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The night air was still, silent this far from the city. A gazebo lit by thousands of twinkling lights and flood lamps sat in the middle of the path, freshly fallen snow surrounding it on all sides. In the distance, one could see the parking lot as well lit as the gazebo. A warm barn concealed what remained of the evening's guests.
Mingi was cold. Not chilled to the bone as Yeosang had been when Mingi replaced him in this half an hour ago, but still cold enough to bury his face in his scarf, trying to escape it. This was par for the course as an idol. Doing things like this. Didn’t mean that he was any less cold.
More than the cold, however, Mingi was exhausted. The party and the prizes were coming to a close. This was the last one. He'd been in idol mode for more than eight hours.
The sound of crunching snow interrupted his train of thought. He glanced over, smiling in spite of himself. The manager who escorted this last winner was talking with the young person in quiet tones, and they were nodding in response.
The manager stopped short of the gazebo, casting his glance at Mingi. "Have a good time, Alex." At that, he turned and headed back for the barn.
Alex, for their part, gave a small wave. "H-Hi, Mr. Mingi. Um. It's nice to meet you?"
Mingi blinked, then smiled. "Don't be nervous, Atiny. Let's go."
Alex scurried to follow the tall idol around to the back of the gazebo, where a sleigh was sitting hitched to two horses. Mingi had watched the farmer who owned the place swap out the horses between each run, glad that the animals wouldn't be as exhausted as he felt now. Thirty minutes for every run, sixteen times. The farmer had boasted he could do more, as he had forty-two to do the work. But the company had only given this prize to sixteen Atiny.
The horses knew the path, but each of the members had been given instruction on how to guide the sleigh. What to do if something went wrong. There were cameras at every part of the trail to capture the winners anyhow. The five mounted on the sleigh were capturing not just the winner-idol interaction, but provided a chaperone of sorts to keep anything untoward from happening. It hadn't stopped one girl from inviting San back to her hotel room, of course.
But they were used to it.
Alex used the provided brush to whisk fresh snow off their seat and did the same for Mingi's over his gentle protest. They didn't say anything until they sat down on the seat.
"Thank you, Mr. Mingi," they said, only a little nervous in their smile. "I never expected... But thank you. For letting me get to meet you like this, I mean."
Mingi's other winner had started chattering almost as soon as she met him, and he had hardly gotten a word in edgewise. It looked like this meeting would be far quieter. "No, thank you for coming."
Mingi took the reins of the sleigh, tapping them lightly as he had been shown by the farmer.
The two sat in companionable silence for another minute or two as the gazebo lights faded away.
"Did you know that the original song to Jingle Bells was actually One-Horse Open Sleigh?" Alex asked quietly. "And that it told the story of the horse going into a snow drift and the characters fell in the snow?"
Mingi smiled. "No, I didn't. Do you know the song?"
Alex nodded and, in a tiny voice that carried no further than the space between them, sang the song in its entirety. Mingi joined on the chorus after the second verse, in the same breathy, soft manner Alex sung. To their credit, Alex did not waver.
When they finished the song, Alex smiled brighter. In the light from the sleigh, it made them look like a mythical being, soft and ethereal. Mingi had been around beautiful people since he was young, but he always admired beauty where it was to be had.
"I love listening to you sing, Mr. Mingi," Alex said. "You rap well, and I love your dance skills, but your voice... It makes me feel like I am safe. You all do, really."
Mingi bit back the question of what had happened to Alex that they needed music to feel safe. The cameras didn't need to know that. "I am happy my singing helps. I hope it always does."
Alex smiled at something far away. Their scarf hung from their neck. "I think it will. I know a lot of people have been cruel this year. It hurts to see people be cruel. Especially to you and the others. I am not sure what I'm trying to say. Just that I want you to know that there are people around who aren't cruel. That love your music and your voice and your style. So don't... Only change what you want to."
Mingi tapped the reins to the right, thinking. "I want you to promise you'll do the same. You have had cruel people to you too. So we'll both keep being ourselves, to spite those that were cruel."
Alex laughed, hugging themselves. "We have a deal, Mr. Mingi."
Mingi saw the gazebo approach from the distance. The outline of the farmer, ready to put his horses in their barn and the sleigh away for the night, stood out in the bright lights.
"Let's warm up inside, Alex," Mingi said. "I think we both deserve a lifetime of nice things."
“Thank you for saying so,” Alex replied with a warm smile.
Mingi kept his longer strides shorter so that Alex could keep up. It was then that Mingi realized that Alex was walking oddly, favoring his left side. “Did you get hurt?”
Alex hummed softly. “Hm? Oh, this. Not recently, no.” They lifted their jeans leg, revealing chrome painted in Atiny’s colors. “I lost my leg when I was very small.”
The cameras weren’t around in the space between the barn and the gazebo. Mingi could see one of the managers watching them approach. Another chaperone. He slowed his walk further, to keep out of the cameras’ view for a little while longer.
“I am sorry it happened.”
Alex smiled up at him. “It’s okay. Sometimes it bothers me, but most of the time it’s all right. Most people don’t care about my leg since I’m nonbinary. To some, my gender is the bigger issue.”
Mingi shrugged. “Neither should be one.”
Alex returned the shrug. “It isn’t to me. It’s their problem, not mine.”
They reached the barn, and the manager, and went inside. Alex separated from the idol, as all the rest had done. Mingi walked to the other members. Yunho noticed his frown as soon as he came within sight of the other seven.
“What is it? Did he say something like the girl did to San?”
Mingi shook his head. “No. They didn’t. They were the sweetest Atiny.”
“But?” Yeosang prompted.
“I’m not sure.” Mingi regarded the young person from across the room, brow furrowed in thought. “They are like the dragon Seonghwa likes.”
“Toothless?” Seonghwa said. “How?”
Mingi gestured to his leg, and the team realized what he meant in fits and spurts. “They sang a song with me and wished me no more cruel people.”
“We can’t do anything else here,” Yunho said, holding out his arm so that they could wave to the sixteen Atiny to leave. “Maybe the staff will let us send them something.”
Mingi sighed, eyes lingering on Alex. “I want to send them dragons.”
“I think we can manage some dragons.”