The sky was clear with virtually no stars able to shine due to the heavy city lights. Surely if you were in the countryside millions of stars would be twinkling above you in the crisp and chilly air.

    Either way I didn’t want to gaze at stars. I wanted to be enjoying the inside of my eyelids - in bed. At home. Not in the blistering cold. Laying on a thick sheet of ice wasn’t helping me much either. I just did not want to get up. Maybe if I pretended I was dead I could finally get some peace.

    All week Taehyung has been dragging me here, there and everywhere. Why? To finish things he had on his “Super Awesome Extra Special Christmas List.” His title not mine…

    And that is why I, Kim Namjoon, charismatic rapping leader of one of South Korea’s hottest idol group was pathetically sprawled out on ice. Taehyung’s jolly good Christmas mission of the day; ice skating.

    I don’t know what possibly made him think I could do such a sport. I can barely dougie. How am I supposed to balance myself around ice on blades? Here’s a shocker: I couldn’t. It was awful. I looked like a baby deer taking his first steps on earth. Except, you know, not being able to stand fully upright.

    Taehyung though was having the time of his life. He must have taking lessons when he was younger or is some figure skating prodigy because he was skating as if he were going to the Olympics.

    “Joonie hyung! Isn't this fun?” He asked cheerfully before drifting past me, hair floating in the wind.

    I will admit it was nice seeing Taehyung so delighted . I guess that’s why I kept agreeing to it to begin with. If I didn’t he would either pout around the house all day or worse he would cry at my rejection. Making Taehyung cry would land me in the I don't know, the sixth or seventh circle of hell? Taehyung is a huge naive child at heart, so you really had to watch what you say to him. Sometimes he misunderstands things. If I were to decline his request he might assume that now I hate him, I want nothing to do with him and that I flushed the friendship bracelet he made me down the toilet.

    Enduring it until Christmas was finally over was my only option.

    “Yeah, tons!” I told him, forcing myself to smile. I was still holding onto the ledge of the rink not wanting to let go because my future was clear: me being first on the ice. I kept back hoping that Taehyung would tire himself out before he noticed.

    “Hyung watch me!~” He called out to me. Telling him that I was, I watched as he rounded the corner of the rink. My mouth fell open as he sped quickly and threw his body into the air. Spinning himself around three times before landing perfectly back on his blades. The little did a Triple Sow Cow (Triple Salchow) or whatever you call it.

    He hurriedly came up to me, so proud of himself, “Did you see me? Did you see me?!” Asking with his gloved hands in bunched together while his feet were sliding back and forth in little .

    “Yes, I saw you.” I chuckled at him, still completely flabbergasted on where he picked that up from. None the less though, I gave him the recognition he deserved, “That was great Taehyungie!” I said patting his head.

    His face balled up so cutely as he clapped happily. After a few moments of his celebration his face popped as if he just remembered leaving the stove on at home. (Which was impossible because Taehyung wasn’t allowed to use the stove anymore. Not since the time he started a fire in the kitchen after forgetting to add water to his ramen.)

    His tone was determined, “Hyung! I’m going to teach you!”

    “Ah, no, no. Tae. That’s not a-!“ I tired to talk my way out of it while halting him with my hands, but he grabbed onto my fingers and started to skate backwards.

    The poor boy was so hell bent on teaching me something I certainly couldn't do even in my dreams. Unfortunately, mainly for me, unable to hear my protests as he was going too fast and not having a strong enough grip on me, gravity proved to be the real of the universe.

    Next thing I knew as he tried to spin me around, I spun, but out of his hold and jetted face first into the wall, falling onto my back.

    My face wasn’t as hurt as my dignity was. The other dozen skaters at the rink gasped at my graceful plunge. As the ones closest to where I was came up speaking their concerns or extending a hand I politely waved them off. I didn’t want them too see me and my shame.

    They skated away as I laid there, half staring at the sky half making a mental note to get a bigger and broader life insurance policy so long as I was in the same group as Taehyung.

    Truthfully this wasn't the worst thing that happened to me all week….


    On Monday, I had to call the fire department since Taehyung decided he wanted to see if his tongue would stick to a frozen pole. It did.

    Imagine me talking calmly on the phone with a emergency hotline operator, explaining that ridiculous situation, all while trying to get Taehyung to stop yelling. He was whining and sobbing mumbled incoherent things to me. Things like that I have to tell his father goodbye for him since his tongue is going to be cut off.

    “They are not going to cut off your tongue, Tae. Calm down.” I tried to comfort him by rubbing his back.

    “Yths thayy re!” Completely distraught he was hugging the pole that he was glued to, giving up hope.

    Luckily, at first not too many people were out, but that changed when the fire truck came roaring down the street. Nosey citizens came out of their homes to see the trouble. I wish I wore a hat, or my invisibility cloak that day.

    Thank God for firefighters though. They not only gently removed Taehyung from the pole, but they also helped me to get him to top crying. By letting him turn on the siren of the truck. Also, giving him a plastic firefighter helmet. Telling him that he was so brave, but to please never to put his tongue on a pole again.

    I bought him ice cream after that. His tongue was hurting so I assume ice cream would help. What couldn’t ice cream do?

    After we made it back to the dorms I saw him pull out that dreaded list; written in red and green crayon mind you. I leaned over him to see he was crossing out something on it.

    “What could you possibly be crossing off?” I asked, giving him a questioning glare. We were on our way to some school choir Christmas show when he French kissed a pole. So what did we do?

    “Hm?” He looked up at me with a content expression before realizing what I was asking. “Oh! I weinakted my thavowrite thene throm dat Umaricon muvie I likeds.” (I reenacted my favorite scene from that American movie I like.) His tongue still being sure he was unable to speak properly yet. It took a bit for it to register in my head.

    I groaned loudly as it finally clicked, “Why is that one your list?!” I bellowed. Taehyung watched “A Christmas Story” once and was so curious to how the kid’s tongue stuck to the frozen pole after he was dared.

    He seemed offended that I asked, “Is’s a clathic!” (It’s a classic) He berated me with his tongue still sticking out of his mouth.

    “You’ve seen it once!” I hollered back childishly before stomping off.


    Tuesday wasn’t as bad as the previous day. It was time to bake and decorate cookies.

    I tried to get Yoongi to volunteer to make the delicious treats with Tae instead since I would have liked to finish the lyrics to a song I was working on, but Yoongi was in a tough spot too.
    As soon as I asked, Jimin came barging into the conversation, “No hyung!” Sitting in his hip grabbing a hold of the older males arm, “Yoongi hyung is going to see Frozen on ice with me tonight.” Telling me matter-of-factly. 

    Yoongi deadpanned, “For the fourth time.” Completely accepting his fate. That “Let It Go” would be stuck in his head for the next month with no way around it. 

    Not only did were we going to bake, we were going to do it in matching elf pajamas; with the hat down to the pointy shoes with the bell on top.    

     I did help him stir the bowl when his arms started to cramp. Other than that though I didn’t do too much with the baking, just supervised. Making sure Taehyung didn’t hurt himself or anyone else for that matter. Also, putting the tray into the oven for him since he was banned for life from that appliance.

    I thought when they were in the oven I could finally start working on things I wanted to get done, but no. Taehyung wanted to cuddle on the couch and watch “Rudolph”. Which honestly was nice. He got the warmest fluffiest blanket he could locate for us to use, insisting on sitting between my legs. Tae is like one of those big dogs who think they are lap dogs. It was a tight fit and I did my stretching for a week. His back leaning up against my chest as he started the movie with the remote. A couple minutes into the movie I pulled out my phone, wanting to jot down a few verses I thought of before they were lost in my mind.

    I got a little lost in my rhymes only to be brought out of them when the buzzer on the oven when off. So did Taehyung. He jumped out of the blanket and dashed towards the kitchen. Instinctively, I ran after him, throwing my phone onto the couch. Tae was not to be trusted with the oven.

    He was about to reach out to open the oven, “Freeze!” I shouted, and he did so. Literally turning into a statue. Gently moving him aside, I put on a mitt and took out the tray myself.

    The cookies seemed to come out perfectly. They looked delectable. Yet, after they cooled that proved to be false. Taehyung reached out and took a cookie off the tray, his happy face falling to a rather confused one.

    “What’s wrong?” I asked, leaning against the counter with my arms crossed.

    “They feel weird.” He said, examining the front and back of the sweet treat. Giving him a questing stare I was about to ask what he meant by that instead I watched at Taehyung accidentally dropped the cookie out of his hands. My reflexes in my arm shot to go grab it before it hit the floor, but I wasn’t quick enough.

    Although I did catch it when shockingly the cookie actually hit the floor bouncing back into the air. Taehyung stepped back not anticipating that happening, staring at me with wide eyes, unable to comprehend what just occurred.

    Fumbling with the treat in my head I looked at Taehyung, “Did you put rubber in these?!” How was this even psychically possible?

    He held his arms out and shrugged, even more clueless than myself.

    It was quiet for awhile, both of us just staring at either the tray or the cookie in my hand.

    “So I guess we can’t decorate these?” He placed his chin in his palms elbows resting on the counter, while he pouted.

    “Well, we sure can’t eat them.” I said sarcastically, making myself laugh. I stopped laughing when Taehyung’s lips started to quiver. I had to act fast before the tears started.

    “Ugh…” I hummed out, scrambling my brain for ideas. “Wait, come here!” I held his hand leading him back into the livingroom. I had him sit on the floor, while I went searching around the house for the things I would need. Cutting across past Taehyung at least a half dozen times, his quivering lip following me every time, watching me carefully. Finally able to hoard as much things I could gather before sitting adjacent to him on the hardwood. I was kinda out of breath. Do you know how hard it is to find arts and crafts stuff around a boys dorm? Luckily for me, Jimin like Taehyung had a secret starving artist inside of them.

    Spreading everything I found between us, I picked up a big piece of white paper folding it countless times. Then with a pair of scissors I began to cut what seemed like random lines and shapes all over the craft paper. Taehyung stayed quiet threw the duration of my Martha Stewart moment, his lips stop shaking instead focusing solely on what I was doing.

    With one final snip I put the scissors down and held the still folded paper in my hands, “Watch.” I told Taehyung with a smile, kinda praying I did this correctly.

    He stared with anticipation glazing his eyes. I separated the paper in one stretch of my arms. Mentally giving myself a pat on the back when it relieved to be a link of snowflakes like I intended it to be.

    Taehyung’s face lit up, “Woah!~” He said in awe, clapping for me. I admitted I was a smug bastard in that moment, quite proud of my art project.

    “How’d you do that, hyung?” Patting his eyelashes as he asked me, and I willingly showed him. Scooting closer, hovering over his hands guiding him threw the motions.

    He was floored when he accomplished making one himself, “I did it!~” standing up and spinning around with it. He was so cute, the simplest things making preen with glee.

    When he sat back down, he kissed my cheek quickly, “Thank you, Joonie hyung!” He said before, grabbing some of the markers I brought with me beginning to color in his snow flakes.

    The spot on my cheek he kissed tingled with a slight burn, while my chest flutter just a bit. I wasn't all too surprised, Taehyung was always very affectionate with me, never really holding back on the skinship. I bit back my grin, patting him on the head as he hummed a Christmas toon.

    We spent or night decorating the different snow flakes we made, myself forgetting about the lyrics I was writing before. Also, forgetting about the unusable cookies we made as well. It was worth it though, the laughs we both received every time a member would go up to them trying to bite into it.

    As I was sitting up against the couch as Taehyung put the finishing touches on one of this masterpieces, I noticed he paused before digging into his elf hat and pulling out a familiar piece of paper.

    This time I saw him draw a red line threw two different things. I snooped over his shoulder, but he caught me before I could read anything listed.

    “Hyung, no! It’s a secret!” Bunching the paper to his chest. I wasn’t offended by him telling me that I couldn't see, but I was still curious.
    “I just want to know what you crossed out.” I chuckled.

    He side eyed me and said, “We technically made cookies and I wanted to make snowflakes. So it was a double day!” Cheering loudly.

    I shook my head in amusement as he placed the list back in his hat. I hoped the rest of the rings on his list were this easy.
 

    
    While Tuesday really wasn’t a bad night at all (besides the elf pajamas), Wednesday was definitely a “Hump Day”. Except it was more like a “Climbing Mount Everest Day.”

    Taehyung said he wanted to sit on Santa’s lap. Really? I thought as he finished telling me.

    “Yes, I have something really important to ask him for!” He told me very seriously.

    With a long long long sigh, and a few more pleas from him I agreed with a, “Fine”, reluctantly though.

    The only place we could