Birthday Surprise

a Chendy oneshot

dedicated to Nadira ♡

Chen sat before his lighted cake in the half-darkness, grinning with warm cheeks as his fellow members sang a lovely, 4-part rendition of ‘Happy Birthday.’  He stared at the two candles, absent-mindedly, one was shaped like a 2 and the other a 4.  Kyungsoo’s harmonizing was incredible (had they practiced this? Probably not) and made a chill go up Chen’s spine.

            The final chord hung in the air as they finished, and everyone hooted and hollered as the birthday boy blew out the candles.

            Baekhyun switched on the light and Kyungsoo came forward to cut and pass out slices of the cake he had made.

            “It’s ice cream cake.” he muttered, intending for only Chen to hear, but Xiumin heard and chuckled.  Chen looked up at the cook but he didn’t look back, he just smirked as he sliced the cake.

            “Thanks hyung.” returned Chen, feeling rather bewildered.

            Suho approached him.  “Happy birthday, Jongdae.” he said, placing a hand on his dongsaeng's shoulder.  The latter grinned and nodded at him with gratitude.  “I bought some of that Chinese wine that you enjoy so much.  It’s in the fridge.  We can have a little before bed tonight, hmm?”

            “Awe, thanks, hyung.”  said Chen.

            “You will have another wonderful year, Jongdae-ah,” chimed in Yixing, “I can see the future..."--he put his forefingers to his temples--"A wonderful year for wonderful Kim Jongdae.”  Chen could only laugh at this hyung’s odd remarks.

            Sehun held out a smallish box, enthusiastically. “Happy birthday, hyung! Here, my gift is the best!”  His maknae was definitely showing, and it made Chen smile all the more.  He took the box and opened it rather slowly, just to torment Sehun--it was a gold iPhone 7.

            The maknae laughed. “Ha!  He’s speechless.”  he said, proudly.  He crossed his arms over his broad chest. “Did I get you the right color, hyung?”

            “It’s awesome, oh my God...” said Chen, “Thank you, dongsaeng.”

            “And Jongin-ah got you the wireless headphone things to go with it--“

            “Yah!”  cried Kai, smacking the back of Sehun’s head, “You weren’t supposed to tell him that!  Birthday gifts are supposed to be surprises!”  The younger swatted back at him.

            “Oh, whatever.  He’ll still love it.”  He shrugged it off, although there was embarrassment in his expression.

            Chen laughed and everyone laughed with him.  He proceeded to open his other gifts--a leather jacket from Chanyeol and Baekhyun, a day spa certificate and Calvin Klein underwear from Yixing, and, of course, the Apple earbuds from Kai.

            After the last box was opened, Chen looked up, expectantly, at Xiumin, who stood across from him on the other side of the table.

            “What?” asked Xiumin, but Chen couldn’t answer, “...Are you expecting something from me?”

            Chen laughed.  “I mean, no, hyung--“

            Xiumin laughed good-naturedly.  “I’m teasing you.  My gift is on its way.  You’ll have to wait a little longer, dongsaeng.”  After Chen looked away, Xiumin glanced at Baekhyun with a rather evil expression.

            “Did you...?”  Baekhyun mouthed at him.  Xiumin nodded, closing his eyes and crossing his arms.  Baekhyun smiled brightly.  Their leader saw this whole exchange and rolled his eyes.

            “Well, thank you so much, guys.”  said Chen around a mouthful of cake, “I love everything.  You guys are the best.”  He paused to swallow.  “Hyung, this cake is amazing.  Might be the best of my gifts!”

            Sehun pouted, but remained silent because Chen was obviously joking.  He had to be.

            Kyungsoo scrunched his nose at the birthday boy, proudly accepting the praise.

            Baekhyun glanced at Xiumin, who was trying not to laugh.

            “Yah.”  said Chanyeol’s deep voice from behind Baekhyun.  “What are you two looking so suspicious about?”

            “Shh.”  said Baekhyun.  “It’s nothing.  I mean--I’ll tell you later.”

            Chanyeol was curious and frustrated, but he didn’t want to start a scene while Chen was expressing his gratitude to everyone.  He drank his beer.

            Chen watched, feeling tired and overwhelmed, as Kyungsoo stacked up the plates and silverware and took them to the kitchen.  Kai helped him by carrying the leftover cake.

            Everyone sat and drank; a dozen cans of beer and the wine Suho had bought.  They told stories and laughed.  Suho excused himself early; alcohol always made him sleepy.  Kai had fallen asleep on the couch.  Sehun was babbling about a million different things.  Chanyeol was very drunk but was relatively quiet on account of still feeling miffed by Baekhyun.

            “Yah, Sehun-ah.  Shut up.  You’re giving me a headache.”  he said.  Sehun made a face at him.

            “You just drank too much.  That’s why you have a headache.  You should be more responsible.”

            “Excuse me?  Where is the ‘hyung’ in that sentence, huh?”  boomed Chanyeol.

            Baekhyun looked more scared than Sehun.  “Shh!  Don’t wake up Leader!”  he cried.

            “-Hyung.”  said Sehun immediately.  When Chanyeol looked back at the TV, Sehun had a ‘my life just flashed before my eyes’ expression on his face and Chen laughed at him.

            Xiumin stood up.  “Well, I hate to be the party pooper, but I am the eldest here and I’ll have to be responsible, as Sehun says.”  He paused as Sehun rolled his eyes.  “We have an interview show in the morning, so I’ll be waking ya’ll up early.  Better get to bed.”

            “We do?”  asked the maknae, genuinely confused, “I don’t rememb--“

            Xiumin glared at him and it was Baekhyun’s turn to not laugh.  Chanyeol, despite being drunk, noticed this.  He looked at Kyungsoo, who was bent over the kitchen sink, doing the dishes.  An oddly complacent smirk rested on his lips.