“I’m going to pick Zhoumi up now! See you later,” Siwon yelled through the dorm. Grunts of ‘okay’s and ‘see you’s were heard from the different rooms before he closed the door behind him and hurried down to his car, excitement making him as giddy as a schoolboy receiving his first kiss.

“It’s going to be a crappy Christmas,” Kangin grumped from where he was seated at the table in the kitchen, watching Ryeowook and Sungmin putter around. He was munching on one of the cookies the two had just taken out of the oven, but even the warm, chocolaty goodness could not lift his mood. Ryeowook and Sungmin sighed.

“Come on, hyung. I know you miss Leeteuk hyung but you can at least try to have a good time anyway. We miss him too,” Ryeowook chided softly as he placed a glass of cold milk in front of his hyung.

“I know,” Kangin sighed grumpily. “I’m just angry that he had to go so soon after I came back. I miss him like hell and Christmas was always our time.”

“I know. Trust me, I know. Leeteuk hyung spent the first Christmas you were away cooped up in his blanket and trying not to let us know he was crying. I know he misses you too,” Ryeowook said softly, trying his hardest to make his hyung lighten up a bit. Sungmin looked at the scene sadly.

“Wook, I think we are out of baking soda. Could you check the kitchen downstairs?” he asked, shuffling around in their drawer with spices in. All the members were gathered at the 12th floor, decorating and just spending time together before their big Christmas dinner that night. Ryeowook nodded at Sungmin’s request and left the kitchen with a gaze back at Kangin before he too went out the front door.

“Look, I know you miss Teukie hyung but you really have to stop grumping like this. You saw Leeteuk hyung a week ago. Ryeowook hasn’t seen Yesung hyung in over 2 months. You are not the only one missing a significant other,” Sungmin scolded a little harsher than he had intended. He knew Ryeowook missed Yesung more than anything but the smaller male would never admit that Kangin’s sulking hurt him and so Sungmin took it upon himself to stop his hyung from inadvertently hurting his dongsaeng.

“Sorry. I didn’t think about that,” Kangin admitted in a sheepish voice. The last thing he wanted was to hurt his little dongsaeng. A second later the door opened again and Ryeowook came back into the kitchen with the backing soda in hand.

“Here you go, hyung,” he smiled and handed it to Sungmin. Before he had time to turn around, large arms had embraced him from behind. “Hyung?”

“Sorry I was being grumpy on you, Wookie. Thank you for the cookie and the milk. It was delicious,” Kangin mumbled and hugged Ryeowook a little tighter. The smaller man chuckled and patted Kangin’s hands.

“You are welcome,” he replied with a bright smile, happy that Kangin seemed to have lightened up now. “Now go play with the other hyungs. Or better yet, make sure the other hyungs don’t bully Kibum and Henry. We see them so rarely.”

“Will do,” Kangin agreed with a chuckle and left the kitchen. Before he went to the living room where the voices of the other members came from, though, he went to his room and shuffled through one of the drawers to find a piece of paper with a phone number on. “Time to repay me, hyung.”

“No, no, no! I do NOT want that fish on the Christmas tree!” Heechul yelled angrily when Donghae once again tried hanging up a tiny plush Nemo on the tree.

“But hyung, he’s so cute!” Donghae pouted, plopping down on the couch beside Kibum who was shaking with withheld laughter at Donghae and Heechul’s ongoing fight. Truth be told, the two were mostly fighting still because it amused Kibum; none of them were angry at each other and they both knew that the Nemo would end up being on the tree all night, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t entertain their much missed dongsaeng with their childish banter.

“Please don’t kill each other,” Kangin sighed when he entered the living room and plopped down on the floor in front of the couch, leaning against Donghae’s legs.

“Hyung, give me a massage!” Kyuhyun ordered and all but fell into Kangin’s lap, shrugging his shoulders expectantly.

“Where are your manners?” Kangin asked with a playful growl and began tickling the maknae instead.

“I said massage!” Kyuhyun bellowed through his screams of laughter while writhing on Kangin’s lap to get away from the tickles.

“This is massage, Kyuhyun-ah!” Kangin insisted, laughing as well as he kept tickling the younger as punishment for his disrespectfulness.

“I see nothing has changed since I left,” a voice chuckled from the door, making everyone turn their heads and gawk.

“