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blu-archer · 1 year ago

Text

Only fools catch colds

Sickie; Joon

caretaker; Yoongi

a/u - based in that universe where magic and hybrids and all that fun stuff exist, and takes place before any of the other fic's in the universe so we have rm/yoongi roommates living daily life I guess.

No warnings, its all very standard. I don't really know what to label it as..

Purely platonic with the mention of NamJin.

Also did I make Yoongi mildly germophobic - maybe. But read it as you will.

Please enjoy and ignore the usual mistakes! Sorry it's a bit rushed![I am sick and sleep deprived, so it might not be great💀]

word count: 3499

***

Business was slow. Not that anything related to part timing in this half assed antique store was fast, but it was definitely slower than usual. Namjoon had been sitting at the register for the past 2 hours trying to prep materials for potions that he needed to make later and the pounding in his head had yet to ease off despite already having two caffeine fixes since clocking in.

His neck and back ached, most likely from this god-awful stool, and it took all his will power not to text his boyfriend -who unlike him- had a fulltime job and was busy doing ‘proper adulting’ things. So he didn’t really want to disturb Jin, instead he was counting the seconds until Yoongi would arrive to drive them home. He would still technically be on working hours when he goes since he would be brewing potions for clients (a side gig that him and his roommate had recently started up once they’d left the Academy) but at least he’d be at home. Warm, clean, and far more peaceful than any other place he’d ever visited ever since Yoongi spelled the apartment to suppress any unnecessary sounds.

He sighed, taking a moment to massage at his temple even though it didn’t ease any of the pain. He could hear the shop owner rummaging in the back of the store and the sounds of cars and wind bellowing from outside. Everything sounding louder.

He was bagging up the last of his herbs, dusting off the small bits he couldn’t scoop up when he had to pause with a sudden stuttering breath before crunching towards his lap with a surprisingly damp sneeze. Sniffling with a frown, he rubbed his nose once everything was bagged but was unable to relieve the itch that had rapidly buried itself in his sinuses.

The fine dust clinging to some of his ground materials must finally be catching up to him. He didn’t have any allergies, not like how Yoongi reacted to dust, but it still left him irritated at times. Now, apparently , even more so than usual. Just one more thing to go against him today it seems.

The gentle ‘ding’ of the shop door opening had his heart skip with the hope of leaving, but he was only met with a wind tousled customer. The first since he’d replaced his boss in the front that morning. Usually he’d be excited for some new interactions to distract him from how positively boring it can get, but he found himself having to force his smile towards the new face as he watched them casually stroll around the store.

“Namjoon-ah?” His boss called from the small office. “Can you run upstairs to storage and grab some of the new stock that got sent in? There’s some glassware and other collectables in quite large crates, I forgot to mention it earlier.”

Of course he would be given work right before he wanted to leave.

He quickly shoved his bagged materials into his satchel and moved to the storage room after letting his boss know to keep an eye in the front.

It thankfully wasn’t a lot of work, just seven crates that were a lot heavier than they looked, but he was lucky enough that he didn’t have to shelve and price them as well. That of course did nothing to ease his aching muscles and the irritation that the musky air and dust was causing to his sinuses. By the time he’d reached the last crate, he had been forced to start sniffing and rubbing his nose with his wrist to keep his need to sneeze at bay. The last thing he needed was to sneeze when carrying glass down a flight of stairs – he was clumsy enough as it was.

He had raced through and made it to the office without too much of a falter, dropping the final crate off before he could finally cave. He stared breathlessly into the sharp florescent light until he pitched forward into a fit of harsh sneezes.

“Dust bothering you?”

Sniffling, he nodded sheepishly at his boss who had peeked their head in. He hadn’t meant for the sneezes to come out quite so aggressively and his throat wasn’t feeling too great after that. His head was also aching a little worse than before… The stuffy air of the store seemed dead set on affecting him today.

“Well, it’s a bit early still but your friend is here already so you can clock out and head home if you want?”

“Are you sure?” He asked, wincing at slight hoarseness seeping into his voice.

“Positive. I can handle the rest, then I’ll see you on Friday again. Get some rest, Namjoon-ah.” His boss smiled. “I know we aren’t always the busiest, but you work hard, you deserve a break sometimes.”

Namjoon had a feeling they were talking about resting from his other work as well, but unfortunately that wasn’t a possibility right now.

“Thanks, I’ll see you on Friday then.” He rushed through signing out and grabbed his bag from behind the counter, just barely seeing Yoongi’s familiar bleached blond hair gradually moving in between the shelves of books in the far corner. The warlock had made it a habit to unconsciously search for spell books whenever he saw a collection of books anywhere, even if Namjoon was sure that nothing the antique store owned had anything to do with magic.

“Hey Yoongi.” He greeted as he found his friend. The warlock blinked, then placed the book he held back on the shelf.

“Hey. The car’s out front, there was actually parking there for once.”

Namjoon was grateful that they at least didn’t have to walk far in the wind. Sure he had dressed for the cold weather but he kind of wanted to avoid any unnecessary factors as much as possible.

“Let’s go. I need to get started on some spells as soon as possible. I have everything bagged and ready.”

That put some more speed into Yoongi as they gave a final wave back to Namjoon’s boss before exiting into the cold and running for the car.

It was halfway through the drive home when Yoongi finally couldn’t take it anymore. He had brushed the first few sniffles off as a reaction from the cold, but they had only progressively continued, and he could only take so much.

“Are you getting sick or something?”

“Huh?”

“You. Sick. Are you?” He asked bluntly as he sharply took a corner.

Namjoon shook his head. “I’m fine. I think I breathed in some dust from my dried materials and its been irritating my nose a bit.”

Yoongi arched a brow, sparing the witch a single glance before returning his attention to the road. He didn’t see how it could still be irritating him, but alas, he would drop it. With a single tap of his finger on the wheel, the glove compartment dropped open to reveal all the random scraps of things that he hadn’t bothered to clean out of his car yet.

“There’s tissues in there somewhere. Please blow your nose before you drive me insane.”

The words were abrupt, but Namjoon was familiar enough with the warlock to know that his friend was at least a little concerned. Although, the knowledge didn’t stop him from flushing with embarrassment and sheepishly begin searching through the pages until he found a fresh packet of travel tissues, quickly following through on the demand. It helped a little. Namjoon felt a bit more relieved than he had earlier, but he couldn’t help but question the subtle burn that spread through his sinuses.

Maybe he was getting sick… but that surely wasn’t possible. He was constantly taking health potions to prevent that, so it had to have been something else. He couldn’t be sick... But there was nothing against keeping the tissues a bit closer just in case his materials were to set him off later again.

They had barely been home for two hours and Yoongi was already calling the workday a colossal loss. He couldn’t focus on the intricate magic that he needed for some of their commissions when there was a mess of a witch attempting to craft just across the room throwing him off with all his barely muffled noises and bad vibes. Even on the best days they struggled to work in the same space at the same time, but Yoongi’s patience was running thin, and they didn’t have the supplies to waste on failed magic.

He'd asked Namjoon earlier when they had first started working if he was certain that he felt alright because frankly, he was looking a little peaked. And what did that dumb witch respond with? That he was fine. Like a liar.

How was he ‘fine’ when he had started to religiously dab at his nose or clear his throat while brewing. He’d never been bothered by the concoctions before, why would now be any different?

The final straw was the sneeze that had ripped out of the younger. He’d successfully twisted away from his work but unfortunately managed to knock one of his completed potions straight off of his shelf with his elbow. It had shattered with a finality that just could not be ignored any longer.

Yoongi didn’t feel even a little bit bad at the exhausted glare he received when he used his magic to aggressively finger snap his projects back into their organised casings before he stormed from his work desk and out of the room. If Namjoon wanted to lie to himself then fine, but not at the cost of their main source of income. Honestly it would have been smarter for him to rest and let Yoongi do his work first since creating potions and charms didn’t rely as much on energies as it did on the three m’s – ‘materials, methods, and measurements’ – which seemed to embody witchcraft.

But since the witch he had once considered a genius was being too stubborn to see that his symptoms weren’t quite adding up to what he had believed them to be, then Yoongi would just have to be the one to step away to work on a new project. The Kim Namjoon care package.

Step one: to the kitchen Their cupboards were practically bare, with the exception of instant ramen so…

Step one: to the grocery store, and then the kitchen.

Namjoon couldn’t remember a time where his head had ever felt so heavy. He had taken a moments break at his workstation to just rest his chin in the palm of his hand while his next batch of potions brewed and now he didn’t think he’d be able to lift it when the necessary moment arrived. He would have most likely fallen asleep if it hadn’t been for the slamming of their front door a little while back – Yoongi must have returned from wherever he had run off too.

Yet that still didn’t help him in trying to finish his work. It was as if his energy was being suctioned out of his body and was being replaced with the burning desire close his eyes and succumb to dreams or to fight losing battles against his increasingly irritated sinuses and need to find tissues. He hadn’t, obviously. That would mean he’d need to get up and that only returned I’m to his first problem at hand. So he’d been using his shirts sleeve to lazily wipe or shield his work from any mess, and his nose not very forgiving for it. He didn’t need to look at his rippling reflection in his potion to know that his nose had taken on deep pink hue, that was only reddening further with each sniffle.

This definitely wasn’t a lingering effect of some allergy or dust, and he wasn’t looking forward to annoyed ‘I knew it’ face when he finally admitted defeat. Not that the warlock would rub it in, but Namjoon didn’t particularly like not being right – especially about himself. Which is why he had continued working even when he knew he should most likely stop, Soekjin had always teased him about his fragile pride. Well his boyfriend probably wouldn’t tease him now. Tell him off and completely isolate him from anything productive? That seemed more likely.

Namjoon gave a half-hearted groan and shifted enough to be able stir the gradually thickening solution. He couldn’t quite remember if this was one that was supposed to be a thick consistency, but he sure hoped so. Or else this was going to be all for nothing. He readied his glass jars and then waited a few more minutes before pulling himself to his feet and giving the potion one final stir.

The pairing of the sharply sweet scent and constant wave of steam was making a mess of him. Namjoon had failed to turn away or cover a few too many times at this point but – as unprofessional as this may be – he just couldn’t bring himself to care anymore. His sniffling didn’t stop his nose from running like a faucet as he moved with great effort to try and fill the jars without spilling too much, and even that was asking too much. One surprise sneeze mid pour was all it took for a bit of his potion to seep over the brim of a jar and splatter onto his desk and floor. Another had him knocking over one of the full bottles, then there were hands taking pot and fussily pushing him away into his chair.

Namjoon sneezed the third and – hopefully – final time into his sleeved palms, sniffling deeply and only then looking up to see Yoongi finishing off the bottling with precise ease. He’d made a huge mess, not only of himself but also of their small workspace. The bottle that he had pushed off managed to splatter widely across the floor, even creeping into Yoongi’s side of the room, joining the previous potion he’d knocked off earlier, and his worktable hadn’t been such a mess since his academy days. He was making rookie mistakes.

“What exactly were you trying to make here Joon?” Yoongi muttered, squinting with disgust at the gloopy, pale mixture as he sealed them all. He tried his best to avoid getting any mess on himself but there wasn’t much he could do to avoid it at this point.

The witch wiped at his aching nose with whatever embarrassment he could gather. “Id’s su’posed to increhh’H’NXGSHH – ugh, increase confidence and suh-ahh.. snfff. Success rades.”

“Raids?”

“Rades.” Namjoon muffled a cough and rolled his eyes. “I’m congesded, shud up.”

Yoongi didn’t even try to hold back his chuckle. Sure this had all escalated into something annoying and he still thought it would have gone better if Namjoon had just been honest from the beginning, but it was still a little funny. In the delusional mess of things.

“To be honest Joon,” Yoongi gave everything a once over, finally settling on the poor state of his friend. “I think the only thing this batch is going to be successful for is maybe purposely getting someone sick. Its not the same as the previous ones you’ve made, its not even the same colour.”

Namjoon sighed; he wasn’t surprised. “I did sdeeze in id more than I should have.”

“That is disgusting. Please leave this house immediately.”

He was sure Yoongi had meant it to be at least a little humorous, but he just didn’t have the energy to laugh along. Everything ached and he just wanted to close his eyes and wake up once everything was over and gone.

“Hey, hey. Don’t go to sleep here, seriously.” Yoongi shook him into awareness, wincing at having to be breathing in his friends germs. He grabbed Namjoon’s arm and led him carefully around the mess of potion and glass and out of the room. “I made you some soup, but I think you should take a bath first. I feel like I should take a bath. My skin is crawling just looking at you.”

Yoongi barely made out the muttered apology as he shoved Namjoon into their tiny bathroom. “Don’t apologise. Just get better, you know I don’t do well at this whole ‘sick’ thing.” Although he definitely handled it a lot better than he used too.

Yoongi got to work on running a bath, making sure to drop a health potion as well as some menthol dissolvent that Soekjin had made them buy ages ago the last time one of them was sick. He tried to drown out the sounds of Namjoon blowing his nose or coughing into his hand by focusing on the water and his tasks, but he still felt like he needed to disinfect himself. Probably their whole apartment at this point.

“Okay, I’m going to leave it to you.” He switched off the water, stood up and turned to his friend who was looking even more pitiful in the bright light. “Just check the temperature, I think it can go warmer, but I need to go clean our workshop before it becomes a hazzard. I’ll go fetch you some new clothes as well, so just hop in, okay?” He gave Namjoon a once over. “Do you need my help getting undressed?”

“Dno.” Namjoon slowly dragged his shirt off, over his head. He shivered at the open air on his skin but otherwise seemed awake enough to handle himself.

“Okay, well. Scream if you need me.”

It had taken longer than he had wanted to clean up the mess his friend had made, but they had made it a rule to not use their magic or craft in each other’s immediate workspaces. It probably wouldn’t even make much of a significant difference, but Yoongi wasn’t going to go against the rules they’d laid down when they’d first moved in together. Space was limited so it was best to respect it no matter the circumstances. It definitely hadn’t been fun though.

If he never touched that potion another day in his life it would be too soon. He’d left the bottles on Namjoon’s shelf after marking them as unusable with his reasoning being a simple “contaminated” and receded immediately to the kitchen sink to scrub the residual potion from his hands. The mixture probably wouldn’t have any effect on him, but he preferred not to think about how much of it had already seeped into his skin. He was already mapping out a lengthy lecture to give his roommate as soon as he was feeling better – although he had a feeling he wouldn’t get very far in the delivery before Namjoon’s boyfriend would but in like some type of defence lawyer. Jin had a weird way of knowing when his attitude was needed, even in the most unserious of events.

“Yoongi?”

He turned his head enough to see Namjoon sleepily pad into the kitchen, clothed in the fresh pyjamas and extra sweater Yoongi had slipped through to him earlier. The witch was a bit worse for wear, almost a complete 180 from the collected Namjoon Yoongi had said goodbye to that morning before Namjoon had left for work.

“You’re alive, colour me surprised.” Yoongi smiled, wiping off his hands on a dish towel before moving on to get some bowls. “I made seaweed soup with some rice, then you should probably take some medicine and go sleep this off.”

Namjoon nodded, not up for any real conversation as he slumped onto the couch that served entirely as their living room and dining area. And honestly, Yoongi didn’t blame him.

Once he was finished dishing up the food, he set the bowls down in Namjoon’s lap and pulled a small table closer in case he needed to put them on a more stable surface at some point. Then with a wave of his hand – the burst of warm magic surging through him both soothing and energising – he materialised one of their thicker blankets and some of the new softer tissues that he preferred and dumped them on the seat next to the witch.

“You made my mom’s soup.” Namjoon sniffed as he sipped at the broth and Yoongi hoped that it was mostly because of the steam. He couldn’t deal with a sentimental witch on top of a sick one. Especially if they were one in the same.

“It’s good soup.” Yoongi said bluntly, finally sitting down with his own bowl. Then added while handing out some tissues for the younger to take. “I thought it would make you feel better.”

That brought a small smile to Namjoon’s lips as he replaced his bowl with the much-needed tissues. Already catching hot breath palm as he felt the tell-tale signs of a sneeze coming on. “You’re the best, hyung.”

Yoongi wasn’t quite sure, but as long as Namjoon finally took the time to rest and stopped spreading accidental chaos, then he was calling it a win.

#bts sickfic #bts fanfic #colds #bts snz #witch namjoon #warlock yoongi #roommates #potions #he's a mess #I promise yoongi isnt a jerk #he cares #vague namjin #requested #thanks #i cant tag #sorry about that

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