"Hey ~~~, I was thinking we should surprise the hyungs! They've been so stressed over their finals lately, don't you think it would be nice for them to come home and see a Christmas tree?!" Siyoon got louder and more excited until he was almost shouting into the phone.
"And I know school has been keeping you busy lately too. I was hoping you'd be tempted to take an evening off and come pick it out with me. We can make a thing of it. We'll grab hot chocolates or something and then drive to a tree lot and you can tell me I have the worst taste in trees and end up picking the most beautiful and perfect tree and it'll be so much fun! Much better than studying, right?"

Siyoon was right. You had been very frustrated with school lately. You just wanted winter break already. You probably shouldn't take the time away from studying but it did sound like fun and it had been fair too long since you'd seen the boys. Especially Siyoon who, you weren't going to admit to anyone, was your favourite. And possibly on whom you had a teeny, tiny little crush. Tiny. Minuscule. You definitely didn't think about him all the time and you'd never imagined yourself taking his last name....'Kang ~~~". 

"Sure, Siyoon. When were you thinking of going?"

"Noona, I'm like 10 minutes from your house. I knew you'd say 'yes'. This is going to be so much fun! Go dress warm, it's snowing and it's going to be cold at the tree lot, even with hot drinks. I'll ring the bell when I'm there."

"See you in a few." You hung up the phone and rushed to get ready. You dealt with your hair quickly, thankfully you were having a decent hair day, but still you grabbed a cute, warm beanie (a gift from Seungjun last Christmas, the boy had good taste in beanies) and plopped it on your head. You grabbed your parka and tried to put it on at the same time as your boots, which didn't really work out like you planned but eventually, you were set and decently warm just as the Siyoon rang the doorbell.

"Noonaaaaaaa!" He shouted, wrapping his arms around you in a friendly hug. "I've missed you."

"I've missed you too." You hug back and then let go to smack him (lightly) on the shoulder. "Don't ever let me catch you driving and talking on the phone at the same time ever again!" You scold. "That's dangerous at the best of times but now, with the roads this icy??" 

"Silly noona! I was using the Bluetooth! I wouldn't do that. But... I like that you were concerned about me. " He teased, eyes twinkling.

"Of course I worry, brat..." You muttered, embarrassed. "Come on, let's go."

You start out the door but a hand grabbing and pulling at the back of your parka stops you. 

"I told you to dress warm.."

"I am dressed warm." You gestured to your beanie and tug at the collar of your parka.

 Siyoon sighed and took it upon himself to dig out a pair of goves and a scarf for you from your winter clothes. You allowed him to wrap the scarf around your neck. But held your hands out for the gloves. 

"It's too hot in here to wear those." You explained. Siyoon rolled his eyes and stuck the gloves into his pocket.

"Alright, at least that's a little better. Shall we go find ourselves a tree?"

"Yeah!" You cheerfully link your arm through his and tug him out the front door, quickly locking it behind you. "Just the two of us today? No manager? No Woobin?" You asked after you'd both climbed into the car and were buckling up.

Siyoon's cheeks took on a slight blush and he didn't meet your eyes, focusing intently on his keys as he started the engine and the heat for you.

"No, no manager and I... I might have neglected to tell Woobin about my plans?"

"Why? He would have enjoyed this, I'm sure." You frowned, hoping there was nothing wrong between the two babies of the group.

"I wanted..." Siyoon quietly muttered so you couldn't quite hear all of his answer.

"Hm?"

Siyoon sighed. "I wanted to keep you for myself today." Siyoon very carefully kept his eyes on the road as he pulled away from the curb and headed towards the Starbucks, quickly hitting the button to turn on the radio, filling the car with the sounds of 'Last Chrismas'. 

"Oh, okay. I guess I'll just see him later." You sa, trying to help Siyoon not feel embarrassed over his little confession. "I'm excited to spend the afternoon with you. I really have missed you a lot, Siyoon."

Siyoon drove through the drive-thru and insisted on paying for your raspberry white chocolate mocha, getting a peppermint mocha for himself. He pulled into a spot, just for a minute to get the cups safely settled (and to quickly steal a sip before driving again).

"Want to try mine, noona? It's delicious!" You laugh, taking that as his way of asking if he could try yours and you switched cups with him, taking a careful sip of his steaming drink and laughing at his delight when he tried yours.

"No, yours is better. I don't think we can switch back." He declared, taking another sip.

you laugh again but snatch back your cup, ing (carefully so as to not spill) his peppermint mocha back into his hands.

"Mine." You sip emphatically. Playfully glaring at him. He stared back at you with a curious expression on his face.

"What?"

"Nothing. Just... Indirect kiss."  His expression changed to teasing and you blushed, thinking about how you would have much rather have tasted his peppermint mocha through a direct kiss.

"Indirect kiss." You scoffed, trying to hide your (unhelpful) wandering thoughts.

"You wound me noona. Here I was all excited over kissing my pretty noona."

You blush hotter at his words and reached to turn down the heat, pretending that was the cause.

"Silly noona. Alright. To the trees?" 

You nod and Siyoon pulls out and turns the radio back on, singing along to 'Baby it's Cold Outside'. You turn the radio down a little bit and Siyoon, without taking his eyes off the road, makes a face.

"I thought you loved that song?" He probed.

"I do. It's one of my holiday favourites. I just like your voice better than theirs." You admit freely.

It's Siyoon's turn to blush, happy to receive the compliment. "You should sing with me, it's meant to be a duet."

You're not on Siyoon's level when it comes to singing but it was just for fun and ..you kind of did want to sing this with him (also reenact the content but...). You scolded yourself for letting your mind wander again and softly started singing along to the girl's parts, which earned you a smile from Siyoon.

A couple duets later, you were pulling into the tree lot's parking lot. 

"Alright noona, split up and look or stick together?"

"We should stick together!" The idea of splitting up from him made you frown.

"Good. I wouldn't have let you pick 'split up' anyway. Let's go check out those fake snow covered trees!" He switched his coffee to the other hand so that he could lace his fingers through yours and pull you to the other end of the tree lot.

It turned out that the fake snow was really expensive and there was no way you were going to spend that much on a tree. You were a student and you knew Siyoon's budget wouldn't have been much bigger than yours. You wandered through the nobles, but they were pretty expensive too. You saw one you liked that was full, not too bushy and just under 6ft, but it was a little over a hundred dollars. Siyoon suggested keeping that one at the back of your minds if you didn't find another that you liked but you planned on finding one at least a bit cheaper than that. 

You shivered, taking the last sip of your mocha. Somehow you finished it without even realizing. Before you knew it, Siyoon was at your side, grabbing your hand again and helping you to put on the gloves you'd forgotten were in his pocket. With the gloves on, you felt a little bit warmer but surreptitiously tried to step a little closer to Siyoon for a touch of extra warmth. 

"Are you still cold?" There was concern in his voice as he wrapped his arm around you and tucked you more into his coat.

"Much better now, thank you." It was only a little warmer but your heart was fluttering madly and you were sure you were blushing at your more intimate position. You hoped it took your hours longer to find a tree. It would be worth the cold. "You're really warm. I may just keep you around."

"I hope you do, noona." 

Siyoon walked run over to the spruces, immediately finding a nice, full tree. 

"What do you think of this one? It's pretty nice, right?"

You semi-reluctantly agreed that it was a nice tree, which it was. Siyoon smiled and looked the tree once over again, finding the price tag on one of the branches.

"$30, noona. I think we found a winner." He quietly crowed his victory, waving over one of the sellers to help carry the tree over to where they wrapped them in netting for the travel.

You and Siyoon watched as the gentleman sawed off the bottom of the trunk for you and pulled the tree through the net gadget. He handed you a recept so you could pay at the front and then pull your car around to collect the tree.

"Do you want to go sit in the car while I pay?" Siyoon offered you the keys.

"No, I'd rather stick with you." 

Siyoon smiled at you and led you to the counter. There was no one else in line yet to pay, so it didn't take very long to get the bill settled.

"You two are such a lovely couple." The lady said as she handed Siyoon the receipt, prompting the pair of your to embarrassedly protest and explain that you're friends.

"Oh, sorry for the mistake." The lady frowned."I guess I shouldn't point out that you're standing under mistletoe then?"

You look up and see that she's right, you and Siyoon have been standing under mistletoe for the past few minutes. You look over at Siyoon for his reaction and he's looking at you.

"Sh-should we?" He stuttered.

"It IS a Christmas tradition." You tried to rationalize.

"Yeah." He agreed, stepping closer.

"Yeah." You whisper, looking into his eyes as he slowly leaned toward you.

You couldn't remember your heart ever beating so fast in your life, you felt like it could explode at any second and Siyoon paused just a breath away from touching your lips. You searched his eyes, wondering why and it feelt like he was just staring at you for an eternity before you took matters into your own hands and leaned forward.

His lips were soft and a a little cold and you could still taste a little bit of the peppermint mocha on his lips and you feel like you're in heaven and then you pulled away. The woman behind the counter claps and wishes you both a merry Christmas, turning away now that she finally has other customers looking to purchase their tree. Siyoon is looking at you, looking as dazed as you feel but you know you can't deal with this here. You grab his hand and lead him to his car and finally he's ready to talk.

"Do you always kiss like that? Like you mean it? I know it was just a mistletoe kiss but.." He laughs awkwardly.  "It actually felt like you meant it."

You took a deep breath, if it was going to come out, now was the time.

"I'm sorry if it made you feel uncomfortable, Siyoon. I do like you, but I'm working on controlling my fee-"

Siyoon cut you off, lunging at you to connect your lips once more. You squeaked in surprise and it took you half a second to realize this is his reply to your sort-of-confession. His hand tenderly cuped your cheek, while the other gently squeezes your waist and it felt even more perfect than the first kiss.. Except for how awkward your hands were. You tried to move them up to his chest but Siyoon jerked away.

"I'm sorry. I thought- You said you like- I thought it would be okay to kiss you again. I'm sorry." You realized he'd misunderstood and thought you were pushing him away, so you stepped back up to him and put your hands on his chest, like you'd been trying to do and you smiled up at him.

"I just wanted to touch you too?" You tried to explain. "I do want you to kiss me. I don't want you to ever stop, honestly."

 

Siyoon's eyes widened and you could see his breath hitch and then both his hands were cupping your cheeks and he was kissing you again.

His tongue slipped into your mouth and it slid against your tongue and you pressed closer into Siyoon's body, trying unsuccessfully to surpress a shiver.

It was probably more of a shiver of excitement than a chill but Siyoon pulled away and insited you climb into the car.

"I've got to take care of my noona, keep her warm." He smiled at you and your heart flipped at hearing yourself be called 'his'.

You listened and climbed into the car while Siyoon helped the tree salesman strap the tree to the roof, mostly because you'd realized you were still in the parking lot and it's a little awkward to make out there. There are, after all, families with their children around (thankfully you don't think you had an audience for your kiss). The making out will have to wait until you're back at Siyoon's dorm and have the tree up. Decorating it can wait until later. You can only be expected to be so patient.

 

[AN: Aaaand voila. Holiday mode: on. 
I hope it's not terrible. My laptop seems to be having some issues (he's old and tired :( ), so I typed this up on my iPod. I don't know what the formatting is going to look like, but fingers crossed I did this right.
I think I'm going to try to write a few holiday inspired things, so if you have an idea you want to see, you could take a chance and hit me up or I'll just do my own thing. I don't think there are too many A-lands around but, ~~~, I hope you're doing well with finals or school or work, life in general. :) ]