Light amongst darkness. Darkness amongst light. It was the cloudless sky above the little house on the hill on Christmas night. Junmyeon got momentarily lost in it until a gust of wind made him shiver. There was no need to put a coat on for such a quick task and if he lingered any longer, Yixing might think he’d wandered off and gotten lost in the trees. He opened the door to his backyard shed, quickly grabbing one of the spare bags of cat food he kept just inside. 

When entering the house again, Junmyeon was immediately hit full force with the smell of spices he’d gotten used to as the hours had passed. Hyejin shrieked and giggled at the sudden presence of cold air, momentarily distracting her from the fun tunes and dances of the night’s idol TV performances. Yixing bundled her close until Junmyeon closed the door again but it didn’t take long until he was back to aiding her dance to the simple beats. Up on the couch, Li Yin was keeping an eye on them, relaxing back into the cushions with a coffee-filled reindeer mug.

Junmyeon shuffled past them and around the Christmas tree that he thought was too large but Yixing insisted was just right. It was decorated with multicolored lights and homemade ornaments ranging from Hyejin’s heavily supervised finger painting to Chanyeol’s miniature clay crafts but mostly ones Yixing and Junmyeon had been slowly making together every Sunday afternoon since mid September when the first leaves in the yard started falling.  

In the kitchen, Jongdae was still in the middle of putting away a ridiculous amount of leftovers that would surely make Junmyeon’s modest refrigerator get stuffed to the brim. At his friend’s feet, Lulu and Luobo, Yixing’s kittens who had managed to double in size over only a few months, continued to meow and paw at him, eyes trained on the large platter of fish he was holding. 

“Get these things off me before they claw off my kneecaps!” Jongdae said, dramatically pressed against the counter like he was being held at gunpoint.

“They won’t claw off your kneecaps. They just want to be your friend.”

“Junmyeon!” 

He tisked at him, bending down below the kitchen windowsill where the makeshift food bowls were kept. He still hadn’t gotten around to getting proper cat supplies even though he had gotten used to both Yixing and the cats living here on the weekends. Somehow this had escaped the minds of both of them seeing as how many miscellaneous toys the two cats had gotten today. The patter of food falling into the bowl was enough to pull the cats away from Jongdae. Once finished, Junmyeon joined him to help sort through all the old takeout containers, pairing them with matching lids. 

“There, I saved you,” he said with a small smile. 

“Cats aside, you’ve really outdone yourself with the festivities this year.” 

Jongdae gestured to the string lights that ran all throughout the inside of the house, framing the kitchen window beside them and the doorway behind them. Ornamented tinsel also ran across the top of the cabinets and the pantry. Nutcracker themed placemats also rested on the table, slowly revealed with each dish Jongdae cleared. Beside the Batman calendar on the wall now turned to December also hung two festively framed photographs: one of Junmyeon and Yixing standing just comfortable enough to not be seen as inherently awkward in front of the stage door at Dopyeong Playhouse and a similar but much more relaxed one of the same theme standing outside the stage door of the Daegu Arts Center.

“It was Yixing’s idea. He’s never really celebrated Christmas but jumped at the chance to go all out. It was fun.”

It felt good to have Jongdae here again, his visits now few and far between. For a moment Junmyeon had forgotten that both him and Li Yin had come over for Christmas just last year as well. One glance around the house and anyone could tell how so much had changed, all for the better.

“Speaking of which, tell me about Yixing,” Jongdae said, eyes mischievous. Junmyeon blushed, thoughts of mountain hikes, movie nights, and gentle embraces when he was feeling alright.

“Yes,” Junmyeon said. “Let me tell you about Yixing.”       

END

A/N: Thank you for taking the time to read my 100% self-indulgent SuLay fic. It seems fitting that I complete this story now since as one of the many millions of theater/live entertainment professionals in the world, my life pretty much stopped in order to properly hunker down to combat the spread of COVID-19. Nonetheless, in only a few days I'll be doing my first of a series of outdoor socially distanced concerts which will be wonderful for my soul and next month I'll be in the theater briefly again to film sections of a musical that will later be shown to audiences.

Aside from the theater connection, Ghost Light has been a story very close to my heart since the beginning with many of Junmyeon's thoughts, feelings, desires, and experiences mirroring my own. So hopefully it wasn't too boring! Oh and if you'd like to say hi elsewhere you can also follow me on Twitter @UnusualTable.

This was only the first installment in a series called "Tales from Daegu" on my AO3 profile. There are various additional SuLay drabbles/one-shots/two-shots I have in mind, but also the main stories for other EXO characters who were both mentioned and not mentioned in Ghost Light. I'm thinking the next person I'll focus on is Jongin and the journey of his apprenticeship with the dance company that Yixing was a part of in this story. Let me know if that sounds interesting to you! Also let me know if you'd like more SuLay material from this au! Compared to my other much darker/stressful stories, this au is very fun and refreshing to write.

Once again, thank you for reading! Questions, comments, feedback, and upvotes are (as always) appreciated!!!! ^_^