#exodecembercollab18

[singingunderthecurtain]

Secret Santa [Pt. 1]

Author: julietsoddeye AU: coworker Genre: fluff | light comedy | office romance Pairing: Kyungsoo x Reader Word Count: 1,578

Plot: #exodecembercollab18 Prompt #4: Your office Secret Santa gives you something you certainly weren’t expecting. You’re positive when you found out who he is, you’re gonna punch him in the face.

A/N: This is a collab work with @thesammtimes for @exo-writers-net #exodecembercollab18 event! You can find Samm’s work [here] READ IT YALL!

For this year’s Christmas potluck, you all decided to do it in your boss’ house instead of the same old boring office. Junmyeon volunteered to host this year since his bachelor pad is big enough to house all twelve of you in the team.

The house even has a patio and a pool. But it was too cold tonight so you stayed indoors.

Gosh, how much is this man’s salary? It must feel great to have this much space. You thought as you and Chanyeol look around the place to check every room you can.

“Any plans for the holiday?”

Chanyeol nonchalantly asks as he takes selfies in front of Junmyeon’s different kinds of Star Wars figure set collection. You just dumbly follow him around with nothing to do. You’ve been working for the company for two years already but Chanyeol is the only one you’re most comfortable with.

Kyungsoo is nice, but he mostly keeps to himself. And he sometimes glares you down like you murdered his dogs or something when he doesn’t wear his glasses, so you’re kind of afraid of him.

Joy and Irene were really nice girls, but they were also too beautiful that you can’t relate with them on any level and they intimidate you and constantly blind you with their grace.

Jongin too, the Adonis of the office. You don’t dare interact with him unless he initiates it. Some girls from different office floor visit your department for no reason just to get a glimpse of him, that’s totally not creepy at all...

Sure, you’re civil towards everyone, even the ever annoying Baekhyun, but you and Chanyeol are like two peas in a pod, he is your work best friend. You two are kind of the weirdos, but everyone at the office is nice to you.

“Nah,”

You paused, letting out a single puff from your lips.

“My parents forgot that they have a daughter again.”

“Why?”

He asks, snapping another photo now holding a Yoda figurine. Wow, the resemblance is quite uncanny…

“Well, they planned a whole trip until the New Year’s without me again, so…”

“Wow, two Christmases in a row?”

You cross your arms in front of your chest, pout growing bigger.

“Hey, kids it’s time to open presents!”

Junmyeon’s head suddenly pops out by the door frame, his smile was so huge with his cheeks flushed you can tell he has had a few drinks already.

As you reach the living room, you see everyone has their gifts already. Two decorated paper bags sitting prettily on the space of the couch you and Chanyeol previously occupied.

“Should the latecomers open their gifts first?”

Baekhyun blurts out when he saw the three of you emerging from Junmyeon’s home office.

“Ladies first.”

“Fine.”

You grumbled as you snatch the paper bag that has your name on it from Chanyeol.

You’re not exactly excited to know what’s inside the bag. You’re lucky if you got picked by any of the girls in your team because usually, only girls put effort into exchange gifts like these.

Hell, even Chanyeol and Junmyeon asked for your opinion on what to give their giftees. You have to find out what people liked for the three of you.

Slowly pulling out wrapping tissue papers one by one, the first thing you saw was a white envelope. Inside was a basic as hell Christmas card with even more basic greetings printed on it.

“You might need this. Sincerely, your Secret Santa.”

You read the card.

What you pull out next made you lose color on your face.

“Oh my gosh…”

Junmyeon tipsily giggles as he slaps his mouth shut, trying to stop himself from losing control of his laughter.

“IS THAT BAKING FOR DUMM—”

“SHUT UP, BYUN BAEKHYUN!!!”

You screamed, countering Baekhyun even before he finished what he was going to say as if it’ll save you from the already impending embarrassment.

Memories of last year’s charity bake sale came flooding back to your mind.

It wasn’t your fault you have suddenly been bombarded with emergency work a week prior the Office event for your company’s chosen beneficiary!!!

“Is this from you, Baekhyun?! Are you my secret Santa?!?!”

You accused, he’s the only one you know who was brazen enough to do this to you or to anyone at that! Baekhyun is known to pull pranks around the office, he probably thought about this stupid gift even before he found out who his giftee was.

Most of your coworkers are silently snickering at you and the Baking For Dummies book in your hand. Some, aka Junmyeon, Baekhyun and even freaking Park Chanyeol are straight up laughing shamelessly out loud.

It wasn’t your fault that you literally ran out of time and wasn’t able to ACTUALLY bake something for the charity drive! You opted to buy pre-made plain cupcakes at the store and just decorated the sweet treats yourself.

Everyone was so impressed by the cupcakes you brought until ONE freaking customer pointed out that the cupcakes taste exactly like the ones they always buy from Walmart.

Everyone found out your purchase and you were the butt of every joke for a few solid months. Baekhyun especially didn’t let you hear the end of it!

God! It was awful. Your actual baking skills and pride were hurt.

You tried bringing different cookies to work, but they never believed you made them yourself.

Even Chanyeol ride in on the joke. So much for a best friend!

“No, it wasn’t from me!”

Baekhyun continues to laugh, his cocktail spilling all over Junmyeon’s carpet.

“I don’t believe you!!!”

“Trust me, I would brag about it if it was from me.”

And you believe him. He would totally gloat about him pulling this stint. He is a proud mischievous little devil.

“Chanyeol?!?!”

It’s now your best friend’s turn to be blamed.

“I literally showed you the person I got the moment we get to pick the names!”

You turn to Junmyeon this time.

“You know who I got!!!”

Before you can even accuse your boss, he already has his hands up in the air as if he’s surrendering to something.

“I swear I will punch the shit out of whoever gave me this!”

“That was already three chances, next gift!!!”

Irene exclaims!

You silently sulk in your seat as they all continue to laugh and be merry.

Out of nothing at all, when it was Kyungsoo’s chance to open his present, he cleared his throat before facing your direction.

“It was from me—”

He paused as he simply and directly declared.

“The book, it was from me.”

He continued. His big eyes staring right into your soul.

Seriously, right in front of your salad?

Everyone fell mute.

Everyone was both shocked and amused that the quiet, never really speak much unless really important or spoken to first, usually reserved and gentle Do Kyungsoo would pull something like this.

When you said you’re kind of afraid of him, well it’s different now.

You’re just straight up bitter. I guess Baekhyun is the better person now, huh?

How could he?

The audacity!

You don’t even speak much!

You don’t remember a day that you sat down and had a conversation with this man.

“Hey, you okay?”

Chanyeol raised a single brow at you as he shakes you awake from being idle.

You must have frozen down or turned into stone.

You wish you could turn into a stone so you can throw yourself at Kyungsoo.

Wait, NO! That’s nOT WHAT YOU MEANT!!!

“Do Kyungsoo-ssi, I am so offended…” _

“Ohooo, she’s offended. Kyungsoo what are you gonna do?”

Baekhyun incites, adding fuel to the fire.

“That is so rude.”

Joy whips up jokingly as well.

Everyone has some type of alcohol in their systems except for you. You are Chanyeol’s designated driver.

Maybe Kyungsoo as well, you haven’t really seen him drink anything other than water and the fruit bowl punch.

Maybe they spiked the fruit bowl punch, that’s why he’s so bold to go forward about the blunt gift.

“I’m good at baking, okay!”

“i’M gOod aT bAkiNg, oKaY!”

Baekhyun repeats after you in a playful mocking way and everyone laughs, including Chanyeol… ESPECIALLY CHANYEOL, WTH?

“Guess you didn’t see the back of the card.”

Kyungsoo purses his lips into a thin line.

Your boss snatches the Christmas card that came with the gift from you and flips it back, showing what looks like a chibi drawing version of him with a speech bubble.

“Would you help this dummy learn how to bake?”

Junmyeon reads and his face immediately turns smug.

“Ooooooh”

Both Irene and Joy said and gave the same smug look as Junmyeon.

“I wanted to give you something nice, like a necklace or something. But you might find it creepy so I asked Jongin what to get you and he suggested that.”

Kyungsoo pointed at Jongin who in turns scratched the back of his head and gave you an apologizing smile.

“I always knew you’re great at baking, cuz I haven’t found those cinnamon roll sugar cookies you brought last time anywhere—”

He explained some more and you were out of words.

“And I wanted to learn how to make them, so…”

Completely speechless.

“She has no plans for the holiday...”

Chanyeol answered for you with a shrug. Making you turn to give him the look.

“It’s a date then.”

Everyone howls happily, wolf whistles and teasings left and right.

Aikie Masterlist | Michiko Masterlist | FIC RECS | FIC REC SIDEBLOG

[theonethatcompletesyou]

Christmas in Lights | Junmyeon (part 1)

Genre: Fluff, Comedy, Neighbor!AU 

Pairing: Junmyeon x Reader Word Count: 2701 Warnings: None! Summary: Kim Junmyeon has been your sworn enemy ever since he beat you in the annual town Halloween decorating competition and now you will stop at nothing to beat him in the Christmas decorating competition. (This is part 1 of a 2 part story)

A/N: This was written as part of the @exo-writers-net December Collab Event! I was lucky enough to be partnered with @morkmywords I absolutely love all of her fics (I personally recommend Not Really a Cinderella Story and Peaches). And we’re sorta down to the wire on posting these, but better late than never, right??? @morkmywords wrote part 2!

PART 2 HERE

You looked up from your paperwork when the door to your office opened. Walking in the door was Kim Seju, a third grader and also your most frequent visitor. He was holding his elbow and had a small frown.

"Miss (Y/N)?" He asked with a frown.

You gave him a smile, "How's it going, Seju?"

He held out his arm out toward you, "I fell down and scraped my arm while I was playing tag."

You pressed your lips together, trying to not laugh as you reached for your first aid kit. This was the third time this week. This kid always got hurt in some way. Good thing your

He went over to his usual chair in the office and sat down next to you as you opened up the kit. You started to clean his scrape with the alcohol wipe. You started to talk to him to distract him from the pain.

"Any plans for winter break, Seju?" You asked, careful to not press down too hard to cause him more pain.

Seju winced, "Not really. It'll just be me and my dad this year. Dad doesn't have a girlfriend this year or anything so we don't have to go anywhere which is nice."

You nodded as Seju rambled on. You had already placed the bandage on his scrape but he didn't notice. You couldn't help but find his rambling endearing. At the mention of the lack of holiday plans, you had to hold yourself from scowling.

"So you and your dad are just staying home this year, huh?" You asked, a little bitter.

Seju looked at you, confused. "Yeah? But what about you, Miss (Y/N)?"

You shrugged, "I don't have any plans with family. My sister decided to go to the Bahamas with her husband. So I'm all alone this year."

For the third year in a row, you couldn't help but think bitterly. Well, you could blame it on her lavish lifestyle. She had certainly changed ever since she won the lottery.

Then again, she did gift you a house that you wouldn't have been able to afford on a school nurse salary. It was in a nice neighborhood, though you couldn't help but think it was probably the cheapest one.

You didn't have any actual plans for Christmas, but you had more important plans leading up to it. Possibly diabolical ones.

As if summoned by your thoughts, the door to your office opened again.

Walking in wearing a dark gray suit was Kim fucking Junmyeon.

He looked around the office confused until his gaze rested on you. He smiled wide, his eyes crinkling slightly.

"Knew I'd find you here," he said.

Not at you. But the boy sitting next to you.

"Dad!" Seju exclaimed, jumping out of his seat super fast and running to his father.

You watched as Junmyeon bent down to give Seju a hug. And if it were any other parent, you would have found this a cute scene.

Junmyeon locked eyes with you over Seju's shoulder, smirking. It made you seethe.

"What are you doing here?" Seju asked when he pulled away from the hug.

Junmyeon smiled and patted his son's head. "I'm pulling you out of school for your dentist appointment, remember?"

Seju pouted. "I hate going to the dentist."

Junmyeon laughed. "Well, if you don't have cavities, we can make cookies tonight, okay?"

"Really?"

"Of course!"

The bell rang, signaling the end of recess. Junmyeon nudged his son. "You go get your stuff and meet me back here, okay? I already talked to the office and your teacher."

"Okay!" Seju exclaimed, running out of the office. "Be back!"

Part of you hoped that Junmyeon would leave or wait outside, so your veins thrummed when he simply hung around.

"You going to the meeting later?" Junmyeon asked, leaning on your desk. You wanted nothing more than to smack his arms away.

"Do I really have a choice? Minseok would skin me alive if I skipped," you scoffed.

Minseok never forgave poor Baekhyun when he skipped a neighborhood community meeting to sleep early. He had put Baekhyun on cleanup duty for the three months after.

You locked eyes with him and he smirked. You wanted to slap it off of his face.

"I think he's going to announce the Christmas decorating contest tonight. Are you prepared to lose again? Ready for a repeat of Halloween?" he teased.

If you were a cartoon, steam would have been coming out of your ears. He laughed at your expression.

Seju opened the door once again, his backpack haphazardly thrown on. "You ready to go, Dad?"

"Yeah, let's go, buddy." He went to the door but turned around and winked at you. "I'll see you later, Miss (Y/N)."

Seju waved at you enthusiastically. "Have a good day, Miss (Y/N)! Thank you for the band-aid!!"

You gave the child a small wave back. You also tried not to look at Junmyeon's butt as he walked away.

You failed.

Shit.

Neighborhood community meetings were always interesting. You figured it was a perk to knowing everyone It gave you the chance to see people you were otherwise too busy to see due to differing schedules. Like Zhang Yixing, who travelled a lot but always made time to come to each meeting. And Do Kyungsoo, who always made enough food for everyone. Especially after the time Jongin was in charge of the food and gave everyone food poisoning because of bad fried chicken. It also gave everyone the opportunity to gossip like the catty housewives they pretended they wanted to be. Like Kim Jongdae, who was once again passive-aggressive in telling Chanyeol that his bushes were three inches too high for regulation. You had no idea if Chanyeol was playing dumb or if he genuinely didnt pick up what Jongdae was trying to tell him. You sat towards the back of the hall that was usually used for these meetings. You looked up when you felt someone take the seat next to you. Oh Sehun slumped in his seat, which you found odd because he usually had perfect posture. He sipped at his coffee that was usually provided at these meetings. His eye bags were dark and extreme. "Everything okay?" You asked. "I've been up for thirty hours," he mumbled. "Why?" He opened his mouth to answer but was interrupted by Minseok who stood at the podium. He looked adorable in his Santa hat. "I'm glad that everyone could make it today!" He greeted warmly. "We have a bit to talk about today but I'll cut to the chase with our more exciting news. We are hosting another round of our Christmas decorating contest!" You squeezed the hem of your skirt tightly in anticipation. "This year's theme is Lights! So make sure you make your house light up the night this year!"  Minseok announced. He rambled on but your eyes trailed over to where you knew Junnyeon was sitting. You had been hyper aware of him ever since he entered the room. He looked over and locked eyes with you, a growing smirk on his face. You scowled. What a dick. "Are you still mad about him beating you on Halloween?" Sehun asked, you could tell from his teasing tone that he was amused. "Of course. What's passed is past. I just think it was ridiculous that he won even though Nightmare Before Christmas is clearly a Christmas movie and not a Halloween movie," you scoffed. "You're such a sore loser," Sehun chuckled. "Just you watch asshole," you grumbled. "I'm gonna beat him this year."

To say that you and Junmyeon had a history would be ridiculous. You had known him for a little less than a year, and for most of it you thought that he was a perfect gentleman. He definitely had his cool and suave sides, accentuated by the way he dressed in his suits for work. There was a charm about him that drew you to him immediately. It also helped that he was incredibly attractive. You felt yourself melt every time he threw a smile toward you. You could say that you harbored a little tiny crush on him. And then Halloween happened. Your neighborhood was famous—borderline notorious—for the Christmas decoration contest held every year. And for the last five years (including the first year that the house was gifted to you by your millionaire sister) the title for Best Decorator had been yours for the last five years. You were gifted a reindeer shaped statuette each year with the title Best Decorator and the year etched under it on its base. It was perhaps a little bit overboard, but you appreciated the sentiment and had each statuette proudly displayed on the mantle of your fireplace. So when a Halloween version opened up this year, you gunned for first place as well. You spent a lot of time researching fog machines and projectors. You went to haunted houses with the intent on taking notes on how to successfully make a scary aura. You had thought that your only competition would be Sehun, who thought that TP-ing his own house counted as Halloween decorating. Oh, how wrong you were. Kim Junmyeon won the title for Best Halloween Decorator. He had managed to turn his front yard into a recreation of a Tim Burton movie seemingly overnight. You could see elements of both Nightmare Before Christmas and Beetlejuice in his decoration. And because of it, he stole the title from right under your nose. It took you until almost Thanksgiving to get over the loss, but you had acknowledged Junmyeon as your rival. You resolved to keep your title for Christmas and crush him. You still adored Seju though, even though the kid got hurt enough at school to where you worried over him, seeing him was still the only good part of your day sometimes. You unlocked the door to your car only to freeze at what was inside. You looked around confused until you found a tiny card on your dashboard and opened it. You immediately ripped the card in anger. A door opened next door, Sehun was walking out, presumably leaving for work. You dropped the pieces of card on the ground and charged at Sehun, your hands wrapping around his neck. He yelped in surprise. “Why did you help Junmyeon break into my car?” you growled. “How did you know?” Sehun asked, voice barely escaping in your grip. “Only you are crafty enough to break into a car without breaking a window.” His eyes suddenly shined at the odd compliment. You thought that it was weird that he was flattered. “You think I’m crafty?” You nodded. “Like how Kevin McCallister from Home Alone is crafty.” You let go of Sehun’s neck, he bent over to catch his breath. “But that’s beside the point! Why did you help him do it?” Sehun shrugged. “He just asked me to do it and I did. He didn’t tell me why.” “He left a bajillion Christmas themed pacifiers in my car,” you said, frustrated. “Along with a card that said, ‘You might need these for when I beat you in the contest.’” “This rivalry you guys have is the weirdest form of foreplay,” Sehun wheezed, rubbing his neck. “What are you talking about?” you asked. Sehun rolled his eyes. “C’mon, (Y/N), it’s clear that you two have a thing for each other.” “I do not have a thing for Kim Junmyeon!” you exclaimed angrily, uncaring if the entire neighborhood heard you. “The way you stare at his butt begs to differ,” Sehun muttered bitterly. You rolled your eyes. In another world you thought you and Sehun would be a good match, but his interests more aligned with musicians who wore too many muscle shirts. Before you could open your mouth to reply—probably to tease him about his petty jealously—Sehun’s front door opened again, revealing Chanyeol who strided over to Sehun with his signature grin. “Sehun-ah!” he called out. He handed Sehun a paper bag. “You forgot your lunch.” Sehun smiled, eyes squinting into crescents. “Thank you, hyung. I appreciate it.” You looked back and forth between them. Sehun, as if remembering what was happening and where he was, looked at you panicked. “This isn’t what it looks like?” You quirked an eyebrow, “Good, because I don’t have the emotional capacity to unpack this right now. Just don’t help Junmyeon break into my shit ever again.” You turned around and stomped away. “I have an ass to beat this Christmas!” “Kinky!” Sehun yelled to your retreating back. You flipped him off.

You opened the door to see Seju shuffling nervously, holding a giant plastic bag in his hands. You blinked, confused, before shaking it off. You smiled, "Seju, how is your break going?" "Good, Miss (Y/N)!" Seju answered enthusiastically. He thrust the plastic bag at you. "I made these for you!" The contents of the bag looked questionable. Inside looked what appeared to be black star-shaped lumps. You hesitated to take them, but you didn't want to hurt Seju's feelings. "Thank you, Seju. What are these?" You asked. He tilted his head at you, confused. "Can't you tell? They're cookies!" You gulped before putting on a stronger, faker, smile. "Of course they are, how silly of me." "I made them to thank you for taking care of me!" Seju grinned. You were touched by the sentiment. "You're very welcome, Seju. Just be more careful when school starts back up again, okay?" Seju nodded, "Okay!" Deep down, you knew that nothing much would change. Seju waved goodbye as he went back to his house, leaving you with the bag of lump-shaped cookies. You closed the door and sighed. Should you throw them away? Another knock on the door startled you out of your thoughts. You opened the door again, surprised to see Junmyeon at your doorstep. He was most certainly dressed down. He wore a plain white shirt with gray sweatpants. His hair, not styled, was pushed out of his face by a headband. His hands were behind his back, and you could see the tiniest peek at how defined his chest was. How did he still look so good even in casual clothes? "Hi?" You asked. "What are you doing here?" Junmyeon sighed. "Whatever you do, do not eat those cookies." He revealed another plastic bag from behind his back. This time, you could clearly see that they were cookies. You gingerly took them from his outstretched hands. "Why are you being so nice to me?" You asked with a glare. Junmyeon shrugged. "My son likes you." You rolled your eyes. "You're just buttering me up so that I could let my guard down for the competition." His lips quirked up in a teasing smile. "Is it working?" "As if," you huffed. "Delicious sweets won't work on me." You were about to slam the door in his face but stopped yourself. "Thank you, though," you mumbled. "I had no idea what I was going to do with Seju's cookies." Junmyeon smiled bigger this time, more genuine. "My pleasure, (Y/N)."

You walked out on your front porch and screamed. "What the hell is this?!" You dont know how, but overnight your front yard had become a reenactment of Nightmare Before Christmas. You had come face to face with Jack Skellington in a Santa costume, smiling in a way that unsettled you. There was a note sticking on his chest with your name written in neat scrawl. You instantly recognized the writing. You opened the note. 'You're right, Nightmare Before Christmas is much more of a Christmas movie than a Halloween movie. Maybe if I gave you these you'd stand a chance at beating me. --Junmyeon' You crushed the note in your hand and pushed Jack Skellington over, screaming. You spied Sehun out of the corner of your eye, who raised his hands in surrender and shook his head, wanting to let you know that he had nothing to do with this one. You stomped over to the rest of the decorations, pulling them down. Kim Junmyeon just struck your last nerve.

PART 2

[exo-writers-net]

December collab event. PAIRINGS!

Hello members, the day has come!

Are you guys excited? We sure are! We’re just so happy to see how many people wanted to participate in this little project. They’re more than we expected and we are so grateful for that. We hope to read all the wonderful stories you come up with together.

And remember, this is for fun. We thought about this so you guys could have a great time and encourage each other, because we know sometimes we really need someone to tell us to write and to give us their opinion and ideas.

We’re not going to say anything more, we know you just want to know who is your partner, so here it is:

Pairings

Pairing 1: @morkmywords and @theonethatcompletesyou

Pairing 2: @kpopimagi and @exo-waithowdidigethere

Pairing 3: @messyscriptorium and @technicallymilkshakes

Pairing 4: @ninibears-erigom and @guccijaee

Pairing 5: @singingunderthecurtain y @thesammtimes

We remind our members that the first day they can start posting their works is the 24th of December and the last day for doing so is the 31st of December.

Don’t forget to tag your works using the network’s hashtag #exowritersnet and the event’s hashtag #exodecembercollab18

Lastly, you can publish you work however you want to. You can either choose one person to publish the whole story or you can divide the story in half so every member of the couple has the opportunity to publish something. The only thing we ask from you is that the story is self-conclusive.

What are you waiting for? Talk to your partner and let’s get those typing fingers moving!

[morkmywords]

Christmas in Lights | Winter Special | Exo | Junmyeon | Part 2

Masterlist | Part 1

Christmas!AU

Length: 5.8k

Note: this is part of the Exo Writers Network December collab and part 1 can be found over at @theonethatcompletesyou

Warnings: none

Pairing: Junmyeon x Reader

Genre: Fluff

Summary: Kim Junmyeon has been your sworn enemy ever since he beat you in the annual town Halloween decorating competition and now you will stop at nothing to beat him in the Christmas decorating competition.

This had to be some kind of sick joke. There was absolutely no way this was happening right now, you would not be beaten by Kim Junmyeon again. Nothing in the world would satisfy you more at this moment than wiping the smug smile off his angelic face. Now, you just had to come up with the perfect scheme to out-decorate him once and for all, and the department store was the perfect place to start.

——

There were pros and cons to living in a small town, you knew most of your neighbour’s names but as the title suggested, everything was, well, small. Meaning you had to travel at least another town over, more often than not two, to find anything there wasn’t locally and boy was it a fun experience. Aside from it being a two-hour drive to the nearest department store being in the throes of winter with snow pelting down from every angle at all times of the day piled on top of your anger and stress made you a little prone to road rage. But thankfully, you arrived at the store in one piece even if you were quick to blast your horn and had more than a few close run-ins with deer that both definitely weren’t your fault.

Contrary to your expectations the parking lot was completely deserted with only a few other cars that you assumed belonged to the staff working there but it may have had something to do that it was nine o’clock on the dot and them heavy snow that didn’t seem to be letting up anytime soon. Nevertheless, you grabbed your bag and hoped out of the car, locking it behind you and not even bothering to zip up your jacket or throw on the hood before you shuffled through the empty parking lot.

You only paused for a moment as the automatic doors slid shut behind you and you let the store’s heating system bring you into its embrace, sighing in relief before taking off again. Not even noticing the red tinge decorating your cheeks, nose, and hands from being outside for no more than two minutes. You grabbed a cart and sped off towards the coveted aisle in the Christmas section which housed on its many long shelves the lights and other various outdoor Christmas decorations that you would need to show Junmyeon and his stupid light display go the real champion of holiday decorating was.

When one wheel of the cart you grabbed didn’t seem to work right because it was clogged with who knows what you didn’t even give it a second thought as you navigated through the store like it was a jungle and you were on your way to find the secret treasure. But instead of gold and jewels, in this case, it was the assortment of variously coloured lights that were offered.

The cart skidded around the corner with you right behind, entirely prepared to dash into the aisle like a mad woman and start grabbing what you could but you were stopped in your tracks when there was a figure standing in the centre of the aisle, cart already half full of decorations and deciding between lights shaped as icicles or snowflakes.

“Kim Junmyeon,” You snarled under your breath as you hands tightened against the cart.

He looked up at the sound of he name echoing throughout the silent store which was otherwise silent aside from your heavy breaths and royalty free Christmas music reverberating through the sound system which had probably been around longer than you.

He glanced up at the sound of his name, eyes locking on yours from down the aisle and the corners into his mouth lifted into what you would usually find as an almost sexy smirk if you were so unimaginably mad.

“Well if it isn’t my neighbour,” he called, “What a coincidence to see you here Y/n.” The smirk on his face only grew while the frown on yours darkened. He placed both boxes into his cart as you rolled down the picked over aisle towards him suddenly away from how the wheel on your cart was sticking and squeaking through every agonizing second.

“I got here the second the store opened and didn’t see anyone, so tell me, dear neighbour, how did you get in here before me?” You questioned him as you rolled closer to him steam practically coming out of your ears as he only leaned forward to rest his forearms on the handlebar of the cart and crossing his legs over one another.

He chuckled as you stopped a few feet from him, “You’d be surprised at how far a few twenties will get you with a disgruntled teenager who is less than pleased to be working over the Christmas break,” he told you before turning back to the shelves and digging through another stack of multicoloured lights.

You were fuming, hands balled into fists at your sides and sputtering with lack of words to express your detrimental emotions. He Always seemed to know how to ruin your day and today definitely wasn’t an exception.“Why you son of a-“

You were cut off by a shout of “Dad!” and the squeaking of snow boots against linoleum before Seju rounded the corner, bundled up in so many layers he looked like a marshmallow, arms piled high with boxes of what you presumed to be gingerbread house building kits. The tower was so high you didn’t think he could see over the top, much less balance, and just like that there was a sharp intake of breath from all of you as the child and tower of boxes began tilting precariously and drawing closer to the point of no return. In a flash, you were on the right stopping the small boy from hitting the floor and Junmyeon was on the left catching the tower of boxes and miraculously managing to not let a single one hit the floor.

As soon as there was no immediate danger Sehun was back on his feet in front of you, clutching onto your hand and bouncing excitedly as if nothing even remotely concerning happened. “Miss Y/n, what are you doing here?” He asked with the excitement only a child could muster up on a freezing cold morning at an ungodly hour during the holidays no less, when the only thing you were supposed to be doing was relaxing with your family and friends, not getting overly stressed about your decorations and beating your handsome neighbour in a stupid contest. “Are you buying more lights and decorations as well?” he asked with the pitch of excitement entering his voice, “Dad said we had to come here really early to get the best decorations and he said we were going to make gingerbread houses!”

Your eyes slid over to where Junmyeon stood back in front of the lights, to anyone else it would seem as though he was entirely focused on the boxes in front of him but you knew he was listening no matter how hard he was trying to hide it, which gave you an idea. “Did your dad say you could buy all of these different houses?” you asked the boy in front of you.

Seju nodded enthusiastically before bounding over the shopping cart that he was just tall enough to reach over if he stood on the bottom and plucking the first gingerbread box he could reach and running back over to you. You were smiling like an idiot while he handed the box to you and started pointing at the pictures.

“I didn’t actually want to come,” he whispered to you, “I wanted to stay at home and play in the snow but dad said if I came we could get as many gingerbread houses as I want!”

“Really?” you asked with a sly undertone to your voice that completely escaped the younger’s ears but not his father’s as he turned around with his eyebrows scrunched together in worry but made no move closer to the two of you.

“You know what would be really cool?” you asked Seju who was immediately intrigued.

“What?’ he asked with wide eyes.

You looked to the side, eyes meeting with his father’s before looking back, “I don’t know if I should be telling you this,” you whispered, “but if you made a city out of these gingerbread houses it would be so cool!”

You could practically see Junmyeon’s soul leaving his body when Seju bounced back and ran off in search of more cookies, shouting a quick promise to return. His eyes were wide with shock which quickly turned into anger as you stood back up and brushed yourself off, not even the fire in his eyes could wipe the smugness from your face. You sauntered back to where your cart was as slow as you possible. “Excuse me but could you move?” You asked him with a smile coated in enough sugar to make your teeth rot by just looking at it, “You’re standing in front of the lights.”

He was clutching the box in his hands so tightly the cardboard dented and ripped but he gave you a tight-lipped smile before moving to his cart, throwing the box in, and heading off to find his son.

You were satisfied with the assortment of lights and other decorations you had found and were confident in your ability to beat Kim Junmyeon once and for all which is partly what gave you the courage to wave to him once more at the checkout somehow even faker than the last time before returning Seju’s wave and heading into the parking lot with your small army of bags and boxes.

—-

You let out another frustrated shout as you jammed your key into the lock on your car door hoping it would move even just a millimetre but like all the times previous it stayed in the same position, old metal groaning slightly as you tried to force it to move. You should have known this would happen and you would be stranded in a department store parking lot during a blizzard. A school nurse wasn’t exactly a high paying job even if you sometimes worked at the hospital and other medical centers here and there so you still had an ancient car that ran perfectly well but had manual locks and windows, unlike the more modern cars where everything was automatic including the engine. But now because of your lack of funds, your lock was frozen shut and you had absolutely no way to get home until you heard a call from behind you.

“Are you having some trouble there Miss Y/n?”

Usually, the sound of Kim Junmyeon’s voice would make your blood boil but at this point, you were exhausted and pretty sure you were so cold you could hardly feel your finger, toes, or ears (if you could even feel them in the first place) that you just turned around and waved.

“What’s wrong Miss Y/n?” Seju asked as he came bounding up to you, gleefully cover in small glistening bits of snow and ice which he had most likely gathered from a small snowball fight in the parking lot earlier.

You crouched down to his level and brushed away a clump of snow which was clinging onto his hat with a smile that he returned, causing his eyes to scrunch up in a way remarkably like his father’s which always made your heart warm. “My lock was frozen shut so I can’t drive home,” you told him as you were vaguely aware of Junmyeon coming to stand behind his son, “so I’ll have to call a cab or take the bus home.”

Seju pouted in the most adorable way possible which was another thing he inherited from his father and made your heart flutter whenever you saw it. “Daaaaaad,” he whined, “can’t we take Miss Y/n with us?”

“No, no, it’s okay,” you told him, “I’ll call a cab and-“

“Come with us,” Junmyeon cut you off, “there’ll be no buses because we’re practically in the middle of a blizzard and cab fares will be through the roof! And besides, you live right next to us.”

You stared back at him, jaw hanging wide open. It wasn’t the first time he had acted like this around you but after the whole incident on Halloween, all your encounters had been passive aggressive at best.

He didn’t wait for you to answer, taking your frozen state as confirmation enough he picked up your bags and headed to where he was parked in the familiar family SUV that you saw every morning, leaving you to be dragged along somewhat forcefully by an overly excited Seju. And that was how you ended up on a mini road trip, singing along to classic Christmas carols in the back of the SUV you hated so much but now you didn’t find all that bad. Smiling and laughing with Seju in the backseat while his father who had somehow managed to grow on you much more in the past fifteen minutes than in the past six months played the dutiful DJ. Until Seju fell asleep and the swinging Christmas songs turned into the gentle lullaby of a classical piece by a composer you didn’t know and you drifted off to sleep as well, cradled by the warmth of the air conditioning and the two boys in the car with you.

——

It was alarmingly like instinct when you woke up at the crack of dawn before the sun had even begun to break over the horizon, on the first-day snowflakes as large as baseballs had stopped falling from the sky at a torrential rate. You had been waiting anxiously for the past several days, checking the weather reports every half hour to see when the snow would stop, but there was no change. This evening was when the house decorations would be judged, Christmas Eve, and you still hadn’t finished decorating. You tried to make progress the day after you purchased the new addition of outlandish figurines and lights of all shapes, colours, and sizes but the blizzard-like weather had soon foiled your plan after an incident having to do with almost falling off your ladder, for the third time.

So when you threw back your curtains to see nothing falling from the sky and a relatively clear day ahead you quickly forgot everything else you planned on doing like the much awaited posting of gifts for your family. Instead, you pulled on your warmest and most waterproof clothing before dashing to your back shed to gather all the supplies you would need to cover your already somewhat decorated house from top to bottom in lights, tastefully, of course.

You were about three hours in and pretty sure you could be finished with this whole ordeal in another two hours if you were extremely focused and dedicated but of course, something had to throw you off track completely.

You had just finished hanging up the last of your multicoloured, glitter, candy cane lights when you heard the telltale screech of your next door neighbours door open and the telltale crunch of shoes in the snow. You knew all too well what was in store for you if you looked over into your neighbour’s yard and yet, you did it anyway.

There was Junmyeon, walking so seriously he was almost marching in a full suit and tie, hair combed and gelled perfectly into place, down the semi-cleared pathway that led from his porch to the driveway where his car sat parked and covered in snow. He was muttering about something angrily but you were too far away to hear it and far too distracted as you thought back to the day he drove you home. It had taken all day with the traffic being particularly slow due to the weather and you felt slightly guilty when he roused you from your deep sleep in the back seat of his car, telling you he had already taken Seju inside before helping you carry your boxes into your own home. It might not seem like much to anyone else but the way he looked, all bundled up in his warm wonder clothes as he said goodnight to you on your front porch seemed like something out of your teenage fantasies and never failed to make you blush. And that’s exactly what happened as you were about halfway down the ladder, blushing so furiously you got distracted and the ladder began slipped on the thin layer of ice coating to ground. You let out a strangled cry before the ladder came toppling over and you with it but instead of hitting the ground you hit something soft that felt like some sort of living creature that you hoped to god was a human.

“You would have even less of a chance beating me if you can’t even put your own decorations up,” Junmyeon said with a raised eyebrow as you looked up at him, “besides, I like a challenge.”

And with that the feeling of teenage romance were gone, instead replaced with the feeling of pure rage as you pushed yourself out of his arms and back into the snow, almost losing your footing again and face planting before he grabbed your elbow to keep you from going over.

“Thanks but I don’t need your help,” you seethed before wrenching your elbow from his grasp.

“Really? Because it didn’t seem that way when you were about to fall off of that ladder and crack your head open on the ice,” he said crossing his arms over his chest as you bent down to pick up your ladder.

“Don’t you have somewhere to be?” You asked with a hmph as you pulled the metal contraption back into its upright position.

He nodded and uncrossed his arms from his chest, “My office.”

“Then shouldn’t you be going there?”

He tilted his head to the side and smiled before turning around and leaving you grumpy and slightly covered in snow.

Right before he was about to get in his car he called out, “Do me a favour and call me if my house is on fire! Jongdae is coming over to babysit while I’m out and I don’t want anything to bad to happen! And don’t die before they announce the winners of the decorating contest tonight.” With that final few words, he hopped into his car and drove off leaving you a muttering mess as you prepared to climb the ladder once more.

——

The liquid chocolate dropped from the industrial-sized thermos to the small paper cup in your hand, filling it almost to the brim before you closed the nozzle and went to mingle with the crowd. Your breath came in clouds around you as you traversed the large hall, even though the heating was on, the cold crept through the thin walls of the old building and made you grateful for the boiling hot liquid in your grasp, warming your hands through the thin layer of paper.

You had finished your decorating through much distraction right as the sun was beginning to set and right before the judging would begin and now five hours later you and the rest of the neighbourhood were all squished into the town hall, awaiting the ever so anticipated results. You slid into a chair, knees bouncing nervously even though you were confident you had beaten Junmyeon this time.

“Can’t they just hurry up already?” You muttered to yourself as people began drifting into seats also eagerly waiting as you had been. After another five minutes, the crowd finally hushed into muted whispers as Minseok who just happened to be the judge climbed the podium, tapping once on the microphone before clearing her throat and speaking.

“Before I announce the winner, I would like to congratulate all those who participated as all the displays this year were truly outstanding,” he kept talking for what seemed like ages and you completely zoned out. That is until you finally heard him announce, “and the winner of this year’s Christmas decorating contest is…”

You could barely hear anything over the pounding of your heart in your ears and you felt your muscles tense, hands bunching into your jacket as he finally announced…

“Kim Jongdae!”

“WHAT!”

You shot up from your chair but it wasn’t only you, a few rows in front of your Junmyeon was also out of his seat fists balled at his sides.

“How is this fair?” He exclaimed, ”My lights were so much better than his!”

“And mine was better than his!” You cut in pointing at Junmyeon which not only earned you a glare from him but Minseok as well, “Do you know how much work I put into my decoration? I fell off my ladder, THREE TIMES!”

“Well I’m sorry about your ladder incidents but everyone who is here put in lots of hard work,” the judge pointed out.

“But-“

“But nothing, you are making a scene. You didn’t win and now you either need to sit down or leave, both of you!” She said almost if you were children and she was scolding you for stealing a present from under the tree. You sputtered and eventually, both sat down ever so slowly, utterly defeated. And as you watched Jongdae go up to receive his award of a measly dollar store trophy which you so desperately wanted you went through all the trouble of covering your house with lights the anger for Kim Junmyeon which has festered inside you seemed to disappear as if it was never there at all. Instead, it was replaced by a burning hatred for the one and only, Kim Jongdae.

A defeated sigh escaped from your throat, causing a small cloud to form around you as you stepped into the cold winter night. Many others had already left to go home and you were doing the same, glaring at Jongdae surrounded by the reporter from the local newspaper who was interviewing him. Nobody read the paper but for some reason, the only thing you wanted is to have your face on the front cover, followed closely by your beautifully decorated house.

Your boots crunched through the fresh snow which was still falling from the sky as you drew further and further away from the town hall.

“Well, don’t you look a little down in the dumps,” someone called from behind.

You froze and turned around to see Junmyeon following closely behind Seju who was bounding up to you.

“I could say the same about,” you called back before leaning down and ruffling Seju’s head a few times before giving him a high five.

Junmyeon stopped in front of you but instead of his usual scowl he was smiling, and it wasn't his usual fake smile that he put on whenever Seju was around, this was genuine and it was starting to make your heart flutter like it had been doing more frequently over the past few weeks. “I knew I should have never let Jongdae babysit Seju,” he sighed teasingly, “He totally leached of our ideas!”

“I don't know,” you sighed, “He looked pretty close Minseok if you know what I mean.

He burst into a fit of laughter, eyes scrunched up along with his nose.

“I don’t know what you mean,” Seju cut in, standing between the both of you and looking up at you completely confused.

Junmyeon smiled and bent down to his level before whispering in his ear, “Uncle Jongdae cheated to win the decorating contest!”

“Really!” Seju exclaimed, “No way!” His eyes were wide open, reminding you of a frog and causing you to giggle.

“And now we have to get revenge!’ His father told him before scooping him up and throwing him upside down over his shoulder, “You in?” he asked you, Seju still screaming with delight over his shoulder.

“Me?”

“Yes, you.”

“And what exactly does this so-called revenge entail?” you asked, raising an eyebrow suspiciously.

He smirked, “We’ll have to see when we get there,” he teased before turning around and walking away, “Jongdae won’t be preoccupied for long though!”

Seju waved to you and you let out a sighed before jogging over beside him and Seju, “I guess I don’t really have a choice now do I?”

“Good to see you've decided to join our noble cause!” Seju called out as he scrambled back over his dad’s shoulder and back onto the ground, “Onward knights! To the pits of evil!”

“He means Jongdae’s house,” Junmyeon whispered before Seju grabbed your hand in one of his and his father’s in the other.

“Charge!” He shouted.

“Charge!” You and Junmyeon echoed before running forward until you all ran out of breath.

“Just one question.” Junmyeon asked as Seju settled onto his shoulders, hands clinging onto the pompom decorating the top of his father’s hat, “Is that what I think it is?” he asked gesturing to the large, half full, the metal container you had been carrying since you first ran into them.

“And what exactly do you think it is?” you asked, trying as best you could to hide the container behind your legs.

He chuckled at you attempt and instead reached over and took it from your hand, “Did you really steal the free hot chocolate”

“They cheated me from my rightful title of the winner so I might as well get something out of it,” You pouted, crossing your arms over your chest,” besides, I’ll return it eventually.”

“I'm sure you will,” he chuckled.

----

You stood back proudly next to Junmyeon and Seju, admiring your handy-work, no longer was Jongdae’s house brightly lit up with every colour of the rainbow but now it was covered from top to bottom in toilet paper. It had cost a small fortune to purchase the amount you needed but after you and Junmyeon split the cost it was completely worth it. You imagined the look on Jongdae’s face when he saw what you three had done and you smiled, already hearing the endless whining echoing in your ears as the three of you headed back down the street to your houses.

You were stopped in your tracks when you rounded the corner and saw a crowd of your neighbours surrounding your house and flashing red lights. You left Junmyeon and Seju behind as you broke into a sprint heading toward the crowd and pushing your way through before you were finally stopped by the fire chief.

“What happened?’ you exclaimed, “What happened to my house?”

“So you must be the owner then,” he sighed, “Glad to see you finally showed up.”

You frowned, “Can you please just tell me what happened?” you asked, slightly irritated by his tone of voice and generally unhappy disposition, especially since you had known him for most of your life.

“Well, because of all your Christmas lights a circuit blew and started a small fire that thankfully only damaged the basement,” He explained.

You breathed out a sigh of relief, “Can I go then?”

He stopped you from moving any closer to your house, “Because the basement was the part damaged we need to make sure that the foundations were not damaged before anyone is allowed back inside.”

“And how long is that going to take?” Junmyeon asked surprising both you and the fire chief.

“Are you-”

“It’s alright, he’s with me,” you told the fire chief before waiting for his answer.

“It will take at least a week before you can go back inside and longer if anything is damaged.”

You nodded numbly and turned away from the man and back to where Junmyeon was standing holding Seju’s hand, “What am I going to do?” you asked glumly, “I have nowhere to stay, the hotel is booked completely since it’s the holidays, what am I going to do?” you sniffled, trying to hold back the tears before you buried your face in your hands.

“Miss Y/n can stay with us, right dad?” Seju exclaimed.

Your head shot up from your hands, “No it’s-”

“The guest room is still a little messy from the last time one of the guys stayed over but I’ll sleep on the couch,” Junmyeon cut you off.

You shook your head, “It’s really-”

“Just come with us!” Seju and Junmyeon exclaimed in unison.

You looked at them both before reluctantly agreeing and heading back with the two of them to the house next door to yours.

----

“Again, I’m really sorry about intruding like this,” you said as you helped Junmyeon dig blankets out of the bottom of his closet.

“And I told you not to worry about it,” he said before handing you another pile of blankets.

As soon as you got back into his home you were set with the task of tucking Seju into bed, which you thought would be easy like an idiot, boy was you wrong. He was like an endless fountain of questions as you read him story after story, his energy was neverending until finally, an hour later, he let out a yawn.

“You know that I can tell when you and my dad were fighting,” he mumbled sleepily.

“We weren’t fighting,” you sputtered out.

He yawned again, “Yes you were, but it wasn’t like normal fighting, it was different?”

You frowned, eyebrows bunching together as Seju yawned again, “What do you mean?”

“I think my dad likes you,” he mumbled, eyelids heavy, “And I think that you like him too,” he finally mumbled before falling asleep.

“You still didn’t have to give up your bed for me,” you frowned, coming up beside him and helping to unfurl another blanket onto the couch, “I would have been perfectly fine sleeping here.”

“Well once we clean the guest room one of us can move into there,” he said in such a sassy tone it almost made you laugh, “besides, your house is the one that just caught fire, you’ve had enough stress for the day and you should get a good night's rest on something that isn’t a crappy old couch”

“Well, thank you then.” you mumbled, following after him through a door which led into a kitchen, much nicer than yours, refrigerator decorated with Seju’s drawings, “Um… Seju told me something as I was putting him to bed,” you mumbled.

“What did he tell you this time?” Junmyeon laughed, “that my teeth are fake?”

You sighed again as you helped him pile dishes into the sink, “No but that would probably have been more entertaining.”

The lights were dimmed to a soft glow as the time neared midnight, the blue glow from the digital clock in the oven illuminating the cluttered kitchen in a confusingly charming way. You felt surprisingly at home in your neighbour’s house, more so than you did in your own, which was alarming, to say the least, but you pushed the thought to the back of your mind when Junmyeon spoke again.

“Then what did he tell you?”

“Well,” You mumbled dragging your foot in a circle on the scuffed kitchen floors, no doubt from a certain little boy who was fast asleep upstairs, “he told me that he thought you liked me.”

Silence fell over the kitchen, Junmyeon froze and your nerves took hold of your lungs, not letting you breathe until he spun around to face you.

“And what if I did?” he asked.

“Well, if you did, I would tell you what he said next,” you said, voice cracking.

“And what did he say next?”

“That he thought I liked you as well.”

“Do you?”

“I think I do.”

Your voice had come out barely above a whisper and you stared at your feet until you heard those fateful words.

“I think I like you too.”

You looked up at him with wide eyes frozen in place before something inside you bubbled over and you burst into laughter, clutching your stomach and doubling over with the shortness of breath that comes with a laughing fit.

Junmyeon was still standing, stoic with an eyebrow quirked in confusion and arms hanging limply at his sides, ”What’s so funny?” he asked.

“I’m sorry,” you choked out, “It’s just that a third grader knew more about our feelings than we did,” you sputtered out through teary eyes and you heard a small laugh escape from him as well.

Once you to had regained your composure somewhat and dried your teary eyes you were standing opposite from each other in the doorway.

“Don’t look now,” Junmyeon whispered, “But we happen to be standing under the mistletoe.”

You stilled as you glanced up seeing the green plant dangling from the door frame before looking back at the man across from you. He leaned in closer and your eyes fluttered closed before you felt his soft lips press against your own, it was like your own little Christmas miracle until you heard a giggle coming from the top of the stairs and sprung apart only to be met with Seju bounding down the stairs and engulfing both of your legs in his small arms.

“I thought I put you to bed?” you asked him as he lifted his head from its position buried in his dad’s leg.

“It’s not my fault,” he told you, “Your laughing party woke me up!” he whined and you both chuckled, “But does this mean I was right? You both like each other?” He exclaimed in a complete change of emotion.

“Uhh-” you started

“Yes,” Junmyeon told him with a smile before glancing back up at you, “You were right.”

“You should listen to me more often then, I might make you a millionaire,” Seju said with a smirk.

“And who pays the bills in this house mister?” Junmyeon asked, poking his son's cheek who burst out into giggles, “That’s what I thought, now it’s started snowing again so why don't we go outside and build a snowman?”

----

Shrieks of delight filled the air and slowly dissipated into heavy breathing as you all collapsed into snow angels surrounded by your army of lopsided snow people, clouds created from the mingling of your hot breath with the cold winter air creating shapes in the sky until you finally were soaked through enough to head back inside, much to Seju’s disappointment but he soon fell asleep curled up next to you on the couch, half full cup of hot chocolate still clutched in his hands.

“So,” Junmyeon whispered as you rested your head against his shoulder, watching the fat snowflakes fall lazily from the clouds above, “how do you feel?”

You let out a long sigh, watching one particularly large snowflake fluttering down until it landed on the windowsill and melted in with the others, “It's definitely the best Christmas I've ever had and we haven’t even opened presents yet.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” he sighed, “and I’m glad you’re here too.”

“I’m glad I’m here too,” you said with a smile as he pressed a soft kiss onto your forehead.

[exo-writers-net]

December collab event.

GO, GO, GO!

As of today, 24th of December, you can start to publish your works for the collaboration event. We remind our members that they have until the 31st of this month to publish what they’ve written.

Don’t forget to tag your work with the network’s hashtag #exowritersnet and the event’s hashtag #exodecembercollab18 so we can reblog them properly.

[exo-writers-net]

December collab event!

Hello our fellow writers and welcome to the first collaboration project of EXO Writers Network!

With the holidays coming close and the cold weather coming even closer, we would like to welcome Winter time with a little collaboration project between our members.

The idea is to pair up our members together so they can come up with some festive fics based of off these prompts, and luckily, form a new friendship with their partners!

Our members will have until the 30th of November to sign up for this project and on the 1st of December we will anounce the groups. After you get your partner, you can start to write and, most important, have fun.

 The works will be published between the 24th  and the 31st of December. 

The length of the fic can be as short or as long as you want, the only requisit is that it needs to be a one-shot and it has to be based of off one (or two) of the prompts below.

Don’t forget to tag your works using the network’s hashtag #exowritersnet and the event’s hashtag #exodecembercollab18

Lastly, for you to participate in this collaboration project, you have to fill this form so we can know exactly how many people are participating and we could pair you up with a suitable partner. It takes less than 1 minute and you can have a very fun experience getting to know new people from around the world!

Reblog this post so more people can see it and don’t be shy to join, we are waiting for your amazing stories.

Prompt list.

He tries to force you to wear an ugly Christmas couple sweater but why are these things so itchy?

You’ve managed to avoid him and the mistletoe hanging from your living room door for the past week, because you definitely don’t want to kiss him, do you?

He looks completely different from the boy you’d accidentally kissed last December, you’re not sure whether it’s a good thing or bad thing.

Your office Secret Santa gives you something you certainly weren’t expecting. You’re positive when you found out who he is, you’re gonna punch him in the face.

It wasn’t that you hated Christmas, you just couldn’t stand the high-pitched voices of people singing Christmas carols whenever you went grocery shopping, or to a coffee shop, or pretty much everyfuckingwhere

He isn’t very happy that you’re screaming another man’s name at his New Year’s Eve performance.

The entire neighborhood competes during the holidays. Trying to see who has the best decorations on their lawn. You’ve always come in first place, but the new man that moves in down the street is giving you a run for your money. Driven by your pride, you buy even more decorations, and when he notices, it’s like a silent war is declared between you.

He’s never been the best at crafts, so when you find out he’s been trying to knit you a scarf for the past month, you can’t help but feel a little warm inside. It’s a shame the scarf is so ugly.

It was freezing outside and you had to walk a few blocks to get to the library for a study group. It was so cold, you barely made it to the new and small coffee shop half way there. The handsome barista that welcomed you with a hot apple cider and a charming smile surely didn’t help you to leave. Your friends were waiting for you and you really really needed to study goddamnit stop smiling that way.

Of course you have to slip on the icy street just when a handsome man is looking your way. Embarrassment is eating you alive and you're already planning your escape of the country when he decides to help you. But then the two of you end up sprawled on the floor and his pants are ripped and oh gosh he's even more handsome up close and blushing.

You went to bed with your boyfriend but the heater broke down and none of you are going to get out because it’s freezing outside the blankets. He suggests doing something fun to get some more warmth instead but why in the world are your feet so cold?

These prompts were created for our members to use, so if you’re not a member we would like to kindly ask you not to use them, at least not during the network’s event. If you want to participate in our future events, you can always apply to be a member when our applications are open. Thank you.