Work Text:
“Yoo Joonghyuk?”
Kim Dokja closed the door to their dorm behind him, a small smile dancing playfully across his lips. Yoo Joonghyuk, sitting at the desk on his side of the room, very clearly trying to study for the upcoming exams that they both have to take, ignored him.
“You’re so hard to find, you know?” Kim Dokja leaned over Yoo Joonghyuk’s shoulder and hummed something that sounded like approval. “Working hard, I see.” Yoo Joonghyuk didn’t have to look at him to see the grin on his face.
He didn’t even have to try so hard to imagine it. When a man like Kim Dokja smiles, it’s almost as if you feel compelled to look at him, to drop everything and try to decipher what exactly that smile could mean, what the unlucky curve of his lips and the comforting lines in his cheeks could possibly indicate. Honestly, it was a bit annoying.
They’re silent now, and Yoo Joonghyuk’s shoulders prick with the sensation of someone else’s presence. Kim Dokja can’t be more than ten centimeters away, he wouldn’t be able to see what Yoo Joonghyuk is reading otherwise, which makes something stir in Yoo Joonghyuk’s stomach. He writes it off as anxiety, annoyance. He’s never liked having people close to him, after all.
Eventually, Kim Dokja breaks the fragile silence between them and lays unceremoniously down on Yoo Joonghyuk’s bed. Yoo Joonghyuk glares at him. Seeing Kim Dokja wrapped in his blankets makes his heart run faster, makes his grip on his pencil tighten so much so that he can hear the soft wood cracking. He’s angry. Yes, that must be it.
But Kim Dokja doesn’t seem to share the same thought. Instead, he laughs a light laugh and props his head up against his palm. “You’re finally looking at me?”
Yoo Joonghyuk chooses not to answer, simply grunting in response and turning back to his textbook.
From his side, Kim Dokja sighs. “I’m bored, Yoo Joonghyuk… won’t you look at me again, hm? I’ll be quiet if you do.”
Yoo Joonghyuk sighs and takes out his headphones, finally turning his whole body to Kim Dokja, rather than just craning his neck to give him a nasty look.
“What do you want, Kim Dokja?”
Kim Dokja’s eyes form twin crescents, his small smile widening into a toothy grin.
“I just have one,” he lifted a single slender, pale finger to his lips and whispered against it, “question. Just one. If you give me a good answer, I’ll leave you alone.”
“…really?” Yoo Joonghyuk’s tone was doubtful.
“Really.” Kim Dokja’s tone was delighted.
“Fine. Ask.”
Kim Dokja giggled and readjusted his posture. “Alright, you better give me a good answer; I won’t leave you alone until you do.” Yoo Joonghyuk nodded. “Okay… if you could invite anyone in the world to dinner, who would it be?”
Yoo Joonghyuk gave him a questioning look.
“What!? Oh, just answer the question.”
“My sister.”
Kim Dokja gave him an exasperated look. “Someone other than your family.”
“Then…” Yoo Joonghyuk looked at Kim Dokja, studying his slim face, pale cheeks, and long eyelashes. His eyes seemed to reflect the stars even when they were hidden by the sun, and his skin seemed so soft, softer than the white sheets he sat on. “You.” Yoo Joonghyuk whispered.
Kim Dokja leaned forward. “What did you say? I didn’t catch that.”
“…I said Lee Jihye. She’s been neglecting her health. She’s too thin.”
Kim Dokja made a puzzled expression, muttering words of really? I hadn’t noticed, under his breath. Yoo Joonghyuk turned back to the book laid out on his desk.
“If that’s all, then be quiet. I’m too busy for foolish games.”
Kim Dokja, seeming a little dazed, simply said, “well, alright then,” and left just as suddenly as he had come.
♡
Halfway through exam week, outside and sitting in the cool air of autumn, Yoo Joonghyuk nibbles at the dumpling in his hands.
The sun’s dim, cloud covered light shines down on Yoo Joonghyuk, forcing him to keep his head down so he doesn’t have to squint and look more intimidating than he already is. The ground refuses to be interesting, however, and it’s beginning to sour his mood.
That is, until two scuffed dress shoes come into his vision, and when he looks up, it’s exactly who he’s expecting it to be.
“Yoo Joonghyuk.” Kim Dokja nods. He sits down beside Yoo Joonghyuk, too impatient for conversation. “I have another question.”
Yoo Joonghyuk quirks an eyebrow. “Will it be as silly as the last?”
Kim Dokja thinks for a bit, a finger to his chin and his eyes cast down to the ground, before answering with an airy, “perhaps.”
“…fine.” Yoo Joonghyuk sighs and turns back to his dumpling. “Ask.”
Kim Dokja claps his hands together excitedly. “Yes, sir.”
“Stop with that nonsense.”
“Ah, yes, Yoo Joonghyuk. Alright, would you like to be famous?”
Yoo Joonghyuk stared at Kim Dokja. “Are you trying to con me?”
“No! Of course not! It’s just a question. Would it hurt so much for you to answer a simple question?”
Yoo Joonghyuk grumbled under his breath. What a simple question indeed, yet still odd. Why was Kim Dokja asking such peculiar questions?
“No. If I were famous, I would have fans. I don’t need people fawning over everything I do.”
Kim Dokja simply grinned at Yoo Joonghyuk’s answer, turning away from him and looking forward at a tree across from their bench.
“As expected of you, Yoo Joonghyuk. I knew you would say that.”
Yoo Joonghyuk looked up from his food. Kim Dokja was still staring at that tree.
“And? What about you? Would you want to be famous?” Yoo Joonghyuk asked.
Kim Dokja hummed, thoughtful. “Maybe. I think it would be nice, but some part of me feels like, if I were to be famous, it would be for all the wrong reasons.” Kim Dokja finally looked away from the tree and into Yoo Joonghyuk’s eyes. “Maybe in another life that was the case? Who knows.”
They stared at each other, one smiling and the other frowning, yet both silent in each other’s comfortable presence.
Yoo Joonghyuk picked up a dumpling and placed it in Kim Dokja’s hand. Kim Dokja accepted it quietly, and began to eat.
When he finished his dumpling, he smiled at Yoo Joonghyuk and left without a word.
♡
“Yoo Joonghyuk.”
Kim Dokja peered over his shoulder at the food he was preparing. Since Kim Dokja couldn’t cook, Yoo Joonghyuk was tasked with making meals for the both of them.
“Yoo Joonghyuk.” He said again.
“What, Kim Dokja.”
“I have a question.”
Yoo Joonghyuk put down the cutting knife in his hand and turned to Kim Dokja, arms crossed and an impossibly impatient look on his face.
“Make it quick.”
Kim Dokja nodded. “Do you ever rehearse what you’re going to say before making a phone call?”
Yoo Joonghyuk sighed and turned back to the cutting board. “Why are you asking me these useless questions?”
“I just need an answer, then I’ll leave you alone.”
“…I don’t make phone calls often.”
Kim Dokja hummed at his side. “That’s not a good answer, Yoo Joonghyuk.”
Yoo Joonghyuk put the cutting knife down again and turned to Kim Dokja. “What is the meaning of these questions-“
“You’re not allowed to ask a question until you answer mine.” Kim Dokja grinned.
Yoo Joonghyuk grit his teeth. “I… suppose I do, sometimes.”
“See, was that so hard?”
Yoo Joonghyuk clenched his fist. “Yes. Now answer my question.”
Kim Dokja’s face became mystified, as if he had been confronted with something unusually complex. “Oh, you asked a question? I can’t seem to remember… well, I’ll be going now, Yoo Joonghyuk.”
“What- Kim Dokja!”
Kim Dokja smiled and gave him a small wave before slipping through the door.
♡
“Han Sooyoung.”
“Damn! You bastard, where the hell did you come from!?”
“Kim Dokja is acting strange.”
Han Sooyoung raised an eyebrow. “And? Is he not always?”
Yoo Joonghyuk sighed and sat down on Han Sooyoung’s bed, ignoring her vulgar protests.
“He keeps asking me… weird questions.”
Han Sooyoung paused her yelling, staring at Yoo Joonghyuk. “…questions?”
“Yes. Yesterday, he asked me what I would change about the way I was raised. I raised myself! And the day before, he asked what I was most grateful for in life. It makes no sense.”
Han Sooyoung, who had been silent since he began talking, suddenly burst into laughter, doubling over and holding her stomach. Yoo Joonghyuk stared at her, confused and frankly a little bit scared. “What?”
“He-“ she spoke between bursts of laughter, words and sentences unintelligible. “Oh, my god!” She howled with laughter, eventually stumbling over to her phone and tapping rapidly when she couldn’t stay coherent long enough to make a proper sentence.
When she handed it to Yoo Joonghyuk, he was met with a salmon pink screen with light gray text that read something irritatingly familiar to him.
If you could invite anyone in the world to dinner, who would it be?
Yoo Joonghyuk looked up sharply at Han Sooyoung, who was busy wiping tears from her eyes. “What is this?”
“It’s a list, dumbass. A list of questions on a website, called ‘36 questions to fall in love.’”
♡
Yoo Joonghyuk had run through the rain from Han Sooyoung’s dorm building to his, and now even as he stood in front of his dorm, soaking wet and dripping water onto the floor, all he could think about was his roommate, his friend, his Kim Dokja.
He knocked on the door twice, and Kim Dokja answered almost immediately with a bewildered look on his face.
“Yoo Joonghyuk? What are you-“ Kim Dokja’s words cut off as Yoo Joonghyuk’s lips crashed into his. At first, they were both stiff, Yoo Joonghyuk not really knowing what he’s doing, and Kim Dokja caught completely off guard, but eventually they melted into it.
And between kisses, in breaths and pauses, Yoo Joonghyuk muttered to Kim Dokja.
“You don’t need-“
They kissed again, desperation lacing their every move.
“-some foolish questions-“
Kim Dokja bit Yoo Joonghyuk’s lip. Yoo Joonghyuk licked Kim Dokja’s teeth.
“-to get me to love you.”
Kim Dokja pulled away, flushed and panting and mildly confused.
“How did you know?”
Yoo Joonghyuk frowned. “Does it matter?”
Kim Dokja bit his lip. “I suppose not.”
“Kim Dokja,” Yoo Joonghyuk whispered against his lips, the intensity and desperation bled from their bodies, leaving only soft affection and quiet breaths behind, “I love you.”
“…really?” Kim Dokja‘a lips bobbed and his face flushed red with a flustered heat.
“Really.” Yoo Joonghyuk muttered against his soft, pink lips.
“…I love you too, Yoo Joonghyuk.”