Chanyeol curled his fingers in his pockets and closed his eyes as he took another step forward, following the path to nowhere. He kicked a pebble and watched it skitter across the dark pavement shrouded in shadow and snow. He buried his nose in his scarf with a sigh as he stepped forward beneath the dim lights of the flickering streetlamps with tinsel strung between them and twinkling Christmas lights curled around their poles. It was Christmas Eve, and he was out on another lonely walk, but these holidays never held much joy or magic for him.

He approached the pebble he had kicked, stopping to kick it again and follow it further into the shadows, when he heard the patter of feet quickly approaching from behind him. He turned around to see someone in a short, pleated skirt with thin legs that looked much too cold for this winter night.

Chanyeol watched the stranger suspiciously as they approached, and he took a step back before they ran straight up to Chanyeol, curled their thin fingers around the fringe of his scarf and tugged him downward a bit as they stood up on their toes to bring their lips together in a cold, unsuspecting kiss.

Chanyeol’s eyes stayed open in surprise, focused on the soft-looking flushed pink cheeks of the stranger as Chanyeol pulled away, staggering back in confusion.

The person gave a soft pant, releasing a large cloud of white air as they pointed upward.

Chanyeol’s eyes followed their finger to see the batch of mistletoe hanging from the 2^nd story window of the building they stood next to, but as he looked back down to the stranger, Chanyeol found that they were already running off, holding their sweater to their face and covering the pink blush that was probably creeping up their neck and spreading across their cheeks.

Chanyeol turned to watch them run away, his eyes focused on their short, brown hair flapping in the wind.

-----------------

Chanyeol tapped his fingers rhythmically on the machine, eyes following the pinballs, but his mind not focused on the game.

“Are you still thinking about your Cinderella that hasn’t shown up yet?”

Chanyeol blinked and glanced over to Jongin before looking back to the pinball machine, saving one of the small balls from its doom. “Does it matter what I’m thinking about?”

“Is all of this really worth it for someone you don’t even know?” Sehun added with a bored yawn as he leaned back against the machine next to it.

“You don’t even know what she looks like,” Jongin asserted, leaning forward to probably throw Chanyeol off his game, but the boy swatted him away, his eyes still focused on the pinball making its way through the machine.

“I saw a glimpse of her,” Chanyeol panted out, tapping another button as the pinball machine whirred. “That was enough.”

“Enough to keep her in your memory, but not enough to find her again.”

“Shut up, will you?”

Jongin and Sehun chuckled to themselves as Chanyeol focused his full attention on the pinball machine again.

It had been two years. Chanyeol had barely turned 18 a few days ago, and yet all he could think of was the mysterious stranger who ran away in the night. 24 days left until Christmas Eve. Yet, whenever it neared this time of year, his mind was always filled with the girl he had met on that one Christmas Eve, whom he had affectionately nicknamed Mistletoe.

Chanyeol had returned to the spot the year after to see if he could find her again, but she hadn’t shown up that year, nor was there any mistletoe hanging from the same 2^nd story window.

Figuring they were strangers after all and expecting to see her again was only a delusional fantasy, Chanyeol should have dropped the subject and given up on trying to find his mystery girl.

Yet try as hard as he could, he couldn’t stop thinking about the stranger who had stolen his first kiss, and ultimately, his heart.

“I bet you’re planning to go back again this year.”

“I’m not,” Chanyeol growled back.

“Right,” Jongin responded with a roll of his eyes, “How many dates have you turned down for this girl, Chanyeol?”

“Millions,” Sehun groaned. “If you’re not going to find her, why didn’t you just accept one of them?”

“It’s not the same.”

“What does ‘Not the same’ have to do with anything? It’s not like you two were in love or anything.”

“No no,” Jongin interrupted. “Remember what he said? ‘You didn’t taste her lips – her sweet, cherry chapstick – her soft little lips – there was love in that, Oh Sehun.’” He placed his hand over his heart and whispered, “’The love was there.’”

Chanyeol gave Jongin a shove before turning back to the pinball machine. “Shut up or I swear I will shove these pinballs up your .”

“Ooh, good luck with that.”

Chanyeol snarled as he focused on his game, trying to drown out the sound of his friends and the loud sound of laughter as a group of teenagers walked behind them.

“Baekhyun lost again this year!”

“What should your Christmas dare be?”

“Can I do it without doing something stupid like kissing a stranger on Christmas Eve again, please?”

Chanyeol’s ears perked up at the noise and his hands froze. He heard the sound of the ball falling and the noises of loss from the machine and groans of disapproval from Jongin and Sehun, but his eyes were too focused on a short stranger in that small group of friends that seemed a bit too familiar.

And when they laughed, it clicked.

That was her. That was definitely–

Wait. Not her.

Him.

“Earth to Chanyeol,” Jongin shouted, snapping in front of his face and tearing him out of his trance. “Dude, you literally just blanked out on us.”

“That’s…” was all Chanyeol was able to say as he stared at the small boy who was wandering away.

His friends glanced in the direction of the group and back to Chanyeol, whose voice escaped in an unbelieving whisper.

“That’s Mistletoe.”

The two stared at the group of friends with their eyes narrowed and frowns on their faces, trying to pick out the gorgeous girl that Chanyeol had described to them so many times.

“Where?” Jongin mumbled as the group crowded around a table and shuffled into the seats. “They’re all wearing male uniforms.”

“But I’m sure of it. That one.” Chanyeol said, turning Jongin’s head toward the small boy. “That one’s Mistletoe.”

The two stared wide-eyed in the boy’s direction before bursting into laughter.

“Wait, so let me get this straight,” Sehun finally wheezed out, “Mistletoe is a man?”

“I guess–”

His voice was drowned out as his friends erupted into laughter once again.

Chanyeol waited for their laughter to die down a little before he pouted and said, “Guys, it’s not that funny.”

“Bro,” Jongin clamped Chanyeol on the shoulder, still doubled over in laughter, “you’ve been chasing after a girl for the past two years only to find out that it’s actually a dude.”

Chanyeol pursed his lips. It was an honest mistake. Anyone could have thought so. He was wearing a skirt, after all. His lips were so soft. His eyes so beautiful. His fingers so thin and delicate and–

“How was I supposed to know?” Chanyeol asked. “I only saw him for half a second in the middle of the night.”

“And didn’t even notice he had no s?”

“Those aren’t the first things I pay attention to,” Chanyeol hissed, slapping Jongin on the back of his head.

“Well now that your Cinder-fella has showed up, what are you going to do?” Sehun asked, leaning back against another machine as Jongin backed away, scowling at Chanyeol while he rubbed the back of his head.

“Yeah, Chanyeol,” Jongin snarled, “You said you weren’t going to freak out over her–”

“Him.”

“–him anymore.”

Chanyeol narrowed his eyes at his chuckling friends before looking back to the petite boy with that beautiful eye smile and perfect teeth as he laughed, twiddling his thin fingers nervously. His eyes widened in surprise, his cheeks turned a bright pink as he slapped one of his friend’s arms with a nervous laugh and shook his head quickly, the thin brown strands of hair shuffling back and forth atop his head.

Now that the stranger was in front of him again, now that he remembers how beautiful he looked under the dim light from the streetlamps amidst the sparkles from the freshly fallen snow in the air, now that he remembers how soft his lips looked and how cute he seemed up close with his pink cheeks and dark eyes...

He takes it back. He takes it all back.

“I lied.”

“What?”

“I lied,” Chanyeol stressed again as he stepped away from the machine, leaving his lost pinball game and pulling away from his friends. “I’m going to get him. And this Christmas, I’m going to make him mine.”

And suddenly, he only had 24 days left to capture the heart of this stranger.

~*~*~    ~*~*~    ~*~*~

18 Days.

The first week had been fairly uneventful, from watching him every so often at the arcade with his group of friends, to standing outside out of his school gates. It was tiresome, if he was honest, being so close, yet too tongue-tied to say hello. How would he even start to say hello? How could he without sounding like a creep?

“You have done nothing but stalk him for a week, Chanyeol,” Jongin sighed, shoving the basket of nachos toward him as Chanyeol watched the small boy desperately play a crane game. “When are you going to get the balls to ask him out?”

Never. “I’m not stalking him,” Chanyeol responded, taking a chip from the basket. “I’m just… watching. Observing. Like a good researcher would.”

“What are you researching, the ways of being a creep?”

“Will you not?” Chanyeol barked at his friend before getting up to play a few games. After playing a few rounds at his pinball machine and not getting near any of his old records, Chanyeol gave a kick to the bottom of the machine before turning around, accidentally bumping into a stranger, who squealed as he fell to the floor.

Chanyeol held a hand to his head. “I’m sorry, I–”  Chanyeol blinked. “Mistletoe,” he whispered softly as he stared at the boy, who shook his head and dropped to the floor with a distressed noise as he began picking up his belongings.

“Ah, I’m sorry, let me…” Chanyeol finished as he leaned down to help gather the rest of the tickets spread out on the floor and handed them to the shorter boy when his eyes landed on the small Pikachu in his hands.

“Ah, you got it?”

The boy followed his line of sight and smiled. “Yeah, from one of those crane games. Those things are evil you know.” He nodded toward the prize stand, where a particularly large Pikachu plushie sat on a pedestal. “Technically I’d rather have that, but it’s like 5000 tickets,” Baekhyun sighed. “I don’t have time to get that many, but I guess this one will do.”

Chanyeol pursed his lips. “Winning a crane game is difficult though; you must have tried pretty hard.

He sighed. “Right? And I know it’s lame to still love Pokemon this much after a certain age, but I’ve never grown out of it.” He glanced away with a pout, as if trying to hide his pink cheeks.

Chanyeol gave him a smile. “I couldn’t judge you if I tried; my friends still make fun of me for playing every once in a while.”

“No way.” The boy’s face lit up. “It’s nice to know I’m not the only young adult that still really likes Pikachu.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Chanyeol laughed. “Everyone has to love Pikachu.”

The boy laughed along with him. “Yeah, it’s pretty standard I guess, but I’ve always liked Pikachu the most.”

“Right?” Chanyeol agreed. “My favorite types have always been–”

“Fire and Electric.”

Chanyeol paused and stared down to the brunette boy before the words, “Oh my god. Marry me,” tumbled out of his lips. At Baekhyun’s soft laugh, Chanyeol covered his mouth and shook his head repeatedly. “I didn’t mean that; I swear I didn’t–”

“I think you have to take me out on at least a couple of really awesome dates before I can answer that question in the affirmative,” Baekhyun teased, still laughing behind the small Pikachu plushie. “I don’t even know your name; I can’t marry a stranger.”

But you sure can suddenly kiss one.

Chanyeol cleared his throat. “Park Chanyeol. Pokemon trainer extraordinaire.” And hopefully my next catch will be your heart.

Baekhyun held out his hand with a smile. “Byun Baekhyun.”

Byun Baekhyun. My Mistletoe. My secret crush of 2 years.

Chanyeol took his hand with a smile. “Nice to meet you.”

Baekhyun’s smile made Chanyeol’s heart melt all over again.

“Same.”

---------------

15 Days.

Chanyeol shifted his weight from one leg to the other as he waited outside of Baekhyun’s school gates, nervously fanning himself.

They had spent at least an hour gushing over things they had in common just a few days before, and it felt like he had known him for years rather than minutes. It was so easy to talk to him, and they had even exchanged phone numbers and texted each other a couple of times since then.

But still, standing outside of his school waiting for him like a creep was not okay.

Neither was doing it in the week before they had talked for the first time, but still. Not okay.

Chanyeol peeked between the open gates, and in between the masses of students rushing out of the building, he could see Baekhyun standing at the door, a shy smile on his face as he talked to another kid in the same uniform. Chanyeol turned around and pressed his back to the brick wall. He was so cute. He was so cute. What the hell. Chanyeol could feel his heart beating faster in his chest. He couldn’t do this. Not today, not ever, he had to go—

“Chanyeol?”

Chanyeol jumped at the sound of Baekhyun’s voice, quickly turning around and trying to look cool and collected as he leaned against the wall, giving a sharp nod of his head and a raise of his eyebrows. “Hey.”

“Uhh… hey,” Baekhyun mumbled. “How did you know I was here?”

Chanyeol nervously pointed to his uniform. “I recognized the insignia… I have a friend here. He wears the same uniform.”

“Ahh,” Baekhyun added with suspicion still tinging his voice.

“In fact,” Chanyeol spoke up, “I was waiting for him instead and just happened to run into you first.”

Baekhyun raised an eyebrow with a smile. “Oh? Then I guess I’ll just leave you to waiting for him then. See you later, Chanyeol,” Baekhyun sang with a wave as he turned away.

Chanyeol blinked, and leapt forward to catch up to him. “B-But I mean, because I found you here too after all…”

Baekhyun looked at Chanyeol, amusement dancing on his lips, and Chanyeol couldn’t help himself from gaping, entranced by the sight of that smile.

“In that case would you like to come to my house? I have lots of cool stuff to show you.”

---------------

12 Days

“Pika…”

Chanyeol glanced up at the noise.

“a…a-choo!”

Chanyeol blinked as Baekhyun rubbed his nose softly and glanced over toward him.

“Did you just say ‘Pika’ before you sneezed?”

Baekhyun’s cheeks turned a faint pink as he looked away. “I know it’s lame, but it became a habit when I was really small, and I never grew out of it.”

Chanyeol stared at the small brunette.

He sneezed like Pikachu.

Was there any possible way for his secret crush to get any cuter? He desperately hoped the answer was no, because Chanyeol really couldn’t handle all this cute, and if he found any way to get cuter, Chanyeol was going to explode.

Baekhyun sighed and puffed out his cheeks, pouting as he scribbled down another answer to his homework.

Nope. Nope. Chanyeol was so done.

“Chanyeol, are you okay?”

Chanyeol shook his head and then nodded quickly, turning back to his homework. “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.”

Baekhyun frowned at him a little before turning back to his own work, letting the warmth of the crackling fire in the fireplace lure them back into soft silence, but only a few seconds passed before Baekhyun spoke up. “Do you have any plans for this Christmas? It’s coming up pretty soon.”

Chanyeol frowned. “Not really; I’ve never been the type to do much on Christmas.”

Baekhyun let his pencil fall from his fingers. “You must be kidding me. Christmas is the most magical time of the year!”

“In what way?” Chanyeol laughed back. “All I see is adults fighting over toys that will be broken before the year ends anyway.”

“You’re looking in the wrong places,” Baekhyun asserted, giving him a shove. “There are lots of magical things for people to do on Christmas!”

“Like kissing under mistletoe?”

Baekhyun stuttered, looking away. “S-sure, there’s that too.”

Chanyeol raised an eyebrow, enjoying Baekhyun’s embarrassment. “Do you like kissing under mistletoe, Baekhyun?” Or cuddling in front of a fireplace, perhaps?

Baekhyun laughed. “I don’t know, Chanyeol, this is all moving way too fast for me. We did just meet after all.”

Chanyeol pushed Baekhyun’s side, matching his laughter. “You were the one talking about Christmas magic.”

“I meant spending time with the people you love, and other gross sappy things!”

Chanyeol rolled his eyes with a smile. “Fine, whatever you say. I still think you’re a mistletoe kid.”

Baekhyun pouted. “Let’s not talk about mistletoe. Let’s talk about how I’m going to make this Christmas absolutely great for you, because you apparently don’t know how to enjoy holidays.” Baekhyun found himself standing, looking toward the kitchen. “Starting with hot chocolate and candy canes!”

Chanyeol rolled his eyes as he got up to follow Baekhyun into the kitchen, and as he watched Baekhyun make their mugs of hot chocolate, he didn’t think Baekhyun would have to work very hard at all to make this Christmas better than any of the others. Just having him here was making it a pretty great season already.

“Do not fret about your small unbelieving heart, Park Chanyeol,” Baekhyun mumbled, stirring their drinks with candy canes, “for I guarantee that I will make this Christmas your best Christmas. Full of magic and happiness and delight.”

Chanyeol leaned in close. “I’d love to see you try, Byun Baekhyun.”

“Is that a challenge?” Baekhyun smirked back, “Because you’re on.”

---------------

11 Days

Chanyeol stood behind his house quietly, looking around and listening closely for any crunch of snow underneath Baekhyun’s boots. It was silent.

He took a single step forward and peeked out from behind his house into the yard where he presumed Baekhyun was waiting, and right as he did, a snowball burst against his face.

“Got you, Chanyeol!” Baekhyun shouted as he turned to run away, but Chanyeol was prepared, hoisting up his snowballs in his arms as he ran off after him with a shout, throwing each snowball at Baekhyun’s back until the brunette hid behind a thick tree, shrieking and laughing.

Chanyeol took a step back when Baekhyun stepped out from behind the tree and began to approach him with his own snowballs in his arms and an evil smile on his face. Chanyeol turned, slipping on ice and falling face first into the snow as Baekhyun hurled snowballs at him from behind.

“Falling won’t save you!” Baekhyun shouted as Chanyeol tried to stand, only to be pushed back to the ground as Baekhyun rammed into him and circled his arms around him. “Operation Make Chanyeol into a Snowball is in effect!” Baekhyun laughed, rolling in the snow with Chanyeol in his arms, filling his mouth and his nose and his ears with snow until Chanyeol was able to push Baekhyun off of him and throw snow onto him as they both laughed and squirmed in the powdery, freshly fallen snow.

Chanyeol lay back down next to the brunette, panting heavily, and turned his head toward the brunette with a smile, only to see Baekhyun smiling back at him. Chanyeol’s cheeks felt so hot, he probably could have melted all the snow.

Baekhyun, I think… just maybe… I might be… in love… with you.

---------------

9 Days

“Ah!” Baekhyun stopped in the middle of their walk, eyes drawn to a stranger that was walking past them. “That hat!”

Chanyeol looked behind him, a tall man wearing Pikachu Laplander with two pokeballs at the end. “What about it?”

“It’s cute! I want!”

Chanyeol laughed as he glanced back to Baekhyun. He would look cute in it. Then again, he thought Baekhyun would look cute in anything. “Go ask them where they got it from.”

“Are you kidding? I don’t want to seem like a nerd to a stranger.”

“You seemed like a nerd the day we met.”

Baekhyun puffed out his cheeks, tinted with a hint of pink. “Because you asked me about it first. Don’t bring up the past.”

“It was like two weeks ago.”

“It is the past!”

Chanyeol laughed as Baekhyun stomped off ahead of him. He smiled and hummed to himself, “Whatever you say, Mistletoe.”

Baekhyun glanced over his shoulder. “Mistletoe?”

“Nothing!” Chanyeol stuttered, quickly catching up to his side as they slid into a booth.

They ordered a pizza and drinks as they began to talk about anything and everything. They talked about how Chanyeol had been collecting tickets from the arcade for quite a while now, and they talked about Baekhyun’s love for small dogs, and then the ferret Chanyeol lost when he was a child, and somehow the conversation transitioned into Baekhyun’s Christmas Dare.

“Last year, when I lost our bet – er, well three of us lost, so we had to stand in that fountain in the middle of the mall and scream the lyrics to Jingle Bells three times. Can you even believe they made us do that?” He laughed. “It was so embarrassing. Security literally came and chased us out.”

In the middle of Baekhyun’s laughter, Chanyeol only smiled, and when he noticed it, Baekhyun spoke up again. “Ah, you don’t know what I’m talking about, do you? A group of my friends and I, we have this Christmas bet every year, and whoever loses has to do a dare that the rest of the group makes up. That year wasn’t as bad as usual – I think it’s because all three of us that lost are usually the best at making up dares anyway.”

Chanyeol frowned. “What about the year before that?”

Baekhyun’s cheeks flushed a bright pink as he looked away from Chanyeol. “That one’s a secret.”

He narrowed his eyes. “What, too embarrassing?”

Baekhyun shot Chanyeol a glare from the corner of his eyes. “Not embarrassing. I just don’t want to talk about it.” A dark look crossed his face. “I’ll just mention it involved cross-dressing.”

Chanyeol’s frown deepened as he looked away. “Okay then,” he drew out with a sigh. “What about the year before?”

“I didn’t lose that year, so I don’t remember.” Baekhyun puffed out his cheeks. “Why are you implying that I lose our bet every year? It’s just been… fairly consistent recently.”

“Did you lose this year too?”

Baekhyun froze.

“Ah, so that’s a yes,” Chanyeol said, his intrigued eyes boring into Baekhyun’s soul. “What do you have to do this year?”

Baekhyun paused, looking down to his fingers on his lap. “I have to finally talk to and make a gift for my crush.”

Chanyeol blinked as a wave of disappointment overcame him. “You like someone?”

“Yeah,” Baekhyun mumbled, fidgeting with his sweater. “I guess you wouldn’t know; you and I just met recently.”

Chanyeol knitted his eyebrows together, recalling seeing him smiling nervously as he talked to that pretty boy when they walked out of school. “Who do you like?” he asked hesitantly, only bothered further when Baekhyun held a finger up to his lips.

“That’s also a secret.”

A bored frown crossed Chanyeol’s face. “Then what are you making them?”

“A scarf,” Baekhyun said. “I know it’s lame, but it’s the only thing I can really think of.” With an even softer laugh, he finished, “Plus my knitting skills aren’t at their highest level yet. Perhaps I need a skill upgrade.”

Chanyeol only stared. Baekhyun was knitting a scarf full of love.

But the worst part was that it wouldn’t be for him.         

---------------

7 Days

Jongdae folded his arms across the table and sighed as he rested his head on them.

“Have you bought a gift for your crush yet?” Sehun asked, pointing a nacho at Chanyeol.

“Nerd crush,” Jongin had snorted, much to Chanyeol’s chagrin.

“I haven’t,” Chanyeol sighed. He had been eyeing a few things that he thought Baekhyun would like, but buying a present for him wasn’t the issue. “But how would I give it to him? Why would I give it to him; we just met less three weeks ago. Wouldn’t he think it was weird?”

Jongin placed his hand on Chanyeol’s shoulder and gave it a sarcastically comforting squeeze. “You’ll figure it out. Love always finds a way.”

Chanyeol groaned, resting his head on the table. He didn’t even know if Baekhyun wanted something from him. Not while he was making that scarf for his own love interest.

“I have to buy a gift too but I still haven’t gotten anything,” Jongdae grumbled. “I wish I didn’t have to spend money for school, especially on someone I’m not friends with.”

“Sounds lame,” Sehun mumbled, tucking a nacho into his mouth. “What for?”

“Secret Santa assignments. We buy some gifts for some people we don’t know.” Jongdae frowned. “Well at least I’ve heard of this Baekhyun kid before, but that doesn’t mean I know what he wants–”

“Baekhyun?” Chanyeol lifted his head, silencing the rest of the table as he spoke. “Byun Baekhyun?”

“Yes?” Jongdae asked with a questioning tilt of his head. “Why do you know that kid?”

Sehun sighed as he leaned back. “Here we go again.”

“Why?” Jongdae sat up straight. “What’s wrong with Baekhyun?”

“Baekhyun is Chanyeol’s Mistletoe.”

Jongdae gasped. “Baekhyun’s your Mistletoe?”

Chanyeol nodded. “Do you know him well?”

“Not well, but I’ve heard stuff about him. And you? What do you know about him?”

Chanyeol pursed his lips and glanced away. “A lot, but not enough.” He raised an eyebrow. “Do you know if he likes someone?”

“Like I said, I really don’t know him that well–”

Chanyeol’s eyes narrowed. “Anyone he looks specifically happy around?”

Jongdae’s eyes narrowed back. “Pretty much everyone? He’s quite a smiley kid, Chanyeol.”

Chanyeol frowned as he tried to recall the man he had seen Baekhyun walk out of school with many times before. “What about this one kid umm… about Baekhyun’s height, thin… pastel pink hair?”

“Oh, Luhan?”

Chanyeol’s ears perked up. Jongdae snarled. “He’s cute; everyone’s dying to get a piece of him.” Chanyeol’s breath caught in his throat. “I’ve seen Baekhyun around him recently, yeah, but that doesn’t really surprise anyone.”

Chanyeol’s heart thudded in his chest. He was too late. Baekhyun was progressing on his Christmas dare while Chanyeol was just sitting around getting shoved further and further into the friend zone, and if he doesn’t confess to him before Baekhyun gives Luhan that scarf–

Oh no.

Chanyeol took Jongdae’s hands in his, startling the other man. “Please, Jongdae, let me give Baekhyun a gift as his secret Santa.” Jongdae backed up in his seat as Chanyeol stood up and leaned over the table. “It’s anonymous and much less creepy this way – Jongdae!”

“Why can’t you just give him a gift on your own?”

“It doesn’t work that way, it’s not the same–”

“But it’s for a school event, Chanyeol, I can’t just let you–”

“Please, Jongdae, just let me–”

---------------

6 Days.

Chanyeol didn’t see Baekhyun at all this day.

He spent all of his time after school at the arcade gathering 5000 tickets instead.

---------------

5 Days.

Chanyeol stood outside of the door, pressing his ear to the wall to listen to the conversations on the opposite side.

“Okay, Baekhyun, it’s your turn!”

“Where’s mine – I want to open it already!”

“It’s that large one!”

“Waahhh so big~!”

There were shuffling noises and muffled conversations in the background. Paper ripping and a sharp gasp.

“Oh my god are these… is this–?!”

A squeal. Some happy laughter. Confusion.

“Who got me these? Come out! I want to kiss you!”

More loud laughter.

A smile touched Chanyeol’s lips as he turned away from the door, stuffed his hand into his pockets, and walked down the hallway to exit the school building.

From Baekkie~: ‘You should come over tomorrow if you’re not busy! :)’ Received [5:52 pm]

---------------

4 Days.

“It’s cute, isn’t it? It’s so cute!”

Baekhyun squealed as he squished the pokeballs on the end of the yellow Pikachu Laplander.

“It’s a nice hat – suits you well,” Chanyeol admired how nicely he looked in it with an affirmative nod.

“Thank you, thank you!” Baekhyun laughed, his eyes curling into cute little crescents that made all of the time Chanyeol spent fretting over these presents worth it. “I got it as a gift from a secret Santa, but whoever he was, he won’t reveal himself.”

Chanyeol hummed as he leaned back against the wall. “Isn’t that the fun of it though?”

“It’s…” he paused. “I want to say thank you.”

“With a kiss?”

Baekhyun looked up to Chanyeol. “Kiss who?”

Chanyeol shook his head, glancing to the ground with a frown. Do you go around just kissing anybody, Baekhyun?

“A…Anyways,” Baekhyun mumbled, “you remember that Pikachu plushie from the arcade? The one that cost 5000 tickets? He got me that too!”

Chanyeol glanced back up to the boy and smiled, noting his smooth, pink cheeks and the beautiful way his smile spanned across his face. The way his eyes lit up and sparkled in delight, and the sound of his happy laughter.

“Chanyeol?” Chanyeol snapped out of his trance as Baekhyun snapped in front of his face. “What?”

Chanyeol shook his head. I’m just happy that you’re happy. “Nothing. Just spacing out.”

“Well don’t space out in the middle of my excitement,” Baekhyun chided. “We should celebrate!”

“Okay okay,” Chanyeol responded with a smile. “Whatever you want, Mistletoe.”

---------------

3 Days

Baekhyun had brought over some cookie dough and the first few Harry Potter movies on a whim. Although he wasn’t expecting him, Chanyeol easily welcomed him into his house.

“Open,” Baekhyun mumbled, eyes still fixated on the television as he picked up a bit of cookie dough and held it out toward Chanyeol’s mouth.

Chanyeol opened his mouth and Baekhyun fed him the dough. “How is your scarf going?” Chanyeol sighed as he leaned back into the couch.

Baekhyun glanced up to him. “It’s okay. I’m almost done. It’s almost Christmas Eve after all.”

Chanyeol frowned as he glanced away. “Yeah, it is.” Almost Christmas Eve and I still haven’t told you I love you.

A poke to his bicep got Chanyeol to turn back to Baekhyun. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Chanyeol said, faking a smile as he turned back to the cookie dough. “Don’t you ever think of actually making cookies with this stuff instead of eating it?”

Baekhyun gave a soft laugh as he ripped off another piece of the dark dough. “Of course not,” he mumbled before stuffing it into his mouth.

Chanyeol turned to the boy with a small smile, adoring the curve of his eyes as he laughed at the television and the soft pink blush that crossed his cheeks, standing out in contrast with his rather pale skin.

Baekhyun glanced over to him with a questioning look in his eye. His soft, thin eyebrows curved upward in confusion, his head tilted slightly and his small lips parted as he spoke.

“Chanyeol?”

Chanyeol blinked, snapping out of his trance and asked, “hmm?” as he nervously took another piece of cookie dough out of the bucket and looked back toward the television.

“Are you okay?”

If by ‘okay’ you mean hopelessly lost in an awful, one-sided love with someone who doesn’t even remember me and unable to escape it no matter how hard I try, then–

“Yeah. I’m fine.”

“… Okay.”

Baekhyun turned back toward the television, but Chanyeol glanced toward Baekhyun from the corner of his eye, admiring how handsome his side profile was.

And suddenly it just felt like it was just the two of them in the room and time had frozen around them.

And in the moment that Baekhyun turned toward him again, his eyes sparking in confusion yet still looking more beautiful than ever, Chanyeol realized…

“Chanyeol…?”

…how much he really didn’t want to lose him.

And he wondered how lucky he has to be for someone as perfect as Baekhyun to simply just waltz into his life, and how unlucky he must be that Baekhyun is currently trying to waltz into another man’s arms.

And he found it strange and a bit funny that a stranger from two years ago was sitting in his house, feeding him cookie dough and watching movies with him, while Chanyeol couldn’t help but lose himself in how beautiful this stranger was.

And for some reason he still found it attractive the way that Baekhyun’s lips were tugging down in the shape of a small, concerned frown that seemed out of place on his face, though Chanyeol was in love with his smile much more.

And he always loved the memory of Baekhyun’s soft lips between his own and the gentle tug on his scarf as he pulled him downward, the way he had to stand on the tips of his toes to kiss him, and the way the blush spread across his cheeks or the way his hair ruffled as he ran away.

And Baekhyun was always on his mind and it just seemed so obvious that he needed him to be there because without him, Chanyeol just felt so lost and so alone.

“Chanyeol, are you sure?”

And suddenly, the thought of not having that mysterious boy that had kissed him once two years ago caused this tight pain in his chest, and it swelled until it felt like he was suffocating.

And he wanted this feeling to last forever – this feeling when his heart beats quickly at the thought of the smaller boy and or this feeling when he gets so lost in his eyes that he can’t help but stare.

And he wanted to remember everything about Baekhyun because he wants Baekhyun to be his.

His…

And there was silence.

And before he realized it, his eyes were closed and he was leaning forward, pressing his lips against Baekhyun’s soft ones that tasted of strawberry chapstick and sweet gingerbread cookies, memories of mistletoe and freshly fallen powdery snow that glistened like fairy dust in the moonlight, like the delight of warm cinnamon apple pie or hot chocolate and mini marshmallows on a cold, December day, or snuggling up in blankets in front of the fireplace.

And as Chanyeol slowly drew away from the older boy, their lips slowly losing contact as the fluttery feeling in Chanyeol’s stomach faded, and Chanyeol’s eyes slowly opened to be met by the sight of Baekhyun’s startled, wide eyes.

Chanyeol shifted backward, his mind barely catching up as his eyes focused on the boy in front of him and hell, did I just kiss you because I swear I didn’t mean to–

“Baek, I–”

But Baekhyun was already standing up, gathering his scarf materials and drowning out Chanyeol’s apologies as he stuttered his own about how he had to leave before he was already shuffling out of the room, out of the house, out of his life.

Baekhyun!” Chanyeol shouted and stumbled out of the door, but the boy was already running down the street, holding his items close to his chest as he sprinted away from the house. “Baekhyun!” Chanyeol screamed again as he ran after him, his voice echoing in his empty head as it pounded in pain and I can’t lose you, please don’t leave me.

He tripped and barely caught himself, rising back up to his feet and running again until he ran out of breath and energy, though Baekhyun was too far away for it to matter much by now. He finally began to slow down, panting heavily as he watched the small figure disappear into the distance until he was out of sight. Out of his life. Out of…

Dammit.

---------------

2 Days

To Baekkie~: ‘Where are you? Want to meet up?’ Sent [2:31 pm]

From Baekkie~: ‘Can’t. Busy today.’ Received [3:17 pm]

Oh.

---------------

1 Day

To Baekkie~: ‘I’m that stranger you kissed 2 years ago, and I think I’m in love with you.’

Message saved to drafts.

Message erased.

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Christmas Eve

Chanyeol stared up to his ceiling, shooting nervous glances toward his phone every once in a while, just waiting for it to vibrate with any news from Baekhyun. His time was out. It was Christmas Eve and all he managed to do was destroy his chances with Baekhyun even further.

He gnawed on his bottom lip. His fingers had been typing out small messages and then erasing them all day, unsure if getting a message from Baekhyun about successfully finishing his scarf would be worse than if getting ignored on Christmas Eve. He almost wanted to ask Baekhyun where he was so he could intercept him on his path to give Luhan the scarf and stop him from confessing to Luhan.

Rather, he sent nothing and just sat on his couch, his knees propped up to his chest as he watched the clock tick away. This was actually the worst.

Chanyeol’s despair was barely interrupted by the sound of his doorbell and a soft knock on his door. He tried to ignore it until the knocking continued, harder, louder, faster, and Chanyeol finally got up from the couch with a sigh, if only to get it to stop.

And then he opened the door to the small brunette, wearing a Santa hat and holding a wrapped box in his hands.

“For me?” Chanyeol asked, met by a quick nod of Baekhyun’s head.

Chanyeol slowly took the box from his gloved hands. He stood there awkwardly for a second, until Baekhyun sighed. “You should open it. Now.”

“But… it’s not Christmas yet–”

“Will you just open the box?”

Chanyeol bit back any response, and as he untied the bow and opened the box, he revealed the scarf that Baekhyun had been working on for the past few weeks.

When Chanyeol did nothing but stare at it, Baekhyun carefully lifted the scarf from its packaging to reveal a single note at the bottom of the box.

“I choose you.” – Baekhyun

Baekhyun wrapped the scarf behind Chanyeol’s neck before standing up on the tips of his toes and pressing his soft lips against his, and it felt almost like he was transported back in time to that one Christmas Eve two years ago.

“A scarf because it reminds me of the first time my crush and I met.”

Chanyeol stared down to the brunette, still startled by the sudden kiss. “Your crush?”

Baekhyun’s eyes curled into small crescents. “Chanyeol, you are my crush.”

Chanyeol blinked in disbelief. “I’m your crush?”

Baekhyun laughed as he nodded, leaning back in to kiss Chanyeol again.

As they separated, Chanyeol laughed softly. “Wow, okay.”

Baekhyun leaned back. “Is… there a problem?”

Chanyeol frowned, looking down to the box in his hands. “I don’t… have a gift for you.”

“What do you mean?” Baekhyun asked, “You already gave me something.” When Chanyeol furrowed his eyebrows, Baekhyun rolled his eyes. “That giant Pikachu and the hat, remember?”

Chanyeol blinked at him. “Wasn’t that a secret santa gift? From your school?”

“That you totally bought for me and tried to pass as a secret santa gift?”

Chanyeol’s frown deepened. “How did you know?”

“Because I was gushing over this with you the other day.”

Chanyeol raised an eyebrow. “Like you’ve never done that with anyone else.”

The brunette gave a nonchalant shrug. “I blackmailed Jongdae into telling me as well.”

“That bastard.”

“Thank you,” Baekhyun said quickly. “For getting it for me. You used all the tickets that you’ve been saving, though, didn’t you?”

Chanyeol shrugged. “I think I was just collecting them to collect them by then. I didn’t have anything else better to spend them on besides a cute boy named Baekhyun.”

Baekhyun blushed again and looked like he wanted to crawl into his hat and disappear. Chanyeol spoke again before he could.

“But Baekhyun, why me?”

Baekhyun looked away in embarrassment. “You… probably don’t even remember this, but two years ago after losing the Christmas bet, I got dared to kiss a stranger on Christmas Eve.” He slowly peeked back toward Chanyeol. “And it turned out to be you.

“I kept running into you after that. It was weird because I had tried to choose someone that I wouldn’t see again, but it was like everywhere I went, you were there. At the arcade, at the grocery store, at the movies, I could have sworn it was fate or something. But… it was kind of like a game, seeing how often I could find you, and seeing you used to make my heart flutter, and you were really handsome and nice, and I sort of started following you around everywhere because I really liked you, and wow this sounds creepier saying it out loud.” Baekhyun held up his hands. “I swear I’m not a stalker; it just sort of happened this way.”

Chanyeol gave a soft laugh. “So somehow you fell in love with a stranger too, huh, Mistletoe.”

Baekhyun opened his mouth to ask what he meant, but Chanyeol leaned in, silencing him another kiss to his soft, pink lips. And as Baekhyun stood on the tips of his toes and wrapped his arms behind his neck, Chanyeol decided that it would be his best Christmas indeed.

~*~*~    ~*~*~    ~*~*~

A/n: hmmm sorry it’s so short :( I’ve been really lazy and writer’s blocked recently *coughs dramatically* I’m also sorry it was so gross like ew but yeah ok MERRY CHRISTMAS don’t die k thnx bye *rolls away*

Disclaimer: the plot of this story is based off stupid things that should not be attempted by anyone in the real world. Please do not kiss strangers, and please do not develop a 2 year long crush on a stranger that may happen to kiss you. Do not stalk strangers. Do not invite them into your house. Okay? Okay. Have Happy Holidays~~ ♥