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Namjoon remembers Christmas with Jungkook from their debut days, back when they still danced on roller skates and he was still stupid enough to think Jungkook didn’t know he’s always had a big crush on him. The other hyungs used to tease them about finding mistletoe and sneaking under it. Jungkook’s cheeks would blush furiously and he’d throw his tiny body against Jin hyung and fight him away. Jin would eventually cry out “Yah, why are you even hitting me.” Namjoon kinda thought it was a funny idea to kiss Jungkook but as he grew older, he liked the idea more and more and recently, he thought maybe Jungkook would like the idea too.
Christmas was some 72 hours away. The boys were running around working up decorations, treats, and the tree.
Jin, Yoongi and Jimin were in the kitchen preparing the latest batches of hazelnut caramel cookies. Taehyung was wandering around like a little baby that he is, with a trumpet in his hands. Hoseok and Namjoon were figuring out a way to bring in the tree. Jungkook was sorting out what kind of stick candies he wanted to put on the tree. He was fairly elaborate on the star. Perfection, even in adorning the tree, was what he chased.
Soon the whisked fragrance of cookies hit their nose, Jungkook and Taehyung huddled up at the kitchen counter watching the cookies as they were glittery stars.
“This smells so gooood, hyung”, Taehyung whines as he went to pick a piece of freshly made batch. Jimin smacked his hand and Tae winced, “Ouch!”
“Yah….let me have one”, Tae wailed and Jimin showed him his tongue.
The rest watched their chaos as if it was their daily dose of soulmate bickering. Giggling and laughing as these two run around the living room.
A regular Christmas.
~
“Don’t you think it’s a little late for gifts?”, Namjoon asks, crooking his eyebrow.
“Yah, we’ve been busy.” Jin replies as he puts his coat on.
It is a day before Christmas eve. Jin complained all night to the boys that he couldn’t get gifts for them. After a long drawn discussion, it was decided that they’d go Christmas shopping first thing in the morning. Hobi, Tae, and Jimin decided to help Jin hyung buy his extravagant list of gifts.
“Yoongi is in his studio and he won't turn up until the evening, so it's only you and Jungkook at home. Be good to him.” Jin says, putting his shoes on.
“When am I not?” Namjoon bleats.
Waving Namjoon, Jin shut the door behind him. Namjoon sighs.
Just another morning for him. He navigates in the living room, switching on the tv. He could catch up on shows now that he’s free. Getting bored in about 10 minutes he thinks may be a book is a better idea.
Meanwhile Jungkook is in his room playing Overwatch. His voice rings in Namjoon’s ears and he smiles. He has grown so much and yet Jungkook is still a baby.
After an hour or so Namjoon leaves his room in search of his favorite ramen when he finds Jungkook huddled up in front of the tv. Soft sniffing sounds leaving him. Namjoon chuckles.
Jungkook was watching a Christmas movie and just when the protagonists were about to kiss under the mistletoe his eyes welled up to the brim. He had to be quiet though. If Namjoon hyung heard him crying like a baby during a kissing scene, he’d tease him.
Or at least that was what Jungkook thought.
“Do you want some ramen?” Namjoon asks, clearing his throat when he sees the ending credits rolling on the tv.
Jungkook looks at him confused.
Now when Namjoon said that, he meant if Jungkook would want some ramen to eat but instead it sounded like the pickup line couples use after dates. It was funny because why would Namjoon ask him if he wants to eat ramen in ‘that’ way when he’s right here, in the same house with Jungkook.
When Namjoon realises he shows him the cup and says “I’m making ramen. Do you want some?”
Jungkook nods.
They were sitting slurping the noodles when Jungkook confesses he’s never had gingerbread cookies. Namjoon looks at him in shock. “Like never?”
Jungkook shakes his head.
“You should have told Jin hyung, he makes delicious ones.” Namjoon says, still not believing Jungkook.
And moments later with a ramen soup cup in his hands, Namjoon goes furrowing his eyebrows, “I just don’t see how you can reach the age of 20 and have yet to experience this holiday delight! Jungkook, we have to fix this.”
Namjoon seems mildly offended by Jungkook’s lack of history with gingerbread.
Jungkook didn’t resist when Namjoon grabbed and pulled him out the door to go shopping for ingredients.
Namjoon was kinda having this thing where he wanted to show Jungkook and give Jungkook everything he could to make him happy. It was overwhelming but Jungkook kind of also made him feel like he was home all the time and that was something that made it addicting to be around Namjoon.
They come home with all the ingredients and scatter them across the counter. It’s much less organized than when Jungkook is spearheading cooking but he lets Namjoon do his thing.
“Now, watch and learn from the master.” Namjoon pulls a ridiculous apron over his head. It has abs painted on the front. It never fails to take Jungkook out. Jin and his antiques.
“You do know you have your own abs?”
“Are you suggesting I do this shirtless?”
“I mean….” Jungkook’s cheeks flush red and he began to shift uncomfortably from foot to foot. Namjoon chuckles.
“Someday I’ll show you underneath,” Namjoon grins.
Jungkook taints pink in response to that. What’s with Namjoon flirting today?
“I’m teasing. Alright, let’s make this dough!” Namjoon mixed dry ingredients with precision and wet in their own bowl and then combined the two. Everything seemed to be shaping out quite well and he rolled the dough out onto the counter.
“Hyung, how do I help?” Jungkook asked.
“Just roll out the dough for me,” Namjoon hums.
Jungkook came around the island from where he’d been sitting on the other side and flexed his arms to bring out the rolling pin. He begins to roll out the dough with precision. Namjoon watches him intently.
“What do you think of my cookie abilities?” Jungkook asks, sliding an arm around Namjoon’s shoulders as he finishes flattening the dough.
“Not bad at all. Maybe we can have cookie nights together more often.” Namjoon winces.
“Will I be able to listen to you sing? I really like your voice when you sing, hyung.”
Namjoon pauses. He looks into Jungkook’s eyes and says, “ And I like yours when you hum about the stars and the moon.”
Jungkook smiles at him and puts an arm around Namjoon’s waist. Jungkook starts humming and Namjoon knows he wouldn’t be able to stop him from kissing him any longer. Instead he takes the rolling pin from Jungkook and gives the dough a few more rolls then pulls open a cabinet back in the corner of the kitchen and pulls out a giant plastic bag of cookie cutters. Jungkook is amazed. “We had that?,” he says, surprised.
Namjoon smiles, his dimples appearing. “Yeah, we did,” he says, rubbing the back of his neck, “I gifted Jin hyung this last christmas.” He looks bashful and kind of embarrassed but Jungkook was much too excited to let him stay that way. Jungkook tears the bag from his hands and dumps all the contents out onto the counter. He squeals excitedly.
Jungkook finds a snowman and picks it up with excitement but Namjoon stops him with a hand to his wrist. Jungkook looks up at him questioningly.
“It’s gingerbread. We have to start with a gingerbread man.” Namjoon picks one up from the counter and holds it out in front of Jungkook. Jungkook takes it with a smile and begins to cut out the little men with the cookie cutter. Namjoon helps until the dough is gone and two trays were covered in assorted Christmas shaped gingerbread cookies.
They put them in the oven and set to clean up their mess before they came out. Jungkook puts the cookie cutters back away as Namjoon cleaned the bowls and they met in the middle to wash the counter.
Jungkook takes the rag and rubs it clean and Namjoon couldn’t help but stop and just admire him. Jungkook’s hair is stray, falling on his forehead and eventually a few locks ending up on the cheeks.
Namjoon wonders when was it that Jungkook decided to keep long hair. Either way he was pretty. He has an oversized sweater hanging loose around his waist and Namjoon wondered how small Jungkook’s waist must be underneath. He would probably trip over his feet if he tried to move right now he was so enraptured by Jungkook.
He couldn’t stop looking on with a smile as Jungkook went about finishing washing the counter. When he was finished, Jungkook threw the rag into the sink with a flourish and turned to look at Namjoon. Namjoon was still stuck there, just admiring Jungkook. Jungkook’s eyes go wide in question.
“What? Do I have flour on my face?” Jungkook wiped at his nose and smeared some across his cheek. Namjoon chuckles and moves in closer, cupping Jungkook’s cheek with his hand and swiping it off his skin.
Jungkook wonders what has gotten onto Namjoon. A man that says a big NO to every prospect of physical touches is more than willing to touch and swipe clean flour off Jungkook’s face. Jungkook is astonished. But he likes this Namjoon. This Namjoon bakes cookies with him. Probably this Namjoon likes him too?
“All better.” Jungkook’s eyes fluttered shut and he could feel why they were here and how much he wanted to stay here forever. Jungkook leaned further into Namjoon’s touch. They were so close, not even air would pass through them. Jungkook could totally kiss Namjoon now. He wants to kiss Namjoon. He goes onto his tiptoes, his lips forming a pout…
A loud beeping broke them from their embrace and flustered, they separated. Jungkook flung around looking for an oven mitt and ended up turning around and running straight into Namjoon. He let out an “oompf” and then they both broke into laughter.
By the time they organized themselves to open the oven and remove the cookies, they were crispy and dark brown with a nice black edge.
Jin, Hobi, Tae and Jimin had returned. Their hands were full of gifts, hampers and snacks.
“You two? In the kitchen??” Taehyung bemused.
“Yeah, we made gingerbread cookies,” Jungkook chirps, showing him the fresh batch.
“Yeah, we very well know what cookies were being made here,” Jimin scoffs, rolling his eyes as they all fall in fits of laughter.
~
Last Christmas, Jungkook spent time with his family. This was the first time in a while that the boys spent holidays apart. Namjoon wished they would have because he missed Jungkook in a way that made him never want to spend the holidays apart again. So Namjoon called Jungkook to tell him exactly that but when he answered the phone Namjoon chickened out. Instead, he just listened to Jungkook tell him about the lovely dinner he had with his family and how much he’d missed the snow while he was in Busan. Jungkook said he was feeling better now that he was with his family and how he couldn’t wait to see Namjoon again in a few days. Namjoon almost said he was crazy enough to drive to Busan and see Jungkook now. He almost admitted he was crazy about Jungkook.
He blamed it on that day at the rink where they skated on their first date. How Jungkook laughed when the snow started falling and Namjoon pulled him close. Yeah, that’s what it was. It wasn’t feelings.
But it was, and he was crazy for Jungkook so he dropped a text to Jin hyung and grabbed his keys off their hook by the door and he’s off to the rink. He went to the rink and he skated alone and he imagined that next year maybe he’d let Jungkook know how he felt and they could skate here again and he could kiss him at the end. He made a Christmas promise then that he would show Jungkook how he felt.
It was a year later and Jungkook was back in the dorms. He hummed a lot lately, and Namjoon could have sworn Jungkook didn't do that before. Namjoon liked how Jungkook hummed, sweet and melodic. The rink had shifted it’s warm up playlists to Christmas songs and there was a little extra skip in Jungkook’s step every time he saw a little sparkle or red and white decoration.
Namjoon would often ask Jungkook, "Did you catch a Christmas bug?" and he'd laugh and smile at Namjoon and make him dance with himself to the one tune he was humming as they walked through the mall. It was a Namjoon bug, not a Christmas bug, Jungkook would think but kept his mouth shut and pulled him closer.
One Saturday they decided to go see what kind of Christmas trouble they could stir up. Jin hyung and the others had a faint idea where these two were wandering but they kept mum. Yoongi hyung had said, “Let them be.”
Jungkook insisted the trouble shouldn't go past deciding who had the prettiest lights on display, he didn't need any more trouble than that, not when all he could think about was finding a cozy, quiet corner of the world shifting those lines between him and Namjoon. They bundled up with the hot chocolate Jungkook had made in travel mugs and set out to drive around the neighborhoods together. Namjoon turned up the heat and Jungkook turned up the music.
Turning through the neighborhoods Jungkook commented on his appreciation for the classic white lights and Namjoon tended to favor the brightly colored extravagant displays. Somewhere along the way one of them took the other’s hand as they looked out at the lights, neither tried to let go.
“Do you want to go into town? I hear they have lights out now.” Namjoon says, softly squeezing Jungkook’s hand. Jungkook nodded from the seat beside him and squeezed in return.
Jungkook remembered Jin hyung teasing him last year over call, about the mistletoe that hangs across the street from the Christmas tree. Jin hyung suggested Jungkook take Namjoon under it and try his luck. Jungkook thought hyung caught a fever and laughed it off. But that night, while Jungkook was on the phone with Namjoon, he looked up at the mistletoe and as he looked at it and listened to Namjoon talk, it didn’t seem like a bad idea at all.
“Hyung, let’s park and walk around the Christmas tree.” Jungkook suggests as they get into town.
“You know, Jin hyung keeps…” Namjoon blushed and pulled his hand away from Jungkook’s but he chuckled and trapped Namjoon’s fingers between his.
“Me too, wanna find it?” Namjoon says, his voice bringing the warmth of the world with the words. Jungkook feels his cheeks flushing too. They were kind of dating, sort of definitely dating without talking about it. Apparently that gave Jungkook a little bit of extra confidence.
Namjoon got out of the car first and rushed around to open Jungkook’s door for him. He felt like this was something you should do when the boy you’ve been unofficially dating suggests you go hang out under some mistletoe.
Jungkook takes his hand and doesn’t let go as they circle the tree…once…twice…then he stops and turns towards Namjoon. Namjoon smiles shyly at Jungkook and he giggles.
“Want to check out what’s over there,” Jungkook teases, pointing to the mistletoe over his shoulder.
“I thought you’d never ask.” Namjoon tugged on his hands and walked, more like skipping over to the display. Jungkook was humming again, a Christmas song Namjoon definitely recognized. As they stopped under the mistletoe he sang the last few words to Namjoon as he pulled Namjoon’s face down to his, hands in the hair at the nape of his neck.
“All I want for Christmas is you,” and he kissed Namjoon and Namjoon was Jungkook’s forever .