If, a week ago, you had told Hyunjin that he would be carefully listening as a tiny fairy is explaining to him in detail how to wrap presents, while Christmas carols are playing in the background in Santa's Workshop, he would most definitely have laughed in your face. Or he would've thrown up. Both seemed like pretty legitimate options.
However, there he was. Doing all of the things above and not only was Hyunjin not throwing up all over the place but he was, in fact, blushing, as said fairy guided Hyunjin's hands with his smaller ones. There were no gloves in their way this time around and the brunette could very well feel the (unbelievably) soft skin on Felix's hands. Oh, and about those shivers down his spine he had gotten last time? Yeah. He now had goosebumps all over his body from the contact of skin on skin.
Truly pathetic, indeed. That was what Hwang Hyunjin had turned into.
'Hyune, you need to pay closer attention! You keep zoning out!', said man blinked twice as he focused on Felix's smiley expression again.
Goddamn it. It was one of those smiles that reached the fairy's eyes.
How was Hyunjin supposed to focus on presents when all he could think about was his ridiculous, horrible and ever-growing crush that he seemed to be sporting.
'I have no idea what you're talking about, I'm focused', he lied.
'Then why are you trying to tape the place you already taped three times?', one of Felix's eyebrows crooked up and the elf looked down to find out that he was doing exactly what the fairy was saying.
Well, that's quite embarrassing.
'Uhm', he cleared his throat, 'My bad.'
Mariah Carey was singing from the small speaker on the side but Hyunjin couldn't even hear what she was going on about because Felix brightened up even further and threw his head back in laughter. The elf wasn't sure what was so funny but he found himself chuckling along and didn't care to stop himself from doing so.
'Come on, now', Felix turned the present around and took one of the prepared tapes to place it in the middle of two edges meeting together.
'Hm, perfect', the fairy exclaimed with a high-pitched tone and in all honesty, Hyunjin hated himself a little bit more the moment he thought that perhaps he could relate to what Mariah was singing about every single year on Christmas.
Truly pathetic.
'You're doing better though, it took us about half an hour less to finish up this present compared to the last two', Felix said cheerfully while he wrote down both his and Hyunjin's names on a piece of paper and put the wrapped box aside.
'I'm pretty sure that if we're going with that speed, one night will not be enough to finish all of these', Hyunjin murmured as he sent a glance to all the work which was waiting for them while he had been busying himself staring at the way Felix's eyes sparkled like Christmas lights.
'Don't worry, Hyune. You have me.', Hyunjin's heart skipped an embarrassing beat while Felix's eyes widened and the fairy spluttered before looking down.
'I mean- I know what I'm doing, I have it under control', he quickly turned his back to Hyunjin while he was spending several long seconds picking out the next present for them to wrap.
The brunette wasn't sure what came over him then but before he could think twice about it, he took two steps forward, leaving barely any distance between his chest and Felix's back and leaned down to murmur next to the blonde's ear:
'Of course, I wouldn't dare doubt the most hard-working elf here'.
It might've been his imagination but he was pretty sure that he felt the shudder that went up Felix's body.
'O-h yeah, I- um, thanks', he could see the fairy's fingers opening and closing on themselves and led by a sudden surge of confidence that might've had something to do with the blush coating Felix's long ears, Hyunjin allowed himself to lean forward even further. He extended his hand and grabbed a far-away present from the table. The action had him pressing against Felix's back entirely and the brunette swallowed down a gasp.
'How about we wrap this bigger one? Might as well get the harder ones over with sooner?', he turned his head once he'd leaned back the slightest bit but once he was met with Felix's face, barely an inch away from his own, both of them froze.
Hyunjin felt all that confidence he'd had turning into thin air as his brain short-cutted at the puffs of breath he could feel against his own mouth. His gaze trailed down from Felix's wide blue eyes to the freckled slope of his nose, to his tiny cupid's bow and then to pink parted lips.
His breath got stuck in his throat and he was pretty sure that his heart did an axel jump in his chest. He could feel Felix's warmth all over him, could feel the fairy's scent surrounding and clouding his mind. His lips trembled with need to connect to another pair of plush ones and when he slowly looked up to Felix's eyes again and saw the way the fairy's pupils were dilating, Hyunjin felt an explosion of butterflies in his stomach.
A new song started, way louder than the previous ones and it startled both of them enough for the two to jump away from each other.
Hyunjin looked away, his shaky hand still holding onto that big present while his heart raced as if he'd been running for an hour. There's no way that he'd almost-
'S-should I go grab us water?', Felix questioned shakily and Hyunjin swallowed the need to beg him to stay and look at him the same way as he had earlier.
'Yes that's- a great idea! I feel a bit dehydrated', he said instead.
'Then I definitely should...go to get water'
'Yeah, of course'
...
...
...
'Feli-'
Just as he turned around though, the fairy was already running towards the exit of the room and probably going towards the kitchens. Hyunjin let out a loud groan and brushed his hair back as he looked up to the ceiling. He fisted his dark locks and pulled on them harder to try and wake himself up from whatever daze he was in.
Taking a few deep breaths, Hyunjin tried to remind himself of all the reasons as to why he couldn't just go and kiss Cloudy's fucking grandson after barely a few days of knowing him. He wasn't even sure why he was being this way. Hyunjin was never one to fall for others easily, if at all. He had never cared about how close he was to someone, nor had he wanted to feel whether someone's lips were as soft as they looked-
'Fucks sake', he groaned even louder and ran his palm down his face.
Felix was really, really bad for Hyunjin's health.
'I'm back', a small voice interrupted the brunette's train of thoughts and once his head snapped up towards the sound, he saw the small fairy fidgeting on his feet and looking down as he held two glasses of water. A violent blush was still present on Felix's face and Hyunjin tightened his hands into fists so as to not try and test how hot Felix's skin would feel on his fingertips.
Clearing his throat and deciding to at least try and get himself together, Hyunjin walked towards Felix. He saw the fairy's body turning rigid at that and for a moment, he wondered whether he'd made the blonde uncomfortable earlier. It would've made sense, they weren't even that close. In fact, they barely knew each other and Hyunjin had suddenly gotten into Felix's personal space and had almost...
He cursed at himself internally and made sure to keep his distance as he took one of the glasses from Felix, cautious not to brush their fingers together.
He took a long sip of water before he allowed himself to speak again.
'Should we get back to work?'
Felix tucked a strand of his hair behind one of his pointy ears and nodded.
'Sure', the fairy said with a small voice.
Hyunjin took another long sip of water.
******************************
When they resumed their work, the atmosphere was certainly way more awkward than it had been earlier. Hyunjin almost felt as if he was suffocating both because of that and the reminder of earlier. When they moved to the third present and silently wrapped it together, the elf huffed out a breath.
'So uh, how is it like? Being Minho's brother?', he internally winced at the random question but at that point, he'd take anything to break the silence between them.
'Oh!', Felix looked up at him in surprise but his expression quickly turned into one that almost resembled relief.
'Well he's caring and sweet in his own ways but he can be frustrating sometimes', Hyunjin lifted an eyebrow at the admission, not having expected to hear something negative at all.
'Frustrating?', he asked, chuckling at the sight of Felix making another pouty face while his brows were scrunched together.
'He always steals my charger', the blonde murmured under his breath and Hyunjin's eyes widened in amusement.
'He...steals your charger?', he was doing his best not to straight up laugh but the sight of a visibly annoyed Felix over the fact that Minho is taking his charger without permission was way too entertaining on its own.
'Well yeah! Apparently he keeps losing his own and just takes mine without asking me! Sometimes he does it while I'm sleeping and my phone hasn't fully charged so my battery dies while I'm outside all the time because of him, it's so frustrating', Felix spoke fast as his fingers moved even faster to wrap up a perfume box.
At that point, Hyunjin couldn't really hold it in so he threw his head back and let out a loud laughter that echoed all around the big room they were working in.
'It's not funny!', Felix persisted with a whiny voice and Hyunjin covered his mouth with the palms of his hands while he proceeded to laugh.
'It is though! I can't believe that the merriest of them all, the Christmas Spirit itself, the always happy and loving fairy, only gets angry when his brother steals his charger', Hyunjin wheezed, at which Felix's whine only became louder.
'You just don't get it because you're a single child! No matter how "merry" someone might be, if there is someone who can aggravate you, then that's a sibling', Hyunjin quirked his head to the side and looked at Felix with a grin.
'How do you know that I'm a single child? I don't remember telling you?', the brunette asked and even if he'd meant it as a joke, the way the fairy froze and his eyes widened ended up piquing Hyunjin's interest further.
'I just...', Felix licked his lips before his Adam's Apple bobbed, 'I assumed. Uh- you give off the...', his hands made circles in the empty air, 'vibes of someone without siblings'.
Hyunjin's eyebrows shot up even higher.
'Oh?', he simply let out. The exclamation followed by his silence for about a minute in which they kept working side by side. A slow smirk spread on Hyunjin's face as he quietly muttered:
'Are you calling me selfish, Felix?'
The alarmed way the blonde turned towards him pulled out an uncontrollable laugh from Hyunjin.
'What?? No! Of course not, that's not what I was trying to imply at all I just, I-', Felix was tensing up more and more and his wide eyes kept looking around crazily as he fumbled over his words and Hyunjin bit his lower lip to stop himself from laughing again.
'Hey'
'I'm sorry if it came off this way I truly didn't want to-'
'Hey Felix'
'Of course you're not selfish I wouldn't think this way about you I was-'
Figuring out that his words can't reach the blonde, Hyunjin cupped Felix's jaw and squeezed his cheeks hard enough to make his lips look like ones of fish. His skin was, in fact, hot on Hyunjin's fingertips. He decided to keep that thought for later and only chuckled at the adorable sight of Felix's face at that moment.
'I'm just teasing you, little one', he said in such a soft and cheery voice that he barely recognised himself. The skin under his fingers became even more hotter and Felix whined high from his throat as he stomped his foot to the ground.
Hyunjin had never wanted to kiss someone so bad. And he was pretty sure that he'd have an aneurysm sometime soon.
Too cute.
Felix was too fucking cute.
He reluctantly let go of the fairy and when he earned himself a light slap by the arm, he shook his head with a laugh before he picked out a red wrapping paper with snowflakes all over it.
'Meanie', Felix pouted and Hyunjin crumpled the paper a little by accident.
'Cutie', he retorted, his mouth moving before his brain could stop him.
The small squeak that escaped Felix's lips only brought Hyunjin closer to the edge. Or perhaps, he'd fallen off that cliff already and only kept going down.
Now that the atmosphere was way lighter once again, the two worked quickly, helping each other out and cutting tape again and again and again. Felix was singing 'We wish you a Merry Christmas, we wish you a Merry Christmas' softly and Hyunjin's lips quirked up in nostalgia, not noticing the subtle glances the fairy was sending him.
Hyunjin's heart felt warm in a way that it hasn't for years, especially not at this time of the year. He was almost dizzy with the happiness and explosion of emotions he'd been feeling in his chest for the past few hours. He didn't even realise that he'd been humming along to the Christmas carol before he noticed Felix's shocked eyes and slacked jaw while the blonde stared at him.
A blush of embarrassment coated the brunette's cheeks but when Felix smiled with his entire face, he shed enough light in the corners of Hyunjin's heart for everything else to become a shadow that he couldn't even pay attention to.
'Come on', Felix suddenly grabbed Hyunjin's hand and pulled the elf further away from the worktable and towards the open space behind them.
'Felix, what are you-'
But the blonde only giggled and lifted Hyunjin's arm to spin under it. The carols kept playing and Felix sang louder and louder as he danced happily and encouraged the elf to do the same persistently enough for Hyunjin to finally give in.
When he felt his body relax and he allowed himself to dance ridiculously, Hyunjin could only laugh alongside Felix in the midst of their singing. The last few presents for wrapping were long forgotten as they sang about snowmen and danced around the room in the Workshop. Hyunjin's heart flipped and turned and his smile was already starting to hurt his cheeks while his brown eyes never moved their gaze away from blue ones and their laughter rang louder than bells on the night before Christmas.
Hyunjin danced with Felix and thought that happiness wasn't so bad after all.