Jonghyun puffed out his cheeks in exasperation and then let them deflate, frustrated and sweaty. Beady droplets ran down his face and disappeared into the long white hair hanging from his chin, despite the freezing night air around him. He tugged on the rope behind him harder in frustration, feeling the large wooden sleigh jerk and hit against the curb, the runners scraping against it loudly.

"Damn it, Kim Jonghyun, can't you be a little more careful?!"

Jonghyun pursed his lips and narrowed his eyes at the harsh comment and turned to the tall, lean figure beside him, glaring into the latter's large brown eyes.

"I'm sorry, Choi Minho, but I can't help feeling exhausted from dragging a sleigh through the freezing cold snow at eleven o'clock at night wearing a Santa suit, can I?!" Jonghyun hissed, making sure to emphasise all the details of his unfortunate situation.

"Oh, it up, midget. First of all, this was all your idea, and you planned the whole thing yourself. You chose to wear that stupid suit, and build this stupid sleigh, and come out here dragging it through six blocks in the middle of the night when it's been snowing. Second of all, I wouldn't be complaining about it to me, since you were the one pleading for me to help with this entire thing, and I gave up three weeks of my work break just to help you organise and perfect this idiotic idea. Keep note I did all of this voluntarily, because I am that good of a friend. And third of all, if you weren't such a lazy pig that can only sit on the sofa all day eating chicken with Jinki and actually bothered to get off your midget to come to the gym with me, you wouldn't be so tired at all. So it up, because this was all your choice, and you'd never have been able to do this without me!"

Jonghyun bit the fake white hairs on his tie-on Santa beard that covered his bottom lip to restrain himself from yelling back at Minho. But, as shameful as it was, he knew everything the younger had said was right.

Yet, as much as he despised admitting defeat, there was only one thing he hated more than that, and it was currently sending him overboard in anger.

Using his height as a come back.

"Being tall doesn't mean anything, Choi Minho," Jonghyun growled, giving the sleigh another forceful tug and causing it to crash once more against the side of the road.

"GOD DAMNIT, JONGHYUN!" Minho yelled, throwing the rope attached to the sleigh down at his feet. "If you're not going to cooperate and get all sensitive on me, then I'm not going to help you anymore! I'll going home! I'm doing this all out of pure compassion and friendship, and all you're giving me is whingeing and a huge migraine! This sleigh took us - mainly me - weeks to build! Don't you know how difficult it is, Jonghyun? Don't you know how much about the safety of this thing I took into consideration?! This is already a stupid, dangerous and idiotic idea, and trying to break the damn thing isn't going to make it any better!"

Jonghyun, boiling with anger and about to burst, also threw down his rope, and stomped through the icy road to stand before the taller.

“It’s all easy for you, isn’t it, Minho?! You’re wearing a warm coat, and warm boots, and warm gloves, and a warm beanie, and you’re all relaxed and happy, aren’t you?! You don’t have to worry about confessing to the one you’ve been in love with for eleven damn years, because you’ve got little Taeminnie waiting at home for you with some lovely Christmas Eve dinner and hot cocoa, do you?! You didn’t have to go through the stress of finding the most realistic damn Santa outfit you could find, with every stupid perfect little detail on it, did you?!  You didn’t have to go through the stress of buying twenty large boxes of fried chicken and stuffing them into some stupid heat-insulating sparkly red Santa sack, did you?! You didn’t have to run through every supply store and buy a billion planks of wood, sleigh runners, ropes, and every other stupid little thing we needed to build this damn sleigh, did you?! You didn’t spend hours and hours painting the entire thing red and stringing on little bells and tinsel, did you?! You didn’t have to organise bringing this stupid sleigh over to the top of Jinki’s street in a stupid Santa suit with boxes of chicken stashed up the back, and organise sledding down the steepest street in the whole town that’s been frozen over with slippery ice without skidding away and crashing into some tree and killing yourself, just so you could pretend to be Santa and hand Jinki all that chicken and then throw off the stupid costume and confess your love to him and pray to God that he won’t reject you, did you?!”

Jonghyun was completely out of breath and flushed in the cheeks after his breathless, frustrated rant, and was on the brink of tears. Minho stared at the shorter while chewing his lip, his eyes running up and down the pitifully small figure as the older clenched his fists and fought back tears.

"Jonghyun-hyung..."

Minho gently unfolded his arms and placed a warm hand on Jonghyun's shoulder in a comforting manner.

"I know you're nervous and stressed about this whole thing. And I'm not going to lie to you; it was a stupid idea to get so worked up and go overboard for a simple confession of love. I'm sure he would've appreciated watching a movie at home with you just as much as he will appreciate all this effort you put into tonight. But it's too late now - everything's prepared and ready, you can't back out now, after all we've done. I know you'll be fine, hyung, and I know Jinki's going to take it well. Trust me, he's not the type of person to leave you broken-hearted and rejected. I can tell he loves you back, Jjong. It'll all turn out fine. I promise."

Jonghyun sighed and let his shoulders droop, resting his gaze on his shiny black Santa boots and kicking them into the shallow snow, creating small snowy ditches on top of the ice showing beneath it.
He hated admitting that Minho was right.
Because he always was.

"I'm sorry, Minho," Jonghyun murmured, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "I'm...nervous right now...I'm sorry for snapping at you."

Minho smiled kindly and pulled his hand away, letting it rest at his side.

"I'm sorry too, hyung."

They gave each other small, understanding smiles, letting their gaze linger for a few moments, before Minho flicked his wrist to check his watch.

"Come on, Jjong, it's getting late. We don't want to go off schedule, do we?"

Jonghyun nodded in agreement, his smile widening softly, and he turned to grab the rope attached to their homemade sleigh, holding it tightly with both of his hands.

"Thanks, Minho."

"We're - finally - here," Jonghyun gasped, letting the rope slip from his fingers as he collapsed to his knees on the ice, panting and clutching his chest. Minho laughed at him and clapped him on the shoulder, before ruffling the exposed hair on his head that wasn't hidden by his shamefully fluffy red Santa hat.

"You made it, Santa-hyung."

Jonghyun weakly smiled up at the younger despite his exhaustion, before letting the rest of his body fall limply onto the icy road as he sprawled out like a starfish. Minho laughed, kicking him gently on his legs, before bending down to pull him up.

"You can't be that tired, Jonghyun - and if you are, I refuse to let you sleep now. You have work to do. Plus, it's freezing cold out here, you're going to get hypothermia."

"But, aren't you meant to be the one doing the work? If I'm Santa, then you're my elf, right?" Jonghyun laughed, dusting off his pants from snow and ice. Minho scoffed haughtily and poked his cheek, a small smile forming on his lips.

"If anybody's the elf, Jonghyun, it's you. You're not exactly merry and cute like one, but I can most certainly assure you you're the right height."

Jonghyun immediately turned his head and shot a cold glare at the taller, baring his teeth like a rabid dog, and Minho laughed at his furious reaction.

"Come on, little Santa. Let's check everything's ready."

Minho dropped the rope and walked over to the sleigh, reaching out and running his hands over the roughly painted timber.

"You know, this thing is going to fall apart if it hits a pebble, it's that flimsy..."

Jonghyun followed Minho and stood next to him, examining the roughly constructed sleigh.

Now that the adrenaline of actually hand-creating their own huge wooden sleigh - without any sort of instruction or help - had drained away, the obvious flaws and problems with their handiwork became very obvious.

Too obvious.

The sleigh was...badly made. The wood used was cut roughly and stuck together with endless rows of wonky nails, which had been hammered in fiercely and forcefully, making it look undeniably unprofessional. Splinters littered the entire circumference of it, which had been clumsily stuck down with splatters of uneven red paint. Spots of the wood showed beneath the weirdly-shaped brush , and bubbles were forming underneath the heavily painted areas of the sleigh. The bells and tinsel were tattered and sodden from snow, and the cheap cushions on the "seat" were shaken and sprawled around everywhere inside. The large bag of chicken slumped pathetically at the back, looking of an uncomfortably peculiar shape, and the feeble sleigh looked like it was about to collapse under the mere weight of it.

Jonghyun was terrified to climb on, in fear the whole thing would fall to pieces under his weight.

Minho turned to face the latter, his eyebrows raised uncertainly.

"Well, I'm contemplating whether I should let you go through with this or not. We've come this far, we can't let all of this go to waste... but I'm scared I'm literally throwing you onto your deathbed by letting you do this, Jonghyun."

Jonghyun laughed nervously, trying to mask his nervousness.

"I'm fine, don't worry. We've done all this hard work, there's no way we're stopping now."

Jonghyun gently straightened out his dorky Santa costume, tightening the pins on his hat and dusting off his coat, before reluctantly glancing at Minho and placing his hands on the sleigh. He put as light pressure on his arms as he could as he tried to push himself up and inside, but unfortunately - due to his immensely inadequate height - could not do it.

"Dang it...we should've...stuck something on...to help...hoist me up-"

"Here, let me help you."

Minho gently wrapped his arms around Jonghyun's short legs and pushed the elder up, letting him clutch onto the seat and lower himself inside the sleigh. The wooden item creaked and swayed dangerously, and Jonghyun tensed and squeezed his eyes shut in horror. Minho held his breath and waited for the sleigh to stabilize, before they both sighed and unclenched their fists.

"It's stable enough, don't worry," Minho assured. The younger untied the ropes on the front they had used to pull the sleigh and threw them aside, before retreating to the back of the sleigh.

"Are you holding tight to the safety bar?"
"As if I wouldn't be..."
"You've got the brake ready?"
"We didn't make a brake!!"

Minho sighed.

"The extra plank of wood. If you need to brake and slow down, just pick it up and push it into the ground and it'll-"
"Yes, I know, I know..."
"Is the chicken tied up?"
"Of course."
"Are you ready to go?"
"Nope."

Minho snickered at Jonghyun's scared tone and gave the sleigh a strong heave, earning a scream from the other.

"SHUT UP, IT'S ALMOST MIDNIGHT, JONGHYUN!"

"W-wait! I’m…I’m…wait! We forgot to call Jinki!"

"Well, where’s your phone, stupid?"

"Give me a second…"

Jonghyun reached into the deep pockets of his coat, pulling out his phone and pressing the power button. The screen lit up, and Jonghyun peered at the time.

11:35pm.

"It's late..."

Jonghyun quickly dialled Jinki's number and placed the phone to his ear, listening to the droning ringing echo in his mind.

"Hello?"

Jonghyun's heart skipped a beat as Jinki's tired and thick voice wavered through the speakers, and his breath hitched in his throat as an image of Jinki's tired eyes and y, ruffled hair flooded through his mind.

"...Hello? Who's there? Hello? Is this a prank?"

"A-ah, s-sorry, hyung, it's me, it's, sorry, it's-"

"Jonghyun-ah!"

Jonghyun gulped as Jinki's voice lit up cutely in excitement as he exclaimed his name.
There was nothing better than hearing Jinki say his name...

"Y-yeah, it's me, h-how are you?"

Minho rolled his eyes at the stupid question and stomped over to Jonghyun, looking up to face him. He glared at him in a disapproving manner and motioned for him to hurry up and get to the point, the cold wind beginning to frustrate him and wish he was back at home.

"I'm good, Jjongie...uh...a bit tired, though, sorry."

Jinki chuckled sheepishly and Jonghyun gasped, covering his mouth.

"O-oh...oh, my God, I'm so sorry, were you sleeping?!"

"No, not at all! I was dozing a little, that's all! I was actually thinking of ordering some chicken to help me get to sleep - I'm pretty restless tonight, I don't know why! I think it's because I'm excited, because it's going to be Christmas in less than half an hour, you know? I was wondering, maybe I can finally spot Santa tonight, because I've always wanted to meet Santa, and then maybe I can personally tell him what I want for Christmas, because he never seems to get me what I really want, right? But I bet it's because he can't bring me warm chicken all the way from the North Pole, I mean, it'd get so cold, wouldn't it? And I'm sure it's just much too unfair to make those poor little elves cook, I mean, they make toys, don't they? It wouldn't be fair on them if they were forced to make all that chicken and interrupt their toy-making, so maybe I really should just order some and- oh my gosh, I'm so sorry, Jonghyun, I've been talking for so long, have you fallen asleep?! Are you there?! I'm sorry, Jonghyun-ah!!"

Jonghyun laughed affectionately at Jinki's adorable rant, his eyes drifting down to look at his knees as Jinki's soothing voice continually rang through the phone.

"Don't worry, Jinki-hyung, I'm still here. I was actually calling to ask you if you could wait outside your house for a few moments... there's a surprise coming for you, I just wanted to inform you."

"A-A surprise?! For me!? Really!? I'll go outside right now!!" Jinki cried, apparently jumping up and down in excitement from the banging sounds echoing from the other end of the line. Jonghyun chuckled at his cute actions, ignoring Minho's frustrated huffing and impatient gestures.

"Make sure you wear warm clothes outside, okay? It's cold and snowy! Your surprise will arrive soon!"

"Thanks, Jjongie!!"

Jonghyun smiled gently at the sound of Jinki hurriedly hanging up the phone. He could picture Jinki's happiness, as he ran out the door and waited patiently outside his house for the mystery gift.

I hope this'll be good enough for him...

"Alright, Minho, Jinki's waiting outside his house right now. I've got everything prepared...I'm ready to go," Jonghyun breathed, his heart thundering both from nervousness of riding down a steep hill on a flimsy sleigh, and excitement at the thought of bringing joy to Jinki's face. Minho sighed reluctantly, and trailed back to the rear end of the sleigh, nibbling his lip uncertainly.

"I'm still nervous about your safety, you know," Minho muttered, pushing the sleigh forward bit by bit.

"Don't worry, Jinki's not stupid. He'll call an ambulance if anything goes wrong," Jonghyun replied dreamily, his thoughts focused on Jinki's sweet smile lighting up his face when he leaped out of the sleigh and gave him the chicken...and then a love confession for him, that he'd been holding for so many years...

Minho rolled his eyes for the umpteenth time that night, before sighing and looking down the steep hill.

"You ready?"

"Yeah..."

"You know I'm leaving as soon as you're out of sight, right?"

"Yeah..."

"Alright...get the brake prepared...and...three, two one...go."

Minho heaved and pushed the sleigh as hard as he could, mustering all his might to shove it down onto the slippery, icy slope of the street. Minho gasped in horror as it immediately tipped and screeched down the ice-covered road, racing down the street with increasing speed. Jonghyun let a blood-curling scream rip from his throat in terror as the sleigh rocketed down the road with immense power, and he rushed past houses at an unreasonably great speed with Minho's cries of fear faintly heard over the squeal of the runners.

All of Jonghyun's surroundings turned into a hazy blur as he rushed past them, his eyes squeezing shut as the cold night air rushed upon his face, blowing his fake beard back into his nose. He could hardly see, he could hardly breathe...

Jonghyun shakily lifted a hand from the safety bar and grabbed the large plank of wood next to him, lifting it up and slamming it into the road next to him. The sleigh skidded loudly and immediately shifted to the side, and Jonghyun yelled out in horror as it began sliding down the road sideways in fear it would tip over completely. He tried to focus his vision on the houses flashing by in an attempt to see where he was and how far he was from Jinki's house, but he was going too fast to see anything.

Dear God, please make this thing slow down, please don't let me die...this isn't going to plan at all...please, please let this work...

Jonghyun recognised a few houses and realised he was less than 30 houses up from Jinki's, and he groaned in horror.

How am I meant to slow down in time!? I'll never make it, I'm going to die out here--!

Jonghyun switched hands and pummelled the road beside him with the plank of wood in an attempt to straighten the sleigh out, but it ended up spiralling in circles - dangerously fast. Jonghyun felt his stomach churn as everything whirled past him, and he cried out for help desperately, his heart thundering in his ears.

I'm going to crash...!

Suddenly, Jonghyun spotted a familiar figure a few houses down from where he was. The person had their bare arms wrapped around their thin shirt, as they shivered from the icy cold winter air.

It was Jinki.

"H-h-ho ho h-ho!"

Jonghyun let out a strangled cry after he forced out the fake Santa laugh when he heard something snap underneath him.

Come on, Jonghyun, you can still do this...just jump out right now, and grab the chicken, and it'll all be fine...

Jonghyun felt snow whipping at his cheeks as he threw out the plank in front of the sleigh, his knuckles turning white from clutching it so tightly, hoping it would slow the sleigh down.

It didn't.

"S-Santa hyung, what the hell are you doing?!" Jinki screamed.

What the hell am I doing?!

The plank of wood was immediately caught under the sleigh and stuck under the runners, before cracking in half and collapsing to pieces. The sleigh's runners scraped over the broken wood, causing them to snap off and skid away from the sleigh on the ice. The entire sleigh let out a deafening creak, before completely tipping upwards - and collapsing forwards, crashing upside-down into the icy road, and breaking to pieces.

With Jonghyun inside.

Jinki screamed.

"SANTA!!!"

(A/N) So this is the first chapter of the two-shot, is it good? ^^ 
To judge-nim of the contest: I know I said I was originally posting this as a oneshot, but it's much too long and I decided to make it a two-shot. I hope you got my comment about it :) If this is inconvenient to you please do tell me and I'll edit this and type out the rest as a one-shot, that's fine with me too! ^^ I hope you enjoyed this so far, the next and final chapter will be up soon...thank you so much! Fighting! :)