Youâve never really celebrated your birthday before.
âSaeran,â your brother gets your attention with a brightness you donât understand. âSaeran, do you know what day-â
âItâs our birthday,â you cut him off a little harsher than you intend. Immediately, you yank your gaze away from your brother and down to the ground in shame to stare blankly at the rope heâd just pulled off of your ankle. Even at such a tender age, you donât understand why he has to do this every year. Nothing ever changes. Where does he get the energy...? It must be something he gets to see when your mother sends him out.
Despite your harshness, Saeyoung doesnât seem perturbed or dampened in the least. He grabs your wrist and tugs gently; he has to make sure youâre okay to walk before he goes towing you stubbornly, dangerously towards the door, talking bright, looking bright as he goes.
âYeah, itâs our birthday! And itâs perfect- Can you see it through the curtains? Come on, letâs just sit outside for a minute while mom isnât here.â
You tug back almost as soon as you realize where it is youâre headed, the fear of your motherâs wrath nauseatingly nerve-wracking, but Saeyoung knows how to butter you up. Youâre not even arguing with him for fifteen seconds before he gives you such a look that youâre not sure he isnât peering straight into your soul.
âSaeran. Do you know how old we are today?â
You open your mouth to answer, only to find that youâre not sure. Your face goes red with embarrassment, and you break the look that he has you locked in. This is frustrating- you wish heâd just shut up and stop getting so excited over useless things sometimes.
â... No. I donât think... Um.â
I donât think itâs important.
You hold your tongue. He doesnât like it when you say things like that so you try to spare his feelings, but you can see him frown when you look back up at him.
âWeâre thirteen today, Saeran.â
He grabs your shoulders and smiles. âWeâre teenagers now, for real. We really made it!â
He tugs on you again, finally dragging you outside into the blinding sunlight. You get goosebumps from the whole experience; having to adjust your eyes to the brightness to find how immensely green the whole world is just outside the door. The sunâs warm rays beating down both angrily and pleasantly on your pale, sickly skin.
Youâre thirteen. The implication hits you while youâre lost in looking around at the vibrancy of our surroundings, the impossible immensity of a sky hanging so widely above you that your soul might break if you take it all in all at once. You look suddenly at Saeyoung, whoâs looking back at you as happily as he is expectantly.
â... Weâre thirteen.â
âHow much longer until we...â
He makes a sound, bringing his hands up to stop you from continuing. âItâll be soon... It wonât be, um. You know, itâll take awhile longer, but, look! We made it this far, and weâre definitely more than halfway there by now, you know?â
You donât know. You donât know what heâs seen that makes him think otherwise... But heâs seen more than you, easy, so you have to trust him despite the anxiety swirling through your guts.
âEhh, hey!â He sees you frowning and brightens back up immediately, swinging a hand to get your attention. âI told someone it was my birthday yesterday when mom sent me out for stuff, and she let me take a pack of rice crackers for free... She was super nice. Have you ever had a rice cracker before?â
You remember that the last time you two got to celebrate, he tried to bring you something... Before your birthday, but it went terribly stale and dry. The both of you ate it for the sentiment, but as youâre remembering it, you start to think maybe Saeyoung didnât have to bring anything after all.
âHey, itâll be good this time! I promise. Look, theyâre all wrapped up individually still. See?â
And so you shared one of the best... and last birthdays you had with your brother for a very long time.
Youâve never really celebrated your birthday before.
âSaeran,â your brother gets your attention with a poorly hidden mischief in his tone.
âSay, have you ever seen a picture of a place before and thought, wow! I should be there right. Now.â
He looks at you as you roll your eyes and sigh at him, remaining unperturbed by your unenthused response.
âNo,â you sigh. âI donât want to go anywhere for my birthday.â
âWhaaaat?â He splutters dramatically, placing a hand over his chest as though grievously offended. âBirthday???? You said you didnât want anything for your birthday-â
âSo that includes a plane ticket,â you cut him off flatly. âOr a road trip.â
He puffs out the breath of air he was holding in his chest in a way that sends his messy bangs flying comedically for just a moment.
âI already told your friends in the RFA... Iâm not interested, as well. Theyâre listening a lot better than you are. They said âhappy birthday,â though. To both of us... Um. If you want to sign in and tell them thanks or something. I tried, but I donât know if... er. If it got through that I meant it.â
You grimace a little at the thought. Yoosung and Zen try so hard to be nice to you that it makes it a little too obvious that theyâre uncomfortable.
While youâre lamenting your poor people skills, Saeyoung loosens up his posture and drops his goofy act. You look over at him, but before you get the chance to figure out what heâs doing, he wraps his arms around you and pulls you in for a snug and all-encompassing hug. If his M.O. is distraction, heâs definitely got it down pat- you almost forget what you were moping about immediately as you pull yourself back out of shock enough to try and... hug... him back? Gingerly, but your arms fall around him, too.
âSaeran... Itâs our birthday,â he states with a warm, sullen tone. âDo you know how old we are today?â
The question makes you feel a little numb, but you nod.
â... Yes.â
He squeezes you a little tighter, then loosens up to lean back and look at you, hands on your shoulders. Itâs hard to know what heâs thinking when he looks at you; your brother here before you stands as a more complicated man than he was before. You suppose that you could say the same about yourself; the two of you have been through quite the ride these past so many years. Almost half your lives...
Itâs you who speaks up this time. Quietly, with a complex resolve you think suits the both of you.
âWeâre here,â he repeats fondly. âWeâre both here, for real this time... And I just want you to know Iâm not going anywhere, Saeran. Not ever again.â
You can practically see the apologies heâs barely keeping to himself floating around his head as he tries to tell you, tell himself, tell the universe his reassurances. You.. You know heâs trying his best, but when he gets like this...
âI just want to make sure youâre happy, Saeran. I need to know youâre okay-â
âI am happy.â Your voice comes out frustrated as you back up a step, feeling a little suffocated. â... Iâm... I mean, I will be. Iâm alright... Okay?â
You drop your gaze back down to the floor as you rein your flaring tone back in to calm it down. You can see Saeyoungâs expression fall out of the corner of your eye at your outburst, just before he resolves and hides it. Fuck. You hurt his feelings again.
â... Sorry. I didnât mean...â
âLook, Saeyoung.â You try to catch him before he gets stuck trying to figure out what he did to upset you this time.
âWhy donât you... go spend a little time with MC for the day.â
âBut-â He tries to protest, full of concern before you cut him off again.
âAnd, while youâre out, Iâll pick something good up for dinner. You and MC can go celebrate however you want, I get to have time to do whatever I want, and... At the end, we can all sit together for dinner so you donât have to sit there stressing over how much nothing we did for... Ah.â
Your birthday.
It hits you how weird it is. This is the first birthday youâre spending in a long, long time not feeling like it was a complete and utter mistake to make it this far. The incongruency of just being at peace with it is paradoxically unsettling, but you shake it off and ignore the way your brother is already slowly perking back up with an obnoxious amount of hope and appreciation at your words.
â... Look, just go. You can even buy a stupid cake and we can sing the stupid birthday song when you get back or whatever, just get awa- Oof.â
He cuts you off with another hug, this time fervent and overly clingy as he coos brotherly adoration at you. You bicker at him as he dotes and the two of you share a noisy moment before you level out, and finally, as you both quiet down and the playful tone fades away, you find it in you to hug Saeyoung- really, truly hug him.
We made it, you repeat in your head. You... The both of you managed to live it out to see yourselves make it to this point, despite everything that couldâve stopped you. Everything the both of you have been through that the other can or canât imagine- things youâll share and things youâll never know about each other in the lifetimes that youâve spent separated, never knowing what the other was up to.
â... Happy birthday, Saeyoung.â
âHappy birthday Saeran."