Work Text:
Synopsis:
LEERIONZ DUO
𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟
Riwoo liked Leehan since high school until the day he entered college. He did everything he could to stay in the same class as Leehan. In college, he underwent a significant transformation and still liked Leehan. However, Leehan had a girl best friend who liked him, so Riwoo backed off.
Now, Leehan entered a dance class that Riwoo was in. Riwoo liked dancing but was shy to show it to others except his close friends and family. While he was practicing his dance, Leehan saw him and began to take an interest in him.
Basically, Riwoo used to be invisible in Leehan’s eyes but is finally being seen by him because of his glow-up and talent.
Does Riwoo still want to be with Leehan?
(F.Y.I: I might edit this chapter later since this is kinda just a draft. This is kinda shitty ngl, but you can see how this story goes and the point of it lol. Btw, this story is inspired by the song 'am i invisble' :))
The Story:
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“Riwoo, you should be more confident in your dance!” Jaehyun said, taking a bite of Riwoo’s sandwich.
It was a bright, sunny afternoon. The two of them sat in the cafeteria, trying the sandwiches that had just been added to the menu. While Jaehyun happily chewed, Riwoo’s mind wandered — as it always did — to a certain boy.
“I feel loved when you compliment my dance, but… You know how I am.”
Riwoo sighed.
“Dude, the boy you’ve loved for years literally doesn’t know who you are. Why are you still worrying about what he’d think if he saw you?”
“Can you blame me? You know damn well what we ugly kids grew up with.”
“Yeah, but now we’re hot, and the guys who bullied us wouldn’t even recognize us anymore,” Jaehyun replied smugly.
Riwoo gave him a look. “Jaehyun, I’m invisible in his eyes. Now I want to be the one who captures his attention. But I can’t be that interesting.”
“What? You seriously think dancing is too eye-catching?”
“Obviously!”
Jaehyun groaned.
“…I still love him,” Riwoo continued quietly. “And I don’t want my dance to be the reason he dislikes me. Leehan doesn’t like people who stand out too much.”
“Riwoo,” Jaehyun said more seriously now, “don’t you want to live for yourself?”
The question made him pause.
“…Let’s just get ready for dance club.”
While walking to the dance club, Jaehyun mentioned that he left his water bottle in the cafeteria and urged Riwoo to go on without him. At first, Riwoo wanted to follow him, but the black-haired boy mentioned that it would leave a bad impression on the club president since it was the first class of the semester. Without any other option, Riwoo went to the studio alone.
So Riwoo entered the studio alone.
“Oh… I’m early?”
The room was empty. Quiet. Safe.
“More time to practice.”
He stretched lightly, scrolled for his music, and pressed play.
Black Swan.
As the music filled the room, Riwoo moved. His body flowed with precision — elegant hands, sharp turns, controlled jumps. Contemporary blended with K-pop. It was difficult, but he liked that. Pain meant improvement.
By the time the song ended, he collapsed onto the floor, breathless but smiling. He was so close to perfecting that final hand sequence.
Clap.
Riwoo froze.
“You’re so awesome!”
He looked toward the corner — and met familiar eyes.
“Lee—” He caught himself. “Thank you… stranger.”
Leehan laughed and walked closer before sitting beside him.
“Hi. I’m Leehan.”
Their hands shook.
“Lee Riwoo,” he replied. “Nice to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you too. And seriously — that dance was amazing.”
For the first time, Leehan was looking at him.
Really looking.
The club meeting was cut short since it was just a brief introduction between the club members. Jaehyun and Riwoo then put back their chairs, which they had both used at the back of the corner of the studio while talking about where they should eat tomorrow, when Leehan ran up to them.
“Hey, your name is Riwoo, right?”
Riwoo was caught off guard, and Jaehyun quietly snickered.
“Y-yeah, is there anything wrong?”
“No, no! There’s nothing wrong. I just wanted to ask if you’re free to grab a cup of coffee or… just anything!”
He laughed.
Riwoo quickly looked at Jaehyun with wide eyes. The black-haired boy nudged him with his shoulder.
“S-sure! Do you want my number?”
Riwoo held out his phone so quickly than what he wished for. I mean, it's his crush who asked him for his phone number. Leehan grinned from ear to ear and pulled out his phone.
“Hell yeah!”
After that event, Leehan started showing up everywhere just to meet Riwoo. Even his friends became friends with Jaehyun and Riwoo. This went on for months, causing the girls who had been pining over Leehan to shift their attention to Riwoo. Slowly, naturally, something bloomed.
And people noticed.
“You’re Riwoo, right?”
Riwoo was caught off guard by a girl pulling his arm. He was about to walk to the library to meet Leehan when she stopped him.
“Yeah, and who are you?”
The girl scoffed.
“Fuck off from Leehan.”
“…I’m sorry, what?”
“Fuck off, Riwoo.”
“What are you even talking about?”
“Fuck off from Leehan!!”
She screamed so loudly that everyone walking by stared at them.
“You fucking bitch, Leehan is mine!”
“…”
Deep set of guilt quickly set in Riwoo. The girl was just like Riwoo, wanting the attention of the guy that they liked. It was pathetic of him to start thinking that he should give up on Leehan just because he shared the same pain as the girl.
“You can’t do this. I have been changing myself for him, and you just swept in by taking him away from me.”
Her eyes started to swell. Riwoo gritted his teeth as soon as those sentences came out of him; he couldn’t let his emotions out. So, he reached out to the girl’s hand that was holding his arm.
“…We should talk somewhere private.”
At a nearby café, they sat down after ordering their drinks. The girl sat in front of Riwoo, crying her heart out. It was such a heartbreaking scene for him to watch. A stranger begging him just to be with the guy she loves. The same guy who happened to be also the guy he loves. The one that pushed Riwoo to change. He could only sigh before speaking out first:
“You want me to avoid Leehan?”
“…Please. I beg you. I’ve been trying so hard to make him see me.”
“By doing what? What did you even do to make him see you?”
'What did you even do that was better than everything I did just to make Leehan look at me?'
He screamed inside his head.
“What?”
“Since when have you started loving him?”
“…High school. I tried to be his friend and started changing my appearance.”
“Do you really think you deserve him?”
“What do you mean by that??”
“I mean, do you truly love him because of who he is? Or do you only love him because of his face?”
“…I love him because Leehan isn’t just Leehan to me. His laugh when someone tells a bad joke, but he still laughs so they won’t feel embarrassed. He buys things for you that help your health, even when you didn’t think you needed them. And he—”
“Stop.”
Riwoo cut her off.
“How can you feel intimidated by me? Do you think Leehan is bisexual? What if you’re wrong and he just sees me as a friend?”
She smiled and wiped her tears.
“I know you make his heart skip a beat. He looks at you the same way I look at him.”
Riwoo was stunned.
“I will leave Leehan alone. I can’t promise he’ll love you back, but… I will cheer you on.”
The girl jumped in excitement and hugged him tightly, not noticing the hurt on his face.
The next day, Jaehyun slammed his tray down. It was during lunch hour at the cafeteria.
“Lee Sanghyeok, what the fuck were you thinking?”
“Huh?”
Riwoo looked at Jaehyun in confuse, he was just about to take a bite into his sandwich when Jaehyun slammed his lunch in front of him. Everyone turned to look at them, but quickly moved on when they saw there was no fight.
“What are you doing?”
“…Eating and what is this all about?”
He frowned, looking at Jaehyun.
“You are avoiding Leehan, and now he keeps asking me what he did wrong.”
Riwoo looked away in shame.
“Riwoo, you love him for such a long time. Now, he finally looks at your way, you are gonna act like this??”
“Can you blame me?!”
Riwoo exploded.
“Riwoo, why are you being like this??”
“Jaehyun, leehan only looks at me because of my talent. He is not looking at Lee Sanghyeok. He only sees Lee Riwoo, the guy who had been altered to catch his attention.”
“Isn’t that what you wanted?! You want him to look at you, and you have it. So, why are you avoiding him right now??”
“I can’t do this, Jaehyun. I can’t, and I want to stop this.”
“What are you talking about??”
“Someone likes him, Jaehyun. She has so much potential to be with him, and I am just...”
“Just what??”
“I pitied her, alright! I know damn well how she felt when she had to change herself for a guy to look at her. It’s pathetic!”
“And you think of her as a charity box?”
Riwoo was stunned, and Jaheyun only scoffed at his reaction.
“Sanghyeok, grow up. We are not in high school for you to be like this. This is not a shoujo drama. You are not avoiding Leehan, and that’s it.”
“You can’t make me.”
“Oh, I will.”
Then, Jaehyun turned around to look at Leehan, who was gasping for air as he ran towards them. He was sweating a lot and smiled when he made eye contact with Riwoo.
“Riwoo!”
The ginger-haired boy turned quickly to look at his friend with anger.
“You motherf- “
“Riwoo, why didn’t you answer my calls??”
Leehan sat down next to Riwoo and Jaehyun, then smirked while walking away with his lunch tray. Riwoo was about to run up to him, but was stood in place by Leehan.
“Leehan- “
“No, Riwoo, you listen to me. Why are you avoiding me?”
“I…I’m sorry, Leehan, I just- “
“You can’t keep me in the dark, Riwoo. What did I do to make you literally run when you saw me?”
His eyes were only looking at Riwoo, hands gripping the boy’s shoulders, trying to beg Riwoo for answers.
“Leehan…I don’t want you to like me anymore.”
He admitted.
“Why not?? Why now, and what am I giving you that is not enough??”
The blonde guy cried.
“I don’t want to be with you anymore. I’m sorry, I don’t love you.”
Riwoo's eyes started to swell up.
Everything was quiet between them for a moment.
“…What?”
Leehan finally speaks out.
“Leehan, I have loved you since we were in high school.”
Riwoo looks away.
“Everything you know about me, from my appearance to my personality. It was all for you to notice me.”
Leehan was speechless. But Riwoo continues.
“I tried so hard to avoid this kind of disaster. In the end, I fall for someone who never saw me.”
“Riwoo- “
“Leehan, I fall for someone who will never know that Lee Sanghyeok exists. I can never win this game. You never see what you did to me. So, I tucked away my heart and changed myself for you.”
Riwoo looks up to him.
“I stare at you from afar while I play pretend that you didn’t have that much impact on me. While I know deep down, I was invisible.”
He paused.
“Leehan, it’s you, and you don’t even know it.”
“Riwoo, why didn’t you tell me from the start?”
“Because I have been tripping over my own feet for you. It’s embarrassing and pathetic.”
Riwoo sarcastically laughed at himself.
“Riwoo…You were avoiding me for what, then?”
“Someone likes you the same way I loved you! I can’t bring my heart to love you anymore, and that is just one of the reasons.”
“riwoo..”
“leehan, I think we should stop this. I’m sorry, but this time I want to be myself again. Not this Riwoo that was born for someone. I wanna be Lee Sangheyok again.”
Both of them were engulfed in silence until…
“…sure.”
Riwoo looks up to Leehan in surprise.
“Leehan-“
“I will wait for you until you are ready to be with me as Lee Sanghyeok.”
Riwoo was shocked, but it was quickly replaced by laughter.
“You bet!”