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Taehyun wasn’t surprised when he got the owl from his mother, he knew that it was the right decision with everything going on in the muggle world right now. It didn’t stop the pang of loneliness from settling in his chest when he realized he wouldn’t be able to go home for Christmas.
He had skimmed the letter at breakfast when Hobak had helpfully dropped it off. Taking a seat in one of the old classrooms refurnished with bean bags instead of hard wooden desks, he pulled back out the sheet of paper and began to read.
Nothing all that surprising.
He knew it was coming.
The virus had spread, infection rates soaring in a matter of weeks, and his mother was practically going to be living at the hospital. I wouldn’t want to risk you getting sick anyway, even if I could be home. She had written in her familiar loopy handwriting. It wasn’t the easiest to read if you weren’t used to it, compliments of being a doctor she always joked, but it always brought a wave of nostalgia crashing over Taehyun.
He pulled out a piece of paper and a pen from his bag. Sure, wizard-born gave him weird looks but why on earth would he carry around parchment, ink, and quills when a pen was so much easier?
Somehow handing his response over to Hobak, a simple I love you too, stay safe, taking up most of the letter, made it into a reality.
He wasn’t going home for Christmas.
Exhaling he leaned back in the bean bag, clutching the letter to his chest. His mother had been so relieved when she found out in the beginning of the school year Hogwarts would still be open. She had a vague understanding from the Huening family that the wizarding world was able to cure the virus and mostly prevent the spread, so they weren’t as concerned, but she didn’t fully understand it. Not when she was working sixteen hour shifts in the hospital trying to keep up with the number of sick patients suddenly appearing. Not when she saw death every day.
And here he was, upset that he wasn’t going home for Christmas.
Idiot.
The door of the classroom slammed open and Kai bounced in, “Knew I’d find you here.” He flopped down next to Taehyun and nearly smacked him in the face with a letter. Fairly normal, all things considered.
“I’m staying too.” He spread out his long limbs, forcefully wrapping Tahyun up in a hug, “Mom says its really bad and even with our potions she doesn’t want to risk me getting it. Only so much supply after all, the greenhouses are working as hard as they can but that’s one thing you can’t do with magic. Make plants grow faster.” He paused and tilted his head to the side. “At least not without damaging the plants.” He shrugged, “Soobin probably knows why. I just know you can’t do it.”
Taehyun forced himself to nod.
Keen eyes peered at him.
“It’s okay to be upset Taehyun. I am too. My sisters are staying at Beauxbatons and I miss them and because wizards are so opposed to technology, I can’t even video chat them.” He smiled suddenly, “I suppose we could talk in the fireplace but that is just not the same, you know?”
Taehyun nodded.
Kai happily continued, “Can you imagine, we call our moms in the hospital fireplace? That would be hilarious.”
“Hospitals don’t have fireplaces Kai.” Taehyun grinned at his friend. “We have the cute thing called central heat.”
Kai pouted, “Stop ruining my dreams! I know that but it would still be awesome if they did!”
“Sure Kai.”
Well, at least he would have his friend with him this holiday season.
“Don’t worry, we’ll do all the normal holiday things! Ransack the kitchen to make cookies, eat our weight in food, build a snowman, sing Christmas carols hopelessly off-key, it’ll be great!” Kai’s eyes were shining. “Plus, mom sent over a ton of Christmas decorations so we can decorate! All the decorations!”
Knowing Huening Kai, there was going to be an explosion of Christmas cheer in Hogwarts this year.
Taehyun stepped back from his bed to admire the garland he had strung up around it. The others in his dorm were wizard-born and were going home so they had given him all their decorations to use in their absence. He was particularly fond of the garland and there were some snowflake ornaments somewhere he could hang on it…
He plugged his headphones into his phone and started his Christmas playlist. Although he had yet to figure out a way to get service in Hogwarts, he had successfully figured out how to still charge his phone and use it for music. With Michael Bublé crooning to him, it really was starting to look a lot like Christmas.
“Taehyun!” Kai latched onto him in a death grip as he pulled off one of the headphones. “Come see! Come see!”
He followed his over-excited best friend down the stairs into the common room. Spinning around slowly he was assaulted with red and green and the occasional blue Ravenclaw decoration thrown in there.
“Isn’t it pretty?”
“It looks like Christmas threw up in here.” Taehyun deadpanned but he could feel a smile spreading on his face.
“I know! It’s perfect!”
There was a tree, a beautiful fir tree standing somewhere around 7 feet tall, undecorated in the corner of the room. Kai had placed it safely away from the fireplace where the house elves had originally put it. Fire danger wasn’t something wizards thought of much, unless it was dragon fire, but it was habit to worry when you grew up in a muggle area as Kai had.
Kai dragged him over to a cardboard box.
“Decorations time!”
Full-on grinning, Taehyun pulled off his headphones, placed his phone on the side table, and pressed play. They could still have Christmas darn it.
“Rocking around the Christmas tree!” Kai screeched as he danced around with a red and green boa.
Taehyun had long collapsed on the couch, admiring their tree. There may be a clear area where he had been unable to reach, the chaos that was Kai’s decorating style having free reign over the very top of the tree. At least he had won the argument to use a normal star as the tree topper instead of one of Kai’s many plushies. Although he was pretty sure he had somehow conceded to decorating the tree in the Hufflepuff common room with only plushies. Either way, that was a concern for another day. His tree was beautiful.
Kai flopped next to him on the couch, “What is next on Taehyun’s Christmas traditions wishlist?”
“My what?”
“The list!”
Taehyun turned to look at him, “What list?”
Kai gasped dramatically, throwing the boa over his shoulder back into the box, “You don’t have a Christmas traditions wishlist? How can we make this Christmas awesome without one?”
“We have fun doing whatever?”
“A list must be made!”
Okay then. Kai produced colored pens and papers, as well as some glitter, and wrote Christmas Wishlist on the top. In small letters underneath he wrote aka the plan for the most fun-est Christmas ever!
“Number one!” Kai announced. “Decorating the Ravenclaw common room. Obviously. Because we already did that and it’s awesome.”
Kai wrote it in red sparkly ink.
“Number two! Hufflepuff common room because I’m here too.” Kai handed him a blue marker, “Here, you write number three.”
Taehyun glanced down at the paper. “What about cookie baking?”
“Number three!” Kai announced, “Write it.”
He obliged and grinned as Kai immediately took number four, Build a snowman written in somewhat normal blue ink. There was an abnormally round snowman drawing next to it.
“Eat all the food!”
“Eat more cookies!”
“Read by the fire!”
“Sing together!”
“Snowball fight!”
“Presents!”
They sat back to admire their glittery handiwork. Kai had doodled little snowflakes and cookies around the page and leaned forward, adding a tree and presents at the bottom.
Taehyun stared at it.
“Hey Kai?”
“Hmm?” He hummed, looking up from coloring in the tree.
“How do presents get here?”
He tilted his head to the side, “I have no idea. Some sort of magic probably. House elves maybe?”
“But…” Taehyun looked away, “Mom’s a muggle. She can’t do magic.”
Kai just flicked hair out of his face, “Don’t be silly. They’ll find a way. Plus, I doubt your mom is the only one trying to send you a gift.” He stood up from the couch. “Soobin should be done with his exams now. He had those makeup tests, remember? He’s staying this year too.”
Taehyun smirked up at him, “Ah, someone sounds happy.”
“I just want to spend time with our friend!”
“Uh huh. Sure. That’s why your face is slowly turning red.”
“Shut up Taehyun.”
“And why we haven’t decorated Hufflepuff common room yet!”
“Taehyun!”
Taehyun laughed. Kai was adorable, Soobin was already head over heels for him but it was sweet seeing the two of them dance around each other. They would get there eventually, there was no doubt.
“Kai?”
“Soobin!”
Kai didn’t wait, happily launching himself at the tall Hufflepuff standing in their common room. Soobin caught him easily, completely un-phased. Taehyun just smiled and calmly walked inside.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were staying over the holidays?” Soobin steered Kai to the couch and they sat down next to each other.
Kai shrugged, “You never asked.”
“I did too!”
“Did not!”
Taehyun sat down on the chair across from them, “Soobin I think you were too busy trying to survive in the hospital wing to have directly asked our favorite overgrown child.”
Soobin tilted his head to the side, conceding defeat, “You have a point.”
“How’d your exams go?”
“Alright, all things considered. I’m glad I was able to take them, being knocked out for a week beforehand wasn’t the best though. At least I didn’t fail.” So Soobin was probably in the top of his classes again. He always thought it went alright, even when he aced them.
“Let’s decorate!” Kai burst out, pointing to the bare tree.
Soobin nodded, “Yeah sure, can we wait a bit though?”
Kai tilted his head.
“Do you guys know Yeonjun and Beomgyu?”
What a dumb question. Who didn’t know the Choi brothers? The elder was placed in Slytherin and the younger in Gryffindor but they were still joined at the hip. The school heartbreakers. The school pranksters who never got caught. The perfect Choi brothers.
Taehyun admitted to watching them fly, or walk to class, or eat breakfast. Maybe sometimes he stared at the Gryffindor but it wasn’t weird. Everyone stared at them.
“Yeah sure.” Kai replied. “Who doesn’t?”
Soobin sighed and leaned back. “Of course you do. Dumb question. Those two charismatic pieces of shit.”
“Sounds like you’re talking about us!”
Yeonjun popped into the common room, clad in a snowflake-covered green sweater. Beomgyu followed, sporting one in red. He held something in his hands.
“Mom sent you one too Soobin.” Beomgyu chucked it at his head as Soobin groaned. “Hi. I’m Beomgyu.” He nodded at Taehyun and Kai.
“I’m Yeonjun!”
Soobin was looking at a golden sweater with dainty white snowflakes across it highlighted in black. “She was really into snowflakes this year, huh?”
“Put it on loser.”
“I am, I am! Geesh.”
“You’re Kai, right?” Yeonjun plopped down on the other side of Kai with a grin, pulling mints out of his pocket and offering him one, “Soobin never shuts up about you.” He tilted his head slightly, “Yeah I can see it Soobin. He’s adorable.”
Kai turned huge desperate eyes onto Taehyun.
“Yeonjun!” Soobin’s voice came out muffled from forcing the sweater over his head. He shoved it on quickly. “This is why I never introduce you to anyone!”
Yeonjun ignored him, “You’re Taehyun, right?”
Taehyun blinked at him. He was honestly more concerned over what on earth Beomgyu was doing with Molangie. If he hurt that plushie Kai was going to scream, probably cry, and Taehyun would therefore be obligated to fight the beautiful Gryffindor. It would be a shame to hurt his face, he’d probably have to go for the liver or kidney.
Yeonjun didn’t seem to need a response anyway. “Soobin talks about you a lot too. Kai takes the cake with every sentence but you’re probably in there every other. Beomgyu’s been dying to meet you but Soobin kept dodging us.”
“Hey!” Beomgyu finally put down Molangie and Taehyun could breathe again.
Luckily Soobin finally got the sweater on and spoke up, “These two idiots are my cousins. Don’t listen to a word they say because that one,” his thumb jerked at Yeonjun, “is a sneaky liar and the other is a massive prankster.”
“We love you too cousin!” Beomgyu grinned cheekily. Taehyun felt his brain short-circuit and looked away.
Kai was frowning at the ground. Taehyun froze, watching him carefully as Soobin practically tackled Beomgyu. Yeonjun turned from his cousins and narrowed his eyes at Kai. At that moment Soobin turned around, immediately glanced at Kai and forced himself into the spot between Kai and Yeonjun. Taehyun could see the moment Beomgyu went to go sit on Kai’s other side and immediately jumped out of his seat to beat him there. Kai may be clingy, but he was very particular about who he clung to and did not like being touched by strangers.
Instead of being deterred, Beomgyu sat on his lap. Taehyun promptly threw him off.
“Hey!”
“You sat on me!”
Soobin groaned, “Can you two behave like normal human beings for once in your life?” He dragged Kai off the couch, wrapping an arm around his waist and leading him to the common room door. “We are getting snacks. You two are going to behave. Taehyun feel free to beat them up if they try to pull anything on you. Do not destroy my common room.”
The door shut behind them.
Great.
He couldn’t go home for Christmas. He wasn’t going to get any presents either. Maybe a card if he was lucky. And now he had to deal with the apparent demons that were his best friend’s crush’s cousins.
“Yep. Soobin is madly in love with him.”
What the…
Taehyun jerked his head up at Beomgyu.
“What?”
Smiling grey eyes turned towards him, “Did you see how he protected him? Soobin only does that to people he really cares about.” He collapsed onto the chair Taehyun had been previously sitting in. “For his friends he would have just told us to fuck off or like punched us. Instead, he saw Kai was upset and completely removed him from the situation because he didn’t want to risk him getting more upset. Soobin is in love.”
“You made Kai upset on purpose?!”
Yeonjun shrugged.
These absolute assholes. Kai had been excited about spending Christmas with Soobin. It was one of the things he was looking forward to because they didn’t get to go home. These absolute…
Taehyun’s fist was flying before he fully realized what he was doing.
“You piece of shit!”
He nailed Beomgyu directly on his liver.
Beomgyu collapsed in on himself and wheezed. Taehyun felt himself getting held back by two strong arms.
“Our mothers work in the muggle health system! They’re watching people die every day and we can’t go home this Christmas! We were trying to make this fun, to enjoy it, when both of us miss our families and you go and purposefully make him upset?” He ripped his arms out of Yeonjun’s hold and pushed him away.
Picking up the list Kai had left on the table Taehyun threw it at Beomgyu’s face.
Silence with Beomgyu’s quiet gasping in the distance.
“Taehyun,” Yeonjun’s voice was soft, “we didn’t mean to. We just wanted to get a rise out of Soobin because he talks about Kai nonstop but refuses to make a move.” Taehyun crossed him arms over his chest and sat down next to the box of Christmas decorations.
“Soobin will take care of Kai, we swear.” Yeonjun followed him to the box and began looking through it. “He’s a huge softie and is probably getting him hot chocolate or a stuffed animal or something right now.”
“What happened?”
Soobin walked in, Kai following behind holding what looked like a stuffed rabbit and a hot chocolate. Huh.
“Nothing.” Beomgyu muttered from his position, now on the floor playing with a toy train that was supposed to go under the tree.
Yeonjun just shrugged, “Taehyun punched Beomgyu. Probably should have punched me instead but it’s all good now.”
“Taehyun did what?” Kai practically screeched.
Good to see he was feeling a bit more like himself. Soobin’s grip on his hand probably helped that.
Taehyun shrugged, “Soobin told me I could.”
He visibly watched Soobin count to ten as Kai started to giggle and Beomgyu just grinned.
Beomgyu waved his arms in the air, “Don’t worry about it. Have you seen this train? Taehyun says it goes under the tree, look!”
Soobin paused before exhaling strongly, “I will never understand you two.”
“So, what happened?” Taehyun cornered Kai in the Ravenclaw common room when they went back to grab some of the snacks Taehyun kept under his bed. Since he and Soobin hadn't actually remember to bring snacks back from their walk.
“I should ask you the same thing!”
“Easy. Beomgyu told me they were teasing you to try to get a rise out of Soobin since he’s in love with you. I told him he was an asshole and punched him.” He paused. “I may have said piece of shit, but same idea.”
Kai blinked.
Taehyun just smiled, “Now your turn! Tell me! That is definitely a new plushie!”
Kai smiled and pet the giant rabbit. “He said it was supposed to be my Christmas gift, but I looked like I needed it more now.” He glanced up nervously, “Would it be weird if I name it Tobin?”
“You like him, yes?”
Kai nodded quietly.
“It’s not weird at all Kai.”
They grabbed the snacks, Kai forcing Tobin to look like he was carrying them.
“Okay, but what was it like punching Beomgyu?”
“Honestly? It was weirdly cathartic.”
“You totally have a crush on him, don’t you.”
Yeonjun and Beomgyu started showing up everywhere with Soobin. They claimed they stayed out of his way during school since Soobin was allergic to attention but with the reduced number of students staying over the holidays they turned very clingy. It wasn’t just to Soobin, either. Beomgyu showed up one morning at the Ravenclaw common room where Taehyun was trying to read a book and proceeded to drag him out into the snow.
Where he then threw a snowball at his face.
Taehyun retaliated and the other three managed to arrive in the middle of an all-out war. Yeonjun started out on Beomgyu’s team with Soobin and Kai joining Taehyun but by the end they had stopped forming snowballs and were just chucking pieces of snow at anyone around them.
Trampling back inside Soobin dashed to the kitchens to snag some hot chocolate as they all huddled in front of the fire. Even after casting a quick dry spell on their clothes, there was just something nice about sitting in front of a fireplace with hot chocolate after playing in the snow for so long. Beomgyu even managed to produce the book Taehyun had been reading, as well as one of his own.
Soobin dragged Kai out to build a snowman the next day and Taehyun let himself attempt a snow puppy with Beomgyu and Yeonjun. Eventually Yeonjun got bored and ran around their dorm looking for clothes for the snowmen instead. Taehyun’s quickly turned into a turtle after Beomgyu accidentally knocked it over but he couldn’t bring himself to care. Kai’s smile when he stood back to look at the 6-foot tall snowman they had somehow managed to create made everything worth it. Yeonjun cheerfully gave it a Hufflepuff scarf and a Slytherin hat which they then proceeded to try to knock off with snowballs until they realized he had cast a spell to keep it on.
Then they just pelted Yeonjun with the rest of the snowballs.
“Taehyun! Merry Christmas Eve!”
A warm body collapsed on top of him as he was rudely ripped out of sleep.
“What do you want Beomgyu?”
He rolled, forcing Beomgyu to the floor and grabbed his watch. Seven in the morning, not bad all things considered. When they were kids, Kai would sometimes wake him up at five in the morning to try to beat their parents downstairs. It never worked. It also was usually Christmas, not Christmas Eve.
Beomgyu merely bounced up from the floor. “Cookie baking! The house elves need the kitchen this afternoon for the Christmas Eve feast so we can only have it until 11. So, we need to go now.”
“I need to get dressed.”
Beomgyu huffed and plopped onto the bed next to him. “Fine. Hurry up.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
He slid on sweatpants and, after a moment’s hesitation, his Christmas sweater. It had a giant Rudolf on it and was completely worth it. Kai would undoubtedly be in one too.
Beomgyu was wearing the snowflake sweater again. Yeonjun had mentioned the night before that their mom made them every year and it was tradition to wear them for the Christmas season. Even if some of their old ones were… an acquired taste. Beomgyu had pulled one out of his closet that was red, gold, and green and covered in what was probably supposed to be tinsel and mistletoe but sort of looked like glitter vomit.
“What kind of cookies are we making?” Taehyun began walking down to the common room, assuming the other three would be meet them in the kitchen if they weren’t waiting downstairs.
Beomgyu bounced along behind him, “What do you want to make? The house elves said they would pull out the ingredients for us because they were worried I’d mess up their organization.”
Taehyun glanced over his shoulder, “Aren’t you the one who wanted to make cookies?”
Beomgyu winced, “Sure?”
They made it down to the empty common room.
“Have you ever made cookies before Beomgyu?”
“No?” A hand rubbing at the back of his neck as he avoided eye contact. “But, you know, Christmas cookies and all that?”
Taehyun sighed and jogged back upstairs to grab the old recipe book his mom had sent him. Typical Beomgyu, jumping head-first into something without thinking it through. He jogged back downstairs and grabbed him by the arm, leading them towards the kitchens.
“Lucky for you, I have a recipe book.”
“What’s that?”
Oh, for the love of… “The instruction manual to cookie baking.” He deadpanned.
“That’s so cool!”
The house elves greeted them with a smile, scampering over excitedly when Taehyun showed them his recipe book and the three he wanted to make. Mint chocolate, regular sugar cookies, and some old-fashioned chocolate chip.
Beomgyu hovered silently over his shoulder as he passed over bowls and supplies until the kitchen table was prepared for their massive Christmas cookie baking session. Taehyun pushed Beomgyu away when he tried to help mix the sugar cookie dough. Sugar cookies were serious business and he wanted some ready to decorate for when the other three finally made their way down.
“Okay, here, I’m going to roll out the dough and you’re going to use the cookie cutters to cut out the shapes and then there’s colored sugar to decorate. Got it?”
Beomgyu nodded, perched on the stool next to him and picked up some sugar in his hands.
“Wait! Cut shapes first!”
Taehyun handed him a gingerbread man cookie cutter, lightly placing his hands on top of Beomgyu’s and pushing down.
“See?” He lifted their hands up. “Now you pull up the cookie cutter and you have a gingerbread man cookie to decorate.”
“Got it!”
Taehyun went back to rolling out the dough.
“When are the others getting here anyway?” He asked curiously.
Beomgyu hummed, “Yeonjun is supposed to go get them. I think he said something about around 8?”
Taehyun glanced at the clock, 7:45.
“Okay cool. Kai loves to decorate. He’s going to be so excited to show Soobin.” He tested the dough’s thickness and placed it onto the parchment paper, pushing it towards one of the empty chairs. He would roll out a sheet for each of them and then start working on another type of cookie.
He glanced at Beomgyu. Light brown hair flopping in his face as he frowned in concentration, attempting to give the gingerbread man eyes and a mouth. The colorful clothing was already complete. He couldn’t stop himself from smiling, like this Beomgyu was just another person, friend even. Early in the morning without any makeup or styling, sitting at a table decorating Christmas cookies in a sweater his mother knit for him, he was beautiful.
All at once Taehyun understood the romantic Christmas fantasy from all those movies his mom used to watch. There was just something magical, in a completely muggle way, of spending time with a kind beautiful person away from all the craziness that seemed to surround them during a normal day. It was their own little bubble in the kitchen.
Hazily he wondered if Beomgyu would want to make the cookie dough with him, if maybe they could do it together.
“Merry Christmas Eve!”
Kai obliterated the bubble.
Beomgyu jumped up, tackling the younger, “Merry Christmas Eve! I made a gingerbread man!”
Soobin and Yeonjun spilled into the kitchen, bringing loud laughter as Kai squealed over the cookies and immediately sat down at one of the trays to begin decorating. Soobin sat next to him, watching, as Kai handed him a snowflake to decorate.
Yeonjun began singing jingle bells, surprisingly well.
There was a part of him disappointed the bubble was shattered, but this was also a part of Christmas. This boisterous gaggle of people somehow coming together to make the days special.
This was Christmas magic.
“Do you still wish you could be home?” Beomgyu’s voice was quiet so as to not wake the three sleeping on the couch across from them. They had inhaled the Christmas Eve feast and then proceeded to gorge themselves on their Christmas cookies the rest of the night. All in all, a great way to spend Christmas Eve.
Taehyun glanced over at him, huddled sleepily in a blanket on one of the beanbags they had dragged over. “I miss mom.” He admitted. “There’s definitely a part of me that wishes I could be home right now. But I’ve also enjoyed my time here.”
Beomgyu hummed and ate another cookie almost absent-mindedly. Taehyun watched him quietly. If there was one thing he learned about Beomgyu this week, it was that he would talk eventually. In fact, he rivaled Kai in just how much and how fast he could talk.
“This has been my favorite Christmas holiday so far.” He suddenly blurted out.
Taehyun smiled, “I’m glad. Christmastime is my favorite.”
Earnest eyes met his. “I’m really glad I got to spend it with you.”
Taehyun blinked down at him.
“And Kai! You and Kai. And Soobin and Yeonjun. Usually, it’s just the three of us, you know? Knocking around the castle, finding hidden passageways and stuff. It was just really nice to have you around. And Kai.” He sharply turned his head towards the sleeping boy. “He’s so good for Soobin. They’re so adorable.”
“They are.” Taehyun whispered quietly. “I’m glad I got to spend it with you too Beomgyu. You helped make it special.” You helped make it magical.
Taehyun woke up early to Kai jumping on him and shouting.
“Merry Christmas!”
All was normal.
He bounced his way to Soobin and dragged him off the couch.
“It’s Christmas! It’s Christmas! Soobin wake up its Christmas and there are presents!”
Taehyun glanced under the tree. He and Kai had placed their presents there a while ago, running out to Hogsmeade to pick up something for the other three. They did a joint gift for Yeonjun, separate for Beomgyu and Soobin and nope Taehyun wasn’t going to think about why he insisted on separate gifts for Beomgyu, no not at all. Because there were more presents under the tree than what they had placed there.
“Okay, okay, I’m up, I’m up! Let me breathe Kai!”
Yeonjun was busy looking at all the name tags.
“Catch Taehyun!”
A lumpy package was thrown at his head. He ripped it open to find a beautiful blue sweater with silver snowflakes knitted into the pattern.
“It’s from mom.” Beomgyu had propped his head on his shoulder and he turned to stare at him in shock. “She was really into house colors this year, so I told her yours was blue and silver. She wants a picture.”
“How, what?” Taehyun stuttered.
Beomgyu just smiled.
“Did she make this in a week?”
Beomgyu scoffed, “Of course not, she’s not that good at knitting. I told her like three months ago.”
He… what?
“Beomgyu this one’s yours!” Another package was chucked at Beomgyu who excitedly ripped open the wrapping paper.
Three more gifts were placed onto Taehyun’s lap by Soobin and he glanced around in shock. Kai had an identical sweater to Soobin and was admiring a new hat and a stuffed carrot that was apparently for Tobin. Yeonjun was staring at the art set Taehyun and Kai had managed to find for him, muggle style. Beomgyu had ripped open the packet of pens Kai got him and was running around trying to draw on different things. Soobin was excitedly putting on a fluffy robe with bunny ears, even on top of his Christmas sweater.
Taehyun stared at the gifts in front of him. How had he gone from expecting maybe a gift from Soobin and Kai to having five boxes placed in his lap? There was laughter around him, joy pouring out of the smile on Kai’s face as Soobin tackled him in a hug. He could miss his mom, miss home, and still love the people in front of him. It was still Christmas.
He didn’t realize he was crying until Beomgyu sat next to him and softly offered him a tissue. He wiped his eyes and looked at the smiling boy next to him.
Beomgyu nudged him gently, “Open your presents Taehyun. It’s the last thing on your Christmas Wishlist, isn’t it? To make the, I believe this says at the top here, most fun-est Christmas ever!”
He held up the glitter covered list that he and Kai had made in the beginning of their vacation. The one that he had thrown at Beomgyu’s face after punching him.
He laughed and tackled Beomgyu in a hug.
“It already is, Beomgyu.”