After missing out on the last weekend, Mark was overwhelmed the moment he saw Lou when he picked him up at Allison's Friday after work. To make up for the time they had lost, he devoted their weekend to any fun Christmas pastime he could think of—driving around to see all the holiday lights in the parks, taking Lou to the mall to read his wishlist to Santa, and watching A Muppet's Christmas Carol while eating peppermint. It soothed his soul in a way only being with his son could, though in the back of his mind, he couldn't help wishing Jinyoung also could have been there. It was fun on its own, but it all could have been that much better.

Lou missed him, too. “I want Jinny to see my Santa picture,” he'd said, waving the Polaroid one of Santa's elf helpers had given them at the mall. In it, Santa was chuckling jovially while Lou stared at him with a half-terrified look of awe. Mark wanted Jinyoung to see it, too—he'd probably think it was cute and ask Mark to scan him a copy.

When Lou went back to Allison's for the week, Mark devoted himself to cleaning up his apartment whenever he wasn't working. Jinyoung had promised to take care of the decorating, but Mark still had to clear out the excess of toys, dust off the place where Jinyoung was planning on putting the fishbowl, and stock the fridge with ingredients for dinner. He was planning on making turkey, roasted potatoes, and mixed vegetables, with apple pie for dessert since it was something Jinyoung had told Lou he wanted for Christmas. Mark was confident he'd be able to pull off the potatoes and veggies easily enough, but he was a little bit concerned about making the turkey. Allison had always been in charge of it when they'd been together, and this was the first time Mark was doing it by himself. During his lunch breaks at work, he spent most of his time surfing websites, searching for fool-proof tips to prepare the perfect turkey.

His parents' Christmas gift for him had arrived early, giving him three bottles of specialty wines to serve with dinner as well as an expensive box of chocolates. If Mark put everything together well, they were almost guaranteed to have a delicious Christmas Eve meal.

Planning their get together was Mark's main source of joy in life since work was becoming oppressive thanks to the looming Christmas party. Mark wasn't planning on going, but that didn't stop Lucy from hounding him about it every time she passed his cubicle or saw him in the hallway.

“You absolutely have to go,” she insisted. “They've rented out this gorgeous venue with a full ballroom floor, and a small orchestra is going to be providing the musical accompaniment. If you don't go, who on Earth am I going to dance with?”

“How about Guy, from maintenance?” Mark offered. Guy was famous in the company for smelling like he never showered.

Lucy gave him a horrified work. “You would leave me with Guy? If I didn't know any better, I'd think you didn't care about me at all.”

Apparently, she didn't know any better.

Still it was worth putting up with her obvious flirting for the moments when he received text messages from Jinyoung during work asking him how the preparations were going and if he needed any extra help. Mark was tempted to take him up on it just for the chance to see him again, but he remembered college well enough to know that since Jinyoung was at the end of the semester, he was probably swamped with finals and essays and projects he needed to wrap up.

There was also something else he needed to worry about on his own: the cologne he'd bought for Jinyoung on a whim. He still hadn't figured out how he was going to introduce giving it to Jinyoung, but he'd at least decided to wrap it up like a gift, complete with ribbons and a big red bow. He ran through different ways of presenting it—“Here, I found this, and it reminded me of you” or “This is to thank you for taking care of me the other week” or “I figured you didn't have enough cinnamon in your life already, so here you go”—but everything came across as awkward. He hadn't remembered gift giving being this hard back when he bought Allison necklaces and play tickets back in college, but apparently it was.

Nonetheless, he was genuinely excited for Christmas Eve to roll around. Just a few weeks ago, he'd been planning on spending it alone and somewhat grumpily, but in the course of a few weeks, his life had changed beyond what he could have ever imagined for it. The old Mark would have been anxious about the change, but he couldn't deny that the only thing he was feeling right now was happy.

Jinyoung arrived much earlier on Christmas Eve than Mark had been anticipating. He showed up at the apartment at one in the afternoon, his arms full of several bags, presumably the decorations he promised, and the goldfish bowl.

“Could you take these in?” he asked, handing all of them over to Mark. “I need to go back to the car and get Fishy. Good to see you, by the way.”

Mark lifted up the bags. He could already see a Christmas wreath poking out of one, and a collection of holly boughs in another. Jinyoung really had been serious about his decorating plans.

A moment later, he returned with a white baggie filled with water and a goldfish swimming around in it. “I've already filled up the bowl and gone through the temperature testing, which is why one of the bags is so heavy,” Jinyoung explained. “I still need to set up the filter, though. Could you hold Fishy for a moment?”

Mark accepted the bag as Jinyoung removed the bowl and carried it over to the bookshelf. “I see you weren't able to find red fish tank gravel,” Mark said, nodding to the orange stones lining the bottom of the bowl.

“I got the next best thing. Besides, the orange matches Fishy perfectly.” Jinyoung tinkered with the filter. “I also made sure to get plenty of food so he won't be going hungry for the first few days. I'll have to give you the feeding and cleaning tutorial, unless you want me to start dropping by in the evening to take care of the fish.”

For some reason, the suggestion flustered Mark a little. “I can't keep interrupting you from your studies.”

“You live five minutes away. Dropping by for an hour or so won't destroy my schedule. Unless it destroys yours.”

“It wouldn't.”

Jinyoung turned and smiled. “Then I'll consider lending a hand when you need me.” He went back to setting up the filter. After awhile, he got it in working order and helped Mark to gently ease Fishy into his new home. The goldfish nosed around his bowl for awhile before settling on weaving in and out of the little archway Jinyoung had set up in the bottom of the bowl.

“Perfect,” Jinyoung declared.

Mark nodded. “Lou is going to go nuts when he sees. He's always wanted a pet.” He glanced at his watch. “Hey, I need to get to work on the turkey in the kitchen. Are you fine handling the decorating by yourself?”

Jinyoung nodded. “No worries, I'm practically an expert at this kind of thing. You're going to come out to a whole new room when I'm done. Do you mind if I put some Christmas music on?”

“Go right ahead.”

Mark heard the beginning of an acapella group humming “Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring” as he slipped into the kitchen. Once again, the apartment felt so much warmer with another person there with him. He smiled to himself as he got to work on the turkey.

It was tricky business balancing the use of the stove in his dinky kitchen (luckily, he'd had the forethought to make the apple pie early so he wouldn't be scrambling for dessert at the last minute), but he did the best he could to not make a mess of things. As he worked, he could hear Jinyoung singing along to his CD from the TV room, his voice gentle and beautiful. Mark was a little anxious about getting everything right, but somehow the sound of Jinyoung's voice soothed him. It would be fine. Jinyoung wasn't someone he needed to blow away with flawless presentation and the perfect, Martha Stewart-esque Christmas dinner. He had a feeling Jinyoung would be moved by the effort no matter what he did, and he was happy to give him a warm experience during a holiday he would have otherwise spent by himself.

Jinyoung popped in a good deal later with a handful of hot chocolate packets and a tube of whipped cream. “Are you almost at a point to take a break in here?” he asked. “I want to show you something.”

Mark nodded. “Things are already cooking in the oven.”

“Great. I'll make us some drinks—wholesome drinks, since I see you have wine for us later. It smells great in here.”

“Hopefully it will taste just as great.”

“I'm sure it will.”

Jinyoung warmed them up two mugs of hot chocolate and topped them off with dollops of whipped cream. “Okay,” he said. “I'm going to set these up outside and come back and get you. No peeking yet.”

“What have you done in there?”

“You'll see.” He slipped out to the TV room and switched the CD to something jazzy and instrumental. A moment later, he came back into the kitchen, got behind Mark, and covered his eyes. “Prepare yourself.”

“Please don't walk me into a wall.”

“I won't. Just trust me.”

Slowly, he guided Mark into the TV room, keeping his hands over his eyes for a few tantalizing seconds. “One...two...three!” He dropped them away.

Mark's mouth fell open. It didn't even look like his apartment anymore. Jinyoung had covered the ground around the tree with a red velvet tree skirt, hung a row of stockings on the mantle, set up a thick wreath on his door, lined his bookshelves with garlands and holly, and hung glittery snowflakes from the ceiling. He'd even lit a small fire in the fireplace with maple scented logs and put poinsettias on the end table. Mark was also pretty sure the little flower sprig dangling from the doorway to the kitchen was mistletoe.

“Wow,” he murmured appreciatively. “You really did all this?”

“As I said, I had a lot of Christmas stuff around,” Jinyoung said modestly. “And I love decorating.”

“It's beautiful,” Mark said sincerely. “Really, it's perfect.”

“It's kind of a concept,” Jinyoung said, shifting from foot to foot. “You said you wanted a vacation for Christmas, so I was thinking of going for a ski lodge feel. Hence the fireplace and hot chocolate. Is it working?”

Mark beamed, surprised that he'd remembered that comment made in passing. “It's definitely working. Minus the whole cooking the turkey thing, this is the most relaxing vacation I could have asked for.”

Jinyoung grinned. “Let's have that hot chocolate, then. I noticed you had a box of chocolates to go with it, too.”

The two of them sat down on the couch and took a sip of their drinks. “Excellent,” Mark sighed blissfully.

“Actually, I got you something special to contribute to the ski lodge atmosphere,” Jinyoung said, a bit haltingly, as if he were nervous. “I'm not sure if you'll like it, but...” He reached under the coffee table and pulled out a bundle wrapped into Santa Claus paper. “Here.”

“You got me something?” Mark asked in surprise, staring down at the package. “I thought the home decorating was the present.”

“I had all of that stuff already, so it didn't cost me anything. I wanted to get you something else.” Jinyoung stared down at his shoes, his cheeks pink. “Come on, just open it.”

Mark ripped off the paper. Inside was a thick red scarf, a pair of red mittens, a red snow hat, and a fuzzy red sweater that felt like the softest thing Mark had ever touched.

“Since you're always getting colds, I thought you could use some more things to keep you bundled up,” Jinyoung said shyly. “This way you can stay healthy and warm. And since red's your favorite color...”

“That's why you asked?”

Jinyoung nodded.

“It's great.” Mark pulled the sweater over his head, and it fit him perfectly. “It's the right size and everything. And really warm.”

“It looks good on you. Do you really like it?”

“Of course I do!” He rubbed the sleeves of the sweater against his cheeks. “Who wouldn't like someone trying to save them from a second winter cold?”

Jinyoung smiled widely, his eye crinkles appearing. Mark's stomach did a weird kind of throb at the sight of it, so he quickly got to his feet to distract himself.

“Um, hold on a minute,” he said. “I need to go get something.” He hurried back to his bedroom and found the wrapped perfume for Jinyoung before returning back to the TV room. “I also got something for you,” he explained. “Merry Christmas.”

There. Simple's best, after all.

“For me?” Jinyoung asked, his eyes widening. “You didn't have to.”

“You just got me something. Why am I not allowed?”

“Um, no reason. Thank you.” He pulled off the wrapping paper. “Cinnamon Stick? Is this...?” He popped off the cap and gave it a sniff, his lips stretching out into a pleased smile. “It is. This smells fantastic.”

“Try it on.”

“You won't be offended by my cinnamon-ness?”

“Considering that bottle has been in my room for a week and seeping cinnamon out into my air, I don't think I'll mind.”

Jinyoung stuck his wrist out from his sweater and sprayed a little onto his skin. Immediately, the air filled with the sweet aroma of cinnamon. As much as Mark pretended like he didn't, he really did like the scent, and it honestly fit perfectly with Jinyoung.

“I love it,” Jinyoung murmured, give his wrist a little sniff. “It's just like when we first met. The smell of cinnamon and ginger.”

“Yeah,” Mark said sheepishly. “I smelled it in the store and thought of you.”

“Thank you for that. Thank you so much for thinking of me.” Jinyoung reached out to touch his hand for a moment before pulling it away. “It's only just started, and already this is the best Christmas Eve I've ever had.”

“Yeah,” Mark said in a wobbly voice. Something really weird was going on with the atmosphere. It may have been the thickness of his sweater, but he was feeling a little hot around the collar, and the room itself felt smaller than it had, like he was sitting right on top of Jinyoung. Mark grabbed a square of chocolate to distract his body, but it wasn't really working. Jinyoung was still looking at him with soft eyes, and he couldn't really think of anything else.

Just then, the timer on the stove went off. Mark quickly jumped to his feet. “Ah. I should check in on the turkey. I'll be back in a moment.” He darted off into the kitchen, hoping that the arduous task of getting dinner together would calm him down a little.

It did for a moment. Stumbling through getting the napkins laid out with the correct silverware and straightening up the placements and digging out the wine glasses helped in clearing his mind, but the odd reactions of his body earlier still lingered in the back of it. What was going on with him? Was he so lonely that he was getting set off at the smallest things, letting casual moments fluster him as if they were actually much bigger than they really were?

But what was that look in Jinyoung's eyes? There was something unusual about it—it wasn't how people looked at each other in normal situations, right? There was a special kind of lightness to it that made it seem much richer and deeper than what Mark was prepared to understand.

After a moment, Jinyoung himself came into the kitchen, bringing his sweet cinnamon scent with him. “Need any help with setting the table?”

“Um,” Mark said, leaping a little at the sound of his voice. “Want to take care of the wine?”

“Sure. Which kind do you want?”

“The pinot noir, please.”

Jinyoung got to work getting them drinks, while Mark wrangled the roasted potatoes into a bowl and got out the utensils for carving the turkey. He'd checked the temperature, and it seemed he hadn't blown his first attempt at making it. If anything, it looked really appetizing.

“Is it time for the ceremonial cutting?” Jinyoung asked. “Shall we do it together?”

“Er...?”

“Like this.” Jinyoung rested his hand over Mark's on the carving knife and gently pushed it downwards. The two of them made a neat slice into the turkey before they pulled out. “That's the first time I've ever gotten to do that,” he said.

“Hey, I'm the one who made the turkey,” Mark reminded him, a little breathlessly.

“Me being here is why we have turkey,” Jinyoung said. “You wouldn't just make it for yourself, would you?”

Mark shrugged. “Guess not.”

He finished carving the turkey, and dug out his nicest plates for them to serve themselves. Both of them loaded up their plates and carried them over to the dinner table, which was jazzed up with a red tablecloth and green placemats compared to its typically bare look on the average day.

Mark let Jinyoung take the first bite of the turkey, which he watched over anxiously. “This is great,” Jinyoung said, giving Mark a thumbs up. “Just like Mom used to make.”

“I hope you're not exaggerating for my sake.”

“Go on and give it a try for yourself.”

Mark did. It really was pretty good. So were the potatoes and veggies and the wine.

“I made apple pie for later,” Mark said. “See, I also remembered your Christmas wish.”

Jinyoung clutched his heart dramatically. “What are you, perfect? I'm getting everything I wanted all at once.”

“I aim to please.”

“Well, you hit the target. Apple pie,” Jinyoung said dreamily. “Turkey, Cinnamon Stick, and apple pie. I can only think of one way this could become more perfect.”

“Cinnamon coated gingerbread cookies?”

“OK. Two ways.” Jinyoung set down his fork. “And you're going to get another feast like this tomorrow at Allison's?”

“I'm only looking forward to it for Lou's sake, honestly. Allison's parents are going to be baiting me passive aggressively all night, if I know them.”

“Then I'm glad you could spend today in peace.” He lifted up his wine glass. “Shall we toast?”

“To what?”

“To the best Christmas Eve ever.” He tapped the rim of his glass against Mark's. “Merry Christmas, Mark.”

Mark smiled, lowering his wine glass. “Merry Christmas, Jinyoung.”

The rest of the evening passed in a sweet blur. They both indulged a little too much in the wine Mark's parents had sent him, and spent a good hour or so swapping college stories as they sat around like blobs at the table, full from their meal. Still, when Mark offered to go get the pie ready, Jinyoung insisted he still had plenty of room for dessert and frankly didn't care if he put on a few extra pounds from eating a little too much, since it was a holiday.

The pie wound up tasting excellent, and a slightly tipsy Jinyoung threw his arms around Mark and gave him a giant bear hug to thank him. Mark, feeling a little tipsy himself, got so flushed that he had to apologetically take his new sweater off for the time being.

After they'd finished off their pie slices, the two of them worked together to clean off the considerable collection of dishes they'd amassed. Jinyoung playfully started a round of “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” which Mark laughingly joined in on up until they forgot what was supposed to happen on the tenth day and Jinyoung started making random up.

At long last, the kitchen was clean. “Let's go back to the TV room to check on Fishy,” Jinyoung suggested, tugging Mark's hand. Mark trailed after him, but paused when they reached the doorframe leading into the TV room. Suddenly, he remembered that Jinyoung hadn't just wished for apple pie. It had been good grades, apple pie, and...

He glanced up. The mistletoe was hanging right above them.

“What is it?” Jinyoung asked, turning back to look at him.

Mark wasn't sure what was coming over him. His body moved outside of the dictates of his mind, tugging Jinyoung by his hand and pulling him closer. Some distant part of him wanted to protest, but he shut it out, letting the wine-addled part of him take control. He shut his eyes and tilted his chin up, gently pressing his lips against Jinyoung's and giving him the kiss under the mistletoe he'd asked for.

Electricity flowed through his body.

It was overwhelming. It was just a little peck, but Mark had never felt this much at just a little peck before. When he'd kissed Allison like this back in the day, it had always been comfortable and affectionate, but never like this. With this kiss, he could feel so many things flooding through him. The taste of wine, the smell of cinnamon, the softness of Jinyoung's skin, the urge to kiss him harder, to take more.

He didn't. He jerked back, cutting it off at a short peck. He couldn't push this. He didn't even understand fully what this was, and he didn't want to muddle it up further.

Jinyoung stared at him as he drew away, flushed and out of breath. Mark couldn't tell from his expression what he thought about it, other than that he was shocked. He wasn't even sure what his own expression was showing.

“Umm,” Jinyoung said, lifting his hand slowly to his lips.

“That was your other wish,” Mark said, trying to force his voice to sound normal. “A kiss under the mistletoe.”

“Right...” Jinyoung said slowly. His eyes traveled upwards. “I did say that. So Santa was listening.”

“I hope it wasn't a disappointing way of having your wish fulfilled.”

“No, I wouldn't say that.” Jinyoung cleared his throat. “Anyways, thank you. That was...nice.”

Mark swallowed and nodded. He wasn't sure if 'nice' was the end result he wanted, but at least Jinyoung wasn't slapping him.

Jinyoung tugged his hand again and pulled him out to the TV room. He grabbed one of Fishy's food bottles and started to give Mark a tutorial on feeding his new pet properly, but Mark could barely focus.

He'd kissed Jinyoung.

He'd liked it.

Was he drunk or was this actually his heart talking to him? And if it was, what was he supposed to do and say now?

Jinyoung must have also felt a little awkward, because they didn't go back to the lighthearted way of talking they'd been carrying on before. He kept glancing at Mark out of the corner of his eyes, shuffling his feet, and biting his lips. Mark couldn't help but think about how he had touched those lips with his own, and how they had been sweet and unbelievably soft.

“Well,” Jinyoung said finally. “I...I should probably head back.”

“You're leaving all your decorations here?”

“Those were part of my gift. Keep them until the Christmas season is over, all right?” He grabbed his coat from Mark's rack and started putting it on.

“Hey,” Mark said. “I know it's just five minutes, but I'd rather you didn't drive tonight. I'll walk you back to your place and you can pick up your car tomorrow while I'm out.”

“I'm not that drunk,” Jinyoung protested.

“I know. But I'd feel better this way.”

Jinyoung thought for a minute, then finally relented. “All right. If that's what you want.”

They walked for the most part in silence, though Mark didn't think it was completely uncomfortable. If anything, it felt a little heated. Mark kept thinking about the kiss, and he couldn't help but think that Jinyoung was, too. It wasn't something that could be brushed off, was it? Casual kisses could and did happen, but even though it had only lasted a few seconds, not a single one of those seconds had felt casual.

Mark had been prepared to drop Jinyoung off outside his dorm, but Jinyoung swiped him in, joking that he'd hate to get into an accident before reaching his dorm room. Mark followed him up two flights of stairs and down a long hall until he reached a door with a “Jinyoung” name tag pinned to the front.

Instead of saying his goodbyes and opening the door, Jinyoung pulled Mark to him so they were both standing brushed up against the door. Mark looked at him questioningly, and Jinyoung's eyes shifted upwards. Mark followed his gaze and saw another sprig of mistletoe taped on the ceiling over the door.

As Mark was lowering his chin to look at Jinyoung, Jinyoung leaned in and sealed his lips, wrapping his arms around Mark's neck and pulling him in roughly. It was a deeper kiss than before. Their lips were practically crushing each other, and Mark could barely breathe at the intensity of the contact. Jinyoung's tongue swiped at his lips then slipped in between them, filling Mark's mouth with an overwhelming warmth. Before he could stop himself, he'd slid his arms around Jinyoung's waist, pulling him closer. He didn't want this kiss to end as quickly as the last one. He wanted to fill his body with it and drown in the new and wanting feelings overwhelming him.

Little by little, Jinyoung pulled away. “If I can have two slices of apple pie, I can get two kisses under the mistletoe,” he whispered, his voice shaky and his breath sweet with wine. “I'm not getting any presents tomorrow, so why not spoil myself a little?”

“You just had that ready and waiting there?” Mark asked a little dazedly.

“A guy can never be too prepared.” He leaned in and gave Mark a peck on the cheek. “Merry Christmas. Thank you for the present.”

With that, he pulled open his door and slipped inside, shutting the door slowly after him and holding Mark's eyes until it was finally closed and Mark could safely sink to the floor and command his body to start breathing again.