Work Text:
Initially, he thought it was karma with when he was randomly chosen to be the company representative after he'd luckily been accepted as a full-time employee. The universe's checks and balances.
The first time he saw the woman who the company had him meet, he thought that he'd been thrown into the wrong genre suddenly, and became very worried for his job. He made sure to treat Yoo Joonghyuk with the correct amount of respect, neither groveling nor haughty. Kim Dokja was sure that he'd unwittingly ended up in the place of those companies that get harshly rejected by the incredible main character. So who could blame him if he was shocked when the cold beauty agreed to their contract after short negotiations? Especially when she insisted that he be the one to work with her for the entire duration of the contract.
Still, he did his job well. Or rather, as well as he could while being anxious out of his mind. He didn't even have time to catch up with his webnovels, something he deeply lamented. Dokja had never been so diligent with his work, but the genre shift was too unnerving for him to take. He was supposed to be Extra Number 5 with one or two lines, Tree B, not someone with a major role!
"Kim Dokja."
He jumped, caught daydreaming. "Yes, Yoo Joonghyuk?"
"Choose."
She was holding up two different sets of cat ear headphones.
Dokja blinked, looking between the headsets and Joonghyuk. "Is this a trick question?"
Yoo Joonghyuk frowned. She was gorgeous even when displeased. And scary.
"I–I mean, no matter which color, it will look good." Dokja cleared his throat, "You have one of those complexions and faces that will look good in just about anything. I'd go with blue, but that is just because it's my favorite color, so I'm biased."
The icy cold look of pure neutrality had returned. Good, she wasn't unhappy anymore.
In the end, she didn't go with either of the colors she'd held up, instead picking a cat ear headset in yellow-gold and black. Dokja wondered why she'd asked him at all. However, he was just glad that the commercial prep had ended smoothly.
This happened many times leading up to the commercial and Joonghyuk play testing the company's new game. Dokja thought the game was mediocre, but then again, he preferred games with more story elements. And he had done too much quality assurance for the game to ever like it.
After their last day, Dokja was about to go home when he got pulled aside and wall slammed by one Yoo Joonghyuk.
What had he done to earn this? He'd been perfectly polite for the entirety of the contract with Yoo Joonghyuk! Plus wasn't she supposed to be at the company dinner?
"Kim Dokja."
"Yes?" Dokja felt like being this close to Yoo Joonghyuk's face was very bad for his health. Too much exposure to the Gods' favorite.
"Be my boyfriend."
Now, Dokja was sure he heard that wrong. "What?"
"Be my boyfriend."
Nope. It was the same both times.
"I– What do you... I mean, why me?"
She frowned. Although Dokja could tell this wasn't her 'I'm angry' frown, but something closer to... a pout? He must be delusional. "Because I like you."
"Since when!?"
"There wasn't one incident." Joonghyuk huffed, "Will you or not?"
"I–" He heard footsteps walking closer. "Okay."
Yoo Joonghyuk smirked, "Good."
That smile, it was dangerous. Dokja was sure his entire face was red at this point. Still, it wasn't over yet. She gripped the collar of his shirt, and pulled him into a kiss.
He froze as Joonghyuk's lips pressed against his, his brain unable to process it at all. Finally, he closed his eyes and leaned fully into it, respectfully placing his hands on her waist.
A small gasp broke the moment. They looked over to see Yoo Sangah standing with her hands covering her mouth.
"Ah, Yoo Sangah..." Dokja felt awkward to see her like this.
Joonghyuk wrapped her arms around Dokja's shoulders, glaring all the while.
"Sorry." Sangah held her hands up, backing away. "Um, don't worry. I won't tell anyone."
The gamer was silent, watching the other woman quickly go back the way she came. Before Dokja could turn back, Joonghyuk leaned close and pressed her lips to the side of his neck, sucking hard.
"Eek!" He instinctively reached up covered the mark. "Joonghyuk!"
He wasn't sure what the look in her eyes meant, but he was sure it was nothing but trouble.
"Give me your personal Kakao information."
Dokja sighed. He had a feeling this would be a common theme in their relationship. Somehow, he could only be lightly exasperated. "Okay."
.
.
.
Somehow, Joonghyuk always surprises Dokja.
It had taken him a bit to actually realize it, but she liked very feminine things. She would never pick it for herself, but her eyes always lingered on the more floral or ruffled clothes. He'd had to save up a little, but the quiet joy and flushed ears had been worth every cent for the yellow summer dress.
Another tell was the packed lunches that had practically been forced upon him. He only saw this sort of thing in comics and movies. Dokja's coworkers glared hatefully at him with envy. He always made sure to eat every bite, although he did have to specify not to add tomatoes early in. Just seeing Joonghyuk cutting them made him cringe. Luckily, Joonghyuk didn't complain. Much.
Multiple small things like this brought him to one conclusion. Yoo Joonghyuk is very sweet and cute.
When Dokja found out why Joonghyuk never picked out things she liked, he nearly punched her manager right then and there.
"Oh, what an interesting look on you, team leader."
Dokja immediately noticed how Joonghyuk stiffened.
"Don't take it personally. It's just not what I'd expect of you."
What the hell was this guy saying? Dokja knew that Joonghyuk had been worked with him for a long time, around ten years, but wasn't this going too far? It was slacks and a ruffled shirt, not something outlandish.
"She looks really cute, right?" He interjected before the manager could say another word and wrapped his arm around Joonghyuk. "It was recommended to us while we were shopping together by a really fashionable sales clerk, so I got it for her."
"Oh. Um, yes, very."
Dokja smiled, although it didn't quite meet his eyes. He turned to Joonghyuk, expression immediately softening. "Told you."
Joonghyuk looked irritated, but her flushed ears gave her away. She gently pushed him back, unable to look Dokja in the eye. "Shut up."
It wasn't the last time this happened. He never would have thought someone as stubborn as Yoo Joonghyuk would also be so easily pressured into things. The worst part was that Joonghyuk didn't even realize she liked and wanted things that a lot of other women and girls did. It wasn't as though she had terrible taste, since she easily bought things for her younger sister, Yoo Mia.
The confused stare when Dokja asked her what she wanted outside of game or cooking equipment was devastating. Then her alarm when he started tearing up and just hugged her. All he could think was she'd been treated terribly for far too long.
"Joonghyuk, promise me, if you see something you like, you will tell me, right?"
Joonghyuk nodded stiffly, hugging him back.
It would be a whole year later before she stopped him while they were getting dinner together. "Dokja."
"Hm?"
She stared at a pair of black combat boots, except the buckles were hearts.
Dokja immediately caught on and smiled. He'd been saving up for this moment. There was no hesitation in checking the size (somehow exactly correct? Only Joonghyuk could have this kind of luck) and making the purchase. Obviously the correct choice when Joonghyuk immediately changed into the boots.
Soon after, Joonghyuk left his company and manager at long last. Dokja thought it might be less that she wanted to leave, and more the new contract had a no dating rule. In the future, they both agree it was one of the best decisions Joonghyuk ever made. Joonghyuk switched to another group, Han Sooyoung as her new manager. The irritating short woman was, while Dokja didn't like her on principle, a much better manager. He just wished she would stop crashing their dinner time and trying to get him to read her books.
Just because he liked webnovels didn't mean he didn't have taste.
"Your taste is bad."
"And you are a plagiarist."
Joonghyuk ignored them both, focused on cooking. Dokja had offered to help multiple times previously, but being smacked on the hand with the spatula hurt more than he'd expect.
Really, he needed to get a ring before she proposed to him first. Especially since he hadn't at all missed the way she said nothing when Sooyoung called her a housewife. Dokja and Mia thought girlboss was more apt still, but there was no reason she couldn't be both.