A Hotpot Christmas Eve

Lucifer's Butterfly

"OW! Hyung...!" whined Taemin. "I'm sorry! How many times do I have to say it?" After being randomly hit for the fifth time in three days with a force that would give any human a concussion, Taemin was starting to crack. The attacks always came when he least expected them. If the culprit was any other person, Taemin probably would have slaughtered him by now. But this was his hyung. Not any ordinary hyung either. This was Key-umma.

"After all the repairs we've had to make on my house, you had to go break a damn window. A big one and during the winter season too." Kibum's complaints came out in puffs of condensation from the cold air as the pair made their way towards the foyer.

Taemin's eyes watered as he rubbed the back of his head. If he had ears and a tail, they would surely be drooping right now. "Why don't you yell at Jongin too! He's the one who dropped in unannounced and scared her!"

"Because he ran away before I could get my hands on him! But when I see him at the SM building...oh...I'm going to bully him so badly...," Kibum's eyes sparkled, but then he glared at Taemin. "And if you have time to tackle somebody out a window, you have time to grab them without breaking a window. Or just say, 'Yah! Jongin, STOP!'"

"Sorry...."

"So did she get scared back into her room?" Kibum asked worriedly.

"...She's actually holed up in the library," Taemin replied warily.

"I swear, recently she's been living in there."

"It's different now though. She literally lives in there. I'm starting to worry." Taemin finally relaxed as he figured Kibum was done his scolding for now.

Key didn't seem to share in the maknae's concerns. "Well, get her out of there! It's time to celebrate!" The two entered the foyer and were assaulted by the smell of evergreen.

"I'll set up. Hold this for a second. Don't drop it." Key handed Taemin a cake box and then went to set down multiple bags. "Jonghyun! Light up some candles or something. Set the mood." He turned back to Taemin and the youngest handed him back the box. "Now, go get her." When Taemin nodded and turned around to go find the human, Key kicked him in the .

"HYUNG!"

"What? You deserved it." Kibum shrugged.

As the animal demon closed in on the girl, his mood lightened. She was in the above ground library today, curled up on the couch with a tome on her lap, a notebook in hand, and a pen in .

The pen fell as Taemin's voice pulled her from her studies. "Are you seriously reading that?" Taemin asked as he approached while eyeing the mass of pages.

She retrieved the dropped pen and jotted down something. After flipping the page, she replied, "Yeah. I'm almost done this one."

Taemin's eyes widened as he crouched a little ways in front of her and looked at the giant book's thickness. "Isn't that part of Kibum-hyung's set of like thirty volumes on supernatural culture and history?"

She nodded as if almost finishing one volume in a couple days was simple. At his wide-eyed look, she replied, "This is just the first volume on the beginnings of supernatural existence so I just skimmed."

"Oh...," Taemin straightened and then suggested, "Well, we're doing this event in the foyer right now for Christmas. Why don't you join us? If you feel like it, I mean."

Luna stood and stretched while yawning. The animal wagged her tail at the idea of getting out of the stuffy library. The wolf looked at the human girl with hope. The girl thought about it for a moment, and finally shut he heavy book and pushed it to the side. "Let's stretch your legs Luna," she said as she stood and let her hair down from a messy bun.

Taemin's face split into a radiant smile and he excitedly led the way back to the rest of the gang.

"She's coming!" Taemin announced happily as he entered the foyer. "What is that?" A new piece of furniture was added to the room. On top of a Christmas red duvet, sat a low table frame with another heavy red blanket thrown on top of it. On top of the blanket was a board of polished wood.

"Since we don't have ondol or underfloor heating. I made a kotatsu!" Key said excitedly. "Best invention by the Japanese ever." Onew and Minho were busy setting food on the table top.

"Where'd you plug it into?" the female asked as she approached the table to examine it.

"No outlets in here, so we have to improvise. Jonghyun! Come here," Key called over the blonde. "Sit. Place your legs under the blanket." Jonghyun looked at the table curiously and did as ordered. "Now. Heat up your body and just stay sitting there for the rest of the night."

Jonghyun made a face. "You can't be serious."

"I'm so serious." Kibum patted Jonghyun on the shoulder.

"Now you wait just one second Kim Kibum!" Jonghyun was about to argue more but gave up with a sigh as Key walked away to go grab more food from the kitchen. He noticed that the girl cracked a smile at their antics and willingly surrendered to his task after that. "Well, whatever. Means I don't have to set up anything."

Taemin experimentally sat down and put his legs under the table. "Wow...this IS comfortable..." He leaned back on his elbows.

"Yo! You help out too Taemin!" Minho scolded.

"But...it's so toasty under here...," whined the youngest while batting his lashes.

"No need to move. We finished everything." Onew said as he brought over a rice cooker and set it down next to the table. "We're doing a hotpot tonight. Come, sit with us. It'll taste better with more people."

"The best ingredient is coming up! Alcohol!" Kibum reentered with a cooler of alcoholic beverages. "Sake! Soju! Makgeolli! Hard liquor! I got it all! Take your pick!"

Jonghyun grabbed a bottle of sake and heated it up.

"Ooo!" Taemin grabbed a bottle of beer. "Wish it was draft beer though..."

"Don't complain." Key said as he passed Minho a bottle of red wine.

Onew picked up a bottle of soju. "Want something?" he asked the human.

She shook her head. Getting drunk with 5 male demons was not on her agenda.

"More for us," Key shrugged.

"Another!" Taemin said as he set an empty bottle of beer on the table.

"We didn't even start eating yet. No, wait a little bit."

"But hyung?" He puppy-dog eyed Kibum.

"Tch. No." Kibum said as he dumped a bunch of vegetables into the pot.

"Aww...just let him have one Kibum." Jonghyun passed a bottle over to the maknae who grinned.

The girl hesitated before taking a seat at one end of the table.

Two hours later, a much too excited Kibum practically threw a gift bag at the human, who took cover but didn't need to as Onew, who sat to her right, caught the bag in one hand while sipping soju. He finished off the bottle, set it down, and opened another bottle all in one motion.

"Open it! Open it!" Kibum said excitedly.

"Caallmmm yourself Kibum," a red-faced Jonghyun said.

With smiling eyes, Jinki gave her the bag.

"Given your recent interest in witchcraft, I asked that same witch aquaintance that enchanted your watch if she had any interesting trinkets that you might like," Minho said.

"Recent interest? More like obsession! Nuuunaaa! Make sure you eat well while studying!" Taemin brandished a bowl of boiled pork, mushrooms, and cabbage in broth in front of her. She had to take it if she didn't want half its contents to spill on her.

The human scooted a little backwards as Taemin leaned a little too close. Luna squeezed between the two and nudged Taemin to tilt the other way. As the maknae swayed in Jonghyun's direction, he requested, "Hyung! Give me another beer!"

Crisis averted, she set down the small bowl of food and started sifting through all the decorative tissue paper of the bag and pulled out a leatherbound book with gold lettering and an outline of some plant on the cover. She opened the book and flipped through a bunch of illustrations and scrawly print. While turning the pages, an herbal scent floated up to her nose. The edges of the pages were yellowed, showing the book's age.

"It's a book of plants that have special properties for healing or protection. Some of the, for lack of a better word, recipes won't work unless you're a witch that can perform the spell, but most of them don't need any enchantments to work. At least, that's what the lady told me. A lot of the plants are apparently in our garden. Some plants are foreign and some are not of your world. You're going to have to disect that book. It's too much for my head to handle." For throwing back a whole bottle of wine himself, Minho was still very articulate.

"Thanks..." She genuinely thanked them, although half of the intoxicated members seemed to be doing their own thing.

"Jonghyun-ah! Tell me I'm pretty!" Kibum was batting his lashes at the blushing fire demon.

"You're very pretty, Kibum," Jonghyun acknowledged.

Kibum sat back and tsk-ed. "Of course I am. I didn't need you to tell me that. I'm cute too right?" He did a cute pose, and Jonghyun just rolled his eyes in response.

"Another beer!" Taemin shouted as he slammed down an empty glass bottle.

An hour and a half after that, there was just ramen left soaking in simmering leftover hotpot broth.

Kibum was dishing out the servings to each person. "Here you go! Kibummie made you delicious ramen! Eat well!" He paused as he reached the leader. "Jinki-hyung! What are you doing peeling so many oranges? You got to finish the main course before you eat dessert!"

Onew just couldn't stop smiling. "You pass out food so prettily, Kibummie." He had 8 and a half empty bottles of soju lined up on the table in front of him and a pile of orange peels on a plate on the floor next to him. Jinki did weird things while drunk...

"Peeling oranges hyung? You should cut the oranges like a proper man. Give them to me," Minho said as he created an ice knife. He looked a little too serious while concentrating on cutting the oranges perfectly.

Nobody could tell because his legs were underneath the table, but somehow Taemin ended up pantless after his 5th bottle of beer.

The only sober person there was about to call it a night but Key put more food in her bowl. She bit her lip in half agony at the thought of eating more, but it was just so delicious. The kotatsu was so warm and the hot broth went so nicely with the cold night. When was this every going to happen again? 'Never,' she answered herself, so she finished off the last portion of the hotpot dinner.

"I want sweet rice cake!" Taemin said as he fell backwards and looked up at the ceiling.

"You think Kibummie would forget the rice cakes? You underestimate this Kibummie!" Kibum referred to himself as he pulled out a plate of colorful sweet rice cakes and set it on the table.

"Yay!!!" Taemin sat up with enthusiasm and reached for one but his hand was slapped away.

"Kibummie is not letting Taeminnie have any. You broke my window!" Kibum scolded.

"But hyunnnnggg!!!" Taemin nursed held his abused hand close.

Jonghyun, still sporting an Asian blush, interjected, "Taemin's the one who has me working overtime as a heater?"

The youngest tried to defend himself. "It was Jongin! JONGIN!!!"

Kibum came up behind Taemin, whose hair stood on end in warning. "Fine. Fine. I'll stop bullying you. After I get this one last scolding in." The fashionista grinned as his arms wrapped around the maknae's neck and rear choked the beast demon. The two fell backwards and wrestled on the ground a little bit aways from the group.

"Hyunggg! It's colddd!" Taemin shouted as he was dragged from the warm table.

"God Taeminnie. Put on some pants!" Jonghyun said before dining on some rice cakes.

"I wonder if she realizes...," Minho started.

"Shush!" Jonghyun elbowed the ice manipulator.

The two looked on as she hugged the book close to her while watching Kibum and Taemin roughhouse.

Onew came up to sit behind the two elemental demons. "It's tomorrow right?" He whispered. "The last day of the three weeks."

Jonghyun crossed his arms. "I'm not reminding her."

"Hey, neither am I." The leader watched with soft eyes at her glowing face.

"Still...I'm nervous," Minho admitted in a mumble.

______

THEA's Corner

I've decided. SCREW THE F-ING TIMELINE! It's too hard to follow real SHINee's actual timeline. I'm making up from now on with some truths splashed in here and there. SHINee released the new song "Everybody" and I'm getting so far behind (not that I'm going to make this story follow them to the present. Gosh. I'd go crazy trying to write that). I tried looking up SHINee drinking habits. Hear onew is a strong drinker and the most he has drunken was 5 and a half bottles of soju. I figured since he is a demon. I can give him a little more. Having this set around the Christmas season reminds me that I started writing this fic 4 years ago in December. Wowwies. I was a freshman in college at the time. Time flies....I'm old T_T

My thoughts on "Everybody"? I'm meh about it. It's not bad, and the dance is interesting. Very theatrical to me. Not the type of dance that I'd want to learn like "Replay", "Lucifer" or "Sherlock" though.

Thanks to my commenters! I especially love the long ones that give me something to reply back to :P

Posted: 18 October 2013

If you don't know what a kotatsu is, it's a heated table. so freakin comfortable. you'll never want to get out of it in the winter...just imagine this, but next to an epic Christmas tree in a probably marble or granite floored room with a giant chandelier, mirrored walls all around and random navy and dark red curtains hanging from a glass ceiling.

and when you look up at that glass ceiling, you'll probably see this.... :P minus the pile of trash and Wall-E.

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ebonyexalted #1
Chapter 68: idk if you’ll ever come back to this but i for the life of me hope you’ll finish it. you’re sooo close and such a talented writer like you and this story deserve closure. ik it’s been over 10 years but quality never dies. i came back after all this time and can’t believe there was never a final resolution!!
jonginybear #2
Chapter 1: this is sooooo good!!
Yeoliipopp
#3
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Yeoliipopp
#4
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Yeoliipopp
#5
!!!!
Yeoliipopp
#6
???
Yeoliipopp
#7
I want to complete it
Yeoliipopp
#8
????
Yeoliipopp
#9
???
Yeoliipopp
#10
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