Love Me Stage Left; Soonhoon

03

19 DECEMBER

SOONYOUNG CLAPS HIS hands together. "Alright, big boys – and Chan," he nods across the table to the youngest of them all. Minghao makes a face of disgust.

"I don't like that you called us that."

"What, big boys? Are we not – "

"Anyway," Seungkwan interrupts, "You all know why we're here?"

Jihoon snorts, "No, I haven't got a clue. Please enlighten me."

"This couldn't have something to do with Joshua's birthday in two weeks, could it?" Wonwoo yawns, his eyelashes heavy with a drowsiness so thick, Jihoon thinks he can see it from across the table. Large, dewy snowflakes of sleep brush his cheeks when he speaks. "Why'd we have to meet so early in the morning? It's Sunday."

"I thought breakfast would be nice," Seungkwan frowns. "Don't be ungrateful." Vernon rubs his shoulder, assuring him that it is nice – and they establish that this is, in fact, a meeting for Joshua's birthday, to plan his party.

"My parents are in China visiting family, so my house is free," Minghao tells them.

"They left you alone?"

"Sure. I told them I preferred to stay here for the holiday. And besides, what am I going to do – plan a party?" He grins. "They'll be back for New Year's."

"That's cutting it close, isn't it? Josh's birthday is the 30th."

"They won't come home any sooner than expected. I just need you all out of my house by Thursday afternoon – and help cleaning up before then."

Jihoon sips his coffee while they run through ideas, not offering much to the discussion. They'll probably opt for a holiday theme of sorts, one that's half-assed with cheap tinsel decorations and blinking lights, because, at the end of the day, people only really care about the drinks and having a good time. Something to get them all blasted before they get roped into their own family celebrations for the New Year.

"We can act like we're all going to dinner to celebrate, and we'll meet at Minghao's before heading out," Soonyoung suggests. "He'll walk in, someone will switch on the lights – and surprise! He'll love it."

They agree on that; it's easy enough, and Josh isn't one for extravagant, over-the-top festivities, anyway. Wonwoo is still yawning and hiding his mouth behind his mug.

"We couldn't have made a separate groupchat to decide on this? I was up all night working on my English paper, I'm exhausted."

"Don't complain," Soonyoung grins. "At least this way, you get to see my beautiful face first thing in the morning."

Jihoon chokes down a chuckle, rolling his eyes at the boy beside him. It's no good, though, Soonyoung has a sixth sense for these things – he looks over at Jihoon and laughs, radiant as the sun itself, and pulls a small smile out of Jihoon anyway.

It's nice, actually, the distraction of planning this party. For the next week, Jihoon actually has an excuse to think about something other than the play, or schoolwork. Better yet, Soonyoung is insisting that they go shopping together to get a joint gift.

"Too cheap to buy him something yourself?" Jihoon smirks, cocking one eyebrow. Soonyoung frowns.

"No! But you know as well as I do that we're both broke. It's expected, anyway, so we might as well."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, y'know. We do everything together."

Right. Jihoon tells himself not to overthink that.