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Namjoon is not very good at potions. That’s a fact that everyone in his year knows well. His classmates dread every potions lesson because ever since the start of the year, Namjoon has not correctly brewed a single potion. This had resulted in a lot of unsavoury smells, plenty of mild fires and an impressive amount of green smoke.
Usually, Namjoon excels in whatever classes he takes, he's the resident smart guy with his charming smile and big round glasses. But potions, well, he likes to think it's his parents fault for never teaching him how to cook no matter how much he asked. Namjoon knows he can be a little clumsy, he trips over thin air a lot and he definitely should not be entrusted with a knife sharp enough to cut vegetables, but still, perhaps if they had he wouldn't be such a miserable potion maker.
It's because of Namjoons skills (or lack thereof) that he'd asked his best friend Yoongi to tutor him after lessons.
Namjoon has known Yoongi since they were children, they grew up in the same town a few doors down from one another and when Yoongi decided to go off to boarding school to study magic more closely, Namjoon soon followed.
Ever since they were children they had been inseparable and that's still true to this day. When they aren't in class, they're together, sitting in the courtyard or sneaking sweets from the kitchen beside their common room. Yoongi has always been the only person Namjoon feels he can talk to, and whenever he's homesick, it's Yoongi who he seeks out, his person who reminds him of home.
“You just have to be careful, Namjoon-ah,” Yoongi says, his voice soothing. Namjoon lets out a heavy sigh.
“I am careful, Hyung. I'm super careful but it still goes wrong.”
The sun is in Namjoon's eyes and he turns away, glancing over at the mottled clay coloured walls. The potions rooms have such a distinct smell, like lavender and tea.
“Show me how you'd make a simple slumber potion. You know that one?” Yoongi smiles lazily and Namjoon feels his cheeks burning.
He notices it happening a lot more recently. Whenever Yoongi looks at him his tummy aches like he’s eaten too much, and for some unknown reason he blushes. Not even a cute subtle blush either, his whole face goes red and hot.
“I do,” Namjoon breathes. He rolls up his sleeves and opens his recipe book. He can do this, he thinks.
A slumber potion is one of the most simple recipes in the book. It has only four ingredients and Namjoon reads them over several times before beginning. Yoongi watches, but he doesn't seem that interested in the cauldron. Instead, his eyes wander over Namjoon's face and his hands with a pretty smile on his lips that makes Namjoon's tummy hurt.
He wonders if Yoongi has put some sort of charm on him, because every time Yoongi looks at him with a pretty smile, Namjoon feels sick. Sometimes Yoongi even looks at Namjoon in that way he never looks at anyone else, all familiar and warm. It makes Namjoon’s heart ache.
“Okay. A single sprig of thyme.” He drops the herb into the water.
“Good, now read the words,” Yoongi instructs.
Namjoon pushes his glasses up his nose and reads. He'll admit, his spoken latin isn't the best but he certainly tries. When the cauldron doesn't explode after he lists off the commands, he sighs in relief.
The next ingredient listed is moon water. Namjoon stands up and steps towards the ingredients shelf. There's an unlabelled bottle he thinks must be moon water, the contents are shimmery with flecks of silver glitter dotted throughout the purple-hued liquid. Two drops is all he needs and Namjoon steadies his hand, making sure he doesn't pour too much.
“Careful,” Yoongi says at the last minute, his low voice closer than Namjoon had expected. He pours too quickly and a splash of the liquid drops into the cauldron.
“Hyung!” Namjoon complains. “It's ruined now–.”
“Joon,” Yoongi breathes, leaning in closely as the cauldron turns clear and then pink.
“What did I do?” Namjoon panics, glancing nervously at the ingredient in his hand and the continuous swirling pot. Yoongi stares at it too and then he meets Namjoon’s gaze, a dumb smile gracing his pretty lips.
“Have I ever told you how pretty you are?” Yoongi grins. “Or how cute your dimples are or–or that I like you so much and I’ve been waiting for years to know if you like me back.”
Namjoon blinks.
“Is this a threat?” he squeaks, his cheeks burning a fiery red and his heart rate quickening all at once. “I'm sorry for messing up!”
“You're so cute.” Yoongi leans on his hand and Namjoon realises his eyes are cloudy with silver, the same shade as the liquid in the cauldron. “Hyung would really like to take you on a date sometime, you know?'”
“I made a love potion,” Namjoon frowns. “Hyung! Wake up! You're spewing nonsense.”
“Your eyes are the most beautiful shade of brown,” Yoongi giggles and it's such an uncharacteristic sound it makes Namjoon cringe. “Like chocolate or–oh like black coffee or a really nice marble.”
“A really nice marble–okay.' Namjoon picks up the cauldron and dumps the contents into the sink. He quickly puts away the gathered ingredients under Yoongi's watchful eyes and fluttering eyelashes and pushes away all of the thoughts he has about how pretty it is when Yoongi does that.
“Are we going on a date?” Yoongi smiles as Namjoon returns to the desk. He leans forward, his face all up in Namjoon's space and he groans.
“No, we're going to Seokjin-Hyung and he's going to–to fix you!”
“But I don't like Seokjin-Hyung, I like you,” Yoongi pouts. “You don't like me back?”
“That's–.”
“I can't believe this.” Yoongi's lips wobble and his eyes fill with tears. Namjoon thinks he looks like a big baby. “I've given you my heart, Kim Namjoon, don't you sell me off to some older man!”
“Hyung! I'm not, please don't–.” It's too late, Yoongi is sobbing, his face buried against Namjoon's chest as he hiccups out his cries. Namjoon sighs. “Please stop crying.”
“Why should I? You're breaking my heart.”
“I'm not breaking your heart! Seokjin-Hyung is going to help us,” he insists. “Please? I'll um–I'll take you on a date afterwards.”
Yoongi immediately stops his tears and sits up, a big toothy grin on his face. Namjoon is sure the weird feeling he gets in his tummy is because Yoongi is annoying and not because he likes him at all.
“Hyung will pay,” he nods. “We can go somewhere with plants, and I'll read you poetry. It'll be so romantic.”
“Yes, sure,” Namjoon agrees. “Now let's go and find Seokjin, yes?” he takes Yoongi's hand and tugs him off of the stool.
The school they study at is incredibly vast with hundreds of classrooms. This information doesn't escape Namjoon as he pulls his best friend down the corridor, racking his brain for where Seokjin might be. He might be in the dining hall getting a snack before dinner, or perhaps in the dorms freshening up for a night with his boyfriend. Namjoon can barely think straight with Yoongi stumbling behind him, his too-big uniform stretching out even more as he trips and tumbles over his trousers.
They walk through most of the school with Yoongi smiling dumbly and confusing passersby, and Namjoon growling at every room he doesn't find Seokjin in.
“Where could he be?” Namjoon yells, dropping Yoongi's hand and stopping.
“Seokjin has track practice after classes, doesn't he?” Yoongi chimes in, reaching out for Namjoon's hand once again. Once it's safely secured in his own, Yoongi looks up and if looks could kill he would be 6 feet under right where he's standing.
“We walked across the entire school and you knew this whole time?”
Yoongi shrugs. “He always has track after class on a Thursday. I thought you just liked holding my hand.”
Namjoon forces a smile. He knows it isn't Yoongi's fault. If he weren't scared of doing permanent damage to his best friend's brain perhaps he'd even enjoy having Yoongi dote on him like this.
They march out to the track field and once Seokjin spots them he slows to a stop and approaches.
“What's wrong?” he pants, blinking confusedly at Namjoon and Yoongi. Yoongi is leaning into Namjoon's side, caressing his hand with his thumb and mumbling about how good he smells.
“I may have done something stupid.”
Seokjin looks at Yoongi and nods.
“Yoongi?” he mumbles, leaning down to meet Yoongi's gaze. “What the hell is wrong with his eyes?”
“He was teaching me how to make a potion and I messed it up. I think I accidentally made a love potion instead,” Namjoon blurts. “I feel so bad, poor Yoongi thinks he likes me and he's acting all weird.”
“Is he now?” scoffs Seokjin. 'Let me get my bag and I'll help you.'
“Thank you, Seokjin-Hyung!” Namjoon cries, bowing low and dragging Yoongi with him. His best friend is permanently glued to his side now.
Seokjin explains that there is an easy fix and walks with them back to the potions room. He drops his bag beside Yoongi and Namjoon’s, and goes to the ingredients shelf. Namjoon knows what almost all of them do but he's slowly realising that perhaps potion making really isn't for him and when he can choose his electives, he'll be sure not to pick it. He's good at charms, he'll just take extra classes in that, he thinks.
“Here,” Seokjin says, handing a bundle of herbs to Yoongi. He blinks at them.
“What is that?” Yoongi asks, taking the green parcel and examining it. “It smells bad.”
“It's gonna taste a whole lot worse but eat it. It'll make you feel better.”
“I feel fine–.”
“Hyung. Please, for me?”
“It'll make you happy?” Yoongi blinks, his lips all pink and pouty.
“Yes.”
Yoongi nods and quickly pops the parcel into his mouth, chewing on it for a few moments, his face filled with disgust.
“It tastes vile,” he complains, baring his teeth as he tries to grind the leaves into a paste to swallow. When he finally does, with great effort, the silver quickly fades from his eyes and Namjoon lets out a sigh of relief.
“Hyung?” he breathes, bringing his hands to Yoongi's cheeks.
“Why are you touching me?” complains Yoongi, scrunching his nose. “Why does my mouth taste like a sewer?”
Seokjin lets out a loud laugh and collects his things. “I'll leave you to it.”
He's out of the door before Namjoon can so much as thank him.
“I'm so sorry, Yoongi,” Namjoon frowns. “I didn't mean to mess up that bad, how do you feel?”
“I'm fine? What did you do?”
Namjoon grimaces. “You don't remember?”
He wonders if he should tell Yoongi about his confessions, but then Namjoon thinks that would only upset his own feelings for some reason so he really isn't sure if he should.
“I remember you starting the potion and then–,” he frowns. “Why was Seokjin here?”
“I messed up the potion, Hyung, and you got the full effects,” Namjoon explains. “I dropped too much moon water and–.”
“Oh god, you love potioned me, you little cretin!”
“Hey!” Namjoon cries, face burning red. “It was an honest mistake!”
“How embarrassing was I? What did I say?”
Namjoon groans. How can he tell Yoongi that he confessed to wanting to date him? That he'd said all of these sweet things and as much as Namjoon had wanted it to stop, he'd also kind of liked hearing them from Yoongi? He presses his lips into a thin line.
“You told me you like me,” he says quickly, trying his best to get it over with. Yoongi takes a deep breath. “You told me you wanted to date me.”
“Right.” Yoongi is quiet and Namjoon starts to worry.
“It was just the potion though! I know that, you don't need to worry!”
“Joon–.”
“It was all just the dumb effects of my silly little mistake and actually it's probably good that you don't like me because–.”
“Joonie, I do like you.”
Namjoon feels his knees go weak and the pain he's been getting in his tummy flares up.
“Don't say that.”
“It's true,” Yoongi smiles. “Is that okay? That I like you?”
“Hyung you make my stomach hurt,” Namjoon complains weakly. “I don't know what that means.”
Yoongi chuckles. “Butterflies?”
Butterflies. Namjoon grimaces. He doesn't get butterflies and it’s–well, he isn't sure. He rubs his hand over his tummy and it doesn't actually hurt, his chest just feels warm and full and his skin tingles all over where Yoongi is touching him, their knees brushing together below the table, his hand against Namjoon's arm.
“ Oh,” Namjoon breathes. “Oh gross I have a crush on you?!”
“I'm not that bad!” Yoongi cries, but he's only protesting a little, really Namjoon can see how he fights back a smile. “I've had a crush on you for a while now, think about how I felt! Crushing on a boy who can't make a basic potion or buy a blazer that fits!”
“I am trying my best,” Namjoon grumbles. “Besides you were crushing first. That's more embarrassing.”
“It is,” Yoongi admits. “Do you want to go on an embarrassing date with me?”
“Yes,” Namjoon says without hesitation. “In fact I think I'd like to go on a lot of embarrassing dates with you.”
Yoongi laughs at him and then just as Namjoon is about to complain, he leans in and brushes his lips against Namjoon's cheek. They were already warm enough but now they're positively burning and all Yoongi can do is grin, all of his cute little teeth on show and his hand gripping tighter to Namjoon's arm out of nervousness.
“Too much?” he asks, noticing how silent Namjoon is.
Namjoon shakes his head.
“Again,” he demands, and when it isn't immediately met with another kiss he whines. “Again!”
Yoongi chuckles and happily obliges. Namjoon likes the way Yoongi's kisses make him feel–as if he's filled to the brim with joy–vibrating with excitement and even better, Yoongi smiles brighter than he thinks he's ever seen Yoongi smile. It's the same one he's noticed is reserved for him but now with more teeth and more blushing cheeks.
Namjoon can't help but wonder if this is what love feels like, if it's always Yoongi's cute smile and Yoongi's pretty lips and how nobody and nowhere is home in quite the way Yoongi is. Or if it's something else, something much like magic but magic in the shape of his best friend.