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The sound of the forest was soothing and calm. It had always served to ease Jimin's nerves, no matter the situation. His nerves didn't need to be eased right now, but it always felt good to come nonetheless.
That was why he took care of gathering the needed ingredients most of the time. Jin preferred to stay at home, working on his concoctions and pastries. He was good at it too, so Jimin didn't mind.
Gathering ingredients in the winter was not as easy as it was in the warmer seasons. Plants tended to recede in the cold, and even those who endured the harsh conditions were usually hard to find, most of the time buried under a good deal of snow.
It didn't matter to Jimin, though. He was good at it, he enjoyed having somewhat of a challenge. Sure, most of the stuff they used in the shop could not be found in the wild during the winter, but that was why he gathered more than what they actually needed before the cold came. He did the same during the winter since there were ingredients that would only appear in the freezing weather.
Usually, he enjoyed taking his time gathering herbs, plants, and fungus. He never rushed, since he believed one could not be both thorough and quick about ingredient gathering, and he usually preferred the former. However, it was a special occasion today, so he went around the forest with more haste than what he was accustomed to. He knew Jin would appreciate it if he came back sooner than usual.
And that he did.
He finished gathering what they needed, not taking too much time in getting other ingredients they didn't need at the moment, and then headed back to their house.
A quaint little cottage, bigger than most buildings in the village, sure, but small if you compared it to some houses people had in the city. Jimin had grown up in the city, so he knew how people lived there. But there weren't many opportunities for new witches in the city, so he had decided to move to the countryside. He had opened a little apothecary with his best friend, and now they were happy and content.
"I'm back," he announced, entering the house through their back door.
It led directly into their kitchen. Their normal kitchen, not the one they used to brew and bake magical stuff. Jin was probably in that one at the moment, since he didn't answer back. He always got too focused when he was brewing.
He left his coat and pointy hat on the rack and went over to the kitchen table, where a cat lay down, sleeping peacefully.
He petted Yoongi behind the ears, and the cat purred quietly, without opening his eyes.
Jimin smiled and took the basket where he had the stuff he had gathered and he went into the basement, where the brewing room was.
He found Jin standing by the big cauldron, stirring whatever bubbly potion he was cooking at that moment.
"I brought what you needed," he said, leaving the basket on one of the counters.
"Oh, thank you," Jin answered, without taking his eyes from the cauldron. "We're way behind schedule."
"Highly doubt that," Jimin muttered, not loud enough for Jin to hear him over the sound of the boiling water.
Winter was a hard season for them, especially the weeks leading to Yule.
All witches in the country gathered together to celebrate Yule, so they would be leaving their apothecary closed for almost two weeks. Lots of people depended on them to get their medicines or potions, so they had to prepare a lot of stuff in advance.
Other villages had several witches, who could share the burden and help each other out. In this one, though, Jin and Jimin run the only apothecary for miles around, so they had an especially rough time.
Of course, they had never failed to deliver everything everyone needed for those two weeks, but still, Jin always stressed like crazy the closer they were to the day they were supposed to leave.
"You're overworking yourself again," Jimin said.
Jin didn't answer him.
He took a couple sheets of paper from one of the counters and went over to the large cabinet where they kept the finished potions. He opened it and started counting bottles, checking the list.
"What are you making right now?" he asked.
"A batch of pain soother, for Ms. Kang's joints," Jin answered.
Jimin nodded and checked the list again.
"You only have to make one more batch after that one, then," he said, closing the cabinet and turning to Jin. "And we still have more than a week. You're stressing over nothing."
"I'm stressing because the last batch is Ragathamar's brew," Jin blurted back.
Jimin rolled his eyes.
Ragathamar's brew was a potent medicine, intended for old people with heart issues. Its recipe was not hard, it was fairly simple. However, it was required for the potion to simmer for a whole week under a bundle of different herbs and plants. It was quite eccentric, even for their usual standards.
"If I don't get it right, I won't be able to get it done on time."
"You've never gotten it wrong," Jimin shrugged. "Why would be this the first time?"
"You never now, Jimin."
Jimin sighed, feeling defeated, and left the stack of papers with the list of potions on one of the counters before going up the stairs again, leaving Jin to his crazy shenanigans.
He knew it was better to let him focus and all that, lest he focused his rage towards Jimin for not letting him work in peace.
He went back upstairs, to the kitchen, where Yoongi was sleeping in the exact same spot he had found him a while ago. He got closer to the cat and whispered in his ear while he petted his head.
"Your other daddy is a bit crazy," he said. "But you know that already, don't you?"
❆
The next day came, and Jimin got in charge of opening the apothecary and servicing their customers while Jin still worked in his potions down in the basement.
Everyone who came by wished them both a happy Yule time and told Jimin how sad it would make them to not be able to see their favorite witches for two weeks.
Jimin thanked all of them and promised to pass the message on to Jin, who was oh so busy working downstairs. Everyone in the village was nice to them.
Of course, it was in part because most of the villagers depended on them to keep their health, but Jimin knew of other witches who weren't very liked in their villages. They had really lucked out with this one.
Later on the day, to no one's surprise, Jin emerged from the basement announcing that the Ragathamar's brew had gone well and that it was simmering peacefully. He was officially finished with the Yule batch brewing.
Jimin showed the tiniest of smirks but didn't say anything witty. He was not one to wield the "I told you so" with his friend. Instead, he congratulated Jin and sent him straight to his bedroom to get some much-deserved rest.
He kept serving the customers until it was time to close the shop, and then went back to the kitchen to find Yoongi sleeping again, this time over a comfy chair.
"Well, your other daddy might be crazy," he said to the cat, smiling. "But he saved Yule this year again."