“You’re back! The food should be here in a few.” Kyungsoo called as the two boys sidled back into the room.

“Sorry about that Suho-ah.” Baekhyun said as he propped his crutch up on the back of his chair and slid into the comfy seat, hand still wrapped tightly around Chanyeol’s. Suho seemed to note their interlocked fingers and grinned at them.

“That’s fine Baek! I just feel so asjkhierjgvidnfgvkemd.” Suho said, bouncing around in his chair with bright eyes and an even brighter smile. Suho always got over hyper on his birthday; he had been like this for as long as Baekhyun could remember. One year, maybe his sixth or seventh birthday, Suho had been running around screaming unintelligibly for a while as usual when all of the screaming stopped. All of the little kids sat politely around the table with party hats and toothless grins looked over to Suho. Strangely they couldn’t see him, what they could see instead was a mound of cake and icing in a rather boy like shape with twinkling eyes just visible between the thick white frosting.

“Thuho hyung, don’t you want to open your prethenth?” Sehun asked with a smile, seeming to buzz almost as much as his hyung. Suho’s eyes widened with glee as he reached for the pile of parcels. Baekhyun lifted himself onto one leg and leaned across the table to slap away Suho’s reaching arm. The older pouted and rubbed the spot as he sat back down.

“You know the rules Suho, no presents until we’ve eaten, it’s tradition.” Kyungsoo laughed at Suho’s scalded puppy expression.

Moments later Sunny arrived again with trays upon trays full of yummy foods. The strong, warm and spicy aromas wafted around the room, floating deliciously into Baekhyun’s nostrils. He took a deep breath, absorbing the wonderful smell before clapping his hands along with Chanyeol as they waited to be served. There was no etiquette among the six boys, once they had food in front of them, they ate it and they ate it messily. For a full ten minutes all that could be heard was the sharp sound of spoons scraping plates, the clacking of chopsticks, the and slurping of drinks and the chewing of food. As one the six boys groaned and leaned back in their chairs, rubbing their stomachs. Baekhyun felt as though he had never been so full and nursed his aching yet satisfied tummy.

“Oh lordy that was delicious.” Kai said as he tilted his chair back from the table. Baekhyun ignored his automatic instinct to tell Kai to sit in his chair properly so as to not get hurt.

“Damn thtraight.” Sehun said. Baekhyun looked over to the maknae to see that his eyes were drooping and he was fighting back a yawn. The youngest seemed that he was so full that he needed a nap.

“Aww Sehunnie you’re so cute.” Baekhyun squealed bringing his hands to his face. Sehun pouted and sat up a little straighter making Baekhyun laugh at how he looked even more adorable.

“Yah.” Chanyeol half-heartedly pushed on Baekhyun’s arm, his movements sluggish and slow. “You’re meant to call me cute.” Baekhyun looked over to his boyfriend who was giving him his best puppy dog eyes, his glassy orbs becoming round and deep. Baekhyun chuckled and tickled under the younger’s chin.

“You are the cutest to me Channie.” Chanyeol smiled and flicked his tongue out to affectionately at Baekhyun’s tickling fingers as though he were a dog.

“Eww, you guys are so fluffy, I think I’m going to throw up.” Kyungsoo grumbled, flicking Baekhyun in the side of the head. Baekhyun was about to retort when Suho did the job for him.

“Kyung they have to be like that to balance out the ridiculously high drive in your relationship. The four of you are like lemon and honey, together you’re a lovely drink, and separate you’re either bitter sweet or just plain bitter.” Suho said, his words slurring slightly with how full he was.  Baekhyun turned to Kyungsoo and stuck out his tongue at the younger who just glared playfully back.

A few moments later Sunny came back into the room, flicking off the lights as she entered. Resting in her outstretched arms was a huge cake with 17 brilliantly glowing candles illuminating it. Baekhyun couldn’t see the design on the cake in the candle light but he could make out pastel colours and most especially pink, a lot of pink. Upon the entrance of the cake the six boys sprung up from their food induced slouches. Baekhyun completely forgot that moments before he had been too full to even move properly as he bounced in his chair excited for the yummy looking cake.  A loud and boisterous rendition of Happy birthday was suddenly being sung into the room.

“Saeng-il-eul chughahabnida,
Saeng-il-eul chughahabnida,
Suho salanghaneun saeng-il,
Saeng-il-eul chughahabnida.”

As they ended the song they broke out into applause as Suho grinned.

“Make a wish Thuho hyung!” Sehun called. Suho squished his eyes together adorably as he thought and after a few moments of deep consideration he puffed up his cheeks before releasing an almighty puff of air to blow out the dancing flames. They all cheered as Suho managed to blow out all of the candles and Sunny flipped the lights back on with a smile. Baekhyun felt warm inside and out as he looked around at his friend’s smiling faces and took in the scene around him. Here he could get all of the love that he never got from his family and he would never change it for the world. Now that Baekhyun could see properly again he inspected the cake before him. It was large and round and the majority of the thick, yummy looking icing atop the cake was pale yellows and pinks. Right in the middle of the round face was the most pretty, ornate looking uniform that Baekhyun had ever seen crafted with sugar. It’s curling mane was made of swirls of powder purple while the horn was covered with edible glitter. Suho gasped as he saw the work of art before him and he looked up at Sunny with teary eyes. She smiled lovingly at him and came up behind him to hug his shoulders.

“I hope you like it Suho-ah. But just ‘cause you’re my cousin doesn’t mean you get it free so it’s part of your present, sorry.” She stood up straight and stuck her tongue out at him. “Here, I have to get back to work now but happy birthday!” She dropped a small parcel into his lap and flounced out of the room with a delicate wave.

“Thank you Noona!” Suho called as she left. “So who wants cake?” All of the boys rose from their chairs, scrabbling for the yummy desert.

Baekhyun remembered one time when he was five years old and was having dinner at Kyungsoo’s house. He had really hated carrots when he was five and had told Mrs Do that he was really full so he couldn’t eat any of the carrots or he would pop. She smiled knowingly and said, “What a shame, if you’re so full I guess that means that you can’t have any of your favourite cinnamon flapjacks for pudding.” Baekhyun had panicked at the time and, truly believing that his body worked like that, had replied, “I am almost full but I have a little bit of space at the top of my head for flapjack!” Maybe that was one thing that never changed with boys, no matter how full they were, they would always have room for sweets.