“Make a Wish”

 

For Iheartsoojung

Couple: Alljong

Prompt: All the hyungs try to show their love for the maknae on Christmas night

---

Silence.

 

Why did something so normal sound so out of place in that place?

 

Why was it that the Christmas atmosphere, which seemed to seep from the world’s population’s pores in the entirety of December, was nowhere near perceptible in this dwelling?

 

You see, the Christmas day was not to be a happy occasion in the Infinite dorms that year.

 

Or at least it was not to be for the only member of Infinite who was there, already despairing over the vision of the long and lonely days ahead.

 

It was because of a of bad luck, and a dose of the boy’s stubbornness, that Lee Sungjong found himself with no one to celebrate the joyous days with.

 

Having planned to stay with his parents, he encouraged the rest of Infinite to have their own plans for Christmas holiday. How could he have predicted that his parents would call off their plans in the last minute? Literally. When the phone rang, Sungjong was just preparing to head out so he’d catch the bus which was to transport him the long kilometres to his home town.

 

‘It can’t be helped that grandma fell sick, I get that. It can’t be helped that mum had to go and take care of her, okay! It’s fine and understandable that the rest went with her also. I accept all that. It’s just that... Couldn’t they have waited for me also?’

 

The maknae of Infinite sighed as he unpacked his bag.

 

‘It was my choice when I decided to stay here, when the manager said that I could go and stay with their family for the evening, but I couldn’t have possibly interrupted the family moments like that right?’ he recalled the phone call he had to make once he cleared everything with his mother. After all, the manager had to be informed that someone is staying in the dorms over the hols.

 

‘Maybe I should really call the rest? To tell them at least?’

 

Sungjong had thought about informing the rest of Infinite about the unfortunate situation he found himself in. He however could not bring himself to make the call. He knew they would come, were they to be called. He did not want to impose on their plans though. It had been him who insisted that the three Infinite couples should be having their own plans after all.

 

‘Gosh, this is the worst.’ the youngest of the dorm’s usual occupants sighed as he got up, brushing imaginary dust off his jeans.

 

‘Now where did we put that tree?’

 

- - -

 

Two hours later Sungjong found himself seated in front of the decorated tree, only having his white bear to keep him company. It took the maknae almost half that time to even find the tree, as the Infinite did not put it up that year nor the year before for that matter. It was just something they brought from their previous abode.

 

The tree was only a small one, symbolic, for the seven boys known as Infinite never really spent the Christmas day together. One almost had to wonder why they even bought the three at all, as neither actually meant to leave some gifts under it.

 

Yet at that moment there were five of them.

 

All members of Infinite had given a gift to their youngest friend, except for Hoya and Dongwoo who instead gave him one gift together.

 

The one from the rapper duo was wrapped in a colourful wrapping paper which horribly clashed with the yellow “Infinite” stars on the tree. Which also weren’t the best choice for decorations, but there was nothing else to put on the three. That was nothing aside from the seven tiny glass snowflakes, which each member had one of as a good luck charm.

 

He knew he could have gone and bought some decorations, some of the shops would be open for sure. Sungjong however felt too down for that.

 

Looking at the scarcely decorated tree Sungjong sighed again.

 

“What if at least someone came back?” he thought aloud, as he buried most of his face into the fur of his bear. It effectively rid him of his sight for the moment and left him with only his mouth free. “Wouldn’t that be great?”

 

- - -

 

Hinges creaking softly.

The door opening.

 

It was almost too easy to think of that happening for Sungjong, as he heard the sounds of someone’s entrance hundreds of times. It was not only the seven of them who came through the door several times a day after all.

 

“Were Woohyun-hyung to be the one to come back, he would do so in a package deal with Sunggyu-hyung.” Sungjong laughed to himself, figuring that with no one around he might as well not be quiet.

 

“If only the two of them came it would end up pretty awkward. Woohyun-hyung being his greasy self around Sunggyu-hyung all the time, no matter the company, would mean me retiring to bed early once he started sneaking his hands to inappropriate places.” Sungjong imagined how the evening would go. “It wouldn’t be the first the time that happened.” the maknae of Infinite smirked into the bear’s fur at the end.

 

The boy knew that however improbable, were someone to really come back, Sunggyu and Woohyun would be the most likely a couple to come. Woohyun’s family – whom they decided to spend Christmas with – was from Seoul after all.

 

“Unlikely though... still only about as unlikely as Dongwoo-hyung and Hoya-hyung coming.” the sole occupant of the dorm for the time being mused. “Dongwoo-hyung’s family lives in Guri, not that far either... were they to visit Hoya-hyung’s family the ride there would be even longer than for me. What if they did come though?”

 

- - -

 

Sungjong could easily imagine the two rappers’ antics, were they to be alone in the dorms with him.

 

He could clearly imagine Dongwoo imitating Sunggyu in the leader’s absence, or him doing some other silly action to cheer him up. He had one of the cheeriest nature’s Sungjong ever encountered.

 

Hoya would laugh along with him, sometimes adding something of his own, or maybe he’d think up a dance competition of sorts for the three of them. They would all know who would be the sore loser from the very start, but they would enjoy the time spent on it, and at least the girl dances Sungjong knew he’d be pretty good at.

 

“Yeah, as if they don’t make fun of me enough because of that.” he grumbled to himself, tightening his hold on his white bear as he looked up at the tree he still sat in front of.

 

“But we would have so much fun.” Sungjong smiled to himself as he continued on imagining how much different the day he was to spend - and was in process of spending - alone could be like.

Getting up from the floor Sungjong continued on his day dreaming.

 

“They’d probably insist that I open the gift from them earlier, even if we all agree to open them along with the rest of the presents we were to get. Dongwoo-hyung seemed way too eager to know what the reaction to my gift would be, who knows what that dinosaur thought up this year.” Sungjong snorted, remembering the gift from second eldest of Infinite which he received the year before. Sungjong was not one to just throw away things, and he did not do that with that gift either.

 

That however did not mean he had to have it anywhere accessible, not to mention actually use the gift.

 

“When does hyung think I’d use the handcuffs anyway?” he mumbled to himself as he prepared himself something to eat. Time ticks by swiftly when one is lost in his own thoughts, it seemed, and Sungjong hadn’t eaten since before the call from home, which he had received in the morning, specifically some four hours ago.

 

‘I was supposed to be home by about now.’ Sungjong realised as he looked at the kitchen clock, his mood going downhill fast.

 

He did not even eat much of the food in the end.

 

- - -

 

Afternoon found Sungjong once again seated in front of the Christmas tree.

 

He sat in front of it in silence, not really knowing what to say.

 

He realised crystal clear that he was doing exactly what he did not want to do, wallowing in self-pity and misery, but there really was not much he could do about that. Thoughts like that just came one did not really have much chance at keeping them at bay. They did not ask for permission before they took root.

 

“Pathetic.” Sungjong sneered at his own state. He however knew not what to do to make himself feel better. He had once more played with the idea of calling someone from the rest of the

Infinite, if only to hear a friendly voice. He however did not want to intrude sill and so the idea was shot down... with a cannon.

 

Instead of doing that Sungjong once more veiled himself in the beautiful illusion of having his friends near.

 

- - -

 

‘Were Sungyeol-hyung and Myungsoo-hyung to be here,’ Sungjong imagined. ‘the day certainly wouldn’t be boring.’

 

That however would be more of a result of observations.

 

As it were, the relationship between Myungsoo and Sungyeol was the newest among the three couples that formed in the group, not even two months long yet. For that reason the two were unusually shy around each other, awkward in situations they wouldn’t be before and sensitive to others’ jabs all the more.

 

‘It’s just too funny and entirely too cute to watch.’ Sungjong assessed, snorting. ‘Maybe it’s better that they went off to visit Sungyeol-hyung’s family.’

 

It however was sour grapes logic, he knew that.

 

- - -

 

Sungjong glanced at the clock once more sighing over how much time he spent moping around.

He picked up his bear and attempted to stand up, but so much time spent with mostly sitting made his legs a bit wobbly and he staggered, grazing the tree as he tried to catch balance.

He did manage it in the end, but as he stood up, finally, his eyes fell on the tree, from which one of the stars was falling on the floor.

 

Being a child in his soul still, Sungjong could not pass the opportunity presented and he closed his eyes,

 

‘Make a wish...’

 

Hinges creaking softly.

The door opening.

 

Sungjong’s eyes opened quickly as his head snapped to the door, from which he heard familiar sounds coming.

 

Familiar voices...

 

“Halloo?”

 

“Hey there!”

 

“Woohyun you idiot, you stepped on my foot!”

 

“Sungjong?”

 

“It’s not my fault your feet are so big. I have to step somewhere.”

 

“You there lemon candy boy?”

 

“Stop bickering you two!”

 

Sungjong’s face brightened with a smile as he all but ran to the hall, where the voices were coming from and indeed, there, in the hall six idols were crammed in the little space, all heads turning to him once he spoke.

 

“Hello. What are you all doing here?”

 

“Well, we spoke with the manager...” Sunggyu started, but was soon cut off by his boyfriend at whom he glared.

 

“And he told us what happened.”

 

“And so we called each other, and explained to everyone...” Myungsoo took over, however even his own boyfriend did not have an inclination to let him speak.

 

“And so here we are. We couldn’t have left our beloved baby of the family alone on Christmas.”

 

“Surprise!” Hoya and Dongwoo exclaimed at once, throwing their arms into the air.

 

At that Sungjong could only laugh.

 

It was all so absurd. So improbable. So unreal. Yet…

 

Soon enough they all laughed. They laughed so hard that by the time they could stop they barely remembered why they even started.

 

All but Sungjong... and the little yellow star.

 

‘I don’t want to spend Christmas alone.’

---

 

A/N: Dear prompter, I hope that this is at least partly what you imagined your story to turn out like. Taking AllJong in friendship sense seemed as the way to go here, as I couldn’t have come up with a “relationship” storyline that wouldn’t turn out pretty thus against the rules. :p I as second one to take on this prompt can only say that I’m sorry that you did not get this story on Christmas as you might have hoped, unfortunately I couldn’t have done anything about that. I hope you enjoyed it either way (^v^)/

 

StarlightSpirit: This is just so cute. Poor lonely Jongie and yay for the happy ending. I love reading Infinite friendship fics like this because I think that they are this close in real life!  This was just cute and I love ninja Woogyu and Yadong :3 Thank you author-nim :)