DANIEL

DECEMBER 21

"Hyung," he says in horror.

Jisung turns to look at him, spectacles resting on the tip of his nose and the day’s newspaper on his lap. He looks, in short, like the old man he is. In any other situation, he would have taken a picture and laughed over it until his sides hurt, but This Was An Emergency.

“Hm?” Jisung inquires, shoving his spectacles further up his nose. He’s eating Hot Cheetos from a bag with chopsticks, and crunching away at the snack noisily.

“Hyung, it’s the 20th,” he reminds. His housemate looks confused, so he fills in the blank. “Hyung. We’re supposed to do the Christmas party this year.”

Jisung pales dramatically, drops the chopsticks into the bag, and springs up on his feet. The newspaper crumples to the floor gently.

“Shit,” he says quietly under his breath, “Shit.”

Rewind: Their group of friends spend Christmas together every year. Flights during Christmas season are horrendously expensive, so no one ever goes back to their respective hometowns to celebrate. The practice started during the second last year of university, but they’ve followed up every year since. It’s their sixth year already, and they have been chosen to organise this year’s gathering.

Unfortunately, it’s completely slipped their mind. Jisung slides in his pink fur slippers to grab a pen from the study, ripping a piece of newspaper from the pile and smoothing it onto the table.

“What do we need to-"

“Christmas tree, food, decorations, drinks, music, gifts-" Daniel counts the things he has to do with his hands, and his housemate begins to scribble frantically on the paper. “-hyung, they’re going to kill us.”

“I just got promoted in work, I refuse to die by their hands.” Jisung snaps, telling him grab his coat and a wallet. “First, we get the tree.”

“Get the tree.” Daniel echoes in despair.

How does one choose a tree? There’s got to be at least a hundred in this store, all in varying shades of dark green. Beside him, Jisung inhales deeply through his nose and marches to the front counter.

“Excuse me,” he says, smiling. “I need a tree that can be delivered to my house like, now, and the price under a hundred dollars.”

The old woman behind the counter looks decidedly unimpressed.

“Cheap trees are at the back,” she points. “We deliver for 30% of the price of the tree.” Daniel thanks her hurriedly and practically jogs to the back and- Oh.

Cheap trees are not very pretty. Jisung groans under his breath and walks forward to inspect one.

“Daniel, they’ll compare our tree to Jonghyun and Minhyun’s one from last year,” he moans. Daniel pats his shoulder.

“Don’t worry, once it’s covered up no one can tell.” he coaxes. “Hey, how about this one?”

“There's a bloody nest in it.” Jisung presses his forehead into his hand.

“It’s $45.” Daniel points to the price tag. “It’s not that tall, so we can fit it into the car.”

“Okay then.” Jisung huffs, waving his hand at the lady behind the counter. He looks like he’s on a verge of a mental breakdown, alternating between rubbing his eyebrows and the back of his neck. “We’ll take this one!”

“Hyung,” he hisses over to him as Jisung hands his card to the cashier, “we need decorations too.”

“Are you two broke?” the lady demands. Jisung colours impressively.

“No/Yes-" the both of them say at the same time, and Jisung takes a deep breath.“We need cheap decorations.” He concludes, with Daniel nodding emphatically at his side. The lady stares at them for nearly thirty seconds; is she evaluating their level of broke? Daniel would willingly empty out his pockets to prove his point- he doesn’t even have a wallet. Okay, so he forgot to bring his wallet out but still. He’s twenty five and broke, period.

“Go to the dollar store and ask specifically for flashing Christmas lights, they’re cheaper there,” the lady advices with a sigh, turning around to yell for one of the stronger looking workers to haul the tree out. “For baubles, the section at Daiso is pretty extensive.”

The both of them gape at her, and her expression sours rapidly.

“If you don’t need it, then nevermind,” she snaps, but Jisung surges forward to capture her in a hug. Daniel steps back in horror at the faux pas, but the cashier just pats his back awkwardly and hands him a couple of leaflets to fend him off. Jisung is humming as they make their way to the car.

“What a wonderful lady,” he grins, and Daniel presses the pads of his thumbs to his forehead. Believe it or not, Jisung never acts like the adult he’s meant to be. He’s still grinning stupidly later when they make their way to the dollar store next door, and they meet Woojin inside, unexpectedly.

“Hey, hyung,” he embraces Daniel, then slaps him on the butt. Daniel winces, and Woojin gives Jisung the identical treatment. “How’s the planning going? All done?” There’s a heavy silence for a moment as they decide what to say, and their friend studies their expressions before beginning to scowl. “Please tell me you started planning-”

“We have a tree!” Daniel protests.

“And?” Woojin prompts. Jisung points to the rows of twinkling fairy lights adorning the counter.

“We’re getting decorations now,” he beams, then lowers his hand, looking conflicted. “Are you angry with us, Woojin?”

“No, I’m not-” Woojin backpedals furiously, holding his hands out in front of him in defense. “It’s fine, just remember that we have the Secret Santa too?”

“Fuck.” Daniel sinks his face into his hands, and Jisung inhales deeply. “Thanks, Woojin-ah.”

“Sure,” the boy holds up his offerings, a snow globe and possibly the ugliest sweater he’s ever seen. It’s green and red sequins, with white tassels in the centre making out a snowflake. Jisung winces at it, but he hides his reaction quickly enough. “Remember, you have to tell us what time it is and everything.”

“Right, right.” Jisung nods, and Woojin nods jerkily. “Excuse me, do you have flashing Christmas lights?”

Woojin tags along, chattering his ear off as the cashier unwinds a long string of lights from the backroom. Daniel holds onto his arm absently, and he follows obediently as Jisung darts around the shop. They wind up with a basket of twinkle lights and a banner spelling out ‘MERRY CHRISTMAS’, except all the ‘M’s are missing, so it spells out ‘ERRY CHRISTAS’.

“It looks Spanish.” Jisung tries to convince himself, and Daniel props his hip up against the counter as he waits for him to pay. Woojin checks out his stuff, turning to ask Jisung for a couple of coins. Daniel huffs under his breath; Jisung is too nice. The kids take advantage of him all the time but he never notices. “-niel. Niel.”

“Yes, hyung,” he says on reflex, eyes refocusing on Jisung’s impatient gaze. A look of worry crosses his face. “Sorry, was spacing out-” he says quickly, and the look fades to annoyance, “-what do you need me to do?”

Jisung has his phone out in his hand. “Visa, please,” he tells the cashier and hands his card over.“Niel, we’ll do six in the evening on Christmas. Inform the chat group, then get started on doing the picker for Secret Santa.”

“Okay,” he whips out his own phone, ignoring the spam of texts from Hyunbin about how cute Tolby is. He gets them, like, three times a day. Tolby is adorable, but Peter and Rooney are prettier. He’s still on it when Jisung’s done, so the elder catches him by the elbow and leads him out of the door.

Woojin asks for a ride back to the train station, so Daniel sits in the back. Somehow, he’s managed to pair Jihoon and Woojin together, which is great- Jihoon is still moping over Daehwi, and they split last year. Woojin’s always been on the sidelines waiting, so this could be a good chance. He tells this to the younger in the front seat, who turns red and bolts out of the car once they arrive.

“He’ll confess this time,” Jisung says, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel as they drive home.

“What makes you so sure?” Daniel asks absently, laughing when his picker matches Jinyoung to Daehwi again. “Hey, hyung, Jinyoung and Daehwi are together again.”

Jisung laughs, and Daniel looks up to see his eyes crinkle at the corners, lips curling up in response.

“How long has it been, six years?” Jisung inquires, turning into the driveway. Daniel’s so enraptured by his laugh he blurts out, “No, eight, I think.”

There’s a pause in the car as the both of them take time to mull over his response.

“They met only at the first Christmas party though?” Jisung brakes, looking up into the mirror so he can see his face. He winces internally and adjusts his facial expression to one that reads: “Oh, silly me!”

“Must have gotten them mixed up with someone else,” he evades, opening the door so he can move the butt of the tree off his lap and out into the snow. Brushing off the leaves, he looks at the door of their apartment complex, going to open the door before trying to drag out the tree.

“You’re going to sprain your back, Niel.” Jisung berates immediately, slamming the doors shut and parking the car. “I’ll bring it up with you, then I’ll go park.”

“You can’t park,” he protests, “you’re horrible at it.”

Jisung scowls.

“Listen, you ungrateful brat-" he begins, and Daniel heaves the tree through the door so his indignant rant is unheard to him. The lift door opens, and he hauls the thing upright, putting his foot and the lift door so it doesn’t slam the tree and crush it. “-rent people take different times to learn-" he pushes the button for the seventh floor and waits patiently as Jisung inserts himself into some gap in the tiny space. “-and you haven’t gotten your licence yet, so don’t trash me.”

“Okay,” he cuts off. “Got it, hyung.”

Jisung frowns at him through the leaves.

“I’m breathing in leaves.” he complains, then narrows his eyes. “This is all your fault.”

“How is this my fault?” he demands, putting his foot at the lift door again so he can drag the tree out.

“You didn’t remind me.” Jisung helps him to shuffle it out slowly, smiling apologetically when a neighbour opens her door to stare disapprovingly at them. “You’re the younger one, your mind works better.”

“You’re the older one, aren’t you supposed to be more responsible?” Daniel hisses, holding his palm out for the key. Jisung drops it carefully in his hand and he opens the door quietly. “This is so stupid, hyung. I want noodles now.”

“Fuck you.” Jisung lifts the tree up and wobbles into the house. “What kind? We only have chicken soup.”

“Okay.” Daniel shuts the door behind him and continues shuffling. “Is it in the cupboard? I’ll cook for us.”

“I’ll do it, you’re covered in leaves.” Jisung scolds, slapping his shoulder and pushing him away when he tries to bend down to help.

“Are you upset?” he asks.

“No, I’m old and cranky.” Jisung’s voice is muffled. “Hurry up, we need to string the lights.”

He’s sitting in a pile of fairy lights.

Jisung’s hair is wet and mussed up, and he’s wearing his favourite Christmas pyjamas, the one with reindeer horns all over. He looks ridiculous-

“You look ridiculous.” Jisung says, setting the bowls of noodles down on the dining table. “Eat.”

“I’m stuck,” he wriggles around for emphasis, and Jisung lets out a long suffering sigh. He stills when the older comes close, head nearly in his chest as he starts to untangle the lights. The position is oddly intimate, with him nearly in his lap. “Hyung-"

“Why’s your face so red?” Jisung picks out one end of the long string. “You sick?”

“No,” he says, voice wavering. Jisung bends his head again, unwinding the string from his arm. He can smell his tonic aftershave and the tea tree oil he slaps onto his face every time he showers: a scent he immediately relates to Jisung. “Are you done?”

“I have two arms.” Jisung holds onto his shoulders and shakes him, moving him from side to side so the remainder of the lights fall off. “Okay, stand up.”

“What about the lights?” he follows the command, standing up and looking at the pile. Jisung sighs again; he’s been doing that alot lately.

“Okay, fine.” he passes one end of the string to him. “How do you want to do it?”

“I don’t know.” he shrugs, dragging the tree by the small pot out a little so it isn’t completely resting against the wall. “Just around.”

“Okay.” Jisung pats him absently, reaching for the banner lying sadly on the shoe cabinet. Daniel grins, hooking the first end up with a clip and winding it around the tree, gentler this time. He was too excited the first time; it just ended up with the tree nearly falling on him. Jisung’s quiet as he ruffles around a basket on the table, producing more clips and handing them over while he tries to hide the clips away.

He steps back once he’s done, and Jisung steps forward at the same time to pin the banner on.

“It looks okay so far,” he breaks the silence, and Jisung nods contemplatively.

“Oh!” he gasps, walking briskly away and throwing over his shoulder: “I have something from my mother for the tree-”

He disappears into the kitchen, and Daniel takes a seat on the floor. He’s surrounded by more leaves, and looks up in alarm when something clashes to the floor.

“-look!” his best friend bounces out, holding onto a white Christmas star. “Lift me up, will you?”

Daniel wraps his arms around him, holding on tightly, and raises him to the top of the tree. It’s not that tall, so it takes minimal effort. Once lowered to the floor, Jisung runs to slap on the light switch.

“It’s pretty,” he says in awe, “isn’t it?”

“Yeah.” Daniel nods, mouth dropping a little open. Jisung is flushed from all the running about, hair starting to dry and eyes sparkling with the reflection of all the lights. The sleeves of the reindeer horns pyjama set are long, and the fraying hem reaches past his wrists, extending nearly to the fingertips of his little pinkies. “Beautiful.”

Jisung grins, turning.

“We’ll just need some baubles,” he says crisply, and Daniel turns to get a fleeting glimpse of the tree before the lights shut off. “Should we bake some cookies and hang them on there?”

“We can eat those, why would you do that?” he asks, and Jisung pulls him to sit down at the counter so they can spoon the cooling soup into their mouths.

“We’ll eat half and keep the rest for the tree.” Jisung decides, and Daniel laughs into his soup. When he looks up, his best friend has stopped eating, instead staring at him with a twisted expression.

“What?”

“Nothing.” Jisung blinks, and the look is replaced with one of fondness. “It’s late, we have things to do tomorrow so please don’t stay up.”

“I won’t, hyung.” Daniel protests, and goes back to eating. He looks at the tree: with lights on and a Christmas star on top, it actually looks not bad.

JISUNG

DECEMBER 22

They’re at the local Daiso right before it opens, standing outside the store and hopping from one foot to the other to keep warm. He’s shivering in his own coat, and beside him, Daniel sniffs.

“We should have stayed in the car,” he says apologetically. The younger shakes his head.

“I’ll be fine, but you look like you’re freezing,” Daniel chokes out, breath coming out in little white puffs. “Give me your hand.”

Jisung passes the hand over. He doesn’t have any gloves on, because he’s an idiot. Daniel takes it and envelops his hand with his large, gloved one, rubbing their hands together to create friction. Jisung watches the crease between his eyebrows,tilting his head.

It’s been about… six years. 2190 days. He has to confess: around the halfway mark, he developed a crush on the younger. It’s not anyone’s fault that Daniel is one of those types that are easy to love, like Daehwi and Jonghyun. The infatuation never really fade off, it’s been dormant inside him. After the disastrous third year Christmas party, he had tried to hide away his feelings, but...

It’s moments like this that make the emotions swell up inside him: moments like Daniel doing something impossibly cute or endearing or charming. Jisung takes a deep breath and draws the freezing air into his lungs to clear his head. His best friend looks at him.

“Hyung-"

“The store is open,” he withdraws his hand from Daniel’s pocket to point. The younger looks disappointed for a second. “Sorry, I cut you off. What were you going to say?”

Daniel is silent, looking down at his feet. Jisung nudges him gently with his shoulder, and a smile spreads across his face.

“Nothing, hyung,” he murmurs reassuringly, the smile wavering. “Let’s go in.” Jisung nods without asking, pressing the button so the door slide open. It’s warm inside, so he removes the beanie on his head and shoves it under one armpit as he looks through the Christmas items put on display. There are red and gold baubles, in sets of six, and some gold and silver tinsel. Daniel walks up to him with a basket, pointing out the things that he wants. Jisung indulges him a little bit (or a lot, but nevermind), by throwing into the basket everything that he wants.

“Hyung, caramel corn.” Daniel puts the basket on the floor and shoves it along with his feet. “Please?”

Jisung reaches for one packet and throws it in as they reach the end of the queue. The cashier rings up a total of thirty four dollars, and he reaches into his pocket-

A hand lands on his bicep, and Daniel squeezes it before handing over a fifty dollar bill. He watches in shock: the times when Daniel pays instead of him don’t come often. Daniel stuffs the change into his coat pocket, and Jisung blinks before helping him with the bags.

“Now what?” he asks, throwing the keys to the car over so he can unlock the car boot. Daniel catches the lazy toss, and the boot rises with a suspicious creaking sound.

“Things, in. Then we go to Isetan to get our presents for each other.” Daniel looks off at the lot three cars away. “Hey, is that Jonghyun-hyung?”

“What’s all that green thing-" Jisung cuts himself off to wave energetically at their friend. “Jonghyun-ah!”

The man looks over and breaks into a large grin, starting to jog over. Right as he makes it past a familiar blue SUV, he slips on the ice a bit. A hand snaps forward to steady him, holding onto his elbow. The other arm slides around his waist, and Minhyun appears from the car, nudging the door shut with his knee. Jonghyun turns to grin apologetically at him, then points at the both of them and starts forward. Jisung feels his jaw going slack.

“What?” the man asks, when they don’t greet him. “Do I have something on my face?”

“That…” Daniel sighs. “...was the cutest couple thing ever.”

Minhyun huffs out a single syllable laugh, going to hug Jisung first, then Daniel. “We found some mistletoe, you want some?” he asks. Jisung blinks twice.

“Why would we-”

“For the party, hyung!” Daniel snaps his fingers, then removes the plant from Jonghyun’s shoulders. “This much should be enough, right?”

“Our house isn’t that big,” he mutters absentmindedly. Opposite them, Jonghyun is helping Minhyun pull his beanie down, tucking the hair of his fringe into the cap. There’s a look in Minhyun’s eyes as he opens his stance so Jonghyun can reach around his head, a look very familiar. Jisung turns around to check, and Daniel slams the boot down, before looking up at him.

“Where to next, hyung?” he inquires, leaning against the car boot like he doesn’t have a spine. There’s the same look in his eyes, a fond, warm gaze. He feels his mouth go slack again, and he covers his face in horror.

It’s bad enough that he’s fell in love with his best friend- Now he’s imprinting his own feelings on him as well. He groans deeply and presses his fists harder into the sockets of his eyes before dropping his hands to his sides.

“You okay?” Jonghyun questions worriedly, and he nods tightly. “We’re going to get brunch, want to come with?”

“It’s okay,” he waves his hands in front of him hurriedly. He has no idea which is worse: the notion of watching Jonghyun and Minhyun do disgustingly sweet and adorable couple things together or look at Daniel straight in the face for an hour and pretend that everything’s okay. “We need to get stuff for the party.”

“Oh, right!” Minhyun claps once, and tells Daniel: “Very good matching, Niel.”

“What?” Jonghyun asks at the mischievous look exchanged between them. “Min-"

“Got to go!” Jisung cries out before they kiss or something, he’s old and single and lonely. Daniel glances over at him in surprise and he makes sure not to look at him in the eyes. He hugs Jonghyun and Minhyun, reminds them to put on their beanies and socks properly, then ducks into the passenger seat.

“Isetan, right?” Daniel asks himself, giggles, then starts the engine. The corners of Jisung’s lips twitch: the younger’s ability to laugh at anything has always impressed him. “What are you going to get for me, hyung?”

“Not telling,” he mutters, looking out of the window. It’s been snowing heavily the past few days, and the rooftops of the houses they pass by are covered with a white, powdery layer.

“I’m going to get you gloves.” Daniel decides, getting onto the expressway and turning his head back to check his blindspot.

“You’re not supposed to tell me,”  he throws his hands up in exasperation. “Niel, your filter light isn’t even-"

“Right,” his friend jumps, flicking it on. They make it onto the expressway without anymore trouble, and Jisung takes the time to check the RSVP list. Apparently everyone is coming- all seventeen of them. He sighs and knocks his head gently on the glass. Their apartment is going to be so smashed.

“Hey, we can do the music now,” Daniel breaks the silence, and Jisung hums in acknowledgement, reading off the ones in his mind and taking them down on his phone. His friend chips in on some recommendations, and he takes them down as well before going on Spotify. “We’re here.”

“Okay,” Jisung mutters, and Daniel knuckles his own seat belt, then reaches over to unbuckle his. “Oh, thanks.”

“Hurry up!” he hears, and the door of the driver’s seat slams closed. Rolling his eyes, he gets his wallet and steps out, yelping when a cold gust of wind is blasted into his face. He catches Daniel by the elbow and leads the both of them firmly to the store front, shivering tremendously. Inside, they huddle by the heater for a minute and kick off the snow from their boots before stepping into the store.

“See you back here at twelve?” Jisung checks, pointing off to the ramen bar. “We’ll have lunch there, then go to the supermarket to order food for the party.”

Daniel nods in acknowledgement and heads off to the top levels. Jisung watches him step onto the escalator before going to the jewellery section.

He browses for a while before he finds what he had in mind: a leather bracelet with a brown and black cord twisted together. The seller offers him a few charms to choose from, and he chuckles when he sees the display case.

It must be fate, he thinks wryly, for his eyes to be drawn immediately to these two symbols out of the rows of charms in the box.

“I’ll get these two,” he says politely, and the seller nods, handing over the receipt. A pair of hands block his vision as he tries to check it, and he crushes the piece of paper in his hand, protesting, “Niel.” he regains his vision as the younger leans against the counter, and he takes the bag with a smile.

Daniel’s spectacles are fogged him with the heat of the ramen, and Jisung sighs exasperatedly, reaching forward to pluck them off his nose.

“You really need someone to take care of you.” he notes, wiping the lenses carefully with the hem of his fleece shirt.

“I’ve got you.” Daniel says absently, slurping through his second bowl. He sets the spectacles down on the table and forces himself to think properly.

“Aren’t you going to get a partner or something?” he inquires, and Daniel looks up, cheeks bulging.

“No need-” he mumbles out, and Jisung feels like collapsing his head into his hands. “-you’re here, aren’t you?”

This boy is going to be the death of him.

The Christmas catalogue is out to rob them, it seems. He eyes the menu with horror and disappointment. Pork Belly roasted & braised to deliver tender & juicy meat paired with crispy crackling skin. You can’t get enough of it. He doesn’t get enough money to pay for it. Stuffed chickens are thirty six dollars each. He counts on his fingers- twenty boys, appetite of an army- he’s going to need at least five chickens. That’s a hundred and eighty dollars. And he hasn’t looked at the cake yet!

When he turns to Daniel, the younger is stuffing his face full of cake. Traitor.

“NIEL!” he hollers, and the man whirls around to find him before spotting him and waving goodbye to the person holding the tray. The person looks pained, and from where he’s standing, he can’t see any samples at all on the platter. “How good are you at cooking?”

“I passed the Gastronomy module, so,” he shrugs, “pretty okay?”

Jisung groans slightly and blinks to make sure the numbers on the Christmas catalogue are right. They are, and he comes to the conclusion that he has no choice.

“We’re going to have to cook,” he says grimly. “We’ll get the cake from here, but everything else-”

Daniel beams then, as if there’s something good.

“At least we’ll get good cake,” he chirps, and Jisung tries not to deck him. He needs him to cook, after all.

DANIEL

DECEMBER 23

They’ve got the ‘40 Easy, Elegant Recipes for Christmas Dinner’ tab open on Jisung’s battered laptop.

“Baked Camembert With Sun-Dried Tomatoes sounds good.” Jisung is saying, hovering his pointer over the link. Daniel is standing over him, propping himself steady with one hand on the table and the other on the back of his chair. He fixates him with a look of disappointment.

“Jonghyun-hyung can’t eat tomatoes,” he reminds, and Jisung looks properly chastised, murmuring, “Right,” under his breath. “This says that these tarts are easy to make.”

“Let’s do it.” Jisung mutters immediately, and Daniel rears back to take a proper look at him. In between going to work and preparing for the party, the older’s eyebags have worsened. He bites his lip and opens his mouth- “Pecans too.”

“Let’s buy the chickens from the convenience store,” he interrupts, and Jisung nods in relief, keying it down onto his phone. “We’ll do one turkey, ‘cause it’s a tradition, lamb and a roast ham. There’s no need for vegetables since no one eats them.”

Jisung smiles faintly at that.

“Donghyun’d killed you for that,” he comments, and Daniel chuckles at the thought of their friend: a nutritionist. The party at his and Youngmin’s place had the best food, Daniel still gets dreams about the roast beef. “At least those instant mashed potatoes.”

“Okay, one portion,” he agrees and Jisung reaches up to slap his chest. Wincing, he points at the roast beef on the list. “Let’s do that, there’re only four ingredients.”

“These are grape tomatoes, not grapes,” Jisung sighs. “We can replace them with onions?” Daniel hums in agreement again, propping his chin on the older’s shoulder.

“Go to work,” he says, nudging the forgotten cup of coffee closer to him. “I’ll do the shopping for the ingredients, okay?”

“Thanks.” Jisung murmurs, tilting the mug back into his throat and practically inhaling the liquid. “I’ve got a half day today, ‘ll be back at two?”

Daniel hums in acknowledgement and gets ready so Jisung can drop him off at the local supermarket.

He needs, according to his list, these items:

• Onions
• Apples
• Puff pastry
• Cream cheese
• Pecans
• Fresh rosemary
• A cooked, 7 pound bone-in ham
• Apricot preserves
• 2 pound rib roast (beef)
• Garlic
• 1 ¼ pounds top-round lamb
• Dried tarragon
• 2 15-ounce cans butter beans/ cannellini
• Gingerbread dough

And he needs drinks too. He can feel his soul slipping away from his body, but at the thought of Jisung being forced to do this after a tiring day of work- Yeah. He’ll do it.

He’s making his third batch of gingerbread cookies when the doorbell rings. He puts down the rolling pin and covers the dough with a sheet of cling film, then wipes his hands off his apron and goes to answer the door.

“Niel!” Sungwoon says in surprise, and he blinks tiredly. “You, uh, look busy.”

“I am busy, hyung,” he deadpans, catching a glimpse of himself through the elder’s gigantic, mirrored sunglasses. There’s flour on his apron and on his face, and a suspicious stain that looks like the green food colouring he was mixing into the icing. “What’s up?” 
“Is Jisung in?” Sungwoon asks, and he shakes his head, telling the man that his housemate is at work. “Good, ‘cos, I found something of his that might interest you.” Sungwoon hands over the plastic bag he has in his hand, shrugging. “I was cleaning up my place and I found this, I think it’s from three Christmases ago. Has your name on it.”

Daniel reaches inside and withdraws the book- no, it’s a photo album, from the way it’s too light.

‘For: NIEL’ it says on the outside in black felt tip pen, and he holds it lightly.

“Thank you,” he murmurs, and Sungwoon nods sharply.

“It’s probably from Jisung; Taehyun and I matched you both that year,” Sungwoon crosses his arms. “Good luck with prep, I have somewhere to be.”

“Bye, hyung,” he waves, then backs into the flat and shuts the door.

A gift from Jisung? It would explain the older’s disappointed expression when Daniel told him he lost his present even before opening it during the chaos that was Taehyun’s party. He sits down in a chair and rips the reindeer patterned wrapping paper open. It is a photo album, after all- he turns the cover and grins at the photos inside.

There’s one of his orientation group, with Jisung by his side. The one below- a Polaroid- is of the both of them grinning, still in their orientation shirts on. Daniel is standing a bit away from Jisung in the picture, but his smile is true.

Next page- one of him cuddling with Peter and Rooney; ah, this one he remembers. He went home for Chuseok and sent this Polaroid to Jisung to assure the elder that he was alive. The printed picture underneath it is Jisung’s reply: a beaming face. The pictures after that are all lined up in chronological order and written underneath are the dates in the same black felt tip pen.

Christmas photos are wild and arranged near the back of the album, and he grins when he sees the first party at Jihoon’s parents’ place. He flips through all of the pictures even more quickly, pausing when he sees a letter at the back.

He takes it out, unfolding it and smootheining it out. The ink is a little faded, but he can still make sense of it, he thinks.

Ten minutes later, a soft ‘oh’ falls from his lips.

Jisung hands him the can of potatoes once he steps through the door and pauses, sniffing.

“You started without me!” he accuses, and Daniel shrugs.

“You looked tired this morning.” he leans forward a bit to hug the elder, propping his head on his shoulder. Jisung goes loose in his arms, relaxing into the embrace, and he holds on a little longer before letting go. “Shower, then sleep.”

Jisung hums and pats his forehead, then kicks off his shoes and places the bag he uses for work on the dining table before escaping into the toilet for his daily bubble baths. Daniel heads back to the kitchen and tosses the pecans in the herbs, shoving the tray into the oven and turning it on. He’ll keep them in airtight containers on the kitchen counter.

Almost all the food is prepared, and the tarts are cooling on the baking tray. He’ll need to cook the turkey through on Christmas, and bake the ham as well.

Jisung emerges from the bathroom half an hour later, just as Daniel is laying out the risotto he bought for dinner.

“Thanks, Niel.” Jisung pats his butt, his way of asking him to let him pass. Daniel steps aside obligingly and Jisung empties his dirty laundry into the laundry basket. “What did you do today?”

“Cooked.” Daniel shoves a spoonful of rice into his mouth. He hasn’t realised how hungry he is. “I got the glaze for the ham, but we need to shove it into the oven on Monday. The turkey too.”

“Sorry, I didn’t help.” Jisung rubs his face with both hands, then tucks into his own plate. “Anything you need me to do?”

“Not really.” Daniel yawns, and his jaw cracks. “Ow.”

“Poor thing.” Jisung reaches his hand forward to pat his jaw glumly. “Let’s never do this again, Niel.”

He snorts.

JISUNG

DECEMBER 24

“DRINKS,” he remembers, jerking his hand. The green bag of icing he is holding chokes out a green lump on his snowflake, completely destroying it. He stares down at his cookie in dismay, then kicks Daniel under the table to emphasise his words, “NIEL, WE FORGOT DRINKS.”

“Why are you talking so loud?” Daniel complains, kicking him back under the table. He frowns and retreats the limb.

“The party is tomorrow and we haven’t got drinks!” he puts the bag of icing down and spreads a spatula over his cookie to get some of the green off so it doesn’t look like an accident. Nudging the cookie over onto the baking rack, he takes the next one and begins to pipe more carefully. “I’ll go out to get it?”

When he looks up, Daniel is staring at him, open mouthed.

“What?” he snaps, and the younger motions to his cheek. He puts a finger there and tries to rub off whatever he saw, but Daniel shakes his head and leans forward.

He stills when Daniel’s large palm covers his cheek, seeing the way the younger’s eyes are slightly glazed, yet focused. For some reason, his eyes drop to Daniel’s lips. When he looks up again, Daniel is already looking at him, which means he saw it.

Jisung swallows nervously and leans away, but Daniel’s hand slides down his cheek and under his chin to hold him there. His friend pauses.

“You have green icing-” Daniel stops himself and bites his lip, sighing. Then he looks into Jisung’s eyes and says: “I found the photo album.”

He blinks and goes still. The photo album… how long has it been, three years? Three years since he poured his heart out on paper and fate managed to fuck that up. Three years of pining about what could have been, yet never having the balls to try again. Three years of pretending his feelings didn’t matter, because Daniel was happy with this girl or that boy-

“Do you still mean it, hyung?” Daniel murmurs, and Jisung laughs, beginning to look away. His friend tightens his grip, forcing his chin up in the gentlest way possible. He sighs.

“Yes,” he admits, and Daniel grins before pressing his lips to his nose. “What the- What the fuck was that?”

“A promise,” his- what? Friend?- housemate chirps. “I really should have just confessed earlier- it would have saved us so much time-”

“Wait,” he pushes against Daniel’s chest so the man sits down in his chair opposite the table, “don’t screw me over, Niel. You can’t just-”

“I like you too,” Daniel says solemnly. For once, he doesn’t have a cheeky grin on his face. “Did you know that, hyung?”

His brain short circuits promptly, and he begins to stutter.

“That is-” he begins- “not funny.”

“Shut up, hyung,” his housemate bangs a hand on the table, “don’t you get it? We’ve spent three years nudging around this. I’m telling you, I’m kinda in love with you- Why won’t you listen?”

“You’re in love with me?” he echoes, and Daniel gets to his feet to stand over him. “You didn’t- Back then-”

“You-” Daniel breathes- “should just, say you love me back.” Jisung’s breath whooshes out of his body and he crumples a bit against his chair in shock. “If you still do.”

“I do,” Jisung whispers, and Daniel grins, big and wide. The smile stretches across his face and lights his expression up, and Jisung can feel himself beaming back.

Until Daniel puts a hand on the table and crushes his cookies.

“NIEL!”

DANIEL

DECEMBER 25

“Hello, hello,” he welcomes the last of the stragglers in and shuts the door. Minki texted earlier to say he would be late, but when he told Jisung, the older just shrugged.

“He has a copy of all our keys,” the older mentions in passing as he serves out rations of the rosemary pecans. Daniel stared at his back in disbelief, then moved on to greeting Youngmin and Donghyun.

“Hyung,” Woojin hisses, “I might- I dunno- try today.” He stares at him in disbelief before whooping and clapping the younger hard on his back. Jihoon pauses by them, tilting his head and asking, “What’s going on?” while Woojin looks like he’s trying not to die of embarrassment.

“I’ll tell you later,” he says, brushing past the both of them to head to the kitchen. Jihoon shoots him an inquisitive glance, and he brings his fist to his lips, giggling. He sees the younger’s face tense, and there’s a tap on his shoulder.

“Hyung!” Jinyoung chirps, and he ruffles his hair. “Thanks for doing all this, hyung. The tree looks really pretty.”

Daniel looks over to the sparkling tree and grins, replying, “Thanks, kid. Enjoy yourself today, okay?” Jinyoung shoots him finger guns and a wink, then disappears into the crowd.

Their place is a little too small for holding so many people, but Hyunbin has resorted to dancing on the coffee table for free entertainment, so that’s one person out of the way. He pushes through people to get to the couch, picking up the empty bowl of pecans.

Jonghyun and Minhyun are seated next to each other, and are- are those Jonghyun’s fingers in Minhyun’s hair?- cheering Hyunbin on with matching motherly expressions. Seongwoo is perched on the back of the arm chair, texting furiously on his phone. Daniel hopes he’s not talking to Minki again- the last time they did that, the Christmas party was infiltrated by a couple of young Chinese sprouts who arrived in matching Versace clothing.

“Daniel!” Jonghyun grins and stands, pulling his fingers from Minhyun’s hair. Daniel watches the display with distaste, then waves cheerily with a greeting. His friends leads him to the middle of the room, gesturing to Hyunbin and saying, “Look at this kid, he’s improved!”

Hyunbin scowls down at the both of them and twerks even more vigorously to- Is that a remix version of ‘Last Christmas’? It sounds nothing like the original, more like something you’d find in a club. He waves them off, then goes to find the audio cables, sighing when he sees the blue leather phonecase and the person standing next to it.

“Donghan,” he groans. “This is not a club.”

Donghan looks over at him, rose tinted sunglasses perched on his head. With an eye roll, he says, “Seriously, you lot are so old-"

Something smacks his head and he yowls, dropping on his knees to reveal who’s standing behind him. There, in all of his 168cm glory, stands one Noh Taehyun brandishing a spatula.

Where he got the spatula from, he doesn’t know. He just walks forward to yank the cord from the blue monstrosity. At once, an enraged yell comes from the direction of the coffee table. He rolls his eyes and plugs in his laptop to resume the PG-rated Christmas songs.

“Dinner!” Jisung calls, and there’s a mad rush to the dining table. Daniel steps out of Seonho’s way as quickly as possible: the look in the kid’s eyes is feral.

“This is really delicious,” says Seonho. Daniel watches in horrified fascination as the boy starts on his fifth plate. Sungwoon seems to be drunk already, putting his head on the table and panting. Taehyun rolls his eyes at him and downs another shot of whiskey. Somewhere in the living room, Minki is giving out presents to everyone, since he’s the only one among them with a bloody trust fund.

“Niel,” Jisung smiles over the table at him, and he looks up with a grin, “are you full already?”

“Yeah,” he replies, and he senses a presence over his shoulder. Turning at the ominous feeling, he sees Minki staring down at him with narrowed eyes. “Hi, hyung?”

“You’ve got a partner,” Minki hisses, “right?”

Daniel looks back at Jisung, beams, and says, “Yes.”

As if on cue, Minki lets out a shriek. A total number of two people look up- one is Jonghyun, and the other is Jinyoung. The both of them exchange a tired look, then go back to whatever they were doing. “You’re together,” Minki breathes, and Jisung grins, nodding. Daniel reaches across the table and opens his palm so Jisung can hold him. “Holy shit.”

Daniel winks, letting go so he can stand up and walk over to Jisung’s side of the table, sitting in his lap unapologetically and kissing him hard. When he looks up, the entire room has gone quiet.

“NIELSUNG RISES!” Seongwoo hollers. “MORE SHOTS!”

Jisung dissolves into giggles beneath him and he chuckles. Donghyun scoots over to smile fondly at the both of them, whispering, “Congrats, you two.”

“Thanks, Donghyun-ah.” Jisung pats his head. Guanlin skips over to congratulate them, then The Power Couple arrives to give their blessings. He’s pretty sure Jonghyun has tears in his eyes-

“I have an announcement,” yells Woojin from the coffee table. Jisung murmurs, “Our coffee table isn’t going to make it through the night at this rate.” Daniel shrugs, looking for Jihoon. Woojin continues, “I really like Jihoon.”

A series of catcalls and whoops from Dongho and Taehyun’s direction erupts, while Minhyun claps as elegantly as he can while being slightly drunk. Sungwoon rises from the table to observe the proceedings.

“Is this a confession?” Jihoon asks, uncertain. Woojin nods and sways a bit- so he took the Seongwoo way and had some liquid courage before this.

“I’m kind of in love with you,” Woojin admits. From beside him, Daehwi swoons and presses a hand to his heart. Jinyoung is smiling secretly, as if enjoying the baffled look on Jihoon’s face.

“Get down from there!” Jihoon pulls at his hand, and Woojin steps off the table, his smile fading. Daniel bites his tongue, but Jihoon grins and pulls Woojin to a designated Mistletoe Corner to peck him on the lips.

“Aw,” Donghyun coos, and Jihoon spins away, flushed to his ears. Woojin blinks in disbelief before catching his wrist and pulling him back in for a proper kiss.

“Hyung,” he murmurs. Everyone has left (or, in the case of Ong Seongwoo, is passed out in the bathtub) and the tree is lit and glowing with the fairy lights all turned on, a sight to behold in their small apartment. Sprigs of mistletoe dangle from the ceiling in small bunches, which brings them to the problem. “Mistletoe.”

Jisung glances up, gives the plant an unhurried look and exhales shakily. Very slowly, he places his hands on both sides of his face, cupping Daniel’s jaw. His breath hitches- the elder hesitates a moment- and Jisung leans in slowly.

His eyes flutter closed immediately, and the smell of tonic aftershave and tea tree oil- there’s the gentlest pressure against his lips and the taste of whiskey and gingerbread. He opens his mouth, hands dropping to rest on the elder’s biceps to steady himself, and presses his lips back. There’s a low grumbling sound in Jisung’s chest that echoes in Daniel’s, and the elder’s left hand slips to his waist, pressing their bodies together. Daniel smiles into the kiss, and they break apart for air.

“You-" Jisung cuts himself off, eyes looking a little blown wide. Daniel steps forward again and wraps his arms around his waist lightly.

“I love you, hyung.” He says simply. “Do you?”

“I love me, of course, but- You sure?” Jisung scratches the back of his neck. He rolls his eyes and presses a kiss to the tip of his nose, then to his forehead, then onto his cheeks. Jisung’s eyes close again, and Daniel pecks both his eyelids for good measure.

“Pretty sure.” He whispers, and Jisung opens his eyes to look at him.

“Well, I do have to return the favour.” He muses, then he leans forward to connect their lips again.