"Christmas is overrated," Rob remarked, scrolling through the maps.

"Is not!" Preston argued, doing the same. They were trying to find a family-friendly parkour map for the holidays.

It was proving harder than they thought.

"Yes, it is. They start it pretty much the day Halloween ends. There's no such thing as Thanksgiving."

"Shut up, you Canadian. You have no right to complain about Thanksgiving."

"I do too!"

They fell into silence after a little while. Preston pulled up a Christmas map that seemed extremely hard to do. "Let's play this one." He shared his screen with his friend.

"No."

"Why not, Robbie?"

"No. We're not doing that one."

Preston pouted at the screen. "Pleaseeeeee?"

"No."

"Robbieeeeeee." He curled his lips farther. Rob finally looked up at him.

"No."

"You're no fun."

"No."

A grin was tugging at Rob's lips. Preston folded his arms. "What do you mean, 'No'?"

"No."

"Does 'no' mean yes?"

"No."

"I looooooveeee youuuu."

"Don't say things you don't mean," Rob sighed, downloading the map. He had given in a while back.

Preston raised an eyebrow, meeting Rob's gaze through the screen. "Who says I don't?"

···

"I really wish you were here, Vikky."

"I know, Lachy."

Vikk glanced away from the screen and kept editing the Cards Against Humanity video. It was a Christmas edition - hopefully his fans would have a better holiday than he was.

"Would it... Would it be okay if I came there?"

Knowing that was a far-off possibility, Vikk nodded. "Yeah, so long as I got to see you."

"So... Maybe you should come let me in?"

Vikk's eyes widened, and he bounded downstairs, jumping down the flight two steps at a time. Fumbling with the lock, he yanked the front door open as he stumbled over. The blonde Aussie was watching him, smiling, wrapped all up with a jacket and scarf.

"How?"

"Ask Josh and Simon," Lachlan shrugged, walking in. Vikk locked it behind him. "Now... Should we call up the boys and give them a surprise?"

"What surprise? That you're here?"

Vikk honestly wasn't expecting the kiss.

···

"Jerome! Jerome!"

"What!?"

"I made food!"

"Oh Lord have mercy."

"...Fucking hell, get down here!"

Footsteps pounded down the stairway. Mitch jumped up on the island, waiting. There was some kind of a stomping noise, then the clicking of a skateboard.

His twenty-something best friend acted like he was still seven.

Jerome peered around the corner, precariously balanced on the neon green skateboard. Mitch grinned at him and slid down, walking over to the stove.

"There's no food there, Mitchell. Not that you made."

"We're going Japanese for Christmas!"

KFC rested on each of the burners, and Mitch flashed Jerome a signature sarcastic grin. The Jersey boy just rolled his eyes and walked up behind his friend, circling his arms around the elder's waist and resting his head on his shoulder - all whilst standing in his toes, because the aforementioned was "a fuckin' foot taller."

"Never have I been so glad for a Christmas dinner."

"Why?"

"Because I can hold you in my arms and have it not be weird."

"It's still weird, Jerome."

"I know." He dropped his grip.

"...I didn't say I didn't like it."

···

Ah, something short and sweet for the holidays, no? It just barely made it, lol.

Merry Christmas to those of you who celebrate! Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year for those of you who don't! I might actually do a kind of sequel to this for New Years... Hmmm...

Anyways, just wanted to post something quick today. I have a couple more in the making that are still vaguely holiday-related, as well as new chapters for Final Experiment and A Million's Agony in the process of writing (totally not low-key shameless-plugging). Look out for the updates!

Anyways, I guess I'll see y'all next chapter.

Baii