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seungkwan is not having a good morning. he may have pissed off a spirit or two, he dumped coffee on his pants, and it's just straight up too early to be awake. he has no choice but to go to the shop instead of going back home and staying in bed all day, though; he agreed to help seokmin and mingyu with some wards and pendants before the sun moves into another sign and the clock is ticking.
the bell over the door rings when he enters. he's so busy digging in his bag for a crystal he hopes he didn't leave at home that he doesn't notice the guy sitting on the sofa is new, at least not until he puts his coffee on the table to dig deeper, finds what he's looking for, and realizes the guy's shoes don't look like wonwoo's. pumpkin hasn't meowed at him yet, either. he drags his eyes up to the guy's face — briefly cringing at the knitting in his lap — and realizes that yeah, that's definitely not wonwoo.
"you're doing that wrong," he says, annoyed, as he shrugs his jacket off and picks up the coffee again, bag forgotten. he was going to ignore the knitting, but really, how fucking hard is it to knit and purl? isis and horus are simultaneously upset, and that doesn't happen often. they may be feeding off his annoyance, but still.
the guy lifts his head and raises an eyebrow at him. "jeonghan said it was fine."
seungkwan almost chokes on his coffee. the knitting is not fine, and letting him believe it's fine will physically pain him, but that's a problem for later. his current thoughts are limited to knitting bad, face good. like, very good. he didn't think silver hair could work on someone, but between the fair skin and the very sharp jawline and the eyes, he has to unfortunately acknowledge that he was very wrong.
he hates being wrong.
seungkwan clears his throat. "do you know where he is?" he asks, like he needs him for something — he doesn't — and doesn't know that jeonghan is almost always out at the pond at this time of day, but this guy doesn't know that, so whatever.
"i think he went out back," the guy tells him, sounding very uninterested in the whole exchange. pumpkin saunters into the room and jumps onto the back of the sofa behind him as he answers. he turns his head to coo at her and smiles when she meows — bright and blinding and in a way that pulls at something in seungkwan's chest.
it's immediately quashed when he notices the guy has dropped a stitch off the end of one of his needles.
seungkwan wants to cry out of some combination of frustration and lust. it's too early for this. he takes a deep breath and grabs his bag before striding out of the room. he's damn well going to pretend he didn't hear the guy snort in amusement behind him.
***
he finds mingyu and seokmin before jeonghan — or hears them, anyway, chatting quietly in the kitchen. they go silent when he enters, seokmin's eyes widening slightly. mingyu shoves more food in his mouth and avoids making eye contact entirely. they have separate mugs of tea, but are eating off the same plate, because that's just a thing they do, apparently — have since seungkwan met them.
"which one of you wants to explain who the guy is?" he asks, squinting at them in turn to look for any signs of weakness he can exploit, but they both seem determined to keep their mouths shut. "because you obviously know."
"you'll have to ask jeonghan," seokmin shrugs. "all we know is his name is vernon."
he turns to mingyu, who still won't meet his eyes, and watches him put even more food in his mouth.
he sighs. heavily. "is he outside?"
mingyu nods and makes a noise that sort of sounds like "yep."
"hey, before you go deal with that, we were thinking about starting in about an hour," seokmin informs him. "do you want any breakfast? mingyu can make something for you," he adds, nudging his friend with an elbow. "right, gyu?"
mingyu nods again, makes another noise.
seungkwan looks down at the cup in his hand, about to say no, but realizes it's empty and moves to the sink to take care of it. "i've only had coffee, so i'd love you forever actually."
"i'll make sure he doesn't poison you," seokmin assures him. "go find jeonghan. wonwoo is with him but they should be clothed this time."
seungkwan wrinkles his nose, but he drops his bag by the door and heads out onto the deck. he makes a quick stop by his herbs to check them over, ends up pinching off a few leaves that aren't doing well and swapping a couple of pots around for optimal light. he can see jeonghan and wonwoo at the pond in the center of the garden — dressed, thankfully — and sighs again as he makes his way down the steps.
seungkwan doesn't know how or why jeonghan and wonwoo met, only that jeonghan decided to leave his coven and form one with wonwoo, who had previously been on his own. jeonghan picked up mingyu and seokmin somewhere along the way and it was the four of them for a while, until seungkwan stumbled across the shop when he moved to the area. the place felt like home then, and one of them must have seen something in him, because after a handful of days spent hanging out in wonwoo's expansive library researching his newfound spirit world connection, seungkwan was extended an invitation.
it took him time to adjust, but he understands the family jeonghan is trying to build. his specialties are a bit at odds with mingyu's but isis favors him, and seokmin's solar bond is solid. the three of them are often a perfect trio for more draining spellwork, even if they drive him crazy some days.
it hits him, as he approaches jeonghan and wonwoo and their miniature water spout, that the guy might be—
"seungkwannie! did you meet vernon?"
dread coils itself in his stomach. "is he the guy in the front room with the silver hair and the butchered knitting project and an unreasonably friendly relationship with pumpkin?" he can't believe he's possessive of a cat that isn't even his.
wonwoo laughs. "i think they met, hannie."
"give him a chance, please," jeonghan chirps. the water spout reverses direction.
"but he's—" too pretty, seungkwan wants to say.
jeonghan seems to know. "teach him how to fix his scarf. it's for his mother."
"you know i have things to do, right?"
"it's early. he's going to handle the front today. you have time."
"so he's a witch?" seungkwan asks in disbelief. he thinks he's more upset than he should be about a potential new member, but he's the baby in the coven. it comes with perks, like mingyu's breakfast. and sure, he'd probably continue to cook for seungkwan anyway, but he's letting himself be irrational right now, so as far as he's concerned the world is ending or whatever.
"yes," jeonghan replies, not offering any additional explanation.
seungkwan rolls his eyes. "fine."
***
inside, he finds mingyu in the kitchen, turning food out onto a plate and setting it in front of an empty stool. seokmin is missing.
"hey, boo. food there," mingyu says, pointing at the plate, like it could be for anyone else, and slides a mug next to it. "i know this tea is not your favorite thing but drink it anyway, please."
seungkwan peers into the liquid. "i will, but only because i like you." and he doesn't want to pass out again during spellwork — once was enough. "thanks."
"any time," mingyu assures him, then goes about cleaning every surface and pan and utensil he touched while cooking as seungkwan eats. he talks to himself here and there. seungkwan barely notices anymore. he finally turns the water off and leans his elbows on the counter. "so what did jeonghan want?"
"feels like you two knew exactly what he wanted," seungkwan says, narrowing his eyes.
"we might've had an idea, but…" he trails off, coy and still hiding something, seungkwan can tell.
"he wants me to teach him how to fix his disaster of a knitting project. apparently he's going to be here all day."
"that would be nice of you," mingyu hums.
seungkwan sighs, pushing his empty plate away. "come find me when you guys need me."
***
he takes the tea with him to the front room and finds himself entirely unprepared to look at this vernon person again. how does someone get more attractive over the course of twenty minutes and is he single because wow. he stands in the doorway, takes a sip of tea, and watches vernon fight with the same knit stitch for half a minute before he takes pity on him.
"i can't let this go on," he groans, moving to the sofa. "did a cat teach you to knit?"
vernon looks at him for a second longer than he thinks is necessary, then smirks. "i'm vernon, by the way."
"seungkwan." he puts his mug on the table and snatches the knitting off the needles in vernon's hands. in retrospect, it was maybe kind of rude, but it's not like any of it is salvageable. "this isn't terrible, but you're going to have a hole right here," he says, pointing at the dropped stitch a couple of rows down. "and all of these are too tight. that's why you spent thirty seconds fighting with the same stitch. you have to loosen up."
"i could say the same about you," vernon replies, but he doesn't sound upset.
seungkwan turns to him and forgets to be offended when he sees the corners of his mouth twitch. "i'm loose enough, thanks." he reminds himself to breathe, and reaches for the disgusting tea.
vernon just stares, waits for him to put the mug back down before he says, "okay."
"okay?"
vernon shrugs. "if this is loose, i can't imagine you uptight, but i believe you. how do i fix it?"
"you don't," seungkwan sighs. he murmurs an apology to the yarn then starts ripping the stitches out. "you start over. i'll do a few rows for you and you can watch."
vernon leans back, reaching over his shoulder to scratch behind pumpkin's ear. she's purring. seungkwan has never heard her purr with anyone except wonwoo — never even seen her without wonwoo around. it's all very casual, like he has no idea what effect he could possibly have on someone by sitting like that and looking like he does, but seungkwan suspects he knows exactly what he's doing.
he focuses on the knitting in his hands instead, starts casting on new stitches and calms down considerably. he almost forgets where he is until vernon speaks.
"are those your planters on the deck?"
seungkwan nods. "why?"
"what else do you work with?" vernon asks, dodging the question.
seungkwan reaches the end of the row and runs his fingers over it, adjusting everything while he considers his answer. "the sun, and two deities," he replies, intentionally omitting the whole shamanic part because that tends to freak people out, and only giving a number of deities because it's a lot to name them for someone he met less than an hour ago. they're not like poseidon, which jeonghan has to slip into conversation early on.
"horus?" vernon asks immediately. "and isis, right?"
seungkwan nearly drops his needles. vernon's needles. whatever. he turns his head again. vernon is looking at him calmly, waiting for an answer.
"which one of them told you? i don't appreciate—"
"calm down," vernon interrupts, putting a hand on seungkwan's leg. it feels like he's being branded. he wouldn't be surprised to see a scar in the shape of his fingers there later. "none of them told me. bastet and anubis did."
seungkwan feels his mouth drop open. he snaps it shut and clears his throat, but vernon's lip twitches again so he's pretty sure he saw it. he has no idea how to read this guy, but he wants to. if he's serious about his deities and jeonghan is seriously considering having him in the coven, though — he didn't say it, but seungkwan can tell — he doesn't know how he's going to survive. the whole thing suggests some major soulmate vibes.
he tries to be cool. "well, i guess that explains why she loves you," he says, nodding his head at pumpkin.
"yeah, maybe. wonwoo said she's not very sociable."
"that's an understatement. i have scars."
vernon snorts, then zigzags back to serious. "i don't love sharing my deities, either, but i kind of had to when she came right to me when i walked in." his hand is still on seungkwan's thigh, like he's forgotten it's attached to his arm and he has the power to remove it.
"yeah. sorry for snapping at you."
"it's fine," he says, smiling. he finally slides his hand away, dragging his fingers along seungkwan's pants rather than lifting the damn thing. "are you teaching me to knit or what?" he asks, like he's not the one that sidetracked seungkwan to begin with.
***
seokmin retrieves him a short while later, after he's had a chance to lecture vernon on how to hold the yarn loosely enough and make sure his stitches are a uniform size and how to pick up a dropped stitch in case it happens again. maybe he modified his pattern so the scarf will look nicer. maybe he's considering making vernon's mother a matching hat.
he brings his mug to the kitchen, grabs his crystal from his bag, and heads outside where mingyu and seokmin are waiting for him.
seokmin raises an eyebrow at him as he approaches.
"before you ask, i want to wipe his stupid, hot grin off his stupid, hot face."
seokmin sputters. "told you, gyu."
"guys, please," mingyu whines. "i can't do this by myself."
"already cranky and we haven't even started," seungkwan says, placing the crystal inside the circle formed by their bodies. "going to be a great day."
seokmin holds both of his hands out. "he's fine, just bitter he doesn't have anyone hot to bitch about."
"hyung, you can bitch about me whenever you want," seungkwan offers.
mingyu ignores him, stepping into place. "house ward first, then a few things for customers. tell me if you need a break or tea, please don't make me carry one of your dumb asses up those stairs again." he looks pointedly at seungkwan.
"it's been months," he protests. it was far more embarrassing for seungkwan than it was a hardship for mingyu. he's been extremely careful — and especially diligent about consuming whatever the resident kitchen witch gives him on days like today, no matter how vile the tea is — ever since. he doesn't deserve this attack, he thinks.
seokmin chirps, "got it, fire boy."
it makes mingyu huff a laugh, breaking the tension, and they get to work.
***
vernon is helping a customer when seungkwan goes to check on his knitting progress, after hijacking wonwoo's shower upstairs. he seems in his element, gesturing to a dried bundle of herbs on the counter and then a few different pendants, so seungkwan leans against the doorframe with another mug of disgusting tea and watches him. he smiles a lot, looks light and airy in a way that reminds seungkwan of seokmin — much different than the kind of broody weight that slipped into the cracks of their interaction earlier.
vernon catches him staring and winks, so seungkwan makes his way to the sofa and inspects the scarf he's been working on. he's made progress, and it's much better than before — the number of stitches is the same as it was when he left the piece in vernon's hands and they're not too tight, at least.
he hears the bell over the door ring and vernon joins him a moment later. "does it pass inspection?"
"for now," seungkwan admits, setting the item back on the table in front of them and grabbing his mug.
he can feel eyes on him and glances to the side. vernon is turned to face him with an elbow on the back of the sofa, head resting on his hand. "you're a good teacher, i guess."
"i know," he sighs, "being incredible is a daily struggle. when's your mom's birthday?"
vernon pauses and tilts his head. "did you do spells or run a marathon?" he asks, bringing a finger up to poke at seungkwan's wet hair.
seungkwan rolls his eyes. "i showered, because the sun is pretty awful to stand under for that long and mingyu likes fire, but i suppose you're perfect and don't sweat."
he smiles like he did at pumpkin earlier, when she meowed at him, and seungkwan has seen it already but not directed at him and—
"no, i just prefer working with the moon."
whatever he was thinking falls flat on its face in his brain.
"of course you do," he mutters, because of course he does. the complementing deities weren't enough, they have to have opposite cosmic magic, too.
"it's in a few days," vernon finally answers. "how'd you know?"
"jeonghan mentioned it. i'll make a hat."
"okay," he shrugs. "you need more dill out here, by the way."
seungkwan whines and sets his mug on the table before slumping back into the sofa. he's tired, and he should be napping like mingyu and seokmin, but he also doesn't want to move, even if a bed is waiting for him. "you can go get some. you know where my herb boxes are, obviously."
"figured you'd go nuts about people touching them."
he rolls his head to the side and finds vernon smirking.
seungkwan can't decide if he hates him or wants to drag him up to one of the extra bedrooms and rip his clothes off, then sleep in his arms for a thousand years.
they're nice arms.
"mingyu kept stealing from them to cook, so i got over it, but i'll take your head off if you touch my flowers without asking."
"duly noted," vernon replies, standing. "be right back."
apparently he meant they needed dill now.
seungkwan flops onto his side and falls asleep.
***
jeonghan wakes him up as the sun is setting. he does this by climbing on top of him and letting his limbs hang to make himself as heavy as possible while whispering in seungkwan's ear. he groans and shoves his face into the hoodie balled up under his head, then realizes there's a hoodie balled up under his head that smells like dill and lavender and he's under a blanket.
it's a very disorienting time.
jeonghan pushes himself up and grabs seungkwan's ass before sitting back on his heels. "you've been asleep for a couple of hours, babe. vernonie left you a note."
"you did this on purpose," seungkwan grumbles.
"waking you up? yes. i'm going home, kid."
"vernon."
"do you mean thank you, jeonghan, for finding me quite possibly the most compatible witch in the universe? did he tell you he does shamanic work, too?"
"no, he did not, and i mean you did this on purpose."
"it's not like i took out an ad, kwannie. i stumbled across him. it wasn't until the bastet thing that i decided you should obviously be together. i was right, wasn't i?" jeonghan asks, poking at his feet.
seungkwan pouts at nothing in particular. "i don't know, maybe."
"he came to me for the blanket, by the way. i tried to give him a pillow and he said it was fine."
seungkwan drags himself into a sitting position and pulls the hoodie into his lap, straightening it. it's the one vernon was wearing earlier. a small bundle of lavender falls out of the pocket and he kind of wants to cry because waking up is terrible and vernon's gone and jeonghan was right.
"oh, ugh," the blond scoffs. "i didn't know he did that." he pulls a piece of paper out of his pocket and tosses it in seungkwan's lap. "i didn't read it."
"is he coming back?"
jeonghan hums. "that's up to you and him, honestly. he did fine out here, knows his stuff. wonwoo seems to think both of you will be stronger if he joins, regardless of whether or not you two act on anything. but after seeing the way he looked at you when you were asleep, i think it's a matter of when, not if. i might start a betting pool."
"please don't," seungkwan protests.
jeonghan shrugs, then pats his leg and moves to stand up. "mingyu and seokmin left already, but gyu left some dinner for you if you want it. wonwoo's in the library; let him know if you want to stay here tonight. you okay? you did a lot today."
"yeah, thanks," seungkwan says, nodding.
"thank vernon, too," jeonghan tells him, raising his eyebrows suggestively while pointing at the hoodie and lavender in his lap.
seungkwan tries to kick him in the shins, but he giggles and jumps away before blowing him a kiss and walking out the door.
he sighs. amplifying his powers isn't really a factor for him, he does just fine, but he knows it's rare to find another witch that so perfectly matches the strengths and bonds you've cultivated for yourself, especially when they're a bit of a mishmash like his are. he and seokmin have the sun in common and he can feel that energy between them even when they're just sitting around, but seokmin is stronger with stars and his air magic, which seungkwan can't really relate to. he can't deny that there was a much stronger connection with vernon, an incredible ease to their interaction, even more so after their deities recognized each other.
he's also really cute. and kind, apparently.
seungkwan pulls the hoodie over his head, sticks the note and herbs in the pocket, and leaves the folded blanket at one end of the sofa. he pads into the library and finds wonwoo in a corner, flipping through his book of shadows with pumpkin sleeping next to his feet.
"what's up, boo?" he asks without looking up.
"jeonghan said i'd find you here. mind if i crash upstairs?"
"this place belongs to you guys as much as it does me, seungkwan. you're family."
"pretty sure your name is the only one on the deed," seungkwan counters. truthfully, he doesn't want to wait until he gets home to open vernon's note.
wonwoo takes his glasses off and pinches the bridge of his nose. "yes, of course you can crash upstairs. pick a bedroom. jeonghan told you gyu left some dinner for you, right?"
"yeah. thanks, wonu."
he nods and reaches for his glasses.
seungkwan grabs a book about dream interpretation on his way out.
***
he opened the note over a bowl of bibimbap — still warm and full of all of his favorite things — that he'll have to sincerely thank mingyu for tomorrow. he found an address scribbled on the paper with a smiley face underneath, and let wonwoo knew he was going out. he didn't seem surprised.
it's an incredibly dorky note, but his cheeks also hurt from how hard he's been smiling since he opened it. he didn't have to think very hard about whether he would come here, and he doesn't have to think very hard about ringing the doorbell.
vernon opens the door after a few moments. seungkwan's stomach should be in knots, but he rests against the doorframe in a white t-shirt and sweatpants and beams at him and seungkwan feels more calm than he can remember feeling ever.
"i got your note."
"i see that," vernon replies, still grinning like the damn cheshire cat, clearly amused.
"you're an enormous dork."
"you have no idea."
"you should join the coven," seungkwan says decidedly. he hates the idea of saying someone's eyes are sparkling, but vernon's seem to be as they scan his face. it's ridiculous.
he reaches out and takes seungkwan's wrist. instead of feeling like he's being branded, it's pleasantly warm — the same feeling he gets when he steps outside under the sun. it takes his breath away, honestly, because the moon hangs above his head instead. but the moon is vernon's thing, so maybe it makes sense.
"yeah," he agrees seriously, running his thumb slowly under the cuff of his hoodie, over the inside of seungkwan's wrist. "i like jeonghan and wonwoo a lot, so i figured i would."
"just jeonghan and wonwoo?"
vernon shrugs. "the rest of you are okay, i guess."
seungkwan uses the puppy dog eyes he's perfected after being around mingyu and seokmin for months and then turns away. he knows vernon's full of shit, but seungkwan isn't going to let him think he can't be just as troublesome.
vernon laughs so quietly he almost misses it, but tugs him back. seungkwan stumbles into his arms and forgets anything exists outside of them, frankly. it's going to take him a while to get used to the feeling.
"mingyu and seokmin are okay," he says. "i don't think there's a word for you."
"i told you, being incredible is a daily—"
vernon cuts him off, steals the words from his mouth and all seungkwan can do is ball his fists into the fabric over his chest and kiss him back.
in the middle of his open doorway. gods.
seungkwan has no idea how long it is before vernon pulls away, time is stupid, but it's too soon anyway and he whimpers. vernon kisses him again, just a brief press of his lips, and rests his forehead against seungkwan's.
"you have to go before i drag you inside. i have a scarf to knit."
"you knit?" seungkwan asks, feigning surprise.
"yeah. some guy taught me."
"sounds like a good guy."
his eyes are closed, but he can feel vernon grin before their lips connect a third time. he loosens his arms afterwards and takes a tiny step back.
"incredible guy."