Archive of Our Own

Choi Soobin always hated to be at the center of attention. However, his chest filled with pride whenever he caught some chatter in his faculty corridors about Bunnydio.

“Not a KARA recommendation again…” said a girl in an annoyed voice, while scrolling on her phone as she was walking past Soobin with her friend.

“Shut up, he’s bringing back long forgotten masterpieces with his Throwback Thursday threads. Those are my favourite.” 

“I prefer his Melody of your heart tweets, they always stir up some drama on campus. Some people have the shadiest fantasies and crushes,” the girl laughed. “Remember when someone confessed their love to Professor Kim there?”

“Poor guy had to quit his job because of the rumors,” the guy shook his head but was smiling anyway.

Okay. To be fair, Soobin wasn’t the proudest of this scandal because he could have made it stop at the beginning. Still, he hated Professor Kim and had suspicions about him using his authority to get some girls on campus. He was just protecting his schoolmates, or at least that was what he told himself.

Also, thanks to this scandal, Bunnydio’s popularity skyrocketed. Everyone in Soobin’s university got to know about it and became obsessed with it. The start wasn’t easy, since the account claimed to be a virtual radio without any live audio streaming, which might have seemed weird to some. Rooted from his shyness, Soobin didn’t want to stream shows with his recognizable deep voice. He wanted to stay in the shadows as much as possible. Despite his introverted side, he had the inclination to share his thoughts about music, mostly about kpop so he had made the Twitter account named Bunnydio.

Not only was the concept of his account problematic, but the name as well. 

“I told you, people will associate me with your channel,” Soobin whined after reading all the posts cancelling him for copying Beomdio’s name. 

“It was all part of my plan, chill,” Beomgyu rolled his eyes. “If we’d given it a lame name, no one would have paid attention. But since your account’s name resembles one of the most popular guy’s Youtube channel on campus, people tune in to see what the drama is about.”

“They literally want me gone from the Internet, Gyu,” Soobin pointed out with a nervous, bouncing leg.

“I’ll just make a post about me allowing you to keep the name and hyping up your work,” Beomgyu shrugged his shoulders, as if it was that easy. Soobin’s stomach had been acting up for days because of the hate tweets. He knew he shouldn’t have gone with Beomgyu’s idea for the account’s name.

But to Soobin’s surprise, Beomgyu knew his audience well enough and he was shocked at how easily they could be brainwashed. The cancel campaigns cooled down once Beomgyu’s supporting tweet was up. It was like a coin was flipped; people started to follow Soobin and interact with his posts, as if nothing happened before.

Soobin was thankful for having Beomgyu in his life. Beomgyu had many friends on and off campus unlike Soobin. Beomgyu also had an introverted side to him, but he always put on some kind of facade when he was surrounded by people and cameras to entertain them with his funny jokes, quirks and loud reactions. He showed his calm and silent side only when he was alone with Soobin. He was Beomgyu’s opposite, he didn’t attend parties, didn’t date many people and always stayed in the back of the classrooms to take notes in silence.

That’s probably why no one ever really paid attention to Soobin when they saw him with Beomgyu.

“And who’s your friend?” a guy leaned over the table where they were sitting at the bar a year ago. It only happened once in a blue moon when Beomgyu could successfully convince Soobin to tag along for a night out. 

“He’s Soobin, you already met him, don’t be so rude,” Beomgyu answered with an annoyed tone in his voice. 

Soobin hid his face behind his drink as he sipped from it. It was bitter just like his mood. 

“I’m sorry,” the guy held up his hands in defence. “We see him so rarely, must have slipped out of my mind.” 

Soobin was used to this by then. None of Beomgyu’s friends remembered him. He really only was a shadow of Beomgyu. 

He spent the rest of the night glued to the wall of their booth, listening to their conversation and never adding to it. Even when he tried, it was like talking into a void, his voice getting lost in the loud chatter and music. Soobin just wanted to go back to his dorm room and spend hours on Twitter. He saw no point in being a side-character in Beomgyu’s story. 

Only if Soobin knew, a pair of eyes were always on him during that night as well just like many times before. Because he was the main character of someone else's story.

“Are you sure you are okay with being like this?” Beomgyu asked one day after their class. 

“What do you mean?” Soobin asked, confused.

“You never really talk with anyone on campus, only with me.”

“Oh…” Soobin started to fumble in his bag for his phone. “I’m fine. I can always chat with people through Bunnydio” he whispered the last word, being careful so no one caught anything except Beomgyu. “Also, I talk to some people at the dorm too.”

“You should make more friends there,” Beomgyu wiggled his eyebrows and Soobin didn’t understand what he was trying to imply.

Soobin didn’t actually mind the lack of attention in real life. He only liked to talk about things he loved; games, anime, music and baking. He could do all of this on his account, he had several ‘shows’ as he called it. They were actually just threads of tweets, but he always wrote them as if he was a host of a radio show. His main focus was on music; he talked about his other interests in a show titled Tuesday TMIs. He shared bits of him there but never too much for anyone to recognize him other than Beomgyu. No one really knew him so well anyways or that was what he thought.

His other shows were Throwback Thursdays, the content was evident from its name. Choreo craze, where he discussed choreographies in great detail and his most well-known show; Melody of your heart. This one was not only a show but a service in one. People could send in their love confessions with a song he anonymously posted. He never revealed the senders’ names, not even when the crushes bombarded him with direct messages, trying to find out who sent the confessions. He also kept his silence when he got a message from one of the secretaries from his university asking about Professor Kim because the confession clearly implied that the teacher had a romantic relationship with its sender. It was quite funny to see a university worker sending him a very official sounding, almost e-mail-like message on Twitter. 

Soobin loved his account not only because he could freely yap about his favourite things but because he felt useful by revealing the truth and bringing couples together.

It started to become freezing weather outside in late November, but Soobin was cozily snuggled up in his fluffy sweater, under the covers in his dorm room. However, he felt a cold breeze creeping down his spine when he received a notification on his main account from a user named Secret Santa.

Secret Santa delivery for: page.soobin

Gift: a song recommendation, Sweet Dreams by Tomorrow x Together

Message: “The thoughts of you are my companions during my sleep, I have a sweet dream and good night because of you”

From: hwangchoonie_304

Soobin sat up in his bed with furrowed eyebrows. He quickly clicked on the profile and saw it was created a few weeks ago. Its given location was his university and some people already sent so-called ‘gifts’ by this Secret Santa before his. The follower number didn’t reach Bunnydio’s but it was only a matter of time, especially when the Christmas season was coming up. He gripped his phone tighter while he scrolled the account’s tweets. His legs bounced nervously as always when he was deep in thought. He started to get annoyed by every minute he spent on stalking this newly created account.

He quickly changed users and phrased a long message to Secret Santa.

Bunnydio:

‘Hi there. I just came across your page and I wanted to draw your attention to the fact, my account already provides the same services as yours. To avoid your embarrassment and possible cancellation, it would be best if you deactivated because people will assume you copied my account, which is most likely true since you follow me.’

Soobin hit the send button and huffed as he reread his text. Due to his competitive nature, he couldn’t let anyone else take over his online space. His followers were the most active when he posted the Melody of your heart tweets and he didn’t want anyone else to steal his audience.

His message was changed to Seen not long after, the typing bubble appeared a few times, but no reply arrived.

“They don’t even know what to say,” Soobin scoffed and slammed his phone on his bedside table. He pulled his blanket up to his chin and mumbled under his nose as he cursed the owner of the Santa account until he fell asleep.

☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆

While Soobin fought his new enemy in his dreams, only a few rooms further away, the owner of Secret Santa was panicking over his text.

Choi Yeonjun had been refreshing page.soobin’s profile every second since he posted his gift for the boy, hoping for any kind of reaction from his long-time crush. He expected everything, being happy or even weirded out because of the virtual gift. He didn’t expect to see a text coming from none other than Bunnydio, the inspiration for his Santa account.

Yeonjun had a crush on his almost neighbor Soobin, since he moved in during his freshman year. Yeonjun was only a year above Soobin, but they both majored in music, so they took the same classes from time to time. It could be faith bringing them to the same class, but it was mainly Yeonjun’s doing because he always got Soobin’s schedule from his partner-in-crime, Choi Beomgyu. 

“When are you going to confess so I can stop being a Soobin dealer for you?” Beomgyu asked when he handed over Soobin’s schedule for the upcoming semester. 

“I still need some time…” Yeonjun replied weakly and turned his attention to the list of classes instead. 

When it came to pair work, Yeonjun always ended up as Soobin’s partner due to some miracle. Or more like Yeonjun bribing their classmates. 

“I can get you tickets to the next game if you switch pairs with me.”

“I can teach you some moves if you let me be Soobin’s partner.” 

“I heard you like Wooyoung. He’s my partner for this assignment, so we can switch, if you’d like to.”

Yeonjun loved to see Soobin’s serious, nerdy part of him, when he was too focused on the material to even notice that Yeonjun was staring at him with a stupid smile on his face. Soobin had a habit of chewing the ends of his pens and pencils, leaving tiny bite marks on everything he owned. Yeonjun’s heart always fluttered at the sight, if he replaced the innocent pen with a carrot, he’d be easily mistaken for a rabbit.

Since their rooms were on the same floor - only a few separating them - he was thankfully able to witness other sides of Soobin as well. He loved to have glimpses of Soobin in a more domestic environment and he used every chance he got to enjoy it. 

He saw Soobin sleepily rubbing his eyes every morning, yawning in the cutest way possible, again, like a bunny. He was always wearing his outworn shirts, which designs were barely visible anymore due to the amount of times it was washed but Soobin refused to throw them out yet. He usually put on his oversized hoodies and jeans for his classes so Yeonjun really had a privilege of seeing him being this cozy. 

Sometimes, when Yeonjun felt brave enough not to be a blushing mess, he joined Soobin and they went to campus together. Between the two of them, Soobin tended to be the quiet one when they entered the bus. However, before joining the crowd on the small bus, Soobin liked to share every detail of his dream with Yeonjun. He always attentively listened to Soobin’s rambling even if he had the stupidest dreams.

Yeonjun also sometimes caught sight of drunk Soobin when Beomgyu managed to convince him to go out for some drinks. Beomgyu, being the good wingman that he was, always called Yeonjun to go downstairs and get Soobin because he was too lazy to fill out the form for visitors in the dorm. 

“He shouldn’t have drunk that last Sex on the beach…” Yeonjun commented once when Beomgyu placed the giant bunny on his shoulders. 

“Wait, how do you know?” Beomgyu asked, confused. 

“Uhh… it was just a guess?” 

“It was an oddly specific one” Beomgyu narrowed his eyes at Yeonjun suspiciously. “So I did see it right. You were staring at us from a table in the corner.” 

“I just happened to be there, okay?” Yeonjun wrapped his free arm around Soobin’s waist whose eyes were shut and head hanging low. 

“Yeah, sure. And you suddenly had to leave when we did.”

“You can carry his drunk ass up if you want to,” Yeonjun bit back.

“No-no,” Beomgyu held up his hands. “I dragged him here already. And it’s not like you’d let him go.”

Yeonjun looked at Soobin’s face. He was so adorable when he was drunk. He often poked Yeonjun’s cheeks when his eyes fluttered open. Soobin hugged him tighter as if he was some kind of plushie and hiccupped while talking. Yeonjun never wanted to let him go. 

Yeonjun also sometimes had glimpses of a sad and happy Soobin as well. He blessed the designer of their dorm for having peepholes on their room doors because whenever he heard Soobin’s voice echoing in their corridor, he tended to rush to the door and look out, hoping to see Soobin. He pushed the thought of him being a voyeur in the back of his mind and tried to focus on the boy instead. He wasn’t a stalker; only a good friend wanting to help Soobin if he needed it. He didn’t watch him from a slightly ajar door or something, he did it through a peephole which was made for such activities. He just used it for what it was made for.

“I hate him so much, he’s such an asshole,” Soobin was ranting on the phone to Beomgyu about his breakup with a guy he got together with, which happened a couple of months ago. Their relationship didn’t last long, only a couple of weeks. “He broke up with me over text,” Soobin’s voice wavered and he wiped his eyes, probably the welled up tears blurred his vision. 

Yeonjun wanted to tear the door open and pull him into a hug to comfort him, but his cowardice held him back. Even though Yeonjun presented himself as a confident person, he was one of the shiest ones when it came to his crush on Choi Soobin. Soobin never flirted back, never showed any interest in Yeonjun other than being friends, so he obviously had his doubts.

Yeonjun hated to admit it, but he was actually the happiest, relief making his shoulders lighter when he saw Soobin being that upset. The douchebag was finally out of his way and he could pursue his subtle flirting with Soobin. Maybe he could even mend Soobin’s broken heart, he thought naively. 

He also cherished their shared late-night moments in their floor communal kitchen the most. There, he observed Soobin’s baking disasters and victories, and sometimes even gave him some of his ramen after a long day.

Yeonjun sought to spend as much time with Soobin as he could, but there was only one time of the day where he tried to avoid him. The first time it happened, he promised himself he’d lock his doors or wouldn’t even come back to the dorm during those hours. He had already started to develop feelings for Soobin back then, but the incident made him fully realize how gone he was for the boy.

Yeonjun was walking back to his room while being on his phone, not suspecting anything. 

“Auch, sorry,” he mumbled as he stumbled into someone’s bare chest. His eyes grew twice as big when his mind processed what he was seeing. 

“It’s okay, just pay attention next time, hyung,” Soobin said with a gentle smile on his face.

As much as Soobin was an introvert, he was still bold enough to walk around in their corridor half naked, only a towel covering his lower body when he went to shower. Their dorm was man only but not so many of them dared to walk around half naked or at least not on Yeonjun’s floor. It was mainly him and Soobin. Yeonjun really didn’t intend to stare at Soobin’s abs. It was just so shocking for Yeonjun to see his lean, defined muscles on his stomach, he couldn’t look away. His gaze was trapped by the milky white skin, which he urgently wanted to touch. Since then, Soobin’s abs haunted him in his wet dreams and he made the decision to never step out of his room around the time Soobin went to take a shower. 

Yeonjun’s obsession with Soobin was brighter than the sun, but he never really did anything to take it to the next step.

One day, as he was scrolling on Twitter, he stumbled upon Bunnydio the account everyone was talking about on campus. He felt envious of the people who had the courage to confess at least through some account to their crushes. He debated sending his confession to the page as well, but no one knew who was behind the account. He didn’t want to share his truest feelings with some stranger. It was one thing for everyone to know someone had a crush on Soobin, it was another to reveal himself to someone whose identity was a mystery.

He still found this way of confessing cute and fitting for Soobin since he knew the boy loved music and was chronically online, so he decided to take the matter into his own hands. Since Halloween was over and every store already started to sell Christmas decorations, Yeonjun decided to create a Secret Santa profile. People could send any type of virtual gifts through the account; flowers, pastry, artworks, music, basically anything, the point was it should be Christmas or winter themed. With the gifts, people could send anonymous notes as well. He planned to operate his account only until Christmas because his resolution for this year was that he’d kiss Soobin under the mistletoe. He wanted to tick at least one thing off his list. His other main resolution was to learn how to wink properly, but he let it go in January. Maybe he’ll be able to wink in his next life.

After setting up the account, he promoted it here and there and waited for a few confessions to roll in before he posted his own. When the perfect time for it arrived, he spent his whole day creating the post. He made a moodboard by choosing the cutest photos of snowy landscapes, white bunnies, a Christmas tree, couples holding hands and cuddling. He mastered finding the best pictures on Pinterest. He chose the most fitting line from the song he wanted to send to Soobin. He was hoping the other would figure out it’s him since Yeonjun always wished ‘sweet dreams and goodnight’ to Soobin when they met in the evenings. He scheduled his post to a time when he knew Soobin would be in his room scrolling on his phone. He even made it sure he was online because he sent him a meme related to their studies and the boy immediately replied.

Everything seemed perfect. 

So when he received Bunnydio’s message instead of Soobin’s reaction to his gift, Yeonjun was shocked to say the least. He didn’t even know why the account paid attention to him now. He followed it on his first day after creating it and his bio clearly stated the purpose of his profile:

‘No matter if they have been naughty or nice, Secret Santa will help you to deliver your feelings to your special one’

He was also kind of outraged by the audacity of the admin to call him a copycat. There were many existing gift sending accounts on Twitter, Yeonjun could have easily gotten inspired by any of them. No one had to know the admin of Bunnydio was right, and he exactly got the idea from them. Still, the accusation hurt Yeonjun’s pride.

After his initial shock, he fired back with a message.

Secret Santa:

‘Ho, ho, ho there. Thank you for being so considerate and warning me of the possible dangers my account could face.  However, I would like to draw your attention to the fact of several accounts like ours existing on the Internet and if they accuse me of copying you, then they could do the same with you and the already operating accounts. I’m just trying to bring some festive vibes to the timeline and the campus life. I don’t see any problem with it, given that you never post any holiday related tweets. Just think of me as a special edition, which will be gone once Christmas is over, little bunny.’

Yeonjun was pissed at the radio account because it didn’t let him fully enjoy his first step towards confessing to Soobin. He furrowed his brows in annoyance, even forgot about checking the younger boy’s profile to see if he had reacted to the song recommendation. 

Bunnydio:

‘One account per campus is more than enough. Why would students need a Christmas oriented one above all things, if I’m already here? If they really wanted to, they’re free to send Christmas-related songs to their crushes through me, so there’s no point in wasting your time with your lame holiday account.’

Secret Santa:

‘Well, then let’s see who’s the better account and let our followers decide who they need the most. I won’t stop just because you rudely asked me to.’

Bunnydio:

‘Okay, this is war.’

Secret Santa:

‘It is, but don’t be surprised if you end up on Santa’s naughty list.’

In different rooms, both Yeonjun and Soobin let out an irritated sigh and threw their phones away. The notification woke Soobin up because he unmuted his phone solely for the purpose of firing back to Secret Santa when the admin finally dared to answer him. He was wide awake by the end of their short exchange. He didn’t want to stay alone with his thoughts in his room, so he got out of his bed, grabbed his favourite bunny mug and headed towards the communal kitchen.

Usually, he didn’t like to use the shared kitchen because he always had to interact with people but sometimes there were students he liked to have conversations with. Choi Yeonjun was one of those people. Soobin’s frown was replaced by a soft smile when he saw Yeonjun sitting at the table, scrolling on his phone with furrowed eyebrows and a steamy mug next to him.

“Long night?” Soobin asked as he opened the fridge door, hoping to still find his carton of milk there.

Yeonjun jumped a little in his seat. Before Soobin came, he was the only one in the kitchen and he didn’t see him enter.

“Oh, yeah. Just preparing for some stupid exam and taking a break,” he mumbled and locked his phone, not wanting to deal with Bunnydio anymore. “The exam season always ruins the mood for Christmas.”

Soobin poured some milk into his mug and sat down opposite Yeonjun. His fingers tightened around the mug’s handle at the mention of Christmas. What were the odds Yeonjun would decide to talk about the holiday right now when Soobin was annoyed by some festive account? “It’s still November, you shouldn’t be worrying about a holiday that’s still a month away.”

Yeonjun quirked an eyebrow and started to list things on his fingers, “But Soobin, you need to prepare in advance; buy the gifts, get new decorations, plan trips to go ice skating, bake gingerbread, hang a mistletoe…”

Soobin just rolled his eyes, “These are just tiresome capitalist things, hyung. Why would you need to buy new decorations each year? Also, we don’t even exchange gifts with my family anymore because everyone has everything. We only get toys for my nephews.”

“The emphasis is on the time spent together with your loved ones,” Yeonjun shook his head and took a sip of his tea, which had started to cool down.

“If it’s that important to people, then we should focus on this all year long, not only during Christmas,” Soobin shrugged his shoulders.

Yeonjun put down his mug and looked Soobin straight in the eyes. “Soobin. Are you the Grinch or something?”

“What’s that?” Soobin had a serious expression on his face. Yeonjun couldn’t believe he genuinely didn’t know what he was talking about.

“The character? The movie? The tale? Do you really hate Christmas?”

“I just don’t get extremely excited over holidays,” Soobin said casually and took a sip of his milk.

Yeonjun huffed and dramatically closed his foldable phone. The chair loudly squeaked as he stood up in the silent kitchen. Soobin looked up at him questioningly. “I forgot I need to wake up early in the morning,” Yeonjun mumbled and stormed out of the kitchen, leaving a confused Soobin behind him.

As he was walking back to his room, he made the decision to make both the admin of Bunnydio and Choi Soobin love Christmas.

☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆

The weather turned greyer each day as the calendar officially turned from autumn to winter. Yeonjun’s room was still colorful thanks to the Christmas lights he hung up all over his ceiling on December 1st. He took out his usual decorations from the box under his bed and displayed them everywhere, on his desk, window and even on his door. He even sacrificed his sanity and hung his festive wreath outside of his door when he knew Soobin would go to shower. He ridiculously slowly placed the wrath on the wood with tape, leaving it open so it was easy to take a glimpse of the inside of his room.

His timing wasn’t the best because Soobin wasn’t on his way to shower but he was already coming back from the bathroom. From the corner of his eyes, he could see the other approaching him. Soobin’s black hair was wet at the ends, and he didn’t wipe his body properly because some droplets decorated his collarbone. As usual, only a white towel was wrapped around his torso. He smelt like citrus which might have been his shower gel and Yeonjun didn’t know how to process this information. He just knew he would spend the next day in the drug store, smelling all the citrus scented shower gels, trying to find Soobin’s so he could smell like him. Yeah, these were some really natural thoughts for Yeonjun.

Soobin cleared his throat, and it brought Yeonjun back to reality. He looked up at Soobin’s eyes, the other having stopped in front of his door.

“Isn’t it a little bit too early for this?” Soobin asked as he observed Yeonjun’s room in its full Christmas glory.

Yeonjun felt the color of his ears starting to compete with the poinsettias' deep shade of red that decorated the wreath he was hanging up. “I-it’s already the advent season.”

“I didn’t think you’re religious,” Soobin furrowed his eyebrows.

“You don’t need to be religious to be excited and wait for Christmas,” Yeonjun shrugged, trying to be nonchalant about the fact he was talking with Soobin, while the other was half naked in front of him. It was difficult when Yeonjun’s eyes wandered down and lingered on the knot on the towel hiding other parts of Soobin’s body.

“I think it’s quite a waste of money to have this many decorations littering your space,” Soobin took another peek at Yeonjun’s room. His hair was longer than usual because of its dampness so it slightly covered his eyes. Soobin ran a hand through his hair to get the black locks out of his vision and Yeonjun didn’t know where to look first, between Soobin’s handsome forehead and the noticeable muscles on his bicep.

“Hm, what was that?” Soobin leaned closer to Yeonjun.

Yeonjun shook his head as he just realized he didn’t produce a coherent answer because of his brain fog. “I do whatever I want with my money,” it came out harsher than he intended because Soobin’s face held an offended expression.

“I was just saying,” Soobin said in defense. “But I’ll leave you to it. I don’t wanna be that Grinch or what and ruin your mood, hyung.”

Soobin waved and walked back to his room. The slam of his door was louder than Yeonjun liked it to be. Good job, Choi Yeonjun, he thought, a very good start for convincing him to love Christmas and you.

☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆

Yeonjun was sitting on the bus on his way to campus, Mariah Carey singing high notes in his earphones when he scrolled through Soobin’s Twitter profile, his newly developed habit. He tried to keep his stalking lowkey before. But since he posted his confession on his Secret Santa account, he became obsessed with seeking a reply or at least some kind of reaction from Soobin. It’s been a couple of days since the confession and Yeonjun started to question if the quote could even  be  considered as one. Maybe he was so lost in his emotions at that time, he thought it was obvious the lyrics screamed his love for Soobin. He reread the line over and over again and he was still convinced it had romantic implications. Why else would anyone think of someone before sleeping and have a good night because of them, if it wasn’t due to affectionate feelings?

Maybe Soobin hated Christmas so much, he couldn’t even be bothered by the song. 

For the last couple of days, Yeonjun tried his best to plant the Christmas spirit in Soobin. He played as Secret Santa in real life as well. Leaving chocolate on Soobin’s desk at the library when he was on a bathroom break, placing a hot choco kit by Soobin’s door with a cute christmassy note and even wearing his ‘ugly’ Christmas sweaters. He really tried. The sweaters were mainly crop tops, to be fair. He still wanted to be stylish while embarrassing himself with sweaters with cringy texts on them like ‘Your present is under the tree’ or ‘I wanna be on your naughty list’. He was willing to risk anything if it meant Soobin finally recognized his flirting.

Besides these little acts, Yeonjun also tried out Christmas themed pick-up lines and jokes with Soobin with more or less success.

One time they were in the library and Soobin wanted to pick out a book from a shelf which was too high, even for him. Yeonjun seized the opportunity and brought a chair next to Soobin and gave him the book he wanted.

“Ah, thanks. I couldn’t get it down,” Soobin said while flipping the book.

“I’d come down the chimney for you any day,” Yeonjun said with a smirk on his face.

Soobin looked up at him with a confused look. “Why would you come down in a chimney if we have stairs?” Yeonjun mumbled an awkward answer and put the chair back to its place with burning ears in his embarrassment. 

Another example of Yeonjun shamingly embarrassing himself was when he and Soobin passed by the huge pine tree which was being set up on campus.

“I also have a little tree in my room,” Yeonjun commented. “And the star on mine isn't the only star on top,” Yeonjun wiggled his eyebrows at Soobin who was too busy watching the crew decorating the huge tree to pay attention to Yeonjun’s facial expression.

“Then what more is there?” Soobin genuinely asked.

Yeonjun seriously wanted to hit him by then. It was no wonder Soobin was still single despite being so handsome, that boy was really dense when it came to flirting.

Soobin being so clueless left no choice for Yeonjun but to try again on the Secret Santa account with a more straightforward note.

Secret Santa delivery for: page.soobin

Gift: a song recommendation, All I want for Christmas is You by Mariah Carey

Message: i like you, you dummy

From: hwangchoonie_304

Yeonjun took a sharp breath in and put his phone down. His body was hot, but he was shivering at the same time. His thoughts didn’t even have time to spiral because his phone lit up in a few minutes.

Bunnydio:

‘I see your account is still running, although you barely get any requests.’

“You got to be kidding me,” Yeonjun mumbled under his nose to himself.

He rushed to check Soobin’s account but there were still no reactions. The new and the previous confessions had no quotes, not even private ones. But somehow, Bunnydio always texted him when he sent a song to Soobin and no one else. Now, he thought about it, Soobin resembled a cute little bunny and Yeonjun knew he liked music. But Soobin being the admin of a viral social media account and being so fierce? Yeonjun had to giggle at the idea. Soobin was just too cute and shy for such things.

Still, a tiny voice in the back of Yeonjun’s mind kept telling him what if Soobin was behind the radio account. He had to test it.

Secret Santa:

‘Hi, Bunny. Do you really hate Christmas so much, you cannot bear the thought of another gift sending account existing for a few weeks?’

Bunnydio:

‘I just think people should express their love all year long. There’s nothing so special about this holiday’

Yeonjun’s lips curved in a smile. What an oddly familiar answer.

Secret Santa:

‘Hmm… it feels like I’ve heard someone saying this to me already.’

Bunnydio:

‘They must have been a very reasonable person. You should listen to them.’

Secret Santa:

‘I don’t think I will because they are such a dummy, they even fail to realize someone is flirting with them. So this holiday is especially needed to make them see how someone’s desperately in love with them’

Bunnydio:

‘TMI, I guess. But maybe if you’d use your words instead of sending songs and encouraging others to do the same, you’d be in a relationship by now’

Secret Santa:

‘You know you are doing the same thing as I am, right?’

Bunnydio:

‘My main focus isn’t sending confessions, that’s just a side gig people happen to like the most. I’m here for music’

Soobin let out an irritated sigh, he felt like he was wasting his time trying to convince the admin to stop but he couldn’t let it go without a fight.

“What is it?” Beomgyu asked from the other side of the table. They were sitting in the library, studying for their upcoming exams. 

“It’s this Santa account again,” Soobin rolled his eyes. 

“Oh, the one you are so hooked on. Why do you even care about them?” 

“I told you,” Soobin sat up straight on his chair, more passionate about this topic than the study material. “They’re copying me!” 

“I wouldn’t be the one saying that after everything you’ve been through at the start of your account.”

“That was different,” Soobin crossed his arms in front of his chest and pouted. “You were the one behind the idea anyways. They didn’t ask me if I was okay with another account similar to mine being on campus ”

“Because they don’t need your permission,” Beomgyu laughed. 

“They even called me dummy,” Soobin pointed out. “Twice! Once in the confession and once in our dms. They are not that nice.” 

Soobin kept on arguing with ridiculous reasons and he was so lost in the heat of the moment, he forgot to lower his voice. Hidden behind the neighbouring bookshelf, Yeonjun was sitting in a beanbag, his fingers frozen over his phone’s screen and mouth hanging open.

☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆

Christmas was fast approaching, and Soobin didn’t seem to get Yeonjun’s hints so he really had to step up his game. One late afternoon , Soobin and Yeonjun were walking back to the dorm together. It was already dark outside but the city was still bright thanks to the Christmas lights reflecting on the fresh snow. Their arms wrapped in their thick coats brushed against each other from time to time. Yeonjun was debating and hesitating for days but he decided he'd ask Soobin about the confessions directly. He had mixed feelings after everything he had heard at the library.

“Have you seen that Secret Santa account on Twitter?” Yeonjun tried to sound as casual as he could but he felt his voice being shakier than it should have been.

“The one which sends stuff with notes to people?”

“Yeah. I think it’s cute and I saw you got two confessions there as well,” Yeonjun played with the strap of his bag while looking everywhere but Soobin walking next to him.

Soobin let out an annoyed sigh. “I noticed.”

“You don’t sound too happy about it…” Yeonjun started to feel even more anxious.

“It’s whatever. I got secret love letters before for White Day and I learnt to not make a big deal out of them. They are just empty words most of the time if they don’t proceed to take the next step.”

“Maybe they were just too scared of rejection…” Yeonjun tried to explain.

“I also don’t like that account,” Soobin blurted out.

Yeonjun stopped walking and looked at Soobin offendedly. “Why?” He tried to look angry but he seemed more like a sulky fluffball with his puffy jacket.

“Our campus already has Bunnydio for this purpose,” Soobin simply reasoned.

“Not this again…” Yeonjun mumbled quietly so Soobin didn’t hear it. He rolled his eyes and stormed by Soobin to leave him there.

Soobin stared at Yeonjun’s back in confusion and he couldn’t help but smile at the older, “Cute,” he said to himself.

After taking some moments to admire Yeonjun’s adorable butt which he swayed in his angry little walk, Soobin ran after the other and started a new conversation about a topic which he knew made Yeonjun happy - Christmas.

“Are you coming to the Christmas party in the dorm, Soobin-ah?” Yeonjun asked when they passed the poster of the party in the hallway. The party was going to be held on Christmas day for students who couldn’t go home for the holidays because of the far distance between Seoul and their hometowns. Yeonjun could go home and planned on going the next day but he told his family he'll spend the first day with some friends. Somehow he forgot to mention that all of his friends were going home. In truth, he knew Soobin lived even farther than him and was hoping he’d stay in the dorm.

“I don’t know,” Soobin said as they stepped into the elevator, which was also decorated in the festive spirit. Lights were hanging from the ceiling and little doodles were drawn on the mirrors. “I’ll be here but I planned to stay in my room and watch some anime since all of my friends will be too busy with their families to play with me.”

“I’ll be here too, why don’t you come down with me then?” Yeonjun shot his warmest smile towards Soobin.

“Maybe, I’ll see.”

The elevator rang, signaling they arrived at their floor. Yeonjun followed Soobin and stopped with him in front of Soobin’s door. He continued trying to convince Soobin to attend the party while the boy got his keys out. 

“Okay, fine. I’ll go down if I’m in the mood just stop harassing me with it,” Soobin tried to sound angry but a hint of a smile was evident on his face. 

“Great! I’ll come and get you myself,” Yeonjun’s mood immediately lit up with joy.

They said their goodbyes and Yeonjun sat down on his bed, starting to plan his next step while Last Christmas played in his headphones.

☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆

It was Christmas day and the dorm was oddly quiet in the absence of the students. Only a few stayed, Soobin being one of them. He was used to this by then, but somehow being alone in his room bothered him more than it should.

Even though he tried to seem ignorant of the Secret Santa confessions, in his heart, they made him giddy and he yearned to know who hwangchoonie_304 was. The thought of someone liking him ate him alive, especially knowing if they dared to reveal themselves, they might even spend Christmas together.

Soobin hated to admit it, but since the first confession was addressed to him, he kept coming back to the account. He tried to deceive himself, he was stalking the profile only to protect Bunnydio in case they stole another idea of his, but he was actually hoping for finding more details about hwangchoonie_304.

He was refreshing the account as he usually did every hour while being awake, when he saw the latest post. His eyes widened. There was no address, no note by the sender or anything, it was a photo of an adorable white bunny plushie with a blue ribbon wrapped around its neck. It almost looked like Cinnamoroll. The caption by the admin said “To Secret Santa’s beloved.”

Soobin looked at the photo with jealousy in his eyes. Maybe he didn’t like Christmas but Yeonjun talked about it so much lately, he had started to become fond of the holiday. He wouldn’t mind if someone gifted that to him. It made him sadder when he realised, even his rival had someone to spend the night with while he was alone in his room, sulking.

He was trying to zoom in on the bunny’s photo, wanting to break his heart more with envy because someone would get such a cute present and not him. Someone knocked on his door when he was about to delve deeper in his self-pity. He looked out through the peephole but saw no one. There was still not a soul in sight in the corridor when he opened the door, but when Soobin looked down at his doorstep, his eyes teared up a little. He couldn’t believe what he saw. A bunny with a ribbon - exactly the same as the one he was staring at minutes ago - was sitting on the floor, a note tied to its neck. The note was handwritten with a pretty cursive style:

“Even though you were a naughty boy, come downstairs to find your Secret Santa under the mistletoe.”

Soobin’s thoughts were spinning. What was this bunny doing here? Was it really for him? Was his rival in the same building all along? The admin of Secret Santa has a crush on him?!

He quickly put some decent clothes on and sprinted down to the dining hall where the Christmas party was being held. A decorated tree was standing in the middle of the room, some students standing next to it, taking pictures while others were busy filling their mouths with cookies from a table. Christmas songs were playing and the smell of cinnamon and wine filled the room. He scanned the room looking for a mistletoe, and found it in a hidden corner of the room.

Soobin started to walk towards it but his steps slowed down when he saw Yeonjun standing under it.

“Hyung?” he asked hesitantly.

Yeonjun turned his way with a shy smile on his lips. Soobin expected to see Yeonjun here,  dressed in one of his cringey festive jumpers. He didn’t think he’d see his hyung under the mistletoe though, dressed in a sparkly white top with matching white pants and a blue ribbon tied around his neck. Just like the one on  his bunny. Soobin looked down at the bunny in his hands and then back to Yeonjun. This can’t be real.

“Merry Christmas, Bunny,” Yeonjun reached out for Soobin’s hand and when the other placed his in Yeonjun’s, the older pulled him closer so Soobin stood under the mistletoe as well.

“You… hyung, you are the Secret Santa account?” Soobin was so confused, he even forgot to question why Yeonjun was holding his hand. 

“So you saw my post, Bunnydio,” Yeonjun’s cheeks started to bloom in the same shade as the ribbon which kept the mistletoe together above their heads.

Soobin’s eyes widened and he quickly placed a palm over Yeonjun’s mouth. “Keep your voice low, what if someone hears you?!”

His palm was suddenly wet as Yeonjun slid his tongue over it. Soobin’s ears became just as red as Yeonjun’s cheeks and he wiped his hands in embarrassment.

“No one’s paying attention to us,” Yeonjun chuckled. Soobin took a glance at the other students there and Yeonjun was right, everyone was too busy getting drunk by the mulled wine.

“What does it mean, hyung?” Soobin pointed at Yeonjun’s outfit and the bunny.

Yeonjun rolled his eyes, “I really had to make it obvious but you still don’t get it, Soobinie. I like you. No, scratch that, I have been  in love with you for a while now.”

Soobin opened his mouth to speak but then closed it. He tried to process what he just heard, putting the puzzle pieces together. Suddenly it all made sense. How Yeonjun started to push Christmas on him, the lame but cute dad jokes, pick-up lines, the corny jumpers. Yeonjun was always around him; sitting next to him in class, only a few rooms away in the dorm or standing a few steps away but always in Soobin’s vision. Soobin sometimes even found himself looking for him when he didn’t see the older for a while because he missed those feline eyes.

He always considered Yeonjun pretty, gorgeous and handsome. Soobin knew he wasn’t only special because of his looks, but also because of his talent and kindness. He was always there for Soobin since day one when he moved in. He even helped with carrying Soobin’s boxes and showed him around in the big city, which seemed scary at first. Soobin had never admitted it but he adored the late-night conversations with Yeonjun in the dorm kitchen about school, life and everything coming to their minds. Yeonjun always had good advice for him. He sometimes fantasized about what it would be like to have a caring boyfriend like Yeonjun. Someone who looked at him with sparkly eyes like Yeonjun, someone who paid attention to every detail about Soobin like Yeonjun, someone who gave warm hugs like Yeonjun. Someone who is Yeonjun.

I’m really dumb, Soobin realized.

“Hyung… can I kiss you?”

Yeonjun seemed a little bit surprised by Soobin's sudden request but smiled anyways. “Why do you think we’re standing under the mistletoe?”

Soobin dropped the bunny to the ground - he’d apologize to it later - and sneaked an arm around Yeonjun’s waist. He placed his free hand on Yeonjun’s burning cheek. When their lips connected, Soobin could swear he heard bells ringing but it might have been the Christmas spirit finally creeping into his core. Yeonjun tasted like gingerbread and his lips were as soft as snow. Soobin realized how much he liked the taste of gingerbread but mostly when it was on Yeonjun’s plump lips. 

Yeonjun wrapped his arms around Soobin’s neck, his fingers playing with his black locks. He had been yearning to do this for so long. He felt tears pricking up in his eyes, he couldn’t believe Soobin was finally kissing him. He held back the tears because he couldn’t ruin his makeup after spending so much time on it.

When they broke apart for air, they rested their foreheads against each other.

“I think I like you too, hyung,” Soobin whispered.

Yeonjun closed his eyes and let the words sink in. Finally, after so many sleepless nights spent overthinking Soobin’s feelings, he could hear the words his heart wished to be true.

“But wait,” Soobin suddenly leaned back, another realization hitting him. “Some hwangchoon has a crush on me as well.”

Although Yeonjun loved Soobin, he wanted to slap him sometimes. This was one of those occasions.

“Soobinie,” Yeonjun took a deep breath to stay calm. “You were blessed with a handsome face and incredible height but some logical thinking was left out of you.”

“I… I don’t get it?”

“Of course you don’t,” Yeonjun giggled. “I live in room 304. My favourite character is Hwangchoon. I am hwangchoonie_304. I made that Secret Santa account to confess to you, but you were so busy defending your account, you totally ignored me.”

“I was aware of the notes but I had no clue who it could have been, so I was waiting for them to reveal themselves,” Soobin explained offendedly.

“Here I am because I realized you need literal words to understand how much I like you,” Yeonjun pulled Soobin closer again.

“You can also show how much you like me,” Soobin whispered against Yeonjun’s lips. “As you can see, I’m really stupid. I need some demonstration.”

“You suddenly became so bold, Soobinie.” Yeonjun bit down his lip, attracting Soobin’s gaze there. 

“I’m just being genuine. Also, I want to make it up to you,” Soobin hugged Yeonjun more tightly, as if he could slip away.

“Then, let’s go to my room,” Yeonjun tried to wink, and he scrunched his nose, his other eye almost closing in the act as well. Soobin giggled to himself at the sight. 

They left the celebration behind and walked back to Yeonjun’s room while holding hands. The Christmas lights flickered on their skin and the scent of vanilla lingered in the room from the candle, which was lit on Yeonjun’s dressing table. Yeonjun fell asleep in Soobin’s arms, his face being pressed against Soobin’s bare chest, the covers pulled up to his chin. Soobin caressed Yeonjun’s cheeks and whispered a soft, Merry Christmas against his hair.

This Christmas was one of the happiest memories for Yeonjun.