[#34] Every Story Ever Written (Just Waiting to Become Real)
Title: Every Story Ever Written (Just Waiting to Become Real)
Prompt: #34
Author: Anonymous
Pairing(s): Sehun/Suho (SeHo), Slight!Chen/Kai
Genre (s): TheMagicians!AU, Library!AU
Length: 1,772 words
Summary: Junmyeon wanted a love story like his parents had. Sehun’s just the Librarian’s apprentice who happened to be in the right place at the right time.
Warning(s): none
Disclaimers: I don’t own The Magicians (book series or TV series) but I do own this fic.
Author’s note: Dear OP, sorry if this wasn’t what you were looking for! And if you don’t know anything about The Magicians, I suggest you watch the show/read the books because they are amazing. Also, I tried to make this as clear as possible just in case you don’t know anything about this AU; hopefully that hard work paid off! Enjoy!
Sehun heard a squeal. At first he thought nothing of it-the books liked to emote sometimes, especially those in the Biographies branch where he spent most of his time-and continued his slow shuffle through the stacks. Occasionally he would glance down at a long list of inter-branch loan requests before he’d pull a name off the shelf and place it reverently onto his cart. Sehun did this for three more requests worth of time when suddenly he heard the squeal again.
It was slightly breathless this time, almost too excited about something, and when the sound became high-pitched giggles of glee, Sehun felt sure that his books were not the ones making so much noise in the Library. They would not be so disrespectful toward the silence of their own home, for one, but Sehun also knew that his master, the Librarian, made his disapproval of excessive emotional outbursts so clear that not even the biographies would dare to express such vocal happiness. His suspicions were confirmed when he rounded a corner to find a dark-haired boy sitting on the floor and leaning against a shelf labeled “Earth: Asia, East: Korea, South: Seoul: Kim: 1950-2000.”
The boy held a book in his hands and it was obviously the source of his laughter because he held it close to his face, despite the thin-frame glasses perched on his nose, and chortled in crinkle-eyed delight as he finished a page and turned to the next one.
“Ah,” the boy sighed happily, startling Sehun into a guilty crouch behind his cart. Sehun stayed there until he remembered that he was the Librarian’s apprentice and had no reason to feel strangely in this situation. He stood up again. The boy turned another page and shifted a little but paid Sehun no mind.
“This is my favorite part!” The boy squealed for a third time.
Sehun didn’t know if he was being purposely ignored or if the boy was so engrossed in the story that he genuinely did not see Sehun standing there gaping, but the patron certainly seemed surprised when Sehun took the words as an invitation and asked “What are you reading, then?”
The boy tossed the book into the air with a loud shriek that had the names on the shelf around him huddling together as far away as possible. Sehun waved his hand, suspending the flying book in mid-air, and stepped closer to the boy, running a soothing hand along the spines of the names to coax them back to their proper places on the bookshelf.
“S’alright,” he comforted gently. The boy’s shoulders relaxed and he shut his mouth slowly; it was evident that he thought Sehun’s words were for him. They weren’t, not strictly, but Sehun’s voice remained as evenly toned and quiet when he squatted beside the other boy and said, “I’m not sure if you’re aware, but this is the Biography branch. The books here hold entire lives. They are precious and need to be treated with extreme care.”
The boy nodded and looked sheepish as he stood to his feet, plucked the still-suspended book he’d been reading out of the air, and bowed toward Sehun in apology. That was enough for Sehun, honestly, but he knew his master would hear of the situation somehow-the various names catalogued under “Earth: America, North: America, United States of: New York: New York: Manhattan: Upper East Side” were particularly fond of gossip-so he accepted the apology but grimly informed the boy that if he violated the rules of the Library then Sehun could, and would, forcibly expel him.
The boy nodded once more, expression as equally serious as Sehun’s. “I’ll be more careful next time,” he promised solemnly. Sehun, unused to seeing such a somber look on the boy who’d only expressed great joy and wonder while reading, thought that it was cute how earnestly the boy seemed to take his warning. “Really,” the boy continued, “it won’t happen again.”
Sehun shrugged, the formality of his position forgotten. “Works for me!” His smile was small and crooked but it was seemingly enough to get the other boy grinning back at him. “I can take that off your hands, by the way,” Sehun offered, already reaching for the book in the boy’s hands as he spoke.
The boy met him halfway and shivered when Sehun took the name from him and their fingers brushed slightly.
“Kim Jongin, huh?” Sehun asked, reading the title off the spine as he stretched lazily to tuck the name book between Kim Jongdae and Kim Junmyeon. “You’re a fan of epic romances, I take it?”
The boy blushed prettily but shook his head. “No,” he said. “I mean, yes, I am, but that’s not why I grabbed this one?” He blushed harder as he tripped over his words and looked down at his hands in obvious embarrassment. “He’s my dad. Kim Jongin. Or was, at least.” The boy’s voice turned sort of sad. “I don’t remember much about him. He died when I was really little, but Appa always says their love story is one for the books.”
“Literally,” Sehun teased softly.
The sad smile on the boy’s face became a happy one again at Sehun’s comment. The sight made Sehun feel warm, even in the drafty underground of the stacks.
“Literally,” the boy repeated back with a little laugh.
“And now that you’ve read it?” Sehun prompted, forgetting for a moment that the boy must have read the book before, since he had a favorite part.
“Oh I come here every year,” the boy admitted. “On his death day. I’m not sure Appa believes me when I tell him I can travel to a world full of fountains with a library that stores up every detail of a person’s life in a book, but he lets me do what I like to celebrate Dad’s life.”
“That’s sweet of him,” Sehun agreed, not quite sure what else to say to that. The boy stayed silent and nodded slowly when Sehun added, “Very supportive.”
“Now all I need is to find a love like my parents and I’ll be set for life!” The boy was very adamant about this point and he waved his hands in the air a bit as if his excitement wasn’t enough to convince Sehun that this dream of the boy’s was incredibly important. “They loved each other so much,” the boy continued to gush. “This part in Chapter 3 when Dad handwrites Appa a letter for their first anniversary that’s six pages long? I want to love someone that much.”
Sehun knew about the modern technology of this boy’s world-Earth, he assumed, given the location of the boy’s father’s book. People didn’t correspond through writing anymore and Sehun had read enough other Earth biographies to know that six pages was a lot for a handwritten love letter.
The boy looked up at him suddenly, expression horrified and apologetic. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry!” he apologized. “I’m Kim Junmyeon! I’m sorry for not introducing myself earlier; I was too caught up in the romance, I guess.”
Sehun spent so much time in the Biography branch that names had come to hold a precious quality for him. “Thank you,” he accepted the introduction with a soft voice and a respectful bow. Junmyeon didn’t understand Sehun’s reverence it seemed, but he bowed in return and smiled when Sehun returned the greeting with his own name.
“I’m the Apprentice,” Sehun informed Junmyeon after a moment. He wanted Junmyeon to know why he’d felt empowered enough to chastise him earlier, so he wasn’t expecting the admiration glowing in Junmyeon’s gaze when he learned that Sehun held such a position at the Library.
“I’m so jealous,” Junmyeon admitted. “Your life must be like a dream.”
“There’s a strange sort of temporal displacement that happens here,” Sehun shared. “It makes the hours pass too slowly to bear and too quickly to count, all at the same time. Honestly,” he leaned forward and cupped a hand around his mouth to whisper, “It can be sort of exhausting.”
Junmyeon looked like part of him could understand that. Sehun supposed that life outside the Library wasn’t necessarily less tiring than life in it; and since he hadn’t read Junmyeon’s name book yet, Sehun couldn’t exactly assume that Junmyeon’s life was an easy one. For all he knew Junmyeon lead the epitome of a suffering existence. Sehun hoped not though, for the sake of Kim Jongin and Kim Jongdae’s love story, at least. Their child deserved better, he thought.
“That’s another reason I come here when I can,” Junmyeon commiserated. “Somehow I feel like the books understand.”
“They’re lives lived,” Sehun reminded Junmyeon knowingly. “Of course they understand.”
“Do you,” Junmyeon asked, suddenly inexplicably shy, “feel like they understand you?” When Sehun shrugged, Junmyeon pressed on. “If they can’t share your secrets, is there a book here with your name on it that I can read? I’ve told you all of my life,” he turned to point out the Kim Junmyeon name on the shelf. “And it’s right here for you to read, if you want.”
At that Sehun shook his head vehemently. “I’ve never searched for myself. The temptation would be too great and I might not like the end I find written there.”
“I suppose.” Junmyeon agreed verbally but Sehun could see the Earth boy was pouting. “But this meeting, for instance,” he said, gesturing between their two bodies which had somehow inched closer and closer to one another over the course of their conversation. “Wouldn’t you want to read about it?” He blushed. “Wouldn’t you want to know if we’ll, you know, meet again?”
Sehun grinned. “The Library’s my home. If you want to see me again, you know where to find me.”
He turned back to his cart then and continued his earlier work, perusing the shelves to fill the long list of inter-branch loan requests.
The boy, Kim Junmyeon, called out after him, “But how am I supposed to know if you want to see me again?!”
Sehun grinned to himself and shouted over his shoulder, “I told you my name, didn’t I?”
His words maybe didn’t mean as much to the traveler boy from Earth who only came once a year on his deceased father’s death day and didn’t spend as much time surrounded by the names as Sehun did. But they meant something to Sehun.
He hoped that the boy might come back, visiting again and again and again so that one day he might understand how important it was that he knew Sehun’s name. And for the first time in a long time Sehun found himself wondering about his own book, and whether the boy named Kim Junmyeon ever would return to find him.
Prompt: #34
Author: Anonymous
Pairing(s): Sehun/Suho (SeHo), Slight!Chen/Kai
Genre (s): TheMagicians!AU, Library!AU
Length: 1,772 words
Summary: Junmyeon wanted a love story like his parents had. Sehun’s just the Librarian’s apprentice who happened to be in the right place at the right time.
Warning(s): none
Disclaimers: I don’t own The Magicians (book series or TV series) but I do own this fic.
Author’s note: Dear OP, sorry if this wasn’t what you were looking for! And if you don’t know anything about The Magicians, I suggest you watch the show/read the books because they are amazing. Also, I tried to make this as clear as possible just in case you don’t know anything about this AU; hopefully that hard work paid off! Enjoy!
Sehun heard a squeal. At first he thought nothing of it-the books liked to emote sometimes, especially those in the Biographies branch where he spent most of his time-and continued his slow shuffle through the stacks. Occasionally he would glance down at a long list of inter-branch loan requests before he’d pull a name off the shelf and place it reverently onto his cart. Sehun did this for three more requests worth of time when suddenly he heard the squeal again.
It was slightly breathless this time, almost too excited about something, and when the sound became high-pitched giggles of glee, Sehun felt sure that his books were not the ones making so much noise in the Library. They would not be so disrespectful toward the silence of their own home, for one, but Sehun also knew that his master, the Librarian, made his disapproval of excessive emotional outbursts so clear that not even the biographies would dare to express such vocal happiness. His suspicions were confirmed when he rounded a corner to find a dark-haired boy sitting on the floor and leaning against a shelf labeled “Earth: Asia, East: Korea, South: Seoul: Kim: 1950-2000.”
The boy held a book in his hands and it was obviously the source of his laughter because he held it close to his face, despite the thin-frame glasses perched on his nose, and chortled in crinkle-eyed delight as he finished a page and turned to the next one.
“Ah,” the boy sighed happily, startling Sehun into a guilty crouch behind his cart. Sehun stayed there until he remembered that he was the Librarian’s apprentice and had no reason to feel strangely in this situation. He stood up again. The boy turned another page and shifted a little but paid Sehun no mind.
“This is my favorite part!” The boy squealed for a third time.
Sehun didn’t know if he was being purposely ignored or if the boy was so engrossed in the story that he genuinely did not see Sehun standing there gaping, but the patron certainly seemed surprised when Sehun took the words as an invitation and asked “What are you reading, then?”
The boy tossed the book into the air with a loud shriek that had the names on the shelf around him huddling together as far away as possible. Sehun waved his hand, suspending the flying book in mid-air, and stepped closer to the boy, running a soothing hand along the spines of the names to coax them back to their proper places on the bookshelf.
“S’alright,” he comforted gently. The boy’s shoulders relaxed and he shut his mouth slowly; it was evident that he thought Sehun’s words were for him. They weren’t, not strictly, but Sehun’s voice remained as evenly toned and quiet when he squatted beside the other boy and said, “I’m not sure if you’re aware, but this is the Biography branch. The books here hold entire lives. They are precious and need to be treated with extreme care.”
The boy nodded and looked sheepish as he stood to his feet, plucked the still-suspended book he’d been reading out of the air, and bowed toward Sehun in apology. That was enough for Sehun, honestly, but he knew his master would hear of the situation somehow-the various names catalogued under “Earth: America, North: America, United States of: New York: New York: Manhattan: Upper East Side” were particularly fond of gossip-so he accepted the apology but grimly informed the boy that if he violated the rules of the Library then Sehun could, and would, forcibly expel him.
The boy nodded once more, expression as equally serious as Sehun’s. “I’ll be more careful next time,” he promised solemnly. Sehun, unused to seeing such a somber look on the boy who’d only expressed great joy and wonder while reading, thought that it was cute how earnestly the boy seemed to take his warning. “Really,” the boy continued, “it won’t happen again.”
Sehun shrugged, the formality of his position forgotten. “Works for me!” His smile was small and crooked but it was seemingly enough to get the other boy grinning back at him. “I can take that off your hands, by the way,” Sehun offered, already reaching for the book in the boy’s hands as he spoke.
The boy met him halfway and shivered when Sehun took the name from him and their fingers brushed slightly.
“Kim Jongin, huh?” Sehun asked, reading the title off the spine as he stretched lazily to tuck the name book between Kim Jongdae and Kim Junmyeon. “You’re a fan of epic romances, I take it?”
The boy blushed prettily but shook his head. “No,” he said. “I mean, yes, I am, but that’s not why I grabbed this one?” He blushed harder as he tripped over his words and looked down at his hands in obvious embarrassment. “He’s my dad. Kim Jongin. Or was, at least.” The boy’s voice turned sort of sad. “I don’t remember much about him. He died when I was really little, but Appa always says their love story is one for the books.”
“Literally,” Sehun teased softly.
The sad smile on the boy’s face became a happy one again at Sehun’s comment. The sight made Sehun feel warm, even in the drafty underground of the stacks.
“Literally,” the boy repeated back with a little laugh.
“And now that you’ve read it?” Sehun prompted, forgetting for a moment that the boy must have read the book before, since he had a favorite part.
“Oh I come here every year,” the boy admitted. “On his death day. I’m not sure Appa believes me when I tell him I can travel to a world full of fountains with a library that stores up every detail of a person’s life in a book, but he lets me do what I like to celebrate Dad’s life.”
“That’s sweet of him,” Sehun agreed, not quite sure what else to say to that. The boy stayed silent and nodded slowly when Sehun added, “Very supportive.”
“Now all I need is to find a love like my parents and I’ll be set for life!” The boy was very adamant about this point and he waved his hands in the air a bit as if his excitement wasn’t enough to convince Sehun that this dream of the boy’s was incredibly important. “They loved each other so much,” the boy continued to gush. “This part in Chapter 3 when Dad handwrites Appa a letter for their first anniversary that’s six pages long? I want to love someone that much.”
Sehun knew about the modern technology of this boy’s world-Earth, he assumed, given the location of the boy’s father’s book. People didn’t correspond through writing anymore and Sehun had read enough other Earth biographies to know that six pages was a lot for a handwritten love letter.
The boy looked up at him suddenly, expression horrified and apologetic. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry!” he apologized. “I’m Kim Junmyeon! I’m sorry for not introducing myself earlier; I was too caught up in the romance, I guess.”
Sehun spent so much time in the Biography branch that names had come to hold a precious quality for him. “Thank you,” he accepted the introduction with a soft voice and a respectful bow. Junmyeon didn’t understand Sehun’s reverence it seemed, but he bowed in return and smiled when Sehun returned the greeting with his own name.
“I’m the Apprentice,” Sehun informed Junmyeon after a moment. He wanted Junmyeon to know why he’d felt empowered enough to chastise him earlier, so he wasn’t expecting the admiration glowing in Junmyeon’s gaze when he learned that Sehun held such a position at the Library.
“I’m so jealous,” Junmyeon admitted. “Your life must be like a dream.”
“There’s a strange sort of temporal displacement that happens here,” Sehun shared. “It makes the hours pass too slowly to bear and too quickly to count, all at the same time. Honestly,” he leaned forward and cupped a hand around his mouth to whisper, “It can be sort of exhausting.”
Junmyeon looked like part of him could understand that. Sehun supposed that life outside the Library wasn’t necessarily less tiring than life in it; and since he hadn’t read Junmyeon’s name book yet, Sehun couldn’t exactly assume that Junmyeon’s life was an easy one. For all he knew Junmyeon lead the epitome of a suffering existence. Sehun hoped not though, for the sake of Kim Jongin and Kim Jongdae’s love story, at least. Their child deserved better, he thought.
“That’s another reason I come here when I can,” Junmyeon commiserated. “Somehow I feel like the books understand.”
“They’re lives lived,” Sehun reminded Junmyeon knowingly. “Of course they understand.”
“Do you,” Junmyeon asked, suddenly inexplicably shy, “feel like they understand you?” When Sehun shrugged, Junmyeon pressed on. “If they can’t share your secrets, is there a book here with your name on it that I can read? I’ve told you all of my life,” he turned to point out the Kim Junmyeon name on the shelf. “And it’s right here for you to read, if you want.”
At that Sehun shook his head vehemently. “I’ve never searched for myself. The temptation would be too great and I might not like the end I find written there.”
“I suppose.” Junmyeon agreed verbally but Sehun could see the Earth boy was pouting. “But this meeting, for instance,” he said, gesturing between their two bodies which had somehow inched closer and closer to one another over the course of their conversation. “Wouldn’t you want to read about it?” He blushed. “Wouldn’t you want to know if we’ll, you know, meet again?”
Sehun grinned. “The Library’s my home. If you want to see me again, you know where to find me.”
He turned back to his cart then and continued his earlier work, perusing the shelves to fill the long list of inter-branch loan requests.
The boy, Kim Junmyeon, called out after him, “But how am I supposed to know if you want to see me again?!”
Sehun grinned to himself and shouted over his shoulder, “I told you my name, didn’t I?”
His words maybe didn’t mean as much to the traveler boy from Earth who only came once a year on his deceased father’s death day and didn’t spend as much time surrounded by the names as Sehun did. But they meant something to Sehun.
He hoped that the boy might come back, visiting again and again and again so that one day he might understand how important it was that he knew Sehun’s name. And for the first time in a long time Sehun found himself wondering about his own book, and whether the boy named Kim Junmyeon ever would return to find him.