Fireplace

“Baba, why can’t I bust the wood like that?” Kyungsoo asked, watching the axe come down on the block of wood and split it into two halves. Him and his little brother, Sehun, were busy picking up the pieces after their father busted them and putting them into a box to take inside after they finished.

Yifan wiped at the sweat on his forehead, he chuckled breathlessly, “You’ll be able to when you get older, Kyungsoo, right now, you’re still small.” Kyungsoo scowled at that reply, but Yifan quickly added on, “If you eat your veggies like I tell you and your brother to, then you’ll grow up to be big and strong enough to bust up wood like this.”

“Appa said we don’t have to bust up wood like this though, he said that we can turn on the heaters in the house instead of using the fireplace,” Sehun stated, putting the last piece into the box.

“You don’t have to… I only like using the fireplace when it snows, and it’s going to be snowing this time tomorrow. We might even see a white Christmas this year.”

“But why? Cutting up wood is a lot of work just to stay warm when you can just turn on the heaters,” Kyungsoo’s lips pursued in confusion, much like his Appa does from time to time.

Yifan shrugged, sitting down on the small log that he was just busting up wood on, “I don’t know, it just seems more Christmasy, doesn’t it? Don’t you like watching the fire slowly eat away at the logs in the fireplace?”

“It stinks though,” Sehun commented, “it’s pretty but the smoke stinks.”

Kyungsoo shrugged, “I like it, but it seems like so much work.” He looked back over the axe, “Can’t I try to bust the wood at least once before we go back in, Baba? Please?”

“Appa said you’re going to get hurt if you do, hyung,” Sehun reminded the older boy of what their Appa said before they even started out the door that morning.

Yifan chuckled softly, “I wouldn’t let anything hurt my boys, don’t worry, Sehun, if you don’t tell, I won’t.” He stood back up, and held out the long handled axe to Kyungsoo, guiding his hands to the right places to hold the tool. His large hands enclosing around the smaller ones as he helped to show the child how to complete the task. “Sehun, put another piece up on the log.”

Sehun followed suit and stood back to watch his Baba and hyung. Kyungsoo tried to lift up the axe, until Yifan’s hands covering his own helped lift up the axe, and then the two of them brought it down on the piece of wood. Instead of busting it like his Baba had earlier, it stuck a few centimeters into the top of the wood.

Kyungsoo whined, letting go of the axe, “Why can’t I bust it like you did, Baba?”

Yifan laughed, “I told you, Kyungsoo, when you get older and stronger, then you’ll be able to bust it completely. But this is still a good start.” He moved over to point at how deep the axe was in the wood, “This still isn’t bad for a beginner. Now you’ll have to start eating your veggies if you want to drive the axe further into the wood.”

Kyungsoo pouted and crossed his arms, “Is that how you got stronger, Baba? Eating your veggies?”

Yifan pulled the axe out of the wood and threw the piece over to the other pile of wood, “I did. Let’s go ahead and get ready to back in. This is enough wood here.” He picked up the box of split wood to take in.

“You even ate broccoli too?” Sehun questioned, face turned up in disgust at the mention of the vegetable.

“I did. And even spinach.”

Kyungsoo and Sehun both blanched at the mention of that vegetable. They didn’t know which one was worse. Broccoli or spinach. Both were nasty. They followed their father up the back porch and into the house.

“But both of those are nasty…” Kyungsoo stated then paused, “I’ll just use the heaters like Appa does.”

“Me too,” Sehun chimed in.