RE意識 (au contrant) | tvxq, au.
six of - ???
6857w.
ao3
paper scatters across the room, the sound of scissors cutting through it hardly audible over the bright sound of laughter. changmin smiles at his company, more than enjoying their time together as they wrap christmas presents. kiyiya, crystal and changmin’s father make light about the children who poke their heads in from time to time and the others-boa and jihye are so childish-keep trying to take a sneak peak at the presents.
“they’re never going to grow up,” kiyiya huffs after shooing jihye away from the door for the nth time. “you think they would considering that they age the way they do.”
“we are not having the age conversation,” changmin says firmly, not resisting laughing at jihye’s antics, knowing that kiyiya’s found his match in every way.
“he’s right, though.” crystal says, taping a corner of bright red paper down. “they really don’t.”
changmin tsks. “boa’s a full blooded fox, they’re entirely different.”
“doubt it,” kiyiya snorts. “canines are canines.”
changmin’s father speaks up with laughter in his voice, tall frame poised with mirth, eyeing the work of his wrapped box speculatively. “your mother was much the same.”
“yeah, but i mean-” changmin stops, wanting to say that yunho would never do such a thing, but the thought of it sends a sliver of sadness across his chest. the others notice, and the same, almost sympathetic look crossing their faces makes him slightly annoyed.
“i’m sure he’ll be back in time,” kiyiya assures him. “he never takes very long when it comes to the council. he tries not to let it show but he completely hates their guts.”
“mm. it’s nothing.” changmin cuts through paper decorated in shimmery snowflakes, suddenly noting how overly domestic he’s become since reuniting with his old wolven family. he gives a bright smile, derails that vaguely disturbing thought, and looks down at yunho’s christmas present beneath his hands. it’s wrapped perfectly, but, “dad, how do you get your ribbons to curl that way? this is about to drive me crazy.”
allowing the change in subject, changmin’s father settles him with a knowing look, his clear eyes bright. “like this,” he says, rolling out a slither of ribbon and expertly cutting through the end, the ribbon curling perfectly. changmin repeats the motion, his own silver ribbon curling almost as well.
“parents just seem to know these things,” kiyiya says as crystal battles with her own gift box, the wrapping paper not folding the way she wants it to.
“dear elder gods, children.” crystal groans.
“you’re not even mates yet, don’t stress about it.” changmin laughs lightly, guessing the thoughts running through crystal’s mind. “boa will want time for just you before children are even thought of coming into the mix.”
“i sincerely hope so?” crystal sighs. “i was a hellion as a child, and my family always used to tell me that your children are worse than you.”
changmin snorts, arching an eyebrow. “if that were true then there wouldn’t be any piece of japan left standing.”
“oh, there’s still a huge chance, just you wait!” kiyiya jokes, eyes glinting with laughter, then, “your ears are pierced, right changmin?”
changmin blinks at the left filed question. “yeah,” he says slowly, absently tucking his hair and running a finger down his left lobe, the four discernible dips in the skin on display. “just the left one. why?”
“no reason,” kiyiya grins, to which changmin raises a brow, shrugs and goes back to wrapping when kiyiya once again turns to the door to once again shoo away jihye.
in time the presents become wrapped and placed securely under the tree. noon passes, the sun dips, the stars come out, and dinner goes by. crystal and boa leave to their own level with sultry twitches in their unconcealed tails and vaguely hurried murmurs of departure. kiyiya takes jihye and their twins for bed. changmin settles his sisters into the second guest room for the night, finds his father by his lonesome down stairs and with the lights dimmed.
his father looks out the windows at the sparkling world below them, his face reflecting in the glass, features smooth, forever frozen at the age of thirty six.
“i am still not used to it,” changmin laughs quietly as he walks over to his father, a glass of blood spiked eggnog in hand; he hates the taste and smell of the drink on it’s own, but the wonders that the a-b negative yunho makes a point to keep in the fridge do. around them had been chaos as his sisters, jiyeon and sooyeon, had gave into their childish urges, chasing min and jin and merrily, excitedly, calling them ‘cousin’.
hours before jihye had been standing where changmin currently stood, holding kiyiya’s hand as he spoke with boa’s newly arrived brothers, who in turn had argued the finer points of canine relations with them in a quiet voice. changmin’s grandfather, who’d been flown over from japan for the occasion, frozen at twenty nine and more withdrawn, hadn’t seemed to know what to do with himself, and had made himself busy with one of yunho’s older volumes on one of the couches. niri, one of boa’s sibling’s mate, kitsune herself, had made merry with crystal kay, banded together with boa, sharing stories and showing tiny fire tricks when the children had bothered to pay attention.
chaos it had been, but changmin appreciates having had the usually quiet apartment filled with people, the noise filling the open space and closing the walls in, making it feel more home than it ever had.
“it’s strange, coming to see you here, to see all of them-” changmin’s father begins, hazel eyes looking around to take everything in, the color the same from when he was born. “it is rather nice, though.”
“very,” changmin takes a tiny, distracting sip from his glass, mirth in his tone. “holidays will be much livelier from here on out.”
changmin’s father looks at him, hard and assessing, eyes, for a brief moment, seeming to crinkle around the edges with age. dauntless, unafraid, and more amused than anything else, changmin takes another sip of his eggnog, very pointedly arches an eyebrow.
“you are happier here.” changmin’s father says finally, mouth tilting in a smile, features smoothing again.
“it’s nice being around the others, having them back and knowing that they do not resent me for-” stopping, changmin sucks in a breath between his teeth, lengthened and nicking at the inside of his lips. “it’s nice to live with yunho and boa. it’s not as lonely.”
“i know,” changmin’s father says sagely. “should your sisters be doing anything else but being loud with their dance and singing practice, i might have made myself scarce.”
“they need to find their way, too.” changmin says with a small laugh, seeing the apologetic crease of his father’s brow for what it really is. “i’m more focused here, yunho quite enjoys discussing my studies with me. helps me remember.”
“still odd, that you live with another man and-”
“yunho and i are friends, dad. it would be the same if i needed a roommate and he applied. we live together. that’s it.” changmin rebuts firmly. “actually, i find that this is better. yunho is understanding, and more often than not we find ourself lamenting over the past. it is good to get it out.”
“well,” changmin’s father turns his eyes back to the window, hands clasping behind his back, tone genuine. “i’m glad that you have people that truly understand. it is still new to me as it was then, this pack thing you’ve reassimilated into.”
“don’t worry, dad. me too.” changmin sighs, though he fully acknowledges that he had fallen into it quite eagerly, the old ache and pain ruling his human blood and henceforth fueling his every decision. each day in yunho’s home-“our home,” yunho calls it-makes him forget more and more what it’s like to not necessarily be alone, but without pack. a mere two months have passed, and changmin cannot imagine living on his own again, not the way he was before.
“min, juice?” jiyeon calls, brown eyes twinkling in the low light as she peeks down over the landing rail. changmin nods at her, smiling at her childish inquire.
“sure, kid. just a second.”
“oh, now you know she misses you.” changmin’s father laughs quietly, shakes his head and spares a last glance out the window. “i’m going to bed. today has been too long and i’m getting too old.”
“…. you’re thirty-six and immortal-”
“hush, boy.”
changmin laughs, accepting his father’s hug before he turns to go up the stairs. changmin’s grandfather follows, and jiyeon passes them on their way up as she comes down.
changmin looks at her, sipping his ruddy eggnog. “what?”
“juice,” she says, taking his free hand and steering him towards the kitchen.
“you’re seventeen.” changmin sighs dramatically, opening the fridge and pouring her a glass anyway. “why can’t you get your own juice.”
jiyeon accepts the glass gratefully. “i would,” she takes a drink, let’s her shoulders sag happily. “always tastes better when you pour it.”
the words come out kind of tight. changmin meets his sisters stare with one of his own, his mouth turning down just slightly. their father is right. jiyeon misses him, and anyone can see it in the lines of her body.
“don’t look like that.” jiyeon finishes, tilting the glass all the way back and sighing contentedly. she puts the glass in the sink, runs a bit of water. “we don’t miss you that much.”
“brat.”
“asshole.”
“woah, easy,” changmin’s brows shoot up, his mouth splitting into a grin that jiyeon mirrors. “you definitely miss me, but tonight’s not a night for a wrestling match. not that you’d even win.”
jiyeon rolls her eyes. “puh-lease, you couldn’t even land a hi-ow.”
a small clean cut opens across jihye’s wrist, knits over and closes as quickly as it appeared.
“pinned ya,” changmin says matter of factly, sauntering over to the couches, catching jihye when she rounds the kitchen counter and tries to tackle him. he laughs, a full, shaking thing, and throws her trough the air toward the stairs, delighted in her indignant shriek.
changmin watches with keen eyes as jiyeon’s hand wraps around the rail, legs folding under her in a quick-fast perch, eyes wide and ponytail a mess. she looks harried, like a cat who can’t believe what just happened, and from where he stands, changmin can tell that her teeth have lengthened.
“changmin!”
“pinned ya again,” changmin snorts, waving a dismissive hand. “it’s late and you’re loud. go to bed.”
gingerly getting down and quickly inspecting the metal railing for any sort of damage, jiyeon gives him a speculative look.
“you waiting up?”
“mm.”
“want some company?”
“i’m good jiyeon, i have reading to catch up on anyway.” changmin tells her with a smile. his sister gives him a long, hard stare that reminds him of too much of himself, then bounces her shoulders in a shrug, heading up the stairs.
“if he said he’d try to make it,” jiyeon calls, still climbing. “i don’t see him missing it.”
“he has things he needs to see to.”
“he is a lot like his sister, only more. don’t worry, min. he’ll be here.”
the door to the guestroom clicks shut, and changmin stands, warmed by his sister’s certainty as he looks back out the window, watching planes go by in the distance. he tries not to wonder if yunho is on board for each one.
humming minutely to himself changmin makes himself busy, clearing the tables of left out fruit platters and cookies, storing everything away in the fridge for the morning. he lets his mind stay carefully blank as he loads the dishwasher, uncaring that he is so avidly listening for the sound of the front door.
changmin dries his hands when he’s done, thrum of the dishwasher fading into the background as he scopes the living room for any type of mess. he finds himself at the christmas tree, lights glancing off the glass tables and windows, sparkling against the ornaments.
boa had made it her duty to make the tree perfect, using her magic to float the twins and changmin’s sisters into the air so that they could easily twine the lights around it, toss the silvery tinsel with childish abandon. even still changmin can see glittery spots where pieces of tinsel had landed, some not even remotely close to the tree.
he leaves the tinsel be, mentally noting to vacuum after tomorrow, and sits down in front of the tree, stares up at it.
changmin’s old family star is sitting atop it proudly, nearly eleven feet in the air, reflecting the lights. under the muted hum of the dishwasher he briefly imagines a clock ticking like back home, a slightly out of bounds notion, because yunho does not like ticking clocks, the noise of it grates on his sensitive ears.
changmin looks at yunho’s present next, wrapped in blue snowflake paper, bow curling as perfect as he could manage to get it.
as per his usual, changmin had taken up to tutoring others so that he could get a present for everyone-pointedly ignoring the very sleek, very blackcredit card yunho had given him by shoving it to the bottom of his drawer to never be looked at again-and yunho’s present alone had been the one he mentally agonized over. getting presents for the others was simple and easy, but what do you give someone who already has everything? changmin makes a sound in the back of his throat, counting himself lucky that he had had enough energy to walk into one last place and then strike gold. yunho’s gift is custom made, hand crafted and by far the most expensive, but changmin is proud of it, and a small sliver of anxiousness flies through him at the thought of yunho’s reaction to the gift.
sighing, ignoring the faint, tell tale sting starting in the back of his eyes, changmin lays on his front, folds his arms and rests his head there, gaze still locked onto the present’s reflecting the lights in the tree.
the anxiety unfolds harshly, constricting his chest, and changmin growls lowly, upset with himself because he knows the council meeting had been called in as an emergency, upset with himself because he’s become so vigorously attached.
changmin presses his face against his arms, forcing his breathing back to normal as he stills, counts to one hundred and then back.
he realizes that he’d fallen asleep while counting backwards, something shifting him lightly into awareness. the sleep doesn’t surprise him as much as the bright, glowing amber eyes looking down at him with unsure concern do.
“oh.” changmin says, groggy. “you made it.”
yunho’s look turns into something changmin can’t bother to decipher. “i gave you my word that i would try to.”
“i hadn’t thought-”
“i highly rarely fail at anything i attempt,” yunho chuckles as changmin sits up, crossing his legs to sit. knowing, yunho folds his legs under him, takes up the space to his side.
“it’s colorful.” yunho says, looking at the tree curiously. the tree had been picked the day after he left by crystal, and changmin supposes that yunho might find it too much, despite how his smile appears genuine.
“my sisters and the twins love it, boa and crystal too. kiyiya’s family doesn’t celebrate christmas, so i expect they’ll be coming here from now on.”
“good,” yunho says matter of factly. “it’s not a bad thing. i’ve been trying to get jihye to bring them more often for years. packs need times like this, holidays. children, too.”
“they definitely do. crystal kay about had a panic attack thinking about having boa’s kids.”
“i believe they will wait. they’re young still.”
changmin nods silently, eyes on the tree, sleep riddling through his body. he sluggishly sifts through his thoughts, the quiet cozy.
“yunho?” changmin asks after another moment.
“mm?”
changmin sucks a breath through his teeth, not recalling when they had lengthened, and exhales it slowly. “i’m glad you’re here, that you made it back. it wouldn’t feel right if you weren’t.”
tired, comfortable, changmin leans against yunho’s shoulder. contact between them over the past two months has since lost it’s strangeness, and funnily enough, yunho is kind of touchy. changmin himself does not care for too much of it, rare is he to initiate anything, but he never rebuffs any of yunho’s passing advances into his personal space. it’s the same now, as yunho lifts an arm to wrap around changmin’s shoulder, warm, allowing changmin to lean into him.
“you’ve been crying,” yunho observes casually, to which changmin makes a noncommittal sound, truth dinging in him with sleep blanketing his mind.
“i was afraid you wouldn’t make it home.”
“the council is aware of the consequences that come with wasting my time.”
“was there a problem?”
“a couple of eurasian lycans revealed themselves, got captured by an odd group of human scientists, and were experimented on. apparently the humans that took them wanted to broaden their borders and thought that using demonic dna to engineer an army would be an excellent idea.”
changmin wakes up a little, brows knitting as he looks up at yunho, guilt touching down in his gut. “how can you possibly classify that as a waste of time?”
“because the matter was easily fixed, a simple situation compared to the others i’ve delt with. demon existence is kept secret for a reason, and the one’s who were involved, along with the human counterparts, were taken care of with the most basic of tactics.”
“but if they knew-”
“i’m sure that you know there are kinds of us that have abilities to alter memory, especially after you told me of your run in with a nasty swamp nymph during your travels in finland. they’re pure fae, mostly, and those that revealed themselves are going to be handled by them before the sun dares to rise.”
changmin makes a low sound as he blinks slow, gives a momentary pause, not in the mood for the thought of those that can easily make one forget their entire existence. the idea alone evokes unwanted memories.
“a decision was actually made yesterday. just a matter of the council dragging out the niceties, none of which i care for.”
“oh,” changmin finally relaxes. “if something ever occurs again, don’t skip it. the safety of the entirety of our kind is more important than a holiday i do not even celebrate.”
yunho makes a strange noise at that, one that doesn’t care to fully understand.
“jihye is showing. kiyiya says it’s just a boy this time.” changmin tells him, drifting.
“my sister is spreading her genes further and further,” yunho says wryly. changmin makes his own little sound, gives him a smack on the knee to which yunho just chuckles.
“you’re awful.” changmin reprimands, matter of fact, not bothering to hide his own laughter.
“go to bed little vampire. the sun will rise soon enough.”
changmin snorts, standing and stretching. “yes, alpha.”
yunho’s mouth turns up, the nickname more of a petulant tease now than anything, used only when he tells changmin to do something. yunho stands as well, and changmin notes that his concealment is gone, leaving the christmas lights reflecting in the bright amber of his eyes, to shine against his perfectly, purposely ruffled hair. changmin gives into a urge, blames his affectionate state on his tiredness, and hugs yunho because he can.
“bed.” yunho rumbles, deep, voice ladled with a sleepiness that makes it just a tinge raspy.
changmin steps back from his warmth, gives into a childish moment and makes a face at him before taking off toward the stairs with a burst of energy, because no way is he getting caught in a war with yunho at two twelve in the morning.
changmin wakes to two bouncing bundles of wolf that send him flying off of his bed in a tangle of sheets, both screaming in a pitch that makes his teeth stab right through his gums. groggy, disoriented, offended, changmin clutches the blankets, willing the early light away for another five minutes, maybe five hours. persistent tugs and impatient, childish growls. if changmin was coherent he might care about how odd his sudden new title sounds. but he’s not, and he just wants to sleep.
“láymut tl’álk hurry up!” min insists as she bounces on the edge of the bed, eyes bright tin excitement to the point of pale, own little canines peeking through her grin. “even uncle yunho is downstairs already!”
changmin blinks, vision blurry, brows raising. “láymut tl’álk?” he imitates gingerly, thinking on what little kiyiya had taught him of his native tongue, then frowning when he pieces the sounds together, slow in his fatigue. “youngest deer? did your mom tell you to call me that-”
“unimportant!” jin huffs, reaching for changmin’s hair. “presents! presents!”
“no.” changmin bats the child away and falls back into his blankets, sleep flooding back instantly. “five minutes.”
the twins stare at him, affronted, offense filtering over their tiny faces in unison, and changmin’s eyes widen a fraction when their identical features steel over in childish determination. min and jin open their mouths, inhale.
“no. no,” changmin glares at them. “if you scream i will-”
air wooshes out of changmin’s lungs. he bolts upright, tries to anyway. min is sitting on his stomach, mouth pitched in a half frown half pout that she could have only perfected by watching her mother. changmin narrows his eyes at her, then at jin who’s poised at the edge of the bed, ready to jump.
“i will throw you down the stairs.” he threatens, gently, says matter of factly, half awake, hair everywhere and curling wildly about his jaw, adding to his seriousness. he bares his teeth at the twins. “i will throw you down the stairs-”
“changmin!” his father’s voice calls, amused and exasperated, impatient.
changmin groans internally, only vaguely annoyed at the looks of triumph min and jin beam at him. “coming,” changmin calls back, sighing and untangling himself from his blankets.
“you wouldn’t really throw us down the stairs would you láymut tl’àlk?” jin asks casually, too casual as he and his sister lead changmin from the room before he can change his mind and fall back into a dead sleep.
“of course not.” changmin says flatly, picking min up at her request and using his free hand to carve through jin’s lengthening hair. “no, never.”
changmin swears he hears “liar,” muttered at him from somewhere in the direction of the kitchen.
“finally!” jihye and jiyeon shout as changmin comes down the last of the stairs, one twin in the crook of his arm and the other glued to his leg. changmin rubs his eyes and glares at his little sister, eyes playfully blank, because sleepy doesn’t make for good intimidation.
“presents,” sooyeon carefully reminds everyone, picking out a red wrapped box from under the tree and then passing it to kiyiya. changmin finds himself twin free in less than a second as they dive under the tree, boa and crystal kay and jihye, too.
changmin makes a small, tired, indifferent sound in his throat as he makes his way to the couch, ambles ungracefully over the edge and curls up next to yunho. he ignores how his grandfather makes an i told you so face to his father.
“we’ve never done this before, and i have the strongest feeing that it’s going to spread through the pack back home like wildfire,” kiyiya says absentmindedly, carefully unwrapping a gift from boa.
“your mother is going to kill you,” boa’s brother snickers, green eyes glinting with mischief.
“no doubt,” kiyiya sighs. “the pups will enjoy it, though.”
rotation begins as presents are diligently passed out by changmin’s sisters and the twins, they themselves tearing through the wrapping of their own gifts without mercy, putting even jihye to shame as she tore through hers at a more sedate pace.
changmin goes through his gifts with meticulous care, making sure to lee his wrapping confined to a single couch cushion and keeping the gifts with their respectful boxes. his sisters picked out a frame, tacked with a note stating exactly what to use it for. boa’s brothers gift him with a set of intricate combs and traditional hairpins; they’re dappled in silvers and sapphires, and he has to pause to raise an eyebrow-they tell him it’s because of his hair and that, as a member of the kitsune family it’s only appropriate to have, and, “alright but most importantly they match your wicked eye color!”-he appreciates them nonetheless, despite how he itches to give them back. jihye and kiyaya with gift him with earrings, all interlinked with a silver chain braided with a thinner light blue one, and his grandfather’s gifted him a strange array of pressed flowers encased in glass, gently pulsing with magic, and if he knows his grandfather there is no doubt that it’s some relic that he’s to figure out eventually. he notes with no small amount of annoyance that yunho’s mouth tugs into a prominent, amused smirk at the encased flowers.
yunho’s present to changmin makes it’s way through his hands last, and he stares at it, wide out and mouth parted in surprise when he unwraps the shiny black and blue box to reveal a scroll set gingerly in black velvet. the characters are japanese and they are old, but changmin reads them with ease, and then by heart because he’s studied them for so long. the weight of the parchment is dangerously light in his hands, too light for something so important.
“what is said brings dread in this land, in scarlet colors, don’t go out, die from your desire though you might.” changmin says the words quietly, to himself almost, unable to take his eyes from the scroll even as he asks, heart speeding just so, “yunho, how did you get this?”
“santa never tells,” yunho laughs lowly as he at last reaches for his own present, the one changmin had commissioned. changmin finally pauses in his shocked admiration as yunho unwraps the paper of his gift carefully and opens the wooden box the artist stored it in, swathed in smooth silver silk. with a silent inhale changmin closes the scroll as yunho begins to gingerly undo the silk, as little by little the intricately carved statue is exposed, it’s obsidian and translucent red stone glimmers in the morning light.
“oh.” yunho says, hands hovering. “this is-” his eyes are caught on the black and copper wolf with bright yellow eyes that seemingly glow from within, so resembling himself in his natural state. “it’s magnificent, changmin. thank you.”
their moment is quiet and unnoticed as changmin murmurs a merry christmas to yunho, entire pack caught up in their own moments, changmin’s sisters and jihye snapping pictures everywhere.
“alright then, so, who’s going to help me cook?” jihye asks in turn to the twin’s insists t inquires about breakfast. changmin stands in unison with crystal kay, boa, and his sisters, earning a round of snickers, and changmin once again finds himself in an overly, but not unenjoyed, domestic situation. there’s food already started, and changmin wonders if he had really been sleep so long that his best friend had actual time to prepare an entire two hams. the kitchen turns into a whirlwind of activity in minutes, all dancing around each other in their tasks and changmin being unofficially appointed into the “hey, can you get this down for me,” position. he doesn’t mind it though, just lets himself enjoy the sense of normality as his family celebrates in union.
normality, changmin thinks as he absently stirs something in a mixing bowl, thinking of how he tossed jiyeon, of the twins and their bussing canines, the sensitive ears as the underpaying itch of thirst making itself prominent, too long since he last hunted.
normality?
changmin startles, min and jin an inhuman blur as they run through the kitchen, laughing as they dart between legs, chasing one another.
maybe not.
“i’m impressed that they managed to walk after indulging so much.” yunho murmurs as he closes and locks the front door, the sound almost too loud in their now quiet apartment. jihye had taken the twins and her husband to the suite below, crystal kay and boa long gone with a claim of time for themselves, boa’s brothers half way across the world be now, changmin’s own family the last to have head out, his father and sister practically having to drag jiyeon out of the door, followed behind their grandfather, who tsked the entire time.
changmin can’t help the easy smile determined to stay tugging at his mouth as he starts at the dishes and left overs.
“i’ve never had a favored holiday before, seems that’s changed now.” changmin tells yunho, thinking of the picture of the pack he had managed to snap, perfect for the frame his sisters had gifted him. “it was a good day.”
“it definitely wasn’t awful,” yunho replies as changmin closes the dishwasher. changmin throws a dish towel at him in vague exasperation.
“you can just admit that you had fun for once.”
“i am a king, little vampire. i do not have fun.” yunho intones, just a tinge of au dement coloring the flat lilt of his voice and his faux mask of apathy.
“right, and you don’t breathe, eat, or sleep. silly of me, demons of your stature never do anything is lesser immortals do.”
“that is correct.” yunho says in an even voice, mouth twitching.
“so should i flee the great wolf’s demise, escaping immortal peril,” changmin jests stiffly, stepping in the direction of the stairs.
“i will catch you,” yunho warns casually.
changmin snorts, “yunho you’re ancient, as if you could catch me,” and makes a break for the railing, twisting carefully onto it in a perfect imitation of his sister and flashing a toothy grin, before turning and bolting, because he is a child.
yunho allows him a beat, eyes positively glowing, an illusion of the possibility of making it, breaks it in the same second and pounces, landing before changmin with too much grace and capturing him in an iron grip, easily lifting him from the ground and carrying him through the house, ignoring changmin’s indignant remarks.
“oh nooo,” changmin flails dramatically, deadpan, nearly breathless in his laughter. “put me down you wild, wild animal.”
“as you wish it,” yunho chuckles without mirth as he drops changmin onto one of the living room couches. changmin falls into the movement and rolls, lands leaning into the arm of the couch and reclining.
“still ancient,” he mutters, grinning.
“and you are young yet.”
“for a human i am in my prime,” changmin shoots out, a reminder, brows going up.
“and for a pure bred i am in mine,” yunho blinks at him.
“oh. really?” changmin’s eyes widen, and yunho pauses, watching him curiously before sitting across him on the couch, their plans of cleaning up forgotten.
“pure bred.” yunho states plainly.
“i know, i suppose i didn’t exactly notice, especially because of,” changmin makes a vague gesture. “jihye’s own human blood, though you mentioned mating marks once.”
“jihye will age as kiyiya does, since he has the dominant blood in their mark. by the time they were mates jihye was just shy of being as old as myself.”
“just shy?”
yunho gives an elegant shrug. “give or take four centuries worth of time.”
“four centuries. you say that as if it’s normal.”
“it is, changmin,” yunho levels him a careful, pinning look.
“right.” changmin filters through his thought from earlier in the day, mouth tilting down a tad, then. “what about boa.”
“she’s kitsune. we were born in the same season but she is considered young, still.”
“so. your prime, huh?” changmin asks, gingerly rising from the couch, ignoring the feel of yunho’s eyes boring into him as he casually edges towards the kitchen.
“yes.”
“seem a bit slow to me,” changmin moves in a way that makes his frame thrum, quick, jumping the back of a couch and dodging the corner of a coffee table as he makes for the kitchen. yunho is half a step behind him, and changmin spins on his heel, hands already at the sink and turning the water, nozzle for the hose gripped firm as he pressed the sprayer down.
triumph sings through changmin as yunho stands there, shocked into stillness, hair dripping wet, shirt soaked, lashes dotted with water droplets.
“see, alpha,” changmin smiles, sickly sweet and vampiric. “slow ”
yunho reaches past changmin and turns the water off, slowly removes the hose from his hand. yunho makes an almost inaudible sound. changmin’s hands twitch, empty, and in the same second, twice in the same day, air is wooshed from his lungs. changmin yelps, finger’s gripping at the back of yunho’s shirt, watches the apartment zip by in a blur that makes him dizzy as yunho jumps onto the second floor landing and strides toward the heat bathroom.
“yunho.” changmin kicks his legs, silver of his silk pajama bottoms swishing as he pats yunho on the back to grab his attention, back pedals, scrambles, panics a little. “yunho i’m sorry it was a joke,” he tries. “yunho.”
yunho says nothing, and changmin almost resorts to pleading as he tossed into the shower, left to scramble for the glass door when he sees yunho turn all the knobs, but yunho tsks, is suddenly on the other side of the glass, and changmin yells, indignant as he’s blasted then blasted with cold water. his voice echoes throughout the stall, pitched high in a shriek he won’t admit to later.
changmin pulls at the door, but yunho leans against it, holding it just with a shoulder and a smile on his face.
“jung yunho! let me out of here!” changmin shouts, hoping he hurts yunho’s ears. yunho doesn't move, and changmin turns the knobs off, mouth pulled in a snarl.
“let me out, yunho.”
“have you learned your lesson?”
“what, that you’re ancient and a sore loser? absolutely.”
the water turns on full blast, somehow colder than before, and changmin gives a muted yell from behind closed lips and clenched teeth. how in the hell did he do that-
changmin shivers violently, and he feels the tale tell prick of his blood reacting beneath his skin. he lets out an almost desperate breath, and bangs on the glass, voice gone hoarse as pain shocks up his bones.
“lesson?”
changmin almost growls, stops. if yunho can’t already tell what’s happening then he doesn’t need to know, and changmin doesn’t want to tell him.
“you’re not ancient.” changmin snaps out impatiently. he’ll play along, but it doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt. “please, it’s freezing,” changmin says, voice going quiet, teeth lengthening in reaction to the icy water seeping into his skin. the spray turn off and yunho steps back as he opens the glass door. changmin zips by him, darting for a towel and wrapping himself in it, taking a deep breath as he wills his body to return to its normal temperature.
“you’re still a sore loser.” he tells yunho flatly, gaining some semblance of mirth from yunho’s own soaked appearance.
“only so much is required,” yunho chuckles.
changmin stands in the at the sink and makes quick work of his curling locks, briefly catches yunho’s almost curious gaze in the mirror.
“vampires are cold already, yunho. weather doesn’t bother us too much, but cold water will literally freeze us into stillness. that was mean.”
“what?” yunho asks, and changmin pauses and the genuine surprise there in his tone.
“cold water. hurts. freezes,” changmin laughs lightly. “forget it. i was going to change anyway.”
silent, yunho takes another towel from the rack and drapes it across changmin’s shoulders, guides him down the hall and to changmin’s door.
“change,” yunho demands, voice almost strained. changmin opens his mouth to tell him not to worry, it’s clear he didn’t know, it was an accident, but there is a conflicted, painful emotion darkening yunho’s face, and changmin clicks his mouth shut, nods instead.
the door clicks behind him quietly, and changmin’s worry overshadows the warmth that spreads through him as he sees all of his presents stacked neatly on his bedside table, until he glances yunho’s gift to him. not wanting to dare get it wet, changmin dries and changes quickly, ignoring the obscene splat of his clothes as the land directly into his hamper.
changmin is warm and comfortable in old sweats and a hoodie, his hair still damp as he uses one of the sapphire laden hair combs from boa’s brothers to sweep it up, huffing when his fringe refuses to cooperate and curls in too long tendrils about his jaw. he takes the scroll in a careful grip and heads down stairs. yunho is there already, changed into his emerald pajamas and leaning into the back of the couch with a book from changmin’s father.
“what do you think of it?” changmin asks as he sits across from yunho, legs folding under him out of habit.
“your father is kind to think of me. i’m not one to indulge in thrillers, so i’m curious on what this will be like.” yunho looks up from his book, and changmin raises a brow when he just seems to… stop, as his eyes seem to darken just so.
“what?” changmin spares a glance around the house, makes a note to finish cleaning up, but noting out of their ordinary catches his attention. he follows yunho’s gaze instead, and ends up touching the juncture of his neck, fingers splaying against his jaw, bare with his hair up, skin still a little wet from being thrown into the shower. “what?”
“mmn.” yunho finally hums after a second, eyes sliding back to his book, mouth pressed thin.
changmin resists the urge to go and check himself in the mirror and shrugs a shoulder, focuses on his scroll. “my father was at a bit of a loss on what to get one such as yourself. i couldn’t think of anything either.”
“your gift is-” yunho looks up again, halting, and then slowly offers a small smile. “it doesn’t shrink me as something simply picked.” he finishes it.
“that’s because i had it made,” changmin laughs lightly, smoothing his fingers over the delicate paper in his lap. “i found the sculptors shop by chance, and her work is wonderful, like she knows about our kind, has seen like some humans can. i just explained what i wanted and, well.”
“it’s a beautiful piece. i have never received christmas presents before, but your is-nothing i would have expected, changmin. thank you.”
“now that you know my secret,” changmin mutters forcing his ears not to turn warm as he holds up his scroll. “tell me where you got this? it’s-”
“an original copy. there are demons in your father’s land-youkai as i’m sure you know they’re called, that collect rare texts. i persuaded this particular youkai to part with it.”
“an original?” changmin whispers, eyes gaining a brighter spark of awe. “yunho this is too-”
“perfect for you. stop setting yourself up for cut offs.” yunho interrupts, teeth flashing. “it also retains the spell used to preserve it. you may read it without fear of it disintegrating into dust.”
changmin holds the scroll close to him, and is suddenly finding himself fighting the urge to cry yet again. yunho has already given him everything,everything, and he still finds a way to give him more. changmin makes a small, careful, low pitched growling sound in his throat, and yunho’s brows raise to his hairline, surprises clear even as he turns back to his book.
“did jihye teach you that?” he asks casually.
“a long time ago,” changmin confirms, thankful of his enhanced memory. saying thank you so plainly seems out of place, but saying it to yunho in a way he instinctively understands? changmin smiles at yunho’s twitching smile, and turns his attention to his gift, pleased at the vividness of the ink and the suppleness of the parchment. preserved. the logical part of changmin’s mind, the scholar in him, practically howls as his hands grace the surface of the paper and trace the lines of olden characters.
“a blue mountain with drifting cloud, how plainly you do smile at me, let not others see. sea-girt peaks stand in our way, so why should it be that a glimpse and a word alone should come so early?” changmin murmurs, fingers still tracing the words lightly.
yunho says nothing as he watches from the corner of his eye, satisfied that changmin is delving into the text of the scroll as he himself goes back to his book.
the evening turns darker still outside. changmin loses himself in the brushstrokes, and yunho flips through his thriller.
normal, changmin thinks absently.
.[ 05 | 07 ]
.comments are ♥
6857w.
ao3
paper scatters across the room, the sound of scissors cutting through it hardly audible over the bright sound of laughter. changmin smiles at his company, more than enjoying their time together as they wrap christmas presents. kiyiya, crystal and changmin’s father make light about the children who poke their heads in from time to time and the others-boa and jihye are so childish-keep trying to take a sneak peak at the presents.
“they’re never going to grow up,” kiyiya huffs after shooing jihye away from the door for the nth time. “you think they would considering that they age the way they do.”
“we are not having the age conversation,” changmin says firmly, not resisting laughing at jihye’s antics, knowing that kiyiya’s found his match in every way.
“he’s right, though.” crystal says, taping a corner of bright red paper down. “they really don’t.”
changmin tsks. “boa’s a full blooded fox, they’re entirely different.”
“doubt it,” kiyiya snorts. “canines are canines.”
changmin’s father speaks up with laughter in his voice, tall frame poised with mirth, eyeing the work of his wrapped box speculatively. “your mother was much the same.”
“yeah, but i mean-” changmin stops, wanting to say that yunho would never do such a thing, but the thought of it sends a sliver of sadness across his chest. the others notice, and the same, almost sympathetic look crossing their faces makes him slightly annoyed.
“i’m sure he’ll be back in time,” kiyiya assures him. “he never takes very long when it comes to the council. he tries not to let it show but he completely hates their guts.”
“mm. it’s nothing.” changmin cuts through paper decorated in shimmery snowflakes, suddenly noting how overly domestic he’s become since reuniting with his old wolven family. he gives a bright smile, derails that vaguely disturbing thought, and looks down at yunho’s christmas present beneath his hands. it’s wrapped perfectly, but, “dad, how do you get your ribbons to curl that way? this is about to drive me crazy.”
allowing the change in subject, changmin’s father settles him with a knowing look, his clear eyes bright. “like this,” he says, rolling out a slither of ribbon and expertly cutting through the end, the ribbon curling perfectly. changmin repeats the motion, his own silver ribbon curling almost as well.
“parents just seem to know these things,” kiyiya says as crystal battles with her own gift box, the wrapping paper not folding the way she wants it to.
“dear elder gods, children.” crystal groans.
“you’re not even mates yet, don’t stress about it.” changmin laughs lightly, guessing the thoughts running through crystal’s mind. “boa will want time for just you before children are even thought of coming into the mix.”
“i sincerely hope so?” crystal sighs. “i was a hellion as a child, and my family always used to tell me that your children are worse than you.”
changmin snorts, arching an eyebrow. “if that were true then there wouldn’t be any piece of japan left standing.”
“oh, there’s still a huge chance, just you wait!” kiyiya jokes, eyes glinting with laughter, then, “your ears are pierced, right changmin?”
changmin blinks at the left filed question. “yeah,” he says slowly, absently tucking his hair and running a finger down his left lobe, the four discernible dips in the skin on display. “just the left one. why?”
“no reason,” kiyiya grins, to which changmin raises a brow, shrugs and goes back to wrapping when kiyiya once again turns to the door to once again shoo away jihye.
in time the presents become wrapped and placed securely under the tree. noon passes, the sun dips, the stars come out, and dinner goes by. crystal and boa leave to their own level with sultry twitches in their unconcealed tails and vaguely hurried murmurs of departure. kiyiya takes jihye and their twins for bed. changmin settles his sisters into the second guest room for the night, finds his father by his lonesome down stairs and with the lights dimmed.
his father looks out the windows at the sparkling world below them, his face reflecting in the glass, features smooth, forever frozen at the age of thirty six.
“i am still not used to it,” changmin laughs quietly as he walks over to his father, a glass of blood spiked eggnog in hand; he hates the taste and smell of the drink on it’s own, but the wonders that the a-b negative yunho makes a point to keep in the fridge do. around them had been chaos as his sisters, jiyeon and sooyeon, had gave into their childish urges, chasing min and jin and merrily, excitedly, calling them ‘cousin’.
hours before jihye had been standing where changmin currently stood, holding kiyiya’s hand as he spoke with boa’s newly arrived brothers, who in turn had argued the finer points of canine relations with them in a quiet voice. changmin’s grandfather, who’d been flown over from japan for the occasion, frozen at twenty nine and more withdrawn, hadn’t seemed to know what to do with himself, and had made himself busy with one of yunho’s older volumes on one of the couches. niri, one of boa’s sibling’s mate, kitsune herself, had made merry with crystal kay, banded together with boa, sharing stories and showing tiny fire tricks when the children had bothered to pay attention.
chaos it had been, but changmin appreciates having had the usually quiet apartment filled with people, the noise filling the open space and closing the walls in, making it feel more home than it ever had.
“it’s strange, coming to see you here, to see all of them-” changmin’s father begins, hazel eyes looking around to take everything in, the color the same from when he was born. “it is rather nice, though.”
“very,” changmin takes a tiny, distracting sip from his glass, mirth in his tone. “holidays will be much livelier from here on out.”
changmin’s father looks at him, hard and assessing, eyes, for a brief moment, seeming to crinkle around the edges with age. dauntless, unafraid, and more amused than anything else, changmin takes another sip of his eggnog, very pointedly arches an eyebrow.
“you are happier here.” changmin’s father says finally, mouth tilting in a smile, features smoothing again.
“it’s nice being around the others, having them back and knowing that they do not resent me for-” stopping, changmin sucks in a breath between his teeth, lengthened and nicking at the inside of his lips. “it’s nice to live with yunho and boa. it’s not as lonely.”
“i know,” changmin’s father says sagely. “should your sisters be doing anything else but being loud with their dance and singing practice, i might have made myself scarce.”
“they need to find their way, too.” changmin says with a small laugh, seeing the apologetic crease of his father’s brow for what it really is. “i’m more focused here, yunho quite enjoys discussing my studies with me. helps me remember.”
“still odd, that you live with another man and-”
“yunho and i are friends, dad. it would be the same if i needed a roommate and he applied. we live together. that’s it.” changmin rebuts firmly. “actually, i find that this is better. yunho is understanding, and more often than not we find ourself lamenting over the past. it is good to get it out.”
“well,” changmin’s father turns his eyes back to the window, hands clasping behind his back, tone genuine. “i’m glad that you have people that truly understand. it is still new to me as it was then, this pack thing you’ve reassimilated into.”
“don’t worry, dad. me too.” changmin sighs, though he fully acknowledges that he had fallen into it quite eagerly, the old ache and pain ruling his human blood and henceforth fueling his every decision. each day in yunho’s home-“our home,” yunho calls it-makes him forget more and more what it’s like to not necessarily be alone, but without pack. a mere two months have passed, and changmin cannot imagine living on his own again, not the way he was before.
“min, juice?” jiyeon calls, brown eyes twinkling in the low light as she peeks down over the landing rail. changmin nods at her, smiling at her childish inquire.
“sure, kid. just a second.”
“oh, now you know she misses you.” changmin’s father laughs quietly, shakes his head and spares a last glance out the window. “i’m going to bed. today has been too long and i’m getting too old.”
“…. you’re thirty-six and immortal-”
“hush, boy.”
changmin laughs, accepting his father’s hug before he turns to go up the stairs. changmin’s grandfather follows, and jiyeon passes them on their way up as she comes down.
changmin looks at her, sipping his ruddy eggnog. “what?”
“juice,” she says, taking his free hand and steering him towards the kitchen.
“you’re seventeen.” changmin sighs dramatically, opening the fridge and pouring her a glass anyway. “why can’t you get your own juice.”
jiyeon accepts the glass gratefully. “i would,” she takes a drink, let’s her shoulders sag happily. “always tastes better when you pour it.”
the words come out kind of tight. changmin meets his sisters stare with one of his own, his mouth turning down just slightly. their father is right. jiyeon misses him, and anyone can see it in the lines of her body.
“don’t look like that.” jiyeon finishes, tilting the glass all the way back and sighing contentedly. she puts the glass in the sink, runs a bit of water. “we don’t miss you that much.”
“brat.”
“asshole.”
“woah, easy,” changmin’s brows shoot up, his mouth splitting into a grin that jiyeon mirrors. “you definitely miss me, but tonight’s not a night for a wrestling match. not that you’d even win.”
jiyeon rolls her eyes. “puh-lease, you couldn’t even land a hi-ow.”
a small clean cut opens across jihye’s wrist, knits over and closes as quickly as it appeared.
“pinned ya,” changmin says matter of factly, sauntering over to the couches, catching jihye when she rounds the kitchen counter and tries to tackle him. he laughs, a full, shaking thing, and throws her trough the air toward the stairs, delighted in her indignant shriek.
changmin watches with keen eyes as jiyeon’s hand wraps around the rail, legs folding under her in a quick-fast perch, eyes wide and ponytail a mess. she looks harried, like a cat who can’t believe what just happened, and from where he stands, changmin can tell that her teeth have lengthened.
“changmin!”
“pinned ya again,” changmin snorts, waving a dismissive hand. “it’s late and you’re loud. go to bed.”
gingerly getting down and quickly inspecting the metal railing for any sort of damage, jiyeon gives him a speculative look.
“you waiting up?”
“mm.”
“want some company?”
“i’m good jiyeon, i have reading to catch up on anyway.” changmin tells her with a smile. his sister gives him a long, hard stare that reminds him of too much of himself, then bounces her shoulders in a shrug, heading up the stairs.
“if he said he’d try to make it,” jiyeon calls, still climbing. “i don’t see him missing it.”
“he has things he needs to see to.”
“he is a lot like his sister, only more. don’t worry, min. he’ll be here.”
the door to the guestroom clicks shut, and changmin stands, warmed by his sister’s certainty as he looks back out the window, watching planes go by in the distance. he tries not to wonder if yunho is on board for each one.
humming minutely to himself changmin makes himself busy, clearing the tables of left out fruit platters and cookies, storing everything away in the fridge for the morning. he lets his mind stay carefully blank as he loads the dishwasher, uncaring that he is so avidly listening for the sound of the front door.
changmin dries his hands when he’s done, thrum of the dishwasher fading into the background as he scopes the living room for any type of mess. he finds himself at the christmas tree, lights glancing off the glass tables and windows, sparkling against the ornaments.
boa had made it her duty to make the tree perfect, using her magic to float the twins and changmin’s sisters into the air so that they could easily twine the lights around it, toss the silvery tinsel with childish abandon. even still changmin can see glittery spots where pieces of tinsel had landed, some not even remotely close to the tree.
he leaves the tinsel be, mentally noting to vacuum after tomorrow, and sits down in front of the tree, stares up at it.
changmin’s old family star is sitting atop it proudly, nearly eleven feet in the air, reflecting the lights. under the muted hum of the dishwasher he briefly imagines a clock ticking like back home, a slightly out of bounds notion, because yunho does not like ticking clocks, the noise of it grates on his sensitive ears.
changmin looks at yunho’s present next, wrapped in blue snowflake paper, bow curling as perfect as he could manage to get it.
as per his usual, changmin had taken up to tutoring others so that he could get a present for everyone-pointedly ignoring the very sleek, very blackcredit card yunho had given him by shoving it to the bottom of his drawer to never be looked at again-and yunho’s present alone had been the one he mentally agonized over. getting presents for the others was simple and easy, but what do you give someone who already has everything? changmin makes a sound in the back of his throat, counting himself lucky that he had had enough energy to walk into one last place and then strike gold. yunho’s gift is custom made, hand crafted and by far the most expensive, but changmin is proud of it, and a small sliver of anxiousness flies through him at the thought of yunho’s reaction to the gift.
sighing, ignoring the faint, tell tale sting starting in the back of his eyes, changmin lays on his front, folds his arms and rests his head there, gaze still locked onto the present’s reflecting the lights in the tree.
the anxiety unfolds harshly, constricting his chest, and changmin growls lowly, upset with himself because he knows the council meeting had been called in as an emergency, upset with himself because he’s become so vigorously attached.
changmin presses his face against his arms, forcing his breathing back to normal as he stills, counts to one hundred and then back.
he realizes that he’d fallen asleep while counting backwards, something shifting him lightly into awareness. the sleep doesn’t surprise him as much as the bright, glowing amber eyes looking down at him with unsure concern do.
“oh.” changmin says, groggy. “you made it.”
yunho’s look turns into something changmin can’t bother to decipher. “i gave you my word that i would try to.”
“i hadn’t thought-”
“i highly rarely fail at anything i attempt,” yunho chuckles as changmin sits up, crossing his legs to sit. knowing, yunho folds his legs under him, takes up the space to his side.
“it’s colorful.” yunho says, looking at the tree curiously. the tree had been picked the day after he left by crystal, and changmin supposes that yunho might find it too much, despite how his smile appears genuine.
“my sisters and the twins love it, boa and crystal too. kiyiya’s family doesn’t celebrate christmas, so i expect they’ll be coming here from now on.”
“good,” yunho says matter of factly. “it’s not a bad thing. i’ve been trying to get jihye to bring them more often for years. packs need times like this, holidays. children, too.”
“they definitely do. crystal kay about had a panic attack thinking about having boa’s kids.”
“i believe they will wait. they’re young still.”
changmin nods silently, eyes on the tree, sleep riddling through his body. he sluggishly sifts through his thoughts, the quiet cozy.
“yunho?” changmin asks after another moment.
“mm?”
changmin sucks a breath through his teeth, not recalling when they had lengthened, and exhales it slowly. “i’m glad you’re here, that you made it back. it wouldn’t feel right if you weren’t.”
tired, comfortable, changmin leans against yunho’s shoulder. contact between them over the past two months has since lost it’s strangeness, and funnily enough, yunho is kind of touchy. changmin himself does not care for too much of it, rare is he to initiate anything, but he never rebuffs any of yunho’s passing advances into his personal space. it’s the same now, as yunho lifts an arm to wrap around changmin’s shoulder, warm, allowing changmin to lean into him.
“you’ve been crying,” yunho observes casually, to which changmin makes a noncommittal sound, truth dinging in him with sleep blanketing his mind.
“i was afraid you wouldn’t make it home.”
“the council is aware of the consequences that come with wasting my time.”
“was there a problem?”
“a couple of eurasian lycans revealed themselves, got captured by an odd group of human scientists, and were experimented on. apparently the humans that took them wanted to broaden their borders and thought that using demonic dna to engineer an army would be an excellent idea.”
changmin wakes up a little, brows knitting as he looks up at yunho, guilt touching down in his gut. “how can you possibly classify that as a waste of time?”
“because the matter was easily fixed, a simple situation compared to the others i’ve delt with. demon existence is kept secret for a reason, and the one’s who were involved, along with the human counterparts, were taken care of with the most basic of tactics.”
“but if they knew-”
“i’m sure that you know there are kinds of us that have abilities to alter memory, especially after you told me of your run in with a nasty swamp nymph during your travels in finland. they’re pure fae, mostly, and those that revealed themselves are going to be handled by them before the sun dares to rise.”
changmin makes a low sound as he blinks slow, gives a momentary pause, not in the mood for the thought of those that can easily make one forget their entire existence. the idea alone evokes unwanted memories.
“a decision was actually made yesterday. just a matter of the council dragging out the niceties, none of which i care for.”
“oh,” changmin finally relaxes. “if something ever occurs again, don’t skip it. the safety of the entirety of our kind is more important than a holiday i do not even celebrate.”
yunho makes a strange noise at that, one that doesn’t care to fully understand.
“jihye is showing. kiyiya says it’s just a boy this time.” changmin tells him, drifting.
“my sister is spreading her genes further and further,” yunho says wryly. changmin makes his own little sound, gives him a smack on the knee to which yunho just chuckles.
“you’re awful.” changmin reprimands, matter of fact, not bothering to hide his own laughter.
“go to bed little vampire. the sun will rise soon enough.”
changmin snorts, standing and stretching. “yes, alpha.”
yunho’s mouth turns up, the nickname more of a petulant tease now than anything, used only when he tells changmin to do something. yunho stands as well, and changmin notes that his concealment is gone, leaving the christmas lights reflecting in the bright amber of his eyes, to shine against his perfectly, purposely ruffled hair. changmin gives into a urge, blames his affectionate state on his tiredness, and hugs yunho because he can.
“bed.” yunho rumbles, deep, voice ladled with a sleepiness that makes it just a tinge raspy.
changmin steps back from his warmth, gives into a childish moment and makes a face at him before taking off toward the stairs with a burst of energy, because no way is he getting caught in a war with yunho at two twelve in the morning.
changmin wakes to two bouncing bundles of wolf that send him flying off of his bed in a tangle of sheets, both screaming in a pitch that makes his teeth stab right through his gums. groggy, disoriented, offended, changmin clutches the blankets, willing the early light away for another five minutes, maybe five hours. persistent tugs and impatient, childish growls. if changmin was coherent he might care about how odd his sudden new title sounds. but he’s not, and he just wants to sleep.
“láymut tl’álk hurry up!” min insists as she bounces on the edge of the bed, eyes bright tin excitement to the point of pale, own little canines peeking through her grin. “even uncle yunho is downstairs already!”
changmin blinks, vision blurry, brows raising. “láymut tl’álk?” he imitates gingerly, thinking on what little kiyiya had taught him of his native tongue, then frowning when he pieces the sounds together, slow in his fatigue. “youngest deer? did your mom tell you to call me that-”
“unimportant!” jin huffs, reaching for changmin’s hair. “presents! presents!”
“no.” changmin bats the child away and falls back into his blankets, sleep flooding back instantly. “five minutes.”
the twins stare at him, affronted, offense filtering over their tiny faces in unison, and changmin’s eyes widen a fraction when their identical features steel over in childish determination. min and jin open their mouths, inhale.
“no. no,” changmin glares at them. “if you scream i will-”
air wooshes out of changmin’s lungs. he bolts upright, tries to anyway. min is sitting on his stomach, mouth pitched in a half frown half pout that she could have only perfected by watching her mother. changmin narrows his eyes at her, then at jin who’s poised at the edge of the bed, ready to jump.
“i will throw you down the stairs.” he threatens, gently, says matter of factly, half awake, hair everywhere and curling wildly about his jaw, adding to his seriousness. he bares his teeth at the twins. “i will throw you down the stairs-”
“changmin!” his father’s voice calls, amused and exasperated, impatient.
changmin groans internally, only vaguely annoyed at the looks of triumph min and jin beam at him. “coming,” changmin calls back, sighing and untangling himself from his blankets.
“you wouldn’t really throw us down the stairs would you láymut tl’àlk?” jin asks casually, too casual as he and his sister lead changmin from the room before he can change his mind and fall back into a dead sleep.
“of course not.” changmin says flatly, picking min up at her request and using his free hand to carve through jin’s lengthening hair. “no, never.”
changmin swears he hears “liar,” muttered at him from somewhere in the direction of the kitchen.
“finally!” jihye and jiyeon shout as changmin comes down the last of the stairs, one twin in the crook of his arm and the other glued to his leg. changmin rubs his eyes and glares at his little sister, eyes playfully blank, because sleepy doesn’t make for good intimidation.
“presents,” sooyeon carefully reminds everyone, picking out a red wrapped box from under the tree and then passing it to kiyiya. changmin finds himself twin free in less than a second as they dive under the tree, boa and crystal kay and jihye, too.
changmin makes a small, tired, indifferent sound in his throat as he makes his way to the couch, ambles ungracefully over the edge and curls up next to yunho. he ignores how his grandfather makes an i told you so face to his father.
“we’ve never done this before, and i have the strongest feeing that it’s going to spread through the pack back home like wildfire,” kiyiya says absentmindedly, carefully unwrapping a gift from boa.
“your mother is going to kill you,” boa’s brother snickers, green eyes glinting with mischief.
“no doubt,” kiyiya sighs. “the pups will enjoy it, though.”
rotation begins as presents are diligently passed out by changmin’s sisters and the twins, they themselves tearing through the wrapping of their own gifts without mercy, putting even jihye to shame as she tore through hers at a more sedate pace.
changmin goes through his gifts with meticulous care, making sure to lee his wrapping confined to a single couch cushion and keeping the gifts with their respectful boxes. his sisters picked out a frame, tacked with a note stating exactly what to use it for. boa’s brothers gift him with a set of intricate combs and traditional hairpins; they’re dappled in silvers and sapphires, and he has to pause to raise an eyebrow-they tell him it’s because of his hair and that, as a member of the kitsune family it’s only appropriate to have, and, “alright but most importantly they match your wicked eye color!”-he appreciates them nonetheless, despite how he itches to give them back. jihye and kiyaya with gift him with earrings, all interlinked with a silver chain braided with a thinner light blue one, and his grandfather’s gifted him a strange array of pressed flowers encased in glass, gently pulsing with magic, and if he knows his grandfather there is no doubt that it’s some relic that he’s to figure out eventually. he notes with no small amount of annoyance that yunho’s mouth tugs into a prominent, amused smirk at the encased flowers.
yunho’s present to changmin makes it’s way through his hands last, and he stares at it, wide out and mouth parted in surprise when he unwraps the shiny black and blue box to reveal a scroll set gingerly in black velvet. the characters are japanese and they are old, but changmin reads them with ease, and then by heart because he’s studied them for so long. the weight of the parchment is dangerously light in his hands, too light for something so important.
“what is said brings dread in this land, in scarlet colors, don’t go out, die from your desire though you might.” changmin says the words quietly, to himself almost, unable to take his eyes from the scroll even as he asks, heart speeding just so, “yunho, how did you get this?”
“santa never tells,” yunho laughs lowly as he at last reaches for his own present, the one changmin had commissioned. changmin finally pauses in his shocked admiration as yunho unwraps the paper of his gift carefully and opens the wooden box the artist stored it in, swathed in smooth silver silk. with a silent inhale changmin closes the scroll as yunho begins to gingerly undo the silk, as little by little the intricately carved statue is exposed, it’s obsidian and translucent red stone glimmers in the morning light.
“oh.” yunho says, hands hovering. “this is-” his eyes are caught on the black and copper wolf with bright yellow eyes that seemingly glow from within, so resembling himself in his natural state. “it’s magnificent, changmin. thank you.”
their moment is quiet and unnoticed as changmin murmurs a merry christmas to yunho, entire pack caught up in their own moments, changmin’s sisters and jihye snapping pictures everywhere.
“alright then, so, who’s going to help me cook?” jihye asks in turn to the twin’s insists t inquires about breakfast. changmin stands in unison with crystal kay, boa, and his sisters, earning a round of snickers, and changmin once again finds himself in an overly, but not unenjoyed, domestic situation. there’s food already started, and changmin wonders if he had really been sleep so long that his best friend had actual time to prepare an entire two hams. the kitchen turns into a whirlwind of activity in minutes, all dancing around each other in their tasks and changmin being unofficially appointed into the “hey, can you get this down for me,” position. he doesn’t mind it though, just lets himself enjoy the sense of normality as his family celebrates in union.
normality, changmin thinks as he absently stirs something in a mixing bowl, thinking of how he tossed jiyeon, of the twins and their bussing canines, the sensitive ears as the underpaying itch of thirst making itself prominent, too long since he last hunted.
normality?
changmin startles, min and jin an inhuman blur as they run through the kitchen, laughing as they dart between legs, chasing one another.
maybe not.
“i’m impressed that they managed to walk after indulging so much.” yunho murmurs as he closes and locks the front door, the sound almost too loud in their now quiet apartment. jihye had taken the twins and her husband to the suite below, crystal kay and boa long gone with a claim of time for themselves, boa’s brothers half way across the world be now, changmin’s own family the last to have head out, his father and sister practically having to drag jiyeon out of the door, followed behind their grandfather, who tsked the entire time.
changmin can’t help the easy smile determined to stay tugging at his mouth as he starts at the dishes and left overs.
“i’ve never had a favored holiday before, seems that’s changed now.” changmin tells yunho, thinking of the picture of the pack he had managed to snap, perfect for the frame his sisters had gifted him. “it was a good day.”
“it definitely wasn’t awful,” yunho replies as changmin closes the dishwasher. changmin throws a dish towel at him in vague exasperation.
“you can just admit that you had fun for once.”
“i am a king, little vampire. i do not have fun.” yunho intones, just a tinge of au dement coloring the flat lilt of his voice and his faux mask of apathy.
“right, and you don’t breathe, eat, or sleep. silly of me, demons of your stature never do anything is lesser immortals do.”
“that is correct.” yunho says in an even voice, mouth twitching.
“so should i flee the great wolf’s demise, escaping immortal peril,” changmin jests stiffly, stepping in the direction of the stairs.
“i will catch you,” yunho warns casually.
changmin snorts, “yunho you’re ancient, as if you could catch me,” and makes a break for the railing, twisting carefully onto it in a perfect imitation of his sister and flashing a toothy grin, before turning and bolting, because he is a child.
yunho allows him a beat, eyes positively glowing, an illusion of the possibility of making it, breaks it in the same second and pounces, landing before changmin with too much grace and capturing him in an iron grip, easily lifting him from the ground and carrying him through the house, ignoring changmin’s indignant remarks.
“oh nooo,” changmin flails dramatically, deadpan, nearly breathless in his laughter. “put me down you wild, wild animal.”
“as you wish it,” yunho chuckles without mirth as he drops changmin onto one of the living room couches. changmin falls into the movement and rolls, lands leaning into the arm of the couch and reclining.
“still ancient,” he mutters, grinning.
“and you are young yet.”
“for a human i am in my prime,” changmin shoots out, a reminder, brows going up.
“and for a pure bred i am in mine,” yunho blinks at him.
“oh. really?” changmin’s eyes widen, and yunho pauses, watching him curiously before sitting across him on the couch, their plans of cleaning up forgotten.
“pure bred.” yunho states plainly.
“i know, i suppose i didn’t exactly notice, especially because of,” changmin makes a vague gesture. “jihye’s own human blood, though you mentioned mating marks once.”
“jihye will age as kiyiya does, since he has the dominant blood in their mark. by the time they were mates jihye was just shy of being as old as myself.”
“just shy?”
yunho gives an elegant shrug. “give or take four centuries worth of time.”
“four centuries. you say that as if it’s normal.”
“it is, changmin,” yunho levels him a careful, pinning look.
“right.” changmin filters through his thought from earlier in the day, mouth tilting down a tad, then. “what about boa.”
“she’s kitsune. we were born in the same season but she is considered young, still.”
“so. your prime, huh?” changmin asks, gingerly rising from the couch, ignoring the feel of yunho’s eyes boring into him as he casually edges towards the kitchen.
“yes.”
“seem a bit slow to me,” changmin moves in a way that makes his frame thrum, quick, jumping the back of a couch and dodging the corner of a coffee table as he makes for the kitchen. yunho is half a step behind him, and changmin spins on his heel, hands already at the sink and turning the water, nozzle for the hose gripped firm as he pressed the sprayer down.
triumph sings through changmin as yunho stands there, shocked into stillness, hair dripping wet, shirt soaked, lashes dotted with water droplets.
“see, alpha,” changmin smiles, sickly sweet and vampiric. “slow ”
yunho reaches past changmin and turns the water off, slowly removes the hose from his hand. yunho makes an almost inaudible sound. changmin’s hands twitch, empty, and in the same second, twice in the same day, air is wooshed from his lungs. changmin yelps, finger’s gripping at the back of yunho’s shirt, watches the apartment zip by in a blur that makes him dizzy as yunho jumps onto the second floor landing and strides toward the heat bathroom.
“yunho.” changmin kicks his legs, silver of his silk pajama bottoms swishing as he pats yunho on the back to grab his attention, back pedals, scrambles, panics a little. “yunho i’m sorry it was a joke,” he tries. “yunho.”
yunho says nothing, and changmin almost resorts to pleading as he tossed into the shower, left to scramble for the glass door when he sees yunho turn all the knobs, but yunho tsks, is suddenly on the other side of the glass, and changmin yells, indignant as he’s blasted then blasted with cold water. his voice echoes throughout the stall, pitched high in a shriek he won’t admit to later.
changmin pulls at the door, but yunho leans against it, holding it just with a shoulder and a smile on his face.
“jung yunho! let me out of here!” changmin shouts, hoping he hurts yunho’s ears. yunho doesn't move, and changmin turns the knobs off, mouth pulled in a snarl.
“let me out, yunho.”
“have you learned your lesson?”
“what, that you’re ancient and a sore loser? absolutely.”
the water turns on full blast, somehow colder than before, and changmin gives a muted yell from behind closed lips and clenched teeth. how in the hell did he do that-
changmin shivers violently, and he feels the tale tell prick of his blood reacting beneath his skin. he lets out an almost desperate breath, and bangs on the glass, voice gone hoarse as pain shocks up his bones.
“lesson?”
changmin almost growls, stops. if yunho can’t already tell what’s happening then he doesn’t need to know, and changmin doesn’t want to tell him.
“you’re not ancient.” changmin snaps out impatiently. he’ll play along, but it doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt. “please, it’s freezing,” changmin says, voice going quiet, teeth lengthening in reaction to the icy water seeping into his skin. the spray turn off and yunho steps back as he opens the glass door. changmin zips by him, darting for a towel and wrapping himself in it, taking a deep breath as he wills his body to return to its normal temperature.
“you’re still a sore loser.” he tells yunho flatly, gaining some semblance of mirth from yunho’s own soaked appearance.
“only so much is required,” yunho chuckles.
changmin stands in the at the sink and makes quick work of his curling locks, briefly catches yunho’s almost curious gaze in the mirror.
“vampires are cold already, yunho. weather doesn’t bother us too much, but cold water will literally freeze us into stillness. that was mean.”
“what?” yunho asks, and changmin pauses and the genuine surprise there in his tone.
“cold water. hurts. freezes,” changmin laughs lightly. “forget it. i was going to change anyway.”
silent, yunho takes another towel from the rack and drapes it across changmin’s shoulders, guides him down the hall and to changmin’s door.
“change,” yunho demands, voice almost strained. changmin opens his mouth to tell him not to worry, it’s clear he didn’t know, it was an accident, but there is a conflicted, painful emotion darkening yunho’s face, and changmin clicks his mouth shut, nods instead.
the door clicks behind him quietly, and changmin’s worry overshadows the warmth that spreads through him as he sees all of his presents stacked neatly on his bedside table, until he glances yunho’s gift to him. not wanting to dare get it wet, changmin dries and changes quickly, ignoring the obscene splat of his clothes as the land directly into his hamper.
changmin is warm and comfortable in old sweats and a hoodie, his hair still damp as he uses one of the sapphire laden hair combs from boa’s brothers to sweep it up, huffing when his fringe refuses to cooperate and curls in too long tendrils about his jaw. he takes the scroll in a careful grip and heads down stairs. yunho is there already, changed into his emerald pajamas and leaning into the back of the couch with a book from changmin’s father.
“what do you think of it?” changmin asks as he sits across from yunho, legs folding under him out of habit.
“your father is kind to think of me. i’m not one to indulge in thrillers, so i’m curious on what this will be like.” yunho looks up from his book, and changmin raises a brow when he just seems to… stop, as his eyes seem to darken just so.
“what?” changmin spares a glance around the house, makes a note to finish cleaning up, but noting out of their ordinary catches his attention. he follows yunho’s gaze instead, and ends up touching the juncture of his neck, fingers splaying against his jaw, bare with his hair up, skin still a little wet from being thrown into the shower. “what?”
“mmn.” yunho finally hums after a second, eyes sliding back to his book, mouth pressed thin.
changmin resists the urge to go and check himself in the mirror and shrugs a shoulder, focuses on his scroll. “my father was at a bit of a loss on what to get one such as yourself. i couldn’t think of anything either.”
“your gift is-” yunho looks up again, halting, and then slowly offers a small smile. “it doesn’t shrink me as something simply picked.” he finishes it.
“that’s because i had it made,” changmin laughs lightly, smoothing his fingers over the delicate paper in his lap. “i found the sculptors shop by chance, and her work is wonderful, like she knows about our kind, has seen like some humans can. i just explained what i wanted and, well.”
“it’s a beautiful piece. i have never received christmas presents before, but your is-nothing i would have expected, changmin. thank you.”
“now that you know my secret,” changmin mutters forcing his ears not to turn warm as he holds up his scroll. “tell me where you got this? it’s-”
“an original copy. there are demons in your father’s land-youkai as i’m sure you know they’re called, that collect rare texts. i persuaded this particular youkai to part with it.”
“an original?” changmin whispers, eyes gaining a brighter spark of awe. “yunho this is too-”
“perfect for you. stop setting yourself up for cut offs.” yunho interrupts, teeth flashing. “it also retains the spell used to preserve it. you may read it without fear of it disintegrating into dust.”
changmin holds the scroll close to him, and is suddenly finding himself fighting the urge to cry yet again. yunho has already given him everything,everything, and he still finds a way to give him more. changmin makes a small, careful, low pitched growling sound in his throat, and yunho’s brows raise to his hairline, surprises clear even as he turns back to his book.
“did jihye teach you that?” he asks casually.
“a long time ago,” changmin confirms, thankful of his enhanced memory. saying thank you so plainly seems out of place, but saying it to yunho in a way he instinctively understands? changmin smiles at yunho’s twitching smile, and turns his attention to his gift, pleased at the vividness of the ink and the suppleness of the parchment. preserved. the logical part of changmin’s mind, the scholar in him, practically howls as his hands grace the surface of the paper and trace the lines of olden characters.
“a blue mountain with drifting cloud, how plainly you do smile at me, let not others see. sea-girt peaks stand in our way, so why should it be that a glimpse and a word alone should come so early?” changmin murmurs, fingers still tracing the words lightly.
yunho says nothing as he watches from the corner of his eye, satisfied that changmin is delving into the text of the scroll as he himself goes back to his book.
the evening turns darker still outside. changmin loses himself in the brushstrokes, and yunho flips through his thriller.
normal, changmin thinks absently.
.[ 05 | 07 ]
.comments are ♥