Work Text:
For months, he would brag about his skinned knees and bruised arms to Taehyun, toothily grinning about his “battle scars”. The lunchroom was filled with his loud stories about finally making his hardflip; not as much words as just noisy reenactments of Beomgyu launching himself onto the seat of the lunch table to demonstrate his countless failures, only for the teacher on duty to immediately scold him.
Even through burning cheeks after being scolded, he dropped his voice low and leaned in close. As he was finishing his story, his eyes shone as he swelled with pride. Taehyun could help but smile back at him, and Beomgyu’s sentence stuttered to an end, having to break eye contact.
It was no secret to Beomgyu that the one true steady in his life, other than his parents and his guitar, was that he was helplessly in love with Kang Taehyun. Every love song played on his guitar sounded like it was written for him, missing nothing but a high harmony to complement his. Every painting inspired by messy grey hair and gentle smiles, and he would have to scribble out the facial features he had all but memorized. Every poem even, written in verse, was dedicated to the nameless boy who always listened, always looked for him in a crowded room. But all the songs, paintings, and poems felt wrong because they were for someone that wasn’t his.
He was down horrendous. The kind of down horrendous that he kept his mouth shut, and delivered flowers and love advice for people that weren’t him. Thankfully, Taehyun never had much luck in the love department, so it left the both of them single every Valentine’s Day, Taehyun vowing to have a date next year, and Beomgyu keeping his mouth shut.
Initially, Beomgyu started going to the skatepark by himself to see if he could do things on his own. It was supposed to be his little secret, his private spot where no one knew to find him. But he couldn’t disguise the scrapes on his hands and the soaring pride after the first day he succeeded in dropping into the bowl without bailing. One look at Taehyun and the stories couldn’t stop falling out. He pointed out bruises and told the failed tricks that accompanied them. Beomgyu may have been describing his immediate wipeout after dropping in the bowl, but pride still shone in his eyes.
He was by no means a natural, but the way that Taehyun was amazed by every new story or new video he showed of him skating, made him want to keep practicing. There were countless better people at the skatepark who really knew what they were doing, and Beomgyu tried to study them. But they seemed on a whole other level, doing tricks like they were born to do. Instead, he found a corner of the skatepark to practice, fall, and practice again, filming himself to monitor and make adjustments. He mostly ignored the other skaters, except when someone landed a really cool trick and the applause and sound of the skaters giving their props, hitting the ground with their boards drew his attention away from monitoring yet another fall. But he didn’t need their props, he just wanted Taehyun’s eyes shining as he congratulated him the next day.
It became routine for Beomgyu to regale his best friend with recounts all of his skating ventures from the days previous. Taehyun loved to praise him and listen to every story like it was the first. He teased his friend for not being able to properly bend his knees and arms with the layers of bandages he had on, but also warned him to stay safe. Beomgyu found himself lost in his stories sometimes, brought back to reality when Taehyun would squeeze his eyes tight when he laughed or when he warned Beomgyu to be safe. He loved having a special place that he could share with Taehyun, where his best friend thought he was incredible.
It was only natural that Beomgyu invite him to the skatepark. So, they purchased a cheap skateboard for him, signing both their names on the bottom.
“When we both go pro, we will be able to sell this” Gyu said as a joke.
Taehyun smiled brightly at him, tucking the board under his arm and walking in step with his friend. They took the bus to the skatepark, and Beomgyu watched his friends eyes scanning the bus as people glanced their way. A shy smirk donned Gyu’s lips as he brough his beat up board, covered in scratched away stickers, behind his head. It was exciting to show off a part of his life.
Arriving at the skatepark, he felt nothing but pride and excitement. Taehyun stood with wide eyes, fingers fiddling with the wheels on his board.
“Taehyunnie, welcome to the park!” Gyu chirped, unable to contain his excitement. “I bet you’re going to be a natural!”
Every second that passed, Taehyun’s eyes seemed to grow. They skirted the park, lagging at the bowl where some boys were doing some impressive tricks. He nearly missed the smile on Beomgyu’s face.
“This is amazing, Beom! Can you do that too?” he asked with a sweet smile, and his friend found it incredibly hard to pull his eyes away from it.
“Do what—” he muttered, his attention pulled to an impossibly large boy dropping into the bowl and performing an elaborate trick. He’d seen him a few times and seeing the way that Taehyun’s eyes sparkled looking at him made disdain immediately settle in his belly. “Oh, you don’t want to worry about that. I can show you some beginner tricks, Taehyunnie.”
But, even as he tugged on his sleeve, Taehyun’s eyes followed the boy perfecting landing bolts every trick, even a few that knocked the breath out of Beomgyu when he had attempted them. The boy jumped out of the bowl after bailing, and looking too good while doing it. He caught Taehyun’s eyes and sent a little wave.
Suddenly, his thoughts went still and his blood went cold, jealousy writhing through his veins.
“Actually, Taehyun, why don’t we come back another day. The park is pretty crowded and I don’t want you to get hurt.”
It was an eternity before his eyes turned back to him.
“Beom, that’s silly. I’ve been looking forward to this. Show me where you usually practice,” he chided and Beomgyu was weak to him setting his mind on something.
Beomgyu pulled him to the corner of the park, mood lifting as his friend gave him his full attention again. As expected, Tae was a quick learner, mastering riding switch in what seemed like minutes switching from left to right with ease, and watched Beomgyu goof off with his usual bright smile. With his full attention on him, Beom’s jealousy melted as he laughed with Taehyun like they always did. Beomgyu set up his phone where he always did to film tricks and make adjustments. No shock to him, his friend was a natural, making adjustments like he had been skating for years. Beomgyu barely had time to show off between goofing around with him and watching Tae skate with a carefree smile on his face, grey hair pushed back. By the time the sun began to dip lower and cast a chill in the air, they were almost alone, with palms scraped and new holes in their jeans. They sat on their boards, done practicing for the day, just stalling the bus ride back to Gyu’s home.
“Next time, I would like to try to drop in the bowl like you talk about, Beom” Taehyun said, pushing his hair back.
A smirk on his lips, he responded, “I dunno Taehyun it may be too advanced for you this early. What if you fall? I’d be so embarrassed I would have to pretend that we don’t know each other.”
His friend reach to grab his wrist, holding his palm up, a fresh scrape in desperate need of being cleaned shining, “Like you didn’t fall yourself today almost as much as the beginner.”
“What can I say Taehyunnie, I can’t help falling for you.” A shit eating grin on his lips matched his words.
Taehyun nearly threw his hand back at him with a quick, “Shut up. You’re—oh hey!”
Tae’s eyes went up behind Beomgyu, a shy smile playing on his lips. Bending over backwards, and disdain settled in his mouth again. The boy from earlier was invading their space, holding a mint skateboard over his shoulder, his cheeks red from the wind, and a goofy smile on his face. Beomgyu straightened up, keeping his back completely to the invader.
“I wasn’t listening in but I heard you say that you want to try to drop in the bowl?” said the tall boy, not sensing the bad vibes. “I don’t know how long you’ve been skating, but I think that I could show you some things if you want! But also you don’t have to, but I thought that maybe if you needed a teacher I could help out!”
He spoke quickly, somehow managing not to stumble over his words, but Beomgyu still made faces at his words, trying to communicate his feelings to his friend. But Taehyun’s eyes were trained on the tall boy looming over them. He decided that this boy didn’t deserve Taehyun’s bright smile—some show off? He was the only show off in Tae’s life.
“Hey!” Taehyun said as Gyu rose to his full height, still quite a few inches shorter than the blonde, but tall enough to be in the middle of their gaze.
Gyu put on a sickly sweet smile, grabbed his board and responded, “Hey, thanks dude but I can show him whatever he needs to learn. We gotta catch the bus anyways. Come on, Tae.”
He was off walking before Taehyun could get off his board. The dust wind sharp on his cheeks, but he could hear them introducing each other, exchanging numbers before Taehyun caught up to him with a half jog.
“Beomgyu what was that? Don’t you want to introduce yourself?”
“Nah, I’m tired,” he didn’t look his friend in the eye, but instead sped up walking.
Taehyun turned while matching his pace to look at his new friend, “See you soon, Kai! Next time I see you I’m going to master the bowl!”
Kai with a goofy smile shouted back, “It was nice to meet you Taehyun and Beomgyu! I’m excited to skate with you two in the future! Please get home safe!”
The walk back to the bus was quiet, and Beomgyu could feel that he was dampening the mood but just couldn’t help himself. He’d wait for Taehyun to break the silence.
“I hope you don’t mind that I gave him your name, Beom. I think it would be fun for the three of us to skate together! I think having two teachers will help me improve quickly,” Taehyun said, plopping onto a seat on the bus, gazing up at him.
“I think you improved enough without him,” Beomgyu said under his breath, looping one hand through the overhead wrist strap and the over arm wrapped around his board. He felt incredibly exposed and insecure, wanting to crawl into his bed and ask his mom to rub his back.
“What was that?” he asked, leaning his elbows on his board, wincing at a bruise forming there. Beomgyu kept quiet, fiddling with the underside of the board.
They rode in silence for a bit.
“Would you like to come to my house tonight and we can watch something? I might need help bandaging my arms,” Taehyun said with a small smile, one that he knew Beomgyu was weak to. He was well aware that this was to cheer up Beomgyu, and much to his chagrin…it worked.
“Baby Tae can’t put his own bandaids on, huh?” Beomgyu laughed, mood lightening.
“More like you have had more injuries than I have ever seen anyone get before. I bet you’re a master at bandages at this point.”
“Shut up!” Beomgyu quipped back, mood brightening.
They bickered like that all the way back to Tae’s house, Beomgyu finally sitting next to his friend and excitedly recounting all of the new tricks he wanted to show him next time they went to the skate park.
For the next few weeks, it went just like that. After school, they would race to the bus stop to try and make it to the skatepark before it got too crowded. They never did, but the hope of “this time we will make it” was too exciting to pass up. Sometimes Kai would be there, the silly grin of his as he waved at the two of them before effortlessly dropping into the bowl and performing some stupidly complex trick like it was nothing. But, most of the time, it was the two of them against the world, practicing tricks and helping each other up when they fell.
Taehyun got a hang of the bowl quickly, because of course he did. Beomgyu watched him fly around, hair in the wind and a concentrated look on his face. They still stayed back in their corner of the park, spending more time goofing off and making stupid videos than actually skating. It was always times like these when you could see Kai in the background, landing ridiculous stunts, stealing away his best friend’s attention.
Beomgyu’s jealousy grew three sizes those days.
It was just a regular part of their lives now, the bruises, the scrapes, the skinned knees, so on days when they couldn’t go and skate, Gyu felt restless. His fingers twitched while playing his guitar, trying to clear his head but envisioning Kai landing flip after flip, wishing that the rain would let up so he could practice without anyone at the park. A roll of thunder interrupted his thoughts. So, instead of moping, he watched a few videos that Tae sent to him—one or two cat videos, silly videos that they made earlier in the week, and a cover that Tae sent an exclamation mark with.
Clear as day, Kai sat in front of a piano, hands looking like they were made to play the keys, and a voice of an angel. His unique voice sang on a loop, blonde hair parted out of his hair and eyes closed as he performed. The video had over half a million views and it the number climbed as he watched it.
“Prick,” Gyu huffed to himself, unable to put his insults to words.
Being schooled at the skatepark is one thing. He could recognize the talent and hardwork it goes into fully bolting tricks while making it look easy. But music was Beomgyu’s. That was his world, his peace, and he refused to be upstaged once again by the blonde prick from the skatepark.
Ignoring his better judgement and also his phone blowing up from Taehyun’s fangirling over the video of Kai, he shoved his phone in a jacket pocket and grabbed his board.
The trek to the skatepark was second nature at this point, and he barely even registered the trip as he sulked. Once or twice he glanced at his phone out of habit only to see Kai’s song going viral. It made him sick to see the compliments that Taehyun was lavishing on him both in his texts and the comments section. He shoved his phone deeper in his pocket, ignoring messages from his mom.
By the time he reached the park, the rain had let up, setting a chill in the air and leaving the ground slick. He just needed to try to land a trick that Kai couldn’t, just needed to try. The wheels slipped on the pavement as he kicked off, wobbling. Lying to himself that tears in his eyes were from the wind, he gained speed. The bowl was approaching quicker than he anticipated—he didn’t even know what trick he was trying. Beomgyu was quickly losing control of his board on the wet ground but tried to hold on.
He bailed at the last minute, jumping from his board but hitting the ground. Hard. His board rolled loudly in the bowl as he laid on the ground, not even feeling the pain in his arm only the wind that was knocked out of him until moments later. Then, he was howling, grabbing at his arm. No one was around, so he didn’t hold in his gasps of pain, or hide the fat tears rolling down his face. He cried until the wheels on his board stopped rolling and the sun began to peak out of the clouds.
Arm pulsing from the impact, he sat up, cradling it. Without even looking back at his skateboard, he left the park. He couldn’t get himself to look at his injury, but felt sick deep in his stomach for one too many reasons. Phone buzzing in his pocket, he looked a wreck on the bus. Arm properly fucked, shirt ripped from the impact, tears pooling and whimpers not even stifled. He stared straight out the window, refusing to meet any eyes around him.
His mom was in the front yard, calling out for him when he got home. Adrenaline running low and tears marks dried on his cheeks, he went to her wordless.
After one ER visit, about 23 panicked texts from Taehyun, and a stern lecture and grounding for eternity from his mom, Beomgyu was in his room, nursing his sprained arm on his bed. It would be weeks before he could play guitar again and even longer until he could go back to the skatepark. A sick pit in his stomach knotted in his stomach about leaving his board and shame in going to the park when it was so unsafe. He finally responded to Taehyun’s texts.
hey tae
BEOM
BEOM
BEOMGYU.
sorry im okay
YOU WENT TO THE PARK TODAY?
YOU SHITHEAD.
DO YOU KNOW HOW WORRIED YOU MADE US?
He didn’t respond right away, rolling onto his side, wincing as he repositioned his arm. Another messaged pinged.
Are you okay Beomgyu?
im okay. got a pretty cool sling
stupid way to get it though
should’ve just bought one for the fashion
A fashion sling?
all the rage, tae
Well, stop being a dumbass and I’ll buy you a fashion sling when you’re better.
He smiled at his phone and could clearly imagine Taehyun’s worried expression—eyes too wide and lips quivering like they always did when he was scared. They chatted like that for a long while. Beomgyu’s thumb on his nondominant hand was awkward as he laid on his good side, so they ended up facetiming, Taehyun wincing when he saw the state of his arm. But it was nice. It was easy.
Nothing could have prepared Beomgyu for how boring his weeks of recovery would be. Taehyun had brought back his skateboard from the park, and even gave him a new sticker to add to his collection. Roles reversed, Gyu listened as Taehyun shared his stories of the skatepark, and Beomgyu watched in awe at how quickly he had surpassed him. He even came with cute bandaids covering his arms and cheeks one day after he had a major wipeout. Beomgyu wanted some of them, so the next time he visited he had a whole pack for him with cute little bears on them. In the bathroom, Gyu placed them over his arms, smiling that he could wear the gift from Taehyun, even when he wasn’t allowed to go out.
After what felt like eternity, Beomgyu’s grounding ended, and his mom let him leave the house again. He and Taehyun had planned to meet at the skatepark later in the day, and he was practically buzzing with excitement. Taehyun had kept good on his promise and gotten him a cute sling with characters covering it in a charming shade of blue. He put a bandaid on his finger because he just liked the look of it. Grinning, he took off to the skatepark, feeling a little empty leaving his board at home.
Beomgyu arrived breathless, watching Taehyun drop into the bowl like a pro or like a model for some skating magazine. He hadn’t caught his eye yet but watched as he bailed, landing on kneepads and was helped out of the bowl. Face falling, Beomgyu watched as Kai leaned down to brush him off. Tae’s eyes were filled with stars as he laughed with Kai. The exact stars that Beomgyu had fooled himself were only for him.
With half a mind to leave, his legs betrayed him and he faced the two.
“Oh hey Beomgyu! Welcome back! It’s been a while. I’ve missed seeing you around. No one else rocks the skater hair quite like you,” Kai rambled, smiling big, but Gyu only noticed Taehyun’s eyes never leaving Kai’s face.
“Oh, thanks. You okay Tae? Looked like a rough spill,” he asked, and Taehyun gave him a lopsided grin.
“Nah Kai’s been teaching me how to bail without hurting myself,” he answered, and Kai laughed too loudly for Beomgyu’s nerves.
In the laugh, Kai said “I could teach you too Beom! That way you won’t get hurt again!”
Kai pushed back his hair with a smile too big and a laugh too loud, but it didn’t feel malicious. Beomgyu’s eyes were just trained on the bandaids covering Kai’s hands—the same that he assumed were a gift just for him from Taehyun.
“Beomgyu really is a good skater. He always looks so cool even if he’s just gliding around. Wind messing with his hair,” Tae commented, and immediately it broke his gaze away from bandaids littering his hands.
“So true! Beommie is one of the coolest people who goes to the park. He looks pretty even when he wipes out,” Kai added.
Beomgyu didn’t know how to respond, so he decided not to at all. Instead he grabbed at Taehyun’s board, trying to get them to go to their regular spot. Taehyun caught the message, but Kai apparently didn’t, trailing after them like a lost puppy. While they walked over, he noticed something on the bottom of Taehyun’s board.
“Taehyun, what’s on your board?” he quipped, excited to see the new décor.
With a proud smile that made his heart jump, he flipped his board over, proudly showing off a new sticker matching the one he gave Beomgyu. But Gyu noticed something else, face falling. Below his signature and Taehyun’s was signed “<3 Huening Kai <3” in large cutesie letters.
“I wanted all our boards to match once you could get back to the park. I know it’ll be a second before you could skate again so I was hoping you wouldn’t notice, but I should’ve known better,” Taehyun said, smiling shyly at his board.
Did that mean?—
Huening Kai flipped his mint board over, and there it was, the same damn sticker.
Disappointment deep in his bones over something he couldn’t quite place, Beom tried to keep his head straight. He sat on the ground with some help and watched the two of them goof off together, noticing an energy between the two that made him feel small and incredibly numb.
Eventually, they flopped on the ground, too tired to skate anymore and the sun had long since set. Beomgyu couldn’t ignore the subtle glances from the other two. Or the way their arms overlapped as the laid on the ground next to each other. He had never felt farther away.
That night, Kai had asked them if they wanted to crash at his place that was walking distance from the park, but Gyu had refused, opting to go home where he had assumed that Taehyun would follow. Instead, he went home alone, to curl up in bed and watching videos the two of them sent to him almost all night. He tried to ignore his gut turning as he imagined them in bed together, watching videos together with Taehyun’s head on Kai’s chest with their legs intertwined.
Beomgyu should have seen the signs. He wished he had kept this one part of his life to himself. Knees pulled to his chest, he couldn’t imagine anything about the skatepark than Kai and Taehyun probably stealing kisses behind the stands or giving each other special names. Spiraling, he barely even registered his phone lighting up with a message from an unknown number.
Beommie!!! <3 Taehyunnie gave me your number.
I hope your arm isn’t hurting you too badly tonight.
You looked really pretty with the sling I picked out for you <3 <3
The sling that he…?
Taehyunnie obviously had the final say about which one we gave you.
I hope you get some rest and join us next time <3
Refusing to acknowledge the text, he immediately turned his phone off for the night. He had restless sleep, bitter dreams of Taehyun and Kai trading kisses in secret, trading whispers behind his back.
It felt like a decade until he could go back to the skate park. His hair had grown into his eyes and the sun started to burn hotter during the day. The three of them were going to meet, and Gyu spent the entire bus ride fiddling with his bangs, wishing he had pinned them back.
Stepping into the sun, he saw Kai already waiting for him, a bright smile on his face. Beomgyu found it hard to not find his loud voice endearing, but then he remembered the way Taehyun looks at him. Bitterness settled deep in his gut, killing any fondness for the tall blonde. A grip on his waist surprised him and he jumped, quickly turning around to see Taehyun. He let out the cutest giggle that made his gut wrench and Kai joined his laugh. It was hard not to smile at the two of them, even if it had the aftertaste of sadness.
The wind on his cheeks felt so freeing as he coasted around the park. His hair was just long enough that it whistled by his ears, and he let out a cheer when he bolted a trick, even his simple ones. Kai and Taehyun cheered along with him, giving props with their boards. It was a good feeling. It was easy as long as he ignored his bitter jealousy. It was hard to feel jealous when Tae watched him with a wide smile, eyes big and Kai cheering along with him.
He gained confidence as the day went on, relishing having his arm out of the sling, getting a little riskier with his moves. Taehyun sat on the sidelines, keeping a close eye on him as he skated, but Kai was doing laps around him, seeming to bait the competition out of Beomgyu. The later in the day, the more people cleared from the skatepark, and confidence grew. Kai showed off some tricks that Gyu hadn’t seen, like grinding down the staircase.
“Beom, don’t even try it!” Taehyun’s voice cut through his intrusive thoughts. He sent a sharky grin to him, but a hand on his shoulder made him stop.
Kai was looking down at him, hair in his eyes. “I can show you how I did that in a few days once you get used to being back on a board. I’ve been told I’m a pretty good teacher.”
Beomgyu stared up into his eyes, suddenly forgetting what his mischievous plan even was. Kai’s mouth was pulled into a smirk, cute demeanor having melted off his face, and under his breath, he issued a challenge.
“I bet I can beat you to the other side of park lot faster than you.”
Gyu was off before either one even said go, speeding past people, Taehyun half-heartedly shouting after them. He would be damned if he let this prick who invaded on his life, on his Taehyun beat him. Beomgyu slammed his foot into the ground to propel him forward, wind roaring past his ears, hair no doubt a mess. He couldn’t even see Kai anywhere near him, no doubt his huge ass slowing him down.
The parking lot approached quickly, and Beomgyu had to slam on the breaks, slipping off his board and nearly wiping out again. But, he won. Kai strolled up a few moments later with wide eyes.
“Beommie,” Kai breathed out, “You’re like really fast.”
Beomgyu beamed with pride over winning the race.
“Does your hair not get in your eyes when you skate?”
“Not as much as your ass gets in your way of winning a race,” Beomgyu quipped back, grin sharky.
Kai let out a good natured loud laugh. “You know what it probably did slow me down a little.”
Damn. He made it hard to hate him. Beomgyu kicked his board up and went back to Taehyun, considerably less sad than when he come to the park.
That night, Taehyun slept over, his usual pile of blankets that they kept in Gyu’s closet for when he sleeps over, making a little pallet on the ground beside his bed. They spent about an hour of silently sending each other videos, more times than not trading the same video between them, until Taehyun fell asleep for the night. Beomgyu felt restless, the adrenaline of the day making him jittery. He felt like he was riding the high of two victories over the blonde today. First the race and second Taehyun sleeping in his room. In between asleep and awake, Beomgyu had dreamed of kissing Taehyun for years, and couldn’t even feel guilt this close to sleep. But recently, Kai had been included in his dreams, his loud laugh breaking the silence. At first Beomgyu found himself sick, but something about the three of them worked in his mind in this semi-sleep. Kai’s comment about being a good teacher echoed in his brain as mouths moved together and faces transformed. Suddenly, his mind sobered from sleep and he sat up.
“Shit.”
It was no secret to Beomgyu that the one true steady in his life, other than his parents and his guitar, was that he was helplessly in love with Kang Taehyun.
Something that was a secret to Beomgyu until recently was that he maybe had more complicated emotions for Kai Kamal Huening than he originally thought.
A few days later, Kai arrived to the skate park with a bandana to keep Beomgyu’s hair out of his eyes. Tae said he looked handsome and he rode the high for the rest of the day.
Taehyun traded days on who he stayed with, and it got progressively harder for Gyu to find reasons to not stay with both, but his pride wouldn’t let him.
Days later, Kai finally made good on his promise to teach Gyu how to grind on the rail on the stairs. He managed to make it look flawless, effortless and distracting to try to learn. Taehyun unsurprisingly picked up on it immediately, looking up to the blonde immediately for praise or correction, and swelled with pride when Kai cheered for him. Beomgyu on the other hand, had many, many more failures to deal with before Taehyun could sense his frustration and suggested they take a break.
An angry, resolute chuckle under his breath told Taehyun to back off. Kai laughed at the immediate response.
Beomgyu geared up to succeed this time, enough failures to show him what he did wrong. He adjusted his bandana to get the hair out of his eyes, and took a deep breath. Immediately, he knew he kicked off wrong and needed to bail, but the angle was wrong, he was going to go down—needed to protect his head.
The next thing he knew, he was on the ground, leg pounding, wind knocked out of him. Kai was at his side, sitting him up, and Taehyun was already checking his injuries.
“Did you hit your head, Beomgyu?” Taehyun asked, grabbing his head and searching it all over.
“If he did, Taehyunnie, you shouldn’t be shaking him around like that,” Kai said, letting Beomgyu lean on his side. “I didn’t see him hit his head but he did manage to rough up his leg pretty bad.”
Once he could breathe again, the pain finally hit him, and he wished it was nighttime to disguise the tears springing in his eyes. Taehyun was checking his bad arm for breaks, but seemed satisfied before moving to his leg where he let out a hiss.
“Come on, Beom, we gotta get you home and clean that one up.”
Kai nodded in agreement, “Yeah your leg looks like raw meat, Beommie.”
Beomgyu blanched at that, tears beginning to fall, refusing to look at his leg, covering his eyes. Before he realized it, he was off the ground. Uncovering his eyes, he saw none other than Kai holding him in his arms like he was some little kid.
“You’ve wiped out enough for one day, I think Beommie,” he chirped cutely, and Beomgyu really could hit him. Being carried out of the park is humiliating in a way he didn’t want to experience.
“I can walk,” he said decidedly, squirming until he put him down. Taehyun watched with an empty expression.
The pain in his leg was almost unbearable and he made the mistake of looking down at the damage, even for a second. Taehyun caught him just in time, and Kai took the initiative to once again pick him up.
A very quiet, almost unheard, “I told you so,” came from Kai as they began walking down the street.
“Aren’t we going to the bus?” Beomgyu asked, trying to keep the warble out of his voice, but failing.
“Kai lives just down the street and will patch you up there.”
It was already decided. Beomgyu couldn’t argue anymore than he could look at his shredded leg.
Beomgyu kept his eyes closed even as they entered the home, afraid that he might see his leg again and get sick.
“You should’ve listened to me and taken a break, Beom,” Terry said decidedly as he was placed on some sort of counter.
He wished he had listened. Kai had gone silent, maybe left the room entirely.
“Is it broken?” Beomgyu managed to ask sounding like he was only crying a little bit. It’s the small victories.
“Definitely not. But Drs. Kai and Taehyunnie are in the house and can make sure we get you fit as a fiddle,” Kai was back, speaking in his cute way that was trying to cheer him up, but it only made him feel embarrassed.
This time Taehyun spoke, “Okay, Beom, I am going to clean your leg and it will probably hurt. Just don’t kick me.”
Taehyun prepared him by grabbing his knee right above his wound before cleaning it. The string of expletives that flew from Gyu’s mouth at the pain made Kai have to leave the bathroom he was laughing so hard. Down the hall you could hear the blonde howling.
“I just told you not to kick me, Beom.”
“Sorry it just—SHIT DUDE THAT HURTS HOLY FUCK!” Beomgyu shouted, but managed to keep from kicking out again.
Once Kai managed to compose himself, he reentered the room.
“I have the bandages for the patient,” Kai said in a voice lower than his own. Beomgyu would have played along if the pain from his leg didn’t put him in such a bad mood.
“Thank you doctor.” At least Taehyun was there to play along with his cute antics.
He wound a bandage around his leg and finally Beomgyu could open his eyes again, leaning back on the mirror, scrubbing at his eyes. Tae was securing his bandage while Kai made a huge show about retrieving something from his pocket. He produced two cute bandaids that were the same kind Taehyun brought him after his arm injury. The disappointment of learning Taehyun didn’t specially get them for Gyu still sat heavy on his stomach.
“Did Taehyun buy you those too?” Beomgyu asked, steadying his breathing as Taehyun wrapped another round.
“Huh?” Kai asked, trying to trace the steps that Beomgyu took in his mind. “Oh. No! I had asked Taehyunnie to bring you some that I bought specially for you! I think a cute bandaid can heal an injury faster.”
Something about his smile made Beomgyu flush a bright red and wished that the lights in the bathroom made it less apparent.
“The cute little bears reminded me of you Beommie. Please let me use my doctor skills to heal you,” he said, pitching his voice lower again to get into character.
He kissed one bandied with cute little bears on it, placing it pointlessly over his already wrapped leg. The other, he placed on Beomgyu’s cheek, quickly following it with a kiss like he did to the other bandaid, turning Gyu bright red and embarrassed. Taehyun’s eyes shone as he watched the two of them, and quickly placed a kiss in the same spot. Beomgyu was afraid he was blushing so hard that he would explode. He wished to die but also to be looked at like this forever.
Before he knew it he was once again lifted off the counter, and Taehyun supported him as he hobbled into what he assumed was Kai’s room, where Taehyun carefully laid him on the bed propping up his head like he was made of glass. Kai came piling in, jumping on the other side. They all took their place, intertwining arms and laying on each other’s chests watching videos together off of one phone.
Two things were not a secret to Beomgyu. And both of those things held his hands tightly, even as they dozed to sleep.