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It’s been raining on and off since before sunrise. Woohyun tries to somehow recede deeper into his jacket while simultaneously offering his most award-winning smile to passersby. Nobody feels like idle shopping on days like this, but it is technically his job to stand out here, so here he is.
“Heat charms,” Woohyun says, waving a pendant at some guy walking by, with a look on his face like he’s trying to make eye contact with no one but the ground. To his credit, he stops for a second and looks at Woohyun - he looks at the necklace in Woohyun’s hand for a second, and then back at his face, incredulous. “To keep you warm,” Woohyun clarifies, smiling.
The guy makes a noise so brief Woohyun can’t really identify it. Annoyance, probably. “You’re full of shit,” he says, and he turns and walks off.
Woohyun doesn’t, like, fall in love a little or anything, but he can’t stop thinking about it for the rest of the day.
♦
Woohyun notices him again and again after that, walking distractedly through the market in the mornings, sometimes at night. He’s probably been coming here for ages, but Woohyun’s never really seen him before - he’s sort of nondescript, quiet, never stops in front of Woohyun’s table or anything. Woohyun doesn’t really have a good reason to notice him now, it’s just - sure, maybe he is full of shit, but strangers don’t usually feel compelled to tell him that. Even if they don’t trust him, they’re rarely upset enough to actually show it. That’s what he’s used to, so-
He should probably be bothered. Instead, he’s mostly just amused.
“The last one I got from you worked so well, I thought, maybe…” The girl’s name is Yujin, if Woohyun remembers right, and the last time she came here she was looking for something to bring her luck on an exam. Now, she needs help confessing to some guy in one of her classes, apparently, or something like that. From the way she blushes and averts her eyes when talking to Woohyun, he has some questions, but he can’t really blame her.
“Don’t worry,” he says. “I’ve got just the thing.” It’s a charm bracelet, delicate, shiny, but cheap. That doesn’t really matter. It doesn’t matter what it is, even when the magic is real. “It’s a good spell. He’ll never be able to turn you down - it’ll make you look even prettier than you already are.”
Her eyes widen, and she nods quickly, touching the bracelet gently. He already knows she’ll buy it. With some people, he doesn’t even have to try.
He doesn’t really notice that That Guy is watching until after Yujin walks away. Woohyun looks over and he’s just kind of standing there; he shakes his head when they make eye contact. Woohyun greets him. Rolling his eyes, the man walks over anyway. When Woohyun opens his mouth, he stops him, saying, “Whatever it is, I don’t want it.”
He picks a pendant out of the case. “Careful,” Woohyun says.
The guy rubs the metal between his thumb and forefinger. (Maybe I’ll just call him Grumpy, Woohyun thinks.) After a second, he says, “I don’t know how you manage to lie so much around all these old ladies and not get slapped.”
Woohyun opens his mouth in mock surprise. “I don’t lie,” he says. “And the old ladies love me.”
He gets a snort in response.
“Hey, you’re the one with no manners,” Woohyun adds. “I’m just an honest vendor, and you keep berating me for no reason. Maybe I’ll get all the old ladies to run you off.”
“That’s fine,” Grumpy says. “Or you could just stop trying to sell me things, and we can leave each other alone.”
“It’s kind of my job,” Woohyun says, shrugging.
“Don’t waste your time,” Grumpy says, dropping the pendant unceremoniously back into the case. “You’ve got plenty of other people who’ll fall for it, apparently.”
“Have a wonderful day,” Woohyun calls amiably to his retreating back.
♦
Woohyun spends the better part of two weeks talking to his roommate about this. He explains all of it: Mystery Random Asshole Guy watches him whenever he walks by, even though he doesn’t usually comment unless Woohyun talks to him first. Woohyun can’t tell if he’s more offended by Woohyun lying about the trinkets he sells (which, Woohyun would be happy to explain, plenty of people do every day) or by the fact that everyone seems to trust him implicitly.
"Maybe he likes you," Sungyeol says dryly. Sungyeol thinks everything Woohyun says is stupid, but it evens out because everything Sungyeol says is stupid.
"Maybe," Woohyun concedes. "But I don't know, I think he really just hates me for some reason."
Sungyeol rolls his eyes. "Most people would prefer the first option."
♦
Sungyeol brings his coworker and new best friend Myungsoo to the market on a day off. This is the part where Woohyun typically bemoans the loss of their sacred roommate relationship (I thought we had something special, Yeollie), but today, he’s still preoccupied.
“Shit, that’s him,” Woohyun says, gesturing wildly off to the right. “Gray beanie, black t-shirt.”
“Who?”
“The guy. The one who hates me.”
Sungyeol squints. “That doesn’t really narrow it down,” he says.
“You know what I mean.”
Sungyeol knows. “I don’t know what I was expecting,” he says, once he’s actually taken a look at the man in question. “Does look pretty cranky though. Good job.”
Myungsoo stares for a few seconds, mouth open. “I think I know that guy,” he says.
“What? Really?”
“Mmm.” He furrows his brow, purses his lips. “Oh, I remember.”
Woohyun knows better than to ask. Once he starts figuring out details about some random stranger’s life, he’s going to evolve from unhealthily fixated to stalker-creepy, but also, they’re barely strangers at this point, right?
♦
Myungsoo doesn’t know his name, but he knows where he works.
Woohyun acknowledges the creep factor inherent in using this new information, but this guy is convinced he knows all he needs to know about Woohyun, right, so Woohyun thinks he can allow himself this. The bookstore is close enough to the market that Woohyun can explain wandering in, but small and unnoticeable enough that it’s not a very good excuse. He doesn’t really care.
Woohyun feigns surprise at the familiar face. He’s the only person in the store, knelt down, organizing a low shelf. When he sees Woohyun, he closes his eyes and sighs. “How did you know where to find me?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Woohyun says. “I don’t know why I’d go looking for you, anyway, considering how you treat me. And you should be a little nicer to your patrons. Maybe this is why good customer service is such a novelty to you.”
He groans. “If you’re a customer, you should be looking at the shelves.”
“I’m looking for charm books,” Woohyun lies automatically.
The guy laughs a little. “All the books on magical practice are toward the back,” he says, pointing over his shoulder. “Have fun.”
Woohyun combs through the bookshelves, picking up a few books at random and flipping through the pages. He has the vaguest knowledge of what he’s looking at - he watched his mom enough when he was a kid to almost theoretically understand spell diagrams and incantations - but he doesn’t get it, not the way someone who could actually perform these things would. It’s a little comforting to read, despite that.
He can feel eyes on his back, but he’s committed to the act and gives it a few minutes before he turns around.
“Ah, you really don’t like me, do you?” Woohyun asks, grinning.
For a moment the only response he gets is a narrow-eyed glare. “Why would I like you?”
Woohyun laughs loudly.
He shelves the book he’s holding and makes his way back toward the door. “No, I didn’t find what I was looking for. Thanks for asking,” he says, then stops walking. “You know, I can’t believe at this point in our relationship I don’t know your name.”
“Our relationship?”
“Yeah,” Woohyun says. “I mean, I think we’ve got a good thing going.”
The guy scoffs. “If you say so.”
♦
His name is Kim Sunggyu. A few of the things Woohyun prides himself on are trying very hard and not being dissuaded by nasty attitudes, and a name is easy. It’s nice to be able to refer to him in his head by something other than Grumpy or That Guy or Random Jerk Who’s Only Mad Because He Thinks I’m Hot.
“I’m so happy for you,” Sungyeol deadpans over breakfast.
Woohyun bounces the empty milk jug off Sungyeol’s head.
♦
He spots Sunggyu when he’s already packing up his table, so Woohyun smiles and waves in a way he hope conveys I’m not going to try to sell you anything, so if you come over here we can talk like real people for once. It must kind of work, because Sunggyu walks in his direction, looking vaguely suspicious, admittedly, but that seems pretty normal.
He looks tired, maybe not in the best of moods. Woohyun doesn’t want to push it, so he just says hello, says, “Long day?” and Sunggyu seems a little taken aback, but shrugs.
“Yeah, I guess.”
“Have you eaten?” Woohyun asks, closing a case of merchandise. “I was going to grab something on my way home.”
“Um.” Sunggyu looks at him. Woohyun thinks he’s about to ask if he’s sick or something, but he doesn’t. “I ate earlier, I’m not hungry.”
Woohyun grins. “Yeah, okay, me either.”
It turns out they’re heading in the same direction, at least for a little while, so somehow they end up walking together, Sunggyu carrying one of Woohyun’s cases for him. Woohyun is not entirely sure how he pulled this off, actually; maybe Sunggyu is the sick one.
They don’t talk a lot, Woohyun keeping mostly quiet because, well, he’s had a long day too, and he’s a little worried that if he talks Sunggyu will revert to his normal, grouchy self and run off. And sure, Woohyun doesn’t exactly mind that, but for some reason he wants Sunggyu to stay.
Sunggyu finally speaks after a long silence. “Do you do it on purpose?”
Woohyun blinks, startled. “What?”
“Whatever it is…” Sunggyu tilts his head. He doesn’t look annoyed or defensive for once, just curious. “Whatever it is that makes people like you. It’s magic, isn’t it?”
Woohyun lets out a short laugh. “Wow. You know, you might not have any social skills, but that doesn’t mean no one else does. Maybe I’m just too charming to-”
Sunggyu grimaces. “Everything you say is bullshit-” (“Hey!”) “- but people just… believe you. It’s not normal. And it isn’t just because you’re-” He stops himself.
“Because I’m what?”
He averts his eyes quickly. “Nothing.”
“Sure,” Woohyun says, grinning, and leans against Sunggyu’s shoulder. Sunggyu pulls away, affronted.
“Stop trying to distract me,” he protests. “Whatever. You’re lying again. Or you have no idea, but I doubt that. I know magic when I see it.”
“Ooh, impressive.”
“Shut up,” Sunggyu says, shaking his head like a wet dog. “Do you ever shut up?”
“No,” Woohyun says. Then, a little softer, “It’s not on purpose.”
“Huh?”
“I mean, I don’t do it. I don’t… cast spells on people or anything, you know? It just sort of happens.”
Sunggyu is looking at him again, the curious expression back. He doesn’t say anything.
“So there’s your answer,” Woohyun says lightly, reaching for the case Sunggyu is carrying. “And here’s your bus stop.”
♦
People always figure it out eventually.
Sungyeol realized it before they lived together, after a few weeks of knowing each other. He’d gotten all bug-eyed as if he was in the middle of a revelation from God, looked at Woohyun and said, “You’re really kind of an asshole,” like some kind of divinely ordained wisdom. “I don’t know how I didn’t notice this before.”
To his credit, Woohyun had resisted the urge to brush off the comment and explained instead: no, you aren’t the first person to tell me this, and no, it’s not your fault, you were just blinded by my charm, literally, like the magic kind, as in you were magically compelled to find me extremely awesome and likeable and I’m sorry, dude, if it were up to me I definitely wouldn’t have wasted it on you, and so on.
“I don’t know where it came from,” he always says, though that isn’t entirely true.
It’s funny; when he was a kid he just wanted people to like him. He can’t say he’s changed all that much, so he figures he doesn’t have much right to complain.
♦
“I brought you a gift,” Woohyun says, walking into the bookstore. It’s sort of a peace offering he doesn’t think he really needs.
Sunggyu looks deeply bored, sitting on a stool behind the counter. He usually does, Woohyun thinks. Sunggyu blinks at him, suspicious.
“A potion,” Woohyun begins, the corners of his lips twitching, “brewed specifically to-”
Sunggyu looks at the ceiling, as if asking God to deliver him from this hell. Woohyun starts laughing and sets the bottle on the counter.
Surprised, Sunggyu laughs too, genuinely this time. It’s the first time Woohyun has heard it.
♦
So Woohyun has never been drunk in a bookstore before.
Not that it changes the experience much, but it’s interesting. Sunggyu closed up early, because it seems drinking is one thing he can get excited about. That’s not exactly mindblowing, but Woohyun still feels a little proud of himself for figuring out how to make Sunggyu smile.
It’s sort of nice - the lights dimmed, the reading chairs in the back corner of the store big and comfortable. Sunggyu is philosophically opposed to letting Woohyun be comfortable. “Don’t you ever feel bad about it?” he asks, the slur in his words almost imperceptible.
“Huh?”
“Do you ever… feel bad,” he says, again, “about what you do? Lying to people? They really trust you.”
“Jesus.” Woohyun rubs his face. “Are you questioning my - my morals right now? I thought we were getting along.”
“I’m curious.”
Sunggyu’s curiosity is unforgiving. Woohyun wonders if he’s this brutal with his friends. If he actually has friends. “Do you have friends?” he asks, before realizing he said it out loud.
“What?”
“You ask me all this stuff, but I don’t know anything about you.”
Sunggyu is frowning. “There’s nothing to know. I have friends. You’re avoiding my questions.”
“I’m a little…” He waves his hand around. “No, I don’t feel bad. My shady business practices do not keep me up at night.”
Sunggyu doesn’t say anything.
“I mean,” Woohyun continues, “just because something doesn’t work the way you think it’s supposed to, doesn’t mean it doesn’t work, right?”
“What does that even mean?”
It’s kind of hard to articulate anything, at the moment. “Say you’re nervous about... an exam, yeah, but you think some necklace is going to give you good luck, you’ll be more confident, right? So you’ll do better. A little confidence… it helps. Right?”
Sunggyu scoffs. “Or, you think you’re going to pass because of magic, so you don’t study, and you fail.”
Woohyun makes a face. “Listen. I’m not responsible for anyone’s bad decisions if they’re depending on magic, or fake magic, or whatever, to do - things. I never hurt anyone, I just - maybe I take advantage of the gullible, but that’s just - that’s pretty much how selling stuff works.”
Sunggyu stares at him. Even with his cheeks flushed pink from alcohol, it’s weirdly intense. “They’re only gullible because they - because you -”
Some of the pleasant warmth drains from Woohyun’s face. “Yeah,” he says, frowning. “Well, that’s not my fault either.”
It’s quiet for a second. Sunggyu slumps backward in his chair. “Sorry.”
“For what?”
Sunggyu gives him a weird look, but he doesn’t say anything else for a while.
♦
The thing is, Woohyun believes Sunggyu has friends, but they’re sort of like mythical creatures; he believes in their existence, but has no real proof. When Sunggyu introduces him to Jang Dongwoo, he looks like he regrets it immediately.
“Ah, he’s mentioned you,” Dongwoo says, smiling. “I mean, sort of. I’m still a little confused about the whole thing.”
“Oh, me too,” Woohyun says. Dongwoo’s laugh is infectious.
Sunggyu grimaces. “I don’t need you two collaborating.”
“It’s fine,” Dongwoo says, waving him off. “You can go wander around by yourself if you want, I just wanna say hi.”
Sunggyu rolls his eyes and trudges off.
“So what did he say about me?” Woohyun asks.
“Mostly that you…” Dongwoo looks down, scanning the contents of Woohyun’s table. “Well, he told me what you do, and uh.”
“That I’m a fake?” Woohyun says, grinning, because he can’t imagine Sunggyu would say anything else. “A fraud? A dirty, rotten-”
“Something like that,” Dongwoo agrees. “I mean, I don’t care! So don’t worry, I’m not gonna interrogate you or anything.”
Woohyun laughs a little. “Nice change of pace.”
Dongwoo looks toward Sunggyu, who isn’t paying them any attention. “Don’t worry about him either,” he says. “He’s… I know he seems really weird and... judgmental, right? He doesn’t mean anything by it, though. He’s just difficult.” Another laugh. “You get used to it.”
Woohyun thinks about that and wonders if he’ll be allowed to get used to it. If he wants to.
♦
It’s been - four, five times, maybe, that Woohyun has stopped by the bookstore now, bringing food or drinks or just saying hello. This time, Sunggyu pauses, looks at him hard, searching, for a second, and then points at his chest. “You,” he says, accusatory and sharp, “you’re trying to befriend me.”
“Shit, me?” Woohyun opens his mouth in shock. “Never.”
♦
He’s getting the hang of things.
Sunggyu is difficult to figure out, at first, but Woohyun adjusts; the trick, he thinks, is not taking any of it personally. (“He can be hard on people,” Dongwoo says, “but he’s like that with everyone. And worse with himself.”) Sunggyu gets frustrated when Woohyun doesn’t take him seriously, so sometimes Woohyun indulges him, his questions, his criticisms, and doesn’t point out that probably nothing in either of their lives is all that significant.
He thinks Sunggyu knows that, anyway.
It’s not always like that. The more time he spends with Sunggyu, the easier it is to get him to lighten up. Woohyun likes that, his shitty sense of humor, his -
Okay, he likes a lot of things.
He even manages to get Sunggyu’s number at some point, with the excuse that he’s going to continue showing up in Sunggyu’s life until Sunggyu either unambiguously tells him to fuck off or disappears and goes into hiding in South America, so Woohyun might as well have the option of informing him first. He’s pretty proud of that sales pitch.
“I’m sorry to tell you this,” he informs Sunggyu, “but I think we’re officially friends now.”
Sunggyu makes a face, but he doesn’t argue. Woohyun counts this as a win.
♦
“You haven’t been at the bookstore in like three days,” he whines.
“Two,” Sunggyu says. Somehow the phone’s distortion makes him sound even more exasperated than usual. “What happened to you letting me know before you came looking for me?”
“That’s not-” Woohyun huffs. “Are you okay? Are you sick?”
“Woohyun, honestly - I’m fine. It’s none of your business, anyway.”
Woohyun pouts, then realizes it’s kind of pointless because Sunggyu can’t see him. “I’m just concerned, as your-”
“You’re bored,” Sunggyu corrects, “and your roommate won’t hang out with you. Right?”
“Okay, well, that’s. Whatever.” He’s not wrong. The concerned friend routine isn’t part of Woohyun’s usual repertoire, either; he just has this unshakeable subconscious desire to annoy Sunggyu as much as possible, and this proves an effective method. “It was just sort of alarming, you disappearing like that.”
“It’s nothing to worry about,” Sunggyu says, less defensive. “I felt like shit yesterday morning, and today I didn’t want to leave my bed for anything. Nothing apocalyptic.”
“Well, I hope you’re feeling better,” Woohyun says. “If you feel like getting out later, I’m around, and you know how to find me.”
Woohyun swears he can hear Sunggyu’s eyes rolling. “What part of ‘I’m not leaving my bed’ don’t you understand?”
♦
Later, Sunggyu texts Woohyun the name of a restaurant near his apartment. Woohyun, who is apocalyptically bored, takes the bus there.
“It sort of doesn’t matter if I show up for work or not,” Sunggyu explains over dinner. “My uncle owns the store, but he’s pretty sick, so I’m basically just watching it for him. I don’t know, I feel like there’s less business than when he was around, and we weren’t exactly busy then, so… I don’t see the point, sometimes.”
Woohyun tries to speak around his mouthful of food. “So laying around in your apartment all day is better?”
“Yes?” Sunggyu tilts his head. “I mean… is that a real question?”
“I would die,” Woohyun says. “I think my head would explode.”
“You can’t be by yourself because you’re too obnoxious,” Sunggyu says, all matter-of-fact. “If you didn’t have anyone else to bother, you’d annoy yourself.”
Woohyun laughs. “Maybe. Maybe I annoy myself already. How do you know?”
“I wouldn’t be surprised,” Sunggyu says. He’s smiling softly, and Woohyun thinks - he looks nice like this. Relaxed. Content.
♦
Sunggyu lives by himself. His apartment is small and sparsely furnished, and nothing about it is surprising. “Boring,” Woohyun mumbles, looking around. “You’re so boring,” he says, louder.
“And you’re annoying,” Sunggyu replies. “We’ve already established this.”
Sunggyu wants to watch a movie. This isn’t so much hanging out as existing in the same place while Sunggyu does exactly what he’d be doing if Woohyun weren’t here. Really, Woohyun is fine with this. He thinks there’s always something weird - but nice - about seeing someone at home for the first time, comfortable.
He talks through the movie anyway, of course, because he’s an asshole.
“I have a question,” he says, eventually.
“Now?” Sunggyu huffs, waving his hand at the television.
“How many times have you seen this movie?” Woohyun asks, grinning.
“It’s the principle-” He sighs, admitting defeat already. “Fine. What?”
“You talk like you know so much about magic,” Woohyun says. “Do you even… I mean, I’ve never seen you do it. This doesn’t look like the apartment of a practicing magician.”
Sunggyu squints at him. “It doesn’t look - what do you expect? Crystals? Cauldrons? Have you ever even met a-”
Woohyun snickers.
Sunggyu shakes his head. “Anyway, I don’t.”
“You don’t…”
“I used to practice, when I was younger,” he says simply. “But I stopped.”
Woohyun frowns, tight-lipped. “Why?”
Sunggyu glares. “You’re too nosy.”
“Hypocrite.”
He keeps glaring for a second, then shakes his head and looks down. “No particular reason,” he says. “No reason to keep doing it, I guess. It just seemed kind of pointless.”
I’m sensing a theme here, Woohyun resists saying. “I always wanted to,” he says instead. “My mom always tried to teach me, but, you know, not everyone can…” He shrugs, then smiles. “Too bad we can’t trade.”
“Yeah…” Sunggyu is doing that thing where he looks at Woohyun full of questions, but doesn’t ask them. Woohyun hates it more than the asking.
♦
Some mornings, when he was a kid, Woohyun’s mother would put a charm in his palm - something small, a coin, a missing piece from a board game - and fold his fingers around it, her hands warm around his. “For good luck,” she would say. For good health. For energy. So you’ll never be lost, or confused.
Her enchantments were good, and Woohyun never questioned whether or not they worked. She sold the little trinkets every day at the market, spent her nights creating special ones for anyone who asked.
One night, she’d whispered words he didn’t understand into his hair, holding him to her chest, and smiled at him when she let him pull away. “For your happiness,” she said. “Everything you want.” It had seemed significant. More than just words.
♦
“If it doesn’t matter what they are, why do you spend so long picking these things out?”
Woohyun grins, turning a tarnished lapel pin over in his hand. “It’s something to do,” Woohyun says. “I like shopping.”
Sunggyu peers at the small collection of thrift jewelry with vague disinterest.
“Besides,” Woohyun says, “It’s important that it feels right if it’s going to be convincing, you know.”
Sunggyu snorts. “Sure.” He takes a necklace from its hook and considers it, draping the chain over his fingers. Woohyun gets a little distracted for a second by how nice his hands are, how soft and elegant his fingers look.
“Pretty,” he says, before he catches himself.
Sunggyu looks back at him. “It’s okay?”
Right. The necklace. “We’ll get this one,” Woohyun says, taking it from Sunggyu’s hand.
It’s not normal how normal it feels to drag Sunggyu out with him like this. How much Woohyun likes it despite the bickering, despite Sunggyu’s prickliness and Woohyun’s own insatiable need to antagonize him. Friends are supposed to bring out the best in each other, he thinks, but he isn’t overly concerned.
Sunggyu is hardly the only person who’s ever disliked him. Woohyun doesn’t have a rational excuse for his initial fixation, but he can’t deny that it’s satisfying, now, to think that if Sunggyu is more comfortable with him, if he wants to be around him despite everything, Woohyun has earned it.
Somehow. He doesn’t really get it either.
“Do you want to see a demonstration?” Woohyun says, leaning into Sunggyu’s space to whisper in his ear.
“Of what?” Sunggyu replies.
Woohyun just smirks. “Just watch.”
The lady behind the counter has been paying them only a little attention, but he makes sure she’s watching when he palms the necklace, delicate chain spilling out of his fist. He keeps browsing for a minute, and then he walks out of the store.
“Hey!” he hears behind him, then again, louder, as the door opens. He turns around, feigning shock, to find her glaring at him.
“Did you forget something?”
He opens his hand and looks, looks back up at her, and grins. “Sorry.”
He goes back inside and hands her the necklace. Sunggyu is watching, looking exasperated, but Woohyun resists the urge to smile at him. It takes the woman less than a minute to warm up to him, despite no effort on his part to look apologetic.
After two more minutes, she gives him the necklace for free.
“That’s the most infuriating thing I’ve ever seen,” Sunggyu says on their way out.
Woohyun beams.
♦
“I don’t know why I’m giving you this, but it seems kind of stupid to keep it myself.” Sunggyu unceremoniously drops something into Woohyun’s hand and shoves his own hands in his pockets.
Woohyun looks at his palm. It’s a key, small and nondescript. “Uh,” he says. There’s a bad joke here, probably. “What is this for?”
“Nothing,” Sunggyu says quickly. “I mean - I don’t even remember what it opens, but it’s not - that’s not important. It’s just.” He frowns, eyebrows knitting together. “I was… practicing. Enchanting stuff, I mean. I just wanted to see if I could still do it?”
Woohyun holds the key between his fingers. “So what, you want me to test it out? What if you messed it up? You want me walking around with a-”
“I didn’t mess it up,” Sunggyu snaps. “It’s perfectly fine... probably, I just don’t know if it actually works, but the point - the point is.” He rubs the back of his neck. “You can sell it, I guess, if you want to.”
“Sure,” Woohyun says. “So what is it?”
“Just a protection charm,” Sunggyu says, shrugging. “Simple. I mean, it’s probably not going to stop a bullet, but you know...”
Woohyun doesn’t even try not to smile. “That’s so sweet,” he says, simpering.
Sunggyu looks a little disgusted. “It wasn’t - it wasn’t for you,” he protests, but that doesn’t stop Woohyun from kissing him.
Sure, he’s been looking for the opening for a while now, and this is not even a good excuse, but resisting the urge is getting on his nerves. Sunggyu makes a distressed choking noise and freezes, and Woohyun backs off, grinning.
Sunggyu clears his throat. “Are you - that definitely wasn’t an intended effect-”
“Seriously?” Woohyun laughs.
Sunggyu sighs. For a few seconds, Woohyun watches him argue silently with himself, before he pulls Woohyun back by the front of his shirt.
♦
Woohyun kind of thinks Sunggyu is only willing to kiss him because it keeps him from talking.
(Woohyun is fine with that, as long as he keeps doing it.)
♦
It’s not like things change. The routine that they’ve fallen into remains the same: Woohyun visiting Sunggyu at the bookstore, Sunggyu visiting Woohyun at the market and pretending he didn’t come there to see him. Sometimes they get dinner, sometimes they end up at Sunggyu’s place and don’t do much of anything -
They don’t really talk about it. They’re not together or anything; they make out, sometimes, they - hook up, whatever, Woohyun did more obscene shit in high school. This is nothing.
“You’re really hung up on him,” Sungyeol says. “It’s kind of… gross.”
“You’re kind of gross,” Woohyun replies cheerfully, “and I made you dinner, so be nice.”
Sungyeol shrugs. Woohyun considers, for a moment, the fact that the only people who ever seem willing to put up with him for extended periods of time are huge assholes. Not that, you know, he has a lot of room to talk.
“What happened to ‘oh, no, this one definitely hates me’?”
Good question. “I think he still does,” Woohyun says.
“Sure.” Sungyeol rolls his eyes. “If you were just hooking up or whatever, that’d be one thing, but you spend all of your free time hanging out with him and, seriously, you’re so full of shit. You’re practically dating.”
Woohyun shakes his head. “I thought you ‘didn’t give a shit and didn’t want to hear’ about my love life.”
“I don’t,” Sungyeol says. “I just wanna know if I need to prepare for you being in a… relationship or something, because I don’t know if I can deal with that kind of-”
“It’s okay to be jealous, Sungyeollie,” Woohyun says, reaching across the table to pat Sungyeol’s hand.
Sungyeol jerks his hand away and tries to punch Woohyun in the wrist. “I hope you two are very happy together,” he grumbles. “Maybe then I won’t have to deal with you so much.”
Woohyun doesn’t think his relationship with Sunggyu could or should be classified as “dating” even if they actually were. It would be a perversion of the term romantic. That doesn’t stop him from thinking about it - how much he wants, how much he likes Sunggyu, for whatever reason. Maybe he’s a masochist.
This isn’t new for Woohyun, though; he’s had a million stupid crushes and nearly as many valiant attempts at relationships, or something close. He’s more confused about what Sunggyu wants than anything.
He worries, sometimes - because he’s used to it, because he always has - that maybe Sunggyu really doesn’t like him at all, or doesn’t mean to. That he’s just adjusted, let his guard down long enough to be convinced of feelings he doesn’t have, and that he’s going to realize it one day, all at once, and Woohyun won’t be able to blame him when he’s gone.
♦
Woohyun had friends when he was younger who told him he was going to get his ass kicked one day, for one reason or another, and Woohyun has never really doubted the truth of his sentiment. He doesn’t think he’s a bad person, but - he gets it. He’s a dick. The better he knows someone, the more aware he is of where their lines are - which ones are safe to cross and which aren’t - and he crosses most of them anyway, because -
He doesn’t know why. He really doesn’t.
It’s just - most of the time, he knows it will be fine. He’ll be forgiven or they’ll give it right back. It’s like living without a pain reflex, nothing to tell him he’s gone too far, to stop before he does real damage.
Maybe he hasn’t known Sunggyu long enough. Maybe he’s so used to Sunggyu being annoyed at him all the time that he never expects it to matter.
“Go home,” Sunggyu says. His voice is carefully flat.
“Wait, seriously?”
“Yeah, this is my apartment, remember?” Sunggyu has his hands in his pockets. Woohyun can see them clenched through the fabric of his pants. “You don’t live here, so go home.”
Woohyun opens his mouth. Closes it.
“I don’t know what your problem is,” Sunggyu says. He doesn’t break eye contact. “I know you think you can do whatever, say whatever you want, because no one cares and everyone loves you or what the fuck ever but I-” He closes his eyes for a second. Exhales. “I don’t know why I’m still putting up with it, but-”
Woohyun’s face is flushing hot with - something, he doesn’t know what. Anger isn’t the right word. Sunggyu isn’t wrong. “I thought this was how it worked,” he says, his voice rising. “You’ve been an asshole since day one, too, in case you’ve forgotten.”
“I have been,” Sunggyu says. “Because I don’t - I didn’t like you to begin with, all we do is argue, and I don’t know why we’re still around each other when we clearly shouldn’t be.”
This is a good opening for Woohyun to say something stupid. Something about wanting to be. He doesn’t. Maybe Sunggyu is just pissed off, but maybe - maybe he means it.
Alternately, Woohyun could just go home. Disengage. Wait it out.
Something in him won’t let him do that. “Maybe,” he says, slowly, “maybe you should’ve told me to fuck off earlier if that was what you really wanted?”
“Maybe I should have,” Sunggyu agrees, his tone chilly. “I don’t know why I didn’t, but that’s just how it works with you, isn’t it? Nobody gets a choice. I thought it wouldn’t…”
Woohyun blinks, frozen.
It’s funny, maybe - most people who know him are quick to suggest it, when they’re mad at him, that maybe all this time - everything had been fake. His fault, even if he didn’t do it on purpose, that they’d been tricked into thinking he was worth their time when he wasn’t. Never was. But Sunggyu - Sunggyu’s never gone there before, somehow, and now that he is-
Woohyun goes calm, quiet. Fuck it. “You’re probably right,” he says. “Forget it. I’ll just go.”
So he leaves. No fanfare. It’s funny, almost, that he can barely remember now what he said, what he did to piss Sunggyu off; it’s funny that it doesn’t matter.
He isn’t even angry, really. He has a hard time convincing himself that Sunggyu is wrong.
♦
When Woohyun wakes up, he thinks this isn’t my carpet, confused, before it actually registers that he’s on the floor, which usually isn’t a good sign. He blinks sleep out of his eyes, pulls himself mostly upright, and then, once he manages to get a good look at his surroundings, jumps awkwardly to his feet and screams.
“Fuck - what-” Sunggyu, who is in his bed - Sunggyu’s bed, in Sunggyu’s bedroom - mumbles blearily. Then he gets his eyes open and nearly falls into the floor. “What are you doing in my room?” he shouts, his voice hoarse.
“I don’t know? What?” Woohyun stares at him. “I was in my - what the hell -”
Sunggyu blinks at him for a second. His mouth opens slightly, and the look of surprise softens before he collapses back onto the bed. “Oh. Oh, fuck, I’m sorry.”
“What? For what?” With every second that Woohyun is awake, it keeps coming back to him. He feels a little sick, looking at Sunggyu.
Sunggyu groans, rubbing his eyes with the heel of his hand. “I didn’t mean - I didn’t think it really worked. It was an accident.”
Woohyun wraps his arms around his bare chest. Sunggyu’s apartment is chilly. “What are you talking about,” he manages.
Sunggyu rolls onto his back. Any other time, Woohyun might take the moment to laugh at how dumb he looks, all puffy-faced from sleep, his hair sticking up. Right now, as it stands, he’s too disoriented, too confused.
“After you left, I, uh.” Sunggyu isn’t looking at him. “I sort of accidentally - I caught myself in the middle of a spell, kind of, to… bring you back. I stopped! I stopped when I realized and I figured it didn’t work.”
“That’s - what.”
“Listen, I didn’t do it on purpose - magic is involuntary half the time, it’s just. When you want something-” He stops, pulling his lips into a tight line.
“When you want…” Woohyun repeats, slowly.
Sunggyu turns over again, away from Woohyun. “I just wanted you to come back,” he says, muffled.
Woohyun is silent for a second, then smirks. “Aw, that’s so-”
“Shut up! I just-” Sunggyu sighs, then rearranges himself so that he’s sitting up, looking at Woohyun again. His shirt is twisted from all the rolling around. “I felt really bad, okay. I didn’t - I didn’t mean - I wanted to apologize.”
“When do you ever apologize?” Woohyun says.
Sunggyu pouts. It’s stupid. Woohyun wants to tell him that, but he also wants to ruffle his already mussed hair and kiss him, maybe. He resists both urges, because, God dammit, he’s mad at him - and Sunggyu is mad at Woohyun too, but he seems to have forgotten that.
“I take it back, then,” Sunggyu says. “I’m not sorry.”
“Aw, don’t be like that.” Woohyun rocks on the balls of his feet, oddly giddy for no reason in particular. He’s still upset - he’s pretty sure he’s still upset, but here he is. He’s too tired. Sunggyu should be yelling at him. Maybe he’s dreaming.
Sunggyu frowns. “Forget it. I just didn’t want you to - I didn’t mean it, it was-” It looks like it physically pains him to apologize. “I don’t… I don’t really believe any of that, I.” He looks at the floor by Woohyun’s feet. “I’m really sorry. That wasn’t fair, nothing I said was - I don’t even remember what I was mad about. I figured I should give you more time before I said anything, but-”
Woohyun is definitely dreaming - he pinches the skin on his arm, hard. He blinks, but he hasn’t gone anywhere.
“It’s cool,” he says, because he’s not sure how long this is going to take, and he really just wants to go back to sleep so he can figure shit out in the morning. “I know.”
Sunggyu sighs.
“Okay, but anyway - are you saying you cast that spell six hours ago.”
He huffs, indignant. “I’m out of practice, you little-”
Woohyun cuts him off by knocking him backward onto the mattress, Woohyun’s knees on either side of his hips. Sunggyu stares up at him, clearly unsure what emotion he should be feeling; Woohyun smiles.
He sits back. Sunggyu blinks.
Woohyun runs his hands over his own thighs. “It’s cold, why is it so cold in here?”
“Why don’t you wear real clothes to bed?”
“Well, usually I assume I’m going to stay in my bed and not end up in someone else’s floor-”
Sunggyu tugs him down by his shoulder and kisses him. Woohyun is too sleepy and pleased to not oblige him easily, falling onto his chest. It’s soft in a way Sunggyu has never been with him - if Sunggyu is always this easy when he’s tired, Woohyun thinks, he’ll have to wake him up more often.
“Still cold,” Woohyun says, quiet, close to Sunggyu’s ear. One of Sunggyu’s hands is running lazily up and down the length of his back. “But better.”
♦
Over the next few weeks, Sunggyu starts to hang prosperity charms in the bookstore, and Woohyun comes down with a case of bad luck as quickly and uncomfortably as most people come down with the flu. Woohyun tries to brush it off as nothing, but after the fifth narrowly-avoided injury (“Apparently your little key still works,” Woohyun says, grinning, and he almost thinks Sunggyu blushes a little), Sunggyu insists on investigating.
“Why would anyone want to curse me?” Woohyun says, half-ironically. Sunggyu doesn’t bother dignifying that with a response.
The next week or two are a blur, Sunggyu digging through all of Woohyun’s shit to try to find something the curse might be anchored to. There’s nothing. This means they have to break the curse “the hard way,” Sunggyu’s words, which theoretically involves protecting the victim from harm while studying the curse to figure out how to reverse it. In practice, as far as Woohyun can tell, it mostly involves Sunggyu not letting Woohyun wander off alone for more than an hour, and a lot of unnecessary touching.
Woohyun points this out when Sunggyu’s got his palm pressed flat to Woohyun’s chest, his eyes closed. Sunggyu curls his hand into a fist and drops it hard, barely opening his eyes. Woohyun coughs.
Woohyun would insist they find someone better suited to break this thing, but, for whatever reason, he doesn’t particularly want to.
♦
On a wet Wednesday morning, Woohyun slips on his kitchen floor and busts his head open. Sungyeol stops laughing at him long enough to take him to get stitches. Later, Sunggyu calls him an idiot.
He figures out how to reverse it by Thursday night.
“Try not to piss off anyone else,” Sunggyu says, writing something on his hand. “I’m not gonna fix you next time.”
Instead, Woohyun hears it as be careful, I was worried about you, so he just grins.
He’s lying on his back in bed, Sunggyu sitting beside him with his legs folded underneath him. Woohyun feels it when the curse breaks, an inexplicable sense of relief washing over him, like the removal of a weight he hadn’t noticed.
He sort of wants to say thank you, but he falls asleep instead.
♦
When he wakes up, it’s morning. Sunggyu is asleep, diagonal across the bed with his head near Woohyun’s side and his feet hanging off the corner, like he’d tried to situate himself normally but had been too exhausted and given up. His head is so close to Woohyun’s hand that Woohyun could call it an accident when his fingers come to rest at the nape of his neck, tracing light patterns up into his hair.
Sunggyu’s skin is warm. The whole room is warm, sunlight filtering in through the window.
Woohyun could call it an accident, but it isn’t. He doesn’t want to.