Chapter Text
Joonghyuk watched as Dokja paced. Again. To his credit, each turn was rhythmic. Joonghyuk, who had been trying to focus on the papers in front of him, was constantly distracted by the even thump, thump, thump , shhh of Dokja’s boots on the carpet. He furrowed his brow in irritation, glaring at the words on the page as if he could force them to register in his brain. It didn’t work. So with an exasperated sigh, he threw the paper down on his desk. And then he just watched. Dokja kept his even pace, eyes rooted on the floor three inches in front of his feet. It frustrated Joonghyuk, to see him this way. Mostly because he couldn’t stand the fact that Dokja felt the need to keep all of his plotting private.
“You’re doing it again.”
With a jolt, Dokja came to a stop. Joonghyuk would never claim to be a master of facial expressions, but he was pretty sure that the Demon King was annoyed. “My apologies. It’s late, I’ll take my leave.”
Joonghyuk stood with such urgency that his chair was knocked back. “Wait.”
And Doka did, looking at him expectantly.
Mind racing, Joonghyuk blurted out, “Have you ever played chess?”
Dokja cocked his head curiously, “I haven’t. What kind of game is it?”
Joonghyuk, relieved, gestured towards a small round table set by the window of his office, where a chessboard sat. “A strategic one. I’ll teach you?” He didn’t mean for his voice to raise at the end – hadn’t wanted to come off as begging for the man’s attention – but it was beyond his control. Joonghyuk could see the interest sparked in Dokja’s eyes, and took it to mean he would stay. The Duke began the methodical task of resetting all of the pieces, keeping one of each to use as a demonstration. Dokja watched with curiosity. Once they were all arranged, he let Dokja scour the board. Eventually, he looked up at Joonghyuk.
“What’s the objective?”
As Joonghyuk launched into an explanation and demonstration of the game, Dokja listened intently. His eyes darted back and forth between the pieces Joonghyuk was moving around, and the rest of the board. Joonghyuk was pleased by this, he had had an inkling – given the Demon King’s seemingly perfect intuition – that the strategy involved would pique his interest. When the demonstrations were done, Joonghyuk reset the pieces once more, and rotated the board so that Dokja had the white pieces in front of him.
“Would you like to try and play?” He asked.
Joonghyuk’s lips twitched into something of a smile when Dokja nodded eagerly, already moving his first piece forward. For a while, the only sound that could be heard was the clacking of the marble pieces against the chessboard, Joonghyuk murmuring “checkmate”, and a frustrated sigh from Dokja as they reset the pieces. By their fourth match, each was taking longer to choose their next move. As content as Joonghyuk would usually be to play in silence, Dokja was dangerously close to figuring out how to win. And, perhaps more importantly, he hadn’t started this just to play chess. He caught sight of Dokja’s leg bouncing beneath the table as he contemplated the board.
Right . He thought. The pacing. His lips twitched into a smile again. Might as well kill two birds with one stone.
Dokja had just finished placing his piece, and his attention rose from the board. He must have caught the end of Joonghyuk’s grin, because he pointed an accusing finger at the Duke. “That. What was that?” The Demon King looked at the board frantically. “What did I miss this time?”
Joonghyuk gave a short, airy laugh, then leaned over the board once more. “Nothing. It was a good move.” He carefully considered his options, and moved a piece forward. Then he glanced up at Dokja, whose brow had furrowed. Maybe it was the unguarded look in the Demon King’s eyes, or maybe it was just because of the late hour, but Joonghyuk couldn’t help himself from blurting out, “What were you thinking about?”
Dokja looked at him with confusion. “What, just now? I was thinking about how my bishop —”
“No. Before. You were pacing again.”
Joonghyuk watched as Dokja seemed to deflate in his chair with an exaggerated sigh. Always the actor.
Dokja waved his hand flippantly. “It was nothing, really. Just a…a stress response. Usually I have weeds to take it out on.”
Joonghyuk gave a quick nod, letting silence fall once more while Dokja took his next move. He made a quick mental note to figure that out later.
Joonghyuk looked up as Dokja let out an “Aha!”. The Demon King pointed triumphantly at the board. “Checkmate!”
Joonghyuk gave a scoff-laugh, then stood up to lean over the table as he pointed to his king. “It’s not a checkmate if I’m able to get out of it. It would just be a check.” The Duke moved his piece with confidence, then sat back down and tried to hold in a laugh at the sight of Kim Dokja, the 73rd Demon King, pouting.
“No, this is good, look.” Joonghyuk pointed towards his knight. “You just need to change your mindset. Not all of your pieces are allies, and neither are all of mine. The best way to checkmate the king is by using his supports against him. If you trap my knight here,” Joonghyuk paused to move the pieces into the proper places, “it limits the places my king can go. It’s a losing battle from there, really.”
Dokja studied the board intently. Pursed his lips, then looked up at Joonghyuk with a spark of something dangerous in his eyes. Joonghyuk wanted to lean forward. Wanted to get a closer look.
“That’s it,” Dokja was practically vibrating. “That’s it. We’ll pit the temple and the King against each other. Each will weaken the other for us, which means we can focus on eliminating the other supports while they’re distracted.”
Dokja moved his bishop to capture one of Joonghyuk’s rooks. “The only question is how do we pit them against each other?”
Joonghyuk cleared his throat, remembering his conversation with Juwon. “About that…the king has been trying to set me up with Juwon. Juwon suggested that we provide you a better alibi, while also needling the temple and the king.”
Dokja raised an eyebrow. “And how did they suggest we do that?”
Joonghyuk forced the words out before they got stuck in his throat. “A courtship.”
There was silence. Of all possible results, this scared Joonghyuk the most. He had imagined Dokja laughing it off, or scoffing, or getting flustered, or shutting the whole idea down. But this silence…He lifted his gaze from the board, only to find Dokja staring at him intently. The other man seemed to be searching for something. Joonghyuk was at a loss, but he held eye contact. Didn’t back down. Even when he felt the back of his neck heat.
Slowly, agonizingly slowly, a smirk graced Dokja’s lips. “That,” he said, “just might work.” Joonghyuk felt his head go fuzzy as the Demon King laughed. “It’s really clever!” The fervor was back in his eyes as he knocked over Joonghyuk’s king with his bishop. “Here’s what we’ll do. We’ll have Juwon and Harin flaunt their relationship – make it seem like things are getting serious between them. As far as the temple knows, that’s a relationship they can get behind! So the priests will be backing Juwon’s claim to the throne. Meanwhile, we’ll let it slip that we’re courting. That way the King is forced to choose. He either keeps the temple’s support by backing Juwon – but loses his chance to subdue the North –, or loses the temple’s support by pushing even harder for your marriage.”
Joonghyuk nodded thoughtfully, tracking Dokja’s logic with ease. “He’s already shown in previous councils that he has little regard for the temple’s agenda. Really he should be his own downfall.”
“Right! We’ll need to run the specifics by Juwon and Harin, of course, but given their cooperation thus far I’m not too worried about it. Juwon doesn’t want the throne anyway, this will be a good opportunity for them to worsen their stance, so to speak.” Dokja suddenly sat up straight and pointed at Joonghyuk triumphantly. “And that’s when we bring in Seolhwa – when the political climate is all muddied.”
“She’ll be a beacon for them all to flock to.”
“Precisely. All we need to do is create as much chaos as possible.”
Joonghyuk hummed in assent and leaned back in his chair. “Only problem is that network Harin was talking about.”
Dokja let out an ‘ah’.
“That spy master of yours – Donghoon?” Joonghyuk questioned. Dokja looked at him quizzically, but nodded. “He’s discreet. He’s loyal. He knows the business. Let us take care of it.”
Dokja raised an eyebrow. “Us?” he parroted.
Joonghyuk inclined his head in acknowledgement. “I’ll only be a hindrance at these social functions, that’s your domain. We’ll split up and cover more ground. You can start spreading rumors, and Donghoon and I will take care of the guild for you.”
Dokja seemed to hesitate, stiff and awkward where moments before he had been lively. Relaxed.
“I won’t let anything happen to him. If you don’t want him to go, that's perfectly fine as well.” Joonghyuk added gently.
Dokja started to speak, then stopped. He still looked conflicted, although Joonghyuk couldn’t fathom why. Eventually, the Demon King shook his head as if trying to clear it out, and said, “No, no. Donghoon’s one of my best. I’d feel better if he went with you.”
Joonghyuk’s walls snapped back up into place, but not before something twisted inside him. What was that supposed to mean? Did Dokja still not trust him? He nodded once, sharply, but said nothing.
The Demon King glanced up quickly, head tilted to the side. Their eyes met. Joonghyuk looked away first. He couldn’t help the bitterness that seeped into his words. “I’ll protect him like one of my own.” Not trusting himself to speak further, Joonghyuk reached to rearrange the chess pieces.
Dokja’s hand snapped out, grabbing him by the wrist. Joonghyuk, stunned, simply looked at their hands for a moment, before looking up.
“As impressive as you are,” The Demon King spoke slowly, “not even you could take on an assassin’s guild alone.”
Joonghyuk’s anger flared again, and he tried to tug his arm back. Now he was questioning his competence as a warrior? As if Joonghyuk had not built his life, his reputation, on warfare? But Dokja’s grip only tightened. “No,” The Demon King said, and the word was filled with such authority, and so much frustration, that Joonghyuk forgot to keep pulling. The sudden lack of resistance caused the slim man to pull Joonghyuk forward. Chess pieces scattered to the floor, the muted thuds of marble on carpet the only sound in the room as Joonghyuk was forced to bring his other hand down on the table in an effort to steady himself. Still Dokja did not let go.
When Joonghyuk finally looked Dokja in the eyes, he hadn’t quite convinced his glare to leave his face. Dokja didn’t seem fazed. In fact, the Demon King was glaring back at him.
“ Listen to me, Joonghyuk. I know exactly how competent you are.” Joonghyuk flinched, remembering a cold night. A cliff. Dokja pressed on. “I won’t let you go in there alone. And since I can’t go with you, I’m sending the next best thing. I’m not sending him to babysit you.”
They stayed like that for a moment – Joonghyuk being pulled so far forward he had to lean over the table, Dokja leaning forward just enough that his grip wasn’t painful. Slowly, Joonghyuk’s glare softened. Relief washed across Dokja’ face, and his grip lightened. Joonghyuk slowly righted himself. He couldn’t meet Dokja’s gaze. Not again.
“...Thank you,” he murmured, bending to retrieve the chess pieces.
Dokja said nothing, just knelt to help him. They collected and reset the pieces in silence, and although Joonghyuk was painfully aware that something had shifted, he couldn’t quite place what it was. He felt closer to Dokja, closer than ever before, and yet somehow further away. When the board was reset, the two of them just stood, neither seeming to want to take the initiative to leave.
Joonghyuk couldn't – wouldn’t – leave it like this. It felt so close to something good, and right, but it was still… wrong . He took a deep breath, then dragged the seat out once more and settled down. He glanced up at Dokja. “One more match?”
Dokja, whose glare had never quite faded, let out a breathy laugh. His glare was replaced with a grin. He accepted the olive branch. Sat down.
“One more match.”