yeah.. stop stop stop stop 会淋湿你的翅膀 (hui lin shi ni de chi pang)..

"I should really change my ringtone soon, right?" he thought to himself for the umpteenth time, but still hasn't got it done.

"Hi Yixing! What's up!" Luhan answered the video call as he sees a very blur Yixing moving his own phone around, lagging the whole video call.

"Oh! Lu-ge! Happy birthday! You're 26!" The younger one excitedly called out as he managed to find a brighter spot in the dark room, smiling brightly at his hyung through the phone.

"Technically, I'm actually 25 since I'm in China right now.." Luhan replied, with a slight chuckle as he sat up against his own sofa-chair in his home.  

"Oh! Right! I forgot, hahaha. I'm too used to how things work in Korea.. How are you? I saw your interview earlier on, and now there's people questioning me if I really still do contact you or not." Yixing replied casually, sweeping his hair out of his face as he lied against one of the hotel room walls.

"The same old, same old. I had a mini fan meeting through playing soccer earlier on as a special for my birthday! It was so fun although I hurt myself a little! Well, for that, you could only blame yourself since you were the one who started it anyway! Hahaha, I'm joking!" Luhan animatedly replied as he raised his hand to do some soccer gestures over the phone, knowing that Yixing can see.

"Soccer?! Really? Did you have fun? I wished you were here though. We could have played soccer together too! I miss you, ge." Yixing said, as his own big smile turned into a small, slight smile, remembering that his Luhan hyung isn't part of them anymore.

"I miss us too, I miss EXO too." was what Luhan wanted to say back, but he knew better to not, in case his emotions went astray. So he thought, "I miss you too, Yixing-ah. I wish I was there with you too. Or you, here with me." would be a better choice, and so he did.

A few minutes passed as Yixing and Luhan continued chatting and catching up on their daily happenings. Luhan updates Yixing about his schedules, like interviews and some movie-readings to attend, and of course not forgetting to talk about Laogao, the one and only best friend he can depend on in China. Yixing does the same, updating Luhan about his movie schedules in China, and also EXO's fan meetings in Japan, and some funny incidents that happened to EXO.

"I know about your fan meets, the games are so fun and interesting I wished I was there with you all!" Luhan wanted to say, but again, he knew better that he should not.

"Ge! You know when they asked me who my idol was, I said Chen, thinking that he wouldn't say my name back, but guess what? He did! I was so happy and he gave me a backhug too! It felt so brotherly and warm, like how you used to give me encouraging hugs in our trainee days, saying we will make it out together.. Oh! Hi Jongdae!" Yixing excitedly spoke, changing to speak in Korean quickly in a habit as he talked about his group's happenings, when Jongdae walked out of the bathroom, drying his hair with a towel.

"Hello to you too hyung! Who are you talking to? You seemed so excited that I could feel your excitement from the bathroom-- Oh! Luhan hyung!" Jongdae beamed brightly, the corner of his lips growing upwards quickly as he sees his previous group member, the older brother he had relied on.

Jongdae was waiting for the same reaction, but he did not get it. Yet.

Luhan was in fear. Luhan was unsure of what to do, meeting yet another member he had- left? In the group. Was he supposed to happily answer back, or was he to feel guilty?

He felt the latter, and had his head down and turned to the other side, not facing his phone screen. He feels bad, and upset and disappointed in himself. How could Jongdae react so happily when he saw Luhan on the screen? Shouldn't he be angry and lash out at Luhan?

Luhan would be happier and more at ease if Jongdae did.

"Lu-ge! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" Jongdae said, taking over Yixing's phone as he put his whole face against the phone screen, making Luhan cackle as he turned his head back to see Jongdae's nostrils and strands of his permed hair on his screen.

"Thank..thank you, Jongdae-ya." Luhan managed to say, looking lovingly into the screen as he sees two of his beloved friends he hasn't seen for ages, albeit through a screen.

"Ge, it's okay. Jongdae knows of us being in contact. In fact, the whole of EXO does. They're okay with it, and they even said that when I contact you, I must tell them so they can join in too!" Yixing reassured him, seeing the tension that Luhan was feeling when he saw Jongdae.

"YEAH HYUNG!  WE REALLY REALLY MISS YOU! AND YIXING HYUNG DIDN'T EVEN TELL US! I'M GOING TO GO TELL THE OTHERS NOW, SO DON'T HANG UP!" Jongdae excitedly called out as he stood up urgently, almost running to the hotel room door to get to the others' room to convey the news.

"Yah! Put on some decent clothes at least!" Yixing called out to Jongdae, laughing at him as he turns his phone to show Jongdae to Luhan. Jongdae was only clad in a towel, loosely hanging on his hips, along with a towel on his head.

"It's okay hyung! Luhan hyung is more important!" Jongdae called back, not turning his head as he ran to his other members' doors.

"Yixing.. Are you sure it's going to be okay? Are the members really fine with us still being in contact? You can tell me the truth, I won't mind, I really won't. I can stop being in contact with you if they're uncomfortable and-" Luhan began, his hand that's not holding the phone, played with the hem of his three-quarter bermudas.

"No, Luhan. EXO is perfectly comfortable with you and me being in contact. In fact, Sehun is upset over the fact that we're in contact, instead of you and him. That brat which I love, always complains and tells me to give him my phone so he could text  you." Yixing started explaining, smiling automatically when he talked about Sehun. He unknowingly spoke in Chinese again.

"But he didn't text me...?" Luhan said, cocking his head to his right as he scratched his head, smiling at the thought of Sehun being all pouty and upset that Luhan doesn't keep in contact with him, as often as he does, with Yixing.

But one thing that neither Yixing nor Sehun knows that, is Luhan knows all their schedules, and their doings.

Luhan has been keeping up with EXO's updates, be it individually or as a group. He can't help, but to miss them as a whole, despite having his own schedules to be busy about. He wants to be involved in EXO, again, but Luhan doesn't want them to know, because he made his decision in October last year, already.

Despite telling them in advance, Luhan can't help but to feel like a big pile of disappointment and sadness to leave EXO, after two years of being together through ups and downs and what nots. His health wasn't getting better, and it was, instead, going downhill instead as his stamina and body got worse, especially during the concerts, since he had to fly around so much. And he hated heights.

"So, Lu-ge, prepare to be bombarded with a ton of questions when they come- oh! There they are. Why are they ringing the bell?" Yixing said with a confused look on his face as he stood up to get to the door.

Luhan laughed, smiling at the thought of EXO getting into a quarrel to be the first to ask him questions, "Jongdae went out with, literally, nothing, Yixing-ah. It seems like you are still so lost after so long." he said, as he sees Yixing approaching the door.

In 3, 2, 1... Luhan counts in his head as Yixing turns the door knob.

"Saengil chukha hamnida, saengil chukha hamnida, saranghaeun Luhan, saengil chukha hamnida!" was what Luhan was greeted with, his eyes rounded up into saucers and mouth shaped into an 'o' shape as he saw all of EXO infront of him, on the screen of his phone, singing a song, a birthday song for him. That wasn't what he had expected.

Luhan didn't expect EXO to remember his birthday. Luhan was in tears, by the end of the song when EXO slowly walked into the room, with Sehun holding up a cake with the candles numbered '2' and '6', to signify 26 years.

Luhan rubbed his eyes, wiping his tears away as he stared at the screen again. There was Minseok, Junmyeon, Yixing, Baekhyun, Jongdae, Chanyeol, Kyungsoo, Jongin and Sehun.

"Oh, wait a moment!" was what Luhan thinks Yixing said as the screen turned to a black spot, almost making Luhan think that Yixing ended the call.

But what he got, was way, way better.

"Lu-ge! Happy birthday to you! I'm sorry I couldn't be there to hold the cake with them!" Zitao said, wishing his hyung, and, apologising at the same time.

"Hi Luhan! It's been long! Okay, not as long as them since I saw you but, happy birthday!" Yifan called out.

Yixing had invited two more callers onto the video call chat-- that has turned out to be a really messy call since there were now, 12 people.

Both Zitao and Yifan were confused when Yixing video called them, especially the latter, since he wasn't in contact with him for quite some time, but soon caught up when they saw the current EXO holding up a cake, along with Luhan in the call.

Yixing's phone ended up in the cake itself, "So Luhan hyung, Kris hyung and Tao can eat the cake too!" was what Chanyeol said before he smashed Yixing's phone in the cake.

Yixing was rambling and sad when he cleaned his phone with toilet paper as he cried that now his phone smells like whipped cream.

The twelve boys spent a long time on the phone together, sharing their current happenings and reminiscing about their past memories, even letting out some secrets about the current industry that they are in.

"Guys, I know we are all having fun now, but it's late, and we need to be up again for our flight back to Korea! Let's all go to sleep now, alright?" Suho called out lovingly as he mouthed a 'sorry' to Luhan, which he acknowledged. EXO still had their own schedules, afterall.

Despite grumbling that came mostly from the bigger group, they still obliged to their leader's orders, knowing what's good for them.

"Again, happy birthday Luhan! And bye Kris, keep in contact soon! Tao, get better and join us again!" the different members said.

"I hope you have a great birthday ahead, Lu-ge. Enjoy your day!" Yixing wished Luhan again, relaying his well wishes as the members went back to their own rooms, and after Kris and Tao left the call.

"This is the best birthday gift ever. Thank you all. Goodnight, Yixing ah." Luhan said, smiling at Yixing as he ended the call.

"EXO, we are one. EXO saranghaja!" Luhan whispered fondly as he said the words that meant a lot to him.

A/N: 

'ge' is hyung, or older brother in Chinese pinyin. And the song in italics at the start, if you didn't recognise, was Moonlight, EXO-M version, where Luhan sang in, along with Chen. Yet again, I wrote this because I was very very inspired by the scenario I wanted to post and also, I remembered seeing a few tweets of both Lay and Luhan's interviews saying that they still keep in contact with each other, and that Lay will wish Luhan a happy birthday because he was a brother that helped him a lot along the way. 

Enjoy, and leave me lots of comments!! Tell me where I should improve on, or how realistic/unrealistic this fic was! I will accept all comments and learn to improve! ^^

with love,

droolydae.