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Coming back from the stadium, SEVENTEEN’s energy was already drained to 1%. In the white van, besides the manager who was driving, Hansol sat there with his earphone, listening to 4Men’s 추억에살아 (Live in Memory) which had become one of his favourite after Seungkwan sang that song with Eunji (Apink) couple of years ago.

He glanced back and saw his Boo’s sleeping. It’s his birthday and they had plan a surprise party for him. Besides him, there’s his Jeonghan-hyung, tired and injured when he fell during the relay. When his hyung fell, he felt like the time stopped and for a moment, he couldn’t move his feet. Earlier in the relay, it was Mingyu but Jeonghan’s looked worst. (a/n I’m not sure who ran first, I have not watched it; I couldn’t bring myself to do so. I will cry. I just assume they have the same line up as last year’s).

Jeonghan leaned his head on Sungcheol’s shoulder who wrapped his hand over his Love’s shoulder. When Jeonghan fell, Sungcheol’s heart stopped, and all of a sudden, he had tunnel vision and it focused directly at the limping body at the other end of the track, holding his hand and he just flash a painful smile so as not to worry the others. When Sungcheol got to his senses, he sprint towards him.

**flashback

“Hyung.. are you ok hyung??” asked Seokmin and Seungkwan quickly support his hyung’s shoulder to take him away from the crowd. The other members quickly started gathering around when Sungcheol arrived at the group.

“Jeonghan-aa..Jeonghan..” that’s the only words that came out of Sungcheol’s mouth. His trembling hands grabbed the scrapped hand and took a closer look at it. His eyes teared up. He softly wipes off the dirt on the wound.

“What to do..” he whispered again to the hand. He could not lift his head and looked at the beautiful face. He felt useless.

“Sungcheol-aa.. I’m alright. It’s not that bad. Lift your head. Let me see you.” Whispered Jeonghan. With his other hand, he put it on his sweetie’s head. More on how much the other’s worried about him, he was worried more that Sungcheol is going to blame himself and said that it’s all his fault. Which was not true.

“Sungcheol-aa.. Please, let me see you.” Whispered Jeonghan again, lifting Sungcheol’s chin to face him. When he saw his sweetie’s face, his tears just dripped, lost to the gravity. There he was, staring at him, the epitome of strong man and capable leader, looked so broken and shattered. There’s no expression on his face. He looked absolutely blank. The spectators (SEVENTEEN) was truly speechless. Jihoon turned his head aside, unable to look at their leader like that and Jisoo took him into his arm. Soonyoung’s body shook in Seokmin’s arm and his head fell down, facing the floor. Jihoon and Soonyoung were probably the ones who understand perfectly how Sungcheol was feeling at the moment.

Mingyu who also got injured when he ran for the relay grabbed his leader-hyung’s body from the back and back-hugged him. They had been in a lot of difficult situation but he never saw his leader-hyung look as shattered as then. With the pressure of the comeback and all. With Minghao at the dorm, earlier it was him and now even Jeonghan..

“I’m sorry hyung.. I’m really sorry. It’s not your fault. I was being too reckless.. I’m sorry...” said Mingyu and Jeonghan lifted his hand to caress his dongsaeng’s cheek that lay his head on Sungcheol’s shoulder and looked around and smile at all his beloved dongsaengs and Jisoo. This love. This compassion. These members what makes SEVENTEEN, SEVENTEEN. And why he will forever love them.

“Can you take me to the medic, sweetie? It’s actually getting a bit painful now.” Said Jeonghan and that snapped Sungcheol back to reality. Wonwoo stride towards his honey, grabbed him by his shoulders and pulled the long body away from Sungcheol and hugged the frozen body in which Mingyu still breathing heavily. Wonwoo pat the back and whispered soothing words into the ears and pulled him away to a private corner inside the tunnel of the stadium where players walked out and hugged his honey tightly and calmed him down.

When Mingyu and Jeonghan were brought to the medic tent, Wonwoo walked away from there and sat a corner. He just needed a moment to process everything.

**present time

At the back row of the black van, Wonwoo was sitting in the middle with his honey at the left side. His head rest against Wonwoo’s  and their fingers entwined with each other. At his other side, sat Soonyoung who was in deep sleep. One of his earphone bud came undone. Wonwoo took it and put it on. Wonwoo burst into soft chuckle when he heard the song. It was their sunbaenim’s song Catallena. Soonyoung and Seokmin loved to play around with that song. Even to his sleep because Soonyoung’s fingers started to twitch at the chorus and Wonwoo just pat his friend’s head softly.

Today was a crazy day he thought. So many things had happened as it was fun and at the same time a really difficult day. Slowly, he too drifted away to slumber land along with Swimming Fool playing through the earphone and his honey’s soft snore.

The black van team arrived first, according to their plan. While still being drowsy, Junhui had Chan on tow. Seokmin was helping Mingyu with his bag while Wonwoo and Soonyoung took the shopping bags from the trunk. According to plan, the white van will make a ‘ridiculous’ detour at the office and the manager will pretend that he needed to fetch his bag because he wanted to go straight home and the time will be delayed by that.

At home, Minghao was already busy doing preparation for the decoration after he received text from Seokmin not long ago. He’s done with hanging the banner and at that time he was blowing balloons while watching TV and was laughing to himself when he heard the rhythm at the door and quickly ran towards it. Jisoo had called him in the evening to inform him about Jeonghan and Mingyu's injuries. Jeonghan assured him that he’s alright but he won’t believe him until he saw the injuries himself and same went for Mingyu’s.

When he saw Mingyu was able to walk on his own when he entered the entrance, Minghao exhaled a relief breathe and quickly hugged his friend. Mingyu just smile and pat his arm. He told Minghao he’ll be alright. When they’re in the living room, they saw the decorations Minghao did,

“Wah! You already did so much, Hao-aa!” Exclaimed Soonyoung while putting the shopping bags on the floor.

“Yea, hyung. Seokmin texted me earlier so I started the preparation then. I know you guys will be very tired” Replied Minghao.

“Good work. Thank you, Hao-aa.” said Wonwoo while patting his dongsaeng’s head, who was crouching infront of the bags to take out the content. There are snacks and drinks in one bag, pizzas in the other and fried chickens in the other.

“Oh, Wonwoo hyung! The cake we ordered arrived. It’s in the fridge.” Said Minghao.

“Ok good! We can take it out later.” Replied Wonwoo who was on the way to Mingyu’s room to help him.

Inside the 4-person bedroom, Mingyu was struggling to take off his shirt as his arm was still sore from the fell. He sat down to ponder, what when wrong. Why did he fell? He did warm up and focus on the race. But, probably his tired body could not keep up with his spirit and his feet just could not support him. He felt bad. Now the members worried about him, and CARATs will be really worried about him too. But still, Jeonghan-hyung had it worst, he thought. With his shirt half on and half off, stuck at his arm, he lie on the bed, suddenly feeling overwhelmed.

Wonwoo walked in towards his honey. He saw him lying on the bed, with half of his upper body exposed, looking helpless. He sat next to the body and put his head on the beating chest. For a moment, Mingyu did not open his eyes to look at his baby-hyung. He just could not. Not just yet. For a moment, he just wanted to embrace the quiet moment, the warmth on his chest and the breathe of his beloved, caressing his neck.  After a moment, Wonwoo lifted his head and whispered,

“You know honey, I still have not forgiven you for breaking my CARAT bong.” And that earned a chuckle from his honey that shook them both. Finally, Mingyu opened his eyes and looked at his beloved baby-hyung. Wonwoo smiled at him as he caressed the plumped lips.

“You finally open your eyes. Are you ready to look at me now? How are you feeling?” Asked Wonwoo.

“I’m sorry I broke your CARAT bong.” Said Mingyu, running his fingers on the soft hair.

“That’s alright. I will demand a new one from you.” Wonwoo lifted his body and rested his elbow on the wide chest. He wanted a closer look of his honey.

“Are you feeling alright?” asked Wonwoo.

“I feel like a loser.” replied Mingyu.

“Why? Because you fell down?”

“Because I promised you I won’t hurt myself and I promised CARAT I won’t get into any accident this time.”

“You know that is out of your control. It’s not that you wanted to get hurt.”

“But I should’ve been more careful. I was distracted just for a breathe while I was running. If I had been focussing on the run the whole time, I wouldn’t have fell down. Now, CARATs are worried, Sungcheol-hyung will have to answer to management and you... you.. ”Mingyu, wasn’t able to finish his sentence as tears suddenly on the verged of falling down. He turned his head the other way.

“Hey... hey... hey... what are you saying? Why are you worrying about others when you’re the one who’s hurt? CARATs will understand and Sungcheol-hyung will do whatever he needs to do as a leader... and me, why are you worrying about me? I’m alright. I’m not hurt. I will take care of you and Jeonghan-hyung” Wonwoo grabbed the perfectly chiselled jaw and turned the head to face him.

“But today... when Sungcheol-hyung saw me got hurt, and then Jeonghan-hyung... I never saw him looked like that... I never want to see him look like that again.” the tears finally rolled down his face, lost to the gravity. It broke Wonwoo’s heart. He climbed on top of Mingyu’s flat body and kissed the fat drops on the smooth face. He can taste the saltiness on his lips.

“I know.  Me too. Sungcheol-hyung will be alright. He's really worried about you and Jeonghanie-hyung.  We will all support him. Tomorrow you and Jeonghanie-hyung will go to the hospital for check-up and we’ll see then what the doctor said. I believe both of you will be alright. We’ll be ready for the comeback. I know we will.” Mingyu just stared at the beautiful face. Wonwoo continued,

“But what made you got distracted at that time?” asked Wonwoo, narrowing his eyes, curious. Mingyu suddenly turned pale and his face frozen.

“Kim Mingyu.. Answer me. Why were you distracted?” Mingyu slowly rolled his eyes to the side.

“Kim Mingyu.. You better answer me or I’ll bite your ear off!” Wonwoo clamped his jaw shut with a sound, demonstrating how he was going to bite Kim Mngyu’s ear off.

“Nothing..! I wasn’t thinking of anything.”

“Oh really.. Then why did you tripped? You said just now you were distracted. What bothers you at that time? Huh? Kim Mingyu?” asked Jeon Wonwoo firmly while inching closer towards his target; Kim Mingyu’s  left ear.

“I wasn’t thinking of anything..! I wasn’t thinking of.. ARGGGGHH!” exclaimed Mingyu as a sudden pain rushed all over his body. Wonwoo took a bite of his target and ready to continue if he didn’t get what he wanted.

“hyuuunggg.. It’s painful..”

“It’s supposed to be painful! Now tell me what got you distracted.” Instead of biting, this time, Wonwoo the earlobe seductively which earned him a moan.

“Tell me.. Before I make you go ‘crazy’ here and leave you unfinished.” Whispered Wonwoo while he’s hand travelled down to the exposed abs and teasing it until the muscles reacted to it.

“ahhhnnhhh.. ok, ok. I’ll tell you. But promise me, you won’t get mad at me.”

“You know I will, when you started your sentence like that.” Whispered Wonwoo to the ears and it one more time.

“ahhnhhhh..” moaned Mingyu. A shivering sensation travelled all over his body when he continued,

“I saw Irene-sunbaenim..” Mingyu hadn’t finish his sentence when Wonwoo rapidly lifted his body from the resting position and his expression suddenly turned bitter. He retreated all body contact and was ready to leave when Mingyu quickly grabbed his arm, already sitting up.

“No, baby, listen to me until the end..”

“You’re right, I am mad. I’ll go help Minghao.”

“No.. please let me finish. I saw Irene-sunbaenim cheering..”

“You know what.. that’s enough. I don’t want to know anymore.” said Wonwoo while trying to release his arm from Mingyu’s strong grasped. He knew Mingyu is the talk of the town. What’s with his model-like figure and perfectly chiselled face. However, everytime Kim Mingyu earned extra attention from the girl group members, he can only watched from afar while jealousy ate his heart, raw, with gochujang as dipping sauce. He knew Mingyu was just being nice out of courtesy but Wonwoo just could not help it.

“No! I’m not going to let this silly thing get in between us. So please, baby, listen to me. I saw Irene-sunbaenim cheering and for a second, I thought how cute will it be if you can cheer like that for me. That’s when I got distracted and I lost my concentration. Plus, she wasn’t even cheering for me.” Explained Mingyu.  He stood up and walked towards his baby-hyung who stood in front of the window. He then took that body into his arm.

“I’m sorry. I know this will upset you. That’s why I don’t want to tell you about it. I’m sorry.” He whispered.

“No.. I’m sorry for being ridiculous. It’s nothing that I should be mad about.”

“I’m happy by your reaction though. I know how much you love me. Though your reaction was quite something, I must say. The moment I said Irene-sunbaenim’s name.. gebusssshhh.. You exploded.” Mingyu’s hand gestured the exploding movement and that made Wonwoo hit his painful arm and said,

“Bad guy! So bad!”

“aaahhh! Baby, that’s my painful arm. Owwww..”

“Serves you right. Always teasing me.”

“I’m sorry. I won’t do it again. I promise.” Mingyu pulled his baby-hyung away from his body and kissed the pouty lips. Did he ever mention that pouty Jeon Wonwoo is the cutest thing ever?

“Now can you help me with my shirt? It’s really been bothering me.”

“You promise you will be nice to me from now on?”

“I promise. Cross my heart and hope to die.” which only earned him a punch to his heart and a help to remove his half discarded shirt, when Chan walk in telling them that the white van was approaching.

Wonwoo helped his honey to put on a fresh clean shirt and he got a kissed on the lips for a gratitude gesture. He then walked into the kitchen to prepare the cake. In the living room, everyone already changed out of the uniform. Seokmin and Soonyoung were arguing on either to sang the song in Korean or English. Junhui playfully suggested how about in Chinese which just earned a glare from both of them and Junhui and Chan chuckled to their reaction. Minghao walked towards him to help light the candles when suddenly Chan asked them to hurry as he could hear voices from outside the house. When Wonwoo and Minghao’s ready with the candles, Junhui switch off the lights and waited for them to enter the door and shouted ‘SURPRISE!!”

All of them automatically sang the song in Korean. Seungkwan was really shocked and crying in Hansol’s arm. Earlier, CARATs sang birthday song for him. He almost missed it. Thank God Hansol understand what CARATs were saying and brought him back into the stadium. Now at home, despite everyone being so tired, they prepared so much to celebrate his birthday.

Seungkwan blew the candles and made his wish.

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