Jihoon wasn’t really paying attention to anything; perhaps that was the problem.  Jihoon was a particularly private person, but his childhood friend tended to over-share.

To be honest, it baffled people who didn’t know them.  How exactly could Seungcheol be Jihoon’s best of best friends?  They weren’t quite polar opposites, but the vast differences between them seemed to be all the more reason for them not to be friends.  Seungcheol was hyper and always smiling, whereas Jihoon was calm, collected, and had quite the poker face.

Jihoon could see Seungcheol pouting in his peripheral view.  He dragged Jihoon all the way across town to hang out with people that he didn’t know.  What did Seungcheol expect?  This crowd was hip-hop, and Jihoon could live off of power-ballads for the rest of his life.

Jihoon was more inclined to read news articles on his phone rather than try to engage in conversation with one Chwe Hansol, who liked quoting himself. He also used to word “front” much more often than Jihoon thought could be brought up in a conversation between acquaintances.  He only talked about some kid named Seungkwan anyway.   (Why was he under the impression that Jihoon cared?)

He had tried to talk to Lee Seokmin, but his only conversation topic was the weather.  It was two sentence exchange followed by intense staring at someone across the room.

Wen Junhui was fun to talk to for all of ten seconds before he walked off to follow a boy with some ridiculous hair around like a puppy.  That was perhaps the most disheartening of Jihoon’s encounters.  He hadn’t thought that he was such a bad conversationalist.

He said one wrong word to a young man named Chan, which subsequently launched a song-by-song break down of Michael Jackson’s greatest hits followed by what Chan considered Jackson’s ten most memorable dance moves (plus demonstrations) in no particular order.  (Chan confided in him that he simply couldn’t choose the number one move; there were far too many classics).  He was eventually pulled aside by the guy at whom Seokmin had been staring; at which point, they started moonwalking with each other.

After Chan, Jihoon had given up trying to talk to these people.  He was an outsider since everyone else seemed to have an already established rapport with each other.  Jihoon stuck out like a sore thumb, and it wasn’t even his height (or lack thereof) that alienated him.

Jihoon looked up from his phone to find his best friend with an exaggerated pout.

“Don’t do that.” Jihoon said under his breath, “You’re not cute.”

“You’re on your phone!” Seungcheol remarked, as if Jihoon hadn’t been aware of his own actions.  It was basically an accusation, but Jihoon had no intention of contesting it.   “You’re not having any fun!”

“Whose fault is that?”  Jihoon whined.

Seungcheol scoffed, taking Jihoon by the wrist and dragging him to the kitchen.  Jihoon suspected that Seungcheol was going to scold him, out of the view of his friends.

A gingerbread house was on the counter in the kitchen, and in Seungcheol’s attempt to coolly lean against the kitchen counter, he elbowed the house, getting frosting on his sleeve.  While it didn't do any damage to the baked house, it sidetracked Seungcheol for a moment as he his thumb and rubbed the fabric of his shirt with his saliva.  Jihoon leaned against the doorframe, watching his best friend struggle.

It was moments like this Jihoon admitted to himself that Seungcheol made his heart flutter.  He was a giant klutz, but if he didn’t do the cutest things. Jihoon was keenly aware that he could never ever breathe a word of his thoughts to anyone because Seungcheol was important to him.  Jihoon couldn’t help it; Seungcheol was almost too lovable.  Why else would he be at a party across town where he knew no one if not for Seungcheol?

Seungcheol eventually got back to his initial intention of kindly scolding Jihoon.  Seungcheol abandoned the idea of leaning against things to act cool and took Jihoon by the shoulders.  “You need to try harder!  Small talk can lead to big talk if you take in interest in what the other person is saying. ‘Oh you like Seungkwan?  How did that happen?’ ‘My favorite Michael Jackson song is Thriller, but I’ve never managed to get the choreography down.’ ‘I like it when it’s sunny.’ It’s not that hard.”

“Did you eavesdrop on all of my conversations?”  Jihoon questioned; Seungcheol had some pretty intimate (could it be considered intimate?) details of his conversation for someone who was supposed to mingling.

“That’s not the point,” Seungcheol completely swerved around the question, but the slight pink in his cheeks told a completely different story.  His friend wasn’t quite ready to take off the training wheels on Jihoon’s social skills.  Seungcheol never quite felt ready enough to let Jihoon sink on his own.  He had too big of a heart for that.

“Why wouldn’t you just save—“ Jihoon got cut off as Seokmin’s crush/Michael Jackson aficionado passed by the kitchen.

“Uh!” He exclaimed, pointing to the top of the entryway, “It is mistletoe. You have to kiss!”  He practically sang the latter part of his declaration.

Jihoon didn’t even get to look at the supposed mistletoe before Seungcheol planted his lips on Jihoon’s.  It was abrupt, and Jihoon froze from head to toe despite the heat coursing through his body.

Seungcheol pulled away quickly, almost too quickly for Jihoon’s liking.  Jihoon remained against the doorframe, raising his hand to his lips.  He thought that Seungcheol would maybe brush his lips against his cheek or something.

Jihoon found himself unable to look at Seungcheol without blushing, so he lifted his gaze to the mistletoe that forced him to deal with his feelings.  Jihoon squinted in confusion, “That’s holly.”  He said, letting his hand fall away from his face.

“Is it?” Seungcheol asked, looking up at the holly above them.  There was a slightly playful and knowing curl to his voice that Jihoon noticed.  Whether or not it was intentional, Jihoon had no way of knowing, so he explained anyway.

“Mistletoe has white berries, and holly has red berries.  That is a freaking bough of holly.”

Seungcheol swallowed audibly, clearing his throat of awkwardness that remained regardless, “Whoops.”  His tone wasn't very apologetic, and Jihoon got the feeling that Seungcheol had somehow planned this.  There was only one way to test his theory.

“You know what that means right?”

Seungcheol shook his head, posing the question, “You’re going to hit me?”

Jihoon scoffed, brushing his thumb against his nose, “I’m going to want that kiss back.”

“What?”

Jihoon took a fistful of Seungcheol’s shirt (and a gamble), pulling him down to Jihoon’s height as he stood on his tiptoes.  Jihoon gave Seungcheol a look of determination before softly pressing their lips together.

Jihoon couldn’t help but smile as Seungcheol pulled him flush against his body, responding to the kiss happily.

What a cheesy way to confess.

Seungcheol was perfect.   (He still is.)

a/n: i'm leaving.
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