• 2014-4-12 •

            It’s Sehun’s birthday.

            It’s the first birthday he’s spent outside of foster homes, where they’d feed him cardboard instead of cake as a joke and make him clean the toilets extra well, “so the birthday boy has a sparkling throne to sit on when he’s done.” He’s never had a surprise birthday before, so when Luhan starts sending him picture after picture of the empty rooms in their house and demands he come home quickly, he doesn’t expect anything out of the ordinary.

            He does think it’s strange when Junmyeon asks him to close up, and he thinks it’s even stranger when Kyungsoo leaves with him instead of polishing the tables. Sehun grunts as Kyungsoo ruffles his hair and tosses his jacket over his shoulder.

            “I’ve got plans,” he says, “so I’m leaving my legacy to you. Those tables better be as spotless as they would under my care, you hear me?”

            “I’ll be sure to spitshine them to perfection,” Sehun promises, sticking out his tongue.

            “Your spit is disgusting. Keep it in your mouth.”

            “Some professional you are.”

            Kyungsoo rolls his eyes, but Sehun’s idle threat isn’t enough to keep him from leaving. When the restaurant is devoid of everyone but Sehun, silence filling every crack and crater in the flooring, Sehun shifts.

            He feels kind of alone. It’s been a while.

            He texts Luhan that he’s going to be late, but Luhan doesn’t seem all that fazed. He just tells him to take his time with whatever he’s doing.

            But you wanted me home quickly. What changed?

            The circumstances, Luhan replies, and he doesn’t answer Sehun’s following texts at all.

            Sehun cleans to the best of his ability, but he’s resigned himself from the very beginning that it won’t be up to Kyungsoo’s standards. When Kyungsoo texts him to see how he’s faring, his only reply is, how do you do this every night?

            Kyungsoo says it’s because he’s a superior creature. Sehun spends five minutes photoshopping a picture of Kyungsoo’s head onto a fairy on his phone, and when Kyungsoo doesn’t answer within a minute of receiving it, Sehun figures he probably won’t at all.

            He gets a text from Baekhyun a couple minutes after saying Kyungsoo was grumbling about a dumb picture that Sehun made. Baekhyun also tells him that he sent it to himself and made it the background of his phone.

            Success.

            It takes an hour for him to finish the cleaning and lock up. By then, night has fallen, casting the parking lot into beast-shaped shadows. Sehun nervously stumbles to his car, dropping his keys when he goes to unlock it and nearly tripping in his hurry to shove himself in the driver’s seat when he manages the fling the door open. His car starts after four cranks (it’s always four nowadays), and he settles down after a good five minutes spent on the road.

            When he gets home, all the lights are off, which is exceedingly odd because Luhan has a horrible tendency of leaving them all on all at once when he paces through the house in fits of jitters. Not even the TV is on, Sehun notes when he approaches to unlock the door, and even the refrigerator is snugly closed. Sehun wonders if Luhan is even home at all. There’s no way he could exist in the darkness for long without turning on a nightlight, the bathroom, a lamp, something—

            Sehun pops the door open and immediately reaches to flip on the hall light.

            Someone beats him to it.

            “Surprise!”

            There’s a chorus of people screeching, all at once, clustered together in the livingroom and surging forward to greet the new addition. Baekhyun is on him first, hopping into his arms and laughing like an idiot in between exclamations of “Happy birthday!” and “Jeez, you’re tall.” Luhan is next, clinging to the arm that’s not currently supporting all of Baekhyun’s weight, and Jongdae grabs the arm that is and gives it a teasing shake. Baekhyun topples from over it, falling to his knees and swatting at Jongdae as if they’ve been friends forever. Tao hasn’t seemed to get the “attack Sehun” memo because he wraps his arms around Jongdae’s shoulders instead, grinning at Sehun from behind him. Minseok is on the couch, neglecting to even get out of his chair, although he is shooting a congratulatory thumbs up, and Jongin is next to him, face buried in the fur of some animal that he probably brought from home. Kyungsoo and Junmyeon linger near the outskirts, the latter holding a champagne bottle and the former brandishing a cake the size of his torso, piled up high with layers and layers of chocolate icing. There’s a white Power Ranger balanced on top that Sehun belatedly notices has been spotted with markers the color of fall and violet and pasty blue. Is that supposed to represent my hair?

            By the next second, the scene has overwhelmed him, and Sehun screams.

            Everyone jumps, Baekhyun tittering backwards and falling on his as Kyungsoo nearly drops the cake on Junmyeon’s white dress shirt. Jongdae flinches, and Tao drops from off his back without dislodging his arms. Minseok has inched away to the edge of the couch and is now pressed warily to Jongin’s side, who has only looked up because his dog did, too. The only person who hasn’t completely shied away is Luhan, who’s still attached to his arm and giving him a concerned look.

            “Sehun, are you okay?” he asks, and Sehun’s eyes swim because he doesn’t know what to do. He takes a step back, dragging Luhan with him.

            “I’m sorry,” Sehun whispers, clearing his throat, “I’m just… I don’t like surprises—”

            “But it’s a good surprise—” Jongdae starts, but Tao hits the back of his head to shut him up as Sehun regains his composure.

            “I’ve had a lot of surprises in my life, but none of them have been good before.” Sehun attempts to laugh, scratching the back of his head. Luhan squeezes his arm tighter. “Err… Thanks, you guys. Sorry…about that.”

            “Next time, warn us before you go all serial killer victim on us!” Baekhyun pouts, crossing his arms instead of picking himself up off the floor. It isn’t until Kyungsoo sets down the cake and pads over to him that he gets up, and even then, it takes all of Kyungsoo’s strength to pull him into an upright stance.

            “It’s way more fun watching you guys all freak out,” Sehun retorts, spirits returning, and Luhan laughs, but it’s soft – not at all like the all-encompassing howl Sehun is used to. Junmyeon eventually coaxes Sehun into the kitchen with alcohol and food, and Sehun totes Luhan around with him like a proud trophywinner. They all eat together in the livingroom, and their conversation eventually deteriorates to whooping loudly and seeing how many screams of terror they can make before the neighbors call the police. (Only Sehun and Baekhyun partake in this, really; the rest only raise their voices loud enough to tell them to shut the hell up.) Sehun sits next to Jongin, who smiles gratefully at him from behind tufts of poodle. Sehun decides this isn’t enough, so he slings his arms around his shoulders and noogies him until he taps out on the arm of the couch.

            “You didn’t tell me you were coming back so soon,” Sehun accuses. Jongin just laughs again, petting his dog’s head with one hand while he socks Sehun with the other.

            “They made me come back early so I could come to the party,” he says. “It was the ultimate surprise birthday gift.”

            “That’s the worst gift ever. I wanted a pony.”

            “I can hook you up,” Jongin grins, and Sehun didn’t think he was even capable of missing someone this much, especially when they’re in the same room.

            Luhan leans over Sehun’s chest to talk to Jongin, and Sehun is still a little awkward, but he lets him. Jongin doesn’t seem surprised by the advancement of their relationship. Then again, Jongin has never seemed surprised by anything at all. He’s the all-seeing oracle. He’s our mindreader. I bet he’s been keeping up with everyone’s horoscopes. Minseok sits on Luhan’s other side, looking a little perturbed with life, so when Luhan straightens, Sehun leans over his chest to engage him in conversation. (Minseok is still a little crabby with him, sometimes, but they’ve made progress. Sehun even makes a short joke, and Minseok actually laughs instead of shaking his fist at him.) Kyungsoo and Baekhyun engage in round after round of arm wrestling, each time Baekhyun talking up a storm about how tough he is before subsequently losing. Junmyeon is drowning himself in champagne, giggling behind his hand at everything that goes on, and Jongdae and Tao are playing tic-tac-toe with an erasable marker on the countertop. Tao punches Jongdae every time he makes a move. Jongdae doesn’t hit him back, but he does threaten him with the prospect of putting itching powder in all his suitcases. Tao punches him anyways.

            It isn’t until around four in the morning that everyone has fizzled out. Jongdae and Tao are the last to go, each giving Sehun a hug before sauntering out the front door. Sehun rubs his eyes sleepily, but Luhan is wide awake and tugging at his arm. “Wanna go on an adventure?”

            “Isn’t it a little late for that?” Sehun mutters, tongue slurring his words. Luhan giggles, and it’s loud and stuttering and obnoxious, and Sehun likes it that way.

            “A little. But it’ll only take a minute. I’ll drive.”

            Sehun concedes easily because Luhan always gets his way, and before long, they’re on the road in Sehun’s ty box of a car, engine roaring beneath their toes. Luhan holds his hand, even though he has to unhinge them constantly to change gears. Sehun focuses all his energy into not falling asleep. He’s pretty sure he does anyways because, in a blink, they’re outside his old apartment complex, Luhan swiftly turning off the ignition and trotting around to open Sehun’s door.

            “We’re here!” he declares, eyes bright with excitement. Sehun grumbles as he slumps out of the car, blinking blearily at his surroundings.

            “Why’re we here?”

            “Did you forget?” Luhan asks teasingly as he takes him by the arm and tugs him in the direction of the building. “We left something very special here.”

            “I took all the stuff out of the apartment—” Sehun starts, but Luhan hushes him with a finger.

            “It’s not something that was in the apartment. Look.”

            Luhan stops them at a familiar patch of grass. Sehun can’t tell if he’s mildly drunk or just stupid because he can’t tell what they’re looking at until Luhan bends down and touches it.

            “Our flower,” Sehun mumbles, squatting next to Luhan and reaching out to brush their fingers together. Luhan nods gently.

            “It’s bloomed,” he says, touching the fuzz of its seeds. “See? It’s all grown up now. Its kids are ready to sail away.” He glances at Sehun and holds his eyes for a moment, linking their pointer fingers together. “Let’s blow them out together.”

            Sehun nods, and they both flatten out and knock their heads together in an attempt to line up with the dandelion. Luhan asks Sehun to count down, and Sehun counts to four, because two isn’t enough but he knows Luhan doesn’t like the number three. They blow together, and the seeds are flung out into the grass in clumps, hovering on the flow of their breath before sinking into patches of long grass. Sehun taps his chin in thought as the last one falls out of his vision.

            “Why are you so against picking them?” he asks. Luhan gives him a look so patronizing that Sehun can almost feel it.

            “Because picking them results in death, you idiot,” he scoffs, resting a finger lightly against the stem. “Blowing them out as is… Then they can watch their children frolick off. It’s using one life to create many lives. Like making a family.”

            “I’m pretty sure making a family requires a very different path of action,” Sehun responds, wiggling his eyebrows.

            Luhan thumps him between the eyes so hard that he actually sees stars.

            “Don’t be such a kid,” he chastises before rising to his feet. “The dandelion babies might mistakenly take after you.”

            “You’d like that, wouldn’t you,” Sehun counters, rubbing his forehead gingerly. Luhan ignores him in favor of picking his way back to the car. Sehun follows close behind, but as they reach the edge of the grass, Luhan pauses.

            “Sehun,” he says haltingly. Sehun thinks he’s probably still getting used to having the name “Sehun” on his lips instead of “Kyungsoo.” “Were you…really upset, earlier? About the party?”

            Sehun scratches absentmindedly at his arm. “I told you. I just don’t like surprises.”

            Luhan turns to him fully, biting his lip. “Is that really it?”

            Sehun rocks his weight from side to side, feeling very unsure of himself. “I…” He trails off, wracking his brain for the right things to say. “The first time I got a surprise, it was when I got…taken.”

            Luhan nods in understanding, taking Sehun’s busy hand in his and lacing their fingers together. Sehun takes a deep breath.

            “Surprises from the foster cares weren’t exactly ideal. And… One of the last surprises I got…ended up with you in a hospital. So, ultimately, yeah. That’s it. I just don’t like them.”

            Luhan puts his other hand on Sehun’s cheek. “You know,” he starts out slowly, “finding you again was the biggest surprise that’s ever happened to me.”

            Sehun smiles at that, cupping Luhan’s hand and tracing his fingers down his arm. “I guess… Not all surprises are bad.”

            Luhan sighs and resumes his path to their ride, kicking at the rocks scattered along the parking lot. “I’d been trying to find you all my life, and nothing ever turned up.” He snorts, leaning against the driver’s side of the car. “It was like chasing rainbows.”

            Luhan looks incredibly vulnerable like this, shoulder meeting the top of the car and fingers tracing the overhang of his bottom lip. Sehun reaches out to tug his hand aside, replacing it with his own. “I felt the same way for a long time, about everything. But then I decided that you…”

            Luhan glances up at him then, and his eyes are as wide as the moon glinting off them. Sehun leans in to kiss him, and then he laughs into it, and Luhan pushes him off and laughs, too.

            Sehun doesn’t finish his sentence before they get in the car, but Luhan hears it, anyways.

            You were the only rainbow worth chasing.