It's the sound of the alarm ringing which woke him up. Yes, he's awake, but Mark would rather not to get up from their bed just yet. It's a -2.8 degree Celsius right now since it's winter. Mark doesn't hate the season, he just really isn't that fond of how extremely cold it could get during nights and early mornings.

Just like now.

Mark knows how cold it could and would probably get once he's out of bed so he would like to stay for an even much longer time if he could. And that's what he plans to do. Extending his arms he goes for all the warmth he could get from Jinyoung who's sleeping beside him, back resting on his chest. Mark nuzzles on the younger's nape, inhaling his scent. Mark always loved how much Jinyoung smells like home. It might be a weird comparison since, how could he exactly describe how home is supposed to smell like, still, that is where he would compare Jinyoung's smell to. He heard Jinyoung's low grumble and for a second, in his half-awake half-the-hell-not state, Mark thought the younger would try to wriggle off from his arms. But Jinyoung didn't. Instead, Mark felt his right hand pulling on his left forearm, as if willing him to cuddle even closer. Smiling although with his eyes still closed, Mark happily complied. 

The next time he was startled awake came in roughly a few minutes later and this time it's not the alarm clock. 

"Daddy! Appa!"

The lively voice resounded from the hall, and in a few seconds inside their room. "Wake up! Wake up!" Mark hears Jio and that made him try to open his eyes despite his mind strongly rejecting the idea. 

He was still rubbing his eyes open when he felt the movement of his side of the bed and soon, he had his son crawling past his side, over him settling on sitting on top of his hips. "Daddy! Wake up!"

"Okay, buddy." Mark says almost groggily, still very much sleepy and his voice sounds as raspy as it could get during mornings. He held on his son's waist as he turned his body from lying sideways and lied flat on his back so Jio can sit on his stomach. "I'm up. Why are you so early?"

"I'm not! It's 7 and a half, I am not early daddy." His son says, jutting his lower lip into a cute pout, with brows creased at the center of his forehead. Mark smiles at this and at how Jio said the time. 7 and a half instead of seven thirty. 

"Seven thirty, buddy."

"It's what I said." Jio says again, pouting some more and this time Mark can't help but giggle and ruffle his son's hair. "It's morning why are you still sleeping? And appa too." Jio points at Jinyoung who Mark thinks is a few seconds away from waking up. And soon enough, after Jio pokes on his appa's arm, Jinyoung finally wakes up.

"Hey, baby. You're up early."

This had their son pouting yet again, arms crossed. "I am not, appa. It's seven and a-" Jio glances at him and Mark arches his brow at his son. "...seven thirty. It's seven thirty appa. We need to go."

Mark could very well see how excited their son is. Since it's that time of the year, Christmas approaching in a week, Jio remembers it's time for gift giving. And to have gifts to give, they need to go shopping. The three of them talked about it last night over dinner and agreed to go to the mall and do some gift shopping and as expected and just as how it always did, it excited Jio so much that he's making them get up from bed so they could leave and go to the mall this early.

Now, Jinyoung sat up on their bed and brushed their son's hair with his hand. "But baby like you said, it's 7:30. It's too early to go to the mall. I'm sure it's not even open yet."

They saw how their son pouted, eyes staring down at his own hands, fingers fiddling. Mark exchanged glances with Jinyoung before talking to their Jio. "Let's go and eat breakfast first. Appa will cook while we watch some Lightning McQueen. By the time we finish eating, and after we take a shower because someone here is stinky..." Mark playfully raises Jio's hand so he could poke his armpit and that made their son squeal, shying away from him while giggling. Mark hears Jinyoung laughing with them too. "After all that, we could all drive to the mall then. What do you say, stinky?"

"Dad!"

Mark laughs at Jio's whining. "I mean, buddy. I said buddy." and Jinyoung was still laughing beside him.

Jio pursed his lips for a short while before nodding. "Okay. I'm hungry anyway." Then their son was taking both their hands as he crawled to get off from the bed. "Let's go appa, daddy. Let's eat and watch Lightning McQueen."

Exchanging smiles, Mark mouths morning to Jinyoung and the younger does the same, scrunching his cute button nose as he does. Despite the cold, Mark really loves waking up in mornings.

It was past 4 in the afternoon when they reached home after spending almost six hours in the mall. Mark really saw and felt what Christmas Rush is. Perhaps gift shopping when it's just a week before Christmas is not a good idea. Last year and this year were both proofs of that. However, although Mark realizes that it's better to shop early, Jio needs a long time to think of the gifts he wants to give to the people he holds dear to his heart. For the past two years, Jio has been making his own list with the names of people who were nice, Their son says if Santa does that, he could also do that. And although sometimes, there are people who doesn't make it to the list (usually Bambam, Yugyeom or Jackson because the trio tend to express their love to their son through teasing), at the actual day of gift shopping, Jio pencils in their names and still buys gifts for them.

And this year is no different.

"Baby, easy on the running. Take good care of the gifts or else they'll be broken even before you could give them." Jinyoung reminds their son as Jio runs as soon as they entered the gate.

"Yes appa!" Jio says, jumping up and down with arms full of bags and boxes he could carry while waiting for Mark to open the door. When Mark did, Jio was running yet again straight to the living room and put all that he's carrying on the floor. Right after, Jio was running back to where Mark is, and trying to take the one bag off his hold. "I'll help, daddy."

"No need, buddy. I can manage. Just sit over there."

Jio complies and waits for Mark to put the other bags down, Jinyoung as well. "Do we have enough gift wrappers, appa?"

"Even more than enough, baby. You bought a lot, remember?"

"Because I have more gifts to give. We will wrap them now, right daddy?"

Mark who is taking out the gift wrappers from one bag, answers. "Yes we will, but not before you change into more comfy clothes, alright?"

Their son still knows how to listen although he's very much eager and excited to start with the gift wrapping. Jio stands up and runs upstairs to do what he's told. Mark blew a sigh as he watched their son go.

Just then, Jinyoung tapped his shoulder, and gave it a gentle squeeze. "Won't you change into more comfy clothes too?"

Mark shakes his head as he holds Jinyoung's hand which was resting on his shoulder, near the base of his nape. "I'll take a quick shower later before we head to bed. You?"

Jinyoung shrugs his shoulders as he nods. "I guess I'll do just that too."

Mark felt Jinyoung about to take his hand off his shoulder but he held onto it for a few more seconds. This made the younger turn to him with an arched brow. Mark responded by narrowing his eyes at him, trying to give the latter a suspicious look. "Are you suggesting we take a shower... together?"

"What?" Jinyoung's eyes are now flashing surprise. He probably didn't expect what Mark had to say. Regardless, Mark didn't lose his kind of look and even followed it with a teasing smile. "I didn't-"

"I didn't think of that but since here you are suggesting we do that, then I guess I should say yes."

What he felt next is a slight jab at his chest. After the assault, Jinyoung was sneering. "You're crazy." 

"Let's have Jio ready for bed early so we could-"

"Mark stop!" and yet Jinyoung is laughing. Mark finds it cute and it fills his heart with happiness in an instant. He sure loves teasing his boyfriend but he loves seeing his reaction more.

Mark decides to sport a pout. "What? Why?"

But Jinyoung only shakes his head, giving him a slap on his shoulder. "I'm cooking dinner. You sit here and wait for Jio. You've got a lot of wrapping to do."

"And some unwrapping to do later, I hope." Mark says with a wink, sending Jinyoung laughing again, hand in his stomach. Mark will say this again, hearing Jinyoung's laugh fills his heart with so much happiness. 

Jinyoung shakes his head yet again, waving his hand to dismiss him. Mark watches, smiling from ear to ear as Jinyoung walks his way to the kitchen to do what he said he'd do- cook their dinner. A second after, he hears his son calling on him while descending the stairs. 

"Let's go wrap the gifts now, daddy?" Jio asks, eyes shining with excitement.

"Alright buddy. I'll get the scissors and tapes."

It was after dinner when Jio said he wants to write a letter for his grandpa and grandma- Mark's parents.

This Christmas, unlike last year, they won't be spending it in LA where Mark's family is. Last year, the three of them flew to Los Angeles to spend their Christmas and New Year there. It was also the first time Jio got introduced in person to his mom and dad, as well to his siblings- Joey, Tammy and Grace. They were more than thrilled to meet Jio and to see Jinyoung again. His parents were beyond glad to see that him and Jinyoung are back together and even more delighted that they have their own little one, in the form of Jio. His parents and siblings have taken a huge liking to Jio, that they even asked if they could stay for a week more after the New Year's eve. They could have agreed to their request if only Jinyoung wasn't required to report to work in the first week of January. It was such a joyous holiday for them all.

However this Christmas, they chose to spend it here in Seoul. Jio loves snow so much and although he did enjoy having to spend the previous Christmas in LA, their son didn't fail to express how much he missed playing in the snow over the holiday break. That is the reason why they decided to stay here instead of flying to LA. Mark's mom and dad were okay with it of course. But Jio said he'll make up to them by sending them gifts and writing a letter to them.

Now Mark is seated on the floor beside his son who is busy writing. 

"You missed an r there, buddy." Mark says, pointing to Jio's Mery Christmas. 

"Right." Jio says and quickly inserts another r in his written greeting. "Finished!!" 

"Already?" Jinyoung, who had just sat on the couch after cleaning the dishes, asked. 

"Yes, appa."

"Can I hear what you've written, baby?" From resting his back on the couch, Jinyoung leans in, placing his elbows on both his knees. 

Jio glances at Mark for a sec