It was that time of year once again. Where the snow starts falling, and children run about prophesying about ‘Santa Claus coming to town!’. Long winter nights that just made you want to snuggle up with your lover, wrapped in blankets, drinking hot cocoa.

As much as the couple would love to be face to face in person right now, the two could only be connected by a screen. His lips curved upward as soon as he saw his boyfriend on the bright LED screen. "Hi Kris~"

"Hi Peaches. Hows everything going at the moment?"

"Good. Would be better if you were here."

"Aww stop your making me blush."

"I doubt it you stupid dragon who rarely smiles at anything."

"YAH!! I smile when I'm with you."

"Yeah and the face comes on when your with someone who's not me." Tao smirked to himself, Kris probably silently cursing at Tao for calling his 'handsome AF' face a  face.

"You-- Oh . I'll call you later Taotao. Boss's callin. Love you~"

"Love you too Fanfan."

He ended the call, sighing before looking up at the cold streets he was wandering around. He decided to take a short look around, most likely not buy anything but it doesn't hurt to look.

Tao kept going from store to store, quickly scanning whatever they were selling before leaving to go find the next shop to eye. While he was walking swiftly he saw something from the corner of his eye. He saw something coming from the warm light of one of the town centers many small shops. Something very tall, modern and flattering. Something that would suit Kris very well.

He approached, scanning the exterior with his curious eyes. Then he saw the thing he caught earlier. A dark blue Zegna suit. The slick looking suit, defined creases on the pants, and the crisp white striped blue dress shirt would certainly fit Kris’s style. It was even equipped of golden cufflinks and a slate grey tie; ‘necessary’ accessories for whenever Kris goes to work. Yup, he was so gonna get that for the love of his life.

Tao stepped inside, letting the heated air of the small shop envelope his body in a nice hug. “Excuse me?” He stepped around the shop, looking behind the tall racks and displays covered in expensive looking suits. “Tâitai?” The panda approached the middle aged women who had her back turned to him.

“Tâitai,” He tried tapping the woman on the shoulder, startling the women enough to give her a heart attack. “My goodness! I didn’t even hear you come in. You must be light on your feet for someone like you.” Her crows feet being defined even more when she smiled, resting her hand on Tao’s shoulder.

“Well I do wushu… But I doubt it helps with how much weight I put on my foot as I step.” He let out a half hearted laugh.

“Whatever you say. What do you need sir?”

“I was wondering, how much does that suit in the display window cost?” Tao gestured to the suit that seemed to shine among the other suits. “You have a good eye young man.” Tao trailed the women as she walked ever so slowly to the mannequin housed the suit that was about to be Kris’s.

“It’s a beautiful suit indeed. It’s from Zegna’s Limited Edition Winter Collection. The stitching is flawless and the material is of the highest of qualities. Not to mention the silk tie and 18 carat gold cufflinks-”

“Yes, but how much does it cost?” Tao interrupted the women's short ramble about how amazing the suit was. “Ahh… Yes forgive my short rant. It’s very stylish, but it’s a bit more on the pricey side.”

Tao swallowed a huge ball of spit, ears awaiting to hear just how much the suit cost. “How far deep is it on the pricey side, exactly?”

“It’ll set you back ¥ 10,000.” His sharp panda eyes grew to a size that could rival Kyungsoo’s eyes. “¥ 10,000? As in 10 thousand yen?” The woman confirmed it with a quick nod, causing Tao to breath out a hefty sigh.

“This is for everything that is on the suit, right?”

“Cufflinks and all.”

“Then,” Tao was going back between getting the expensive as suit, and possibly emptying out his entire wallet. Or not getting the perfect suit for Kris, and pocketing the money saved for a rainy day. Getting the perfect Christmas gift for his devilishly handsome boyfriend, or saving the money he could easily earn back?

“I’ll… I’ll take it. Do you do gift wrapping?” Tao took his Gucci wallet out of his coat pocket, eyes saddening at the sight of him handing him his own credit card. Yes, having a boyfriend way up in the business industry did pay off - literally - but he didn’t want to spend Kris’s money over things that were meant for Kris. But paying for it with his own money only made him sigh in dismay. Being a DJ/MC wasn't exactly the most well paying job in the world.

“No, but I know the shop next door does free gift wrapping for any items you want to gift if you purchase totals above ¥ 1,000.” She exclaimed, getting out a sturdy looking black box with the ‘Ermenegildo Zegna’ printed on the top.

“Do they now?” He set his wallet down on the counter, taking out his phone to send a quick cry for money to Joonmyun. “Yes, they do it quite nicely too…” She trailed off as she looked at something in Tao’s wallet. All his credit cards are hidden by the black wallets, so what possibly could she be looking at?

“Who is this other fine, young man? A relative perhaps? Bestfriend?” “Boyfriend.” He said.

She seemed a bit taken back by his straight forward answer. “May I take a closer look at him?” Tao nodded, carefully slipping the polaroid of him and Kris out of the transparent wallet.

The photo was a bit old, taken when they visited their friends in Korea about 3 months ago. They went into a photo booth together, taking lots of silly and fun pictures, then editing them to give them cartoony props. But that photo was the only one where they weren’t goofing off; they were leaning on each other, forming a heart shape with both of their hands while they both smiled impossibly big in front of the camera.

“I believe I saw him here, about two weeks ago. He just kept hopping from shop to shop, wandering around like a headless chicken.” Tao hummed. Maybe that’s the reason why that one day two weeks ago, he made Tao stay in the bathroom (because he was showering when Kris came home) until he was done ‘getting organized’.

“Handsome fellow. You two look like a great match. Handsome and tall…” Her face showing a slight smile as she put Tao’s purchase inside the black box. “Well, here’s your suit. I hope he will like it.”

“I hope so too…” He could already see Kris’s excited face when opening his gift. Trying his best to stay ‘cool and manly’ in front of his boyfriend, but failing miserably when he sees Tao’s excited eyes.

“Be well on your way~” Tao nodded, muttering a soft thank you before taking the receipt and heading towards the door. “TâiTai I think you hit some wrong buttons or something… It says ¥ 7,500 not ¥ 10,000.” He showed her the receipt.

“I took the liberty of taking 25% off, as well as giving you a couple extra items as well.”

“But-”

“I doubt your boyfriend would want you spending so much money on him, right?” Well, Kris did hate it when Tao bought him expensive things, complaining that he should be the one spoiling Tao. Not the other way around. “You know I’m right.” The lady flashed a knowing smile, causing Tao himself to smile.

“Thank you so much TâiTai…” Tao bowed respectfully to the older woman, making the elder let out a jolly laugh.

“No need to thank me sonny. Just be well on your way and have a good holiday~” He bowed once again before leaving the cozy shop.

Tao happily walked towards the very center, where the giant Christmas tree would be. He made sure not to crush the box which held the items that rung his wallet dry. If anything happened to those items before Kris could receive it, he would cry his eyes out.

Out of nowhere, he felt a sharp buzz from inside his coat pocket. The vibrations made Tao jump and squeal, getting questioning looks from passer byers. He fished the vibrating object out of his pocket, a happy smile overcoming his face when he saw why the device was vibrating.

“Kris?”

“Hey Taozi.” His heart swelled up with joy, unconsciously squeezing the Zegna box when he heard his lover’s voice.

“How’s everything going in Vancouver?”

“It’s great to be back here. Too much snow though. I swear, every single ing day I have to shovel the car out of the snow.”

Tao looked at his surroundings. There was 1 centimeter, possibly 2 centimeters of snow covering the sidewalks, shops and peoples jackets as they zipped by. “There’s not much snow here…”

“Consider yourself to be luck that you don’t have to deal with all this damn snow. I can barely see out my window because the snow piles so high.”

“Well consider yourself lucky that you didn’t get ambushed by snowballs made by Chen, Lay and Xiumin.” Tao grumbled, shivering at the thought of the mushy snow seeping into his sweater and down his back. The one day, the one day Tao didn’t check behind his bushes to see if the outdoor lights were plugged in, he got an unpleasant surprise from some of his friends.

“What do you expect from a troll, unicorn and baozi?”

“I dunno… For them to be a bit more sane perhaps.”

“Chen is a ing troll, Lay is a high unicorn, and Xiumin is just… Baozi.”

“My point exactly. Anyways, why’d you call?”

“Whaaaatttt? I can’t call my adorable boyfriend who’s all the way across the world from me, and tell him I miss him?”

“You would, but you always have something else to say besides ‘I miss you’.”

“Do I?”

“You called me yesterday at 1am because you complained it was ‘so ing cold my balls are gonna turn into ice spheres, and told me you missed me.”

“IT WAS REALLY REALLY COLD TAOZI!!”

“It was so cold enough that it was worthy enough for a phone call?”

“Maybe…”

“Kris~” Tao whined, not liking the way his boyfriend was attempting to avoid the question. “Kris we both know you called for another reason, so just tell me. It can’t be too bad right?”

“Tao-”

“I mean don’t get me wrong you could have found a girl in your bed and panicked because you would never take home a girl,”

“Tao-”

“Oh I got it!! Did you crash into a tree? Broke your arm? Bruised your handsome face? Don’t worry I’ll kiss it better as soon as you get back-”

“Zitao that’s why I called, I’m-”

“YOU REALLY DID BREAK YOUR FACE?! OhmyGod Kris I told you to be more careful than that!! Something more serious could happen next tim-”

“Huang Zitao I love your voice but please be quiet for 10 seconds.”

Tao was starting to feel nervous. Kris never called him by his real name. He hasn’t called him by his full name in a few months, so suddenly hearing Kris call him that made his heart run faster than it should.

“Okay…”

“Tao,” He held his breath, hoping nothing serious happened. “I can’t make it home for Christmas.”

“What…?” Tao stopped in the middle of the busy town center. Happy couples passing by, while he was frozen in place.

“I said,” He heard Kris take a shaky breath in through the other side “I can’t make it home for Christmas. I’m sorry my boss wanted me to stay longer in Vancouver for the Christmas party he…” But Kris’s explanation fell on deaf ears. The very first sentence from that explanation kept replaying like a broken record in his head. ‘I can't make it home for Christmas.’

What about them opening presents together? Visiting the gigantic Christmas tree in the town's center on Christmas day? And… What about them just snuggling by the fire, falling asleep in each other's arms?

He recalled Kris's exact words from a few days before ‘Have a nice breakfast, visit that hugeass Christmas tree they always put up in the center of town, open presents together, sit by the fire and just cuddle. That's our plan for Christmas.’ And now he wasn't even going to be home to do one of those things with him

“Then the whole flight from Vancouver to Hong Kong, don’t even ask my why he thought it would be a good idea to book my plane to Hong Kong instead of Beijing-” “Stop.” He took in the cold, winter air. “It’s fine Kris. I understand.”

“I’m really sorry Zitao I’ll try-”

“When do you think you’ll be home then…?” Tao silently prayed that his boyfriend would be home a minute before Christmas day was over, at the very least. The other line was silent for a moment, only a few muffled shouts and grumbles before he heard clear words again.

“He said,” Tao clutched the gift box in his hands, not even caring if he was possibly crushing it’s contents. “By the 27th, since there’s also family coming in from the States he has to stay an extra day to spend some time with them… Listen though we can FaceTime a whole lot during Christmas right? It’ll be like I’m right there beside you… Right Tao?” Kris awaited his precious pandas reply. His hands moving extra slow sorting out papers his boss signed and ones that needed to be signed.

“Tao…?” He paused, hoping, no praying his lover wasn't crying. That would be the last thing he would want to hear and know right now. That Tao was hurting and he couldn't be there to hold him, give him a shoulder to lean on.

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