Chapter Text
They’re all scattered around the house when Yeonjun calls them to the living room that afternoon right after he gets home. Huening Kai appears first, a bounce in his step like an overexcited puppy and dragging Taehyun with him as if there’s an invisible leash being tugged and Taehyun has simply given up resisting. The two greet Yeonjun warmly; Kai throws himself into the elder’s arms- with no account for their size difference that threatens to knock Yeonjun back onto the couch- but he returns the embrace fondly, and Taehyun waits until Kai retreats to press a kiss to the elder’s cheek with a soft “welcome home, hyung”. Yeonjun is incredibly endeared and kisses them both before gesturing for them to sit on the empty couch whilst they wait for the others.
They don’t have to wait long as tell-tale thuds on the stairs get closer and Beomgyu enters the room, with Soobin close behind him with a gentle hand on his lower back. Beomgyu’s clothes are slightly wrinkled and the way he rubs at his eyes with a curled fist indicates that he was probably taking a nap before being called, likely having been run ragged this week at the nursery. Soobin doesn’t look sleepy, but his clothes are also wrinkled; he knows that Beomgyu doesn’t really like to sleep alone. Soobin smiles at them as he steers Beomgyu towards the couch before offering to take Yeonjun’s bag upstairs.
“Ah, don’t worry about that, Bin; I’ll get it in a bit. First off, I wanted to share an idea I had earlier,” Yeonjun waves Soobin off and stands in front of them all, “So, it’s a new year and that means new traditions. And I thought of one that I really want us to try.”
“Is it a sex thing?” Beomgyu suddenly perks up from where he’s squeezed in between Taehyun and Soobin, all traces of sleep vanished from his body as if they were never there in the first place. Taehyun and Soobin both reach to swat him at the same time whilst Kai hides his laughter in his hand. Yeonjun rolls his eyes,
“No, it’s not a sex thing. Though there’s always time for that later, honey, don’t you worry.”
Beomgyu seems satisfied, the pout disappearing from his lips as he sinks back into the cushions. Soobin sighs, “Go on, hyung.”
“Right, so what I was thinking we could start doing is make wishlists for every birthday we have.” The elder explains, “These wishlists are basically a list of things we want to do, eat or places to go on our birthdays. Depending on what’s on the list, we can either do some of the things on the one day or save some for the following year. We can add or change it whenever we want up until our birthday comes up.” The group on the couch look intrigued, mouths open in awe and eyes glinting with interest.
“Why the sudden idea, hyung?” Soobin leans forward, cocking his head. Yeonjun smiles at the blatant cuteness of the younger, a brief flash of an inquisitive dork too clumsy for his own good running through his mind.
“Well, someone at work today in the IT department was talking about how his daughter’s birthday was coming up and she gave him a list of things she wanted for it.” Yeonjun chuckles at the memory, “He was so determined to follow everything on the list because that’s what she wanted.” He turns to them all, “And it got me thinking that I want to do the same for all of you. A birthday is important, and I don’t want to forget something special or anyone feeling that they can’t speak up about something they want to do.”
Taehyun snorts, “Since when have any of us been shy about what we want?” Kai raises a brow next to him,
“Oh? I remember a certain someone was shy when he first met the hyungs and was given the opportunity to date four gorgeous men-” Taehyun claps a hand over the blond’s mouth before he can say more, only to regret it moments later when Kai teasingly licks the palm and Taehyun shrieks in disgust, miming shaking off the ‘germs’.
“Oh, boooo, get a room.” Beomgyu shoves Taehyun’s shoulder, whining about how he didn’t come here to witness this.
“We have one, thank you,” Kai winks, “You’re more than welcome to join us, hyung-”
“Ok, ok, back on topic, guys.” Soobin claps his hands before turning to Yeonjun who has stopped to simply watch the scene unfold, “I think it’s a great idea.” He gestures to the coffee table, “I’m assuming that’s what the paper and pencils are for?”
Yeonjun laughs sheepishly; Soobin never misses a detail. “I kinda wanted to get a head start on it. It’s all right if no one wants to do it. We’ll still do birthdays the same way we always have around our schedules. This is just a chance for all of us to openly state what we want so the rest of us can plan for it and keep track.”
“Aaahh, Yeonjun-hyung is getting all sentimental and cute this year!” Kai teases, pleased when some pink shoots to the elder’s cheeks.
Soobin grins, “Isn’t that how he always is?” Taehyun and Beomgyu laugh at his side and if Yeonjun wasn’t so endeared he would smack them all.
“You brats! Maybe I just won’t do anything on your lists until I get some respect.” They all continue to laugh and Yeonjun’s smile grows.
It’s Kai that moves forward first, asking if he can take a bit of paper and get started. He scoots off the couch and takes a seat at the long coffee table, hand hovering over the selection of pencils for a moment before he plucks up a pink one and waits for the others to join him. Taehyun follows suit, plopping down next to Kai and grabbing a sheet and pencil. They both look up at Yeonjun with sparkling eyes and twin smiles and the elder swears his heart skips a beat at the sight. By the time he’s finished melting over his two youngest, Soobin and Beomgyu have joined the table as well with their own sheets at the ready, and Yeonjun slowly melts all over again at how he can always rely on these four wonderful men to make him feel so happy. Taehyun pats the empty spot on the floor next to him and Yeonjun goes easily, feeling warm and content as he grabs his own sheet.
“So, we can write anything that we want?” Beomgyu pipes up, pencil poised.
Yeonjun nods, “Whatever you all want, baby.” Beomgyu’s smile is blinding at the green light and with that he turns to his sheet and begins to write. They all do the same.
The room drops into comfortable silence as the afternoon slowly drifts on, the only sound being lead on paper as their thoughts transfer to the lists.
Out of the corner of his eye, Soobin watches as Beomgyu energetically scribbles on his sheet. He desperately withholds a sigh; he knew this sort of thing would rile the other up and it should be unsurprising that the younger already had things on his mind ready to go on paper. Soobin scoots a little closer in order to see, knee to knee with him. Beomgyu doesn’t even look up, too engrossed in his task, pencil a blur.
Soobin casts an eye over the portion of the list that is most visible to him and what he sees has him swiftly grabbing the sheet off the table and out of Beomgyu’s reach.
“Hey! What’s your problem?!” Beomgyu immediately lunges for his list but Soobin stands, holding the paper high above Beomgyu’s shorter height.
“Seriously, Beomgyu?! This is what you want us to do?”
“Why not? It’s my wishlist after all; hyung said I can do what I want!”
“Ok, what the hell is going on?” Yeonjun throws down his pencil, looking unimpressed. Taehyun and Huening Kai fiddle with their own pencils but obviously still make it clear that they’re watching the scene.
“Hyung, tell him he can’t do this-!”
“Soobin-hyung stole my list!”
They both speak at once and that’s enough for them to start squabbling anew. Yeonjun’s frown gets a little deeper- maybe this wasn’t such a good idea giving these kids so much power- but he only intervenes when Beomgyu starts climbing the couch to tackle Soobin from above. “OK TIME OUT.” The two fall away from each other, though Soobin still holds the list.
“Hyung, you can’t seriously expect us to follow everything on this list! It’s insane!” Soobin tries whilst Beomgyu huffs.
“And what’s on his list that’s so ‘insane’, Soobin?”
Soobin presents the paper though he reads it aloud anyway, “He wants us all to wear skirts and worship him!” The room drops into silence for a moment as colour rushes to all their faces, before Beomgyu speaks up,
“What’s so wrong with that? You look great in skirts, even though you refuse to wear them, and Kai’s legs look amazing. Don’t even get me started on Taehyunnie or Yeonjun-hyung or we’ll be here all afternoon. Is it really that insane that I’d want you all in skirts worshipping me? You’re all hot.” He leans back against the edge of the couch, gesturing to Soobin to retort.
“I- Y-You can’t just say that! Tell him, hyung!” Soobin’s cheeks are a startling shade of crimson, and the rest aren’t that far off.
“Well… I mean, it’s a sensible reason.” An amused expression slips onto Yeonjun’s face as he moves around the table until he’s next to Beomgyu and able to pull the younger off the couch and into his arms. He hooks his chin onto Beomgyu’s shoulder, “You know I don’t need to be in a skirt to worship you, right, sweetheart? I’ll do it any night of the week.” The eldest presses a kiss to the younger’s heated cheek before he winks at the befuddled Soobin and moves back to the table where Taehyun and Kai are laughing away bent over their own lists.
Beomgyu sticks his tongue out at Soobin, “See? It’s fine.”
“But, honey, please make sure it’s something that we’re all comfortable with. If Binnie doesn’t want to wear a skirt, then he doesn’t have to.” Yeonjun goes back to his list, and Soobin sighs in defeat as he realises that’s all the help he’s going to get. He slumps against the table and Beomgyu at least has the decency to feel bad.
“Aww, please don’t be mad, hyung. Ok look I’ll scrap it from the list and put something else. I don’t wanna make you uncomfortable or upset, even though you really do look great in a skirt.” Beomgyu pouts when he doesn’t receive an answer, joining Soobin on the floor again and scooting forward until their faces are pressed together. “C’mon, hyung, I’ll do anything you want if you forgive me right now.” He blinks his eyes cutely, pouting even more.
Soobin glances at the younger, a small smile quirking at the corner of his mouth which he fails to hide quick enough. Beomgyu pokes his dimple and repeats the action until Soobin sighs and shoves his hand away. “Fine, you brat. Just don’t write stupid shit on your list.”
“Um, I think it was legit only you that thought what I wrote was stupid but ok deal.”
With the drama over, they all continue to write their lists until they finally put their pencils down and nod in agreement that they’re done.
“What do we do now, hyung?” Taehyun asks, turning to Yeonjun. “Do we keep them in our rooms or…?”
“We could pin them up on the fridge if you like. They would be easily accessible so they can be added to or changed and allows us to see what the lists are so we can plan for them.”
“Great plan, hyung!” Kai jumps to his socked feet and makes towards the kitchen as fast as he can, nearly slipping on the way, “I’m gonna get the good magnets!” They all watch him go, hopelessly endeared. They follow him into the kitchen, watching as he rummages through the drawer and pulls out a sealed packet of magnets with little plush figures on them because of course these are the good magnets Kai saves for special occasions. He hands them out- as if he had planned which specific magnet was for each of them on his trip to the kitchen- and takes his list from Taehyun.
“You can go first, darling.” Yeonjun urges the blond on and Kai eagerly sticks his list onto the fridge door. At Yeonjun’s signal the others also pin theirs and Yeonjun feels such a rush of warmth and love flood through his body that he doesn’t know how he’s still standing.
“Your turn, hyung.” Soobin calls him. Yeonjun takes in the colourful sheets as he approaches, some littered with doodles and all sorts of handwriting but clearly detailing their wishes for their birthdays. With a smile, Yeonjun pins his alongside theirs and steps back to admire it. Their fridge has never looked better.
“Can we have dinner now?” Beomgyu asks, cocking his head. Kai whirls round,
“Ooh! Can we have jajangmyeon?”
“We had that last night.” Soobin whines. Taehyun rolls his eyes and moves towards the fridge again, opening it to see what ingredients they have.
Yeonjun watches from his spot, still smiling as they move around him. He feels like his wishlist is already being granted.