Yoo Joonghyuk took a quick look around his kitchen. He hadn't stashed things haphazardly anywhere and forgotten about it, had he?
. . .Even the guest room that Uriel used to occupy before had a few of Kim Dokja's things now.
He should put some more effort into keeping his place clean.
After dinner, they got the karaoke machine plugged in after a long time.
Kim Dokja sat next to him and Yoo Joonghyuk realised it had been a while since they sat side by side. They had been sitting across from each other at the table helping Kim Dokja with his training material for the past month or so.
"God, your singing is horrible," Uriel laughed, already drunk out of her wits. He didn't understand why she still wanted to drink when she had such a low tolerance.
"It's not that bad, Joonghyuk-ssi," Kim Dokja said bracingly.
"You said it was shit before," Yoo Joonghyuk reminded him.
Kim Dokja, slightly tipsy, gasped.
"Sorry," he breathed.
"I don't mind," Yoo Joonghyuk shrugged. "I still score better than you."
Kim Dokja's guilty expression changed into annoyance that only grew when Yoo Joonghyuk laughed at him.
Yoo Joonghyuk only noticed that Kim Dokja had fallen asleep when his usual performance didn't get any applause or cheering from the man who was complaining about how karaoke machines were biased toward handsome faces.
Uriel was curled up against Kim Dokja's side and Kim Dokja was leaning back on her, both dozing off on the sofa.
Yoo Joonghyuk stared at the bright hundred flashing on the screen. It didn't feel very good without Kim Dokja being there to witness it and crib about it. He lowered the mic and put it away.
Kim Dokja will get cold. He should wake him up and ask him to go to sleep properly on his bed.
"Dokja-ssi," Yoo Joonghyuk said, grabbing the man's shoulder and shaking him gently. "Dokja-ssi, wake up. You should go to bed. . . Dokja-ssi."
Kim Dokja's eyebrows quivered and his eyelids opened a smidge.
". . .Hyuk-ah?"
Yoo Joonghyuk felt his grip on Kim Dokja's shoulder tighten before he could stop it.
"Wrong," he said sharply.
Kim Dokja blinked blearily up at him.
"Joonghyuk-ah—"
"Wrong," Yoo Joonghyuk cut him off again. "Look properly at me, Dokja-ssi."
Kim Dokja took a few moments to get the correct answer and say, "Joonghyuk-ssi."
"Yes," Yoo Joonghyuk moved his hand from his shoulder and wrapped his fingers around his thin wrist. "Get up, Dokja-ssi."
"Okay," Kim Dokja said, trying to get to his feet, only to be pulled back down by Uriel who was clinging to his arm like a koala.
Yoo Joonghyuk clicked his tongue at the woman's annoying behaviour. He was planning on leaving her there on the sofa, but now he had to wake her up first.
"Uriel. Wake up!"
His loud voice seemed to wake Kim Dokja up more than the person it was directed at. Yoo Joonghyuk had the urge to kick his secretary off the sofa, but he didn't want Kim Dokja to think of him as a violent person. So he caught Uriel's shoulder like he had done for Kim Dokja and shook her awake, rather roughly but no one needed to know that.
"What?" Uriel slurred, trying to glare at him but it wasn't very effective, especially when she couldn't even determine where he was.
"Get up," Yoo Joonghyuk said. "Let go of Kim Dokja."
"No," Uriel said stubbornly.
"Let go!"
"Don't take my baby away from me," Uriel whined, clinging harder to Kim Dokja.
"Why's he your baby?" Yoo Joonghyuk snapped. "He has to sleep, let him go to bed properly."
"Fuck you," Uriel spat and buried her face in Kim Dokja's shoulder. Yoo Joonghyuk's patience was running thin. Kim Dokja had his eyes closed, if he grabbed Uriel by the scruff of her neck and threw her on the floor, Kim Dokja wouldn't find out and he could just say that she fell on her own.
"Noona," Kim Dokja said softly, bringing him out of his violent thoughts. "Noona, we're ruining Joonghyuk-ssi's sofa."
"No, that's not the point," Yoo Joonghyuk frowned.
"Shhh, Mr CEO," Kim Dokja waved a dismissive hand at him.
"Yeah, shut up, fucker," Uriel mumbled. "Fuck you and your sofa."
"Noona, let's go," Kim Dokja tried getting up again, and as difficult as it was, he somehow managed to get Uriel to her feet as well, very shakily albeit. Yoo Joonghyuk caught Kim Dokja's arm and held him up before both of them went crashing to the floor.
"Good night," Kim Dokja said when Uriel found her footing.
"Night night," Uriel managed to say, letting go of Kim Dokja's arm and wobbling her way towards the bedroom.
Yoo Joonghyuk watched her head to the room Kim Dokja was supposed to go to and gave it a thought. Then he decided he wouldn't say anything about it.
"Dokja-ssi, you can take my room," he said, turning his attention to the man who was leaning into his arm. "I'll take the sofa."
Kim Dokja was rubbing his eyes with his hand.
"No, it's alright, Joonghyuk-ssi," Kim Dokja said, stifling a yawn.
"Uriel's crashed in your room, I'm sorry."
Kim Dokja mumbled something unintelligible and waved a hand weakly. Yoo Joonghyuk supposed he was saying it was fine or something along the lines of he'll manage.
"Joonghyuk-ah," Kim Dokja said softly.
"Wrong," Yoo Joonghyuk tapped his arm to bring his focus back.
"Hyuk-ah—"
"Wrong again. I'm not," he said, shifting so that Kim Dokja could lean on him as he trudged towards his own bedroom.
"Joonghyuk-ah—"
"No."
"Yoo Joonghyuk," Kim Dokja said.
"Which one?" Yoo Joonghyuk demanded.
He clicked his tongue when Kim Dokja's response was his head dropping onto his shoulder. It was hard dragging Kim Dokja like this.
He would have thought of other, more practical ways to take the man to his room, but he was more preoccupied with being grumpy about the fact that Kim Dokja kept calling that other idiot's name.
Kim Dokja only jolted awake when he lowered the man onto the edge of the bed.
"Joonghyuk-ssi?"
"Yes," Yoo Joonghyuk nodded, pleased. "You can borrow my bed for the night, Dokja-ssi."
"Thanks," Kim Dokja sniffled a little and let Yoo Joonghyuk push him to lie down properly on the bed.
Yoo Joonghyuk pulled the covers over Kim Dokja and considered going back to clean the mess they had probably left in the living room.
He thought about it for a few seconds and then decided he couldn't be bothered about it. Taking his house slippers off, Yoo Joonghyuk made his way around the bed and slowly got under the sheets, next to Kim Dokja.
He'd leave a considerable distance. A hand's space, like twenty centimetres or so. He couldn't get an accurate measure, he didn't know how long his palm was, but that looked a bit longer than a regular fifteen-centimetre ruler, so he was guessing it was twenty or so.
He wasn't falling off the bed, so that wasn't an issue. He'd even turn his back to Kim Dokja. . .But he wanted to look at his face though. Did that make him a creep? Yeah, watching people sleep was such a weird thing to do. But he really wanted to look at Kim Dokja. It was very pleasant to look at. At least until he fell asleep.
Yoo Joonghyuk rolled over to face Kim Dokja who had long since drifted off to dreamland.
He should have changed into comfortable clothes, Yoo Joonghyuk thought dully. He hadn't even taken off his belt. Should he get out of bed to change? . . .He couldn't be bothered to. He probably wouldn't feel it when he was sleeping.
He focused on the finer things in life, for example, Kim Dokja's peaceful sleeping face. He was going to make Kim Dokja quit all of those other jobs the first thing tomorrow. . .No, hang on, he had to get him to sign the contract first. Then he'd get him to quit. Kim Dokja should be able to get proper rest now.