AFFINITY.

part 01 | lactarius deliciosus | one

Yoongi enjoyed moments like these, when it was just him in the shop and all he could hear was the rain against the front windows. He knew Seokjin was in the back together with Hoseok, cooking up healing potions - being this close to Seoul's Academy of Magic always meant they were running low. Idiotic first years always got themselves burned or sliced half open in an attempt to impress each other. At least they made sure Yoongi didn't go bankrupt.

Yoongi turned a page in the huge book in front of him, enjoying how the store was silent enough for him to hear how his pen scratched against the paper. He knew it was old-fashioned to keep the records in books like these, and Namjoon nagged him constantly about transferring it all to a computer, but Yoongi preferred doing things like this. It reminded him of how he had stood on a stool right next to this spot watching his grandfather do the exact same thing several years ago.

The apothecary's shop and the botanical garden behind it was all there was left of Yoongi's grandfather now.

Yoongi breathed in deeply, enjoying the bitter smell of earth and herbs that clung to every wooden shelf in the small store. Besides the greenhouse hidden away in the Garden this was one of the few places in the world where Yoongi felt safe. The place had seemed so intimidating as a child, the tall shelves covering the walls from floor to ceiling, only leaving a little space at the top. More shelves hid the door from view, stopping the sunlight streaming through the windows from ever reaching the back of the store. When Yoongi was younger he hadn't liked the odd-looking potions, they had looked dangerous with their bright colors and their shimmering, warningly inside their beautiful glass vials. He diffidently hadn't liked when he had to help measuring out hen's feet and fish blood to help his grandfather, but the job had grown on Yoongi.

Yoongi knew he had disappointed a lot when he had declined the job offer at the government's Magic Agency, but he liked working in the store more than he liked using his Elemental water magic. Besides just getting through the training at the Academy had been difficult for him, so many teachers and professors trying to teach Yoongi things he had been able to do since he was four. But most importantly, in this shop people didn't know who he was or what he could do. He was just the young grandson of the previous owner who had inherited the shop.

Yoongi didn't mind being seen as a simple store employee, it was better than people being trapped between being afraid and in complete awe of him.

Yoongi didn't miss working for the Agency full time. After all, there was a limit to how fun it was to stop dams from collapsing and strategizing floods, and Yoongi only got called in if they really needed him to work on especially grim cases. No, the quiet of the shop was much better suited for Yoongi, even if he was one of the strongest water Elemental witches born in the last hundred years.

Yoongi sighed, eyes flickering up to the almost full jar of Drop Daisies. Since it was still a few weeks till midterms and people would begin to faint right and left from overworking he didn't need to buy more at the moment. He did, however, have to add a shipment of crushed dragon scales. They were only down to a few handfuls after a group of Wild Witches had been by, shopping for a cleansing ceremony the other day. Yoongi could only huff and roll his eyes, at least he was over the age where his friends felt the need to stink up the place with burning herbs and potions just to 'wash' an ex-partner out of his life.

Yoongi knew it took more than a bad smelling potion and some burnt herbs to make painful memories go away.

The little bell above the door chimed loudly, making Yoongi look up from his book, the pen hovering hesitantly over the pages. Sometimes people just opened the door to see if it really was a shop and not just a weird hidden entrance to the garden. Yoongi couldn't stop himself from immediately frowning as he spotted an all too familiar point of a hat, peeking up from behind the shelves.