Drabble based on the winning prompt for the Fourth Drabble Giveaway I held on Twitter (link): Wendy visits the library only to stare at the cute librarian girl Irene

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Sitting behind her book, pulled at random from the nearest shelf on her way in, Seungwan ponders her options once more: go up to the cute librarian and actually talk to her (which she never does), keep sitting there and hope the librarian will approach her instead (which never happens) or give up on her crush and go home.

Well, not go home forever. She’ll still come back for books every once in a while, libraries are pretty useful like that. Just maybe stop dropping by every day only to stare at the cute librarian.

Not that it matters, because she knows she won’t.

She finally notices that the book she picked seems to be a self-help volume on effective communication. She doesn’t appreciate the universe’s sense of irony.

The librarian has left the room, she realizes as she looks back up. She’s walked off to the more populated areas and left Seungwan alone in the esoterica section, the librarian’s favourite haunt. It’s certainly not Seungwan’s. All the books are weird and even the lighting seems a bit dimmer.

She shudders as she gets to her feet, then shivers with excitement as she notices an unfamiliar volume on a nearby table. It’s not a library book, more like a notebook, and it wasn’t there a moment ago. It must be the librarian’s!

She snatches it up in a second and runs off towards the crowd, taking only two steps before slamming into the very person she seeks.

“Hi,” she mumbles from the ground, where she has dropped quite unceremoniously. “You left your stuff. I’m Seungwan, by the way.”

The notebook lies by their side, open on a random page full of scribbled notes and strange symbols. Seungwan’s attention temporarily leaves the librarian to try and decode the inscriptions.

“Joohyun,” a voice pulls her back in as its owner crouches down to recover her possessions. “And I know, I was just coming to get it.”

“Did you write that in there? Looks like a magic spell or something.” Seungwan meant it as a joke but the stricken look that she gets from the librarian – Joohyun, she reminds herself gleefully – tells her that she might be closer to the truth than she thought. “Wait, is it actually a spell? Like, you do magic?”

“Of course not, don’t be ridiculous. It’s research. For a book.”

“It’s cool if it’s magic. I mean, that would be pretty… neat.”

“Neat,” Joohyun repeats drily. Seungwan nods and wonders if she should get up.

“Yeah, I didn’t even know you could do actual magic. Is it just spells or, like, can you brew potions? Or make charms? Oh, do you have a familiar?”

“You’re very calm for someone who’s just been confronted with the existence of magic,” Joohyun remarks instead of answering any of her questions. She looks like she might be amused instead of bothered, but it’s hard to tell.

“Oh, well, how bad can it be, right? If you do it.”

“You don’t even know me.” At that, Seungwan can only shrug and offer her best charming smile.

Somehow, it actually seems to sway Joohyun, who looks away from her notes to study her more closely. “Say, do you have a boyfriend?” She shakes her head, trying her best not to look too excited. “Girlfriend?” Another shake of her head. “Ever had one? Either one,” Joohyun adds, and Seungwan begins to feel like this wasn’t flirting after all. After a moment’s hesitation, she shakes her head again.

A hand is suddenly stretched out towards her. Joohyun’s pretty, soft-looking hand. She grabs it tentatively and finds herself yanked to her feet.

“Say, would you like to learn more about magic?”

(…)

Joohyun’s place has a lot of weird stuff. There are shelves full of jars, old books with unreadable titles, a whole glass cabinet containing nothing but little cauldrons. Seungwan takes it all in at a glance, giddy at the simple thought that she is at Joohyun’s place.

Their friendship has moved rather quickly and now here she is, just a few weeks later, sitting on Joohyun’s comfy couch and drinking some hot chocolate as they chat.

Despite all the weird stuff, this corner of the house with the couch, the TV and the fuzzy purple rug feels snug and cosy. She snuggles deeper into the pillows and takes a sip.

“So did you ask your parents the exact time you were born?”

Seungwan hums into her drink. “Yeah, they said 7:12.”

“Great, great.” The sound of scribbling comes from the table where Joohyun sits, surrounded by a few papers. “That’s all I need to, uh, do your astral chart. By the way, have you ever been purified by sage? We should do that sometime.”

“Oh, is it fun?”

“So fun.” Some more scribbling, then a chair is pushed back and soon Joohyun is sitting down next to her on the sofa. “Alright, let’s watch this movie. What did you pick?”

“I actually brought a few, just in case. So I’ve got Hocus Pocus, The Craft, the Witches of Eastwick-“

“Seungwan, did you just bring a lot of movies about witches?”

She freezes halfway through pulling DVDs out of her backpack. “I thought we could make it a theme night. Maybe you could point out the real witch stuff, or we could make fun of what they got wrong. Is that- was that a dumb idea?”

Joohyun just looks at her for a second and it’s very hard to tell what she’s thinking. She seems… confused? Before Seungwan can puzzle it out, a small crooked smile is blossoming on her lips and making Seungwan’s heart stutter and jump.

“No, I like it.” She leans over, the smell of her shampoo invading Seungwan’s nostrils as she pulls the backpack closer and begins rummaging inside. “We should probably start with something that isn’t too scary, I get startled easily. Ah, perfect!”

She pulls back, triumphantly brandishing the first season of Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Her childish excitement is impossibly cute.

(…)

The woods are pretty at night. It’s unexpected. Seungwan figured it would be really dark and she’d only be able to see the outlines of everything and would probably bump into half the trees in the place.

But the full moon is out and it bathes everything in a weak light, much gentler than the harsh force of the sun. It makes the world around her look washed out, tinted in blueish, greyish tones.

Joohyun walks by her side, looking entirely unreal. Like she’s just floated down from some cloud to visit the mortal world. Seungwan feels blessed, like the angel next to her has let her in on some secret that humans shouldn’t know.

“This one, you use for healing spells. It’s hard to tell at night, but it’s a really nice shade of yellow.” Joohyun leans down as she speaks and snaps up a few of the flowers she’s just pointed out.

They’ve come for ingredients, which are apparently best picked by moonlight. Seungwan’s hand is in Joohyun’s to keep from getting lost, but their fingers have laced together, and she can’t help but wonder if that means something else.

“Oh, this is great! It’s a very rare herb, but you can use it for a potent protection spell.”

“Protection from what?”

Joohyun laughs at the question, like crystal twinkling in the quiet night. “Just bad luck, unfortunate occurrences. Don’t worry, there are no evil spirits or demons lurking around. That’s just nonsense that horror movies made up.”

They climb a small hill and find themselves atop a cliff that gives them a clear view of the rows of trees they’ve crossed, all the way down to the city. The cluster of lights looks oddly peaceful when framed by nothing but the sound of the wind blowing through the vegetation.

Joohyun takes a seat on a nearby flat rock and Seungwan follows suit. She tries to keep her eyes on the trees, the city, the glittering night sky, but her gaze keeps falling back on the woman by her side, on that entrancing profile.

Their hands are still locked together, lying between them on the rock.

The next time Seungwan looks at Joohyun, she’s looking right back at her. Her eyes seem to gleam in the moonlight.

Joohyun’s hand squeezes hers tighter and it’s like there’s something tugging at her chest, making her heart beat too fast for her to catch her breath, and she’s leaning closer, and Joohyun is leaning closer, and just as Seungwan feels like her heart is going to burst out of her chest, their lips meet.

It feels like magic.

She nearly topples over when Joohyun pulls back, trying to chase her lips until the last moment.

“I’m using you.”

That’s not the kind of confession she was hoping for, she has to admit.

“I needed blood for a spell,” Joohyun elaborates. They’re still holding hands. Is that a good sign? “Special blood. Born under the right moon, purified. Given willingly. I thought you’d be easy enough to convince.”

Seungwan mulls it over. “Is this part of the convincing?”

“No, this just… happened. I guess I like you. I didn’t expect that.”

“Oh. Well, how much blood do you need?”

“A thimbleful.” Joohyun looks contrite. It’s cute. Seungwan wonders if she should be mad at her. She’s mostly just happy that she likes her back.

“And what’s the spell?”

“Good luck charm. I’m hoping it’ll help me get this job I want.”

“Nice job?”

“Really nice.”

“Ok then.”

“Ok?”

“You can use my blood.”

Joohyun seems surprised. But also happy? Seungwan would like to think she’s become better at reading her face, but it is pretty dark right now.

“Just like that?”

Seungwan shrugs. “I like you.” It seems simple enough to her. Joohyun nods, accepting the offer wordlessly. “Do you want to kiss again?” Another nod.

She wonders if her special blood has been working for her all along. She feels pretty lucky right now.

 (…)

“Have you done your spell yet?”

“I started, but it takes a couple of months.”

“Oh.” Seungwan casts around for something else to say. She’s still a little bit out of it. “I didn’t know good luck spells were so complicated.”

“This one’s more complex than average. The blood has to sit through a few moon cycles so it can channel the good luck properly.”

“I didn’t know the moon did that.”

Joohyun chuckles and the vibrations reverberate in Seungwan’s chest where their skin is pressed together. “It does to purified blood.”

Joohyun’s hand moves up to brush Seungwan’s hair away from her face. Seungwan thinks about where that hand has been and feels warmth spread over her face.

“Do you think it still works?”

“No, probably not.”

Now Joohyun’s hand is reaching for Seungwan’s and pulling it to , to press a kiss against the inside of her wrist. Their fingers lace together.

“Sorry about that.”

Joohyun turns to gaze at her, and this time Seungwan is sure that it’s amusement sparkling in her eyes. They’re still dark and heavy-lidded and Seungwan feels go dry at the sight.

“No need to apologize, I have no regrets.”

“I, uh, I have some friends who are probably-“

“Eh, never mind. It’s too much trouble for a bit of luck.” Seungwan bites her lip. She feels guilty for not waiting, but she really didn’t want to wait and Joohyun didn’t seem to keen on the idea either. And how could ever resist Joohyun?

“Are you sure there are no regrets?” she eventually asks. Joohyun laughs, leans closer to kiss her deeply, until Seungwan is dizzy and hot all over despite being covered in nothing but a bedsheet.

“None. If I had the chance, I’d do it all over again.”

“You can. Do it again, I mean.”

Joohyun’s tongue pops out to wet her lips and suddenly it’s all Seungwan can think about.

“Hmm. I think I will.”