They walked around the Fair together, and even though Sehun was starting to enjoy himself, it irked him that his earlier plan fell through. Stupid Kris-hyung coming in and seeing me first... he complained. He wasn't one for giving up easily, and he sure as heck wasn't going to give up now. Maybe he just needed a more direct approach. When Kris had his back to Jae and Sehun to buy some hotteok pancakes, he saw an opportunity and seized it. Taking a deep breath, he held the mistletoe in his hand and walked steadily towards Jae.

This time it's going to work!

He reached out his hand to tap her on the shoulder, when a puff of sparkly dust flew out from the mistletoe, startling him. Sehun stumbled back and rubbed his eyes a moment. When he blinked his eyes open, he nearly shrieked. 

There, measly inches away from his face, stood the horrid sight of Baekhyun's puckered lips, slowly approaching him. 

"HYUNG! What are you doing?!" he yelled, pushing him back. 

"Oh? What, it's tradition, isn't it?" Baekhyun stated playfully, mischief in his eyes. Sehun knew that meant trouble. "Now come here you handsome namja, you! Give your hyung some sugar!" He puckered his lips again, making kissing noises as he went after Sehun.

"Hyung, get serious! Where did you even come from?" Sehun asked, keeping the smoochy Baekhyun at bay. 

"We saw Kris-hyung in the crowd and thought we'd say hi, but then I saw you all cutely holding a golden mistletoe and I couldn't resist. Now pucker up and take it like a man!"

"Yah, hyung! Stop it!" Sehun pushed against Baekhyun's chest while the latter kept leaning towards him, lips puckered up like his life depended on it. Sehun rolled his eyes and groaned. And here he thought that Kris-hyung was embarrassing, how could he forget about Byun Baekhyun? Wait. Oh no...

"Hyung, did you say 'we'?" Sehun realized, panicking. Glitter fell freely from the mistletoe he was still holding while fending off Baekhyun's persistent lips. No sooner had Sehun uttered the question or he was backhugged—rephrase—attacked by a pair of long arms.

"Aw, little Sehunnie has a golden mistletoe, that is so cute!"

"Chanyeol-hyung, you're not helping!" Sehun immediately protested, doing his utmost best to get away from his humiliating hyungs. What did he do in his life to deserve this? What kind of mistletoe was this?! Golden mistletoes were supposed to be lucky, but this one just seemed to bring him grief wherever he went!

"Yah! You're having a group hug without me? No way!"

Sehun felt like his head was going to burst when Chen-hyung walked towards them, a catlike grin on his face that annoyed Sehun to no end at this moment. 

"Chen, come join the fun! Sehunnie wants to be kissed," Chanyeol grinned, a devilish smile plastered on his face. 

Chen opened his arms wide and Sehun struggled as best as he could, but he couldn't get out of the beagle triangle. "Stop it, go away!" Sehun argued. 

"Aww, he's being shy!" Chen laughed, the three of them locking their youngest brother in place. Sehun grunted, but he knew there was no escaping this. He squeezed his eyes shut when his brothers embraced him tighter and moved his head away as best as possible, yelping in disgust when Baekhyun managed to kiss the tip of his nose, Chen, his cheek, and Chanyeol his ear. 

"Please accept our hearts," they said in unison to tease him further. 

Still in disbelief that that had happened, Sehun glared at his hyungs and shook his head. 

"Sehun? Your hotteok is getting cold," Jae called to him and Sehun immediately stood straight, recovering himself. Jae appeared like a merciful angel, a clumsy tall hyung tagging along behind her. "Hey, where were you? You were suddenly gone." She chuckled and stopped a moment when she caught sight of the three devil-hyungs. 

"Chen, Baekhyun, Chanyeol? Hey, I didn't know you guys were here!"

"Hi noona!" they greeted, waving at her. 

Sehun sulked, though he wouldn't be beat so easily and moved to grab the hotteok from Jae's warm hand. He ate it silently, glaring at his hyungs from time to time while they cheerfully chatted with Jae.

"Yah, Sehunnie, why did you use the golden mistletoe on Baekhyun? Jae-noona was right here," Chen whispered privately to him, patting him on the shoulder as they joined them to hang out. 

"Yeah, why didn't I think of that?" he muttered sarcastically to himself, following the group from behind. Sehun continued his scheming, even though the rational part of his mind told him to burn the golden mistletoe and get on with it, but he just couldn't. Trying to find a golden mistletoe at the Fair was challenging, with one of his own, he could increase the chances of standing underneath it with Jae.

Night was falling and the dance would start soon. He had so looked forward to being able to dance with Jae-noona after sharing a kiss with her, but the way things were going... Fat chance.

Sehun huffed a lock of hair from his face. The group passed the ice rink and Sehun was starting to brood. They had gone all out concerning the ice rink. Even the path they were walking on was layered with a thin sheet of ice. 

Jae, in her elegant glory, slipped once or twice and even fell along with Kris-hyung who lost his footing as well. Their laughter and that of his beagle brothers rang in the air, but he couldn't even let out a chuckle. He couldn't give up like this. He watched from a short distance as his brothers spoke with Jae, and then caught sight of a woman selling flowers. 

"Christmas bouquet for a loved one, sweetie?" she asked as he visited the stand. 

"Hmm," he hummed, seeing a simple bouquet with red, green, and gold. He smiled his most charming smile. "I'd love one, ma'am!"

This time it has to work! No way will this fail! Sehun tucked the glittering mistletoe between the bouquet of flowers to hand to Jae. Once she took hold of it, all he had to do was point out the mistletoe and lean in for that kiss! Perfect!

"Yeah, you poof out that glimmering dust as much as you want. I'm sealing this deal with a kiss!" he muttered at the plant. 

Sehun got so excited that there was a distinct beat to his steps. He walked steadily and happily towards Jae, ready to shove his brothers out of the way if he had to. 

"Jae-noona," he called, but through the blasting Christmas music and loud chattering, she didn't hear him. "Jae-noona! Jae-noona, come here, Jae-noon-AH!" His own happy feet betrayed him when he walked over the slippery path and fell backwards— right in the arms of Lay-hyung, who miraculously not only managed to catch him, but the bouquet of flowers as well. 

"Sehun-ah? You have to be more careful," he warned in concern, helping him to his feet. "Are you hurt? Do I need to go chiu chiu chiu?" he winked, since they were in public. 

"No, thanks, hyung. I'm fine," the younger teen muttered, freezing a little at seeing Lay casually holding his bouquet of flowers. Lay blinked and stared at them. Sehun winced, waiting for the worst to come, but Lay only smiled as he usually did and handed him the bouquet back. 

Thank this hyung and his blankness! 

Sehun smiled in relief and took the bouquet. "Ah, xie xie, Lay-hyungie."

"You bought flowers for Jae-yah? That's very sweet of you," Lay said, a proud smile on his face. 

"Eh, y-yeah," Sehun blushed, though more because he felt a little ashamed since his intentions were not as pure as Lay probably thought they were. "Where are the others? You're not alone, are you?"

"Actually, I am." Lay grinned sheepishly. "I forgot my wallet, so I walked back. The others are already at the dance venue. I went back again, but then I found out I left my keys, so I went back again. I've got everything now, though," he explained, quickly patting his pockets to make sure. "Yep. Everything." He nodded. "And then I saw you, Sehunnie. I noticed Kris and Chanyeol, too. I bet Chen, Baekhyun and Jae-yah are there too, right?"

Sehun nodded. "We're heading over to meet the others," he said a little begrudgingly. "You want to come along?"

"Sure thing!" Lay accepted. 

They started walking when Lay stopped again. "Oh, wait! I did forget something!" he said, and Sehun shook his head in amusement. 

"What is it this time, Lay-hyungie? Your phone?"

"Nope. Something more important," Lay answered, and before Sehun could even react, his older brother leaned in and gave him a chaste, quick peck on the cheek, ruffling his hair endearingly afterwards. "Almost got bad luck. There's a golden mistletoe sticking out of your bouquet, Sehunnie," he mused innocently, walking ahead to join and greet the group with Sehun a step behind him, too surprised to even react. 

He stared down at the flower and huffed in exasperation. "I'm starting to hate you," he said to the golden mistletoe. It twinkled and glittered in return. 

Sehun learned then that the golden mistletoe was not doing what he wanted. Not doing what he wished for. Why? 

The dance had started when the lanterns were lit and all thirteen of them reunited for the nighttime festivities. The youth of the island typically hung around the dance area to have a good time, and because there was an abundance of golden mistletoes hiding here. 

Sehun had isolated himself somewhat from the group, but with the golden mistletoe, he wasn't even given a moment to think things through. He was absently fiddling with it when Kai spotted him and gave him the most awkward bro-hug. Thankfully, no kissing there. Tao was a different matter. The guy got excited at spotting Sehun with a golden mistletoe and snuggled him like a teenage girl. Sehun still shivered when he thought about Tao pressing his lips firmly on his cheek. 

They danced and had fun together, but every attempt to get closer to Jae seemed to fail. He even tried to just wear the mistletoe behind his ear, but only Xiumin and Suho noticed it, both of them pinching his cheeks before pecking either side. He was the cute dongsaeng to them, but Sehun was growing desperate. 

He sat down to rest a bit, shaking out the endless glitter from the mistletoe when he saw the Christmas lights twinkling and dancing to the cheerful music, children playing and laughing with their parents just a bit further away. The festive spirit of Christmas was here, but Sehun didn't feel it yet. This was not how he thought he'd spend the day. 

He sighed, twirling the mistletoe between his fingers. Someone stood in front of him then, rubbing the back of his neck. 

"D.O.-hyung?" Sehun questioned. 

"Yeah. Uh, merry Christmas, Sehun-ah," he said, kissing his hand before sticking the same hand against Sehun's forehead, giving it a playful shove. "You're a weird kid, you know that, right?" he stated, gesturing at the mistletoe. 

Sehun gave a wan smile, sighing deeply again. "Yeah, guess so. I don't know why I still bother," he confessed as D.O. sat down next to him. 

"The golden mistletoe?" D.O. guessed.

Sehun nodded sadly. "You know, hyung, I swore off Christmas wishes a long time ago, since whatever I wish for never comes true anyway. I don't know why I thought this time would be different. All I had was the one wish," he admitted, waving the mistletoe around. "And even that didn't come true. How lame is that, right?"

D.O. went quiet for a while before he grabbed the mistletoe from Sehun's hand to fiddle with it himself. "I don't think it's lame to make a Christmas wish and to believe it could come true," he then answered. Sehun glanced at him to see whether D.O. was being earnest or sarcastic. "Everyone makes wishes, no harm in them." He shrugged.

"No harm, huh? Unless they don't come true," Sehun replied bitterly. "When I was a kid, I once wished—" Sehun felt a pang in his heart, since the story he wanted to tell D.O. was connected to a friendly, wrinkly old face. One that he particularly missed when the holidays were near. "I once wished to Santa Claus to make it snow. That didn't happen. That may seem like nothing, but to me, it was important. It mattered and my faith in everything was shattered."

D.O. watched him quietly, nodding sympathetically. "That was with your grandmother, right?" he asked carefully. 

"Yeah. How did you know, hyung?"

"Kai told me, asked me not to mention it since he and Tao noticed you seemed a bit down during the holidays." D.O. smiled gently. 

"O-oh," the younger teen replied, biting his bottom lip. "Then why did you mention it, hyung?" he then asked and gave a tiny smile when D.O. chuckled.

"Listen, I can guess that your Christmas wish had something to do with wanting to give Jae a kiss underneath this thing." He motioned with the mistletoe. When he caught the look of guilt on Sehun's face, he smacked him with it, golden sparkles flying around. "You brat," D.O. scolded good-naturedly. 

"Anyway, like I said, it's not lame to wish for something. But it is lame to sulk here by yourself when you should be enjoying the good times with your friends. You expect too much, Sehun, that's when you get disappointed. It's nearly Christmas, time for friends and family, for togetherness, and you're here only thinking how you can lay one on Jae. I know you can be a brat, but I know you're not that much of a brat, are you?"

D.O.'s words made Sehun gulp. Had he really been that selfish? It wasn't like he wasn't having a good time today, but, perhaps, in retrospect, he may have come off rather moody and distant. 

"Thought so," D.O. said when Sehun kept silent. He tucked the mistletoe behind Sehun's ear. "Try and relax. Have some fun, huh? That's another thing that's lame, you're making me tell you to have fun. You know how wrong that sounds, right?" he teased in that deadpan way only D.O. could pull off.

"What about you?"

"You're kidding, right? I've spent enough time with those fools. I'm taking a break. Go already." D.O. waved him away and Sehun finally gave him a bright smile. 

"Thank you, hyung," he said sincerely, giving the reluctant brother a hug. 

"Yeah, yeah, go away already, brat." D.O. pushed him away, but there was a smile on his face when he watched Sehun move to their pack. 

D.O. was right, Sehun concluded. All this mistletoe nonsense was a waste of precious time and he decided he didn't care anymore. He didn't need a fable to ensure that him and Jae would be a part of each other's lives. They're a pack. Of course they'd stayed together. 

Although a kiss from her would've been a nice Christmas present...

Sehun smoothly maneuvered through the dancing crowd to get to his friends, and at the last moment, he bumped up against someone.

"Oops, sorry, Sehunnie! Didn't see you—is that a golden mistletoe?" Luhan shook his head in bewilderment before the blushes appeared on his face. Sehun was startled as well, but then he thought back to what D.O. told him and he relaxed. 

"Yeah. Oh, the heck with it." He shrugged, cupped Luhan's face and planted a kiss on him, leaving the older boy flustered and in a state of shock. "Yah, don't look like that, Lu-hyung. You of all people should've seen that one coming," he joked, care-free. "Hey, what flavor chapstick are you using? It's nice, get me one, okay?" he complimented before patting his dumbfounded hyung on the shoulder. He watched his other brothers and Jae, and took all of them in. He grabbed the golden mistletoe, looked at it one last time and smiled. 

"I don't think I need you," he mused, throwing it away. He was going to enjoy the party with his friends and enjoy it, he did.