Chansung had taken advantage of Jay’s absence, helping himself to his leader’s portion of the food. Taecyeon had taken the liberty of pointing it out and joining in, bringing giggles from the two girls who had joined them at their end. Nichkhun had suggested that Kass and Fuu stay with them instead of going back to their own seats to eat, seeing as most of the fun was happening at their table anyway.

Junho had his eyes on nothing in particular, but was brought back to reality by a poke to his side. He turned to see Mai staring at him curiously, her hand holding her chopsticks out in front of her.

“Junho-yah, you’re awfully quiet,” she commented as Junho looked up to see Jay walk in. Mai followed his gaze, noticing the leader as she grinned. “Chansung-ah, Jaebeommie’s not going to like that you stole his food.”

“He won’t know,” the maknae replied happily as the members who had seen their leader chuckled behind their hands.

“Chansung-ah, where’s my food?”

The maknae looked up in surprise as the older boy attempted a serious look but was unable to resist the smile that crept on his lips. “It wasn’t me,” Chansung replied innocently as he shook his head.

“There’s no one else at this table that would eat my food Chansung-ah,” the leader accused as he took his seat.

Chansung shook his head again, denying Jay’s comment. “Taec-hyung did it too,” he said, pointing towards his other hyung.

“What?!” The group exploded in laughter as Taecyeon gave the maknae a look of mock surprise. “It was Junsu-hyung!” The mentioned individual widened his eyes and barked a response in his satoori accent, and Mai didn’t know that the table was capable of getting any louder. As they joked, she noticed the absence of laughter coming from beside her. She looked over to see a faint smile etched on Junho’s face, his reaction minimal compared to the others. It was normal behavior, Mai noted, but there was something off about it- it was the lack of the usual glow in his eyes when the boy was genuinely happy. Right now, Junho’s eyes were almost glazed; his mind was obviously elsewhere.

Junho noticed Renn as she came back from the restroom, but he turned his attention back to Mai as she once again prodded his side. This time though, he was met with an extremely rare display of cuteness, catching him completely off guard. Mai’s head was tilted to the side as she pouted at him, questioning his silence.

“What?” he laughed out as he asked, still taking in what was taking place in front of him.

“Nothing. Just wondering why you’re so quiet. What are you thinking about?” She blinked at him rapidly.

Junho was still chuckling under his breath as he replied, “I’m not thinking about anything.”

“Really? So why are your ears so red?” Junho automatically brought his hands up to his ears at the comment.

“It’s cause you’re being weird,” he accused with a grin. Mai closed her eyes and stuck her tongue out at him and he bursted out in a loud laugh. “Mai-ah, what was that?”

“Yeah, what was that?”

Both Junho and Mai looked up to see not only Chansung, but the whole table, staring at them. Chansung’s look of astonishment was matched by the rest of the members as they stared at the duo in awe.

“Mai-ah, I didn’t know you were capable of... aegyo,” Jay spoke up first as he tried to keep himself from laughing.

“You know, it’s cute Mai-ah. But I don’t think it works with your scary- I mean, slightly but justified scary and strict image,” Taecyeon added with a broad grin.

“Mai and aegyo in the same sentence, why does that sound oddly disturbing?” Renn added. Wooyoung voiced his agreement as several people nodded.

Mai flushed as the table laughed, and she redirected her gaze to her food, her serious expression slowly returning to her face. She could hear Junho’s laughter from beside her, and she snuck a glance at him to shoot him a glare, her cheeks hot from embarrassment.

“That’s the last time I try to cheer you up.” Junho smiled at her as he calmed his own laughter down. Mai saw the glow in his eyes that she had been looking for, and it warmed her up a little bit on the inside, despite her expression saying otherwise.

“Thanks Mai-ah.”

Laughter continued to erupt throughout the table as the celebration carried over until after midnight. And even then, laughter was present everywhere as each group made their way home. It was a memorable night for all of them, not only was it a good workday, it was also a good birthday for one in particular. It seemed as if nothing could go wrong from then on.