THREE YEARS LATER

‘Twas the night before Christmas Eve and everyone in Dorm One at the Kalos Academy had been summoned to the common room by their captain, Moonbyul. Kang Seulgi and her girlfriend Bae Joohyun were among some of the last to file in. Wendy waved when she saw the two of them and motioned with her hand for them to join her, Joy and Yeri. Seulgi squeezed in between Wendy and Yeri while Irene sat perched on the end of the sofa. Moonbyul arrived not a second later with her fiancée Solar, carrying a comically oversized Santa hat and wearing her signature mischievous grin.

“Thanks for coming everyone. Now, as some of you might not know, the holiday season around here is a special time. Every year the dorm captains are in charge of organizing an event to bring together all three dorms to celebrate the holidays, and this year it was Namjoon and I’s turn to host.” Moonbyul handed the hat to Solar and reached inside, pulling out a pile of tiny slips of paper.

“Everyone’s name at the Academy has been written on a piece of paper,” Solar explained. “I’ll come around with the hat, and all you have to do is pick one. You’ll have twenty-four hours from now to find a gift for them, and we’ll exchange them tomorrow night at dinner!”

“We’ve already been around to dorms Two and Three, but that doesn’t mean you won’t get someone from there. There’s also technically not a limit on how much you can spend on your person either but be reasonable and keep in mind that not everyone can afford to gift something extravagant.” Moonbyul put back the papers she’d taken out and gave the hat a vigorous shake. Passing the hat off to her fiancée she grinned. “Good luck, and I hope you all have fun finding your presents!”

XXX

Have Yourself a Very Seulrene Christmas

XXX

Ten minutes later everyone had drawn their assigned person, and the common room was empty save for Seulgi, Wendy and a few other students.

“Damn it,” Seulgi swore under her breath, crumpling up the bit of paper she’d drawn and stuffing it in her pocket. Out of all the people she could have drawn…

“Don’t like who you drew for Secret Santa?” Wendy asked, staring angrily at her own piece of paper like it had insulted her. “I can relate. Who’d you get stuck with, Taeyong?”

Seulgi grimaced, looking around stealthily before beckoning Wendy close. “Honestly I wish, I’d rather shop for him. I got Irene.”

Wendy’s eyes widened and she smiled. “Why are you so worried then? Out of all the people at this Academy that you could have picked, you picked your girlfriend.”

“Because, Wendy, I don’t know what to get for the Champion who has everything, or at least has the money to get everything. All Irene has to do is bat her eyes in the direction of a sponsor and they load her up with merchandise and deals. What if I get her something she already has?” By now Seulgi was working herself into a miniature panic attack and Wendy put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

“Seul, don’t think about all that. Just trust yourself, chances are she’ll really like it. Even if it is something she already has, it’ll mean the world because it’s coming from you.” That little nugget of holiday wisdom from her best friend made Seulgi’s eyes mist up. She pulled the shorter girl close for a hug.

“Thank you, Wendy. What in the world would I do without you?”

“Probably flounder and over-analyze every interaction you have with Irene. However, there’s something you can do for me.” Wendy showed Seulgi her secret santa and the other girl laughed.

“What are the chances? I knew you had a crush on him.” Seulgi thought for a second. “But wait, I thought Joy drew Eunwoo’s name from the hat, she was complaining about it earlier to Moonbyul. She even tried to put his name back in the hat.”

“Oh, she did,” Wendy said. “But I figured this was my golden opportunity so I did some trading, unauthorized of course.”

“Whose name did you exchange for Eunwoo’s?” Seulgi had a pretty good idea of who Wendy was about to say. “You didn’t…really?”

Wendy nodded bashfully, “Yeah, I originally drew Yeri’s name, so I may have traded her to Joy in exchange for Eunwoo,” she rushed out the last part, avoiding her friend’s gaze.

“WENDY!” Several of the other students looked up at the two of them. Seulgi slapped a hand over and lowered her voice, apologizing for the outburst. “Dude, you are so whipped,” she chuckled, slapping Wendy on the back.

Ever since the two of them had been paired on a month-long battle strategy assignment last semester, Wendy developed a huge crush on the attractive boy. Needless to say, it took approximately five minutes for every one of her friends and classmates to realize that she harbored more than “friendly” feelings for the competitive Coordinator. According to Wendy it ‘was about damn time I found someone, literally every single one of you guys are gonna get laid this holiday season’.

“Shut up,” Wendy hissed under her breath, “I don’t want him to know. That’s why I need your help.”

“Best friends have to stick together, right?” Seulgi wrapped an arm around Wendy’s shoulders. “We’re gonna have a lot of work to do though, twenty-four hours isn’t a lot of time. I’ll help you with Eunwoo and you help me with Irene. Deal?”

“Deal”

XXX

THE NEXT DAY

Cha Eunwoo, competitive Coordinator extraordinaire, wound his way through the unfamiliar hallways of Dorm One, searching for room 1203. He was surprised when he had gotten a text from Irene of all people, saying she had a problem and she needed someone impartial to help her out. Any problem that had a Champion vexed must be a hell of a problem, he thought.

“Irene, you there?” he asked, knocking on the door to her dorm room.

“Door’s open, come on in,” came the reply, and Eunwoo shrugged, letting himself in and almost tripping over a stack of boxes that had been carelessly left by the door. Strange. Irene and Seulgi’s room was usually pretty clean, judging from the few times he’d seen it previously.

“What’s with all the mess?” Eunwoo carefully moved the boxes by the door so they wouldn’t trip up anyone else.

“Eunwoo! Good, you got here just in time.” Irene was standing in front of a whiteboard on wheels, biting on the end of a red marker. She reached up on her tiptoes to scribble something in the top left corner. Where and how she had gotten a full-sized whiteboard in her room, Eunwoo would never know. “I need your help. I somehow managed to draw Seulgi’s name out of the Secret Santa hat and I have absolutely no idea what to get her. You’re impartial, which means you’re the only person I can go to for this. I can’t go to Wendy, she’d tell Seulgi right away. Joy and Yeri are of no help either, the two of them are too busy staring into each other’s eyes and pretending like they aren’t in love with each other.”

Eunwoo laughed, gently grabbing the marker from Irene’s hand and setting it down on the desk so she’d stop obsessively writing notes. “Is that it? Why are you worried about that? The two of you have been dating for more than two years now, out of all the people you might have chosen, you got her. You should be happy, not looking like you’re about to have a heart attack.”

Irene sighed. “I know, but I can’t help it. Seulgi doesn’t really care a whole lot about material things, she’d want something that has an emotional value to it. And in case you haven’t noticed that area isn’t something I have a whole lot of experience in.”

“How about this? It just so happens that I could use some advice on what present to get for my Secret Santa. I’ll help you if you help me?”

The Kalos Champion held out her hand, looking a lot less stressed now than she did before. “It’s a deal, Eunwoo. Now, who did you draw?” Eunwoo blushed before handing Irene the piece of paper he had drawn from the hat. Glancing at it, Irene grinned knowingly. “You drew Wendy,” she stated.

“Yeah. So now you see my problem,” he replied, running a hand through his hair. “I mean, she doesn’t even know that I like her…like that. I don’t wanna be too obvious or forward or anything, but I wanna make sure that I get her something great.” Irene didn’t have the heart to tell him that anyone with two eyes could see that Wendy reciprocated the feeling.

“Well, you’re in luck because I happen to have a whole list of places we can go to.” Eunwoo looked up to where Irene was pointing and indeed there were about twenty store names scribbled on the whiteboard. “One of them is bound to have somet