Minhyuk sighs as he snatches the tiny silk bag from where it had been hidden beneath his pillow, a frown twisting his lips.

Untwisting the silk chord holding the top closed, he upends the bag onto his mattress. Three chocolates fall out along with a shiny coin a slip of paper with a heart drawn on it. The chocolates are obviously homemade, wrapped crudely in tin foil and leaving his fingers and bedspread smudged as he gathers them in his hands.

He brushes past Yukwon as he stalks out to the living room, ignoring the giggle he hears as the other dancer spots the package in his hands.

Jiho and Kyung are too absorbed in their handheld video game to look up when Minhyuk snorts in indignation, so he simply stomps a foot and makes his way into the kitchen.

Jihoon looks up from his spot at the tiny dining table, ramyun hanging from his mouth as he tracks Minhyuk’s progress towards him with anxious eyes.

The look on Minhyuk’s face is not a pleasant one.

Then Minhyuk is slamming his fist on the table, making Jihoon reflexively grab onto his bowl to keep spicy broth from slopping over the sides. But then he gets a good look at what Minhyuk left on the table, crumpled and wrinkled and melty, and a grin blooms across his face at the same time a frown twists Minhyuks’. 

"You know something, don’t you?"

Jihoon slurps up the noodles still hanging from his mouth and stands up, stretching exaggeratedly with a secretive little smile unsuccessfully hidden behind one massive palm.

"Of course not Minhyuk hyung. Just that you have a secret admirer," Minhyuk feels like his eye is about to start twitching pretty soon. "I think it’s cute."

Minhyuk sighs explosively, dropping into the chair Jihoon had just vacated. He drops his head into his hands as Jihoon starts to wash his bowl in the sink.

"You would. How do I know it’s not a sasaeng?"

Jihoon scoffs, and even Minhyuk knows that that was a weak argument.

"You think that Jiho hyung would let a sasaeng within fifty meters of this place?"

Jihoon leaves the kitchen with an obnoxious wink to go bother Jiho and Kyung just as the dorm’s front door opens.

Jaehyo and Taeil trundle in, bundled up in coats and scarves and gloves to combat the atrocious weather outside.

"Hello everyone!" Jaehyo chirps as he checks his hair in the entry way mirror, chipper like always.

Taeil is silent, but that might be because of the thick purple scarf wrapped tightly around his entire head. The pink tip of his nose just barely peeks out from above the thick fabric, and the apples of his cheeks have been charmingly reddened by the chilled wind.

Minhyuk thinks he looks really cute, and Jihoon wastes no time in vocalizing his agreement.

"Taeillie hyung looks so cute!"

Jaehyo and Kyung snicker and Minhyuk laughs openly at the glare Taeil directs at the maknae. His laugh attracts Taeil’s attention, and Minhyuk could swear the blush on his cheeks darkens as they make eye contact.

Taeil starts to unwrap his scarf as he makes his way into the kitchen, pulling his gloves off with his teeth to grab an apple from the fruit basket in the center of the dining table.

He opens his mouth, starts to say something, but then his face falls so dramatically Minhyuk starts to stand, concern tightening his breath. He follows Taeil’s eyes to the pile of drooling chocolate and the now stained silk bag, and he sits back, rolling his eyes.

"I got another creepy gift from my ‘secret admirer’ today."

"Oh," Taeil questions, shoulders slumped underneath his heavy coat.

Jihoon pokes his head into the kitchen, something akin to pity in his eyes as he looks in on them.

"Yeah. All I know is that I’ll be sleeping much better once all this stops." Minhyuk grins wryly at Taeil, wiping a hand across his forehead in a parody of exhaustion.

Taeil doesn’t reply, and Minhyuk watches in horror as Taeil’s glasses start to fog over and his lower lip sets to trembling. Taeil turns and walks out of the kitchen before Minhyuk can ask what happened, and Jihoon gives him a consoling pat on the shoulder as he squeezes by him, seemingly in a hurry.

The look Jihoon sends him is mixed agitation and exasperation. Minhyuk turns away only to find a similar expression on Jaehyo’s face.

"What?"

"Think about it, man," Jaehyo sighs, gesturing towards the chocolates.

"Wha-" 

The chocolates. His open disdain. Taeil’s reaction.

Taeil’s reaction.

"Oh my god."

Jihoon and Jaehyo nod at his incredulous expression, and Jihoon readily moves out of the way when Minhyuk speeds past him, storming into the oldest’s room with clenched fists.

Taeil jumps from where he’d been sitting slumped on his bed, tossing the apple he’d snatched from the kitchen between his hands as he sniffled.

"Oh, hey Minhyuk-"

"So it was you, hyung?"

Taeil looks down, so Minhyuk drops down in front of his, grabbing his chin and forcing him to look him in the face.

"All those gifts I got, all of the chocolates and the flowers and the hearts, that was you?"

Taeil hesitates, bright eyes boring deep into Minhyuk’s, and he nods ashamedly.

"Are you ing kidding me?" Minhyuk snorts.

Taeil flinches back, his face crumpling. Minhyuk hates that look on him, that defeated, sad look, so he wraps his arms around Taeil and pulls him into his chest, a half-crazed laugh leaving his lips.

"That," Minhyuk has to clear his throat, emotions making it thick and warbley, "is the cutest ing thing I have ever heard."

Taeil’s body stiffens up but Minhyuk refuses to let up on his hold, squeezing him even tighter.

"Dammit hyung, why didn’t you tell me?"

Taeil merely shrugs, a giggle leaving him that has Minhyuk’s body tingling like he’s covered in butterflies.

He really should go get those chocolates.