The Surprise
The Little ThingsKey's Birthday
Key woke up reluctantly with the sound of his phone ringing. It was still early in the morning. He reached for the phone - eyes still closed - and unlocked it to see what was waking him up. It was a text from his mom that read:
To Kibum: Call me.
Key groaned but did as he was told. He dialed his mom's number and placed his phone next to his ear. "Yeobose-"
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY KIM KIBUM!!!" A bunch of voices screamed into his ear. As a reflex, he jumped away from the phone. Before he could complain about the noise the voices began singing.
"1, 2, 3! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU~ HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU~ HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR KIBUM, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!" Then came boisterous applause on the other end.
"Happy birthday sweetie!" His mom wished.
"Happy birthday son!" he heard his dad say.
"Happy birthday my Kibummie," his grandmother wished.
"Aww thank you all! Now can I go back to sleep?"
"Ahh mwoya Kibum-ah~ you shouldn't be waking up so late. Especially on a day like this."
"I know, mom. I'm busy from 11:00 to 6:00 today. I wanna sleep as much as I can."
"We understand. We won't disturb you now. You get a good sleep now."
"Thank you. I love you guys."
"Love you too, sweetie. Enjoy your birthday!"
"Thank you. Bye~"
After a few more hours of sleep, he trudged into the shower and got dressed for the day. His schedule was packed until the evening. He needed all the energy he could get. After finally eating breakfast and getting dressed, he left his apartment. Not two minutes later, Jonghyun and Minho quickly entered the apartment to set up the surprise.
"Now it's time to commence Operation: Surprise Party!"
"Enough with the cheesy name, Minho. Come on!"
"Hyung, we don't need to rush. Kibum's gone for seven hours. We have plenty of time."
"Hey, it's best to get started while we can. We'll use the extra time to get presents and balloons or something."
They hung up the banner and streamers and prepared the confetti.
About an hour later, Taemin and Onew showed up with the food. They put the food in the fridge. They would set up the food in the minutes leading up to Key's arrival. In the mean time, Jonghyun and Minho left to get birthday gifts, leaving Taemin and Onew at the apartment.
They settled themselves on the couch and talked a lot about their upcoming tour. They were finally going to perform at the Tokyo Dome in Japan. This would be their first time going there for a solo concert instead of an SMTown concert.
"Taemin, I've been thinking a lot about something for our concert at the Tokyo Dome."
"What is it?"
"Well, we're all gonna have solo stages and I decided I'm gonna sing 'Rainy Blue'. And I was wondering if... maybe... you'd want to do it with me."
Taemin raised his eyebrows. He checked to make sure he was hearing correctly. "You want me to sing with you?"
"Actually I was thinking you'd play piano. It's a lovely song and it's got piano all throughout. I think you'd be able to play it really well."
Taemin couldn't believe what he was hearing.
"Yes! I'd love to play it for you! I haven't listened to the song yet but should be able to play it. Sounds like a sad song."
"It kinda is." Onew smiled to himself and looked down at his hands. "The person who wrote this song had vocal cord surgery, just like me. But the surgery failed for him and he couldn't sing again. So he wrote this song. And I can kinda relate to it."
"Ahh that makes sense." He nodded. His hand made its way to Onew's cheek. "Can I do this?"
Onew smirked. "Who's stopping you?"
Taemin blushed and continued to the member's cheek. Onew could tell something was amiss. "What is it?"
Taemin didn't take his eyes off of Onew's cheek. "Nothing serious. I still haven't decided where our date should be."
"Don't worry about that. We can just meet up at the dorm. I'll send Minho out somewhere."
Taemin laughed. "That wouldn't be too bad. I've also been thinking. We're getting older. Soon we're gonna have to go to the military. Sooner for you obviously. And we won't see each other for a long time."
"You're worried about that? It's too early to get all anxious."
"Have you thought about it, Hyung? About going to the military?"
Onew froze, hesitated, then took Taemin's raised hand into his own. "Sure. I've thought about it. That it's going to happen. But not anytime soon." He grinned confidently. "Besides, it's still too early for me to go. And I got stuff to do."
Taemin smiled when he heard that. He leaned in and kissed Onew. Onew gladly accepted and cupped his jaw. Taemin would've straddled him had the knock on the door not occurred.
Onew reluctantly got up to let Jonghyun and Minho in and they continued to set up for the surprise.
By 6:15, Key was exhausted from his rehearsal. All he wanted to do now was pass out onto his cozy bed and sleep without disturbance. Sadly, he figured he wasn't going to get any rest yet when he opened the door to his apartment-
"SURPRISE!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!" He heard his four members scream. Confetti flew from all around and drifted down all over him. Knowing that s remembered his birthday was enough to lift Key's spirits.
"Happy birthday hyung!" Taemin wished, bringing out the cake on a large platter.
The members sang happy birthday while Key blew out the candles, and the members proceeded to rub frosting all over each Key's face and
For the rest of the night they talked about their plans and latest schedules and interests. It had been a while since they all sat down and chatted as a group. They still had a good few months before they would make their comeback in the music industry.
After midnight, the members left and went back to their homes. Minho was the last to leave.
"You stickin' around or something?" Key inquired.
"I wanted to give you your present."
"I said I'd open them later."
"And I'm saying I'm gonna give you your present now." He presented Key with a gift box.
Key took it skeptically. "This better be good." He opened the box and dropped his jaws. "Oh.. my..."
He pulled out the contents. "How the hell did you afford the designer jeans I wanted!? They cost a fortune!"
"Luckily the store owner is a huge fan of us and I got a discount." Minho smirked. "You happy?"
Key was speechless. He just couldn't formulate his thoughts into words. Instead, they expressed themselves through a tight and thankful hug.
Key closed his eyes as he hugged Minho. "Thank you so much. Seriously, this means a lot to me."
Minho hugged back and also closed his eyes. "You're welcome. Happy birthday." He lost himself in the hug. He hadn't gotten a real warm hug from Key in a while. Even though they weren't together, Minho was perfectly satisfied with the hug.
Key, too, had no intention of letting go. He had long missed the warmth of Minho's embrace. However, fearing that Minho would become suspicious, he hastily pulled apart.
"I-It's getting late. You should head out."
"Y-Yea, I should."
"You're still picking me up tomorrow right? For my shoot?"
"Yea. I'll do that. So uh... see you tomorrow."
"Yea. Thanks again for the jeans."
Minho smiled awkwardly and waved goodbye. Key still stood in his spot, remembering that hug that he had been waiting for. He held the jeans close to his chest, and kept them beside him as he drifted off to sleep in his bed, recollecting Minho's scent.
The next morning.
Key woke up from a peaceful sleep late in the morning. He slept well, thanks to the fun party, champagne, and Minho's gift to top it all of. However, the sound of his phone ringing would soon shatter his mood completely.
"Hi mom."
"K-Kibummie..."
Key could tell something was wrong from the way his mother sounded. "Mom what's wrong?"
"I-It's grandma... she... she passed away."
The words felt like bullets that pierced straight through his heart.
"W-W-What... grandma... passed today?"
"No Kibummie." No? "She passed away yesterday." He heard her sob on the other end. "Your father and I didn't want to ruin your birthday with this news but... we felt you ought to know. She passed in the hospital yesterday."
Key's eyes filled with tears. He couldn't speak.
"Key. Don't you in any way try to blame yourself for what has happened. She was terribly sick, as we all know, and her time came. She's in a better place. I'll call back later. I gotta go comfort your father and myself. We all love you." Then she hung up.
Key buried his face in his pillow and sobbed. Tears flooded from his eyes. In just five minutes, his whole world came crashing down. His mentor, his blood, his loving grandmother, was no longer around. He had lost a friend; a shoulder to cry on; a leg of support. Now he was lost, and confused. If he had been around, could he have prevented it?
What made matters worse was that he was alone. His family was all the way in Daegu. He couldn't have someone hold him. He didn't have a shoulder to cry on. He had nobody to help him through this horrible nightmare.
Key sat up on his bed and buried his head in his knees. He had stopped crying after a while but he was still distraught over the recent news. His mind occupied itself with thoughts of his late grandmother that he didn't even hear his phone ring or the front door open.
Minho appeared through his bedroom door "Why didn't you answer my text? I had to let myself in since you wouldn't answer. We're going to be late, Key. Traffic's pretty heavy today."
Key didn't look up, signaling to Minho that something was not right. "I canceled today's shoot." Key replied monotonously.
Minho immediately sat beside Key on the bed after seeing his red face. "Key what's wrong?"
Key tried his best not to sob. His lips shook. "I-It's nothi-"
"Kibum, you can tell me anything." Minho's voice softened. "What happened? Your face is all red. Were you crying?"
In the end, Key couldn't hold in his sobs. "I'm sorry." He hid his face in his hands. "My grandma... she-she passed-" A fresh batch of tears flowed down from his eyes. His sobs conquered his attempts at verbalizing his thoughts.
Minho wrapped his arm around Key's shoulders. This contact quickly followed with Key's head resting on Minho's shoulder and Minho pulling him closer in a comforting embrace.
"Kibum-ah... don't cry" Minho whispered. Key hugged him back and continued to cry into his chest.
Minho rubbed his back to soothe him.
He abruptly pulled away to look at the feline and cupped his face. "I understand this will be hard for you. I'm sorry for your loss. Take as much time as you need. But we'll get through this. You have loads of support from all of us. And you have me to lean on. You got that?"
Key looked at him with tearful eyes and nodded. "Thank you for coming."
Minho wiped away Key's tears with his thumbs. This was the moment they realized how close their faces were from each other. Before they could react, they were already moving closer until they couldn't stop themselves and avoid that inevitable kiss.
HII!!!
sry if this seems sudden but the next chapter will be the finale. just a heads up. also i have an idea for my next fic that i want to ask u guys about sometime soon. i will do so in an additional chapter in this fic and my other fic. in the meanwhile Be sure to comment and read my other fic! hope u enjoyed this update!
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