“Happy Birthday!”

The entire room roared with what seemed like a hundred voices, this was the passion they were going to show the world; their strength, their power.

Yesung showed his happiest, most grateful smile that he had. He was happy from the heart, this expression wasn't superficial, he felt it from the inside of his bones.

“Thank you,” he said, giving everyone a hug. This was the most anyone had made of his birth till this day, he felt as if he had been living in a cage the past 26 years.

“Hyung, happy birthday. I'm sorry for being absent the past seven birthdays, but I'll make up for it today!” Sungmin apologized, hugging Yesung tightly, like a child who had just found their mother after being lost alone.

Yesung rubbed the top of Sungmin's head, kindly accepting his apology.

“Presents,” Yesung said, holding out his hands.

Slowly each present was stacked into Yesung's small hands, he decided to start with Heechul's gift first, the last gift to be wrapped.

“Don't-” Heechul shouted, trying to stop Yesung from opening the gift, but everyone held him back,. “Oh gosh...” he uttered to himself.

The entire room burst with laughter.

“Really?” Eunhyuk laughed, pressuring his aching stomach with his hands due to the pain.

Ryeowook hid his face in his hands trying to hold back his laugh.

“Boxers... with heart prints...” Yesung managed to squeeze out during a short break between his laughter, “is it a sign? A hint maybe?”

Donghae, who finally understood why everyone else was dying in laughter, started chuckling as well. Eunhyuk started whispering into his ears about the odd relationships in this group of brothers, triangles and such.

Kyuhyun wrapped his arms around Sungmin for support, he couldn't even sit upright anymore, “hyung... I didn't know... you... Yesung hyung...” Kyuhyun teased, trying hard to breath.

Sungmin pinched Kyuhyun on the cheek and nudged him, trying to calm him down.

“That's totally what it is,” Heechul said rolling his eyes, “I'm so madly in love with you that I couldn't resist buying you heart shaped boxers.”

Yesung nodded silently, looking at the boxers in his hand.

“I wasn't being serious,” Heechul explained, “he's the last person I want to get involved with, being in love with straight men is like pushing myself into a black hole, falling in love with Yesung is like slitting my own veins.”

They all laughed harder at the insults, Yesung laughed to himself while moving on, hoping the next present would be better.

“Kyuhyun!” Yesung shouted, turning to Kyuhyun, “how much you want to bet I can find your present in this mountain of gifts?”

Kyuhyun looked at Sungmin, who shook his head at him, “none, Min says it's risky... and you're a weird one, who knows what you can do.”

Yesung shrugged an took a present out of the stash, indeed, it was Kyuhyun's. Sungmin patted Kyuhyun's cheek, signaling that he made a wise decision.

Yesung shook the box trying to guess what was inside.

“That is so ordinary,” Heechul said, crossing his arms, “at least my present was creative and gave everyone a laugh.”

Kyuhyun threw a couch pillow at Heechul, “mines probably cost a ton more.”

“Money doesn't amount to anything, it's the heart that counts, Kyuhyun. Didn't anyone ever tell you that?”

“Considering I only had you throughout my life, no... no one has ever taught me that,” Kyuhyun countered.

While the two were arguing Yesung had opened the present to find a beautiful watch.

“You're running out of time, hyung,” Kyuhyun said, watching the touched Yesung stare at the watch, “we all are.”

Yesung nodded and slipped the watch around his wrist. He slowly opened all the other presents prepared for him; some were out of ordinary and others were cute, he liked all of them.

The party ended on a nice note, all of them drank but none of them seemed to get drunk... the atmosphere was probably too good for any of them to waste themselves.

After returning to their rooms, they all reflected on what has happened the past two weeks-ish, well...five of them did.

Had any of them grown as a person?

Had they changed as an individual?

Did they adapt to one another as a group?

How much had they sacrificed in order to come this far in life?

What would it be like when they had to turn back?

Three of them would have to turn back. They had no choice.

No. They had a choice, but they decided it wasn't an acceptable one. They only had about two more weeks left until all their changes would go to waste, they watched as time passed by.

Kyuhyun got out of bed and headed out to the deck, Heechul and Yesung were already waiting for him in the very spot he always occupied.

“Late,” Yesung said as he took a seat.

“Very rare,” Heechul added, handing him a drink.

“You two are just early,” Kyuhyun replied, leaning back in his seat.

“So it seems,” Yesung sighed.

“Better early than never,” Heechul laughed.

“It's better late than never, isn't it?” Yesung asked.

“Same thing,” Heechul groaned.

Together, they sat and talked about nothing until dawn. They weren't tired, they didn't want to stop, because they didn't know when the next time they could just simply sit and chat would be after they left this cruise.

When would be the next time they could even see each other?

Eventually Yesung and Heechul dozed off into slumber but Kyuhyun continued to watch the sunrise.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to find Ryeowook standing beside him. He took a wrapped box out of his left pocket and handed it to Ryeowook. Ryeowook unwrapped it and found the dark violet gemstone.

“It won't ever disappear,” Ryeowook started, “this necklace, the memories, our days together... as a team. These things will never disappear. We're all members of the same family now. The next time the three of you come back, we'll all still be here, waiting.”

Kyuhyun knew this better than anyone. He could feel something inside him moving, something changing, something striving to grow. It ached a little bit, it pained him a little bit, but this was how things worked. This was only the first step in his recreation.

Kyuhyun smiled while holding tightly onto the object in his right pocket, “feels like insomnia,” he said, closing his eyes. But Ryeowook didn't understand, not yet.