Fic: Old Man Winter

Title: Old Man Winter
Fandom: Exo
Focus: Xiumin-centric
Genre: Gen
Rating: G
Length: Oneshot (drabble), 200 words
Summary: Exo celebrates Chanyeol's birthday and their first snowfall together. Minseok celebrates them, in his own way.

The first snow falls on November 27th. There's enough piled up that all forms of transportation -- all schedules -- are canceled. Chanyeol's outside first, tugging on the new boots Minseok had conveniently, knowingly, given him earlier. Baekhyun races after, Kyungsoo following with their forgotten scarves. The rest quickly follow, cheeks red for reasons other than the chill.

Minseok watches as they stare wide-eyed up at the sky and stick their tongues out in hopes of catching snowflakes, noses scrunched up and smiles broad. They're childish, endearingly so.

"Hyung, come play!"

He'd rather lie sprawled out, the cold soaking through his clothes. Chanyeol's birthday preparations had exhausted him, and it's not for the first time that Minseok feels ancient compared to these kids.

His musings abruptly stop when a snowball lands on his face.

"Sorry!" someone yells unapologetically, so despite his age and the chill in his bones, Minseok gathers a handful of snow and chases after the others like a child. If the frost nips a bit more sharply at their fingers, he's been overdue for payback anyway. He might as well enjoy this, enjoy them before everything melts away.

"Best present ever!" Chanyeol laughs breathlessly. Minseok grins, agreeing.

Prompt:Taken from seouldout's Round 6 Challenge Four:

1. Word set: frog, snow white, secrets, cinderella
2. Picture: City, glass windows by sirenchild @ tumblr

Author's Note: I thought I had this drabble nailed down when I was working on the first draft earlier this week, but in the end, I don't think my point came across as clearly as I would have liked :( The hints I put in were probably too subtle, but I usually explain my drabbles here anyway sooo. Ahem.

The word count really bit me in the ass this week, although I did find editing pretty easy this time around. Once I made the decision to cut some things out completely, it fit pretty nicely and does read coherently in my opinion. Although the point of the drabble is in danger of getting lost, as is the usage of one of the prompts.

Speaking of prompts, I used primarily the word prompt this time! When I first read them, I was a bit confused about what I could possibly do because it screamed "Fairy tale" which was just... kinda... obvious. To do, I mean. So I got to thinking, about (not-so) old ideas I never really got to flesh out and the one I found was a good fit. \o/

So, on the surface, we've got the first snowfall since Exo's debut occurring on Chanyeol's birthday, which provides the boys with the happy "coincidence" of having a day off and enjoying both due to the snow day. (Also, I looked up the day and it would have been a Tuesday, so no music show appearances anyway! Haha.) It's at this level we get three of the prompts: the others all look like frogs trying to catch flies with their eyes wide open and their tongues sticking out as they try to catch snowflakes instead, the snow fall is obviously related to the snow white prompt, and the gifting of boots is the shout-out to the gifting of the glass slippers in Cinderella.

But then underneath that surface, there's Xiumin's story even if it is Chanyeol's special day. I focused a lot on the image of what separates Xiumin from the others, and one of the easiest things is that he's the hyung of the group. Not just another hyung, not just one of the oldest -- he's the oldest out of all of the Exo members even if he doesn't look it at time. I wanted there to be this invisible line drawn between him and the rest, which is why I have him thinking about them all in terms of "kids" or "children". If I could, I would have portrayed their collective childishness even more, but there's no easy way to fit twelve people into 200 words without lumping them together.

So this drabble gets a bit introspective. Xiumin feels his age, tired and weary. But he gets up with these kids and plays with them, enjoying that youthfulness before it slips away the way snow can melt right as you touch it.

But then there's the secret layer to this drabble. It comes up in how Xiumin "conveniently, knowingly" gives Chanyeol brand new boots right before the first snowfall of the year, how he seems to enjoy soaking up the cold, how Chanyeol's birthday preparations tired him out when all we know is that he got Chanyeol boots, how the frost nips at the others when he's going after them for payback. Xiumin is actually Jack Frost, or some version of him. The whole nipping thing comes from the line "Jack Frost nipping at your nose" and one of the first lines I wrote was actually:

Minseok lets the cold nip a little at Lu Han's fingers, numbing them until the other boy finally gives up and grudgingly pulls on his mittens. There will be no cheek-pinching today, he thinks, which is a relief seeing as his face is already red from the cold. For that, he grins just a bit wider.

So the preparations Xiumin was working on was making it so that the first snow fell on Chanyeol's birthday. (None of the others would have been an option for a first snow, the next birthdays are in January.) He's tired from making it happen lol, because if you think about it, it should be a pretty monumental task. That's how he knew to get Chanyeol the boots too, hahaha. Him being a manifestation of a force of nature also suggests that he's, in my own words, "ancient" compared to the others who really would just be kids compared to him then lol. And that's the big secret. It also makes him a bit of the fairy godmother from Cinderella because the snowfall was really a gift for all of Exo.

And that leaves the explanation of the title. The "Old Man Winter" part should be obvious now that I've said he's a form of Jack Frost, but it also refers to his feeling old compared to the others. Feeling like he's in the winter of his life compared to the others being all youthful and energetic lol

Last notes: the payback... was for all the cheek-pinching and teasing he's had to endure hahaha. Xiumin's really a good sport though :) He's so great, I hope I got his "chill" nature captured. Heh. And the idea of him being Jack Frost comes from his ice powers from the MAMA promotions lol

Maybe I'll continue this one day. Probably not though.