Hey all, here's my christmas giftfic for Marius Sidorov! It's a purely plaontic Ike/Soren fic that takes place post PoR, but before RD. I actually checked this up, but the fact that Branded age more slowly than beorc do is not mentioned in any way to Ike, at least not in PoR.

I tossed up between making it a "soren hates cristmas because he was abused when little" fic and what you see here. I think that compared to my other works it lacked a bit of focus and ended up being a sort of hybrid between a snapshot of what the Greil mercenaries get up to during christmas and a Ike/Soren fic. Yuletide fits better than christmas in my opinion, so that's why I use yuletide throughout.

Disclaimer: I do not own Fire Emblem; IS does. Rhys and Mia would get up to a lot more than just being stuck together during the festivities if I did.

"And, *hic*, a happy *hic* Yuletide *hic* to you all!" slurred Gatrie as he raised his glass, spilling about half the ale in his cup. This was probably due to the fact that he'd tried to stand at the same time, and realising that he was unable to do so, had tottered back down almost immediately.

"Hee hee! I'll drink to 'dat," returned a very drunk Mia who had firmly latched herself onto Rhys' arm. Said priest was red for a number of reasons completely unrelated to the drinks he'd had tonight. "Rhysh, here! 'ave one too!" as she tried to force another drink onto the young man – the fifth one for the night.

Soren simply shook his head. The celebratory antics of some people had always been rather overbearing to him. That, and as the treasurer, working out the bill next morning always fell to him (given that he was one of the few people sober and awake the next morning).

"Just leave it be, Soren. It's the first Yuletide since the war. We've had very little to celebrate since, and I bet the same goes for many Crimeans." Soren turned around to see Ike standing beside him, staring at another table where a certain red-haired paladin and a certain green-haired warrior were taking turns tossing back liquor shots of some sort. "Rolf's running a betting pool on whether Titania can out-drink Boyd."

"Shinon is a bad influence on Rolf. We should keep a closer on his interactions with him."

Ike looked at his tactician, surprised at his comment. "I wouldn't say that. We got a brilliant sniper thanks to that. That's got to be worth the occasional betting pool in our line of work."

"Oscar would be inclined to disagree with you. Yuletide celebrations are no excuse for a minor to be setting up betting pools."

"We are talking about a child who has killed before, and many times at that." countered Ike. "I'd say that age aside, he's more of a man than many soldiers out there."

"And would you say the same if it were Mist instead of Rolf?"

Ike sighed. "Fair enough, I'll have a word or two with him in the morning, alright?"

"Hey, looksh 'ere," slurred a new voice. "Wittle Ikey and hish tactician."

Ike smirked at the sight of a very drunk Shinon stumbling his way past them – presumably, he hoped, to his tent. "Evening, Shinon. You sure you had enough to drink yet?"

Apparently, Shinon was so drunk that he completely ignored the thinly veiled insult. "And lookise here, Wittle Soren hasn't grown at all! Hey! Maybe he won't ever grow up. Hee hee hee!" And with that he tottered off.

"That's a nasty headache he's going to wake up with, tomorrow, eh, Soren? Soren?" Ike spun around to see his strategist as white as a sheet, and immediately realised that Shinon must have unwittingly said something wrong. "Are you okay?"

"I'll never grow up, will I?" Even in the dim light of evening, Ike could see the fear evident in his eyes.

Ike looked at him, confused. "What do you mean? Is this related to you being a Branded?"

Soren looked up at him, and nodded. "We Branded age more slowly than beorc. It's not obvious at first, but it's already beginning to show. You can already notice the difference between the two of us."

"Yeah, so?"

"Don't you see? People will start to ask questions! People will begin to investigate, and eventually they will find out about it! That I'm a Branded!"

"I thought we've been over this before. It doesn't mat…"

"But it does matter, Ike! It doesn't to you, but other people aren't like that!"

"Soren, listen. Firstly, if you keep shouting like that people really will find out about it. Secondly, you are a vital part of the Greil Mercenaries, and more importantly, one of my best friends. No matter what everyone else says, I'll always stand by you."

Soren just nodded. "Ike... yes, thank you. I'm sorry, I just… Shinon said…"

Ike nodded in understanding. "Well, he was drunk, and let's face it; he's not going to remember what happened when he wakes up tomorrow. Well then, happy Yuletide. We'll have to be up bright and early tomorrow to work out the bill. You know how horrible I am with numbers."

So, how was it? R&R please!