Work Text:
Jungkook is absolutely certain that his new coworker is a psychic.
Yoongi has been working for The Magic Shop for about a month and a half, so Jungkook should probably know by now if he is a psychic or not. After all, Jungkook found out about Jimin being a familiar who prefers his cat form the first day that Namjoon started at the shop. And Hoseok, Seokjin, and Taehyung had told Jungkook about their abilities (brownie, vampire, and seer, respectively). Jungkook might be the most shy person at The Magic Shop, but even he disclosed his siren witch abilities on his first day interning with the store.
But the thing is, Jungkook doesn’t think that Yoongi knows that he’s a psychic.
He’s pretty sure that Yoongi doesn’t even believe in magic.
Yoongi had stumbled into the shop one day, mumbling about how funky the inside looked (and messed Jungkook up on the register - it was his first time working alone after a year of interning and six months of working full-time in the shop and he’d wanted to impress Seokjin the shop owner , but he completely messed up balancing the register), and asked if they were hiring.
At first, Jungkook just stared at Yoongi, certain that the boy must be a mirage. After all, it’s not every Tuesday evening that the most striking being that Jungkook has ever looked at in his twenty-six years of life walks into the shop. Or, at least, it hadn’t been up to that point. (Now, Yoongi works with Jungkook every Tuesday evening and Jungkook doesn’t know if that’s a serendipitous drop of fate or just Seokjin reading Jungkook’s mind).
Then Jungkook had said, “No, we’re not hiring,” because Seokjin’s requirements for employment in The Magic Shop was the year-long internship that Jungkook had done, but then one of the owner’s boyfriends, Taehyung, had waltzed into the room and told Yoongi that he’s just in time and did he actually have a moment to do the interview right then?
Jungkook had watched, slack-jawed, as Taehyung took Yoongi back to Seokjin’s office in order to have an interview with him. He was absolutely floored at the fact. But mostly, Jungkook wasn’t sure if it was exasperation at Taehyung taking Yoongi to the back office with him or at the excitement of possibly seeing this handsome man more often in the future.
An hour later, when Jungkook was trying to figure out where the fuck he went wrong in balancing the drawer in between helping out customers and trying to convince Jimin to come out of his cat form so that he could help Jungkook out, Yoongi walked out of the backroom with a job.
“What the fuck happened there?” Jungkook asked, sending glares in Seokjin and Taehyung’s directions. He still couldn’t figure out where his math was messed up, not with thoughts of a pretty new coworker floating around in his brain. “Since when are we hiring? And since when do you hire people without them being unpaid interns for you for a whole year ?”
“Since I said so,” Seokjin said, with finality. “And you were being paid the entire time that you interned here, so don’t even start with that.”
Jungkook huffed.
“I got a feeling with him,” Taehyung said. “I didn’t know that it was him because I didn’t have, like, a vision. But I knew that he was supposed to work here.”
Jungkook rolled his eyes, but he trusted Taehyung’s abilities, so he didn’t say anything else.
Now, six weeks later, Jungkook is absolutely certain that what Taehyung saw was a fellow “future seer” because there’s no way that Yoongi’s not a psychic. Way too many weird things keep happening.
Plus, Taehyung, Seokjin, and their third boyfriend Hoseok won’t tell Jungkook what it had been that Taehyung saw in Yoongi on the first day that he had stumbled into The Magic Shop. But Seokjin keeps scheduling him on Jungkook’s shifts and Jungkook thinks that it must have something to do with Taehyung’s seer abilities.
“I’m going to make some tea,” Yoongi says, walking toward the back room. Jungkook hasn’t had the heart to tell him that the tea is supposed to be for customers of the shop since Yoongi seems to really like tea. “Do you want anything?”
Jungkook shakes his head, just like he always does. He thinks that Yoongi is magical but doesn't know it and that seems dangerous to Jungkook. Like, he probably shouldn’t just drink whatever it is that Yoongi’s crafting in the backroom stocked with magical ingredients.
“Suit yourself,” Yoongi says with a shrug, like he doesn’t care that Jungkook continues to deny his tea advances. “It’s so nice that Seokjin keeps this place stocked with tea. It’s, like, my favorite drink in the world.”
As Yoongi makes his way to the back room, Jungkook thinks about how Seokjin keeps it stocked because Taehyung always knows exactly what kind of tea a particular customer might need. Whether it’s something to calm them down or to perk them up or to make them feel happier.
Yoongi seems to be in the exact same position.
Jungkook has no clue what type of tea Yoongi is suddenly “craving,” but he can almost guarantee that a customer is going to walk in the store within the next ten minutes needing exactly whatever it is that Yoongi’s cooked up. And Yoongi always has a second cup.
He says it’s for Jungkook (even though Jungkook always declines), but Jungkook knows better. He knows that it’s the Universe using Yoongi’s abilities to help people.
Even if Yoongi doesn’t know that he’s helping people in this way.
“Hey, I made an extra cup by accident,” Yoongi says, startling Jungkook who was lost in thought about how to convince his pretty coworker that magic exists. “I don’t know how that always happens. I swear I’m just making enough for myself, but something weird happens and boom! Two cups.”
“What’s in there today?” Jungkook asks.
“Um, I was in the mood for chamomile, so that’s what I started with,” Yoongi recalls. “Then I found some honey and some dried rosemary and I thought that that sounded yummy, so I added it in.”
“Mhm,” Jungkook hums, knowing exactly where this is going since Seokjin has made Jungkook study almost every type of tea that he could make in the store. “What else?”
“Oh, I found ground cinnamon so I added some of that. And I think I just used the dark purple pitcher of water. I think the brand was Moon?”
It’s moon water , Jungkook thinks, rolling his eyes.
Of course, Yoongi would accidentally make tea for the soul. He doesn’t know who is about to come in, but knowing that they need the tea more than he does, Jungkook declines Yoongi’s offer of a cup.
“Suit yourself,” Yoongi says and takes a sip of his own cup. “Wow, that tastes so good.”
Not even five minutes later, a woman who looks to be in her early thirties stumbles into the shop, looking much like Yoongi had on the day that he was hired- enamored and confused and a little hopeful.
See, the thing about the Magic Shop is that it’s one of the very few places in the world- and the only place in South Korea- that is visible to both magic folk and non-magic folk. It’s accessible to those who need it, but not always easily located.
Most customers come once in a lifetime and then forget about the small shop where they had a fancy tea or had their fortune read or took a crystal that was seemingly calling out to them.
But Yoongi’s never had trouble finding the shop. He wandered in on that first day, and Jungkook thinks that maybe it’s a job that Yoongi needed, maybe some kind of friendship or mentorship that only one of the current members of the shop could fulfill, or maybe it’s something else entirely.
Whatever it is, Yoongi hasn’t found it yet if he’s not magic. Because then he probably wouldn’t be able to come back in.
But the shop serves as a regular old store to magic folk. Some of the kitchen witches that Jungkook knows come to buy ingredients, Namjoon specifically mixes up salves and potions for some of their regular werewolf customers, and students of all species come in just to get a drink of tea to relieve their stress and anxiety when exam season comes around.
So, either Yoongi needs something that Jungkook just can’t figure out yet. Or he’s magical.
And based on the way the woman in the store is currently crying to Yoongi that she’s been stressed about a project at work that has her running into her ex-boyfriend, sipping at his tea meant to calm nerves, Jungkook thinks that him being a magical being is the more likely of the two options.
“That tea seemed to be exactly what she needed,” Jungkook says when the customer leaves. He always says something like this to Yoongi. Because this exact scenario has happened more times than Jungkook can count at this point and Yoongi seems to still think that magic is bullshit.
Yoongi rolls his eyes, but he doesn’t look annoyed. “All of these different types of tea claim to do, like, five things each, Jungkook-ah,” he says, once again negating his ability to be incredibly accurate about future events. “It’s just a coincidence.”
🍂
Yoongi thinks that his new coworker is a little weird.
He hasn’t been working at The Magic Shop (a silly name, Yoongi thinks) for too long. But he spends most of his shifts working with Jungkook. And Jungkook is a little weird.
Yoongi likes working in the shop. He’s been making music for his entire life. Mostly he uploads music on SoundCloud, his own raps and beats. But to make money, Yoongi writes jingles for television commercials.
It’s not a nine to five job- he just submits pitches and hopes that someone wants to buy whatever it is that he’s selling. Mostly, it works for him. He makes enough off of the royalties of what he’s written so far (because, fortunately, he created a very popular jingle for Samsung) to pay his rent and eat.
But that’s about it.
And he’s not even eating well . Yoongi mostly lives on ramyeon and kimbap right now. He considers it a splurge to buy something that takes more than four minutes to cook and he never buys more than a single bottle of soju if he’s going to drink.
So, that’s why Yoongi decided to get the job at The Magic Shop.
Just until his music- the raps, not the television commercial jingles- takes off on its own. Then, he’ll try to get signed by a label and make enough money that he can live on ramyeon and kimbap but because he’s too busy to eat anything else and not because he’s too poor.
Yoongi hadn’t necessarily been trying to get another shitty retail job.
When he was in college, Yoongi worked in a convenience store overnight so that he could afford to pay his tuition each semester. He lived in the same shitty apartment that he currently resides in, a studio with a pull-out couch and a mattress so thin that Yoongi thinks he might be better off sleeping on a really thick yoga mat, but the rent is cheap enough.
The day that he found The Magic Shop, Yoongi was wandering around the streets of Seoul, wondering if he should get a job at a restaurant as a busboy, or maybe try delivering chicken even if he doesn’t have the greatest balance on the bikes that they use to deliver.
He’s not exactly sure what happened when he found the shop. He’d been on a side street in the middle of the city- one that Yoongi swears he’s been on hundreds of times before because it’s one of the very few side streets that leads to the small, dark alley where Yoongi resides- when he suddenly saw a neon sign, glowing bright purple, for a small, hole-in-the-wall store called The Magic Shop.
“Woah,” Yoongi said to himself, out loud. “What the fuck is this place?”
Curiosity getting the best of him, Yoongi pushed open the door, which was much heavier than he anticipated, and he practically fell through the door, tripping over his own feet and stumbling into the store.
“Woah,” he said again. “This place is funky.”
He looked up to see a very pretty boy staring at him, face entirely blank.
“Are you hiring here?” Yoongi asked. He didn’t have any intention to ask for an application, or apparently anything smarter to say, so he guessed that this was what he was doing now. Okay, cool.
The place at least was funky, like Yoongi had said out loud, so that was a plus. It was a store, so ugh, retail, but his potential coworker was pretty and Yoongi doesn’t believe in the magic of crystals but he liked the vibe the wall of crystals gave off, so. Not the worst thing his brain has ever come up with.
The boy blinked.
“No, we’re not hiring-”
“Yes, we absolutely are,” some other boy said, almost equally as good looking as the boy hunched over the cash register. “I’m Kim Taehyung. Do you have a minute to come back and meet the owner of the shop? He’s actually in today so you can come do an interview right now if you’re amenable to it.”
Yoongi looked back toward the pretty boy who seemed to be practically offended that Kim Taehyung would offer Yoongi a job interview.
“Oh, um, sure, yeah,” Yoongi smoothly said. “Yeah, let’s do an interview.”
So Yoongi met Kim Seokjin, apparently one of the boyfriends of Kim Taehyung and allegedly a vampire. Yoongi scoffed when Seokjin told him that, but Seokjin simply smiled like he knew something that Yoongi didn’t and asked when Yoongi was available to start.
Now, a month and a half later, Yoongi’s thankful that he’s able to work evening shifts at The Magic Shop.
He prefers to work on his music in the early hours of the morning because that’s when his creative flow really hits. All of his most popular songs on SoundCloud have been conceived between the times of one in the morning and three in the morning, so Yoongi thinks that he’s got a good thing going there. And he already sleeps from about six a.m. until around one p.m., so the four p.m. start shift is absolutely perfect for Yoongi.
He also likes it because Jungkook appears to exclusively work evenings.
Yoongi’s not sure if that was Jungkook’s schedule prior to Yoongi starting his job, or if Seokjin just heard Yoongi mumble under his breath how stunning he found Jungkook during their interview, but Yoongi works four of his five days alongside Jungkook and that’s absolutely fine by him.
The only part he doesn’t like about his job is that it’s kind of a scam.
See, Seokjin not only tells Yoongi that he’s a vampire, making jokes like, “I’ve been alive since before your great-great-great grandparents were born,” and, “Ah, yes, I remember when the Samguk Yusa was compiled,” and Yoongi laughs, figuring that Seokjin is just a history buff.
But Seokjin always makes these jokes and it seems like a lot of their customers actually believe him when he says these things.
Then, there’s the fact that Seokjin had required Yoongi to learn what all of the crystals in their stock are capable of doing. Yoongi doesn’t believe in the magic of crystals, but he figures that it’s not his business what other people believe in, so he studied all of the crystals like he was supposed to.
And when someone comes in looking for jade because they’re feeling particularly unlucky recently or searching for rose quartz because they’re convinced that they met the love of their life in their Introduction to Photography class, Yoongi is fine with selling them crystals.
But when someone wanders in at eleven at night, looking tired and desperate, complaining of chronic migraines, Yoongi wants to offer them an Excedrin pill from his bag, not watch as Jungkook talks them through all of the benefits that come from amethyst, talking bullshit about the crown chakra and other words that Yoongi doesn’t remember seeing on the flashcards that his coworker Namjoon made for him. It makes Yoongi feel like they’re taking advantage of a helpless person who is just desperate to relieve the aching in their head.
But Yoongi hasn’t ever seen someone come back to The Magic Shop upset with their previous purchase. So, if anything, the job has made Yoongi more susceptible to believing in the placebo effect.
If you believe an overpriced hunk of geode will get rid of your chronic migraines, then maybe they actually will.
The crystals aren’t the only thing that Yoongi is uncomfortable with in the shop.
Once, in his first two weeks of training, Yoongi watched as Taehyung gave an astrology reading and quite literally advised a middle-aged woman to quit her job and follow the man that she loves to the United States and she seemed thoroughly convinced that he was telling her the right thing to do.
Yoongi firmly believes in not dropping everything for a man (even if you’re convinced that the man is the love of your life and he’s handsome and rich), so he particularly didn’t agree with that reading.
When the customer left, Yoongi asked Taehyung why he told her to do that. He even played into Taehyung being an actual psychic for a moment, asking if the man would treat her better in the United States than he had been in South Korea.
Taehyung laughed and told him that they’d be broken up within three months, but that she would get an opportunity in North America that would never come to her if she stayed in South Korea and would meet the true love of her life there.
Yoongi thought that Taehyung watched too many dramas and was really concerned that he had just ruined someone’s entire life.
She also never came back in to complain, but at this point, Yoongi figures that it’s probably because of the fact that it would take a whole other plane ride to get back to Seoul from the middle of the United States.
But, so long as Yoongi can look past the vague dishonesty, he likes working in The Magic Shop.
There are only six people who work in the shop in total, including Seokjin, and an overly friendly man named Jimin who Yoongi thinks is maybe dating his co-worker Namjoon and is constantly spending his days inside the shop. There’s also a really cute orange cat who sometimes naps in the window sill when it’s sunny outside.
Seokjin constantly brings everyone strawberries from the farm that he, Taehyung, and Hoseok claim to live on (Yoongi thinks that they’re from the store because he can’t even begin to think of where the closest farmland is) and baked goods that Hoseok and Seokjin baked together freshly in the morning.
Plus, there’s always tons of ingredients to make whatever kind of tea Yoongi likes (which, according to the customers who come in, Yoongi’s really found a knack for himself with making tea) and no one is stealing his food from the break room like at his shitty convenience store job.
The pros really outweigh the cons here.
And the biggest pro of all of them is Jungkook.
Now Yoongi knows that he said that he thinks that Jungkook is a little bit weird. Because Jungkook is a little bit weird. But Yoongi still really likes him.
They’ve been working together for eight hours a day, four days per week, for about six weeks. Now, Yoongi’s super gay so he’s terrible at math, but the calculator on his phone says that they’ve spent one-hundred and ninety-two hours together total.
And while Jungkook spends a lot of that time looking at Yoongi like he has two heads, or like he’s a puzzle that Jungkook can’t quite piece together- which, yes, is what makes Jungkook a little bit strange- he spends the same amount of time talking to Yoongi about things that he likes and asking about what kinds of things Yoongi likes.
Sometimes, when it gets slower- because, yes, the hours between eight p.m. and ten-thirty p.m. tend to be dead in the shop- he sets up little pranks to get Taehyung or Seokjin or Hoseok or Namjoon the next morning.
Sometimes, Jungkook tells him about what the crystals do and exactly where in the world they came from, because according to him Seokjin travels around the globe himself to get the various geodes in their shop.
And Yoongi doesn’t believe that black tourmaline can chase the negative feelings away, but he is starting to believe in the placebo effect. So if he uses his employee discount to buy a small black tourmaline and keeps it in his bag, then maybe he does feel like his negative vibes are gone.
🍂
“What do you think it is that you need in life?”
Yoongi looks up from where he’s watching Jimin nap in the window sill.
“What?”
“I was talking to Jimin,” Jungkook lies. He wouldn’t mind if Jimin was in his human form, but he had been talking to Yoongi. “I need his advice because sometimes I get worried about what I want to do with my life.”
Yoongi tilts his head. “I still think it’s weird that you guys named the shop cat after Namjoon’s boyfriend.”
Jimin hisses at Yoongi in response.
“That is Jimin,” Jungkook says, not for the first time. Yoongi’s worked at the shop for just about two months now and Jungkook’s taken a new approach to showing Yoongi that he’s an incredibly gifted psychic. Which is just straight up telling him that he’s an incredibly gifted psychic.
Jungkook’s not sure that it will work, but when he had asked Taehyung for advice, Taehyung had only cryptically said, “The best plan is often the simplest, young padawan,” and Jungkook couldn’t tell if that was Taehyung’s seer ability at work or if he and Hoseok had simply binge-watched Star Wars movies on their day off.
Still, Jungkook figured that even when Taehyung is just fucking around, his advice seems to be pretty solid, so Jungkook decided that just straight up telling Yoongi that he thinks that the elder boy has magical powers, specifically some sort of psychic ability, is his best option.
“And Jiminie-hyung and Namjoonie-hyung aren’t boyfriends. They’re bonded because Jimin-hyung is Namjoonie-hyung’s familiar.”
Yoongi rolls his eyes. “Namjoonie left work half an hour ago. Why would Jimin be here if he were gone? And you really expect me to believe that you of all people call a cat ‘hyung’?”
“Namjoonie-hyung went to the market and Jiminie-hyung is lazy and doesn’t like the market because Namjoonie-hyung won’t let him hitch a ride on his shoulders,” Jungkook says, ignoring Jimin’s hissing from the window. It’s barely a hiss with how tired Jimin seems to be, but he’s still letting his anger be known. “And I’m respectful.”
Yoongi laughs and Jungkook thinks that it sounds really pretty. Jungkook thinks that everything about Yoongi is pretty.
They’ve been becoming closer recently, even though Yoongi continues to tell Jungkook that he thinks that The Magic Shop is kind of like a multi-level marketing scheme because they’re both scams. He’d actually called Jungkook a “pyramid-scheme girlie” when he watched Jungkook sell amethyst to a customer with chronic headaches.
“Why are you concerned about your life?” Yoongi asks. “I know for a fact that Seokjinie-hyung pays well enough for this to be your full-time job and you seem to be happy here. Isn’t this what you want to do with your life?”
“Is it what you want to do with your life?” Jungkook counters.
Yoongi shakes his head. “But I don’t believe in magic. You think you’re a baby witch.”
“We’re called witchlings,” Jungkook pouts.
“That’s not a real thing.”
“I could convince you to throw Jimin into the Han River if I felt like it,” Jungkook says back, flatly. He doesn’t like to use his siren powers, but he knows how to. He went to witch school, after all.
Jimin hisses again.
“I can’t believe that cat-Jimin is actively responding to every mean thing I say about human-Jimin and you still don’t believe that they’re the same being,” Jungkook says, exasperated. Then, with a pout, he adds, “And I can’t believe that you literally just had an incredibly accurate tarot reading and still refuse to give in to the fact that you have some kind of psychic abilities.”
It’s entirely true, too. Yoongi had outlined exactly what kind of problems he thought that the young man had with the tarot cards he picked. Taehyung had been watching over his shoulder and told Jungkook that Yoongi’s reading was incredibly accurate.
When Jungkook relayed that information to Yoongi, thinking that Yoongi would be excited to know that one of Seoul’s most well-renowned seer’s thought that his reading was accurate, Yoongi simply said, “That? I just made all of that shit up. It doesn’t actually mean anything.”
Jungkook stared blankly at him and Yoongi laughed. “Hey, I’m getting good at scamming, too, huh?”
“Because that’s an insane thing to think,” Yoongi says now, responding to Jungkook with the same exasperated voice that he always uses when he’s trying to tell Jungkook that he doesn’t believe in magic. “But we’re not talking about me or cat-Jimin or human-Jimin-”
“They’re literally the same -”
“- We’re talking about you and why you feel like you’re concerned about what you need in life,” Yoongi finishes, sounding serious. “Are you feeling unfulfilled here? Do you need to, like, move to the sea?”
Jungkook’s eyebrow raises and he takes a seat at the stool that Seokjin lets him keep behind the counter. “I’m from Busan, you know? The sea there is magical and I bathe in water from it every single night.”
“How do you go out in the daytime, anyway?” Yoongi asks, suddenly changing the subject and joining Jungkook behind the counter. “I read- I mean, I heard that sirens are nocturnal anyway. Like vampires. You’re not supposed to be in the sunlight.”
“I’m not a siren,” Jungkook explains. “Well- not fully. My mother was a siren and my father was a human from a witch family. So, I got kind of a mix? It’s been tough to figure out, honestly, exactly what I need to do to stay, like, living and all of that.”
“Bathing in sea water does it for you?”
Jungkook nods. “Seokjinie-hyung can go pretty much wherever he wants in the world so he gets it for me every week. I have a shower at home for regular cleaning and I have a bathtub specifically meant for my sea water. That way I can stay in Seoul but still have Busan’s magic with me. There are a lot more opportunities for me here, anyway. Nothing left in Busan.”
Yoongi tilts his head, a questioning look in his eyes, but he’s polite enough to not ask about it any further.
“That’s why I can’t believe that hyung is a vampire, too, you know?” Yoongi says, clearly trying to turn the conversation in a less serious direction. “He spends so much time in the sun. He hasn’t sparkled in front of me even once.”
“I don’t think that you should get all of your vampire facts from Twilight ,” Jungkook laughs. “Hyung is practically immune to the sun now. He wasn’t whenever he was a fledgling, but he’s old as fuck now. Respectfully.”
Yoongi laughs, then bites his lip, looking like he’s heavily debating on saying something.
“What?” Jungkook asks. “I’m an open book, Yoongi-hyung. I’ll answer whatever questions you have.”
“What is it about working here that’s making you feel like you don’t want the right things in life?” Yoongi asks, looking concerned. “Because it doesn't seem like you’re unhappy here or in life in general, but more like you’re concerned that what you want isn’t what you’re supposed to want.”
Jungkook shrugs.
Really, he’s not sure what has him thinking this way.
Up until a few months ago, Jungkook really thought that he was happy with his life.
He likes spending time with his hyungs and Seokjin really does treat him well and Hoseok and Taehyung and Namjoon (and even Jimin, but Jungkook has too much pride to admit it when Jimin is in his cat form) take care of him really well.
Then Min Yoongi stumbled into The Magic Shop and suddenly Jungkook’s life feels like it’s not enough.
Okay, so maybe Jungkook knows exactly what it is that’s making him feel this way. Maybe he’s never really been interested in a relationship before, but meeting Yoongi and getting to know him as a person has made Jungkook question if he’s really been happy up to this point or if he’s just been waiting for someone to come along that might make Jungkook feel settled just like his sea bath water does.
It’s why he was asking Yoongi what he wants in life in the first place.
“I don’t know,” Jungkook says, instead of telling Yoongi anything close to the truth. “I guess- All I do is come work here and then go home. I’m wondering if that’s all there is to life.”
“Why don’t we go out somewhere tonight?” Yoongi says, suddenly.
Jungkook feels his eyebrows shoot up. Is Yoongi really suggesting that they hang out alone together? Outside of work? He’s ecstatic.
Then, just as quickly, “We can send a text out to the group chat. We can all go to a club, maybe. Or something. Anything that might make us feel alive.”
Jungkook, despite being slightly disappointed, doesn’t sigh. He’s still excited to spend time with Yoongi outside of work. And maybe he’ll be lucky enough to get to know what Yoongi wants in life while they’re out.
“Sure,” Jungkook says, hoping his voice sounds calm and not like he’s going to cry out of excitement. “I’ll send the text.”
🍂
Yoongi has no idea what was going through his mind when he asked Jungkook to go out with him after work.
Jungkook was just talking to him about feeling lonely and wondering if there was more to life than what he’s currently doing and Yoongi really couldn’t stand to listen to Jungkook wonder if life is worth it.
Yoongi had gone through a desperate period of time where all of his music was angry and all he was doing was spitting his hatred for the world into a shitty microphone inside his closet. It was the worst time of his life, the time that he spent wondering “Is this all that there is?” and he doesn’t want Jungkook to ever feel as low as he had during that time.
So, he asked Jungkook to go out. Then, he panicked and suggested that they meet up with all of the people who work in The Magic Shop.
Yoongi said it so fast that he didn’t even grant himself time to see Jungkook’s reaction. Yoongi doesn’t think that he would know what to think no matter what Jungkook’s reaction would have been, so he thinks that this is probably the safest way to go about it.
Yoongi’s phone buzzes a few times from his pocket. Knowing that it’s the group chat that Jungkook is making plans in, he doesn’t bother to pull it out. Instead, he goes back to the backroom, really feeling in the mood for a cup of tea.
Yoongi lets his brain wander for a second, thinking about Jungkook being so insistent that Yoongi is a magical being.
Then, his eyes wander toward a table across the room, to the book of teas that Seokjin leaves in the backroom at all times. Most of the employees know all of the teas by heart, but Yoongi and Namjoon, as the two newest workers at the shop, aren’t always confident in remembering every last ingredient or step.
Yoongi debates on trying to make a tea with intention, sighs, and then stalks over to grab the book off of the table.
“Fuck it,” Yoongi whispers to himself, as he flips open the book.
Everything is handwritten by Seokjin. Ingredient lists and what teas are intended to do. Yoongi’s searching specifically for one that he remembers reading was for help not holding oneself back, or something like that.
“Finally,” Yoongi says as stares at the page. “Meadowsweet, lavender flowers, dandelion leaves,” he reads out loud. “Medicinally, this blend will cleanse and purify the body and soothe the digestive tract. The magic of this combination is that all three work together as powerful removers of barriers and allow you to break free of what is holding you back.”
Yoongi thinks that the tea seems perfect for Jungkook, who seems to be holding himself back from being truly happy. Yoongi doesn’t quite believe in the magic of the tea himself, but he knows that Jungkook does, and hopes that the placebo effect is enough for Jungkook to let himself go for the things that he likes.
“Here,” Yoongi says, fifteen-ish minutes later when he’s finished infusing all of the ingredients, setting one of the mugs- Yoongi has no idea how he ended up with two cups of water when he knows that he only put one in to boil- filled with tea on the counter in front of Jungkook. “I made this for you. It’s meant for cleansing.”
Jungkook eyes the tea. “I thought that you didn’t believe in magic teas.”
“But you do,” Yoongi says, rolling his eyes fondly. “So drink it and allow it to help you break free from all that is holding you back. And I’ll drink mine.”
“And do the same?” Jungkook asks, taking the first sip.
“Me? I’ll just enjoy a nice cup of tea.”
Jungkook rolls his eyes, but he snorts and continues to sip the tea, so Yoongi thinks that his joke landed.
And if he feels less nervous about spending time with Jungkook, and doesn’t quite feel like battling the idea that he could be a magical being, then that’s just because he’s maturing as a person. It has nothing to do with the tea.
Two hours after they’ve left The Magic Shop, Yoongi no longer feels super chill about spending time with Jungkook.
He’s used to staying up late, and Jungkook claims that magical beings do not need as much sleep as non-magical beings, so he and Jungkook head back to their respective apartments and get changed.
For Yoongi, that meant putting on a button down shirt. He’s wearing relatively tight, black pants already, so he thinks that simply adding a nicer shirt is enough to go out.
But apparently getting ready to go out to a club means something different for Jungkook. And that different is something that Yoongi’s poor, gay heart cannot handle very well.
Jungkook shows up last.
They all had agreed to meet back in The Magic Shop and carpool from there. Yoongi isn’t sure where they’ll be going, but Seokjin has been claiming to have been to literally every bar or club in the city and now apparently will only go to one specific place, though he doesn’t say the name out loud for some reason.
“Hi, Yoongi-hyung,” Jimin says when he and Namjoon arrive. They’re together, like always, and Yoongi asks about how Namjoon’s trip into the market had been.
“How did you know about that?” Namjoon asks, curiously. “I don’t think we crossed paths today.”
“Oh,” Jimin chirps. “Jungkookie told him about it earlier.”
Yoongi narrows his eyes at Jimin. How could he have known that? Usually after about six in the evening, Yoongi and Jungkook are the only ones left in the shop. Jimin definitely wasn’t around when Jungkook told Yoongi about Namjoon’s trip to the market.
Unless…
No. There’s no way. Jimin is not a cat. Especially not the shop cat who would have been there to witness as Yoongi gay panicked and suggested that everyone go out at night.
Yoongi refuses to let himself believe it. Partly because it’s an insane thing to think, but mostly because Jimin, despite not working at The Magic Shop, has already made himself as comfortable in Yoongi’s life as all of his coworkers have. He’s constantly teasing everyone in their small group, including Yoongi, and Yoongi can’t handle having embarrassed himself with Jimin there as a witness.
“Ah, makes sense,” Namjoon says. Then, to Yoongi, he adds, “Yeah, it was nice! I was able to find a specific mushroom that I’ve been looking for for a client for a while. The merchant knows that I’ve been searching for it and he made sure to hold it back for me! He even gave it to me at a cheap price even though I know he spent a week looking for it in the woods.”
“Oh,” Yoongi says. He knows that Namjoon does more specific herbal remedies than he and Jungkook are expected to make. The two of them spend most of their time manning the shop, just like Hoseok and Taehyung do in the mornings, but Namjoon spends most of his time in the room hidden in the very back of the shop, creating specifically requested remedies for clients. He had no idea how difficult finding ingredients could be, though. He hasn’t been into Namjoon’s room inside the shop, but he had assumed it was well-stocked like the room with the tea is. “That’s really good, Namjoon. What did you need it for?”
Namjoon tilts his head and Yoongi feels a little bit guilty. He’s never bothered to ask about more than what Seokjin’s required him to study. It’s mostly because, you know, he doesn’t believe in magic. But he feels like he probably should have been showing interest in the things that his coworkers like since he kind of wants to be proper friends with them.
“It was a blasting mushroom,” Namjoon says. Yoongi nods even though that doesn’t mean anything to him. “So I’m using it for a Dragon Trainer in training. It’s for a fire protection potion. A friend of mine from college has an apprentice right now and the fire protection potion during their first few months of learning is the best way for the trainee to get comfortable, you know?”
Yoongi blinks. “You met a dragon trainer in college?”
Jimin laughs. “Sometimes it makes me chuckle how much you don’t believe in this stuff while actively being involved in it. Is there anything that you do believe in?”
“Aliens,” Yoongi says, shrugging.
“People used to call me an alien in middle school,” Taehyung says, suddenly appearing behind Yoongi, who jumps. “I haven’t met an alien, but I tried not to take it as an insult so that I wouldn’t offend them.”
Yoongi nods like that makes sense.
“Hi, Taehyung. Seokjin-hyung. Hoseok,” Yoongi greets. “Nice to see you all tonight.”
“You, too, Yoongi-hyung,” Hoseok chirps. “It’s our first time getting to hang out with you outside of the shop! I thought that this day would never come because you’re always declining coming to dinner at our house.”
Yoongi sighs. “I end work at midnight and you live on a farm! I can’t catch a ride to the middle of nowhere that late.”
“We have portals in the shop to get to our place,” Seokjin says, rolling his eyes. “You would know that if you would come over for dinner just once.”
“Fine,” Yoongi says, not unkindly, noticing that Jimin and Namjoon are now talking in hushed whispers. “I’ll come over for dinner this week, okay?”
He’s not sure about a magic portal, but he does want to make friendships with all of his coworkers, so he thinks that dinner at one in the morning will be okay for one night. That’s at least when he usually has dinner anyway.
“Anyway,” Taehyung says, looking at Yoongi. “Where’s Jungkookie?”
Yoongi shrugs. “He said that he had to go home and get ready before we all met up.”
Taehyung rolls his eyes, mumbling about how that’s so classically Jungkook, and Hoseok pinches his arm, telling him to let Jungkook do his own thing.
Yoongi is curious. His mouth is open, ready to ask what on Earth they’re talking about, but he’s distracted by Jungkook finally arriving.
Yoongi, for lack of a better phrase, is absolutely stunned into silence.
Jungkook looks so hot that Yoongi feels like he might pass out on the spot.
When he first saw Jungkook, Yoongi thought that he was pretty. He felt like he’s never seen someone who looks so cute while frustrated- because Jungkook was definitely frustrated that first night that they met- and since then, Yoongi feels like Jungkook’s cute status has only been reinforced to him.
Yoongi’s watched as Jungkook reads some new article that Seokjin or Namjoon has brought into the shop, claiming that the information is exceptionally valuable to Jungkook’s desire to continue learning, lip caught between his teeth as he gets really invested in whatever he’s reading.
He’s watched as Jungkook glows under Jimin and Hoseok babying him. When Jungkook first sees Hoseok for the day, who always gives him some kind of treat or sees Jimin, who rubs Jungkook’s hair like he’s a proud older brother, Jungkook blushes and smiles in a way that shows just how much he loves his friends.
Yoongi’s watched as Jungkook and Taehyung gossip about some celebrity that they really like- someone that Yoongi’s never heard of before, but that Taehyung and Jungkook both clearly really love. He thinks that Jungkook, giggling over new concept photos of his bias, is so cute that Yoongi feels some extreme cute aggression every single time that he sees Jungkook’s wide bunny smile, even if it’s not directed at him.
But, looking at Jungkook right now, Yoongi wonders how he’s ever thought anything other than hot, hot, hot, smoking hot, holy fuck I want to touch him so badly, he’s so fucking hot, what the fuck when looking at Jungkook.
And, honestly, that’s basically his stream of consciousness right now.
He thinks he finally understands what Jungkook and Taehyung are talking about when they say duality when they’re talking about that idol that they love so much.
Jungkook outshines all of them. Not to say that anyone else looks bad , but mostly everyone is dressed similarly to Yoongi. Maybe a bit nicer than what they would wear to work, but that’s about it.
Jungkook’s wearing tight, black pants. They might be leather, but Yoongi can’t quite focus on what material the pants are made out of when he’s too busy staring at Jungkook’s thighs that are practically straining to stay inside of them. Seriously, the pants are so tight that Yoongi has genuine concerns that Jungkook’s thighs will pop out of them at some point in the night if he moves too quickly.
His shirt is a tank top, which is definitely not appropriate for the cool, night air, but Yoongi definitely doesn’t mind seeing Jungkook’s toned, tattooed arms on display. He’s carrying a leather jacket in one hand, so at least he’ll be warm when they leave the club later in the evening.
Jungkook is also the only person of all of them to have makeup on. His eyes are outlined in smoky black and grays that Yoongi assumes there is some technical term for, but he doesn’t know it or care to learn it unless Jungkook is the one explaining to him what he’s talking about. Even then, Yoongi’s sure that he just wants to hear Jungkook talk.
Jungkook looks nothing short of the most stunning person that Yoongi has ever laid eyes on- though, Yoongi definitely thinks that Jungkook is the best looking person that he knows even when he’s not all dressed up- and his smoldering eyes and bad boy look have Yoongi thoroughly shook.
Yoongi is kind of intimidated by him right now.
“Yah, put your jacket on, you harlot,” Jimin yells at Jungkook, laughing.
Jungkook sends him a glare, which quickly morphs into a pout, and Yoongi remembers that Jungkook is not a scary being at all.
He’s still the same Jungkook who reads through all of the magic journals that Seokjin and Namjoon give him. Still the same Jungkook who blushes under Jimin and Hoseok’s brotherly attention. Still the same Jungkook who fanboys with Taehyung when his favorite member of his favorite group posts a new selfie to Instagram.
He’s still the same Jungkook that Yoongi definitely has a crush on.
“Should we get going?” Seokjin asks, looking at his watch. “I told my friend that we’d be there by one a.m. because I didn’t know that Jungkook would suddenly feel like dressing up tonight.”
“I always dress up,” Jungkook pouts. But something in his voice makes Yoongi think that Jungkook maybe doesn’t normally get all prettied up when they go out. Makes Yoongi wonder if there’s someone that Jungkook’s trying to impress tonight.
Makes Yoongi hope that it’s him.
“Plus, I had to bathe for a bit,” Jungkook says, looking shy. “You know how hard it gets for me when we’re out partying.”
Yoongi tilts his head, confused. But none of the rest of their friends seem to be having the same issues.
“Makes sense,” Namjoon says. “I’m glad that you were able to take the time to be safe tonight, then.”
Jungkook smiles at Namjoon and Yoongi suddenly remembers Jungkook insisting that Namjoon and Jimin were not a couple and the way he’s smiling at Namjoon is really friendly and loving and-
“You look pretty,” Yoongi says, suddenly. And, okay, he guesses that he’s going to be honest all of a sudden. Briefly, Yoongi wonders if the three cups of tea he made himself earlier have anything to do with it.
Not that he suddenly believes in magic.
But, like. It would make sense that he’s less scared about telling Jungkook how he’s feeling if he has that tea that allows him to break free from what’s holding him back or whatever it does.
Jungkook looks shocked at Yoongi’s sudden confession, but he recovers quickly. “Oh, thank you, hyung.”
Then Jungkook’s eyes travel from Yoongi’s feet up to his eyes and he says, “You look really pretty, too. Though you always do.”
Yoongi does his best to not flush, but he thinks he fails.
“Alright, you two, stop flirting so we can go. I need to get my beauty sleep by four a.m.”
And Yoongi thinks that Seokjin probably doesn’t need to sleep if he’s a vampire, but he was already proven wrong on his vampire facts earlier in the night, so he stays quiet.
“Oh, I love it when hyung does this,” Jimin says excitedly. Yoongi distantly worries what Jimin is talking about, but his focus is much more on Jungkook, whose eyes have not left Yoongi’s since Yoongi told him that he looked pretty.
Yoongi knows his inhibitions are lowered. He’s not sure if the confidence is coming from the tea, or the idea that Jungkook might like him, too. Either way, he’s excited to see what the night has in store for him.
🍂
“Welcome to The Night Club ,” Seokjin says when they enter the club. Jungkook wishes that he could say that Seokjin is just doing it for Yoongi, to give him some exposition, but Seokjin genuinely does this every single time that they visit, without fail. Besides, Yoongi still seems to be pretty dizzy from his first portal experience.
“Woah,” Yoongi says, promptly followed by a “What the fuck just happened?”
Jimin giggles. “Yoongi-hyung, that’s what I love that hyung does! The portals that he has set up are so fucking handy. Though, Jungkookie really should have warned you because it definitely can be nausea inducing your first few times.”
“Excuse you,” Jungkook says, adding a whine to his voice. “Why is that my responsibility?”
“You’re the closest to him. Emotionally and physically at the time that we went through the portal,” Jimin says simply. “You should have warned him.”
Jungkook rolls his eyes as Taehyung, Seokjin, and Hoseok head to the dance floor. Seokjin isn’t much of a dancer, but he really loves embarrassing his boyfriends by dancing entirely offbeat and unsexy while they’re trying to seduce him on the dance floor, and Jungkook knows that Hoseok and Taehyung both find it endearing.
“We should get drinks,” Namjoon says. “Jiminie gets tired so easily when he’s in his human form.”
Jungkook nods. He realizes that Namjoon has just said ‘human form’ which might be confusing to Yoongi, so he looks to his left to see if Yoongi caught that. Mostly, he wants to tease Yoongi because clearly Jungkook is not the only person who knows that Jimin is Namjoon’s familiar.
But Yoongi is not paying attention to them at all. Instead, he’s looking around the club in absolute awe. His eyes are wide and Jungkook realizes that Yoongi has very rarely seen anyone from the magical world without their glamor.
The glamor potion is definitely one of the most popular things that The Magic Shop sells. Humans mostly don’t know about the world filled with magic, but people from the magical world know all about the human world and often like to go in and visit it.
Some magic folk, like all of those who work at The Magic Shop, don’t really need to use glamor. Jimin has cat-like tendencies even in human form, and Seokjin is a bit more ethereal-looking than most humans, but overall, they all do just look like humans.
But there are some who need to use glamor to visit the human world. Some creatures, like fae and elves, have the natural ability to use glamor, but some have to take a magical potion in order to hide more obvious magic features from the humans of the world.
But in a place like The Night Club, somewhere that humans cannot physically visit, there’s no reason for anyone to not be in their true form. Unless you’re Jimin, because the bartenders get weird about serving cats drinks.
“This is like the biggest halloween party that I’ve ever gone to,” Yoongi says, wide eyes trying to take everything around him in. “This is crazy.”
“It’s just a normal Friday night here,” Jungkook laughs.
Yoongi looks at Jungkook, confusion and awe swimming around in his eyes. “Jungkook. Tell me straight. Is magic real?”
Jungkook nods. “Of course it is, Yoongi. That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you this whole time.”
Jungkook wants Yoongi to discover how talented he is. Wants to help Yoongi become fully developed in his psychic abilities and learn about all of the other pieces of the magic world.
Jungkook loves learning. He’s a siren witch- not fully a siren, but with some of the abilities- and not fully a specialized witch, but someone with the ability to do multiple spells and potions and charms. But Jungkook still does his best to learn about all of the other types of magic that exist. He wants to be knowledgeable at work, wants to be able to help with any problem that comes through the doors of the shop, which is why he spends so much time reading journals and articles and researching on the computer in the shop. He wants to help magical creatures and humans alike, and Jungkook thinks that boosting his knowledge in all areas of magic and human nature is the best way to do that.
And Jungkook wants to share that learning with Yoongi.
Because Yoongi has already proven that he really likes to learn. He’s already shown, through genuinely learning what all of the crystals in their shop help with and consistently studying tea recipes from Seokjin’s book, that he also gets enjoyment out of learning new things.
Jungkook thinks that there’s so much beauty in the world and he wants to show Yoongi all of the beautiful things that life has to offer.
Which, wow, Jungkook was not expecting to feel so passionately about something. Let alone someone .
Jungkook had asked Yoongi earlier in the night if he knew what he wanted in life. He was looking for advice to figure out how to be happier in his life. Jungkook didn’t know it when he asked, but he thinks that Yoongi might be what Jungkook wants in his life.
He’s known, since the day that they met, that he’s attracted to Yoongi. He thinks that Yoongi is super fucking pretty, and despite Yoongi’s insistence that magic isn’t real, Jungkook really, really likes his personality.
Jungkook likes spending evenings in The Magic Shop with Yoongi. He likes learning about Yoongi’s favorite things- color: yellow, food: makguksu, drink: whiskey- and listening to Yoongi talk about his childhood and the music that he makes whenever he’s not working at The Magic Shop. He likes watching Yoongi study the tea book and interacting with customers, because even if he doesn’t believe in magic, he cares about the customers and wants to genuinely help them in the best way that he can. He likes sitting behind the register, teasing Yoongi about whatever he can think of, just to keep conversation going with him.
Jungkook likes Yoongi.
He doesn't know how he didn’t know earlier. Jungkook thinks that it’s probably extremely obvious to all of their co-workers. It might even be obvious to Yoongi.
Jungkook thinks back on his conversation with Taehyung, where Taehyung had said to just be upfront with Yoongi about everything. Jungkook thinks that he can probably be upfront with Yoongi about liking him, too.
“Magic is out there in the world. And it’s beautiful. And I want to show you all of it, okay?”
Jungkook stares directly into Yoongi’s eyes as he says this, hoping that he can show Yoongi even the slightest amount of care and tenderness that he’s feeling right now. Yoongi looks a little shocked, so Jungkook thinks that maybe he’s overdoing it.
“Let’s go get drinks and dance a little, okay?” Jungkook says. “And just watch out for any succubus, okay? They’re always crawling this place and you might die if you sleep with one.”
Yoongi’s eyes widen more. “Die?”
“Just don’t sleep with anyone tonight,” Jungkook says with a wink. “Now, let’s figure out what we should get to drink! The bartenders here make the dopest drinks. Do you want to feel like you’re drinking fire?”
Yoongi shakes his head immediately.
“Right,” Jungkook nods, thinking that makes sense. He had been excited to try it when he was of legal age to drink, but he’d also grown up in the magic community. “How about… Oh, there’s one that you can drink that will let you have synesthesia? Like, Hoseokie-hyung and Jiminie-hyung play this game where they say numbers out loud and the other person, like, sees it as colors?”
Yoongi shakes his head again. “Do they just have, like, rum and Diet Coke?”
“Probably,” Jungkook says, shrugging. “But I don’t see why you wouldn’t want to drink any of them if you don’t believe in magic.”
“Um, I think that it’s pretty hard to no longer believe in magic,” Yoongi says, looking around the large club once again. “I went through a portal, Jimin definitely was the cat sleeping in the window earlier- which, I’m really embarrassed about, by the way. Do you know how many times that I’ve cooed while petting him? And how many times I’ve talked to him like he’s my literal own infant child? I mean, how am I supposed to look him in the eye-”
Despite finding Yoongi’s ramblings absolutely adorable, Jungkook cuts him off. “Jimin absolutely loves it when we baby him while he’s in his cat form, so don’t let that be the thing that’s embarrassing you.”
“What should be the thing I’m embarrassed about?” Yoongi asks, eyes wide and looking low-key terrified that he has something to be embarrassed about.
He doesn’t. Not really. It’s not like he’s offended any of them in any way, and Jungkook knows that Yoongi hadn’t grown up in a magic-using household, so it’s not like any of them would blame him if he had been accidentally offending them.
Still, Jungkook finds Yoongi finally succumbing to the fact that magic is real and a part of both of them oddly funny.
“Calling me a pyramid-scheme girly, for one,” Jungkook says, a teasing lilt to his voice. “And your biggest crime of all is definitely using Twilight as your vampire knowledge encyclopedia.”
“They were good movies,” Yoongi defends, pouting. “And besides, what else was I supposed to use? It’s not like I have a plethora of scientific journals written by vampires for vampires laying around for free use.”
Jungkook laughs, thinking of the multitude of journals and articles laying around in The Magic Shop. “You do,” he counters. “There’s so many of them at work. But let's not worry about that right now! Let’s get drunk, Yoongi-hyung. I bet you’re such a light-weight, since you’re so tiny.”
“I’m a lot stronger than I look,” Yoongi says, looking offended. “And I’ve been drinking for much longer than you have, so I definitely have a liver more accustomed to drinking than you do .”
“Hyung, do you even know how witches age?”
Yoongi looks momentarily stumped.
“Actually, no,” he admits, grabbing onto Jungkook’s elbow as Jungkook leads him through the crowd of people. They’re both practically shouting to hear one another. “How old are you anyway? Like three-hundred?”
Jungkook snorts. “I actually age the same as humans, pretty much. I’m twenty-six. According to my dad, though, once I hit about a hundred, I’ll just look like that until I die.”
“So there’s no way to tell a one-hundred year old witch from a seven-hundred year old witch?”
“We live until, like, two-hundred and fifty at most, hyung. That’s why I’m planning to have Seokjinie-hyung turn me into a vampire like he’s going to do with Taehyungie-hyung and Hoseokie-hyung. And I’m pretty sure that Jiminie-hyung is an actual demon so he’ll live forever.”
Yoongi blinks. “I only heard half of that and I genuinely have no clue if you’re kidding or not. Do you keep your witch powers if you turn into a vampire? Or do you only get vampire powers?”
Jungkook shrugs and sends Yoongi a wink. He’s not actively planning on becoming immortal any time in the near future, but he would be lying if he said that he hasn’t thought about continuing life for an eternity.
Yoongi keeps asking Jungkook questions, but things are louder the closer they get to the bar, so Jungkook only hears about half of the words coming out of Yoongi’s mouth, and figures that they will have time to talk about all of Yoongi’s curiosities later.
Plus, he’s kind of distracted because Yoongi still has a hand on his elbow. And Yoongi keeps tightening his grip any time that Jungkook gets just slightly too far away from him, so Jungkook thinks that even if he could hear what Yoongi was saying to him, there’s no way that he’d be able to focus on anything other than Yoongi’s hand squeezing so close to his bicep.
Jungkook kind of wants to flex, but he figures that might be in poor taste.
“Can I have two Rum and Diet Cokes, please?” Jungkook asks the bartender, a bard named Mingyu who usually works Friday nights, if him always being behind the bar when Jungkook visits is anything to go by. “Both with limes.”
“How did you know I like lime?”
“Everyone does, hyung. It’s the only way to drink a Rum and Coke-”
“ Diet Coke -”
“Here you go,” Mingyu says, handing Jungkook the drinks. “On Seokjin’s tab?”
Jungkook nods, sending his favorite bartender a smile. “Thanks, Mingyu! I’ll probably be back for something a bit more fun later.”
Mingyu rolls his eyes. “You better be. You know how much I love crafting up funky cocktails.”
🍂
Despite what Jungkook said, Yoongi notices that they never get funky cocktails throughout the rest of the night. Maybe, like Yoongi, Jungkook likes to drink the same alcohol throughout the night to avoid getting a sour stomach along with a hangover. Maybe Jungkook just kept ordering something that he knew that Yoongi would like- putting the drinks on Seokjin’s tab every time- to avoid having to ask Yoongi all of the questions about magical cocktails that Yoongi once again would have a hard time answering.
Because, to be completely honest, Yoongi is having a really fucking hard time wrapping his head around the whole magic being real thing right now.
He’d started to suspect that maybe Jungkook wasn’t fucking with him when Jimin clearly knew about the conversation that happened inside The Magic Shop between Jungkook and Yoongi.
Of course, Jungkook could have told Jimin about that conversation, but it’s something so inconsequential that it just doesn’t make sense that Jungkook would have bothered. And maybe Yoongi thought that Jungkook was a little bit insane- albeit endearing- because he thought that he was a witchling, but Yoongi genuinely has a hard time rationalizing that Jungkook would go out of his way to mess with Yoongi.
But once the whole stepping through a portal and ending up some place across the fucking city thing happened, well, there was no way that Yoongi could deny the existence of magic any longer.
Yoongi had arrived into The Night Club feeling dazed and confused, but he thinks that he actually handled himself relatively well, now that he’s thinking back on it. He answered all of Jungkook’s questions relatively cooly and he didn’t stare at any creatures that he didn’t recognize- because that would be rude - and he even spent half of the night dancing with every last one of his co-workers. Yoongi really enjoyed watching Jimin dance so comfortably- apparently all lithe and confident in his movement skills, which probably at least stems a bit from the fact that Jimin is a cat sometimes - while Namjoon looked awkward and out of place next to him.
Jungkook insists that they’re not dating because of the witch/familiar thing, but Yoongi isn’t sure that he can be so easily swayed about that. Like, yes they have a bond from Namjoon having summoned Jimin from the depths of Hell, but also Yoongi isn’t quite sure that he buys that yet. Maybe he should do some more research on what their relationship is really like. He’s not quite sure what the ethics around falling in love with your familiar are, but based on the time he watched that one Harry Potter movie, he thinks that there are probably a lot of hefty politics around the idea.
“What are you staring at?” Jimin asks him, now back in The Magic Shop.
They’d all gotten sufficiently tipsy by the time that Seokjin announced that anyone who wanted a portal back to the shop and an anti-hangover potion had to leave with him right then. Unsurprisingly, everyone followed Seokjin back. Yoongi kind of wanted to stay and get to meet more people, because he’d been having a really fun time chatting with a pixie couple when Seokjin beckoned him, but he definitely had no clue how to get home from The Night Club, so he followed along naturally.
“Sorry,” Yoongi answers Jimin, blushing slightly, trying to avert his eyes from Jimin and Namjoon standing close together. “I just, um-”
“Think that Namjoon and I are dating,” Jimin finishes for him. Yoongi’s eyes widen. He’d only ever confided in Jungkook about that particular theory of his… “I’ve been here for half of those conversations, Yoongi-hyung. I’ve known since the first time that you asked Jungkook about it.”
“Oh,” Yoongi says, dumbly. Of course, Yoongi was always freely speaking around the shop cat.
Jimin shakes his head, then looks toward the group to their left, at Namjoon. “It’s fine. It’s a natural assumption to make. We’re literally bonded for the entirety of Namjoon’s life.”
“I didn’t mean to offend-”
“You haven’t,” Jimin says, decidedly. “There’s lots of questions around the morality of dating your familiar, but it’s happened before. It will happen again. Just not to me and Namjoon. I’m literally bonded to his soul, and I love him in a way that I’ll never love anyone else, but-”
Jimin’s eyes wander again toward the group. And Yoongi suddenly realizes that Jimin had not been looking at Namjoon the last time, but instead just to Namjoon’s left, at Taehyung.
“Oh,” Yoongi says again. “Does he-”
“No.”
“Oh, wow,” Yoongi says. He can’t imagine being in love with someone who already has one boyfriend, let alone someone who has two . Yoongi’s never thought of Seokjin, Taehyung, and Hoseok as anything less than a perfect throuple. “I’m so sorry.”
Jimin chuckles, but it’s fairly humorless. “Why? Did you make it so that he was already dating the world’s handsomest vampire and the world’s sweetest brownie when I was summoned? There was never any chance for me.”
“I just- that must be hard.”
Jimin shrugs. “It’s not. He’s in love with them. He’s happy. I get to see him every day and play pranks with him and Jungkook and I get to spend time with him. That’s- It’s enough for me,” he says.
“But, still-”
“Sometimes, it has to be enough, right? I mean, look at them,” he says, nodding to the throuple, who are all laughing about something Jungkook is telling them, if Jungkook’s exaggerated hand movements are anything to go by. Yoongi sees what Jimin means. Taehyung is leaning into Seokjin, eyes closed and his full weight pressed into his boyfriend, trusting that Seokjin will be there to hold him. When Taehyung opens his eyes, they immediately flit toward Hoseok, who is holding out a bottle of water for him.
“They’re in love,” Jimin says. “And I would never want to come in between that.”
Yoongi nods. He wants to apologize again, or offer some sort of comfort to Jimin, but he doesn’t think that Jimin would accept it from him. “Does anyone else know?”
Jimin nods and Yoongi is glad to hear that Jimin hasn’t had to keep this big secret alone all of this time. He doesn’t quite know how long Jimin has known Taehyung, but he knows that everyone who works in The Magic Shop except for himself, Jimin, and Jungkook went to college together, so he thinks that Jimin must have met Taehyung fairly quickly after being summoned.
“Namjoon knows, of course. We’re far too bonded for him to not know. I think that I fell in love with Taehyung the moment that I saw him. Which is cliche because love at first sight shouldn’t exist-”
Yoongi thinks of his own initial feelings for Jungkook. Not quite love at first sight- after all, he kind of thought that Jungkook was crazy when they first met- but Yoongi knows that he fell for Jungkook relatively quickly. “It can,” Yoong soothes.
Jimin snorts. “Either way, our bond was really new and fragile back then. He could basically feel everything that I was feeling. He actually thought that he had feelings for Taehyung at first, which was definitely a confusing way to navigate the bond that we had. Jungkook knows, too. I didn’t tell him, but he was able to figure it out.”
Yoongi nods, wondering if Jungkook has been able to figure Yoongi’s feelings out yet. They definitely spent some time with one another at the club and they had fun dancing and talking and getting to know one another. Yoongi thinks that there might have been some flirting happening as well, but he doesn’t really know. He thinks that he and Jungkook were maybe giving off the same vibes to one another.
He really hopes that they were.
“Hey,” Namjoon says, moving back toward Yoongi and Jimin. He nods politely to Yoongi, then, to Jimin, says, “Ready to head home?”
Jimin nods. “Did you make sure Tae got his potion? I didn’t see him drink any when we got back.”
Yoongi’s heart aches for Jimin. He thinks that it must be awful to love someone who you can never be with, but Jimin doesn’t seem to be too upset. He seems genuinely content to take care of Taehyung in the background.
“Hoseokie made sure he drank it, don’t worry,” Namjoon assures Jimin. To Yoongi, he adds, “Jungkookie wants to take you home. Make sure that you get there safely and everything, since it’s later than you normally head home.”
“I’ll be fine-”
“The buses don’t run this late, hyung,” Jungkook says, suddenly appearing beside Yoongi and startling him. Then he hands Yoongi a glass of whatever it is that Seokjin and Namjoon made when they first portaled back to the shop. “I can take care of myself on the way to my house, but you need to hone in on your magical abilities before I’ll let you walk home alone.”
Yoongi rolls his eyes, but smiles so that Jungkook knows that it’s meant playfully, and takes a sip of the golden liquid Jungkook handed him. “Oh, god,” he says, immediately wanting to spit it back out. “That tastes awful , what the fuck.”
“That’s the price of not getting a hangover, Yoongi-hyung,” Jungkook laughs. “I promise you that hangover soup tastes better after all of the drinking and none of the headache.”
Yoongi’s heart warms a bit, now knowing that Jungkook definitely didn’t stick to Yoongi’s preferred drink of choice to avoid the unfortunate sour stomach side-effect of a hangover.
“I guess that’s fair.”
“You really just have to plug your nose and throw it back like a shot, Yoongi-hyung,” Namjoon says. “It’s easier that way.”
Yoongi, choosing to finally trust his friends, does just that.
🍂
Jungkook feels nervous walking Yoongi home.
He feels like they’ve crossed some invisible line that had been so carefully drawn in front of them prior. Jungkook realized that he’s already halfway in love with Yoongi, flirted a little, and Yoongi seemed open to the flirtations. Jungkook even thinks that Yoongi might have been reciprocating .
“Did you have a good night?” Jungkook asks while they're walking. They’re mostly quiet, which is a stark difference to when they were talking earlier in the night, but Jungkook doesn’t mind. He thinks that he might prefer it this way. He likes it when it’s just him and Yoongi together.
“Since you wanted to go out so badly,” Jungkook adds, teasing.
Yoongi is facing forward, but Jungkook can see his cheeks puff up in a smile. “Well, that was really just an excuse, wasn’t it?”
“Was it?”
Yoongi turns to face Jungkook. “Really, I just wanted to spend time with you and make you feel better. You were really down on yourself when you were questioning what you want in life-”
Jungkook cuts him off. “Do you know why I was questioning what I wanted in life? I’ve never really felt like my life wasn’t fulfilled until I met you, Yoongi-hyung. Then I realized that I wanted something more in my life.”
“What did you want?” Yoongi asks. When Jungkook looks around, he notices that they’re stopped in the middle of the sidewalk outside of Yoongi’s apartment complex.
Jungkook looks at him, and Yoongi’s face looks so open and genuine that Jungkook thinks of Taehyung’s earlier advice to him. Sometimes the simplest solution is the right one .
“You, of course,” Jungkook says.
Then he takes a deep breath.
And confesses.
“I met you and I realized that I wanted to spend all of my time with you. I wanted to listen to your weird stories about growing up in a human household and I wanted to watch you make magic tea so excellently even though you literally never knew what you were making. And I wanted to spend evenings at the shop with you and then nights in your studio with you to listen to the beautiful music that I know you make because I looked up your SoundCloud like a month and a half ago. And I wanted to watch you be a fantastic psychic without even knowing it, but once you finally believed me , I knew that I would want to do nothing more than show you the beauty of all the magic around us-”
“I want you, too,” Yoongi says, cutting him off and turning Jungkook to face him. “I want you, too, Jungkook-ah.”
“Thank the gods,” Jungkook says, and then Yoongi is kissing him.
Jungkook’s breath is absolutely taken away. The kiss is the absolute best thing that Jungkook has ever experienced in his life. Yoongi kind of tastes like the anti-hangover potion, but his lips are soft and he’s kissing Jungkook , so it’s not like Jungkook cares that much anyway.
“Do you want to come up?” Yoongi asks. “It’s kind of late and I maybe asked Seokjin last week to bring me some of that sea water that you need to bathe in each night in hopes that you might spend some time at my apartment in the near future.”
Jungkook beams. “It would be my pleasure.”
“Did you two fuck last night?”
Jungkook blinks. He hopes to all of the gods that there are no customers in the store if Taehyung is going to shout things like that across the room.
“Taehyung!” Hoseok scolds. “You can’t just ask them that!”
“Thank you, Hoseokie-hyung,” Jungkook says, blushing. He knows that it probably looks very suspicious that he and Yoongi are walking into the shop at the same time, hand in hand, but he doesn’t really care. Pretty much every one of his friends knew that he was crushing on Yoongi anyway, and clearly Seokjin knew that Yoongi was crushing back, since he went to Busan and got Yoongi the sea water that Jungkook needs.
Hoseok gives him a salute. Then, like the traitor he is, says, “You should be asking them if they made love last night.”
Jungkook shoots the two a glare.
“It’s none of your business,” Yoongi says simply.
“That’s a yes,” Taehyung says, then high fives Hoseok. “Did you hear that, Jiminie? Now we just need to get you and Joonie-hyung boyfriends!”
Jungkook looks toward the window where Jimin lays in his cat form. His eyes are closed, but Jungkook knows that he’s probably not actually sleeping. He feels for his friend, but he also knows that Jimin has said time and time again that just knowing Taehyung is enough for him.
“Whatever,” Jungkook mumbles. “Taehyungie-hyung, we need to get started on getting Yoongi-hyung properly trained in being a psychic. Who did you apprentice under?”
Taehyung’s jaw drops. “Is Yoongi-hyung finally recognizing that he’s magical?”
“We went to the most insane club that I’ve ever been to last night and I talked to a pixie couple who were trying to pick me up,” Yoongi deadpans. “It’s impossible to not believe in magic any longer.”
Taehyung nods like that makes sense. “Well, fortunately, you have one of Seoul’s greatest up and coming seers in this very store! You can apprentice under me!”
Yoongi looks at Jungkook, uneasily. But Jungkook simply nods encouragingly. Taehyung might be a little strange about how he gets his lessons across, but Jungkook knows that he’ll teach Yoongi everything that he needs to know and more to be a successful psychic.
“Okay,” Yoongi says. “Yes. Please teach me all about being a psychic.”
Jungkook smiles, and squeezes Yoongi’s hand, which is still clasped in his own. Yoongi smiles back and Jungkook’s heart bursts a little, just like it does every time that he sees Yoongi smile at him.
He’s so thankful that Yoongi stumbled through The Magic Shop doors, looking for a job. Jungkook still isn’t exactly certain of what it was that Yoongi needed that night that he came in. Maybe it was a job. Maybe to learn about the magic sitting dormant under his skin. Maybe it was to get a teacher.
Maybe it was to meet Jungkook.
He’s not sure, but he knows that whatever Yoongi was in need of, he’s definitely found it by now, if the wide smile on his face is anything to go by.
Yoongi is here, and he’s happy. And that’s all that matters to Jungkook.
And Jungkook is absolutely certain that Yoongi is going to be a great psychic.