Part 7: Christmas Morning

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It's Christmas morning, and the whole house is silent except for the soft padding of little feet tiptoeing toward the parents' bedroom. They stop right in front of the door, and Baekhyun squats down to be on Yukhei's level, but his little brother immediately imitates him and curls up on the floor. They're holding hands, and Yukhei is squeezing his stuffed fox against his chest, a pacifier in his mouth, watching as Baekhyun stares down at his Nemo watch. Baekhyun inhales loudly through his nose as the hands move, and Yukhei tries to do the same, fails, drops his pacifier on the ground, lets go of his brother's hand, puts his pacifier back in his mouth, and then stares at the door.

"It's time!" Baekhyun squeals as the hands finally show 7 am precisely.

"Time!" Yukhei shouts.

They both get up, and Baekhyun quickly opens the door for them to burst into the room giggling. Baekhyun throws himself onto the bed, landing on Taemin who groans and turns around, while Yukhei approaches the other side of the bed and desperately tries to climb up with little whines.

"Papa! Papa! Papa!"

Jongin yawns, grumbles, and then picks up his younger son to drag him under the blankets, making Yukhei squeak.

"It's Christmas!" Baekhyun screams as he rolls over both his parents and earns himself grumbled complaints. "Christmas! We're getting presents! Merry Christmas!"

Jongin is busy cuddling Yukhei and trying to get his son back to sleep, so Taemin grabs Baekhyun and pushes him against the pillows to shut him up, but it only results in making him laugh.

"Quiet, munchkin!" Taemin groans.

"But Dad, you said we could come at 7 am, and it's 7 am! We should get up and open presents! And I want hot chocolate!"

"Cookie," Yukhei chirps awkwardly around his pacifier.

"Five more minutes," Jongin pouts.

"But Papa," Baekhyun whines.

"Papa!" Yukhei whines in turn and wiggles around to pull his father's hair.

Jongin doesn't even bulge, far too used to this kind of mistreatment. Taemin finally sits up, his hair sticking to his forehead, and stares at his two kids who look back at him with wide, round, owlish eyes.

"What about Christmas cuddles?" Taemin croaks.

Baekhyun immediately grins and wriggles out of the blankets to reach his father and wrap himself around him. Taemin relaxes and laughs softly, his arms closing around his child as he kisses the top of Baekhyun's head repeatedly.

"That's far better."

"But the presents, though..." Baekhyun says softly.

"Cookie," Yukhei says as he climbs on top of Jongin and walks all over him.

"Fine," Jongin sighs. "Fine, I'll get up."

It takes a few more minutes to get Jongin sitting in bed, during which time Baekhyun and Yukhei keep trying to drag their parents out of their room, and Taemin is being a lot more cooperative. It's only when Baekhyun suddenly freezes at the edge of the bed that Jongin completely wakes up.

"Papa!" Baekhyun yells. "Santa Claus! Santa Claus came! The trap!"

And without waiting for anyone anymore, Baekhyun bolts out of the room and hurtles down the stairs at lightspeed. Jongin immediately flings himself after him, leaving Taemin and Yukhei behind. He really hopes his whole plan and Chanyeol's idea worked out and that Baekhyun will believe everything his little camera caught.

Taemin snorts and turns to Yukhei who looks as surprised as him with this whole turn of events.

"Those two, really..." Taemin sighs.

"Dada, cookie please."

Taemin smiles softly and picks up his son to take him downstairs, not forgetting to grab the stuffed fox that fell to the ground earlier during Yukhei's fight to wake Jongin up.

They go down the stairs to find Baekhyun curled up on Jongin's lap on the couch, both staring at the camera, completely disregarding the presents under the tree. Taemin sits next to them with Yukhei and peeks at the little screen showing Santa come down the chimney and chug down the glass of milk before eating the cookies they left by the tree.

Jongin watches with wide eyes as Taeyeon stood back up and stretched in their living room, imitated a perfect Santa's "Ho Ho Ho," and started to empty her sack of presents under their tree. Jongin looks at Baekhyun in apprehension only to find his son with wide, enchanted eyes and a large grin on his face.

"It's him!" Baekhyun whispers in awe. "It's him! He's real!"

Yukhei leans on his brother to watch as well and starts clapping.

"Santa! Santa Clau'!"

"Yes, it's him," Jongin giggles.

Baekhyun looks so happy and proud to have caught Santa Claus on tape that his eyes are shining and all the lights in the house start twinkling. And Jongin reminds himself to thank Taeyeon profusely and find her the best Christmas present ever. He'll also find something incredible for Chanyeol, to thank him for even thinking about asking their shapeshifter friend and convincing her to turn into a large, jolly man and be filmed.

Then Yukhei starts asking for cookies again and begins getting pouty about it, so Jongin gets up to prepare a quick breakfast to bring back as they all sit under the Christmas tree and start opening their presents.

Baekhyun goes first because Yukhei is far too busy drooling on his cookies to pay attention to presents and toys. Baekhyun starts picking out gifts, reading who they're for, and handing them out to his fathers, his brother, or piling them into a neat stack when they're his. He's extremely excited when he notices that his pile is getting taller than Yukhei. As soon as he’s done sorting all the presents out, he starts opening everything in his pile at once. He gets a couple of books, a pullover, a board game about penguins, a set to try out some scientific experiments, and each toy and present gets him giddy with happiness. Then he goes to help Yukhei open his own things and marvel with his younger brother at the books, modeling clay, fox hat, wooden blocks, and puzzle that he got. They both roll around on the floor in their pajamas, cookies and hot chocolate forgotten, and then they immediately open Yukhei's puzzle and decide to try it out together.

On the couch, Jongin is snuggling up to Taemin, his face hidden in his husband's neck as he fights sleepiness.

"Jonginnie, I want to open my presents," Taemin says softly as he Jongin's hair.

Jongin hums but doesn't move.

"You gotta let me reach them," Taemin insists.

"Five more minutes," Jongin whines as he squirms to hug Taemin more comfortably.

Taemin giggles and cups Jongin's face to force him into a kiss. Jongin sighs against his lips and smiles sleepily.

"I love you," Jongin whispers.

"I love you too, you sleepy bear."

Jongin grins and finally straightens up enough for Taemin to grab the presents Baekhyun put into a little pile in front of him.

He finds a new oversized baby blue sweater, earrings, and a book, and he laughs as he presses a myriad of kisses all over Jongin's face and whispers how perfect his presents are.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Jongin beams, a faint blush covering his cheeks.

"Are you happy?"

"I'm the happiest."

Jongin gives him a proud smile, and Taemin presses him to open his presents. There are a few presents all wrapped up together that Baekhyun mistook for being all Jongin's, but once Jongin unties the ribbon holding them together, he finds four little gifts, one for each member of their family. Baekhyun and Yukhei forget about their puzzle, far too excited to find out they have one more thing to open. They all find the same reindeer onesie in different sizes, and Jongin can't stop laughing. He's pretty sure they came from Chanyeol.

They all change into their new pajamas, and the kids go back to playing while Taemin sips on his coffee, lovingly watching over Jongin as he opens up a new bear mug, a fancy black coat, and a silver ring.

"Please, don't lose it," Taemin simpers as he kisses Jongin's cheek.

"I won't! I promise I won't," Jongin whispers in awe. "Thank you, Taeminnie."

Baekhyun and Yukhei hop back to their fathers to see what presents Santa Claus brought them. Yukhei climbs up Taemin's leg and makes his way to sit between his fathers before he asks for one more cookie while Baekhyun is waltzing around, showing off his brand-new green pullover.

A few energetic knocks on the door startle them all, and Baekhyun immediately runs to open the door to a disheveled Junmyeon.

"Hey there Baekhyunnie, can I come in?"

Baekhyun nods and trots back to the living room a little surprised.

"It's uncle Junmyeon," he says loudly as Junmyeon appears behind him, short of breath.

Jongin immediately frowns and straightens up, and he can feel Taemin freeze next to him.

"Is everything alright?" Jongin asks worriedly, already pushing Yukhei into Taemin's arms to get up.

Junmyeon leans against the door frame and seems to finally notice the confusion and concern he put the whole family in. Baekhyun is looking up to him with pleading eyes.

"Papa has to go?"

Junmyeon blinks a couple of times and then flails his arms around in slight panic.

"What? Oh no, no! I'm sorry! I came because I finally figured it out!" Junmyeon laboriously breathes out. "I got it! Yukhei's powers!"

The whole Lee family looks at him in disbelief, and the room is quiet for a couple of seconds before Baekhyun blurts out.

"So, what is it?"

Junmyeon jumps and smiles.

"Gravity!" he screams, throwing his fist in the air. "Yukhei controls gravity! Elementary, actually! I can't believe I didn't figure it out sooner. He can control the force of gravity for himself and anything or anyone he touches!"

Taemin's jaw falls open, and Jongin looks back and forth between his coworker, who looks like he just discovered the most obscure secret he’s ever had to face, and his son, who is playing with his own toes.

"Really?" Baekhyun asks. "That's so awesome!"

Taemin asks for more explanations, and Jongin asks Junmyeon to stay for a coffee, maybe a cookie. Junmyeon agrees, mumbling that he can’t stay too long because Sehun is waiting for him, but he still sits with them and explains all of his theories and discoveries with words easy enough for Baekhyun to understand.

Junmyeon ends up staying a little over an hour, only realizing how long he has been there when Baekhyun suddenly points out that it's snowing outside. At some point, Baekhyun grew tired of all the explanations and decided to go back to doing puzzles with Yukhei.

Jongin and Taemin send Junmyeon off with a lot of thanks and praises, and when they find themselves alone in the hall, Taemin seeks the warmth of Jongin's arms around him.

"I feel like we're in for quite a ride."

Jongin laughs softly, a little awkwardly.

"I think so too. It's going to be a lot more difficult than keeping Baekhyun's powers under control."

Taemin sighs and snuggles closer to him. His voice comes faint and muffled.

"We can do it, right?"

"You and me? Of course, we can."

Taemin smiles fondly against Jongin's neck and moves enough to look up to him.

"I love you so much, Lee Jongin," Taemin whispers.

Jongin presses a kiss to Taemin's nose, and he doesn't need to say anything for Taemin to read in his eyes how much he loves him back.

"I don't know what I'd do without you," Taemin says softly.

"Let's not find out," Jongin pouts.

"Let's not," Taemin answers with a giggle.

They hear a few bursts of laughter coming from the living room, and they go back to find Yukhei and Baekhyun playing with Yukhei's modeling clay and trying to build bears. Jongin and Taemin steal a glance at each other, smile, and immediately run to kneel with their kids and help them out.

"Merry Christmas!" Baekhyun yells, throwing his arms in the air as he looks happily around the coffee table at everyone.

"Merry Chri'mas!" Yukhei squeals in turn.

"Merry Christmas!"

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♥

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you like this little collection.