Yifan can't contain a groan from escaping when he returns home only to find a jumbled mess of shoes on his front porch. Piled high enough for a pagan shoe sacrifice, Yifan thinks wryly. After spending the last couple weeks cleaning, organizing, and packing in preparation for his move, the last thing he wants to deal with right now is the myriad of hi-tops he's accumulated since discovering Footlocker in eighth grade. He picks up a pair holographic silver Nikes with highlighter yellow accents and realizes, Wait. This isn't my style. Upon closer examination, Yifan finds that the shoes are all different sizes, but none are large enough for his Sasquatch feet.

"Mama?" he calls out, unlocking his front door. "Wei shen me shoes zai outside?"

Yifan stops in his tracks when he sees a jumble of a different kind piled up in his living room. Eleven teenage boys clad in brightly colored pajamas are in a tangle of pillows and blankets, beaming at Yifan as he stares back at them in bewilderment.

Zitao leaps up, squealing, "Yifan! You're finally home, we've been waiting for you!"

He runs over and squeezes Yifan with one of his signature bone-crushing embraces. His flannel panda pajamas brush warmly against Yifan's skin. Yifan smiles weakly but his confusion must still be apparent because Yixing explains kindly, "It's your last day in town, Yifan, so we just wanted to throw a party for you."

"The pajamas were my idea!" Baekhyun pipes in brightly, spinning around to show off his bright blue pajamas with white polka dots.

Chanyeol's deep laugh reverberates as he pulls Baekhyun closer to his side, adding,"We knew you have to leave early tomorrow morning, which is why we're having this pajama party but-not-actual-sleepover right now." Yifan nods, noting with interest that Chanyeol matches Baekhyun, with blue polka dotted white pajamas.

In fact, Yifan realizes as he glances around the room, everyone is wearing couples' pajamas. Sehun's panda outfit matches Tao's, Minseok and Luhan both sport a manly soccer ball print, Kyungsoo and Jongin are wearing an even manlier ballet slipper pattern, and Yixing and Jongdae match with the manliest design of them all: white unicorns and purple peace signs on a pastel pink background.

Everyone is matching except for Joonmyun, who is sitting all by himself with his knees tucked to his chest. His eyes light up when Kris kneels down to sit next to him. "I like your pajamas," Kris murmurs and Joonmyun has to hide his bright beam with the back of his hand. His pajamas are black, with a dusting of white flecks and purple swirls that paint constellations and galaxies across the fabric. "I bought you a pair, too," Joonmyun says shyly, shoving a bundle of fabric into Yifan's arms.  

The pants are a little too short, exposing Yifan's ankles, but his friends cheer and applaud nonetheless when he emerges from the bathroom. They hoot even louder when he reaches down to hug Joonmyun, who pushes him away with a flustered, but pleased smile. Sehun's shouts of "kiss! kiss!" are deliberately drowned out by Joonmyun, as he declares loudly, "We've got lots of stuff planned for you, Yifan, so we better get started!"

Despite Joonmyun's careful planning, the next few hours pass by according to the boys' whims. Joonmyun had intended to devote exactly one hour to playing basketball, but Yifan's driveway is too cramped for a game of six on six, so most of the boys end up migrating to his backyard to play soccer. When Yixing leaves to follow Jongdae with an apologetic smile, only Yifan is left with a very distraught-looking Joonmyun.

“What’s with the sad puppy eyes, Joonmyun?”

“I told them that we had to play basketball since it’s your favorite sport, but I guess we can’t. I’m really sorry, Yifan-”

“Hey, no worries, there’s still you and me, right?”

Joonmyun scrunches his nose. “I can’t even play basketball, though.”

“Don’t be silly, I can teach you.”

And so Yifan teaches Joonmyun how to dribble and pass and even hoists him onto his shoulders so that Joonmyun can reach the rim of the basket to make a slam-dunk. Soon, Yifan and Joonmyun are sitting on the curb of Yifan’s driveway, worn out and laughing breathlessly. Joonmyun takes a look at his watch and leaps up in alarm.

“Oh no, we’re twelve minutes behind schedule for the next activity!” Joonmyun exclaims in alarm. He grabs Yifan by the arm to help him corral the other kids back inside. Yifan follows obediently, chuckling at Joonmyun’s frantic insistence.

The next activity is several hilarious rounds of Just Dance 4. Joonmyun had carefully constructed a bracketed tournament-style dance-off, but even he ends up giving in and just making fun of the outdated pop songs and his friends’ dorky dance moves. Someone selects a cheesy couple's dance as the next song, and everyone pushes the remotes into Yifan and Joonmyun's hands. They begin shuffling around reluctantly, but soon Yifan is twirling and dipping Joonmyun with enthusiasm, almost dropping him in the process.

"Sorry for almost paralyzing you," Yifan apologizes sheepishly when they are done.

"No worries," Joonmyun laughs. "Besides, aren't I always falling for you anyways?" He freezes when he feels eleven curious pairs of eyes on him. His cheeks are pink from exertion, but he flushes even brighter when he realizes what he had just said. Joonmyun coughs, "Sorry. I'm just being...cheesy...don't mind me..." Yifan pats him on the back sympathetically, while the other boys exchange knowing grins.

For dinner, the twelve friends wolf down five pizzas and three whole chickens, largely ignoring Joonmyun as he tries to pass around the veggie platter. When the sky is a dusky indigo and the first few stars begin to dot the sky, the boys seat themselves in a large circle in Yifan's living room.

"Before we leave so you can get some rest for tomorrow," Joonmyun announces, "we all brought presents for you."

Yifan is speechless for a moment. "Wow, you guys really didn't have to-"

Luhan cuts him off with a laugh. "Don't get your hopes up too much, just wait until you see what some of these guys got you."

"Please," Jongdae retorts, "you're one to talk."

"Yifan is going to love my present," Luhan sniffs defensively and presents Yifan with his gift. “Go put these on in the bathroom and then come back.”

Dutifully accepting the package, Yifan goes to the bathroom and finds that Luhan had given him a pair of plain black sweatpants. Not bad, Yifan thinks, as he struts out to model his new sweats. In the middle of his model walk, however, he turns around and is met with peals of hysterical laughter.

“What?” he asks, confused.

“Your !!” Zitao exclaims between shrieks of laughter.

Twisting his neck to examine his behind, Yifan catches a glimpse of what had elicited the laughter. Printed on the of his sweats in large capital letters is the word “LUHAN”.

“Okay,” Yifan sighs. “I’m never wearing these in public again.”

Zitao demands to go next, scrambling to grab a large, misshapen package that he claims to have wrapped himself. Yifan doesn’t doubt the claim, as he struggles with the liberally applied duct tape.

“Oh,” he says as he pulls out a giant wolf plushie. “Baby?”

“Wait- how did you know his name?” Zitao asks incredulously.

“I was with you when you got it, Zitao.”

“Oh…”

“...And I’m also pretty sure I bought this for you.”

“Oh.”

Yifan sees Zitao’s face fall and teases gently, “I think we’ve spoiled you so much that you don’t know how to give a real present.”

“I’m sorry Yifan, I saw it in my room and thought that you would love it, I totally forgot that- do you want me to take it back? I can get you something else...”

He looks so crestfallen that Yifan’s heart melts instantly. “No, it’s okay, Zitao. I do love it, I also bought one for myself, remember? This is actually perfect, Baby will keep Eureurongie from getting lonely in our new home.”

Zitao beams and happily returns to his seat next to Sehun, whom he nudges to go next.

“I got you bandaids,” Sehun says with a completely straight face as he hands a small, white cardboard box to Yifan, who knits his eyebrows, perplexed.

“Um, thanks?”

“They’re not for you, hyung,” Sehun explains. “They’re for the people you meet in your new town, in case you cut anybody with your sharp cheekbones by accident.”

Yifan is flattered by Sehun’s odd, but sweet gesture and accepts the gift gratefully. The other gifts range from quirky (Patrick the Star boxers from Chanyeol) to thoughtful (a mix CD from Kyungsoo and vitamins from Yixing) to pragmatic (socks from Jongdae and jogging weights from Jongin). Yifan thanks his friends graciously for each gift, but when Baekhyun hands him a glossy printed photo, he can't help but protest, "You gave me a selca?!"

"No, look closer, you're in there too. It's a photo of us!"

"Baekhyun, you literally just cut out a drawing of me and taped it on. I don't think that qualifies as being a photo of us."

Baekhyun shrugs cheekily, but Yifan is instantly assuaged by the trendy beanie Minseok gives to him. Finally, it's Joonmyun's turn to present his gift. Yifan opens the small envelope to find a gift card.

"Look at what store it's for," Joonmyun suggests eagerly.

"...Barnes and Noble. Wow, thanks, Joonmyun," Kris replies, and then frowns. "You know I was joking when I said that I don't read books and that the average basketball player is functionally illiterate, right?"

"Of course, Yifan. This isn't just about encouraging you to develop literacy- I mean, I'm just trying to share the gift of knowledge with you."

"Sure." Yifan reaches over to ruffle Joonmyun's hair with an amused grin.

They spend the next couple hours chatting aimlessly and reminiscing about their memories and experiences as twelve- the ups, the downs, and the occasionally questionable fashion choices.

"Remember when we tried to dress up like rock stars with tight leather pants and glitter and motorcycle jackets?"

"Hey, everyone was jealous of my purple glitter motorcycle jacket, what are you talking about?"

"Remember when we tried to be all hip hop with chains and rings and other kinds of straight-up bling?"

"That was just you, Joonmyun."

"Remember that one time we tried to make suspenders a thing?"

"What do you mean, tried? We totally rocked suspenders."

"Remember that one year when we actually wore our school uniforms?"

"That was a weird year."

"Remember when Joonmyun decided to go blond?"

"Yixing, that was two months ago. He's still blond."

"Oh?" Yixing peers over to look at Joonmyun with genuine surprise in his eyes.

"I think it's getting late now, everyone's tired. We should let Yifan rest now," Joonmyun announces to the sleepy-eyed circle of friends.

Slowly and reluctantly, each boy rises to give Yifan one last embrace and one last farewell before leaving. Meanwhile, Joonmyun is busying himself by picking up after them, discarding trash, and folding blankets. Soon, only Joonmyun and Yifan are left.

"You really don't have to pick up after us all the time, Joonmyun."

Joonmyun sighs. "Maybe not...but it's more about setting an example for everyone else."

Yifan feels a surge of affection for his best friend. Even though he won't be there to guide and protect their family, he knows that they will be in good hands. Joonmyun, who is so wise and so strong and so caring, will always be there for all twelve of them. Yifan escorts Joonmyun to the front door like the gracious host that he is, but Joonmyun hesitates and turns around to face him.

"There's just...one more thing I wanted to give to you, Yifan."

He steps closer until he is just centimeters away from Yifan. Joonmyun squeezes his eyes shut tightly, stands on his tiptoes, purses his lips, and tilts his head back slightly while craning his neck towards Yifan. It takes Yifan a moment to realize what Joonmyun is trying to do, but it takes him even less time to make the decision to cradle Joonmyun's face in his hands and meet his lips to Joonmyun's in a soft kiss.

"Took you long enough," Yifan smirks.

Joonmyun smiles at Yifan, but there is a sadness tugging at the corners of his lips. "So I guess this is goodbye then."

Yifan frowns. "I don't think I like the sound of that. How about until next time?"

"Until next time, then," Joonmyun whispers into Yifan's shoulder as he is pulled in for one last tight, warm hug goodbye.