23 Days of NCT

Fireplace - Lucas

"Xuxi! It's cold," you sat on the bed alone, cocooned in a blanket, patiently awaiting your boyfriend to finish his sets in the makeshift gym room you both made. But, for whatever reason, he seemed to be taking a longer time than usual. "Xuxi!" You called out again for your unusually warm boyfriend but, again, no response.

Were you left to suffer in silence?

To stay cold for the remainder of the night?

Alone?

In this not so big room?

"Yeah?"

You guess not.

"I'm cold," you retreated further into the blanket and Xuxi laughed, he had just stepped out of the shower, you're guessing, based off of the towel on his head and the dry clothes. "Don't laugh! I literally can't move because of how cold it is..." you mumbled. Xuxi walked up to you and picked you up, blanket and all, and carried you to the main room, placing you in front of the fireplace, which roared with fire and had nothing but a chain-mesh curtain holding it back. You felt your hands start to thaw out and sighed contently.

"I heard you the first time, so I turned it on, I was surprised you didn't levitate here or something," Xuxi teased, pulling up a chair and sitting next to you.

"Of all the times my heater could break..." you grumbled, now beginning to move away from the blanket. You watched the embers dance beautifully, slightly afraid that it would fall upon the stockings in front of the fire place, but nevertheless unafraid.

"Thawed out yet?" He asks.

"Just a second," you mumbled.

Xuxi was officially on break from the company, only three days, but that was plenty for him. Mind you, you were very thankful that he decided to spend it with you of all the people, but ups were slightly embarrassed by the state of, well, disarray your apartment was in. Namely the broken heater and the busted lock, another story for another time.

Actually, forget it, quick story time since it happened literally yesterday, and part of you was thinking that Xuxi asked for a break specifically for it, but anyway you had found out that your neighbor who lived next to you had been trying to spy on you, such was apparent from the small hole you found in your bedroom which you had unceremoniously plastered over and hung a picture frame on top of. Prior to that you ended up getting her to out her plan and apparently she was aware that Xuxi was a frequent visitor and wanted to see what the effort was for. Then, when she found out it was your apartment, she tried to break in, but luckily you were able to hold the door down until the cops arrived.

You didn't tell that to Xuxi, you just told him that you got locked out of your apartment and called a friend of yours to open it, and the only other way to do so was to break the lock. Part of you felt like he didn't buy it, but he didn't press it so you figured that you'd drop it. First thing he did was fix your lock, which you were thankful for, but it did take a good majority of the day.

"Alright, all warmed up!" You leaned back from the fireplace and sighed. "God, it's so cold... I hate it here," you laughed softly. You eyed the presents next to the fireplace.

"Don't even think about it, silly," Xuxi poked your head lightly.

"There's like... five more days until Christmas, please?" You reached for yours and Xuxi took it and put it on the highest shelf. "Xuxi!" You stood up and tried to reach it.

"Nope, five more days," a huge grin was on Xuxi's face and you pinched his cheek.

"You win this round, Huang, but it's only because you're taller than me and I don't have the energy to get the step stool," you said softly. He tugs you down onto your lap and holds you close.

"You know... you remind me of something," he says.

"What's that?"

"Mm... I don't know," he hums and you snickered. "Ah, forget about it, it'll come back to me. Still cold?"

"Just a little," you mumbled, your chattering teeth betraying you. "How the hell are you so warm?"

"I did cardio today."

"Ah, okay," you snuggled closer to Xuxi and you both sat together in comfortably silence. This was nice, you thought to yourself. You hadn't really spent time together like this for a while, especially because he was touring with SuperM for the first half of the year, then he went straight into promotions with WayV, then, goodness, NCT 2020 happened and he just hasn't had a break. You were glad to see him relaxed like this, Xuxi was always one that knew his limits well, as you've learned.

On Xuxi's end he was surprised that the company even let him have a break for this long, maybe they recognized that they've been working him to the bone and finally let him rest. Although he's known as the energizer, even he needs a recharge himself now. Then it hit him, he looked down at you with wide eyes. You were like... a portable charger. He stifled a laugh himself, imagining the shocked look on your face that would appear when he told you. But really, you were. You follow him around and when he's feeling down you bring him right back up, what a wonderful... charger... you are, he thought to himself. Maybe he shouldn't tell you that. He already knew it, but this Christmas was going to be a little more special.