"Six trees, Jeongguk?"

    "You love it, right?"

Taehyung laughs as he looks around the living room, his hand resting on his back. The room was completely decked out, it did make it feel more like Christmas honestly.

    "I can't believe you're putting this much effort into Christmas." Taehyung chuckles. "You did a good job."

Jeongguk smiles proudly before changing the subject. "Anyway, did you bring your gifts for the boys?"

    "Yeah, they're in the car." The brunette says. "I could've just wrapped them and brought them over after, you know?"

    "I want to do it together." Jeongguk says holding his hand out for the keys. "It's more fun that way."

Jeongguk takes the keys before going to bring Taehyung's gifts for the boys inside. He sets them up on the living room floor, moving the coffee table to give them more space to work.

"How are you feeling? Did you ever follow up with Dr. Song?" Jeongguk asks after they are both seated on the floor.

"We had a telehealth meeting a few days ago and she said that all my tests came back okay." Taehyung says. "She scheduled my cesarean for the 30th but I told her it felt like the baby would come sooner."

"Why do you say that?" Jeongguk asks picking out some wrapping paper from the pile.

"I don't know, it just feels like it." The brunette shrugs. "It's hard to explain."

"So it might come on your birthday?" Jeongguk asks. "That's a pretty awesome gift, isn't it?"

Taehyung chuckles staring off for a second. "Yeah, I guess it would be."

"What?" The ravenette asks when he notices Taehyung's mood shifting.

"It's just weird, you know?" The brunette sighs. "Chiwon's the only reason I'm having this baby and he hasn't tried to get in contact with me once."

Jeongguk is caught off guard by Taehyung's mention of Chiwon. He hasn't heard him talk about him at all since the first few days he was back. "You want him to reach out or something?"

"No, it's just not like him." Taehyung says shaking his head. "It makes me feel like something bad is coming. Like he's planning something..."

"Nothing bad is going to happen, Taehyung." Jeongguk says reassuringly. "I won't let him near you again."

"You don't know him, Jeongguk." Taehyung says, releasing a tense breath as he continues. "He obsesses over things, he never just lets anything go. He doesn't just get over it~"

"He's not going to hurt you~"

"I don't care if he hurts me, Jeongguk. It doesn't matter if he hurts me, what if he hurts you? Or my children? My friends?"

Jeongguk looks at Taehyung, the fear in his eyes making his heart clench. He wanted to take away all his fears, but no matter how many times he reassured him that look remained.

"It's all I can think about." Taehyung sighs. "It feels like I've been waiting for something to happen since I left."

"You don't trust me?" Jeongguk asks, genuinely waiting for Taehyung's response.

"You know I trust you~"

"Then trust me, Taehyung."

They both fall silent, staring back at one another with completely different looks in their eyes.

"I trust you." Taehyung says looking away. "I killed the mood, I shouldn't have brought it up."

"I want you to talk to me and tell me how you feel." Jeongguk says grabbing a present to start wrapping. "I also want you to trust me, which you have a hard time doing~"

    "I do trust you, Jeongguk, I really do~"

    "It just doesn't feel like it sometimes." The ravenette shrugs. "It's fine, I mean, I get it. It just sucks seeing you afraid and knowing there's nothing I can do to make it better."

    "You make me feel better all the time." Taehyung says, he didn't know his emotional state had any affect on Jeongguk. "I'm serious, I wouldn't have bounced back as soon as I did without you."

    "I don't like it when you're upset, that's all." Jeongguk says looking up at Taehyung. "You should be happy. And I want you to be happy, all the time."

    "That's not completely realistic though is it?" Taehyung chuckles shortly. "No one's happy all the time."

    "I know, but you deserve to be happy more often than not." The ravenette clarifies. "That's why I'm going to take care of you and protect you~"

    "Jeongguk~" The brunette starts with an eye roll.

    "I'm serious." Jeongguk says firmly. "Nothing bad is going to happen to you or the kids, not while I'm around."

Taehyung chuckles, sighing softly as he picks a gift to start wrapping. "I believe you, Gguk."

    "Thank you." Jeongguk smiles as he focuses on the gift he's wrapping.

It wasn't a complete lie, Taehyung truly did want to believe him. But wanting to believe him didn't make the feeling in his gut go away.

Something bad was going to happen.

~Christmas Eve...~

    "Appa!"

    "What?"

Jaehyung whines as he reaches up for Jeongguk, stomping his little feet as he tugs on the ravenette's shorts.

"What?" Jeongguk asks again without paying Jaehyung any mind.

"Appa!" The baby screams again. "Me wanna~ w-wanna, Appa!"

"Wanna what?" Jeongguk sighs as he focuses on the recipe he was using to make the main dish for dinner tomorrow. He decided to cook tonight so he didn't have to spend all day in the kitchen tomorrow.

"Jk, look!" Saebin says rushing into the kitchen with a piece of paper. "Hanjae wrote a letter, I swear! It couldn't have been an accident."

"Saebin, why don't you take Jaehyung back into the living room." Jeongguk says turning Jaehyung around and ushering him to the living room. "Show Taehyung Hanjae's picture."

Saebin deflates with a pout. "Every time I try to talk to you you tell me to go away."

"I do not," Jeongguk says rolling his eyes. "I'm just trying to clean up a little before we exchange gifts. Do you mind?"

"You're being an asshole." Saebin says with the same pouty expression as he takes Jaehyung's hand.

"You can't say asshole." The ravenette tries as Saebin leaves with Jaehyung.

"Gguk, we're doing gifts!"

    "Coming!"

They had all agreed to spend Christmas Eve together as a friend group so that they each could spend Christmas Day with their families. So Yoongi, Hoseok, Namjoon, Seokjin and Taehyung all came to Jeongguk's.

They drew names for gift exchanges to lesson the financial load on everyone that wanted to be included.

    "Okay," Hoseok starts from where he sits with everyone's gifts on the ground. "Should I just start?"

    "Who got my name?" Saebin asks from where he sits between Namjoon and Seokjin.

    "You aren't supposed to know who got your name, Bin. That's why it's a secret." Namjoon says putting his arm around him.

    "Oh," The eight year old says pouting a little as Hoseok begins.

Hoseok passes the gifts out to their owners before everyone starts opening them. They all agreed on a fifteen dollar limit so each of the gifts are just nice mementos. The kids get toys and everyone else mostly gets fragrances, aside from Jeongguk who gets a mug that he can only guess is from Saebin.

(Jk's mug lol)

    "Come here, Hanie, let me see." Taehyung says holding his hand out for the toy Hanjae was trying to open.

    "Book," Hanjae says as he hands the book over, trying to climb up onto the couch.

    "Ah, it is a book." The brunette says opening the packaging before take the book out. "Look, Hanie, you can press the buttons and it makes sounds."

    "Ah," Hanjae says mimicking Taehyung's tone of voice as he presses the button.

    "It needs batteries I think." Taehyung says reading the back of the packaging.

    "There should be batteries in the bag." Namjoon says nodding to the discarded gift bag as he reads the instructions for the remote control car Saebin got.

"Thanks, Namjoon." Taehyung chuckles softly.

"What's the mater with it?" Saebin asks looking at the instructions with Namjoon. "Why can't I just put the batteries in?"

"You have to read the instructions." Namjoon says looking at the eight year old.

"Instructions are for dummies." Saebin deadpans. "We're smart, so we can just put the batteries in and play with it."

"You know what, here," Namjoon says handing the car over. "Knock yourself out."

Seokjin chuckles with Yebin in his arms as he watches Saebin try to figure the car out without the instructions.

Jeongguk returns from the kitchen with Jaehyung on his hip, sighing as he sits down on the ground in front of Taehyung. "What's he got?"

"It's a book." The brunette says as he puts the batteries in. "What'd Jaehyung get?"

"He got a doodle board." Jeongguk says holding it up for Taehyung to see.

"Cookie, cookie, cookie~" Jaehyung repeats while reaching for the doodle board.

"Why do you keep saying that?" Jeongguk laughs as he hands over the board.

"Tree," Hanjae says pointing at one of the pictures in his book.

"Push the button," Taehyung says pressing the button for him.

"Tree!"

Hanjae immediately goes to town pressing every button in the book repeatedly for absolutely no reason. Taehyung doesn't stop him despite how annoying the automated voice is.

Hoseok and Yoongi are the first to decide to head home, they had an early drive in the morning to Hoseok's parents house. They spent Christmas there every year since Yoongi's parents didn't celebrate the holiday.

Seokjin and Namjoon leave soon after, Yebin's been off schedule the past few days and they didn't want to throw her off any further.

"Is Santa gonna come to you, hyung?" Saebin asks as he kneels on the couch to hug Taehyung.

"I hope so," The brunette chuckles as he hugs him back. "If you go straight to sleep when you get home he'll come to your house first."

"Really?" Saebin asks with wide eyes.

"Yeah, it's his rule." Taehyung nods with a convincing expression.

"Then I really have to go now." Saebin says pulling away from the hug. "I hope you get everything you want, hyung."

"Thanks." Taehyung laughs as he stands to walk them out. He was trying not to move around too much before his scheduled cesarean. Every time he moves the pressure in his lower abdomen increases.

"You aren't gonna have a baby on Christmas are you?" Seokjin jokes as he hugs the brunette.

"Not if I can help it." Taehyung laughs. "Are you guys staying in town tomorrow?"

"Yeah, my parents want to see Saebin and they haven't met Yebin so they're making a trip down." Seokjin explains. "It's their first time meeting Namjoon too so it's bound to be eventful."

"I hope it goes well." Taehyung smiles. "Merry Christmas, hyung."

"Merry Christmas, get some rest, okay?" Seokjin says picking up Yebin's diaper bag before following Namjoon and Saebin out.

Taehyung sighs as he sits back down, looking at Hanjae as he presses the buttons on his book. "Are you sleepy?"

"No," He responds quickly.

"Yes you are," Taehyung says taking the book and switching it off. "You're going to kill the battery if you keep doing that."

"We should put them down, huh?" Jeongguk asks walking into the living room.

"Yeah," Taehyung says looking at Jaehyung. "Are you sleepy, Jaehyung?"

"Mhm," He answers while intently coloring on his doodle board. "Cookie?"

"There's no more." Jeongguk says as he scoops him up. "I'll come back for him."

"Do you want me to~"

"No, stay, I got it." The ravenette says as he goes upstairs.

Taehyung relaxes into his seat, pulling Hanjae into his arms and letting him lay his head against him.

The brunette was tired from running around getting Christmas gifts for the past few days but his excitement mostly canceled that out.

He was excited to see the boys reaction when they saw all the gifts under the tree tomorrow when they woke up. They may not understand the full meaning of Christmas but it was still exciting for them to get toys.

Jeongguk comes back for Hanjae after a little while, he's already asleep so that makes his job ten times easier. He washes him up quickly before putting him in his crib.

"Are you okay still?" Jeongguk asks as they put the gifts from the pantry under the tree.

"Yeah, I am." Taehyung chuckles. "I'm not having this baby on Christmas."

"Don't ignore the signs just because you don't want to have it on Christmas." Jeongguk laughs. "If you need to go we can go."

"I don't need to, I'm fine." The brunette says. "I'm actually trying not to think about it, so if you want to be helpful distract me."

"Fine," Jeongguk says standing up and leaving Taehyung on the floor in front of the tree.

"What are you doing?" Taehyung asks in confusion as he skips up the stairs.

He returns with a gift box in his hand and an annoying grin on his face. "Here's your first distraction."

"Jeongguk~" Taehyung says, his smile immediately dropping.

"Just open it."

"We agreed to no gifts."

Jeongguk shrugs. "I only agreed because I didn't want you to get me anything."

"I'll feel guilty if I take this." Taehyung says looking down at the box. "You shouldn't have done this."

"Open it." Jeongguk says sitting back on his heels as he watches him, the lights from the trees causing his eyes to sparkle a bit.

Taehyung sighs softly as he unravels the bow tied around the small box. He removes the lid slowly as if he's worried about what he'll find. "What is this?" He asks looking at Jeongguk.

"It's a touch bracelet." The ravenette says with a smile as Taehyung looks down at the gift. "They come in pairs so I get one and you get one."

"Touch bracelets?" Taehyung asks, still not fully understanding.

"Yeah. If you touch yours mine will light up and visa-versa." Jeongguk nods.

"Jeongguk..." Taehyung says looking down at the bracelet, his hair covering his eyes. "You shouldn't have gotten me anything."

Jeongguk chuckles. "I figured we can use them to communicate when we aren't together or if one of us is in trouble."

"You're so ridiculous for this," Taehyung chuckles. "You literally bought us couple bracelets."

"They aren't couple bracelets, friends can have them too." Jeongguk defends with a smile. "I just want you to know if I'm thinking about you. Which is almost all the time, but I swear I won't be annoying with it."

"Thank you, Jeongguk." Taehyung says opening his arms for the ravenette.

Jeongguk leans forward into the embrace, wrapping his arms around Taehyung. He couldn't remember the last time they'd hugged like this. "I love you, Taehyung." He says, and he means in it.

"I believe you, Gguk." Taehyung promises. "You know I believe you."

"I know." Jeongguk responds, chuckling softly as he pulls away. "Let's get to bed now, I know you're tired."

Taehyung nods in agreement before they both prepare to go upstairs to sleep.

It has been a long day, and they were looking forward to tomorrow.

~~

it's really giving christmas in september🎄🍁