Wrapping Christmas presents was a task far easier said than done. There were countless factors which came into play for the job, all of which a nuisance to decide upon. Which would look best - the red wrapping paper, or the green? Which would be more logical - a box, or a bag? Which would make it prettier - ribbons, or a bow? They all sounded like trivial matters, of course, and it was quite easy to poke fun at one for wondering such things until faced with such a situation oneself. When it came down to it, they were quite stressful questions to answer, truly.

    And said questions didn’t even begin to touch upon the task of actually wrapping the present. Once one had their aesthetic choices sorted out as best as they could, the technical aspects began to come into play. It wasn’t exceedingly difficult to decide upon using red wrapping paper or a box rather than a bag- the issue came in how to apply the wrapping paper to the box. Yet again, a mission that sounds relatively simple, but it quite easily botched.

    None were so aware of such a fact as two boys by the names of Lee Chan and Wen Junhui.

    It had been easily an hour since they had begun the task of wrapping their presents for every member save for each other (a cumulative total of twenty two gifts), yet absolutely no progress had been made. They simply stood, staring at the rolls of wrapping paper set out on the table that seemed to be mocking them. Chan was feeling quite defeated - they had thrown away easily half a roll’s worth of paper already in failed attempts, and it didn’t seem that they’d be making progress any time soon. The best option, he believed, was just to put everything into bags and be done with it. He had long since sat down at the table, looking on with bored eyes. Junhui, however, had a sort of stubbornness in regards to the matter at hand that he refused to let go of, swearing that he would not give in until every present had been wrapped flawlessly.

    He set to work once more, unrolling the paper just enough to fit the current object - a book for Minghao (written in Chinese, of course) - onto it. He checked once, twice, three times that the paper would fit around the book before taking out the scissors and delicately cutting down the line so kindly provided on the back of the paper. Things were going well thus far; he had yet to make a mistake. Carefully, carefully, he folded the paper tightly over the back, sticking a small piece of tape across it just to ensure that it would stay in place even as he moved away. He smiled, feeling accomplished at his progress at the current point, but that had all been the easy part. The true difficulty lied in closing off the ends.

    He stared briefly at them, trying to deduce the most effective plan of attack. Should he trim the excess, or fold it over? Should he leave it pointed, or fold it down so that the edge was flat? He knew it was wishful thinking to hope that he would even make it as far as that, but that wouldn’t stop him from dreaming. He decided to stop thinking about it and just go for it - the end result would probably be much the same anyway. Taking a deep breath, he folded down one corner, making the end of the paper partially pointed. Already he had made a mistake - the paper around the edge of the actual present then crinkled in, leaving it a mess. He tried to go back, tried to smooth it back out, but it was too late; the paper was already crumpled. With an exasperated sigh, he tore off the paper, wadding it up into a ball and tossing it to the other side of the room to join the other rejects.

    “You’re taking this too seriously,” pouted Chan, unhappy at the sight of Jun getting so frustrated. “I keep telling you, just put them in bags!”

    “But that won’t look as good!” Protested Jun, though he knew that it was just his pride that was in his way at that point. It had nothing to do with the legitimate aesthetic appeal. “I’ll get it eventually, trust me.”

    Chan simply sighed, placing his chin in his hand once more. Once Junhui had made up his mind, there really was no changing it.

    So Chan watched him begin the process yet again - measuring, cutting, taping, only to end in failure yet again, a groan leaving the elder’s lips. By that point, Chan was fed up - enough of their day had already been invested in those presents, he didn’t want to find out how much longer they could spend on them.

    “Let me try,” he instructed Jun, nudging him out of the way. In truth, he hadn’t attempted to wrap a present like Jun that day - he had settled for the easy method, placing everything into colorful bags and claiming to be done with them. On one hand, he admired Jun for his determination and unwillingness to give up, but on the other hand, he just couldn’t understand his severe stubbornness.

    Chan mimicked the actions that he had seen Jun do already oh so many times that day. Unroll the paper partially, then place the book in the middle, then cut down the lines…. He made it to the same point that Jun had with no problem whatsoever. Jun watched from over his shoulder, anxious to see how the maknae would handle the step that had defeated him time and time again. There was no way that he could get it on his first try, so this was definitely going to be a gruelling process. It’d be about ten tries before he could even figure out where the ends were supposed to go, and then twenty more before he could actually get them to those places, and then -

    “Done.”

    Jun’s eyes widened, gaze dropping immediately to the present on the table. He couldn’t believe it was true, and, yet, there it was, right in front of his eyes. The present was fully wrapped, paper tight around the book and taped cleanly. He turned to Chan, jaw dropped and eyes twinkling with what could only be described as awe.

    “How did you do that?” He asked, still in a state of complete disbelief.

    Chan simply shrugged in response. “I don’t know, it wasn’t that hard.”

    Of course, the words ‘it wasn’t that hard’ were enough to get him appointed to the job of Junhui’s official present wrapper. Not that he really minded; it would only take a few minutes for him to finish up, and he’d do anything to get Jun out of the kitchen that they had already spent hours on end in. In the end, it was a matter of just twenty minutes before Chan was completed.

    “That’s all of them,” he announced tiredly, pressing the tape down on the last gift once more just to ensure that it was secure.

    “No, I think you forgot one,” Jun’s voice came from behind him, a strange tone laced within his words.

    Chan turned around, prepared to question him, but before he could get a single word out of his mouth, Junhui slapped a big red bow on the top of his head.

    “What - what’s this?” He asked dumbly, eyes looking upwards despite the fact that there was no way for him to see it.

    A cheesy smile broke out across Jun’s face, a teasing tone taking up residence in his voice as he pressed a quick kiss against Chan’s forehead before saying, “You’re the best gift of all.”