a/n: Merry Christmas to all who celebrate! I wanted to have this fic out earlier but I was recovering from a nasty sinus infection the last few days that managed to travel into my lungs and give me a chest cold 🫠 it's all good though, this is the best I've felt in about a week so I'll take it. KATIE'S COMEBACK IS HERE EVERYONE RAHHH
tw: lots of food mentions, winter kind of breaks into your apartment?, mixed bag with angst and fluff so take it as you will, writing might be a bit rough around the edges since it's been three months
summary: the icy weather reminds me of your unstable "relationship" with Winter as you prepare for a Christmas party with friends. Little did you know that a late night visitor would settle your worries about Winter once and for all.
♡ Masterlist ♡
Last Christmas, I gave you my heart…
You hum to yourself as you pull the Christmas cookies from your oven. The scent of pure sugary goodness, mixed with the gingerbread candle on your countertop, is enough to make you drool.
You usually weren’t this festive when it came to Christmas. With finals season being intertwined with the holiday, it was hard to be excited about Christmas when you’re trying to not cry over an exam. Throw a few retail shifts, and you quickly grow tired of the Christmas season.
But this year… something was different. You managed to get through finals season in one piece, and your place of work decided to shuffle some non-Christmas music into their season mix.
…You still didn’t like All I Want for Christmas is You.
The lights on your Christmas tree seemed to shine brighter, illuminating the main showstoppers - the ornaments on your tree. One in particular catches your eye as you set the cookie tray down on two potholders.
It’s a simple glass bulb in your favorite color with your name engraved in cursive letters. You remember finding it on the window sill outside of your apartment last year.
A light knock on your window makes you nearly jump out of your skin as you look up from your computer. You grumble because you were finally starting to get into the groove of studying, and your final was in two days - couldn’t this wait?
You tilt your head as you notice a small box on your window sill. Cautiously, you stand up and head towards the window as you inspect the box.
It has small red and green shapes all over the box - definitely from a Christmas store, but who could have gotten something like this for you?
With a barely audible click, you open your window and grab the unexpected present, hoping that bombs don’t come in abnormally small packages.
As carefully as you can, you open the box to reveal an ornament inside.
Sugar cookies weren’t the most demanding treat to make, but they were a smash hit with your foodie friends. Add in some snickerdoodle cookies, your grandma’s famous chocolate chip cookies, some homemade rock candy, and a few other goodies, and you were a necessary addition to many of your friends’ Christmas parties.
This year, to save yourself the hassle (and a few broken cookies from the trip), you decided to host an intimate gathering with a few of your friends. Sure, your apartment wasn’t the biggest place, but you’d only have three guests.
Four, if you can count on a special someone coming your way.
With 48 hours to go, and plenty of baking to do, some late night baking was necessary to get everything done in time. As you watch the sun set (much earlier than it should), your mind wanders back to the ornament on your tree.
I know you bought that ornament for me. Minjeong.
~
Your phone buzzes as you concentrate on creating the perfect carrot nose for one of the sugar cookies. You don’t break concentration until it buzzes again, which makes you give your snowman an orange tongue that’s somehow connected to his stubby nose.
“Sorry, bud, we can’t all be perfect…” You mutter to yourself before setting the frosting down and picking up your phone.
You don’t recognize the phone number, but the text messages seem oddly familiar.
On my way! Don’t stay up late for me. <3
It’s already past 9 o’clock, and you’re only done with a small portion of the sweet treats you have to make, so it’s probably going to be a late night anyway… and you were terrible at listening to others.
Maybe that’s why the two of you never worked out?
There was something sweet in rebellion, besides the wonderland of baked goods that sat in your kitchen. You never were a rebellious teen, for one reason or another, so you liked to do rebellious things like stay up late, order junk food, and binge watch TV until three in the mornings.
…There’s a reason why Giselle calls you and Karina the losers of your friend group.
“C’mon, go drinking with us!” Giselle throws her arm around your shoulder, completely ignoring the way Winter tenses up at the action. “It’s no fun to eat take-out alone and rewatch the same show again and again.”
You feel the need to defend yourself as Winter’s piercing eyes meet yours for a minute before she looks away. The frown on her face neutralizes into a more aloof expression as you study her further.
“For the record, I don’t rewatch shows that often.” You say as Ningning narrows her eyes at you.
“What are you watching right now?”
“Okay, that’s besides the point!” You fold your arms after teasingly brushing Giselle’s arm off your shoulder.
“One night can’t hurt, right?” Giselle elbows your arm before continuing to march down the street. “First round’s on me!”
You sigh while choosing to pinch the bridge of your nose instead of trying to fight against your friends’ plans. They had good intentions, trying to bring you out of your comfort zone, but you’d much rather cut this meeting short. Partially because you want to go home, and partially because Karina’s absence made the tension between you and Winter so much more palpable.
~
The small timer next to your oven happily dings as you finally shut the oven off for the night. Although you weren’t completely done, at least everything that needed to be baked was baked tonight. You could frost and assemble everything in the morning, after you had a bit of sleep and a break from the repetitive Christmas music coming from your music speakers.
You quickly turn the dial back to zero on the timer before pulling the last round of cookies from your oven. With the sickening sweet smell of chocolate chips invading your nose, you set the cookies aside as you glance around your kitchen.
I just need to let these cookies cool, do a few dishes, and then box everything up so the gnats stay out of my sweets.
Checking the time, your shoulders slump as you notice that it’s two-thirty in the morning - where did the time go?
Good thing you don’t have work early tomorrow; otherwise, you’d probably call off.
Winter would scold me for doing that.
You chuckle at the thought - Minjeong would scold you for calling her Winter, saying it was “too formal for our relationship”.
Our relationship? What relationship could she be talking about?
Winter was your friend, just as Ningning, Giselle, and Karina were, but you two often stretched the definition of the word “friend” to its limits.
“Winter-” Your back meets the wall as Winter places two hands on either side of your head, forcing you to look in her eyes.
“I want you.” Her posture seems harsh, but her voice softens as one of her hands leaves the wall to caress your face.
She’s giving you an out - you could slip out of this situation if you wanted to. You could rejoin the party like nothing happened.
But you can’t pretend like nothing happened. Not when you’re with her.
“I want you too.” Breathless, a shaky hand beyond the control of your rational thoughts reaches out and pulls Winter closer to you.
With her face so close to yours, you press your lips against hers.
Yet words like situationship and friends-with-benefits seem too… distant for the two of you. They imply a lack of connection and romance, which definitely doesn’t seem to describe the two of you.
Unless buying flowers and intimate gifts for each other could just be seen as a friendly gesture.
“I bought you these.” You present the bundle of flowers to Minjeong, as if you were a nervous pre-teen who was trying to impress your crush.
“Oh… thanks.” Her hands ghost over yours as you pass the bouquet to her.
The lack of emotion on her face causes you to panic as you grab one of her wrists.
“If you don’t like them, I can always return them, or get some different flowers-”
“They’re lovely,” Winter interrupts you, “but I didn’t think we were close enough for gifts.”
You fake a warm, innocent smile as your brittle heart starts to crack under your false expectations of Winter.
Icy memories aside, it was time to let your mind and body rest as you made sure that the oven was turned off and the cookies were correctly sealed away-
Tap! Tap!
Luckily, nothing was in your hands as you jumped at the sound of something tapping against your window.
“Damn bird,” You mutter under your breath, “I’m going to murder Karina for feeding you.”
With the fluffiest slippers, and in your finest Christmas pajamas, you stomp through your living room to handle the avian problem that’s still tapping on your window.
When you approach the window, your birdy frenemy is missing from the window; instead, a familiar face stares back at you.
Against your better judgement, you throw the window open and offer her your hand.
“Winter? How the fuck-” You pause as she takes your hand and tries to crawl into your apartment.
“Don’t ask.” Her voice is raspy from the cold as she manages to enter your apartment. “Why did you get a third-story apartment?”
“Why did you climb up to my third-story apartment?” You stare at her, dumfounded, as Winter carefully closes the window behind her.
She freezes before turning around and shrugging her shoulders.
“I missed you?”
You pause before laughing to yourself.
“You could’ve called, Minjeong! That’s what normal people do!” You gently scold her as she rubs her arms to stay warm.
“I sent a text your way. Did you get it?”
“Ah, so that’s who sent me that message.” A tiny smile appears on your lips as she lets out a small breath of relief.
“You’re not mad?”
“At you? Never.” You smile before suddenly becoming aware of the state of your apartment. “Sorry, this place is a mess. I’ve been baking all day, and I didn’t have any time to clean.”
“No, don’t worry. I’ll help you clean up before the party.” Winter casually brushes by you to grab a pillow from your couch as you stare at her in disbelief.
“Minjeong, do you know what time it is? Scratch that, do you know what day it is?”
“Yeah, it’s the 25th - Merry Christmas, by the way - and the party’s in about twelve hours. I thought I’d help you clean up before everyone else came.”
You fold your arms as a small smile appears on your face.
“It’s the 24th.”
She stops fluffing up the pillow and turns her head towards you.
“Really?” Winter tilts her head, confused for a moment, before continuing her task. “Well, that gives me more time to help you.”
“You can’t be serious!” You follow her every movement as she appears to gracefully dance around your couch and guide your decorations back into their rightful places. “You need to sleep, as do I.”
“I’ll sleep when I’m ready to.” She brushes you off again as you feel your frustration beginning to build.
“What compelled you to see me at this hour?”
“I told you that I missed you.” With that same unreadable expression, she gently sets a Christmas teddy bear against your Christmas tree. “Isn’t that enough?”
“It’s enough when your actions match your words, Winter.” The words slip out of your mouth, callous and cold and completely unlike you.
Her expression sours as she looks at you.
“What did you say?”
You shyly look away as your frustration melts under her scrutinizing gaze. You were never good at standing up for yourself in front of her, but how could you let your heart fracture again and again as you dance in this endless “will-you-won’t-you” limbo with her?
“I’m tired of doing this with you. We flirt and tease and kiss but it never leads anywhere.”
It feels good to let your frustrations out, as you’re usually letting yourself melt into her embrace every time you’ve thought this in your head before. Although you’re not opposed to the night ending that way, you want to hear her say something first.
“Ah, so that’s what you meant.” Winter slowly walks towards you, but stops a few inches short of your reach.
She offers you her hand, an olive branch that you’re not familiar with, but you don’t take it right away.
“I want to hear you say it.” Your voice softens as you stare into her eyes.
“That I love you? I thought that was obvious - did the gifts not express my love for you? Do you want me to show you that I love you in a different way?”
“I just want to be yours, Minjeong. Sure, I’m affectionate and friendly with the other girls, but I’ve never wanted to be with anyone else since I met you. I’ll do whatever it takes. I just can’t keep doing… whatever this is anymore.” You pause to take a shaky breath. “I love you.”
You gently take her hand, which she immediately brings to her lips.
“I.” She presses a kiss to your hand before gently pulling you forward.
Her other hand cups your face as her lips meet your cheek.
“Love.”
Her hand leaves your hand and lands on your waist instead.
“You.”
Her lips meet yours, and you don’t hesitate to kiss her back.
The taste of sweet liquor, dangerous and fruity and addictive, hits your tongue as you attempt to memorize her taste for good.
It feels like every time I kiss her will be the last - isn’t that sad?
When you break away from her, you’re left breathless as a small smirk appears on her face.
“Is that enough to convince you that I love you?”
“Yup.” You sigh, completely and utterly lost in her world.
She could tell you sweet little lies, honey-coated false promises, and you’d believe every word.
She was the gospel, and you were the truest believer.
“I’m sorry that I’ve made you feel like you’re not important. I know you’re busy with university, so I always thought that you wanted to wait. I never, ever met to push you away.” Winter’s hand leaves your face and intertwines with yours.
“I… should apologize too, for not expressing myself earlier.” You squeeze her hand in reassurance. “And thank you for leaving me that ornament a year ago.”
“You knew it was me?” Winter looks bewildered as you try to hide your laughter.
“Of course I did - who else would do something like that for me?”
“I-” She pauses before shaking her head. “Of course you did. You’re much smarter than anyone gives you credit for.”
“Ah, stop, you’re making me flustered!” You playfully push her away before her hands reach out to grab you again.
“C’mon, don’t tease me like this.” She nearly begs as she glances at a picture on a nearby shelf. “Otherwise I won’t take you on a date this Sunday~”
“Wait a minute,” You immediately grab onto her arm, “you’re serious?”
“I am. We have to make it official, after all.”
You give Minjeong the biggest smile before wrapping your arms around her torso.
“Thank you for everything. I’m glad you stopped by today, even if you didn’t come through the door.”
“You’re not going to tell the others about that, are you?” She looks concerned as you impishly laugh.
“Oh, you know I will.” You gently tap her nose before pulling her in for another kiss.
