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Choi Jongho was just an ordinary boy. He grew up in Namhae, did well in school, played sports and excelled at them, took part in various competitions, returning with trophies and medals to his parents' and coach's pride, and made friends with his classmates and members of the sports club. Although not being much of a social butterfly, he managed to maintain good relationships with his peers and gained respect of his elders. He was still two years away from graduating high school, but he was already working hard to prepare for exams and thinking about going to a sports college.
All in all, Choi Jongho was just a normal high school student. Well, that's what he thought, until one autumn day he woke up in an unfamiliar room, on an unfamiliar bed, and with a strange feeling inside.
Rubbing his eyes, he tried to get rid of the sleepy state that pressed his body to the bed. He raised himself on his elbows, looked around and was surprised to find that his bed, which until then had stood by the window, allowing him to look at the stars at night, was now by the wall, completely covered with colorful posters, which yesterday, he remembered for sure, had not been there yet. And they weren't supposed to be. He didn't like to see anything bright in the morning – it only made him want to wrap himself up in a warm blanket and stay under it. And his parents also didn't want him to ruin the minor repairs of the room. Shaking his head and looking ahead, he squinted his eyes noticing a huge shelf full of books... No, not books, but, judging by the colorful spines with volume numbers – manga?..
Jongho snorted incredulously. Something was wrong. He didn't keep manga in the big book stack. Moreover, he didn't even have such an impressive collection. In fact, he didn't own a single volume, since he wasn't into reading this kind of literature, though he did watch anime occasionally.
Yes, something was definitely wrong.
Forcing himself to get up, Jongho turned around to see that he was sleeping surrounded by stuffed toys. Last time this happened, he had been about 11 years old. And then he grew up and, wanting to seem more adult than he really was, he gave all the stuffed toys to his cousin. Then, when he realized that being an adult did not mean getting rid of your favorite things, he regretted it, lying in an empty bed at night and remembering how soft were his teddy bear, kitten, fox and bunny.
All in all, having toys (that somehow included Hello Kitty) made the situation even stranger.
Jongho walked over to the desk, curious about the screaming pink keyboard, and flinched when he reached out to it and noticed that there was... Something wrong with his hands. No, there was nothing wrong with his hands, they just seemed unusually thin and fragile. Short fingers with neatly cut fingernails and some kind of too light skin.
Viscous fear settled in his chest.
He raised his hands abruptly and began to feel his face, finding more and more oddities.
"What the..." escaped a whisper, and he grimaced. It wasn't his voice.
A frightening assumption crept into his mind, and Jongho rushed to find a mirror.
It wasn't him in the reflection. Not him at all. The stranger's frightened eyes stared back at Jongho. Sharp cheekbones, a nice straight nose, and thin lips. But it was the black hair with red strands barely covering his eyes that attracted his attention the most. The stranger looked mysterious and attractive even with a completely lost expression. With both shock and some admiration at the same time, Jongho looked over his broad shoulders and thin waist but was ashamed to lower his gaze. He didn't even know the boy and was already gazing at him. Though now that person was himself. And that was the most absurd thing of all.
"I'm dreaming, aren't I?" he asked himself aloud and leaned over, watching the reflection repeating his movements. It really was him. Choi Jongho woke up in no-idea-where and in no-idea-whose body.
Goosebumps ran down his spine. The stranger was wearing ordinary pajama pants and what Jongho thought was an overstretched tank top that made him feel cold. He took a blue sweater from the pile on the gaming chair so he wouldn't be too cold or embarrassed by the sight of the strong arms.
"What a sloppy owner of the body," Jongho shook his head and stacked the rest of the garments into a tidy looking pile.
Jongho didn't panic. He wasn't a fool and realized he'd swapped bodies with the handsome stranger from the reflection. It wasn't hard to come to that conclusion – on the previous night he certainly hadn't drunk anything that would have clouded his mind enough to confuse his own reflection in the mirror.
Despite the fear that had settled inside, he could not shake off his doubts about the reality of what was happening. How could he have gotten into such a situation? Why him? After all, Jongho could say with absolute certainty that he had not performed any strange rituals or read any suspicious books lately.
His only knowledge on the subject of body swapping was the anime Kimi no Na wa. But as far as he remembered, the main characters there saw each other in dreams, which didn't fit his situation at all.
Jongho hit himself hard on the wrist, hissing over the sharp pain and watching as his skin poured red.
"I'm awake," he exhaled, either relieved or doomed, stroking the stranger's (or should he consider it his now?) wrist. He didn't want to leave bruises on his body. Especially not on such delicate skin.
Sitting down at the desk, Jongho apologized to himself for his future actions and began to rummage through the multitude of drawers and go through the accumulated mess near the keyboard. He needed to find out whose body he was in, and the reasons could be dealt with later. The stranger didn't look much older than himself, but mere speculations were clearly not enough.
Finding nothing useful on top, he looked under the table and pulled out an usual black backpack and fumbled for the familiar rectangle of plastic inside. It was a school ID card!
"Does he go to a neighbouring school?"
Jongho read through the provided information.
Choi San. A senior. In the picture, San had all-black hair. He was smiling broadly, flashing his eyes affably and revealing his dimples. Jongho couldn't help but think they were cute.
San looked very friendly. Perhaps having spotted him at the sports club, Jongho would have even approached him to get acquainted.
So, this Choi San went to the neighboring school. Jongho's and San's schools were only separated by a sports-ground. Jongho remembered that sometimes at basketball training his team would play with the team from that school, but he didn't see anyone like San. Well, in fact, it would be fair to say that Jongho was always so focused on the ball that he didn't even hear the students gathering outside the ground and shouting his name. All he could think were the strategies that would lead his team to victory, and trying to anticipate his opponents' actions. What's use of him to get distracted by the audience? They don't get in the way, so that's fine, and he no longer cared about the rest.
It's possible, but only possible, that it was during this training that one day there was also a boy in the crowd of observers who had decided to take a break in the fresh air and read a recently purchased volume of manga, but got distracted by the game.
Jongho now knew that he was in Choi San's body. But that knowledge made almost no difference. It only meant that it was likely that San himself was now sitting in an unfamiliar room and in an unfamiliar body, trying to figure out what to do. Why had they switched bodies? And how to make it happen again?
Jongho walked over to the bed and fumbled for a phone under a pillow. Too obvious, but that only played right into his hands.
He unlocked the phone with his fingerprint and searched into his browser: what to do if I woke up in someone else's body. Jongho admitted it was stupid, but he needed to use all the resources to solve the issue.
The Internet search yielded no results. For some reason, articles about derealization and sleep paralysis came up mostly, but none of it even closely resembled his situation. Hadn't this ever happened to anyone else? And again, why did it happen in the first place?
Jongho put the other boy's phone away and buried his face in his palms. At least this San lived in the same city, so he'd just have to gather up his thoughts, figure out what neighborhood he was in, and walk to his house to make sure his body was okay. If San really was in his body right now, the two of them would figure out exactly how to get out of this situation. Jongho had a training tomorrow, and he didn't feel like missing it.
His thoughts were interrupted by a long trilling sound coming from behind the closed door.
Jongho flinched. Right. He's in the stranger's house. What if it's San's parents? How should he behave? He had no idea what kind of person this Choi San was.
Opening the door, he looked around to determine the source of the sound. It sounded like someone was jamming the doorbell.
The sound stopped abruptly when Jongho had already taken a step down the hallway. He froze in his tracks.
Suddenly the trill resumed, and the unpleasant ear-piercing sound made Jongho get to the door as quickly as possible. Not even looking through the peephole, he somehow managed to figure out how to unlock the door and swung it open, preparing to see San's parents or other relatives. Jongho could go with the flow and had a knack for improvisation.
Jongho was ready. So he thought.
But when the person in front of him was none other than himself, all confidence crumbled.
He was not ready.
***
Wide-eyed, Jongho stared at the panting... Himself? It was like he was in a horror movie.
"Oh God, Jongho, I'm sorry I messed up so badly, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't think that stupid spell would really work..." he muttered hoarsely and decided to explain further when met with silence, "I don't know if you got it already, but we... Sort of... Switched bodies... It was my fault…"
Jongho didn't have the strength to be angry. They already got into this situation, so there was no point in throwing accusations. The important thing was to figure out how to fix it. Jongho didn't understand why he'd just woken up recently and already had so much to deal with.
"Choi San-hyung?"
San nodded in surprise.
"Why don't you come in and tell exactly what happened? It's your house after all."
For some reason, Jongho had the feeling he wouldn't be able to go to the training on the following day.
***
"So you're saying you saw a comment on some web-forum and decided to read the spell written there?"
The situation couldn't have been sillier. Even after getting used to being in someone else's body, Jongho still could hardly believe that something... Magical had happened to him.
San looked at him with such pleading eyes that Jongho wondered if he himself was capable of doing so. They'd only known each other for a short while, and Jongho had already managed to see just how many emotions the other kept inside.
"Are you angry?"
Jongho tried to understand what he was feeling. Anger? No. Irritation? Just a bit. Most of all there was interest and... Anticipation? At last something beyond his mundane studies and training had happened. It wasn't that he didn't like his everyday routine – it was just that sometimes his heart demanded new people and emotions. He got both.
"I'm not angry. I just don't understand why the spell chose me. We don't know each other, do we? Then why you and I... It's not like there is some connection between us."
Jongho looked thoughtfully at San, whose face was hidden in the sleeves of his shirt.
"It's my fault," San's ears flared, and his next words, muffled by the cloth, stained them even more deep scarlet, "I've seen you a couple of times. You know, at basketball training. So I thought of you when I read that stupid spell."
Jongho thought there was something San wasn't telling him. Why would he think of him? But he didn't bother asking.
***
"Maybe in order to go back, you should read it again."
San, distracted by looking at the other's moles in the mirror, looked questioningly at Jongho, urging him to continue.
"I'm not sure if it'll work, but if the spell made us swap bodies, then why can't it switch us back?"
San shook his head.
"I've already tried it. This morning, as soon as I realized something was wrong."
"Were you thinking of me again?"
San turned away.
"Yes. Like yesterday."
Jongho sighed.
"I want to try, too."
The circle will be complete, the soul will be transported, in another body will dwell. I wish to see the world through your eyes, and you look through mine.
Jongho thought about San. He thought about his manga collection and his stuffed toys, freckles on his neck, cute moles on his cheek and near his eye, how beautiful his black and red hair looked.
San was beautiful.
Somehow his chest felt hot, his heart beat faster, and Jongho thought something was about to happen. But when he opened his eyes, he was only met with an intense gaze.
Nothing had changed. Jongho was in San's body, and San was in Jongho's body.
"Did you feel it too?" San asked hopefully, clutching the cloth over his chest.
Jongho nodded and did the same. The fever did not subside.
An arrow-like desire to feel the other's warmth made Jongho place his hand on San's fingers, which clenched even more tightly with the unexpected proximity.
It felt strange to touch someone else's (his own) body and feel the heartbeat quicken. Even more unusual was how much Jongho liked it. He didn't often initiate physical contact himself, but he was drawn to San. Most likely because of the spell. Or simply because the two of them got into such a weird situation, so there seemed to be no one else to hope for.
San looked up at him from under half-covered lashes, a blush covering his skin in irregular patches.
Jongho jerked his hand away, realizing what he had done under the influence of the moment, and, embarrassed, lowered his gaze.
"I'm sorry, hyung."
San seemed to blaze up even more, though it was impossible.
"It-it's okay."
***
They spent half a day collecting scraps of information on the Internet. The results were not comforting. After trying several reverse spells, they decided to give up trying for now and move on to the most important problem – how to live in each other's bodies without arousing suspicion. They were both hesitant to tell the truth to anyone: Jongho didn't have any particularly close friends, his parents wouldn't believe him either; and San thought that they had not yet tried all the things and decided to wait and then decide whether or not to confide such a secret to anyone.
When recounting San's childhood, his parents returned. Jongho got stressed, but thanks to the other's help and his own intuition, he didn't raise the parents' suspicion and, after introducing them to his "friend," escorted them out of the room. Pretending to be someone else was odd, but they had to get used to it – until they found a way back into their bodies, it was going to be like that.
San went on to talk about his hobbies, how his favorite sport since middle school was volleyball, about being a libero, and how it was the Haikyuu!! manga that made him want to play, and that it was most of his collection. Because of the other's plans to become a professional athlete Jongho immediately felt they had more in common than he initially thought.
San was easy to be around. He joked and laughed a lot, told funny stories and never ceased to amaze Jongho with his dazzling vividness. They had only been acquainted for a day or so, and yet they had become so close that Jongho really wanted to be his friend. This was something new to Jongho, as he usually took a long time to get close to people, but his new acquaintance had shortened the time frame to an impossible degree.
San didn't push or insist on answering when he noticed that Jongho was trying to change the subject, didn't ask too personal questions. Jongho was comfortable, but unfortunately, everything has its end – so darkness enveloped the streets.
After finishing the story about his basketball team, Jongho noted the sparks of interest in San's eyes and offered to play together tomorrow and teach him some basics.
"You have a training tomorrow. How could I miss it? But that would be weird. I won't be able to play like you," San said.
"Anyway, there's no competition soon. And maybe by spending more time together, we can figure out how to get back into our bodies faster. Besides, I just want to spend time with you. If you don't mind, of course…"
Jongho looked away and hoped the words didn't sound too presumptuous.
San glowered and nodded in agreement.
***
Jongho laid on the bed, surrounded by toys, gazing up at the glittering stars on the ceiling. It was cozy and peaceful in a way that his own room wasn't. At home it was just… Familiar. But here every corner was lovingly furnished and it felt so. Either the body he was occupying now remembered this room and the comfort it offered, or deep down inside, Jongho actually longed for a similar home-like atmosphere.
Wrapping himself more tightly in the soft blanket, he made himself comfortable on the bed and hugged the toy cat.
Perhaps tomorrow they could figure out how to get back into their bodies, but to his surprise, Jongho found that he didn't want this magical story connecting the two of them to end so quickly.
***
San gave Jongho enough information to navigate in an unfamiliar school. He said hello to a few classmates and sat down at his desk, waiting for the bell to ring and praying that San's best friend, Wooyoung, wouldn't walk into the classroom. Jongho doubted he'd be able to fool the person who "saw right through" San.
Just seconds before the bell rang, when Jongho had decided that today wasn't going to be such a hard day, Wooyoung flew into the classroom. He looked like he'd just gotten out of bed, which might not have been far from the truth. After apologizing to their teacher, he sat down at the next desk and smiled cheerfully. Jongho felt like falling through the ground. Trying to look as casual as possible, he returned the smile.
Since Jongho was already studying for his final exams, he even understood some of the topics, so studying wasn't the hardest part of the day for him.
The trouble was caused by none other than Jung Wooyoung. It seemed like he couldn't sit still even for a minute. He would run to the cafeteria to water the flowers on the windowsill, wash his jacket that was stained with something green and strange-smelling during the break, and put notes with April Fool's jokes in the lockers of some freshmen, ignoring the fact that it was September. And of course, he wouldn't give Jongho a break because he was pulling him along on every one of these missions.
Jongho thought he was doing well. Until Wooyoung inquired.
"Are you okay? You're acting kind of weird. You don't even talk about your crush."
Crush? San had a crush? He didn't know that.
Jongho smiled naturally.
"I just didn't get much sleep. Stayed up all night reading Soul Eater," Jongho hoped he remembered the manga title in San's collection correctly.
For some reason Wooyoung didn't seem convinced, but hummed and changed the topic.
Around 3 o'clock, Jongho said goodbye to Wooyoung and walked to a small sports-ground in the next neighborhood. He was soon joined by San, who had been lent a basketball as Jongho was the leader of the basketball team.
They discussed what had happened at school and then Jongho started teaching San to play.
Jongho kept recalling what Wooyoung had said, but thought it was rude to ask San about his private life. San himself had a lot of respect for Jongho, so he couldn't help but give him the same attitude.
Playing with San was fun. He was agile and quick, which was no surprise given his position as a libero which required agility. Jongho's body also seemed to remember how to move and what ball trajectory to take to get a point. Jongho really enjoyed his time playing together.
Every time a ball thrown by San hit the rim, Jongho noticed the happy twinkle in the other's eyes and smiled. He thought it was ridiculous, but at such moments, it was as if he saw the real San, not San in Jongho's body.
Jongho blamed everything on the magic they had become hostages to. Nevertheless, he couldn't deny San's natural inner beauty.
As Jongho's parents were away on another business trip, they were at his house in the evening. He didn't think that after the bright posters, toys, and manga, his own room would seem too dull and empty. But that's exactly what happened. Even the awards rack in the corner looked out of place. His room was foreign, and only thanks to San did he realize it.
San dragged some books about rituals and spells from the library, and they began to read together and looked for anything resembling their case. Jongho thought these books were dumb, but continued to flip through the pages even when he wanted to just roll his eyes and throw the book out of the window.
Finding no useful information, they postponed further research for the next day again.
Lying in the other's bed and looking at the stars glued to the ceiling again, Jongho wished that San had been there. For some reason, he wanted to read something from San's collection sitting next to him, the other's shoulders brushing his own.
***
One day followed another. Several weeks flew by, and it became cold. Jongho was immersed in a cycle of studying, San, books, San, searching the Internet, San, San, San, and more San.
Jongho was aware of what such fixation on one person could lead to, so he tried to suppress his desire to be around San all the time. San already liked someone. Jongho didn't want to get hurt and be the one left behind again.
Still, he was attracted to the older.
When the other was reading one of the books and found something so ridiculous that a soft chuckle came out of his mouth, Jongho couldn't help but smile. San was sweet and direct. San was... San was there for him. And that was enough for Jongho.
To their surprise, Jongho found himself wanting to touch. He loved holding San's hands, especially when the other had just come in from the cold street and was freezing cold. He liked to give hugs and justify them with a simple desire to keep him warm. Jongho felt as if his heart was about to jump out of his chest every time San returned his touches with the same fervor. San himself often stroked the back of Jongho's head and the back of his neck, which almost made him purr.
They read articles and watched movies and anime on the subject of body swapping. They had even tried some of the ways the main characters had shown to put things back together, but nothing changed. And some of them they just couldn't try... Could they just, for example, kiss? Of course not! Jongho was blushing just thinking about it. And what kind of childishly fabulous spell was it if it could be dispelled by a simple kiss?
Although in fact, both San and Jongho thought that maybe a kiss was what would help them.
***
San leaned against Jongho's chest and leafed through the first volume of Jujutsu Kaisen. Jongho was reading with his chin resting on the other's shoulder.
They had just recently arrived home, and Jongho had made it his mission to warm San up. With his hands, he gently rubbed the fabric of the sweater covering the other's stomach and then began stroking his sides, listening to San's laughter as he was trying to get away from the tickle.
When they reached the end of the volume, they remained seated in the same position, and Jongho was so warm and comfortable that he would have fallen asleep had it not been for San abruptly getting out of his embrace. Sitting across from him, he looked into his eyes.
"Jongho-yah…"
Jongho shuddered. Never before had his name sounded so beautiful. San made everything he touched beautiful.
"I realized there was something else we hadn't tried. Something quite obvious."
Jongho nodded, indicating that he was ready to listen to more.
"Let's read the spell together."
San took Jongho's fingers in his and asked.
"Think of me. Only of me."
It wasn't hard. All his thoughts were of San. How San ran away from tickles, squinted at the sun like a cat, snorted amusingly when he didn't like something, forgot to put on his hat, ignored his gloves, and demanded hugs when he was cold. How he laughed so hard at even the unfunniest jokes, left light kisses in the crown of his hair, and could spend hours retelling the plot of various anime titles.
San was there for him. And Jongho wasn't alone.
The circle will be complete, the soul will be transported, in another body will dwell. I wish to see the world through your eyes, and you look through mine.
After finishing the spell and not letting himself change his mind, San immediately leaned forward and kissed the other's lips, squeezing his eyes shut.
The familiar heat engulfed the whole body. Electricity ran through their intertwined fingers and up to their lips.
For both San and Jongho, it was as if the lights had been abruptly turned off.
Darkness set in.
***
"Jongho-yah, my baby bear, you're going to crush me."
Jongho felt how the other's chest moved under his cheek and slowly opened his eyes.
San's room. Had he fallen asleep?
Looking up at the boy lying beneath him, Jongho smiled. His black and red hair was almost covering his eyes, but even so he could see stars in them.
San smiled broadly, and Jongho stared at the cute dimples.
Wait. Dimples? San? It certainly didn't look like his reflection in the mirror.
Realizing what had happened, he sat up and started feeling his face.
They'd made it.
San sat down next to him and took his hand.
"Since I'm me again and you're you, I need to tell you something," San began, his voice trembling.
Jongho squeezed his fingers in attempt to reassure.
"Actually, I knew you before we switched bodies. Well, as far as fans coming to cheer at training matches know. Everyone was screaming your name when you brought your team another point. You seemed so out of reach and magical that gradually I began to understand why you were so popular and came more and more often. I liked you."
Jongho had never wanted to hug someone and kiss flaming cheeks so badly.
"It was stupid of me to read the spell," San muttered embarrassedly, "I was wondering how I could get to know you, and someone left those words in the comments on one of the web-forums. I thought of you, read them and fell asleep, and the rest you know.
"I'm glad," San looked at him surprised, "Glad we swapped bodies."
Jongho opened his arms invitingly, and San did not refuse a warm embrace.
"I like you too, hyung. But let's not read any more spells, okay?"