A/N: Dedicated, once again, to Valerie (caline) without whom I probably wouldn't be writing 2min at all. 

Also, Merry Christmas to you all! <3

            I decided that this Christmas I was going to volunteer at the soup kitchen in the homeless shelter. I had picked up a leaflet on my way home from work a week before, which said that they were in desperate need of people to help out. The slogan was ‘Make someone smile this Christmas’, and however cheesy it sounded, it obviously worked on me; the next day I arrived at the shelter to sign up. My friends teased me about it – well, Jonghyun did. He asked me if I’d introduce him to any ‘hot homeless chicks’ I happened to come across. Key had squealed happily, saying he was proud that his ‘little Minho’ had finally grown up, and Onew…Onew-hyung had just smiled knowingly. He probably thought this would be a good thing; after all, Onew knew my reasons for doing it more than anyone. It wasn’t like I had anything else to do this Christmas.

            My parents certainly weren’t about to welcome me back into the home. Ever since I’d come out as gay, almost exactly a year before, they had discarded me completely. I suppose I was lucky really, I mean they found me a place at Seoul University and I still had money coming into my account. But it’s got to hurt when your mother doesn’t say a word as your father packs you off to university with instructions never to call, never to return home.

            So this Christmas won’t be the happy, family occasion that I remember from my childhood, but I figured there was no point in spending it alone in my apartment. Of course, all of my friends had offered for me to spend it with them and their families, but it wouldn’t feel right. I didn’t want to feel like an intruder on Christmas Day of all days. So I showed up that morning at the shelter with a bright smile on my face, ready to finally do some good in the world.

            “You’re here! Yes! You must be Minho,” said a pretty girl with dark, wavy hair pulled back into a ponytail as she ran over to me. She was tall, and I guessed she was around my age, probably a couple of years older. “Happy Christmas!”

            “Um, yeah…you too,” I found myself smiling wider; her grin was infectious.

            “I’m Sooyoung, and I’ll be your supervisor today. I’m quite excited, actually; today’s going to be my tenth Christmas helping out at the shelter!”

            “Oh…wow. That’s, um…that’s a lot of Christmases.”

            “I know right! I’ve been volunteering since I was a kid,” she said proudly.

            God, I thought, how bad must her life be if she’s been volunteering for so long? Then again, maybe she was just a good person. Her enthusiasm was pretty admirable. But I didn’t want to pry; I figured that everyone here would have some sort of story as to why they weren’t spending Christmas with their families. It was nice to be surrounded by some sort of festive cheer, even if it wasn’t the conventional kind.

            Pretty soon, the ‘guests’ started to arrive. I was put to work serving the food, partly because of my handsome face but mostly because I told Sooyoung I can’t cook to save my life. It was a busy job; more and more people showed up for their meal and I wondered who had the money to pay for all the food. As well as the usual bowl of creamy mushroom soup and slice of brown bread, for the occasion everyone was given a slice of turkey and a cheap Christmas cracker. I managed quite well for my first time, I thought, only spilling the soup twice and occasionally giving some lucky person an extra piece of bread by accident.

            It marvelled me how everyone seemed to be happy. The joy of Christmas showed on everyone’s faces, even the ones with the shabbiest clothes and the dirtiest faces. The majority of people who showed up were male, ranging from young adults around my age to middle aged and even elderly men. But there were plenty of women too, and even young children, who were by far the most excited as they sang and danced to popular Christmas carols. It was a bustling, uplifting atmosphere and you just couldn’t feel sorry for these people; no matter how bad their situation was, today they were determined to forget everything and just laugh along with the rest of the world.

            There was one person who didn’t seem to be joining in with the festivities, however. He caught my eye, sitting there at a table near the back of the room, one of the few people without a bowl in front of him. Apart from the children he was probably the youngest there, at least two years younger than me, and his dyed blonde hair made him seem almost foreign at a first glance. He didn’t seem unhappy as such, just withdrawn. As I did, he watched everyone else with a certain curiosity, not joining in their games but sharing their enjoyment just by observing. Once I’d noticed him I couldn’t quite bring myself to look away; there was no denying of his beauty, which was almost feminine.

            Overcome with curiosity, I finally worked up the courage to take a break from serving (nearly everyone had eaten their fill already, anyway) and wandered over to where he sat, sitting down on the empty seat behind him. He paid no attention to me, continuing to stare around the room.

            “Have you eaten?” I finally asked when it became clear that he wasn’t going to start a conversation.

            He turned to me then, seemingly surprised to see me there as if he hadn’t noticed my appearance at all. He blinked once and said in a smooth, polite voice, “Oh, I’m not hungry, but thank you.”

            I wondered who came to a soup kitchen if it wasn’t for the food, but then, I supposed it was his business. I didn’t want to ask any further questions but he carried on staring up at me, his brown eyes appearing to search my face for something.

            “Er, my name’s Minho,” I said awkwardly. I didn’t know why I suddenly felt nervous as his eyes scrutinized me; I’m normally good with people. It wasn’t that I was uncomfortable or wary of him in any way, so why did I feel weird? All of my discomfort melted away, however, as soon as he stretched his pink lips into a smile, showing his perfectly white teeth. I wondered briefly what such an adorable kid could be doing in a place like this at Christmas.

            “I’m Taemin,” he said.

            “Nice to meet you, Taemin,” I said genuinely, and on a sudden impulse, “Hey, do you wanna get out of here? Go somewhere else?”

            I had no idea what I was doing. I mean, the kid was homeless and I’d only just met him. But to my surprise, Taemin seemed to smile even wider at my suggestion.

            “Sure!” he said brightly. “Where do you wanna go, hyung?”

            “Uh…” I hesitated for a moment. There was nowhere I could really take him; it’s not like anything would be open on Christmas day. Besides, was I really asking a homeless kid out on a…date? He was attractive, sure, but this wasn’t exactly what I’d imagined when I’d signed up to volunteer. I suddenly remembered Jonghyun’s suggestion about using this as a dating opportunity and had to stop myself from laughing. “I don’t know. It’s up to you.”

            He frowned in thought for a moment. “Somewhere warm!” he finally said. I smiled slightly at his cuteness.

            “O-okay, I guess I can do that,” I said. “In fact, there’s this place nearby…shall we go?”

            I stood up and located the exit, gesturing for Taemin to go ahead. He hung back slightly and I took the lead, moving through the crowds of people who didn’t notice us leaving. I felt slightly bad disappearing without even saying goodbye to Sooyoung and the other volunteers, but the day wasn’t almost over and it wasn’t nearly as busy; they didn’t need my help any more. I felt Taemin’s hand slide cautiously into mine, the warmth of his fingers surprisingly comforting against my own as we left the heated building and walked out onto the bitterly cold street.

            I took him to a cosy little café on one of the side streets, a cheap but nice place that I’d discovered while searching for somewhere to study in peace, back when I still lived at the college dorms. I knew it would be open; it was run by a cheerful, hard-working old man who refused to close even on Christmas day. Once we arrived, I greeted the owner and ordered us both hot chocolates, taking a seat in one of the booths next to the window so we could look out at the view. Which wasn’t much, to be honest – we were on the outskirts of the city, surrounded by industrial buildings and the occasional shop. It could be quite pretty when it snowed, but unfortunately this year, though it felt freezing to me, the weather hadn’t been quite cold enough.

            “Merry Christmas, hyung,” Taemin said softly. He chuckled. “I thought I should say that to at least one person.”

            “Merry Christmas to you too, Taemin,” Minho said. “I’m glad I’m not spending it alone.”

            “Really?” he chirped, smiling up at me so happily. Was that all it took to make this kid smile? Not that I was complaining; he had a beautiful smile, and it cheered me up just looking at it. He took a sip of his hot chocolate, bringing the large mug up to his face, and emerged with a spot of whipped cream on his nose. Ugh, of course he would.

            “Er, Taemin…you’ve got something on your, um…” I said awkwardly, pointing towards my own nose.

            “Hmmm? What do you mean?” he stared at me with those wide, innocent eyes, and I sighed.

            “Let me.” I picked up a napkin from the table and stood up, reaching over to wipe off the cream. I looked at him for the first time then, properly, saw how his eyes caught the light and his hair and skin seemed to shine, radiating an almost angelic beauty. His lips were smooth and so perfectly sculpted, and I leaned closer until they were almost touching my own. I didn’t realize how close I was getting until Taemin suddenly gasped and pulled away, his cheeks a bright shade of scarlet against the rest of his pale skin. I tried to return to my seat with a mumbled apology but was unsuccessful, inadvertently knocking over Taemin’s mug with my elbow in my hurry to sit down. I looked up, embarrassed, and realized that he was covered in the hot brown liquid. I’d spilled his hot chocolate…all over him.  Even Onew would have been appalled at my clumsiness.

            “Oh my God, Taemin, are you okay?” I asked, frantically trying to mop up the spilled beverage with a handful of napkins. “I’m so sorry, honestly, I don’t know what came over me…”

            “It’s fine, hyung, it wasn’t your fault,” he laughed. It seemed, to my surprise, that he found the whole thing funny. “I didn’t really like these jeans anyway!”

            “Well, the least I can do is lend you some new ones. My apartment’s near here, why don’t we go there and you can borrow some fresh clothes? That is if you, you know…”

            “Sounds good,” he agreed, and we left the café with a brief goodbye to the old owner.

            “Hyung?” Taemin said hesitantly as we walked down the street, “Can I tell you a secret?”

            “Uh…sure,” I replied, looking down at the younger boy.

            “I’m not homeless,” he said matter-of-factly.

            “Oh…” I wasn’t sure quite what to say to that.

            “I have a house and everything. I just go to the homeless shelter because it’s nice, you know? It’s peaceful. And I like watching everyone.” He seemed to be watching me for some kind of reaction. I was…shocked, to say the least. It’s not normal for kids to hang around homeless shelters when they get bored. Besides, it was Christmas…I mean, who does that? Apart from me, that is.

            “Um, what about your parents?”

            “Oh, I just live with my dad. He doesn’t care where I go, as long as I’m home in time to clean up his mess and cook him a meal. Then again, these days he’s usually too drunk to notice whether I come home or not. And he’s always worse at Christmas, when everyone else is happy and stuff,” Taemin said cheerfully, not seeming to realize the weight of the words coming out of his mouth. I was stunned into silence.

            I cleared my throat as we rounded the corner. “So, um, this is my apartment building,” I said, indicating the grotty seven-floor building with peeling paint and a rusted metal door handle. For the first time, I was a little embarrassed to be inviting someone home. But hey, what do you expect when I’m living as a student in Korea’s capital city? We took the stairs (I’d never seen the elevator working in all my time living there) up to the fifth floor, where I lived at the very end of the corridor.

             I opened the door and entered, Taemin following and removing his shoes politely. We made our way into the living room, which was limited in furniture, to say the least. There was only an old threadbare sofa, an old coffee table, and a 12-inch television.

            “It’s small,” I said almost apologetically, though I didn’t know why I was being apologetic.

            “It’s lovely,” he breathed, and though I searched his face for any sarcasm, he seemed oddly sincere. He looked at me. “It’s really cosy. I love it.”

            I smiled at him. I couldn’t help it; I had been smiling much more than usual that day, and it was undoubtedly all Taemin’s fault. “You’re cute,” I said.

            He blushed and turned away. It was then that I realized he was still covered in hot chocolate, and I quickly rushed into my room to find him something to wear. I selected a long-sleeved t-shirt and a pair of skinny jeans that I hoped wouldn’t be too big for him, given his small size. Aware that he must have been pretty uncomfortable in his wet clothing, I returned quickly and handed the bundle to him. He stood there for a moment, clutching the t-shirt and jeans to his chest and looking at me.

            “Um, hyung…could you, you know…” he looked in the direction of the door.

            Oh God, I’d been staring. He wanted privacy. Of course.

            Stupid, erted Minho.

            I hurried out of the room without saying a word, walking into the tiny kitchen and sitting down to wait. I checked my phone, which I’d been ignoring all day; I’d received three texts, each of them Christmas greetings from my friends. I replied to each of them with the same message, “Merry Christmas, hope you’re having a good one~”. I didn’t mention anything about Taemin…after all, that’s not the sort of thing you can explain in a text. Key would freak out.

            Speaking of which, all of a sudden I heard a scream from the living room. Well, not quite a scream…more like a squeal. “Hyung! Come here, come quickly!” Taemin shrieked.

            I was suddenly extremely nervous. Was he hurt? What had happened? I quickly recovered from my initial shock and ran into the next room, throwing the door open to see Taemin standing by the window, jumping up and down.

            “Taemin, what is it? What have you seen?” I asked frantically, coming up behind him.

            “Look, hyung, it’s snowing!” he squealed, reminding me of myself as a five-year-old. I immediately relaxed, letting out a soft chuckle.

            “Geez, Taemin, you nearly gave me a heart attack.”

            “Isn’t it beautiful?”

            I looked outside for the first time. It really was beautiful. The first snowfall of the year, and on Christmas day no less…the pure white snowflakes dazzled the sky like falling stars; each one unique, or so they say. Unique and beautiful, just like Taemin. The more I thought about it, he was just like a snowflake; pure, delicate, so enchanting that you can’t take your eyes off him. I didn’t care how clichéd or cheesy that sounded.

            “It really is,” I breathed. 

            “Thank you, Minho-hyung,” he said softly.

            “Hmmm? For the clothes, you mean?”

            “No…for everything,” he replied, his face turning red again. “This has been the best Christmas ever.”

            I sighed and hugged him, wrapping my arms around his slim frame and pulling him close until I could hear his heartbeat. I held him like that for a long moment; he was stiff at first before he relaxed, resting his head on my shoulder and letting his warm breath tickle my neck as he breathed. My hand reached up to his hair and I was unsurprised to find that it was the softest, most smooth thing I’ve ever touched, like silk between my fingers.

            “Really the best Christmas,” he whispered.

            I pulled away so I could look into his eyes. “It’s not over yet. Are you sure there isn’t anything else you’d like to do?”

            He thought for a moment. “Well, there is one thing. Can we…can we go to the park?”

            “The park? Why?”

            He looked at me nervously, his brown eyes sparkling. “I’ll tell you when we get there.”

            “Okay,” I said, despite myself. It was cold and dark, but if Taemin wanted to go to the park then I guess we’d go to the park. There was just something about the look in his eyes that stopped me from being able to say no

            We arrived at the park near my apartment – it was small, deserted and not very well kept, but it was a park nonetheless and Taemin seemed thrilled. As soon as I opened the gate he started running, screaming, “Choi Minho, you’re it!” and laughing over his shoulder. I ran after him, pretending to be slow so that he wouldn’t be caught and calling his name. “Taeminnie, slow down!” I shouted cheerfully, caught up in the moment.

            Suddenly, unexpectedly, he slowed to a stop and I crashed into him, sending us both flying to the ground. He landed on his back and I landed right on top of him, legs either side of his body in a straddling position. He didn’t seem fazed, peering up at me with those innocent, twinkling eyes.

            “You okay? You’re not hurt?” I asked, concerned although he was smiling as brightly as ever.

            “Well, I don’t know…” he said playfully. “You are pretty heavy, hyung.”

            “Yah! I’m not heavy!” I retorted, tickling his sides which resulted in an outburst of giggles and more shrieking. “You’re just a tiny little thing, that’s all…”

            I rolled off onto the ground beside him. Despite his joking, I worried that I might actually hurt him if I sat on him for much longer. The snow continued to fall, snowflakes landing on Taemin’s nose and lips as I watched him, dissolving and melting away as if they’d never existed in the first place.

            “Er, we should probably get up,” I said after a while, “It’s wet and I don’t want you to catch a cold.”

            “But this is the perfect spot!” Taemin insisted, pouting.

            “For what?”

            “For what I wanted to do.”

            I was a little worried. What could he possibly have in mind to do while lying on the wet grass in a deserted park? “And what’s that?”

            “Hyung, you’re so slow. Snow angels, of course!”

             “But Taemin…you know there has to be a lot of snow for you to do that? It only just started falling…”

            “That doesn’t matter! Just imagine the snow,” he said, and without further ado he spread out his arms and legs, moving them up and down as if he was trying to do a star jump on the floor. I bit my lip to stop myself from laughing. However, apart from being incredibly funny, the sight of Taemin trying to do snow angels without the snow was probably one of the most adorable things I’ve ever seen. And I’ve definitely never seen someone looking so incredibly happy. So when he said, “Hyung, why don’t you try it too?” I couldn’t possibly refuse.

            And it was fun, believe it or not. I don’t know whether it was the Christmas spirit in me or the fact that Taemin was just so damn cute, but I found myself grinning right along with him as we made imaginary shapes with our bodies.

            “I don’t ever want today to end,” Taemin said finally as he stopped moving, still staring up at the sky. He was still smiling but there was sadness in his voice, the sadness you always feel as a child when Christmas is nearly over.

            “It will come again next year,” I said, repeating the words that my mother had always told me, all those years ago when Christmas was still the most exciting, magical thing in the world.

            “It won’t be the same,” said Taemin, and he sat up, looking down at me. A single tear left his eye and trickled down his pale cheek. I couldn’t stand it; I couldn’t stand seeing the previously-happy Taemin suddenly start crying. I leaned forward and cupped his face in my hand, brushing the lonely tear away with my lips. He breathed in deeply, surprised, but I didn’t stop there. My lips roamed to Taemin’s soft, pink ones, just barely grazing them at first until he leaned into the touch and we kissed, and it was the most magical feeling I’ve ever felt, the tingling sensation in my chest filling me and warming my body to the very tips of my fingers. The kiss wasn’t urgent, nor was it slow; it felt just right, as if we had been coming towards this very moment all our lives. My fingers were entangled in his silky hair and his hands rested on my lower back. I kissed his cheek again, and his neck, even his ear…I felt like flying, I didn’t know exactly what I was feeling but it was better than any kind of Christmas spirit, and I felt like I could never be anything but happy again. Most people get drunk at Christmas, but I was beginning to feel drunk on Lee Taemin.

            I pulled away eventually, although it was the last thing I wanted to do. I searched Taemin’s face for some sort of reaction and realized that he’d stopped smiling. At least he wasn’t crying any more, that was good, right? His expression was blank, stunned. I waited patiently for him to say something.

            “Turns out Father Christmas is real, after all,” was what he finally said, barely loud enough for me to hear.

            “What are you talking about?” I asked, amused. I mean, we’d just kissed and he was talking about Father Christmas?

            “This year, I wished for my very own angel,” he explained. “And he sent me you.”

            That didn’t make sense to me. “But Taemin, you’re way more like an angel than I am.”

            He laughed, “No, hyung. You’re like a guardian angel…minus the wings. But I guess you’ll disappear tomorrow, won’t you? That’s how it usually happens in books and stuff.”

            And then I realized. The tears earlier, his sudden change in mood…he thought I was going to leave him.

            But he didn’t understand. I could never leave him.

            “Lee Taemin, you know what?” I said, putting my hands on either side of his face and gently forcing him to look at me. “That was some pretty dumb wish you made. ‘Cause now you’re stuck with me forever. Next Christmas, the one after that, even when you’re 50 years old…guardian angels are for life. Didn’t think of that, did you?”

            “Actually, hyung,” he said, beaming. “That’s exactly what I was counting on.”

            And I just wanted to stay like that forever, looking at his beautiful, hopeful expression for the rest of the night. But I wasn’t quite that drunk.

            “Alright, now get off the ground before you die of pneumonia and the best Christmas ever becomes your last,” I told him, standing up and dusting myself off. I reached out to take his hand and pulled him up off the grass, momentarily astonished buy how light he really was and making a mental note to make him eat some actual food. “I’m taking you home with me.”

            “Do we have to leave right now?” he asked, those big round eyes staring up at me. I ignored them and looked at my watch; the time was one minute past midnight.

            “Christmas is over, kid.” I said. “I’d like to make it home before the next one, if you don’t mind.”

            “Aish,” muttered Taemin as we walked away holding hands, “How did you go from being a guardian angel to Scrooge in just five minutes?”