Sehun treaded through the thick snow in Myeongdong as Mariah Carey’s ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ echoed in the chilly air. He readjusted his scarf closer to his mouth as he shivered a little. He was in the middle of the shopping district on Christmas Eve all alone and he made a mental note to never ever do this again, his brother Yifan had successfully persuaded (forced?) him to get into the swing of things or as per quoted by him “Get into the Christmas spirit will ya?” and Sehun had no idea what he meant until Yifan had shoved him out the door with a farewell of “Remember to get me a gift!”

Couples, couples, everywhere, Sehun groaned internally at his own social awkwardness. Standing at 181cm with silky blonde hair accompanied by a sharp jaw and thin pink lips (not that they were visible under his scarf but you get it) and looking like the boy-you’d--next-door, he’d have no problem getting girls, or guys since all his friends were not exactly heteroual and you know, peer pressure and all.

Contradictory to his appearance, he was actually extremely shy and introverted, he wasn’t the type to make the first move, which resulted in his lack of a love life.

His social life wasn’t the best either, he only had a small group of quirky friends and they were the ones who had seen Sehun sitting alone at the cafeteria during lunch and decided to recruit him. He had flatly declined at first until one of them, Chanyeol, had said “You’re interesting, I like it.” and then decided to drag him to their table by the arm.

He was then introduced to Chanyeol’s boyfriend, Baekhyun, wide-eyed Kyungsoo, motherly Joonmyun and tanned Jongin who was clearly flirting with Sehun (if putting his hand on Sehun’s thigh and continuously winking at him wasn’t flirting, he didn’t know what was) in which Kyungsoo looked like he’d murder him there and then, as Jongin made advances towards him.

And thus concluded Sehun’s tiny social circle, it was more than enough really, he was thankful that they were able to accept him for who he was and he eventually opened up to them, even if he was still as awkward as ever.

In all of his entire 20 year existence, Sehun loathed Christmas.

He didn’t like the cold, he didn’t like the colour red nor green, he especially hated mistletoes (ew what kind of plant is that, it doesn’t even look like a toe, he’d scoff) and he didn’t like the idea of celebrating for an old man with a bushy white beard in a red jumpsuit.

But most of all, he hated the idea of gifts. Not that he was a stingy man or anything (okay, maybe he was a little cash-tight, just a little), but he really didn’t know how to make up his mind on what to give who. Moreover, he didn’t even prepare a Christmas shopping list since he was kicked out of his house (my own house! Sehun had squawked indignantly at the closed door) out of the blue.

His footsteps crunched through the snow as he passed by multiple shops having their annual Christmas sales and yet he still didn’t have a clue what to get for his friends and his evil brother. He spotted something pink and realised it was his favourite ice-cream store, Baskin Robbins, and it was warm.

Sehun immediately started speed-walking towards the warmth and sat down at one of the tables closest to the heater, he could’ve sworn he had never felt such comfort before. It was then he realised that everyone else sitting at the tables were eating ice-cream and he was the only one who wasn’t, even the cashier was staring at him expectantly.

Well, if he was going to leech on the warmth, he’d have to sacrifice some money for ice-cream… He quickly made up his mind as he overlooked the wide variety of flavours and chose a chocolate flavoured ice-cream and went back to his spot again, but he realised that it wasn’t empty anymore.

Sitting on his seat was the most beautiful (can I even describe a him with that? Ugh whatever, Sehun shrugged) boy he had ever encountered. With auburn hair, doe-like eyes and plump pink lips, he was probably the definition of perfection. But what puzzled Sehun was the pair of antlers on his head, they looked… so real. He turned to look at the Baskin Robbins staff, they were wearing red antler headbands but the boy’s antlers were brown and looked like they were stuck on his head. Was he the manager or something? Maybe that’s why he’s wearing a clip-on antler… Sehun was beyond confused.

He slowly walked up to the boy to reclaim his seat back, no matter who he was, he just really wanted the heater to be near him, he was freezing.

“Um, I’m sorry but this was my seat, I’m really cold and I really want to sit near the heater. Could you please move?” Sehun coughed. The boy blinked at him (inner-Sehun started spazzing and was already counting those beautiful eyelashes), but kept silent, still staring open-mouthed at Sehun. “My… seat? Please…?” Sehun gestured at him to get up.

The boy stared yet again, but finally got up. Sehun sighed in relief while muttering a soft ‘Thanks’ to him as he walked away.

However, he didn’t expect the boy to pull another chair over to his table and sit down next to him, Sehun gulped.

The silence was unnerving, as he ate his cup of chocolate goodness, the boy plopped both elbows on the table while watching him eat. What was he? A e? Sehun swore to take back all his compliments of the boy because this was downright creepy but sought to just ignore him anyways.

As he finished his ice-cream and proceeded to the spoon, he heard a timid and girly voice, “Hello.”

He looked around, thinking it could be one of his girl schoolmates stalking him again (it was a dark phase of his life, he does not wish to speak about it) but then he realised that the voice came from none other than the boy with the antlers beside him. He was spooked.

“Um… Hi?” Sehun somehow regained his composure to get his vocal chords to work.

“My name is Luhan, it’s a pleasure to meet you. Do you think I could stay at your house? I promise it won’t be for long, it’s just that I need to escape from San− ” His girly voice immediately started blabbering.

“Wait what?! What?! You can’t just come up to a random stranger and ask them if you could stay at their house!” Sehun was confused as hell.

Luhan pouted. “But I thought we could be friends… I was polite, I waited for you to finish your meal before I made conversation with you.”

Oh, so that’s why, well you didn’t have to stare at my every move while I ate, Sehun thought. “Well then, Luhan. What are you, 4 years old? You don’t make friends by just being polite.”

He pouted yet again. “But… but… this book right here said so…” Luhan then proceeded to take out a black and yellow covered book from his backpack, titled “Making Friends – For Dummies”

Sehun mentally facepalmed.

“I barely know you! Who knows if you’d steal from my house or mess up my room, I would not appreciate that.” Sehun crossed his arms stubbornly.

“Alright then… I won’t bother you anymore stranger-sshi – ”

“It’s Sehun.”

“Yes, my deepest apologies, Sehun-sshi.”

He looked like a kicked puppy (with antlers?), Sehun softened his gaze at him and almost faltered, but Luhan had already zoomed off.

“Well that was perplexing,” He said to no one in particular, and then realised the situation he was in. Standing up amongst everyone else who were sitting down and munching on ice-cream could never make him feel any more awkward, so he quickly scurried out.

-

After an afternoon of apprehensive buys and indecisive thoughts, Sehun had finally finished his Christmas shopping, sometimes his mind would automatically drift back to his encounter with the deer boy, Luhan, but he’d shake it off (like, physically shake, yes he’s just weird like that).

He had bought Yifan an angry bird stuffed toy because he wanted his brother to see the resemblance between himself and the toy (“I do not like to be slingshotted into a pile of bricks!” Yifan had argued vehemently in which Sehun replied with a, “They’re piles of wood!”). He had bought Joonmyun a packet of ginseng candy in which most grandmothers usually would eat so he thought it’d be a good idea to give it to him. He had also bought a 2-headed-connected-sweater-thingy for Chanyeol and Baekhyun so that they could be physically closer to each other (not that their cavity-inducing acts in the cafeteria weren’t enough). Sehun mentally cheered because it was one gift for two people and he was more than delighted to save some money. He then bought Kyungsoo a (cheap) pair of sunglasses because Kyungsoo had a really scary-looking gaze and he didn’t want everyone in school to get creeped out, yes, Sehun was clearly a samaritan. (just kidding, he probably just didn’t want to face Kyungsoo himself)

Jongin was the toughest to decide on a gift, he’d take anything Sehun gifted him the wrong way. Heck, even if Sehun gave him a box of raisins for Christmas, he’d take it as a wedding proposal.

Therefore, he just went to the videogame store and bought the newest edition of Call Of Duty for Jongin, he can’t take this in the wrong way, can he?

Sehun strutted through Myeongdong proudly with his bags, he was overjoyed and decided to reward himself for a job well done. He had only one thing in mind – bubbletea.

As he heartily walked towards Cofioca, a tiny voice reverberated in his mind, “Do you think I could stay at your house?” He ignored it, presuming it was his imagination running wild again, he really needed to stop thinking about the deer boy.

Somehow, the voice got louder while he walked, “We’re friends now, right?” Damn his mind.

Except now, as he approached an alley, it wasn’t just his mind anymore.

Luhan was right in front of him, doe-eyes twinkling at a big suspicious-looking burly man who was holding Luhan by the waist (albeit too tightly for Sehun’s liking).

He quickly hid behind a trashcan in case he was interrupting something important but kept watch still.

“Of course we’re friends. I’ll even let you sleep with me on my warm bed,” Burly man was looking at Luhan with lust in his eyes and even patted Luhan’s with his hairy hand. “Really? Thank you so much, is it made of polar bear fur? Because back in–”

Sehun tuned Luhan’s voice out and focused on how the man was slowly ping his pants as Luhan chattered on. What in the flying did I just witness, Sehun was definitely compelled to do something, the deer boy was going to be and people might think he was some sort of voyeuristic ert. Think, Sehun, think! He couldn’t get his mind to work since the man was now Luhan’s thigh while the deer boy stayed oblivious. Mother of s what do I do?!

He couldn’t think anymore, his legs did just the job for him.

He grabbed Luhan’s hand and made a run for it, he could vaguely hear the burly man shouting “What the hell?!” behind them but he couldn’t care less. Strangely enough, the deer boy clung onto him without a word, letting Sehun lead him as they ran.

They slowly came to a stop at the subway’s entrance, Sehun let go as he tried to catch his breath, huffing and panting, he thanked his lucky stars for being in the track-and-field team in high school. Luhan, on the other hand, was unfazed, merely staring down at him as Sehun bent down trying to recover his ability to breathe. He caught Luhan’s fixated gaze at him and unwillingly blushed, holy is this embarrassing.

The doe-eyed boy was still staring at him as he managed to sputter out a “What?” and finally stood up straight.

“Why did you pull me away from that nice ahjusshi?” Sehun frowned at the last two words coming out of Luhan’s mouth, disbelief apparent on his face. “Trust me, he is not a nice ahjusshi. He was about to have his way with you, Luhan. You should’ve seen his hard-on.”

This time, Luhan flushed beet red. “W–wh–what do you mean? L–like… he was going to... m–ma–mate with me…?” Sehun laughed at his choice of words, did he just use mate, how cute. “Yes Luhan, he was undoing his fly and was going to insert his– ”

He was about to give a detailed description of ual to him until Luhan cut him off.

“Sehun-sshi, thank you so much for saving my ity.” Sehun stopped breathing as he felt a pair of arms around his waist. Luhan was hugging him, mother of Jesus. “Um, it’s… nothing really? ities are pretty important.” What am I even saying… Sehun managed to stammer out as he enjoyed the moment. Luhan then looked up at him with his sparkling eyes, arms still around Sehun’s waist.

“So can I stay at your house?”

-

Sehun blamed his hell of a weak heart as he twisted the doorknob to his house, with the deer boy in tow. Who could say no to those kissable lips and anime eyes? He had even sacrificed his bubbletea for this – his bubbletea!

As he opened the door, he had momentarily forgotten about Yifan, okay maybe not momentarily, the thought of Luhan having to put up with Yifan had not occurred to him, at all. And now that Yifan who was sitting on the sofa and staring wide-eyed at the boy behind him, did Sehun finally entertain that thought.

He definitely did not expect Yifan to shuffle towards Sehun with his arms wide open and teary eyes.

“Oh my goodness, our baby Sehunnie has finally grown up!” He engulfed Sehun into a choking embrace. “Now now, introduce me to your girlfriend. I’d thought you’d be gay since you see me and Tao going at it like bunnies all the time but looks like–”

“HYUNG! He’s a guy! And no he is not my girlfriend, nor my boyfriend!”

Yifan immediately let go of Sehun and pulled a horrified face. “What do you mean?!”

Being the embarrassing brother he is, Yifan started studying Luhan like he was some sort of lab specimen, Luhan fidgeted under his observation.

“Um… Hi. My name is Luhan. I am friends with Sehun.”

Yifan then looked at Sehun with suspicion but the latter nodded profusely. “Hyung, he’s going to be staying with us for awhile, until… Wait, until when exactly, Luhan?”

He looked to Luhan for an answer, “Until Christmas is over.”

“What an odd timing. Well, anything for Sehun’s friend I guess. Are you sure you’re not a girl? And why did you wear those hideous deer clips, take them off, we’re indoors already.” Yifan eyed Luhan with doubt. “Yeah, you should take them off, Luhan.” Sehun agreed.

“They… can’t exactly be taken off? They’re sort of… real…”

Both of the tall males gawked at Luhan whom was earnestly telling the truth and was nervously playing with his fingers.

Yifan then started to prode at Luhan’s antlers and tried to yank them off. “Jesus! Sehun! These are really real!” This arose Sehun’s curiousity and he too started to grab at Luhan’s antlers. Holy , they are real… Sehun thought to himself as he let go.

“Now, care to tell us how in the world do you have a pair of antlers grown on your head?” Yifan was now crossing his arms and waiting for an answer.

“Well… I am a deer. Santa’s reindeer to be specific.” Luhan said sincerely.

“Okay, seriously, tell