An Exo-mas Carol II:

a freaky party and the perfect confession

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Early in the morning Kyungsoo was sipping on his coffee in the dining hall, Chanyeol’s head resting on his shoulder. It was previously slumping above his burning hot tea and the redhead hadn’t even woken up. He was listening to Baekhyun talking about his cauldron's inicident with some girls he didn’t know.

Again.

That incident had made him insanely popular within the House and even with the other students, mostly because it was one of the biggest potion incident in years and they hadn’t even docked points for it. It was obvious, however, that something had happened, because it was now impossible to walk the hallways and not be under the chilling pair of eyes of some professor.

Kyungsoo slowly finished his coffee, fully knowing he should eat something, but his stomach was too tight: that day was the last one before Christmas break and he was ready to go home and see his mother. He missed her dearly and couldn’t wait to tell her all the magical things that had happened to him during those months.

Chanyeol was also going back home to his two little sisters who, apparently, had set up the Christmas tree without him, leaving him “deeply wounded”, quoting him.

A noise distracted him from Baekhyun’s tale of adventure: the owls had arrived with the daily mail.

Right when Nina elegantly landed before Kyungsoo, handing him the mail with a flick of the beak, a loud noise shook the room, making everyone turn in the direction of the Slytherin table: Oh Sehun’s family owl had landed in the porridge bowl.

Amidst everyone’s laugh, a yellow envelope flew out of its beak, opening himself to take the form of a papery mouth. The magic letter took a breath, then roared.

 

“OH SEHUN, THERE WILL BE NO MORE BARGAINS.

TONIGHT YOU WILL COME AND THAT’S AN ORDER.

NO SON OF MINE WILL QUESTION MY AUTHORITY”

 

And right when it stopped yelling, the letter tore itself to pieces, leaving a distraught Oh Sehun storming out of the room with a furious look. After a moment of silence, the usual commenting hum of the student returned.

Kyungsoo was so shook from the Howler he almost left his own envelops on the table, afraid they might start doing something funny, but then he recognized his mother’s signature.

 

Dear Kyungsoo,

I’m so sorry honey, but I’m afraid we won’t be able to spend this Christmas together. Grandma Hwasa is feeling very sick and I’ll have to stay over for the week to assist her.

You have no idea how much I miss you, but I can’t leave her alone in that state. I’m afraid you’ll have to stay at the castle for this Christmas.

If you send Nina back to me, I’ll be able to give you your present in time and I promise I’ll take lots of photos of the city and show them to you next time.

Say hi to all of your friends from me, especially the giant kid you’ve told me about. Chanyodel was it?

Remember I love you to the moon and back,

Mama

 

Kyungsoo read the letter twice, taking in the news and letting it out with a sigh. He was really looking forward to going home, but there no way of fixing this, it was nobody’s fault. He just hoped Grandma Hwasa would feel better soon.

Chanyeol grumbled something about chicken on his side and finally woke up, looking at him with a scowl.

“Why are you so down?” he muttered, voice thick with sleep.

“I won’t come home this Christmas. My grandma’s sick and my mother has to go to the city”

The giant patted him on the head, again taking his place on his shoulder with a yawn.

“I’m sorry. I’ll be sure to hide your present in our room then, so you can find it on Christmas”

Kyungsoo’s frown faltered a bit.

“Thank you. My mother says hi by the way.”

“Thank her then”

“She spelled your name as Chanyodel”

The Gryffindor exploded in a laugh.

“I love your mom already” he nervously ironed the wrinkles in his robe with his fingers “Well, look on the bright side: you are not the one who has to complete Mission Impossible 6 here”

Right, Kyungsoo recalled: the night before Chanyeol had claimed to have found the perfect gift for Baekhyun, newly named “the love of my life”.

“Aren’t you forgetting like five steps in the relationship?” he had asked.

“He gives me food, Kyungsoo! There’s no like when food’s involved, only love”

And so the gift laid in their room, neatly wrapped in its golden box. It was a book about famous Quidditch players and their favorite recipes, enchanted so that each page was scented like the food itself. It was badly illustrated and the spell was faulty at times (the blueberry cake perfume was more similar to fried fish), but it had been entirely made, written and bound by Chanyeol and there was just about enough love in that to last a lifetime.

It was now Kyungsoo’s turn to pat his friend’s head.

He looked at his mother’s letter one more time, Nina beak and send her to the owlery. It was time to unpack his luggage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

***

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Chanyeol, it’s the fifth time I’ve checkmated you. Calm down for Merlin’s sake!”

Kyungsoo took out the wand from his pocket and whispered a quick “Reparo” to fix the broken chess pieces and began putting them in order once again. Wizard’s chess was a surprisingly brutal game, with the pieces literally destroying each other on the board. Chanyeol sat in front of him, scratching his neck and wiping an invisible veil of sweat from his hands onto his robe every ten seconds, too nervous to really focus on the game.

In an hour he would be gone to spend Christmas with his family and had decided he absolutely had to give Baekhyun his gift before he also went home. May Merlin be damned, he would man up and give him the darn book! But as much as he wanted to do it, Kyungsoo could see his knees shaking under the table.

“Chanyeol” he called, but the redhead’s attention was stuck to the dormitory’s door, waiting for any sign of the other Gryffindor.

“Chaneyol!”

Kyungsoo stood up and pinched his cheek, finally getting him to turn and pay attention to him.

“Relax, it’s just a Christmas gift. You’re not proposing to him”

“But Soo” Chanyeol whined “It’s exactly because it’s Christmas that it’s so important. This is the most magical time of the year and I want it to be perfect. Oh God, what if he doesn’t like the book? What if the spell it’s not good and it’ll smell like rotten fish? What if it…”

“CHANYEOL!” Kyungsoo howled, lowering a comforting hand onto his friend’s shoulder “Stop thinking so hard and just give him the book. I promise it’s going to be alright, okay?”

The giant slumped on the armchair, taking a deep breath and finally calming down. The gift was there on his lap, carefully wrapped up by Kyungsoo after a disastrous attempt by him to do it with a spell. He just had to give it to Baekhyun and say “Happy Christmas”, it couldn’t be so hard. Except it was, because talking to your crush it’s always a pain in the .

He was so lost in thought he barely noticed Kyungsoo whispering his name and elbowing him.

“Yeol, for the love of Dumbledore, Baekhyun is here!”

Chanyeol finally snapped up, legs suddenly feeling like jelly, and went up to the short Gryffindor who was trying to get his giant luggage through the dormitory’s door.

“Here, let me help you” he muttered, taking the handle and starting to pull.

With one last strong tug, the luggage finally gave up and sprang free from the door, sending them both on the floor, laughing.

“Thanks Chanyeol. This damn thing is just too heavy”

“Yeah, I noticed”

The redhead looked back at his table and saw Kyungsoo give him two thumbs up, quietly leaving the room. That was it, that was the moment.

“Ehm” he got up and cleared his voice “I was thinking…”

“You were?”

Baekhyun shot him one of his killer smiles, crinkling his eyes in that amused way that made his heart want to jump out of his chest, but no.

Not today Chanyeol, today you have a mission!

“Yes, about how you have been so nice to me all this time, so I wanted to do something in return. I’ve tried to many spells and I researched a lot and I don’t know if it turned out right and… Oh Lord, I’m rambling, but the point is: I got you a gift so Happy Christmas!”

Eyes closed, he handed Baekhyun the book, which he took. One second passed, the sound of ripped paper filling the air, then two, three… a little gasp.

Bloody hell, he had ed up everything.

He opened one eye, sure to find a disgusted Baek looking at his poor excuse of a gift, instead, he found him browsing through the pages, inhaling the different smells and perfumes with a big, bright smile on his face.

“Chanyeol, this… this is so nice. Nobody has ever given me something so cool, like, ever. Now my gift is only going to pale in comparison”

“You… Wait, what…?”

The short wizard took out his wand and shouted “Accio chocolates”; from the huge luggage, a rectangular box made his way to the surface and gently placed itself in Chanyeol’s hands. They were honey and butterscotch chocolates, his absolute favorites, in a case shaped like a Christmas tree.

“How did you know?” he whispered, looking dumbstruck at the box.

“You mentioned it this other time and I just sort of remembered, but yours is way cooler. Now I have to go but…” he leaned closer, smile still painted on his lips, and whispered in the other’s ear “Merry Christmas Chanyeol”.

And then he left.

Five minutes later, when Kyungsoo returned in the room, he found his friend still standing in the middle of the common room, clutching the chocolates to his chest with his face the shade of tomato sauce.

“Soo?”

“Yeah?”

“I think I might be about to faint”

 

 

 

 

 

 

***

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There were few things that could get onto Oh Sehun’s nerves. Being dragged to a stupid Ministry of Magic Christmas party by his father was definitely one of them.

In the span of two hours he had been forced into a tight black suit, given a hair makeover by a screaming barber who'd nearly cut his nose in half and had his father shout at him how this was the night to secure his connections within all the powerful families and how he mustn’t do anything to bring shame on them.

Or else.

So there he was, surrounded by boring adults with their family names tailored onto their tuxedoes and poor house elves filling their glasses because blood mattered and yadda yadda… he was not only not impressed, but not even interested in the slightest. He just wanted to spend his Christmas with Jongin at Hogwarts eating pudding and exchanging gifts at midnight.

His father was somewhere in the crowd, making some decrepit witches swoon over his sharp jaw and killer smile or maybe talking to some other influential wizards about something boring like new taxes or money charts.

Where had they gone wrong? He used to think his father was a hero, but as soon as he had gotten in the age of comprehending how the world went, he suddenly had to transform into something he was not: a perfect son for the perfect family, pure-blood at heart.

AH! How he wished he could spit on that.

He took a glass of juice from an ignored table (apparently adults preferred expensive alcohol drinks which tasted like troll’s snot) and went to the balcony, the only place that could provide him some peace and silence.

Except he wasn’t alone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

***

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Luhan was smiling. No, not only smiling, he was glowing.

He was being introduced to all these influential wizards and witches by his mother as her “talented son” and he was loving every minute of it. Finally he was surrounded by people who recognized his talent and hard work and were praising him.

He was about to embark in the tale of how he had gotten his position as a beater in the Slytherin’s team, when something caught his eye: was that Oh Sehun talking to the Head Auror?! Oh no, that was not happening. That was supposed to be his night of homecoming, not Oh Sehun’s Party at the Dreamhouse.

Rage filling up to his ears, he excused himself from his mother and friends and went to take the package from his bag. The bracelet was now in an anonymous white box with a shabby red ribbon tied on the top. A wicked smile began spreading on Luhan’s face as he went back to the main room and started his search.

Twenty minutes of unsuccessful hunt had him taking a break and walk up the balcony to find some fresh hair. Instead he found a very stunned Sehun with a glass of dubious liquid in his hand.

Luhan suppressed a grin. Phase One of operation Destroy Oh Sehun was about to start.

“Hey there” he said, trying to sound casual.

Sehun’s face hardened.

“What are you doing here?”

“Isn’t it obvious? I was dragged here by my mom and I got bored”

“Yeah, sure”

Just as Sehun began walking back inside, Luhan saw his opportunity slide away, so he took a step and grabbed him by the sleeve, shouting:

“WAIT!”

For a long second nobody spoke, eyes glued on each other, then Luhan finally let the sleeve go and searched for the words he wanted to say, but somehow they were jammed up in his throat.

“I… I wanted to apologize”

Somehow, even though he had planned to come up with a lie, his words sounded more like the truth.

“Apologize…?” said the Slytherin, cocking an eyebrow. He clearly wasn’t buying it.

“Yeah. I’m sorry for the leeks and all, I think I was just jealous. And there was also the family thing so… I grew up having my mother telling me how much of a terrible person your father was that I had begun projecting it onto you.”

Sehun’s expression softened a bit, shoulder slumping after being so tense. That was the moment.

“So I got you a present. It’s nothing much, but I hope you can forgive me”

He took out the box, offering it to the other wizard. With a moment of hesitation, Sehun took it and opened it. As he studied the bracelet, he shot Luhan a warning look and then put it on.

Here’s what Luhan thought it would happen:

• Sehun being his slave all night; Luhan being able to make him do the craziest things in front of all the guests

Here’s what Luhan got:

• A sharp pain in the back of his skull and the sudden feeling of vertigo, like being out of his body. A couple seconds after, when he finally regained his vision, everything looked a lot… smaller.

“Oh My God! Luhan you son of a troll!”

Instinctively, the short wizard's hand raced up to his face and found not only that his jaw was as sharp as a blade, but that in fact he was not short anymore, but rather really, really tall. Was that Sehun's... body?!

“Bloody hell, I’ve turned into a noodle!!”

Sehun looked at him (or rather, Luhan looked at Sehun or was it Luhan looked at himself? That affair was getting really confusing) with flames in his eyes so hard for a moment he really thought he could get burned.

He tried to take a step forward, but being used to have twenty centimeters less in his legs, he completely missed the spot, landing right in the other’s arms. From an outsider’s perspective it would have looked like a scene from one of those cheesy muggle movies Luhan secretly adored, but in that moment he wasn’t so much thinking about blushing and not looking at Sehun (well, himself) right in the eyes, but more not getting stabbed in the stomach by the other’s (his) wand.

“I am going to count to three” hissed Sehun “At the end of the countdown you’re going to get off me and switch us back, understood?”

Luhan didn’t even needed to wait number one to stand up, dangerously unbalanced, a frantical look at his wrist were the bloody bracelet still was. He removed it but nothing happened, he tried to hex it with a “Finite Incantatem” but still, nothing happened!

“Ehmm…” he cleared his voice, trying to contain the panic.

Was he going to be stuck in Sehun’s body forever? Just the thought of it made him want to tear all his hair from his head. Was he never going to wake up to his mother’s singing in the kitchen, making his favorite chicken soup when he was sick? Or worse, was Sehun going to be using his bed with ALL OF HIS PLUSHIES?!

Oh Hell to the no.

“Don’t tell me you don’t know how to reverse this” roared Sehun.

“It was an accident okay? This wasn’t supposed to happen”

“I figured that much out, now tell me: is there a way to turn this back or I have to set you on fire until you say it?”

“Calm down! It’s not that I’m thrilled to be in your stupid body”

“What’s wrong with my body?”

“Well…”

Luhan found himself at loss for words. For starters the situation was insanely surreal, but also there was really nothing wrong with Sehun’s body. He stared at his new slender fingers and marveled at the sheer paleness of the skin, a tone different from his real one.

His head snapped back up when he realized that Sehun was looking at him with a grin.

“You-you-you…” he nervously felt the insides of his mouth “You still have braces” he spluttered.

“What’s that supposed to mean? How’s braces something wrong?”

But before Luhan could start thinking about a reply, a tall men entered the scene with an icy scowl on his face.

“Oh Sehun, what are you doing?”

With a shiver going down his spine Luhan realized that he now was Sehun and the man who was now his father was talking to him.

“I…”

“He was asking for a duel” interrupted the real Sehun, faking a hostile expression “Rival royal families should set matters like this, shouldn’t they?”

The man looked rather unimpressed and ignored him.

“You come inside. Right. Now. No more whining, there are still some more people we have to talk to and you must make a good impression”

Luhan found himself being dragged back inside the room, a glass of color-changing champagne in his hand and his shoulder pinned down by his “father” like a leash.

“What were you doing talking to that kid? A duel… it could’ve been a good idea if you were any good with powerful spells, but right now it’s a suicide wish. We’ve talked about this: if anything you should have hexed him down the balcony. You know how poisonous the Lu family can be, those bloody snakes; you either annihilate him or you make sure to avoid him completely, do I make myself clear?”

“Transparent” Luhan croaked.

The following hour leading up to midnight were spent trying not to fall asleep during the most boring conversation between old barns talking about the nice weather and being shot death glare by Sehun’s father every time he made a wrong move.

This was not how he had planned his Christmas. At all.

Speaking about Sehun, what was he doing? Probably enjoying the company of his mother in his place, talking with genuinely nice people and having a blast with the enchanted cake that could sing carols if asked to.

And then ten minutes until midnight.

“Father, may I…?” he began asking.

“May you what after your terrible behavior tonight?”

“I was wondering if I could take a breath of fresh air during the countdown. I promise I won’t embarrass you further, I just need to clear my thoughts”

The man looked at him with eyes like frost. Was he always like this with his son? No wonder Sehun had grown up with the personality of an iceberg.

“See that you do”

And with a mere gesture of his hand, he was dismissed.

Thoughts storming inside his mind, Luhan went back to the balcony and found a weary Sehun, leaning over the railing.

“Is your life always like that?” Asked the Slytherin, still trapped in the other’s body. Luhan couldn’t help but notice: his voice sounded so sad, so… defeated.

He leaned next to him, looking at the starry sky above them. It was a moonless night, with the milky way painting the sky with millions of tiny specks of light. It was beautiful.

“Like what?”

“I don’t know. You mother is just so… nice. She’s intense, don’t get me wrong, but she kept looking at me like she was proud. Like she genuinely felt happy to be with me; well, with you”

Luhan couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Yeah, she’s great. She can be a little frustrating at times, she’s obsessed with keeping me safe from the Dark Arts, but she’s wonderful. It’s been me and her all this time and she had to be strong enough for two” he smiled, knowingly “She’s my hero”

Sehun looked at him with the tail of his eye. It was very odd looking at himself, but what felt odder was the tiny glint of wonder in the Slytherin’s look.

“I can’t say the same thing for your father” he added, trying to fill the silence.

Sehun grunted.

“Good Lord, what did you do?”

“I swear to Merlin I did nothing. I stood there like a log listening to all those boring people he wanted me to meet and then I excused myself to take a breath of fresh air. He looked like he wanted to rip me in half the whole time, and I barely spoke!”

“Oh… that sounds just about my dad. It was difficult for him when we lost my mother; he has been wearing that expression since then, don’t mind him. He’s not as cold as he appears, he just…” His mouths curled into a grimace “I believe he needs time”

His heart. What was his heart doing? Luhan placed a hand over his chest and felt it beating fast, faster than before. He wanted to say something, to lighten the weight that he felt crushing down his shoulders, but why should he? Sehun was his arch nemesis, wasn’t he? Nothing had changed.

“He said some pretty heavy stuff. About my family, about me”

Somewhere inside the room, a countdown began.

Ten.

Sehun looked at him.

Nine.

“He does that all the time”

Eight.

He lowered his eyes.

Seven.

“It’s like a mantra of his”

Six.

Luhan’s pulse quickened.

Five.

Sehun looked up at the sky.

Four.

Luhan felt his chest exploding

Three.

“I…”

Two.

“I am sorry”

One.

“Merry Christmas Luhan”

And everything went dark.

 

 

 

 

 

 

***

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hogwarts, Gryffindor’s dormitory, before midnight.

 

 

Kyungsoo couldn’t sleep.

The packages were all laid up in a perfect row beside his bed in their colorful wrapping paper, but still something was missing. He had picked something for everyone, putting care a love in every single package because Christmas was the day of giving back to those who had loved him.

He carefully took Nina out of her cage, lovingly her feathers, and gave her the tiny present for his mother alongside her letter. It was a necklace made of shells; if you put your ears against them, each had its own music coming from it (he had asked Jongdae and Minseok to help him with it).

“Take it home” he said to the owl, kissing her beak and setting her free in the chilly night.

And now it came to the others. That year the Head master had thankfully charmed the Christmas tree in the dining hall so that the presents placed under its branches would reach their destination in a matter of seconds and God, Kyungsoo loved magic, now more than ever.

He took a bag out the closet, put on his cozy pajama his mother had sent as a present (it was red two-piece with tiny gingerbread men printed all over and he loved it) and put all the boxes in, heading to the dining hall. He was pretty sure everyone was asleep by now or waiting in their room for the presents to arrive, so he walked across the common room, finding just a couple of Gryffindors asleep on their chess boards, and went straight to the dining hall.

The tree was beautiful: full of lights and ornaments, some historical some brought by the students themselves, with tiny Santa Clauses circling the whole thing flying on their tiny brooms. And snowmen made of porcelain skiing through the branches, firefly of every color changing position every minute, gold stars raining over the ceiling…

He was so enchanted by the view he barely noticed the boy next to the tree, looking at him with soft chocolaty eyes.

“Hi there!”

The Gryffindor jumped, startled. Kyungsoo felt a strong sense of dejavù.

“Jongin! What are you doing here?”

The Hufflepuff smiled scratching his neck, almost shyly.

“Same as you I suppose: I was putting my presents under the magic tree”

Kyungsoo glanced at the four little boxes, almost hidden under a festoon. Jongin followed his gaze and immediately lowered his head, hiding his embarrassment.

“My finances weren’t exactly golden this year, so I couldn’t afford much” he muttered.

“Oh no! That wasn’t what I was thinking at all! I…” he gulped down a mouthful of worries. It was Christmas for Merlin’s sake! “I’m glad you have someone to think about on a day like this. That’s all”

He immediately crouched down, beginning to place his presents under the tree to avoid looking at Jongin now that he was sporting a pretty shade of pink on his cheeks. And on his ears, Merlin, were his ears noticeable? He hoped not.

But in that way he totally missed it: a frozen Jongin with big wide eyes and face that could’ve melted an iceberg, trying hard not to smile to himself because Heavens, how was a guy supposed to be that nice? It certainly wasn’t fair. And the cute pajama wasn't helping.

The Hufflepuff looked at his presents, four and small. A particular golden one was the one which had given him nightmares. Was it going to be okay? Was that the right one? Was everything anything anymore?

He breathed in, slowly. No, he thought, it was going to be okay.

That or Jongin could still pray to learn to spell himself right to Timbuktu.

“Are you alright?” Kyungsoo asked, looking at him from over his shoulder.

His cheeks and ears were slightly red and his mouth was curled in that pretty smile that reminded him of a heart and he had a little mole under his earlobe and how nice would it be to kiss it…

Nope, Jongin think about your potions professor in underpants, professor in underpants!

“Peachy. Want a hand with those?”

“No thank you, I’m almost finished”

There were so many, Jongin observed, one for each loved one his Kyungsoo’s life. Was he…? No, he couldn’t get his hopes up like that, or it could be dangerous.

“Seems like you had fun this semester” he said, trying to sound casual.

“What? Oh, yeah, they’re many. Let’s say I’ve been grateful for many things this year and I wanted to give back a little.”

The Hufflepuff glanced up at the top of the tree were the big shooting star was. How many Christmases had he spent in his brother’s room, trying not to cry because Junmyeon’s presents were wonderful and he could never reciprocate?

His eyes filled with the warmth of the moment, the soft lights, the wicked tree, the presents, the Gryffindor next to him… it was all so new. It was all so lovely.

Ten.

He breathed in.

Nine.

“Soo?”

Eight.

“Yeah?”

Seven.

He breathed out.

Six.

“Do you maybe want to…”

Five.

“I want to what?”

Four.

A fleck of gold fell on Kyungsoo’s cheek.

Three.

Jongin brushed it off with the back of his hand.

Two.

“Nothing” he said, smiling.

One.

“Merry Christmas Soo”

 

 

 

 

 

 

***

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also Hogwarts, Ravenclaw’s common room, before Midnight.

 

 

There he was.

Indeed, there he was.

Junmyeon looked at the box in his hand, neatly wrapped in blue and silver colors, all tied up together with a little bow of silk thread. Inside, a little mouse made of glass shards he had collected throughout his years at Hogwarts and had spelled alive so that it could always find its way to him.

It had taken him hours upon hours of research to make it, but he knew it was going to be worth it. Because that was his Christmas present for Yixing, something to let him know he wanted to be by his side, no matter how many times the Hufflepuff could get lost.

It was his confession. He was going to tell him tonight.

He was going to put it under the tree in the dining hall and make his visit to him in the morning with probably zero hours of sleep, dark circles so purple he could pass for a weird breed of panda and the brain capacity of a rock. He still didn’t know which words he wanted to use.

“Dear Yixing, I’ve always been in mad deep terrible love with you”?

Absolutely not.

He needed something cool, something charming.

So that when Yixing will reject me, at least I will be able to say I went down like a man: crying my bloody heart out.

How about “You sure are a Charm master, because you’ve put me under your spell”?

Or “You don’t need Alohomora, because you’ve already unlocked my heart”?

Yeah, they were pretty good, he thought, but he needed something more. He needed the line of the lines, the Shakespeare of all the inspiration.

As he went over and over all his terribly cheesy pick-up lines, he began shuffling to get his things, seeing that midnight was coming onto him and he needed to get to the dining hall.

Time slowed down.

You see, sometimes magic falls onto us, has mercy on us poor wizards and witches, and grants us a miracle. Junmyeon’s heart was on the verge of combusting under the pressure of years and years of not being able to function properly, he just needed a tiny last push and he would have been done for.

So when Junmyeon hurriedly began to open the door, ready to go downstairs, he found himself frozen in the spot.

“Oh, thank God you came out!” Yixing said, with a rather tired smile, T-rex asleep in his pocket. “I’ve been trying to guess the answer to the riddle for half an hour but this rude eagle knocker doesn’t want me in”

“It’s because Mr.clearly-not-a-Ravenclaw is not giving me the right answer” replied the iron eagle on the door.

But Junmyeon was too stunned by Yixing’s sudden appearance to react, his present heavy in his hands.

“What…” he croaked.

“What am I doing here? I wanted to spend Christmas Eve’s night with you silly. We can do the countdown together this way” Yixing replied with the most candid smile.

That.

That was the push. The last one.

“Oh, is this a gift?” Yixing chirped, oblivious of the inner turmoil in his friend’s heart. “Can you tell me who’s it for? Is there a secret girlfriend you haven’t told me about?”

“I… what?”

At this point, Junmyeon’s brain was really turning into mush.

Yixing looked straight into his eyes and exploded in soft laughter.

“I’m joking, I’m joking. But who’s it for then?”

“Me. I mean you. A gift. From me to you”

He was positively flushed, words twisting and turning into his head like ballerinas dancing the bloody Macarena. Was he going to survive that night?

The Hufflepuff stopped laughing, smile morphing into marvel.

“Really? For me?”

They had never really exchanged gifts on Christmas, seeing how Yixing was always low on finances (mostly because he always lost all the money), and opted to spend the night together, playing games and eating candies. But this year was going to be the year of fierce Junmyeon. Revolutionist Junmyeon. Or at least he prayed it would.

“It is.” He said “I wanted to put it under the enchanted tree, but if you are here…”

Yixing took the box, still looking at it as if it was going to jump up and start yodeling in front of them. With his slender fingers he traced the silk lace, a new smile taking the place of the old one. This particular one said wonder.

“Why?” he finally said.

That’s your cue Junmyeon!

Oh damn, you’re right.

“I… you don’t need Alohomora anymore, because I’ve already spelled my heart”

Yixing looked at him, eyebrows high.

“… what?!”

“I mean… that was wrong, let me retry. You must be a Charm master because I have the lock for your heart”

“Juny, are we speaking the same language right now?”

Damn Merlin’s pants, shirt and even stupid glasses!

“I’m trying to say that I love you!!” he shouted.

A moment of silence, so dense it could’ve been cut with a knife; Junmyeon was feeling like he was turning into gelatin and was about to slide of the stairs, Yixing was just in mute astonishment.

“You what?” he whispered.

All those yeard spent looking at him, longing for contact that was so easibly accessible, but so heartbrokenly trapped behind bars of his own fears exploded in Junmyeon's heart. Warmth filled his head, flushing all his bad thoughts away. And maybe, just maybe, leaving all the right words

“I love you” Junmyeon repeated, voice soft and weak “I’ve been in love with you since that first Herbology lesson, do you remember? You were the sweetest kid I had ever met and I couldn’t help it. You have been stuck in mind ever since. All this time I couldn’t but stay awake at night thinking about you and how to do… well, this. The telling. How it could've been if I told you, if I said just the right thing in the right moment, but it was always the wrong one”

Ten.

“Juny…?”

Nine.

“I know it’s a lot to digest”

Eight.

“I just got the courage to tell you”

Seven.

“But really, it’s been a long time”

Six.

“I don’t want to ruin what we have”

Five.

“You were my best friend. You still are”

Four.

“But I had to tell you”

Three.

“That’s my special gift for you”

Two.

“Everything I haven’t said it’s in there”

One.

“Merry Christmas Yixing.”

 

 

 

 

 

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Soooo... who's starting university next Monday? Me! And who's going to die of anxiety? Still me, whoho!

So, in this super duper long chapter we see our cast of idiots being idiots and maybe a little bit of realizing new things (and angsty Suxing ;). Next chapter will mark the end of Exo-mas Carol, but don't worry, I've plenty of ideas for the back to school coughdisastrousQuidditchmatchescough and of course the answer to allz the questionz.

Let me know what you liked/disliked in the comments and let's see if I can survive uni all in one piece ^__^