"every so often, i regret being born," renjun says, yawning and running his hands over his arms. haechan doesn't respond, having fallen asleep against the shorter's back approximately fifteen minutes ago - when shaun had woken them up at the crack of dawn to open christmas presents. for such a mature and intelligent kid, shaun was impossibly excited about the prospect of presents, especially from so many people.

although sooyoung and shaun loved christmas, the parks usually spent christmas quietly and together, rather than inviting tons of family members and spending it with pomp like they would've preferred. not that they had much family in america anyway, but it was the thought that counted. for sooyoung, it was the people. for shaun, it was the presents.

"it's the literal ass crack of dawn, shaunnie," jisoo says, slumped against jeno. he yawns and stretches, laying his arm around her shoulder and pulling her close to his chest, pressing a kiss to her forehead. jisoo's nose wrinkles from his morning breath, but appreciates the gesture anyway. the dreamies had stayed up almost all night listening to what happened between jaemin and sooyoung, resulting in happy vibes but an extreme lack of sleep.

"you know, i should be getting on your case about swearing but it is too fucking early for this," james says, wrapping his blanket tighter around himself.

"you say that every single year, daddy," sooyoung says, rolling her eyes and handing him a mug of hot water. james couldn't start his day without a mug of hot water, says it's good for digestion or whatever. what he would need to digest at four in the morning, sooyoung had no clue, but at least it would wake him up.

"yeah. and it's true every single year. shaun, kiddo, i love you but why do you do this to us?" james whines, effectively being shut up when sooyoung forces him to drink some of the water. "much better, thank you, sweetheart."

she smiles smugly, instantly finding jaemin to find shelter underneath the huge fuzzy blanket he had draped over himself. 

"i get presents, daddy! what part of presents doesn't make you want to wake up as early as possible?" shaun says, dragging out the tray they had set all the presents on underneath the christmas tree. it made cleaning easier, sooyoung's mother had insisted, giggling as shaun had messily stapled his present for her together.

but sooyoung's mother wasn't here right now. she was...up there. with the rest of the angels. jaemin notices the sadness on sooyoung's face, wrapping the blanket around her even tighter.

"you miss her, huh?" it's not a question, more of a knowing prod at the truth that was obvious. the entire room grows still for a second, a moment of silence for those who were supposed to be here, but couldn't be.

"yeah, i miss her a lot. it's the first christmas without her," sooyoung says quietly. shaun's excited expression wavers at that, and even james can't keep the slight frown of his lips from descending downwards.

"wherever she is, i know she's proud of you, sweetie. all of you," jisoo says softly, removing herself from jeno's warmth to walk around the couch and give sooyoung a hug. 

"thanks, ji." it's soft, whispered into jisoo's tresses, but the meaning behind the words is subtle and profound. i don't miss her when you're here with me. 

in another timeline, perhaps, things would've worked out differently. sooyoung would've fallen in love with jisoo and maybe things would've been different. she looks back at jaemin, who's looking at her with so much tenderness, that she decides that maybe in a different timeline, but not this one. in this one, she had jaemin. and that was more than enough for her. 

"okay! can we open presents now!" haechan whines, easily flipping the switch on the sentiment. 'thank you' sooyoung mouths. the older boy just winks at her with a sweet smile of brotherly love (which means understanding and horribly evil) before turning to shaun, who's ready to pounce on the gifts.

he gets two lego sets from haechan and renjun, one baseball bat from jisoo and jeno, and a signed baseball cap from chenle and jisung. sooyoung had gotten him a watch with the hands as two bats, which shaun had really liked, immediately putting it on. jaemin had gotten him a bruno shaped shot glass (which james found very funny but jisoo didn't all that much), and had earned himself a big hug from the younger boy.

haechan gets sunflower themed everything (courtesy of renjun's planning): sunflower backpacks, sunflower shirts, a cologne named 'sunflow-her' (chenle thought that was really cute), two huge packets of sunflower seeds, and a sunflower eraser. 

renjun had (courtesy of haechan's planning) received enough art supplies for a lifetime: paintbrushes, oil paints, acrylics, watercolors, finger paints, and even a canvas literally the size of two renjun's put together. 

chenle gets too much golden state warrior's merch, including jerseys, hats, beanies, sweaters, hoodies, and someone even gets him a basketball signed by stephen 'sabji'. jisung had thought that was clever and while chenle appreciated the humor, he wasn't so thrilled when he realized that it was a fake. 

jisung had gotten mostly dance gear and a rotating wheel of lollipops from jisoo - with the overwhelming majority of them being blue raspberry. of course, by the end of the day, most of them had disappeared into shaun's stomach, but it was the thought that counted.

jaemin gets a bunch of yonsei university gear, with a letterman jacket with a basketball pin being the highlight of the gifts. sooyoung was the one who had come up with that, saying that if jaemin was going to commit to yonsei, he was going to have to commit. 

as they were nearing the end of opening the gifts, jeno seems to be getting more and more nervous, looking suspiciously at the dreamies, shaun, and james in that specific order. sooyoung's about to pull him over to ask about what was going on when jaemin tugs her arm and whispers something in her ear. 

her eyes brighten immediately, disguising her gasp of surprise as a cough when jisoo looks at her. sooyoung shakes her head innocently, directing her attention to a jittery jeno opening his gifts.

of course, jeno had received the same merch as jaemin, but this time instead, with korea university written on the letterman jacket, right underneath the basketball pin. jaemin clasps his hand with jeno, clapping him on the back.

"looks like we're gonna be going from teammates to enemies, my friend," jaemin says with a twinkle in his eyes. jeno's fiery spirit revs up, giving jaemin an equally devious grin.

"that it does, my brother," jeno says. 

"if y'all are done with the bromance, can sooyoung open her gifts now? i just wanna see jisoo's reaction to the - mfph!" chenle doesn't get to finish his sentence when jisung puts a firm hand over his mouth, renjun and haechan immediately jumping on top of him.

"you guys hear anything?" haechan asks, looking around the room.

"nah, not at all." renjun replies casually, laying on his side so that he was covering chenle (who had been tackled to the ground). 

"you guys are really weird, you know that, right?" sooyoung says, glaring at them. could they be any more obvious?

"yeah, yeah whatever, just open your gifts." sooyoung rolls her eyes, opening her gifts.

her gifts ranged from a voucher for three free drinks from starbucks (james had picked up on her obsession) to a beautiful necklace with her initials engraved into it by jaemin.

"dad, jeno, and jisoo helped me pick it out," jaemin says, the breath of his words tickling the back of her neck as he puts on the necklace. sooyoung looks back at him in surprise.

"you and your father?"

"yeah, we've been making it a point to try and spend more time together. you know, father-son bonding and all that shit," jaemin says, rubbing his arm sheepishly. 

"alright! alright! you guys are cute and all but can we please get this show on the road? jeno looks like he's gonna pass out," shaun says, tapping his new watch. jeno glares at him but can't seem to find it in himself to refute. the evidence was pretty much stacked up against him anyway. jisoo looks around the circle in confusion.

"guys? you wanna explain what's going on?" jisoo asks, staring at a tiny box that jeno produces out of his pocket. "is that what i think it is?" 

jeno takes a deep breath, in and out, before shaking his head.

"yes and no. yes, this is a ring, but no, this is not an engagement ring. technically, we can't even do that for another, let's see, seven days so no. not an engagement ring. but this is a promise ring," jeno says softly, taking jisoo's hand in his. his eyes are soft, caring. sooyoung doesn't know if it's just the lighting or something else, but his eyes look like her father's. like they had before everything. when he was the fun-loving, caring person he was when she was a child. safe.

"i promise that someday, this ring will be a real ring. i promise that every single day until i can get you that ring, i will love you. and after that, i promise that i'll make sure that you always know that i love you. jisoo, you have changed all of our lives, whether you realize it or not. there is absolutely nothing in the world i can give you besides myself and my love." jisoo shuts jeno up with a firm kiss, throwing her arms around her neck, pulling away to press her forehead to his.

"you're more than enough. your love is more than enough for me. it always has been and it always will be."

and the rest of christmas is spent with warm mugs of hot chocolate and even warmer love.

+++

a/n: grinding out chapters at this point :P have a great day loves!