The café lights flicked off the moment the bell above the door jingled. Kai stepped inside, confused, his brows furrowing as the sudden darkness swallowed him.
"Hello? Why's it so dark in here—"
"Surprise!!"
The lights snapped on, and the entire café exploded in cheers. Balloons bounced against the ceiling, a colorful banner stretched across the wall reading Happy Birthday, Kai!, and his friends launched party poppers that rained confetti down like snow.
Kai froze on the spot, his mouth falling open. For a second, he looked completely stunned, but then, slowly, a grin tugged at his lips as his gaze swept across the room. "You guys…"
Mina was the first to dart forward, plopping a cheap gold paper crown onto his head with an exaggerated bow. "All hail Birthday King Kai! Speech, speech!"
The group burst into laughter. Caleb started clapping like they were in a stadium, while Jace whistled loudly, making the other customers peek over before the staff shooed them away. Even Leo, usually the calmest of the bunch, cracked a smile as he muttered, "This is ridiculous."
Kai raised his hands in mock surrender, still laughing. "I don't even know what to say. You're all insane. But… thanks. Really."
Eli stood a little to the side, clapping along, his chest tightening with relief. He had worried all week that maybe Kai wouldn't like it, that maybe the surprise would feel too much. But the way Kai's grin lit up the café erased all of those doubts in an instant. Then, without warning, Kai's eyes locked onto his. Soft. Grateful. Lingering just a little longer than they should have.
Eli's stomach flipped so violently he almost dropped the stack of napkins he was holding.
The chaos kicked off immediately after. Caleb shoved a party popper into Kai's hand, Mina dragged him toward the snack table, and Jace declared himself "Official DJ" before blasting an embarrassingly off-key playlist from his phone. Leo rolled his eyes but still joined the noise, sneaking bites from the chips when Mina wasn't looking.
When the cake finally appeared from the kitchen—three layers of chocolate and cream, candles flickering—the group broke into the most horrendously off-key birthday song ever sung. The poor café staff covered their ears in mock despair.
"Make a wish!" they all chanted, leaning closer. Mina nearly stuck her hair in the frosting in her excitement.
Kai chuckled, looking around at the mess of his friends. His gaze moved from Mina's bright grin, to Jace's dramatic singing, to Caleb's wild clapping, and even to Leo's unimpressed smirk. But when his eyes found Eli's, everything softened. For a heartbeat, the noisy café seemed to fade.
Then he closed his eyes and blew the candles out.
"Wooooh! Happy Birthday!!"
The room erupted again. Caleb immediately smeared icing across Kai's cheek before he could dodge. Mina shrieked when Jace tried to do the same to her, and soon a mini icing war had broken out near the snack table. Cameras flashed as they took silly pictures, some blurry from laughing too hard.
Eli stayed near the cake, passing out plates and forks, doing his best to look busy. But no matter how hard he tried, his eyes kept drifting back to Kai. And every single time, without fail, Kai's gaze was already waiting for him.
The weight of it made Eli's chest flutter. It wasn't loud, like the cheers or the laughter. It was quiet—an unspoken conversation only they seemed to be having, in the middle of all the noise.
And it made Eli think that maybe, just maybe, his gift later wouldn't be too much after all.