#i am once again character studying kang yohan at 2am and rolling with it

[fourth-quartet]

Kang Yohan

13:05 - I just woke up.

13:05 - Did you sleep well?

13:06 - I dreamt you were here. You and Elijah went for a walk. It was windy out.

13:08 - You were wearing a blue scarf.

14:37 - I bought you a blue scarf.

14:38 - I’ll send it to you.

One of the first things Gaon realizes when he reconnects with Elijah six months after everything, is that Kang Yohan is an entirely different person in Switzerland. Gaon and Elijah video call almost daily, once it becomes clear that she’s going stir crazy stuck with only Yohan for company.

Elijah looks good, in Switzerland. She’s cut her hair shorter, tucks it behind her ear more. Gaon smiles when he starts to see the transition to different clothes too; Elijah calls him wearing t-shirts and hoodies instead of dresses, calls him and shows him the jeans she’s been wearing, and she beams when Gaon just smiles and calls her pretty. Some days Gaon wonders if she’s still nursing a crush on him. Most days he knows she isn’t.

Because Kang Yohan wanders around their house in Zurich and teases her whenever he’s on the phone with him. Rather than threatening murder, Elijah just rolls her eyes or glares at him or, in rare cases, actually ignores him.

But it means Kang Yohan wanders past her phone occasionally. And the Kang Yohan that Gaon sees is one he’s only caught glimpses of in person before; in jeans and comfortable sweaters, sometimes hoodies. Kang Yohan, with his hair cut shorter than Gaon has ever seen it, styled off of his face but not in a way that makes it harsh, professional; just out of the way. Yohan looks good, comfortable, cozy. He looks happy.

Yohan smiles easily, teases even more easily, and grumbles good-naturedly when Elijah teases him back. Yohan also makes excuses to be anywhere near Elijah whenever she’s on the phone until one day, she finally runs out of patience. “Why don’t you just call him from your own phone?” Elijah snaps and Gaon mutes himself so Yohan doesn’t hear him laughing. Yohan stammers some excuses and flees the room.

Yohan doesn’t text first though. Elijah finally forwards him Yohan’s new number alongside several hundred eye roll emojis. Gaon laughs and texts first.

Kim Gaon

01:00 - Kang Yohan, are you perhaps playing hard to get?

Yohan’s response comes immediately.

Kang Yohan

01:00 - Isn’t it late for you?

01:01 - Go to sleep, Kim Gaon.

The dam is broken, though, and Yohan takes full advantage of it.

Yohan texts whatever is on his mind, whenever he wants. Some days, Gaon wakes to thirty text notifications, all from Yohan, rambling about whatever’s on his mind. Other days he just wakes to a single notification, a photo of Zurich’s sunset sent after Gaon had gone to bed.

Some days Gaon glances at his phone on his lunch break and sees notifications. Elijah tells him that Yohan, after being told by three therapists he proceeded to fire that he needs a hobby, starts volunteering to work with animals. Gaon expects daily photos of Yohan’s favorites. He usually gets them, pictures of cats and dogs that Elijah tells him he can’t adopt. Once, Yohan sends him a picture of a bunny and Gaon laughs when Yohan just sends sad emojis six minutes later, indicating Elijah’s response to his attempts to adopt it.

Kang Yohan

00:05 - I know you’re asleep.

00:05 - You better be asleep, Kim Gaon.

00:05 - But I was thinking.

00:05 - I’ve been thinking a lot.

00:06 - Elijah would say too much.

00:06 - She’s probably right.

00:07 - She’s usually right.

00:07 - Don’t you ever tell her I said that.

00:08 - I miss you.

00:08 - I don’t miss people. It’s frustrating.

00:08 - I miss you more than I care to admit.

00:11 - I’m fine. Before you worry.

00:11 - I know you’ll worry, reading these. I haven’t had much to drink.

00:12 - I haven’t missed anyone like this before.

00:13 - I miss the warmth you brought to a home that was nothing but torture.

00:13 - I miss the meals you cooked for us. I miss you making us sit down to eat.

00:14 - Elijah and I sit down to eat together every day now. Two meals, every day, we eat together.

00:14 - But it’s not a family meal if you’re not here with us.

00:15 - One day, Gaon-ah.

00:15 - We’ll have a real family meal.

Gaon finds himself smiling whenever he reads through Yohan’s messages. It becomes a recurring joke, for Yohan to clarify he hasn’t been drinking when he goes off on one of his tangents. Gaon doesn’t mind the tangents, the stream-of-conscious that Yohan sends him, regardless of whether or not he’s awake. It’s just another glimpse into Kang Yohan. Gaon could live off of these small glimpses into Yohan’s thoughts, could live off of the way that Yohan staves off his loneliness by texting Gaon.

Kang Yohan

05:13 - Elijah called me samchon today.

05:13 - She hasn’t called me that since she was 8 years old.

05:13 - Nine years.

05:13 - For nine years now she’s been calling me Yohan and Yohan alone.

05:13 - I’d forgotten what the word sounded like from her.

05:14 - It wasn’t weaponized.

05:14 - She just.

05:14 - Called me.

05:15 - Samchon, come help me a minute.

05:15 - Samchon.

Kim Gaon

05:20 - You’re her uncle regardless of how she refers to you.

Kang Yohan

05:22 - Go back to sleep.

05:26 - Call me later?

Kim Gaon

05:27 - I thought I was going back to sleep.

Kang Yohan

05:28 - I’ve changed my mind, I don’t want to talk to you.

Kim Gaon

05:29 - I’ll call you around 11, your time.

Kang Yohan

05:34 - I’ll be waiting.

Their video calls are a new occurrence. Gaon treasures the way Yohan calls him, with his phone propped against his headboard and his head tucked on his arm, not quite asleep but sinking slowly into the weariness. Yohan doesn’t talk much then.

Their positions flip. Gaon prefers to talk out loud and Yohan prefers to listen, sleepy eyes fixing on his phone to watch Gaon talk, rant, about whatever is on his mind. Most of the time, there’s a small smile barely visible in the corners of Yohan’s lips.

“I’m taking some time off next month,” Gaon says finally, propping his phone up on his desk. Where it’s still early in the morning for him, it’s fast approaching midnight in Zurich and he can see Yohan struggling to stay awake.

“Mm?” Yohan asks, blinking a few times in an effort to remain awake.

“I was thinking,” Gaon says, smiling slightly, “maybe I could come visit. You could show me around Zurich.” Yohan blinks a few more times but the words don’t seem to process. Gaon lets out a small exhale of laughter and shakes his head, starting on another topic. Yohan will get back to him eventually.

Kang Yohan

16:26 - We’d love to have you here.

16:27 - I’d love to have you here.

16:29 - Promise me you’ll come.

Kim Gaon

16:30 - There’s nowhere else I’d rather be.

#drabble #the devil judge #악마판사 #kang yohan #kim gaon #gahan #gaon x yohan #fic stuffs #post canon #tdj drabble #tdj #character study #i am once again character studying kang yohan at 2am and rolling with it #unedited