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It was a special day for Chan. He woke up fully energized and ready for the day. He stretched his arms out as he smiled to himself. The weather was also quite nice and warm. He giggled when he heard the voices coming from around the dorm, the members were laughing and probably making breakfast for everyone. He yawned and got out of bed, normally the others would wake him up to help with the cooking but since it was his birthday today, he just guessed that the members let him sleep in. At least that was what he thought. He headed to the kitchen while quietly humming a song to himself. Some of them were cooking and others were playing games on their phones in the table half asleep.
“Channie, good morning baby.” Jeonghan greeted him as soon as he realized their maknae was in the room. “Hi hyung, what are you guys making?” He asked curiously, of course he wanted to hear a “Happy birthday.” from the members but judging from their half open eyes, they were not really awake so he just brushed it off, they were going to wish him a happy birthday as soon as they realized what day it was anyway. “Gyu, Seok and Hao are cooking, Wonwoo and Jun are helping them with taking out the food and stuff. I just woke up too. Did you sleep well?” The older asked, looking clueless about what date it was. “Yeah, I did.” Chan answered shortly while clinging to Minghao.
“Channie, be careful. I’m cooking.” Chan nodded and loosened his grip on the others body. He looked around the room to at least see someone smiling at him or wishing a happy birthday but there was nothing. Everyone was busy with their own thing and some didn’t even take a quick glance at him. He was starting to lose hope when he noticed the members getting more awake but still, nothing said to him. There was no way no one didn’t look at the date since they had schedules today, there had to be at least one person. His mind searched for a way to get someone to check the date. He smiled when an idea popped up in his mind.
“Shua hyung, what schedules do we have today, also what day is it?” He asked Joshua. The older one took a glance at him and then closed the game he was playing to check their schedule. His eyes looked at the date first and then the schedule Seungcheol sent him. “It’s wednesday. We don't have a lot of things scheduled for today. We just have to film for the new Going Seventeen episode. There’s not much details here so they will probably explain it when we get there. It just says that we are going to play some games.” Chan felt his heart breaking in his chest as the older looked at him without saying anything else. Tears formed in his eyes but he quickly hid them by burying his face to Minghao’s back and blinking fast.
“What about Coups hyung? Is he going to join us for the episode?” He turned his head towards the other members. “I talked to him yesterday. He said the physical therapy was going great but he still couldn’t walk like how he used to even though he mentioned that he could walk a little bit. Since we are going to play games, he is definitely not going to join us for this episode. He left early in the morning to visit his doctor.” Soonyoung explained without lifting his eyes from the screen of his phone. “That’s probably why he sent Joshua hyung the schedule too.” Mingyu added while he rubbed his eyes with his hands to wake up a bit.
“Oh, okay then.” Chan answered coldly. He had tried to call Seungcheol yesterday, but the older one didn't answer his calls or called him back. He didn’t even leave a message why he couldn’t answer him but he still answered Soonyoung’s calls. Seungcheol wasn’t the person to not answer someone but accept the calls of another person if he didn’t have a reason, he knew it but he couldn’t help but feel a bit jealous. The older one hasn’t even sent him a message about his birthday too. He just sighed and watched Minghao cook breakfast for them without looking at anyone or anything else.
Maybe his hyung was just having a bad day and forgot about it. It had happened to Chan before, it could happen to anyone too. He tried to not think about his birthday as much as he could. “Chan, let’s sit at the table. We need to have breakfast before getting out of the house.” Mingyu called Chan over and patted the chair next to him. Chan tried to make his smile as believable as possible and sat next to his hyung. He grabbed his chopsticks and started shoving food into his throat as the others also started eating. He didn’t want to think about the possibility of the members forgetting his birthday. There were some glances at him but he didn’t care as he ate as fast as possible.
“Chan, slow down. You’re going to choke.” Vernon warned him while getting out of his seat to pour water for Chan. “Okay.” He said while Vernon handed him the water. He quickly drank it and stood up from his table. “Are you full?” Joshua asked him when he noticed the maknae grabbing his plate and utensils from the table. “Yeah, I wasn't hungry that much anyway.” Chan coldly answered and placed his dirty dishes next to the sink before getting out of the kitchen. “I’ll do the dishes.” He yelled back into the kitchen and walked to his room to go get changed for their schedule after getting approval from the members. Normally he wouldn’t want to do dishes but he needed a distraction.
He quickly changed into comfortable clothes because they were going to play games. He didn’t know anything about the concept but thought comfortable things would be the best since it was Going Seventeen. He hummed a song to himself as he walked to the kitchen. After doing the dishes with Seungkwan who lost the game of rock paper scissors and had to join him, they all decided to head to their schedule. “Let’s go. Are you ready?” Vernon asked while locking the door if their dorm. After getting positive feedback from the members, they all got into the van that was going to drive them to the location which their staff chose for them.
The place they arrived at didn’t look like any place they had been before. It was a very big open space, with lively green grass all over it. Since the sky was cloudy, the sun didn’t shine directly at them and it was just perfect for anything. The staff was just setting up the first games they were going to play and the members were also just getting out of the van. Chan was the last one to get off because he was so deep in his thoughts that he didn’t even realize they had arrived at the place. “Chan, we have to go.” Junhui called him. He just nodded and exhaled deeply as he got out of his seat to make his way over to the place the staff and members were standing at, probably they were all waiting for him.
“Since Chan also arrived, i’ll explain the concept and the games to you then we will start the shooting after doing your makeup.” The female staff quickly took a look at them and continued. “We also have spare clothes for everyone if anything happens during the games or to give you something else to wear if your clothes are not comfortable enough, but you guys look great right now so we probably are not going to need it.” After her announcement, she gathered all the members closer and started to explain the games.
“You are going to be splitting into two teams and will be playing several petty games. Since Seungcheol is not going to be here with us, the teams will be equal. The team that wins a game, gets some points. After we play all of the games, the team with the most points is going to win and there will be a special surprise at the end.” The members made some noises to show the staff that they understood. “Now, we will start to do your makeup so we will be calling you here one by one or with another member.” One of the staff from the makeup team called out to them.
“Jeonghan, we will be starting with you and while we do your makeup, other members can sit down on the chair we brought for all of you or play around while waiting until we’re done with you.” Jeonghan nodded and smiled at the staff that called him while walking towards them. “Guys, do whatever you want but don’t waste your energy!” He yelled at the members as they started to run around in the area. “Take a seat here, Jeonghan. Today, we will be doing a…” Chan sighed and took slow steps towards the members who were playing around on the grass. They were all acting the same, just like it was just another day for them and it was not special.
They started shooting for the episode after a short while of doing the makeup. Seokmin was running around as a part of the parkour like game and everyone was laughing loudly, even the directors and staff members were laughing really hard because he was making loud and funny noises. Except Chan. While everyone was falling on the grass while letting out loud laughter, Chan just stood there awkwardly and tried to smile as brightly as he could to keep his “ everything is fine and I am happy. Nothing is wrong.” act going on for Carats and the members so they wouldn’t think there is something wrong with him.
“Okay, we will be having a half an hour break to freshen up your makeup and to get you to rest before we continue to do the shooting for the episode! I don’t want to see anyone running around, don’t waste your energy!” When their director announced the break, all of the members quickly rushed to the chairs that the staff put out for them to sit so they could rest. Chan walked up to his chair slowly and dragged it away from the other members a bit. Even though he expected them to say something about it, no one even mentioned him dragging his chair away from them and continued to joke around and laugh.
“Hyung, aren’t we going too far? We are straight up ignoring him now.” Soonyoung asked Joshua who was sitting next to him quietly like a whisper, making sure that Chan did not hear them. The laughter and voices quieted down and the others were also focused on him when they also heard him talking about his situation. “Yeah, I’m sure you guys also noticed he is not acting the way he always used to act during these kinds of things. Normally, he would love this set up but now he’s barely smiling. Should we continue doing this? It’s hurting him.” Seokmin added to Soonyoung’s words.
“Shouldn’t we continue? The whole staff is taking a place in this plan, also Seungcheol hyung said it would be okay once he realizes we’re acting like this because of our plan. He’s a forgiving person.” Vernon speaks up, still texting with Seungcheol on his phone. “Okay then. But we should apologize to him after this surprise ends, okay?” Everyone agreed to Junhui while they heard their director calling them to film the rest of the episode. They all, including Chan who was listening to a song with his headphones on. They all gather together in the area again and the cameras start shooting again.
They continue playing these games while the shooting carries on. As always, there's a ton of laughter and excitement during the episode but none of the laughing sounds are from Chan. He’s just standing in the place where the rest of his team is placed and watching the members have fun until it’s his turn to play and he has to act a little happier and try to make others laugh. He starts to completely give up when their shooting is coming to an end and no one except Carats sent anything or wished him a happy birthday even though he knew they had already forgotten it after what happened in the morning.
He knew since he was already a grown up, he had to act like it too. Even though the members always babied him over the last years and acted like he never grew up and was still a baby, he was actually a grown adult and had to get over it. It was just a birthday, nothing new or surprising. Birthdays were not special for every person and no one had to celebrate it for him just because he thought birthdays were actually really special days and had to be celebrated no matter how old the person was turning. In this case, it was him. This day didn’t need to be celebrated just because of him wanting it to be. It was weird that the members decided to just not celebrate it all of a sudden, but he didn’t think much of it. If they didn’t want it to be celebrated now, they had to start from somewhere to go on.
After some time, all the games were finished and the staff started to count their points to see who was getting the special surprise they were going to give. After the counting ended, it wasn’t much of a surprise that the team that Chan was also in won. Their team had been the most hardworking the whole episode which was actually quite suspicious for Chan since even Seungkwan didn’t even laugh or talk during the games and fully focused on winning and getting as many points as he could which was definitely not like him. Also, the other groups were not trying hard enough to get points, which was also weird since they were normally really competitive.
Their special surprise was a set of the things that the staff thought they might want according to their personalities. After receiving these sets of items and the members and staff congratulating them, Chan put on a believable smile and put the items down just like his teammates who did the same while the other members drank water and waited for them. They all tidied up the area a bit and gathered up at the center while getting ready to end the episode. With Chan in the middle and his teammates surrounding him, they all waited to do the ending. “Okay, since everyone is here now, it’s time for the members to show off their surprise!” Their director excitedly shouted while the cameras were still shooting.
Chan looked around him, seeing all the members all of a sudden laughing happily and smiling at him made him confused. He frowned and tried to remember if this was included in the schedule that their staff had explained to them a few hours ago, but it was not. While he was curiously trying to figure out what was happening, Minghao quickly got out of the maknae’s sight and ran back to the area where the staff is seated, some of the cameras pointing at him. He grabbed the birthday cake from the staff member and ran back to the members while holding the cake with the candles lit up.
“Happy birthday Channie!” As he started to sing the birthday song, other members also joined him and Chan was just quiet. He was staring at the members with wide eyes and a shocked face at the sudden surprise birthday cake he was not expecting to see. He couldn’t help but smile and sigh in relief. His eyes burned with tears as he looked around, emotionally. His hyungs couldn’t help but ruffle his hair when they noticed Chan had finally realized what was happening. Joshua placed a kiss on his forehead as Mingyu wrapped his arms around them, and Chan gladly hugged him back. Unexpectedly from Jihoon, he felt the older male place a little and soft kiss on his cheek, surprising him even more as Jihoon wrapped his arms around him.
“Channie, you should blow the candles! They are going to melt.” Wonwoo said while lightly placing his hand on the maknae’s waist to guide him to the cake. Everyone quieted down to let their youngest think as he got ready to blow the candles. Chan closed his eyes and quickly blew out the candles. They all congratulated the magnate as Minghao went to the staff area again to place the cake there so it didn’t get messed up. “I really thought all of you guys forgot about my birthday actually.” Chan said, smiling happily at the attention he was receiving from the members.
“Forget? Did you really think we would forget our maknae’s birthday?” Seungkwan loudly said while placing kisses all over Chan’s face while he tried to get out of Wonwoo’s hold. “We can never forget your birthday, Channie. You’re our one and only precious maknae, we can never forget anything about you. You’re our baby.” Jeonghan whispered to Chan’s ear while wrapping his arms around him and pushing the others away to have some time with the birthday boy. “You’ll always be my baby, Chan. Don’t tell anyone but you're my favorite.” He continued while giggling. He backed away after planting a kiss on the younger's forehead.
He pulled back from the hug and stepped a few steps away from Chan, to where the other members were also standing. Chan stood there and looked at them confused. He looked behind him when he felt someone holding his waist. “Happy birthday Channie.” Seungcheol softly chuckled as Chan stared at him in shock. “Hyung?” Chan asked, not sure if Seungcheol was actually there. “Channie?” The older asked with the same tone and while making his eyes as wide as Chan’s, making the other members who were looking at them laugh. “Hyung.” Chan emotionally said, tilting his head a bit as tears started to build in his eyes.
Chan quickly pulled Seungcheol in a very tight hug when he actually realized that his hyung was there. It has been a very long run since they have met or have been on a schedule together because of Seungcheol’s recent ACL injury and the surgery. Even though some members got to meet Seungcheol during that time, Chan didn’t have the time to visit his hyung because he was also busy with his solo schedules. And since he always had a little soft spot for the older, he had missed him so much. The members and Seungcheol cooed at their maknae as Seungcheol caressed his hair and placed kisses on his face.
“Hey, why are you crying? I only came here to celebrate your birthday with you, you should not cry today!” Seungcheol said in a sulky voice when he felt Chan’s tears wetting his shoulder. He raised Chan’s head from the curve of his neck and wiped his tears away from his fingers while Chan still refused to let go of him. Seungcheol giggled as he hugged the maknae again. “So you really missed me, right?” He asked in a playful tone. Chan nodded fast while sniffling and trying to hug even tighter to Seungcheol. Chan ended up not leaving the older’s side for the rest of the day and the filming. When the episode was released with the surprise clips included, they got tons of positive and supporting comments back from their fans.