Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

On the second day of summer vacation, Kim Dokja and Yoo Joonghyuk decide to go to the movies together. Technically, he isn't allowed to leave the neighbourhood without letting Mother know where he's going, but he knows she'll say no if he tells her and what she doesn't know won't hurt her. Joonghyuk claims he once skipped class to take a day trip to Dongho Bridge all by himself when he was 8 so there's no way Kim Dokja's mother won't let him come, but each to their own. Kim Dokja just thinks Joonghyuk's parents must truly be terrible if they let him get away with dumb antics like that, but wisely decides to keep the thought to himself.

The bruise on his stomach throbs as they walk down the bustling roads to the movie theatre, and Kim Dokja grits his teeth and tries to keep his expression carefree as the two of them pore over the movie posters and consider their options.

"Why don't we watch that one?" he asks, pointing to one in the middle of the wall with the hand not hovering loosely over his stomach.

Joonghyuk's eyes follow the direction of his finger, and his gaze lands on the red and black poster of a woman's grimly determined face. This is top-notch horror!, the poster exclaims. "It's 9 in the morning," he says after a pause.

"So?"

"We're not watching a horror movie this early."

Kim Dokja raises an eyebrow at him. "What, are you scared?" 

"No, it's just dumb. Pick something else that's not dumb," Joonghyuk replies.

"I never look down on you for being dumb and making dumb choices."

"Says the biggest idiot out there."

"Says the idiot who barely passed his Moral Education exam," retorts Kim Dokja.

"You--"

Kim Dokja interrupts him before he can defend his IQ, not that there's much to defend. "Oh, I just realized. This movie's rated 15+," he remarks, shrugging. "I guess we'll have to watch something else."

"Ratings are suggestions, not regulations," Joonghyuk says in that scornful tone that always makes Kim Dokja want to punch him in the face. Or kiss him. Anything to make him shut up.

"I'm pretty sure it's a regulation," he says instead.

Joonghyuk whirls around and marches straight towards the counter, determination shining in his eyes. "The movie theatre doesn't care how old you are. Just watch me."

"Didn't you not want to watch this movie earlier?" Kim Dokja calls after him. "Why are you like this?"

Joonghyuk either can't hear him or is pretending he can't, so Kim Dokja sighs and follows him, feeling both embarrassed and a little touched at the same time.

"--isn't a kid's movie," the disgruntled cashier is saying to Joonghyuk at the counter.

"And I'm not a kid," Joonghyuk says sharply. "Why do you even care how old I am? It's a sale either way to you."

The teenage cashier levels his impassive stare at him, and he stares back, defiant. After a prolonged staring match, during which Kim Dokja began to contemplate the possibility of changing his name and fleeing Seoul, the cashier finally relents. "Whatever, I don't get paid enough to deal with this," he grumbles. "Here are your tickets."

The theatre their movie is in is practically empty at such an early hour, and they manage to get the best seats near the back. Kim Dokja doesn't have enough pocket money to buy popcorn of his own, so he gleefully steals from the bag Joonghyuk bought from the refreshments stand. As usual, Joonghyuk makes a cursory complaint about it but doesn't actually do anything to stop him. 

The movie begins. It's the end of the world and there are big and ugly monsters roaming around eating everything and the actors are all screaming, but Kim Dokja doesn't feel any fear at all. People are a lot scarier than monsters, and he knows what it's like to look a real monster in the eye, now. The pain in his stomach is dull, flickering flames slowly lapping away at his insides until there's nothing left of 'Kim Dokja' in this world.

"Are you scared?" Joonghyuk asks out of the blue. He must have noticed the light sheen of sweat on his forehead.

"Not really."

Onscreen, the actress impales a monster through the head with her sword as it lets out an inhuman roar. Joonghyuk looks away, dark brows furrowed and lips turned down into what looks like a disappointed frown. This idiot...

Kim Dokja takes pity on him and leans in with his hand cupped over his mouth. "Okay, so maybe I am a little scared," he whispers in his ear, making sure to keep the smile out of his voice.

"Coward," Joonghyuk says snidely.

So much for playing along with him. Kim Dokja hopes his middle finger is visible in the dim light of the movie theatre, but he knows it's a lost cause. Just as he settles back in his seat and directs his attention back to the movie, Joonghyuk speaks up.

"You can hold my hand if you're that scared," he says, voice carefully indifferent. "Not that I care either way, because I don't. I'm just doing you a favour." 

Joonghyuk's gaze is fixed on the screen when Kim Dokja turns around to stare at him, but his hand is laying on the armrest between them, palm facing upwards and fingers loosely curled in invitation.

"Bastard," Kim Dokja says fondly, and takes his hand in his.

***

"Do you want to watch a movie?" Kim Dokja asked as Yoo Joonghyuk walked into the room.

His question was greeted with a slight nod and approaching footsteps as Yoo Joonghyuk walked into the living room and took a seat beside him, sofa cushions squeaking from his weight. "Which movie?"

"An award-winning one. And keep the lights off," he said before Yoo Joonghyuk could turn the lamp on, "it's more atmospheric that way."

After the opening credits, the movie opened on a familiar scene of a little girl playing on the swings at a park with her mother. Kim Dokja had been secretly watching Yoo Joonghyuk's face out of the corner of his eye this whole time and saw the man stiffen and sit up straighter in his seat as he finally realized what movie this was. 

The rest of the movie was just as Kim Dokja had expected. After all, this was something he had seen before: the arguments, the screams, the muffled sobs in the middle of the night, the pain of a woman whose beloved had turned into a monster before her eyes. His heart felt strangely calm as he watched the scenes flash by onscreen, similar but not too similar. It was like hearing your own story spoken by someone else's lips--and that's precisely what this all was, wasn't it? 

The movie wasn't that interesting, but the way the bright colours danced across the sharp line of Yoo Joonghyuk's jaw was something he thought he would never get bored of. He ended up spending more than half of the 90-minute run watching Yoo Joonghyuk's face instead of the screen, and he was curiously fine with it. 

Wet crimson splashed onto the dirty floorboards as the mother stepped forward and offered her bloodied hand to her trembling daughter. 

"There's nothing to be afraid of anymore," she said, smiling. "Shall we go?"

Her daughter took her hand and the two walked into the light.

As the ending theme began to play over the rolling screen of credits, Kim Dokja turned to face Yoo Joonghyuk. "It was a good story, wasn't it?"

Everything else that needed to be said was already said, and all that was left was the silent surety of their presence beside each other. The dim light of the TV screen caught in Yoo Joonghyuk's eyes, and in that split-second, they looked full of stars. Slowly, Kim Dokja reached across the short distance between them and interlaced their fingers. The hand in his was a lot warmer than his own. 

The moment between them was interrupted by a high-pitched voice. "I'm coming downstairs to refill my cup," Yoo Mia announced. "I'm 5 steps from the first floor...4....3..." She appeared in sight a few seconds later, covering her eyes with her hands. "Are you guys done?" she asked suspiciously as she peeked into the living room through her fingers.

"If you're going to cover your eyes, then you should do so with more sincerity," said Kim Dokja. "The spaces between your fingers are almost as wide as the sea."

Yoo Mia made a rude gesture at him as she poured herself a cup of water.

"What did I say about rude gestures?" Yoo Joonghyuk asked impassively.

She thought about it for a second. "Not to get caught doing them?" she offered.

Yoo Joonghyuk stared at her, unimpressed. 

"...Not to do them at all," Yoo Mia grumbled. "Sorry."

"Your sister's still considerably more well-behaved than you were at her age," Kim Dokja said to Yoo Joonghyuk after she had gone back upstairs, "so you should be proud of yourself. Your education's clearly working."

"That's not a high bar," was the reply.

"What a surprisingly humble thing for you to say," said Kim Dokja, amused. He picked up the TV remote and navigated back to the selection screen. "Want to watch something else to kill time before your sister falls back asleep?"

There was something heated about the way Yoo Joonghyuk looked at him. "Fine."

Chapter Text

One fact of life that Kim Dokja had accepted after becoming Yoo Mia's unofficial brother-in-law was that he and Yoo Joonghyuk were always going to be interrupted by her. It was practically inevitable given her current age and attachment to her brother, and the best he could do was try not to develop erectile dysfunction from the shock. It was currently Saturday night and they were fooling around under the covers again as quietly as they could manage. While Yoo Mia normally went to bed at 9 pm exactly on school nights, her sleeping schedule was more flexible during the weekend, hence the fuss. And to her credit, Yoo Joonghyuk's little sister was always predictably unpredictable.

When the distinctive noise of someone twisting the doorknob sounded, Kim Dokja didn't even gag on Yoo Joonghyuk's dick he did last time, and simply slid it out of his mouth in one fluid motion. If he were to grade his disengagement on a scale of 1 to 10, he would grade his flawless execution a 10/10.

After Yoo Mia realized the door was locked, her attempts to open it transformed into a relentless knock. "Oppa, are you sleeping?" her muffled voice asked. "Can I ask you a favour?"

Kim Dokja exchanged a look with Yoo Joonghyuk, whose dick was rapidly softening. His voice came out hoarse as he asked, "Are you going to get the door, or should I?"

Squeezing his eyes shut, Yoo Joonghyuk took a deep breath in and slowly exhaled, trying his best to get his breathing and etc. back in control. "I'll go," he finally said, moving to get out of bed. His loyalty to his sister, evidenced by how quickly he pulled on his pants, was truly commendable.

Kim Dokja rolled onto his back and threw his arm over Yoo Joonghyuk's pillow, listening to the sibling duo's quiet conversation by the door with a smile on his face. 

"What is it?"

"Someone's flaming me in the chat," Yoo Mia complained. Kim Dokja could almost hear the pout in her voice. "Can you come and teach them a lesson, please? We're losing really badly right now."

Yoo Joonghyuk paused for a second, then nodded sharply. "What position are you playing?

"ADC."

The door clicked shut as footsteps echoed down the hall towards Yoo Mia's room, and their shared bedroom was submerged in darkness. He should probably feel exasperated right now, but instead, all he felt was an irresistible wave of fondness. Burying his face in Yoo Joonghyuk's pillow, he breathed in the man's scent and let his eyes drift shut. Should he rinse his mouth? But if they were just going to pick up where they left off later, then that would just be a waste of time...

Kim Dokja didn't know when he dozed off, but he was awoken after a while by the sound of rustling covers and the dip of the bed as someone climbed in beside him, their movements slow and restrained. 

"Did you win?" he asked sleepily, eyes still closed.

The rustling stopped. "We did."

"Good."

Yoo Joonghyuk laid down in bed, and Kim Dokja wordlessly shifted closer to him. He placed his hand on Yoo Joonghyuk's arm, which was a bit chilly compared to the warmth of the covers, and trailed his finger across the bare skin he found there. "Should we continue where we left off?"

The man in question covered his eyes with a hand. "Aren't you tired?" he asked roughly.

"I am, but I don't mind lying here while you did whatever you wanted--"

"...Shut up and go to sleep."

Kim Dokja wrapped his arm around Yoo Joonghyuk's waist and fell asleep to the sound of his heartbeat in his chest, as steady as the unwavering passage of time. 

***

"I really wish we could've watched this live," Yoo Mia said, pouting.

"We are watching it live," said Kim Dokja.

"I mean I wish we were part of the live audience."

"There's always next year," said Lee Gilyoung, who could always be counted on to support him. "And all the years after that. I'm sure this won't be the last time they make it into Worlds."

Yoo Mia furrowed her brows. "I guess that's true. But still, it sucks that we can't be there to support him in person for his international debut."

"If I recall correctly, he has won Worlds before," Kim Dokja replied. "Three times, in fact."

"But this will be the first time he wins as a coach, not a player!" Yoo Mia insisted fiercely. "That's different."

"Well, they have to win their semifinals first to get there, so we'll see."

Shin Yoosung pressed the bag of microwave popcorn into her hands and she took it with a huff, shovelling a handful into her mouth. The casters for the live stream were eagerly discussing the potential match-ups between the players when Yoo Joonghyuk appeared onscreen, dressed in a black suit. He stopped behind one of the players and leaned in to say something to them.

Yoo Mia's eyes brightened and she leaned forwards in her seat, strewing popcorn all over her lap. "Look, he's there!"

"It's good to see YJH at a Worlds semifinals match again," said a caster, "even if he's not representing WOS this time, nor is he one of the players. It almost feels like a throwback to 2015, doesn't it?"

"Hm, I wonder if we'll see that same kind of dominance from BSS this year. They've done remarkably well in Groups and during their quarterfinal match last week..." 

"The suit doesn't suit him," said Kim Dokja, eyeing the top two buttons of Yoo Joonghyuk's white shirt, which he'd left undone, exposing the smooth skin of his collarbone.

Lee Gilyoung looked confused by his words. "He looks fine to me?"

"He leaves too much to the imagination."

Meanwhile, Shin Yoosung was watching him with a knowing look on her face. "Do you miss him, ahjussi?" she asked, a mischievous light dancing in her eyes.

"Of course not," lied Kim Dokja.

The players locked in their picks, and the camera trailed after Yoo Joonghyuk as he strode confidently towards the centre of the room.

"And here we see the coaches of both teams coming in for the ritual pre-game fistbump--" Kim Dokja almost spat out his drink. "--oh, it seems like YJH is going for a handshake instead... Wait, he's not shaking the other coach's hand at all! What a bold move, but all I can say is 'as expected from YJH'."

"The King of BM himself."

Yoo Joonghyuk disappeared into the observation room along with the other staff members as the match began, and Kim Dokja finally tore his eyes away from the TV screen. "How about this: if they win today, I'll buy us all plane tickets to go see them during finals, okay?"

Yoo Mia's eyes sparkled with eagerness as she looked up at him. "Really? Even if we have school on Monday?"

"A promise is a promise."

"Won't the tickets be really expensive if you're buying them last minute?" asked Lee Gilyoung, sounding worried.

Kim Dokja smiled indulgently at the three children sitting beside him. "It's fine, I memorized Yoo Joonghyuk's credit card information."