SSS 2010: for jirurukyungmi
For: jirurukyungmi
From: Your Secret Santa
Title: Family Christmas
Pairing: Onew/Taemin, OT5
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 3,650
Summary: The thing about Christmas? Family isn't the only people to spend it with.
i.
Taemin hates having to layer up in the wintertime. When he was younger, his family always decked him out in full winter garb, even when it was barely chilly out. Now that he’s away from home, his band members have taken up the role.
He likes the feel of the powdery snow melting in the spaces between his fingers, likes the dribble of the melted flakes running down his palms to his fingers, where the drops drip like water from the ends of icicles. He can’t feel that wearing polyester hi-loft fleece gloves on his hands.
Winter is always such a beautiful time for him, the holidays and the spirit; the chance to be with his friends and his family-even if that doesn’t always happen; the scent of pine in homes and shops; the shopping and hurrying bodies in stores. He loves the lights dancing on the window panes and the glow of candles behind the glass.
There’s a magic in the air that he can’t feel any other time of the year.
ii.
He gets lost in the shopping complex Kibum drags the group to the weekend before Christmas. Running amidst colorful glass ornaments and fake, glittery snow, stand up Santas and his reindeer, he gets distracted by the display cases and eventually loses sight of the others.
He doesn’t bother trying to find them right away. He knows he can always just call Minho anytime and have the older boy find him. Instead, he roams aimlessly through tightly packed aisles, admiring the gifts and boxes and dolls and assortment of Christmas trinkets lining the shelves.
He hasn’t bought any of his Christmas gifts yet, mostly because the closer it gets to Christmas, the more fan gifts that come in-and somehow, the fans seem to know exactly what to buy each member because everything and anything Taemin was going to buy them, some fan already has. It makes his job a lot more difficult.
He does text Jinki while waiting in line for a cup of coffee, so as not to worry any of them. He pulls his hat down lower, knowing he must look strange and just a little rude but staying unknown is more important cordiality. The girl behind the counter hands him his cup a little more rudely than necessary.
iii.
Kibum and Jonghyun get the most into the Christmas spirit. Kibum insists on putting decorations up on their doors, then he has to put more in the kitchen and the living room, then the bathroom and the hallways. It isn’t long before lights and tinsel are strewn about the entire living area and after Minho’s friends from Super Junior-namely Hyukjae and Donghae-come over, the five of them spend an entire night rearranging things back to where they were (and stopping their sunbaes from stealing their decorations).
Jonghyun, on the other hands, wants every night the last week of Christmas to be filled with Christmas carols, sung in horrible English and wrong keys. Minho’s rendition of Silent Night is the most entertaining, because while he hits the low melody better than anyone, his high notes make even the windows shake.
It feels like being home all over again. When Jinki brings back a different dish every night that week for dinner and makes everyone-including Minho, who keeps trying to sneak to other dorms-sit at the table and eat, it feels like family.
iv.
Monday, the 20th, Taemin drags Kibum out to the park with him to play in the fresh snow. It isn’t often that Taemin can be so free and relaxed, but that’s just what he is when he’s outside, enjoying himself in the cold like he hasn’t in months-which he hasn’t.
Even Kibum, despite his complaints of it being too cold and dangerous since they go when the sun is down, has to admit that the time together is enjoyable. The light from the streetlamps casts the two of them in a fiery glow, reflecting off the snow and illuminating their crudely put together snowmen.
“Mine is supposed to be Santa,” Taemin explains, packing more snow on the top mound to make the beard. The entire ensemble looks more like a giant mountain of snow, no distinctive shape to it at all, but Kibum doesn’t have the heart to tell his friend that.
“It looks…like Jinki hyung, in the morning,” Kibum says to him, and they both share a laugh at that, picturing their leader in his bed in the early hours of the day.
An hour passes like that, throwing snow balls at each other and making ridiculous shapes with the snow and calling them different things (“This one is Minho-yah after he loses to me at that dance game!”). When the snow is piled in so many places and a complete mess, Kibum finally collapses on his back and calls it quits.
“Come on Taemin-ah, we should get back soon before hyung tells off for missing dinner.” He sits up, his backside freezing with snow already melting and seeping in through his clothes.
Taemin drops down beside him, uncaring of the freezing snow as he lies onto his back and kicks out his legs. “Come on hyung! Snow angels!” He laughs and begins flapping his arms and legs about, looking like a little kid doing jumping jacks.
Kibum doesn’t join him but sits back and watches as Taemin makes his little snow angel. When he’s tired himself out, Taemin bends forward, hooking his elbows around his knees, and looks behind him to see his creation.
“What do you think?” he asks, not looking at the older boy as he uses his finger to draw a shaky halo above where his head had been.
Kibum doesn’t answer right away, suddenly feeling wistful at the sight of his young friend so carefree and happy. “Just like a real angel,” he finally says, ruffling the snow out of Taemin’s hair.
v.
On Tuesday he gets into a fight with Jonghyun, who is his least favorite person to get into arguments with.
Jonghyun, who always has been busier than the others when it comes to vocal training and practice, even busier now than Taemin and his dance rehearsals what with his ballad group, has also always been supportive of Taemin and his singing. The group knew Taemin didn’t have the greatest voice, or the most range, and had, in the past, always worked to help him better his singing.
But missing the same note more than five times in a row is apparently Jonghyun’s breaking point, because it’s not patience or understanding that meets Taemin’s mistake the next time he makes it.
“Can’t you get this right? It’s not that high of a note Taemin-ah, just-sing it again, and this time concentrate.”
He hates it when Jonghyun gets that tone in his voice, but he hates it even more that he’s just been reprimanded in front of the entire group. He’s never been one to take criticism well and even though he knows Jonghyun wasn’t trying to be mean about it, the thought doesn’t help in making him feel any less ashamed.
Face red, Taemin ignores the looks his band members send him as the track starts up again. This time, he hits the right note-but too early.
“Christ Taemin, get it right!” Jonghyun exclaims, ripping his headphones off.
Silence meets his statement, until, “Jonghyun-ah, relax, it was just a mistake. Taemin will get it, don’t worry.” Jinki has always been the one to cool his members when they got agitated.
Taemin tries to hide his face; even his ears feeling like they’re burning. Beside him, Minho squeezes his thigh comfortingly, but it doesn’t help.
None of them are quite sure why Jonghyun is so strung out. They leave the recording studio and the bus ride home that night is silent and tense, everyone making it a point to stare out the window. Even Jinki, who asks the driver to stop by at the store so he can pick up some food, isn’t cracking his usual jokes or making funny faces in the rearview mirror.
In the dorm, Jonghyun stomps to his room before Taemin even has a chance to toes off his shoes.
“I should talk to him,” Taemin says, looking guilty.
He doesn’t need Minho to say anything, already knows the older boy will tell him it’s not his fault and there’s no reason to apologize. Kibum pats him on the shoulder, smiling. “Don’t worry about it. He’s just frustrated over not being able to perform with us.”
Understanding suddenly dawns on him, and Taemin feels even worse than before. He should have known before that Jonghyun was anxious about not being able to perform at their concert. He feels almost stupid for having taken his reaction so badly now.
“I’ll talk to him,” Jinki says, dropping dinner onto the table for Kibum to fix up for them.
vi.
By Wednesday Taemin feels his own share of anxiety, mostly because Christmas is three days away and he still doesn’t have anything to give to his friends.
He and Jonghyun are still a bit tense in the morning but after offering to wash his plate for him and apologizing for “acting like an ass last night,” Taemin knows they’ll be fine. There isn’t anything for him to do until later that evening, so Taemin asks to go to the store again, in hopes of finding something suitable to gift his band members. Minho goes with him, not having anything to do himself.
Unsurprisingly, the mall is completely packed with last minute shoppers like themselves when they get there. Taemin has only two hours to find everything he needs and, still not having any idea what he wants to get everyone, he really hopes it’ll be enough time.
He drags Minho from store to store, stopping only to appraise different toys and clothes that have potential to be given as gifts. They’re almost always put back on their shelves.
Rushing through Christmas shopping probably isn’t the best idea, especially not if he wants to get perfect presents. As it is, he eventually settles on what to give his band members and what to mail his family-but not without turning Minho homicidal first (“Do we really have to go through all of the boxes? I’m sure your family will just throw them away in the end”).
vii.
They finally put the tree up on Thursday. They would have put it up with the rest of the decorating before, but Kibum had the idea in his head that the tree had to be treated as special and thus, had to get its own day to be decorated with care.
Taemin and Jonghyun are put in charge of the glittery tinsel and streamers to wrap it in. They go out to the store again and buy more garlands, along with thread and a box of farfalle pasta to straw together. They sit at the table for nearly an hour trying to figure out how to poke holes in the hard food to sew the thread through before finally giving up (“We’ll just have it for dinner”).
Kibum takes it upon himself to untangle more strings of lights but after the first proves too difficult, forces Jinki to help him, leaving Minho to figure out putting the fake tree up himself, since theirs is one that needs to be assembled. Each ‘branch’ is painted with a colored dot at the end that needs to be slotted into the right place with its corresponding color but matching pink with pink and not white turns out to be much harder than it looks.
When the tree is finally up, the lights finally untangled, the garlands finally unpacked, they work together decking the tree perfectly before finally breaking out the ornaments and finding appropriate places to put them. Of course they can’t pick a theme or even a color scheme, since Kibum wants green, Taemin wants yellow, Minho blue, and Jonghyun and Jinki red. They finally settle on rainbow.
The tree looks a colorful mess when it’s finally done. Unable to find last year’s plastic angel, Jonghyun climbs a chair and sticks a fake light bulb on the top branch, promising to change it to something better later.
Taemin, as the youngest, gets the honor of plugging in the lights and turning them on for the first time. They turn all the living room lights off and wait for him to crawl to the back corner and plug in the cord and when he does, the room is finally alight in an array of polychromatic glows, each person’s shadow playing on the dorm walls as they all stand back and gaze at their tree.
Taemin feels his chest clench at the sight. It’s not perfect, not even really very pretty if he were honest. But the tree represents them as a group; a mixture of different colors and materials and each beautiful in their own way. Suddenly it doesn’t matter that he won’t get to see his family again this year, or that he rushed finding presents for everyone. Minho takes his left hand while Jinki takes his right and he finds himself realizing it doesn’t matter because he’s already with his family, and they’ve given each other the best gift they can-being together.
viii.
It’s impossible not to be happy on Christmas Eve and for most of the SM artists, namely their Super Junior sunbaes, it’s impossible not to show it.
The company hosts its usual holiday party that everyone is invited to-including the trainees. Drinks and food flow freely and even Taemin is able to snag a glass of wine from Jonghyun, who very inconspicuously sneaks it to him, so inconspicuous about it that Kibum elbows him only slightly less harder than he would have if he hadn’t been feeling the effects of his third flute of champagne.
He gets lost talking to his friends. Hyukjae engages him in conversation about new dance moves he wants to show Taemin, Sulli takes ten minutes just to tell him how long (and pretty-“I’m not a girl!”) his hair is getting, and even Tiffany, whom he’d expected to stay home with her family recuperating, and whom he hasn’t spoken to in a while, compliments him on his dress shirt and slacks (an outfit he chose himself, as he proudly tells her).
He sits with his group members during dinner but even before desert is brought out, Minho is already off to talk to other people, Jonghyun goes to the bathroom, and Kibum leaves the table to find more food, the eating habit he still hasn’t broken rearing its head.
It’s just him and Jinki, but Taemin finds it comforting and doesn’t take offense to his other members leaving them. It’s not like he’s gotten to spend much time with Jinki lately, always so busy doing other things.
In the midst of finishing his vanilla custard, his pocket vibrates and when he pulls out his phone, he’s greeted with a text message from his older brother, the short message reading happy x-mas taeminnie, call soon!.
It isn’t until Jinki grasps his wrist and asks him what’s wrong that he realizes his vision is blurry from his tear-glistening eyes. He wipes his face quickly, trying not to look so childish and embarrassed to be caught crying.
“Nothing hyung, sorry.”
“What’s wrong? Something happen?” Jinki asks again, wrapping his arm around Taemin’s shoulder.
Taemin doesn’t answer right away, still sniffling and trying so hard to not make it obvious that he can’t stop his tears. “M-my brother,” he finally says, and it’s all that he needs to, because Jinki immediately pats his head, running his hand through his hair, and pulls him into an awkward side hug.
“It’s okay to cry, Taemin-ah,” Jinki says against his face. He just wishes it were.
ix.
Christmas morning dawns cold, the sheets feeling too thin. Taemin’s feet curl beneath his covers as Jonghyun excitedly wakes the entire dorm, shouting at them to “hurry up and come to living the room!”
He and Kibum reach there first, settling on the couch together and resting their heads on each other’s shoulders. Jonghyun is already sorting through the small pile of presents beneath the tree when Minho stumbles into the room, hiding a yawn behind his hand.
“Really? We couldn’t wait a few more hours? It’s only…damnit, it’s only 8:30 hyung,” he grouses, plopping himself down on Taemin’s feet. Taemin squeals and immediately tries to kick him off but Minho just sits farther down on the cushion, pinching Taemin’s toes and laughing.
“Where’s Jinki hyung? We can’t start without him,” Taemin says.
Kibum just shakes his head and scoffs. “I’m not waking him up, someone else can deal with that misery today.”
After successfully kicking Minho away from him, Taemin scrambles off the couch and volunteers himself to get him, too happy and excited to remember that waking Jinki is like trying to resuscitate the dead.
“Hyung~,” he calls just before jumping on Jinki’s bed. Jinki groans in pain and tries to roll away but Taemin just follows him, burying his face into the lump on the bed and laughing. With surprising strength, he sits back and yanks the covers away, and Jinki cries out at the sudden cold.
“Alright, alright, I’m up,” he mumbles, but just turns his head into his pillow and tries to go back to sleep.
Taemin finally manages to wake him up fully, tugging on his arm as he pulls the older boy down the hall back to the living room. When they’re about to reenter, Jonghyun suddenly holds his hand up and calls them to a stop, both freezing in their spots.
“Look up,” Jonghyun says with a smug look, using his finger to point at the ceiling.
Taemin groans aloud at the sight of mistletoe mocking him from above. “What?! Really hyung? Was that necessary?”
“Hey don’t look at me, it was all Minho,” Jonghyun defends and sure enough, when Taemin turns to look at Minho, the older boy is hiding his guilty face in Kibum’s back and both are trying their hardest not to laugh.
“But hyung still has morning breath!” he tries to say, only to be ignored as Jonghyun insists that “tradition is tradition.”
“It won’t be that bad,” Jinki says, holding Taemin by the shoulders and turning him around. “It’ll be over before you know it.”
Great, Taemin thinks to himself. What a perfect way to start Christmas day.
Taemin shuts his eyes tightly and purses his lips shut as he waits for Jinki to get it over with, refusing to be the one to initiate it. When Jinki’s lips touch his, it’s nothing like he’d expected. They hold their mouths together, warm and unmoving. Taemin’s lips loosen and his mouth goes slack against Jinki’s, softening beneath him. Jinki finally pulls away, and when Taemin opens his eyes, it’s to see his hyung turning steadily red and avoiding his gaze.
“Come on,” he says, pulling Taemin behind him and tugging him into the living room to sit by the tree.
x.
His gifts from his members include sweaters, a new pair of dancing shoes, an iPod, the complete set of a manhwa series he’d started that month, DVDs, and, perhaps his favorite gift that year, a photo album already partly filled with pictures of his family.
He’d given Minho a new soccer ball, Jinki a duffel bag to hold his things, Kibum studs for his piercings, and Jonghyun a remote control flying helicopter-something he suspected he would use a lot.
Unwrapping presents doesn’t take them long, especially since they didn’t leave the fans’ presents for Christmas day like they had last year. After exchanging gifts, he helps Kibum in the kitchen to make them lunch while Jonghyun, Minho, and Jinki go out to play with Jonghyun’s new helicopter. Soon delicious smells permeate the dorm and Taemin can’t wait to eat his and Kibum’s creations. When the last dish is finished and set on the table, Taemin offers to fetch the other three. He finds them still trying to set the toy up and, judging by the frustration on Minho’s face as Jonghyun holds the device and Minho reads the instruction booklet, are quite clearly failing.
“How long have they…?”
“Since we got out here,” Jinki says with a laugh, slinging an arm around Taemin’s shoulders. Taemin shivers in his hold and he isn’t entirely sure if it’s from the cold-he hadn’t bothered with a jacket before coming out-or because he’s suddenly remembering the kiss from earlier that morning.
“Jonghyun hyung! Minho-yah! Food’s ready!” Taemin finally calls, too impatient to wait for them any longer.
They stomp their feet back up to the dorm, trying to knock the powdery flakes of snow from their boots. Kibum has finished setting up the rest of the table, adding plates, cups, chopsticks, and spoons for five places. Taemin rushes to get his boots off to get back to the kitchen and eat.
He takes his place and smiles at his hyungs, patiently waiting for Jonghyun to join them since he insisted on putting his helicopter away first. As Taemin looks around the table, Jinki and Kibum are conversing quietly to each other, Minho is twirling one of his chopsticks between his long fingers, and Taemin breathes out slowly, relishing in the comfort of being surrounded by his friends. He still wishes he could be with his parents and his brother, but he realizes, eyeing the assortment of food on the table and his smiling friends, that he’s already with his family.
Then Jonghyun breaks the tranquil moment, stomping in from the living room and loudly exclaiming, “Guys, we never changed the light bulb at the top of the tree!”
From: Your Secret Santa
Title: Family Christmas
Pairing: Onew/Taemin, OT5
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 3,650
Summary: The thing about Christmas? Family isn't the only people to spend it with.
i.
Taemin hates having to layer up in the wintertime. When he was younger, his family always decked him out in full winter garb, even when it was barely chilly out. Now that he’s away from home, his band members have taken up the role.
He likes the feel of the powdery snow melting in the spaces between his fingers, likes the dribble of the melted flakes running down his palms to his fingers, where the drops drip like water from the ends of icicles. He can’t feel that wearing polyester hi-loft fleece gloves on his hands.
Winter is always such a beautiful time for him, the holidays and the spirit; the chance to be with his friends and his family-even if that doesn’t always happen; the scent of pine in homes and shops; the shopping and hurrying bodies in stores. He loves the lights dancing on the window panes and the glow of candles behind the glass.
There’s a magic in the air that he can’t feel any other time of the year.
ii.
He gets lost in the shopping complex Kibum drags the group to the weekend before Christmas. Running amidst colorful glass ornaments and fake, glittery snow, stand up Santas and his reindeer, he gets distracted by the display cases and eventually loses sight of the others.
He doesn’t bother trying to find them right away. He knows he can always just call Minho anytime and have the older boy find him. Instead, he roams aimlessly through tightly packed aisles, admiring the gifts and boxes and dolls and assortment of Christmas trinkets lining the shelves.
He hasn’t bought any of his Christmas gifts yet, mostly because the closer it gets to Christmas, the more fan gifts that come in-and somehow, the fans seem to know exactly what to buy each member because everything and anything Taemin was going to buy them, some fan already has. It makes his job a lot more difficult.
He does text Jinki while waiting in line for a cup of coffee, so as not to worry any of them. He pulls his hat down lower, knowing he must look strange and just a little rude but staying unknown is more important cordiality. The girl behind the counter hands him his cup a little more rudely than necessary.
iii.
Kibum and Jonghyun get the most into the Christmas spirit. Kibum insists on putting decorations up on their doors, then he has to put more in the kitchen and the living room, then the bathroom and the hallways. It isn’t long before lights and tinsel are strewn about the entire living area and after Minho’s friends from Super Junior-namely Hyukjae and Donghae-come over, the five of them spend an entire night rearranging things back to where they were (and stopping their sunbaes from stealing their decorations).
Jonghyun, on the other hands, wants every night the last week of Christmas to be filled with Christmas carols, sung in horrible English and wrong keys. Minho’s rendition of Silent Night is the most entertaining, because while he hits the low melody better than anyone, his high notes make even the windows shake.
It feels like being home all over again. When Jinki brings back a different dish every night that week for dinner and makes everyone-including Minho, who keeps trying to sneak to other dorms-sit at the table and eat, it feels like family.
iv.
Monday, the 20th, Taemin drags Kibum out to the park with him to play in the fresh snow. It isn’t often that Taemin can be so free and relaxed, but that’s just what he is when he’s outside, enjoying himself in the cold like he hasn’t in months-which he hasn’t.
Even Kibum, despite his complaints of it being too cold and dangerous since they go when the sun is down, has to admit that the time together is enjoyable. The light from the streetlamps casts the two of them in a fiery glow, reflecting off the snow and illuminating their crudely put together snowmen.
“Mine is supposed to be Santa,” Taemin explains, packing more snow on the top mound to make the beard. The entire ensemble looks more like a giant mountain of snow, no distinctive shape to it at all, but Kibum doesn’t have the heart to tell his friend that.
“It looks…like Jinki hyung, in the morning,” Kibum says to him, and they both share a laugh at that, picturing their leader in his bed in the early hours of the day.
An hour passes like that, throwing snow balls at each other and making ridiculous shapes with the snow and calling them different things (“This one is Minho-yah after he loses to me at that dance game!”). When the snow is piled in so many places and a complete mess, Kibum finally collapses on his back and calls it quits.
“Come on Taemin-ah, we should get back soon before hyung tells off for missing dinner.” He sits up, his backside freezing with snow already melting and seeping in through his clothes.
Taemin drops down beside him, uncaring of the freezing snow as he lies onto his back and kicks out his legs. “Come on hyung! Snow angels!” He laughs and begins flapping his arms and legs about, looking like a little kid doing jumping jacks.
Kibum doesn’t join him but sits back and watches as Taemin makes his little snow angel. When he’s tired himself out, Taemin bends forward, hooking his elbows around his knees, and looks behind him to see his creation.
“What do you think?” he asks, not looking at the older boy as he uses his finger to draw a shaky halo above where his head had been.
Kibum doesn’t answer right away, suddenly feeling wistful at the sight of his young friend so carefree and happy. “Just like a real angel,” he finally says, ruffling the snow out of Taemin’s hair.
v.
On Tuesday he gets into a fight with Jonghyun, who is his least favorite person to get into arguments with.
Jonghyun, who always has been busier than the others when it comes to vocal training and practice, even busier now than Taemin and his dance rehearsals what with his ballad group, has also always been supportive of Taemin and his singing. The group knew Taemin didn’t have the greatest voice, or the most range, and had, in the past, always worked to help him better his singing.
But missing the same note more than five times in a row is apparently Jonghyun’s breaking point, because it’s not patience or understanding that meets Taemin’s mistake the next time he makes it.
“Can’t you get this right? It’s not that high of a note Taemin-ah, just-sing it again, and this time concentrate.”
He hates it when Jonghyun gets that tone in his voice, but he hates it even more that he’s just been reprimanded in front of the entire group. He’s never been one to take criticism well and even though he knows Jonghyun wasn’t trying to be mean about it, the thought doesn’t help in making him feel any less ashamed.
Face red, Taemin ignores the looks his band members send him as the track starts up again. This time, he hits the right note-but too early.
“Christ Taemin, get it right!” Jonghyun exclaims, ripping his headphones off.
Silence meets his statement, until, “Jonghyun-ah, relax, it was just a mistake. Taemin will get it, don’t worry.” Jinki has always been the one to cool his members when they got agitated.
Taemin tries to hide his face; even his ears feeling like they’re burning. Beside him, Minho squeezes his thigh comfortingly, but it doesn’t help.
None of them are quite sure why Jonghyun is so strung out. They leave the recording studio and the bus ride home that night is silent and tense, everyone making it a point to stare out the window. Even Jinki, who asks the driver to stop by at the store so he can pick up some food, isn’t cracking his usual jokes or making funny faces in the rearview mirror.
In the dorm, Jonghyun stomps to his room before Taemin even has a chance to toes off his shoes.
“I should talk to him,” Taemin says, looking guilty.
He doesn’t need Minho to say anything, already knows the older boy will tell him it’s not his fault and there’s no reason to apologize. Kibum pats him on the shoulder, smiling. “Don’t worry about it. He’s just frustrated over not being able to perform with us.”
Understanding suddenly dawns on him, and Taemin feels even worse than before. He should have known before that Jonghyun was anxious about not being able to perform at their concert. He feels almost stupid for having taken his reaction so badly now.
“I’ll talk to him,” Jinki says, dropping dinner onto the table for Kibum to fix up for them.
vi.
By Wednesday Taemin feels his own share of anxiety, mostly because Christmas is three days away and he still doesn’t have anything to give to his friends.
He and Jonghyun are still a bit tense in the morning but after offering to wash his plate for him and apologizing for “acting like an ass last night,” Taemin knows they’ll be fine. There isn’t anything for him to do until later that evening, so Taemin asks to go to the store again, in hopes of finding something suitable to gift his band members. Minho goes with him, not having anything to do himself.
Unsurprisingly, the mall is completely packed with last minute shoppers like themselves when they get there. Taemin has only two hours to find everything he needs and, still not having any idea what he wants to get everyone, he really hopes it’ll be enough time.
He drags Minho from store to store, stopping only to appraise different toys and clothes that have potential to be given as gifts. They’re almost always put back on their shelves.
Rushing through Christmas shopping probably isn’t the best idea, especially not if he wants to get perfect presents. As it is, he eventually settles on what to give his band members and what to mail his family-but not without turning Minho homicidal first (“Do we really have to go through all of the boxes? I’m sure your family will just throw them away in the end”).
vii.
They finally put the tree up on Thursday. They would have put it up with the rest of the decorating before, but Kibum had the idea in his head that the tree had to be treated as special and thus, had to get its own day to be decorated with care.
Taemin and Jonghyun are put in charge of the glittery tinsel and streamers to wrap it in. They go out to the store again and buy more garlands, along with thread and a box of farfalle pasta to straw together. They sit at the table for nearly an hour trying to figure out how to poke holes in the hard food to sew the thread through before finally giving up (“We’ll just have it for dinner”).
Kibum takes it upon himself to untangle more strings of lights but after the first proves too difficult, forces Jinki to help him, leaving Minho to figure out putting the fake tree up himself, since theirs is one that needs to be assembled. Each ‘branch’ is painted with a colored dot at the end that needs to be slotted into the right place with its corresponding color but matching pink with pink and not white turns out to be much harder than it looks.
When the tree is finally up, the lights finally untangled, the garlands finally unpacked, they work together decking the tree perfectly before finally breaking out the ornaments and finding appropriate places to put them. Of course they can’t pick a theme or even a color scheme, since Kibum wants green, Taemin wants yellow, Minho blue, and Jonghyun and Jinki red. They finally settle on rainbow.
The tree looks a colorful mess when it’s finally done. Unable to find last year’s plastic angel, Jonghyun climbs a chair and sticks a fake light bulb on the top branch, promising to change it to something better later.
Taemin, as the youngest, gets the honor of plugging in the lights and turning them on for the first time. They turn all the living room lights off and wait for him to crawl to the back corner and plug in the cord and when he does, the room is finally alight in an array of polychromatic glows, each person’s shadow playing on the dorm walls as they all stand back and gaze at their tree.
Taemin feels his chest clench at the sight. It’s not perfect, not even really very pretty if he were honest. But the tree represents them as a group; a mixture of different colors and materials and each beautiful in their own way. Suddenly it doesn’t matter that he won’t get to see his family again this year, or that he rushed finding presents for everyone. Minho takes his left hand while Jinki takes his right and he finds himself realizing it doesn’t matter because he’s already with his family, and they’ve given each other the best gift they can-being together.
viii.
It’s impossible not to be happy on Christmas Eve and for most of the SM artists, namely their Super Junior sunbaes, it’s impossible not to show it.
The company hosts its usual holiday party that everyone is invited to-including the trainees. Drinks and food flow freely and even Taemin is able to snag a glass of wine from Jonghyun, who very inconspicuously sneaks it to him, so inconspicuous about it that Kibum elbows him only slightly less harder than he would have if he hadn’t been feeling the effects of his third flute of champagne.
He gets lost talking to his friends. Hyukjae engages him in conversation about new dance moves he wants to show Taemin, Sulli takes ten minutes just to tell him how long (and pretty-“I’m not a girl!”) his hair is getting, and even Tiffany, whom he’d expected to stay home with her family recuperating, and whom he hasn’t spoken to in a while, compliments him on his dress shirt and slacks (an outfit he chose himself, as he proudly tells her).
He sits with his group members during dinner but even before desert is brought out, Minho is already off to talk to other people, Jonghyun goes to the bathroom, and Kibum leaves the table to find more food, the eating habit he still hasn’t broken rearing its head.
It’s just him and Jinki, but Taemin finds it comforting and doesn’t take offense to his other members leaving them. It’s not like he’s gotten to spend much time with Jinki lately, always so busy doing other things.
In the midst of finishing his vanilla custard, his pocket vibrates and when he pulls out his phone, he’s greeted with a text message from his older brother, the short message reading happy x-mas taeminnie, call soon!.
It isn’t until Jinki grasps his wrist and asks him what’s wrong that he realizes his vision is blurry from his tear-glistening eyes. He wipes his face quickly, trying not to look so childish and embarrassed to be caught crying.
“Nothing hyung, sorry.”
“What’s wrong? Something happen?” Jinki asks again, wrapping his arm around Taemin’s shoulder.
Taemin doesn’t answer right away, still sniffling and trying so hard to not make it obvious that he can’t stop his tears. “M-my brother,” he finally says, and it’s all that he needs to, because Jinki immediately pats his head, running his hand through his hair, and pulls him into an awkward side hug.
“It’s okay to cry, Taemin-ah,” Jinki says against his face. He just wishes it were.
ix.
Christmas morning dawns cold, the sheets feeling too thin. Taemin’s feet curl beneath his covers as Jonghyun excitedly wakes the entire dorm, shouting at them to “hurry up and come to living the room!”
He and Kibum reach there first, settling on the couch together and resting their heads on each other’s shoulders. Jonghyun is already sorting through the small pile of presents beneath the tree when Minho stumbles into the room, hiding a yawn behind his hand.
“Really? We couldn’t wait a few more hours? It’s only…damnit, it’s only 8:30 hyung,” he grouses, plopping himself down on Taemin’s feet. Taemin squeals and immediately tries to kick him off but Minho just sits farther down on the cushion, pinching Taemin’s toes and laughing.
“Where’s Jinki hyung? We can’t start without him,” Taemin says.
Kibum just shakes his head and scoffs. “I’m not waking him up, someone else can deal with that misery today.”
After successfully kicking Minho away from him, Taemin scrambles off the couch and volunteers himself to get him, too happy and excited to remember that waking Jinki is like trying to resuscitate the dead.
“Hyung~,” he calls just before jumping on Jinki’s bed. Jinki groans in pain and tries to roll away but Taemin just follows him, burying his face into the lump on the bed and laughing. With surprising strength, he sits back and yanks the covers away, and Jinki cries out at the sudden cold.
“Alright, alright, I’m up,” he mumbles, but just turns his head into his pillow and tries to go back to sleep.
Taemin finally manages to wake him up fully, tugging on his arm as he pulls the older boy down the hall back to the living room. When they’re about to reenter, Jonghyun suddenly holds his hand up and calls them to a stop, both freezing in their spots.
“Look up,” Jonghyun says with a smug look, using his finger to point at the ceiling.
Taemin groans aloud at the sight of mistletoe mocking him from above. “What?! Really hyung? Was that necessary?”
“Hey don’t look at me, it was all Minho,” Jonghyun defends and sure enough, when Taemin turns to look at Minho, the older boy is hiding his guilty face in Kibum’s back and both are trying their hardest not to laugh.
“But hyung still has morning breath!” he tries to say, only to be ignored as Jonghyun insists that “tradition is tradition.”
“It won’t be that bad,” Jinki says, holding Taemin by the shoulders and turning him around. “It’ll be over before you know it.”
Great, Taemin thinks to himself. What a perfect way to start Christmas day.
Taemin shuts his eyes tightly and purses his lips shut as he waits for Jinki to get it over with, refusing to be the one to initiate it. When Jinki’s lips touch his, it’s nothing like he’d expected. They hold their mouths together, warm and unmoving. Taemin’s lips loosen and his mouth goes slack against Jinki’s, softening beneath him. Jinki finally pulls away, and when Taemin opens his eyes, it’s to see his hyung turning steadily red and avoiding his gaze.
“Come on,” he says, pulling Taemin behind him and tugging him into the living room to sit by the tree.
x.
His gifts from his members include sweaters, a new pair of dancing shoes, an iPod, the complete set of a manhwa series he’d started that month, DVDs, and, perhaps his favorite gift that year, a photo album already partly filled with pictures of his family.
He’d given Minho a new soccer ball, Jinki a duffel bag to hold his things, Kibum studs for his piercings, and Jonghyun a remote control flying helicopter-something he suspected he would use a lot.
Unwrapping presents doesn’t take them long, especially since they didn’t leave the fans’ presents for Christmas day like they had last year. After exchanging gifts, he helps Kibum in the kitchen to make them lunch while Jonghyun, Minho, and Jinki go out to play with Jonghyun’s new helicopter. Soon delicious smells permeate the dorm and Taemin can’t wait to eat his and Kibum’s creations. When the last dish is finished and set on the table, Taemin offers to fetch the other three. He finds them still trying to set the toy up and, judging by the frustration on Minho’s face as Jonghyun holds the device and Minho reads the instruction booklet, are quite clearly failing.
“How long have they…?”
“Since we got out here,” Jinki says with a laugh, slinging an arm around Taemin’s shoulders. Taemin shivers in his hold and he isn’t entirely sure if it’s from the cold-he hadn’t bothered with a jacket before coming out-or because he’s suddenly remembering the kiss from earlier that morning.
“Jonghyun hyung! Minho-yah! Food’s ready!” Taemin finally calls, too impatient to wait for them any longer.
They stomp their feet back up to the dorm, trying to knock the powdery flakes of snow from their boots. Kibum has finished setting up the rest of the table, adding plates, cups, chopsticks, and spoons for five places. Taemin rushes to get his boots off to get back to the kitchen and eat.
He takes his place and smiles at his hyungs, patiently waiting for Jonghyun to join them since he insisted on putting his helicopter away first. As Taemin looks around the table, Jinki and Kibum are conversing quietly to each other, Minho is twirling one of his chopsticks between his long fingers, and Taemin breathes out slowly, relishing in the comfort of being surrounded by his friends. He still wishes he could be with his parents and his brother, but he realizes, eyeing the assortment of food on the table and his smiling friends, that he’s already with his family.
Then Jonghyun breaks the tranquil moment, stomping in from the living room and loudly exclaiming, “Guys, we never changed the light bulb at the top of the tree!”