Chapter Text
Kim Dokja could not sleep.
No matter how tired he was, he could not fall asleep.
He needed sleep to clear his head. That was the only way he could complete three projects, eight assignments and twenty-two webnovels. Although the latter of this could be ignored, if he didn’t finish all the college work, it would affect his scholarship.
Goddamn that scholarship, Kim Dokja decided as his feet carried him to the college cafeteria. Taking a random seat, he pulled out a book to study, for an assignment, unfortunately. He would’ve much preferred a novel right now.
All this studying was going to kill him.
But it was required. For THE SCHOLARSHIP.
Now, the scholarship was a tricky subject; Kim Dokja always tried to explain how he was definitely not a scammer but truly, even he himself didn’t know how he got it. He studied a lot. That might have been one of the reasons, but honestly sometimes it felt like it was the interruption of an actual god that got him this opportunity.
It might have been more of a curse than a blessing, he sighed, missing a paragraph and having to go back. The scholarship was also the reason he was staying in the dorms, another cause for his insomnia.
“Sup, loser,” Han Sooyoung appeared out of thin air, almost as if the author was too lazy to write her an actual entrance. “What are you up to? Got any blackmail material on Yoo Joonghyuk yet?” She took the seat across him, crossing her legs in a weird way.
“Shut up, I’m trying to not fail history.” Kim Dokja explained, wanting to ignore all mentions of Yoo Joonghyuk entirely. Han Sooyoung was a good friend, one of his bestest friends, but at times she would really manage to get on his nerves.
“Oh come on, I really want to be able to make fun of him without being killed.” She added, smiling her cheshire smile, and leaning forward, her face in her hands.
You still torment him whenever you can though, Kim Dokja thought.
“Get someone else to do it.”
“You’re his roommate dude, clearly you’re not understanding your position of advantage here,” Han Sooyoung leaned back, disappointed at the rat’s disinterest. “A man’s college dorm is the dead center of personal space.”
Kim Dokja sighed again. He was developing a headache.
College dorming, he had realized at some point, was hell. Especially because his roommate was Yoo ‘has-a-stick-up-his-ass’ Joonghyuk. Now normally, this wouldn’t have mattered. Kim Dokja has dealt with endless assholes and Yoo Joonghyuk really wasn’t the worst; but these days, his insomnia would lead to him staying up for no reason, deciding to finish some work, getting distracted and then staring at Yoo Joonghyuk’s face.
He kept on staring at Yoo Joonghyuk’s face.
But was it really his fault though?
Eyebrows seemingly drawn by a single, uninterrupted stroke of a famed artist’s brush; a nose and a chin shaped in perfect angles that defied attempts to measure them through mere devices of men; a pair of deep eyes seemingly carved out of a beautiful jewel containing all the misfortunes found in this world.
He looked like a protagonist.
Kim Dokja felt his ears turning hotter, a little blush choosing to settle on his cheeks. His heart was beating audibly now but that might have been the insomnia part.
“Earth to the rat,” Han Sooyoung interrupted, “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
“Dokja-ssi…” And then suddenly, there was Lee Hyunsung walking towards him with Jung Heewon, his girlfriend.
“I heard that. You’re okay? Not possible, what’s wrong?” Jung Heewon questioned as she shoved Han Sooyoung away to sit in front of him.
“Dokja-ssi, you can tell us anything, we will help you!” Lee Hyunsung put a hand over his chest and smiled dependably, before whispering about some cartridge or something.
“No really, its fine.” Kim Dokja smiled; he didn’t want to worry his friends. Somehow he felt that the headache was increasing, as though some celestial being wanted him to seek help.
Weird, but whatever.
He got up feeling faint, stuffing his book back into his bag, “I have to finish this and I left some of the material at my dorm so,” He probably wouldn't be able to study here,especially now that his head was aching, “See you guys later.”
As he was leaving, his back to the others, he missed their looks of concern.
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The walk to his dorm room was usually uneventful. A stroll through the park, literally. (From the cafeteria, down some stairs, through a random park, crossing two dorm buildings, and then finally walking into the last building.) But with sleep deprivation, Kim Dokja found, things got a little weird.
Auditory hallucinations are said to start after 48 hours of no sleep, followed by visual, more complex ones. He had experienced them before, (when he studied for the college scholarship exams), sudden noises, like glass breaking or a door shutting, father yelling-
Nevermind.
It hadn’t even been that long yet, so what in the world was this?
Right in the middle of the little street surrounded by trees, there was a goose.
“Baht!” said the goose.
Nothing in this world could have prepared him for this moment. Biyoo, he decided was a wonderful name for this goose. And then he decided that naming weird goose hallucinations was a sign of his brain cells dying from too little sleep.
“Biyoo, I’ll feed you later so don’t worry… I have to sleep now.” He promised the goose, reaching out to pet her.
Biyoo slowly wobbled on her little goose feet and placed her head on Kim Dokja’s palm.
Oh fuck, she’s real, Kim Dokja thought.
“Kim Dokja?” Said someone from behind him.
Oh fuck, that’s Yoo Joonghyuk’s voice, Kim Dokja thought. And then he spun around. And then he fell.
INTO YOO JOONGHYUK’S ARMS. (This was real too.)
Finally, all of the tiredness hit him at once and he felt his legs become jelly, his brain turning off. Yoo Joonghyuk’s arms wrapped around him, and his warmth seeped through his clothes. He also smelt nice, Kim Dokja noticed, like something that smells nice, Kim Dokja noticed. Another thing Kim Dokja noticed was that he was fainting. All the drowsiness was now converting into ‘need sleep’ chemicals in his body.
“Kim Dokja!”
Self diagnosed insomnia is one way to activate the clichés card, he thought as he properly died in Yoo Joonghyuk’s arms.
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