A/N: Holy shit guys this oneshot was started 2 whole years ago! I remember talking with Munchy about the concept of a silly gift exchange and now in true Evie fashion here I am publishing it at 4:00 AM on a Wednesday! Enjoy and happy holidays!

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    "WHAT?! YOU'VE NEVER CELEBRATED CHRISTMAS BEFORE?!"

    "SEI!! NOT SO LOUD!!"

    Hiroshi and I were chatting after having an outing with him, Shi, Etsuko, and I. Etsuko and Shiori were reading stories in mew's room while Hiro and I caught up. I had asked him about the upcoming holiday season but apparently he'd never celebrated Christmas before!

    "But..why? Christmas isn't religious here in Japan for the most part. I know you're agnostic right?"

     He nodded before taking a sip of the coke he was drinking.

    "Yeah I am, and religion isn't the issue. My parents are..well..lovely, as you know," he muttered through gritted teeth. "They never cared about holiday shit and swore to not engage with it. This of course led to me having to make up a billion reasons of why we can't celebrate things. Remember the Easter fiasco?"

    "Oh yeahh, you mentioned the Easter bunny 'got lost' every year. Then we helped hide eggs and it was fixed!" I grinned before taking a long drink out of my soda. "How 'bout we do something together? I bet we can get some of the others in on it too. We could even do a joke gift exchange! I think it's called a white elephant."

    "Why's it called that?" He quirked an eyebrow.

    "According to Wikipedia.." I announced, putting on my finest British accent, "The phrase is said to come from a perspective about the historic practice of the King of Siam giving rare albino elephants to courtiers who had displeased him, so that they might be ruined by the animals' upkeep costs."

    "Okay okay I learned something new," Hiro chuckled and shook his head. "But can't we do a normal gift exchange? Like, actual good stuff."

    "Hmm yeah, that's probably easier. I'll have everyone pick a name from a hat next week when we meet up and then on Christmas Eve we'll give the presents, it'll be a suprise!" I smiled, holding out my hand for a high five. Hiro immediately smacked it and laughed.

    "Woo!! Let's do it!"

—> Christmas Eve <—

    "Aww my cute lil reindeer~" Etsuko cooed as I stepped out of the bathroom sporting a pair of light-up antlers, complete with a matching ugly sweater.

    "Say that again and I'll run you over like that Grandma in the song." I glared at my girlfriend playfully before kissing her cheek. "Now come on, they'll be here soon!"

    We decided to hold our festivities at my house this year. The Kyoji's parents were awful so that ruled them out, and Emika said they can't have that many people in her house with all her siblings already there. My mansion was plenty big and we'd be home alone. Mom and dad were on a business trip..again, and Grandma was in Kyoto with a few friends for the weekend.

    After inviting everyone we were able to convince Emika, Eita, Tadashi, Hisoka, Nao, and Honoka. Including Etsuko, Hiroshi, Shiori and I that would be 9 people! Damasu said she was too busy to make it, so did Aoki. Kohei definitely would rather be anywhere else than with us, so he was out. Yui and Misaki were on a date (I don't even want to know the horrors of those two lunatics being in love..), and Ryu claimed his plants would get lonely (shrub isn't too social either so I'm guessing that was the best excuse they could come up with).

    At promptly 4 o'clock everyone had arrived. We all ate a nice potluck dinner and laughed a whole bunch. Soon enough it was time for the gift exchange!

     "ME FIRST ME FIRST NYAH!!!!" Shiori squealed, searching through the pile of gifts for one with mew's name on it.

    "Woahhh there sibby! That's not nice to go first when we haven't asked everyone else if they're ready." Hiro sighed, grabbing Shi by the shoulder and leading her away from the presents.

    "Oh come on dude, let mew go first! It's her first Christmas! We've all celebrated except for you both! Well..and Emika, but she celebrates Kwanza." Etsuko called out.

    Shiori immediately looked to her brother with those big sad sparkly eyes she was so good at, clasping mew's hands together for good measure. He groaned and let go of her shoulder, waving mew towards the gifts while chuckling.

    She immediately tore into a present with her name on it, wrapped in pink paper with little cats. After successfully destroying the wrapping paper, a little black cat plush with a pink bow tied around its neck was revealed. Shi immediately began to cry and screamed "I LOVE IT NYAH THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!" while hugging the kitty tightly.

    Eita came over to sit beside mew and said quietly, "that was from me," and smiled softly. Shiori looked over at her friend and hugged him tightly, screaming more thank yous as Eita laughed and hugged mew back.

    After the kids had calmed down and were sitting quietly by the Christmas tree, the other gifts started to get opened!

    Shi had actually been the one to get my gift! It was a scale model of a monarch butterfly and it was so beautiful! Shiori said that Hiroshi had helped with finding and purchasing it. I was very thankful and made sure to make a mental note to write him a thank you card when I got a chance.

    I got Nao a snowglobe with little penguins inside. As much as the gift belonged to Nao, Honoka was equally (if not more) interested in the little globe and loved shaking it continuously.

    Nao had gotten Eita a blue sundress with little shells embroidered on the hem. He put it on immediately despite the cold and loved showing off her best twirls for the group!

    Some of the other gifts included a sewing kit for Emika from Etsuko, a pink handmade quilt for Honoka from Emika, purple and green joycons for Etsuko's Switch from Hisoka, a keychain making kit for Hiroshi from Honoka, and a Lego airplane set for Tadashi from Hiroshi.

    Everyone enjoyed their gifts a lot and were very busy chattering when I noticed Tadashi nervously glancing at me.

    "Hey Dashi! What's up? Not liking that airplane Lego?" I teased. He gave a shy smile and shook his head.

    "No, it's great. I'm very excited to display it. I'm just nervous. Hisoka is the last one to receive a gift you know?"

    "I do know," I laughed. "You bribed me with a free lunch if I set it up for you to get him in the hat draw. What's there to be nervous about?"

     He sighed before fumbling around in the pocket of his jacket. Eventually, he pulled out a small velvety box with a little ribbon tied on top. I immediately concealed the gasp that threatened to escape my lips.

     "You're proposing?!" I asked in a harsh whisper. He nodded before quickly slipping the box back in his pocket.

     "Yes, if I don't do it in front of you all I'll have no one to hold me accountable and I'll never work up the courage to do it. But I'm so damn scared!"

    "So go for it pilot boy! Get it over with! You'll feel ten times better once you do. It's beyond me why you'd wanna marry that pompous jerk but to each their own." I flashed a shit-eating grin his way as he grumbled in reply.

     "Has everyone gotten their gift?" Etsuko called out to the group. Hisoka raised his hand.

     "I haven't yet, but there aren't anymore gifts under the tree. Perhaps I've been forgotten.." He wiped his eyes in mock distress.

     "No, you haven't." Tadashi spoke up suddenly, walking over to where his lover was sitting. Hisoka looked a bit surprised as the pilot led him over to the middle of the room. They stood hand in hand together for a moment before Dashi looked over at me. The poor dude looked terrified. I gave him a thumbs up and mouthed "you got this."

     "Oki, your gift isn't under the tree because it's too important not to give you myself..here..in front of everyone." Tadashi started. Hisoka seemed to notice the worry in his eyes.

     "Is everything alright darling? You seem uneasy. Surely this gift isn't worth stressing about." He gave his boyfriend's hands a gentle squeeze. I could hear a small sigh of relief come from Dashi.

     "Maybe so—but, that's just me." He laughed. "I'm not a man of many words, unless someone is talking shhhii—poo about someone," he glanced quickly at the kids after correcting his mistake. "But for you Oki, I have all the words. You are my light. Every day when I wake up you're there beside me. I never have to worry about being lost or alone, you'll always be there to guide me. You are my destination. My heart is a compass that points straight to you. You are my love Hisoka, and that's why—"

     He slowly took the little velvet box out of his pocket, but by then Hisoka had already guessed what was going on and was trying to keep it together.

     "Hisoka Shouhei, the love of my life—will you marry me?" Tadashi blushed deeply, kneeling down before his partner. Hisoka wasted no time in yanking him to his feet and kissing him fervently. A chorus of "ewws" rang out as the two of them kissed for a moment, I just chuckled. After pulling away the fashion designer finally spoke:

     "I cannot believe you just asked me to marry you in front of these losers." He doubled over with laughter, not a hint of malice in his statement. "Yes of course my darling, I'd be honored to be your husband."

     I swear to god Dashi looked as if he was going to explode. I could see his hands shaking as he slipped the ring onto Hisoka's finger. It was a really pretty silver with little blueish diamonds embedded within. The pair embraced before Hisoka flashed his ring at the group.

     "I got the best gift~" He sang out.

     "No!! I did nyah!!" Shiori huffed, holding her cat plushie up in the air to show it off.

     The two began a mock argument over their presents as a very emotionally exhausted Dashi sat beside me.

     "Merry Christmas my guy! You really proved that Christmas Eve is the eve of love." I smirked. Tadashi just groaned.

     "I've got too much anxiety for this shit, I am NEVER proposing again!"

     "Well let's hope you never have to!"
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     And with that our dysfunctional friend group had officially had their first Christmas together—well Christmas Eve. Let's be honest, nobody really celebrates Christmas Day in Japan so it's not a stretch that some of us hadn't had the full experience. All in all, it was a success.

     It was a bit dark for everyone to make the commute home so I offered my many guest rooms to everyone, which they happily accepted. Well past midnight, after everyone had settled down, I was heading to bed when someone tapped my shoulder—it was Hisoka.

     "Hey Hisoka, are you alright? Need anything? Some water maybe?" He shook his head.

     "Oh no, nothing like that. I just wanted to thank you is all. As much as Dashi likes to attempt subtlety I've known about his proposal plans for months now. Just as I think he's about to do it the poor dear chickens out. At some point I imagined myself doing it but it seems like your little pep talk helped him work up the courage. I am endlessly grateful for your friendship with him Sei. He expressed to me tonight how happy he was that you were on his side this evening."

     "Aww that's really sweet, I'm glad I could help. I wish you two a wonderful life when you tie the knot." I smiled brightly.

     "You'll all be invited to the wedding of course," he looked up at a clock on the wall nearby. "I should go to bed, Dashi is waiting for me. Take care Sei!" Hisoka waved at me while walking away.

     "You too, and Merry Christmas!" I called back.

     Look at me, Sei the matchmaker!

     As I fell asleep that night all I could think about was everyone's smiling faces today. We truly had all been positively infected with the holiday spirit.