Dominoes | Tyunning

bugs

They met when they were only nine years old. Taehyun's family had moved into the neighbourhood, to the house directly in front of Kai’s. Kai had watched the new family move in across the street with bubbling excitement from the cocoon of his room, and upon seeing a boy his age, he decided he was going to be the one to welcome him and help him feel at home. 
 
Their childhood was a colourful display of memories, both bitter and tender. Taehyun was the one who first taught Kai how to ride a bike. Kai helped Taehyun make new friends. Taeyun opened up to him, and Kai cried on his shoulder. They knew each other better than they knew themselves, so there had been no doubt in Kai’s mind that Taehyun was going to be the first person he would confide in about his growing crush on Soobin.
 
“Have you ever fallen in love with anyone, Taehyunie?” Kai had whispered into the empty room after he had revealed his secret. 
 
“Yeah,” Taehyun replied quietly a few seconds later. "I have."
 
“Oh,” Kai turned his head to face Taehyun in excitement. “Are you going to tell me who it is? I told you who my crush is. Don’t you trust me Taehyunnie? I can help.”
 
Taehyun had turned to him, a strained smile playing on his lips, and at the time Kai had brushed it off as tiredness.

“I’ll tell you one day, Hyuka, I promise. It really does get tiring keeping this to myself.” 
 
“Okay,” Kai had replied, and smiled at him softly. Because he knew he’ll never rush Taehyun to open up to him. Taehyun would tell him when he was ready.

 
 
 
 ~

And now, months later, as he stared at his best friend laughing softly as he basked in someone else’s presence, Kai felt something tugging at his chest. Was Jungkook hyung Taehyun’s crush? No, that didn’t seem right. He knew exactly who the older man was, and had met him a couple of times when he went to “work out” with Taehyun and knew that Taehyun only idolised him.

But right now, despite only being separated from Taehyun by a glass window, Taehyun felt far away and intangible. Perhaps it had been because he had spent all evening yearning for the moment where he would be able to run into the solace of Taehyun’s warm embrace. 
 
Kai felt a warm hand touch his lower back as he was stirred into the room. “Come on, let’s go in.” 
 
“Hyuka! You’re here?” Taehyun's eyes widened when he saw him, an ethereal smile lighting up his face. He ran towards the younger boy, throwing his arms around Kai’s neck as he giggled. He took a glance at the taller boy standing behind Kai. “Soobinie hyung is here too, are you two together now?”
 
And it was strange really, when this whole time Kai knew Taehyun was doing his absolute best to help him secure a date with Soobin, he knew he should be happy that his best friend, the person who’s opinion mattered to him the most, was supportive of his decisions, yet he couldn’t brush of the feeling he felt at knowing that it was so easy for Taehyun to accept him being in a relationship.

Did he want Taehyun to fight for him? Why did he want Taehyun to fight for him? He smiled as he bowed at Jungkook, and gently removed Taehyun’s grip from around his neck. You’re being selfish, he scolded himself.
 
“It didn’t work out, Hyunnie. Soobinie hyung rejected me. He was so mean about it too.”
 
“I bought him a plushie! How is that being mean?” Kai shrieked as he dodged Soobin’s hands.
 
Taehyun gasped dramatically, “Soobinie hyung, how could you hurt the poor baby like that?” He wrapped his arms around Kai again protectively as he “glared” at Soobin, “It’ll be okay, Hyuka. Hyunnie’s here.”
 
“Tyunning,” Kai heard Soobin snicker. He ignored him and hoped that Taehyun hadn’t heard, but he couldn’t ignore the strange feeling he felt conjuring up in his chest.

 ~
 
 
 
 
 
If anyone asked, Kai would label that evening after his “date” with Soobin as his turning point, because after that incident, every moment spent with Taehyun felt more highlighted. Things that were once normal between the two of them now provoked different emotions inside of him. He flinched wherever his fingers brushed against Taehyun’s, earning concerned glances from the older, closed his eyes whenever Taehyun ruffled his hair fondly, and replayed the moment over and over again in his head. 
 
He felt like he was walking on a thin rickety fence, separating the platonic love he had always felt for Taehyun and the newfound romantic feelings slowly growing and climbing inside of him like a vine.

But rickey fence’s only hold your weight for so long.
 
As he couldn’t confide in his best friend for once, Kai made the decision to open up to his ex-crush about his new crush, except he found himself regretting that choice as soon as Soobin stopped in his tracks, gasped and screamed out “Tyunning!” in the middle of the university hallway.
 
“Hyung!”
 
“Can you blame me? I’m excited, my ship is about to sail.”
 
Kai gasped and hushed Soobin as soon as they neared their usual lunch table, and saw that Taehyun was already there. The two had recently gotten into the habit of joining Soobin, Beomgyu and Yeonjun for lunch more often and from a distance, Kai could see Taehyun giggling as he peered at something on Beomgyu’s phone screen.
 
“Losers we’re here,” Soobin sang as he skipped happily towards his friends. Kai wondered if Soobin's good mood was going to last the entire day.
 
“Finally. What took you so long?” Yeonjun said as he shifted over on his side of the bench, allowing room for Soobin and Kai to scoot in.
 
“Oh. Kai,” Kai groaned as he saw the mischievous grin stretching across Soobin’s face, “Was telling me something interesting so we got a little distracted.”
 
Kai saw Taehyun’s head whip up quizzingly, “Care to share, Hyuka? I could use a good story.”
 
The desire to squirt the last bit of his chocolate milk at Soobin’s face was strong. “It’s nothing, Hyunnie, don’t worry about it.” He didn’t miss the unreadable expression flashing across his best friend's eyes, though it only lasted a second.
 
“It’s a secret,” Soobin giggled as he wrapped an arm around Kai and tugged him towards him. Kai wondered if Soobin had made it his life’s mission to watch him suffer. And to think, that he once had strong romantic feelings for the older boy.
 
“I’m hungry. Beomgyu hyung, how was your day?” Kai asked, changing the topic hurriedly. Seeing Kai eat must have reminded Beomgyu of his own untouched food, because he quickly placed his phone away as he removed the lid of his own lunch container. 
 
“Pretty good, Hyuka. I mean it was good, until I walked into a wall.”
 
“How did you manage to walk into a wall?” Taehyun snickered.
 
“I lost a bet with Yeonjun hyung and I had to walk all the way over here with my eyes closed.”
 
Yeonjun shrugged, “I didn’t tell him to walk into a wall.”
 
“That’s not the point!”
 
Kai chuckled as he slurped from his chocolate milk box, only to freeze when he felt a tingling sensation dance across his back. 
 
“Um guys…”
 
“You could have put your arms out or something, so you wouldn't crash into things!”
 
“Guys…”
 
“It’s too late for that, isn’t it, Yeonjun hyung?” 
 
“Guys!”
 
Kai flushed as four heads turned to face him in sync, “There’s something inside my shirt. I think it’s  a beetle.”

At this point he was jumping up and down as he shrieked, earning a few concerned glances from nearby students. “Get it out! Get it out! It’s crawling all over my back!”
 
“Kai, I love you. But you're on your own,” Beomgyu answered as he wrapped his arms around himself protectively and huddled closer to Taehyun.
 
“Stay still,” Soobin said as he grabbed Kai’s wrist and dragged him back down onto the seat, “You’re making it worse.”
 
“I got it, Hyuka.”
 
Kai watched as Taehyun gently pushed Beomgyu off him and got up from his seat, coming to stand over him, “Where is it exactly?”
 
“Somewhere over there,” Kai shuddered as he pointed, his eyes clamped shut as he felt another soft flutter of wings against his bare back occupied with a distant buzzing sound. 
 
Taehyun pulled the collar of Kai’s shirt to the side as he peered in, “Oh, I see it.”
 
“Ugh, it's huge,” Yeonjun grimaced, only to earn a slap from Soobin when Kai started wiggling again. 
 
“Beomgyu hyung, pass me that empty cup please,” Beomgyu did as he was told, though he was careful to keep his distance. How did Soobin expect Kai to stay composed when Beomgyu was just as bad? And he wasn’t the one with a beetle crawling around under his shirt. 
 
Kai felt Taehyun glide the cup across his back, and then mutter the words, “Got it,” eliciting a sigh of relief from the youngest boy. He felt Taehyun’s soft fingers sliding under the cup, tickling his back, as he trapped the beetle against his hand and brought it out and away from Kai.
 
“Ewww!” Kai and Beomgyu grimaced simultaneously. 
 
“Told you it was huge.”
 
Kai watched as Taehyun walked outside with his former menace and released it, before walking back towards them.
 
“What would you do without me, Hyuka?" Taehyun smiled at him, soft and sincere and it took everything in Kai to not scream out his feelings right then and there for the whole university to hear.
 
“Imagine having a cool boyfriend like Taehyun to take care of your bug problems whenever you need him to,” Soobin whispered against his ear. Kai screamed before bolting up from his seat and running out the door, Soobin’s laughter and Taehyun’s confused voice ringing after him, “Hyuka, where are you going? I got rid of the bug, it won’t come back.”