Work Text:
Yoongi would never admit this to Seokjin, but he was right. He should’ve remembered to pack his umbrella yesterday.
Because now he's here, sick as a dog, his magic all out of whack, and no one to care for him other than his bratty little cat Crunchy. She’s not much help since all she really does is provide a bit of extra warmth for him and entertain him for a bit, but still, she tries. And Yoongi appreciates that, he really does, except right now his doorbell is ringing, she’s sitting on his face, and he really just wants to go back to sleep. The doorbell is really annoying though and Yoongi doesn’t appreciate it.
“Stop ringing my doorbell or I’ll break your fingers!” He yells.
“Oh, uh, sorry!” The voice apologizes quickly. “It’s just that I think your food got delivered to my apartment by mistake.”
At the word ‘food’, Yoongi rolls off his bed and onto the floor in a loud thud. The poor person standing outside his door probably just heard him yell a string of curses, several hexes, and Crunchy hissing at him since she is no longer using his face as a seat. Yoongi manages crawling to his apartment door and looks through the peephole.
The poor person standing outside is his new neighbor; the one who moved in a few weeks ago and had to return Crunchy to Yoongi after she wandered into his apartment and tried to eat his cactus. He doesn’t remember what his new neighbor’s name is though.
“You know,” his neighbor says, “I can always come back later…”
“No!” Yoongi swings the door open so quickly he almost hits himself in the face. “I want my soup, please. I will pass out right now if you don't give me my —” He can feel an attack of sneezes coming up his nose, so he holds his breath and tries not to let it loose. He probably looks disgusting to his neighbor, but fuck it, Yoongi is sick and tired and trying really hard not to expose his magical abilities right now.
“Don’t hold them in,” his neighbor laughs. “You should head back inside and lay down. I'll heat up your soup. It got a little cold, sorry.” Yoongi looks at him like he’s crazy. He can’t let his neighbor into his apartment, no way.
“I’m really sick and it’s- it’s really messy in my house…” Yoongi spews out excuses, but his neighbor pushes him inside and forces Yoongi to plop onto his couch. The door is closed now, and Yoongi is really fucking comfy now on his lumpy couch. He hears the microwave hum as it pathetically tries to warm up his soup.
“So,” neighbor man sits beside Yoongi, “I’m Jung Hoseok.”
Yoongi mumbles “Min Yoongi. My cat tried to eat your cactus, sorry.”
Hoseok smiles. “Nice to meet you. Yeah, I know. It’s okay, I’m horrible with plants anyway. But can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“Do your cleaning supplies always just float around or are we going to end up being killed by demons?” Hoseok says. Yoongi shoots up and sure enough, he sees his broom and his mop doing the fucking waltz. Not to mention, the Swiffer Sweeper is powerhouse cleaning the ceiling.
“Oh,” Yoongi lays back down. At least he can say he tried. “Yeah, they do that.”
Hoseok looks at him. “They—They always do that? What, do your pots and pans try to make music too?”
“Sometimes.” Yoongi sighs. “Sorry if they bother you, I’m not really in any position to control them right now.”
“If it’s not demons,” Hoseok seemed to ignore what Yoongi had just said, “then it’s ghosts. Why are ghosts cleaning your house?”
“It’s not ghosts either.” Yoongi is too tired for this. He shouldn’t have even let Hoseok in to his apartment while in his current state, but hey give him a break, he’s sick and a little high off Nyquil. He can’t really be blamed when he says “It’s me. My magic is a little on the fritz right now.”
“Excuse me, what?” Hoseok probably thinks he’s officially insane now. Yoongi doesn’t care, a non-magic like Hoseok would never understand anyway. The microwave goes off and Hoseok goes to get his soup. He comes back and places the bowl on the coffee table in front of them.
“Feed me, good neighbor man.” Yoongi opens his mouth.
“You have arms. And magic apparently, so use them.”
“But,” Yoongi pouts, “my body is so heavy. I jus—” He sneezes loudly, his whole body shivering.
“Oh my god, Yoongi you're on fire!” Hoseok yells.
Yoongi looks up and sees that he is indeed on fire. That sucks. “It’s okay. It doesn't hurt.”
“You're on fire!” He says again.
“Yeah.”
“Yoongi, you are on fire.”
“You already said that.”
“Because you’re on fucking fire Yoongi! What else am I supposed to say?!” Hoseok looks like he’s one breathe away from passing out, so Yoongi pats his head and extinguishes the small flames.
“There. I’m no longer on fire, but now I’m really tired.” He slurs slightly, the medicine probably finally taking effect again. “I’m just gonna… close my eyes for a second…”
“Goodnight Yoongi.” Hoseok’s voice is soft. Yoongi feels Crunchy jump onto the couch and curl up on his stomach, her warmth comforting. The last thing he hears before drifting to sleep is Hoseok saying “Well, hello there pretty girl.” Yoongi thinks, yes, Crunchy is a pretty girl.
He knows something isn't quite right when he wakes up. For starters, he’s sleeping on his lumpy old couch instead of his nice and comfy bed. Secondly, he didn’t even get to eat his soup. And lastly, there’s a head of black hair resting next to him.
“What the—” Yoongi realizes that this person is Hoseok, his neighbor. His non-magical neighbor is right here, beside him, asleep and softly grabbing the blanket covering him. “Shit.”
This is bad. This is very very bad. Actually, this not just bad, it’s terrible. Yoongi can’t have a non-magic knowing about his powers. Non-magics and witches have never gotten along, they just don’t mix. Everytime a non-magic finds out about their powers, bad things happen.
Yoongi is not mentally energized enough to deal with this by himself though, and he most certainly can not call Seokjin, so he slowly gets up, trying not to wake up Hoseok, and heads into the kitchen to eat his forgotten soup. He eats quietly, just looking at the scene that is his living room.
It’s weirdly domestic. Hoseok is resting his head on the edge of the couch, probably having fallen asleep from taking care of a sick Yoongi (which is something he doesn’t linger on since that involves deeper implications), and Crunchy softly nuzzling herself into the crook of Hoseok’s arms. Both are just there, breathing, existing, and it’s nice, cute even. It reminds him of when Seokjin and Taehyung come over for their monthly sleepover. Then again, Yoongi’s always been fond of anything that involves his precious Crunchy, and Hoseok doesn’t seem to be an exception. Yoongi tells himself that he’ll wake him up and kick him out, but he never does.
He’s playing with his spoon in the air when Hoseok finally rises. He’s already exposed himself and has a plan to make Hoseok forget later, so Yoongi continues.
“You know,” Hoseok smiles, “you shouldn't play with utensils. Didn’t they teach you that in magic school or something?” He’s teasing Yoongi and it’s okay, he can handle this.
“Hmm, I don't think they do. Non-magic school seems so boring if they teach you stuff like that.”
Hoseok laughs. Yoongi thinks it sounds like bells. “I’m assuming by non-magic, you mean public school. If so, then no, they don’t teach that there either.”
“Sounds boring still.” Yoongi says. Crunchy pops into his lap. “Well, good morning Crunchy.”
“Did you go to Hogwarts?” Hoseok asks, hopeful. Yoongi sighs and shakes his head.
“Hogwarts isn’t real, but I did go to a magic school for witches. I’m a witch myself.” He explains. Technically, Yoongi attended a coven school with Seokjin, but magic school is a simpler way to describe it to a non-magic. Hoseok nods.
“Cool. That’s cool. Totally, absolutely, cool…” His sentence trails off as he thinks about something. Yoongi can only imagine what and he knows it’s a lot to take in, so he waits patiently.
“You can’t tell anyone.” Yoongi says. “If you tell anyone, I might have to hex you.”
“Oh…” Hoseok frowns, but it’s gone in a second and replaced with an excited grin. “Okay. I guess you’re my cool secret witch neighbor now. I mean, you always have been my cool secret witch neighbor, I just didn’t know.”
Yoongi doesn’t know how to respond. He opens his mouth, closes it, then settles on “You’re weird.”
Hoseok gasps dramatically, and he looks really stupid, but it make Yoongi smile a little. “That’s rich coming from an actual witch. A living, breathing, magical human who can make things levitate and shit.”
He doesn’t sound angry, no, in fact he’s laughing. Yoongi doesn’t laugh, but he smiles a little with every jab and joke they toss between each other. They have a rhythm with each other and Yoongi thinks it’s nice.
Hoseok leaves a little while later because he forgets he’s expecting company. Yoongi forgets all about his plan to make Hoseok forget.
Hoseok drops by the next day. Yoongi is surprised, but he opens the door anyway.
“Yesterday wasn’t a dream, right? Like, you’re an actual witch?” he asks.
Yoongi shushes him, cause they're in the hallway and someone could hear them, but he nods.
“Oh, okay… Thanks.” Hoseok turns and speed walks to the elevator. Yoongi doesn’t see him again until a week later.
He brings cat treats with him when he comes over. Crunchy has decided that Hoseok is now a good person to her, so she purrs and meows at his feet until he pets her. Yoongi teases him about how Crunchy might end up liking him more than Yoongi himself, but Hoseok just smiles and winks, replying that he’s always been a charmer. Yoongi believes him.
The air has been a little awkward between them ever since last week. Yoongi and Hoseok stew in the silence for a bit until Hoseok finally speaks.
“I’m sorry for being weird. It’s just… It’s just a lot to process, you know?” He rubs his hand down his face. “Still, I shouldn’t have been all weird like that.”
“It’s fine.” Yoongi shrugs. “At least you didn't threaten to hang me for witchcraft or call me the devil.”
Hoseok laughs. “Oh god that sounds awful. If anyone ever gives you shit, tell me and I’ll step on their face.
No one’s ever offered to defend Yoongi like that. Again, he doesn’t know what to say so he offers lunch. He snaps his fingers and lets the plates of food fly over to the table. They eat their lunch in peace and Crunchy hops onto the table once in a while to demand attention. Yoongi and Hoseok give her belly rubs, and Hoseok will dramatically lean his face into hers to try to make Yoongi laugh. He refuses to, but he can’t help it if his lips quirk up a little without him realizing.
After they finish eating, Yoongi decides to clean up a little. Hoseok helps by distracting Crunchy apparently. He’s on the floor, Crunchy lying on his stomach, while he strokes her gently and hums.
“Get off my floor.” Yoongi says to him. “The broom is going to hit you when it passes by.”
“Tell it to go away and sweep somewhere else then. Miss Crunchy is taking a nap and I don’t want to disturb her.”
Yoongi rolls his eyes. “You’re so dramatic. She’s not even sleeping, I can hear her purring.”
“So you’re saying cats don't purr in their sleep?” Hoseok says.
“That’s not what I meant.”
“It’s what you said.”
“Get off my floor and go home.”
“Meanie,” Hoseok pouts playfully, but finally gets up. He heads into the kitchen, Crunchy still in his arms, when he gasps. “No fucking way.”
Yoongi walks over next to him. “What?”
“You mean to tell me,” he says, “that I’ve been touching dirty food while washing the dishes meanwhile you’ve been making your dishes do themselves.”
“Well,” Yoongi says, “yeah. I fucking hate dishes.”
“Can you do my dishes?” Hoseok places his chin on Yoongi’s shoulder and smiles. “Please? I reeeeally hate touching gross food.”
Yoongi tenses up when he feels the weight of Hoseok’s chin on him and if Hoseok notices, he doesn’t say anything or move. “What the hell? No?”
“Why?!”
“Cause I’m not your maid!”
“You don't even have to touch them! Just snap your fingers and they’ll be washing themselves!”
“That’s not how it works.” Yoongi says. Hoseok lifts his chin off of the shoulder, Yoongi’s skin still feels hot there, to give him a ‘you’re full of shit’ look. “All my plates and cups have sigils painted on them. That’s how they wash themselves.”
“Oooh… Then why snap your fingers?”
“Flare.”
“Really?”
“No you nut, I snap cause it makes it easier to control my magic.” Yoongi explains. “It’s pinpointing my energy into a single movement so that I don’t fuck up and like, curse my kitchenware or something.”
Hoseok nods, intrigued. “Makes sense.” He turns around and heads back into the living room. “What channel is TLC again?”
“This isn't your apartment! Get out!”
Yoongi hears Hoseok’s bell laughter, then a “Found it!”, followed by Crunchy shrieking and hissing. Hoseok yells and Yoongi smirks. He deserves it.
Weeks go by and things don’t change for Yoongi. He gets up, feeds his cat, waters his succulents, makes breakfast, heads to work, then comes back home at the end of the day. Nothing has changed, not really, except for now that Hoseok somehow manages to fit perfectly into his routine.
He comes home to one Jung Hoseok in his apartment despite him not having a key. Yoongi plops himself next to Hoseok on the couch and grabs some chips from his lap.
“That bad?” Hoseok asks.Yoongi groans in response.
“It fucking sucked. I swear every customer that came in just wanted to test how far I’d go before I decked them in the face.”
Hoseok laughs. “God, that’s so relatable. We have a newbie at work actually and he’s a cute kid, but Jesus, he’s slow at taking orders.” Yoongi remembered Hoseok telling him that he worked as a barista in a coffee shop. It was fitting.
“That sounds like how one of my coworkers was when he first started.”
“Glad to know you can sympathize with me.” Hoseok says. “Where do you work anyways?”
Yoongi realizes he’s never told Hoseok. “An antique shop.”
“That’s so cute. You seem like you’d be a librarian or something, no offense.”
“Really?”
“Yeah totally! You’re quiet and small and probably like books.”
“I mean, you're not wrong…” Yoongi mumbles.
“Why’re you working at that antique shop if you hate it?” Hoseok munches on a chip. “You seem pretty unhappy there.”
“I don’t hate it.” Yoongi says. “I’m just comfortable there. It’s a little boring, but it’s safe. Seokjin’s parents own it, so I’ve always known it. Taehyung is there too.”
“But working there isn’t what you want to be doing with your life, is it?” Hoseok says. Yoongi stays quiet, cause damn, he got him. Hoseok already knew that, yet he still asks. Asshole.
“No, it’s not.” Yoongi answers truthfully. “It really isn’t.”
As much as Yoongi loves and appreciates his dear friends, he can’t stand the idea of being trapped in that little antique shop for the rest of his life. It didn’t feel right to him. Honestly, Yoongi hadn’t even started thinking about ever leaving the shop until Hoseok came into his life. Hoseok, in a way, has inspired him to go and pursue his passions, his dreams, and break out of the confines that are his fear.
Can he actually though? Yoongi is so terrified of following his mother’s footsteps and making the same mistakes she did that he never allows himself to take risks. His stupid fear of dying in vain like her has turned him into someone he’s not very proud of. He doesn’t think she would be either.
Yoongi shouldn’t be getting all up in his own head right now, not with Hoseok beside him. He’s sure he makes for terrible company right now. He’s about to apologize to Hoseok when suddenly, he turns to him.
“Teach me how to do potions.” he says. Yoongi looks at him and sees something akin to worry in his eyes.
“Right now?”
“Yeah!” Hoseok stands and reaches to pull Yoongi up, grabbing his hand. “You said you’d show me last time and you never did. So you’re going to show me right now.”
“I don’t remember ever agreeing to that.” Yoongi says as he’s dragged along towards his work room. “Do you even know where you’re going?”
“Of course, I accidentally saw the door unlocked once when I went to the bathroom.” Hoseok grins. Yoongi sighs, he should’ve known.
“And you never told me?”
“Nah. Didn’t see why it was important.”
“Oh, how nice of you.” Yoongi says. Hoseok sticks out his tongue.
They enter a small room full of candles and herbs and bottles and other knick knacks. There’s a work desk in the center, with all the other stuff on counters towards the walls. Actually, looking at it now with another person beside him, Yoongi realizes just how messy it looks and is kind of embarrassed.
He doesn’t focus on that right now though, no, he’s too busy focusing on the heat in his hand. Hoseok is still holding his hand. He’s holding it and not saying anything about it whatsoever. Yoongi shouldn’t care—actually, he doesn’t care. Not at all. Not one tiny bit. He’s totally not thinking about how rough Hoseok’s hand feels. It’s not like he wants to stay like this, no sir. Hoseok probably doesn't even realize he’s still holding Yoongi’s hand. It’s no big deal.
“Let’s make a cool potion!” Hoseok lets go of his hand. Yoongi exhales softly, his heartbeat slowing (he hadn’t even noticed it had sped up to begin with), it’s over. “Are you okay? You’re kind of red…”
“Just—Just peachy…” Yoongi says. He curses the Grand Witch for ever making him flustered easily. He decides to distract Hoseok. “We can make a uh, a color changing potion!”
Hoseok squeals excitedly and Yoongi cracks a smile. He likes when Hoseok makes those little noises he always does. He really is funny sometimes, isn’t he?
“Does it change the color of your clothes? Your eyes? Ooh, I’ve always wanted to see what I’d look like with blue eyes.” Hoseok rambles.
“Honestly, it doesn’t do much. It just looks really cool.” Yoongi says. “I learned it when I was little, so it should be easy for you to get the hang of it.”
They begin with collecting ingredients. Yoongi recites them all from memory while Hoseok runs around the room looking for them. It’s not very productive since Hoseok has literally never seen about half the items they need, but it’s fun to watch him squirm and figure it out. Yoongi sits on a stool as Hoseok picks up and throws things frantically. It turns into a half game half competition though, and Yoongi ends up racing Hoseok in finding the ingredients. They fall on each other tiredly after collecting everything, Hoseok leaning his head on Yoongi’s shoulder. Yoongi doesn’t know why his heart is beating quickly, and it scares him, so he pulls away after a minute and stands in front of the center work space.
Yoongi demonstrates step by step how the potion is made. He separates his dry and wet materials into separate bowls (which isn’t mandatory, yoongi just doesn’t like throwing everything into the cauldron all at once since it makes him feel like a stereotype), then starts grinding cloves and faerie dust together. After that, he sets aside his dry mixture and pours two drops of soul butter into his other bowl.
“What’re the flowers for?” Hoseok asks, watching intently as Yoongi flitters around quietly.
“It acts like a blank slate so that once we mix everything together it’ll change colors properly.” Yoongi explains. He’s almost done, so Hoseok stays quiet.
After dropping the final ingredient, dog-fennel, into the cauldron, Yoongi stirs it gently with his pinky. Hoseok leans over him and watches as the clear water begins to pop. It changes from a milky white to a sky blue, then a deep purple. It shines brightly, the glitter twinkling against the dark red color it currently is. Hoseok stares in awe and Yoongi notices just how sparkly his eyes look.
“It’s so pretty.” He whispers. Yoongi smiles.
Looking at the cauldron and Hoseok’s eyes, Yoongi thinks of his mother. He doesn’t tell Hoseok, but a color changer was the first potion his mother taught him. The myriad of colors and glitter always reminds him of her. Seeing Hoseok look so mystified by it, especially his eyes, reminded him of her as well. The way her brown eyes looked as they counted the sparkles that always looked like stars to Yoongi. She held his tiny hands in hers and let him braid her long black hair into different complex patterns. He misses her a lot sometimes.
“Yeah, it is.” Yoongi says softly. They both sit there and watch it change quietly for a few more minutes before finally letting Hoseok try.
He starts of good, great even, and asks Yoongi lots of questions. Little by little, he gets more confident and concentrates more. He stops asking questions, and Yoongi stays quiet.
He takes in the fact that there’s a guy here making his mother’s favorite potion. He notices the way Hoseok tightens his jaw as he focuses on grinding cloves, the lines of his face so mesmerizing to Yoongi for some strange reason. The slope of his nose is so perfect it makes Yoongi a little angry. Okay, Yoongi admits that his neighbor has always been fairly handsome, but Hoseok’s forearms are exposed since he rolled up his sleeves as to not get them dirty, and Good Merlin did that make him so much more attractive . Yoongi can’t seem to look away.
And the more he stares, the more he notices the smaller things about Hoseok. Things like how Hoseok is covered in orange cat hair since Crunchy loves to play with it. It’s also pushed back and kept out of his face by Yoongi’s cat ear headband. Honestly, he looks really stupid and silly in it, but Yoongi hopes he doesn’t take it off. The white kitty ears make a very nice contrast to Hoseok’s natural black hair.
Yoongi also realizes that Hoseok hums a specific tune all the time. At first, Yoongi thought it was just some random melody he’d made up, but then Hoseok did it again when he was feeding Crunchy. The melody returned when he was brushing his teeth one morning (Hoseok’s water had randomly stopped working so he spent the night at Yoongi’s), so Yoongi knew it was from an actual song. He’s kind of curious now since Hoseok hums the melody so damn much that sometimes even Yoongi can be heard humming.
“What’re you always humming? Is it a theme song or something?” Yoongi asks him. Hoseok turns to him and beams.
“I’m so glad you asked. It’s called The Ballad of Harambe!” he says. Yoongi snorts, of course Hoseok would hum a song about a gorilla. “Hey, don’t laugh, it’s actually a really good song!”
“Sure it is.” Yoongi teases. “Cause who wouldn’t want to write a song about the poor gorilla who was murdered in cold blood at a zoo?”
“Rest in peace, buddy.” Hoseok puts his hands together, pretending to pray. “If anyone is listening up there, fuck you. Harambe did nothing to deserve dying like that! Dirty bastards did my homie wrong!”
Yoongi is quiet for a moment and Hoseok looks worried, but then he just bursts into laughter. It hits him all at once and suddenly he’s crying with laughing. He doesn’t know why it’s so funny to him. Maybe it’s the fact that Hoseok is cursing out God over a gorilla. Or that he apparently listens to obscure songs dedicated to said gorilla. Hell, it might even be that it’s just Hoseok himself. Anything Hoseok does seems to make Yoongi smile.
After Yoongi finally stops laughing, Hoseok says “That’s the first time I’ve heard you laugh. It’s really pretty, you should do it more often.”
Yoongi is about to tell him to shut up when suddenly there’s an ominous gurgling happening in Hoseok’s cauldron. Yoongi tells Hoseok to step back and goes over to see what’s wrong with the potion. As he’s leaning over it, the potion explodes in his face and fills the room with glitter.
He coughs and swats his hand around to clear it out. “Hoseok, are you okay?”
Hoseok doesn’t respond. Instead, he stares at Yoongi with a weird look. He seems… enchanted?
“Oh my god your hair,” Hoseok gasps. “It’s white.”
“What?” Yoongi looks for a mirror.
“I just turned your hair white. Oh my god, I fucked up. You —You gave me an easy potion and I fucked up. I fucked up really badly and now your hair is white! I am so sorry Yoongi, I really am. Oh god, I should just go I—”
Yoongi can see the genuine fear in Hoseok’s eyes, so he instinctively grabs him.
“Hoseok,” Yoongi holds his face with both hands on his cheeks. “Look at me.”
“I—I’m looking.”
“I’m not hurt, right? I’m perfectly fine. You did so good for your first time, Seok . Even though you made mistakes, I’m really proud.” Yoongi says, trying to muster a comforting smile onto his face.
His chest is pounding, but Yoongi doesn’t care. He’ll stay like this for as long as Hoseok needs. Yoongi knows how scary it is to fail a potion and Hoseok seemed like he was going to start hyperventilating, so he did what his mother did for him when he was freaked out. She always calmed him like this, her soft hands on his face, telling him she was so very proud of him and that he did his best. Yoongi really hopes it’ll work for Hoseok too.
After a minute, Hoseok closes his eyes and sighs. “Thanks Yoongi.” Yoongi lets go. He’s glad he helped Hoseok. That’s all that matters right now.
“I still get scared when potions explode. I hate the noise.” Yoongi says. “No that that’s over though, how the hell am I going to explain this to my coworkers tomorrow?” He points to his newly white hair.
Hoseok touches a little strand. “Just tell them you wanted to try something new. It looks really good, you should keep it.”
“Should I?” Yoongi smiles when Hoseok nods. “Alright, I guess I have white hair now.”
They head back to the living room and stay close to each other the rest of the day. Their bodies are pressed together on the lumpy couch while watching trashy MTV shows. Hoseok’s hands roam in Yoongi’s newly colored hair, gently scratching and sending shivers down his spine. Yoongi falls asleep in between a rerun of The Jersey Shore on Hoseok’s chest, but when he wakes up he’s cold and in his bed. Looking around frantically, he spots a note attached to Crunchy’s collar.
Yoongi,
You seemed really tired and it was getting late, so I went back home since we both have work tomorrow. I tried cleaning up the mess we made while making potions, but I’m pretty sure I just threw shit in random cabinets. Sorry again about your hair. It looks really cool though and I think it suits you pretty well! And you look cute with it so that’s a plus. BTW I fed Crunchy, so don’t worry about her and get some sleep okay? Goodnight Yoongi, sweet dreams.
Your favorite non-magic,
Jung Hoseok
P.S: You sleep like a rock. I’m very jealous of that, but you snore so I took pictures and videos for future blackmail. Mwahahahahahaha!! >:)
Laughing, Yoongi puts the note in one of his nightstand drawers and lays back on the bed . Crunchy lays beside him, so he pets her absentmindedly while thinking about the note. Well, about Jung Hoseok leaving him a note.
He pictures Hoseok in the work room, confused but determined to clean up their mess. (Yoongi was just going to leave it like that until spring but he’s touched by Hoseok efforts.) He sees Hoseok in the kitchen grabbing cat food and bending down to pour it into Crunchy’s bowl. He can almost feel how Hoseok picks him up and takes him into his room, maybe putting a blanket over him and tucking him in. He might’ve lingered there, his face so close yet not enough, before leaning in and—
Yoongi’s whole face is on fire. He can feel the literal flames on his head again. It reminds him of when he first met Hoseok all those months ago. Nowadays, everything seems connected to Hoseok.
He doesn’t want to admit it, and no way in hell would he ever say it out loud, because admitting this is basically death, but he knows he’ll have to eventually. Today is not eventually though. Maybe if he just avoids Hoseok for a bit all these weird feelings will go away? Yeah, that sounds reasonable to Yoongi, so he’ll do that. For now, he simply cuddles with his cat and nuzzles his face into her fur before going back to sleep.
“What’s with the hair?” Seokjin says when Yoongi walks through the door for his shift.
“Just wanted to try something new.” Yoongi sets down his satchel behind the register and sits on the stool. “When’s Taehyung coming?”
“He’s running late apparently.” Seokjin sighs, a wistful smile on his face. “I know damn well he’s probably just waking up at Jeongguk’s again.”
Yoongi hums in agreement. Taehyung has been seeing this kid named Jeongguk. They’ve been hooking up for a while now, but Yoongi knows Taehyung likes this guy a lot. He doesn’t say anything, but Yoongi is pretty sure this guy is going to stick around.
“But back to your hair. Why did you decide to change it?” Seokjin leans against the counter, his lips in the weird sort of smirk he usually has when talking.
Yoongi rolls his eyes. “I already told you, I just wanted to. No other reason.”
“Mhm, okay.” Seokjin doesn’t look convinced, but he doesn’t press Yoongi any further. Instead, he looks at the door and counts down. “He’s coming. 5… 4… 3… 2… 1…”
The bell above the door chimes and Yoongi sees Taehyung.
“You won’t believe what just happened to me!” He yells, throwing his backpack next to Yoongi. “I went to get my morning coffee, like usual, and on my way out one of the workers bumps into me and drenches me in a latte!”
“I can see that.” Seokjin says. Taehyung does have a massive brown stain on his shirt, Yoongi notes.
“It looks like shit.” He says. Taehyung frowns at him, but Yoongi knows Seokjin is holding back his laughter.
He clears his throat. “Did he apologize?”
“Yeah,” Taehyung continues, “but he felt really bad and asked if he could do anything to make it to me. So, I told him to stop by and bring us drinks later.”
“Was he cute?”
“He was so hot, hyung! I might have to slip him my number later when he stops by.” Taehyung winks. Yoongi fake gags, making all three of them laugh.
After 20 minutes of listening to Seokjin and Taehyung talk about everything and nothing, Yoongi decides they should actually start working. The three spend most of the time cleaning, teasing each other, and checking inventory. Honestly, there’s really not much to do in an antique shop with no customers. Except sometimes, the antiques get excited and run off from their spots. At least then it gives Yoongi something to do for a bit.
He’s sitting on an old beanbag, mostly staring off into space, when he notices that the silver elk is no longer on the shelf where it was a few hours ago. It’s secretly charmed to give off confidence, so it’s really valuable and worth a lot. He looks around for it and finds Seokjin discreetly stashing it in his pocket. It’s odd, so Yoongi makes a mental note to ask him about it after work.
Taehyung stares at the clock, which makes Yoongi antsy. “Staring at the clock won’t make it any faster.”
“Meanie,” Taehyung says. “I’m just excited for drinks, you troll.”
“You forgot to add ‘cute’ into that title.”
“Oh my god, shut up. You’re so annoying—”
“Both of you shut up, he’s coming!” Seokjin and Taehyung scramble to the front desk while Yoongi stays on the comfy beanbag. He hears the door open, the familiar jingling of the bell, and a familiar voice.
“Hey,” Yoongi tenses up, cause that is most definitely Hoseok’s voice. The Hoseok that Yoongi is trying to avoid right now. “I brought the coffee.”
Yoongi dives behind a cabinet when Hoseok starts walking towards the front desk. Okay, Yoongi can make it to the back room without being spotted, right? Wrong.
Taehyung sees him hiding, he sees the way Yoongi is frantically motioning to him “I’m not here”, and this fucker stares him dead in the eyes. His mouth is in a devilish grin, and Yoongi silently begs Taehyung to have mercy on his poor soul but he already knows he’s doomed when he says pointedly “Yoongi, what are you doing behind the cabinet? Are you hiding ?”
Slowly, he rises from the ground to face Hoseok. “H—Hi… I wasn’t uh—I wasn’t hiding. There was—There was dust! Dust on the bottom of the cabinet! Yeah, I saw dust and wanted to clean it up. I didn’t hear you come in.”
“You literally jumped to hid—” Taehyung shuts up when he feels Yoongi’s nails dig into his side.
Hoseok looks confused, but he smiles politely nonetheless. Yoongi closes his eyes so that he doesn’t have to look at it.
“You two know each other?” Seokjin looks at the two of them.
“We live in the same apartment complex. We’re neighbors.” Hoseok says.
“How cool,” Seokjin gives Yoongi a look. He wants to melt into the floor, cause that look means he has a lot of questions he needs to avoid later. “Thank you for the coffee.”
“Oh it’s no big deal. I felt really bad about Taehyung’s shirt.” Hoseok looks down at his phone. “I should get going, my break isn’t that long and I need to be back on time.”
“Pity you can't stay longer,” Taehyung says. He places a hand on Hoseok’s shoulder (which doesn’t go unnoticed by Yoongi) and smiles. “Come back any time, okay?”
“Sure. I gotta jet now, but sorry for your shirt again.”
“It’s fine, I’ll have Jeongguk wash it for me later.” Taehyung gives him a cheeky smile and Seokjin laughs.
“And Yoongi,” Hoseok turns to him. “I’ll see you at home.”
He leaves the antique shop and doesn’t see Yoongi’s hair crackle with excited electric sparks. Taehyung and Seokjin tease Yoongi about it for hours, but their eyes look sad. He tells them that he doesn’t like Hoseok like that. They can all tell that that’s not exactly true.
Yoongi inevitably sees Hoseok later in the apartment complex elevator. They exchange shy polite smiles, their fingers brushing a little as they stand next to each other. Yoongi’s fingers shock Hoseok on accident and he flees back to his apartment in embarrassment after profusely apologizing. He’ll take the stairs from now on.
Avoiding Hoseok is a lot harder than Yoongi thought, but he manages for about a week. Every time Hoseok passes by the antique shop, Yoongi runs to the back room. Whenever he hears footsteps near his door, he turns off all his lights. He doesn’t use the elevator, only the stairs, and he wakes up earlier than usual. When Hoseok finally spots him in the early morning heading out to do some supply shopping Yoongi panics a little. It’s the first time he’s seen him in a while.
Hoseok smiles at him, like he normally does, but Yoongi looks away. He tries to shut his door quickly so he can make a run for it, but his hands are shaking a little. A hand is placed over his and he looks up to see his neighbor.
“You’re avoiding me.” Hoseok says. He sounds sad.
“I’m not…” Yoongi says, but he can’t look Hoseok in the eye. He hears him sigh.
“It's fine if you are, I’m not mad. I just wanted to say sorry if I did anything to make you upset.”
“You didn’t.”
“Then why are you avoiding me?”
“I’m not.”
Hoseok frowns. “You’re lying.”
“I’m not.”
“Then prove it.” Hoseok says.
“Look,” Yoongi says, “I’m not avoiding you. If I have to prove it to you, then… then you can come with me today! If—If you’re not busy or anything…”
Hoseok smiles again, and this time Yoongi can’t avoid looking at it.
Hoseok confirms that he doesn’t have any plans today, so he and Yoongi walk together towards the market. They both stay quiet for a bit, just listening to their own footsteps and enjoying the air. Or at least Hoseok is. Yoongi is busy noticing and focusing on the smallest of things.
Things like the fact that Hoseok slows his pace whenever he and Yoongi walk together. Or that he makes small little sound effects for everything. Hoseok also always wears green beaded bracelets on his right arm. Yoongi knows that he has a little mole on his upper lip that he hates, so he covers it up with foundation. Yoongi thinks it’s the prettiest mole in the world.
“—oongi?” Hoseok waves his hand in front of Yoongi’s face.
“Sorry, what did you say?”
“I said we’re here.”
They are indeed at the market now. Yoongi reaches into his bag and pulls out an old black hat with a wide brim. He puts it on his head and walks into the market.
“What’s with the hat? You look like the guy from Goblin.” Hoseok laughs.
“Don’t laugh, this hat is very important.” Yoongi says, stopping at one of the market stalls. “It lets vendors that sell magic items know that I’m a magic user.” He pays for the dog-fennel he bought and continues walking.
“You still look like the guy from Goblin.”
“I don’t.”
“You do.”
“I don’t!”
“You do!”
“I shouldn’t have let you tag along.” Yoongi says.
“Nooo!” Hoseok pouts and leans on Yoongi. “I’m sorry I take it back! Yoongi!” They laugh, which causes a few stares, but they don’t notice. They continue on shopping and teasing each other until Yoongi stops. He sees a candle vendor.
There, on the fold out table, are pink candles. Yoongi picks one up. He stares at it a bit, but puts it down quickly when he sees Hoseok look at him. Instead, he grabs a green one and shows it to him. It’s shaped like a four leaf clover.
“Green! That’s my favorite color!” Hoseok smiles as he grabs it from Yoongi. I know , Yoongi wants to say. I know it’s your favorite color, that’s why I picked it .
“Really?” Yoongi pretends to be shocked.
“Yeah! Green is the color of hope.” Hoseok says. Yoongi nods.
“It is.” It’s the color of hope because it’s Hoseok’s color. “Let’s buy it.”
Yoongi ends up buying four since Hoseok says that four four leaf clover candles will bring them a lot of luck. He doesn’t think he can get any luckier than he is right now.
The candles are the last thing they buy at the market. Their outing is concluded, so Yoongi starts walking home until Hoseok says he’s forgotten and runs back into the market. When he comes back, they both continue back to their apartment.
As they walk, Hoseok says “I’m glad you aren’t avoiding me anymore.”
Yoongi frowns. “I already told you I wasn’t—”
“You were. I saw you run away whenever I entered the hallway.”
“I—I wasn’t—” Yoongi stammered.
“Did I do something wrong? Why did you avoid me?”
“Cause I’m scared.” Yoongi is surprised that he admitted it.
“Of what?”
I’m scared that I’m actually falling in love with you.
Yoongi doesn’t answer. He can’t. He feels a hand slip into his. Hoseok squeezes his hand gently. Yoongi feels his cheeks and hands grow hotter. He can see the smokey exhales coming from his breath, so he holds it. Hoseok tells him that it’s okay, he doesn't have to tell him anything. Hoseok looks so pretty to him right now.
Shit. He’s so dead. Literally.
Hoseok sleeps over again because apparently the couple who live next door are having loud anniversary sex. Yoongi doesn’t want to think about how many times his powers went off in the form of sparks or fire.
He laughs when Hoseok rants to him about the noisy neighbors while he prepares breakfast. Hoseok sets the table and throws some mad shade at their neighbors. He rambles on about human decency between neighbors right until they start eating. It’s egg toast sandwiches, Hoseok favorite (Therefore making it Yoongi’s too).
“You always make the best egg toast,” he says between bites. “Who taught you?”
“My mother.” Yoongi says. “She liked cooking.”
“Liked?”
“Yeah,” Yoongi looks down at his plate, “she passed away when I was younger.”
Hoseok’s face drops. “Oh my god, Yoongi, I’m so sorry I didn’t know—”
“It’s fine.” He gives Hoseok a smile, and it’s genuine. “It was a long time ago.”
It’s quiet. Yoongi can feel the weirdness of it when they go to sit on the couch. He hates it. He guesses that it’s too much for Hoseok when he stands up.
“I gotta go get something from my apartment. I’ll be back.” Hoseok says.
Yoongi hears the apartment door close and he sighs. He runs his hand through his hair and closes his eyes, leaning back on the couch. He’s pretty sure Hoseok won’t come back.
He hears the door open again.
“I have something for you.” Hoseok says.
Yoongi sits criss-cross on the carpet. Hoseok also sits criss-cross. There’s a bag next to him.
“So,” Hoseok starts, looking nervous, “I say you looking at this a few weeks ago when we went to the market. You seemed really… wistful? I don't really know, you just looked at it with something in your eyes. I didn’t know why until you mentioned your mom. I guess I finally figured it out. I just thought that it would be wrong not to buy them when you looked at them like that. I was going to give them to you as a birthday present, but I—I realized I don’t actually know your birthday...”
Hoseok reaches into the bag and pulls out the pink candles from the market. Yoongi looks at them, wide eyed, then lunges forward to hug Hoseok. He wraps his arms around Hoseok’s neck and buries his face to hide his tears, though he’s pretty sure he can tell anyways. He just holds on to Hoseok, body trembling and sniffling, and Hoseok holds him too. He feels his arms on his back, gently rubbing in circles, his fingers in his hair (something that Hoseok seems to love to do), rocking them both softly with his feet.
“March 9th.” Yoongi murmurs after a while.
“What?”
“My birthday. It’s March 9th.” He says. He’s tired now, so he stays on top of Hoseok.
“Good to know.” Hoseok says, Yoongi can tell he’s smiling, he just knows it. “Are you okay now?”
Yoongi finally crawls off of hoseok to save what shred of dignity he has left and nods. “Yeah, sorry. It’s just that I remembered something my mother told me.”
“Hmm, what was it?”
Yoongi smiles embarrassedly. “Pink candles mean friendship, healing, and... and love.” He laughs. “It’s ironic, since witches can’t really do that, but she always told me that if a witch receives pink candles from their first love, they’d end up together forever.”
“You—You can’t love?” Hoseok says. “But you love your friends don’t you?”
“It’s not that we can’t,” Yoongi says, “it’s that we shouldn’t. Witches can love and be in love, but if they’re betrayed by the person they’re in love with they lose their powers. It’s really dangerous and most witches just end up never falling in love because of it, but not my mother. She did it twice, fearlessly, and encouraged me to fall in love too.”
“Have you?” Hoseok asks. “Have you had your first love yet?”
“I have.” Yoongi says. It’s the first time he’s ever said it out loud.
Hoseok looks worried. “How did it end? Are you going to lose your powers?”
Yoongi is quiet before smiling shyly, his scalp popping softly with electricity. “It hasn’t.”
Hoseok has a look on his face and Yoongi can’t quite tell what it means. His eyes seem sad, but he’s smiling.
“That’s—That’s good… Are you scared?”
“I’m so fucking scared.” Yoongi admits. He picks at his nails. “My mother, she—she was hurt by love. The thing she wanted and cherished so much killed her, yet she still told me to do it. She was so full of life, so caring and kind, but she ended up not being able to even move when she died. It terrified me, seeing her wither away without her powers, so I vowed to never end up like her."
Hoseok grabs his hands, probably to stop him from making his nail beds bleed. “From what I've heard, your mom seems wonderful. She must’ve been really beautiful.”
“She was.”
“I don't see why you wouldn’t want to be like her Yoongi. Honestly, I think you've always been just like her. Maybe you just didn't want to admit it."
Yoongi thinks back to when he and Hoseok made potions. The way he held Hoseok’s face gently, telling him how proud he was of him, assuring him he did nothing wrong. He remembers how he painted sigils on all his plates just like his mother did because she hated doing dishes too. She loved winter, but hated being cold, just like him. She fell in love so easily and full heartedly, just like Yoongi has done with Hoseok.
This epiphany leaves him a little shaky, but brings him to a few current thoughts. One, he still misses his mom so very much. Two, his vow and fears are and have always been dumb and utter nonsense. And three, he's utterly and blatantly in love with Jung Hoseok, his stupidly annoyingly silly non-magic neighbor.
Even if it means losing his powers or dying, Yoongi will shout it from the rooftops if push comes to shove, telling Hoseok is something he has to do. Or else he might just die a little every time Hoseok so much as looks at him.
“You’re right.” Yoongi says. “I’m just like her. And that means I have to find out whether she was telling the truth about the pink candle.”
He leans in closer to Hoseok, smiling so hard his cheeks hurt. “I’m in love with you. And I’m okay with whatever answer you give me.”
Hoseok stares at Yoongi. “Can I kiss you?”
Yoongi doesn’t respond. He just presses his lips onto Hoseok’s. That should be enough of an answer. It is. Hoseok smiles into the kiss and Yoongi hates him for it, but he truly loves him for it more.
“Stop smiling and kiss me.” Yoongi says, but he’s smiling too. They both end up kissing and giggling on the floor, limbs tangled up. Crunchy even joins in and receives a few happy pecks from both men. They move to the couch where they're much more comfortable and their asses won't go numb. Yoongi learns that his kisses are magical (literally) as they are so wonderfully warm and taste like firewood. Sometimes, they're more electrical and both Yoongi and Hoseok will feel a spark when they connect.
Slowly, they stay together. They don’t rush because there’s plenty of time. They’ve got all the time in the world with each other now.