“Hey, Hyuk, where are you?” Donghae whined through the phone.

Eunhyuk huffed and skimmed his eyes quickly over the merchandise, trying to find what he was looking for. “I’m at the mall, why’d you call me?”

“You said you were gonna bake cookies with me this morning!” Donghae protested, sounding exactly like a child.

Eunhyuk sighed loudly. “Something came up, but--”

“It’s always Hyoyeon over me, isn’t it?”

“Donghae, what are you talking about? You’re my best friend, okay?” Eunhyuk walked down the aisles and tried to keep his voice down; the female cashier was giving him strange looks, ones he didn’t like at all.

“So you are with Hyoyeon!” Donghae exclaimed triumphantly.

“What--”

“I was just seeing if you were with her. Heh, I was right.” Eunhyuk could practically hear Donghae smirking.

“You’re ridiculous,” Eunhyuk scoffed, “What’s the big deal?”

“Nothing--but seriously, you said you’d bake cookies with me!”

“I need to buy something first,” Eunhyuk replied, finally spotting the object he desired.

“What? What? What?” Donghae asked, getting interested. “Is it for me?”

“Why does everything always have to be for you?” Eunhyuk laughed, picking up the object and heading to the register.

“So it’s not for me? I see how it is.”

“Are you pouting?”

“No.”

Eunhyuk laughed again and placed the item on the counter. The lady scanned the object and rattled off a price. He pulled out a few bills from his pocket. The cashier carefully placed the object into a black and gold bag and handed it to Eunhyuk. He smiled gratefully and headed out of the store, not wanting to linger a moment longer.

“Hey, Hyukjae, respond to me!” Donghae shouted.

“I’ve gotta go, I’ll see you later.”

“But--”

Eunhyuk removed the phone from his ear and pressed a button, ending the call. He let out a huge sigh and walked purposefully back to the store he left Hyoyeon in. It wasn’t too far away, but he wondered if she’d be suspicious. He took an awfully long time to “do his business in the restroom”, now that he thought about it.

“Hey, where were you?” Hyoyeon demanded once she saw Eunhyuk’s face.

“I--”

“What’s that?” Hyoyeon pointed to the bag and tried to peer inside it.

“It’s something for my mom!” Eunhyuk lied hastily, keeping it out of her reach.

“You know I’m short,” Hyoyeon complained, trying to stretch for it.

“I know,” Eunhyuk grinned smugly.

“Jerk.”

“Okay, okay, did you find something for Min Gu?” Eunhyuk asked, changing the subject.

“Oh, no...” Hyoyeon’s face fell, and then she glared, “You were supposed to help me!”

Eunhyuk made his way to the back of the store and Hyoyeon followed, uncertain of what he was doing. He knelt down by an arrangement of headphones and looked to his left, at Hyoyeon.

“Is he still practicing dance? Get him some new headphones.” Eunhyuk suggested.

“Hey, I want this!” Hyoyeon complained, picking up cool-looking green ones.

“This is for your brother, not you,” Eunhyuk snatched it out of her hands, grinning.

Hyoyeon smacked his shoulder and smiled. “You should buy some for me, Hyukjae.”

Eunhyuk scoffed. “This is expensive.”

“You’re so cheap, as always.”

“Shush and go buy this for him! We’re on a schedule!” Eunhyuk put the headphones in Hyoyeon’s hands and pushed her to the register.

“Pushy,” Hyoyeon muttered.

Once she finished paying for the present, Eunhyuk took her by the arm. “Okay, let’s go!”

“Where?” Hyoyeon asked, trying to keep up with his pace.

“You’ll see, you’ll see.” Eunhyuk dismissed.

“Ah, wait, I got a text.” Hyoyeon let herself be pulled by Eunhyuk as she checked the new message.

NEW TEXT MESSAGE

From: Junho-oppa

Hey, Hyoyeon, I was just wondering, are you were busy tonight...? :)

“Who is it?” Eunhyuk called over his shoulder.

“Junho,” Hyoyeon smiled.

“Why are you all smiley?” Eunhyuk frowned.

“I just haven’t talked to him in a long time. He asked me if I was busy toni--”

“Well, you are,” he interrupted, “Tell him you have plans.”

“But I don’t have plans,” Hyoyeon protested, folding her arms begrudgingly.

“With me, you do,” Eunhyuk retaliated, clenching his jaw.

Hyoyeon felt his grip on her arm tighten, almost protectively, and she sighed, smiling. “Fine, I’ll tell him then.”

“Alright, we’re here!” Eunhyuk announced joyfully.

Hyoyeon stuffed her phone back in her pocket and looked up. Her facial expressions turned sour and she tried turning around. “Let’s go back, Hyukjae.”

“No, we’re visiting Santa.”

“I hate Santa!” Hyoyeon cried, trying to pull out of his strong hold.

Eunhyuk grabbed her waist and began dragging her towards the long line of children and parents waiting to see “Father Christmas”. Hyoyeon shouted and struggled and wriggled, but Eunhyuk overpowered her. Passersby stared curiously at the strange pair; the resolved boy who was forcing the unhappy girl to see an oversized man in an oversized chair. It was quite an interesting sight to see.

Following a few minutes of kicking, smacking, glaring, and yelling, Eunhyuk was standing in line with a more-than-grumpy Hyoyeon by his side.

“I hate you,” Hyoyeon glowered at a Christmas tree next to her.

“It’s not healthy to talk to Christmas trees,” Eunhyuk grinned, gums showing.

“I hate you!” Hyoyeon punched his chest, and went back to folding her arms childishly.

“I think I’ve gotten used to your violence,” Eunhyuk smiled cheerfully, not minding how furious Hyoyeon was.

“Wait,” something dawned on the blonde, “Do I...”

“What?” Eunhyuk asked.

“Do I have to sit on that man’s lap?” Hyoyeon questioned, horrified.

“That’s the point of seeing Santa, isn’t it?”

Eunhyuk winced slightly, after being on the receiving end of another one of Hyoyeon’s punches. “Ow...”

“You deserve that, Lee Hyukjae.”

“Hold that thought,” Eunhyuk said, still smiling optimistically as he pulled his phone out, “Hello?”

“Where are you?!”

“Oh, hi, hyung...” Eunhyuk greeted sheepishly.

“Don’t hyung me--where are you?” the stern voice of Leeteuk demanded.

“I’m with Hyoyeon!” Eunhyuk answered innocently.

“I told you!” the voice of Donghae came from the background.

“So Donghae was right then! Are you two dating? Hyukjae, if you are, you will be in a load of trouble when you get home. Didn’t I tell you to never date anyone? Though Hyoyeon’s a really nice girl, you have to wait a while before dating her, if you really love her, because sooner or later, the company will find out. They’ll do to you what they did to me and Taeyeon. So unless it’s urgent, get your home right now, or else--”

“We’re not dating!” Eunhyuk shouted, more loudly than he meant to.

He attracted Hyoyeon’s attention, who was giving him a weird look.

“Explain why you’re out with her then, just the two of you!”

“Well, honestly, hyung--I don’t think I’d take a girl out on a date to see Santa, at the mall.” Eunhyuk responded dryly.

“Hey, I’d do that!”

“Donghae, shush,” Leeteuk silenced.

“I’ll be home in a few hours, don’t worry.” Eunhyuk reassured, as he inched closer to the front of the line.

“Let me talk to Hyoyeon,” Leeteuk insisted.

Holding back an annoyed sigh, Eunhyuk nudged Hyoyeon and handed his phone to her.

“Who am I talking to?” Hyoyeon spoke into the phone.

“Leeteuk,” the leader said, sounding a thousand times nicer than he did with Eunhyuk.

“Oh, hi, oppa,” Hyoyeon shrugged, “What do you need to talk to me for?”

“What? No!” she denied a few moments later.

Eunhyuk put his ear to the phone, in an attempt to hear what his hyung was saying to her. Hyoyeon noticed the closeness and swatted him away.

“Yeah, Taeyeon’s at home. Why?”

Eunhyuk snickered; Leeteuk would ask about the other leader.

“Okay then. Bye.” Hyoyeon pressed a button and tossed the phone back to Eunhyuk, who fortunately, caught it.

“Don’t go throwing my phone around!” Eunhyuk reprimanded and took revenge by poking Hyoyeon in the stomach, where she was most ticklish.

Hyoyeon let out a shriek and immediately went back to her glaring state. “Hey!”

“You broke my last phone, now that I think about it...” Eunhyuk tickled her tummy again.

Hyoyeon smacked his arm repeatedly. “That was on accident!”

“Accident,” Eunhyuk muttered, rolling his eyes, “You threw it out the window!”

“I was mad at you,” Hyoyeon argued, looking away.

“So you take it out on my phone?” Eunhyuk joked.

“Well, obviously, because I don’t really wanna hurt you,” Hyoyeon mumbled, barely audible.

Eunhyuk laughed, and tugged on Hyoyeon’s arm. “Hey, Hyo.”

“What?”

“We’re at the front of the line.”

Hyoyeon stared straight ahead of her and saw a lady with a permanent smile glued to her face, and farther ahead, lots and lots of red.

“No, don’t make me do this!” Hyoyeon tried to break into a run, but Eunhyuk was holding on to the hood on her sweatshirt.

“Come on, just go and tell Santa what you want for Christmas!”

“I hate you more than Christmas itself,” Hyoyeon said with a glower.

“Miss?” the woman asked, still smiling.

“She’s just a little shy,” Eunhyuk chuckled, easily picking Hyoyeon up and walking up to the big chair.

“I’m telling Leeteuk you did bad things to me!” Hyoyeon threatened.

“I don’t care, just sit on the man’s lap and be happy!” Eunhyuk went up the few steps and placed her on the ahjussi’s lap.

Santa bellowed merrily. “Hello there; Merry Christmas!”

“I’m murdering you when this is done, you hear me?” Hyoyeon mouthed.

Eunhyuk gave her a thumbs-up and retrieved his phone, making sure to record every precious moment--this would definitely be something to show her members.

“What’s your name, little one?” Santa Claus asked, ignoring the fact that Hyoyeon was definitely not a little girl.

“Hyoyeon,” she answered monotonously.

“From So Nyuh Shi Dae?” Santa inquired, his voice rising an octave.

Hyoyeon blinked. “Uh...”

“What would you like for Christmas? I’ll get you anything, Hyoyeon-sshi!”

Eunhyuk stopped recording and picked Hyoyeon up again, ignoring the protests of the old ahjussi, who insisted that Hyoyeon hadn’t told him yet what she wanted for Christmas.

“I told you it was a bad idea,” Hyoyeon smirked.

“How was I supposed to know he was a fan?” Eunhyuk put her down gently and huffed, upset that his plan had backfired.

“Okay, so I can go home now, right?” Hyoyeon grinned excitedly, for the first time that day.

“Nope,” Eunhyuk laughed evilly.

“Leave the evil cackling to Kyuhyun, please.” Hyoyeon rolled her eyes.

*~~~~~~~*

“Where are we going now?” Hyoyeon asked for the sixth time.

“I can’t believe you don’t know yet,” Eunhyuk looked upset.

“Why should I know?”

A familiar building loomed over them and Hyoyeon gasped. “Oh, your dorm!”

“Donghae, get back inside!” a voice scolded.

“But Hyukjae won’t pick up his phone! I think I’ll get better service out here.”

“Get back inside soon, then.”

Eunhyuk approached Donghae, whose back was turned, and tapped him on the shoulder. “Yah, Donghae, I’m right here.”

Donghae attacked Eunhyuk in a bear hug. “What took you so long?”

Hyoyeon had to smile at the sight of the two best friends hugging.

“Oh, Hyoyeon’s here too!” Donghae gave Hyoyeon an equally warm hug.

Eunhyuk yanked Donghae off of Hyoyeon. “Yeah, we’re both here. Let’s go inside.”

The three of them stood in the elevator, waiting to get up to the eleventh floor. Eunhyuk and Hyoyeon let Donghae babble on and on about nonsense, while they pretended to listen.

“I even came back to the dorm just so we could all celebrate together!” Donghae smiled.

“Huh?” Hyoyeon raised an eyebrow.

“He moved out of the dorm,” Eunhyuk told Hyoyeon.

“You did?” Hyoyeon’s eyes widened.

“Yeah,” Donghae nodded, “Yesung moved out a while ago too. Everyone came back to the dorm for today to celebrate Christmas together, though!”

“Siwon’s here?” Eunhyuk asked.

“Yeah, everyone’s on the eleventh floor,” Donghae explained, just as the elevator doors opened.

“There you are, Donghae!” Leeteuk smiled; he noticed Eunhyuk and Hyoyeon and let out a huge sigh of relief.

“Everything’s just fine, hyung, see?” Eunhyuk beamed.

“He did bad things to me,” Hyoyeon whispered to Leeteuk.

Leeteuk’s smile turned into a parental glare and Eunhyuk whimpered. “Hyukjae, we are going to talk when I get home.”

“I thought you were baking cookies with us!” Donghae pouted.

“I have to go film We Got Married, Donghae,” Leeteuk seemed to be sighing inwardly.

“Oh, have fun, then.” Donghae patted Leeteuk’s shoulder and went to the eleventh floor dorm’s door to unlock it.

“Taeyeon’s not too happy with that show,” Hyoyeon pursed her lips.

“Well, it was me or Hyukjae,” Leeteuk said, patting Hyoyeon’s head and leaving promptly.

“What does he mean by that?” Hyoyeon Eunhyuk.

Eunhyuk tried to laugh to ease the mood. “The producers wanted me on the show.”

“They--what?” Hyoyeon yelped.

“With Gyuri,” Eunhyuk answered the question in Hyoyeon’s mind.

Hyoyeon stayed silent then, until Donghae called for them to stop standing around and to get in the dorm. Eunhyuk went first and Hyoyeon followed, still at a loss for words from what she just heard. What if it was Eunhyuk on the show instead of Leeteuk, with Gyuri? Gyuri was her friend though, Hyoyeon reminded herself. Then another question popped up--why did Leeteuk volunteer to take Eunhyuk’s place anyway? What did it matter if it was Eunhyuk on the show or not?

“Coming?” Eunhyuk frowned.

“Sorry,” Hyoyeon stepped inside, smiling to cover herself up.

“Hey, Hyoyeon!” Kyuhyun grinned, greeting the girl with a hug.

“Enough of that,” Eunhyuk broke the embrace.

“It was just a hug!” Hyoyeon huffed, “Why are you being so pushy?”

“Because he--”

“Has cookies to make,” Eunhyuk cut Kyuhyun off with an intense stare.

“I need help!” Donghae shouted from the kitchen.

“See ya,” Kyuhyun waved to Hyoyeon, smirking secretly at Eunhyuk.

“Bye, Kyuhyun!” Hyoyeon waved back.

“Since when were you two so close?” Eunhyuk interrogated.

“What’s your problem?” Hyoyeon snapped.

“HYUKJAE!”

“Let’s go,” Eunhyuk sighed.

“What did you do, hyung?” Ryeowook moaned.

“I don’t know, actually,” Donghae smiled apologetically.

“Ah, Donghae, you made a mess!” Eunhyuk chided.

“Hyoyeon, help me clean up!” Donghae pulled the girl to the floor next to him.

In the midst of the confusion, Eunhyuk crept out of the kitchen and made a beeline to his room.

“What are you doing?”

Eunhyuk glanced at Kyuhyun’s playful expressions. “I just need to be in my room.”

“To do what?” Kyuhyun pressed.

“Aish, Kyu, go away,” Sungmin appeared then, with a camera around his neck, “Don’t you have an important game of Starcraft?”

“It can wait, once I found out what Hyukjae-yah is up to,” Kyuhyun chuckled mischievously.

“Don’t call me that!” Eunhyuk smacked his rude dongsaeng on the arm.

“Seohyun called you earlier,” Sungmin blurted.

“She did?” Kyuhyun exclaimed.

“Run!” Eunhyuk cried, bolting for his bedroom.

Sungmin followed close behind and slammed the door shut. They seemed to have lost Kyuhyun; both boys were panting and grinning.

“Nice lie,” Eunhyuk laughed.

“He always gets distracted when it comes to Seohyun,” Sungmin laughed as well, “Okay, let’s get started.”

“Hurry, before someone else comes--”

“Hyukjae!”

“Crap, it’s Donghae,” Eunhyuk slapped his forehead in frustration.

“Why did you ditch me and Hyoyeon?” Donghae pounded on the door relentlessly.

“I’m changing!” Eunhyuk bluffed.

“With Sungmin in there?” Donghae asked skeptically.

“We’re both guys,” Sungmin called back.

“Then let me in!”

“No!” Eunhyuk rejected.

“Wait, let’s let him know about this,” Sungmin stood up and opened the door a crack.

“Know about what?” Donghae repeated.

“Shh, before Hyoyeon finds out!” Sungmin pulled Donghae into the room and shut the door behind him.

“Hyoyeon?” Donghae said a little too loudly.

“My god, Donghae,” Eunhyuk sighed, aggravated.

“Hyukjae, you in there?”

“Shoot,” Eunhyuk cursed his luck mentally.

“You go and bake the cookies with her, I’ll handle everything here.” Sungmin promised.

“Thanks,” Eunhyuk twisted the door open just wide enough to slip himself out, and grinned cheerfully.

“What’s going in there?” Hyoyeon pointed suspiciously.

“Nothing, Sungmin’s just using my phone to talk to Sunny,” Eunhyuk lied with an air of nonchalance in his voice--thank goodness his phone was actually in his room.

“What’s wrong with his?” Hyoyeon continued to pester him.

“It died.”

“What about a charger?”

“It broke.”

“I see,” Hyoyeon narrowed her eyes.

“Hey, let’s go bake some cookies!”

*~~~~~~~*

“Aww,” Donghae grinned cheesily, seeing what was spread out before him. “Hyukkie’s such a little cheeseball.”

“You’re the cheeseball with your grin,” Sungmin snorted.

“Thanks, hyung.”

“Let’s hurry up and finish this,” Sungmin clapped his hands and got to work.

Donghae got distracted when he noticed that Eunhyuk’s phone was vibrating quite loudly. Curiously, he held it to his ear and answered the call.

“Hello?”

“Eunhyuk-oppa?”

“Who is this?” Donghae frowned.

“Wait, who’s this?”

A feminine voice.

“Tiffany?” Donghae asked warily.

“Donghae?”

Sungmin rolled his eyes at the over-enthusiastic Donghae, whose suspicions were confirmed.

“Hi, Tiffany! Long time no talk, huh? Wait, I guess you don’t wanna talk to me.”

“No, no, it’s fine!” Tiffany chirped.

“Then what do you need?” Donghae asked.

“Well--”

“Donghae, cookies are done!” the sound of Hyoyeon’s voice came from behind the closed door.

“Yay!” Donghae cheered, springing up.

“I’ll take care of everything, you go eat.” Sungmin smiled.

Donghae slipped out of the room hastily, so Hyoyeon wouldn’t be able to see inside. “Let’s go eat!”

“Donghae?”

Hyoyeon took Eunhyuk’s phone from Donghae’s hands. “Who’s this?”

“Hyoyeon?”

“Tiffany?”

“You two talk to each other, okay?” Donghae grinned and dashed into the kitchen, where glorious smells of fresh-baked cookies filled the air.

“Yah, you didn’t even bake your own cookies!” Eunhyuk threw an oven mitt at Donghae’s chest.

“I was helping you with your present for Hyoyeon!” Donghae pouted.

“Shut up!” Eunhyuk smacked Donghae. “Do you want her to hear?”

“She’s busy talking to Tiffany anyway.” Donghae eyed the cookies hungrily.

“Tiffany? On my phone?”

“Can I eat this now?” Donghae clasped his hands together desperately.

“Hey!” Hyoyeon yelled.

“Hey!” Eunhyuk grinned, mocking her.

Hyoyeon didn’t seem to be amused. “What’s this about Christmas caroling?”

“Oh yeah, we’re gonna go caroling with Tiffany. We should go, put a coat on.” Eunhyuk instructed.

“I don’t have a coat!”

“Wear one of mine,” Eunhyuk said as an alternative, as if it were the obvious thing to do.

“I don’t wanna go through your mysterious closet.” Hyoyeon wrinkled her nose.

Eunhyuk sighed and cupped his hands around his mouth. “Sungmin, get a coat for Hyoyeon, please!”

“Lazy!” Hyoyeon scolded, slapping his shoulder.

“These are amazing!” Donghae cried enthusiastically, spitting cookie crumbs everywhere.

“Thank you, I made ‘em mysel--”

“You didn’t do anything except preheat the oven.” Hyoyeon slapped his shoulder once again.

“That was like, the most important part!”

“Least important, more like.”

“Most important!”

“Least!”

“Here, Hyoyeon,” Sungmin shuffled into the noisy kitchen with a black winter coat.

“Thanks, Sungmin!” Eunhyuk and Hyoyeon chimed in unison.

“Caroling, here we go!” Eunhyuk put a fist into the air brightly.

“I didn’t have a cookie yet!” Hyoyeon reached for one.

Eunhyuk pulled her hand back and picked up the plate piled with chocolate chip cookies. “Let’s just take the plate then.”

“Wait, no!” Donghae cried, tugging on the plate.

His older friend rolled his eyes. “There’s a few more still in the oven, Donghae--I knew you’d want them all to yourself.”

“Oh, thank goodness. Have fun then!” Donghae waved, new cookie in hand.

“Here, put this on first.” Eunhyuk placed the cookies by the door and positioned Hyoyeon’s arms out, easily slipping them into the coat sleeves.

“This is so big on me,” Hyoyeon muttered.

“If you wanna freeze to death, be my guest.” Eunhyuk slid the zipper up and pulled the hood over her head, proud of his work.

“I look weird!” Hyoyeon moped.

“You look cute,” Eunhyuk complimented, picking up the cookies and opening the door.

A rush of frigid air burst into the dorm. Hyoyeon shivered despite the fact that she was supposed to feel warm.

“Cute?” she repeated with a raised eyebrow.

“Yeah, cute.”

“Weirdo.”

---

Okay, so after much arguing with myself, I decided that this is gonna be a three-shot.

It's so not Christmas anymore. I'm sorry. XD

But it's still HyoHyuk! <3