Archive of Our Own

from the moment he began to practice witchcraft, seonghwa was always told to never interact with warlocks. 

his teachers claimed all of them were evil, manipulative, and cruel. warlocks got their powers through deals with the devil, and even though this made them extremely powerful, it stained them with black magic for the rest of their immortal lives.

and seonghwa never really runs into trouble either. he has no reason to; it’s just him, his shop, and his many plants. (seonghwa calls them his friends. hongjoong, his faerie roommate that speaks sarcasm as a second language, calls him a weirdo.) 

so when the bell to his shop jingles, and a heavy, dark aura settles over the space, his first instinct is to run .

the roses he’s tending to seem to wilt a little bit and shrink back from the overwhelming energy pulsing throughout the small shop. the bright pink petals seem to lose their vibrance, and seonghwa turns, ready to snap at whatever warlock dared to enter his domain and disturb his plants.

but whatever insults he’s about to conjure up immediately die in his throat as he sees the newcomer.

you see, the thing is, the black aura absolutely does not correlate to its owner.

seonghwa expected to see an old, grizzled man with a long, gnarled wooden staff, threatening to destroy his shop or steal his soul or something.

what he didn’t expect to see was a man who looked about his age, fluffy red hair falling over dark eyes wide with clear nervousness, an awkward smile on his lips.

he was a warlock. the dark energy proved it. but he looked nothing like any warlock seonghwa had (unfortunately) crossed paths with in his years of living.

for one, no warlock seonghwa had ever met before was this handsome.

“welcome to aurora garden, can i help you?” he finds himself saying, turning around to gently touch the leaves of the roses. he closes his eyes, magic coursing through his fingers into the plant to keep it alive. when he opens his eyes, the petals are pinker and the plant generally looks healthier and less like hongjoong on monday mornings. he smiles, before looking back at the warlock.

“yeah.” the warlock’s voice is deep, a bass tone that doesn’t match his boyish features. seonghwa jumps a bit. “i’m looking for a plant for my friend.”

seonghwa blinks. a warlock. looking for a plant. for a friend.

warlocks weren’t known to have friends. they generally kept to themselves, holed up in their little domains where they practiced spellcasting and summoning with the demon they made a contract with. they weren’t also very friendly in general. however, apparently, all of seonghwa’s knowledge of warlocks has been completely destroyed by the one in front of him in less than ten seconds.

“um. yes.” he manages to get out. he quickly runs a hand through his slightly unkempt black hair, brushing his hands together in an attempt to look like a somewhat put-together shop owner. “do you have anything in mind?”

the warlock makes a grimacing face, scratching the back of his neck with fingers seonghwa duly notes are clawed, golden skin of his hands mutating into dark grey at his knuckles.

“not. really?” the warlock offers an embarrassed smile, and seonghwa is just so thrown off by this whole situation (a shy, handsome, friendly warlock? what the hell, might as well throw in a unselfish, sweet siren while we’re at it) that he just puts his customer service voice on as some sort of normal grounding.

“hm, okay.” he steps closer, making sure to still keep a sizable distance. this warlock didn’t seem threatening so far, but he’d play it safe. he’s only a garden witch after all, defense spells are not his strong point. “do you know what your friend likes?”

the redhead pouts, blinking as he seems to ponder the question. at this point, seonghwa has accepted that this warlock was unlike any he’d met before, and he’s just going to have to roll with it.

seonghwa chuckles. “do you not know?”

“ah.” the warlock blushes. “um, i’m not sure. my friend is a warlock, if that helps?”

“warlocks have friends?” seonghwa blurts out in surprise, before his eyes widen and he covers his mouth. “wait, i’m so sorry-”

the warlock laughs, a cute sound that sends seonghwa’s heart into arrhythmia. “yeah, i guess we’re not very normal warlocks. it’s okay, we get that a lot.”

seonghwa nods, bowing. “i’m so sorry, i didn’t mean to assume.”

“it’s fine.” when he straightens up, the warlock is blushing, deep red coloring golden tan. “i know witches don’t have good relationships with warlocks anyways, you’re a witch right?”

seonghwa smiles, turning around to beckon the other further into his shop. “yes, i am a witch. anyways, what’s the occasion for your friend?”

“it’s his birthday today.” the warlock grins. “and he told me if i was gonna buy him a present to get something weird, so i was thinking, why not a magical plant?”

“i’ll have you know magical plants are very good presents.” seonghwa huffs. “my roommate would beg to differ, but i like them a lot.”

“i think you’re biased.” the warlock says. “after all, this does seem to be your job.”

seonghwa can’t really disagree. he inherited this shop from his grandmother, who was also a garden witch, after she passed away four years ago. he had been twenty years old then, and he dropped out of university to instead run the shop. his parents hadn’t been happy then, but now, they were proud of him for keeping the shop alive.

and he supposes he’s biased in that he started studying garden magic at a young age, falling in love with magical plants and the benefits they had as well as their aesthetics. he remembers begging his grandmother to take him to the magical garden back in jinju, always mesmerized when he walked in to see the thousands of flora and fauna.

“true.” he concedes, smiling a little at the memories. “but i love it. i want to do this for the rest of my life.”

the warlock looks surprised, but he coughs, eyes averted. seonghwa blushes at his own admission.

“hey,” the warlock starts, snapping seonghwa out of his embarrassment, “what are these?”

seonghwa looks to where he’s pointing.

it’s a rare flower, a blue sunflower. blue sunflowers were popular flowers, but they were very hard to get, thus hiking the prices up to impossible levels. their magical properties were good for making potions, specifically potions meant for charms and curses.

he tells the warlock all of this, and the other’s eyes immediately brighten.

“can i buy some of those?”

seonghwa’s startled. “a-are you sure? they’re very expensive.”

“yeah, it’s no problem.” the warlock says, and seonghwa’s quickly reminded that many warlocks are rich or come from rich families, so dropping money on something as mundane as flowers was nothing new to them.

“alright.” he walks over to the flowers and kneels down, touching them gently with his hands. it seems to bloom even more under his touch, and he smiles. “you’re going to a new home, my dear.” he whispers, fondly smiling as he carefully picks up the pot and carries it to the register.

“eighty-eight thousand won.” he says to the warlock, who doesn’t even flinch at the number and slides his credit card into the machine. seonghwa doesn’t miss how he has to crane his neck up to look at the other. who let a singular person be this tall?

they wait in silence as the payment processes. seonghwa gets an idea.

“what’s your friend’s name?”

“hm?” the other looks confused. “um, yunho.”

seonghwa nods, grabbing a blank index card from one of the counter drawers and takes a pen. in his best calligraphy (thank god he practically does this for a living), he writes ‘ happy birthday yunho ’.

he punches a hole in the card and strings it with twine, gently resting it on one of the sunflower stems.

“a-ah.” the warlock blushes. “thank you. erm, your handwriting is really pretty.”

seonghwa laughs, willing the flush on his cheeks to go down. “it’s nothing really. my normal handwriting is much worse.”

the machine beeps, and seonghwa rips out a receipt, handing it to the warlock. “just sign here, and you’re good.”

before he hands it over though, he notices the name.

song mingi .

“mingi.” he says, unthinkingly.

the warlock’s - mingi’s - head whips up from signing. “yeah?” his dark brown eyes are filled with confusion, and actually, kind of cute.

“ah. um.” seonghwa scrabbles for an excuse. “i like your name.” is what he comes up with.

peak communication skills.

mingi smiles, a bright gummy smile that pierces seonghwa’s heart with cupid’s arrow. oh god, he is so fucked.

“what’s your name?”

“seonghwa?”

mingi’s smile seems to get even bigger. “i like your name too.” he slides the signed receipt back to seonghwa and picks up the sunflowers. “thank you so much, seonghwa!”

“n-no problem.” seonghwa stammers, watching as the warlock waves before closing the glass door to the shop behind him.

warlocks really weren’t normally this nice, right?

he has to ask hongjoong.

------

when seonghwa gets home that day, he’s greeted with loud screaming.

hongjoong didn’t tell him they were coming today.

he takes off his shoes and walks towards the main living area, already preparing himself for the chaos.

his expectations are not disappointed. 

he sees his four friends in various states of disarray, yelling at each other.

“no, i called uno first!” san, a shapeshifter and familiar, yells at the top of his lungs. seonghwa winces.

“uh-uh, i said it first, dimwit!” wooyoung, a professional exorcist, screams back.

“i heard san-hyung first.” jongho, a wizard, offers helpfully. wooyoung turns to glare at him. the wizard just raises his hands to signal neutrality.

“i heard san first too, young-ah.” yeosang, a sun witch, raises one eyebrow. “just admit your defeat so we can move on.”

“i will challenge you to a battle right now, kang yeo-”

“a-HEM.” seonghwa clears his throat. the four look back at him, and the tension is broken.

“hyung-ie!” wooyoung screeches, game forgotten as he practically flies into seonghwa, the air squeezed out of the garden witch as the exorcist hugs him.

“wooyoung, i can’t breathe-”

san leaps onto him as well, chirping “hi hyung!”, hugging him from behind as wooyoung hugs him from the front. jongho and yeosang just stand back and watch it all happen.

“why are you the only one that can get them to shut up.” seonghwa sees his roommate come out from the kitchen, purposefully wielding a wooden spoon. “i told them to shut up and san said he would quote-unquote “eat my dick”.” 

“yeah, i would if you let me, hongjoongie-hyung.” san winks, and yeosang whacks him over the head.

“i’ll break up with you, choi san.”

“i’m your familiar!”

“you’re a shapeshifter!”

“if anyone yells again in the next thirty seconds, no one is getting dinner.” hongjoong threatens, and that seems to settle it.

“but we missed our hyung.” wooyoung pouts.

“i’m your hyung too you little shit-” hongjoong raises the wooden spoon again and seonghwa scrambles.

“how about no murder? joong, i need to talk to you anyways. you four,” he waves his hand at them ambiguously, “you go decide who said uno first, i don’t know.”

“it was me.” san sulks, and wooyoung gives him a Look.

the yelling starts again.

“hongjoong, what do you know about warlocks?” seonghwa asks once they’re safely in the kitchen and the door is closed, muffling the sounds of screaming and possible combat spells from yeosang and jongho.

“warlocks?” hongjoong stirs a pot of what looks to be pasta. “not much, us faeries tend to stay away from them. why, what’s up?” when seonghwa doesn’t answer right away, hongjoong whips around, a murderous look on his face. “seonghwa, did a warlock come after you?”

it’s no secret that warlocks and witches aren’t supposed to get along. warlocks were naturally solitary; due to their practicing of black magic, no one exactly wanted to be best buddies with them. witches were also quite solitary, due to the stigma surrounding them that they were all just old women with a penchant for poison. when a warlock and a witch meet, it usually results in an argument or worse, a physical fight.

so, it’s a shock to seonghwa that one, mingi didn’t try to rip his head off at first sight, and two, actually seemed to enjoy talking to him.

“no!” seonghwa laughs nervously at the way hongjoong is smacking the wooden spoon against his hand like a soldier preparing for battle with his sword. “joong, put the spoon down. no one attacked me.”

hongjoong visibly relaxes. “okay. because i’ll have you know, i’ll murder any warlock that dares to even try and lay a hand on you.”

“aww, you’re so sweet.” seonghwa ruffles hongjoong’s electric blue hair, to which the faerie pouts and swats his hand away. 

“i hate warlocks too, don’t go getting any ideas, hwa.”

seonghwa pouts, giving hongjoong puppy eyes until the younger relents, letting a smile break his features. 

“so if you didn’t have a near-death experience, why did you want to know about warlocks?” hongjoong goes to the oven, and seonghwa can smell garlic bread toasting. maybe it’s magic, but hongjoong is the best cook seonghwa knows.

“one came to the shop today.” seonghwa leans against the wall, watching his roommate dart around the kitchen. “and see, the weird thing is, he wasn’t hostile or anything. he just wanted to buy flowers for a friend.”

hongjoong turns around from the stove, narrowing his eyes. “you sure he didn’t have ulterior motives? did you check the shop for any spells or talismans? see, hwa, this is why i always tell you to put more work into your protection spells!”

seonghwa rolls his eyes. hongjoong’s younger than him, but he goes into protective mode over the other quite easily. it probably has to do with the fact that hongjoong’s part house faerie as well as part pixie. it’s the domesticity as well as the feral magic user within him.

“joong, i’m fine. see?” he spreads his arms. “no wounds or injuries.”

“that you know of.” hongjoong mutters. “warlocks are sneaky, he could have put a curse on you when you weren’t paying attention.”

seonghwa drops the topic after that.

it’s not until the six of them are seated comfortably in the living room with bowls of pasta and a drama playing on the tv that the faerie brings it up again.

yeosang just had to start bitching about an asshole warlock he ran into at their local potion ingredient mart, and hongjoong just had to fucking mutter, “wonder if it’s your warlock boyfriend, hwa.”

seonghwa just sighs, but wooyoung explodes. “hyung has a boyfriend? who’s a warlock? hyunggg, i thought i was your best friend.”

“woo, you’re going to spill your bowl.” san starts, but wooyoung’s already crawled next to seonghwa on the sofa, throwing his bowl to the shapeshifter. 

“i don’t have a boyfriend, wooyoung. hongjoong just sucks.”

“wow, a witch dating a warlock. never thought i’d see the day.” jongho says from his position on the floor. he somehow charmed the pasta noodles into fighting each other, and he giggles as one of them dies a marinara-y death.

“i’m not dating anyone!” seonghwa groans, exasperated. “a warlock came to the shop today and that faerie has wrongly assumed the worst.”

“you shoulda seen the way you were talking about him.” hongjoong grumbles as he jams a forkful of pasta into his mouth. “looked like this warlock was the one who created the damn universe.”

seonghwa sighs heavily. 

“hyung-ie has a crush.” wooyoung singsongs, cuddling into seonghwa’s side. “is he cute? what’s  his name? what does he look like? you have to tell me everything!”

“no he doesn’t.” yeosang says from his spot next to jongho, watching the pasta shapes in all out brawl. wooyoung sticks his tongue out at the sun witch.

“you’re rude.”

“thank you.”

“who wants to bet that the second lead is going to die in a car crash?” san pipes up. he’s shifted into his favorite form, a calico cat (the form he fooled everyone into thinking he was an animal familiar with), and he’s lying on yeosang’s lap, the witch smiling at him fondly.

“he might get into a fight for the female lead’s heart.” jongho rebuts, his stare challenging the cat. “you never know.”

“boring. i think he should die in a freak plane accident.” wooyoung says, seonghwa’s warlock clearly forgotten as he jumps off the sofa to join the other three (well, two plus cat). 

hongjoong gives him a look, and seonghwa sighs, setting his bowl on the coffee table and moving to sit behind the faerie, resting his head on his shoulder. hongjoong’s hand wraps around seonghwa’s in unspoken apology, and seonghwa squeezes his hand.

for now, he’ll push all thoughts of a cheerful, redheaded warlock out of his mind, and deal with it tomorrow.

------

the next day, seonghwa doesn’t think about mingi.

he also pointedly does not think about jung wooyoung and his insane theory that seonghwa had a crush. 

why would a witch like a warlock, let alone date one?

as he’s watering a pot of lilacs, humming to a song over the shop speakers, the bell jingles over the front door.

“hello, welcome to auro-” he stops as soon as he sees the customer. “mingi?”

the warlock sheepishly makes his way into the shop, smiling. “hey.”

seonghwa ignores the insistent beating of his heart against his ribcage, and smiles back, standing up. “did your friend like the flowers?”

“yeah.” mingi grins. “he loved them. even though our apartment is now, like, attracting bugs and stuff, but it’s cool.”

seonghwa laughs. “everyone loves blue sunflowers, even the insects.” he comments, to which mingi snorts.

“i suppose so.”

the witch takes the lull in conversation to look at mingi. the warlock dresses nicely, just as seonghwa suspected, he’s most likely wealthy. he’s wearing all black, button down, blazer and all, red hair styled in a very not fluffy way that has seonghwa’s brain functioning like TV static.

“what brings you here again?” he asks, leaning against a tall bamboo plant that whimpers under seonghwa’s weight. i’m trying to look cool here!! he thinks desperately.

“um.” mingi shifts on his feet from side to side. “i really liked the blue sunflowers? so i was wondering if i could buy another thing like that…”

seonghwa cocks his head. “for potion making?”

mingi instantly brightens. “yeah! something like that!”

his excited tone of voice makes seonghwa’s heart beat a little bit faster.

“what are you looking for?”

“ummm.” mingi bites his lip as he thinks, and seonghwa absolutely is not affected by it. at all. “something for like, confidence maybe?”

seonghwa raises an eyebrow as he leads mingi over to the other side of the shop. “why? do you need confidence for something?”

“maybe?” mingi smiles, and his smile shoots seonghwa in the heart.

“okay, hmmm let’s see.” seonghwa ignores the fluttering in his chest and he trails a hand over the plants sitting on the windowsills, smiling as they all stretch towards his hand.

“do they like you?” mingi asks curiously.

“hm?” seonghwa stops to stroke the leaves of a yellow primrose, listening as it sighs and curls its leaves around seonghwa’s finger. “ah, i suppose? i’ve been taking care of most of them since they were seedlings, so they should like me.” the leaves squeeze tighter and seonghwa chuckles, using his free fingers to stroke the primrose. “oh come on, don’t be like that.”

when seonghwa looks back at mingi, the warlock looks mesmerized, his eyes following every movement. his eyes snap back up to seonghwa and he reaches his hand out. “can i try?”

seonghwa just watches in amusement as the primrose shrinks back, and an aggressive stem reaches out to whip against mingi’s claws.

“ow!” mingi pouts, rubbing his hand. “what did i do?”

“it’s probably your…” seonghwa pauses as he searches for a kind way to put it. “your essence.” a nice way to put that mingi’s black magic was probably terrifying the plants. and as he looks around, it’s confirmed.

most of the plants have gone limp, and even the yellow primroses look close to wilting despite seonghwa knowing he just got them in a shipment a little under a month ago. he sighs internally. it just means more work for him to revitalize them later.

“oh.” mingi looks disappointed, and seonghwa’s heart drops at the sad look on the other’s face.

“let’s find you your plant.” he says softly and that seems to do the trick, because the bright smile reappears.

“okay!” 

seonghwa finds what he’s looking for quickly. “try this.” he hands mingi a purple amaryllis plant along with a tiny pink ivy plant that was just beginning to grow.

mingi accepts them carefully, his claws closing around the pots. “what are they?”

“this,” seonghwa strokes the amaryllis plant, willing magic into it to stop the wilting, “is an amaryllis. it’s known as a good confidence booster, and you can even drink a straight shot of it crushed up if u need confidence quick. my friend jongho tried it, although he didn’t fare very well after.

“and this,” he touches the ivy plant, its stems weaving around his fingers, “is ivy. there’s many different types, but pink ivy is good for stabilizing potions. crush it up, strain it, add the pure liquid to your potion, there’s less of a chance of your potion flying into your face.” 

mingi laughs. “they’re really pretty.”

“they are, aren’t they?” seonghwa’s not sure if he’s smiling at his beloved plants, or the one holding them.

but just now, he’s realized how close they are. seonghwa’s almost pressed into mingi’s side, the plants still happily nuzzling against his hand. their faces are close together, close enough to kiss-

seonghwa jumps away, coughing as he adjusts his yellow sweater, looking away at anything but mingi. but when he looks, the warlock’s face is flushed, also averting his eyes to the floor.

“u-um, let’s ring you up.” seonghwa inhales, and smiles at mingi, who tentatively smiles back.

“okay.”

when mingi walks out of the shop, seonghwa doesn’t see the ivy plant curling around the warlock’s fingers, weaving softly like a cat through its owner’s legs, comfortable and content.

------

seonghwa doesn’t see mingi for a few days.

they’ve settled into a comfortable routine for the past few weeks, wherein mingi will bounce into the shop and hang out for a few hours, before coming up with a flimsy excuse to buy plants. seonghwa’s not dense, he can practically see the gears turning in the warlock’s head before he spits out his next story.

(he wonders why the warlock needs to make up excuses though.)

seonghwa’s also learned a lot about the cute warlock that frequents his shop more than necessary.

song mingi is twenty-three (“you’re my hyung!” mingi had cheerfully exclaimed upon learning their age difference), was born in seoul, and has been training in magic since he was a child. he loves ramyeon, and claims to seonghwa that he can make the best ramyeon in south korea. he also dyed his hair red after losing a bet to yunho, and he likes to sleep and listen to music. (seonghwa caught him napping amongst the plants more than once).

and for your information, no, seonghwa doesn’t miss the warlock’s presence. mingi’s presence still causes the plants to wilt a bit, so whenever he leaves the shop, seonghwa always has to scramble around to his plants to impart magic onto them to restore them. that often depletes his energy, so then he has to rest, and therefore falls behind on his other work.

(he doesn’t actually mind. not if he gets mingi’s bubbly, adorable self following after him as he does his work around the shop for a couple hours.)

it’s a bright sunny day today, and frankly, seonghwa feels like calling up yeosang just to bitch about the hot sun specifically rising on this day. the day seonghwa gets new orders from the warehouse in ilsan, and the day he has to break his back carrying all these boxes. however, the sun witch would just probably laugh and hang up, and the sun would be just a little bit hotter that day.

as he stares down at the stack of boxes, he can’t help but sigh, crouching down to lift one into his arms. he balks upon feeling the heavy weight, but slowly lifts it up to stand and go back into the shop.

suddenly, the sunlight goes away, and seonghwa sees a pair of black boots in front of him.

the witch squeaks, stumbling backwards and dropping the box, falling on his ass unceremoniously. he groans, wiping the gravel from his hands onto his jeans, ready to hoist himself up and face whatever decided to come after him this time, before a familiar voice speaks up.

“do you need help?”

seonghwa freezes, slowly looking up.

a hand is outstretched, and it’s connected to the only warlock seonghwa knows that would offer help.

mingi’s standing there, bright smile on his face, the heavy aura around him subsiding a bit. his red hair glows in the sunlight, and he’s once again dressed like he’s on his way to a fashion magazine shoot. chains hanging on black pants and a denim jacket over a white shirt, and seonghwa can see tattooed symbols peeking out from over the collar.

seonghwa’s hazy brain thinks, are warlocks normally this good-looking?

“ah. hi mingi.” he looks away at the ground, willing for his erratic heartbeat to just please slow the fuck down. “i’m just carrying these boxes inside, i’m okay.”

“are you sure? i mean, you kind of just fell.”

seonghwa whips his head up to glare at the warlock, who’s smirking as he tilts his head to challenge seonghwa’s claim.

“well, you scared me.”

“i’m not scary!” mingi argues, and seonghwa rolls his eyes. mingi was tall, a warlock with an extremely powerful essence, and if he wasn’t smiling, he looked like he was preparing to slice your body open. but yeah, whatever floats his boat.

“sure you’re not.” he says sarcastically, but allows mingi to grab his hand and pull him up. the warlock’s skin is cold to the touch and seonghwa shivers a bit. before he knows it though, he’s pulled into a soft cotton shirt and his face is literally mushed into mingi’s chest. 

seonghwa stumbles backwards, nearly tripping over the boxes, but mingi hasn’t let go of his hand, still holding tightly.

“you okay?” mingi asks, still smirking like a total asshole, and seonghwa has half a mind to punch him in his surprisingly solid chest. 

“yeah. i’m fine. and since you want to be a smug little shit,” he gestures at the boxes. “help me out.”

mingi sticks his tongue out but complies nonetheless, crouching down to grab a large box and hoisting it into his grip. “was gonna help you anyways.” he mutters. seonghwa ignores how that makes heat in his chest flare like the heat of the sun.

the warlock is actually a huge help, cutting down the time it would usually take seonghwa in half. however, midway through boxes six and ten, seonghwa drags one of the boxes into the shop before nearly falling in shock.

apparently, mingi was not wearing a t-shirt under his jacket, and instead a white tank top, exposing muscles that are covered in swirls of ink, magic symbols that only warlocks knew the meanings of. seonghwa can only stand there, unblinking and mouth open, as mingi sets his jacket on the counter and turns around.

“oh. are we done?” mingi asks casually, as if seonghwa wasn’t standing there having an internal gay meltdown.

“huh?” seonghwa responds intelligently, before realizing and shaking his head. “no, there’s still a few more.”

“ughhhh.” mingi grumbles, and seonghwa has to smile.

“you offered to help.” he reminds the warlock, bumping his shoulder teasingly as he sets down his own box, looking up at mingi.

mingi runs a hand through his red hair, rolling his eyes. “yeah, yeah i know.” 

“well, then get to work, pretty boy.” seonghwa flicks his forehead gently, before the words settle into his conscience.

mingi’s staring at him, mouth open in a small ‘o’. it’s only then that seonghwa realizes what he said. 

“a-ah!” he waves his hands frantically. “i-i didn’t mean it like that! i meant like, you’re pretty and stuff but i didn’t mean it and aha what am i saying…” seonghwa quickly looks down, staring at a scuff in the floor and twisting his hands together. ah, curse his stupid mouth.

there’s an awkward pause. 

“you’re pretty too.”

seonghwa looks up. “what?”

mingi’s blushing, his claws scratching his arm. “you’re pretty too, seonghwa.”

seonghwa’s brain shorts out.

hot boy just called him pretty. hot boy just called him pretty. hot boy just-

“u-um.” he stammers, still wringing his hands together. “thank you?”

mingi beams at him, and bounds past him, claws scratching seonghwa’s arm.

“whoever gets the next box pays for lunch?”

seonghwa rolls his eyes, but opts to dash past mingi. he gets one step ahead and the warlock gasps in mock offense. before he opens the screen door, he turns around and winks at the affronted warlock.

“race you there, mingi-ah.”

------

it’s nearly three PM when they finish, all the boxes stacked neatly in the back room. seonghwa stares down at the stapled papers in his hands, listing all of the new inventory he just received. purple roses, green daisies, white ivy-

“hyung.” 

seonghwa looks up. he chooses to look at mingi’s face, and not as his muscles flexing as he wipes sweat from his forehead.

“yes?”

“what do you want for lunch?” mingi’s face colors red, and he quickly follows up with, “if you want to! if you’re busy that’s fine, i can leave, it doesn’t matter!”

seonghwa thinks he’s cute.

“no, we can order food. just look for a takeout place around here, i’ll pay, okay?”

mingi nods, and seonghwa smiles at him before going back to reading the delivery papers.

about ten minutes pass before seonghwa realizes mingi hasn’t said anything in a while. “mingi?”

“yeah?” the warlock is still leaning against the counter, absorbed in his phone.

“did you order anything yet?” it shouldn’t take so long to order something?

“huh? oh yeah, i already did.” mingi’s still casually scrolling, and seonghwa flicks him on the arm. “hey!”

“i told you i was going to pay for it.” the witch huffs.

“just consider it my treat, hyung.” the warlock grins, ruffling seonghwa’s hair like a kid. “i ordered fried chicken, it should be here soon.”

the fried chicken comes within a half hour, and seonghwa argues with mingi again over payment, but it’s useless.

“i owe you now.” seonghwa mutters as they eat.

“no you don’t.” mingi says as he bites into a drumstick. “just keep being my favorite hyung, and that’s good enough.”

seonghwa ignores the flutter in his chest and hits the warlock, who responds with an indignant ‘yah!’.

“you better not just be saying that, song mingi.”

“nope!” mingi smiles around a mouthful of chicken. “you are my favorite hyung!”

when the box is empty and mingi is preparing to leave, seonghwa stops him. he grabs mingi’s hand, and pointedly does not think about the blushing on his face.

“also, before you leave, i have a, uh, gift for you.”

“a gift?” mingi tilts his head, and oh, he looks so cute seonghwa wants to kiss him.

instead, he crosses over to where he keeps his special orders, and smiles as he lifts up a dark red pot, carrying it over to the counter.

you see, seonghwa noticed mingi’s disappointment whenever the flowers began to wilt thanks to his magic, or they began to droop and limp even as they hugged his fingers. so he toiled day and night (hongjoong made fun of him for this) to create a charm that would make any plant stay alive regardless of the magic it was facing.

meaning, a plant that wouldn’t die when mingi touched it.

mingi’s jaw drops. “hyung, they’re beautiful.”

seonghwa smiles at the amazed look on mingi’s face. “they are, aren’t they?” when mingi nods, he continues. “they’re for you.” he feels heat rising on his cheeks when mingi looks at him in shock.

“me?”

seonghwa nods, pushing the plant towards the warlock. “these are orange orchids. they’re soothing plants; they have a substance in their stems that can heal wounds. but also, they’re just generally pretty.”

mingi still looks mesmerized, so he takes that opportunity to clear his throat and mumble, “this plant is especially for you.”

“i-” mingi starts. “i don’t know what to say, hyung. i love it. how much is it?”

seonghwa shakes his head. “it’s a gift. consider it a thank you for today, as well as all the other times you’ve helped me.”

“but i can still come back, right?” mingi looks up at him with wide eyes.

seonghwa snorts. “of course you can, silly.”

you can come any time you want, and i’d drop everything for you.

“okay!” mingi grins, and he hugs the plant close. seonghwa didn’t know it was possible to be jealous of a plant. “thank you, hyung. i really do love it.”

“i’m glad.” seonghwa smiles. “i’ll see you soon?”

mingi smiles, the smile where his eyes turn into crescent moons and a tiny dimple appears on his cheek. seonghwa’s heart beats a little bit faster.

“of course. i always come back, hyung.”

------

“song mingi, you have never bought plants in your life.”

mingi winces as he hears yunho’s accusatory tone, hugging the pot of orange orchids close to his chest.

“yeah, i have!” he laughs nervously as he kicks off his shoes in the entryway. “remember that one time in high school when i bought a magic infused succulent?”

“ah yes.” yunho says sarcastically. “i can still hear it begging you to water it. mingi, i’ve never heard a succulent beg for water.”

“it was a special succulent?” mingi tries, and yunho just sighs.

“why do you keep bringing plants home.” he gestures around the apartment. before, it looked like a regular apartment where two young men lived. now, it looks the same, but crossed with a greenhouse. “mingi, you kill plants on the regular. i’m the only one keeping them alive.”

mingi bites his lip, setting the orchids down on the kitchen table. their colors seem to be more vibrant in the magic-infused apartment.

yunho’s silent for a moment before he speaks. “it’s a boy, isn’t it.”

“what!” mingi squeaks as he whirls around, facing his best friend. “haha, whaaat? what do you mean yunnie, i would never-”

his guilty smile gives him away though.

yunho puts his face in his hands. “mingi, my best friend who i love very very much and who i would die for, have you considered just talking to him?”

“uh.” mingi says intelligently. “No?” when the other warlock glares at him, he immediately backtracks. “ok! listen! he’s really cute when he talks about plants, and he’s super gorgeous, and i kind of want to hold his hand and cuddle with him and protect him from everything bad in the world?”

his best friend snorts. “min, you kind of are the bad in the world.”

“i know.” mingi huffs, slumping down in a chair at the table. the orchids are still vibrant despite the dark auras emitting from both him and yunho, and it puzzles him. whenever he went to the shop, he noticed the plants wilting thanks to his magic. it hurt to watch seonghwa’s face fall as one of his plants went limp or died, and mingi internally hit himself whenever it happened.

but the orange orchids aren’t wilting at all. instead, they’re just as bright as when seonghwa handed them to him, his pretty tanned skin blushing pink and the beautiful smile on his face.

damn, mingi is kind of whipped.

mingi reaches out tentatively towards the plant. when his claws touch the petals, he braces himself for their inevitable death, but his eyes widen in shock when they don’t die. 

“they’re not dying.” he mumbles.

yunho snickers. “yeah, because you haven’t ‘taken care’ of them yet.”

“no, yun, they’re not dying.” mingi looks up at his best friend. “every one of his plants i’ve touched, it dies quickly. that, or it wilts because of my magic. this one isn’t doing either .”

yunho cocks his head in confusion, and he touches the plant too. 

it still doesn’t die.

“what the hell?” yunho says, wonder in his voice. “is that like, a property of the plant? or-” he cuts off as an evil smirk spreads on his lips. “oh.”

“what.” mingi doesn’t like the look on the other warlock’s face.

“oh, mingi babe, just go shoot your shot now.”

“what?!” mingi reaches out to smack yunho. “what does that mean?!”

yunho dodges his hit, still smiling like a deranged cheshire cat. “your flower boy charmed this plant. it won’t die regardless of its environment.” when mingi still looks lost, yunho shakes his head. “min, he made it so this plant would never be affected by our magic and it would never die .”

oh.

wow. 

mingi stares at the plant, jaw slack as he slowly processes.

seonghwa charmed this plant for him. just for him. meaning that when seonghwa said, “this plant is especially for you”, he meant it .

he touches the petals again, and they curl up around his claws, a soft content humming noise filtering through mingi’s ringing ears. it’s comforting, and makes a warm, fuzzy feeling curl up in mingi’s chest. 

yunho is still standing in front of him, a self-satisfied smirk on his face.

“well?” he says cockily as he taps his claws on the table. “you’re just going to sit here and make goo-goo eyes at the plant? go get him, song mingi.”

seonghwa usually stays until around eight PM, cleaning up the shop and taking inventory and doing special orders. mingi knows this. from hours spent with him in that exact time frame. looking at the clock on the wall, it’s six-forty PM.

meaning, seonghwa’s still there.

and mingi has plenty of time to get down to the shop and confess and hold his hand and kiss him-

yunho laughs when mingi trips and falls into the front door.

------

the sun is setting, and seonghwa watches as the dying rays of the sun filter through the glass windows and onto the plants. the sun is setting earlier and earlier, and seonghwa dreads walking home in the dark.

as he trudges through paperwork (building rent, inventory, taxes), he can’t help but wonder if mingi realized the difference in the flowers. if he realized that they were charmed to never die on him, to always be as bright and beautiful as they were on the day they bloomed.

(and of course, as bright and beautiful as mingi himself.)

he smiles, signing yet another form and using magic to make it float onto the ‘finished’ pile. still so many forms to go.

suddenly, the door bell rings, and seonghwa’s heart does a flip flop. maybe it’s mingi. maybe he realized and came back, and maybe he was here to thank seonghwa with that adorable smile of his and maybe seonghwa could tell him, finally tell him-

but instead of the cheery yell of ‘hi hyung!’, a black whirling shape throws open the door, and he has no time to move before the tendril wraps around his neck, lifting him up and dragging him forward.

seonghwa chokes, clawing at the tendril. but it’s more like there’s nothing there, his fingers going through mist.

the black form shifts, seemingly consolidating as it shrinks from a whirling mass into a humanoid shape. a jet-black, clawed hand wrapped firmly around seonghwa’s throat, black clothes, pale skin, and as its face forms, a wicked smile with blood red lips.

it’s a demon.

seonghwa does not have a good feeling about this.

when the demon finishes morphing, it cackles, shrill and high. the grip on seonghwa’s throat tightens and he gasps, still clawing at nothing.

“well, well, well,” it says, smirking at seonghwa’s desperation, “so you’re the one that’s caught my mingi’s heart lately?”

‘my mingi’?

seonghwa’s confused, panicked face makes the demon laugh. “you know, when he signed the contract, it clearly said that his heart belongs to no one but me, and it should forever remain as black and evil as the magic he chose to practice.”

it dawns on seonghwa. this is the demon. this is the demon mingi made a deal with to gain his powers, and it was here to kill? capture? seonghwa.

“you’re quite pretty though.” the demon muses, unaware of seonghwa’s spiraling thoughts. “no wonder his heart has been changing lately. unfortunately,” it simpers, grip still as forceful as ever, “i still have to dispose of you.”

the edges of seonghwa’s vision are going black, and it’s hard to breathe. 

is this really how it ends?

he grits his teeth, thinking of anything, any last minute thing that could possibly buy him time, when he hears a loud bang. the demon’s grip loosens and he falls to the floor. 

“oh?” the demon sounds unphased while seonghwa coughs and splutters on the floor trying to recover. “so you decided to finally talk to me, song mingi?”

seonghwa manages to look, and he’s surprised by what he sees.

it’s mingi, yes, but he looks much different. normally, he’s sweet and smiling, always laughing at something and poking fun at seonghwa’s normal handwriting. but now, in his right hand, there’s a mass of black energy, and blood trickling down his arms. there’s a murderous look on his face, and seonghwa can see the dark aura radiating off of his body. the black symbols on his body are glowing bright purple, which definitely means danger .

“hwanwoong.” mingi’s gritting his teeth, the mass in his hand growing bigger by the second. “don’t touch him.”

the demon - hwanwoong? - just cackles. “what will you do if i do, mingi-ah?” another tendril wraps around seonghwa’s chest, and throws him back in the air as he struggles to catch his breath from the first time.

seonghwa screams, and mingi growls, his left hand glowing bright purple as he draws a symbol in the air. “what did i say, hwanwoong? put! him! down!” 

“mingi, he’s ruining your magic.” hwanwoong says. “you have no room in your heart for a garden witch ,” he spits the title like it’s poisonous, “like him.”

“what do you know?” the symbol mingi had drawn shoots forward, and it hits hwanwoong square in the chest. the demon staggers back, but regains control.

“because warlocks, much less powerful ones like you, do not associate with witches . mingi-ah, i see what you’ve been doing lately. you’ve been working on lessening your aura so whenever you’re around this garden witch, you don’t ruin his plants or whatever. and to make things worse,” hwanwoong hisses, “you never used your magic for the right purpose in the first place.”

“i don’t want to hurt people.” mingi protests, eyes flashing. “i’m not a fucking murderer like my stepfather was. i’ve told you this a million times!”

“and every time i agreed because i hoped you would eventually change your mind!” hwanwoong’s grip tightens and seonghwa feels the tendril pierce his back. he screams, trying to struggle away from the tendril.

“i said to let him go!” mingi draws a symbol and shoots it again. “go back to the fucking underworld, and we’ll deal with this later!”

“i’m temporarily out of your control, mingi-ah.” hwanwoong grins. “until you agree to kill him, and finally learn how to practice black magic, you don’t have control over where i go.”

mingi growls in frustration, and finally, he lets go of the black mass in his hand. it hurtles towards hwanwoong and knocks him over. in the process, seonghwa is let go, and he falls to the ground.

he groans. his body aches, and he can feel a hole where the tendril stabbed him. damn, no one ever told him getting stabbed hurt this bad.

“hyung!” 

seonghwa blinks as he’s lifted up into someone’s arms, and he looks to see mingi, hovering above him, looking worried. “mingi?” he manages.

a blast of energy flies towards seonghwa’s head, and mingi quickly draws another symbol and it creates a shield. the blast disintegrates against the shield. “hyung, i’m so sor-”

“it’s not your fault, mingi.” seonghwa settles into mingi’s arms, leaning his head against the other’s chest. it’s some sort of comfort even in this situation, knowing that there was someone right there who wanted him dead.

“fuck.” mingi swears. “fucking bastard, knows i can’t control him so he’s able to do anything he wants. i can’t believe this fucking-”

while mingi rants and blasts continue to hit the shield, seonghwa weakly feels around the floor. if he can just find his phone, he can call wooyoung, wooyoung could perform an exorcism and send the demon back, if he can just find his phone-

“hyung!” mingi grabs his hand. “hyung, what are you doing?”

“need my phone.” seonghwa manages to say. “can call my friend. he’s an exorcist, he’d be able to do something.”

mingi’s face breaks into relief, and he holds onto seonghwa tighter as he looks around, before handing seonghwa his (albeit cracked) phone.

seonghwa thanks every god above as he opens his phone and presses “annoying exorcist” in his contacts list. it rings once, twice, before it connects and he puts it on speaker.

“hyung!” wooyoung exclaims. “wow, you never call me. wait, did i do something wrong, do i need to consult hongjoong-hyung first?”

“no.” seonghwa croaks, rolling his eyes fondly. “wooyoung, i need you to come to the shop now.”

“gods, you sound awful.” wooyoung laughs. “is there something wrong?”

seonghwa gathers the patience of a saint. “there’s a demon that’s invaded the shop, and i need you to come exorcise it.”

“oh. okay, i can do that.” seonghwa hears wooyoung start to move, look for his equipment. “what kind of demon is it?”

“i don’t know.” seonghwa honestly answers, before mingi grabs the phone.

“class A.” mingi says. he pauses, before continuing, “class A, destruction code S.”

there’s silence on the other end. 

“um. okay. either seonghwa-hyung’s voice got deeper in five seconds, or there’s someone else.” then his voice changes. “oh my god, hyung, is this that warlock boyfriend-”

seonghwa grabs the phone. “shut up, and just get over here as soon as possible. bring jongho if you need to.”

“okay, okay fine.” seonghwa can practically visualize wooyoung’s eye-roll. “but you’re telling me everything once this is all over.”

when the line goes dead, seonghwa avoids mingi’s gaze as he shuts off his phone. it’s quiet between the two of them, save for the blasts still hitting the shield.

“wooyoung will get here quickly.” seonghwa starts, still avoiding mingi’s eyes. “he doesn’t live far, he comes to annoy me every week, he’ll be here as soon as he can to irritate me-”

he gets cut off by mingi’s lips pressed to his.

for a few seconds, seonghwa doesn’t process. he doesn’t process that the man he has been quietly crushing on for weeks is holding him so that his wounds don’t get infected by the dirty floor, protecting him, and kissing him like it was his last day on earth.

but eventually he comes to, and kisses mingi back.

mingi’s lips are cold like the rest of him, but it’s negated by the fact that he’s a really good kisser. every time their lips meet, seonghwa gets the air taken out of him. mingi kisses like he’s made for it, and frankly, seonghwa wouldn’t be surprised if he was, what with his plush, pretty lips and tongue that makes seonghwa’s head spin (or maybe it’s the blood loss).

when they finally break apart, they’re both breathing heavily (from the adrenaline or what, seonghwa doesn’t know), and mingi rests his forehead on seonghwa’s.

“sorry i didn’t do that sooner.” he mumbles.

seonghwa laughs a little, wincing at the pain that streaks through his body. “it’s okay. i think we’re all good now.”

mingi chuckles, and brushes his lips softly on seonghwa’s nose. “i’m glad.”

another blast hits the shield, and seonghwa gasps as he hears it shatter, breaking into millions of glowing pieces that disintegrate as they float into the air.

“time’s up, song.” hwanwoong’s walking towards them. “put the witch down, and come with me.”

“you really think i’d do that.” mingi holds seonghwa tighter.

“why do you protect him?” the demon spits. “you’re not powerful enough to protect him, because you wasted all of your potential on practical magic instead of what you were made for. you chose to become a warlock, song mingi, so you should act like it!”

“you think i chose to be this way?” mingi snarls, and it kind of scares seonghwa, because okay, he never thought mingi could be terrifying. “you made a deal with my stepfather, and forced me to sign the contract!”

“as if you wouldn’t have signed it anyways.” the demon shrugs. “now put him down, and let me finish him.”

“you’ll be finished first though?” seonghwa breathes in relief hearing the familiar voice. he sees wooyoung’s familiar blond hair pop up from behind the demon. “hi hyung! now if you don’t mind.” he slaps a talisman on the demon’s forehead, and the demon twists, screaming and howling. wooyoung begins to chant something, making a sign with his hands, as the demon thrashes.

seonghwa hides his face in mingi’s chest, because he’s seen wooyoung’s exorcisms before, and they’re not pretty. usually he’d hide behind yeosang, curled up into the sun witch, but he supposes he has someone much nicer than yeosang now.

mingi strokes his hair softly. seonghwa flinches as he hears the final scream of the demon before there’s a loud pop, and a follow of deafening silence.

“well, shit man.” wooyoung’s voice echoes. “you could’ve told me you had a hot boyfriend to protect you before i brought everyone.”

“what?” seonghwa looks up, just in time to see his friends enter the shop.

“you!” hongjoong points at him angrily. “what have i told you? your protection spells suck! that’s why the demon entered so easily, you idiot.”

san and yeosang snicker, while jongho looks at seonghwa curiously. “so hyung,” he starts, “you really did have a warlock boyfriend this entire time-”

“i know!” wooyoung hollers. “he lied to us! this whole time he was getting laid and wouldn’t tell us, can you believe-”

“i wasn’t!” seonghwa manages to yell back, before he coughs and whimpers at the pain that shoots through him. right, yep, he’s still been stabbed.

guiltily, he expects mingi to hold him closer, maybe kiss his forehead or even his lips to shut his annoying friends up. instead, he drops to the ground, and he blinks in shock to see mingi stumbling away, holding his head.

mingi screams, and the sound jolts seonghwa. he watches in horror as mingi drops to the floor, still holding his head, shaking violently. jongho quickly moves, kneeling down in front of mingi and touching his shoulder, whispering a few words.

“mingi?” seonghwa tries to crawl towards the other, but he collapses, and yeosang shakes his head as he and san rush toward him.

“you and your boyfriend are in awful states, buddy.” yeosang says as san kneels down and lifts seonghwa onto his lap. “don’t move, we need to get you to a hospital.”

“but...mingi.” seonghwa tries to move off of san, but san holds him tighter, and unfortunately, the shapeshifter is stronger than he looks.

“hyung, he’ll be okay.” san soothes, stroking seonghwa’s hair. “he’s just reverting.”

“reverting? back to what? mingi!” seonghwa struggles, but it’s no use. 

“he doesn’t have the demon anymore.” san says softly. “he’s no longer a warlock, he’s transforming back into a human.”

when seonghwa looks back at mingi, san’s right.

mingi still looks the same. but the tattoos on his skin are gone, leaving only faint white scars. the claws are replaced by long fingers, curled up tightly into fists. seonghwa’s sure there’s some kind of internal transformation, because mingi looks like he’s in pain as jongho continues to whisper to him.

“jongho’s helping ease his pain, hyung.” san says, but he sounds far away. seonghwa can feel the energy that he’s used, and the pain is his back is much more significant. “don’t worry about him, he’ll be okay.”

as seonghwa slips out of consciousness, he can only hope that san is right.

------

it’s a peaceful day in aurora garden, and seonghwa hums as he trims the leaves of an ivy plant, whispering sweet, assuring words to it as it shies away from the clippers. it’s autumn now, and there’s sunlight breaking through the clouds and pouring in through the windows, warming seonghwa’s exposed forearms.

behind him, his boyfriend is sitting at the register, boredly thumbing through a new catalogue that seonghwa had gotten this morning in the mail. he’s tapping his fingers against the marble counter in rhythm with the kr&b song softly flooding through the shop’s speakers. it’s a song both of them like, and even the plants seem to sway in harmony with the song.

“what’s your favorite flower?” mingi says suddenly, breaking the calm silence.

seonghwa turns around, raising an eyebrow. “and what brought this about?”

mingi blushes, scratching the back of his neck. it’s strange seeing him without the mottled grey claws, no matter how many months it’s been. 

“i realized you never told me. and i want to know.” he mumbles, looking down, and seonghwa cooes as he sets the clippers down, walking over to lean across the counter and kiss his boyfriend’s newly dark brown hair.

“you’re adorable.” he teases, and mingi pouts, glaring up at him.

“shut up.” mingi grumbles, but seonghwa can see the barest hint of a smile.

“you know i won’t.” seonghwa tilts his lover’s head up to fit their mouths together, mingi’s lips parting open easily for seonghwa.

seonghwa chuckles as he hears the plants sigh, shifting so that they don’t have to see their master shamelessly making out with his lover over the counter.

“your plants hate me.” mingi whines as he sees a lavender bush across the shop twist its buds away from them.

“no they don’t.” seonghwa reaches for the closest plant, a small purple honeysuckle being propagated next to the cash register. he gently strokes it and it wraps a vine around his finger. he uses his other hand to guide mingi’s hand towards the plant, and the honeysuckle wraps a vine around mingi’s finger too, essentially twining their fingers together.

seonghwa laughs at mingi’s tiny gasp. “see? they don’t hate you.” 

“i bet they don’t love you as much i love you.” mingi declares boldly, and seonghwa stifles a chuckle at the way the honeysuckle tightens around mingi’s finger, his lover yelping and twisting away.

“think before you speak, yeah?” seonghwa laughs, lifting mingi’s hand to kiss his hand, his knuckles, and finally the afflicted finger.

mingi huffs, but seonghwa swallows his complaining with a kiss, laughing at the way mingi throws a triumphant glance at the honeysuckle, which just seems to sigh quietly in defeat.

“also,” he says as he pulls away from the kiss, “it’s star jasmine.”

“huh?” mingi cocks his head, but then his eyes light up. “your favorite flower?”

seonghwa nods, smiling fondly at the way mingi grins and grabs the catalogue, flipping through it until he finds what he’s looking for. he turns the catalogue towards seonghwa, and the witch looks at the picture and laughs.

it’s a pure white star jasmine plant for sale, advertising its well-known healing abilities. star jasmines were also very expensive, given why seonghwa didn’t buy them much and instead admired them from afar.

“i’m gonna buy it for you.” mingi declares, twirling a pen from the register in his hand. 

“mingi, darling, we don’t have enough money.” seonghwa reminds him, and mingi visibly deflates.

since mingi couldn’t do any more work as a warlock (now that he was human), he couldn’t do any of the jobs he previously did. he still had magic in him, thanks to his bloodline, and jongho was currently tutoring him in wizardry, but for now, he helped seonghwa out at the shop and the rest of their friends with odd jobs.

“jongho said i might be able to get my wizard license soon.” mingi pouts, dropping the pen, and seonghwa melts.

“we’ll think about it.” he soothes, going behind the counter to wrap his pouting boyfriend in his arms. “maybe once you get your license.”

mingi jumps up at that, nearly knocking seonghwa over like an overgrown puppy as he nuzzles into seonghwa’s neck. “i promise, hyung.” he says, making seonghwa’s heart warm like the hot cocoa they had a few hours ago. “i promise i’ll buy it for you.”

seonghwa chuckles, using his finger to face mingi towards him. “i don’t need a flower to prove how much you love me, precious.”

“but i want to.” mingi protests, and seonghwa knows that once mingi sets his eyes on a goal, he won’t stop until he achieves it. so he just shakes his head fondly and ruffles mingi’s hair.

“just promise me you won’t overwork yourself.” he chides and mingi nods, smiling so widely his eyes turn into tiny crescent moons and his gums show.

seonghwa loves him.

“i love you.” he says out loud, reaching up and tilting his head to seal mingi’s lips in a kiss.

“i love you too hyung.” mingi whispers, gasping softly as seonghwa kisses him, leaving him no room to breathe.

they’re so stupidly sappy and gross that seonghwa just knows that if hongjoong were to walk in right now, he would run out immediately claiming his eyes were seared. he laughs a little.

“what?” mingi pulls away to ask. his hair is mussed from when seonghwa ruffled it, and his lips are kiss-bitten and swollen pink. his golden skin is flushed red, and seonghwa can just barely see the faint scars that are still on mingi’s skin. 

in other words, he’s beautiful.

“nothing.” seonghwa murmurs, throwing his arms around mingi’s neck as he kisses his lover again, deepening the kiss, smiling as he hears the audible sighs of the plants around them. “my precious mingi.”

“my starlight hyung.” mingi responds, cupping seonghwa’s face in his hands as he continues kissing him. the plants seems to grow a little bit more and the sunlight seems to get a little bit brighter.

they’re in love.

and everything’s going to be okay.