In His Arms - Wonheon ( Wonho x Jooheon )

Chapter 64 : Christmas Tree

There’s dust everywhere.

He hasn’t been in the attic for years but he hadn’t realized that it had gotten this bad. He can’t even remember the last time he went up here. 

Well, actually he can. The last time had been when he hauled up the boxes of his ma’s clothes and slid them into the farthest corner possible. 

As Wonho steps further into the room, he glances in the direction of those boxes, his gaze lingering for one long moment, before he tears his eyes away and carefully glides to the other side where the big green totes are stacked up. His ma had a knack of color-coding their storage bins so naturally Christmas bins were a ‘nice tinsel green’, as his ma had always liked to point out. 

There’s four of them, stacked two by two on top of one another, and Wonho reaches down to pluck the first one up. From the feel and sound of the first box, he knows it’s the tree. His ma had ditched her tradition of buying real trees after finding out on Wonho’s first Christmas that he was damn well allergic to all of them so she substituted with a fake one instead. Although in Wonho’s opinion, even if he wasn’t so damn allergic, he’d prefer artificial bristles over real ones in a heartbeat. 

He grabs it and carefully makes his way down the slim attic ladder, gently dropping it in the living room before he makes his way back up. Jooheon offers to help as he turns back to the staircase but Wonho shakes his head no. There’s no need to put Jooheon at risk, even if it’s slight. So instead, Wonho tells Jooheon to unbox the tree and start putting it together and he smiles as he watches Jooheon spring up from the couch, ready to be put to work. 

The rest of the three boxes are quick to join the first and soon enough, he and Jooheon slowly pull out decades worth of Christmas decor that feels like a floodgate of memories when Wonho catches sight of the items. His ma had never bought store ornaments. Instead, she made him make a few every Christmas so everytime Jooheon or him reach into the bins, they pull out objects that are handcrafted and obviously made by a child. Just like the paper reindeer that Jooheon holds up by the strings and turns Wonho’s way. 

Wonho’s eyes dart from the painted brown handprint and glued on googly-eyes and fuzzy red nose, onto Jooheon’s grinning face. 

“It’s hard to believe your hand was ever this small,” Jooheon snorts, shaking his head slightly. The date on the back says that Wonho made it when he was three yet as Wonho looks back at the crafted reindeer, he can’t help but agree with Jooheon. The handprint is tiny, the entire thing smaller than Wonho’s palm. 

He can’t help but wonder what his past self would say if he were to see himself now. A three year old, let alone his thirteen year old self, would probably never believe their eyes, because who would? No one in a million years would have looked at Wonho’s teenage body when he weighed just under a hundred pounds soaking wet, and thought he would turn into what he is now. 

If only they could all just see him now. 

Almost two hours later, Jooheon and him take a step back from the tree. It’s nestled in the corner of the room, decked out in homemade ornaments from head to toe, with blinking lights and a bright star on top and they both just stare at it. It’s been so long since Wonho had put up a tree, let alone anything to do with Christmas, or any holiday. He thinks of his ma, how she’s been gone for almost a decade. He thinks of the past years when he had nothing but dark rooms and the wind howling outside, everything being so empty . 

But he also thinks of now. How he has someone to come home to. How he has someone that he spends every moment of his day thinking about. How he has someone that he loves, more than anything and everything. How his life is good. 

All of it is so, so good. 

Wonho turns his head and watches the brunet at his side, still staring ahead at the tree. The lights twinkle over Jooheon’s pale skin, coloring him with flashes of blue, red, green, and yellow. Wonho’s fingers twitch to capture the moment because not for the first time, Wonho is awestruck at how beautiful the younger man is. 

And that man is all his-- his Jooheon, his world. 

Wonho’s hand flies to his pocket and he pulls out his phone. It takes a quick slide of his fingers to pull the camera up before he raises it into the air. He takes a step towards the brunet and uses his free hand to cup Jooheon’s shoulder, angling him more in front of the tree.

Jooheon looks confused for a second, his eyes darting from Wonho to the phone, until Wonho says, “Smile, Jooheon.” 

Even despite the hues from the Christmas lights, Wonho can see the blush high on Jooheon’s cheeks. He looks shy suddenly, looking at Wonho beneath his lashes. “Wonho…” 

“Please.” 

Jooheon’s eyes shoot up to his, holding. There’s an emotion that brews beneath the brown, one that Wonho can’t place but recognizes from all his time with Jooheon. It looks close to apprehension, or hesitation, but there’s something else in there, something that makes Jooheon raise his head and slowly let a soft smile trickle its way across his face. His white teeth beam against the lights, on perfect display for Wonho and Wonho only. 

Wonho snaps the photo. 

He also makes it his phone's new wallpaper.