I changed the story a bit from its original plot in honor of the holiday spirit...so...this might . You have been warned.

                Daehyun was fourteen when he broke a mirror.

                Sure, playing catch with a baseball inside a furniture store was a bad idea, but that one sales clerk was hot and even if she was most likely twice his age Daehyun still had an uncanny impulse to impress the ladies.

                She wasn’t very impressed.

                So Daehyun’s parents were forced to pay the price of the broken glass their dumb child caused, thus preventing said dumb child from getting that one video game he had been begging for since his birthday in the summer for Christmas. He broke a mirror! That in itself was a punishment!

                Yeah? So what?

                He hadn’t thought much of it back then.

                (Minus the mini tantrums he threw until Christmas.)

                Daehyun wasn’t superstitious.

                It was only a coincidence that he ended up hopelessly single for the next seven years of his life.

                A pure, bitter coincidence.

---

                The first time Daehyun ever met him was on a cold winter day. The type of day any romantic novel would start out with; white patches decorating sidewalks, snow tracing the tree branches, fogged windows and puffs of breath visible by the eye, the winter air nipping at your nose. Although the setting was pretty much the same, their first meeting was nowhere near romantic. In fact, it started out with a dysfunctional car.

                But let’s stray off topic for a moment. A common phrase Daehyun grew up with as a child stuck to him ever since the day he was forced to apologize to a trio of s who had stolen his lunch. His.

                 It was a good lunch, too. His parents had finally allowed him the privilege to enjoy the delicacy known as chocolate after he had been banned from it due to a certain incident involving his aunt’s hair. Just as he was about to unwrap the bar of heaven, the goons of his school swept in and swiped his beloved away. And as compensation for his troubles, Daehyun had received a stinging, taunting flick on the forehead. It left a mark.

                Daehyun had been a very short, flimsy child back then, so his only object of defense was his Batman lunch box (of justice). He had been sent to the principal’s office immediately after however, because apparently, whacking someone over the head with a metal box was not the way to accurately solve a problem.

                So he had been forced to read an apology letter written in crayon out loud to the trio of s, and Daehyun later ran home to complain to his parents about how unfairly he had been treated. That was when he first heard it. His mother, a fraction amused, had told him to be careful of trios, for “bad luck comes in threes.”

                Daehyun had never been superstitious. Of course he learned of more superstitions while growing up, especially the cursed black cat myth. But all of those were simply fun and games, comedic things to say to amuse your friends or to scare the children. Daehyun never really believed in them.

                However, that one “Bad luck comes in threes” phrase was the first thing to pop up into Daehyun’s head when he first tried to start his car that morning.

                Two of his wheels were stuck, buried under snow.

                Another one was flat.

                With a curse, Daehyun kicked the one wheel that was spared of his misfortune and contemplated on what to do next.

                Daehyun was never a big winter guy. He was more of a spring man, which was quite contradicting considering the fact that he was allergic to everything growing out of the ground during his favorite season. At least dainty flowers couldn’t freeze his tires into place.

                But Daehyun also wasn’t the most focused of guys. Yes, he was already aware of the fact that he was running late for his lectures and that he was perfectly capable of running to his university, but because Daehyun was Daehyun and Daehyun owned a one-track mind, the second thing to pop up into his head after realizing his dilemma was the ache and gurgle in his stomach.

                He was hungry.

                And hungry meant pizza.

                Daehyun refused to run to his university. His muscles and ability were for show and tell, not for show and do, so ordering pizza had every pro out-weighing whatever cons might exist (what con could exist in pizza?) in his plan. Ordering pizza meant a car would drive in. A car meant a ride. And pizza meant pizza.

                Daehyun decided that he was a genius. So he whipped out his Batman-cased phone and searched for the nearest pizza place. Moments later his order had been taken and he was given the wait time of ten minutes. Sure, he’d be about ten or so minutes late to class, but hey, at least he’d be there eventually.

                So Daehyun sat himself down on the curb, awkwardly positioning his legs so they didn’t slide down the icy snow packed against the edges of the street. His fingers were freezing, as were his ears and nose and face and , but the only thing that ever really annoyed Daehyun was that his fingers were always freezing. They were never warm, never hot, only cold. Today they seemed to be even more frozen than usual.

                Minutes later, out of pure boredom, Daehyun began to tap the sidewalk with his stiff fingers, flinching at the strange, numb, tingling sensation that vibrated up and down his fingers with each tap. Hungry, hungry, he was seriously hungry. So hungry that all he could ever think about was how hungry he was rather than the car that stopped a few feet away from him.

                It was only when he heard a squeal did Daehyun look up, and there it was, heaven looking him straight in the eye.

                A pizza box.

                Held by some cute yet awkward-looking kid that seemed younger than him by a couple of years, but that didn’t matter. Pretty boy was delivering his pizza, and he had a car. That was good enough for Daehyun.

                Pizza boy was struggling to get out of the car, the pizza box tangled in between his seatbelt and him. Just as he released himself from that prison Daehyun decided to chirp out, “Hi!”

                The boy yelped, fumbling with the pizza and causing Daehyun’s heart to nearly fall into the depths of hell. Luckily the boy found his footing and his coordination just in time before the pizza could ever reach the ground. He spun around, cheeks red with embarrassment. A gust of wind blew his bangs into his face, and Daehyun had to hold in his laughter.

                “Sorry about scaring you,” he apologized, getting up and approaching the younger boy, “but I just got a bit excited there, seeing you hold my pizza.”

                The boy let out a scoff, raising his nose up into the air indignantly, cheeks darker than before. “Scared? You didn’t scare me, it’s just that the road was sort of icy so I slipped.”

                Daehyun paused to stare beneath the boy’s feet, only to find it completely void of any snow. “Right,” Daehyun said, deciding to ignore the blatant lie. He reached into his back pocket and fished out his wallet, sorting through the bills messily placed inside. “Well, I hope you don’t mind, but I am quite ready to enjoy that pizza of yours.”

                The other straightened up, and Daehyun caught a glance of his name tag.

                Yoo Youngjae

                “No, I don’t mind at all, sir,” Youngjae declared, a sweet smile on his face. Daehyun handed him the correct amount as Youngjae exchanged the pizza with him. “This is your pizza, right?” Youngjae asked skeptically as he sorted through the bills. “I’m not giving this to some bum, am I?”

                Daehyun let out a laugh, shaking his head as he took a peek through the box. “Yes this is my pizza. You have nothing to worry about.”

                “Alright then.” Youngjae grinned in satisfaction, eyes curling into crescents. “Thank you, and have a great day!” The boy bowed and twirled around, ready to get back to his delivery car.  

                “Wait! I have one more favor!” Daehyun suddenly yelled, balancing the pizza box on one hand as he used the other to latch onto the delivery boy’s wrist.

                The younger looked a bit terrified by the request Daehyun followed up with as if he were afraid the older would do something unholy to him. But Daehyun quickly reassured him and stated that all he really needed was a ride to his classes. Youngjae still seemed reluctant, but eventually agreed, sticking Daehyun in the back seat of the car since the passenger side was already stacked to the top with pizzas.

                Everything seemed to be going fine, then, as they sat in an awkward silence within the vehicle. Daehyun remained in the back, casually chewing on his pizza as the aroma of the other fresh slices danced in his nostrils. He was a bit tempted to go and steal another slice from another box now that his was almost finished.

                He wasn’t exactly sure about what happened next, but the next thing Daehyun knew he was being yelled at for trying to grab another pizza. And now they were arguing back and forth. Youngjae for obvious, I-need-to-keep-my-job reasons, and Daehyun for I’m-ing-hungry-who-cares reasons. Soon it was settled after Youngjae whacked Daehyun over the head with his totally-not-nerdy pizza boy hat, the ride continuing from then on in silence.

                “.”

                Almost in silence.

                Daehyun stopped rubbing his sore head to look up at Youngjae in question.

                Youngjae looked at him through the rear-view mirror, fluffy cheeks flushed crimson, face apologetic.

                “What’s wrong?” Daehyun asked, raising an eyebrow at the kid who was supposed to be driving him to his university.

                Youngjae looked away, cheeks still a nice shade of red as he avoided Daehyun’s gaze, instead opting to looking out the window. He unlocked the doors and began to step out. “I…the car…sort of…” He didn’t finish. He didn’t really need to.

                Daehyun looked over the driver’s seat curiously and stared at the fuel meter.

                Empty.

                 Groaning, he pushed himself out of the car as well and observed their surroundings. What even was his luck? Walking to the university still seemed impossible by now, what with Daehyun being tired after eating all that pizza. There was no gas station nearby either. Cars were useless. He was going to fail college. Oh well.

                The first time Daehyun ever met Youngjae was on a cold winter day. The type of day any romantic novel would start out with; white patches decorating the sidewalks, snow tracing the tree branches, fogged windows and puffs of breath visible by the eye, the winter air nipping at your nose. Although the setting was pretty much the same, their first meeting was nowhere near romantic. In fact, it started and ended with a dysfunctional car.

---

                The second time they met, Daehyun was bored, finally left with a day void of any work. He actually did all his work for once. Who knew being productive actually did something? But because Daehyun had nothing to do this Wednesday and his two only friends (Daehyun was a loser) were either off on a date or ing in the back seat of a car, the guy was left with nothing to do but to walk around town with his frozen fingers stuffed in his pockets, face shielded with a scarf.

                The weather had dropped a considerably large amount, leaving Daehyun filled with regret about his initial decision of actually stepping outside of his apartment that afternoon. He spent about an hour inside a café, glaring out the window with a cup of coffee in his hand, trying his best to somehow melt the snow outside with his gaze.

                Now he was trudging through the six-inch snow, grumbling to himself about how cold and bored he was.

                A kid had thrown a snowball at another kid that happened to be standing right next to Daehyun. Daehyun now had snow in his face.

                His entire face was as stiff as his fingers but hey, at least he had a scarf.

                “It’s okay,” Daehyun said for the millionth time as he wiped the snow off his face. The two kids were apologizing profusely to him, one of the two even going to such measures as to get down on their knees. After a while it began to get awkward, so Daehyun ended up just walking away (and he wondered why he only had two friends).

                 He was just about to cross the snow-tainted street when he heard a frantic voice call desperately behind him.

                “Kids?! Jongup! Junhong!”

                Daehyun whirled around, adjusting his scarf over his lips as his eyes caught sight of an awfully familiar face. He tilted his head to the side, confused as he watched the familiar boy (who was he?) scurry over the sidewalk, head snapping in different directions at such a pace that made Daehyun wonder how he didn’t get whiplash. He then took off in the direction Daehyun had just left in, leaving Daehyun utterly confused and frustrated.

                He couldn’t remember who that was. And it was bothering him.

                It was bothering him greatly.

                So, even though it was the winter and Daehyun absolutely hated the winter, the blond decided that it was necessary to take a few more minutes outside to go on ahead and follow the familiar – not-so familiar – stranger? – probably a stranger – down the sidewalk.

                “There you two are!” came the same voice, absolute relief in its tone. The sounds of two children laughing flew through Daehyun’s frozen ears as he entered the scene. There he was, the familiar stranger holding the hands of the two boys that had been playing around the streets a bit earlier. Daehyun couldn’t help but coo at the sight because really, that familiar person was cute and so were those kids.

                “Gosh, don’t go running off like that. I know Frozen was cool to you guys but we really need to get home before the snow gets worse,” the familiar stranger lectured, tugging on their hands as he began to lead them down the sidewalk. But he gasped just as soon as he ran into Daehyun.

                “Sorry!” he apologized quickly, cheeks pinker than they already were from the cold air.

                And then it clicked in Daehyun’s head.

                Those cheeks – those red cheeks, he’d recognize them anywhere (not really).

                “Yoo Youngjae,” he blurted out, successfully scaring all four present. Smooth, Daehyun. Real smooth. “I-I mean, it’s okay,” he stated once again, clearing his throat because damn he just realized how creepy his memory of this delivery boy must have been.

                “O-Oh, uh…” pizza boy—Youngjae said, blinking as he pulled the kids closer to himself.

                “Who’s that?” the boy on his left said, a lost look on his face.

                “Who’s him?” the boy on his right who sported a ramen hairstyle asked as well.

                “You know him?” Left.

                “I hit him by accident earlier!” Right.

                “Jongup, Junhong!” Youngjae hissed, glaring at the two children who pouted in return. He then turned apologetically to Daehyun. “Sorry about that – them – me – ah.” He shook his head, cheeks even more pink. “Sorry.”

                “It’s okay,” Daehyun reassured him once more, and he swore that if he had to say that statement one more time he’d have to start charging people. “But uh, it is Youngjae, right?” He wanted to make sure he didn’t just scream some random kid’s name out to some random strangers.

                “U-Uh yeah, it is.” Youngjae nodded. “I don’t quite remember you though.”

                “Daehyun,” Daehyun answered stupidly, realizing that he had no real significance in the other’s life and that the mention of his name didn’t really mean anything. “You delivered pizza to me…once.”

                “Pizza!?” the kid on the right exclaimed.

                “Hyung has pizza?” The left kid looked up hopefully at the blushing boy.

                “Oh uh…” He ignored the kids as a look of realization crossed his eyes. “Oh! I tried driving you to your classes, too.”

                “Yeah,” Daehyun said, awkwardly dragging out the word. “That guy, right?”

                “Hm, well, it was nice seeing you again I guess,” Youngjae mentioned hurriedly, glancing down at his watch and then at the two children beside him, “but we really need to get going—“ He was cut midway by an abrupt gust of wind that caused him to shiver.

                “Hyung, are you cold?” the one on the left asked.

                “Told you you should have brought a scarf!” the one on the right declared defiantly.

                “I-I’m fine,” Youngjae whispered through gritted teeth before shaking his head, letting go of their hands to zip up his jacket further. Daehyun noticed how bundled up the kids were compared to the babysitter himself, sporting only a thick hoodie over another sweater that could barely withstand the snow. He inferred that Youngjae must have spent his entire time dressing those two up instead of himself. Well, at least he was wearing gloves, something that Daehyun never had the mind to do.

                Strangely enough, however, something in Daehyun’s conscience told him to unwrap his own scarf from his neck in favor of giving. Maybe it was his gentlemanly nature (ha), or maybe it was how cold the other looked. But Daehyun somehow found it in him somewhere to sacrifice his scarf for the boy, a stranger. How weird is that?

                “Here,” he said, stepping forward and winding the scarf around Youngjae’s neck himself, ignoring the surprised look on the younger’s face. “Might catch a cold like that.”

                “N-no, it’s fine—“

                “It’s okay,” , he said it again, “I have more at home anyway.” Daehyun rolled his eyes at how true that was. His fingers were always cold but at least his neck never was.

                Youngjae looked apprehensive as he placed a gloved hand over the scarf, gnawing down on his bottom lip. “O-Okay  but…” He peeled off his gloves, eyeing Daehyun’s shaking hands before holding them out politely for the older, “if I get to have this, you can have these.”

                Daehyun was dancing gleefully on the inside, but his more mannerly side slapped him over the head to remind him that compensation wasn’t needed here. “It’s okay,” dammit, “I’ll live.” He added a charming smile for extra effect.

                Youngjae shook his head persistently, grabbing hold of Daehyun’s numbed hands and placing the gloves in his palms. He hadn’t realized how cold his fingers really were until Youngjae’s own small, warm ones gently brushed his. “I insist,” he said, smiling back. “I have more at home anyway.”

                Youngjae had warm hands. That was really the only thing Daehyun actually remembered after Youngjae and those kids left Daehyun to go back home, the two hyperactive children begging Youngjae to read them a bedtime story before they went to sleep.

                Youngjae’s hands were also very tiny compared to his. About a fourth of his hands were still exposed to the harsh winter air, but that was okay. The difference was a little cute and…

                For once his fingers were actually a little bit warm.

---

                Daehyun really needed a girlfriend.

                Like

                He really needed a girlfriend.

                Life with only his hand was getting to be too boring, and how was it ever possible that a guy with a face like his could never get even one girl to look at him? Come on, he was hot! But no matter how many times he’d tried to flirt, not even one girl bothered to play along. It was a sad world. Girls should be crawling over all him, but they’re not. It was like his dating game just vanished. If it ever even existed, that is.

                He had gotten so desperate that he had finally reached rock bottom.

                One particular day during the month, Daehyun was over at his (only) friends’ house for dinner. Yongguk and Himchan were nice guys, really. But every time Daehyun left the room for one minute he’d come back to them each other’s faces off. It became very hard to properly eat his dinner while sitting in a room filled with so much he wasn’t a part of.

                At one point Yongguk left to go to the bathroom with a “subtle” wink towards Himchan, but the latter hadn’t caught it. Instead he obliviously finished the rest of his food contently. With a satisfying pop, a weird looking, V-shaped bone left his lips. The man twisted it around his fingers while giving Daehyun a strange look.

                He called it a wishbone. Apparently you were supposed to break it with someone and whoever received the bigger half had their wish granted or something. Daehyun wasn’t really paying attention because all he could ever really think about that night was how badly he needed a girlfriend.

                So naturally he had wished for a girlfriend.

                They broke the bone and guess what? Daehyun won.

                …Woohoo?

                He didn’t really care. A simple wish couldn’t get you anything in the real world anyway.

                Daehyun wasn’t superstitious.

                He just really needed a girlfriend.

---

                The third time Daehyun coincidently ran into Youngjae was the day he stupidly misread his calendar and found that his dentist appointment wasn’t until another week. He had mixed feelings about the situation. The dentist situation, not the Youngjae situation. He was okay with the Youngjae situation, but the dentist situation made him feel both relieved and annoyed. Although Daehyun hated the dentist, he found himself a bit irritated by the fact that he was now forced to go home after he so obediently dragged himself out of bed that morning. Ah, what a waste.

                He glared at the parking meter by his car after realizing he had paid for a whole ing hour that he couldn’t properly use. What a rip off. 

                Daehyun was torn between waiting in his car to make his hour worth it or just leaving. It’d be easy to just leave, but then he’d be giving away a free spot to some random driver who may or may not deserve it. Daehyun wasn’t one to give free things to bad people. What if some robber comes in and takes his spot? Wouldn’t that make him an accomplice?

                 Eventually Daehyun decided that maybe he should just leave and deal with whatever decides to follow him in the end.

                He was already halfway in his car when through the corner of his eye he suddenly caught an extremely familiar boy across the street.

                Could he even consider him “familiar” when he still barely knew him?

                Daehyun blatantly stared at the stranger – Youngjae who stood across the street, staring down at the parking meter with a confused expression plastered on his face.

                 He wasn’t quite sure what any of this meant, what with running into Youngjae a second time already in one week, but it certainly felt weird. It really was a small world.

                He didn’t even know Youngjae that well, yet somehow he was compelled to call out to him. Coincidences were funny. They were something to talk about anyways.

                “Hey!” he yelled out, hands cupped over the sides of his mouth like a megaphone. “Youngjae!”

                Said boy looked up with a startled expression on, eyes darting across the area until they landed on Daehyun. A half confused, half amused look came over his face upon seeing Daehyun, and the latter could tell that Youngjae was thinking the same “small world” thing as him.

                “Hi!” Youngjae yelled back, a wide grin plastered on his face. “Daehyun!”

                So he remembers my name. Oddly enough Daehyun felt quite satisfied and happy with that. Daehyun motioned with a simple tilt of his head for Youngjae to come over, an inviting smile on his face. He could kill some minutes doing this, maybe be able to successfully use his meter. Plus Daehyun needed more friends. Maybe this way he could actually make a third friend.

                Youngjae crossed the street after looking both directions, and Daehyun noticed that he was wearing his scarf. “Hi,” Youngjae greeted again as soon as he stood next to him, “funny running into you again.”

                “Yeah,” Daehyun agreed with a grin. “I suppose it was meant to be.” Wait, is it too early to joke about things like that? , of course it is, we’re not even friends! All he did was deliver my pizza! Daehyun mentally slapped himself in the face. Great, he just screwed up his chance at this friendship.

                But Youngjae laughed, the sound soothing to Daehyun’s surprised ears. “Sure,” Youngjae agreed, nodding his head, “it definitely was meant to be.”

                Daehyun wasn’t quite sure how to comeback with that one, so he remained glued into place awkwardly, loss of any coherent words as the boy grinned cheekily up at him. He had no idea what to do – how do you make friends again? Was he supposed to start up a conversation or something? Was there a guide to doing this?

                “So…uh…what are you up to?” Daehyun asked in a tone that was meant to be casual.

                “Uhm…I have a dentist appointment,” Youngjae muttered as he turned to glance at his car behind him. “My car is parked but I don’t have any change…”

                This, of course, was apparently a sign. A light bulb flashed above Daehyun’s head as a brilliant idea came to mind.

                Daehyun didn’t want to waste his meter and Youngjae definitely wasn’t a criminal (at least he thought so). There was no harm in giving the latter his slot for free, right?

                “Oh, that’s funny because I was actually just about to leave,” Daehyun said quickly, pumped up a bit by the fact that he had a chance to be a good citizen in that moment. “I thought that my own dentist appointment would be today when it was really scheduled for next week. I already paid this meter so…uh…you could have the space. I can’t really use it now.”

                “Really?” Youngjae asked, eyes wide in disbelief. “You’d let me?”

                “Sure,” Daehyun said, opening his car door. “I have no use staying here anyways.”

                Youngjae grinned and without thinking, wrapped his arms around Daehyun’s neck, hugging him. Daehyun froze again, the scent of vanilla and the feeling of warmth overcoming his body. His heart fluttered just a bit.

                The younger then snapped back to his senses. He sheepishly quickly pulled away, clearing his throat and straightening out his coat.

                “You’re too nice,” Youngjae said bashfully, cheeks red. “First the scarf, then this space…I can’t—“

                “Really, it’s no big deal.” Daehyun waved it off nonchalantly, though on the inside he felt like Spiderman or something. I’m such a good person. “There’s no need to worry about it.”

                Youngjae finally nodded his head in understanding and glanced back over at his car. “Okay,” he finally agreed, turning to walk away. Once he got to his own car across the street Youngjae suddenly yelled out, “Good karma will come back to you eventually!”

                Daehyun blinked as he got into his car. Karma? He shrugged off the odd phrase and pulled his seat belt on. “Karma,” sure. Maybe Youngjae was that type of person. The superstitious kind.

                But Daehyun felt good as he drove home that day, having the knowledge that he had done a total of two nice things for Youngjae already – a stranger. Not a complete stranger, but a stranger. He wasn’t quite sure if he could consider Youngjae anything but a stranger yet, even if he’s run into him a couple of times. He doubted he’d ever meet Youngjae again.

                Daehyun wasn’t superstitious.

                It was only a coincidence that he ended up finding 20000 won half buried in the snow on his way home from his classes later that day.

                A pure, pleasant coincidence.

---

                Daehyun had a problem.

                Though he rarely acknowledged his problem, he could very much agree now that he had a problem.

                The fact that he was hungry nearly three quarters of the day was a very big problem. Especially now, when it was nearly sunset, and Daehyun was left with nothing to do but to walk through dusk with an umbrella in hand and the goal of making it to the nearest gas station for just a tiny snack before dinner. It wasn’t raining yet, but the forecast said it would eventually. Daehyun was prepared. See? He could be smart sometimes.

                Though it hadn’t rained yet that day the streets were still awfully ugly. This was Daehyun’s least favorite type of weather. Rain in the winter made snow soggy and disgusting, mixed with the black of the streets. But…even though it was disgusting it reminded him of Oreo ice cream – and now of course, he wanted Oreo ice cream.

                His pace quickened as his boots made awkward slosh sounds on the soggy snow.

                The walk from his apartment to the gas station thankfully wasn’t too far. Soon enough he spotted his snack haven in the distance. He let out a sigh of relief as he quickened his pace even more.

                Just as he was about to cross a street, a high-pitched meow floated through his ears. Daehyun stopped moving to turn his head towards the direction of the sound.

                He was faced with glowing yellow eyes, possession of the black cat staring directly at him.

                How cute, was Daehyun’s initial thought as it slowly began to saunter across his path. His eyes followed the little creature happily, his lips formed into a delicate smile. Cats were adorable.

                With a swing of its tail, the cat hopped dangerously onto the road without a care, another meow escaping its little kitty mouth. Scared for the animal’s life, Daehyun reached out for it, eyes wide in worry. “Kitty, no—“ he exclaimed, but was cut off by a loud clap of a thunder, and inevitably: rain.

                Heavy rain, to be more precise.

                The cat completely forgotten, Daehyun scrambled to open his umbrella, fumbling with the handle. Open, open, open, . The goddamn umbrella was stuck. Cursing, Daehyun began sprinting through the rain, umbrella completely useless in this si