It was the most fun Kyuhyun had in a while, laughing in amusement while Sungmin held on to the sleigh, he wondered at one point what it would be like if the shorter man was holding onto him instead, but he shrugged it away. By the time they were halfway done with their task. Santa’s precious helper was red from fury at him, with tears almost threatening to fall. Kyudolph was a little taken aback when he saw that, he never meant for Sungmin to cry.

But he wasn’t someone who could actually express such emotions, especially when it’s Sungmin “What’s the matter shorty? You can’t seriously be afraid of a little height and speed!” he teased, smirking. He was hoping the man would get mad at him, like he always does, but to his surprise, Sungmin bit his lower lip, trying to stop himself from sobbing. “W-What the—Hey--”

“S-Shut up you evil reindeer!” Sungmin cried, failing to stop the tears from falling “S-So what if I-I’m afraid? I’ve never actually been outside North Pole before!! You’re just having the time of your life making fun of me while I…I’m not even sure anymore now I’m actually up for this job…” he hiccupped, burying his face to his knees. “I’m a failure…”

Kyuhyun instantly felt guilty, he didn’t mean for the joke to go that far, Santa usually likes it when he goes fast, since they could deliver the present quicker. He should have thought of how Sungmin would like it first…damn. “Hey, stop pulling yourself down so much…” he tried, not sure how to make him feel better, he was used to them bickering. “You’re doing the job, right? And we’re halfway done already for you to be telling yourself that now”

“B-But I keep messing up!” the short boy wailed, pouting. “In t-that last house, I forgot to take at least one cookie they left! I forgot! I was supposed to take and eat at least one cookie! And drink the milk!” 

Kyuhyun gaped at him, was the kid seriously upset about such trivial thing? He cleared his throat before he could reply something snarky again, being used to it. “They probably won’t even notice that---”

“Santa would take at least one cookie” Sungmin whispered sadly, obviously taking his job to heart. Kyuhyun wasn’t so sure yet if he found it cute or just a little bit annoying.

He scoffed “You seriously think he takes at least one cookie? No way. In fact he once told me hates those cookies” Sungmin’s eyes were so wide Kyuhyun had to stop himself from chuckling. “Yeah, he says some of them don’t even taste good. But some houses serve good cookies, so he only eats the one from those. He leaves all the others untouched”

“R-Really?”

“Yeah”

“O-Okay” Sungmin says, taking a deep breath to compose himself “Thanks Kyu…t-that helped me f-feel a lot better…” he smiled at him, as the red nosed reindeer almost felt his face redden. “Even though you’re still a bully going way past all the speed limits” 

“I can go a lot faster you know” he grinned at the look of horror on the man’s face. “Besides, any slower than that and we won’t get done before sunrise” he pointed out. He did promise the old man he was going to guide the kid didn’t he? 

Sungmin pouted, “You could’ve still warned me”

“Nah, you look cute when you’re all flustered and ma