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“What’s your favorite color?”
Hongjoong shied as his new guardian (father?) kneeled down in front of him. He hugged his harper seal plushie, Angel, close to his small body and hid for a moment, but his father was patient, keeping a small smile on his face.
Hongjoong peeked out after a moment, looking into his father’s blueish grey eyes before he shifted from foot to foot.
“Red...and yellow.”
His father smiled and nodded, ruffling his hair.
“Okay. Do you want to pick your own Christmas ornament?”
Hongjoong blinked.
“Christmas...ornament?”
His father nodded, running a hand through freshly dyed blue hair. Hongjoong watched him with slightly wide eyes in wonder. He wanted blue hair too one day. He wondered if his father would let him have it when he was a big kid.
“Yeah, your mother and your siblings are going to the store and we’re gonna tag along. This will be your first Christmas since we adopted you, right?” He mused. Hongjoong nodded, slowly poking his head out more from behind his plushie.
“Can Angel have an ornament, too? We made paper ornaments at the orphanage but nobody ever let Angel have one…”
His father nodded, reaching down to pick Hongjoong up. Tattooed fingers wrapped around the child’s waist before he was tossed up a small amount, eliciting a startled, yet excited yell from him. His father caught him and held him up high despite the bulbous plushie between them. Hongjoong peered down and his father smiled.
“Don’t worry, Joong. I’ll get ornaments for Angel. Do you think she’d like a stocking, too?” He inquired. Hongjoong nodded, pink dusting his cherub cheeks as his father carried him to the doorway.
He was ten years old, probably too big to be picked up like this, but his father didn’t seem to mind. He was 6'1, so Hongjoong felt like he was flying as they walked. He was put down by the door long enough for his father to put a coat on him, zipping it up and wrapping a scarf around his neck.
Hongjoong smiled, hugging Angel as he was picked up again. He snuggled against Angel as he was loaded into the backseat.
His little sister, Moa, was excitedly chattering about how she's never celebrated Christmas with a family before. The twins nodded quietly, holding hands. They were still a lot more reserved, even though it had been two months since they had been adopted.
Neither of their new parents forced them to talk more than they needed to.
They drove to a superstore first, beelining to the holiday section.
Along the way, Suzuka curiously reached for a Santa hat. It was black and white instead of red and white, and she stared at it with a small sparkle of want, though she hesitated to put it on her head. Their mother smiled and took the hat from her small hands, situating it on her head.
“Do you like it, Su-Chan? Do you want the hat?”
Suzuka blushed, gently squeezing her twin’s hand.
“I...I like it...Momma…” She trailed off and her mother smiled softly.
“You don’t have to force it. You can call me whatever you like. Even if you want to call me Melody instead of ‘Mom’.” Melody sent her a smile and looked over her shoulder, finding Moa trying to reach for a pair of reindeer antlers situated on a child-sized headband, one already tucked under her arm.
“What are you doing, Moa? You already have one.’
“This one is for Yui-Chan! It has little bells on it. I want one for me so we can match!” Moa stuck her tongue out, standing on her tiptoes. Melody smiled softly, gently taking Suzuka’s hand and stepping closer before her husband swooped in, plucking Moa up effortlessly so she could reach the other antlers. She grinned, smiling as she settled the second headband on her head, hugging her father’s neck.
“Thank you!” She cheered once she was set down, bounding over to her older sibling to put the headband on their head. Yui startled at first before relaxing, smiling softly.
“Oh, we do match now. Thank you.”
Melody surveyed the children for a moment before looking to her left, finding her second youngest staring at a display with a series of stockings. He stared at it, keeping his harbor seal plushie close to his chest as his eyes darted back and forth over them.
She made her way to him and knelt down, ruffling his soft brown hair.
“You’re gonna stare holes through it, baby. What’s wrong?”
“Can...we get stockings? D-dad said we could get ornaments, but can we get stockings, too?” he inquired. Melody smiled in understanding at the timid tone in his voice and nodded.
“Of course. We can get stockings. Do you want one for Angel, too? We can get some glitter glue and write our names on them. Would you like that?” She inquired. Hongjoong nodded excitedly and she beckoned her husband and their other three children over, pointing to the large array of stockings, which was conveniently placed right next to the ornaments.
The four siblings zipped up and down the aisle, observing both ornaments and stockings alike, all while their parents stood near the shopping cart, smiling joyfully.
Once the kids ran back, they all presented an array of multi-colored stockings. Suzuka’s was black with silver-colored fur at the top, Yui’s was a sunshine colored yellow with the standard white fur, Hongjoong’s was orange with white fur, and he also grabbed a smaller, grey and blue stocking, finally, Moa’s stocking was red with black fur. Their father grabbed each one, grinning. He and his wife had grabbed their own while they waited.
“Suzuka, Yui, Hongjoong, Angel the seal, Moa, Melody, and Miyavi. Alright, we’re all accounted for. Go ahead and grab some ornaments.” Miyavi urged them, smiling as he sat back and waited.
Another half an hour later, the cart had an array of ornaments and the family was moving towards the tree section.
Yui and Moa ran up and down the rows of trees, while Melody followed, making sure they didn’t bump into any other customers, while Suzuka and Hongjoong casually surveyed the other side of the trees, holding onto their father’s hands.
The children were quiet at first, until their adoptive father started talking to them about what they wanted for Christmas. It was blatantly obvious to the adults that they didn’t have to give the children any of the ‘Santa’ shtick.
“Maybe a puppy?”
Hongjoong cowered, shaking his head immediately.
“I’m afraid of them.”
“Maybe some new toys? Or do you all want your own game systems?”
“Aren’t they expensive?”
Miyavi smiled, tilting his head.
“You let your dad worry about that. I don’t like to talk like this but I am a celebrity. I can buy them. Plus, Su and Yui’s birthdays are right before Christmas, too. You just tell me what you’d like and we’ll see what we can do. With some surprise gifts, of course.”
The two siblings exchanged a look before they started chattering, much more energetic than before.
Miyavi laughed and listened to each excited request.
Hongjoong stopped mid-step, looking at a large tree on display at the end of the rows.
It was past where the real trees were displayed, settled in the section for the artificial trees. Hongjoong gently tugged his father’s hand, leading him to the tree that caught his eye, his lips parting in wonder.
The tree, standing just as tall as his adoptive father, was an ombre one. It stood out from the artificial green, white, and singular colored ones. The bottom of the tree had azure blue branches that slowly changed into a cobalt color before the color led up to black branches. The display tree had small, yellow bulb-shaped lights.
It looked like Starry Night if it were in a tree form.
“That one.” Suzuka and Hongjoong muttered at the same time. Miyavi smiled and nodded, calling for Melody so she and their other children could weigh in.
As Hongjoong stared at the lights, he felt a warmth bloom through his body. The laughter of his family grew closer behind him and with a squeeze to Angel, Hongjoong felt the excitement grow, especially once Melody began talking about matching sweaters. The group moved to the clothing aisles talking about ugly sweaters. Hongjoong had a small skip in his step as he walked behind them.
This would be his first Christmas with family.
-~-
Years later, many things have changed about Christmas time.
“Where are the chocolate chips? I need the chocolate chips, Changkyun!”
“Hold on, Felix, I have to help Yeonjun find the tape. They misplaced it.”
“Did not!”
“I can help!” Moa practically skipped over to help as Felix mixed cookie dough in a big bowl.
Hongjoong opened a box he’d settled on the coffee table as his family zipped around him. They were still a month away from Christmas, but the family liked to get everything together as early as possible.
Miyavi walked by, holding a stack of boxes as he headed outside.
“Chan, Yuta, can you boys help me put up some lights outside?”
“On my way, Dad!” Yuta’s silver head popped out of the kitchen, leaving his mother to her own devices as she began planning out the dinner they would make. He noticed the boxes his father had in his hands and jogged over to the doorway tugging a hoodie over his head. Chan looked up from sorting ornaments with Suzuka and Chungha and nodded, pressing a kiss to his girlfriend’s temple before standing to head out of the house.
“On my way!”
“I made more sweaters, I wonder if anyone needs any adjustments…” Chungha trailed off. Suzuka laughed from across her, gently tossing tinsel in her direction.
“Oh, stop. We can still fit the sweaters you made last time. Don’t worry. We can all fit the ones you made last year.”
“But still-”
Hongjoong took his time, putting up the rainbow of stockings on the mantle. His parents had their own home away from the one here, but it was their tradition to put their stockings up in the home the siblings shared, even now as they were adults ‘out of the nest’, per se.
One by one, Hongjoong hung up the stockings, with a tender smile and the utmost care. These stockings never touched the ground with him around.
Around ten minutes later, Hongjoong stepped back, looking up at the mantle.
Miyavi, Melody, Suzuka, Yuta (the ‘I’ from the stocking had long since been closed and turned into a ‘T’ when Yuta transitioned), Hongjoong, Moa, Changkyun, Chungha, Yeonjun, Felix...and right at the end, Angel the Seal.
The multicolored stockings would be full in a month’s time. The tree would have a collection of boxes under it, arranged in a way that would look like a beautiful aurora in only 30 short days.
He felt warmth behind him and turned his head, finding his mother Melody looking up at the stockings. She put an arm around him and he let his shoulders relax, settling his head on his mother’s shoulder, enjoying the scent of warm vanilla that came from her.
“Are you looking forward to Christmas? I wonder what Santa is gonna bring this year” She teased. Hongjoong laughed good-naturedly and turned, looking at that oh so familiar blue and black ombre tree. It had gotten more than a few new ornaments as they added members to their found family, and Hongjoong let a happy sigh leave his lips.
“As long as I’m with my family, I don’t mind getting a sock for Christmas. My family is more than enough.’ He mused. Melody kissed his temple before gently pulling him into the kitchen.
“Well, you’re obviously getting more than a sock, so come, you have to tell me what you want for the Christmas dinner!”
Hongjoong let his mother pull him into the kitchen, smiling softly.
No matter what the year brought, good and bad, he was always grateful to settle down. To him, Christmas wouldn’t be the same if he wasn’t with his family.