Work Text:
A somewhat continuation from Feverish, but you can read this one separatedly :)
Inspired from this quote:
”I have 23 tiny wishes. But I’m sure you wont remember them all.
So I wrote them all into one.
I want to spend more time with you.”
“Saengil chukha hamnida~ saengil chukha hamnida~”
Daniel smiled bashfully when the WANNA ONE member sang the song; the members clapped joyfully except for Seongwoo whom holding the big round cream cake topped with heaps of fruits and chocolate and sticks of pepero—a wide grin plastered on the Fantagio’s face.
Daniel felt giddy from the celebration, fidgeted in small circles before he pursed his lips and finally blew. The candles went out with a quick pooofff, left swirled traces of smokes into the air. Seongwoo gave him the cake. It got a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY DANIEL! in decorative manner. There was even a small caricature of Kakao Talk’s apeach there, a mole was added below one of its eyes.
“Happy bithday, Niel-ah.” Seongwoo hugged him, pecked both of his cheeks before he made way to another member. The maknae line was kinda high from the snacks and food the staff provided them, even Guanlin seemed more chipper than usual. Jisung’s eyes went teary, “Aish, our little boy was a big boy now.” Daniel laughed as Jisung’s way of expression was identical to his mother. And by that what he meant was his real mother who stays in Busan, eventhough Jisung is somewhat his unofficial mother since their trainee period.
His birthday used to be a small celebration of fwo: his mother and himself. Each year they would repeated the same routine: a mini cake with creams and candles, a short happy birthday song from his mother, followed with him blowing out the candles. His mother always cooks him the seaweed soup and his favourite side dishes. For several tough years, his mother promised Next year, let’s have a BBQ, Euigeon-ah. You can eat all your favourite meat then. But being a single mother, his mother had it tough. They didn’t have much money, but Daniel was still grateful for their home and daily meals. It’s okay, Mom. These are plenty.
Then years after, it became a small celebration of four: Peter and Rooney joined their little family. They still repeated the same routine: a mini cake with creams and candles, short happy birthday song, seaweed soup and his favourite side dishes. The difference was Peter and Rooney each got a special can of wet food as part of the celebration—and on special occasions whenever his mother a little bonus from her workplace, she bought home fried chicken for dinner. Sorry Euigeon-ah, next time let’s visit the BBQ restaurant okay? Munched his honey glazed spicy chicken, Daniel assured his mother. It’s okay, Mom. The chicken is delicious.
It was during his junior year when his mother got promoted. For the first time, his mother splurged on a bigger cake. He still got his seaweed soup, but his mother ordered him jjajangmyeon and tangsuyuk from their hometown famous’s Chinese restaurant. Back in my day, people only could eat jjajangmyeon on really special occasion, she told him. Later on the following Sunday, his mother finally fulfilled her promise. She took him to a Korean BBQ place; they ordered the Korean beef set and it was totally fantastic. Thank you for being born, Euigeon-ah. He hugged his mother, Thank you for gave birth to me, Mom.
Time passed and he left home to pursued his dream. He spent his birthday with his friends instead of his little family—but his mother made a new routine: she will phone him after the clock struck midnight, singing him the happy birthday song. You’ve reached the age already. Tell me when you find your special someone, okay Euigeon-ah? He laughed back then. Not yet, Mom. Not yet.
This year though, his special day was celebrated globally across the world. Fans showered him with gifts—some made huge donations for different organizations under his name, some of them named a star on Sagittarius constellation using his name, some reserved ads multiple spots for him: there was even a huge 7 days birthday ads for him on the New York Times Square. Everyone congratulated him, wishing him their best wishes and he was totally grateful for it. It was overwhelming and sometimes felt surreal; he was counting his blessing and he couldn’t thank them enough.
He was thankful for the last particular year: he was doing things that he could only dreamt before. He made friends with idols whom he idolized so much before, won so many awards along with other WANNA ONE members, named the second biggest influential male of Korea after the president, met so many international fans during their overseas schedules, and he got his WANNA ONE members by his side the whole time, walking through the ‘flowery road’ together.
They ate the dinner, finished the cake, occasionally toast with a can of Hite beer in hand (the maknae underage creatively make do with sparkling grape soda) before cheering loudly for impromptu jokes and gags. There wasn’t any camera to record them of some sort, so they got their privacy. It was fun doing it for the show, but actually having fun without the obligation to explain the situation to the camera was another thing.
“Cheers,” Seongwoo toasted, clinked his third can of beer to Daniel’s fourth, “For good health. Don’t get sick again, Niel-ah. Please.” The older male hiccuped for a bit, then laughed on his own hiccup noise. “You are drunk, aren’t you Hyung…?” Daniel hold on the latter’s back, trying his best to keep Seongwoo steady. The Fantagio has a lower tolerance of alcohol, and he was the type who went extra chipper and laughed non-stop whenever he was drunk.
Seongwoo turned his head to Daniel, tried his best to looked serious. “Nonsense,” He replied, then a grin formed on his lips. Throwing himself to Daniel, Seongwoo nuzzled his face on Daniel’s chest. “I hate to see you sick. So don’t. I hate it when I turned around… and you weren’t there. I was looking for you like a fool.” Seongwoo rambled, “I don’t like it when you’re not with me. We supposed to leave the stage together, you know?”
Daniel put down his beer before he took Seongwoo’s, pried the latter’s fingers off the can, then settled the half-full cans side by side. “Hmmm,” He responded, wrapped his arms on the older’s figure inside his embrace. Seongwoo felt warm and snuggly, smelled of something sweet mixed with cedar.
“I wish WANNA ONE will be forever,” Seongwoo whispered, eyes closed as he buried his face on the crook of Daniel’s neck. Daniel craddled the latter, a sharp PANG! hammered his chest. Their contract stated 17 months, and maybe they could extended it a little bit—but there were Minhyun and Sungwoon-Hyung and they also belonged to their previous group. Eventually, they need to go back to their respective agencies. And that meant the disbandment of their current WANNA ONE group.
Maybe it was his personal greed—but there was a list inside his head: things he wanted to do, achievements he wanted to fulfil. And each of them, there was Seongwoo beside him, doing those things together with him. “Me too,” Daniel whispered back to Seongwoo’s ear, “I want to spend more time with you. Even for just a little bit more.”
His mother’s voice from these morning phone call echoed back: So, have you met your special someone, Niel-ah? He didn’t actually answer the question since his mother bombarded him with another question and he lost his chance to anwer the particular question, but the truth was he actually ready to reply: Yeah Mom, I have.
And I want to spend my world and my time with him.
