April mornings are somehow unlikeable. Days get longer and you lose track of time as the sunlight reflects on the windowpane, you just don’t know if it’s early or late. Sometimes, one would think it’s still 6am when it’s already 9 or the opposite. That’s probably one of the things Mino hates the most about April mornings. There were days he thought it was too early and he wanted to sleep longer but the repetitive knocks on his door would tell him otherwise, pushing him to wake up. And this April morning happens to be about the same.

When Mino wakes up, it’s because of the not so light steps of Seungyoon, coming into his room with no warning and taking the striped shirt Mino borrowed from him. The rapper tells him that he should at least wait for him to wake up before coming in, but Seungyoon just answers that it was already 10am and that he’d planned to go out wearing that piece of clothing.

Annoyed, Mino rises from his laying position and rubs his eyes in confusion when his eyes catch something yellow, just above his side table. It’s a post note with a “D-15” written on it. He doesn’t remember putting it there. He doesn’t even use post notes for that matter. But still, that yellow paper is there and it’s telling him that something very important –or so he assumes- is bound to happen in 15 days.

Still sleepy and unable to make any rational or accurate judgment, he heavily strolls to the bathroom at the end of the corridor, not surprised at all that everyone is already awake and out. Strangely enough, there is another post note sticking to the mirror he uses to look at his puffy morning face. It has the same thing written on it with the only difference that three “!” follow it, as a reminder that it is really important. Mino frowns, too lazy to think about it and carries on with his usual morning ritual.

Without a worry in mind, he walks to the kitchen to take his breakfast, smiling at what Jinwoo had left for him. Although his smile disappears as soon as he sees the yellowish paper just next to the covered dishes. It has the same wording on it, along with the three exclaiming punctuations, though this time a short sentence is written under it. It’s so badly written that Mino swears doctors’ handwriting is much easier to read; but after five minutes of reading it over and over again while eating his rice, he realizes that it says “an important day”.  “An important day,” Mino repeats out loud as if he's trying to weigh the words.

He fishes out his phone and checks the calendar. It’s April 25^th and if his fingers aren’t failing him, the D-Day is May 10^th. It takes him few seconds before realizing what it refers to. He chuckles before standing up, washing his dishes and leaving for his room, closing the door behind him. Little does he know that someone is peering at him, slightly annoyed from how lightly Mino is reacting to the post notes. New measures should be taken.

The following morning, Mino wakes up earlier, fortunately, before anyone can barge into his room. He feels almost triumphant until he sees it’s already 9am. He looks at his side expecting a new yellow note with probably “D-14” on it, but there is nothing on his room walls. He stands up and directly goes, as always, to the bathroom when he notices a yellow note on the bathroom door. Just like he expected, it has “D-14” written on it but with a pair of droopy eyebrows under it as if saying it’s sad, although that certain pair of eyebrows isn’t always slanting down from sadness. Mino chuckles from how thoughtful the notes are, imagining his boyfriend’s face while making them.

He does his morning ritual and joins Seungyoon and Seunghoon at the living room, taking his breakfast as he sits next to his hyung. The boy is busy watching TV while the leader is simply scrolling down his phone. Mino asks them where the others are and the leader answers that they went out for some secretive reason. He adds that Taehyun made sure that they’d go out before Mino would wake up. The latter is even more amused wondering what the maknae is plotting.

He stands up about to wash his bowl when he notices another post note above the sink. “I like Bottega bags”. He easily reads the sentence written on it this time not because it’s well written, but because colored letters cut from different pages of a magazine are used to form the words. 

He puts his clothes later on and goes out, telling the boys that he will spend the day with Jihoon. A certain person is annoyed when coming back to the dorm, after being informed of that.

The day after, Mino is not surprised to not see yellow notes neither inside his room, around the bathroom nor the kitchen. It seems like Taehyun is planning to change methods everyday and Mino now finds a certain interest in trying to find those squared papers. Since he woke up late, no one is at the dorm when he sits on the couch and turns on the TV.

“Found it,” he exclaims when he spots the yellow note on the TV screen. He approaches and reads the already expected “D-13” followed by a new sentence, “Lanvin shoes are nice.” He laughs after reading it in Taehyun’s voice and continues watching TV.

The following Tuesday, Mino wakes up, as usual, later than everyone else and heads to the studio after checking almost the whole dorm looking for the yellow notes in vain. He wonders if Taehyun has forgotten about it, getting slightly disappointed, before reaching their floor. Seungyoon and Jinwoo are waiting there, whereas Taehyun is said to be recording for his drama, and Seunghoon has taken a day off and having fun with his other friends.

Mino puts his bag on the couch before taking a coffee from the vending machine since he forgot to take his breakfast. His eyes widen at the object he’s expected to see back in the dorm stuck to the coin slot. “D-12 French bulldogs are cute” is written in thick red. As cute as this little “game” is, Mino feels a bit embarrassed thinking about what the staff must have thought when seeing the yellow note or even seeing him taking it off right away.

When he returns to the recording room, Jinwoo and Seungyoon are cuddling with the older’s legs wrapped around Seungyoon’s waist. The younger answers Mino’s unasked question telling him that no one beside them is working at their floor today and so they won’t be seen. Mino suddenly feels less embarrassed. Of course Taehyun is clever enough to think about everything.

Wednesday is set as everyone’s free day and Mino decides to spend it with his family. He feels a bit regretful that he won’t be able to get a sticky note when he finds out one inside his backpack. It’s down there under all his stuff. Taehyun probably put it when he wasn’t watching. He takes off his things properly and reads the square formed paper “D-11 Bvlgari has pretty things”.

Mino laughs at his boyfriend’s exigent demands. Up to now, Taehyun’s dispersed wish list only has included expensive stuff. Although the rapper can afford them, it would mean more than half of his monthly incomes and he wouldn’t be able to spend the rest of it on anything he likes. Taehyun is either oblivious or just doesn’t mind it. Probably the latter, Mino assumes.

More sticky notes appear the following days, each hidden in a different place, ranging from the most visible ones to the least obvious. Mino feels that every day is Easter Day, since he has to look for the posts –though the one who will get the present isn’t him, but still he really enjoys it. Taehyun has his ways of being out of the ordinary and Mino loves it.

He even keeps the yellow papers in his notebook even though he isn’t sure he will buy anything from what Taehyun demands. He makes sure to read them and find a certain merriment in comparing the writing of one sticky note with another. The maknae has also an out of the ordinary writing style that only him can understand but Mino finds it less harder to read each sentence written under the “D-Number” with every passing day. 

“D-10 Our stylist said YSL’s shirts suits me a lot.”

“D-9 Beside Bottega bags, Chanel big bags are very practical.”

“D-8 Have you ever entered a Rolex (watch) boutique before?”

“D-7 Givenchy has great men perfumes.”

“D-6 French Bulldogs are cute but Beagles are cute as well.”

 “D-5 Calvin Klein denims are so fitting. Curves look good in them.”

 “D-4 But seriously you should check Lanvin latest shoe collection. We have the same size.”

“D-3 There is a sale on Chanel perfumes at the mall today.”

 “D-2 I have an allergy to cakes not coming from Tous Les Jours :s .”

Mino keeps each one of the notes, amused by the variance of the subtlety in them and maybe, just maybe, considering the idea of actually picking one of the proposed choices. But the last note makes him change his mind.

“D-1 Please just don’t forget hyung.”

The rapper feels suddenly guilty without understanding why. He didn’t forget his birthday last year so he doesn’t get why Taehyun is so afraid of him doing so this time. Just when he’s about to go back to his room, Jinwoo comes in the dorm.

“Oh, these yellow notes, I got one this morning too,” he blurts out as soon as he notices the object in Mino’s hand.

“What for?”

“Something about leaving the dorm to Taehyun and you tomorrow night. I think Seunghoon and Seungyoon got that too,” he answers as he removes his shoes and steps inside the kitchen for a cold drink.

Mino slightly laughs at his boyfriend’s calculating moves. He could’ve asked for the whole day but he asked for the night instead. Jinwoo seems to read Mino’s obvious thoughts just from his expressions and automatically utters a “tsk” at him, followed by a “ert”.

Mino feels almost hurt before asking him why he doesn’t say the same about Taehyun when he isn’t any better.

“He asked for the night because he knows you’ll be busy during the day, you dummy,” Jinwoo replies before sitting on the couch.

“Busy? Me?” Mino just stands bewildered not seeming to catch the meaning of his hyung’s answer.

“Mino did you forget about your rapping show recording?” It’s now Jinwoo’s turn to be confused as to how Mino can forget such an important event involving his own future.

The younger just stares at his hyung for a while slowly realizing that he has been thinking about Taehyun’s birthday for so long that he has forgotten his own event.

“Oh my god, you really did!” Jinwoo stutters focusing all his attention on Mino. “Are Taehyun’s birthday preparations taking all your time?” He clutches his hands in fists from excitement, thoughts about extravagant romantic events crossing his mind. But Mino is still in shock from his own lack of responsibility to even answer. Taehyun was afraid he would forget his birthday because of his rapping show, but he actually did the opposite.

Without a second thought, Mino takes his jacket, wears his shoes and leaves the dorm in front of a dumbfounded Jinwoo.

“D-Day,” Taehyun says as he looks at his reflection on the mirror. Today is his birthday and he’s attempting to celebrate it with Mino this year. Although he knows he will have to wait until tonight, and the idea of hiding from everyone the whole day so Mino can be the first one to wish him a happy birthday makes him a bit sad. If only his event wasn’t on the same day... He would expect a lovely breakfast brought to his bed with a sweet morning kiss and the whole day being full of events. But it isn’t. The maknae pouts and lazily strolls to his door in direction of the bathroom, when he finds a tray with a cup of chocolate milk on it beside a plate with different croissants from Tous Les Jours, along with a little envelope, in front the wooden frame. Inside there is a little letter of a yellow color, the same as the post notes he put everywhere during the last days.

“Good morning beautiful,

This is not a love letter but just your first Happy Birthday wish since I can’t let anyone else do it before me. That said, have a nice day thinking about me until I come back so you can think about me more (or touch me for that matter ehem ehem). I will try to finish earlier so hopefully you will find me here when you’ll come back.

Your y boyfriend”

Taehyun smiles as he reads the letter again and again before finally resolving to stop doing it and finally going to the bathroom to start off his day. He doesn’t have to hide now.

The day goes on peacefully from shopping with Seunghoon who, as Taehyun assumes, has a fashion taste as distinguished as his, to the usual guitar lessons and a late meeting with Jinwoo and Seungyoon who reminds him to be careful and to turn off all the lights once Mino and him are done with their “thing” -as they think they subtly put it.

When he’s back home, the lights are turned off and the corners of his lips drop low at the thought that Mino still didn’t finish. His excitement vanishing away, he removes his shoes and steps inside the dorm, stopping in his way when a sudden meowing reaches his ear. A hushed “shush” is followed by the time he turns around in search for the sound source.

A huge black box in the middle of the living room catches his attention. The closer he gets to it, the more he realizes that it has the classic white “Chanel” characters written on the surface. The meowing though stops him from elaborating any thought about a fashion object inside it. But it doesn’t stop him from smiling when he opens it as he sits down.

A white kitten widens his eyes at him as soon as the box is open. Taehyun secretly squeals at the cute little thing, unable to contain his laugh as he holds him closer. The little animal has two droopy lines above his eyes, forming somehow eyebrows similar to his.

“Where did Mino find you, little ball?” He rhetorically asks, caressing the cat’s soft fur.

“On internet!” Mino answers, peering from the behind the TV and startling Taehyun.

“The heck Mino?” He yells at him, clutching onto his chest.

“Sorry I wanted to make a surprise appearance but then I missed my timing,” Mino adds, biting his lower lip in embarrassment as he crawls toward Taehyun and sits next to him.

The maknae just laughs it off before saying “I don’t remember asking for a cat.”

“I saw someone offering to sell their new kittens and I thought about you as soon as I saw this one. Plus, you asked for a dog and you know I can’t handle dogs.” He replies, pecking Taehyun’s already flustering cheek from the close distance.

“There were plenty other easier choices.” The younger stutters, still caressing the little purring kitten.

“Oh, that too!” Mino spats before reaching for the couch and pulling a wrapped black bag.

Taehyun widens his eyes at the object, recognizing the brand initial under the protecting layers.

“Is that-”

“Yup, your Chanel bag.” Mino answers confidently, taking the cat from Taehyun’s hands and giving him the bag instead.

“So the box was for it? I thought it was just for the cat.” He adds, his eyes still wide open studying the glorified object in hand.

“Where did you ever see someone selling cats in Chanel boxes?”

“Mino, I love you.” The younger says without detaching his eyes from the bag and the rapper wonders if the words were meant to him or to the gift. But that doesn’t stop him from leaning in and gently kissing his lips, gaining his attention back.

“I love you too, Taehyun. Happy birthday.” He tenderly whispers, his nose still touching Taehyun’s.

“Thank you for not forgetting Hyung.” The maknae adds, initiating the second peck. 

A.N: a big thank to my beta Mica ^-^ she was really helpful <3