Archive of Our Own

The literature department at Hayeon University was easily the best in the country.

Yoo Myeongwoo still wasn't quite sure how he'd gotten into grad school here. He definitely wasn't sure how he'd secured funding, and the Financial Aid office kept waving off all his questions. All he really knew at the moment was that his first week of classes had been interesting, his classmates were friendly (for the most part), and the department's graduate student advisor—

Well, the department's graduate student advisor was the most welcoming, encouraging person Myeongwoo had ever met.

"You'll do well here, Myeongwoo-ssi," Han Yoojin assured him. He was sitting across his desk from Myeongwoo in a small, tidy office. His voice and face were both entirely earnest, and it put Myeongwoo at ease to know that such a person would be looking out for him. "I know you'll do your best."

Myeongwoo bowed his head in gratitude. "I—I'll try," he said hesitantly.

He was just about to ask if perhaps Han Yoojin knew anything about his funding when there was a knock on the open door of the office.

"Delivery from Dr. Sung," a cheerful voice said, and an exasperated look crossed Han Yoojin's face.

When Myeongwoo turned to see what was happening, it was the find the biggest arrangement of flowers he'd ever seen in his life standing in the doorway. After a moment, a young delivery woman's head peeked out around it. Once she'd set it on Han Yoojin's desk, maneuvering around Myeongwoo to do so, he saw a card peeking out of the red and white roses.

Myeongwoo didn't mean to read it, but it was a little hard to miss the elegant handwriting that scrawled effortlessly across it.

To my darling partner, it read. I look forward to dinner tonight. It was signed with a bold signature: Sung Hyunjae.

"I didn't know you and Professor Sung were dating," Myeongwoo offered awkwardly into the silence. Han Yoojin wasn't wearing a wedding ring, but it was obvious that the two professors were connected in some way.

No one had that many flowers delivered to a colleague.

"We aren't," Han Yoojin said firmly. He looked at the delivery woman and sighed. "Can't you take them back? I just finished giving the last ones away."

Myeongwoo blinked. Come to think of it, he had seen a similar arrangement in Moon Hyuna's office as he passed, and in Kim Sunghan's, and Riette Luire's. He wondered now if those had all come from Han Yoojin—

—or, technically, from Sung Hyunjae.

"Sorry, Han Yoojin-nim," the delivery woman said lightly, and Myeongwoo got the distinct feeling that this exchange was a regular occurrence. "He said you'd say that."

When she was gone, Han Yoojin stared at the flowers. Myeongwoo was pretty sure there was a smile lurking at the corners of his mouth, but after a moment he pulled it into a respectable scowl.

"That bastard Sung Hyunjae. How am I supposed to get any work done around here?" he grumbled. He stood, and with some effort managed to shift the flowers enough that he could fish the list of books Myeongwoo had requested for his critical theory class off his desk. When he turned back to Myeongwoo, he was all smiles. "Make sure you take some flowers when we're done."

Friday, 6 March 2026, 2:38pm
From: Song Taewon < [email protected] >
To: Sung Hyunjae < [email protected] >
Subject: Flower Distribution Methods

Professor Sung,

It has come to my attention that today you sent so many flowers to Professor Han that they were spilling out of his office. Please ensure that any deliveries remain within the bounds of their intended destination.

Song Taewon, PhD
Literature and Theory, Chair
Haeyeon University

The first department meeting of the year always made Song Taewon's head ache.

"We'll begin in five minutes," he said, his voice a low rumble in the silence as he checked his watch again.

When he looked up and around the room, it was to see Kim Sunghan sitting tall and focused at the long conference table, Seok Hayan furiously scribbling away in a notebook, Riette napping at the other end, and Moon Hyuna shooting glares at Evelyn Miller, who was in Seoul for the next two terms as a visiting professor.

Song Taewon didn't know what was happening there, and he didn't think he wanted to. Some days, he still wasn't sure how he'd gotten roped into being Department Head. All he wanted to do was finish writing his book on representations of civil service in modern literature.

Instead, he was drowning in administrative work. He supposed there was something there, but he was too tired to appreciate it.

It was almost a relief when Han Yoojin walked in—though Song Taewon had to frown in confusion when he realized the man was alone.

Moon Hyuna's eyes snapped over to the new arrival, and a slow smile spread across her face. "Well, well, well," she drawled. "Where's your—I would call him your better half, but I think the lie might kill me."

Despite her words, Song Taewon wasn't fooled. He knew for a fact that Moon Hyuna and Sung Hyunjae regularly went out for drinks.

"We're still not dating," Han Yoojin said shortly, barely glancing over at her before he sat down next to Kim Sunghan.

Moon Hyuna threw herself dramatically back in her seat. "Ah, look at how he treats me," she sighed. "Barely a word, even after we raised a child together. All I ask for in return is a little gossip."

One of Han Yoojin's eyes twitched. "Don't say it like that," he objected frantically. "We co-wrote an article together, that's all!"

Moon Hyuna flapped one hand dismissively. "Yes, we nurtured the germ of an idea into fruition," she agreed. She cast a sideways glance at the door and visibly brightened. "Aren't you jealous, Hyunjae-ssi?"

"It's an excellent article," Sung Hyunjae said amiably as he headed towards Han Yoojin. There were two Starbucks cups in his hand, and he looked as impeccable as he always did—his long, dark red coat swirling around his legs as he walked and the long lines of his trousers cleanly pressed. "We'll certainly be citing it in our book."

"There you are," Han Yoojin said with a scowl as Sung Hyunjae folded himself into the chair next to him and slid him one of the coffees. "One might wonder if you actually do any work around here, Hyunjae-ssi. There's only a minute until the meeting starts."

Sung Hyunjae smiled. "The only Starbucks that still has peppermint syrup is the one on campus," he said by way of explanation. "And you know there's always a lineup."

Han Yoojin took a slow sip of his coffee, and no matter how prickly he acted, he almost seemed to melt into his seat, the faint scent of peppermint wafting from his cup.

"Wait," Moon Hyuna cut in, her eyes narrowing at the two of them. "You're writing a book together? Why did I only get an article?"

Song Taewon cleared his throat. If he didn't begin the meeting now, he knew from experience it would be an uphill battle to get anything done today.

"To begin with a few announcements before we get get started: most of you have already met her, but I'd like to officially welcome Evelyn Miller to the department. As always, committee assignments for the year will be distributed by e-mail no later than the end of this week. And finally," he concluded, feeling more tired than he ever had in his life, "for the eleventh time, whoever keeps advertising the betting pool for whether Professors Han and Sung are dating—you need permission from Seok Simyeong in the administrative office to do so on the public bulletin boards."

Class should have started five minutes ago.

Sitting at the back of the room, Kang Soyoung could hear the other members of Han Yoojin's critical theory class speculating about the delay. Bak Yerim looked worried, glancing at the door every few seconds, and Han Yoohyun was was glowering at his phone.

Soyoung simply figured that their professor had gotten into some sort of situation with Professor Sung—again. Somehow that always seemed to happen when Sung Hyunjae was scheduled to guest lecture in Han Yoojin's class.

As Sung Hyunjae's doctoral student and Han Yoojin's teaching assistant, she was very, very used to it.

She was just finishing up a doodle of a dragon in her notebook—scales penciled in shiny with lead and long, thorned wings—when the door of the classroom opened. She heard Sung Hyunjae's familiar chuckle behind her, and Han Yoojin's put upon-sigh in response.

"Good morning," Han Yoojin said politely to the class as the two professors made their way to the front of the room. He was still dressed in his outer coat, a pink knitted scarf snug around his neck. "Sorry we're late—someone got pulled over for speeding on the way to campus."

"If you'd just let me accept the ticket, Yoojin-gun, we would have been on time," Sung Hyunjae said innocently."It was only because you insisted on arguing that we're late."

Han Yoojin's face looked ominous. "Do you still have a ticket?"

Sung Hyunjae acceded with grace.

"Make sure you all give him zero-star reviews for endangering your professor," Han Yoojin told the class, and Sung Hyunjae just looked at him fondly.

Kang Soyoung held up her hand. "Rate My Professor doesn't allow scores below one star," she said helpfully. She'd found that out the hard way, when she'd tried to give Choi Sukwon a negative rating in the final year of her undergrad.

She wondered where he'd gotten off to. At least he wasn't teaching at Haeyeon anymore.

"I'll make a site that does," Han Yoohyun muttered from the seat in front of her, low enough that Soyoung didn't think anyone other than her could hear except for maybe Bak Yerim and Kim Minee beside him—though the amused look on Sung Hyunjae's face made her think that he knew exactly what Han Yoojin's brother had said.

"Then it will be nice to see my average go up," Sung Hyunjae said cheerfully, even though Soyoung knew for a fact that he had a perfect five-star rating.

In front of her, Bak Yerim elbowed Han Yoohyun. "Seriously," she hissed. "Are they dating or not?"

It was an interesting question, Soyoung had to admit, and one she'd be very interested in knowing the answer to. Still, there was a much more important question on her mind.

She raised her hand again, and Sung Hyunjae raised an eyebrow telling her to continue.

"Will we be talking about dragons in this class?" Soyoung asked.

Thursday, 12 March 2026, 3:32pm
From: Moon Hyuna < [email protected] >
To: Kim Sunghan < [email protected] >, Riette Luire < [email protected] >, Evelyn Miller < [email protected] >…
Subject: you know what

Kim Sunghan, I bet you your corner office that it will happen by Christmas.

Thursday, 12 March 2026, 3:33pm
From: Evelyn Miller < [email protected] >
To: Moon Hyuna < [email protected] >, Kim Sunghan < [email protected] >, Riette Luire < [email protected] >…
Subject: Re: you know what

So that's how office assignments are made. I was wondering.

Thursday, 12 March 2026, 3:34pm
From: Kim Sunghan < [email protected] >
To: < [email protected] >, Moon Hyuna < [email protected] >, Riette Luire < [email protected] >…
Subject: Re: you know what

I accept.

Has anyone run the new advertisement past Seok Simyeong yet? I can do that tomorrow if need be.

Best,
Kim Sunghan
Associate Professor, Literature and Theory
Haeyeon University

Thursday, 12 March 2026, 3:34pm
From: Riette Luire < [email protected] >
To: < [email protected] >, < [email protected] >, Moon Hyuna < [email protected] >…
Subject: Re: you know what

I'll do you one better, darling. They'll be dating by December 24th.

It was late when Han Yoojin finally stretched his arms over his head and leaned back in his desk chair. Outside his office window, the sun had already set, and small late-March flurries of snow danced beneath the campus street lights.

Inside, on his desk, the last of the late course registration forms had been reviewed and signed by him.

He couldn't wait to get home, where he could curl up with Peace and Chirpie and—

Yoojin heard a faint sound at his open door, and when he turned, it was to find Sung Hyunjae leaning against the frame, his long coat draped over one arm and his briefcase held secure in one hand. Somehow, even after a long day, he still managed to look like a model. His golden hair was perfectly tousled, his shirt still perfectly pressed, and his eyes—

Yoojin looked at his watch and frowned, because Hyunjae's eyes looked far too tired. "Did you just get out?"

Hyunjae gave a quiet hum of assent. His senate committee meeting had been scheduled to conclude over two hours ago.

He should be at home by now.

"Diarma insisted on reviewing all of the supplementary regulations for executive committees," Hyunjae said dryly. "Twice."

"You should just walk out on him next time," Yoojin said, disgusted. The Dean of Engineering loved to cause trouble. At least Yoojin didn't have to deal with university senate drama. Nope. As Graduate Chair in the literature department, he just had to wrangle several dozen graduate students and their advisors into filling out all the right forms—correctly and on time.

Predictably, it was usually the advisors who were the problem.

"To the contrary," Hyunjae said, his voice silky. "Since we ran late, I get to go home with you."

"We drove separate cars today," Yoojin said.

"Then I can at least walk you to the parking lot," Hyunjae said with a charming gleam in his eye.

Shaking his head, Yoojin stood to his feet. "What am I going to do with you?" he grumbled.

He stepped in close, reaching out for Hyunjae's brief case. Hyunjae let it go so he could slide one arm around Yoojin's waist, and Yoojin let it slide to the floor at his feet.

Laughing softly, Hyunjae pressed a kiss against his temple. "I can think of a few things," he said.

"Such as?" Yoojin asked suspiciously. One of them better be sleep. The start of semester was always grueling, and though Yoojin would never say it out loud, Hyunjae worked too hard.

"Dinner," Hyunjae said easily. "A bath for two. And then—"

"Okay, okay, I get the idea," Yoojin said hastily, because even if they were the only two left on the floor, they weren't appropriate things to say in his office.

Unless—

No. Han Yoojin shook his head. No sex in my office. That was a hard and fast rule.

Hyunjae's office, on the other hand…

"Shall we?" Hyunjae asked, holding out his hand, and something gold glinted on one of his fingers.

"Oh," Yoojin said. "Wait a minute." He fished beneath the collar of his shirt and tugged out the chain he always wore. It was warm from lying against his skin all day and rubbed pleasantly against his fingers as he fumbled for the clasp.

With a smile, Hyunjae circled around behind him to unfasten it for him, and Yoojin slipped his wedding band back onto his finger. They never wore them at work. It's not like anyone needed to know, other than Yoohyun-ie. Yoojin definitely didn't want to deal with all the complaining when his colleagues found out they'd been married since grad school, before they'd even started working here?

And—well, it was kind of fun, watching everyone try to guess, and it wasn't like he'd ever actually told a lie. They weren't dating.

People simply kept asking the wrong question.

He shrugged on his coat and wrapped his scarf around his neck, the one Hyunjae had knitted him for Christmas. "Put your coat on. What are you going to do if you catch a cold?"

Hyunjae smiled but did as he'd been told before picking up his briefcase. Yoojin ushered them both out of his office and locked the door.

The floor was deserted, all the lights off except the exit sign at the far end by the elevator; Song Taewon had turned them off when he left twenty minutes ago, as he always did.

"I need to stop on the way home and pick up more food for Chirpie," Yoojin said as they made their way down the hallway. The little bird turned into a monster when it came to his meals.

Hyunjae settled one large hand on his waist. "Then I'll get started on dinner," he said, and Yoojin smiled.

Tuesday, 17 March 2026, 1:02pm
From: < [email protected] >
To: < [email protected] >

Dear Professor Han,

Last class when you handed out essay topics, you accidentally gave us the topics for Professor Sung's class. I just wanted to let you know!

I'm enjoying the class a lot and look forward to writing my essay!

Yours truly,

Noah Luire
Student ID 45234981493

Seok Simyeong knew the truth. After all, as the department's administrative assistant, he had access to all of the personnel files—which included current mailing addresses.

He'd never spill their secret, of course. Confidentiality was one of the most important parts of his job, and he was very, very good at his job.

Besides, why would he spoil Han Yoojin's fun? He very much wanted to see just how high the betting pool would go.