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[absconditum-imaginaerum]

                        [[9:49 PM]] - Mistletoe - Juyeon - Fluff - [[1,386]]

 The Christmas party at your best friend’s place this year was themed, which meant everyone was assigned an outfit—Santa, Mrs. Clause, a reindeer, or an elf. Couples were often assigned things that match, such as Santa and Mrs. Clause, a reindeer and an elf, or in less typical pairings, an elf and Mrs. Clause, or Santa and a reindeer. Somehow, you had picked (in a blind draw) for a Santa outfit. Honestly, you couldn’t help but laugh. You had a few options—wear one of those oversized coats, wear something mischievous, or find something in between.

You were able to create something just in time; not something too modest, but not too revealing either. You at least had a skirt that felt somewhat long enough, and a top that would keep you warm and also be fashionable as one could make a Santa outfit not made for a burly man. You only wondered if a pair, should you find one, would be a male dressed up as Mrs. Clause. The thought rolled through your mind as you sat on the couch next to the decorated tree, swirling your champagne as you listened subconsciously to the conversation that was taking place around you. It was a smaller gathering, compared to the parties your friends usually threw; for that, you were thankful.

The couch sunk down to your left, while you were crammed in the right corner. He was done up, all out on the costume, right out of the movie Elf complete with yellow tights and the curly shoes.

“Don’t look so lonely over here, it’s Christmas,” he whispered to you, trying not to draw attention your way since he knew that’s the last thing you wanted. You sighed, taking a sip of your champagne before finally meeting his eyes.

They glittered, reflecting all of the multicolored lights that beamed from the tree and off the tens of ornaments as you looked up at him. He was holding his flute out to you, gesturing for a quiet cheer to the end of the year with the hopes of new and better things on the horizon.

“I’m not lonely,” you replied, “at least, not anymore,” you joked with him and leaned into him as he wrapped a playful arm around your shoulders. You could feel Juyeon’s smile as he tilted his head against yours, relishing your company for a moment before being brought up in conversation, and turned to actively engage the group, but not once did he think about pulling his arm back from around you.

He guzzled the rest of his flute of champagne, staving off the embarrassment of the story that was being told, a story from high school years he would have rather forgotten, but you couldn’t help smile at the blush on his cheeks. You finessed the flute from his hand and rose from the couch to carefully step between people’s feet, using refilling his glass as an escape because he was two seconds away from turning to you for help, and that was the last thing you’d hoped for.

You busied yourself in the kitchen where there was a bit lighter to see what you were doing as you uncorked the champagne after pulling it from the fridge to fill Juyeon’s glass and top yours off before his tall frame was rushing through the entrance of the kitchen. He scrambled across the tile flooring, almost slipping in his silly elf shoes before he was wrapping you up from behind, almost knocking a flute from your hand.

“What are you doing?” you laughed, steadying the champagne.

“We’re getting ready to do the white elephant exchange, and they told me to come find you,” he muttered, sinking his face into the crook of your neck. It brought a blush to your face; it was things like this that were fueling the rumors of a relationship between the two of you and while you agreed that the two of you were friendly with each other, there was never the blossoming of a relationship.

“I’ve only been gone like twenty seconds!” you protested.

“Okay, maybe I also wanted to escape the embarrassment, but I mentioned it enough to get away,” he told you, his little hat flopping off his head and onto the counter before he tugged away from you to snatch it up. You turned to look at him, watching him shake his hair out and fix it up a little bit before daintily replacing his hat with a toothy grin.

“You’re cute,” you told him and handed his flute back before cupping your hand against his to tug him back out to the living room so you could start drawing numbers for the gift exchange. He stood next to you, tall and warm with a long arm around your body as you watched people diligently pick their gifts from the table they were splayed out across. They looked almost identical, all cubically shaped wrapped in the same plain white wrapping paper to prevent people from trying to guess what they were.

You laughed at the group, typical goofing around as they all hollered for the picker to hurry up before breaking into fake arguments. It was almost endearing, the way Juyeon stroked his hand against your arm like the two of you were watching your kids on Christmas morning being absolute fools. You finally picked your gift; a reindeer headband for the festivities and a set of small assorted candles. Juyeon got a set of tilting puzzles, the kind where you have to maneuver a ball from one side of the puzzle to the other. White elephant gifts were always silly, usually gag gifts, but you were pleased with your candles, and even more pleased with the way he helped the headband onto your head.

“My cute little reindeer,” he teased you with a smirk. You shook your head and rolled your eyes until all of the presents were claimed and people were busying themselves with their gifts and trading things back and forth, leaving the attention still off you, for just a moment that is.  His attention was taken by someone, which was fine because you were still enjoying the chaos that was unfolding in front of you between all your friends about their gifts and other things.

That is, until Juyeon’s honey voice was sliding into your ears and down your spine like thick sap again, asking you a question you weren’t sure you would ever hear him asking you, so just to make sure, you turned to look at him so you could read it off his lips and asked him to repeat.  There was a tinge of blush on his cheeks, a nervous laugh falling from his lips first.

“I said, can I kiss you?”

You looked between his eyes like he had ten heads, and when he finally caught on that you were obviously confused, that it seemed like a question out of the blue, he motioned up with his head to indicate the mistletoe that hung just above the both of you. The situation rotated in your head probably a hundred times before a soft smile overtook your lips.

“It’d be bad luck not to,” you replied, unleashing the butterflies in his stomach as he turned entirely towards you, sliding a hand against your middle and around your back to pull you close to him and slowly leaned down with the tilt of his head to mesh his lips against yours.

“Oooooohhh!!!!” the group called—they had to be tipped off by someone. But not even the whoops and the hooting and teasing encouragements broke Juyeon away from you, in fact, it may have only made him a little more confident before he pulled away and the whooping increased littered with some cheers. In the background, confirmations of people owing others money and losing bets about your status seemed to be lost in his captivating gaze as he looked down at you, locking your tunnel vision on him.

“Wow,” he breathed, breath hot against your face, fingers still furling in the soft fabric of your bright red costume.

“Yeah, wow,” you replied just the same, and in your subconscious, your fingers were tugging at the back of his neck to bring him back down.

And more hollering ensued.

[starryace]

{ 11:46 } st van pulls you up on the stage with him in the small club, holding your hand as he serenades you with an upbeat love song. even through the sweat and dark lights, you still think he’s the most handsome man in the world.

[absconditum-imaginaerum]

                [[5:27 am]] - Banana Chip Pancakes - Juyeon - [[1,063]]

Juyeon couldn’t consider himself a morning person. Not even the beautiful hues of the sunrise, the serene chirping of the birds, the dew that seemed to cover everything around that reflected that soft morning sun—none of that was enough for a night owl, for someone who stayed up late finishing projects, binge-watching a show, or simply reading a book. Juyeon usually came to bed late, which made it that more difficult to get up in the morning.

But when he did happen to stir in the off chance that the light hit right across his eyelids as it peeked through the slats of the blinds just as it had come over the horizon, his first instinct was to bury his face back against the warmest thing he could get his hands on, which was usually you. He reached out across the bed only to find it empty with the covers pulled up somewhat neatly to leave him by himself in a king-size bed. He cracked one eye, instantly blinded by the sun but didn’t catch a glimpse of you in the moment he looked.

He cooed your name—not too loudly, as his voice was raspy from disuse from the night and he was still mostly asleep, but no response came. After rolling onto his back, he blindly slapped around on his nightstand to grab his watch and pulled it up to his face to look at the time before inwardly groaning. It was far too early for him to be awake with barely four hours of sleep.

“Duchess,” he called, a little more firmly so that if you were around, you would be able to hear him from the bedroom.

“I’m here,” you called back, busying yourself in the kitchen. “I’m surprised you’re awake, you came to bed late,” you continued.

“I wouldn’t be awake if I could have just snuggled back in like I had planned,” he grumbled back and laid there for a moment, resting his arm across his eyes to block out the light that was forcing its way into the bedroom now. Your delicate touch against his arm almost made him jump as you pulled it away from his face, the smile on yours was enough to send life through his veins even if just for a moment. You leaned over, nuzzling your nose against his until he was audibly sighing, shifting under the covers as his broad hand came up to cup against the back of your neck.

“Do you want to help me make banana chip pancakes or do you want me to eat them myself and then come snuggle with you?” you asked him.

“Is there an option to make banana chip pancakes with you and then come back to bed anyway?” he asked. He was a sucker for banana chip pancakes, but it was also a Saturday morning and neither of you needed to be anywhere, and he would never pass up an opportunity to spend the day in bed with you.

“It might take some convincing, but I’m sure we can work something out,” you smiled, and chastely pecked him on the lips not near long enough for him to return the affectionate gesture before you were disappearing back to the kitchen.  Juyeon whined, knowing nothing would come from it before finally peeling himself out of bed and slipped into a pair of sweatpants discarded on the floor from the previous night and a tank top from the drawer of his nightstand and ambled into the kitchen.  

His arms snuck around your waist, eclipsing you from behind as you stood against the counter to put the proper ingredients in a bowl. His lips were soft against the side of your neck, against your cheek, against your temple. “I’ll mix,” he whispered into your ear, despite the way he pulled you back against his body. You slid the bowl against the countertop so he would have room and finally let you go to move down the counter to pull a paring knife from the knife block and a cutting board to start cutting fruit for your pancakes.

It was serene—the way the sun barely illuminated the kitchen despite the drawn curtains, the quietness between the two of you allowed for the birds to fill it with sweet morning songs; just the sounds of kitchen things going back and forth between you. Juyeon had no problem finishing the pancakes as he set the pan to temperature and began pouring batter in. After washing your hands in the sink, you came up beside him to wrap your arms around his waist and tilted your head back to look up at him.  When he looked down at you, you could still see sleep in his eyes, but you smiled softly and leaned into the kiss he pressed against your forehead before retrieving some plates from the cabinet.

He was the best at making pancakes; they always turned out perfectly browned, even, and uniform and he always placed them so perfectly on the plate. After grabbing the orange juice from the fridge, he joined you at the table and, needless to say, breakfast was quick and quiet before he was begging you to go back to bed with him. He dried the dishes and stowed them away quicker than you were cleaning—he was yawning through half of breakfast, and you knew he loved nothing more than spending most of the morning (at the very least) in bed on Saturdays. So, he pretty much left you with no choice. When he was finished putting the dishes away, he snagged you before you could escape too far and hulled you up into his arms to promptly take you back to bed.

“Juye—”

“You promised,” he whined, snuggling deep into your neck.

“I didn’t promise! You—”

“You’re already here, you might as well snuggle with me,” he said, shutting your argument about not promising, even if you, in fact, didn’t promise.

“You’re not going to get off me even if I agree,” you told him with a sigh.

He responded by nuzzling deeper, getting possibly even more comfortable and dug his arms under you so that even when he did roll over to free you, you still couldn’t escape, but it didn’t matter because you were out like a light again even before him.

[absconditum-imaginaerum]

                      [[11:48 PM]] - Rainy Nights - Dongheon - [[1,101]]

Dongheon woke to the sound of thunder rolling overhead and groggily reached over to your side of the bed, only to claw empty and still half-warm sheets where you used to lay beside him. He snapped out of his grogginess a little bit more quickly than normal, eyes straining through the darkness to see if he could make out your shape anywhere in the bedroom, to no avail.

The apartment was a little chilly when he threw the covers off himself. The coolness made his skin crawl and turned to place his feet on the equally cold wooden floorboards as he blindly reached into a closet for a cardigan, having a good idea about where you’d be. He barely clasped the buttons as he reached for the handle of the sliding glass door out to the balcony of your place—the rain was coming down calmly, but steadily, and you were so undisturbed by the sound of the door, you just continued to look out into the darkness.

Streetlamps below reflected the rain, allowing you to watch it as it poured down in sheets. Your knees were huddled up to your chest, long sleeves of Dongheon’s hoodie covering your hands as your arms wrapped across your legs in the large wicker chair. Dongheon smiled, and slid the glass door just as silently closed as he had opened it. He smiled at you, even if you couldn’t see it, and almost startled the life out of you when he reached forward to comb your hair back and away from your forehead, just so he could lean down over you just enough to press a soft kiss against your head.

His warm lips on your skin soothed you back to serenity as you settled back into your chair. He moved around you to sit in the chair that resided next to yours.

“You’re up late,” he told you.

You hummed in response. You usually were up if it was thundering and it wasn’t too late. Of course, he knew. You assumed this was the first place he looked after stirring about the bedroom. You reached out, after looking over him, with your sweater covered hand. He looked at the pout on your face and hummed contentedly as he reached for your hand, slithering his hand inside the opening of his hoodie sleeve to find yours, warm to the touch in the soft confines of his clothes.  Your pout faded, especially as he managed to finesse your hand out of the sleeve and drag it over to him far enough that he could kiss the back of it.  

Dongheon didn’t mind the silence as the two of you sat on the balcony and watched the rain, watched the lightening flicker in the distance and listen to the thunder roll overhead. It was peaceful, the way the rain pattered on the street below, the sounds of the bustling city in the distance sounded too serene. His fingers gently played with yours, his attention mostly on that, and then on you, with little attention directed at the rain. He adored the sweet and soft smile on your face so much that it brought a small smile to his. The rain lasted a bit, and his light cardigan almost wasn’t enough to keep him sufficiently warm. So, he sat out there with you for a little bit longer before he stood.

“Come back in soon,” he suggested and leaned down, tilting your head up with a soft touch under your chin so he could place a soft kiss against your mouth. In that short amount of time, your hand that was previously holding his had knotted in the front of his cardigan, pulling it away to let the cold air rush down his front and he shivered a bit.  

You pulled away just as you brushed the tip of your tongue against his bottom lip, earning a disgruntled noise that if you didn’t hear, you could see in his eyes when he pulled away far enough to look at you. Your hand pushed up his chest, wrapping around his neck and carding through his hair to bring his mouth back down to yours. That contented sigh you were so used to returned when your warm tongue pushed against his, kissing him deep. One of his hands gripped the arm of the wicker chair, the other cupping your chin like he could never get enough of you and in his eyes he couldn’t.

“You’re going to get in trouble,” he warned with a deep purr when you pulled away long enough to get a breather. You smiled against his lips, kissing him chastely.

“Maybe I want to be in trouble,” you whispered back, trailing your fingertips down the nape of his neck as he stifled another shiver.

His mouth didn’t wait to slant back against yours, hands itching for your legs to lift you out of that wicker chair to hook them against his hips. He didn’t even fumble with the door, as if he’d done it a million times, sliding it open and making sure he stepped high over the track and closed it behind him. Your hands were sliding against his skin under the collar of the cardigan, warm against your cool hands until he was laying you down against the bed.

Dongheon’s lips finally pulled away from yours, pressing sweet kisses against your chin and jaw and down the sliver of your neck he could reach, your legs tightening around him from time to time in anticipation before he reeled back to kiss against your cheeks and your nose and your forehead.

“Sleep, baby,” he whispered into your skin, a sly smile when he felt your body relax in defeat.

“You always do this,” you complained and let him tug the oversized hoodie off your torso to toss it to the ground before you were on your back again. It didn’t stop the way your legs wrapped around his middle, or the way you eagerly met his soft kisses as his fingertips tenderly caressed the curves of your cheeks.

“It’s passed midnight on a work night,” he told you and scooped you into him just to crawl onto the bed and place you softly in your spot. “And don’t think I’ll forget,” he continued and threw the covers up over your head before sinking into them next to you, only to take your hips and reel you up to press deep into your back, nuzzling his face in the crook of your neck as he tangled your legs together to fall back asleep.

[starryace]

{ 10:37 } lou groans as you roll over on top of him, slipping your cold hands under his shirt. he arches away from your touch, almost whining while you laugh. it’s your favorite way to wake him up.

[starryace]

{ 2:00 } ace presses a little kiss to your cheek while you come to settle between his legs and he holds you while you sit on the couch, watching your favorite movie. one of his hands rises to pet your hair while you snuggle against his chest.

[starryace]

{ 6:13 } jacob tugs on your headphone wire, pulling it from your ear. you look up at him while he sits next to you, setting a plate of food in front of you. when you look at the time, you realize that you forgot to eat dinner, but he remembered for you.

[starryace]

{ 4:41 } st van dips the first pocky stick into the melted chocolate, letting out a soft of awe as he brings it to the candy. you help roll the stick in the candy, and as the chocolate hardens, the candy sticks to the newly formed pocky stick. he grins, bringing it to your lips for you to try a bite.