Jaehyung has devised a plan, much to Wonpil's objection and disapproval.

His genius plan will go as follows, he'll get closer to Brian and his reason will be 'need inspiration and reference for a new story'. Them becoming close will hopefully lead to them being comfortable enough for Jae to ask him if he can meet his parents. And when Brian inevitably ends up asking 'why' because Jae admits, that request is kind of unusual, the author will answer 'I would like to ask them how they feel about your disorder, it'll help with character development' and any other elements of a story he can think of once he actually asks. 

And the last part of this plan, is actually meeting Brian's parents to confirm if he is Younghyun, who doesn't remember Jae or even being Younghyun.

And this genius plan is the reason he's currently having a conversation with Brian over the counter. Sungjin has already given him his regular, but he decides to stay at the counter and converse with Brian

"Dude, I'm telling you it was crazy"

"Why would you even think that was okay?!"

Jaehyung just finished telling him about the graduating prank he participated in. He didn't get caught, but a lot of his friends did,

"Oh c'mon, we were graduating. We didn't care! Plus Younghyun finally agreed to do something fun," Jae says while laughing, and Brian laughs too.

"Younghyun wasn't adventurous?"

"Oh no, he was. He just didn't like getting caught for it," Jae replies.

This kind of conversation is nice. It's the most natural one he's had with Brian, and the amount of times Brian has laughed creates a warm feeling in Jae's chest.

"So, did you ever get caught?"

"After my first book came out, I went back to my high school and told my favourite teacher that I was part of the group of students that had a little fun."

"A little fun?" Brian asks,

"You vandalized the school!"

"Hey." Jae says,

"They got all the paint off eventually." 

"God, if I were a teacher and I caught you..."

"What? What would you do?" Jae taunts, and Brian only gets to gesture to beating Jae, when their laughs are overlapped with the ringing of the entrance bell. 

"Oh!" Brian says surprised, and Jae takes another sip of his Americano, a smile on his face.

But, the smile is wiped off his face when he turns around to see who Brian's cheerfully greeting,

Jae turns around, to be faced with 2 familiar people. 

People he thought he would never see again. And with a slightly horrified expression, Jae's genius plan comes crumbling down. 

"Mom, Dad, what're you guys doing here?" Brian asks, happily.

And they don't answer right away, because they're staring at Jae, with an expression that Jae concludes is a mix between amazement and fear.

"We, uh" Mr. Kang says, not breaking the eye contact with Jae,

"We thought we would come by, see how you're doing." and Jae scoffs, shaking his head slightly.

"Oh, hi Mr. & Mrs. Kang!" Sungjin says as he comes back with some sugar cookies, and offers one to Jae. Jae shakes his head, not really in the mood to eat something sweet right now.

"Actually, I made you some lunch and wanted to deliver it in person" Mrs. Kang says, avoiding Jae's gaze. 

"Ah, right!" Sungjin interrupts, and swings an arm around Brian's neck,

"It's our Brian's birthday!" 

And if Mr. & Mrs. Kang wasn't a dead giveaway, Brian's birthday being the same as Younghyun's ends the suspicion and guessing.

Jae's having a staring duel with Mr. Kang and Brian notices them, before saying,

"Oh, this is my friend, Jae" and Jae resists the urge to say, 

Oh, don't worry. He knows exactly who I am.

"Ah yes, Jaehyung. I know you," and Jae squints, forgetting for a moment that his stories are known around the world

"You're an author, correct?" 

"Yes, I am." Jae says, trying to smile as naturally as he can, not wanting to cause a scene in front of Brian.

"I didn't know such a famous author would live in our little town." Mrs. Kang adds, and Jae is experienced with words enough to read between the lines.

"Well, I grew up here. Wouldn't want to leave my roots." Jae states what they know, but something about his words are challenging.

"You didn't want to leave? Go into the big city," he says with an awkward chuckle. 

After disappearing 4 years ago, Jae guesses that, that's what the Kang parents thought he would do.

"Nope." he replies bluntly, 

"I had something to wait for here." and Mr. Kang narrows his eyes at the tall, blonde boy.

"And I think it was worth the wait." Jae says, almost teasingly. 

Brian looks at his dad and Jaehyung, and his curiosity only grows. 

Jaehyung was polite when they first met. Of course, he's a public face and people know him. Sure, he was friendly and social, even to Brian, but looking at the way his dad and Jae are talking, it's the most serious he's seen Jae.

It's almost intimidating, and Brian wonders why his dad and Jae are talking to each other like this.

Jae breaks the eye-contact, silently sighing as he turns to Brian.

"Happy Birthday, man" he greets with a sincere smile, and grabs his Americano,

"25?" he asks, remembering Brian telling him he was 24 when they were talking.

"24,"

"That's what you said like last week" Jae says, laughing lightly

"I was pretty much 24" Brian replies and Jae just nods and repeats,

"Happy Birthday, Bri"

"Thanks. You leaving already?" Brian asks as Jae motions towards the door.

Jae looks at the Kang parents whose eyes are following him, as if being cautious to what he'll do.

"Yeah, I got something important to do. I'll come back tonight though!" Jae says, and is almost amused at the expression on the Kang parents' face.

"All right, see you!"

"Bye!" Sungjin says, and Jae gives them a wave.

Jae waits till he's significantly far away from the cafe before he starts running, and calling Wonpil,

"Hello?" Wonpil answers the call, and isn't prepared for Jae to start screaming,

"I'll be at your place in like, 7 minutes! It's important!"

"Wait, what, no don't come-"

"'Kay, be there soon, bye!" Jae cuts off and before Wonpil can start screaming at him, the author ends the call.

Back at the cafe, Brian's unsure of what to do with the awkward atmosphere. He's never seen his parents like this, so he's just getting more curious.

"Brian," his dad speaks first, and Brian hums in response

"When did you meet Jae?" 

"Hmm," Brian thinks,

"About 2 weeks ago, I think? Almost 3" he answers his dad, and decides to ask,

"Why?"

And it seems to catch his dad off guard, so he almost stutters when replying,

"No reason, just wondering."

After a couple minutes of silence, Mrs. Kang says,

"So, you and Jaehyung are friends?" 

And Brian doesn't know why, but his smile is really wide when he replies,

"Yup!" and he doesn't see the odd expressions on his parents faces

"He's pretty cool, for an author. I thought since he was so famous and good looking, he would be conceited, but he's really chill. Or, if not conceited, he'd be really boring." he says and Sungjin nods in agreement. 

"Thanks for the lunch" Brian says with a cute smile, 

"You guys should get going. The cafe might get busy soon, and you guys have work soon" he adds, and after a couple of words of goodbye, his parents leave.

"That's cute." Sungjin comments during their lunch break,

"They came and gave you a lunch" and Brian laughs as he takes a bite of his mom's cooking.

"Hey," Brian says, 

"Did you, uh, notice the tense atmosphere when my dad was talking to Jae?"

"Yeah!" Sungjin replies, almost immediately,

"It was weird. I've never seen either of them look so serious..." he continues.

"Yeah, it was weird..." Brian comments, nodding his head subconsciously, as he tries to think of reasons for their behaviour. 

"Are you sure it was them?" Wonpil asks, his voice still hoarse considering the reason he woke up as Jae's phonecall.

"100%." Jae answers without any hesitation.

"Younghyun is Brian, Wonpil, and I don't know what to do about it."

Wonpil's quiet, sincerely at a loss for words to advise Jae.

"This is like a novel, what kind of coincidence..."

"Not a coincidence." Wonpil says,

" 'Group 2' Jae, you said you'll believe there's a reason he's in your life again." 

And Jae laughs, amused that Wonpil is turning his words against him.

It's quiet for a while before Jae says,

"It's his birthday." and Wonpil almost winces at how sad Jaehyung sounds.

"It was 4 years ago that we got those tattoos. And then he disappeared."

Wonpil knows. He was by Jae's side through it all. He also knows that the only reason Jae's still in this little town, instead of in the city in a luxurious apartment, is because he was waiting for Younghyun to return.

"So what do you plan on doing, Jae?"

Jae doesn't know,

"I guess, I'll just go with phase one of my plan."

"God, that stupid plan" Wonpil says, laughing a bit,

"Hey, atleast it'll give me a chance to get closer to him. Then, maybe then I can decide if I just let him go or try and get him back..."

"Are you gonna be okay with that, though?" Wonpil asks,and Jae looks up, tilting his head slightly prompting Wonpil to continue,

"Are you gonna be okay knowing that the Younghyun you loved is right beside you, and doesn't remember you? Are you gonna be okay getting close to someone you used to be inseparable from, someone you can't forget yet he can't remember."

It's quiet, and Wonpil thinks Jae's in deep thought before the blonde looks at Wonpil and says,

"Do you want to co-author sometime?" 

Wonpil scoffs before throwing a pillow at Jae who catches it and gives him a laugh,

"I'll be fine, Piri-"

"Stop with that nickname, I hate it."

"You're so serious, you should get a boyfriend." Jae says, and gets up quickly before Wonpil starts chasing him around his living room.

"Shouldn't you go home?" Brian asks,

"No way I'm leaving my best friend to work till closing alone, on his birthday." Sungjin answers.

The 2 usually have the same shifts, but Sungjin got off a little earlier today. 

"It's weird when you're nice" Brian comments, looking at Sungjin suspiciously, and his best friend just gives him a laugh.

It was dark outside, only about half an hour till they close up and can leave.

"Any plans for today?" 

"Today? Nope. Probably just gonna chill with Minri at home."

"Excited for the party on Saturday?" 

"I mean, it's just friends, so I'm pretty excited."

"Hey, why don't you invite Jae?"

And Brian looks at him confused,

"You guys are friends, right?" Sungjin asks,

"Yeah, but.. Like, we're not that close or anything." Brian answers with a scoff,

"But, it's the quickest I've ever seen you become friends with someone. It took you about a month of me nagging you to finally talk to me," Sungjin comments and Brian just gives him a guilty smile,

"I don't even have his number, I can't just randomly invite him. Plus, he's an author, he probably has plans." 

Sungjin decides to just give Brian a shrug and continue helping Brian clean up the dishes. They're both behind the counter, eyes down on the dishes as they're talking about trivial things. 

The entrance bell ringing and Jae's voice saying,

"Brian!" catches both of their attention, and they look up.

It's a cute picture, similar to one out of a drama. They look up to see Jae, in some sleek black pants, and a plain white sweater on top. It's the most normal casual Brian has seen him, and it's kind of amusing. But, his outfit isn't what's important.

Considering the cafe is usually lit by natural lighting due to the abundance of windows, it was currently dimly lit due to the late hour.

But lit candles were lighting the cafe up, as Jae held a cake in his hands.

"Happy Birthday" he says with a smile, and Brian can't help the cute smile that appears on his face.

He goes out from behind the counter to accept the cake, 

"What the..." his voice trails off, amazed that Jae would actually do something like this for him.

"You didn't have to"

"Wanted to." Jae answers, and motions the cake closer to Brian

"Make a wish" he orders with a cute smile, and Brian thinks for a while.

Jae doesn't mean to, but he ends up wishing for something when Brian takes a deep breath, and as he blows out the candles he says to himself,

Please get your memories back.

Brian claps for himself while smiling,

"What'd you wish for?" 

"Secret." Brian answers and Jae scoffs and rolls his eyes as Brian laughs and takes the cake from Jae. But, although they don't know, they both wished for the same thing.

"Oh, you're here too, Sungjin?" Jae asks as Brian sets the cake down on the counter

"Yeah, glad I stayed, too. Get some free cake." he replies with a laugh and Brian comes back with a knife to start cutting the cake.

"Wait!" Jae says before Brian gets to cut the cake, 

"Sungjin and I have to sing you a little song"

"Oh God, wait no, don't-" Brians refusal is cut off when Jae starts to scream more than sing,

"Happy Birthday to You! Happy Birthday to you!~"

Brian looks at Sungjin, his expression a plea to get Jae to stop, but Sungjin just shrugs at Brian before giving a wide smile and joining Jae in the song. Brian bites his lower lip, closes his eyes and shakes his head in half embarrassment and half annoyance. 

They finally finish the song, and Jae and Sungjin are just laughing,

"I hate you guys." Brian just sighs with a smile,

"And you guys are supposed to sing before I blow the candles out!" he informs, and the cafe fills with the laughter of only 3 people, but it makes Brian feel happy. 

Brian finally cuts the cake, and Jae says

"I didn't know if you liked vanilla or chocolate, so like I got half and half." 

"I like vanilla, but Sungjin likes chocolate so it works out" Brian replies and Jae tries to ignore the nagging memory of Younghyun devouring chocolate cakes, while complaining that Jae's favourite, vanilla, was boring.

The 3 are eating the cake, and Jae isn't used to sharing the vanilla portion of cakes with Younghyun, or in this case, Brian.

"Hey, uh, are you doing anything this Saturday?" Brian asks, and Sungjin looks up from his cake, an amused expression on his face

"Saturday?" Jae thinks for a while,

"Nope, don't think so. Why?"

"Having a little birthday get-together, if you wanna come?" 

"Yeah, sure!" Jae says excited,

"You sure you want me there though?" he jokes, and Brian just nods and passes Jae his phone.

"Put your number in, I'll text you the address" 

Jae accepts his phone, and types in his name.

It's weird, having to put his name and number into Brian's phone, when he was #1 in Emergency Contacts & Favourites in Younghyun's phone. 

Jae's about to put in his number when he looks at Brian,

"If you expose my number, my manager will kill me." Jae warns, but Brian can tell it's not a threat because of the childish smile on his face.

"It's safe with me," Brian says, but Jae's already typed in his phone number, and is handing back Brian's phone.

Jae looks at Sungjin who's just enjoying the cake, before teasingly asking,

"Do you want Wonpil's number?"

And Sungjin almost chokes on the piece of chocolate cake he's eating, and the sound of Brian's amused clapping and laughter fills the empty cafe.

"No, I don't" Sungjin strongly denies, 

"Not yet, he needs to get closer to him first" Brian says and Sungjin slaps him in the arm.

Brian doesn't know why, but this seems familiar. Jae being by his side, and spending his birthday with him, it's a feeling that he thinks he's experienced before, and the way Jae looks so comfortable sharing the birthday cake is nice, but it's also never wracking.

"So, I'll see you Saturday?" Brian asks when Jae's getting ready to leave the cafe,

"Yup." and he looks at Sungjin before asking,

"Want me to bring Wonpil?"

"Yeah, bring him!" Brian encourages

"Wait, seriously?" Jae says and Brian just nods

"Can you guys stop?~" Sungjin whines,

"Oh!" Brian says,

"He didn't deny it this time!"

"I hate you guys, I'm leaving." Sungjin gives up, and leaves, shaking his head and waving at the 2 before leaving.

"Happy Birthday, Yo- Brian" Jae quickly corrects, and if Brian wasn't so curious about his past and Younghyun, maybe he wouldn't have noticed.

"Thanks, Jae" he replies, and the two part ways.

"You do know you have your own apartment." Wonpil says, clearly unamused that Jae crashes at his place so often.

"But I need someone to talk to about Younghyun." 

"Go write in a diary or something!" 

"Pirmiri~"

"Why do I deal with you" Wonpil mumbles, as he gets extra blankets for Jae

"Oh!"

"What now?" Wonpil groans 

"Come with me on Saturday!" Jae says,

"Where?"

"Brian's birthday thing"

"What? No!" he refuses,

"Oh c'mon, Brian told me to bring you!"

"Why were you guys talking about me?"

"Because his friend likes you"

"Shut up, he does not" Wonpil says and Jae values his life so he decides not to tease Wonpil about his blushing cheeks.

"Just come~"

"It's gonna be weird! Being with Younghyun, but he's not Younghyun-"

"Do you know how weird it was sharing vanilla cake with him? Vanilla!" Jae repeats,

"Please come." he adds and Wonpil just sighs, but Jae takes the silence as a 'yes' because there's no objection.

"I'm going to bed. Good night" is what Wonpil says,

"Thanks for agreeing to come!"

"I didn't agree!" he practically yells and slams the door to his bedroom, leaving Jae in the living room.

Jae doesn't sleep though.

His mind is too busy flowing with all the possibilities, because there's no more guessing.

There's no more suspicion or 'what if's because it's confirmed.

Brian is Younghyun; but he doesn't know what that means or who that is.

So, the author is kept awake due to the excitement, fear and anxiety that came with confirming that Younghyun has resurfaced as a person with dissociative fugue disorder named Brian.

AUTHOR'S NOTE;

screaming because of DAY6'S ASC. why did sungjin have to put his hair up- why did brian daNCE OH MY GOD LOL 

"my stage name is Young K. Even though no one calls me that. No one EVER calls me that" the salt was so real i'm screaming lmao, here's an update! :') idrk what to say so i'm just gonna hope you guys didn't hate this chapter too much. please comment! I please reading comments <3 and also please subscribe to keep updated & upvote if you're enjoying the story so far!

i'll try and update soon, but until then, peace guys - Zen