23 Days of NCT

Gingerbread House - Yuta

"This form of structure doesn't seem very safe," Yuta jokes quietly as he lines the sides of the gingerbread walls with frosting.

"Not at all, but it is delicious," you took some frosting and ate it while attaching the other walls.

"Agreed, don't eat all the icing before we finish the house," he laughs.

"Of course not!" You took one of the roof panes and decorated it while Yuta held the foundation four walls together, waiting for the icing to dry.

Yuta arrived about an hour ago, gingerbread house kit in hand and the bright idea to build it. Although you must admit that your artistic vision and his differ quite largely, you would say the combined effort made something that could only be described as unique. Believe it or not, it was actually your anniversary today, two years, to be exact, and although Yuta preferred to take you out on a proper dinner, the amount of unwanted attention surrounding NCT as a whole has been rather staggering. As a result, you both decided to stay at your place for the duration. Yuta did take it upon himself to do a majority of the planning despite this, starting with the gingerbread house and ending with what he only described as a 'surprise' and that you didn't have to worry about it.

"Do you think it's dry yet?" He asks. You placed your finger on some of the icing.

"Feels dry to me," you answered. Yuta removed his hands slowly and when the foundation stayed in place, he let out a confident hum. "Now for the hard part," you gestured towards the roof panes that you had finished up on quite a while ago. Yuta iced the top of the cookie rooftops and you placed the first roof pane, and he was quick to place the other. You both held the bottoms of them, being sure to keep them in place as they dried.

"Now this is what I call abstract art," he looks at the haphazardly done lines of icing and candies.

"I was going for a casually messy aesthetic for it, I think it's worthy of a museum in my opinion," you moved your hand slowly to see if the icing has dried, and when the roof pane moved slightly you were quick to put it back into place.

"I never said it wasn't," he laughs. "I might bring this back to the dorms with me," he says.

"No way."

"Why not?"

"Jungwoo might eat it..."

"It is gingerbread," he removes his hands slowly and the roof stays in place. "Hey, I talked to the company about taking Christmas off."

"Oh?" Your ears perked up at this, it was very rare that you got spend the holidays with Yuta, despite his constant requests to, because of Awards season he would frequently get declined.

"After some compromises, they actually approved it this time," he says with a smile.

"They did? That's great! But also new, what were the compromises?" You asked him.

"Eh, nothing too big, just that I'd come in a bit earlier for sessions is all," he nods.

"Ah, I'll actually have to clean my room this Christmas," you let go of your own roof pane and the Gingerbread House was set and ready. Yuta iced the area around the house, probably going for a snowy motif, and you both started placing the gummy decorations around it, a new found smile upon your face because of the good news.

Despite the length of your relationship, you were actually starting to grow quite worried. You were both in the comfortable stage, you both had mutual trust in each other and had no reason to suspect the other of anything, but because of that conversations between the two of you became sparse, and as his schedule became busier and your job became more demanding, it only got worse. At this point, you'd take any opportunity to spend more time with him, and what's better than to spend Christmas with one another?

Yuta, on the other hand, took his time to enjoy this moment, he was dreading the two weeks to come, actually, but he knew it would pay off once it was over. The compromises he ended up settling with were extended hours, he'd have to make up for the time lost somehow, and the only other way to do it was to spend more time in the studio. The other members of NCT were quick to retaliate with the company, most insisting that Yuta didn't need the hours, but they stood firm and instead the members decided to divide shifts as to who would stay over with him and he was grateful for that. Though it paled in comparison to what he had planned for once he would finally take the day off on Christmas, he was going to put his all into reviving what has become 'comfortable' in his relationship with you. He already knew it, but this Christmas was going to be a little more special.