"Where are they? I've seen them somewhere around yesterday…" Namjoon spent the entire morning searching every inch of the living room, even behind the TV and in the gap between the couch and shelf.

After observing his friend for minutes, Taehyung puts down the magazine in his hands. "What are you looking for, Joon?"

Namjoon gets up from the floor and wipes dust off his hands. "I can't find my boots."

"Which boots?" Hoseok pokes his head through the sliding door that connects the kitchen and the living room.

"The fancy ones, you know. The ones we got to keep after that commercial shooting the other day."

"You decided to take the fancy boots instead of the fancy bag?" Taehyung stares at his friend in disbelief.

"That hurts…" Seokjin agrees and shakes his head.

Before Namjoon could defend himself, an upset Yoongi who was still wearing his pajamas enters the room, pointing at his bare feet. "Spit it out! Who stole my slippers?"

"Speaking of missing items…" Jungkook plops onto the couch and puts a hand to his chin. "I'm missing my favorite pants."

As he glances around the room, Namjoon notices something. "Hm. One of us is missing too."

"JIMIN!" the whole group shouts.

"Over here," an angelic voice coaxes them out of the room.

Jimin stands in the corridor, and next to him are the boys' shoes. "Happy St. Nicholas Day!"

"San-Ni-Ko...?" Taehyung tries to repeat. "Is that Japanese?"

While the others were still pondering, Namjoon already figured it out. "It's another Christmas custom, isn't it?"

"Correct. St. Nicholas traveled across the world last night to put presents into the shoes of well-behaved children."

"So that's why you stole our shoes," Hoseok solves the riddle with a grin on his face.

"No, I've filled— Uh… I mean… I put them here, so St. Nicholas could find them. Look what he brought you tonight!" Jimin ushers his friends to the neatly lined boots and shoes.

With a crooked smile, Seokjin takes a bunch of paper out of his sneakers. "Last week's newspaper? What am I supposed to do with it? — Oh, I haven't seen the page with the jokes yet!"

"My favorite pants! I got you back!" Jungkook shouts and hugs the dark denim draped over his sneakers.

"What?!" Yoongi looks fromhis slippers to Jimin, and back again. "The present you put in my slippers… is my other pair of slippers?"

"A pair of slippers inside another pair of slippers, both being the present and the vessel at the same time…" Taehyung puts his hands to his temples as the revelation strikes him. "That's 'St. Nicholas Day Inception'!"

As he starts laughing, Yoongi clicks his tongue. "What did you get, Tae?"

"A fancy bag," Taehyung eyes his present with a satisfied look. "Hey! It has my name embroidered on it! Wait a sec, that's because it IS mine!"

"At least you didn't get a bottle of water," Hoseok sighs and takes a sip.

Namjoon pulls a worn-out notepad from his boots. "This is one of my old notebooks." He gets up and shoves his present right in Jimin's face. "What a strange kind of Christmas custom is this? I thought nice children get presents, not trash."

Seeing all of his friends looking at him in confusion, Jimin lets out long sigh and admits: "Actually, I wanted— uh, I mean, St. Nicholas usually puts candy into the shoes, when I found out about this tradition, it was already a bit late, and I— uh, St. Nicholas had to improvise a bit."

"Don't worry too much about it, buddy." Seokjin pats Jimin's back. "I'm sure, next time you'll be—I mean, St. Nicholas will know better ."

"Why do people celebrate St. Nicholas Day in the first place?" Namjoon wants to know.

"To commemorate the death of the benevolent bishop Saint Nicholas of Myra."

After hearing his friend's words, Yoongi cannot help but shiver. "Great, now I'm scared about a dead man sneaking into our apartment and tampers with my slippers every year on December 6!"

"Why don't you confuse him with 'St. Nicholas Day Inception'?" Jungkook suggests.

Yoongi shrugs. "I'll consider it..."

"Tell me, Jimin," Hoseok gives his friend a worried look, "why is there no present in your boots?"

"Who needs a present if they have fancy boots?" Jimin laughs. "Don't you agree, Joon?"

Namjoon does not respond. His gaze is transfixed on a page in the notebook; the look on his face turning more sullen with every passing second.

"Joon? Is everything alright?"

Startled, Namjoon takes a deep breath and lowers the notebook, before plastering a smile onto his face. "Thanks, Jimin. The ideas in this notebook will make writing lyrics much easier. If you look for me, I'm in the studio." He closes the book and rushes out of the room.

"Don't forget to light the candles on your Christmas wreath!" Taehyung calls after him.

Today's Advent Calendar Surprise:

*18 days until Christmas Eve*

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