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Hoseok was running.
The sand under his bare feet was warm, left over from the sun’s rays, nowhere to be seen at this time. He kept breathing in and out as he ran, the waves crashing on his feet and ankles every now and again. Closing his eyes he allowed the salty air to envelop him completely. The soft wind brushed his hair away from his face and as he was running he felt like nothing could stop him in that moment.
Then he fell.
His legs hooked onto a hard surface. Hoseok instinctively put his arms in front of him to break the fall. Luckily the sand was soft and he didn’t hurt himself. He let out a breath of relief.
He turned around and saw a man, completely undisturbed by Hoseok tripping over him. His knees were brought up to his chest, his arms hugging his legs. His feet were buried in the sand.
He had his eyes closed as if he didn’t even notice the other person besides him. He had dyed blue hair and a white button up shirt. Two of the buttons remained opened, and resting on his chest was a holed stone tied around his neck by a dark brown cord. He was also wearing black shorts.
Slowly, he opened his eyes and turned towards Hoseok who was still sitting down in the sand.
“What are you doing?” Hoseok asked.
“I was meditating,” the other man simply replied. “What are you doing?”
“I was jogging and I tripped over you!”
The man furrowed his brows. “Oh. I’m sorry.”
Hoseok sighed. “No, no. I should have watched where I was going.”
He stood up and brushed the sand from his clothes. With a smile, he spoke. “I’m Hoseok!”
“Yoongi,” the other man said softly, barely heard against the sound of the waves hitting the shore. He removed his feet from under the sand and looked up at the sky. Hoseok followed his line of sight.
“What are you looking at?” He asked, curious. Yoongi was a handsome man, with delicate features and gentle eyes. Hoseok would be lying if he said he didn’t want to hang around just a little bit more.
“The moon. Trying to figure out if it’s a good time to start the spell,” he explained, his voice deep and grave.
Hoseok leaned forward. “A spell? Like wands and brooms and Harry Potter?”
Yoongi laughed. It was a short, beautiful sound that really fit him, Hoseok thought.
“No. No wands or brooms or anything of the sort. That’s not how real magic works.” As he whispered the last few words he turned and looked over his shoulder straight at Hoseok. The eye contact felt powerful, invasive even and Hoseok had to fight the urge to look away.
“Can I watch?” He asked, despite himself.
Yoongi seemed to think for a few moments before he nodded. He patted the spot of sand next to him. “Sit.”
Hoseok did as he was told and watched how Yoongi began rummaging through a backpack. He took out a satchel and let a few sea shells fall from it.
“Take these shells one by one and make a circle around us,” Yoongi explained as he began doing just that. Hoseok was confused but he followed.
After a few moments he asked. “What is this for?”
“It’s just a protection circle.”
“Protection against what?”
Yoongi shrugged. “Against anything really. Bad energies or entities. Just to be safe, you know?”
Hoseok nodded, slightly confused but he did not say anything. He just continued placing the shells. After they were done, he turned towards Yoongi to see him looking through his bag once again. He took out a big, red, cylindrical candle. He straightened a spot on the sand and placed it there. Using a match he lit it up.
Next he took out a small glass bottle and different tiny satchels.
Hoseok broke the silence. “What spell is this? What’s it for?”
“It’s a love spell jar.” Yoongi replied, taking off the tiny cork from the bottle.
“I don’t know any magic stuff but aren’t those like super dangerous or whatever?”
Yoongi smiled. “Not this one.”
“Why not?”
Yoongi paused for a moment, as if he was contemplating what he would say next. “A few weeks ago, I was talking to Aphrodite and told her about how I’m feeling lonely. I asked her if she could help me find someone. The only thing she told me is that I should come out here tonight and do the spell jar and the rest will be handled.”
Hoseok never really took runs on this side of the beach. Today he just thought it would be nice to take a different route. Was it simply a coincidence or something more? But Yoongi was talking about magic and gods and protection circles and spells and Hoseok didn’t know how much of that he believed just yet. However he would be lying if he said he did not feel something strange pulling him towards Yoongi.
“Well I think it’s working,” Hoseok said, smiling.
Yoongi raised an eyebrow. “Working? I didn’t even get started.” He shook his head but there was a smile stretched across his lips. “Now, shush. I need to concentrate.”
Hoseok nodded and pursed his lips. Yoongi picked up one of the satchels and sprinkled on his palm some of it’s content. They looked like round pink crystals. They were just slightly bigger than grains of sand.
Closing his eyes, Yoongi let the crystals slowly fall into the jar. He was mouthing some words Hoseok could not make out. He did the same for what appeared to be lavender and dried rose petals then he put the jar down on the sand.
He opened his eyes and took out a piece of wood from and a pocket knife from his bag. He carved something on the wood.
Before Hoseok could ask about it Yoongi spoke. “It’s a piece of driftwood. I found it outside my house on the beach the day I talked to Aphrodite. I’m carving the rune for love.”
Closing his eyes he put the driftwood inside the jar as well. It fit perfectly. Next, from the only satchel left, he took out a few cowrie shells that he placed into the jar. Same as before he was mouthing something.
When he was done he put the jar down in the sand and closed it off with the cork lid.
“Now to seal it.”
Without missing a beat, Hoseok said, “With a kiss?”
The flame in front of them flickered for a moment and looking at Yoongi, Hoseok could see that he had successfully made him flustered. His cheeks were bright red and he looked as if he was thinking about what to say.
In the end he simply shook his head. “No, with wax.”
Hoseok tried to hide his smile as he nodded. He watched as Yoongi picked up the candle and with practiced precision he let the melted wax collected at the top of the candle, drip on the lid of the jar and onto its sides. It solidified immediately, successfully sealing the jar closed.
Without saying a word, Yoongi took a red thread from his bag and tried to hold the jar still as he attempted to tie the string around it.
Seeing him struggle, Hoseok intervened. “Do you need help?”
Yoongi paused. “Yeah, I need to tie the string around the jar. Can you hold it for me?”
“Of course,” Hoseok said, picking up the jar.
“I need to tie nine knots.”
Hoseok nodded looking at Yoongi’s face as he tied the thread around the jar and into knots. At some point Yoongi moved his gaze from the jar in his hands to Hoseok.
Seven.
Eight.
Nine.
By the time Yoongi tied the last knot they were barely inches apart. Hoseok glanced at Yoongi’s lips, soft and pink and he wanted nothing more than to lean in the rest of the way. So he did.
The kiss tasted like sea water. It was slow and calm similar to the waves washing up on the shore. There were sparkles between them and Hoseok never experienced a kiss like this. It felt simply magical.
When they pulled back Hoseok was still holding the jar. He looked down at it with a smile.
“I told you it’s working.”
Yoongi laughed and took the jar from Hoseok’s hands. “I guess it did. I’ll have to thank Aphrodite for it.”
Hoseok leaned back on his hands and looked up at the moon. “Are you free tomorrow? Got any spells to do?”
Yoongi smiled. “No spells tomorrow. I’m free.”
“Great! We should have a picnic on the beach or something,” Hoseok said, turning towards Yoongi.
He was still holding the jar and aimlessly fidgeting it between his fingers.
“Yeah, we should.”
☆☆☆
Yoongi was lying on the couch.
He had just finished a track he was working on after waking up at four in the morning with a burst of inspiration. It was almost lunch time but he decided to just take a nap waiting for Hoseok.
Speaking of which.
“Love, look what I found!”
Yoongi smiled as he heard Hoseok opening the door and taking off his shoes, of course taking the time to neatly arrange them on the shoe rack. He dashed to the living room where Yoongi was waiting for him.
“Look! It’s a shell. It’s so pretty I found it right outside by the staircase. How do you think it got there?”
Hoseok handed Yoongi the shell. It was a circular, white shell. Undamaged and beautiful.
“I also picked up some trash I found. I didn’t want to make the sea mad.”
Hoseok has been nothing but supportive of Yoongi and his practice, patiently learning and conforming to all the rules that existed in the craft. Yoongi could not be happier to have someone like him.
He smiled. “Thank you.”
Hoseok smiled back, widely as he took the shell from Yoongi’s hands and put it on the table. He laid down on top of Yoongi, resting his head on Yoongi’s chest. Yoongi wrapped his arms around him and closed his eyes listening to Hoseok’s steady breathing.
“I love you,” he whispered.
“I love you, too.”
And upstairs in their sunny, shared bedroom, on the window sill surrounded by shells and bottles full of moon water, proudly stood a jar filled with rose petals and lavender, a piece of carved driftwood barely being seen underneath red thread and wax.
Beside it, a statue of Aphrodite smiled warmly underneath the sun.