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Jisung and Chan had a tradition.
Ever since they turned nineteen and could legally go to clubs, they spent every Christmas Eve at Jisung’s favorite nightclub. They didn’t purposefully make it a tradition, it just kept happening year after year until they had to acknowledge it as such.
It all started when Chan’s first girlfriend dumped him the day before Christmas. He sounded devastated over the phone, and Jisung felt sorry so he agreed to go drinking with him, even though he'd never done that before. Turned out Chan didn’t either, because he had no idea which club to go to. They just wandered down a street they read online was a ‘nightlife hotspot’, and walked into the club they estimated to be the least intimidating.
They probably looked like absolute dorks, two college freshmen in plain jeans and hoodies, and sporting matching bowl cuts, to make it worse. They soon realized that they did not belong there – everyone else was so fashionable, so cool, so good at dancing, and they were just a heartbroken noodle and his socially awkward friend. But the music was good, so they stayed.
Chan led the way to the bar and got them both soju to start with. (In all honesty, he could probably name three alcoholic drinks at best, so soju was just the first thing that came to mind.) Jisung prayed he wasn’t a lightweight, because he’d definitely have to take care of Chan when he remembered to cry about his ex again.
Just as they finished up their first bottles, the bartender gave Chan another one.
“That guy over there sent you a drink.”
“Guy?” Chan tilted his head.
“He explicitly said to the redhead,” the bartender clarified. Chan took a strand of his hair and looked at it to make sure the terrible orange dye job he did in his kitchen the previous night wasn’t a fever dream. It wasn’t.
“Wow, must’ve heard me bitching about my break-up and wanted to cheer me up!” Chan beamed at Jisung. “What a king.”
He strained his neck to see who the bartender pointed at, and he managed to meet someone’s eyes. “Thanks, mate, Merry Christmas! Oh, they’re coming here. Cool, new friends!”
Two men came to sit with them at the bar. Jisung noticed they were both very beautiful and just slightly taller than them, and definitely dressed more appropriately for the occasion than them.
“So, what’s your name, handsome?” the guy who sent the soju asked Chan.
“Oh, handsome! I like that. Men should compliment each other more often,” Chan still smiled from ear to ear. “Oh, right, I’m Chan. This is Jisung.”
“I’m Seungmin, my friend’s Jeongin,” the man said. “You two aren’t together or something, right?”
“No, of course not,” Chan burst into laughter. “I was just telling him about how my girlfriend dumped me.”
“Oh, so you’re bi?”
“I’m straight?”
Jeongin and Seungmin looked at each other and started laughing uncontrollably, and Chan, bless his precious heart, laughed with them even though he still had no idea what was going on.
“You know you came to a gay club, right?” Jeongin checked.
“Oh. So that’s why everyone’s so cool!”
The two friends laughed again, as if Chan and Jisung’s cluelessness was the most adorable thing in the world. They looked just as young as them, if not younger, but they obviously knew their way around the night crowd already.
“Really, did the name The Rainbow not set off any alarms?”
“I just thought it’s because it’s very colorful. And it is!”
“Well, you’re still really cool, so mind if we stay here with you guys? We can talk shit about that loser that dumped you.”
And so Jeongin and Seungmin stayed, but Jisung just kept in his corner, not really sure how to participate in this conversation without making a complete fool of himself. He did see Jeongin throw a look at him every once in a while, like he was waiting for him to say something, but it took some time before he could get comfortable with new people. Thankfully, he had his government-assigned extrovert to help him out.
The night started morphing into something different when Seungmin called the bartender to buy everyone two more rounds of shots. Jisung tried to stop him, but Jeongin leaned closer to him and explained that Seungmin just got his first paycheck and really wanted to look cool. Jeongin’s breath was hot on his ear, and Jisung was drunk enough to get flustered by that. But not drunk enough to out himself to his best friend, who had no idea he was bisexual.
As the drinks went by and Jeongin only seemed to get closer, the temptation was too much to bear. Jisung had absolutely zero experience with flirting, but he was pretty sure that what they were doing couldn’t classify as anything else – Jeongin was feeling up his biceps, occasionally zooming in on his lips, mirroring his movements every time he talked. Unlike Seungmin’s and Chan’s booming laughter as they discussed their favorite bands, their conversation was also innocent in topic but it was quiet, provocative.
Thankfully, their seating arrangement made it so that he could easily slip a hand down to Jeongin’s knee without Chan noticing, once he’d drank enough. Jeongin quirked an eyebrow at him, but there was a smile on his face. Jisung had never in his life been so brave before, he’d never even kissed a guy. Maybe it was destiny that they ended up at a gay club – he definitely wouldn’t have had the courage to explore that side of himself otherwise, and Chan definitely wasn’t in the condition to find a rebound.
As Jeongin made it clear with that smile that he wasn’t rejecting his advances, and Chan and Seungmin were deep into a conversation he tuned out of ten minutes ago, Jisung took one last leap of faith, before the alcohol evaporated, and excused himself to go to the bathroom. Jeongin knew he was supposed to follow.
As soon as they found an empty stall and locked the door behind themselves, Jisung slammed Jeongin into said door and started kissing him. He wasn’t quite expecting his first kiss with a guy to go like that, but just the fact that he was finally kissing a guy was enough to make up for the setting. Jeongin was a good kisser, and he smelled really nice too. Jisung’s hands soon left their awkward position on Jeongin’s arms and found their way to his waist, bringing him closer until they were body to body.
His whole body and mind were buzzing with the feeling of being kissed, being pressed so close to someone else in a small space, so Jisung got a little bold and slid his lips down Jeongin’s jawline. He seemed to enjoy that, judging by the way his fingers tangled in Jisung’s hair in a desperate attempt to keep him there, so Jisung took it a step further and started kissing his neck.
“Fuck, that’s going to leave a mark,” Jeongin laughed breathily when Jisung’s playful nips accidentally turned a little too aggressive. He quickly apologized and went back to just making out, although that too was threatening to get him hard very, very soon.
“Jisung, are you done?” he suddenly heard Chan’s voice. “I really need to pee, and all the stalls are occupied.”
“Shit,” Jisung whisper-shouted against Jeongin’s mouth before pulling away. Jeongin obviously didn’t read the panic in Jisung’s eyes, so he just stifled a laugh. “Yeah, uh, I’m coming out.”
Hah. Well, there was no other way out. He had to open the door of that stall, and spill his biggest secret in a nasty, jam-packed club bathroom, with Jeongin in tow. Definitely not the way he imagined his first coming out would go.
“Oh, Jeongin’s there too,” Chan smiled dumbly. “With some… fresh wounds on his neck.”
“Didn’t you need to pee?” Jisung tried to get out of what was probably the worst, most awkward coming out known to man.
“Oh yeah, yeah,” Chan said and switched spots with them, but he kept talking before locking the door. “You could’ve told me. You know I love you, man.”
“Love you too,” Jisung smiled sincerely. “We’ll wait at the bar.”
So that was the story of their first Christmas Eve at The Rainbow. He had exchanged numbers with Jeongin (and Seungmin, for platonic purposes) after that, but after a couple of dates they agreed there was no romantic chemistry there. All four of them had stayed friends, though, and Jisung didn’t have to go through the whole ordeal of gathering the courage to tell Chan about his sexuality, so it was a win in his book.
Starting from Jisung’s first kiss and first coming out, they made a lot of good memories at that place. On the second year, Chan was drunk enough to grab the mic after all the karaoke participants were done and belt out an interpretation of All I Want For Christmas Is You that had the crowd begging for more, and more, and more. And thus the party somehow turned into his solo concert.
The year after that, they made friends with an indie band that performed really cool rock renditions of Christmas songs. They kept making awesome music together, as well as going to their gigs whenever they were in town, so Jisung counted that as the best experience he’d ever had at The Rainbow.
With the exception of that time when Chan drunk-dialed his sister instead of a girl he liked and made Hannah vomit with his cheesy confession, Christmases at The Rainbow always brought good things. Long-lasting friendships, singing gigs for Chan, or just really funny stories; whatever each Christmas had in store for them, Jisung looked forward to it. Even when one or both of them were seeing someone and had to go on an obligatory Christmas date, they never missed their tradition.
It was now the fourth year of that tradition, and Jisung was ready for some magic. With his last semester in college fast approaching, he was more stressed than ever and ready to do all the most outrageously stupid stuff he was usually too anxious for – get blackout drunk, sing on stage, maybe kiss a stranger – wherever the night led them, he was ready.
After coming in to the now already familiar scenery, they went straight to the bar as always, and toasted with their first shots of tequila as they waited for five extremely drunk guys to finish their karaoke cover of Jingle Bell Rock. That would probably be him and Chan in a few hours, but for now it was funny to laugh at others.
When they left the stage, the crowd gave them a standing ovation (because, honestly, it was really funny to watch them struggle to find the right pitch in their state of mind). The MC tried to suppress a chuckle when he looked at the cue card, but the mic made it very much audible. “Alright, now give it up for our next act… Pretty Boys and Hyunjin.”
The crowd laughed and cheered as two guys pushed their ten centimeters taller, angry friend on stage with matching grins.
“Just to be clear, I did not consent to this name,” the tall one, presumably Hyunjin, said into the mic. “Hi everyone, I’m Hyunjin, these are Evil Little Bitch Number One and Evil Little Bitch Number Two. We’re going to sing Santa Tell Me by Ariana Grande. Let’s go!”
Before his groupmates could protest, the song started and Hyunjin sang the first lyrics. They didn’t all sing at the same time like most people at karaoke, they had a whole line distribution down and even did harmonizations, and very professionally so.
Jisung usually paid little attention to the karaoke portion of the night, it was just warm-up, but he was surprised by how well the guys actually sang, so he threw a glance at the stage Chan was already fully immersed in.
Seeing the love of his life was probably the only thing Jisung wasn’t prepared for.
Some would say it’s an overstatement, he didn’t even know the guy’s name, but that was definitely the most attractive man Jisung had ever seen. All three of them were objectively good-looking, depending on one’s preferences, but that one, the brunette with cat-like eyes and thighs that could crush his skull like a watermelon, that was exactly Jisung’s type. Tiny, but not fragile, cute, but in a sexy way, and absolutely magnetic.
Not only that, but his voice was beautiful too. He looked like he was having a lot of fun with the song, flailing his arms around and really pouring his heart out, like he was just singing in the shower. Jisung’s eyes stayed glued to him for the rest of the song.
“That’s an angel,” Jisung whispered to himself.
“Oh, yeah, the small blondie with the freckles and the jawline?”
“Chanathan, is there anything you’d like to tell me?” Jisung giggled. “No, the one in the middle.”
Chan mumbled something about being able to appreciate a guy’s beauty, but Jisung was too focused on his angel to listen. The song ended way too quickly, and Jisung almost stood up to shout for an encore. Thankfully, he wasn’t drunk enough for that yet. Instead, he just watched the boy of his dreams step off stage in a fit of giggles, and he knew he had to at least try to talk to him.
“That was so good,” Chan shouted in his ear. “We should’ve prepared something like that.”
“You’re free to sing whenever you want,” Jisung shouted back. “I’m gonna go meet my future husband.”
“Ooh, I’m going with you,” Chan clapped excitedly, but he made Jisung take two more quick shots with him before they moved from the bar.
Getting through the crowd was a challenge in itself, and spotting such a small boy in the dark, an even bigger one. Instead, Jisung focused on finding his tall, pink-haired friend, whose name the alcohol had already erased from his mind, but he was sure he’d recognize him.
“Oh, isn’t that them?” Chan said and pointed at a group of guys taking shots at a table in the corner, and after really focusing on getting his tipsy mind together, Jisung recognized them. The tall one, the blond, and the angel. That was them.
“Hi!” Chan yelled cheerfully after he approached their table. “We just wanted to tell you you were great on stage.”
“Ah, thank you,” Jisung’s angel bowed. “We’re professional singers, actually.”
“Oh, me too. I could tell.”
The group started chatting with Chan, while Jisung just hid behind his back and observed the boy he fell for at first sight. He noticed there was one other guy at the table, very quiet and scary-looking, but he was clinging to the waist of their tall groupmate, so Jisung ruled out the possibility of him being his future boyfriend’s boyfriend. Now all that was left to do was actually talk to said “future boyfriend”.
“I’m Chan by the way,” Chan extended his hand to Freckles first.
“I’m Felix,” he started introducing everyone around the table. “The lovebirds are Hyunjin and Changbin, and this is Minho.”
So the love of his life was named Minho. Jisung was so mesmerized that he didn’t remember he was supposed to introduce himself too before everyone turned to stare at him.
“Uh, I’m Jisung, nice to meet you,” he bowed way too formally for someone mingling at a nightclub, which drew a quiet chuckle from Hyunjin. Changbin pinched his side as if telling him to behave, and then they started whispering something among themselves that made Jisung even more nervous.
“I like your sweater, Jisung,” Minho smiled. Jisung belatedly realized that he was wearing the ugliest Christmas sweater that ever existed, an abomination Chan made him wear because he lost some stupid bet two weeks ago. It was so full of snowmen and candy canes and bells that it physically hurt to look at it for too long – by far the worst thing one could possibly meet their soulmate in.
Still, Minho was the first one to talk to him, even after he embarrassed himself like that, and that giggle alone was enough to put him on cloud nine. He couldn’t, however, for the life of him figure out a cool response to that.
“Ah, yes, Jisung is quite the fashionista,” Chan came to his rescue. “The sweater is entirely my fault, though.”
“No, it fits you,” Minho smiled at him again, and Jisung wondered how many nations he saved in his past life to get such a kind and beautiful soulmate. Screw the fact that soulmates weren’t an actual thing – they were soulmates. “So, are you a singer too?”
“I’m studying music production, actually.” Off to a good start. Maybe now he’ll start acting less like someone on the verge of a heart attack.
“Really?” Minho looked genuinely interested, much to Jisung’s relief. “That’s so cool! So, what do you think of queen Ariana’s Christmas albums?”
Now, that was a topic Jisung had a lot to say on. He easily slipped into a rant about his favorite Christmas music and how Ariana’s version of Last Christmas was absolutely genius from a producer’s standpoint, and Minho’s eyes didn’t leave him the entire time. The little curl in the corner of his lips didn’t go down either, there was something so genuine about him that made Jisung feel like the most important person in the world even if he was just rambling about boring music production stuff.
“I’m sorry, you really shouldn’t have asked that if you wanted me to ever shut up,” Jisung finally caught himself.
“No, it’s really interesting,” Minho assured him. “I mean, I’m a musician myself, so I really wanted to learn more about composing and producing so I can maybe write my own songs one day.”
“Oh, awesome, I can totally help you with that!” Jisung blurted before he could stop himself. Minho said he’d love that.
“Enough about work, though,” he decided. He instead asked Minho about his age (he was two years his senior, which was kind of hot), his hometown, work, all the basics people needed to get down when they first met someone. But it didn’t feel like small talk, like a chore he needed to get out of the way before he could have a real conversation – Jisung actually wanted to know all these things about Minho, he was storing them carefully in a new corner of his mind he cleared out just for Minho.
It took him a while to realize their little group was still all talking to each other while he and Minho had separated from them, so he asked about his friends so he could talk to them too and not make it too obvious that he was already head over heels for Minho.
“Well, as you can see, these two make it everyone’s business that they’re so in love,” Minho pointed at Hyunjin and his boyfriend with a sour face. “And Felix’s just... He just really likes chips.”
“Just straight-up chilling,” Felix yelled with a mouthful of chips when he heard his name. How did he even get a whole tube of spicy Pringles into a nightclub?
“Yes, that’s what he says when people ask about his sexuality. So basically, I’m the only single guy here.”
“Me too,” Jisung added a little too quickly. “I mean, and Chan too, but he’s my emotional support straight man.”
“Ah, every friend group needs one of those.”
“Is that you in your group?”
“We should really get one of those,” Minho corrected himself. Jisung tried not to let too much joy and relief show on his face.
Now that they were maybe, sort of edging closer to the flirty territory, Jisung went right back to his awkward self. He liked to think he’d gotten better at flirting, but that only applied to strangers that were only attractive enough to sleep with once and never again. Not to the love of his life. The love of his life made him a nervous wreck.
“So... you like Christmas, huh?”
Changbin tried really, really hard not to laugh. But Jisung still heard it.
“I hate it, actually,” Minho deadpanned.
“Oh boy, here we go again,” Hyunjin got comfortable in his boyfriend’s (absolutely huge) arms like he was waiting for a movie to start.
“He loves it, actually,” Felix corrected him. “It’s his favorite holiday, he literally starts listening to Mariah Carey in July. In high school, he even knitted the three of us matching Christmas sweaters!”
“That was from my mom.”
“Uh-huh, sure buddy,” Felix shrugged him off, only to lean closer to Chan and whisper: “As if Mrs. Lee could even look at that awful knit.”
Chan’s ears were so red they were glowing even in the darkness of the club, and he quickly excused himself to go to the bathroom.
“So, why do you say you hate Christmas?”
Hyunjin giggled again.
“His boyfriend dumped him last Christmas,” Felix shouted quickly before Minho could stop him. Minho looked like he was going to snap his neck in half, and it would be hot if it wasn’t so terrifying.
“I dumped him.”
“Is it even dumping if he came to your family dinner as your cousin’s boyfriend after telling you he couldn’t make it, and then just knew never to call you again?”
“Wow. That must’ve been one hell of a dinner.”
“Yeah, and they’re waiting for a baby now,” Minho rolled his eyes. “How am I supposed to look that baby in the eye? Hi, it’s uncle Minho, the one that fucked your dad? Oh my god, I fucked a dad.”
“I don’t think the baby gives a shit,” Hyunjin said with his hand down Felix’s tube of chips. “Also, I hear dilfs are all the rage these days.”
“Come on, hyung, you were dating for a month!” Felix whined.
“Let him be, you know he just holds grudges for fun. Like that time he wouldn’t talk to you for a week because you said his outfit sucked, remember?”
“Yeah, he has some twisted hobbies,” Felix shrugged. “Well, have fun with this one!”
Before Jisung could register what was happening, Changbin was getting out of his barstool and asking Hyunjin if he saved their coat numbers, and Felix was shaking his tube to get the last Pringles out. The night was still young, but it looked like the three of them were planning to leave. No, Jisung wasn’t ready for Minho to leave. He didn’t even have his number yet!
“Wait, where are you –”
“Hyunjin and Changbin-hyung have a romantic night ahead of them, obviously. And I plan on binging Hallmark movies, if you don’t mind.”
“We planned on doing that together!” Minho protested.
“Sorry, did I hear ‘Hallmark movies’? Are we watching Hallmark movies now?” Chan asked as he returned from the bathroom.
“Mate, you’ve got to join me!” Felix’s eyes lit up like fairy lights. “Come on, we’ll get more chips. Bye-bye everyone!”
Jisung was expecting Minho to run and catch up with his friends, but he just stayed in place and sighed. “Aren’t you going to go with them?”
“It’s still just, what, half past two?” Minho looked at his phone. “I’m not a senior citizen. And since Felix ditched me, I guess I have to find some other way to make Christmas suck less.”
“I can help you with that.”
Jisung swallowed down his nerves, and Minho quirked an eyebrow. “You can make Christmas suck less?”
“I can make it suck so, so little,” Jisung said confidently. “Like, so little.”
“Okay, then,” Minho accepted. “Show me how.”
“Do you mind if we get out of this club, though?” Jisung’s insecurity seeped through him again. “It’s kind of loud and I don’t really like being in crowded spaces without Chan.”
Minho had no objections, he said something about music being boring this year anyway, and soon he was grabbing Jisung’s sleeve to lead them to the coatroom. Not his hand yet, just the fabric of his disgusting Christmas sweater. But Jisung was stupid enough to get flustered by it.
They stumbled out of the club into the freezing Seoul night, and Jisung’s tummy was swarmed with butterflies. He hated winter, hated the cold, hated how his clothes got wet in the snow, but with Minho by his side, he finally saw the romance in it.
“I have a feeling my emotional support straight man won’t be so straight after tonight,” Jisung giggled.
He felt surprisingly calm even though he was alone with Minho – there were no traces of that initial awkwardness that Jisung hated about first meetings, no anxious fog standing between his mouth and The Right Thing to say. Instead, he had a million things he wanted to tell and ask Minho, even if some of them were weird or dumb. He didn’t mind. He knew Minho wouldn’t find him dumb.
“You think he has the hots for Felix?”
“Oh, for sure, I’ve been waiting my whole life for the right man to pull it out of him,” Jisung already started babbling. “He has this weird obsession with Ryan Reynolds, which is insane because Blake Lively is like ten times hotter, so why are you, as a straight guy, checking out the husband and not the wife?”
“Okay, true, I’m one-hundred percent gay and even I have to admit Blake Lively is kind of hotter,” Minho laughed. “So, what’s on the program for tonight, Captain? I hope you’re not planning to just make me walk in this cold for two hours.”
“No, I know just the right thing,” Jisung grinned.
He was never a huge fan of Christmas himself. He became endeared to it after starting his tradition with Chan, but he wasn’t one of those people who got into the spirit the day after Halloween and then felt empty in January when they have to put the decorations down. But for some reason, he wanted to make Minho feel magical, he wanted to make him forget all about that asshole and knit sweaters for his friends again.
They roamed the gratuitously decorated streets of Seoul, Minho’s eyes catching onto every ornament and Christmas tree like a cat fascinated by a laser pointer. It was a holiday, so the crowds were bustling despite it being three in the morning, mostly with party-goers like themselves, drunk college kids trying to find their way home or to the next bar. The alcohol in Jisung’s system was long gone though, probably thanks to the inhumane cold, and the only thing keeping him warm now was Minho’s proximity.
Minho didn’t even link their arms together, but they just walked so closely their shoulders kept bumping together. He was trying to warm up on his own instead, rubbing his knitted gloves together to create friction and shivering a little from time to time. Jisung wanted so desperately to bridge that one centimeter of distance and share his body warmth with Minho, but maybe it was too soon.
“Are we there yet? My nose is going to freeze off,” Minho asked.
“Yeah, just a minute longer –” Jisung assured him, but froze in his tracks only a second later when he realized how dumb he was. “Wait. Coffee shops don’t work at three a.m.”
“Oh my god, you were going to take me to a coffee shop?” Minho just laughed instead of getting angry.
“What, it’s a classic!” Jisung didn’t appreciate the mocking of his date-planning skills. “They have the best hot chocolate and cheesecake, it was for sure going to save your Christmas.”
“It’s fine, let’s just find somewhere else to warm up,” Minho kept walking, but Jisung still couldn’t make peace with the fact that he had to wait until tomorrow morning to eat his favorite cheesecake. It still wasn’t going to stop him from taking Minho on the best date of his life, though.
“Oh, let’s stop here!” he brightened up when another idea came to mind.
“A convenience store?” Minho tilted his head, but he followed with no complaints.
Sitting outside of a convenience store couldn’t really count as warming up, but there was a cover over their head protecting them from the snow and an old heater under the table, so that had to count for something. Jisung made Minho wait for his “surprise” while he went in to get all the ingredients.
“Ta-da,” he said when he came out with two bags full of food.
“Mm, spicy ramen after a night out,” Minho hummed happily when Jisung gave him his box. “And… milk? I can handle my spice, Jisungie.”
“No, it’s to make hot cocoa,” Jisung explained, showing off two packets of Nesquick. “We’ll probably get indigestion from mixing it with ramen, but you can’t have Christmas without cocoa. Chan eats chocolate with ramen all the time, so I guess we won’t die.”
“Are all your friends as weird as you?” Minho watched him mix Nesquick for both of them.
“The one whole friend I have, yes.”
Jisung proudly gave Minho his plastic cup of Nesquick before he started eating his own ramen. He told him about the tradition he had with Chan, and all the weird, embarrassing stories that came with it, but Minho was still just as attentive as he was at the club, looking at Jisung like he was a movie he couldn’t tear his eyes away from.
Then, he told him about his friends and their most embarrassing moments in turn. How Felix accidentally went viral for shaking his ass on Tiktok once, and how they teased Hyunjin about dating a Soundcloud rapper. Deep down, they all loved Changbin and his music to pieces, and even joked that Felix should shake his ass to it to give him clout. Minho said he’d get along with them great if they didn’t ditch so early.
Jisung got to learn so much about Minho before they finished their Nesquick and ramen, and every new piece of information just made him a little more enamored. Like when Minho got out his phone to show him pictures of his cat in funny hats. Or when he said his landlord only lets him keep one cat, but he wanted three, and Jisung had to stop himself from daydreaming about one day raising cats with Minho.
“Yeah, I don’t think this combination was good for my stomach,” Minho rubbed his belly after finishing his ramen.
“So you’re not going to eat all these snacks I got?”
“I didn’t say that,” Minho reached into the bag and grabbed a box of choco pies in a limited-edition Christmas packaging. They stayed in front of the convenience store for a little longer, until they went through Jisung’s sweets stash and felt too full to walk.
“I guess this was a nice way to spend the night.”
“Oh, no, it’s not over yet,” Jisung couldn’t let him go home. “It’s not even four yet, didn’t you say you’re not a senior citizen?”
“Is that a challenge?” Minho squinted. Jisung could see he was getting sleepy from all the warm food they had just eaten, but instant ramen in front of a convenience store didn’t come close to the romantic night Jisung wanted to spend with him.
“No, the real challenge is to come with me to that field over there and beat me in a snowball fight.”
There was a large field covered in snow just across the street from the convenience store. During warmer seasons, it was probably a small park for kids to play, but this deep in the night, it was empty without even a passerby.
“Deal.”
Without a heads-up, Jisung ran to the field and told Minho to race him, not expecting him to actually do it, but Minho was competitive and never backed down from a challenge, no matter how ridiculous it was.
He did manage to get to the field first, but only because Minho was slowed down by his big padded jacket (that was actually weather-appropriate) and Jisung was freezing his butt off in an autumn coat. The thick layer of snow was perfectly untouched, without a single footprint other than their own, and Jisung wasted no time rolling his first snowball.
As gloves were also deemed too uncool for a gay club, Jisung’s bare hands screamed at the feeling of snow, but he couldn’t let Minho beat him. This was a test, a courting ritual. How could Minho find him worthy of being his boyfriend if he can’t even beat potential opponents in a snowball fight? So Jisung clenched his teeth and promised Minho he wouldn’t go easy on him.
But before he could land the first hit, a snowball cracked against his head like a walnut and suddenly his whole hair was painted with flecks of snow. When he looked up, Minho was grinning from ear to ear, a second snowball already in hand and waiting to attack.
“Not fair, you had gloves the entire time!”
Minho did have a pair of bright red, hand-woven mittens on his hands, and Jisung wondered why he hadn’t worn them earlier. He noticed Minho’s hands were dry and trembling, but he still chose to huddle with Jisung for warmth instead of putting on more layers. Or did he feel bad that Jisung was dressed so lightly and wanted to freeze together? While he was lost in his sappy thoughts, another snowball flew right at him, just barely missing his cheek this time.
“Hey!” he yelled out as Minho started running across the field, laughing like a maniac the entire time.
The snowball he was making had already melted in his numb hands, and he had to reach for another handful of snow. He did manage to throw a few, but each one missed Minho by a long shot. Minho, on the other hand, was secretly some kind of professional snowballer, because almost every shot he aimed at Jisung went right in the target, and a few times, the target was his face.
Jisung ate snow and rubbed it away from his eyelashes every few seconds, and Minho just kept running around him and shooting more balls, not giving him a moment to counter-attack. Yeah, he definitely couldn’t protect Minho if someone challenged them to a snowball fight. Hopefully that wasn’t a deal-breaker.
“Okay, okay, I give up, you win!” Jisung put his hands up in surrender.
Minho stopped and let the snowball he was holding fall to the ground before walking closer to Jisung with a cocky smirk on his face. “So I won?”
“Yes, yes, you won, can we do something less violent now?” Jisung still couldn’t catch his breath. “Like, I don’t know, make snow angels or something?”
“Sure,” Minho plopped down into the snow. Jisung realized too late that his coat and jeans would get wet if he did the same, but Minho looked up at him like a kitten waiting to play, so to hell with it, he’d strip down naked and cover himself with snow if Minho asked him like that.
His back cracked a little as it hit the ground, just far enough from Minho so that they could both spread their legs and arms out. Minho looked a little ridiculous sweeping his limbs around, but he looked happy, and Jisung could barely focus on his own movements.
“I think I liked violence better,” Minho decided after he was satisfied with his snow angel.
“I think I have snow in my ass.”
Just like almost every word that came out of Jisung’s mouth, Minho found it hilarious, so they stayed lying in the snow for a little longer, just laughing until they forgot what was funny in the first place. Jisung wasn’t even that giggly when he was blackout drunk, but Minho’s laughter was infectious.
They settled down after a while, choosing to just look up at the stars and the snowflakes falling right onto their faces. Jisung didn’t even mind his soggy clothes anymore. He was just happy.
“This is kind of like a Hallmark movie, if you think about it,” he mused. “I am but a simple country boy, and you’re a boss lady that comes to demolish my little village.”
“And then you melt my hard, cold heart by showing me the magic of Christmas?” Minho’s grin matched Jisung’s own.
“Exactly.”
“Well, this certainly beats my boyfriend dating my cousin, but I don’t know about magic,” Minho hummed. “It lacks a little… je ne sais quoi.”
“Oh, come on!” Jisung whined. “I bought you hot chocolate, I let you hit me in the face with a snowball multiple times, what more does a man have to do to save his crops from capitalism?”
Minho kept snorting at how persistent Jisung was with his Hallmark analogy, but it slowly softened into something shy, something much more endeared. He got up, brushed some leftover snow away from his hair, and held a hopeful hand out to Jisung. He’d taken his mittens off again.
“Hold my hand and walk me home? Then I’ll see if your crops deserve mercy.”
Jisung hoped Minho wouldn’t feel how much he was trembling, and squeezed his hand firmly to imitate some kind of confidence. He relied on Minho to lead the way because he couldn’t look away from their intertwined hands, how Minho fit perfectly into his side, how his small hand looked kind of like a cat paw when it got lost in Jisung’s.
Minho definitely noticed his strange fixation, but he didn’t say anything, just slightly swung their arms back and forth and rubbed circles into the back of Jisung’s hand with his thumb. Perhaps he was a little excited to hold hands too.
Jisung enjoyed how quiet the city was, especially with Minho close enough to share body heat – even though they were just walking, it felt relaxing and intimate, and Jisung didn’t want to ruin it by blabbering. They spoke more quietly, like lovers having tea together early in the morning rather than strangers, but Minho’s intense eyes kept adding to the flames of novelty and excitement in Jisung’s stomach.
He secretly hoped Minho lived on the other side of town. Somewhere far, far away, that would give them at least another hour to talk.
But his luck had run out, and he was so immersed in one of his childhood stories that he didn’t even realize it when Minho’s steps slowed down and came to a halt.
They arrived in front of an old residential building, but Minho looked hesitant to go inside. Jisung saw his lower lip get caught under his bunny-like front teeth a few times, before he finally turned to face him. His eyes lit up like he had something important left to say.
“Well, I had a great night.”
“Mm, me too.”
“So...” Minho said when they reached his doorstep. “I have a very awkward family lunch to attend this afternoon, but, if you’re free tonight, maybe we could... grab some actual hot cocoa? Not that Nesquick stuff.”
“So I managed to save Christmas?”
“Just a little bit,” Minho smiled sheepishly as he brought his fingers together to show how exactly how little it was.
“I’d love to grab hot cocoa tonight,” Jisung said. “But only if you let me buy us matching Christmas sweaters to wear. Can’t really knit, sorry.”
“Do I have a choice?” Minho rolled his eyes, but a smile didn’t leave his face.
Minho looked at him like he was expecting something, but all Jisung did was stare at his face and look dumb while doing it. This is where the male lead went for the kiss – except they were both male leads, and Jisung wasn’t sure who was supposed to lean in first, because he’d barely ever kissed people sober, and Minho was so pretty –
No. He had to do it. He had to give Minho a reason to come to their date tonight, something to look forward to. Ignoring the erratic beat of his heart, Jisung came closer and planted a kiss right on Minho’s puffy cheek.
“Really? That’s how my Hallmark movie ends? With a kiss on the cheek?”
Minho was still giggling, not a trace of disappointment there, but he took Jisung’s face in both his hands and moved his lips to right where they belonged.
It was the sweetest kiss Jisung ever got, tasted like hot cocoa and happiness, and the way Minho’s lips slid against his own filled his chest with sparks. Minho tried to keep it short, but Jisung chased his lips and put one hand on his neck and the other on his waist to keep him in place. He felt Minho smile into the kiss and tuck his small hands into Jisung’s coat to keep warm until they both ran out of breath.
“See you tonight, Jisung.”
Jisung was sure he looked like a kicked puppy when Minho squeezed his sides one last time and took a step toward his door, but he remembered this wasn’t the end, and if he played his cards right, he’d get to kiss this man many, many times more.
“See you, hyung,” Jisung waved. “I won’t forget the matching sweaters!”
And that, Jisung thinks, was without a doubt the best Christmas of his life. And it was only six a.m.
Exactly seven years after the tradition was established, Jisung and Chan broke it for the first time.
After a lot of careful consideration, Jisung and Minho decided it would be worth sacrificing one party at The Rainbow for a Christmas wedding. Chan was okay with it too, since he had no exes to mourn and drown in alcohol anymore. Instead, he had the cutest freckled date to bring to the wedding, though he had to break his heart and tell him eating spicy Pringles while his best friend walked down the aisle was definitely not socially acceptable.
That Christmas Eve, Jisung could barely sleep because he kept thinking about how he was about to spend the rest of his Christmases with the man that shined so brightly on stage that night. With the man that bought him hot cocoa the next day and proudly wore a silly matching sweater with him. The man that made every day of his life since then feel like Christmas.
He made sure to include that in his vows, hoping it would make his groom cry, but instead he got punched at the aisle in front of all his friends and family for being too cheesy. He still said yes, though.
And on their wedding night, Minho finally admitted Jisung did save Christmas. And that their life was his favorite Hallmark movie. And a million other embarrassing little secrets he couldn’t say in front of their friends, but he always trusted Jisung to keep. Until perhaps a couple Christmases later, when he would brag to their now-three cats about how he met their father, and Minho would have to remind him they’re not his actual children, but Jisung would just pout as he adjusts the little Santa hat on Dori’s head. And Minho would fall in love with Christmas, and Jisung who saved it, a thousand times again.