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Taeyong sighed as he threw himself onto his bed and shoved his face into the mattress. He was exhausted, but it was worth it. He was slightly out of breath and starting to sweat, but he was finally finished. It was the day of Christmas Eve, and Taeyong had just finished cleaning the whole house from top to bottom for his family visiting, expecting them to arrive quite early on the next morning. He’d adjusted the decorations around his house a countless number of times so that they were just right. Which was ironic, as no matter how well he decorated the house, his parents always found something to nag about. “Your sister decorates better, she has a better eye for it.” His mother would say, “You would think that as a boy who has nightmares about germs, you’d keep the place a bit tidier,” Taeyong would roll his eyes, he knew his house was decorated well, completely spotless, but his mother always brought it up so she could say “So when are you going to settle down with a nice girl? Maybe if you found a girlfriend she could help with the state of this place.”
His mother didn’t know he was gay, but he had no intention of ever telling her. His sister knew, and she hated how much their mother nagged him, always helping her brother change the subject. His mother only ever spoke to him to tease him for his cleanliness or to pry about his relationships (or lack of). This year he wanted the house to be even more perfect than usual, he wanted to prove to his mother that he could be a good host (which his whole family except his mother always told him). Last year they spent Christmas at his sister’s house, and the year before that they spent it at his parent’s house, so this year it was his turn to host again. Initially he was quite excited, he enjoyed preparing the house and cooking the meal, but when he received constant messages asking if he was “prepared” enough, he grew to dread it. He still found some joy in decorating the house though, even if it was for his own benefit.
He hadn’t looked out the window once, but he knew from the crunching sounds he heard every now and then that it had snowed while he was busy, and apparently it was quite a heavy blizzard. He stood up to look out the window, it had stopped now, leaving the entire street covered in a peaceful blanket of snow. But Taeyong had forgotten it had rained the night before, and that rain freezes. That is, until he heard a loud squeak, a thump and a groan of pain outside and his attention was drawn to someone lying flat on their back in the snow. His eyes widened and he ran out of his room and down the stairs, rushing to unlock the front door, sprinting outside barely caring that he was barefoot. It was freezing and Taeyong could see both his breath and the person’s breath. In fact, that was all he could see of the person as they were that deep into the snow. He ran over to the body, briefly making eye contact with them before he found himself falling into the snow too.
He hadn’t hit the ground quite as hard as he heard the stranger fall, but it still knocked the air out of him and he gasped before he even realised it happened. “Shit,” He rolled over to his side, groaning slightly before pushing the snow away from him, also revealing the body from earlier. He stared at the man with wide eyes, and he stared back with equally wide eyes before bursting into laughter. His cheeks glowed pink and his laugh was loud and childlike, dimples forming at the corner of his mouth as he threw his head back, snow falling into his dark hair. Taeyong was confused at first, before he too began to smile realising how ridiculous the pair must have looked and then joined in on the loud laughter, hiding his face in embarrassment. “Pretty slippy, huh?” The dark haired boy said once the laughter had stopped slightly, “What made you come out so quickly?”
Taeyong somehow managed to blush even more than before, “I saw you fall when I looked out my window, I ran out to see if you were okay.” As he remembered, Taeyong suddenly realised just how cold his feet were and he began to shiver.
“Oh god, you saw,” It was the strangers turn for his face to glow bright red, “I didn’t think anyone had seen since the road was empty, no one else was around, I didn’t think about windows,” He brought his hand to his eyes and laughed again, “I’m such an idiot.”
“Hey, I’m the one who came running out in his pyjamas acting all heroic only to fall on my damn face,” Taeyong said, and the stranger nodded, a bright smile still on his face. “So uh, since I was supposed to save you, how about you come inside for a bit? It’s freezing cold and I wouldn’t want you to get sick, I mean, It’s that time of year and sometimes getting sick is inevitable but you know, if you can prevent it then you should, right? So I think It’s the least I can do since my house is nice and warm and I have no idea where you live and if you tried to walk home you could slip and fall again and-“
“I would love to,” The stranger interrupted, and Taeyong grew embarrassed realising how much he had rambled, he reached a hand over to Taeyong and they shook hands, “I’m Jaehyun.”
“I’m Taeyong, nice to meet you,” he said, standing up slowly and pulling Jaehyun with him, making sure he was steady on his feet, “Is your back okay?”
Jaehyun stretched and he made a look of discomfort but still said, “It’s a little sore, but I’ll be okay, are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” Taeyong nodded, he felt a little shaky on his legs but he was sure it was more to do with the cold of his feet.
As they walked in Taeyong’s door, still holding hands for balance, Taeyong heard Jaehyun laugh and turned around to question him. “I’m just thinking, it’s snow nice to meet you too, Taeyong,” and Taeyong couldn’t help but beam at the cheesy joke before he playfully punched Jaehyun’s arm.
A few hours later, and Jaehyun and Taeyong were both sitting on the floor in a pile of blankets in front of the fire. Well, it wasn’t a real fire, but it still did the trick. Both had a mug of hot chocolate, preferring the sweet drink over tea or coffee, meaning there was no debate. Or so they thought. Taeyong was about to drop a handful of marshmallows in Jaehyun’s hot chocolate when he made a noise of disgust, “What the hell, who does that?” he said.
“Normal people,” Taeyong said as he frowned, “You're heartless.”
“Heartless? At least I have taste,” Jaehyun said, taking a mouthful of hot chocolate.
“Wow, Jaehyun, you must be afraid of love if you don’t like marshmallows in your hot chocolate.” Taeyong said with a smirk, making Jaehyun roll his eyes.
Now there they were, a single marshmallow floating in Jaehyun’s hot chocolate that he hadn’t noticed yet, talking about their families. Taeyong explained his nit-picking mother and his couldn’t be more perfect sister. He talked about how nervous he was for them coming to his house, and Jaehyun made a comment along the lines of “How will you cook when you can’t walk, old man?” and Taeyong hit him with a pillow.
Jaehyun talked about his family too, although not as much. He mentioned that he didn’t see them often, especially at Christmas. They enjoyed going to his uncles house, which he hated, due to how homophobic he ended up being and how no one in his family spoke against his harsh words. This was also how Jaehyun told Taeyong about his sexuality, he didn’t even mean to, he was just so used to telling the story this way. When he realised what he said, his eyes widened before he let out a long sigh, “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that I-“ He searched for words before saying, “I understand if you think of me differently.” Taeyong just smiled at this, and Jaehyun felt his eyes tear up, “What?” He said, his voice smaller than he thought it could be.
“Nothing,” Taeyong kept smiling, and rested his hand on top of Jaehyuns, “My mother complains every year that I don’t have a girlfriend.” The water pooling in his eyes reflected the light of the fire.
“Someone as good looking as you? No wonder, you could get any girl you wanted I’d bet… Oh.” It took Jaehyun a couple of seconds to get what he was saying.
“Yeah.” Taeyong laughed, “She’s the only one in the family that doesn’t know that I’m, you know, not straight, but I bet that even if I told her she wouldn’t believe it.”
Jaehyun laughed, feeling slightly more comfortable and moving to rest his head on Taeyong’s shoulder. “I hope Christmas turns out okay for you.”
Taeyong sighed and Jaehyun felt his shoulders move, “I’m sure it will be with you here,” and Jaehyun glanced up at him, confused, while Taeyong looked down at him with a bright smile, “I mean, you’re alone, and not to mention injured.”
“I’m not injured Tae-“
“You hurt your back. I mean, I’m not forcing you to stay…” He was blushing again, his confidence gone, “But if you want to, you can – ah! Not that I don’t want you to, I’d like that a lot.”
“You’re cute,” Jaehyun laughed, moving from Taeyong’s shoulder to look at him again, “I’d love to stay.”
Taeyong’s eyes widened after being called cute, and he suddenly felt more confident again. He admired how beautiful Jaehyun looked, the fireplace reflecting in his eyes, his cute dimples and soft skin lit up by the Christmas lights. Taeyong leaned forward, slightly embarrassed, and so did Jaehyun. Their lips met and they moved closer together, softly kissing each other. Jaehyun moved so that he was kneeling, now slightly taller than Taeyong, and placed his hands on either side of his face, tilting his head towards him and kissing him from above. Taeyong slowly fell backwards, and Jaehyun followed until they were on the floor in the pile of blankets together. Jaehyun moved his kisses to Taeyong’s neck, his hands running through his hair, breaking apart the kiss for a second to whisper into his ear, “That patch of ice isn’t the only reason you won’t be able to walk tomorrow.”
Fast forward to a year later. The previous Christmas, when Taeyong met Jaehyun, had been his best one yet. Even his mother complimented him – well, as close to a compliment as she could get- especially for finding someone to be in a relationship with, and Taeyong managed to ignore how much she avoided the use of the word “boyfriend” when referring to him. It was decided that they’d spend Christmas at Taeyong's home this year, too. And now the couple were both asleep together, snugly in the new double bed they had bought when Jaehyun moved in during summer. Or so Taeyong thought. He was alone, but blissfully unaware of it. That is, until he was rudely awakened by loud music suddenly pouring in from outside. When he turned to complain to Jaehyun, he wasn’t there.
“No,” Taeyong threw the duvet off himself, his body was instantly hit by the cold as he had fallen asleep in just his boxers, but he didn’t care, “Not this shit, you’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” He stormed across the room, trying not to trip over the mess of clothes (that seemed to be constant ever since Jaehyun moved in) in the darkness. He slid open the curtains, and opened the window only slightly. The already loud music suddenly blared into his room, and Taeyong covered his ears. “Yah! Jung Jaehyun, it’s 2am!” He yelled down at the man in question, who was currently standing in the snow wearing a glittery suit he got from goodness knows where, a speaker on the ground next to him, singing and dancing to the music. “Turn that off right fucking now!” He screamed, battling for his voice to be heard over the deafeningly loud noise of Mariah Carey’s hit All I Want For Christmas Is You.
Jaehyun grinned when he noticed Taeyong, leaning down to lower the volume of the music slightly. His cheeks were rosy with the cold, the Christmas lights that they had left on all night (because “Hyung, it’s Christmas Eve and Santa will need to see them,”) shining in his eyes and the grin making his dimples visible even from upstairs. He waved up at Taeyong cheerfully, clearly not caring about their neighbours glaring at them from their windows, some even shouting about the noise. “Aww, hyung, cheer up, it’s Christmas Eve, or rather, actually Christmas now!” As the chorus came up in the song, he started dancing with even more enthusiasm, “And I wanted to do something nice for our anniversary.” He pouted, looking up at Taeyong with puppy eyes.
Taeyong sighed and rolled his eyes, pushing the window open even wider as Jaehyun turned the music up to full volume again. While the latter was too distracted as he was now singing again, Taeyong leaned forward and scooped the snow off the window ledge, patting it together into a snowball. Suddenly, he lifted up his hand, throwing the snowball and aiming for his boyfriend’s smug face.
The loud scream and the sound of Jaehyun falling into the deep snow (now becoming tradition), was all the confirmation he needed that he had hit his target. “Get your ass back in here right now, Jaehyun!” Taeyong yelled, although he was unsure if he had heard him with all the snow he guessed must’ve been lodged in the youngers ears. Taeyong smiled, going back into his bed. He pulled the covers over his body again, rolling onto his side and facing the wall, listening with a smile on his face as the music stopped. He heard the door open and Jaehyun was back inside, his soft footsteps getting louder as he walked up the stairs. Taeyong watched a small strip of light spill into their room as the door opened, and it disappeared as it shut. He closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep, listening as Jaehyun took off most of clothes and left them on the damn floor again. It took all of Taeyong’s willpower not to turn around and complain about the mess, but he managed to stay “asleep.”
He bit back a giggle as heard Jaehyun whisper “He must really be asleep if he didn’t shout at me,” and climbed into bed.
Thinking he had taught the younger a lesson, he let out a sigh and actually began to let himself fall asleep. He lay there with a warm feeling growing in his chest, thinking about how, as annoying as it was, Jaehyun had remembered their anniversary and tried to do something sweet. Taeyong really loved him, even if he had to throw a snowball at him on Christmas morning to get him to shut up.
Suddenly, Taeyong felt ice cold hands on him. One on the very back of his neck and one at the top of his boxers. “Hey!” He turned around and faced Jaehyun, and it was his turn to feign sleep. But Taeyong could still see a smile threatening to appear on the youngers face. “You’re so evil, Jaehyun, your hands are so cold!”
“You threw a snowball at me!”
“You disturbed all our neighbours!”
“That was out of love!” Jaehyun said defensively, and Taeyong burst into laughter, and soon Jaehyun did too.
“That was really sweet of you, Jaehyun.” Taeyong said, leaning forward and kissing Jaehyun on the nose.
“Happy Anniversary,” Jaehyun whispered, tangling his fingers in Taeyong’s hair, moving closer and kissing Taeyong.
Taeyong moved even closer so that their bodies were pressed together in an embrace, after the kiss he rolled over to face the wall again, and Jaehyun moved closer again, spooning him from behind.
Jaehyun placed a gentle kiss on the back of Taeyong’s neck, wrapping his arms around his waist. “I love you so much, Tae.”
“I love you too, Jaehyun, so much.” Taeyong whispered, but Jaehyun was close enough to hear, “You mean the world to me, I’m so glad you slipped outside my house.”
“I’m glad you tried to be my hero,” Jaehyun said and laughed silently, his breath hitting the back of Taeyong’s neck, “I love you, so fucking much.”
The pair fell asleep like this, Jaehyun nuzzling into Taeyong’s neck, Taeyong’s hands resting on Jaehyuns around his waist.
Christmas morning was sure to be mayhem, it always was. But waking up to the smell of burning cookies was not something Taeyong expected. When he woke up, his back felt cold and Jaehyun wasn’t there. “You could have at least put the duvet back over me, asshole,” Taeyong muttered, pulling the duvet back over himself. But then he smelled the burning. Getting a weird sensation of déjà vu, he pulled himself out of bed, wrapping a nearby bath robe over himself and running downstairs. He was met with Jaehyun in the kitchen, holding a tray of black cookies and a lot of smoke.
“Fuck…” Jaehyun was staring at the cookies, looking disappointed before he noticed Taeyong, “Oh, hyung!” Jaehyun waved his free hand, “Merry Christmas!” He moved to kiss Taeyong on the cheek but froze, realising that going that close to someone with a burning hot baking tray was not a good idea. He dropped the baking tray on top of the oven, and then kissed Taeyong’s cheek.
“Merry Christmas, babe,” Taeyong pecked Jaehyun on the lips, “But what the hell have you done to the kitchen?” There was flour, sugar and all sorts everywhere, including Jaehyun’s dark hair which now had a white patch shaped like a hand on top of it.
“I tried to bake cookies for you as a surprise,” Jaehyun said sadly, “Turns out, I’m not good at following a recipe,” He looked at the tray of cookies, “Or not getting distracted, apparently.”
“Sugar cookies take like, 10 minutes, what was so distracting?”
Jaehyun looked embarrassed then, his cheeks turning red, “Elf was on TV, and I thought I could just watch 10 minutes of it, you know I love Elf!” Jaehyun tried to defend himself, “So uh, instead of 10 minutes, I watched the whole movie…”
“You left the cookies for over an hour?” Taeyong exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air, “And you didn’t even clean the kitchen?”
“Hey! In my defence I felt bad for Buddy, I didn’t want to miss him meeting his father!” Jaehyun said.
“I’m pretty sure that happens well after 10 minutes in, Jaehyun,” Taeyong rolled his eyes but couldn’t keep the smile off his face, “Besides, you’ve seen that movie, like, a billion times.”
“What can I say? Just like me, the charm and the magic never fades.” He said with a grin. Taeyong pushed him playfully, muttering a “shut up” before he opened the closet, lifted the broom out, and started to sweep some of the mess on the floor. Jaehyun sadly threw his cookies in the trash, “We had a good run, guys,” He said sadly, pretending to wipe a tear from his eyes before helping Taeyong clean up.
Taeyong and Jaehyun stood waiting at their door for Taeyong’s sister. She had just texted saying she was nearly there, so at least they were prepared. Jaehyun looked handsome but silly, he wore a dress shirt and jeans, but with one of his own knitted sweaters over the shirt. He had knitted matching sweaters for him and Taeyong to wear, and Jaehyun was terribly embarrassed about it, initially knitting them as a joke, but Taeyong loved them. His black hair was styled up and parted to the side, and Taeyong noticed he was even wearing a bit of eye makeup. Taeyong wore the exact same outfit (with his own sweater, of course) and he had unintentionally styled his hair similarly. Taeyong had commented on Jaehyun’s makeup, and ended up also wearing some eye makeup, which Jaehyun did for him of course. “We look like we’re married,” Taeyong said jokingly, and Jaehyun stayed silent, Taeyong assumed it was nerves.
His sister arrived quickly, holding her new baby in her arms while her husband struggled behind her with a large bag, presumably filled with gifts. “Taeyong! It’s so good to see you!” She leaned forward while Taeyong hugged her, her son smiled too.
Taeyong leaned down and let his nephew grab onto one of his fingers with his tiny hand, and Jaehyun noticed the tears in Taeyong’s eyes. “Hey little guy,” He said, the baby looking up at him in awe, “I hope Santa spoiled you,” He used his baby voice, the one that was quieter and higher in pitch, and it made Jaehyun smile seeing his boyfriend acting like this.
“He sure did,” his sister said with a smile, looking down at the two before glancing up at Jaehyun. She took a double take before her eyes widened, “Hey Jaehyun,” She sounded shocked but smiled at him, “Merry Christmas,” she beamed.
“Merry Christmas!” Jaehyun returned, moving closer to look at her son.
“I’m glad you’re here, you make Taeyong so happy, and you’re all he talks about.” She stuck her tongue out as Taeyong protested, clearly embarrassed.
“I’m glad to hear that,” Jaehyun winked at Taeyong who rolled his eyes before moving his attention back to his nephew.
“This is Jaehyun, say hi Jaehyun,” Taeyong whispered, lifting up the baby’s hand and waving it at Jaehyun, and words couldn’t describe how happy he felt. His chest felt warm and he grinned back at the baby who was now in Taeyong’s arms as his sister helped her husband. Seeing Taeyong happy like this, with his family, it made Jaehyun feel more secure in his decision, it made him realise just how much he wanted to be with Taeyong.
Taeyong and Jaehyun led the couple to their seats at the table, barely given any time before there was another knock at the door. Taeyong looked panicked as he glanced in the direction of the door, freezing as he was putting wine glasses out on the table. His sister stood up and took the glasses, starting to finish what he was doing. Jaehyun placed his hand on Taeyong’s shaking arm, “It’s okay, it’ll be okay…”
They moved into the hallway as the door knocked again and Taeyong turned to face Jaehyun, “They don’t know we’re still together.” He blurted out.
“What?” Was all Jaehyun managed to say, surely they assumed unless he told them otherwise.
“They always spoke about you as if you were some phase, someone I used to make a statement.” Taeyong’s eyes were starting to fill up with tears, “I didn’t deny it, and I didn’t want to know what they’d think if I told them I was actually gay. I’m so sorry I-“
“Shh, Taeyong, it’s okay,” Jaehyun said, his voice softening, “I understand, trust me, it’ll be okay. I’m here, and they’ll know. If they don’t like it, they can leave.”
Taeyong nodded, he didn’t want to start a drama with his parents, but if it called for it, he could do this, for Jaehyun. “I love you,” he gave Jaehyun a quick kiss, a desperate one, before opening the door. “Hey, mom,” He said, a big smile on his face with Jaehyun knew was fake.
They embraced and his mother had a smile that seemed genuine. Then Taeyong’s father came in, and his mother noticed him. While Taeyong and his father (who noticed Jaehyun and smiled at him genuinely) spoke, Taeyong’s mother smiled at him and through gritted teeth asked to speak to him somewhere. Jaehyun was terrified, but led her into the kitchen and she shut the door behind them.
“So you’re still here.” She said.
“Mhm,” Jaehyun confirmed, “Merry Christmas.”
“Yeah,” Taeyong’s mother waved her hand in the air, dismissing him, “Look, I know what you people are like. You can wait until after Christmas, but I need you to leave my son out of what you do.”
“I’m sorry?” Jaehyun was shocked at what she was implying, his mouth falling open.
“You people, you use innocent people for sex, try to make them one of you. I’m not having it, I don’t want you near my son.” She snapped, glaring at him.
“I’m in love with your son, ma’am, and he’s in love with me too.” Jaehyun said as calmly as he could, ignoring her as she scoffed, “We’re boyfriends, we live together. You were fine with this last year,”
“I put up with you because I thought he was confused, but now you’re making him into someone like you. It’s disgusting, I won’t have my son being made like that, like you.”
“That’s not true.” Jaehyun said, slowly losing his patience, “Taeyong asked me to stay with him that Christmas, and I moved in during the summer. We’re in love.” Jaehyun smiled, “I don’t use him for sex, us people aren’t monsters. But you know, if the sex is great then the sex is great.” Taeyong’s mother turned pale and her jaw dropped, Jaehyun thought her eyes might fall out if they had been any wider. “Have a nice meal, ma’am, I don’t intend on leaving your son any time soon.”
As they left the kitchen, they met Taeyong and his father. Jaehyun watched as his mother went to sit at the table, and Taeyong looked scared. Jaehyun whispered, “I dealt with her, it’s okay.”
Taeyong sighed in relief, and apparently his father still heard, despite the whispering, and leaned between them. “I won’t let her get in the way, I’m proud of you, Taeyong.” He squeezed his son’s shoulder and gave a comforting smile at Jaehyun before going to join his wife.
Taeyong and Jaehyun ended up sitting at opposite ends of the table, much to his mother’s unsubtle joy. Taeyong’s sister and her family sat on one side of the table, and his parents sat on the other, leaving one seat at either side of the table. Jaehyun followed Taeyong into the kitchen to finish getting the meal ready, concerned as he watched Taeyong freeze and stare at the potatoes currently boiling. “Taeyong, it’s okay, please…”
“She’s going to ruin this, I know it.” Taeyong muttered, barely reacting as Jaehyun wrapped his arms around him, instead lifting a plate and moving to start dishing the food.
“I won’t let her. You’ve worked so hard for today, she can’t ruin it.” Jaehyun said reassuringly, kissing Taeyong’s neck.
Suddenly Taeyong turned around, the plate crashing to the floor and smashing, the shards scattering across the kitchen floor, his nephew started crying from the next room at the loud noise. “Not Christmas, Jaehyun! This! She’s going to make you leave me, with her nasty comments under her breath, she’s gonna make you hate me!” Taeyong shouted, his words muffled as Jaehyun pulled him to his chest, holding him close, kissing his head. “I don’t want to lose you because of her, I don’t want this to happen I don’t know what I’d do without you-“
Jaehyun ran his hands through Taeyong’s hair, trying to calm him down. Taeyong’s breathing was frantic, and Jaehyun could tell he was crying by the way his shoulders trembled. He made quiet noises, trying to soothe his boyfriend, whispering, “Nothing could make me leave you, Lee Taeyong,” he wiped his tears with his thumb, “There’s not one thing she could say that would make me hate you, I’m so in love with you, nothing could ruin that.”
After a moment, Taeyong glanced up at Jaehyun. His breathing was normal again, but his eyes were still red from tears, “I’m so sorry, Jae, I didn’t want this to happen, I thought I could get through today,”
“It’s okay, baby, don’t apologise.” Jaehyun kissed his forehead, “Today’s gonna be amazing, and we’re gonna serve this dinner to your family and it’s gonna be the best damn food they’ve ever tasted.” Taeyong smiled at this, “I love you so much.”
“I love you too,” Taeyong lifted his head up to kiss Jaehyun, “Fuck, I made a mess,” he said, suddenly remembering the broken plate.
“I’ll clean it up,” Jaehyun said, already sweeping the shards to the side and scooping them into the trash. Carefully trying not to cut himself on the sharp edges, “I don’t think anyone ordered a side order of my blood,” Jaehyun said with laughter that sounded almost nervous.
Eventually, they managed to serve dinner, Taeyong ignoring the gaze of his mother who obviously heard him yelling in the kitchen. He kept his eyes down when they sat down, and Jaehyun wished he could be next to his boyfriend to comfort him.
Everyone enjoyed the meal, clearly, even Taeyong’s mother gave a nod of appreciation, which brought a slight smile to Taeyong’s face. They were all halfway through their plates when Jaehyun had a not so bright idea. He could pull it off, subtly, it would make Taeyong smile at least. He cleared his throat, and Taeyong was looking at his sister. He cleared his throat again, but this time Taeyong noticed, his head snapping round to face Jaehyun again. But so did the rest of the table, expecting him to say something as he shoved food into his mouth. He kept eating until he saw everyone else go back to normal, except for Taeyong who stared at him with a raised eyebrow and narrow eyes. Jaehyun wiggled his eyebrows, pushing his tongue into the side of his cheek and moving his hand towards his mouth, nearly bursting into laughter as Taeyong’s eyes widened and his face grew red, moving his gaze back to his plate.
The conversations resumed, Jaehyun had quite a nice discussion with Taeyong’s sister about the last Christmas, and how she thought he was charming. Jaehyun then realised she didn’t know the whole story when she said “It was nice of my brother to go out and save you, you could’ve ended up frozen too!” with a laugh.
Jaehyun narrowed his eyes before grinning, “Really? Is that what he told you?”
“Yeah, is there something else that I should know about?” His sister laughed, glancing over at Taeyong who was glaring at Jaehyun, his eyes saying “don’t you fucking dare”.
Jaehyun decided to ignore Taeyong’s harsh stare before saying, “Well, unlike some people, I can admit to my stupidity. I was walking way too fast and hit a rough patch of ice,” He turned to look at Taeyong again, smirking, “And Taeyong, my hero, couldn’t bear to see a damsel in distress get injured. Courageous Taeyong ran to my aid, into the freezing cold with just his pyjamas!” Jaehyun watched smugly as Taeyong blushed, his eyes moving everywhere in the room except any of the guests, “And while he fought hard to save me, he too ended up on his back in the snow.” Taeyong’s sister snorted, her eyes widening as she laughed, “Ah yes, Taeyong’s bravery was his downfall, too focussed on saving me to simply watch his step.” Jaehyun leaned back in his chair smugly as everyone at the table burst into laughter at the thought of the normally perfect man slipping on the ice.
As everyone was looking at Taeyong, he kept his gaze on Jaehyun, and he took the opportunity to slowly lick each of his fingers, pushing them into his mouth and sucking on them while keeping eye contact with Taeyong. He pulled them out, smirking across the table and winking, repressing laughter as Taeyong glared at him. “You’re dead.” Taeyong muttered.
“What did you say?” His father asked, and Taeyong looked shocked.
“Uh…” Taeyong’s voice trailed off, nervously looking around, “I said, more bread! I’ll go get some, hang on.” He stood up in a hurry, rushing out of the room before poking his head around the door, “Jaehyun, help.”
Jaehyun smiled at the guests, bowing slightly before rushing to follow Taeyong into the kitchen. “Hyung, no one has any bread, and I don’t think we’ve had bread in this house for weeks-“
“Well, that’s a shame, isn’t it?” Taeyong muttered, before saying slightly louder: “Ah, you bought unsliced again, Jaehyun, guess we’ll have to slice it ourselves.”
“Wha-“Jaehyun was interrupted by Taeyong pulling him forward by his collar, kissing him roughly, pushing him against the counter. Jaehyun whined as Taeyong pushed his hand against his crotch, and he leaned into the touch.
“Behave.” Taeyong whispered, heading back out the kitchen and to the table. Jaehyun waited a moment in the kitchen to catch his breath again, urging his excitement away.
“Dammit, Taeyong…” He muttered, slowly wandering to join everyone else again.
Taeyong looked a lot brighter now, and a little smug. Now it was Jaehyun’s turn to blush, hoping no one noticed his problem as he stared down, praying for it to go away. No one mentioned the lack of bread, and looked just as awkward as Jaehyun felt. Taeyong’s mother looked utterly traumatised, she was the closest to the door so she must’ve heard everything, and Jaehyun didn’t even care.
Taeyong’s sister clapped her hands as everyone had finished, “That was amazing, you guys,” she smiled brightly between the couple, “So before dessert, I think we should open the presents.” She stood up and wandered over to where Taeyong was sitting, “Swap seats with me, Taeyong, I want you and Jaehyun to open your gifts together.” She said cheerfully.
Everyone exchanged gifts, a growing pile of wrapped surprises appearing in front of each guest as they were handed out. With the exception of Jaehyun. No one except for Taeyong’s sister knew he would be there. She placed a hand on two small boxes from Taeyong’s pile, “Open these last. They’re for both of you.” She ordered, smiling as if she knew a secret that no one else did.
Everyone took turns opening their presents, all delighted with what they had received. Wrapping paper was everywhere, and Taeyong was stopped in the middle of trying to preserve some of it by his sister’s hand on his arm. “There’s still one more,” she said, a warm smile comforting him.
He passed the first box to Jaehyun, and it felt slightly heavy, which Jaehyun wasn’t expecting. He gently pulled the wrapping paper off, simply unfolding it instead of tearing it, and it revealed another plain box. He took the lid off the box, placing it to one side and pulled the gift out. It was a snow globe, a dark winter sky painted on the inside with an ice rink in the middle. He shook it and watched the snow fall, and he noticed something shining as he turned it into the light. Engraved onto the little silver plate on the base of the snow globe was he and Taeyong’s names, and Jaehyun gasped, tilting it to show Taeyong. Jaehyun looked up, his eyes filled with tears, “It’s beautiful,” He said, smiling as the tears started to fall.
“I love it,” Taeyong smiled at his sister, and he could see she was also trying not to cry, her lip quivering.
“I wanted to give you guys something special,” she said, “I’m so glad you’ve found someone who makes you happy,” she pushed the other box towards them, then moved to wipe the tears from her eyes without smudging her makeup.
Taeyong opened this one, opening the box and looping a finger through the red ribbon that stuck out the top. He pulled the ribbon out, and a flash of silver came with it. Hanging from his finger was a tree ornament, a silver circle with a bird in the middle, and of course the ribbon on top. Something was engraved on this too, and Taeyong smiled at the letters J and T on the side.
“They couldn’t fit your whole names on it, so that’s why I bought the snow globe.” She smiled at them, “I wanted to be the one that bought you guys your first Christmas ornament,”
“They’re beautiful,” Taeyong whispered, moving out of his seat to go and hug his sister, and Jaehyun did the same, grasping Taeyong’s hand in his own when they sat down. Taeyong turned to his mother, who was also crying, her shoulders trembling. She wasn’t crying with happiness or sadness, Taeyong knew it all too well that she was crying with anger, “Mom.” He snapped.
She looked at him, her face twisting with anger before standing up, “I can’t stay here and watch this.” She pointed a finger at her daughter harshly, “You’re fucking encouraging it!”
“Mom!” She yelled, “There’s a kid at the table!”
“Sorry, but I can’t do this. You’re letting this happen!” Her mother picked up her gifts, putting them into the bag she brought. “This whole thing, it’s disgusting,” She turned and glared at Jaehyun, her nostrils flaring with anger, “You disgust me.” She spat, “I’m warning you, you better leave my son alone, you’re scum.” She stormed out of the room, and Taeyong’s father followed, apologising constantly as he literally ran after his wife, pleading with her to not do this.
Taeyong leaned into Jaehyun and let his tears fall, sobbing into his chest as he heard the door slam and the car drive away. He gripped Jaehyun’s sweater in his hands, “I don’t want to lose you, this is such a mess, I’m sorry, I’m sorry-“He sobbed into him again and again, and Jaehyun rubbed circles onto his back, allowing him to let everything out.
“It’s okay.” He said gently, “It’ll be okay, Taeyong.”
Taeyong fell asleep in Jaehyun’s arms, and his sister and her husband decided it was best for them to leave, telling Jaehyun to give Taeyong their best wishes when he woke up. He scooped Taeyong up, and moved over to the sofa, sitting down on it and lying Taeyong down next to him, resting his head on his lap.
He stroked his hair as he slept, brushing it out of his eyes, and wiping away the tears that were still on his face. “I shouldn’t have provoked your mother like that when she arrived,” Jaehyun sighed, whispering although Taeyong wasn’t awake to hear him, “I’m sorry,”
Jaehyun sat for a long time, he wasn’t sure how long, listening to the gentle sounds of Taeyong breathing, listening to the words he spoke and noises he made in his sleep. He stayed running his hands through his hair, the soft strands running between his fingers like silk. He wasn’t sure how long he sat with him before he fell asleep too.
Jaehyun woke up with a cramped neck and a blanket draped over him, and Taeyong was nowhere to be seen. He glanced over at the clock, 8pm, it was still Christmas, they still had a chance to make this day special. Jaehyun stretched out his neck, rolling his head around until the pain wore off and brushed the blanket to his side. He made his way slowly to the kitchen and boiled the kettle, grabbing a couple of mugs and spoons on his way past. He scooped the hot chocolate powder into the mugs as slow as he could, thinking about how he could make the night better. He didn’t want to just spring his Christmas gift on him while the mood was like this, he wanted to cheer him up first. He poured the water over the powder and stirred both mugs at the same time, he pulled the packet of marshmallows off the shelf and dumped a handful in Taeyong’s mug before dropping a single one in his own – it was how he liked it now.
He slowly climbed the stairs, appreciating the warmth of the mugs in his cold hands and went into his bedroom. It was dark inside the room, but Jaehyun could see Taeyong’s silhouette as he sat at the window, leaning against it. Jaehyun sat the mug down in front of him, and the other where he was going to sit, and Taeyong looked up at him, his eyes still foggy with tears. Jaehyun took the pile of blankets from their corner of the room and began wrapping them around himself and Taeyong, “Just like the evening we met,” he whispered, and Taeyong managed to smile back at him, taking a sip of his hot chocolate. Jaehyun watched as Taeyong took one of his own marshmallows and went to put it in Jaehyun’s mug, but stopped just before he dropped it. “I always take my hot chocolate with one marshmallow now, didn’t you notice?”
Taeyong laughed, looking out the window at the snow, “You’re cute.”
Well, now is as good of a time as any, Jaehyun thought to himself, shuffling out from under the covers and going over to his closet. Taeyong watched in confusion as he pulled a large box out of it, wrapped in festive paper with a giant bow on top. Jaehyun brought the box over and handed it to Taeyong. “Merry Christmas, hyung.”
Taeyong looked up at Jaehyun, unsure what to say. The size of this box compared to the gift he had gotten Jaehyun made him feel a little guilty. Taeyong had bought Jaehyun a photo album, and had already filled it with pictures of them throughout their year together, the gift had made Jaehyun cry, and he had vowed to keep it with him at all times. Taeyong thought it was the perfect gift for his boyfriend, but now he wasn’t so sure. “Go ahead,” Jaehyun nodded at him, and pulled the blankets over himself again as he watched Taeyong pull the wrapping paper off. It revealed a plain cardboard box, and he lifted the lid, only to reveal another present. Taeyong was baffled, unsure what to think, but after seeing Jaehyun’s grin he decided to go along with it. But then the next box revealed another box, and another box, and Taeyong grew slightly frustrated but still so confused and Jaehyun just laughed at him until he came across a tiny box, so tiny that surely there wasn’t another box in it.
Taeyong opened this box, expecting it to be the last. It was the last cardboard box, but definitely not the last box. Inside that box was a black box with a velvet-like texture. Taeyong moved the hinge on the box, revealing what was inside. His eyes immediately filled up with tears again as he looked up at Jaehyun, who just beamed back at him, tears in his own eyes. “Jae… what is this?” Taeyong stared in awe at the ring resting in the box in his hands, the silver band with a gold line circling the middle was beautiful, and Taeyong didn’t know what to say as Jaehyun stood up.
“Ah… what to do…” Jaehyun sighed, glancing from Taeyong to the floor again, “I didn’t really… I didn’t think past this part.” He looked up at the ceiling and took a deep breath before looking back at his boyfriend. “Okay, so, uh, I know it’s only been a year-“
“And one day!” Taeyong said, his voice coming out as a crack because of his own nerves.
Jaehyun laughed nervously, “Yeah, a day…” He smiled fondly, “It’s only been a year and a day, but I want it to be so many more years and days with you.” He fidgeted, twisting his own hands together and holding them at his side, then clasping them again as his voice was shaking just as much, “I wanted to give you something for Christmas that made you happy, that would let me see that beautiful smile you have. I couldn’t think of anything that would make you as happy as you make me, I wanted to give you something special.” Jaehyun lifted his hand and signalled to the ring in Taeyong’s hands, “I can only hope that, if you’d want me to, spending our lives together could make you that happy. I’m not the best, but if being your…” Jaehyun froze for a second, before forcing himself to continue “husband can make you even a fraction as happy as you’ve made me, it would be my pleasure.” Jaehyun sighed, “I’m sorry if this is too early, if you feel like I’m rushing, of course, if you said yes we could wait as long as you wanted before we get married, I just want to show you how much I love you, I want to be the one who makes you happier than you’ve ever been.”
“Oh, Jaehyun…” Taeyong couldn’t stop his tears now, “You already make me happy, you’ve changed my life, I’ve never been this happy.” Taeyong stood up and walked towards Jaehyun, holding his hand, “But of course being with you forever is something I want, I want to be with you through everything, through every grin with those cute dimples, through every tough moment, through every 2am Mariah Carey performance, I really want to be with you, Jaehyun.” He threw his arms around him, both of them were now messes of tears.
He felt Jaehyun reach for the box, and watched him pull the ring out of it, “Can I?” And Taeyong’s words caught in his throat, he could only nod as Jaehyun pushed the ring onto his finger.
“I don’t – I don’t have a ring for you… yet!” Taeyong stammered, looking embarrassed.
“That doesn’t matter,” Jaehyun tilted Taeyong’s chin up and kissed him, forgetting to breath until they separated, “I love you, Taeyong.”
“And I love you too, Jaehyun, so fucking much,” Taeyong whispered, before pulling Jaehyun towards him and moving towards the bed, “So.” He said, seemingly seriously, “about your interruptions during dinner.”
Jaehyun grinned, seeing where he was going, “And what about them?”
“I hope they weren’t empty promises.” Taeyong whispered, his breath warm again Jaehyun’s chest.