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“Happy birthday!” chorused as soon as he opened his front door, followed by far-too-loud pops of far-too-colourful confetti and raucous cheering. Ten was leading an obnoxious chant of his name, Taeyong was pretending to play a blow-up saxophone, and the kids were… being themselves.
Johnny wasn’t in the mood. “Fuck,” he said, instead of literally anything more appropriate.
The mood of the entire room dampened instantly. “What’s wrong?” Doyoung asked.
Johnny sighed, dragging his feet behind him as he trudged through the house, dumping his backpack on the kitchen counter and very nearly squashing the doughnuts. Normally, with so many people in his house, he’d at least try to put on a happy face for a few hours, but the day had taken him out completely.
“My client sucks. Boss called me up on something that wasn’t my fault. The trains were fucked getting back home. I haven’t eaten lunch. My body hurts.” Johnny threw himself onto his couch, which was quickly vacated by the Yangyang that was previously sprawled over it. “Just one of those days.”
He was aware, at the back of his mind, that some of these people had never seen him truly upset before. And he probably would regret being so openly negative tomorrow, but for now, he was just trying not to cry.
Yuta was the first to hug him. It was hard to tell who was the second, because Lucas yelled “HUMAN CUDDLE PILE” and then it was body after body falling on top of him with no differentiation of whose body was whose. It was definitely going to make his body even more sore, but some of frost that had gathered around his heart started melting.
He still had complaints, though.
“Guys!” Johnny whined, struggling to have his voice heard under all the fussing and the shuffling, “I think I might be coming down with something.”
“If you go down we go down with you,” Jungwoo replied immediately.
“Mhm,” Jaehyun said. “We’re ride or die now.”
“Proudly heading towards die,” Mark added.
This was completely ridiculous – but it was also Johnny’s exact brand of ridiculous, and maybe his heart was well on its way to thawed after all.
“Thanks,” Johnny sighed quietly, not sure if anyone could hear him. They all did, answering with several ‘your welcome’s, and Johnny felt like the weight on his back didn’t feel so heavy anymore.