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The warmth of the birthday candles blows slightly against Chan's face. He's taking one last look around the table, smiling at his friends, his heart beating so intensely, almost in a painful way, because of how much happiness and gratefulness he's feeling. He closes his eyes and makes a silent birthday wish, then blows his candles all by once.
When he opens his eyes, his friends are clapping and laughing just as loud as they should be.
"How does it feels to be finally of age?" Joshua asks him.
"Honestly? The same as if I weren't." He chuckles.
"But you have to be careful now. Avoid committing crimes if possible, Seungkwan is already a potential headache, I'll be dead if you turn into another." Seungcheol says and Seungkwan curses him right after.
"Yes yes, be responsible and stuff, but remember that you can still always count with us for anything, okay?" Jeonghan smiles sweetly at him, almost in a parental way. It's understandable, because they've been friends since Chan was thirteen.
"Joshua, can you please save your boyfriend from crying for the sixth time? I'm already done for today!" Mingyu yells from the kitchen.
"Shut up!" Jeonghan yells back.
"And could you please bring us this goddamn knife, Mingyu? It's been years, Chan will be 28 and his 18's cake will still be waiting to be eaten!" Joshua complained back.
"I told you guys he's the laziest," said Soonyoung. "Wonwoo, shouldn't you go help him?"
"Nah, he'll be right."
Ah, Kwon Soonyoung. Of course Chan loves every single one of his seven crack-headed friends, but Soonyoung is just… more special. He always were, actually. Whole afternoons talking about old movies, going out together, stealing Seungcheol's wine and drinking it and regretting it, playing videogames, sleeping together after three hours on Facetime, baking cookies together. Even when they're arguing it comes to be more special.
It's different, the whole thing with Soonyoung is different.
And Chan has been feeling like this for so long that it's almost weird thinking about a reality where he's not in love with Soonyoung.
Just as weird as a reality where Soonyoung loves him back the same way.
They're now sitted on the coach, only he and Soonyoung, while eating cake and watching the others playing Just Dance — specifically Seungkwan and Seokmin, on their last round, with Katy Perry's Swish Swish at its last seconds to end.
"You loser," Seungkwan laughed asthmatically at Seokmin, barely feeling his legs after three intense and successful rounds. "You still have a lot to improve. Who's next?"
"Mingyu should go!" Jeonghan shouted.
"Eh? Why me?!"
"Hey, Chan," meanwhile the chaos, Soonyoung's velvety voice waked him up. He looked back and it was almost ridiculous how fast he got flushed when their eyes met.
"Hm?"
"I'm sorry for not buying you a nice gift. I had to use all my economies to fix my cellphone, so things ended getting a bit complicated."
Is someone allowed to be that adorable? That lovable? Chan feels his face warming up and his chest tightening around his wrapped-in-cotton-candy heart.
"Stop being like that, you know I don't care about gifts. Your presence is already my gift," Chan bites his bottom lip, feeling dizzy when he says "just as our friendship."
Soonyoung flushes, and when he was about to say something he gets interrupted by Wonwoo's loud laughter.
They both instantly glared at Mingyu playing Just Dance, and they couldn't just don't laugh together because oh boy Mingyu was absolutely terrible. Even worse than Seokmin.
"I have an idea," Soonyoung suddenly says, holding Chan's wrist with his hand, looking absolutely confident. "But we'll need to go to the rooftop."
"The rooftop? But, Soonyoung, you know my parents don't–"
"Yes yes I know your parents don't like it when we go to the rooftop because of their precious plants, but I promise you we'll be quick. It's just something I need to tell you, but I can't with the boys around and… c'mon, it's loud here anyway." Soonyoung looked at him with stars in his eyes and Chan just couldn't deny his request.
The thing with this rooftop is that it's full with dozens of tomatoes, grapes, strawberries, peppers, green mint, and more other dozens of organic things, kind off a vegan sanctuary, so you can't blame the excessive amount of protection and affection Chan's parents have for it. Today's night is clean, no clouds, only a bright, big yellowish moon in the sky. The wind is calm and sort of cold, messing with all their hair. Chan thought Soonyoung looked really cute.
But that wasn't the point. He couldn't be feeling less nervous because, well, he was finally and totally alone with Soonyoung. Only them and the moon and the plants and the breeze. No one to disturb, no one to steal Soonyoung's attention besides Chan. His chance.
"S-So," Chan cleans his throat, hands starting to get sweaty. "What's your id–"
He got interrupted by Soonyoung's hand on his chin and the latter soft lips against his own, pressing gently and moving slowly. He almost had a heart attack, wide-eyed, staring at the whole situation almost skeptically. Then, he relaxes and drowns himself in his feelings and nothing more matters; he's dreaming, the world is beautiful and there are rainbows everywhere. Soonyoung's mouth is just as warm as he imagined, his lips so soft, his tongue so gentle, and even if Chan's not aware of how to rightly kiss someone because it was his fucking first kiss, their movements seemed nostalgic, like they've done this many times before, and this made him almost tear up.
He only wakes up when Soonyoung gently breaks the kiss apart, a little breathless. Chan is out of his mind, his head totally empty, ridiculously needing Soonyoung's lips again just to prove himself he wasn't going delusional.
"Happy birthday." Then Soonyoung said with a smirk.
"W-What was that?" A kiss, your first-ever kiss.
"I know you hadn't had your first kiss yet, so I thought this could might be a nice gift to give to you. Was it that bad?"
It was fucking amazing, what the hell are you saying?
"I… I don't even know what to say," literally, because he was absolutely lost. "Damn it, Soonyoung, I've been into you for so long, I like you so, so much…" yes, he would definitely cry. "I-I thought you… you were feeling the same…"
"But I am!" Soonyoung desperately says, holding Chan's hands, trying to look into his eyes. "For God's sake, Chan! We've known each other for such a long time and you're so amazing and handsome and funny and lovable, how can you imagine that I'm not in love with you? It is literally the only thing I've been doing for the past years: loving you."
Now Chan's crying and no, he doesn't know if it's a happy crying or a sad crying — maybe it's a mix between both. Soonyoung hugs him and he laughs, feeling his heart warming up and aching at the same time.
"I'm sorry." He says, laughing at himself and feeling happy enough to laugh about everything. "I'm a big emotional mess, you know it."
"I really do, and I do so well that I brought those napkins with me just in case if, you know, this happened," Soonyoung shows a bunch of smashed party napkins that he had on his pocket. "May I?"
"Go on."
Soonyoung wiped Chan's light tears and kissed his cheeks a million times, asking sorry another more million times, promising he would never make him cry again.
"You're a sweetheart, Kwon Soonyoung," when everything went fine, Chan controlled from his my-childhood-lover-loves-me-back emotional crisis and everything, he placed both his arms around Soonyoung's neck. "Hey, am I a good kisser?"
"I can't judge anything by its first time," Soonyoung gummy smiled, as well placing his both arms around Chan's waist. "Guess I'll have a better verdict if you allow me the second."
Chan was the one who started the kiss this time, and if birthday wishes are really true, he'll never know, but he hopes so, because his wish was nothing less than to be with Soonyoung forever on his birthdays.