It was the last week of class before winter holidays commenced. Soojung and Baekhyun were planning their final gathering. Whatever tension there had previously been between Chanyeol and Soojung appeared to have been forgotten. Either Chanyeol apologised to Soojung or Soojung opted to ignore Chanyeol’s comment from that night. Nonetheless, it was clear that Chanyeol had repented his actions and went above and beyond to satisfy Soojung’s every whim.

There was a newfound determination in his eyes, a passion burning vicariously every time he looked at the girl.

“You’ll burn a hole in her head if you keep staring at her like that.” Baekhyun interrupted Chanyeol’s reverie.

Chanyeol turned towards the other boy, raising an eyebrow while giving a lop-sided smile. Baekhyun just shrugged his shoulders and looked towards Hayoon who was nodding along to whatever Soojung was saying with a bored look.

“Sunshine has been humming that song of yours all the time.” Chanyeol tilted his head, a look of confusion in his eyes as Baekhyun continued talking. “I don’t think she realises it. She’s probably your number one fan right now.”

Chanyeol’s face broke into bright smile. Throwing his arm around the shorter boy’s shoulders, he leaned onto Baekhyun, letting his whole body weight crush the latter.

“Why, you jealous? Your dear Sunshine not giving you enough attention?”

Baekhyun clicked his tongue, throwing Chanyeol an indignant look.

“Puh-lease. If anything I’m jealous of Soojung. She’s chummy with Mr Prince Charming and you’ve written a song dedicated to her. It’s stuff from romance novels. Why can’t I be enjoying such attention?”

“You want to get chummy with the Prince Charming?”

“What? No— Well, I guess it would be flattering to have someone like that wooing me,” Baekhyun mused. “Very flattering indeed.”

Chanyeol shook his head, knowing well that there was no way of unwrapping the mysterious ways in which Baekhyun’s train of thought functioned. Not affirming nor denying that the song was dedicated towards a specific girl, he instead pushed the boy aside and turned his full attention towards the two girls who were now listing what needed to be bought for their big gathering and debating whether to invite others too. Hearing this Chanyeol immediately interjected.

“No outsiders.”

Soojung looked up, frowning.

“But it’s a celebratory gathering. Early Christmas celebration and submitting all our assignments. Shouldn’t we do something a bit more… special?”

“As long as you’re there it will be special.” Came Chanyeol’s determined response.

“Well, if you insist…”

Much to Chanyeol’s disappointment, Soojung had failed to catch the not-so-subtle innuendo in his words. Hayoon knew however that the ‘you’ Chanyeol was referring to was targeted towards one specific individual rather than their group as a whole. She glanced at Chanyeol, trying to read his expression, wondering if the male’s tactics would simply become increasingly more blunt and straight-forward at this rate.

“You’re not inviting sunbae?”

Soojung turned to Baekhyun and shook her head.

“He has some event with his classmates and professors so won’t be around.”

Hearing that, Chanyeol’s mood perked up considerably, satisfied with the fact that he will not have to fight for Soojung’s attention. Smiling to himself, Chanyeol volunteered to do all the shopping later today since he had no more classes, inciting a cheer from Baekhyun. Neatly folding the piece of paper with the shopping list, Hayoon passed it over to Chanyeol who clumsily stuffed it in his pocket.

Today was a good day, thought Chanyeol.

・・・

The boys’ flat was filled to the brim with a celebratory vibe. Christmas carols played softly in the background and everyone donned reindeer antlers that Hayoon was pretty certain Baekhyun had stolen from the theatre department. The boy always had his away with sneaking items out inconspicuously, not that she cared though. Or rather, the prosecco they had been drinking all evening had made Hayoon reach a level of tipsy where she simply could not be bothered to care.

“Cheers guys!” Baekhyun r