“Mama?” little Hakyeon yawned, “what’s going on? Where are you going?”

“I’m needed in the barn, sweetie,” the woman smiled, “Taeyeon is giving birth.”

“She’s having the baby?” Hakyeon grinned, rushing after his mother, “can I see?”

“Not yet,” she told him, “for now, I need you to stay here and keep an eye on Hongbin. Can you do that for me?”

“Ok,” Hakyeon sighed, clearly unhappy not to see the birth of what was sure to be his newest friend.

“I’ll bring you out to see the baby after,” his mother promised and Hakyeon nodded happily.

His mother could be held to her word because a few hours later she was leading Hakyeon into the barn.

“Yeonnie!” Wonsik grinned, rushing to his friend’s side the second he saw him, “I have a brother! He’s so cute! You have to see him.”

“Ok!” Hakyeon giggled excitedly, following the other.

The pair came to a stop in front of the only open stall in the barn. Hakyeon carefully peeked around the door, suddenly very shy about meeting the newly born centaur. Wonsik just laughed at his friend’s silliness before heading inside to stand beside his mother.

“Hakyeon,” the female centaur smiled kindly, “come meet Sanghyuk.”

Hakyeon slowly made his way over, eyes widening as he took in Sanghyuk. While Wonsik clearly took after his father with white hair and strong build that was already evident at two years old, Sanghyuk took after his mother. Like his brother he was fair haired, but his was more blond then Wonsik’s. More like his mother.

Sanghyuk was also a natural beauty like his mother. Even only an hour or so old, it was clear to all that Sanghyuk would be incredibly handsome when he got older. Hakyeon couldn’t wait to see it.

“He’ll do some great things,” Sanghyuk and Wonsik’s father spoke up from the next stall, “he’ll be winning all the competitions for sure.”

“Now now,” both mothers laughed, “don’t put so much pressure on the young boy. He was only just born.”

Hakyeon and Wonsik didn’t know what competitions their parents were talking about, their focus was on the little baby centaur.

--

“Sanghyuk!” Hakyeon screamed, trying to keep up with the young five year old centaur running across the field, “get back here! Mom said I have to give you a bath.”

“I can give myself a bath,” Sanghyuk yelled back, “I’m not a baby!”

“You’re running away from a bath,” Hakyeon countered, “that makes you a baby!”

Sanghyuk suddenly stopped, apparently realizing that the young human was right. Hakyeon, however, did not have the luck of stopping as gracefully as the centaur. The human ended tripping over his feet and rolling over a couple times before coming to a complete stop.

“Yeonnie?” Sanghyuk rushed to the other’s side, “are you alright?”

“Fine,” Hakyeon sighed, slowly sitting up, “sometimes I wish I was like you and Wonsik. Then I could suddenly stop like that and be all naturally graceful and junk.”

“I think you’re fine the way you are,” Sanghyuk grinned, leaning down to pick grass and twigs out of Hakyeon’s hair, “I want to be a human like you.”

“Why?” Hakyeon asked, not at all understanding how someone like Sanghyuk could want to be human like him.

“You get to go to school,” Sanghyuk shrugged, “and sleep in a house with a bed that’s a real bed.” Sanghyuk paused, “I wouldn’t wear pants, though. They’d be too tight. Don’t know why you and Binnie wear them all the time.”

Hakyeon couldn’t help but laugh at that and Sanghyuk joined him.

--

“I want to train to be in competitions.”

“I want to train with Sanghyuk as his rider.”

Hakyeon blinked at he looked at the serious expressions on Sanghyuk and Hongbin’s faces. Were they really serious? They wanted to compete? Hakyeon had been to one of the centaur competitions as part of a school trip and found it interesting. But enough to take part as a competitor?

“Are you sure?” his mother asked, sharing a look with Sanghyuk’s parents, “you realize just how hard you’re going to have to work in order to do this, right?”

“We know,” Sanghyuk nodded, “and we want to try.”

“We want to start competing when we turn thirteen,” Hongbin added, “that’s the age limit, right? We want to be ready for that.”

“I’m alright with it if you are,” Sanghyuk’s father said, “and I can train them.”

“Fine,” both mothers nodded after a moment and the two seven year olds cheered before rushing off to tell Wonsik the good news.

“Do you want to train as well?” Hakyeon looked up when his mother turned her attention to him.

“Not really,” Hakyeon shrugged, “I know how to ride enough to get around the farm and that’s enough. If Wonsik was interested I’d consider it, but I think I’ll pass.”

By the end of the year, Hakyeon changed his mind. Something about watching Hongbin and Sanghyuk out training each day with the younger’s father made him think twice about joining them in training.  So he asked Wonsik if he was interested and when the centaur said he was…..

Hakyeon stayed firm on not wanting to actually compete like his brother and Sanghyuk, though. He’d much rather watch. Or teach others how to ride.

--

“Come home with me today,” Hakyeon grinned at his best friend, “I’ve been to your house, so I want to show you mine.”

“Alright,” Taekwoon nodded after a moment. He’d never been to a farm with centaurs before, so it would defiantly be interesting.

As the bus pulled to a stop at the end of Hakyeon’s drive way after school that day, Taekwoon caught sight of a couple young centaurs running around the field. He couldn’t see them very well through the messy school bus window, but apparently Hongbin knew exactly who they were since he rushed off the bus calling out ‘Wonsik’ and ‘Sanghyuk’ at the top of his lungs.

Getting off the bus alongside Hakyeon, Taekwoon’s eyes locked onto one of the two centaurs. The centaur was beautiful, that was the first thought to enter Taekwoon’s head. From his fluffy blond hair to his black fur, he was a sight to behold. Taekwoon quickly realized he was in love with the beautiful centaur and chased after Hakyeon, unable to suppress his embarrassed blush.

Hakyeon didn’t seem to notice Taekwoon acting odd, he simply lead his friend to his bedroom so that they could get their homework done before Hakyeon introduced Taekwoon to everyone. Taekwoon wasn’t sure if he wanted to meet the centaur who’d stolen his heart yet or not. But he was going to meet him regardless, so at least doing homework provided him time to mental prepare.

Turned out, nothing could prepare him for his meeting with Sanghyuk.

The centaur was in the middle of jumping over one of the jumps Wonsik had helped set up earlier in the day with Hongbin on his back. Taekwoon watched, star struck, as Sanghyuk moved around the course that had been set up so he could practice. It was a thing of beauty and power that no one could look away from. How could anyone fault Taekwoon for that? For falling instantly in love with the gorgeous centaur?

“Hey,” Wonsik spoke up once Sanghyuk came to an almost perfect stop, “Hakyeon, who’s this?”

“This is Taekwoon,” Hakyeon said, grabbing Taekwoon’s arm and bringing him closer to the two centaurs and Hongbin, “that friend I told you about.”

“Nice to finally meet you,” Wonsik smiled, offering his hand, “I’m Wonsik.”

“Hongbin,” Hongbin said, quickly refocusing his attention on fixing Sanghyuk’s saddle, muttering about how it was getting too small the whole time.

“I’m Sanghyuk,” Sanghyuk nodded, looking Taekwoon over before focusing on Hongbin, “Bin, cut that out. It’s starting to pinch.”

“Not my fault,” Hongbin defended himself, “it’s too small.”

“I can get you my old saddle,” Wonsik offered, “it should be big enough.”

“Could you?” Hongbin and Sanghyuk flashed the older centaur grateful looks.

Taekwoon just watched the exchange feeling very much the third wheel. Well, more like fifth wheel. It also stung a lot that Sanghyuk had taken to ignoring him so quickly. It was like he wasn’t worthy of Sanghyuk even looking at him.

“Sanghyuk and Hongbin are going to start competing when they’re of age,” Hakyeon explained, “they’re going to be awesome at it.”

Taekwoon nodded, knowing that Hakyeon was right. They would be amazing once they started competing.

--

“We should rest,” Sanghyuk suggested, watching as Hongbin gulped down his water like it was his last meal.

“I’m fine,” Hongbin replied, “and I know you can keep going. We can’t afford to take it easy.”

“Alright,” Sanghyuk nodded, more than a little hesitant to agree.

“Just take it easy, alright?” Hakyeon suggested from the side lines, “don’t push too hard.”

“Will do!” Hongbin nodded, but everyone knew that his words were empty. Hongbin didn’t do things easy, he pushed hard and went all out. It was a trait he shared with Sanghyuk, a trait that simultaneously made them a great and horrible pair.  

Sanghyuk started the run easy, mindful of Hongbin’s state. But then Hongbin kept pushing him to go faster, to jump higher, and Sanghyuk couldn’t say no.

It proved to be a mistake halfway through the run when Hongbin started falling off.

Sanghyuk could do nothing to help, even though he tried.

Hongbin hit the ground with a pained cry and Sanghyuk almost fell to the ground himself as he tried to stop.

“Hongbin!” Hakyeon cried, rushing to the pair with Wonsik right behind him.

“Are you alright?” Jaehwan asked, helping Sanghyuk to his feet with Taekwoon’s help.

“Hongbin!” Sanghyuk called, pulling away without answering as he rushed to his partner’s side, “Hongbin, are you alright?”

“I think it’s just his leg,” Hakyeon said, “Wonsik, can you carry him to my car? I need to get him to a doctor.”

“Done,” Wonsik nodded, carefully lifting Hongbin into his arms and following Hakyeon out.

Sanghyuk just stood there, the guilt radiating from him almost tangible. Taekwoon wanted nothing more than to hug him, then to try to make Sanghyuk feel better. But he couldn’t, they weren’t close enough for that. And they never would be.

--

Sanghyuk watched at Hakyeon lead Taekwoon into the arena, a glare quickly forming on his face as he turned to Wonsik.

“Hongbin hasn’t even been injured a week,” Sanghyuk scowled, “and you’re already getting me a new rider? And Taekwoon of all people?”

“This isn’t a replacement or anything,” Wonsik quickly said, knowing all too well the dangers of upsetting his fellow centaur, brother, and best friend, “you need someone to help you train until we know if Hongbin can come back or not. And if he can’t.....well, maybe then we can think about Taekwoon being your new rider.”

“Yeah right,” Sanghyuk scoffed before turning back to the approaching humans, “he’s an abysmal rider, always making simple mistakes. Jaehwan could be winning competitions like us if he had a different rider.” Sanghyuk didn’t completely mean that, but he was a little too angry over his current situation to care about the harshness of his words.

“Sanghyuk,” Wonsik tried to scold him, but by this point the two humans were in ear shot and he couldn’t allow Taekwoon to know about Sanghyuk’s harsh words.

Even if they were kind of true.

“Don’t glare so much, Sanghyuk,” Hakyeon sighed, “you know you need to train each day if you want to be ready for that competition next month. Hongbin can’t train with you with his injury, so Taekwoon has to step in.” Hakyeon paused, “unless you’d like to pass on the competition.”

Sanghyuk glared at the human. Hakyeon just had to press that button, didn’t he? He knew the affect it would have, knew that Sanghyuk would never pass on winning an important competition he’d won for the last three years. He knew and he was using that to his advantage to get his way. Not that Sanghyuk should be surprised, Hakyeon had been doing this since they were young.

“Whatever,” Sanghyuk hissed before heading off to retrieve his saddle.

“He’s beautiful,” Taekwoon couldn’t help remark when Sanghyuk was out of ear shot.

“He is,” Hakyeon nodded, “I’ve always said he could have easily gone into the show category and won everything with those kinds of looks.”

“It’s part of the reason why he and Hongbin fit so well together,” Wonsik nodded with a small chuckle.

It was true, the handsome rider and beautiful centaur were quite the match from a visual standpoint. The fact that they worked so well together, almost like they shared the same mind at times, just made them a perfect fit when it came to winning riding competitions.

“He doesn’t like me, though,” Taekwoon sighed, not even trying to hide how much that hurt him.

Even if he did try to hide it, Hakyeon and Wonsik both knew his real feelings. Taekwoon had always had a crush on Sanghyuk. Ever since the day he’d first seen Sanghyuk playing out in the field, he’d been in love with him. Sanghyuk, however, never noticed Taekwoon or his feelings until the human decided to become a rider.

Even then, Sanghyuk only seemed to notice his mistakes.

Taekwoon didn’t fault Sanghyuk for it, though. The other had always been so focused on winning for a very good reason; it brought money in for Hakyeon and Hongbin’s family. The family had never really had too much money and around the time Sanghyuk started to compete they’d been thinking very seriously of selling everything since they were having so much trouble paying the bills.

Once Sanghyuk started competing and winning, that changed. The money he and Hongbin won was more than enough to pay for everything. It was something both took great pride in as proved by the shelves of ribbons and trophies they kept in the house and barn that were easily spotted once you entered either.

And when advertizing job offers came? They took those too, ensuring that not only that their home would stay their home, but that it could become home for other centaurs who needed a home. This brought more attention and more advertizing jobs.

And more work.

Being the main source of income was a very stressful position for both Sanghyuk and Hongbin. They were only thirteen when they started and being that kind of position was far too much stress for kids so young. It was why they were so grateful when Wonsik started to compete with Hakyeon later that year. Having the two fifteen year olds winning competitions took a lot of stress off.

Taekwoon knew Sanghyuk had been looking forewords to Jaehwan joining them on the leader boards when he turned thirteen and was able to compete, been so relieved at the idea of having someone else working to bring in money for the family that owned them. It didn’t matter that Jaehwan had only been eleven at the time, that Sanghyuk would have to wait a couple of years, he’d still been so happy about Jaehwan competing.

And then Taekwoon was assigned to be Jaehwan’s rider.

Jaehwan hadn’t started competing until he was sixteen and Taekwoon was twenty.

They’d been competing together for five years.

They had only placed in the top five once in the past three years.

--

“Focus,” Sanghyuk hissed, annoyed about having to say the same thing five times already, “you know where your hands should be, so why aren’t they there?”

“Sorry,” Taekwoon quickly apologized before fixing himself.

“You are improving,” Sanghyuk sighed when he glanced over his shoulder and caught sight of Taekwoon’s hurt expression, “and you have the skills to do very well. What you lack is the focus to actually do things correctly.”

“I’m sorry,” Taekwoon hung his head slightly, earning himself another tried sigh from Sanghyuk.

“Get off,” Sanghyuk said, “take five or something. You aren’t going to be able to do anything if you’re like this.”

“I’m--,” Sanghyuk cut him off.

“Stop apologizing,” the centaur huffed, “it started to grate on my nerves after the tenth apology in as many minutes an we’ve been at this for two hours.”

“I just want to be good for you,” Taekwoon sighed, carefully dismounting, “to make up for Hongbin not being here.”

“You can’t be at Hongbin level,” Sanghyuk told him, “no one can be at Hongbin’s level unless they train as long and as hard as he does.”

“Right,” Taekwoon sighed, hating how inept he was compared to Hongbin.

“You’ve got talent, Taekwoon,” Sanghyuk lightly smacked he human’s shoulder, “you can be a great rider if you just focus and remember what you’ve been taught.”

“Right,” Taekwoon nodded, to really believing Sanghyuk. Not with his pathetic performances the past five years since he started training to be a rider.

“Taekwoon,” Sanghyuk scowled, “do you know what I thought when I first saw you?”

“No.” Taekwoon wasn’t even aware Sanghyuk had ever really seen him until the first time he rode Jaehwan. Well, tried to anyway. Taekwoon had fallen off within seconds and Jaehwan accidently kicked him leaving a horrible bruise across his back.

“It was the first time Hakyeon brought you home after school,” Sanghyuk recounted, “I was playing in the field with Wonsik and Hongbin rushed out to join us the second he was off the bus. You and Hakyeon got off a minute later and headed for the house. I saw you stop about half way up the drive way and watch us. You looked so enthralled watching us, I knew you’d end up becoming a rider.”

“What?” Taekwoon blinked, not at all expecting Sanghyuk to say something like that.

“It goes without saying that I was disappointed when you didn’t perform as I expected,” Sanghyuk sighed, “I’ve always known you could do so much better then you have been doing. I’ve just never been able to figure out why you’re always so distracted that you forget things that I know you know.”

Taekwoon couldn’t answer, still trying to process Sanghyuk’s words. He’d.....he’d been watching Taekwoon practice? The human had never noticed. Sanghyuk expected him to perform well? He didn’t think Sanghyuk had even known him name until it showed up beside Jaehwan’s under the rider title.

Sanghyuk fought back the urge to smile as he watched the thoughts playing out on Taekwoon’s face. The human really was adorable. Even though he’d matured so much since the day they first saw each other, his cuteness hadn’t faded in Sanghyuk’s eyes.

“Taekwoon,” Sanghyuk finally said, “I want to know why you’re always so distracted.”

“I don’t know,” Taekwoon replied, lying through his teeth.

“Sometimes,” Sanghyuk said, “I think it’s your crush on me. Other times I have no idea what it is.”

“Yeah I--,” Taekwoon looked up at Sanghyuk, beyond startled, “you....you...know?”

“You’re rather obvious at times,” Sanghyuk nodded, “adorably so.”

“I.......” Taekwoon struggled to form words.

“Sanghyuk!!” both turned, startled by the sudden interruption of Sanghyuk’s normal rider, “guess what? I can ride again in a week!”

“Really?” Sanghyuk grinned brightly, smile matching the one on Hongbin’s face, “that’s great.”

“Just in time for the competition,” Hongbin laughed before turning to Taekwoon, “think you can look after him for another week, Taekwoon? Then you can go back to practicing with Jaehwan.” Taekwoon just nodded silently, feeling hurt and jealous that his time with Sanghyuk would soon be done.

“Hongbin!” Hakyeon snapped, rushing in a few seconds later with Wonsik close behind, “get back to the house! You shouldn’t be walking around yet, let alone running.”

“I had to tell Hyukkie the good news,” Hongbin shrugged, allowing Hakyeon to lead him out of the arena, “you know he needed to hear it from me, too.”

“Still,” Hakyeon ranted about Hongbin’s need to ensure his injury didn’t get irritated or anything like that, voice slowly fading away as the brothers got farther away.

“Congrats, little brother,” Wonsik patted Sanghyuk’s shoulder before leaving as well, “bet you’re happy to get Hongbin back.”

Alone once more, Taekwoon felt a little like crying. Not only was him time as Sanghyuk’s rider almost up, but the centaur knew of his crush and was about to reject him. The day truly couldn’t get any worse.

“Even with Hongbin coming back,” Sanghyuk finally said, “I’m still going to be working with you. We need to get you over this lack of focus so you can be as good as I know you can be. I’d leave it for Jaehwan, but he’s far too nice to push you like you should be pushed.”

“Wait,” Taekwoon frowned, “I...I thought you wouldn’t want to have anything to do with me now.”

“Adorable,” Sanghyuk smiled slightly, ruffling the human’s hair before leaning down to press a quick kiss to his forehead, “you look so adorable when you worry about stupid things. It’s one of the things I like most about you.”

Taekwoon just blushed, unable to form words. Which was fine because Sanghyuk just wanted to hold the human for a moment.

--

“We did it,” Jaehwan cried, dancing around happily, “we did it!”

“It’s just third place,” Wonsik teased the younger, “don’t get all cocky, brat.”

“I’m not being cocky,” Jaehwan huffed, “I’m just really happy that we placed so high. We’ve never placed this well before.”

“He’s right,” Hakyeon smiled, “and next time, I know you’ll place even higher.”

“It’s all thanks to Sanghyuk,” Jaehwan smiled, “he’s been working with Taekwoon and me and it’s all paying off big time.”

“Where is Sanghyuk?” Taekwoon spoke up, “he….he said he’d be here and he’s not.”

“He was here,” Hakyeon replied, “he watched you compete and then he had to go.”

“Go where?” Taekwoon frowned. Sanghyuk didn’t have anything important going on. not that Taekwoon knew of anyway.

“Something came up with Hongbin,” Wonsik explained, “and Sanghyuk had to help him.”

“Come on,” Hakyeon smiled, “let’s go home. I’m sure you both want to curl up and sleep after everything.”

“I kind of do,” Jaehwan nodded, suddenly yawning as he made his way onto the trailer, “time to go home.”

Taekwoon silently did as told, climbing into the passenger seat of Hakyeon’s truck. The ride was silent, Taekwoon just looking out the window and feeling sorry for himself. He had wanted so badly to see Sanghyuk after getting his medal, had wanted to jump into Sanghyuk’s arms and just be held by the other for a while. Maybe…..maybe he’d even have mustered the courage to kiss Sanghyuk and finally ask him on a date or something.

Instead, he was greeted by only Wonsik and Hakyeon.

“Stop sulking,” Hakyeon told him as they pulled into the drive way, “I know Sanghyuk wanted to be there for you. And you know that too.”

“I know,” Taekwoon sighed before catching sight of the lights in the arena, “Hakyeon, should those lights be on?”

“No,” Hakyeon shrugged after thinking it over, “but it’s probably just Sanghyuk getting in a little practice. Why don’t you go check it out? I’ve got to get Wonsik and Jaehwan set up in their stalls for the night.”

“Ok,” Taekwoon nodded, getting out of the truck and speed walking to the arena. He wanted to badly to see Sanghyuk, but didn’t want to look too excited in case Hongbin was there too.

“Oh,” Taekwoon gasped when he opened the door to find Sanghyuk standing in the middle of the arena dressed up all fancy with a picnic basket beside him.

“I thought we could celebrate your placing third,” Sanghyuk said, waving Taekwoon closer.

“You…..you did this for me?” Taekwoon smiled slightly, “because I placed?”

“Well, that’s part of it,” Sanghyuk smiled slightly, “but it also occurred to me that we haven’t had a first date yet because we’ve been too busy practicing for different competitions. So……this is both a celebration and a first date.”

“F-First date?” Taekwoon blushed, “but…….but you….you never asked me out. We-we aren’t even dating.”

“We aren’t?” Sanghyuk questioned, looking more than a little confused, “but we confessed our feelings. Doesn’t that kind of imply that we’re together?”

“N-not exactly,” Taekwoon explained, “normally, you ask the person you want to date to be your boyfriend and to go on a date.”

“Human customs,” Sanghyuk sighed, “centaurs don’t mess around. You confess to someone and they confess back, you’re together. Simple. No dancing around or wasting words.”

“It’s not a waste of words,” Taekwoon muttered, sitting down across from Sanghyuk.

“Fine,” Sanghyuk sighed before flashing Taekwoon a small smile, “Taekwoon, will you be my boyfriend?”

“Yes,” Taekwoon smiled softly before leaning over to kiss Sanghyuk for the first time. The centaur smiled into the kiss, as did the human.

A/N: so here it is, the finished centaur AU.  It’s a bit shorter then I originally thought it would be, but I’m still happy with the end result. I hope you guys like it too.