“We’re so glad to have found you, Kibum. We’ve been looking for you so long.” A cloaked figure sneers from above.

Kibum tries to move around, but they’ve been tied to the table by more ropes than they could ever hope to untie. Seven other figures all come into view, surrounding the table.

“We didn’t really mean for you to leave, Kibum. We’ve needed you for so long.” Another says.

Kibum can see the flash of metal from under the cloaks and fears for the worst.

“We weren’t ever really going to let you go, Kibum. We’ve been waiting for this so long.”

All at once, each figure pulls out a knife and begins chanting. The lights go dark and their knives start carving into them and they scream and scream and scream and-

Kibum wakes up in bed, where they should be. Next to them, Minho’s awake, which is half a surprise, and it’s clear that Kibum’s been more than a little noisy.

“Are you okay?” Minho asks softly, grabbing Kibum’s hand.

Kibum shakes their head and starts crying.

“Was it the nightmare again?”

They nod and Minho pulls them close into his arms.

“It’s alright, you’re safe, my love. You’re here and you’re safe. I won’t let them get you. They can’t touch you here.”

Kibum tries to be comforted by his words, but the vision is too fresh in their mind. They’re drenched in sweat and it doesn’t help the feeling. When they don’t relax, Minho pulls away ever so slightly. He pulls his amulet up over his head before placing it around Kibum’s neck.

“Minho, you can’t.”

“Why can’t I? It’s mine, isn’t it?”

“It’s your mama’s though, I don’t want her to be upset...”

“Ki, my mama isn’t going to travel through the planes and rise up through the earth just to yell at us because I let you wear my protection amulet. Especially not so early in the morning. If anything, she’d be happy with it. It’s supposed to be shared with someone you love.”

Kibum holds the amulet in their hands; as much as they don’t want to admit it, it does help quiet their fears.

“What about your visions though? Won’t it bother you all day?” Kibum continues protesting.

“I don’t mind dealing with visions for a day if it means you feel better.” Minho says, kissing their forehead. “Now go back to sleep, my love.”

Kibum wants to protest more but Minho’s already asleep again. They try to pull the necklace off, to put it back around Minho’s neck, but like normal, he’s silently charmed it to stay put.They shift around til their comfortable and then try to make the most of the remaining darkness.

*

Jinki’s surprised when Minho crawls out of the basement at 8am sharp. Normally, it’s not until 10 or so that he comes up, so he knows something has to be up.

“Couldn’t sleep?” he asks when Minho closes the hatch door.

“Ki had another nightmare, so I gave them my amulet so they could sleep. Then I couldn’t sleep so I figured I’d just come up and start working on my new bottle labels instead of keeping them awake.”

Jinki nods and turns his focus to the customer that comes in. Minho gets set up in the corner table. He puts his parchment paper out and his collection of odd paints and starts working. Jinki can’t remember what potion they’re for, but the label is wonderful from what he can see. When the customer leaves, good luck charm in hand, Jinki finds himself watching Minho work from afar. All of a sudden, Minho sits straight up. His left eye rolls back, indicating a vision, and he turns to Jinki. While both have the gift of seeing beyond, their gifts are different. Jinki can see forwards and backwards, but only when given something -- or better yet someone -- to focus on. Minho on the other hand, can only see the present and future; it’s difficult for him to focus on anything or anyone, visions coming and going like the wind.

“When the men come and I get angry, stand over the hatch door.” he says, voice dropping at least an octave.

If Jinki’s being honest, he kind of wished Minho spoke in his foresight voice more often. The deepness of it is soothing and near exciting. Jinki nods, knowing better than to ask for clarification. The eye rolls back and Minho sneezes before getting back to work. After an hour or so, Jonghyun comes down from upstairs. He’s got two plates of rolls, which he gives to the two. When Jonghyun presents his cheek with the plate, they each give him a kiss.

“I thought you two might like some breakfast.” he says cheerfully.

“Thank you, sweets.” Minho says, accepting his rolls with a smile.

“Taemin and I are working on that commission spell today, so we probably won’t be down until dinner. Give Ki our love when they come up.” He explains, heading back upstairs.

They both call out good lucks. Minho goes back to work and Jinki starts wandering around the shelves to make sure that everything is set up correctly. He’s wrapping candles at the counter when two men come in.

“Hello, sirs.”

The men don’t say anything, but merely start wandering around the potions. From their airs, Jinki suspects they’re also witches but doesn’t say anything, fearing this relates to Minho’s instructions from earlier. The taller of the men picks up some of the love potions, turning them around and shaking them.

“Sir, if you please, if you’re not going to purchase those then please be gentle with them.” Jinki instructs.

The man glances at him then drops the bottle. It shatters on the floor and the pink liquid inside oozes onto the floor. Out of the corner of his eye, Jinki sees Minho slowly rise to his feet. Jinki shifts over so that he’s standing over the hatch door. The shorter man picks up one of Kibum’s potion bottles and a cruel smile forms on his face.

“Where is the witch that made this potion?” he asks, holding the vial up.

“I made it.” Minho says, moving from the table.

“You made them? I can tell from the bottles that you have two potion makers here, do not trifle with me.” the taller one scoffs.

“People like it when softer and harsher potions look different, but I assure you I’ve made them all.”

Jinki feels Kibum pushing up on the hatch door and moves so that all of his weight is on it, effectively trapping him below.

“So this sign isn’t Kim Kibum’s?” the shorter asks, pointing at a spot on the label.

“I will tell you one last time. I have made all the potions in this building. Now unless you want to purchase something, I ask you to leave.”

The two men look at each other and drop the vial. Black oozes out from between shards of glass. It mixes with the already spread out love potion and red smoke rises from it, an eerie whisper accompanying it.

“We’ve come for Kibum. We know he’s here. He’s part of our coven, and we lay our claim to him.” the taller says.

“There is no Kibum here. It’s just me, the chanters upstairs, and our fortune teller.”

The men laugh together and head towards Minho.

“You have one last chance to tell us where you’ve hidden him.” the shorter says, rolling up his sleeves.

“You have one last chance to leave my shop quietly.” Minho says, walking towards them.

Minho’s left eye is turning from brown to gold and Jinki prays that whatever he does isn’t too stupid. The two men open their mouths to chant something, but before they can, Minho’s hurled two boxes of Taemin’s hexes at them. They hit them plumb in the chests, enveloping each man in a cloud of blue smoke. They start screaming and fall to their knees. Minho walks over, putting a hand on the top of their heads.

“By the power in my blood, if you so much as step back into this shop ever again, yours will boil and you will burn before you can even say hello.”  He says, voice low and booming.

He pulls the two men to their feet by the neck and guides them to the door, throwing them out. As soon as the clouds around them disappear, they run for their lives. It’s not often that Minho gets mad, even less so mad enough to properly curse people, so Jinki stays quiet when he comes back inside.

“Let me clean this spill before you let Ki up.” he says quietly, eye darkening back to brown.

“Who were those guys?”

“They’re from Ki’s old coven, the ones they have nightmares about.” he explains, wiping up the spilled potion with a rag.

“Have you ever seen them before?”

“I’ve accidentally spied on Ki’s dreams a few times when they first started living with me, so I know what most of them look like. Do me a favor and don’t mention this to them.”

“Oh. Handy. My lips are sealed.”

“Yup. Thank you.”

“Are they really still part of that coven? If they came back, with others, could they really claim them?”

“No. He’s part of my-...our coven now.”

“You can call us your coven, Minho. This is your house, your shop. There’s nothing wrong about calling us your coven. Our allegence was sworn to you, your seal our blood is on.”

Minho simply picks up the rest of the glass and throws it in the trashcan.  “You can let them up before they blow a hole through the floor.”

Jinki wants to say more but instead simply jumps off the hatch and does his best to look busy as quickly as possible. Minho makes his way back to his desk and starts cutting his now dry labels to size. After a bit of struggling, the hatch door opens.

“Is there something wrong with this door? I’ve been trying to get out for like 10 minutes but the stupid thing wouldn’t open!” Ki complains, climbing out.

Their features are softer today than the day before. They’re wearing one of Minho’s longer shirts as a dress and their hair is left long and loose about their shoulders. It must be a feminine day.

“Did you try speaking nicely to it? You know how much my house loves to be sweet-talked.” Minho jokes.

Ki gives Jinki a peck on the cheek before walking to Minho.

“Thank you for giving me your amulet. Apparently I needed the sleep.”

“You’re welcome, love.” he says, putting a hand on Ki’s waist. “Are we Ki today or Gwi today?”

“Gwi.” they confirm.

“How many potions to you have left? You’ve been flowing back and forth so much, I don’t want you to run out.”

“I have three Gwi day potions and four Ki day potions and one Gwibum day potion.”

Minho kisses Gwiboon’s knuckles.

“Jonghyun is busy with Taemin on that commission today, but I’ll have him help me make brew you more tomorrow.”

Gwiboon goes to say thank you, but Minho stands, eye rolling back once again.

“Is everything okay?” Jinki asks.

“He’s going to set something on fire.” Minho says, walking towards the stairs.

Gwiboon and Jinki look at each other and at the same time say “Taemin.”

A/N: Kibum/Gwiboon is genderfluid. Jonghyun and Minho make them little beauty potions that help them present as more feminine, masculine, or agender/enby to help with their body disphoria~