Title: Puppets
Pairing: Rahyuk
Related Chapter: none
Word Count: 2255

All of the toys in the store were pretty or wonderful or down right amazing. That much was a fact proven each day by the children who rushed into the store, many dragging along their parents and pleading with them to buy them something from the shop. However, it was agreed that the puppets were the best. The children thought so, as did all the other toys in the store. Something about the four wooden puppets drew everyone to them.

Ravi, the toy solider that stood tall buy the cash register, didn’t get what made the puppets so special. He often got yelled at by his friend, Ken the clown doll, for calling the four ‘stuck up pieces of painted wood,’ but he really didn’t see what made everyone love them so much. They were toys like the rest of them. So what if the store owner never sold them? He didn’t sell Ravi or Ken either.

“Come on!” Ken said, dragging Ravi away from the counter, “the puppets are putting on a show and you aren’t going to miss it.”

“They put on shows every week,” Ravi scoffed, “what’s so special that I have to go tonight?”

“The youngest puppet is going to perform a special solo act,” Ken grinned, “it’s going to be really something to see! He’s been working on it for ages.”

“Whatever,” Ravi sighed, allowing his friend to drag him to the stage that everyone agreed belonged to the puppets.

--

The toy store that Ravi, Ken, and the puppets lived in was magic. Each night, the toys became real and were able to wander the store as they saw fit. There were rules, however. If they were outside when the sun rose, they would turn to dust. And they had to be in the exact same place as they had been when they woke up before sun light touched them, less someone figure out their secret. Oh, and they couldn’t talk to humans. If they did, they would never be able to live again.

Some toys liked to take advantage of this magic, going outside to see the stars. Others spent the night playing within the store. It was all fine so long as they returned to their original positions. Why not have some fun before they were sold to some child and lost the ability to become real ever again.

And that was part of the reason Ravi found himself watching the puppets performing for the other toys.

“Well?” Ken whispered, “Aren’t they good?”

“Yeah,” Ravi admitted, unable to deny the talent of the four on stage.

“And now!” the leader of the puppets, N, declared, “a special stage from our maknae, Hyuk!”

The gathered toys cheered and the youngest puppet blushed deeply, bowing as he thanks the audience for their support. Ravi raised an eyebrow, not expecting one of the puppets he called stuck up to do something like that. What he really didn’t expect was the song that the puppet sung. Given, the youngest wasn’t as gifted as some of the other puppets – like the one called Leo – but he was still amazing to hear.

When the young puppet finally stopped singing, the whole crowd cheered loudly. Hyuk bowed deeply, thanking everyone over and over until another of the puppets, Hongbin, pulled him off stage. Ravi frowned slightly at that, silently wishing for Hyuk to stay on stage for at least a little bit longer.

“And that marks the end of our show for tonight,” N smiled, “thank you everyone for joining us ronight.” With one last bow, the puppets left the stage.

“Well?” Ken asked as he and Ravi started to return to their normal positions, “what did you think?”

“They’re good,” Ravi admitted, Hyuk’s song repeating over and over in his head, “I get why everyone loves them so much.”

“I knew this would change your mind,” Ken laughed, skipping over to his normal spot.

The two friends talked for a while longer before some of the toys at the front of the store started yelling about the sun coming up. Ravi watched the mad dash of the other toys, all trying to get to their places before the sun froze them. With a small sigh of sadness over the night being over, Ravi moved to his normal place and waited for the sun to touch him.

--

Ravi watched from the shelf as Hyuk chased N around the storage room that the puppet’s had claimed as their practice room ages ago. From what Ravi could tell, N was teasing Hyuk about having a crush on one of the stores employees. He knew the one they were talking about. The man was nice and it made sence that Hyuk would develop a crush on him. That didn’t make it hurt any less for Ravi.

It had been ages since he’d first come to one of the puppet’s shows and in that time he’d developed a bit of a crush on the youngest. There was just something about him that drew everyone – not just Ravi – to him. Ravi suspected that at least a third of the toys in the store had a crush on Hyuk at some point in time. Like Ken, who had spent three whole months swooning over everything to do with Hyuk’s existence being perfect.

“We have a visitor,” Hongbin said, noticing Ravi up on the shelf looking down.

“Oh?” N looked up and smiled, “you’re the toy solider, right? The one by the cash register?”

“That would be me,” Ravi nodded, willing himself not to blush as he felt Hyuk’s eyes on him.

“What brings you here?” Hongbin asked, “You don’t normally have anything to do with us outside of our weekly shows.”

“I just,” Ravi cleared his throat, trying to come up with a good reason to have come by, “wanted to see you guys…….maybe you can show me some moves.”

“Really?” N questioned, “You’ve taken an interest in singing? Or dancing?”

“Dancing,” Ravi decided, “it looks fun.”

“Then come down,” N laughed, “Hyukkie and I can show you some movies.”

Ravi did, trying to calm himself down so he wasn’t blushing at the very idea of spending time with Hyuk. By the time he stood in front of the puppet leader, he’d calmed down his blush to the point it wasn’t noticeable. That changed, however, when Hyuk smiled brightly at him – at him, not the whole crowd. If Ravi had of been paying more attention, he would have noticed the knowing look on the faces of the other three puppets.

--

“More like this,” Hyuk instructed Ravi, getting closer as he moved the other toy’s arms to where they should be.

“R-right,” Ravi nodded, heart racing at the feeling of Hyuk’s hands on his body. From elsewhere in the room, he could hear N and Hongbin giggling at him.

“Maybe we should stop for the night,” Hyuk said, frowning slightly, “you’re too tense tonight.”

“I’m fine,” Ravi assured the other.

“Are you sure?” Hyuk questioned, “You’ve been practicing with us for three months now, one night off isn’t going to hurt.”

“But it’s not going to help,” Ravi shrugged, “it’s too soon for me to take time off if I ever want to be at your level.”

“Pushing yourself isn’t going to help you either,” Hyuk scowled, but gave in.

Ravi smiled slightly at his victory before returning his attention to the task at hand. He wanted to be at Hyuk’s level. He wanted to be able to perform on the same stage as Hyuk one day. he wanted to be able to dance alongside the puppet and hear the other toys commenting on how they were such a good pair. But for that to happen, he needed to work harder.

“I think that will be it for tonight,” N called out as Ravi tripped over his own feet and went down hard, “Hyuk, help him back to his spot.”

“Right,” Hyuk nodded, helping Ravi to his feet.

“Hurry back,” Leo added, “the sun will be up soon.”

“Yes, hyung,” Hyuk nodded before leading Ravi back to the cash register.

“Sorry,” Ravi sighed when they were finally back at the cash, “I’m sure you’d rather be practicing with N and the others.”

“It’s alright,” Hyuk assured him, smile big and kind as always, “I like helping you. It’s fun.”

“I want to be at your level,” Ravi admitted, “but…..I don’t think I’ll ever get there.”

“Don’t talk like that!” Hyuk cried, lightly hitting Ravi’s arm, “you’ve improved so much from the time you started. N hyung was even talking about inviting you on stage in a few weeks.”

“Really?” Ravi couldn’t believe that N would have said something like that.

“Really,” Hyuk nodded, “tomorrow might, we can start working on something. If you want, I mean.”

“I’d like that,” Ravi smiled, already in love with the idea of performing alongside Hyuk.

“Great,” Hyuk smiled, leaning over and kissing Ravi’s cheek, “see you tomorrow night.”

Ravi watched Hyuk rush off in shock, blush heating his face. That was how the sun froze him, shocked expression and blushing cheeks. Thankfully, no one seemed to notice

--

Performing with Hyuk didn’t happen.

The shop owner died. A sudden heart attack. He had no children, no family, to the bank took possession of the store and all of his things. The toys were sold off cheaply, everyone being separated. Ravi was lucky and found himself in a bag with Ken on the way to an employee’s home. Ravi remembered him as the guy Hyuk had apparently had a crush on. Remembering that just hurt him, reminded him that he hadn’t seen where Hyuk had ended up.

Heck, he hadn’t even seen the other since the night Hyuk had kissed his cheek. It seemed that the magic that brought the toys to life died with the store owner. Ravi didn’t even get to say goodbye, never mind tell Hyuk how he felt. Oh, how the solider wished that he had of said something, anything, while he had the chance. Or maybe that would make things hurt more.

“Here we are,” Ravi’s new owner said, putting Ravi and Ken on his bookshelf, “welcome to your new home, guys.”

Ravi couldn’t respond, but he wouldn’t have even if he could.

“And guess what?” the young man smiled before pulling out the four puppets, “I got these guys, too.”

Ravi felt like his heart had frozen and he wanted so badly to smile as his eyes locked onto Hyuk’s face. Hyuk was here, with him. How lucky was he that he didn’t lose the one he loved? It was…….it was amazing beyond words. He might not be able to say something, but getting to stand beside Hyuk was enough.

--

The six toys didn’t know how, but it seemed like the magic that gave them life wasn’t gone. It had just…..changed. Now, so long as they stayed inside their new owner’s house, they could live night and day. They all enjoyed it, spending their days exploring the house and befriending the toys living in the house that belonged to their owner’s children while their nights were spent doing the same thing they did at the toy store. But even better than that was the fact that Ravi got to be with Hyuk all the time now.

“You’re smiling,” Hyuk grinned, dropping down beside the toy solider so that he could join him in watching the stars, “is the sky that pretty?”

“Actually,” Ravi looked away to hide his blush, “I wasn’t paying attention.”

“Lost in your thoughts, huh?” Hyuk questioned, “What were you thinking about?”

“I’d, um, rather not say,” Ravi replied, blush darkening as he crushed his inability to admit to Hyuk how he felt about the puppet. For crying out loud, they’d known each other for a year now and Ravi still couldn’t come out and say ‘I like you, please go out with me.’

“Oh,” Hyuk frowned, “well, if you don’t want to tell me, that’s fine. Just….if something is wrong, talk to someone.”

“If something was wrong,” Ravi admitted, “I’d go to you to talk about it.”

“Re-really?” Hyuk looked away, blushing a bit.

“Yeah,” Ravi nodded, feeling pretty proud of himself for getting a blush from Hyuk. It seemed like Hyuk was always the one doing that to him, so the change felt nice.

The pair fell silent then, just watching the stars. Ravi felt the need to pull Hyuk closer, but decided against it. One day he would give into that feeling, but only after he’d finally gotten the courage to confess to the puppet. Beside him, Hyuk silently wished that Ravi would confess already. He’d known how Ravi felt for ages – Ken really at keeping secrets – and was just waiting for the solider to confess. Sometimes he wondered if he should make the first move and tell Ravi that he loved him, but he held his tongue.

It would be worth it to see Ravi, blushing and stuttering, as he confessed. Hyuk could see it now, the solider a mess of worry over thoughts that he’d just messed everything up by admitting he loved Hyuk. Then, just as Ravi was about to run away or laugh it all off as a joke, Hyuk would lean in and kiss him. After the kiss, Hyuk would admit to his own feelings and the pair could be the happy couple they were supposed to be.

Oh, that was defiantly worth waiting for.

A/N: given, the story didn’t actually end with Ravi confessing, but with Hyuk’s little day dream of how the confession would go, I think this turned out pretty darn well. Hope you all liked it, too!!