It was the last day before Christmas Eve, and amazingly enough; Jongin wasn’t freaked out or something. Because of Taemin he had actually started liking Christmas just a little again, but not for the same reasons as the rest of the household. He had also bought Christmas gifts for his family as well as a few of his friends.

One of the persons he had bought a present for was Chanyeol, and he had planned to give it to him today. Since it was the last day before Christmas Eve they had decided to go out to eat at a restaurant instead of their usual training they had on Sundays.

They were supposed to meet at the restaurant a few blocks down from the gym, and that was where Jongin was headed right now. It was a fancy restaurant, but it still had that cozy atmosphere like Nevermore.

When he entered the restaurant he was met by soft Christmas music in the background and red and green decoration around the room. Had he walked in there a few weeks earlier he would have his heel and walked straight out again, but today was different. He didn’t care about it anymore, and he actually felt a little at peace by the Christmas atmosphere there.

He let his gaze wander around the room in search of a tall, brown haired guy. It didn’t take long since said boy had noticed Jongin and was now waving at him. Jongin smiled as he walked over to the table Chanyeol had placed himself at.

He sat down in the chair across from Chanyeol, and put his bag on the seat beside him. The talking started right away, and soon they were caught up on the theme about Christmas.

“Talking about it, you’re not freaking out about this place,” Chanyeol pointed out, which earned a chuckle from Jongin.

“Yeah.”

“Finally rid of that grudge of yours, Mr. Scrooge?” Chanyeol asked playfully. Jongin had to laugh at that. He reminded himself a little about Ebenezer Scrooge, hating Christmas at first, but after some time his heart softened and he came to like Christmas.

“Guess so, and believe it or not,” Jongin said as he roamed around in his bag after something. “I have a Christmas present for you,” he said as he took the little present out of the bag and handed it to the brunette across the table. Chanyeol’s eyes went wide and looked at Jongin in disbelief and shock.

“Take it, and don’t look at me like that,” Jongin said and laid the present in front of Chanyeol. The latter shook his head and came back to the real world, not really believing his own two eyes.

"You gotta be kidding me! Jongin, the perfect description of Scrooge is buying gifts?" Chanyeol wasn't sure if this was dream or reality, but one thing he did know; this was surprising.

“No, this is all real,” Jongin said and looked at his friend in amusement. It was the most entertaining sight in the world right then. Chanyeol’s expression was priceless, he had never thought this about Jongin.

“Then I guess I have to say thanks then,” Chanyeol said dumbfounded. Jongin smiled, and for once he felt happy even if Christmas was right around the corner.

★

The two friends had finished their meal and was now on their way to a cafe for some dessert. Not that Chanyeol really needed anything sweet by how hyper he was from before. His personality just was like that - anywhere at any time. For Jongin that was some of the things that made him like Chanyeol.

They arrived to the cafe and went straight to the counter, almost drooling when they saw all the delicious ice cream behind the glas.

“I want a chocolate ice cream. A double one,” Chanyeol said excitedly to the lady standing behind the counter. She smiled kindly and made the tall boy what he asked for.

“What do you want Jongin?” he asked while the lady made the ice cream. Jongin blinked in surprise. “Come on. It’s Christmas and you gave me a present. The least I could do is pay the ice cream for you,” Chanyeol said brightly and waited patiently for Jongin’s order.

“Fine, I want chocolate and vanilla.”

The lady made Jongin’s ice cream too and they got the ice creams they had almost drooled on while watching.

The two boys walked out of the cafe with big, pleased smiles on their faces. They didn’t talk at all as they walked toward Jongin’s house, both completely lost in the ice cream. It wasn’t until they had almost reached the house that they were finished eating, and they started talking again.

“How come you like Christmas so suddenly, by the way?” Chanyeol asked when they had reached the steps in front of Jongin’s home. Jongin had to think about that one. Should he tell his friend about Taemin and everything they had done, or just come up with a lame excuse? Chanyeol would believe both anyway so there wasn’t really any need to tell the truth since that
would be lamer than the excuse.

“Received a revelation from God! Just kidding. I don’t know really. It kind of just happened,” he said jokingly since his mood was exceptionally good this evening. Chanyeol laughed heartily and shook his head at his weird friend.

“I have to go home now. See you later and Merry Christmas, Scrooge,” Chanyeol said playfully and walked down the path to the pavement.

“Merry Christmas to you too, Chanyeol,” Jongin said and walked in. What met him there was the sight of newly washed floors, and the smell of his mother’s delicious pastries. He was fast with taking off his jacket and shoes and went straight to the kitchen where he saw the cookies standing on the bench, cooling down so they could be eaten.

He smiled to himself and went into the living room where the rest of his family was seated. Or more correctly; his parents were sitting on the couch, watching Sun Hee decorate the big tree with beautiful balls and cute little santas.

“Want some help Sun Hee?” Jongin asked as he walked up to her. The little girl just looked at him in surprise. She knew that Jongin didn’t like Christmas and had never wanted to help her decorating the tree, so him asking her if she needed help was like snowing when the temperature was thirty degrees celsius.

Her surprised expression lasted only for a few seconds though and she was soon smiling brightly.

“Yes! Help me put this up there,” she said as she gave Jongin a red balls and pointed to the top of the tree (or almost the top though, since the star was on the top). Jongin did as told and hung the ball on one of the top branches.

Sun Hee gave him more balls that he had to hang up where his sister didn’t reach and she herself decorated what was left of the bottom. And Jongin had to admit that it was kind of fun; helping his little sister and seeing his parents’ happy smiles.

When the tree was finished Sun Hee went to bed. She was tired after running around like the kid she was and hanging up all the stuff on the tree. Jongin gave her a goodnight hug too, which happened very seldom.

Jongin settled down in the living room with his parents, everyone admiring the tree that stood before them, shining bright and with all kind of decoration hanging on the branches.

“You have been in an unusually good mood the last few days, Jongin. Something good happened?” Yoona asked after a few minutes of silence. Jongin turned to her and gave her a small smile.

“Kind of,” he answered simply, not giving away any clues of what had changed his mood. His mother didn’t seem to nag more about it either, which Jongin appreciated a lot. He would never admit that what had changed his mood was an innocent-looking, blond boy who had in the beginning just helped him with his article, had showed him another side of Christmas which made him actually like it. His parents would go “what did we say” and stuff like that.
And as he did not want that right now - he held his mouth shut and just enjoyed the revelation all by himself.

And for the first time in years he was actually looking forward to Christmas Eve.

 

★