At last, it was the twenty fourth of December, the day of the party.

 

Baekhyun woke up extra early that day to prepare for the food and snacks for his guests later. He had also wrapped everyone’s presents; not just for the children but for Chanyeol and his friends as well.

 

Humming to himself, the petite man found himself kneading dough to make animal shaped bread for the children’s entertainment. He then proceeded to make the main cake, which was basically a compilation of three round cakes, each a size smaller and on top of each other tinted with green frosting to make it look like a Christmas tree.

 

While waiting for his creations to bake, Baekhyun headed over to the tree that the kids and Chanyeol had decorated the previous night and placed each present below it neatly.

 

“Mommy?”

 

There was a creaking sound that came from what is likely to be a door and out came Jongdae; half asleep and still rubbing his eyes.

 

“Hey, baby. Awake so soon?” Baekhyun smiled, carrying his son in his arms. They both sat on the couch and the mother of four disappeared to get him and his son a glass of warm milk.

 

Jongdae took a sip from his cup and snuggled to his mother, obviously still sleepy.

 

“Today is the party. Are you excited?”

 

“U-huh…”

 

“Well, I’m excited too.”

 

“Do we get to open presents?”

 

“You need to wait until midnight for that. It’s only Christmas eve, after all.”

 

The room went silent until there was a ding! from the kitchen, signaling that Baekhyun’s cakes are baked. He got up and headed towards the oven, and, to his surprise, Jongdae followed.

 

“Is there anything I can help you with?” He innocently inquired.

 

Baekhyun giggled at his son’s cute behavior and handed him a mixing bowl. “Why don’t you help make the frosting then?”

 

“Okay!”

 

And so, Jongdae started to mix the ingredients and Baekhyun added green food coloring in order to make the shade look like a tree’s. While his son was doing that, he proceeded to stack the cakes together, cutting a few triangles here and there to make it look like tree branches. He fed Jongdae some of the leftovers.

 

“It’s yummy!”

 

“Heh, I know right? It’s vanilla cake.”

 

“I love vanilla cake!”

 

***

The cake was finally frosted by the time Chanyeol woke up. It was a cold morning and the man brought a blanket and placed it around Baekhyun’s small back.

 

“Good morning.” He said, still sleepy.

 

“Morning. Do you want some coffee?”

 

“That’d be great.” Chanyeol answered and sat down on one of the stools. He took his glasses out and placed them on before reading the newspaper.

 

Baekhyun handed him his daily cup of caffeine and Chanyeol gave him a good morning kiss before taking a sip.

 

Jongdae, on the other hand, was cutting shapes from the cookie dough that he and Baekhyun made not too long ago. Some were Christmas trees, some were snowmen and they even had reindeers. Baekhyun had prepared chocolate pens for the decorating part.

 

Suddenly, there was a sound of violent steps down the stairs and the parents looked to where it was coming from. Jongdae paused what he was doing.

 

“No fair!”

 

It was Jongin, still in his pajamas, with his finger pointing at Jongdae.

 

“Why are you here with mommy without telling me! You cheater! You want mommy all to yourself!”

 

“That’s not true! I just woke up early!”

 

“Liar!”

 

Jongdae started tremble and quickly ran behind Chanyeol. Baekhyun sighed.

 

“Jongin, stop screaming. It’s too early in the morning.” He stated. “And also, Jongdae happened to wake up early and he offered to help me. Of course I said yes. I didn’t want to wake you up so early. Why did you have to blame him like that?”

 

“But—I also want to help you too, mommy!” The younger twin started to tear up.

 

Chanyeol cleared his throat and placed the newspaper he was reading down. “Jongin, I understand that you want to help your mother too but that attitude of yours wasn’t nice. Apologize to your brother.”

 

“But—“

 

“Now.”

 

Jongin gulped. There was tension in the room and neither Baekhyun nor Jongdae had the courage to say anything. Angry Chanyeol is scary, after all.

 

“S—Sorry, Jongdae.” Jongin finally mumbled, staring at his two feet. “C—C—Can we help mommy together?”

 

“Okay!”

 

“Come,” Baekhyun then added. “There are enough chocolate pens for all of you. Why don’t you two decorate here while I check on Sehunnie?”

 

The twins eyed Chanyeol, still half-scared of the idea that they will be left with him for a while, but the father of four only smiled and patted Jongin’s head.

 

***

When Baekhyun arrived in Sehun’s room, the youngest of four was still sound asleep. He was cutely on his thumb; a small habit that he seemed to have started developing when he was about five months old.

 

“Aw, baby.” He said, more to himself than to Sehun before grabbing a clean baby bottle. Baekhyun started to make milk and, after making sure it was not too hot for his little one, slowly pulled Sehun’s thumb out of his mouth and replaced it with the . Little Sehun immediately started on his source of food (or drink, whichever you prefer to call it) and Baekhyun could tell his son was hungry.

 

“Happy Christmas eve, Sehunnie.” He kissed his son’s forehead before exiting the room to check on the twins.

 

Sehun tossed in his bed but nevertheless continued to enjoy his bottle of milk.

 

***

It was almost time for the party and Zitao was busily going forward and backward, making sure his sons were dressed appropriately. Luhan and Kyungsoo had on matching blue sweaters with a snowman in the center and Gucci jeans (Kris had to buy those for them; Zitao had begged him, saying that it was for ‘a special occasion). Luhan insisted on wearing the reindeer horns he bought a few days ago. He looked at himself in the mirror and smiled.

 

“Mama…” Kyungsoo tugged on the help of Zitao’s (Gucci) shirt.

 

“Yes, honey?”

 

“Do you know where my beanie is?”

 

“Bea—Oh! The penguin one!” The mother of two snapped his fingers. “Kris, can you find Kyungsoo’s penguin beanie? I think it’s still in the shopping bag!”

 

Kris came downstairs a little later; all dressed up neatly in a maroon dress shirt (again, Gucci) and black cotton pants. On his left hand was a shopping bag that he handed to Zitao and on the other a tie.

 

“Here’s your beanie!” The mother squealed to Kyungsoo, putting the penguin shaped cloth on top of his second born’s head. “Now you look splendid!”

 

Kyungsoo thanked his mother and went by Luhan’s side and the two got ready to put their shoes on.

 

Kris, on the other hand, headed to his wife and handed him his tie. Zitao responded by raising an eyebrow and guilt was written across the taller man’s smile.

 

“We’ve been married for more than ten years. Do you realize how many thousand times have I done this for you?” Zitao teased, hands skillfully placing the tie neatly on his husband’s neck..

 

“Heh, what can I say? I like it when you spoil me.” Kris then leaned closer and placed his mouth next to Zitao’s ear. “Anyhow, it’s usually my job to take it off to make sure your hands stay in place, hm?”

 

The dirty whisper made Zitao’s face flush pink. He quickly straightened the tie and gave Kris a playful slap on the chest before grabbing his shoes.

 

“You’re carrying all the gifts.”

 

Kris let off a winning laugh and lifted the boxes that his wife had prepared for the special event.

 

***

It was two hours before the party when a clueless Yixing was dropped off at the Park’s residence. Baekhyun freaked out; he thought that he had lost track of time (and so he checked his watch—sixteen times) but then Yixing explained to him that his dad was ‘doing something top secret’ and he was not allowed to know.

 

“Oh.” Baekhyun sighed, relieved. “Well in that case, come on in! Joonmyunnie and the twins are blowing balloons with their father.”

 

“Okay, auntie! Thank you for having me!”

 

The mother of four brought Yixing inside, and, after making sure the sweet boy had taken his coat and scarf off, told him to join the others.

 

Baekhyun made hot chocolates for the five of them and disappeared into Sehun’s room.

 

“Da!”

 

When he opened the door, Sehun immediately stood up, still in his bed, and extended his arms forward.

 

“Hi baby, you want a hug?”

 

The petite man lifted his youngest in his arms and gave him a little twirl before planting a kiss on his cheek.

 

“Ma!” Sehun, as a result, pointed at Baekhyun.

 

“Yes, I’m your mama. Your mommy.”

 

“Mama!”

 

“Oh, you little cutie. Let’s get you ready for the party, okay?”

 

***

As expected of Baekhyun, Sehun was dressed in a little Santa Claus costume, complete with the hat and all. He thanked God that his son was not the type of baby to flail around and hate wearing hats. Sehun, in fact, looked like he enjoyed his appearance for the night.

 

When the two returned to the living room, there were sounds of encouragements and small fists pumping in the air.

 

“Bigger, daddy! Bigger!”

 

“More! More!”

 

Four little boys were sitting in a circle and on the center of that circle was Chanyeol, blowing a red balloon with his mouth. It had looked like it was about to explode but the kids (mainly the twins) told him to continue adding air into it.

 

“Kids! That balloon might pop and scare Sehunnie!” Baekhyun reminded. Everyone was surprised to hear the additional voice in the room, especially Chanyeol judging from how he was so surprised that he released the balloon, leaving it to fly around the room until all the air in it had come out.

 

“The party is about to start soon. Why don’t you all help me prepare the food and plates, hm? There are enough balloons anyway.”

 

The twins felt dejected. They wanted to blow more balloons but the room was practically overflowing with those already. Chanyeol decided to stand up and take Sehun from Baekhyun’s embrace to let his wife access the food that was prepared beforehand.

 

Yixing was the first child to enter the kitchen, followed not long after by Joonmyun, and they took out plates and placed them nicely on the dining table. There were smaller ones for the children and an even smaller one for baby Sehun.

 

Once all the food was served, Baekhyun did one more last minute checks to make sure everything is in place.

 

“Everything looks great, my love.” Chanyeol grinned. “You did well.”

 

“See! I told you! His name is ‘my love’!”

 

An unexpected statement from Jongdae made the parents turned their heads. The little boy was whispering it out loud to Jongin, hence everyone else in the room heard.

 

“What do you mean, darling?” Asked the mother of four.

 

“Daddy always calls you ‘my love’ therefore your name is ‘my love’! Right, mommy?”

 

Baekhyun wanted to faint at how cute his son was. He kissed Jongdae’s forehead and gave him a knowing smile, not answering the question. Before taking Sehun back from Chanyeol’s arm, he gave him a wink.

 

“Look what you’ve done. Now they all think my name is ‘my love.’”

 

“Well,” Chanyeol stated. “You are my love.”

 

***

“Welcome!”

 

The door opened and revealed Zitao, Kris, Luhan and Kyungsoo, all dressed up neatly (Baekhyun noticed that they were practically in Gucci from head to toe). Kris handed presents to the children and was told by Chanyeol to sit down.

 

Baekhyun gave Zitao a hug. “I’m so glad we can spend Christmas together!”

 

“Me too! You have no idea how excited I was.”

 

Jongin looked at Kyungsoo, who was contemplating on where to sit. Their eyes met and he pointed to the empty chair next to him. Kyungsoo silently sat at the designated place and smiled.

 

“Hi, hyungie~”

 

“H—Hi, Jonginnie…”

 

Joonmyun sat next to Yixing, and then next to Yixing was Jongdae. The round table was suddenly crowded, with Kris sitting next to Zitao, then Baekhyun with little Sehun, Luhan and Chanyeol. All but one chair was occupied; Minseok’s.

 

“I wonder where he is.” Zitao said, referring to the man that had not arrived yet. “Should we start eating before he comes?”

 

“Yixing, honey, did your father tell you how long he was going to take?” Baekhyun asked. The said boy only shook his head.

 

Meanwhile, Sehun was busy laughing because Luhan was playing with him; tickling his belly, kissing his cheek and peek-a-booing with funny faces.

 

“Boo!” Luhan extended his face closer to baby Sehun and the younger clapped his hands, full of you.

 

“Da!”

 

“Peek—a—Boo!”

 

“Goo!”

 

Chanyeol eyed the two and smiled. “At least someone’s having fun. We can’t start without Minseok. It won’t feel special.”

 

“I agree.” Kris sighed, taking his phone out. “I’ll give him a call.”

 

After a few rings, however, it went straight to Minseok’s voicemail.

 

“I wonder what he’s up to…”

 

Baekhyun tensed up. “You don’t think he… Got hurt…. Do you?”

 

Zitao tensed up with his best friend and Chanyeol looked at Kris, panicked. Kris massaged his temples.

 

“I don’t think so. He should be fine.”

 

Ding dong!

 

The bell rang, and everyone in the room (mainly Zitao and Baekhyun) sighed in relief. Baekhyun got up to open the door and Zitao went with him. Sehun sat on his baby chair and continued playing with Luhan.

 

However, when the two wives opened the door, the person they saw was not who they expected.

 

“Hohoho!”

 

“S—Santa?” Baekhyun stuttered, surprised.

 

There, in front of him, was a very-stuffed man with a white beard and a santa coat, along with his hat and bag of presents.

 

Zitao pierced his eyes and looked at the ‘Santa Claus’ in front of them. He knew those cheeks somewhere… And those eyes… And that height…

 

“You’re Minseok, aren’t you?”

 

The so-called happiness-carrier’s smile disappeared and he immediately pulled Zitao’s collar, his lips close to the other’s ear. “Don’t you dare blow my cover. I’m Santa and I’m here to bring joy and presents for the children.”

 

The younger gulped; never in his life had Minseok been so terrifying in his eyes. He nodded and let the red-coated man enter. Minseok gave Baekhyun a knowing wink and started to laugh again.

 

“Hohoho! Happy Christmas!”

 

The kids who originally were busy talking to each other while trying their best not to eat the cookies served on Baekhyun’s favorite silver tray turned their heads. Their mouths immediately fell into an ‘o’ shape and it all went silent.

 

Until Jongin shouted.

 

“It’s Santa Claus!”

 

The twins were the first to approach the bearded man, followed by Luhan who was holding baby Sehun’s tiny hand. Joonmyun was about to stand up as well but he noticed that Yixing was not moving.

 

“Yixing?” He called out.

 

“S—Santa…” Were the only words coming from the other boy’s mouth. He slowly walked forward, and, with the blink of an eye, immediately ran to give his idol a big hug.

 

“Santa! I knew it! I’ve always known you were real!” Yixing exclaimed happily.

 

“Hohoho! Of course I’m real. I am here to give good children like you guys presents!”

 

“Hooray!”

 

“Long live Santa!”

 

Santa Minseok began to take out presents from his present bag and handed a box to all of the children, each already labeled with their names.

 

Meanwhile, back on the table, Chanyeol shifted a few seats closer to Kris. The two men looked at each other, then at Santa, then back at each other.

 

“…That’s Minseok isn’t it?”

 

“Yes, without a doubt.”

 

They share a knowing laugh and watched the kids almost destroy their friends. Jongin was practically sitting on his lap and Jongdae was pulling on the fake beard.

 

They both had on the matching sweater Santa (Minseok) had gotten for them. Jongdae, being the older twin, was Thing 1, and Jongin was Thing 2.

 

“Thank you, Santa!”

 

“I love it! Thank you!”

 

“Oh wow, a new backpack! Thank you, Santa!” Joonmyun happily said when he opened his present. Yixing opened his to find a few books that he had wanted and his smile grew wide.

 

“These were just what I wanted! Thank you!”

 

“You’re welcome!”

 

Luhan was helping Sehun open his present and out came a very fluffy and very soft baby blue blanket. Sehun immediately hugged it and held onto the cotton tightly, pressing his rosy cheek against it.

 

“You like it, don’t you Sehunnie?”

 

“Da!”

 

Luhan, satisfied to see Sehun’s smile, proceeded to open his own present. It was round-shaped, so he already had a pretty good idea what it was.

 

“Oh wow! A Manchester United soccer ball! It’s almost impossible to get these in Korea!” His doe eyes grew wide. “Santa, you’re amazing!”

 

What Luhan did not know was the fact that Minseok had originally bought a replica. But then he felt like this Christmas should be more special so he kept the replica at home and ordered a real one online. It was quite a lot of money, but hey, nothing beats the happy hearts of children, no?

 

While the others were busy with their own presents, Kyungsoo was struggling to open his. His small hands fought hard with the wrapping paper and tape that Santa had used. The little boy finally pouted, giving up.

 

Just then, a slightly larger hand grabbed his present from him and the paper was slowly being torn open. It was Jongin. When their eyes met, Jongin gave Kyungsoo a big grin. He successfully removed all the wrapping and revealed a transparent cup with a cat’s nose, whiskers and mouth on it. Kyungsoo’s mouth gaped.

 

“It’s so cute, hyungie!” Jongin stated with glee. “You can use it to drink milk!”

 

Kyungsoo immediately took the cup from the younger (thanking him afterwards) then he went to Baekhyun, who was with his mother, watching the whole scene happening.

 

“Aunty…”

 

“Yes?”

 

“Can I have some milk in this cup?”

 

Baekhyun felt himself grin from ear-to-ear and stood up, taking Kyungsoo’s hand. “Of course! Let’s wash that first then I’ll prepare some warm milk for you, okay?”

 

***

After the Santa craze was over, Chanyeol went over to Minseok (while holding his laugh) and carried Sehun in his arms.

 

“Santa,” He stated teasingly. “Can you please take a picture with little Sehunnie here? You see, he’s trying to be Santa too tonight.”

 

“But of course!”

 

Minseok took Sehun and carried him in his embrace and Chanyeol took a picture (three times; with his cell phone, camera and Baekhyun’s Polaroid). Jongin and Jongdae begged for pictures too, so Chanyeol ended up being the photographer of the night.

 

“Yixing?” Joonmyun called out. His friend had been silent the whole time. “What’s wrong?”

 

“Oh… Nothing… I just wished my papa was here to see Santa with me…”

 

Yixing said it oh-so-quietly, but Minseok heard it. His chest swelled at his son’s honest words and he stood up and grabbed his now-empty gift bag.

 

“Santa, where are you going?” Jongin said, clinging onto his foot, tears in the corner of his eyes forming.

 

Looks like this won’t be so easy.

 

“Santa needs to go give other children their gifts! But do not worry little one, I shall be back next Christmas!”

 

“B—Bye Santa…” Jongdae, however, was already crying.

 

Sehun looked like he was going to cry too. His arms were extended towards the pot-bellied man.

 

“Don’t worry, Sehunnie! Santa will be back next year!” Luhan noted. “Right, Santa?”

 

“Of course! Behave yourself next year!”

 

Before actually leaving, Santa Minseok went over to where his son was and placed his warm palm on top of his head. Yixing looked up for the first time after he opened his present.

 

“Happy Christmas, Yixing. Tell your papa that I really want to meet the father of such a lovely boy, okay?”

 

“O—Okay! T—T—Thank you, Santa!”

 

Minseok waved goodbye and exited the house. The kids all looked so sad and Baekhyun looked at Zitao. Zitao looked back.

 

“Kids…” He started to say. “Why don’t we all have cookies?”

 

The mood lightened up a bit because Sehun, Luhan, Kyungsoo and the twins were excited to have something sweet in their little mouths. Jongin and Jongdae were showing off the fact that they were the ones who decorated them.

 

“This one is cute, isn’t it Kyungie hyung?” Jongin said proudly, handing a cookie to Kyungsoo.

 

“It’s cute… Can I eat it?”

 

“Of course!”

 

Minseok, on the other hand, was running towards the back of Baekhyun and Chanyeol’s house. He quickly took the Santa costume and beard off, replacing them with his regular clothes. He fixed his hair that had originally been destroyed by the wig and hat and ran straight to the front door.

 

Yixing is waiting for me.

 

“Hey, guys! Sorry I’m late!”

 

All the kids were busy eating cookies but one directly ran towards the wooden frame.

 

“Papa!”

 

Within a second, Yixing had already wrapped his arms around his father. He was crying on his chest. Minseok patted his head.

 

“What’s with the tears, kiddo?”

 

“Santa was here! He said he wanted to meet you!”

 

“Oh, he did?” Minseok pretended not to know, but his acting was bad and Kris, Baekhyun, Zitao and especially Chanyeol were already laughing again.

 

“Yes, yes, yes! What took you so long?”

 

“W—“

 

“Well, don’t worry! Santa said he’ll come back next year!”

 

Yixing grabbed his father’s hand and led him to the dining table. Minseok awkwardly said hi to everyone (especially Zitao) and took a seat.

 

“We had a very adorable Santa over just now.” Chanyeol teased.

 

Baekhyun decided to join the fun. “He had such chubby cheeks!”

 

“Come to think of it…” Kris mumbled, trying to hold his laugh. “He kind of looks like you.”

 

Zitao nodded proudly.

 

“Oh? Maybe I should be Santa Claus for Halloween then.”

 

Minseok thanked God the kids were not old enough to catch the nervousness in his voice.

 

“Well, now that we’re all here, shall we eat?”

 

“I propose a toast.” Chanyeol stood up, his cup in hand.

 

Baekhyun got up as well alongside Zitao and Kris. Minseok was the last to stand.

 

“To a wonderful Christmas.” The father of four said warmly.

 

Kris nodded his head and opened his mouth. “And a beautiful new year.”

 

“May we all be endlessly blessed—“

 

“—And may our children be blessed as well.”

 

“Happy Christmas!”

 

The five glasses crinked together and all the parents took a sip before sitting back down. Baekhyun and Zitao disappeared into the kitchen to warm up some of the food and, when they got back, all the parents started to feast.

 

The children were eating as well, enjoying each other’s companies and of course, the presents they received from Santa Claus.

 

The evening went beautifully, each and every individual holding high hopes for the upcoming New Year in their hearts.

 

***

A/N: jesus. christ. this took me more than a month to write. i am terribly sorry /bows. anyway, i promise i'll make up for the lateness, please bare with me >///< AND HOLY COW 1000+ SUBSCRIBERS THANK YOU SO MUCH EVERYONE <3 i am very grateful. if you like this story please give it an upvote :3 see you in the next chapter!

ps. i won't mark baby sehun! as complete anymore ^^;;

pps. i really liked the part about the kids thinking baekhyun's name was 'my love' because chanyeol kept calling him that T___T