Hyukjae winces as another strip of Christmas lights slaps him in the face. “ing thing,” he grumbles, fingers working quickly to undo a tangle. “Who put them away last year? No organisation!”

“Your brother did,” Donghae says from the next room, “you said you couldn’t be bothered and he just dumped them all in the box.”

“Yeah,” Hyukjae calls out as he glares at the three different sets of lights protruding from one big tangled mess in the middle. “I’m definitely doing it this year.”

After another twenty minutes of struggling, Hyukjae is just about ready to call it a day, grab the scissors and just buy two new sets of lights and keep one. “I give up,” he declares as he walks into the living room. “I guess the tree just isn’t ready for lights, let’s just–”

Cutting himself off, Hyukjae stares in complete shock as Donghae heads for the candles hanging from the tree branches with a lighter. “Donghae, no, you moron, don’t!”

Donghae has the gall to look over his shoulder with a pout and pleading eyes. “But it’ll be so pretty!”

Hyukjae’s eye twitches, just a little. “I don’t care how aesthetically pleasing it is, you dumb , trees are flammable!”

An amused chuckle sounds out from the kitchen. “Hyukjae,” Taemin grins as he enters the room, “even Donghae isn’t dumb enough to– Oh.” His eyes light up with glee at the sight of the tree. Donghae has lit one candle in their distraction and is watching the plastic pine needles b