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Virgil laughed loudly at Remus’s antics, their head tilting back and feet swinging freely off the edge of the counter where they were sitting. Remus’s pale arms were wrapped around their waist, his chin hooked over their shoulder and mustache tickling Virgil’s neck.
“Re, you can’t just-” Their laughter interrupted their words as Remus tickled their neck again, and Virgil lightly pushed him away, meeting his sparkling gray-blue eyes. “ Do that to a witch, that’s not fair - ”
Their laughter was cut off by the shop door opening to reveal a stranger. That was curious enough - new customers were rare in a witch apothecary - but even more unusual was the general manner surrounding the person. They appeared stiff and uncomfortable, barely managing to avoid the door slamming into their back as they entered the shop. They wore a black polo shirt and navy blue tie, both perfectly wrinkle-free, and were fidgeting nervously with their solid black glasses frames, the knot of their tie, and the strap of their briefcase. Their dark skin glinted in the sunlight coming in from the windows, but Virgil would put that down to nervous sweat as opposed to a natural dewy complexion. Their overall demeanor was frazzled and tense.
“Hello. I was told this is a, ah- witch’s apothecary?” The person’s face wrinkled in apparent disdain for the shop. Virgil glanced nervously at Remus, whose light mood had vanished completely.
“Yes,” they said carefully. “How can we help you today?”
The person awkwardly cleared their throat. “I don’t exactly believe in the concept of magic. However, it appears that there is no other option for me than to consider its reality and come to you for help.”
“How do you mean?” Remus asked, unwrapping his arms from Virgil’s waist and moving to lean on the counter next to them, propping his chin up on his fists. Virgil leaned forward a bit in curiosity.
The stranger took a deep breath. “I have been… hearing voices in my head, that are not mine, for a considerable period of time. I have consulted with my friends, as well as multiple mental health professionals. The general consensus is that these voices are coming from an outside source.”
Virgil tilted their head. Off the top of their head, they could think of many different types of magic that could cause voices in a person’s head; only that one symptom wasn’t enough to narrow it down.
“Have the voices gotten worse since they began?”
Virgil turned to see their boyfriend standing in the doorway to the back room. Janus moved into the shop’s main floor, squeezing Virgil’s hand and kissing Remus’s cheek. The green scales on the left side of his face glittered like emeralds in the light as he swept his long, blonde hair behind his shoulders before turning to the newcomer and looking them up and down.
“Not in any pattern that I have noticed,” the person said. “There are times when I seem to hear many voices overlapping each other, and others when there are none at all. Occasionally, the stretches of silence have led me to believe that I have been… cured, or fixed, for lack of a better term. However, they have inevitably returned. There has been no increase in the volume of the voices. They are not necessarily interrupting my daily life, but they are becoming rather annoying and I would prefer them gone, if that is possible.”
Virgil couldn’t help but notice how handsome the stranger looked, now that they weren’t as on-guard against possible hostility.
Janus nodded once. “Of course not. I can’t understand that at all. Fortunately, that description alone is enough to diagnose you. Do you have any other symptoms?”
The stranger’s forehead wrinkled in confusion.
“He speaks the opposite of what he’s trying to say, except for questions,” Virgil said before the newcomer could ask. “It’s genetic, goes with the whole lying snake thing. So, he understands that it would be annoying to have voices in your head, but we can’t diagnose you based on that description alone.”
The stranger let out a quiet ahh in understanding. “I see. Unfortunately, I’m currently unable to make out exactly what the voices are saying, so I apologize if that would be any help. What other symptoms might there be that I could tell you of?”
“We might not want to check to make sure it isn’t magical,” Janus spoke up suddenly. Virgil turned to face him, nodding in agreement.
“Okay,” the stranger said slowly. “What would that entail?”
“Nothing complicated,” Remus jumped in, a mischievous smile on his face. “Just a quick potion, then some spells, and possibly a transformation-”
“Remus, stop scaring the newbie,” Virgil sighed, gently pushing Remus away. They turned back to the customer, who was looking slightly pale. “He’s being dramatic and extra, because of course he is. It’s just a quick mix that I can make in about thirty seconds. I put it in a tea, you drink it, if there’s something magical about you then I can see it, if not, then nothing happens. It doesn’t give any details, but it does tell me that yes, there is something magical about you. It’s a bit like the magical equivalent of a pregnancy test.”
The newcomer nodded after a moment. “I would be amenable to that.”
“Perfect.” Virgil slipped down from where they were sitting, smoothing their purple plaid skirt down. They hip-checked Remus out of the way and moved behind the checkout counter. They flipped the switch on the kettle that was always full - hot water was necessary for both the witches’ brews and constant caffeination - and then turned to the wall of ingredients. They carefully measured what they needed from the small drawers and dumped them into a small mortar.
Once they had collected everything necessary for the potion, they glanced up at the stranger. “Do you have any flavors you prefer? On its own this doesn’t have the most appealing taste, but you need to finish the cup. Caffeine renders it useless, though, so anything caffeinated is out.”
“I quite enjoy peppermint tea,” the stranger said. Virgil nodded, grabbing a few dried peppermint leaves and adding them to the mix.
“You’re getting out the flavors? You never do that for people you don’t like,” Remus whispered to them. Virgil shot him a dirty look as he grabbed a pestle and began grinding the dried ingredients into smaller pieces, and hoped that Remus had spoken too quietly for the newcomer to hear.
“Just saying…” Remus sang quietly, wiggling his eyebrows in a salacious manner. Virgil just rolled their eyes, getting an empty tea bag out from the shelf under the counter. As they awkwardly maneuvered the mix into the bag, trying to avoid losing any of it, the kettle let out a cheery ding. They grabbed the now-boiling water and poured it over the bag.
“Let this steep for about three minutes,” Virgil said, watching the potion tint an unappetizing greenish-brown color. “It’ll be hot, but if it steeps any longer then it’ll turn useless.”
The customer nodded, checking their watch.
“I won’t be back in a few minutes,” Janus said, grabbing the kettle - and Remus - and making direct eye contact with Virgil. He looked between them and the newcomer, smirking slightly, then moved into the back room.
Virgil rolled their eyes slightly and turned back to the stranger, hopping back up to sit on the counter. There were a few moments of silence before they awkwardly cleared their throat. “So, if you do have traces of magic, I’m guessing we’ll be spending quite a bit of time together. Can I ask your name and pronouns?”
“Oh!” The customer looked slightly surprised. “Ah, my name is Logan, I use he/him pronouns. I apologize for not introducing myself earlier- may I ask yours?”
“Virgil, they/them,” Virgil said. Logan nodded in understanding before shaking his head quickly, an annoyed look on his face.
“You okay?” Virgil asked.
“Yes. It was merely the whispers, being slightly irritating. Ignore any future responses I may have to them, please.”
Virgil nodded in understanding.
“May I ask about your attire?” Logan asked hesitantly after a few more seconds of silence.
Virgil shot him a quick grin. “The witch hat, you mean? And the stereotype that witches wear long black robes and ride brooms?”
Logan shrugged. “Yes.”
Virgil reached up to adjust their hat. “Some witches do prefer wearing all-black robes, for sure, but it’s just an aesthetic thing, like how you might choose to wear lots of pastels. The broom thing was true a long time ago - back when the fastest way of getting around was riding a horse - but nowadays it makes more sense just to get a car. Some witches still enchant a broom to get them places; it is cheaper, definitely, but the magic is usually pretty flimsy and doesn’t hold up long, and there’s the issues with airspace, tall buildings, things like that. Honestly, a broom’s more for the aesthetic than anything else-” They stopped themself awkwardly, realizing that they hadn’t actually answered Logan’s question. “...But for me and the hat, I just liked the way it looked with the rest of my outfit today.”
Logan nodded. “That’s understandable.” He checked his watch, then looked back up at Virgil. “You work here, then?”
Virgil made a noise of agreement. “I finished my apprenticeship just over a year ago, now. Remus and Janus had already started the apothecary, and we’d been dating for a few years at that point, so I joined them.”
Logan nodded, seeming to catalogue something from that information. “May I ask what a witch’s apprenticeship entails?” He leaned forward, his face lighting up with curiosity.
Virgil gave him a small smile. “Sure. The system’s kind of complicated, especially because there’s the variable of some witches growing up with experience and others not, but I can try to give you a general overview.”
Logan nodded eagerly, looking like he was itching to whip out a notebook and pen and take notes.
“So, like I said, some witches grow up with experience and others don’t. That happens because magical sensitivity, the thing that gives you the ability to be a witch, is a recessive trait. Not everyone who has the trait knows about it, either, because if you aren’t exposed to magic you’re not going to know about their magsens. It’s pretty rare for a witch to know about them being a witch if there’s not another witch in the family somewhere in the last two or three generations.”
“May I ask what this maj… senz is?” Logan asked curiously.
“Oh!” Virgil laughed slightly. “Magical sensitivity. Shortens to magsens, because that’s easier and quicker to say.”
“Ah, I see.” Logan shifted from foot to foot, an excited look on his face. “So are there fewer witches now than in the past because of the recessive quality of the magsens?” He shook his head quickly again, and Virgil remembered what he had said about the whispers.
Virgil tilted their head back and forth. “It’s hard to say, but I’m pretty confident that we’re not going to die out anytime soon, if that’s what you’re getting at.”
Logan made a noise of understanding. “So how does the apprentice system work?”
Virgil took a breath to answer, then remembered the tea. “I’d love to explain, but what time is it?”
Logan’s eyes widened in apparent surprise, and he looked at his watch. “Time to drink my tea, apparently.” He reached for the cup, then hesitated. “What should I expect?”
Virgil smiled at him reassuringly. “The most you might feel is a little bit of a tingle as it goes down, but that’ll probably be covered up by the heat of the water.”
Logan nodded, and lifted the cup to his lips. He drank it quickly before putting it back down on the counter with a slight twist of his lips.
“It doesn’t taste the best,” Virgil laughed. “But the peppermint helps, believe me.”
Logan nodded. “How long will it take to reveal whether I have… how did you put it, ‘traces of magic’?”
“It should show soon,” Virgil said, glancing over at the clock. It had been about four minutes since the tea had begun steeping. “Within a minute.”
Logan nodded in acceptance, readjusting his stance just as the door opened from the back room.
“Is it showing yet?” Janus asked as he stepped through the door, dragging Remus through behind him. Virgil wrinkled their nose at the way that both of their lips were swollen and their clothes were wrinkled.
“No, but the way you were making out sure is,” they said. Remus cackled, and Janus didn’t even satisfy them with a blush.
“I’m going to apologize for being with my boyfriend,” Janus said primly, setting the kettle down on its base with a click.
Virgil snorted, turning back to Logan. They nodded when they saw the confirmation of magic - he was glowing slightly purple, with misty wisps trailing away from him.
“Well, you’ve definitely had magic of some sort,” they said thoughtfully. “Like I said, I can’t tell you exactly what it is, but I can say pretty confidently that the voices you’re hearing are due to a magical encounter.”
Remus seemed to snap into his “professional, knowledgeable witch” mode, putting his hands on his hips. “Are you having headaches, or did you have one when the voices first started?”
Logan tilted his head. “Besides the ones to be expected from sleep deprivation and caffeine headaches, no.”
“Trouble sleeping?”
“I have insomnia, so that is a difficult question to answer.”
Remus dipped his head in acknowledgement. “Fair enough. Any weird mood changes?”
“No.”
“Changes in food preferences?”
“No.”
“Do you have unexplained itching on your scalp?”
Logan looked at Remus like he had grown an extra head. “No.”
“Tingling in your left middle toe?”
Logan paused, looking even more perplexed. “...No?”
“That was not a long pause, and didn’t sound like a question. Are you certain?” Janus asked, a worried look on his face. Virgil was also concerned; the left-middle-toe tingle could indicate some nasty spellwork that was above any of their knowledge levels to counter.
“I am certain. It was simply an unexpected question that I had to process before I could answer.”
Virgil sighed in relief. “Good. If you did feel it, then we would be up against some vicious stuff.”
Logan looked rather lost, but he nodded.
“Well, I’m pretty sure I’ve gone through all the easy shit,” Remus said casually, slumping down onto the counter. “We could do some more tests to figure out more exactly what’s going on, but you’d have to come back another time, because it’s nearly closing now.”
Logan’s eyes widened, and he glanced down at his watch. “I apologize for taking up so much of your time. When would you like me to come back?”
Virgil glanced back at Remus, who had a blank, confused look on his face, then looked to Janus, who was carefully examining his fingernails. “Let me check our calendar,” they sighed, slipping off of the counter and moving to the computer to pull up the witches’ work schedule. “Since we don’t know exactly what’s going on, and we all specialize in different aspects of magic, I think all of us should be here,” they said. They clicked their tongue a few times as they browsed through the work schedule. “You could come back at this same time on Thursday,” they offered. “Or we could do Friday morning.” They glanced up from the screen to see Logan tapping on his phone.
“I can do Friday,” he said. “How long do you estimate it’ll take?”
Virgil tilted their head back and forth a few times, thinking. “Well, I think it’s unlikely that we’ll figure out what’s happening on the first test. So maybe we could plan on two hours first and then go from there?”
Logan nodded. “Understood. How does 9:30 A.M. sound for you?”
Virgil sectioned the time off in the calendar. “That’s perfect. We’ll see you then.”
They looked up to see Logan with a soft smile on his face. “Perhaps we can finish our conversation about apprenticeships next time, then.”
Virgil felt their face go hot. “Um… yes. That sounds great.”
“I will see you then.” Logan looked up to Janus and Remus, who were talking quietly behind Virgil. “I appreciate your help very much. How much do I owe?”
Janus waved a hand. “This wasn’t just a consultation. Do worry about it.”
Logan nodded again. “I will see you on Friday, then.” He left the shop, the bell on the door ringing cheerily as it closed behind him.
“...Oh, you’re so far gone, Virgil,” Remus said gleefully.
Janus nodded. “You don’t know we don’t charge for that normally,” he said, a smug smile on his face. “You’re not lucky I’m feeling unkind today.”
Virgil just sighed, unable to argue with their boyfriends. “You’re both okay with it, though?” they asked as they looked up.
“I’m cool with it,” Remus shrugged.
“It’s not fine with me,” Janus confirmed. “He isn’t very easy on the eyes, and I would mind seeing him around more. Of course, that is the only reason I’m not encouraging you to get closer to him.”
Virgil let out a little laugh. “Okay. I don’t know if I’ll actually do anything about it, but... thanks for the encouragement.”
---
Virgil glanced up from the potion they were making as they heard the door open. “Oh, hi,” they said, a smile spreading across their face as they saw Logan enter the shop. “Give me just a few minutes to finish this up…” They trailed off as they looked down to the potion to see that its formerly dark red color had turned into an eye-searing magenta. “Oh, come on,” they hissed at the liquid, mentally flipping through the various reasons it might have changed so drastically. “Fuck,” they sighed as they realized they’d grabbed the wrong kind of stir-stick. “Rookie mistake.” They frowned at the pot, deciding to just leave it where it was and deal with it later. There wasn’t anything dangerous or extremely flammable in it; it might solidify a bit and make it harder to clean, but that was an issue for future Virgil to deal with.
“Hi,” they said finally as they looked up from the ruined potion. “How are you today?”
Logan quirked an eyebrow. “It appears better than you. May I ask what happened?”
Virgil let out a small huff. “I just made a mistake when I was making this. Not a huge deal, it’s nothing incredibly urgent or dangerous, just frustrating. You know how it is.”
Logan gave a little frown. “I can’t exactly say that I do, as I’ve never had experience with magic.”
Virgil smiled at him. “It’s not a magic-exclusive problem. Have you ever baked, and realized you used the wrong ingredient or the wrong amount of something, and so whatever you were making wouldn’t work anymore and you had to dump it all at the last minute?”
Logan’s face lit up with understanding. “I see.” He suddenly looked around, a confused expression on his face, before relaxing. “Whispers,” he explained tiredly.
Virgil nodded sympathetically and moved away from the remnants of the potion. “Anyway. Remus and Janus should be here in just a few minutes, and then we can start to work out what we think would be the best way to figure out what’s going on with you.”
Logan nodded. “All right.”
“So, can I ask what you do for a living?” Virgil asked after what felt like a long, awkward stretch of silence, although it was probably only a few seconds.
“I am a graduate student at the university here,” Logan said proudly. “In astronomy.”
Virgil’s eyebrows shot up. “That’s pretty impressive,” they said, trying to stay casual. “Isn’t that program one of the most selective in the country?” The university may have been the only one in the area, but it was still nationally-known and highly prestigious.
Logan shrugged. “I suppose,” he said modestly, although he ducked his head, an embarrassed look on his face.
“Well, congratulations,” Virgil said. “I’m guessing you’re overworked as hell and working on barely twenty-four hours of sleep a week. Although, I guess I do remember you said you have insomnia, so that’s probably not exactly out of the ordinary for you.”
Logan gave a small chuckle. “You’re not wrong on either count.”
“Same hat, by the way,” Virgil said as they self-consciously adjusted the cuffs of their sleeves. “I have insomnia too. So I understand how frustrating it can be.”
Logan gave them a confused frown. “Apologies, I do not understand your reference to a hat- neither of us is wearing one at the current moment?”
“Oh! Um.” Virgil scrambled for an explanation. “I guess same hat is slang for, like- I’m right there with ya? Or I guess it’s also used when two people literally do have the same article of clothing. I think I’ve heard it with, like… ideas, too. But in this case I’m just saying that I also have insomnia, so I feel your metaphorical pain.”
Logan nodded once, hands moving to his pockets. He pulled out a stack of index cards, binder-clipped together, and pulled a blank one from the back of the stack. “Would you happen to have a writing implement?” he asked Virgil.
“Um- yeah,” they said. They shuffled through the papers on the counter to find a pen. They handed Logan the first one they saw - it was uncapped, so they hoped it wasn’t completely dried out.
“Much appreciated,” he said as he began to write on the index card. Virgil watched as he wrote the definition of the phrase on one side of the card and the phrase itself on the other.
“Thank you,” he said when he was done, handing the pen back to Virgil. They just put it down to be lost forever in the pile of papers, not really caring what happened to it. Logan clipped the index card into the stack and slipped it back into his pocket just as the door to the shop opened.
“And I’m telling you, Janny, it just- slipped back in! I don’t know where it went, but I wonder where else it could slip into-”
Virgil sighed and rested their face in their hands as Remus and Janus entered the shop.
“We have a customer here,” they called tiredly over the sound of Remus describing this thing that was apparently so interesting. “So let’s please try to have some modicum of professionalism?”
Remus laughed loudly, slinging an arm around Virgil’s shoulders. “Professionalism is overrated.”
“Whatever,” Virgil mumbled, giving Remus a quick kiss before ducking out from under his arm and turning to Janus. “So, what were you thinking about how we can figure out what’s going on with Logan?”
Janus turned to the wall of ingredients. “I was thinking we shouldn’t try to figure out how he’s been affected - whether it’s a curse, uncontrolled magic, jinx, et cetera. I’m also not thinking we should test to see if he might actually have magsens, since that couldn’t change how we treat it as well.” He turned back to Logan. “You said originally that you did have previous experience with magic, correct?”
Logan nodded. “Previous to this, I hadn’t actually believed in magic; all I had heard were negative stereotypical statements and rumors. However, I believe I have been… persuaded otherwise.” He gave Virgil a small smile.
“Virgil, could you get the magsens potion started?” Janus asked. Virgil nodded and moved to grab the correct ingredients.
“There aren’t many negative things said about us.” Janus said as he moved across the wall of tiny drawers, picking out ingredients as he went and putting them into a few different bowls. “However, it’s not good to hear that meeting us has changed your thoughts.” He huffed as he stretched up to reach a drawer in one of the upper rows. He frowned as his fingertips barely brushed the bottom of the compartment.
“Remus…” he asked, turning around to face Remus, who was already snickering. He came up to Janus and kneeled on the floor. Janus swung his legs over Remus’s shoulders and the taller man stood up precariously, allowing Janus to reach the higher ingredients.
“You know, we have a ladder for that,” Virgil commented dryly, looking up from their own bowl. They turned to Logan. “The two of them do this regularly. It’s funny, until they fall and pull the whole shelf down with them and then I have to spend the rest of the day picking out all the little bits of ingredients from each other.”
Logan’s eyes widened. “Is that not dangerous? The different materials mixing together?”
Virgil shook their head. “For what we have out here, no. Nothing out here is inherently magical or dangerous - it’s the contact with our magic that makes them that way. The dangerous stuff is in the back room, and we don’t let Remus in there unsupervised.” They turned around as they heard the thump of Janus hitting the ground, relieved when to see him on his feet with no apparent injuries.
“We’re not going to do this one first,” Janus said, nodding to Virgil’s work. “It’s not just a potion that tests for the magical sensitivity gene. I shouldn’t have asked you yesterday, but do you have any allergies or sensitivities we should know about?”
Logan tilted his head. “I’m lactose intolerant, although I have plenty of pills for that. Other than that, no.”
Janus nodded. “We do use lactose-based liquids, because Remus isn’t also intolerant and absolutely can be trusted to keep things that are good for him out of his mouth.”
Logan gave a little huff of laughter. “From what I’ve seen so far, that sounds like a relatively accurate statement,” he said dryly. After a moment, he perked up. “Can I ask what the worst effect he’s experienced because of this has been? You’re under no obligation to share, I’m simply nosy.”
Remus cackled. “You’re such a dork. I’d be glad to tell you! Dork means whale penis, by the way,” he said as a gleeful aside. “Anyway, Virgey-poo here was just starting out their apprenticeship and decided that they were going to make a new potion. They’d just started to get the formulation down, and they needed a human subject.”
“I did not,” Virgil objected from where they were mixing cinnamon into a boiling pot of water, counting the number of times they had stirred. “I told you it probably wasn’t safe, and who knew what was going to happen. I even told you not to drink it!”
Remus turned back to Logan. “They only said probably not safe. And anyway, their idea of what counts as safe and what doesn’t is pretty different from mine!” He looked almost excited about this fact. “So anyway, I drank it. The problem was, I forgot that I still had an energy potion in me! So they combined in bad ways, and suddenly I turned bright green! And three feet tall! And emitting toxic, corrosive slime! It was awesome!”
Logan blinked at the descriptor Remus used. “I’m glad it was a… positive experience for you,” he said slowly.
Virgil approached Logan with a small vial of a cobalt blue potion in their hand. “Drink this slowly,” they instructed. “If you do have a magical sensitivity, you’ll feel a tingling similar to pins-and-needles across your whole body. If you don’t, there’ll likely be a faint sense of nausea. It shouldn’t be intense or prolonged enough to make you any more than slightly uncomfortable, but if it is, please tell us as soon as possible. We have buckets. If you don’t feel anything, or aren’t sure, we can see indicators if you do have the sensitivity.”
Logan eyed the liquid with some trepidation. “Okay,” he said slowly. He took the vial and glanced at the others. “Now?”
Janus nodded. “Whenever you’re not ready.”
Logan shrugged. “Okay.” He raised the vial. “Cheers, I suppose.”
As he lowered the vial, Virgil saw him stumble slightly.
“Are you feeling okay?” they asked. Logan nodded, breathing deeply.
“Let us know,” Remus said brightly. Janus didn’t say anything, still working on his brew behind them.
After just a few moments, Logan exhaled audibly, smoothing down his tie. “Well, I believe the nausea has safely ruled out any magical sensitivity on my part,” he said. “What next?”
Janus turned to Remus and Virgil. “Finding the kind of magic?” he asked.
“Sounds good to me,” Remus said, already turning to the ingredient wall. “You want me to get the curse potion set up?”
“Please don’t,” Janus nodded. “Virgil, can you make the jinx? I won’t finish getting the accidental magic sensor together.”
“Sure,” Virgil said, moving to the back room where some of the ingredients were stored.
The three witches moved past each other, getting ingredients from the back wall, moving to the fire, and working at the counter. They were all focused on their work, with none of the chatter or jokes that had been previously present. Logan looked slightly awkward, Virgil noticed, but they couldn’t think of anything to make him more comfortable. They were all trying to make their brews and potions quickly; unfortunately, they didn’t have time for the conversation that would normally relax any customers.
After about five minutes of intense grinding, mixing, and heating, Janus looked up from his work. “I’m not ready whenever the others are,” he said to Logan quietly. “This wouldn’t be best to administer last, though, because of how intense it can be.”
Logan nodded. “May I ask, what do you mean when you mention the intensity?”
Janus tilted his head back and forth. “Because it doesn’t test for accidental or uncontrolled magic, the way it works is rather… harsh. Typically, the less targeted we can make the magic, the worse the side effects, because when it isn’t more exact, it can’t find the target quickly to bond to it in whatever way isn’t required. Accidental or uncontrolled magic can’t manifest in many ways, so the sensor for it isn’t rather… harsh, because it doesn’t need to have the ability to bond with so many different manifestations of magic. It doesn’t have a rather painful way of going through the body and finding any magic.”
Logan swallowed. “Ah. I… see.”
Janus gave him a small smile. “But, if you weren’t cursed or jinxed, you will have to consume this.” He gestured to the bowl on the counter in front of him, which was filled with a brownish-greenish slime that Virgil knew from personal experience was much more pleasant to ingest than it looked. “And it did take a lot of time to make, so it is a waste if you do.”
Logan made a vague noise of agreement.
“Okay,” Virgil interrupted, plunking a teacup filled with a light brown, tea-like liquid onto the countertop, “Let’s stop scaring Logan. It’s probably just a jinx, which is what this is going to test for. The only thing this does is tell me if you’ve been jinxed, like the one from a few days ago showed us you had magical traces.” They turned to Logan. “Generally, the stuff I make is a lot less intrusive than Janus’s. He specializes in a little more hard-core magic than me.”
“Okay,” Logan said, feeling a bit better at Virgil’s reassurance. “I- should I drink this, then?” He reached toward the teacup, only to have his hands gently swatted away.
“Nope!” Remus announced happily. “Have this first.” He pushed a plate towards Logan. Upon closer observation, it looked like a simple piece of toast with jam spread across it.
“I- okay?” Logan said, hesitantly reaching towards it. “What should I expect?”
“Tell us if you feel lightheaded,” Virgil instructed. “You probably won’t, but sometimes people do.”
“Usually when they have a really fun curse on them!” Remus interjected.
“And when Remus doesn’t say fun, he doesn’t mean difficult to counter,” Janus deadpanned. “You have reason to worry, though - even if you don’t feel lightheaded, it will be as intense as the sensitivity test was.”
Logan took a deep breath, nodding to himself. “Okay.” He picked up the piece of toast, taking a bite of it and making a pleased sound of surprise. “How did you know my favorite flavor?” he asked between bites.
Remus shrugged. “Magic- literally. It switches depending on the person, so I get onion, tuna, and chocolate, Janny gets wine, and Virgey gets blueberry.”
Logan wrinkled his nose at Remus’s apparent favorite flavor of jam (Virgil agreed with that assessment, but whatever made their boyfriend happy) and finished the toast. He let out a long breath and turned to the witches.
“I am not feeling any lightheadedness,” he reported. “Do you see anything?”
Remus shook his head. “It’ll take a few minutes, so you just hold tight and we can admire your pretty face.”
Logan felt his face go red at the compliment, and cleared his throat a few times. “ Do harass the customers, Remus,” Janus chided gently. “Did he say yes?”
Remus looked down. “...No. I’m sorry,” he mumbled to Logan.
“Ah- forgiven,” Logan said. He self-consciously adjusted his necktie. “I can’t say I necessarily… dislike it.”
Remus cackled excitedly. “Yes!” He turned to face Virgil and Janus. “What did I tell you? Anyway, I’m not the one here who wants to- mmph!” Virgil slapped their hand over his mouth, not quite ready for Logan to know that.
“Ignore him,” they said quickly. “He has no filter, so doesn’t know when to shut up- I’m sorry, did you just lick me?” They glared at Remus incredulously, snatching their hand back.
“Yep!” Remus chirped. “You know that’s what I do when someone covers my mouth. With any body part…” He trailed off, shimmying his shoulders suggestively.
“Okay,” Virgil said with a sense of finality, turning back to Logan. “I’m just going to pretend I didn’t hear that. Based on the fact that Remus is still joking around, I’m going to assume that you’re not showing signs of being cursed.”
“Nope,” Remus piped in.
“Okay. Then you can drink this,” Virgil said, offering Logan the teacup. The liquid inside had turned a deep red, almost mistakable for black in certain lighting. “Like I said, the only thing that’ll happen is I’ll see an indicator about whether you’ve been jinxed or not. You shouldn’t feel any side effects or anything from it.”
Logan nodded. “And there won’t be any interactions with anything else I’ve ingested today?” he asked hesitantly.
“No,” Virgil said quickly. “Like I said, what I focus on is pretty minor and noninvasive. There shouldn’t be any issues with any food or the magical elements you’ve had.”
“Understood.” Logan lifted the teacup to his lips, making a surprised noise at the first sip. “It’s not as bitter as I expected it to be,” he commented. He quickly drained the cup, handing it back to Virgil. “How long will it be until you can see the effects?”
Virgil turned to the back wall, putting the teacup by the other various dishes and bowls that the three of them had dirtied. “Not too long,” they said over their shoulder. “Usually less than a minute, sometimes more.” They turned back around, and their eyebrows shot up. “Oh, wow,” they said softly, then shook themself. “Sorry. You’re definitely jinxed,” they said. “Nothing else with it, either, just a run-of-the-mill jinx that must’ve hit you square on.” They fell silent again, and although they were looking in Logan’s direction, he got the idea that they weren’t exactly looking at him. “That’s pretty impressive, actually. Must’ve been a strong caster who did it, and with a very clear shot of you to boot. You’re sure nobody you know has magsens?”
“Not that I know of.” Logan seemed to consider saying something else, but closed his mouth, shaking his head almost imperceptibly and muttering something to himself.
“...Well,” Janus said, breaking the slightly awkward silence that had fallen over the shop. “If you’re not only jinxed, Remus and I won’t leave you with Virgil, since they don’t specialize in jinxes. I don’t hope they can help you get this figured out. I don’t believe Remus and I have some… business to attend to.” He smirked flirtatiously at Remus, who squealed in excitement after a moment of blank confusion.
“Oh, yes! Business! Very important! See you later, Virgey, Dork!” He grabbed Janus’s wrist and pulled the other witch into the back room. Logan could hear Remus giggling for a few moments before the sound of another door closing blocked them out.
“Okay,” Virgil sighed. “I’m sorry about them, they’re… a bit overzealous sometimes.”
Logan shook his head. “No need to be sorry. I understand the urge to be, ah… intimate with one’s partner.”
Virgil snorted. “Yeah, that’s not really my thing. Anyway, you’re jinxed,” they said, purposely changing the subject and not caring that it was so blatant. “Do you want to start working on figuring out specifics now, or another time? I know that having the magsens potion couldn’t have been pleasant, and it is still kind of disgustingly early, and I think we suggested two hours and it’s been about an hour and a half so I’m cool with calling that close enough if that’s what you want to do...” They trailed off, looking down at the floor as they tried to distract themself by thinking of all of the potions or brews that might be good to try.
“Continuing now might be a poor idea,” Logan agreed. He pulled out his phone, tapping into his calendar. “When would work best for you?”
Virgil hummed, moving to the computer. “If it’s just me, which I think it should be… I could do Tuesday evening? Say, starting at six?”
Logan glanced back down at his phone. “I have no objections to that.”
“Great.” Virgil blocked off the time on their schedule and looked up from the computer as they thought of one more thing. “Oh- you might want to skip dinner on Tuesday, if you can. I’m thinking of some more complicated potions and brews which could potentially have some negative interactions with certain foods, but I’m not exactly sure yet. Once I figure out what I want to test you for, I’ll get some snacks and things that won’t interact with anything. If that’s okay?”
Logan nodded. “That is perfectly fine.” He closed his eyes suddenly, an exasperated expression on his face. “Apologies, they’re being rather insistent right now,” he said as he opened his eyes.
They stood in silence for a few more moments before Logan cleared his throat. “If there’s nothing else you want to tell me, then I will see you on Tuesday.”
Virgil started in surprise. “Right! Yes, Tuesday. Of course. Uh- see you then?” They didn’t mean to end it on a question, but they couldn’t do anything about it now that it was already out of their mouth.
They groaned as Logan left the shop, the bell ringing happily behind him.
“I know you’re back there,” they called loudly to Remus and Janus, who they’d heard move into the back room just a few seconds ago. “Don’t say a word or you don’t get cuddles this weekend.”
Remus just laughed in response.
---
“Okay,” Virgil said, stepping back from the counter. It was covered with food that would be safe for Logan to eat with what Virgil planned to test him for. It was almost certainly more snacks than necessary, but it was better to be safe than sorry, Virgil supposed. They were hungry anyway - they had skipped supper to get everything together for Logan - so they would probably be sneaking a few bites when they got the chance.
They turned back to where a few different potions and brews were simmering over the fire. “Perfect,” they muttered as they ensured that they were all at the correct stage of their processes, only needing to sprinkle a tiny amount of water over one and agitate another for a few seconds before they were the correct colors and consistencies.
They took a deep breath and swallowed, their mouth dry. “Don’t be so fucking nervous,” they scolded themself. “This is just a client, coming in for your professional services. Nothing more.”
But they couldn’t shake the memory of how, when Virgil had suggested the time and mentioned that they would have food, Logan had ducked his head with a shy smile on his face. They might have only met him twice, but the nervousness had seemed uncharacteristic of the graduate student. They also couldn’t stop thinking about how Janus and Remus had continued to encourage them to approach Logan and ask him on a date.
They looked up, startled, as the tinkle of the shop’s door broke the silence.
“Hey!” they said, their nerves suddenly doubling. “Um- how are you?”
Logan gave them a small smile. “Hungry, but adequate,” he said. “And you?”
“Doing good- uh, well, fine, perfect, thanks,” Virgil said, very aware that they were rambling. “Um- you can have some of this, if you want.” They gestured awkwardly to the spread in front of them.
“Thank you.” Logan grabbed an apple and bit into it. “This is a very good apple,” he said after swallowing the first bite.
“Um- thanks.” Virgil fidgeted with one of their bracelets. “Grew it myself.”
Logan’s eyebrows shot up. “Impressive. I have never managed to successfully nurture plants, myself.” He took another bite.
Virgil shrugged their shoulders. “Magic is helpful.”
Logan tilted his head. “It was my understanding that you specialized in jinxes. Is that not true? Or can they have positive applications?”
Virgil hummed, turning to the things on the fire to keep their hands busy. “Well, jinx doesn’t mean exactly what you might think. It’s a specification of the strength or complexity of the magic that was used - jinx being relatively simple or weak. You can’t just say, like, I’m going to jinx you and have it be a threat, since you can have relatively simple positive or neutral jinxes, like a summons. And everything depends on how it’s applied, too - a confidence boosting jinx could have a positive application when put on someone nervous about a presentation, for example, but if it’s put on a stuck-up, spoiled teenager, it’s probably going to end up seeming negative.” They sprinkled a few more ingredients into a potion as they spoke, then took one of the brews off the heat, turning to the single corner of the counter that wasn’t covered in food to put it down and let it cool.
Logan made an intrigued noise. “So if a jinx is a lower level of magic, what are the others?”
“Well, a curse, which is what Remus focuses on, is a more complex level. It’s not the highest - that would be spells next, then incantations at the top - but it is more difficult to cast.”
Logan nodded slowly. “May I ask what level the potions would be placed on? Or would that change depending on the complexity of the potion?”
Virgil leaned onto the back wall, putting their hands in their pockets. “Potions are usually the lowest level of magic, since that’s not really doing much magic yourself, just activating the magic that’s already in the ingredients. Brews are slightly higher than that, more on the level of jinxes, because you’re imbuing the magic into the solution yourself.”
“Fascinating.” Logan finished the apple and glanced around the shop.
Virgil pointed to a plastic bin tucked away in the corner of the room. “Put it in there, and it’ll go to the compost itself.”
Logan put the core in the bin, letting out a small noise of fascination as it vanished.
“So you said you’re a grad student?” Virgil asked, crossing their arms for lack of anything else to do with them. “What made you choose astronomy?”
Logan smiled. “I have always loved space. When I was young, I would go to the library and spend hours reading as much as I could about planets and stars and black holes. As I got older, something about the vastness of it, and how much we don’t know, drew me in even further. I want to learn the secrets that it holds and share those secrets with the world.”
Virgil realized they were staring at Logan - he looked so happy - and shook themself out of it. “Hopefully space is okay with those secrets being told,” they joked, before becoming a little more genuine. “Really, though, that’s awesome. I can’t imagine trying to study something we know so little about.”
Logan shrugged bashfully. “I suppose I enjoy the thrill of the possibility of discovering something new.”
Virgil nodded. “Don’t we all… oh, shit.” They turned to the fire, which they had forgotten about, and was relieved to see that nothing had gone over. “Sorry, but- can I interrupt for a minute and explain what I’m hoping to get done today?”
A surprised expression crossed Logan’s face before he nodded. “Of course. I apologize for the distraction.”
“No, you’re fine,” Virgil quickly said. “These needed a little more time before they were done, anyway. Um- okay. So I was hoping we could figure out what’s being affected - if it’s your ears, mind, et cetera. After that, we should be able to figure out whether these are internal or external. That should give us a pretty good idea of what we’re looking at, and then we can work on narrowing it down to a specific jinx.”
Logan nodded in understanding. “That sounds like an adequate plan to me.”
Virgil nodded back. “Okay. Great. Great. Um--” They reached over to grab the brew that was ready, carefully pouring it into a yellow plastic cup. “So this is just a tracker, it’ll latch onto the magic that’s affecting you. It won’t tell us anything on its own, but when you take some of the others--” they gestured vaguely to the other potions and brews they’d prepared “--it’ll make it easier for me to see. And some of them won’t work without it, anyway.”
“Understood.” Logan reached out and took the cup.
“There aren’t any serious negative side effects for this one,” Virgil added. “Sometimes people’s elbows itch for a bit, but just don’t scratch at them and you’ll be fine.”
Logan nodded once, then brought the cup up to his lips. He drank the brew in just a few swallows, then brought the cup back down.
“Feeling okay?” Virgil asked, more for their own benefit than for Logan’s.
“Yes.”
Virgil nodded and took the cup back, crouching behind the counter to put it in the dirty dish bin. “Now we wait for about fifteen minutes for it to work it’s magic - literally.” When they stood up again to face Logan, they were startled into a blush by the soft smile on Logan’s face.
“I can hear how passionate you are about this,” Logan said in explanation. “It’s… nice.”
Virgil cleared their throat as they felt their face heat up even more. “…Thank you.”
Logan didn’t break eye contact with Virgil, his steady dark gaze making them feel tingly and almost lightheaded. Suddenly Logan shook his head, looking annoyed.
“The whispers,” he explained before Virgil could ask. “They just got considerably louder. I could almost make out the words this time.”
Virgil tilted their head at the new information. “Can you not normally?”
Logan shook his head. “No. The majority of the time, I can act as though they don’t exist.”
“Hmm.” Virgil thought for a minute, absentmindedly tapping their fingernails on the counter in front of them. “Have you tried to focus on them to hear more clearly what they’re saying?”
Logan shook his head again. “No. For the most part, I’ve been attempting to ignore them and live my life as usual.”
Virgil hummed. “You might want to try focusing on them, giving them some attention. That could help us out when it comes to identifying them.”
Logan nodded. “I will attempt to pay more attention, and I do acknowledge the importance of this. However…” he trailed off hesitantly. Virgil tilted their head and motioned for him to continue. “I believe you were going to explain how the apprentice system works for witches, a few days ago. I would like to continue that train of thought, if possible.”
“Oh!” Virgil had forgotten about that, but Logan’s inquisitive mind obviously hadn’t. “Of course!” They walked around the counter and jumped up onto it, taking their normal position with their legs hanging off the side. “Where was I?”
“We were discussing the recessive quality of the gene for magical sensitivity.” Logan replied quickly, making Virgil smile at how he’d obviously been thinking about this for quite some time.
“Right. So like I was saying, it’s rare but not unheard of for witches to discover their magsens later in life, but when that happens then they’re at a bit of a disadvantage when it comes to knowing the basics for how magic works and how we can conduct and control it.”
Logan hummed in understanding.
“So, there’s a couple of different paths that those of us who grew up in witch families can take. Since we know those basics already, we can usually go right into an apprenticeship. There are a couple different kinds of witches, so there are different kinds of apprentices - there’s casting witches who are experts in casting magic on objects or others, academic witches who work more with the theory of magic, and apothecary witches, which is what Janus, Remus, and I are. Well- Janus is kind of a combination of an apothecary and an academic witch, but that’s kind of his own thing.”
Logan nodded excitedly. “So, since the witches who grew up with magic have a basic knowledge of magic already, when do you begin the apprenticeships?”
Virgil thought about that for a moment. “Well, that depends on the witch, honestly, and what they’re going to pursue. Academic witches can start pretty young; it’s not rare for there to be a fourteen-year-old academic apprentice. But academic apprenticeships are more like a typical high school or college education, although taught by a private tutor.”
“Is there a standardized curriculum that all of the academic apprentices are taught?”
“Not really,” Virgil said, adjusting so that one leg was pulled up under them on the counter. “I mean, there are things that come up for pretty much every academic witch at some point or another, but when and how they’re taught is up to the mentor to decide.”
“Hmm. Interesting,” Logan said thoughtfully.
“When the people who discovered their magsens later start learning, though, that’s a little more standardized. They learn about how to conduct the magic, making some of the basic potions and brews, getting them familiar with the basic jinxes, stuff like that. Kind of like elementary or middle school - getting a general knowledge of every area, so you can decide what you want to focus on more specifically later.”
“Interesting. What about other types of witches? What do their apprenticeships look like?”
“Casting witches really vary when it comes to what their apprenticeships look like, since there’s so many different categories of casting. But for both casting and apothecary witches, the apprentice does two or three years of basic general knowledge in their chosen field before deciding what specific track they want to go down. For apothecaries, they could develop new brews or potions, counteract jinxes or curses, or something else. Casters could also develop new ways to use magic, but they could also focus on counteracting jinxes or curses with others, or being a healer, or- well, there are so many ways that casters can go; it’s kind of overwhelming. When casters and apothecaries decide what path they want to go down, they find a witch in their field who’s available to take an advanced apprentice and work with them for a few years. Sometimes it’ll be more than one witch if they’re interested in multiple or intersecting fields, but that’s a little rare since it requires multiple witches in the same place willing to work together for multiple years. When the mentor decides that the apprentice is ready, they get their certification, and off they go.” Virgil tucked their other leg underneath them, sitting cross-legged.
“Fascinating,” Logan breathed, leaning forward slightly. “How long is the apprenticeship process in total?”
Virgil thought about the question for a minute. “Um… like I said, that depends on what the witch is studying specifically. It can end up being anywhere from four to eight years, and that really goes for any witch, regardless if they’re an apprenticing for an apothecary, caster, or academic.”
“May I ask about your personal experience?” Logan asked. He looked around, then shifted slightly. “And- I don’t mean to be inappropriate, but I would be rather more comfortable if I weren’t standing right now…” He trailed off as he moved to sit on the ground, and Virgil saw a small crease of discomfort in his forehead disappear as he adjusted into a cross-legged position mirroring Virgil’s.
“I can tell you about that, for sure- do you need a chair?”
Logan waved a hand. “Just some chronic lower back pain. In my case, it’s temporarily relieved by sitting on the floor. Slightly inconvenient, but not unmanageable.”
Virgil nodded. “Okay, just let me know if you want anything else, because I can get it for you. Anyway- my apprenticeship. I went to a magblind school all the way through - oh, right, sorry. Magblind is what we call the people who don’t have magsens. It’s not the best name for it, but we haven’t been able to come up with a better one, so it’s what we’re stuck with for now.” Virgil clarified the new word, noticing how Logan had opened his mouth when he’d heard it. “Anyway, I finished high school and took a year off, brushed up on some of the basics for magic, fucked around with my friends… pretty normal teenage stuff. Then I took a lower-level apothecary apprenticeship back home - my family was part of a pretty large witch community at the time, so it was pretty easy to find a mentor for that. I finished out the lower-level apprenticeship in about two years, and took a few months to decide what I wanted to focus on. That’s when I got together with Janus and Remus; they were finishing up their advanced apprenticeships at the time. Um… they moved out here to open a shop, I found a mentor not too far away. I spent another two and a half years doing the jinx apothecary study, got my certification, then joined Re and Jan here at the shop.”
The two of them snacked on the various foods placed in front of them as they continued to talk, unaware of the time passing around them.
“--So it’s really not that difficult to catch onto the basics,” Virgil finished, tilting their head and rolling their shoulders to relieve the stiffness that had set in. They caught a glimpse of how dark it was outside through the windows, and their eyes widened. “ Shit,” they hissed as they hopped off of the counter and hurried to the other side, waking up the computer.
“Um- it’s nearly 10 p.m.,” they explained, feeling their cheeks go slightly red at the fact that the two of them had talked for nearly four hours and all Virgil had done to help Logan had been to give him a brew for magic tracing. “Uh… I’m really sorry, I don’t know how that happened.”
Logan looked fairly embarrassed as well. “Ah- no, I am equally as much to blame. I suppose we can plan to meet again, and hopefully make some more progress?”
Virgil quickly nodded. “Yeah. Um… I could do the same time on Friday, if that would work?”
Logan frowned. “I have a commitment beginning at 8 p.m. Would it work to plan to meet at 3? Should I forgo lunch as well?”
Virgil checked the schedule. “That should be fine, yes. Remus might be here too, but we could go in the back to keep him from distracting us. And yeah, it might be a good idea to skip lunch. I’ll have more food here.” They gave a little laugh.
“Of course.” Logan smiled back at them, and their breath caught at how genuine he looked.
“Um- I should get this cleaned up a bit,” they said. “So- I’ll see you on Friday, then?”
Logan nodded quickly. “Yes. I will see you then.” He paused when he stood up, taking one step towards Virgil before freezing. “Ah- I hope you have a pleasurable interval of time before then.” He quickly walked out the door, not making eye contact with Virgil.
Virgil let out a breath as they looked around the shop. The fire had died down relatively quickly, so the potions and brews they had been making weren’t burnt, but they weren’t salvageable either. There wasn’t much food left, barely enough for them to put away. When they glanced at their phone, they had a total of ten texts in the groupchat between the three witches, ending with a text from Remus reading have fun with the dork followed by a slew of suggestive emojis.
...Yeah, there wasn’t any way they were getting out of the teasing this time.
---
The next time they met up, Logan reported that he’d had little success in making out what the voices were saying. Virgil encouraged him to keep trying to listen to them, but wasn’t too worried about it; it was very unlikely that it would be an issue, and even if it would be, it was relatively soon for him to hear exactly what they were saying.
Over the next few weeks, Virgil and Logan met up a few times a week, sometimes making significant progress on the whispers and sometimes spending the time just talking and getting to know each other better. Virgil continued to be teased by their partners for their crush on Logan (which, yes, was a crush, they were forced to admit), and Logan continued to do nothing to discourage their desire to kiss him.
They had figured out that the jinx on Logan was focused mostly on his ears, which meant that the whispers were coming from an outside source. This was confirmed with another few tests showing that there was nothing actually influencing Logan from the inside.
For the past week, though, Virgil had been stuck. They weren’t sure exactly what they should be testing for from this point. They’d narrowed it down to a few possibilities, but the jinxes they were thinking of had antidotes that could make the situation worse if they administered the wrong one. They hadn’t explained the situation to Logan in quite so many words, but they had a feeling that he could tell they were getting frustrated.
“Are you feeling optimal?” Logan asked hesitantly during one of their meetings. The two of them had been meeting up for almost a month, and Virgil was frowning tiredly at the wall of ingredients behind the counter.
“Not really,” Virgil sighed, turning back around. “I’m kind of stuck on what else I can do to figure out what’s going on.”
Logan gave a noise of sympathetic agreement. “I’m… sorry?”
Virgil shook their head. “It’s not your fault. I just- can’t figure this out. I know a couple different things it might be, but I don’t know how to figure out exactly what it is without knowing what the voices are saying.”
Logan’s brow furrowed worriedly. “Well, I can try to hear them more, and wait to come back until I make out their words?”
Virgil shook their head again. “No, I… you shouldn’t have to know what they’re saying. I think I’m just missing something about it, but if you don’t know who cast it or how or what the whispers are saying, I don’t know how to differentiate them. I’ve tried to do some research, but we’re in a kind of magsens-starved area here, so I don’t have many people I can ask for help, and it’s difficult, to say the least, to do magical research on the computer.” Their words had gotten faster and they were embarrassed to feel a lump in their throat and their eyes burning slightly with tears.
Logan moved closer to Virgil and reached a hand out before pausing. “Ah… would you be amenable to touch?”
Virgil gave him a small smile. “Yeah, that’s fine.”
Logan gently squeezed Virgil’s hand. “I have the utmost faith that you’ll be able to figure this out, Virgil. And even if you don’t… Well, this isn’t hugely disturbing to my everyday life. I won’t be disappointed if we don’t find a solution for this.”
Virgil met his eyes, giving him a slightly bitter smile. “...Thanks.”
Logan bit the inside of his cheek. “...Would you like a hug?” he asked hesitantly.
Virgil closed their eyes and sighed tiredly. “That would be… nice. Thank you.” They leaned into Logan’s open arms, laying their cheek on his shoulder and wrapping their arms loosely around his waist. They focused on their breathing and soaked in the warmth of having another person supporting them, feeling the burning in their eyes subside and the lump in their throat get slightly smaller. Virgil stepped back after a few more seconds of feeling the comfort Logan was offering.
“There are some meditation exercises we can try, um- to get you closer in touch with the voices. If you want.” Virgil was a little mortified to hear how thick their voice still was and cleared their throat a few times.
“That would be wonderful,” Logan said softly, stepping back as well. “Do we have time to begin today?”
Virgil checked the time. “Yeah, a little bit. Maybe not to go very deep or anything, but any time means progress which is good.”
Logan nodded. “I can follow that logic. Should I sit?”
Virgil nodded and joined Logan as he sat on the floor. “I’m going to do it with you,” they said quietly. “I don’t have voices, but it’s a good way to relax.”
Logan nodded in understanding. “Will you guide me through it?”
Virgil wasn’t sure why Logan did what he did next - he held out his hands to Virgil, face gentle and open. Virgil also wasn’t sure why they took the offered hands, softly gripping his palms.
“Close your eyes and listen to my voice,” they said softly. “Don’t focus on other thoughts- worries, or plans, or wants. Let those thoughts float through your head like clouds in the sky. Focus on what you’re feeling here and now: the sounds you hear, the temperature you feel on your skin, the texture of the floor, the things you might taste.” They took a brief moment to do the same for themself, trying to clear their head of the various cobwebby thoughts that had taken residence and realigning themself with their physical body.
“Now breathe slowly,” they said, almost a whisper. “Don’t worry about how long each breath is or how long you’re holding it. Just breathe deeply… feel your diaphragm expanding and making your stomach move… feel your chest moving as your lungs expand and deflate with your breaths. Keep letting any extra thoughts float through your mind, don’t focus on them… just think about yourself and where you are now. And just… keep… breathing…”
They trailed off into silence, breathing deeply and grounding themself. They felt their mind relax as they fell into a meditative state, somewhere between sleeping and wakefulness.
Their eyes slipped open, but the action didn’t pull them out of the meditation. Instead, they found themselves focusing on Logan: the way his chest rose and fell as he breathed slowly, the long braids of his current hairstyle cascading down his shoulders, his dark skin shining ever so slightly in the yellow lamplight that lit up the shop.
Virgil could only think one thing.
Gods, I want to kiss Logan.
They were fairly surprised when Logan’s eyes fluttered open and he leaned forward, gently grasped the back of Virgil’s neck, and pulled them in for a soft kiss.
“Oh,” they whispered as Logan sat back. They met his eyes, feeling their cheeks flush hot.
“I… why…” Virgil couldn’t string two words together, much less ask… whatever they were trying to ask Logan.
“I heard… I could make things out. And they all started with… I want. And I realized that, based on the contents, they sounded like they were coming from you. And then I heard… quite clearly… I want to kiss Logan. And I wanted to kiss you as well. Therefore, I… I did.” He let go of Virgil’s hands, which they hadn’t realized he was still holding, and looked down at his feet. “I hope it was not a misunderstanding, and if it was, I apologize and can understand any discomfort you may now feel.”
Virgil frantically shook their head, quickly grabbing Logan’s hands again and holding on tightly. “No, no- you’re. Um, you’re right. That was me, I do. Did. Um. Want to kiss you.”
Logan nodded a few times, meeting Virgil’s eyes again. “Okay. Okay, ah- apologies for any awkwardness, you seem to make me… fairly flustered, which is a state of being that I am not overly familiar with.”
Virgil giggled ( giggled, they hadn’t done that since they were a preteen being approached by their one-sided crush). “I… you make me flustered, too, Lo. Don’t worry.”
Logan had a look of awe and realization on his face. “ Lo… I like that. I very much like that.”
Virgil squeezed his hands. “I’ll keep that in mind… Lo.”
---
Logan exhaled sharply as he shook his whole body a bit. “I’m ready.”
Virgil nodded and looked to where Janus was holding the second part of the counter-jinx. Virgil would cast a jinx as the first part, Janus would administer the potion, they would wait a few minutes to be sure that there were no negative reactions on Logan’s part, and then… they would be done.
Normally, that would be when they would separate - customer and witch, going their separate ways after a transaction. Except this was a different situation.
After Logan and Virgil had continued kissing - for longer than Virgil wanted to admit - Virgil had realized that they could easily identify which jinx Logan had been hit by: a jinx to make a person hear the wants of everyone around them, both the deep, dark desires and the surface-level ones. The potion had to simmer for a few days, which is why they hadn’t been able to administer it immediately, but they had met up as soon as it was ready so they could return Logan to normal. They still hadn’t figured out who had jinxed Logan, but that didn’t matter as much as getting the jinx countered.
“Okay,” Virgil said, shaking themself out of their thoughts. “Remember, you’ll feel pretty lightheaded, but I’ll be here to catch you.”
Logan gave them a dazzling smile. “I’m sure, my dear.”
Virgil’s face burned bright red, but they cleared their throat through the embarrassment. “Okay. Here we go…”
They raised their hands, and spoke.