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“I really thought I’d get to go home this year,” Taemin says. There’s a smile on his face but it isn’t real, it’s nervous and frozen, like a computer in-between processes. It breaks Minho’s heart and he brushes back the hair that’s grown long since his friend’s promotions ended.
“You still might.” They’re in the shadows on Jinki’s bed at his studio waiting for him to get back. It’s the quietest place they know of and Jinki won’t ask them weird questions like Jonghyun will if he sees them in the dorm. Or give them looks like Kibum. Minho has his arm around Taemin’s shoulder and Taemin’s playing with the fingers there and it’s chaste but their friends don’t always understand that, even after all these years. Somehow Jinki’s always known.
“If you could,” Minho continues, “what would you do? What would your Christmas plans be?” Taemin stares at the ceiling and thinks.
“Bake cookies. Definitely. And make cider with real cinnamon sticks. And listen to music. And go to midnight mass. And put Adam and Eve in Santa hats.
“Eve won’t let you put them into a Santa hat,” Minho answers quickly.
“They might!” Minho only shakes his head.
“What else?”
“That’s about it. I just want to be with my family, you know?”
“I know.” He squeezes Taemin’s shoulder as much as he can and then reaches over and pinches his nose. His hand is batted away and he smiles.
“What about you?” Taemin asks softly. “What would you do?”
“Watch a game with my dad and my brother, take my mom shopping. Not for anything special, just to get out of the house. Maybe have a meal together.”
“That sounds nice.” They both nod in the dark. “You know,” Taemin starts, “I always say that I’d go skiing. And I would. But sometimes I’d just like to go sledding. Find a quiet park at night and go sledding. Ice skating like you and Kibum did.” Minho sits up so suddenly that Taemin’s head bounces against the mattress under the loss.
“Let’s do that! We have the whole day! Let’s do all of that!” Taemin sits up slowly with eyes that are wary and hopeful.
“We don’t…”
“Just trust me on this. We can.” He grins and reaches out his hand that on instinct Taemin takes into his own.
It’s not Christmas. It’s not anyone’s birthday. It’s just a few hours that a few friends have free that they use to be free. They split a candy cane that Taemin immediately spits back out. Minho is better at ice skating than Taemin is but Taemin manages to stay on his sled all the way to the base of the hill.
In an impromptu snowball fight, Jinki is victorious because he comes out of nowhere which is cheating both Minho and Taemin agree. He stays only long enough to let them know he won’t be staying and that no, they cannot bake cookies in the studio.
Instead, they find a cafe where they can frost their own cookies and they build up a sugar rush and talk about the days they haven’t seen each other. There aren’t many moments to share, not many they can in such a public place, but they share them before they rush back out into the snow and ice. Another snowball fight, another dash down the hill on sleds, and a stop at a stand to buy matching cups of what could be cider if they pretend hard enough.
They walk back to Jinki’s studio and fall back down on the same bed they started their adventure on, where it took form in a sad thought that has turned into happy memories.
“You might still get to go home,” Minho murmurs. He kisses Taemin’s head for emphasis.
“Thanks.” Taemin shifts so that the hand that played with Minho’s fingers now rests on his ribs. “If I don’t, this was great.”
“Hmm.” Minho hums in agreement and closes his eyes, the memories of the day playing in the dark.