christmas morning. miles woke up to the feeling of someone poking his cheek and opened his eyes to find a blurry jisung leaning into his bunk. startled, miles sat up so fast that he smacked his head against the top bunk and let out a loud curse that woke the two girls in the room.

"what happened?!" yuxi slurred in her sleep, squinting against the light as she looked around the room.

"nothing!" jisung called back as he vigorously rubbed a hand against miles's forehead in an attempt to soothe the bump. miles was too busy playing dead to reply.

soyi was the next to sit up and stretched before running a hand over her frosty the snowman shirt. she turned her head in the direction of the boys bunk with narrowed eyes and yawned. "oh, miles died. it's a christmas miracle!"

miles opened his eyes at that and propped himself up on his elbows. "um, rude?" he gasped in fake offense.

by this point, yuxi was climbing down from the top bunk. she slipped her feet in some slippers and rubbed her eyes as she asked, "are we doing the secret santa gift exchange before or after breakfast?"

jisung jumped away from miles's bunk and flexed his fingers. "after, i think? hyeyeong texted the group chat earlier, so i was gonna wake you guys up..." he flicked an apologetic grin in miles's direction and politely ignored the red spot on the boy's forehead.

"okay, then!" soyi exclaimed as she stepped away from her bed and grabbed her hairbrush. "let's see if they need help cooking."

—

they did not need help cooking. in fact, anyone born after the year 2001 was promptly banned from the kitchen.

which meant the four temp-roomies were collectively cuddled on the couch watching a christmas story and snacking on chocolates and mints from a bowl in the living room.

there was a small tree set up in the corner of the room, and miles counted 16 presents underneath. since there were so many of them, the group decided to do a secret santa instead of having to get something for everyone. that way no one would be left out and the non-idols wouldn't go broke.

sitting in an oddly shaped circle, yuxi and miles helped hyeyeong and daniel hand gifts out for the exchange. it went relatively smooth, considering how many people they had.

they went in order, starting with hyeyeong. she handed her gift to sosuke, who snickered when he peeked inside. "i figured you'd need some backup after making all that eggnog," hyeyeong explained when sosuke began pulling bottles of liquor out of the bag. his smile was genuine. "thanks, hye."

next was sosuke, who handed his neatly wrapped item to renjun before turning away. when renjun pulled out a yellow scarf, his eyes lit up and he turned his head quickly in sosuke's direction. "i—thank you." sosuke only nodded in response.

this continued, with everyone getting a gift for their surprise person. soyi's favorites were the "gamer guy gets the girl" hoodie jiae bought for jeno and the ugly octopus plushie jisung got for daniel.

she held the custom candle lin made her close to her chest and leaned down to smell it multiple times. though they worked together, lin and soyi never really saw each other in the building, so soyi sometimes forgot they were even co-workers.

"what a great holiday break!" miles cheered, tossing an arm around soyi's padded shoulders as they trudged through the snow and to their car. they were two of the few who stayed back to clean the house before leaving, since the idols had packed schedules they couldn't get out of. it was a bit saddening that they couldn't be together longer, but soyi understood. she only wished she'd spent more time with chenle when she had the chance.

Now viewing oh_yeyeong's story

—

"ready to go?"

it was two days before new years, and chenle and soyi were finally having their movie date.

jiae and yuxi helped her get ready since soyi struggled with curling the back of her hair. they were more than willing to help, and very excited to finally see the mischievous best friends try something new.

"i think so," soyi said as jiae helped her up. "a little nervous..."

"that's okay! it's your first time hanging out alone with him in, like, months," yuxi exclaimed from her spot on the kitchen counter. she was busy eating goldfish crackers from the bag. "you look cute, though!"

soyi chuckled and grabbed her keys. "i'll text you guys when i'm on my way home!" the friends wished her luck, and soyi was in her car not even a minute later. she grabbed her phone to plug in the aux when she noticed a notification from someone verified and couldn't help but smile to herself.

mark
hey dude! just checking in to make
sure you're all good for your date 👀

soyi
they should call you narc lee

mark
erm

soyi
SORRY YES I AM NERVOUS

soyi
idk why i'm nervous like it's chenle
but at the same time it's CHENLE yk???

mark
not really 😅

soyi
i'm just worried that we took too
long for this to happen. what if there's
nothing there anymore?

mark
come on so don't say that! you and
chenle have had like some telepathic
click since the day you started working
at sm

soyi
☹️ but that was years agoooo

mark
don't worryyyyyy you got this

mark
and if the sparks aren't there anymore
then that's okay! you'll still be besties
and i'm like 100% positive he'll still
send you jaehyun memes

soyi
you're so good ty mark

mark
nppp

mark
you're my boy and i love you
but if you hurt her i'll break you

chenle
😧😨 i was expecting this from miles
or maybe even jeno but not YOU

mark
i'm serious

chenle
i won't hurt her

mark
good

mark
have fun!! but not too much fun.
god is watching 🙏🤗🩵

chenle
💀

"mark is scary," chenle said with a shiver as he sat next to soyi on the couch. she laughed a bit, but her expression was one of confusion. she decided she didn't want to know and sifted through movie options instead.

soyi hummed when she spotted business proposal. "ooh! okay, if you really don't want to, we don't have to watch this one."

"you only want to watch it for ahn hyoseop," chenle countered with a sigh.

soyi looked at him like he grew a third eye. "yes, and?"

"... business proposal it is!"

settling down together, chenle pressed play on the drama and handed some snacks he knew soyi favored to her. she lit up at the sight and thanked him before ripping the bag open.

three episodes in, soyi was starting to regret her pick. she was enjoying it, but chenle looked on the verge of passing out every time she glanced in his direction. when she noticed the idol's eyelids flutter, she sat up and reached for the remote. "new idea! captain america civil war?"

he did not oppose to that.

they watched the entire film, both sharing a few facts about the movie and the actors in it when they couldn't hold it in. laughing, soyi commented on how she could "toss chenle like that" when spider-man got swatted by ant-man.

chenle cackled once before gaping at her. "grow 60 feet, then we'll discuss again."

"bet."

they laughed, and soyi fell back against the couch cushions, smiling eyes trained on chenle as he continued watching the movie. she liked watching the light dance across his features as the movie played, each scene casting a different set of shadows on his face.

when chenle raised a single brow in her direction, soyi flicked her head toward the screen, feigning innocence.

"what, is there something on my face?" chenle teased, and soyi gently nudged his shoulder in response. "you're a bully."

chenle, once again, gaped are her. "a bully?! how?"

"inviting me to your house to watch a movie, then not pulling any cliche movie date stunts on me," she flashed a playful pout, then laughed when he stammered for a flustered response.

soyi turned her attention back to the movie, watching peacefully until she suddenly felt something on her hand. when she looked down, she noticed chenle was poking her hand in an attempt to get her to hold his. he showed her the back of his head as he did this, much to the girl's amusement.

she lifted her hand enough for him to "sneakily" grasp hers, their fingers intertwining. it was quiet for a moment before chenle cleared his throat. "cliche enough for you?"

"i never took you as one to get nervous around girls," she commented with a little smirk.

chenle rolled his eyes at her. "well, you have a whole mark lee in your corner. i have... jisung."

"you don't sound very confidence," soyi laughed.

"it's jisung."

"fair."

again, they grew quiet. soyi gave chenle's hand a little squeeze, more curious than anything as to what it would feel like. they'd held hands before, but never quite like this. she couldn't help but smile to herself when he squeezed her hand in return.

then he was looking at her, and she was looking at him. it was definitely cliche, and soyi would laugh when she looked back at it, but at the moment she could only focus on the rapid beat of her heart and the way chenle's eyes trailed dangerously close to her mouth.

the last time they'd been this close was when he'd kissed her cheek. when she'd panicked. soyi knew chenle wasn't going to move any closer until she did it first.

so she did.

chenle's free hand came up to cradle soyi's face as she leaned a bit closer, her cheeks dusted in pink. she didn't know how to ask and stumbled over the question twice before chenle cut her off with a nod, and then their lips were touching.

soyi moved closer as she kissed him, her thigh practically on top of his as chenle's fingers sifted through her pretty brown curls. they stayed like that until the end credits played, and then didn't move apart until soyi was on her way home for the night.

•
writing the gift exchange was so hard for no reason idk why it took so long 😭😭😭