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Kim Dokja was used to being invisible.
Well he made sure not to be known in his new school, after all he wanted to escape from his past.
He sat at the back of class, turned in his assignments on time, and only raised his hand when a teacher seemed on the verge of calling on someone at random.
If high school life was a novel, Kim Dokja was that one background character the author forgot to name.
Which is why, on a completely ordinary Tuesday afternoon, when Yoo Joonghyuk stood in front of his desk and said, dead serious, “I like you,” Dokja’s brain immediately screamed one thing:
Prank.
“…What?” Dokja blinked up at him.
“I said I like you,” Joonghyuk repeated, not even flinching. His arms were crossed over his chest, eyebrows drawn in a line that could slice a person. “Romantically.”
Dokja stared. Then looked around the classroom, expecting to see a phone camera. Maybe Jung Heewon holding back laughter, or Han Sooyoung peeking from behind a locker with a smirk.
Nothing. Just a few lingering students packing their bags and ignoring them.
He leaned back in his seat, suspicious. “Is this… some kind of dare?”
Joonghyuk looked offended. “Why would I do something that immature?”
“Because this is the part where someone jumps out and yells ‘gotcha’ and everyone laughs, right?” Dokja scoffed. “You guys almost got me. Seriously. Good acting.”
“I’m not joking.”
“Right.”
Joonghyuk’s jaw clenched. “I’ll prove it, then.”
“…”
——
The next day, Joonghyuk showed up at Dokja’s desk during lunch holding two prepared lunchboxes and strawberry milk.
Dokja looked at the food, then up at Joonghyuk. “You really want me to believe this isn’t a prank?”
“You like strawberry milk,” Joonghyuk replied. “You had three cartons during midterms.”
“Stalker”
——
The next week was hell.
Not because Joonghyuk was annoying- he wasn’t. He was just there. Like, constantly there. Walking with him to class. Waiting at his locker. Sitting across from him in the library while doing his homework.
Kim Dokja friends started noticing.
“Did you guys get partnered up for something?” Heewon asked, squinting.
“No.”
“Then why is he…?” She motioned vaguely behind Dokja, where Joonghyuk was half-asleep, head tilted against the wall like some kind of bored Greek statue.
“Beats me.”
“You’re being courted,” Sooyoung said the next day with her usual grin. “Like in a historical drama. He’s gonna write you poetry and fight off your suitors.
Dokja flushed. “It’s not like that.”
“Mm. You don’t look mad about it.”
—
Kim Dokja started to doubt if this was truly a prank
But with the way Yoo Joonghyuk was treating him was hard to ignore.
He walked him home three times, refused to let Dokja carry heavy books, and glared at anyone who even looked at him wrong.
And then there was the time he stayed after school with Dokja just because he’d casually mentioned failing his last math quiz. Joonghyuk spent two hours explaining the problems, his hand occasionally brushing Dokja’s on the desk, and his voice soft but steady.
Kim Dokja didn’t blush.
(He blushed. He totally blushed. Loser)
——
Two weeks after the confession, they were at the corner of a small park, half-eaten tteokbokki between them. The summer air was hot, the sun low behind the buildings.
“Why me?” Dokja asked, the words slipping out before he could stop them.
Joonghyuk looked at him like the answer was obvious. “You’re pretty, smart-“Dokja put his hands on his mouth, embarrassed”
“You barely talked to me before.”
Joonghyuk lifted his hands from his mouth. “I noticed you. You always read during lunch. You always feed the cat just outside the school”
Dokja blinked.
“I like you,” Joonghyuk said again, quieter this time. “You don’t have to answer yet. But it’s not a joke.”
“…Fine. One date. To test if you’re as serious as you say.”
——
The first date was a bookstore. Of course it was. After all it was Dokja who chose the place.
Dokja showed up ten minutes early, expecting Joonghyuk to be late. He wasn’t. He was already there, waiting by the shelves labeled "Fantasy & Sci-Fi".
“You came”
“Of course I came,” Dokja replied, a little too fast. “Wanna look around before going to a café? They open in one hour.” Dokja said as he looked thought the books
They spent one hours browsing.
Joonghyuk was surprisingly knowledgeable about light novels.
(Joonghyuk read some light novels that he saw Dokja read, and he waited by the "Fantasy & Sci-Fi" shelves since he knew Dokja liked those type of books)
They walked to a nearby café afterward, where they talked, Joonghyuk asked questions like he actually wanted to know every little thing—favorite author, childhood pet, weirdest dream.
Dokja found himself answering. Smiling. Laughing.
When Joonghyuk walked him home again, neither of them said much.
But just before they reached his gate, Joonghyuk looked at him and asked, “Can we do this again?”
Dokja nodded, barely trusting his voice.
——
Kim Dokja finally realised his feeling for Yoo Joonghyuk.
——
“I like you too.”
Kim Dokja said it so softly, Joonghyuk almost thought he imagined it.
But he didn’t miss the way Dokja’s voice wobbled slightly. Or how he was looking anywhere but Joonghyuk face, ears and neck red.
Dokja finally turned to face him. His expression was still guarded, but his shoulders weren’t as tense. “I really like you”
There was a moment of silence.
“Say it again,” Joonghyuk said.
Dokja stared at him, “What?”
Joonghyuk’s gaze was steady. “Say it again.”
“…You’re so annoying,” Dokja muttered. But his voice was soft, and there was a shy smile tugging at the corner of his lips.
“I like you too.”
Joonghyuk didn’t smile exactly, but the look in his eyes softened in that very Joonghyuk way.
—— “So we’re dating right?”
“Are you using your brain, you fool.”
—
The next Monday, his friends knew.
It wasn’t even Dokja’s fault. He came to school like normal, same uniforme, same tired expression, until Yoo Joonghyuk walked up to his desk, dropped off a chocolate milk this time, and muttered something suspiciously close to ‘good morning’ before walking off to his seat like nothing had happened.
Jung Heewon squinted at him.
Han Sooyoung immediately leaned across her desk. “Okay. Spill.”
“Spill what?” Dokja asked, taking a suspiciously long sip of his milk.
“You and Joonghyuk. What’s the deal?”
“There’s no-“
“You’re dating,” Heewon said flatly.
“You’re totally dating.”
“No, we’re-“ Dokja paused. “…Maybe.”
Sooyoung whooped. “Ha! I knew it. God, this is so much better than the last school drama. Are you gonna hold hands in the hallway? Should I prepare a slow-motion montage?”
“You’re not funny.”
“Debatable. Does he walk you to class now? Carry your books? Open doors for you?”
“He already did those things,” Dokja grumbled.
Heewon snorted. “I bet he starts glaring twice as hard at people who talk to you now.”
“Triple,” Sooyoung corrected. “He’s already giving Jiyoon the death stare because she asked to borrow Dokja’s eraser.”
Dokja buried his (red) face in his arms.
——
Later that night, Dokja sat at his desk, staring at his phone.
One new message from ‘Sunfish bastard’
Sunfish bastard : Don’t read until 3 am .You have a quiz tomorrow.
Dokja stared at it for a long second, then typed back:
You : Only if you dream about me
He hit send, then immediately slammed his face into a pillow.
He was about to throw the phone across the room when it buzzed again.
Sunfish bastard : I always do.
Dokja screamed into the pillow.