Dominoes | Tyunning

plushies

“Huening!” 
 
Kai ignored the pleading tone coating Soobin’s voice as he exited the ice cream parlour and scurried away, his sneakers scratching against the concrete pavement. 
 
“Kai-ah let’s talk about this! Slow down, I can’t run that fast!” 
 
He could hear Soobin’s hurried footsteps and the sound of the older boy panting and attempting to catch his breath, as Kai’s eyes locked with a streetlight standing to the side of the road, it’s light casting an eerie glow on the surrounding area. Kai immediately shuffled behind the streetlight and hugged his arms around his cold body, attempting to make himself as unnoticeable as possible. He could hear Soobin’s footsteps draw nearer and he closed his eyes, hoping that the older boy would pass by him without seeing him. 
 
“Kai… I can see you, you know? Your elbows are sticking out… and like 70% of the rest of your body.” 
 
“Go away, hyung,” Kai whispered.
 
“Come on, let’s talk about this. You know I’ll never judge you.” Soobin’s voice was soft, gentle and warm, and for a second Kai almost considered coming out from his “hiding spot.” 
 
“Don’t wanna.”
 
“What if I buy you a plushie?”
 
Kai peeked his head out from behind the streetlight and glanced at the older boy passively, “A molang?”
 
“Anything you want, baby.”

 
 ~

 
 
 
Taehyun rummaged inside his gym bag, a sigh of frustration seeping out through his lips. He knew he had forgotten something. His mind had been a mess, thoughts of Kai’s date with Soobin occupying every corner, and as a form of distraction he had made the decision to walk out to the gym even though it was late. Except, he had forgotten to pack his fitness gloves before he left. It was annoying, to remember what you forgot to pack after you reached your destination. It would take too long to walk back to his house and walk back out to the gym again, and he knew the gym wouldn’t be open for much longer anyway. 
 
He stared longingly at the weights he had planned to lift, but now would not be able to. Maybe he should opt for running on the treadmill for a while instead? That sounded like a suitable distraction, plus his legs were aching for a good run. But he had looked forward to doing some weightlifting, his favourite gym activity, and right now all he wanted was to do something he genuinely enjoyed. 
 
He wished Kai was there with him. The younger boy never did any working out of his own, but was always there by the sidelines watching Taehyun and cheering him on. “I’m like your own personal cheerleader,” he had told him once when Taehyun had scolded him for not doing a single gym activity. 
 
Taehyun let a finger tenderly glide over the edge of the weight he had initially decided to lift as he shook his head, erasing away any thoughts about Kai. Kai would probably have confessed by now, assuming he didn’t chicken out at the last minute. He hoped Soobin’s response had been good. 
 
Taehyun was just about to trudge over to the treadmill when a calm, familiar voice engulfed him. “Need these?”
 
He whipped his head around, coming face to face with a grinning man. Taehyun felt his eyes widening, “Jungkookie hyung?”
 
Jungkook chuckled as he held out the gloves in his hand further out towards Taehyun, “Come on, take them. I was watching you stare at those weights like you wanted to marry them for the past fifteen minutes.”
 
Taehyun felt a flush blooming across his face, and he prayed Jungkook wouldn’t notice. “You saw me, hyung?”
 
Jungkook reached out, grabbing one of Taehyun’s hands before carefully sliding the gloves into his palm. He patted his shoulder causing Taehyun to stiffen, before sauntering over to the punching bag, “It’s kind of hard not to notice when you walk into a gym and the first thing you see is someone intensely staring at something without breaking eye contact. What did the poor weights ever do to you, Taehyun?”
 
Taehyun twisted the gloves in his hands as he racked his brain for a possible explanation, in the end he decided to settle on, “I was just thinking about stuff.” There was no lie in that.
 
Jungkook hummed as he slid his hands into his own gloves. “Where’s your friend?”
 
“My friend?”
 
“Yeah. The one who usually comes with you but spends the whole hour lounging on the floor scrolling through his phone.”

“Oh,” Taehyun placed his own gloves on as he walked closer to Jungkook, observing the older man as he threw powerful punches at the bag. “Kai’s busy tonight. He has a date.”

Was it really a date though, if Soobin only found out about it being a date during the date?
 
“Good for him, good for him.”
 
And maybe it was Taehyun’s silence as he stood there quietly observing Jungkook, his features contoured into one of sadness with no reply slipping through his lips, but Jungkook’s next words were, “But are you okay with that?”
 
Taehyun shot his head up, “Why wouldn’t I be? He’s my best friend, I want him to be happy.”
 
And maybe it was the way that Jungkook didn’t look convinced, an eyebrow arched at Taehyun suspiciously. Or maybe it was the way that Taehyun always looked up to Jungkook, trusted him and viewed him as his role model and even as an older brother figure, despite only knowing each other for a short period of time. Or maybe it was the fact that he had been walking around for years now, being in love with his best friend with no one to help him to carry the burden of the weight of his feelings. He was tired. 
 
“No. I’m not okay.”

 
 ~

 
 
 
“I’m sorry, hyung.”
 
“What for?” Soobin asked as he held the passenger door of his car open for Kai.
 
“You know…”
 
“If you're apologising for having feelings for me, Kai-ah, I don’t want to hear it,” Soobin answered firmly as he got into his own seat. “You shouldn’t apologise for gaining feelings for someone.”
 
Kai hugged his newly obtained molang plushie closer as he sniffled. It reminded him of Taehyun. A few months back, Kai had dragged the slightly older boy to a carnival, and had immediately started jumping up and down with excitement when his eyes caught sight of a whole shelf stacked with the same plushies. Taehyun had spent at least thirty minutes repeatedly playing the same game over and over again in an attempt to win a plushie for Kai. It had warmed his heart, someone being so determined just to win him something as they knew it would make him happy. Taehyun always seemed to do so. 
 
 “I guess.” 
 
“Do you want me to drop you off at your place?”
 
Right now, he knew there was only one person who would be able to bring him comfort.
 
“Can you drop me off at Taehyun’s instead?”
 

~

 
 
 
 
“Are you sure he’s here?” Soobin asked as he reluctantly followed a bouncing Kai through the front entrance of the gym. “I know his sister said he’s here, but what sane person would be at the gym at 9 pm? This is like the ideal time to curl up in your bed and watch Netflix.” 
 
“It’s Taehyun, hyung. He practically lives in the gym.”

At the thought of being able to run into his best friend’s comforting arms, Kai quickened his pace towards the main area.

“Taehyun!” He giggled as he yelled into the empty corridor to no one in particular. “I asked Soobin hyung out but he rejected me! He was so mean to me about it, Hyunnie. Please tell him off!”
 
“Yah you brat!”

Kai shrieked as Soobin tugged on his arm, attempting to slow him down. “Don’t lie, I literally hugged you and brought you a plushie!” 
 
Kai felt a warmth blossoming in his chest; he had been right when he had said that asking Soobin out won’t dent their bond in any way. 
 
“Taehyunnie!” His eyes peered through the giant glass window at the main gym area, and he felt his laughter slowly fizzle away. Taehyun was there curled up next to the treadmill, his head resting on an older man’s shoulder as he ruffled Taehyun’s hair fondly. 
 
“Oh.”
 
“Do you want to go in, Huening?”