Of Birthdays & Scribbled Promises

 

 

 

The first alarm had been Jinwoo’s endless mumbling beside his ear while they waited in line for the check-in. The hyung has been scrolling through something on his phone, his eyebrows knitted together and his lips curled in a pout. He was totally focused, so much that not even Seunghoon’s head on his shoulder managed to snap him out of his thoughts.

 

“What did you buy, Taehyun-ah?” 

 

Taehyun fixes his sunglasses without much interest. “Buy?”

 

Jinwoo has his big eyes on him, his expression blank.

 

“Yeah, for Mino’s birthday. I don’t want to risk buying him the same thing you did.”

 

It’s Taehyun’s turn to show his best blank face.

 

“Mino’s birthday? Isn’t it on the 30th of March?” 

 

Jinwoo sighs. “Which is today?” He remarks, sarcastically. “And I’m the lost one.”

 

Taehyun’s mouth drops open as fast as light as he’s left speechless for a couple of seconds. .

 

It’s a pretty accurate representation of the thoughts running in his mind.

 

With all those nights spent at the studio, plus the schedules and flights to take, days started to get all mixed up in Taehyun’s mind. No wonder he hasn't realized it was already Mino’s birthday. 

 

“Duty free”

 

Taehyun jolts out of his thoughts to find Jinwoo with his eyes glued back to his phone. He raises an eyebrow.

 

Jinwoo stops scrolling and looks up to him. “The shops inside the airport. You can look for a gift there, it’s your last chance,” he shrugs, as it’s not really his problem if Taehyun has forgotten his boyfriend’s birthday.

 

Taehyun sighs at his own pitiful self and waits for the check-in to be over before finally running to the shopping section of the airport. He has noticed Mino’s weird looks at his “need to have some intimacy with the public restroom” but he didn’t have a better excuse. 

 

He rushes to the jewelry store, ignoring the other shops without thinking twice. He needs to get a nice gift, most of all because Mino will probably understand he bought it at the airport, last-minute. It needs to be an extra-nice gift.

 

There are tons of shining things in the damn store but Taehyun doesn’t have much time before their flight takes off. He stops in front of a display case and leans down to take a closer look at some jewelery, his sunglasses slowly sliding down his nose. 

 

There are some nice rings and pendants in there. He has seen Mino wearing stuff like that, he has quite a big collection of rings, along with his stupid collection of t-shirts with his name on them. Taehyun has never met anyone more obsessed with his own name than the rapper and he smiles at the thought. 

 

His smile slowly fades away when reality hits him hard again: he has no idea what to choose as gift. All that jewelery is nice but also looks all the same. As much as he feels like a douchebag for forgetting the birthday, he also doesn’t want to make a random gift. He wants something special and nothing in that case appeals to him.

 

He sighs, frustrated, taking a look around and meeting the eyes of an employee whose face brightens up as soon as she notices Taehyun’s stare. She knows she’s going to make some money and immediately approaches the young man with middle-parted hair.

 

“May I help you?”

 

Taehyun doesn't even know what he's doing there anymore, but he still nods automatically, the Sahara being nothing compared to the blankness dominating his mind now.

 

“It's for a birthday gift, for a man,” he manages to blurt out.

 

The woman is already nodding like one of those disturbing big-headed dolls Taehyun has only seen in American movies.

 

“Let me show you some of our best pieces,” she shows her best professional smile and disappears.

 

Taehyun puts both elbows on the glass surface and sighs, hoping to find something for that damn birthday.

 

Five minutes later he's out of the jewelry store.

 

 

**

 

 

Mino buckles his seat-belt and leans back against the headrest, trying to find a comfortable position. It's not going to be a long flight but he'd like to make up for the several sleepless nights spent at the studio.

 

He can hear Jinwoo's laugh some seats behind, he's probably sitting with Seunghoon and Seungyoon, or with their manager.

 

Taehyun has the seat beside him and Mino is happy, because they don't happen to sit together that often, most of all without the other members around. It seems like someone is already granting him a small birthday wish.

 

The maknae sits next to him a moment later, and Mino looks to his side, taking in the sight of a tired Taehyun taking off his sunglasses and running a hand through the soft cascade of brown hair.

 

Mino knows Taehyun likes to listen to music or to sleep during flights so he just smiles and doesn't say anything, turning around to look out of the window and closing his eyes soon after. He has taken enough flights to allow himself to skip the security measures speech.

 

“Hyung”

 

The first, foolish thing Mino's already half-asleep brain elaborates is how that voice certainly doesn't belong to some flight-attendant. On a second thought he knows it's Taehyun, and he realizes the maknae is slipping something into his hand lying on the armrest between them.

 

At that point Mino is not asleep anymore. He turns around and looks at Taehyun, who's looking at the small TV-screen over their heads, apparently ignoring his existence. Then he looks down at his hand and notices the small piece of paper crushed in his fist.

 

Full of curiosity, he slowly unfolds it to find a bunch of words scribbled in blue ink at the very center of it. It's Taehyun's messy handwriting and Mino needs to look closely to decrypt the content. He can feel Taehyun's eyes on him as he rests his shoulder against the wall and lets the sunlight help him in the delicate process of deciphering Taehyun's message.

 

“'Coupon for a kiss. Personal use only'.” He reads out loud.

 

Mino stares a the piece of paper for a while, reading and re-reading those words until they lose all meaning. Then he turns around to find Taehyun finally returning his gaze. His furrowed eyebrows tell Mino he's somehow upset, but he can't tell whether he's nervous or worried or simply tired.

 

“You forgot my birthday again,” Mino states simply, a deep sigh following his words.

 

Taehyun just nods, no use in denying it now and he's not the type to get all dramatic over something like that anyway.

 

“This is the best you came up with?” Mino goes on, reading the 'coupon' once again. His lips are trembling.

 

Taehyun makes a face. “What's wrong with it? It's brilliant.” He doesn't understand if Mino is really upset or if he's just playing with him.

 

Mino can't hold it back anymore and starts laughing out loud. “'Personal use only'? Who would write something like that on a birthday coupon?” His lips keep forming the words in silence while he chuckles to himself every time he reads the paper again.

 

Taehyun's shoulders fall down in relief – Mino isn't upset and his stupid idea seems to amuse him. The jewelry store was just a waste of time in the end and that is really the best he has managed to come up with.

 

“Well?” He looks at the paper in Mino's hands with an expectant look on his face.

 

Mino looks at him again. “What?”

 

Taehyun rolls his eyes. “When are you going to use it?”

 

Mino smirks. “Why should I tell you? It's my coupon, I can use it whenever I want”

 

Taehyun's mouth drops – he can already guess the dangerous thoughts in the man's mind. “Mino–”

 

“...in any situation, any place and any way I want, right?” Mino is smiling from ear to ear now.

 

Taehyun shakes his head vigorously. “You know what? I take that coupon back, I'm going to buy you a proper gift once we're back home–” he leans forward just as Mino leans back, raising his arm in the air to prevent Taehyun from taking the piece of paper. The seat-belt forces the younger to sit back down, not without a frustrated sigh.

 

Mino carefully folds the piece of paper and slips it in his pocket, away from Taehyun's reach. “Oh no, I'm going to make good use of this coupon. Thanks for the birthday gift, Taehyun-ah,” he hasn't stopped grinning for a split second and Taehyun is even more frustrated now than he was at the jewelry store, if possible.

 

“ you,” he mutters under his breath.

 

It doesn't affect Mino's mood. “That would be another nice gift!”

 

“Shut. Up.”

 

“By the way, is the kiss included in the coupon only valid for mouth kisses or also other places as well?”

 

“Oh my god”

 

“You didn't specify, so I guess any spot is okay for you?”

 

“I swear to God, Mino”

 

“Will you kiss my–”

 

“I will ing kill you.”

 

Mino just laughs at that and decides he has teased Taehyun enough. He playfully pokes the maknae in the side, receiving a grunt in return before he sees Taehyun wearing his headphones, meaning he's going to ignore Mino's existence for the rest of the flight.

 

It doesn't really matter to Mino anyway. He has the nice feeling he's going to snatch more than one kiss from that coupon before the day ends.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I'm reading and re-reading this... thing, trying to understand if it's too cheesy or not, and I can't give myself an answer. I hope you enjoyed this little frenzy anyway, even though it's totally short and random. Please do feel free to leave your opinion on this.

I think I really need some sleep now (it's 5am as I'm writing this).

Thanks for reaching this point, you're a true survivor!