𝐆𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐓𝐑𝐎𝐋! | ateez

birthday boy (don't get cake in your eyes)

all of them are trying to grab onto him, one way or another: wooyoung's got his hands on his shoulders, san's got his hands over wooyoung's hands on his shoulders, and mingi and yunho have linked their arms with his, one on each side. yeosang disappears and reappears holding a slightly wonky cake and even a smile. jongho's yelling something like "i made the cake last night, hyung!" amidst the constant blowing of streamers and excitement. seonghwa stands a little far off from the others, watching amusedly, telling him to make a wish repeatedly. the candles (there are ten in total, but hongjoong reckons the abundance of badly covered-up holes in the cake are from the boys trying to put in twenty-two candles and realising there wasn't enough space on it) are unlit, since unshielded fire is a pretty big risk to have on an anti-gravity spaceship.

but he entertains them anyway. he makes a wish (which he won't say, otherwise it won't come true!) and blows out the imaginary fire, and the crew whoop and cheer so loudly, their vibrations shake and reverberate the ship.

"is it too early to eat the cake? cake for breakfast?" wooyoung asks, looking at jongho, who also seems to be pondering over the same thing.

"time is relative. come on!" mingi deadpans, reaching for the knife beside the cake. shouts of protest stop him as many limbs go flying to stop him.

"are you the birthday boy, mingi? hongjoong hyung cuts the cake, duh!" san scolds, gingerly prying the knife out of mingi's hand and giving it to the commander. hongjoong, in all his twenty-two years of living, has never received such enraptured attention ever in his life, so the seven pairs of eyes eagerly awaiting him to cut this cake is somewhat pressurising.

(he doesn't even want to eat cake right now- wooyoung's right, it is too early to eat cake before six and for breakfast, no less. but no one told him that the sacrifices he'd make as leader were going to be this... interesting.)

he cuts the cake, cutting slightly bigger slices for the rest of them than himself. but alas, the six o'clock alarm blares just as he cuts the final piece, causing groans and complaints around the group.

...one by one, the SUNRISE members turn their heads, gazing imploringly at the leader, knowing fully well he's the only figure of authority that stands in the way of a later start in schedule. ah, they really do use his affection to their advantage.

he sighs dramatically. "fine, we'll start at seven instead. bonding time will be delayed to half eight, and someone has to help jongho clean the plates afterwards!" he tells them, to much delight from the others, who leave their slices of cake to float in the air as they crowd around the leader, drowning him in limbs and hugs.

"yes, okay, okay! enough, you know i have to write this down in the report too!" he tries to sound authoritative and bossy, but he's more worried he sounds like a timid pupppy instead.

"they won't mind, just say it's your birthday! special occasion," yunho quips with cream dotted on his nose.

"or you could lie. they don't have to know," yeosang mumbles quietly. the words hound all of them like a slap to the face. secretly, they'd all been thinking that too; it's just that yeosang actually has the balls to voice his opinions aloud. the rest of them don't respond, and choose to stuff their mouths with cake instead of answering, leaving silence to hang in the air above them.

-☆-

surprisingly, seonghwa feels good today. a hundred percent back to his old self. no weird, creepy forces controlling him, no abnormally high feverish temperatures. after a fortnight of feeling off, it's safe to say he's back to normal, thank the stars.