hongjoong woke up bright and early tuesday morning, excited for the day ahead of him. it was hongjoong's favorite day of the year, his birthday!

as soon as he sat up, he could smell the fresh brewing coffee and could hear the flipping of pancakes from the kitchen. without even bothering to look presentable, hongjoong ran downstairs, too excited to begin the celebration.

"good morning baby! happy birthday!" hongjoong's mom cheered as she turned around to face her smiling son.

"thank you mommy! i'm finally seventeen!" hongjoong ran into her arms, hugging his mother tightly.

the woman cuddled into her son, kissing the top of his head, "yes, you're getting so big!"

"mhm, i am." hongjoong giggled into his hands after he broke the hug, moving over to the table to take a seat.

"well, i obviously had to make your favorite this morning... strawberry pancakes with strawberry yogurt on the side! i have strawberry milk for you too!" she cheered, earning screeches and claps from her son.

"i love you so so much mommy! you're the best mommy ever!" hongjoong smiled widely at his beautiful mother, thanking her from the bottom of his heart.

"anything for my baby, especially on his special day!" she placed the pancakes on a plate and scooped out yogurt on the side, placing it in front of hongjoong.

hongjoong waited patiently for his mother to finish her plate, wanting to eat his birthday breakfast with her. thankfully, it didn't take long for her to finish her own plate and sit down. hongjoong immediately started digging in, his mother laughing at how he looked with food filling up in his cheeks.

"you know what mom, this is the best birthday ever!" hongjoong spoke with a mouth full of yogurt. his mother grabbed a napkin and leaned over the table, cleaning up all the yogurt off of his lips.

"why is this the best birthday ever, joongie?" she asked.

"because i think seonghwa likes me back!" hongjoong smiled down at his food as he spoke. his mother's interest was peaked, looking up from her plate into her son's eyes.

"oh really? what makes you think that?" she questioned.

"well, he's always been nice to me..." lies, but i'll look past that... hongjoong thought to himself, "but recently, he's been even nicer than usual! on friday, we played tea party together! he even wore jongho's prince jacket. and on saturday, we built a fort together and watched a movie! since he always lets me pick, i let him pick the movie that time... and he picked one i loved too! he picked the spongebob movie, i didn't know we had similar taste! he even asked me for my phone number! maybe jongho's good word worked!" hongjoong bounced in his seat, giggling to himself as he spoke.

hongjoong's mother was honestly shocked. she was very happy for her son, but didn't expect him to say those things to her.

"baby, that's incredible. i'm so happy for you!" she cheered, genuinely excited for her son.

hongjoong finished the last bits of his pancakes and yogurt, licking the plate clean, "thank you mommy! but i better get ready for school now, so i'll see you later!"

when hongjoong sprung up and sprinted towards his room, jongho emerged from his own bedroom, yawning and scratching the back of his head as he walked into the kitchen.

"thanks for joining us for your brother's birthday breakfast." his mother rolled her eyes and laughed, not surprised that her son didn't get up in time to celebrate with the two of them.

"hey, it's not my fault hongjoong wakes up before dawn on his birthday!" jongho defended himself.

"it's fine, don't worry. i know you have that food drive tonight, so you'll be missing dinner. you better be available for cake tonight." she gave her son a stern look and he lifted his hands up in defense.

"i promise!" he answered, taking a seat as his mother handed him a plate with pancakes for breakfast.

"but i have a question." she asked as she took a seat.

"shoot." jongho answered while stuffing his face with the fluffy food.

"hongjoong just told me this was his greatest birthday ever because he thinks seonghwa likes him back. what do you know about that? did you talk to him? please don't tell me he's leading him on or something." she said, grabbing onto jongho's hand as she spoke.

"honestly, i don't know anything about that. but i'm not gonna lie, it wouldn't shock me if he did. ever since i told seonghwa about hongjoong's crush, he's been acting weird. i told him he didn't have to watch joong anymore because of his feelings, but hwa said he still wanted to watch him. on top of that, he literally begged me the other day to go on a date with ryujin. i asked him if he just needed money, but he claimed that he was 'bored' and joong keeps him company." jongho answered honestly, putting finger quotes around the word 'bored'.

"wow, well maybe the boy does like joongie. i mean, he's a doll." she smiled and jongho nodded his head in agreement, "you better tell that boy that it's hongjoong's birthday today, though. if he doesn't say anything to joong, he might get really upset, and you know how much it hurts to see that boy upset."

"you're right, i'll bring it up in passing and see what he says." jongho smiled at his mother who ruffled the boy's hair.

"you're the best, honey." she thanked her son.

"i know." jongho shrugged his shoulders confidently, earning a light slap from his mother before she made her way into her bedroom to get ready for the day.

----

"i can't believe we have to help out at that food drive tonight... i swear it's such a waste of time!" san screamed out so loud that the whole lunchroom could've heard if they were paying attention.

"i know, it blows. you guys are really lucky that you got out of it." jongho sighed, pointing to the other three boys sitting at the table who didn't have to go.

"well that's because we're not in the leadership club. no one told you guys to join the club." mingi replied, shrugging his shoulders as he spoke.

"which surprises me, yunho why aren't you in it? the club is full of prissy bithces like you." san joked, earning a glare from the older boy.

"it's more of a surprise to me that they let assholes into the group, i guess they needed some sort of diversity!" yunho sarcastically cheered while clapping his hands. san gave him the finger in response, crossing his arms like a child.

jongho knew he had to somehow sneak the fact that it was hongjoong's birthday in the conversation, and he found the perfect opportunity to do so.

"yeah, it's my brother's birthday and i can't even have dinner with them. my mom always goes all out for our birthdays, and now i'll have to eat gross leftovers!" jongho complained and seonghwa quickly turned his head to the boy, smiling slightly to himself after hearing what jongho said.

"wait, it's hongjoong's birthday?" seonghwa asked, thankful that the other boys diverted their attention away from jongho and to san who was ranting about nothing important.

"yeah, he turns seventeen today." jongho smiled, patting the boy on the back as he listened in on san's conversation.

seonghwa tuned the boys out and began thinking to himself. he didn't know it was hongjoong's birthday, so he felt awful that he didn't prepare any sort of gift for the younger. suddenly, the perfect idea popped into his head. he smiled contently to himself, knowing what he was going to do after school.

——

after lunch, the day dragged on for what felt like forever for the raven haired boy. as soon as the final bell rang, he darted for the door, not even bothering to stop at his locker or tell his friends goodbye. he was on a mission, and he was determined to make hongjoong's birthday one to remember.

after driving down to the mall which wasn't too far from the school, seonghwa made his way towards the one toy store he knew of, build a bear. he walked inside, looking around like a lost puppy. he knew hongjoong loved stuffed animals, but he didn't know which ones hongjoong already had and which ones he didn't have.

after looking at all of the toys, one in particular caught his eye. his face lit up and he ran towards the bin of unstuffed toys, picking it up and inspecting it to make sure it was perfect.

"perfect." he spoke to himself, making his way to the stuffing machine.

he had the worker fill the toy up, the girl looking at him a little weird. seonghwa informed the worker that the toy was a gift and they lightened up their expression a bit, now understanding why someone like seonghwa was in the store.

once seonghwa had to pick an outfit out for the toy, he knew exactly what he wanted them to wear. he decided on a pink tie dye shirt and patterned jeans, an outfit that reminded him of the time he watched hongjoong when he first admitted his feelings. he smiled at the toy, extremely happy with the outcome.

after picking out an outfit, seonghwa made his way over to the name machine. he put in the gender, the birthday, and was left with deciding a name for the toy.

"hmm, what's a name that reminds me of joongie?" he whispered to himself, staring down at the keys in thought.

after a good five minutes of intense thinking, seonghwa came up with the perfect name for the toy.

strawberry shortcake.

OANAOSJSO

HAPPY FRICKEN BIRTHDAY YOU SEXY ASS BITCH CHOI SAN!!

I HOPE YOU HAVE THE MOST INCREDIBLE DAY MY BEAUTIFUL DORITO SHAPED BIAS WRECKER. I LOVE YOU WITH ALL MY HEART!!!!🥰🤩😘🥺💓🙌🏼☺️🥳🤪✨

-vic