Archive of Our Own ^beta

“Yukhei, it’s going to be fine. My mum likes you better than she likes me.”

“Everyone we know likes me better than they like you. That’s not the least bit comforting.”

Mark slaps Yukhei across the shoulder a little harder than he has to, and he ignores the sharp gasp of offence Yukhei lets out. Why did he think that bringing Yukhei home for the holidays would be a good idea? Oh, right—because Yukhei’s been home with him before.

They’ve lived together for close to two years now, spending one year in the same dormitory back on campus accommodation and the next year as housemates in the same apartment—the current one that they’re still living in. Yukhei is one of Mark’s closest friends from university, having seen Mark go through mental breakdown after mental breakdown each time the exam season nears.

Yukhei’s always been there whenever Mark needed a pick-me-up after an eight hour-long cram study session in the library, waiting for him with his special concoction of Red Bull and espresso back home. Yukhei always knew just how to cheer Mark up if Mark ever came home with a frown on his face, already running towards their DVD player to throw in their burnt copy of Shrek and a promise of microwaved popcorn on the way.

Yukhei spent countless of hours giving Mark pep talks whenever Mark’s self-esteem was at its lowest points, providing Mark with encouragement and strong fist bumps in confidence that everything will be okay.

Yukhei was his best friend for the longest time—their soulmate link overpowering everything else. In fact, they were so complacent over being good friends to each other that it took them the longest time to admit that they both wanted more. So long that they only got together over a week ago after a spontaneous wrestling match on Mark’s bed that ended up slightly different from what they both expected.

It’s good, though. They’re good together.

Mark never considered what Yukhei would be like as a boyfriend (and vice versa—Mark knows because they’re frighteningly honest with each other) so it’s been a journey navigating the new territory that they’re treading into. Yukhei isn’t doing badly so far. Their relationship is only different in the aspects where Yukhei’s texts of “You awake, bro?” at 4am that end up in late night cuddle sessions aren’t strictly platonic anymore.

Yes, they’re in the process of dropping the “bro”s (and the multiple other terms they use that are interchangeable with it) in favour of slightly more endearing pet names, but their “dude”s have a slightly different connotation recently that don’t make it a huge problem. It’s funny to think about how far they’ve come with each other sometimes.

Yukhei visited Mark’s childhood home with him last year during the Christmas season and met Mark’s parents for the first time. Mark’s mother, Mrs. Lee, immediately took to Yukhei’s cheerful and outgoing personality, constantly fussing over the tall man as if he were her own son. Mr. Lee, too, enjoyed discussing random topics with Yukhei, who happens to be a natural conversationalist regardless of whether he has expertise in the subject or not.

Yukhei would patiently listen to Mr. Lee’s opinions on politics that he has no knowledge about, and after the lengthy discussion he’d say, “I don’t know,” when Mark asked what they were talking about.

Both of Mark’s parents were elated when Mark told them that Yukhei would join them for Christmas again, Mrs. Lee in particular exclaimed in excitement that it’s only right for Yukhei to come because he doesn’t have family in South Korea for the holidays.

They, however, didn’t expect the change in their relationship status that would lead to their shared hesitance in returning home.

Mark has confidence that Yukhei will be welcomed into his family as his boyfriend nevertheless.

Yukhei, ever dramatic, is so nervous that he refuses to step out of the car, claiming that his backside has been glued to the seat due to an unfortunate mistake on the car manufacturer’s side. “I’m still stuck,” Yukhei lies, shaking his head vehemently when Mark sighs. “I couldn’t possibly stand even if I wanted to.”

“You’ve driven this car for the past two years I’ve known you,” Mark states flatly, tired of Yukhei’s nonsensical excuses to delay their entrance into his parents’ house. “And who even uses glue on a car seat?”

“The last time I checked you don’t work in a car factory, so don’t talk about things you don’t understand.”

They’ve been parked outside for at least a half hour now, and Mark’s used the entire drive over convincing Yukhei that everything will be fine as long as he doesn’t freak out. But Yukhei is doing exactly that right now.

Mark looks at his watch, silently cursing Yukhei for every minute they spend in the car that’s getting colder by the second because Yukhei killed the engine a long time ago.

Thankfully, Mark’s phone rings. The ringtone is loud and piercing, cutting through the silence now that Yukhei’s resorted to shutting his eyes wordlessly in protest. “It’s my dad,” Mark says, taking the call as he looks sharply over at Yukhei, who whips his head over with a strangled noise.

“Mark! What are the two of you doing out there?” Mr. Lee says through the phone, and Mark finally climbs out of the car, slamming the car door just as Yukhei tries to pull him back in.

The door slams closed, fortunately sparing Yukhei’s fingers in the process. Mark smirks at him through the foggy window. “We just got here,” Mark offers into the receiver, trekking over to Yukhei’s side of the car to knock on the door a couple of times. “Yukhei’s having a bit of trouble with his car.”

“Oh, do you boys need any help?”

“Yes, actually. Yukhei might need a bit of help with getting his door open—” just as Mark is about to finish his sentence, Yukhei holds his hands up in surrender before cracking his door open. “—oh, wait, he got it to work. We’re coming in right now.”

Mark hangs up, quickly pulling Yukhei out of the car by the wrist, shutting the door behind him. “Please,” Yukhei pleads.

“How nice of you to join me in the freezing cold, you buffoon,” Mark scolds without heat, quickly rubbing Yukhei’s hand with both of his to keep them both warm. “I was going to get reinforcement, but you made the right choice by coming out.”

“Coming out?” Yukhei splutters, suddenly jittery again. “Mark, I—”

“Oh my God, Xuxi,” Mark groans, dragging Yukhei by the hand down the walkway where Mark can see his father watching them through a window. “For the last time, it’s going to be okay. I already did the whole ‘coming out’ thing in high school.”

Yukhei makes unintelligible noises of argument. “But not with me!”

Mr. Lee opens the door just as they step onto the patio and Yukhei immediately shuts up. “Boys!” Mr. Lee greets, letting them shake the snow off their boots before enveloping Mark in a hug. “Yukhei!” he says after, patting Yukhei on the back as he guides them into the house.

“Mr. Lee,” Yukhei calls, just as Mark says “dad”. They have since let go of each other’s hands, but Yukhei’s fingers are in Mark’s back pocket, holding on for dear life. “Mark,” he hisses.

“See? Dad didn’t say anything,” Mark whispers as they make their way towards the kitchen where Mark’s mother is cooking. “Mum, I’m home!”

“Mrs. Lee,” Yukhei follows.

Mrs. Lee stops chopping vegetables as she gasps in excitement, running over to the sink to wash her hands. “Oh dear, Yukhei, honey!” she cries, wiping her hands down on her apron as she comes over to give Yukhei a tight hug, even before greeting Mark. “Oh my, you’ve lost weight!”

“Hello to you too, mum,” Mark states flatly as Yukhei chuckles next to him. His mother kisses him on the cheek before hugging him too. “It’s always nice to know that my boyfriend’s more loved than I am.”

Yukhei chokes when Mark casually announces his new identity in the Lee household—Mark’s boyfriend instead of his friend from university. The noise he made isn’t heard by anyone other than Mark.

Mrs. Lee laughs. “You’ll always be mummy’s favourite, Mark,” she says lightly, pinching Mark’s cheek after.

Neither Mr. Lee nor Mrs. Lee acknowledge whatever they just heard although this is the first time Mark’s spoken of Yukhei as anything more than a friend. Mark clears his throat, hoping that whatever he says next isn’t going to start their holidays off on an awkward note.

“So...” Mark drawls out, reaching over to link his fingers with Yukhei’s. He makes a show of lifting their interlocked fingers up. “If you didn’t already know, we’re together now. As in... Yukhei is my boyfriend.”

He feels Yukhei tense as he says the words, so he squeezes his hand lightly as he lowers them.

His parents only look at him with bewildered expressions on their faces, his mother seemingly at a loss for words. Oh, no. His parents have always been supportive of him regardless of whatever he did—they barely even batted an eyelash when he told them that he was bisexual after his gay awakening in high school (thank you, upperclassman Daniel).

Mark never considered that his parents would react like this when he brought his first boyfriend home. Maybe Yukhei was right to freak out about this whole thing.

“Um, parents?”

Mrs. Lee rests the back of her hand against Mark’s forehead with a worried expression on her face. “Sweetie, are you okay?” she asks, moving over to feel for Yukhei’s temperature too.

Yukhei looks like he’s two seconds away from making a dash for the door.

“Yukhei, you look a bit sick there,” Mr. Lee comments, holding one of Yukhei’s shoulders.

“I’m fine, sir... I mean, Mr. Lee,” Yukhei says.

Mark shakes his head. “We’re both fine! Can you... like, I don’t know, congratulate us or something? Or at least pretend that you’re happy for me? For us?”

“Mark, honey... you already told us last year, don’t you remember?” Mrs. Lee asks, the concerned look on her face intensifying. “Are you alright, baby? Especially you, Yukhei. Did the cold get to you two?”

“What do you mean I told you last year?”

Mark’s mother pats him on the head. “Last year when Yukhei visited for Christmas I said, ‘You’ve never brought anyone home before,’ and you said, ‘Yukhei’s family to me.’ How could you forget? I was so happy for you, too.”

Suddenly, amidst the awkward silence that hangs in the air after Mrs. Lee’s explanation, Yukhei bursts out into loud laughter. His guffaw melts the tension in the room as Mr. Lee follows suit, cracking a joke at Mark’s expense.

Mark is just lost at this point. His mother took his words and spun them around to her own liking. He never outwardly said that Yukhei and him were an item!

“But we literally got together last week!” Mark argues, surprising his mother. “Mum! You can’t just go around assuming things. I said that he’s family because he is, not because I was in love with him or anything... God!”

“Oh, but you’re together now aren’t you, Mark? Mummy knows best,” Mrs. Lee coos, going back to her cooking now that they’ve gotten the whole announcement out of the way. “You boys are so silly. I can’t believe it took you this long to see what’s always been there.”

Mr. Lee ushers them out of the kitchen, slapping Mark on the back a few times as he tells them to get their bags upstairs.

The same bags that they forgot in the car in their flurry to get into the house.

Yukhei is still laughing when they make their way to the car.

They brave the cold gust of wind that blows against them, threatening to knock Mark off his feet.

“Markie,” Yukhei exclaims as he throws open the boot of his car, hoisting their shared duffel bag onto his shoulder. He leaves Mark to take care of the bag containing the gifts they brought. “You were in love with me all this time and you didn’t even bother telling me? It could’ve saved us a lot of time.”

Mark wants to wring Yukhei’s neck. “I didn’t say that!” he shouts, feeling his cheeks warm even though the rest of his face feels icy cold. “I didn’t mean it that way! You were my friend.” He takes the bag in his arms, cradling it to his chest as he glares up at Yukhei.

“It’s okay, lover boy,” Yukhei mutters, leaning downward to give Mark a peck on the nose as Mark tries to find a way to shut the boot. “It all worked out for you, didn’t it?”

Yukhei might be a fool in all aspects of the word, but Mark can’t deny that Yukhei knows how to make his heart race. He’ll let Yukhei win this time only because he’s cute and all his relatives love talking about how he’s the ideal boyfriend anyone would love to have. He’s going to give Mark an edge against his ever-competitive aunts’ backhanded compliments, so Mark’s going to forgive him just this once.

They stumble across last night’s snow over the walkway back into the house, sighing in unison when the heated interior warms their extremities.

Mark takes one look at Yukhei’s frazzled appearance and he holds back the urge to laugh.

Yukhei’s hair is sticking out in multiple directions and his nose is red from the cold. He looks adorable, but ridiculous. “Don’t say anything,” Yukhei grits through his teeth self-consciously, stomping away from Mark to get up the stairs. “You don’t exactly look like Prince Charming either.”

Mark follows after him, nudging him harshly in the side when he lowers the bags in his bedroom. “You’re literally in my home,” Mark threatens as he watches Yukhei collapse onto his side of the bed. “Have some respect.”

“‘My home,’” Yukhei mocks. “Says the man who said I’m his family. Dude, this is our home.”

Mark pointedly ignores Yukhei, looking around his childhood bedroom to take in the state of it. Everything still looks the same, down to the figurines on the top of one of his shelves that his mother said she was going to give away last year. He’s never really gotten around to clearing out the room. There are bits and pieces of his childhood laid out—his toys, the posters he put up as a teenager, and he’s quite sure the love letters he wrote and kept in a shoebox are still sitting in a far corner of his closet.

He only moved out a couple of years ago and he’s visited a few times since, but the feeling of nostalgia doesn’t fade even with each subsequent visit.

The room feels strangely foreign yet so familiar at the same time.

“Can you help me change?” Yukhei asks, breaking the silence. He indicates towards their bag on the floor with one socked foot. “I’ll lift my arms and everything. Can you just do everything else?”

“I helped you change once and I’m not doing it again,” Mark deadpans, recalling the incident when Yukhei came home drunk one night a few months ago and Mark had to do all sorts of heavy lifting to make sure Yukhei didn’t die of hyperthermia. “You’re not a baby, do it yourself.”

“But I’m your baby,” Yukhei whines.

Mark tries and fails to formulate a proper response, choosing instead to rummage through their bag to throw Yukhei’s sweatsuit at his face. “Change before you take a nap, you big baby.”

Yukhei obediently does as he’s told. He grumbles when he tries to shrug off his jeans, complaining about how the material is hugging around his ankle. “Mark!” he calls, sitting on the bed as Mark watches him lazily. “Help me.”

“You’re hopeless,” Mark says, but he can’t help but smile when Yukhei wiggles his toes. He helps pull at the jeans, tugging them off in one go. “How old are you?”

“As old as it takes to be your baby.” Yukhei slips on his sweatpants and he rests his arms on Mark’s shoulders after. “So... it all went well earlier.”

Mark hums in agreement. “Just like I said it would.”

“Except when you nearly chewed your parents out for their nonexistent disproval, of course.”

Mark shoves Yukhei backwards so he falls on the bed.

He grins up at Mark. “What? You were getting all defensive for no reason and it was so cute.”

“Let’s promise to never, and I mean never, talk about this again,” Mark proposes, walking away to change out of his clothes into something more comfortable (namely one of Yukhei’s t-shirts and a pair of joggers). He glares at Yukhei when the latter doesn’t look away. “Stop watching me change.”

Yukhei gasps in offence. “That’s not fair. You got to watch me.”

“Yeah, and what I saw wasn’t pretty... you need to hit the gym more often.”

“Do you even lift, bro? I go there four times a week while you’re grading your juniors’ papers.”

That terrible meme reference will go down in history as one of Yukhei’s worst jokes, and Yukhei has cracked a lot of bad jokes.

Mark turns around to change, crawling into bed next to Yukhei after. He lets Yukhei hook a leg around his body, cocooning him into his embrace. Their bodies are almost too warm when pressed against each other like this, but he brackets Yukhei’s head in his arms as they try to find a comfortable position together.

“We should probably go help your mum,” Yukhei mumbles, his voice already laced with the earliest inkling of sleep.

“Maybe,” Mark agrees, yawning a little. “But we drove two hours to get here... the aunties will be coming by to help her out later. Let’s just nap for five minutes.”

He feels Yukhei nod slightly after he shuts his eyes and they both drift off into sleep.

Five minutes turns into three hours so it’s 5pm by the time they awaken. Yukhei is the first to wake, sluggishly smacking Mark’s ass a few times in an effort to rouse him.

“Mark,” Yukhei says against Mark’s chest as he proceeds to stick a cold hand up Mark’s shirt, successfully shocking him awake.

“What?” Mark squirms uneasily, trying to avoid Yukhei’s hand. “Stop touching me.”

Yukhei murmurs something into the material of Mark’s shirt as he retracts his hand. After a few more minutes of lying idly, he rolls off Mark’s body and stands up unstably. “Get up, man,” he calls, leaning forward to shake Mark lightly. “Wake up.”

“Mhmm.”

“You’re not moving, Mark.”

Mark sighs, hoisting himself up into sitting position in one go. He blinks slowly, trying to focus his vision as he looks around the room. His eyes land on Yukhei’s form standing at the side of the bed, waiting patiently for him to stand up. Mark makes a noise of protest.

“Come on, baby boy,” Yukhei urges, opening his arms wide to receive Mark like a child. “I’ll carry you.” Yukhei has a playful smile on his face—his eyes looking far too mischievous for someone who just woke up.

Mark snorts, grabbing one of Yukhei’s arms as he crawls towards the edge of the bed. He finds his footing after awhile, stretching his arms above his head as he yawns. “I heard the doorbell ring a couple of times and I think some aunts are here to help with the cooking, so...” Mark reaches up to comb strands of Yukhei’s hair out of his face. “Wanna play with some snow?”

“You don’t have to ask twice,” Yukhei answers without a beat, already bounding towards their jackets that they shrugged off in a corner of the room. “Come on!”

Mark pads over, taking the winter jacket that Yukhei holds out to him. “You’re almost too excited about this.”

“We just haven’t played together in awhile! I missed playing with you.”

“You do realise how that sounds, right?”

Yukhei laughs, flicking Mark behind his ear. “Shut the hell up,” he says, holding up the sleeves of Mark’s jacket for him so he can slide his arms in easily.

Although Yukhei can be annoying (Mark means this in the best way possible) sometimes, he’s also the best boyfriend (so far). Well, Yukhei can be the best boyfriend whenever he wants to be. He’s so helpful and eager to please even without any prompting. He reminds Mark so much of a Golden Retriever puppy—bright, playful, loyal, and everything one could ever want in a companion.

Mark loved this about Yukhei back when they were each other’s ‘ride or die’ friend and now that they’re together... Mark almost loves it even more, if that were even possible.

Yukhei immediately drags Mark out the door after they both have their jackets on, musing about how they’ll need to get their gloves and beanies from the car if they need them. He’s about to go to the kitchen to greet the guests, but Mark guides him straight out into the snow without bumping into anyone.

“Quick, let’s play before they see us,” Mark suggests, hoping to avoid the dinner guests for as long as they can.

It’s not that Mark doesn’t like them—because he does, somewhat. They’re good people. He’s spent every Christmas to date with the same friends and family. It’s to the point where he stopped thinking about his family friends from childhood simply as friends because they feel like his relatives.

Regardless, he just wants to spend as much time with Yukhei as he can, one-on-one, during this holiday season.

It’s their first time spending Christmas together as a couple, after all.

Last year’s Christmas was spent similarly except they also spent time with Mark’s childhood friends who Mark didn’t see for the entire year since moving for college. This year, however, those friends of his started attending Mark’s university too, so he’s seen them more often than not.

In fact, Jeno and Donghyuck live right in Yukhei and Mark’s current apartment complex, living only one floor above them.

Mark didn’t see (or hear) them when he pulled Yukhei out the door, so they probably haven’t arrived yet.

“Mark!” Yukhei shouts at Mark, shaking him out of his reverie.

Mark realises that he’s been staring into space for the last couple of minutes considering where his two friends are that he didn’t move. Yukhei, on the other hand, is currently five feet away from him with a huge snowball in his large hands. Mark gulps. “Yukhei—” he opens his mouth to warn his boyfriend not to throw that at him, but it’s too late.

Yukhei pelts the firm snowball at him and the snowball travels towards him at a frighteningly quick speed.

“Ow!” Mark yells when the snowball hits him in the side. “Yukhei!”

Yukhei laughs, clutching his abdomen as he almost falls over in his glee. “You should’ve seen your face!”

“Oh yeah?”

Yukhei pales when he sees Mark crouch down to pack snow into his hands. “Okay, I’ll give you a free throw,” he tells Mark, holding both his hands up in surrender. “But only because my hands are frozen from making that one snowball.”

Mark’s bare hands feel numb as he presses the snow together with his palms, forming a sphere with his fingers. “Go get our gloves then!” he yells at Yukhei. “I won’t throw it at you when you’re not looking.”

Yukhei doesn’t seem to trust his words completely, but he retreats towards the car nevertheless, walking backwards so he can keep his eyes on Mark.

Mark continues working with the snow until the snowball is as big as one of his hands. He takes his chance to throw it at Yukhei’s bottom when Yukhei leans into the car to pull their gloves out of the glovebox. Mark chuckles to himself when Yukhei pokes his head out of the door to glare at him.

“You promised no sneak attacks!”

Mark shrugs. “I made no such promise.”

Yukhei slams the car door shut, their beanies and gloves bundled in his arms as he treks through the snow towards Mark.

It started to snow lightly while Mark was making his first snowball and Mark can see the small specks of snow in Yukhei’s hair. He reaches up to brush the snow off Yukhei’s head. Although Mark’s not able to see the top of his boyfriend’s head, he does his best to brush away the visible snowflakes at the front of Yukhei’s hair.

Yukhei does the same, easily flicking off the snow after he’s stuffed their gloves into one of his pockets. He places a beanie on Mark’s head, positioning the hat so it covers the tips of Mark’s ears.

Mark wordlessly tries to get Yukhei’s beanie, but the taller man only grins at him before wearing it for himself.

“Can you even reach my head?” Yukhei teases, putting his own beanie on. He pinches the bridge of Mark’s nose when Mark narrows his eyes at him.

“You’re barely, I don’t know… nine centimetres taller than I am. And you slouch. So you’re not as tall as you think.”

“You can’t even see the top of my head.”

Mark scrunches up his nose as he rolls his eyes in distaste. “Whatever,” he mutters, sticking his hands into Yukhei’s pockets to find his gloves. That’s something that they can’t share because Yukhei’s hands are ginormous while Mark’s hands are on the smaller side.

Yukhei helps him out, fishing out Mark’s blue gloves that are tangled with his pink ones. “Here, you impatient doofus.”

“We’ll see who’s a doofus when I beat you at our snowball fight,” Mark warns, slipping on his gloves with ease. The fluffy cotton warms his hands immediately and he runs off, leaving Yukhei to struggle with his own gloves. “I’m going to hurt you.”

Yukhei makes a noise akin to a mewl, but it comes as quickly as it goes. Yukhei is squatting to form his own snowball by the time Mark looks up to check on his progress.

“No fair, you’ve got freakishly large hands!” Mark complains when he sees the size of Yukhei’s snowball.

Yukhei definitely has an edge when it comes to this snowball fight because he can undoubtedly make bigger snowballs. The snowball he threw at Mark earlier really hurt because it was not only huge but also very compact. The snowball almost felt like a large rock more than it did a mound of snow.

They play like this for awhile and Mark is forced to give up on his fight when Yukhei accidentally throws a snowball towards his face without considering the consequences. Yukhei’s snowball is solid.

Mark actually falls backwards when it hits him.

“Oh my God!” Yukhei shouts, hurriedly running over towards Mark who’s lying in the snow now. He kneels down next to Mark’s form. “Oh my God, Mark, I’m so sorry.”

It doesn’t really hurt as much as the previous snowballs because Yukhei didn’t throw it with as much force, but Mark’s nose feels frozen and he probably has some clumps of snow stuck to his face. “Wong Yukhei,” Mark seethes, swatting Yukhei’s hands away when the latter tries to touch him.

“Bro, I’m so sorry. We always play rough and I forgot how tiny you are!”

“You always forget!”

Yukhei pulls Mark up to his feet, helping to brush the snow from Mark’s clothes. He pats Mark’s behind, making sure there’s no residual snow that will melt and wet Mark’s clothes when they return into the house.

Mark is still glaring at Yukhei after Yukhei’s done, pouting slightly as he watches his boyfriend form five different facial expressions of guilt.

“I’m so sorry, baby,” Yukhei apologises again, cupping Mark’s face with his hands. “So, so sorry.”

Mark sticks his lower lip out further. “My nose is cold.”

“I’ll kiss it better.”

Before Mark can protest to ask Yukhei for compensation (preferably in the form of being able to throw five snowballs at his face), Yukhei starts peppering Mark’s face with kisses. “What are you—” Mark wants to argue, but Yukhei continues his attack.

“I’m so, so, so sorry,” Yukhei says, planting a kiss on the tip of Mark’s nose with every “so”. “So, so, so sorry.”

Mark shakes his head out of Yukhei’s grasp, not able to contain the bubble of laughter that escapes from his lips. “What the hell, Xuxi?”

“I don’t know what else to do!”

Mark stares at Yukhei for awhile to make the latter squirm.

“Forgive me?” Yukhei asks, holding out a hand.

“What? Do you want a handshake?”

Yukhei shoves him in the chest lightly. “Hold my hand, you idiot!”

Mark giggles, taking Yukhei’s hand. He’s pulled towards Yukhei’s chest in one motion, the latter holding him in after by the back. Mark looks up at Yukhei through his lashes. “What are you doing?” There are specks of snow at the edge of Yukhei’s beanie.

Yukhei is looking down at Mark with his large brown eyes and he smiles. “Just trying out something romantic,” he replies, leaning down to press his lips against Mark’s.

Yukhei’s lips are warm even though they’ve been out here for awhile now. The kiss is slow and gentle, more of a meeting of lips on lips than anything else. It feels nice. Yukhei’s lips feel good against Mark’s.

When they pull away, Yukhei’s still holding Mark firmly by the waist.

Mark smiles at him against his own will to continue feigning annoyance. “I guess you’re forgiven… or whatever,” Mark mutters, watching how Yukhei’s eyes light up in excitement.

“Really?”

Mark nods.

“Does that mean I can kiss you again?” There’s something so incredibly pure about Yukhei’s eagerness to please. Mark’s never going to tire of that.

“Mhmm,” Mark hums, leaning upwards to meet Yukhei halfway.

Dinner is a grand affair. There are four families over—two of Mark’s aunts from his maternal side, and two of his childhood friends.

Jeno brought his boyfriend, Jaemin, over again this year, having already introduced the boy to the entire party three years ago after they first got together in high school. They both share the same major in the same university, so Mark can foresee that their relationship is only getting stronger. Jaemin already feels like an extension of Jeno at this point.

Donghyuck is running late and won’t be back home until Christmas day, having gotten tied up on campus due to prior arrangements for a year-end theatre performance tonight.

Yukhei doesn’t shy away from conversing with Mark’s relatives, charming both his aunts and their husbands easily. They remember him from last year, saying that he looks like he’s grown even taller since the last time they saw him (he might have, but Mark’s not about to admit that).

Yukhei and Mark offer to set the cutlery as Jeno and Jaemin work with the placemats, carefully arranging the table before dinner.

Mrs. Lee helpfully set up a separate table that she still calls the “kid’s table” even though they’re all adults by now. Mark’s cousins aren’t joining them this year so the table would’ve been down to two ‘kids' if Yukhei and Jaemin didn’t come by.

It could’ve been Mark’s opportunity to graduate to the adult’s table, but he kind of likes this seating arrangement better.

Mark helps load Yukhei’s plate full of food, making sure to only take the proteins that Yukhei likes and to avoid the vegetables he knows Yukhei doesn’t like. It’s peculiar because when he passes Yukhei his plate, saying that it’s for him, Yukhei looks ecstatic because he, too, plated food on Mark’s behalf without them agreeing to do so.

They swap dinner plates, laughing at their choices of food for each other.

Jeno and Jaemin are like an old married couple by now, working like clockwork. They have a little bit of everything on their plates, and if Jeno finds something he doesn’t like, he puts it on Jaemin’s plate. Jaemin, depending on whether or not he likes that dish, will either smile at Jeno or glare at him.

It’s funny to watch them as they eat.

“Hey, man, can you get me the salt?” Mark says to Yukhei while the four of them are in the middle of discussing Donghyuck’s absence. Mark pats Yukhei on the thigh when the latter groans, unhappy to part with his dinner.

Yukhei stands up to grab the salt shaker from the neighbouring table for him anyway.

Mark smiles to himself.

“Anyway, Donghyuck was telling me that you promised to go watch him perform,” Jeno says, pointing a fork accusatively at Mark. “He’s pissed you bailed on him.”

“Oh, don’t worry,” Mark utters, poking at his green peas. He picks a few peas up with his fork and puts them on the edge of Yukhei’s plate. “I read all his threatening messages. But I didn’t promise him anything! I didn’t even know that he had a show tonight.”

Yukhei polishes off the peas, looking up as he chews. “Um,” he mumbles, his mouth full of food. He swallows first before continuing to speak when Jaemin judges him with his gaze. “Okay, don’t be mad at me… but I kind of promised him that we would go.”

Mark frowns. “What?”

“I forgot we had to come back here for dinner!”

Jaemin laughs. “Okay, I expected this. This is coming from the guy who called me ‘Jeno’ when he saw me on campus last week,” he points out.

“That was an accident.”

“Oh, no,” Jeno interrupts, grinning. “You called me ‘Jaemin’ just a few days ago on the phone, too.”

Mark blinks at the both of them, confused. “What were you guys talking about on the phone?” Mark asks, curious.

Mark is their mutual friend. Sure, Jeno and Yukhei have gotten closer in the recent months ever since Jeno started attending university, but they’re not close to the point where they’ll talk privately. Their group of friends usually hang out with Mark in the mix, so it’s unusual for them to have any topic of discussion that doesn’t concern him.

There’s something suspicious about this.

Mark feels someone kick him under the table. “Ouch!”

“Oops, sorry, I was aiming for Jeno,” Yukhei remarks casually, going back to his food. “So, how did you find the weather today? Kinda nice, huh?”

Both Jeno and Jaemin actually start discussing the weather with Yukhei, and Mark’s forced to comply to the change in topic against his will.

He makes a mental note to ask Jeno about that phone call later.

When dessert is served, Mark watches fondly as Yukhei devours his brownie, getting vanilla ice cream smeared at the edges of his lips. Yukhei eats like a child—he’s incredibly expressive with his likes and dislikes when it comes to food and his reactions are always entertaining to watch.

Yukhei is obviously enjoying the home-baked dessert as he laughs along when Jaemin teases Jeno about having a chocolate stain on one of his incisors. Yukhei is careful to cover his laugh behind a hand to avoid becoming the next victim to Jaemin’s joke.

Yukhei has really integrated himself into Mark’s life without Mark really noticing. Mark wonders if others see them the way he sees Jeno and Jaemin—kind of a part of each other, whether they know it or not. Like two halves of a whole, a couple peas in a pod… or something.

Something feels missing whenever Yukhei isn’t around, but when Yukhei’s right next to him, it all feels right.

Just like right now.

Mark feels contented, warm, and incredibly blessed. He’s always been thankful for Yukhei as a person, but now that he has Yukhei as his person, the feeling has doubled.

Every silly giggle, every grin, every stupid joke—Mark loves it all.

Yukhei has a hand resting on Mark’s thigh as he takes another bite of his brownie, and Mark lets his hand gravitate naturally towards it, holding Yukhei’s hand gingerly.

Yukhei looks over at him questioningly, lifting an eyebrow. “Mark?” he asks, staring down at their intertwined fingers under the table. “Why are you holding my hand?”

Jeno’s ears perk up. “What? He’s holding your hand?” Jeno proceeds to double over in laughter.

“Just… I’m glad you’re here with me,” Mark confesses, ignoring Jaemin when the latter tells him that his ice cream is melting. “I don’t think holidays are ever going to feel the same without you anymore.”

Yukhei scrunches up his facial features as he listens to Mark in mock disgust. “Dude, that’s gay.”

Mark purses his lips. “Yukhei… we’re literally dating. We are gay.”

Jeno immediately stops laughing. “Wait, what?” he exclaims, suddenly panicked. He looks at Mark, then Yukhei, then his eyes finally land on Jaemin. “What’s happening? Did I fall into the twilight zone or did Mark just say that he’s dating Yukhei?”

Jaemin shrugs.

“Right…” Yukhei drawls out, cracking a smile. He squeezes Mark’s hand. “I knew that.”

Jeno is still trying to figure things out as Jaemin looks on in anticipation. “Hello?” he waves at Mark exasperatedly. “Care to explain what’s going on?”

“I think they’re together,” Jaemin supplies helpfully. “Like ‘they’re in a romantic relationship’ kind of together.”

“Um, I know that,” Jeno snaps. “But how? Mark, you literally called him ‘man’ when you told him to get you salt!”

Mark tilts his head to a side as he studies Jeno’s confusion. “Yeah, and your point?”

“You’ve… you guys have been like this for the longest time and just… How? When? What happened? I thought you were going to stay gay bros who don’t know that they’re gay for each other forever…”

Yukhei only chuckles. “I thought you would’ve guessed when I called you about Mark’s gift that day,” he admits. His eyes widen when he realises that he’s just let a key piece of information slip from his own lips. Oh, Yukhei. This is why Mark loves him.

“My gift, huh?” Mark murmurs.

Yukhei mimes zipping his mouth shut and throwing the key away.

Jeno is still spluttering. “But you sounded so casual. So… I don’t know. You didn’t sound like you were getting a present for your boyfriend! You said, ‘Hey, Jaemin, do you know what Mark wants for Christmas?’ and I said, ‘How the hell would I know?’ and your response was actually, ‘Oh, true. I’ll figure it out. Thanks!’”

This piques Mark’s interest in what gift Yukhei got him this year. Last year, Yukhei bought him a barbecue grill that is still used regularly in their home. It’s incredibly useful for late night snack sessions and any get-togethers that they host. It wasn’t something that Mark asked for explicitly (he just pointed at it while they were grocery shopping one day) but it turned out to be something Mark wanted but never knew he needed.

Mark settled on getting Yukhei the “big boy watch” that he’s been meaning to get himself. Yukhei has his Fitbit perpetually hanging on his wrist and he’s talked about getting a proper watch for formal events because he lost the watch his parents got him for his high school graduation. Mark splurged a bit to get him a nice mechanical watch and the box had been sitting in a hiding spot for weeks before today.

They bought small presents for the gift exchange together but they didn’t discuss what they got each other.

Mark only eyes Yukhei for a short while before Yukhei breaks eye contact.

“Are you going to finish that?” Yukhei asks, gesturing towards Mark’s brownie with his dessert fork. When Mark shakes his head, Yukhei helps himself to the plate. “Thanks, bro.”

“See?!” Jeno practically yells, standing abruptly as he points an an accusatory finger in Mark’s direction. “They’re literally bros!”

Mark can’t help but laugh, untangling his fingers from Yukhei’s so he can wrap his arms around the latter. He rests his head on Yukhei’s shoulder, making a show of winking at Jeno, just to further intensify Jeno’s mental breakdown.

Jaemin is barely able to wrangle Jeno back into his seat, and when he finally succeeds, Yukhei and Mark share a knowing look, wordlessly agreeing to play up their relationship just to mess with Jeno.

During the gift exchange, everyone is sitting around the living room—some on sofas and chairs, and others on the floor. Mark found himself a comfortable spot at the edge of a couch, half on the armrest and half in Yukhei’s lap.

Mark lets Yukhei pass his mother the crystal vase that they got for her. Mrs. Lee gasps in surprise when she unwraps the box, beaming at Mark when she takes the vase out. She’s taken up floristry as a hobby in the past year and Yukhei was the one who suggested getting her the vase.

“This is beautiful, boys,” she gushes, holding a hand to her heart. “Thank you boys so much.”

They give Mark’s father the bottle of wine that they got him, unwrapped because there was no point in wrapping a wine bottle, and Mr. Lee only chortles in delight.

Yukhei and Mark don’t exchange presents until after they retire to their room, late into the night because Jeno and Jaemin insisted on waiting for Donghyuck’s performance to end so that they could all call him as Mark explains how Yukhei and him got together.

Yukhei is sheepish when they step into the room. He sits quietly at the edge of the bed, crossing his legs as he waits for Mark to make the first move.

“What?” Mark feigns ignorance as he leans against the door.

Yukhei blinks at him without saying a word.

“Fine.” Mark walks towards the bag they kept their gifts in earlier, unzipping a hidden compartment on the inside of the bag to pull out his wrapped box for Yukhei. “I didn’t know what else to get you,” Mark admits, holding out the box to Yukhei with both his hands. “But I think it’s only appropriate that I get you something useful, you know?”

Yukhei receives the box from him, breaking into a smile. “I think I have an ides of what you bought,” he says, shaking the box next to his ear. “It’s not making any noise.”

“Just open it, dummy.”

Yukhei does. He unwraps the gift hastily, ripping the wrapping paper in every direction as long as it helps uncover the box. “It’s a watch!” he exclaims when he sees the brand on the faux leather box. “Please tell me it’s black.”

Mark shakes his head, slightly disappointed that he didn’t get Yukhei the colour he wanted. “It’s not…”

Yukhei grabs Mark by the waist to seat him down in his lap. He arms reach over each of Mark’s sides so that they’re both looking at the box held above Mark’s lap. “A classic is good, too!” he enthuses, opening the box. His smile widens when he sees the watch. “Okay, maybe a classic is even better.”

“Really?”

“Really.” Yukhei guides Mark’s face towards his by the chin, planting a soft peck on Mark’s lips. “Thank you, Marcus.”

“Mark’s not short for Marcus,” Mark deadpans as he leans backwards, slapping Yukhei lightly on the arm.

“I know! But it sounds funny.”

Mark crosses his arms, standing up from Yukhei’s lap. “Now, where’s my gift?”

Yukhei wears the watch on his wrist, admiring the accessory after he’s clasped it tight. “Hmm…” he trails off, pretending not to hear Mark. When Mark doesn’t reply, Yukhei caves. “Your gift’s actually within plain sight.”

Mark looks around, not seeing any wrapped presents in the room. “Where?”

Yukhei indicates towards their bag with his head. “Don’t laugh when you see it, okay?”

Mark moves towards the bag, looking through their clothes to find a wrapped object—nada. But his eyes settle on a baby blue article of clothing that he’s never seen before amongst the apparel and he pulls it out. It’s a knit scarf.

“I worked really hard on it!” Yukhei says, and he sounds embarrassed.

Mark’s unable to contain his smile as he holds the scarf, looking at every detail in the stitching that Yukhei did. “Xuxi…” he calls, wrapping the scarf around his neck as he makes his way towards Yukhei. He sits down in Yukhei’s lap again. “This is so cute.”

Yukhei grins, but he’s clearly still embarrassed. “Really? I wanted to make you something… It wasn’t easy, you know. I pricked myself a few times.”

Mark laughs, pointing towards a mistake that Yukhei made with the stitching on one of the ends of the scarf. “When did you even find the time to do this?”

“We were sleeping in our own rooms before… this…” Yukhei gestures between the both of them. “It took me quite some time over the last few months.”

Mark throws his arms around Yukhei’s neck, giving Yukhei a quick kiss on the nose. “Thank you,” he whispers, planting another kiss on Yukhei’s lips after. “You’re making me wish that I made you something myself, too.”

Yukhei shrugs, beaming. “There’s always next year.”

Mark smiles in response.

Of course, there’s always next year. And the year after that. And the year after that. Mark meant it when he said that the holidays wouldn’t be complete without Yukhei, because right now—in their own small space—it all feels right.

Mark is warmer than he’s ever felt in years on one of the coldest winter days, and when he quietly tells Yukhei that, the pleased twinkle in Yukhei’s eyes only warms him further.