It took one exam gone horribly wrong, and a moment of frustration that nothing in his life seems to be going the way he wants to. Yixing agrees to go to the Christmas party with Baekhyun.

Thus begins the countdown to Yixing’s doom’s day. To Baekhyun’s celebratory day.

Because hermit Xing has finally decided to be Baekhyun’s date.

***

Christmas parties are awkward and filled with alcohol. Yixing loathes the sickly sweet, bread-y smell of beer and the hormonal vibe infecting everyone in the room. Everyone but him. He holds his glass of soda tighter and goes around to look for Baekhyun, venturing into the forest of bodies dancing together.

“Baek?” Yixing thinks he sees Baekhyun in the distance, dancing with some girl. Yixing gives up on the search instantly. Maybe he should try to have a good time too. Baekhyun didn’t tell Yixing that the party was going to be in a club. In a dark, suffocating room with fancy neon lights and sweaty bodies. But Yixing should have known. Baekhyun made Yixing dress in skinny jeans and leather romp with a black shirt underneath. Baekhyun made sure Yixing had his hair styled right too.

“Hey, want to dance?” a girl appeared next to Yixing and for once, he nods bravely, dismissing the fact that he doesn’t know the first thing about dancing. Her lips are cherry red, matching her low-cut dress and those dangerously sharp stilettos.

“Sure,” he smirks and it all went too smoothly after that. Yixing never knew he had it in him.

“Do you come here often? I’ve never seen you around,” the girl pulls him close and attaches herself to his chest. Yixing hates the feeling of having a barnacle latched onto him, so he takes a step back graciously and shakes his head.

“No, I don’t. My first time actually. Excuse me, I need to go find… someone,” Yixing makes a motion to get away from the plump-lipped girl.

“Could’ve fooled me. You’ve got the move,” she purrs and Yixing’s goosebumps pull him away from the scene. The pounding music of Jingle Bell Rock remix is hurting Yixing’s ears. Who knew music can be this loud and destructive? He walks over to the bar and a young boy he recognizes greets him.

“Sehun? You work here?” Yixing asks, incredulously. The unamused boy shrugs and pulls out the filled glass of beer from the tap. His eyes are thinly lined and he could have blended in so well with the rest of the party, if not for his white uniform with black bowtie.

“A guy’s gotta do what he has to for money. Didn’t know you’re the party type, Yixing. What do you want?” he muses. Yixing laughs good-naturedly. Sehun offers him the beer but Yixing shakes his head.

“Water please. The heat is getting to me.” Sehun scoffs and presents Yixing with the gift of life; iced water.

“Are you not having fun?” Sehun asks, placing many colourful cocktails on a tray for the waiters and waitresses. Yixing looks around, reevaluating his position.

“I’m okay, I guess.”

“You’re not.” It’s a statement, an observant inference.

“I’m miserable. Is it always this… chaotic?” Yixing exhales. His jeans aren’t very comfortable. His thighs are in desperate need of breezy air. Is this how it feels like to be girls in corsets? Yixing sympathizes with the female race.

“Yeah. Today’s especially bad. It’s Christmas eve, what do you expect?” Sehun chuckles. “So who pulled you out here?” Yixing blames Sehun’s secret psychic mind-reading power.

“A friend,” he finishes the last drop of the water. Sehun replaces his cup with a fizzy drink and a lime in it. Yixing eyes it with curiosity.

“It’s not poison,” Sehun drawls. “So… where’s your friend?”

Yixing his dry lips and refuses to answer, maybe because for once, he doesn’t want to know where Baekhyun is. Baekhyun needs to find Yixing this time.

“Oh. Uh…” Sehun’s eyes flits to Yixing’s right. So Yixing spins on his seat a little too lamely, according to Sehun.

“Hi Xing,” Baekhyun half-shouts joyfully to Yixing’s ears. He winces and holds Baekhyun’s shoulder to put a distance between them.

“Baek? Are you okay?” He obviously isn’t but Yixing is at a loss of what to do in this situation. Does he give Baekhyun his water or-

“Your friend’s had a little too much to drink. He needs some air,” Sehun advises. Yixing shoots the young boy a grateful look and hauls Baekhyun up, dragging him away from the noise and the buzz. The cold night air is a fresh change and it makes Baekhyun sneeze.

“Yixing-ah, you’re so nice to me,” Baekhyun mumbles, slurring his words. Yixing doesn’t say a thing. Maybe he’s too nice to Baekhyun. He never thought Baekhyun realized this.

“I’m thirsty,” Baekhyun declares. Yixing pauses midway and looks around for a place to sit. The night is still relatively young, so Yixing doesn’t feel bad walking into a small, quaint café asking for water. The waiter takes one look at Baekhyun giggling at the snow on the tip of his nose (how did that get there, Yixing will never know) and he ushers them in. Baekhyun sits like a starfish, splayed on the poor chair and Yixing stares at him, a million questions going through his head. Is this what parties do to people? Is this how Baekhyun is when he’s drunk? Who takes care of him when Yixing isn’t around? And isn’t he uncomfortable in those pants? Yixing’s skin is starting to itch.

“Drink,” Yixing commands Baekhyun when the waiter arrives with two glasses. Baekhyun miraculously didn’t spill a single drop, but he rests his head on the table after taking big gulps.

“Ow, my head,” he groans. “It’s spinning.”

“Do you need anything?”

“No, no. I just… need a little time,” Baekhyun jerks his thumb up and Yixing lets him be, because he lacks experience in this department.

“Yixing-ah, you really are so nice to me. I don’t deserve such a good person like you,” Baekhyun sniffs. Yixing stiffens and carefully pushes the half-full cup forward but Baekhyun wags his finger.

“No. No, I’m okay.” Baekhyun props his chin up on his hands and bores his dilated pupils on Yixing.

“Why? Why did you come tonight?”

“I… I don’t know. I wanted to see why you’re always going, I guess,” Yixing admits.

“It’s kind of fun. You just…lose yourself in the moment. And for a while, you forget everything else. And I forgot about things that were bothering me, Xing,” Baekhyun explains. Yixing scrunches up his face. He didn’t know Baekhyun had things on his mind. He always assumed Baekhyun is a free soul, like a butterfly.

“Things like? Why didn’t you tell me? What were you trying to forget?”

“I forgot about you, Yixing. I forgot about how much I love your music, and your stupid hair, and your freakishly clean habits, and your obsession with my scent after I shower. And about how much I hate that nasty drink,” Baekhyun makes a face.

Yixing takes in many, many gulps of air to compensate for the shock that is freezing his mind. His heart beats wildly and the air turns unbearably hot. He feels like his peripheral vision zeroes in on Baekhyun and Baekhyun alone.

“What?” He croaks. Baekhyun curses incoherently.

“Really, Xing? You’re going to make me repeat my confession? You… are so forgetful. And you like sushi too,” Baekhyun laughs as he sways, his fingers trying to focus on Yixing's face but failing. “But then you always wear that boring blue hoodie and you do the same things every week. It’s boring, but I don’t know why I like it. I like you. A lot...” Baekhyun looks down on the table, confused by what came out of his mouth. Yixing stares at him fixedly, with shamelessly open mouth.

“Baek? You hate the hot chocolate and cinnamon?” Yixing gawks. Baekhyun rolls his eyes.

“Yes, good grief, I loathe that thing. But it makes you so, so happy that I force myself to get it over with,” Baekhyun beams. Yixing doesn’t know how to react. “I once flushed it down the toilet when we got home,” Baekhyun whispers, with wide shining eyes. Yixing’s whole world crumbles like overcooked cookie bits.

“Baek, I had no idea…”

“Me too. I hate feeling like this. I'm so hopelessly addicted to you and your crazy habits. I feel like I never want to leave you. Like you’d get lost if I do, and we can’t have that can we? Nope, nope,” Baekhyun shakes his head and sighs extra long, sounding like a sad boy. Yixing struggles for words to say and for tears he shouldn’t spill.

“Baekhyun, I like you too,” Yixing can only imagine his own eyes shining. His numb fingers from the cold are ignored and all he wants to do now is hug Baekhyun and tuck him into bed. Maybe even cuddle with him.

“Huh?” he asks dumbly. Yixing realizes that now may not be the best time for an exchange of confession. That tomorrow morning Baekhyun might just wake up feeling like a truck ran over his head and his legs breezy from just wearing his dinosaur boxers.

And Yixing will make sure he’s not going to. Baekhyun starts snoring in front of him and the waiter apologizes as he tells Yixing that they’re closing up soon. So Yixing takes some cash out of his pocket and leaves it on the table before waking Baekhyun up. He takes the male’s arm and lugs half his weight on his own shoulder.

Yixing tucks Baekhyun into bed when they got home. He changed him out of the tight pants that compliment Baekhyun’s skinny thighs so much. Baekhyun giggles when Yixing hands him the monstrously floppy pillow.

“Goodnight Baek,” Yixing pats his head and hums a little song.

He takes a pencil and scribbles on his sheet of music before turning the lights out.

Miracles in December, he calls his new song.

***

Baekhyun wakes up (no recollection of the previous night whatsoever) with a steaming cup of caramel mocha on the table and Yixing singing to a song. He rubs his eyes sleepily and yawns in an obnoxiously loud manner, meant to announce his coming to consciousness to Yixing. The music stops.

“Good morning!”

“Is that… cinnamon hot chocolate?” Baekhyun sniffs the air. Yixing grins and raises his cup.

“Yeah but I didn’t get you any. I think you should try something else instead. Is your head okay?” Yixing asks and sips his drink. Baekhyun stretches and his bellybutton makes a special appearance. He looks down to see himself all changed.

“Did I fall asleep last night?” Baekhyun asks, and makes his way down from his grand palace.

“No, you were kind of out of it, but I didn’t have to carry you home,” Yixing lies.

“Oh, good.” Baekhyun takes the cup and the sweet smoke fills his lungs. The caramel makes a good aftertaste, replacing the bitter stimulant.

“I love it,” Baekhyun smacks his lips. Yixing does a little somersault in his head. He pictures an audience clapping for him and he does a little bow.

“Xing? Xing?” Baekhyun sighs as Yixing gets lost in his own head again.

“Yah Yixing!” he raises his volume and Yixing almost drops his cup and guitar in shock.

“You’re hopeless,” Baekhyun shakes his head. But as he takes another sip, the warm and fuzzy Baekhyun couldn’t stop the glowing smile that forms.

“Thanks, Xing,” he pats Yixing’s back and waddles over to hog Yixing’s bed, watching the latter hum and pick at the strings.

“Anytime, pabo,” Yixing sings. Baekhyun doesn’t sneeze.

“Told you, I’m only allergic to Mandarin,” he mutters.

Yixing ignores him. “Go get changed,” he says.

“What for?” Baekhyun frowns and hugs his knee to his chest, refusing to step into the cold bathroom.

“We’re going somewhere.”

“I’m not aware that we made plans.”

Yixing puts down his guitar and grins proudly. “Well, I’m taking you out on a date.” 

Baekhyun doesn’t question anything but as he passes by Yixing, he lets a few words slip. “Finally, we’re going somewhere.”

Yixing happily agrees. It’s time for their relationship to take on a new level.