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It never became a habit for Min Yoongi to celebrate his birthdays.Once he joined the Boygroup Bangtan Sonyeondan, his life stopped being his. The boy from Daegu who came to Seoul to become a Rapper had to give way to Suga, the Idol who made up the seventh part of a whole. To celebrate Yoongi would’ve felt like missing the importance of choosing to be exactly that – a seventh part of a whole meant for greatness, fueled by a fighting spirit and hungry for the world instead of an ordinary boy who never amounted to much.The Date to celebrate was now June 13th.
Making it another year, waking up on the morning of such a June 13th filled him with pride and excitement like no birthday had never jerked from him. So, he was good.
There was no part of him that would’ve rather been anywhere else in the world than by the side of these men when the clock stroke midnight on March 8th. The backstage waiting room reeking of sweat and ramen, but laughter filtering the air, making it into something to get high on.
The leather of the couch, slick with sweat, was sticking to their skin where the T-Shirts and ripped jeans allowed for contact. Heads thrown back were never picked up again, Jungkook relaxed back into the cushions in a way that spoke to the complete exhaustion he wrecked on himself on stage that night.Seokjin had staged another heart event, everyone being complicit in executing it, but the way ARMY cheered for it had pushed them far over the edge of what was sensible. Hoseok jumped higher, hip-thrusted harder and danced bolder than ever before. Taehyung had been kept busy by winking and licking his lips, finding cameras to smirk into, and when the staff told him to tone it down, because people were fainting all over, the worry in his eyes had been accompanied by something awfully smug.Yoongi should’ve noticed his absence, because paired with the absence of Park Jimin it almost always resulted in some prank they were playing. But with Namjoon oozing contentedness from every cell in his body, splayed across the couch next to Yoongi’s arm chair, it was hard to keep his guard up. With this world-tour, it was rare to see their Leader so relaxed. But with another night under their belt and only ten more to go, Namjoon finally settled into the rhythm that allowed them to sustain themselves on these excessive adventures.
Yoongi had just stretched far enough to feel the soreness burning up his muscles, a failed attempt to reach the water bottle that Hoseok had claimed for himself, when the lights went out. For half a heartbeat, Yoongi was sure they would flicker on again because someone simply leaned against the switch, but when they never corrected their mistake, he sunk back into the chair, lifting his head to look into the faces of members that suddenly seemed far more awake than they had let on a second ago.
It was only when the door flew open and a cheerful Jimin entered, holding a cake with a cheeky Taehyung peeking over his shoulder, that Yoongi understood what was happening. They were singing. They were singing happy birthday, and they were singing it to him. Blinking into the darkness, lit only by the flickering candles on the birthday cake, he sat up straighter in his chair.Halfway crawling over the coffee table, Jimin positioned himself – and the cake – in front of Yoongi, eyes gleaming with mischief, proud to have caught his hyung off-guard, smiling sweetly at him, as he insisted: »Blow out the candles and make a wish, Yoongi-Hyung.«
A wish.His eyes jumping from each of his members’ faces to the next, Yoongi felt his heart picking up speed. What to wish for when he had all of them by his side already? Hoseok, hair in his eyes, but brimming with accomplishment, another show delivered without any noticeable mistakes. Namjoon smiling knowingly, his dimples on full show, and a softness in his eyes that didn’t even try to hide the part he had in making sure Yoongi’s birthday would be celebrated the same as Hoseok’s had been only two weeks earlier.I don’t need this, Yoongi wanted to say, but then he caught Taehyung’s gaze and the admiration waiting for him stole his breath. That was the man who raked his brain to get a rap right that his tongue just wasn’t made for, that his breathing habits just weren’t made for, and who did all that just because it was too cool not to participate in. A man who never once hid how he felt about Yoongi’s talents. A man who believed in him from the very beginning.»Yoongi-ah,« Seokjin groaned from across the table, his face hidden in the shadow of his hood, but his grin still visible. »If this is some sick plan to cheat us out of a piece of your birthday cake by coating it in candle wax, I need you to know that I am prepared to eat it nonetheless.«»Mian,« Yoongi leaned forward, closing his eyes as he blew out the candles.
Making a wish.For another year. Or five. Or ten.With these brothers at his side, these men who had all started to out-grow him, somehow creating personalities from this barren soil of an Idol life, somehow thriving on their hectic schedules, besting the impossible and making it their new standard.It was Jimin who initiated the hug even before Yoongi opened his eyes again, and Tae who turned it into a group hug, but Hoseok pushed Jungkook onto the bodies piling themselves onto Yoongi, the birthday boy pressed into the cushions of his arm chair. Seokjin laughed when the pain of him launching himself onto the pile had them moaning.
And finally, Namjoon: stretching his arms far, far, far until he touched every single one of them, smiling into Seokjin’s back, while Yoongi’s breathing got more and more laboured.»Guys,« he begged. »Didn’t wish to become immortal, still need air to live.«Cackling, they stood on their own two feet, the lights switched on again, and Jungkook’s blue tooth speaker connected with a phone that for once didn’t play his brothers’ favorite tracks, but a particularly precious find of Yoongi’s. Courtesy of Namjoon probably – Yoongi was sure no one else would’ve taken the time to sift through the insane amount of mixtapes Yoongi had bookmarked on his soundcloud account.
He was grateful.
Moved.
And when he cut the cake into pieces, when he let Jimin smear icing across his cheek, when he fed Taehyung the last strawberry used as decoration, he felt loved as well.
A seventh part, but whole nonetheless.
Not Suga instead of Yoongi.
But Suga as well as Yoongi.And catching the sight of Seokjin relishing in the taste of wax-ruined cake, eyes closed and lips pursed, he thought it possible to start looking forward to this day, too.He just failed to realize how possible.