In contrast to the cold, snowy weather outside, it was warm in the apartment. In every room, there was evidence of Christmas. The lights were strung across cabinets, along the archways, and along the walls at the top. The smell of hot chocolate and fresh snicker doodle cookies was prominent, and a Christmas movie could be heard from within one of the rooms. At the corner of the living room, a medium sized Christmas tree was standing with various, colorful ornaments. Under the tree, there were a variety of gifts of all colors and sizes. In the middle of the room, in front of the couch, was a little boy with a look of concentration on his face.

Jongin hummed to himself as he gathered the crayons on the floor, putting them into his makeshift basket, his shirt. He stumbled over to his box and dropped the hem, the crayons falling into the box, with a few escaping. He looked back at his creation that lay on the ground and smiled. His dad would sure be proud of his artwork! His smile slowly faded into a frown as he noticed something move out of the corner of his eye.

                Sitting on the floor, with a single blue crayon, was Baekyun. Said boy was doodling happily, not noticing his younger brother’s glare aimed at him. Jongin hadn’t noticed him when he sat down, too focused on his own creation to give his brother any attention. Seeing that Baekhyun was inching closer and closer to his precious picture, he panicked.  

                “Baekkie! Stop!” Jongin screeched. Baekhyun’s foot was just about to crush the paper he worked so hard on! He didn’t want his masterpiece ruined by his older brother!

                Baekhyun twisted his body around, startled, and dropped his crayon. His eyes started to get wet with tears. A second later, he opened his small mouth and let out a loud wail. Footsteps could be heard pounding down the hallway.

                Minseok ran into the room, panting, looking around for the screaming child. He rushed over to the sobbing boy, picked him up, and rocked him back and forth in his arms. He was whispering sweet, loving words into Baekhyun’s ears. “Sweetheart, what’s wrong? Are you hurt anywhere?”

                The small boy only nuzzled closerinto the neck of the one holding him, clutching at the snot-soaked collar of the shirt his face was pressed into. Minseok patted his back and turned his eyes towards Jongin. Said child pouted and set his eyes on the floor.

                “Jongin, baby, what happened? Why is your brother crying?” Minseok came over to his other son and crouched in front of him. Jongin had started to tear up as he mumbled something under his breath. “Speak up Jong, I couldn’t understand you.”

                “He was going to ruin the picture I was drawing daddy!” Minseok’s eyes softened a little before he looked at his son sternly, “Now now, that’s no reason to make your brother cry. I’m sure your picture would have been fine.”

                “But it would have wrinkles in it… and if I had to make a new one,” he sniffed, bringing his arm up to wipe his eyes, “daddy wouldn’t have been able to see it when he got home,” more sniffling, “and I wanted to show it to him to make him happier, because he has been really tired.”

                Minseok’s eyes widened when the words registered. Yifan has been stressed from all of the work that had piled up. He had wanted to get it all done before Christmas, so he could spend it with his family. Minseok’s husband would comehome tired, usually falling asleep soon after he gets home, regardless of what time of day it was. They have been missing Yifan more than I thought. Minseok was happy when he remembered that today should have been the last day Yifan had to stay late.

                At that moment, there was noise at the door. Baekhyun, who was dozing off, looked up and squirmed. Minseok let his son down and the boy ran toward the door. About half-way across the room, he suddenly stopped. The boy had arrived at his brother’s picture. Jongin’s eyes widened, thinking that his older brother would step on it to get him back for making him cry. Baekhyun looked back at Jongin, smiled, and waved his hand over towards him.

                Jongin hesitantly went towards this brother. The older grabbed Jongin’s hand, picking up his blue art work, “Pick up yours, let’s go show daddy!” The younger looked between his brother and his paper and started to smile. He picked it up and both of them ran toward the front door. Right as the boys reached the archway, Yifan walked in, causing both of them to stumble. Yifan dropped his briefcase and balanced his sons.

                “Hey there little ones, be careful,” Yifan brightened at the sight of Jongin and Baekhyun. He looked up to see their mother standing there with a smile on his face, before he looked back down at a tug on his pant leg.

                “Daddy, Jongie made you somethi-“ Baekhyun was interrupted by his brother, “Hyung did too!” Jongin seemed to have forgiven the older, clutching to his hand. As the pictures were handed to Yifan, Minseok spoke up, “Welcome home, Yifan.”

So... why did i make this again?

I don't know why i insist that these need to go up. I keep telling my brain "they don't go anywhere and what happened to this and that and why the heck is it short"

but my brain's just like "nope. you're gonna put it up anyway"

But i hope it wasn't too horrid. I'm sorry if you read it and didn't like it. If anything, could you please leave a comment or message me or something to tell me what i could change to make my stories better? More detail? Better diction? More plot? Less plot? etc.

<3

(red is so much easier on my eyes than the orange i was using XD)