Summary: Christmas is coming and everyone can finally take a break after Worlds and All-Stars. Yeujin's upset and Kyungho just wants to cheer him up. 

Characters: Yeujin “Reignover” Kim, Kyungho “Smeb” Song, Kayli “TrykE” Wang (OC), Martin “Rekkles” Larsson, Seonghun “Huni” Heo, Vincent “Biofrost” Wang

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            A clang of utensils from the open kitchen turned the heads in the living room area. The reddish brown haired LCS Pro caught the eyes of the girl sitting cross-legged in front of him with a tangle of Christmas lights in her lap. There was a moment of silence before they heard Kyungho cursing under his breath. The two of them burst out into soft laughter once the corner of Yeujin’s lips curled into his usual smirk.

            “There’s only so much kitchen he can tank before he starts losing it,” the small jungler nodded his head towards the girl’s direction as if to prompt her to go and help the other Korean boy out.

            She sighed as she gathered the light silvery tips of her jet-black hair to one shoulder before pulling it back into a high ponytail. She let the lights fall from her lap onto the wine-colored, hardwood floor with a gentle clatter. “You’d think a man who got voted into All-Stars would be able to simply make some hot chocolate…”

            Kayli shook her head as she stood up and made her way towards the kitchen. Yeujin had his back to the kitchen as his nimble fingers worked at the knots of a second string of Christmas lights. His eyes glanced up at the empty pine tree that sat in front of the broad windowpanes that overlooked the busy city below, lit up with twinkling lights.

            “Aigoo, just go help Jinjin with the lights and ornaments,” he could hear Kayli’s eyes roll as she probably shoved him around the high counter that separated the kitchen from the living space.

            Kyungho made some annoyed whine as Kayli shoved him out of her area of expertise. Some might know her best as the most aggressive, female LCS jungler NA has ever seen, TrykE, but her best friends know her best as a master chef. Something as simple as hot chocolate could come out looking like a hundred-dollar beverage from some amazing café. “Let’s see if ‘Smebber’ can work out Christmas tree decorations like they worked out Darius at All-Stars, m’kay?”

            “Psh, are you doubting us?”

“Smeb? Yes. Reignover? Not so much.”

            Even with his back turned, Yeujin imagined Kayli giving the top laner a playful show of her tongue as she stuck it out at him. A mock gasp fell from Kyungho’s lips as she continued to shove him out of the kitchen and towards the boy on the floor. “What?! I’m the top laner here.” Yeujin could almost see the pout on the boy’s lips as he spoke. “You’re just biased since he’s your mentor.” The child within the LCK Pro leaned down towards the shorter girl and gave the side of her face a long before he jumped away to avoid a punch meant for his skinny arm.

            “KYUNGHO! WHAT THE ?!”

            By the time the boy made it over to Yeujin through laughing while dodging the smaller girl’s punches, he had already moved on to his third strand of Christmas lights. Whoever had helped Kayli put away her Christmas decorations last year didn’t do a very good job at all. Certain ornaments were in the wrong boxes and more strands of lights were tangled into tiny balls than weren’t.

            “See, you don’t even need me here,” Kyungho chuckled as he plopped down onto his knees, draping his arms over Yeujin’s small shoulders. He rolled his eyes, shrugging his shoulders in a weak attempt to push the other boy’s arms away from him. Lithe fingers worked away at the lights without a glimpse at the childish Korean. Not that Yeujin wasn’t a childish one himself… he just wasn’t in that character today. “Waaah, you’re being so boring today.”

            Yeujin shook his head before knocking it gently against the other boy’s. Kyungho planted a big, wet kiss on his cheek before collapsing to the side with his arms and legs splayed out on the hardwood floor. With a raised eyebrow, the jungler lifted the back of his hand up to wipe the older boy’s slobber off his face. “Go make yourself useful and plug the lights in to check if they’re working.”

            He had to look away from the childish pout on Kyungho’s lips or else he’d find them too cute not to be taken by his own. “Ah,” the top laner chuckled softly with a hand to his heart as if it hurt, before rolling away towards a wall outlet, with the end of an untangled strand in hand. “It’s almost Christmas, how could my boyfriend be so cold?”

 Now he found himself frowning at splitting up with one of his best friends – who had canceled on decorating Kayli’s tree in favor of Christmas shopping with his new team. Exactly that. His new team.

            As much as Yeujin was proud of Seunghoon for landing a starting position on SK Telecom T1, he was just as upset that they were splitting up. He had encouraged the younger to take the contract, even after he had signed a 2-year contract with Immortals. Yeujin even promised to help him talk to their team’s owner about his situation. Sure, he knew that it’s been Seunghoon’s dream to play on SKT for as long as he’s known him, but that didn’t change the disappointment he felt when he succeeded in taking SKT’s contract once Immortals let him go. Disappointment at himself for not being able to follow the younger player; not disappointment at Seunghoon for leaving him behind for the three-time Worlds Champions.

            Even as one of his best friends, Seunghoon now felt more distant from him than he has in a long time. Kayli and Yeujin had planned this little decorating party so many months in advance between the four of them. Yet, Seunghoon now had an obligation to his new team – to prepare for the upcoming competitions and to bond as a team determined to succeed at everything. He couldn’t just hang out with his old friends for the sake of being with them.

Things were different now. Times have changed. Yeujin couldn’t blame anyone or anything, but it seemed like no matter how happy he was in the moment, he would find millions of regrets afterwards.

Kayli had tried – in fact, many times already – to get Yeujin’s mind off of his rapidly changing surroundings, just like she had when he made the move from EU to NA. She would remind him that she was always close by for him, even though she was on a different LCS team. She succeeded through weekend sleepovers with movie and TV show marathons or just hanging out and Skype-ing from 11PM to 6AM, ruining their precious sleep schedules together. Hell, she even dragged him out to do Christmas shopping with her and Vincent before the rookie support flew home to Vancouver for the holidays.

It would be a lie to say that none of her efforts distracted him from how upset he was. In the moment, Kayli never failed to get his mind off things and make him laugh and smile. It was her kindness and caring for all of them that made Yeujin love her so much. But, whenever Yeujin found himself alone in the middle of some random night, he’d remind himself of the changes and would be back to feeling upset again.

There’s no way Kyungho could’ve missed the huge change in mood of his boyfriend for the past couple of weeks. Yet, there wasn’t much he could think up to do over phone calls or Skype when they had been millions of miles away from each other. Now that the two of them were in the same room again, it was Kyungho’s turn to lighten up the jungler’s somber mood.

When Yeujin opened his eyes, he was met with a mischievous sparkle in Kyungho’s as a smirk pulled up the corner of his lips. “What’s that look for…?” he cautiously questioned as he slowly stood up, hands brushing off imaginary dust from his pants.

            “It’s time to decorate!” The top laner sang in a slightly off-pitched voice. In his hands were the untangled strands of lights. A golden glow brightened up his light-skinned face since he had plugged them in. Yeujin just nodded his head slowly, still unsure of the expression Kyungho held on his face, but he brushed the feeling aside as he picked up one of the strands to start wrapping it around the tree.

            ♪ I’m dreaming of a White Christmas ♪

            Yeujin could hear Kayli’s laugh with her head in the fridge as Kyungho attempted to sing along with the song in the background in slightly off-pitched tones. The jungler stepped back as he finished with his strand, turning around just in time to see a flash of golden lights in his face. He felt the rubber-encased cord wrap around his waist as he blinked several times to readjust his vision. Yeujin slipped a finger under his wide, thick-framed glasses to rub at his eyes just as his boyfriend leaned in to give his pale lips a gentle peck. He flinched back in surprise before he almost immediately felt himself relax into the second, much longer kiss Kyungho decided to lean forward into.

            His heart raced as his head rested against the hand that cupped his face. The younger nearly whined when Kyungho decided to pull back, but something in the back of his mind kept nagging at him – telling him that they shouldn’t be making out in the middle of Kayli’s living room with Christmas decorations scattered about the hardwood floor. “Kyung—”

            “Shh…”

            The top laner didn’t even give his boyfriend a chance to speak before he took his lips again. With a bit of hesitation, Yeujin raised his hands, both clutching at the front of Kyungho’s black t-shirt. Yet, once his mind faded away, taking them both away from Kayli’s living room and into some otherworldly space of their own, he let one of his arms fully wrap around Kyungho’s neck and shoulders.

            Little did he know, Kyungho’s fingers were busy wrapping the Christmas lights around Yeujin’s smaller body as his lips moved against his boyfriend’s soft ones. A smirk took over Kyungho’s face, hidden behind his jungler’s lips as he knew that he succeeded in taking Yeujin’s mind off of everything that wasn’t him.

            In fact, all the jungler could think about at the moment was how soft the top laner’s hair felt threaded between his lithe fingers and how gently his mouth moved against him. Everything else was just gone. The Christmas music softly playing in the background, his ruined mess of a relationship with Martin, and – most importantly – his dejection at Huni’s leaving. All that mattered now was Kyungho’s presence. Right here. Right now.

            As one hand gripped tightly on his boyfriend’s shirt for what seemed like dear life, Yeujin’s heart threatened to leap out of his chest at the rate it beat at. By the time the two of them pulled away for a second time, they were both breathless as they pressed their foreheads together. Even with his eyes closed, he could see the splashing colors of a chaotic mix of emotions. Some positive, some not so much. Not all of which were directed at the boy standing in front of him.

            A light-hearted laugh pulled Yeujin out of his reverie.

            He opened his eyes to find everything around him brightly lit with a glowing gold around his eyesight painting everything like a hazy daydream. His eyes caught sight of Kayli over Kyungho’s shoulder as she plopped down on her comfy couch after placing their mugs of hot chocolate on the clear glass coffee table at her feet.

            “I invited you over to decorate the tree, Kyungho. Not Yeujin.”

            Although her tone of voice made her sound a tad angry, the smile widening on her face told Yeujin otherwise. “I know he’s ‘cute as ,’ but that doesn’t mean you string lights around him.”

            The jungler choked back a giggle as he realized what had unfolded while his mind fell into a different world. He pulled back from his boyfriend, giggles turning into chuckles and then full-out laughter when he looked down at his body wrapped in the strands of light he had been untangling for the tree.

            “What? It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Kyungho stepped back, moving his hands as if he were showcasing his artwork. He held such a straight face that only his best friends could see that he was truly trying hard to contain his own laughter. “It’s better than stringing a small pine tree with lights and colored-glass balls.”

            “Oh, you’re ridiculous, Kyungho,” Kayli rolled her eyes with a laugh as she placed the mug in her hands down next to theirs before coming over to help untangle Yeujin’s limbs from the lights. The top laner managed to sneak another quick kiss on his boyfriend’s lips before Kayli pushed him aside with a laugh to help her best friend out of the strand of bright mini light bulbs.

            Two mugs of hot chocolate for each of them and a tray of freshly baked cookies later, the three of them managed to finish up stringing the small pine tree with lights and ornaments. They left the gold and silver, sparkly star aside to honor their friendship with Seunghoon who promised he’d do his best to arrive in time for dinner with his friends.

            “Huni” hadn’t completely brushed them aside for his new team and to treat him for his act of loyalty to their friendship, Kayli convinced Kyungho that they should leave the star aside for them to do all together. All four of them. Four best friends who – no matter how far from each other – are always one call away.

            Kayli started to prepare dinner when Seunghoon texted that he’d be on his way soon and wanted to know if she needed any groceries for him to buy. This left Kyungho and Yeujin cuddled up on the couch with Yeujin’s turquoise, fluffy blanket wrapped around both of them while some cheesy, romantic K-drama played on the TV. Since their birthdays were so close together, Kayli had bought them the same blanket in different colors, and both boys always brought it with them wherever they went.

           With his arms wrapped tightly around Yeujin, Kyungho rested his chin on the top of his head. The jungler’s eyes were following the actors on the screen, but Kyungho’s eyes traced the features of his boyfriend’s face. His childish mood had gone down and now all he could think about was why he hadn’t managed to push their friendship to this higher level before a couple months ago. Not that any of it mattered now that he had him in his arms.

            He planted a gentle kiss on Yeujin’s temple, who in turn craned his neck around to return the action with his own kiss. “You know,” the top laner mumbled softly so only his boyfriend could hear, “I’m always here to listen for you. Even if it’s just by phone when we’re millions of miles away from each other.”

            All he received was a quiet hum of acknowledgement at his words. When the comfortable silence fell around them, “Smeb” leaned his head down again to plant another kiss and to whisper in the other boy’s ear.

            “You know I love you, right?”

            Another hum, “I love you, too.”

            That was all it took for Kyungho to know that he’d brightened Yeujin’s holiday season up as the younger leaned up to press his lips against his boyfriend’s. Just as Yeujin had brightened up his life with his playfulness and simple smiles.