Anniversary Gift

Sounds of catchy beats, chatter, and rambunctious laughter could be heard from far outside of the EXO dorm that night.  The members were celebrating the last few hours of their fourth anniversary with music, food, drinks, and each other’s good company.

            They swapped stories (Chanyeol, Chen, and Baekhyun did most of the talking, to be quite honest), of their experiences together as a group since debut.  Most of the stories were light-hearted and amusing, but some, inevitably, were more solemn. 

            They laughed more than they cried, however, since Chanyeol was the self-appointed conversation moderator for the night.

            “Damn.”  said Sehun, lowering his beer from his mouth.  He was sitting on the floor, back against the couch.  The group had just recalled their last stage with former member Lu Han.  “...I wish he was here.  That hyung knew how to party.”  Some of the others guffawed, and Chanyeol hit him on the back of the head.

            “As if the rest of us don’t know how to party.”  he said.  He leaned down to his dongsaeng’s ear.  “Don’t linger on OT12 for too long, dongsaeng.”  he whispered.  Sehun looked back at him inquisitively.  “...Look at Joonmyeon-hyung.”  The younger did as he was told and saw that their leader sat on the far corner of the L-couch, slumped back into the cushions with his head propped up by his fist.  His eyes were fixed on the carpet; seeing nothing.  The fingers of his other hand tapped his thigh along to the beat of the background music, but without any enthusiasm at all.

            “Alcohol always puts leader in a serious mood.” explained Chanyeol.  “Be sensitive to his feelings tonight above all others, okay?”

            Sehun nodded obediently.  “I’ll go talk to him.”  he said, motioning to get up, but Chanyeol put his hands on his shoulders and he sat back down.

            “Wait.”  said Chanyeol.  The two watched as Lay sat down beside Suho.  “Talking to Lay always makes me feel better; let him talk to leader for right now.”

            The maknae nodded again and returned his attention to his beer.  Beside him, Baekhyun went on a tangent by telling stories of his grandmother’s house (for the nth time).

            “You okay, leadernim?” Lay asked Suho.  The latter snapped out of a daydream and looked at the face of the last remaining Chinese member of the group.

            “Yeah, I’m fine.  Why do you ask?”

            Lay sipped on his beer before answering.  “Look around you, leadernim.  What do you see?”  Suho didn’t understand him at first, thinking he meant something more abstract, but he looked about the room anyway.

            On the sofa directly in front of him, Xiumin was showing Chen a video on his phone.  They both were clearly amused by the content of this video, and something happened that caused Chen to erupt into his loud, obnoxious laughter.  Xiumin just chuckled; he probably had seen the video many times already.  Kyungsoo, dressed all in black per the usual, broke into Suho’s line of vision as he sat large platters of nachos and other snacks on the table.

            Sitting on the floor and leaning against the side of the sofa was Kai, who stared at his phone screen with sleepily contented eyes.  He was probably texting his girlfriend, fellow labelmate Krystal Jung of f(x).  Suddenly Baekhyun snatched his phone away and Kai’s reaction was delayed but he demanded for it back and of course, Baekhyun wasn’t so ready to comply.  He pretended to read the texts (he read his rather risqué interpretation of the conversation loudly so that everyone else could hear) as Kai wrestled with him on the floor.

            “Hey, careful!”  cried Chanyeol when Baekhyun’s foot nearly knocked his drink out of his hand.  “Don’t make me get down there.  I’ll whoop both of your asses.”  Sehun got up, laughing, and sat by Chanyeol on the couch to avoid being kicked.

            EXO’s ‘Drop That’ came up on the shuffle and several of the members hooted in excitement.  In turn, they lip-synced and danced along to the song.  The rap bits were quite a bit more exaggerated.

            Suho laughed to himself.

            “Well?”  prodded Lay.  Suho had nearly forgotten that he was right there by him.  “...What do you see, leadernim?”

            Suho smiled.  “My boys.”  he answered.

            “And you know what? Wu Yifan, Lu Han, Zitao-ah... they are still your boys, too.  They’re just not here right now.  But they are somewhere else, in their own places but under the same moon and stars, also raising a toast to EXO tonight.”

            Suho looked at Lay with an expression that was sadness, happiness, nostalgia, gratitude, and self-consuming love all at once.  Somehow, as usual, Lay knew exactly what to say.

            Chen stood on the table to perform his screeching solo rift with every bit as much effort and charisma as if was standing on stage.  The other members were in awe of the strength of his voice at such a high pitch.

            “He’s gonna break the windows.”  said Kyungsoo, a little too quietly, only Kai and Xiumin heard him and smiled.

            “Show-off!”  cried Baekhyun afterwards, half-jokingly.  Chen just grinned at him proudly.  He stepped off the table and coughed.

            “, I think I just hurt my throat.”  he said, collapsing on the couch by Sehun (Kai had stood up and sat by Xiumin and Kyungsoo on the sofa).  He coughed again.  “....” Chanyeol and Baekhyun laughed.

            “I think we need another round of beers, hmm?”  said Baekhyun, standing up to retrieve them from the kitchen.  “...Who wants another?”

            Lay was the first to raise his hand.  Suho looked at him in disbelief.

            “Haven’t you had four already?”

            Lay laughed.  “I’d have to drink a lot more before I’d even feel tipsy, hyung.”

            Baekhyun handed Lay a bottle and offered one to Suho.  “Hyung?”

            Suho shook his head.  “I’m fine, thank you.”  Baekhyun shrugged and delivered bottles to everyone else except Kai who whined that he was already too tired and Kyungsoo who said he preferred wine but had forgotten to buy some while he was at the store.

            “I could go for something really intense right about now.”  said Chen, after drinking about half of his new beer.  “Like that stuff that Tao brought from Beijing that one time.”

            Xiumin made a disapproving sound.  “That stuff was gross!  It was like swallowing straight-up nail polish remover.”

            “You would know.” said Chanyeol, laughing.  Xiumin flicked a bottlecap in his general direction but it hit Baekhyun on the head instead.           

            “Ouch!”

            “Well I liked it.”  said Chen.  He downed the rest of his beer.

            “Don’t drink so fast, Jongdae.”  cautioned Suho.

            “Awe, hyung.”

            “You’re supposed to drink it slowly and enjoy it.  You always get drunk first because you drink to