Morning: Chaos starts early

The morning of Jo's birthday starts the same as any day in the dorm: with confusion and noise.

K is already half-awake in the kitchen, wrestling the world's most stubborn coffee machine. Yuma and Fuma are arguing quietly over who left the milk out. Nicholas is nowhere to be seen, which means trouble. Harua, half-asleep and in an oversized sweater, is curled on the couch with a pillow over his head, mumbling about "five more minutes."

No one's said anything to Jo.

Not happy birthday. Not a single conspiratorial glance. Nothing.

Jo stands by the fridge, confused, clutching a bottle of water like it's his last friend on Earth.

They forgot?

It's not that he expects fireworks. But last year, K made a pancake tower, Nicholas surprised him with a new sketchbook, and Taki nearly set off the smoke alarm trying to make candles more "dramatic." Even a simple "happy birthday" would have been enough.

So he tries not to show it. Keeps quiet, leans on the counter, hoping no one sees the tiny shadow crossing his face.

But Fuma does.

He catches Jo's eyes from across the kitchen and gives him the softest little smile, followed by a thumbs-up — as if to say trust us.
Jo squints at him suspiciously. That's somehow worse.

Behind the scenes: The group chat

Of course, the rest of &TEAM hasn't forgotten.

They've been plotting for days in a separate group chat called "🎂 Hush: Operation JOYOUS JOJO 🎂" (Nicholas picked the name).

The chat, as expected, is a mess.

NICHOLAS: DO NOT LET HIM SEE ANY BALLOONS

FUMA: why are balloons the problem? 😭

NICHOLAS: because then he'll KNOW

TAKI: i found confetti cannons

K: absolutely not

HARUA: maybe... just one confetti cannon

YUMA: I will physically tackle Taki if he tries to use a cannon indoors

EJ: focus. who's on distraction duty?

They decide Fuma will keep Jo busy. He's calm, soothing — unlikely to accidentally blurt something out like Nicholas (who's incapable of whispering) or Taki (who once ruined an entire surprise by texting "GUESS WHO'S BRINGING THE CAKE???" to the wrong chat).

Meanwhile, K, Nicholas, Harua, Taki, Yuma, and EJ race to prepare the living room for a surprise party that should've taken hours — but they have roughly ninety minutes because Fuma can only stall so long with gentle errands like "help me pick new guitar strings."

Midday: The gentle deception

Fuma finds Jo standing awkwardly by the shoe rack.

"Hey," he says, breezy, "want to come with me to the music shop? I've been meaning to swap out some strings, and I'll treat you to lunch after."

Jo brightens a little.

"Sure."

They slip on sneakers and head out.

For the next couple hours, Fuma plays his part flawlessly: they drift through aisles of polished instruments, Jo tries out a few new headphones, they sip iced drinks from a tiny café on the corner. Fuma even buys Jo a cute little pick charm for his bag — a tiny silver guitar that makes Jo laugh.

Jo thinks maybe they didn't forget. Maybe this is enough.

Meanwhile, back at the dorm, things are — predictably — a disaster.

Meanwhile: Absolute chaos

"TAKI, NO!" Yuma lunges just in time to stop Taki from lighting four sparklers at once.

"Relax, it'll be epic!" Taki protests, waving them dangerously close to a pile of gift bags.

Harua is taping up a string of polaroids they printed of Jo from the past year — laughing at arcades, sleeping on the studio floor, squinting at the sun during a picnic. His fingers work delicately, like he's scared to wrinkle Jo's smile.

Nicholas, of course, is in the middle of the room with a balloon pump, dramatically sighing.

"Why are these taking forever?"

K barely looks up from the cake box he's trying to open without destroying the frosting.

"Because you keep overfilling them and popping them."

EJ, sorting the utensils, mutters,

"Focus. We have twenty minutes."

And then the worst happens.

The door clicks. Fuma's voice drifts in, bright and unsuspecting.

"We're back—"

The surprise (that shouldn't have worked)

K's eyes go wide.
Nicholas drops a balloon.
Taki actually squeaks.

Yuma does the only thing he can think of — he shoves everyone behind the kitchen island in one ridiculous heap.

When Jo steps in, he freezes.
The apartment looks almost normal, except there are suspiciously too many balloons, a cake sitting half-hidden behind a pillow, and several pairs of eyes barely peeking over the counter.

Jo blinks.

"Uh... guys?"

A moment later, Taki pops up with a tiny confetti cannon — which immediately explodes, sending gold foil everywhere.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JO!!!"

Everyone erupts out of hiding at once, shouting and laughing. Harua flings an arm around Jo's shoulders, nearly knocking him over. Nicholas grabs both his cheeks, mashing them together.

"Surpriiiiise. Did you actually think we forgot??"

Jo stands there, dazed, lips wobbly, eyes shiny.

"I... might have, actually."

Fuma nudges him.

"We'd never."

Cake, gifts, and small gentle things

The cake turns out slightly lopsided — courtesy of K's careful but very stressed icing skills — but it's delicious. They sit in a rough circle on the floor, cross-legged, plates balanced on their knees.

Jo gets the first slice. Taki tries to feed him, misses, and gets frosting on Jo's nose.

Yuma hands him a small box, inside is a bracelet made of tiny star beads.

"Figured you needed more sparkle."

Harua gives him a notebook filled with pressed flowers from all the cities they've traveled through this year.

Nicholas wraps an arm around Jo from behind and slips a new set of art markers into his lap.

"So you can keep drawing us ugly."

Fuma gives him a quiet look and says,

"We're your family, okay? Don't ever doubt it."

EJ doesn't say much. Just leans over and presses his forehead to Jo's for a second, a silent promise that means more than words.

🌌 Late night: rooftop stars

Later, when the sugar high crashes and the chaos dims, Jo finds himself out on the rooftop with Nicholas and Harua.

They brought up a fuzzy blanket and leftover cupcakes. The city stretches below, glittering.

Jo's laughing at a story Harua tells, cheeks still warm from the celebration. Nicholas watches him with that almost annoyingly tender look.

Then he says, low,

"Hey. Happy birthday, Jo."

Jo bites his lip, looks down.

"Thank you. For today. I... I really thought for a second I didn't matter enough."

Nicholas frowns and flicks Jo's forehead.

"Idiot. You're literally the center of this entire weird universe we've built."

Harua laughs, leans against Jo's shoulder.

"It wouldn't shine without you in it."

Jo's eyes prick. But he doesn't look away.

"Good. Because I don't want to be anywhere else."

✨ Tiny hours: content

They drift back inside, pile onto the couch in a tangle of limbs. At some point, Taki's head ends up in Jo's lap, Yuma's asleep on the floor with a hand on Jo's ankle, K is still half-awake complaining that the armrest is too hard.

Nicholas props his feet on Jo's knees, smug as ever. Fuma and EJ share a chair, close enough that their shoulders touch.

Harua's half-asleep beside Jo, whispering,

"Best birthday?"

Jo hums, presses his cheek into Harua's hair.

"Yeah. Best."

🎇 The last line

Outside, the city keeps buzzing. Inside, the birthday candles are long blown out, but Jo doesn't need them.

Because in this warm heap of sleepy voices, off-key humming, and laughter even as they drift off — he knows he's exactly where he's meant to be.