#plutominho

he pulled up a chair and sat across from you at your desk, watching your face intently as you tried to focus on your work. 

“y/n.” he whispered. 

you ignored him, flipping your study guide to review the back side. 

“y/nn,” he whined, resting his forehead on the desk, some of his hair covering your paper. 

you pushed his forehead up with your palm, and he slumped back in his seat for a second before sitting up straight again. 

he pressed a chip up against your mouth, repeatedly poking between your top and bottom lip until you opened your mouth. 

“y/n, honey, you need to eat.” 

“no, i need to stud—“ 

you were cut off by minho pushing the chip into your mouth as you spoke, and you shot him a glare as you chewed roughly before looking back at your paper. 

he laughed to himself as he stood up, feeling accomplished. 

“if you don’t eat, you’re for sure going to fail! you’ll be too hungry to even think, and your stomach will be speaking to you during the test, ‘y/nnnnnnn, feed meeeeee’ and then you won’t be able to focus and then—“

“minho. please.”

he apologized softly, making an action of zipping his lips as he moved to stand behind you, massaging your shoulders rather roughly before proceeding to put another chip in your mouth and leaving again. 

you heard him go to the front, look out the door into the hallways, snoop around the teacher’s desk, and quickly doodle on the whiteboard before making his way to the back of the room. 

of course, he made sure to put another chip in your mouth when he walked past you to admire the posters on the classroom’s back wall. then he came to sit at the desk next to you. 

he rested his head on the desk, using his arm as a cushion as he turned his head to the side to look at you. 

you were grateful for him accompanying you and feeding you, knowing how bored he was not doing anything when he could’ve been enjoying his break.

“you look insanely attractive when you study,” he muttered, still looking at you. 

you scoffed, but suddenly felt self conscious as you glanced at him, his hair highlighted by the light coming from the window behind him. 

“no, i’m serious! smart people are sexy, y’know!” 

you let out a laugh in embarrassment, and he laughed to himself as you used your hand to hide your face from him. 

the laughter died down rather quickly, and you went back to studying and making quick notes to remember. 

you heard minho move around the room again, followed by the squeaking of dry erase markers on the whiteboard.

he got bored again, and moved to stand behind you, watching over your head as you continued studying. he reached his hands to your front, resting his wrists on your shoulders as his fingers fiddled with the necklace he’d given you for your birthday a few months prior. 

“y/n, look up.”

“min, i need to study…”

“please? i won’t bother you after this. i pinkie promise.”

he ran his hands through your hair, and you sighed as you craned your neck to look up at him. you groaned a little, feeling your back stretch against the metal school chair.

you had to blink a few times to bring him into focus, your eyes having been so used to staring closely at words on a page. 

“i wanna try something–” he laughed softly. “you look cute when you’re blinking like that.”

you looked up at him with a puzzled look on your face, wondering why he was acting excessively sweet all of a sudden. 

“thanks, can i…” 

you dropped your head to go back to studying, until you felt his cold hands cup your cheeks and tilt your head back again. 

“bro, what the hell?”

minho gasped. “don’t bro me! i’m your boyfriend! the love of your life! your soulmate!”

you rolled your eyes. “whatever, whatever. what are you gonna do?”

“oh, yeah! close your eyes.”

you closed your eyes and rested your head against his stomach as you waited in anticipation for a few seconds, wondering what he was going to do. 

before you knew it, you felt minho’s familiar pair of lips on yours, but something was different. they were… upside down?

it all clicked, and you laughed to yourself at how cheesy he was being. 

he kissed with uncertainty, not taking a lead like he usually did, as if he was carefully gauging your reaction. 

it was a strange sensation, feeling something so familiar suddenly feel so foreign. 

the two of you got the hang of it, your hands reaching up to gently rest over his, which were still resting on either side of your face. 

although he was upside down, you felt him smile into the kiss as you fell into a comfortable pace and he brushed his fingers against your jaw. 

he pulled away, kissing your forehead before letting you go completely and stepping away. 

“okay, thank you for your time! also, lunch ends in less than a minute, you might want to pack up now.”

as if on cue, the bell rang and signaled the end of lunch. he smiled widely, observing the dazed expression on your face as your fingers lingered over your lips.

“minho, you are going to be the death of me…” you muttered to yourself, shoving your things into your backpack. 

holding your breath, you firmly pressed your hand against your phone, in an attempt to keep any extra attention off of you. if you stayed extremely still, maybe your professor wouldn’t notice your phone had gone off yet again and just focus on the student giving their final presentation. 

yet he still shot you a disapproving glare, to which you shot back an awkward smile as an apology. 

you flipped your phone over to look at the heap of notifications, all from minho. 

guess where i am

outside your class :o surprise!

you should come out to see me

aren’t you bored? 

you’re just listening to presentations anyway 

you’re totally bored you probably want to see me more right right

so you should come out to see me :))

i’ll give you a good luck kiss :))

what if i said i brought snacks :))))

would you come out and see me then :)))))

you shook your head to yourself and clicked the power button once to shut the screen off, then looked back up at the powerpoint on the projector screen.

until you felt your table rumble… again.

you averted your eyes to your lap, feeling your ears burn red. you didn’t dare to look back up after that, especially because your phone buzzed at least three more times before the student even advanced to their next powerpoint slide.

you were going to see minho after class ended in an hour anyway; couldn’t he wait until then?

maybe you were just too irresistible, and you would’ve gladly taken that compliment—except that was exactly what minho would’ve said about himself if you had answered those texts.

that little shit. he was lucky he’s cute.

once you heard the student mutter a ‘thank you’ with a sigh of relief at the end, you finally got the courage to look up. the professor seemed to forget all about the incident as he scribbled on a piece of paper. it helped that your phone didn’t go off at all for the last minute or two of the presentation, so you let yourself relax.

“thank you, yuna,” the professor said. “seonghwa, are you ready—”

the door opened, and everyone’s heads turned at the movement.

you did the same, and froze when you registered a familiar head of purple hair.

oh no.

the professor looked up from his clipboard and peered over his glasses. “may i help you?”

minho looked at him, his mouth slightly agape. “oh no, sorry…” he then locked eyes with you from across the room. “wrong class, my bad! sorry!” he rambled, then left as fast as he came.

he did not.

your professor watched you with an annoyed look on his face as you excused yourself and hurried out of the room. 

once the door was shut, minho was waiting for you outside with a smug grin on his face. 

“what do you think you’re doing?!” 

he didn’t answer, only placing a chaste kiss on your lips, pulling away before you could process what was happening. 

“what— minho i’m in class i’m supposed to give my presentation after the next person and it’s my final—”

“i know, i know… i’m here to wish you luck!” he smiled over-enthusiastically. 

you rolled your eyes; you knew him too well to believe that. “you would’ve just texted. why are you here?”

his smile dropped into a small pout as his shoulder slumped. “okay, i was bored and i was um… passing by, yeah? so i thought i’d say hi! also, i did text. you just ignored me.”

“i wasn’t answering your texts ‘cause i’ll be marked down if i’m disruptive! and now i can’t go back in ‘cause the next person already started their presentation, happy?”

“and what if i am?” he asked, a cheeky smile on his face as he leaned against the wall. 

you furrowed your eyebrows, glowering at him unamused.

“hey, cheer up! you’re stuck with me for a while now, isn’t that better than some boring presentation?”

you just huffed, crossing your arms and leaning against the wall as well, trying to keep a stoic expression.

“also i’m just saying, you weren’t being disruptive. i was. and i don’t have this class, so you can’t be marked down for it.”

lightheartedly, you scoffed and rolled your eyes. “that makes zero sense.”

“it makes perfect sense!” he smiled at you. “if you think about it— oh, you got a little something right there— i was the one who disrupted class. your grades will be fine.”

minho stood in front of you, adjusting your collar and brushing imaginary dust off your shoulders. your eyes shifted from his exaggerated yet concentrated gaze, to his hands, and back to his eyes. he fixed your hair, tucking a few strands behind your ear as he stifled an embarrassed laugh, and you let out a chuckle of your own.

“now you’re ready!” he mumbled, stepping back from you quickly and returning to your side to hide his flushed cheeks. 

you kept your gaze focused on your flustered boyfriend, and a small smirk made its way onto your face. “aw, is someone blushing?” you said, poking his side to tease him.

minho let out a small whine, lightly pushing your hands away in protest. 

“i’m not blushing! it’s the lighting, i’m serious. you look like you’re blushing right now. are you blushing? i think you’re just reflecting on me to hide the fact that i made you blush. don’t you have a presentation in a few minutes?”

“alright, alright, sheesh!” you played along, copying his tone before peering in your classroom through the classroom door window. 

the student at the front of the room was on what looked like the conclusion slide of his presentation, so you did have to go back in soon.

you turned back to minho, trying to hide the frown that wanted to slip out.

“you don’t wanna go back, do you?” he said.

you sighed but didn’t respond. of course he could read you like a book.

“i can’t say i blame you, who would want to be doing a presentation? also,” he smirked, “i’m way more irresistible.”

and there it was.

you shook your head and rolled your eyes, playing off your blush as you turned back to the door. “wow, you made that way easier!” you said sarcastically.

“wait no no no!”

you turned around as he lightly grabbed your wrist and pulled you back.

“one more kiss?” 

“minho, i have to—”

“i know, i know! but he’s not done yet, and i never got a goodbye kiss.”

before you could retaliate, he pulled you close and placed a short kiss on your lips. he wrapped his hands around your waist and leaned back to look at you. 

he pressed his lips together into a thin smile. “one more, consider it your good luck kiss!” 

you rolled your eyes as your hands rested on his shoulders. “now you’re just making excuses to kiss me.”

“do you want good luck or not?” he muttered, before pressing his lips on yours again. a small smile spread across your mouth as your lips moved together briefly before pulling away. 

“you’re so clingy today…” you mumbled, the two of you still close to one another. 

“what? i’m always like this, what are you on?” his voice went at least two octaves higher, over-exaggerating his question. 

you heard muffled applause as you were about to make a comeback, and minho stepped back, gently pushing you off of him.

“oh look, presentation time!” he said, feigning disappointment.

you looked at him unamused again, and he held back a giggle.

“it’s your turn, right? go, go! fighting!” he made a shooing motion with his hands, leading you to the door.

“wait but—”

you turned before you opened the door, suddenly remembering what minho promised you earlier.

the boy raised an eyebrow at you. “yes?”

you simply held your hand out palm-up, looking at him expectantly.

minho just stared back blankly, glancing at your hand once before smacking it lightly with his.

you squinted at him, confusion and a hint of disgust grazing your features. “wh– that’s not what i meant–”

“then what does…” he mimicked your gesture, down to your body’s stance, “mean?”

“minho, the snacks!”

for a second, he looked at you as if you were the craziest person to walk the earth. his eyes glazed over your face, trying to remember what the hell you were talking about.

then it hit him, and you could tell by the small gasp he made, his lips forming a small o.

“ohhhh! the snacks! yeah, i brought them.”

“yeah, can i have some–”

“you did.”

you shook your head. “um, no i didn’t–”

“me.”

you stared at him in puzzlement, taken aback. “what?”

“i promised snacks, and i let you have the snacks—me! i’m the snack.”

your face dropped, your lips fighting the urge to curve into a smile. you should’ve known it was too good to be true. 

“oh my god, i hate you,” you huffed out lightheartedly, and you turned on your heel. “byeeee~”

“good luck!” minho shouted behind you, giggling as he blew you a kiss, a shameless smirk on his face.

“yeah yeah!” you said, and rolled your eyes once more before going inside, ready to get this presentation over with.

at least you got your good luck kiss.

going from seeing each other everyday to facetiming each other once a week (twice on a good week) nearly broke you. you had lost count of how often you’d go days on end without hearing from chan, only for him to quickly text you days later that he forgot to reply. all too familiar was the sound of his voicemail, telling you to leave a message after the tone. one of the only times you could hear his voice on some days.

perhaps the worst part of chan being away was the sudden lack of hugs. ever since you two started dating, he always made sure to shower you with them. morning hugs from behind while you cooked breakfast. side hugs whenever you waited in line at starbucks, a hand gently resting on your waist as you leaned into his shoulder. comforting arms wrapped around you, pulling you into his chest whenever you were about to burst into tears… oh, how badly you needed those so many times within the last few weeks.

and of course, the goodnight hugs. 

oh, the goodnight hugs… the ones that would always end in full-on cuddles within a matter of minutes. you used to complain when he wanted to snuggle with you at night, saying it was “too hot” and uncomfortable, even during winter nights. but now, after realizing just how cold his side of the bed was without him there to fill it, just how eerily quiet the room was without him incessantly bugging you for ‘just five minutes, please?’, you craved those cuddles more than ever.

you understood he was busy. he knew you were busy, too, often occupied with work and college, which, on top of clashing time zones, made planning time together all the more difficult. despite your busy schedules, you two managed to make it work, promising to facetime at least once a week. sometimes you would plan to eat a meal together. other times, chan would stream a movie on his laptop and screen-share with you so you could watch together.

but sometimes, you and chan just facetimed and… talked. before chan left for tour, you two often lied in bed together but refused to sleep, instead talking about whatever came to your minds. events from your day, stories from the past, thoughts about the future, random late-night thoughts… anything was fair game. you two would just talk late into the night as you faced each other, speaking in hushed voices and giggling quietly even though you two lived together. there was never a dull moment between you two, no matter how late it was, or how damn well you knew you’d regret staying up the following morning. 

out of the kinds of virtual dates you two had, the ones where you two just talked over facetime were your favorites. probably because those were the dates that reminded you of home the most. 

lots of things changed once chan left for tour, but those facetime dates where you just talked late into the night were one of the few things that didn’t.

tonight was no exception. chan happened to finish his schedule early—a rarity for him, especially during tours. the first thing he did after he got to the hotel and got ready for bed was call you, eager to see your face for the first time in days. what a perfect way to end his night.

he smiled at you cutely, scrunching up his nose before making a silly face at the camera. you giggled as he readjusted himself and fixed his hair, still damp from the shower he took before he called you.

“so, how was work?” you asked.

“oh, you won’t believe what minho did today!”

you propped your head up against your hand, listening intently to the story chan recalled from his afternoon. “and when jisung came out of the shower, he was screaming that his hair turned purple!” you were over the moon, finally being able to hear his voice for longer than a voicemail greeting. 

you listened intently, clinging on to every word he said like it would be the last time. you watched him with stars in your eyes as he rambled on and on for hours. 

the nights you and chan would spend talking never stopped when he left for tour. however, they had to end at some point.

you had forgotten that he was in a different time zone until he began showing it. he yawned once, twice, and countless times more. his eyes drooped as he became overcome by sleepiness. his words began meshing together, his voice down to a low whisper. 

“baby, what time is it there? you should go to sleep.”

“umm, 3:25? i will soon, i want to talk to youu…” 

“you’re barely awake, channie. i can wait a little longer.”

he pouted, shifting a bit under his blanket. “but i don’t want to wait…” he mumbled sleepily.

“i can wait, i promise. you have a show tomorrow, we can talk right before you go to work, yeah?”

that only made him pout more, and he grumbled another complaint under his breath.

it was quiet for another minute, and you watched as chan grew sleepier. “i should go and let you sleep,” you said softly, about to press the red button to end the call.

“nooo,” he whined, peeling one eye open to look at you.

“chan…”

“just five more minutes?” he stuck his bottom lip out in another pout. “please?”

you chuckled a little. “of course. i’ll be right back though,” you said, excusing yourself to go to the bathroom after chan mumbled a small “m’kay” in response.

you went and freshened up, then came back after a few minutes.

“i’m back— oh.”

one look at the screen revealed that chan had fallen asleep in the short time you were gone. you laughed softly to yourself as he dozed off, a piece of stray hair dropping in front of his eye as little snores escaped his mouth. 

your chuckles quickly died down as you watched your boyfriend with a loving smile. he looked so peaceful, you didn’t dare to disturb him as he entered dreamland. he deserved the rest, with how much he did for his team, and how much he did for you.

you waited a couple more minutes before you decided it was a good time to hang up. you smiled at the boy once more, your finger hovering over the ‘end call’ button.

“get some rest, baby. i love you,” you said softly, and you pressed the red button.

you knew it was going to be hard. and you knew that soon enough, chan would be back home, snuggled up in bed to both of your hearts’ desires, as he told you all his tour stories as if it was the first time.

you looked at minho with a disgusted face, and he just blinked at you with the most blank expression.

“i’m not going to die, but i will if i stay here any longer. i can just come back for christmas day. now, i’m going home. okay?”

he watched you grab your keys and jacket, slipping your shoes on halfway before stepping out the door. you were surprised he didn’t say anything, which was quite suspicious after all the pestering he’d been doing. but you paid no mind, yelling a ‘goodbye’ and shutting the door.

you went and sat in your car, putting the key in the ignition. all of a sudden, the passenger side door opened, and you yelped, jumping in your seat. minho sat there, a smug smile on his face.

“hello!” he said, a bit too cheerfully.

you gave him a confused look. “...hi? what are you doing in my car…?”

he sighed, pretending to be in deep thought for a few seconds. “well, i figured if you didn’t want to stay at my place, i would just come with you to yours! that way, you wouldn’t be able to get rid of me.”

“well, that’s definitely… a thought. but why would we drive to my place when we’re both already here?”

“because you don’t want to stay here.”

you scoffed before laughing softly. what were you going to do with him… it looked like you had no other choice, and settled on staying for the night. sighing, you turned off the car and pulled the key out of the ignition.

minho clapped in triumph before leaning over the center console to land a quick kiss on your cheek, making you turn your face away to hide a blush. “i knew you wouldn’t be able to resist me.” he said, a satisfied smile on his face.

back inside, you felt a small sense of deja vu as you took off your coat and shoes again, leaving your keys on the side table by the door. minho jumped as he turned around. “what do you want to do?”

“well, first off, if i’m staying the night, i’ve got no pajamas–”

“you can wear mine.”

you froze, blinking blankly at him. the thought of wearing your crush’s friend’s clothes set off the butterflies in your stomach, but you suppressed them and moved on.

“okay, well i’m pretty sure that couch over there isn’t a pull-out couch, right?” you asked, pointing at the couch in the center of the room.

he looked to the couch as if to confirm it was still there, and then back at you. “um, yeah. sorry, we’re working on investing in a pull-out, but it’s fine! we can share my bed!”

there were those butterflies again. you took a deep breath, seeing there was no way to get out of this and murmured in defeat that you would be staying the night. minho clapped in joy and left you, telling you to stay where you were as he fixed his room.

you stood outside his door, and waited for a few minutes. minho stuck his head out of the room, a crack of light shining through the doorway. he handed you some of his clothes and told you to change in the bathroom down the hallway.

taking the clothes, he shut the door on you again and you went to go change. it was a strange feeling. although you’d been over to minho’s place several times, you had never stayed the night. the thought of it alone made you excited, nevermind the fact that you’d be (1) wearing his clothes, (2) sharing a bed, and (3) waking up together on christmas morning.

you came out of the bathroom and minho was waiting in the hallway. when he saw you he sighed dramatically, as if he’d been waiting there for ages. “nice it fits! it looks good, on you. my room’s clean now, you can come in.”

your ears turned the slightest shade of pink at the casual compliment as you went into his room. suspiciously, it was very clean. “what happens if i look under the bed?”

his eyes widened. “um… don’t.”

“in the closet?”

he shook his head. “please, no, i don’t want you to die under all the debris.”

you laughed, flopping onto his bed. “which side do you want?” you asked, and he pointed to the left side. of course, you rolled over to that side, lifting your head to smile at him.

he rolled his eyes at you before taking what would’ve been your side of the bed. the only light illuminating the room at this point was a small nightlight he had in the corner of the room.

you built a pillow wall in between the two of you, and you laid on your side, away from minho and he laid facing the opposite way. there was silence for a few minutes, and you could hear your heart beating in your chest.

“y/n?”

you hummed in response, and he shuffled under the covers.

“turn around.”

you turned around, and drew in a quick breath when you were met face to face with minho. the pillow wall had been pushed down, and you were now within a hand’s length of each other.

he leaned forward very quickly and kissed your forehead lightheartedly, making you scrunch your nose in surprise. he laughed, mumbling something about you being cute.

“what was that for?”

“thank you… for staying with me this christmas.” he said softly, turning to lie on his back, avoiding your gaze. “i’ve never really… had one person to spend christmas with, y’know?”

“me, too. i guess we have each other now, though. to be honest, all the lovey dovey christmas stuff is starting to feel like a lot of bullshit.” you said with a soft chuckle, shifting so you’d also be on your back.

“what if it was me?” he said, a teasing tone in his voice.

“huh?”

“what if it was us?” he rephrased, trying to get a reaction out of you.

there was a silence between the two of you as his words hung in the air. what if it was us?

“um…” you managed to get out after a minute.

minho looked at you expectedly, propping his head on his hand and looking at you, who was still looking up at the ceiling.

“are you serious?”

he hummed in response. “dead serious.”

you smiled, propping yourself up on one arm, you came face to face with minho, mimicking his position. “are you asking me out?”

“well… if the shoe fits!” he mumbled, looking down shyly and picking at some nonexistent lint on the blanket.

“well, then. i’d be very happy if it was us.” you said, and he looked up, his eyes still shining in the darkness with a bright smile on his face.

you could’ve sworn that you saw the exact moment in his eyes that he gained a boost of confidence. it felt like a split second, but he put a chaste kiss on your lips before turning around and mumbling a goodnight.

you froze, processing what happened, before sitting up on your knees and leaning over his shoulder to look at him. he was hiding his face with his hand, and you couldn’t help put laugh softly.

“minho, if you’re gonna kiss me, might as well do it right.” you said, taking his wrist and moving his hand away from his face.

he looked up at you in surprise, before adjusting his wrist so that your hand was in his. he sat up, closing the distance between the two of you and making you fall backwards to sit on your feet.

his free hand snaked to the back of your neck, pulling you closer to him. you instinctively rested your hand on his shoulder, and your other hands were held at your side, intertwined.

the two of you pulled away, the both of you flustered and unable to look at each other. not even the dim lighting could hide the red tint on your cheeks.

minho laid back down, facing away from the center of the bed, mumbling a goodnight. you rolled your eyes and laughed to yourself, taking you spot next to him. and that night was a dreamless sleep, since all of your dreams had basically just taken place.

on christmas morning, you awoke to find minho’s arm loosely draped over your waist and you smiled, so much for that pillow wall. you heard the door slightly open, and you raised your head to look at the source of the sound.

“whoa, what happened here?”

you blinked a few times, registering hyunjin at the doorway peering down at the two of you in astonishment, before exiting the room as quickly as he came in.

the sound of the door shutting woke up minho, who blinked himself awake as he mumbled a sleepy ‘good morning’ and ‘merry christmas.’

you kissed the tip of his nose, to which he made a disgusted face that you rolled your eyes at as you got up, removing his arm from your waist.

after many complaints about the temperature, brightness, and everything in between, minho soon followed and the two of you walked out of the room one after the other, still in a sleepy daze.

“so,” hyunjin spoke, startling you two as you entered the hallway. your faces burned red as he cocked an eyebrow at your flustered forms. “is there anything you’d like to say?”

“heh…” you scratched at the back of your head sheepishly, looking down at your slippers to avoid eye contact. “merry christmas, hyunjin.”

“i think you two were the ones who had a merry christmas,” his eyes darted between the two of you. “why would you sleep in the same bed when the couch is literally a pull-out?”

your jaw dropped, and you looked at minho, who was suddenly very interested in the ground. “he told me it wasn’t a pull-out!” you said with a smile on your face.

hyunjin slapped his hand over his mouth, before running it through his hair. “scandalous.”

“well, you see…” minho began. “that’s a new couch—”

“we’ve had it for three years.” hyunjin interrupted.

“well i'm not used to it.”

“he sleeps on it at least twice a week. if you fabricated there being ‘only one bed’ just admit it, you look bad already.” hyunjin said, looking at you with eyes as if to say ‘are you serious, him?’

your face burned a bright red as you pursed your lips together to keep from laughing. minho had turned his whole body around at this point, but you could still see the tips of his ears turn red.

you wrapped your arms around his waist, resting your head on his shoulder. “got anything you want to say?”

minho turned his head away from you, muttering an “i’m sorry… but i don’t regret it.”

you laughed, glancing at hyunjin, who was looking at the two of you with disgust. “you seem awfully happy, y/n.”

“heh, well…” you grinned at him teasingly, “if the shoe fits!”

“don’t steal my line!” minho whined, turning his body back and forth to shake you off of him. this only challenged you more, so you jumped on his back, and then he had no other choice but to support you as the both of you laughed.

hyunjin stared at you, unamused yet somehow flabbergasted at the same time. “unbelievable.” he shook his head as he turned around and began to walk away.

“merry christmas!”

“so you know how we picked names for secret santa last week?”

you crossed your arms. “uh huh?”

“can you find out who got me?”

“no.” you scooted off the bed. “absolutely not.”

“oh, come on, please?” seungmin frowned, grabbing you gently by the wrist before you could walk away. “what do you want?”

“for you to not use me as your personal sherlock holmes on christmas?” you said, ignoring the feeling of your ears heating up. seungmin discovered very early on in your friendship that you had a knack for whodunit-type puzzles. everyone has a thing, they say, and making sure jisung hated playing mafia with you was apparently yours. and boy did seungmin take advantage of your little talent, including on—to your dismay—christmas. “you know it’s called secret santa for a reason, right?”

“but i hate not knowing!”

“then why’d you join secret santa?!”

“because it’s fun!”

you couldn’t help but stare at him, a mix of frustration, annoyance, and utter bafflement in your eyes that said nothing and everything all at once. you shook off seungmin’s hand from your wrist in an another attempt to leave, but he pulled you back again, closer than before. he held your hand in between his as he looked into your eyes. he had that stupid, stupid sheepish grin on his face again, this time laced with embarrassment.

“y/n, pleeeaaase?” he begged once more, “i won’t ask you to secret santa sleuth for me again.”

you pursed your lips. there he went with those stupid, stupid puppy dog eyes that made your stomach twist into knots. you realized after a moment that you were staring and suppressed the feeling, looking away and coming back to reality. “didn’t you say that last year?”

“no, i said i'd act surprised, there’s a difference.”

“no, you said both, and you weren’t very convincing with either of them.”

“okay, fair. but i’ll actually do it this year, i promise. pinky promise?” he held out his pinky for you to link yours with, to which you reluctantly obliged.

stupid.

he smiled, adjusting your hands so that you would be hand in hand. he wrapped his arms around you and flopped the two of you down to the bed as you yelled his name in surprise.

the two of you laid there for a second catching your breaths, and you became hyper aware of his arms still wrapped around your waist. he intertwined your fingers and rested his head on top of yours.

“if it means that much to you, i’ll act surprised. i promise.”

“whatever.” you rolled your eyes in affection, biting your lip to hide a smile.

god, he was lucky he’s cute.

⊱ ────── {⋅. ✯ .⋅} ────── ⊰

you knocked on seungmin’s door, notebook in hand. he yelled a faint ‘come in!’ and you opened the door, first peeping your head in. “i figured it out!”

“can i see?” seungmin asked, and you handed him your notebook. he read the page with your findings with anticipation, and you suppressed a laugh as his smile dropped, and eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “y/n, who the hell is Person A? and B and C and—”

“it comes with a challenge! i won’t give you the names of the receiving side, and as long as you figure out who is who by midnight, you’ll be able to know who’s your secret santa! deal?”

do not be mistaken, you did spend the last week snooping around to figure out who got who for secret santa, as you promised, and you were very confident that your conclusions were correct. however, since seungmin was literally the only reason why you even did this—more than once, in fact—you thought it would be fun to screw with him a little by coding the names of the giftees in your final results. you were going to give him hints to help him out, you weren’t a complete asshole. but that was payback for him making you spoil secret santa for yourself three years in a row. stupid.

his hand dropped, notebook still in hand, and he sulked. “deal.”

seungmin stood up, suddenly having the bright idea of using red string ‘like a real detective.’ you looked at the clock, the face showing 9:30. if he really got into it, he would 100% be able to figure out who is who.

you watched him from your spot on the bed as he got out a notepad and red string from his desk. “do you just always have red string in your desk?” you asked, amused, and he nodded.

“okay, well i’m gonna tell you what gifts are being given, alright? you ready?”

he clicked his pen and scribbled on the corner of his paper to get it going. he hummed in response, signifying that he was ready.

“so, we’ve got a giant stress ball,a custom leather jacket, cat mittens–”

“oh, that one’s so going to minho.”

“um… okay. then we have an art kit, a heated blanket, which is yours, a shirt with a picture of thomas the tank engine, and a hair care set! and i don’t know what chan’s getting for me.”

seungmin scribbled all of those down, before sitting back. “okay, so chan has you… good to know, so that means you’re Person A… alright, i think i’ve got this! there’s clues in the notebook, right? it’ll be fine.”

⊱ ────── {⋅. ✯ .⋅} ────── ⊰

it was, in fact, not fine. seungmin had spent half an hour going over the same clues over and over, to no avail. not one connection.

you’d been quietly laying down on his bed when you suddenly remembered a very important detail. you shot up quickly, and he jumped in surprise before swiveling his chair around to look at you.

“i forgot to give you the last gift.”

he looked at you as if to say, ‘really?’ and you apologized profusely. “alright, alright. the last gift…” you thought about it for a second, hesitating whether or not you should actually be telling him this.

“it’s a love letter.”

his jaw dropped. “no. fucking. way.” he paused. “it’s yours, isn’t it…”

well, technically he figured it out. you nodded, and his hand slapped over his mouth. “to who?!”

you shrugged. “that’s for you to find out, okay? now get to work!”

he turned around and continued working, and you stood up to head to the kitchen to make some food, both for yourself and seungmin.

after a few minutes, you came back to the room. apparently, that was all he needed to kickstart his detective side. he’d connected the hair care products from hyunjin to felix, since ‘no one else’s hair is as bad as theirs, they’d be the only ones who’d know what to give.’

you set down his cup of noodles before sitting on his bed again, as he went into depth about how only minho would be able to find a shirt with thomas the tank engine on it and give it to someone. the paper-and-red-string diagram taped on his closet had slowly gotten more elaborate as he connected more gifts with the people who bought them.

he thanked you for the cup noodles and turned around, pulling up a chair to bring it up to the edge of the bed, deciding it was time to take a break. he ate in silence for a few seconds, but was unable to resist the temptation of asking.

“so… what’s the deal with the love letter? how long have you liked this person? it’s one of the members, oh my god, i just realized that. really, y/n? you could do better. why didn’t you tell me? did you tell anyone? or does no one else know? do you have it written, already? could i read it? it would count as a clue, right?”

you buried your face in your hands out of embarrassment, hiding your reddening cheeks from him. “god, i should’ve lied about what i got…” you mumbled to yourself.

“okay, gosh,” you exhaled. “well, i’ve liked him since the beginning, honestly. i was just in denial for a long time. i've already written the letter, and i have it ready, but you can’t read it.”

he whined. “but why? it’ll help me!”

you just shook your head. “ i didn’t tell you because it would’ve been awkward. only hyunjin knows. and jeongin found out accidentally, but it’s ok.”

he gasped, standing up to turn around, he threw away his now empty cup noodles and leaned over to write on his paper. “you didn’t get jeongin or hyunjin! okay, okay. this is good. sorry, continue? when did it all start?”

“um… okay well i guess i liked him from the beginning? like i started properly talking to him because i thought he was… yeah. but then it became just a friendly thing? again, though, i think i was in denial… so maybe i’ve properly liked him for about two years?”

he whistled lowly. “goddamn… so, why the love letter?”

“i was thinking of asking him out. i don’t think he’d do anything, y’know, so i’ll do it myself.”

“oh… okay. good for you, though! i guess we’ll all get to hear about what happens after, huh.”

you hummed in response, not saying anything afterwards and letting the soft background music fill the silence.

⊱ ────── {⋅. ✯ .⋅} ────── ⊰

“y/n?” seungmin said, tapping his pen against his cheek.

you looked up from your phone. “hm?”

“you said two people got each other for secret santa, right?”

“mhm,” you nodded, letting out a yawn.

“ok, so it makes sense if these two…” he mumbled to himself, labeling jisung and minho as Person E and H, respectively, before connecting their names with two red strings.

you watched in admiration as seungmin kept working, eyebrows furrowed and lips pursed in concentration. by the looks of it, he just had three more names to connect to a letter and a secret santa: chan’s, jeongin’s, and himself. knowing that he’d probably be fine without any more help from you, you stretched a little before closing your eyes, hoping to take a quick nap. you needed some rest after being up so early making the final results yourself, plus you figured seungmin would wake you up when he was done anywa—

“y/n.”

you hummed, your lips curling into a grumpy frown.

you felt a light tug on your pinky. “y/n, wake uppp~” seungmin sing-songed.

you blinked yourself awake, groggily mumbling complaints about him waking you up.

he tugged on your pinky again, and you looked to see a red string tied around it, the other end tied around his own pinky.

“we’re soulmates now!” he said, a small smile on his face.

you looked at the string again, following it from your pinky to his, then back at seungmin. you let out an embarrassed chuckle, rolling your eyes and shaking your head. “seungmin, that’s cheesy,” you whined softly, “i’m trying to sleep.”

seungmin looked down, and you swore you saw a blush forming on his cheeks.

you pouted. “i can’t believe you woke me up for this,” you complained jokingly, letting out another laugh. you couldn’t be actually upset with him, just mildly annoyed at most. after all, it was seungmin, so it was okay.

he shook his head, a shy smile on his face as he turned away in an attempt to hide his blush. there it was again… that stupid little smile that made your heart melt and butterflies erupt in your stomach, and the corny joke he made wasn’t helping with either.

stupid.

there was a comfortable silence in the room as the two of you tugged at each other’s pinkies playfully, a small smile on both your faces. the soulmate joke he’d made had only stirred the pot, making the bloom of butterflies in your stomach erupt. there was a blush on both of your faces, unbeknownst to either of you, both too shy to turn around and face the other.

seungmin finally spoke up after a moment, looking back at his diagram. “um, i figured out who got jeongin, now i just need chan’s secret santa and my own.”

you smiled a little. “that’s good! just let me know when you figure it out.” you looked at the clock. he had thirty minutes till midnight, which was plenty of time for him to finish.

he nodded and smiled back, ruffling your hair a little before getting back to work. you let out a laugh, fixing your hair before closing your eyes again. just a little nap until seungmin was done, just a little longer, then you could go home and sleep.

seungmin twirled his pen in his hand as he talked to himself under his breath. he just needed two more connections, and he’d finally know who his secret santa was.

but the two gifts left on the list were throwing him off. who asked changbin for a stress ball this christmas? seungmin sure didn’t, unless he mentioned it offhand once and forgot about it. changbin was good at remembering little things like that.

more importantly, though, who was getting the love letter? people didn’t just ask for something like that, it’s usually unexpected.

he huffed in frustration, deciding to focus on the stress ball first. once he figured out who got changbin’s gift, he’d know who got yours, so he let the mystery hang in the air for a while.

he got up and walked around as far as the string would let him. he paced back and forth, and there was a sudden tug on the string. he looked over and you had rolled over to the far side of the bed, fast asleep.

he laughed softly, trying to come back to his workspace, but soon realized the string didn’t reach that far. he wasn’t about to untie the string unless he really had to.

instead, he opted to shift his entire workspace to the bed. grabbing his notebook, string, and pens, he quietly sat down on the bed with his back to you, praying that you wouldn’t roll over again and ruin his work.

he sat there, forgetting the stress ball for a second, trying to figure out who you would possibly be giving a love letter. you weren’t one to write a sappy note, so this person must’ve been special to you.

for once, all of his attentiveness to you was paying off. he racked his brain, going over your relationship dynamic with each member. from what he observed, your friendships with the other members were… definitely friendly. sibling-like, almost. the only one he could maybe see you having feelings for was chan.

your relationship with chan was a wholesome one, as though the two of you had known each other since grade school. the two of you instantly clicked, feeling comfortable around each other.

he knew the two of you confided in each other often, so he wasn’t so sure how you would’ve managed to keep your feelings a secret from chan this whole time.

maybe he was looking at it the wrong way, though. if he kept viewing your relationship with chan as solely platonic, he’d never get anywhere.

he tried thinking about if he could see you falling for chan, realistically.

he sighed in frustration. seungmin wasn’t familiar with your love language with your friends, much less your romantic love language.

the more he thought about it, the more that he realized you’d never spoken to him about this prior to now. when asked why you’d never told him,“it would’ve been awkward,” you had simply said. but why? if hyunjin could know, and even jeongin, why couldn’t he? “maybe that’s why this is so hard,” he muttered, scratching at the nape of his neck.

suddenly, a lightbulb clicked in his mind. he’d been forgetting to consider himself. as self centered as it was, he hoped it was him.

at the same time, love was blinding. it clouds judgment, and taking a step back, seungmin realized that it was unlikely to be him. a one-in-eight chance, he reminded himself. he couldn’t jump to conclusions so hastily.

he groaned in frustration. maybe he should’ve said something first. he’d always thought your heart would be free, and that one day he’d muster up the courage to say something.

there was a small knock on the door, interrupting his inner dilemma.

jeongin peeked into the room, barely opening the door. “do you have my charge— what are you doing? why is y/n sleeping in your bed?”

seungmin sighed, and quietly explained the predicament he had signed himself up for. jeongin was standing at the door, listening intently, and made a face when he realized that you had also asked him who he’d gotten for secret santa about a week ago. how spy-like of you.

“and they’re giving someone a love letter and i don’t know who it is. but they said that you know who it is, so… any help?” seungmin asked, a convincing smile on his face.

jeongin clicked his tongue at seungmin, shaking his head in disapproval. “well, that would take the fun out of it, wouldn’t it? also, why do you have a string tied around your pinkies?”

he successfully maneuvered around the question, shifting seungmin’s focus into something else. “um, well, y’know how— so you know the thing with the red string and soulmates— wait that sounds weird, shit. ummmm…”

seungmin fumbled over his words, and jeongin stood there for another few seconds, giving nothing but a suspicious nod. he spotted his charger on seungmin’s nightstand and walked over to grab it as seungmin collected himself.

“well, good luck, i guess. i hope you don’t find out though.” he said, opening the door again. “it takes the fun out of secret santa! also, it would be better for y/n, trust me, i know.” with that, he left, leaving seungmin to sit and reflect about the word vomit he’d just spit out a few seconds prior.

seungmin threw his head back, groaning a little too loudly, stopping when he heard you stir. he looked at you, holding his breath, praying he didn’t accidentally wake you up, and sighed of relief when he heard a light snore escape your mouth.

he looked back to his work, focusing on the stress ball again. maybe that would be easier for him.

this time, he focused on the people still needing to receive a gift: him and chan.

it wouldn’t be unlikely that seungmin had gotten changbin and changbin had gotten him, right? it happened with minho and jisung.

then he shook his head. if he and changbin got each other, that meant you and chan got each other as well. you had said earlier that only one pair of people had gotten each other for secret santa, and he already found who it was.

that meant changbin probably gave the stress ball to chan. and it made perfect sense, now that seungmin thought it over properly.

chan had always had a lot on his plate, spending long hours at the studio, and those hours only got longer as their success grew. he would’ve been stressed to the brim with everything he had to take care of, and since changbin was part of 3racha and he’d have witnessed firsthand how stressed chan gets; so naturally, he’d think to give him a stress ball… right?

with that connection filled, that meant seungmin had one option left. he cut a piece of red string and taped it to his new diagram on the notebook, labeling himself as Person C and connecting it with the final name.

“a-ha!”

he pulled out his phone to check the time. 11:57. three minutes before midnight. he pumped his fist triumphantly, silently celebrating that he completed the annoyingly tedious (but, admittedly, rightfully deserved) task you had given him.

seungmin took a minute to admire his work from the past two-and-a-half hours. seeing all the doodles, markings, and frustrated scribbles that made him want to rip his hair out, had all finally been worth it. he now knew who his secret santa was, and that you were giving a love letter to—

wait a minute.

“me?”

seungmin rubbed his eyes, blinked a few times, then looked at the notebook again. was he reading this correctly? as much as he wanted that person to be him, actually seeing it manifest just didn’t seem… right. it was almost like he was dreaming. except he wasn’t, as confirmed by looking away from the notebook and back over and over again, and reading the same words each time.

maybe one of my other answers was wrong? seungmin thought. if one guess was wrong, it definitely messed up the rest of his answers.

he flipped to a clean page, copying down everything he knew for sure was correct, and tested out other possibilities. he tried this for several minutes, but for every scenario he tried in which someone else got the letter, something else in the diagram didn’t add up.

seungmin turned back to the page with his original answers, reading over them once more. all of the connections there—who got what gift, who was gifting to whom—they all made logical sense, based on everything he knew about the members and about you. save for the damn love letter, of course.

but if everything else on his original diagram was right, maybe you giving him the love letter wasn't so far-fetched after all.

it also explained… a lot of things about you, actually, that seungmin never thought about until now. the late nights you’d spend talking even when you had an important event in the morning. the playful teasing that never went as far as it did with the other members, but never hesitating to defend him when needed. the way you were willing to drop anything and everything for him, even if it meant not having a proper secret santa for three years in a row.

everything hit seungmin all at once as it finally sank in… you liked him.

you liked him back.

seungmin looked back at you after a few minutes. he chuckled lightly seeing your sleeping form, your hair slightly disheveled and your arms wrapped around a pillow.

a glance at the clock revealed that it was 12:19, so he decided against waking you up. it was technically already christmas, but definitely not a good idea to send you home at this hour. he knew you wanted to get home as soon as possible, but it was dark and cold outside, and he’d much prefer you stay here where it was safe and warm, even if you meant you’d take his bed for the night, not that he minded. after all, it was you, so it was okay.

seungmin carefully wiggled the blanket out from under you, before gently draping it over you so it was over your shoulders. he smiled at you adoringly as you lied there all snuggled up, and he ‘aww’ed quietly when you hugged the pillow in your arms closer to you.

he began to walk out, when he felt a soft tug on his pinky. looking down, he decided it would be fine to remove the red string now. he began to move the string up and off his pinky before doing the same with yours, moving the blanket momentarily to find your hand and gently slide the string off. the little joke was fun while it lasted, but it wasn’t as exciting as it actually coming true.

placing the string on his nightstand, seungmin gathered some pillows and a blanket to take to the living room, where he’d sleep on the pull-out couch. as long as you were safe and comfortable, he didn’t care. he would endure all the teasing from the others, for you.

after dropping off his stuff at the couch, he came back to his room to officially tuck you in. he couldn’t help but smile lovingly at you again, a blush heating up his cheeks as he thought about what would happen the next morning. thoughts of him finally being able to kiss you, cuddle you, and say he was yours, filled his mind, and he couldn’t think about anything else. but he’d have to wait until the morning until dreams became reality.

oh, well. he’d waited this long. what was a few more hours?

gently moving your hair away from your face, seungmin bent down alongside the bed, and placed a soft kiss on your cheek. he pulled away after a second, smiling as you shifted under the covers.

you turned your head to the freckled, blonde boy who had asked you the question. you recognized him from around campus; you had heard from your best friend, ryujin, who was also at the party but catching up with other friends, that he was an officer of the student body as well as a fraternity member, so you always saw him at campus events. looking at his white hoodie with the university logo on the upper right corner, you figured he was one of the students in charge of the ski lodge party—you had seen several other people donning the same hoodie, so it made sense.

you glanced at the general direction of the singing boy before nodding at the blonde. “oh, yeah.”

“you know,” he motioned for you to lean closer, “he’s enjoying himself an awful lot for someone who didn’t want to be here.”

you let out a chuckle. “you’re kidding, right?”

“nope,” he said, popping the p. 

“well… maybe he did want to come, but just needed convincing? it’s not everyday you see a frat boy at a student gov event.”

“i mean, maybe. or maybe i’m just a god at peer pressure.”

you shook your head as the two of you laughed. was that foul of him? sure. but was it genius? absolutely. you liked him already.

you heard a few claps as the drunk girl finished the song, dramatically bowing before stepping offstage. the blonde boy lightly placed his hand on your shoulder, taking his cue to leave and telling you to enjoy the party. 

you watched him slip into the crowd, and before you knew it, he was at the center of the small stage.

“alright, let’s give it up for her, everyone!” he spoke into the mic, prompting another round of applause. “who’s up next?”

the crowd murmured softly, everyone trying to convince their friends to volunteer, but to no avail. eventually, all the chatter died down as everyone began looking around, wondering who would take the bait. 

the blonde sighed a little, clicking his tongue a few times and shaking his head. “come on guys,” he said. “we were doing so well, what happened?”

still nothing. not a single word from the crowd. 

he huffed a little, laughing softly into the mic as he tried one more time. “come onnnn guysss, or i’ll start volunteering people myself.”

the crowd froze. no one dared to make a move in fear of being singled out. the room was so quiet, you could hear a pin drop. 

you pursed your lips as your eyes darted around the room. not even the loud boy was in sight to save everyone’s ass. shrugging, you hesitated for another moment before raising your hand. you were here for a good time, so why not?

“i’ll go.”

several heads turned your direction, and you saw people trying to follow the sound of your voice, scanning the crowd. 

the freckled, blonde boy saw you, and he smiled warmly from ear to ear. as you made your way onstage and grabbed a mic, he mouthed a ‘thank you’ to which you just smiled and nodded your head. 

“alright, that’s what i’m talking about!” he said, letting out a whoop.

you chuckled a little, looking at the corner of the room for a moment.

“and you know,” he added, prompting you to look back at him. “since you were kind enough to volunteer—what’s your name?”

“y/n.”

“y/n,” the blonde repeated before continuing. “since you were kind enough to volunteer, y/n, i’ll give you a duet partner! if you’re okay with that, of course.”

you smiled and nodded, going along. “that would be great, thank you!”

“alright!” he chirped. “now let’s see…”

the boy ran a hand through his hair as he scanned the crowd. you glanced at the crowd, too, for a second, before turning your head to look at him again, and you got front row seats as an evil smirk slowly creeped on his face. you especially took note of the cocky chuckle he did, as if he was imagining all the things that could go wrong. 

what was he planning?

“jisung! get up here!”

he pointed into the crowd, and you followed his finger, which was clearly set on a specific person. your gaze landed on a brunette boy in a leather jacket over an off-yellow hoodie (with skinny jeans to complete the look), who you assumed was jisung by the look on his face. 

the brunette’s face displayed a look of utter betrayal, and you couldn’t help but laugh at his expression. 

“FELIX I THOUGHT WE HAD A DEAL, C’MON!”

you looked back at the blonde—felix—whose evil grin hadn’t left his face. “i know, but i never said i wouldn’t make you sing!” 

“BRO I DON’T SING.” 

even without a microphone, the brunette’s voice was loud enough for everyone to hear. the poor people standing around him, you thought to yourself as you watched with a smile. 

“well, that seems like a you problem!” the blonde turned back to you, motioning for you to come with him to the dj stand, where the song catalog was. “anyway, y/n, what would you like to sing?” 

“I DON’T EVEN GET TO CHOOSE THE SONG I’M SINGING?!”

“well, you didn’t seem very invested in this when i called on you so… no.” felix chuckled before moving the mic away from his mouth and looking over your shoulder at the song catalog. you mouthed to him, asking if jisung was the boy he was talking about a few minutes ago, which he confirmed with a nod. 

meanwhile, jisung continued his protests, which were only ignored by the both of you. 

“he said you looked good when you came in earlier, by the way,” felix deadpanned.

“WHAT.”

your head whipped around, but you were only met by the back of felix’s head as he had gone back to entertaining the crowd (and jisung’s complaints) at the karaoke stage.

you turned back around, shaking the thought from your mind as you continued browsing songs for duets. you found one you liked and went back to the karaoke stage to show felix your pick.

“what about this one?” 

felix turned around, before looking at the song you were pointing to. “a bit cliche, don’t you think?”

you shrugged. “he just sang his heart out to ‘all i want for christmas’, i think he’ll enjoy this.”

by this point, the brunette had scurried up to the stage to grab a mic, stopping at the front edge of the stage just in time to hear your last comment. it was enough to make his ears turn red in embarrassment, which you noticed with a smile. 

“oh, no no, you did great, baby! i wasn’t making fun of you.” you reassured jisung with a wink as you made your way to the karaoke machine. 

he turned his head, following your motion from his spot as he ran his hands through his hair. “oh, i know i did great, thank you.”

you gave the boy a look as if to say, ‘really?’ to which he shrugged cockily. but you could see in his face that he was embarrassed, nevermind the rosy tint on his cheeks. your eyes lingered on him for a few more seconds before turning back around. you couldn’t help but be endeared by the way he reacted to your taunts, as much as you hated to admit it. 

you called felix over for help with the machine, to which he gladly came over again. as he helped you select the song, he turned to jisung. “hey, ji, i think you’re gonna need this,” he spoke into his mic before tossing it to the brunette.

jisung fumbled with the mic, barely able to catch it which made you and felix snicker to yourselves. his confident yet embarrassed demeanor piqued your interest, and boy were you going to have some fun with it. 

not giving him any time to react, you started the song, and the first beats of “start of something new” filled the room. 

“high school musical?!” 

“what, you scared of some disney channel?” you teased into the mic, a confident smile on your face. 

“I TOLD YOU YOU WOULDN’T REGRET THIS!” you recognized the now distant voice of felix, who had to yell from his spot in the crowd as he had given his mic to the boy standing offstage. 

“i don’t deserve this—” jisung groaned.

you watched the brunette in amusement, debating whether you should take the first lines of the song. with how much he was rambling complaints into his microphone, it looked like you were going to end up doing troy’s part.

after a few beats, the cue started, and so did you. “🎵living in—🎵”

“🎵living in my own world~🎵” jisung started before you could finish, cutting the note short so he could throw in a pointed comment at his friend. “FUCK YOU FELIX! 🎵didn’t understand~🎵”

you stopped singing and let him have the solo, laughing with the crowd at his sudden change of demeanor.

“🎵that anything can happen~ when you take a chance~🎵” he continued, and you couldn’t help but watch him in amusement, your mouth slightly agape. he was good, really good. and he knew it too. you could tell by the way he stood and the way he sang into the mic that this wasn’t his first rodeo. 

but it wasn’t yours either. 

“🎵 i never believed in what i couldn’t see~🎵” you sang gabriella’s part, slowly making your way to center stage. you felt everyone’s eyes on you, especially jisung’s. “🎵i never opened my heart~🎵”

“🎵oh~🎵” jisung chimed in.

“🎵to all the possibilities…🎵”

you glanced briefly at felix, whose jaw was dropped in astonishment, and he was frozen in place. but he caught your eye, which snapped him out of his trance. a slow smile spread across his face, and his eyes lit up. you both knew you had the crowd at your feet, and you were going to take advantage of every second of it.

you turned back to the crowd, a playful, confident grin on your face. “🎵ooh~🎵”

this was going to be fun.

“🎵i know...🎵” you sang, jisung harmonizing with you before you sang the next line by yourself, “🎵that something has changed…🎵”

“🎵never felt this way~🎵” jisung harmonized with you again.

you locked eyes with the brunette as you sang the next line. “🎵and right here tonight…🎵”

“🎵this could be the start of something new~🎵”

you began the chorus together, your voices blending perfectly. you followed his movement as he slowly made his way to you and he attempted to hoist himself onto the stage, despite the stairs being a few feet away from him.

“🎵it feels so right to be here with you, oh~🎵”

you continued singing together as you went to help him onto the stage, extending out your free hand for him to take as you rolled your eyes. 

“🎵and now, looking in your eyes,🎵” you sang, pulling him up, “🎵i feel in my heart~🎵”

“🎵feel in my heart~🎵” jisung ad-libbed.

“🎵the start of something new~🎵” you two finished the chorus.

if you had blinked you would’ve missed him flashing his eyebrows at you. “🎵oh... yeah~🎵”

for the first time during the song, you were finally able to see jisung up close. you had no clue what you had set off in this boy within the past three minutes, but what you did know—from the confident gleam in his eyes—was that you had a lot more coming your way.

and were you right. the whole second verse couldn’t have gone by faster, and it all seemed like a blur. 

the only memories of the second verse you remembered were coy looks from across the stage, stolen glances, and jisung taking your hand to spin you around once playfully. 

the adrenaline rushing through your veins certainly didn’t help matters; you couldn’t focus on anything except the boy in front of you. the crowd seemed to disappear, and you were having the time of your life. 

you began to move to center stage as you neared the bridge of the song, jisung right behind you as you closed out the second chorus. 

“🎵the start of something new~🎵” you sang as you felt him take your hand. the light pull on your arm as you took another step prompted you to turn around, and you were so taken aback by the sight in front of you that you let the last note falter.

“🎵i never knew that it could happen till it happened to me~🎵”

you were met with the boy on one knee as he sang his line with his eyes closed, holding your hand in his free one. you felt your breath hitch in your throat and you froze, your other arm dropping to your side. you hoped to god that whenever he’d look up, he wouldn’t notice the blush slowly creeping onto your face.

jisung finally opened his eyes and looked up at you, immediately softening when he saw your state. he got so into his part, he didn’t realize just how tensed up your hand felt in his.

he stayed quiet for a beat, missing troy’s ad-lib. the climax of the song was coming up and you were about to miss your cue, so he had to think of something quick.

he decided to cover you, singing your line as he gave your hand a gentle squeeze.

“🎵i didn’t know it before, but now…🎵”

it was just enough to get you back on track, and you joined in time to hit the high note as he switched to the harmony. 

“🎵now it’s easy to see, ohh~!🎵” you two sang together, jisung squeezing your hand one more time.

jisung gave you a small smile, and you smiled back, gently squeezing his hand as a ‘thank you’ before letting go and dropping your hand.

your slight falter didn’t faze you, and you were able to sing the final chorus without a hitch. jisung’s attempts at flirting with you couldn’t have landed farther from his goal. whether it was singing up close to you, or looking at you for just a little too long, you kept yourself focused as you came back to center stage, him following you like a stray puppy. 

out of all the strangers you had sung karaoke with, jisung was the most fun partner you’ve ever had. he seemed to pick up on all your cues, and was able to bounce off all of your gestures with one of his own. 

oh, what you would’ve given for this moment to go on forever. but alas, all good things must come to an end, and you two naturally made your way back to the center of the stage as you wrapped up the song. 

“🎵and now, looking in your eyes~🎵” you both sang, giving it your all as you stepped closer to each other.

“🎵i feel in my heart~🎵” you took one more step towards jisung, gazing into his eyes.

“🎵feel in my heart~🎵” jisung ad-libbed once more, smiling at you sweetly.

“🎵the start of something new~🎵”

you smiled back at the boy, your heart pounding out of your chest as one final burst of adrenaline shot through you. 

“🎵the start of something new~🎵”

jisung took your free hand in this, spinning you, making you laugh to yourself. when you turned back to face him, he locked eyes with you briefly before leaning you backwards into a dip, resting one hand on the small of your back, the other still around his mic. 

you reached up your free hand to support yourself, gently wrapping it around the back of his neck as the two of you finished the song. 

“🎵the start of something new.🎵”

you could barely hear cheers erupt from the crowd as you found jisung’s eyes and held his gaze. your heart pounded in your chest as you caught your breath, the adrenaline in your body finally calming down.

jisung held the pose for another moment as he looked into your eyes, and gave you a shy smile. you smiled back, letting out a small laugh as he helped you back up.

as you got back on your feet, you smiled at your partner one more time and took a bow. he did the same, letting out a giggle as the crowd’s cheers grew louder.

you saw felix approach the stage from behind jisung, and you took this as your cue to leave. you waved goodbye to the brunette as you walked down the steps and past felix, high-fiving the beaming blonde before disappearing into the crowd.

you decided to stick around for a bit as felix took the stage. a few people around you noticed you and complimented you, and you smiled and mumbled ‘thank you’s as you watched the boys on stage.

felix lightheartedly poked fun at jisung for a minute, the brunette groaning and covering his face in embarrassment as his friend made comments like “‘bro i don’t sing!’ my ASS”. the crowd let out a laugh and you couldn’t help but do the same, not only out of adoration of jisung’s flustered reactions, but also simply because felix was right.

“bro i don’t sing!” my ass.

after the crowd cheered for you and jisung one more time, you dipped out of the room to grab a water bottle from the kitchen, and in hopes of preparing for the countdown.

you had completely lost track of ryujin at this point, and you had about an hour to kill before midnight. that was still plenty of time to find her, so you just decided to find something else to do.

you spent a good chunk of the time making one more round around the ski resort, and eventually you found yourself back at the common room. you watched a few performances from the back of the crowd, but you couldn’t help but scan the crowd for jisung, hoping you could see him again. 

but you didn’t see him, or ryujin, for that matter.

you huffed a little and went outside as a group of three boys took the stage.

you shivered a little, taking in the fresh winter air that nipped at your cheeks. you took a minute to adjust before walking around, looking for any hints of your friend or…

jisung.

out of the corner of your eye, you noticed a boy wearing a black leather over an off-yellow hoodie looking out at the city lights. you turned and smiled to yourself, and made your way over.

“hey.”

the boy turned to you and smiled a little. “oh, hey!”

you smiled back, and stayed quiet for a beat before speaking again.

“so… what was that about you not singing?” you asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow at him.

jisung let out an awkward chuckle at this, and not even the dim lighting outside could hide his blush. “um…” he scratched at the back of his neck, “that’s a really funny question actually.”

you rolled your eyes playfully. cute.

“okay but really,” he said after a minute, and you nodded, prompting him to continue.

“it doesn’t… really fit my frat boy image.”

you let out a laugh at this. it wasn’t the response you were expecting, but it was a fitting one at that.

“i’m serious!” he said before letting out a groan. “i’m gonna be fighting for my life in the group chat, and you’re laughing!”

you laughed again before nodding along. “you know what, so will i.”

jisung chuckled lightly, looking down as he shook his head. “you… you don’t have to.”

“but i want to.”

there was a comfortable silence that lingered between the two of you as your laughs died down. you found yourself staring into his eyes, a warm brown in the cold winter night, and you gave him a small smile. he smiled back and looked back down at the ground as he blushed again. 

cute.

“oh my god, you guys did so good!”

you were snapped out of your daze by the sound of your friend’s voice, and you turned around to see her quickly walking towards the two of you. you were slightly disappointed that you had been interrupted, but hid it with a smile as you thanked her. 

“hi, jisung, i’m ryujin.” she briefly introduced herself as jisung nodded politely. “anyway, you two had the best chemistry. i swear to god at least two people out there might think you’re a couple.”

she looked at you suggestively to which you rolled your eyes and fixed your hair to cover your ears, which you knew would turn red. 

you exchanged an awkward glance with jisung, who gave you a shy smile. 

ryujin laughed at your flustered states. “i’m kidding, i’m kidding… kind of. anyway, the countdown’s in like five minutes, so we gotta go!” 

you were surprised, completely having lost track of time. ryujin grabbed your hand and began to pull you away before you stopped and dropped her hand. 

grabbing a napkin from a table nearby, you took a spare pen on one of the tables and scribbled down your number.

you turned to jisung, and cradled one of his hands in yours, turning his palm upwards. 

“i think you’re gonna want this.”

you placed the piece of paper in his hand before closing it with your other hand, keeping his hand in yours for just a bit longer.

“don’t lose it. call me next year so we can do this again, yeah?”

you took ryujin’s still extended hand, sending him a wink before turning around and disappearing into the crowd. 

the whole countdown your mind never stopped thinking about jisung. from the second by second countdown, to the celebratory hugs, and even as you greeted everyone around you a happy new year, you wished you could’ve spent the occasion with the boy you just met. 

it hadn’t been a minute after the countdown when you felt your phone vibrate repeatedly in your pocket. you excused yourself, finding a quieter spot in the resort to check who was calling you.

the number wasn’t one you recognized, but you knew who it was right away. 

“hello?” you answered, bringing the receiver up to your ear, and you couldn’t help but smile once you heard the voice at the other end of the line.

he said it so nonchalantly, you almost didn’t second guess him. but once you realized, you froze for a second before furrowing your brows at him. 

“and why would we do that?”

“well…” he sighed, thinking about how to phrase his explanation without sounding weird. “neither of us have a new year’s kiss.”

“so?”

“y/n. i want. a new year’s. kiss.”

you laughed softly in disbelief. “i know we’re both bored and lonely but we don’t… have to kiss.”

“y/n please?”

he looked at you, and he seemed to be preparing himself for a rejection. but there was also a gleam of hope in his eyes, which you took into consideration. 

“i’ll think about it…”

he winked with a thumbs up as he stood up, asking you if you wanted a glass of water before leaving the room. 

the quiet atmosphere was restored again, the only sounds audible being jeongin shuffling around his kitchen, and the sound of your heart beating in your ears. 

it was something you’d never admit, but it’s not like you never thought about kissing jeongin before. you had thought about it. on many occasions. 

you thought about it whenever he smiled at you a bit too happily, whenever your hands brushed against one another, or when his gaze lingered on you for a bit too long. 

really, you thought about it a lot. but it was something you always thought to be out of reach, so you pushed it down as far as you could. 

speak of the devil, as you thought that, jeongin walked into the room with two glasses of water in hand. you thanked him and took a few sips, your mind clearing with each sip.

“so…” he started, implying that he wanted a yes or no from you. 

you shrugged and he sighed. “alright, take your time. you still have…” he glanced at the clock before laying back again. “10 minutes.” 

jeongin asking that question only reignited all of those thoughts again, and you were now wide awake. 

it should’ve been an easy answer. a simple yes or no. why were you giving it so much second thought? 

well, you’ll never know if you don’t try, right?

“jeongin?” you called his attention again. he looked at you, his phone falling to his lap. 

“i’ll be your new year’s kiss.” 

a smile spread across his face and his eyes lit up. “hell yeah! fuck you seungmin! he was making fun of me for not having a new year’s kiss, but he doesn’t even have one himself!”

the two of you laughed. “so… that means this is just to fuck with him, no strings attached?”

jeongin thought about it for a second, before nodding. “no strings attached. unless?” 

he wiggled his eyebrows at you and you made a gagging noise in disgust, making him scoff at you. “jeongin, please. i have standards, don’t let this get to your head.”

he looked at you, an expression of disbelief on his face. you laughed; teasing him was enjoyable for you, and it became a part of your dynamic with him. 

from the outside, if anyone saw the way the two of you treated each other, they might think you hated each other. but it was just how you treated each other. 

it was just another similarity the two of you had; a love language you both shared. the two of you were so similar in every aspect that it was a miracle you still got along well. 

they said opposites attract, so clearly something went wrong when the universe brought you two together.

or did it?

you looked at the clock on your phone. “5 minutes.”

jeongin let out a breath he didn’t realize he hadn’t been holding in. “why does the countdown this year feel so…”

“long?” you finished his sentence.

he nodded. “yeah…”

“that’s so odd,” you two commented at the same time, making you two look at each other and laugh.

every new year that the two of you had spent together had always been lively and full of joy, with never ending conversation topics and laughter. you could only assume the awkward atmosphere this year was a result of nerves, both yours and his. 

it felt like the longest 4 and a half minutes of your life. you were sat on the edge of the bed, legs swinging in small motions out of nervousness. 

you didn’t realize how tense you were until jeongin came up from behind you and suddenly shook your shoulders, making you jump in surprise.  

he moved past you off the bed, walking to his dresser to grab his phone. 

“jeongin there’s literally 20 seconds left.” 

his eyes widened, and you laughed, an attempt to lighten the mood and relax yourself. 

he walked over to you. “are you sure you wanna do this?” he asked, double checking. 

“positive.” you said with a smile, glad that he’d thought to ask again. 

the two of you counted down in sync, watching the clock. 

ten, nine, eight…

as you said each number, your voices got quieter as you stood up to meet jeongin’s height. 

seven, six, five…

your stomach did a flip in nervousness. no turning back now. 

four…

you looked at jeongin, your voices now barely a whisper. it didn’t matter though, you were close enough to practically hear each other breathe.

three…

you looked each other in the eyes, making sure the other was as dead serious about it as you were. 

two…

his eyes glanced down at your lips as you said this, letting you finish off the countdown. 

one. 

leaving no time for hesitation, jeongin reached his hands around the back of your neck, and pressed his lips against yours. your forearms rested on his shoulders, hands hanging limp behind him. 

the two of you didn’t have any fireworks or cheers, but the sparks that flew between the two of you were more than enough to compensate. 

one of his hands traced down the side of your torso, sending shivers down your spine before eventually resting on the small of your back. 

he pulled you closer by the waist, and you melted into his touch. you reached your hand up to play with the ends of his hair, your other hand grazing his cheek as you eased into the kiss. 

it seemed to click that you were kissing your friend, which shot another rush of adrenaline through your body as he slowly ran his hand up and down the lower half of your back.

you briefly gasped for air, but didn’t let that break the kiss. it felt like time stopped just for the two of you, and nothing else mattered except the boy in your arms. 

you only hoped that he felt the same; you couldn’t have convinced yourself that what you were feeling was one sided even if you wanted to. 

if you could’ve lived in this moment forever, you would have, but some of the best things in life are impossible to obtain. 

he softly bit your bottom lip with a smirk on his face before pulling his hands away and pursing his lips in embarrassment as he pulled away, creating a gap between the two of you. 

you couldn’t hide the smile that was on your face, shyly looking at the ground. 

“so, about that no strings attached…” he started, and you looked up at him, who was blushing deeply. 

you made your way over to him, stepping over some paper and a random gift in the process. you looked closer at the present and shook your head. “chan, this isn’t a present for seungmin, it’s a bird’s nest for seungmin.” 

chan nodded and sighed. “it’s a mess, i can’t figure out what to fold where or what gets taped.” 

he held the crumpled remains of his wrapping attempt out to you. chan watched, with growing awe, as you pulled the paper off the present, then measured, cut, and folded the gift into a neat package. you finished placing the last piece of tape and handed it back to him so he could place a new sticker. 

chan just looked down at the present for a moment, then back up at you, a small smile on his face. 

“could you teach me?” 

~~~

you watched chan place the last piece of tape before stepping back to admire your work. a neat stack of presents was now resting under the dorm’s christmas tree. 

“i think we got everything,” chan said, feeling a weight lift off his shoulders. “i hope we got everything.”

“i’m sure we did. and if not, you now know how to wrap your own presents.” you nudged his arm lightly. “i think you got pretty good at it once you got the hang of it.” 

chan smiled back at you. “you think so?”

you nodded. “of course i do.”  you turned and looked back at the mess that still haunted the kitchen behind you. “the only problem is now we have to deal with all of this.”

and just like that, the happiness and accomplishment chan had been feeling deflated in no time flat. “yeah. but it’s okay, it’s getting late, i’ll clean it up. it’s cold outside too, i don’t want you freeze.”

you waved him off. “it’s fine, i helped make the mess, i’ll help clean it up,” you said, smiling. without letting him respond, you went to get a trash bag to start cleaning up the kitchen. chan shrugged and followed to get a trash bag as well. 

the two of you made good time at shoving handfuls of torn wrapping paper and ribbons into the garbage bags. you were almost finished cleaning up when you noticed something peeking out from under a stray piece of paper on the floor. 

you pulled the paper up off the floor to reveal... a bear? there was a tiny stuffed bear sitting on the floor with a little box in its arms. you picked it up and walked over to chan. 

“it looks like we missed one, what’s this?” you asked him, holding the bear out so he could see. 

chan’s eyes widened and he pulled the bear out of your hands. “that’s- that’s nothing! don’t worry about it!” he laughed nervously and set the bear down behind him on the counter. 

you raised an eyebrow. “it doesn’t seem like nothing, shouldn’t we wrap it?” 

chan immediately shook his head. “no!” a moment passed and he sighed, suddenly becoming serious. “alright, i’ll tell you what it is, just try not to laugh at me, please.” 

you quickly nodded. “of course, i would never.” 

“okay, here goes,” he said. he took a deep breath, picked the bear up again, and handed it back to you. “it’s for you.” 

you took it back and smiled. “for me? it’s so cute, i love it. thank you.” you looked at the little box the bear held. “can i open this too?”

chan nodded silently so you set the stuffed animal down and proceeded to open the box. inside was a beautiful necklace with a heart that had your favorite gemstone set right in the middle. 

“chan, this is beautiful, thank you so much,” you breathed. “would you please put it on for me?”

chan took a step closer to you. “i will, but first, i had something to say.” you stayed quiet, letting him speak. “the reason i bought them was to help me along in saying this. i really like you, i always have. you’re one of the best people i’ve ever met and someone i can count on no matter what. you mean so much to me and i would be a fool if i didn’t ask you, would you be my partner?” the way he looked at you with such sincerity and hope made you feel like the most important person in the universe. 

you already knew what your answer was. a happy, resounding, “yes, of course i will!”  you took the last step forward to wrap your arms around him in a tight hug. 

he hugged you back and after a moment, he asked, “may i kiss you?” you nodded, and when he kissed you, you didn’t feel fireworks, you felt the sense of rightness and relief there was in coming home after a long day. nothing else mattered, just you and the boy you loved. 

you pulled away eventually and smiled up at him. “you don’t know how long i’ve been waiting for that.”

chan wiggled his eyebrows. “oh really now?”

you laughed and rolled your eyes playfully. “yes, i like you, get it through your head.” 

chan held up his hand in a salute, a goofy smile on his face. “yes, captain.” 

you smiled back and looked around at the mostly clean kitchen. “i think this is good too, do you wanna call it a night?” 

“i think so, yeah.” he still had that goofy grin plastered on his face. “i thinking, if you want, you could stay over? it’s really late and cold and i don’t want you to have to be alone.” 

you considered it for a minute. “can we watch a christmas movie and cuddle to fall asleep?” 

chan nods enthusiastically. “anything you want, baby.” he gasped and his smile grew even wider. “i can call you cute names now!” 

he picked up the necklace that was still resting in the box and went to clasp it around your neck. “it looks amazing, just like the person wearing it.” 

you blushed and smiled. “thank you.”

~~~

after some light arguing over what movie to watch, you and chan settled down next to each other in front of the tv. his arm was draped around you and your head rested on his shoulder, a big blanket covering you both.