December came, and with it, Christmas preparations. Having never experienced Christmas, Nam Soon was amazed by all the decorated trees, fancy wrapping papers and, above all else, the concept of a grandfather in red going around the world and giving gifts to everyone.

- Do you think he'll come to us? Nam Soon asked while he was standing on his tippy-toes to put the tinsel at the top of their tree, that the angel had insisted they bought. Heung Soo had suggested that Nam Soon should just use his angel powers, but he had refused, claiming that "that's not how humans do it".

- Santa? Well, he usually just comes to children... But then again, you are a child, Heung Soo added teasingly.

- Am not! Nam Soon huffed.

- No? Heung Soo smiled.

- No. Would a child do this? Nam Soon asked before claiming the other's mouth a deep kiss. They hadn't gone farther than kissing yet, but they were getting pretty good at it.

Christmas Eve came, and after watching the parade, they went back home and had a romantic dinner. After eating, they cuddled up on the sofa and watched yet another "Christmas Classic" — Nam Soon wanted to watch all of them, and this was movie number 23 in two weeks —, laughing along at Tim Allen's clumsy attempts at taking over Santa's job. When the movie ended, Heung Soo went into the bedroom, and after a moment's rustling, he came out again, holding something behind his back. After sitting down again, he took out the package he'd been hiding, a gift wrapped in gold paper with white lace ribbon tied around it.

- This is for you. Merry Christmas, he said, handing the gift to Nam Soon, who opened it to reveal the rose-adorned silver keepsake box that he'd wanted to have ever since he saw it in an antiques shop little over two months ago.

- You bought it. Thank you so much! Nam Soon squealed and hugged his boyfriend.

- Look inside.

There was a copy of the first photo they took together, by the pond. On the back, Heung Soo had written "Our first date 2013-11-03".

- I figured you should get something to put in the box, as well, Heung Soo explained after Nam Soon's moved "thank you".

Suddenly, Nam Soon got up and rushed to his backpack. He got out a package wrapped in red with green ribbon, which he shyly gave to Heung Soo. Inside was a camera, which Ha Kyung had helped pick out on Nam Soon's request.

- Oh my god, I love it! Heung Soon exclaimed. After football, photography was his biggest passion, but his camera had broken about six months earlier and on a café assistant's pay he hadn't been able to get it fixed, let alone buy a new one. The fact that this camera came from Nam Soon made it even more special. - I want you to be in the first picture I take, Heung Soo said after a while, ushering the angel to strike a cute pose.

As they were laying in bed one evening a few days later, cuddled up next to each other, Heung Soo finally got around to asking something that had been on his mind since he first met the angel.

- Hey, sweetie?

- Mm?

- When we touch, it feels all warm and tingly. Is it an angel thing, or is it just my imagination?

- All Guardian Angels have a healing power, and sometimes it feels like that.

- Healing power? You mean like wounds and stuff?

- Mm. We can't bring someone back from the dead or anything like that, but most injuries are within our power.

- So... Does that mean you can fix my knee? Heung Soo asked hopefully.

- Maybe... I can't promise anything, but I can always try, if you want.

- Please.

Nam Soon sat up and seated himself so that he had Heung Soo's injured knee in front of him. He placed both hands on either side of the knee and closed his eyes to focus his power to his hands. The tingling in Heung Soo's leg soon turned into a prickling feeling, and the gentle warmth grew into heat, while a warm glow emitted from Nam Soon's hands. Heung Soo watched in amazement how the ugly operation scar disappeared before his eyes, and he felt the relief as the dull pain — more like constant tension or pressure — that he'd learnt to ignore slowly released its grip and faded into nothing.

Suddenly, the light from Nam Soon's hands switched from warm yellow to cold bluish white, before the angel pulled back as if stung by electricity. Rubbing his hands to ease the stinging feeling, Nam Soon looked at Heung Soo with a tired and almost apologetic expression.

- I've done what I can, the angel said. - I could give you pain relief, and heal the outer scars, but it seems that the Destiny Bell rang when you were injured. If that happens, the injury itself can't be undone.

- What do you mean? I remember you talking about those bells before...

- If something happens that is important enough to change your destiny, the bell rings and sorta... seals the event. Once the bell has rung, the event can't be undone, just as you can't unring a bell. You can only ring it again, by ending up in another destiny-changing event. That, however can be done to infinity.

Nodding in contemplation, Heung Soo suddenly noticed the ashen tone in Nam Soon's face.

- Hey, are you okay?

- Yeah, I'm fine. The healing drains my energy, but I'll be fine with some sleep.

During breakfast, Heung Soo was unusually quiet. Not that he was a chatterbox, but Nam Soon usually didn't have to drag the words out of his boyfriend, who was lost deep in his thoughts.

Does this mean I really have to give up on football once and for all? What will I do instead? It's all I'm good at...

- Yah Park Heung Soo! The angel's voice pulled him from his pondering as he called the human for the third time.

- Hmm? Oh, sorry. What were you saying?

- You're fretting about football, Nam Soon stated calmly, having heard the other's thoughts. Heung Soo nodded in response.

- It was my dream, you know. And now that's gone, I don't really know what to do anymore.

- So you just need to find another dream, the angel said as if that was the easiest thing in the world.

- You got any lying about that you can give me? Heung Soo replied half-sarcastically, half-hoping he actually did.

- Well... I can always help you figure it out, Nam Soon smiled encouragingly. After they both fell into their own thoughts for a while, trying to come up with something, Nam Soon suddenly had an idea. - Hey, you're always taking pictures, and you're good at it too. Why don't you try that?

- That's actually not a bad idea, Heung Soon said. - I'll think about it.

A/N

Finally a new chapter!

It felt really weird writing about Christmas in May, but what can you do?

Until next time:

What's your dream?

As always: please comment and tell me what you think