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Armin yawned as he padded back down the stairs to the living room. The TV glowed blue as a Christmas film he vaguely recognised played quietly. As every year, he sat himself down on the floor in front of the coffee table, helping himself to the mince pies they had left there only half an hour earlier.
“That was quick.” Jean commented as he rejoined Armin, two mugs of hot chocolate in his hands.
“I doubt there will be much sleeping right now - she’s too excited. Your mum’s gone to bed too by the way.”
Nodding, Jean put his own mug down to free his hands. “I’ll grab the presents, doubt she’ll be brave enough to venture down any time soon.”
Armin reached for the remote, changing the channel in search of something he knew, finally happy when The Holiday was on part way through.
His husband reammerged with a shopping bag filled with presents. Most of them had been wrapped, but Jean had run out of time with a big deadline at work just before the end of the year. Armin had volunteered to wrap the remaining presents and was only met with a steely look. The last time he had made an attempt it was apparently not “elf-certified” so Armin left the wrapping to Jean. His time to shine was stuffing the stocking.
Jean had already made a start on laying out the presents that were wrapped under the tree, mixing them amongst the presents from family. Armin grabbed Nora’s stocking from the TV unit - without a fireplace or a proper mantle they had to make do.
In the corner of his eye, he could see Jean sat back on his haunches, his task forgotten as he watched the scene on the TV. It was one of Jean’s favourite Christmas films, the brunette being a sucker for a romantic comedy.
“C’mon Santa,” Armin chuckled, “you’ve got work to do.”
Jean pouted as he placed another present under the tree. “I can multitask.” He crawled over to Armin on the floor, dropping his head in the blonde’s lap interrupting his work. “If you told me that you were secretly an elf I’d believe you.”
Rolling his eyes, Armin put the stocking down carefully. “Don’t you think I’d be better at wrapping presents if I was an elf?” His fingers carded through Jean’s hair absentmindedly.
“Maybe you’re from the toy building department.” Jean hummed. His eyes fluttered shut as he leant into Armin’s touch.
“At the moment, I’m in the packing department (“Yeah you are.”) but there’s been a disruption on the line.” Armin poked Jean’s side eliciting a laugh from him. Quickly, Jean tried to relax his face, trying to look as though he hadn’t heard Armin at all. “Okay we can stay like this, but when the four year old wakes up to no stocking, you can deal with the tantrum.”
Jean sat up, hand shooting to his forehead in mock salute before grabbing the bag of presents to start wrapping the last few.
By the time Armin had placed the filled stocking in front of the TV, all the presents had been wrapped and placed carefully under the tree. Jean had retired to the couch, warming his hands with his hot chocolate as he watched the film. It was nearly over, if Armin remembered correctly so he joined his husband, Jean’s arm opening on reflex to snuggled the blond close to his chest. “Do not fall asleep on me.” Jean yawned and Armin responded with his own.
A small hand shaking his arm woke Armin gently. “Daddy! Daddy!” Nora’s hushed whisper roused her parents “Santa came, look!” Jean shifted beneath him. Despite their efforts, Armin had fallen asleep on top of Jean on the sofa. The lights on the christmas tree still glowed warm as the dawn streamed blue through the windows.
Jean grumbled, squeezing Armin tighter before releasing him completely to stretch. “What time is it, bug?”
“I waited until six.” Nora bounced from foot to foot in excitement as she waited for the two to wake properly.
Smiling, Armin sat up to pull his daughter into his lap for a hug.
“Merry Christmas my babies.” Jean wrapped his arms around both Armin and Nora, planting a kiss on his husband’s cheek.
“Ew!” Nora giggled. “Merry Christmas!” She pulled away to march around the room singing “Merry Christmas” over and over as she did.
“How about,” Armin suggested, “you open your stocking and then we can go wake up your Nana so that we can all open all our presents together.” Nora’s song stopped immediately as she rushed back over to her parents, nodding enthusiastically.
Armin stood to grab the stocking, sitting himself on the floor cross legged on the floor with Nora. Jean disappeared with last night's dirty mugs to get himself and Armin coffee to survive the rest of morning.
Nora squealed in excitement at everything she pulled out of the stocking, from chocolate to socks and little dolls.
Jean leant against the door frame, a loving grin on his face as he watched the scene in front of him. He passed Armin his coffee as Nora pulled the clementine out of the bottom with a slightly less enthusiastic response.
“What do we say?” Armin prompted.
“Thank you, Santaaaa!” Nora called to the ceiling.
“I think it’s time to go wake up Nana.” Nora shot up to her feet, running out of the room to scramble up the stairs to wake Jean’s mum. Armin chided her to be careful as he got to his feet. “Merry Christmas, love.”
Jean’s arms snaked around Armin’s waist and they stood there for a beat, smiling together as they embraced. Jean leant down to pull Armin into a chaste kiss. “Merry Christmas.”