Archive of Our Own

"All I'm attempting to do here is trying to get you into a Christmas mood." You insist.

"It's hardly Christmas." Jaeyun counters, and unfortunately he's right. It's been raining non-stop for weeks now. There's absolutely no snow in sight and the outside world is wet and grey and disgusting and entirely un-christmassy. But that's why you're here to spread the Christmas cheer. Well, actually it's not, but that won't stop you from spreading the cheer regardless.

"And you really think Annabell's cousin will help?" Yoonsung cocks his head in genuine interest.

"Yes."

"Even if it looks like it eats little children?" Haemin mumbles.

"Bartholomew also eats little Haemins who argue with their manager."

Jaeyun meets your eyes with a grin. "Don't say that he'll have nightmares."

"Why are you all ganging up on me now?" Haemin accusingly looks around the room.

You shrug.

"Because it's fun."

In the middle of the ongoing conversation, Jaeyun hoists himself up to his feet and ever so slowly he reaches for the Elf on the, well, table.

"Nooo!" You shriek and he immediately launches backwards. Haemin flinches and spills a bit of his cereal. They all look at you like you're insane.

"You're not allowed to touch him or he loses the Christmas magic." You gasp.

"Alright, you've actually lost it now." Haemin groans as he swiftly grabs Yoonsung's rag and wipes the milk off the table.

"It's not a very good elf then, is it?" Jaeyun deadpans.

"I already touched it." Haemin adds and Yoonsung snatches the milky cloth out of his hands. "What are you gonna do now? Spend another 30 bucks on a new one?"

"You also ate the contaminated cereal." Minho points out. "So you probably already have digested the magic."

The frown on your face immediately transforms into a bright smile.

"You're part Christmas magic now!" You beam at Haemin, who looks more horrified than magical.

"Does that mean I can at least touch it now without being yelled at?"

"Touch, yes." You say. "Not physically harm."

"It's an inanimate object." Haemin protests. "It can not be physically harmed!"

"Respect Bartholomew and he will respect you."

"Exactly, Haemin." Jaeyun grins. "You're basically brothers now."

"Fine." You basically admit defeat. "I just want to terrorize you."

"Yeah, well no shit." Haemin huffs out and he shoots you a sarcastic grin.

They caught on, chief. It's not like it matters to you, though.

"I can't believe you spent 30 bucks just to bother us." Yoonsung chimes in from across the room.

"It's an investment." You counter.

"In what?" Haemin challenges. "Fear and terror?"

Jaeyun snorts.

"You can't tell me you're actually scared of that thing."

"Oh yeah? We'll see how you feel after finding it in a cereal box in the pitch dark."

"Why were you in the dark in the first place?"

"I don't have to justify my breakfast habits to you."

Minho looks up at you from where he is still sitting on the floor.

"Man, just return it."

"I can't return him!" You grasp at your chest and stagger backwards as if you'd been stabbed. "He's like my son! How would you feel if I returned you?"

"I wouldn't know because I'M NOT YOUR CHILD."

"That's exactly what my child would say." You quip back.

"No, it's not." Jaeyun interjects. "It would be incredibly concerning if it did, actually."

Yoonsung jumps to change the topic.

"And how exactly are you expecting to move that thing every day?"

"Oh." You say. "I have a key."

"I knew it!" Haemin blurts out. "I knew someone was rummaging through my wardrobe."

"Oh yeah, that was probably me."

"What are you doing in there anyway? I bet you're sniffing our clothes."

"If I wanted to sniff your clothes I'd do it with you still attached to them." You bat your eyelashes at him.

There is a stunned silence.

To show them you're actually serious you take a large step towards Haemin, who immediately scrambles to his feet and seeks shelter behind Yoonsung.

You shoot him an innocent smile. "You smell different when you sleep."

"I'm getting a hotel tonight." Haemin announces from where he's hiding behind the shorter man.

"I approve your transactions. I will find you. Slash threat."

"Did you just say 'slash threat' out loud?" Jaeyun furrows his eyebrows.

"All this over a children's toy, mind you." Yoonsung mumbles.

"An elf! Not a toy!"

You're still not willing to let it go and therefore are making it everyone else's problem.

"Does anyone know karate?" You ask, but only receive a collective shrug in response.

"Damn, then how are we going to knock her out?"

"What about not assaulting strangers in broad daylight?" Yungyu looks a bit stern, with his eyebrows scrunched like that and there's genuine concern lacing his voice.

"We can't wait until nightfall." You argue.

"What if we run past and just grab it right out?" Seungheon attempts weakly.

"I doubt I have good enough hand eye coordination for that." You slowly admit, scratching your head.

"We could just take the entire trolley." Yungyu suggests, and he's only half joking.

"Wouldn't that be a bit greedy?" Asks Seungheon.

"Well, it's also the season of overconsumption." You helpfully add.

And so it is decided.

Yungyu lays low, somewhere between empty cardboard boxes and someone's abandoned shopping cart, and you cover him with a bunch of colourful candy canes from the sweets section.

Seungheon slips underneath the gingerbread display and you, disguised as an innocent bystander, with an off-white santa beard and a plant pot being misused as a hat, watch the whole thing go down from a safe distance.

Then, as the woman, or better, her trolley, approaches, Yungyu expertly rolls out from underneath layers of candy in one swift motion and sprawls himself out on the floor.

The trolley has barely even touched him when an ear-shattering piercing scream suddenly echoes through the hall. It's haunting enough for the people across the aisle to turn their heads in alarm and a concerned father even abandons his own cart to storm past you.

Casually strolling past, you glance into the trolley - no chocolate chips, sadly - and pay attention to the ongoing spectacle with half an ear. You find that Yungyu plays the role of a crash victim almost a bit too well.

He is squirming on the floor, eyes closed in feigned pain, arms wrapped tightly around his stomach. Every now and then he breathlessly gasps for air, the harsh way he inhales sounds downright painful. With panic written all over her face, the woman kneels down at his side, but he flinches away as she carefully reaches out her hand to comfort him.

A few concerned bystanders now approach and with hushed voices, they desperately try to calm down his sobbing, but only you and Seungheon, who catches your eyes from across the crowd, know the tears streaming down his face stem from a hysterical laughing fit. Seungheon smirks and then, within a split second, he slides out from under the display and appears, practically out of nowhere, in front of the scene and proceeds to fall to his knees next to the other boy. Now, the mischievous glint in his eyes is gone, and instead his eyes are wide and innocent and distraught, as he grabs at his panting friend.

"OH MY GOD! HE'S DYING!" Seungheon's voice cracks at the last word and he's actually shaking a bit. If anyone inside this store hadn't noticed them before, they definitely have now.

Immediately there's chaos.

"Yungyu!" Seungheon wails, undeterred by the havoc around him.

"Yungyu, noooo!"

Scooping the other's head into his arms, Seungheon carefully pulls Yungyu's upper body onto his thighs. They look like a tragic battlefield painting, the sole survivor cradling his lost lover.

You snap a photo for later.

"Yungyu, stay with me please."

Your eyes trail from Seungheon towards the bystanders and one of them, you are pretty sure, is currently calling an ambulance.

"You need to stay awake." Seungheon blubbers through his tears and you involuntarily clutch at your chest. It's heartbreaking.

"I'm sorry." Yungyu breathes out weakly. "I drank the last one of your monster cans from the fridge. Please forgive me."

"It doesn't matter now." Seungheon sniffles, squeezing his arm. "Please don't leave me."

Both of them blissfully ignore the countless attempts of the concerned adults offering their help, fully committed to their bit, and when a young staff member tries to measure Yungyu's blood pressure, Seungheon impatiently swats his hand away.

"I can see the light." Yungyu now lifts his left arm towards the sky, but then it suddenly turns limp and falls back to the floor with a dull 'thud'.

"Yungyu?" Seungheon blinks in feigned concern.

But the other doesn't respond. Instead, he exaggeratedly lolls his head to the side and slowly sticks out his tongue.

"Yungyu!" Suddenly alarmed, Seungheon violently shakes his lifeless body at the shoulders.

"Nooooooooooo!"

This is your cue.

You start running, almost immediately slip on a puddle of chocolate milk dripping out of a half-open container that someone recklessly abandoned on the floor, and nearly miss the handle of the trolley.

At the last second, your fingers close around the cheap plastic and you yank it with you.

Wheels screech as they're dragged against vinyl flooring, but the crowd barely notices the spectacle, even when you almost trip as you round the corner and then ram into someone else's trolley, sending it flying across the aisle.

You're halfway across the store now, and when you dare to sneak a peek over your shoulder, you crash into a display of Santa hats.

That's when reality sets in.

Meanwhile, many, many meters behind you, Yungyu scrambles back to his feet.

"Nevermind, I'm fine." He brushes the dust off his pants and glances at the circle of astounded faces.

"Anyways, we have to go now, todaloo!"

He winks at the woman still kneeling on the floor just before Seungheon pulls him away.

The boys chase after you, following the trail of destruction, and as they finally approach, Seungheon pulls a bright pink Christmas hat off your head.

You, however, have different priorities, and immediately start rummaging through frozen peas and way too many bread rolls and then, finally, there's the chocolate chips right next to-

Oh shit.

"We kidnapped the child." You realise in horror.

"WE?!" Yungyu immediately protests.

"You're guilty by association."

Seungheon only lets out a harrowing sound. Then he clears his throat and whispers.

"I'm hoarse now."

"Good." Yungyu deadpans. "At least no one will be singing 'All I want for Christmas' the entire ride back."

"I will." You say

Then you have to dip, partly because there is a very hostile looking employee approaching you, or more, the mess you have fabricated, and from across the store you can hear the imminent danger of a furious mother in the search of her child.

On the way out the door you drop the kid at the information desk - you aren't monsters after all - with a colourful lollipop and a piece of ripped out paper that says 'We are so sorry for stealing your child :(' in Seungheon's handwriting and 'Have a jolly Christmas!' in yours.

With the confidence of someone fueled purely by bad ideas and Christmas spirit, you strut towards the large grey door and its bright yellow plate that says 'employees only' in bold black letters.

"Woah, woah!" Yungyu defensively positions himself in front of the door. "You can't just pretend to be an employee and expect that to work!"

You can't help but grin.
"Oh trust me, I can."

Slipping through underneath his arm, you pry open the heavy door, which after a few hearty tugs gives way with a screech, revealing a pitch-black, all-consuming void. Silence reigns for almost a full minute.

"That looks like the start of a bad horror movie." Seungheon offers an offhanded comment, but you vigorously shake your head.

"It looks like a fun Christmas adventure."

"You and I have drastically different definitions of 'fun'."

But you have already taken your first step into the darkness, so they have no choice but to reluctantly follow you inside.

After a while, your eyes slowly adjust to the darkness and you can make out the outlines and silhouettes of crates and pallets piled up to the ceiling, stacked cardboard boxes, and scattered junk. A leaky pipe sends the echo of dripping water through the hall, and you can even faintly make out the muffled Christmas music ringing over the speakers.

As you feel your way along the wall to your left, you almost collide with a small coat rack and something soft brushes against your hand. You grab the fabric, which feels disgustingly synthetic, and feel a card-like object in a front pocket.

Then Seungheon turns on the light.

You expect a bright flash, but all you get is the faint flicker of a tiny lamp, which probably doesn't even provide enough light for a two-meter radius. But it's better than nothing, and now you can finally see that the object in your hand is a vest with the large store logo printed on the chest. You pull the card out of the pocket.

Bingo.

"Look what I got!"

You proudly present your find to the others.

"An employee shirt?" Yungyu asks.

Then you wave the card.

"It's a key card! Now we have access to this entire place!"

Yungyu takes the card from your hand and examines it critically.

"Plus it's a foolproof disguise."

"For you maybe." Seungheon groans.

"I doubt we even need one." You say, too soon, because right as you round the corner, the three of you immediately collide with something, and that something lets out a startled yell in response.

An employee. A real employee, unfortunately.

So, naturally, you improvise.

You don't even give him a chance to speak before you loudly announce:

"I just caught these two troublemakers stealing."

"What?" The real employee asks, obviously taken by surprise.

"WHAT?!" Yungyu and Seungheon yell out in unison.

"Yeah, so I was just doing the usual routine, you know, stocking the shelves, helping customers, yadayada, when I saw these two hooligans stuffing gingerbread into their pockets! Can you believe this-" You spot his name tag. "-Jiho! Today's youth, tsk, tsk, tsk."

The man doesn't say anything. He just looks at the boys, then you and then the boys again.

And then he nods.

He bought it - you have no clue why.

"Good job." The man sighs. "Just put them in the break room and I'll get it sorted."

You salute as he walks past you and when he disappears behind some ceiling-high shelves, you turn your attention back to the others.

"See? Problem solved."

Yungyu only looks at you.

"He's gonna call the police on us."

Oh shit.

Immediately you rush after him. The man thankfully hasn't gotten far, but unluckily for you, he is already reaching for a nearby phone line, so you only have a single option.

You blindly reach into an open box and fish out a tin can.

With your eyes narrowed, you take aim and then launch it with all your might across the hallway in an effort to knock the phone out of his hand.

A fruitless effort.

"Well. At least it didn't hit him." Seungheon says, a whole second too early.

The can flies past the man, who looks up in surprise, hits a ladder that crashes into a cupboard, from which a cardboard box tumbles out, dropping a load of heavy flour sacks - one of which conveniently lands on the unsuspecting victim's head.

Immediately he's out cold.

"Oh my fucking god we killed him." You hear Seungheon gasp in horror.

"Relax." You say, but to be on the safe side, you put your finger on the man's flour-covered neck.

"He still has a pulse."

You point over at Seungheon.

"You stay with the guy. Yungyu, come with me. We're finding these chocolate chips and if it's the last thing we'll do."

"Do I get a say in that?" Yungyu pipes up.

"No."

Seungheon is still staring at the man on the floor.

"What if he wakes up?"

"Then you smack him over the head again."

"This is not part of my employment agreement." Seungheon sniffs, but he complies and kneels down next to him

In the meantime, Yungyu and you scavenge the place for chocolate chips, but then, as you finally hold them in your hands, a startled scream rips you out of your short-lived celebration.

There's a woman, sporting an identical vest to yours, staring down at the puddle of flour on the floor. Or the unconscious man in the middle. Probably the man.

"Poor thing was up the entire day. Probably dehydrated " You carefully announce your existence, startling her.

"You know how it gets this time of the year. We just went to get him some-"

You look down at your hands.

"-sugar."

"Gets the blood flooding, you know?" Yungyu adds, and shifts her focus towards him.

"And who the hell are you?"

"That's ...my son." You chime in.

The woman shoots you an unimpressed look.

"I'm adopted." Yungyu quickly jumps in and then, very slowly, the woman starts to nod.

"It's bring your child to work day." You then say.

"It's not."

"We can use the extra hands though."

She lets out a defeated sign, the kind you recognize from Jaeyun right before he admits defeat.

"And you?" She asks Seungheon.

"He's my other son."

A raised eyebrow.

"You have a lot of kids"

"Eight, actually." You say. "It's a blessing "

"...sure"

"Um, we actually have to go now. Do ...employee stuff you know?"

It's actually crazy how she lets you off like that, but when you're finally back in civilization you triumphantly hold up your prize - a packet of dark chocolate chips.

"We're making gingerbread houses!" You announce and are immediately met with protest.

"Out of... this?" Myungho challenges, side-eyeing the wall of groceries on the table, but instead of answering you pull out three kits of gingerbread houses, and-

"A train?" Yoonsung asks.

It is indeed a train. A colorful square box, its front side featuring a cute little gingerbread train, with two small wagons.

"That's not a house."

"Yes, Haemin, thanks for your input."

"Why even call it Christmas baking?" Jaeyun now wants to know.

"It's more like Christmas assembling."

Rolling your eyes you set the boxes on the table.

"Do you guys want to keep complaining or start doing this?"

"Well, now that you're asking-"

You cut Minho off with a scoff and instead begin to unfold a way too large assembly instruction paper until it takes over more than half of the entire table.

"Step one: combine icing mix with hot water and stir until it has a smooth consistency. Step two-"

"Should we microwave it?" Kyungmin peeks over your shoulder.

"No." Is Jaeyun's immediate response. "Do not microwave this."

"Step two: fill icing into a piping bag."

"This says ages three and older." Seungheon eyes the container. "I'm pretty sure we can do this without instructions."

"Fine." You crumple the paper. "I guess we're just rejecting authority then."

It all goes well for a little while. Yoonsung has taken the initiative and is diligently mixing the icing, Myungho has started piecing the individual components of the train together and you even manage to keep Kyungmin away from the microwave.

Proudly nodding, you take turns checking in on the teams of two, who are now actually concentrating on their projects - or at least pretending to. You glance over Seungheon's shoulder, who is pressing colorful Smarties onto the brown roof while Yoonsung carefully drips frosting along the eaves, when a flash of white squirts past your temple.

Immediately you whirl around and lock eyes with Jaeyun, who is holding a limp bag of icing in his hand and shoots you an apologetic look. Across the table Yungyu presses a hand to his mouth in a mix of shock and amusement.

The icing has left a spur of sugary white across the floor, the cabinets, a good part of Kyungmin's upper body, and a few droplets have even reached the ceiling. Most of it, however, has exploded onto Jaeyun.

Yoonsung, who is on kitchen duty this week, immediately jumps to his feet.

"I am not cleaning that."

"It's modern art." You say, only a tiny bit unsure. "We'll let it dry and it becomes a statement... of some sort."

Haemin squints his eyes.

"It looks like cu-"

"OKAY!" You interrupt and immediately shift the focus towards the next group.

"Myungho, what the hell are you doing?"

You plop down into your seat next to Myungho, who has his fingers wrapped tightly around a tube of superglue and tensely stares at a small square piece of gingerbread.

"It won't hold." He presses out between clenched teeth.

Ever so carefully, you pluck the tube from his hand and scan its label.

"You do know this isn't edible?"

"But it is." Minho says from across the table. "At least once."

"I still feel like we should microwave it." Kyungmin mumbles from where he is sitting cross-legged on a kitchen cabinet. You are not sure what he is referring to, but just to be safe you confiscate the superglue before you move on to the next duo.

Yungyu actually looks proud of his creation.

"It might not be a house, but it's surely a home."

Haemin scrunches his nose.

"It's not either of those things but whatever helps you sleep at night."

It's probably best to leave them alone for now, so you check on Minho, who by now, is missing a huge bite-sized chunk of one wall.

He chews a bit slower when he notices you approaching.

"I waff juft-" He swallows. "Testing the density."

"He is eating our house!" Kyungmin shouts over the sound of running water as he scrubs the frosting off his shirt.

"It's barely even a house!" The other protests between two bites.

"That's because you're eating it!"

In the end, everyone joins forces to complete at least one house in a more or less presentable way.

You eye Seungheon and Yoonsung, the only team that has managed not to destroy their project so far.

Seungheon notices you even before Yoonsung does.

"Stay away." He hisses at you and protectively holds his arms in front of his creation, but he can't hold off all of you.

You bend over the house like a surgeon and hold out your hand.

Minho hands you a chewed-on sugar christmas tree. Myungho holds out the superglue he swiped from your pocket. Jaeyun, still covered in icing is exiled to the far right corner in order to not contaminate anything else.

Kyungmin slips you a slightly damp piece of warm wall, but you've learned not to question.

And then, it's finished.

The house stands tall and proud for approximately five seconds before it falls into itself.

There's silence for a few heartbeats. Then the familiar humming of the microwave.

"Drumroll, please!" You beam at the group with unbridled excitement.

Nobody participates in the drumroll.

"Wow. The suspense is killing me." Haemin deadpans as he watches your smile falter.

You only sigh, stemming your hands in your hips and lean back against the fridge.

"Can you guys please quit acting like I'm forcing you to do this?"

"But you are forcing us to do this." Seungheon innocently blinks at you.

"Yeah, but you could at least not act like it!"

A murmur goes around the room.

"Anyways, we'll be baking some good old traditional Christmas cookies." You announce, and before anyone can open his mouth in protest, you quickly add:

"And everyone who complains gets fired."

Now that gets their attention.

"You- you can't do that, right?" Kyungmin looks at you with large brown eyes.

"You wouldn't just fire us."
"Watch me." You grumble in your most threatening voice.

Kyungmin glances over at Jaeyun for help, but the leader only shrugs.

"I mean, it's the manager."

One by one their jaws drop. Hey, this could be the longest they've ever taken you seriously. Kudos to you!

"Exactly!"

You slap your flat hand on the kitchen table and shoot an earnest look around the group.

"This isn't a democracy. I am the manager and I decide what we do."

Jaeyun stifles a cough and you correct yourself.

"Jaeyun decides what we do."

"With all due respect, there might be a slight problem." Myungho carefully chirps in. "This is the company kitchen."

"So?"

"There's practically no kitchen utensils."

Oh.

Unfortunately, Myungho is right.

You scavenge the cabinets, but there's no whisks, no cookie cutters, not even the tiniest kitchen scale. Only a cheap plastic bowl that honestly has seen much, much better days.

You stare at your finds, which honestly aren't that many and visibly deflate.

"I mean you did say traditional." Minho carefully speaks up. "This is... very traditional."

"Prehistoric." Haemin agrees.

"You're right." You grin back at them. "This is just part of our super fun Christmas-themed baking adventure."

"I sincerely doubt this will be edible." Yoonsung mumbles under his breath.

"Not with that attitude!" You chime in. "The journey is the destination!"

"...sure."

Teams are assigned and ever so slowly, the sparsely equipped company kitchen transforms into a festive bakery. If you squint, that is.

Kyungmin has turned into a dough-mashine and tirelessly kneads chunk after chunk, every so often switching places with Jaeyun, who handles getting the backing trays in and out of the tiny oven.

Seungheon and Haemin toss the ingredients together with feigned precision, solely relying on eye measurements and dusting the kitchen floor in a white veil of flour.

Myungho and Minho, back over at the table, are busy moulding the dough into somewhat recognisable shapes. While Myungho attempts to flatten it with the only utensil available - a very small pan - Minho is creating what looks like an absolute mess, but still insists he is making Jaeyun in cookie-form.

Yungyu has discovered multiple boxes of food covering within the depth of your grocery haul and is decorating the cooled-down sweets so beautifully you actually have to wipe a tear from your eye.

And Yoonsung, well, Yoonsung is green.

"What on earth happened to you?" There are probably nicer ways to phrase this, but you genuinely fail to stifle a gasp when he turns towards you. "You look like you're about to steal Christmas."

Defeated, Yoonsung looks at the tube of green sugar icing, the remains of which are now dripping down his arm.

But right as you reach for a damp towel, Kyungmin, who is now kneading his fourth portion of dough, shifts your focus onto something much more concerning.

"Has anyone seen my safetypin?" He asks into the room, seemingly unaware of the implications.

"Your WHAT?" Minho nearly shrieks, suspiciously staring at the misshapen dough-coloured lump in his hand.

Kyungmin glances over at you just as the damp towel drops from your grip and slaps the floor.

"My safety pin." He repeats slowly.

"Why?" Is the only thing you can bring yourself to say. "Why do you have a safety pin?"

"I always have my safety pin."

Yeah, that was a stupid question.

You look at the little potion of dough in front of you.

"Where is it now?" You ask, even though the answer is tragically obvious, but alas, not all hope is lost yet.

Kyungmin shrugs.

"I don't know."

Nevermind.

"Is it in the dough?" Jaeyun probes.

"Theres a slight perchance it is not in the dough."

"That's not- okay."

"My life is a simulation." Seungheon mumbles. "And I'm surrounded by troublemakers."

"If anyone is the troublemaker it's Haemin."

"Kyungmin." You say simply. "You put a needle in the dough."

"A safety pin." Kyungmin immediately jumps to correct you.

"Allegedly." Minho adds.

"Allegedly." You echo.

You eye the tiny tree and decide it looks oddly charming... in some angles.

"It's...um." Minho starts. "...it is certainly a ...tree."

But then Kyungmin interrupts.

"It's a bit small don't you think?"

"It's average sized!" Jaeyun immediately objects, defensively gesturing towards the heap of misery that is pine needles and deep green.

"...sure whatever helps you sleep at night."
"Guys." You step in before the situation can escalate. "It's decided. We're going with... that."

"See, not even the manager likes it." Haemin grumbles and you shoot him a glare.

But a decision is a decision and sooner than later you have grabbed your blanket from the car and are busy wrapping the tree in it as best as possible.

"It feels like getting rid of a dead body." Haemin complains, causing Yoonsung to nervously stumble over his own feet.

"How do you know what that feels like?" He asks with a cautious sideways glance.

But Haemin only shoots the other an unsettling grin.

"Just don't worry about it."

On the other hand, you struggle with the blanket, which for some reason has wrapped itself around your upper body like an anaconda.

"This is nice." You say as Minho rushes to your aid. "It feels like a family activity."

"You're not my family." Your helper mumbles

"I'm your work-parent."

A short time later, you all sit in the car again, dirty and scratched by pine needles, with

the tree more or less upright next to Seungheon, who anxiously glances to the side from time to time.

"What if there are bugs in there? He asks apprehensively as another branch breaks off and falls to the ground.

"Tree spiders are a thing." Yungyu helpfully jumps in, and Jaeyun turns around to shoot him a glare.

"If anything falls out, I'll set this car on fire." Yoonsung promises.

Fortunately, the car returns to the company unburned and without any (visible) spiders.

Dragging the tree to the car - with a more or less combined effort - wasn't really an issue. The real problem only becomes apparent when you stand next to your bus, which is almost the exact same length as your purchase.

"Alright." Jaeyun claps his hands as he eyes the situation. "So how do we get this thing into the car?"

Awkward silence.

"I mean, there are nine of us." Kyungmin begins carefully. "There's only one tree."

You nod in agreement. "Exactly. We outnumber it."

You also don't really have any other choice, so you commit to somehow stuffing the tree into the car.

Kyungmin and Myungho push the stump forward from where they are kneeling in the trunk, while Seungheon and Yoonsung pull at its top from the passenger seat.

Haemin was put out of action and now holds onto the car as he coughs up pine needles, and Minho lies helplessly on the back row as he is being crushed underneath the tree.

But the tree is in the car. More or less.

However, Yungyu's seat doesn't really exist anymore, and he's sitting halfway on the tree, clinging onto it like a koala baby to its mother. Before you're able to slide into the driver's seat, you have to open a window for the tip of the tree to stick out, and Jaeyun looks over at you through a tuft of green.

"What was that about road safety earlier?"

You wave him off. "I played Mario Kart as a kid. You're in good hands."

After a rather long drive, during which you got lost quite a few times because a branch blocked your view, you finally arrive and as you get out of the car, Myungho shakes the pine needles out of his hair.

"Finally!" You immediately fall to your knees in the driveway. "I told you we'd make it!"

"You do know we have to get it back out now, right?" Minho grins a little too maliciously for someone who will be involved in this activity and your smile freezes.