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Kim Dokja is a strange, bizarre, and infuriating existence. One that has made Yoo Joonghyuk deviate in his usual actions from his many regressions.
But there is something that is very clear when being near that existence.
When Yoo Joonghyuk leans down, hair brushing his cheek, Kim Dokja faraway in his blank-paged phone, he flinches away. His face is comically warped as he turns around like a startled cat.
“What are you doing?”
“Pay attention,” Yoo Joonghyuk grunts, eyes following the tenseness of his spine, rigid and harsh, “We have a scenario to complete.”
By that mention, he smooths out like a running river, the panic subsiding for his familiar cockiness. “Oh, that? You won’t have anything to worry about, Joonghyuk-ah. It’s easier than you’d think.”
Yoo Joonghyuk squashes down the urge to grab him by the neck and leash the bastard. Maybe then, he wouldn’t entertain any secret plans he’s hiding from them.
He must sense his waining patience and side-steps his anger to patent him with reassurances Yoo Joonghyuk will never admit to needing.
“Do you trust me?”
“No.”
Yes, you suicidal bastard.
“Aww. That makes me sad, Joonghyuk-ah.”
“Don’t do something stupid, Kim Dokja.”
Kim Dokja skips out of his reach, gives him that one smile that makes his heart ache and fire up at the same time.
“Of course.”
Liar.
Miraculously, Kim Dokja does not die at the end of their most recent scenario. Instead, he’s in his room, forced to take a break by the rest of the company.
Out on the training grounds, Yoo Joonghyuk is approached by Han Sooyoung. He watches her through furrowed brows, her hand suspiciously hidden behind her back.
“Hey, sunfish. Take this.”
He catches whatever it is she throws at him without problem. Turning it over, the words chocolate pocky is printed in big, bold letters. Its abruptness leaves him confused.
“What is this?”
She raises her brow. She still has that lollipop in her mouth. “Can’t you read? It’s chocolate.”
His stare is unamused.
“There’s nothing to it,” she shrugs, twirling a lock of hair with a slight upturn to her mouth, “Today is pocky day. So. Eat it. Dump it. Whatever. Maybe share it with that bastard—I’m not the boss of you.”
Something about her body language made Yoo Joonghyuk’s suspicious rise, her forced aloofness at the mention of Kim Dokja.
But before he could ask, she disappeared out of his view. At the same time, a system message pinged to his right.
It was a hidden scenario.
Reading the contents, he nearly broke the fragile box.
She must’ve been apart of this. No wonder she handed him this item.
“Did you do this, Uriel?” He questioned, turning his gaze to the sky. A guilty reply came.
[The Constellation, ‘Demon-like Judge of Fire,’ is flustered and urges the Incarnation, ‘Yoo Joonghyuk,’ to take his chance!]
[The Constellation, ‘Demon-like Judge of Fire,’ reminds the Incarnation, ‘Yoo Joonghyuk,’ that there is only one hour to complete the Hidden Scenario.]
“I don’t remember you being this troublesome as a Constellation, Uriel.”
[The Constellation, ‘Demon-like Judge of Fire,’ is encouraging the Incarnation, ‘Yoo Joonghyuk,’ with fire in her eyes!]
He ignored the headache inducing messages and gripped the dented box.
To overcome this, there was only one way.
It is an odd feeling to be in Kim Dokja’s vicinity. If there was a word to describe it, Yoo Joonghyuk would use this—untethered. Either high in the clouds or skipping ahead in unnecessary steps, Kim Dokja had a tendency to make him feel like it was hard to keep him grounded.
It was vexing and made Yoo Joonghyuk grip him the slightest bit harder when it seemed it would happen again.
Now, standing inside of his room with the leader of their group resting on his bed, awkwardly, even now, that urge came back in little pieces.
“Kim Dokja, what are you doing?”
Kim Dokja, seeing him, beams. His ‘sleep’ is forgotten in favor of greeting him.
“The kids wanted me to lay down, but I felt stiff. Why are you here?”
Yoo Joonghyuk didn’t know how to mention his problem so he went with the route he thought was best.
“Han Sooyoung gave me this.” He showed Kim Dokja the box of pocky, and there was a sparkle of recollection there. “Told me to share it with you.”
“Did she?”
Was that a tremble in his voice?
Yoo Joonghyuk took a step forward. Kim Dokja shifted an inch deeper on the bed.
That again. The skittish Kim Dokja has begun to make his appearance.
“It must be her way of a joke. You should ignore her, Joonghyuk-ah.” His voice lowered, his eyes darting to the side as he ignored the pink, heart-shaped box full of pocky in his hand.
“Why should I?”
“Huh?” Kim Dokja blinked, confused. “Wait—why—why would you—“
“I’ve never played it,” he admitted, unbothered.
Kim Dokja gaped like a fish.
“And… and you want me to…”
Yoo Joonghyuk reveled in the bit of color that plumped Kim Dokja’s delicate features. The way he fumbled with his words was almost endearing. A Kim Dokja that was caught off guard and did not know how to speak was one he liked.
“Is it too hard for you?”
His words that was meant as a taunt worked greatly. Kim Dokja’s open mouth closed with an offended grimace. “Of course not. It’s not hard at all.”
Kim Dokja stomped his way up to Yoo Joonghyuk and took a pocky out, biting into the chocolate covered end with a little force. He glared up at him, blissfully unaware of how Yoo Joonghyuk intended for this to happen in the first place.
Yoo Joonghyuk copied Kim Dokja’s actions. Biting on the other end, the slight dryness of the biscuit hit his tongue.
“This is a game of chicken,” Kim Dokja explains, “We each take a bite after the other until we reach the middle. First one to pull away, loses.”
Kim Dokja takes a small, tentative bite, effectively starting the game.
“Ready?”
Yoo Joonghyuk nods. His slow beating heart feels strange.
The crunch of every bite rings in the space between them. The biscuit is fragile and papery thin on his tongue, and as he reaches the middle, he tastes a bit of the chocolate end. It’s sweet. Kim Dokja takes a bite of his own, chewing quietly. The pocky is down to less than half of its original size.
They inch towards each other, gradually, until their noses bump against each other. There’s a hitch in Kim Dokja’s breath. Heat stirs in Yoo Joonghyuk’s gut as the spread of Kim Dokja’s blush burns scarlet.
Neither move.
A nibble. Here and there.
Those dark, long lashes trembled. His plush lips are stiff around the thin stick of chocolate.
Too close. Too close.
That must be running in his mind.
Yoo Joonghyuk takes another half bite, the skin of their mouths touching. Kim Dokja’s eyes widen in a panic.
He can sense the fragile edge about to break, Kim Dokja moving his head back, and he nips it by surging forward.
Capturing his lips in a kiss, Yoo Joonghyuk tastes the melted chocolate and the sweet tone of Kim Dokja’s soft lips. His hand holds his face, an arm wrapping behind his back to keep him in place. Flush against his chest, Yoo Joonghyuk felt the rapid beat of Kim Dokja’s rabbit heart.
In the soft yet unrelenting kiss, he smiled.
After a few seconds, Kim Dokja reciprocated. He was shaky in his limbs, movements jerky and lips still trembling. Yoo Joonghyuk wanted to overwhelm him more.
Seconds turned to minutes and minutes dragged them deeper into a harsher kiss. A little demanding, pulling lips with teeth and breaths intermingling intimately.
Finally letting go, Yoo Joonghyuk held Kim Dokja as the reader collapsed against his chest. He gasped, little tears pearling in his lashes.
“Yoo Joonghyuk…”
He hummed.
“You’re… are you sure you’ve never played this before?”
Yoo Joonghyuk let his fingers thread through the black locks.
“I’m sure. You’re my first one.”
“…oh.”
“Do I win?” He murmured. Kim Dokja scoffed, voice unstable with bashfulness.
“As if you ever lose…”
He hid his small smile in Kim Dokja’s hair.
“Kim Dokja.”
“What now?”
He gripped his cheeks, the addicting warmth spilling into the pads of his thumbs. “Again.”
Kim Dokja gaped. “Hell no! You’ve already won!!”
“Again.”
“Are you death? No!”
“Kim Dokja.”
“No, shut up, you—wait what are you doing, you damn sunf—hhmm!”
Very quickly, the box full of pocky was left empty.
.
.
.
[Hidden Scenario, ‘Pocky with the Squid!’ has been completed.]