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Jaehyun left the shower feeling like a brand new man.
The day was pretty busy due to his schedules, and the fact he came home and no one was there due to the Lunar New Year break was strange. Sure, he loved having privacy and some alone time but after living with the members for so long now it felt odd.
He entered his room, towel still hanging on his shoulder, and his eyes immediately roamed to Jungwoo's bed and noticed it was neat and empty. He had to remind himself that Jungwoo was taking a break but couldn't help searching for the warm smile that always welcomed him, Mark's laughs in the living room, Taeil's random songs playing in his room while Yuta sang to them. It was oddly silent and Jaehyun didn't know if he liked that a whole lot. He went to his record player and chose a random disc, just to fill his ears with some kind of sound. He looked at his phone and the white digits shined "23:47", maybe it was better to go to sleep.
Jaehyun lied on the bed and almost wished good night to nobody, mainly due to a force of habit but he stopped himself before that. His eyes were closing and he was almost drifting to sleep when-
Bzzzz. Bzzzz. His phone started ringing.
He swore to himself, how could he forget to put on "do not disturb" mode? He was a bit annoyed but after looking at the caller ID he quickly answered.
"Hello, Mark?"
"JAEHYUN HYUNG, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!" Mark said loudly and very excitedly, as usual.
Jaehyun looked at the phone screen for a second to check the date. It was February 14th, just right after midnight. He couldn't help but smile. "Thank you, Mark! You were the first!"
"Oh really?! Was I the first?" Mark said, sounding even more happy. "It's an honor!"
Jaehyun laughed and talked with Mark for a bit before ending the call. Almost immediately the phone buzzed again and the name that showed on the screen made his heart jump a little bit. "Hello, Jungwoo?"
"I was trying to call you for minutes!" he sounded a little frustrated.
"Ahh sorry, Mark called,"
"Was he the first, right?" Jungwoo sighed. "If only I was a little quicker,"
Jaehyun smiled to himself. It made zero difference if Jungwoo was the first or last to congratulate him but he thought it was cute that he wanted so bad to be the first. "Don't worry, you can try next year. Do you have something to tell me?" he asked jokingly.
"Oh, yes. Happy birthday, hyung! I wish I could be there to give you a big hug now!"
"Thank you Jungwoo, you can give me that when you come back."
"I will! I'm coming back today, just wait for it! Ah, and your gift is with me too. I hope you like it,"
"You know you don't need to buy me anything, right?"
"Yeah, I don't need to but I wanted to."
Jaehyun laughed. "Thank you though, I'm sure I'll love it."
"I think you'll like it too! I chose it carefully. Anyway, I'll hang up because I think the others are trying to call you too. Bye, hyung! Happy birthday! See you soon~"
"Bye Jungwoo, thank you so much," and hung up.
Jaehyun smiled, he was feeling fuzzy inside, in a good way. The day felt weird before without seeing or hearing Jungwoo, now it felt everything was in place. Jaehyun didn't have much time to lose himself in his own thoughts because his phone started ringing again. And just like that he stayed for a while, answering calls and messages. Yes, he was pretty sleepy but he could not leave anyone without an answer because everyone was showing him so much love and he was really grateful for it, even more now that the drama filming was taking his entire day and he was tired as hell. It took some time to take care of all the messages but eventually he did.
A sudden realization hit Jaehyun, if his birthday was today it meant Jungwoo's birthday was coming pretty soon and he hadn't had the time to pick a gift for him yet. He remained laying on his bed, trying to think about what Jungwoo would like. Jungwoo was a kinda difficult person to buy gifts since he was pretty minimalist with his stuff compared to the others. Maybe jewelry? T-shirts? No, he has lots of t-shirts but he always wears the same ones. Shoes? Maybe… If he could find a pair that was really unique. Jaehyun used his phone a bit to browse the internet to find the perfect gift but decided to buy it in store later when returning from his schedule, he feels he will know the perfect present when he sees it.
He barely noticed himself drifting into sleep.
-
Jaehyun felt a strange sensation, like he was being watched somehow. The sun was already peeking through the curtains and when he finally opened his eyes he was met with Jungwoo's face almost too close to his own, big puppy eyes looking at him playfully. Jaehyun was taken by surprise and Jungwoo laughed at his wide eyes, sitting properly on the mattress beside the older one.
"Good morning, hyung! Happy birthday!", Jungwoo said. Jaehyun thought the sun coming from the window was nothing compared to the light emanating from Jungwoo at that moment. He was radiant. "Here's your gift!"
Jungwoo gave him a pretty bag, eyes sparkling. Jaehyun, still a bit sleepy, sat on the bed and accepted the gift. "Thank you, Jungwoo," he replied softly, admiring the packaging. It looked like Jungwoo customized it himself with a lot of cute decorations. The younger looked excited to see his reaction to the present, Jaehyun was a little slow but eventually got all the colorful ribbons off the bag and reached for the gift.
It was a hoodie, a very pretty yellow one. Jaehyun didn't have a lot of colorful clothes in his closet but he felt really happy with Jungwoo's choice. "Jungwoo, that's amazing! Thank you so much,"
Jungwoo was beaming. "Really, hyung? I'm glad you like it! I think the store lady is dizzy because of me until now, I made her show me almost everything," He laughed. "It's kinda hard to see you wearing lively colors, and you look so good in them! So I thought this would be perfect."
"It is, indeed. I really like it, thank you," Jaehyun said, smiling fondly at the younger one, dimples in full view.
Jungwoo felt his heart skip a beat with that smile. Sure, he'd seen Jaehyun in the mornings almost everyday for a year now, but at that moment he looked… Different, somehow. He didn't know if it was his messy hair looking extra fluffy, his pink cheeks or his slightly swollen soft looking face. He almost wanted to ki-
"Uhm... I will make you breakfast!" Jungwoo said suddenly while getting up from the bed, trying to hide his burning face. "Auntie is taking a break today and manager said that you have to leave for schedule in about an hour, so get ready!" and then he quickly disappeared through the door.
Jaehyun remained there, a little confused by the sudden reaction but agreed mentally. He stared at the hoodie on his hands for a while. Yellow reminded him of Jungwoo. Jungwoo, who was brighter than the sun and all stars together, who was pure warmth and softer than clouds. The gift was indeed perfect. He then folded the piece carefully, leaving it on the mattress and got up to get ready.
On his way to the bathroom he noticed the smell of slightly burnt egg and decided to take a peek at the kitchen to find Jungwoo very focused on his frying pan. Jaehyun smiled to himself and stood there for a moment, until Jungwoo noticed him and smiled back. The egg was getting darker by the second but you know what? That must be the most delicious thing ever.
Jaehyun was finally at home again.