It was that time of year again. It’s the time where people go insane with the spending all in preparation for the holiday. This varies from decorations, to clothing and accessories, to even food for the holiday dinner. Yes, Christmas. That is the wonderful holiday that has arrived, yet, again. Granted, Christmas is loved by many, but it made it hell on a lot of people.

Take Sehun for example. Cafes are always busy, but during the Christmas season, it’s absolute hell on him.

♦

“Can I get five hot chocolates; all topped with whipped cream, two topped with chocolate and cinnamon and the other topped with chocolate and peppermint?”

Sehun just looks at the girl--who couldn’t be but a couple years out of middle school--and blinks. “You are aware that the ‘chocolate’ is syrup right?” She nods. “And the ‘peppermint’ is bits of candy cane chopped up?” She nods again and he just sighs. “Is that all for you?”

“How fresh are your muffins?”

“I just put them out ten minutes ago. While you stood there and asked about all the flavors of coffee that we have.”

“I wasn’t paying attention,” she says in an annoying ‘I’m not playing any attention now’ voice. “I was looking at the menu.”

Sehun makes as if to throw something at her, but his boss comes along and pulls him away. "Go take the garbage out, now." Sehun looks at him and heaves a long frustrated sigh. "Don't make me tell you again.” Swearing under his breath, Sehun pulls his arm away from his boss and goes to do as said, mumbling vulgarity and profanity under his breath as he does so.

Once he was outside, Sehun screamed out his frustrations. He hated his job, really despised it. He was only working here because Joonmyeon forced him to. ‘This will help your anti-social attitude,’ he said. ‘Your prude personality will get so much better and you’ll not cower from people.’ Sehun scoffed at his thoughts. “I don’t cower from people,” he spits out and tosses the garbage in the garbage can. “I hate people and there is a difference.”

“I don’t think so.”

Sehun turns around to see none other than Zitao standing there with that stupid smug look of his. “Why are you here? You do know that I can’t have friends drop by while I’m at work, right?”

“You’re avoiding the subject, Sehun,” he laughs. “But if you must know, I came to get some hot chocolate; nine of them, actually.”

“How am I the only working this week?”

“You’re the only one with a strict boss.”

“But doesn’t Jongin have school?”

“He was on break since this Monday.”

I’m going to quit this job after the holidays, he thinks to himself and makes to go back into the cafe. Zitao follows him, of course, he always does. It would be too difficult for him to use the front entrance to come into the cafe. “Any flavored creamer added to the hot chocolate?”

Zitao is quiet for a few moments and then answers. “I think Joonmyeon, Chanyeol, Jongdae and Minseok hyung wanted peppermint flavoring; Yixing hyung and Jongin wanted without and Kyungsoo, Baekhyun and I would like caramel.”

"Why is everyone ordering hot chocolate?" Sehun complains as he walks into the employee entrance. "We sell coffee too. Why is hot chocolate bought the most?"

"I'm going to take a wild guess and say it's because of the season."

Behind him, he can hear Zitao's boisterous laughing and Sehun wished even more than getting fired that Zitao would go to China for Christmas this year. "Sehun, take this latte over to that table," he points in the direction of a young woman, "and go home for the day. Your attitude is piss poor and bad for business. See you Sunday."

"What about tomorrow? Saturday's are the busiest here."

"I have some temp's coming in to make some Christmas cash, so it won't hurt the business anymore than your attitude today does. Just go."

With a groan, Sehun nods and goes into the back to get his coat. He comes back out and takes all the fresh chocolate muffins he set out. "Consider this my Christmas present."

•

"So what are you doing for Christmas?"

Sehun shoved a bit of spicy rice cake into his mouth and shrugged. "My parents are going to Hawaii or something, so I don't know. What about you?"

Zitao shrugged as well. "I was going to go home, but my parents insisted I stay here with you guys."

"Oh."

"You come with me everywhere anyway, so why would it matter?"

Sehun poked at the spicy rice cakes and shrugged again. "It doesn't."

Zitao frowned and nudged Sehun with his foot. "We haven't heard anything from them two; Yixing hyung and I. I asked Yixing hyung and he said that the last he heard from them was when Luhan wished him a happy birthday via text."

That didn't make him feel any better, if he were to be honest. It kind of hurt knowing that Luhan would’ve rather spoken to Yixing than him. “They must be busy,” he concludes, and sets down his fork. “It is the holidays after all.” And even that wasn’t enough to convince himself, let alone Zitao. Deep down, they both knew that they were being ignored.

♦

Every year, there is always that one person you know amongst your friends and family that is always the most excited about Christmas. They always go all out with the decorations, bake far too many cookies and desserts, and always seem to dress the most festive. And that was Yixing. He was always so excited for Christmas and when it got here, there was no ruining his mood.

Only this year was different.

♦

Yixing looked at the brightness of his laptop screen and perked up when he got a response to his private message. He had been waiting all day for a response and he'd finally got one, but he didn't feel as excited as he did when he sent it after everyone left this morning. Maybe it was guilt from lying to everyone? "Yeah, maybe," he says aloud and chews on the nail of his thumb; a habit he can never get rid of.

"Maybe what?"

Yixing jumps at the sound of another person in the kitchen and quickly shuts his laptop. He looks over at the fridge to find Sehun standing there with a bowl of leftover stir fry in his hand and a spoon in his mouth. "It's nothing," he answers and cringes as Sehun eats from the bowl. "Get a plate would you? The rest of us eat leftovers too."

"They aren't eating this one anymore," he snorts and helps himself to the stir fry and a chair at the kitchen table. He shoves some of the stir fry that is also mixed with rice into his mouth and begins to chew on it happily. “Who were you talking to?”

“Why are you home so early?”

“Stop answering my questions with questions to avoid answering the question I asked you.”

“I was talking to my grandmother about coming to see her new years. It’s your turn.”

“I almost blew up at a customer today and my boss sent me home for the night.”

Yixing raises his eyebrows at that. “But it’s not even evening yet and I’m pretty sure that the place is still rather busy.”

Sehun shrugs and helps himself to Yixing’s water. “I said the same thing, but he said that temp’s were coming in later and that I wasn’t really needed anyways.”

“He said your attitude would ruin his business, didn’t he?” Sehun nods and Yixing sighs. “You have got to learn to control your temper, Sehun. You can’t just go off on every person that pisses you off. You’re never going to keep a job that way or friends for that matter.”

“I had friends,” Sehun mumbles while stabbing some peppers with the spoon. He catches a glimpse of Yixing’s sympathetic and equally sad eyes and looks back down at the bowl. “I don’t need to make anymore friends just to end up chasing them away. I’m perfectly fine with pissing people off.”

"Sehun..."

"I have to go change. I'm going out with Zitao hyung soon."

Yixing just sighed and watched as Sehun left the kitchen. "Just wait a bit longer, Sehun."

♦

Joonmyeon was kind of indifferent towards the holidays and it was partially his parents that were the reason for that. It wasn’t that they did anything horrible; it’s just that they didn’t do anything at all. They were always too busy to sit down and have Christmas dinner with him at the least. You’d think that children of politicians would be used to not having that quality time with their parents- especially on holidays, but in all honesty, it is kind of upsetting in a way.

At least it is for Joonmyeon.

♦

Joonmyeon looked at their monstrous tree and wonder just how in the hell he was going to get it upstairs. It was later in the evening and not many people were home yet; no doubt because of work or other engagements. “Maybe that isn’t a bad thing,” he says aloud and continues to look at the tree. If Sehun and Jongin were here, they would just laugh at him for being too short to handle a tree this big by himself. 

“Do you want some help with that, hyung?"

Joonmyeon turns around to see Kyungsoo standing at the foot of the steps and nods. "That would be great, thanks."

"It's no problem," he answers and walks over to take the top half of the tree off. And this makes Joonmyeon laugh at himself because he forgot that he could've done that. "Yixing hyung didn't need any help in the kitchen right now and he said that you might have needed help, so here I am."

"What are you doing home on a Saturday night anyway?"

Kyungsoo shrugs and heads upstairs after Joonmyeon. "A group of friends from work invited me to go drinking with them, but as a designated driver, not to actually drink with them. So I decided not to go."

"I'm sorry, Kyungsoo..."

"It's okay really," he says as they move through the kitchen and into the living room. "I never look old enough to drink, so it's a given that people don't invite me to drink with them."

But it wasn't okay, though. Kyungsoo works at a local theatre- acting in musicals or in plays as semi-important characters and he is the youngest, but also the newest amongst the group of people he works with and he tries so hard to get them to like him; to fit in with all of them. "I know how hard you try to get them to realize that just because you are young, doesn't mean that you have less experience or talent than they do. It's important to you; their acknowledgement and friendship."

Kyungsoo couldn’t argue with that because it was true. “It is important to me and ever since the casting came out for our Christmas musical, they’ve been really… I don’t know.” After Joonmyeon sets the bottom half of the tree down in an empty part of the living room, Kyungsoo puts the top half on and steps back. “I feel like since I’ve gotten the lead in the musical, they’ve been doubtful of what I can do as lead, but have been semi-nice to me because they have to.”

Joonmyeon stopped in the middle of fixing the branches and finding plugs and looked back at Kyungsoo. “You got the lead?” Kyungsoo nods. “That’s really impressive, Kyungsoo. Congratulations! Who are you playing?”

“Ebenezer Scrooge,” he answers with a smile. “The director suggested the role to me and I thought, ‘why not?’”

“It really is a fitting role, though.”

Kyungsoo glares at him, but then laughs because it really is a fitting role. “You have the branches bent the wrong way.” Joonmyeon looks back at the tree and furrows his brow. “Just go get the decorations and I will fix them.”

♦

Chanyeol was actually more for giving on Christmas rather than getting. He appreciated the things he did receive on Christmas, but he much prefered to give things to others that get things for himself.

Very much like giving to those in need of it.

♦

Chanyeol held out a backpack to an elderly man and smiled happily as the elderly man took it. The bag was stuffed with non-perishable food and water; also, a warm blanket, mittens, a hat and various other items that was needed. “That is enough to last you for a couple of weeks,” he says and hands the elderly man a plate of food. “But if you come back the same day next week, we’ll give you more water.”

The elderly man smiled and walked away from the table. He bent down to pick up another backpack from the box and when he stood straight again, a girl that looked about his age stepped up to the table. "I know that I was here a couple of days ago, but I need another backpack." 

“We only give one out every two weeks.”

“I need it, though! I don’t care about anything but the food and water. Please!”

“Here,” Baekhyun comes up beside Chanyeol and hands the girl a backpack. “I put some extra in it this time that I bought personally. If you need more, don’t hesitate to come by again. Also, tell Lena that I said hi."

"Thank you," she bows at a 90 degree angle a few times before taking the backpack. "Thank you so much." She shoots Chanyeol a nasty glare before taking the container of food he hands her and leaving.

"Who is Lena?"

Baekhyun takes over Chanyeol's Job and pushes him over to the food. "It's that girl’s four year old daughter," he answers and hands another container of food and a backpack to the next person in line. "They aren't homeless, but the church helps her out with things that she can't afford to get her and her daughter. I help out with food for Lena sometimes when she needs it. Lena has been sick for a few days now and she couldn't afford to get her medicine, so I bought it for her."

"And that is why you work so much over time at that smoothie shop?"  Baekhyun nods and Chanyeol hands him a container to put a lid on. "What's her story anyway?"

“She got pregnant with Lena at age eighteen by a guy that is currently in the military--which is how they aren’t homeless because he helps pay for the apartment they live in and clothes, the basic stuff-- and her parent’s threw her out because they were just that angry with her. They supposedly didn’t think that her boyfriend would stick around, but they didn’t know that her boyfriend and she had gotten married after she turned eighteen. But he told her that there wouldn’t be any jobs that’d pay enough to provide for them, so he enlisted, but it wasn’t enough to feed Lena and her. She opted for a job, but her husband is against Lena staying with strangers, so she comes here for extra help and the church gives her what she needs.”

Chanyeol dropped a serving of rice into another container filled with other various foods and places in next to the others on Baekhyun’s table. It was rather sad, if he were to be honest. Getting pregnant at a young age and not having your parent’s to help you through the rough stages of pregnancy. “It must have been hard on her.”

“What are you going on about over there?”

Chanyeol shakes his head and shoves more rice into another container. “It’s nothing,” he answers and wonders how many grocery stores are having sales on Christmas Eve.

♦

Joonmyeon looked at the tree and squinted his eyes slightly. Something is missing,he thinks and pokes at his lower lip. They put all the bulbs on the tree, tinsel, and other ornaments, but it still looked like it wasn’t completely decorated. “What are we missing?”

“Professional tree decorators,” Kyungsoo asks shamelessly and laughs when Joonmyeon fails to hit him. “I’m just telling the truth here. That tree looks like five year olds decorated it instead of a couple of men in their twenties.”

“It’s not the point of tree decorating, Kyungsoo, it’s the meaning okay? It’s all about the spirit and feelings that you feel around Christmas.”

“That made absolutely no sense. Just like this tree. It doesn’t have a theme or color scheme. It’s all over the place. It’s like a rainbow vomited all over our tree and we gave it a star.”

Joonmyeon laughs and then becomes serious a second later. “Need I remind you that you helped decorate this tree?”

"Hi, sorry, I'm here." A wind whipped Minseok comes running into the living room carrying a small bag and throws it at Kyungsoo. "I would have been here sooner, but the bus ran late after I got out of work and I had to wait thirty minutes for it."

"I had Minseok hyung pick up some angel hair before he came home," Kyungsoo explains smugly while opening the package and handing some of the silver strands to Joonmyeon. He takes a few and tosses them on the tree and continues to do so until a portion of the tree is covered. "This is what the tree was missing. No need to thank me."

"I wasn't going to thank you," Joonmyeon grins and finishes covering the rest of the tree in angel hair. He turns around and pats at Kyungsoo's shoulder. "You get to take all of that angel hair off when it's time to take down the tree."

•

"I've been thinking," Yixing begins while digging into his plate of fried chicken and boiled potatoes, "that we should do a secret Santa this year. I mean, we always by extra gifts for each other, so I figured, 'why not have a little fun and have a secret Santa?'"

"That doesn't sound like a bad idea," Joonmyeon comments and shoots Yixing a thumbs up. 

"I won't have problems shopping for you idiots this year," Jongdae adds and winced after Yixing kicks him from under the table. "What did you do that for?"

"It's damn near Christmas, Jongdae," Yixing sighs and takes a bite of a piece his fried chicken. "Can't you try and be nice at least until new years?"

"I could try, but I don't think I want to."

"Just be nice, for sake," Kyungsoo shouts from the other end of the table. "It's not killing me, so it won't kill you”

“As I was saying,” Yixing continues, clear irritation shown on his face, “this secret Santa thing has a few rules, though. The first being: no one share the amount they spent on secret Santa gifts. There isn’t a limit, but don’t make people feel bad if their present is less expensive than some else’s.” Yixing stops and looks over at Zitao and Joonmyeon who just looked elsewhere. “The second rule is that you have to put serious thought into your gift. Don’t just go to the nearest gas station and grab a car freshener, okay? Don’t be an .” Jongdae looks over at Sehun and they both start laughing. “And lastly: after you draw a name, you can’t change it. Whomever you pick are the one you secret Santa for.”

“So when do we do this,” Sehun asks with a mouthful of potato.

“We can do it after my musical tomorrow night,” Kyungsoo suggests with a shy smile.

“Whoa, you are going to be in a musical,” asks Jongdae while spitting food everywhere; to which everyone looks at him in disgust and he closes his mouth. “Sorry…”

“I’m playing Ebenezer Scrooge in our Christmas musical. I found out last month, but I wanted to wait until I was sure that I had and was keeping the role.”

“Why wouldn’t you keep the role,” Joonmyeon asks out of concern and genuine curiosity. “You are an amazing actor and singer.”

Kyungsoo looked down at his plate and poked at his now soggy potatoes. “My sunbae’s seem to doubt my acting and singing abilities,” Kyungsoo confesses and pushes his plate away from him. “They don’t think that I can successful play the part of Ebenezer Scrooge and I heard from a close co-worker that they are betting that I won’t get any gifts or compliments after the musical.”

Everyone was quiet after hearing that and they kind of just looked at each other. No one really knew what to say to him or if they should cheer him up. Jongin swallowed his mouthful of chicken and took a gulp of water before taking the initiative and saying something to Kyungsoo.

“ what your sunbae’s think, hyung. You know that you are good at what you do and we know that you are good at what you do; you don’t have to prove anything to them. If they can’t see that you are just as good as they are- better even, then I don’t know what to tell them. Don’t let the opinions of other people deter you from doing what you love.”

Kyungsoo smiled again and got up from the table. “I’m going to go shower and then go to sleep. I have to go to the theatre early to practice a bit before the musical. Goodnight.”

Nine more mumbled ‘goodnights’ followed after Kyungsoo as he left and the rest of them just kind of sat there quietly, either looking at their plates or looking at each other. 

“That was deep, Jongin.” Jongdae breaks the silence and clears his throat. He shifts in his seat awkwardly and takes a sip of his water. “I didn’t know that you had it in you.”

“Are you going to go after him and kiss him now?” Sehun asks with a -eating grin and everyone drops their forks and chopsticks and gets up from the table, leaving Sehun to sit there alone. “What did I say?”

♦

The next morning, everyone had been up early for work and gone by the time Yixing had gotten up. He didn’t work, but had gone to school in order to become a composer. So that was a plus to not working and being on break until January, he had the house to himself. But this also gave him more time to get his gift for everyone. 

Yixing looked down at his watch and cursed in the midst of making toast for breakfast. He quickly buttered his toast and held it in his mouth while he quickly put on his coat and grabbed his car keys. Grabbing his cup along the way, he quickly leaves the house and gets in his car in order to make it to the airport in time.

Nearly forty-five minutes later, Yixing stands in the middle of a crowd of people, who too, were looking around for people that they drove here to pick up. He stood on tip-toes, looking over the heads of strangers to see the two people he was waiting for. He even tried calling out for them a few times until a few people looked at him weirdly, then he just went back to quitely looking.

“You aren’t going to find anyone over there.”

Yixing blinks and wonders just what stranger decided to strike up a conversation with him. So he turned around and ran smack into the chest of someone tall. It only took him a moment to realize who he had run into before he threw his arms around said person out of excitement.

♦

Later that night, Yixing told everyone that he’d meet them at the theatre because he had to stop somewhere first. It wasn’t a lie, necessarily, it was just lacking in information. Minseok was the only one that found it odd, though. Yixing was always one for not missing events that someone in the house had. He was always the first one to show up, the rest of them following.

“Where do you think he is going,” Minseok asks Jongdae as they get seated in the theatre along with the other seven. He looks around at the intimate setting, though; he only assumes that it’s the dark red of the theatre seats and the curtain that is giving it that feeling. “Isn’t he always the first person to be at events like these?”

“I don’t know,” Jongdae answers and folds his dressy coat over his lap and looks around at the setting as well. “Then again, Yixing hyung never really tells anyone where he goes on his personal time.”

“That is true,” agrees Minseok. “I just hope he is back before Kyungsoo’s musical starts.”

“I’m sure he will. He would never forgive himself if the play started before he got here.”

Sehun sits down beside Minseok after taking his own coat off and blinks rapidly. “Why does it look like people would in here?” Minseok glares at Sehun and Sehun resist the urge to laugh. “Sorry, hyung, but the lighting in here and the amount of red…”

“Yes, we know, now please stop talking.”

“Can we go for drinks after Kyungsoo hyung’s musical?”

“I think Joonmyeon wanted to go out to dinner to celebrate Kyungsoo getting the main role.” Jongdae answers and Sehun just frowns in return. “You drink far too much, Sehun. Do you know that?"

"Will you guys shut the hell up," Chanyeol says in a hushed tone a couple of seat away from them. "The musical is about to start--if you hadn't notice the lights go dim."

Sure enough, as they looked around the theatre again, the lights were dimmed enough to be able maneuver around people when in need to. The only source of bright light was a beam of it pointed at the center of the giant red curtain. Soon after that, a rather young boy dressed in a black suit comes out on stage and stands in the circle of focused light.

"I want to thank you on behave of the cast tonight," he begins and looks down at a piece of paper--to which a bunch of 'awes' are heard in result of, "for coming out to see out Christmas musical. I am most thankful because I get to play two semi-important parts in this play." He stops suddenly and looks over to his left. He frowns in a childish manner that insinuates that he had just gotten scolded and he looks back toward the audience and continues on with what he was saying. "Anyways, I was told to tell you guys to turn your cell phones off, but what if someone is sick and needs you? Wouldn't that be mean of us...? So maybe just put them on silent and go outside if needed? Also, enjoy our play about a old man dead sent on making everyone's Christmas terrible."

The boy bows and quickly walks off stage with everyone chuckling at his cuteness.

•

Yixing drags the two by the arms in a hurry to get inside the building. He stops at the door that holds the theatre Kyungsoo’s musical currently in and he looks at the two, all flustered and shivering. He clicks his tongue and fixes their suits and bowties. “Don’t give me that look,” he mumbles and fixes both of their wind whipped hair. “I just… I don’t know. I want you to look decent before we walk in that theatre. I feel like I’m trying to keep the pretty wrapping on the gifts from tearing or looking a mess when in fact, the gifts are just people.”

“We are your gifts for them after all,” they say together before laughing silently. 

“I feel like it’s been years since we’ve all been together, but it hasn’t. Why do I feel so nervous?”

“You might be nervous of the reaction we’ll get. That makes even me a bit nervous, all things considering.”

Yixing just nods and looks them over before sighing contently. “Let’s go watch Kyungsoo’s musical, yeah?”

Both of them nod and follow Yixing into the theatre.

•

The theatre was quiet save the sound of singing coming from the stage. When Yixing’s eyes landed on the man dressed in a gray nightgown and a gray Santa-like hat to match, he could only assume that it was Kyungsoo. He was glad because it appeared that he didn’t miss too much of his play, but he still felt bad because he knew that Kyungsoo would be looking for his friends in the crowd of people watching him sing. Yixing ushered the two forward and pointed in the direction of Sehun and his parted brown head. The two nod and make their way to three empty seats behind him. 

“Kyungsoo’s makeup is phenomenal,” Yixing hears Sehun say in a slightly loud, but still quiet tone, his words dripping with awe. “It’s like you can’t even tell that he is a twenty-one year old man.”

Yixing looks over at his gifts and he nods, that being the signal to let their friends be aware that they are there.

“He makes a very good Ebenezer Scrooge, I think,” the first gift leans in so that Sehun could hear what was said. The second leans in as well and says in the same whispered tone, “It’s a good role for him, don’t you think?”

Sehun sits frozen in his seat after the two people he seems to recognize speak and he blinks rapidly as if his mind had been playing tricks on him. But nonetheless, he turns around slowly and his eyes widen and he gasps loudly, covering his mouth immediately after. It doesn’t take long for the rest of them to turn their heads to see what Sehun was looking at and the other seven repeated what Sehun did.

•

After the musical was over, eleven bodies piled out of the theatre following loads of other people that were walking off toward different areas to wait for the people that they were that to see. Yixing stood a few feet away from the other ten. This was because he was honestly afraid for the things that they’d do to him after pulling this stunt and his body just can’t take all of that.

“So Yixing hyung knew that you guys were coming back, after months of being gone, and he didn’t tell us?” The two nod and Sehun furrows his brow. “And this was because this was his gift to us?” They nod again. “That is horrible; sweet, but horrible.”

While they conversed amongst each other, Yixing noticed how distant Zitao was being and he frowned. It seems like out of everyone, he was the least happy about the gifts that were brought for him. With due right, of course, but Yixing had hoped that he’d be somewhat happy.

“Yifan hyung? Luhan hyung?”

Everyone stops in the middle of their conversation when Kyungsoo approaches them. Yixing kind of relaxed at the positive reaction that Kyungsoo is giving. Both Yifan and Luhan look at him and smile. 

“Hey there, Ebenezer ssi,” Yifan teases lightly, earning a scoff from Zitao that goes unnoticed by everyone but Yixing. “It’s been a long time.”

“Why are you guys even here,” Kyungsoo asks after shoving a bouquet of flowers into Joonmyeon’s hands so that he can hug both Luhan and Yifan with free hands. “When did you guys even get here?"

"We arrived in Seoul yesterday," Luhan answers and laughs when he sees Sehun trying to move around them without being noticed. "And we came to see you guys for Christmas."

"I'm going home," Zitao says over the noise and slides into his jacket. He turns on his heels and heads for the exit. "And don't bother, I'm taking a taxi."

Yifan wants to follow after him, but Sehun stops him with a back hug. "Following after wouldn't be the best idea, hyung. I think you can see how angry he still is with you."

Yifan nods. "I didn't expect anything different, honestly."

“Okay,” Joonmyeon begins after buttoning his coat and getting his keys out of his pocket, “how does Italian cuisine sound for everyone?” He gets a mix of nods and hums of ‘yes’ and mumbled ‘it’s fine’ in response. “Let’s hurry up and go then before we get stuck in the parking lot.”

•

It was a mess. Everything at that table was a mess. Joonmyeon felt, at that moment, like he lived with savages. He couldn’t understand how ten grown men could eat enough food for five families. How was it even possible? He looked at the bill and he felt his heart drop a little bit. “You ing savages better not expect anything from me this Christmas,” he spits out and downs the rest of his water.

Jongin snorts and takes another bite of his pasta and meatballs. “You should have been used to how all of us eat by now, hyung. It’s your fault for bringing us to an expensive restaurant.”

“He does have a point,” Luhan adds after swallowing garlic bread. “We are terrible people when faced with food.”

“You kind of have to participate in the secret Santa, Joonmyeon,” Yixing reminds him. “You already drew a name before coming here. You can’t back out now.”

“Why are you so mad anyway,” Sehun asks, genuinely curious. “Did you run out of money to spend or something?”

“I have plenty of money, Sehun,” he answers, insulted. “I just feel like you guys take advantage of my wealth.”

Sehun shakes his head. “We don’t take advantage of your wealth.”

“Tell that to the bill of five-hundred dollars, Sehun. And that doesn’t include the alcohol you’ve consumed since our dinner has arrived. That in itself is nearly two-hundred more.”

“So,” Yifan begins, quickly changing the subject, “how have things been with you guys? Did anything new happen since we had left?”

The table goes silent for the first time since they’ve gotten to the restaurant and Yifan sits back in his chair, wishing that he hadn’t asked that they way he did. Joonmyeon takes them all by surprise when he gets up from his chair suddenly in an angry manner. “Let’s see,” he says and picks up the bill. “Minseok hyung was on antidepressants for the first couple of months that you two were gone, though he didn’t tell anyone even though we all knew. Zitao has been spending a lot of time at the gym to let out his built up anger and aggression towards you.” He reaches into his back pocket to retrieve his wallet and he laughs at Yifan’s idiocy. “So yeah, there are loads of things new that has happened since you left.” He pushes his seat in and pulls out the black card he uses far too much. “When you guys have had your fill, I’ll be in the car.” He leaves them sitting at the table to go pay for the bill, wondering where all that came from so suddenly.

♦

It was Christmas morning and here Chanyeol stood in front of a less-to-be-desired apartment complex. He wasn’t complaining or anything, but this place looked a little edgy and he didn’t quite like it. But he wasn’t here to judge a person’s place of living. He was here to deliver something to Lena and her mother. So after setting the giant box down, Chanyeol inhales deeply and exhales before knocking on the door rather roughly.

Inside, he could hear Christmas music blaring and a soft voice singing along to all the wrong words. It was kind of cute in a way. The door opened finally and Chanyeol stood face to face with a man in a military uniform. “Can I help you?” Chanyeol didn’t like the way he was asked that. 

“I’m from the local church a few blocks from here,” he says awkwardly. “Lena’s mom came by last week and I- well, we were doing a thing and well…”

“Well what?”

“I brought a box of full of a bunch of food that I bought yesterday, and I also have a couple of gifts for Lena in here and well, it’s my gift for your family, sir.”

The man looked at Chanyeol and then looked at the box sitting at his feet. “We aren’t a charity case.”

“This isn’t why I bought this for you guys. I just wanted you to have a good Christmas; I wanted Lena to have a good Christmas.”

The man stares at Chanyeol for a long time, but eventually picks the box up and sets it inside. He turns back to Chanyeol and smiles slightly. “It was really nice of you to buy this for me and my family. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome and have a Merry Christmas.”

“You too.”

•

“I just want to say,” Sehun begins and curls up next to Zitao on the couch to steal his body heat, “that if Chanyeol doesn’t get here in the next five minutes, I’m kicking his .”

“Chill, man,” Baekhyun mumbles, still kind of sleepy. “He told me that he had to drop off a gift to someone from the church earlier this morning before he left. He’ll be here soon.”

“Well I’m tired of waiting for his .”

“Go back to bed, grumpy,” Chanyeol pouts after coming in from the kitchen. “We don’t need your mood ruining the rest of ours.”

“Well, maybe if you were here when we all woke up, I wouldn’t be so ing grumpy, .”

“Can you both stop bickering,” Zitao asks, rest his head on his arm. “I’m trying to go back to sleep.”

“I’m trying to do this same,” Yifan says, siding with Zitao. “So quiet would be nice.”

“Go back to China then,” Zitao casually retorts. “Lord knows you love running there with life here in Korea gets too problematic for you.”

“I thought we got past that a few nights ago…”

“Guess I’m not entirely over it,” he says nonchalantly.

“Anyways,” Yixing raises his voice over the loudness, “shall we get started then?”

“I want to go first,” Joonmyeon says from beside the tree. “Well, I kind of need to.”

Yixing just mumbles an okay and Joonmyeon picks up his gift and walks over toward Jongin; who blinks dumbly. “What are you doing?” 

“This is for you,” Joonmyeon answers and places the box in his lap. “I’m your secret Santa.”

“Oh… Well, then- why in the is it moving?!” Joonmyeon just laughs and urges him to open it. And he does, even though he is freaking out while doing so. When he takes the lid to the box off, his eyes light up and he smiles. “You got me a dog…”

He nods and rubs the back of his neck. “You’ve been talking about the dogs you can’t go over to your parent’s that often to see, so I figured that you’d like have one to come home too.”

Jongin picks up his puppy and hold her carefully in his arms while she playfully bites at his shirt. “Thanks, hyung, really. I’ll take good care of… ...Peach.”

“You’re welcome.”

Kyungsoo gets up from his spot next to Jongin and makes his way toward the kitchen. Soon after, he comes back with a basket. “I suppose it’s my turn to give my gift to the person I am a secret Santa for.” Everyone looks at him, eagerly waiting, but fall disappointed when Kyungsoo gives the basket to Joonmyeon. “It’s not much, but I put thought into it.”

Joonmyeon looks in the basket and he smiles at what he sees. “I love you. You made chocolate covered Oreos and I love you.”

The loud sounds of protesting yells and groans fill the room as Joonmyeon takes off the wrapping and bites into a chocolate covered oreo. “Why couldn’t he have me,” Sehun whines and Zitao covers his mouth. Joonmyeon just laughs and thanks Kyungsoo before reclaiming his seat and looking at the other things in his basket.

Jongdae gets up from his spot and goes over to the tree to pick up the gift he got and he walks over to Kyungsoo to give it to him. “It’s nothing nice, but you should know what to do with it when you open it.” To which Kyungsoo does and when he sees the contents, he grins mischievously. “You love it.” Jongdae states and Kyungsoo nods, knowing exactly what the multiple duct tape and super glue are for. “Have loads of fun,” he laughs and sits back down.

Baekhyun gets up and snickers as he walks over to get the gift he bought: one being wrapped and the other in a black gift bag. He then walks over to the group and stops in front of Jongdae. “Open this one first,” he says and hands the wrapped gift to Jongdae. Jongdae eyes him, warily, and opens the gift to see a pink, black, and white hat with ‘Tokyo’ on it in bold letters.

“Thanks, Baekhyun.” Baekhyun shushes him and hands him the gift bag with his hand covering his mouth. This makes Jongdae nervous, but he looks in the bag nonetheless, choking almost instantly on his own spit. “What the , Byun Baekhyun?!” Baekhyun busts out laughing and nearly falls to the floor in the process. “Seriously, what in the . Why in the did you get me a g-string?!” Everyone starts joining Baekhyun in laughing and Jongdae spew non-stop profanity at them.

•

Later that night, after everything was said and done and they ate dinner, the house became quieter as a few of them went to see family and other friends. Yixing was in the Kitchen video chatting with his family, something that Zitao just got finished with doing. He was now outside with Jongin, who was sitting on the bench in their front yard watching the snowfall with Peach.

“Aren’t you afraid that she is going to catch a cold or something?”

Jongin shakes his head and looks down and Peach who was nibbling on a small bone, also given to him by Joonmyeon. “That’s why she is in my coat where it’s warm.”

“But she is just a puppy,” he points out and notices the small shivering she is doing. “Candy still freezes when we are outside for too long.”

“Fine,” he complies and gets up from the bench to go inside.

Zitao just laughs and sits back against the bench, looking up at the falling snow just as Jongin had been doing. It really was an amazing sight to see, snow falling down around you and catching every bit of light that it can. With everything that has happened since Luhan and Yifan came back, he found a sense of calm in the snowfall.

“Is this seat taken?”

Zitao looks over at none other than Yifan and shakes his head. “I’d rather be alone, though, but of course you are going to sit down anyway…”

When Yifan does sit down, he places a small gift on Zitao’s lap and leans back against the bench. Zitao just looks at it and is urged to open it. When he gets to the gift under the gift wrap, and opens it, he looks at the silver colored ring inside the black box and fights the urge to throw it. “What is this?”

“It’s a friendship ring.”

“I know what it is, . I meant, why are you giving this to me?”

“It’s my way of apologizing to you,” he answers honestly. “Can you not act so disgusted about it. I put some serious thought into that ring and it would be really nice of you if you’d accept it.”

“Has the past several months been a blur to you, Yifan? You left us, your family, for what? Your own space? Breathing room? To be closer to family? You had all of that here. You were home alone quite often because you worked from home. We didn’t make you feel crowded and you went on loads of trips to China and Canada to see family. You had no reason, whatsoever, to leave like you did.”

“I had my reasons Zitao. I missed my family and my friends especially. My mom moved back to China and I just wanted to be with her. I missed having her there when I needed her. And I needed her a lot this year.”

“We needed you here,” Zitao yells. “We needed you here, god damn it. We promised each other that we’d never leave or live without each other. Do you not remember that? But you ed that up and left without anyone knowing and you didn’t contact us, so we were left thinking the worst. Do you know how hard that was on us; me especially?”

Yifan nods, giving up already on trying to defend himself. “I know, Zitao, and I am sorry. I shouldn’t have left like I did. I should have talked to you guys about what I was feeling, just as Luhan did and I know there isn’t anything I can say to fix what I did, but I at least want to try. Can you at least let me do that?”

Zitao looks at him, anger still shown on his face. He gets up from the bench and makes as if to go back into the house, but he stops and walks back over to the bench. “If you think that buying me gifts is going to buy back my friendship, you are deadass wrong.” He opens the box again and takes the ring from it. He takes in the detail on it and the slides it on his thumb. “However, I am not returning this, so… I’ll see you inside.”

Yifan just sighed and looked over at the snow covered streets that were slowly becoming unsafe to drive on again. 

•

It was about eight at night that everyone finally started coming home from their family and friends. Yixing had been the first home, following Kyungsoo because they had been preparing for Christmas dinner. It wasn’t much for presentation, but it was enough to feed twelve savages that pass off as men in their twenties. 

“Are you sure that we made enough, hyung?” Kyungsoo looks around at the table, doubting the result to his and Yixing’s hours of long work. “I can’t help but feel like we should have gone to the store and bought more food.”

Yixing comes back from the kitchen with a decent sized bowl of kimchi and sets it on the table in the little space he had left to put it. “We can only hope that all of this won’t be devoured in the matter of a few minutes. All the grocery stores are closed for the night and I don’t think that you want to tell people that we had convenient store food for Christmas dinner, do you?”

Kyungsoo shakes his head and brings the rest of the food in for Yixing. Jongin comes running into the kitchen looking as white as a ghost. “Peach pooped in Joonmyeon hyung’s shoe. Quick! What do I do?”

Yixing placed a small thing of fish on the table and looked up at him. “Clean it out?”

“But he is in the living room!”

“Do it anyway.”

Groaning at Yixing’s lack of help, Jongin goes in search for some paper towels and some cleaner. His mumbling and cursing can be heard as he leaves the kitchen and the sound of feet moving across hardwood flooring is getting closer and closer to the kitchen. Soon, nine rowdy men come piling into the kitchen and take a spot at the table. 

“How did you even know everything was done,” Yixing asks and they all point to Sehun who just gives silent death threats to them. “Of course he would know.”

“That is completely rude of you,” Sehun shouts slightly, crossing his arms and huffing. “Just because I happen to eat a lot, doesn’t mean I know when food is done.”

“He just watched you guys put all the dishes on the table,” Jongdae confesses for him and Sehun throws his recently balled up sock at him.

“Can we not throw dirty socks at the table?” Scolds Yixing in the form of a question and then takes a seat at the table, Kyungsoo soon following. “It’s a table; where we eat. Can we please treat it like one tonight?”

Jongin then joins the rest of them at the table just in time for everyone to go quiet suddenly and Jongin looks around only to find Yifan glaring at them all. This makes Yixing happy of course. It’s good to know that they still fear him, he thinks and laughs to himself. 

Joonmyeon stands after everyone calms down and he picks up his glass of water. “Before we eat, I would like to say a few things.” He clears his throat and takes a couple gulps of his water before setting it down again. “I would like to thank you guys for staying in this year for Christmas. I know a few of you couldn’t go out to see family this year or stayed for the rest of us and I’m thankful to the rest of you that stayed even though they could have gone home.” He looks at Zitao, specifically thanking him for more reasons than one and Zitao just looks down at his new ring. “This year has been rough on all of us. Chanyeol had so much going on at school that he couldn’t take it and eventually had to drop a few classes. Minseok hyung had trouble paying his tuition, which I had no problem helping him out with. Sehun,” he pauses to breathe in deeply and exhale slowly, “has severe problems with talking to people and has lost countless jobs because of it.”

Sehun furrows his brows. ‘I thought you were thanking us, not reminding us of the horrible that happened us throughout the year?”

“My point,” he sighs, ignoring Sehun, “is that regardless of the that has happened to you guys this year, me included, you still managed to hold yourselves together and that amazes me more than you know. Also, I would like to thank Yixing for what he did, even if some of you didn’t like it.” He, again, looks over at Zitao who refused to look up at anyone, “It wasn’t exactly the greatest moment this year, but it makes me happy to know that we can all sit at this table like we did regardless of the circumstances. I mean, we are friends after all, right? Are we really going to let that get in the way over petty arguments and disagreements?”

Zitao looks up from his ring and glances over at Yifan who looked over at him with sad, but happy eyes and they both nod once. “We have been friends all of our lives,” Zitao says softly without looking away from Yifan. “It would be stupid of us to let that go over something so trivial.”

This made everyone smile because they knew that Zitao wasn’t one for giving apologies much less accepting them and this went without being said: he forgave Yifan.

“With all that being said,” Joonmyeon takes his seat again, “Merry Christmas you damned idiots.”

“Merry Christmas,” they repeat in unison before digging in.

---

Author's note:

I am SOOOOOOOO incredibly sorry that I completed and made it viewable for everyone. It took me a lot longer to make everything come together okay because I cut a lot out that I wanted to put into the fic so that I wasn't posted in spring. Again sorry. I blame my procrastination and lack of motivationable ability to do fic writing.

I do hope that you enjoyed this fic and hope that your holidays were wonderful.

Happy (way late) new year~