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"what did you give him?" a comment reads.
the birthday boy was trying his best to read as much comments as he could, squinting at the small screen of his phone.
"hueningkai-ssi, what did you give me?" he asks his first company, one of his favorite members.
"a gift? i left it at the dorm."
the older throws him an indifferent look.
"i'm not kidding, the package arrived today!"
the younger male answers around a spoonful of ice cream cake, humming at the delicious flavor.
"guess what it is."
it doesn't take a genius to figure it out.
"a stuffed animal."
hueningkai pauses as beomgyu continues to scoop some cake. it wasn't unknown that he likes dolls too much, but he was still surprised at how predictable he must be.
"no way." beomgyu groans, catching on the meaning of the younger boy's silence. "we've known each other for years now, no way you'd give me another stuffed animal."
"hear me out first." kai tries, beomgyu waits for his explanation with a knowing grin. "the one that arrived today is a stuffed animal, but!" he enunciates the word when he sees beomgyu about to speak again. "there's another one coming in three to four days. i have two gifts."
"two gifts? you're giving me two gifts?" the older questions, making sure he heard it right.
"ah of course." he answers like it was so obvious. because honestly, it is.
"did you hit your head or something?"
no. he's just in love with a painfully oblivious idiot. another scoop of cake.
"what kind of stuffed animal is it?"
"a small one. i thought you don't like a big one so—"
"i wanted a big one though."
hueningkai froze. and internally screamed. he should've asked first!
"it's a small one that you can hold in your hands. you'll like the feeling." he reasons, silently sulking thinking that his hyung wouldn't like the gift he prepared.
but of course, beomgyu is a great hyung.
"okay okay, sounds good." beomgyu assures him with a smile. kai's heart skipped.
"yeah, it's that kind of doll . . ."
"actually, i have trouble going to sleep recently. i needed something to hug. it's not that big?" the older queries more.
"no . . ."
beomgyu must've heard the guilty undertone in his voice and he immediately says that,
"i like it! i prefer that one more."
"really?" kai failed to mask the hopefulness reeking in his tone.
"yeah! i like that a lot kai, thank you."
when that night came and kai peeked into beomgyu and soobin's shared room, his heart grew warm when he sees beomgyu using his gift as he sleeps, the miniature dolls tucked securely in his hands.
~
"taehyunnie," kai whines to his friend, "have you seen goguma? i've searched the whole dorm and i can't find it."
"no, i haven't. are you sure you misplaced it here?" taehyun replies, taking a glance around.
hueningkai pouts, "i honestly don't remember where i could've put it."
"maybe it's in the company. your dolls are literally all over the place." taehyun provides, before the two of them head to the car outside their dormitory.
quietly, hueningkai already lists out different places where he could find his precious stuffed toy.
. . .
but of course, what could he expect when he has members who are kids trapped in six-feet tall bodies? kai regretfully thinks that he should've expected this already.
"why is kai glaring at yeonjun and soobin?" beomgyu asks taehyun.
it was the first thing that caught his attention upon arriving last in their dance practice room. their youngest member glaring daggers (or at least attempting to because he still looks cute, beomgyu coos) at the two oldest males, his stuffed toy in a tight embrace against his chest.
"because they stole my plushie and made it into a hat. a hat!" it was kai who answered, his tone accusing. he huffs.
"it was yeonjun-hyung!" soobin points with a teasing undertone.
"no, it was soobin!" yeonjun argues back with their perfect teamwork.
as the three of them bicker over the poor plush toy, with taehyun tuning them out as he start stretching, beomgyu grins slyly at himself. a toy rabbit's carrot hidden deep inside his backpack.
~
"yeonjun-hyung this isn't funny anymore!" hueningkai storms inside yeonjun's room, making the latter jolt from the shock of his sudden appearance.
"what—"
"where are my plushies!"
before yeonjun could make sense of what the younger male was whining about, kai was already looking through his cabinets, over the bunk bed, even under. but not a single sign of his plushies could be found.
"why would you think i have your toys?" yeonjun asks, comfortably sitting on his mattress as he watch the younger.
"you took them last time!"
"it was only once! why don't you ask beomgyu since he steals some of it too?" yeonjun grins knowingly, having been the first person to notice kai's favoritism towards their raven-haired member.
"he said he didn't steal anything this time around."
"and you believe him?"
"well i would believe beomgyu-hyung more than you."
a dramatic gasp from yeonjun, "i hate gay people."
"you're one too."
"my point still stands."
"just give me my plushies back!"
"i told you i don't know where they are!"
. . .
a couple of knocks and a few shuffling of sheets were heard before the door was opened a fraction, a pair of starry eyes peeking through the small gap.
"oh, hey kai! what's up?" beomgyu asks, opening the door wider, enough to see him properly but still hiding what was behind him.
"i've been looking all over for you and soobin-hyung said you locked him out of your— room. what are you doing in there?" kai asks. being the taller one between the two of them, he managed to look over beomgyu's head. his forehead creased.
yet his words seemed to spark the glimmer in beomgyu's eyes more, and his chest ached from how endearing the sight is.
he feels a smaller hand hold onto his at the same time as beomgyu's smile widened.
"do you want to join me in my blanket fort?"
"your what?"
the smile on beomgyu's face brightened even more, kai wonders if he was looking at the personification of a happy star. before deciding that beomgyu is his whole universe.
"come on!" beomgyu fully opened his bedroom door to let him in, closing it after and turning off the lights.
"hyung—"
another flick of a switch and the room brightens up once again, this time because of led lights scattered over a mountain of blankets. or what beomgyu had called his blanket fort.
"it's awesome right?" beomgyu asks him, tone full of excitement as he tugs the younger. "it's better inside!"
hueningkai crawled over the duvets and blankets on the floor (their managers are going to scold them for this), following his hyung. and when they got comfortable inside, which looked unbelievably spacious and bright, he finds himself scoffing.
"so that's where all my plushies went."
lined around the corners and between pillows were his plushies, the same stuffed toys he's been relentlessly looking for on yeonjun, soobin, and even taehyun. not knowing that the actual thief was the one he never questioned.
"yeah! they gathered here to help me build the fort." beomgyu chuckles, lying down. "it's so soft and comfy. lie beside me kai-ah."
with a blush on his face and a molang in his arms, hueningkai laid, staring at the ceiling of blankets. it was fascinating how the older used his free time to do all of this (maybe that was why he locked himself in the room for almost half a day).
the silence was comforting, the light brushing of their skin sending tingles down kai's spine. his small plushie gifts resting near beomgyu's head, and even tobin was questionably there.
despite stealing all of his plushies and making him accuse the innocents, kai can't quite get himself to be angry.
not when beomgyu looks so content being with him like this.
"you could've just asked to borrow the plushies hyung." he says, chuckling as he remembers the past week of stress over his missing dolls.
"i know. but you just looked too cute whining about them." beomgyu laughs fondly at the memories of kai bothering the other members, but never him. "i was playing with your dolls the most but you never even bothered me so i continued."
his crush is so painfully obvious he wondered how could beomgyu not know of it yet.
from his peripheral vision, kai sees beomgyu shifting to face him, and the lights dimmed to reveal a streak of glow in the dark stars scattered all throughout the blankets.
in the dark, with distant bursts of light and bright glows of artificial stars overhead, and the softness of the pillows and stuffed animals underneath, kai's heart started pounding loudly against his ribs. his repressed feelings for his hyung exploding like stardust.
"kai-ah." beomgyu calls.
he hums, turning to see the older staring at him lovingly. his heart tripled its beat.
"do you like it? i actually made this for you."
his eyes widened a fraction. both of them laying on their sides to stare at each other. socked feet peeking out of the makeshift fort.
"why? what for?"
he asks out of genuine curiosity, and beomgyu answers with all the sincerity he could muster. always warm, always reassuring.
"you always cheer us up, you're always there to lift our spirits and offer your shoulder when we needed to cry. as much as you rely on us, we rely on you too. and i know that you're as happy as you show to the world.
"but i kind of wanted to remind you that it's fine to just lie low under the blankets when you needed to. it's hard being the energy of the group and i'm grateful that you do it so well. but when time comes and you're drained too, may this be a reminder to let you know where to go to.
"i can make you another blanket fort, i can steal your plushies again, just don't let this beautiful innocent glow fade."
it was a big wave of comfort for kai, especially from the person who looked out for him the most in all these years they've been together. especially when it came to the one he considers as his own mood lifter as everyone chose him.
it means a lot because kai had been in love with him for as long as he remembers.
and there was a sudden shift in the atmosphere around them when kai's cup finally overflows and he's lost in the galaxy of beomgyu's orbs.
"i love you."
it took a whole minute of staring. kai felt like it had been hours as his heart nervously pound, his stomach twisting with anticipation.
somehow, deep in his heart, he knows what beomgyu feels for him too.
"i know." beomgyu says coyly, giggling and oh, there's a pretty blush on his cheeks as he shuffles closer, tucking himself under kai's chin and palms flat on his chest.
their legs tangle seamlessly, breathing harmonized, and hearts beating in sync. and as both of them felt the pull of sleep from the late night, hueningkai feels a pair of soft lips press on the corner of his mouth.
"i do too."
beomgyu finally had something to hug in his sleep. a human-sized plushie that's better than any other gift.
"where did you put tobin's carrot by the way?"
their sleepy giggles fully lulled them to slumber.
(when hueningkai wakes up the next morning to the light of the sun peeking in through the windows, he finds himself still in the same position. beomgyu still in his arms.
he was so pretty. so angelic. and he couldn't fight the urge to lean in.
with the confessions from last night as a fuel for his courage, kai presses a sweet kiss on beomgyu's lips.
and beomgyu returns it immediately.)