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Today was the day. It was Chan’s birthday.
Ever since Jihoon talked more openly about his son and randomly mentioned the birth date of said son one time during one of their dates, Soonyoung marked that day in his calendar in a bright red. The color he would use to highlight very important dates.
He was going as far as setting a reminder weeks prior to the actual event. To have enough time to search for the perfect present for the kid. Well, he got him a backpack and a hoodie, but it was good enough and didn’t seem childish for the “big boy” Chan.
To get through Jihoon’s heart, he needed to get through Chan’s heart first and Soonyoung was willing to do so. (He succeeded in both already but who is he going to believe when someone actually told him that.)
Jihoon told him that Chan invited his friends over for a birthday party. Technically, Soonyoung wasn’t invited, and he didn’t announce his arrival to his boyfriend but oh well, he didn’t plan to stay long anyway.
As much as he wanted to see Chan with his beaming smile during his birthday, he just wanted to drop his presents off and leave again. After all, he wanted to meet his friends that day as well.
When he arrived, it was suspiciously quiet. Weird, thought Soonyoung. Aren’t kids supposed to be loud and hyper? Especially with the amount of sugar and sodium they would have at the party?
That thought however didn’t stop the smiling Soonyoung who was ringing the doorbell. He was excited to be greeted by an energetic Chan, who would loudly beam “HYUNG!” to him, or a confused (and stressed) Jihoon, who was looking over several kids during a birthday party alone.
However, he didn’t get to see either of the two.
Instead, on the other side of the door was Chan, eyes bloodshot, his cheeks red from irritation and a pout on his small lips. At the sight of Soonyoung, he already started sniffing again.
Soonyoung’s brain hit a dead end and didn’t function properly. Something was wrong. Chan would be always happy to see him. Why was he on the verge of crying? On his own birthday?
“Hyung!”, cried Chan out. It was so loud that Soonyoung got worried about the neighbors hearing it.
“Hey, hey, Chan...”, he tried to calm the boy down as he kneeled down. When he offered a hug, Chan didn’t even hesitate to bury his face into his shoulders. As he cried onto the shoulder, Soonyoung saw Jihoon coming from their living room.
A sigh escaped his lips at the sight of his boyfriend. Never was he so glad to see him now than in any situation.
What’s going on, Soonyoung mouthed. Maybe the mention of the situation next to Chan would upset him even more. And he was right, because Jihoon just held up his phone and pointed at it. “I’ll explain it through text”, was what he was saying.
Through the text, their situation was briefly explained. Chan invited friends over for his birthday party but they didn’t arrive, which made him upset. While Jihoon tried to contact the parents of those friends, Chan got even more upset from the lacking attention from his own father.
Obviously, Soonyoung decided to stay at the over decorated house. He was carrying and comforting Chan in the living room at the same time while Jihoon was calling the rest of the parents to get some clarity on their non-arrival. His present sat long forgotten on the coffee table.
The child in his arms was just sniffling and tightly holding onto Soonyoung. Poor boy. The adult promised to himself to confront those children the next time he would encounter them when picking up Chan. No one should celebrate their own birthday like this.
Jihoon came from the kitchen and threw his phone onto the couch in anger. Didn’t seem like the kids would be arriving any time soon.
At this point, Chan was partly choking him due to the strong hold. Soonyoung felt like working on a summer day, even though it was currently winter.
“Honey, could you take Chan for me?”
At that, said child tightened his grip around Soonyoung’s neck and it just broke his heart. After all, he didn’t want his favorite hyung to go either.
“I need to go to the toilet”, he added to assure his stay. Silently, Jihoon took his son and watched with keen eyes Soonyoung entering their bathroom.
He washed his hands, which started to feel sticky with all the sweat and the tears he wiped out. As he dried them, a vibration came from his pocket.
It was one of his friends, asking if the meeting was up in the same boring place. What was wrong with the arcade, thought Soonyoung and was about to respond before he had to think of the family outside of this bathroom.
He shouldn’t leave them alone. He couldn’t and he didn’t want to. But he also didn’t want to cancel his plans with his friends. He started to miss them too. But he couldn’t just clone himself and be there for everyone. Either way, for one of them, he would be an asshole if he did either of that stunt.
Or would it be? Because suddenly, an idea popped up in his mind. He started to type into his group chat.
>Guys, let’s rearrange.
>Meet me at this place.
>[Location]
>You know Chan, right? Jihoon’s son I always talk about. Could you guys come and celebrate his birthday with us? None of his friends arrived at the party and he is just so upset and I don’t have the heart to leave them :(
>We have free food too, so? ;)
———
Soonyoung jumped out of his seat on the dinner table when the doorbell rang. With a little too much force, he opened that door. On the inside, he hoped that Chan’s classmates actually arrived but instead, he was greeted by the faces of his friends.
On the other side was Seungcheol, Jeonghan and their son Seokmin. Behind them, Soonyoung also spotted Wonwoo with Seungkwan, his nephew, in his arms. Mingyu was by his side as well.
“Hey guys”, he awkwardly laughed. As nobody answered, he felt like the biggest fool on the planet.
Well, Soonyoung explained through text what they were signing up for. However he didn’t think they would actually pull through.
“Soonyoung, who is there?”
Jihoon asked that, as he appeared from behind with Chan in hand. At the sight of the crying child, Seokmin immediately ran over to the child.
“You are Chan-ah, right?”
Said boy nodded in response.
“I’m Seokmin! We’re here to celebrate your birthday then!”, smiled Seokmin at the younger. Chan’s eyes lighted up by the mention of his birthday.
The older of the two walked back to his father and took the decorative bag from his hands. Seokmin was holding it out to Chan.
“We could only get you a small present but I hope you still like it”, said Seokmin with a smile that even cheered up the upset child.
“I also got you something!", exclaimed Seungkwan and walked up to the two other children. "My name is Seungkwan!”
He joined Seokmin's side and held out a box for Chan to take. The younger received the presents with a shy smile.
“Thank you! I turned six this year!”
“Six? What a big boy!”, commented Jeonghan from the sides. From all his friends, he would always be the first to grasp the situation in hand. Fortunately enough, he was great with children as well. He squatted down to continue talking to them. “Seokmin is eight and Seungkwan is seven. They are your hyungs, Chan-ah.”
The youngest nodded and looked at the two older children with a smile.
“Thank you, hyung!”
Suddenly a new voice could be heard.
“This has to be the place.”
Everyone turned to the source of it. The smooth, soft voice belonged to no other than Jisoo. He arrived together with his son Hansol in one hand, who was holding a box onto a box as well. Junhui and Minghao, the friends Soonyoung was supposed to meet that day, were trailing behind them as they observed the surroundings.
“Oh, hey there. Didn’t think I would arrive last”, smiled Jisoo, unfazed by the situation in hand. When he spotted the children he nudged his son to go ahead. “Go on. Say hello to everyone and deliver the gift.”
Hansol said to everyone a quick hello, before joining the circle of children who are about to head inside.
Once all the children were gone, all eyes turned to Soonyoung, smiling ever so brightly at the situation. Jihoon was the first to speak.
“Care to explain the situation?”
His smile dropped as he was the slightly annoyed look on his boyfriend’s face.
“Look Jihoon please don’t be mad. I invited all my friends over to celebrate Chan’s birthday because I cannot see him sad like this”, rambled Soonyoung.
Jihoon looked at Soonyoung before he looked at the seven other adults. Luckily, one of his friends started to speak up.
“We haven’t met yet, right? I’m Hong Jisoo. That boy with me was my son Hansol.”, introduced Jisoo himself to lighten up the mood. “It’s nice to finally meet you. You don’t know how often Soonyoung talks about you.”
And it seemed to work. Jihoon was visibly relaxing to that and even introduced himself to them as well. Soonyoung carefully placed an arm around Jihoon’s shoulders as his other friends were granted permission to enter after a brief introduction.
When it came to Junhui and Minghao, Soonyoung was the first to speak up.
“I’m so sorry. You guys probably didn’t expect it but I just-“
“Soonyoung, we are not mad.”, cut Junhui short.
“But-“
“Sure a birthday party was unexpected. But if you got everyone to arrive and actually make the kid happy after his failed party, I’m sure we will have fun as well”, comforted Minghao. He looked over to Jihoon, who silently stood at the side from Soonyoung.
“We are sorry if we made any inconveniences because of our arrival.”, apologized Junhui. “We can go if you want to.”
“N-no”, stuttered Jihoon, surprised that the speech was directed to him. “Please stay. You are Soonyoung’s friends. I can trust you enough.”
The two smiled before slipping out of their shoes and joining the rest of the adults and children in the living room.
Soonyoung closed the door and was about to head there as well but Jihoon grabbed his wrist to stop him.
As he turned around, he was blessed by the grateful warm smile of Jihoon that made him remember why he fell in love in the first place.
“Thank you”, he whispered.
Soonyoung pulled his boyfriend into a hug. The feeling of Jihoon relaxing and even leaning into the hug was warm and comforting.
“Dad!”
Chan ran up to the two and hugged both of their legs.
“Come on! Seungkwan-hyung wants to sing for me and wants you to see it as well!”
Soonyoung patted the head of the beaming child. He was finally rewarded with that smile he wanted to see all the days prior.
The two adults let themselves be pulled by the child to the living room where the rest of his friends waited for the big show of Seungkwan.
———
Extra:
“What did you wish for?”, was the first thing Seokmin asked after Chan blew out the candles of his birthday cake.
“Ehm…”
“Hyung! He can’t just say that. Or else it-“
“I wished that Soonyoung-hyung would become my second dad!”, Chan proudly exclaimed. “Then I will have so many cool uncles and cousins to play with and it would never be sad or boring!”
The reaction varied from person to person. The children celebrated. Seungcheol accidentally spitted out the juice he was drinking. Mingyu was gasping. Minghao and Wonwoo were unfazed. Jeonghan, Jisoo and Junhui had a shit eating smirk on their faces.
Soonyoung was flustered by the words of Chan. But when he glanced over to Jihoon, with his flushed face but warm smile, maybe, just maybe, he was ready to grant that wish as well.