Work Text:
“Joonghyuk-ah, awake?”
Yoo Joonghyuk blinked out of his trance-like state at the snap of Kim Dokja’s fingers. Dokja stood in front of his chair, peering down at him with an amused glint in his eyes, free hand loosely clasped around Joonghyuk’s wrist.
The searing glow of his PC set-up against the darkness of his room made his eyes hurt. He gazed over at his End-Stream card, his chat having slowed to a stop a few minutes ago. The VOD was already up and running, having lasted an impressive 13 hours. Perhaps, noticing the strain in his expression, Dokja reached over to lower the brightness of his screen.
Joonghyuk took in a breath, feeling himself relax.
“I thought you had overtime.”
“I did have overtime, silly. It’s midnight.”
“Oh.”
He let Dokja shuffle closer, spreading his knees just enough to let the man stand between his legs. Dokja opened his arms, prompting Joonghyuk to instinctively sink his face into his torso, hands lazily wrapped around the back of his dress shirt. It made Dokja smile, and Joonghyuk felt hands roam up to card through his hair, a warm thumb caressing his cheek.
“Tired?”
Joonghyuk merely tilted his head, a confirmation-shrug of sorts.
“I see,” Dokja said, an irritatingly short response.
Warm, he thought to himself, taking in a whiff of the lavender-scented air freshener from Dokja’s office, the mild fragrance lingering even after his long ride home. Fingers wander downwards, slinking around the back of Dokja’s knees, clinging tight to the fabric. If Joonghyuk tried hard enough, he could melt into the person pressed in front of him. Said person chuckled, gently taking those hands and prying them off.
“Mmph.” He nosed into Dokja’s shirt, huffing out in annoyance.
“Let me take a shower, yeah?”
“...”
“Don’t be stubborn, Joonghyuk-ah.”
He let Dokja pull himself away, left exceedingly empty while the toilet door in the hallway snapped shut. Soon after, distant echoes of the running showerhead trickled throughout the house. Squeezing out the rest of his energy, he shut off his PC, closing the door to his streaming office, before making his way over to their bedroom.
There, sprawled lifelessly across the blankets, was Han Sooyoung. Her cheeks were squished up against the bed as she laid face-down. It was her foolproof, suffocating sleeping position so she wouldn’t sleep any more than an hour, and stayed just uncomfortable enough to force herself right back to her work after getting some shut-eye.
To add to this foolproof method, the room’s lights were on, bright white cast over her comical posture like a crime scene. Joonghyuk sighed, turning it off with a click, and moving over to turn on their bedside lamp. The mattress creaked under his weight, and he stilled at the soft groan leaving Sooyoung’s lips.
“Sorry,” he mumbled as she stirred awake, turning up to face him with bleary eyes.
“... The lights… I’ll get sleepy like this…”
“Go back to sleep then.”
“Nooo…” she whined, raising a fist to harmlessly punch his hip with weak jabs. The enthusiasm and vigor of a puppy pawing at a butterfly. After letting her hits land two to three times, he took her hand in his, rubbing a thumb over her fingers. Placated in milliseconds by the warmth of his palm, her whines grew quiet, and he watched with triumph as her shoulders sagged comfortably into the sheets..
“My manuscript…”
“Tomorrow is a Saturday. Just do it when you wake up.”
She waved her fist – still encased in his hand – in protest. Saturday was their off-day. Saturdays were for sleeping in, tangled up together, and feeling the afternoon sun hit their face. Taking turns to get up, reposition the blankets over all three of their bodies properly, and fall back asleep. How could she get back to work on a Saturday? This bastard…
Another grumble, followed by a yelp, as Joonghyuk manhandled her onto her back, laying her head properly over a pillow, and dragging the blanket out from under her waist. He took a moment to smooth it out, before draping it over her body once more, snugly covering her from shoulder to toes.
“Grrhmmph…”
“Okay.”
Joonghyuk pulled his hands away to his side of the bed, only to have her fingers snake out of the blanket and around his wrist, pulling defiantly. Don’t you dare, her scrunched up face read. It was an endearing sight.
Shifting her close to his chest, he propped himself up on his side, leaning his head on his fist while his free hand rested over her stomach. He patted at a slow pace, letting his hand stay there once every few pats. The weight is grounding, she had admitted to him once, several weeks before.
“... G’night…” He heard her whisper between his pats, her fingers digging lighty into the bed.
So he leaned down to give her a kiss just before she fully slipped under, one at the corner of her lips.
The droning sound of a hair dryer woke Joonghyuk up. He stretched out the ache in his stiffened shoulders, rubbing his cheek from the pain of his fist being pressed there for too long. The bedside lamp had been turned off, and his gaze flicked down to Sooyoung snoozing quietly in front of him, the slight rising and falling of her chest just visible above his hand.
The hair dryer clicked off in a few seconds, thudding back onto the table in the next room. Soon after, footsteps made their way over to the bedroom, a new weight shuffling onto the bed, moving close to the two of them.
Joonghyuk felt a front press up against his back, arms reaching over to hug around his chest, tickling his sides. A sigh against the back of his neck, a face burying itself into the nook of his shoulder.
He relaxed into the touch, moving his legs around to make way for the ones looping over his thighs.
“Good work today,” Dokja whispered, planting a kiss on his neck. It left goosebumps, making him tingle with warmth. He wanted to turn around and return the action. Wanted, but…
“Hm,” he replied, terribly drowsy. His fingers interlaced with one of the two slightly smaller hands wrapped over his shirt. Careful not to wake her up, he guided one of Sooyoung’s hands to Dokja’s remaining free palm as well. They met, and Dokja held her tight.
He felt a grin widen along the skin of his nape.
One, two, three. The beating of a heartbeat on his back, pulsing in the rhythm of sheep jumping over a fence. Steady, gentle, and always there. Alive. Always there, and alive.
“In the morning…” Joonghyuk began, eyelids growing heavy.
“Hm?”
“... In the morning, you’ll go middle.”
“Okay,” Dokja laughed, rubbing his hair into Joonghyuk’s shoulder.
“Night.”
“Goodnight.”
Chirping crickets echoed through the balcony window. Now that the warm glow of their bedside lamp was gone, the corners of the room were basked in the blue light of the moon.
The electric fan oscillated quietly in the corner, rustling their hairs whenever it passed by. The faint inhales and exhales of their breaths, intermingling, overlapping one another.
“Love you.”
“You too.”
Three mugs on the kitchen counter. Three towels in the shower. Three toothbrushes.
And just like that, the former-regressors fell asleep.