Archive of Our Own

Seungcheol blinked at the bright screen in front of him. The blue light coming from his computer illuminated the otherwise dark room. The lights in the office he was working at would only turn on if they detected movement. With all of his colleagues gone by now, Seungcheol had given up on standing up or flailing his arms around dramatically every ten minutes to turn the lights back on, accepting the darkness he was plunged in.

Consequently, his eyes had started to hurt a while ago, accompanied by a dull pain behind his eyes. But he tried to ignore it, too focused on his work.

The time he spent on his workload seemed to simultaneously pass in a blink of an eye, but also not pass at all – at least his never ending list of tasks made him think so.

When Seungcheol momentarily nodded off for the third time during the past five minutes he sighed, frustrated, rubbing his temple to distract himself from his aching body. He closed his eyes for a few seconds to focus on his breathing, trying hard to not lose his mind.

He startled to death when the lights were suddenly turned on after he opened his eyes again, a high-pitched yelp leaving him and he automatically put his hand above his heart from shock. Mingyu – one of his younger colleagues who had left hours ago – was standing in the doorway, looking just as shocked as Seungcheol felt.

“Mingyu-ah, what are you doing here? You scared me to death.” His voice was raspy from disuse, slightly cracking.

“I forgot my phone, so I came back to collect it.” Mingyu pointedly held up his phone. Seungcheol didn’t ask why the younger had to come back for it hours later when he just could’ve waited until tomorrow. “But Hyung, I should be asking what are you still doing here. It’s almost nine.”

He stared blankly at Mingyu, blinking slowly. “Ah, really?”

Seungcheol’s passiveness visibly unsettled Mingyu, the younger fidgeting on the spot and his eyes roaming through the office, but they eventually landed back on him. “Hyung, have you even eaten dinner yet?”

He shrugged, glancing at the wrapper of a granola bar on his desk. Mingyu, following his movement, sighed, looking at him like a disappointed parent. That brat, Seungcheol was the older one.

“One granola bar isn’t a meal, Seungcheol-hyung. You could’ve at least taken something from the convenience store around the corner.”

Seungcheol just shrugged again, almost feeling embarrassed about being berated by his dongsaeng, but Mingyu was a natural nagger. That’s how he showed his love. “I didn’t mean to, I just forgot,” he tried to defend himself anyway, knowing it was useless.

Mingyu frowned, but lightened up a few seconds later. “If you just forgot, then it shouldn’t be any problem for you to go eat something with me right now.”

Seungcheol thought briefly about all the tasks he still had to finish, but he also knew that he wouldn’t be able to talk himself out of the situation with Mingyu already having made up his mind. And, if he was being honest with himself, he desperately needed to get away from the office for just a few hours – he’d be back soon enough anyway – and real food sounded nice.

He stood up and collected all the things he needed, more energy flowing through his body than it had all day. “Okay, let’s go.” He walked out of his office past a surprised Mingyu, who probably didn’t expect Seungcheol to relent that easily, but he quickly caught himself and followed suit.

Fifteen minutes later, Seungcheol and Mingyu were sitting in a barbecue place, periodically switching the role of grilling the meat. Meanwhile, Seungcheol ranted about work. The two friends weren’t in the same department, but due to their close age, they quickly became friends. So, like a good friend would, Mingyu listened to Seungcheol’s frustration of finishing all the financial reports on time.

Normally, it wouldn’t pose such a problem for Seungcheol. After years of working in the same firm, he had his routines and knew how to work efficiently without sacrificing precision. But someone on his team fucked up big time, and he somehow ended up being the one to clean up their mess.

After Seungcheol let off his steam, silence settled over them. Mingyu was still eating even though he originally already had dinner. Seungcheol was absentmindedly nibbling on one single piece of meat while staring at the Christmas decoration of the restaurant they were eating at. He sighed in defeat.

Mingyu, as attentive as ever, immediately noticed that there was something more to Seungcheol’s bad mood than work. So, he asked about it.

The truth was, Seungcheol had always been a big fan of Christmas and everything that the holiday entailed (he actually liked the time leading up to Christmas more than the holiday itself, when he thought about it).

He loved all the pretty decorations, golden lights giving off a welcome and heartwarming feeling to everyone who passed by. He loved going on Christmas markets with his friends and drinking hot beverages. He generally just loved spending time with the people dearest to him while everything around him seemed so cozy. He didn’t even mind the cold weather – welcomed it even, especially if it was snowing.

And right now, with so much work to do and him staying overtime for most days of the week, he couldn’t enjoy all that. Felt down, because everyone around him could experience all those things while he was stuck in an office.

Only a couple more weeks until Christmas and Seungcheol didn’t feel Christmas-y at all.

After Seungcheol finished venting his frustration while Mingyu listened diligently, the younger spoke up, looking quite serious but excited at the same time. “Hyung, I know how to fix your problem.”

Seungcheol glanced at the other, skepsis clearly written on his face. He still asked, “How?”

Mingyu put down his chopsticks. “One of my childhood friends is a witch. He specializes in potion making and could help with your frustration of not being in the right Christmas spirit without you having to sacrifice your work.”

Whatever Seungcheol thought Mingyu would propose, it wasn’t this. Seungcheol knew that magic – and with it, witches – existed, but unless you were directly involved with magic or had a close friend/relative like Mingyu, magic wasn’t exactly on most common people’s minds.

People born with magic were incredibly rare and they mostly kept to themselves as they were separated from people without magic early on to hone their abilities, going to other schools and enjoying a different education system than them.

Due to the inherent separation as soon as magic would manifest in someone, most people were also kind of wary about magic – it wasn’t exactly distrust, but since most people knew close to nothing about magic, they were also more hesitant to seek it out when problems occured – or didn’t consider it in the first place, just like Seungcheol.

So, he didn’t quite know how to respond to Mingyu’s proposition.

The younger must have noticed his hesitation as he was the one to continue talking, “I promise Jeonghan-hyung really knows what he’s doing, he was the best in his year in potion making. I have used a lot of his potions in the past. Do you remember when I suddenly came down with the flu a day before my presentation last year?”

Seungcheol did remember. Sometime during spring last year, Mingyu had to hold an important presentation to convince another company to collaborate with them on a new product, but a day before, he got the flu – bad enough to not be able to leave the bed under any condition. Seungcheol had checked in with Mingyu several times throughout the day via texting, but the younger had just assured him that he’d handle it. When the younger appeared in the office the next day as fit as a fiddle, Seungcheol’s confusion had been mostly overshadowed by relief. Now, he had an inkling why it had been possible in the first place.

Mingyu waited until Seungcheol nodded before he continued talking, “Hyung doesn’t normally create potions for health related issues like the flu, but you saw how it had worked wonders!” Seungcheol had to admit that it had been quite impressive.

The way Mingyu’s whole face lightened up while he was talking, made Seungcheol realize that magic was much more present and dear to Mingyu than Seungcheol had known. As one of his closest friends, it was kind of shocking to him that he didn’t know that about Mingyu before, but he couldn’t deny the fondness that appeared when the younger talked about that Jeonghan-hyung of his. It also made Seungcheol loosen up a bit more about the whole idea of involving magic.

If it could fix his problem, why not?

“And how do I get in contact him? Witches aren’t normally easy to find.” As soon as Seungcheol asked the question, he got a confused expression of Mingyu in return.

“I’ll introduce you to him, obviously. Jeonghan-hyung also isn’t hard to get in contact with at all, actually, since he’s mostly catering to the magic-less people anyway. If you want, we can visit him right now.”

Mingyu looked earnest as he said that, his eyes big and innocent like a puppy. But Seungcheol was skeptical, checking his phone for the time and seeing that it was close to eleven by now. “You sure we won’t bother him at this time?”

Mingyu bopped his head up and down, already standing up, looking like he was ready to drag Seungcheol there right that moment.

Seungcheol just sighed in defeat, collecting his stuff and taking his wallet out to pay for the meal before they left the restaurant to visit a certain witch.

⁺‧₊˚ ཐི⋆🕯🕯🕯⋆ཋྀ ˚₊‧⁺

1

To Seungcheol’s surprise, the journey to Mingyu’s witch friend didn’t take long, just a fifteen minute drive around the city. After Mingyu parked his car, they walked another ten minutes through a couple of pedestrian-only alleys that were littered with small shops, restaurant, and convenience stores.

If it wouldn’t be nearing midnight on a Wednesday night, Seungcheol could see the streets bussing with people. Even now, most restaurants were still open, their lights illuminating the dark streets, but it was almost eerily quiet as Mingyu and Seungcheol were the only ones walking in the alley.

Seungcheol got an uncomfortable feeling in his gut, never been the biggest fan of being outside in the dark, but Mingyu walked with assured steps that carried an easiness with them. Mingyu was a bigger scaredy-cat than him, normally, so Seungcheol figured he had no reason to be worried.

Keeping close to the younger, he almost bumped into him when Mingyu suddenly stopped. Seungcheol perked up curiously, seeing that they were standing in front of a building in the corner of the alley they were walking in, splitting the path into even more side alleys. Seungcheol feared, without Mingyu, he’d be terribly lost here.

But the building itself seemed rather welcoming. Warms lights were streaming out of the windows and there were even small plants on the windowsill tangled up with fairly lights in form of snowflakes. Seungcheol smiled at the cute decoration.

Next, he noticed the big letters that were hanging over the entryway, glowing in a yellowish light.

Hannie’s Potion Bar

Seungcheol frowned. He had never heard about a potion bar before, couldn’t really imagine anything under the term. “Are we at the right place?” He looked over at Mingyu questioningly, one of his brows wrinkled. He admitted the question was kind of stupid. Even though he couldn’t imagine much under the name, it was clear that a witch operated the bar and Mingyu wouldn’t have led him here if he wasn’t sure where they were going.

Mingyu patted his shoulder reassuringly while he chuckled at his question. “Don’t worry, Hyung,” the younger just said before he moved forwards to open the door, Seungcheol closely following his steps.

The door opened with a crystal clear jingle, announcing their arrival. As soon as Seungcheol entered the bar, he was greeted with a scent that screamed Christmas. He stopped in his tracks.

It was strongly smelling of fir, and when Seungcheol’s eyes looked around for the source of the strong smell, he quickly noticed the fresh fir branches that were hanging from the ceiling, red baubles dangling on them. Like outside of the bar, fairy lights were interwoven with the branches, strong enough to be the main source of light and giving the bar a cozy vibe as the baubles reflected the light.

Seungcheol’s jaw dropped in wonder, eyes big when he looked around to take in all the decorations. Even as a Christmas lover who always looked out for the decorations people set up each year, he had never been as impressed as right now.

He vaguely heard Mingyu calling out for his witch friends, the whole bar empty besides one young man with glasses sitting at a table. But Seungcheol couldn’t pay any mind to it as right that moment a bang resounded through the room and a whole ass person came crashing down from right above him.

He didn’t need to think, just stretched out his arms on reflex to catch the person before they could hit the ground. He only realized what happened when a sudden weight rested on him and the arms of the person he was carrying wrapped around his neck to steady themselves. He blinked, confused.

“Thanks for catching me, big guy,” the person said and patted his shoulder with one hand in gratitude.

Seungcheol looked down and was left speechless. He didn’t exaggerate when he said he had the most beautiful man he had ever seen in his arms.  The pretty man’s eyes carried a playful glimmer as he blinked up at him, his lips displaying an easy smile. The shoulder-long blond hair framed his face nicely, giving him an innocent and pure look, underlined by the hairband in form of a halo on top of his head.

A literal angel fell into his arms.

“You can put me down now,” the angel said, still smiling, when Seungcheol didn’t react as he was too busy staring at the pretty man.

“Oh- of course,” he stuttered out and felt a light blush rush up to his cheeks. He quickly put the man down, holding onto him until he had made sure the man was steady on his feet.

“Jeonghan-hyung!” Mingyu came running towards them from wherever he had disappeared to. “Are you okay? What happened?” Mingyu’s puppy eyes looked Jeonghan’s body up and down as if to convince himself the other was okay.

So, the man must be the owner and witch of the bar. Huh, even though Mingyu had called him his childhood friend earlier, Seungcheol had always imagined witches to be old men or women with gray hair that looked like a bird’s nest. He really had to be more open towards the world of magic.

“Don’t worry, Minggu. Your friend here caught me before anything could’ve happened,” Jeonghan said in a cheery tone, not at all fazed by what happened. “I wanted to hang up the mistletoe like every year, but something must have jostled the ladder I was standing on, so I fell.”

Only then did Seungcheol notice the wooden ladder on the ground, which must have been the cause of the loud bang earlier. And when he looked up, he indeed saw the mistletoe Jeonghan mentioned, neatly placed just a few centimeters away from where Seungcheol was standing.

“Hyung, you really got to be more careful. Why didn’t you ask one of your apprentices for help?”, Mingyu began to lecture his friend. Seemed like he didn’t only nag on Seungcheol all the time.

“They’re busy.” Jeonghan shrugged without a care in the world. Then, he looked at his younger friend with a curious eyes. “Mingyu-yah, who’s your friend you brought here?”

Seungcheol perked up at the mention of his name, kind of having zoned out and just observing the other interact. “I’m Seungcheol,” he introduced himself but didn’t know how to continue the sentence. But it seemed like he didn’t have to, because Jeonghan let out a sound of recognition.

“Ah, you’re Mingyu’s friend from work!” The blonde turned to face him. “Well, Seungcheol. What can I help you with? Surely you aren’t just here to save my life.”

Seeing him struggling to come up with the right words, Mingyu cut in before Seungcheol figured out how tell Jeonghan what he needed. “He came for your Christmas Special, he could use a drink.” Mingyu draped an arm around Seungcheol’s shoulder, pulling him close. Seungcheol didn’t fight it, confused by what Mingyu meant with Christmas Special.

“Oh?” Jeonghan perked up. “Sure, I’ll handle it. You can go, Minggu.”

Go where?

But Seungcheol didn’t have the chance to ask about it before Mingyu already dislodged from him and took big strides to get away from them, an excited hop in his steps. Seungcheol followed him with his eyes, mouth opening in disbelief when the younger took a seat at the table in the corner the furthest away from them. But the table was already preoccupied by the young man with the glasses, books and notes spread out on the table. He was clearly studying.

The student looked up as soon as Mingyu sat down, a small smile spreading on his face and he opened his mouth to say something, but it was too quiet for Seungcheol to understand.

Someone tapped his arm. “Come on, let’s leave the lovebirds to themselves.” Jeonghan didn’t look at him as he said that, his own eyes fond as he was observing the two as well.

Seungcheol followed Jeonghan to the bar counter and sat down on a stool. His eyes immediately shifted to the shelfs stacked endlessly with bottles made out of glass and varying, filled to the brim with colorful liquids.

While Seungcheol was busy having a look at the potions, Jeonghan laid down two menus on the countertop in front of him. When he took a hold of them, Seungcheol quickly realized that one menu was for the beverages the bar sold and the other for the potions. At the top of both menus was stated in capital letters that one could combine a beverage of choice with the potion they desired.

Seungcheol was impressed by the wide choice of potions one could choose from, two entire pages covered and sorted in different categories, his eyes widening as he skimmed through them, astonished to see what effects those potions could possibly induce.

“This is amazing. How do you even differentiate between all these potions, not mixing them up by accident?” Seungcheol wasn’t able to hold back his excitement, kind of regretting to not have researched more about magic before.

Jeonghan was smiling kindly at him as he was polishing glasses to keep his hands busy. “Don’t worry, I know my magic. All our bottles with the potions do have labels on the bottom just in case, though,” he explained. Then, grimaced. “But it did happen a few times throughout the years that my apprentice, Dokyeom, did mix them up. Wonwoo-” Jeonghan pointed at the table Mingyu and the other young man – Wonwoo – were sitting at. “- is a lot more careful when he works at the counter.”

A horrified expression must have crossed Seungcheol’s face, because Jeonghan assured him quickly with a slightly panicked face, “But you don’t have to be afraid. Most of our potions are very mild, and the first thing my students learn is how to reverse a spell or potion.”

He relaxed back into his stool, his shoulders sagging in relief. From what he had seen on the menu, Jeonghan was right, anyway. Most potions just seemed to make everyday life more comfortable, like potions that supposedly helped to stay more focused or to feel less tired. Seungcheol did wonder, however, why the witch had decided to combine it with a bar.

When he asked, he just got a shrug and a ‘Why not?’ in response. Seungcheol took it for what it was, he also saw the appeal in owning a bar.

“By the way,” Jeonghan spoke up shortly after, “I just checked. I’m afraid we’re out of the potion you came for today.” The blonde pointed towards a chalk board behind him that Seungcheol only saw now, too focused on the potions earlier.

On the board was written in big letters Christmas Special: getting into the Christmas spirit with just one potion! and if that didn’t hit the nail on the head for Seungcheol, exactly what he was looking for. No wonder Mingyu was so sure of himself to have the perfect solution to his problem.

“The Christmas Special is out of stock?” Seungcheol couldn’t hide the disappointment that seeped into his voice while his lips formed to a pout and his whole body visibly deflated.

“I’m really sorry about it. I only started on the Christmas potion last year and haven’t figured out yet how to produce them without the potion expiring really fast. Some of the ingredients go bad easily and I don’t want to risk selling anything spoiled to my customers. That’s why we prepare them every night for the next day. Since it’s only a week day, we didn’t produce a lot.” Jeonghan genuinely looked apologetic about it, sad to not be able to help his case, which immediately made Seungcheol feel bad. The other wasn’t at fault for Seungcheol’s misfortune.

“It’s alright. Do you have anything you would recommend to me instead?”, he asked in hopes of lifting the blonde’s spirit up, Seungcheol’s heart twisting weirdly at seeing the upset expression on Jeonghan’s face.

His plan seemed to work, because his face lightened up again, the easy smile on Jeonghan’s face reappearing. He grabbed one of the bottles from behind him, putting it in front of Seungcheol so he could take a look at it. He had no idea what the liquid could possibly mean but he was fascinated with the dark blue color and the shimmers of indigo in the liquid. “What’s that?”

“That’s one of our best sellers. It guarantees a vitalizing slumber with the effects lasting up to ten nights.” Jeonghan looked a bit sheepish when he muttered the next words, “You look like you could profit from a good night’s sleep.”

Seungcheol’s first instinct was to be offended, already sitting up straighter with his shoulders squared, but then he remembered his reflection in the mirror that morning. A deep blue seated beneath his red eyes, his eyebags swollen and his face paler from the usual tan. It didn’t take a genius to see how sleep deprived he was, not only due to working late but also because he couldn’t fully relax once he was back home, work always on his mind.

He deflated. “Yeah. Sounds great, honestly.” Jeonghan looked at him with sympathy in his gaze, clearly having seen through his thought process.

“I really recommend to drink the potion with our homemade mulled wine, if you’re up for it?” With the shimmer of excitement in Jeonghan’s eyes at the prospect of fixing Seungcheol a drink, it was easy to sway Seungcheol to agree.

(At the back of his mind, a small voice whispered how it probably wasn’t the best idea for him to already be whipped for a man he just met twenty minutes ago. He ignored the voice.)

He nodded to give Jeonghan the go-ahead.

At his agreement, the corner of Jeonghan’s lips curled up before the blond disappeared behind a door located at the end of the bar counter leading to another room, probably some sort of kitchen. Seungcheol’s eyes followed him curiously.

When Jeonghan came back roughly three minutes later, he carried three steaming ceramic mugs in form of boots, which displayed cute drawings of reindeers. He placed the mugs on the counter before he opened the glass bottle with the dark blue potion and used a table spoon to measure the required amount of liquid. Seungcheol noticed how Jeonghan only put the liquid in one of the mugs, using the spoon to mix the liquids.

With one final stir, he pushed the mug with the potion inside towards Seungcheol. “Here you go!”, Jeonghan winked while directly looking at him.

Seungcheol hid his blushing face by lifting the mug up, the steam from the hot beverage hitting his face and coloring his face an even deeper red. The liquid had taken on a purple color after mixing the red wine with the dark blue liquid and smelled nicely of nutmeg and cinnamon.

Taking the first sip, Seungcheol flinched when the hot wine hit his tongue, immediately burning it. He whined and gently placed the mug down. He looked up, when he heard Jeonghan giggling, his nose scrunching up and his small teeth showing as he smiled. “Sorry, should I have warned you about how hot the drink is?”, Jeonghan teased him, but Seungcheol couldn’t even be mad in the slightest.

It was his own stupidity after all, plus, he found it strangely impossible to be offended at the man who was literally looking like an angel. He quickly shook his head.

Jeonghan still was kind enough to hand him a glass of cold tap water to cool his burnt tongue.

Seungcheol decided to let the hot wine rest for a moment before he dared to try take a sip again. In the meantime, he watched Jeonghan pulling two other bottles from the shelf behind him, one filled with an orange liquid and the other with a light blue.

Just like with his mug before, he used a spoon for each mug to fill the orange liquid into one and the light blue into the other mug. After he was done, he whipped out a can out of a minifridge from behind the counter and topped both drinks off with whipped cream. Seungcheol observed him, curious. He couldn’t hold back his interest. “What are you making?”

Without looking up from his work, the witch answered him, “I’m just making two hot chocolates for the idiots over there.” He jerked his head to point towards Mingyu and Wonwoo. Then, he held up the bottle with the light blue liquid. “This is a potion for better concentration, it’s for Wonwoo. And this-” He pointed at the bright orange liquid. “- will keep you warm. Mingyu always undermines how cold it gets at night.”

Seungcheol made a noise of agreement, having noticed earlier that Mingyu only wore a thin jacket and a short sleeved shirt. While it may not be snowing outside, it was still pretty cold to only be wearing these thin clothes.

After Jeonghan delivered the drinks, Seungcheol decided to give the mulled wine another chance, this time blowing at it for a few seconds before taking a sip. Seungcheol’s eyes widened a bit at the sweet taste that hit his tongue and he had to control himself to not drink the whole mug in one go.

“Good?” Jeonghan looked at him expectantly, having picked up another glass to continue his polishing. Every time he put one glass on the shelf and moved to grab another, the halo hairband bounced lightly.

Seungcheol hummed. “This is the best mulled wine I’ve had in a while. Did you really make it yourself?”

Jeonghan looked very pleased at the compliment. “Dokyeom makes our mulled wine. I didn’t sell it before he started his apprenticeship here and recommended to sell mulled wine during the Christmas season.”

Seungcheol smiled slightly at the obvious affection Jeonghan had for his apprentice, his voice carrying a sense of pride. “My compliments to the chef then.”

In the end, Seungcheol stayed longer at the bar than he probably should have considering his demanding schedule and late hours. In his head, he used Mingyu as an excuse since they drove to the bar together and the younger made no move to go any time soon, too busy talking to (or more like flirting with) that Wonwoo guy.

Seungcheol himself used the time to talk to Jeonghan who had fun to indulge him, answering a lot of his questions about his magic all while cleaning up the counter and sorting new bottles of potions on the shelfs.

At some point, Jeonghan whipped out a thick and worn book. The witch explained to him that he still had to document the potion he gave to Seungcheol just as a precaution since some potions shouldn’t be handed out too often or don’t go well with other potions that a person might want to buy later. It was standard practice and every witch was required to do so.

Seungcheol was a bit confused why they’d use a book, though, to document all the potions sold to costumers as it seemed like a lot of work to keep up with all the different customers that way. When he suggested to use a program on a computer to make it easier, the witch glared at him, looking like an offended kitten. Seungcheol had to suppress a chuckle and merely apologized for even proposing the idea, learning that witches liked to be old-school.

During their conversation, Seungcheol also learned that Jeonghan was the owner of the bar, having opened it six years ago when he just finished his own apprenticeship. Dokyeom – his real name being Seokmin but most witches still preferred to use code names for business – was his first apprentice, coming to him shortly after he opened the bar. He was a bright kid, but very clumsy and not the best at his job. The witch council placed him with Jeonghan because they deemed him as patient enough to deal with Seokmin accordingly, letting him work at his own tempo.

Then, just last year, the witch council reached out to Jeonghan again, placing another student under his care. Jeon Wonwoo had been a normal med student up until he reached the age of twenty five and magic had suddenly manifested inside of him.

People’s magic barely manifest that late in life, most already showing signs when they haven’t even entered school yet. But Jeonghan explained to Seungcheol, that in those ‘normal’ cases the witches were already coming from a family with a history of magic, surrounded by it on a daily basic and thus, their own magic manifested faster.

Jeonghan himself was the first witch in his family (that they knew of), his own magic manifesting relatively late – in high school. So the witch council thought he was the best suited to teach another ‘late bloomer’ all about magic and witchcraft, because they couldn’t just send a twenty five year old to the witch academy with all those young children that already had a natural grasp on magic.

At first, Jeonghan had been worried to be responsible to teach someone without any basic knowledge of magic. But Wonwoo was smart and learned fast. Jeonghan told him that he was still in med school, aiming to use his newfound abilities to take on extra courses that focused on treating people with magic since it was more versatile and more effective than medicine limited by science.

Seungcheol listened patiently to Jeonghan gushing about his students, interested to learn more about a world that he never bothered to learn more about before, but also just to hear the blonde talking. Jeonghan had a soothing light voice and a way to tell a story that had Seungcheol hanging on his every word. He didn’t even notice how the time passed and his body became heavier from exhaustion.

Before Seungcheol could fall asleep at the bar, Mingyu approached him to finally go home after Jeonghan had whisked Wonwoo away from his study set-up to go help Dokyeom with the preparations for the following day.

The younger apologized to him with a sheepish smile for having abandoned him despite being the reason to be there in the first place. Seungcheol just waved him off, telling him he didn’t mind one bit and that he had a good time nonetheless. He also teased the younger just a little bit about his obvious crush on the cute apprentice, causing Mingyu’s cheeks to flare up in a hot pink but he didn’t deny it.

Before the two of them left the bar, Jeonghan called out to Seungcheol. “Make sure to visit us again. I still have to give the Christmas potion to you.” The blonde still looked a bit apologetic about having nothing left.

If he was being honest with himself, Seungcheol almost forgot about that part. But he nodded, giving the witch a thumbs up. “I’ll be back.”

Jeonghan smiled at that (happy to have gained a new customer?). “Good. Make sure to get home safe.” He waved them goodbye.

With a ‘you too’ from Seungcheol, they left the bar.

(“Hyung, Jeonghannie-hyung lives above the bar.”

“Oh.”)

⁺‧₊˚ ཐི⋆🕯🕯🕯⋆ཋྀ ˚₊‧⁺

2

As much as Seungcheol had enjoyed his time at the potion bar, it took some time until he had the time and energy to go back again. He was fully swept up in his work for the rest of the week and barely even managed to take care of himself, relying on Mingyu for bringing him snacks from the convenience store to remind him to eat whenever the younger’s shift ended.

At some point, Seungcheol even wondered if he had just imagined the night at the potion bar with the pretty blond owner, but the fact that he didn’t nick off every now and then when it had already gotten late at his office proved him wrong. Despite the lacking hours of sleep, he felt the most energized as someone in his position could possibly feel – all thanks to the potion Jeonghan recommended to him last time. He really had to thank him the next time he visited the bar.

It was only on Tuesday the following week when Seungcheol took the time to go back.

The night prior he made the mistake of opening his Instagram account after ignoring it for the past weeks of demanding work. There, he saw a post of his older brother with his longtime girlfriend. They were at one of the Christmas markets in the city, standing in front of a stall that sold hot beverages with his brother’s girlfriend holding up two cups while his brother held a dog in a Santa costume in his arms.

The dog in the picture was Seungcheol’s. He missed Kkuma terribly, but he thought it would be irresponsible of him if he let her stay at home alone while he was at work all the time during this season, only coming home for about five hours to sleep. So he brought her to his brother, who’d be more suited to take care of her for the time being.

While in bed, he had stared at the picture for a long time, a sinking feeling appearing in his chest that told him how much he was missing out. At the end, he just commented ‘my daughter’ under the post with a lot of hearts and bow emojis before he plugged his phone in and went to sleep – determined to pay a certain witch a visit tomorrow.

That’s how Seungcheol found himself caught in heavy rainfall while searching for the potion bar with hurried steps. When asked, Mingyu told Seungcheol that he wouldn’t be able to accompany him this time, resulting in him being completely lost in the alleys just like he predicted. By the time the right building came into his sight, Seungcheol was drenched and his hair was dripping wet.

At least it wasn’t all that cold, though, that made Seungcheol even more annoyed. If he was caught in a downpour, couldn’t it at least have been cold enough to snow? It was only a few more days until Christmas, but the dream of a White Christmas probably had to stay a dream this year.

Standing in front of the door to the bar, he tried to get rid of the excess water so he wouldn’t be dripping all over the place inside, but he failed miserably. With an annoyed huff, he questioned whether he should even enter. He was wet, tired, and in a bad mood – nothing anyone really wanted to deal with.

But Seungcheol figured, he would try to get a grip on himself and if the witches turned him away because he was bringing in too much water, he could still leave the place.

Just like last time, a jingle announced his entry. This time, however, without a pretty man falling into his arms.

His memories of the first time he had been here, automatically put him in a better mood. Just for a little while, the bar and its people inside – mainly Jeonghan – had created an escape from daily life for him. He yearned to go back.

Going inside, he was greeted by heated air and quiet jazzy music playing in the background. There was some light chatter in the room and Seungcheol noticed that more people were occupying the few tables the bar offered compared to last week.

“Welcome back, Seungcheol!” His head snapped to the direction of the cheery voice that greeted him and he felt an easy smile making its place on his face after he took in Jeonghan behind the bar counter, mixing a drink. Instead of wearing the headband resembling a halo like last time, the blonde was now sporting reindeer antlers.

Seungcheol’s heart constricted a little bit at the cuteness Jeonghan radiated in them.

When he got closer to the counter to order the potion he came here for, Seungcheol could see the smile on Jeonghan’s face disappearing, replaced by a worried expression but no less kind as the blonde noticed how drenched in cold water Seungcheol was, his eyes widening.

“Sorry.” Seungcheol felt the need to apologize, a flustered look on his face when he noticed the small puddle that was forming on the ground beneath him .

“Oh, dear. No need to apologize,” Jeonghan quickly reassured him, waving his hands lightly, before the corner of his lips formed into a small grin. “Luckily, you don’t have to worry, because you’re just in the right place and there is a simple way for me to fix-” he gestured at Seungcheol’s whole body, “- this.”

Seungcheol could barely register what happened next, but after Jeonghan mumbled some words in a language he didn’t understand, a gust of hot air twirled around him and suddenly, he was no longer drenched in ice cold water. His dry clothes felt like there were coming right out of the dryer, the suit he was wearing for work now warming him up.

Seungcheol ran his hand through his fluffy dry hair, looking around him, baffled, but no one batted even an eye at them. A cackle made him focus on the witch in front of him again.

“I’ll never get tired of seeing non-magical humans reacting to spells for the first time.” The corners of Jeonghan eyes wrinkled and his nose scrunched up in amusement. Seungcheol chuckled quietly, a bit embarrassed by his own reaction, but Jeonghan just looked at him with his kind eyes again. “It’s pretty unexpected, huh? Compared to potion, spells aren’t as tangible and the effects come somewhat out of nowhere.”

Seungcheol nodded, still in awe. “It’s so cool, though, what you can do with your magic.”

Jeonghan’s grin widened at the compliment. He then gestured to Seungcheol to take a seat and Seungcheol sat down on the stool he had also taken last time, already feeling like it’s becoming his stool. Maybe it’s too early for him to feel this way.

“So, Seungcheol, what can I do for you today?” Jeonghan easily switched back into his role of the bartender, but the smile on his face wasn’t fake, genuinely approaching each customer as if he really wanted to help him with his potions and drinks.

“I came for the Christmas special? I hope I’m not too late this time.” As soon as he muttered his request, Jeonghan tensed up, the smile becoming a bit tighter than before. Seungcheol hated it, not wanting to be the cause of it.

“It’s more like the opposite, actually.” Jeonghan chuckled nervously, avoiding eye contact with Seungcheol, choosing to stare at the ground. “The delivery for most of our ingredients fell through, they usually arrive on Monday. For most of our potions, that wouldn’t be a problem because we always prepare huge batches, but like I mentioned last week, we have to make the Christmas potion daily to avoid spoiling. I was able to arrange another delivery for tomorrow, but that also means no Christmas potions until Thursday.”

When Jeonghan looked up again, he looked truly apologetic, with his mouth downturned and his brows furrowed. Jeonghan was rubbing his temples, the stress palpable to Seungcheol. He could relate. Seungcheol deflated, but pulled himself together again.

“It’s okay, things like that happen all the time. You did your best to fix it as fast as possible,” he said with a serious tone, trying his best to reassure the other. He ached to reach out to Jeonghan, always been best with physical reassurance, but he wasn’t sure if they were close enough for that.

 “It’s just really disheartening. This potion bar exists, because I wanted to make everyday burdens easier to manage.” Jeonghan sighed, picking up dirty glasses to clean them while he continued to let out his own burden. “I know there are a lot of people out there that search for an escape from their corporate jobs in Christmas, but can’t get themselves into the Christmas spirit because of the looming stress. I just hate having to turn them all down when they come to me to ask for help.”

Seungcheol felt his heart aching, not only for Jeonghan but also for how accurate he described his current situation. He sagged into himself, turning his gaze down. He looked at the spotless wooden counter while he began to draw circles on it with his finger.

“But anyway, life goes on!” Jeonghan went back to his cheery voice, his smile a bit wobbly. He turned to Seungcheol. “Do you like hot chocolate with whipped cream, Seungcheol-ah?”

He blinked at Jeonghan, a bit confused by the change of topic. “Uhh, yeah?”

The other nodded satisfied, a determined shine appearing in his eyes. “Great, because I’m still owing you a drink. I’ll be right back!” And he disappeared with hurried steps behind the door to the kitchen. A few minutes later, he came back, followed by… a cat? Seungcheol squinted at the dark brown fur ball, trying to figure out why a cat was in the bar.

Jeonghan noticed his confused stare. “Oh, right!”, he exclaimed as he put Seungcheol’s hot chocolate down on the counter. He turned to the shelf full of potions, rummaging for a certain one further in the back as he continued speaking, “You haven’t met Joshuji yet.”

Finding the potion he was searching for, Jeonghan turned back around and rolled his eyes when saw the cat at his feet glaring daggers at him with his wide eyes. “Sorry, Joshua. He doesn’t like it when I call him nicknames in front of others.”

The cat seemed satisfied by that. When it jumped up on the counter, Seungcheol flinched in surprise, but the cat didn’t pay him any attention and walked to the end of the counter where a soft looking pillow was placed, which Seungcheol had never noticed before. The cat formed a loaf on the pillow, tucking his front paws under its body.

Seungcheol observed it curiously before his eyes strayed back to Jeonghan. “Is Joshua your pet? I didn’t notice him here last time.” At Seungcheol’s word, the cat meowed loudly as if to complain while Jeonghan laughed loudly. Seungcheol frowned, confused.

“Joshua is not my pet, he’s my familiar.”, Jeonghan clarified, but that made Seungcheol even more confused. “Have you heard of familiars before?”, Jeonghan asked kindly.

Seungcheol shook his head, glancing back at Joshua who looked at lot calmer than before, but the cat’s eyes followed the conversation curiously.

“Normally, witches meet their familiars some time after they manifested their magic. They help and protect witches during magical practices and are essential for more demanding spells or potions. In turn, the witch takes care of their familiar.” While Jeonghan explained patiently what a familiar is, he also picked up the potion bottle he had taken from the shelf earlier. Seungcheol bristled at the brown-green color of the liquid.

Not caring about Seungcheol’s reaction to the potion, Jeonghan just continued with his work. “You haven’t seen Joshua last time, because he likes spending time with Seokmin more than with me.” Now, it was Jeonghan’s turn to glare at the cat, which whisked his tail innocently. “I was one of the rare cases that met their familiar before my magic even manifested. Weeks before it happened, Joshua would suddenly follow my every step when I walked to school, it was quite the hassle to keep him out of the school building. Maybe he came to me earlier because I got my magic so late, but it’s only a theory. Wonwoo’s familiar, for example, didn’t appear yet.”

Jeonghan reached out to pet Joshua on the head, but Joshua lifted his paw to swat the hand away. Jeonghan scowled. “And look where it got me. My familiar likes another witch more than me.”

Seungcheol was endeared with the pout that formed on the blonde’s face. He could tell that Jeonghan was only playing up his offended tone. His fond eyes with which he looked at his familiar betrayed him.  

“Anyway, here you go!” Jeonghan slid the hot chocolate towards him. Seungcheol looked at it with skepsis, thinking back to the suspicious, unappetizingly colored liquid.

“What’s in it this time?” He took hold of the mug, but didn’t drink from it yet.

Jeonghan grinned, amused by his mistrust in the potion. “You came in here dripping wet in winter. I may have dried your clothes, but your body probably still dropped in temperature. Additionally, there is definitely something going around right now. The potion will prevent you from catching a virus.” His grin widened when he caught Seungcheol eyeing the glass bottle with the brown-green liquid that was still standing on the counter next to Jeonghan. “Don’t worry, it’s basically tasteless and the color isn’t noticeable in hot chocolate.”

Seungcheol decided to trust Jeonghan with that one, he hasn’t been disappointed with what the witch gave him last week. So, he just shrugged and took a small sip to test the waters. Instantly, the rich aroma of chocolate greeted his mouth. Jeonghan must have used some of good quality. It tasted a bit more bitter than when he made one for himself, but the sweet whipped cream on top balanced it out nicely.

Jeonghan held eye contact while he was drinking his concoction. “Good?”, he asked with a lifted eyebrow. Seungcheol hummed in approval.

The witch nodded satisfied. Afterwards, he took out the old book from last time to document his potion while Seungcheol was drinking. While Jeonghan was writing in the book, he asked, “How was the potion from last week? Did you notice any effects?”

He swallowed down quickly before he answered. “Yeah, it really worked wonders. The amount of time I spent sleeping didn’t change, but I definitely felt more energized during work than before, even during the evenings.”

Jeonghan wrote that down as well. “I’m glad,” he mumbled before he closed the book again, sighing loudly. Now that Seungcheol looked closer, he noticed how the witch himself seemed more tired than last week, carrying himself as if something was wearing down on him. Seungcheol frowned, but chalked it up to the delivery incident.

The next fifteen minutes were spent with Jeonghan having to tend to his other guests while Seungcheol quietly continued sipping on his hot chocolate, watching Jeonghan prepare the drinks with skillful efficiency.

At some point, a group of college students came in, greeting Jeonghan as if they were visiting the bar regularly. With the way they rattled down their orders without even having to look at the menu, that would probably be the case. They even greeted Joshua when they saw him chilling on the bar counter. Joshua perked up at the mention of his name, but curled up comfortably again, soon after.

When the students had taken their seats at a table, Seungcheol inquired about the potions they had ordered (if he was allowed to ask). While preparing the drinks, Jeonghan told him that his potion bar was a beloved destination among college students before they’d go to a club later at night, because he sold potions that would make you just the right amount of drunk to have a good time. The advantage of the potion was that it wasn’t coming with the usual side effects like nausea or headaches the morning after. Plus, one only had to spend their money on one drink, since one potion was enough for the desired effects.

Seungcheol nodded along through his explanation, kind of wishing he had known a potion like that during his college years, definitely having spent a small fortune on alcoholic beverages. When he told Jeonghan about that, the other laughed loudly before he agreed with him. It was one of the reason he created the potion.

Most witches before him had only focused on treating a hangover, but not how to get drunk in a safer and less expensive way.

While they were talking, Seungcheol caught himself stealing glances at the cat laying next to him on the counter, the soft looking brown fur making him want to reach out to pet it. Jeonghan must have noticed at some point, because he just told him that he could pet his familiar whenever he wanted to (and Joshua would let him). With a fond eye roll, he explained that his familiar pretended to not like touches, but he secretly loved them.

Seungcheol was a bit hesitant when he reached out with his hand, but to his surprise, Joshua immediately bumped his head against the outstretched palm, demanding to get head scratches. Seungcheol complied, smitten with the incredibly soft and warm fur.

The longer he patted Joshua, he sadder he got, having to think about Kkuma – the main reason why he was in such a bad mood at the beginning of the evening, and why he even came back here. He let out dejected sigh. 

Jeonghan took notice of it, so Seungcheol spent the next five minutes ranting about how much he missed his dog, showing him the picture his brother had posted. Jeonghan listened to him patiently while cleaning up some of the dirty mugs that had piled up. When Seungcheol finished, the blonde had a thoughtful look in his eyes.

“Say, Cheollie.” With the new nickname, Jeonghan immediately got his attention. “Do you wanna play billiards?”

Seungcheol sat up straighter in his stool, confused, but on board with the idea. “Now? Where?”

Jeonghan pointed somewhere. When Seungcheol followed his outstretched arm, he discovered an open doorway that led to another room at the other end of the bar. Huh, he hadn’t even noticed that there was a doorway to begin with.

“Honestly, I could use a break right now. I’ll get Seokmin to tend to the bar in the meantime. We don’t have as many preparations today as usual, anyway.” The blond shrugged. Seungcheol remembered how Jeonghan also seemed worn down today. Maybe, playing billiards would lift both of their moods.

“Sure. Count me in.”

Seungcheol’s heart fluttered again when Jeonghan looked at him with a small, genuine smile – his eyes shining.

After Jeonghan had pulled Seokmin out of the kitchen and had assured him for a solid five minutes that he’d be more than capable to handle the bar and the customers on his own while Jeonghan wasn’t there, and that he could still call for Jeonghan should anything bad happen, the both of them disappeared to the other room, a table for billiards in the middle of it.

Jeonghan was carrying two mugs of mulled wine with him (“On the house, of course” he had just said as Seungcheol tried to hand him cash for that), while Seungcheol followed him with a plate of gingerbread cookies that he – as Jeonghan told him – had baked with both his students and the two familiars (his and Seokmin’s).

As Seungcheol discovered, playing billiards with Jeonghan was fun.

Both of them tended to be quite competitive, even if Jeonghan denied it loudly when Seungcheol pointed it out. The first few rounds they were playing, Jeonghan hadn’t gotten into the game as quickly as Seungcheol, oftentimes missing the balls. The blond would then keep saying how it didn’t matter to him and laugh about it, but Seungcheol noticed how he’d get more agitated with time. Didn’t help that Seungcheol kept teasing him about the missed balls, enjoying the upper hand he had.

He also discovered that Jeonghan was a cheater. With time passing and him still lacking, the witch started to mumble quietly whenever it looked like he’d miss a ball by an inch, and suddenly, he wouldn’t miss it after all. It didn’t take long for Seungcheol to figure out that Jeonghan would use his magic against him.

He didn’t mind, though. He was still far ahead of the other, so he chose to laugh at Jeonghan’s attempts and jokingly complained about the unfair practice with mock offense every now and then. But even without cheating, Jeonghan got better with time.

At some point, Jeonghan proposed to make their game more exciting in form of a competition. They decided to play two out of three and the winner would have a free wish.

With the new incentive, they also decided to play dirtier. While Jeonghan wouldn’t outright use his magic anymore – just good enough on his own to take the lead – he instead decided to focus on throwing off Seungcheol.

As soon as they started their little competition, Seungcheol suddenly was on a streak of bad luck. Jeonghan made everything worse by intentionally distracting him. Whenever Seungcheol bent over the table, he’d come in close, claiming to check for fouls when Seungcheol was leaning in so close to the cue ball.

Seungcheol chuckled at the ridiculous reasoning but let him do so, even if his game play suffered from it. The heat Jeonghan emitted distracted him, the other so close that Seungcheol could even smell his shampoo (something floral) and feel the hot air whenever Jeonghan breathed out.

When Jeonghan won the first round, he performed a little victory dance, wiggling around like a worm – but a cute worm. The annoyance Seungcheol felt from having lost the first round instantly disappeared. A wide smile spreading on his face instead as he watched the ridiculous performance, laughing loudly.

In the middle of the second round – with Jeonghan being in the lead again and Seungcheol having resorted to use his own way of cheating in form of blowing air at the balls – their little competition was interrupted, when an agitated Seokmin hurried towards them.

Jeonghan’s attention immediately shifted towards his apprentice, who looked close to tears. “Seokmin-ah, what’s wrong?” The mood of the room turned serious in an instant.

The younger’s lips quivered and a small, yellow bird on his shoulder began to chirp. That must be Seungkwan then, Seokmin’s familiar Seungcheol thought. “There’s this one elderly customer, who wants one of the Christmas potions, but he just won’t listen to me when I tell him that we don’t have any for today. I tried to convince him to come another day, but he just started to s-scream at me.” Seokmin’s voice broke.

Jeonghan sighed, then pulled Seokmin in a quick, but tight hug, patting him on the back in empathy. When he pulled back, he rested one hand on Seokmin’s unoccupied shoulder. “There are always rude customers, that don’t know when to shut up. Come on, tell me what he told you so I can handle him accordingly.” After putting his stick on the table and pausing their game, Jeonghan stirred his apprentice out of the room to attend to the angry customer.

Knowing that he wasn’t the priority right now, Seungcheol stood next to the abandoned table and thought about how he could best help the two witches. He didn’t have any experience in customer service, especially in handling angry customers, so he did the next best thing he could think of. He cleaned up the table, setting everything up for a new game, and collected the empty mugs and the plate with a couple gingerbread cookies left before he made his way back to the front.

There, he found Jeonghan and Seokmin behind the bar counter, facing a man whose face was loaded with anger, his body rigid and his fist clenched. Worried, Seungcheol dropped of the dishes on an empty nearby table before he placed himself next to Jeonghan. Seungcheol didn’t doubt that the witch had the situation handled, but with that stance, he feared the man might resort to physical violence.

“Sir, I’m telling you for the last time: We are out of our Christmas Special. If you really want one, you can come back in a few days, or you could buy another potion.” Jeonghan almost sounded bored, but Seungcheol saw how his face had hardened and his eyes gleamed with silent anger. Furthermore, he noticed, how Jeonghan had taken off the reindeer headband, probably to appear more serious.

“I don’t want another potion! I bet you demons just prey on us vulnerable people with empty promises to take all of our money, you are just a bunch of scammers!”, the man screamed, his face an angry red. He gestured widely with his clenched fist. Seokmin, who was cowering behind Jeonghan and had followed the conversation with scared and wide eyes, whimpered.

Seungcheol straightened his posture, crossing his arms in front of him to look more intimidating. Jeonghan didn’t move, but Seungcheol could feel how the blonde was close to losing his patience. Joshua had also abandoned his pillow on the counter and came closer, his back arched and ears pulled back, his pupils wide as if he was ready to pounce on the man any minute now. He let out a loud hiss.

The man flinched back a bit.

“Sir, I’ll have to ask you to leave. If you are insulting my kind and let out your anger on my students, you are not welcome in my potion bar. Leave.” Jeonghan’s tone was icy, his eyes narrowed. Even if it wasn’t directed at him, Seungcheol could feel a shiver run down his spine.

A dull bang resounded through the bar, when the man slammed down his fist on the wooden counter. Joshua startled, being right next to the fist. With a murderous gaze pointed towards the man, Jeonghan snatched Joshua from the counter and kept him in his arms.

“Leave!”, Jeonghan hissed with a power in his words, that physically resonated through Seungcheol’s body. He observed how the man disappeared from his spot in front of the counter and was suddenly teleported back outside of the bar. Through the window, Seungcheol could see how he looked around himself, confused, before he eventually left.

Next to him, Jeonghan staggered backwards, his legs buckling, and Seungcheol immediately caught him by his waist. The blonde leaned back against him, resting his head on his shoulder with his eyes closed while he was breathing heavily. Seungcheol just tightened his grip.

Joshua, still in Jeonghan’s loose arms, bumped his head against the blonde’s chin affectionally. Seokmin, who had been hovering around them with worried eyes, sprinted to the kitchen and came back with a cold glass of water in his hands.  

When Jeonghan had collected himself again, enough to open his eyes and stand by himself (Seungcheol was instantly missing his warm presence, but the relief he felt was stronger), he took the water offered to him, taking small sips. Then, he let out a tired sigh.

“Sorry, it always takes a toll on me when I teleport a person like that. I’m good at making potions, but I don’t have a lot of magic in me. Spells are exhausting for me.” He snuggled closer to the cat in his arms. Even Seokmin’s familiar flew over to him and nestled against his cheek.

With Jeonghan being somewhat okay again, Seungcheol’s curiosity caught up. “What did just happen? Why did the man just leave afterwards?”, he asked, but his eyes stayed on Jeonghan to make sure the other was alright standing on his own.

“I banned him from the bar. He was teleported to the front door, but the bar isn’t visible to him anymore. He won’t be able to enter ever again.” Jeonghan sounded far away when he said that. Seungcheol gnawed on his lips, worried, and reached for one of the stools behind the counter so Jeonghan could sit down for a moment.

Besides him and the two witches with their familiars, no one else was present in the bar. Most of them must have already left while Seungcheol and Jeonghan were still playing billiards, the rest probably went their way when the rude customer interrupted the peace.

While Jeonghan rested, Seokmin convinced his mentor to close up for the day. It wasn’t as late yet as last Wednesday when Seungcheol visited for the first time, but he had to agree with the apprentice that it was a good idea to close a bit earlier than usual.

Seungcheol even decided to stay longer to help the two witches with cleaning up – despite the loud protest from Jeonghan – but the blonde ultimately let himself get gently pushed down on the stool again by Seungcheol, Joshua curling up in his lap, while the witch directed Seungcheol what to do.

From time to time, Seungcheol stole glances at Jeonghan, the witch leaning with his head tilted back on the wall and his eyelids already half closed, ready to fall asleep any moment. Maybe it was a bit inappropriate, but Seungcheol thought he looked kind of hot like that. Whenever Jeonghan caught Seungcheol looking at him, he winked at him, making Seungcheol chuckle.

In the end, it didn’t take long for them to finish up. There weren’t any preparations to do, anyway, since most of the ingredients were missing, so they just had to make sure to clean the tables and the bar counter, as well as some dirty dishes. Nothing that Seungcheol and Seokmin couldn’t handle by themselves.

After they were finished, they collected their stuff and got ready to go home (with Jeonghan just observing him and Seokmin since he didn’t have it far, only separated from his home by a flight of stairs).

Seokmin quickly bolted out the door when he finished, because he had to catch a train before he was stranded in this part of town until the early morning.

But before Seungcheol could open the front door to follow him out, Jeonghan called out to him. “Wait!” Seungcheol turned around, confused. Did he forget something?

Jeonghan walked towards him with lazy steps. When he reached Seungcheol, he carried a small smile on his face, but his eyes had a mischievous gleam in them. “We couldn’t finish our competition earlier. I was in the lead when we were interrupted, so I think it’s only fair if you fulfill a wish of mine.” His nose scrunched up and his smile stretched into a wide grin, showing of his small teeth. Like that, he really resembled a bunny. Cute.

Seungcheol nodded dumbly, easily agreeing with the pretty man in front of him. “Sure, what do you want?”

“Your number.”

Seungcheol felt the heat rush up to his face by the request and he could swear his heart skipped a beat. He wouldn’t read too much into it if he assumed that Jeonghan was flirting with him, right? But maybe, the other just wanted to have his number to let him know when Seungcheol could come by and finally collect the Christmas potion. Yeah, that had to be it.

With shaky hands he reached out to take the unlocked phone out of Jeonghan’s hand, suddenly having a hard time remembering his phone number under the blonde’s heavy gaze. When he was done, he handed the phone over again and Jeonghan thanked him with an easy smile, pocketing his phone.

With a final wave goodbye, Seungcheol left the potion bar, welcoming the chill air so his burning cheeks had the chance to cool down.

⁺‧₊˚ ཐི⋆🕯🕯🕯⋆ཋྀ ˚₊‧⁺

3

During his lunch break the next day, Seungcheol received a string of messages from an unknown number. He was confused for a moment, but when he opened them, he was greeted by a collection of picture depicting several different types of herbs and flowers. The background of the pictures clearly resembled the bar, and Seungcheol had to take in a steadying breath, suddenly feeling giddy when he remembered that Jeonghan had asked for his number yesterday.

He quickly saved the number as Hannie.

The pictures were accompanied by some text messages, Jeonghan expressing his excitement over the delivery. Seungcheol had to suppress the need to kick his feet like a teenage girl who had a crush for the first time when he responded to him. Like that, they spent the rest of Seungcheol breaks texting back and forth, until Seungcheol had to excuse himself to continue working.

However, that didn’t stop Jeonghan from sending him messages throughout the day, mostly random stuff going on in the bar, but Seungcheol treasured every one of them. When he had time, he responded in short messages, even though Jeonghan reassured him that he understood if he couldn’t answer for a while due to work. The frequent texting continued for the next days, leaving Seungcheol all excited, wanting to reach out for his phone every five minutes.

On Friday, Jeonghan asked him when he wanted to swing by again, so he could make sure to save one of the potions for Seungcheol before they risked going out of them again. After quickly checking his calendar, he realized that the only option was this evening, explaining that he was busy for the weekend since he was meeting up with his parents because they wouldn’t be in town for Christmas.

Usually, he celebrated with his parents as he didn’t have any romantic partner and most of his friends were living in different parts of the country. This year, he’d have to celebrate with his older brother and his girlfriend, but he wasn’t really looking forward to it, not keen on being the third-wheel during the holidays. He complained to Jeonghan about it.

Seungcheol stopped breathing for a moment when he received the next text message from Jeonghan, his heart starting to beat rapidly.

You’re welcome to spend Christmas with me and my coven^^

Seungcheol stared at the message for a solid five minutes, but before he managed to muster up the courage to respond, he was interrupted by a colleague who reminded him of a meeting of his that would start soon.

Cursing, he sprung up and hurried to the meeting room, momentarily forgetting about the text message.

It was already close to midnight when Seungcheol finally found the time to go back to the bar as promised. He had finished up a lot of things on his to-do list before the weekend started, so he could enjoy the time with his parents without having to constantly think about work. It also eased the workload for the coming week – the only week left until Christmas, and he planned to enjoy it to the fullest. With or without the help of a potion.

To his surprise, when Seungcheol was arriving at the bar, it still seemed to be quite full. Even from the outside, he could hear music playing and people chatting over one another. It made sense as it was a Friday night, he hadn’t taken that into account yet.

As he opened the door, the jingle was lost in the loud atmosphere. The tables were full and no available stool at the counter was to be found, some people opting to just stand while they were chatting with their friends. Old Christmas classics were playing over the speakers, loud enough to hear them clearly, but still quiet enough to speak without having to scream.

After taking in the – for him – unknown atmosphere of the bar, his eyes automatically drifted behind the counter, searching for a certain witch and quickly finding him. Jeonghan bit his lip in concentration as he was mixing all the different potions with the designated beverages, but when he talked to his customers, he wore his usual easy smile. Next to him was Wonwoo, busy noting down all the necessary information in their huge book. They worked with quiet efficiency.

Seungcheol only realized he was still standing a bit lost in the doorway, when someone bumped into him. He opened his mouth to apologize, but a cheery voice beat him to it. “I’m so sor- oh! Seungcheol-hyung.”

Seokmin was in front of him, a bright smile on his face which lightened up even more when he took notice of Seungcheol. No yellow bird on his shoulder this time, though. The apprentice had a tray full of empty mugs and glasses in his hands, but Seungcheol’s attention shifted towards the obnoxiously bright red Santa Clause hat on his head, the included white ball of fluff dangling in the air.

The apprentice followed his gaze before he explained, “All the waiters are wearing these hats today to be more noticeable in the crowd.” Seungcheol hummed in acknowledgement, but the sound was lost in the loud room.

It didn’t matter, because Seokmin continued to speak, “If you’re here for the Special, then you are really lucky!” Right, the Christmas Special. “We went out of stock about an hour ago, but Jeonghan saved you some since we were expecting you today.”

Without having to formulate a respond, he grabbed Seungcheol by the wrist with his free hand and dragged him through the crowd towards the bar counter. But instead of letting go in front of the counter so Seungcheol could join the queue to order a drink, Seokmin pulled the older with him behind the counter.

“Kyeomie, your order for table six is read- Oh, Cheollie!” Jeonghan had turned around from where he was drawing beer, ready to push new drinks onto Seokmin’s tray that the younger had quickly emptied. Today, he wore a headband with a snowman right in the middle. Just how many headbands did they have?

When he saw Seungcheol standing beside his student, his face visibly lightened up. His smile softened and his tense body relaxed for a bit.

Seungcheol mirrored the smile. He liked the effect he had one Jeonghan. “Hi, Hannie.”

After Jeonghan sent Seokmin on his way with the new load of drinks, he took Seungcheol’s hand into his and pulled him closer so he wouldn’t block the way for the waiters. Now, Seungcheol was standing right next to a working Jeonghan.

He cradled his hand, still experiencing the phantom feeling of Jeonghan’s hand in his.

“I’ll take care of your drink in a minute, Cheollie,” Jeonghan said as he placed one hand on Seungcheol’s shoulder in reassurance.

Ready to short-circuit from all the contact with the blonde, Seungcheol needed a few seconds before he could utter a response, “No worries, I can wait until the rush is over.” Jeonghan squeezed his arm in gratitude before he went back to work.

In the meantime, a voice from the other side of him spoke up. “You must be Seungcheol, the guy Jeonghannie-hyung had been texting the past days.”

When Seungcheol turned to the voice, a smirking Wonwoo greeted him. He was hunched over the old book, hastily writing down all the orders to the right customers. He wore the same headband as Jeonghan, though it looked like the headband would fall off any moment due to Wonwoo constantly leaning over the book.

“And you’re Wonwoo, Mingyu’s crush,” he greeted back with the same energy, smirking triumphantly when he saw the blush that appeared on Wonwoo’s cheeks at his words. He didn’t deny it though, just smiling softly like a love drunk idiot.

Before Wonwoo could retort anything, another person made its presence known. “And where is your crush, Wonwoo? I haven’t seen him in a while.” A man with blonde hair, round cheeks, and the same red hat as Seokmin asked with an innocent tone, but his eyes had a teasing glint in them.

“Mingyu is meeting up with his sister today,” Wonwoo replied calmly, not giving into the other’s teasing. Seungcheol followed the conversation between them curiously, he hadn’t known that Mingyu was going out with his sister today. If he was being honest, he hadn’t even asked the younger if he wanted to accompany him today. “And, it’s Wonwoo-hyung to you, Seungkwan.”

Seungkwan? He frowned, looking confused between the bickering pair. “Wasn’t Seungkwan Seokmin’s familiar? The tiny yellow bird?”

The two pairs of eyes landed on Seungcheol. Wonwoo tried to suppress a laugh, but still chuckled quietly to himself, while Seungkwan almost looked offended. Seungcheol felt like he was certainly missing something here, again.

It was Jeonghan who spoke up from behind him, apparently following their conversation. “That’s his human form, Cheol. Didn’t I mention that they can shift between their animal and human form?”

“No!” Seungcheol pouted, stressfully combing through his hair with one hand.

“Oh, sorry, my bad. I thought I did when we talked about familiars.” Seungcheol shook his head, aghast. Jeonghan smiled at him innocently, but he didn’t look sorry at all. In the end, Seungcheol just sighed, coming to terms that he was still learning about magic and couldn’t know everything.

“Anyway, our dear Wonwoo-hyung-” Seungkwan emphasized the ‘hyung’ with a sarcastic tone, earning himself a flicker on his cheek from Wonwoo. “- still wanted to ask Mingyu to celebrate Christmas with us this year. May I remind you, it’s only a week until Christmas.” Seungkwan pointedly glanced at Wonwoo, who rolled his eyes in response.

“I hadn’t had the opportunity yet. You said it yourself, he hadn’t been here in days,” Wonwoo explained, but avoided eye contact with the younger.

Seungkwan wore a deadpan expression. “You could’ve texted him. I know for a fact that you have his number.”

“Is that something you ask over text? It feels like I’m asking him out on a date,” Wonwoo mused.

“Hannie-hyung did.”

“And look where it got him. Seungcheol read the message, but hasn’t even answered yet.”

Wonwoo stopped dead in his tracks, apparently remembering just who stood right beside him. Seungkwan laughed loudly.

Seungcheol chuckled nervously when the attention landed on him again, rubbing the back of head. A red tint appearing on his cheeks out of embarrassment.

He didn’t know what to say, was still pretty much malfunctioning. To be honest, he just forgot to answer Jeonghan after he had read the text message due to the meeting and afterwards, his head had been full with work.

His heart fluttered at the thought of Jeonghan talking to his coven about him.

But Wonwoo’s words didn’t leave his mind. Did Jeonghan also feel like he was asking him out on a date when he sent him the message? Realistically, it very much just could have been a kind invitation between friends. But on the other hand, Seungcheol had to admit to himself that the both of them had been kind of flirting with each other ever since they met. He was oblivious at times, but not that much.

In the end, it wasn’t Seungcheol who interrupted the awkward silence, but Jeonghan.

“Do I pay you guys to stand around and gossip? Go back to work. Kwannie, you let Kyeom-ah run around all alone, there are so many guests with empty glasses.”

The words might have sounded strict, but Jeonghan said them in a calm and gentle tone. Still, they achieved their desired effect. Wonwoo went back to writing notes and Seungkwan picked his empty tray back up, hurrying to help Seokmin serve the guests.

Jeonghan turned towards him, his eyes this time actually apologetic. “I’m sorry. Seungkwan-ah likes to involve himself in people’s business and Wonwoo gets easily riled up. They can be a bit annoying, sometimes,” Jeonghan explained, but the fondness was palpable. Something told Seungcheol that Jeonghan loved the chaos.

“Don’t worry, they’re right. I haven’t responded to your offer yet. I got your text right before my meeting, and afterwards, I simply forgot.” Seungcheol searched for Jeonghan’s eyes, smiling softly. “I’d love to celebrate Christmas with you.”

Jeonghan beamed, lightly leaning into Seungcheol and bumping their shoulders together. “Great! I’ll be texting you the details later. We’ll be celebrating at Wonwoo’s and mine place.”

“You two live together?”, he asked, surprised.

Jeonghan’s expression became somber, a stark contrast to the brightness before. “As you know, not everyone is a fan of witches,” he explained cryptically, only confusing Seungcheol with those unspecific words.

“My parents kicked me out when my magic manifested,” Wonwoo clarified. He almost sounded bored saying it, not even looking up from the book while he continued writing, but he couldn’t hide a hint of hurt.

Seungcheol winced in surprise, yet again confronted with the fact how separated the witches were from non-magical beings, and how some mistrust was still around. Places like the potion bar weren’t the norm, but Seungcheol realized for the first time how important such businesses were to bridge the gap between these two worlds.

Silence settled over them. Jeonghan resumed working, going through the orders in a fast tempo. Seungcheol still wondered how the other didn’t confuse his potions with one another, simply due to the amount of potions on the shelf. But Seungcheol trusted in Jeonghan’s words from the first night, he knew his magic.

While Seungcheol watched the others doing their task, he gravitated towards Joshua, who – surprisingly, with this large crowd – was curled up on his usual spot. When Seungcheol stretched his hand out, Joshua’s eyes blinked open, taking in the offer before he started demanding head scratches like last time. Satisfied, Seungcheol complied.

Time passed like that, with Seungcheol and Joshua sitting back – the cat enjoying being pet – while they watched the others running around and being busy. After some time, the amount of people present decreased significantly and only a few more ordered drinks. It was then that Jeonghan slid a pint of beer across the counter towards Seungcheol, winking at him. “Ready to finally get a taste of Christmas?”

Seungcheol stared at the glass, caught off guard. He almost forgot what he originally came here for. He was surprised by the scent of the drink. It didn’t smell much like beer, more like cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg – the classic Christmas spices. The color didn’t really change, but when he took a closer look, the golden color of the beer had a shimmer of red in it.

Now that he finally had the Christmas Special in front of him, Seungcheol grew excited.

But before Seungcheol could get a hold on the glass, Joshua suddenly sprung up from his place on the pillow and used his paws to play with the glass, hitting it several times. Automatically, Seungcheol retracted his hand from the cat with outstretched claws and watched in horror how the glass was pushed closer and closer to the edge of the counter, until it was finally pushed off.

The shattering sound of glass hitting the ground resounded through the bar, catching the attention of everyone near. Seungcheol gaped at the broken glass on the floor, watching the liquid disperse.

The first to move was Jeonghan. He quickly stepped over to Joshua and grabbed the cat by its scruff, not lifting him off the counter, just holding it as a warning. “Why did you do this, Shua? I taught you better than this.” Jeonghan didn’t yell, but he sounded disappointed.

Wonwoo snorted. “No, you did not.” Jeonghan sent him a glare.

Afterwards, everything returned to normal. The guests turned their curious gazes away, Jeonghan let go of Joshua, and Wonwoo casted some spell that cleaned up the broken glass. Only the liquid was still lying on the ground, slowly spreading. He watched it in fascination, strangely enough not really feeling disappointed to not be able to drink it for the third time already.

When Seokmin hurried out of the kitchen with paper towels, Seungcheol helped Jeonghan clean up the mess on the ground, the floor now smelling of Christmas spices.

It was quiet between them, but Seungcheol could tell that Jeonghan wanted to apologize again. The blonde opened his mouth, but Seungcheol spoke up first, lifting one hand. “Don’t apologize,” he said quietly, purposely making his voice sound as kind as he could. “It’s not your fault, and I’m not sad about it, okay?”

Jeonghan bit his lip, looking like he wanted to protest. Seungcheol put his hand on top of Jeonghan’s, both a bit sticky from the beer, but also pleasantly warm. “I mean it.” He searched out Jeonghan’s eyes as he said that, squeezing his hand and tucking stray hair strands behind his ears that had fallen into Jeonghan’s face while they were cleaning the floor.

Jeonghan averted his eyes and Seungcheol wasn’t sure if he was imagining the blush that spread on his cheeks, but to calm his racing heart, he pretended he was.

After they were done, Seungcheol held out his hand to help Jeonghan up. They stood there, looking at each other, but Seungcheol didn’t know what he should say, suddenly having a hard time to come up with words. It was Jeonghan who broke the awkward silence between them.

“You know, normally I’d promise to give the Christmas Special to you the next time you come here, but after three attempts I’m not sure if that would be the truth.” The both of them chuckled.

“I’d still come here, even if I’d never be able to drink that potion. But on second thought, I’m not cursed or anything, right?”, he tried to joke, but when he saw Jeonghan paling at the possibility, he started to laugh nervously. “That can’t be it, right?”

Jeonghan shook his head. “Curses do exist, but I really don’t think that’s the case here.” He had a confident look in his eyes, so Seungcheol decided to trust him that, sighing loudly. Crisis averted.

Sadly, Seungcheol had to leave shortly after. He’d have to get up early in the morning for the trip with his parents and it was already quite late. With a promise to come back soon, he left the bar.

⁺‧₊˚ ཐི⋆🕯🕯🕯⋆ཋྀ ˚₊‧⁺

+ 1

During the weekend, Seungcheol came across a whole new problem.

Up until now, he had a hard time relaxing and enjoying Christmas due to his stressful work. But when he actually had time to do all the Christmas-y things he yearned to do – like visiting Christmas markets, baking Christmas cookies, or even just simply shopping for gifts – he couldn’t enjoy it.

Instead of work, all he could think about the whole weekend was Jeonghan. When he was outside, enjoying hot beverages with his parents in the cold weather, he had to think about all the drinks he had with Jeonghan – how much tastier they were as well. When he baked the Christmas cookies with his mother, something they did every year as a tradition, he thought back to the gingerbread cookies he had eaten with Jeonghan while they were playing billiards. And when he went shopping for gifts, instead of trying to find something for all his family members, he had wandering thoughts about what he should gift Jeonghan for Christmas.

It was infuriating, even worse than him constantly thinking about work. Because now, he was actually yearning to go back. Go back to the potion bar and simply enjoy Jeonghan’s presence – whether it was just him watching the witch work, them talking, or him and Jeonghan playing billiards together.

After Sunday’s lunch, his mother cornered him, having caught onto his aloofness. It didn’t take a lot of prodding from her until Seungcheol spit out everything that was on his mind. His mother listened patiently and when he finished talking, she looked at him weirdly.

Then what are still doing here?, she had said and sent Seungcheol on his way.

It was only the fourth time, but it had already become second nature to Seungcheol to coordinate the alleys at night to find the potion bar.

He didn’t quite know where his determination came from, but he walked with hurried steps, desperate to reach the bar as soon as possible. His little puffs became visible in the air whenever he breathed out. The thick clouds in the sky made Seungcheol hope for snow.

When he reached the bar, he hesitated with his hand already on the doorhandle, giving himself a short motivational speech to find the courage to go in and officially ask Jeonghan out. With a final deep breath, he moved the handle down… but the door didn’t budge.

Perplexed, Seungcheol tried to open the door two more times until he gave up, coming to terms with not being able to open a locked door. He groaned in annoyance, tilting his head back and taking in some steadying breaths.

Squinting up in the sky, he realized that tiny snowflakes had started to fall down, landing on his cheeks but immediately melting due to the heat. He stared in wonder. His racing heart calmed down and he sighed, already turning around to go back to his car.

A faint click disturbed the silence of the evening, undoubtedly the sound of a key turning the lock. Hopeful, Seungcheol turned back and felt his heart skip a beat when he came face to face with Jeonghan. His hair appeared more unkempt than usual and he didn’t wear any of his headbands, but to Seungcheol he still looked as perfect as ever.

“Seungcheol?” The surprise was visible on Jeonghan’s face, his mouth forming to a small ‘o’.

“Hey,” he answered shyly, almost feeling like he got caught doing something to shouldn’t have done.

But Jeonghan only waved at him. “Come on in, it’s cold.”

Seungcheol leaned back against the closed door when he slipped inside the cozy warm bar, noting that not a single other soul was present but him and Jeonghan. The witch stared at him expectantly, standing close to Seungcheol and he realized that Jeonghan was waiting for an explanation as to why he was here, the bar apparently closed on Sundays.

“Uh- I wanted to speak to you,” he started, but didn’t quite know how to continue. He scolded himself innerly, he should have prepared what to say on his way here. Seungcheol gnawed on his lips.

“Are you here for the potion? Sorry, I don’t have any on Sundays.” Jeonghan, for once, didn’t look apologetic about it, just stating facts, but a certain shimmer of curiosity didn’t leave his eyes as his sole attention was on Seungcheol.

“Actually, I’m here for you. And only you.” Seungcheol’s voice was steady, surprising himself with it.

The blonde perked up, the corner of his lips curling up. “Oh?”

Here goes nothing. “Let me take you out for dinner. As a date, I mean.” Seungcheol was barely able to keep the eye contact with Jeonghan, scared to see his reaction. His fear was unfounded, though, as Jeonghan visibly lightened up at his words, smiling brightly with his nose scrunching up. Seungcheol automatically mirrored his expression, his own smile taking its place on his face.

“Hmm, sure. But I think we should seal that with a kiss.” Jeonghan tilted his head slightly sideways, blinking at Seungcheol with mock innocence eyes, his voice taking on a flirtatious tone.

But Seungcheol shook his head. “No kisses before the first date.” He couldn’t hide his amusement when Jeonghan started pouting.

“But wouldn’t that go against some kind of law, Cheollie?” Jeonghan pointed upwards, right at the mistletoes he had hung up when Seungcheol first met Jeonghan, the mistletoe they were now directly standing underneath. He giggled when he saw Jeonghan puckering his lips.

In a split decision, Seungcheol grabbed Jeonghan by his waist, delighting in the way the other’s breath hitched. He leaned in, Jeonghan meeting him halfway, and with his eyes closed their lips met. It was just a sweet short kiss, but Seungcheol melted into it.

When he pulled back, he couldn’t stop smiling.

“Worth it?”, Jeonghan asked, but his eyes didn’t leave Seungcheol’s lips.

Seungcheol didn’t answer, just leaned in again.

⁺‧₊˚ ཐི⋆🕯🕯🕯⋆ཋྀ ˚₊‧⁺