𝐣𝐨𝐤𝐞 - 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐱 ✓

the one with cassie's birthday

"Jisung, stop kicking the balloons around and help me with the streamers!"

"Fine," Jisung groaned in fake exasperation before walking over to Changbin, "I'll help you with the streamers since I know you can't reach anything." Instantly Changbin jumped off the ladder he had been standing on and jumped into a fighting stance, staring Jisung down.

"You've challenged my honour," he declared, "So now I must kill you!" They both laughed and grabbed pillows from the couch, charging at each other. Jisung swung first, hitting Changbin's shoulder, who in return swung his pillow twice as hard and hit Jisung in the face. They both fell to the floor laughing but were abruptly cut off when Felix jumped between them and threw two pillows, one to each side of him, and hit the other two boys in the face.

It was a sweet, pure moment in their friendship. They were just laughing on the floor and enjoying each other's company, forgetting about all of their worries, even if just for a moment. Minho and Jeongin arrived and let themselves in without even knocking. Immediately all of them got back to work decorating for Cassie's party.

There were yellow streamers lining the walls, yellow balloons littering the floor or drifting along the ceiling, and random handfuls of flower-shaped confetti thrown across the kitchen and living room. Junhui and Chan arrived with the cake and pizza and set them both on the kitchen counter. Now they were only waiting on Seungmin and Hyunjin. Cassie had been hanging out with Yeji at her house for the past few hours, and Hyunjin offered to "drive Cassie home" (bring her to her birthday surprise) so they were all in the car on their way to meet everyone else.

Felix's phone pinged with a text from Seungmin. "They're outside," he announced, "Lights off, everybody hide!" Jeongin flipped the light switch and dove behind the couch. They waited in anticipation, listening to the sound of the front door being unlocked and then opened. As soon as the lights were turned on, everyone jumped out from their hiding places and yelled SURPRISE! as loud as they could.

Cassie flinched at first because the surprise definitely was... well, a surprise. She hadn't been expecting this, and though she had been scared for a moment, she now couldn't help the smile creeping onto her face. "You guys, this is great!" She hugged her brother and whispered, "Thank you so much."

Just as Felix was about to speak, he was interrupted by loud singing. Everyone was slowly walking into the room while bringing in the food for Cassie's party. Jisung, as usual, was the loudest.

"Happy birthday dear Ca— Damn it Changbin, don't drop the cake! Oh, um— happy birthday to you." He finished singing with everyone else and then did jazz hands at the cake in Changbin's hands.

Cassie was beaming. Felix didn't think he'd ever seen his sister this happy before. His eyes welled with tears as he watched everything happen. The room was full of people who actually cared about Cassie, people who genuinely wanted to support her and make her happy for her special day.

"Hey," Changbin whispered, "Happy birthday, Casserole. Make a wish." She rolled her eyes at the nickname Felix had given her years ago before she blew out the candles, sending smoke into Changbin's face. He laughed. "Okay, that's fair."

The rest of the night was spent eating snacks, cake, and pizza while they all hung out and watched movies. Cassie had chosen to start with her favourite film, which was a horror movie in English. There were mixed reactions. Changbin was excited; he loved horror movies and had watched them with Cassie plenty of times before. Junhui and Chan were too distracted being responsible parents and tidying up to notice. Jisung and Minho were both on their phones. Seungmin pretended to be afraid just as an excuse to sit in Hyunjin's lap for a few hours. Jeongin sat next to Cassie with his face buried in a pillow, nervous before the movie had even started. And Felix... well, he was terrified. He hated horror movies, especially this one, even though he'd already seen it.

There was a mild jumpscare toward the beginning of the movie, and Felix scooted closer to Changbin in their blanket pile on the floor. Changbin didn't oppose it, in fact he wrapped his arms around Felix and laughed every time the younger boy tensed at even the smallest things that put him on edge. Felix wrapped his arms around Changbin's neck and buried his face in his shoulder. During the exorcism scene, Felix was biting the sleeve of his sweater to keep from screaming in fear. Changbin cooed at the sight, but was distracted from his staring by a text.

Chat with Casseroleeee

Casseroleeee: Felix won't survive the rest of this movie and istg if he yells and wakes Jeongin or Seungmin up I'll knock his teeth out

Bin: yeah lix gets scared easily and seungmin is grumpy when he wakes up. and junhui will kill us if we wake up jeongin because "hE's JuSt a BaBy He nEeDs HiS rEsT!1!1!1!"

Casseroleeee: Stopppp I might wake Jeongin up if you make me laugh. But I do like your overprotective mom impression of Junhui
Casseroleeee: You should def take Felix up to his room though I think he's about to pass out or have a stroke or maybe piss his pants but whatever it is he can't handle this movie. What a loser

Bin: yeh ok i'll take him upstairs. you need any help cleaning up or anything? our friends are kinda sorta a complete disaster all the time

Casseroleeee: If this is your mom Junhui impression again, it's very accurate. Aka, he already cleaned everything up

Bin: pshh, overachiever
Bin: ok. night kiddo ima take lixie. happy birthday you tiny little fluffnugget

Casseroleeee: 'fluffnugget' get out wtf

Changbin quietly waved goodbye to Cassie and their friends as he carried Felix up the stairs to his room. He dropped Felix onto the bed and sat down next to him. "You still look scared," he said, "Can I do anything to help you? Memes? Snacks?"

"Just distract me so I don't have to think about the movie. I wanna think about good things," Felix explained, "Something that'll make me happy."

Changbin cleared his throat. "What do you want me to do to help distract you?"

Felix thought for a moment.

"Kiss me."

a/n: to the friend who was nagging me outside of an ice cream shop earlier today to post a new chapter, i have two things to say to you:
1. thanks pal i needed motivation
2. yOu'Re WeLcOmE bUdDy

thanks so much for 9.6k reads
it really means a lot to me so i just wanna say thanks for everything babes i hope yall have a good day/night