#christmas seventeen

[ssentimentals]

Hi 👋🏻. Can i request for jeonghan + 29? Love all your works btw. Thank you!

hi, sweets! aw, thank you so much! 💜 thanks for the request, hopefully you will like it, let me know!

29. kiss as a promise (yoon jeonghan)

jeonghan sneezes loudly and proceeds to melt into a puddle with a forlorn expression on his face. he's a perfect picture of dying man (if men could die from simple flu and a bit high temperature) with his running nose, coughs that sound like he's about to spit his lungs out and constant sleepiness.

'hannie, baby, come sit down,' you say quietly, carefully lowering bowl with chicken soup on the table next to the couch. he sneezes again and looks so depressed that you can't help but chuckle fondly. 'god, what a drama queen. you're lucky you're cute.'

'you only love me for my looks,' he half-whispers, half-groans with his gone voice, slowly sitting up. 'it's a fake love, i see.'

you raise your eyebrow, unimpressed. 'if you can be sassy to me then i guess you have the energy to go cook yourself,' you mutter in a jokingly offended way. but then jeonghan coughs, looking like it's tearing him apart and your heart soars. 'here, take the spoon. you want tea now or a bit later?'

'later,' he sniffs and takes the spoon but then gives up, placing it back on the table and leaning on the couch. 'i know i promised to get well soon but i honestly don't feel like i'll get better till weekends.'

'baby, please eat,' you sit next to him, feeling up his forehead for any fever. finding none, you sigh in relief. 'and why till weekends?'

he stares at you with a dead glare, which is honestly impressive considering he can barely keep his eyes open lately. 'hello? you, me, that christmas fair you've dying to go?'

'hm? oh!' you light up at the mention of the fair but then shrug it off, smiling. 'it's no biggie, hannie. is this why you are rushing with the whole healing thing?'

he nods, looking very serious suddenly. 'i promised to you that we'll go. and we'll go.'

you talked his ears off about this fair in another town since it was announced in the beginning of november. excitement in your eyes is impossible to ignore and even harder not to cave in; jeonghan readjusted his whole work schedule just to be able to drive you to that christmas fair, because seeing you happy and making you happy are top two things in his priority list. catching this stupid flu was not part of the plan but he's determined to fight it and bring you to that fair because he promised.

'it's really not that important,' you say gently, rubbing his shoulder. 'the main thing is for you to get better, jeonghan.'

'do you want to go to that fair?' jeonghan asks, struggling not to cough. at your nod, he nods himself. 'if you want it then it's important. and i promised so-'

'no baby, really, it's okay-'

he shushes with you a kiss. and he knows he's sick but you've been with him for the past three days and didn't catch anything, so he thinks he's safe. he's also missed kissing you, so that's a perfect opportunity. he pulls back, smiling at the sight of your blush. 'i promised, doll. and i always keep my promises and this one won't be any different.'

[stayteezdreams]

Snowed In

Plot: You and Seungcheol head to a cabin in the woods to prepare for a winter get away with the others. But plans change when a storm hits and the two of you get snowed in together.

Pairing: S.Coups | Seungcheol x Gn!Reader

Warnings: Mildly suggestive content (kissing)

Words: ~2.3k

Worry sat heavy in your chest as you stared out at the heavy snowstorm outside of your cabin. Seungcheol chatted nervously in the background with the owner of the cabin you were renting. From their conversation you knew there was a chance the power could shut off at any moment. You hoped you would have the heat running long enough to warm the large house before that happened.

You and Seungcheol made the decision to come to the cabin a day before the others so you could get everything ready for your winter vacation. You arrived late in the day due to traffic delays, and now the sun had set and the storm was getting stronger each moment. Now, you feared the trip might not happen at all.

You had texted the others, telling them to stay put until you knew how the weather would play out. The storm could last the night and be over by the morning, or you could be stuck the whole weekend, just the two of you. You felt anxious butterflies fill your stomach at the thought.

Seungcheol groaned as he hung up the phone. "This place apparently doesn't have a backup generator so lets get some stuff ready in case the power does go out."

You nodded as you ran to unpack and fetch any light sources and blankets you could find. Eyeing the small stack of wood by the fireplace you bit your lip.

"I hope that's enough wood."

Seungcheol looked over as he heard you, his own chest tightening with worry as he saw how small the pile of wood was. He knew with how bad the snow outside was, there was no way to make it to the storage shed to get more.

"We'll be alright." He said encouragingly, and you smiled at him in response with a nod, hoping he was right.

After you brought out some candles and flashlights, as well as locating all of the blankets in case you would need them, you made your way to your room to unpack your things.

Now alone in your own room, your thoughts began to wander. Not too far, but instead to the man you heard rummaging a few rooms away.

It wasn't a secret that you had feelings for Seungcheol. Not to you, not to the others, and not even to Seungcheol himself. You also knew he had feelings for you. But it was an unspoken agreement that nothing would happen.

It was never discussed, but you two knew each other well enough to know you were both afraid it wouldn't end well. Not to mention the fear of it accidentally becoming public. There was too much to worry about for you to really commit to a relationship, so one never formed.

Sometimes you regretted it, well, a lot of times you regretted it. And honestly, if he made a move, or confessed you wouldn't run from it. You'd be more than happy to be with him, but you had decided to never make the first move. There would be more risk for him in the relationship, so you left the final decision to him, as much as it hurt sometimes.

Your body froze as the lights flickered. You eyed them suspiciously as the wind outside blew harder, almost shaking the window panes.

"Uh-oh." You muttered to yourself, your heart dropping as the lights shut off, leaving you in pitch darkness.

Feeling around blindly for your phone, you had the sudden realization that you left it downstairs in the kitchen.

"Damn!" You cursed as you made your way slowly to the door.

"Seungcheol?" You called out, but heard nothing in response, sending an uneasy chill down your spine. "Where did you go?" You muttered as you stepped out into the hall.

As you collided with something you yelped out, as you felt an arm wrap around your waist to steady you.

Seungcheol's voice instantly soothed your alarm as he chuckled "Its just me!"

"God, Seungcheol! Why didn't you respond when I called out to you!"

"Sorry, I was trying to get my phone from my pocket."

"I left mine downstairs."

He chuckled softly under his breath as you suddenly saw his face light up in front of you as he turned on his phone screen.

Your breath caught as you realized just how close he was. Your hand was flat on his chest from when you collided. His eye caught yours and you saw a smirk playing at his lips, causing you to remove your hand and step away as his hand fell away from your waist.

His hand took hold of yours as he turned towards the staircase with a smile, "Let's go downstairs."

You followed him closely, stepping just behind him as you stayed in the light of his phone.

Once you retrieved your own phone, the two of you gathered in the living room, a faint white glow filled the room as the bright snow from outside reflected eerily into the cabin.

You could hear the faint padding of snow hitting the window among the howling wind as the storm raged on outside. Sitting on the couch, you leaned against the back as you looked out the window, seeing nothing but the violent swirls of white.

"It didn't get too warm in here but at least it's not freezing." He muttered as he turned on a few small lantern lights. After he lit a few candles he settled beside you.

You nodded as you hoped the temperature wouldn't drop too quickly. Putting your chin on the back of the couch, you stared out into the snow, unaware of Seungcheol's gaze as he studied you.

The dim light from the room lit up your face enough for him to see you clearly. He rested his head on his arm as he watched you watch the storm. He was filled with nervous excitement the whole way to the cabin. A feeling he was used to when he was around you.

Now, as you were snowed-in together, just the two of you, these feelings heightened. He could sense the tension of unspoken feelings between you, and the urge to act on said feelings grew stronger each moment.

He felt his heart jolt when you suddenly looked over at him, and smiled when your eyes met.

"I'm hungry."

He chuckled at the sudden profession, "Well we've got plenty of snacks. And if we make a fire we can heat the water for some noodles."

You hummed, "Snacks first, noodles later, I don't want to to use up all the wood." He nodded in agreement as he made his way to the kitchen to grab the snacks the two of you had brought.

As time passed slowly, the temperature in the cabin dropped, leaving you two no choice but to start a fire. You sat on some blankets close to the fireplace, as you set up the kettle. The warm glow and crackling wood, cast a comforting atmosphere around the cabin, and you momentarily forgot about the harsh storm outside.

"This is kind of fun." You admitted as you prepped some hot chocolate.

Seungcheol grinned as he prepped the noodles, "It is isn't it?"

You giggled softly and Seungcheol felt his chest clench. The longer the two of you were here together the harder it was for him to hold back. He knew he was tired of resisting his feelings, and avoiding a relationship, but he wasn't sure how to bring it up.

Earlier when you had run into him in the darkness, he didn't want to let you go, and now he wanted to hold you close and keep you warm. But would that be too much too soon?

Your heart rate began to rise as Seungcheol scooted closer to you, his knee pressing against yours. You distracted yourself by making two cups of hot chocolate, as you tried not to focus on his gaze as he watched you.

Handing him his cup, you noticed how he took the cup from you, his own hands caressing yours almost purposefully. The two of you sipped on your drinks in silence, before a sudden chill crawled over you.

Seungcheol didn't miss the shiver that ran through you, and immediately scooted closer, his shoulder now against yours. Taking the blanket he had draped over himself, he draped part of it across your back so you were both wrapped in it.

Your eyes shot over to him at his actions and he smiled almost teasingly, "I don't want you to get cold."

"I can just get another blanket." You mumbled out of nervousness as you gestured at the pile of blankets behind you.

Seungcheol glanced at them before he met your eyes again, "But I like this more."

He didn't miss the slight widening of your eyes as he said this and he smiled, his eyes glancing to your lips almost instinctively.

Looking back to the fire he cleared his throat. "I'm kind of glad this happened."

"You are?"

He nodded his head, "I miss spending time with you, just the two of us I mean."

Your heart was pounding heavily in your chest, as your gut clenched. "It has been a while hasn't it?"

Silent tension hung between you. You both knew the reason you hadn't spent time alone was due to your mutual feelings. The two of you were mutually and unconsciously avoiding each other for fear of giving in to your attraction.

"Do you miss it?"

You nodded in response and he smiled softly before nodding once and returning to the noodles he had been preparing before.

As you ate, little conversation passed between you. Both of you were lost in your own thoughts about each other as you both silently struggled with the same fears and reservations.

You timidly set your empty noodle pot aside as you felt Seungcheol look over at you. When he continued to stare, not looking away, you slowly looked over.

The look in his eyes made your breath catch. His gaze was soft, yet intense, and you could feel the emotion pooling behind his eyes.

Slowly, he reached over, and placed his hand on your cheek. "You're cold." He mumbled softly.

As he suddenly stood up, allowing the blanket that was draped across the two of you to drop, you stared at him in confusion. Picking up the blanket it, he draped it over you before he began grabbing the other blankets and lying them down on the couch.

Is he going to sleep out here?

"What are you doing?"

Seungcheol didn't respond as he grabbed some pillows and placed them on the couch as well.

You watched with a curious gaze as Seungcheol walked over to you before reaching down and scooping you into his arms.

"Wha-!"

You wrapped your arms around his neck as he lifted you, alarmed at his sudden actions.

He smirked as he plopped you down on the couch. You blinked in surprise as you stared up at him as he squeezed into the couch beside you before pulling you into his arms.

"We should sleep here. It will be warmer out here by the fire."

You attempted to get out some words, but apart from some bewildered sounds, nothing came out. Seungcheol grinned before he adjusted himself so he was lying face to face with you.

"We?" You finally muttered.

He nodded his head, grin remaining. Grabbing a blanket, he covered the two of you before he continued to stare at you.

"I'll put some more wood on the fire before we go to sleep but-...but for now I just want to stay like this."

As you stared at each other for a moment in silence, he slowly brought his hand to your face and caressed your cheek.

"I don't think I can do it anymore."

"Do what?"

"Avoid this. Avoid us. The reasons we had before... don't make sense to me now. I just want-"

As he paused with a soft sigh, your heat skipped a beat.

"Want what?"

"I just want you. I want to be with you."

Reaching up, you took his hand from your face and held it. You fiddled with his hand as you thought fr a moment. Seungcheol's chest tightened as he prepared himself for you to list of reasons why it wasn't a good idea.

"I want to be with you too."

His eyes bulged out for a moment as you spoke, making you giggle.

"You do?"

"Of course I do, you knew that well enough didn't you?"

"Well, I mean, yeah, but I- I meant I want to be with you now. Forget the reasons and excuses why we shouldn't, I don't care about those, I want to be with you."

You smiled as you nodded, "That's what I meant too."

He paused as he processed your words, and with a sudden boost of elation he leaned forward, pressing his lips against yours as he pulled you closer by the waist.

After a moment of surprise, you melted into the kiss as your hand gripped his shirt. He deepened the kiss with a sense of desperation, as he finally gave into his desires.

A sudden wave seemed to rush over the house as the lights turned on and the cabin came back to life.

You both pulled away with alarm before you locked eyes and chuckled. You hadn't noticed the snow outside was only soft snowfall now. As heat began blowing through the house Seungcheol shook his head.

"That didn't last long."

You grinned a him as you cleared your throat softly. "Can we still stay out here?"

He grinned as he kissed you again, before peppering a few kisses on your cheek and neck.

"Yes, absolutely."

xx End xx

I didn't know how to end this lol. Hope you liked it! This was my first time writing for S.Coups

General Taglist: @otsilliak, @brattybunfornct, @bahng-chrizz, @otakutrash669

-Taglist Form-

[binnistar]

svt lq christmas headers 🎄

[hoshingi]

HOSHI, WOOZI, DINO Tiktok Update

[arkust]

％ ﹙🎄﹚ icons natalinos . . . ! — psd by @colour-source

[winterfleursblog]

Oh baby, but it's cold outside

☆ Genre: Fluff

☆ Warnings: Just over fatigue !

☆ Pairing: Idol!Seungkwan x SoloArtist!reader

Reader is a solo artist, Seungkwan is ... Seungkwan. They met through promotions and being under the same entertainment. The two have been dating for three months now, but it seems like the reader still feels afraid of being vulnerable with him. These all changed due to a hectic day that 'took out' every last bit of energy from the reader.

It's just a week before Christmas, but it didn't feel like it—you were still finishing promotion videos, recording special covers, and the like. Although doing this was something you enjoyed, you can't help but wish for rest ... even just for a day.

"Y/n, our last two takes are in 3 minutes, let's get prepared now" said your manager, quickly waking you up from your half-asleep state. Work began to be tiring after a month without breaks, and if your manager weren't watching, you would've escaped and went to your boyfriend's filming location to hug him as you listen to his daily stories.

Things took a turn for the worse. What you thought was a 5-minute take turned into 30 minutes.

"Try holding this flavor instead"

"Hmm... wouldn't this poster be better"

"Let's try a different dress, one that would suit the new flavor's vibe better"

The company you're endorsing for came unprepared, and now you had to deal with it. Although your inner monologue has been spitting out curses since they started making sudden changes, you remained calm and professional on the outside. Sooner after the shoot was done, it was time to go home to the one you loved the most.

You absolutely adore Seungkwan. If you could give him the universe, you would. And so it became a hobby of yours to care for him each day; make sure he never leaves on an empty stomach, pamper him with the things he needs when he's in a hectic schedule, and even massage his head when he's exhausted. None of those felt like chores to you, as they felt like privileges that God has given. Your love for your boyfriend was one that didn't expect anything in return.

However, your boyfriend loves you just as much as you do. He always tries to take you home safely by personally driving, and gives gifts (which he rarely does to others!).

This day had been a tiring one, and it has ended. Now all that's left is to go home and see the love of your life after war (a long day shooting).

After the 2-hour shoot, you open your phone to missed calls and unread messages from Seungkwan.

"Where are youuu?"

"Should I pick you up now?"

" :⁠-⁠[ "

Instantly, your face lights up.

"I'm sorry boo, schedule was tight, I couldn't read them earlier"

"I'm at XXX district, I'm about to go home, don't worry"

You pack your bags to set off to go home, 'til your phone vibrates again. Seungkwan has replied in an instant despite your hour-late reply.

"Okay, I'll come there :⁠^⁠) wait for me"

There it is again, your heart beating like crazy. Being practically half-asleep right now, you start wondering if you are dreaming; but thank the heavens, you aren't. A part of you wants to tell him not to come since it's already late and he too should get some sleep, but you yourself knew you couldn't go home at this state too.

While waiting for Seungkwan, your seniors pull you over and take you along.

"Hey, that's the last shoot for this month, let's go celebrate y/n"

"But—"

"Oh come on, don't be such a kill joy"

In a matter of seconds, you find yourself dragged outside in the snow. It took all the energy you got to let go and reject their offer.

"Sorry, I really can't right now"

And then came a chorus of sighs, but it was inevitable. If you drunk now, you'd probably wind up dead tomorrow.

Out in the cold, you could no longer think straight. "Should I go back inside?" but the building is far from you now. "Where could seungkwan be?" and he has just started driving by now. "How longer will my eyes stay awake?" and you're basically sleep walking right now.

It was useless, all you could do is walk back to the building or else you'd freeze to death. Half-asleep, you start making your way back to where you were before getting dragged. With your state right now, one wrong step and you'd stumble on the snow. You start waking yourself by slapping your face, which barely made a difference. Suddenly you hear the a familiar car horn—it was Seungkwan.

He got out of the car and waved his hand to you.

"Y/n~"

Ah, it's that cute smile coupled with his chubby cheeks that made you fall for him.

"Kwa—"

The thing you so feared of happening, finally happened. You stumbled on snow and are now like a kid trying to make a snow angel. You could hear Seungkwan's giggles getting louder as he runs towards you.

"HAHAHA— are you— HAHAHA— okay?"

"you need some rest, let's go home"

You look at him with a sarcastic smile as he helps you up. As he glances at your face, his mocking slowly turns into concern.

The moment you sat on the passenger seat, you fell asleep. It was just a 10-minute ride home and you could've just waited, but the land of the dreams were already pulling you in.

Soon, you woke up to the sudden feeling of stopping. The moment you opened your eyes, it wasn't your apartment through the window that you saw; rather, your boyfriend's front camera snapping photos. He was taking selcas of you together while you were asleep.

Seeing you open your eyes, he immediately stopped giggling while posing and hid his phone.

"I saw that"

"...sorry"

"I know you like my face so much, but can't you just wait until I wake up?"

There is it, your cocky tone that makes him flustered.

"Whatever...! We're home"

You step out of the car to battle again with your fatigue. Just like the usual night routine; half shower, change clothes, and the last thing—properly remove your makeup. They put on so much makeup on you earlier that it was so hard to remove. Thanks to 'that' company's indecisiveness, your makeup remover has now run out. With no options left, you go to Seungkwan's room.

"Kwan-ah, can I borrow your makeup remover?"

He pointed to where it is—just infront of the make up desk. His makeup desk was much grand compared to yours thanks to being an idol for longer, might as well remove your makeup in his room, too.

As you were removing your makeup, you were in your last straw—using up the last bits of energy and consciousness. The cold weather wasn't any help too, now that it is lulling you to sleep. Seungkwan was scrolling through his phone, but his attention was on you minutes later as you fell asleep on his desk.

"Aigo~ Y/n"

"You haven't finished yet, you'd irritate your skin if you sleep like that"

But his efforts were futile, you were already asleep.

He took matters to his own hands. Gently, he removed your makeup for you and cleaned up right after. Since you two sleep in different rooms (something YOU yourself wished for), Seungkwan was thinking whether or not to wake you up. A part of him felt scared of you getting uncomfortable sleeping in his bed, but another just wanted to cuddle with you and adore you as you sleep.

Amid all of this thinking, he didn't realise that his shuffling woke you up.

"Oh, sorry, did I fell asleep?"

"I'll go back now, goodnight baby"

It was one of the rare moments you were vulnerable, and he knew 'cause you started calling him "baby." Now flustered and desperate to adore you as you sleep, he started retaliating.

"Ah~ Why don't you stay here for the night? C'mon, you can't even walk"

At this point, you had no sense of rationality left in you, so you just spouted out the purest of your thoughts

"But I sleep really noisy, and I don't want you to see me in the morning bare faced"

"But I want tooo~"

Seungkwan was acting like a lovesick boy, despite the fact that you two had been dating for 3 months now.

"And I...I'm shy...to sleep in the same bed as 'THE' Seungkwan"

"I promise I won't do anything weird!"

You suddenly blush

"I-I know! That's not what I meant!"

You started thinking of excuses to escape the situation when the real reason was just that your heart races every time he was near. The fangirl in you still can't believe that you're dating him, and will probably become very clingy if you slept on the same bed. With your drunken-like state because of fatigue, you made the stupidest excuse ever known.

"But... it's warmer in my room"

"Oh baby, but it's cold outside"

He himself can't believe he said such words, and is now a blushing mess.

"...I meant, it's cold on the way to your...room"

Great, now you can no longer resist.

You finally sigh in defeat and put your weight on him though a hug. He quickly understood this and helped you walk towards the bed. The second you laid down, you start wondering why his bed was much comfortable than yours. Was it the matress? The sheets? Or was it simply him being there?

Those thoughts were dismissed once he started poking your cheeks and stroking your hair.

It was the first time in your life someone not your parents has done so, and you could no longer fight your intrusive thoughts. Suddenly you hug him tightly and act all clingy. He reciprocates anyways with a forehead kiss. You two are basically fools in love right now.

"I love you all the time, but I think I love you more when you're like this"

He didn't realise that you were asleep already, and he was basically talking to himself. Still, he continued hoping that his teasing will he heard in your dreams.

"You can't even stay awake for a whole minute, how can I trust you with 20 steps to your room?"

"Ah, you've been overworking again, I told you, you aren't going to lose popularity just because you haven't done a comeback in half a year!"

"Really, you're so stubborn"

"...and I love it, too"

A few moments later, he also drifted to sleep, and whole night was just you clinging to him like some sort of koala. He enjoyed this, though, and will now coax you everyday into cuddling with him until you both fall asleep.

Extras ; [the next day] !

The next day, he woke up first, and did what he's good at—taking photos of sleeping people. This time around, though, you didn't catch him. When you woke up, he was wearing a grin that looked like it told a thousand words. Was it a cocky, embarrassed, or smitten grin?

Your thoughts weren't composed yet right now, but as soon as you realised you were sleeping on the same bed, you sit up and panic.

"W-Why am I sleeping here?? Did I do anything crazy? Oh God"

Seungkwan giggled a bit at your actions, but immediately calmed you down by giving you a recap of what happened a few hours ago—just that, it's his version now.

"Well, you were soo tired and you basically wanted some cuddles from the most handsome man in existence, and so you asked me kindly if I could shower you with love. I didn't mind doing it at all since you asked nicely."

And there it is, he's starting to get cocky again. Luckily, you remembered last night because of his twisted story.

You were about to protest until his phone switched on for the morning alarm, and you saw his lock screen to be a collage of sleeping faces. What's worse? They're all pictures of you.

He tried to hide it but it was too late.

"Hm? What's that?"

"... Nothing ...."

Since he was caught red-handed anyways, he used it instead to tease you.

"Ah, how cute, I got a sleeping koala with me~ hehehe"

This obviously was embarrassing for you and it required drastic measures.

"Kwan-ah ... what do you want?"

Your tone was serious, and that took him aback.

"Hm? ... What I want...?"

"The latest American-style store or the hamburger shop down the road ... you name it..."

"Why?"

"...in exchange for ... changing your lock screen"

He suddenly burst out into laughter and started getting all demanding.

"Hmm... can I have both?"

You look at him with a defeated expression

"Well, I have two versions of the lockscreen, can't have one showing randomly, right?"

With your sleeping face getting exposed to the other members of seventeen on the line, you just follow his request. He ends up paying for the food anyways and turns the food hunt into a date.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hello I AM ALIVE AGAIN ON TUMBLR but now writing for Seungkwan 😄 This fic is not proofread or what, PLEASE BEAR WITH ME !! thank you 😊🌸

[nayaaatv]

svt with guitarist s/o!

✰ ; pure fluff and maybe crack if u squint

warnings ; none (?)

wc ; 1.2k ♡

a/n ; this lowk makes no sense but ok! anyways im back >3<

[ members : ot13 ]

⋆｡˚ SEUNGCHEOL [승철]

; stop, he's the cutest. he finds it so hot like oh my god. watch him instantly pull out his phone when you say you feel like playing. if you ever decided to play him a song as a gift or something he will 100% start crying. he'll be tearing up flexing to his members and family 😭 oh and he definitely bought you like a custom guitar pick with your initials and cute lil doodles on em :>

⋆｡˚ JEONGHAN [정한]

; finds it super cool. he'll ask you to teach him how to play like you do, and then proceed to tease you in the process. he's a handful, but he's your handful. he says its because he wants to be better than you at playing, but its definitely because he wants you to do that cliche where you put your hands ontop of his while you strum the guitar together. not to mention his head spinning like crazy everytime you do seriously teach him how to play. he's always buying you stickers to decorate your guitar with and they're always so cute and funny. and lastly, he's constantly flexing about your talent. "yeah, they play the guitar!! theyre super cool right? right???" + spams the gc with recordings of you playing.

⋆｡˚ JOSHUA [조슈아]

; finds it super cool 2. always recommending you songs to practice or just play in general. yk joshua's happy shocked face? yea he gets that face everytime you play a song from his playlist (ahem... yk what song im talking about). he'll start singing and everything, most of the time it just forms into a 2 hour singing session. its just a super intimate moment for you both :(( he loves it sm, always admiring the face you make everytime you're super into the music.

⋆｡˚ JUN [준]

; he 100% thinks its super hot. like stop his knees get weak everytime he sees you playing or if you play infront of him. your skills literally lull him to sleep, when he really cant sleep when he's on vacation or on tour he'll literally spam call you in the middle of the night to play you a song so he can go to bed peacefully, and he does. "maybe it isn't the song playing, it could be the person playing it" -- like he will suddenly get the urge to kiss you when you're holding your guitar its so funny LMAOOOO

⋆｡˚ SOONYOUNG [순영]

; your biggest fan actually. endless praises left and right. goes absolutely insane when you tell him about a song you just finished learning recently. spams the gc with recordings of you playing 2. if you ever managed to learn his songs or like.. horangi power, he will SPRINT AROUND to find a microphone and sing along + posts a video of it everywhere (w ur permission ofc). if you ever had a gig or were performing with your band somewhere, he will be horanghae-ing in the crowd, always ♡

⋆｡˚ WONWOO [원우]

; he doesn't show it much, but seriously adores you so much when you play :'). especially when he's reading or doing any silent activity before going to bed, he always finds himself smiling and forgetting about the book as soon as your beautiful melodies start to play. baby actually sleeps like a baby afterwards. + he always cleans your guitar every once in a while when you're not home or when it starts looking a but dusty to him. "it makes me sneeze" well, it does, but i think we all know its 99% because he doesn't want you getting allergies.

⋆｡˚ JIHOON [지훈]

; lowkey nags you about it 24/7. "can you play this song?" - "you know how to play that?" - "wowowowow". again if you ever learned one of his songs he'll start praising you furiously and recording you like a mom at a dance recital. asks you if you could make acoustic covers with him hehe + helps you make a WHOLE SONG with his producer skills and everything. either way he's super proud of you. he's just so cute <3

⋆｡˚ MINGHAO [徐明浩]

; he's calm about it, but also finds it very cool and attractive. he does indeed also record like a mom. (im starting to feel like they'll all do this). his heart absolutely melts when he sees you so happy with your guitar. if you left it alone with him he'll protect it with his life, he's like cleaning around the place so nothing accidentally falls on it or something. he just really likes seeing you play, cause from his perspective, you're an absolute angel when you play. he loves it sm, he loves how you look so focused and happy :(((( he wants to AND WILL protect you and that guitar forever.

⋆｡˚ MINGYU [민규]

; he's on his knees, okay one knee. but to be honest i think he always forgets you know how to play and gets super surprised when you show him or tell him you do. AND LEGIT FOLDS EVERYTIME YOU DO. "WHAAATT WOAAHHHH" and like mumbled praises every 2 seconds, as if this isn't the nth time you've played infront of him. he's gonna give you those puppy eyes when he asks you to play one of his songs yk, and when you do he'll be so mesmerized like a baby playing peekaboo for the first time 😭

⋆｡˚ SEOKMIN [석민]

; he really wants to like do a duet with you, but despite his energetic and outgoing personality he's too shy to ask you ㅜㅜ. HE'S JUST SO AMAZED BY YOU YK?? he's like hoping you'll get the hint someday, but if he's inpatient he'll just secretly ask the company to email you or your band (if you have one) to do a duet or cover with him, but anyways he really likes this musical skill of yours. and supports every decision you decide to do with it :)

⋆｡˚ SEUNGKWAN [승관]

; ALSO TOO SHY TO ASK YOU TO DUET W HIM. but like he does it eventually, i also feel like (if you had one) he'd get along with your band well. like he'll remind you when its someones cats birthday like LMAOOO he's so cute stop. he'll go to every single one of your gigs too (if you had one 2). but if you played privately or if it was just a hobby he'd be just as supportive !!! he'll make you banners and everything what a cutie ㅠㅠ

⋆｡˚ VERNON [버논]

; also forgets that you know how to play, but is fully entertained when he finds you playing or atleast practicing. somehow manages to end up talking about your skills everytime he hears someone talking about bands or guitars like LMAO. imagine him at a fansign, the fan in question is talking about how shes taking guitar lessons so she can play one of their songs, and then vernon accidentally reveals your relationship by saying "oh, my s/o plays the guitar!! theyre really good, you should check them out!" and then he doesn't notice until like 5 mins later. LMAOOOO i love him

⋆｡˚ CHAN [찬]

; he thinks you're super cool 😖 like actually he'll get so nervous and blushy infront of you everytime someone brings it up or when you pull out your guitar. he'll legit start stuttering and everything he's so adorable help me. he definitely flexes to his friends and family too. ㅠㅠ♡

[i-uranus]

– natal kpop¹ repost ⁚ icons, 23 icons (2 matchs)´¸ ♡ psd

[miabebe]

Christmas With Seventeen

Scenarios of what I think Christmas season will be like with the Seventeen members :)

A/n - this is my first time writing fluff, I don't do fluff, like ever. Guess I'm in a mood this holiday season. Mild suggestive if you squint hehe. It's not proof read, specially since I'm a day late with this lol, will fix the tenses and mistakes later, sorry!

Seungcheol - Christmas Homebody

Seungcheol absolutely loves Christmas. He would be so excited the days leading up to it. He loves accompanying you to shop for decorations (of course he makes sure to pay for every last thing). He loves noticing even the small things you look and smile at so he can buy and gift them to you (the man truly spoils you). He loves watching you decorate the Christmas tree and loves it even more when you ask him to help put the ornaments up where you can't reach.

But the colder it gets, he turns into a homebody, preferring to stay in rather than going out, like he promised he would this year. As compensation, he obediently sits and binge watches your favourite rom coms (that he too obviously loves and secretly cries through). What he loves most is when the two of you cuddle under the sheets by the fire place, in a way that allows him to place soft kisses behind you ear time and again. This was all he ever wanted.

Jeonghan- Christmas Adventurer 

Jeonghan hates the winter cause the cold is truly not his best ally but when it comes to an adventure, he's always down. Jeonghan loves making precious memories so taking you to the skii cabin that he used to go to as a child is just another way for him to make a great memory even better. (Plus, he'd also get to show off his mad skills on the slopes). That being said, the man still hates the cold so do expect the mornings to start with a lot of never ending whining of wanting to stay in bed, wrapped up with you.

Once you manage to drag him out though, drowning him in thick layers of clothes, he's unstoppable and a totally different man - excited, mischievous, hurling snowballs at you, tackling you into a snow fight filled with kisses and giggles. In the evening, when the whole family gathers in the lounge for a lego building competition, he's his most serious self, and you watch him, smiling to yourself over a hot cup of chocolate.

Joshua- Christmas Dinner Host 

Shua is truly a people's person. He's always celebrated Christmas quite traditionally given his childhood in the US. For him, its all about family and company so he's definitely down to host a Christmas dinner in his house. There's Secret Santa, drunk friends loudly singing carols and everyone is just having a good time. He doesn't like watching you spend so many long and tiring hours in the kitchen cooking up a feast so his dinners are always a potluck.

Oh and of course, there's always a dress code - Joshua needs a little madness in his life so costumes is where he lets himself get crazy. Last year, everyone had to dress up in their ugliest Christmas sweater and this year too he's surely up to not good, you just don't know what yet. What you do know, is that nearing midnight, once he kicks everyone out, he'll come back and throw himself onto you in the bed, kissing you softly before the two of you fall asleep, tired but happy.

Jun - Christmas Dancer

Christmas isn't really a huge deal for Jun. He's just happy to get a few days off to celebrate some festivities and spend some time with you. Come Christmas he's taking you out to your favourite restaurant which he reserved weeks ago. After that, he takes you for a surprise - a night of salsa dancing downtown. The two of you dance for hours, laughing and spinning away. He loves watching you move in the dress you've been dying to wear, stealing little kisses whenever he can. He can also see all those other men glance at you more than often but he doesn't care - He knows you only have eyes for him.

At the end of the night, when your feet cannot take the heels anymore, he offers to give you his shoes which you promptly reject, it would be too cold for him. So instead, he decides to carry you till the train station on his back, your arms tightly wrapped around him, only regretting his decision when you start playfully whispering graphic and inappropriate things in his ear.

Hoshi - Unconventional Christmas

Hoshi doesn't follow trends, he sets them. For him it's all about standing out, making new traditions, thinking out of the box. That's why there's an upside down Christmas tree and Christmas gloves instead of stockings in your house. Though there are some (cringey) traditions he strictly follows like wearing matching pajamas while video calling both your families. Of course he was  disappointed when you rejected his tiger pajama idea yet again but he was still happy to wear the red and green ones you bought.

He also likes to sit you on the kitchen counter and cook something you like, definitely with your instructions and guidance. When you clean up for the night, surprisingly, he's not giving you company. Instead, you discover, he's busy building a blanket fort in the middle of your living room, filling it with pillows, fairy lights and a mini projector. You're not really sure what movie you watched that night. Not with the two of you busy with hands roaming around each other amidst the sheets.

Wonwoo - Christmas is all about You

For Wonwoo, any holiday is a good opportunity for him to engage in some of his more favourite activities like gaming for hours on the end. But he knows how much you love Christmas so this holiday is entirely yours, he'll do whatever you want. This year you dress him up to match your outfit and take him to the Christmas market, roaming from stall to stall, dragging him excitedly. Not only does he sweetly follow you, carrying all the excessive shopping you've done, he also makes it a point to capture every reaction of yours on that camera of his.

His favourite photo is probably the one of you looking up at the night sky in awe at the first snow of the year - you look so damn beautiful, he can just keep watching you for hours on the end. When he notices you slightly shivering, he wraps you in his jacket, pulling you close. The soft kiss you give him on his nose gives him all the warmth he needs.

Woozi - Christmas at work

Christmas for Woozi doesn't necessarily mean a holiday. Of course the company gave him the week off but he has deadlines to meet. On Christmas day though, he mentally prepares himself to leave earlier than usual but you know, like always, he'll get too immersed in his work and forget the time. You decide to bring Christmas to him instead so when he wakes in his studio on Christmas morning, you're already there, decorating the place, earning his fond smile.

The two of you spend hours there, you watching him work and him making you listen to some of his tracks in progress. He loves the way your eyes shine when you listen to his songs, that's why you find yourself being pulled into his lap, lips trapped in a deep kiss. When he pulls away, much to your surprise, he asks to head back home. He was serious when he decided to wrap up his work earlier than usual - He wants nothing more than to be with you, in the peace of your home, alone.

Seokmin - Handmade Christmas

Seokmin loves the little Christmas traditions you follow - buying a new ornament for the tree every year, making your very own Christmas wreath and baking that delicious log cake you always make without fail. This year he wants to switch things up a bit so he's been going to classes for a while now, learning pottery and clay modelling secretly. He gifted you the most beautiful handmade coffee mug for Christmas (knowing your habit of having a cup first thing in the morning) but he has more in mind - he wants the two of you to sit together and make this year's new ornament for the tree.

He guides you, teaching you patiently but also laughing at your little mishaps and failings. The lesson ends with a new angel figurine hanging on the tree and the two of you smothered with clay and paint on the floor under it, laughing against each others lips. It makes him all the more happier when you slide him a scarf that you made, after weeks of secret knitting classes.

Mingyu - Christmas Cooking

Of course Mingyu is the most excited about the food and booze when it comes to Christmas. He's been working on his own batch of cherry wine for weeks now and wow does it taste amazing. He's also got some mulled wine that he started making, but that's for after dinner. Speaking of dinner, he loves switching up the menu every year and on this year's list are mostly desserts, which means hours of baking together. He absolutely loves the little icing and decorations you've done on the gingerbread cookies - that crazy creative side of yours always amuses him.

Obviously he's also made a huge Christmas playlist and is blasting them on the speakers through the day. He's also randomly pulling you into the living room for a dance, making sure the two of you somehow, end up under the mistletoe so he can sneak in a few mandatory kisses. It's only when you're both slightly tipsy and settling into the couch for the night that he considers it to be a successful day.

Myungho - Artsy Christmas

Well, if there's a new exhibition in town, of course Myungho was going to take a look. Except, the last day was exactly at the time his year end break started, which meant he only just missed the chance to see it. When he messaged the organisers that he was sad to have missed their show and would love to catch them next year, they immediately responded saying they were willing to open the exhibition one more night, just for him. And you too of course.

That's how on Christmas evening, the two of you found yourself having a little museum date, with the whole space all to yourself. For a while he walked around excitedly talking about the history and artists of various pieces but the night eventually ended with some horribly inaccurate but hilarious impressions of paintings. Safe to say, the both you have new wallpapers on your phone now - a picture of him kissing you in front of the painting of a lady who looks mortified.

Seungkwan - Christmas with Family

You were pleasantly surprised when Seungkwan surprised you with 2 plane tickets to go back and see you family this holiday. He was familiar with your family through phone calls and video chats but he still hadn't met them in person and you weren't sure if Christmas was the right time for that considering your whole extended family would be home. You hoped for the best as the two of you got home, but honestly, there could be nothing better than this.

He fit into your family perfectly -  everyone loved him, they were always laughing when he was around, even the family dog seemed to always want to sit by him. Your favourite moment though was watching him sitting in the middle of your many nieces and nephews, reading them a whole bunch of Christmas tales. When he looked up and smiled at you, you sent all the kids off for dinner, pulling him for a deep kiss before softly suggesting the two of you go off to start a family of your own.

Vernon - Christmas Overseas

Vernon didn't think Christmas would turn out like this -  Flying into Paris on the Christmas morning, attending the brand event in the afternoon and the after party at night - it was not a part of his plan at all. The only good thing that came out if it was that you agreed to join him. He was glad the two of you had a chance to fly in a private plane early in the morning. And that you were cozily sitting next to him along the run way. And that you looked so absolutely stunning in that black gown his team put you in for the after party.

That's why after he made an appearance and posed for a few pictures, he softly held your hand and lead you out, escaping silently from the paps. Then he called for a horse carriage fit for royalty, claiming you look like no less than one and sat, his arm wrapped around you safely. As you drove into the night, snow falling prettily, he left soft kisses on your neck, sighing that he was so happy you're here with him.

Dino - (Un)planned Christmas

Dino had been dying to get out of the country for days now. He knew you too were sick and tired of the cold and were in desperate need of a retreat. That's why for the year end holidays, he planned a trip to Greece, knowing it was on your bucketlist for years now. He made sure to plan the perfect vacation, the right blend of touristy things and relaxing activities.

On Christmas day though, he didn’t forget to give you his gift - a lovely blue dress for a special dinner. He also rented out that convertible you're always talking about (in the exact same colour as the dress he got you) and drove you into the sunset, blasting the mixtape that you gifted him. It was absolutely perfect, just the two of you in your own world until it began pouring rain, forcing him to quickly pull up into a nearby shelter. But when Dino watched you getting wet, enjoying the rain on your own as he tried to fix the hood of the convertible, he gave up and joined you, laughing as he ducked away from your water attack and pulled you into a long kiss.

[accirax]

Through the magic of an AU, Xander, Min, and Teruko make it through the night, avoid a Class Trial, and participate in the first motive alongside everyone else. Except, this time, the first motive is... a gift exhange?

(basically, if it wasn't clear, i'm drawing the drdt characters doing a secret santa exchange with each other, hopefully posting one interaction per day until christmas!)

[courtjester69420]

You know I don’t like the “Gale was groomed by Mystra” fanon narrative for so many reasons I can’t even go through them all but let’s set those aside for now and say: there’s already a clear grooming narrative in BG3 canon and it’s WYLL’S STORYLINE… you don’t have to make shit up and actively take away from Gale’s character and story…

[stayteezdreams]

Christmas For Two

Plot: You and Mingyu go a little over board with Christmas decorations.

Pairing: Kim Mingyu x Gn!Reader (established relationship)

Warnings: Nothing just some pure Christmas domestic-fluff!

Words: 0.8k

"Where should I put this?"

Turning at the sound of Mingyu's voice, you saw him standing in the entry way, reindeer decoration in hand.

"Uhh, fireplace mantle?"

"It's too full."

"Oh. Um. Kitchen window?"

"Full."

Letting out a soft chuckle, you hopped down from the chair you had been standing on as you placed cute penguin decorations on the top of a shelf.

Walking around the house, Mingyu following close behind, you inspected all the areas you had cleared for decorations, only to find each one fully decorated.

You let out a soft laugh and Mingyu looked at you with a soft gaze, a smile tugging at his lips.

"What?"

"I think we may have gone over board with the decorations."

As Mingyu looked around, taking it in, a smile slowly crept along his face. He scratched the back of his neck as he let out a low chuckle.

Reaching over, he grabbed your arm and gently pulled you into his arms. Looking at him curiously he met your eyes before grinning.

"I think we did too."

You giggled as you wrapped your arms around him and pressed your face to his chest.

As he squeezed you, he spoke softly into your hair, "I think we have a good excuse though."

"What's that?"

"It's our first Christmas living together, we just got excited."

You grinned as you nodded before looking up to meet his eyes. "That's true."

Grinning at you, he pressed a quick oft kiss to your lips, before placing another, slower and deeper kiss after.

"Maybe we should stop with the decorations though."

He chuckled before his eyes lit up a bit and a soft pout fell across this face. "But what about the lights?"

"Oh!"

You had forgotten about the lights. Looking around at the house, you hummed before getting an idea.

"That's fine, we can put them around the windows and up the staircase!"

Thinking for a moment he nodded happily as he pulled you into another tight hug, making you laugh into his chest as you struggled to breath for a moment.

Pushing him away with a laugh, he grinned happily at you before he took your hand and lead you to the table where the lights where laid out.

As Christmas music continued to play in the background, you and Mingyu strung lights around the house, even finding a few more places to put decorations.

"What about this one?" Mingyu asked as he picked up the final strand of lights.

"That's for the tree!"

His eyes lit up as he seemed to have forgotten about the tree.

"Oh yeah!" He chuckled making you giggle. "When are we gonna decorate the tree?"

"Well we gotta put it up first. Maybe we should take a break and eat, and then do it this evening?"

He nodded happily as the idea of food made him realize just how empty his stomach was after hours of decorating.

"What should we get?!" He asked as he ran off to get his phone.

As he disappeared around the corner, you watched him with a adoring gaze as your chest filled with a comforting warmth. You couldn't have been happier when you and Mingyu moved in together, but now that the holiday season was here, it felt so much more special.

Previously when you lived alone, you only put up a few decorations here and there, and putting up and decorating the tree by yourself only made you feel more alone.

But now, living with Mingyu, it felt like a reward, like you finally had a home. One you were sharing with someone who truly loved you.

"Y/n?"

You came back to reality as Mingyu waved his had in front of your face. You had gotten lost in thought staring at the twinkling Christmas lights around your window.

"Oh, what?"

He chuckled, "I asked what you wanted to eat."

"Oh" You laughed.

"Are you okay?"

His smile faded a little as worry started to form. You quickly nodded your head, "I'm fine! I just got lost in thought."

"About what?"

You smiled at him as he leaned forward to peck him on the cheek. "About how happy I am."

His smile slowly turned into a grin as his eyes seemed to sparkle. Wrapping you into another hug, he pressed his face into your neck.

"I'm happy too."

You wrapped your arms around his neck as you relished in his presence for a moment. Pulling away, you snatched his phone from his hand, making him chuckle.

Sitting on the couch, he settled behind you, wrapping his arm around your waist and resting his chin on your shoulder as you decided what to order for dinner.

The warmth you felt only grew as you and Mingyu turned your home into a Christmas wonderland that evening.

The large tree covered in lights and a variety of ornaments, the top of the tree donning a large star that Mingyu barely managed to get on as he almost fell into the tree.

Everything felt bright and warm and perfect. And the more you thought about it becoming tradition, the happier you became.

xx End xx

Just a quick bonus oneshot! Hope you liked it~

General Taglist: @otsilliak, @brattybunfornct, @bahng-chrizz, @otakutrash669

Seventeen Taglist: N/A

{Taglist Form}

[halfseoulco]

All My Love: A SEVENTEEN x Hogwarts AU

Published Wednesday, February 14th, 2024 — Happy Valentine's Day and, more importantly, happy Carat Day! Honestly, I really got attached to these versions of the SEVENTEEN members that I created for the Christmas AU, so I decided to continue their stories with what I hope is a cute series of events for our thirteen diamonds. ♡

As a refresher, here's some information before you start reading!

Word count: ~ 10,800

AU Ages:

Seventh years — Seungcheol, Jeonghan, Joshua, Junhui, Soonyoung

Sixth years — Wonwoo, Jihoon, Seokmin, Mingyu, Minghao

Fifth years — Seungkwan, Vernon, and Chan

AU Houses:

Gryffindor — Seungcheol, Soonyoung, Vernon, Chan

Ravenclaw — Wonwoo, Jihoon, Minghao

Hufflepuff — Junhui, Mingyu, Seokmin, Seungkwan

Slytherin — Jeonghan, Joshua

Description: It's Valentine's Day at Hogwarts and everyone has plans—or some things that go according to plan and some that don't. Romance is on the table for some, while others prefer to spend quality time with their friends—because all love is important. All you need to know is that you probably don't want to be Vernon.

Read “All My Love” on Ao3!

The Black Lake — February 14th (early evening)

"Hansol Vernon Chwe!"

The Gryffindor winced as his boyfriend's voice transcended octaves in his unbridled fury.

"You'd better have a good explanation for this!"

Gryffindor Fifth Year Boys' Dormitory — February 1st

"Vernon?"

The fifth year Gryffindor turned his head away from where he had been watching the rain fall outside the window to look at his oldest hyung over his shoulder.

"Oh, hey, hyung," he greeted him with a nod.

"Have you seen Seungkwan recently?" Seungcheol asked him, brow furrowed with concern.

"Um, not since last night," Vernon replied, face blank. "Why?"

The older Gryffindor sighed, sitting next to him on the bench seat in front of the window.

If not even his boyfriend had seen him recently, then maybe Seungkwan's situation was far more serious than anyone realized.

"I'm worried about him," Seungcheol admitted. "He doesn't really seem like himself. Not anywhere near a quarter as fussy as he normally is about everyone and everything." He glanced at Vernon out of the corner of his eye, noticing that he had gone back to facing the window. "You're usually attached at the hip, it's unusual that you haven't seen him at all today."

"Are you saying that I should know where my boyfriend is every minute of every day?" Vernon said tonelessly.

"No, that's not what I'm saying." Seungcheol tilted his head to one side, surveying him carefully. "I'm saying that as his best friend, you might know what's been going on with him."

The younger boy turned his head away.

"So you do know," Seungcheol said gently.

Vernon's shoulders tensed. He said nothing for a few moments, Seungcheol waiting patiently while he grappled with whether he should confide in the prefect or not.

Finally, his shoulders slumped.

"Last spring," he began, "one of Seungkwan's closest friends from home... passed away."

"I remember," Seungcheol said gravely. "That's why he was gone for a while."

"Yeah, he went back home to attend the funeral." Vernon sighed. "The friend... he was a Muggle... and obviously Seungkwan couldn't tell him that he was a wizard, so his friend thought that he had gotten a scholarship to attend some fancy boarding school in the UK. Seungkwan had been jumping through all kinds of hoops to stay in touch with him without giving himself away, getting letters sent by Muggle post... talking about classes that are taught at Muggle schools... They would hang out all summer when Seungkwan would go home after every end of term... but then..." Vernon rubbed at his nose furiously with the sleeve of his sweater, sniffling. "His friend was really unhappy and I think he missed Seungkwan a lot—"

"It's okay," Seungcheol stopped him. "You don't have to keep going."

Vernon nodded gratefully, wiping at his eyes.

"His birthday was last week," he said softly, "and Seungkwan hasn't been taking it very well. I feel like I should be doing something... more? Better? But he barely even talks to me, won't even look at me sometimes..." He finally looked up at Seungcheol, his eyes sparkling with tears. "Hyung, I don't know what to do. I feel like such a bad boyfriend."

Seungcheol inhaled deeply through his nose, his mind running through the memories he had of Seungkwan and Vernon, both back when they had been just friends and after they had gotten together. To anyone who didn't know the pair very well, it would seem like Seungkwan took care of Vernon in every way—because that was how his affection manifested itself—but their friends all knew that Vernon was Seungkwan's biggest supporter and that the Hufflepuff relied on his boyfriend more than anyone. At just fifteen, they had a connection deeper than most adults Seungcheol had met; and no one who saw them together could ever accuse Vernon of not being a good boyfriend.

Seungcheol exhaled heavily.

"You're not a bad boyfriend," he reassured Vernon. "The fact that you're worried about it this much is proof that you're not. All you need to do is let him know that you're here for him." He stood up, patting the younger on the shoulder. "Besides, Valentine's Day is coming up in a couple of weeks. Maybe come up with something that will really show him that he's not alone in this."

Astronomy Tower — February 14th (early afternoon)

"What took you so long?" Wonwoo asked, not taking his eyes off the book he was reading.

"I'm so sorry," Mingyu huffed, stuffing something into his school bag. "I got stopped by... Alice Pembroke... on my way up here." He dropped to the floor next to his best friend, chest heaving with exhaustion. Shoving his still-open bag away from him, he raked his fingers through his sweaty hair. "I didn't mean to be late."

"I know you didn't," the Ravenclaw said softly. "You have quite a lot of sweets in your bag," he observed, finally looking away from his book to peek inside the contents of Mingyu's school bag.

The Hufflepuff beater snorted.

"I would offer you some but after that one Gryffindor girl was sent Sugar Quills dipped in love potion, I've learned not to eat anything people give me on Valentine's Day," he muttered, zipping up his bag and leaning back against the wall, eyes closed. "It's all a bunch of nonsense anyway."

Wonwoo carefully folded the corner of the page he was reading before setting the book aside. He tried to remind himself that it wasn't because he felt inadequate and needed Mingyu to tell him that he was wrong about what he was going to say—he just wanted him to be happy. The possibility that his best friend was choosing to remain single so that he would always be able to hang out with him just didn't sit right with him, and he would make sure that Mingyu's love life no longer suffered, even if it meant he had to spend more time alone.

"You know, you don't have to keep turning down girls because of me," he said quietly.

Mingyu slowly straightened up, opening his eyes to stare at Wonwoo blankly. When he didn't say anything for a few moments, Wonwoo decided to elaborate.

"Every time I try to have this conversation with you, you refuse to talk about it," he pressed. "You like girls, or at least you liked the girls back home. I know that you want to fall in love—that you believe in love—but you've rejected every single girl that's been interested in you since we started at Hogwarts. It's okay, you know? I'm not going to become a recluse if you start going out with someone. I can take care of myself."

Mingyu continued to stare blankly at him, showing no sign that he was taking in anything that the Ravenclaw was saying. Irritated, Wonwoo waved his hand in his face.

"Is any of this getting across to you?" the usually laidback boy demanded.

Still not receiving an answer or any indication that Mingyu had processed anything he had just said, Wonwoo stood up and started gathering his things, trying not to be too aggressive about it. If Mingyu wanted to keep avoiding the subject, then he could do it by himself.

"Wha—wait, wait, wait!" Mingyu said hastily, lurching forward and tugging on his arm to stop him. "Don't leave! I... I'm not trying to be annoying on purpose, I just—" He cut himself off, exhaling through his teeth. "I don't really know how to explain it."

"Explain what?" Wonwoo asked, looking down at his best friend, who was still sitting on the floor.

"A lot of things," Mingyu replied, leaning back against the wall again, "but I promise you that I'm not turning down dates because I think that you can't function without me."

Now thoroughly embarrassed that he had even voiced that particular insecurity, Wonwoo hesitated for a moment before dropping his bag back on the floor and sitting back down next to him.

"I'm sorry I got upset," he murmured. "I just don't want to be the one holding you back from something that I know is important to you."

"You're right, it is important to me," Mingyu agreed, "but not right now." He tilted his head back, looking up at the ceiling of the Astronomy Tower. "It's funny... we're in our sixth year, we have one more year left after this before we have to go out into the world and decide what we want to do with our lives... and I still feel so... young."

"I mean... we are." Wonwoo looked up at the ceiling himself, eyes following the veins in the stone. "Sixteen is not old enough to really make any decisions, not even about girls."

"Right, so I don't really understand why everyone is trying to find their future spouses now. I know a lot of Pureblood families don't arrange their children's marriages anymore, but there are still a few Slytherins who are already bound to betrothal contracts! Betrothal contracts! In this day and age! Anyway..." Mingyu grabbed his bag and shook it, the contents rattling around inside. "This? It's all fake. These girls are only interested in me because they think I'm handsome."

"You are handsome, though," Wonwoo pointed out.

"Thanks, but my point is that they don't know me. They don't know anything about me," Mingyu said. "I'm nothing more than good looks to them—with bonus points for being a foreigner and adding to the intrigue."

"Well, how is anyone supposed to get to know you if you don't let anyone close enough?"

"I don't need anyone else!" the Hufflepuff insisted stubbornly. "I have a twelve-person friend group. For some people, that's more than enough. Plenty. A lot, even."

"Oh, you won't find any disagreements from me there," Wonwoo said, chuckling. "Sometimes I think our friend group is a little much at times, but they're very understanding about me time. Anyway, back to you, you're being very cynical. A lot of people our age date for fun. No one's telling you that it has to be that serious, it might just be nice to have someone to spend time with on Valentine's Day. That's all."

"Is that something you want?" Mingyu asked him.

"Someday," he answered. "Not today, though. Besides, no one's been asking me, but a lot of people have asked you. That's why I'm bringing it up. If you were less nice, the girls here might start calling you a heartbreaker. Even Cedric Diggory had a girlfriend, you know, before the Triwizard Tournament."

"They can say whatever they want about me, it doesn't matter," Mingyu said, shrugging. "We're graduating next year and I don't think I'm going to be looking for jobs here, so I don't have to play British wizarding politics by avoiding rejecting girls from good families. I value my time and I'm choosing to spend it with people whom I also value, which includes you. Like..." He scratched the back of his head, frowning. "I think you're the most important person in my life and I want to be with you forever, but like... in a... not romantic way? If that makes sense? Like, I think we could get a house together and split bills and go grocery shopping and I would find that just as fulfilling as doing all that stuff with a girlfriend. I mean, girls are nice, but they're not you."

"I think the word you're looking for is 'platonic'," the Ravenclaw supplied helpfully. "And for the record, I feel the same way. I think people whose friends stop existing for them once they get a significant other are terrible."

"Yeah, what is up with that?" Mingyu agreed. "Can you imagine Seungcheol and Jeonghan just dropping all of us? Or Seungkwan and Vernon?"

"Never." Wonwoo shook his head. "Our lives are all so wrapped up in each other's, the thirteen of us can never really be apart. We're going to be old and gray... and taking up an entire apartment complex building by ourselves."

"I think that would be fun, honestly. A huge high-rise in Seoul, paid for by Jeonghan hyung." Snickering, Mingyu dug through his bag, unearthing a couple of packages of kimbap wrapped in plastic from under the piles of candy and cards. "My mom sent these, by the way. She specifically told me that I could not eat your portion, so you are now legally obligated to eat it."

"Tell her I said thank you," Wonwoo said, gratefully accepting the kimbap and unwrapping the plastic. "Your mom always has really great timing, she just knows when to send food."

"See, now you have to be friends with me forever," Mingyu teased. "Otherwise, no kimbap for you."

Wonwoo punched the Hufflepuff's arm affectionately.

"I don't need kimbap for that," he promised. "We were always going to be friends forever."

"Is there something longer than forever?"

"Forever and a day."

"That's still forever."

"I know."

Hufflepuff Sixth Year Boys' Dormitories — February 14th (afternoon)

Seokmin shuffled through the pile of parchment in his hands as he trudged into the sixth year boys' dormitories, muttering to himself about moonstone properties and measurement conversions. Entirely preoccupied with trying to figure out where he might have made a mistake on his last quiz, he didn't notice that anything was amiss until a voice broke through his concentration.

"Whoa, what happened in here?"

Seokmin's head snapped up when his dorm mate walked into the room, the amazement in his tone catching his attention.

"Well, that's certainly something," he said, blinking at the grand display in front of him.

The curtains of his four-poster bed had been pulled back to reveal a large bouquet of red, pink, and white balloons floating in place with magic above his mattress. Also floating in the air was a single card in a plain white envelope with his name printed neatly on it, although it didn't look like anyone's handwriting that he recognized—especially since the person had written it in Korean and he knew what all of his friends' handwriting looked like when they wrote in Korean.

Seokmin crossed the room to his bed, dropping his bag on the floor and the parchment in his hands on his bedside table. He plucked the card out of the air, using a quick spell to break the wax seal on it without destroying the pretty heart shape. When he opened it, he saw that the person had tried to also write their message to him in Korean with the help of a translation spell; and while the words were a little clumsy, he immediately found himself touched by the effort.

"To the one and only Lee Seokmin,

Happy Valentine's Day!

I'm sorry that I couldn't face you in person. I'm not ready to reveal myself to you yet, but I still want to tell you that you make me smile every single day because you deserve to know. Please accept this card and the balloons well, I worked really hard on the spells to make them work. Maybe someday I will be able to tell you how I feel face to face. Until then, please be happy and healthy, and tell some new jokes in class when you learn them. I promise I will laugh like I always do.

With love,

Your secret admirer"

Reaching the end of the card, Seokmin stared silently at the words on the cardstock paper, trying to think of people in his classes who maybe laughed a little too much at his jokes or paid him any kind of special attention. Truthfully, there were very few people who didn't find him funny, so he quickly gave up on trying to figure out his admirer's identity that way.

"Does the card say who the balloons are from?" his dorm mate asked him, breaking him out of his deep thought.

"No, secret," Seokmin replied absentmindedly.

"Oh, that's a shame. Well, good on you anyway, mate!" His fellow Hufflepuff clapped him on the shoulder. "At least there's someone out there who likes you a whole lot."

As the other boy left, Seokmin inspected the balloons with a critical eye. The card had said that his secret admirer had worked really hard on the spells to "make them work" and he was curious to see exactly what the balloons were meant to do. What could you even make balloons do with magic anyway?

Intrigued, he cautiously poked one at the front of the bunch and gasped as the shiny surface rippled, revealing the words "POP ME".

"But I'm easily startled," Seokmin muttered to himself.

Wand clutched in hand, he debated just leaving the balloons alone and enjoying the sight of them—but the thought of never finding out what kind of magic had been placed on them was too tempting for him to ignore.

Waving his wand, he then quickly braced himself for the loud pop, covering his ears. However, instead of a popping sound, a high-pitched voice chirped, "I hope your Valentine's Day is magical!"

The voice had been disguised, of course, but the realization that his secret admirer had charmed the balloons not to make sounds when he popped them because they knew he was easily startled had tears welling in the corners of his eyes. Wiping at his face with his sleeve, he eyed the remaining balloons, trying to decide which one to pop next so that he could hear a different message.

"Wow, who sent you those?" Junhui asked, peeking in the doorway on his way down the hall.

"No clue," Seokmin told him happily, "but they're pretty amazing. Look!"

The older Hufflepuff entered the room, approaching Seokmin's bed to get a closer look at the magic balloons. The sixth year tapped a random balloon, showing Junhui how the words "POP ME" appeared, then waved his wand, causing the balloon to pop.

"I must need Occlumency because I can't get you out of my head!" it trilled.

"That is some amazing charm work," Junhui praised, peering more closely at the balloons. "The person who sent them to you didn't leave a name?"

Seokmin passed him the card.

"Too shy," he informed him.

Junhui read over the contents of the card quickly then handed it back.

"Hmm, would've been nice to know so that you could thank them for their effort, but the gesture is thoughtful," he said, shrugging. "They even made it so the balloons wouldn't make noise when popped. They must have enough classes with you to know you're a big ole scaredy cat."

"Yah!" Seokmin huffed, even though it was true.

Junhui chuckled, ruffling his hair affectionately.

"I'm happy for you, Seokmin-ah," he said, his tone genuine. "I'll see you later, meeting up with Minghao."

"What else is new?" Seokmin called after him as he left. "Now, back to these balloons..."

The Whomping Willow — February 14th (early evening)

"Who do you think it is?" Junhui asked his best friend, having just finished telling him about the charmed balloons Seokmin had received from his secret admirer.

Minghao didn't look up as he answered, his focus on washing the tea leaves in preparation to brew tea for the two of them.

"Your guess is as good as mine. A lot of people think Seokmin is funny, I'm sure he has no shortage of admirers."

"Honestly, I kind of want to know just so that I can ask them how they came up with the spell," Junhui said thoughtfully. "It was really very impressive. Whoever did it must like Seokmin a lot."

Minghao hummed in agreement, still concentrating on the task at hand.

The pair had chosen a nice spot not too close to the tree to set up a small, low-rise table so that they could sit and drink their tea together. Minghao often held these tea ceremonies alone, something that he did purely for his own joy and relaxation. The activity required singular focus, which took his busy mind off of other things for a while. It's not that the others were never invited, but they understood that it was something he needed to do for himself; and he had an unparalleled collection of different teas for a sixteen-year-old living away from home.

Junhui stretched his arms over his head, looking up at the Whomping Willow looming deceptively calmly above them.

"Do you ever wonder about what it would be like to settle down with someone?" he mused. "Even if they really like you, they still might not understand certain aspects of your personality or what's really important to you. What if they don't appreciate your tea ceremonies?"

"I haven't really thought about it," Minghao replied, tone even. "I know that I'd like to settle down eventually, but that seems pretty far off. There are still so many things I want to do first—like graduate from this school that we worked so hard to get into. I'm not enduring racism and xenophobia from narrow-minded Brits to worry about whether some witch from the English countryside appreciates my tea ceremonies. Besides, I do the tea ceremonies for myself, not for other people."

"You're preparing a tea ceremony for me now," Junhui pointed out.

"Yeah, well, that's you."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning you're not on the same level as everyone else," Minghao elaborated. "You're my best friend, and I know you do appreciate my tea ceremonies."

Not even remotely satisfied by the reassurance his best friend was giving him, the Hufflepuff pressed further.

"Will you miss me after I graduate?" Junhui's eyes left the Whomping Willow, dropping back down to observe Minghao's hands as he started to steep the tea leaves in hot water. "Tell me honestly."

"Don't be stupid," Minghao told him flatly and without missing a beat.

"Hey! I was just asking—"

"And I'm telling you again: don't be stupid." Minghao didn't take his eyes off the tea leaves, even as he spoke. "No offense to our friends but you know I'd miss you the most. I can't believe I even have to tell you that."

"It wouldn't hurt you to tell me sometimes! I like the reassurance."

"All of our friends are already talking about how I'm going to try and sneak you into the Ravenclaw dorms every weekend next year. If they know it, then so do you. Now drink your tea."

His tone was not unkind, simply matter-of-fact, the way it often was. Junhui knew that Minghao was nice in his own way, and he definitely cared about him—he just communicated it a little differently.

Having already poured the freshly brewed tea, Minghao carefully slid a teacup across the table towards the Hufflepuff. Junhui simply stared at the cup for a moment, admiring the detail and craftsmanship of the emerald green and gold accent pattern. Tendrils of steam wafted up gently but Junhui knew it would be the perfect temperature. It always was.

"Thank you," he said sincerely, finally picking up his tea and bringing it to his lips.

Minghao hummed in response, picking up his own tea. The fragrance coming from the perfectly steeped jasmine tea leaves filled the chilly February air around them, almost as if they were in their own bubble.

Most days they really were.

Junhui knew that he was really lucky that Minghao had come to Hogwarts at the same time as him, even though they were a year apart. It had been a long and difficult process to get accepted as a second year; and if Headmistress McGonagall had been a less generous woman, he never would've met Minghao—or any of the others. They had been made fun of and harassed from the moment they had arrived, but now—almost at the end of his time at the illustrious school—he wouldn't have done things any differently.

Now, if he could only be as certain about what laid ahead.

"Do you think falling in love is as big of a deal as everyone makes it out to be?" Junhui asked, setting his cup down.

"You're full of existential questions today." Minghao also set his cup down. "I think... that it's probably really nice in its own way... but that it's not the only kind of love that's important. Love comes in all forms and they're all equally necessary and fulfilling. People put all of their eggs in the romantic love basket and then wonder why they're still unhappy when they ditched all their friends for a new relationship."

"So you don't think it's lame that you're having tea with your best friend on Valentine's Day?"

"Of course not." Minghao snorted. "There's nothing else I'd rather be doing. Anyway, do you think it's lame for Mingyu and Wonwoo to be hanging out in the Astronomy Tower of all places doing who knows what when Mingyu has the entire female student population after him?"

"No, not at all," Junhui replied quickly. "They are each other's most important person."

"Exactly." Minghao smiled at his best friend over the rim of his teacup. "Aren't I your most important person?"

"Yes. Always yes," Junhui assured him.

"And you're mine, so don't worry about it anymore," Minghao said, reaching across the table to pat Junhui's shoulder fondly.

"Why do I feel like you're the older one instead of me?"

"Because it's my duty to impart wisdom upon you from time to time," the Ravenclaw informed him matter-of-factly. "It comes with the house."

Junhui rolled his eyes.

"In other news, my mother wrote to me this morning letting me know that one of the girls with whom I attended primary school told her parents that I'm going to a private school in the UK, and so they contacted my parents asking if they had any prospective fiancées in mind for me," Minghao told him. "My pretend pedigreed education is apparently an attractive quality."

"Ah, they're Muggles," Junhui concluded. "Your parents don't have a problem with that, do they?"

"No, definitely not." Minghao shook his head. "I just think it's much more difficult to try and be in relationships with non-magic folk. You have to hide so much, not even just because you think they can't be trusted but because you never know how they're going to take the news. It's a lot of information for most people to handle."

"I don't know, I think my father took it pretty well," Junhui said, thinking back to the story his parents had told him about how his mother had broken the news to her then-boyfriend that she was a witch. "But he is a little odd himself, so I think he was just relieved that she wasn't as normal as he thought she was."

"Your parents are a pretty strange pair," Minghao admitted, "but I like them. They're very nice."

"And your parents are hilarious," Junhui returned, remembering when they had come to the pick-up point at Hogsmeade to take a Portkey back to China for the summer just last year. "You really take after them."

Minghao shrugged.

"Superior genetics."

Junhui snorted into his teacup, blowing bubbles across the surface of the still-hot liquid.

"Don't scoff," Minghao pretended to scold him. "You have the very best best friend you could possibly ask for. You should be grateful."

Still holding the teacup to his face to hide his smile, Junhui nodded in agreement.

"Oh, I am. I always am."

The Library — February 14th (early evening)

"I knew I'd find you here!" Soonyoung exclaimed happily, weaving through the aisles as he skipped towards the study tables.

Jihoon looked up at the Gryffindor, frowning. The table that he was sitting at was covered entirely in books and parchment, a stark contrast to the other empty tables. In fact, his was the only occupied table in the entire library. Madame Pince wasn't even lurking in the shadows as usual, considering that Soonyoung was speaking at louder than an inside voice and she hadn't come over to reprimand him.

"I'm usually here," he deadpanned, looking back down at his work, "the same of which cannot be said for you."

Soonyoung didn't look the least bit offended by Jihoon's words, long since used to his particular form of communication. Undeterred, he looked down at all of the materials spread out on the table, trying to figure out what Jihoon was working on even though it was upside down for him.

"You have to be the only person in the entire school who's studying today!" he pouted, pawing at the parchment nearest to him. "It's Valentine's Day! A day for love! What are you even working on?"

"Getting ahead," Jihoon said shortly, yanking the parchment back from him. "Love can wait."

"Jihoon-ah, you'll work yourself to death," Soonyoung chided him, pulling out the chair opposite the Ravenclaw. "I think you should take a break."

"That's how I like it," Jihoon grumbled, "and I have nothing pressing to attend to tonight, so there's no point in taking a break."

"I came all the way up here, to the library—where I never am, as you correctly pointed out—to find you and you won't pull yourself away from your books to hang out with me?"

Jihoon's quill paused mid-scratch, the only indication that he had heard the seventh year's question, before he continued writing.

"You don't usually ask me to hang out," he said, his tone bordering on indifferent.

"It's not for lack of wanting to. I always want to," Soonyoung admitted. "And I always think you're going to say no, so I never ask."

He thought he could see a faint pink blush on Jihoon's cheeks but it was hard to tell from this angle.

"That's not very Gryffindor of you," Jihoon commented, scribbling away.

"It's the one thing in which I lack courage," Soonyoung huffed. "But to be fair, you're very intimidating, even though you're the cutest person I know."

Jihoon accidentally pressed down on the parchment too hard with his quill, creating an ink blot over the words he was writing. Swearing under his breath, the tips of his ears red, he waved his wand at the offending spot.

"Stop talking nonsense," he hissed, the red flush spreading from his ears to the rest of his face.

"I'm not!" Soonyoung insisted. "I think you're the cutest person in the whole school!"

"Shut up!"

Jihoon wasn't even trying to focus on his work anymore, intent on getting Soonyoung to stop talking before he had a coronary. Not that it was possible. The seventh year was actually very shy—but you would never know it by the way his mouth ran a million miles when he was around his friends. He seemed determined to say his piece and nothing was going to get in the way of him saying it.

"You're always so strict and I think it's because you like it when people listen to you, but you're always doing nice things for people while pretending that you had nothing to do with it," the Gryffindor continued, oblivious to the fact that Jihoon was now bypassing red and heading into scarlet. "Like that time you jinxed those people who had been making fun of Junhui and Minghao when they first arrived. It was so impressive, I remember thinking that you were such a cool and dependable person even back then."

"That's enough!"

"And you're so buff for such a small and cute person." Soonyoung rested his chin on one hand. "You could probably knock me out if you really wanted to. Honestly, please do it, it would be the greatest honor of my life. Anyway, it makes no sense... and yet it makes perfect sense. Everything about you is just... so fascinating."

The Ravenclaw jumped up from his chair, hurling the quill he had been using at Soonyoung, who turned and ducked just in time to watch it sail over his head.

"Whoa! What was that for?"

"Why are you saying all this?" Jihoon demanded. "Did you come up here just to embarrass me?"

Realizing that he and the sixth year were not on the same page in spite of the way he had just gushed about him, Soonyoung shook his head.

Apparently he had not been clear enough.

"Accio quill," he murmured, holding a hand out for the quill Jihoon had thrown at him before offering it back to him. "I'm not trying to embarrass you, although I am sorry if that's how you feel. I'm just trying to tell you how I feel, which is that you scare me but I like it—I like you."

Jihoon snatched his quill back, face still impossibly red.

"You have a funny way of showing it," he snapped. "You have mere months left before you graduate, your timing is nothing if not grossly impeccable."

"I know, I haven't been very brave," Soonyoung said, shrugging, not even the least bit put off by Jihoon's criticism. "I really didn't want to ruin our dynamic or make things weird for the others, but if we hadn't agreed to the no dates rule for the Yule Ball, I would've asked you."

"You said you weren't interested in anyone when Minghao asked you," Jihoon pointed out, narrowing his eyes at him.

"So I lied." Soonyoung started gathering the parchment on the table into a pile. "I haven't exactly told anyone that I've been harboring this secret crush on you for three years. I'm no good at keeping secrets but I was very good at keeping this one. And stop being so pragmatic about this, I'm trying to be romantic."

"I really don't know what you want me to say to all of this," Jihoon said snippily. "You're the last person I expected to confess to having a years-long crush on me."

"How about you say what you want to say?" Soonyoung suggested, a hopeful expression on his face.

Jihoon, having just noticed that the seventh year had compiled all his parchment into a neat stack, slid the pile away from him and across the table, putting everything into his school bag. He then waved his wand, sending his books flying back onto the shelves in their rightful places. When he had stalled enough, he sighed and turned to face the Gryffindor.

"I know we've been friends for my entire time at Hogwarts thus far," he began finally. "I know that I can trust you, that you're telling the truth—that you wouldn't confess just to yank the rug out from under me, as I believe the expression goes. I know all of that, logically, but considering that—as you said—people find me intimidating, it's hard to imagine someone being so earnest about their feelings for me. Most people think I'm too... domineering."

His hands came up to his throat, loosening his blue and bronze tie from around his neck.

"I can't even really say if I like you as more than a friend or not," he said, sounding apologetic. "I didn't think it was a possibility, so I never considered you in that way."

Soonyoung leaned over the table between them, reaching for the Ravenclaw's school bag and hoisting the strap over one shoulder. He maintained eye contact the entire time, willing Jihoon to believe him but also wanting to fluster him just a little bit more.

"But as you said, you know that you can trust me," he pointed out. "Plus, if you think about it, you're a strict taskmaster and I'm a glutton for punishment—we're perfect for each other."

Jihoon tried to wrestle his school bag back from the taller boy, his pale face gaining back the red that had just begun to fade.

"You can't just say things like that!" he hissed.

Soonyoung simply tugged the bag out of his grasp and just out of his reach, smiling cheekily.

"I've waited three years to confess," he reminded him. "Now that the secret's out, I have all sorts of things that I kept to myself that I'm going to say—including how adorable I think you are. Walk with me?"

Jihoon stared up at him for a few moments, expression unreadable. If he thought at all about refusing him, the thought didn't last. Tucking his hands into his pockets, he nodded towards the front of the library.

"Well, after you then."

Slytherin Common Room — February 14th (dusk)

"Hong!"

Joshua didn't even so much as raise his head, instead making an indifferent "mmm" sound in acknowledgement.

He didn't need to look to see who it was—the voice alone was clue enough.

William Bennington the third was an awful homage to the Pureblood Slytherins of old. With generations of English aristocratic breeding to support his claim to everything he wanted in life, he was disliked even within his own house and by many of the portraits in the dungeons; and after seven long years sharing a dormitory with him, he still said "Hong" with a certain sneer that was clearly affected by poorly concealed racism.

At this point, Joshua had been living in the UK long enough to let things roll off his back, but William could've given Draco Malfoy a run for his money with the way he paraded about the school as if he owned it.

"Pretty prince doesn't have a date tonight?" William asked him, dropping down onto the sofa across from him, his tone mocking.

"Not that I'm aware of," Joshua replied pleasantly, still not looking up from his book.

"Hey, it just goes to show you that looks aren't everything in life," the other boy commented snidely. "The girls here won't go after some foreigner with no title. And aren't you a Half-Blood?" he added as an afterthought. "Yeah, that won't do at all."

Joshua turned the page, letting William carry on the conversation by himself. The golden-haired heir to a Potions empire (or so he claimed, Joshua had never bothered to verify this) had been harassing him from the moment he had set foot in the common room first year; and he had long since learned that it was best to let him converse with himself to get everything out of his system before he was satisfied. Not only did William take issue with his race and his blood status, he seemed oddly offended by his appearance as well, referring to him as "pretty" with his tone suggesting that he did not mean it in a positive way.

"Nothing to say?" William asked him softly, noticing that his tirade was falling on deaf ears. "Truth hurts, does it?"

"If you say so." Joshua barely shrugged his shoulders.

Apparently it was the wrong thing to say.

"You think you're better than me?" William demanded, suddenly shooting up from his seat. "That you can sit there like you're royalty and I'm some sort of commoner? I'm far more important than you will ever be!"

Joshua sighed, recognizing that his night would be a lost cause if he didn't address this particular problem promptly, and slipped a tasseled bookmark in between the pages of his book before closing it and looking up at his aggressor for the first time during their previously one-sided confrontation.

"I get that certain things matter to you," he said carefully, "but they don't matter to me—and they don't matter to a lot of people anymore, not even the Slytherins here. I didn't realize that me being dateless on Valentine's Day was of such great significance to you, especially when it's of no significance to me and my evening. Maybe you should be more worried about the fact that you care so much about what I'm doing with my time, alone or otherwise."

William's upper lip curled into a sneer, his eyes narrowing.

"Listen, you filthy—"

"Oh, shut it, Bennington," snapped a voice from behind Joshua.

Joshua turned to look over his shoulder, noticing that Mira Nott had just come from the girls' dormitories and was standing just behind the sofa he was sitting on.

According to Jeonghan—who seemed to always know the latest gossip amongst the various wizarding families—Theodore Nott had settled down with a Pureblood witch from Bulgaria who had graduated from Durmstrang. They had met while Theo had been taking some time away from England and had returned together shortly after their wedding.

While she had been a cute girl when she had first arrived, Mira had grown into an exceptionally pretty young woman by the age of seventeen. Taller than most of the other girls in the school, the first thing that Joshua had noticed about her was that she had perfectly straight posture that adjusted minutely according to her movements. With long, dark curls framing her face, a warm complexion, and high cheekbones, she had the best features of both of her parents—except that she had one brown and one blue eye, both of which were cunning yet also surprisingly kind. Top of the class in at least every class Joshua shared with her, she was also the Slytherin Seeker; and he loved to watch her fly against Seungcheol during matches. Her intellect and athleticism made her a formidable opponent, and their matches were always close ones.

All that being said, Mira was obviously highly sought after—even by William Bennington the third.

"Don't mind him. Joshua," she said to him, a beautiful, wicked smile on her face as she made direct eye contact with William. "If betrothal contracts were still common practice, I would've already asked my father to request a meeting with your parents to discuss one."

Joshua resisted the urge to grin broadly at the way William's face had gone absolutely scarlet, a purple vein starting to make its appearance at his temple.

"You flatter me, Mira," he said to her instead, laying it on a little thick for the benefit of their audience, even as he ignored him. "I don't think I would be opposed to such a meeting. There's still time to write to your parents and mine."

Standing up, he offered her his arm.

"Walk with me?" he asked, every bit the perfect gentleman.

"Of course," she replied, walking around the sofa and linking arms with him.

Triggered by the events taking place right in front of him, their forgotten peer leapt up from his seat, positively quivering with entitled rage.

"Mira! You cannot possibly be thinking about entering a betrothal contract with that Half-Blood foreigner! My father—"

William's deranged bellows were cut off abruptly as the door swung shut behind them.

"I wonder what his father would have to say if he knew that the daughter of a Sacred Twenty-Eight family had filed a complaint with the school governors about the shady little deals William conducts in the prefects' bathroom," Mira said innocently.

Joshua smiled at her, completely enamored. Was there any other witch at this school more perfect than the one looking at him right now?

"You are so ruthless, I love it," he told her.

She tossed her hair over one shoulder, smiling back at him.

"Tell me more."

Hogwarts Quidditch Pitch — February 14th (evening)

"Yoo-hoo! Channie!"

Chan squinted down at the figure waving up at him, figuring out who it was based on the gleaming head of hair.

Camille Archambault, which she had told him meant "bold master"—the girl from the Yule Ball.

It had been almost two months since Christmas and he had met up with the stunning beauty from Beauxbatons a handful of times—a Hogsmeade outing here, a walk on the grounds there. They were what some people might call dating, if a little intensely for something that was supposed to be casual. Translation spells helped bridge the language barrier; and she was sweet, funny, and charming. She was quite good at spells, and she had told him that if she had been a student during the time of the Triwizard Tournament, she would have entered. She liked picnics by the greenhouses and broom rides with her arms wrapped around his waist, coffee with milk poured in delicate swirls and the feeling of his hand intertwined with hers, primrose perfume and the way he got red right before he kissed her.

Sometimes he found himself thinking that he should be a little more cautious with his heart—that he should be waiting for the other foot to drop—but so far he was having fun, and he supposed that was what mattered.

He was surprised that she could tell it was him considering how high up he was, but he did catch her staring at him from the Ravenclaw table quite often. She never looked embarrassed at having been caught—in fact, it only emboldened her and he ended up having to be the one to look away.

"That girl never gets tired of looking at you," Jeonghan had told him once, the disdain in his voice more like that of a disapproving parent rather than an overprotective friend. "I wonder how she manages to concentrate on her studies when she's staring at you all the time. I suppose she'd at least get an Outstanding in Lee Chan."

"Let them be, Hannie," Seungcheol had admonished him gently.

Secretly, Chan wondered what Camille saw in him, exactly. She had been the one to ask him to dance at the Yule Ball and the one to lead him out to the gardens that night. She had also initiated all of their dates so far, as well as most of their shows of affection, which he still hadn't quite gotten used to. After their time together at the ball, he hadn't expected to hear from her again, yet she kept seeking him out. She seemed to have memorized his schedule to account for all the classes she didn't share with him—she always knew where to find him, even when he didn't tell anyone where he was going.

It was flattering, he had to admit.

At the ball, she had asked him how to pronounce his name correctly, repeating it multiple times even after he had told her that she had down—and then proceeded to only refer to him as Channie, saying that it was her cute name for him. One of the other Beauxbatons girls, having only heard Camille call him Channie, tried to use the nickname one morning and the next time he saw her, she was missing her eyebrows.

"Why doesn't she just grow them back?" Mingyu had asked, perplexed.

"If she would, she could," Chan had replied, shrugging. "Camille's really good at spells, the other girl probably can't figure out how to reverse it."

"Wow, you'd better make sure she never gets mad at you."

Privately, he agreed.

That being said, he wondered if she felt like she had to teach him everything—where to put his hands, when to kiss her, what he should say. He had made his lack of experience known that night in the gardens, but she hadn't seemed to mind. She had simply directed him and he took direction well.

And yet... he couldn't help but think it was as though they were caught up in a race in which only she knew where the finish line was—and the thought made him more than a little sweaty-palmed.

Coming back to his senses, he Summoned the Quaffle he had been practicing with and tucked it under one arm. Although he wasn't on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, Chan still liked to fly. It brought him peace and helped clear his mind, and on an evening when he figured he had no plans, it was the perfect way to spend his time.

I guess I have plans now, he thought to himself.

He circled the goalposts on the far right side of the pitch, making a nose dive and pulling up straight just as his toes skimmed the grass. He dismounted smoothly, giving Camille a friendly smile as he approached her, Nimbus 3000 broom in one hand and Quaffle in the other.

"Hi, Camille," he greeted her. "What can I do for you this evening?"

"Bon soir, Channie," she returned, smiling prettily at him. "I admit, I am a little disappointed that you did not come looking for me today. I was hoping that we could spend some time together."

"Ah, I wasn't aware that that was what you wanted," he told her sheepishly. "It's Valentine's Day and we're not, you know, official, so I didn't think you would want to do anything."

"Channie, Channie, Channie." Camille shook her golden blonde head. He caught sight of delicate pearl strand earrings dangling from her ears, a matching set with the string of pearls around her neck. "I am going back to France at the end of term, do you think I want to waste time going slow?"

"I wouldn't think it was a waste of time," he protested, cheeks growing pink. "I just... haven't really hung out with a lot of girls. You move kind of fast."

"Oh, I know, mon chéri, it is what makes you one of the good boys," she said, touching his cheek, her expression fond. "I always enjoy our time together, and I think it would be silly to not make the most of the time we have left, non?"

Chan dropped the Quaffle on the grass and placed his own hand over her hand on his face.

Being with Camille was like one ongoing surprise party. Sure, it was fun, but it also kind of gave him a heart attack. Even though he always did his best to try and read her mind before she actually executed any of her plans, he more often than not found himself unprepared. It was a little jarring to be caught unawares as many times as he had been since they had started seeing each other, but he knew that he had to enjoy the ride while it lasted.

She was, after all, leaving at the end of term.

"Let me shower first?" he asked her.

She tilted her head to the side to press her lips to his other cheek.

"Meet me at the entrance to the grounds in half an hour," she murmured in his ear. "I'll be waiting."

The Gilded Phoenix (Private Room) — February 14th (night)

"You know I really didn't need all of this," Jeonghan said, taking a sip from the glass of elf wine he was holding daintily in one hand. "We could have stayed at school and I would have been just as happy."

"I know, but it's our last year at Hogwarts. Maybe it sounds kind of childish... but I just wanted to do something to commemorate our last year as kids," Seungcheol told his boyfriend honestly, shrugging. "Life is going to change pretty dramatically once we graduate. I feel like we're never going to have this kind of peace again."

"So you wanted to live in this bubble of youthful innocence one last time," Jeonghan guessed.

"Exactly."

"We're still going to be kids when we graduate," Jeonghan said thoughtfully. "The Wizarding World in the UK moves so fast, it's amazing how anyone manages to find something stable so soon after graduation."

"Are you planning on going home?" Seungcheol asked him.

"Yes, for a while. My parents will want to see me—and they'll want to see you as well."

"I think I'll go home for a little while, too." Seungcheol ran a finger around the rim of his wine glass absentmindedly. "There's this famous producer based in London whom I'm trying to get an internship with, though. I'll need to find a job so that I can get a flat nearby if I get accepted."

"Darling, you know that you don't have to work if you don't want to," the Slytherin reminded him. "I don't have to work if I don't want to, and I'm more than capable of taking care of both of us. Besides, my family loves you. We'd be married as soon as we landed on Korean soil if it were up to them."

"Spoiled rich kid," Seungcheol teased.

"You love me," Jeonghan flirted back.

"Always." Seungcheol took Jeonghan's hand, his thumb skimming the tops of his knuckles affectionately. "Look, I appreciate you offering to support me financially, but I want to be able to do things on my own, whatever I choose to pursue."

"Your music has always been important to you. You're an artist. You could... simply think of me as your patron," Jeonghan suggested.

"Hannie—"

"I mean it," Jeonghan insisted. "You would be focusing on making music without worrying about your finances. It's not like I would be paying for you to stay idle. I'm sure I could also come up with work for you."

"I really can't accept," Seungcheol said firmly, "so please don't ask me to."

Jeonghan set down his wine glass with a huff.

"You never let me do anything for you!" the Slytherin exclaimed, eyes narrowed dangerously. "I always indulge this little... complex you seem to have about being perceived as the provider, but you know that that concept is extremely outdated. There is no hunter-gatherer dynamic in the twenty-first century."

"You think this is about my masculinity?" Seungcheol asked incredulously.

"Yes, I do!" Jeonghan snapped. "I let you open jars for me and move my furniture around because I know it makes you feel useful. The least you could let me do is use the resources I have to help you!"

The Gryffindor leaned back in his chair, staring at his boyfriend in disbelief.

"So that's how you really see me," he said flatly.

Jeonghan sighed, deflating at once.

"Cheollie, it's not that I see you as some sort of caveman," he said sadly. "You help me all the time. I just want to be able to help you for once."

Seungcheol's expression softened. He knew that Jeonghan just wanted to help—he was generous to a fault, and throwing his money at problems was his way of trying to make things better. There was some truth to what he was saying, though—his ego wouldn't let him allow his boyfriend to pay all the bills while he tried to make it as an artist.

"You do help me," he murmured, taking both of Jeonghan's hands in his. "You help me every day just by existing. I'm already taking advantage of the fact that you wake up every morning still wanting to be with me."

"You're stupid," Jeonghan huffed, eyes watery. "You big, stupid man. You're not taking advantage of anything. Sometimes I wish you would!"

"Alright, point taken." Seungcheol chuckled, gently smacking the palm of one of Jeonghan's hands. "I mean it, though. Do you know how coveted you are by most of the student body?"

"Of course everyone wants me," the Slytherin scoffed. "As they should. It doesn't mean that they can have me. I'm yours, and I always will be."

Seungcheol smiled at him.

"I know."

"So will you let me bankroll your endeavors in music?" Jeonghan asked hopefully.

Seungcheol stared at him for a moment, considering.

"I'll think about it," he said finally.

"I suppose that's the best offer I'm going to get." Jeonghan sighed dramatically, picking his wine glass back up. "Life doesn't have to be so hard, you know. If there's an easy way, you should take it, never mind your moral qualms regarding classism and the way the one percent uses their wealth to get ahead in life."

"Hannie, you're the one percent," Seungcheol pointed out dryly.

"And what about it?" he sassed back.

"Nothing, you're the most benevolent benefactor in all the land," the Gryffindor said primly.

Jeonghan reached across the table and tugged his boyfriend forward by his black tie, leaning in to whisper in his ear.

"Only for you."

The Black Lake — February 14th (early evening)

Vernon paced back and forth anxiously on the far shore of the Black Lake. He had tasked a pair of what he hoped were reliable second-year Hufflepuffs to locate Seungkwan and bring him to the Black Lake, where he would get in a boat that he had charmed to row itself across the water. He had spent more of half of the time between the day he had talked to Seungcheol and Valentine's Day panicking over what to do, then spent the remaining time trying to get everything together, including practicing the spell to make the boat row itself for several days. That morning, he had packed a picnic basket full of all of his boyfriend's favorite things, as well as a blanket, and he hoped that his sincerity would come across.

Before they had started a relationship, Vernon and Seungkwan had been friends, and even then they had done something small and quiet for previous Valentine's Days, just because there was no one else they'd rather have spent that time with—and because Vernon had spent his first five years at Hogwarts avoiding any girls who even looked at him longer than necessary. So really, he didn't need to worry. Seungkwan just happened to be his boyfriend now—it wasn't as though he needed to be impressed further.

Vernon looked down at the picnic basket sitting on the rather cliché red and gold patterned blanket and wondered if it was enough.

Maybe I should have gotten flowers? he fretted.

It wasn't so much about the fact that it was Valentine's Day than it was about how much Vernon had been worrying about Seungkwan since his late friend's birthday.

Every time the Gryffindor had tried to approach his boyfriend to try and get him to open up, Seungkwan had always come up with excuses for why he couldn't talk and would busy himself with something else. It was frustrating, of course, but it was more anxiety-inducing than anything—and more than once Vernon wondered if he was just a really bad significant other who didn't know how to talk to his partner just right in order to get him to confide in him.

"Agh!"

Startled out of his own self-wallowing, Vernon looked up to see the boat that he had charmed to carry Seungkwan across the lake rocking back and forth wildly—with Seungkwan in it.

Privately, Vernon was relieved that the boat was already pretty close to shore, but he didn't think that his boyfriend would see it that way—and definitely not after the boat tipped to one side, dumping Seungkwan into the lake that was surely still freezing.

"Oh, no," Vernon muttered, covering his face with his hands. "He's going to kill me. He's going to kill me then bring me back so that he can kill me again."

Peeking through the gaps in his fingers, he watched as Seungkwan swam the remaining distance from where the boat had tipped over to the shore, weighed down by his school robes. A fairly decent swimmer from his years spent growing up on an island, Seungkwan was letting his fury propel him forward with surprising strength. Dripping wet and looking absolutely furious, he stomped up the bank towards Vernon, who silently sent prayers heavenward and hoped someone heard him.

"Hansol Vernon Chwe!" The Hufflepuff tore through his full name. "You'd better have a good explanation for this!"

Not my government name, Vernon grimaced.

Lowering his hands from his face, he said uncertainly, "Happy... Valentine's Day?"

Seeing that Seungkwan was opening his mouth to deliver what would probably be the human equivalent of a Howler message on a Monday morning in front of the entire Great Hall, Vernon interrupted.

"Look, I didn't mean for you to get dumped into the lake!" he blurted out. "I've been planning everything since the beginning of the month and with everything else, I didn't have that much time to practice the spell on the boat. It was just supposed to bring you across the lake without you having to do anything, I swear!"

Seungkwan held up an index finger, cutting him off. Vernon shut his mouth abruptly, anxious, as his boyfriend leaned his body to one side and peered over his shoulder at the blanket laid out behind him with the picnic basket.

"Kwannie," Vernon began.

Seungkwan made a noise, his index finger still raised. He inhaled deeply—dramatically—then lowered his finger.

"You planned all of this?" he asked.

Vernon nodded rapidly.

Seungkwan exhaled.

"Okay, walk me through your vision." The Hufflepuff gestured with his hands for his boyfriend to proceed. "Tell me what was going through your mind when you came up with all this. I want to know."

"Well, it's our first Valentine's Day together as a couple." Vernon scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. "And I know that you've been really sad since Binnie's birthday..." When he noticed Seungkwan had stiffened at the mention of his friend, he said defensively, "I tried to talk to you about it so many times but you wouldn't talk to me! I thought that maybe I was doing something wrong, or that you felt like you couldn't trust me to open up... so I talked to Seungcheol hyung."

"And he told you to drown your boyfriend in the Black Lake?" Seungkwan deadpanned.

"He told me that I should use Valentine's Day as an opportunity to show you that you're not alone," Vernon corrected him gently.

Seungkwan huffed, wringing the water out of his robes as he avoided looking at the Gryffindor. Vernon watched him for several minutes while he fussed over his water-logged clothes before he finally straightened up and took a few steps closer to him.

Vernon held his breath.

He's going to break up with me, he chanted in his head. He's realized how bad I am at this whole relationship thing and he is going to break up with me.

"I'm only going to say this once, so you'd better listen," Seungkwan told him sternly, holding his face securely between wet hands. "Well, not only once, because I will always tell you good things about yourself so that you're aware of your own worth, but regardless! Me not talking to you about Binnie has nothing to do with how good of a boyfriend—or even how good of a friend—you are. You are doing wonderfully, I promise. Do you understand? Nod for yes, shake for no."

Vernon nodded, face still trapped between Seungkwan's hands.

"It's very difficult for bossy people like me to let go," the Hufflepuff continued, trying to sound flippant. "We need to be taken care of just like everyone else, but we're not very good at letting other people take care of us. And it shows in our dynamic, even after we got together," he added, using one hand to gesture between Vernon and himself. "So me avoiding talking to you every time you tried to talk to me about Binnie is not because you're not good at being supportive, because you are—it's because I'm not good at being vulnerable. Understand? Nod for yes, shake for no."

Vernon nodded again.

"I appreciate the effort you put into this." Seungkwan smiled at him, the effect only slightly diminished by his bangs still dripping water onto his face. "I appreciate the effort you put into us, all the time; and I'm sorry that I made you feel as though I didn't."

"I know how hard it is for you to say sorry first," Vernon teased, his voice muffled by the squishing of his cheeks. "So I appreciate it."

"Yah!" Seungkwan pinched his cheeks gently. "But you're right, and I really am sorry. You're an amazing boyfriend and I love you." Vernon jumped, not expecting the sudden declaration when neither of them had never said those words before. Noticing this thanks to his grip on his face, Seungkwan only held on more firmly. "Do you understand? Nod for yes, shake for no."

Unable to do anything else, Vernon nodded.

"Good."

Seungkwan loosened his grasp and stroked the apples of Vernon's cheeks with his thumbs affectionately.

"Because I do. Love you, I mean. Since first year, when you told those boys off in class for bullying me," he clarified unnecessarily. "I knew then and there that you were someone I could count on, and you've proven time and time again how right I was—although, of course, I've never been wrong in my life. So I'll tell you that I love you all the time, because you need to hear it. I want you to hear it and know that I mean it, because I've never meant anything more in my entire existence on this wretched planet."

Vernon swallowed.

"Kwannie, I—"

Seungkwan stopped him, putting a hand over his mouth.

"Tell me when you're ready," he said. "I'll still love you then, even if you make me wait for a long time. But don't make me wait too long, okay? Nod for yes, shake for no."

Vernon nodded.

[thru-the-grapevine]

Holiday Rush

Pairing: Kim Mingyu x reader

Summary: Your favorite regular has one hell of a way of saying Merry Christmas (and getting your attention).

Word Count: 2.4k

Tags: coffee shop au, sugar daddy-adjacent au, fluff

You’ve had less eventful Christmas Eve mornings, to be sure. Especially 4:30 AMs on Christmas Eve mornings. For starters, you were asleep like a normal person on all the other ones. For another, you weren’t usually bailed on out of nowhere by your manager due to “a family emergency”, leaving you in charge of the entire store. Nor were you typically bailed on by two other workers, both of whom had a “sudden onset illness”, leaving you with only three people other than you to cover everything the inevitable last-minute holiday-shopping horde would throw at you.

By the time you’ve got things in some semblance of order and preparation for opening, there’s already a car idling in the drive thru, and there’s a slight ache in your left temple.

“Siobhan, you’re on mobile bar,” you order. “Luke, drive bar. You’ll both have to do your own cold bar since Geo and Kennedy flaked. I need Phoenix on customer support and food. I’m gonna attempt solo drive for the first couple hours, and if it gets nuts I’ll pull one of you in to assist. If it gets slow in your area, work on putting away the order. I may have to turn off mobile if it comes to it, but that’ll piss people off, so let’s try to keep up.”

You slip your headset on, watch the digital clock on the order screen turn from 4:59 to 5:00, then click the button. “Good morning, welcome to Starbucks. What can I get started for you this morning?”

“Morning, Chief. Didn’t think you’d be here today. Happy Christmas Eve.”

A little of the tension in your head relaxes, and you smile, tapping away at the order screen. “Ah, Gyu. You’re early. Happy Christmas Eve. Usual?”

“Sounds perfect, thanks.”

“Come on around,” you say, not caring if you sound a little flirty.

Your store has its regulars, and he is by far your favorite. He comes in nearly every day, orders the same thing (grande caramel macchiato, extra shot, for “Gyu”), makes friendly conversation, and leaves a tip three times the price of his drink. Without fail. You’ve never figured out what it is he does for a living, but given the immaculate cars (yes, plural) you’ve seen him drive through in, it probably pays really well.

The whole staff loves him. Some of the bolder ones flirt with him just to fluster him, but they know if you’re on the floor to let you hand him the drink. For reasons beyond your comprehension, he seems to have a soft spot for you. He mistook you for the manager when he first stopped into the cafe, and he’s called you different in-charge nicknames since then—“chief”, “captain”, “commander”. It’s probably giving you an authority complex. You don’t care. The confidence boost his interest in you has given over the past year has gifted you a boldness that he doesn’t seem to mind.

“Must be Gyu already,” Siobhan remarks when she sees you surreptitiously smoothing your hair.

You flip her off as the hood of a familiar black BMW comes into view.

“Kinda early for Christmas Eve,” you say by way of greeting as the car window pulls level with yours.

God, he’s gorgeous, smiling up at you, all bundled up in his expensive-looking wool coat and black turtleneck.

“Could say the same for you,” he says. “Don’t they ever give you a break around here?”

Your smile turns wry, and you sigh lightly. “They’d perish without me, I think.”

“I’ll drink to that,” he says, grimacing lightly in sympathy. “Hopefully not here all day, right? Got plans for the holiday?”

“Just here ‘til noon, then going an hour north to my family’s for a couple days,” you tell him, grabbing the scanner. “Want me to cash you out?”

“Ah. About that.”

You watch him reach into the passenger seat, grabbing something the size of a woman’s clutch, then extends it to you.

You set the scanner down and go to take it, then freeze, blinking.

“Uh. Gyu.”

“Yes?”

“What is that?”

“...Money?”

“I mean. I. Yeah, like. Is it…real?”

“Yes?”

“That’s…way more than your drink.”

“Yes.”

“Like. Are those all twenties?”

“Yes.”

“...I only need a fourth of a single one of those.”

“I know. Take them all.”

You don’t understand. “I—wh…”

He grins. “I feel like being Saint Nick today. I’m paying it forward for the next customers.”

Holy shit. “The next…thousand customers?”

“Hardly. Probably half that. But you don’t know how many big orders there will be, it could be less than that, too.”

“Sir.” Your head is spinning, hand still frozen inches away from the stack of bills that looks honest-to-god like out of the mafia movies. “Sir. That’s…”

You don’t even know how to finish that sentence. That’s not necessary? Your manager would kill you if she found out you refused generosity. That’s ridiculous? It might be, but you don’t want to tell this man that, not when he’s been so wonderful to you.

“I’m not even sure I’m allowed to take this,” you say.

He shrugs. “It’s all twenties, not fifties or hundreds. You can mark them all with a counterfeit pen if it helps. Call your manager if you need, I can talk to her. If you need to call the cops, even, you can. C’mon, I’ve been planning on this for ages. Let me do this.”

The thing is…he’s allowed to do this. You suppose. Technically. You huff a single, breathless laugh, incredulous.

“You…are fucking insane,” you breathe, grinning, not caring how in awe you sound.

His smile turns flustered, and he laughs a little. “If it doesn’t all get used today, put the rest in the tips.”

He’s finally done it. He’s finally rendered you speechless. You can feel your mouth hanging open, not sure what you’re supposed to say. Not sure what you can say.

Gingerly, like it’s alive, you take the stack of bills he’s offering.

“Dude,” you say, laughing again. Absurd. “Dude. Are you…?”

“Completely sure,” he says, eyes warm. “Merry Christmas to your customers. And your staff. And you.”

“Grande caramel macchiato, extra shot,” Luke says behind you, sliding you the cup.

You linger a moment longer, holding eye contact, before ducking back in the window and setting the cash next to the register, swapping it for the drink.

“Holy shit,” you say, laughing as you hand him the drink. “Have a merry fucking Christmas, Gyu.”

“Aye-aye, Captain,” he says, grinning, and then he winks at you.

Your insides light up like a Christmas tree. You indulge for a second and stare after his car as he drives off. God. What?

This Christmas Eve is about to be the most fascinating yet.

You have to get Phoenix on headset to take the next drive-thru order so you have time to count out the bills and cash out the order properly. You feel lightheaded after counting the first several hundred, possibly a little ill by the time you total it out. Three thousand.

“Holy fuck,” you mutter under your breath, laughing as you punch in the frankly ludicrous number. That’s half of what the store makes on a slow day. Granted, today will not be a slow day–you can already see more cars filing into the parking lot–but that money covers a chunk of business.

All morning, you have the absolute joy of watching people come up to the window, ready to pay, and telling them “actually, your order’s been covered by someone further up in line”. The looks of surprise, the occasional relief, and the smiles don’t get old or lose their shine. A couple of people get emotional, and you can’t blame them. You feel your own throat tighten when some of the customers insist on paying for the person behind them.

“Someone spotted me, let me spot someone, too,” one lady puts it, paying twice what she would have paid originally to cover the vanload behind her. “Why not? It’s Christmas.”

“Crazy what a little generosity inspires in people,” Phoenix comments as the lady drives away.

You can’t say you disagree, but there’s only one man in mind when you think it.

Luke points out that the more people keep paying it forward, the less that initial amount goes down, and the more of it that gets allotted to tips. You outright refuse to think about it. I can’t take that. There’s no way. I’ll have to give him money back, that’s just…

Even by the time you switch off of drive with Siobhan, about 75% of customers insist on continuing to pay it forward, keeping the dizzying remaining amount from Gyu fairly steady. Siobhan is far less willing to do the mental work of paying it forward and eventually asks whether it can’t just be cashed out to the tip fund.

“He probably wanted to leave most of it as tips, anyway,” she says, raising an eyebrow at you. “He’s got a track record, plus he likes you.”

You feel your face grow hot. “He does not.”

Siobhan rolls her eyes. “Whatever, live in denial. Can I put this in the tip fund?”

“...Fine.”

For the last hour of your shift, you concentrate on calculating tips. Even divided amongst all the store employees and adjusted for the amount of hours each person worked, everyone ends up with over a hundred in tips total. You end up with nearly twice that, after the hours you’ve done. Crazy. Absolutely unreal. You’re already thinking of the last couple gifts you were hoping you could afford to spring for for family and friends. Easily done now, with this tip money.

“Tips are in the safe,” you tell your coworkers as you zip up your coat and make for the door. “Everyone say Merry fucking Christmas, Gyu.”

You grin as you hear a chorus of “Merry fucking Christmas, Gyu!” behind you as you step out into the cold.

You’re halfway across the parking lot to your car when you notice a black BMW. You wander to a stop, hesitant, as the car pulls even with you in the nearest parking spot and the door opens.

“Did you need more coffee?” You ask, biting your lip as he steps out.

Gyu closes his car door and shakes his head, grinning. “Already got my fix today, I’m good.”

“Shame,” you say, fighting a smile, “because I happen to know that if you went through the drive-thru right now, your order would already be covered.”

He leans back against his car and raises his eyebrows. “It lasted this long? You’d think there’d be more business than that today.”

“Everyone else kept insisting on paying it forward, too,” you say, shaking your head in awe. “What did you start?”

“Well, you certainly deserve it,” he says, and the way his smile softens makes your stomach flutter. “Hopefully it’ll end up as tips, if people keep paying it forward?”

“It’s too much,” you tell him, trying to be as firm as possible. “Far too much. I really can’t accept that.”

“It’s a gift,” he insists. “For how long you’ve been subjected to my patronage.”

“Everyone loves you in the store, they always have,” you argue.

He looks at you intently. “Everyone?”

You feel your face grow hot again. “...Yes. Everyone.”

You push through the way you want to be flustered as he grins. “But that’s what I’m saying. You’re hardly a difficult customer. It was too much.”

“You know,” he says, “it’s possible I just want to spoil you.”

You open your mouth, then snap it shut, then open it again. Holy shit, he’s made you speechless again. Twice in the same day.

“You don’t even know me,” you argue weakly.

He gives you a Look. “I’ve talked to you nearly every day for around a year. I know lots of things about you. Like your cats. Your family, mainly your sister. The saga of your car. Things you like to read and watch. Some of the jokes you find funny. And you know a lot of the same things about me.”

“I don’t even know if Gyu is your real name!” You burst out.

He frowns. “It is, mostly. It’s short for Mingyu. Kim Mingyu. You’ve seen it on the receipts.”

You haven’t, but you believe him. You try out the name. “Mingyu.”

A corner of his mouth curls into a smile. He puts his hands in his coat pockets. “Tell me that hasn’t been your only hangup this whole time.”

“I-I mean…” you stammer. “N-no? I mean, it’s been one thing, but like…you’re, like. Um. You seem very…successful, and I’m…”

He frowns. “You’re successful, too. I—wait. Is this…is it money?”

“I guess I’m just…embarrassed,” you say, feeling your face burn in shame. “Maybe my pride’s too big, I dunno.”

“Hey, I don’t want you to think this is some weird, fetish-y charity case thing I have, or that I think you can be, like, bought or something,” he says, looking serious. “If you really can’t accept the money, I won’t stop you from giving it back.”

He sighs, teeth worrying his lower lip. “I just…I like you. I always have. You seem to be the only person who doesn’t realize it, or maybe I’m the idiot who can’t take a hint, but—”

“Mingyu—”

“But I really do,” he continues doggedly. “I think you work hard, but you’re so kind. You do good work so that you can be kind, so you can give people more than just something to eat or drink, and that’s just…it’s really—”

“I could kiss you right now for that,” you say, then slap a hand over your mouth. Dude??

Mingyu blinks, then laughs. “At least let me take you to dinner first.”

You wish you could sink into the pavement, even as your heart gives a silly little leap. He wants to take me to dinner. “I…I’m…”

“I know it’s Christmas Eve and you’ve got places to be,” he says, and you wonder if he looks a little nervous. “But I really would like to see you. Outside of work. Would you let me take you out sometime?”

You stand there for a moment in stupefied silence. Holy shit, this has to be a dream. A man like Kim Mingyu doesn’t just…give your workplace thousands of dollars to tip you and then ask you to dinner. What in the name of Wattpad...

“I…you’re fucking insane,” you laugh, breathless.

He looks like he doesn’t know how to take this, and before you can talk yourself out of it you find yourself saying, “I’m, uh, I’m free on New Years?”

A slow grin spreads over his face. “Yeah? Funny enough, so am I.”

Definitely the strangest Christmas Eve you’ve ever had. But it may also be your new favorite.

[kokopoptarts]

Baked with love

Lee seokmin x gender neutral reader.

It's Christmas Eve, the smell of vanilla and sugar and the sound of a Christmas playlist from your phone fills the air of your tiny kitchen apartment, you and Seokmin spent the past half an hour measuring and mixing ingredients in order to make your Christmas Eve traditional sugar cookies.

Fluffy socked feet pad across the white tiled floor of the kitchen as you head for the sink, washing and drying your hands, you turn only to be face to face with your lovely boyfriend Seokmin. He holds out his hand to you, a silent invitation to dance with him, the usual bright smile that adorned his face whenever you were in his company radiant as ever.

Placing your hand in his, he moves to interlock your hands together, one hand snaking around your waist to rest on your lower back as he pulls you in a little bit closer. Twirling and waltzing around the dinky little apartment kitchen together, a hairs width from each other's face, you can't help but notice the loving twinkle in his eyes as he looks at you, you feel your lips tugging up into a smile, mirroring the own smile on his face.

The song you were both dancing to was long over, but Seokmin still held you close to him, slightly swaying as if you were both trees moving with the wind. With a kiss pressed onto the knuckles of your left hand, he let go of your own. "You've got flour on you" cupping your face with his hand, he gently swiped away at the speckles of white that were sprinkled on your now flushed pink cheek with his thumb.

His hand lingered, eyes scanning your face, mentally he was noting all the freckles, wrinkles, dimples and scars that decorated your face, you may have classed them as imperfections but in his eyes they made you even more beautiful than you already are. Leaning in you could feel his breath fanning your own face, closing your eyes as you felt his lips gently place a kiss on the corner of your mouth.

After all your years together it still amazes you that even a simple chaste kiss on the cheek makes you erupt in a whole flock of butterflies, if Seokmin had a million wishes he'd use them all to kiss you a million times over. He loves you, there was no doubt in your mind that you didn't know that, every decision he made, he had your best interests at heart. Keeping you happy and safe was his one task in life and he put his whole heart and soul into doing just that, the same sort of passion that goes into every performance of his.

The ding of the oven timer snapped both of you out of your lovestruck daze, Seokmin was quick to grab the oven gloves as he took the freshly baked cookies out of the oven, carefully carrying the hot tray across the kitchen and placing it on the countertop beside the sink. As you both stood there looking at the tray of cookies like a pair of proud parents, you have to admit the cookies turned out fantastic.

Feeling that hand that was once holding you close to him earlier, snake around your waist once more. "We should let them cool before we decorate them" looking at him as you lovingly lean into his side "do you want to watch a movie while we wait?" At that question Seokmin perks up, gaining the energy of a toddler on a sugar high as he excitedly asks "can I pick the movie?" With a chuckle and a small smile you nod your head, watching him run off to the living room you come to the conclusion that you are in fact going to marry that man one day.

[mahgi]

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

 ★ SEVENTEEN CHRISTMAS ICONS (120X120)

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