Night Rider- Tyunning

Dear sputnik

It has been weeks since Taehyun had heard from Hyuka. Beomgyu was doing his best to help him out but Tae could sense the same worry in his voice. He didnt understand how the older has done this for years. The waiting. The wondering. It killed him.

Beomgyu told him that Hyuka was always worth the wait and that he didnt know what he would do without Soobin.

So Taehyun did his best to keep himself busy. He hung out with his friends, picked up extra shifts, and flew Kai at least twice a week. Anything to distract himself from waiting around for a letter.

On the flights with Kai, his goal was find places to take Hyuka. Beomgyu and Soobin gave him permission to tell the love of his life about the dragons if he ever came back to the midwest. Yeonjun got the same permission, only because the couple knew Hyuka was going to tell him regardless.

None of the places seemed good enough. He felt like it had to be grand, extra special to live up to the adventures Hyuka had daily. He began to think he was too boring, that Hyuka would leave him because he wasnt used to settling.

Taehyun thrived in a stable life. Having a routine that Beomgyu and Soobin established, made his soul happy. His working days were always the same. School times were always the same. Flights with Kai was always his days off. Monotony compared to Hyuka's chaos.

For the almost 13 year old, there was comfort always knowing what came next. Predictability equaled reliability. Perhaps thats why he was so drawn to Hyuka... a boy who made it his goal in life to live on a whim.

Taehyun never knew when he would hear from the other again. Part of him loved the excitement that came when he did hear from Hyuka. The other part couldnt stand the suspense in between.

The first week Hyuka was gone, he tried to text him but forgot the other changed his number. Beomgyu gave him his new address so he could write a letter but Taehyun could never figure out what to say. Every time he started a draft, it ended up in the trash.

He began to doubt that Hyuka actually would send a birthday gift to him. Why would he? His thoughts went dark when he was having another depressing conversation with Soobin. "He probably met someone else who is more interesting, more outgoing, better looking, someone who doesnt hate himself..."

Soobin hugged the poor kid and said "just wait until your birthday. You'll see!"

"If I dont get a present then can I panic?"

Soobin softly laughed "no because what if it's late? It is coming from another country after all."

Taehyun pouted on the living room couch. "Fine. But Im not waiting longer than a week!"

"That's fair." They went back to gaming after that.

On Taehyun's 13th birthday, he was greeted with his favorite breakfast courtesy of Soobin. Beomgyu gave him a small package. "Open it! I hope you like it. We got it in New York!"

The gift was a stack of photocards of his favorite kpop band, BTS. He shuffled through all of them and picked out the ones that featured Jungkook. Those cards went into a little scrap book, which he would sort by his own system later. The rest of the BTS members would go into a seperate binder, some to be sold, some to be traded and others to be kept because they looked nice.

Taehyun hugged the couple and told them how happy he was. With a bit of hope in his tone, he asked "are there any other gifts?"

Soobin and Beomgyu grinned and teased "yeah..."

Taehyun couldnt see any other packages in their hands so he was a little confused. "Is it a letter? Is it from Hyuka?"

Soobin replied "yes and yes."

The anticipation was killing the birthday boy. "Well?! Can I have it?!"

Beomgyu grabbed his hand and pulled him out of bed. Taehyun got dragged to the dining room and was pushed into the nearest chair. There was a letter on the table and nothing else. He looked at the couple very confused.

The couple couldnt stop smiling. Beomgyu placed the letter in his hands and dramatically opened the seal. Taehyun rolled his eyes as he finished opening it.

"Taehyunnie! I hope you get this in time. I paid extra for it to be delivered a few days early."

Taehyun yelled "A FEW DAYS EARLY?!"

Beomgyu told him to shut up and continue reading the letter.

"I just wanna say HAPPY BIRTHDAY CUTIE! Youre a teenager now! Can you believe it?! I told you I would write to you! Did you miss me?"

Taehyun saw a very big gap with a line in the middle of the page. He thinks Hyuka meant for him to write in a response to his question. His eyes rolled again but this time he smiled.

"I miss you too. I really am sorry Ive been so busy. Ive used all of my free time to make you something. Yeonjun helped me a lot.

It's so pretty here! Ive surfed, Ive snorkled and Ive even gone cage diving with sharks!

Yeonjun decided to take a year off of school so we can go to college together. Ive started online classes and Ive already gone through 2 months worth of material. Didnt you say you skipped a grade too? Study harder and you can skip another one like me! We could graduate with Soobin and Beomgyu!"

Taehyun stopped to think about that for a moment. If he cut his hours at his job, he could put a lot more time into studying. It wasnt entirely impossible. It also wasnt like Soobin and Beomgyu let him buy stuff for the house. His money was just sitting in his account, waiting to be used.

"I'll tell you more when I can actually write to you again. Write me back please. Send me a picture of you! Im up to Yeonjun's chin now! Can you believe it? I cant wait until Im taller than him!"

The birthday boy looked up at the couple and asked "how tall is Yeonjun?"

Beomgyu said "about my height. Hyuka's dad is maybe an inch shorter than Soobin. Kid is going to be tall. It'll be so weird to see if he really does end up being his dad's height."

Taehyun thought of Hyuka changing more and it freaked him out. He kept reading to distract himself from his own thoughts.

"I won't write to you until you write to me cutie. Now I bet you're wondering where your present is. Flip the page over and type in the sound cloud link. I've been working on the song for a few months but I couldnt finish it until I thought of you. The vocals are me and Yeonjun. You wanted something just for us right? I wrote, composed, produced and co-sang just for us! Listen to it. I hope you like it as much as I like you. Happy birthday! Write to me soon!

-Kai"

Taehyun leaped out of his chair to grab his phone. Soobin caught him and sat him back down. He chuckled as he said "I already have it pulled up on my phone. Just press play. It's really good."

Taehyun hit play. As the song progressed, his heart swelled with overwhelming love. His mind was transported to a vision of him and his soul mate, flying on Kai's back through the stars. They were flying into their future. Eternally together.

Hyuka had no idea how much meaning the "fly" parts of his song possessed to Taehyun. He unknowingly created a song describing his future, to the person he would spend it with. He wrote it as a metaphor but to Taehyun it wasnt going to be.

The now 13 year old, no longer cared where he took Hyuka with Kai. Being with him in the stars was all that mattered. "Dear Sputnik" wasnt just a great song because of it's composition or because of the two people singing it. It was a great song because it was theirs.

Tae played it over and over as he wrote his letter. What was once hard to do, suddenly became easy. He took Kai out at night, on a journey to the post office. The snow started lightly falling as the temperatures reached below zero but Taehyun only felt the warmth in his heart. Now all he had to do was wait.