"Merry Christmas! Come on in," Sehun said with a smile. 

It was a little unnerving to see his dormmate in his mom's house, but he was happy nonetheless to see Luhan at all. "Thank you for having me over, Sehun," the polite older boy said. 

Sehun shrugged it off, smiling. "It's Christmas! You can't be alone!" 

Ms. Oh came out of the kitchen with a steaming turkey on a large plate. "Merry Christmas!" she said with a little dance. "Hi! Luhan, right?" She held out an oven mitt clad hand, before laughing and taking it off. 

"Hi, Ms. Oh," Luhan said, shaking her hand. 

"Hurry, let's sit down," she said, waving the boys over to the table. 

"I don't think she's been this excited about Christmas since 1992," Sehun whispered, unheard by his mother. He was glad to see her this happy as opposed to the stress and fatigue that normally resided her facial expressions. 

Luhan smiled. "I haven't had a proper Christmas in three years," he admitted. 

The table was adorned with the food he and his mom had slaved over for two days. Ever since the woman had suggested inviting Luhan and the older boy had accepted the invitation, Sehun had driven himself sick with nerves. 

"Tell me about yourself, Luhan. Sehun here just said you two were roommates." 

Luhan laughed. "You didn't tell your mom about me, Sehun? I thought we were better friends than that!" 

Sehun had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from screaming as his face turned pink. "It, umm, never came up." 

Things got easier when Luhan started talking, letting Sehun focus on his food and not the fact that his crush was having Christmas dinner with them and talking to his mother about himself. 

It helped a bit to calm his racing heart. 

*** 

"Dig in! Merry Christmas, boys! I'm so happy you're here spending it with me." Nan a smiled and patted her grandson's hand as she stared at Chanyeol. 

"We're glad to be here, Nanna," Baekhyun said, squeezing her hand. 

Chanyeol smiled. He was actually sad that this would be their last night here, since they were leaving for his parents' the next day. As much as he tried not to think about it, she still looked sad to see them go. 

"Well, don't let the food go cold, now," she said, cutting everyone a piece of the casserole. 

The bell rang, and she stood up to answer it, finding her friends, all with pots in their hands and families trailing behind them. "I hope your table's large enough for us!" said Nari, excitedly. 

Chanyeol and Baekhyun came up behind Nanna and smiled. "Come on in," said the former, as the latter wished his grandmother a merry Christmas. 

"Oh, cutie-pie!" Nanna exclaimed, burying her face into Baekhyun's shoulder. "This is the best Christmas ever!" 

"It was Chanyeol's idea," said Baekhyun, smiling at his boyfriend. 

Nanna turned around and looked up at the taller boy. "Thank you, Chanyeol," she said, enveloping him in a hug as well. 

"You're quite welcome," replied the boy, before adding, "Nanna." 

The old woman hugged tighter. 

*** 

"Open them! We went through all that trouble to get them, now you have to open them!" Kyungsoo was excited to see his family's reactions when they unwrapped their gifts. 

Minseok was first. "Guys!" he gasped. "I've been looking for a good coffee machine for ages! Thank you!" 

When Jongdae opened his, he started to laugh. "Oh, this will be fun." He opened the box and pulled out the microphone, pointing it at Minseok. "I challenge you." 

"You'll probably win," said the shorter boy with a smitten grin. 

"Thank you, guys," the doctor said. 

His parents opened theirs together, and each smiled gratefully. "Oh, you know me so well," said his father. He nudged his wife. "Look, I can finally fix your vacuum cleaner," he said. 

"Thank God. The old one ," she replied. 

Minseok giggled. "Isn't that what a vacuum is supposed to do?" 

Mrs. Do pretended to throw something at him. "Go make me coffee, I want to use my new mugs," she said. 

Then, Kyungsoo brought out a box from behind him. "Jongin, this is for you," he said. 

Jongin smiled and took the box, curious to know what was inside. What he pulled out was a set of chapter books, not related to each other by the sound of their titles. 

"They have a simple plot, but with 'grown-up' devices. Also the vocabulary is higher-grade, so you won't get bored of these," the owl-eyed boy explained, nervous to see if he'd like it. 

Jongin embraced Kyungsoo, nesting his chin comfortably in his boyfriend's shoulder. "Thank you! This is awesome!" 

And after everyone exchanged their gifts, Jongin poked Kyungsoo's squishy cheek. "Shall we go? We don't want to be too late." 

"Where're you going?" asked Minseok, mouth full of pie. 

"My aunt's house," Jongin replied. 

"Oh, wait one minute," Mrs. Do said, before getting up and disappearing into her room. She came back out with a large, heavy bag, and a smaller, lighter bag. "This one's for your aunt and her wife," she said, giving the first bag to Jongin, "and this one's for their daughter." She hooked the second bag to Jongin's other hand, seeing that Kyungsoo was carrying their own gift. 

"Oh, you shouldn't have," Jongin said. 

The woman waved dismissively. "She's practically my in-law. It'd be rude not to give her a gift, we've been over this." Then she shooed the boys out of the door. 

*** 

"Good morning, my love," Mrs. Kim said, entering Joonmyun's room and sitting on the edge of his bed. "Merry Christmas." 

"To you too," he mumbled, wanting a couple of more minutes of sleep. He'd spent all night chatting with Yixing after the boy'd sent him Christmas wishes a few hours too early in Joonmyun's time zone. 

"Come on, your father is downstairs. We're having some family breakfast time, let's not keep him waiting, hmm?" She his face, then patted his hand. 

"Dad's here?" he asked. It would be the first time since he'd landed in the States that he'd seen his father. "He's back?" 

His mother nodded, and then shrugged. "Just for Christmas. After that, he's going back to Boston." 

Joonmyun held up his arms and Mrs. Kim pulled him up to a sit with a smile. "Be quick, alright?" she said, before getting out of the room. 

It was only after she left that Joonmyun realized she didn't smell like she drank herself in whiskey and smoked her brains out. She must've known her husband was coming. 

And the thought put a smile on Joonmyun's face. No matter how dysfunctional the family was, they were still a family that could be together, be normal together on Christmas. 

He got out of bed and got dressed, putting on sandy brown pants. He wore a light blue button up shirt with a knit vest che