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THE BIRTHDAY CHAPTER: FIGHT OR ESCAPE
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"We say happy, you say day!"
"Happy-"
"-day!"
"Happy-"
"-day!"
"Taehyunnie, whass up, say day!"
"It's happy birthday you morons, not happy day..." Taehyun groans, hiding face in his palms out of embarassment. Beside him Kai giggles, shouting "day" part willingly and with passion (and Taehyun knows it's only because he wants to poke a bear a little) and on his screen there're three too familiar faces.
Wooyoung, Yeonjun and Heeseung decided to face time him with chaotic birthday wishes. And no matter how embarassed Taehyun gets and how he will curse the shit out of his band members for they teasing and mockery that was hidden behind those wishes, it was nice to have this little reunion. Even if it's an online one.
"Look at you, already dying and they didn't even get to the best part..." Heeseung, depite being the youngest in calling trio, definitely is also the most sane one, just laughing softly at his hyungs actions and visibly being dragged into this mess of a call unwillingly. He always was the quiet one and Taehyun hopes he can catch him later and maybe iniciate one of this heart to heart talks they used to have so often back in Korea. Yeah, Heeseung with his peacefull and calm approach and soft aura definitely is a good trustee of secrets and confessions.
But back to the other two...
"Yeah, Kai let's get down to buissnes! Drop the beat, hoe!" Wooyoung crosses arms on his chest and starts to nod his head in attempt to look super cool and laid-back. Meanwhile Hyuka who's sittting next to Taehyun starts making weird noises with his mouth that probably suppose to imitate beatboxing. Taehyun flinches at that, not only because of this cringeworthy situation, but also cause Kai's spit starts to fly everythere, the droplets landing on his chin, the desk, laptop screen and on the birthday boy himself. Yuk, disgusting.
"Rapstar Junnie in da house!"
"No, no no, please don't..." Taehyun, already feeling what's about to come tries to stop it, but it's already too late. Cause unstopable Rapstar Junnie was indeed already in da house.
Tyunnie's here, bitches better bow down
He's twenty idk even how
A while ago he was crybaby boi
And now he's old, even if still small
Our little cutie is growing up
It's so fast, like a finger snap
He's about to graduate, holy crap
Momma Wonnie is proud and so is Junnie the dad!
"You're not my parents." Taehyun just comments briefly, his face totally unimpressed. Beside him Kai , like the biggest fanboy he is, is clapping and cheering for trashy rap, his heart all in.
"Yaaaaah, is that all you've got from our rap? Ungratefull child!" Wooyoung definitely is way to much into this parenting idea, now pounting like a mom being forgotten on Mother's Day.
"Respect your elders, we had to wake up before the sunrise, working hard for the money to support your education..." Yeonjun starts to tell some sad and heartbreaking tale, which obviously wasn't true.
"What the hell, it was nothing like that!" Taehyun is totaly ready to protest but his hyungs are not done yet.
"We sacrifice so much for you, at look at yourself now, making your poor mother cry with that taking-back mouth of yours!" Yeonjun brings Wooyoung closer to himself and the latter pretends to wail theatrically, his fake cries makin Heeseung roll his eyes.
"Did you make any plans for birthday celebration Taehyun?" Heeseung asks calmly, changing the topic despite the indigation of fake parents.
"Not really." Taehyun shruggs his shoulders. Apart from finally spending some time with his hyungs on the line (cause due to time diffrences they don't get to do it often) he really didn't plan anything. Futhermore, he didn't really share with his college friends that today is his birthday. He don't want to fuss about it and the fact that he shouldn't share too much personal information had a great impact too. He's still a little scared about being somehow hinted to his real persona - the idol Kang Taehyun, worries and anxiety constantly at the back of his mind. Little get together with Kai and his hyungs is totally satisfying for him.
"Actually..." Hyuka scratch his head, guilt creeping up to his face and Taehyun immediately know that the younger is clearly hiding something, his nervous laughter being tell-tale sign that he's about to drop some news and Taehyun not gonna enjoy them. "I'm about to take Tyunie out of some ice-cream."
It's obvious to everyone that Kai is bullshiting his way through, trying his best to avoid Taehyun's suspicious.
"That sounds nice..." Heeseung desperatly tries to cut through the tension, but it's already too late - Taehyun is fuming.
"I told you i don't want to celebrate! And definitely I don't want ice cream!"
"But you love ice cream, Tyun..." Yeonjun is trying to ease the birthday boy but his voice seem to not reach Taehyun, whose deadly stare is still direct at Kai.
"It's not about ice cream! Damm that ice cream! If we go to the ice cream parlour we gonna met Beomgyu!"
Kai sinks to his seat even more, faint and apologetic smile barely visible because he lowers his head so much. The other line immediately asking questions, being totally dumbfounded (like "Who's Beomgyu?" by Heeseung and Wooyoung and a little more idiotic "What's Beomgyu?" by Yeonjun), but Tahyun just ignore them.
"You know he's gonna make a big deal out of it if he finds out! He will probably... I don't know, throw a party, invite the whole 4th floor and make me crowd surfing!"
"Crowd surfing is so cool, we need to try it next time when we're gonna have a concert!" Despite being second oldest, Wooyoung was like a child, reacting only to the part of sentences that he finds exciting.
"It's fine, we just not gonna go there." Taehyun tries to be rational and calms himseld down, but Kai had other plans.
"Soobin said he will pick us up and he should be here any minute..."
Taehyun groans. Kai probably already outed him to all of their friends. But there was no time for scolding or answering the dumb questions ("What's Soobin?" Yeonjun askes with mischevious smile, clearly thinking that he's very funny) cause someone starts to knock on the door softly. And before even Taehyun can calm himself or his demanding answers hyungs down, Soobin enters the room. His normal a bit sleepy but calm expression of face, a little awkward walk, like he doesn't know if he's welcomed and characteristic tiny wave as his way of saying hello.
Fuck, Taehyun didn't plan his band to have an encourner with Soobin. But what can he do now other than prays for his hyungs to behave?
Of course his prayers were useless. Wooyoung whistles, Heeseung smack his head in attempt to keep him in line and Yeonjun boldly shouts something about cuties in da house.
Soon, all three of them are chaoticly shouting in Korean, making Soobin visibly confused and even more shy and quiet than usuall.
"Is that your friend Hyunnie?"
"Wooooo he's cute!"
"Can I dedicate a rap to his cute ass?!"
"Shut up morons! Yeah, hi Soobin, we're about to wrap this up, just wait a second..." Taehyun tongue is tangling but he's trying his best to handle this unpleasant situation. Especially with Yeonjun shouting a variety of pet names clearly directed at Soobin. Thank God for them sticking to Korean, otherwise Soobin would probably die out of cringe.
But Soobin, still red as tomato and shrinking a litte in his frame just faintly smiles and stutters something that leaves the whole room speeachless.
"Heee-eey, umm-it's ok-ey... And... ye-ahh... You-friend... cute too." The last part of sentence was in broken Korean and Taehyun just wants to hide or die out of embarassment. Or both. He knows Soobin mentioned that he knows couple words and phrases in Korean but how much did he really understood out of this lame pinning over his cute ass that his friends just preformed? I guess only Soobin really knows.
Meanwhile Yeonjun seems to malfunction badly.
"I... forget somethin... I think I had to go." He tries to stand up and disappear out of fame, but it's hard with his leg still in cast and without his crouches. So he ends up jumping awkwardly on his healthy leg, taking ages to actually leave. Taehyun just wants to face palm himself at this point.
"What do you mean you have to go, you can't even walk, you lame duck!" Wooyound shouts after him, following Yeonjun, probably to help him and leaving Heeseung dumbfounded as hell.
"Yeah, it was nice to meet you Soobin... Bye guys, have fun!" And he ends this fiasco of a call.
Taehyun sighs heavly. Why all of his friends have to me such a menace?
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To say that Taehyun was not expecting his birthday suprise to go like this was an understatment. He knew that something is off with the ice-cream bullshit and not only because Kai acts suspicious as fuck, but also because it's already getting late - ice cream parlour is definitely closed at this hour. But hey, at least they get out of the dorm - so the threat in form of crazy drom party is out of the list.
So imagine Taehyun's suprise when they indeed reach closed ice-cream shop but the doors suddenly swings open, revealing Beomgyu in a birthday cap, smiling brightly and inviting them inside.
It turned out his friends organized him a small get-together at Beomgyu's work place. Apparently the latter whines to his boss to let him stay at ice-cream parlour after hours for weeks, pleading that he'll just held a small meeting and the shop will get out of this alive and unharmed.
And now here they are, no crowd, just Taehyun's close friends sitting around one table, chaotically speaking one after another, explaining to him how they come up with the whole secret birthday operation.
Of course Beomgyu was in charge of the place. Not only he secured their spot at his workplace, he even played a little with decorations. To Taehyun amusement all his friends were wearing special b-day caps that has his face plastered on them.
The parlour is also filled with baloons and candles. Apparently Jay and Soobin gets here early, the former tiring his lungs out with blowing so many ballons. And Soobin made tons of deals with people attending candle making classes that are held next to his chem lab just so they can enjoy this little meeting in the candle lights.
Magz, Christine and Kai were in charge of the meals. There were no problem with sweet treats as they're literally at ice cream shop, but the group decided to step up their game. Keeping this from Taehyun, Kai called the birthday boy's mother and convince her to share some of her recepies. He specificly asked about favourite food from Taehyun's childhood and Magz and Christine really did their best to recreate it.
And now here there are, enjoying cheese tteokbokki and garlic whole fried chicken, slurping the salty and spicy flavours away with sweet carmel macchiatos.
"Yooo, you bullshiter." Taehyun calls Kai out, pointing at him with the straw from his iced coffee. "Is this all your doing?"
"What, you don't like it?!" Kai frozes with chicken leg halfway to his mouth.
"O course I like, why would I sit here for last hour if I didn't, dummy!" Taehyun laughs. "I just wanted to thank you... All of you. I know I was pretty repulsive about the whole celebration idea, but this feels... nice."
Taehyun is a bit lost with his words, but he really didn't know how to express his gratitude. It's first time he's enjoying his birthday in a while. When he was a little he was always awaiting for this special day when once a year everything is about him. He was the main protagonist back then, his parents, friends and relatives giving him all the attention and affection, praising him to the moon and back. But becoming an idol equals loss of privacy and no matter how Taehyun loves his job and his fans, birthdays were just stripped from their previous magic. Big bilboards and adds with his face were welcoming him, thousands of fans were typing their wishes and words of admiration for him on vilive and cake from finest bakery was delivered specially for him. But it was all for the great idol Kang Taehyun. Regular Taehyun, who was still just a teen would have to satisfy himself with few birthday texts from friends that he's still in touch with, quick and rushed call to parents and more appropreate than sincere wishes and gifts from his band members (since it was on display for the whole world to see).
And now, when with home made food andiced carmel coffiees he can see in the candles light happy faces of his friends that cared enough to prepare everything just for him, he feels a bit overwhelmed.
"It was Beomgyu idea actually." Kai shrugs and Taehyun open his wide eyes even wider in confusion. Whaaaat?
"But how he even... I didn't tell him..."
"Oh yeah, it's my fault, I took him for plushie hunting last week and I may have slipped that it's for your birthday..." Kai chuckles nervously, he's non-stop running mouth as always being the reason.
"When he told us, we immediately thought he was going to throw you a party." Jay continues the story, laping his mouth while eating and giving Magz shivers with the dreadfull sound. "But Beomgyu have something else in mind."
"Yeahh, he was annoying the shit out off his boss, begging for hosting a party here." Soobin laughs and ruffles Beomgyu hair. "I swear, I thought that he will drop on his knees just so the boss let him organize it."
"I wasn't that bad." Beomgyu, the culprit of all this finally speaks for himself. "I just noticed that you're not really a big-party ringleader Hyunnie and thought that you'll enjoy something more... casuall and domestic."
"But the food, everything..." Taehyun mind is still spinning with the amout of information he just expirienced. So Beomgyu not only find out about his birthday just by observing Kai getting him a birthday gift, he also organized this whole secret suprise, involved everyone and what touched Taehyun's heart the most is that everythin is really about him. There are no grand gestures, no big audience to make a meaningless show out of it - just everything that Taehyun genuely likes and everything that he was longing for through all those years.
"During Christmas break you literally stuffed yourself full with all my mom's cooking. Your hands all gooey and sticky with chicken and cheeks puffed-out, it was obvious you miss traditional homecooked meals. And Kai and your mom were more than willing to help."
"Oh." Taehyun mubles shyly, avoiding Beomgyu's eyes and rubbin the back of his neck in embarassment at this over-detailed description of him. "I... I didn't notice i did that."
"I noticed everything about you." Beomgyu shrugs his arms, like this confession is something you can casuall hear on the street and get back to slurping his dessert-coffee, losing focus and coonversation over whipped cream that painted his nose. But suddenly he must remember something, cause he gets up, his chair almost falling down from the force. "Oh wait, we forget the main part!"
And he sprints out behind the ice-cream shop's counter, his nose still dirty. Meanwhile Taehyun's mind is still way too cloudy to even process that the older is gone, Beomgyu's words even if spoken in casual manner, hanging heavly in the air.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY HYUNNIE!"
Taehyun is pulled out of his abeyance, everyone standing up, singing him Happy Birthday. And here comes Beomgyu with something that looks like imitating cake ice cream dessert with a lonely candle on the top of it and... the big chopping cleaver in the other? What the fuck?
"Quick, quick, blow the candle or the wax melts or the ice cream melts!" Magz ass always was trying to prevent mess from happening so Taehyun quickly does as she said but he's much more intrested in what's the cleaver got to do with all this.
"It's your gift. From all of us." Christine was faster than his questions and Taehyun's eyes widen at that.
"Yeaaah, so you'll finally stop complaining about the knives in the kitchen being blunt!" Kai laughs and earns himself an elbow-strike from Taehyun.
"And maybe you'll stop comparing us to that knifes, saying we have one things in common - not being sharp at all." Jay added, but Taehyun just stick his tongue in childlish manner as an response.
"Guys, you explaining it all wrong!" Beomgyu, who's still holding a cleaver takes a big swing with it (causing everyone to flinch, just in case) like he's a soldier presenting his weapon. "The knife for a chef... it's like a wand to a wizard."
Most of them laughs at that, but Soobin rolls his eyes, being so done with Beomgyu weird speeches at the most unconviniant moments.
"God, just give it to Hyun already, stop this Harry Potter refrences..."
"The wand choses the wizard, remember..." Beomgyu pointed the sharp cleaver right at Soobin, the latter immediately dropping his complains and jumping with scared expression at the sight of a knife. "It's a weapon of choice, extension of his arm, a life long partner. And this bad boy here choose you, Hyun Byun. Carry it with dignity." The older then put the cleaver flat on his palm, giving it to Taehyun, handle first. The birthday boy graps it, watching carefully how the cleaver shimmers and reflects the candle light with every movement.
"Apart from bullshits that Beomgyu prepared, it's really usefull too. You can slice anythinh with that sharp edge as precisely as with a chef's knife, chop any veggies, cut through heavy meat or bones or use it as a hammer to smash anything on your choppin board. It's also soo broad that you can easily transport ingredients on it." Magz, the rational and calm one present versatility of a cleaver well, but at this point Taehyun was such in awe about everything that happened to him today that he would be happy with a jar of dirt as a present or really anything.
"A look, we even get your name engraved on it!" Christine adds, and Taehyun finally notices the neat cursive letter making an inscription Byun Hyun.
And that's when nostalgia hits him. Yeah, they're his friends now and care about him, but... really they know nothing. In year and a half he will leave all of them clueless and confused, probably breaking their hearts in process. Some questions will never be answered and they'll have to live with the fact that after graduation he'll dissapear like smoke on windy day, no trace, no explanation.
With the inscription on his cleaver as the only thing that'll remind him that he used to be Byun Hyun.
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AN: Omg, that chapter actually looks completely diffrent than what was in my mind while planning it. It suppose to end with this super cute date/non-date but... it just got too long! So sorry I had to cut it and rearranged a litte but nothing will go to waste, I just moved some things to the next chapter!
Comeback is near, I will definitely not update when it drops, you and me don't need distractions while streaming! So prepare your asses well! ❤️