“I’m going to kiss him under the mistletoe.”

    Chan thought himself a relatively polite boy, one who paid great mind to manners and held respect for all of his elders, and even those younger than he. Eavesdropping was not the sort of pastime that he often enjoyed engaging in. When he heard those words coming from the kitchen, however, his ears perked up, and he couldn’t help but to pay attention to what followed.

    “You know that sort of thing only works in movies, right, Jeonghan?”

    That was Jihoon’s voice, Chan knew - so why was it that Jeonghan and Jihoon would be discussing something like kissing?

    “Trust me!” Insisted Jeonghan’s voice, and Chan detected a hint of a whining tone. “He’ll think it’s cute!”

    “Alright, so how do you plan to go about it?” There was Jihoon again, clearly challenging the elder.

    Jeonghan was prepared, however, plan rolling off of his tongue as though he’d been thinking about it for years - and, for all Chan knew, he had been. “It’s really easy! I’ll just hang it in the doorway to our room, and I’ll ask Jisoo to help me look for something. Then, when we walk in, I’ll point out the mistletoe, and he’ll kiss me!”

    “You really are a romanticist, Jeonghan.”

    “Why does that sound like an insult coming from you?”

    “Because it is.”

    That was apparently the end of their discussion, because the duo then made their way from the kitchen, both briefly greeting Chan as they passed by him. Chan could only weakly raise his hand in response; his mind was far too tangled up with what he had just heard transpire.

    So Jeonghan was trying to get Jisoo to kiss him. That wasn’t too much of a surprise; after all, they had been dating for quite a while, and it was no secret that they had yet to share their first kiss. Both had said that they wanted it to be special, that they wanted to make sure they really loved each other before they made any moves. It was endearing that Jeonghan was finally taking the initiative to push their relationship onto the next step. The part that really captured Chan’s attention was the long haired boy’s intended method. Did mistletoe really work that well…? He knew that Jihoon had shut him down, but that was to be expected; Jihoon was often a pessimist in all regards. Chan trusted Jeonghan. If Jeonghan said that something like that would work, then it had to, didn’t it? And if it would work on Jisoo… then would it work on Soonyoung?

    That was how Chan found himself standing on a chair in the living room, hanging some mistletoe of his own from the ceiling. A part of him wondered if he was being completely ridiculous, but only a small part; he had the utmost faith in Jeonghan, and he knew that the older wouldn’t lead him astray.

    “What are you doing, Chan?”

    The youngest nearly fell off of the chair at the sudden voice - he hadn’t even noticed anyone entering the room. Looking down once he recomposed himself, he found it to be none other than Soonyoung, staring up at him (and the mistletoe) with an inquisitive expression. “Is that mistletoe?”

    “I’m - uh - I’m just decorating!” he stuttered out with eyes as wide as a deer caught in headlights, trying to think fast but ultimately failing completely.

    Soonyoung nodded, thankfully seeming to accept the impromptu answer as he glanced around the room. “We did the rest of the decorating last week, though. Why only now?”

    “Jeonghan asked me to!” He answered immediately, the words falling out before he could even think about them. “He, um, he wanted to kiss Jisoo, so he wanted to put up some mistletoe…” Chan would have to warn Jeonghan to go along with it if Soonyoung asked him about it later. That would be an extremely embarrassing way to get caught.

    Once again, however, luck was on Chan’s side as Soonyoung accepted his words with no problem whatsoever, simply looking on as Chan finished hanging it, checking that it would stay as he left it before jumping down from the chair - and, conveniently, right beside Soonyoung, as well as right beneath the mistletoe.

    “Oh - we’re under it now, Soonyoung!” He pointed out with a nervous laugh, desperately hoping that it didn’t seem as forced as it had felt.

    Soonyoung laughed - laughed? Was he supposed to laugh? Was that what Jeonghan was expecting Jisoo to do? Would he kiss him after laughing?

    “I guess we are,” he admitted, ruffling Chan’s hair before grabbing his face and giving him a big, wet kiss - on the cheek.

    “Soonyoung!” Chan exclaimed as he pulled away, feeling utterly scandalized by the elder’s gross kiss, as well as disappointed that he’d only gone for his cheek.

    But Soonyoung only shrugged in mock innocence, pleased smirk giving away the fact that he was not at all as innocent as he would’ve liked to seem. “You’re the one who pointed it out!” He said before making his way out of the room, leaving Chan standing alone with a hand still held up against his now burning cheek.

    That wasn’t it, right? No, it couldn’t be. There had to be more. Jeonghan wouldn’t come up with a plan like this just to get a kiss on the cheek. Chan had obviously done something wrong, or else Soonyoung would’ve kissed him on the lips, as was his intention.

    Maybe he’d been too obvious…? That had to be it. He was far too conspicuous about it all, pointing it out immediately. He had to relax, be a bit more casual about it. He would get Soonyoung under the mistletoe without the latter even realizing it next time, and then, when he did realize it, that was when he would give Chan the kiss that he was hoping for. It was the perfect plan; it would most definitely work out the next time that he tried.

    So, Chan waited for a few hours; he didn’t want to do it immediately after his first attempt, figuring that that would be a dead give away of his intentions. Once afternoon rolled around, however, he was ready to jump back into the fray and try once more.

    “Soonyoung!” He shouted, cupping his hands around his mouth to amplify his voice. “Can you come here for a second?”

    When he had heard Jeonghan talking to Jihoon earlier, he had said that he meant to tell Jisoo that he needed help looking for something. That sounded like as good a plan as any to Chan, so he figured - once again following Jeonghan’s indirect guidance - that he might as well give it a try.

    “I can’t find my headphones,” he said once the blonde had come running over. “Can you help me look for them?”

    “Aish, you can do this yourself!” Soonyoung complained, though that didn’t stop him from adding, “Where did you have them last?”

    “The living room!” Chan informed him happily, pleased that - at least so far - things were going according to plan, and he lead the elder into the other room where they began that search.

    There really weren’t many places to look for them; the dorm was hardly lavishly furnished, so it was a matter of just pushing around magazines on tables and peering under couches. Hopefully, however, they wouldn’t need to spend particularly long looking around anyway. If things went well, it wouldn’t be much longer than a minute before Soonyoung got the hint and gave Chan a kiss.

    Unfortunately, however, it seemed that the blonde was more dense than Dino had accounted for, as a solid five minutes of mindlessly pushing things around had passed by. He was just getting ready to say something himself when, suddenly -

    “Chan!”

    The youngest whipped around to face Soonyoung with a smile on his face, hopeful that he had finally noticed the mistletoe. The sight he was met with, however, was Soonyoung proudly brandishing a pair of headphones.

    “I found them!”

    Chan was dumbfounded, capable only of staring straight ahead as Soonyoung tossed them into his lap and made his way out of the room. How was Chan supposed to know that his headphones really had been lost in the living room?! It was just a ploy to get Soonyoung out there, and, yet, even that had managed to go wrong.

    He pouted, picking up the headphones and twirling them around in his fingers again and again. It seemed that being indirect hadn’t worked out in his favor, either… what else was there to do? Hadn’t he already tried all their was to try?

    Well… there was, he supposed, one option left.

    Before he could think about it anymore and let logic get the best of him, Chan scrambled to his feet, taking a deep breath to steel his nerves and then calling for Soonyoung once more.

    As always, the older came trudging back into the room, once again complaining about the incessant back and forth, asking why Chan always needed him there, why he couldn’t call any of the other boys.

    Chan’s answer was plain and simple this time around, however; “Soonyoung, there’s mistletoe. Kiss me properly.”

    Soonyoung was now the one left flabbergasted. Such forwardness was not usually to be expected of Chan, and, yet, there he stood, expectant (if not nervous) expression on his face as he held Soonyoung’s gaze without wavering.

    It didn’t take long for Soonyoung’s surprise to morph into a smirk, though. “Fine, fine,” he sighed teasingly, putting on the theatrics. “If you’re going to be so blunt, I guess I can’t really play dumb, huh?”

    Chan simply blinked at the older. “P-play dumb? Soonyoung, what do-”

    He was cut off as Soonyoung finally pressed his lips against his - and, Chan had to admit, he didn’t mind being interrupted if it was like this.

    When they broke apart, Chan’s face was flushed and his eyes were wide as he stared at Soonyoung, awaiting an explanation.

    “You’re not the only one who listens to Jeonghan, you know,” he teased, reaching over and messing up Dino’s hair. “For the record, though, it was cute to watch you try.”

    With that, Soonyoung left the room, once again leaving Chan with his thoughts a mess.