Having finished 100 Prompts (Oh my God seriously – did that really happen?) and with it being December and all I am trying desperately to get into the Christmas spirit.  It is one of my big holidays and in the past I’ve always been the person behind steam-rolling it in my family.  I am the one who drags out all of the decorations the day after Thanksgiving, and when I was in college I would decorate my families house only to bring a massive stock of decorations back to school to decorate my dorm room with for the three weeks until winter break.  The sad thing is that here in Korea…it’s not really a big deal.  There is no sense of “Christmas spirit” in the air that seemed so tangible every year back home, which makes me rather sad. 

This story is being set in today.  Like, the weather I’m describing and everything is really going on in Korea right now.

So Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone!  Enjoy some light fluff.

Foam

The temperatures had dropped drastically fast in Seoul this year.  Summer had hung on well into fall with sweltering temperatures that had only abated into those wonderful fall days for maybe two or three weeks before crashing headlong into winter mid-way through November.  Now here they were, weeks to go before Christmas, and they had already experienced their second snowfall of the season and temperatures falling below freezing for most of the day, only reaching up above by a degree or two around mid-day.

Key hated cold.  While the rest of the guys had been bummed that they were out of the country when the snow began to fall in Korea, he had been rather glad.  Singapore and Hong Kong were much warmer and nicer this time of year than his native land.  And this was only the beginning.  He had months more of cold weather, well into March most likely, to look forward to now. 

Here they were now though, back in Seoul, the snow still piled about the streets and the second that they walked into their apartment, tossing their bags and bundles on their respective bed before Jonghyun called out to the rest of them, “Let’s go out!  There’s tons of snow!”

“Snowball fight!”  Minho yelled, already tugging his coat back on and searching through the closet near the door for his boots that he had stashed away at the end of last winter. 

“Yay!” Onew called, and Key could already see that ending badly.  Their accident prone leader wanted to go and run around on icy streets and risk getting sick out in the cold. 

Key shook his head at his friends and sighed, “You all have fun…I’m gonna stay here, all nice and warm inside the apartment.”

“Oh, hyung~!”  Taemin whined, suddenly having popped up right next to the rapper when he was unaware.

Suddenly the dancer’s hands were clasped around Key’s elbow and he was being tugged, as Taemin jumped up and down like a puppy whose master had just come home. 

“Come out and play with us! Please Please Please Please Please Please!” 

Taemin stopped hopping and looked at Key with hopeful eyes. 

Key felt a tug at his heart, but his utter distain for anything to do with cold weather was a stronger force.

He gently dislodged Taemin’s hands and he swore he could feel the grim slip off of Taemin’s face as the maknae began to pout. 

“You all go out and have fun.  I’ll make some hot chocolate for when you all realize how crazy you are for going out and come back in shivering and blue.”  He plastered a rueful smile on his face and tucked his arms around his slight body, feeling cold already at the thought of anyone being outside. 

He smiled wide enough to make his eyes practically disappear as he glanced at Taemin.  “Go on, you all have fun.”

“Are you sure?”  Onew asked one last time as the quartet stood in the doorway, bundled up and padded and moving with a slight waddle to battle against the cold as they had their fun. 

“Oh yeah,” Key snickered a little, “You all go on.”  He glanced around the apartment for a moment, “I’ll get started on Christmas decorations while you all go out and freeze your balls off.” 

“Alright~~” Onew breathed out and ushered the rest of their members out of the door before him.  “See you when we see you.” 

Key heard the door shut and shook his head.  Nope he’ll stay nice and toasty inside thank you very much. 

He quickly put on some Christmas music to serve as background music and meandered down the hallway to try and find the boxes of decoration in their black hole that they call a hall closet. 

Key carried (read: slid and kicked) the first box down the hall to the main room and was about to turn around for another when he heard the door open. 

The rapper’s head popped up, with a confused furrow of his brow to see Taemin toeing off his shoes in the entry way.

Key snorted, “What did you forget maknae?”  He called out to the younger man, his mind running through possibilities for the absent-minded dancer.  Maybe his phone was still in here, or he only remembered one glove and had to find its partner? 

Taemin just smiled and continued stripping off his outerwear.  “Just you.”

Key rolled his eyes, “I told you, I’m not going out and ‘frolicking’ in the snow,” he responded pointedly.

Taemin laughed, his bright smile making his eyes close to practically slits.  “I know.”

Key sat back on his heels, slightly confused, as Taemin disappeared down the hall.

What…?

Moments later, the maknae re-appeared with another box of decorations in his arms, which he placed on the floor next to the flummoxed singer.

“Taemin…just grab whatever you forgot and go out and enjoy the snow, I can handle this.” He gestured to the waiting boxes.

Taemin flicked Key’s head, “Hyung…it’s Christmas…and you’re decorating our place for Christmas…do you really want to do it alone?”

And he walked back down the hall to claim another box.

Key’s eyes widened slightly.  Taemin.  Sweet, absent-minded Taemin, was suddenly being the most thoughtful of the bunch of them?

Taemin plopped the next box down on top of the last one he brought out and Key had to laugh at the dusty Santa hat that the younger man had donned at a crooked angle on his head. 

“One more.”  He announced with a sweet smile and headed back down the hall. 

Key finally roused himself to stand.  The last box was the heaviest, packed by Jonghyun at the end of last Christmas.  It was a wonder of packing, Key still couldn’t figure out how all of that stuff had fit inside, but it was so heavy that only Jonghyun or Minho stood a chance on their own of carrying it, and even their arms would be shaking. 

“Wait Taemin, I’ll help!” and he ran down the hall, skidding a bit in his socked feet against the polished wood of the floor. 

Together the two managed to push the box down the hall, laughing every time one of them lost their footing and slipped as they through their weight against the box.

“Jonghyun-hyung is never allowed to pack these things up again.”  Taemin gasped once it had joined the others. 

“Tell me about it,” Key sighed, wiping sweat away from his forehead. 

First they fished out their small tree.  If place on the ground it would sit about waist high.  While Key pulled the wire limbs back into place and did his best to make a fake wire tree look realistic, Taemin shoved a small tea table into the corner of the living room and put the bright red and green tree skirt that Key’s Grandmother had made them years ago over the top of it so that the extra could dangle off of the edge so that the reindeer that lined the edges of the fabric could be seen. 

Key came and placed the tree on top of the skirt and the pair stepped back, taking in the beginnings of their work. 

“Let’s wait for everyone else to put the ornaments on.” Key said softly as he turned back towards the boxes and shoved the one with tree decorations into the corner with the tree and moved on to the other boxes.

The pulled everything open and started finding, garland and lights and stockings and knick knacks and candles and found that the Christmas Section of a craft store seemed to have exploded in their living room.

Key checked the strings of lights, making sure that they all still worked, while Taemin hung the stockings on the wall below their TV, alas no fireplace to work with. 

The two moved in a simple harmony, stringing up garlands and setting up figures and dolls throughout the apartment, with perfectionist Key popping up on occasion to move something that Taemin had placed around and Taemin showing up later to put it right back where it had started, all the while singing along to the different Christmas Carols that flowed from the stereo.

Soon enough their apartment was santa-d and snowflake-d and spirited up.  The pair took the empty boxes back to the hall closet smiled ruefully at the remaining one, sitting their open and inviting.

But they knew that the guys would kill them if they didn’t all do the tree together, it had become something of a tradition with them since their first Christmas together, so they would wait.

Taemin sidled over to the window and looked down at the city bathed in the nighttime glow of moonlight and traffic and streetlamps.  “They’ll probably come in soon – it’s freezing out there and they’ve been out for at least an hour.”  He called back to Key over his shoulder.

He was met with the sound of clinking in the kitchen.

He turned to see Key, with one of the freshly placed Christmas pieces, an apron with gingerbread house designs dotted all over, tight around his waist, pouring milk into an awaiting kettle.

“I promised hot chocolate didn’t I?” Key said with a smile as he capped the remaining milk and replaced it in the fridge. 

“Oh!” Taemin jumped up excited and hopped into the kitchen to help out.

At Key set the milk to heat and started fetching the drink mix and marshmallows, Taemin pulled out five mugs and placed them on the counter next to the stove where Key started to spoon healthy mounds of chocolate powder into the bottom of those mugs.

Taemin hopped up onto the counter next to the mugs, having grabbed five spoons from the drawer and holding them in his hand like a lollipop. 

Key glanced at the dancer and snorted.  “You always say that you want to be seen as more manly…then you do things like this…” he gestured in the dancer’s general vicinity.

“And then I…?” Taemin prompted.

Key reached up a long arm and ruffled the maknae’s hair, “And then you act like a five year old on Christmas morning waiting for hot chocolate.”

Taemin pulled on a fake pout and even made his lower lip tremble a bit just for show.

Key narrowed his eyes, “You know exactly how to make us all react the way you want don’t you?”  He tapped his forefinger just against the tip of Taemin’s nose.  “We’re all just wrapped right around your little finger aren’t we?”

Taemin smirked and his eyes flashed for a moment with an emotion that Key didn’t quite catch. 

“I wish hyung,” he said softly.  “The milk is ready.”

Taemin had said it so matter-of-factly that Key almost missed it entirely, until with a start the meaning connected and he jumped to the stove to cut the flame just moments before the milk boiled over the edge.

“Well, that was close…” Key said with a laugh, grabbing a ladle out of the silverware drawer.  He stirred the steaming liquid before pulling over the nearest mug and filling it up to just shy of the top before passing it off to Taemin who used one of his many spoons to mix everything together.  At the same time, Kibum ladled milk into a second mug, but left the rest alone, waiting for the others to return.  He opened the bad of mini-marshmallows and tossed a small handful into both mugs so that they appeared like little, white mountains rising up. 

Taemin plopped one of each of the unused spoons into the waiting mugs and then picked up his own and held it under his nose and deeply inhaled the rich smell of chocolate and sugar. 

“Hyung, you’re the best!”  Taemin smiled and winked at Key before using his spoon to pull up a partially melted marshmallow and it into his mouth. 

“MmmHmmmmmm.” Taemin moaned around the spoon and suddenly Key was struck with a feeling that he didn’t quite understand and caught him unawares.

That sound, that unrepressed moan of pure appreciation, had entered Key’s ears but set his entire body aflame.  It seemed like it was ringing around his mind and sending every nerve ending that it could find into a seizure. 

Key jerked his eyes away and quickly brought up his mug to distract himself and buried his face into it, taking a massive gulp.

This was a mistake.  The liquid was still disastrously hot. 

The rapper reeled back from his mug, coughing heavily as the steaming liquid burned its way down his throat.

“Hyung!”  Taemin cried, suddenly standing inches from the confused man which was not helping his whirling mind any at all.  “Are you alright?”

The dancer’s hands were all over, it seemed.  Clasping his face, then resting against his shoulders, or lighting pushing against his hip or lower back trying to guide him into a chair.

The backs of his knees buckled against the push of the kitchen chair and Key fell backward into the hard embrace of wood. 

“Hyung are you okay?”  Taemin’s concerned face was hovering just in front of Key’s and it was a bit more than the man could take just now.

“I’m alright,” he croaked, voice harsh and ragged from the scalding liquid and the resulting coffee.  His hands found purchase against Taemin’s shoulder and he shoved the younger man away, maybe just a little harsher than necessary.

Key bent double, touching his chest to his knees and another round of hoarse coughing took him. 

Taemin places a gentle hand on Key’s back, rubbing softly to try and help alleviate some of the rapper’s mild suffering, patting occasionally after a particularly different cough came out. 

Eventually Key’s lungs calmed and he sat up suddenly, the feeling of Taemin’s hand on his back like a burn shocking him to realization.

But it couldn’t be…

Taemin looked on in concern.  “Are you sure you’re alright now?”

Key nodded, trying to force a laugh out of his ravage throat so that Taemin wouldn’t know what he was really thinking of.  “Yeah, I’m good now.”

Taemin’s eyes searched over his face, and seemed to find something that solaced him. 

That was when the maknae began to smile.

At first it was just a tugging at the corners of his mouth, something that the younger man seemed to fight, but eventually it was a wide grin, teeth revealed and eye’s crinkled. 

“What?”  Key asked, one he had regained use of his vocal chords that had seemed to seize up with one glance.  What was wrong with him?

“Hang on…”  Taemin pulled his cell phone out of his back pocket and snapped a quick picture of his hyung.  “Look.” 

Captured on the small screen of his phone, was an image of Kibum peeking up with a dumb look of confusion on his face.  But that wasn’t the funny part.  No, the funny part was that from his nose down to his chin and dripping down to his shirt was a massive line of white and brown foam, the gooey mess left behind from the melty marshmallows that he had topped the drink with. 

“You’re covered in marshmallow foam hyung!  It’s looks so cute!” 

Taemin pulled the phone back before his hyung could grab it to delete the picture and quickly slid the phone back into his pocket as Key grabbed a handful of napkins off of the table to clean off his face.

How he had missed the feeling of the sticky stuff on his skin he didn’t know, must have been more concerned with the burning inside his mouth. 

He shoved the rough paper all around his lower face, trying to catch all of it and clear it all from his skin.

“Gone now?”

Taemin snickered a little, “Almost hyung.”  He took a light step forward and leaned down close so that Key had the choice of either looking at Taemin’s face or collar bone, both of which seemed ridiculously appealing for a reason that didn’t quite connect in the older man’s brain.

It was like a switch had just been flipped inside his head and suddenly Taemin didn’t look like sweat innocent Taemin anymore.  His eye’s kept being drawn to the lanky young man in an overly appreciative manner. 

What was the matter with him?  When had this started?

Taemin swiped a thin finger across the tip of Key’s nose and came away with a small dollop of white foam on the end of his finger.

“Now it’s all gone.”  Taemin smiled until his eyes disappeared.  “Seems like a waste though…” Taemin smirked, positively smirked back at Key, and popped the finger in his mouth.

Key couldn’t tear his eyes away and his heart jumped in his chest at the loud popping noise that filled the kitchen when Taemin pulled the finger out of his mouth.

“Sweat!”

The front door slammed and the calls of the other three came from the entryway. 

Key leapt from his chair and to the stove, determined to not think about the maknae, and started the milk to heat again. 

He swore he heard Taemin sigh, but the dancer strode from the room before Key could double check. 

Soon he was inundated with the other three SHINee members, faces flushed and hair damp with a mix of sweat and melted snow.

Cold hands clenched around the warm mugs as Key gave them all the same service he had done with his and Taemin’s hot chocolate earlier. 

He was grateful for the brash voices of the other members because he was able to keep his thoughts clear of Taemin for a few moments.  He could forget that his reactions to the dancer had been so far from normal.  He could forget that sense of attraction…

NO!

Nope, he wouldn’t go there. And Key yanked his thoughts back to the present task of putting up ornaments with the rest of the guys.  The tree wasn’t very large so between the five of them it only took a few minutes to have a tree full of shiny bells and spheres twinkling among the strings of lights and garland. 

“Just the star!”  Onew called, holding it up in his left hand.  “Who gets to do the honors this year?”

The five of them just glanced once around the room at each other and they did as all Koreans seem to do to settle an argument: Rock Papers Scissors. 

Jonghyun and Onew were out in the first round.  Then Minho lost and the athlete grunted like an animal and threw himself onto the sofa waiting behind him, almost pouting about losing.

That left Taemin and Key.  The pair faced each other down, Key focusing determinedly on Taemin’s hand.

“Kai-bai-bo!” The two chanted and threw down their right hands.  Taemin had thrown scissors, but Key had his fist clenched in rock. 

Taemin scrunched up his face, “Aww, hyung.  You win…” he said with a disappointed grumble but stepped back and let Key put the star on top of the tree. 

***

That night, Key tossed and turned in bed, unable to shut his mind off and go to sleep.

Today he had look at Taemin in a way that he never had before.  Today he had looked at Taemin and not just seen his groupmate.  He had not just seen his dongsaeng.  Today he had look at Taemin and saw him with potential to be something far different and far more important.

And he couldn’t figure out if that was something completely new or if he had just been ignoring it subconsciously.

He shoved the palms of his hands hard into his eyes until little dots of light began to explode around his vision and he finally eased up.  He let out a small groan of frustration and thumped his hands down loudly on the bed next to him.

A snort of a snore was the response from Onew’s bed a few feet away.

Key decided to get up and go walk around the apartment or something.

He was surprised when he went out into the hallway, making sure to shut the door softly behind him so as not to wake the SHINee leader, to see the faint light that could only be Christmas lights coming from the living room. 

Wondering who else would be awake at, he checked the clock on the microwave in the kitchen, two am, Key inched quietly forward and peeked around the corner. 

The Christmas tree was aglow, its soft lights giving off only enough light to keep one form stubbing their toe on a particularly large object.

But standing there was the source of Key’s sleeplessness to begin with.  Taemin was standing with his back to the hallway so he could not see Key watching him.  The dancer was clad in a pair of blue flannel pajama pants and a white hoodie that Key realized had been taken from his own closet, though he didn’t know when they younger man had claimed it. 

Then Taemin sighed again, that same heaving sigh that Key had pretended to ignore earlier in the kitchen. 

What had gotten into Taemin tonight?  Key couldn’t help by wonder. 

He rested his hands against the wall and debated letting the younger man know of his presence. 

Before he could reach a decision, he saw the young man lift up his arm slowly and rest it against one of the stockings on the wall.  He couldn’t read the name from his position, but he could tell from the location that the stocking Taemin was lightly caressing was Key’s own.

Kibum’s eyebrows furrowed as he watched the young man.

“’Wrapped around my little finger’ huh hyung?” Taemin said softly, tapping his little finger lightly against the soft red felt that the stocking was made of.

He slid his hand off and down the wall, before it was left to hang limply at the dancer’s side.

His entire being screamed sadness and depression, something that Key would have that impossible for the always cheerful Taemin to ever feel.

“If you were wrapped around my finger…if you would do what I want…”  Taemin trailed off and Key swore that he heard the man’s breath hitching in his chest, and he watched as the singer’s hand came up to his face as though to wipe away a tear.

“If you were wrapped around my finger you would hold my hand and mean it. 

“If you were wrapped around my finger you wouldn’t look away from my gaze.

“If you were wrapped around my finger you would seek me out on occasion instead of me always searching for you.

“If you were wrapped around my finger you would look at me the way that I look at you.

“If you were wrapped around my finger you would smile just because I walked in the room.

“If you were wrapped around my finger you would try and steal away little moments when no one else is looking.

“If you were wrapped around my finger you would love me like I love you.”

Key was floored.  His knees knocked together as his legs shook and it was a wonder that Taemin couldn’t hear them for himself.  His heart thundered through his chest and he had to slip back away form the corner and flatten himself against the wall.  His breath was shallow and labored, and the only thing keeping him vertical was the wall behind him.  

Hearing those words, hearing the longing in Taemin’s voice, it had managed to make him feel simultaneously broken hearted and excited. 

Hearing Taemin sound so forlorn had pulled on every heartstring that Key possessed, and made him want to go and throw his arms around the man just so that he knew that he was not alone.

But hearing Taemin voice all of that about him, that part of him that had been keeping Key awake all night long was dancing a tango in joy in his head.  It wanted the same thing.  It wanted to grab hold of Taemin’s hand, not like a hyung leading his dongsaeng, but like a lover sharing his life.  It wanted to seek out Taemin’s eyes from across the room and have a conversation without words at all.  He wanted to seek Taemin out and show him something new just to see the young man smile.  He wanted to have inside jokes and small stories and a million little seemingly insignificant things that wouldn’t seem important to anyone else but would mean everything to them. 

He wanted to stand beside Taemin, with all the good and bad that that entailed. 

Key sagged against the wall, suddenly exhausted with the sudden realization of what he had been fighting against all night.   

Key yawned wide enough that his jaw actually cracked and he decided to slink back to bed, finally able to sleep and try and think in the morning of a way to explain himself to Taemin.

***

Okay so it wasn’t morning…it was rather weeks away.  Key spent what little free time he had trying to figure out the perfect way to confess to Taemin, the perfect way to let the other man know that he wasn’t alone in his feelings.

And it was surprisingly simple.

He wanted until Christmas morning.  They had been lucky enough to have a clear schedule that morning, which hadn’t always been true in the past.  Jonghyun and Taemin had bounced around like maniacs, waking up earlier than they usually would and woke everyone else up because it was time to open up presents.  The pair had to literally drag Minho from bed and into the living room where only the smell of coffee directly under his nose was enough to rouse the impossible man from his slumber.  

They did the rounds, opening gifts from fans and each other until the living room was a mess of shredded wrapping paper and empty boxes.  

Key had made a point of sitting next to Taemin and showing interest in all of the other man’s gifts, occasionally throwing his arm around the dancer and leaning into the other man and relishing in all of the surprised smiles that were thrown his way in response.

In the back of his mind Key wondered what Taemin was thinking, what he thought of this change in Key.

But Key wasn’t done.

While the others were busy eating Christmas candies and chocolates from their stockings or calling their families to wish them a Merry Christmas, Key had other plans.

He pulled the book that Onew had given Taemin from the man’s hands and placed it back on the ground.  He wrapped his hand around Taemin’s warm ones and tugged the dancer to his feet.  

“Come here, I have something to show you,” and Key threw him a dazzling smile that succeeded in plastering a lovely but confused smile across Taemin’s face.

They ducked into the room that Key shared with Onew.  Taemin was confused when Key did nothing more than shut the door and stand there looking at Taemin with a happy, confident smile.

“Hyung…?”  Taemin prompted, “You wanted to show me something?”

Key was so excited that he had to bite his lip to keep himself from screaming in excitement.

“Look up.”  Key prompted, bouncing a little on the balls of his feet.

Taemin cocked one eyebrow at his hyung’s antics but decided to humor him and glanced up…

…and he stopped breathing.

Because up above the pair, attached to the door frame of their bedroom, was a simple spring of mistletoe.  Taemin’s eyes were caught in the slight shine of the red berries that reflected the light from the room.  

“Hyung…” Taemin whispered, glancing down at Key and wondering if he was being made to endure some horrific prank.  Something that Key thought would be funny, but would just tear Taemin’s beating heart out of his chest.  

Key could see the doubt and fear and anger starting to bubble up in Taemin’s eyes and his own smile dropped.  This wasn’t going right…

Before Taemin could say anything else, or let any of those negative emotions win out, Key leaned forward and kiss Taemin’s still lips.

If it had been a prank, it would have been a peck.

If it had been a prank, Key would have started laughing and wouldn’t have been able to keep a straight face.

But it wasn’t.  It wasn’t, because Key didn’t pull back, and Key held onto Taemin’s shoulders with a sort of desperation.

That was what let Taemin’s feelings, long held back and away from his life, finally pour out.  Taemin practically fell forward, kissing with a ferocity that surprised and delighted Key.  Key’s back met the wall and Taemin’s hands dug into the elder’s hair and Key thought that it felt like every cell in his body was on fire in a way that was both terrifying and exhilarating. 

Key wrapped his arms around Taemin’s thin frame and held the slight man close, so impossibly close, as though he was afraid someone was going to come and tear him away. 

Eventually Taemin pulled back, his face flushed red and lips slightly swollen, eyes wet with happy tears. 

“Hyung…” 

Key placed a cool finger against the fevered lips of his favorite dancer.  “I like you Tae…I wanted to tell you that, that I like you.  I was so confused at first, but I figured it out and you’re the one I want.”

Taemin buried his head into Key’s shoulder and he could feel a sudden wetness spreading along his shirt.  Taemin’s hands clenched into the fabric behind Key’s back, clinging to the older man.

“You have no idea how happy I am,” Taemin mumbled after he had re-gained some control.  “I’ve liked you for so long…for so long hyung…”

Key carded his fingers through Taemin’s hair and rested their foreheads together.  “I know, it’s alright now though.  I’ve finally got it through my stubborn thick head.”  He smiled at Taemin.  “So, what do you think of your Christmas present?”

Taemin laughed then, loud and hard and it was a delight to Key’s ears. 

“The best hyung.  It’s the best Christmas ever.”  

Fin

Merry Christmas/Happy Hanakkuh/Krazy Kwanzaa/Winter Solstice/whatever  to you!

I hope everyone enjoys the season and spends some time with the family and friends to enjoy the gifts they’ve been lucky enough to receive.

Let me know what you think!