Author's note
I don't care that I'm late. And I'm not repeating everything over and over.

Enjoy some stuff I've seen or heard in my world.

(I MISSED YOU, MOTIVATIONAL FLUFF : D!!!)

———————————
'On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...

A huge Christmas tree.'
———————————

"... Mumbo...?"

"Yes, Iskall?" Mumbo hummed, waving down at his Swedish friend. Iskall looked more than baffled.

"... How... Did you get that tree... Under this roof?"

"Well, I blew up a part of the roof. Then I put this is. Now I'm decorating it."

... Of course that's what happened.

"... Are you going to help?"

Iskall shook his head, before picking up a length of blue tinsel with a smile.

They didn't notice Grian watching them from the doorway; the more mature of the three men found himself joining in soon after he arrived. Their happiness was infectious, after all.

———————————
'On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...

Two pretty different brothers.
———————————

Xisuma sometimes questioned his brother's sanity. He questioned his own more often.

Said brother was currently adding way-too-much glitter in a way-too-complicated Christmas card for Doc.

His effort was impressive, albeit slightly unnecessary due to Christmas cards only having a use at... Well, Christmas. That's what X thought anyway- no doubt Doc and EX would be quick to correct him, and he couldn't find it in his heart to argue with them.

"Suma! Before I forget, here's your card!" EX cheered, passing a more plain card to Xisuma. "I know you don't like glitter as much, so I didn't add as much... Hope you like it!"

Xisuma sighed, opening the card as EX returned to his 'work'.

It read:

'To the best brother ever,

Merry Christmas :D

I love you!
EX'

... Maybe Christmas cards had some use after all...

———————————
'On the third day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...

Three businesses relaxed.'
———————————

Capitalism, Sorta Broke and Stonks.

Also known as Concorp, Sahara and Idea.

Usually, the server saw them as rivals in business, all trying their best to capitalise every shop in the shopping district. Like knife monopoly, but without the knife part.

Yet, at this time of the year, Cub and Mumbo could be seen throwing fake snow/ real snow absolutely everywhere.

BDubs, Iskall and Keralis would be decorating normally, sharing stories about their goofballs- um. Business colleagues.

And the role of tired parents-that-really-care-inside went to Xisuma and Grian, overseeing this entire operation.

Decorating all three businesses took a lot of effort, after all.

———————————
'On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...

Four unlikely baking partners.'
———————————

"Do we need baking powder?"

"No, we don't!"

"But it says on the recipe-"

"False, no one uses baking powder and self-raising flour."

"But Joe, the recipe-"

"You're going to makE ME SPILL IT!"

"THEN STIR SLOWER!"

"I. AM! THE MIXTURE FEELS LIKE CEMENT FROM HOW MANY CHOCOLATE PIECES CLEO PUT IN IT!"

"Why are YOU shouting?!"

"BECAUSE YOU ARE!"

"Uh, you know we have an electric mixer, right?"

"WHAT?!"

Stress slammed down the bowl of... Whatever it was... Harshly, snatching up the mixer from Cleo's hands and examining it.

False carried on mixing with the normal whisk (discovering that there was, indeed, a ridiculous amount of chocolate pieces in the batter).

"Stress, that's not going to help the-"

"IT WILL!"

And Joe got a face-full of flour.

———————————
'On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...

Fifteen gifts to the favourite.'
———————————

"Ok, so these are the gifts to me, right?" Jevin asked, pointing at a neat pile of presents. Wels nodded, reading some of the names with interest.

"And those are... Biffa's?"

Wels nodded again, glancing at the similarly sized pile of presents.

"... Is... Woah... Is that... Is that Python's?!"

Jevin and Wels both turned to see the bigger pile of presents. It was so large it didn't even fit underneath the tree.

"Wow..." Jevin muttered, nodding at it.

His knight friend simply shrugged, replying with, "Python went around, hinting to a lot of people that he wanted to have a massive sugar rush this Christmas. Most of it's probably sugar."

"... Where's your presents then, Wels?"

"Dunno. Oh, wait... Py said it was underneath that blanket. I haven't looked at it yet." Wels sighed and pointed to a lumpy-mass in he corner. It was covered by a blanket Jevin recognised as Biffa's.

The slime hybrid put a finger to his chin, before sliding over and whipping the blanket off. He then dropped it in sheer shock.

"... W-Wels...?"

"Wha-" Wels stopped mid-sentence, his jaw dropping.

"... Wait, loads of these are mine-"

"J-JEVIN-"

———————————
'On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...

Six sprigs of mistletoe.'
———————————

Zedaph groaned, face-palming for the umpteenth time.

Impulse was by no means short(er than he was), but it was blatantly obvious he needed a stepladder. Or something similar.

"... Impulse. You can't. Reach. That roof."

Impulse pouted, stretching a little more with the last sprig of mistletoe in his hands. "I don't see you doing any better!"

"That's because I'm acknowledging that I can't reach the roof."

"Zed! I'm hanging this up, whether you like it or nOT-"

Suddenly, Impulse grew several feet spontaneously.

Obviously not. Tango just happened to spot Impulse's struggle and grabbed his friend's waist, lifting him up.

"... Hang it up then!"

"O-Oh, right!" Impulse meeped, fumbling with the tiny plant snipping. He succeeded eventually, and paused to admire his work.

"... Can I put you down now?" Tango muttered, watching as Zed strode over to them.

Then Impulse smirked, and both Tango and Zed were very confused.

"Hey. We. We're underneath the mistletoe."

———————————
'On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...

Seven fairy light strings.'
———————————

"... I'm taking a photo of this."

"No, you're helping me out!"

"After I take a photo."

"BDOUBLEO, I HATE YOU." Keralis hissed, trying desperately to yank himself out of his colourful confinements before BDubs could take a photo. Unfortunately, it was to no avail.

As BDubs carried on laughing, Keralis grew more and more frustrated. Being tangled in fairy lights was no laughing matter!

BDubs didn't seem to share his opinion: the man had started losing balance as he chortled. Keralis watched in fascination as he stumbled nearer and nearer to a gigantic box of sparkly lights.

Of course, Keralis didn't say anything.

"ARGH-"

CRASH!

"... Keralis... Keralis- KERALIS HELP- I'M STUCK IN THE BOX-"

Keralis couldn't hear him over the sound of his own laughter.

———————————
'On the eighth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...

Eight well-aimed snowballs.'
———————————

When Doc had barrelled into Ren, he didn't expect the reasoning to be this.

Apparently, there was an angry mob of hermits who were chasing Mumbo, who was chasing a few other hermits, who had scared Doc.

... Seemed legit.

"Doc. I've heard some crazy stories before, but this, by far, is the craziest-"

"I'm not joking!" The creeper-cyborg had started panicking, pulling Ren along with him in a half-walk, half-run.

"Look, I know Mumbo's a mad lad, but I don't think even he could terrify half the server and infuriate the other. What did he even do, anyway?"

"HE THREW. SNOW." Doc whispered. The scared hermit even looked over Ren's shoulder to check no one was listened.

"... And?"

"AT XISUMA, SCAR AND JOE."

Ren would've replied if a group of hermits hadn't suddenly run past, yelling apologies over their shoulder. Doc gasped, before joining them hurriedly, with no explanation.

Then Ren felt something cold, wet and soft hit the back of his head, dripping down his back. He also saw Mumbo sprinting crazily away, doing a number of fleet-footed acrobatics along the way.

The werewolf, as he realised later, joined into the 'angry-wet-mob-chasing-Mumbo' at this exact moment.

———————————
'On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...

Nine people being soft'
———————————

Mumbo was extremely bored.

It was his own fault, honestly, for yeeting snowballs at... People he probably shouldn't have.

Still, being sent to the naughty corner all alone while everyone else had a fun party sucked.

The redstoner grumbled, fiddling with his sleeves. He could hear several different conversations, but none were particularly interesting. He was utterly bored.

"You look bored." Someone chirped, sliding in to sit by him.

"I am bored, Iskall. Sorry for scaring you yesterday, by the way. I do feel a little bad: I know you guys don't like it." He sighed, offering a small smile at his fellow jokester. To his surprise, Iskall started laughing.

"Are you kidding? Sure, it was terrifying at first, but me and the other screaming people had a little chat... And it was actually kinda funny..." Iskall explained, patting Mumbo on the back gently.

This attracted a stray Cub and False, who bounded up excitedly.

"Did you tell him?"

"Yeah! I did!"

"Oh good! Mumbo, I just wanted to say, watching Scar fall over from the force of that snowball... It was hilarious!" Cub shared, sitting down on Mumbo's other side.

False nodded solemnly, kneeling beside him and recreating the scene with exaggerated expressions. EX noticed this, and giggled as he sat down next to them.

"Oh my gosh, was that supposed to be Scar?" Impulse asked, joining the four sitting in the corner. "SO accurate!"

Biffa and Python soon scurried over, both eagerly requesting, "Do Wels, do Wels, pleeease!"

As False fulfilled the ask to a bout of laughter, Doc finally joined the group of ball-of-sunshine-hermits, sitting quietly next to Biffa. Waiting for Mumbo to stop laughing, he coughed politely to get the group's attention.

"You can't do this, y'know. Some people wouldn't be happy..."

A chorus of moans and protests met this, until Doc grinned.

"... That you haven't done Ren yet."

Funnily enough, the exact people they were posing as all felt their heart clench at how sweet this was.

———————————
'On the tenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...

Tenish people turning soft'
———————————

Zedaph bumped into Grian and Scar next to the server's Christmas tree. Joe and Stress were already there, and all five were having a mini stare-off until Wels, Ren and Tango came.

That's what Stress told Cleo and Xisuma, when they came, that is.

Xisuma was the first to break the silence.

"... Why is everyone acting shifty as." The admin asked, looking around. "... And why does everyone have only a few uncharacteristically pretty gifts in their hands."

"Ask Joe, he was here first."

"What? No! Ask Scar, he's always suspicious."

"I'd say ask Zed."

"Why me? Ask Grian!"

"W-What? No, ask-"

"STOP! I don't care, I just want an explanation!" Xisuma commanded, staring around each hermit present, before choosing one. "Right, Scar, what are you doing?"

To everyone's surprise, the normally calm vex blushed, looking pointedly at the tree.

"... A few extra presents for... Some people. This one." The builder muttered, holding up the uncharacteristically pretty gift. "... Is.. For Cub."

"... Scar's going soft."

"Shut up, Ren. I bet those are for Iskall and Doc." Scar snapped, smirking smugly as the werewolf fidgeted nervously. "Called it."

"... That makes everyone else's really obvious now. Was everyone here just... Too nervous to actually give it themselves?" Xisuma wondered, observing how most of his tougher friends crumbled under his question.

"... Yours are for Doc, EX and Biffa, right?" Cleo muttered. Xisuma didn't respond but like he said, it was really obvious.

"... Why do we like these sunshine-balls and emotionless-softies...?" Wels groaned, resting his hands on his gifts.

Grian patted the knight on the back as everyone mulled over his lament.

"... Fine. I'm just going to say it. Because they ruin our reputations with how cute they are." Tango huffed, all in one breath, before rubbing his pink face.

"... What's going on?" Keralis and BDubs has entered the unusual scene, only just catching Tango's words.

"The people on this server are making us soft, and we don't... No. We. We really like it." Joe seethed, adjusting his glasses for something to do.

No one could disagree.

———————————
'On the eleventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...

Eleven broken decorations.'
———————————

"I'm sorry."

Stress patted False on the back awkwardly. A ring of smashed baubles, and an angel with a broken halo, surrounded them.

"I'm sorry-"

"False. I swear." Cleo rolled her eyes, coming back into the room from when she left. In her arms, she held a heavy-looking shulker box.

"What's that?" The ice queen asked, helping the zombie put the box down carefully. False looked on in curiosity, rubbing her teary eyes.

Cleo simply chuckled, whipping off the lid dramatically. A full box of new, even prettier decorations shone from inside, causing False to leap ecstatically to her feet.

"Joe gave these to me after I explained what happened. He also tells False to not cut herself on the broken shards, or he'll be not pleased."

Both Cleo and Stress snickered at this. What would more likely happen was a display of dad-care so great, any stranger would think Joe was harmless.

False only squealed, holding a pretty bauble in her hands with as much care as possible. She waved it extremely slowly under her two friends' faces happily.

"Look how bright it's shining!" She sung, laughing at seeing her own reflection on the surface.

Cleo and Stress shared a small smile.

"Very, very brightly." They replied, not looking at the bauble at all.

———————————
'On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...

Twelve pillows, all taken.'
———————————

"Watch it!"

"Ow! That was my face!"

"Argh! I'm so sorry, are you ok?"

"Shush, it's going to start!"

"Not if you keep talking!" Xisuma called, silencing the others rather quickly. His twin made a cuckoo-gesture behind him, bringing out a few giggles.

Ah, hermit movie night. This time, it was 'Frozen' (the first movie, because Scar had yet to secure the second one). Very appropriate for this time of year.

Soon, Xisuma clicked the start button, leaping to his spot quickly. He was just as quickly covered by a blanket by Doc, who gave him a shy smile before looking back at the movie.

However, Xisuma carried on looking around at how all of his friends were at regular intervals. A habit of his: it was his duty as admin to make sure everyone was safe, after all.

Cub and Scar were sitting near the front, both with a look of joy and excitement on their face. It was rather endearing to see the two vexes snuggled together in a blanket, with childish expressions upon their faces.

Ren, Iskall and Stress were further back. Stress was leaning into Iskall's shoulder, pretending to not be paying attention, yet Xisuma could spot her conversing with Iskall throughout the movie. Xisuma could also see Ren's tail wagging every time they asked for his opinion.

ZIT were in the middle, actually in that order. Zedaph has his head in Impulse's lap, and Tango's tail had somehow wrapped around all three of them. Impulse had subconsciously wrapped an arm around Tango's shoulder through all this.

Wels, Biffa, Jevin and Python were together on Xisuma's left. Python was smirking to himself, leaning his head on Wels' shoulder, as he watched Biffa slowly moving himself to Wels' other shoulder. Xisuma was particularly surprised to see Jevin's hand entwined with Biffa's too.

Keralis and BDubs were near the back, and Xisuma soon realised why. BDubs was asleep. Like Zed's position, he had his head in Keralis' lap. Keralis was focusing half on the movie, and half on his sleepy partner. Xisuma occasionally spotted him running his fingers through BDubs' hair.

Grian and Mumbo were the nearest to Xisuma. Mumbo had latched himself onto Grian's back, with his head on Grian's left shoulder as they watched the movie. The builder didn't seem to mind: in fact, he was even loosely holding the redstoner's hand throughout this.

Finally, Xisuma looked to his immediate left and right. The former showed his twin brother looking at him in interest. They shared a smile before a sound from the movie caught EX's attention. On his right, Doc was sharing a blanket with him. To Xisuma's surprise, they were holding hands.

Moments like these meant the most to Xisuma.

Thinking about then brought a smile to his face, and I'm happy to say that he was still smiling after the movie ended.