11. CRUEL

It’s still dark when Jinki’s woken up. Jonghyun’s practically vibrating with excitement as he pokes at Jinki’s sides.

“Honey! It’s spring cleaning day! Wake up!”

Jinki tries to roll over, pretend he didn’t hear, but Jonghyun won’t have it.
“Come on, I’m even making pancakes!”

Jinki opens one eye. “Can I stay in bed until they’re ready?”

Jonghyun huffs and crosses his arms. “I guess but that’s no way to start spring cleaning day.”

He watches as Jonghyun stands and walks back to the little kitchenette. The stove is old -- more ancient than antique -- but it cooks better than any more recent appliance so they’ve never replaced it. While the pancakes cook Jinki tries his best to fall back asleep but to no avail. He’d always found it odd how insistent Jonghyun was on spring cleaning: Jonghyun didn’t even like spring. Yet, every year he would go on a joyful rampage, scrubbing down every nook, cranny, and square inch of where ever they were living at the time. When he’s finished cooking, Jonghyun brings over two plates of pancakes. They eat quietly, trying to save energy for the upcoming efforts of the day.

“Come on, let’s go wake the others.” Jonghyun says when they finish.

Jinki gives him his plate to put in the wash pile, but he has a feeling that waking the others is a bad idea. Following Jonghyun’s lead, Jinki walks down the stairs and climbs down into the basement. To no one’s surprise, Minho and Ki are still asleep. It’s a Saturday after all. They’re wrapped up in each other’s arms with their tattered quilt -- a lingering possession from Ki’s family -- wrapped around their waists. Neither have a shirt on and for a moment Jinki fears that they’re both under the blanket. There’s a spark of something -- interest or even affection -- between them all, but it’s a little too soon for Jinki to be seeing them both that way. When Jonghyun pulls it away, Jinki’s mostly relieved: Minho thankfully has sweatpants on; it’s not clear if Ki has anything on, but Minho’s leg rests just high enough that they’re well covered. When Ki starts to stir, Jinki feels bad.

“Do we really need to wake them up now, sweets? It’s not like they’ll really let us help them clean down here...”

“But honey! It’s spring cleaning! We said we all would!” Jonghyun whines.

“We did, but we never added the stipulation that it had to begin at 4am.”

Jonghyun pouts.

“Come on, sweets. Don’t be cruel, let’s let them sleep. We can get started on our workshop first.”

Jinki softly pulls the blanket out of his hands, gently replacing it.

“Good choice,” Ki mutters, mostly asleep. “Minho’s a sweet boy but he doesn’t take kindly to being woken up unnecessarily.”

“Spring cleaning is a complete necessity!”

Minho starts shifting around after Jonghyun’s squeak and the air in the basement suddenly goes cold; the candles blow out and there’s a distinct eerie hum in the air. Jinki reaches out until he finds Jonghyun’s hand.

“Come on sweets, I just remembered that we didn’t make our bed.”

 

12. WHALE

 

“Where are we going?”

It’s a moment before Minho answers Tae’s question, as he tries to recover from a gust of wind that nearly knocked them both off his broom.

“The animal shop.”

“Are we getting a pet?”

“Not that kind of animal.”

“A work animal?”

Minho laughs but is cut short by another gust of wind.

“No. It’s not a living animal shop.”

“O-oh.”

“Didn’t Gwi tell you when they asked if you wanted to come?”

“No...but they might’ve when I wasn’t listening.”

Minho laughs again.

“So why are we going to an animal shop, then?”

“For ingredients. Some things we can harvest on our own, but not everything lives near us.”

“So like how Gwi and Taeyeon go herb hunting?”

“A bit, yeah.”

Tae goes quiet, letting Minho regain his bearings after they’re spun around by wind. All the ingredient adventure’s they’d been on with Minho -- and even with the others -- had so far been either plant or inanimate object based. It hadn’t even occurred to them that there might be animal pieces involved.

“Are you alright?” Minho asks.

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

A town starts coming into view and they start descending towards it. Minho lands in front of shop called Arcane Elements. After tying up the broom to the stand in the adjacent alleyway, Minho starts to walk towards the door but stops and turns on his heels back to face Tae.

“You don’t have to come in if you don’t want to. I know some people find animal things hard to deal with.”

“No, it’s fine. I just...wasn’t expecting it.”

“If it gets to be too much, just tell me and you can come back out here, alright? There’s a charm on this block that protects witches so you’ll be alright.”

Tae nods and they go inside. The shop itself is full of shelves and crates, each one filled to the brim with small boxes and jars. Tae glances around but doesn’t have a chance to really look at anything, with the way that Minho holds his hand tightly. There’s a tall thin man standing behind the counter, putting what looks like stiff hair into a jar. Minho coughs and he looks up from his work.

“Oh sir! I just finished gathering your things sir!”

When the shopkeeper goes into the back to get their supplies, Tae pulls at Minho’s sleeve to get his attention.

“What is that?” they ask, pointing to the jar on the counter.

“It’s baleen.”

“What is that?”

“It’s like...a type of teeth. It’s from whales that filter feed.”

“Oh.”

Before Tae can ask what it’s used for, the shopkeeper comes back.

“Your basket, sir.”

It’s almost twice the size of the one Taeyeon sent when they visited with Gwi the week before and they wonder how they’re going to be able to fly home with both of them and the basket on the broom. The basket is set on the counter as Minho looks through it all. A few pieces he pulls out to inspect closely, but in the end he accepts it all. Once the payment is counted and handed over, the shopkeeper looks meekly pleased and bows as they turn to leave.

“So...is he always that nice?” Tae asks once they’re outside.

Minho laughs and ruffles Tae’s hair before charming the basket to shrink down to a quarter of its original size.

“No, he’s not. But he respects my...status.”

Tae wants to ask what he means, but simply gets on the broom instead so they can go home.

 

13. GUARDED

 

“Why don’t you live in a safer place?” Ki asks, throwing rosemary into their cauldron.

“What place could be safer than here?” Minho replies.

He flips through his potion book, trying to find the specific beauty potion he’s been commissioned for.

“Oh, I don’t know, anywhere with a lock on the door?”

“Locks can be picked and broken.”

“So can glass.”

“So the issue isn’t in my lack of lock it’s in the fact that the door is glass?”

“No and you know it!”

There’s a flash followed by a ring of purple smoke coming up from Ki’s cauldron. They huff, standing and walking towards the ladder. Minho gives them some time to calm down, working on cleaning up the now ruined potion. He puts a bookmark in his potion book before heading upstairs. When Ki isn’t on the main level, Minho checks upstairs and finds Ki sitting against a wall hugging their knees. He sits down next to them, holding out his hand for them to hold.

“Sorry I yelled at you. I just...I’m so afraid all the time and I...I worry. I don’t want anything to happen to this place because of me. You’ve worked so hard on this shop and...and I’d hate for it to be ruined.”

“I know you’re afraid, Ki. I can feel it radiating off of you. But I promise there’s nowhere safer than this shop that we could go to. There’s 800 years of magic protecting this shop.”

“You don’t have to exaggerate, I understand.”

“No really. This shop has been in my family for around 800 years.”

Ki arches their eyebrows in disbelief. Minho stands, pulling Ki up with them. He leads them downstairs and into the back room. On one of the walls is a family tree full of portrait miniatures.

“This is when we got the shop, when my however many great grandfather Makmoon became the owner of this shop. It’s been passed down generation to generation, if you follow the red line. And beneath each name, it says what we’ve added to the shop: A new room, a protective spell, self-repairing bricks, unbreakable glass, sound-proofing mortar. There’s so many elements and spells and tricks guarding this place that it’s hard to even keep track of them all.”

Minho lets Ki follow the family tree, reading each name and improvement listed. They both should really be working, but Minho knows that the spats between them will only continue until Ki understands the workings of the shop itself. As Ki works their way down the line, the air becomes less tense. By the time they reach Minho’s portrait, they seem almost serenely calm.

“So what have you done to improve the shop?” they ask.

“Come on and I’ll show you.”

Ki follows Minho back into the main shop area. Minho kneels down at the hatch door.

“I charmed the hatch. There’s an inner seal to the locking mechanism so that nothing from the top level can get in when it’s shut. No water, no fire, no hazardous gas, no smoke, and most importantly no intruders. I added a mirroring spell to it, so any spell cast to try and break it open simply rebounds on the caster.”

Ki nods, seemingly surprised.

“That’s why we sleep in the basement, my love. Because nothing can get to us down there.”

 

14. CLOCK

 

“Do you guys ever get tired of like using like plants and stuff?” Tae asks, peeling a banana.

“No.” Minho and Ki answer in unison.

“But they all look the same?”

“They only look the same to you because you don’t use them everyday.” Ki says.

They toss a book in Tae’s direction and Tae throws them the banana peel, which goes into their cauldron.

“Besides, there’s more than just plants that goes into potion making.” Minho adds.

“Oh yeah, because dew and oils and things are all so different from each other too.”

There’s a knock on the hatch door, followed by Jinki’s head peeking in.

“Delivery for you, shall I send it down?”

Minho hums a yes and walks over to the ladder to catch the heavy box. The hatch door closes and he walks back to his work spot.

“What’s in there?” Tae asks from where they lounge on the bed.

“The better question is what isn’t in there.” Ki jokes from their own spot.

Minho shoots them a look: it’s ostensibly annoyed, but there’s unmistakable affection underlying it.

“So like...what’s in there?” Tae repeats.

Minho opens the box and starts pulling things out. It’s knick-knacks for the most part and Tae is confused what it’s all for.

“Is that decor?”

“No. They’re the other ingredients.”

Tae sits up, surprised. “Other ingredients?”

“Did I stutter?”

“No, but....what even is this stuff?”

Minho reaches into the box and pulls out a piece of metal with a ball at the end.

“This is the clapper from the bell of a church that’s sat abandoned for 11 years. It’s used in potions both to aid in making sound -- like to cure muteness or laryngitis -- or to stop sounds from being made.”

He reaches in again and pulls out a paper bag. Tilting the bag, he pours the contents into his hand: it’s a bunch of rusty nails.

“These are nails from the hull of a ship that sank but all the passengers were saved before it took on too much water. It’s used for protective potions and seasickness cures.”

The next object is a small circle, barely the size of his palm.

“This is a compass found in the pocket of a skeleton’s khaki jacket. It’s used for tinctures to help people find their purpose and to bless transportation vehicles to keep them from getting lost.”

“Before you pull anything else out, how do you even use those things? Like you can’t swallow a compass so?”

“Most of them get put in during the potion making but are strained out. Like how Jonghyun puts bay leaves into his pasta sauce when it’s cooking but takes it out before he serves it.”

“Oh. Alright. Continue.”

Minho rummages around, obviously looking for something good. He pulls out a gold circle on a chain.

“Is that a weight?” Tae asks, trying to beat him to the punch.

“It’s a pocket watch. The clock face has been stuck at 2:34am for 5 years in the bottom drawer of a widow’s dresser.”

“That seems very specific.”

“Out of all the things he’s pulled out, that’s the specific one to you?” Ki questions.

“Yes. Yes it is.”

 

15. WEAK

 

The first thing that Tae notices when they wake up is that they’re alone in bed. The second is that they’re not in there bed. They start rolling around, trying to figure out where they are.

“Good morning, sunshine.”

It’s Ki’s voice, meaning they must be in the basement.

“Why...” Tae tries, trailing off before finishing the question.

“Jonghyun’s weak this morning, Minho and Jinki are trying to figure out if he’s physically sick or just out of sorts. You were humming in your sleep and I guess it was messing with something so I told them to bring you down here.”

“Oh.”

“He’ll be okay, don’t worry. He gets sick easily but he also recovers quick. And he’s also just sensitive.”

“Sensitive?”

“Yeah. Sometimes sensory things -- like smells and stuff -- get to him, sometimes the air isn’t clear enough, the stars are misaligned, that kind of thing. It throws him off his groove.”

There’s no sarcasm or malice in Ki’s voice, so Tae tries to commit that to memory. As they try to wake up, they watch Ki work on their potion. It’s a Tuesday, so it’s probably truth serums. Ki pays Tae no mind, simply adding and stirring and measuring without so much as a thought. Though they know that Ki makes the potion weekly, it still surprises Tae how familiar they are with it.

“Ki, can I ask you a question?”

“Technically you already have.”

“Please explain.”

Ki glances up, smile playing at the corner of their lip. “By asking if you can ask me a question you’ve already asked me a question, thus proving that you can in fact ask me a question.”

“I’m not awake enough -- nor will I ever be awake enough -- to understand what you just said so if it’s alright I’m just going to go ahead and ask my question.”

“You can ask but I reserve my right not to answer.”

Tae sighs, mildly frustrated with Ki’s antics. Why couldn’t Minho be down here to make them play nicely?

“Why can you work on potions when I’m around and it not get messed up like it does when I’m around anyone else?”

“Because our bond is weak.”

“What do you mean? Do you not like me?”

Tae tries to remain calm but can’t help but to be hurt by the suggestion. Sure, the two of them were the least close, but they thought things were getting better? Ki looks up with a face full of worry.

“No, no, dear! That’s not what I mean! I do like you. Even if you can be a handful, I’m fond of you. The bond between our magics is weak. We don’t really have an impact on each other at all. We’re like oil and water.”

“So how magic interacts depends on the bond of it?”

“Yup. It’s hard to explain, Minho knows more than I do. He and I have a very strong magic bond. When we work together -- even just working in the same space -- everything turns out twice as good.”

“So his magic and mine don’t get along?”

Ki purses their lips, staring off into space for a moment.

“The two of you have a very volatile bond. I think if you two worked on it, you could get it so that they complement, it would just take work.”

 

16. ANGULAR

 

“Wow, Jonghyun, this may be your best sauce yet! Your skills are really coming into their own.” Ki says.

Jonghyun beams and takes the tester spoon back, wiping it off before getting another spoonful and feeding it to Minho.

“Mmmm I agree! It’s really good, sweets! Is it the basil you changed? Or the oregano?”

Jonghyun returns to the big pot of marinara sauce bubbling on the stove. There’s a sly smile on his face that they both know is code for ‘I’m not telling.’ Tae walks up the stairs, plopping down onto Minho’s lap.

“Well hello, yes you may sit on my lap.”

Tae offers a kiss on his cheek and like normal all is forgiven.

“Tae, do you want to try my sauce?”

“We’re going to have it for dinner, aren’t we?”

“Yes, but it’s polite to try it now so that Jjong can make sure it’s to everybody’s liking before he serves it.” Ki lightly scolds.

Tae pouts but takes the spoonful of sauce when it’s offered.

“It’s tomato-y.”

“Oh my god Tae of course it’s tomato-y, it’s tomato sauce.” Ki says, exasperation clear in their voice.

“I was just telling him that tomato was still the predominant flavor!”

“What did you think about the other flavors though?” Minho asks.

Tae hums and nods in some attempt to approve of it all. Ki shakes their head, patting Jonghyun on the back.

“Minho and I like it, and I’m sure your man loves it since you made it.”

“I like it!” Tae says, almost falling out of Minho’s lap.

“If you like something you should say something nice about it.”

“Sorry, they didn’t teach ‘saying-nice-things-about-things-you-like 101’ at the orphanage.”

“They’re called compliments.”

“Sorry they didn’t teach us condiments at the orphanage.”

Minho laughs, but quickly recovers. “Not condiments. Condiments are things like ketchup or season salt, things that are added to foods to give them a little more flavor. The word is compliments. It’s little things you can say to people about things they do or things about them that you like. Like Ki saying ‘oh Jonghyun you’re really polishing your cooking skills’. It shows that Ki likes the food Jjong has made and it makes him feel good about his cooking.”

“Oh.”

“Here, try to compliment him, to show that you understand.”

Jonghyun looks expectantly as they all wait for Tae to find something to compliment. Their face contorts as they examine Jonghyun and Minho struggles not to laugh.

“Your face...is so...angular.” they manage after several minutes.

Everyone but Tae bursts out laughing. They look around exasperated, jutting their chin out to match their pout.

“What’s so funny?? Is that not a quality that his face possesses?”

“It is,” Ki says, gasping for air, “but it’s an odd thing to compliment.”

Tae huffs and stands, putting their hands on their hips.

“I think that it’s an attractive quality!”

“It’s just the way you said it, dear. We’re simply laughing at the delivery.” Minho says, reaching for Tae’s hands. “Normally, a compliment would be phrased more in a ‘it’s beautiful how angular your face is, Jonghyun’ kind of way.”

Tae throws their hands in the air and turns to walk away. “I can’t work with this!”

The three wait until Tae has walked back down to the main level to start laughing again.

 

17. SWOLLEN

 

Jinki’s just coming up the ladder from the basement as Ki goes to go down it. He offers them a sheepish smile, hurrying up the stairs as soon as his foot is free of the last rung. It leaves an odd impression in Ki’s mind but they try to shake it off as they descend. When they finally reach the floor and collect their basket off the hook, they turn around to look for Minho. He’s laying down -- a rare sight during daylight hours -- shirt off but all wrapped up in blankets.

“I’m back, love.”

Minho turns round to greet Ki and there’s an odd pang in their heart.

“Kiwi, my love.” he calls, holding out a hand towards them.

They walk up to the bed, sitting on the edge and taking Minho’s hand. His hazy gaze and swollen lips would’ve given him away if Jinki’s smile and the smell of the room hadn’t already.

“How is Taeyeon today?”

“Oh, she’s fine. She sends her love as well as those seeds you asked for.”

“Sweet. I’ll have to start on that potion for Hodong.”

“Hodong or Sihoo?”

“Hodong. For his anxiety. He gets too panicked when Sihoo has episodes.”

“Ahh. Well, I’m going to go ahead and get started for the day. Are you going to nap?”

“Do I look like I need to nap?”

“You always want to nap after you come. I’m surprised you didn’t make Jinki stay down here.”

Telltale blush colors Minho’s cheeks.

“He...he didn’t want to stay. I think it was...different from what he was expecting.”

“Different as in disappointing or different as in emotionally difficult?”

“The second one.”

Minho goes to pull Ki’s wrist to his lips but stops short.

“Is it okay?”

“Is what okay?”

“The fact that he was down here, that we...”

“I told you I was fine with it.”

“Yeah, but being fine with it in theory and being fine with it after the fact are two different things.”

Ki pulls their intertwined hands up to their lips to kiss at Minho’s knuckles.

“It’s still fine. Is it weird? Yeah. Was I expecting it so soon? No, especially not with Jinki. But I’m not angry with you or disgusted by you or anything.”

Minho heaves a sigh of relief, turning so that he lays on his back.

“That was my first thought after, wondering whether you’d be okay with it. It was kind of unexpected for both of us I think.”

Ki lets Minho trail off; they take a moment to assess their own feelings about it all.

“You can continue, love.”

“It was different -- and I know it’s going to be and it’s supposed to be since Jinki isn’t you -- but it was...”

“Enjoyable?”

“Yeah. But like, enjoyable in a once in a while way.”

Ki laughs and Minho shifts around.

“Are you inviting me in?” they ask.

Minho doesn’t say anything, simply peeling back the blanket. Just as Ki goes to take off their pants and crawl in, there’s a knock at the hatch and Jinki’s face appears.

“I feel bad for ditching you so I brought you some breakfast.”

 

18. BOTTLE

 

“You sure do have a lot of funny bottles down here,” Jinki remarks, picking one up.

Minho laughs, setting down his basket in front of the empty shelf. “I wouldn’t touch that if I were you.”

“What’s in it?”

“Mandrake essence.”

Jinki sets the bottle back carefully. He examines it carefully as best as he can without moving it.

“Looking for something?”

“A label.”

“There is no label. I just know which one it is.”

“How could you possibly know what is in each of these unmarked bottles? There must be hundreds of them! I’ve seen spice shops with fewer wares than you have ingredients.”

Minho laughs again, beginning to arrange things.

“That’s why I have so many peculiar bottles. The bottle tells me what’s inside.”

“That sounds fake but okay.”

“That’s what Ki said, when I first showed them where everything is.”

“The labels are all in Ki’s handwriting aren’t they?”

“Yup. They can’t keep track of them all so they labelled the ones they like most.”

“But you can remember them all?”

“I can read the bottles.”

“What do you even mean by that?”

Minho reaches into his basket and pulls a small bottle out.

“This bottle is small, so the ingredient inside must be highly concentrated or used in very small doses. If you hold the bottle, you’ll feel a little design in the glass that’s almost like plating. It’s very rounded on the whole and the stopper is tightly pushed in.”

“So...what is it?”

“Armadillo bile.”

“Please don’t tell me what it’s used for.”

Minho smiles and puts the bottle of bile away on the shelf. He picks a new bottle up.

“And that one?”

“Well, it’s a large one, almost a pitcher size. It must be used pretty often or in high amounts. The glass of it is dark -- almost black -- and it has an odd rough quality to it, almost like it’s growing outward or made of sponge.”

“So it is...?”

“Midnight sea foam.”

As Minho puts his ingredients away, he tries to describe what he sees for Jinki to guess the contents: they go through vials of bat blood, snake venom, the first tears of a child born under a harvest moon; there’s bottles of leech juice, hellebore syrup, snail mucus collected on the last day of summer; there’s huge bottles -- almost pitcher like -- of morning dew, olibanum oil, rainwater collected from a forest cistern in the middle of a fairy ring. Though Minho tries with each bottle, Jinki can’t even hazard a guess.

“So how do you know all this stuff. What’s your secret for it?”

A sly smile spreads over Minho’s face and he picks the first bottle -- the armadillo bile -- up off the shelf. He turns it round, showing a particular spot to Jinki.

“You’ve been showing me features for like an hour, Minho, I don’t get-”

“These bottles were all my Mama’s and my Grammy’s. If you look -- really look -- there’s a little circle here.”

“And the circle...?”

“Has runes in it."

Jinki waits til Minho puts the bottle back down before smacking his arm.

“You really had me there!”

 

19. SCORCHED

 

“So if we’re going to see your master, why are we flying in the opposite direction of your house?” Tae asks from where they sit on the back of Jinki’s broom.

“My master’s house is the opposite direction but he has more than just that one place. He asked me to bring you and meet him out in his cabin, which he likes to travel to when it rains less often.”

“Oh. Why?”

“Why bring you or why travel?”

“Both.”

“Well, there’s a big field there where he let me practice flying that I’m assuming he’s hoping to let you use. You amuse and intrigue him, which is something he hasn’t experienced in a long time. He travels there because it’s close to a stream; he feels better when there’s water around so if it’s not raining everyday he travels to a steady source.”

Satisfied temporarily with his answer, Tae cuddles into Jinki’s back. In an odd change of events, Jonghyun stayed behind at the shop, still trying to recover from his cold. Unlike the lush forest they flew over for the last visit, the vegetation below them thins out quickly to grassland. Rolling hills pass beneath them with the occasional bush poking out. Just as Tae starts to enjoy the moonbeams, Jinki comes to a complete stop.

“What’s the matter? Did you forget which side to take at a fork?”

“Tae, look at the ground.”

Though they really don’t want to, they open one eye to humor him and look down at the ground. There’s an odd quality to the grass but the moon doesn’t offer enough light for them to discern what it is. Jinki slowly brings them down until they stand on the ground. There’s a small crunch sound as they land and Jinki immediately squats down.

“This grass has been scorched.”

“Scorched?”

“Yeah. Like, set on fire. Burned away.”

“What...what do you think did it?”

“I don’t know. But I don’t like it. The faster we get to Master’s house the better.”

Jinki mounts the broom again, waiting for Tae to get in position behind him before taking off once more. Tae holds on tight for the remainder of the ride -- Jinki’s never flown this fast before, never shown this much fear before. Eventually a tiny little cabin comes into view in front of a large winding river. The scorched grass ends just a bit before the cabin and the light coming from inside is encouraging. Jinki lands and goes running towards the door.

“Master! Master! Is everything alright?”

Tae picks up the broom and starts walking towards the door, sad that the grass stops crunching once they cross the burn line.

“Jinki, my boy, is that you?”

“Master, the field before is scorched and I was worried.”

Jinki’s master finally shows in the doorway with a cane in his hand.

“It’s alright, I know about it.”

“What happened?”

“I sneezed in the middle of a spell.”

Jinki sighs in relief before laughing, waiting for Tae to make their way up to the door.

20. BREAKABLE

“What if...what if we made baubles and like made them unbreakable and put spells in them?” Tae asks.

They’re all lying in a circle behind the shop: what was supposed to be a cleansing ritual had gone wrong. In an innocent mistake, Tae had grabbed seer’s sage from Minho’s stores instead of proper sage. As a result, the five of them had entered another mental realm. For Tae, Jinki, and Ki, the effects were pleasant but relatively short lived; beside them, Minho and Jonghyun lay, still giggling and seemingly unaware of existence.

“It would be a waste of effort. The spell won’t work unless you break the bauble. Spells have to be breakable.” Jinki manages after a few moments.

“It’d be a wonderful prank.” Ki says, lingering giggles slipping out.

Tae sits up and looks at Ki.

“Just fill it with something dumb like a farting charm.”

The two of them laugh at the idea while Jinki merely groans.

“It takes so much effort to make something unbreakable! Like, you’d really have to hate someone to go to all that effort!”

While Jinki continues his tirade about why it’s a terrible idea, Tae slips away unnoticed. It takes them a while to find the way inside the shop and up to the spell cabinet but soon enough they make their way back down where the others lay. The last few embers of the fire are dying out and they are temporarily distracted from their mission watching them turn from red hot to white.

“-and besides why would you even want to do that making a spell uncastable totally defeats the purpose of it all!” Jinki says, finishing his rant.

“You know, you could’ve just said ‘don’t’.” Ki remarks, rolling over to watch Minho as he giggles and reaches for the stars. Tae sits up properly and begins to hum. Jinki begins to lecture them again but they ignore him and soon the bauble is filled with green smoke.

“Do you even know a spell like that? To make things unbreakable?” Jinki asks, getting increasingly annoyed.

Tae merely smiles as they hold the bauble in both hands. There’s a bright flash and the bauble switches between burning hot and then freezing cold before returning to normal.

“Did you do it?” Ki asks, rolling back over.

“I think so? I put a giggling charm in it so we’ll see.”

They slam the bauble on the ground, pleased when it remains as it is. Jinki snatches it out of their hands, trying to crush it but to no avail. Ki throws it against the wall of the shop, barely missing it as it bounces back. They’re all surprised when Minho catches it; he sits up, giggling stopped for the moment.

“Oh did you find your way back?” Ki asks.

There’s silence as Minho’s magic eye turns gold, then rolls back. He puts a hand on either side of the bauble and crushes it. The smoke dissipates around him, but nothing happens.

“Minho?” Tae asks tentatively.

They all stare agog as he tosses the broken bits into the fire, laying back down close to Ki.

“Everything is breakable in this world, Tae.”