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It's as endearing as it is tragic. Jongdae runs a whole inn, with luxurious suites full of downy mattresses, fluffy pillows and silken sheets. Yet he loves Minseok more than comfort, so whenever they find time to meet, he ends up sprawled over the pallet on the floor in the top room of Minseok’s tower.
It's nice enough for a pallet, thick enough to cushion a body well from the floor, even when another body is moving vigorously on top of it. The sheets are cotton, but still soft, and the pillows are fluffy enough. Not as fluffy as Jongdae's hair, sweetly rumpled, the morning sun through the stained glass window haloing it in gold and mauve.
"You’re staring at me again."
"You’re gorgeous again."
Jongdae's cheeks bunch, betraying his pleasure at the compliment even as he grumbles in denial. "You wouldn't have to stare at me like you're trying to memorize me, if you'd agree to meet with me more often."
"I would love that." Minseok gives in to the urge and runs his fingers through Jongdae's hair. "But you know my work keeps me up until the wee hours, and by the time I'm done, a giant could be asleep in this room and I would fall right into bed without noticing."
"I'll find you an assistant."
Minseok smiles, rolls his eyes, and kisses Jongdae's forehead. "You keep saying that."
"Because I mean it. I meet all kinds of folks who've just arrived in town. Surely I'll meet someone with enough magic to help you get your orders done earlier."
"Hmm."
Minseok doesn't hold his breath. Sure, Jongdae meets a lot of people, and lots of folks know that Jongdae is good at connecting prospective employers with potential employees. But those with magic are rare, and would surely arrive in the city of Ozmion either because their current job requires it or with a new job already lined up. It's rare that anyone up and tumbles into a new place without the foresight to ensure they have a place to stay and a way to earn enough coin to feed themselves already. It's almost unthinkable that such a person would also have a magical gift.
Jongdae slings a sleep-heavy arm around Minseok and pulls him closer. "I will find you someone. For my favorite warlock, anything."
Minseok only hums again, choosing to spend the rest of their short time together with more pleasurable pursuits.
Weeks later, Minseok returns to his tower well after nightfall, out of breath, with a cringe already on his face before he fully registers the shadow draped within his doorframe.
"I'm sorry, Dae," he says as the shadow detaches to embrace him. "The clouds delayed the moonrise and you know I had to harvest these rushes tonight if I wanted to have the silversheen potions Heechul ordered ready by the end of the month, and—"
Minseok's words are cut off by Jongdae's lips. "You work too hard, my love," Jongdae says, warm breath tickling Minseok's skin. "You really need that assistant."
"Where am I going to find one that has enough magic to be useful but who isn't already apprenticed?"
"At the inn." Jongdae tucks a stray lock of hair back from Minseok’s face, then takes one of the baskets of moonrushes from his arms. "I'll find someone for you. I promise."
Minseok waits to press his lips together until Jongdae has turned to the tower door, unlatching it with a gentle spark. Jongdae means well. Minseok is sure he chats up everyone who sets foot in the inn, ever on the lookout for someone to help him. But Minseok knows that the kind of person who'd be a boon instead of a burden to him isn't just going to fall out of the sky.
It's simpler to carry on as he is, stretching the day’s hours as he can, rather than train up a little child for the years it would take for Minseok to trust them alone on the streets of Ozmion. And anyone old enough to already have manners, poise, and wit would certainly already have a proud mentor preening over them. It's fine. Minseok is managing.
It is rather regrettable that his poor Jongdae has to spend one of his own few free nights as an overqualified assistant, helping Minseok to prepare the rushes and the other reagents he'd harvested, bought or bartered for that day. They must all be processed in unique and particular ways, and rushing through it would only lead to more problems down the road.
Still, it's always a treat to hear Jongdae sing. Ideally, it would be Minseok visiting Jongdae's business after hours instead of the other way around, cheering with the enraptured crowd as Jongdae plays the bard for his guests. But this is nice, too, Jongdae crooning to the easily-agitated mandragora roots, settling them with a song as moonlight silvers his handsome face.
"You’re too good to me, Dae," Minseok sighs, stepping close to embrace his love once the mandragoras are all content in their new, ensorcelled pots.
"If I were actually good to you, you'd have a proper assistant by now."
"I'm sure you're looking hard. But even if you don't find anyone, I'll make do well enough. I always have."
"But you shouldn't have to." Jongdae pulls away to regard him with critical eyes. "You look so stressed."
Minseok lets a smirk slide over his lips. "I'm sure my sweet love will relax me properly."
Jongdae more than rises to the challenge.
One morning a few days later, there's a knock on the door of Minseok’s tower. He has no deliveries scheduled, but sometimes clients stop by in person or send errand-runners to him directly. So Minseok is expecting to see an elegant noble or a young child on his stoop when he opens the door.
Instead it's a young man about his own age, perhaps a few years younger. Human, for sure, but with a shimmer of something otherworldly about him, as if he’s a bit too bright for the city that surrounds him. He doesn't seem to be Minseok’s usual clientele at all, but one of the reasons Minseok is so busy is that he never has the heart to turn anyone away. They come to him because they need help that they can't provide themselves, after all. Minseok’s element may be ice, but he’s far from cold-hearted.
So he gives this unusual man a warm smile. "Hi, can I help?"
The bright boy seems a bit lost. "Hi, I'm Baekhyun. I'm looking for Kim Minseok? Jongdae sent me."
Minseok’s brows climb his forehead, then his smile stretches wide. "So he finally came through. Nice to meet you, Baekhyun, I'm Minseok. Please come in."
Minseok watches Baekhyun look around with poorly concealed surprise, lingering by the row of dozing mandragora lined up along the nearest shelf.
"Not what you were expecting?"
Baekhyun’s cheeks go a bit pink. "Sorry. I'm not from… around here. Where I come from, warlocks are assumed to be… well. Not… anyone like you. Or in a lovely place such as this."
Minseok smiles. "I'll take that as a compliment. I do enjoy a nice, welcoming workspace."
"And tidy."
"That is essential. Some of the reagents are volatile in combination, whether mixed together directly or simply if using the same tool to process both without a proper cleanse between. So it’s safer, as well as more efficient in general, if everything has its proper place."
"I see. I'll be sure to be careful."
"That would be best. Soon enough you'll know all the equipment and what it's used for, even though it may seem a bit intimidating at the moment."
"Everything about magic seems intimidating to me at the moment."
"You’re entirely untrained?" It seems impossible for someone so close to Minseok’s own age to be a kinetic and have received no instruction, but he had said he wasn't from nearby. Perhaps they did not value such gifts in Baekhyun’s homeland.
"I only learned I even had magic yesterday. Er, what's your talent? Jongdae said I was a light user. And he could produce electricity from his palm."
Minseok nods. "My element is ice. His is lightning. And yes, yours is light." Of course it is—that explains the extra glow this young man seems to carry.
Curious indeed, that Baekhyun seems entirely unfamiliar with kinetics of any kind. But Minseok is happy to answer his questions, and even happier to learn his new assistant can sing like a meadowlark. The first time he sent him off for a sealing song, he had expected almost anything but the note-perfect rendition Baekhyun returned to perform.
"That will hold our seabeams in stasis for quite some time." Minseok smiles, but then draws a lip between his teeth. Jongdae is a known facilitator of temporary work, and Minseok will be sorry indeed if this capable help is gone too soon. "How long did you say you'd be in town?"
Baekhyun shrugs. "Until I figure out how to get home, I suppose."
Minseok immediately regrets his selfish concerns. "Why can't you go home?"
"It's complicated," Baekhyun sighs, and Minseok takes that as a signal to probe no further.
Baekhyun’s assistance means Minseok has more free time than he can remember having in years. Jongdae accepts Minseok’s expressions of gratitude with a satisfied smile.
But Minseok spends much of his free time with Baekhyun, too. After all, people come to him for help they can't provide themselves, so Minseok has a responsibility to his hardworking assistant. He does his best to train the novice light user, though most of what he can offer someone with an element so different from his own is the use of his library and plenty of encouragement. But there are commonalities to all kinetics, chief among which is learning to feel magic.
Baekhyun says he gets it, and Minseok is sure that he thinks he gets it. But on the day that Minseok takes him along to help maintain the Giants' Carousel, Minseok learns several things about his assistant.
First, that he absolutely can sense magic. The way Baekhyun fidgets when they stand before the carousel's central column proves it, as does the way he describes the sensation—old, hostile, inhuman currents winding through the old relic. He’s a great help translating runes while Minseok works counter-spells, freezing the malevolent force away for a while longer.
The second thing he learns is the identity of Baekhyun’s home, and why he's unsure of how to reach it.
Prince Chanyeol of Aurum interrupts their work at the carousel, ostensibly out of curiosity about the ancient structure. But Minseok doesn't need magic-sense to pick up on the pull between the prince and his bright assistant.
Certain magics are more compatible than others, and certain types are almost painfully discordant. The prince has never declared himself to be a kinetic, but Minseok’s ice shies away from him, even as Baekhyun’s light reaches out. Despite the surprise in the prince's large eyes, it seems to Minseok that the prince is familiar with Baekhyun somehow. Yet Baekhyun doesn't treat him quite like a loyal subject would, so Minseok crosses Aurum off the list of places Baekhyun might be from.
Even as he does, he's sure that wherever Baekhyun is from is not where his heart belongs. It probably wouldn't be apparent to anyone else, and certainly doesn't seem apparent to the prince or Baekhyun themselves. But Minseok has spent hours supervising his assistant, has needed to be ready to protect any reactive substances from uncontrolled bursts of light, and has observed with pride when Baekhyun manages to control his gift adeptly enough to achieve the day’s goal.
When he steps away with the prince, Baekhyun’s magic isn't really under control. But it does seem to have a goal, and it’s partially successful at interlocking with the magic of the man standing next to him.
They're cute together. Oh, they don't do anything outwardly indicative of any informal connection, but the way their magic interacts gives the game away to Minseok’s eyes. A game of push and pull, it seems, both unsure, but both very interested. They may not be able to show it in person, not in public like this, guards and employer watching curiously, but the link is there.
When the pair parts, their magic does so only reluctantly, and it takes several moments before Baekhyun’s able to corral it into helping them with their work.
It takes all Minseok’s composure to concentrate on their task. And to not pelt his assistant with teasing or questions. But when Baekhyun asks if Minseok may have something 'elegant, but discreet' to lend him, Minseok lets himself smile ridiculously into his closet. He watches Baekhyun slip off to 'run a personal errand' in his borrowed robes, and feels like a proud, hopeful parent.
He's going to lose his new assistant very soon, Minseok is quite sure of it. But instead of disappointment, Minseok can only feel a sort of glittery pleasure, like sunlight sparkling on snow. Everyone deserves to find their true home, and Minseok can hardly begrudge Baekhyun diving for his.
Minseok will be fine without an assistant. He'll make do, stretch the hours, apologize to his neglected lover. There are still many people who need Minseok’s help—and who knows? Perhaps Jongdae will find another impossibly-suitable assistant for him again. Someone Minseok could assist in turn.
For several months, there are only incessant orders, long hours, and brief, apologetic moments with Jongdae whenever Minseok can steal them. He starts to suspect that Jongdae insists on staying the night once a week on the pallet in the tower only so that he can be sure that Minseok will spend an uninterrupted span of hours on that pallet himself.
And then one morning, a knock at the door heralds a young man on Minseok’s stoop. More of a boy, really, whose fluffy hair catches the early light, framing his sweet face like the rays of the sun.
"Um, hi?" the boy says, offering a bashful wave. "My name is Donghyuck. Jongdae at the inn said you might have some long-term work for a light user?"