as soon as the counts down to the last second, exactly at 12:00 am, he has to make it known that the next twenty-four hours are dedicated to him and him only. he expects to be treated like royalty, served and pampered. in fact, he marked the entire week of his birth date on their official calendar with little stars. once the day approaches, everyone groans collectively and says their words of encouragement, getting up for their long awaited birthday punches. usually.

this time around, zico was nowhere to be found in the late night. it wasnt too uncommon - hed be in his separate house, recording and composing, from the moment he wakes up. but on special occasions like these, he wouldnt be missing from the group. “i guess he didnt want to hear all your boasting, his ears mustve gotten clogged from the twenty-something years youve been spewing out of your mouth.” taeil chuckled under his breath when kyung asked the remaining boys sitting around the 20” television. their attention was fixed on some under budget drama that happened to catch their gaze while flipping through the channels.

kyung rolled his eyes and sat back into their cheap, squeaky couch. “he has nerve to miss this, he has no damn life. my birthday, of all things!” he hissed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “what time is it anyway?”

"11:34." ukwon looked over to his "stressed" colleague. "you should just relax, he will probably text you anyway. the world doesnt revolve around you, you know."

a pillow was thrown across the room, smacking directly into ukwons cheek. “hopefully… im gonna check twitter, maybe i already have a thousand mentions.” minhyuk whispered something to pyo, inaudible to kyung, but along the lines of “punching” and “face”.

but his notifications would never be checked, because as soon as he swiped his lock screen to the right, the caller id for zico popped up. confused at his absence, as well as furious, he picked up the call and held the phone to his ear. “wh-“

a grumpy and rushed voice answered. “yeah your part is a little off to the beat, i need you to come here as soon as possible to record it again and fix it.” and in the span of six seconds, it ended.

kyung was dumbfounded.

so dumbfounded, his face was still scrunched up when he entered the passengers side of their managers car. taeil called him up, told them the situation, and turned the engine on as soon as he got permission to. his tiny and fatigued body climbed into the spacious car, hands gripping the steering wheel. “itll only take us like, fifteen minutes.” he pointed to the digital clock with his index, which still had chipped pink polish on it from his loss on their reality show. his voice was trying to be sympathetic, but come on, who can be? “we will be there five minutes before twelve- i mean, your birthday.”

"dont you mean five minutes before chaos?" pyo snorted from the backseat, receiving an uproar of laughter arising from everyone except kyung.

just as they turned out of their parking lot, the complaints began. “i do everything for him. every time hes in some kind of trouble, im there to get his sorry out of whatever -show he got himself into. and this is how he repays me? ever since grade school-“

it didnt stop. no one was listening anyway, taeil had his eyes glued to the road, and the four others in the back were taking bets on how many times he would stop to breathe. the answer was three, and in the end, jaehyo became the winner and won himself the right to kick the back of kyungs car seat. when he whipped his head around and opened his mouth, taeil jerked the steering wheel harshly to the right, snapping kyung back into his original spot. the car elevated slightly, and everyone knew that they were pulling into zicos narrow driveway. oddly enough, once he put the car into park, all the lights in the suburban house went off, as if they were avoiding company. “well, we got here a little later than expected.” minhyuk commented, looking down to his phone. “we got a minute.”

"oh, ill give him a piece of my mind right now!" kyung rolled up his sleeves and slammed the car door, the rest of the members scrambling to follow him. they walked closely behind him, up the several concrete stairs that lead to his front door. "you better be scared of me, woo jiho, because im about to bash your damn face in…" he spat while opening the storm door, just loud enough for the hovering crowd behind him to hear and sneer.

as soon as kyung grabbed a hold of the doorknob and pushed it inwards, he felt a sharp kick to his back and stumbled aimlessly into the darkness of the room. “what the hell?” he turned around and tried to find the culprit, but was met with nothing but black. it was pitch dark, and he sensed no presence but his own. fear grasped his body, and sweat ran down the back of his neck. he took a step forward, if it was forward, he had no sense of direction. as soon as his foot met with the ground, he felt two arms slip between his and grasp his waist. kyungs legs became weak and the hairs on his body stand up on end when he heard a slick voice whisper in his ear. “do you really think i would forget?”

the lights suddenly , making kyung flinch and blink several times before his vision settled and he understood what was going on. a community of smiles and one big sign sit in front of him, which read “happy birthday!” with cheesy clip art hearts. he recognized every face in front of him, his band-mates mixed in as well, but someone was missing. his hands clasped the ones that were located on his stomach, and he swiveled to face the unknown figure. he should have known, that zico had something planned, something to make him absolutely pissed. his eyes were warm, matching his smile. kyung was, well, speechless, which was a miracle. his mind was clogged with heaps of emotion. the embarrassment of his temper and the overwhelming feeling of gratefulness was enough to knock him off his balance, and he tightly hugged his childhood friend. “th-thank you…” he cleared his throat and raised his voice. “thank you all for coming, this means a lot to me.” and he snuggled his face into zicos shoulder.

"hey, save it for later, we got cake to eat." he his hair, feeling the hiccup of the first round of tears jolt kyungs body.