By time Mark started feeling better, it was way too close to Christmas week for comfort. He was far behind on his Christmas shopping for Lou, and he at least needed to get his parents something small to ship back home since he wouldn't be coming home this year. He prayed the shelves wouldn't be picked over at the mall this late in the season.

After he got out of work, he grabbed a quick meal to go and drove out to the mall. It was always packed with teens and after-work shoppers in the evening, and though Mark wasn't really in the mood to be mobbed, he didn't have a choice. He wasn't about to take any extra time out of the upcoming weekend with Lou after missing out on the last one.

Mark headed to the toy store first. The stock was pretty diminished, but he was at least able to find the fire truck Lou wanted, as well as a few of the toys he'd marked down on his list. Mark also made sure to grab some educational games for budding learners so Allison wouldn't get on him for spoiling their kid too much.

He'd just wandered over to the plushie section to see if there were any dinosaurs—Lou's favorite animal—available, when he heard something weird coming from the teddy bear section.

“Mr. Beary says even just the morning is fine!” an exaggeratedly cute male voice was saying, pretending to be one of the teddy bears. “Jackson just wants to see his honey for a little on Christmas Eve.”

“Oh you,” a laughing and familiar voice retorted. “You know I already have plans with my real #1.”

“Jackson is happy to be #2 if he gets just a little bit of your time,” the teddy bear guy persisted. “He'll be good, he promises.”

“It's no good. My helper is already taking the day off. I can't leave the house.”

“Aren't your parents going to be around?”

“Yeah, but-”

It was definitely Allison's voice, but Mark couldn't stop himself from peeking around the corner just to be sure. Unfortunately, she caught sight of him as soon as he did, cutting her sentence short. Her expression froze. “Mark?”

The guy she was with, a dark haired guy in a snapback and sportswear, turned around. It took him a moment to register Mark standing there with his basket full of toys, but once he did, his eyes widened not in shock, but delight.

“Hey, it's you!” he said in his normal, non-teddy bear voice. “I was hoping we could meet soon. I'm Jackson Wang.”

“Uh, hey,” Mark said eloquently. “Mark Tuan.”

“Oh god,” Allison groaned. “You two were supposed to meet under controlled circumstances. What is this?”

“I don't do controlled circumstances,” Jackson said calmly. “And this is just fine, right? There's no hard feelings anywhere here.” He turned back to Mark. “Right?”

Mark thought for a moment. Normally there would be, but frankly he was far too bewildered for hard feelings. “It's all good,” he said, a little numbly.

“See!” Jackson said. “We're chill dudes! We're down with this.” He looked down into Mark's basket. “Rad fire truck, by the way. I bet your son is going to worship you for that. When I was that age, all I wanted was a fire truck, too.”

“Thanks,” Mark said.

“Okay, I'm glad you two are 'down with it,' but this should not be happening in a toy store with Jackson holding a giant teddy bear and Mark holding all of his Christmas presents,” Allison said wearily. “Can you two check out so we can at least go to the food court?”

“Your wish is my command,” Jackson said contritely. “I wasn't actually planning on getting the bear, unless you wanted it?”

“Put it back. I'm pretty sure you can do better than that for Christmas.”

“Ah. I like a challenge. No problem at all.” Jackson returned the bear and trotted alongside Mark as he went up to the cash register. “I was thinking of getting her world peace,” he said. “Women just love world peace, don't they?”

“I don't know if they have that on sale,” Mark said, playing along.

“Damn. And world peace is so damn expensive full price. Maybe I'll have to settle for perfume.”

“Actually, perfume these days might be more expensive full price than world peace.”

Jackson gave him a gentle jab on the arm. “I like you. She said I would, and she was right as always.”

Mark was kind of surprised Jackson had decided on that so quickly. After all, shouldn't he be a bit pissed at Mark for having not been devoted enough to Allison? Just being the ex-husband should have made him slightly unlikable to Jackson.

But then again, being the new boyfriend should have made Jackson unlikable, but Mark didn't find himself automatically hating him. In fact, it made him a little soothed that Allison had found someone who didn't hold back his emotions in the slightest.

After Mark had purchased his basket of toys, the three of them headed off to the food court to sit down. Allison immediately darted off to her old standby—KFC—while Mark and Jackson opted for pizza at Sbarro.

“Hey, before Allie gets back and worries about things getting awkward again, I just wanted to say that there really are no hard feelings, man,” Jackson said as they got in line. “Obviously, if you didn't split up with her, I wouldn't have been able to date her, so I'm grateful for that at least. And I respect you two for still getting along. You seem great at co-parenting.”

Mark nodded. “We do our best. But it's not a bother that I'm still a big part of their lives?”

“Are you kidding? I'd never forgive you if you stopped caring about them just because you and Allie weren't a perfect fit. What you've got is a good answer. Embrace it. I for one am not planning on messing that up. I just hope that you'll let me become a part of it one day. I'm pretty rad myself.”

“Just as long as you don't knock me out of the super dad rankings,” Mark advised. “I do at least get competitive about that.”

“Lucky for you, I have no idea of my dad abilities at the moment, but I'm sure I'll at least be modestly super since it's me.”

“Modestly?”

“Heh. You're right. You've caught on to me real quick, there.”

They met up with Allison again after they'd gotten their pizza, continually joking back and forth as they took their seats.

“Men,” she said, throwing up her hands. “I don't understand you. I was prepared to make a big ordeal about this, and you're already treating each other like best buddies.”

Jackson put an arm around Mark. “We understand each other on a spiritual level. No need for ordeals.”

“You did the exact same thing with Jinyoung,” Allison continued, pointing accusingly at Mark. “He was kind of guarded around me at first, and now you two are joined at the hip after meeting each other a week or so ago. For someone who doesn't even like socializing, you're really impressive.”

Mark shrugged. He didn't really get it either. “By the way, I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but I heard you two talking about Christmas Eve...”

“You're on my side with this one, aren't you?” Jackson said, making puppy eyes. “She should at least spend five minutes of it with me if she can't spend Christmas Day.”

“I don't see why you can't, Allie. Your parents would love to watch Lou for the afternoon.”

“I know. I'd just feel bad, flaking out on a holiday,” she sighed. “There's no chance you would come over to help my parents, right? I know you still feel awkward with them.”

“I actually had plans,” Mark said, thinking of Jinyoung. “But if you really need me...”

“No, no, that's fine,” she said quickly. “It's great that you have plans. Just please tell me they're not with Lucy.”

“God, no. But seriously, Allie, you should go. You're supposed to spend Christmas with your loved ones. And you'll be seeing Lou all Christmas Eve evening and Christmas Day, so I think you can spare an hour for Jackson.”

Jackson's eyes glistened. “I have just met you, and already I love you. I finally understand that line.”

Allison tapped him on the head. “Fine, weirdo. Let's do brunch. I did get you a Christmas gift, so might as well exchange it then.”

“Score!” Mark and Jackson high fived. “Well, I guess this means I have to hurry up and get your present.”

“You seriously haven't gotten it yet?”

“Er... no comment.”

Mark stayed with Jackson and Allison for another ten minutes, then bowed out so they could continue their date alone. It had been unusual, but he was glad to have run into them. Jackson was bit overwhelming, but definitely kind and very much in love with Allison. It had to be really special for her to not have that emotion in doubt anymore, and he felt that she deserved that frank love more than anyone.

Mark had pretty much finished his shopping for Lou, so rather than hanging around the mall, he decided to walk out through Macy's to get back to the parking lot. He did a little casual browsing as he walked, but suddenly stopped when he smelled a burst of cinnamon coming from the beauty section. Following his nose, he arrived at the perfume and cologne counter and began sniffing the air.

“Need any help?” the girl behind the counter chirped.

“Yeah, which one is the one that smells like cinnamon?”

“That? Let me see...” She scanned the counter. “It's either 'Cinnamon Stick' by Fleurage or Estee-Lauder 'Youth Dew'.”

“Can either of them safely be worn by a man?”

The perfume girl stifled a giggle. “Safely? You mean, is one a cologne? Yes, 'Cinnamon Stick' is a risk free male scent.”

Before Mark even really thought about what he was doing, he'd started pulling out his wallet. “I'll take the cinnamon stick one, then.”

“Excellent choice, sir. It'll be a perfect scent for you this holiday season.” She pulled the bottle out from the counter and wrapped it in paper. It was a little more expensive than he would have normally spent on a spur of the moment purchase, but it was too late to back down now. He handed the girl his credit card and took the bagged cologne when she offered it.

It wasn't until he made it out to the parking lot that he admitted to himself why he had done it. He wasn't a big cologne kind of guy, and had no particular desire to turn himself into a walking cinnamon stick. It was obviously meant for the one cinnamon obsessed person in his life, Jinyoung Park, no matter how he looked at it. So why, exactly, had he felt such a random compulsion to buy it? Was this supposed to be pay back for the pharmacy aisle Jinyoung had bought for him?

If he's coming for Christmas Eve, I can't just let him leave empty handed, Mark told himself firmly. A gift would be expected, right? Not that he needs to give me a gift. I'm the one who owes him. So it's perfectly normal.

But now it begged the question of how he was going to go about giving it to Jinyoung. Could he just it into his hands and act like it was no big deal? Was he supposed to wrap it? He could totally play it off as a joke about the cinnamon cookies since it was cinnamon scented, right?

Mark cursed himself over the inconvenience of his random impulse buy. It brought a ton more complications than he was actually prepared to deal with. Gift giving was way too hard when it came to people outside of family—it was hard to tell who would expect a gift, and who would be utterly shocked by one. He had a feeling Jinyoung would fall into the utterly shocked category, unless he'd also gotten a gift for Mark.

At least he had the receipt. He could always take it back if he wanted. But for now, the slight bit of cinnamon wafting from the Macy's bag was soothing. He'd keep it now and think more about it later, when he was feeling slightly more sane.

Mark hadn't actually seen Jinyoung in person since the sick day incident, but Jinyoung called a few days later on Thursday out of the blue.

“Still feeling all right?” he asked when Mark picked up.

“Much better, thank you.”

“Your voice sounds like it's all the way back to normal. Seems like you'll definitely get to hang out with Lou this weekend. I'm a bit jealous, since I'll be out of town for the next few days.”

Mark felt a little disappointed that inviting him over to help out with Lou wasn't even an option. “Where are you going?”

“Up north to visit my uncle. The lucky guy is jetting off to the Bahamas for Christmas, so I'm visiting him before he leaves.”

“Ah. In that case, have fun.”

“I'm sure I will. Though I'll miss seeing you guys. Hey, want to grab coffee for a minute? I need to pack in a bit, but I wouldn't mind getting out to stretch. That is, if you're not doing anything.”

“I'm not. Meet you at Starbucks in five?”

“I'll see you there.”

Jinyoung was already waiting for him inside the Starbucks down the street by time Mark had jogged over. Unsurprisingly, he had ordered a cinnamon dolce latte for himself. Mark quickly ordered green tea latte and went to meet Jinyoung at the table.

“Look who's alive again,” Jinyoung said with a smile. “I was worried, you were looking a little bit rough last time.”

“Well, I'm told I clean up well.”

“True. I was also worried because I heard you met Allison's new boyfriend the other day. Although she did say it went pretty well.”

“It did. No fist fights at all.”

“Good, but kind of not fun. How was he?”

“Enthusiastic and very loving. I think the two of them will get along great.” Mark sipped his drink. “How's Lou? I wanted to drop by and see him, but I really needed to make sure I was safely cold bug free first.”

“He really missed you, but he's getting super excited for Christmas. That's one of the reasons I wanted to see you, actually. Would it be all right if I bought him Fishy?”

“Fishy?”

“You know, the goldfish he wanted. I scoped out your apartment the other day, and there's a perfect spot for a little goldfish bowl by your bookshelf. I was thinking I could bring the goldfish over on Christmas Eve and we could surprise him the next time he came over.”

“If it's staying at my place instead of Allison's, wouldn't I be the one taking care of it mostly?”

“Yeah, but you need a pet. I don't like it that you're all by yourself there whenever Lou's not there.”

“I'm a big boy. It's no big deal.”

“I know. But a goldfish would brighten things up. And if it dies while Lou's not around, you can just keep on replacing it so it will live forever!”

“Clever. Well, if that's what you want to get him, I won't say no.”

“Great! By the way, I want to know what kind of rocks to get for the bowl. What's your favorite color?”

“Shouldn't you be asking what Lou's favorite color is?”

“It'll be in your house. I'm being considerate towards your design aesthetics here.”

“Red. But I don't think they even make red sea rocks.”

“No worries about that. I'll make it work.” He took a drink of his latte. “I'm really looking forward to Christmas Eve. It's been awhile since I've spent it with someone else other than my uncle.”

“What would you like to eat for dinner, by the way?”

“I don't know what your specialties are. Whatever you want should be fine by me. I really liked your quiche, so I'm excited to see what you'll come up with next.” He paused. “By the way, you didn't tell Allison it was me coming over? She was asking me if I knew what your plans were. She's really worried about some girl from your office getting her hooks into you.”

“I already told Allie it wasn't her.”

“Good, because I think she would have a mental breakdown if it was. I thought it was kind of weird that she still hung up on it since you guys split, but I guess this girl is a real seductress?”

Not with her attitude, she isn't, Mark thought. “That's what Lucy tries to go for, at least. I think Allie would rather die than have her be Lou's stepmother and that's why she's still so bothered. Anyways, I didn't tell Allison because after I said it wasn't Lucy, she didn't ask. It wasn't like I was embarrassed about it being you.”

“I wasn't accusing you of being embarrassed.” Jinyoung paused, staring into his coffee. “Although, if you think about it...”

“Yeah?”

“The two of us spending that day together, if you told her, she might have thought it was...”

“Hmm?”

Jinyoung looked at Mark expectantly. “What?” Mark asked, wondering what he was waiting for.

“Oh, never mind,” Jinyoung sighed. “I'm just being weird. Anyways, I really can't wait for it. Would you mind a little if I showed up early on Christmas Eve to decorate? I have handful of things I'm not allowed to put up in my dorm, so I was thinking of bringing them over.”

“Sure, it's no problem.”

“Great!” Jinyoung finished off his coffee. “I should be heading back to pack, but I'll keep in touch, okay? Have fun with Lou this weekend.”

“And you have fun with your uncle.”

“I will.” Jinyoung reached out to give Mark's hand a squeeze, then dropped it quickly. “Goodbye. Until we meet again.”

A/N: Hey, readers! I don't think I've dropped by yet to tell you all how grateful I am for all of you supporting my complete cupcake of a story, so I'm here to do that now: thank you, thank you, thank you!

Also, I just posted a blog about my fiction outside of AFF, so if you have a moment to check it out and especially leave input, I will love you even more than I already do! Which is a lot!

And as always, if you have a special question for me, my ASK account is always open for you! Thanks again!