Short Stories-Kai Ships Only! Volume 3

Sookai- Loss

It was sunny. A little too sunny for the two best friend's liking. Kai got up from his patch of grass to walk five feet backwards towards the large red oak tree. He then sat under it and rested his back against the trunk. A soft breeze swept over both of them as Soobin sat down. Kai handed him an ice cold bottle of hard cider then raised his own. "Cheers."

"Cheers." Soobin took a large sip. The beverage wasn't nearly as strong as he would've liked it to be. "What are we toasting exactly?"

"Actually having some free time." Kai downed half of his then set it to the side. "So what did you want to talk about?"

"What? Can't want to spend a little time with you?"

"You can." Kai unwrapped the tin foil from his giant roast beef sandwich and began to eat. "But I know you so you might as well say what's on your mind."

Soobin unwrapped his own sandwich when hunger took over. Their food was the exact same only Kai had spicy mayo in contrast to Soobin's low fat. "You know how our dads wanted us to get married a few years ago?"

"Yeah?"

"What do you think our lives would've been like if we had?"

Kai thought the question was odd considering he was married and Soobin was about to be until his fiance died last year. He then remembered the anniversary of Beomgyu's death was tomorrow. Feeling sorry for him, he decided to play along. "No idea. I'm sure I would've driven you crazy."

"You? Never." Soobin took a large bite then teased "you don't really do much."

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

Soobin chuckled while swallowing his food. "It's not a bad thing. You don't really give anyone a reason to hate you becuse you're never around."

"I'm invisible? Is that what you're saying Choi?"

"Hey! That's a lot of talk for someone who's married to one!"

"You two are NOT related!"

"And thank god for that."

Kai took another sip of cider while watching an elderly couple walk around the park. The two stopped in front of a bench to feed some ducks some seeds from their pockets. He thought it was cute. Still watching them, he said "don't worry. Yeonjun feels the same way."

Soobin's depression started to sink in when he started watching the couple along with Kai. "Beomgyu loved Yeonjun. He always said they were like brothers."

"They basically were from what Yeonjun told me. Did everything together. Apparently no one could irritate him more and no one was more there for him too after... you know."

Soobin very much knew. Kai being gone was the second hardest thing he ever had to go through. The only things that topped those were losing his mother and losing his fiance. Both were tied for the worst things that had ever happened to him. "You have no idea how much I missed you Kai... in some ways I think I missed you more than Yeonjun."

"I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault. It's just... whenever Beomgyu was helping Yeonjun pull himself together, there wasn't anyone helping me. Taehyun was busy with his dad trying to find you. I just felt useless. Then when you came back, you spent all of your time with him. And I get it. I'm not holding that against you at all. I would've done the same thing with Beomgyu. It's just-"

"-I know..." Kai rested his head on Soobin's shoulder and held his hand. "I really am sorry. For everything. I still think I could've saved him if I came back earlier."

"Kai. You were drugged. It wasn't your fault."

Kai wasn't about to argue with someone who needed him. He had already done enough guilt dumping onto his therapist. Soobin didn't deserve that. "So what do you think would've happened if we married each other instead?"

"Your dad would probably be still alive."

"Yeah..." Kai still wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. He missed his dad when his birthday came around but that's about it. "We probably would've had two kids by now."

"Two?"

"Why? How many do you think?"

"Probably four or more actually. If we got married when they wanted us to get married then it would've been what? Five years now? I don't think that's unreasonable."

"That's a lot of kids." Kai became a little sad when the elderly couple ran out of seeds. The birds flew away towards the other end of the pond after they finished eating them up. "For the record, you'd make an amazing father."

"Thanks. You too."

"God, I hope so. Yeonjun says they'll be born any day now. I bet him it would be another two weeks."

"What does the loser have to do?"

"You don't wanna know."

Soobin feigned a smile then downed the rest of his cider. "You're not wrong about that."

"Yeonjun wants to name one of the boys Beomgyu if that's okay with you."

"You don't need my permission."

"Soobin..." Kai lifted his head to look up at him. The taller was close to crying like he assumed. "We don't have to. Yeonjun will understand."

Soobin softly began to cry as he nodded his head. "It's-it's okay. I want you too."

Kai gently wiped his best friend's tears after kissing his forehead. "Are you sure?"

"I-I know how much he meant to Yeonjun... it's okay." Soobin tried to smile but ended up sobbing harder. Kai caught him in his arms. Everything he had been holding back was released onto the younger's shoulder. "I miss him so much..."

Kai weakly whispered "I miss him too..."

"If-if I married you instead then he'd still be alive..."

Kai kissed his forehead again then squeezed him tighter. "You wouldn't have been as happy with me. He loved you more than I could've."

"I still love him..."

"I know. And it's okay." Kai looked up from Soobin's shoulder to see his husband standing in the distance. Just from looking into his eyes, he knew Yeonjun was debating on giving them space or not. With a subtle flick of his head, he silently told his husband he could come.

Soobin turned around when he heard someone sit behind him. He did his best to pretend like he was okay when he saw it was Yeonjun. "Hey."

"Hey..."

"S-sorry for keeping him for so long. I know you guys have stuff to do."

"You don't need to apologize. I already told the directors Kai was sick and I was taking care of him."

Soobin allowed himself to smile. He appreciated the hell out of the couple for everything they've done for him. "Thanks. I um, I told Kai it was okay."

"What was?"

"To name one of the boys Beomgyu."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure."

"Thank you Soobin."

"You guys should get going. I need to speak to Taehyun anyways."

Kai helped his best friend to his feet while Yeonjun threw away the trash. "You wanna do dinner tonight? Or we can go racing again!"

"Promise to not let me win because you feel bad for me?"

"I promise."

"I love you Kai. I'll see you guys tonight."

"I love you too. See you Soobin." Kai walked away hand in hand with his husband and told him what their conversation was about. Two minutes later, they got an emergency call from the hospital saying their surrogates were in labor. They ran like hell with Soobin trailing behind them.

36 hours later, Soobin entered a hospital room to see a baby boy in Kai's arms. "Hey. He's so cute! Which one is this?"

"Beomgyu. I thought you might want to hold him."

Soobin took the baby boy in his arms and started to sob again. This time they were happy tears because when he said his name, the little boy smiled at him.