#getpublishedproject

"We can't let Hoseok find out about this," Kaye said as she pressed her phone’s power button, her screen fading to black.

"I know," Jin said. "But it’s highly improbable that he finds out about this facade. How could he? He’s not supposed to be anywhere near here, remember? Namjoon lives in the opposite direction."

"I still don't think lying to him was the right thing to do," she said to herself, thinking back to what she had just told him.

One lie always lead to a thread of others, which meant she'd have to invent a story just to tell him about her day. It had become a habit of theirs to tell each other what daily events they had been through. That way, they would be able to breathe away from the pressure of work. Her from the weight of the papers she had to write as a free-lancer, and him from the stress dancing sometimes put on him. He loved dancing and she loved writing, there was no denying it was in their blood, but sometimes practice and deadlines were just too overwhelming.

"Just think of it as us having no choice," Jin told her while giving her shoulder a nudge, hoping to put a smile on her face. "He always hogs you on your days off, so there was no other way to make this happen, alright?"

She sighed and tried to force a smile on her face. Jin was right. What other way could she have spent a day alone? It wasn't like she was cheating on him or anything of the sort. She wasn’t doing anything wrong.

Nonetheless, the voice at the back of her head kept nagging her: You should've just told Hoseok you were hanging out with the other boys.

He probably would've asked to tag along, she thought, trying to reason with herself. Refusing him would've seemed weird.

Things would’ve been easier if you had told the truth. Then you wouldn't have to fret about lying.

But he would've asked why he wasn't allowed to tag along and I would've had to lie either way, she reasoned. Plus, this counts as a harmless lie, doesn't it?

She was so deep in thought the next thing she knew, Jin had put a Danish pastry in her hand.

"Turn that frown upside down and let's go. We wouldn't want to be late to meet the others," he said, heading towards the door.

She hummed and followed him wordlessly, stealing one last glance at her phone before putting it in her coat pocket.

---

"Andrea, could you get the door please," Hoseok heard after he rang the doorbell. A small smile tugged at his lips, deviating his thoughts from Jin and Kaye. He had always admired the love his friends had for each other. Through thick and thin they had always been side by side and had kept loving each other, even after all these years.

"Make yourself at home," Andrea said as she opened the door, wiping her hands on her apron and giving him a brief hug.

Hoseok discarded his shoes at the entrance and hung his jacket on a hook.

"How can I help?" He asked, rolling up the sleeves of his grey button-down shirt and joining his friends in the kitchen.

"We're pretty much done everything. All that's left to do is to make japchae for the mad scientist," Namjoon briefed him while Hoseok washed his hands.

It was planned that they would throw Taehyung a surprise party. On December 30th, he had been busy at the lab and they hadn't found the time to properly celebrate with all his research going on. According to all of his calculations and predictions, he was bound to find a new star in the upcoming weeks, days even. After Calliste, he wanted to call this one Pragma. Not only had Alex been the reason of his first star's naming, but she was also the reason of his future second star's name.

Pragma, Taehyung had explained, was the Ancient Greek term for longstanding love. According to his online research, "psychoanalyst Erich Fromm said that we expend too much energy on "falling in love" rather than "staying in love" and that pragma was "precisely about "standing in love", about making an effort to give love rather than to just receive it".

 And after a bit more research, he had a found one of Fromm's quote that summed up the message he wanted to pass along to his girlfriend : Immature love says "I love you because I need you." Mature love says "I need you because I love you." Taehyung said knew now, what the difference between the two was.

Hoseok wasn't one to say so, but he was kind of envious of the way Taehyung treated his girlfriend: by naming stars after her, telling her she was his Calliste, the most beautiful to his eyes, and now that she was also his Pragma, the one he needed because he loved her. Hoseok wished he could do the same to Kaye. The best he could do was perform or choreograph a dance for her, but what was that compared to having pieces of the galaxy named after you?

After all the etymology chatter, the boys had gone to a bar to get a celebration drink, but the boys hadn't really considered it as a birthday gift. A round or two of drinks was no way to celebrate someone's 30th birthday, right? A smile made its way to his lips as he thought of what Taehyung's reaction would be. There was no doubt he'd be surprised, considering he hadn't exactly been the most outgoing person in the past few years, even with all of his girlfriend's efforts.

"Do you want me to start cutting the meat or the vegetables," he asked Andrea as he saw her close the lid of a kimchi-filled Tupperware.

"The veggies please," she said as she stacked the container atop a pile of others. He worried the two stories would end up falling from the counter to the floor but his friend seemed under control. He breathed a sigh of relief as nothing moved when she stepped back. "You know just how incapable ’Joon is at cutting things other than meat."

Hoseok chortled at the memory. How could he have forgotten that time Namjoon had wanted to surprise Andrea on their anniversary? Even till this day, he didn't know how things would've turned out if it hadn't been for Kim Seokjin.

Hoseok had met Seokjin through JB, one of his dance crew friends, when the latter had invited him over to game during autumn break. He knew Jin to major in acting while coaching his college swim team, but more often than not, they simply met up at PC rooms or online to team up for ranked matches on Overwatch or League. Sometimes even Mark, JB, Youngjae, Jimin, and Jungkook would join too.

He couldn't quite remember how he had ended up tasting Jin's cooking, but he knew that he was the one who'd be able to save Namjoon from his own self.

Namjoon had first called Taehyung -Tae, I kind of need your help- who had then called Jungkook -hey Kookie would you mind helping me out? There's no way I'll be able to handle him alone -  who had then called Jimin -hyung this is a 911- who had then called him -hyung, can I ask you to save my good-looking ass- who had then called Seokjin -Jin I need you to be our ultimate saviour-.

Everyone had ended up bunching up on Namjoon's porch as Taehyung knocked, seeing as he had been the one called to the rescue after all.

Namjoon had been in for a surprise when he had opened to door to discover six boys there instead of one, but he had let them all in nonetheless. Seeing as Andrea was always cooking extravagant and exotic meals, Namjoon had wanted to surprise her by cooking for once. The meal he wanted to do was nothing fancy but it was definitely out of Namjoon's cooking league.

When Jin and Taehyung had set everyone to a task, Namjoon's being cutting the onions, everyone had discovered just how much of a kitchen catastrophe Kim Namjoon really was.

flashback

"Are you even trying," Taehyung chuckled as he walked over to his older friend. "You're trying to cut with the dull side of the blade, ’Joon," he told him, turning the knife in his friends' hand before going back to his noodles.

The older had hummed as thanks, cutting his onions in half.

Every once in a while, someone would glance away from their task, snorting at the concentrated look Namjoon was sporting. From his expression, one would've thought he was disarming a bomb with 10 seconds left on the timer.

"Who in their right mind would try to saw through an onion," Seokjin had exclaimed out of exasperation, after a few seconds of watching Namjoon work.

Jimin, who had been beside the said source of problem at that time, had decided to take matters into his own hands. He leaned across the counter, put his palm flat on top of the blade and pushed down.

Namjoon let out a grunt of surprise as the knife hit the cutting board.

"Thanks," he said and Jimin replied with a sheepish smile. Was such a basic kitchen know-how even worthy of thanks?

"Woah woah," Hoseok had exclaimed a few seconds later, rushing to Namjoon. "Are you trying to make that onion fly across the kitchen? Put the flat side on the cutting board and then cut it."

"Here, I'll teach you," Seokjin had said, giving up on leaving Namjoon to himself. "You put the flat side on the cutting board and then cut it like this." He had demonstrated and had even gone to lengths such as leading Namjoon's hands while he was cutting.

It had been like that all afternoon long. Namjoon had managed to learn how to properly hold a knife and cut an onion, but all the boys finished their respective tasks while keeping an eye on him. Taehyung had even taken it upon himself to do half of Namjoon's work. Seeing how slow Namjoon was working, he deemed his help necessary, as they'd be waiting for Namjoon for a week at least.

For a while they had even tried assigning him to another task, but he had acted as if he was in his lab, measuring each ingredient with precision and care. Seeing as cooking usually worked with approximations, experience, and personal taste, they had given up on him and had simply reassigned him to the onions. But, at the end of the afternoon, the meal had managed to passed Taehyung and Seokjin's final inspection and they had all parted ways, hoping Andrea would appreciate Namjoon's efforts.

end of flashback

---

"Glad you could make it," Taehyung greeted with a handshake while Jackson opted for a brief hug.

"You thought I'd bail out on you," Jin replied with a raised eyebrow as the boys took turns to greet Kaye.

"No way, I'm just surprised you'd make it here first with everything you had to do," he replied. "I was half expecting you to get here after the main man."

"Yeah," Jackson added. "You had to buy all the decorations and food and all of that!"

"I think you're forgetting some things," Kaye said. "You're the one who got reservations at this restaurant, Jackson. And Taehyung, you're taking time off with everything you have to do at the lab and I'm really grateful for that. Plus, Namjoon and Andrea are the ones who are cooking most of the food. Jin and I just went out to buy the meat and the decorations and some simple things."

"Still," Taehyung insisted. "You guys were probably wandering all over town all day long."

"Yeah," Jackson agreed. "We haven't done much. We were actually throwing hoops with Yoongi and JB before getting here, but Yoongi had to go meet one of his clients and JB said he had an appointment at the vet's for Nora, so they both left a bit early. They also said they might get here a bit late. And getting a spot here wasn't much trouble, I just called a friend of mine."

"I still really appreciate all the hassle you went through," Kaye told him sincerely. "I'll have to thank BamBam someday for lending us his restaurant."

"Sure," Jackson said, already making mental plans to organize that meet-up. "But BamBam said it really wasn't any problem. He's taking time off to go on a date at a place Mark and Charlie Brown recommended, so it's a win-win situation."

"Now that you brought them up," Taehyung said, recognizing the nickname Jackson had given Lena, "How have Mark and Lena been? I haven't seen them in a while."

"Oh, they're doing great," Jackson said as they started unpacking the things they had brought.

As they started decorating the room with balloons, fairy lights, and paper lanterns, Jackson filled them in on all their friends of the group.

Mark and Lena had just come back from visiting the Tuans in LA, Tami was currently giving a dance workshop in Toronto, Youngjae had opened a café, Jimin had been giving a dance workshop with Jungkook in New York but had cut their week short and had flown back yesterday to make it in time for the party, Jinyoung (JB’s roomate) was undergoing a business internship, Yugyeom was spending his time either performing on the streets or teaching dance classes, et cetera, et cetera. Although some of them couldn't make it today, they had told Jackson to take pictures for them and to convey their birthday wishes.

---

The car ride was going by smoothly but Namjoon could tell something was wrong.

"What's up Jung?" He asked as he stopped at a red light. Through his rearview mirror, he looked at Hoseok who was absent-mindedly staring out the window. "Are you filming Kelly Clarkson's Breakaway or something?"

"Hoseok are you sleeping?" Andrea asked when he didn't answer or laugh, turning around in her seat to look at him.

"Huh?" He replied, glancing up. "What did you ask?"

"Namjoon asked if anything was troubling you," Andrea said as the light turned green and Namjoon pressed the gas pedal.

"It's just- no it's nothing," he said sighing, not wanting to be a bother.

"You know you're not a burden if you share your concerns with other people, right?" Namjoon said, as if reading his mind.

"And talking about it might just be the best solution to getting things solved," Andrea added.

"I'm just worried about Kaye," he confessed, caving in. Maybe getting others' opinions on the matter would ease his mind.

"What about her?" Namjoon asked. "Are you worried about your upcoming unniversary? Do you have a performance that day?"

"It's not that," he replied, looking down at his hands. "I wouldn't miss our anniversary or her birthday even if it meant performing on the greatest stage of the world, by the way. I'm just worried she might not be as interested in me as she used to."

"What do you mean not interested in you? Did you guys fight?"

"You know we're not the type to get into fights, Joon. We get out of binds through conversations like civilized people. I just think- maybe she might be interested in someone else, you know?"

"What nonsense is that? You've been together for close to seven years. She almost worships you and your dance! A little more and I swear she'd have a shrine in your name!! Who else could she-"

"Why do you think that?" Andrea asked, interrupting her husband. Although she hadn't said anything, he got her message loud and clear: for a Science genius you're pretty dumb. That was what "The Look" always meant.

Namjoon raised his hands in surrender, deciding it was better to let his wife's psychology side handle Hoseok's problems.

"You guys have always talked everything through. Did she say anything unusal?"

"She didn't say anything but I'm not sure. I don't know," he replied, squirming in his seat. "It just doesn't feel right. It's like subconsciously knowing you're doing a dance move wrong but you don't know which move is wrong so you keep dancing anyway. It's hard to explain why you feel your choreography is off but you just know something isn't right. Did that make any sense?"

"You know," Andrea said, "love is a dance but that doesn't mean it has a set choreography. It's a dance you make up as you meet others. Sometimes you miss a step or your partner misses a step and sometimes both of you aren't dancing at the same speed. At times, both of you aren't even doing the same choreography."

Hoseok saw her glance at Namjoon, understanding the meaning behind her words. He remembered Kaye telling him Namjoon had gotten in a big fight with Andrea in the past because they hadn't been on the same page. But Namjoon had soon recovered and had realized just how much Andrea meant to him, that he couldn't afford to lose her. Kaye had claimed that Namdrea, as she called them, were the ultimate relationship goals.

"But the beauty to this dance is that when you do something wrong, you can overwrite it with another move, an apology or an explanation if you would," she continued. "Sometimes your steps are perfectly synchronised and sometimes they aren't, but that doesn't make the performance any less elegant. If you feel something is wrong, ask your partner, talk it out, fix it together and when everything is settled, give everyone an even more breathtaking performance."

---

"Hoseok-ah," Andrea called as she opened the car door, "Could you go in first and bring the heavier boxes in please? Namjoon and I will follow right after, we just need a bit more time to take out the rest."

"Are you sure you'll be able to bring everything at once? I can help always put everything at the entrance and come back to help you," he replied, although already in front of the car trunk, ready to take out whatever he could carry.

"We're sure, Hoshikie," Namjoon replied as he met him behind the car, helping him stack the containers his arms were supporting.

"Alright, I'll be off then," he said, once he deemed the pile high enough. "I'll see you later."

As he walked towards the restaurant, he a took at mental note to ask Namjoon why on Earth he had parked so far from the entrance.

"Is this the place?" A familiar voice asked behind him as he was nearing the front door.

When he turned around to see who had spoken, he almost dropped everything he was holding.

"Taehyung, what are you doing here?"

---

"Okay the plan is set," Andrea told everyone as she came to the front of the restaurant. Namjoon had driven to the back door and had helped her unpack the car before leaving to park it where Hoseok had last seen it.

"Do you think they'll fall for it?" Lena asked, adding the finishing touches to the lighting.

"Of course they will," Jimin said. "We have them wrapped around our finger. They're totally clueless about what's happening. Or more like half clueless..."

"I'm sure Hoseok is going to fall for it, but I'm not so sure about Taehyung. I don't take him for the gullible type, being a Science genius and all," Mark said, putting his arm around Lena.

"Oh come on," Jackson argued. "Where's the flaw in making them both believe they're organizing each other's surprise party?"

"I'm sure there's a lot of things that can go wrong," Jin said. "Maybe he heard someone talk about it by accident or maybe he noticed a detail we left out."

"No way," Kaye argued, "We have Alex as our trump card. There's no way Taehyung would know anything. She got here through the back door five minutes after he went out to bait Hoseok. Plus, he would never suspicious of his own girlfriend; he's too in love for that."

"I didn't let anything slip," Alex said, putting her hands up. "So if he knows anything, he didn't learn it from me."

"Baby G to Seagull, Dancer and Genius are in position," Jimin said dramatically, cutting the conversation short. He crouched down beside a table, using his cellphone as a walkie-talkie. "How about Brain?"

"Brain is in position," Jungkook replied, playing along as he peeked through the blinds. "Brain is approaching the targets. Collision in ten... nine... eight..."

---

"Namjoon told me to meet him at this restaurant," Taehyung lied smoothly, "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, me?" Hoseok asked, looking for an excuse. He couldn't exactly tell Taehyung he was here to throw him a surprise party now, could he. "I was...um...I came here to...uh...check if this was a nice restaurant to have a date in. Jackson mentioned it to me once or twice."

"And you're bringing in so much food?" Taehyung asked with a raised eyebrow, motioning to the containers in his hands. "Is Kaye inside?" He asked, taking a few steps towards the door.

"No she's not," Hoseok hurried to say, blocking the way to the door. When he saw the odd look Taehyung sent him, he added, "Let's wait for her to text me she's close before going in." And on cue, his phone lit up with a text notification from Kaye.

I'm already inside. Are you going to be there soon?

If Hoseok was sure of one thing, it was that Kaye was never late. No matter what it was she had been doing beforehand, he knew wholeheartedly that she would always there a few minutes earlier than the appointed time. Especially when it come to a friend's birthday party.

"Sorry I'm late," Namjoon called out as he reached the pair. "Oh, you're here too Hoseok?"

"Yeah," he replied, playing along. "I'm supposed to meet Kaye here. Who would've known I'd bump into you both?" Behind Taehyung's back, with accusing eyes, he silently asked Namjoon what on Earth the younger male was already doing here.

"Yeah, who would've known," Namjoon said with raised eyebrows. "Were you guys planning on going in?" He asked, motioning towards the door.

"We were just about to," Taehyung said. He opened the main door, letting Hoseok pass first, himself following suit with Namjoon behind him.

"Surprise!!!" Everyone exclaimed as they entered, sprinkling them with party poppers and applauding their suprise party success. Taehyung joined in until he noticed Hoseok had put down all the containers he had previously been holding and had started clapping too, facing him. That was the moment mutual confusion settled in. They both froze, giving each other odd looks. At the look on their faces, everyone burst out in laughter.

Namjoon clapped them both on the shoulder. "Mission accomplished."

"I told you guys they'd fall for it," Jackson said.

"Happy birthday," Kaye and Alex said, stepping up to their respective boyfriends, party hats in hand.

"Alex?" Taehyung asked in confusion as she fit the hat snugly on his head. "What are you doing here? You told me you were kicking me out of the house because you had to give in four thousand articles tomorrow."

"Well I lied," she said, separating each word with a kiss. He looked adorable when we was confused. "I gave my four articles to Lenard at the beginning of the week. He said I was all good and that he'd start editing today, after his date."

"So this is what to lied about?" Hoseok asked Kaye, pulling her by the waist.

"How did you know I was lying?" She asked as he started closing the gap between them.

"I saw you and Jin in line at the bakery," he explained. "After meeting up with Yugyeom at the studio, I went to get coffee before meeting Namjoon and Andrea and I saw you guys across the street. He said he couldn’t make it because of a performance, by the way."

"What were the odds," Jin exclaimed, smacking his forehead. "I told you things could go wrong with this plan!"

"But you didn't know we were preparing this, right?" She asked, teasingly sneaking a glance at his lips.

"Not a clue in the world," he said, capturing her lips with his own. And in that moment, he knew his mind had been wrong to doubt his heart.

But their blissful moment was cut short by Jackson clearing his throat.

Party pooper, Kaye thought as they broke the kiss.

"I don't mean to disturb anything," he said, "But my girlfriend isn't here so I can't exactly join your whole let's kiss each other and be lovey dovey together thing you all have going on here."

When Kaye looked around, she noticed that he and Jin were the only ones here who were only half a couple. Mark had his arm around Lena's waist, Namjoon was wrapped around Andrea, Taehyung was forehead to forehead with Alex, Jungkook had his arm around Jimin's neck and was leaning his chin on the shorter's shoulder, and here she was between Hoseok's arms.

"It's okay Jackson, you can be a one-night couple with Jin," Alex said with a grin, parting from Taehyung to ruffle his hair.

"No offense to you," he said, pointing to Seokjin after swatting her hand away and fixing his hair. "But I think I'll pass."

"Agreed," Jin said chuckling. "I'm not too sure if Tami and Vic would both take it upon themselves to personally beat us to death or if they'd just laugh at us, but either way, we're loyal to our girlfriends."

"Jackson did say liked himself a loyal man," Mark said mockingly. "And, you know, its not really considered cheating if-"

"Shut up Tuan, you're not helping," Jackson said, shoving his friend's shoulder.

"Let's just dig in," Andrea proposed, knowing Mark was about to add more oil to the fire. He might not look the part, but he was definitely a jokester at heart.

"I'm on the same page as Superman," Jackson said. "I'm getting hungry and there's a bunch of good food set up."

"Will you ever stop it with that Clark Kent joke," Andrea asked as everyone starting moving towards the food.

"Not until you change your name," he replied, nudging her.

"You know, I technically did change my last name when I became Namjoon's wife," she said, nudging him back.

"Whatever. You'll always be a Kent in my heart."

As everyone migrated towards the food, the chatter composing the background noise slowly faded.

"You know," Hoseok said, tugging Kaye's hand, telling her to stay for a bit. "I'll have to take my revenge for today."

"You wouldn't dare," she said, knowing that if he was serious, she'd really be in for it when they got home. She was going to end up battered, bruised and out of breath by the end of the night.

"Oh but I'm being serious right now," he replied, looking her dead in the eyes.

"You know I'll end up on top either way, right?" She said with an arched eyebrow.

"That's only because I let you," he taunted.

"Are you guys done being gross?" Jin asked.

"If you are, then get both your butts over here or I'll eat your share of food," Jackson said, his mouth full of what Kaye guessed was meat. She heard him shout out in pain as Andrea hit his arm.

"Leave us some food Jackson. Just give us a minute," she replied. To Hoseok she said, "Don't be a sore loser Hobi. I've always won based on pure talent."

"I don't call hitting me in the face while distracting me with puppy eyes winning fair and square," he said, sticking out his tongue and pulling her hand towards where everyone was.

"Whatever," she said with a chuckle as she followed him. "I'm going to win tonight's pillow fight either way."

-The End-

A/N: And almost 5,4k words later it’s a wrap!! Sorry this seems really long but I wanted to make a single post. Also, I really wanted to post this at midnight on your birthday but then I learned that the chosen manuscripts would be announced in December and that November was reading and rating month, and so I couldn’t just wait until November passed to promote you: I couldn’t just let this sit in my draft box until your actual birthday, now could I? So here am I am, posting this exactly a month before your birthday. I hope you won’t mind the early birthday gift! (You should see this when you wake up)

Guys, there’s only a week left before the SwoonReads start choosing the last 2016 manuscripts so go make a SoonReads account, and read and review LOMA!!

Anyways, happy one-month-early 22nd birthday @exoticarmy127​ !! I started writing this last year for your birthday but I (obviously) didn't reach the deadline on time I wasn't even half done and so I kept working on it for your birthday this year (for once I tried being early and not cram everything the night before; you’d be surprised I had to wait a bit more than a month to post this and that’s considering I’m already a month early for your birthday). I hope I didn't mess up the way you portrayed your characters and I also hope you'll have a great day filled with only the best!!

And okay but seriously I looked for so long trying to find the right quote for Pragma but when I reread LOMA (for like the third time) I realized it was the same Erich Fromm quote you used for chapter 13 (chapter 14 on SwoonReads) and I was so mad with myself but I decided to keep it anyway. It kinda makes sense in this context. Also, I couldn't help but insert that Weekly Idol segment into the story. If you haven't you need to check it out and get ready to laugh.

And yes, I am shipping Kobi and Namdrea and everybody else from LOMA in this story. #NoRegrets #SorryNotSorry

edit: removed the excessive GIF usage