“Myungsoo, any messages for me today?”

Myungsoo briefly glanced up from his laptop to push the stack of messages towards Sunggyu’s direction. Sunggyu mumbled a quick ‘thank you’ as he sifts through the messages.

Meanwhile, Myungsoo pretended to type in another scheduled event onto Sunggyu’s schedule for the day. However, from the corner of his eye, Myungsoo watched Sunggyu. His eyes trailed over the bow of Sunggyu’s lips, watching them move just the slightest as he read the message to himself in a hushed whisper, followed the line of path down to the curve of Sunggyu’s slender neck, and his eyes came to a stop at Sunggyu’s waist as Sunggyu shifted his weight from one feet to another, his arm moving out to lean against Myungsoo’s desk.

Myungsoo waited. He waited for Sunggyu to take notice of the date at the corner of the notes. The date, which he had made sure to highlight, and bold on all the messages, just so it would catch Sunggyu’s eye.

Having finished reading the messages, Sunggyu slid them over to Myungsoo. His lips quirked into a small smile as he said, “Today’s a really special day, you know?”

Myungsoo smiled. He knew Sunggyu hadn’t forgotten. He’d made subtle hints towards it all of last week—which in Myungsoo’s case meant noting the date onto Sunggyu’s work schedule for the week, scribbling the date onto the small calendar that Sunggyu kept on his desk, and even adding a reminder to Sunggyu’s phone when he had given it to him to sync his work schedule with his personal schedule.

“Yeah, it sure is,” Myungsoo smiled, already moving to get up so he could receive his congratulatory hug. It might seem a bit inappropriate at work, with Sunggyu being Myungsoo’s boss and all, but the two have shared a strong friendship for years now.

“Todays—

…your birthday!

“—the opening of that new restaurant that Woohyun was talking about. You know the one I was telling you about last week.

Myungsoo’s face fell. He gaped at Sunggyu, shocked that even after all the effort that he had put into making sure that Sunggyu remembered his birthday, the elder still was clueless.

Sunggyu waited with an expectant expression, so Myungsoo nodded along and agreed weakly, “Yeah…that’s..uh..great. Yeah really great.”

“Right!” Sunggyu exclaimed, giving the table an enthusiastic clap. “Anyways, do you mind making a reservation for two?”

Myungsoo’s hopes raised ever so slightly at that. Maybe, Sunggyu was just teasing him about forgetting his birthday. And the older male was actually planning on surprising Myungsoo with dinner tonight.

“Sure,” he answered, typing in the restaurant’s name into the search engine. “For when?”

“Mmmh,” Sunggyu let out a sigh, “well Woohyun said he’d be free on Friday, so I guess Friday evening.”

Myungsoo’s hopes crumbled once again.

Nonetheless, he was still at work, and needed to do his job, so he quickly typed in the reservation for Friday, and added it onto Sunggyu’s private schedule.

“There.”

“Thanks, Myungsoo!” Sunggyu called over his shoulder as he moved to his own desk at the front of the room. However, just as he was about to sit he called over to Myungsoo once again, “Oh Myungsoo, I forgot to tell you.”

This was it, Myungsoo thought, he finally remembered.

“Yeah…”

“Woohyun said he might be bringing a friend along, so do you mind adding another person onto to the reservation?”

This time Myungsoo didn’t even hide his hurt as he aggressively punched on his keyboard to open the website.

***

Sunggyu couldn’t take it anymore. He was going to go crazy if he had to keep it in any longer. Every time he glanced up from desk he’d see Myungsoo slumped over, typing slowly, a pout fixated on his face.

The worse was when Sunggyu actually had to ask Myungsoo to do something for him, and Myungsoo would fixate Sunggyu with his big sad eyes, and shoot Sunggyu a watery smile. Sunggyu had to literally sit on his hands to stop himself from reaching his arms out to hug Myungsoo.

So when Myungsoo went out to grab lunch, Sunggyu made a quick call for Woohyun.

Woohyun took his sweet time strolling into the office, a smile on his face, humming a song loudly to himself.

“What did you do to Myungsoo?” Woohyun asked taking a seat on Sunggyu’s desk. He reached out to grab a pen on Sunggyu’s desk, but Sunggyu quickly slapped his hand away. Woohyun shot him a hurt look, but quickly recovered and reached for Sunggyu’s nameplate. He shuffled it from one hand to the other as he continued, “He looked like he going to scratch my eyes out when I wished him a happy birthday.”

Sunggyu snatched the nameplate midair, and used it to lightly jab at Woohyun’s side, “You. Its your fault.”

“Ow,” Woohyun screamed, rubbing at his side, “ how is it my fault?”

“I followed your dumb advice, and accidently, forgot his birthday,” Sunggyu answered, making quotation marks around ‘accidently’.

“So what if he’s upset now, he’ll be ten times happier later,” Woohyun said, reaching to play with the name plate again. Sunggyu gave it up, and Woohyun smiled and happily continued tossing it from hand to another as he cheerily recited, “After all you need to experience sadness in order to be happy.”

“You better be right, otherwise you’re going to be experiencing a lot of sorrow,” Sunggyu mumbled.

Woohyun smiled, “Have I ever steered you wrong?”

“Yes, but I’m the idiot who listens to you.”

“Anyways,” Woohyun began, bounding off the table, “where is his present?” He crouched down to look under Sunggyu’s desk, but was disappointed to find nothing there.

“Its in my car,” Sunggyu answered. “And you’re not seeing it.”

“Okay fine, but you took my advice, right?”

“Yeah, I did, I just hope he likes it,” Sunggyu exclaimed, letting out an exhausted sigh.

Sunggyu was a simple man. He didn’t really believe in big gestures or spending countless of hours picking just the right gift. In the past, whenever he spent a birthday with a significant other, he’d usually just pick out a nice place to dine, and maybe go for a long drive after.

And even though Myungsoo and Sunggyu weren’t romantically involved yet, — their relationship had definitely heading in a more romantic path as they both became more self-aware of their feelings and attraction they felt for one another— he still wanted to prepare something special for Myungsoo. Because truth be told if there was anyone who was deserving of Sunggyu spending countless of hours perfecting a gift it was Myungsoo.

Myungsoo, who’d smiled warmly at Sunggyu on his first day, when everyone else had been questioning Sunggyu’s capabilities to take over as the new CEO in his father’s place. Myungsoo who’d greet Sunggyu each morning with a perfect blend of Americano, with a cute cat drawn on the side of the cup, holding a paw up saying ‘Fighting’. Myungsoo, who’d ran his hand soothingly over Sunggyu’s back, when Sunggyu had his first break down from all the stress of his new job. Myungsoo’s voice which had ghosted the back of his neck as he mumbled, “Everything’s going to be okay.”

And true to what Myungsoo had said, things had turned out pretty well. Sure, there were times still where Sunggyu would feel like he’d never be able to fill in his father’s shoe’s, and sometimes the weight of the job felt so great that it almost made it seem like someone had piled on a bunch of soaked coats over his shoulders. But at least he had Myungsoo to lean on; Myungsoo whose small smiles would be filled with constant encouragements, and Myungsoo who’d replace the weight on his shoulders with a steady arm around his frame.

“He will,” Woohyun assured, giving Sunggyu’s shoulder a light squeeze.

Sunggyu could only hope that Woohyun’s was right. If not, well Sunggyu was in for some major pain (and so was Woohyun).

***

Myungsoo sat at his desk arranging the last few notes from today’s board’s meeting. Sunggyu had another meeting with a potential investor which had conflicted with the board meeting, so Sunggyu had asked him to sit in for him. Myungsoo had taken detailed notes, and was just summarizing a few things to make it clear for Sunggyu what had been discussed.

He glanced at the clock. It was almost 6. If he finished this up in the next half hour, he could still have time to get home and maybe salvage the rest of his birthday. He could call Sungyeol, and Sungjong over and maybe they could go out for drinks. Myungsoo could use the alcohol right now.

Myungsoo felt so silly right now. He couldn’t believe that he was getting so depressed about Sunggyu forgetting his birthday. Sunggyu constantly had a million things on his mind, that most likely made him forget his own birthday, so how could Myungsoo expect him to remember his.

But it still hurt. And no matter how many logical explanations, and assurances he told himself, he couldn’t keep the hurt at bay.

And maybe this really was his fault. He tended to romanticize certain events and people despite knowing better. Maybe he was looking too much into a relationship, that was really was just friendship.

But then how could anyone explain the way Sunggyu would pull him close at times. How could anyone explain the late-night conversations, where Sunggyu would bare himself the slightest, as he recounted tales of unfulfilled dreams, and growing up too fast, to Myungsoo. And could anyone explain the look Sunggyu had reserved just for him, his eyes soft and unguarded, giving Myungsoo a sneak into his soul.

Myungsoo’s own feelings for Sunggyu have always been apparent. He’d always loved Sunggyu as a friend in the past, and now his feelings had evolved and he hopes to love Sunggyu in a more intimate manner.

He was shaken from his thoughts as soft music filtered the room. Myungsoo recognized the familiar tune, and it became much more apparent what was happening when a voice started singing along to the music.

“…birthday to you, happy birthday dear Kim Myungsoo, happy birthday to you…”

Sunggyu walked slowly into the room, his hands bracing a large cake. Myungsoo’s throat constricted, and it became hard to breathe as he caught the ends of Sunggyu’s soft smile, highlighted by the small glow of the candles.

He stopped before Myungsoo’s desk, placing the cake on top of it. Myungsoo watched as Sunggyu reached for the box under the cake, and circled around the desk to stand facing Myungsoo. He couldn’t help but laugh a bit as he caught Sunggyu’s arm hitting against his own side at a rapid pace, and the just the smallest of flush visible on his pale cheeks.

Myungsoo had never seen Sunggyu like this before. So hesitant, and vulnerable. Since Myungsoo spent most of his time with Sunggyu at work, he’d either see Sunggyu’s face pinched in concentration as he worked at his desk, or his facial features sharpened as he sat at the head of board meetings. Sunggyu’s smiles were usually reserved for the little moments that he and Myungsoo would simultaneously look up from their desks and catch each other’s eye, or whenever Woohyun would barge into their office to have a ‘meeting’—which would mostly consist of them gathering on the carpet, ordering cheap take-out, and catching up on the latest office gossip.

Sunggyu leaned down, so he was at approximately Myungsoo’s height. His slender fingers danced slowly over the length of Myungsoo’s leg, before finally stopping to rest on top of Myungsoo’s knees.

Myungsoo shuddered, not just because of the warmth of Sunggyu’s touch, but at the look Sunggyu was giving him. His eyes were ablaze, burning with such intensity that Myungsoo couldn’t bare to meet them.

He smiled shyly, and looked down at his lap. Sunggyu’s hands moved up from Myungsoo’s knees, to entrap Myungsoo’s hands in his own. Myungsoo hadn’t realized how cold his hands were, until he felt the contrast of Sunggyu’s warm hands.

“Happy birthday, Myungsoo,” Sunggyu whispered. He removed his hands from Myungsoo’s grip, and instead replaced it with a brightly, colored box.

“Open it.”

He untied the ribbon, and carefully picked at the tape which sealed the top of the box. He made sure to neatly unseal all the sides, not wanting to ruin the nice wrapping paper.

Myungsoo could however feel Sunggyu getting antsy with this, with how his fingers drummed on Myungsoo’s kneecap, so he chose to just rip the last few remains.

The box inside wasn’t anything special, so Myungsoo quickly lifted the cover to reveal the inside of the box. Inside, there were an assortment of objects, varying from a beanie, to a picture frame and maybe a CD?

He quirked a brow up at Sunggyu.

“Take them out one by one” Sunggyu instructed, “they each have a meaning behind them.”

So Myungsoo did as he was told, and reached out to get the first object that caught his eyes. The black knit beanie. He held it up and waited for Sunggyu’s explanation.

“Do you remember last winter we had that awful winter storm, and my coat didn’t have a hood, so you loaned me your beanie?”

Myungsoo’s memory of that day had been quite foggy just because it had been too cold for his brain to register much that day. All he remembers vividly is that bone chilling wind, that makes him let out a shudder even now.

“And then I ended up losing it, and you were all pouty for the rest of the day.”

Myungsoo bit his tongue to keep his protest at bay, and instead asked, “So you bought me a new one?”

“No, I made one for you,” Sunggyu corrected.

Myungsoo’s mouth dropped open. In all the years that Myungsoo had known Sunggyu, the older man had never once mentioned knitting, much less that he was skilled at it.

“How?” Myungsoo exhaled. The beanie was made really well. The top of the beanie was tapered nicely, and the beanie was stitched neatly together.  It was a bit askew at some places, but that’s really if Myungsoo being nitpicky.

“Well, I told you right that mom used to run a small yarn business when I was younger, so remembered the basics of it from when she taught me. But the stitching and the tapering, well that was hours of Skype sessions with my sister.”

Sunggyu took the beanie from Myungsoo’s hands, and carefully placed it onto Myungsoo’s head. Myungsoo watched Sunggyu through his bangs, too shy to meet the other’s gaze directly. His eyes drifted down and he flushed pink as he noticed how close Sunggyu’s lips were to his own.

But before he could think to lean forward, Sunggyu pushed the box towards Myungsoo, “Okay next thing.”

The next thing Myungsoo picked out was the frame. He brought up the frame closer to examine, and nestled inside was a picture of Myungsoo, that Myungsoo hadn’t even known existed. In the photo, Myungsoo was seated at the same desk he was right now, but his head was thrown back as he laughed at whatever someone (most probably Woohyun, since he was the only visitor allowed in here) saying.

“This is my favorite photo of you. You’re always running around with your phone or camera taking pictures of me, so I got curious. The ones I took in the starting were really bad, and you’d probably hate if you saw them, but I think I got better. This one turned out pretty good though.”

And it really was a nice picture. The light hit Myungsoo’s face just right, highlighting his nose, cheekbones, the curve from his jaw to neckline and emphasized his Adam’s apple as it bobbed mid-laugh.

Myungsoo was used to looking at Sunggyu from behind a lens. He’d always found Sunggyu to be an interesting test subject, just because of how well Sunggyu was able to control his facial features. Myungsoo had once witnessed Sunggyu give a whole presentation on expansions in China while suffering through a terrible stomach ache. Myungsoo hadn’t even noticed anything was wrong until the end of the presentation when Sunggyu had excused himself and quickly ran to the bathroom.

“I like that you’re so genuine and that you’re not afraid to be vulnerable in front of others. I think it requires a great deal of courage for you to wear your heart out on your sleeve like that.”

You looked so carefree and happy in this picture that it made me want to be a bit like you. To not have to constantly to be calculating, or putting on poker faces and just to let loose and not be so afraid.”

Myungsoo felt his whole body warm at Sunggyu’s word. He’d always been told by others that he was a bit too naïve, and too trusting of others; that he needed to sharpen up a bit or he’d be taken advantage of. And now here Sunggyu was not only complimenting him, but admitting to wanting to be a bit like him.

Myungsoo liked looking at himself through Sunggyu’s lens.

He put the frame on his desk and reached for phone. He opened up the camera app and held the phone up at slightly better angle so he could fit both himself and Sunggyu in the frame.

“Really?” Sunggyu asked, but he still posed and grinned as Myungsoo snapped a couple of pictures.

They continued going through the box, Myungsoo holding up each object as Sunggyu recited the reason for it.

A cell phone charger.

“Because you always forget your own, and end up hogging my own…Also… I ... always feel more …energized when I see you. Hey! Why are you laughing? Okay I’m taking this back! It was Woohyun’s dumb idea anyway. Hey—Stop laughing! Kim Myungsoo!”

A Jo Malone cologne.

“I actually needed to get you an actual gift just in case you hated everything else. Plus, I like the smell on you. I don’t know how Woohyun knows which cologne you wear but somehow, he knew. He has a dog’s nose when it comes to things like this.”

A custom-made black company mug.

“When we handed these out at Christmas last year you complained that none of the mugs were black, so I had them make one in black just for your highness. And it even say’s your name so no one can steal it.”

Eventually they stopped to take a break and eat cake. The cake was Myungsoo’s favorite: red velvet with butter cream frosting, so he ended up eating a bit too much cake and suffering from a stomach ache. When he groaned, and complained about it to Sunggyu, Sunggyu began chiding him for eating too much cake without having had a sufficient dinner, but nonetheless pulled him against his side to rest his head on his shoulder.

There were still a few more things left so Sunggyu insisted that they continue it tomorrow since it was getting late and Myungsoo wasn’t feeling that well. But Myungsoo had insisted that it was his birthday today that he needed to absolutely open them up today. After a bit of arguing, and a lot of pouting from Myungsoo, Sunggyu relented and allowed Myungsoo to choose one more gift.

He knew exactly what to pick. He’d been curious about the CD since he’d opened the box. He handed it to Sunggyu.

Sunggyu sighed, “I was hoping you wouldn’t pick this one.”

“Why? What is it?”

“Remember, how I told you that I used to be in a high school band? The Beat. Do you remember what you said?”

“That I could have been there to see it,” Myungsoo answered slowly, confused as to why Sunggyu was bringing this up now.

“Well,” Sunggyu began, “we can’t exactly time travel. But I can show you a glimpse of what it was like.”

Myungsoo instantly got off of Sunggyu, stomach ache forgotten and snatched the CD to pop it into the projector. Then he ran back to Sunggyu’s side and pressed play.

The camera quality wasn’t great the camera shook just a bit too much for Myungsoo’s liking, but Myungsoo was intrigued as he watched eighteen-year-old Kim Sunggyu sing his heart out on stage. A young Sunggyu whose only goal had been to sing in a band like Nell, a young Sunggyu whose body moved freely, whose body, soul and mind hadn’t been chained up by the responsibilities or the burden of thousands of employees, a young Sunggyu who sang with such raw intensity that it wracked your soul.

Myungsoo turned to look at Sunggyu. Sunggyu had a distant look in his eyes, as if he was watching a stranger on screen and not himself.

He moved his head so it rested on top of Sunggyu’s shoulder, “Do you miss it? Performing? Singing?”

“Everyday,” Sunggyu answered. He turned his head just so his face loomed right in front of Myungsoo’s.

“Hyung you could still sing,” Myungsoo insisted. He had listened to Sunggyu singing countless of times at the noraebang, and Sunggyu was an even better singer now than he was in those old videos. He’s sure that if Sunggyu tried he could still draw up a crowd.

He shook his head in retaliation, “No, I have to stop thinking about that dream now. I have this job to keep me occupied and its either I give it all, or none.”

Myungsoo didn’t understand Sunggyu’s logic; didn’t understand why Sunggyu couldn’t do both.

He opened his mouth to argue but Sunggyu’s next words left Myungsoo speechless.

“And even though I can’t pursue music anymore, I can pursue you. Because you’re here.  You’re my music now Myungsoo.”

Sunggyu’s lips moved to capture Myungsoo’s in a kiss, when Myungsoo suddenly spoke, “I have one more birthday wish.”

Sunggyu pulled back to send Myungsoo an incredulous look, “Really? Now?”

“Yeah,” Myungsoo answered. His hand grabbed a fistful of Sunggyu’s hair as he pulled him in again, “Kiss me.”

And Sunggyu was more than happy to comply.

***

“Wait—

“Why?” Sunggyu whined as he pulled back from where he’d been mouth at Myungsoo’s neck.

“You knew about my birthday all along?”

“Yeah…”

“And you let me think you’d forgotten, for the whole day?”

“Yeah…”

“Wait, Myungsoo!” Sunggyu got up from the floor to chase after Myungsoo. “It was Woohyun’s idea!”