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“Merry Christmas, love.”
Seungcheol and Jeonghan stared at each other, beaming, basking in the early morning light filtering in between the half-drawn blinds. A slight chill filled the air, but it was toasty and warm under the blankets.
“Merry Christmas, Cheol.”
Yawning, Jeonghan stretched his arms and pushed open the covers. Slipping his feet into the (rather ugly) reindeer slippers Seungcheol had insisted on buying for the two of them last month, he shuffled up to the window to draw the blinds. Seungcheol rolled around in their nest of blankets for a little longer, enjoying the lingering warmth in contrast to the cool breeze that now filled the room as Jeonghan opened the windows.
A gasp caught his attention and he sat up immediately, joining Jeonghan at the window in his matching reindeer slippers. He thought they were rather cute, but he knew his boyfriend thought otherwise.
The sight that sprawled out before them was truly a sight to marvel at. A blanket of snow had covered the city overnight, peeks of green and grey dotted around the white scenery.
“It’s beautiful,” Jeonghan whispered, as if a sound any louder would break the fragile spell of wintertime.
“It is. Just like you.”
A mixture of a wheeze and choke answered him, with a soft slap to the chest. Grinning, he pulled him into a hug from behind and stood there for a minute or two in peaceful silence, just watching the endless stretch of snow.
“I’m hungry,” Jeonghan said suddenly, patting the arms around him in a silent request to let him go. Seungcheol reluctantly complied, opting to take his hand instead.
“Let’s go out to the living room, I’ll make us some pancakes and then we can open our presents.”
“Can we play in the snow after that?”
“Of course. And then hot chocolate after?”
“With lots and lots of whipped cream and marshmallows.”
The delicious scent of freshly made pancakes quickly filled the air of the cosy apartment, the couple digging in not long afterwards. Jeonghan watched in mock horror as Seungcheol practically drowned his stack in maple syrup, instead opting for blueberry jam and whipped cream. The soft cake melted in his mouth, the slight taste of burnt accompanying it in some areas, but that just added to its depth.
Stuffed, they rendezvoused under the glittering Christmas tree. They would open more, larger presents with friends later in the evening, but it was tradition to exchange smaller, more personal gifts in the morning. Seungcheol pressed a small box wrapped in delicate tissue patterned with golden snowflakes into Jeonghan’s hands, and he passed him a slightly larger box in the loudest festive paper, complete with Santa heads and Rudolph antlers.
“You open your one first.”
Carefully, Jeonghan stripped away the tape keeping the wrapping together to uncover a velvet box. A slight twinge of excitement and dread ran through him. Was he ready for this?
“Open it,” Seungcheol urged.
Slowly, he lifted the lid to reveal… a watch. It had a sleek, black band, the face encircled in gold and silver. On the face of the watch, however, was engraved a pair of angel wings and his initials under it.
“Were you expecting something more?” Seungcheol probed, a mask of concern on his face, but Jeonghan could clearly detect the amused undertone. Ah, that sly minx. He’d definitely intended for him to assume a slightly… grander gift.
“It’s perfect,” he insisted, fastening the clasp around his wrist and leaning over to leave a brief kiss on his lips. Seungcheol caught him in the act, deepening the kiss before he could pull away.
They pulled away as they ran out of breath and a silent promise to be continued later.
“Open yours now. I actually put effort into it.”
“Oh? So, not like last year?”
“Hey! You said you liked it.”
“I did. Or, at least, as much as you can like a custom mug with my face on it and a very poorly hidden innuendo carved on the bottom.”
“What’s not to love?”
Laughing, Seungcheol chose not to answer and instead focused his attention on his present once more. Tearing through the wrapping paper (despite Jeonghan’s protests, but he knew the paper was from the sale corner of the local grocery store), he lifted up a black, wooden box with several drawers.
“An accessory box, for you to store all of your earrings and necklaces and whatnots so you don’t have to leave them sprawled out over my dresser every day. And look on the bottom.”
With a slight sensation of dread, he turned it around only to confirm his suspicions.
A pearl necklace would look really nice on you.
“Jeonghan!” A furious blush was spreading over his face as he desperately tried to school his face into neutral, all while his boyfriend collapsed into fits of giggles on the floor.
Once the two of them calmed down, they bundled up in scarves and hats and gloves and padded jackets, armed to the teeth to fight against the bitter cold. Hand in hand, they rode down the elevator and out into the gardens of the apartment complex, snow crunching under their feet. There were barely any other people outside, deterred by the cold temperatures and early time. After all, it was just barely past seven in the morning.
Together, they began rolling snowballs to create snowmen, or at least until Jeonghan started complaining about his hands going numb. Then, it was just Seungcheol gathering the snow as Jeonghan cheered him on.
With a groan, Seungcheol sat back on the ground as soon as he finished, passing on the baton to Jeonghan, who immediately took up his role decorating the two rather bare snowmen. He pressed small rocks he had found into their heads as facial features and some to represent buttons, and as a finishing touch, carved their initials on the back of their heads.
“Where are their arms?”
“Non-existent.”
“Why am I the slightly lopsided one?”
“It fits you in my opinion.”
“Hey!” Seungcheol threw a handful of snow at him in retaliation. And that was probably the largest mistake in his life. He had just instigated a snowball fight between two of the most competitive people he knew, there was no way this was going to go down well.
A snowball came flying at his shoulder, exploding into snowflakes upon impact. Oh, it was on.
He chased after the shrieking and quickly scampering away Jeonghan, managing to land one on his back. Three smaller snowballs pelted him on both his arms and one leg. Panting, he kicked up a flurry of snow instead, collapsing onto Jeonghan in the process and tumbling onto the ground together.
He rolled off of him and simply lay there for a while, listening to the other regain his breath. Dusting himself off, he stood up and offered a hand to Jeonghan, only to see him flailing his arms and legs around to make a snow angel.
“It looks just like you, angel.”
“I know. Let’s go inside, I’m cold now, and you got snow inside my scarf.” he stuck his tongue out at him, making him snort, but he couldn’t help but agree. The cold was catching up with them, and if they didn’t dry off soon, they’d probably get sick.
Inside, the couple sat together on the couch each with a mug of hot chocolate in hand (with lots and lots of whipped cream and marshmallows), hair slightly damp from taking a shower (together? who knew) and in fresh, festive pyjamas. The warmth of the drink melted away any lingering cold, and Jeonghan leaned his head on Seungcheol’s shoulder with a content sigh. This, this was what people meant when they said Christmas was the most wonderful time of the year.