Characters: Jin & You

Setting: Disney au – Aladdin, notedly Genie au

Genre: fluff, humour (?)

Words: 1664

Summary: Genies were the last thing you thought about when you bought your fridge. Apparently, magic lamps are considered old-fashioned nowadays.

Dedicated for the amazing restless_maknae for her first AFF Bday! I hope you have a lovely day and spend more years with us sharing your wonderful stories! ♥

You’ve never believed in magic.

Okay, you had your own Harry Potter phrase like everyone else but other than that? Not at all. In your vocabulary things like divination, palmistry, horoscopes or oneiromancy are bull. Pitiful means some con artists use to trick naive people but you aren’t one. Most of all, you certainly don’t believe in genies.

But what can you do when this guy suddenly pops straight out of your brand new, shiny fridge? Yes, that’s right: an almost 180 cm young man just casually walked out of your tiny refrigerator wearing clothes that suit a sunny beach better than the freezing cold Seoul.

“I must be dreaming. There’s no way it’s real,” you murmur frustrated and blink in the hope that the unwanted vision disappears. Still, there he is with an annoying grin plastered on his face. You can’t help but facepalm. “And now I’m talking to myself, great, I’m going crazy.”

“It’s okay, it’s a common reaction. Also, I’m aware that I’m unbelievably handsome but I can assure you I’m real. My name is Jin and it’s a pleasure to meet you,” the sudden guest chuckles and introduces himself as a genie no less. You cannot quite focus on his words because he’s levitating in the air a feet above the floor and seeing this makes you dizzy. He says you have three wishes but you don’t listen because this must be some weird dream and you’ll wake up soon. However, it doesn’t happen any time soon.

Even though you threw this Jin guy out, the next day, the unreal, blonde guy is making breakfast in your own kitchen and smiles at you like it’s an everyday thing. Which is not because you’re an independent lady living alone and you’re absolutely not sharing with anyone who claims to be more than a hundred years old yet looks like an ancient Greek god.  Not to mention that according to your unwelcomed guest, you’re now connected until you’re granted your wishes. It’s so ridiculous, it must be some childish hidden camera prank but you won’t fall for his tricks. Or you thought.

“If you are really a genie, make the neighbours shut up!” you snap after an hour of useless studying because of the noise from above and your yell startles casually napping genie. You finally had enough of his fluttering eyelashes and persuading speeches about the importance of wishes. Let’s get over it.

“You wish is my command,” Jin grins widely and smacks his fingers. Lo and behold, the irritating fuss stops immediately.

It’s coincidence, you say and act like as if he wasn’t there after that incident. You hope he would get bored of waiting and leave but no, he stays stubbornly and looks like he has the time of his life watching tv with you and eating your favourite cereal. He even follows you to your boring university lectures where nobody sees him and makes silly jokes when you’re on the verge of falling asleep during class. Sometimes he sings when you cook and you don’t listen to the radio anymore because his voice could lull you into sleep. Even after two weeks of practically living with him, you don’t believe in this whole genie thing. It feels more like having a kind of nice ghost haunting you.

“Aren’t all genies come from lamps?” you snicker one time in a teasing voice as you sit on the counter watching him preparing dinner. The first time he invaded your precious kitchen, you chased him out with a frying pan but since you discovered he’s a chef-skilled cook, you hasn’t protested against his fondness for your fridge and stove anymore.

“Not anymore. It’s not practical. We have to evolve with the times, you know,” he snorts and shoots you a judging stare but during the time you spent together you learnt that you shouldn’t take him seriously when he acts like this.

“Sure, because the fridge is such a big improvement,” you scoff while you watch him flipping a pancake. You could get used to this sickeningly domestic feeling and it’s kind of scary. You know you shouldn’t get attached.

“Hey! At least, it’s bigger,” Jin reasons and you can’t argue with that so instead you change the topic and ask him about what people usually wish for. You still have two more to go and then it’ll be over. Everything will be normal again.

“Well, most people want money or power, like promotion at their workplace. Sometimes they want to make someone to fall in love with them, but we can’t do that.”

“And if I just wish for meeting the love of my life, not a specific person?” The rule makes you think out loud because you’ve always been a person who over-analysed everything. Maybe that’s why love avoided you since forever.

Jin furrows his eyebrows, deep in thought then nods. “Well, it might take a while but it should work.”

“Then let’s make a deal,” you suggest out of nowhere, running on the fuel of your crazy, spontaneous idea. “If I meet the one, I’ll free you with my third wish.”

The one thing you vaguely remember from Aladdin, the Disney movie that the blue Genie’s dream was to live as a free person. And seeing the happy, crooked smile on Jin’s face, you're not terribly wrong if you think it’s his, too.

“Deal,” he nods and grants you your second wish. Now, you only have to wait.

In the meantime, you get used to having a flatmate. Especially because he always disappears for the night and comes back in the morning in fresh clothes, looking better than ever. He never uses the restroom or the bathroom, never sweats and never sleeps. Sometimes you joke about him being a vampire and he’s not amused at all. When you struggle with your Modern History class, he tells you his first-hand experience and soon, you find out that it’s been a few hundred years ago when he was cursed to live as a Genie. You whine about it but you secretly like when he surprises you because you can’t hear his footsteps when he’s levitating. You love listening to his stories, falling asleep on his shoulder on the couch while watching a cheesy classic or posing for him while using your corridor as a catwalk in the morning when he comments on your chosen outfit for the day. It has only been a month and you don’t remember how it was before him. You don’t even want to.

“Maybe my Prince Charming won’t come,” you blurt out hastily one day but deep down you know you’d already met him. He’s strikingly handsome, tells bad dad jokes, has nice shoulders and is terrible at rock, paper, scissors.

“Don’t say that.” Jin turns to you with a suddenly clouded expression but you don’t want him to be sad because of you. “I thought it would work. It should have.”

“Doesn’t matter. I have my third wish anyway,” you shrug with a forced smile and play with the hem of your worn t-shirt. Maybe you should ask for a better wardrobe.

“Really? What is it?” It piques his curiosity but your silence is a telling answer and his face falls. “Hey, you don’t have to…”

“But I want to,” you interrupt him because you aren’t in the mood for listening to him not knowing why he deserves this after a fail or rejecting your kindness. You look straight in those chocolate orbs and lightly plant your hand on his rosy-coloured cheek. “I want you to be free and human again. That’s my final wish.”

“Your wish is my command,” he says the monotonous words for the last time and even beyond the stars in his eyes, there’s sadness you couldn’t get a grip of. Isn’t this what he wanted so much? To be human again? But before you could ask anything, he smacks his fingers and he’s gone just like that. Without leaving any trace behind that would prove that he was there in the first place and suddenly your apartment feels empty without him.

For a few days, even weeks, you wait for him to magically come back. To you. Stupidly, you would like to believe that your second wish wasn’t a waste and he realized your feelings before he left. However, it looks like he isn’t coming back and it leaves you no choice but to move on. It was silly of you to let yourself be charmed. What did you ever think? Falling in love with a genie? Nothing good could come out of it.

In the end, it turns out he was right: your second wish comes true after all. It takes a while but you meet the love of your life for real. It happens when you least expect it. The one who sits across you on your train home isn’t levitating and he’s not blonde but he has the darkest raven hair you’ve ever seen and his smile is still the same.

“Do you believe in magic, miss?”

A simple question shouldn’t make your heart race like this but you try your best to stay nonchalant as you answer. “No.”

“Really? Because you bewitched me,” he laughs at his own joke and in your opinion nobody has ever pulled off a corny pick up line better than him. It’s impossible because he even gently tucks a lock behind your ear while leaning closer and the next thing you know he holds out a red rose for you. His familiar nougat brown eyes are sincere and his palm is warm on your hand. It can’t be a magic trick anymore: he’s real, this is real. “Sorry for making you wait.”

“Thank you for coming back,” you squeeze his hand and a smile creeps on your face. You couldn’t have wished for any better.

Genie or not, there’s no doubt that your time together with Jin will be magical.