In The Dark

x25x

It had been two weeks since Taehyung had left us, and to my surprise Jungkook hadn't brought anyone else home, or even attempted to, to the best of my knowledge. I hadn't even realized how close it was getting to the holidays until Jungkook brought home a towering evergreen tree. I hadn't noticed the snow on the ground or the cheery carols on the radio at all,  to be honest the time had been a blur, that was, with Hoseok and Jungkook both here.

   The tree Jungkook brought home was an incredibly full blue spruce tree that nearly brushed the ceiling.The smell reminded me of the Christmases of my childhood, which was the one time of the year when my parents weren't mad at me, the memories it brought on were bittersweet, and despite how Kookie and I came to be friends, I expected this Christmas to be just as sweet, if not sweeter.

  Jungkook had began to bring in large boxes of ornaments from the garage.  He had planned for us to decorate the tree, himself, Hoseok and I, and I went to help him with the task of bringing up the last few boxes into the living room, while Hoseok busied himself with putting the tree in its stand, and he began to open the boxes that had been brought inside already.
    “You're not allowed to decorate until I get back.” Kookie said brightly, but with a slight edge to his voice, a sweet warning, once all the boxes had been opened. He then slipped on his shoes and left the house.
    While we waited for Jungkook to return, Hoseok and I made our way to the kitchen, Jungkook had left hot chocolate mix and a kettle on the counter as well as three cups with Christmas-type designs printed on the front, which Hoseok and I decided to take full advantage of.

    By the time the kettle boiled and Hoseok and I were mixing the cocoa, Jungkook had made his way back through the front door, looking almost frozen, red colouring the tips of his nose and ears as well as his cheeks, he almost looked jolly, if not for his chattering teeth. He set a bag down on the coffee table before coming to join us.
    He entered the kitchen and sat down in his usual spot at the head of the table, and Hoseok and I sat the three mugs of cocoa in front of him, he chose one that was a vibrant red with a Santa Clause painted on the front, subsequently Hoseok chose one that was green, with a forest green Christmas tree painted on the outside, decorated with colorful bulbs and a star, and I was left with one covered in beautiful glittering white snowflakes.

    Mugs in hand, we made our way back to the living room to begin decorating the tree. Jungkook first grabbed the bag he had placed on the coffee table earlier and pulled a small, decorated box out if it. 
    “This is your’s.” he stated, handing it to me, “Consider it a gift, an early Christmas present.” He then pulled out another box from deep into the bag, “And this one is mine.”
    I opened the gift in my hand to find a small silver microphone with a string attached to a small hole in the ceramic ornament. I quickly realized that it was an ornament for the tree, as was his, a music note, to match my microphone.
    I found myself being slightly disappointed that there wasn't one for Hoseok, but decided that I would fix that later. In the meantime,  it was time to get the house into the Christmas spirit, and it was going to start with the tree. 

    We began to pull ornaments of boxes and hanging them on the branches, though Jungkook was very particular about where certain ornaments had to go, but Hoseok and I didn't ask questions, though there were a few that I really wanted answers to.
    Several of the ornaments Jungkook owned had raised questions, for example, one that closely resembled the locket in his room: a small silver heart, with a picture of the same woman from all of his photographs, a baby's first christmas ornament with the letters JJG engraved in the side, and many home-made-looking ornaments featuring inspirational poetry. I decided I could ask about them another time though, to spare him embarrassment, and also shield Hoseok from information he need not know.

    We finished decorating the tree and Jungkook suggested that we hang lights and tinsel on the hedges in the backyard as well, which Hoseok and I both agreed sounded like fun, and we both wanted to go outside, seeing as neither one of us had left the house since the day Taehyung left.
    Jungkook found the remainder of the string lights and any tinsel he had and lead us into the backyard where we proceeded to decorate the, still very green, cedar hedges that lined the property with lights and various colors of tinsel.

    When we were finished dusk settled upon the skyline, and an exhausted Hoseok flopped down on his back in the snow. For a moment Jungkook and I looked at each other in concern, thinking that the boy was overly tired and would fall asleep in the snow. Hypothermia was not something we were equipped to deal with.
    That fear only lasted a short while though, as Hoseok began flapping his outstretched arms and legs wildly and singing ‘Jingle Bells’ loudly.  This was exactly how I had remembered Hoseok, bubbly and fun, not the wreck he had been since he came to be with Jungkook and I.

    When the boy stood up there was a perfect snow angel where he had been laying, and he dusted the snow off of his hands, leaving the rest of him shining with snowflakes and presumably cold.
    “Look at that! I really am an angel.” he said excitedly, backing away to admire his work of art, with a wide smile plastered on his face.

    Before I could open my mouth to agree with him I felt something cold hit me in the back of the head and explode on impact. The back of my head had became wet, and I turned around to see a mischievous looking Jungkook packing snow into another firm ball, before throwing it at Hoseok.
    Hoseok turned around, realizing what had happened, and almost immediately returned fire, this continued well into the night, and we were left laughing together in the snow, by the light of thousands of multicolored bulbs adorning our home.