Chapter Text
The Security Team Sergeant isn't a particularly amicable person, but J3 imagines he can get along fine with people who don't bother him, and who don't choose to cause any trouble. Research Team 1 Team Leader Kwak Jekang is not, in fact, someone who, A) doesn't bother him, and B) doesn't cause trouble. He's actually one of the most annoying people J3 has the displeasure of knowing. He just never knows when to back off, until J3 has to threaten him with slitted yellow eyes in black shadows of fur. J3 hates resorting to those sorts of methods, ones that force him to melt into something inhuman, but Kwak Jekang seems to love it.
Lately, the researcher has been coming around to the Security Team more often. What a pain, J3 thinks to himself. Can't he go and bother anyone else? Although the sergeant wasn't exactly busy with work of any sort, it was still draining to deal with the endless barrage of questions. He was so… chirpy. Like an annoying little bird which constantly squeaked and twitted and just won’t shut up, my god. Can't he take the hint for once in his life? Actually, he probably can't. He's probably never learnt the meaning of the word ‘no’, which is ironic considering he's such a smart person. This, J3 cannot deny. But sometimes, he just acts so… stupid. It's a pointless decision to choose to talk to him, J3 thinks. There's nothing he has to say to the researcher besides the occasional report, or some sort of outbreak which has to be recorded in the system.
The sergeant continues to sweep the floor mindlessly while said researcher follows him around, his ID card coming loose from his breastpocket and flitting around much like himself. J3 is about to reach over and shove it back in the pocket himself with the way the plastic swiping against the fabric of Jekang’s tie is filling his ears. Well, filling the spaces between his chatter, which the sergeant is largely (entirely, if he's being honest, but he'd like to humour Jekang a little) ignoring.
“Are you sure you don't want to come up sometime? We've got everything prepared if you ever want to. I want to test the limits of your contaminated form, that wolf!! Do you eat enough? A wolf gets stronger with a large diet, y’know, with protein. You should aim to eat lots of meat, I'm sure it would make you stronger, especially with that carnivorous tendency. Is that why you like sweets? Are you trying to run from your natural urges? Don't hide from it. Nothing good comes out of hiding, right? Listen to me, J3-”
The sergeant cuts him off with a curt whack in the legs with the broom handle.
“Do you… ever shut up…? And…”
The researcher’s eyes widen with excitement at the trailed off sentence. His mouth parts a little, originally about to exclaim pain, but now anticipating the next words.
“You're… getting in the way… of my sweeping…”
A look of barely hidden disappointment creases Jekang’s face.
“Can you… move a little? If you insist… on staying here. To the right…”
Jekang moves silently to the right. If anything, J3 appreciates that he's a little bit obedient. Especially in situations like these, where he's had to silently sweep the same circle of the floor for the past ten minutes because Jekang’s shoes keep messing up the small pile of dirt he's accumulated. He lost the dustpan, and now he's just sweeping with a broom because there's honestly nothing better to do in this company. He's contractually bound anyway, so he won't be fired if he slacks off a little. Or a lot. Most days he's slacking off. It's hard enough to stay interested in work when you've been here for god knows how long, and you'll stay here for that amount of time and longer.
Kwak Jekang has been at the company for almost the same amount of time as J3, right? J3’s first memories are of Jekang’s face, glasses clad, clinging onto his face and shouting things, a crazed, manic look on his face. J3 wanted to kill him. He didn't know why, but from that day on, he'd decided that the researcher needed to stay away from him.
“I'll be on my way, then. Please consider my offer, alright?” Huh, that researcher left already. J3 was expecting some sort of reaction, excitement, whatever that freak was into. Maybe he had a disinterest kink? Who knew… but he left with quite little resistance today. J3 took that as a sign of good luck for the rest of the day. When you could get rid of the infamous Kwak Jekang that easily, of course it was a cause for happiness.
Whatever. J3 set down the broom and collapsed onto the small sofa in the middle of the office. Dealing with Jekang… that was basically work. So really, he had just completed his workday. One hour of Jekang equates to six hours of work, after all.
-
Kwak Jekang was not okay.
He was so sure that today would have been the day he'd gotten anything out of the Security Team Sergeant. Any sort of reaction from J3 was better than continuously falling into the same void of nothingness and the same emotionless face which only occasionally twisted into slight disgust or frustration. He was the same man, wasn't he? The B Team Leader had gone into the Darkness, and J3 had come out. So surely, they were the same person. Inputs in a system don't magically disappear when you get an output. The initial X value is still present in a Y function if you solve backwards, right? So where was his X value? He'd been given an entirely new equation, one he didn't know how to solve. Kwak Jekang is a smart man, indeed, but you can't solve an equation you don't know the numbers of.
He feels sick, to his stomach. He wants to see that smile again, the familiar smile and tousled black hair which only existed now in strands that crossed the Sergeant's front hair. This universe is cruel, the researcher thinks to himself. Crueler than he is, because it took away everything about the thing he loved second-most, trading it for what he loved the most, Darknesses. The only remnants left were his fading memory, those thin strands of black hair, and a set of yellow eyes which sharpened at the edges and were far too harsh.
Kwak Jekang rested his head on his desk, eyes heavy. He'd just sleep for a little bit, to take him mind off things. Maybe the B Team Leader would grace him in his dreams, like he sometimes did when Jekang felt especially lonely. Those dreams felt more like a slap in the face when he woke up.
His eyes drifted shut, swaying between consciousness and unconsciousness. He felt the faint touch of a coat being laid on top of his shoulders.
Ah, no one's at the office at this hour. That's strange.
In his mind, he knew he should have logically opened his eyes and gotten up to see who had had the good nature to keep him warm. Even in his team, it was rare, after all. But in his melatonin-addled brain, all he did was accept it and lean into the touch of the coat as if it were someone else instead, someone tall with a wolf mask and a gentle smile. He half-hoped he dreamt of that smile tonight, and half-dreaded when he would inevitably awake to no one but himself in the empty office.
-
Didn't he tell me to come up here? And now he's asleep? Wow.
J3 was mildly irritated. He'd decided to humour the researcher (actually, he was on his way to drop off some sort of physical media from a recent outbreak from within the Security Team entities, that Jekang had personally requested, mind you) only to wander in and find him asleep at his desk, mouth open and drooling onto his sleeve. His coat had been long abandoned on the back of Lee Yeonhwa’s chair, which J3 found strange, but didn't question it. He knew better than to assume any of the researcher’s actions had some sort of logical thinking behind them which could feasibly be traced.
Of course, J3 wasn't a monster. He'd actually consider himself a good person. Lee Seonghae from Team B thought he was a good person. So, like a good person, he had quietly removed the white coat and draped it over the sleeping researcher’s shoulders. He'd get cold, after all, sleeping in the office in nothing but a thin dress shirt and slacks. When he turned to leave, he heard a faint noise. Sleeptalker as well? No wonder.
“Hm…… Is…….. Zzzzz……..”
This guy sleeptalks too. There's no way. Imagine living with him…
“Is that… you? Come back…”
J3 wants to just leave, but now he feels obligated to stay. So, he moves closer slightly. Enough that his hand brushes near Jekang’s for a moment, and in that moment, Jekang intertwines their fingers with a kind of tenderness J3 did not know he was capable of.
“....don't go… Please….it's lone..ly.”
Jekang turns his head and his eyes hazily opened, a slit of his pupils visible. His blurry sight catches sight of that hand. Something wet hits his vision, then the table where he's lying his head on it's side.
Kwak Jekang is crying. J3 did not know he was capable of that, also.
“Mmh… am I still dreaming? How are you here?” Jekang murmurs, dazed and caressing J3’s hand softly now. His fingers run across the sergeant’s scarred hand, tracing each indent and each line. His tears are falling properly now.
“It's so lonely- without you. I know… he's not you. But I… I want to hope, that there's still some of you there.”
J3 remains silent.
“Hic- I miss you.”
J3 was feeling pretty awkward now.
“Can- Can I have a kiss? This is my dream… right? I just… it's not real, anyway.” His sobbing had subsided into shaky words. J3 was caught in a dilemma - he didn't know who the hell Jekang thought he was, but if he left now, he had a strange gut feeling that he was doing something wrong. Like it was his responsibility to take care of the researcher.
Well, he wouldn't remember it anyway. And even if he did, Jekang thought J3 was just a part of his dream, filling in for someone else. J3 parted the researcher’s hair on the top of his head, and placed a kiss, so light it almost wasn't there. He left the office, quietly clicking the door shut.
The sergeant doesn't know why he does that, exactly. He could've left happily and the researcher would probably be back to his usual obnoxious self the next day when he woke up and shook it all off. But it was rare to see him cry, and… it made him feel something strange in his chest, like he was pained by it somehow.
It didn't feel so bad, giving him that kiss.