New Year’s Resolutions (or “Duizhang Please Notice Me”)
Title: New Year’s Resolutions (or “Duizhang Please Notice Me”)
Pairing: krishun, friendship!hunhan, minor!baekchen
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Fluff
Word Count: 4.6 k
Summary: In which Suho signs up EXO to wrap presents for orphans on New Year’s Eve and Sehun has exactly 12 hours left to fulfill his New Year’s resolutions.
2013 had been a good year for Oh Sehun.
For one, he was no longer jailbait, a fact that he tried to remind his hyungs on a daily basis (especially to one Chinese-Canadian ge ge).
He had also grown a good 7 or 8 centimeters and now towered over Kai, much to the dancer’s displeasure. With some luck and some more milk-drinking, Sehun bet he could even pass up Chanyeol in 2014.
If so, SM definitely needs to change their standing order.
Sehun insists.
He had achieved his debut goal of winning triple crown, and winning Album of the Year along with passing the million album sales mark had been the cherry on top for a very very successful year for EXO as a team. Sehun had remained dry-eyed and stoic on stage but on the inside, his feels were as potent as Niagara Falls during flood season. While he was not a public crier the way his Suho hyung was (now those were some intense waterworks), there is certainly nothing wrong with getting a little misty-eyed backstage afterwards.
(Sehun had to admit though that watching his Kris hyung proudly give their winning speech made the victory just a bit sweeter.)
So all in all, Sehun would have to conclude that 2013 had been a good year. He fulfilled most of his resolutions and concluded his last year as a minor with all the finesse one could expect from the coolest maknae in the Korean entertainment circle.
However, there was just one little thing that Sehun had not managed to do yet.
Get Duizhang to notice him.
Now seeing as it was New Year’s Eve, Sehun had given up his final resolution for the year as a lost cause. After all, if an entire year’s worth of blatant aegyo and subtle arm-clinging could not get the EXO-M leader to notice him in a way other than the group’s youngest baby, Sehun didn’t know what else he could do to further his cause.
Fate however had other plans for him (or at least Suho did).
T-minus 12 Hours
Scratching his head as he hears his leader hyung’s shrill screams to gather for an EXO family meeting in the dorm living room, the maknae tiredly shuffled from his shared room with Luhan, joining the zombie-esque parade of EXO members migrating to the front of the living quarters. It had been an exhausting 2 weeks for them as they wrapped up promotions for the Christmas album and taped for all 3 station’s end of year programs. The various dances and performance routines they had to learn seemed endless and Sehun could tell that his hyungs were this close to being burned out by the sheer exhaustion of running on about 2 hours of sleep per night.
Perching himself on the arm of the well-worn sofa, Sehun rested his head on his palm as Suho beamed tirelessly at the congregation of a pack of tired wolf cubs. When he deemed that all members were present (at least physically), the grinning leader clapped his hands like a very pleased seal.
“Guys, I have an announcement to make!”
The members groaned.
Announcements like these never boded well.
With a Chanyeol-like Cheshire grin on his face, Suho continued on, blind to the faces of stoic displeasure around him.
“I signed us up to volunteer this afternoon and evening at the local orphanage! We’ll be wrapping 1000 presents for the kids who won’t have family to ring in the New Year with.”
Jaws dropped around the room.
Sehun mentally pondered the 1000 inevitable paper cuts bound to happen from wrapping 1000 presents.
The maknae shuddered.
Suho visibly deflated at the lack of enthusiastic response, and pouting like a kicked puppy, the leader frowned at his kids.
“Think about it guys. We’ll make the kids so happy.”
Chanyeol hesitantly raised his hand.
“But hyung….we’re tired. And 1000 presents? That’s… a lot.”
Grumbles of assent could be heard from the other members as Suho sighed.
Clearly the leader was outnumbered.
Well, time to pull out the secret weapon.
Neatly plucking his AMEX Gold card out from his seemingly barren wallet, Suho waved the shiny piece of plastic before the dazed members’ faces.
“Hyung will buy everyone food.”
Everyone’s eyes opened.
All the members grinned sheepishly at their devious leader.
“Consider it a deal hyung.”
T-minus 11 Hours
After arriving at the office of the local city orphanage, the manager there wasted no time in putting the idols to work. After all, it wasn’t every day that one had 12 handsome and strong (okay maybe not Suho) young men show up at the door prepared to work for free.
Leading them to the stock room, the manager quickly explained to the EXO members the tasks at hand. Tapping a pen against a clip board, he pointed towards Kyungsoo, Xiumin, and Lay.
“You three will be responsible for sewing name tags onto the various stuffed animals we have in the bin over there. Tags are in the basket next to the bin. Understood?”
The three nodded.
“Do any of you know how to use a sewing machine?”
Yixing and Xiumin stared at each other blankly.
Behind them, Kyungsoo raised his hand.
The manager nodded in satisfaction while the rest of EXO snickered.
Do Kyungsoo really lived up to his umma image.
Baekhyun, Chen, and Suho were quickly assigned to organizing refreshments for the orphanage’s New Year’s Eve countdown while Kai, Chanyeol, Tao were placed on wrapping duty.
The manager surveyed the 3 remaining EXO members.
Lips curling in skepticism, the greying man pointed a finger at the waiting idols.
“Can you knit?”
Luhan let out a snort.
“Who knows how to knit at this day and age besides grandmothers. Even my nainai in Beijing doesn’t knit anymore.”
Besides him, Kris nodded. They certainly didn’t teach him how to knit in Canada.
Sehun just groaned.
Weakly pushing his blonde bangs out of his face, the baby of the group sighed.
“I do. I know how to knit.”
T-minus 10 Hours
For the past 10 minutes, all the EXO members had been staring at their maknae in shock.
Finally, it was Luhan who was the first to snap out of the general daze the group seemed to have settled into.
“You. The ’94 line maknae. The one whose face can scare away my nainai’s kitten on sight. You know how to knit?”
Besides the baby faced deer idol, Kyungsoo nodded along, mouth still open in a heart-shaped ‘o’.
Sehun pouted grumpily, unconsciously causing a certain member of the model-line to coo at the adorable image of the unhappy baby.
“Yah hyung. Can you drop it. I had to spend a whole summer at my grandmother’s place without internet or anything. It was knitting or learning embroidery.”
Luhan snickered at the mental image of their maknae knitting under the watchful eye of his traditional Korean grandmother.
Clearing his throat, the orphanage manager stepped back into the conversation.
“That’s great and all and I’m happy that at least someone here knows how to knit. Now can you teach the other 2 members of your group?”
With a devious grin, Luhan immediately waved his hands at the manager. Sehun sighed. Whenever his best friend got that look in his eye, he knew he was done for.
“Oh I don’t think that’s necessary sir. You see, we only have 2 pairs of knitting needles-“
Sehun scrunched up his eyebrows.
“Hyung we have thr-“
Sehun yelped as Luhan pinched the side of his waist.
A crunch could be heard underneath the table as Luhan smiled innocently at the now slightly confused manager.
Curse Luhan and his shiny eyes for getting away with anything and everything.
“So I was thinking Sehun can just teach Kris over here and I can observe them. Quality control you know.”
The maknae’s eyes popped open.
“No no no hyung I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
Kris nodded vehemently next to him.
Much to his chagrin though, the manager clapped Luhan on the back.
“That’s perfect. After all we can’t give the children poorly made scarves can we? Luhan-ssi you’re in charge of the operations here. Look after them well.”
Both Sehun and Kris cried on the inside.
Goodbye 2013 and their manly cool city boy image.
T-minus 9 Hours
To say that Sehun felt awkward would be a major understatement.
For one he was sitting on a couch with Kris, his crush ever since debut, their knees flush together with both of them holding a ball of red yarn and a pair of knitting needles.
Let’s just say that even in his wildest daydreams he didn’t expect his first intimate interaction with duizhang to involve knitting.
Now tying someone up with yarn though was another story.
(“Stop thinking dirty thoughts Sehun,” he chided himself, smacking himself with the ball of yarn much to Luhan’s amusement and Kris’ confusion)
Clearing his throat awkwardly underneath Luhan’s wide grin and watchful eyes, Sehun nervously glanced up at the object of his affections.
“So do you want to get started?”
Kris gaped at him for a couple of seconds before hesitantly nodding his head.
Picking up his yarn and needle, Sehun gingerly threaded the first loop onto the needle, angling his hands so that Kris could follow his actions. He motioned for the Canadian to do the same, chuckling as the EXO-M leader managed to tie the yarn into a dead knot instead of the proper starting loop.
The maknae quickly grabbed a pair of scissors and cut Kris’ first effort loose before taking Kris’ fingers with his own to pick up the yarn and shadow through the proper way to start the knitting pattern.
Duizhang’s fingers were warm and callused, unlike the pale smooth coldness of Sehun’s own bony appendages. His hands were really big and wide too, the maknae noted to himself dreamily.
Sehun might have held on a little too long as Luhan wolf whistled in the background. Coughing in embarrassment, he quickly let go of his idol’s hands before hiding his blushing face into the giant red scarf he had picked out for the day.
He didn’t know if he imagined it but the little flash of disappointment he thought he saw when he let go of Kris’ hands made his heart jump a little.
Maybe, just maybe, Sehun has a shot of finally getting his duizhang to notice him.
He was off in his own happy dream world before Luhan’s hideous cackle brought him back down to earth.
“Hurry up love birds. You still have 998 scarves to go.”
T-minus 6 Hours
Kris groaned as he stretched out his sore arms and fingers. They had been sitting in the little storage closet for the past 3 hours, knitting piles and piles of warm winter scarves as presents for the orphanage children.
After about the 5th attempt, he had finally managed to knit a proper children sized scarf and Sehun had excitedly given him a high-five. Sehun’s eyes were crinkled in that adorable eye smile again and Kris mentally awwned at the sight. It was so different from his usual stoic nonchalant expression that supposedly could scare away baby animals.
Their maknae was just too cute.
Deciding that it was high time for a food break, he gingerly set down the scarf he had been working on and patted his thighs before standing up, groaning because of his long asleep limbs.
“I’m going to get a banana or something to eat. Do you guys want anything?”
Emotionally invested in the scarf he was knitting, Sehun didn’t even look up while shaking a quick no with his head.
Kris patted his dongsaeng on the head, smoothing out blonde locks.
“Are you sure? We haven’t eaten in a while.”
Sehun just nodded again, leaning back slightly into the warm palm.
Luhan tittered.
Shrugging his shoulders, the EXO-M leader stepped out of their storage closet in search for the kitchen.
Once his footsteps had faded, a certain roommate whirled around to grab Sehun’s shoulders.
“Duizhang totally has the hots for you.”
Rolling his eyes, the maknae groaned.
“Yah hyung. How many times do I have to tell you that I can’t even get him to notice me, much less have the hots for me.”
Luhan’s eyes twinkled.
“Are you up for a dare?”
T-minus 5 hours
And that was how Sehun found himself standing behind a happily eating duizhang who was blissfully unaware of the little conspiratorial meeting that had occurred while he was away at the kitchen.
Well more like a one-sided Luhan- intent -on- torturing -his- beloved- dongsaeng meeting.
Glancing back at his Lu-ge with a pout on his face, Sehun was only met with a chuckle from the elder as Luhan motioned for him to continue through with his dare.
Sehun sighed.
Waiting until he was just behind Kris, the maknae rested a hand on the leader’s shoulder.
“Hyung-ah”
“Yes Sehun-ah?”
Kris turned around only to pause at the finger poking him gently in the cheek.
Sehun giggled. His hyung looked so cute, all bewildered and surprised with his wide eyes and open mouth.
Clearing his throat, Kris awkwardly turned his head around to face the maknae.
“What do you need Sehun-ah?”
The blonde maknae smiled sheepishly.
“Can I have some of your banana hyung?”
Kris choked on his own spit.
Now he hasn’t been in Korea for that long but he was pretty sure the sexual innuendo in that statement was pretty darn obvious.
Of course, Korean culture was a lot less in your face vulgar than the North American variety he had been used to but looking at Luhan’s smirk in the background, Kris decided that no he wasn’t imagining things.
Okay maybe his baby dongsaeng was just hungry.
Hungry for the d-
Okay let’s stop that thought right there Kris.
Tilting his head, Kris moved to hand the offending fruit to his precious Sehun-ah but stopped when he felt a pair of slender arms wrap around his back.
Warm breath hit the back of his neck and he shivered unconsciously as the baby of the group leaned over his shoulders to take a bite out of the banana he was still holding. Kris gingerly peeked at the side of Sehun’s face as the younger licked his lips, mouth still hovering over the top of the banana that he had just bitten off. The maknae chewed enthusiastically, releasing sounds of enjoyment every once in a while as if he had never eaten a banana before.
Kris could’ve sworn there was a moan somewhere in there too.
The EXO-M leader glanced sideways at Luhan whose grin looked too happy for the man to be innocent. The Beijing native simply raised an eyebrow in response before giving his leader a few smarmy eyebrow raises.
Along with a few crude hand gestures.
“He wants the D” Luhan mouthed silently.
If Kris could die of mortification right then and there, he would’ve.
But then again, if he did, he wouldn’t have gotten to feel Sehun give him a back hug and see that sparkling eye smile.
“Thanks hyung for the banana! Your banana is really good!”
T-minus 4 hours
“Praise the lord for Suho and his wallet,” Sehun mentally thought as the exhausted EXO members all piled into 2 separate vans, awaiting their much anticipated trip to a barbeque restaurant.
After being forced to go through the dare of eating Kris’ banana (and yes Sehun was very well aware of just how dirty that looked and sounded), Sehun had been flushed a bright apple red for the remainder of the time. The two had exchanged a few shy glances but surprisingly they were exceptionally productive for the remainder of the hour, cranking out scarves like a well-oiled machine.
All the other groups were just as exhausted as they were from what Sehun could catch of their conversations.
Yixing and Xiumin had managed to break their sewing machine within the first 5 minutes, getting the thread tangled everywhere, and eventually the device spluttered its last breath, much to Kyungsoo’s everlasting disappointment. Fortunately, Kyungsoo worked his machine with the efficiency of 3 people and they had finished up most, if not all, of the tags before dinner was called.
Kai and Chanyeol had spent most of their time tying ribbons onto Kyungsoo instead of doing their wrapping duty. The shorter had weakly tried to ward off their advances to no avail. However, Sehun could see why they couldn’t help themselves.
Do Umma was just too adorable with a giant red bow perched on top of his squishy head.
Baekhyun and Chen had visited them in the storage room for quite a while, abandoning refreshment duty to Suho. The 2 members of the beagle line, upon catching sight of the mass of extra yarn, had immediately proceeded to reenact the rope game that was so popular back in kindergarten. Fingers tangled in yarn and each other, the unofficial couple looked so cute and carefree that Sehun just wanted to strangle a puppy.
Ugh. If only that was him and Kris.
T-minus 3 Hours
After about 30 minutes of attempting to tune out Baekhyun and Chanyeol’s incessant singing to their own songs and feeling gingerly aware that his and Kris’ arms were touching, Sehun was about to die of happiness when he caught sight of the family barbeque restaurant that they visited whenever there was a reason for celebration.
Ducking his head as he shuffled out of the van, Sehun didn’t pay attention to where he was going and almost face planted onto the concrete if it wasn’t for a quick tug on his arm by a startled duizhang. His face the color of that one particularly horrifying red dye job, Sehun mumbled a quick thank you to the slightly worried leader and gave Luhan’s waggling eyebrows a dirty look.
The members, out of sheer hunger, all ran into the barbeque restaurant like a pack of starving wolf cubs. The restaurant waiters looked intimidated by the crowd of tall adolescent boys while the manager cheered internally at the amount of money this group is sure to spend.
10 minutes later, Sehun’s eyes were glazed over by the sight of plates and plates of meat.
Having 12 boys crowded around one table was impossible so the group was split up into 3’s once more with the same group as the ones they had worked in earlier. 2 groups shared one grill and Sehun as the maknae was crowded uncomfortably against one wall as he was forced to serve everyone the seaweed soup. Doling out ladles of food like a cafeteria lady was not something the glamorous maknae was used to doing but when faced with an eyeful of Kris’ grateful smile, Sehun suddenly didn’t mind as much.
Just as he was about to dig in to a spoonful of soup, Luhan the little devil nudged him in the side, causing him to yelp as he almost spilled soup onto his family jewels.
“Yah what was that for hyung!”
Luhan grinned at him.
“You should grill duizhang some meat. Especially when you’re the maknae.”
Sehun spluttered as he for the 1 millionth time today resembled a ripe tomato. However, he acquiesced and moved to cut up a piece of the pork belly for his beloved duizhang. Elbowing Chanyeol for the scissors next to him, Sehun delicately snipped the rapidly curling slices of pork into bite sized pieces. Carefully picking up the meat with a pair of metal serving chopsticks, he moved to place it in Kris’ dish before Luhan elbowed him again with a mischievous look in his eye.
“Hun-ah, you should feed him.”
Sehun looked at Kris.
Well here goes nothing.
“Say ah hyung”
He motioned for the EXO-M leader to open his mouth as he gently blew on the piece of pork to cool it down. Ignoring Kris’ slack jawed expression, he gingerly held out his chopsticks for the Canadian.
Watching in satisfaction as Kris chewed with a blissed out look on his face, Sehun gave himself a little pat on the back.
“Is it good hyung?”
Kris grinned at him.
“Very delicious.”
T-minus 2 Hours
After one very intense hour of stuffing their faces, the EXO members reluctantly trudged back to the orphanage, on foot this time as Suho didn’t want them to gain too much weight from a single meal. The beagle line had already been shushed multiple times to avoid catching too much of the public’s attention and the rest of the group huddled together, shivering in the cold December air.
Sehun meandered at the back of the pack, feeling a bit lonely as he watched Kris and the rest of the China line chatter happily together about what their relatives were doing back home and how maybe this time management would let them go back to visit their families during Chinese New Year which was coming up.
While they always tease Kris about missing his mother, Sehun knew it wasn’t easy on the leader to be half a world away from his family in Canada. He didn’t know what he would do if faced with the same circumstances that his Chinese members had to deal with on a daily basis.
Settled deep in his pity parade, Sehun jerked up when he felt a warm arm encircle his cold shoulders. Glancing up to his right, he blinked at the unexpected sight of Kris straightening his red scarf for him, the leader patting his handiwork as his hand lingered on his dongsaeng’s shoulder.
“What are you doing here at the back all alone Sehun-ah? Aren’t you cold?”
Sehun flushed.
“A-A little bit hyung.”
“Here.”
Shrugging out of his favorite university sweatshirt, Kris handed the warm oversized jacket to Sehun and helped him slip it over his thin long sleeved shirt. Sehun shivered a little as Kris’ hands tugged the shirt down his torso, the Canadian’s long fingers skimming over the boy’s stomach as the leader tried to smooth out the fabric bunched up at his dongsaeng’s waist.
Gently ruffling the shorter’s hair, Kris smiled indulgently at his maknae before walking faster to catch up with the members he had left behind earlier.
Sehun curled his fingers around the sleeve of the too-long sweatshirt and grinned.
Maybe this really could be his year.
T-minus 1 hour
All the members arrived safe and sound at the orphanage once again, just in time to pass out presents to the children before the clock struck midnight. Tao and Kris had stacked all the presents in the living room of the office and they were now just waiting for the children to file in and claim their New Year’s presents. With the fireplace going and the bright red ribbons everywhere, Sehun couldn’t help but let out a happy little sigh at the homey-ness of it all. It would be the first time that EXO spent the New Year’s together as a whole and as he caught the eyes of a very special duizhang across the room, Sehun couldn’t help but feel that the year was more complete now than ever.
Soon the sounds of little pattering feet could be heard and Kyungsoo quickly moved to open the door, getting knocked over onto the floor as 3 pairs of bright eyes looked up at him.
“Is he our present Minah noona?”
The slightly taller toddler, Minah Sehun supposed, frowned at the owl boy sprawled out before her.
“I don’t think so Lujin. What do you think Shiyi?”
A dark haired boy looked contemplatively at Kyungsoo.
Suho, wanting to end the children’s confusion, quickly popped over with 3 gift boxes and Kyungsoo was soon ran over by more pattering feet as the rest of the orphanage children filed in to the crowded living room. All of the EXO members chipped in to hand out presents and by exactly 15 minutes before it was a new year, the last present had been gifted and all the children were placated and happy.
The refreshments team had finally decided to pull their weight’s worth and passed mugs of coffee to the exhausted volunteers, and Sehun had quickly taken a seat on the carpet by his duizhang’s feet once Baekhyun handed him his mug.
Turning around to beam at his hyung, Sehun grinned.
“We’re finished!”
A warm hand ran through Sehun’s mussed locks.
“We are. And Suho was right. They all look so happy.”
Sehun hummed complacently in reply.
“That one, Shiyi, looks a lot like you.”
Sehun scrunched up his eyes to look at the boy Kris was talking about.
“He’s one of the 1st 3 that came in. Dark haired, cute pudgy legs, slightly squinty eyes.”
Sehun ahhed as he picked out the boy Kris was talking about. The toddler had opened his gift box to reveal the scarf and teddy bear that was inside and was currently wrapping the big scarf around a smaller boy standing next to him. The little boy’s eyebrows were crinkled up in focus and his little chubby hands worked diligently to wrap up and warm his dongsaeng. Once he was finished, the younger boy leaned over and enveloped Shiyi in a tight hug.
“He’s half Chinese did you know that? Luhan had pulled me over to speak to him and he reminded me of you a lot.”
The maknae peered back at his hyung.
“Why?”
“Well he’s so independent even at such a young age and he always takes good care of others, even those older than him.”
Kris leaned over until Sehun, leaning back, could almost reach out and touch his nose to his hyung’s.
“And even if he doesn’t smile a lot, when he does, it makes his hyungs so happy.”
A big cheer erupted from the front of the living room as the final 10 second countdown began on the widescreen TV.
Sehun gulped at their close proximity.
“Kris hyung, I think I want to let you know. I really like y-“
The rest of his words were muffled as his own personal duizhang leaned over to seal their lips together, fireworks exploding both in their minds as well as outside in the cold winter air as the world welcomed a New Year.
Sehun’s hands unconsciously found their way to grasp onto Kris’ dress shirt as the two leaned even closer to each other, sweet presses of lips against lips being exchanged as they remained oblivious to the cheers of those around them. Big warm hands cradled the maknae’s face as Kris tilted his head to get better access to his dongsaeng’s rosy well -kissed mouth. Sehun gasped at the new angle and felt utterly breathless as he fought the urge to purr at the previously unknown sensation.
Finally letting go when the human need to breathe came over them, Kris smiled widely and pressed one last kiss against his baby’s nose.
“Sehun-ah, I think I really like you too.”
30 minutes into the new year
“So my lovely roommate and dongsaeng, what are your new resolutions for this year?”
Sehun took one second out of his nonstop fangirling over the fact that he, yes he the maknae, had gotten duizhang to notice him after all to glare at Luhan.
“No idea hyung. Now stop bothering me.”
Luhan was not to be deterred.
“How about making a resolution to get his d-“
Sehun was proud to say that the giant handprint on Luhan’s face that morning was every bit his own personal work of art.
AN: Can't believe I just wrote that much nonsensical fluff >.< but that promotional gift video was just screaming krishun at me.
Pairing: krishun, friendship!hunhan, minor!baekchen
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Fluff
Word Count: 4.6 k
Summary: In which Suho signs up EXO to wrap presents for orphans on New Year’s Eve and Sehun has exactly 12 hours left to fulfill his New Year’s resolutions.
2013 had been a good year for Oh Sehun.
For one, he was no longer jailbait, a fact that he tried to remind his hyungs on a daily basis (especially to one Chinese-Canadian ge ge).
He had also grown a good 7 or 8 centimeters and now towered over Kai, much to the dancer’s displeasure. With some luck and some more milk-drinking, Sehun bet he could even pass up Chanyeol in 2014.
If so, SM definitely needs to change their standing order.
Sehun insists.
He had achieved his debut goal of winning triple crown, and winning Album of the Year along with passing the million album sales mark had been the cherry on top for a very very successful year for EXO as a team. Sehun had remained dry-eyed and stoic on stage but on the inside, his feels were as potent as Niagara Falls during flood season. While he was not a public crier the way his Suho hyung was (now those were some intense waterworks), there is certainly nothing wrong with getting a little misty-eyed backstage afterwards.
(Sehun had to admit though that watching his Kris hyung proudly give their winning speech made the victory just a bit sweeter.)
So all in all, Sehun would have to conclude that 2013 had been a good year. He fulfilled most of his resolutions and concluded his last year as a minor with all the finesse one could expect from the coolest maknae in the Korean entertainment circle.
However, there was just one little thing that Sehun had not managed to do yet.
Get Duizhang to notice him.
Now seeing as it was New Year’s Eve, Sehun had given up his final resolution for the year as a lost cause. After all, if an entire year’s worth of blatant aegyo and subtle arm-clinging could not get the EXO-M leader to notice him in a way other than the group’s youngest baby, Sehun didn’t know what else he could do to further his cause.
Fate however had other plans for him (or at least Suho did).
T-minus 12 Hours
Scratching his head as he hears his leader hyung’s shrill screams to gather for an EXO family meeting in the dorm living room, the maknae tiredly shuffled from his shared room with Luhan, joining the zombie-esque parade of EXO members migrating to the front of the living quarters. It had been an exhausting 2 weeks for them as they wrapped up promotions for the Christmas album and taped for all 3 station’s end of year programs. The various dances and performance routines they had to learn seemed endless and Sehun could tell that his hyungs were this close to being burned out by the sheer exhaustion of running on about 2 hours of sleep per night.
Perching himself on the arm of the well-worn sofa, Sehun rested his head on his palm as Suho beamed tirelessly at the congregation of a pack of tired wolf cubs. When he deemed that all members were present (at least physically), the grinning leader clapped his hands like a very pleased seal.
“Guys, I have an announcement to make!”
The members groaned.
Announcements like these never boded well.
With a Chanyeol-like Cheshire grin on his face, Suho continued on, blind to the faces of stoic displeasure around him.
“I signed us up to volunteer this afternoon and evening at the local orphanage! We’ll be wrapping 1000 presents for the kids who won’t have family to ring in the New Year with.”
Jaws dropped around the room.
Sehun mentally pondered the 1000 inevitable paper cuts bound to happen from wrapping 1000 presents.
The maknae shuddered.
Suho visibly deflated at the lack of enthusiastic response, and pouting like a kicked puppy, the leader frowned at his kids.
“Think about it guys. We’ll make the kids so happy.”
Chanyeol hesitantly raised his hand.
“But hyung….we’re tired. And 1000 presents? That’s… a lot.”
Grumbles of assent could be heard from the other members as Suho sighed.
Clearly the leader was outnumbered.
Well, time to pull out the secret weapon.
Neatly plucking his AMEX Gold card out from his seemingly barren wallet, Suho waved the shiny piece of plastic before the dazed members’ faces.
“Hyung will buy everyone food.”
Everyone’s eyes opened.
All the members grinned sheepishly at their devious leader.
“Consider it a deal hyung.”
T-minus 11 Hours
After arriving at the office of the local city orphanage, the manager there wasted no time in putting the idols to work. After all, it wasn’t every day that one had 12 handsome and strong (okay maybe not Suho) young men show up at the door prepared to work for free.
Leading them to the stock room, the manager quickly explained to the EXO members the tasks at hand. Tapping a pen against a clip board, he pointed towards Kyungsoo, Xiumin, and Lay.
“You three will be responsible for sewing name tags onto the various stuffed animals we have in the bin over there. Tags are in the basket next to the bin. Understood?”
The three nodded.
“Do any of you know how to use a sewing machine?”
Yixing and Xiumin stared at each other blankly.
Behind them, Kyungsoo raised his hand.
The manager nodded in satisfaction while the rest of EXO snickered.
Do Kyungsoo really lived up to his umma image.
Baekhyun, Chen, and Suho were quickly assigned to organizing refreshments for the orphanage’s New Year’s Eve countdown while Kai, Chanyeol, Tao were placed on wrapping duty.
The manager surveyed the 3 remaining EXO members.
Lips curling in skepticism, the greying man pointed a finger at the waiting idols.
“Can you knit?”
Luhan let out a snort.
“Who knows how to knit at this day and age besides grandmothers. Even my nainai in Beijing doesn’t knit anymore.”
Besides him, Kris nodded. They certainly didn’t teach him how to knit in Canada.
Sehun just groaned.
Weakly pushing his blonde bangs out of his face, the baby of the group sighed.
“I do. I know how to knit.”
T-minus 10 Hours
For the past 10 minutes, all the EXO members had been staring at their maknae in shock.
Finally, it was Luhan who was the first to snap out of the general daze the group seemed to have settled into.
“You. The ’94 line maknae. The one whose face can scare away my nainai’s kitten on sight. You know how to knit?”
Besides the baby faced deer idol, Kyungsoo nodded along, mouth still open in a heart-shaped ‘o’.
Sehun pouted grumpily, unconsciously causing a certain member of the model-line to coo at the adorable image of the unhappy baby.
“Yah hyung. Can you drop it. I had to spend a whole summer at my grandmother’s place without internet or anything. It was knitting or learning embroidery.”
Luhan snickered at the mental image of their maknae knitting under the watchful eye of his traditional Korean grandmother.
Clearing his throat, the orphanage manager stepped back into the conversation.
“That’s great and all and I’m happy that at least someone here knows how to knit. Now can you teach the other 2 members of your group?”
With a devious grin, Luhan immediately waved his hands at the manager. Sehun sighed. Whenever his best friend got that look in his eye, he knew he was done for.
“Oh I don’t think that’s necessary sir. You see, we only have 2 pairs of knitting needles-“
Sehun scrunched up his eyebrows.
“Hyung we have thr-“
Sehun yelped as Luhan pinched the side of his waist.
A crunch could be heard underneath the table as Luhan smiled innocently at the now slightly confused manager.
Curse Luhan and his shiny eyes for getting away with anything and everything.
“So I was thinking Sehun can just teach Kris over here and I can observe them. Quality control you know.”
The maknae’s eyes popped open.
“No no no hyung I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
Kris nodded vehemently next to him.
Much to his chagrin though, the manager clapped Luhan on the back.
“That’s perfect. After all we can’t give the children poorly made scarves can we? Luhan-ssi you’re in charge of the operations here. Look after them well.”
Both Sehun and Kris cried on the inside.
Goodbye 2013 and their manly cool city boy image.
T-minus 9 Hours
To say that Sehun felt awkward would be a major understatement.
For one he was sitting on a couch with Kris, his crush ever since debut, their knees flush together with both of them holding a ball of red yarn and a pair of knitting needles.
Let’s just say that even in his wildest daydreams he didn’t expect his first intimate interaction with duizhang to involve knitting.
Now tying someone up with yarn though was another story.
(“Stop thinking dirty thoughts Sehun,” he chided himself, smacking himself with the ball of yarn much to Luhan’s amusement and Kris’ confusion)
Clearing his throat awkwardly underneath Luhan’s wide grin and watchful eyes, Sehun nervously glanced up at the object of his affections.
“So do you want to get started?”
Kris gaped at him for a couple of seconds before hesitantly nodding his head.
Picking up his yarn and needle, Sehun gingerly threaded the first loop onto the needle, angling his hands so that Kris could follow his actions. He motioned for the Canadian to do the same, chuckling as the EXO-M leader managed to tie the yarn into a dead knot instead of the proper starting loop.
The maknae quickly grabbed a pair of scissors and cut Kris’ first effort loose before taking Kris’ fingers with his own to pick up the yarn and shadow through the proper way to start the knitting pattern.
Duizhang’s fingers were warm and callused, unlike the pale smooth coldness of Sehun’s own bony appendages. His hands were really big and wide too, the maknae noted to himself dreamily.
Sehun might have held on a little too long as Luhan wolf whistled in the background. Coughing in embarrassment, he quickly let go of his idol’s hands before hiding his blushing face into the giant red scarf he had picked out for the day.
He didn’t know if he imagined it but the little flash of disappointment he thought he saw when he let go of Kris’ hands made his heart jump a little.
Maybe, just maybe, Sehun has a shot of finally getting his duizhang to notice him.
He was off in his own happy dream world before Luhan’s hideous cackle brought him back down to earth.
“Hurry up love birds. You still have 998 scarves to go.”
T-minus 6 Hours
Kris groaned as he stretched out his sore arms and fingers. They had been sitting in the little storage closet for the past 3 hours, knitting piles and piles of warm winter scarves as presents for the orphanage children.
After about the 5th attempt, he had finally managed to knit a proper children sized scarf and Sehun had excitedly given him a high-five. Sehun’s eyes were crinkled in that adorable eye smile again and Kris mentally awwned at the sight. It was so different from his usual stoic nonchalant expression that supposedly could scare away baby animals.
Their maknae was just too cute.
Deciding that it was high time for a food break, he gingerly set down the scarf he had been working on and patted his thighs before standing up, groaning because of his long asleep limbs.
“I’m going to get a banana or something to eat. Do you guys want anything?”
Emotionally invested in the scarf he was knitting, Sehun didn’t even look up while shaking a quick no with his head.
Kris patted his dongsaeng on the head, smoothing out blonde locks.
“Are you sure? We haven’t eaten in a while.”
Sehun just nodded again, leaning back slightly into the warm palm.
Luhan tittered.
Shrugging his shoulders, the EXO-M leader stepped out of their storage closet in search for the kitchen.
Once his footsteps had faded, a certain roommate whirled around to grab Sehun’s shoulders.
“Duizhang totally has the hots for you.”
Rolling his eyes, the maknae groaned.
“Yah hyung. How many times do I have to tell you that I can’t even get him to notice me, much less have the hots for me.”
Luhan’s eyes twinkled.
“Are you up for a dare?”
T-minus 5 hours
And that was how Sehun found himself standing behind a happily eating duizhang who was blissfully unaware of the little conspiratorial meeting that had occurred while he was away at the kitchen.
Well more like a one-sided Luhan- intent -on- torturing -his- beloved- dongsaeng meeting.
Glancing back at his Lu-ge with a pout on his face, Sehun was only met with a chuckle from the elder as Luhan motioned for him to continue through with his dare.
Sehun sighed.
Waiting until he was just behind Kris, the maknae rested a hand on the leader’s shoulder.
“Hyung-ah”
“Yes Sehun-ah?”
Kris turned around only to pause at the finger poking him gently in the cheek.
Sehun giggled. His hyung looked so cute, all bewildered and surprised with his wide eyes and open mouth.
Clearing his throat, Kris awkwardly turned his head around to face the maknae.
“What do you need Sehun-ah?”
The blonde maknae smiled sheepishly.
“Can I have some of your banana hyung?”
Kris choked on his own spit.
Now he hasn’t been in Korea for that long but he was pretty sure the sexual innuendo in that statement was pretty darn obvious.
Of course, Korean culture was a lot less in your face vulgar than the North American variety he had been used to but looking at Luhan’s smirk in the background, Kris decided that no he wasn’t imagining things.
Okay maybe his baby dongsaeng was just hungry.
Hungry for the d-
Okay let’s stop that thought right there Kris.
Tilting his head, Kris moved to hand the offending fruit to his precious Sehun-ah but stopped when he felt a pair of slender arms wrap around his back.
Warm breath hit the back of his neck and he shivered unconsciously as the baby of the group leaned over his shoulders to take a bite out of the banana he was still holding. Kris gingerly peeked at the side of Sehun’s face as the younger licked his lips, mouth still hovering over the top of the banana that he had just bitten off. The maknae chewed enthusiastically, releasing sounds of enjoyment every once in a while as if he had never eaten a banana before.
Kris could’ve sworn there was a moan somewhere in there too.
The EXO-M leader glanced sideways at Luhan whose grin looked too happy for the man to be innocent. The Beijing native simply raised an eyebrow in response before giving his leader a few smarmy eyebrow raises.
Along with a few crude hand gestures.
“He wants the D” Luhan mouthed silently.
If Kris could die of mortification right then and there, he would’ve.
But then again, if he did, he wouldn’t have gotten to feel Sehun give him a back hug and see that sparkling eye smile.
“Thanks hyung for the banana! Your banana is really good!”
T-minus 4 hours
“Praise the lord for Suho and his wallet,” Sehun mentally thought as the exhausted EXO members all piled into 2 separate vans, awaiting their much anticipated trip to a barbeque restaurant.
After being forced to go through the dare of eating Kris’ banana (and yes Sehun was very well aware of just how dirty that looked and sounded), Sehun had been flushed a bright apple red for the remainder of the time. The two had exchanged a few shy glances but surprisingly they were exceptionally productive for the remainder of the hour, cranking out scarves like a well-oiled machine.
All the other groups were just as exhausted as they were from what Sehun could catch of their conversations.
Yixing and Xiumin had managed to break their sewing machine within the first 5 minutes, getting the thread tangled everywhere, and eventually the device spluttered its last breath, much to Kyungsoo’s everlasting disappointment. Fortunately, Kyungsoo worked his machine with the efficiency of 3 people and they had finished up most, if not all, of the tags before dinner was called.
Kai and Chanyeol had spent most of their time tying ribbons onto Kyungsoo instead of doing their wrapping duty. The shorter had weakly tried to ward off their advances to no avail. However, Sehun could see why they couldn’t help themselves.
Do Umma was just too adorable with a giant red bow perched on top of his squishy head.
Baekhyun and Chen had visited them in the storage room for quite a while, abandoning refreshment duty to Suho. The 2 members of the beagle line, upon catching sight of the mass of extra yarn, had immediately proceeded to reenact the rope game that was so popular back in kindergarten. Fingers tangled in yarn and each other, the unofficial couple looked so cute and carefree that Sehun just wanted to strangle a puppy.
Ugh. If only that was him and Kris.
T-minus 3 Hours
After about 30 minutes of attempting to tune out Baekhyun and Chanyeol’s incessant singing to their own songs and feeling gingerly aware that his and Kris’ arms were touching, Sehun was about to die of happiness when he caught sight of the family barbeque restaurant that they visited whenever there was a reason for celebration.
Ducking his head as he shuffled out of the van, Sehun didn’t pay attention to where he was going and almost face planted onto the concrete if it wasn’t for a quick tug on his arm by a startled duizhang. His face the color of that one particularly horrifying red dye job, Sehun mumbled a quick thank you to the slightly worried leader and gave Luhan’s waggling eyebrows a dirty look.
The members, out of sheer hunger, all ran into the barbeque restaurant like a pack of starving wolf cubs. The restaurant waiters looked intimidated by the crowd of tall adolescent boys while the manager cheered internally at the amount of money this group is sure to spend.
10 minutes later, Sehun’s eyes were glazed over by the sight of plates and plates of meat.
Having 12 boys crowded around one table was impossible so the group was split up into 3’s once more with the same group as the ones they had worked in earlier. 2 groups shared one grill and Sehun as the maknae was crowded uncomfortably against one wall as he was forced to serve everyone the seaweed soup. Doling out ladles of food like a cafeteria lady was not something the glamorous maknae was used to doing but when faced with an eyeful of Kris’ grateful smile, Sehun suddenly didn’t mind as much.
Just as he was about to dig in to a spoonful of soup, Luhan the little devil nudged him in the side, causing him to yelp as he almost spilled soup onto his family jewels.
“Yah what was that for hyung!”
Luhan grinned at him.
“You should grill duizhang some meat. Especially when you’re the maknae.”
Sehun spluttered as he for the 1 millionth time today resembled a ripe tomato. However, he acquiesced and moved to cut up a piece of the pork belly for his beloved duizhang. Elbowing Chanyeol for the scissors next to him, Sehun delicately snipped the rapidly curling slices of pork into bite sized pieces. Carefully picking up the meat with a pair of metal serving chopsticks, he moved to place it in Kris’ dish before Luhan elbowed him again with a mischievous look in his eye.
“Hun-ah, you should feed him.”
Sehun looked at Kris.
Well here goes nothing.
“Say ah hyung”
He motioned for the EXO-M leader to open his mouth as he gently blew on the piece of pork to cool it down. Ignoring Kris’ slack jawed expression, he gingerly held out his chopsticks for the Canadian.
Watching in satisfaction as Kris chewed with a blissed out look on his face, Sehun gave himself a little pat on the back.
“Is it good hyung?”
Kris grinned at him.
“Very delicious.”
T-minus 2 Hours
After one very intense hour of stuffing their faces, the EXO members reluctantly trudged back to the orphanage, on foot this time as Suho didn’t want them to gain too much weight from a single meal. The beagle line had already been shushed multiple times to avoid catching too much of the public’s attention and the rest of the group huddled together, shivering in the cold December air.
Sehun meandered at the back of the pack, feeling a bit lonely as he watched Kris and the rest of the China line chatter happily together about what their relatives were doing back home and how maybe this time management would let them go back to visit their families during Chinese New Year which was coming up.
While they always tease Kris about missing his mother, Sehun knew it wasn’t easy on the leader to be half a world away from his family in Canada. He didn’t know what he would do if faced with the same circumstances that his Chinese members had to deal with on a daily basis.
Settled deep in his pity parade, Sehun jerked up when he felt a warm arm encircle his cold shoulders. Glancing up to his right, he blinked at the unexpected sight of Kris straightening his red scarf for him, the leader patting his handiwork as his hand lingered on his dongsaeng’s shoulder.
“What are you doing here at the back all alone Sehun-ah? Aren’t you cold?”
Sehun flushed.
“A-A little bit hyung.”
“Here.”
Shrugging out of his favorite university sweatshirt, Kris handed the warm oversized jacket to Sehun and helped him slip it over his thin long sleeved shirt. Sehun shivered a little as Kris’ hands tugged the shirt down his torso, the Canadian’s long fingers skimming over the boy’s stomach as the leader tried to smooth out the fabric bunched up at his dongsaeng’s waist.
Gently ruffling the shorter’s hair, Kris smiled indulgently at his maknae before walking faster to catch up with the members he had left behind earlier.
Sehun curled his fingers around the sleeve of the too-long sweatshirt and grinned.
Maybe this really could be his year.
T-minus 1 hour
All the members arrived safe and sound at the orphanage once again, just in time to pass out presents to the children before the clock struck midnight. Tao and Kris had stacked all the presents in the living room of the office and they were now just waiting for the children to file in and claim their New Year’s presents. With the fireplace going and the bright red ribbons everywhere, Sehun couldn’t help but let out a happy little sigh at the homey-ness of it all. It would be the first time that EXO spent the New Year’s together as a whole and as he caught the eyes of a very special duizhang across the room, Sehun couldn’t help but feel that the year was more complete now than ever.
Soon the sounds of little pattering feet could be heard and Kyungsoo quickly moved to open the door, getting knocked over onto the floor as 3 pairs of bright eyes looked up at him.
“Is he our present Minah noona?”
The slightly taller toddler, Minah Sehun supposed, frowned at the owl boy sprawled out before her.
“I don’t think so Lujin. What do you think Shiyi?”
A dark haired boy looked contemplatively at Kyungsoo.
Suho, wanting to end the children’s confusion, quickly popped over with 3 gift boxes and Kyungsoo was soon ran over by more pattering feet as the rest of the orphanage children filed in to the crowded living room. All of the EXO members chipped in to hand out presents and by exactly 15 minutes before it was a new year, the last present had been gifted and all the children were placated and happy.
The refreshments team had finally decided to pull their weight’s worth and passed mugs of coffee to the exhausted volunteers, and Sehun had quickly taken a seat on the carpet by his duizhang’s feet once Baekhyun handed him his mug.
Turning around to beam at his hyung, Sehun grinned.
“We’re finished!”
A warm hand ran through Sehun’s mussed locks.
“We are. And Suho was right. They all look so happy.”
Sehun hummed complacently in reply.
“That one, Shiyi, looks a lot like you.”
Sehun scrunched up his eyes to look at the boy Kris was talking about.
“He’s one of the 1st 3 that came in. Dark haired, cute pudgy legs, slightly squinty eyes.”
Sehun ahhed as he picked out the boy Kris was talking about. The toddler had opened his gift box to reveal the scarf and teddy bear that was inside and was currently wrapping the big scarf around a smaller boy standing next to him. The little boy’s eyebrows were crinkled up in focus and his little chubby hands worked diligently to wrap up and warm his dongsaeng. Once he was finished, the younger boy leaned over and enveloped Shiyi in a tight hug.
“He’s half Chinese did you know that? Luhan had pulled me over to speak to him and he reminded me of you a lot.”
The maknae peered back at his hyung.
“Why?”
“Well he’s so independent even at such a young age and he always takes good care of others, even those older than him.”
Kris leaned over until Sehun, leaning back, could almost reach out and touch his nose to his hyung’s.
“And even if he doesn’t smile a lot, when he does, it makes his hyungs so happy.”
A big cheer erupted from the front of the living room as the final 10 second countdown began on the widescreen TV.
Sehun gulped at their close proximity.
“Kris hyung, I think I want to let you know. I really like y-“
The rest of his words were muffled as his own personal duizhang leaned over to seal their lips together, fireworks exploding both in their minds as well as outside in the cold winter air as the world welcomed a New Year.
Sehun’s hands unconsciously found their way to grasp onto Kris’ dress shirt as the two leaned even closer to each other, sweet presses of lips against lips being exchanged as they remained oblivious to the cheers of those around them. Big warm hands cradled the maknae’s face as Kris tilted his head to get better access to his dongsaeng’s rosy well -kissed mouth. Sehun gasped at the new angle and felt utterly breathless as he fought the urge to purr at the previously unknown sensation.
Finally letting go when the human need to breathe came over them, Kris smiled widely and pressed one last kiss against his baby’s nose.
“Sehun-ah, I think I really like you too.”
30 minutes into the new year
“So my lovely roommate and dongsaeng, what are your new resolutions for this year?”
Sehun took one second out of his nonstop fangirling over the fact that he, yes he the maknae, had gotten duizhang to notice him after all to glare at Luhan.
“No idea hyung. Now stop bothering me.”
Luhan was not to be deterred.
“How about making a resolution to get his d-“
Sehun was proud to say that the giant handprint on Luhan’s face that morning was every bit his own personal work of art.
AN: Can't believe I just wrote that much nonsensical fluff >.< but that promotional gift video was just screaming krishun at me.