To: [email protected]  

From: [email protected] 

Subject: RE: My Birthday 

It's time definitely! Yeah I think it's time we met up,  

um 

my birthday is coming up soon, it's on the 21st- Sunday- and a bunch of friends and I are just gonna play video games and drink all day at mine on Saturday, do you want to come?  

Let me know ok? 

Chen 

"Come in!" said the voice and Jongdae walked into the room, only to find two boys playing an intense game of- 

"Go-Fish!" 

"Dude you cheated, I know you did!" 

"Whatever, dude, my mentee is here, get out now." 

"I'll beat you next time!" 

"You said that the last 10 times." 

Leo pushed the wailing boy out of the room and turned to Jongdae. 

"Hey I'm Leo, I'll be your mentor for the rest of the month, I didn't choose to do this but here I am." said the expressionless boy as he waved Jongdae over to a seat.  

"Uh, I'm Jongdae, nice to meet you I guess..." 

"So apparently I'm to mentor you in Psychology. That's all cool and all but I'd rather play cards for now, you know how to play Go-Fish?" 

"Yeah, I do," 

"Great. You won't beat me though." 

"Bring it on." 

"Go-Fish." 

Jongdae looked up. Leo smirked, the only real expression the other saw in the whole 10 minutes he'd been with him. 

"Told you." 

Jongdae smiled, "One more game?" 

From: Xiumin 17:45 17/9/14 

I'll be there! Text me the address? :) 

Saturday came, and Jongdae was preparing for the guests soon to arrive. Chanyeol had somehow convinced Jongdae to hold a party, the former just about inviting anyone he could find all the while ignoring Jongdae's pleas. He paced up and down the hallway nervously, occasionally checking if there were enough drinks and food. His parents and younger brother were pushed out of the house in the early hours of the day, leaving Jongdae to internally freak out in peace- he had never hosted a party before. Most of all, he was terrified because today would be the day he finally meets the guy he's been talking to everyday without fail.   

The doorbell rang and Jongdae squeaked in surprise. Opening the door, he came face to face with Baekhyun practically screaming "Happy Birthday" in his face, dragging Chanyeol and Kyungsoo behind him as he made his way to the kitchen to drop off the extra drinks he had bought. 

"Happy Birthday bro, here we got you something," said Chanyeol, tossing him a small box. 

"Thanks, I wasn't expecting anything but it was nice of you guys." said Jongdae, pulling the ribbon to open the box, to reveal a brand new watch.  

"We all chipped in for it," beamed Kyungsoo. 

"Thank guys, it's great!" Jongdae smiled at the trio with the most genuine feeling he could muster up, just as the doorbell rang again. He ran to quickly answer the door, bracing himself for the oncoming guests. Smiling, he threw open the door and was met with 6 boys, 1 of which he only recognised, practically shoving drinks and balloons into his hands.  

"Happy Birthday," said a tall, blond, deep voiced boy, "I'm Kris, Chanyeol's friend."  

"Ah so YOU'RE Kris, okay, hey come in," Jongdae side stepped to let the boys in. 

"Happy Birthday Jongdae!" said Junmyeon, the only boy Jongdae had recognised. "Oh this is Yixing," he pointed to a smiling boy with deep dimples who just waved at Jongdae, "but we call him Lay and you've met Kris and these chaps here are Tao, Sehun and Kai."  

"Happy Birthday bro," said Sehun- the rainbow haired boy, before he made a bee line for the drinks. As he made his way to the kitchen, he was suddenly held back. Turning, he saw Junmyeon looking at him disapprovingly.  

"Sehun you're still young, no drinking for you."  

Sehun whined and walked off with Kai and Tao, who just laughed at Sehun, as others began arriving at the door. Jongdae left the door open to allow guests to walk in as they please, and went to the kitchen to put the drinks down. 

"Yo Jongdae!" he turned to see Leo, his mentor, at the door dragging a familiar smaller male with him. "I hope you don't mind me bringing my friend with me, this is Haekyeon but call him N if you want. Happy Birthday too."  

Jongdae thanked him, nodded his greetings at the boy with Leo and let the pair enter. Just as he was about to turn away from the door, he heard a familiar voice.  

"AYO JONGDAE!"   

In the distance, he heard a shrill scream getting closer and closer, a running force almost knocking him down. 

"LU ING HAN. WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" yelled Baekhyun, eyes bulging as he saw the boy enter.  

"Chill bro, you look so ugly like that. Besides," he draped an arm over Jongdae's shoulders, "I heard there was a party tonight, and I just had to come. I hope you don't mind Jongdae." He looked at the boy with big doe eyes and Jongdae just sighed, shrugged the arm of his shoulders and told him it was alright.  

"Wait, how did you hear about it?" he asked, ignoring Baekhyun's wails of distress and complaints.  

"Heard from Leo who told Kris, who told Lay, who passed on the word to Junmyeon for Kris, who told Sehunnie, who told Kai and Tao and then told me again, and I'm pretty sure Junmyeon mentioned it to Minseok too, who should be here soon, he said he was picking up a birthday present but I have a feeling he doesn't know it's you bro, but I didn't want to wait for him because I want to get faced drunk now." said Luhan in one breath.  

Jongdae sighed again. "Drinks are in the kitchen, help yourself." 

"Thanks, and yo Baekhyun shut the up already, don't kill the mood okay." 

Baekhyun snarled at Luhan, who just smirked and walked off.  

Jongdae walked off dragging Baekhyun with him, dumping him with Chanyeol. The party was now in full swing with people almost on their third drinks and more than half already tipsy. Almost his entire year including some of the older students attended, wishing Jongdae happy birthday, but there was no sign of Xiumin. Xiumin had told him he'd be there soon but the boy was nowhere to be seen. He pulled out his phone to send a quick text to the boy. 

To: Xiumin 21:05 20/9/14 

Yo where are you? You're gonna miss the party!  

Not a minute passed and he got a reply. 

From: Xiumin 21:05 20/9/14 

Almost there, ran into a few troubles, but I'm almost there x 

He smiled and put his phone away and made his way to the kitchen to pick up a drink. 

"Soooo, who was that, that's got you all schoolgirl in love like huh?" Luhan sidled up to Jongdae, who had been watching the boy text.  

"None of your business Luhan." Jongdae moved a little away from the other, "besides I don't even know you very well, why should I tell you?"  

"But I know a lot about you though."  

"What?" 

"Nothing." Luhan put down his empty bottle, picked up another and made his way to the garden, leaving Jongdae confused. 

'Well that was creepy' he thought. 

A doorbell pulled him out of his thoughts a little while later, and gathered himself before he finally got to see the face of the boy he may or may not really like.  

As he made his way to the door, he got lost in his thoughts again with thoughts such as 'what if he doesn't like me back?' and 'what if he thinks I'm not what he thought I was' running over and over again in his head. Suddenly, he tripped over a small boy who grabbed him from falling onto the ground. Blushing, Jongdae looked up to thank the boy when he came face to face with none other than Minseok.  

"Why is it that something bad always happens when you're around me huh?" Minseok smirked and let Jongdae go causing him to fall flat on his .  

"Now please tell me where the birthday boy is so I can get faced drunk with Luhan." 

"You're looking at him, you ." 

Jongdae picked himself up, throwing a dirty look at the other and walked off grabbing another drink and towards his laughing friends, feeling disappointed that it was only Minseok and not Xiumin. 

Minseok was left in shock as it all began to add up.  

"Oh  no." 

"You're totally screwed aren't ya Xiuie?" Luhan said as he walked over to Minseok with a bottle. "Here now, drink it all away now dear."  

Grabbing the bottle, Minseok drank it in one go, and smiled. "Get that eating grin off your face and let's get drunk now." 

His phone beeped and Minseok pulled it out to check his messages. 

From: Chen 22:47 20/9/14 

How long will you be? You're going to miss the cake too... 

To: Chen 22:49 20/9/14 

Sorry, don't think I can make it... 

Minseok pocketed the phone and turned to Luhan. "Let's go."  

"You can't keep it from Jongdae too long now, it's only going to hurt you both."  

"I don't need your love advice now, you're the one doing ridiculous things to get Sehun's attention, I don't think I can trust it." 

"But-" 

"Zip it Lu."