"I swear to god, if you don't stop leaning into me, I will body slam you to the ground."

I let out a tiny chortle behind my hand, but Yoongi whipped his head from facing Taehyung to facing me. I immediately froze as his eyes narrowed.

"It's not the time to be bickering." Jin looked back at us from over Yoongi's head, but caught sight of Jungkook mocking him with Jimin and whisper yelled, "Yah! You brats want to fight?"

"Sure hyung."

"Why you-"

"Shut up! You guys are the worst at being quiet!"

We all froze in our step as Namjoon forgot to keep his voice down. A moment of tense silence followed as we held our breaths. 

We were just outside of the kitchen doors and saw the light on underneath. For all we knew, nobody could've been in there, but we tried to play it safe by silently tiptoeing past it.

Maybe the plan wasn't the best as we leaned against one another right next to the door. The floorboards were known to amplify the sounds of footsteps, so we did our best to walk as slowly and carefully as possible.

After three more seconds, I let out a breath since we were in the clear.

But then the door creaked open and my body activated its fight-or-flight instincts quickly. It was so slow and we all froze in panic. I didn't even have time to react before it revealed a familiar woman.

❀♡❀

"Way to go, dumbass."

"Hey! She probably heard you all first."

"Or maybe she didn't, but you ruined it for us."

"Now, now boys. Even as adults you still argue like you did as children."

Yoongi, Namjoon and Jin all sulked at her words. I fidgeted with my jacket sleeves as we all sat on the barstools in the kitchen.

Seokjin's grandmother turned to face all of us after she washed her hands and dried the excess water on her apron. She quirked an eyebrow at our guilty forms before finally settling her hands down on the countertop.

"Anyone mind telling me why you guys were sneaking out?"

No one answered and she let out a low hum as she looked at each of us. I swear I felt a bead of sweat begin to form when she glanced at me.

"Yoongi, how about you tell me, dear."

"What! Why is it always me! I swear this is like déjà vu."

It was scary how similar Seokjin's grandmother looked like her grandson as she shot the infamous look with no questions.

Yoongi gulped as he answered, "I broke my phone so I was hoping to go buy a new one with the others tagging along."

She interlaced her hands on the table before slightly leaning forward and looking Yoongi directly in the eyes.

"There's more to it than just that, huh."

Yoongi looked away, but didn't respond.

"My grandmotherly instincts never fail me. I know a majority of you didn't eat that much! Well, why didn't you just say so! I'll whip you guys up something quickly."

She let out a large smile as she straightened her posture, but it was Namjoon that spoke up for us.

"We would appreciate that, but it's late at night and we wouldn't want to keep you up. You should get some rest since you've been baking all day."

"It's nothing, dear! I'd be glad to feed you guys!"

"Um, if you don't mind me saying, we kind of wanted to step away from this place. There's just been some built up frustration and I think we could all use some fresh air. We were hoping to go out to town and eat."

All of us looked at Jungkook, a bit shocked at how he spoke up. I turned back to Seokjin's grandmother whose face gave no indication as to how she felt. Jungkook looked nervously up at her.

A moment passed before she let out a low sigh and nodded along.

"I understand. It's hard to breathe with the air so tight. I'd much rather stay away from that drama. Why don't you dears run along- oh! And take a cookie each!"

I was a bit surprised by how open Seokjin's grandmother was, but it also made my heart warm with how understanding she was. The boys seemed just as surprised but nevertheless thanked her profusely and eagerly chose a cookie from a tray.

As she turned to me and held up the tray, I tentatively took one. She shot me a sweet grandmotherly grin before voicing out, "Please don't let things get to you. The boys will always be there for you and will treat you properly. I should know, I raised them! As a person who's as old as I am, I understand that trials and tribulations will come by, but they'll also leave. Quicker if you handle them appropriately, but nevertheless, life goes on."

I let out a smile of my own at her words. She winked before she looked at all of us.

"If you guys are heading out, you better make sure to wear gloves, scarves, and caps to protect yourselves!"

"Yes we know. We'll stay warm and safe."

"Good. Well you better head on your way before word gets out that you've escaped."

Jin led the way to the door before turning to face his grandmother before stepping out. We all stopped right after and turned to see her blowing a kiss towards us all. My heart warmed as she tenderly watched us. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Jin shoot her one back before turning and leaving first.

I was in the back, but right before I exited I turned once more and let out a shy flying kiss. She pretended to catch it and put it in her pocket before shooing me off. I giggled as I turned and gently shut the door behind me.

Looking down the hall, I already see the guys tiptoeing their way to the front door. Quickening my steps and shoving the cookie into my mouth, I let out a choked laugh as they all turned at once to face me at the sound of a creak. I let out a shrug as Hoseok rolled his eyes and dragged me closer to him. Forcing me to follow his steps, I willingly did so as we let out mischievous snickers and occasionally earned a hushed scolding from Jin or Yoongi.

❀♡❀

"Jeon Jungkook, I swear to God. If you dare put another goddamn chocolate ball in my cup ramen ever again, I will personally castrate you."

Jin held Jungkook's ear down as the younger boy whined and begged for forgiveness. I tiredly laughed with an equally tired Taehyung.

Earlier, we had successfully achieved getting Yoongi a new phone before finding a convenience store that allowed us to eat inside. The lights of the town were beautiful and Christmas decorations made everything much more magical. At one point, Jungkook, Taehyung, Jimin and I had slipped away while the others were distracted by the phones and ran to an open area. Although it sadly didn't snow at the time, we were able to play with piled up snow from earlier in the day and have a snowball fight of our own. No one was really out and it was fun. 

Of course, we got a major scolding from Jin, but I could tell he wasn't going that harsh on us. 

Near the beginning, once we reached the convenience store we were pretty rowdy, but there weren't that many people there anyway, so we joked around to our heart's content.

Jungkook thought it'd be a funny prank sneaking in one of the chocolate pieces that Hoseok had bought me earlier into his ramen.

That of course didn't end well.

"Excuse me, I'm going to have to ask you guys to leave. You are bothering other customers."

We all froze before turning and finding a stern looking male employee standing to the side. I nervously gulped at the twitch in his expression as he saw the mess on the table of foods we had bought and empty ramen cups.

A couple people looked at us with disgust from other isles. I personally didn't give two flying fucks, but the manager looked ticked off.

"Well tell your customers to mind their own business and to piss off ours."

My eyes widened as I saw Yoongi challenge the guy. He held a glare with a pissed off expression of his own.

"You guys are causing the disturbance and I would personally suggest you take your leave before I have to force you out."

Yoongi's eyes narrowed as he crossed his arms and legs intimidatingly. He leaned forward in his chair a bit before saying, "Are you looking for a fight, bro?"

The employee's jaw clenched as he crossed his own arms and leaned in a bit towards Yoongi as well.

"Is there a problem with taking yourselves out?"

"Yoongi, you better not piss him off." Namjoon lowly warned.

Yoongi let a smirk tilt onto his lip as he leaned even closer.

"I ain't never seen two pretty best friends."

❀♡❀

"Way to go Y-Yoongi! I d-didn't even get to f-finish my d-d-drink." Jimin's teeth chattered violently as shivers racked through his body.

"H-how was I s-supposed to know he would f-feel i-intim-midated by my s-suggestion?"

"W-would you guys sh-shut up!" Jin turned around from the passenger seat and pointedly glared at the two.

I sighed as I tried to huddle closer into both Jungkook and Taehyung's warmth. We were gathered in the car after just getting forcefully kicked out and now waited for the car to heat up. I cringed as I shivered, which caused my nonexistent abs to ache.

Jungkook suddenly grabbed both of my cold hands and brought them up to his mouth before blowing a warm breath upon them. My cheeks warmed at his actions. He glanced up at me with a shy smile before proceeding to tuck my hands into his own jacket pockets. Both of his thumbs rubbed soothing circles upon my palms and I felt comforted by his actions. Taehyung nuzzled closer to my back and wrapped his arms tighter around me as he tried to warm up.

"Is the goddamn h-heater broken or something?"

"Uh, it's trying it's damn best."

"Well it should try harder."

"We wouldn't be in this situation if you didn't try to pick a fight with that guy Yoongi!"

Here we go again.

I rolled my eyes for the nth time as I shut my eyes and tried to warm up.

❀♡❀

We all let our relieved breaths as we gathered into Namjoon's and Seokjin's shared bedroom. I tiredly flopped onto the bed as the others followed suit. It was very cramped, but we just huddled close and appreciated both the warmth and quiet atmosphere.

"I could pass out right here and now."

"You punks should really get back to your own rooms." I frowned up at Jin but he stuck a playful tongue out.

Jimin dramatically crooned, "Somebody carry me, I don't have the willpower to move. I simply don't have it in me."

"Your ass is taking up most of the space on the bed, Jimin."

Jimin let out a dramatic gasp before flipping over and laying on his stomach at the middle, purposefully sticking his butt out.

"You know you appreciate the Jibooty. Without it, you all would be a sad bunch."

Taehyung let out a loud laugh at the twitch in Yoongi's eye. He leaned over and smacked his soulmate's ass with another fit of laughter from the resulting yelp. Jimin tried to lean over Jungkook and swat at Taehyung, but the maknae acted as a shield between the two. It took a few minutes of their play fighting before Namjoon told them to settle down and Jin warningly pinched each of their arms to stop them.

The silence afterwards felt a bit awkward, but as I glanced around, everyone seemed to be in a lax position as we all began to grow tired.

"Hey, it'll officially be Christmas soon."

"Oh yeah, huh. How old will Jesus be turning this year?"

"Shit, that's a good question. I don't think he even knows."

Hoseok and Namjoon shared a giggle as I pulled out my phone. Looking up a clock that counted the seconds as well, it showed that there was a minute before midnight.

"Nice timing boys. We have a minute."

"You think we can catch Santa sneaking in?"

"I always laughed at the thought of him getting stuck in that chimney and forever regretting his life decisions by eating that last cookie. Then all those children who waited for Santa would never get their presents and over time, they would stop believing in him, all because he ate a cookie."

We all looked at Yoongi, disappointed but not surprised.

"This is why you'd get coal."

"Hey, you can't judge me for thinking logically. You expect him not to get stuck when in almost every children's drawing book, he's way larger than that tiny chimney. He'd have to be like a raccoon to fit in that space. Also how unconventional is it for him to sneak in through the damn chi-"

"Okay, ten second guys!"

"Okay, this is why I keep my opinions to myself." Yoongi grumbled under his breath but Jimin giggled and snuggled him closer.

"Wait, wait. Shouldn't we do something- uh like toast or talk about what we want before the time goes down? Oh wait, aren't we supposed to kiss?"

"We do that at New Year's, Jungkookie."

Jungkook blushed as I smiled at his flustered expression.

"You know, I don't see why we can't do it before Christmas too."

I glanced up at Jin who held me as he looked down with a smile.

"Unlike last year, we have an even number of soulmates."

I let out a small blush as they smiled at me.

"Well, I guess we can." I looked away with a shy grin at the prospect because I've never really kissed anyone for either Christmas or the ball drop.

"Three seconds left. Everyone pair up!" I felt a hand tilt my jaw to the side and I faced Jin's fond expression with a glint in his eyes.

I could only spare a glance at the others and noted that Jungkook and Taehyung had already leaned in close, Namjoon and Hoseok had shifted to face one another, and Jimin forcefully cupped Yoongi's cheeks and leaned in close.

"Two!"

I looked back up at Jin and felt a brief bubble of excitement. Faintly I heard Jungkook say, "Are we about to kiss right now?" and I spared a small eye roll before focusing back on Jin.

"One!"

❀♡❀

A/N: I'm so sorry this is so late! I've had a really busy schedule since 2021 started and it's really held me back from getting time to write and update. In addition I had some problems figuring out what to write. I know where I want the story to go, but it's just hard to write it out now and I honestly don't know why the words aren't flowing as easily as they used to. It's a bit stressful, but I feel as though I've started to push through lately and gain some inspiration back. I can't promise that I'll update often as chapters are harder than they look to write (especially with an average of about 3000 words), but I'm doing my best.

I just hope you guys can be patient and continue to support me. Whether it be silently or through your lovely comments (they always make me smile and feel motivated to try to keep going), please be understanding.

Question Time! Phew it's been awhile. I just realized that this is my first update in 2021. What's on the top of your bucket list this year? 

I want to be more on top of things. I wish I could be better at staying on track and I'm willing to work on that. Wish me luck, heh.