Chapter Text
Like earlier that week, it was snowing, very lightly however. It had finally turned December, that meant everyone was counting down the days until Christmas.
Till was a fan of Christmas, or well, not a huge fan like Ivan was. But one evening when he was making a snack for Hwani, he heard someone in the other room.
“Tilly!” Ivan called loudly from the living room.
Oh boy. What could he need?
He called back, “What happened, Ivan?” not as loud as Ivan was because Hwani was sitting on a high stool, waiting to be fed. Till mentally counted the days they’ve had Hwani. He calculated fourteen days or two weeks.
“Do you want to help decorate for Christmas when you’re done?” He appeared in the doorway.
Here we go.
Flashbacks from last year flooded Till’s mind: Ivan almost fell from the ladder when he was trying to place an ornament on a high branch on their tree. Luckily, Till caught the ladder before it could fall. But still, it will haunt him for a lifetime.
“It doesn’t have to be just us this time, Hyuna, Luka, Sua, and Mizi can come to help us decorate. Plus, they decorated their houses, they would love to help us decorate ours.” Ivan explained, interrupting Till from his memory of last Christmas.
Till took a deep breath in and out.
“I’ll think about it, just let me get done with feeding Hwani,” Till decided at last.
He set down the now finished plate of cut apple slices and got his way to Hwani, whose arms were outstretched, excited to be fed.
Over the two weeks they’ve adopted Hwani, he's grown more comfortable and attached to them every day. It was adorable, and especially comforting to see a shy child grow to a more talkative one.
“Thank you, papa!” Hwani smiled wide at him, grabbing the plate of snacks from his hands, and setting it on the countertop.
Finally, Ivan appeared in the kitchen fully this time.
“Ooh, what do you got there?” Ivan sat on the stool next to where Hwani was sitting.
“Apple slices! It very tasty, thank you papa!” He thanked again, reached out for him to hug, and Till came closer enough for his little arms to wrap around his body.
Hwani felt a hug from the back as well, Ivan joined.
Ivan moved his bangs back to kiss his forehead once they all parted.
“Guess who you’re going to meet today?” Till said sweetly to Hwani as Hwani started chopping down on his apple slices.
“Who?” Hwani got so excited that he stopped eating his apple slices for a moment. He was practically shimmering, a bright glint in both of his light-blue eyes were shown to both parents staring at him.
“Mizi, Sua, Luka, and Hyuna will be coming over to help decorate our house, and guess what?” Till booped his nose and he giggled. “You can help us if you’d like! It can maybe even help you explore and learn our house more.”
“I can’t wait!” Hwani cheered brightly and loudly. He was to the point he was bouncing on top of the stool.
Time passed minute by minute, each minute went quicker than before. Finally, Hwani saw from a distance a car pulling up to their driveway.
Who were they? They had pink hair and another had black hair. Hwani assumed they were both Mizi and Sua. But, who was who? He didn’t know yet. Hopefully he will know soon.
He heard very faint talking outside, as both of the ladies had gotten out of their car, now walking up to their front door.
He heard one, two, three knocks before Ivan approached the door to open it. He whispered something before he swung it, Hwani couldn't hear what he whispered, but hopefully it was good and not bad.
Hwani heard more voices now, a mix of two female voices with Ivan's voice.
Hwani wanted to go approach and talk to them, but suddenly he felt so shy again. Was the same thing happening when he met both of his fathers at the adoption center weeks ago?
Till entered the kitchen, and observed as Hwani stared at all three people still at the front door, laughing and talking about whatever.
He must be shy, he has never met Mizi and Sua before, so this isn’t surprising. Till thought to himself, and grabbed Hwani’s hand.
“Come meet Mizi and Sua with me, I promise I’ll be right here, cling to me if you’d like. I don’t mind, hun.” At those gentle words spoken, Till helped Hwani climb off of the stool and he clinged to him closely as they both approached where everyone was standing.
“Hello…” Hwani said shyly, waving and clinging to Till’s leg. Practically hiding behind him.
“He’s shy, yes? I remember you told me that when you and Ivan adopted him,” Mizi whispered to Till.
Till nodded and watched as Mizi squatted down to Hwani’s level to talk to him in a comfortable way, “My name is Mizi, the lady standing next to me is my wife, Sua. Sua and I have been both of your fathers’ best friends since childhood, it is nice to meet you in person, Hwani!” Mizi said in a half-loud and half-gentle voice. It was gentle enough to not scare Hwani.
“Nice to meet you, Mizi and Sua, I’m… Hwani.” His voice was barely above a whisper, Mizi only heard it because of how close she was to his level.
“Should we wait for Hyuna and Luka to come, or should we start without them?” Mizi stood back to her full height, looking Till in the eye. “In my opinion, I think we should wait for them, Hyuna can get really detailed with decorating. I’ve seen her house and it’s seriously amazing. Plus, they’ll be bringing Nari over!” Till explained briefly while everyone listened.
“Wow, that’s… surprisingly a good idea, Till.” Sua joked and let out a low chuckle.
“Okay, so now we wait, yes?” Ivan said after everything,
“You’re quite the joker aren’t you!” Hwani exclaimed. Sua nodded, not expecting the sudden attack of attention from the little one.
Just as Ivan opened his mouth to say something, but before he could he heard Luka’s faint voice and the sound of footsteps outside their front door, likely signaling that they were here. “Well, guess who’s finally here.” Ivan said to Luka when he swung over the front door, who had Hyuna at his side and holding Nari in his arms.
“Who’s that girl?” Hwani tugged at the bottom of Till’s shirt, looking up at him. “That’s Hyuna!” Till gazed down at him. “No, the tinier girl.”
“Oh! Her name is Nari, she’s only two-years-old,” Till smiled down at him and watched as Luka in the corner of his eye and the others standing outside walked in the house.
Nari waved hello to the new face, she had never seen this kid before. Her brain didn’t remember this face.
She pointed and looked at Luka, who seemed like he was about to put her down.
“That’s Hwani, Ivan and Till’s child.” Luka gently, she’s clinging to his leg.
“Who's ready to help decorate?” Ivan cheered. Hwani stepped up in front of Nari, who was now standing up. He held out his hand and she grabbed it, all of the adults watched in awe as they struck down the hallway.
“I’m gonna guess they're ready!” Ivan skipped down the hallway, following behind them. “This is the man you’ve dealt with for almost a decade now?” Sua in a voice barely above a whisper said, not intentioning a question.
“Mhm, I might have regrets, but he loves Hwani and I a lot, and I’m glad he’s able to express it a lot better than he did in highschool.” Till replied, obviously hearing what she said beforehand.
“Anyway, you have all of the Christmas decorations in the basement, yes, Till?” Mizi questioned.
“Yes, follow me!”
Till led them to where he remembered where he stored the Christmas decoration from last year. It ended being in a closet with old boxes, still including the decoration in the boxes. “Is there anything in a specific way you want us to decorate with?” Luka asked. “Well, we have the tree up, just haven’t had time to set up the ornaments at all.” Till replies, pulling box after box out from the tight closet.
They all carried the boxes upstairs, being careful not to drop anything or else it’d break. Everything in these boxes was easily fragile.
They got to work immediately, helping put up ornament after ornament onto each branch of the tree. With that many people helping at once, the job was done way easier and especially quicker. Hwani watched at times, but helped out ornaments on the branches he could reach. Still a bit shy of all of the people here at the house.
He trusted Mizi a lot, she seemed really polite, and so did the girl next to her, what’s her name? Maybe it was Sua, he wasn’t sure at all.
Ivan did the same, helping out at times, but normally stayed by Hwani so he would feel more comfortable because one of his parents was at his side.
Hyuna approached him, making sure to be gentle, so she waved at him. “Hi, what’s your name? Hwani, yes?” Hyuna used her soft voice, she had a child of her own. She knew what she was doing.
“It is Hwani.” He tried speaking up, but stayed as its own level. She nodded, “Do you want to play with Nari?” She asked, voice still gentle. He saw Luka turned his head to see where she went, but saw she was speaking with Hwani so he continued what he was previously doing.
“Mhm…! I’d like to meet her,” he said, his tone rising a bit. Excited to play with the girl.
“Nari, come here, sweetheart.” Hyuna called out to her, seeing her clung to Luka’s leg, and slowly made her way to Hyuna.
“Come play with Hwani a bit more, he’s really sweet, and I’m sure you two will make good friends!” She got up from her spot on the carpet, going back to help Luka with something.
“Hwello!” She smiled big, sitting on the floor next to him. “Hello.” Right, two-year-olds are learning how to talk. “Do you want to do anything?” He asked, wanting to make friends with the girl. “Play with toys!” She happily replied.
“Okay, follow me!” She seemed really friendly, and he wouldn’t mind someone playing with him. He missed when someone played with toys with him, ever since he got adopted and an only child, he learned to play by himself. Sometimes asking one of his parents to play with him.
He led her to his room, going on his tippy toes to flip on the light.
“Let’s play with the cars!” He suggested, and they did that.
Ivan peered at the two kids when he was passing by his room, smiling at how well they were going along with each other.
☆ ☆ ☆
“Thank you all for coming home, the tree looks amazing! You all did great, we should all meet up again when we are all free.” Till, Ivan, and Hwani waved goodbye to everyone as they said their goodbyes as well. He missed Nari already, she was really fun to play with.
“Can she and I have play dates one day? She’s really friendly!” Hwani asked with a smile, tugging at Till’s sleeve. “Of course, you’ll see her again, I promise.”