25Ā¢ Magic
Genres: fluff, romance, friends-to-lovers, mans-in-love-disease Pairing: Reader & Wonwoo (Seventeen) Words: 2.6k Warnings: other than some food mentions, none! all fluff š Notes: yet another recasted fic sorry!! I reread the original last night and imagined it with wonwoo and liked it too much š (i changed a couple things to be more inclusive since the original is a way older work! if there are any mistakes regarding inclusivity, please let me know!)
Wonwoo needed a little magical intervention. Definitely not for you. For his eyes. Yeah. His eyes.
Magic 25Ā¢
Through his glasses, Wonwoo eyed the sign above the tiny corner shop as he stood there, debating whether or not to enter. You'd recommended the place to him a few weeks ago, even though you'd never bought the so-called "magic" yourself. According to you, the sorceress inside fixed whatever problem she deemed fit, all for the low low price of practically nothing.
At first, Wonwoo had brushed off your suggestion, scoffing at the idea of a mythical being actually solving his life problems, but now, he wasn't so sure. He couldn't be certain what exactly brought him there, to the small store in the middle of the bustling city, though he had his suspicions.
Lately, you'd been occupying his thoughts in weird ways. He had no idea why, but one day -- and he couldn't tell you which one -- he started looking for you whenever he found something funny or saw something beautiful, or thinking he'd seen you in a busy crowd when really you were never there at all; things like that. It confused him more than he would care to admit. You were his friend, yes. Someone he cared about more than most, but recently you got yourself a position in Wonwoo's heart that no friend has ever touched before. It scared him. What were you doing?
So he'd come to the corner shop. desperate for some sort of relief. The tinted windows and seemingly decrepit interior almost made him change his mind, but the brain-racking problem that was you made him enter.
A pervasive scent wafted up to Wonwoo's nose when he opened the door, smelling like rosewater and oranges. The shop was brightly lit, with various plants and flowers either placed on every available surface or hanging from the ceiling. Gold accents came in the form of geometric wires in various shapes accompanying the flower pots or hanging above the windows. From what Wonwoo could see, the only spot not covered with greenery was a marble counter near the back, which housed a silver service bell.
Before he could ring the bell, a girl popped up from behind the counter, startling him enough to jump back at her sudden appearance. She wore a plain white t-shirt and light wash jeans, matching the shop's simple feel, but her bright pink hair covered her face, and she spent a few seconds just getting it out of the way.
"Hi!" she greeted cheerfully, blowing the last few strands of stray hair away from her face. "Do you have a quarter?"
"Are you... the sorceress?"
She chuckled, a light sort of laugh that you do in front of people you aren't close to. "Sure am! I'm not what you expected, huh?"
Wonwoo didn't want to admit that he expected a haggish old woman wearing torn black rags and looking half past death, so he kept his mouth shut. Instead, he took a quarter from his back pocket and slid it across the counter.
"I'm guessing you know the drill; you give the quarter and I fix whatever I think you need most." She took the quarter and placed it somewhere under the marble counter, then pointed at a little table in the opposite corner of the shop, right next to the windows. "Have a seat. I'll be right back with some tea."
When she returned with two steaming teas in fine china cups, she sat in front of Wonwoo and looked into his eyes. He pursed his lips, not knowing exactly what to say, but also not wanting to turn away.
"I've decided. I'm going to fix your eyesight."
Wonwoo's fingers unconsciously fixed his glasses, though they weren't skewed in the first place. "My... eyesight?"
"Yup!" Her smile was soft, nothing like what Wonwoo expected before he came in. "Right now, it's what you need more than anything else."
Well, who was he to argue with a sorceress? It wasn't like he was going to straight-up ask her to fix his you problem. He was too shy to just give himself away like that to a total stranger. Maybe this really was what he needed. Though, he actually started to like his glasses after you said they made him look like, quote, "boyfriend material".
"So, if you would just take off your glasses--" the girl said, taking a sip of her tea. "--then I can get started."
Hesitantly, Wonwoo pulled his glasses from his face, placing them down on the wooden tabletop. From a little metal box that Wonwoo hadn't noticed before, she procured a small glass bottle, filled halfway with a lilac-coloured dust that sparkled in the sunlight. It was only then that Wonwoo questioned the windows . They looked tinted from the outside, and... the shop looked empty through them, but now they were clear and letting in plenty of sunlight, and the shop was clearly anything but empty. Was this really magic?
His eyesight wasn't that bad, he thought, especially since he could tell what she was doing when she pulled out the cork and poured some of the dust into her palm. She struggled for a second to plug the cork back one-handed and stick it back in the box.
"Keep your eyes open, please."
Without a second warning, she blew onto her palm, raising the dust off her hand and straight into Wonwoo's eyes. He flinched, falling back in his chair as he coughed. Through squinted eyes, he watched her gulp down the rest of her tea and pack up, then stand from her chair and walk away towards the counter.
"That's all. It should take effect by tomorrow morning."
With another smile, she disappeared into some sort of back room, leaving Wonwoo to wonder why the hell he ever followed your advice in the first place.
ā¢
Wonwoo couldn't deny that he was a little excited to not need his glasses anymore. Sure, he didn't mind wearing them at all, but updating prescriptions costs a lot of money, and keeping them clean was a whole other ordeal. So, when he got up to make breakfast, he left his room with upturned lips, his glasses still on his bedside table.
It was only partway into breakfast -- when he tried to look at the clock on his oven and couldn't tell time -- that he realized his eyesight wasn't fixed at all. Same blurry vision, same nearsightedness. What happened? Had he been ripped off? But who on earth would scam someone for 25 cents?
His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of his buzzer. He walked over to the door, pressing the camera button to see a pixelated version of you standing right in front of it, a big bag in your hands as you waved towards the camera.
He buzzed you in, not thinking much of it. You had a habit of showing up out of the blue.
"Wonwoo!" you greeted happily when he opened the door. "Are you ready?"
In the time you took to get up the stairs to his apartment, he'd found his glasses and put them on, as well as cleaned up breakfast. But ready? He wasn't ready.
As soon as he'd opened the door, you shined like you never had before, like a sunset glimmering off the ocean horizon. It very nearly blinded him. Your smile seemed so bright, and when you frowned at his lack of response (aside from wide eyes and a slack jaw) he had this surging feeling that he absolutely needed you to smile again.
Though, your pout put him in just as much awe in a different, alluring way.
"Don't tell me you forgot," you whined, bottom lip jutted out. "You promised we'd go to the carnival today."
He couldn't stop staring. Your eyes, your cheeks, your lips. All of you drew him in, and he couldn't say why.
"Wonwoo!"
Snapping out of his reverie, he blinked a few times to clear his vision, but nothing changed. You still looked...
Enchanting.
He stammered, trying to get back to himself. The regular Wonwoo, not the one stumbling over the sight of you. "What... huh?"
You rolled your eyes, a move from you that Wonwoo always liked, and today was no exception. Except, this time, he almost lost himself again just with that one action.
"The carnival? C'mon, you promised, so get dressed. We're leaving in ten minutes." Grunting, you used all of your might to push Wonwoo through his small apartment into his room and closed the door between you.
Once you were out of sight, Wonwoo stumbled backwards into his room and practically fell onto his bed, head in his hands. What the hell was happening to him? You looked exactly the same as you always did. Your face was the same, your style of clothes, the way your eyes moved with each expression. So what changed?
Whatever. Wonwoo assured himself that all these weird feelings would fade soon enough. He was probably just tired.
"So," you started once he stepped out of his room. "I've made a one-hundred percent foolproof plan so we can go on every single ride and hit every stall I want. Plus, I've written down our choices of what to buy so we stay within budget."
You were already halfway out the door before he could respond, giant carnival map held in both hands.
ā¢
Wonwoo had a hard time concentrating on the carnival with you right next to him. He'd started noticing little things he'd never picked up on before, like the way your smile grew half a centimetre wider after you scored a single point at a stall game, or the way your eyes screwed shut when you screamed on a rollercoaster. Normally, Wonwoo could barely handle keeping his own eyes open on rollercoasters, but this time he just couldn't keep them off you.
It was by the time you bought food that you noticed something was up.
"Are you okay? You've been quiet all morning," you asked him as you sat down with your lunch. (Not the healthiest thing in the world, but hey, that's what carnivals are for.)
The concern on your face reminded him of something. He didn't know what it was, exactly, but he knew he both liked it in a weird way and wanted you to never feel concern ever again. "I'm fine." He sat up straight. "Just... thinking about something."
"Oh? Like what?" You chewed on your food, leaning forward on your elbows and propping your chin in your palm. Why did he find every single thing you did endearing?
"It's nothing," he assured you, though he was mostly trying to convince himself that. He needed to switch up the subject -- far far away from his feelings -- otherwise he might just burst. "I heard you beat Seungcheol at Mario Kart yesterday."
Your face lifted as you sported a triumphant smile, launching into the riveting story of how you finally won a grand prix against Seungcheol for the first time. Wonwoo concentrated on your storytelling for only a few seconds before he got lost in your eyes and how they sparkled like a thousand, no, a million stars.
"And the, when he asked for a rematch, I stood up and went, 'I'm king now! Your words hold no power here!' so he chased me around his entire apartment, that brat!" You waved your hands around to illustrate your story. "It's okay though, 'cause guess what? I won a second time for our rematch! Gosh, it was so satisfying."
"Really? That's cool." Wonwoo tried to react instead of just staring at the way your skin looked today.
"Uh huh... and then he kicked me out of his house."
"Oh, nice." Your furrowed brows were so adorable.
"Yeah, and then David Bowie rose from his grave just to serenade me as I walked home."
"That's fun." You've got something on your lip; Wonwoo wouldn't mind helping--
You clapped your hands in front of his face. "Wonwoo!"
Jolting up, Wonwoo blinked a few times, but the beguiling you didn't disappear. "What-- what?!"
"You're spacing out on me! Are you okay? Do you have a cold or something? Why didn't you tell me?!" You reached out your hand to his forehead, brushing underneath his hair to feel his temperature. "Oh my god, you're burning up!"
Yes, he was feeling hot, but definitely not because of some fever.
"I'm taking you home. I can't believe you didn't tell me you were sick!" You grabbed his wrist and pulled him up, about to walk away and abandon your lunches.
Oh god. Oh no. If you took him home and started fawning over his "sickness", while looking this ethereal, Wonwoo would probably spontaneously combust.
"No, uh, no!" He wrenched himself from your grip. "I'm fine, really!"
Scrunching up your face, you mocked him, "'No, uh, no!' I think you mean: yes, uh, yes, because we're leaving. C'mon."
"No, we can do more. What about your foolproof plan? What about the rides? Let's keep going."
You crossed your arms and huffed. "I'm worried about you."
Were you trying to make him explode?
"I'm fine. Better than ever. I can do more."
"Are you sure?"
"One-hundred percent."
You sighed, uncrossing your arms. "Fine," you gave in. "We'll do one more ride. Just one."
"Great! What's next on your plan?"
Grabbing your paper map, you tried to read your own writing. You squinted at your plan. "Uh... next up is the Tunnel of Love."
Wonwoo choked on his own spit. "The what?!"
"The Tunnel of Love. I've heard it's really famous here."
"Why would we go in a Tunnel of Love?"
You crossed your arms again. "Because my friend told me it's really pretty on the inside. We could just go home, if that's what you want."
"No, no," Wonwoo said. "I'll go on it."
Your friend was right, it was really pretty on the inside. At least, you thought so. Wonwoo was too busy staring at you under the pink and red lights, oh and the reflection of the chandeliers and fairy lights in your eyes. Your smile was just as stunning as whatever the ride had to offer, in fact, he would argue that you were ten-- no a hundred times more stunning.
He liked the way you smiled and pointed at the things you thought were pretty. He liked the way you looked at him every time, just so you could see if he was enjoying himself, too. He liked the way your smile got wider when you saw his. He liked you.
He liked you.
"See, I knew you'd like it," you said cheekily. Your face looked so cheerful under the coloured lights. "Are you feeling any better?"
Wonwoo nodded. "I think I'm feeling..."
He always imagined falling in love to be something unexpected, like spilling coffee on someone in a cafe, or getting wrapped up in a dog leash with an attractive stranger, or meeting someone outside of a club who hated them as much as he did, but this was much better. Sure, seeing you in an entirely different way, in a whole new light than ever before was sudden. It was like falling into a pit trap with how quickly it happened, but unexpected? No. Wonwoo should've seen this coming.
I've decided. I'm going to fix your eyesight.
For the low, low price of practically nothing.
Without any warning, he leaned in and landed a sweet peck on your lips. "...much better."
ā¢
"Oh, did you ever visit this place?" You gestured towards the Magic 25Ā¢ sign. "I would, but I don't think I have any problems worth fixing right now." Peering through the dark windows, you furrowed your brows at the seemingly empty shop. "It looks closed..."
Wonwoo pulled his hand up, yours in tow with your fingers interlocked in his. He placed a quick kiss on the back of your hand, smiling. "Maybe, but I bet she works wonders."
