The Everchanging Christmas Spirit I/II
Title: The Everchanging Christmas Spirit
Pairing: Fanxing
Rating: PG-13 for this part, NC-17 for second part
Warning: Vaguely implied mpreg
Length: ~10.5k in total I had to cut it after all in the end fml
Summary: Christmas went similarly in the Zhang household each year, but as time passes, traditions inevitably change. Yixing valued his traditions, but as long as he could be with Yifan and their sons, he was willing to adapt to the situation. After all the Christmas spirit came from his family, so in the end it was all about them being together.
A/N: A Christmas gift for Maine, because she is my biggest enabler. Hope you like it, dear ♥ And this is for all the Fanxing shippers out there who still stick with the pairing; you all encourage me to keep on writing and posting! I hope you haven't eaten your christmas sweets yet, because combined with this story you might end up with cavities. Just saying.
Merry Christmas to you all ♥♥♥
The Everchanging Christmas Spirit
Decorating the flat for christmas had always been one of Yixing's favourite parts about christmas and therefore it was just a logical consequence that Yixing would be given the task to do so year after year. Though it was probably a tad pretentious to claim the task was given to Yixing, since he wouldn't have accepted anyone else to take charge of turning a plain flat into some christmas-y wonderland. Least of all his husband who didn't even realize that pants had to have the same length on both legs, and that shorts should not be worn with leggings if you were a guy.
For years, Yixing had sat Yifan down on their living room couch, and forced the taller to remain there while Yixing roamed around the flat, placing all the decoration at it's assigned places.
Christmas decoration was serious business for Yixing, and the process of decorating was a tradition for him that always helped him get properly into the Christmas mood. It was important for him, and he used to be very strict when it came to it.
That was until the Christmas after their eldest son turned two. The little boy was fascinated with all the glitter and lights, and when Yixing put out the little snowmen and Santa figurines, Sehun wasn't content with just sitting by and watching. Instead he waddled after Yixing, and took whatever was in his reach. He would look at the thing in his hands in wonder, before scanning his surroundings and placing the piece in a spot that he deemed more appropriate.
If Yifan would ever have dared to tamper with his decoration like that Yixing would most likely have given him a stern scolding, but the two-year-old just needed to look up at Yixing with expectant eyes, awaiting his praise for helping out, and Yixing couldn't help but smile widely at his son, and pat his head with a chuckle.
He was weak when it came to Sehun-sadly both he and Yifan were-and since the little boy always gurgled in amusement whenever he would find a particularly great spot for a candle, or manage to stick one of the white snowflake stickers to any available surface, Yixing ended up handing parts of their decoration to the child for him to spread around the flat.
The little whirlwind of a boy covered their flat in the most chaotic and unsystematic Christmas decoration Yixing had ever experienced in his life, but he loved every centimetre of it.
When Sehun turned four, he was already a lot better at decorating with a more thoughtful approach, and Yixing trusted him to take care of the windows in the living room while he himself went to hang up the holiday lights on the opposite wall. He had insisted on them buying holidays lights that were long enough to fit the whole expanse of the wall, so that he could spread some christmas-y light in their living room.
Yifan, who was obediently sitting on the couch, huffed when Yixing was close enough to hear him.
At a raised eyebrow from the younger prompting his husband to talk, Yifan crossed his arm's in front of his chest, and his expression morphed into something that was most likely supposed to be a pout. “So you let Sehun help you to decorate, but I have to cook for myself for a week if I so much as try to move a snowman of yours?”
“First of all, you had to cook for yourself for a week because you were trying to replace my snowman with a dragon, and yes, I know you love dragons but they are not associated with Christmas whatsoever. And face it, Sehun's simply cuter than you. He can get away with a lot more than you can.”
“What?” Yifan looked scandalized, his mouth hanging slightly open before he composed his face again, not without puffing up his cheeks though. “I'm very cute as well.”
“Gross.” Yixing judged, but he still leaned down to place a peck on his husbands nose that was slightly contradicting his statement.
“Cute.” The elder tried to correct, stretching up to leave a soft kiss on Yixing's lips instead. The smaller's forehead furrowed in a mock frown, as he withdrew from Yifan's reach.
“Someone's being recalcitrant today. Trying to argue and move.” He mused, shaking his head in disapproval. “Seems like I need to take more drastic measures.”
With that Yixing turned around to look for their son. “Sehunnie, come here for a second.” he called the four-year-old over, who happily piped up at the sound of his name and rushed over to his parents.
Yixing sidestepped, and pointed at Yifan which had Sehun leaping onto the couch and right into his Papa. The giant just released a silent “oof”, but with the small arms winding around his torso and a childish voice chuckling in satisfaction at having tackled his father, Yifan's lips stretched into a wide smile. He lifted the small boy up to place him on his lap properly.
“No need to get all cozy you two.” Yixing was almost reluctant to break up the picture in front of him, but he couldn't let his plan go to waste. “Sehunnie, you remember where I left the box marked with an X, right?”
He peered down into Sehun's eyes, and the boy nodded his head eagerly. “You're doing so well with decorating, that I've got a special task for you.” At the prospect of an important task the little one's eyes downright sparkled, and he sat very still expectantly. “Your Papa's looking awfully plain in comparison with the rest of the flat. Go get the box and make your Papa a bit prettier. Would you do that for me?”
It wasn't as if it really was a question, because Sehun was more than overeager to scramble off Yifan's lap and rush into the hallway to fetch the said box.
At the same time the four-year-old jumped up Yifan released a whine, getting ready to complain, but Yixing cut him off with a warningly raised eyebrow. After throwing a quick glance over his shoulder to make sure Sehun was not yet back, Yixing leaned down to whisper into Yifan's ear, so as to rule out any possibility of Sehun hearing them. “Behave and let Sehun do as he wishes, or I'll get to top tonight.”
Yifan wanted to protest, but their son had already re-entered the room, so Yixing placed a finger on Yifan's lips to shut the elder up. Additionally he raised one eyebrow, as if challenging Yifan to test him on his threat, but Yifan admitted defeat easily.
With a smile on his lips Yixing patted Yifan on the head, before he made space for Sehun to get to work. The little boy put the box down on the couch, almost tore it open and then took out whatever he could reach first.
Deciding to let Sehun do his own thing, Yixing went to finish up the hallway and kitchen. He was just lining their kitchen cupboards with christmas lights when Sehun came running into the room.
“Baba, Baba, I'm all done. Papa looks really pretty now.” He exclaimed excitedly, and tugged at Yixing's shirt to drag his father with him to show off his work. Yixing chuckled at his son's enthusiasm, and quickly fixed the last light to the cupboard before following after the bouncing four-year-old to the living room.
A slightly grumpy looking Yifan, all bundled up in tinsel, with baubles stuck to his shirt, a santa hat on his head and a proud Sehun flashing a V-sign standing beside him on the couch was their christmas card motive that year, and Yixing also got a print of it to put in a picture frame and hang on their walls.
Yixing argued that it was too cute to not be displayed and that it was documenting a creative work of their son, but Yifan insisted that Yixing just wanted to use the picture to keep on teasing him about it. The younger would usually just smile knowingly and shut up Yifan's complaints by throwing his arms about the latter's neck and kissing him. It was a method that always worked wonders.
The year after Yifan didn't have time to complain about Sehun getting to help Yixing decorate, because he was occupied with overlooking Yiming either way. Their second son was barely four months old when Christmas rolled around, and Yifan was unwilling to let him out of his sight for more than two minutes.
While Sehun and Yixing bustled around their flat, Yifan sat in the rocking chair they had bought close before Yiming's birth. The little baby boy was cradled in his arms and he sang christmas carols to it in a low voice. Yiming had been smaller than Sehun when he had been born, and Yifan, who tended to worry too much either way, had been downright terrified every time the small bundle so much as hiccuped.
Yixing thought it was adorable on one hand, but it also could be very stressful, if Yixing had to continuously calm down his husband to stop him from driving to the hospital right away whenever Yiming coughed. Sehun had already turned five that year, so Yixing's memory was a bit fuzzy, but he recalled that Yifan had been similarly jumpy with their first child as well when he was still a newborn.
It had already gotten a lot better in the past months, but Yifan still made sure to keep as close an eye on Yiming as possible. The fact that Yiming tended to start crying as soon as he was put in his cradle didn't really help though, because Yifan was just too weak to let the baby cry.
Yixing liked to call him whipped, which usually earned him a poked-out tongue, but they both knew it was true.
“Is he sleeping?” Yixing asked in a whisper when he came into the room. Sehun was still replacing his plushies on his bed with the reindeer and snowman plushies Luhan and Minseok had got him for Christmas the year prior.
Yifan looked up from the boy in his arms to smile at his husband. “Fell asleep half an hour ago I think.”
A little smacking noise was heard from Yiming as the baby moved his lips in his sleep, and Yixing just barely managed to contain his cooing, settling on a fond smile instead. When he moved closer to Yifan, the taller willingly passed the sleeping boy to Yixing's expectant arms.
“Already done with decorating?” Yifan asked, rising from his seat to kiss Yixing's forehead. He took notice of the dark circles around Yixing's eyes that were just starting to get less pronounced. The first few months Yiming had hardly let them get more than two hours of consecutive sleep a night, sometimes only two hours of sleep in total.
Roughly a month ago he had started sleeping through better, and both his parents were infinitely grateful for that.
“Sure, Sehun is a very experienced helper by now.” Yixing replied, and tiptoed to properly kiss Yifan, not satisfied with just a kiss to the forehead.
They moved to the children's room, and Yixing placed Yiming in his bed carefully so as not to wake the baby. But the little boy simply kept on sleeping, even as Yifan and Yixing exited the room.
“I wish I could stay home with you three for longer.” Yifan admitted, as they made their way back to the living room. “Can't I be the housewife and mother in this relationship?”
The younger snorted in response. “You, housewife? I don't think that'd be very good for either Sehun's or Yiming's health.” He mocked, before turning a bit more serious. “I wish you could stay home for a bit longer as well, but as long as your job pays most of our bills, I guess we don't have many options.”
Yifan conceded with a sigh. His job might be demanding, but he was good at it and it earned him enough money to feed their family even if Yixing wasn't making that much money from his music.
That night after dinner Yiming was awake again, but as they were all sitting in the living room together, Sehun was the one keeping his baby brother occupied as he lay beside the baby on the floor, talking happily to it as if it were a full-fledged conversational partner.
“See, we'll be fine without you.” Yixing murmured to Yifan, keeping his eyes on his sons.
“I never doubted that, but no need to be so cocky.” Yifan replied, tightening his hold on Yixing.
Yixing leaned back into the backhug, and relaxed on the couch. It wasn't long until Yiming started crying, and no matter how much Sehun tried to console him with patting his head and telling him that everything was okay, the little boy didn't stop until Yixing got up to collect him in his arms, gently rocking him while walking up and down with him and murmuring soothing words.
Sehun looked slightly dejected at the fact that he had been unable to calm Yiming down, and when Yifan held his arms out in invitation Sehun quickly rushed into his father's embrace.
“No need to feel bad, you're being a really good big brother.” Yifan told the five-year-old, petting him gently. “There are just some things only your Baba can set right.”
Sehun didn't seem completely convinced, but when Yixing placed the baby in the boy's arms as soon at the former was silent once more, he was more than happy to hold his brother to his chest.
Time passed fast in their household, and before Yixing knew what was happening, Yiming turned into a toddler and Sehun had started school.
“Baba, Baba, when is Papa back?” Yiming asked, for roughly the twentieth time, tugging at Yixing's pants when he wasn't immediately acknowledged.
It was the day before Christmas Eve, and Yixing was busy preparing all the dishes for their festive Christmas dinner. He liked to have a bit of extravagant food that day, and since he knew of his husbands love for food he tried to make all his favourite this year.
Yifan had got a promotion in late June, and while it meant that he earned more money and had a more challenging job that was less likely to bore him, it sadly also included a lot more of travelling.
Yifan's overseas education, and his resulting proficiency in english made him the perfect candidate in his company for international negotiations. The last half year Yifan had been sent to all parts of China, and occasionally overseas as well, as far as America and Canada even.
The trips within China weren't that bad, because he hardly ever was gone for more than two or three days. It was a whole different matter with his trips abroad though. Usually these were about a week long, but for the end-of-year business he had had to attend a lot of customers at once, making sure the contracts still went through before the holidays started.
So Yixing felt as if he had spent most of the Christmas season on Skype this year, lapping up every pixelated second he could get with his far-away husband. Sehun and Yiming also had started getting more and more whiny for their father, and when Yixing told them that Papa would be back that day, they had immediately run to the door, as if the blond would walk through the door right away.
Yixing had just laughed and told them that they would still have to wait for a few hours.
“Papa will be back really soon, I promise you, darling.” Yixing told Yiming, picking up the toddler to hold him at eye level.
The three-year-old pushed his lip out in a pout. “I want Papa back.”
“Believe me, I want Papa to be back here too.” Yixing admitted, and pecked his son on the top of his head, before turning back towards the counter. Yiming was still sat on his hip. “It's almost lunchtime. Are you hungry yet, baby?”
Yiming seemed to think about it a moment, slightly cocking his head to the side the way he had seen Yixing do countless times, before nodding in affirmation.
“Then I'll fix you up something real quick. Go get your brother for me, will you?” Yixing asked as he set the little boy back on the ground, who quickly rushed out, calling for his gege.
Since he had been cooking the whole morning either way, Yixing only needed to take a bit from some of the dishes he had already finished preparing. Just as he was placing the plates on the table, Yiming returned, his brother in tow.
“Found him!” the younger one announced proudly as he immediately strode past Yixing to climb onto his chair.
“Good job, baby.” Yixing praised, petting his hair before lifting him into his seat to stop the struggle.
Then the brunet turned to his eldest son, who was already seated at the table, chopsticks in his hands and ready to dig in. “How's your homework going? If you have any problems, just ask me, okay?”
Sehun, mouth already full with food, just mumbled something that sounded like an affirmative. After he had swallowed, he told Yixing that he was doing fine, and that he was almost through with all the tasks they had been given for the holidays. Yixing just nodded in acknowledgement.
“When will Papa be back? You said he will be back today.” Sehun asked some time into their lunch, and Yixing sighed internally at hearing the same question again and again. It was endearing that their children were missing Yifan as much as he was, but it also constantly reminded him of the tall man's absence.
“I don't know the exact time, but he'll be back before tonight for sure.” He told his son, and Sehun seemed satisfied with that answer because he turned back to his food.
It irked Yixing that he didn't know when exactly his husband would be back. Usually Yifan told him, but this time Yifan didn't want Yixing to come and fetch him from the airport, because holiday traffic was horrible and he would not want his husband to be stuck in it. And he knew that the only way to keep Yixing from coming for certain was to not even tell him when he was arriving in the first place. Sometimes Yixing hated how well Yifan knew him.
After they all finished their food, Yixing assigned Sehun to look over his baby brother for a bit, so that he would be able to finish his cooking uninterrupted. Sehun easily agreed, offering his hand to the three-year-old and dragging him after him out of the kitchen and in the direction of the younger's room.
Yixing was sure he had told his boys to tidy up their rooms before Yifan got home, but he knew all of Yiming's toys were still strewn across the floor. It had been rather optimistic to believe the three-year-old would tidy up his room by himself either way. Most likely Yixing would end up being stuck with cleaning up, but it wasn't as if he wasn't already used to it. At least Yiming was always very eager to help. The little boy loved to sort the things Yixing handed him into the boxes his father pointed to.
While doing the dishes Yixing listened to the voices of his sons playing down the hallway, and it calmed his anticipation of finally seeing Yifan again. Somehow he thought how ridiculous it was how long a month could seem, but before Yifan took on his current position in his job, they had hardly been separated for more than a week in nearly ten years, and whenever Yifan was away, Yixing simply didn't feel whole.
Their children helped filling up the hole, but there was a space only Yifan fit into, and even though Yixing had tried very hard, he hadn't properly been feeling the Christmas spirit with some part of himself missing.
Sure, the flat was decorated, and Christmas carol's were playing on repeat, but Yixing had still spent so much time at his phone, waiting for a message or a call from Yifan that the months seemed endless while Christmas time seemed to pass without his notice at the same time.
Caught in his musing, and with the water running, Yixing almost missed the sound of keys turning in the front door. Only almost though, because as soon as there was the sound of the door opening he heard his eldest son shouting “Papa!” excitedly. It was followed by the sound of Sehun's rapid steps as he ran, and a soft thud when he collided with his fathers body, Yixing was guessing.
Immediately after, Yiming squealed “Papa!” as well and another set of feet, these ones more clumsy, rushed down the hallway.
Yixing's first urge was to throw everything down and follow his kids' example to rush into his husbands arms, but he forced himself to be reasonable, to finish rinsing the dish he was busy with and to dry his hands afterwards.
Only then did he allow himself to head for the hallway. As soon as he passed the doorframe, he stopped for a moment to take in the sight of his husband caught in a bear hug by their sons.
All it took to for him to lose his calm was Yifan looking up, and smiling widely at him. “I'm home.”
Within seconds he had crossed the distance between them, and Yifan disentangled himself from the children to take a step towards Yixing, who basically flung himself into Yifan's arms.
A familiar scent surrounded him, and he felt Yifan tighten his hold around him as the elder buried his nose in his neck as well. Yixing relished the feeling of being able to touch his husband again, then he pulled slightly back from the hug to desperately kiss the lips he had missed for so long.
Yifan happily responded to the hungry kiss, and Yixing tilted his head to deepen the kiss, uncaring of their surroundings. He only parted for long enough to whisper “I missed you.” then he leaned back in.
Both had almost forgotten about their children, but neither Sehun nor Yiming liked to be ignored. The elder let out a disgusted sounding “Eww.” and followed it up by an accusing “Baba, Papa, you're being gross.”
Reminded of having company, Yixing reluctantly drew back from Yifan, but kept close enough to feel the taller's breath ghost over his face, their gaze still locked.
“I guess we are.” Yixing conceded, not sounding sorry at all as his eyes twinkled with mirth and his mouth stretched into a wide smile.
Yifan leaned down place a peck on the dimple appearing in Yixing's cheek, drawing a satisfied chuckle from the smaller male.
“It's been so long.” he breathed out, and Yixing read all of his own emotions, the longing and elatedness of being back home, in Yifan's eyes.
“Too long. I don't know how I went a month without you.” Yixing admitted, but they didn't have time for more than a short kiss as Sehun and Yiming decided they had to take more drastic measures to separate their parents.
The three-year-old squeezed himself in between his embracing parents, so that they couldn't help but stepping apart.
“Papa, Yiming wants up!” the toddler declared, holding his arms out as an indication, and Yifan was unable to resist the urge of leaning down and picking his son up.
“You've grown so big!” he told the little boy. It wasn't entirely the truth, Yiming had not changed that much in the time Yifan was gone, but the statement made Yiming grin happily before he threw his arms around his father's neck anyhow.
At the same time Sehun was tugging incessantly at Yifan's pants, urging the adult to follow him into his room because he wanted to show off the picture he had drawn for school. Yifan threw his husband an apologetic glance, but Yixing just smiled at him reassuringly. “Go ahead, I still have some dishes to attend to either way.”
He had already turned half-way to return to his work when Yifan caught his arm. “You don't need to do the dishes. I bet you've been in the kitchen all day already either way. I can take care of cleaning up.”
Yixing just placed a hand on his husbands cheek, gently caressing the smooth skin there. The elder must have shaved that morning, he noted. “It's okay, Fan. Better go and spend some time with your children, these two have been continuously nagging me about wanting to see you the last weeks.”
Sehun huffed in affirmation, putting more strength into his tugging, and chanting “Papa, come on.”, which had Yixing pet the little boy's head affectionately.
Yifan didn't look properly convinced, and his expression asked wordlessly if Yixing was really okay with it. If he was being honest, Yixing would have loved to keep Yifan all to himself, but he also wanted to present a clean flat to Yifan and have his children have a share of their father. So he just leaned in to place a peck on the elder's cheek. Yiming squirmed a little when he was slightly squished between them, but he also laughed as if it was a game when Yixing tickled his neck slightly.
After pulling back, Yixing made shooing motions, and Yifan finally gave in to Sehun's dragging. His steps were slow at first, as if he still was unconvinced, but then Sehun let go of him to run ahead, and Yifan finally picked up his pace as he followed after his overzealous son.
With a fond shake of his head, Yixing went back to tend to the dishes. The work hadn't changed, but Yixing's mood was infinitely better as he scrubbed and rinsed all the pots and plates. He even found himself humming along to the Christmas carols playing. The flat seemed like a warmer place again with his husbands deep baritone droning from Sehun's room, paired with the voices of his sons laughing and talking excitedly over each other.
Finishing up his cleaning as quickly as he could, Yixing prepared a little snack for Yifan, because he knew the other never ate well whenever he was travelling. Despite his love for food, Yifan always claimed he could put his body into “travel mode”, where he neither got hungry nor thirsty and could sit still for hours on end.
In a way Yixing understood Yifan, because whenever he was practicing a particularly hard dance move, or if he was in the middle of writing a song that was flowing along, he could easily forget eating or drinking properly as well, but that didn't mean he condoned his husband when the other did not nourish himself properly.
Yixing found Yifan in Sehun's room, a circle of mainly Yiming's toys spread around him, with a few of Sehun's toy cars interspersed. The tall blond was sitting cross-legged on the floor, both kids sitting on his lap as he was reading one of Sehun's books to them. His voice was hushed, so Yixing couldn't be sure what book it was exactly, but he guessed it was Sehun's favourite fairy tale book, because their son always forced his father to read it to him.
Occasionally Yifan would retort by fetching some of Sehun's practice books for the third-grader to read out loud. Sehun wasn't the biggest fan of reading, but it always served as an incentive to impress his parents with how good he already was at it.
Unwilling to rip his family out of their quiet moment, Yixing leaned against the doorframe and just watched his three boys. Only then did he notice that Yifan was still dressed in the suit he had worn for work, all rumpled now from playing with the children.
A slow smile etched itself onto his features. His family was whole again, just in time for Christmas.
For the first night in months Yixing slept well that night, with Yifan's warmth wrapped around him and his scent in his nose. He didn't even particularly mind when Yiming traipsed into their room just before 6am, jumping on their bed until both were awake, chanting “It's Christmas, it's Christmas.” over and over again.
Yifan simply groaned at being awoken, while Yixing couldn't help but grin. Any other day he would probably have been slightly miffed at being awoken that early, but he felt too happy to mind it that morning.
His husband thought otherwise though. When Yiming climbed onto their blanket-covered upper bodies, Yifan sat up quickly, and caught the small body in his arms, before lying back down and
forcing Yiming down with him, hugging the little boy close to his body as if he was a stuffed animal.
“'s still time to sleep.” He mumbled, acting as if he was going back to sleep, uncaring of the toddler in his arms squealing and laughing loudly as he tried to break free. Yiming's struggling went on for a few minutes, then Yifan gave up with a weary sigh, and turned so that he was lying on his back, with Yiming on top of his chest. “Will you let Papa sleep longer if he sings for you?”
The little boy cocked his head as if thinking about it, before breaking into a wide grin. “No!” he exclaimed, and planted a wet kiss on his father's chin, before jumping up and running out of the bedroom, most likely in search for his toys.
“It was so nice when I just had to sing for him to fall asleep.” Yifan mused, turning his head to face his husband who was sitting upright already next to him.
“Guess that only works for babies.” Yixing replied, and moved to hover over Yifan, leaning down to kiss the blond. “If you want that again you'll need another baby.”
The elder cocked one eyebrow in response. “Now, don't give me these ideas, Zhang Yixing.” He whispered, before bringing his hands up to Yixing's back to pull the younger down enough to press his mouth to Yixing's.
The brunet happily settled his weight against Yifan's chest, responding to the kiss. “It's not my fault you immediately want to get to work on another one, Zhang Yifan.”
His husband just smirked up at him, and moved in for another kiss. His tongue was just prodding at Yixing's lips, looking to deepen the kiss, when Yiming ran back into the room.
The three-year-old, visibly upset about the fact that no one followed him, positioned himself at the side of their bed. “Baba, Papa, get up!” He demanded, a disgruntled pout on his face.
Yifan and Yixing shared a knowing glance as they reluctantly parted, and after stealing one last peck the younger climbed off his husband to tend to their impatient son, so that Yifan might at least doze for a little while longer.
The blond didn't stay in bed for much longer though, patting sleepily into the kitchen with a yawn shortly after. As he sat down at the table, Yixing immediately placed a steaming mug of coffee in front of him. Throwing a grateful smile at the smaller, Yifan placed his hands around the colourful print of a dragon on the porcelain, drawing on the heat of the liquid to warm himself up.
Morning and noon passed quickly with two children being excited to have both their parents back, and demanding more attention than usually.
Once the sun had set, Yixing left Yifan to tend to their sons, while he went to finish the dishes he had already prepared the day prior. He set the table, complete with Christmas themed decoration the way he did every year, and having gone so overboard with his variety of dishes, he hardly fit all of the platters and plates on the space available.
Yifan's mouth opened in awe when he followed Yixing's calls for dinner. Astonished, he faced his husband, asking him if he had really prepared all that by himself. At the affirmative answer, he shook his head in slight disbelief, calling him an idiot for putting that much work into their Christmas dinner, that it wouldn't have been necessary.
But Yixing read his happiness at the sight of all the food from his expression and his words, and it made him feel elated in turn that he could be the source of it.
Dinner was a noisy affair, with Sehun and Yiming talking about anything and everything, though mainly speculating on what Santa had brought them.
Both boys were more on the edge of their seat the longer dinner dragged on, and eventually Yifan took pity on them. He declared their meal to be over, and Sehun basically leapt out of his seat, rushing to wait in front of their living room. Yixing always closed the door to lay out the presents, so that neither Sehun nor Yiming nor Yifan had a chance to spy at them beforehand and play detective.
Yiming would have loved to follow after his big brother, but since he tended to still be a bit clumsy, Yixing always placed him in a chair from which he would not be able to get up from by himself.
So the three-year-old had to wait for Yifan to come over and lift him from his seat, but as soon as he was in his father's arms the little boy seemed reluctant to part from him again, giving Yifan no other choice than to carry his son. Not as if he minded though, if his smile was anything to go by.
Originally Yifan and Yixing had once wanted to uphold the tradition of opening the gifts on the 25th, but even when Sehun had still been an only child he had always nagged and begged until his parents gave in. Which meant that they all gathered on the couch, and one after one went to get their presents.
Yifan had gotten a lot of foreign toys for the children from his travels, while Yixing got a set of purple plectrums with little stars etched into them and a new set of high-end headphones, that left him gaping at Yifan for minutes, before he threw himself into the other's arms, thanking him over and over again. His last pair had broken a few month prior, but Yixing felt guilty about it since it was his own fault, so he hadn't dared tell the other. Frankly, he didn't know how Yifan found out about the headphones, but the elder was a lot more perceptive than he might seem at first glance.
Aside from small trinkets Yifan's presents were a cozy, furry grey sweater and a pair of sunglasses. Yixing hadn't been sure if he wasn't being a bit too sentimental when he had let the names of their children be engraved into the frame, but Yifan's eyes lit up when he found the engraving and it was all the confirmation Yixing needed.
After all presents had been opened, and Yiming and Sehun had surely ingested their own weight in chocolate-something they were only allowed to do on Christmas, and Yixing silently envied the strength of their stomachs-Yixing got his guitar, wanting to try out his new plectrums right away.
They ended up singing christmas carols together, and while Sehun quickly lost interest and went to play with the miniature luxury car replicas he had got, Yiming eagerly joined Yifan and Yixing. Even though the little boy was slightly off-tone occasionally, he was doing an overall good job of singing along. Yifan always claimed that he got his musical talent from Yixing, while Yixing insisted it all came from Yifan singing to the little boy all the time when he was still a baby.
“I think it's time to go to sleep now.” Yifan announced, after he noticed that it was almost nine pm. Usually Yiming would never have been allowed to stay up this long, but they always made an exception for Christmas Eve. That didn't stop the little boy from basically falling asleep on Yixing's lap already though.
Sehun on the other side claimed to still be very much awake, but Yixing had already caught his surreptitious yawns and drooping eyes, and had noticed how the eight-year-old had grown more and more silent.
His prrotesting didn't stop Yixing and Yifan from making both children get ready for bed, before Yifan went to put Sehun to bed and Yixing took Yiming to tuck him in. With Yiming already being tired either way, it was an easy task to get him to sleep, but Yixing still stayed for a while after the boy had apparently drifted of to dreamland. He sang quiet lullabies to him, the same way he had always done for Sehun when the boy had still wanted songs instead of the stories he wanted now.
Studying his son's sleeping form for a few more minutes, Yixing reluctantly decided to leave the room eventually, since he couldn't stay there forever, and he was eager to get to his husband. Throwing one last glance back at Yiming's bed, Yixing stepped through the doorway and drew the door closed behind him.
( second part)