Chapter Text
By the second week of school, Yoo Joonghyuk was starting to get annoyed.
The guys in his class had taken it upon themselves to act overly familiar with him to get attention from the girls, clapping him on the shoulder and talking as if they’d known him for years (despite his very clear attempts to shut them down.) The girls, on the other hand, were far too shy to approach him directly. Instead, they hovered nearby, pretending to talk among themselves while sneaking glances his way as he played on his phone.
Yoo Joonghyuk wasn’t sure which group irritated him more.
The only one bold enough to ignore the invisible boundary he put up was Jung Heewon, captain of the volleyball team.
“Joonghyuk-ssi,” she said, leaning against his desk. “Why don’t you come to the cafeteria with us? Hyunsung and Sangah will be there too.”
“No thank you.”
“God, you’re so boring,” Heewon replied immediately, unimpressed. “All you ever do is sit here and play on your phone. Come on.”
The other girls winced, either expecting Joonghyuk to snap or rolling their eyes at Heewon’s bluntness.
Joonghyuk didn’t.
If anything, he found her casualness… tolerable. Maybe even refreshing. He considered it briefly. The cafeteria, noisy as it usually was, would still be better than staying here with people hovering over him. Besides, he didn’t dislike Heewon’s group. Yoo Sangah was a little too talkative for his taste, but she knew when to stop. Lee Hyunsung was earnest and he wasn’t overly friendly with him like the other guys were. He sighed, slipped his hands into his pockets, and stood.
“Fine.”
Heewon grinned obnoxiously. “Look at you, pretending you didn’t want to come.”
She snickered as they headed toward the cafeteria.
It wasn’t very crowded when they arrived, which Joonghyuk appreciated immediately. They took a table near the back, slightly secluded, away from the loudest clusters of students. Sangah bought something quick from the canteen, Heewon and Hyunsung shared a packed lunch, and Joonghyuk pulled out the lunch he had prepared that morning.
It was… impressive.
A neatly arranged dosirak with rice, seasoned vegetables, grilled meat, and a perfectly folded rolled omelet. It was balanced, and nutritionally sound. As a leftover treat, he’d added a bao from the night before.
“Wow, Joonghyuk-ssi, did you make that yourself?” Sangah asked, looking back at her own food pitifully.
“It looks delicious,” Hyunsung added
Joonghyuk nodded and began eating. He’d learned to cook for Mia, and Yoo Joonghyuk never did anything halfway. If he needed a skill, he mastered it. Cooking had been no exception.
Jung Heewon chuckled quietly, noticing the rare hint of contentment on his face as he ate.
Then suddenly a quick hand reached towards the bao.
Before Joonghyuk could react, the bao was gone. He clenched his fist under the table, already plotting revenge, and whipped his head around to see the culprit: a girl with a shit-eating grin and a black bob, chewing shamelessly as if she’d done nothing wrong.
…Damn it. A girl. He couldn’t punch her.
“That was mine,” he said through gritted teeth and a murderous glare.
“Oh?” she replied innocently. “Was it?”
He really wanted to punch her.
“Han Sooyoung,” Sangah said sharply.
Sooyoung froze and sauntered over, receiving a stern scolding that she weathered with crossed arms and an exaggerated pout.
“Keep up this rude behavior and I won’t go on another date with you.” Sangah smacked the back of her head for good measure.
Joonghyuk watched, mildly impressed.
His opinion of Yoo Sangah rose a notch.
From that moment on, Yoo Joonghyuk committed the name Han Sooyoung to memory. He would get his revenge someday. Just not today.
A moment later, he felt someone sit down beside him. He turned to see Kim Dokja.
Joonghyuk frowned. How had he not noticed him before? Did he come in with Sooyoung?
***
Kim Dokja, for his part, was just as surprised. He hadn’t expected to see Yoo Joonghyuk sitting at the same table as Hyunsung, Heewon, and Sangah.
Usually Dokja would just sit with Han Sooyoung, but after she and Yoo Sangah had grown closer, the seating arrangements had naturally shifted until they’d all ended up together.
When Sooyoung spotted Yoo Joonghyuk, her eyes lit up with a familiar, evil gleam.
“I feel an uncontrollable urge to annoy him,” she whispered. “Look at that face. Don’t you just want to piss him off?”
Dokja already knew where this was going.
That’s how he ended up next to Yoo Joonghyuk. Dokja glanced sideways and immediately caught the deep frown aimed in his direction. The atmosphere around Joonghyuk sharpened.
“Ah, Joonghyuk-ssi… sorry about Sooyoung,” Dokja said quietly. “I really didn’t know she’d do that.”
Joonghyuk didn’t respond, but the tension in his shoulders eased just a fraction.
“Dokja,” Heewon said, lifting an eyebrow “you know Joonghyuk-ssi already?” They weren’t in the same class. It was a reasonable question.
“We’ve talked,” Dokja replied simply. He flicked a glance at Joonghyuk from the corner of his eye, careful not to linger.
Joonghyuk met his gaze for a brief moment before looking away again, expression unreadable.
Kim Dokja didn’t really know how to act around him or what to say. Last time they talked, they had a surprisingly nice conversation, but back then Yoo Joonghyuk was in a good mood. Joonghyuk simply turned back to the group as they began chatting about their day. Han Sooyoung and Yoo Sangah were animatedly discussing their upcoming date, while Lee Hyunsung and Jung Heewon hovered in that unmistakable space between conversation and flirting.
Kim Dokja suddenly remembered that they were all soulmates. He felt his nonexistent lunch threaten to crawl back up his throat.
As the only non-couple in the group, silence settled between him and Joonghyuk.
After the discomfort stretched on a little too long, Dokja pulled out his phone and slouched back in his chair, retreating into reading. It was a habit he defaulted to whenever he didn’t know what else to do. Yoo Joonghyuk, already finished with his lunch, did the same. Unlike Dokja, his posture remained perfectly straight, attention fixed on the game displayed on his screen.
“You two…” Hyunsung said slowly, “…are really similar.”
Both Dokja and Joonghyuk paused.
They glanced at each other at the exact same time.
Then, just as quickly, they looked away.
‘Thump’
There was that annoying sound again. Dokja couldn’t tell what it was.
“…We’re not,” Joonghyuk said.
“Yeah, I’m reading, he’s playing games…” Dokja glanced sideways at Joonghyuks phone.
“Hey wait—“ he immediately shifted closer to Joonghyuk and leaned in to stare at his phone. Joonghyuk stiffened. The sudden proximity caught him off guard, and he leaned away on instinct, shoulders tensing as if he’d been invaded. Dokja’s eyes suddenly brightened, “this game is based on a webnovel!”
Joonghyuk regained his calm and shoved Dokja’s face away, “Is it?” He asked, uninterested.
“Yeah. It’s really good,” Dokja said quickly, warming to the topic. He points at the screen “This character is super powerful in the novel. You should pick him as your companion.”
“I don’t want to,” Joonghyuk replied immediately. “He’s annoying.” Which was ironic, considering they had nearly identical personalities.
“Hey, trust me,” Dokja said, waving a hand. “I know what I’m talking about. He’s seriously cool. And if you choose him, you get his backstory too—”
Before Joonghyuk could stop him, Dokja grabbed the phone and tapped the screen.
“Hey!” Joonghyuk reacted instantly, lunging for it and grabbing Dokja by the neck, strangling him in the process. The others watched silently, not sure if they should intervene or not.
“Huk!—Just choose him!” Dokja wheezed, clinging stubbornly to the phone.
“I said I don’t want to!” Joonghyuk snapped, yanking it back at last.
Dokja stumbled, rubbing his throat with a scowl. “you’re welcome…” he muttered under his breath and coughed.
It was too late.
Joonghyuk froze, eyes locked on the screen.
“[This character is now your companion!]”
…
The murderous aura from earlier returned tenfold. Dokja felt it immediately. A nervous sweat broke out along his spine.
“J-Joonghyuk-ah,” he said with a plastered smile, hands raised defensively. “It was an accident! Really!”
It absolutely was not.
Joonghyuk turned slowly. Then he grabbed Dokja by the neck again.
“Whoa—!”
“Hey!” Heewon shouted, standing up as Hyunsung rushed forward.
***
[Plagiarist Han] What happened to NOT antagonizing Yoo Joonghyuk?
[Kim Dokja]: that was before I realized he was a good guy
[Plagiarist Han]: he STRANGLED you.
[Kim Dokja]: it wasn’t that bad actually
[Plagiarist Han]: ew I don’t want to hear about your kinks.
[Kim Dokja]: …
[Kim Dokja]: anyway, if people like lee hyunsung and jung heewon hang around him, there’s no way he’s a bad person.
[Plagiarist Han]: hmm right. I’m sure he wanted to punch me when I took his bao tho
[Kim Dokja]: I would too.
[Plagiarist Han]: (¬_¬)
[Kim Dokja]: But there IS something about his face that makes you want to piss him off…
[Plagiarist Han]: RIGHT?!
After a few days of sitting at the same lunch table and bumping into each other in the hallways, Kim Dokja quickly realized his own evil nature. He had far too much fun annoying Yoo Joonghyuk, especially after discovering he was (mostly) harmless. Dokja stole his food (he never brought his own), bothered him, and interrupted his games. Everything no one else dared to do. It was the reactions that made him addicted. Joonghyuk was quick to anger, sharp-tongued and easy to provoke, and their exchanges always escalated into heated banter until one of them gave up or got beaten up. It was fun. It was exciting.
***
The library was quiet, rows of towering bookshelves swallowing sound and light alike. Dokja liked coming here every now and then to sit and read, to think, to disappear. It had started as a hiding place from Song Minwoo, (on the safe assumption that he would never step foot in a library.) Now he just liked coming here to get away from everyone.
He loved his friends, truly. But they were all paired up and Dokja found himself lingering on the edges of the group more often than not. So, he’d come here instead.
He headed for his usual spot when he noticed someone else there, “Joonghyuk-ah?”
Yoo Joonghyuk was already there, seated at the table, phone in hand. Joonghyuk looked up. A deep, immediate scowl twisted his features when he saw Dokja, and he set his phone down with visible annoyance.
“…Kim Dokja,” he said flatly.
Dokja grinned and dropped into the seat beside him without hesitation. “We just keep meeting. Is this fate?”
“You know just as well as I do that there’s no such thing,” Joonghyuk replied. Dokja didn’t miss the way his thumb rubbed absently at the base of his pinky, right where the red string was supposed to be tied.
He forced his eyes away from Joonghyuk’s long fingers and cleared his throat. “Right. Speaking of fate, though, have you talked to Lee Seolhwa yet?”
If it were possible, Dokja would’ve sworn Joonghyuk’s scowl deepened.
“…You haven’t?” Dokja asked. “Why?”
“It’s complicated,” Joonghyuk muttered, turning his head away.
Dokja sighed and leaned back in his chair. “I really don’t understand you.” He tilted his head up, staring at the ceiling. “Most people would kill for a chance to date Seolhwa. What’s your deal? I get not believing in fate and all, but still, she was interested. Couldn’t you at least try?”
“That,” Joonghyuk said, “is also complicated.”
“Right,” Dokja replied dryly. “Everything is complicated with you.”
Joonghyuk rolled his eyes. “Why are you so invested, anyway?” He propped his cheek against his hand. His soft, wavy hair fell over his eyes, shadowing them, “You don’t even have a soulmate.”
Dokja hadn’t expected that to hurt, he usually wouldn’t mind, but he had been feeling extra lonely recently. He let out a quiet breath through his nose and rested his arms on the table. “Well,” he said lightly, “I just find it interesting. That’s all.” He looked into Joonghyuk’s dark irises and swore he saw stars in them. Their eyes lingered on each other for a few moments too long.
‘Thump’
That sound was starting to get annoying.
“Anyway,” Dokja continued, forcing himself to look away. “I don’t think you should be so against the idea. There aren’t many girls like Seolhwa out there, and you two are literally meant to be together.”
Joonghyuk spoke through gritted teeth, “I told you, I don’t like her like that.”
“Yet.”, Dokja added. No matter how much he denied fate, Dokja knew deep down that Joonghyuk would someday fall in love with Lee Seolhwa. It was inevitable, it was destiny. Sure, there were people who dated outside of their soulmates, but those relationships never lasted. In the end, everyone returned to the person they were bound to.
Yoo Joonghyuk was just delaying the inevitable.
Joonghyuk glared at him for a long moment before scoffing and pushing back his chair. Dokja straightened instinctively, looking up at him. “Joonghyuk?”
Yoo joonghyuk studied Dokja’s face intensively, his expression tight.
“You’re no different from everyone else.”
Then he left.