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On the third day of his apprenticeship, Seungkwan was sitting behind the counter reading through a spellbook about common curses and their cures when the chimes over the door sounded, letting him know he had a customer.
“Welcome to Healing Herbs, feel free to look around, or let me know if you need anything in…” he trailed off at the end of his sentence as a young boy was held up to the counter, and a pink lop-eared bunny plushie with star-shaped button eyes was similarly thrust up towards his face.
“Heal him! Pwease? Excwamation point!” the boy demanded.
“Oh, umm, hello.” Seungkwan started, not quite sure how to handle this. “We don't, ummm. That's a stuffed animal?” He looked to the man holding the boy for help. “Your son is…”
“I'm sorry about this,” the man interrupted him, “my nephew just started school and is learning to read. We were heading home from the park, where his bunny, Byeol, got a rip in one of the seams, and he happened to read your sign. He insisted we come in to see if you could heal Byeol.”
Seungkwan bit his lip. Of course none of the healing magic he'd been learning would work on a stuffed animal, but the boy looked like he was about to cry. (And his uncle was really cute.) And Seungkwan didn't want to make a kid cry. (And he wouldn't mind impressing a cute man.)
“You know,” he leaned towards the kid, as if telling him a secret, “I think I might have just the spell to take care of Byeollie, if you can be good while you have a look around the shop.”
The boy's eyes widened in surprise, still looking a bit watery, and then his mouth widened into a huge smile and he nodded. “Put me down, Soobin-hyung. I'm gonna go wook awound.”
Soobin set the boy down and then knelt next to him to admonish, “Remember, don't touch anything. and don't run around, just walk.”
“Yes, Soobin-hyung,” the boy answered, nodding exaggeratedly, then turned to begin his exploration of the new shop while sing-songing a series of words that seemingly had nothing to do with one another. “Ectopwasm, octopus, ewectrifying, mowwify…”
And Seungkwan had sort of assumed Soobin-hyung would wander around with the boy, but the man just stood back up to his impressive must-be-over-six-foot height - much more apparent now that he was not holding his nephew - and turned his gaze back to Seungkwan.
Seungkwan didn’t show his surprise at Soobin's decision to remain at the counter, instead just began rummaging in one of the tall cabinets behind the counter. Healing stuffed animals might not have been in the job description when he'd taken this apprenticeship, but his eomma had certainly taught him how to sew, and she'd be mightily put out if he didn't use those skills to make a little boy happy.
“Sorry about this,” Soobin chuckled, “he was on the verge of tears when he saw your sign and I just couldn't tell him no without at least coming in and asking.”
“No, don't worry about it. It won't take long to stitch that seam up. No tears necessary.” Seungkwan assured him. “And, of course, no charge for a few stitches.”
He soon found the needle, thread, and scissors he'd been looking for, and turned back to the doll on the counter, and was struck once again by how handsome the man standing there was. He took a deep breath, steeling himself for moving back into close proximity, only just managing to stop his hands from moving up to fuss with his hair.
“Insipid, vacuum,” the boy sang, drifting closer momentarily and then moving away again.
Seungkwan deftly threaded the needle and stabbed it into the bunny at the top of the seam. He wanted to say something more to the handsome man, but he wasn’t quite good enough at sewing to take care of that while also carrying a conversation.
“Your nephew is really cute,” he said, figuring it was as good an opener as anything.
Said nephew passed by at just that moment, dragging one finger along the shelves as he sang, “Tweachery and chaos!”
Soobin snorted. “Yeah! He can be.” The smile on his face as he watched the boy was extremely fond, and he added, “He can also be a real handful.”
Seungkwan hummed an agreement, telling himself that just because the man was handsome and a good hyung didn’t mean he’d necessarily be a good boyfriend. And who knew if he was even single anyway?
In just a few minutes, punctuated only by the distant singing of the little boy, Seungkwan had Byeol sewn back up and was tying off the thread.
Soobin called his nephew over, “Gyu-yah, come thank the nice wizard for healing your bunny.”
“Adhesive!” Gyu finished his song with a strong jump onto both feet right at the base of the counter, then lifted his arms for Soobin to pick him back up.
Seungkwan held the doll up to Gyu with a flourish, and said, “Here you go, Gyu-yah! Byeolie is good as new!”
Before Gyu could take the bunny from his hand, Soobin swung him backwards and out of reach and asked, “What do we say to the shopkeeper?”
“Thank you for heawing my Byeolie, ahjussie.”
“Ahjussie?” Seungkwan gasped a coughing laugh. “Gyu-yah! I’m not that old! Please, call me Seungkwan-hyung.”
He handed the bunny over, and Gyu tucked it to his chest, then tucked himself into Soobin’s chest and shyly said, “Thank you, Seungkwan-hyung.”
“Thank you, Seungkwan-hyung,” Soobin echoed, and turned to leave, both of them waving goodbye as they walked away.
Seungkwan wanted to stop him, wanted to ask him out, but really, wouldn’t it be ridiculous for him to ask a stranger on a date just because he was handsome and good with kids?
When they reached the door, Soobin turned back and said, “Seungkwan-hyung, what time do you get off work? Could I come back and take you to dinner? As thanks for helping us out?”
“No,” Seungkwan answered, then smiled widely to soften the blow, “I don’t need any more thanks than you’ve already given, but you could take me to dinner as a date.”