“I need your help.” 

“Not happening.” Kyungsoo doesn’t even look up from the textbook he’s pretending to read to where Jongin had just burst into his study nook with no warning. 

“You don’t even know what I want.” Jongin points out. He’s slightly out of breath, having searched through nearly the whole library before finally finding Kyungsoo nestled in a back corner. Jongin doesn’t know why he bothers if he’s clearly not doing his work. 

“I know it’s going to be stupid. So no, I won’t help you.”

Ignoring the other’s words, Jongin plops himself down at the table anyway. Kyungsoo tries his best to disregard him but it’s hard when Jongin is just staring at him with his hands folded in front of him. After a few more disinterested flips of the pages he gives up. 

“What?” Kyungsoo sighs, closing his textbook. There’s only so much pretend studying he can do in a day. 

Jongin beams. “Glad you asked,” he begins in a businesslike tone, pointedly ignoring the eyeroll he receives from Kyungsoo, “I need your help getting Baekhyun and Yixing to notice that they’re in love. Preferably in time for  Baekhyun’s Christmas party.”

“You mean we have to get Yixing to notice Baekhyun, because I’m pretty sure Baekhyun is aware--actually I’m pretty sure everyone is aware except Yixing.” It wasn’t hard to miss the looks Baekhyun was constantly sending the other. There were practically hearts falling out of his eyes whenever Yixing was within a 100 yard radius. Kyungsoo would find it kind of sad if it wasn’t for the complete obliviousness on the part of Yixing. 

“Semantics,” Jongin says with a wave of his hand, “Anyway, are you in?” he leans forward slightly to rest his chin on his fists, looking at Kyungsoo expectantly.

Instead of answering, Kyungsoo asks another question. “Why are we doing this again?” Jongin should have known this wasn’t going to be easy. 

“Because I am a wonderful friend and Baekhyun deserves to be happy.” Kyungsoo raises a skeptical eyebrow. “Ok, fine. Baekhyun said he’d introduce me to his hot senior friend, Luhan, at the Christmas party.”

“Sounds about right.” 

Jongin scoffs. “And just what is that supposed to mean?”

Kyungsoo raises his eyebrow higher. As if Jongin didn’t know what he was referring to. The pair had met in one of their freshman lectures where they had unfortunately been grouped together for a presentation. Never being much of a studier, Kyungsoo had looked at it as an excuse to only do one third of the work. Jongin had looked at it as an opportunity to flirt with their third group member, leaving Kyungsoo to do all of the work. Kyungsoo had mostly forgiven him but Jongin doesn’t need to know that. 

“Pleeeeeeease? Yixing is your best friend so you’re my only hope.” Jongin bats his eyes at Kyungsoo in what he hopes is a cute manner. 

“What’s in it for me?” Kyungsoo mumbles, so soft that Jongin thinks he heard wrong. He didn’t think batting his eyes would actually work. Not on Kyungsoo at least.

“Huh?”

Kyungsoo clears his throat, annoyed that he has to say it again. “I said, what’s in it for me?”

“You get to hang out with me?” It turns into more of a question, but then again, Jongin doesn’t really have an answer. He had come looking for Kyungsoo as soon as Baekhyun had given him the offer and has yet to work out the particulars. 

“We aren’t really friends though,” Kyungsoo says, “Unless you count occasionally being beer pong partners when we’re smashed.” 

“Hey, we make a great team.” Jongin says, frowning. “And we hang out with all the same people.” Kind of. Jongin would consider them second friends like once removed, or something, if he really had to classify it. But Jongin had no other ideas and Kyungsoo was right here. “You can have whatever you want. So????” If Jongin were a dog, his tail would be wagging. 

Kyungsoo sighs; and sighs again. “Whatever I want?” He takes his time mulling it over. Jongin really doesn’t have all day. 

“Yes.”

“Ok, I’ll help. But I’m deciding my reward later.” Jongin agrees before Kyungsoo can change his mind, hoping it’s not something too outlandish. Right now, he’s just grateful for the help. 

“Right, so we better get started. The Christmas party is only three weeks away.”

Jongin and Kyungsoo were never really friends. Though they hung out with the same people, it was never one on one. Jongin had always figured it was because Kyungsoo liked holding petty grudges. After all, they did get a C on their project for their freshman seminar. Truthfully, Kyungsoo had seemed like the type to do all of the work. The joke was on Jongin though, since it turned out Kyungsoo hated studying as much as he probably hated Jongin. That’s how Jongin saw it at least. Why else would he avoid him; only really acknowledging him when they’re drunk. 

Their friends notice when they start hanging out more, even though Baekhyun already knows why. It’s only been a week and already he’s been asked three times what happened. Kyungsoo himself had found every opportunity he got to question Jongin. Why did they need three weeks to hook their friends up? Why couldn’t they just set them up on a date? Why did he need to be involved at all? What was so great about Luhan, anyway?

“He’s hot,” was all Jongin had told him, eliciting an eyeroll from Kyungsoo. And Kyungsoo wasn’t best friends with Baekhyun. He didn’t have to listen to weekly rants about Yixing, or watch his friend make a fool out of himself trying to catch the other’s attention. Three weeks almost didn’t seem like enough time. 

Plus, the longer he and Kyungsoo hung out, the more he enjoyed it. Maybe it was time to forget about freshman year. 

The mall is crowded the entire month of December. It doesn’t matter the day, there are bound to be crowds of people out trying to get all their Christmas shopping done. It’s one week until Baekhyun’s Christmas party and Yixing has invited Kyungsoo along to the mall with him. He and Jongin are getting nowhere with setting up their friends, so Kyungsoo decides to use it as an opportunity to drop some hints. 

“So,” Kyungsoo says as he and Yixing wander aimlessly through the department store, “Shopping for anyone special?”

“I already got you something.”

Oh. Kyungsoo huffs out a laugh; he’s so touched. “I meant like, a special someone,” he clarifies. He winks and nudges his best friend for emphasis. 

“But Kyungsoo, you know I’m not dating anyone,” Yixing says. 

Kyungsoo ponders for a moment, trying to figure out how to change tactics. Yixing stops at a rack of sweaters, rifling through until he finds a medium. He pulls it out and holds it against his body.

“Hey, what do you think about Baekhyun?” Kyungsoo asks, deciding to take a more direct approach. 

Yixing frowns and places the sweater back on the rack. “Baekhyun? He’s nice.”

“No, what do you think of him?”

“He’s...super nice?” Yixing moves onto the next rack; this one full of ugly Christmas sweaters. He pulls one out that has a picture of Santa saying ‘Where my Ho’s at?’ and starts cracking up. 

“Tasteful.” Kyungsoo says, laughing.

“Why are you even asking me about Baekhyun?” Yixing asks when he’s put the sweater back and calmed down. “I thought you liked Jongin?”

“I-what?!” Kyungsoo chokes, looking around to make sure the coast is clear, “Who told you that--I mean--no, I don’t.”

“Haven’t you liked him since--” Kyungsoo claps a hand over Yixing’s mouth to silence him, even though the only other person in the section with them is an old lady examining the price tag on a pair of pants. 

Yixing seems to get it and drops the subject. He’s not stupid. Apparently he’s very perceptive about Kyungsoo’s love life, even if he is unable to understand the hints about his own. Either way, this will be harder than Jongin thought. 

“So who did you need to buy something for, then?” Kyungsoo asks, changing the subject.

“No one, really. I finished my Christmas shopping ages ago. I just wanted to hang out.” 

“Wow, dude,” Kyungsoo clutches his hand to his chest, being unexpectedly touched again, “Let’s go to the food court, I’ll buy you some Cinnabon.”

There’s nothing like a nice, giant cinnamon roll after a full day of shopping. Kyungsoo takes a bite and smacks his lips, firing off a quick text to Jongin that they need to revise their strategy. He chuckles when the only thing Jongin texts back is son of a . 

When he looks up from his phone, Yixing is chewing on his own cinnamon roll with a grin. 

“Shut up, we’re friends.”

“So you and Kyungsoo, huh?” Baekhyun says one night when they’re lounging around their apartment watching tv.

“What do you mean?” Jongin asks, lifting his head to look away from the drama and at Baekhyun. Baekhyun is curled under a blanket at one end of the couch while Jongin’s long limbs are sprawled over the other half. 

“I mean, you two have been spending a lot of time together. Do you still want me to hook you up with Luhan?” 

Jongin sputters, “Of course I do. I--we--Kyungsoo and I only hang out to help you with Yixing.” He tries to go back to watching the show causally and pretending Baekhyun’s words aren’t affecting him. “You’re welcome, by the way,” he adds, when Baekhyun hums disbelievingly.

Baekhyun laughs. “Thank you.”

“Does he even know you like him though?” Jongin asks, and then turns his voice high pitched and mocking, “‘Oh Yixing, you’re arms are so y, do you work out?’ ‘Yeah I do actually, there’s a gym right by my house. Minseok works out there too, you should come so--aH, OW!” Jongin’s words are cut off by a pillow to the face.

“It’s not funny!” Baekhyun yells, now attempting to smother Jongin with the pillow. “It’s a real issue that I have to deal with, and I would appreciate if you didn’t laugh. Or I won’t help you with Luhan.”

“Ok, ok,” Jongin wheezes in between giggles, “Truce.”

Baekhyun ceases his attempts to kill his best friend and regards him carefully. When he decides Jongin is telling the truth, he slides off to resume his former spot on the couch. 

“Oh, Yixing,” Jongin begins again, except this time he doesn’t get to go any farther before the pillow is smacking him in the face again. Jongin supposes he deserved that.

Jongin and Baekhyun have been waiting half an hour already for Kyungsoo to show up. They’ve finally decided that they need a plan of action. 

It’s snowing today and the cafe that they’re seated in is packed; patrons trying to get a warm drink and a respite from the nipping wind. Baekhyun has already chugged his first coffee and is on to his second. Whether it’s the coffee or his nerves, Jongin has had enough. 

“Stop bouncing your leg, it’s shaking the whole booth.” 

“I can’t help it, sorry.” Baekhyun cranes his head to look at the entrance again; not that there’s been a change since five seconds ago when he last checked.  

The bell above the door chimes again and Jongin notices Kyungsoo step inside the coffee shop followed closely by Yixing. Kyungsoo’s eyes scan the shop momentarily before they land on Jongin. He gives a nod of his head and gets in line behind Yixing. It has to be casual. 

Once they’ve got their orders, the pair weaves through the occupied tables. Once they’ve passed a few that are all full, Kyungsoo makes a show of pointing out Jongin’s and Baekhyun’s table. 

“Oh, hey guys!” Kyungsoo says in a falsely bright tone, “I didn’t see you there. Mind if we join? Looks like you have two extra chairs, how convenient.” Personally, Jongin thinks he’s being a bit too obvious. Kyungsoo is in the theater department, Jongin expected better.

Yixing, on the other hand, looks as genuinely cheerful as always. 

“Hi, guys!” He says, waving. Baekhyun takes another nervous sip of his coffee. 

The air is awkward for a few moments after they sit down. Jongin clears his throat, “So, what are you guys up to?”

“Oh you know, this and that.” Jongin would kill Kyungsoo if he didn't think he needed him.

“Hi, Yixing.” Baekhyun says, hearts exploding from his eyes. 

Yixing smiles at him warmly in return. “Hello.”

Baekhyun continues staring with a dopey grin on his face. Jongin would be concerned if Yixing wasn’t also smiling in return. Jongin exchanges a look with Kyungsoo. They sit in awkward silence for a few moments before Kyungsoo clears his throat. 

At this, Yixing checks his watch. “Shoot, I gotta run. I’m going to be late for class. Sorry I couldn’t stay longer.” Yixing gets up to throw out his trash. “Bye!” He says, passing their table on the way out. Baekhyun waves with a smile on his face, slumping down in his seat once Yixing is gone. He sighs loudly, glaring at Kyungsoo when he laughs.

“That was...something.”

Baekhyun groans. 

“I thought maybe we could get something going here but clearly Yixing does not do subtle.” Kyungsoo says.

“He doesn’t do obvious either.” Jongin adds. Baekhyun kicks him, but he continues anyway. “The only way he can be less subtle is if he goes up to him and is like, ‘Yo, Yixing, let’s ’” Jongin laughs as Baekhyun lets out a strangled noise. “We have to figure out how to get them on a date.” He says, turning to Kyungsoo.

“Um hello, I’m right here,” Baekhyun says, “And you’re forgetting the fact that I would have to actually ask him on a date. It’ll be impossible. I can’t even get him to understand that I like him.” He looks to Kyungsoo for help. Kyungsoo shrugs.

“I don’t know, we never talk about any of his crushes or anything.” Kyungsoo says, looking away.

“Hmm, where should they go?” Jongin taps his chin, contemplating.

“What if they go ice skating together?” Kyungsoo suggests. “Yixing is pretty good at it I think.” Leave it to Yixing to be good at everything, and Jongin has to admit it’s a good idea. Especially if…

“Baek, are you good at ice skating?” Jongin asks.

Jongin half expects him to go on a rant about how perfect Yixing is, and how talented he is, and how he’s a literal angel. Jongin’s heard it all before. Instead, Baekhyun just stares glumly into the tabletop. “No, I at it.” 

“Perfect.”

The plan all along had been for Baekhyun and Yixing to go ice skating alone, even if Yixing thought it was going to be all four of them. Kyungsoo had texted Yixing earlier, saying that something had “come up” and that he and Jongin weren’t able to make it.

It was a flimsy alibi, but apparently Yixing didn’t ask for more. Jongin is almost jealous. If it had been him doing the same to Baekhyun, he could have expected twenty texts and a phone call demanding a real excuse.  

So now, Jongin is crouched behind a pine tree with Kyungsoo spying on his best friend and his best friend’s crush as they skate around the outdoor skating rink. Yixing is skating circles around Baekhyun; the latter clinging to the edge so as not to fall on his for a third time. It’s cute watching Baekhyun try to catch Yixing’s attention. It would be cuter if Jongin wasn’t freezing his off. 

“It’s cold, I want hot chocolate.” Jongin whines, his breath forming little clouds in front of him. He glances longingly at the small concession stand twenty yards away. 

“It’s probably watery and lukewarm.” Kyungsoo says beside him. 

Jongin kisses his teeth at Kyungsoo for crushing his dreams. Easy for him to say, Kyungsoo is dressed in what is possibly the puffiest coat in existence and is wearing a black winter hat with a puffball on top. He looks like an emo Michelin Man. A warm emo Michelin Man.

 “Why do we have to be here again?” 

“Shut up. We’re here to make sure things go well. I’m doing this for you by the way. I can just leave and you’ll never get to talk to Luhan.”

“No, please come back.” Jongin says, even though Kyungsoo didn’t make any moves to actually leave.

“I’m not--wait, where did Yixing go?”

Jongin squints down at the rink in an attempt to locate him, but all he sees is Baekhyun, still wobbly on his skates. He’s got to be around here some--Oh no. 

“He’s there by the skate rental booth!” Jongin yelps as he dives behind the tree. Yixing looks as though he’s getting directions to somewhere. The employee is pointing...in their direction. 

“, the bathrooms are over here.” Kyungsoo hisses. He attempts to join Jongin behind the tree but it’s too late, Yixing has spotted him and is already making his way towards them.

“Kyungsoo?” The elder says, when he’s a few feet away, “I thought you were busy?”

“I, uh--I was, but--”

“Found it!” Jongin shouts, returning from behind the tree. Kyungsoo turns to him in shock. “I found my glove.” 

“Yeah, I had to, uh, help Jongin find his glove.”

“Can’t go ice skating without any gloves!” Jongin says, cheerily. He sees Kyungsoo grimace out of the corner of his eye but hey, he only had two seconds to come up with a plan. It was the best he could do.

Yixing narrows his eyes, glancing back and forth between Kyungsoo and Jongin. Suddenly, his mouth is stretching into a grin, like he’s just been let in on a secret. 

“I get it,” he says, “You two just wanted to be alone together.”

“Eh?” Jongin says, at the same time Kyungsoo says, “What!?”

“Oh, I thought you two were--you’re not together?” Yixing asks, eyes sliding over to Kyungsoo. 

“What, no! What are you talking about?”

“But,” Yixing begins, stopping when Kyungsoo gives him a hard look. The pair have a wordless conversation while Jongin stands by, perplexed. Whatever argument is happening, Kyungsoo seems to win, so Yixing turns to Jongin with an apology.  

“I’m sorry, I guess I misunderstood.”

“No no no, it’s okay,” Jongin tells him, “Go back to your date with Baekhyun.”

“Date?” Yixing asks, tilting his head like a confused puppy. He looks over to Baekhyun, who is still on the rink. He has their back to them as he slowly tries to maneuver around the outside, gripping the edge like a lifeline. “Are we on a date?” 

Kyungsoo and Jongin share a brief look, “Well, it certainly looks that way doesn’t it?” Kyungsoo replies. “Hey, Baekhyun looks like he could use some assistance, why don’t you go over there and help him.” Kyungsoo spins Yixing around and gives him a gentle shove towards the rink. He takes a few dazed steps, his trip to the bathroom all but forgotten. Jongin is calling out to him before he gets too far away. 

“Oh and maybe when you’re done, you can buy some churros for you guys to share.” 

Yixing nods distractedly, still looking like he’s been hit in the face with a brick, and then makes his way towards the rink. 

“What?” Jongin asks, shrugging when Kyungsoo looks at him funny, “Baekhyun likes churros.”

They watch for a few minutes as Yixing skates his way back over to Baekhyun. He tugs Baekhyun off the wall, cheeks going pink when the latter holds on to him for dear life. Jongin doesn’t know if it’s from Baekhyun or the cold, but it really is adorable. 

“C’mon let’s go.” Kyungsoo says, nudging Jongin.

“Go? It’s just getting good though. I wanna watch,” Jongin whines.

Kyungsoo waits for Jongin to finish before he speaks again. “Let’s let them figure it out. They don’t need an audience.” Jongin only pouts like a petulant child. “I’ll buy you hot chocolate on the way home?” Kyungsoo offers. 

Jongin whips his head around, suddenly excited. “With extra whip cream and cinnamon?” He asks hopefully.

“Yeah, sure. Whatever.” Kyungsoo says with a laugh. “Let’s go.”

Christmas is one of Jongin’s favorite times of the year. He loves the snow, the pretty lights, and stealing an extra cookie without feeling guilty. He loves how cozy everything inside becomes and he especially loves getting into the festive spirit. That’s why he volunteers every year to help Baekhyun set up for his Christmas party. 

He’s belting out “White Christmas” (The Drifters version because he likes to have a little fun) at the top of his lungs when the doorbell rings. Jongin is on a stool hanging the mistletoe, so Baekhyun answers the door. 

He doesn’t even stop singing when it’s Kyungsoo walking into the room. Instead he hops down from the stool and wraps a glittery garland around the latter’s neck, pulling him into a little impromptu dance while he sings the final line with his best attempt at sultry. Kyungsoo shoves him off with a laugh, but he doesn’t take the garland off. Jongin has one on too, his is silver; glittering in the light whenever he moves. 

“What’s up?” Jongin asks once he’s done serenading Kyungsoo. He hadn’t been expecting him. 

“I dunno, I was bored, thought I’d come over to hang out,” Kyungsoo shrugs, looking around at the half decorated apartment, “but I guess you’re busy. I can go, it’s no problem.”

“Not so fast,” Baekhyun says, shoving a box of tangled Christmas lights in Kyungsoo’s arms. “We could use the extra help.”

“Do you want me to call Yixing?” Kyungsoo says, with a taunting grin. 

“No need, he’ll be here in a couple of hours anyway.” Baekhyun retorts, and because he’s a child he sticks his tongue out too. Bewildered, Kyungsoo snaps his head towards Jongin who is just as confused. 

“He will?” Jongin asks. 

“Yes, we’re going to the movies actually.” He says it so quietly that Jongin and Kyungsoo have to lean in slightly to hear it. Which is strange, because Jongin is not used to seeing Baekhyun so quiet. Sure he’s shy around Yixing, but Yixing isn’t here right now. Jongin swears he sees Baekhyun’s cheeks going pink.  

“Wait,” Jongin says, when it finally dawns on him, “this means you’ll introduce me to Luhan tomorrow, right?” On Baekhyun’s nod, Jongin pumps his fist and lets out a whoop. He’s too busy celebrating to notice Kyungsoo’s face fall ever so slightly.

“Yeah, yeah. Now get to work. We have a lot that we need to get done for tomorrow.” 

The next hour passes quickly. With Kyungsoo’s help they’re able to get more done, and Jongin even gets him to join him and Baekhyun in singing Christmas carols. Though reluctant at first, Kyungsoo actually has a really nice voice. He kills with his own rendition of “Santa Baby” much to Baekhyun and Jongin’s delight. He also has a really nice eye for design; often rearranging a few decorations to get the best set up. Baekhyun tells Jongin that he’s fired for next year. 

“Hey, Jongin,” Kyungsoo calls. Baekhyun is doing something in the kitchen and Kyungsoo has been trying to hang the same light strand on one part of the ceiling for the past ten minutes. Jongin has secretly been watching in amusement. He could help, but it’s much more fun watching Kyungsoo struggle by himself. “Could you come help me with this?”

Now that he’s asked, Jongin decides to take pity on Kyungsoo and go help him. He holds the bottom of the ladder while Kyungsoo stands on his tiptoes and affixes the last of the lights in the corner. He hops down when he’s done to admire his work. 

“Not too sha...bby…” Kyungsoo trails off, his eyes widening as he looks up. Confused, Jongin looks up in the direction Kyungsoo is focused and nearly chokes. Above them, dangling tauntingly, is the mistletoe that Jongin had hung earlier. Kyungsoo’s eyes flicker to Jongin’s lips and Jongin feels his cheeks grow warmer. 

“Uh.” Jongin says intelligently. They glance at each other and there’s an awkward pause before Jongin says, “I won’t tell if you don’t.”

“Yeah, yeah totally.” Kyungsoo agrees almost too quickly. Jongin nods tersely and tries to go back to what he was doing before helping Kyungsoo. Only the thing he was doing before helping Kyungsoo was watching him. So instead, he picks up some tinsel and tries to make himself look busy, the whole time refusing to look in Kyungsoo’s direction. 

Just then, Baekhyun saunters back into the room with a bowl of popcorn in one arm and stuffing a handful into his mouth with the other. He stops chewing when he notices Jongin and Kyungsoo are on opposite sides of the room trying their best to ignore each other. 

“Damn, who died?” He asks through a mouthful of popcorn, shrugging when he gets no response. “Anyway, Yixing will be here soon. You kids have fun.”

They were pretty much done before Baekhyun left, so they decide to call it a night on the decorating. Jongin offers to let Kyungsoo stay so they can hang out some more. Jongin figures he’ll say no since they were awkward since the mistletoe incident and Kyungsoo proves him right by stumbling through an excuse that he has something to do and following Baekhyun out the door. 

He wishes he hadn’t made it awkward between them, he was really starting to get used to having Kyungsoo around all the time. As actual friends and frenemies or co-conspirators. 

Just the other night Jongin had forced Kyungsoo to watch It’s a Wonderful Life with him when he had learned that the latter had never seen it. They had practically cuddled together on the couch and Jongin didn’t laugh when Kyungsoo cried at the end, even if Kyungsoo thinks he did. 

Kyungsoo had punched him weakly on the arm and told him to shut up when he saw Jongin grinning, but the truth was that the end always got to Jongin too. So he just grinned his private grin and snuggled closer to Kyungsoo on the couch. 

Jongin lay on his bed after Kyungsoo and Baekhyun have both left, wondering why he’s feeling so conflicted when he had gotten what he wanted. They had helped Baekhyun get noticed by his crush and, in turn, Baekhyun was going to introduce him to his crush. So why did he keep thinking about Kyungsoo. 

Frustrated, Jongin flails a little, kicking his legs into his blankets. He’s going to bed. 

Luhan is boring. It takes Jongin approximately thirty seconds to figure this out. Luhan is currently on his third story about his cat and it has Jongin looking for any way that he could possibly escape. He wonders if Kyungsoo is here yet. 

The party is pretty crowded. Not that Jongin had expected it not to be; Baekhyun is very popular. But that means that there should be plenty of opportunities to get away, except Luhan has him backed against the wall and is droning on and on. 

“Chanyeol! Hey, Chanyeol!” Jongin thinks he sees the other towering over most of the people in the crowd. Even if it isn’t Chanyeol, Jongin takes it as an excuse to slip away from Luhan. Maybe he’ll find Baekhyun and demand a different reward for all his efforts.

It wasn’t Chanyeol, so Jongin meanders around for a bit, dodging a few people who he would rather not talk to. Strangely, he isn’t all that disappointed about Luhan. Part of him supposes he had based his infatuation on no more than a pretty face, so Luhan as a person was bound to be disappointing. Was it too much to ask for someone to be attractive and interesting?

Kyungsoo is pretty cute, Jongin supposes. He’s fun to be around too, once they actually started hanging out for real. Kyungsoo was right, being beer pong partners when you’re smashed doesn’t count as friendship. Maybe he should just date Kyungsoo. Jongin snorts, laughing at himself for even having the thought. But then again…

He thinks back to their almost kiss yesterday. He may have happened to notice that Kyungsoo’s lips were really nice and that maybe he wouldn’t mind kissing him. The way they hang out already is almost as if--oh my god. Have I been dating Kyungsoo this whole time?!

Jongin needs to find Baekhyun immediately to tell him of this revelation. Only when he finally finds Baekhyun, he’s canoodling in the corner with Yixing. Of course, Baekhyun goes and gets himself a boyfriend when Jongin has problems he needs solving.  

At that moment, he sees said problem across the room mingling with some other party goers. He’s wearing an ugly Christmas sweater and somehow managing to make it look good. 

Jongin has found in the last three weeks that he really likes hanging out with Kyungsoo and wants to continue, so he decides he’ll it up and go talk to him before the awkwardness lasts too long. 

“Kyungsoo!” Jongin shouts, to get his attention. The other looks up at his name, so Jongin motions for him to come over. “Can we talk?” he asks, when Kyungsoo excuses himself from the conversation he was in. 

Kyungsoo looks like he would rather be anywhere else; his eyes doing his best to not lock with Jongin’s. 

“About the other day,” Jongin begins, but Kyungsoo cuts him off.

“Don’t worry about it, okay?” He says, “How’s Luhan?”

“Um, boring as , actually.” Jongin replies. 

Kyungsoo turns his head so fast, Jongin thinks he might have whiplash. “Really? That , I’m sorry.”

“Eh, it’s whatever,” Jongin shrugs, “Look over there though.” He points to where Baekhyun and Yixing are together in the corner. “I owe you something. Whatever you want, remember?”

“Forget it.” 

“Aww c’mon.”

Kyungsoo seems to debate for a moment before saying, “Well there is something I’ve wanted..” He dithers for one more moment before he’s suddenly grabbing Jongin’s hand and dragging him across the room, ignoring Jongin’s questioning. 

Jongin realizes their destination only seconds before they reach it. Kyungsoo pulling Jongin under the mistletoe and kissing him hard on the mouth. He’s surprised, but it’s also really nice. Jongin was right about Kyungsoo’s lips.

“You wanted this the whole time?” Jongin asks, breaking away when it dawns on him. 

“Well I...ever since--”

“Wait!” Jongin cuts him off and scrunches up his nose, “Please don’t say something cheesy.”

Kyungsoo looks at Jongin with a hint of amusement sparkling in his eyes. “Fine, I won’t then.” Instead, he pulls Jongin back under the mistletoe and kisses him again.