"Of course, I remember it, Suki-chan." Yoongi smiled, the type of smile that reached his eyes, his gums peeking cutely.

"I have no doubts that you do!" Natsuki smiled happily in return, feeling the rush of excitement still bubbling inside her.

They were talking about her birthday.

"Ahem!!" only when Fumiya cleared his throat loud enough for everyone to hear, Natsuki turned back to them.

"Oh, yes," she quickly went ahead to take the flower bouquet from Fumiya who held onto it till here, only for it to be snatched away by her.

"Welcome back, Yoongi!" he took it with care, admiring it for a second or two and then thanked her.

"You guys still remembered that I love hibiscus?" Yoongi came forward, giving a nice pat on Fumiya's back as he hugged him by the side.

"Of course," Fumiya smiled, parting. Yoongi's eyes travelled to Taehyung.

"Wow, we have a new friend?" Yoongi turned to Natsuki, "but, he doesn't look Japanese." he whispered, leaning down.

"Oh, oh, I'm so sorry." Natsuki sprinted beside Taehyung, "Yoongi, meet Yukio. He has shifted to Japan not long ago. He is from Korea, too."

"Nice to meet you." Taehyung felt like he needed to be polite, and so he bowed a little, making Natsuki chuckle.

"Hey, you don't need to be so formal. You can call me Yoongi, just like everyone." Taehyung smiled at that, still a little awkward, "What is your Korean name?" Yoongi asked further.

"Oh, it's Kim Taehyung, you call me either Taehyung or Yukio." Taehyung looked down, accepting the handshake offered by Yoongi.

"Alright," Yoongi's sharp eyes made him look intimidating even though Taehyung was quite a few centimetres taller than him.

Even after he let go of his hand, Taehyung kept quite, just smiling so that he doesn't come off as rude or awkward.

"Let's go, Suki-chan, don't you pity a poor guy like me? I'm so tired from all the traveling."

"Oh, my bad!! I have so much to talk about, Yoongi. Are you staying at your uncle's place? I'll come by later..."

Natsuki's voice faded gradually as she walked ahead, by Yoongi's side, chatting as he nodded his head now and then, speaking a few words in between.

"Pst!" Taehyung was still shaken, thinking about various things when he was forced to get out of his world of thoughts by Fumiya who walked with him, behind Natsuki and Yoongi who were now a few feet away from them.

"What's on your mind?" Fumiya asked him, observing.

"Nothing in particular." he answered nonchalantly.

"Do you find him intimidating?" Fumiya knew what he was talking about and Taehyung guessed it without any problem.

Yoongi did look a bit cold because of his appearance. His flawless, pale skin didn't help either. His eyes were sharp yet his lips and nose gave him a soft look but it was all ruled out because of his intimidating eyes and the aura around him was powerful, filled with confidence.

"Yoongi may look a bit cold at first, but he is a nice guy, I can guarantee." Taehyung didn't answer him, so he continued further.

"Or, are there any other thoughts, confusions, queries in your mind? I'll answer it for you." Fumiya had a subtle grin on his face, though Taehyung didn't notice because he was just looking straight ahead.

"Does he... uh, is he here for Natsuki's birthday?"

"I'm not sure, he just suddenly felt like visiting again! That's what I know, anyways." Fumiya got a small 'oh, I see' from Taehyung.

"Yukio, I think you should give some rest to your mind. I'll pick you up tomorrow for the meeting."

"Huh? Meeting?" Taehyung was now finally out of his turmoil of thoughts.

"Yes, did I not tell you? For Natsuki-chan's birthday party. You don't know the place, so I'll come to get you at sharp ten in the morning, alright?"

"Oh, okay, I'll be ready." he could finally smile now.

Meanwhile, Yoongi and Natsuki were in their own little bubble.

"Jimin and Haru-kun didn't come?" Yoongi remembered how dramatically Jimin had cried when he left Japan, saying that he will never forget him and will go to visit him in the future. How ironic, Yoongi was the one who came to visit first. He laughed at the memories now but it truly was painful to leave the friends he made here.

However, it was all in the past now. He didn't want to get all sad today, instead he wanted to relive all the happy memories again.

"Oh, Aki-kun really wanted to come along but he couldn't because of some school work." the sadness was evident in her voice.

"It's alright, I will just give him a surprise visit tomorrow." Yoongi was already imagining how Jimin will react.

"You will probably fail, he might just be the first to come and greet you early in the morning with a tight hug." Natsuki laughed and Yoongi couldn't deny the possibility of this happening.

It was more than possible when it came to Jimin.

As the trees passed by, the sun began the preparation of settling down on the line of horizon, the branches casted a stretched out net of shadows on them as they walked. However, they forgot to get the ice cream on their way back, but it was alright. The birds were now louder as they returned to their nests, it was going to be a lovely evening.

And it was going to be a lovely day tomorrow.

•~•~•

"Alright, boys!" Fumiya slammed his hands on the little table which was present in the small place they were currently seated in and turned to face them, his eyes filled with burning passion.

That was a bit exaggerated.

"What are we doing? Planning a murder?"

"Shut up, Aki." Haru smacked him on the thigh and he closed his mouth, hissing because of the pain.

"Hey, hey, why are you all getting distracted? Listen to the plan." Fumiya gestured them to focus with his hands as he flailed them in the air.

"So, as always, we have to arrange a birthday party for our beloved Natsuki-chan and you are all going to help me convert this thing into a cute and sweet little place filled with positive energy, got it?"

"Calm down, you're too excited, Fumiya-kun!" Taehyung laughed at his sparkling eyes.

"He gets like that whenever he has to prepare some surprise for anyone." Haruki commented.

"That's pretty admirable." Yoongi chimed in as well, who was quiet this whole time. "Man, this place brings back memories." he suddenly muttered, looking up at the ceiling which was filled with little scribbles, small papers of various shapes with something written on it.

"What- where did that suddenly come from?" Jimin looked at Yoongi.

"It came from my mouth."

"So funny!" Jimin laughed sarcastically.

"Shut your pretty mouth up, Jimin." Yoongi smiled at him, and strange or not, Jimin actually did stop talking.

"Okay, if I finally have your attention now, may I continue?" Fumiya tapped his foot on the floor as it echoed when everyone got silent, "good!" he then continued to explain his plan.

•~•~•

The day was finally here!! It was Natsuki's birthday.

Since they didn't have school today, everyone decided to ghost her and disappear since very early in the morning. They would meet up at the decided place at the decided time.

Very typical!

"Yukio-kun, you'll have to go and fetch her to be here when the time comes, so don't make yourself so busy!" Fumiya said while rummaging through the bag of balloons and other decorating stuff.

"Rest assured, Fumiya-kun! I'll do my work perfectly!" Taehyung replied as he nodded even though Fumiya wasn't facing him.

"But, don't let her know about the surprise, okay?" Jimin whispered as if the walls had ears.

"Jimin, he knows what to do already, come and help me instead of bothering him." Jimin felt himself getting dragged away by two arms but he didn't try to protest knowing that the voice and arms both belonged to Yoongi, in front of whom he didn't dare talk back when he was serious.

"You're still so mean to me, you, big kitty." there was no end to Jimin's pouting and whining but Yoongi was especially good at ignoring.

"Wow, he's cold," Taehyung felt a shiver travel through his body as he looked at the exchange between those two. Fumiya chuckled at this reaction of him.

"That's just the way he shows affection. Do you want to know a secret, Yukio-kun?" Fumiya naturally shifted closer to Taehyung, as if he wanted to whisper something in his ears.

Taehyung also instinctively leaned in to listen properly, "the thing is that he-"

"Fumiya-kun, do you need my help too?" Yoongi stepped in, startling Fumiya. His eyes were still cold, but lips had a subtle curve to them.

"Uh oh, nope!" he shifted back without a word and Yoongi only moved away after ensuring that Fumiya was back to focusing on work.

"Let's save it for later." Fumiya didn't forget to whisper to Taehyung who had no choice but to nod and smile.

It was easy for Taehyung to forget about it as he busied himself in decorating the place and soon, the evening rolled around.

•~•~•

"Suki-chan!" Taehyung stood in front of Natsuki's house, calling out her name.

"Yukio-kun!" to Taehyung's surprise, instead of Natsuki, her mom showed up outside, "why don't you come inside?" she smiled, welcoming him.

"Thank you, aunty, but I'm here to take Natsuki with me... if that's alright!?" out of habit, he touched his nape, rubbing on the skin as he waited for her reaction.

He didn't think about the possibility of this encounter at all, which made him nervous. Although Natsuki's mom was a pretty chill person as much as he had knew her but it was still a bit awkward.

He didn't know what to do or say.

"Oh, I see, Suki is not home though."

"Oh?" he was about to find an appropriate reply when Natsuki's mom beat him to it.

"You can find her and take her with you. She is probably hanging out with Kei somewhere around the neighbourhood." it was a green signal.

Taehyung happily thanked her and bowed before dashing towards the small hill, hoping to find her in the shrine grounds.

"Natsuki!!" he called out again, climbing the stairs up the hill. If he heard Kei's barks, she had to be there, which is why he kept his ears attentive.

Was it just him, or the trees beside the stairs had gotten denser as the time went? The shadows that the fluttering leaves left on him were just little, unruly circles now. At least, he was saved from the heat of direct sun.

By the time he put his feet on the last step, he was huffing and quite exhausted but he had to find her.

"Natsuki, are you there?" he spoke and a bark resonated, making his eyes lit up. His energy of climbing all the way didn't go to waste.

"Yukio?" and as he expected, Natsuki came forward from behind the shrine, Kei wiggled his tail, walking in front of her.

"What are you doing here?" her expressions were perfectly normal, "let me guess, you're here to respectfully kidnap me, aren't you?"

"What? Respectfully?" he couldn't help but laugh at the sudden, strange words, but she didn't join him.

"You didn't think that I was stupid, did you?" she kept her pace steady as she approached him, who was still panting a little.

"W-what do you mean?" he was honestly taken aback.

"Come on, Yukio!! This is such a basic trick for a surprise!!" and suddenly she whined, all seriousness gone from her face. Taehyung took a deep breath.

"Oh? We're busted?" he sighed, a hint of smile slowly appearing on his lips.

"Of course, you are!" she shook her head, dramatically pretending to be disappointed.

"What am I supposed to do now?" he genuinely didn't know. His brows knitted together, quickly thinking about a solution. The others were excitedly waiting for Natsuki to show up there, oblivious.

"Aw! Wait, wait, don't be stressed!!" a hearty chuckle escaped her throat as she, yet again, approached him.

"Don't frown, I am a good actress, you know?" she was just a little away from him, and she reached her hand out, gently touching the space between the two eyebrows on his face as she began to smoothen the creases formed on his skin.

"Don't tell me that you..." her words halted as her eyes found Taehyung's which looked straight into her orbs, she could neither look away nor keep staring at those attractive globes of galaxy, "...d-doubt my skills?"

stuttering is the most embarrassing thing that can happen to you when you're standing so close to someone. Although, she finished her sentence somehow, now it was awkward because Taehyung hadn't uttered a single word.

Natsuki being a naturally cheerful girl, this was really going to make her want to hide her face in the pillows if she had some right now.

"I dare not doubt the skills you have, Suki." he finally said, voice barely above a whisper which was dangerous in this situation, yet he went for it.

"Huh? Uh, good- good boy!" she quickly gave him two robotic pats on the head and shuffled back on her feet.

It had gotten worse now. The reaction she had because of Taehyung's words or actions. The effect he had on her was concerning, but was she concerned about it? I doubt it.

She was too busy being embarrassed to think about serious things right now. Kei was obediently sitting near her feet, looking at them.

"Let's go, or we'll be late." hearing her words, Kei stood up again.

"Wait, I forgot something." Taehyung stopped her as she took hasty steps towards the stairs.

She turned around, having made it not too far from Taehyung, she fumbled with her fingers.

As if Taehyung had to repay everything Natsuki did for or to him, he leaned down when he stopped just in front of her and put his hand on top of her head, slightly ruffling her hair as he spoke, "Happy birthday, Suki." his smile, just a few inches away from her face was so tempting that she had to clutch her hands into fists, blinking her eyes as she fought back the urge to do the inexplicable.

■□■□

God, I hope it's not too boring.
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