(this is just pure fluff. I love Kai 🥺)
This has been sitting in my drafts for about a month. What better coming back fic than a cutsie one? (I will edit this later I am too lazy to do it now 😭)
Huening Kai had a habit. It wasn’t a bad habit, at least not to him, but it was definitely noticeable.
Especially when it came to you.
There was something about you that made his eyes gravitate your way like gravity itself bent a little harder around you. He didn’t always realize he was doing it, at least not until someone (usually Soobin) snapped a finger in front of his face or made some offhanded comment like “You’re gonna burn a hole through her, dude.” But even then, Kai would just blink, offer a soft shrug, and go right back to gazing.
And right now, sprawled out on the soft checkered picnic blanket beneath the warming spring sun, you were the epicenter of his universe.
You were talking, animatedly, passionately, about some ridiculous conspiracy theory you’d fallen down a rabbit hole about the night before. Something about pigeons being replaced by government surveillance drones. Your hands flailed around like you were painting the evidence in the air, your eyes wide, your lips tugging into a grin every time you said something you knew sounded unhinged. You were glowing with energy, alive in a way that made even the wind pause to listen.
Kai wasn’t listening to the theory. Not really.
His mind was too full of you.
The way your hair caught the light and shimmered like silk in the sun. The way your nose scrunched when you laughed at your own absurdity. The smudge of chocolate from the picnic dessert still lingering on the corner of your mouth because you’d been too excited to tell your story to bother wiping it away.
He didn’t even realize he was smiling.
He just… did. Softly. Secretly. The kind of smile that bloomed without permission and warmed his whole face like sunlight on fresh skin. You were like that—always managing to pull him out of himself, without even trying. He could sit here all day, just watching you talk, watching you exist.
God, he was so in love with you.
“—I mean, think about it,” you insisted, eyes wide with exaggerated conviction as you reached into the picnic basket, grabbing a strawberry and holding it up like it was Exhibit A in a trial that only you were taking seriously. “Have you ever actually seen a baby pigeon?”
You pointed the fruit at him like it held the answer to the universe, your eyebrows raised in a way that demanded agreement, or at the very least, stunned awe.
Kai blinked, caught off guard, not by the theory, but by you.
You were glowing, in your own ridiculous, unapologetically passionate way. The sun hit your face at just the right angle, tracing the line of your cheek with a warmth that made you seem almost surreal. Your hair danced a little in the breeze, your lips slightly stained from the strawberry you’d eaten earlier, and your eyes. God, your eyes were sparkling with a light that had nothing to do with the sun.
He was trying, really, trying to focus on what you were saying. He heard the words. They passed through the air and reached his ears, but they never quite made it to his brain. Not when your voice was laced with that kind of excitement, and your expressions changed with every breath, every thought.
“Uh…” he murmured, dragging his gaze away from your lips to your eyes. “I don’t think so?”
“Exactly!” you gasped, eyes widening even further as you sat up straighter, triumphant. “Because they don’t exist! The government replaces them with robotic pigeons that spy on us!”
You bit into the strawberry dramatically, like you’d just dropped a national secret.
A soft chuckle rumbled from his chest, rich and low, barely restrained. It wasn’t mocking, not even close. It was affection, wrapped in amusement, carried on the breath of someone completely and hopelessly captivated. His lips curved into that soft, familiar smile. The one he reserved just for you. The one that tugged at the corners of his mouth like it was tied to his heartstrings, like it bloomed whenever you did.
“You’re seriously insane,” he said, shaking his head, but his voice was too gentle to be anything but enamored.
And in that moment, as you wiped strawberry juice from your fingers with a grin and launched into yet another “piece of undeniable proof,” Kai knew two things for certain.
One: He would listen to you talk about conspiracy theories all day if it meant seeing you like this.
And two: No matter how ridiculous your words were, to him, they always sounded like poetry.
You paused mid-ramble, the triumphant gleam in your eyes fading into something squintier, sharper. Suspicious.
“Why are you smiling like that?”
Kai didn’t even try to pretend. His head tilted slightly, the corners of his mouth still curved in that soft, unshakable smile that always made your stomach feel like it was doing gentle somersaults.
“Because you’re cute,” he said simply, like it was the most obvious answer in the world. Your breath hitched.
Heat bloomed across your cheeks before you could stop it, spreading fast like your skin was suddenly too aware of itself. You laughed, flustered, and immediately waved him off, desperate to redirect the attention. “I’m talking about government pigeons, Kai.”
“I know,” he said, completely unbothered, his grin only widening as he leaned in slightly, resting his chin on his palm. “But you’re really cute when you talk about random stuff like this. You get all excited and wave strawberries around like you’re in court.”
You groaned, dragging your hands up to cover your face, your voice muffled behind your palms. “You’re embarrassing me.”
Kai only laughed, warm and genuine, that melodic kind of laugh that always made your chest flutter. Before you could retreat any further into the safety of your own hands, he gently reached out, curling his fingers around your wrists with featherlight care and pulling them down. His touch was soft, sure, like he’d done it a thousand times before in a hundred different ways—like your skin knew his already.
And when your hands dropped, he didn’t let go.
Instead, his fingers found yours naturally, sliding into place like they were made to fit. Effortless, familiar, home.
“I mean it,” he murmured, his voice softer now, low and sincere, as if he was saying something sacred. He gave your hand a light squeeze, eyes locked on yours, no teasing in them this time. “I love listening to you. Even when it’s about robot pigeons and government spy birds.”
Your heart did something ridiculous in your chest, tripping over itself at the way he looked at you. Not like you were silly or strange or just something to laugh at. But like you were the most fascinating thing he’d ever seen. Like your words, no matter how absurd, were his favorite sound.
You tried to respond, to say something witty, maybe even roll your eyes and laugh it off, but the words never came. Not when Kai was looking at you like that. Not when his thumb brushed gently over the back of your hand, grounding you with the quiet intensity of his affection.
Because in that moment, under the open sky, surrounded by crumbs and berries and bad theories, it wasn’t just his habit of staring that gave him away.
The way his thumb never stopped tracing slow circles against your skin. The way his eyes lingered on your face like he was memorizing it in real-time. The way his smile softened when you got flustered, like he adored every little crack in your composure because it made you real, made you you.
You pouted, just a little, trying to be playful even as your heart thudded like it was trying to climb its way out of your chest. “Even when I’m talking nonsense?”
Kai didn’t hesitate, not for a second.
“Especially when you’re talking nonsense.”
Your breath caught again, and this time you didn’t bother hiding the way your lips curled at the corners. It was silly. It was simple, and yet, it made something in you ache in the softest, most beautiful way. Like being seen, and still chosen, flaws and all, wasn’t something you were used to.
The thing about Huening Kai was that he never made you feel self-conscious.
Not when you went on long, winding tangents about absurd things. Not when your voice cracked from laughing too hard. Not when you nervously tugged at your sleeves or shifted uncomfortably, afraid your body took up too much space. Not even when you paused mid-sentence, second-guessing whether what you were saying was worth hearing.
He never looked at you with anything less than pure adoration. Like every inch of you, every curve and every quirk, was something he’d treasure if only you’d let him.
He saw you, not the polished version, or the carefully curated self you showed the world, but the real you. The messy, passionate, chaotic version that stumbled through conspiracy theories and spilled fruit juice on her shirt. And somehow, in that gentle, disarming way that only Kai could manage, he made you believe that version was enough.
With a breathy sigh, you gave in to the feeling, letting yourself fall backward onto the blanket. The sky above you was a watercolor swirl of fading blue and cotton candy clouds, but your focus was fuzzy, caught somewhere between the rhythm of his thumb on your hand and the echo of his words in your head.
“You’re too sweet for your own good, Kai,” you muttered, squinting at the sky like maybe it held the answer for how someone could be so effortlessly kind.
He chuckled, that low, melodic sound vibrating the air between you as he laid down beside you, shoulder brushing yours. His fingers never left yours, still intertwined like they belonged that way. Like maybe they’d been waiting to find their match all this time.
“Or maybe,” he said softly, eyes on the same sky, “I’m just in love.” Your heart didn’t just melt, it folded.
Folded under the weight of something so tender, so honest, it stole the breath from your lungs. Because there was no dramatics in his tone. No performance. Just quiet certainty, spoken like a truth he’d carried for a while now, like it had settled into his chest and made itself at home.
You turned your head to look at him, eyes wide, throat tight. He didn’t look away.
He just smiled at you. Calm, steady, completely unafraid of what he’d just said.
And suddenly, the conspiracy theories didn’t feel so unbelievable.
Because maybe the wildest, most impossible thing of all… was that someone like Huening Kai could love you that deeply.
Your lips curved into a soft smile. “Lucky for you, I am too.” Kai grinned, bringing your hand up to press a gentle kiss against your knuckles.
He was so in love with you.
