SECRET SANTA | KTH

ten

Mina counted down the days to Christmas, anxiously awaiting the day Jaehee's party came along like a little kid looked forward to their daily piece of chocolate in an advent calendar.

Three days before, Mina spent the day with her brother before he went back for college.

Two days before, Mina went last minute Christmas shopping with Rachel and even managed to sneak in a present for Taehyung. And no, it wasn't a box of selfies.

One day before, Taehyung rang her ten minutes to twelve when Mina had long been fast asleep and made her stay awake until it was officially Christmas day.

"Mina, don't fall asleep on me now." he had shouted over the line, and Mina distanced herself from the phone. "I'll spam you with messages if you do."

"I can shut off my phone, you idiot."

"Well - well, I'll personally come over and make sure you're up." he retorted.

"You don't know where I live."

There was a pause, then a sigh. "Oh. yeah. There's only five minutes till Christmas Day, ok? Stay with me."

"You make if sound as if I'm dying." she snorted. The sound of Taehyung's husky voice talking about his day was so soothing it almost lulled Mina back into slumber, but as if he knew her eyes were drooping, he'd say her name and her eyes would snap open again.

"One minute."

Mina watched the seconds tick by on her phone and wondered if Taehyung was doing the same. Thirty seconds left, then fifteen, ten, five...

"Four. Three. Two. One." Taehyung whispered as the date changed to the 25th. "Merry Christmas, Mina."

Mina smiled despite the strong urge to shut her eyes. "You too."

She heard Taehyung's breaths over the line, steady and comforting. "oh. You can go to sleep now. I'll see you at Jaehee's party tomorrow?"

Mina mumbled something that resembled a "mhm" before clicking the end call button and letting her dreams take over.

------

Mina awoke the next morning, half the blankets on the floor and her phone still in her hand. The memories of last night flooded in as Mina remembered her conversation with Taehyung.

"Mina! Someone's here to see you." Daniel shouted from downstairs. Mina groaned loudly, hair still mussed and face still too bloated to look presentable.

"Is it Rachel? Tell her I'll be down in a minute. I gotta pee!"

"He says his name is Taehyung?"

Mina sat upright in bed at her brother's words. How the hell did he even find out where she lived? And what was he doing here so early in the morning?

"I'm coming!" She called down, scrambling out of bed in a rush to get ready. She was down ten minutes later, looking somewhat better than before but nothing close to her best. Nonetheless, Taehyung smiled at her when she came downstairs, wiggling a couple fingers in the air. Mina blushed, glancing at Daniel to see his expression. If anything, he seemed to find his sister's budding relationship amusing.

"Morning, Mina." Taehyung said when Daniel left to get them something to drink.

"What the fuck are you doing here so early in the morning? And also, you could've just called me and I would've came out to see you. My brother is never going to let this go." she hissed. 

He chuckled, standing up. "We're going on our celebratory boba date in the spirit of it being Christmas day."

"When did this become a 'date', Taehyung?" Mina bantered jokingly, "I never said I'd date you."

"You can hate me all you want after our 'date', kay?" He said, putting air quotes around the word. She rolled her eyes, opening the door and heading out after him. The cold air nipped at her, as it always did, and Mina shivered unknowingly. Taehyung stretched out his arms, not so smoothly draping an arm over Mina's shoulder.

"Yah." Mina said, eyeing the arm around her.

"Hm?"

"You're dragging me down."

"Oh really? Feels pretty comfortable to me." he laughed.

"I hate you."

"You wish you did."

For Christmas day, the boba place was pretty packed. They stood for fifteen minutes in line before getting their drinks, and even then, there weren't any tables left for them to sit.

"What the hell are people doing getting boba on Christmas? Not to mention that it's freezing out here." Mina yelled, sipping on her drink.

"No one can say no to boba. I mean, look at us."

"I did say we could've gone for hot cocoa."

"I was craving boba."

"Same."

They made the short walk to Jaehee's place, deciding that arriving a little early never hurt anyone. They could always help set up, and Jimin had told them he'd be there early to help.

The door opened seconds after they rang the doorbell, revealing a peppy Jimin with tinsel strung around his neck. "Hi - oh! You guys came together." He said, wiggling his eyebrows at them. "Come in."

Mina savored the heat of Jaehee's house as she stepped inside and took off her jacket. She found Jaehee in the kitchen finishing up some snacks and said her greetings. Everyone arrived half an hour later, and Rachel made sure to nag Mina for half an hour after that about how she and Taehyung went on a boba date without giving her the details.

"I think Taehyung needs some help upstairs, mina." Jaehee told her as they sat downstairs watching some holiday movie. Mina cocked her head.

"I'm sure he's fine."

"No, really. I think I heard a crash or something. You should go check up on him?"

Mina made a noise of complain before dragging herself off the couch and up the stairs. "I don't see him -"

A hand suddenly grasped her wrist and tugged her into the nearest room, causing Mina so let out a gasp.

"Shh." said a voice to her left. Mina looked up to find Taehyung glancing down at her.

"You asswipe! You scared the daylights out of me!" She said, slapping his arm.

"Look up." he said, and she did. Hung up off the ceiling was nothing other than mistletoe, bright and blooming.

"What the hell?" Mina blinked, half expecting Taehyung to burst out laughing. If they were standing under mistletoe, then that meant -

He kissed her. Mina stood frozen in place, all too aware of Taehyung's hand holding hers and the sweet taste of mint on his lips. His eyes were closed, while Mina's were wide open in shock. When he pulled away, Mina was left wordless.

"Do you still hate me?" He asked, almost a whisper.

She wanted to hate him, for planning all this behind her back, but really, she didn't - couldn't - hate him. She smiled, savoring the moment. "You idiot. You know I don't." 

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wahhhh merry christmas eve! (or christmas, if it's already tomorrow for you) i'm finally finished with this mini fic and while i don't think it's the best thing I've ever written, i sure had a lot of fun c: 

please leave some love on this story, and hope you all have a great holiday! :) - kayla