The first Friday of every month was special. P.E. was extended an extra twenty minutes. It wasn’t too hot outside so the monkey bars didn’t burn when you touched them. The whole elementary school had lunchtime together instead of being separated by thirty minutes.

But this Friday was extra special as it was Junhong’s birthday party. And a birthday on a Friday, especially this Friday, meant that there was going to be a pizza party. Junhong felt like the coolest kid on the playground that day, wearing his new baby blue vans that matched with his baby blue shorts. He was lined up to play tetherball and even though all the older kids were in front of him, he was ready to hit the ball until he won. It was his birthday after all; everyone had to let him win!

He finally got up to the front of the line and the tetherball master, Jung Daehyun, was currently beating the kid in front of him bad. Junhong nervously moved into the ring of potential death, hands getting a little clammy as he had only really played this game two or three times ever. Daehyun let out a laugh, looking at the pale boy that was significantly shorter than him before hitting the ball.

Junhong tried. He really did. He tried to send the ball flying backwards but he was too short, too slow, and too inexperienced to even put up a real fight. He was rearing his hand and started to swing it forward, missing the ball completely before – SMACK!

A trickle of blood started going down Junhong’s nose and he teared up immediately, looking around before holding his nose. He stumbled out of the ring and kept his hand pressed to his nose, faintly hearing a third grader named Yoo Youngjae scolding Daehyun for being a punk and a bully.  A pair of strong hands pulled Junhong, who was now walking blindly into games of four square, towards the nurse’s office.

“You should know better than to try to beat Jung Daehyun at tetherball.” The older boy smiled down at Junhong, wiping his tears away with his hands. He was probably three or four years older then Junhong, and he was pretty handsome… Maybe the most handsome he had ever seen. “My name is Yongguk, fourth grade. I’m in Miss Sunhwa’s class. What’s your name?”

Junhong blinked a few times before realizing that he actually had to respond to Yongguk, weakly mumbling. “Junhong, first grade. Miss Hyosung’s class.” Junhong now had a tissue stuck up his nose and the nurse was attending to him and cleaning him up. Yongguk sat on the chair next to the bed, staying until Junhong was all cleaned up before standing up to walk with him back to his classroom.

“It’s my birthday today…” Junhong looked up at Yongguk when he was close to his classroom, smiling a little bit. He was already feeling an attachment to the older, especially after Yongguk took his hand to walk him back to class.

“Oh, is it? Did you get any cool presents? I would have gotten one for you if I had known.” Yongguk squeezed the boy’s hand, gummy smile showing brightly.

“Well I did get these cool new shoes… And we have a pizza party today! I haven’t opened my other presents. Mama said I could only open those after dinner tonight.” Junhong talked about his shoes shyly and widened his eyes when Yongguk suddenly stopped.

“Hey.. you know, I thought of a present. You’re really cute, you know that? You should smile more too. And uh..” Yongguk leaned down, pecking Junhong’s lips quickly before pulling back, looking around to see if anyone else had seen. “Happy birthday Junhong. I’ll see you around, okay?” Yongguk let go of Junhong’s hand and started walking in the other direction towards his classroom with an embarrassed but excited smile on his face.

Junhong’s cheeks were bright red as he walked into his classroom, handing his teacher the nurse note before going to sit right next to his best friend Jongup.

“What happened to you? I wanted to play two square but my partner went missing!” Jongup huffed at his friend, pouting so that his chubby cheeks puffed out.

“Himchan hyung and you were playing on the swings, I didn’t wanna bother you… Plus, Yongguk hyung and I had to go to the nurse’s office.” Junhong pushed his friend’s arm and laughed when Jongup’s cheeks turned bright red at the mention of his favorite hyung’s name.

"Yongguk hyung and Himchannie hyung are best friends, did you know that?" Jongup picked up a picture book, thumbing through it before putting it down on his table.

"I think I really like him, Jonguppie. He gave me the best birthday present ever."

a/n hi this was inspired by my two best friends shayla and minki so I gotta mention them