𝓒𝓱𝓸𝓲 𝓑𝓮𝓵𝓵𝓮 | NCT's 24th Member ☆

♔ | christmas eve

Mabel spends Christmas Eve with her favourite people

It was around 7pm in the evening and Mabel was stood in the kitchen with Doyoung and Jaehyun, the three of them trying to decide what would be a nice Christmas Eve dinner. They had already concluded that meat was out of the picture since they were going to have a lot of that the net day, along with noodles and kimchi.

"We basically have no food in. Only the things we're having tomorrow are here. Everything else is just snacks and sweets." Mabel stated whilst opening up the cupboards and the fridge to check for food.
"Well, that's not good." Doyoung said.
"Yeah no shi-"
"Don't say it." Jaehyun was quick to stop the girl from swearing. Even though she was an adult now, Doyoung still flipped out whenever she cursed.

"Why don't we just order fried chicken? I don't know about you but most of those boys don't really care what we eat, as long as they get food. Plus, I guarantee they'll all be quite happy with shareboxes of chicken and some cans of coke or beer. Don't you agree?" Belle explained and looked at both boys in front of her. Slowly they looked at each other and agreed that it was the easiest and probably most tasty option.

Belle nodded and picked up her phone from the counter, making her way to the living room where the other 7 boys were. When she stepped in, she saw half of them laid on the floor and the other half squishing themselves up on the sofas. From the corner of her eye she spotted Taeyong with her heat pack against his back and Mark to the side of him soothing him: he was in quite a bit of pain. Her face softened at him but quickly she remembered why she was there in the first place.

"Hey guys. We're ordering chicken instead tonight. Does anyone want any particular ones?"
"Yangnyeom chicken!"
"Just normal."
"Scallion chicken too please jagi," Jungwoo's voice said and she nodded, scrolling through her phone and finding each of the items. She also added tteotbokki and jokbal because she knew just three boxes of chicken was not going to be enough for the night. Belle quickly ordered before any of the boys could pay for it instead and threw her phone on the little space that was left on the sofas.

Heading back to the kitchen, she saw that Doyoung and Jaehyun had already started getting drinks out of the fridge. It consisted of coke, sprite, soju, beer and orange juice. Quite the array of drinks Mabel had to admit.

"I've ordered all the food. It should be here within 30 minutes." The boys nodded and she picked up some of the drinks in her arms, taking them through to the living room and placing them on the coffee table before going back for more. Afterward, she picked up her phone and sat down in the only space left on the sofa which was in between Jungwoo and Haechan. Immediately, the younger pulled her into his side and ruffled her hair.

"Ahhhh Mimi. You take such good care of us, thank you for getting food."
"I only take care of you. Everyone else is perfectly capable of taking care of themselves. But you aren't." Mabel teased him and in response he just pulled her in tighter and messed up her hair more than it already was.
"Yaaahhhhh, don't say that,"
"Well don't mess up my hair,"

Mabel broke free from his arms and shifted slightly so she was cuddled into Jungwoo rather than Haechan. Her boyfriend securely wrapped his arm around her shoulders and gently placed a kiss on her forehead to which she only snuggled closer. Haechan scoffed and stood up, walking over to Taeil and tugging at his arm.

"Mimi won't cuddle with meeee," He whined but Taeil basically paid him no attention.
"She has Jungwoo. Who else do you think she's going to want to hug?"
"Hyung~"
"Fine." Taeil opened his arms and Haechan bounced straight into them, hugging the older one smiling. He looked at Mabel and made a face as if to say 'haha look who I get to hug.' She made one exactly the same back and reverted her attention to the boy beside her.

"Are you excited for tomorrow?" He asked and she vigorously and a smile etched its way onto her lips.
"Of course I am. I can't wait for everyone to open their gifts. I want to see how they'll react,"

"I can't wait for you to open yours."
"It better not be expensive," Mabel said sternly, narrowing her eyes slightly, "You know that I don't like people spending lots of money on me,"
"It isn't, don't worry."

The girl nodded her head and at that exact same moment, the doorbell rang throughout the dorm. In an instant, Mabel was up on her feet and speeding towards the door to get their food. When she got there she took the bags from the delivery guy and bowed politely, thanking him and wishing him happy holidays before shutting the door and heading to the kitchen to grab the paper plates they had forgotten to take out. Then she took the bags to the 9 hungry boys who were eagerly waiting.

As soon as she had placed the bags down a herd of boys darted towards the food, almost knocking the poor kid to the floor. Within seconds, the coffee table was a mess and half of the food had already gone. Mabel smiled to herself and shook her head, turning around to go grab some napkins for everyone. However before she could even take a step, she noticed that Taeyong was still sat in the same position and was staring at the chicken. She let out a small sigh and went over to him.

"Which ones do you want bubu?"
"Two plain ones and a yangnyeom one please,"

Belle went and picked up a plate, grabbing some pieces of chicken for Taeyong (and a can of sprite too) and headed back to where he was sat. She slowly helped him sit into a more comfortable position but when she touched the heat pack, she noticed it had gone colder and offered to warm it up for him. So she did. She gave him his chicken and went to warm up the heat pack. When she returned, she carefully placed it on his back and went to grab her own food, only to find that Jungwoo had already grabbed her a plate.

"By the time you sat back down, they all would have eaten it leaving you nothing to eat."
"Thank you, oppa."

The 10 of them enjoyed their food and chatted happily, a night of festive fun turning into chaos quite quickly. It was loud and exciting and Belle just enjoyed spending her Christmas Eve with the people she loved the most. Around 40 minutes had passed and everyone was full. Mark had suggested that they watch Home Alone with blankets and cushions and hot chocolate and make it the most Christmassy Christmas Eve that any of them had experienced. The whole group was totally on board with that idea and it wasn't long before the empty boxes of chicken and jokbal were replaced with steaming mugs of hot chocolate and warm, fluffy blankets.

Before the movie started, Belle couldn't help but think about Taeyong and how he was going to be injured yet again this Christmas. She also felt bad that he wouldn't be able to perform with them at the Beyond Live concert on the 27th.

"Jungwoo, I'm gonna sit with Taeyong. I hope you don't mind."
"Not at all," He smiled at his girlfriend and watched as she joyously skipped over to their leader. He wasn't upset that Mabel didn't want to sit with him because he understood that she cared too much for Taeyong and just wanted to make him feel comfortable and happy.

"Hi," She greeted Taeyong as she sat net to him and draped the big, fluffy blanket over the two of them.
"Aren't you going to sit with Jungwoo?"
"No."

The boy didn't question any further because Mabel seemed to be quite content sitting next to him and as she carefully placed her hand on his shoulder and scooched closer to him, he could sense why she was there.

The girl was happy. Despite the fact that the year had been rough, Christmas and New Year would make up for it: what with her spending it with her group members, her most cherished people on earth. As the Christmas tree glistened and Home Alone played on the TV, Belle knew she wouldn't have it any other way. Just her, and her family.