Despite the fact that Taemin stood in the mall’s bathroom a couple of hours ago, strings of curses falling under his breath as he put on his green, ridiculous costume, working at santa’s workshop at the mall as an elf turned out to be kind of the best thing he’s ever done in his life because a)the santa was a hot tall guy that was a literal representation of the term ‘-on-legs’ and he was called Minho and b)Minho hated children so much so it was extremely funny to listen to him answering the kids’ silly requests.

“Santa, I want to be taller.” said one little boy who was sitting on Minho’s lap.

“Oh and I want to get the hell out of here but I can’t so deal with it.” replied Minho with a fake, wide grin that was paired with an extremely bitter tone that had Taemin cracking up.

“That’s funny, yeah?” Minho snapped at him, pretending to be pissed off.

“No, it’s ing hilarious.” giggled Taemin, earning himself a few glares from the people in line, to whom he muttered a small “Sorry.”

It was little after four when they were allowed their first break of the day, and both boys were so grateful for those few minutes of freedom.

Taemin made his way outside, pulled out a cigarette and put it between his lips before lighting it. People passing by who paid him any attention were stealing second glances at him, because it wasn’t that typical to see an elf casually smoking on the street. Not that Taemin minded anyway.

“Didn’t know you smoked.” said Minho, suddenly appearing besides the blond boy.

“I’d actually be alarmed if you did.”

“No-you just didn’t seem like the type to smoke.”

“I’m not a Christmas elf on a daily basis, you know.” joked Taemin.

“I’d actually be alarmed if you were.” replied Minho with a smile.

“Shut up.” Taemin laughed hoarsely and the taller held his hands out in surrender, laughing along.

It was quiet after that, the smoking elf and the tall santa standing next to each other, both staring at the traffic until Minho muttered, “This job . hard.”

“It does.” replied Taemin softly. Yes it’s fun with Minho and the kids and all, but he’d rather be somewhere else. Anywhere else.

“And kids . God do they .” Minho added more bitterly.

“They do.” a tired smile tugged on Taemin’s lips.

“Why’d you take the job?”

“Well-I wanna have dinner tonight, you see, and I can’t go home ‘cause that’s like, hours away and my father sort of hates me a little bit,” answered Taemin before adding, “what about you?”

“Pretty much the same thing. I’m sure he doesn’t.”

“How do you know?” Taemin took another drag of his cigarette.

“I just-know,” Minho replied lamely, “I mean, why would he?”

“I like guys,” Taemin said and when he saw the realization on Minho’s face he quickly added, “no, no, he was cool with that until he caught me making out with a guy, that’s when he freaked out and changed his mind about me. Don’t know what he expected, frankly.” it didn’t really matter for Taemin, that he was telling a complete stranger his history, was he even going to see Minho ever again after today? Fat chance.

Minho gave an awkward, tiny laugh before they both fell silent again.

“So, what do you usually do?” the tall boy asked, breaking the ice again and choosing a safe topic this time.

“I’m want to be an actor. I’ve gotten some small parts here and there only, nothing big yet, so you gotta make a living.”  Taemin shrugged and Minho nodded, “You?”

“I paint,” answered Minho, “go to art school. I’d love to show you some of my creations sometime.”

This took Taemin by surprise but he nodded all the same, “I’d love to see them.” he said.

Once again, silence took over and they stood there for a couple more minutes before Minho tugged on Taemin’s arm, indicating that their break was over and they had to go back inside.

They worked for four more miserable hours, fortunately the number of kids standing in line was lessening, probably since everyone was returning home to their families to have a normal, warm christmas dinner and lots of gifts and good time, everyone but the lanky, tall santa and his grumpy elf.

Taemin was sulking his way through tidying up and cleaning the shop, occasionally swearing in frustration because his fingers were numb from the cold weather and he could be doing a million things better than that on christmas. He went to roll up the red carpet in front of the workshop, which turned out to be so heavy he nearly fell down in the process, and to that he responded by kicking it with his foot so hard he hurt his big toe, and now he stood there pouting and trying to ignore the lump in his throat.

“Get it together.” he muttered harshly to himself, willing the wetness in his eyes away.

“I got it.” Minho appeared behind him, pushing Taemin away gently before starting to roll up the carpet.

By the time that the boys were finally back into their normal clothes (which they thanked the gods for) and got paid, the mall was completely deserted and Taemin found that highly unsettling so he nearly ran out of the building and made his way to the bus stop in a sprint, and to his surprise, minutes later, a panting Minho approached him and stood beside him for a minute or two in utter silence.

“I thought maybe, since you probably have nothing to do-maybe, I just thought, we could like, have dinner or something-together?” the tall boy finally spoke, stumbling upon his words nervously.

“Why would you think I have nothing to do?” Taemin asked, because he was secretly enjoying how flustered the other was becoming by the minute, also because he was screaming internally.

“You said earlier-well, nevermind, sorry.” replied Minho, his voice growing quieter with each syllable.

Taemin bit back a smirk, “I’m kidding, I’m totally free tonight,” he said, “but there isn’t a single store that’s open now, ‘cause you know, we’re probably the only losers in the entire city tonight.”

“Maybe, but no, there’s a 24-hours grocery store in my neighborhood.” Minho’s big eyes looked at him hopefully.

Yes, maybe everyone in the city was having fantastic christmas feasts with their families while two boys sat at the counter in an empty 24-hours grocery store each clutching a hot cup of instant noodles, and yes maybe people were indulging in the most delicious and sweet treats as the shivering boys shared a package of Twix bars, and yes definitely kids were tearing apart the wrapping off their gifts as the tallest of the two revealed a santa-shaped lollipop from his pocket and handed it to the other grinning boy. Yes, families were probably gathered around their fireplaces, warming themselves up with mugs filled with steaming cocoa as two lonely boys stood on the street trembling from the cold. It was sad and slightly pathetic that two boys who barely knew anything about each other were spending their Christmas together because they had no one to go back home to, but come to think about it, they’d rather not be anywhere else tonight.