For being so tall, Jihoon is surprisingly hard to find in such a small space.

Taeil is standing in the entryway to the kitchen with an absent-minded scowl on his face, scanning the living room for his partner. The santa hat Yukwon had shoved onto his head was itchy and makes his scalp sweaty but he knows if he took it off Kyung would whine so he leaves it to focus on his growing agitation.

Jihoon had gone off in search of the candy cane bowl nearly a half hour ago. The main suspects in it’s theft were Jiho and or Kyung, but so far, apparently, neither of them could be found.

Taeil’s candy cane addiction was not being catered too, and this was a major problem.

Minhyuk emerges from the sea of people with a tipsy smile on his face that widens when he spots Taeil, who feels compelled to smile back. Minhyuk is an infectious personality, especially when drunk.

"Hyung, this is a great party!" Minhyuk hugs him tightly, presses a loud smacking kiss on his cheek, and Taeil obliges.

"Thanks, Minhyuk-ah," Taeil has to speak loudly to be heard over the roar of Christmas music and talkative party patrons, of which there are dozens.

"What’s with that frown you had on, huh? Are we out of egg nog?" Minhyuk looks to be in great distress at this prospect, and Taeil musses his dark hair with a fond grin.

"No, no. I just can’t find Jihoon anywhere."

"Jihoon? He’s in the coat closet, something about missing candy." Minhyuk shrugs, obviously not following Jihoon’s reasoning but too buzzed to really care. "I’m gonna go talk to Kwonnie, m’kay hyung? See you later, great party!" Minhyuk stumbles off and Taeil watches him embrace a completely sober Yukwon before he heads off towards the coat closet.

Of course the candy would be in one of the most obscure rooms in the house. Jiho and Kyung are just freaks like that.

Taeil struggles through the crowd, smiling politely at every rough pat on the back and enthusiastic ‘Great party!’ he receives from party goers. 

The closet door is closed, but Taeil only spares a quick cursory knock before he enters.

Jihoon is elbow-deep in coats and jackets and scarves, his back to Taeil as he searches blindly for any sign of a stray candy cane.

"Hey, Jihoon-ah." Taeil grabs his attention by hooking his index fingers through the belt loops on Jihoon’s jeans, pulling him backwards and smiling at the surprised laugh Jihoon breathes out.

"Find anything yet?"

Jihoon turns and hugs Taeil to him, pouting down at him.

"Not yet, hyung. But! I did find 7,000 won in Jiho hyungs jacket and thought I’d keep it safe for him," Jihoon winks  and pulls out a few notes from his back pocket. Taeil laughs and gives Jihoon a quick squeeze before grabbing onto one of his hands and leading him from the room. 

"Come on, you don’t have to keep looking. We’ll just get some more tomorrow."

They make it to the door without incident, but they find themselves stopped by two bodies before they can head back to the main room. 

"Not so fast, kids!" 

Jiho and Kyung stand before them, arms linked to form a barrier to keep them from leaving the closet. Taeil sighs and opens his mouth to remind Jiho that he is actually his hyung, but is interrupted but Kyung.

"Look up, lovebirds."

They both raise their heads and are confronted with every couples’ worst Christmas-time nightmare.

Mistletoe.

"Dammit," Taeil sighs.

"But we hung that in the entryway?" Taeil can hear the pout in Jihoon’s voice.

"We know," Jiho smirks. "It was actually a to get down, Kyung cut himself on the leaves like twice." Kyung raises a hand and nods solemnly, bandages decorating two of his fingers.

Taeil sighs again and turn to look up at Jihoon, shrugging in resignation.

Jihoon shoots him a smile before leaning down and giving him a short little peck on the lips, hardly a kiss at all.

Both Jiho and Kyung whine in disappointment, and Taeil feels his long dormant sense of mischief rise up within him. Jihoon, still looking down at him, immediately senses his change in demeanor, and his smile turns into a smirk.

Taeil puts his hands on Jihoon’s shoulders and gets up on his tiptoes, and Jihoon still has to crane his neck to slot his lips against Taeil’s. It’s still chaste, close-mouthed, but there’s some heat behind it this time.

Jiho laughs uncomfortably, and the sound of it spurs Taeil to take it a step further.

He gives Jihoon no warning before he jumps up, strong legs wrapping around Jihoon’s thick waist to keep himself up. Jihoon’s gasps softly but catches on quickly enough, hands hurriedly going to grasp Taeil’s thighs to help support his weight.

Taeil laughs delightedly as he sees Jiho and Kyung awkwardly edge away, and he breaks the kiss once they’re completely out of sight. He sets his forehead on Jihoon’s shoulder, still giggling, and he hears Jihoon huff a laugh also.

"They messed with the wrongs guys, huh Jihoon-ah."

Taeil pulls back to smile at Jihoon, for once taller than him and able to look him in the eye without straining his neck.

"They sure did, hyung," Jihoon’s smile is sweet and makes him look like a child, and Taeil loves it enough to return it with one of his own. Taeil presses a short, sweet kiss to Jihoon’s nose, loving his new perspective, and Jihoon squeezes his legs briefly in retaliation.

Taeil looks up to see the mistletoe spinning lazily above them, and he spares it a grateful wink.

Maybe it’s not the enemy after all.