My Colleague Keeps Having Lewd Dreams About Me?!

you better run

It's raining outside now.

Kim Dokja runs and runs as fast as he can. He's not run this desperately since the time he was his class' anchor in the relay race on Sports Day. It's not a fond memory, but that was then, and this was now.

He's got no destination in mind other than as far away from Yoo Joonghyuk as possible, but his feet seem to have a mind of their own. Buildings and trees pass by in a blur by him, and he constantly has to blink out the water dripping into his eyes.

When he's finally out of energy and the office feels like it's a considerable distance away, he stops in his tracks and looks up ahead.

The depressing grey of the subway station looms in front of him, escalators hissing lightly as if daring him to take a step forward. He rummages through his pockets.

There's nothing in them. Great.

He squats down on the ground and rests his head in his arms. His legs burn and adrenaline still courses through his body, but he's tired. He just wants to go home. The rain still pelts his body mercilessly.

He must make for a pathetic sight like this. Clothes drenched in acid rain, eyes swollen red, nothing on him. No money, no coat, no umbrella, nothing.

It's great being 28 and feeling like he was 15 all over again.

Kim Dokja doesn't know how much time passes by like that. He only comes to his senses when the sound of someone's footsteps come to a stop behind him.

"Kim Dokja, look at me." The voice is gentle, unforceful, as if he's wary of him running away again. Kim Dokja bites his lips painfully. Too bad it's the only thing he's good at. "Kim Dokja. Please."

He doesn't move an inch. Yoo Joonghyuk sighs loudly. Tears prickle at Kim Dokja's eyes again.

The gravel crunches under Yoo Joonghyuk's feet as he crouches down next to him.

"You don't need to say anything to me if you don't want to. But it's raining. You're wet. You'll get a cold. Come to my house Kim Dokja."

Kim Dokja turns his head to peek at Yoo Joonghyuk next to him. His hair is ruffled from the wind, as if he'd been running too, and he held Kim Dokja's forgotten coat at his side. Water drips down from his hair, tracing paths through his cheekbones, to his jaw, down his neck. His eyebrows are furrowed in concern. He blinks.

Kim Dokja had rarely ever seen such sincerity in someone's eyes, and never once directed at him. He takes a deep breath and nods meekly at the other.

Yoo Joonghyuk stands up with a grunt. Holds out a hand for him to take. Grips him tightly like he'll never let go.

"Let's go then, Kim Dokja."

~~

Kim Dokja would have rather just taken the subway and went home, but Yoo Joonghyuk was nothing if not persistent, and now he stands awkwardly in the entrance, the door closing quietly behind him as he paws off his shoes as gracefully as he can.

"You can get comfortable on the couch. I'll get some towels." And wasn't that fucking rich? He couldn't help but notice the minimalistic, but tasteful interior of the house. It all screamed money to him. No way was he going to wet the couch and be even more of a burden than he already was, dripping all over like a wet dog.

"Okay..." he says, with all the demurity and apprehension of a bride who doesn't know what to expect on her wedding night. Yoo Joonghyuk gives him a long, considering look before walking inside to a room. Dokja doesn't know what he's thinking. Can't bring himself to read his mind, what with the inevitable prospect of having to open up about his... abilities.

The guilt clawed at his throat and tightened around his chest like vines on some ancient old building. He could use all the euphemisms he wanted, sugarcoat the truth, soften the blow and whatnot, but it won't change the reality of the situation.

That he was a fucking weirdo with a weird ass power of being able to read minds, and that he got off on the fantasies Yoo Joonghyuk dreamed up of him, and that he knew a bunch of shit – his worries, his concerns, his hopes, his feelings – that Yoo Joonghyuk had never consented to letting him know. Like a complete and utter creep.

He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath in, trying to fight against the suffocating sensation. He counts –

One, two, three, four, fi- SMACK.

His hand reaches out hastily to grab the towel that hit his face, sending a weak glare over to Yoo Joonghyuk who stood in front of him, amusement glinting in his eyes.

"What are you thinking so hard about?" he asks curiously as he crosses over and plops down on the couch heavily. Kim Dokja gulps.

This was it. There was no running away now, not if he wanted Yoo Joonghyuk to end up hating him forever for his lies and deceit. Dealing with the sure to come rejection might be hard, after all, he had grown extremely fond of the younger over the past few weeks. But better sooner than later, right?

"I can read minds," Dokja says quickly and hides his face in his hands, afraid of the reaction he was about to get.

But that's not the case, as Yoo Joonghyuk doesn't really react to his absolutely ridiculous statement, atleast, not verbally. Morbidly curious, Kim Dokja peeks through his fingers at the other man, baffled at the lack of questions.

The other man, to his credit, looks largely unperturbed by this revelation.

"Okay," he says simply, as if Kim Dokja didn't just say the most ridiculous thing he's probably ever heard. As if he didn't just change the trajectory of their relationship forever. Yoo Joonghyuk just continues staring at Kim Dokja with an unreadable expression.

"Okay," he says again, but it's more careful contemplation over his words rather than incredulity.

Dokja's hands drop down and now he's the one staring at Yoo Joonghyuk incredulously.

"You... you're not surprised?" he rasps out warily.

Yoo Joonghyuk's lips quirk up slightly. He pats the couch next to him, and when Dokja moves to sit beside him, takes the towel from his hands and starts rubbing away the water from his hair.

"Um, you don't need t-"

"I thought it was weird how you knew about the proposal today. Yoo Sangah didn't strike me as the type of woman to babble about departmental affairs."

Kim Dokja bites his tongue hard at that. He really needed to stop being an idiot.

The towel gently works its way through his hair, sending warm tingles down his neck throughout his body. It was astonishing how the weight of Yoo Joonghyuk's hand on his head grounded him even in a situation like this.

"And about my sister... I have never talked about her in public, not even with my colleagues. And I'd been thinking about it, but there just wasn't any reason you should know about her, is there?"

Dokja shakes his head sheepishly.

Yoo Joonghyuk hums and Kim Dokja tries not to melt in guilt under the weight of his stare.

"I'm sorry. I- there really is no excuse for what I did, I shouldn't have read your mind when you never allowed me to... but hey, am I really the one that should be saying sorry in this situation? What was I supposed to do when I saw the perverted dreams you conjured up about me? I hope you know that really confused me. And it took a lot out of me to pretend everything was normal whenever I was near you and only saw nasty, depraved porn of myself. Shouldn't I receive some kind of compensation for the emotional damage I suffered through?"

Yoo Joonghyuk started chuckling to himself. At the sound of his suppressed laughter, Dokja frowned. "I'm being serious here, you know..."

His whiny tone only served to make Yoo Joonghyuk laugh harder. He loudly snorts through a hand on his mouth one last time and finally calms down.

"Alright. What can I do to compensate you?" He smiles at Dokja, eyes crinkling at the corners, a bit of his upper gum peeking out from his mouth and Dokja finds his tongue moving faster than his brain.

"Can you kiss me?"