yixing is late. he knows it as he wraps his scarf around his nose and carefully slides his feet across the snow-slicked sidewalk because he wants to move quickly but he doesn't want to risk falling and wasting any more time. there's a bag nestled safely between folded arms and that's more important, he's decided, than the lecture that chanyeol may give him about the importance of being on time or family values or something else equally ridiculous. he smiles at the thought, because it's hard to believe sometimes just how much things have changed.

it's his third christmas in korea. the first passed with luhan in their shared dorm room, full of cheap wine and shared insecurities and confessions of missing home a little too much. the second was better and worse because everything around him had fallen into a state of uncertainty, but he held his ground and it paid off in the long run. this year is going to be better. the best, because things have calmed and it's evident in the scene he's met with when he nudges his way inside the off-campus house that's become kind of an unofficial second home for most of them. after he toes off his shoes and carefully lines them up near the door, there's a few seconds to take in everything before someone notices he's finally made it.

the first thing to catch his attention is luhan, or, rather, luhan's hair. it's not like he isn't used to the spectrum of colors he seems to be going through, but the cotton candy pink he's settled on for now is bold and eye catching and he knows that that's exactly what his best friend is going for most of the time. he's laughing, twinkles of snow swirling above him and for a moment yixing is confused before he realizes that minseok is right there with him, an amused glint in his eyes. it's a shame that they haven't glowed yet. yixing has found himself thinking this on more than one occasion, but it has to be a matter of time by now. they're soulmates, he's almost as sure of it as luhan is.

chanyeol is loud like he always is, leaning against the counter of the adjoining kitchen and talking to an equally-loud baekhyun who promptly starts laughing obnoxiously at what had to have been a bad joke. the sight is honestly amazing because this is part of what made last year so impossible, and seeing the two of them together like this now is kind of like a testament to how far things have come. jongin isn't far, seated on the counter with his chin resting on chanyeol's shoulder. he looks sleepy and bored as usual, but yixing isn't stupid and he doesn't miss the look in his eyes when he thinks that chanyeol isn't paying too much attention. kyungsoo is much the same, busying himself with a beer and a bottle opener but yixing catches the way that baekhyun reaches out for him with one hand and kyungsoo comes without hesitation. everything finally seems to be settled and he takes in a deep breath, brow furrowing when he realizes that the one person he wants to see the most is nowhere to be found.

he opens his mouth to say something, to finally call attention to himself but before he gets the chance there's something warm and small hitting him square in the chest. his vision is full of pink and he can feel the lingering cold from the snowflakes that melted in luhan's hair, but the whole thing just makes him laugh because luhan is loudly announcing his presence like they haven't seen each other in weeks when in reality, they're still technically roommates. chanyeol is in a good mood (and maybe a little bit tipsy) which is nice because he doesn't get a lecture for anything. he just gets a warm clap on the back and a "glad you made it, presents can go over there" before he's consuming himself in another long winded story and yixing is free to scan the room one more time. this time a cracked door catches his attention, and he's glad that he didn't shed himself of his coat just yet as he slips through the crack and sees an all-too familiar figure settled on the very top of chanyeol's fire escape. typical.

"sehunah."

his voice is soft but warm and he can tell that the younger boy isn't expecting it. but he warms from the inside out at the smile that he gets when sehun looks over his shoulder, waving him closer a moment later. yixing moves easily, carefully settling himself down on the stair beside sehun even though the metal is cold on his feet now that he's just down to his socks. he wiggles his toes while he waits for sehun to say something but the silence isn't unpleasant. it's comfortable, until movement catches the corner of his eye and he turns to give a disapproving frown because sehun is drinking something out of a bottle that he sets back down after a long pull. "you promised you wouldn't drink tonight." yixing's tone is never anything less then pleasant but sehun knows what he means, so he gives a low chuckle and picks the bottle back up so that he can pass it to yixing with raised eyebrows. it takes a moment for yixing to realize that he's supposed to be taking a drink of whatever it is (or at least otherwise investigating it) and when he finally does he's surprised by the hit of carbonation and a sugary flavor that's definitely unexpected. "oh. soda."

"sprite," sehun corrects, but he's got that grin of his that lets yixing know he isn't actually upset and also makes his knees feel kind of like jelly, so he can't complain. "i jacked it from kyungsoo." another silence, but this one is a little bit heavier and yixing senses the shift in the air almost immediately.

"i'm trying."

sehun's words are soft but they're also genuine and yixing knows that. sehun is trying. he's been trying and it's evident in the way the he doesn't pull away even when yixing knows that he wants to. it's been weeks since he drank too much and even longer since yixing had to take care of him when he was too ed up to remember his own name, clinging onto him and begging him for things that were mostly unintelligible. he prefers it like this and he knows that sehun does too, even if he doesn't say it. he will.

"i know." the response is just as genuine and yixing isn't hesitant in reaching for sehun's hand, threading their fingers with a warm squeeze and a smile to match. "i'm sorry for doubting you." he apologizes even though he doesn't need to, and sehun just lets out a hum of acknowledgement, turning his attention back to the sky, as if he might actually get a glimpse of at least one star out here in the city.

"i hope you'll like your present.." it's a soft murmur, one that surprises yixing and makes him lift his head from where it was resting on sehun's shoulder. he shrugs it once, giving a smile that's easy enough but yixing knows that it's a little nervous around the edges because he can feel it buzzing underneath sehun's skin, and it's adorable. his fondness must be betrayed in his gaze because before he can respond sehun is giving him a look that's suspicious and amused all at once.

"don't worry, sehunah," yixing starts, before sehun is already cutting him off. "don't say it," he warns playfully, a side of him that yixing is seeing more and more slowly revealing itself in a way that's better than any present he could ever get, because he'd much rather unwrap each and every layer to sehun until there's nothing left and he's seen everything. but he can be just as playful, opening his mouth to push forward anyway but he's caught off guard entirely when sehun takes a different approach, leaning forward to capture his lips in a swift kiss that would have knocked him off his feet if he had been standing.

as it is he has to reach out and grab onto the guardrail in order to keep himself steady. the kiss isn't particularly heated or intense but sehun warms him up and has his stomach turning and his chest full in every way that he isn't used to yet. these sudden bursts of affection still catch him off guard and he isn't sure if he could ever be used to it, just like he could never be used to the way sehun's eyes crinkle and disappear when he smiles so genuinely like he's doing once he pulls back. but yixing decides to say it anyway, decides that he doesn't care about being cheesy or stupid because it only takes a matter of seconds to throw his arms around sehun's neck now that he knows tonight it's okay. his defenses are down, and that's his favorite thing, when he can touch sehun as freely as he wants to without the worry of the younger pulling away from him again.

right now isn't like that. right now is so perfect that it has his heart swelling and something burning fiercely inside his chest, something that makes him smile like an idiot and keeps him up at night rereading text messages and anticipating the next time they'll see each other. he knows without even having to try that nothing else could ever be as true as this.

"all i want for christmas is you."