Myungsoo woke up the next morning in a horrible mood. It was still early, but he had been dreading the next day for the whole night. He could hardly sleep at all. The memories of previous years flooded his mind, and kept his brain active through the whole time between sunset and sunrise. Myungsoo stepped away from his bed grumpily, heading for the washroom to clean up. He splashed cold water over his face and towel dried slowly, not wanting to see his appearance in the mirror.

I was hoping there would be a mission today. I guess not. he though with a sigh. What am I going to do?

He walked out of the bathroom and into the living room. Having no appetite for food, Myungsoo just sat down his couch and looked out the window at the rising sun behind all towering buildings. He planted his face into his palms when he remembered the exact same day from all those other years.

"Mommy! Guess what day it is today?" a little Myungsoo asked excitedly.

"Today? Um... Oh! Thank you for reminding me, Myungsoo!" his mother pinched him softly on the cheek, and Myungsoo smiled happily. "It's the day I need to call the gardener again."

Myungsoo's smile dropped as he watched his mother hurry away to the phone.

'Maybe she's just planning a surprise for me.' he thought, and a smile came back.

He later found out that he hadn't been. She simply forgot.

Myungsoo wanted the flashbacks to stop, but not in time before another one rushed at him.

"Da--"

"Not now, I'm busy. Go say it to your mother." the man that was Myungsoo's dad said in a cold tone.

"But--"

"I said, I'm busy!" he snapped, and pushed his son out of the room roughly.

The disappointed little boy looked down at the ground sadly. He wasn't even going to bother going to his mother, because he knew she didn't remember. Myungsoo couldn't remember the last time his birthday was celebrated. Had it ever been?

A knock on the door broke Myungsoo from his thought. Grateful for the irruption, he stood up from his sitting position and went to answer the door. Sungyeol greeted him with a small, cautious smile.

"Good morning," he said.

"You're up early." Myungsoo commented.

"Well... I guess. Wait-- are you okay? You don't look so good." Sungyeol stared at the dark circles around Myungsoo's eyes.

"I'm fine. What do you want?" Myungsoo didn't mean to, but his tone came out sounding rather rude.

"I-I... uh... I..." Sungyeol stuttered.

"Come back after you learn to talk properly." Myungsoo closed the door with a bit more force than necessary. He leaned against it and sighed again, thinking how he would have to apologize later. Curious about what Sungyeol would do, Myungsoo pressed his ear against the door and strained to hear things on the other side.

There was some shuffling sounds, and footsteps began to fade. From the rhyme, Myungsoo guessed his partner was depressed.

"Great." Myungsoo pressed his fingers against his forehead, feeling a headache coming. "I should really learn to control my temper."

He retreated to the couch and laid down. Miraculously, sleep took him in.

Knock knock knock.

Myungsoo's eyes slid open slightly. He glanced at the clock. It was 6:35pm.

Wow, I actually fell asleep. For almost twelve hours too. Myungsoo tiredly rolled off the couch to the door. He opened it and his spy partner almost fell on top of him.

"What are you doing?!" Myungsoo demanded as Sungyeol regained his balance.

"S-sorry! You didn't answer for a long time so I listened...." he trailed off.

"Why are you here again?" the shorter of the two asked.

"Will you... uh... come eat with me today? I ordered lots of food." he asked, slightly embarrassed.

Myungsoo stared at him in disbelief at the random question. "Today?" Sungyeol nodded. "Why?"

"Because... You'll see."

"Okay, fine. When?"

"Now?" the newer spy asked hopefully.

Myungsoo stepped out of his room and walked down the hallway, towards Sungyeol's room. The owner of the room he arrived at fumbled with his keys as he tried to open the door. Once inside, Myungsoo froze.

The dining place was decorated with balloons and ribbons. The words 'Happy Birthday Myungsoo' hang on the wall followed by a smiley face. Candles littered the room, their flickering light casting shadows on the wall. Like Sungyeol had promised, some of Myungsoo's favorite foods were nearly placed on the table.

Shocked, Myungsoo looked back at his partner with wide eyes.

"Happy birthday," Sungyeol said with a wide grin.

"H-how did you know?" Myungsoo was couldn't believe that this boy just met knew when his birthday was when his own parents didn't even remember.

Sungyeol just shrugged. "I have my ways."

Myungsoo was speechless as he looked around the room once more. A small bubble of happiness rose to his heart. He felt a smile making its way across his lips.

"Thank you." he said, quietly. Too quiet that his partner didn't even hear.

"Hmm? What did you say?"

"Nothing."

"Well, go inside. Don't stand in the doorway. Hurry up! The candles will melt completely!" Sungyeol complained, back to his usual self, and pushed Myungsoo into the room.

The taller of the two led the other to the table and sat him down. Sungyeol sat across from his and grinned wider.

"So? Do you like it?"

"I don't know... This atmosphere... Isn't it more like when a boy and girl have dinner?" Myungsoo asked. Sungyeol thought about it for a moment while looking around at the decorations.

"I guess you're right...."

"Doesn't matter. I'm grateful you did this at all." Myungsoo added quickly, causing a smile to reappear on the boy across from him.

The two ate mostly in silence, but surprisingly, it wasn't awkward. They just enjoyed each others' company as they chewed on their food. After they were done, Myungsoo gathered his thoughts to try and find a way to thank Sungyeol. It felt unusual for him to have such an emotional matter with someone else. It had been so long since he last felt this grateful to someone else. Too long, that he doesn't even remember how to properly thank someone.

I just say thank you, right? he asked himself. Don't that seem... a bit plain though?But how else am I suppose to do it? He chewed on that while he watched his partner absentmindedly picked at his napkin.

"Did you have fun?" Sungyeol asked.

"Yeah."

"Are you happy?"

"...I guess."

The small conversation went on for a while as Sungyeol asked random questions.

"Thank you, Sungyeol." Myungsoo said, putting all his feels behind those three words. Sungyeol looked surprised to hear such heart felt words.

"What's wrong? It's not like this is the first time you've celebrated your birthday." Sungyeol joked, but his face fell when he saw the expression on his partner's face. "Sorry...."

"It's not your fault. I should be the sorry one, I snapped at you for no reason." Myungsoo confessed. "I don't have a good relationship with my parents. You can probably tell though."

Sungyeol stayed silent.

"I don't remember the last time they remembered my birthday. I ran away from home a few years ago, and joined this company. I'm from a well-known family, and I guess they don't want me to dirty the family name." Myungsoo continued.

"...So you're going back to them, then?"

"I don't know. I guess there's really no difference where I am." the more senior spy sighed.

"I know you'll be better if you stay." Sungyeol told him confidently.

"Why?"

"Because I promised to make you happy, remember?"

Myungsoo laughed lightly at that. The ridiculous comment his partner had made earlier. He couldn't believe he's actually going to stick with it. "I do."

"Then give me a chance. Don't leave, please."

A smile crawled across Myungsoo's mouth. "Okay." His partner's face lit up after hearing the answer.

"Come over to the couch. Let's watch a movie." Sungyeol said as he flipped through his drawer for a disk. Myungsoo obeyed, and sat down on the couch as he had been ordered to do.

Sungyeol pushed a disk into the DVD player and walked to plop down next to his friend on the couch with the remote control.

Half way through the movie, Sungyeol took a glace at his partner, who had been silent the whole time. He smiled when he was met with the sleeping face of Myungsoo.

He looks a lot more innocent when he's asleep. Sungyeol thought, then got up and went to get a blanket. He draped it over the sleeping boy, and crawled underneath it too.

Soon, they were both asleep.

- - - - -
Wow, people and their guessing OAO So accurate! Primadonna671 hit bullseye, lol. I'm sure many others had the same idea though. Also, there are many other comments who are also correct. : ) I'm not going to say which though. (I bet people are going to go looking through the comments now xD I just gave away the ending. I'm going to twist it a bit though.)

I didn't get to proof read....