“Is this good?” Lay asked. He was on a small ladder, leaning over the massive tree with a sparkly red and gold ornament, cradling it in his left hand and reaching out as much as possible without falling.

            “Just three more inches to the left,” Chen directed, from the safety of Xiumin’s puffy couch.

            Lay took a deep breath. I can do this. He tightened his grip on the ladder with his right arm and scooted to the edge before leaning out and stretching as far as he could. He bit his lip in determination. “How about now?”

            “Looking good!” Chen cheered. Lay relaxed back, leaning onto the ladder and grinning, as the dream of sitting on that heavenly couch seemed closer than ever.

            “Buuut,” Chen continued, “It would look much better about an inch-and-a-half further to the left.” Lay turned to shoot Chen a death glare, with his arms crossed over his chest, and Suho laughed.

            “Chen is this really necessary?” Suho asked.

            “GOOD QUESTION SUHO!” Lay sang out, pointing at the boy, who quickly flushed with embarrassment.

            “It is absolutely necessary.” Chen said slowly to the both of them. They both continued to look at him with dubious expressions (well, Suho looked doubtful, while Lay looked about ready to hit Chen in the face, with a bat, repeatedly), and Chen scoffed, muttering, “Everyone’s a critic,” making Suho giggle, Chen looking down at the ground to try to hide the unavoidable smile that appeared whenever Suho made the bubbly sound.

            “Okay, okay,” Lay said guiltily, bringing Chen back to the pressing matter at hand. “But, is there even another inch-and-a-half to the left though?”

            “Lay, you sweet, sweet, idiotic thing. The tree is round, you can move it as far left as you damn well please-but clearly not without my guidance, for the love of God man I said an inch-and-a-half!!” Chen shrieked as Lay shifted it over nearly a foot just to tease Chen.

“Whatever, jerk.” His dimples practically lit up his face as he put the ornament in the right place (finally) and climbed off of the ladder.

            “’Jerk’? Are you kidding me? I deserve far more creative insults!” Chen said indignantly, “Ooohh! How about ‘arrogant scoundrel’?” As he said it, he swooped his hand through the air as if he could see the words written out in space. Lay raised an eyebrow and Chen nodded, “You’re right, too long. Jerk is okay. Concise, straight to the point, just like you. Nicely done, the ornament and the insult. Bravo.”

 “Nice job!” Suho praised, clapping and making Lay grin a little wider.

            Chen cleared his throat in an obnoxious way and Suho turned to him.

            “Very nice work, Chen.” He added quietly.

            “Oh, don’t mention it. You’re too kind.” Chen said, but his face still glowed with pride, making Suho laugh again. This time, Chen couldn’t hold back the smile that he felt as Suho laughed. It was a musical sound, really, and not at all fair.

            He was trying not to think about it.

            He was trying not to think about how close he and Suho were on the couch. When Chen first walked in, he claimed the middle of the huge couch (it was the most tender area after all, and Chen damn well deserved it). Despite all the extra room, Suho had immediately plopped down right beside him. Since then, he hadn’t budged. Chen thought he maybe even got closer. Had their thighs always been touching?

            He tried not to think about how cute it was when Suho blushed, or how easily it happened. Every time he saw the rosy color he wanted to kiss the pretty pink away. And the laugh? Forget about it. Whenever Suho actually laughed at one of Chen’s silly jokes, Chen felt like he was on cloud nine. Suho’s eyes would crinkle in the sweetest way and his lips would part to show pearly whites in a heavenly grin.

            And as sweet as the sound was, Chen would always rather silence it with his own lips, even though he barely knew the guy.

            But before Chen could fall back in to that line of thought for the upteenth time, a diversion appeared.

            “Guys I found it!” Xiumin said, voice filled with excitement as he walked into the room, quick with impatience. Lay looked up with a small smile as he took in Xiumin’s disheveled auburn hair and breathless anticipation as he looked at the ancient golden star in his hands.

            “It’s probably been in the family longer than I have,” Xiumin looked around at all of them with a sheepish grin, but Lay didn’t miss the spark of happiness in his eyes, “we always always always have it on top of the tree, for as long as I remember that’s how it’s been.” He looked down, rubbing a thick layer of dust off to reveal the true shimmering gold color. “It’s tradition. But I can’t reach the top of the tree, there’s no way.”

            “I’ll do it.” Lay offered.

            Xiumin gave him a grateful smile, “Really? Y-you’d do that for me?”

            Lay felt butterflies in his stomach when Xiumin looked at him, and his heart skipped a beat at how surprised Xiumin sounded to know that he cared for him. “Of course,” Lay said solemnly. He didn’t really have to think about it.

            “Oh thank you thank you THANK YOU!” Xiumin said, jumping up and down. He kind of wanted to hug Lay for this. But he didn’t.

            “No worries,” Lay said, flashing dimples, “I’m the tallest here anyway.”

            “Whoa now,” Chen interrupted, “I tower over all. Excuse you, peasant.”

            Lay rolled his eyes, not justifying Chen with a response. He swung his body on to the ladder once again and reached. Xiumin’s hands subconsciously hovered around Lay’s waist and Chen scoffed. What a bunch of saps.

            “Is this good?” Lay asked, the star in place on the highest branch.

            Chen opened his mouth to reply, and point out that it was a little tilted to the right, which simply would not do, but before he could say a word Xiumin breathed out “It’s perfect” and Lay had a soft smile as he crept down the ladder yet again, Xiumin watching over protectively.

            “I’LL TURN ON THE LIGHTS!” Suho declared, leaving no room, or time, for argument as he raced over to the outlet. His socks failed him on the wooden floor and he slid into the wall before slipping down onto his rear. He hid his face in his hands in shame, but the others still saw the blush creeping up his neck.

            Lay looked over at Chen, waiting for some clever one-liner to tease the poor boy. Chen was simply chuckling softly, watching his laughing stock with warm eyes as he crawled over to the plug and reached for the outlet. The lights clicked on and the laughter came to a halt as they took in the sight.

            Despite it’s size, the tree was littered with ornaments. They were in all sorts of colors and shapes, there were some fancy golden ones, snowmen, candy canes, small portraits of different members of the family, home made felt ones, and so very many of each. It all felt so… comfortable. So lived in. It was a representation of all the love in this family. They always had a tree up for Christmas in the orphanage but it couldn’t compare with this.

            When the lights clicked on, all of the intimate things they put on the tree became illuminated. Lay briefly remembered when he was little. His parents would put up a tree, but never so festive and decorated. It had always seemed very, well, cold. Stoic. Business-like. The fluorescent lights had felt harsh and cruel and as unforgiving as his father’s gaze. Lay shivered at the memory and looked at Chen, breathing a sigh of relief. He was far from his dad now, and he felt safe here with Xiumin.

            Wait, what?

            Lay shook his head, trying to get the thoughts out of his head and looked at the ground.

            “This is almost perfect,” Xiumin said.

            Chen placed a hand on his chest and looked at Xiumin with a look of pure shock and pain, “I make every situation perfect! For the love of me learn some manners. Tch, disrespectful”, Suho laughed at the expression and swatted his hand away, and Chen lowered his hand, letting his expression grow in disbelief as he turned to Suho. “Wow. Surrounded with haters.” He whispered in a bewildered tone. Suho laughed harder under the gaze and Chen resisted the urge to lean in and-

            “Well what I meant anyway, is that this situation could use some hot chocolate.” Xiumin finished.

            “I like the way you think,” Chen said in quick agreement, trying to pretend like he wasn’t just about to do what he was just about to do.

            Xiumin disappeared into the kitchen then, and Lay soon followed after to help.

            An awkward silence fell over Suho and Chen, as they were the last two in the room. Suho fidgeted and Chen realized that he was nervous to be alone with me oh dear isn’t that PRECIOUS.

            But Chen wasn’t given a lot of time to absorb this information because then Suho was up and circling the tree slowly, taking it all in. The lights made his skin glow. He looked absolutely angelic. “Isn’t it so nice?” Suho said, voice barely above a whisper.

            “It’s beautiful,” Chen agreed, looking only at Suho.

            Suho looked up in surprise that Chen’s voice actually sounded sincere for once. Their eyes locked and Suho’s cheeks turned a pale pink, lips turning upwards in a shy smile. But he didn’t look away. He willed his feet to carry him over to Chen; he suddenly felt the need to be as close to him as possible. But he was frozen in place. Which wasn’t such a bad thing, since Chen was trying to commit this moment to memory.

            “IT’S DONE!” Xiumin sang as he came back in to the room.

            “Th-that was fast.” Suho cleared his throat, rubbing at the back of his neck, which did nothing to hide the redness there.

            “Yep! Instant hot cocoa es,” Xiumin said with a crooked grin, making the others laugh as they claimed their mugs and clinked them in cheers.

            “Oh, just in time too! My family should be getting back soon,” Xiumin said, eyeing the clock on the wall. The others simultaneously remembered that his parents were out picking up all of his younger siblings from various holiday parties. Lay nearly choked on his drink when he saw the time.

            “We need to go back.”

            “What?” Suho said in surprise, turning to Lay, “Why? What happened to staying for dinner?”

            “Yeah Lay, whyyyyyyyyyyyyyy?” Chen whined, puppy eyes at full capacity.

            Xiumin remained quiet, watching Lay, but the pained expression he wore made Lay feel far worse than either of the others.

            “I’m sorry, really I am. I really wanted to stay. But Chen, you know how they worry when we’re out late. I’m sorry about dinner, but there’s always next time.” Lay said, babbling nervously.

            “Next time?” Xiumin asked with a small, hopeful smile over the lip of his mug.

            “Next time,” Lay promised, dimples flashing as he smiled and nodded in agreement, making Xiumin’s heart soar.

            “Well, let us walk you back home then,” Suho offered. Chen smiled to him and nodded enthusiastically.

            “That’s very kind of you. But it’s not quite necessary, it’s not much of a walk, I’m sure we can manage to cross the street safely so you...” Lay trailed off as he noticed the neck-slicing gestures Chen was making, combined with a fearsome death glare. “You know what? That sounds great!” Lay quickly backtracked, voice cracking slightly in fear. Chen nodded in approval. You have learned well, young one.

            “Okay, let’s go,” Xiumin said, placing his now-empty mug on the table and rushing off to find his shoes. Cuuute, Lay thought to himself, before taking another slow sip of his drink beneath the holiday lights.

Author's note: lol these chapters are going nowhere so far god damnit. WHAT DO YOU GUYS THINK SO FAR? Sorry it took a while to update, I had sooo many midterms this week, so I had to like properly mourn the loss of my passing grades and everything. But I'm back, baby. At least for now. You may have noticed that I cut down a lot of the characters supposed to be included. I realized that the suchen and xiulay part was gonna take up a lot of time so rather than make this long as life I cut it down to the two pairs I already had in here :))) don't hate me. I'm gonna write other fanfics, so I can include other couples.

What do you think so far?

Do you like the suchen or the xiulay better in here?

What's your favorite EXO couple overall?

SOOO MANY QUESTIONS! Lol stay strong and safe I love all of you <3 <3 <3 <3 comment, subscribe, idk man just do yo thang :)