. I'm going to run to the grocery store first and pick up some supplies, then I'll call over."
"Do you want me to stay with you tonight?"
"Nah. I know the potion will work, but...I don't want to take any chances."
"That's okay, whatever makes you most comfortable." Namjoon traces a finger over one of the sigils in the heavy tome on his lap. "I love you."
"Love you too. I'll see you soon?"
"I'll be at home. Bye."
There's something about Hoseok's voice – even after three years of knowing him and two years of dating him, hearing his voice makes Namjoon feel at home. Namjoon is a scholar, one of the most advanced practitioners of magic in the city, and is according to Yoongi, one of the most "intelligent fuckers out there." Yet Hoseok – sweet Hoseok who smiles so brightly even when he doesn't feel like it just so he can cheer others up, who works so hard, who tries so badly to fight his nature and protect his friends, Hoseok who tries to swallow up his own darkness so that he can be a light to others – Hoseok never fails to melt him into a pile of mushy goo. If Jungkook were here, he'd say something about him wearing that disgusting in-love smile again. Namjoon wouldn't mind; he's right, after all.
☾
The afternoon passes without much occurrence; Namjoon spends most of it flickering between his books and his inventory. He needs to go to the underworld market soon, and he makes a list of what he'll need for his potions. The full moon is a busy time of month – he spent nearly all of last week preparing the huge batches of potions for werewolves, and today his shop is relatively busy, his regular sirens collecting their own potions (for the mer folk the moon isn't half as serious as for the wolves, they still have relative control over themselves but they do suffer from a little moonlight madness).
He's about to start preparing some more blockers for Yoongi when Seokjin pops in to pick up Namjoon's crystals because, he tells him with a raised eyebrow, he never remembers to charge them under the full moon. The two of them are chatting about a possible new sun repellent for Seokjin's vampiric boyfriend Taehyung when Namjoon's phone rings.
The first time, he ignores it – he doesn't want to be rude. But it rings again, and Seokjin frowns. "Answer that," he says. "It could be urgent."
Namjoon pulls out his phone. "It's just Hoseok – I better take this."
He's glad he does; as soon as he presses the little green phone icon he hears laboured breathing. "Hoseokie?"
"Joonie—" Fear spikes through Namjoon. He sounds hurt – he sounds in pain, and it's something he's unused to hearing in Hoseok's voice.
"What's wrong, where are you—"
"I'm by the church near my studio," he says, "please, please come get me it hurts—"
Namjoon stands up. "I'm on my way." Seokjin looks on worried, before rustling in his bag for something.
"Snatchers," Hoseok says, "a vampire—"
"Hold on, I'm on my way." Fear takes hold of him like a bucket of ice water being dumped over his skin. Something is wrong, very wrong and Hoseok is hurt, badly hurt—
“Namjoon,” Seokjin interrupts.
“I have to go, hyung—”
“Do you want me to come with you?”
Namjoon glances at the sky. It’ll be dark soon. Hoseok barely likes being around Namjoon during the full moon. “No,” he says. “He – the full moon, he—”
“I get it.” Seokjin has one of the crystals in his hand and he blows gently onto it, muttering different words under his breath that Namjoon is unable to hear. The crystal glows for a moment before it dulls again and Seokjin hands it to Namjoon. It’s warm in his hand. “A healing crystal,” he says. “It won’t be that effective because the crystal hasn’t been charged and I haven’t had long with it, but it’s better than nothing. Are you sure you don’t want me to—”
“I’ve got this, hyung,” Namjoon says firmly. “I have to go.”
“Look after him. Go.”
☾
There are so many different types of species among humans these days that no group in particular are hunted anymore, but that doesn’t mean danger has been eradicated. People have their own individual grudges and prejudices – a family done wrong by a vampire often results in generations hating them, and so on.
A newer threat are the Snatchers; people who hunt specific people, usually to kill so they can sell their individual qualities on the black market. Werewolf fur, vampire fangs, witch blood, mermaid tears – both organised crime syndicates as well as individuals will make the most of these prices.
If Hoseok is at a church, it means that he was attacked by a vampire and he’s seeking shelter – vampires cannot enter buildings or ground belonging to religious organisations.
Namjoon finds him at twilight, curled up against a headstone in one corner of the adjourning graveyard. It’s an old site; he doubts anyone has been buried here in years, and the grounds in general have fallen into disrepair. His heart breaks when he sees Hoseok, blood scattered across his clothes.
“Hoseok-ah,” he falls to his knees, “Hoseok, I’m here.”
He just sniffles, and Namjoon gathers him in his arms, kissing his hair. Even that movement causes another cry to escape him. “You’re safe now, I’m going to look after you – is it your leg?”
Hoseok nods, face contorted in pain. “Joon-ah,” he says, his voice wrecked as if every word is a struggle. “It’s a silver dart.”
Namjoon’s blood runs cold. Werewolves are extraordinarily resilient; you could pump steel bullets into them and they would barely stumble. Silver however – it causes huge amounts of pain, it’s almost always fatal. Even in a place like his leg – he can’t imagine how much pain Hoseok’s in now, and if he doesn’t remove the silver dart from his leg, well.
It won’t be pretty.
He presses Seokjin’s crystal against the wound and Hoseok lets out a sharp cry as Namjoon whispers the incantation for a basic pain relief spell. The crystal glows again, magnifying the simple magic and while Hoseok howls in pain in tapers off to a sigh of relief.
Namjoon has more pressing concerns, however. In fact, he has a dilemma.
He mutters another spell, his voice curling around Hoseok’s body. There’s a gentle shimmer in the air, and when Namjoon lifts Hoseok up he’s a fraction of his usual weight (the spell is one of Namjoon’s own invention – he used it in college to make his heavy books weigh less – he never wished to have to use it in this situation). “I’m going to take care of you, Hoseokie,” he says, pressing another kiss to Hoseok’s forehead.
He whimpers. The pain, while dulled, makes him press his face into Namjoon’s chest. “Hurts,” he says, voice cracking. “Hurts so bad, Joon-ah.”
Namjoon rushes back to his apartment – thankfully, it’s not too far from here. The dilemma ahead of him is a tricky one.
Transformation during a full moon is always a painful process – excruciating, Hoseok had told him. Unlike other shapeshifters, transformation is not voluntary, and a werewolf literally loses their sense of self, identity, morals – instead replaced by what’s effectively a monster, and it’s painful.
Silver darts or bullets, even in a non-crucial area like a limb can still cause deaths for werewolves, especially in their wolf form. Silver has a highly poisonous effect on them. Hoseok will be incredibly weak unless he’s healed, and if he goes through transformation with silver embedded in his flesh and the effects of silver poisoning running through his body – he mightn’t make it.
The thought terrifies Namjoon.
However, the alternative…Namjoon isn’t a healer by profession but he knows enough to be able to draw the silver and poison out of him. The healing process will cancel any unnatural effects placed on Hoseok’s body – including the potion to satiate him during the full moon.
When Hoseok transforms, he won’t know him. Without the effects of the potion his wolf will be angry and violent and bloodthirsty. And if his magic is not enough to control him, Hoseok will kill him.
It’s a terrifying choice, but really – there is only one option.
There’s no sign of the Snatcher, and they make it home relatively easy, despite a few curious looks. The moon will be out in roughly an hour, he calculates, so he doesn’t have much time to work.
“Hoseok-ah,” he says, setting Hoseok down on the floor, pushing the couch and table to the walls to make room. “Do you trust me?”
Hoseok nods. Namjoon pulls off his jeans so he can inspect his leg; the skin around the wound is blackening already. He pokes and prods gently, letting the magic seep from his fingertips into Hoseok’s skin, sinking through the wound until it envelopes the silver. He mutters incantations under his breath, focusing all of his energy unto this one tiny wound, and he pulls. Hoseok screams when the silver is pulled out, body convulsing on the floor and it takes all of Namjoon’s control to stay focused.
“Hurts, hurts Namjoon-ah, please, stop just—”
He forces the cries out of his mind until the dart lies in his fist. That was the easy part.
Namjoon starts up a bubbling cauldron, thanking his stars he keeps an inventory at home as well as in the shop. He bustles through his apartment, throwing lavender and salt into the hot water and leaves it until it boils.
It’s hard to ignore Hoseok’s whimpers and each one sends guilt ricocheting through his body but he’s tight for time. He finds the recipe book, quickly flicks to the page he’s looking for. It’s like a heightened venom extractor, but instead of venom it will extract all magical effects on Hoseok right now, including the silver poisoning.
And his full moon potion.
And his pain relief.
But he can’t worry about that now.
A pinch of aquatic elf ashes goes into the cauldron, followed by crushed arcada leaves and wolfberry bush flowers. In goes a medium sized pinch of sliced soapstone, a handful of griffin hair, some crushed unicorn horn, lofa berries and some ground turquoise that Seokjin gave him.
A foul smell wafts from the pot and he coughs, stumbling to where Hoseok lies. He kisses his forehead. “It’s going to be okay, I promise.”
“Make it stop hurting, please—”
“I’m going to draw the silver poison out, I promise.” Namjoon hesitates. “It’s going to cancel the effects of the potion. It’s going to be a painful transformation, I’m afr—”
“You can’t.” Hoseok is panicked, gripping Namjoon’s shirt tightly. “Joonie, you can’t, I can’t lose control around you, I’ll kill you—”
He hushes him. “I told you I’m going to look after you,” Namjoon says firmly. “And I’m going to. Do you trust me?”
“I…”
“Hoseok. Do you trust me?”
Hoseok’s eyes are full of tears, sweat dampening his bangs and his skin is deathly pale. Namjoon never wants to see him like this again. “I trust you.”
Namjoon nods, pressing a quick kiss to his lips before yanking out a few hairs from his head.
“Ouch!”
“Sorry.”
The hairs go into the cauldron, then Namjoon pricks his finger to spill a few drops of blood into it. The mixture is a dark navy now, bubbling and steaming, and it’s time for the final ingredient; a mermaid tears.
Mermaid tears are difficult to come by; usually unless you know one personally or you’re dealing in the black market, they’re almost impossible to get. Luckily for Namjoon he supplies many potions to mermaids, who thankfully exchange a few tears in return. He finds one of these vials and taps a few drops into the mix.
The effect is instantaneous; there’s a sharp bang and steam hisses, singeing Namjoon’s bangs. By the time the smoke clears, the potion has bubbled down into a pale blue. He pours it into a mug and brings it to Hoseok.
“Open up, babe.”
Hoseok, bless him, tries to joke. “This is not the context I want to hear those words.” He lets Namjoon help him, taking a sip of the mixture. It’s a painful process; the more he drinks, the more the pain relief wears off, until he’s writhing on the floor again.
“You’re doing so well,” Namjoon says, trying to stay calm and composed when really, he wants to cry. Hoseok doesn’t deserve this, he doesn’t deserve all of this pain. “You’re nearly there. You’ll be safe when you finish it.”
Hoseok groans, choking down the last of the liquid. Namjoon sets him gently on the ground.
“Joon-ah,” he croaks. “I can feel it coming.”
“What?”
“The moon. Ah – I’m going to change soon.” Through the exhaustion panic floats in his eyes. “You need to get away from me.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
“I’m not asking! I’ll kill you, Namjoon – please, I’d rather die than hurt you, please—”
“Trust me.”
Namjoon finds his stick of chalk and draws a wide circle around Hoseok, as wide as his apartment will allow. All witches are different and specialise in different things; Namjoon’s expertise lies with potions. Seokjin specialises in totems and trinkets; just like the crystal earlier, he pours his magic into objects, enchants them with a certain purpose (like the enchanted pair of designer sunglasses he gifted Namjoon last year for his birthday, a pair that not even he can break). Jimin’s speciality are sigils and symbols.
Despite this, all witches know the same basics, and protection spells are one of them. He draws a few of the basic shielding sigils that Jimin taught him around the circle before he begins to pace around the edge; seven times clockwise followed by seven times anti-clockwise.
The moon shines in through the window.
Hoseok’s back arches off of the floor in a silent scream.
Namjoon begins whispering incantations. As he does, a dust rises from the markings; like a shimmering barrier between them, as if particles of dust are frozen in motion.
He darts to his bedroom. Another good thing about being friends with other witches is that they share magic. He has a book of sticky notes somewhere, each one inscribed with magic symbols by Jimin. He also grabs a necklace, one of Seokjin’s firsts gift to him, formed with protection crystals.
Hoseok is convulsing on the floor, body spasming. Namjoon can’t enter the circle anymore, no matter how much he wants to gather him up in his arms and press kisses all over his face.
He flips to the back of the book, where four protection symbols lie. He peels them off, placing them at four points in the circle. He breaks the chain Seokjin’s crystals hang on, spreading them out around the perimeter of the circle too. Amethyst, charoite, fire agate, hematite, yellow jasper, kunzite, obsidian and peridot. Seokjin knows his crystals. Namjoon still has a few quartz crystals and he adds them to the ring too.
It’s a protective ring wrapped around Hoseok, preventing anything from touching him – and hopefully preventing him from getting out. Namjoon’s done as much as he can, and he sits cross-legged on the floor, as close as he can get without touching the circle.
“I’m here for you, Hoseokie,” he whispers.
Hoseok opens his mouth but all that comes out is a scream.
His nails lengthen and harden, turning into sharp claws that leave deep marks on the floor. The same with his teeth, they lengthen, and his eyes are the scariest, the whites turning yellow.
Namjoon’s never seen Hoseok transform before.
He groans loudly, his spine cracking as it stretches out. His bones click and snap, reforming in different shapes and he rolls on the floor as his body changes. It’s difficult to watch, but Namjoon can’t look away.
His face lengthens into a snout, his human features fade away and his screams turn into howls.
Hoseok’s wolf form is massive, bigger than any animal Namjoon has seen before. And it’s terrifying; dark brown fur and bright yellow eyes, a gaping maw and killer claws. It’s no longer Hoseok, it’s a creature that thirsts to kill.
Namjoon is scared of him for the first time in his life.
The creature arches its back, faces towards the moon and howls loudly, once, twice, three times. Finally, it turns away, looking at Namjoon and growls.
The sound makes the hairs on the back of his neck rise. “Hoseokie,” he tries, his voice unsteady. “It’s me.”
The wolf snarls, launching at Namjoon. It’s a scary moment; he jumps back, tries to get out of the way but there’s no need. The animal bounces off of the magical barrier, scratching and howling at it as it tries to get to Namjoon but to no avail.
Namjoon blinks back tears. It’s scary because that creature – at heart it’s still Hoseok, still his love, but he doesn’t even recognise him. The animal howls again, and Namjoon wipes away tears but doesn’t move. He’s going to stay with him, even if he doesn’t recognise him.
It’s going to be a long night.
☾
When Namjoon wakes up, his neck is sore from falling asleep awkwardly, face pressed against the ground. He yawns as he pushes himself up; according to his watch it’s early afternoon.
He didn’t fall asleep for a long time last night, not until the wolf had worn itself out.
The wolf—
He looks into the magical barrier. Hoseok is curled up, naked and small, watching Namjoon with timid eyes. “You’re up.”
He swallows. “Are you okay?”
“Did I scare you? Be honest.”
Namjoon doesn’t look away. Hoseok will know if he’s lying – he’s always been incredibly perceptive, often more so than he lets on. “I was, for a while.” Hoseok looks down. “I’m not anymore.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m positive – I love you, Hoseokie.”
“I’m a monster.”
Namjoon moves the crystals out of formation. “No, you’re not.”
“You saw me last night—”
“And that wasn’t you, not really. Not the Hoseok I know.” He waves a hand over Jimin’s symbols and they fade from the paper. “You can’t control that part of yourself any more than I can control the fact that I have magic in my blood, or any more than Yoongi hyung can control his ability to talk to the dead, or Taehyung can control his blood thirst.” He pauses to mutter to the barrier gently and he breaks the chalk circle, and the magic falls. “I love you anyway.”
He moves forward, timidly at first, but then he throws himself down beside Hoseok, pulling him into his arms. He thinks he feels Hoseok hiding tears into his shoulder but he doesn’t call him out on it.
“I love you too, idiot.”
He gets out one of his softest hoodies that is far too big for Hoseok and orders lots of food – Hoseok is always hungry for meat after a full moon. They climb off the floor and into Namjoon’s bed where he gets out his laptop to play a marathon of Sailor Moon. And Hoseok tucks himself into Namjoon’s side, emotionally and physically exhausted from the night.
But they’re safe now; safe and together. The night was a living nightmare for both of them, Namjoon thinks, but it’s over now. The sun is shining outside and they have each other, and they’ll be okay.