***

“Don’t even think about it!”

“But it says it’s a gift!”

“Youknowwho sent it, don’t be stupid!” 

“How can you be so sure it was him, though?”

“Who else would suddenly send us a gift this big, today of all days?”

“Yeah, and look around you- who isn’t with us right now?” 

“Isn’t he helping Jae-noona with something?”

“Oh no, poor girl…Well, it was nice knowing her- ow!” 

“This has to be a trick, right?”

“Yeah, has to be…”

“So…Do we open it? Or not?”

“…This is not my style.”

“Ugh, what is your style?”

“Hyungs, focus! What are we gonna do with this thing? It’s huge!”

“It smells like tteokbokki, you know, the kind that we used to get at the stall in front of the movie theater.”

“…Sometimes I worry for you, hyung.”

“Yah! Enough already, what’s it going to be? Open it, or throw it away?”  

Eleven young men had gathered around a large box wrapped in glittery paper and topped off with a shiny ribbon. They gazed at it suspiciously, though they weren’t sure what to do with it. 

“Let’s decide with rock, paper, scissors?” Baekhyun opted, but was shot down immediately by the others. 

“I say throw it away,” D.O. stated resolutely, not a hint of hesitation or guilt in his voice. 

“But what if he really put an effort in getting us something? Look how carefully he wrapped it,” Lay mused. 

“Don’t be naive, hyung,” Kai commented. “It’s just a distraction, a lure to get us to open this thing.” 

“So, no one’s curious at all?” Sehun asked, looking like he was itching to pull on the ribbon to open the gift. 

“We probably shouldn’t risk it,” said Suho, though he looked at Kris to see if he agreed as well. 

“What did the note say again?” the duizhang then asked, looking at Tao. 

Tao grabbed the little card that was attached to it, and scraped his throat to read it out loud. 

“Dear brothers, as you all know, today is the day I usually steal the show. Those who trick are named King, his fools to his tune must sing! But this year I thought it best, if I laid this beautiful tradition to rest. So accept this gift I got just for you, for I regret the past, I truly do. Mianhe and saranghae! Chen-Chen.” Tao finished reading, giving the card to Luhan when the latter reached out for it. 

“He didn’t write that,” Luhan protested, looking at the card and blinking in bewilderment when he recognized Chen’s surprisingly neat scribblings. 

‘Since when is he a poet? I don’t trust this!” Baekhyun argued. “We should get rid of this thing and go save Jae-noona! She doesn’t know about today,” he reminded the others. 

“What if he’s serious, though?” Suho hesitated. “Chen wouldn’t go through the trouble to write something like that,” he said, taking the card from Luhan. 

“It would be a shame if all that tteokbokki goes to waste,” Lay added, sniffing the gift again. 

“Hyung, I really doubt that it’s tteokbokki,” Sehun said, gently pulling his older brother away from the gift. “It doesn’t even properly smell like it,” he explained, earning a blank look from his hyung. Sehun shook his head and pulled Lay away. “I think we should throw it away. If Chen-hyung really meant those words, he would have been here to hand it to us personally,” he stated confidently. 

Chanyeol took his turn to inspect the card now and flipped it over. “I know that trust and sincerity are key, that is why I added chocolate bubble tea!” he read off the card. Hearing this, Sehun immediately turned around, pulling a flustered Lay along with him. 

“Open it, hyung!” he pushed Lay towards the gift. 

“Yah, Sehunnie, you just told me not to!” Lay whined a little in confusion. 

“Nobody touch that thing!” D.O. stated strictly, and it felt like the whole room seemed to vibrate for a moment. “Chanyeol,” he then called out. “Burn it!” he said mercilessly. 

“Yah, D.O., let’s talk this over first. We could really hurt Chen’s feelings if he sees we burned a gift he carefully prepared,” Suho tried to reason with him, but the younger teen resiliently shook his head. 

“And if we open it and fall into his trap, we have to do what he says the entire day or suffer through more pranks! I do not want a repeat performance of the last couple of years when this craziness started!” he protested fiercely. “Xiumin-hyung, you freeze it, I’ll smash it,” he then directed to the eldest of the pack. 

“You got it,” said Xiumin, his hand already emitting a frosty cloud of smoke. 

“Good. Hana, dul, set-!” D.O. counted, but was suddenly interrupted by Chanyeol when the latter stood in front of the gift, standing in Xiumin’s way. 

“Wait! There’s more!” Chanyeol shouted. “Look, there’s another layer on the card,” he showed it to his brothers, flipping it open. “PS: Jae-noona was so kind to help me pick out the gift for you, considerate and sweet of her, right, Kyungsoo?” Chanyeol’s mouth slacked after he read it. “Wah, Chen-hyung has good foresight.” 

“Come on, it’s a trap!” D.O. still persisted, though there was a hesitant tone in his voice this time. 

“Well, crap. We can’t just throw it away or destroy it if Jae really did help him, can we?” Kris wondered out loud, looking troubled, pinching his bottom lip with his index finger and thumb. 

“So…What do we do?” asked Luhan, to which all boys sighed, looking at the gift. 

“Rock, paper, scissors to see who’s gonna open it?” Baekhyun proffered again.

“No. We all open it, or we all don’t,” Suho decided resolutely. 

“Can’t we flip a coin or something?” Tao then asked in frustration, stomping his feet a bit. 

“That’s not a bad idea, actually,” Suho said, grabbing a coin from his wallet. “Heads, we open it, tails, we get rid of it, okay?” He looked at his brothers and nodded, all of them watching him. Suho puffed out some air before he flicked the coin into the air. 

The boys stepped back as the coin clattered on the wooden floor. Eleven heads popped over it in a neat circle, watching in anticipation what the coin told them to do. 

Suho swallowed. “So, on the count of three?” he asked. The brothers gathered around the gift, some more reluctant than others. They left the shiny coin on the floor, heads still facing upwards. 

“Ready?” Suho asked. 

“Wait, wait, wait, how about two out of three?” Kris prompted, but Suho glared at him. 

“We made a decision. Come on, together now,” the leader spoke, grabbing the lid of the box. 

“I don’t like this,” Kai muttered. 

“Me neither,” D.O. whispered, holding another part of the lid stiffly. 

“Bubble tea, bubble tea, bubble tea,” Sehun muttered, his eyes already closed. 

“Tteokbokki, tteokbokki, tteokbokki,” Lay chanted beside him. 

“Jae-noona, Jae-noona, Jae-noona,” Baekhyun said, his eyes squeezed shut. Silence fell in the room then, ten pairs of eyes directing themselves at one young man. Baekhyun could feel the staring stinging him. He opened one eye and shrugged. 

“What? It could happen!” 

Chanyeol shook his head and softly patted Baekhyun on the head. “Babo,” he whispered. “Hana,” he started, grabbing his part of the lid tightly. 

“Dul,” the boys fell in, all of them pausing to take a breath before the final countdown. 

“Set!” 

They simultaneously lifted the lid open, though all of them made themselves scarce after they did so. Kris had flung himself over the couch along with Chanyeol, while Lay, Luhan and Sehun ducked to the floor. Tao had dragged Baekhyun with him to the other side of the room, while Kai had teleported himself behind a curtain. Xiumin and D.O. had run towards the door, with Suho being the only one left still holding up the lid, using it as a shield.

“Yah, yah, yah! I don’t want to die yet, I’m too young and too handsome!” Baekhyun yelled dramatically, but ceased his whining the moment he realized that nothing had happened. 

“Eh?” he asked in bewilderment. “Why is nothing happening?” 

“Suho-hyung, are you okay?” Tao asked, seeing the leader still standing in front of the gift, the lid still used as a shield. 

“I-I think so…” Suho replied, carefully peeking from behind the lid to gaze into the box. 

“Can you see what’s inside of it?” Luhan asked from below. 

“Is it bubble tea?” Sehun inquired. 

“Tteokbokki?” Lay whispered in addition, but Suho shook his head, cautiously approaching it with baby steps. 

“It’s- huh?” he mused, lowering the lid slowly. “It’s another box,” he announced, looking at his brothers who curiously emerged from their hiding places. 

“Another box? Does it mean it really is a gift?” Chanyeol wondered as he walked back towards the gift. The brothers soon gathered around the box again to inspect the new box, still on alert, but relaxed at the same time.  

“Huh. Guess he really meant it, this time,” Kris stated, looking at the others. 

“There’s another card,” Xiumin noted, pointing out but refusing to touch it. 

“Can anyone read what it’s saying?” asked Baekhyun, tilting his head in all possible ways to read the scribblings. They were reluctant to touch it since the card was tied to the top of the new box, tying the wrapping together with a ribbon. If they pulled on it, it opened the wrapping and they weren’t sure if they wanted that to happen. 

“Oh, come on, nothing happened. It must be real,” Suho started, trying to laugh it off. 

“If you really believe that, then you grab the card, hyung,” Kai replied coolly, making Suho nervous. 

“Fine,” the leader stated, “I-I will.” 

The moment he reached for the card, the brothers flinched, but stayed where they were. Suho winced himself when he grabbed the card and pulled it off the box in one swift movement. They all waited breathlessly for something to happen, but when that didn’t, they relaxed and Suho read the card. 

“Hooray, I’m so pleased you opened your gift breathlessly, so here’s an award in the shape of a heartwarming melody~” Suho frowned after reading it, all eyes directed at the box as music did start to play. “Weird, why did he underline the word ‘breathlessly’?” he mused to himself. 

The boys stood frozen in mild fascination when the sides of the box slowly slid down, the music suddenly playing faster as though it was malfunctioning. 

“Um, is it supposed to smoke like that?” Baekhyun pointed. The brothers approach the gift curiously to inspect the oddity when out of the blue, the music ceased playing. 

“Why do I feel like we’re suddenly in a horror movie?” Tao complained in a faint whisper, hiding behind Sehun, who was hiding behind Lay. 

The box clicked loudly once, as though a switch was flipped, and the smoking stopped as well. 

“I don’t like this,” D.O. grumbled. 

“Hey, what’s that? A cylinder?” Chanyeol asked. He had barely finished his sentence or the smoke reappeared and the music came back with full force. Without them even properly realizing, the supposed gift exploded with a loud bang, smoke covering the air as the cylinder spilled a foul smelling mist into the room. 

The brothers startled, coughing and covering their mouths and noses, while making a quick escape. Once outside, they stopped to catch their breaths, only to be startled all over again when another blast sounded and it rained glittery confetti over them. 

A typical, characteristic laugh filled the air as Chen clapped his hands and stomped his feet out of mirth. 

“Your faces!” he gasped for air in between his laughter. “I can’t- Aigoo, I cannot believe you fell for that!” He held onto his waist as everything kept shaking while he had a laughing fit. 

“DAMN IT, CHEN!” Baekhyun shouted, still coughing now and then since he inhaled too much of the smoke coming from the stink bomb. “This is why I have trust issues!” he yelled. 

“Jongdae-hyung,” a chilling voice sounded. Chen looked up and took a step back upon seeing a fuming D.O. glaring at him from behind his dark bangs. “Juk.Go.Shipo.Yo?” he threatened in an eerily calm voice. 

Chen did scramble back, but regained himself, standing straight. “Now, now, no death threats from you today! Remember the rules? I got all of you in one blow!” he reminded them with a bright grin. “April Fool’s, bros! Bow down to your king, minions!” The sound of his laughter was mixed with the sound of exasperated groaning from his brothers.

“Damn it! This isn’t over, Jongdae! By the rules of today, we have the right to try and prank you back!” Luhan retaliated, cringing his nose when he sniffed his clothes. “Yah! What is this stuff anyway? Do you have any idea how many times I’d have to wash these clothes to get rid of the stench?” he complained. 

“Ha, you say that every year, but everyone knows I’m the unbeatable ruler of April Fool’s! I’ve never been pranked before, so why bother trying?” Chen retorted. “And don’t worry about the stench, it’ll be over in a while, I’m sure,” he waved off dismissively. 

“What’s in it, Chen?” Suho grumbled, already worried over how he was going to explain to the household what happened to his pricey shirt. 

“Well…Let’s just say that I wasn’t necessarily lying on the card,” he chuckled. 

“This is chocolate bubble tea?!” Sehun gasped, appalled. 

“Yeah,” Chen nodded, blasting out a laugh when he continued explaining. “Mixed with some tteokbokki that’s about a week old,” he grinned devilishly. 

“Ha! See? I told you I smelled tteokbokki!” Lay prompted. 

“Yeah, and now you smell like it, hyung,” Sehun shook his head. “Can we just get this day over with, please?” he then sighed, directing himself towards Chen. 

“Yah, what’s with that attitude? This’ll be fun! You’ll see!” Chen wrung his hands together deviously, but failed, of course, to convince the others. 

“Hey, I’m gonna make it clear right now; I am not wearing one of those Seven Dwarves outfits again- they are not my style!” Kris immediately protested. “Besides,” he mumbled grumpily, “I never get to be the dwarf I wanna be.” 

“How many times do we have to go through this, hyung? There is no such thing as Galaxy dwarf!” Chen replied. 

“There could be if we were given some artistic freedom!” Kris protested loudly. “I’m not the only one! Chanyeol wants to be Rilakkumma dwarf! Let the boy fulfil his dream, huh?” 

Chanyeol frowned in bewilderment when he was dragged into the conversation stepping towards Kris in an attempt to silence him. “Y-yah, hyung! What are you talking about? I never said that!” he immediately shouted, shaking his head and pulling Kris along with him. 

“Hyung! That was supposed to be between us, remember?” he whispered urgently, making Kris blink in confusion. 

D.O., having heard it, shook his head tiredly. “Idiots. I’m surrounded by them,” he muttered under his breath. 

“Chen, I will seriously beat you up tomorrow if you’re making us cross-dress again!” Luhan prompted, grasping the opportunity to voice in a veto as well. 

“Aw, but you have such nice calves, Lu-hyung! You should show ‘em off with a pretty skirt and eight inch-heels,” Chen teased, laughing when he saw the fuming, but blushing Luhan approaching him. 

“I’ll knock you into next week, Chen, I’m not joking!” he threatened, but since he was stammering and blushing, it was difficult for Chen to take his manly hyung serious. 

“Okay, okay,” he said, though he didn’t sound very convincing, “I get it. Will all of you relax before you’re telling me I’m not allowed to do anything fun with you? Besides, I’ve something else planned for this year,” Chen rubbed his hands together again. “So, my minions! Come and gather around! Your King commands you!” he laughed. “Oh, but not too close, you still stink.”

Chen laughed as his brothers protested, but were unable to do anything against him for today. They reluctantly swallowed their pride as Chen told them what he was planning for today…

A FEW MOMENTS LATER…

“I cannot believe we’re doing this,” D.O. grumbled as he was hiding in the bushes with a bunch of his other brothers. “This is ridiculous! Why do we do what he says?” he asked. 

“I don’t know…tradition? It’s just for a day, though,” Baekhyun said beside him, his head covered with twigs and leaves to blend easily behind the bushes they were hiding. 

“A day is too long,” D.O. groused. 

“Can’t we try and prank him instead? I don’t like this!” Sehun suddenly exclaimed, a little loud. 

“Shh! She’ll hear,” Chanyeol warned, peeking behind the bushes and signaling to Kris on the other side of the forest road. The taller teen was holding a cord of some sort, though he held it limply and seemed to still be contemplating on his life’s choices. Luhan, Xiumin and Suho were on the other side as well, looking just as hesitant. 

“Are we really going to do this to Jae-yah? Doesn’t feel right,” Lay then piped up, a pouty look on his face as he watched the girl approaching them from the other side, unaware of the trap that Chen had made them set up. 

Apparently, things were going to be different this year. He was going to spare them of humiliation, but the catch behind it, was that they all were going to help him prank Jae. 

Why? Because the King of Trolls reasoned that since it was April Fool’s Day, those that got pranked had to obey the King of Fools, which was him, at this point. If he got to prank Jae as well, she would have to do everything he said. It was genius, really, though the boys resented that they hadn’t thought of it themselves, so they would never admit that to Chen of course. 

Since they were his ‘minions’ for the day, they didn’t have much choice but oblige to his wishes. And so, they found themselves hiding behind bushes while Chen lured Jae to come meet him half way. The plan was that Xiumin would freeze parts of the road so that Jae would slip. Chen would ‘catch’ her and once Chanyeol gave the signal, Kris would pull the string, which led to bucket hanging from a tree filled with sticky glitter. Chen would pretend to have saved Jae from an April Fool’s prank, so the girl would be grateful and then- well, the King didn’t divulge in what he thought would happen next. 

It was a ridiculous plan though. All the brothers agreed to that. 

“I don’t like it either, gege. We should warn Jae-noona instead of pranking her,” Tao mused after having thought things through. 

“But Chen is the King, what can we do?” Baekhyun responded, looking more and more ridiculous himself as he found more leaves and branches to stick in his hair just to stay camouflaged. 

“Isn’t there a rule that we can try to prank him, instead, though?” Kai suddenly mentioned. The brothers exchanged knowing glances with one another. D.O. grinned. 

“Chanyeol, signal to the other side. Let’s try to get Chen to stand underneath that trap.”

Meanwhile, Chen was making sure that his plan was not going to be spoiled, and that Jae would meet him at the right place. He could already see her approaching and he smiled widely. This has to work! 

Straightening his clothes and smoothing over his hair, he walked towards her cheerfully, already waving at her and running towards her to make sure that she wouldn’t accidentally miss the mark. 

“Jae-noona!” he sang. “Annyeong!” his eyes subtly dashed on either side of the road, to make sure his brothers were in place. Why did he have the feeling that something was off, though? 

“Hi Chen-Chen,” she greeted sweetly, his heart making a little jump when she used the nickname. “I got your text. What’s up? It sounded important,” Jae waved her phone briefly in the air, as Chen subtly looked over to where he knew Xiumin was waiting, so he would ice the floor underneath Jae’s feet. 

“Oh, well, I wanted to meet because everyone else seemed to have disappeared. I was bored,” he chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck.

Jae blinked at him, her pretty almond-shaped eyes looking confused. She checked her phone again. 

“Jae-noona! Jae-noona! Come meet me at the forest path! There’s something I need to tell you! Kiss, Chen,” she read out loud from the screen, making him flinch. “You sent me that only so I would meet you?” she asked skeptically, but there was an amused smile on her face. 

“Ah- well…” Chen muttered, wondering why it took so long for his brothers to come to action. She was standing at the right spot! 

“If you were bored and wanted to hang out, you should’ve said so, Chen. I was really worried something happened,” she shook her head whilst smiling. “Where are the others though? I haven’t heard anything from them either,” she looked around as though she expected them to be around, but Chen quickly distracted her. 

“I don’t know, noona, that’s why I texted you,” he quickly said, but he was starting to become a bit nervous since he was starting to suspect that his brothers are trying to pull a fast one on him. Trying to mess with the King, huh? 

“It is rather suspicious that neither of us heard anything from them though,” he added, speaking loudly and slowly so that they would get the hint. 

“Wait a minute,” Jae suddenly mused, squinting her eyes at him. “Isn’t it April Fool’s Day today?” she asked and Chen nearly panicked. 

“I-is it? Oh, wow-,” he stammered, trying to keep calm under Jae’s gaze. When she leaned forward to continue side-eying him, he leaned back a little. 

“Hmm…” she mused. “What if the boys are planning something? That’s why they disappeared?” she suddenly asked, and Chen nearly let out a sigh of relief. 

“Maybe! We should be extra careful, noon-AH!” as Chen was trying to regain himself, he slipped on a suspicious icy surface on the road, startling Jae. 

“Oh my God, Chen!” she reached out to him in alarm, but heard a strange noise coming from above her. She blinked and shook it off, quickly going to Chen’s side to help him. However, as she didn’t see the slippery surface, she slipped as well and smoothly landed on top of Chen. 

“Ow! What’s wrong with this path?” she groused, looking around before her eyes met that of Chen’s. 

His breath caught in his throat for a moment, seeing her only inches away from him. The pain and bewilderment he had felt before disappeared like a flash. 

“Are you okay?” Jae asked him, and he blinked. Act cool, Chen, act cool! 

However, his mental encouragement only resulted to him nodding like a mute idiot. However, as they helped each other get up, he noticed a strange scene behind Jae and held in his breath to keep from laughing. Having seen his expression, Jae wanted to turn around to see what he was looking at, but Chen reacted quickly. 

“Noona! How about I go and try to find the guys? I’ll let you know when I found them. Meanwhile you can go into town and relax?” he suggested out of the blue. 

“Uh, I guess?” Jae hesitated, noticing his odd behavior. “I can go look for them with you, though.” 

“No, no need. What if they try to prank you, noona? That would be terrible!” he acted, before grinning brightly at her. “Just go ahead, noona. I’ll find them. You can count on me! Just keep walking ahead and don’t look back, okay?” he pushed her gently forward. 

“O-okay. I’ll guess I’ll see you later then?” Jae said and Chen nodded enthusiastically. 

“Later, noona!”

When Jae was out of sight, he turned around to look at the mess his brothers created. “Do I even want to know what happened?” he asked, crossing his arms across his chest. Kris, Chanyeol and Sehun were stacked on a heap on the floor, covered in sticky glitter. Nearby, Kai and D.O. were on the floor as well, with Xiumin and Luhan looking on, cringing. Tao tried to pat the glitter off Kris while Suho stood next to Lay, who was holding the empty bucket. 

“FYI, this was not my idea,” Baekhyun told Chen. 

Chen shook his head and sighed. “Plan B!” 

He later found out that Xiumin had purposely tried to make him slip while Luhan would float the bucket to dump its contents over him while he was down. What they didn’t anticipate was Jae actually rushing over to help him, just as Luhan was about to tip the bucket over. Tao had frozen the bucket in place so it wouldn’t hit her and told Chanyeol, Sehun and Kris to go grab it. As they rushed over to get it, Tao was distracted by Jae falling on top of Chen and dropped the bucket, the glitter falling all over his three brothers. Kai went to grab the bucket in case the thud would be heard by Jae, but smacked against D.O. when the latter tried to do some form of damage control. 

“You can’t prank the King of Pranks!” Chen whined again as they set up another trick involving a paintball gun. “Just do as I say and it’ll be fine! I have to prank Jae-noona!” 

“Why do you have to target her, though? What did she ever do to you, hyung?” Tao asked. 

“Shh, no talking, more doing! On my signal, Luhan will mentally pull the trigger of the paintball gun while Baekhyun pretends to be a pigeon. Jae-noona will think that a bird did number two on her and panic because girls don’t like icky stuff and I’ll take her jacket off and tell her it was a joke! Nothing harmful about that, right?” he explained quickly. “So…JUST DO IT!” he ordered, laughing maniacally for emphasis before heading over to a nearby bench to wait for Jae. 

“You know, Chen-Chen is generally really kindhearted, but he really scares me on April Fool’s Day. He’s like a different person…kind of mean…” Lay said in a careful whisper, hiding behind a tree. 

“This coming from you?” Luhan smirked skeptically. 

Lay blinked blankly at him. “What do you mean, Lu-ge? I’m not mean!” he protested. 

“You are when you’re dancing. I know about a hundred girls at school that think that you’re plain cruel when they see you dance,” Luhan explained while Xiumin laughed quietly beside him. 

A look of panic and worry overcame him. “Is that true, Xiumin-hyung?” he asked for confirmation while the eldest of the pack tried to keep his laughter in. 

“‘Fraid so, Lay-ah. They cry when they see you dance,” he answered, Luhan biting his lips to keep from laughing out loud. 

“What? Oh no- why? I like to dance, I’d never do it to hurt others,” he said, genuinely concerned, unaware that his hyungs were still laughing at him. 

“Don’t listen to them, Lay. It’s a joke,” Suho soothed nearby, giving the innocent-faced hyungs a glare for good measure. 

“Aiyah, April Fool’s joke!” Lay suddenly exclaimed, but still looked confused. “Right?” he asked for confirmation. 

“You know, Lay-hyung, you’re making it really easy,” D.O. said sympathetically. 

“Make what easy?” Lay asked, confused. He bit his lip and looked at Sehun who stood close by. “I don’t really do mean things to girls when I dance, do I?” he asked sadly. 

Sehun, who was also part of the dance club quickly shook his head. “Of course not, Lay-hyungie. Just ignore them,” he soothed, unable to stand to his hyung look at him like that. 

Right at that moment it seemed like the sky had darkened, just over the spot where the brothers were hiding. Out of the blue, a zap of lightning fell in between of them, signaling as a crackling warning signal. 

“Yah!” Kris yelped in alarm, looking at Chen in the distance. He urgently placed his finger in front of his mouth to signal them to be quiet and then proceeded to wait for Jae. 

Honestly, is it that hard to do as you’re told? Chen thought to himself as he waited for Jae. Just this once it has to work. Only once…

Chen jumped up when he saw Jae rushing towards him again, waving at her. “Jae-noona! Annyeong!” he greeted again. 

“Chen! I came as soon as I saw your text. How did Luhan get stuck in a tree?” she asked in disbelief. 

Chen felt the mental smack he received from his hyung, but ignored it. “Ah, noona, it was so strange. I don’t know what Luhan-hyung was thinking. He doesn’t even like heights. Something about a wanting to see the world through a bird’s eye perspective?” he wasn’t necessarily subtle about the hint, and sighed in relief when he heard Baekhyun making the sound of a pigeon. Jae, however, frowned and looked up at the sky. 

“What the- is that-? Is that Baekhyun?” she questioned. 

As Chen did his best to come up with an excuse, the brothers knew that it was their signal to shoot the gun. 

“Luhan, just do it,” Xiumin urged his best friend, but the former sighed. 

“He made me sound like a crazy person in front of Jae!” he protested. 

“Ugh, Luhan-hyung, just do it already, so we can get this over with,” D.O. then stated and Luhan grumbled. 

“Fine,” he clicked the trigger of the paintball gun with his mind, but Kai frowned when he saw the trajectory of the paintball. During their fussing and Chen warning them with that lightning bolt, the gun had sagged a bit and lost its initial aim. Right now, the paintball was dangerously hurling towards Jae, heading straight for her head. 

“Omo!” Kai startled and reacted on instinct, quickly teleporting his way to Jae to stand in front of her. Both Chen and Jae where startled when he appeared out of nowhere. 

“Kai?” Jae exclaimed, looking up when she heard a strange thud coming from the boy. “What the heck? What’s going on?” she wondered, looking at a cringing Kai who did his utmost best to stand still, having just taken a paint bullet for the unwitting girl. 

“Yes, Kai, please, do tell, what is going on?” Chen repeated, looking at the kid. 

Suddenly realizing that he had to explain himself, Kai felt a bit flustered. He had half a mind to oust Chen, but looking at his hyung, he realized that he couldn’t. 

“L-Luhan-hyung,” he suddenly started. “He fell out of the tree, but everything is alright now. Lay-hyung is healing him. Just thought that you wanted to know,” he shrugged, but the paintball still stung his back. Jae-noona was short, if Kai hadn’t stepped up in front of her, the bullet would’ve hit her face. Chen seemed to realize that when he gasped, but quickly recovered when Jae looked at him questioningly. 

“A-ah!” he started, swallowing. “Good. I’m glad he’s alright. Well, then, guess I called you out for nothing, huh, noona?” he chuckled again, but was obviously more nervous now. He quickly rushed over to Kai to wrap his arm around the boy’s shoulder in support. 

Jae folded her arms across her chest, looking at the suspicious teens. “Okay, which one of you is going to explain what’s going on? Chen, you’ve been acting weird all day and Kai, you and the others have vanished. What’s going on?”

“It’s nothing, noona, really,” Chen replied, wide grin plastered on his face. 

Jae didn’t believe him. Chen could tell. She was glaring at him again, eyes squinting at him. 

“The boy who cried wolf,” she suddenly said. 

“What, noona?” He and Kai replied simultaneously. 

“The story,” Jae clarified. “I don’t know why but you remind me of it. You especially, Chen,” she pointed out. He chuckled weakly in response. 

“Alright, look, I don’t know what’s going on, but I promised to meet up with my Mom for some tea at the coffee shop. I’ll be there if you need me, or you know, when you guys get whatever this is, together,” she then announced. 

“That’s fine, noona,” Chen nodded. “Enjoy and tell your mom we said hi,” he greeted quickly, Kai just numbly nodding along. 

Jae stared at them one last time before letting out an exasperated sigh and left. In that instance, Chen quickly pulled Kai towards him in a tight hug. 

“Aigoo! Are you okay, Kai?” he asked in concern. 

“Can’t. Breathe. Hyung!” the younger teen responded breathlessly. 

“Omo! Did the paintball hit your lung? Was it that powerful? I’m sorry!” Chen hugged him tighter since this was definitely not something that was supposed to happen. He’d never hurt anyone with his pranks, not like this. 

Kai, however, still struggled in his grasp trying to make his point across. “Aniya- hyung! Too. Tight. Can’t breathe,” Kai patted Chen’s back and he finally got the message. 

“Omo! Sorry!” Chen said again, letting go. “You’re okay, though, right?”

“Yeah, I’m okay,” Kai confirmed. “Can we stop doing this now, hyung?” he asked, but of course he should’ve known that Chen wouldn’t give in that easily. 

“Phase three,” Chen exclaimed. “This time it’ll work!” 

The brothers gathered at the quiet park a few moments later, waiting around until Chen would give them instructions for another plan to trick Jae. 

“You know, I’ve been thinking,” Chanyeol started, while waiting for Chen to arrive. “Why is Chen-hyung going through all this trouble to prank Jae-noona? Doesn’t make sense, right? Until I figured out that if he pranks Jae-noona today, she’d have to do whatever he says.” 

“I know! It’s brilliant, damn it,” Baekhyun blabbed. “What?” he asked when his brothers stared at him. “It is! If I would prank Jae-noona I’d have her pamper me the whole day,” he mused dreamily. 

“I’d have her listen to me making music,” Chanyeol added. 

“All the bubble tea…” Sehun nodded absently, as if he was already imagining it. 

“It’d be nice to cook with her or something,” D.O. said quietly and shyly. 

“I’d make her model for me while I draw,” Kris said with a goofy grin. 

“Whoa, wait! Imagine all the stuff Chen is thinking up though? Knowing him he’d probably have her do all sort of humiliating stuff!” Suho suddenly exclaimed. 

Tao gasped out loud. “He wouldn’t! Would he? Oh no, what if he’d treat Jae-noona like a slave?”

“And prevents her for going to the ball!?” Lay suddenly added as he nodded seriously. 

“Seriously hyung,” Kai patted his older brother on the shoulder. “Sometimes I really worry for you.” 

“We can’t let that happen, though, can we?” Suho prompted. “We should protect Jae!” 

“Or at least ask him what he means to do,” Xiumin interjected. “He didn’t really say why he wanted to prank her specifically.” 

“You want to give that villain a chance, Umin-hyung?” Sehun asked, bewildered. 

“Just because the rest of you want to put that poor girl through torment, doesn’t necessarily mean that Chen has the same idea,” he shrugged, laughing when he heard his brothers protesting.

“Fine, we’ll confront him about when he gets here! And then overthrow his government, or something,” Kris prompted, riling up his brothers. 

Not too long after, they noticed Chen dragging a strange, rather large contraption behind him when he arrived at the park. 

“Yah, what are you staring around for, minions? Help me!” he shouted at the pack. They slowly came into action and pulled and pushed the big contraption to Chen’s liking. 

“Okay! I little more to the left- little more, yes! That’s it! Perfect!” his laughter rang in the air as he stood proudly staring at it. “This will definitely work, guys! Third time’s the charm.”

“Chen, we need to talk first,” Suho tried, but when he stood frozen and wide-eyed when Chen briskly removed the veil that covered the machine he had been dragging along. 

“Tada!” he sang happily, revealing the cannon that could easily fit a human in the barrel. “Human cannon, anyone?” he smiled brightly. 

“Okay! Hold on! This has gone far enough, Jongdae,” Suho reprimanded. “Whatever your plan is with this thing, I don’t want to hear it! Why are you so adamant to prank Jae, huh? You wanna dress her in a dwarf costume too? What’s going on in that diabolical head of yours?” 

“Yeah!” his other brothers replied angrily. 

“Yah! Come on, I’m the King today! Minions don’t ask questions!” Chen defended himself, whining, though the tips of his ears burned red. 

“You’re gonna make a maid out of Jae-noona?!” Baekhyun accused, pointing at him. 

“What?” Chen asked in confusion. 

“Make her model for you?!” Kris added. 

“You’re gonna make her feed you bubble tea, aren’t you, you peasant-hyung?!” Sehun suddenly voiced angrily. 

“What?! Wae?!” Chen retaliated. “First of all, you cannot feed someone bubble tea, Sehun,” he started. 

“You can with a spoon!” the maknae retorted. Chen shook his head and sighed. 

“Second of all,” he ignored him, “what are all of you talking about? I’m not planning on doing any of those atrocious things to Jae-noona! What are you thinking about?!” he asked, sounding genuinely appalled. 

“Oh, yeah? Well, another thing-! Wait. What?” Luhan asked when he processed what Chen just said. “You- you’re not planning on doing anything like that to Jae?” 

“Of course not, hyung! That’s ridiculous!” Chen pouted, shuffling his feet. 

“Well, then- what’s all this about?” D.O. asked gesturing at the cannon. “You just enjoy pranking her?” 

“Aha! A sadist!” Baekhyun exclaimed, pointing at Chen in accusation again. Chen smacked his finger away and shook his head. 

“Yah, get real! I want to prank her because- well, because I just do, that’s all. Now, you’re my minions so help me!” he tried to change the topic but Suho gently placed a hand on his shoulder. 

“What’s this really about, Chen?” he asked calmly, a smile on his face. 

Chen sighed deeply and looked at his brothers. He lowered his head in defeat. “Fine,” he muttered, taking a deep breath. “But if any of you laugh, I’m making you wear you Hello Kitty outfits! Don’t think I can’t get them in your sizes!” he threatened. 

“It’s okay, hyung. You can tell us,” Chanyeol encouraged. 

Chen sighed once more and then nodded to himself for encouragement. “I wanted to prank Jae-noona today because, yes, I get to tell her what to do and she’d have to do it - unless she pranked me back, but we all know that’s impossible,” he chuckled a moment before continuing. “Anyway, I wanted to take her to the fair by the bay, and I thought that if I pranked her and told her to come with me, she couldn’t reject me,” he mumbled. “I just want to spend the day with her, that’s all,” he muttered shyly. He looked up carefully at his brothers who fell silent. 

“That’s it?” Xiumin asked, though a smiled played on his lips. 

“Yes, of course! I’m not a weirdo!” Chen protested, making his brothers feel a bit guilty, since their thoughts were not as sincere as his. 

“So…are you still going to help me, or what?” he then asked, trying to stand straight and tall to show them that he was still King. 

“Fine, but not with this thing,” Suho answered after exchanging looks with the rest of the pack. He gestured at the cannon. “I don’t even want to know how you got by that thing. I’m sure we can think of something else,” he reassured. 

“Interesting,” Chen mused. “I’m all ears,” he grinned widely. 

About an hour later, the group walked out of Chanyeol’s parents’ restaurant, helping Chen prepare for what they dubbed was going to be the prank of the year. 

“Are you sure this is going to work? It seems so lame,” Chen questioned for the umpteenth time when D.O. handed him a box, containing a self-made cupcake. 

“Please, mayonnaise in a cupcake always works, plus it’s not as harmful as a potential human cannon, babo,” D.O. replied dryly, quickly ruffling up Chen’s hair to straighten him out. 

“What if she gets mad, though?” he asked worriedly.

“Then the second phase of the plan comes to play. This time it will work, trust us,” Kris said, carrying another bucket filled with confetti. “Chanyeol, Baekhyun and I will get it set up.”

“And give her this too, hyung,” Sehun handed him a bouquet of flowers, but in one of them was a secret water gun. 

“And just do as you usually would. This will work,” Luhan added for encouragement. 

“Fighting, Chen-Chen!” Lay stuck up his thumb at him. 

“You send the message, we’ll be giving you back up from behind the scenes,” Suho told him when they walked towards the park. Chanyeol, Kris and Baekhyun were still setting up the bucket, but when they were done, Chen got into position. He was excited that his brothers were willing to help him, and he felt that this might actually work. 

“Alright, minions. You may leave,” he announced haughtily, though he smiled brightly. “Thank you,” he added gratefully. 

“Good luck, hyung,” Kai told him before they disappeared from sight, though he could tell that they hadn’t left. He nodded to himself and texted Jae. 

Noona! Hurry! Something weird happened with Suho-hyung and Chanyeol! They switched powers and don’t know what to do with themselves! Meet me at the park near the old tree oak! Hurry!

He chuckled quietly to himself at his own joke, and sure enough, Jae appeared ten minutes later, running towards him out of breath. 

“Please tell me that you’re joking, Chen!” she told him the moment she saw him. 

“Noona! Annyeong!” he greeted again. “How was you tea-time with your mom?” he asked calmly. Jae immediately eyed in him full suspicion, appraising him from head to toe, eyebrow lifted in question when she saw the box and bouquet of flowers in his hands. 

“Chen?” she asked warningly, which made him laugh again. 

“For you, noona!” he said cheerfully. “Sorry I lied,” he grinned sheepishly. Jae approached him cautiously, never once letting him out of her sight. 

“Hmhm, I knew I shouldn’t have come. Are you tricking me, Chen-Chen?” she asked, but he was relieved to hear some playfulness in her voice. 

“Why would I ever trick you, noona?” he asked innocently. 

“Hmhm…” she mused again, approaching him. He moved slightly so that she would stand in the right place. “What’s all this then?” she gestured at the box and flowers in his hands. 

“Oh, well, I- uh- yes. I just saw these and thought of you, so they’re for you,” he handed her the box first. “Open it!” he said eagerly. 

“It’s not going to explode, is it?” Jae asked, carefully inspecting the box. 

“Wae, noona! I wouldn’t do that,” he protested convincingly. Chen looked on in anticipation when she opened the lid. 

“Oh? A cupcake?” she chuckled and took it out of the box. “For me?” 

Chen nodded impatiently, almost unable to wait until she’d take a bite. 

“Huh. That’s actually pretty sweet. Thank you,” she said and took a bite. It was the most anxious moment in his life, waiting for her to react. But when she ate it, Jae didn’t flinch. Didn’t spit anything out. What’s this?!

“Hmm,” she mused in approval. “This is delicious! I love strawberry cheesecake flavor,” she hummed. “Are those flowers for me too?” she asked shyly, but Chen was still stumped. Did D.O. make a mistake?

“Huh? Uh- oh, y-yeah! For you,” he handed her the flowers, though he kept the pump that would activate the water gun in his hand. He waited with sweaty palms for her to smell them. 

“They’re beautiful, Chen,” she smiled, leaning forward to smell them. He pressed the pump and grinned when a soft spray was emitted from one of the flowers, but it wasn’t the water spray he had hoped for. Yah! What’s going on, here?! he thought in frustration.

Jae laughed though, waving the air away. “Is that jasmine? What, I don’t smell like jasmine enough for you? Stop playing,” she grinned, but Chen was stumped. He honestly didn’t know what to do for a moment. 

“Hey,” Jae then called out. “What the heck is this?” She pointed to a bit of rope that had appeared out of nowhere and Chen blinked. 

“Uh, I don’t know,” he said, genuinely meaning it. “M-maybe you should pull it?” he suggested. Jae chuckled at his own hesitance and then shrugged. 

“Okay,” she carefully grabbed the rope and pulled. Chen stepped back, just in case, but instead, it rained flower petals, making Jae exclaim in surprise before bursting out in sweet laughter. 

“Chen, did you- did you plan this?” she asked, a little bewildered, though no one could knock the smile from her face. When he was too stumped to answer, she looked up at the bucket and frowned a little. 

“Ha ha, joke’s on you, Chen! New kings in da house,” she read. “What’s that about?” she asked at a shocked Chen, who gaped as she read the message.

Before he had the time to explain, his eleven brothers emerged from their hiding places laughing and clasping their hands, startling the two of them. 

“We finally got you! Make way, ex-king!” Luhan said. 

“New kings are reigning now!” Baekhyun added teasingly, but Chen still couldn’t believe that this happened. 

“Wait, this was a prank?” Jae asked. 

“Sort of, noona,” Chanyeol started explaining, quickly placing his arm over Chen’s shoulders. “See, Chen wanted to prank you first, but his reasons were good, so we thought we’d help him,” he elaborated, “but we thought it would be fun to take a little advantage of that. You see here, on the island, when you prank someone, you get to be king for a day and those whom you pranked have to do as you say. Chen was reigning ruler for years, of course, but I guess it’s time for a little payback,” he chuckled, closing Chen’s mouth when this stood agape. 

“So you get to boss us around?” Jae asked in disbelief. 

“Yup!” Baekhyun grinned. 

“Yah! What’s this?!” Chen finally found his voice to speak. “I trusted you!” he sulked. 

“Oh, come on, Chen, it’s April Fool’s! You do these kind of things to us all the time,” D.O. replied, though his voice was gentle since he could tell that his brother was genuinely upset. 

“But you knew I wanted to prank Jae-noona so she’d come to the fair with me!” Chen argued. “My jokes are at least funny, you know…” 

“Hey, come on, we can still make you go,” Suho attempted to make amends, but they could tell that perhaps they went a little too far. 

Out of the blue, Jae suddenly grasped her stomach. “Um, guys, I don’t mean to interrupt whatever is going on right now, but I don’t feel so good,” she stated, sinking down on the bench. 

Concerned, the brothers turned their attention towards her. “Are you okay, noona? What’s hurting?” asked Tao.

“My stomach…was there something in that cupcake?” she winced, placing the flowers beside her, grasping her tummy. “I don’t feel good…” 

“Yah, D.O. what did you put in that cupcake?” Chen protested. 

“Whoa, wait, I didn’t put anything weird in it, it’s a regular cupcake, honest!” D.O. panicked. 

“It’s okay, Jae-yah, I’m here!” Lay quickly sank to his knees to heal her, the brothers making sure to stand around him so no one would accidentally see what he was doing. 

“There. Is that better, noona?” Lay asked with a gentle smile, but panicked when Jae shook her head. 

“It really hurts,” she gasped for air and bent over, still clasping her stomach. 

“Omo- eh, we should call for an ambulance,” Suho started. 

“Forget that, I’ll fly her there!” Kris prompted. 

“And risk being seen? I’ll take her, hyung,” Kai answered. 

The brothers erupted into a fierce discussion, while Chen was still worriedly squatting near Jae, her back to ease the pain. “If there’s anything I can do to help, Jae-noona, you tell me,” he whispered to her. 

“Okay,” she whispered back, looking at him and suddenly giving him a smile and a wink. “Sit back and join the show then,” she said with a devious grin that had him smiling back in surprise. 

“Oh, God! The pain!” she yelled over the ruckus, causing the brothers to throw a fit of panic.

“Okay, okay, phones! Call the ambulance!” Baekhyun yelled. As they paced around like a bunch of chickens who lost their heads, Jae loudly scraped . 

“Boys?” she called out, sitting up perfectly straight, beaming a smug grin that had Chen’s knees going weak. “Sike! You’re all so naive it’s adorable,” she laughed, the brothers stunned as she got up from the bench. “Isn’t this the part where you bow down to your new Queen, or something?” she chuckled, but only Chen had the sense to respond. 

“My Queen,” he bowed gracefully, loving how her giggle filled the air with warmth. 

“My Knight,” she replied with a nod of the head. “So, this means I totally own you all, right? That’s the rule?” 

Again, only Chen had the sense to nod his head. “Your wish is our command.” 

“Good!” Jae clasped her hands together, still chuckling over the stupefied faces from the others, as she pondered to herself. 

“Hold up! This was a prank?! You’re okay?!” Kris exclaimed, blinking at her. 

“Wow, you really don’t miss a thing, do you, Kris?” Jae replied cheekily. “April Fool’s, boys. Bow to your Queen!” 

Chen’s laughter rang in the air when the brothers did so hesitantly, as though they were still amazed at how easily Jae pulled a fast one on them. 

“B-but, this isn’t fair! We were kings!” Baekhyun sulked. 

“Emphasis on ‘were’,” Jae reminded him, looking like she was having a lot of fun. “And now you’re back to being my subjects, kkaebsong,” she shrugged, and this got a few laughs from the brothers. 

“Alright then, what is it exactly that our Queen desires from us?” asked Luhan. 

There was a glint of playfulness in Jae’s eyes that Chen could highly appreciate, it made the smile on his face widen further. 

“First of all,” she spoke, “I would like all of you to apologize to Chen, for obvious reasons,” she decided, which the brothers did sincerely. Chen’s grin only widened.

“We’re truly sorry, Chen-Chen,” they said, with a bow. “We never wanted to hurt your feelings like that.” 

“Are they forgiven?” Jae asked him and Chen played along. 

“Well, I don’t like the expression on that one,” he pointed at Sehun who looked sulky, “but I suppose they are,” he laughed. 

“Wonderful! In that case, I’ve decided what my second command is going to be,” Jae announced. 

“Oh lord, we’ve created a monster,” Baekhyun mentioned, already fearing for his life. 

If Jae heard the comment, she didn’t let it show. Instead, she looked at all of them before smiling. “I command that we all go to the fair at the bay together and have fun,” she decided. “But, there’s one condition!” she warned, looking at Chen. 

“I’ll be riding all the rides there with Chen. No exceptions,” she stated firmly. “Anyone who dares protest will have to take it up with me,” she grinned, since no one did. Instead, she was met by endearing smiles, while Chen lit up with excitement. 

“Wah, really, noona?” he asked, nearly bouncing up and down. 

“You bet! Spending the day at the fair sounds like a lot of fun, actually. I mean, if you guys don’t mind going, of course,” she added, falling out of her Queen-character. 

“Why would we protest?” Suho asked with a laugh. 

The next thing Chen knew, he was walking along side Jae as they roamed the food stalls and let her choose the attractions to ride in. True to her word, she only rode them with him, declining any offer or temptation from his other brothers. 

It was only when they rode the ferris wheel together, that Chen couldn’t resist his playful side. As Jae was admiring the beautiful view from up above, he took a moment to look at her. He watched as the warm glow of the setting sun fell on her face and hair, how those rays reflected in her eyes and seemed to stay there. He smiled. 

“Jae-noona, what’s that?!” he called out, pointing at something in the distance. 

Startled, Jae immediately reacted, looking to where he pointed. “What is it?” she asked in alarm. Chen laughed and saw her close her eyes in defeat. 

“April Fool’s,” he mused playfully, laughing a little louder when she elbowed him gently. 

“No fair. I had so much fun being Queen,” she complained. 

“Well, you’re still a Queen, but now you have a King instead of a knight,” he answered smoothly, which made her laugh. 

“Right. But the reigning King still gets to tell the Queen what to do, right?” she replied skeptically.

“Only if the Queen wants to. The King would never force her to do things she didn’t want to do,” he answered sincerely. Jae fell silent as she looked at him in pleasant surprise. She blushed then and looked shyly away, making his heart skip a beat or two. 

“Well, in that case, what is it that the King wishes?” she asked, still unable to look at him. 

Chen felt the shyness overwhelm him too this time and he sighed softly to gather some courage. 

“If it’s not too burdensome for the Queen,” he started, clearing his throat a little. “Would it be okay for the King to ask for a kiss?” he curled his toes bashfully, finding it difficult to look at Jae to see how she would respond, but he did so anyway. 

He was looking at her surprised expression, the corners of her mouths tugged upwards in a gentle smile. She chuckled to look away a moment, and Chen knew that it was too much. 

“S-sorry- ah, forget about, noona,” he laughed to get rid of the tension, feeling like an idiot, when he suddenly felt a hand cup his cheek and pull him closer towards her. 

He held in his breath when he felt Jae’s soft lips press against his cheek in one of the most tender kisses he had ever experienced. Chen did all he could to preserve the memory and didn’t move for a while, even after Jae had pulled away again. 

“There,” she chuckled timidly. “Long live the King,” she joked, jabbing him in his side again to get him to wake up from his daze. 

Chen bore such a wide grin on his face that he was sure he’d never feel unhappy again. “I am the King, aren’t I?” he asked with a smirk of mirth. 

“Yeah, King of Fools,” Jae reminded him. 

“And you kissed him, so who’s the real fool?” he teased. 

“Chen?” 

“Yeah?”

“Shut up.”

“As my Queen desires,” he replied beamingly.