Archive of Our Own

[ The Red Spider Lily; The Hell Flower:
This flower is associated with loss, longing, abandonment and lost memories. It is believed that if one meets a person one will never see again, this flower will grow along one’s path.]
PART ONE

Taehyung was seven when he first met a witch. He’d been playing hide and seek with a few of his friends, Taehyung remembers how much he’d wanted to win the game, so he’d hidden deeper than all his friends. He’d found a bramble of raspberries and crouched behind the leaves. His friends are too far away to even hear him but Taehyung covers his mouth to hide his giggles anyway. Soon though, he’d grown impatient of waiting. With a huff, Taehyung had stood up to find his friends (defeats the purpose of the game, really) but he looks around and can't see any sign of them.

“Hyungsik! Seojoon!” there’s no answer. Taehyung’s eyes prick up with tears, he feels fear steadily rising. “I don’t want to play anymore! Stop hiding! You’re being mean!” The only answer he gets is the eery silence that has suddenly befallen the forest. There isn’t the expected sound of birds singing, small animals rustling in the leaves, no. There’s a heavy hush over the woods. Even his stumbling footsteps on the earth sounds muted. Understandably so, Taehyung begins bawling. He wants to go home now, but he doesn’t know how to.

He squats down and cries into his knees, he’s too scared to walk any further.
In between his sniffling cries he hears heavy footsteps and he perks up immediately, maybe it’s a grown up! Maybe they can help lead him home. When he looks around he does not see a human. In between a thicket of bushes he sees dark beady eyes staring at him. A blood curdling growl breaks the silence of the forest and Taehyung’s eyes widen.

From the thick foliage, a black bear steps out.

Running aaway does not even occur to him yet, he’s simply paralyzed with fright. His skinny legs give out underneath him and he falls on the ground of the woods. He scrapes his knee on a rock but he doesn't even notice. Taehyung’s mouth is open in a silent scream and his vision is blurry with a fresh wave of tears.

At the tender age of seven he might not know much of the world but he knows he’s about to die. The cold realization steals his breath away as the furry beast approaches. It’s heavy padded footsteps come closer and it picks up speed. It’s onyx eyes unblinking and it’s jaw open as it breathes heavily.

Finally, the scream that’s been lodged in his throat tears free and Taehyung screams. For help from whoever might be listening, even if it’s just the silent watchful trees around him.

Suddenly, there's a swish of a navy blue cloak whipping in the air in front of him and he hears strange words spoken in an ancient language.

Someone came to save him.

Like magic, the bear is gone. And the same hush takes over the woods around them. The man turns to him with a handsome face and kind eyes. He asks for Taehyung's name, sniffling, a bit, Taehyung tells him. He's not supposed to talk to strangers but this one has a gentle smile and he can do magic. He's cool enough to count as an exception. So he tells the man he's lost. The man laughs and pats his head a few times.
"You're not lost, Taehyung. This will guide you home. " he opens his palm and an orb of light appears. Taehyung gapes in awe as the orb floats towards him. He holds his small hands out and the orbital hovers over his palm. Warm and comforting.

The man ruffles his hair once, "we'll meet again, Taehyung"

There’s a blinding flash of light and Taehyung looks away. When he opens his eyes, the forest has faded around him. The man that saved him with blinding magic vanishes from his sight and he wakes up.

He scowls at the cobweb lined rickety wooden ceiling above his bed. He rolls over onto his side so he doesn’t have to look at the roof he was supposed to patch up weeks ago. Soon, the rains will come and he’ll regret procrastinating on such a simple but nonetheless tedious task. Although he has a lot to do, Taehyung spends a few more minutes dozing. His eyes are heavy and he wakes up each morning feeling even less rested than the previous night.
Sleep does not welcome him back and so he rises and gets ready for the day.
Dressing in his simplest clothes that he wears almost every day, Taehyung leaves his room.

Waiting for him in the small living area that’s a kitchen, dining and living room all at once, is his grandmother. She’s already serving some porridge into a small bowl when Taehyung greets her.

“Tae darling! Morning, Come have some-” the old woman gasps as she sees Taehyung’s face. “Taehyung! My boy! You look dreadful!”

Taehyung pouts, “I thought I was your handsome boy Nana, or have you found a new favorite grandson?” She pays no attention to his teasing. With a surprisingly strong hand she pulls him down onto one of the battered chairs around the aged wooden table. Her warm withered hands cup both his cheeks and she stares at him in concern. His heart twinges at this and he tries to smile.

“I just didn’t sleep well Nana, that’s all. It’s nothing,”

He can see the look on her face clearly. She’s scared. In truth Taehyung is too. He doesn’t understand what’s happening to him. Since last month he’s been feeling a steady decline in his strength. Now when he wakes up his face goes a shade paler, his appetite is non-existent and he’s lost enough weight to have his grandmother besides herself with worry.

“We’ll call for the doctor, that's enough of this,”

“We can’t afford that,” Taehyung takes her hands in his and kisses her wrinkled worn palms lovingly. “Besides Nana, I’m sure it will pass soon.”

She doesn’t believe him and for this, Taehyung forces himself to eat more than he can. It appeases her a bit though because the worried furrow on her brow is gone when she waves him out of the door.

When the door closes and he’s several feet away from his home Taehyung heaves. He fights to keep down the food but it comes out unbidden. Cold sweat covers his forehead and he falls to the hard ground, panting heavily.

Something is wrong with him.

He squeezes his eyes shut and takes in a few shaky breaths. He might have no strength but he has to go to the marketplace. He has a bag filled with herbs to trade. This is what they’ll live off for another week. He can’t waste time like this.
With that thought he straightens up as much as he can and goes into the town. The shabby little house he lives in with his grandmother is not too far away from the main town. It’s only a ten minute walk.

The lively hustle and bustle of Shandra surrounds him soon. The smile on his face comes naturally. This is the scenery he’s seen every day since he was a boy, at 15 now he’s still thrilled to be surrounded by all the noise and excitement, the sights and the smells. It doesn’t get old. Down the central lane, there’s a man telling a story to a bunch of wide eyed kids as they stare in awe as he describes adventures from a far off land. A little further is an old man who has a tiny monkey companion. The man plays the lute and his small animal friend dances. Across from them is a woman that sells the tastiest bread rolls. Although he’s never left his small town, Taehyung is ready to swear they’re the tastiest in all the land.

He smiles as people call out to him. None of them try to get him to buy anything, they all know him and his grandmother. Most of them ask about his grandmother, they ask why he looks so pale. ‘Here, have some of these fruits, I insist’

Taehyung loves it.

The quiet peace of the town is a familiar part of his life. The peace is only ever disturbed by–

“Please!! No! Let me go!”

“Kim Viola, For the crimes of sorcery, brewing of illegal substances and consorting with the devil. You are sentenced to die by order of the King.”

Taehyung freezes. He stares in horror from the back of the gathering crowd as two armed guards push down a young, very young girl onto her knees. One of them roughly pulls her hair and pushes her head onto a chopping block.

The girl cries and pleads for her life.

The crowd watches but not one is sympathetic. For the crime of witchcraft, no one will spare any sympathy.

Before the girl can say another ‘please’ the axe falls and she speaks no more.
Tahyung doesn’t look away, he tries to look into her eyes. It might make her feel less lonely at the end, he thinks.

A man in a white robe steps onto the platform. He begins a prayer in a language almost no one understands. Everyone in the square places both hands over their chests and keeps their heads bowed low as the man continues his prayer. Taehyung bites his lip, he looks at the dismembered head of the girl one last time before he bows his head too.

A few moments later, the crowd begins to disperse. Taehyung hurries away. He doesn’t want to see the disrespectful way, the executioners will toss the girl's decapitated body onto the back of a cart. Her head shoved into a sack and then thrown into the cart. He fears he might throw up again if he sees it.

Away from the market square, he reaches his destination. A small apothecary manned by an old man whose children have left the town, he runs the shop just fine by himself but Taehyung always comes around to help him. He also trades the herbs his grandmother and him grow for food and sometimes a few silver coins.

Today, the man greets him warmly like he does every day. Like everyone else, he notices Taehyung's unhealthy pallor and his sunken cheeks. Genjiro accepts the herbs and trades them for enough rice to last two weeks. When he protests, Genjiro waves him off.

“You need rest and food, Taehyung. Here, this is a special blend of tea. It should replenish your strength.”

“Genjiro, I couldn’t. This is too much.”

“Nonsense. This tea wasn’t for sale anyways. I hope it works well for you” he says with a warm smile.

Before Taehyung can protest anymore, the old man ushers him out of the small shop. He sends him home to rest. And Taehyung is grateful for it. He feels drained already, although he hasn’t done anything. There’s a bubbling heat deep in his guts. It feels like molten steel running through his veins.

He only makes it halfway to his house before he collapses on the side of the road. Unseen by anyone, He passes out.

Hours later, Taehyung wakes up writhing on the ground. Pain courses through his entire body. It feels somewhat like his insides are burning and then freezing in the next second. It’s just a fever. It’s just a fever he tells himself even though he knows this is not simply a fever. Taehyung moves to crawl but his muscles are painfully clenched. He can’t see clearly no matter how many times he blinks, it’s like there’s a fog over his vision.
And it continues to build until something just– explodes out of him.

Several minutes pass, air fills his lungs slowly and he regains each of his senses. He feels the hard gravel of the dirt road pressed on the side of his face. With shaky limbs he sits up and looks around.

It might be the twilight hour already. Because a dull pink color has covered the sky. The pink haze looks unnatural though, the longer he stares at it, the more wrong it looks. The evening sky above looks normal but there’s a thick hazy fog that hovers about the rooftops of the town. Over the buildings and the houses.
When he turns slowly, he can see some of the same mist over the trees on either side of the road.

He doesn’t understand why, but fear creeps up in him slowly. Something has happened, something terrible.
Taehyung runs, he runs with energy he didn’t know he had. He runs back into the town, somehow he just feels like he has to. He doesn’t even reach far into the town before he sees it.

The pink fog that’s suspended over the town bleeds down into a crimson color. There’s red splattered everywhere. On the paved cobblestone, on the walls of the very first house and all the rest after it.

It’s blood. Almost every surface is splattered with blood and chunks of what can only be flesh.

Taehyung stares at the scene. It’s something out of a nightmare so gruesome he could never conjure it up on his own. And yet, here it is before his eyes.

“Help!” he finally screams. He jogs through the red ghost town. To find anyone, anyone at all that’s still here. Anyone that’s still alive.

He slips and falls hard. The stone is wet and slippery with the mixed remains of the people of this town. Mindlessly screaming in panic, Taehyung holds his hands out in front of him. He scoops up a pool of red, as if he can somehow put the person back together if he tries hard enough. His screams breaking off into choked sobs. The front of his shirt is wet with blood too, all he sees is red. He closes his eyes and screams louder.

He’s screaming to drown out the realization that has sprung up in a corner of his mind.
If he’s the only one alive, did he do this?

No, It’s not possible.

Something like this could only occur by magic and Taehyung has no magic. He’s not a witch. He’s just the grandson of the old lady that sells herbs and flowers–

Taehyung freezes.

Fear and trepidation move his legs for him as he retraces his steps. Stumbling a few times he runs towards the small house outside the town at the end of the road. Each step he loses a bit of hope. Hope that he’ll slam open the door and find his grandmother in the kitchen with a bowl of porridge and a loving smile. His clothes, his face covered in blood, his grandma might have a heart attack if he turned up in front of her like this. A manic laugh punches out of him.

That’s right, she’ll be there. Shocked to see him back so soon but relieved.

She’ll be there.

His frantic footsteps come to an abrupt halt when he reaches the house.

There’s a man in a blue cloak standing in front of the door. He turns to face Taehyung.

“Who are you?” he manages to say in between heavy gulps of air. The man’s face is handsome, a face that Taehyung has never seen in this town but a face he knows.

“I’m sorry, Taehyung. I was too late.”

Wide disbelieving eyes turn to the house behind the man. He closes his eyes and cries silently
.
From the inside, the old grimy windows are splattered with red.

EIGHT YEARS LATER

“You were absolutely right, Taehyung dearest! I can’t thank you enough!” the excited middle aged woman claps gleefully and holds both Taehyung’s hands in her heavy ring clad hands.

“Nonsense, I didn’t do anything. He fell for your beauty.”

She giggles and lightly smacks Taehyung’s arm. Taehyung beams at her and squeezes her hands.

“I’ll wrap up a new bouquet for you. This one’s on me,”

“Oh no, darling. You’re too kind,” Taehyung smiles and moves to work.
He stands in front of the rows of flowers in his shop and gives all of them a scrutinizing stare as he considers which he’ll need.

While he carefully trims the flowers, Yuna prattles on about something new her boyfriend did this week. Taehyung listens and responds when it’s appropriate but most of his focus is on the delicate arrangement of flowers he’s weaving together.

Shin Yuna has had a new boyfriend every month, she’s a youthful soul that doesn’t care about her age or the looks of disapproval she gets for her promiscuous ways. Free spirited and strong, she would need a partner that’s understanding and grounding. So in the bouquet he mixes red carnations, white roses and a bit of red peonies. Yuna will place them on her office desk and there they’ll attract the partner she’s looking for. At least it’s supposed to work out that well. If it doesn’t at least she gets pretty flowers for free.

Taehyung goes back to the counter and takes out a satin ribbon to tie up the ensemble.

“Here you go,” he holds out the small bouquet to her. She takes a moment to sniff them and a small smile graces her face.
Taehyung feels pride swell up, he’s sure this bouquet will work. Shin Yuna might find true love after all.

"Careful going back, it looks like it might rain," he warns her before closing the shop door and turning the ‘open’ sign, he locks up the shop from the inside. He pulls down the blinds over the glass pane of the door and does the same to every window. When he’s sure that there are no spying eyes looking in, He spins around and faces his empty shop.

“Well? Get to it,” He claps his hands twice and there’s a flurry of movement. The broom propped in the corner jumps into action sweeping the floors. The watering can sprinkles water over the new blossoms, the vases on display float off to the back room to arrange themselves in the greenhouse.

Taehyung stretches his hands over his head and yawns. He shouldn’t do any magic in here, he shouldn’t do any magic at all but he’s tired. And it might rain soon, he just wants to go home before he gets caught up in the downpour.
Taehyung sits on the small chair in front of the counter and opens up the large leather bound book. His clients, appointments and sales records are written in his messy writing. He groans to himself when he notices he hasn’t inputted the sales from yesterday as well as today’s. Unexpectedly, running a flower shop on your own is a lot of work.

He reaches for an ink pen and begins updating the book. Around him the cleaning and unpacking continues but he pays it no mind, they all know what they’re supposed to be doing so he continues with his own task.

His coat drapes itself over his shoulders and he finally looks up. A candle has lit itself to illuminate the shop. It’s already dark out and there’s a heavy wind outside that promises a heavy rain. Closing up his work he wears his coat properly and fastens it tightly around his waist. He has to get going quickly before the rain hits.

Taehyung stares up at the sky, the night sky is completely pitch black. The moon is obscured by dark rain clouds. Before he’s taken a single footstep down the road, the first raindrop hits the top of his forehead. Taehyung curses and begins running. He soon gives up however when he’s fully drenched under the heavy rain just a couple of minutes after.

The walk home is heavy as his clothes are soaked through with water. It would take only a flick of his wrist for him to cast a warming bubble around himself but it’s too risky. He can not under any circumstances expose himself, he knows that but on days like this he can’t help the tempting thought.

He’s almost at the cluster of small houses where his house is located when he sees someone a few meters ahead. The person stumbles and falls down the road. Taehyung wonders if it might be a drunkard. It’s not rare to see in this city but, there isn’t a pub anywhere nearby so the chances of a drunk wandering this street is slim.

Taehyung reaches the collapsed man and pats his shoulder.

“Hey, Are you ok?” he pushes his shoulder so he can roll him over. Taehyung stops when he sees the red blotted over a tattered white dress shirt. Seconds pass and Taehyung is paralized as he sees the crimson blood oozing from the man’s chest.

Breathe.

Breathe.

Breathe.

But he can't. His hands are shaking and panic simmers through his body. He squeezes his eyes shut so tightly stars burst behind his eyelids. The fat raindrops that beat down on him feel like heavy blows that knock his breath out even more. He curls his hands into fists as if he can physically fight the rising panic. He feels dizziness wash over him like he’s been flung away from his body and the world won’t stop spinning around him and everything is red.

A touch on his hands makes him jump. A cold wet hand holds his, pulling him back into himself.

Breathe.

And this time he does. He opens his eyes and he sees the man.

“Are you ok?” he asks. He has a beautiful face, that’s scrunched up in concern. Why is he concerned about Taehyung when he's the one that's bleeding out on the street?

“Are you ok?” Taehyung asks back. He steels himself and glances down at the deep gashes he can clearly see through the man’s torn clothes. Just what in the world happened to him?

The man smiles, a dimpled beautiful smile and then he passes out.

Dragging him towards his house is a lot harder when you count the rain that doesn’t take pity on them. Taehyung slips and falls a few times. It’s much harder to maintain his balance while his arms are wrapped around a man that’s heavier and taller than he is. He’s so frustrated that he can’t use magic.

When he finally makes it to the front door he pushes it open with a grunt. The injured man falls to the floor flat on his face with a loud thunk. Taehyung winces. Fuck, he hopes that didn't break his nose.

“Sorry,” he mutters as he takes the man’s arms and drags him further inside. There’s a loud squeaky sound as the man’s wet face slides over the wooden floor.

“Shit sorry! I should roll you over,” With a heave, Taehyung rolls him onto his back and groans. He's heavy.
It takes quite a few minutes to drag the stranger onto his couch. He hits his head many times and steps on his hand a couple of times. Luckily, the man is out cold.

“Ok, I need to–clean the...”

He fights down the involuntary bout of quesiness that rises in him when he sees the state of the dimpled stranger. While Taehyung was manhandling him onto the sofa, he'd gotten blood on his coat sleeves, a bit on the floor.

His breaths start coming out in short pants, he tries to push it down before another episode can arise. He can’t pass out now, the man will probably die if Taehyung doesn’t help. He pinches himself hard like Seokjin taught him. It hurts but it’s grounding. Taehyung covers his face with his palms, he paces back and forth until his heart finally simmers in his chest and his lungs work like they’re supposed to.

His hands still shake a little as he pulls off the stranger's clothes and his eyes widen in horror. It looks like he’s been attacked by an animal. Besides the claw marks across his chest there’s also a huge bite on his side where the bleeding is the worst.
There’s so much blood. Taehyung feels faint. He turns his gaze away from the wounds quickly and looks at the man’s wet face. He looks pale, almost grey– like he is already knocking on death’s door. He doesn’t have much time.

His first aid kit is pathetically unequipped for this. If he doesn’t do something, it’s certain that the stranger will die.

“You can’t ever be caught doing magic, Ever.” Seokjin has told him.

He knows, he knows it’s risky and dangerous and that he doesn’t even know this stranger. He shouldn't be risking everything like this.

Taehyung’s mind flashes to cold hands giving him warmth and asking him if he’s OK in a voice so gentle, it had filled Taehyung with light.

He won’t let him die.

Quickly he runs to the fireplace carved into the opposite wall of the tiny living room. He places his hands on the stone and speaks the words of a spell Seokjin taught him years ago. The brick falls away to reveal a small door. Taehyung crawls through hurriedly.

This room exists outside space and time. No human can ever find this place. The circular room is lined high with bookshelves carrying tomes and large scrolls of ancient knowledge. Kept sacred from the king’s purge of witchcraft. He has spent endless hours in here that felt like seconds from the outside. His mentor, Seokjin had taught him how to use the power within him. To cultivate it to his will. It had taken eight years.

Now, he stands in the center of the room and thinks hard of the book he needs. A book of healing, of stitches and of medicine. In a second, a leather bound volume flies into his outstretched hand. A gust of wind blows the book open till the pages are open on the exact spell he needs.

He bows and thanks the room before he crawls out of the low doorway with the book under his arm.

“Always lock the room Taehyung, it must never be left open, Nothing must crawl in or out uninvited.”

He speaks the words and the doorway vanishes to be replaced by the bricks of the fireplace once more.

“What the fuck? Is that some kind of magic door or something?”

***

Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit

And one more time for good measure

Shit!

This is the worst possible thing to ever possibly happen. Taehyung is pacing in his living room pulling out his hair. The injured man had passed out again after saying that and Taehyung has been having a breakdown since then.

What should he do?

Should he call Seokjin?

No, Seokjin would kill him.

Speaking of killing. That gives Taehyung an idea. What if he kills him? He holds out his hand and a knife appears in his palm and he holds it in front of him, pointed at the unconscious man with narrowed eyes. If he kills him, no one will find out his secret. Taehyung will be executed immediately if he’s discovered as a witch anyway, This is only fair.

He takes a single step towards the man and wails loudly.Taehyung throws the knife behind him carelessly and he hears glass break behind him.

Of course he can’t kill him. He pouts. But then perks up a second later.
That’s it! He doesn’t have to do anything. The man is already injured badly. He has one foot in his grave and the other on a banana peel. He’ll die on his own. Taehyung smiles and leaves the living room.

Exactly a minute later he rushes in and picks up the spell book. Immediately, Taehyung begins chanting the words, words that twist and roll over his tongue as he pours every bit of power inside him to save the stranger. Whatever comes of his decision, he’ll accept his fate.
For now, he focuses hard.

Slowly, color spreads onto the man’s face as he works on him.The pale grey gives way to sun kissed flushed skin.

He stops the bleeding and closes the wounds perfectly. Another spell takes away his pain and the pinched expression on his face smoothes out.

Relief surges up in Taehyung’s chest, he’ll be fine. This strange beautiful man won’t die on his tattered sofa. The thought shouldn’t be as comforting as it is, but Taehyung smiles. He rests his head on the sofa next to the stranger’s legs and his eyes shut immediately.

****

When he wakes up, he does so slowly. His eyes are still closed but he feels awareness of his surroundings. Fingers in his hair, stroking and playing with the long black strands. It’s so soothing, his brain doesn’t register that it shouldn’t be happening at all. That he’s been alone for eight years and there’s no one to touch him with such care.

He’s worried that if he opens his eyes it will all end. Like a dream, it will fade away so he keeps his eyes closed for a little longer.

“So are you a witch then?” a deep voice pops him out of his dream abruptly. Taehyung’s eyes snap open instantly. The handsome stranger from last night is staring down at him with a smile.

“What? No! Shut up!" he rambles.

The man seems to be perfectly healed. Nonchalantly and maybe a bit shamelessly, he resumes petting Taehyung’s hair and then he shrugs.
Taehyung smacks his hand away from his hair and crawls backwards away from the stranger as if he might bite him. Suddenly he remembers what happened yesterday.

He was seen!

“What are you talking about?”

He scoffs and stands on his feet. He feels frazzled after just waking up but he tries not to show it.

“Yesterday, you used-”

“Yesterday, you were drunk and I saw you passed out outside so I gave you a place to sleep. That’s all,”

He has to save the situation somehow or else his head will be chopped off before he gets a chance to even comb his hair.

“I wasn’t drunk,” he says simply. He has a laid back attitude Taehyung finds annoying. He strides to his front door and swings it open forcefully.

“Well, whatever. You can leave now,” He holds the handle tightly hoping the man will leave quietly. Letting him go might be stupid but Taehyung doesn’t know what else to do. He’s already made his choice to heal the man, if the palace guards come knocking afterwards it will be his own fault.

“I see that I’ve offended you,” he stands up. And that’s how Taehyung sees he’s not wearing a shirt. He blushes and looks away quickly. Covered in blood and mud from outside he hadn’t seen it last night but the man standing in front of him is painfully attractive.

“You’ve already saved my life, so I feel ashamed to ask but, can I borrow some clothes perhaps?”

The man combs fingers through his light brown hair, it’s dirty and clumped with mud. He looks down bashfully and it’s so endearing Taehyung feels like screaming.

“You can, use my bath if you want,”

It’s such a stupid thing to say under the circumstances that he slaps both hands over his mouth. Too late though. The man smiles and Teahyung gets a front seat view of the brightness that pours out of the dimpled smile. It makes his knees a little weak.

“Really? Thank you so much! You’re too kind… Your name?”

Taehyung forgets his name for a few seconds, “Uhmm, my name? It’s- I am Taehyung,”

Great, Idiot. Now he knows your name and where you live. He’ll lead the guards straight here.

“My name is Namjoon,” The man – Namjoon takes his hand and doesn’t shake it, he just holds it with both of his. Taehyung’s face flushes red. His heart hammers in his chest and he realizes he’s standing there gawking like an idiot. Clearing his throat he extracts his hands from Namjoon’s –very warm– hold and steps aside.

“This way,” he leads him into his home, the exact opposite of what he should be doing.

Namjoon thanks him again for letting him use the bath before he enters the small room. There’s a tub of hot water that Taehyung may or may not have used magic to heat up for Namjoon, and he gives him fresh clothes to wear. Namjoon smiles and Taehyung sighs dreamily.

While he’s occupied in the bathroom. Taehyung sits on the sofa, his cheeks are still flushed –and they seem to insist on remaining that way. On top of that his palms are sweating.
Maybe, Namjoon isn’t going to turn him in. There’s no way. He’s known him for a total of ten minutes but he can already tell. There’s only kindness in the man’s heart. Yes, this is what his –witchy senses tell him, Definitely has nothing to do with how good looking Namjoon is.

Taehyung bites his lip to hide his smile, it’s silly. Who gets a crush that easily?

“What are you smiling about?”

He jumps and sits up. Seokjin swishes into the house with his usual dramatic flair. His blue coat flutters as he walks right in past Taehyung.

“Jin! Wh-what are you doing here?” Seokjin gives him a look, halting in his footsteps. He looks at Taehyung and then walks towards him slowly. The high leather boots he always wears clicks against the wooden floor as he approaches.

“What’s wrong?” he asks with narrowed eyes.

Nervously, Taehyung laughs. He sidesteps his mentor and walks towards the kitchen.
“Nothing’s wrong, I just wasn’t expecting you,” he smiles tightly. He prays and hopes Namjoon doesn’t decide to reappear right now, he needs to get Seokjin to leave first. He snaps his fingers and Namjoon's ripped bloodied clothes vanish. He looks around for any traces of blood and makes those disappear too. Seokjin is annoyingly observant.

“The first Sunday of the month, every month for eight years. Honestly Taehyung, you’re far too forgetful. This is why you do so poorly in your studies.” Jin walks towards the mirror in the corner.

The mirror is broken, Taehyung curses under his breath. How does he explain why there’s a knife wedged into his mirror?
But all Seokjin does is brush his blonde hair neatly. He then straightens up his shirt and then turns back to Taehyung like nothing happened.
Taehyung gapes for a few seconds and then quickly regains his composure.
“So? Aren’t you going to get ready for our class? We have a lot to go over,”

Fuck, he’s supposed to study Beast magic this month.
Seokjin gives him an exasperated look and then picks up his cloak.

“You haven’t done the reading have you?” Taehyung blinks a few times, his mind is still moving too slow. Namjoon might pop out any minute and he can’t think of a way to push Seokjin that’s not physically lifting the man and tossing him out.

“Taehyung, I see what’s happening here,”

“You do? I mean– nothing is happening,”

Seokjin’s lips quirk into a knowing smile and he crosses his arms over his chest. “You’re nervous about graduation aren't you?”

“What?”

“I get it, I get it. The guild assessment is in just three months, you’re probably feeling the pressure.”

Seokjin chuckles and then walks over to stand in front of Taehyung who still looks bewildered. He then wraps his arms around Taehyung’s shoulder and pats his head affectionately.

“Don’t worry, I have absolute faith in you. You can pass, I know you can. You’ll become a member of the guild before the end of the year Tae,”

Taehyung releases the breath he’s been holding. It’s not what’s going on but it’s still a relief to hear. His mentor isn’t usually this soft and affectionate even though he’s been looking after Taehyung since the explosion incident.

“Thank you Jin, That– means a lot.”

“No problem Tae bear.” Taehyung smiles at the nickname he hasn’t been called in many years, “You know you can talk to me about anything don’t you?” he gives Taehyung a look and Taehyung almost, almost gives and tells him everything.

But he doesn’t.

“I didn’t do the reading, I‘m not ready for the class,” Seokjin purses his lips and then after a second, he sighs. He begins walking towards the door as he wears his signature blue cloak.

“We’ll reschedule for tomorrow. I’ll be back then,” he doesn’t turn back as he opens the door and vanishes into thin air.
Taehyung almost collapses as the tension seeps out of him. He rests his forehead on the dining table and groans to himself.

What is he doing?

“Is he gone?” Namjoon’s voice startles Taehyng so much he jumps and knocks his wrist against the table.

“Ffff-” he almost curses but then Namjoon is holding his hand again but this time even more gently than before.

“Sorry! I didn't mean to startle you, is it painful?” Taehyung’s heart leaps right out of his chest and runs off somewhere.

“No, I’m- I’m fine.” he replies. He looks down at his hands in Namjoon’s, they’re as big as Taehyung’s. He thinks secretly to himself, that he loves how their hands look together.

“I didn’t mean to eavesdrop on your conversation with your friend, but I thought it might be hard to explain if I showed up,”
Just like that, the fluttering butterflies in Taehyung’s stomach die immediately. They sink to the bottom where they weigh as much as rocks.

He shies away from Namjoon, if he heard Seokjin talking then he knows far too much about Taehyung. There’s no denying that Namjoon knows what he is but now he knows about Seokjin and the guild too. It’s too much.

“You-”

“I won’t tell anyone!” Namjoon blurts out. Taehyung’s eyes widen and in the next second narrow suspiciously.

“You won’t?”

Namjoon nods.

“You know the king has placed a heavy reward for anyone that turns in a witch. How can I trust you?”

Namjoon’s lips turn down slightly at the corners and it almost looks like he’s pouting. He sighs and leans closer, just slightly.

“I’m not asking you to trust me, I understand if you can’t. But–you saved my life. It was risky and dangerous but you did it anyway. I just want the chance to thank you properly.” Namjoon’s eyes look intensely at Taehyung and it makes him squirm under the intensity.

“If the way to show you my gratitude is to never appear in front of you again, I’ll do so,”
Namjoon says. He stands straight and lets go of Taehyung’s hand. Taehyung misses his touch immediately. It’s crazy because he doesn’t know anything about this human but a large part of him, feels that–he can trust him.

It might be foolish.

But he shakes his head and with a massive amount of courage, he reaches out and holds Namjoon’s hand.
Namjoon beams at him and Taehyung knows he won’t regret this decision.

***

They talk for hours. Taehyung makes tea for them while they tak, and then lunch and then dinner. Namjoon carries the conversation easily. He gets shy easily but he’s also charming in a way that makes Taehyung just a bit breathless.

It turns out Namjoon is a botanist, he had been in the woods documenting new samples of shrubs when he had wandered a bit too close to a wolf's den.

"The wolves attacked you? " Taehyung asks with a worried frown. He looks over Namjoon, even though he knows the man is completely healed, he can't help worrying.
"Well, Not exactly," his cheeks turn pink and he avoids Taehyung's eyes.

"There were, baby wolves in the cave and I thought they might be hungry so I-"

"Wait, wait, wait" Taehyung covers his mouth to hide his smile, he blinks at Namjoon who's blushing even harder. "Are you trying to tell me, you went into a wolf's den to feed, baby wolves?!"
Namjoon doesn't answer but the look on his face makes Taehyung burst into laughter.

It’s really dumb and he tells Namjoon as much, Namjoon whines and covers his whole face with his hands. It makes Taehyung laugh harder. And in just a few hours, they’re comfortable enough to be teasing each other. It makes Taehyung giddy, the flirting back and forth. He finds himself leaning closer over the table and wishing it wasn’t there at all.

Namjoon is just so smart and interesting. He feels like he could hear him talk in that deep voice forever.

“How come it doesn’t bother you?” Taehyung asks eventually, looking down, tracing little circles on the wooden surface of the table. “It should scare you that I’m a witch, and yet you don’t seem to care,”

Namjoon humms, thinking over the words he’s about to say. Taehyung realises he’s scared of the answer. He doesn't want Namjoon to be scared of him.

“My sister was a witch.” Namjoon says. Taehyung’s eyebrows rise in surprise.

“She was one since she was born. She wasn’t ‘corrupted by the devil’ or whatever bullshit people are saying. She has always been good and kind, being a witch didn’t change that. But she got executed even though she’s never done anything wrong,”
Namjoon’s voice goes quiet and Taehyung feels like he’s seeing a wound that hasn’t quite healed, that he can’t use a spell to fix.

“What I'm saying is, it makes no difference to me, people are good if they’re good. ”

Taehyung scoffs, “How poetic,"

Namjoon’s dimpled smile flashes and Taehyung feels his chest ache. Good innocent witches like Namjoon’s sister are prosecuted while a witch like Taehyung that’s killed hundreds of humans gets to live his life peacefully.

It’s selfish. Taehyung has always known that he’s selfish.

But he doesn’t want Namjoon to know that. Because whatever is happening between them is new and fragile and he wants to keep it safe. He wants to keep it close. To have Namjoon close.

So he smiles and changes the topic.

***

“Goodnight Tae,” Namjoon says walking outside backwards so he can keep looking at Taehyung for just a little longer. It makes Taehyung smile when he trips a couple of times in the process.

“Can I see you tomorrow?” Namjoon asks, a bit of hope in his voice. Taehyung is about to agree when he remembers, Seokjin. He has classes with Jin tomorrow.

“Sorry, I can’t tomorrow. But if you want to see me, you could stop by my shop? It's the one-"

“The flower shop with the prettiest flowers in the city” Namjoon finishes and Taehyung blushes.
He waves at Namjoon till he’s out of sight. When he closes the door he leans against the wood and tries to get his heart rate under control.

While he’s smiling and replaying Namjoon’s dimpled smile and soft touches, a reflection of light catches his eye. It's the mirror on the corner, reflecting the moonlight from outside. The glass is still shattered and the light that bounces off it reflects broken rainbows onto the small table next to the mirror is the open spell book. He frowns at both of them.

Taehyung snaps his fingers and the mirror is fixed in a second. The knife flies into his hand safely and he looks at it. There’s some blood dried on the handle where his soiled hands had held it last night. Slowly, he walks to the table with the spell book. There’s bloody fingerprints on the corner of the pages.

There’s no way Seokjin didn’t see that.

He’s not the type to overlook something like this. Taehyung has never been able to lie to Seokjin successfully. His mentor has always been too sharp to be fooled.

Something is niggling at him. It bothers him the more as he ponders it.
Seokjin definitely noticed something was wrong. Why would he pretend not to notice anything? He looks at the open book again and cold realization falls over him like a brick.

Taehyung runs out of the door. As fast as he can, he runs in the direction Namjoon left in. He has to catch him. He has to warn him. His footfalls seem to echo in the empty surrounding area. The street is thankfully empty this late at night. The residents of the nearby houses have long since blown out their candles and turned in for the night. Even in the low light of moonlight he sees it. A man at the end of the road.

Relief washes over Taehyung and he’s about to shout Namjoon’s name when the moonlight illuminates a blue cloak in the night.

Seokjin is holding his hand out. Standing over another body on the floor.

“No! Jin! Stop! Please!” he calls out.

Seokjin turns back at Taehyung with a deep frown on his face.

“Taehyung, I’d have prefered to leave you out of this”

“Jin, Don’t–don’t hurt him,” he’s panting as he looks down worried at Namjoon who’s still and unmoving.

“What the fuck were you thinking?!” Seokjin throws his hands up. He’s furious. “You broke every single rule I ever taught you!”

Taehyung’s breathing hasn’t calmed down. He takes a cautious step closer and Seokjiin glares. He raises his hand, and Namjoon rises up still unconscious and limb as he hovers in the air.

“Jin! Please!”

“How could you be so stupid Taehyung! He’s a human! You can’t let them know about you! About us!”

Taehyung holds his hands out to Seokjin, while his mentor is furious, he knows he cares about him. He just needs to calm him down.

“He needed my help! I couldn’t leave him to die!”

“You should have!” Seokjin shouts. He gives an annoyed glance around them as he registers where it is they’re having this yelling match and with his other hand he mumbles an incantation and a privacy bubble circles around them. Powerful magic, done without breaking a sweat, just like that. Seokjin’s power truly is terrifying.

“You know why I couldn’t let him die. Why I can’t– why I had to save him,” Taehyung’s voice breaks. Memories of pinks haze suspended over red splashes of blood and splattered flesh invades his mind and he shudders. Seokjin’s face softens. His hand lowers and Namjoon begins to descend back down slowly.

“I know why you can’t ever hurt a human,” Taehyung smiles and nods. Seokjin understands, he won’t hurt Namjoon.

“Which is why I have to do this for you. To protect you.” He flicks his wrist and there’s the loud unmistakable sound of a bone snapping.

Taehyung screams.