"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...