Time flew and before long, Christmas was approaching. During the past months, Kyuhyun had essentially become another member of Jongwoon's small family. The other man seriously kept his words and stuck by Jongwoon's side as every opportunity. Every morning, Kyuhyun came to pick them up and drove his brothers to their school. At lunch, Kyuhyun would have lunch with him without fail. Kyuhyun joined him literally every day so he had no choice but to prepare a lunchbox for the other man too. When evening came, they went to pick up the kids and had dinner together, sometimes at their apartment, sometimes at some restaurants. During weekends, Kyuhyun would go with him to his workplace and accompanied the kids to wait for him, along with Sungmin. Yes, Kyuhyun would chat happily with Sungmin while he was working. Jongwoon was really curious about what they were talking about but he kept it to himself. As Kyuhyun's personal love life coach, Kyuhyun was currently having the time of his life so he didn't want to ruin their moments. So, Jongwoon stayed out of Kyuhyun and Sungmin's way most of the time. But for some reason, as soon as he began to talk with Ryeowook (or other men in general), Kyuhyun would immediately call him to order something while Sungmin also called for Ryeowook.

.

.

.

During the break, his co-workers came to ask him about where he would take his brothers to this Christmas.

 

"Hae-ah and Hyuk-ah told me that they want to stay at home this year, which is really uncharacteristic of them, but as long as they are happy then I'm fine with anything."

"Aigoo! Jongwoon-ah is really a good boy! If only my son was as cute as you!"

 

Jongwoon smiled happily and let the aunties and uncles pat his head. Suddenly, Ryeowook appeared out of nowhere and hugged his arm with a sweet smile.

 

"Jongwoon hyung, can I go to your house and celebrate Christmas with you? I'll even cook and bake a cake for your brothers!"

 

Jongwoon was about to say yes but someone's voice lively chimed in, Sungmin.

 

"Wookie, did you forget our promise to see the Christmas lights together at the park? I'm sad now!"

"Eh!? Did I make a promise with Sungminie hyung already? But why can't I remember it?"

"It's alright, if you can't remember it then I guess it doesn't matter to you, but to me only..."

"N-No hyung! Of course you matter to me! I'll go with you!"

 

While Ryeowook and Sungmin were talking, Jongwoon couldn't help but sneakily glance at Kyuhyun. For some reason, Kyuhyun was very calm even though his crush literally just asked someone else to spend Christmas with. Could it be that Kyuhyun was actually disappointed too, but he didn't show it? Feeling bad for Kyuhyun, he couldn't help but try to come up with a plan to cheer the other man up. And no, he swore that he didn't have any ulterior motive, not at all!

 

"Ahem, Kyuhyun?"

"Yes, Jongwoon?"

"You don't have plans for Christmas Eve and Christmas yet, right? I mean, you probably had one with Sungmin-ssi, but now that he already had other plans with Ryeowook-ah, I was thinking that, well, maybe you can come to my apartment and celebrate it with us? I mean, only if you don't have other plans, of course."

"Jongwoon," Kyuhyun chuckled, "you got me ever since your ahem! Of course, I'd love to spend those days with you and your brothers!"

"Oh, I see, that's great! I mean, not that I hope for it or what but yeah, that's great! Ah, well, the break is over now so I gotta go, so, see you!"

 

Kyuhyun grinned stupidly as he watched Jongwoon running off with slightly red cheeks. Donghae and Hyukjae who also saw everything patted Kyuhyun's shoulders and raised their thumb at the older man.

 

"Not bad, I'd say Woonie hyung falls for you for about seventy percent already."

"And he'll completely fall for you one hundred percent during Christmas. Trust me, I know Jongwoon hyung, perhaps better than himself."

"I hope your prediction is right then, because I plan to take you three to meet my family during New Years."

 

Kyuhyun happily said to the kids. At the same time, he hoped that Christmas would come sooner.

 

************************************

 

December 24

 

 

Jongwoon almost had a heart attack when he saw Kyuhyun standing in front of the door of his apartment with huge luggage. It was just seven in the morning, he didn't expect Kyuhyun to show up this early! He welcomed the other man into his room and explained that he hadn't prepared breakfast yet. Dragging the luggage with him, Kyuhyun nodded and told him to take his time. Turned out Kyuhyun brought a PS4 with him and began to play games with Donghae and Hyukjae while he prepared their meals. He couldn't help but smile at the scene. However, after he had too much fun watching them playing together and almost burnt their breakfast, Jongwoon grumpily turned his attention back to the cooking.

.

.

.

.

They spent a leisure day together. After the breakfast, Jongwoon joined the three of them and played games after games, some time as a team, some time against each other. When they began to get bored, they changed to play board games or card games instead. Turned out Kyuhyun's huge luggage carried all sorts of entertainment stuff for a party. He even brought a laptop with him which was used to binge movies and cartoons after they had lunch. They were lost in the movie and before long, the sun began to set.

 

"Jongwoon hyung! It's time to take that out! Right!? Right!?" Hyukjae jumped up and down excitedly.

"What's that that you talked about?" Kyuhyun asked.

"It's a Christmas tree that we made while we were in the orphanage," Donghae replied with a big smile.

 

It was a rectangular wooden plank with a poorly drawn Christmas tree on it, probably with an oil paint. Although the wood plank itself was quite old, the painting looked surprisingly new. Jongwoon carefully placed it on the coffee table while the kids running off to get something from the wardrobe. Donghae came back with four paintbrushes while Hyukjae placed small oil paint tubes on the floor. Seeing Kyuhyun's confused look, Jongwoon smiled and happily explained.

 

"When we were in the orphanage, we couldn't afford a real Christmas tree for obvious reasons. So, we decided to just draw and paint one up instead. It becomes our tradition now, repainting our Christmas tree before using it. Care to join us?"

"Of course!"

 

Kyuhyun took the paintbrush from Donghae and began to repaint it along with Jongwoon and his brothers.

.

.

.

Halfway through it, Donghae got bored and decided to paint Hyukjae's face instead, causing the boy to get angry. Hyukjae quickly got revenge and shoved the dirty paintbrush in his hand on Donghae's cheek. Soon the fight escalated. Kyuhyun who didn't listen to Jongwoon's warning and tried to stop the kids got dragged into it. Now, both of his cheeks were dirty with oil paint. That was when Jongwoon put an end to the silly fight and had the kids clean the tools and the room as a punishment, while he helped to wipe the paints off Kyuhyun's face.

 

"You should listen to me! See, now your face is even more colorful than the Christmas tree!"

"Sorry for trying to be a good older brother then."

 

Kyuhyun pouted which made Jongwoon giggle even louder. He smiled cheekily as he used a damp cloth to gently wipe Kyuhyun's face. Kyuhyun seemed to get annoyed for a split second but soon smirked deviously. He placed his hand over Jongwoon's smaller hand that was resting on his cheek and intentionally leaned his face closer. His eyes literally shone up when he saw the shorter man's cheek slowly turning red.

 

"What's wrong Jongwoon? Cat got your tongue?"

"K-Kyuhyun, you don't have to lean in this much!"

"Hmm? But if I don't do this, how can you properly wipe my face? Oh, I know!"

 

Kyuhyun grabbed Jongwoon's other hand, the one holding the damp cloth, and began to wipe his face himself. Jongwoon made a weird squeaky noise before forcefully pulling his hands off. With a bright red face, he threw the cloth at Kyuhyun and told the man to do it himself. He made an excuse of having to prepare dinner and went to the kitchen section. While Jongwoon might turn his back at Kyuhyun, he didn't know that the other man still saw his red ears from where he sat. Donghae and Hyukjae who just finished washing the paintbrushes came just in time to see Kyuhyun grinning at their brother who refused to look at them, his ears still as red as a tomato.

 

"I say it's about eighty percent now. What do you think?" Hyukjae whispered to Donghae.

"Sounds about right," Donghae nodded.

 

***************************

 

The dinner went on without any hitch, though Kyuhyun still occasionally teased Jongwoon from time to time. When they finish dinner, the paint was already dry too. Donghae and Hyukjae got the honor to set up the Christmas tree, by leaning it against a wall under the window. After that, Jongwoon and Kyuhyun each took out two present boxes and placed them by the plank board. Donghae and Hyukjae both looked like December 25 couldn't come soon enough as their hands kept reaching to the presents but pulled back in the last second every time. To distract the kids from the colorful wrapped boxes, Kyuhyun and Jongwoon had them play games with them. It worked wonderfully, soon the four of them were too engrossed in the games to pay attention to the presents. Before long, it was already 11 p.m.

 

"Jongwoon, is it alright if I take you and your brothers to somewhere? I have a surprise for you guys."

"What surprise? Besides, it's quite late now, I don't want Hae-ah and Hyuk-ah to stay up late."

"Oh, come on Jongwoon hyung! It's Christmas!"

"Yes! It's not like we have school or you have  classes tomorrow!"

"Sigh, fine, where are we going?"

"If I tell you then it won't be a surprise, right? But it does take some time driving there, so you guys better dressed up."

"It's that far, huh? In that case, Hae-ah, Hyuk-ah, go open my presents for you, you'll need it."

 

The kids happily skipped to the Christmas tree. Donghae picked up a black box while Hyukjae picked up a blue box. They carefully opened the wrapper to keep it for the next year and opened the brown boxes. Taking the presents out, the kids smiled brightly as they found out what it was, a knitted scarf and gloves with color the same as their wrapper. Donghae and Hyukjae beamed and quickly put their gifts on while thanking their brothers. They also wanted to unwrap Kyuhyun's presents but he stopped them with a fond smile. He told them that they should open it in the morning because they didn't have enough time now. Donghae and Hyukjae pouted but obediently let Jongwoon put on a sweater and a jacket for them. The three of them then followed after Kyuhyun to his car, not knowing what lay ahead of them.

 

******************************************

 

At first, Donghae and Hyukjae were very hyper. Sitting at the back seat, they excitedly looked out of the window and chatted non-stop. However, they soon lost all energy and fell asleep leaning against each other. Even Jongwoon couldn't hold it and fell asleep too. The person who had the hardest time was Kyuhyun. He really wanted to take a photo of them cutely sleeping, especially Jongwoon. Sadly, he had to drive the car so he could only occasionally glance at them through a rear mirror. That was why he didn't immediately wake them up when they reached the destination. Instead, he took out his phone and took photos of them until he was satisfied and woke them up. The three of them slowly woke up with a tired yawn, especially the two kids. It took Jongwoon a while to get them out of the comfortable back seat to a freezing cold night outside. White snow was falling down from the starry sky. They stood in front of a tall gate, probably an entrance leading into something. The lights were off so they couldn't see where they were. While Donghae and Hyukjae looked around curiously, Kyuhyun looked down at his wristwatch and spoke up.

 

"Three minutes before the appointed time? Not bad,"

"Kyuhyun, where are we? Why do you have to make it so mysterious?"

"Patient, Jongwoon,"

.

.

.

"Is it midnight now?"

"One minute left, seriously Kyuhyun, what is your surprise?"

 

Kyuhyun didn't answer him. Instead, he turned to Donghae and Hyukjae and smiled.

 

"Shall we countdown to midnight together?"

""YES!""

"Alright, now! 10..."

""9!""

"8,"

""7!"

"6,"

""5, 4, 3, 2, 1!""

 

The lights suddenly . Jongwoon, Donghae, and Hyukjae had to shield their eyes for sudden blindness for a second. When their eyes had already adjusted to the brightness, the scene before their eyes made their jaws drop.

.

.

.

An amusement park.

 

It was a giant amusement park. From where they stood, they could see many rides lightened up with red and green decoration lights to match the festive atmosphere of Christmas. A joyful song could be heard from a distance, along with a sound of attractions whirring into life. If it wasn't for the coldness biting their faces, they would have thought that they were dreaming. While Jongwoon and the kids stood there stunned, the gate was opened. They could see a reindeer mascot suit and two female staff headed toward them. Kyuhyun turned to smile at Jongwoon and his brothers.

 

"Merry Christmas! Do you like my present?"

"Like? No! We LOVE it! Kyuhyun hyung, you're the best!"

 

Hyukjae shouted excitedly and hugged the life out of Kyuhyun, following closely by Donghae. After the kids thanked Kyuhyun for the umpteenth times, they let go of him and squealed in joy as they ran off to hug the reindeer. It was only then that Jongwoon's shock subsided. He looked like he was a bit upset as he spoke up to Kyuhyun.

 

"What the hell Kyuhyun! I know you like to overdo things but this! This is another level of an exaggeration! Most importantly, you've already given Donghae and Hyukjae a gift, so you don't have to do any of this at all!"

"But this isn't their presents, it's yours, Jongwoon,"

"What? How is this my present?"

"Easy, Donghae and Hyukjae's happiness is your happiness, right? That's why I said this is your present."

 

Jongwoon was speechless. On one hand, he extremely disagreed with Kyuhyun throwing money around for them. On the other hand, he was extremely touched by Kyuhyun's consideration. True to the other man's word, seeing Donghae and Hyukjae growing up healthy and happy was what he wanted the most. So far, Kyuhyun was the only one who caught on his true desire and seriously prepared a present based on it. Beyond the fact that Kyuhyun probably spent a lot of money on this present, Jongwoon was more impressed with the fact that Kyuhyun cared about him so much to come up with this present...

 

 

*Thump thump*

 

"K-Kyuhyun! Turn around! Now!"

"What? Why?"

"Just do as I say!"

"Alright, alright,"

 

Seeing that Kyuhyun had turned his back at him, Jongwoon slowly raised his head up. He didn't see it, but he could feel that his entire face was slowly getting hot. His heart also seemed to beat faster and faster within his chest. He placed his hands on his chest trying to calm his heartbeat down, but it only got faster. A sudden surge of ecstasy crashed against him and drowned him in the sea of joy. The corners of his lips slowly rose up despite he didn't mean to. This weird feeling spiraled within him and made him want to smile and cry at the same time. This weird feeling... It was probably a 'love'.

 

Even though Jongwoon didn't want to, he couldn't deny it anymore.

 

He loved Kyuhyun.

.

.

.

.

"Jongwoon? Can I turn back no-"

 

Kyuhyun was startled when something suddenly bumped at his back. He quickly relaxed when he realized it was Jongwoon who hugged him. The shorter man placed his forehead on his shoulder, his thin arms hugging his waist tightly. Kyuhyun was so happy that he could sing jingle bells song all night long. Finally! Jongwoon finally realized and admitted that he loved Kyuhyun! Though Jongwoon didn't outright confess to him, to Kyuhyun, Jongwoon taking an initiation to show his feeling was enough to make him cry tears of joy. Placing his hands over Jongwoon's smaller ones on his waist, Kyuhyun couldn't help but fondly tease the other man.

 

"Is something wrong Jongwoon? I'm worried about you so let me turn around!"

"N-No! You absolutely can't do that!"

"What? Is there something you don't want me to see? Then I must see it! I'm gonna turn around now!"

"Kyuhyun! No!"

 

Kyuhyun smirked deviously when everything went as his plan. He turned around despite Jongwoon's protest. To prevent his blushing face from being seen, Jongwoon had to hide his face somewhere, and the closest place Jongwoon could do that was none other than Kyuhyun's chest so he quickly hid his face there. Kyuhyun's face brightened up as he hugged the shorter man tighter, one hand rubbing Jongwoon's back while the other one holding on his thin waist protectively. He was in glee when Jongwoon, rather than pushing him away as usual, calmly stayed in his embrace and even snuggled closer to his chest. From their closeness Kyuhyun could feel Jongwoon's heart jumping up against his own, dancing to the same rhythm together. It was the best feeling Kyuhyun had ever felt in his life, and he wished for the time to just stop here forever.

.

.

.

.

After a very long while, Jongwoon was the one who pulled away from the warm embrace first. His face no longer felt hot, but he bet his cheeks were still slightly red (which was probably correct judging from Kyuhyun's bright smile). Having embarrassing himself enough for the night, Jongwoon faked a cough and tried to explain his behavior just now.

 

"I was feeling very grateful for your kindness so I unconsciously hugged you. I swear there's no ulterior motive or whatever."

"I see, no ulterior motive then?"

 

Yeah, no ulterior motive. Try saying that without a red tomato face first and I might believe you.

 

Kyuhyun chuckled to himself. He decided to have mercy on Jongwoon for now, since he looked like he couldn't handle any more teasing. Instead, he extended his hand to Jongwoon and smiled.

 

"Shall we go and enjoy the magic night together?"

 

Jongwoon hesitated for a second, but soon nodded shyly and placed his hand on Kyuhyun's warm hand. They tightened their hands, looked at each other and smiled.

.

.

.

.

"Ah, young people's love," Donghae said and nodded sagely as he watched Jongwoon and Kyuhyun walking hand in hand toward them.

"Our Jongwoon hyung finally grows up to be a fine dashing young man with a wonderful boyfriend. I'm so proud of him," Hyukjae sniveled (fake) and brushed tears of happiness off his eyes (fake).

 

 

 

The two female staff and the person inside the reindeer mascot suit couldn't help but secretly laugh at the two kids' uncharacteristically mature speech and manner.