Metal clatters onto the tiles of the kitchen floor and Minseok’s jolted out of his nap in an instant. Thankfully it’s not groans of pain or cries of panic that follow, and when Minseok hears Jongin and Yixing’s muffled giggles he relaxes back into the couch cushion and releases some of the strength in his hold around Kyungsoo’s shoulders.

“Those two,” Kyungsoo murmurs softly, his tone a perfect balance of exasperated and fond. “Always getting into trouble.”

Minseok nuzzles at Kyungsoo’s hair, humming his agreement before yawning widely. He releases Kyungsoo entirely in order to stretch his arms above his head, and Kyungsoo makes no pretense of looking away from the view when Minseok’s shirt rides up, revealing a bit of his abdomen. Minseok flushes, adorably embarrassed and still somehow unused to such blatant appreciation even after four years together. The sudden spots of pink on his cheeks have Kyungsoo cooing at him loudly enough for their other two lovers to hear, and they appear in the doorway as if summoned.

“You’re awake!” Yixing sounds cheerful, as usual, seemingly undisturbed by whatever mishap he and Jongin have just caused in the kitchen.

“We were waiting for you,” adds Jongin as he rests his head on Yixing’s shoulders and slouches against Yixing’s back. “You’ve been asleep for ages!”

Jongin’s the youngest in this relationship of four that shouldn’t work, yet somehow does, and sometimes his youth is glaringly obvious, at least to Minseok.

“Taking a nap for an hour is hardly sleeping the day away, baby,” Minseok chides gently, his admonition tempered by the pet name which he knows Jongin simply can’t resist. He’s rewarded with a pout from Jongin—Yixing turns his head slightly so he can kiss it away—and the rumbling vibrations of Kyungsoo’s laughter—he’s on Minseok’s lap now, his back firmly pressed up against Minseok’s chest. It’s an absolutely perfect moment: everything Minseok’s ever wanted—and everything he thought for sure he’d never have.

Yixing, perceptive as ever despite his generally hazy walk through life, notes the change in Minseok’s expression and points out, “You’ve got that look on your face again, ge.”

Minseok attempts to protest—“This is my normal face!”—but Yixing doesn’t let him.

“That expression you get when you’re so happy that you can’t believe we’re real,” Yixing clarifies. He lifts a hand to pat at the top of Jongin’s head, giggling when Jongin purposely blows little puffs of hot air against the sensitive spot of skin that’s right below Yixing’s earlobe.

Minseok protests again, more successfully this time. “I know you’re real,” he assures his lovers earnestly. “I just sometimes can’t believe you’re really mine.”

Kyungsoo huffs, seemingly taking offense at the idea that he can belong to someone, and Minseok presses his lips to Kyungsoo’s neck in apology.

“You know what I meant, lover,” he murmurs, again relying on a term of endearment to soften his words. He finds himself doing that a lot with these three, but none of them seem to mind, and Minseok’s even heard them calling each other in the same way that he does.

Jongin, for instance, does so now, saying “Come one, love,” and dragging himself off Yixing’s back so he can grab Yixing by the hands to pull him into the living room. Minseok can see Jongin angling for the love seat that’s adjacent to the couch where he and Kyungsoo are snuggled up together, but he doesn’t want to let Jongin and Yixing sit just yet.

“Nuh-uh,” Minseok tells them. “First tell me what craziness you were up to in the kitchen.”

“Please tell me you didn’t make a mess,” Kyungsoo pleads. He sounds desperate but allows himself to be comforted with the warmth of Jongin’s hand resting on his thigh and the soft brush of Yixing’s lips against his forehead. “Oh god,” he concludes then. “You’ve broken my KitchenAid, haven’t you?”

Jongin lifts his hand away from Kyungsoo’s leg to cross his arms over his body. Yixing mirrors his stance, his dimples winking at his three lovers as he grins mischievously.

“Give us a little credit, Soo!” Jongin grumbles, his pout returned full force.

“We know what things we can touch in the kitchen and what things we can’t,” Yixing agrees placatingly. “Your KitchenAid is safe with us!”

Minseok hides a smile in Kyungsoo’s hair. “You mean safe from you, right?”

Yixing’s arms go slack and fall to hang at his sides as he considers this. “I think so,” he decides after a moment. He turns back to Kyungsoo with his grin back in place and reiterates, “Your KitchenAid is safe from us!”

Kyungsoo slouches back against Minseok’s chest in obvious relief, then holds both his hands out for Jongin and Yixing to take.

“Alright, loves,” he says, adapting the pet name generally reserved for Yixing to include Jongin as well. “Let’s just get this over with.”

They pull him up, each with two hands wrapped around one of Kyungsoo’s, and there’s a brief moment of struggle as Jongin meets Yixing’s eyes with a challenging gaze and yanks Kyungsoo toward him.

“Never!” Yixing shouts. He sounds ridiculous but it’s mostly just sweet when he adds a fervent, “I shall save you from the dragon, my prince!”

Kyungsoo giggles, the tune of it music to Minseok’s ears, and plays along. “Oh, save me, brave knight! For victory you shall receive True Love’s Kiss!”

Minseok pushes himself off the couch to join the fun—and hopefully corral his three lovers back into the kitchen. “But how shall you defeat this dragon, good sir?”

Yixing’s response is instantaneous. “With True Love’s Kiss!”

They’re all laughing now, though the atmosphere is quick to change from light and playful once Yixing moves toward the spot where Jongin’s got his arms around Kyungsoo. Then there’s the unmistakable, wet sound of open-mouthed kisses as Yixing “defeats the dragon” first before bending slightly to accept his reward from the prince.

Kyungsoo has his face turned upward and a little to the side so that Yixing doesn’t have to stretch down too far, and Jongin’s more than happy to mouth at his lover’s exposed neck. Enthralled, Minseok watches Jongin nip and , then swipe his tongue over the places where his teeth have bruised Kyungsoo’s skin. The sight has Minseok moving, almost in a trance, to join his three lovers in their entwined embrace, and he catches Jongin’s mouth in a kiss as soon as he’s close enough to reach them.

“I love you,” Minseok whispers into the air, against Jongin’s lips, and through the gap between Yixing’s mouth and Kyungsoo’s when they pull apart just enough to breathe. They’re resting their foreheads together, chests heaving, and Minseok waits until they pull further apart before he turns to Yixing and rubs their noses together.

It’s achingly sweet, this gesture of affection, but Yixing is the sappiest person Minseok’s ever known and Minseok’s sure Yixing appreciates it.

“Love you too,” Kyungsoo sighs out, his voice barely a whisper into the fabric of Jongin’s old dance shirt.

“It almost hurts a little,” Jongin confesses. Minseok puts a hand to Jongin’s cheek and waits; Kyungsoo presses his face into Jongin’s neck and does the same. Yixing does nothing but his smile is soft, open, and ready for whatever it is Jongin has to say.

“Is it supposed to be like this, do you think?” Jongin wonders after a long moment. “Is this normal?”

“It may be odd to some,” Minseok admits.

Kyungsoo pulls back slightly to finish his older lover’s thought for him. “But it’s perfect for us, isn’t it?”

Jongin sighs heavily, and whines that he didn’t mean it like that. “I only wondered if something was wrong with me,” he explains as Minseok’s hand creeps up to brush away his fringe and Yixing’s hands reach out to slide down the slim curve of Jongin’s waist. “For finding it a little painful to love so much.”

Yixing nods, quietly understanding in the way that always leaves Minseok feeling awed. “You love people really well, baby. And when new people come into your life, there’s no more room in your heart to hold them, so your heart just gets bigger and bigger every time.”

This makes sense, in a weird, totally Yixing sort of way. He continues.

“And the three of us hold the most space there, don’t we?” He asks Jongin, though the way he says it makes it sound more like a statement of truth than a question. “So of course it hurts a little too love us so much with a heart that’s always too small.”

“And that’s okay?”

Jongin’s more than half-way comforted, but Minseok wants his youngest lover absolutely convinced.

He tells Jongin, “Of course that’s okay, baby. Of course it is.”

“If you loved any differently, you wouldn’t be you,” Yixing concludes his moment of wisdom with a kiss pressed hot and lingering against Jongin’s lips. “And we love you.”

“I love you, too,” Jongin says, finally, just as the sun drops below the horizon and the world outside goes softly dark. The timing is perfect, and Minseok feels like every single moment of his life was merely leading up to this one. There’s still the matter of the mishap in the kitchen, but right now Minseok can’t find it in himself to care.

He steps away, pulling Jongin with him onto the couch and shifting all the way to one end so there’s enough room for Yixing and Kyungsoo to join them. It takes a few beats for them all to get situated, but soon Minseok’s back with his head resting against the arm of the couch, Jongin half in his lap, half in Kyungsoo’s, and Yixing’s cold feet pressing up against his thigh.

Absently Minseok runs his fingers along the soft and faded cotton of Jongin’s shirt, then slips his hand under the edge to rub circles against Jongin’s taut stomach. The muscles there clench under his touch and Minseok closes his eyes, sighing deeply. He would not change this for anything in the world.

He is perfectly, and utterly, content.

Epilogue:

“You realize mistletoe is a Christmas thing, right, love?” Kyungsoo asks, nudging Yixing with his elbow and grinning teasingly.

“It’s for Valentine’s Day!” Yixing defends, his passion clear in the way he stands tall and proud beneath the hanging greenery. “To celebrate.”

Jongin valiantly steps beside his Chinese lover, ready to defend him, but Minseok interjects before he can.

“I’m not sure we need any extra excuses to make out around here,” he jokes, “but I think it’s sweet.”

Jongin’s expression goes from defensive to smug in and instant. “We thought you might,” he says, turning to Yixing. “Didn’t we, love?”

“You did good, baby,” Minseok agrees indulgently as Yixing nods and Kyungsoo chuckles softly. “Now get over here so I can kiss you,” he commands, then joins Kyungsoo in laughing when they all surge toward the spot just below the mistletoe and end up bumping heads and elbows into each other and the counter tops.

“Maybe we should hang some more,” Kyungsoo muses then. “If only to alleviate traffic and save ourselves the bruises.”

Minseok kisses him.

“Such wisdom, lover,” Yixing agrees. “It’s too bad me and Jonginnie accidentally broke the ladder hanging this one.”

Minseok rolls his eyes as Kyungsoo wails in belated concern for his two lovers’ safety. At least now they know what Yixing and Jongin were getting up to in the kitchen earlier, even if they did end up breaking something after all.