“chanyeol, what am i looking at right now?”

the man sounds surprised and there's a hint of displeasure in his voice. not that chanyeol can blame him, really. there’s an eight-foot nordmann fir christmas tree currently standing in the corner of their living room, despite yifan’s strict orders explicitly forbidding chanyeol to purchase a real christmas tree. yifan didn't see the point in spending all that money on a tree that'll guest in their home for less than a month. he isn’t too keen on the idea of cleaning the shed needles either, knowing far too well that chanyeol would shirk all responsibility.

“it's a christmas tree,” chanyeol states the obvious, much to yifan’s annoyance.

“i can see that, but why is it here?”

ignoring his boyfriend’s question, chanyeol kneels down and opens a tattered cardboard box labelled ‘chanyeol’s festive crap’. he pulls out a small transparent plastic bauble filled with shiny metallic stars. “woah, i forgot we had these!” chanyeol exclaims, waving the spherical object in yifan’s face.

“didn’t you make us go to, what, eight different shops before we managed to find them in stock?” yifan takes a seat on their couch, with no intention of joining chanyeol in decorating the monstrous tree that he can’t quite believe is standing erect in his front room.

still paying no attention to his grinch of a boyfriend, chanyeol hangs the ornament on one of the branches.

yifan snorts. “chanyeol, that looks ridiculous.”

“just what exactly is your problem, yifan? i'm just trying to get into the holiday spirit,” chanyeol snaps, his usual cheery expression nowhere to be seen.

“by decorating that ginormous tree with miniature ornaments? your baubles are tiny.”

chanyeol gasps, offended by yifan’s words. “my balls are not tiny, how dare you?!”

“baubles,” yifan repeats, overenuciating the two syllables. “and i’m utterly dumbfounded by how you’re attempting to hang ornaments on that gigantic eyesore. you can’t even see them! not to mention, i specifically said not to go over one foot.”

chanyeol’s eyebrows furrow, his expression darkening. he glares at yifan who mirrors the same look. after several seconds of silence, chanyeol exhales with a low growl of infuriation. “fine, you win. no ornaments, no tree, no christmas!” he tosses the ornaments back into the box, the room reverberating with loud clanging sounds.

“yeol, that's not what i—”

“actually, if you don't mind, i'll put the rest away later. i'm going for a walk, get my daily exercise and whatnot.” chanyeol abruptly rises to his feet, avoiding the other’s eyes. yifan reaches out, wrapping his fingers around his boyfriend’s wrist. chanyeol pulls away, causing yifan to flinch.

yifan hears the front door slam and he sighs, regretting his poor choice of words. slipping on his jacket and shoes, he glances at the tree and shakes his head. following chanyeol’s footsteps, he exits the apartment.






“what's this?” chanyeol asks, eyeing the wrapped up box with suspicion.

yifan shoots chanyeol an affectionate smile and places the package into his hands. “open it.”

chanyeol squints at yifan for a brief moment. his mouth twitches and yifan leans in and presses their lips together. “i love you, you know that?”

chanyeol’s face lights up, a wide grin adorning his face. “i know, i love me too.” he chuckles and shoots a wink at his boyfriend before diverting his attention to the gift. his hands move in a flurry, tearing the wrapping paper to unveil a multipack of eight regular sized baubles, one for each of santa’s reindeer.

“let's hang them on the tree,” yifan breathes into chanyeol’s ear, his chin resting on his boyfriend's shoulder.

nodding his head with fervour, chanyeol proceeds to place the eight ornaments on the otherwise christmas tree. “hey, yifan?”

“hmm?”

“why the change of heart?”

“do you remember what i promised you when i asked you out? how i would do anything in my power to make you happy? and if that means eight-foot-tall trees with blue balls, so be it.” yifan snakes his arms around chanyeol’s waist, enveloping him in a tight embrace.

“if the tree has blue balls, why don’t we give it a good and see if it shoots a load of white? i’ve always wanted a white christmas.”

“it’s a tree, yeol. not a .”

“then maybe i should  your dic—”

yifan cuts off chanyeol with a tight bear hug, squeezing as hard as he can. a hearty chuckle escapes his lips when he hears chanyeol gasping for air. releasing his hold, he reaches for his boyfriend’s hands and interlaces their fingers, feeling the warmth seep into his skin.

“merry christmas, yeol.”

“but it's not christmas yet. ”

“oh, i didn’t realise you wanted to have blue balls as well.”

“i love you too, yifan.”