Jihoon rolls his eyes at Soonyoung and Junhui trying on some reindeer antlers headbands. They’re at the mall for the Christmas shopping, and he’s already given up. He can’t seem to find anything for his parents, and in just a moment one of his friends may actually tell him that he wants that headband. At lest he didn’t have a problem with Wonwoo, who already pointed at the book he wanted. Wonwoo is a good friend. But the rest of the shopping... so far it was really bad.

 

Three minutes later they’re being kicked out of the shop by annoyed staff, so they walk through the mall again, looking at other windows, trying to spot something that they’ll like.

 

“Hey, look there!” Soonyoung exclaims. They follow his finger, pointing at the square with Christmas tree with lots of fake presents underneath, a Santa and a line of kids with their parents waiting for the opportunity to talk to him (and take some pictures).

 

“What, you want to sit on his lap and ask for presents?” Wonwoo asks with amusement in his voice. Soonyoung just shrugs and they pass by them.

 

A moment later they’re sitting at the table in McDonald’s, as they decided it’s a food break before resuming the search for presents.

 

“I have an idea,” Junhui says, as they all have their orders and want already eat.

 

“What,” Jihoon asks, uninterested. Jun just smiles.

 

“Who finishes eating last, has to go to Santa and sit in his lap. Who’s in?”

 

“Me!” Soonyoung almost screams as he raises his hand. Jihoon snorts.

 

“A chance to embarrass one of you? I wouldn’t miss it,” he says with a smirk. He’s sure he’ll win; he doesn’t look like it, but he actually eats the most of them all.

Wonwoo shrugs and nods.

 

“Then...” Junhui looks at them with excitement sparkling in his eyes. “Let’s start!”

 

And Jihoon notices that maybe if he can eat much, he can’t do it fast. And he’s not going to win.

 

He tries not to be the last. He tries hard. But Wonwoo gulps down his last bite three seconds before him.

 

Damn it. He wanted to embarrass someone, but not himself!

 

He vaguely remembers that his mom made him go to a Santa like that when he was four or five. The man was really creepy and Jihoon almost cried because he was so scared. It’s not a pleasant memory. And now, 20 years later, he’s about to live the nightmare again. This time not because he’s scared of the man, but because the parents of the children are looking at him suspiciously, and his friends have their phones ready to take pics of him and upload somewhere on the internet. (He can’t blame them though, he would do exactly the same). He thinks that maybe it won’t be that bad, for the first time being thankful for his height making him look younger than he actually is. Maybe Santa will think he’s some stupid teenager and not pay much attention. It won’t be that bad, Jihoon thinks.

He stops thinking that when it’s his time, and he goes up to Santa and with a blush dusting his cheeks with pink he sits on his lap like the kids before.

 

“What do you want for Christmas, kid?” Santa asks, and wait – that voice doesn’t sound old. He glances up at him and sees that under the fake beard there’s a young face (with really pretty eyes). And before he can help it-

 

“I’m 24,” he says automatically. . That’s not what he planned. But that Santa looks even more shocked than him.

 

“You’re older than me.”

 

Oh.

 

If he felt awkward before, then it’s nothing compared to Santa who lost all of his confidence and cheerfulness he had while talking to children.

 

“I lost a bet,” Jihoon explains, maybe that will make him feel better. When he looks closely, the Santa seems kinda cute. And he’s sitting in his lap.

 

He’s sitting on the lap of a cute boy dressed up as Santa. Well. He better get something from this then, right?

 

Boy clears his throat.

 

“So, what’s your name?” He tries to go back to being Santa.

 

“Jihoon. And yours?”

 

That comes as a surprise to him, but he answers anyway.

 

“Mingyu. Uh, okay, Jihoon-ssi, what do you want for Christmas?”

 

Jihoon smirks. He can’t believe he’s actually doing this.

 

“Your number.”

 

“Is this a part of the bet too?”

 

“No. This is a part of me noticing that you’re not some old creep and you’re kinda cute.”

 

Mingyu’s face gets almost as red as his suit.

 

“I-I can a-actually gra-ant that,” the boy stutters. It’s adorable. Really. Jihoon takes out his phone from his pocket and lets Mingyu put his number there.

 

“Sir, your time is up,” someone from the staff comes to say to them. Probably not, because the kids were sitting there longer, but the parents look annoyed. Jihoon hops off Mingyu’s lap and sends him the last smile.

 

“I’ll text you,” he mouths to still red Mingyu and gets back to his friends.

 

“Why do you have this expression?” Junhui asks suspiciously.

 

“What expression?”

 

“The I’m bettter than all of you expression. You know, that one you make when you get the highest grade or something.”

 

“Did you like it that much?” Soonyoung asks and they all snicker. He smirks despite that.

 

“One, that Santa is actually younger than us. Two, he’s really cute. And three,” he points to his phone, “I got his number.”

 

“Wha- how?” The boys are asking at the same time, and he just smiles triumphantly.

 

He hopes Mingyu wants to meet him soon.

 

 

(Later that evening when Mingyu comes back home, he tells his flatmate Minghao about a handsome man he met at work who asked for his number.

 

“And he was sitting in your lap? Like those kids? That’s some - right here,” Minghao says.

 

“Shut up,” Mingyu scoffs and he reaches quickly for his phone as he hears a notification sound. He’s got a new message from an unknown number. It’s a picture of him in the Santa suit and that handsome man – Jihoon – sitting in his lap.

 

Remember me? the message says. Mingyu smiles as he replies.

 

How could I forget?)

 

 

(“I can’t believe something that was meant to be a punishment for a lost bet would end up like this,” Jihoon says a few months later.

 

“Me neither,” Mingyu says, tightening his arms around Jihoon’s small frame. They’re still a little out of breath, still coming down from their high just a while ago. But that random talk doesn’t seem out of place. Nothing feels out of place between them. “Me neither, Jihoonie.”)