SSS 2010: for hangoverday

[replaymods]

For: hangoverday
From: Your Secret Santa

Title: They Call It Tomfoolery
Pairing: OT5
Rating: PG-13
Wordcount: 6,061
Summary: It should be common, universal knowledge that the only way to have fun is to be fun. Too bad Kibum lost that quality somewhere between cleaning people's shit and spoon feeding.



Kibum supposed he was lucky enough to ever land a job. He would think of most of his friends, who were probably at home being brainwashed by television, and how they all still lived with their parents. He didn't find it pathetic in the least that he had to think of their misfortune to make himself feel better.

His job was taking care of the elderly in a quaint, little retirement home located in the city, where it was exciting and busy.

“It's cherry flavored,” Kibum prodded the elder lady gently, holding the spoon to her mouth. “It makes your nails grow.”

“I don't care.”

Kibum's grip on the spoon tightened, his smile twisting into a snarl. “Don't act you don't like Jell-O. I know you like Jell-O!”

The worst mistake Kibum had ever made, if he really needed to narrow it down, had been leaving.

Jinki stared at his phone, unmoving and silent. Jonghyun and Minho glanced at each other with similar expressions of worry, before turning back to Jinki with looks of expectancy.

“What did he say?”

“Um,” Jinki rubbed his thumb over his phone's screen. “He said he's fine.”

Jonghyun scoffed, “That's all? Nothing about how his job is going? About his new apartment? Not even an 'I miss you guys'?” He shook his head, throwing himself down on the couch. “He obviously cares for us.”

Jinki sighed, running his fingers through his hair. “That's not it. It's just,” he paused, chewing at his bottom lip, “there were no smilies.”

“What?” Jonghyung questioned in feign shock. “No smilies, you say?”

“Jonghyun, shut up. Kibum always puts smilies in his texts,” Minho said, walking to stand behind Jinki and look at the text himself.

“Excuse you. He doesn't talk to us for almost a year, and you're worrying about his smilies or lack thereof?”

“Quit being so pissy. Do you miss him or not?” Jinki snapped his phone shut, giving Jonghyun a steady gaze.

Jonghyun didn't say anything, choosing to flip onto his side with his back towards them instead. He knew the answer was obvious to them. He wouldn't doubt if he missed Kibum the most out of them.

“We should go get him,” Taemin spoke up from his spot next to the undecorated Christmas tree. He tugged at a limb and hooked the first ornament on, fingers playing across it's shiny surface. “Spend the holidays with him, you know.”

Jinki pondered on the idea as Jonghyun sat up right. Jonghyun's face displayed mixed emotions, hints of excitement, hints of disappointment. The possibilities ran through his head. “Can we?”

“I don't see why not,” Jinki shrugged. He walked next to Taemin and bent down to grab a decoration, hanging it on the tree next to Taemin's.“I don't know about you guys, but I sure do miss him.”

They all did.

In retrospect, Kibum could say he wasn't completely miserable. If he took the time to think of all that he had, he'd come to the conclusion that this was best for him. Then he'd laugh, ask himself who he was trying to fool, and continue on with life, because that was honestly all he could do.

The city bus slowed to a stop in front of Kibum and flung it's door open. He stepped inside and stared at the vacant seats, choosing one in the very back to sit in.

There were three other people on the bus besides Kibum, a middle aged man and his two sons. Their clothes were dingy and their skin looked grimy, but they were smiling and laughing anyway. It almost made Kibum smile himself, seeing how genuinely happy these strangers were, but he didn't, instead choosing to get his book out and read until the bus arrived at his stop. Some time on the way, a drunk stumbled on the bus and sat near him. Kibum grimaced at the smell, shamelessly moving a few seats up.

“Jinki, I fucking swear, if we -“

“We're not! Calm yourself.”

“Oh, really? This is the third time we're rounding this corner. Same tramp, same corner.”

“Will you shut up? Minho and Taemin are sleeping,” Jinki snapped in a hushed tone, momentarily taking his eyes off the road to shoot Jonghyun a dirty look. Jonghyun sneered and crossed his arms, turning away to stare out the window. Jinki sighed and tapped his fingers against the steering wheel, casting an apologetic glance towards Jonghyun's turned back, “Sorry.”

He didn't get a reply. Instead, Jonghyun leaned closer towards the fogged window, brushing his fingers across it and squinting his eyes to get a look through the darkness. The streets were blotched with sheen layers of ice, an indication of how cold it was outside. He had noticed the definite changes in scenery, seemingly endless, rolling hills transitioning into tall buildings and tree-lined streets. He sighed as they rounded the same corner again.

“Let's stop here,” Jinki suddenly said, making a sharp turn into a car park. He parked right in front of the entrance of a diner, grinning at Jonghyun as he undid his seat belt. “Let's go.”

Jonghyun quickly reached to undo his own, glancing back at the two sleeping in the back. “What about them?”

“We'll get them something,” said Jinki as he softly shut the car door, adjusting his scarf and slipping his gloved hands into his pockets. He silently waited for Jonghyun by the curb, rocking back on his heels as he whistled to himself.

The inside of the diner was empty-not unexpected after midnight-and thankfully warm. They sat themselves near a window in the front, where they could keep an eye on the car and the younger ones sleeping in the back.

Jinki leaned back in his seat, picking up one of the menus and flipping through it leisurely. He hummed to himself. “How about some pancakes?”

“At this time of night?” Jonghyun questioned as his eyes roamed his own menu. He set it down after a moment. “Why not.”

“Well, technically, it is morning,” Jinki grinned. Jonghyun rolled his eyes in response, crumpling a napkin up and throwing it at his face. Jinki laughed and Jonghyun kind of started to feel the gathered up stress from their long day wash away. As Jinki's laughter died and only a ring was left in the air, Jonghyun could tell by the crooked smile on his face that Jinki kind of felt it too.

“Do you really think this is a good idea?”

Jink began waving down a waitress, giving Jonghyun a curious look. “Ordering pancakes? Of course it's a good idea, they're scrumpti -“

“No, not that,” Jonghyun said, shaking his head. “I mean Kibum.”

“Oh,” Jinki's hand dropped a bit, hovering next to his head. He pursed hip lips in thought, drumming the fingers of his other hand across the table top. He was sure in a certain occurrence of events, things could turn completely disastrous, because Kibum was spontaneous and unpredictable like that. Whether things turned out as planned-when and if they made a plan-or not, they were going through with it. “We'll never know until we see him, now will we?”

“I suppose,” Jonghyun crumpled onto the table with a sigh, a slight whine in his voice. “I just don't know, Jinki,” he shot back up, looking Jinki dead in the eye, “what if those old people manipulated him and changed him into some do-good civilian with a boring, static personality to match? What if he doesn't remember our inside jokes?”

“Why would they do that?”

“Why would I know?”

Jinki blinked. He slowly turned away, choosing to continue waving down the waiter. “Excuse me, waiter?”

Jonghyun sighed for the up tenth time that night, burying his face in his hands. “How the hell could he choose old people over us? Old people,” Jonghyun stressed, banging his fist against the table for emphasis.

“Stable career, perhaps? He is good at taking care of people, so it's not like it was the most terrible job choice in the world. He could have been a taxi driver.”

“No, I really don't think he could have.”

“He was offered the job out of nowhere, and he has always wanted to experience the city life. How could we deny him what he wants?” As if they ever had a say in Kibum's choices, Jinki added as an afterthought. So independent that boy was.

“Can we get some pancakes over here already?” Jonghyun ended up shouting, having nothing else to add to the topic.

On a Thursday evening, Kibum realized Christmas was just around the corner.

“You just realized?” One of his coworkers commented bemusedly as they hung up a red colored streamer, overhearing Kibum mumbling to himself. Kibum scoffed, promptly kicking the ladder his coworker stood on and walking away.

The retirement home was in the process of being decorated for the holidays, green, red, and white practically being the only thing Kibum was capable of seeing. He sighed, sitting down heavily on the staircase and watching as the people he worked with hustled around. He didn't want to decorate, much less decorate a retirement home. He eyed the colorful, flashing light bulbs wrapped around the banister, briefly thinking about the elderly and epilepsy.

Kibum could already feel that these holidays were going to suck.

Later that night, Kibum heard a crash from within his apartment. He shot up out of bed and grabbed the nearest thing he could get his hands on. He hesitated in the doorway of his bedroom, clutching tightly at the bottle of lotion, or his current means of defense, tightly.

Thoughts of being robbed by some sinister, berserk crook in a ski mask or some other measure of a disguise made him shutter. He let out a silent breath, telling himself to suck it up and just bash the guy over the head if he tried anything funny.

“Great job. He's probably awake and thinking someone is trying to rob him or some shit,” Kibum heard a deep voice whispered harshly from the direction of his kitchen. He narrowed his eyes, wondering why the voice sounded so familiar.

“Don't be silly. Isn't he, like, a super heavy sleeper?”

“No, idiot, he's an extreme light sleeper. Extremely.”

Kibum felt blood rush to his head as he recognized the voices. He stepped into the kitchen, flicking the light on. “What the hell are you guys doing?”

Jinki paused, dropping the apple he had in his mouth. Minho slowly closed the refrigerator and retreated with his hands up, a slightly guilty look on his face. He threw Jinki an expecting glance.

“What are,” Jinki cleared his throat nervously, “what are you doing?”

“Excuse me?” Kibum narrowed his eyes again.

“I mean,” Jinki quickly said, peering over at Minho in desperation. “Long time no see?”

“Man, his hand soap smells fucking delicious. It makes me want to wash my hands more oft-” Jonghyun walked out of the bathroom, holding his hands to his face and taking deep breaths. He paused as his eyes met with Kibum's, dropping his hands. “Oh.”

Kibum groaned in frustration, throwing the lotion bottle at Jinki's head.

Minho shook his head, leaning against the counter. “This is quite the reunion.”

“So you guys broke into my apartment,” Kibum later said. He had made all three of them clean up the mess they had somehow managed to make. Jinki silently sobbed to himself as he pulled at the dried lotion in his hair, nodding shamefully.

“Well, technically, in actuality, if you really think about it, Taemin broke into your apartment,” Jonghyun offhandedly commented, helping Jinki pick the lotion out of his hair. They looked over at Taemin, who had made his entrance after all the cleaning and yelling was done. He shrugged innocently, throwing his legs over the arms of the big chair he sat in and making himself comfortable.

Kibum swatted at Taemin's legs, throwing a glare at all of them. “Okay, I don't care who did it. I just can't believe you four.”

“Really?” Jonghyun questioned in honest curiosity. “I would completely expect this out of us. Breaking an entering, we're totally on that shit.”

“Oh, my gosh,” Kibum sighed in exasperation, dropping his face into his hands. “I see you are still incapable of shutting up.”

Jonghyun made a face, mimicking Kibum. He quickly dropped it and continued with Jinki's hair when Kibum looked up at him.

“We came to spend Christmas with you,” Minho tried, throwing Kibum a small smile. It wavered as Kibum held him with a steady gaze. “You know, because you're supposed to spend Christmas with the people you love and stuff.”

“Don't give me that sentimental bullshit. Why aren't you guys with your family? With your friends? With your girlfriends or boyfriends or whatever the crap? Anywhere, anywhere but in my apartment at three in the morning. Three in the fucking morning,” Kibum stressed, falling limp into one of the armchairs.

The living room went silent. Jonghyun stopped tugging at Jinki's hair.. “I told you guys this was a bad idea.”

“Breaking into my apartment? Yeah, definitely a terrible idea,” Kibum said irately.

“Do you know how much we drove to come get your ungrateful ass? Jinki had to literally kiss his dad's ass to get that car!” Jonghyun tried to keep his voice down, clenching his fists tighter.

“Well, not literally,” Jinki nervously intervened.

“Whatever. The point is, you're an ungrateful bitch. We came for you, we care about you, etcetera. What's wrong with that?”

Kibum scoffed and stood up, advancing on Jonghyun. “Did I ask you guys to come?”

“Why do you have to ask us to come? Can't we just spontaneously want us some Kibum?”

“No, you cannot. Not when he has work in a couple of hours and is beyond tired. Not when he has important things to take care of and can't just fool around, as much as he wants to. Not when he has to make a living. Seriously, Jonghyun, grow up,” Kibum retorted, watching as Jonghyun tensed up. He blinked as Jonghyun suddenly broke into laughter.

“Grow up, you say. Because I'm the immature one?”

“Well, it certainly isn't me.”

“You guys, stop,” Jinki stepped between them, shaking his head. He looked at Kibum sadly. “You're our friend.”

Kibum frowned, averting his eyes. He turned around and started making his way towards his bedroom. “The blankets are in the closet.”

“You guys would make me drive,” Kibum said through gritted teeth, grip tightening on the steering wheel in annoyance. “You guys would.”

“Get over it,” Jonghyun said, and shifted in discomfort. Since Jinki was the oldest, he naturally had to get shotgun, leaving Jonghyun wedged between Minho and a door. “Can we roll down a window or something? I'm sweating balls back here.”

“Get over it,” Kibum replied, making a quick left. After sleeping on it, he decided to go along with whatever they were planning. After waking up and finding his coffee maker broken, he had almost changed his mind.

He came to a quick stop in front of a cafe, not even bothering to close the door behind him as he left them in the car and hurried in. Jinki sighed, moving over to the driver's seat and proceeding to the park the car properly. They had stayed up that night, deciding to just let Kibum get his beauty sleep or whatever he wanted to call it. It wasn't a secret to say that they had come here with absolutely no plan, just with the thoughts of making Kibum have a good time.

“Was he always so obsessed with coffee?” Minho yawned, stretching his arms and coming close to smacking Jonghyun in the face. Jonghyun whined, shifting closer to the door.

Jinki shrugged, unfolding the map he had found in the glove box of the car. “Whatever makes him happy. Now, where exactly are we going?”

“Let’s go to the beach,” Taemin suggested, leaning over the back of the passenger seat and grinning at Jinki.

“In the winter?” Minho raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, great idea.”

“It is a great idea,” Taemin defended, crossing his arms. Minho patted him on the head, shaking his own. “It is! It is not even that cold. ”

“Simmer down, Taemin,” Jonghyun laughed. He shifted again, throwing his legs across Minho’s. He sighed happily, leaning back. “So much better.”

“Now that you're comfortable,” Jinki said sarcastically with a roll of his eyes. He turned the map around, looking at it from all directions. He honestly had no idea where they were, but that didn't matter. Kibum was driving anyway. “Let's think about what on earth we are doing today. We can add beach somewhere in the plan, just to make you happy.”

Taemin fist pumped into the air.

“Can't forget clubbing. We have to go clubbing. Come on, let's go clubbing,” Jonghyun said eagerly, prodding Jinki in the back of the head.

“What was that? You wanted to go clubbing?” Jinki asked. Jonghyun smacked him.

Minho whipped out a small notepad from his jacket pocket. “I'll make a list.”

“You do that,” Jonghyun said. “Anyway, did Kibum already call into work telling them he won't be there? He can say he's sick and doesn't want to cough on the old people or something.”

“Nice, Jonghyun,” Kibum suddenly appeared, scoffing at him. He placed his cup of steaming caffeine in the cup holder and buckled up. “And no, I have not. I forgot to call, so we'll probably have to stop by there and tell her in person.”

“That was fast,” Taemin casually commented.

Jonghyun gave Kibum an incredulous look. “Tell your boss you're sick, when you are obviously not, in person? You might as well tell her you're a horse while you're at it.”

“Shut up, shut up, shut up,” Kibum chanted as he pulled out of the driveway. “Do you have some better method? Besides, I know none of you own a cell phone. I know it.”

“A payphone?”

“That's disgusting.”

“You're disgusting,” Jonghyun muttered under his breath, crossing his arms and looking out the window. Kibum turned around and shot him a dirty look.

Taemin cleared his throat, attempting to get everybody's attention. He sighed when no one looked at him, but continued anyway. “Maybe we can talk to her for you?”

“That's a good idea,” Minho nodded to himself, lightly tapping his pencil against his chin. “We are quite the charming bunch of lads. It shouldn't take much to convince some retirement home lady to dismiss you for just a day. How hard could that be?”

“You obviously haven't met the bitch,” Kibum muttered.

“His sinuses are just so stuffed, you know. And his voice is all hoarse and he can barely get out of bed. Man, you should have felt his forehead, he was burning up! Look at my hand, you can see he burned me a little right there. See it? Yeah, he's just a complete mess. It's, like, impossible for him to work right now.”

Kibum's boss gave the four of them a hard gaze, drumming her ridiculously long, menacing looking nails against her desk. “Are you trying to tell me Kim Kibum can't come into work today?”

“Uh, yeah. I do believe that is what we said,” Jonghyun said. She glared at him, he offered her a grin.

“Who's going to take care of our poor, helpless elderly?”

“One of your other workers?” Taemin suggested, batting his eyelashes innocently. The boss's gaze lingered on him, and he could see it soften a bit. Taemin bit back a smirk. “I'm sure they wouldn't mind taking over Kibum's shift for just one, little day, right?”

“R-right,” The boss nodded.

“Thank you for your time,” Taemin put on a wide smile as he shook the woman's hands. “I love your nails, by the way. You should give Kibum a raise. Have a nice day.”

Jonghyun sputtered nonsense as the door to her office door shut behind them. His gaze shifted between Taemin's still wide smile and the closed door. He threw his hands in the air in annoyance and began walking away. “There was absolutely no reason for me to come. I pulled out that stuffed sinus shit on the spot too.”

“Oh, it helped,” Taemin offered, following after him and patting him on the shoulder. “Kind of.”

They had a quiet drive. Kibum wasn't sure where they were going, but didn't ask, having figured they planned it to be a surprise. He could hear Jonghyun lightly snoring behind him and the other two quietly talking between themselves. He looked over at Jinki, smiling at how focused he looked. Kibum could imagine Jinki just worrying about his father and how he would flip his shit if anything happened to the car.

It was oddly sunny outside for the winter time, not that he was complaining. Rain and snow wouldn't be the most suitable for a vacation. Kibum sighed, leaning his head against the cold glass of the window. If he could even call this a vacation.

“How much longer do we have to drive,” Kibum questioned tiredly.

Jinki hummed to himself, leaning across the steering wheel and squinting at an upcoming sign. He leaned back as they passed by it, looking at Kibum from the corner of his eye. “Not long. We may or may not be lost, just saying.”

Kibum sighed again. “I may or may not have to kill you. Just saying.”

“Well, as long as you're the one doing it, that would be swell,” Jinki smiled that crooked smile of his, turning towards him for a short second.

Kibum laughed as Jinki turned back towards the road, completely focused. He smacked him on the arm. “Aren't you charming?” he chuckled. He paused and began playing with the hem of his shirt, hesitant to continue. “Jinki, I'm sorry.”

Jinki gave him a curious look at first, before realizing what he was talking about. He shook his head, smiling again. “Kibum, it's fine. You're one of those friends that we could never, ever leave behind. It may take some time, but we'll always eventually be united. Our friendship overcomes all hardships.”

Kibum was silent for a while, trying to hide a laugh behind his palm. He broke into laughter. “That was so corny, Jinki. Shit, my stomach,” he managed to say between laughs, only stopping when Jonghyun kicked the back of his seat.

“Quit your obnoxious laughing. People are trying to sleep.”

Kibum rolled his eyes, but still kept an amused smile on his face.

“Who's bright idea was this?” Kibum asked dimly, pulling his hood over his head as a cold wind blew by. He aimlessly walked forward, wiggling his toes in the sand.

“Well,” Jonghyun started, rocking back on his heels. “That depends if you're enjoying yourself. If not, it was Taemin's idea.”

“I like the beach.”

“Then it was mine,” Jonghyun said with a grin.

“When it's, you know, not cold as shit.” Another cold wind conveniently passed by, blowing Kibum's hood off. He laughed as Jonghyun struggled to keep his hair neat, hands pressed down firmly on it to keep it down. “Your hair looks fine.”

“Taemin, why did you suggest the beach?” Jonghyun shouted, whipping around to look to him. Taemin looked up at them curiously from his spot near the rocks a few feet away. He jumped onto a different rock, hands shoved into the pockets of his jacket, and shrugged nonchalantly. Jonghyun raised an eyebrow as Taemin shivered a bit. “What are you shivering for? I thought it 'wasn't that cold'?”

Taemin wrinkled his nose. “I'm not cold.”

Kibum laughed silently, following Taemin's actions and shoving his hands in his pockets. He turned away and walked closer to the water, watching Jinki and Minho splash each other.

“Okay, okay,” Jinki said hastily, holding his hands up. “I give. It's freezing enough without me being soaked.”

Minho chuckled and placed his hands on his hips, obviously feeling accomplished. He saw Kibum staring at them and waved him over, placing his hands over Jinki's shoulders and leading him out of the water.. Kibum obliged, sitting in the sand just out of reach from the water. Minho and Jinki came to sit next to him.

“You know, I don't think I've ever been to the beach,” Jinki said thoughtfully, wrapping his arms around himself in an attempt to hold back a shiver. He scooted closer to Minho, leeching for body heat. “Although it's the winter, this is still nice, don't you think?”

“I'm sure you'll still be thinking that after you catch a cold,” Minho said.

“Way to bring down the mood, Minho,” Jinki frowned. Minho only shrugged carelessly, laying back and spreading out the in the sand. Jinki shivered at the loss of warmth.

Kibum patted Jinki on the back in an act of comfort. “Yeah, it's pretty nice.”

“Really?” Jinki perked up, smiling at him. “Please tell me that means you're enjoying yourself. We're killing ourselves trying to make you happy, you don't even know.”

“I'll say yes, just to make you guys happy,” Kibum said, although he really was enjoying himself. He usually wouldn't call rolling around in the sand a good time- although he did like making sandcastles and playing in the sand- but maybe just the thought of them wanting him to be happy made him happy.

“Awesome,” Jinki said, standing up and dusting himself off. He threw a suspicious looking grin at Kibum, bending down and grabbing a handful of sand. “Sandball fight!”

Kibum sat in shock for a second, letting the sand fall out of his hair. He brushed the excess sand off his face and stood up, narrowing his eyes at Jinki. “Do you really want go there?” He asked, grabbing his own handful of sand.

Jinki laughed and skipped away. “No, Kibum, I love you. Don't hurt me!”

“Hey, what am I missing? Don't have have fun without me!” Jonghyun shouted from further down the beach. Taemin laughed and threw sand at Jonghyun's face, running away as Jonghyun shook it off and glared at him. “You got sand in my eye!”

Minho slid a card across the counter, smiling at the receptionist. “We'll be paying with debit.”

“Hey,” Jinki said skeptically, digging in his pocket and grabbing his wallet. “Is that my card?”

“Yes. Thanks for paying for us, you're a great pal,” Jonghyun said, giving Jinki a firm pat of the back. He took the key card the receptionist handed to him, nodding at her in thanks. “This way, this way. Hurry up, I want to see our hotel room already.”

Jinki exhaled, unhappily following after them. “I hate you guys.”

Contrary to any popular beliefs, Kibum did not like cooking. He knew how, of course, because he enjoyed being alive and not dying from fast food over consumption, but he definitely did like doing it.

“I already payed for the hotel-unwillingly, might I add. I am not paying for food,” Jinki said, crossing his arms as if it made it look more authoritative. Jonghyun froze, phone already to his ear and ready to call room service. He slowly put it back on the receiver. “Yeah, that's right. Put the phone down.”

“Come on, Jinki,” Jonghyun whined, attempting a pout. “We're starving here.”

Jinki sat down on his bed heavily, arms still crossed. “Nope. We can cook.”

Minho looked up at him from over the magazine he was reading, giving him a look as if he was an idiot. “No we can't,” he paused, a look of realization suddenly crossing his face. “But Ki- “

Kibum already knew where this was going. He quickly intervened, “No.” But it was kind of too late, because all four of them were already crowded around him and looking at him with those undeniably adorable faces. Kibum turned away, trying his hardest to keep up a resistance. “I said no.”

“This is delicious, Kibum,” Taemin commented through a mouth full of food. The others quickly nodded in agreement.

“Whatever,” Kibum said, stank face on at full force. He ate up the compliments anyway.

They had piled back into Jinki's small car, Jonghyun racing to get to the passenger seat. “Like hell I'm enduring another road trip squeezed between a car door and a sweaty string bean.”

“I'm not that sweaty,” Minho had mumbled defensively, lifting his arms to check.

It was nighttime on Christmas Eve, and Kibum could almost say he could take back his comment about these holidays sucking. Almost, being if nothing else was broken. He opened the door to his apartment, reluctantly letting the others in. “Doesn't it feel nice entering my apartment without having to force yourself in?”

“Of course it does,” Jonghyun said sarcastically, throwing himself on the couch.

“Get your feet off my couch,” Kibum said as he took off his coat and hung it up. Jonghyun did as he was told with a sigh, letting his legs fall over the edge. Kibum continued talking, “I'm kind of tired. I think I'll go to bed.”

“Aw, party pooper. I thought we were going to stay up all night,” Jinki said, sitting down next to Jonghyun. “We should bake cookies or something.”

“Go ahead,” Kibum said, waving his hand in the direction of his kitchen. “I know you two already know where the kitchen is,” he said, throwing a look towards Minho and Jinki, who looked away shamefully. “If I wake up and find a mess, I swear I wil- ”

“Yeah, good night, sleep tight, don't get attacked in your sleep,” Jonghyun interrupted, smiling at Kibum with what he probably thought was a loving manner. “May all your wildest dreams come true.”

Kibum rolled his tongue against his cheek, staring at Jonghyun. He walked away.

Jinki waited for him to disappear into his bedroom, listening to the sound of a door shutting. He sighed when he heard the sounds of Kibum using the bathroom first, before finally entering his bedroom. He clapped his hands together, turning towards the other three. “Alrighty then. Let's get that tree set up, yeah?”

“What the crap, how do you turn these lights on?”

“Jonghyun, they're not plugged in yet.”

“Oh. I knew that.”

There wasn't many times in Kibum's life where he could say he was speechless. He wouldn't doubt if he was able to count every speechless moment in his life on one hand. That may have been an exaggeration, but it was justifiable, nonetheless.

He padded towards the small Christmas tree in his fuzzy slippers, pulling his robe tight around him. “What is this,” he muttered to himself, squatting down to turn over one of the presents. It had his name on it. He looked over at Taemin and Jonghyun huddled on the couch, Minho stretched out in one of the armchairs, Jinki sprawled out on the floor-was that dough on his face?-and almost felt like crying. He wandered into the kitchen, tried his hardest to not let the gigantic mess bother him, and eyed the cookies on the counter. He picked one up and ate it.

“It tastes like shit,” Kibum said to himself, swallowing it. He took a few more.

He heard rustling, looking up to see Jonghyun rubbing his eyes and standing in the doorway. He smiled at him, shoving another cookie in his mouth. “Good morning.”

Jonghyun smiled back. “Merry Christmas.”

“You too,” Kibum said, taking a seat on one of the counter stools. He patted the one next to him, staring at Jonghyun expectantly. Jonghyun dragged himself over and sat facing him.

“I know it's kind of useless to say this,” Jonghyun started, twiddling his thumbs. “But we really miss you. We hope you come back soon, because we can't keep driving miles like this.”

“Yeah,” Kibum said. “It was kind of useless to say that.”

Jonghyun took one of Kibum's cookies, shrugging. He bit into it, before prompting spitting it onto his floor. “This tastes like shit. Why are you eating this?”

“I think Jinki made them,” Kibum hummed, chewing slowly.

“That explains everything.”

Kibum hated goodbyes, and he was sure goodbyes hated him too, because they seemed to be happening a bit too often in his life. He would always try to find another means of saying it, like 'farewell' or 'see you later', but sometimes, like in these ridiculously sentimental moments, he felt them necessary. He'd just have to live with this mutual hatred.

“Kibum, don't cry,” Jonghyun said, voice a bit strained himself. “You look ugly when you cry.”

Kibum let out a painful laugh, wiping at his tears. “I could say the same for you.”

“Which is exactly why I'm not crying,” Jonghyun retorted, eyes beginning to brim with tears. “Yet.”

Jinki grabbed Minho and Taemin by the shoulders, dragging them over and huddling them all together. “I think this calls for a group hug. I'm totally feeling a group hug moment.” And although most of them would have tried to resist at any other moment in time, they stayed put this time and let Jinki wrap his arms round all of them, bringing them close.

“Corny, as usual,” Kibum said with a smile, head bent down. “I guess this is,” he choked on his words, another wave of tears coming. “I guess this is goodb-”

“I guess this is that loving, reunited feeling we have all been waiting for. Feels like the good old times, huh?” Jinki cut him off, attempting to lighten the mood. He cleared his throat, his smile wavering a bit. “I love you all. Like, seriously, I really do.”

Kibum felt like this moment was too sentimental for a goodbye, and that these people were too special to say goodbye to. He laughed and forcibly grabbed them each by the faces, planting a kiss on their cheeks. He already felt cheesy, he figured it wouldn't hurt to push it. “I guess this is I love you, then.”

Taemin rubbed at his cheek, trying to feign a look disgust, but instead breaking into a smile. “Come back any time, okay? We're never busy, so we have time for you.”

“Hey, speak for yourself,” Jinki said, looking offended. He turned towards Kibum, a smile returning. “But we are never busy, so we have time for you.”

“Thanks,” Kibum rolled his eyes. He pushed them all towards the entrance of his apartment, opening the door and hurrying them out.. “Now get out. I have cleaning to do.”

“I feel loved right now,” Minho nodded.

Kibum shrugged carelessly. “Well, I guess you guys are welcomed here anytime, too. I mean, you do have a reason to stop by. I want my damn coffee maker,” he said firmly, although he was actually thinking they didn't need a reason to stop by.

“Just saying, but you should really lay off the caffeine. No offense, but you look like a ston- “

Kibum slammed the door in Jonghyun's face.