Author's note: s o o n. Very, very soon. 

Jiyong and Seungri. Seungri and Jiyong.

His head feels like it’s looping, like a song keeps repeating itself over and over and over again inside his mind. He hadn’t wanted to send VI off with how worried the bird seemed but he couldn’t exactly call – even Floo call – the Choi’s family home and was debating on what to do when D-Lite had shown up at the window, almost like a fairy godmother. Daesung made sure he thanked him and promised him treats and pet him properly before sending him off with a note to Seunghyun, simply stating they got home safe.

He stays over, popping Flooing home for a few minutes to change clothes before coming back and dozing off for a while, only waking up Seungri about an hour before he needs to leave for the shop. His friend lets out a high-pitched whine that, at least, reassures Daesung he’s feeling a lot better, despite his claims that he feels horrible and is going to die soon and should be writing his will right about now. His face is a bit pale and his eyes squint at any source of light but the hangover potion seems to help quite a lot. They eat breakfast together, mainly just so the Hufflepuff can make sure he actually gets something in his stomach.

There’s not much else he feels like he can do so they spend the remaining of their time until he has to leave on the couch, Seungri’s sleepy head on his shoulder as the sounds of the morning program on the radio wash over the both of them. The conversation is a bit quiet but Daesung doesn’t really know how to breach the subject of Jiyong. Mostly he feels more than a little daft for not realizing it, despite having his own issues going on, and as they’re both his friends it just feels a bit awkward.

In the end, he does up bringing it up as he’s leaving, just after letting out a soft sight. “Hey, Seungri?” A hand waving at him from behind the couch’s back assures him someone’s listening. “Don’t get drunk over someone like that again, alright?” The hand stills, the feet hanging over the side wiggle a bit before his friend’s pushing himself up to look at him, arms hanging over the back of the couch, eyes cautious and brow furrowed. His memory’s probably a bit hazy. Or maybe more than a little.

Daesung raises an eyebrow of his own and points at him with a finger in what he hopes is a take-this-seriously gesture. “And try talking with him about it. Whatever he did, I don’t think he ever mean to hurt you on purpose, Ri,” his parting thoughts as he leaves the apartment through the Floo, besides the fact that Seungri makes a wonderful goldfish impression, are that maybe he should take his own advice about this. Not that Seunghyun hurt him but their situation seems uncertain. They’re friend at this point, he’s pretty sure. Daesung knows about his own feelings and sometimes the way they look at each other almost make him believe… but maybe that’s just wishful thinking on his part – and this uncertainty is exactly why he should ask about it anyway.

The idea stays with him until he gets to the shop but is quickly swept aside once his master ushers him in.  There are customers to see to, inventory to take stock of, boxes to organize and he needs to figure out where the building hid their ledgers today. And well as where it hid everything else. During the quiet moments he retreats to the back room, feeling a shiver of thrill run down his back every single time as he excitedly sits down on the workbench and grabs the athame.

Lately he hasn’t been reading much but rather practicing his crafting. The runes activate just fine, becoming smoother with every attempt. The carvings don’t have the cores to draw magic from yet but that’s alright, he’s even begun attempting to shape the wood into the form of an actual wand. It’s just a shell, not even a complete one at that, but he feels proud of his own progress. His master’s not-at-all-subtle proud looks help boost his confidence a lot, too, and her comment about him getting his own athame soon has him struggling to stop himself from hugging her outright.

Two letters arrive for him at some point but Daesung forces himself to wait for his next break before opening them – reading is one thing but he really doesn’t want to mess up his practice carvings. As soon as his fingers brush over fancy parchment a giddiness settles over him, making his eyes narrow in happiness and a smile spread over his face but it fades quickly enough, replaced by a concerned frown as he takes in the news of Seunghyun and Jiyong having a disagreement, despite the written reassurance it’s not the first time and they’ll be back to normal soon.

The second letter is from Jiyong himself but there’s no mention of any of that, it asks instead if he wouldn’t mind coming to see his secret music project and help him with the final stages, which is surprising considering the Ravenclaw’s still refusing to tell anyone what it even is. Daesung bites down on his bottom lip as he thinks, absentmindedly searching for the writing supplies. After a few minutes of staring at blank parchment he ends up reassuring his friend he’d do what he could, despite not being sure of how much help he could be.

His worries end up in Seunghyun’s reply and after that’s done he writes a third letter, to Youngbae this time, explaining what’s been happening lately and asking for his advice. Daesung doesn’t feel comfortable intruding on any of it but all of the people involved are his friends so he pushes away the little voice in his head saying his former housemates has enough to worry about. The fact Seungri hasn’t said anything isn’t really reassuring but maybe he just needs the time and space to confront his own thoughts.

The sharp call from his master pulls him out from his worries and Daesung makes the effort to push all of his concerns away. Everything is going to be fine and there’s no point in obsessing about it right now. For most of the afternoon he helps measuring the customers, makes sure the ones standing in line don’t get too irritated, climbs on several of their magical ladders to replace every wand sold. Acacia, alder, apple, ash, aspen… he mutters the woods in alphabetic order to himself, spotting each of them pilling on the shelves.

At least the shop only likes hiding non-essential things so the wands generally stay where they put them, organized by wood, core, motifs and properties. He doesn’t really know how old this system is or if it’s something his master just implement recently – as in, in the last decade – but it works out quite well. It’s always interesting when someone very powerful or with a lot of potential comes in, once he even had to duck the wand that was so determined to match that witch it almost hit him straight in the face.

It’s a slow, slow day or maybe it just seems that way to him when his eyes keep sneaking to the window in the back room every ten minutes. Daesung berates himself every time it happens – he just decided not to stress out about it and it’s irrational to expect answers this soon. Tomorrow is much more likely. Even knowing all of that time still seems to be dragging on and on. His master seems to sense how antsy he’s feeling and sends him to read an introduction on magical cores, a subject almost entirely new for him, to keep him focused on something during the dead moments.

It works pretty well, to the point where he stops seeking out for the clock every few minutes and closing time actually catches him by surprise. The book is placed carefully back in the office, the ledgers are neatly pilled in their stack despite him being sure they’ll be somewhere else tomorrow and he quickly wipes down the work bench and the front of the shelves even if he knows the dust will remain anyway. All done by hand, obviously, since he’s not that good at wandless magic and he can’t use his own wand near the others.

“Daseung! Someone’s here for you,” blinking, he looks at the door to the shop’s front, frown tugging at his mouth. He’s not expecting anyone and no one told him they were coming, although sometimes his friends just pop in for a quick chat. His thoughts return to Seungri as he tries to finish cleaning the workbench as fast as possible. “Coming!” it’s not as thorough a job as usual but he leaves it, looking around one last time to make sure everything’s at least orderly before stepping out.

His master’s reading something, chewing at the end of her quill, muttering to herself and gesticulating but his attention is quickly drawn to the man standing there. The words freeze in his throat, for once not out of shyness but out of surprise. “Seunghyun?” The lines on his face seem slightly tense, bags under his eyes more pronounced than usual and even his greeting smile seems a bit forced.

Daesung’s stepping up to him before he realizes it, placing a hesitant hand on the left side of the dark, heavy robes. “Are you feeling alright?” Long fingers curl around his wrist, Seunghyun’s smile turning a little softer at the concerned tone before he nods. “Forgive me for the lack of warning, I wished to speak with you,” he seems tired but not outright upset so the Hufflepuff stares at him for just a second longer before returning the nod.

He’s fairly certain they never closed this fast but thankfully his master doesn’t comment on any of it. In fact, given by the amused smirk refusing to leave her face, she probably knows more about this than he thought. Maybe he just is that easy to read, Daesung thinks, flushing but hurrying about. She lives above the shop, which means she’s the one who locks up last, shooing them both off the door.

“Are you and Jiyong…?”

Seunghyun blinks, gazing at him in slight surprise before shaking his head. “We’ll be alright, Daesung. That is not what I wish to speak with you about,” oh. Well. That’s reassuring. Sort of. He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t a bit curious, especially when the pureblood stares off into the distance, his face doing that hesitation-slash-uncertainty thing it does when he’s carefully considering his words or his course of action.

It’s late and cold and Daesung curses himself for not having brought an actual cloak when he Flooed home momentarily, rather than just a jacket. Seunghyun’s sign is almost too light and too soft for him to catch but when their gazes find each other again, there’s a determined glint in his eyes.  The Hufflepuff stares at him a little apprehensively – did he do something wrong? The air doesn’t feel tense enough for it to be something that serious but there’s a nervous undertone to their current situation.

“Would you walk with me to Hogsmeade?”