If Kangin never saw another tree as long as he lived, he would be fine with that. Be it a spruce, oak or birch, it was all the same. At the moment, he was just tired of looking at Christmas trees with Sungmin, Ryeowook and Henry.

How on earth did he get mixed with them, of all people.

He and those three did not match. He was a macho manly-man; they were all ridiculously cute and innocent (though the last one may be debated in Sungmin’s case).

And yet, somehow, they had dragged him along to purchase a Christmas tree.

He supposed it was only natural; what not with them not being the strongest people in the world, they would need someone to do the hard work; namely carrying the tree. Which, Kangin had to admit, he was perfectly suited for, although that did not mean he agreed to tagging along.

And yet, somehow, he was.

“What about this one?”

“Hmm… No, it’s too short.”

“Short? Hyung, our ceiling is not that high!”

“But seriously Wookie, it needs to be taller than you. Geez, anything else would be embarrassing for the rest of the members. And you have a pretty good clearing to the ceiling, don’t you?”

“Sungmin-hyung… That’s mean…”

“Actually, I think he has a point…”

“Aw, Henry, not you too!”

Yes, Kangin thought to himself, life could be a sometimes. He was sorely tempted to just abandon the trio and get back home; it was not like they would have noticed. Then again, he knew they had to get a tree eventually, since certain people refused to have a fake plastic tree, and that he would probably be dragged right out again to finish the task.

Also, he did not want the unified force of Kyuhyun, Yesung and Zhoumi on his neck. Granted, they were not the most threatening people, but combined, Kangin would rather keep his distance. Also, Leeteuk would probably have his skin or bullying the younger members. Kangin had actually hoped his boyfriend would take pity on him, seeing as he was the one who was bullied the most by the younger.

Apparently, he was blind to their faults.

“Democratic decision, then,” Kangin suggested. “Go with what two of you says, and then it’s too bad for the last one.”

“Hyung, that means you have to give your opinion as well,” Ryeowook commented, eyeing his chance of agreement. Kangin only snorted, though.

“I’m not really into politics, my vote doesn’t count,” he remarked dryly and turned away, leaving Ryeowook to face the two taller alone.

“It’s okay, Wookie,” Sungmin interjected calmly, pointing to a new tree. “What about this one? It’s only about as tall as Siwon, and full enough to boot, right?”

“Well… That’s fine, but…” Ryeowook frowned, stepping around the tree a couple of times. “It’s distorted down here. Look. The branches don’t match.”

“Oh,” Sungmin sighed in disappointment. “Too bad. Henry, have you found any good ones?”

“I think so,” the young Chinese-Canadian replied, his curious accent sticking out as he was staring intently at one of the trees which, in Kangin’s opinion, looked just as ing perfect as every other tree around. “I can’t see mistakes, so it’s good.”

“Maybe,” Sungmin admitted, approaching the tree slowly. “You’re right, it does look good. Wookie, what do you think?”

“It’s a bit tall,” he scoffed and pouted slightly, but otherwise, he could not find any faults with the tree.

“It’s not perfect,” Sungmin concluded. “But it’s far from horrible, most definitely. I think it is the best overall tree we’ve looked at all day.”

“You make it sound like there’s an advanced system of rating going on here,” Kangin mumbled, rolling his eyes. Henry glanced at him briefly, but did not comment, and Kangin blamed it on his lack of understanding of the Korean language.

“We might be a bit late,” Ryeowook said worriedly, still examining the tree intently. “I mean, I’m sure all the best trees are already taken. This one’s probably as good as any we’ll get today.”

“Is choosing a tree from a million really the most difficult task a group of idols can be assigned to?” Kangin had to turn away in order to not bark the words at his dongsaengs. God, he really did not match these people.

“So… Should we get the clerk?”

“Good idea. Excuse me!”

Kangin eventually decided that he should have ran off when he had the chance, and rather face whatever punishment the awaiting companions would surely prepare for him. So what if Leeteuk denied him or a week – he had lived without it before, he could do it again. Besides, Leeteuk was easy to get tipsy during Christmas time, and when Leeteuk was tipsy, he was obliging. As Kangin had discovered before.

Whatever.

The point was, he would rather face whatever punishment the world had decided he needed – rather than trudge through the streets of Seoul with a spruce on his back, poking annoyingly at his face while his dongsaengs ran around him, here and there with their little squirrel-like sounds and ever smiling faces, pissing him off even further.

Kangin was not fond of trees.

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Again, filler chapter is sort of filler. I just love the image of Kangin being insanely grumpy while the other three bounce around him as if nothing's wrong. The world is made of lulz. xP

And woot woot, double post, HALLELUJAH!