Christmas Carols

The two music teachers were seated in the music room together, going through different Christmas carols for the children to sing at the Christmas play that year. It was scheduled for the last day of school before winter break and they were trying to find songs that weren’t overplayed but still enjoyable. The grade level was for the fourth and fifth graders so the children were older than the last Christmas play they had. Which consisted of kindergarteners. And while it did fail horribly, the children were cute enough to send the audience of parents and guardians into such a laughing fit that everyone left there feeling oddly satisfied.

Junmyeon still cracks up at it when he looks back on that performance. Yifan was a bit embarrassed but he did crack a grin especially as one kid kept singing everything off-key and then another one seemed to be fumbling over the words. (Although the way that Yifan remembers it, he couldn’t stop his grin at seeing the way that Junmyeon was killing over with laughter. It wasn’t just the kids, it was Junmyeon’s laughter.)

That’s why the two were trying to figure out what kind of songs would be good for this year, because after murdering Rudolph The Red Nose Reindeer, they didn’t want to make another murder scene of another song.

“I’m not sure, Mr. Kim, the playlist is kind of limited for Christmas carols. There’s the religious carols, there’s the Santa carols, and then there’s the love carols,” Yifan stated, flipping through the music sheets, looking over the titles as he categorized them.

Junmyeon shrugged, picking up one stack that Yifan had laid out, (their fingers brushing against each other, Yifan tried not to squirm) skimming over the titles, “Any of those would be good, if we don’t include, at least, one of the religious carols then we’ll never hear the end of it from certain groups, and then it won’t be as Christmasy if there’s not one Santa carol.”

Yifan glanced at the other stack, “And the love ones?” (His voice didn’t crack, he was sure it didn’t.)

“As long as Baby, It’s Cold Outside isn’t one of them, Mr. Wu, then I’m fine,” Junmyeon threw the man a glance.

Just as Yifan flipped through to find that one particular song to discard it completely, the sudden lyric filled the room in the form of a loud but relatively nice sounding voice, “But baby, it’s cold outside…” In the doorway was Kim Jongdae, the art teacher, carrying a grin that seemed to widen upon noticing the scowl from Junmyeon’s directed at him.

“Shut up, Mr. Kim.”

Jongdae batted his eyelids, singing again, “But baby, it’s cold outside.”

“Is that the only line you know?” Yifan had to ask, to which Jongdae immediately deflated. (Seeing Junmyeon’s displeasure in that song had Yifan finding himself wanting to put a stop to Jongdae singing that song, if even it being just one line.)

“Hey, I’m not the one that’s the music teacher here, I don’t have to know all the lines.”

Junmyeon hummed, looking through the music sheets again, “Right, you’re not, so leave us be so we can figure this out and stop being a nuisance, Mr. Kim.”

Jongdae scoffed, “Just have the kids sing All I Want For Christmas Is You so you can finally proclaim your undying love for one another.” He left the room with that, seeing the way that Junmyeon’s eyes widened and Yifan’s cheeks tinted.

“Wha…?” Junmyeon stared after the man as he left before turning his gaze to the older man that was seated beside him at the desk. He noticed the way that Yifan’s cheeks were tinted and the man wouldn’t look him in the eye now. “What was he talking about?”

Yifan cleared his throat (but his voice was still shaky), “No idea,” he glanced at Junmyeon before sliding over a music sheet, “This… uh, how about this one?” His gaze quickly fell to the stack in his hand again, absentmindedly skimming over it.

“Yifan?” Junmyeon never called him by his first name, it was always a professional addressing by his surname. Mr. Wu. (Hearing his name from Junmyeon’s lips was enough to have him fumbling almost like the one kindergarten kid that was fumbling over his words the last Christmas play.)

“Yes, Mr. Kim?” His voice was still shaky but he managed to spare a little glance at the man.

Junmyeon stared at him, taking note of the behavior of Yifan’s, he had noticed little hints here and there but didn’t think anything of it. He figured that Yifan didn’t realize what music sheet he had handed the man, but it fit nicely along with what Jongdae had said. (Yifan heard the inhale from Junmyeon before his voice started out softly with a few lyrics, “Take back the holly and mistletoe, silver bells on strings…”

Yifan turned to Junmyeon again, eyes wide before realizing the man was singing from the music sheet that he’d handed the man. (He gulped hard.)

Junmyeon continued, “If I wrote a letter to Santa Claus, I would ask for just one thing… I don’t need sleigh rides in the snow, don’t want a Christmas that’s blue.” He allowed the grin to spread across his cheeks at the sight of Yifan’s cheeks tinting red. “Take back the tinsel, stockings, and bows, cause all I want for Christmas is you… I think you and Jongdae were right, I think this song will be my pick.”

“Ah,” Yifan hummed, “So All I Want For Christmas Is You, any other songs?” (He deflated at that, was Junmyeon only singing it to make his decision?)

Junmyeon glanced down at the music sheets, deciding to test the waters, “Hmm… do you want to discuss it more over dinner tonight?”

Yifan’s eyes widened at that, his head coming up to look at Junmyeon, “Wha…” the look in Junmyeon’s eyes, he found himself gulping again, “S-Sure. Dinner tonight… I’d love that.” Just as Junmyeon was about to smile at the acceptance, the voices outside the room had both their heads turning.

“Yo, Park, you owe me, Mr. Kim popped the question, not Mr. Wu, now pay up,” Jongdae’s voice shouted to which a deeper voice groaned loudly.