To say Youngjae was upset would be an understatement. He was already beyond the point of sadness, and now only emptiness was left.

Why is this cute little ball of sunshine so sad, you may ask. Simple: the members had forgotten his birthday.

It wasn't even like one of those cliche scenarios where the person's friends all pretend to forget about his or her birthday and then end up surprising them with a cake and presents and maybe even a little party. No. The members had truly forgotten that today was the day an actual angel was born.

In the morning, he received a call from his family wishing him a happy birthday, which he was grateful for. He even saw how Ahgases were all greeting him online, making his day even brighter. That positive energy that he had collected all dispersed throughout the day when he realized that none of his dear group mates would be wishing him a happy birthday. Hell, even his boyfriend forgot.

I mean, it's not like a birthday was that special, but it would've been nice to at least have it be acknowledged by his best friends. It didn't help either when they all had the day off, and everyone had all gone out to do their own things, excluding Youngjae, who stayed home with Coco and watched a movie and played video games by himself.

"You didn't forget, too, did you?" Youngjae asked the little Maltese at one point. He knew that she couldn't possibly know when his birthday was, but the dog had cutely rubbed against the palm of his hand, almost as if she were comforting him.

Night had fallen and the other six still weren't home, so Youngjae decided on ordering take out. It was delicious, but he still couldn't get the empty feeling out of his chest when he thought of his friends. 

'Did they really forget?' He asked himself glumly. 'I guess they just don't care.'

An hour passed when Youngjae finally heard the front door open. He rushed out of his room, only to slump his shoulders in disappointment when he realized it was only their manager. Nevertheless, he still greeted him with a strained smile. That smile turned a little more true when he was presented with his favorite cake, embellished with cute decorations and fancy writing in icing.

"Where's everyone else?" The manager asked, lighting a few candles and sticking them in the cake.

The mention of them made Youngjae's heart sink some more. It reminded him of how none of them had remembered his special day and that no one had even bothered to mark their calendars for it.

Sensing the drop in mood, the older man placed a hand on his shoulder and began singing "Happy Birthday" to him. Youngjae was touched and blew the candles out in one blow. He took one forkful of cake into his mouth, and that was it for him. He didn't have an appetite anyway.

After thanking his hyung and helping him clean up, Youngjae left and decided to turn in for the night. He had already come to the conclusion that nothing else was going to happen that day, so why even bother. He did his nightly routine and made sure Coco was comfortable right next him. Before closing his eyes, he glanced over at Mark's bed, which remained empty. And with a final sigh, he closed his eyes and let the darkness of the room lull him to sleep.

With the others

Each member enjoyed the day out doing whatever it was they wanted to do, and they all coincidentally met up at the same restaurant for dinner. So naturally, they all sat together and were now engaged in a lively conversation about their day.

"Hey," Jackson said, gaining everyone's attention. "Does anyone else feel like they're forgetting something?"

The others didn't say anything at first, for they admitted that they, too, had been having that nagging feeling at the back of their heads. They all looked at each other, everyone trying to figure out what it was that they forgot.

"I don't know, but it feels like it was something important," Bambam thought aloud.

It wasn't until the restaurant's employees started singing the "Happy Birthday" song for one of the customers did they all widen their eyes in realization.

"Jaebum hyung, wh-what day is it?" Yugyeom asked, afraid of what the answer was surely to be. The leader took out his phone and hesitated before pressing the home screen. He gulped, and he swears his heart almost stopped when he read the date.

"The 17th of September..."

"We forgot Youngjae's birthday," Mark whispered after a few moments of silence. Jackson cursed under his breath, his head in his hands, while everyone else expressed their distress in their own ways.

"Wait! There's still some time to get him a cake!" Jinyoung was already up and standing, his coat being quickly thrown on. The others followed suit and ran after Jinyoung, leaving the waitress, who was about to take their order, confused.

"We still have 20 minutes before midnight. I know a bakery that should still be open." With the hopes of acquiring a cake for Youngjae before midnight, all of the members were racing against time. Hopefully, they weren't too late.

________________

The door to the dorm slowly creaked open, six boys entering the area one after the other. All of the lights were off, indicating that no one was up and about anymore. The boys could faintly hear the sound of their manager's snoring, causing some of them to snicker.

"Youngjae?" Jaebum whisper-shouted, going to the kitchen to help Jinyoung prepare the cake. The duo noticed the empty take out boxes that were thrown into the garbage, and they started to feel bad about almost eating without Youngjae, especially since it was his birthday.

"Hyungs, I think we're too late," Yugyeom said sadly, bringing out the cake that they assumed their manager had bought for the birthday boy. Except for a small slice and little chunk that was taken out of the side, the cake was still pretty full. And you know what, the boys bought the same exact cake.

"Maybe we can wake him up and at least sing to him?" Jinyoung suggested unsurely. Without any words, Yugyeom and Jaebum followed Jinyoung out of the kitchen and started walking to Youngjae and Mark's room, where the others had already gone.

"Youngjae, wake up," they heard Jackson saying. He was standing right beside the younger and was shaking his arm, though it didn't seem to be working.

"Any luck?"

"Well, seeing as Sleeping Beauty is still asleep, I think things aren't going so swell," Bambam replied, his eyes fixated on his sleeping hyung.

The oldest of the members decided to step in and help, but he only succeeded in waking the small puppy. He got a surprise when the dog began to bark angrily at him and attempt to seriously bite him, something Coco rarely ever did. Everyone in the room tried to desperately quiet the animal, but she kept on barking at each one of them.

"Coco, shh," Mark pleaded, while trying to get closer to her. On one hand, Coco's barking could potentially be a good way to wake up Youngjae, but on the other hand, the boys didn't want to wake up their neighbors in the process.

"Coco-yah, what's wrong...?" Youngjae's groggy voice seemed to calm the dog, and she trotted over to his side and lay back down.

"And why are you all here?" His question came off more bitter than he intended, but it was exactly what he was feeling at the moment.

"It's already," he paused to check the clock for the time, "past midnight and unlike you guys, some people like to have their beauty sleep."

Oh, sunshine is pissed alright.

"We came to sing happy birthday to you," Jaebum informed him, taking a step closer to the bed. The others followed suit and surrounded Youngjae, anxious smiles on their faces that were supposed to hide their nerves, but Youngjae could see right through them.

"Don't you think it's a little late for that?" His unusually icy tone made some of them flinch, but they stayed silent.

"My birthday was technically yesterday, so there's no need for you to try and make it up. Besides, it's obviously not even that important anyway." The words coming out of his mouth were like daggers to s' hearts. Not only did they make Youngjae angry for not remembering his birthday, it also caused him to think that they didn't think he was of importance to them, but in reality, he was way more than that. Hell, most of them probably cared too much about Youngjae for their feelings to be considered "friendly," but don't tell Mark that.

"Youngjae-ah, we're sorry for not greeting you earlier," Jinyoung said, his sincere-looking eyes boring straight into Youngjae's. Maybe on a day when he wasn't angry at them, his eyes probably would've torn the boy's walls down, but today was not one of those days. Today, his walls were sturdier and higher than ever.

"It's whatever."

Even though he said it, it wasn't just "whatever" for Youngjae. Call him childish for getting mad over something that comes around every year, but it doesn't change the hurt that was felt in his chest.

"Won't you at least let us sing to you?"

"No." He really wanted them to sing to him, but Youngjae's a stubborn one. He felt as if saying "yes" would've meant that he lost the silent game of pride that he was playing with himself, and Youngjae doesn't like to lose.

"But--"

"I'm sorry. I'd rather just go back to sleep. So, please," he buried his body back with his warm blanket and hid his face in his pillow.

"Just leave."

Silence followed after that and slowly, each person began to exit the room, none of them forgetting to bid everyone else a "goodnight." The only ones left were Youngjae and Mark, who was now sitting on the floor beside the younger.

"Why are you still here, hyung?" Youngjae mindlessly asked after he couldn't take the intense staring that he could feel from Mark.

"I sleep here, too," was his simple response, making Youngjae groan in his mind when he realized that he managed to forget his own roommate.

"Besides, you're in my bed."

Youngjae swears his breath hitched in his throat. He removed his face from the pillow that he now recognizes as the one that Mark always used. Then, he looked at the blanket that he was oh so comfortable and felt oh so safe in, and he realized that that, too, was the elder's. His face flushed in embarrassment and his body jerked up with a start. He muttered an apology and moved to go to his own bed, but before he could leave, Mark placed his hands on his shoulders and gently pushed him back under the covers.

"Stay."

It was only one simple word, yet Youngjae found himself not being able to want to leave anymore. It could also be partly due to the fact that Mark's comforting scent from his bedsheets and pillows were lulling him back to sleep in seconds. Either way, despite still being a little mad, Youngjae let Mark crawl under the sheets with him and allowed him to drape an arm around his waist, effectively pulling the other closer to his body.

The room was silent as the two of them lay there, none of them making an effort to speak up. It wasn't their usual comforting stillness that seemed to always envelope them, and Youngjae found it difficult to drift back to dreamland. When he finally managed to close his eyes and have a much needed sleep, the first rays of sunshine were already peeking through the cream colored curtains that hung over the window.

----------

Youngjae somehow managed to sleep through morning and even a few hours past noon, and the only reason he woke up was because of the sweet scent of freshly made pancakes, a delicacy that, for whatever reason, was eaten only on special occasions or whenever Mark felt like making the foreign dish for the members.

'Pancakes and face everyone else and possibly have the awkwardest breakfast in my life or stay in bed and starve?' At this point, Youngjae was leaning towards the second option, and he probably would've stuck to it if it weren't for the gentle knock on the bedroom door that startled him out of his thoughts a few seconds later.

He figured he couldn't avoid them forever, and he told whoever it was to come in.

Youngjae knew the members were all sorry, but he didn't expect them to all come barging in with confetti, a lit up birthday cake, and a full plate of steaming pancakes, topped with whipped cream and sprinkled with strawberries. The birthday song rung in his ears as they all circled around him, their voices meshing together in a perfectly jumbled mesh of out of key singing.

Youngjae was so astonished by their effort of making it up to him that he almost forgot to blow out the candles once they finished singing.

When he looked down at the cake, he noticed how the colorful icing writing had more than just a  simple birthday greeting and, written with he assumed was chocolate syrup, were the words "We're Sorry."

Before he could make any comment on anything, he was engulfed in a group hug, where there was barely any space for him to move, and he kind of loved it. While still in the hug, everyone began to talk all at once, everyone's words becoming barely coherent. The only thing Youngjae was able to make out was everyone's words of apologies, and that was all he needed to hear.

"It's okay. I forgive you." Youngjae probably repeated the same words way more times than necessary when he realized that none of them were going to be letting go of him anytime soon until they were assured that they were truly forgiven.

"You guys really outdid yourselves this year," Youngjae mused when he could finally cut into the stack of pancakes that had grown warm in the passing time. 

Everyone else remained rooted their spots, watching as the little ray of sunshine munched happily on his food, excluding Yugyeom who had gone out with the promise of coming back soon. With how happy they all seemed to be in that moment, it was as if yesterday's quarrel hadn't happened at all.

Yugyeom came back minutes later as promised, and with him was a glass jar filled to the brim with tons of colored pieces of paper. Youngjae was presented this mysterious jar, which had the words "To our precious Youngjae" written across the body of the jar, and was urged to take a piece of paper out of it and read it.

"You're bootiful?" Youngjae couldn't help but let a few giggles escape his lips at the two-worded note that had a winky face at the end. The others, however, groaned, knowing all too well who had written that note.

"What?" Jackson shrugged when he heard all the displeased groans. "It's true."

Jinyoung practically pushed Jackson out of the way to get to Youngjae's side and pointed at the jar. "Whenever you're feeling sad, just read the things we wrote for you. We hate it whenever you're sad, or anyone for that matter, so we hope that these cute little notes we wrote will cheer you up when you're down."

"We wrote down like a thousand notes, so don't even worry about running out anytime soon."

Youngjae almost choked on a pancake when he heard the number from Yugyeom.

Bambam, who was now poking at the jar, rolled his eyes and pointed a finger at Mark. "Hyung probably wrote "I love you" on a hundred of those notes."

The birthday boy's face lit up and was now relishing in the flustered state Mark was in after being exposed. 

"Wait," Jaebum said. "Were we not supposed to write that?"

"I did."

"So did I."

"Me, too."

"Please tell me that not all of those papers have the same thing written on them?" Jinyoung asked worriedly. 

"Come on, Jinyoung. You know you slipped in a few "I love you's" of your own." 

They all began to tease Jinyoung when they saw how red his ears turned, and it soon turned into light-hearted bickering. 

All the while, Youngjae was sat up in bed, his eyes focused on everyone around him. Words couldn't describe how happy he felt in that moment, and he wanted nothing more than to stay in that moment forever.

"I love you guys," he said softly, his smile gentle. He doubts that anyone heard his words through all the yelling, but that's okay.