Chapter Text
Sanguine - optimistic or positive, especially in an apparently bad or difficult situation. In relationships, it means having a hopeful attitude towards the future together.
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“Oh my gosh hyung, you should've seen him today.”
“I see him everyday,” Yoongi deadpans. He doesn’t look up from his work, grinding an assortment of herbs in his mortar with the matching pestle. Namjoon doesn’t think he’s really taking in the gravitas of what he’s explaining.
“No, you don’t understand. He was just so… ethereal today. It's like the sun centered around him. I turned around from Tae-yah’s stall at the market and there he was. Just… it was like he was shining.” Namjoon sighs, propping his head in his hand. His elbow knocks a few of Yoongi’s ingredients around, but he’s too busy wistfully gazing wistfully at nothing to notice. “I just don’t know how he does it.”
Yoongi doesn't stop his work. He doesn’t acknowledge Namjoon much at all really besides a single hum, too engrossed in– well Namjoon’s not sure what he's working on actually. More than likely it was a custom order for some potion that Namjoon was probably distracting him from.
Yoongi is in high demand these days. He runs the local specialty potion shop for their village, but his potions and spellwork have made him somewhat renowned. The best of the best– Potions of Midas.
People come from cities over just for his regular stock, even further for his custom work.
It’s important. Namjoon should probably let him focus.
It’s just that Yoongi is one of the very few who know about Namjoon’s absolutely debilitating and extremely embarrassing one-sided crush on the town’s apothecary owner, Jung Hoseok.
Yoongi is his best friend. If he really doesn’t want Namjoon in his workshop gushing about Hoseok, he’s not afraid to tell Namjoon to fuck off. And if he didn’t want Namjoon here, why was his workshop unlocked (it’s normal business hours)? Why is there a stool here just for him (it’s for clients)?
Besides, Yoongi is the one who made Namjoon aware of Hoseok’s existence. If anything, this is his fault.
So Namjoon doesn’t feel too guilty when adds, “seriously, how can he just glow like that?”
“It was sunny,” Yoongi states, flicking his wrist to make a bowl and a vial of powder float from the shelf and onto his workspace. Even now, Namjoon finds these little things impressive. Yoongi makes magic seem so effortless.
“And?”
“He's literally an elemental witch. That’s how they work.” He mixes the powder with his herbs. “It’s sunny, so he's gonna shine.”
Namjoon sighs again. How can he make his hyung understand that seeing Hoseok today made Namjoon feel like he was under an enchantment spell? “You don't get it. It was more than that.”
Yoongi can't suppress the eye roll at that, finally leveling a look at Namjoon. “Joon, did you even try to talk to him?”
Well, no… In retrospect, Namjoon thinks he just kind of gawked at Hoseok from the center of the street, still as a statue.
Okay, so the odd looks he got from the village elders walking past maybe do make sense.
Yoongi makes it sound like it’s easy though, like talking to Hoseok isn’t this Big Event that Namjoon isn’t sure he’s ready to attend. Sure, he and Hoseok have friends in common. Like, a lot of friends. Their village isn't that large, downright tiny compared to the more modern cities that neighbor them.
Hoseok had only moved here about a year ago now, and from what Namjoon’s heard from their mutual friend group, he was a traveling saleswitch that arrived one day and then just… never left. He set up shop in the empty apothecary at the end of the road, moved into the space upstairs, and turned into a phantom haunting nearly every free thought Namjoon has had ever since.
But within that year, Namjoon has never been able to manage more than a stuttered ‘hi’ to Hoseok. He’s not even sure if the witch knows Namjoon’s name. Too much time has passed as strangers honestly, and now Namjoon finds himself unable to figure out how to take that first step.
His silence speaks volumes, and Yoongi sighs. “Joon-ah, just talk to him, I am begging you. He’s nice, and it’s not like he doesn’t know who you are.”
Namjoon pouts. “Hyung, it's not that easy. I’d just embarrass myself.”
“No, you wouldn't.”
“I would ,” Namjoon insists. “You know how I am. Besides, what would I even say to him?” He smiles dreamily. “He’s just so cool.”
“You could start with hello. You’ve almost managed that before.”
“Barely,” Namjoon snorts. “I took one look at his face and nearly fell over myself. No thanks.”
“Namjoon,” Yoongi groans. “You should try so we can all move on. Please . Hyung’s patience can only be so thin. I love you, but please stop telling me how hot you find my friend.”
“You’re right,” Namjoon agrees, sheepish. “I’m sorry. I’ll stop.”
“ Thank you,” Yoongi eyes him pointedly, popping the lid of a vial with his thumb. Carefully, he drips a few drops into the bowl.
“What’re you making anyway?”
“Just a potion of water breathing,” Yoongi answers. “One of the villagers is taking his kids fishing at the lake for the first time and doesn’t want to take chances.”
“Mm, gotcha.”
“Yep.”
Yoongi works in silence after that, and Namjoon lets him, quietly watching. It's peaceful seeing his hyung work, reading a line or two from his old spellbook before adding ingredients. There’s a familiar comfort in it. Namjoon may have never gotten the hang of potion brewing himself, but Yoongi’s always been a natural. He’s lost track of the amount of days he’s spent among bubbling cauldrons and clinking glasses in this very workshop.
Yoongi grabs the water vial from before. Dropping a bit more in, the murky liquid catches the light from the sun peeling through the window above them, a glittering sparkle on the water.
It jogs a memory.
Namjoon gasps, and Yoongi nearly fumbles the bottle into the mixture.
“Wait, one more thing! I completely forgot to tell you– so the other day, I went down to the lake, and Hoseok was there. He was wearing that one outfit from before, you know, The One .” Namjoon smiles, big and dopey, “he looked so handsome– anyway! Hoseok was there and the sun was just starting to go down…”
Namjoon doesn't notice as he gushes, too busy being lost in his story, but Yoongi finally stops his work. He closes his eyes, taking in a long, frustrated inhale, before he pushes away the ingredients he was using. A flick of his wrist, and a spellbook flies off the shelf and into his hand. He’s only flipping through the pages aggressively for a minute until he finds the right one.
“–and then he stopped, and I– well I wasn't following him or anything, but I was walking along the path too, just like, fifty feet behind. Anyway, I stopped too to see what he was doing, and he bent over to collect some rocks along the waterline, humming all happy. And hyung! He made the cutest little celebration noise when he found one–”
Yoongi grabs a few containers from the cabinet behind him, all but throwing them onto the counter. Several eyeballed-measurements are made before he furiously begins mixing them together in a bowl, adding a few things here and there. Then, he puts a hand over the mixture and chants, eyes glowing a vibrant white as the bowl totters on the table.
If Namjoon weren’t so immersed in his own memories, maybe he’d recognize the runes falling from Yoongi’s lips.
“–oh and that reminds me! Do you think you could mention how good of a color red is on him? I feel like it'd be weird coming from me, but hyung… he's so unbelievably hot in red. I saw him the other day in this red sweater–”
A final chant to seal the rune, and a puff of smoke billows up from the bowl in front of Yoongi, his head snapping back sharply as it does. The witch shakes his head once, neck cracking as his eyes melt back to a normal color.
Namjoon is still monologue-ing when Yoongi pours the concoction into a mason jar, sliding it across the table. Yoongi interrupts him, “sorry, real quick. Drink this.”
“Huh? Oh sure.” He tests things for Yoongi all the time, so Namjoon doesn’t even question it, taking the glass like a good dongsaeng. Like Yoongi taught him, Namjoon downs it like a shot, the liquid warm and cinnamony as it coats his throat.
He coughs once, and a moment passes, but nothing happens.
Namjoon tries to ask, “what was that one for anyway?”
Well, the keyword is tries . No sound manages to leave Namjoon's lips.
Yoongi stares, an eyebrow raised.
Namjoon’s brows knit. That was weird. He clears his throat and tries again.
…and again, nothing. Not even the sound of wispy air leaving his lips. It’s like someone hit mute on him, volume to zero.
He clears his throat harder and tries again, but still, he’s greeted by silence.
What the fuck?
Yoongi’s impassive stare morphs into a smug grin. “Ah finally; peace and quiet.”
Namjoon glowers, realization dawning on him. He glares Yoongi down, waving his hands in a general ‘what-the-fuck’ movement. He coughs hard before trying once again to ask why. Unsuccessfully.
“You can try all you want, but you just drank a curse potion of–” Yoongi trails a finger along the page in front of him, reading aloud, “– selective silence . Neat. Oh, and so for the specific one I made, that means that…” he jumps down lower on the page, grinning to himself. “The only person who can hear you now is the object of your desires . So… not me.” Yoongi closes the book with a little laugh. “Man, I am so glad I can’t hear you or this would’ve been awkward as fuck.”
Namjoon's face pales.
He's frozen for only a moment or two before the reality of it sets in. Yoongi just cursed him.
This motherfu–
Namjoon genuinely freaks out– as much as one can silently– waving his hands frantically and motioning to his throat. He points to his neck angrily, then at Yoongi. Give it back.
His hyung is not really phased. Yoongi just shrugs. “Nah. Guess you'll have to ask the ‘object of your desires.’” He makes a face. “Why does it have to be desires? It makes it sound so sexual.”
But Namjoon (literally) can't answer that. He’s too preoccupied with having a full-blown internal meltdown. The object of his desires…. Does he mean…?
No. Namjoon cannot do that, already shaking his head vehemently. No way.
Yoongi has to undo it. The only other option is talking to Hoseok and… what? The witch finds out what kind of curse this is? He gives Namjoon a pitying look as he cures them, only to tell all their friends how embarrassing Namjoon was?
Well, Hoseok is too nice to do that, maybe. Even still, the mere thought of going to Hoseok with this kind of curse has Namjoon dying of mortification. The first time he talks to Hoseok and it’s to tell him he’s an ‘object’ he ‘desires’? Absolutely not.
No, Namjoon has dongsaeng power, and Yoongi is weak for his dongsaengs. He just has to convince his hyung.
Namjoon gives Yoongi a pleading look.
Yoongi isn't impressed, crossing his arms. “Nope. I’ve let you pine over Seok-ah from afar long enough. Now you have to talk to him.”
Namjoon juts his lip, giving the saddest puppy-dog eyes.
“No.”
Damn. Looks like he needs the big guns. Namjoon gives Yoongi the most pitiful look he can muster, jutting his lip out even further and resting his head on the table to catch his hyung’s eyes from below. For extra measure, he mouths a pathetic, ‘hyung, please .’
“It’s not gonna work,” Yoongi says, rolling his eyes. “Honestly, this is more cringey than anything you could say to Hoseok.”
Namjoon can see that Yoongi means it. His hyung is already placing his previous spell work back in front of him to continue.
If he's going back to work, it's a battle lost.
Defeated, Namjoon whines, the puff of air undetectable as it leaves his lips. Realistically, he does understand that Yoongi’s doing this with Namjoon’s best interest in mind, but the fact that Namjoon is finally going to have to talk to the witch is daunting. He’s spent so long watching Hoseok, seeing him thrive in the community, seeing how everyone in town loves and respects him. How does Namjoon even try to gain someone like Hoseok’s attention?
Hoseok is larger than life, and Namjoon is just… Namjoon. He never gained the courage to talk to someone so... Hoseok.
Seems like he might have to find the courage anyway.
But he wanted to do it on his own terms! Well… eventually, anyway… But now, he’s being forced into it by his own best friend. The betrayal!
Oh, Yoongi’s so gonna pay for this, Namjoon promises himself. The second he gets his voice back, he's telling Seokjin all about where his good bath towels went.
He’s broken from his own scheming when a sudden thought crosses his mind, a deep dread icing him cold.
Quickly, he turns to the plants hanging near his head, reaching out to a baby fern to see if he can still– ‘hi, big one! Not thirsty. Not tired. Little one is mean to you, but you are my favorite–!’
Namjoon immediately relaxes, the swelling panic dissipating just as fast as it came on.
See, while Yoongi may be a full-fledged witch– black cat named Sugar skulking around his shop and all– not everyone turns out so gifted. Sure, a large portion of the population has some sort of magic affinity, ranging anywhere from almost none to master witchcraft. Namjoon just so happens to land on the former part of that spectrum.
No one knows where their magic really comes from, and Namjoon’s not sure why either, but he’s always had only a single magic ability; a deep connection with nature. No, not like a love for hiking or camping– although he does love both.
From a young age, Namjoon’s always been able to talk with plants. A single wave of his hand, and he could hear their thoughts, feelings, needs.
He’d spend hours in the yard as a kid, just feeling the content hum of the grass as it swayed in the wind, the age and wisdom exuding from the older trees of the forest, the joy and pride of the wildflowers as they bloomed in the sun.
At first, that's all it was. His parents just thought he enjoyed the outdoors and was creative in his stories about his ‘flower friends’.
But then his powers developed. He found he could decipher actual words from the plants, that he could communicate with them beyond just errant emotions.
At its most extreme, Namjoon even found that he could help them grow if he really focused his limited magic, though it drained him of his energy almost entirely to do so.
As his magic ability grew, he found that plants were drawn to him. Walks along the lake trails became more interesting with plants leaning in to speak to him, just to say hi to this human who felt so connected with them. In the village, the foliage seemed to wave in his direction, leaves and branches extending his way. Even the townspeople's own houseplants are friendly with him, perking up whenever he enters a room.
Beyond that though, Namjoon was never able to channel his magic into other avenues. For him, it's nature or nothing.
Not that Namjoon’s complaining. Now, nature is a necessary comfort for him, an extension of his self. Some of his own plants are his most private confidants, sources of strength in hard times and sources of joy in good ones, their voices a comforting buzz whenever he’s near enough.
The fact that he can still hear them is the only good thing about this curse.
Yoongi’s expression softens. “Joon-ah, I wouldn't take that from you.”
Namjoon smiles softly, caressing one of the hanging fern’s vines. The little plant beams at the attention, wriggling happily in its suspended pot.
The same treatment is not reserved for Yoongi however. Namjoon turns and gives his hyung an annoyed look.
“While your magic isn't touched, if you want to cuss me out, you'll have to get over your fear of embarrassing yourself in front of Hoseok first.” Yoongi chucks a powder into the brew and it turns pink, beginning to bubble even without a heat source. “I’m not giving you any kind of help until you talk to him.”
Namjoon just rolls his eyes. He knows how these things actually work, thank you. It’ll be boring, but Namjoon will just wait the curse out. It’ll wear off eventually. There’s no way Yoongi gave him a permanent silence spell–
“Oh, by the way, it’s permanent. You'll be waiting for about–” Yoongi looks at his wrist, and he doesn’t even have a watch on. This smug ass– “forever if you do nothing.”
Namjoon seethes. Seokjin is so going to hear about those towels, Min Yoongi.