Chapter Text
There’s something about December.
Soonyoung hums a song about mistletoe as he opens storage boxes and takes out garlands for the store window. The streets are quiet as midnight nears, and there’s a bite in the air that almost tastes like cinnamon. The anticipation almost makes him shiver. Unfurling boughs and lifting ornaments from their glass cases, he marvels quietly over the intricate pictures on each one. He smiles to himself. It’s the most wonderful time of the year, indeed.
He’s startled out of his reverie by a tap-tap-tap at the window. A bespectacled boy in a beanie and a bomber jacket peers through the window, searching. Their eyes meet and the other boy’s eyes widen in delight. He waves, excited; Soonyoung smiles. He stands up to open the door.
“Sorry I’m so late. It’s so cold out there.” The other boy rushes in, shivering.
“No problem. I was just getting started.” Soonyoung hands him a box and the boy proceeds to open it up and unload its contents. Soonyoung watches him carefully place the different parts of the toy town on the floor and, endeared, smiles again.
The boy looks up, catches Soonyoung’s fond expression. “What?”
Soonyoung shrugs. “Nothing. Hey Wonwoo?”
“Yeah?”
Soonyoung ducks his head, busies himself with twirling more twinkle lights around the frame of the shop window. “Thanks for agreeing to help me out.”
Wonwoo laughs, a light tinkling of sound that always sounds a little like music in Soonyoung’s ears. “No problem. I like doing this kind of stuff. Helps you out too. I’m just sorry I couldn’t come earlier. I had a date.”
“Huh. Did you?” Something tightens in Soonyoung’s chest and it becomes oddly hard to swallow. “You didn’t. You didn’t mention it.” He ignores how much more effort it takes to keep the smile on his face.
“Hmmm, yeah,” Wonwoo hums. He unwraps a bridge and puts it down on the floor next to him, fingers tracing over the detailed ridges of the bowed middle. “Mingyu set it up. In fact,” Wonwoo looks up at him, amused smile on his face. “I have a string of blind dates this December. Apparently everyone thinks I shouldn’t be alone this holiday season.”
“Oh,” Soonyoung says. “Should I have looked for a blind date for you?”
Wonwoo barks out a laugh. “Dude, no. Don’t do that.”
“So you’re going on them?”
“The what?”
“The dates.” Honestly, Soonyoung had half a mind to brain him with the ornament in his hand. Did he really have to extract it from him detail by agonizing detail?
Wonwoo shrugs. “I guess. I mean, it’s not like I think anything serious will come out of them. It might be fun. Tonight was not one of those instances but maybe the next few ones will be better.”
“Next FEW ones?”
Wonwoo laughs.
Soonyoung huffs, just a little. It’s not like he minds Wonwoo going out on dates. Or finding someone to go out with on a more permanent basis. Wonwoo is his best friend; he wants him to be happy.
(If he’s worried about Wonwoo being happy for some reason that doesn’t involve him, well, he’ll keep it to himself for the time being.)
“So how was it?”
“How was what?”
“The date?”
Wonwoo shrugs, crumples up the packaging paper in his hand into a ball. “So-so. I don’t think I’ll be expecting a second date with him anytime soon.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t know. He was boring. He didn’t really talk much. I mean, I already don’t talk much. We probably wouldn’t figure out much between us. No harm done. It was just dinner, a movie, and a handshake. We didn’t even exchange numbers.”
“Ah,” Soonyoung says. He wishes he can say more.
Wonwoo looks up at him. “Hey, Soonyoung.”
“Yeah?”
Wonwoo smiles at him, that gentle little smile that always gets to Soonyoung. “If I meet someone that makes me happy, I promise you, you’ll be the first to know.”
It’s December and the air feels a little cooler, a little stingier. But he appreciates the sentiment. “Thanks, man.”