pairing: chenlay.
word count: 2700.
rating: pg.
genre: romance, fluff, gross cutesy stuff.
summary: yixing just wants to get jongdae the perfect gift.
 

It's Christmas. The most wonderful time of the year, they call it. Right now, however, Yixing mostly just feels bitter resentment roaring in his mind. The temperature is at a record low for the year, yet he's standing in the middle of the street with his beloved guitar, playing for the small amount of shoppers who are actually around on a cold winter day such as this one. A jar is placed in front of him to urge said shoppers to spare him a little cash. So far, he hasn't been very successful, and the day is swiftly approaching its inevitable end.

Yixing's hands are numb with cold despite the cup of coffee he purchased to keep his fingers from freezing up. He had managed to scrape enough money out of the bottom of his wallet to get himself half a cup, and he had earned the other half with a song and a flash of his smile. “What is a handsome young man like yourself doing here on a day like this?” the nice lady behind the counter had asked as she filled Yixing's styrofoam cup with steaming hot coffee. “You shouldn't be here, you should be at home with your girlfriend right now.” And Yixing hadn't replied. He had just smiled politely at her and wished her a Merry Christmas before he grabbed his coffee and left.

It's Christmas, and Yixing doesn't have a girlfriend to spend it with. Because he has a boyfriend. One he cares about a lot. Actually, that's kind of the reason why Yixing is out here in the first place. With lousy jobs and two disapproving families, he and Jongdae don't exactly have a lot to their names. Their apartment has walls so thin they can practically hear their neighbors breathe, it can get almost unbearably cold during winter time when the heater doesn't work (which is more often than not), and sometimes their hot water cuts out without warning, but they have each other, and that's all that really matters to them.

Still, even though they love each other more than anything, that won't exactly get Yixing any closer to buying the gift he wants for Jongdae. He has the perfect item in mind: a beautiful silver chain to go with Jongdae's favorite pendant, the one his vocal teacher gave to him because he liked him so much. Ever since Yixing saw the chain on display in the window, he has purposely walked by that same store every day to make sure they haven't sold it, and he's been saving up for months, putting away every little coin he could possibly spare from his already tight budget. It's still not enough, and that's why he's here.

As the day grows darker and the multicolored string lights extended between the street lamps turn on, there are less and less people walking about. Almost everyone seems to have already gone home to spend time with their loved ones, eating good food, playing games, exchanging presents, and the entire area surrounding Yixing is practically deserted at this point. It's becoming evident to him that the chances of him earning more money than he has at the moment are very slim.

So he finishes his last song and lets the notes ring out into the snowy streets, then slings his guitar over his shoulder, leaving it hanging in the strap as he bends down to count the money in his jar. “Damnit,” he mutters to himself. He didn't make a lot, nowhere near as much as he had hoped to make, and he's not sure if it's enough to get him what he wants. He pockets the notes nonetheless and blows hot air into his icy hands in an attempt to warm them up, pulls his coat tighter around himself. It's getting even colder now. He's going to have to get going if he wants to make it to the store before it closes up early for the night.

He gets there just in time. The cashier appears to be counting the money in the cash register when Yixing steps through the door, and though he looks a little bothered to be interrupted, he forces a polite smile onto his face. “What can I help you with today, sir?”

“How much is that silver chain in the window?” Yixing asks. He had checked before walking into the store. It's still there, shiny and beautiful and perfect. He can already imagine what it's going to look like hanging around Jongdae's neck, and the thought of it has him smiling to himself. Jongdae is going to love it. He's going to be so happy.

“I believe it's ninety thousand won,” the guy replies. Yixing's smile fades into disappointment. Ninety thousand. That is far more than he's capable of paying. The guy notices Yixing's crestfallen expression, and he seems to take pity on him as he says: “But, since it's Christmas, I'll bump it down to seventy-five thousand, just for you.”

“Seventy-five thousand,” Yixing repeats under his breath. He pulls out his bag to count the money he has collected, but he still comes up short. He frowns. “I hate to ask this, but is there really no way you can knock a little more off the price?”

The guy gives him a onceover and shrugs. “Sorry, kid, I have to make money too. Unless you have something to trade with, I can't sell you the chain.”

“Oh. I see.” Yixing hangs his head. “I'm sorry, for bothering you, then. I'll... leave.” This isn't turning out according to plan. He was supposed to buy the gift and surprise Jongdae with it, and Jongdae would open it and maybe cry happy tears, and Yixing would put it on him and then they would kiss and spend the rest of the night in each other's arms and be happy and cozy and in love. This is not what Yixing had in mind.

“Merry Christmas,” the guy calls after Yixing as he approaches the exit, but Yixing doesn't reply. His feet feel heavy and his guitar bumps against his back with each step he takes, and...

Yixing pauses in his tracks, struck by sudden realization. Yes. That's it. He knows what he has to do. “Wait a minute,” he says. He turns around on his heel and walks back to the counter, and the guy looks intrigued when Yixing says: “I do have something to trade.”

The entire apartment smells like food when Yixing steps through the front door, and his stomach rumbles in what feels like some sort of eager greeting. In here, he's finally able to shake off the last lingering dregs of cold he dragged with him inside because the place is warm, for once. Maybe the landlord managed to fix the heating in the building.

Jongdae steps out from the kitchen, and the sight of Yixing has him smiling his pretty, wide smile. “Oh, you're home.” Yixing can't help but smile as well. Jongdae is wearing an apron, red with a huge picture of Santa on the front, over a thick sweater with a Christmassy pattern, and he looks really damn adorable, even more so as he pouts a bit. “Where have you been? I thought you said the store let you off at noon today.”

“I had to run some errands afterwards,” Yixing says. His secretive grin makes Jongdae squint suspiciously, but Yixing ignores that and goes right back to attempting to pry his shoes off his halfway frozen feet.

As soon as Yixing has rid himself of his coat and scarf, he walks across the room to cup Jongdae's face with both of his hands and lean in for a kiss. The moment they make contact, however, Jongdae hisses, and Yixing immediately motions to pulls away from him, but before he can get too far, Jongdae grabs on to him and cradles his fingers between both of his own hands. “My God, you're like a walking icicle or something,” he says incredulously. “What have you been up to?”

“You'll see later,” Yixing promises. He doesn't want to spoil the surprise. He pulls out of Jongdae's hold and places his hands on Jongdae's waist instead where several layers of fabric will keep Jongdae protected from his cold touch. This time Jongdae doesn't react in a negative way when Yixing kisses him.

“Well, whatever it was, you could've at least put on some gloves while you were outside, haven't I told you to–?” Yixing presses their lips together again to quiet Jongdae. It's very effective, but it also earns him an angry glower. “Okay, I get it. Secrets, secrets.”

“Yup!” Yixing says brightly, poking Jongdae's nose. Jongdae rolls his eyes good-naturedly and goes back to the kitchen to finish preparing their dinner. Yixing follows him like a puppy and clings to Jongdae's back as he works, burrows his face into the crook of Jongdae's neck. The butterflies in Yixing's stomach are fluttering again. He's missed this. He's missed Jongdae. “Smells good.”

“Are you talking about me or the food?”

Yixing inhales. “Probably a bit of both,” he admits. Jongdae smells like home.

“You big cheeseball.” Despite Yixing's vocal protests, Jongdae pushes him off of himself, and he smacks him with the wooden spoon he's holding. “Make yourself useful and go set the table.”

“Yes sir,” Yixing says while doing a salute. Jongdae smacks him again.

Dinner is great. It's been a while since they've had the chance to have a nice meal together, and they rarely get to eat as fancy as this either, but they've been saving up with the intent of having the perfect Christmas dinner. They've even lit candles for the occasion, two of them standing between Yixing and Jongdae on their tiny kitchen table, and Yixing praises Jongdae's cooking to the skies like he always does and finds enjoyment in the fact that he can still manage to make Jongdae blush even after all these years of being together.

Once they're finished eating, they both help clean up to get it done faster, and then Yixing plans to take Jongdae to the living room so he can give him his present. Jongdae beats him to it, though, pulling him over to sit on the couch. “I know we said no presents this year, but I kind of got you something anyway.” He leaves the room before Yixing has the chance to say anything in the matter. Sadly, the first thought that comes into Yixing's mind is whether they can actually afford that, but he pushes it away. It's Christmas. It's supposed to be a joyous time, so he's going to be happy. He'll worry about it if it becomes a problem later.

Jongdae comes back eventually, now with a box so big he can barely carry it on his own. He sets it down in front of Yixing, who's gaping. “Oh wow,” he says. “You... you didn't have to.”

“I wanted to, though,” Jongdae mutters. “I want to show you... you know... how much I appreciate you and... stuff.” He still has trouble saying mushy things, and Yixing knows this, so before he does anything else, he makes sure to tug Jongdae down for a kiss. “Go ahead, open it.” He doesn't have to say that twice.

Yixing feels like a little kid as he tears excitedly at the wrapping paper. “When did you even get this? I'm pretty sure I would've noticed a box like this standing around.”

“I got it today while you were out,” Jongdae says. He's sitting next to Yixing, now, watching him with a smile. He seems excited as well.

Finally, Yixing gets all the paper peeled off, and once he opens the box and takes a look at the contents, he feels his heart drop. Because inside of it is a guitar case. It's made of light, smooth wood, decorated with swirling patterns carved into the surface, and it's stunning. “Wow.”

“I knew from the moment I saw it that I had to have it. I knew I had to give it to you.”

“I...” Yixing swallows thickly around the lump in his throat. “It's... it's beautiful, Jongdae.”

Jongdae smiles. “I knew you'd love it,” he says, and his joy just makes Yixing feel even worse. “Why don't you go get your guitar and see how they look together?”

“O-oh, I'll do that later, haha.” He's trying to sound as casual as possible, but his voice is tense, and he knows for a fact that Jongdae is good at picking up on stuff like that so he has to move fast. “But first, I have a confession to make.” He reaches into his bag, which he conveniently placed right next to the couch earlier (he's been planning this whole thing for months), and he pulls out the oblong case stored at the bottom of it. It's just a plain, black box as he didn't have time to wrap it, but he's sure Jongdae will be happy nonetheless. “I kind of got you something as well.”

“Is that what you were doing when you were out earlier?” Jongdae asks accusingly. “You sneaky bastard.” Yixing just grins and watches with baited breath as Jongdae opens the case.

The reaction Yixing gets is not at all what he had anticipated. He had expected Jongdae to be happy or touched or tearful or, ideally, a mix of all three, but what he sees on Jongdae's face is nothing but guilt and sadness and disappointment. “You... you don't like it?” Yixing is halfway panicking. He was sure Jongdae would love it, it's perfect. “It-it's for your pendant. You know, since the other chain broke and you were so upset and I... I really thought you'd be happy about this. I thought you'd like it.”

“I do,” Jongdae says quietly. He's looking down at the chain rather than at Yixing. “I do like it. I love it. But...” When he glances at Yixing, his eyebrows are creased in frustration. “I sold my pendant to buy you that guitar case.”

Yixing doesn't know whether to laugh or cry. He ends up doing the former, letting out a brief chuckle. “That's funny, because I sold my guitar to buy you that chain.”

“You did?” Jongdae sounds shocked. “But you love that guitar! Why would you do that?”

“Why did you sell your pendant?” Yixing shoots back.

“Because I love you and I want to make you happy,” Jongdae replies without missing a beat, and Yixing shrugs.

“Well, there you go.”

“Oh.” Jongdae goes quiet. He lowers his head again, chewing on his lip.

Yixing can't bear to see him upset. “Hey. Come here.” He pulls Jongdae closer and makes him straddle his lap, and he takes the chain out of Jongdae's hands. Jongdae sits there pliantly with his hands on Yixing's shoulders as Yixing puts the chain around his neck. He doesn't even laugh at Yixing when he fumbles with the lock, which is an improvement from the way Jongdae usually always laughs at Yixing's failure. “There!” he says triumphantly once he finally gets his fingers to cooperate. The silver is so pretty against Jongdae's pale skin. Yixing wants to kiss it. “It looks good even without a pendant.”

“Yeah?” Jongdae brushes his fingers over the chain, and he smiles. “Guess I'll keep it, then.”

“Good, because I stood out in the freezing cold playing my guitar for like five hours to buy you that thing,” Yixing says.

Jongdae's smile fades and his expression turns serious again. “I'm sorry. About your guitar.”

“No, don't be sorry. I got to make you happy and that's what's the most important to me.” Smiling, Yixing reaches up to caress Jongdae's cheek. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Jongdae mumbles. Yixing can feel Jongdae's skin heat up under his palm, and his smile turns into a grin. “I know I don't say it a lot, but I really do.”

“Then I don't need anything else,” Yixing says decisively.

Jongdae scoffs. “A big cheeseball, through and through,” he says, but that doesn't keep him from leaning down to kiss Yixing. “Merry Christmas, baby.”

Yixing kisses him again. “Merry Christmas.”

~*~

A/N: if you feel like this story seems familiar, you're probably right. it's based on/inspired by a super old story called "the gift of the magi", which has been adapted into several versions. I really like the story so I wanted to write something for it, and I figured it would be perfect for christmas since it is a christmas story. I was debating whether or not to actually write it, seeing as it is based off of another story and I wasn't sure that would be okay. but, like I said, it has been adapted into several versions (personally, I am the most familiar with the disney adaptation), so I thought it would be alright. if it's not alright, then I... don't know what to do about that. it's here. /shrugs

merry christmas, everybody, I hope you have a great one.
and if you don't celebrate christmas, I hope you have a great time anyway. ♥
here is some chenlay because it's relevant and also ♥♥♥♥♥