Chapter 11

It seemed like the winter holidays had gone by far too quickly as Yona finished zipping up her bag and started to head downstairs with it so Hak could finish loading up the car.

They had promised the rest of their friends that they would be home for New Years so that they could all celebrate together. This however, meant saying goodbye to Hak's family early. And so, as happy as she was to head back, Yona still felt rather sad for the moment.

Reaching the bottom of the stairs, Hang-dae snatched up her bag with a wink and went go help Hak with the car while she said her goodbyes.

Little Tae-yun was the first in line to demand a hug before she went, and she was happy to oblige, picking him up and spinning him about the room until he was grinning from ear to ear. Then Mundok stepped forward and wrapped her in one of his infamous bear hugs to which, with her at least, she was lucky he was mindful not to suffocate her.

With quick hugs for both Hang-dae and Tae-woo it was Hak's turn. True to form Tae-yun was the only one who Hak readily accepted a hug from. Tae-woo and Hang-dae had to dogpile Hak to get their own and after almost causing an all-out brawl, he eventually relented and let Mundok give him a bear hug too with Yona stifling a giggle from behind as she watched the entire event unfold.

Goodbyes now said, the two of them hopped into Hak's car and waved goodbye as they went on their way.

Similar to the trip there, Yona and Hak spent most of the drive singing and harmonizing together. This time to some of the newer songs he and Jae-ha had managed to scribble up, Yona picking out a part for herself along the way.

She was almost surprised when what seemed like barely an hour later, Hak was already pulling up to the apartment, time having escaped her while they had been having fun.

Eager to see her friends again, she wasted no time in jumping out of the car and racing towards the front door, leaving Hak to sigh and chuckle to himself as he got out too and went to grab their stuff from the back. Something Yona had seemed to have forgotten about in her excitement.

As soon as she got in the door Yona called out to see if anyone else had arrived before them. When only Jae-ha replied, calling down a hello and that he'd be down in just a moment from upstairs, she concluded they must be the first ones back.

No matter, she thought to herself. She'd get to see them all again soon enough. It hadn't even been that long, but her friends here were her family and they had been together for so long now, it seemed odd whenever they were apart for more than a few days.

Not a moment later, Jae-ha descended the stairs just as Hak shuffled through the door, dumping all their stuff in the hall.

He quirked an eye at his roommate who seemed suspiciously out of breath and sweating before he glanced back out the window and noted how full both their garbage and recycling were.

He must have woken up late and only just remembered they were coming back today and had run around cleaning up a week's worth of party mess in just under a few hours.

The final damning evidence was a forgotten red solo cup sitting on the top of the coat rack.

Jae-ha noticed where he was looking and tried putting on his most innocent smile as he shrugged.

"Welcome back you two! How was your Christmas?" he asked trying to change the subject before anyone had even said a word.

One thing Hak would give him was that the man was always fast on his feet both running around the house and thinking on the spot. Being thorough at cleaning on the other hand? That was another story entirely.

Hak just waved him off though. He'd mostly kept his promise as the house looked to be in relative order, so he'd only have Yun to face next time the trash was due to be collected and they wouldn't be able to fit anything else in any of the bins.

Yona, on the other hand, piped up cheerily telling him all about their Christmas and how Mundok and the others were doing much to Jae-ha's evident relief.

She also excitedly raced over to where Hak had dumped their stuff and proudly grabbed her new bow to show him.

"Wow, it looks wonderful Yona-Dear. Very impressive." He told her with a smile.

"Isn't it though? Hak got it for me as my Christmas present and is teaching me how to use it properly!"

"Did he now?" Jae-ha asked in surprise, looking up to give the man a curious look, "And how exactly have his lessons been so far then?"

"Well so far, I can pull the bow string most of the way back but Hak usually still has to help me get it back all the way and help keep me steady so that my shots don't go way off target." She admitted, embarrassed that she couldn't quite do it all by herself yet even though she'd barely had a day of practice.

That wasn't what had caught Jae-ha's attention however as his face now turned sly.

"Holding you steady, now was he? Ah, I see how it is!" he said while nudging Hak in the ribs, only to be slightly put out and disappointed when he didn't get his usual reaction of annoyance out of him. Instead this time all he got was indifference at his teasing which struck him as odd and only made him more curious about everything that had gone on while they been away at Hak's Grandpa's place.

That aside, he didn't have long to dwell on it as Yona was soon bombarding him with questions about how his Christmas was and making sure he hadn't been lonely without them, that he'd eaten right and looked after himself.

Ever the concerned and caring friend.

He humored her in this and assured her he'd been fine and had a great time, partying with some of his other friends from university and the like, while leaving out details that she didn't need to know here know here and there.

Once placated, Yona excused herself to go help Hak take their things upstairs and unpack seeing as she'd forgotten to help unpack the car.

She had only just put her bag on her shoulder and was reaching to grab Hak's for him when he snatched it out from underneath her before she could get it.

"Hak! Let me take them both. You got both of them from the car, so I'll feel bad for making to carry more stuff." She told him, pouting.

He only ruffled her hair in response telling her not to worry about it before he jogged up the stairs but not before sneaking in a chaste kiss on her cheek when Jae-ha wasn't looking, leaving her blushing at the bottom of the stairs before chasing after him.

{*****}

A few hours later, everyone else was home.

Yun was the first to arrive back, already complaining to everyone about how much of a hassle Ik-su was as soon as he got through the door. No one however, missed the fondness in his face as he talked about the time they got to spend together after months of him being away.

Not long after him, Zeno arrived all smiles and holiday spirit dragging a bundled-up Shin-ah behind him, having bumped into him in the driveway which was quickly filling up with snow.

Kija was last to show up, as his granny had kept him from coming back any sooner by nagging his ear off about how he didn't visit her often enough.

Once everyone was back and they all had the chance to catch up and share stories of their holiday adventures, Yun called everyone to attention.

"Alright, now that we're all back it's about time we got ready to celebrate New Years tonight! I'll start making dinner while you guys get some party crackers, fireworks and the like. Sound good?" he said, ever the organised mother hen of the family.

"Shin-ah and I can go get the party crackers." Said Kija.

"Zeno will get the party hats!" said Zeno.

"I'll get the drinks." Added in Jae-ha with a grin to which everyone rolled their eyes.

"Hak and I can grab the fireworks then!" said Yona, jumping up and down excitedly as she went to go find her jacket.

"Sounds good. Try and aim to all be back around seven. Dinner should be ready by then." Yun said, looking pleased with how everything was falling together so well. He'd never admit it, but he liked helping look after the apartment and being with his friends –as annoying as they could be.

Now that everyone had a job and a deadline, they all went about their designated tasks, all a bit more excited for the evening than before.

{*****}

Soon enough seven o'clock had come and gone. Dinner had been eaten. Party crackers popped with they cheap toys and trinkets already traded and swapped around while they each took turns reading out terrible jokes and riddles on the strips of paper they found inside.

At one point, the guys had all ganged up on Yona and forced her to wear all their paper crown hats at once stacked on top of each other seeing as she was their 'Princess', so it only made sense that she wear a crown after all.

She had just laughed with them as they had all chased her around the house trying to shove their hats on her head as she ran without ripping them. Eventually she gave in and let them all stack their paper crowns in a mess atop her head. Shin-ah even added Ao on top, letting the little squirrel fold and re-arrange the paper to make a nest of sorts.

By now it was around nine at night and they still had another three hours to go until the New Year and everyone was starting to wind down a bit more.

That is, until Jae-ha suggested that they play a game to pass the time until the final countdown was on tv.

At first everyone agreed, seeing as it sounded like fun and would be a good way to pass the time.

"There's a catch though," he added with a wink at the group, "Whoever wins gets to force everyone else to do one thing of the winner's choice!"

"That just sounds sketchy coming from you droopy Eyes." Hak remarked looking unamused with the suggestion.

"Oh come on guys! We have to make it more interesting somehow, and what better way then by adding stakes to the game?" he continued on, undiscouraged.

"It'll be fine guys, lets just go with it and have some fun." Yona said casually from her place on the couch.

"Exactly right Yona-Dear!" he replied giving her a small thumbs up and a wink.

"What are we even going to play then?" asked Yun, still skeptical of the whole thing but willing to go along with it for now.

"I don't know, I didn't think I'd get this far. Any suggestions?" said Jae-ha.

Suddenly Zeno lit up with his usual huge grin and sunny disposition, always ready to have fun.

"Zeno thinks we should play Uno!"

"Uno? Really?" Hak said, expecting the usual friendship-breaking monopoly to suggested by someone, but when no one had any real complaints they decided to just go with it.

Another hour or so later there were spilled drinks and chips scattered everywhere as they finished up the game. They had decided to play similar to the online version where you can swap each others' cards, thinking it might make for a more interesting game.

They were not disappointed.

Kija had become furious every time he managed to get Uno but forgot to yell it out thereby missing his chance. Shin-ah just played with no intent of winning had been more distracted by feeding Ao their snacks the entire time. Yun had ended up getting stuck with shitty cards for the whole game and eventually just got fed up and forfeited, instead, going about trying to clean up some of the mess they had managed to make. Zeno on the other hand, despite suggesting the game, had no idea how to play and thus did very poorly between having to ask the rules every time it was his turn and making his decisions based purely off what colour he preferred at the time.

Yona had tried her best but kept getting her cards taken from her every time she finally managed to pick up a good card, and Jae-ha and Hak had just been at each others' throats every time they forced the other to pick up another 4 cards or blocks their turn.

Overall though, throughout the chaos of it all they had all had a good time but in the end there someone had to win, and that person just so happened to be Jae-ha himself.

"Alright man, what do you want us to do? Just get it over with, we know it's not going be anything good." Hak grumbled as he helped gather up all the cards and put them back in their box.

Without missing a beat Jae-ha simply spread both of his arms in the air and loudly announced his request.

"I demand that we all go and get tattoos together!"

"NO WAY!" everyone yelled back.

"Oh come on! You guys agreed to the stakes!" he complained.

"Yeah that was before we knew you were going to be an idiot about the punishment!" Yun yelled at him.

"I mean, he does have a point," Yona said begrudgingly, "We did agree."

"I can't get a tattoo! How will I ever get a respectable job in the workforce with something as inappropriate as that!" Kija whined.

Shin-ah just sat in the corner looking unhappy seeing as he wasn't keen on needles.

"How about this," Zeno interrupted before the argument went on any further when they were supposed to be getting along and celebrating the New Year together, "Instead of real tattoos, we go out and get some of that temporary tattoo ink that lets you draw whatever you want and it lasts longer than those little stick on ones?"

Jae-ha looked put out that they wouldn't go for his idea, claiming they were all no fun but ultimately agreed it was better than nothing and so he headed out to go find some much to everyone else's relief.

When he came back, everyone begrudgingly grabbed some ink and started to work on a design. Most of them decided to go with drawing a dragon, seeing as the coming new year was supposed to be the year of the dragon. Jae-ha decided to draw a green one on his right leg, making it wrap around his calf in an intricate design.

Kija went for grabbing the white ink in the hopes that it wouldn't show up well on his already pale skin and drew one the wrapped up his upper arm. At one point though he regretted his decision when he had to go find a mirror to finish drawing it when he ended up drawing it too far up his arm where he couldn't see what he was doing properly.

Once Jae-ha was finished Zeno got him to draw a massive dragon in yellow on his back and then proceeded to help Shin-ah draw a blue one on his neck, though this turned out to be more difficult than anyone expected because Ao liked to sit snuggled up to his neck while on his shoulder and kept smudging the ink before it could dry and dying her lovely cedar coloured fur bright blue.

Yun scoffed at them all them all, praying the whole time that none of them would be stupid and smudge the ink on any of the furniture before it dried. Instead of a dragon he decided he would do a simple feather pattern on his wrist. The dragons everyone were drawing were just to gaudy for his tastes.

Hak, without a better idea, just went with it and let Jae-ha draw a jet-black dragon stretching from one shoulder to the next, its claws made to look as though they were gripping them in order to hold on, it's expression fierce. He was actually surprised Droopy Eyes had done such a good job instead of drawing something shitty on purpose knowing he'd be stuck with it for a few weeks.

When he looked over to see how Yona was doing he had to stop himself from staring too much, otherwise Droopy Eyes would have noticed and given him hell for it for sure.

She had put her hair up in a small ponytail and gotten a small makeup mirror from her room and was using it to draw a small red dragon just behind her ear and following her hairline slightly as its tail curled down the side of her neck to wrap under where her hair usually covered.

Though she had never been great at art, Hak was impressed with how fluid and detailed she had managed to make the dragon look. She certainly never ceased to surprise him that was for sure.

By the time they were done it was nearing midnight and so they hurriedly grabbed the fireworks they'd gotten and headed out to the yard to light them.

Yun used his phone to countdown the last seconds of the year and as the alarm went off at 12:00 am they each lit a firework and watched as the sky was filled with a riot of colour and sparks as they went off, all of them cheering and running around in the snow like kids.

It was sure to be a great year to come, of that, there was no doubt.

{*****}

Hey guys, sorry this was so much later than I anticipated it being, between exams coming up and the fact that I may be moving things kinda took me by surprise for a while and kept me busy.

Hope this chapter is alright, it might be a bit rushed, but I just wanted to get something up and posted before I left it any longer. It was a bit of another filler chapter, I hope that's alright. I plan to get more into Hak and Yona's relationship in this story and how the others take it/interact with this change etc in the coming chapters (plus more fluff because there's never enough of that) so bear with me.

Thanks for reading this far! 3