Autumn bleeds into winter and soon everyone is bundling into their school scarves and thicker blazers.

Mingyu’s pretty much given up on trying to get his classmates to like him— well minus Wonwoo of course. But even Wonwoo somehow seems to avoid him whenever Junhui is around. He can see now that those two are really close, and of course he doesn’t want to get in between that; but he can’t help but feel a dull aching pain whenever that happens.  

Which is why he’s really surprised when he’s pulling out his homemade lunch during break (god the cafeteria food is so expensive— how on earth would he be able to afford that?), and Wonwoo walks up to him and says, “Hey Mingyu, do you want to sit and eat with Junnie and I?”

Mingyu’s eyes flit to Junhui who’s standing right behind Wonwoo. His expression is strange, and almost looks a little blank and cold. Mingyu looks away thinking it’s his imagination. “Um, I don’t want to bother y—”

“Mingyu, it’s a yes or no question,” Wonwoo cuts him off. “Do you want to sit together or not?”

“U-uh sure,” Mingyu manages to stammer out. He honestly does want to join them, but for some reason, the look on Junhui’s face makes him hesitate. He almost feels like an intruder even though Wonwoo was the one who invited him over.

As quickly as the feelings of discomfort come, they fade as well. Soon, Mingyu is eating and laughing with them, talking about their different teachers and favourite classes. Mingyu wonders why he was so discomforted by Junhui earlier when he seems like a generally chill and nice guy, despite being a bit showy and flamboyant.

“Anyway Mingyu, I was thinking... you’re not in the Christmas play right?” Junhui looks at him. He had been animatedly talking about the play for the past five minutes and was now focused on him.

Mingyu’s smile slips off a couple seconds later when he remembers that he in fact isn’t partaking in the play. He silently shakes his head in response.

Wonwoo had explained to him a while back that the Christmas play was an event done by the Class A students at the school-wide Christmas party that takes place every year on the eve. However, Mingyu wasn’t assigned any role in the play, seeing as the class wanted nothing to do with him.

“Ok good, then you have some time on your hands right?” Junhui nods his head excitedly. “I was wondering if you could make a cake for the assembly! On behalf of the class.”

Mingyu gulps. Between rushing back and forth between school and work at Jinju diner, he figures he can find a pocket of time somewhere to make the cake. However, it’s judgment of the students that he’s afraid of, and it’s making him hesitate.

Wonwoo is now looking at him with encouraging eyes— and it strikes Mingyu that prior to this, he’s never feared or held himself back from cooking or baking due to criticism of others.

Oh god, what has gotten into him?

“I’ll do it,” he answers firmly.

“Great!” Junhui smiles at him. “Anyway, Wonwoo and I have to get going now.”

Wonwoo suddenly looks up to Junhui, confusion crossing his eyes. “We do?”

Junhui stares back hard as though he were trying to silently communicate with Wonwoo. “Yes,” he responds tightly. “Need help with something before the bell rings. Come on,” he says as he pulls Wonwoo up.

“U-um ok,” Wonwoo shrugs, letting himself be dragged up. He shoots Mingyu a quick smile. “See you Gyu.”

“Nice eating lunch with you,” Junhui echoes from a little further away. But Mingyu can barely hear him, and only dumbly nods.

See you Gyu. He replays Wonwoo’s words in his mind over and over. He wonders if they’ve reached that stage in friendship where they can give each other nicknames. Well Wonwoo apparently feels like they have, so they must have.

Gyu. Something warm pools in Mingyu’s stomach, and he stares at his remaining lunch with a smile until the bell rings.

Christmas rolls by so fast and Mingyu is rushing to do everything last minute, including finishing up all his assignments before the break, and getting ready for the party.

He spends the evening before the Christmas party locked away at Jinju diner working hard to bake the cake. He’d spent a fortune on the cake decorations themselves and had been really worried looking at his bank account right after. Seungcheol assures him though that the school would compensate him for it.

Mingyu wipes the sweat off his brow with his sleeve as he crouches down to add the final icing decorations and pretty ribbons.

“Ta-dah!” he grins as he adds the last little decorative pearl to the cake and stands back up with satisfaction. Seungcheol looks up from his book and even gives Mingyu a tiny smile.

“Looks good.”

Mingyu feels pride course through him. This was the first time Seungcheol directly complimented him. Even if it was just something tiny, he can’t help but feel happy.

Mingyu feels giddy with excitement as he races back to the school where the dress rehearsals for the play are taking place.

When he gets there, he’s surprised that Wen Junhui is the first to approach him.

“Mingyu!” He flashes him a dazzling smile. Junhui’s bronze hair is styled up and he’s wearing a beautiful suit. Mingyu feels like he’s being greeted by prince charming himself.

Suddenly Mingyu feels out of place standing in the auditorium. He’s holding his school uniform in a bag so he could save it from getting dirty when baking, and is wearing a faded old pink shirt, and a black hoodie that got stains from cake icing, as well as ratty jeans that had been dusted with flour. He’s pretty sure that he has bits of fondant stuck in his hair as well.

“Hey,” Mingyu smiles hesitantly.

“Um... hi,” Junhui gives him a look when his eyes scan Mingyu’s clothes.

“I was, uh baking... and um, things got really disastrous and messy,” Mingyu chuckles nervously to explain.

It was true. This was Mingyu’s first time attempting such an extravagant double-tiered cake. The cake was bigger than anything he’s ever created personally, and despite his expertise with deserts, he barely just managed to complete it. If Seungcheol hadn’t been there to help, the cake really would’ve been done for.

“I see,” Junhui nods carefully. “Anyway, I was actually looking for you earlier!”

“You were?” Mingyu tilts his head in confusion.

“Yeah,” he responds. “Since you’ll be presenting the cake, I was thinking... why don’t you borrow one of my outfits? You can’t be the only not in a pretty costume you know!”

“Um I-I don’t know if that’s a g—”

“No no! Trust me, you’ll look amazing in it,” Junhui walks up to him and takes him by the shoulders, leading him to the dressing rooms. “I have another suit very similar to the one I’m wearing, but it’s navy blue. You can wear that one!”

Mingyu’s eyes now scan Junhui’s midnight green suit with beautiful golden collar lining and buttons, as well as intricate embroidery on the shoulders and cuffs. It looks far too pristine and expensive for Mingyu to ever touch, much less wear. However, Junhui seems adamant on the idea, so he doesn’t protest it any further.

“Trust me everybody in the class will come in something fancy. Look! Even Wonwoo who isn’t participating in the play is all dressed up,” Junhui exclaims as they walk by Wonwoo who’s having his collar fixed by one of the stylists.

Mingyu gives Wonwoo a full once over as they pass him. He’s wearing a prince-like suit that looks as equally expensive and beautiful as Junhui’s. Mingyu observes that the two friends seem to be sort of matching, as Wonwoo’s suit is a deep royal red with golden lining all along the buttons and hem. His white shirt underneath is beautifully embroidered with golden thread too.

“Wonwoo is just acting as my substitute in case I get terribly ill or hurt somehow.” Junhui shakes his head. “Really, he just doesn’t want to be in the play so he took that role. I still want him to dress up though,” he laughs.

“I see,” Mingyu murmurs, not able to get the image of Wonwoo out of his mind as they enter the dressing room. The way Wonwoo’s jet black hair was slicked back, and the dark back eyeliner he had on made his eyes look all the more sharper and fierce. It doesn’t suit him , Mingyu thinks with a start. And then he feels caught off guard by the thought because what does he know about what style suits Wonwoo and what doesn’t?

Junhui eventually pushes the suit into his hands. He glances down at the folded dark blue fabric in his arms and manages to stutter out, “T-Thanks.”

“No problem,” Junhui winks. “We have to do one more run of the play now, so I’m gonna have to scram ok?” He gives Mingyu one more pat on the back before slipping out the door.

Mingyu sighs in the empty dressing room, surrounded by mirrors and lights. There are clothes, props, and makeup strewn in every corner. Mingyu stands in front of one mirror with hesitation and glances at the reflection. His face looks so uneasy, even to himself. He slowly unfolds the suit and presses it against his chest to gage at how he would look in it. If he were to be totally honest, he thinks the outfit is weird on him. Maybe because he hasn’t worn anything as fancy since, well, forever . The closest that has even come to this was during middle school graduation, when he wore a simple business suit..

“Mingyu,” a sudden voice resounds behind him.

“Ahh!” Mingyu jumps in surprise. He quickly turns around to face the voice. Jeonghan is standing there leaning against the frame of the doorway, giving him an amused look.

“Pardon me, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“Oh- um, no it’s fine,” Mingyu chuckles.

“That outfit...” Jeonghan points with a smile.

Mingyu bites his lips, taking in a sharp breath. “Y-yeah... Junhui gave it to me. To wear. For the party.”

“I see,” Jeonghan smiles and tilts his head against the doorway, his long blonde hair falling in perfect fashion (as usual). He has a festive headband with reindeer antlers on, and is wearing a cute white turtleneck. In short, he looks like nothing but a regular holiday angel. “It’ll look good on you.”

Mingyu can only shake his head in response, stifling a laugh. “Yeah... I don’t really think so.”

“What do you mean? Someone that looks like you couldn’t possibly look bad in that,” Jeonghan says, gesturing his hands towards Mingyu.

Someone that looks like him? Mingyu looks down at his mess of an outfit in confusion. “What?”

Jeonghan lightly laughs now. “Never mind. You’re oblivious... Anyway, you want to take a walk with me? I kind of want some fresh air. Been here supervising for too long.”

“Oh um, sure.” Mingyu smiles, the nervous butterflies back to invading every part of him. The student body president was actually asking to take a walk with him? Was this real?

When they step out in the cold wintery air, Jeonghan shudders and Mingyu quickly places his school blazer that he grabbed from his bag on the way out, over Jeonghan’s shoulders.

“Oh you don’t need t—” Jeonghan immediately begins to say.

“It’s ok,” Mingyu assuredly tells him. “I’m wearing this thick hoodie.”

They walk along the pathway in silence for a little while, with only the careful gentle flutter of snowflakes between them. They finally stop at a bench and Jeonghan dusts off the seat and indicates that they sit down.

“I’m glad it’s snowing,” Jeonghan finally says to break the silence once they’re seated. He reaches out to catch some falling flakes with his bare hands that have reddened from the cold. Mingyu is tempted to take them into his own hands to warm them up, but he holds himself back, figuring that it would be too weird. “I really hate it when it’s just cold on Christmas, and there’s no snow. It just doesn’t feel right you know?”

“Yeah.” Mingyu nods. “I think I agree with you.”

Jeonghan turns to smile at him. “So how are you doing?”

“Um, good I think,” he answers quietly. “I mean, some kids actually started coming to Jinju diner besides you. I put up a small temporary menu for them. An official menu is in the making right now.”

“I see, that’s good. I’m glad.”

“Yeah... um how about you?”

“What about me?”

“You’re supervising the play?”

“Honestly, the students do everything themselves,” Jeonghan shrugs. “But there still needs to be a teacher present. And seeing that all the teachers are busy, I get stuck with the grunt work of supervising,” he explains with a laugh. There’s a short hesitant pause before Jeonghan adds, “...but Mingyu, I noticed that you’re not participating in the play with your class?”

“Y-yeah. I’m not.”

“Oh, how come?”

“U-um... I just, didn’t think it was for me you know?” Mingyu does his best to laugh like it’s no big deal.

“Is that it?”

“Well yeah...” He hesitates before letting out a sigh. “For the most part. I mean, I was never really invited to join the play? I’d probably at it anyway.”

“They should’ve invited you,” Jeonghan frowns. “And why would you think that? Don’t beat it till you’ve tried it.”

“Yeah but... it just doesn’t work.”

“What doesn’t work?” Jeonghan looks at him with questioning eyes, and Mingyu notices the amber flecks in them from the light of the lamppost beside the bench.

“Like, me being in that class.” Mingyu sighs. “It’s supposed to be the special class and I’m just—”

“Ok stop right there.” Jeonghan holds out his hands to get him to stop. “Seriously... don’t say those things about yourself. I don’t play this card often, but take it from the student body president... you belong in that class.”

Mingyu grows silent for a while before shaking his head. “Honestly... when I’m always surrounded by all these rich and talented and even famous students, it’s difficult to continue believing that.”

“Mingyu, listen to me,” Jeonghan sighs and suddenly reaches out to take Mingyu’s reddened cheeks between his icy fingertips. Mingyu immediately falls silent. The snow keeps gently falling around them and he blinks with widened eyes back at Jeonghan.

“Someone once told me...” Jeonghan continues, “big stars, small stars, they can all shine equally bright in the night sky.”

Jeonghan pulls away, and there’s a somewhat sad smile on his face. Another stretch of silence runs between them.

“Please don’t talk to me in metaphors,” is what Mingyu finally blurts out in the end. He immediately wants to curl in on himself right after.

Luckily Jeonghan only laughs and shakes his head. “I can’t say it any way else.” He gets up with some finality and brushes off the snow that had speckled Mingyu’s hair. “I have to get back to supervising now before I get in trouble.”

Mingyu gets up as well, dusting off his jeans. “Oh ok. I’ll um... see you around.”

“Ok, bye.”

He watches Jeonghan’s retreating back, his blazer still around the student president’s shoulders and it makes him smile. But when he’s seven or eight meters away, Mingyu can’t stop from calling out, “Jeonghan hyung!”

Jeonghan partially turns around to look at him. The snow is blowing harder now and Mingyu can no longer see his expression from this distance. Regardless, he yells out, “Are you coming to the Christmas party tomorrow?”

“Yeah, I am!” Jeonghan yells back.

“Good, I’ll see you there. Look for me!”

He can almost hear the smile in Jeonghan’s voice as he answers back “Alright I will!”

The next evening, he walks into the auditorium with the fancy suit on and the cake balanced carefully in his hands. Students are slowly filing in to be seated for the opening remarks before the play and other performances start.

Mingyu’s mouth goes dry however when he sees a group of workers, all with uniforms from what looks like Gaon restaurant, preparing the buffet table. It’s not so much the buffet table that makes his heart drop— but it’s what’s at the end of the draped table. There, where his cake was supposed to be placed, is a gigantic and absolutely beautiful winter themed triple-tiered cake, complete with a sugar crystal snowflake resting at the top. It’s far more extravagant than Mingyu’s creation, and immediately he kind of wants to run away or shrink into the floor.

“Wow I can’t believe Junhui was able to get such an amazing looking cake for the party!” He hears a couple students remark in the background, sounding impressed.

Junhui?

Rather than running away like he initially wanted to, something seems to come over him and he rushes up to the workers and students helping. “I’m sorry, I think there was a mistake!”

The girls from Class A are the first to look up at him.

Mingyu continues explaining himself frantically, “I made this cake for the assembly because Junhui asked me to and—”

“Are you kidding me?” One of the girls asks with col