"God, Luhan, you're such a hypocrite," Lay said, his cell phone pressed to his ear. He had been in Myeong Dong since nine, having woken up early just to go present shopping. Tao could sulk better than a five-year-old and he'd rather not have a repeat of the Luhan incident, thank you very much.

"Please?" The idiot was trying to piggy-back on his birthday present for Tao.

"It's your own fault for sleeping in." 

"C'mon, just this once. How about I pay half of it and get Baekhyun's present for the both of us?"

"Fine, but I get to pick the present." His phone let out a beep. "Someone's calling me. I'll talk to you later."

"Lay, where are you?" It was Kris, whose raspy voice was a clear indication that he, too, had just woken up.

"Myeong Dong. What's up?"

"I need a favour." Lay let out a snort. To think Kris had the gall to ask him favours after all his glaring over the past few days.

"Let me guess, you didn't get a present for Tao either."

"Uh...yeah." There was a slight edge of panic in his voice. Kris had always had a soft spot for Tao, who in turn idolized him as he would an older brother. The kid would probably throw a tear-filled tantrum if Kris failed to gift him with a suitable birthday present. "Since you're out anyway, could you get him something for me?"

"Why should I?" Lay replied stubbornly.

"We're friends, aren't we?" Kris said with forced brightness. "Let's put the past behind us. Let bygones be bygones." He must be desperate, if he was so willing to forgive Lay for his earlier transgressions. Pride was something that their esteemed leader held dearly.

"You know, I'm pretty busy looking for my own present and I really don't think I'll have the time..." he trailed off. Having Kris in his debt was as golden as winning the lottery, and he wasn't about to let the opportunity go to waste.

"Just spit it out. What do you want?" Kris growled. About time the lion decides to show his true nature. Lay grinned.

"I want one get-out-of-jail-free card. Meaning, if I ever offend you again, you forgive me immediately and we go back to being friends. Let bygones be bygones," he echoed.       

After a long pause, Kris finally said, "Fine. Make sure you get a card too."

"Will do."

*****

"Wow, this is daebak!" Tao was all smiles, having just unwrapped his seventh present of the night. The twelve of them had gathered in their dorm, which D.O. had insisted on decorating with balloons and streamers. The place looked aptly festive; Lay had to admit that D.O.'s magazine subscriptions of House and Home had finally been put to good use.

"It even has star charts," Baekhyun said excitedly, pointing to the back cover of The Astrologer's Handbook: A Guide to Planetary Movements and Horoscopes. Lay rolled his eyes. He could imagine Tao becoming some wannabe fortune teller under Baekhyun's (mis)guidance.

There was only one present left.

"Here, happy birthday kid," Kris said, handing Tao a rectangular box. Lay had arrived just before the party had started, and had hurriedly passed the wrapped package to Kris moments before.

"This is...perfect," Tao whispered as he stared down at the Nicholas Sparks DVD collection, his eyes filled with equal parts amazement and joy. "I can't believe you remembered how much I loved The Notebook."

Kris's shoulders sagged in relief at the expression of absolute joy on Tao's face. He had clearly braced himself for something much more embarassing than a few nauseatingly romantic DVD's.

"Tao, you forgot to open the card," Lay said casually as he handed the maknae a pink envelope. It was a lie, of course; the card had been in Lay's bag all along.

As Tao scanned the card, his eyes slowly began to brim with tears. It was Chanyeol who snatched the card away and began reading its contents aloud.

"'To my favourite little brother, Tao. You know how much I at expressing my feelings and stuff, but I just wanted you to know how proud I am to have you by my side. You've come far over these past few months and I hope you'll continue to work hard towards your dream. For your birthday, let's watch A Walk to Remember together to remind ourselves that miracles can happen.'"

Everyone, with the exception of the still weepy Tao, turned to stare at Kris in shock. Suho's mouth was hanging wide open and even the usually expressionless Sehun looked bewildered. D.O.'s eyes were on the verge of popping out of their sockets and Kris himself seemed to be suffering a mental collapse. It took all of Lay's self control not to burst out laughing.

"Let's go watch it now," Tao said after wiping his eyes. Kris flashed a weak smile, before turning to glare at Lay.

"You are so dead," Kris said under his breath to Lay when Tao began to drag him to the living room.

Lay shook his head. "Get-out-of-jail free card, remember? Besides, do you really want me to tell Tao who actually got him his perfect present?" He stuck out his tongue for good measure, adding a chirpy "have fun!" before walking away.

Tears of Joy

| Posted on May 2, 2012  | 11:28 pm |

DZ has finally fallen at my hands.

Excuse me while I go die of laughter. 

Tags: birthdays, pownage

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