If there is a color that suits his girlfriend best then it is red, Yifan muses. Today is another proof of his findings, if the bordeaux dress she dons and the alcohol induced flush on her cheeks are anything to go by. Miss Byun had turned up with ridiculous party hats earlier the night and forced their department to wear them. Junmyeon has lost it fas enough and if the intense staring Miss Byun gives their head accountant Miss Kim from the corner where she shares a bottle of wine with his girlfriend, Yifan figures she will not notice when his hat finds a sure death in the waste bin.

The company's Christmas party is slowly drifting off of what is proper and professional and Yifan observes it with delight, fully aware that he will have to be the one assuring several of his colleagues on management level that they have not acted completely embarassing. Just a little. Even though it will be hard to lie through his teeth about the blatant way the head of their Chinese branch, loud and gorgeous Luhan, checks out Kim Minseok's finer assets. Yifan cannot help it and makes his way over to his fellow country woman.

"You're being obvious." Yifan mumbles as lowly as possible over the blearing sound of WHAM crooning their hit song Last Christmas. Luhan wrinkles her nose and turns her head away from where she surely has mapped out every tiny curve of their coworker's .
"Like you have any ground to criticize me on, Wu Yifan. Do you think your mental undressing of Kim Junmyeon has gone by unnoticed? Why don't you just ask her out already?"

Truth to be told, Yifan's thoughts had strayed to sending Junmyeon a message about vanishing somewhere for a small moment of private intimacy, but before he could do it, she had sent one to him instead.
Stop eyeing me, we're not alone here and I'm red enough in the face already.
Since then Yifan has tried not to stare, but the frequent peeking at her is harder to stop than he thought.
"Even if I ask her out for a date I doubt I will get one." Yifan replies "She has two sons in elementary school at home, I can hardly imagine her having time to go out."

Within the four months since they started seeing each other they have only been out by themselves without Tao and Sehun a grand total of three times. Yifan does not mind it at all that the boys are always around; he takes great pleasure in their joy over the countless zoos, adventure parks and museums he took them and their mother to and feels honored by the trust Junmyeon has when she lets him go somewhere with the boys alone or pick them up from school. She had not been lying with her warning that she was a three-people-deal and on their 100 days anniversary only two weeks ago, Yifan had realized with stunning clarity that he feels like a part of their family, feels like inevitably his future lies with Kim Junmyeon and her sons Huang Zitao and Huang Sehun.

He has not informed his girlfriend about his findings, because he does not want to spook and overwhelm her and yet the loving smile she spares him with when both her sons have fallen asleep on him on the couch gives him hope that with patience and a feeling for the right timing he will eventually officially give their little patchwork the label "family". He does not intend to replace their father in the boys' hearts, but it boils down to hoping he can be a person they trust their secrets with while they grow up. It will be a long run and he only just started, but Yifan has faith.

After all Sehun readily curls up in Yifan's arms, not Junmyeon's when he visits her bed after a nightmare and Yifan spent a long time with Tao in the nearby hospital's emergency waiting area as they checked Sehun for broken limbs after a particularly wild game of play; listening to the boy's fear of not being loved by his father. Junmyeon's ex-husband does not make as much of an effort taking care of his sons as Yifan does and the smart, sensitive boy notices it. Yifan is by default not fond of Mr. Huang and keeps as much of a distance as he can, but he understands Tao's fear from experience and explained the boy that, although his father does definitely not see his sons as much, both he and Sehun are loved by their father. Yifan has shared a few stories about the complicated relationship with his father and he hopes they illustrated how loving Mr. Huang actually is. Yifan's father usually only sends a brief card for festives and is always too busy to give him even one minute of his time, whereas Tao and Sehun's father picks the boys up for a weekend of week regularly and they tend to come back with stories about watching movies Junmyeon has forbidden and cooking accidents with their stepmother Yeeun.

Yifan does not dare yet to refer to himself as their stepdad. It is too early, but he works towards it.

"Oh yeah, they called all sorts of guys in the company to get their Mom a boyfriend I heard." Luhan's voice tears him out of his reveries.
The story has become part of the company chronicals, much to Junmyeon's embarrassment and Yifan's gratitude.
"They did, but that still won't score me a date."
"You can at least ask." Luhan huffs, tone a little sad. "She tells you about her private life while I can't even get out of Minseok's nose if he has siblings."
Yifan nudges he gently, because the disapproving glare said person shoots them across the room is tale-telling.
"Nothing stops you from asking either." He reminds her before he heads to the kimbab plate at the buffet.

Junmyeon joins him soon after, picking out the pieces with food he likes to eat and they bump hips playfully, fighting over the last dish of icecream until Junmyeon gives a stunning rendition of the pout which makes Yifan weak when coming from Tao and he lets her have the dessert without further discussion.

"You're so gullible." Junmyeon accuses him, spooning icecream into . They have found a spot far away from the disjockey, far away from Miss Byun howling to All I Want For Christmas Is You whilst giving pointed looks at Kim Taeyeon. It is quite a spectacle.
"I am." Yifan admits easily and snorts as head accountant Kim interprets Miss Byun's mooning over her as an invitation to join her singing. To everyone's surprise they both sound more than decent. Yifan can already see the wheels in their Marketig Director's brain turning.

"Let's make a bet."
"Of what kind?" Junmyeon says, suspicious as only a mother of two sons like Tao and Sehun can be. Yifan grins.
"If Kim Jongdae uses those two's singing for Marketing purposes, you will allow me to pay Yixing a whole day of looking after the boys and then we go on a day trip. Just the two of us. I promise I won't take you anywhere too far away so we can go back easily in a case of emergency."
"And if he doesn't?" Junmyeon challenges with sparkling eyes. Yifan does her the favor and takes the bait.
"I'll do whatever you request."

"Really?" Junmyeon asks and Yifan nods. He is curious about what she has in mind.
"How about cross-dressing in the office for a day?" she suggests and Yifan is suddenly not so sure anymore that the boys inherited their mischief from their father only.
"Okay... as long as I can explain that we made a bet, I guess?" He agrees tentatively. Junmyeon laughs amused.
"That wasn't a real suggestion. I just wanted to see if you were serious."
She pats his thigh and smiles to herself. Yifan exhales loudly in relief. He'd make a horrendous girl.

"What else would you like me to do then?" Yifan asks her, scanning the crowd for people potentially approaching them and disturbing their private talk. Luhan, one likely candidate, has vanished completely and Miss Byun is listening wide-eyed to Miss Kim in another corner of the room. They should be okay. Junmyeon fidgets next to him and he covers her hand with his in reassurance. It often is hard for her to ask him for something, because she is used to keep all control in her hands instead of distributing.

"I have been thinking about this a lot since our 100 days, you know? I'd love to go on a family trip with everyone and by that I mean the boys, their parents and their respective partners. There is a lot we adults have to talk about still regarding the way we want to raise the two and while I really don't like her" Junmyeon hisses and squeezes his hand "I have to acknowledge that she pushes him to be a better father. It will also do Tao and Sehun good to have everyone together for more than ten minutes. I really want to work on making this patchwork family work, not for Wei Zhe or her, but for my babies. They deserve a functioning family."

"So to sum it up you want me to come along?" Yifan assumes and Junmyeon nods.
"I know that I said I want to take things slow with us, but everything happens faster than I anticipated. It feels very natural and I want you included in our lives permanently, so if you don't mind... I mean, I know you're not a big fan of Wei Zhe so I understand if you say no."
"Should you win the bet then I gladly tag along. You know that I really care about Tao and Sehun and it makes me happy that you allow me in like this."
"Good!" Junmyeon says with a cheeky grin "Because I will definitely win."
"Oh, confident!" Yifan notes and bickers with her for a while, absently noting Kim Minseok searching around the room before stepping out.

Junmyeon laughs amused at Kim Jongdae's drunken attempt to dance; head thrown back and she looks so carefree and gorgeous Yifan does not think he will ever get enough of her. But then her laughter dies in , eyes full of surprise and Yifan follows her line of sight up to an object hanging from the ceiling right above their heads.
"I suppose we should move." Yifan suggests as nonchalantly as possible. They do not need to draw attention, followed by intoxicated shouts to go by the tradition. He makes a move to get up, but Junmyeon's strong grip on his hand makes him stop in his tracks.

"Junmyeon?"

Yifan is bewildered, unsure what exactly he is asking her and Junmyeon smiles, only smiles and looks at him earnestly all the same.
"Junmyeon! Yifan!" Miss Byun's voice is boasting, coming closer and closer "Guys, you're sitting under a mistle-"

Yifan leans in and slants his lips across Junmyeon's.

For a moment there is nothing but shocked silence before chaos errupts around them and Junmyeon pulls him closer by his collar, their kiss no longer the kind they share in front of Tao and Sehun. No, it is one alike their lazy Sunday mornings when the boys still sleep and she lets him touch her until she sighs sated into his neck.
"I demand an explanation!" Miss Byun claims as they part and Yifan grins before getting up.
"I'll get you two some more wine for that chat" He declares and makes place for Miss Byun to fire questions at his, now offical, girlfriend.

Through the window Yifan spots Luhan making out heavily with her object of desire and as he turns his head Junmyeon is back to a heavy, healthy blush. Indeed, red suits her the most.

After all red is the color of love.