Work Text:
It was a usual quiet Saturday morning in the Wen-Xu apartment. The married couple were at opposite ends of the house: Jun was in his office, doing work stuff while Minghao was in the living room, lounging on the couch. He was reading a book while drinking a cup of coffee. It was normal for them to have. It was the time they had to themselves before they planned out the rest of their day together.
When Minghao noticed that the inflow of coffee from the cup to his mouth stopped, he looked in his mug. He saw that he was, indeed, out of coffee. With a sigh, he tore his eyes away from his empty coffee mu, debating if it was worth it to get up and refill his mug. In truth, he didn’t feel like getting up, and he was at a good part in his book. He didn’t really want to step away from it now.
During his internal debate, he looked out their window, gasping when he saw snow falling for the first time this season, the debate immediately leaving his mind. Instead, another memory filled his head.
“We can decorate the apartment and set up the tree when it snows for the first time.”
Were the words Jun, his husband of two years, told him the first time Minghao asked if they could set up the Christmas tree and decorate the apartment. Being a compromisable husband, Minghao agreed and waited. And now the time was finally here: early December, also known as Christmas season, and the first snowfall of the season. Minghao badly wanted to tell Jun that it was snowing, but he knew Jun had work to do and didn’t want to distract him from it.
Then his phone buzzed. He grabbed his phone from the coffee table and saw a text from Jun.
Junnie: Can you bring me another cup of coffee?
Minghao smiled, typing out a text.
Haohao: Yes~~
The perfect opportunity arose. Minghao set his book down on the coffee table and stood up with his own mug in hand. He walked over to the kitchen, grabbed another mug, and went to the coffee machine. He quickly poured more coffee into the mugs before heading to Jun’s “office.”
Once he walked down the hallway and reached the right room, he quietly knocked.
“Come in.”
Minghao pushed the door open. He saw Jun sitting at his piano, a small, black piano they found online and lugged up to their apartment when Jun got his new job. (At the time, it was hell trying to bring it up to their apartment, but the memory was made when they had recently gotten married, and it made Minghao smile at the thought.) He was wearing a similar outfit to Minghao’s: a white hoodie and gray joggers; his laptop was on top of the keyboard lid with hsi empty cup of coffee next to it.
He walked over and stood next to Jun.
“Hey,” Minghao softly said, “How’s scheduling going?”
Jun sighed.
“It’s… well, a struggle,” he admitted, “With finals and Christmas coming, and students wanting to get everything done before they can spend time with their families, it’s hard to schedule everyone according to their flexibility.”
“I’m sorry to hear that, babe,” Minghao said with a small frown.
“It’s hard. Luckily the orchestra didn’t schedule any sound checks for the Christmas concerts until next week, so I can just focus on scheduling these piano lessons this weekend.”
“There’s a bright side,” Minghao said, “You’ll figure something out. You always do.”
“Yeah…”
Jun huffed.
“Be a part-time piano teacher Jun, they said. You’ll be good at it, they said. It’ll be fun, they said,” Jun mumbled.
Minghao chuckled. He put their mugs on top of the piano before wrapping his arms around Jun’s shoulders, pulling him into his embrace.
“Oh come on, don’t say that. You love it.”
Jun let out a small laugh before he turned around. Minghao’s eyes slightly widened, seeing that Jun was wearing a pair of glasses with his brown hair lying flat on his forehead. Even with the lazy, simple Saturday morning look, Minghao’s heart skipped a beat.
“You’re right; I do. Even when my jobs aren’t all sunshine and rainbows, I have my lovely husband to support me.”
“Always,” Minghao said, kissing the top of Jun’s head.
Minghao then pulled away, continuing to admire his husband, because oh my god my husband is the cutest and most handsome of them all . And the thought continued to repeat in his head because even after they’ve been together for awhile now, sometimes, he still couldn’t believe it. How did it happen that Wen Junhui, the popular piano prodigy (not to mention heartthrob) of their alma mater college campus, married him, the quiet art student who kept to himself?
“You’re staring.”
Minghao snapped out of his gaze, seeing that Jun was looking back at him with a raised eyebrow.
“What? I can’t admire my husband?”
Jun lowered his eyebrow before giving Minghao a fond smile.
“You can. I’d rather you did, honestly.”
“Good, because you’re the best, you know? There’s not a day goes by that I’m not grateful that I got to marry you.”
“Me neither. Every day, I’m thankful for the day you said ‘yes’ when I proposed and ‘I do’ at our wedding.”
Minghao softly laughed.
“You’re such a sap.”
“Only for you.”
Minghao smiled before he leaned in, sharing a small kiss with Jun. After they pulled away, Minghao almost took his own mug and walked out to let Jun continue to work. But then he remembered his perfect opportunity.
“So… you know, it’s snowing outside,” Minghao started.
Jun furrowed his eyebrows.
“Okay… and?”
“Remember? You said we can decorate the apartment and set up the tree when it snows for the first time, and guess what? It’s snowing outside.”
Jun furrowed his eyebrows, but quickly after his mouth made an ‘o’ shape, the light bulb in his head lighting up. He then let out a small laugh.
“You know, I only said that because you wanted to set up the Christmas tree the day after Halloween.”
“You can’t blame me for wanting to celebrate the best time of the year early,” Minghao replied, “Besides, it actually is the Christmas season now, and we have nothing festive displayed, at all. Let’s decorate the apartment and set up the tree today. It'll be fun.”
Jun seemed to be thinking about it, but then judging by the look on Jun’s face, Minghao could tell he was also thinking about a million other things.
“I don’t know…,” Jun trailed off, “I have to get this schedule put together as soon as possible and then email my students about their lesson times. I’d like to get it done by tonight at least.”
Jun, frazzled at his improvised and, frankly, tight schedule, pulled on his hair. Minghao sighed in reply.
“Babe, I know you’re stressed about this, and you being stressed and frazzled while trying to work it out isn’t helping you or anyone. It’s going to be harder for you to focus and get this done. At least take some time off to decorate with me. It’ll help clear your mind.”
Minghao pouted, putting on his puppy eyes.
“Please.”
Jun raised an eyebrow before he softly smiled. Even after three years of dating and two more years of marriage, he still wasn’t immune to Minghao’s puppy eyes, and Minghao knew it.
“Okay.”
Minghao beamed before he kissed Jun’s cheek and seemingly ran out of Jun’s office. He went to their storage closet and grabbed the box full of miscellaneous Christmas decorations. Bringing that to their living room, he went back and got the box that stored their Christmas tree.
Once he came back with the Christmas tree, he saw Jun was shuffling through the content of the boxes with their coffee mugs on the coffee table. Music was playing in their living room and their gas fireplace was turned on; Minghao assumed that Jun had connected his phone to their bluetooth speaker as well as turned on the fireplace.
“So… where do you want to start?” Jun asked.
“Let’s do the Christmas tree first then decorate the rest of the apartment, so we can figure out how we’re decorating the tree and how to match the apartment with it,” Minghao replied.
Jun nodded before he grabbed the box with the Christmas tree and opened it. They took out the different parts and started to put it together, occasionally drinking from their cup of coffee. When the tree was assembled, Minghao then grabbed a roll of gold ribbon. Starting from the bottom, he wrapped the ribbon around the Christmas tree, moving it in and out as he moved up the tree. After the ribbon was wrapped neatly around the tree, Jun took out the bundle of lights as Minghao sighed.
“I forgot the box of ornaments,” he said, “I’ll be back.”
Minghao walked out of their living room and back to their storage closet. He opened the door, turned on the light, and looked around the closet.
“Ah, there they are.”
Minghao saw that the box was tucked in the corner of the closet, so of course, that’s how he missed it. He walked over and picked up the box. As soon as he stood up, he heard a yelp.
“AH!”
Which was quickly followed by a thump.
Minghao gasped. He rushed out of the closet, quickly turning off the light, before he ran back to the living room.
Once he arrived, he expected Jun to be hurt or in trouble, but instead, Minghao could only try to hold in his laughter as he looked at the scene in front of him.
Jun was on the ground on his side, the shock evident on his face. The bundle of lights, which was still in his arms were also somehow wrapped around his ankle and his legs. The lights were now plugged in as well, making Jun look like a lit up human Christmas tree that had toppled over.
As the scene registered in his head, the harder it became for Minghao to hold in his laughter. Minghao was struggling to keep his mouth closed, trying to keep it in.
It became clear to Minghao that he wasn’t even trying hard to hide his laughter because Jun rolled his eyes.
“If you’re going to laugh, just laugh.”
And that’s when Minghao let out his laughter he’d been holding in, his stomach starting to hurt as they continued to shake his body. He put down the box of ornaments, scared they would break if he dropped them, and clutched his stomach as he continued to laugh.
“Babe,” Minghao said through his laughter, “H-How… How did you even… how?”
Jun huffed.
“If you’d really like to know: I was being helpful. I plugged in the lights because I wanted to make sure they still worked. But the plug in was in the middle of the roll, so I had to unroll the whole roll of lights. I plugged it in and saw that, yes, they work, but then I had to untangle the lights, since I got myself all wrapped up in them, and I guess… me trying to untangle them got them even more tangled, and before I knew it… I lost my balance and fell.”
Hearing the story just made Minghao laugh even harder. He leaned on the wall, the laughter shaking his body so much that he was having trouble standing on his own. Since Jun was still unable to get up on his own, he continued laying on the ground, bopping his head to the Christmas song that was currently playing.
Of course, while Jun was waiting, he smiled, seeing how happy his husband was; he was so adorable . He has been ever since Jun saw him lost on his way getting to the art studio and somehow wandered into the music department, where, that day, Jun just happened to be practicing for a piano showcase.
Being a “piano prodigy” (it was the nickname everyone on campus gave him because he was known for winning many national competitions prior to his admission), he was surrounded by everyone asking about his piano life, what he did to practice, how he got so good, and other piano-related question as if that was it to his life. Through all of that, all he wanted was to push past those people and see the shy art student and get to know him more.
After finding him again, learning his name, making the first moves, pursuing, and learning that Minghao was the cutest, kindest, most talented boy he would ever know, Jun decided he was going to marry him one day, no matter how long it took.
And here they were, five years later, in their shared apartment, setting up their Christmas tree and decorations, while Minghao was held captive by laughs because of Jun’s sudden mishap.
“Here, babe,” Minghao said, his laughter dying down, “Let me help you.”
Minghao then picked up the box of ornaments and walked over towards Jun. He set them down before bent down next to Jun and helped unwrap the lights from Jun’s legs. Once Jun was able to stand up, they untangled the lights together (but not without Minghao teasing Jun along the way). After doing so, Jun held the lights while Minghao wrapped them around the tree. Opening the box of ornaments, they decided on the color scheme of gold and white and proceeded to put their gold and white ornaments on the tree, dancing to the Christmas music that was playing as well as singing to the lyrics.
The last thing they needed to do was put the star on top of the tree. Minghao grabbed the gold star from the box, but, of course, they had a tall tree, so Minghao got up onto Jun’s shoulders and put the star on top of the tree. Once Minghao had straightened the star, Jun put him back down on the ground. They looked at their tree.
It was glowing and bright, with the colors of gold and white decorating the tree.
“It looks really nice,” Jun said.
“It looks a lot better than last year,” Minghao agreed, “Okay, now let’s decorate the apartment.”
Jun nodded before they looked through the box again. Minghao started to hang up the garland over their fireplace while Jun put up the stockings below. Afterwards, they moved on and started to hang snowflakes from the ceiling. They set their red and white Christmas pillows as well as Christmas blankets on the couch.
They stepped back and looked at their apartment, satisfied at their work.
Smiling, Jun turned his attention to Minghao.
“Thanks for dragging me away from my schedule. I enjoyed this, a lot, and I’m much less stressed now.”
Minghao looked at Jun and smiled.
“You’re welcome.”
Jun wrapped his arm around Minghao’s waist and kissed the side of his head.
“So… should we watch a Christmas movie now?”
Minghao looked at him, raising an eyebrow.
“Don’t you have scheduling to do?”
Jun sheepishly shrugged.
“Yeah, but it’s already been a couple of hours. I might as well put it off for a couple more.”
Minghao smiled.
“Okay.”
They moved to the couch, resting on the pillows. They wrapped themselves in a blanket and went through the different streaming sites, trying to figure out what movie to watch.