It was cold outside, but the sun was high in the sky giving the winter air a bit of warmth. Snow had yet to fall that year, rain having taken it's place making the roads and sidewalks wet with puddles. Despite it looking like spring or autumn weather, people still scurried from shop to shop getting last minute shopping out of the way. It was like any other Christmas holiday, and the same went for Himchan. Then only difference, he wasn't out shopping for anything.

With his hands shoved into the pockets of his brown trench coat, he walked pass all the shops and straight for his apartment. After spending the night at yet another Christmas party a friend was hosting, playing designated driver, the responsible one. . .Himchan was ready to just collapse in his bed and fall asleep for the rest of the day. It was only Christmas Eve. . .right? The more important day would be tomorrow, when it was actually Christmas? Not that it mattered, his boyfriend was halfway across the world working with some charity group in a third world country making Christmas happen for someone less fortunate. As he had the thought he couldn't help the guilty feeling from washing over him.

When his boyfriend had first decided to take up this little Christmas trip, he himself had been completely against it. They had fought right up until the day that he had left, now he was realizing just how selfish he was being. His boyfriend was out helping other people making them happy with a very special Christmas, here he was having wanted to keep him home so they could spend Christmas together. They had so many Christmases ahead of them, he could spare just one of them.

Pushing open the door to the apartment building he lived in, he stepped inside and instantly could hear and smell the holidays radiating from every floor. Gingerbread cookies were being baked on one floor, children singing Christmas carols on another, and somewhere up above him children were racing around playing as family visited from all over the world. A smile tugged on Himchan's lips at the thought as he climbed the stairs to the second floor. His nose becoming assaulted by the scents on Christmas. Gingerbread and other spices, pine from Christmas trees and peppermint that most likely came from homemade peppermint bark. A heavy sigh escaped him as he unlocked his door and stepped inside.

The apartment was dark aside from a light that seemed to be coming from the living room. Himchan swore he turned off all the lights before leaving the previous night for the party, did he forget to turn it off? He had just closed the door, hearing it latch behind him. However, he wasn't the only one that had heard it. Quick steps from somewhere in the apartment moved in his direction till a head poked out from around the corner. Sandy blonde hair, obviously dyed since you could still see the natural black underneath, sat atop the persons head. Sparkling brown eyes he knew he had gotten lost in multiple times paired with the kissable lips on the persons face, he knew exactly who it was. Daehyun, his boyfriend was home!? If so, why hadn't he called to let him know so he could pick him up? Himchan just stood stunned and in shock, staring at the male he had fought with just weeks before.

"Finally, you're home. The neighbors said you had been out all night."

The words had snapped Himchan out of his sudden shock. He forced his feet to move and gave a bit of a forced laugh, still surprised Daehyun was even home.

"Uh. . .yeah, I was at a friends Christmas party. If I would have known you were coming home I wouldn't have gone out."

"And you didn't put the tree up, or any of the other decorations?"

Daehyun had stepped out from around the corner with an amused look on his face and his hands firmly planted on his hips. Himchan sputtered a bit, closing the gap between Daehyun and himself. His arms wrapping around the younger man, holding onto him tightly for a moment.

"Welcome home."

Laughing, Daehyun returned the hug.

"Thanks, but don't think this gets you off the hook for not putting the decorations up."

The two pulled apart, Himchan pulling his jacket off and going to hang it up, Daehyun had wandered off to go back to whatever he was doing. Himchan's curiosity had him wandering through the living room and towards their spare room where the light was coming from. The spare bedroom had been used for nothing but storage, seeing as their families never stayed long enough to stay over and if a friend stayed they crashed on the couch. Himchan looked into the room spotting Daehyun with his head in a big box marked 'Xmas'. It all made sense, Daehyun had immediately come home, and before getting his things situated he went to find all the Christmas decorations.

"Need any help in here?"

Himchan asked, though without even coming out of the box, Daehyun waved a hand in his direction.

"No no, wait. . .yes, take the tree and set it up. I'll be out in a second."

Doing as he was told, the older of the two of them glanced around till he found the box with the fake Christmas tree in it. Grabbing it, Himchan carried the box out into the living room, setting it down on the couch looking around to figure out where it was going to be set up.

Normally they set it up near the window, but the couch was sitting there this year. They would need a new place to put it so it would be out of the way, but still seen. Daehyun joined him a few seconds later, an armful of Christmas tree decorations.

"I was thinking we could put it in the corner next to the entertainment system. It won't obscure anything and there's plenty of room. We won't have to move anything either."

A smile graced Daehyun's lips as he turned and looked at Himchan for confirmation. Himchan, unable to disagree with his enthusiastic boyfriend, nodded.

"Sounds perfect."

Himchan moved over and began unboxing the tree. With all the sudden Christmas decorating and spirit that flowed from the apartment and his boyfriend, he hadn't even had a chance to ask about how things went with the Christmas project he had been doing. Deciding he could ask later, he set the tree up and spent the next few minutes adding lights and decorations. Soon, the tree was decorated and the two of them stepped back to look at their work, of course Daehyun had to make a couple of adjustments, but it was nothing big.

"I think it looks perfect."

Daehyun said, until he noticed one thing missing. A very important part of the tree decorating process. The star. They hadn't put the star up just yet and he began to panic. He was certain he had brought it out with him when he grabbed the decorations. Himchan noticed the sudden distress in Daehyun. He frowned until he realized what was bothering him, the star was missing. Daehyun's favorite part of decorating the tree was putting the star on top of the tree and he couldn't find it, apparently.

Moving from the living room, Himchan went to their bedroom and over to their closet. He dug around inside before finding the box with the star. Returning to Daehyun, he pulled it out and held it out.

"Is this what you're looking for?"

Daehyun turned, a squeal of delight escaping him. Immediately he grabbed for the star, darting over to the tree as Himchan watched. He chuckled, crossed his arms and watched as the star was placed directly on top of their tree.

Once the star was set and the tree plugged in, it lit up in a flurry of swirling colors. Bright greens, blues and reds danced in the center and around the edge, giving the silver star a beautiful colorful glow. Daehyun stepped back and leaned against Himchan, looking over their work, happy with how it turned out. Himchan placed an arm around Daehyun and smiled.

"Best tree yet."

"I agree, you know what would make it better?"

"Hm?"

Himchan's eyes met Daehyun's with curiosity. The smile that spread on his lips made him wonder exactly what would make it better.

"Presents!"

Flinching, Himchan looked away and sighed. He looked at the tree, feeling the sudden frown on Daehyun's face being directed at him. He knew his boyfriend was disappointed in him at the moment, but it couldn't be helped. He hadn't exactly been in the Christmas mood. Not since Daehyun had flown off to some other country.

"Don't look at me like that, it hasn't exactly been the merriest of Christmases."

He moved away from Daehyun and picked up a few of the ornaments left over, finding places for them around the apartment. Daehyun, frowning, sighed but wasn't going to push it. He had a feeling he knew what it was. So, he joined Himchan in decorating the apartment, taking up most of the morning doing so.

~ ~ ~ ~

As the afternoon approached, Himchan sat down on the now cleaned couch, relaxing just a bit. Christmas music was playing in the background, Daehyun was in the kitchen humming along to to music and baking a plethora of gingerbread cookies it seemed. Himchan couldn't help but watch him with a smile filled with nothing but pure love in it. It was times like this that he enjoyed, the simplicity and peace that Daehyun radiated at times. There were other times that Daehyun was just absolute chaos and could be unpredictable. It was why he loved the man so much, he was always kept on his toes.

"Hey, what do you say to going out for a bit and looking at all the lights?"

Brought from his thoughts, Himchan blinked and took a second to comprehend what had been said. He covered it up by acting as if he was thinking, which wasn't too off since he did have to think about it. Nodding, he stood up and stretched just a bit to wake himself up.

"Sure, maybe we can even get some hot chocolate and check out the giant tree in the middle of town?"

"I love that idea! Let me pull this batch out so they can cool, that way they'll be ready to ice when we get back."

Minutes later, they found themselves walking down the sidewalk with some very hot hot chocolate in their hands. The lights were barely noticeable in the early afternoon sun, but the decorations would be fun to look at. By the time they would be heading back it should be dark enough to see the lights better. Himchan continued to look around, sipping his hot chocolate carefully so he wouldn't burn himself on it.

"You would think they'd make the hot chocolate cool enough for people to drink, but no...its got to be scalding hot."

Daehyun pouted as he switched his cup from one hand to the other. Himchan just shook his head, he knew there would be more complaints somewhere, maybe he should have just made them some before they left the house. However, realization had hit him that he didn't have any back at the apartment, so that wouldn't work no matter how you looked at it.

"I think its so it'll stay warmer longer. I can have it if you don't want it."

Daehyun immediately guarded his drink with a pouty glare. Himchan howled with laughter, his head thrown back ever so slightly.

"Don't worry, I know better then to come between you and food."

Himchan smiled at the blush crossing Daehyun's face, but he didn't comment on it. In fact, he wrapped his arm around the blonde and continued walking.

They looked at the lights and decorations, ending with the big tree that was decorated so elegantly with large Christmas balls, gold and red garland and other oddly shaped decorations. By then, their hot chocolate was cooling down and sprinkles of rain had begun falling from the sky. Their time out seemed as if it was going to be cut short by the sudden chilling droplets. They had to rush home because it started pouring, the rain icy and cold, chilling them to the bone as they both raced for cover.

It was early evening by the time they got back, the Christmas lights all aglow in all their glory as the sun disappeared behind the rain clouds and under the horizon. The temperature was dropping outside, their breath coming in warm puffy clouds. They rushed through the doors of the building and straight up to their apartment. Once inside the two stood laughing, not sure if at the hilarity of their rushing around or the fact they both looked like a couple of drowned rats.

"Well that was unexpected, why rain during Christmas?"

"Don't ask me, mother nature is just confused."

The two stripped of their icy wet clothes to dry off, dressed in warm pajamas and went to decorate the gingerbread cookies. Towards the end, it was obvious who was better at decorating. Daehyun had these perfectly decorated gingerbread men, Himchan's looked like he threw the icing on. They laughed and joked about them until they found themselves cuddled on the couch and staring at the tree in silence.

Himchan was the one to break the silence.

"It was nice having you back for Christmas, and I want to apologize for how I reacted to you going away."

He turned his attention onto Daehyun who was nibbling on a gingerbread cookie. His eyes shot up to Himchan, hair blocking his view a second until Himchan brushed it aside.

"No, I should be apologizing. I did kinda spring it on you without talking it over. I'm glad to be home now."

"When do you leave again? Assuming you're going back."

"Soon. . ."

The answer was so vague, Himchan was almost tempted to ask what he meant by 'soon'. But when he looked back down at the blonde, a sigh escaped him. Daehyun had already drifted off to sleep beside him. He sat there for a few more seconds before getting up, carefully lifting Daehyun into his arms and carrying him off to bed, climbing in beside his boyfriend and slipping off to sleep himself.

~THE NEXT DAY~

As the morning light filtered into the bedroom, a ringing had woken Himchan. Groaning, he snagged his phone from the nightstand and answered it. His friend Youngjae's voice sounded over the phone, forcing Himchan to try and wake up more.

"Himchan. . ."

Recognizing it, he slowly sat up and smiled a bit.

"Ah, YoungJae...Merry Christmas."

He smiled a bit, his gaze wandering to the other side of the bed. His smiled dropped as a frown formed, Daehyun wasn't there. Pushing the covers from his body, he got up and began wandering through the apartment.

"Uh. . .yeah. . .Merry Christmas. . ."

"Hey, give me a moment and I'll find Dae, then we can put you on speaker."

There was a silence over the phone as he searched every room including the kitchen.

"Himchan? You haven't heard yet. . ."

"Heard what?"

Another bout of silence caused him to stop walking. He stood staring at the suddenly empty cookie rack, no frosted gingerbread on the platter. His gaze drifted once more to the living room where the tree no longer resided. He could have sworn he and Daehyun put it up yesterday. Was he just imagining things? He also noticed none of the other decorations were up.

"There was an accident overseas, with the group Daehyun was traveling with. They confirmed yesterday that he was amongst the deceased."

The shock quickly rushed over Himchan's features, it wasn't true, he had spent the entire day with Daehyun yesterday. He couldn't be gone, no. . .it wasn't true. It was just some cruel joke YoungJae was playing on him.

"No, I just spent all day yesterday with him."

"I'm sorry, but you couldn't have. They're shipping him home tomorrow. . ."

The phone fell from his hand and he slid to the floor in disbelief. YoungJae's voice sounded from the phone, calling out for Himchan, but it wasn't heard or responded to. It wasn't true...it just couldn't be.

~~~~

An hour later, Himchan was outside in the chill of the air. Walking the sidewalk, he let his mind roam to the previous day. He had done everything hadn't he? Him and Daehyun? He was there, as real as could be. With the streets empty he was able to get lost in his thoughts so easily. Himchan stopped abruptly as something fluttered in front of his face, his eyes raising towards the sky. Another flutter, but this one he could see.

It was snow.

More began falling as his distant gaze stared up at the white sky. The snow was falling like soft feathers, almost as if an angel had flown past him.

Lowering his gaze back down, he blinked slowly as it landed on a blonde sitting at a cafe table. A grey sweater overtop a white dress shirt. Blue jeans and sandy blonde hair, brown eyes that he easily got lost in turned onto him. Himchan's breath caught as he saw the smile on the persons full lips, it was Daehyun. He was smiling at Himchan, almost as if it was another day. An ordinary day. He winked at Himchan, and within seconds the snow fell harder, blanketing the world in soft flakes. Himchan looked up and stared at the flakes but almost immediately looked back down to where Daehyun had once been sitting.

The chair was empty now, and Himchan understood now what had happened. Daehyun may not be apart of this world anymore, but he came back to spend one last Christmas with him. A small, sad smile graced his lips as he began walking once more. Though he was told only an hour ago, he needed to accept Daehyun was gone...yet at the same time, he knew he was there with him. He would always be there. . .watching.

"Merry Christmas. . ."