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The shop is nestled between a small coffee shop and a florist. Felix has a deal with both of them — for a freshly brewed strengthen potion, he receives flowers strong enough to hold his enchantments for at least two weeks. For two small bags of taste enhancing powder, he gets free coffee and a pastry a day for an entire week. The coffee shop uses the powder to make coffee more bearable to people who aren’t used to it, and the florist sprays their bouquets with Felix’s potion to keep them fresh and strong for longer.
It’s a good deal, and Felix has become friends with the owners. Hyunjin’s flowers are always the prettiest, and Seungmin’s coffee tastes the best. He can take a little bit of a credit for that himself, Felix knows that, but when asked he shrugs it off. It is not his place to gloat. Besides, his patrons adore his own creations the most.
Now, though, all of Felix’s potions, spell and charm books and everything else are pushed into one corner. Felix waved his wand at that particular spot like he does each and every year, making it all magically fit. Hyunjin knows he won’t get his potion and Seungmin has stocked up on the powder, and the rest of his regulars have received their orders in advance. It’s the way Felix always does things during December, when his shop turns into one dedicated to Christmas in its entirety.
The piles of scrolls make place for Santa’s that speak when spoken to, the books switched out for miniature Christmas trees. A large one stands in the middle of the shop, right by the staircase. The small nutcrackers Felix enchanted are milling about, making sure all the ornaments are in straight and the little lights are still working. After, they’ll move on to the rest of their tasks, keeping the shop clean and proper for the customers that come in.
His clientele lessens during December, but Felix doesn’t mind. He has the money, and his love for the month and everything it stands for is much bigger than any money could ever give him. Granted, it’s nice that his regulars have ordered their things in advance and that he knows when he turns back into a regular Witch Shop come January 1st, they will be there again, ready to use his services.
An enchanted santa zips down the staircase, belly moving with its laughter. Felix smiles, waving his wand as he unlocks the front door for the day. The fake snow starts to drizzle down as soon as the lock unlatches, one snowflake descending onto his nose. Felix scrunches it up, eyes going crossed to look at it fully. Every real snowflake is unique, and so are Felix’s. They aren’t cold, nor do they melt as quickly as real ones do, so he has all the time in the world to admire his own handiwork before it disappears.
The fake snow will leave small heaps around the shop during the day, though the path throughout the shelves will remain clear and safe for his patrons to use. That particular spell took a few days to master, but now, it works perfectly. It’s worked for years, and the sight of the snowpiles around his shop have Felix’s heart warming.
Perhaps it is the Winter Witch blood in him. He doesn’t know. His mother is a Winter Witch, one where her magic is enhanced and stronger when the colder season starts. His father, a Spring Witch, makes it so that Felix’s magic works nearly perfectly all year around. A privilege, and the reason why so many people seek out his services.
Hyunjin walks past the window, smiling into the glass as he spots Felix. Felix waves, watching as Hyunjin disappears from view. Once he does, the sound of a key unlocking a door echoes around the shop. With a quick swish of his wand, the protection charm Felix puts around their shops vanishes. Seungmin came in about twenty minutes ago, so all of their shops are manned. It’s safe to drop the wards, to get rid of the clear glass charm that allows Felix to hear everything happening in his friends’ shops when they’re not there.
The quiet is loud, only broken by the nutcrackers jumping out of the tree. Their wooden footsteps click-clack across the tile, a handful of them helping each other scale the shelves. Once they reach the shelves, they gather their miniature brooms and form a circle. Felix smiles. He doesn’t know what they’re saying, but before he can address them himself, they break apart. Scattering themselves across the shelves, they divide the work without needing to be asked.
In the window, Felix’s village has come alive. Using the little houses, figurines and small decorations he’s been able to find, Felix always creates a living village in his window display. It has a ski-lift which moves on its own, the figurines jumping out of the seats when needed, and a large frozen pond where they skate. The town square is filled with little market stalls, where the figurines shop for wares while the lights twinkle and a local townsman works on the large tree in the middle of it all. Every hour, the church bells ring. Every twenty-four hours, the cycle resets.
It took some time to figure out the spell work, but it’s Felix’s pride and joy each and every year. Whenever he gets the chance, he purchases another home, another figurine, and adds them to the cycle. His customers, especially children, love the display. It’s what pulls most of the new customers in, too.
Felix moves to stand behind the counter, wrapping his hand around his tepid tea. He huffs, closing his eyes. When he reopens them, the mug is hot to the touch once more. He leans across the counter, staring out the window. People walk along the sidewalk, their steps rushed and faces covered in frowns, hurriedly making their way to their destinations. Customers come in and fawn over the decorations, purchasing a handful of them. By the time lunch rolls around, Felix’s back is aching and his stomach growls.
Before he can wave his wand to summon his lunch from the back room, however, the bell above the door jingles. Felix stands up straight, plastering a smile on his face. “Good afternoon, if there—”
A man appears from between the shelves. Felix’s eyes widen, sentences lost to the air around him. The man is gorgeous — thick lips, bushy eyebrows and long, blond hair that nearly touches his shoulders. He is not a man, though. His aura signature turns green underneath Felix’s gaze, and he nearly gasps. The man gives him a smile. “Hi!”
“You’re not human.” are the words that come out of Felix’s mouth before he can stop them. The man’s eyes widen. “Shit, sorry — I didn’t—”
“No,” The man shakes his head, laughing. “You’re not wrong.”
Without Felix needing to ask, the man removes his beanie. Two ears poke out immediately, a dark grey that turns into a light brown at the tips. This time, Felix cannot withhold his gasp. “Oh— wow.”
“Uh, thanks?” The werewolf says, lowering his head. “I think?”
“They’re very pretty.” Felix says. He wants to say more, though. This person — this werewolf — Felix has never seen someone like him before. His signature is a pleasant green, calming to Felix’s own bright yellow. As if sensing it, Felix’s heart slows down. “Can I help you with anything?”
“I’m looking for some wolfsbane.” The werewolf replies, a small smile appearing on his face. His canines snag on his lower lip. “If you have any.”
Felix purses his lips. He cleaned up his stock before completely changing his shop. “I’ll have to check. Do you need quick working, or—”
The werewolf shakes his head. “The regular one is fine! I just need it for the next full moon.”
“Alright,” Felix replies, mentally scanning the shelves in his stock room. “Make yourself comfortable. I’ll go and have a look around.”
“Oh yeah, thanks!” The werewolf says, nodding his head. Felix forces himself to look away, to turn his back on the werewolf and walk out of the shop and into the stockroom. It’s dusty and there’s a cobweb in a corner, but Felix ignores that as he barrels over to the crate which should hold a few bottles of wolfsbane. He brews about twenty bottles of each kind before packing up his tools for December, and he hasn’t sold that many bottles since then.
Using his wand, Felix casts a charm on the crate. It levitates instantly, allowing Felix to carry it back into the shop. He freezes midstep, however, as the werewolf seems to be distracted by the lights in the Christmas tree. His eyes widen, glistening in the reflection of the lights, and oh. Felix wants to keep him. He wants to wrap a blanket around the werewolf, create a sudden job opening in his shop and never let him leave.
Instead, he forces himself to carry on walking. The crate lands on the counter with a thump, making the werewolf jump. “Jesus—”
“Sorry!” Felix says, smiling. “Didn’t mean to scare you—”
“Chan.” The werewolf supplies, taking the three steps it takes to reach the counter. His eyes grow wide at the bottles of wolfsbane. “My friend said you were good, but this is — this is high quality.”
Felix raises an eyebrow. He knows a lot of people in this town, almost everyone, and wouldn’t call a lot of them his friends. People sing his praises, though normally, those don’t reach Felix at all. “Who recommended me?”
“Lee Minho?” Chan replies, raising an eyebrow. “Said you—”
“Ah,” Felix interrupts, nodding. “Minho is a good friend, yeah. He’s a witch himself, but can’t make a potion for the life of him.”
“Exactly what he told me.” Chan says, chuckling. “I’ve tried one of his wolfsbane potions — didn’t end well.”
Felix giggles. “What happened?”
“I ripped up my carpet during the full moon and probably scarred my neighbor.” Chan replies easily, a glint in his eyes. “It wasn’t strong enough.”
Unable to stop himself, Felix full on laughs. He’s tried to teach Minho to create better potions, but apart from a healing potion and a strength enhancement one, Minho isn’t all that great. He’s better at charms, at spells and using his magic in daily life. He taught Felix the cycle spell for his window display. “Well, these should be strong enough to keep your wolf at bay.”
Chan nods, taking out one of the bottles. The grey liquid swishes around in the glass, glittering as it responds to the call of werewolf blood. “Seems so. How many can I take?”
“Uh, they’re not cheap, so—”
“Price isn’t a problem.” Chan waves him off. “Do you have a maximum for customers?”
“No,” Felix slowly replies, blinking. “I’ve never had to put one because most people only buy one or two at a time.”
“Well,” Chan shrugs, still holding the bottle. “This is the best of the best, so I might as well stock up. Is eight bottles okay?”
Felix’s eyes widen once more. “Yeah — yeah. Okay. Do you need a bag?”
++
Despite being stocked up for a little less than a year, Chan comes back the next day. And the day after, and the day after. He sits in the little sitting corner Felix created and watches the decorations much like a child would. By the third day, Felix asks Chan if he wants to help with some things around the shop, and Chan marvels at Felix’s magic the whole way through.
When the week mark rolls around, Chan shows up with a bouquet of flowers. The purple hue around them gives away where he bought them from immediately, but Felix is too shocked to point it out. He stands rooted to the spot, holding a basket with baubles that need restocking. Chan shakes his head to rid himself of the snow in his hair, and smiles when he sees Felix. “Hi!”
“Hi,” Felix replies, elongating the last letter. “What are those?”
“Flowers,” Chan deadpans, chuckling. “For you.”
“For me?” Felix asks, raising an eyebrow. He lightly throws the basket up in the air, his magic catching it for him. With a snap of his fingers, it disappears from sight and back into the stock room. When he doesn’t hear anything shattering, Felix exhales and turns back to Chan. “Why?”
“Because,” Chan unties his scarf with one hand, one of his ears perking slightly to the left. Hyunjin hasn’t come into his shop yet, so Felix hasn’t dropped the clear glass charm. Hyunjin’s old clock on the wall is loud enough to get picked up by the spell. “I wanted to.”
“Chan—”
“Did you like my pebble?”
Felix places a hand on the shelf next to him. He takes a deep breath. He found the pebble on the counter yesterday, after Chan had left. The werewolf brought a book with him to the shop this time, and they talked for hours while Felix served customers and restocked some of his potions just in case anyone needed any. One of his regulars called for two extra bottles of strong healing potions and since his wife is ill, Felix couldn’t deny him.
At first, he thought the pebble was something a child brought in, or one of the nutcrackers stumbled upon without a clue on what to do with it. They’re not charmed to deal with rocks, after all. But — it coming from Chan makes a lot more sense. The pebble, and the beautiful brown leaf from the day before. And before that, a small santa figurine from a different shop.
Blinking rapidly, Felix’s heart does a flip. “The — the pebble was cute.”
Chan’s ears perk up. Felix’s stomach performs a somersault. “Chan, are they —”
“Courting gifts, yeah.” The werewolf replies easily, shrugging. As if it’s the most mundane thing in the world that he’s giving Felix courting gifts after only knowing each other for a week. Their magical signatures match extremely well, almost rare in their compatibility, but Chan can’t see that. Perhaps he can sense it? Felix needs to read up on werewolves more. “Do you — wait— should I stop?”
“No!” Felix exclaims, reaching out. He takes the flowers from Chan and brings them up to his nose, inhaling. Instantly, the strong scent of magic roses hit Felix and he smiles. Hyunjin explained his way of creating flower arrangements once. He always adds a droplet of magic rose perfume into the bouquets he thinks are for confessions. Courting gifts are rare these days, old fashioned, and yet, Felix can’t help but love it. “Please — don’t stop.”
The smile Chan gives him is blinding. He takes a step closer, reaching into his pocket. “Good, because I got you this, too.”
Felix looks down at Chan’s outstretched hand, and the laugh he lets out is unguarded, rebellious and entirely unknown to him. Chan is holding a glass bauble, with the two of them holding hands inside of it. Their little figurines move, Chan’s tail and ears twitching every now and again. Tiny Felix is holding a small wand, waving it around every ten seconds or so. Every time he does, the snow in the bauble comes back to life.
The charm work is intricate and delicate. He’ll have to rip Minho a new one for keeping it a secret from him during their dinner last night. “It’s beautiful.”
“Does this mean I can ask you on a date now?” Chan asks, and the dimple on his face becomes even more tantalizing to touch.
Felix chuckles again, clutching the flowers close. “Yes, you may.”