Prompt: Stars

One of the first things Kim Dokja learned about when he woke up in the hospital was that Han Sooyoung was now Yoo Joonghyuk's constellation sponsor.

"You thought you could keep him to yourself forever?" Han Sooyoung asked him with a small smirk. "I'm a star too now, you know. Director of the False Last Act."

"I'm aware," Kim Dokja replied, smiling lightly. It was true, part of him felt sad that he was no longer Yoo Joonghyuk's sponsor, but all his sponsorship had ever given Yoo Joonghyuk was pain. The pain of regressions, of living over and over again, of continuously seeing the ones he cared about die over and over again…

"It's a temporary contract," Yoo Joonghyuk said flatly, glaring at Han Sooyoung.

Han Sooyoung rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on now. I will admit that I also wanted it to be a temporary contract at first, but wasn't it fun, being my incarnation?"

"Not really."

Han Sooyoung gave Kim Dokja a look, as if asking him 'see what I have to put up with?' Kim Dokja laughed.

Thousands of years in that train car, being the Oldest Dream. He had kept 51% of his memories because he wanted to be the Kim Dokja with more memories of his companions. It had only caused him pain.

Now he was finally back with them. Not only Yoo Joonghyuk and Han Sooyoung, but the other members of Kim Dokja's Company too. Lee Jihye, Yoo Sangah, Lee Hyunsung, Jung Heewon, Lee Gilyoung, Shin Yoosung, and all the others…

He had missed them so much. He hadn't been back for long yet, but he finally felt as though he was whole again.

"I know I'm not your sponsor anymore," Kim Dokja said to Yoo Joonghyuk, "but technically you're our incarnation now, right?"

Yoo Joonghyuk narrowed his eyes. He didn't say anything.

Han Sooyoung had a teasing grin on her face. "Ooh, I like the sound of that. The mighty Yoo Joonghyuk is our incarnation, huh?"

"My contract with you ended," Yoo Joonghyuk said to Kim Dokja, then turned to Han Sooyoung. "And my contract with you will end soon. I won't be the incarnation of any of you."

"Fine, fine," Han Sooyoung said, rolling her eyes again. "Alright then."

Warmth spread inside of Kim Dokja's chest. Yes, these were his companions.

He was back.

Days were spent in the hospital, his companions visiting as much as they could. The one he saw the most of was Lee Seolhwa, since she was his doctor, but visitor-wise, the ones he saw the most of were Lee Sookyung, Yoo Joonghyuk, and Han Sooyoung. Surprisingly, despite how little they supposedly got along, the two of them came together many times.

He wondered if their relationship was truly that of just two companions, or even a constellation and her incarnation (former now, as far as Kim Dokja was aware). Perhaps it was the bond between an author and the protagonist she had spent years writing about?

And Kim Dokja, he was the sole reader of that story.

He wasn't going to complain about their continued visits, though. He wasn't going to complain about anyone's visits.

It shocked him to see how much Lee Gilyoung and Shin Yoosung had grown, now in high school, and it especially shocked him to see just how much older Han Myungoh was. He knew that the man had decided to stay in the 1864th regression turn with his daughter instead of visiting the 1865th regression turn with the others, but still…

And speaking of Han Dareum, she was older than Lee Gilyoung and Shin Yoosung now. That was even more shocking.

It wasn't just the members of Kim Dokja's Company that came to see him. Uriel, Sun Wukong, and Abyssal Black Flame Dragon were common visitors, though the last loathed to admit it. Persephone visited almost as much as Lee Sookyung - both of them were his mothers, after all. People who had spent most of the apocalypse in other countries, such as Selena Kim and Asuka Ren, visited as well.

And a part of Kim Dokja had started to realize just how much he had been missed, just how loved he was. And he felt warm at that thought, the realization that after so many years of never having anyone, he now had so many people.

He especially had Han Sooyoung and Yoo Joonghyuk, the author and the protagonist of Ways of Survival, the reasons why he had lived up until this point in his life.

He wasn't that dense. He had realized something during the thousands of years in that train, as the Oldest Dream.

Kim Dokja was in love with them.

When Kim Dokja was finally let out of the hospital room, he was still not trusted to walk, and thus, he had a temporary wheelchair.

Kim Dokja had tried to stand once. He promptly fell, and Shin Yoosung, who had been with him at the time, had panicked. Kim Dokja had had to reassure her that he was okay.

Right now, it was nighttime, and Kim Dokja was lying next to his wheelchair, staring up at the sky. The grass he was lying on brushed his cheeks, almost tickling him, but he continued staring upwards.

The sky seemed very empty. Of all those stars in the sky, very few remained.

"The only reason there are even stars in the first place is because you're back," Han Sooyoung told him. She sat next to him, also looking upwards. "The Star Stream had been destroyed, and without you, all of those things provided by the Star Stream began to die off."

"And when I woke up, they all came back?" Kim Dokja questioned.

Han Sooyoung nodded. "Yes, exactly."

A plate of food got set down next to Kim Dokja, and the scent drew him to sit up. Yoo Joonghyuk stood in front of him, having been the one to put down the food. "Eat," he commanded.

"Join us," Kim Dokja suggested, picking up the plate and beginning to eat. As expected, it was one of the most delicious things he had ever tasted in his entire life spanning thousands of years.

Yoo Joonghyuk looked at him for a moment, then at Han Sooyoung, who gave a cheeky grin. Finally, he sat down next to Kim Dokja.

Yoo Joonghyuk was on one side of him, and Han Sooyoung was on the other. Kim Dokja's body felt warmer.

Kim Dokja finished eating. "It's really good," he told Yoo Joonghyuk, setting the plate down again.

"I know," Yoo Joonghyuk responded.

Han Sooyoung snorted. "Mighty confident about your cooking, aren't you?"

Yoo Joonghyuk just glared at her.

"The stars in the sky," Kim Dokja said slowly. "Han Sooyoung… Aren't we two of them?"

Han Sooyoung looked at him, surprised by the sudden change to the original topic. "W-well, yeah, I guess."

The Demon King of Salvation and the Director of the False Last Act. Kim Dokja and Han Sooyoung. Those were who they were.

Yoo Joonghyuk was not one of those stars, but he was still with them, constellation or not.

"Maybe we should start heading back soon," Kim Dokja finally said. "I'm not sure how you got Lee Seolhwa-ssi to let me come out here at night, but she probably won't be happy if we stay here any longer."

The two of them shot each other a glance. Kim Dokja frowned. "...What is it?"

"We didn't ask her for permission," Han Sooyoung sighed. "We lied. We just wanted to take you outside."

"...Oh." Now that he thought about it, that probably sounded like something the two of them would do.

"We've both had a lot of time to think," Han Sooyoung continued. "Well, not really think together, because since we've come back from the 1865th regression, we didn't really… spend much time together. During the first two years without you, I tried to move on. I became a professor. I taught and I forgot. Not truly forgot, because you were always a presence in my mind. But… I succeeded, I suppose. I had moved on." She looked at Yoo Joonghyuk. "But this bastard hadn't."

"I tried to reenter the pro gamer scene," Yoo Joonghyuk said. "Then, after I got in, I left."

Kim Dokja swallowed. He had heard a bit about this, how Yoo Joonghyuk had committed an act of terrorism to steal the replica of the Ark so he could travel to another worldline and find Kim Dokja. Still, it felt strange to hear about it from the mouths of the two most closely involved.

"When Yoo Joonghyuk came back, I fought against him," Han Sooyoung said. "And he reawakened all of those things I had been trying to forget about for years." She laughed bitterly. "Two years, and it was all undone by one person."

"What are you trying to say?" Kim Dokja murmured.

"I could never truly move on from you," Han Sooyoung said. "I just didn't want to accept it. But Yoo Joonghyuk did accept he couldn't move on. What he didn't accept was that you were gone." She reached toward his hand and lightly rested it on his. "Earlier today-"

"Yesterday, now," Yoo Joonghyuk interrupted, checking the time. He was right, it was past midnight. Kim Dokja realized that the man had interrupted them because of how many feelings were involved in this conversation. He himself may not have talked much, but he was just as involved.

Han Sooyoung nodded. "Right." Kim Dokja was aware that her hand was still on his. It was warm. "Yesterday, we talked, and we… told each other the raw truth, I suppose. Took a lot of refusing to admit anything and some cryptic codes that we figure you don't want to hear about before we finally figured it out." She looked away now. "We love each other," she said. "And we love you."

Kim Dokja was pretty sure he was blushing now. "Huh?"

"We just told you all of that," Yoo Joonghyuk said, as if he had talked as much as Han Sooyoung did, "and all you can say is huh?"

Kim Dokja blinked a couple times in bewilderment. "Well, I just didn't expect it, that's all."

"Do you… feel that way about us?" Han Sooyoung questioned. He noticed her wording. She was probably too embarrassed and stubborn to say the word love again.

Mind still whirling, all Kim Dokja could do was nod.

A grin appeared on Han Sooyoung's face. A small smile even appeared on Yoo Joonghyuk's.

Thousands of years, and his feelings for these two people had never disappeared. His feelings for all of his companions, all those he loved, romantically or otherwise, had never disappeared.

They didn't do much now. They just leaned against each other. Kim Dokja felt his eyelids drooping. He supposed that small confession had probably taken too much out of him.

I love you guys, he thought, then closed his eyes. They could talk more in the morning. All he needed right now was to feel their bodies on either side of his.

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