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Something unfamiliar. 

Hobi stared down at the white disk.

“What is this?” he breathed.

“It’s a sun lamp,” a groggy voice responded from the next bed.

Hobi glanced up at Jimin.  “What’s a sun lamp?”

“Plug it in,” came his friend’s unusually deep voice.

“Huh?” Hobi stared at him for a moment before pulling the round lamp out of the box.  

Then he realized that an electrical cord was attached to it, so he carried it over to a wall outlet and plugged it in.  But nothing happened.

Jimin cracked one eye open.  “Hobes, you have to turn it on now.”  His eyelid fell shut again.

“Oh,” Hobi replied softly as his eyes searched for a way to turn on his new lamp.

He flipped it upside down.  But he came up empty.  He pivoted towards his friend.  Just in time to hear a tiny snore escaping his dongsaeng’s lips.

Hobi sighed.  He wouldn’t be getting any more help from that corner.  He unplugged his lamp and carried it like a football towards his door.  Maybe someone else could help him.

He wandered down the hall and into the kitchen.

He grinned as he caught sight of Jungkook eating a bowl of cereal.

“Happy Birthday, Hobi!” his golden maknae flashed a beautiful grin his way, his bunny teeth coming out to play.

“Thanks, Jungkookie.”  Hobi frowned.

“What’s wrong?” Jungkook asked as his smile faded.

“Someone left a present in front of my door.  But I can’t figure out how to turn it on.”

Jungkook stood up and walked across the room towards him.  “Can I see it?”

Hobi handed him the lamp.

The younger man studied it for a moment before responding.  “See this little circle here?” Jungkook asked him.  “You just press it.”

All of a sudden, a bright light illuminated the disk.  “Ohhhh!”  Hobi’s face lit up too.

“What’s this?” he asked as he reached out to touch the sun icon to the right of the ON button.

And he was momentarily blinded as the bright light suddenly achieved nuclear mode.  

“Whaaaa!” he and Jungkook both exclaimed as Hobi’s new sun instantly reached its fullest brightness.

“Hobi, I’m not sure anyone needs that much sun,” Jungkook opined as he held a hand up between himself and the lamp.

Hobi giggled.  “I don’t know.  I kinda like it.”

“Of course, you do,” remarked Yoongi from the doorway.  “You are, after all, our sunshine.  Like appreciates like.”

“That light is almost as bright as our Sun’s smile,” Jin grinned as he followed Yoongi into the kitchen.  Beaming at the birthday boy.

Hobi smiled at them all.

“There it is,” Yoongi murmured.

“What?” Hobi queried, confused.

“Your smile.  I missed the light of it,” Yoongi admitted.

“Yes, it has been in hiding of late,” remarked the oldest Bangtan boy.

Just then, their leader, his hair tousled, stumbled into the kitchen.

“Happy Birthday!” he flashed his dimples at Hobi as he crossed the room towards the refrigerator. 

Tae could be seen dragging Jimin into the room as Namjoon reached into the freezer.  “I got you a little present, Hobes.  And believe me, this one took all my self-control to pick up.  It’s clearly just for you.  Not one shade of selfishness in this gift.”  

He pulled a pint of ice cream out of the freezer.

And Jungkook and Jimin began to laugh.

But Hobi’s face suddenly rivaled his new lamp for brightness.  “Mint chocolate chip?!!”

Namjoon grinned ruefully.

“Truly a labor of love, my friend,” murmured Yoongi as he studied Namjoon’s face.

“You also abhor mint chocolate chip, don’t you, Joonie?” Tae muttered with a boxy grin.

Namjoon nodded, but he responded, “Anything to see a smile on Hobi’s face again.”

“I would say that his special smile has been in evidence quite a lot this morning,” Jin murmured as he stared at Hobi’s shining face.

“Thanks, Namjoonie,” Hobi replied affectionately as he crossed the room to hug both his friend and the carton of ice cream.

Namjoon squeezed him tight before he – quite dramatically – lunged away from the mint chocolate chip container.  “I wouldn’t want any of that rubbing off on me,” he intoned with a glance of disgust.

And Hobi burst out laughing.  “Oh, come on, Joonie!  I’ll share some with you.  I think this time you’ll like it.” 

He released his friend to open a drawer and grab a spoon.  He scooped out a large spoonful of the green treat and held it temptingly up in Namjoon’s face.

But the only temptation that Namjoon was fighting was the urge to shove it back towards Hobi.  “Get that out of my face!  You know I hate it!  Ugh!  I can smell that toothpaste from here!”

The maknae line burst into a steady stream of guffaws as Jin also laughed and Yoongi grinned widely.