The guys all scattered around trying a place to hide. They all had pitched in money to rent out the whole entire restaurant for the night.

“Hurry, I can see him!”

They all panicked dove under tables and behind chairs.

“Shh!”

It was cliché, really. The restaurant was pitch black and it was completely silent. Joonmyun squinted his eyes in hopes of improving his line of vision.

All he could see were small balls of light and voices began singing. “Happy birthday to you~ Happy birthday to you, happy birthday our dear guardian, happy birthday to you!”

Suddenly, the lights flipped on and everyone jumped from their places.

“Happy Birthday!” They all yelled, grins painted on their faces.

Joonmyun stared. He stared at all of them. At first, all he felt was disbelief, and in a nanosecond it changed into shock.

“K-kids,” he gasped, tears rushing to the corners of his eyes.

“Aw, hyung! Don’t cry!” Sehun was the first to speak. 

Just hearing the familiar lisp made him burst into a sob. Kyungsoo walked up to him and pulled him into a hug, and soon the rest joined in on the group hug.

“Don’t cry, Joonmyun.” Everyone was getting teary-eyed.

“Blow out the candles, hyung!”

Joonmyun shut his eyes and silently made a wish before blowing out 37 candles.

Chanyeol and Baekhyun jumped and began singing and dancing to their debut song.

Well, Chanyeol did the singing, and Baekhyun did the dancing. Horribly. The rapper was off pitch and Baekhyun purposely got the choreography wrong. Everyone watched in amusement and Joonmyun laughed, his voice still shaky.

They gathered at a large table in the middle and waiters came out with plates of kimchi spaghetti.

“Yes! I was waiting for this!” Jongin childishly yelled, earning a smack on the head from Minseok.

Joonmyun’s eyes lit up. “I haven’t had this in forever!”

“We’ll eat well,” they all clasp their hands and began digging in.

“Oh man!” Jongdae said, spaghetti pieces flying from his mouth. A couple of the members ‘ew’-ed him.

“This is so good,” Joonmyun chuckled as everyone agreed. Kyungsoo proudly nodded his head; kimchi spaghetti will always be his best dish.

They all ate in silence, savoring the moment… and the taste.

Sehun was the first to finish. “Can I have more?”

“No,” Kyungsoo glared at him.

“Why not? I want some more too.” Zitao pouted. 

Kyungsoo crossed his arms, “you guys are going to get sick.”

“Joonmyun hyung!” Jongin pouted at the leader with puppy eyes. The said man sighed. “Oh, Kyungsoo, just let them eat some more.”

“Fine.” Kyungsoo rolled his eyes as everyone cheered.

Everyone helped themselves with seconds, which Kyungsoo was unhappy about.

“Chanyeol-ah, you know, there’s this kid on my basketball team who reminds me of you. Baby face and deep voiced.”

“But you like me better.” Chanyeol replied, shoving some more spaghetti into his mouth.

“Right.”

Jongdae snickered and Minseok rolled his eyes. “We’re in our thirty guys, grow up.”

“Hyung, you’re almost forty.” Sehun laughed.

The eldest gasped. “Han! Control your Sehunnie!”

Lu Han playfully slapped Minseok’s arm. “It’s true though!”

“Shut up! You’re the second oldest here, you’re almost forty too! Four-zero! Four tens. Shut up, you old man.”

Joonmyun laughed. Never in his life would he have thought that he would enjoy the familiar bickering.

“Joonmyun hyung!” Zitao spoke up, looking at the man with big eyes.

“Mm, Zitao?”

“Earlier,” he began, ‘innocently’ blinking, “when Baekhyun hyung called me, he told me that you got into a car accident and that you were going to die. He made me cry!”

“Yeah! Chanyeol told me you were suicidal.” Yixing added.

Joonmyun’s eyes widen a bit and then he went to glare at the duo. 

“They’re lying!” Chanyeol said.

The leader rolled his eyes, “Yeah, yeah, yeah.” On the outside he seemed to be annoyed but on the inside, he was extremely happy that his brothers were by his side.

“Remember our first win together as 12?” Lu Han suddenly spoke up.

Everyone slightly laughed.

“How could we forget? It was on Music Bank.” Yi Fan replied.

“Joonmyun hyung was a crying mess.”

“Was not!”

“Yes you were!” Everyone accused.

“You couldn’t even give a speech, Yi Fan hyung had to!” Jongdae laughed.

The leader pouted slightly. “It wasn’t my fault I was so happy!”

Suddenly, stories from the past started pouring out from everyone’s mouth.

“Remember To The Beautiful You?”

“Or that time we filmed that show with B.A.P? That was really fun.”

“That time we went to the water park and ended up with bad sun burns?”

“Remember when people shipped Yongguk hyung and Lu Han hyung? That was awkward.” Jongin snickered.

“Hey!” Lu Han blushed, “he’s was a gentlemen with chivalry, it’s not my fault I find that attractive.”

Chanyeol smirked, “or this?” He pulled up a picture of Joonmyun’s face when he performed Angel on Sukira during their MAMA days.

“Oh my god! No!” Joonmyun’s first instinct was to go over there and rip the picture out of Chanyeol’s hand. But that didn’t work out; Chanyeol stood up and held the picture up high so he couldn’t reach.

“Oh look!” Baekhyun pulled out another derpy picture of their leader.

“Why!?” Joonmyun groaned.

“What about this one?” Zitao pulled a picture of when Joonmyun fell on stage during their sixth set of promotions.

One by one, the member pulled up embarrassing pictures of their leader. 

“Why are you guys doing this to me?” He whined.

Minseok wriggled his eye brows. “Because we love you.”

“A little too much.” Joonmyun sighed.

“Aw, hyung, but it’s true!” Sehun smiled and went over and latched his arms around the smaller man’s waist.

“C’mon guys, it’s time for cake!” Kyungsoo announced.

Cheers were heard and everyone scattered again. The mother of EXO handed him a knife. Everyone watched closely as Joonmyun made the first cut.

“Yay~ Happy birthday~!”

Yixing took over and Joonmyun received the first slice. The dancer began passing out slices by age order.

“Aw c’mon gege! I want cake!” Zitao made grabby hands.

“Wait your turn!”

Zitao growled under his breath and decided to use his ultimate weapon. He stalked towards his prey and looked him in the eyes.

He made two fists and put them near his cheek and he jutted his bottom lip out. “Gege! Bbuing bbuing! Gimme cake!” 

Yixing stared at him. “No, that doesn’t work on me anymore, Zitao.”

He pouted and went to his next target: dduizhang. 

“Dduizhang, Yixing gege won’t give me cake.” He whined, getting ready to bbuing bbuing the living daylights out of Yi Fan.

The older one looked down at his untouched piece of cake and the narrowed his eyes at Zitao.

“Here.” He gave Zitao his plate.

“Yay! I love you, gege~”

Yi Fan rolled his eyes. “That’s what you always say.” He muttered.

Everyone was standing around and Chanyeol gave a knowing look to Baekhyun. The shorter one stood behind Joonmyun, slightly to the side.

“Joonmyun hyung!” He called out, grinning.

The group of men all turned their attention to their leader.

The said man turned around and was met by a large piece of cake. “Happy Birthday~” Baehyun smirked, rubbing the cake harder. Everyone began laughing.

“Dang it! Every time!” Joonmyun sighed. 

Once again, they sat around the table, eating their slice of cake (Zitao was on his third).

“I’m a vocal teacher back in Beijing.” Lu Han said.

“I work at a famous restaurant in France.” Kyungsoo added.

Joonmyun softly smiled. “Everyone is doing well, huh?”

The atmosphere turned nostalgic. Sehun faced his cake and began stabbing it with his fork.

“Yeah,” someone replied, whispering. 

His heart swelled with a bittersweet feeling. “That’s nice,” he said, equally silent. ‘What ifs’ began swirling around in his mind, and he was sure it was crowding the other 11’s minds too.

What if they were all still entertainers in Korea?

What if they stayed together in an apartment again?

What if they reunited?

What if they didn’t disband?

“Hey,” Minseok softly said, “why don’t we all sleep over at Joonmyun’s place?”

The atmosphere immediately brightened. “What a good idea!”

Cue evil grins.

“Okay, I love you guys,” Joonmyun began, jokingly, “but not that much.”