With the last finishing touches of Jiyong’s book complete Seunghyun smiled completely smitten with the outcome, Jiyong was going to love it and he couldn’t wait to see that look of pure surprise on his boyfriend’s beautiful face. He placed the book to the side for a moment then picked up a roll of sparkling white paper, carefully Seunghyun took his time to wrap the book up, and once he was finished he set the newly wrapped present into its little white and black printed bag. He had just one whole week left to sort out Jiyong’s birthday.

A soft piano led tune filled Seunghyun’s bedroom from the radio on his phone, with a muted bedroom lamp providing a soft glow and with a low sigh Seunghyun shifted the bag onto the floor only to then melt back into his bed and the calming atmosphere a second later. Tonight he had a companion in his bed but it wasn’t Jiyong, he squeezed his new prehistoric friend tightly wishing that he really did have Jiyong here. Not that Jiyong’s Yoshi wasn’t a good enough companion, with its faint traces of Jiyong’s personal fragrance providing some sort of comfort to Seunghyun, though with the comfort came the feeling of missing Jiyong and no matter how hard Seunghyun squeezed the plushie he still couldn’t shake the feeling. He missed the way Jiyong would hold him close, how he could nestle so perfectly into his boyfriend’s embrace and the way Jiyong made him feel.

Wow.

Seunghyun really had no idea to describe how Jiyong made him feel anymore, it felt like more than love, more than feeling itself, it was as if his chest was weightless all the time yet when he thought about Jiyong it would tense and speed up a million times over. How could you be on cloud nine yet still feel the grass beneath your toes? Seunghyun had no idea how Jiyong did it and a part of him never wanted to find out, keeping the mystery of Jiyong’s love intact and exciting. Of course everything was exciting for Seunghyun right now, he remembered the gentle way in which Jiyong touched him, the light pads of Jiyong’s soothing hands and how their tiny presses amplified throughout Seunghyun’s body instinctively making him quiver, yearning for more. He remembered how Jiyong looked up at him, eyes bright and admiring the shy smile which he was greeted with, the cogs of Seunghyun’s brain jammed, he could feel some unexplainable force push him further back into Jiyong’s bed and pillows.

“Don’t be scared” Jiyong’s mindful voice called out in an acoustic tune, each singular dulcet tone washing over Seunghyun like an evening’s lullaby. He could only breathlessly nod as the light touches passionately tapped further down his skin, tracing the flowing dips and curves of Seunghyun’s skin, Jiyong took his time to soak in every little detail about his boyfriend. “I love you and I would never do anything to hurt you, do you trust me Seunghyun?” Seunghyun hadn’t realised that his eyes were squeezed shut so tightly that he was crying, a hand left his hip to wipe his eyes and he opened them to see Jiyong’s adoring, rose-tinted, face beaming at him. “I can stop, just tell me to stop” The sheen to Jiyong’s face seemed to fade at the lack of response from his boyfriend.

“Please- don’t-” Seunghyun tried to reply though his voice was fractured from the various contradicting emotions which were currently coursing through his veins. Jiyong was right Seunghyun was scared but he also felt extraordinarily happy, nervous, elated, relaxed, excited, so many different things which he’d never ever felt in this pressuring capacity before. “I- I trust- you-” Just as Seunghyun thought that Jiyong was going to pull back his boyfriend did the exact opposite and moved closer, tenderly pressing their lips together. As well as his heart Jiyong stole all the air from Seunghyun’s lungs through just one simple kiss and a sharp gasp left the breathless man as the touches from before picked up in rhythm and speed.

A flash of the brightest possible light dazzled Seunghyun, he felt his entire being fall into Jiyong’s sensual tempo, everything felt magnified, from the loud pulse in Seunghyun’s ears to the accent of Jiyong’s heated breaths, the harmony in which their bodies seemed to dance to as if being together like this was the most natural thing in the world and it was. Suddenly he felt exhausted as the residual waves of pleasure rolled from his body, Jiyong fell beside Seunghyun on his back intuitively reaching for Seunghyun’s hand and holding it against his fallen chest, he could feel Jiyong’s every pant and intake of air.

“My first love, last love and forever love” Seunghyun heard the very delicate whisper once Jiyong had shifted onto his side and pressed the words against his ear. The whisper sent shivers straight down Seunghyun’s spine and the small trail of kisses across his knuckles caused him to noisily sigh. One last kiss planted in the midst of Seunghyun’s temple was the last thing he felt before he fell asleep, with Jiyong curling into his side and weaving their legs together under the velvet-like covers.

Just thinking about their first time together caused Seunghyun’s want to deepen and he squeezed Yoshi tighter imploring his stupid eyes to fall asleep, whilst trying to ignore the fact that his memories prevented him from doing so. He felt cold and no amount of sheets, duvet, blankets and relaxing piano notes could keep him from shivering and help him fall asleep. However Seunghyun really needed to get some shut eye, he had work in the morning and he couldn’t waste his precious time to sleep on being awake. As if right on cue the radio stopped and the beep beep of Seunghyun’s annoying ringtone sounded throughout the room, he reached out from under his cocoon and answered it pressing the speaker firmly to his ear.

“Seunghyun?” It was Jiyong and Seunghyun couldn’t help but smile at the lovely sound.

“Yeah Ji?” Seunghyun replied nestling back into the covers.

“Did I just wake you up?” Something was upsetting Jiyong and Seunghyun knew it was more than the chance that he might’ve just woken his boyfriend up.

“To be honest I can’t sleep” Seunghyun admitted closing his eyes for the millionth time.

“Really?!” Jiyong burst sounding far too happy about this new information.

“Yeah, can’t stop thinking about you” Seunghyun replied as he curled in on himself and rested his head on the top of Yoshi’s.

“Me too” Jiyong openly sighed, a little squeak escaping him in the process. “I miss you” He added, his voice considerably lower.

“I miss you too” Seunghyun answered with a small sigh of his own.

“I really can’t wait to live with you, to fall asleep with you every night and wake up with you by my side in the morning” Seunghyun swore he heard Jiyong sniffle as he spoke.

“Hopefully I won’t punch you in the face every morning” He tried to lighten the mood with a joke, which worked by the way.

“That’s good to know” Jiyong laughed for a minute then stopped. “I wish we were older though” He confessed with another soft sigh.

“Why older?” Seunghyun asked, not quite understanding where Jiyong was coming from.

“Well so we’d already be living together, where I could wake you up with breakfast and a full pot of coffee, we’d have a lovely little house somewhere, with a garden. You’d go off to work in the morning and I’d help you with your tie then kiss you goodbye for the day, whilst you’re working I’d photograph things and work freelance. Oh, I just want to live a normal life with you” Seunghyun was pretty much teary-eyed by the end of Jiyong’s little dream, it was perfect.

“Sounds like heaven” He slowly answered, picturing the scene perfectly in his head.

“I want to get a job” Jiyong’s next sentence was a strange one, he sounded as if he’d already thought this through and was just informing Seunghyun of that decision.

“So you’ve thought about it?” Seunghyun abruptly asked.

“Yeah, in that month we didn’t see each other I thought about going back to the store”

“Ji…” Seunghyun sighed as he rolled onto his back.

“Yeah I know but, I don’t want to, I know I don’t so I thought about getting some of my old work printed and framed” Seunghyun bit his lip trying so desperately to stop himself from gasping, there were two reasons which caused this reaction. Number one, Jiyong finally felt ready to show his work and sell it whereas Number two, Jiyong was sharing this with Seunghyun. “Erm Hyunnie?” Jiyong continued after a moments silence “Would you like to look at my work sometime? I, uh, I want to show you some things”

“Sure” Seunghyun tried to remain calm whilst his mind went into overdrive. “Don’t get anything printed until I’ve seen it though” He quickly thought up an excuse “Because…because-”

“Don’t worry I won’t” Jiyong giggled slightly “You’ll have to OK everything, right Mr. Art Critic?”

“Exactly” Seunghyun had to let out a sigh and prayed that Jiyong thought it was a direct result of his mocking.

“OK” Jiyong said just as the line went quiet again.

“So Yongie…” Seunghyun knew a way to change the conversation and he had a question which had been bugging him recently. “Is there anything you can’t do? I mean, you know that song you wrote about me? Can you sing well?”

“Err…” Jiyong choked then spluttered “Not really, well I can, I mean, I’m not too good at it, I tend to just write stuff I’ve never really tried to sing to anything I’ve written, so I-”

“Will you sing it for me?” Seunghyun stretched whilst faintly yawning, he freed his arms from his cocoon and reached for the ceiling balancing the phone in between his head and shoulder.

“Why do you want me to sing? For all you know I could be awful?” Jiyong audibly gulped.

“I doubt that somehow” Seunghyun instantly shot back “And it’ll help me sleep, I’ve got work tomorrow so…”

“Fine” Jiyong sighed then cleared his throat “But you have to promise not to laugh at me”

“I promise” One of Seunghyun’s hands returned to the cocoon whereas the other resumed its hold on the phone, he shifted onto his side resting the device between his pillow and ear.

“Yeah (maybe I’m missing you). Without any thoughts, just like any other day, I met up with people and talked and laughed, When night comes, the TV is my only friend, When the morning sun rises, then I finally fall asleep, It’s so pathetic – I guess I liked you a lot” Jiyong starts to rap which surprises the heck out of Seunghyun but it’s not a harsh aggressive sound, it’s more like he’s whispering and it’s the most beautiful sound in the entire universe.

“After you left, the blue sky looks yellow in my eyes, Are you hurting somewhere? I’m right here. Or are you in a new relationship with someone new? I miss you my baby.” Then Jiyong starts to sing which completely stuns Seunghyun. “My heart wants to cry but I have no one to talk to, Sometimes, I want to smile widely but I have no one by my side, Maybe I’m missing you oh oh~” By the second ‘oh’ Seunghyun was asleep and a weak snore rudely interrupted the rest of Jiyong’s song, though the latter merely laughed in relief before ending the call.

“Yes Ji I’ve just this second got off the train, yes everything’s fine and yeah it did work. No you don’t have to talk to me the whole way there, well I was on the train trying to read the paper, hey you be careful there I’m not old! It’s rude to call someone when you’re sat in the quietest part of the train, I like it so neh to you!”

Every day at work started the same; Seunghyun would wake up, ready himself for the day ahead, have some breakfast, race to the train station, catch the train, receive about fifty million texts from Jiyong in the process, phone him once he left Itaewon station, reassure him that the train didn’t explode, that he was still alive and could remember his way to work. Jiyong would insist on talking to him the whole way there and even if Seunghyun stopped responding (sometimes he found it a bit difficult to coordinate his walking, talking and breathing all at the same time) Jiyong would still find something to talk about. Despite the fact that their conversations always seemed to dim into a rather loud drama enhanced monologue from Jiyong about how something or someone was annoying him, Seunghyun wouldn’t change a thing. He soon learnt that Jiyong tended to talk and got worked up over the most irrational things, not because he enjoyed the whinging but, because he was nervous for Seunghyun and talking seemed to be Jiyong’s jittery approach to expressing this. In the same way that Seunghyun would trip right over his words it turned out that Jiyong was the exact opposite (once you truly got to know him) and hence once his boyfriend started talking Seunghyun would just listen, taking in the pure melodic instrument that was Jiyong’s voice.

At the core of today’s rant was Daesung who kept trying to avoid his apartment chores and how when Jiyong had confronted him about it Daesung only then went on to then do a half-assed job. Apparently Jiyong was reaching the end of his tether and this, for some twisted reason, made Seunghyun laugh, bad move.

“Did you just laugh?!” Jiyong questioned as Seunghyun imagined that the playful look of disdain he’d surely be on the receiving end of if he was having this conversation face to face with his boyfriend.

“Nope” Seunghyun pretended to cough as he turned a street corner, luckily for him the shop was just ahead. “You do sound like a nagging wife or something though” He added carefully glancing around as if Jiyong could see him.

“A nagging wife?!” Jiyong’s voice rose up a pitch.

“Uh Ji I’m going to have to hang up now I’m at work” Seunghyun paused in front of the bookshop and rummaged in his messenger bag for the keys.

“Not if I hang up on you first” Jiyong huffed as the call ended, Seunghyun merely rolled his eyes and laughed. Jackpot! He found the keys and opened the door, quickly stepping inside. There was definitely someone in here Seunghyun could hear their feet shuffling about so he announced his presence. “Hello? Anyone about?”

“Ah !” A voice shouted from behind the till after a loud thump. Seunghyun instantly ran over there peering over the till

“I am so-”

“Seunghyun!” Seungri sprang out from behind the till and ran around it, swiftly wrapping his arms around Seunghyun who frowned at the sudden skinship.

“I take it back you probably deserved that” Seunghyun joked whilst prying Seungri away from him. “What in the hell did you think that you were doing?! Getting me drunk?! Are you insane?!”

“Oh” Seungri skipped a step back and folded his arms over his chest. “But did it work? Did you do it?”

“Did I do what?” Seunghyun grumbled as he hauled his bag from his shoulder and placed it beside the till. “You little sh*t! That was your plan all along wasn’t it?!”

“Maybe” Seungri coyly grinned unfolding his arms to place one hand on his hip whilst the other rubbed at his injured head. “So you did do it then?!” He winked before raising a cocky eyebrow in Seunghyun’s direction.

“I- uh…” Seunghyun trailed off feeling his face redden at the thought.

“VICTORY!” Seungri shouted cheering his hands up into the air and dancing on the spot. “Tell me everything- OK not all the details but what happened? Did you guys, you know, the whole time me and Bae were out? OHMGEE you did, didn’t you? You b*stards!”

“I’m going to punch you if you don’t shut up” Seunghyun lowly replied although there was no strength to his voice.

“Wow Hyun… Welcome to adulthood my man!” Seungri attempt to pat the older man though Seunghyun wasn’t letting him off the hook that easily, he swatted at Seungri’s arm then punched the same arm just for good measure. “Right come on we’re going to sit in the back, have a cuppa and share our weekend stories” Seungri was unfazed by the slight violence, instead he grabbed Seunghyun’s swinging arm and dragged him towards the back.

Seungri was the person who started sharing their story first, of course he didn’t mention anything that Seunghyun hadn’t already heard from Bae but he didn’t mind and after a while he actually started to enjoy the conversation. The way that the doughy-eyed Seungri lit up when he spoke about Bae and how he described all the little things that he liked about the other man, it made Seunghyun wonder if he looked like that when he spoke about Jiyong. However, when Seungri expected the same amount of sharing from Seunghyun he whined when the other point-blankly refused.

“Seungri really, you are quite possibly my closest friend but there’s just no way I’m telling you about that sort of thing. Seriously, thank you for your drunken wisdom”

“OK fine, fine, fine…” Seungri gave in after what felt like the tenth time of being told no. “Answer me this though, I’m just dying to know, did you go all the way or did one of you just go down on the other?” Seunghyun rolled his eyes at the question.

“If I answer your question will you shut up about it?” He asked taking a big gulp from what would be his last sip of tea.

“I swear to it” Seungri smiled mock saluting Seunghyun.

“Right…” Seunghyun inhaled a deep breath “Basically-we-didn’t-go-all-the-way-we’re-taking-it-slowly-so-Jiyong-did-everything-and-that’s-it-OK?” He managed to say the whole sentence in one heavy exhale.

“So you bottomed?” Seungri asked still with a huge smile on his smug face.

“No there was none of that involved” Seunghyun shook his head, not fully understanding what Seungri meant.

“Oh my dearest Hyun, still so naïve and innocent” He tutted before patting his friend’s back.

The rest of the week soon flew on by with Seunghyun helping out in the store and being reunited with a rather content Mr. Lee who filled in their mind-numbing spare time with his wonderful stories about his time in Japan. Though for Seunghyun each day seemed to be in fast forward mode, whilst he was at work Seunghyun found that Seungri was beyond helpful as he chose most of the birthday party goodies. Admittedly the pair often took long breaks from the store, leaving upon Mr. Lee’s insistence, because the store was kind of empty most of the time and instead they would go shopping. At the same time, Seunghyun needed a distraction from Seungri’s never-ending soliloquies about how he was courting a certain Youngbae via text. If he had to hear about how Bae left multiple voice messages of him singing on Seungri’s phone one more time he was going to flip a trolley or something. Though the thought caused him to miss Jiyong even more and at some point throughout the last week he’d accidentally distanced himself from his boyfriend, worried that he might spill the beans.

During his free time Seunghyun would try to organise the plans for the party and thoroughly make sure that everyone was good to go. By everyone Seunghyun meant his personal “Birthday Team” which consisted of Seunghyun’s Ma, Bae, Dae, Mihyun and Dami with the brief distraction of Yonghyun. Everything was set in place. Seunghyun’s idea was that they would have the party a day early, on the Saturday afternoon, which meant that they could drag it on until Seunghyun planned to whisk Jiyong away to the art centre for the private view. Just before they would go to the art centre though Seunghyun had one more plan up his sleeve and this was a part of the plan he was both dreading and simultaneously looking forward to.

Today was Friday which meant that Jiyong’s birthday was in two days, though the party and the private view were tomorrow. Seunghyun was currently helping Seungri shut the shop up for the week and when that was finished with he opened the door before turning to Seungri to say

“So remember be at Jiyong’s apartment for 2pm tomorrow to help with the decorations then the party. You’ll have to text us when the place is ready, Bae knows what to do” Before Seungri could ramble Seunghyun excused himself and turned the opposite way down the street, out of the corner of his eye he saw Seungri wave then go back into the building. There was just one thing Seunghyun had to do.

During his hour off at lunchtime on Wednesday Seunghyun managed to take the fully printed and framed photo (which Mihyun had taken to get printed on her day off on Tuesday) to the art gallery where several things occurred. The first thing was that he was mistaken as the artist and was praised for his “unbelievable talent” though Seunghyun quickly explained how it was his friend’s work which he had submitted as a surprise on his behalf. Resulting in the staff saying that the idea was very sweet and wishing Seunghyun the best of luck.

The next thing that happened was the Private View invitations and meeting Jihoon Kim, the lead artist and director for the gallery. Well, that was an overwhelming experience apparently to get into the gallery on the night you needed a printed invitation wherein each applicant received a total of four free tickets. This meant that you could invite your partner/parents or friends, at the mention of parents though Seunghyun knew exactly what he had to do.

So this was his plan for his Friday night, he was going to lock away all those negative feelings and reach out to Jiyong’s parents for the very last time. It didn’t take him long to reach that all too familiar café and once he was inside he called out to them

“Mr and Mrs Kwon?!” Seunghyun called louder once he reached the counter. “Is anyone home?” One whole apprehensive minute later Jiyong’s Father appeared, his expression was stern and stoic and he stood with his arms folded practically leering at Seunghyun from behind the counter.

“Yes? What do you want?” Mr. Kwon spoke with a wondrous amount of venom which only caused Seunghyun to pity him, rather than feel scared. Seunghyun merely took a step back from the counter and deeply bowed, even getting onto his knees to rest his head against the ground. He could hear the hinges of the counter bar squeak open and a second later a set of feet stood beside him. Seunghyun his knees and bowed yet again

“I have nothing but the deepest respect for you Mr. Kwon” Seunghyun spoke to the brown sandals and curled in toes “I respect that you only want what is best for your Son, that’s why you cast him out and sent him all those photos. I just want a couple of minutes of your time Sir”

“Seunghyun-ssi what are you doing on the floor?” The voice of Jiyong’s Mother called from somewhere in the distance.

“Here” Seunghyun fumbled about in his coat pocket scooping out the two invitations and holding them above his head. “For Jiyong’s Birthday I surprised him by submitting a piece of his art work into the Seoul Art Centre’s New Local Talent Exhibition. These are tickets to the Private View, it would mean the world to Jiyong if you came along” The invites were snatched from his hands as Jiyong’s Father spoke

“Get up” He barked and Seunghyun did exactly that, though once he was on his feet he kept his eyes locked onto Jiyong’s Father.

“I know that you disagree with Jiyong’s life choices but you should know that the exhibitors are so excited about Jiyong’s work, they think that it’ll be brought instantly and it has the best space in the entire gallery. You should also know that he and Dami have reconciled, that’s probably why you haven’t heard from your Daughter in a while, besides, if she can love and support Jiyong then I can’t see why you two can’t, are you really willing to lose your children over something as petty as this?” Seunghyun’s gaze fell back onto Jiyong’s Mother who was looking at him through watering eyes she sniffled before Jiyong’s Father replied

“There is nothing petty about sickness”

“Really? Can’t you just accept it and be proud of the fact that your Son chooses to love with his heart rather than his brain? What’s so wrong about falling in love with someone because of their smile? Or the way they can make you laugh without even realising it? Surely you and your Wife can understand that?” Seunghyun wasn’t going to budge, this was his last try and it was their last hope. “Look I didn’t come here to argue with you, heck Jiyong doesn’t even know that I’m here and he’ll probably kill me when he finds out. But that won’t stop me from offering you this one last chance to keep your Son in your life, despite everything you’re his parents and you need each other. If you’re so against Jiyong and his life then don’t bother, don’t come and see your Son’s hard work, and don’t congratulate him on surviving your bullsh*t. He could quite easily live the rest of his life without you both, he has a family of his own so you know the only people who are missing out on anything are actually stood right in front of me. Good day Mr and Mrs. Kwon” Seunghyun curtly bowed, glanced at their bewildered but guarded expressions, then headed out of the door and off into the evening.

Seunghyun was sweating, it was as if it he had a permanent raincloud above his head which only soaked him. He was also gazing into the mirror as he finished off his mini inspirational speech about how he could do this and with a reassuring nod he left Jiyong’s bathroom. It was Saturday, practically the big day itself, and Seunghyun had to convince Jiyong to leave the house with him for a while. Conveniently this little excursion would take all day and oh no they’d have to spend the night at Seunghyun’s, which was a total lie because in actuality Seunghyun’s Ma would bring them back to Jiyong’s apartment where the surprise party would be waiting, ready to pounce. It was just convincing his boyfriend to pack a little overnight bag, something which should’ve took five minutes was at present stretching out into an hour and he only had another left before the Birthday Team would arrive.

“Yongie please~” Seunghyun openly whined on the sofa next to his resisting boyfriend.

“But why? Why can’t we just stay here? I mean I like your house but I don’t see why” Seunghyun was sure that Jiyong knew that something was going to happen, hence the reason why he was resisting so much.

“Oh if you must know” Seunghyun sighed, utterly frustrated at the circling argument. “I had a surprise dinner planned for you tonight and I wanted to make it extra special” Jiyong sprang up in his seat turning on Seunghyun.

“You could’ve just said that it was a surprise! Now you’ve spoiled it!” Jiyong huffed with that huge pout taking up what must’ve been half of his beautiful face. Of course that was a total lie but Seunghyun went with it

“And how was I supposed to convince you to leave your apartment if I didn’t tell you?” Seunghyun grumbled acting to his heart’s content.

“Ah I’m such a birthday ruiner!” Jiyong cried out stuffing a nearby yellow pillow to his face. “Fine” Came a small mumble from behind the cushion. “I’ll just get my stuff” The pillow fell forward onto Seunghyun’s lap as Jiyong stood up and walked off into his bedroom quite clearly in a sulk. Grinning Seunghyun stretched his arms out and glanced around the room, he couldn’t wait to see all those stupid birthday banners, balloons and streamers decorating this dreary interior.

Jiyong reappeared what felt like hours later (though according to Seunghyun’s watch it’d only been five minutes) and stuffed his feet into a pair of what looked like woman’s cowboy boots. Seunghyun smiled at the sight of his ridiculously cute boyfriend taking a minute to imprint this adorable image into his memory. Jiyong’s hair was left completely natural, nowadays he rarely styled it with products since the length reached just below his chin, and the inky strands which curled around his face strangely made him look a lot younger (if that was possible). To add to that, he was wearing a casual black and yellow checked shirt, teamed with some faded dark jeans, which seemed to make the shade of his amber eyes brighter and his complexion paler. Basically he looked too attractive to be from this planet.

Seunghyun’s ogling was quickly noted and with Jiyong still in a sulk he stamped a noisy heel against the ground, frightening the life out of his spectating boyfriend.

“Come on then” Jiyong impatiently slung a leather beige holdall over his shoulder and shuffled over to the door, Seunghyun immediately raced over before Jiyong could change his mind. He wasn’t aware of how stubborn Jiyong could be sometimes, however as they swiftly clambered out of the apartment and Seunghyun offered to carried Jiyong’s bag for him, it was the tiniest of smiles that followed which meant that all had been forgiven.

They reached Seunghyun’s house, entering the completely empty home, as they opened the door and took their shoes off Jiyong started to question why the house was so empty on a Saturday.

“Surely no one works on a Saturday?” Jiyong carefully placed his delicate boots down by Seunghyun’s scruffy aging trainers.

“Yeah, not everyone can have the weekend off my dear Yongie” Seunghyun mused trying to keep the smile from his face. “Come on, we’ve got a busy schedule” That was probably the second or third lie of the day, Seunghyun decided that it probably wasn’t such a good idea to keep counting considering the fact that really the day had only just begun. Now he had to distract Jiyong for two hours, or maybe more depending on what time the Birthday Team would text him, so he drew out everything for as long as possible.

After taking half an hour to make them the smallest pot of tea in existence Seunghyun led Jiyong into the living room, mugs in hand, and they sat in front of the television for a while. It was actually really relaxing for Seunghyun to just sit for a while and get lost in some angst ridden movie with Jiyong sat by his side occasionally making a cute slurping noise with his tea every now and again. Although Seunghyun sort of lost track of what the plot was after a while and his proverbial raincloud returned as he started to worry about what could go wrong.

What if Jiyong’s parents made it to the Private View and caused a scene?

What if Jiyong hated it and never wanted to speak to Seunghyun again?

What if Seungri somehow manages to clumsily ruin the decorations?

Or what if Bae accidentally eats the whole birthday cake before they’ve even arrived?

Or what if Mihyun sets fire to the apartment whilst glaring daggers at Daesung for cocking something up?

Or even worse what if no one shows up?

What if the Birthday Team quit?

OK so Seunghyun was going a little crazy; Seungri wasn’t clumsy in fact he was probably the opposite of that, Bae wouldn’t really touch cake because according to him he doesn’t have much of a sweet tooth and Mihyun well maybe that was possible…He tried to snap out of his trance several times though it was Jiyong’s shy voice which eventually broke the crazy spell.

“Seunghyun, is there a particular reason why we haven’t spoken about my birthday?”

“Not to my knowledge, why?” He looked to his boyfriend who mildly smiled up at him.

“Well I’m so glad that it’s just us, I don’t really like birthdays” Jiyong sighed then cast his gaze to the peachy carpet. “I mean I haven’t had a proper birthday for years, with Bae and Daesung I always avoided the topic. When the day eventually came I’d just stay out all day and come home the next, we’d all pretend that nothing had ever happened-”

“That’s not right” Seunghyun quickly cut the rest of Jiyong’s explanation off. “You should celebrate the day that you were born” He set his cup down on the small square coffee table in front of them, positioning his mug so that it was right next to Jiyong’s. “And, you know, if you hadn’t been born then we wouldn’t have met and vice versa”

“Yeah but-”

“There’s no buts about it” Seunghyun looped a hand with Jiyong’s “We’re going to enjoy your birthday and I’m going to spend the entire day thanking the world that you exist” With his other hand he drew Jiyong’s chin closer to him and once he’d finished talking Seunghyun gently pressed their lips together. He pulled them apart and added “I’m going to spoil you rotten and you’re going to enjoy it” Jiyong didn’t looked too convinced so Seunghyun decided that they were done talking for a while as new way to preoccupy Jiyong occupied his mind.

Seunghyun was pretty much squishing Jiyong into his Ma’s plush cotton blue sofa when his pocket started to buzz and he tore his lips a little too harshly away from Jiyong which caused his boyfriend to wantonly cry out.

“Hello?” He wasn’t expecting a call.

“Amigoooo!” Seungri’s voice sang down the phone, suddenly it hit Seunghyun just how much of a trained singer his friend was although that wonder didn’t last long as he asked himself whether the idiot knew what a text message was.

“Ah hello” Seunghyun tried to remain calm, shifting away from Jiyong by shakily climbing onto his feet

“We’re ready for you both now, your Ma should be over in a second, get ready to go” A song started to play in the background and before Jiyong could hear it Seunghyun loudly cleared his throat then hung up, he’d just explain it to Seungri later.

Minutes passed, tick

Tock-

Tick-

Tock-

The hands on Seunghyun’s watch were moving far too slowly and since Seungri’s phone call the worried man had been unsuccessful in looking at Jiyong. He was sure that he was going to give himself away but he just couldn’t risk it.

“Get your bag Jiyong, we’re leaving” Seunghyun gruffly spoke turning around to face his boyfriend who by the looks of it was still glued to the sofa.

“Did something happen?” Jiyong panicked immediately jumping to his feet and grabbing his bag from beside the sofa.

“Yeah” Seunghyun started to automatically reel off a ton of excuses on the spot. “Daesung’s tripped over and badly injured himself, we have to go now” They scrambled into the hallway and just as they were shoving their shoes on Seunghyun’s Ma peeked in through the now open door.

“Seunghyun?”

“Ma you need to take us to see Daesung, he tripped over and he’s injured” Seunghyun tried to subtly wink at his Ma and after the second attempt she winked back.

“Ah I see, well that’s just terrible, do you want me to drive you over there?” It was obvious to her Son that the woman was acting as she stressed out her pronunciation of what felt like every single word. Hopefully though Jiyong was too worried to notice

“Mrs. Choi I’d be so grateful if you could drive us” Bingo! Jiyong anxiously spoke as he fiddled with the strap of his bag, Seunghyun kind of felt bad for lying and wrapped a gentle arm around Jiyong.

“Of course I will and please call me Ma or Hyuna” She smiled as she took one of Jiyong’s hands into her own.

“Oh two secs!” Seunghyun remembered what he had to pick up from his room, without another word he raced up upstairs and pulled the black and white bag from beside his bed. Then without a word to the two in a hallway Seunghyun bypassed them running straight into the kitchen, once there he retrieved a plastic bag and popped the present bag into it. Twisting the handles together so that Jiyong couldn’t see inside the bag’s contents Seunghyun hurriedly made his way back into the corridor, he’d been in such a rush that he had forgotten to take his shoes off and he tried to avoid his Ma’s glare as they left the house.

I am so sorry to leave you all with such a cliffhanger ending for this chapter but I just needed to get this out. Don't worry Part Two is almost finished so you won't have to wait too long! I promise! Part Two will be the ending chapter along with something very special, I'm hoping you guys will love it! I'm such a bag of emotions right now! ^^;

And I'm also sorry about being super vague in regards to and whether they've had it yet. Honestly I struggled so much trying to fit that aspect of their relationship into this story seeing as how this is all from Seunghyun's point of view and let's be truthful the guy himself has no idea. I didn't want them to be at it like rabbits, my angle for these characters was something very awkward and new to them so hopefully you'll all give me honest feedback about if that worked or not in this chapter.

Thank you for reading! :)