Hello all, and Merry Christmas! (Or if you want to get technical, Happy ChristmaHannuKwanzaDan!)
Disclaimers: I most certainly do not own Kingdom Hearts, Square Enix, Tetsuya Nomura (although there was that one kidnapping incident in Santa Monaco...but I digress! :D), or any of the messed up pairing I include or the Christmas stories I am writing about!
"Okay," said Xion. "Pick a card."
Sora groaned. "Xion, you've been doing card tricks for the last two hours!" he whined. "I wanna do something else!"
Xion shook her head. "No, no! This time, I can make it come out of my ear, or maybe even out of my mouth, or..."
"Xioooonn!" groaned Sora. "Pleeeeaaase!"
Xion sighed, and put the cards away. "Fine," she said. She called behind her, "Hey Axel, what do you want to do?"
Axel stood with his face about two centimeters away from the fireplace, watching the flames go up and down, up and down. He giggled softly. "Pretty fire," he whispered.
Xion groaned. "Roxas!" she shouted. "You've been in the bathroom for years! What gives?"
Roxas groaned from inside the tiny bathroom. "Those burritos aren't being very nice to me!" he moaned. "Why, Kingdom Hearts, WHY?"
Zexion and Demyx burst through the door of Sora's room. They slammed the door shut behind them, and then grabbed pillows to block it just in case.
Zexion shook his head. "If anyone asks, we're not here!" he whispered. Someone pounded on the door.
"C'mon, guys!" begged Kairi from the other side of the door. "Just let us braid your hair once!"
"Never!" shouted Demyx, holding the doorknob in place with his hand.
"Just a little French braid!" said Namine, who was next to Kairi on the other side. "We promise it won't hurt a bit!"
Zexion curled up in a ball next to the door, and began rocking back and forth. "They lie," he said softly. "They lie..."
Kairi and Namine started to shove their weight against the door. Demyx and Zexion held the door in place as best as they could, but they weren't even half as strong as the girls.
Zexion turned to Xion in his desperate time of need. "Help us," he said desperately.
Xion rolled her eyes. "Just let them braid your hair," she said.
"I'll pay you!" said Zexion.
"Okay!" Xion got up and went to go help the boys block the door, Sora as well. "Roxas, come on and help us!" she grunted.
"Oohh, man," moaned Roxas from inside the bathroom. "I really shouldn't have double-dosed on the sour cream..."
The war waged in for about five more minutes, so close that you could hardly tell who was winning. "Haha! Hey, Riku! Join us!" exclaimed Sora, smiling.
Riku lay curled up in his sleeping bag, facing the opposite wall. He pulled his pillow closer to him. It wasn't his fault Sora just had to throw a sleepover the night before Christmas. His cold was so bad that he didn't even want to come.
But then he sprouted an idea. "I've got a better idea, guys," he said. "How about...I tell you a story?"
Sora stopped pulling. "A story?" he said. Once everyone else heard, they stopped pulling too, and Kairi and Namine pushed through the door and crashed into the other side, until they all ended up in a pile on the floor.
"Yeah," said Riku. At least they'll be quieter that way, he thought.
He blew his nose, lifted up his sleeping bad as he got up, and hopped over to the fireplace, where he seated himself in a large rocking chair.
Sora and the others ran over to the fireplace (kicking Axel out of the way of the pretty fire), got comfortable with pillows and blankets and cups of cocoa, and leaned in intently as they waited for Riku to begin.
Riku sneezed into his elbow, and rubbed his eyes. "What story do you want me to tell?" he asked.
Sora and the others all contributed their ideas at once.
"Snow White!"
"Sleeping Beauty!"
"Beauty and the Beast!"
"Cinderella!"
Riku shook his head. "Don't you guys know any Christmas stories?" he said.
The room fell silent as they struggled to think of one, but nobody could.
Sora leaned forward and made his eyes grow really huge and adorable. "Can you make up one of your own?" he asked sweetly.
Riku, being a sucker for Sora's chibi face, took on the challenge and nodded. He took his blindfold out of his pocket, and tied it across his eyes. "Don't you want to come out and listen, Roxas?" he shouted.
"I'm listening," said Roxas.
Riku shrugged, coughed, and leaned in close. "Well," he said. "I'll start off with a few of my personal favorites..."