“Do you know what date is it today?” Jinki asked the next day. Jonghyun quickly looked at his phone.

“December 7th, why?” Jonghyun asked. Jinki smiled, but it wasn't one of his usual joyful smiles. It wasn't sad, just not happy either. 

“It's Christmas soon.” Jinki stated. Jonghyun wasn't sure if he was talking to him, himself, or just no one. 

“So?” Jonghyun asked, not quite getting where the older wanted to go with this.

“This place isn't very festive, is it? Shouldn't we decorate it a bit?” Jinki asked. Jonghyun almost burst out into laughter. 

“Is that why you've been so down today? Do you have any Christmas decorations?” Jonghyun asked. 

“Not here, but at my house I do.” Jinki said. Jonghyun sat for a second, not quite comprehending that Jinki had another house, one that wasn't a small apartment in a home for dying people. 

And so it happened that they took a taxi to Jinki's old house. The drive took them to the outskirts of the city, where there was a little further between the houses. 

To call it a house might have been the understatement of the century. It was more like a mansion, with a long driveway which seemed to last forever, leading up to a large White House, surrounded by a gigantic garden. 

“Are you secretly a king or a count?” Jonghyun asked, only half sarcastically. Jinki laughed his sunshine laugh again.

“Of course not. But my parents did have a lot of money, most of which became mine after the accident.” Jinki said. The taxi stopped in the driveway and the two of them got out. 

Jinki took a deep breath before making his way to the front door. Of course, Jonghyun noticed, since his eyes were on the older man 90% of the time.

“Are you okay?” He asked, worry lacing into his voice.

“Yes, I'm fine. I just haven't been here in a long time. It's been months actually.” Jinki said. When they reached the front door, Jinki reached under a potted plant and pulled out a key. 

“It's always been there.” He said, putting the key in the keyhole and twisting it. 

It took them a while to find all the Christmas decorations that Jinki wanted for his apartment, mostly because Jinki insisted on giving Jonghyun a tour of the house. It wasn't because Jonghyun didn't like the house, but it was big, and there was about a thousand rooms, at least in Jonghyun's mind. 

As they drove back to Seoul again, Jonghyun couldn't help but feel happy. Well, Jinki was happy, which had a habit of being contagious, but it was something else. He just felt good, comfortable, right. 

A few hours later, they had almost finished decorating the apartment. It looked very festive now, a stark contrast to the almost boring setup just this morning. 

“See, now it really looks like it's December 7th.” Jinki said, placing the last decoration of the shelf next to the picture of him and his parents. 

“It looks great.” Jonghyun agreed. 

“Oh god, look at the clock, you should probably get going if you want to get a good night's sleep tonight.” Jinki said. Jonghyun looked at his phone. 

8:32pm

“Wow, it is quite late. You're right, I should probably get going. I'll see you tomorrow.” Jonghyun said as he put on his shoes and jacket. 

On his way home, it started snowing again. But even as the cold white flakes hit his bare hands, he didn't feel cold. 

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An: Just another chapter for my lovely readers. I hope you are all enjoying this story as much as I am. I adore Christmas, and I adore SHINee, so why not combine them into a SHINee Christmas story? 

Merry December 7th❤️