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“Oh, my God,” Hoseok breathes out somewhat quietly, feeling the panic bubbling in his chest. This has to be a mistake. But the picture of Jungkook smiling brightly with his nose scrunched up and his teeth showing and his adorably wide eyes crinkling at the corners with the caption happy birthday, kookie! is immediately followed by a video from seven years ago. Namely, the birthday video. The one where they’d made Jungkook cry, on his birthday, when they were all still so young and naïvely thought getting the staff to heavily chastise him would be a fun prank. The caption on this tweet reads 오늘은 눈물이 없었 으면 좋겠다, 정국! 당신은 행복 할 자격이 있습니다!. Hoseok flicks down the timeline further. Tweet after tweet with pictures of Jungkook with heartfelt captions written by ARMY that are so, so sweet. Hoseok quickly pulls down the notification bar on his phone which prominently displays the date and time.
12:36. Wednesday, September 2
Hoseok’s heart drops to the bottom of his stomach. How could they have forgotten? With Dynamite dropping just under two weeks ago, they’d been caught up in promotions and rehearsals for live performances on SBS and Mnet while taking all of the proper social distancing and sanitizing protocols. Yesterday had been their one day off since they started promotions and they’d been stupid enough to think it just happened to be luck and no one bothered to question it. Clearly, management had been kind enough to give them the day off for Jungkook’s birthday. Which they’d completely forgotten.
“Oh my God,” Hoseok repeats louder, leaning over to flick on the lamp next to the bed and peering over to see if Jimin is still awake. The younger boy’s chest is rising and falling evenly, a sure sign that he’s deep asleep. Someone else has to be awake, right? Taehyung is always awake playing video games, or Namjoon and Yoongi might be up writing. Seokjin could be asleep maybe, but Hoseok needs to tell someone right now. He switches off the light again right after he presses a soft kiss to Jimin’s check, the younger boy sighing contently.
He wanders into the hall, passing by Jungkook’s room before stopping short. Hoseok backs up a few steps and opens Jungkook’s door as quietly as possible, but it turns out it doesn’t matter since Jungkook’s bed is decidedly empty. Maybe Jungkook is sleeping with someone else tonight. He wanders into the living room to see Taehyung sat on the couch in front of the TV, playing video games while Namjoon and Seokjin are stretched out on either side of him, both reading.
“Hyung!” Taehyung beams up at him, not even missing a beat on his video game. Hoseok smiles back at his boyfriends. Namjoon and Seokjin look up at Taehyung’s exclamation, Namjoon’s dimples popping out and Seokjin’s lips turn up softly at the corners. Hoseok loves his boyfriends a whole lot. If you really loved Jungkook, you wouldn’t have forgotten his birthday, a little voice in Hoseok’s head reminds him and he winces.
“Have you guys seen Jungkook-ah?” Hoseok asks when they give him quizzical looks at the change in his facial expression.
“Yeah, he left after dinner to meet up with some friends,” Namjoon replies, turning one of the pages over in his books.
“Did he say when he’d be back?” Seokjin asks, frowning at Namjoon, whose smile takes on a little bit of a sheepish tinge. “You forgot to ask, didn’t you. Aigoo, Joonie, you’re just as bad as Yoongi is.”
“Hey, careful,” Yoongi’s voice sniffs from behind Hoseok, holding an empty glass and presumably heading to the kitchen to fill it. “Why are you comparing Namjoon to me?”
“Because you let us run rampant with no involvement unless we’re bothering you or dying,” Taehyung supplies helpfully without tearing his eyes from the television screen. Yoongi scoffs, but Seokjin quirks an eyebrow at him and Yoongi rolls his eyes playfully back at him.
This is cute and all, Hoseok loves watching his boyfriends banter with each other because they’re adorable. Speaking of which, Jimin comes shuffling down the hall with the somewhat blank look he has when he’s just been woken up. He yawns, and Hoseok has to prevent himself from verbally cooing at his dongsaeng. Jimin stumbles right into Yoongi’s arms, the other man catching him easily with a tender smile on his face and pulling Jimin into his side.
“Anyways, did you need Kookie for something?” Seokjin asks Hoseok, and he feels like a bucket of icy water has been poured over him, washing him out of the warm happiness he feels whenever he’s around any one of his loves. But the fact is, one very important part of their relationship is missing, and they’ve probably driven him away.
“We forgot his birthday,” Hoseok blurts, unable to think of a less blunt way to say it. No one says anything for a minute. Taehyung’s character dies on screen, but he doesn’t make any move to restart from his last checkpoint.
“What day is it today?” Jimin asks, looking suddenly much more awake. “What time is it? Did we really?”
“It’s already the second,” Namjoon informs them, and they all fall quiet again, exchanging guilty looks.
“We’re the worst,” Taehyung exhales, flopping over into Namjoon’s lap and burrowing his face into the armrest. Hoseok doesn’t say it out loud because he knows they’re not going to get anywhere by beating themselves up. He doesn’t even know the best way to go about fixing this, because yesterday was their one day off for the foreseeable future, and their schedules are going to be packed so tight with more Dynamite promotions that it will be a miracle if they’ll have the energy and time for a group meal.
Before anyone can provide any suggestions, someone’s phone starts ringing loudly through the thick silence. Anyone with pockets rifles through them to see if it’s theirs, but ultimately Namjoon is the one to answer his, putting his book down and gently guiding Taehyung off his lap.
“Hello?” he answers, and his mouth immediately turns down into a frown. While Hoseok desperately wants to know what’s going on, he knows just as well as everyone else that asking questions is going to have to wait until Namjoon hangs up or tells them. He’s listening intently, and Hoseok doesn’t like the way Namjoon’s frown gets deeper even as he nods. “Okay, okay. Yeah, I’ll be right there. Thanks for calling, Eun-woo-ssi.” Namjoon presses the button to end the call, standing up and taking off his glasses. “That was Eun-woo. Jungkook’s out with some friends, but I guess they’re all kind of drunk and they don’t think they can get Jungkook home by themselves because he’s… refusing to leave.” Hoseok doesn’t think he’s felt worse, probably ever.
x
“Kookie, Namjoon-ssi is going to be here soon,” Eun-woo says, stepping back to where the rest of the group is huddled around Jungkook. Jungkook’s not actually mad at Eun-woo so much as he’s upset that his hyungs completely forgot his birthday. He hasn’t told anyone why he’s so upset because he’s 24 for crying out loud, he shouldn’t be so upset over something as trivial as his birthday. Especially since his friends have managed to take the night off from their own busy schedules to meet up for what was supposed to be a couple of drinks but turned into Jungkook having a few more drinks and petulantly refusing to leave. Of course, his friends insisted they couldn’t just leave him alone here, but Jungkook didn’t think it would turn into them calling his hyung to come pick him up.
“Do you want to talk about what’s wrong?” Woong gently prods, and Jungkook shakes his head adamantly. He’s not as drunk as he’d like to be, but he does have packed schedules for tomorrow and can’t really afford to get drunk. Woong allows Jungkook to drop his head onto his shoulder anyways, reaching up to rub at Jungkook’s shoulder soothingly.
“No, ‘m just being stupid,” Jungkook sighs, “I’m sorry I kept you all here so late. I’ll be fine waiting for Namjoon-hyung, I’m not even going to drink anymore. I know you’re all busy, so you don’t have to feel obligated to babysit me.”
“No one feels obligated to be here, Kookie,” BamBam insists, reaching over to wrap an arm around his shoulders. “We’re sorry you’re so bummed out on your birthday. Today’s supposed to be like, the best day of the year for you.” Jungkook agrees with this statement, even though he’s not going to say it aloud.
His seventeenth birthday was possibly one of the most draining days he’d ever had. He’d been so amped up about celebrating his first birthday with his hyungs since debut. While Jungkook still felt shy around them from time to time, he’d become more and more comfortable with them the more time they all spent together. They’d liked to dote on him, so Jungkook had assumed his birthday would be no different, maybe even a little more affectionate than usual and Jungkook had secretly been looking forward to that.
Instead, Jungkook was told they had too much to do to be celebrating his birthday, and then he’d been berated for a long time by both the manager, the music video director and Namjoon, which had stung. He really looked up to Namjoon, and when Namjoon told him that he felt like he’d failed Jungkook, and that was the only reason Jungkook could have performed so poorly, Jungkook felt lesser than dirt. Even the other members had told Jungkook he just needed to be better. His emotions were running too high, because Jungkook had tried his absolute hardest. He didn’t know what else he could do, but he was determined to find a way. Then, they’d all turned around with a cake and a camera in his face and all of the emotions Jungkook had felt bubbling under the surface had been let loose and he cried. In front of the staff, in front of his bandmates, and in front of the camera.
It had been humiliating.
When Jungkook had finally been able to privately tell his hyungs how he felt, they swore up and down that they would make every single birthday he spent as a part of BTS better than the last. And they had for the past six birthdays. Once they’d all gotten together, birthdays had been amazing, because not only did he spend the day with his best friends but he also spent it with the loves of his life. But here Jungkook is, seven years later, somehow feeling even worse than the birthday prank from back then.
“I love you guys,” Jungkook tells his friends, all gathered around him. “But I’m really okay, you guys have made me feel a lot better.” It’s not really a lie, being with his friends and actually celebrating his birthday did make him feel a lot better, but unfortunately, he does still feel like shit. But he knows they really should be getting home, has seen them checking their phones when they thought he wasn’t looking. Their hyungs are definitely expecting them all back soon. So he pastes a smile on his face and forces himself to sit up and now lay on Woong, even though that’s really what he wants to do. “I’m just going to sit here and wait for hyung, I promise. You all really should go, I don’t want to be the reason you get in trouble.”
“Never,” Yugyeom gasps jokingly, but Jungkook’s words must have been convincing enough because his friends start collecting their things. He stands up to hug them all as they leave, but Woong lingers just a little longer uncertainly.
“I can wait with you Kookie, you know, we’re not really in the middle of any promotions or anything, it’s not a big deal if I stay a little later.” Jungkook desperately wants to say yes, but he also knows he’ll probably end up spilling to Woong and Jungkook is not going to be as weak and emotional as he was when he was seventeen.
“It’s really okay, Woongie,” Jungkook says, pulling Woong into a tight hug. “Thank you so much for being here. I’ll text you tomorrow?”
“No, you’ll text me when you get home,” Woong laughs, ruffling Jungkook’s hair before shrugging on his light jacket and heading out of the bar before Jungkook can protest. Once he’s certain Woong is out of view of the windows, Jungkook reaches down for his own jacket and heads to the bartender to settle the tab. Five minutes later, he’s out the door. He doesn’t want to face Namjoon right now, not yet. He knows he’s going to be in for a real long lecture when he does get back, but he needs to clear his head and calm himself down before he goes back to the dorm.
This is how Jungkook finds himself wandering into his personal apartment that he’d bought but never really had a purpose for. It’s very clean, almost too clean, completely missing the mess that Jungkook is so accustomed to while sharing a space with six other men. Maybe there’s some food in the cabinets. The cabinets, however, are bare since there’s no Seokjin shopping weekly for groceries. He finds a lone case of ramen and decides that’s better than nothing and gets to heating up some water. His phone starts ringing from where he’d left it in his jacket that he’d tossed on the couch, and Jungkook hesitates before deciding to switch it off for the time being. He swears he’ll turn it on after he eats because he’ll probably be a little calmer and a lot less emotional. (He hopes.)
While the water boils, he slips into his bedroom and changes into a pair of sweatpants and a loose t-shirt. He’s tired enough that he thinks maybe he’ll just crash here tonight and meet them at rehearsals in the morning and pretend like there’s nothing wrong. Because Jungkook is an adult, not a child, and it’s not a big deal if they don’t celebrate his birthday. Even if it feels like it is.
Jungkook finds himself immersed in some random drama playing on TV as he devours his ramen, afterwards curling up in the thick weighted blanket draped on the back of his couch that he uses to ground himself and smooth out his emotions. Warm and comfortable with the ramen in his stomach, the lingering alcohol in his system and the blanket over his body, Jungkook curls up and falls fast asleep. He doesn’t think again about his phone, that he’s switched off for the night.
x
Namjoon sighs loudly, pinching at his temples. “They don’t know where he is?” he asks into the phone. He feels bad for waking up all of his friends at this hour, but Jungkook hadn’t been at the bar and he wasn’t picking up his phone. It was either dead or off, since his location wasn’t popping up on their maps anyways.
“I asked, man, either they’re lying or Jungkook lied to them. But Jungkook’s not here, and they’re not giving me any more information,” Jackson replies, “I’m sorry I can’t be of more help, Namjoon-ah but unless you have any other questions for me, I’m going to have to go.” Namjoon knows it’s not Jackson’s fault, and probably not Yugyeom’s and BamBam’s faults either, but he’s frustrated and worried and exhausted. It’s two in the morning and there’s still no communication from Jungkook.
“Okay, thanks. I’m sorry for waking you up,” Namjoon exhales, and feels Yoongi’s hand come to squeeze on his shoulder.
“I get it, man, I would be doing the same thing. Drop us a text when you find him, okay?”
“Yeah, definitely,” Namjoon promises before disconnecting the call. “Hyung,” he drops his head onto the steering wheel, “please tell me you had some kind of luck.”
“No, Woong-ssi seemed ready to go hunt Jungkook down for himself though,” Yoongi says, leaving his hand on Namjoon’s shoulder. “He said Jungkook seemed really down for most of the night.”
“We messed up really bad,” Namjoon groans. He needs to calm down a little bit. “Okay. Where could Jungkook possibly be?”
“You’re probably not going to like what I have to say,” Yoongi starts, and Namjoon lifts his head from the steering wheel. From that tone of voice, Namjoon is positive that he’s definitely not going to like what Yoongi’s about to say. “But I think we need to give him some time to cool off. He’s probably really upset, and he has every right to be. He’s 24 now, we have to trust that he’s going to be okay, and if he doesn’t show up to practice in the morning, then we worry.” Namjoon so desperately wants to refute because so many things could happen between now and then. Jungkook could be passed out drunk in a ditch. Someone might have coerced Jungkook to go home with them. Jungkook get hit by a car, or mugged, or recognized and then mobbed. But he supposes logically, Yoongi is right. Jungkook is an adult now, has been for a while, and
“Okay, yeah,” Namjoon’s shoulders slump. “We should probably get back to the others. You wanna call them and let them know?” He reaches for the keys and shoves them back into the ignition. He feels like an idiot. Sejin-hyungnim had even asked him a few weeks ago if they had anything special for their day off and Namjoon hadn’t even thought about why they had one.
“Oh, I don’t think I need to,” Yoongi replies, looking at his phone, a smile spreading across his face. “Come on, we’re meeting the others at the studio.”
“At the studio? Is Jungkook there?” Namjoon asks, feeling suddenly more alert and turning the keys in the ignition. He backs out of the parking spot he’d pulled into in the abandoned lot and starts driving in the direction of the studios.
“No, I don’t think so,” Yoongi hums, “but the dongsaengs thought we could decorate the studio so when he does show up for rehearsal, we can make it up to him.” It’s not a bad idea, Namjoon thinks. They’re going to have to spend forever making up for him. Namjoon grimaces at the thought, because –
“I just keep having really bad thoughts of Jungkook’s seventeenth birthday,” Namjoon says after a few miles. “We promised him, hyung, that we’d never hurt him like that again. And we weren’t even together then. This feels so much worse, because we promised him already.” Yoongi doesn’t seem to have anything to say in response to this, so Namjoon knows Yoongi has to agree with him.
They drive the rest of the way in silence.
When they arrive to the dance studio, their boyfriends (sans Jungkook and Seokjin) are busy hanging streamers and balloons. Namjoon doesn’t question where they got these supplies in the middle of the night. Seokjin apparently is still at the dorm, baking up a cake for Jungkook and had insisted he would do better without a sous-chef and sent the others along ahead.
Namjoon doesn’t want to tell them that they don’t know where Jungkook is, but Hoseok, Jimin and Taehyung seem to know that already since they don’t ask. Namjoon is banned from helping after he trips over some streamers and tears them clean in half. So he sits himself in the corner and tries to find ideas for presents he can go out and grab as soon as the stores are open. Nothing seems good enough. Jungkook has plenty of clothes, and shoes, and anything that would have been perfect for Jungkook would have to have been ordered weeks ago. They’re terrible boyfriends. Namjoon sets his phone down for the time being and tips his head back to lean against the mirror. He closes his eyes and wonders how in the world all six of them managed to mess up this badly. He can’t stop thinking about how upset Jungkook had been back when he turned seventeen and they’d all gotten home from their schedules. Jungkook tried to slip away into the bedroom, but Taehyung had pulled him right into the living room with the others were waiting and asked Jungkook if he was doing okay. Jungkook had looked at all of them with his big wide eyes and admitted with them with a shaky voice that he didn’t like it, that he felt so emotionally drained and he didn’t want to feel like that ever again. They’d all apologized profusely and Jimin and Taehyung tackled Jungkook to the floor for birthday cuddles and Yoongi and Hoseok had pulled all of the blankets and pillows out onto the floor for them all to sleep on. Seokjin and Namjoon retrieved the presents they’d gotten for him and the leftover cake and they’d finished Jungkook’s birthday that year cuddling the maknae until he’d fallen asleep, warm and full and happy.
Every single year since then, they’d made a point to fall asleep with Jungkook right in the middle, just as he liked, even though he refused to admit it.
Every single year except this one.
Namjoon has no idea how they’re going to make it up to their youngest boyfriend, because he really thinks streamers and balloons and a cake with sub-par gifts a day late is not enough, especially now that they’d broken the promise they’d made to him so many years ago. He knows they’re going to promise to Jungkook again that they’ll never make him feel so awful on his birthday, but even he doesn’t trust himself not to break that promise.
Namjoon is struck with an idea.
x
Jungkook’s not as over it as he’d hoped when he wakes up, but he also knows that it’s better to just pretend like he is for his sake, his hyungs’ sakes, and the staff’s sake. Because after all, it’s stupid to be upset over something as trivial as his birthday. So Jungkook makes quick work of cleaning up his dishes from the night before and grabs his jacket, reaching into the pocket to find his phone still switched off. Oh, shit. He’s sure his boyfriends are probably worried out of their minds because Jungkook had been being too dramatic. He tries to power it on, but it only gets halfway through the loading screen before the screen goes dark and blinks the lightning cable. Perfect, it’s dead.
He’s not late for rehearsal, if he leaves within the next five minutes. It gives him just enough time to grab an energy drink out of the fridge (why does his fridge only have energy drinks and soju?) and dumps his clothes in the washing machine to take care of whenever he comes back. Maybe it’ll be tonight. If it’s not, Jungkook has plenty of other skinny black jeans and black t-shirts.
He pulls a face mask over his mouth and tugs on a baseball hat low over his sunglass covered eyes. Jungkook knows he could probably call a driver, but he likes the walk in the slightly cool morning air and he doesn’t like to be a big inconvenience anyways when their driver is probably already at the dorm to pick up the other boys. They’d been granted a little bit of a later start today (the company had probably factored in hangovers), so there’s a decent number of people out already. The fresh air does wonders for Jungkook’s mood, and he feels much lighter by the time he enters the BigHit lobby. The receptionist smiles at him, and Jungkook offers a quick bow before taking the elevator up to the dance studio they’re supposed to be meeting in.
Sungdeuk is nowhere to be seen when Jungkook gets to the studio a little early. He’s probably beat his band members here as well, although Sungdeuk is usually hanging out in the studio at least half an hour before they’re scheduled to start. Maybe Sungdeuk also is taking advantage of their later start time. Jungkook plops himself down on the floor to start stretching, wondering which show they’re rehearsing for today since he’s already forgotten. Which speaking of, Jungkook really hopes someone’s bringing a phone charger, because Woong is probably having a heart attack from not hearing from him yet. Scratch that, the whole ‘97 line groupchat is definitely going to kill him the next time he sees them.
Jungkook is fully stretched ten minutes after they were supposed to start, and there’s still no one here. He wonders if he has the wrong room, so Jungkook heads out into the hall to peek his head into some of the other studios. They’re all empty, so Jungkook’s not expecting much when he pushes the door open to the last studio. However, the entire room is decorated with purple streamers and gold balloons. Jungkook’s 99% sure they had to have come out of the Party Closet Seokjin keeps insisting he has somewhere. His boyfriends are all passed out around the room. Namjoon and Yoongi are sitting with their backs up to one of the mirrors, Yoongi’s head on Namjoon’s shoulder and Namjoon’s head resting on top on Yoongi’s. Seokjin is laying on Hoseok’s arm as the other boy is starfished across the dance floor by the speakers. Jungkook is literally shocked to see a cake teetering unstably on top of the speaker. Sungdeuk would be horrified. Taehyung and Jimin look as if they literally fell asleep in the middle of blowing up more balloons, the uninflated balloons all around them and some in their hands, not to mention the bits of streamers wrapped around their arms and legs. Jungkook can’t help but smile at his boyfriends, wishing his phone wasn’t completely dead so he could take a picture. He’s debating whether or not to leave them to sleep on the floor but before he can decide, Hoseok grumbles and slowly blinks his eyes open. Jungkook watches the moment Hoseok realizes Seokjin is laying on him and watches the loving smile spread across Hoseok’s face before the older boy looks around the room before his eyes fall on Jungkook.
“Kook?” he mutters sleepily, frowning a little bit before his eyes widen. “Jungkookie!” His voice is loud enough that Seokjin jerks awake and Namjoon starts so violently that he smacks his head against the back of the mirror. His boyfriends are a mess, Jungkook thinks fondly.
“Hi, hyung,” Jnugkook offers hesitantly, taking another step inside so he’s not just lingering in the doorway awkwardly, watching his boyfriends sleep. That would be weird.
“Jungkook is here!” Hoseok exclaims even louder, yanking his arm out from under Seokjin as he tries to get to his feet. Yoongi’s eyes slowly open, probably shook awake by Namjoon. He blinks once, twice at Jungkook before a giant yawn escapes his mouth.
“Surprise,” he says tiredly before dropping his head back down onto Namjoon’s shoulder.
“JUNGKOOK.” Hoseok says, loudest he’s been since he awoke, finally stumbling to his feet and heading over to Jungkook before he trips over Jimin and Taehyung and land on top of them, obviously waking them up. Taehyung screams bloody murder, shoving Hoseok off of them. Jungkook can’t stop laughing at the sight and the rest of his hyungs seem to realize that Jungkook is, in fact, here.
“Jungkookie!” Jimin exclaims, scrambling nimbly out of the mess of limbs that is him, Taehyung and Hoseok and throwing his arms around Jungkook. “Happy belated birthday, baby!” Jungkook smiles into Jimin’s hug, letting the shorter boy hug him for as long as possible before Hoseok whines.
“I saw him first; I want to hug him!”
“No, he’s mine!”
“Okay, let’s let Kook-ah breathe for a second,” Seokjin suggests, pulling himself up from the ground. He winces at the ache, but he still looks as handsome as ever, which is unfair. They all look handsome after having slept for probably very few hours on the hard floor. Jungkook loves them. “I baked you a cake, sweetheart.”
“We’re really sorry,” Taehyung adds from the floor with wide eyes. “We realized last night but you were out and then we couldn’t find you, so we decided to try and surprise you this morning.”
“My phone died,” Jungkook explains, “I, uh, I ended up crashing at my apartment.” He doesn’t miss the way the rest of his hyungs’ faces fall, but they quickly get over it as Jimin tugs Jungkook into the middle of him and Taehyung and Hoseok. Seokjin scooches over to join with the cake, and Namjoon manages to get Yoongi over to the rest of them. They all take turns giving Jungkook kisses and apologizing until Jungkook has to shut them up by kissing them again. (No one complains.)
“We have something for you,” Namjoon announces after Seokjin has served them all servings of literally the most delicious cake Jungkook thinks has ever existed. Jungkook looks over to Namjoon who pulls out a small box and comes to kneel in front of Jungkook. Jungkook can’t help the gasp that escapes his lips as his other boyfriends come to kneel beside Namjoon while Namjoon opens up the box with shaky hands. Well, tries to. Namjoon drops the box and Yoongi snorts while Seokjin reaches over to pluck the box up and hand it back to Namjoon. Namjoon succeeds in opening it to reveal a beautiful silver ring with diamonds crossing over interwoven bands. Jungkook can feel tears gathering in the corners of his eyes, but he ignores them. “Jungkookie, we’re so sorry we broke our promise to you. You deserve nothing but happiness, especially on your birthday, and I’m sorry we couldn’t deliver,” Namjoon starts, and Hoseok squeezes Namjoon’s hand.
“You’re so important to us,” he says to Jungkook.
“We love you,” Taehyung nods.
“And we’re lucky that you choose to love us back even though we’re idiots,” Yoongi adds dryly, and Jungkook can’t help but laugh at that. Seokjin smacks Yoongi, who looks mildly affronted. “Did I say something that was wrong?”
“Anyways,” Jimin jumps in, “we don’t expect you to forgive us right away. Please don’t feel obligated to, because we know we messed up.”
“We know we’re never going to be able to get married,” Seokjin says, looking a little wistful at the thought. “At least, not officially. But we wanted you to have a reminder of our most important promise: that we’re sure as hell going to love you for the rest of your life, and long after that, Jungkook-ah, sweetheart.” Jungkook is pretty sure he’s actually crying right now, but he’s so touched because his boyfriends are so sweet.
“There’s seven bands,” Namjoon explains, “it’s a puzzle ring, so it has origins that date back hundreds if not thousands of years—” The rest of their boyfriends groan, even though Jungkook knows they find Namjoon just as horribly endearing as he does, especially when Namjoon’s cheeks tinge pink. “Anyways, seven bands, seven stones, interconnected forever. Just like us.”
Jungkook doesn’t have the words to tell them how much this means to him, and very gently and with much more finesse than previously, Namjoon takes the ring out of the box and carefully lifts Jungkook’s left hand. He looks into Jungkook’s eyes questioningly, and Jungkook nods through his tears that he barely feels Jimin reaching over to wipe his cheeks while Taehyung comes around to circle his arms around Jungkook. Namjoon slides the ring onto Jungkook’s left finger, and Jungkook lurches forward to connect his lips to Namjoon’s.
He’s just getting lost in the kiss when he feels someone gently tugging him away and turning his head to kiss them. He can immediately tell it’s Yoongi, and sighs happily as the older man’s hands come to fall at Jungkook’s waist, overlapping with Taehyung’s hands. “No fair,” Jimin grumbles, and Jungkook can feel Yoongi’s lips curve up against his.
“Go kiss your other boyfriends, they’re jealous,” Yoongi tells Jungkook, pressing one last chaste kiss before leaning away. Jungkook doesn’t even have time to pout at Yoongi before Jimin plops himself down in Namjoon’s lap so he can easily pull Jungkook’s face to his. Jungkook just loves his boyfriends a whole bunch. Jimin kisses him so tenderly, while Taehyung gets impatient waiting for his turn and starts to press small kisses to the back of Jungkook’s shoulders. Jimin giggles, turning Jungkook’s head for Taehyung to easily capture Jungkook’s lips with his own. He knows his lips are going to be swollen by the time he’s finished kissing everyone, but Jungkook can’t seem to find it in himself to care. It doesn’t take long before Hoseok is tugging on Jungkook’s hand, demanding his own kiss and who is Jungkook not to comply? Taehyung whines but lets Jungkook move closer to Hoseok, to kiss him more easily. Jungkook inhales sharply as Seokjin’s hands grip his hips as he lifts Jungkook onto his lap. It’s apparent that Seokjin heard that since Jungkook can feel him chuckling behind him. What a brat. Jungkook reaches behind him to pinch at Seokjin’s side, causing Seokjin to jump and Hoseok complains that he wants Jungkook’s full attention, which Jungkook happily gives him.
“I baked you a cake,” Seokjin reminds him once Jungkook and Hoseok stop to breathe properly. Jungkook turns to smile at Seokjin and he knows he probably looks like a lovesick idiot but he definitely is. He loves his boyfriends.
“It was amazing, just like everything else you do, hyung,” Jungkook tells him, looking up at Seokjin through his eyelashes and Seokjin groans.
“You’re going to kill me,” he says fondly.
“Better get to kissing me before you croak, old man,” Jungkook teases him with the biggest shit-eating grin spreading across his face. Seokjin can’t seem to decide whether or not he wants to kiss the grin off Jungkook’s face.
“You’re lucky you’re so cute, birthday boy,” Seokjin mutters before he finally pulls Jungkook closer and kisses the lights out of him.
Throughout the day, no matter what they’re doing, Jungkook can’t stop looking down at the seven glittering diamonds on his left hand. He thinks maybe this has been the best birthday he’s ever had. (And of course, he has the best boyfriends. But that goes without saying.)
