A Very Bangtan Christmas

Part Eight: The Letter

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The boy who the group now knew as Lay stood and grinned, dimples showing on his pale cheeks.

"Lay?" Namjoon asked.

"Everyone calls him that. I don't know why." Yoongi shrugged in reply.

Namjoon nodded as the boys approached Lay.

"Sorry, I was a bit early," he said in a light voice.

"Ah, there's no need to apologize. We should have come earlier, Sunbaenim," Yoongi replied.

"Ah, Yoongi, I told you to call me hyung!" He smiled.

The others stood awkwardly, feeling somewhat intimidated by the older boy Yoongi spoke to. Yoongi motioned for them to come forward, and they followed tentatively. One by one, the boys introduced themselves. Lay greeted them all cheerfully.

"Once again, I'm sorry to bother you on Christmas Day," Yoongi told him as they all sat.

"No, no. I was free anyway. All my friends were busy," he said, still smiling.

Jungkook frowned, feeling a bit bad for him.

Taehyung wondered if him being alone on Christmas made him less fortunate.

Namjoon spoke aloud his thoughts.

"What about your family?"

Yoongi turned to him sharply.

"Oh, my family lives in China. That's where I'm from you see." Lay smiled.

Hoseok wondered if Lay smiled more than him.

Jimin sat, wondering if this boy would be able to receive a late present. He seemed nice enough so far, but by the looks of it, he wasn't exactly "less fortunate," as Yoongi had warned.

"So why did you want to see me?" Lay asked Yoongi.

"Ah...uh...that is..."

How on earth would he ask his sunbae to write a letter to Santa? Yoongi turned to the others with a "help me" look. Jin shrugged and glanced at Namjoon. He gave Yoongi a sheepish smile and turned to Hoseok. Jimin, a bit desperate, finally spoke up.

"We need you to write a letter to Sa--"

"Ah, hyung!" Another voice called.

Lay looked up, as did the rest of the group. Another boy was entering the cafe.

"Baekhyun? What are you doing here?"

The boy jogged over to them.

"I was looking for you. Minseok Hyung said you'd gone to campus. Why are you...?" Baekhyun trailed off as he looked around the table. "What's going on?"

"Ah, this is Yoongi, my hoobae at school, and these are his friends. They wanted to meet up." Lay smiled.

"Oh. Can I sit?" Baekhyun asked.

Lay nodded and Baekhyun squished himself between Taehyung and Hoseok who were sitting beside each other. Baekhyun and Taehyung watched each other with a slight frown for a second, before Taehyung shrugged and looked back at Lay. Baekhyun followed.

"Why were you looking for me?" Lay asked.

"I was finished practicing a little while after you asked me to hang out."

The table fell silent again. Jimin's moment of bluntness had past, and he'd returned to his timid attitude. Namjoon gave Yoongi a little nudge in the shoulder, urging him to continue. But Yoongi was even more hesitant than before. Now that one of Lay's friends had shown up, asking would be even more humiliating. Lay watched everyone expectantly. Baekhyun looked around awkwardly. Jin sighed.

"Aish! We need you to write a letter!" Jungkook finally spoke.

Everyone turned to him.

"Me?" Lay asked.

"Yes. I know it's strange, but, that is...uh...Jimin needs to get home...?"

Lay watched him with a blank face. Baekhyun frowned in confusion. Jin almost face palmed.

"He's a special...person..." Jungkook tried to explain.

"I told you to stop whispering in my ear!" A voice exclaimed.

Once again, everyone turned to the entrance of the cafe.

"Sorry, sorry," a chuckling voice replied.

Two black haired males were walking in. One looking annoyed and the other smiling teasingly. Jin really did face palm at that moment.

"Okay listen," he said quickly, before more interruptions could occur. "We need you to write a letter to the North Pole."

"What?!" Baekhyun asked. "To where?!"

"Aye!" One of the new boys called. "Namjoon!"

Namjoon looked up and noticed for the first time that the one who'd entered was his friend.

"Jackson? What are you doing here?" He grinned.

Jimin gave him a pleading look. Begging for him to just hold of his conversation till after Lay wrote the letter. But Namjoon called over Jackson and Jinyoung to the table where nine people already sat.

"What's going on here?" Jinyoung asked.

"We need Lay to write a letter to the Santa!" Jimin finally burst, standing up.

Everyone sat in complete silence. Stunned at what the short redhead had just screamed. And confused about who he was in the first place. Jimin felt his cheeks heat up from the stares, sitting down quickly.

"Sorry," Lay spoke up after another minute of silence. "I don't think I can."

The group of seven who'd been on the mission since that morning looked up at Lay, trying not to seem too disappointed. And also trying not to look too confused at why he didn't burst into laughter at their ridiculous statement. However, Lay continued, before Jackson could make a sassy comment to Namjoon about his strange friends.

"I think it's a bit pushy to write Santa two letters in one day, ya know?"