A/N: You should read this to B1A4's piano version of "Beautiful Target" XD

(JUNMYEON POV)

If only Sehun could see you right then. Hopefully though, he doesn’t.

“Junmyeon, you’re hiding behind the litter bin,” Jongin chortles into his walkie-talkie, his back pressed against the side of the red-brick building by the street. He watches as the brim of the grey hat consequently disappears from behind the black round-lidded bin. Then, he catches a whiff of cologne as a tall boy ambles across the sidewalk, passing by Jongin. “Target has passed.”

“I’m not hiding behind the litter bin,” you say fiercely into a similar walkie-talkie, crouched with both legs drawn to your chest. Then, a pair of feet comes into your view.

“Are you homeless?” asks a curious voice. Denim jeans, a khaki trench coat and a furry grey muffler.

“No,” you say politely. The stranger doesn’t budge.

“Junmyeon, where are you?” bristles the walkie-talkie. It is an exasperated voice, so it is Baekhyun. He wasn’t that keen into partaking with the collaborated scheme. He gets cranky without his evening shot of sugar-rush, after being brain-drained in school. “He just passed me – and you’re supposed to be with Kyungsoo already.”

“No!” you exclaim, shocked. You sit upright, and manage to bang your head against the rimmed litter bin. You hear a click of the walkie-talkie, and Jongin connects to the four-way walkie-talkie just to laugh mirthlessly at you for that. “Can you stall him?”

“Sure!” says Baekhyun, and you look down suspiciously at the walkie-talkie, startled by the sudden cheerful lift in his tone. There is a thud! and the melody of angels cries out indignantly, “What did you trip me for?”

“Whoops,” Baekhyun replies sweetly.

You scramble to your feet. “It’s a pity you aren’t homeless. It would have been an interesting article,” the stranger says in disappointment. “I’m Chanyeol, and I’m a student reporter. The new girl group TTS was a no-show and now I’m looking for a new story.”

“No,” you repeat, “I’m just throwing a birthday surprise for my boyfriend. With the help of some friends.”

“Boyfriend?” Chanyeol repeats, surprised.

“Yeah.” There is no time to be weary of homophobic strangers; Kyungsoo is waiting! If you don’t cross the road while Sehun is distracted in the corner, he will notice you disappearing in the cake shop directly across the road where he is now.

“Can I write about your relationship in my article? I won’t mention names.”

The walkie-talkie crackles. “He shoved me,” Baekhyun complains, “but then again he fell in a puddle. He’s on the move. He’ll go into the cake shop before you and the surprise will be ruined.”

You grab Chanyeol by the shoulders. “If you distract Sehun, I’ll treat you a slice of cake, and you can write whatever you want, names omitted.”

“Sure! Who’s Sehun?”

“The one who looks like a Greek God, with perfect-”

“He’s the one with the wet backside stain on his jeans,” interrupts the walkie-talkie, Baekhyun’s exasperated tone back, and Jongin connects again to laugh.

“The cake isn’t ready!” shouts a fourth voice, panicked. “Junmyeon, get your here.”

“I’m on it!” Chanyeol beams, and he walks quickly to the next stretch of road. At the corner where Starbucks is, Sehun pats off dirt from his jeans as he waits for the roads to clear. Baekhyun is rubbing the side of his arm. When Chanyeol walks by, he drops his jaw.

“Who is that?” Baekhyun wonders into his walkie-talkie.

“You're supposed to be distracting Sehun!” Jongin reminds him.

“Oh yeah-” Chanyeol grabs Sehun by the arm and pushes him lightly back to stand next to Baekhyun.

“Hi, I’m Chanyeol, a student reporter” he introduces himself, and the flash of his camera goes off. The two of them blink, momentarily blind. You take the opportunity to run across the road. You still hear Chanyeol’s deep voice “—and your street style caught my eye! What are you wearing?”

“Wet clothes,” deadpans Sehun, and you disappear into the shop.

“Thank goodness you’re here!” Kyungsoo blinks at you, wide-eyed. “Jongin screwed up!”

“I did not,” protests Jongin, standing beside his boyfriend, aka cake shop owner’s son.

“How did you get here before me?” you demand, seeing his upper body coated with a light layer of white sugar powder.

“I wasn’t distracted by that giant,” Jongin shrugs. “The stretch of road from cram school to the cake shop isn’t so far, Junmyeon, why were the three of us look-outs?”

“This is precisely why – so we can waylay him in case the cake isn’t done! What happened?”

“Jongin tried to kiss me!” Kyungsoo accuses. “And his hand when into my cake!”

He spins the cake on its circular rotating platform, and sure enough, a small part of the cake has caved in.

“It wasn’t my fault, because he pulled me closer!” splutters Jongin in defence. “I wasn’t expecting that!”

It is Kyungsoo’s turn to go pink. “Hormones,” you mutter, and Jongin quirks an eyebrow and sings back, “Greek God of perfection—”

“We’ll cut that slice off,” Kyungsoo decides, taking a knife from the counter and cutting through his chocolate cake nicely. “It won’t look so bad.”

There is static from the three walkie-talkies on the counter. “Target is approaching,” warns a deep voice. Luckily, Kyungsoo is too focused on his work to be so easily distracted by Chanyeol.

The door opens. A bemused Sehun walks in, expecting comfort coffee and cake, like the four of you – Sehun, you, Jongin and Baekhyun – do after cram school every weekday. Baekhyun holds Chanyeol steadfast on the arm.

There are multi-coloured balloons all over the floor, and ribbons on the lamps lining the walls. Kyungsoo is practiced in the art of celebrating birthdays in his family’s cake shop.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY!”

Sehun looks appropriately surprised, and he relaxes into a smile. You throw an arm around his shoulders. “Surprise!”

And you lean in for a kiss.

((SHORTEST)) EPILOGUE (EVER)

Chanyeol ends up writing about his relationship with Baekhyun in his school newspaper article, names omitted, but with lots of monikers like Eyeliner Perfection.

He also writes a rave review about Kyungsoo’s cake shop. Kyungsoo is happy with the new customers, and Jongin hangs around trying not to destroy any more confectionary.

Otherwise, nothing much is changed. You and Sehun still spend a lot of time together. Afterwards, he tells you that he saw your hat from behind the litter bin; heard Jongin laughing a bit too loud; and was immediately suspicious that Baekhyun was skulking around Starbucks instead of soaking in the warmth of the cake shop while scoffing down sugar at alarming speeds. And then, he leans in for another kiss, and says he loved every minute of it.

It’s all good.

THE END