ineedanepiphany | (no subject)

Taehyung
It defies the laws of science, the six of them in a space and managing not to cause a commotion, but somehow they've managed. Jimin is in the front, right in front of the door with cake in hand, candles lit by Namjoon's lighter shielded from the wind by the wall of their bodies. He's just behind Jimin, crouched down to put his chin on his shoulder and ~eye the strawberries~ peer at the cake while they wait for Jin, and he's practically vibrating from excitement.

There had been some pangs of guilt when Namjoon mentioned how sad their hyung had been, but once Taehyung commits to a game, it's rare for him to see any true reason to back down. He thinks they've done well, keeping this hidden, and hopefully, Taehyung thinks, they make up for weeks of acting with good company and cake.

Seokjin opens the door and he throws both arms up, straightening up and starting to sing 'Happy Birthday' at the top of his lungs.

Jimin
The sound of Taehyung’s yell is bright and piercing in Jimin’s ear, startling even though he’s expecting it. He jumps a little, bursting into a bright laugh before he joins in on the last two syllables, the cake held precariously atop the box it came in.

“You thought we forgot, didn’t you?” he asks at the sight of his hyung’s face, walking into the apartment one careful step at a time.

Seokjin
There's a second where he's not actually sure what he's seeing. The six of them are at his door with a cake and it's a far cry from the noncommittal 'maybes' and 'I don't knows' he'd gotten when he texted them all. But they're here, all at once, and Jin realizes what is coming out of Taehyung's mouth in what seems to be the most deliberately discordant tone to ever be unleashed on a happy birthday greeting.

They didn't forget, he realizes, mouth falling open in surprise and then curving into a delighted smile. They remembered. And they've been pretending.

"I did!" he admits to Jimin, voice shaking with sudden laughter.

Jungkook
A couple of the glitter bombs might have burst in Jungkook's pocket on the way to Jin's apartment, but it all works out now as he tries to gather a little bit of it in the palm of his hand, then tosses it merrily in Jin's direction. There might be gripes from the building's apartment crew - or even from his own hyungs - but today is all about the details that suit Jin most, and Jungkook can't imagine letting the day go by without adding a little sparkle here and there.

"Yah, how could any of us forget our most precious mathyung?" Jungkook asks, grinning as he tiptoes ahead and slings an arm up and over Jin's shoulders. (edited)

Namjoon
Namjoon had stood at the back of the group obediently, following the repeated reminders started by Taehyung, but that didn't mean that he was any quieter as he joined in singing Happy Birthday at their startled friend. At the first moment he can, he edges towards the front of the group, holding up a hand in a futile attempt to shield his face from glitter. Laughing and grinning, he stands on the other side of Jin, joining Jungkook in throwing an arm over his shoulders and facing him towards the cake.

"Make a wish, make a wish!"

Yoongi
Yoongi does his best to duck out of the way of the glitter, but it's hopeless. By the time the party's over, they'll all be covered in it. That's just the nature of glitter. He finishes the song with the others, laughing when Jin does, delighted to see the look of happiness and relief on his face. As bad as he felt tricking him, it's worth it now.

"What he said," he says, nodding to Namjoon. "Come on, make a wish and let's get inside!"

Seokjin
It happens so fast that Jin doesn't have the chance to run from the glitter, doesn't even have the chance to make some dire threats on Jungkook's life if he tries. Already, it's too late and he can feel glitter cascading down his hair and the back of his shirt. He's going to need a robot vacuum by the end of tonight, he thinks fleetingly as he's roped into Namjoon's embrace (and tries not to enjoy it too much).

The cake and candles are in his face and Seokjin worries it'll catch something on fire if he doesn't do as told. He makes his secret wish and then blows out the candles.

He'd thought he was going to have to force his smiles all evening and now already his face hurts from the real thing. "You tricked me!"

Jimin
There’s glitter everywhere already and Jimin couldn’t be happier. It’s like an explosion of fairy dust that scatters all over, catching in hyung’s hair and shoulders. Some of it gets on the cake too, but it’s not enough to actually hurt anyone, Jimin’s pretty sure.

“Like we’d forget your birthday, hyung,” Jimin grins, carefully shifting balance the cake with one hand, the box against his chest. He grabs one of the strawberries with the other and holds it out to Jin, forcing him to eat at least one before Taehyung inevitably tries to steal the rest.

Jungkook
"Have more faith in your dongsaengs," Jungkook grins, carding his fingers through Jin's hair, causing a little bit of the glitter to scatter further. It's nice to see Jin's smile, the brightness in his eyes, and Jungkook pokes Jin's cheek playfully before he backs off a step, giving Jin more space and the others opportunity to dote on their hyung.

Backing into the apartment, Jungkook quickly ducks down to make sure all shoes are cleared off to the side of the entrance, slipping out of his own and lining them up at the end. He sniffs at the air, grinning at the scent of cinnamon wafting throughout the space.

Namjoon
"Aish, Jungkookie, I wonder if this part was worth it." Namjoon tries his best to wipe off some bits of glitter stuck to Jin's face, only to find that it sticks to his own hand instead. Untangling himself from his hyung, he rubs his palms on his jeans and takes a step back. Now there's glitter on his hands as well as his jeans. He's not sure how it multiplied, but it's a phenomenon around the nature of glitter he feels he's going to have to accept.

The relief he felt upon seeing Seokjin's face light up was welcome. He was glad to know he wasn't hurt too badly by their prank, and that it seemed to work out in the end. He grinned from a few feet back from the group, having a view of everyone together, making noise -- and a mess -- in the small space. "Let's get inside so we can eat!"

Yoongi
“And give you your present,” Yoongi adds. He’s pretty sure the glitter is _traveling_ somehow and it’s only going to get worse, but getting out of the hall might help. Besides, he wants to see Jin’s reaction when he opens his gift.

Stepping towards the door to head inside, he reaches out to rest a hand briefly on Jin’s shoulder first. “We’d never forget you, hyung.” They all love Jin, so much more than he realizes.

Seokjin
Jimin shoves a strawberry in his mouth and Jungkook pokes him in the face. Namjoon tries to rescue him from the glitter on his but he's pretty sure it's a lost cause and he's simply going to have to get them all back later. In the corner of his eye, he catches Jungkook carefully putting his shoes aside, which strikes him as hilarious everything seems to only get sparklier by the second.

"Present?" he asks, stepping backward to let them in properly. Yoongi touches his shoulder and Jin briefly rests his hand over it, a tiny show of gratitude.

"I hope it's not more glitter." He's still smiling from ear to ear.

Edited 2018-12-13 02:08 (UTC)

He should never have doubted his friends. Seokjin still can't believe they've done all this for him. The cake and the gift of a very nice chef's knife mean more to him than any of the perfunctory gifts he's received from his father (or more accurately, his secretary). All six of them banded together and sneaked right behind his back for one of the best birthdays he's had in a long, long time.

Even now, at a lull in the party, Seokjin curled up on his couch, everything feels right.

"Thank you," he says to the room, quieter this time but he expects he'll be saying it again and again before the party ends.

Edited 2018-12-05 01:45 (UTC)

"I'm really sorry about..." Namjoon sits on the couch beside Jin, fidgety and cross-legged, shifting uncomfortably before he decides cross-legged wasn't for him today.

Namjoon had a lot of fun behind the scenes, plotting with his friends about the surprise, brainstorming what to do, and getting to go shopping with Taehyung was a fun experience. He was glad that the collaborative time and money amounted to a good surprise, but the texts from Seokjin that he had to dodge had made his stomach drop a little.

"I felt bad letting you think we forgot."

Seokjin grins and throws an arm around Namjoon's shoulder, the gesture easy and companionable. "You were doing it to surprise me," he says. "I was sad for a little while but this..." He waves out a hand to encompass the whole apartment, the food, the gathered friends.

"How could I be sad with all of this? It's the best party I've had in years."

Namjoon grins and relaxes a little under his friend's arm, relieved that Seokjin was having fun. "Good," he nods "hyung deserves a good party for him." He seemed genuinely pleased with the gift they had gotten, and the communal food had been perfect. Other than a pretty mess to clean up later, it seemed that they might have done a good job making their hyung feel loved.

"Oh! I had one more thing." Namjoon leans into Seokjin slightly as he reaches a hand into his sweater pocket for something small, trying to get a hold of it without crushing or bending it. He pauses before taking it out and looks at Jin. "Wait, first, were you serious about wanting that drawing last night?"

Seokjin laughs, mostly at the idea that he deserves anything. "No," he says. "I'm lucky to have the kinds of friends who would do such nice things for me." He's not exaggerating; all of the other birthdays he can remember have been formal, obligatory things. The last birthday he'd had, in America, Seokjin still hadn't really known anyone and had been too shy to really bring it up. Instead, he'd Skyped some friends and eaten ice cream.

This year is so much better.

"Oh?" he asks, angling to see what Namjoon is getting. "And I was absolutely serious!"

It's probably awkward to be here, but then, it would probably be more awkward not to be here, a way only of drawing further attention and giving more weight to things that happened in the past. The sooner they can go back to normal, Hoseok reasons, and put all of that behind them, the better off they'll be. Besides, he'd have to be a total asshole not to show up to the birthday party of one of his best friends. The last thing he wants is to change things too much. Or ruin the party after they actually managed to pull off that surprise.

Still, if he's a little sheepish, a little self-conscious, he doesn't think he could be blamed for that. Perched on the arm of the couch, he smiles lopsidedly. "So, we really surprised you, huh?"

Seokjin looks up at Hoseok and then flushes, looking away for a second before making himself turn back. It's not his friend's fault that Seokjin reacted the way he did, all panic and useless stammering. He'd spent the whole night being so afraid for himself, of himself, that he'd messed things up for his friend. And at the end of the day, he still doesn't actually know what to say.

"You guys really did," he says, nodding enthusiastically. "I really thought everyone had forgotten and I didn't want to actually start whining about it." The only reason his shallow behavior is funny is because he does it over something inconsequential. Pressing the matter of his birthday would have just been rude.

"I would have understood if you didn't want to come. I wasn't great about. Everything."

Truthfully, he considered not coming, if only briefly. In some ways, it might well have been easier. It wouldn't really have helped anything, though, and Hoseok knows it. For one, he'd probably have had little to do but sit around knowing that his friends were having this party without him. It would have drawn attention to his absence, made the others question it, given too much weight to something that he would really prefer to minimize. Making too much of it would only make it harder to move on, both from the crush he admitted and the fact of his having done so in the first place.

"And miss seeing the look on your face when you realized we'd all been planning this?" he replies, shaking his head. "It's fine." That isn't quite right, though, so he pauses for just a moment, reconsidering his phrasing. "I want things to be fine. Normal, you know?"

"I do too." At least they can agree on that but he knows he owes Hoseok a better explanation and a better apology that the panicked words he'd stumbled out. Hoseok must have guessed that he's not straight if he made that confession.

"I've only told three people that I'm not straight. Four now, I guess," he adds, looking to Hoseok. There's an obvious uncertainty in his voice, something he's used to hiding with drama and self-aggrandizement. He can't hide them here though. Hoseok is a friend, one of the few that he has, and he owes him sincerity. "I'm sorry I panicked."

Once the dust and glitter have settled and the party is in full swing, Yoongi finds a seat on the couch, legs tucked up under himself. Sometimes he'll just sit to the side and watch the others. In the past, it's been because he's felt too anxious to be a part of things or because the voice in his head has crept in again. Today, he just likes to see them having fun. It's a relief for the surprise part to be over, to know Jin understands it was just a prank and they really do love him.

The only difficult thing about it all is trying to pretend he and Jungkook aren't together. Just a little longer, he figures. They can tell everyone tomorrow. The last thing he wants is to take the spotlight away from Jin, though, so all he can do is try to keep as much distance from his boyfriend as possible for now — even if even thinking the word makes him grin like an idiot.

"You look way too happy," Seokjin says, dropping into the spot next to Yoongi. "Even for a party celebrating my shining life." No, instead there's a certain lightness about Yoongi that wasn't there before and it makes Seokjin curious and, somehow, hopeful. The lightness, he realizes, comes from the fact that Yoongi looks like he's got one less burden.

"Yoongi, you look like the cat with cream," he observes. Then, he smiles wickedly, thinking up some wordplay that's sure to annoy. "Yoongi, if you're going to keep looking at that, I'm going to have to start calling you koyoong-i," he singsongs.

At least the bad joke makes it easier to drop the grin. Yoongi arches an eyebrow instead, rolling his eyes. "Try it and I'll scratch up all your furniture," he says dryly. "It's a good party."

It's a weak excuse, he knows, but it's the only one he's got. It's not like he can just say he's with Jungkook now, though, after the last couple of weeks and all of Jin's support, Yoongi badly wants him to know. If things worked out for him, maybe they can find a little freedom for Seokjin, too.

"Did we do alright?"

Seokjin huffs and turns in his seat, draping his legs over Yoongi's lap in a reversal of how they sat at Jimin's party. "Fine, don't tell me, after all the confessions we've shared." He can guess, based on how happy Yoongi seems, plus the direction his friend keeps looking, but it seems like something he should wait for his friend to say when he's ready.

"You guys really surprised me," Seokjin says, putting a (still-glittery) hand to his heart. "It's the nicest birthday I've had in a long time."

Yoongi snorts, rolling his eyes again. He really does want to tell Seokjin. This just isn't the right time. As much as he's sure Jin will be happy for him, he doesn't want to risk causing any drama tonight. They get enough trouble the rest of the week.

"Good," he says, resting a hand on Jin's leg, the other stretched along the back of the couch. "I didn't want you to think we forgot, but... I'm glad you're having fun." He can't even say that's sad, because it's not. It's actually a pretty good party, and, anyway, if all six of the others showed up and surprised him... Well, he's not a big fan of surprises, but he thinks he'd like it anyway.

"I did think you had," he confesses, feeling a little bad for doubting his friends now. "You were all very convincing. It made the surprise better." In the end, it's all worked out, even if he's going to have to get Jungkook back for the glitter somehow. He even managed to get a second strawberry before Taehyung took them all.

Sitting up a little, he gives Yoongi's hair a friendly ruffle, scratching at the scalp just like a pleased cat. "You really do look happy. Even if you won't tell me why."