Bittersweet - |Pepigyeom|

1 • A Day In December

Hello my lovelies!

I want to thank my precious little bean Juli for getting me deeper into this fandom. The moment I start writing for a fandom is the moment you know I'll never get out again, so you succeeded in your mission, haha <3
Pepigyeom has got me screaming and squealing and the plotting of this story went so easy I was surprised by myself. There are a lot more things hiding under the surface than you might think at the beginning, though.

This is a birthday present and might also count as a bit of a Christmas present with the time being - I love you to the moon and back, my lovely Juli, and I hope you like this story (and won't murder me for hurting your babies). <3

For now, please enjoy the first chapter!

Love,
Aki

The time they first meet marks the beginning of December.

There is a twelve in the middle of the date now, between two dots and underlined with a small black marker. The weather every year seems to magically decide to get just around five degrees colder in time with November making a disappearance. It suddenly gets dark before you've really quite woken up, and everywhere you go, you hear the same Christmas songs floating through the air and directly into your ear until they replay automatically in your head whenever you hear even the hint of a note.

Yugyeom reaches for the piece of lined paper that's stuck to the surface of the countertop, and reads his boss' words that have been messily scribbled down. For his co-workers, their boss has to be some kind of mystical creature that they are not really sure exists, because out of all four of them, Yugyeom has the most shifts and still manages to get a glimpse of their manager maybe once a month if he's lucky. It's a bit like playing hide and seek – often times, he comes in the morning and there are pieces of paper placed in the most random of spots, and if he doesn't want to risk his status as a reliable worker, he has to go around and try and find every one of them to follow the instructions.

"Where did that come from?"

He looks up, but Mark just shrugs. "I found it in the refrigerator." He looks unimpressed. Well, it's not really a surprise either.

Yugyeom averts his glance again and studies the barely illegible handwriting. Several tasks are listed on the paper, and if it were someone else in his place, they'd probably be annoyed to be hit with such a variety of unfinished duties when it's an hour before closing time. But not Yugyeom. He likes being busy, he supposes; especially when it's late and he's alone in the shop.

"You sure it's okay if I don't stay longer?" Mark raises his eyebrows, putting on his jacket and scarf halfway. Yugyeom is grateful for him being as considerate, but even if he had three lists to work on, he wouldn't make the other stay any longer than his usual shift. He knows Mark has friends to meet and other work to do and besides, he likes the silence that comes with being the last one to lock the shop.

"Don't worry," he tries to reassure the other. "I can manage it by myself. It's just ..." He raises the paper once more to look at it. "Fairy lights ... Christmas music ... window decoration and ... what is that supposed to mean?"

Mark leans over the counter to look at it. "Oh. A Christmas tree."

Yugyeom is severely confused. "We have a Christmas tree in here?"

The light in the little shop is blindingly bright, and Mark appears as a blurry figure in the fog as soon as he is out in the dark and waves a little at Yugyeom before being swallowed completely by the night. It's around nine p.m., Yugyeom supposes. He doesn't mind staying late. There's a reason he prefers night shifts. Especially in winter – everything is blinking and buzzing with lights and tunes, and even though he has a particular love-hate relationship with the holidays, he can't deny it's beautiful. The only disadvantage is the customers that are missing. He doesn't even know why they are open until ten. No one buys candy at ten p.m.