the best gift of all
it's almost their 9th anniversary, and this year, they'll spend christmas together.
pairings: ot5, bff!homin, some yunjae
rated: pg-13 for kissing and brief mention of drama
*
"changmin-ah!" yunho yells from the kitchen.
grumbling something unintelligible, changmin rolls over in bed, hugging yunho's pillow to his chest.
"food's almost ready!" yunho shouts again.
changmin really wants to just sleep because it's bound to be some ungodly hour of the morning but the thought that yunho is cooking - in changmin's kitchen! - is terrifying enough to get changmin out of bed. but it doesn't necessarily wake him up.
he rubs his eyes sleepily as he clutches his stuffed reindeer to his chest, the one his parents had apparently kept since changmin was a child. greeting his parents at the table, he basically falls into his chair, just as yunho appears around the kitchen counter, beaming proudly and carrying a steaming pan of something that smells delicious.
"did you actually just...cook something edible?" changmin asks, still too tired for his snark to be fully up and running.
his parents chuckle, wisely deciding not to say anything, and just dig in.
"i'll have you know that before it was just the two of us, i didn't just go into the kitchen to distract jaejoongie," quips yunho, and holds out a spoonful of kimchi fried rice to changmin. "say 'ah', changdola."
changmin happens to hate being babied by yunho - he's an equal, goddammit, a strong and powerful and essential part of tvxq - and he happens to hate that stupid nickname even more, but whatever, the food smells great - maybe jaejoong did manage to teach yunho something in the end - and changmin would be a fool not to eat it. and he's not a fool.
"my compliments to the chef," changmin's dad decides to put in, grinning at yunho. "from what changmin says all the time, i'd have thought i'd be waking up to a burning kitchen."
changmin scowls. "okay, so it's not that bad, but jaejoong is still better."
changmin's mom laughs and nods sagely. "jaejoong's cooking just can't be beat. i wish i had a daughter who could cook like him. or a daughter-in-law. or even just anyone."
changmin scowls again, though yunho tells him in the car later that it looked eerily like a pout.
"stop making faces and eat," yunho chides fondly. "we've places to be, min-ah."
changmin eats.
"you still haven't quite convinced me that you and changmin aren't secretly dating," says changmin's mom, watching her son with affection. "i have never seen changmin obey anyone so instinctively as he obeys you."
if changmin's mouth weren't currently full to bursting, he'd have said something to defend himself and his burning ears. as it is, yunho laughs and slings an arm around changmin's shoulders. "maybe we are dating," yunho jokes. "maybe we already got married and we just didn't tell anyone. hm, changmin-ah?"
changmin grumbles and swallows and pries yunho off of him, but doesn't say anything.
"have a safe trip," changmin's dad says to them at the door later when they're all packed and set to go. "send our best wishes to the others, yeah?"
"of course, sir," yunho answers, ever the proper son, as he shakes changmin's dad's hand. "it was a pleasure to see both of you again."
changmin's mom pecks them both on the cheek and hugs them. "you as well, you as well," she assures them, tugging changmin's collar into place. "i love you both, and the others as well, of course." she beams at them, and bids them a fond farewell and a safe trip.
"i hate you," changmin grumbles later when they're speeding down the highway.
yunho grins, swerving into a faster lane. "tu sais que tu m'adores," he sings.
changmin gives him a look. curse sm for making them learn french in hopes of expanding their audience to (more of) europe. "ta prononciation, c'est très horrible, frère," he responds nonchalantly, drumming his fingers against the window the way he knows yunho hates.
yunho just gives him a look back. "and yours is better?" he asks, reaching across changmin to get to the glove compartment and offer changmin a cookie. changmin takes it eagerly, previous irritation forgotten, and is almost done with it when yunho's phone rings.
"sweater pocket," yunho says simply, and changmin deftly plucks the phone out and answers it.
"hey maknae," comes junsu's voice. "are you guys on the way or are you still eating breakfast?"
"haha, very funny," retorts changmin, before placing the call on speakerphone. "we're actually almost there. maybe half an hour? twenty minutes?"
"i can make it fifteen," yunho offers, smiling wickedly in a way that really doesn't suit him. in fact, it's downright terrifying.
"i'm not letting you," changmin snaps back. "i would much like to at least have jaejoong's cooking one more time before i die at your inadept hands."
"that's jaejoong hyung to you," the eldest speaks up. "but thanks for the compliment."
changmin flushes. "i just appreciate good cooking. it's nothing personal."
yoochun's throaty laugh echoes down the line and changmin can see the smile lighting up yunho's face as he takes the exit to busan. he's sure his own expression is pretty much the same but he figures he can be forgiven for such a reaction - they have only a handful of vacation days a year and only on a handful of those handful can they get in touch with the others, much less actually see them in person.
he snaps out of his thoughts when junsu laughs. jaejoong and yoochun have dissolved into bickering in the background - changmin hears something about "ruining my kitchen" and "greasy hands off the cake, park yoochun!" - and yunho is smiling even wider than before, if such a thing is possible. changmin just turns and watches the twenty minutes tick away on the car's clock, feeling like a child counting down to christmas. which is what he's basically doing, but god forbid any of his hyungs ever find that out.
somehow, junsu happens to own a house in busan that the sasaengs haven't managed to find yet, and because this is their first christmas since the lawsuit that they actually have off, it was obvious that they'd spend it together. and changmin isn't even going to try denying that he's looking forward to it, so excited he can barely stand it as yunho pulls carefully into the garage, turns the car off, and closes the garage before deeming it safe for them to get out.
junsu meets them in the foyer, hugging yunho tightly and eyeing changmin carefully before tackling him with a hug as well.
"i think you got shorter," changmin remarks casually as he hugs junsu back.
junsu gives him a look and then promptly ignores him as he slings an arm around yunho's shoulders, chattering about some choreography he'd done and "hyung, you would love it, i just know it!"
changmin grins and follows them to the kitchen. yoochun is sitting at the table, chin resting on the wood as he stares at the staff paper spread out in front of him. the music and the lyrics are illegible as usual and changmin finds himself suddenly missing the headaches he used to get from trying to decipher the damn things.
"your eyesight's gonna get worse," yunho says casually, holding his arms out when yoochun leaps up so fast he knocks his chair over. the two hug for only long enough to not injure yoochun's manly pride, before yoochun turns to changmin for a very masculine fist bump.
"i missed you, minnie," yoochun says, smirking, and changmin has to laugh.
"you too, micky," he replies, as always.
"watch out, hot pan coming through," jaejoong says then, right before he rounds the kitchen counter, delicately holding a large pan of ddeokbokki. changmin's stomach growls.
jaejoong chuckles, setting the pan down before punching changmin lightly in the shoulder. "aren't you quite done growing yet?"
"not quite, i'm afraid," changmin says sweetly, and hits jaejoong back with just a little more force than necessary, just because he can.
yunho clears his throat pointedly and even changmin knows to step back as yunho swoops over to claim a long and passionate kiss from jaejoong. after a few long moments, during which the younger three stare awkwardly at anything but each other, jaejoong prods yunho in the chest to get him to take a step back. "food needs checking on," is his quick explanation before he disappears around the counter again. yunho watches him go, a light in his eyes that changmin had been worried he'd never see again.
they eat and eat and eat until even changmin can't manage another bite, and afterwards yoochun brings out the wine and junsu gets the wine glasses. the five of them settle themselves on the floor of the piano room, next to the christmas tree that's somehow been set up and decorated in two days.
"i shouldn't drink, i'm still supposed to drive us to gwangju after this," changmin says initially when yoochun offers him some wine, but then yunho shakes his head.
"you know what, i don't care if i'm being a horrid son right now, but i've visited my parents every christmas since we debuted. i can't say the same for all of you. i'll call mom and dad later and send them my greetings, but this christmas i just want to stay with you. all of you."
jaejoong lays his head on yunho's shoulder. "as long as it's what you want, yunho-yah."
yunho just smiles, tangling his fingers with jaejoong's.
they each make their own toasts, to the five of them, to dong bang shin ki, to cassiopeia, to forever, to just being together. jaejoong takes the glasses and sets them carefully on top of the piano so they won't accidentally be stepped on as changmin claims rights to getting the first present out from under the tree.
the presents all manage to be exchanged without excess drama and they move to the living room, where they get stuck on picking an appropriate movie for the evening.
"we could watch our banjun dramas again," junsu suggests, not entirely joking.
"or we could just act them out again," jaejoong says, smirking.
"or we could act out that vacation drama again," changmin is quick to retort. jaejoong laughs; he knows why changmin wants him to act out vacation and not the banjun dramas.
"we'd need backup actors for that," yunho points out, one arm secure around jaejoong's waist. "our debut anniversary is in four hours, anyway. how about we watch our music videos again and laugh at how bad our hair used to look?"
"not a bad idea," yoochun agrees. "and we can sing along too. if we all remember our lyrics?" he looks pointedly at junsu, who raises his hands in defense.
jaejoong orders the music videos to be played in chronological order starting with "hug", and aside from yoochun and changmin getting into a minor squabble about whether the music video for "one" was released before "purple line", the rest of the evening goes smoothly. after "stand by u" they all agree without discussion to skip over "break out" and "toki wo tomete" - the memories there are still too painful - and move on to the music videos from jyj and the tvxq duo.
it's no less perfect than expected, changmin thinks, smiling when yoochun fumbles over the lyrics to "found you". there's nowhere else he'd rather be tonight than with the men he's grown up with and grown to call his brothers, and no matter how hard times might get, there's always the five stars of the W winking at him right outside the window.