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Changbin shuts the front door behind him, the lock clicking into place and reverberating through his back as he leans against it. He shuts his eyes for a moment, letting his exhaustion take over. It’s been a long day of working in the studio, and even though he did nothing but sit on his butt, he still feels drained.
Suddenly, he hears a whisper.
He stares through the hallway into the dark apartment. It’s too dark. Even though it’s 2 a.m., there’s always someone awake. It’s either some of the members watching tv together, or one of them taking advantage of the calm of the night to take a long shower, or Chan in the living room behind his laptop because he has ‘just one more thing’ to do.
Then he hears another whisper, followed by a too-loud hush. Changbin kicks off his shoes and follows the sound, creeping closer to the living room on his toes to not make the floorboards squeak.
As soon as he peeps his head through the door opening, he’s blinded by the lights turning on.
“Surprise!!” is what his members yell at him, followed by a terrified scream from Minho as soon as he sets off his party popper.
Ah, yes, his birthday. How could he forget? Was it maybe the stress of his upcoming deadlines that made him forget, or was it just that no one even mentioned it in the days leading up to today. In hindsight, the members probably did it on purpose so they could surprise him.
And it worked.
Changbin tosses himself headfirst onto the couch, hiding his face from view. He can feel his ears heat up quickly from embarrassment. The others just stand in the middle of the room, confused for a moment, but then they all come running to give him some good birthday slaps all over his body.
Minho jams his elbow into his back, Seungmin and Felix pinch his toes, and Hyunjin pulls on his heated ears. As is tradition in their household. Changbin can’t help but laugh into the couch, finally feeling the stress pour out of his body. He truly needed this, needed the reminder that people still have him on their minds even when he’s not there.
“Okay, that’s enough,” Chan finally says, “Let’s stop before the neighbors think we’re killing him.”
Jeongin, kneeling next to the couch, pokes his nail into Changbin’s cheek, demanding his attention. “You hear that, hyung? You get to live another year.”
“Why does that sound like a threat?” Changbin groans as he sits up, dizzy from all the blood that rushed to his head. He rubs his eyes until he sees stars, and when he opens them he finally notices the small pile of gifts on the coffee table. Next to them sits a pretty strawberry shortcake. He can tell because there’s already a slice taken out of it, showing the berries tucked into the cream-filled layers.
“Lix made it,” Jisung explains, “and I had to taste test it.” Jisung rubs at the corner of his mouth like he’s wiping away the evidence.
“Chan should give his gift first,” Minho suddenly says, a weird smile on his face.
Changbin raises his eyebrows, expecting, and watches Chan shift on his feet. Then, Chan says, “I forgot to get you a gift.”
“Boo!” Hyunjin calls, and the rest of the kids join in too, throwing their thumbs down at Chan.
Changbin just laughs, only slightly offended. He wasn’t expecting a gift from Chan, to begin with, since the older man forgets every year. But he has good reasons to do so, so Changbin instantly forgives him, his heart warming up instead at the thought of all the other things Chan does for him. He’s just grateful to have him around, that’s already a gift in itself.
That doesn’t mean he won’t tease him though. “I see how it is,” Changbin clicks his tongue, “I’ll delete your Cubase save files while you’re sleeping. Watch it.”
Chan laughs sheepishly, obviously still flustered. Good. Let him sweat a little.
But Changbin can’t poke fun at him any more than that, because next thing he knows, Felix is shoving a small box in his face. “Hyung, open it.” He sounds urgent.
So Changbin opens it, carefully ripping off the pretty wrapping. He wonders if Felix wrapped it himself and decides that if his excited eyes are anything to go by, he probably did.
“Grip Strength Meter Ultra 5000 Version Two,” Changbin reads the words on the little box.
He hears Jisung snort and catches Hyunjin leaning in. Felix then climbs onto the couch next to him, squeezing his shoulder to urge him on. Changbin opens the box and takes out the little device. It almost looks like a train handle, the ones that hang overhead and you hold on to, but this one has a small digital screen on it.
“I put the batteries in already,” Felix sounds rushed, “Come on, try it.”
Changbin huffs a laugh, but does it anyway, folding his hand around the device and squeezing as hard as he can. The screen lights up and numbers show, of which he has no idea what they mean. No one else in the room probably knows either, but still, Felix and also Jeongin gasp in awe.
“Thanks, Lix, this is really cool,” he says and watches Felix’s face light up. Changbin thinks he’s probably going to use it as a stress ball more than to measure his grip strength, but still, he’s very happy with it. Felix always puts so much thought into his gifts.
“Here, mine now,” Jisung waves a small envelope in front of Changbin’s eyes, looking a bit skittish, like he’s trying to hold back his laugh.
Changbin opens the envelope and takes out ten whole ‘free hug’ coupons. He snorts as he rests his face in the palm of his hand, hiding the roll of his eyes. “Jisung, I feel like this is more of a gift for you than it is for me.”
“Tough shit,” is all that Jisung says before he tosses himself onto Changbin, pulling him into a suffocating and clumsy hug while pressing a gross, wet kiss into his neck. Next to them, Felix makes an excited sound before wrapping his arms around both of them, wanting to be in on the action.
When Jisung pulls away, he snatches one of the coupons from the envelope, redeeming it.
Changbin just has to groan when Seungmin also hands him an envelope, much like Jisung’s.
“No, hyung, trust me, it’s good,” Seungmin argues, “It’s from me and Jeongin, we saved up for it.”
Jeongin sits on his knees in front of him, face tense as he watches Changbin’s fingers slip into the end of the envelope to tear it open. It must be a big gift for him to look that nervous.
There’s just a single card inside, and it has the logo of his regular gym, which confuses him for a moment. Then, he turns the card and sees exactly what their gift is. “Guys, this is too much, really.” He tries to do the math in his head, but stops instantly because he realizes that he doesn’t even want to know how they managed to pay for twelve whole months of personal training for him.
Seungmin shrugs, but there’s a smile on his lips. “It’s the least we could do.”
“Do you like it?” Jeongin asks, leaning in, a fatal mistake.
Changbin has his hands on his cheeks instantly, pulling and squeezing them. “Of course Binnie hyung loves it, my sweet Innie,” he says in a baby voice as Jeongin raises his shoulders, trying to shrug him off.
Minho is suddenly in his line of sight, slipping his arms under Jeongin’s armpits and dragging him away with a quick whisper of “Let me save you”. Then, he’s squatting down in front of Changbin, with his gift.
It’s wrapped a bit messily and it has a few drawings scribbled on it with permanent marker. Changbin wants to treasure it, so he’s careful when he unwraps it, letting Felix take it from his hands to fold it to keep it safe. What he finds inside, is a plastic bag holding two baby blue furry house slippers. They have his name embroidered on it in gold.
“Because you keep stealing mine, and I don’t want them to smell like your feet,” Minho explains.
That doesn’t explain why they’re exactly in Changbin’s size and have his name on them, though. Minho likes to pretend that he doesn’t care, but he clearly went the extra mile with this. Changbin pulls the plastic off and sticks his hands inside the slippers, feeling just how warm and soft they are. Oh, winter is gonna be great this year.
“Thanks, hyung,” Changbin says. And then he leans forward with his lips puckered, jokingly offering Minho a kiss until the other takes off his own slipper and slaps it against Changbin’s mouth instead. Changbin screams, puffing out air to get the dust of his lips. Minho just snickers, easily entertained, but eventually, they exchange a nod in gratitude.
Hyunjin sits on the armrest of the couch, next to Changbin, flipping a tiny jewelry box around in his hands. His eyes fall on Changbin, eyebrows raised in question, challenging him a bit. Changbin holds out his hand and Hyunjin firmly plants the box on his palm, and then folding his fingers carefully around him.
“Can’t believe Hyunjinie is finally proposing to me,” he jokes, and Chan laughs loudly at that, although the sound a bit nervous.
Hyunjin dramatically rolls his eyes. “Just open it, silly.”
Changbin clicks the box open and is met with a familiar sight. It’s the exact same silver puppy pendant that he got last year for his birthday from Hyunjin, but only this time, it’s not on a necklace, but on an earring.
When Changbin doesn’t speak, Hyunjin says, “It’s because you never take out your earrings, so you won’t lose it this time.”
Changbin sniffs, putting the box down to immediately take out his earring. He pockets it, and then slips his new one inside, securing it tightly in the back. The pendant dangles as he turns around to slip his arms around Hyunjin’s waist, holding him tight.
“Hyunjin must really love me, huh?” he whispers into his shirt, ignoring the groans and gagging sounds from everyone else in the room.
Hyunjin sighs, but he allows him a full minute of the hug before he finally peels Changbin off of him. But not before squeezing his arm reassuringly, telling him that he in fact does love him, but is too shy to say it in front of everyone else. Hyunjin doesn’t always have to say his thoughts out loud, often Changbin can just feel what he means.
Even though time is pushing 3 a.m. now, they still eat some of Felix’s cake. It’s absolutely delicious, which Changbin makes sure to tell Felix at least ten times, enjoying the way the kid’s eyes light up each and every time. Jeongin falls asleep on the floor, still so bad at staying up late, but Hyunjin and Jisung carry him to his room, although almost banging the sleeping maknae’s head into the doorpost.
When everyone eventually goes to bed, it’s just Changbin and Chan taking care of the dishes, as usual. Not even on his birthday is Changbin safe of the task. But Chan helps him, though, like actually helps him instead of just throwing his dirty dishes into the sink to soak.
“Hey, I’m really sorry,” Chan eventually says, quietly, “about not getting you a gift.”
“Oh, just drop it,” Changbin scrubs at one of the plates and hands it to Chan to dry.
“No, I mean, I should’ve just–” Chan tries, but then Changbin gets a fork from the bottom of the sink and pulls it out of the dishwater to point it at him.
“I said stop it,” Changbin pokes the wet fork to Chan’s chest, watching his pec jump at the weird feeling, “See all of this?” He waves the fork around, gesturing at the dorm, at their life, Stray Kids, everything. “That’s your gift to me. You’re good for the next ten years, trust me.”
“Oh,” Chan says, staring at the dishtowel in his hands.
Changbin clicks his tongue, pretending to be annoyed while he struggles to pull off his cleaning gloves quickly. Then, he just wraps his arms around Chan, squeezing him into a hug so tight that he feels the other’s spine pop.
Chan exhales into the hug, though, resting his forehead on Changbin’s shoulder before mirroring him and wrapping his arms around him too. It feels like he needed this, and he probably did. And so did Changbin.
They stand there for an immeasurable amount of time, but eventually, they pull apart, both feeling a bit awkward. Changbin clears his throat and puts his gloves back on. “Good hug,” he says.
“Yeah,” Chan clears his throat too, ear red from embarrassment, “let’s do that again on your next birthday.”
“And not a day earlier,” Changbin jokes, and then laughs at Chan’s flustered face.
He smiles to himself, thinking that he’ll never get tired of this, of his friends, of everything. And secretly, in his head, he’s already counting down the days to his next birthday, excited to see what his favorite people come up with for him next.
But it’s soon.
Only 365 days.