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Joonghyuk’s birthday was on the third day of August. It was a date they would celebrate but the group couldn’t figure out what he really wanted as a gift. They already spent the entire week brainstorming ideas and going to their nearby shopping centre to search for something meaningful: they didn’t find anything good enough for a person like Joonghyuk. He was such a hard man to please.
*Four days left until 3rd August*
“We could always give him birthday punches.” Sooyoung suggested, tapping a pen on a blank piece of paper. They were sitting in the living room, thinking of anything to properly prepare for Joonghyuk’s birthday.
“If you want to die, then go ahead and punch him.” Heewon replied back.
“How about a normal birthday party, is that… not a good idea?” Hyunsung asked.
“It’s Yoo bloody Joonghyuk, of course he wouldn’t be okay with just a normal birthday party!” Sooyoung exclaimed.
“But we can’t just give him nothing either.” Jihye cut in. They all signed in defeat. It was near impossible to think of a decent gift for the man since he already had all the things he needed. Sooyoung stood up and paced around the room, biting the end of her pen as Jihye turned around in her seat and faced Mia. “Hey Mia, do you know what your brother wants?”
“If I knew, I would’ve suggested something already.” They all groaned in frustration. Why was this so hard?!
“Ahem… maybe Dokja would have an idea of what Joonghyuk wants as a gift?” A cough interrupted them and Sangah slowly walked into the living room, confusion evident on her face. She just returned from the library she worked at and the first sight she saw once she walked through the door baffled her: the adults were either laid on the floor like snow angels or melted into the sofa. The children were quiet in the corner, looking at them with blank stares.
“Dokja… Sangah’s right, he would know what to get for that jerk!”
“But isn’t Dokja on a business trip somewhere? Do you know when he’s coming back, Sangah?” Heewon asked her as everyone looked at the woman with anticipation.
“He never mentioned when he was coming back, he only said he was going to leave for a few weeks. Would you like me to leave a message for him?” Sangah was about to pull her phone out after seeing the number of nods but a loud bang startled her and the sound of shuffling echoed in the hallway: it got louder and clearer. It seemed they had awoken the beast.
“Is that-”
“Shh, pretend we never spoke about this! We can’t let him find out!” Sooyoung shushed Jihye as the man himself crept up behind the door frame and growled at the group with dark eyes,
“I have a marathon to prepare for yet you all are being unnecessarily noisy. What is wrong with you?”
“Just ignore us, we’re not doing anything at all. You go ahead and continue with what you’re doing~.” Sooyougn said sweetly, earning a disgusted glare from Joonghyuk before he stormed off. Yoo Joonghyuk was a professional gamer and had his own streaming channel: he seemed to have forgotten about his birthday if he was about to do a marathon stream around this time so maybe they had some time for preparations, they just have to wait for Dokja to reply back. They stayed quiet, wondering what to do in the meantime until Hyunsung broke the silence,
“Then, shall we go with the party idea and get the party necessities before thinking of the gift?” Perhaps Hyunsung had the right plan all along.
***
They were in a dilemma yet again. They came to an agreement to have a party for Joonghyuk but the current problem was choosing a main colour for his party. It was Sooyoung versus the whole group since they couldn’t settle on one colour.
“Let’s just choose white, nobody hates the colour white.”
“Sooyoung, I don’t think he likes white…”
“What kind of person is he if he doesn’t like white?! I say let’s choose it just to spite him, I can’t believe that!” She got an earful from Sangah after the comment and as Sooyoung got dragged away, the group chose a mix of black and grey, since it were the colours Joonghyuk liked to wear.
*Three days left until 3rd August*
“This is strange, Dokja still hasn’t replied yet.” Sangah frowned at her phone, the message she sent yesterday wasn’t read and Dokja wasn't picking up her calls either. “He would usually reply straight away regardless of time…” She sighed and looked at the person who accompanied her. “Seolhwa, is it not possible to ask Joonghyuk what he wants? If Dokja is not replying, then something happened to him.” She glanced to the side as she spoke, noticing the piles of books left unattended: she carefully picked up a pile and moved from behind the counter, walking down the steps and towards the Science Fiction and Fantasy aisle.
“That was what I asked Sooyoung but she still wants to surprise Joonghyuk. She wouldn’t listen anymore.” Seolhwa stretched her arms and put her hair in a ponytail, picking up the second pile and following behind Sangah. “And it’s not a good idea to disturb Joonghyuk right now since he’s still getting ready for his marathon, hah…” They sighed in unison and after sliding the books back in its corresponding genres, they trudged back to the counter, greeting a couple of young adults walking past. The library was quiet today, the breeze rustling the trees outside and the sun shining down on them. Sangah remembered how it used to be rowdy in the past: a group of men would cause a ruckus and try to force Sangah to go with them; she always managed to fight them off, but it didn’t stop them from continuously causing a scene at the library's entrance. It did stop when Dokja started working alongside her. Despite his frail figure, he could pack quite a hefty punch and to their surprise, Dokja managed to heavily injure these men after realising what they were doing, going as far to threaten them to never come back again. Sangah unconsciously giggled at the memory and caused Seolhwa to frown at her.
“It’s nothing. Just a memory of the past, haha.” She looked at the clock. “Shall we get home then? The stream is starting soon.”
“We can just watch it here instead. Unless Sooyoung asked you…” Seolhwa didn’t have to finish her question for her to realise the reason why Sangah needed to get home. “That stubborn woman.” They both grabbed their belongings and asked any remaining customers to leave, apologising for the early closure. They locked the library together and walked home, chatting about the upcoming party and the small items they bought for the streamer.
“Sangah unnie, Seolhwa unnie! You’re back!” Yoosung rushed over to the two women, her eyes glinting with excitement. The marathon stream had started.
“Let’s see what we can do while he's streaming, hmm?” Sooyoung popped up behind them, ready to slap their shoulders but halted when she saw the deadly glares aimed at her. Sooyoung might not even live to see the celebration.
*Two days left until 3rd August*
Joonghyuk leaned back in his gaming chair after a heated match and decided to take a break, glancing at his stream chat and saw his viewers asking for a specific person to show up on camera: Demon King of Salvation (this was mostly requested from Demon-like Judge of Fire). A frown was visible on his face as he moved his cursor to the corner of the screen and logged off the game.
“I’m afraid he isn’t here right now.” He might have replied but he didn’t explain why Dokja wasn’t here today, causing his top donator to scream in chat, begging him to give them a reason. It wasn’t like Dokja was good at playing games to begin with, but his viewers seemed to love seeing Dokja appear on camera and making Joonghyuk angry or uncomfortable. His short reply caught the ears of the other two top donators, Secretive Plotter and Prisoner of the Golden Headband, as they also asked him for a reason. He pinched the bridge of his nose and cursed Dokja under his breath. It didn’t take much effort for his entire chat to spam the same question over and over, following what the top donators were doing before.
“Chat, I don’t know when he’s coming back and I don’t know where he is either. If he comes back, I’ll tweet it. Happy?” The chat was then flooded with hearts and smiles. What a nightmare . He thought, looking at the speed chat was going at. Kim Dokja, you left quite an impression on my chat, huh.
*One day left until 3rd August*
“Gahh, why is he not back yet?!” Sooyoung screamed into her hands, her patience already worn thin. “Does he even remember the jerk’s birthday?!”
“Sooyoung, patience. Dokja is not the type of person to miss any of our birthdays, even if it’s Joonghyuk’s.” Heewon reminded her, helping Hyunsung wrap any of the remaining presents they missed. There was still no contact from Dokja, as if he just vanished from the world but they believed in him to come back in time.
“He’d better! The jerk is about to finish his stream soon too-”
“Sooyoung. Quiet. ” Heewon waved at the woman who just entered.
“Are the children sleeping, Sangah?”
“Both Gilyoung and Yoosung didn’t want to sleep since they wanted to wait for Dokja to come home. Jihye forced them in the end.” Sangah said, sitting on the sofa and reaching for her cup of coffee on the table. “It wasn’t easy at all.”
“Only Dokja will be able to get those two to sleep, so the fact he isn’t here...” Hyunsung pointed out, clearing up the wrapping paper and ribbons and tidying the living room.
“Oh for the nth time, he’ll come back in time for-.” Ding dong . They all froze as someone rang the doorbell, staring at one another with wide eyes. Sooyoung was the first one to leap to her feet and barrell her way towards the entrance, yanking the chain to unlock the door and revealing a dishevelled man wet with rain.
“Ya, you bastard, how long were you thinking of staying away for?!”
“Thank you for the warm welcome, Sooyoung.” Dokja muttered under his breath. “Our flight kept getting delayed because of the weather over there, but I’m back now. How are the children?” Heewon and Hyunsung rushed over with blankets.
“You should worry about yourself first, look at the state of you.” They draped the blankets over him and yanked him inside, forcing Dokja to sit down and take a sip of the warm drink Sangah hurriedly made. He faintly smiled at Sangah in greeting and thanked the other two for the blankets. Now that Dokja was back, they could finally relax. Sangah looked at the time and realised how late it was getting.
“Dokja, have you gotten a birthday gift for Joonghyuk?”
“Birthday… gift…?” They tensed up: they couldn’t relax yet.
“Dokja, did you forget?” Sooyoung blurted out in surprise, receiving glares from Sangah once again. “N-none of the stores are open at this time. So if you don’t have a present for him then-” She paused in her tracks and a grin bloomed on her face. Whatever idea she had, no one was going to like it.
“Sooyoung-” Sangah began.
“Dokja, you can be his present!”
“Excuse me?” Dokja looked offended at what Sooyoung suggested. Whilst Hyunsung looked perplexed, Heewon facepalmed at Sooyoung’s absurd idea.
“Sooyoung, we’re not tying him up and putting him in a box or anything like that.” The woman only grinned with mischief.
*Zero days left until 3rd August*
Joonghyuk addressed his chat for the final time and ended his marathon stream, stretching his arms and groaning from sitting in the same position for so long. He checked the time on his PC and sighed: it was seven in the morning, how long had he streamed for? He walked down the hallway towards the living room, hoping to find Dokja sleeping on the sofa after a long trip, but no one was there: just a few empty cups on the table and a few blankets neatly folded. His frown deepened and he sighed again. It didn’t look like there was anyone in the living room so they could all still be sleeping. He strolled in the direction of the kitchen, pulling his sleeves up to make breakfast for everyone, not expecting most of his friends to abruptly crowd around him as he opened the door.
“Happy birthday, Joonghyuk!” Confetti rained down on him and the group wished him a happy birthday, the cream cake sitting on the kitchen top with unlit candles. Joonghyuk couldn’t see a few faces within the group: Han Sooyoung, Lee Hyunsung and… Kim Dokja. He was pleased to see they prepared a party for him, of course, and thanked them for their efforts but without Dokja, it didn’t feel complete at all. After speaking with Seolhwa and Sangah about Dokja, the missing people returned from wherever they were, a mischievous grin plastered on Sooyoung’s face and Hyunsung with guilt laced in his eyes. They celebrated his birthday: they cleaned up the confetti and cooked breakfast together in the morning, the children buzzing around and the adults laughing and making jokes. They gave Joonghyuk his presents and Joonghyuk smiled at each one - it didn’t matter if he already had the item since these were far more significant. They ate lunch at a fancy restaurant, which was unusually quiet but they had their fill of the delicious food (Joonghyuk didn’t complain about eating food by someone else for once) and later in the afternoon they returned home in high spirits. They played games and made conversations, drank alcohol (juice for those underage) and made sure Joonghyuk enjoyed the day. However, they didn’t notice the wistful look in his eyes as he would sometimes glance around him and flinch whenever someone walked past him, their figure similar to Dokja. It was starting to get dark outside and everyone was exhausted and sleepy. They requested Joonghyuk to sleep early so they could be the ones to clean up and without hesitation, the man strolled back to his bedroom; as soon as he swung the door open and flicked the light switch, a large box revealed itself in the middle of his room, the size startling Joonghyuk. The white ribbon glistened in the light and formed into a cute bow: it was definitely sent to him but there was no sign of who the sender was.
“It must be Sooyoung and Hyunsung, they didn’t show up with the others in the morning.” He murmured, pacing around the box with a look of wariness on his face. “Guess it wouldn’t hurt to open it since Hyunsung was part of the plan.” He pulled the white ribbon with force and the material slid off the object. Gingerly, he lifted the lid and slammed it shut. “Are you kidding me..?” He lifted the lid again and threw it over the base, letting it topple to the ground. Inside the box was a sleeping Dokja still in his work clothes, his wrists and ankles tied separately together with Joonghyuk’s ties. The fact that Dokja was also blindfolded with a black cloth made him look enticing. Joonghyuk was in awe and didn’t know what to do: he finally decided to reach into the box and gently carry the sleeping man to the bed, untying the bonds on his wrists and ankles but keeping him blindfolded. “Dokja, wake up.”
“Hmmmph…” Dokja stirred in his sleep but didn’t wake up.
“Kim Dokja.”
“Wha… wh-where am I? Who’s this?” Dokja answered, still drowsy from waking up. He fumbled around and grabbed Joonghyuk’s hand, holding it tight. “Sooyoung? Hyunsung? Heewon? Sangah?” Joonghyuk didn’t reply to any of the names, a feeling of jealousy blooming within him. “Are you not going to answer me? Why can’t I see anything?”
“Kim Dokja. Do you not recognise my voice?” He lightly pushed Dokja down and flung himself over the man, caging him with his strong arms and legs.
“Yoo Joonghyuk?! Wait, why are you in my room?!” Joonghyuk couldn’t see the panic in Dokja’s eyes but he could feel the older man’s hands trembling in his. Joonghyuk reached forward, enjoying how Dokja flinched from his hair touching his cheek, and whispered,
“You're not in your room but mine. My bed to be more specific.” Dokja's ear tingled from the closeness and his cheek reddened. “Hmm, I guess it’s time to unwrap my present.” The younger man hummed with a smirk on his face as his hand trailed up Dokja’s chest. This was definitely the best birthday present Joonghyuk could have received.
The next morning, Joonghyuk carried Dokja, who was wearing the other man’s shirt and shorts, to the kitchen, placing him on a chair before cooking breakfast for them both. It seemed like Dokja didn’t get any rest last night, thanks to Joonghyuk’s stamina but he looked much happier compared to when he arrived home from the trip. He checked his phone, seeing the multiple messages sent to him early in the morning. Most of them were sent from Sooyoung, asking him if he survived the night with the beast. He left her on read and looked over at his boyfriend.
“Hey Joonghyuk.” He called out.
“Mhm?”
“Happy late birthday.” He murmured, giving Joonghyuk one of his rare precious smiles. Silence washed over them; Dokja watched as the tip of Joonghyuk’s ears grew red.
“I love you.” Dokja laughed and gestured Joonghyuk to come closer, giving him a peck on the cheek and grinning like an idiot.
“I love you too, haha. Now are you going to let me eat or are you planning to do it in the kitchen this time?”