“My dear members, I’ve got some shocking news for you.”

Kyuhyun strode out of his room all of a sudden and stood in front of the members who were either sitting on the couch or sprawled on the floor to watch the Christmas commercials on TV, killing time until the night-time movie.

Sungmin, who shortly followed Kyuhyun out of the room, let out a heavy sigh and stood beside the latter, shaking his head with his arms crossed at the chest.

Members of Super Junior had gathered to celebrate Christmas Eve, which meant that it was one of those rare times when everyone was huddled up in the same space, and Kyuhyun could not miss this opportunity to knock into everyone’s head that, unlike popular belief, Sungmin was more of a child than Kyuhyun was.

“Sungmin still believes that Santa Claus exists.” he announced, stretching his arm out dramatically in the direction of his boyfriend standing next to him.

The members’ initial reaction was identical.

“What?”

When Kyuhyun repeated his words, their reaction differed from each other. Shindong, Eunhyuk, and Donghae cracked up laughing, Yesung wrinkled his nose, Leeteuk and Ryeowook turned their wide eyes to Sungmin, Kangin whistled, Heechul swore, and Siwon poked Heechul’s waist while shouting ‘I told you! Now give me five bucks.’

“What, are you serious?” it was Eunhyuk who broke out of the mess first, though remnants of laugher were still threaded in his sentences. “Sungmin, you’re 29 years old.”

“I know how old I am, thank you very much.” Sungmin snapped.

“You still believe Santa’s real?” Donghae chimed in, finding this all too hilarious despite himself. “Even I know he’s not.”

“Oh, he’s real.” Sungmin argued. “You guys just aren’t feeling it enough.”

“And you’re obviously feeling it enough because?” asked Kyuhyun, smirking and already glad that at least half of the members were on his side on this. Then he held up a finger. “Wait, let me guess. Maybe because you’re on Santa’s good kids list?”

“That I can assure, for one thing.” Sungmin smirked right back at his boyfriend and his snarky sarcasm.

“Oh come on, Min, don’t be ridiculous.” Kyuhyun chuckled. “Santa Claus is just a fantasy created to amuse little children, not for grown-ups like us.”

“Says who?” challenged Sungmin.

Bewildered, Kyuhyun whirled back to the other members for help, but they were enjoying this argument way too much to bother interrupting.

Bewildered even more, Kyuhyun puffed.

“Alright, fine.” he said, meeting Sungmin’s sparkling doe-eyes again. “You know what I’ll do? You seem to need proof, and proof I’ll give.”

“Try me.” Sungmin stuck his tongue out at Kyuhyun.

“You give me 24 hours, and I’ll prove that there’s no such thing as Santa Claus.” offered Kyuhyun.

“24 hours, huh.” Sungmin considered it for a second. “So that’s before Christmas is over?”

“Yep.” nodded Kyuhyun with confidence.

“Okay, challenge accepted.” Sungmin nodded as well, then added with a bright smile. “But on one condition. Since it’s become quite clear that you don’t want to come to terms with me, and I have trouble sharing bed with someone who doesn’t even share a tiny piece of opinion without insulting me, there won’t be any Christmas happening this year.”

“Excuse me?” Kyuhyun squeaked with exaggerated motion in place of yelling ‘you know I celebrate Christmas only for that moment!’

“Not until you bring me the so-called proof.” confirmed Sungmin in a cheerful tone.

Kyuhyun sought help from the members once more, but this time, every single one of them avoided his gaze and ignored him as if they didn’t catch the conversation at all.

And what a great timing. There was a ding from the oven and Ryeowook hurried towards the kitchen screaming ‘cookies done!’, with the rest of the members jumping out of whatever position they were in to hop after him, including Sungmin.

Kyuhyun stayed glued on the spot in shock to process what he just heard from his boyfriend, until everyone but Heechul left the lounge.

Slowly and languidly, Heechul approached Kyuhyun and looped one arm around the younger’s shoulder.

“Listen, honey, let me tell you something.” said Heechul after clearing his voice. “Be careful what you bet, because in a relationship like yours, the one who’s desperate for the always loses.”

Then, with a couple of pats on Kyuhyun’s back, Heechul went for the cookies too.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The very first method Kyuhyun opted for was going rather overboard.

Overboard because it was more than sufficient and totally useless.

What’s more, if it involved three high stacks of countless pages full of insignificant information printed from very many insignificant sources on the Internet, it would be extremely difficult to be anything other than utterly boring.

Not to mention annoying, of course.

“Kyu.” Sungmin raised his eyes from the desk to his boyfriend in front of him, and gestured towards the heavily annotated musical script and the pen in his hands. “Can’t you see I’m studying?”

“You’re studying, that’s good, I brought some other things you can study.” Kyuhyun winked at Sungmin over his glasses and the next moment, the annoying stacks of paper were laid on the latter’s desk with a dull thunk.

“What’s all this?” Sungmin knitted his eyebrows.

“Glorious result of my all-night research.” answered Kyuhyun with hands on hips and pride on his face.

“And...why do I need to know that you spent the whole of last night killing poor trees?” Sungmin narrowed his eyes.

“Because this contains the proof that Santa Claus does not exist in this world.” Kyuhyun clicked his fingers. “Read them, and don’t come crying to me.”

“Kyuhyun, my musical’s in less than two months.” reasoned Sungmin. “I don’t have time to waste on your stupid effort.”

“Now you’re just saying no because you’re afraid to find out that your dear Santa’s not real.”

Laughing, Sungmin put down his work for a little while and tilted his head up towards Kyuhyun.

“Fine.” he said with a lovely grin that Kyuhyun loved so much. “I’ll pay attention to you for a bit, but I’m not gonna read all of it. Why don’t you summarize it for me?”

“Compromise, huh.” Kyuhyun pushed his glasses up his nose, then picked up a piece of paper from the stacks. “Sure, why not. Here, this is exactly what you need. It explains how the term ‘Santa Claus’ came about. It all started with a guy named Saint Nicholas, and the story goes....”

Kyuhyun blabbed on about the origin of the legendary character for five minutes, and Sungmin was a good listener like he always was.

At times, Sungmin scowled and stared at Kyuhyun with disapproval, but mostly he remained silent.

When the story was over, Kyuhyun wore a huge smile of victory and wiggled his eyebrows at Sungmin.

“Well?” he demanded. “How about that?”

“So basically you’re saying that Santa Claus is a legend derived from a Christian bishop who liked to send gifts to people?”

“That’s correct. It’s just a story inspired by a man dead long ago. It’s just a legend, which means nobody can be sure if it’s true. It remains as legend because there’s no record of anyone seeing Santa for real, and if there was such a record, it was either found to be unsupported by scientific evidence or simply made up.”

Listening to the additional explanation, Sungmin was pondering with his usual cute expression and his lips pouting in the most kissable way possible.

Oh, he was so adorable like that.

Kyuhyun was sure Sungmin was the cutest 29-year-old man believing in Santa Claus.

He had to suppress the burning urge to tackle the older male down to the ground and squish him hard right then and there.

Instead, he began to tease.

“Aw, did I hurt your feelings, baby? Don’t worry, Christmas isn’t all about gifts from a chubby bearded gramps, you know.”

Kyuhyun wrapped Sungmin’s face in both hands to kiss the latter’s forehead, but when he aimed for the lips, Sungmin giggled and pushed Kyuhyun away.

“Okay, Mr. I-know-everything.” Sungmin cackled. “You say it’s a legend because nobody proved it to be real. But that doesn’t mean anybody proved it to be wrong.”

Kyuhyun was dumb-struck.

He gaped at Sungmin in disbelief.

“Sungmin, doesn’t it say something to you that after all this time, nobody came up with irrefutable evidence of Santa’s existence?”

“Well, I guess it’s the same as saying....” Sungmin shifted his eyes from Kyuhyun’s face to Kyuhyun’s crotch. “People circulate rumours about your size, but nobody came up with irrefutable evidence of its...grandeur. That doesn’t mean it’s a toothpick.”

“You’re offending my .” Kyuhyun accused.

“No, I’m not, I’m doing the exact opposite.” Sungmin blinked his innocent-looking eyes fixed at where they shouldn’t be at the moment. “I’m saying, lack of proof doesn’t necessarily mean it’s not what it is. Nobody’s seen it, so what, that doesn’t always mean it’s not there. It’s just that people don’t know yet.”

When Sungmin lifted his eyes back up to Kyuhyun’s face, he had a seductive beam hanging at the corner of his mouth.

He attacked Kyuhyun’s heart with a sultry of his lips before whispering the next words.

“Unless I...you know, ‘whistle-blow’.”

Kyuhyun froze at the daring implication and was tensed up right away as Sungmin got up from his seat to move closer in lazy steps.

He slid his hands up and down Kyuhyun’s torso covered in nothing but a layer of thin t-shirt, making sure to rub against the most sensitive areas with extra force and sensual nudge of fingers.

‘Jesus.’ Kyuhyun shuddered at the ticklish sensation, letting all the blood rush downwards and wetting his lips in anticipation.

With a wicked smile at the crook of his eyes, Sungmin came forward a little to take off Kyuhyun’s nerdy glasses with his teeth and carelessly tossed them on the floor, while his skilled hands worked their way down to Kyuhyun’s pants.

It was a tempting movement, especially after Sungmin had declared not to have with Kyuhyun on Christmas this year. It caused Kyuhyun’s throat to dry and crushed his defence in an instant. It got Kyuhyun nervous and weak in the legs.

Not to mention the growing bulge inside his pants, of course.

Sungmin’s fingers curled around the clothed bulge, and there was a y gasp from the both of them.

“Oh, my man.” Sungmin sang in whisper at the sheer handful, the smirk still plastered on his face and his eyes half-lidded.

‘Look at those goddamn eyes, he’s totally asking for it!’ Kyuhyun screamed in his head.

A torturous squeeze on the balls was enough to send explosive sparks across his spine and draw out a strangled moan from Kyuhyun.

One more squeeze and he might just sink onto his knees to beg for Sungmin to hurry up.

Kyuhyun swallowed, steadied his breathing, gripped on the paper he was holding, and closed his eyes to feel the heat from Sungmin’s body near his.

Man, was he ready.

Bring it on, baby.

But Sungmin didn’t proceed any further.

“Bring me proof that I’m wrong about believing in Santa.” his casual voice flowed into Kyuhyun’s ear, and the heated touches were gone all of a sudden.

“Wait, wha-” Kyuhyun’s eyes flew open to find Sungmin heading for the door, leaving Kyuhyun excruciatingly disappointed.

“You’ve got about 12 hours.”

Bam, you’re doomed.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Kangin’s distant nephew was a realistic child.

He didn’t believe in Tooth Fairy.

He didn’t believe in Easter Bunny.

He didn’t believe in Santa Claus.

A perfect assistant for Kyuhyun.

Sungmin adored the 7-year-old kid, and he squealed in happiness when Kyuhyun entered the dorm with him, unaware of Kyuhyun’s plan of popping bubbles.

Kyuhyun didn’t drag on.

As soon as the kid climbed onto Sungmin’s lap and was happy chatting away, Kyuhyun pulled the trigger.

“Jordan, are you excited about today?”

“Yes!” the kid bounced on Sungmin’s lap. “It’s Christmas!”

“What are you most excited about?” Kyuhyun nudged him with his elbow. “Santa Claus coming to town to give you presents?”

Jordan laughed at his uncle’s lanky friend.

“Santa Claus isn’t real.” he shook his small head, looking at Kyuhyun as if this adult was an idiot.

“See, Min?” Kyuhyun directed his playful eyes at Sungmin. “Even a 7-year-old knows Santa’s not real.”

However, Sungmin was not an easy quitter.

He levelled his eyes with Jordan’s and opened his mouth.

“Do you really think Santa’s not real, Jordan?”

“Dad told me he’s not real.” Jordan seemed nonchalant. “I thought Santa was real, and I wanted to see him, so I didn’t sleep and waited, but I saw dad coming in, and he told me it wasn’t Santa who gave presents. It was dad.”

“Aw, really?” Sungmin the boy’s head with what could be described as pity. “That’s unfortunate, sweetie, because Santa is real.”

“Sungmin-” Kyuhyun couldn’t continue.

“Maybe Santa was too busy that night, and so asked your dad to put gifts in your socks instead.” tried Sungmin. “And maybe your dad wanted you to be a healthy child going to sleep early, so he told you that Santa isn’t real.”

There was a three-second pause.

“Really?” the child’s tone was tentative.

“Really.” Sungmin flicked Jordan’s nose with a chuckle. “Because I know Santa’s real. I’ve seen him.”

“You’ve seen him?” Jordan’s eyes glittered with interest immediately. “Wow.”

To Kyuhyun’s dismay, the kid was being convinced by the absurdity.

Although perhaps, he was not to be given up so soon.

“But, but...dad said he always bought gifts for me, and it wasn’t Santa because there’s no way Santa would know what I want, but dad knows everything.”

“Santa knows if you write letters to him. Did you write letters to Santa?” asked Sungmin.

“Yes.” Jordan replied. “I wrote letters to Santa every year, but dad told me Santa’s not real, so I stopped writing letters last year.”

“What did you get for last Christmas?”

“I got a book.” Jordan screwed his brow in concentration to remember the gift.

“Was it what you wanted for Christmas?”

“Um...no.” Jordan fiddled with his own fingers and a sad expression seeped up. “It was the first time I didn’t get what I wanted. I wanted a puzzle.”

“You wanted a puzzle?” Sungmin pecked the kid’s forehead with affection. “Okay, I’ll write letters to Santa so that you can get a puzzle this year, how’s that? If you don’t write letters, Santa doesn’t know what you really want, so he tries to give you the best he can instead. So let’s keep writing letters to him, alright?”

It was Kyuhyun’s loss once again.

Whether he liked it or not, Kyuhyun knew his loss already as he watched Jordan’s pinky promise with Sungmin to keep writing letters to Santa from now on.

Later, when Sungmin tucked Jordan in bed for a nap and walked back out of the room, Kyuhyun was leaning against the wall with his hands dipped in the pockets of his jeans and with a very unpleasant look on his face.

Sungmin giggled and landed a slight whack on Kyuhyun’s arm.

“You could have at least brought someone less gullible.” he said. “The kid’s as gullible as Donghae.”

“I’m not gullible!” screeched Donghae from what must have been the bathroom.

Disregarding the protest and slipping into his shoes to go grocery shopping for preparation of Christmas dinner, Sungmin finished what he was saying.

“Plus, bringing a kid who doesn’t believe in Santa doesn’t prove Santa’s not real. It’s like Donghae telling me you have the size of a lugworm, which doesn’t prove anything and is definitely not true.”

“I have no ing business with Cho Kyuhyun’s , leave me alone!”

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Fuming, Kyuhyun arranged for an urgent meeting.

“I need your help.” he told Eunhyuk, Siwon and Heechul across from him at the kitchen table.

He had only a few hours to prove that Santa Claus was not real, and if anyone could change what was white into black, it was one of these three.

“I don't understand why you’re still trying.” Eunhyuk yawned. “What’re you trying to prove?”

“That Sungmin is a child and not who you think he is.” said Kyuhyun.

“Hell, everyone’s a child in this group.” Heechul snickered. “If you’re not a child, you’re not Super Junior.”

“Amen.” Siwon muttered with a sincere nod.

“And you don’t even care, you’re just desperate for the .” Heechul clacked his tongue.

“Amen.” Siwon gave another sincere nod.

“And I’m hungry, you brat.” complained Eunhyuk.

“Amen.” Siwon’s eyebrows shot up to his hairline in passionate agreement.

“Whatever, just do what you can to make him realize that Santa doesn’t exist.” pleaded Kyuhyun.

That was when the entrance door opened and Sungmin returned from grocery shopping, carrying plastic bags in his hands.

Kyuhyun bolted up to lend a hand in carrying them to the kitchen table and unpacking them, and Sungmin expressed his gratitude with a smooth smile before turning to the three people with awkward smiles attached to their faces.

“What’s up?” he glanced at each one of them with suspicion.

“Take a seat, bunny, let’s have a word.” Heechul waved at the chair before him.

“Is this about me and Kyuhyun being loud again?” Sungmin halted and hissed apologetically, with Kyuhyun dropping a cucumber in the background. “I’m sorry, we’re doing our best to keep it down, really.”

“Yeah, speaking of which, do keep it down, will you.” Eunhyuk fired up. “I don’t have to know how good Kyuhyun is, when he’s already boasting about his dumb hair every freaking morning.”

Kyuhyun reached up to comb his messy hair while glaring at Eunhyuk, though he soon cracked a grin at Sungmin mouthing ‘you’re still handsome’ with a loving gaze.

“I know what I want for Christmas.” Heechul murmured. “A dentist. I want to make sure I don’t get any cavities from all this goddamn sweetness.”

“God bless.” Siwon sighed in unison with Eunhyuk.

“Sit down, Sungmin, it’s not about what’s happening in your bed.” said Heechul. “It’s about what’s happening in your head. You’re being a stubborn little baby right now, you know that.”

“Huh? What do you mean?” Sungmin sat down and faced the three.

“Your boyfriend’s being a total jerk because you’re refusing to him this Christmas for some fairy tale.”

“Heechul!” Kyuhyun yelped, almost bursting the banana in his hand.

Realization spread across Sungmin’s face and he breathed out a long ‘oh’.

“Is this about Santa Claus not being real?” he asked with a short laugh.

“That’s precisely it.” Heechul tapped on the table. “Santa Claus is not real, cupcakes. Full stop. End of story, because I say so, and Kim Heechul is always right.”

“How come?” Sungmin propped his elbows on the table and rested his chin on his hands, ready to listen.

“He isn’t real because he isn’t real.” Eunhyuk was running out of patience because for God’s sake Santa Claus was not real. “We can’t explain why something’s not real, when it doesn’t even exist.”

“How do you know he doesn’t exist?” Sungmin puckered his brow.

“Because he doesn’t!” spat Eunhyuk.

“So why do so many people believe he does?” Sungmin’s eyebrows hiked up.

“It’s only the little kids who think Santa’s real.” Eunhyuk stated the obvious.

“Oh, so now you’re saying kids aren’t people?” Sungmin gasped in fake astonishment. “No, you didn’t, Hyukjae.”

“That’s not a very good way of making the conversation flow.” Eunhyuk grumbled.

It was Siwon who took the baton from Eunhyuk.

“Sungmin, Christmas is the day Baby Jesus was born, and-”

Heechul stole the baton from Siwon.

“Sweetheart,” he began, flapping his hand on Siwon’s mouth and muffled words. “Do you believe in aliens?”

The answer expected was ‘no.’

“Yes, they must be out there somewhere.” Sungmin shrugged, shattering Heechul.

“Do you believe in UFO?”

“Aliens need their ride too.”

“Do you believe in all the mystical creatures?”

“I’d love to see them one day.”

“Do you believe in mermaid?”

“I’ve seen news about it.”

“Yeti? The Loch Ness Monster?”

“I think they do exist, yes.”

“Do you believe in fairies?

“Mm-hmm.”

“Do you believe in ghosts?”

“Yep.”

“Alright.” Heechul mumbled with a tsk. This was obviously not working. He needed a change of plan. “Do you know how many kids there are in the world?”

“No, how many?”

“I don’t know either. If I did, I wouldn’t be working as an entertainer groping your asses or kissing you on stage. But anyway, my point is that there are heaps and heaps of children in the world, and do you really think an overweight granddad can pull his sleigh from continent to continent, crawl down chimneys and leave presents for kids over a single night?”

“He’s got heaps and heaps of elves and other assistants to help him get the job done.” Sungmin beamed.

“Mountains of letters will be written to him every year from all over the world.” Heechul went on. “How do you expect him to read them when they’d all be in different languages?”

“It’s not about making a list and reading it out. It’s about expressing and sharing your wishes, however small they are. Santa Claus doesn’t read the letters, he feels the children’s wishes,” answered Sungmin in a calm voice, with one hand over his chest. “With his heart.”

Silence.

Everyone in the kitchen was blank for a second, dumb-founded.

Sungmin was waiting for a response.

Eunhyuk was denying that this man in front of him was the same man he has been staying with as a close friend for half of his life since before Super Junior debuted.

Siwon was praying for God to bless the soul of this poor lost lamb.

Heechul was cursing in his head.

Kyuhyun was melting.

“ it, I’m not convincing him.” Heechul exploded, breaking the silence and jolting up from his chair to storm out.

Without even attempting to grab Heechul and force him back, Siwon intertwined his fingers and inched closer to Sungmin with very serious eyes.

“Sungmin.”

“Yeah?”

“Do you really, really, seriously believe that Santa Claus is real?”

Sungmin flashed a beautiful grin.

“Yes, I do.”

The hell with persuasion.

Siwon and Eunhyuk gave up as well.

And Kyuhyun groaned in despair.

“Look, guys, we don’t have much time, we have to start preparing Christmas dinner.” said Sungmin in a gleeful tone, excusing himself and leaving the kitchen, as if he didn’t just flip them upside down and wipe the out of their head. “I’ll come back after I get changed.”

Sungmin hummed a Christmas carol as he stepped into his room.

When Kyuhyun soundlessly followed him inside, Sungmin was stripping himself of his sweater to get changed into something more comfortable.

Kyuhyun was there without making a noise, but Sungmin must have noticed his presence.

It wasn’t long until Sungmin spoke with his back to the former.

“Belief is a nice word, you know.”

“Huh?”

“Imagine a Christmas with no Santa Claus.” Sungmin screwed his arms in his favourite t-shirt which was a birthday present from Kyuhyun. “You won’t be able to see the kids smiling anymore, there won’t be any excitement left for them, they won’t try to be good kids, and they’ll stop dreaming or hoping.”

He then confronted Kyuhyun.

“How sad is that?”

Sungmin came up to the younger male and ran his palms down the latter’s arms soothingly.

“I know it wasn’t Santa Claus who gave me Christmas gifts when I was little.” he said, smiling up at his boyfriend. “I’d seen my parents reading the card I left under my pillow, which was meant for Santa. And I’d also seen them stuffing my socks with toys I’d written down on that card.”

Kyuhyun’s eyes rounded.

“Wait,” he croaked. “So you knew Santa Claus wasn’t real?”

“No, he’s real.” Sungmin slipped his arms around Kyuhyun’s waist and buried his face in the latter’s chest.

“You’re not making any sense right now.”

“It’s the belief that matters, Kyu.” laughed Sungmin. “Unless there’s solid proof that what you believe in is absolute nonsense, a little bit of nonsense is healthy. Sometimes we’re too busy correcting things and fitting everything in a box to realize what we’ve been missing out....Don’t you miss those times when you would promise yourself to be up all night to greet Santa Claus with his big friendly smile? Don’t you miss those times when you were free to imagine whatever you wanted to?”

There was no reply, so Sungmin continued, rubbing his hands in circles on Kyuhyun’s back.

“I do. So I’ll keep believing in Santa Claus. Nonsense may be another form of freedom, Kyu. Don’t try to lock it away, because you may lose the chance to dream and hope for the extraordinary in whatever you do. I’m happy I still have that chance, it’s a good thing to put in effort for.”

Kyuhyun was at a loss for words.

Despondent, yes, but it was more of ‘waking up.’

Only after a whole thoughtful minute, he managed to speak, embracing the smaller man in his arms with a vague smile.

“So, uh....did you write a letter to Santa this year?”

“No, I didn’t have to.” Sungmin chuckled.

“Why not?”

Sungmin patted Kyuhyun’s chest and whispered.

“Because my Santa Claus is right here.”

Kyuhyun broadened his smile and tightened his arms around Sungmin.

“That was the cheesiest line I’ve ever heard from you.” he said.

“I rarely say cheesy stuff, which means I’m serious when I do.” Sungmin fell apart a bit to stare into Kyuhyun’s eyes.

Unable to block the gaze away, Kyuhyun accepted it with a deep sigh.

“You’re so much more of a grown-up than I am.”

“Mm, I know.” Sungmin pinched Kyuhyun’s cheek, then gave it a tender slap after letting go. “I’ll be waiting for my Christmas gift tonight, Mr. Santa Claus, it better be great.”

“Have I ever disappointed you?” Kyuhyun pulled a sly smirk.

“Hmm, I think I’ll have to buy Hyukjae a pair of earplugs for Christmas.” Sungmin bit his lips.

“Yeah, high quality ones.” agreed Kyuhyun.

That was when Ryeowook screamed ‘puddings here!’ from outside.

Sungmin tugged Kyuhyun’s face down to kiss him on the forehead and separated himself from him to join the chef of their group in preparing Christmas dinner for everyone.

“Love you.” Kyuhyun called out just before Sungmin was out of the room.

“Love you too.” Sungmin flew him a cute kiss and a y wink.

One look and it was guaranteed.

Their Christmas night was gonna be steaming hot.

______________________________________________________