"And then BOOM!" Hoseok clapped his hands together once for emphasis. "It was love, just like that."

Taehyung chuckled, enjoying the story. "That's my favorite part."

Leaning his elbow onto the table they were occupying on the outdoor patio of a restaurant, Junhong was a little confused. "I'm not understanding the 'boom' part. Did something big happen?" He and Jihoon had been learning and practicing Korean, but they were both still struggling with certain expressions.

"No, nothing big happened," Jimin explained. "Hoseok-hyung was just using the 'boom' to show that their love happened quickly. It's just an expression."

"I can help you two a bit more on understanding expressions and stuff like that if you want me to," Jungkook offered, knowing his brother might appreciate getting more help for himself and his mate.

Jihoon also thought that would be nice. "We would like that. We've learned so much while being here, and it definitely helps that you all taught us enough to get us started. Now that we're actually taking Korean classes, we're learning at a fast rate, but some things still confuse us."

"You could always just find someone to mate with for a night to learn the rest." This wasn't the first time Seokjin had made this suggestion, but it was usually blown off and not given a definite answer. "It would require no commitment. Just one night, one round of sex with a fluent speaker, and you two would not need the classes anymore."

As tempting as that could be for them, Junhong and Jihoon both shook their heads. "We've actually discussed this since the last time you suggested it. We were avoiding the topic because we didn't know our thoughts about it, but we've decided."

Jihoon smiled softly as he grabbed Junhong's hand. "We did have the thought of doing that when we first came to Earth with you all, but since then, we've studied the ways of humans to help ourselves blend in. During our studies and learning, we have seen how relationships typically work here, and we've decided that we want to follow that example. We will only mate with each other, no one else. Not even for language."

"That's so cute. What'd I miss?"

Jungkook looked up at Yoongi, who just returned to the table after his trip to the restroom. Watching his lover sit beside him, he filled him in on the conversation that had happened. "Hoseok told us the story of how he and Taehyung fell in love. Again." Of course, he wasn't annoyed at all that Hoseok told that story on his birthday every year. After all, Hoseok's birthday was also the anniversary of his and Taehyung's first kiss. "And Seokjin made the one-night stand suggestion again, but Jihoon and Junhong have decided that they only want to mate with each other and never mate for language."

That made Yoongi turn a smile to Jungkook's brother. "I'm happy that you two have made that decision. I'm sure you two would have been fine together either way, but the fact that you both chose to be exclusive is so sweet."

"Exclu--what?" Junhong definitely didn't know what that word meant.

"Exclusive." Yoongi repeated the word a little slower to help Junhong. "It means that you aren't letting other people into the relationship. It's just between you two. That's a good thing. I mean, I wouldn't judge an inclusive relationship either, but I'm glad you two chose each other."

"Anyway," Jimin spoke to get everyone's attention. "Now that we're all at the table, we should sing happy birthday and then let Hoseok-hyung open his gifts."

Everyone got ready to sing, this being the reason they'd reserved an outdoor table. But Taehyung pulled out his wallet. "Wait, wait!"

Hoseok watched with a smile as his boyfriend took a small photo out of his wallet. "You can place him in the center of the table, against the pole."

Taehyung did just that. He set the photo carefully against the pole that stuck up from the center of the table, a large umbrella providing shade for outdoor consumers. It broke his heart but provided some comfort at the same time to have a photo of his lost love there with them for special occasions. He always had that photo in his wallet, and it was brought out like this for birthdays and other days of special note. He liked to imagine that Namjoon was there with them, like he was never gone.

As everyone began to sing, Hoseok couldn't stop grinning. He had everyone there with him for his birthday, and he couldn't imagine it getting any better than this. After everything they had been through, it was nice to be able to celebrate and live relatively normal lives. It had been a couple years since he and Seokjin came back to Earth, but it was finally starting to feel like they never left, despite the hole in their group from a very specific absence.

"After you open your presents, you have to tell the story again," Yoongi demanded as he extended a small box out to Hoseok. They'd all kept the presents to themselves until it was time for Hoseok to open them. "I missed it since I was in the restroom."

"You've heard it a few times before." Hoseok gladly accepted the gifts being handed to him, so thrilled that everyone got something for him. He'd had no doubt that they would all get gifts for him, but it still made him feel loved.

"We've all heard it more than once by this time." Seokjin never grew tired of hearing that story though. It was such a nice story of how two of his friends found love in each other.

Hoseok could feel his cheeks turning pink at all the attention. "It's my favorite story."

"It's my favorite too," Taehyung said as he gently nudged Hoseok's hand with his own.

"That settles it. After presents, it's story time again." Jimin pushed his gift across the tale to Hoseok and giggled. "Open mine first."

"He should open mine first." Taehyung stuck his tongue out at Jimin. "I'm his boyfriend. So mine goes first."

Jihoon looked at the gift he and Junhong had picked out for Hoseok and couldn't help but feel a little sheepish. "Maybe he should open ours first. It's probably the worst, so let's get it out of the way."

Junhong seconded that. "We still don't understand how to pick gifts for occasions, but we tried."

"I'm sure you two picked a great gift." Yoongi was really curious to see what they had picked out for Hoseok.

"I'll open yours first," Hoseok decided, "so we can all see that it's a great gift."

Jungkook had no doubt that Junhong and Jihoon had picked something nice. Sure, they weren't used to gift-giving, but they had shown numerous times before that they were thoughtful people, despite their origin.

Opening the rectangular box that contained Jihoon and Junhong's gift to him, Hoseok didn't know what to expect, but he certainly wasn't disappointed. "You guys, this is wonderful." Turning the gift around for everyone to see, Hoseok had such an endearing smile on his lips. "I love it."

"Where did you find those?" Jimin wondered. "That's so cool and sweet."

Junhong was so relieved that their gift was apparently not a dud. "A new candy store opened about a week ago. We were browsing there and saw those. They made us think of Szarvoun, so we thought you might like it."

Hoseok couldn't explain with just words how much it touched his heart to have a box of chocolates that were designed like the planets of this solar system. "I love it so much. Thank you."

As Hoseok opened more gifts and enjoyed the company of his friends, they all had no idea that things weren't as normal as they thought. Something much bigger than a birthday celebration was coming.