Work Text:
“Alright kids, that’s the bell. Be sure to behave today!” the teacher announces to the class. She’s met with a chorus of ‘goodbye!’ and ‘of course ma’am!’.
As Yoo Joonghyuk weaves through the familiar crowd, his mind starts to drift to a certain classmate. Kim Dokja has been Yoo Joonghyuk’s best friend for the past three years. He’s been Yoo Joonghyuk crush for the past two.
It’s been so long as to when Joonghyuk first started liking Kim Dokja, that everybody— teachers, strangers, friends— knew he was crushing on Kim Dokja, except of course, the target of his affections himself.
Yoo Joonghyuk walked into a practically empty room, save for a few of his classmates. He is rather early than usual after all.
( Does it really matter if the reason why is because he knows Kim Dokja gets to class much earlier than him?)
He spots Kim Dokja where he usually is when Joonghyuk walks in— right next to his seat.
The teacher has already placed worksheets on each desk, but as usual, Kim Dokja is sleeping with his head rested his arms.
Yoo Joonghyuk slowly settles into his seat next to the smaller boy, taking out his necessities for the class silently as well.
It’s an easy worksheet , Joonghyuk deducts after just one look. He starts working on it and gets to question seven before Kim Dokja’s hand comes into view after a big stretch.
Kim Dokja slowly rises, and when he meets Yoo Joonghyuk’s eyes, a saccharine smile appears on his face.
Yoo Joonghyuk melts.
“Good morning, Joonghyuk-ah.” that wonderful, sweet, voice spoke.
“Mn.” Yoo Joonghyuk hummed in reply. He can almost never cough out an expressive sentence around Kim Dokja.
“Ah, shit, we have work already?” A nod in response,“Hey, Joonghyuk-ah, gimme your answers,” Yoo Joonghyuk instead shields his work away from the prying eyes of Dokja.
Joonghyuk would give anything to Kim Dokja, but if it meant hearing Kim Dokja’s voice just a little more..
A little teasing never hurt anybody, right?
“Hey, Yoo Joonghyuk, c’mon..” Joonghyuk sees Kim Dokja start to reach out to attempt to take his paper, before the hand ultimately retracts and wraps around a random pencil.
Huh? A voice echoes in Joonghyuk’s head. Where’s the witty banter and the unconscious clinginess? When Yoo Joonghyuk turns back to Kim Dokja, he’s met with the sight of a bright, red blush blooming over Dokja’s face.
Joonghyuk remembered the other had mentioned feeling a little down this morning, but chalked it up to being an exaggeration to persuade Joonghyuk into doing something in the future.
Joonghyuk doesn’t want to bother Kim Dokja in the focused trance he suddenly entered, so he turns to his paper and he continues to work.
With each brush of their hands and each glance at each other, Kim Dokja gets increasingly more fidgety and clumsy. His leg starts shaking and he keeps dropping his pencil, not to mention he keeps looking at random spots at the wall— as if to avoid someone’s gaze.
“Kim Dokja.” Joonghyuk suddenly says. Dokja’s head suddenly flinches up. “Y-yeah?” he manages to spit out.
“Are you okay?”
“Oh, uh, y-yeah, yeah, I’m fine.” Kim Dokja mumbles.
“.. Are you sure?” the taller boy responds.
“Yeah, of course!” Kim Dokja tries again, albeit with a more jolly tune as to try and not raise suspicious within Yoo Joonghyuk.
Joonghyuk can see right through the obvious act. But if it something Dokja doesn’t want help with, or doesn’t want to address, Joonghyuk can’t force his hand to accept his help. (However, the stripe of worry deep in his gut doesn’t budge.)
The class is mostly filled, save for a few late comers, but the teacher starts to explain the directions for the day— predictable enough to ignore.
As the clock ticks and pencils write, papers slowly start to get handed in by various people one by one. Dokja’s reddening face has simmered down into a slight cloud of pink over his cheekbones, Joonghyuk realizes as he stares at Dokja when he explains an answer to his question.
“…Hey, Yoo Joonghyuk, are you okay? You’ve just been staring at me and not actually writing anything down, for like, the entire time i was talking.”
Yoo Joonghyuk springs back to life with those words. “Oh. Sorry. Just.. thinking.” He says, playing off his distraction much more easily than Kim Dokja.
The action causes a small twitch in Dokja’s eyebrow, as if he were to raise it, but Joonghyuk’s facade proves harder to discern as Dokja drops the subject and returns to his work.
The class passes on easily after that, with the two boys handing in their worksheet soon after and working on some math homework together. The bell rings per schedule, and one grueling period of maths will begin for them.
As Kim Dokja collects his stuff in a pile and gets ready to walk to math with Joonghyuk, he feels a small tap on his shoulder.
“Wait.”
Dokja thinks nothing of the action, as Joonghyuk’s tone is casual and small (in an intimidating kind of way— I mean, it is Yoo Joonghyuk). But when he turns to look at him, the hints of nervousness written on Yoo Joonghyuk’s face is clear.
“Huh? What’s wrong?”
“Stay after school with me. Just up till 3:45 pm.”
Oh. That’s not too bad.
“Yeah, sure.” Dokja answers. His schedules’ usually always clear, and his mother doesn’t mind coming late unless he contacts her. “Is that all?” He follows up, wondering if that simple question was the thing weighing heavily on Joonghyuk’s mind.
Apparently it was, as the moment Kim Dokja’s confirmation left his lips, Joonghyuk’s eyes glinted in relief.
“Mhm.” He quickly replied, a drastic change compared to the serious face he had a few seconds ago.
Yoo Joonghyuk walks around Kim Dokja and just as he walks out the door, he turns around, a message hidden in his eyes.
You comin’?
—————————
Fortunately, math passes in a blink today. The bell rings and students flood into the hall, welcoming the 3 day weekend up ahead. Kim Dokja had left Joonghyuk behind in all the chaos of leaving the class, and had already started packing up.
He texts Joonghyuk a quick “ wya ?” and waits for him in the high school lobby, where they had planned to meet up while walking to math.
Most students have left the area before Yoo Joonghyuk arrives, making it just the two of them in the lobby.
A strange sight to see in an always filled school, but a welcomed one.
Dokja kicks Joonghyuk’s shoe from where he’s waiting on a bench to get his attention. “Hey man. So, where’d you wanna go again?” Kim Dokja asks.
Joonghyuk hums in a “I don’t know” kinda way, before saying, “Lets just go to H-Mart or something.” It was probably one of the longest sentence he’s said all day.
Short and straightforward. Just like Yoo Joonghyuk.
Just like their relationship.
Nevertheless, Kim Dokja nods in understanding and they leave the lobby, walking towards the gates in a comfortable silence. Today wasn’t special or anything (at least in his memories) so he didn’t bother asking why they were going there.
Halfway across the basketball court to get to the gates, Joonghyuk stops. Dokja notices almost immediately, turning around as he starts walking backwards. “C’mon, I wanna get there by 3:20. What are you even stopping for?” Dokja says, still walking backwards as the taller one stays rooted in place.
“Kim Dokja.”
“Yeah?” The sound of Dokja’s steps are getting further and further.
“ Kim Dokja. ”
“…” The steps falter and soon altogether stop, just to pick up again as Dokja walks towards Joonghyuk.
“..Hey, what happened? You haven’t really been, uh, yourself today.” Dokja says. He’s still walking closer as he speaks, until they can both see the details in each others hair. Kim Dokja looks upon the seemingly glowing, jet black hair of Joonghyuk, and his gaze lowers to his matching eyes. He forgets why he’s so close when staring into those averted eyes.
He has to clear his throat and look away before saying, “C’mon man, it’s just me here.” Kim Dokja slowly positions himself to the side of Yoo Joonghyuk, raising his hand to pat him on the back in a comforting manner.
Before he can do so, Joonghyuk moves in-front of Dokja, grabs his shoulders, and stares him directly in his eyes with an indiscernible passion in them.
What is happening??? Is all Dokja can think before Joonghyuk says the most expected unexpected words ever.
“Kim Dokja, I like you romantically. I would like to be more than friends, if you allow us to. I completely understand if you do not want to be the subject of my affection and choose to break our friendship. That’s all.”
When he finally gets out his robotic confession, Joonghyuk lets out a sigh of relief. Thank God that was so much easier than I thought.
Yoo Joonghyuk observes Kim Dokja’s shell shocked face.
…
I fucked up.
—————————
Kim Dokja didn’t let out anything. Like anything. He had been holding his breath since Joonghyuk put his hands on his shoulder. He was still slightly shaking in fear and expectation before even processing Joonghyuk’s words.
And right as he did, bells went off.
Not alarm bells,
Wedding bells.
Kim Dokja mouth unhinges while Yoo Joonghyuk pointedly looks away in an effort from what he thinks will be a rejection.
The air comes back to Dokja’s lungs as thoughts rush through his head at a thousand miles.
Holy fuck. Holy shit. Oh God, please don’t let this be a dream.
He hadn’t even come to terms with his own feelings but is already thinking of the first song to play during their wedding.
Maybe a Laufey song? I’ll get Sooyoung to sing it too. God, that’ll be funny. Oh fuck yeah, this is so happening and— OH SHIT I HAVEN’T REPLIED—
“YES.” Kim Dokja announces loudly.
Yoo Joonghyuk slowly turns to him comedically. Yes? Yes to breaking our friendship or yes to dating?
He believes he is hiding his confusion very well as he nods in fake understanding, but apparently it’s written all over his face as Dokja clarifies,
“Oh my God— yes, Yoo Joonghyuk, I would love to date you.” He says with the same robotic and rushed tone Joonghyuk used earlier.
And now it was Joonghyuk’s turn to buffer.
I mean sure, he was the one who confessed and all, but that didn’t mean he actually expected a yes!
Not that he was complaining.
Holy fuck. Holy shit. Oh God, please don’t let this be a dream.
They both stood a few inches apart from each other, staring in awe and no longer concealed affection.
And as a fond smile grew on Yoo Joonghyuk’s face, spreading to Kim Dokja’s, an unspoken agreement fell upon them. No words or clarifications needed, as they always knew what the other was thinking thinking,
I’ve been waiting for this for forever.
—————————
Han Sooyoung walked down the hallway, making her way to the nurses, where she was sent to fetch a box of tissues for her teacher.
She made a turn through the nurses door, only to find the nice front desk lady was out. A ‘tsk’ left her mouth.
All she really needed was some tissues, so it wouldn’t hurt to just walk right in, right? Besides, she was missing important class time!
And so, she strolled in, easily grabbing a box and already moving to leave the room.
But before she had the chance to pull on the door handle, she heard a familiar giggle.
A giggle that belonged to someone who had been strangely closer to a certain other someone than he already was lately.
Teach sent me out just to get rid of me for a while. She wouldn’t mind if I stayed out for a bit longer , Han Sooyoung reasoned with herself.
Besides, it’s my duty as a responsible student to stop any misconduct amongst the student body! (She thought with a wicked grin on her face as she slowly pulled out her phone, opening her camera app.)
And so, Sooyoung walked right back in, catching a glimpse of—
Kim Dokja and Yoo Joonghyuk, pure delight written on their faces, hands in each others. Some random FNAF fan game play was between them, screening on Joonghyuk’s phone, but both of them are clearly not focused on it.
And so, Han Sooyoung walked right back out.
Not before the sound of a click was heard.
She came back as she left, with a sucker in between her teeth and her paces nonchalant, clutching the box of tissues. But this time, if you happened to look closer, you’d notice the pure amusement radiating from her face.