Long one-shot for me, hadn't really got a plot until the end, so I realised I was rambling about halfway through. Basically, Fang's panicking about Max's Christmas present, and he's not sure why. The joys of being a teenager huh?

Merry Christmas to anyone who read this.

RippedIntoPieces

'It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, everywhere I go…'

I winced as another annoying Christmas tune blasted out the radio, I left it on until Mariah Carey began to sing 'All I Want For Christmas is You', making me switch the radio off as quickly as I could before I ended up with a headache. I cut out another square of paper and tried, once again, to wrap the presents in front of me. Turns out, I suck at wrapping things up, a giant pile of ripped, crumpled paper lay on the floor, the majority of it covered in sticky tape. Although this wasn't the worst part of Christmas in my opinion, the shopping had been worse.

"'Fang, I'm serious what is taking you so long? Everybody else is waiting outside with Mum and Jeb!' Max's loud voice was muffled slightly through my door, as I searched fervently for my wallet. I'd spent the morning looking for it, after Gaz and Iggy decided to nick a bunch of my stuff for their latest 'experiment'; so far three of my t shirts and one pair of trainers had been blown up. Luckily Max had yelled at them pretty loudly, leading to them having to wash up for the next week and a half.

Although, I still hadn't found my wallet. Eventually, I gave up searching and joined Max at the bottom of the stairs, she was shooting daggers into my back, and I walked silently towards the others, Gaz and Iggy were grinning demonically at me, holding up a small square of leather.

'Looking for this?' Gazzy asked innocently. I swiped at it, and stomped towards the car, slamming the door with extra ferocity.

'What's eating him?' Nudge asked

"Dunno, his time of the month no doubt.' Iggy said quietly, fully aware I was very near to throwing a sharp object at his head.

Finally after a loud and boisterous journey, where Nudge and Angel sang a lot of the songs off the radio, mainly out of tune; we arrived at the mall. (*shudders* Sounds weird for a non-American) I clambered out of the car, waiting impatiently for the others to hurry up. Finally, we got inside and the younger kids ran off with Iggy, Ella and Dr Martinez. This left me, Max and Jeb standing awkwardly near a giant silver fir tree.

'Right, well, we'll meet here at three, which gives you plenty of time to buy whatever you think the others will want.' Jeb said brightly, before hurrying off into the crowd. Max muttered the word 'bye' and walked purposefully in the opposite direction of Jeb. I stood still, before walking towards the nearest shop I could find.

Three hours later, I had bruised shins, and a grazed elbow, with three bags hanging limply in my hands. I stumbled towards the meeting spot, where Max was lurking, checking the faces of all the crowd. She looked at my expression and smiled

'That bad, huh? I got shoved out of the way in three shops, and bitten by a crazy 5 year old.' She showed me the teeth marks in her arm, 'Do you think we left Christmas shopping a bit late?' She asked jokily, before looking at the three bags, 'Got everything you need?' I nodded slowly, hoping to God I hadn't forgotten anything.

'Well then, I guess we're good to go.' Max said, looking pointedly at the others as they approached.

Two days later, I was healed of my bruises, but panicking slightly at my choice of present for Max. I'd walked around three stores looking for something that would suit Max, finding a lot of pink jewellery that would be perfect for Angel or Nudge, but nothing for Max. Eventually I found a bracelet, which was decorated with two silver feathers. Personally, I couldn't see if Max would like it, as it sort of counted as girly, something Max hated being known as. But that was as good as it gets, unless I got her a DVD or, I dunno, a pencil. Eventually I managed to wrap everybody's present, and placed them under the tree after everyone had gone to sleep.

I crawled into bed, lying awake and praying I hadn't made a big mistake with Max's present. What if she hated it? Or it broke? Or it turned her skin green? I couldn't believe I was making such a big deal about a Christmas present, we'd never celebrated Christmas properly before, so why make such a big deal about it now?

Christmas morning came all too soon, before I was ready, Iggy burst in to warn me that Nudge and Angel were on the rampage to torture anyone who wasn't awake and dressed before nine. Apparently the excitement of Christmas was too much, even Total was avoiding complaining about the commercial side of it. I walked downstairs as quickly as I could, to check that Max wasn't already there, she was waiting in a chair on the other side of the room. This didn't bode well; I was really hoping I could give her my present elsewhere, in case everyone else thought I'd given her something completely wrong. She smiled

'Merry Christmas Fang.' She said.

'You too.' I muttered awkwardly, before sitting in a chair on the other side of the room. Shortly after, the others bundled into the room, with a harassed looking Jeb following. They sat around the tree, with Iggy perched next to Ella on the sofa. We waited a while, before Jeb nodded and everyone practically ripped the paper off their presents in a frenzy. Max and I waited until the others were finished to open the remainder of our presents; I got chocolates from Nudge and Angel, a new black belt from Gazzy, a black shirt with 'No Slogan' written on it from Iggy; and finally Max's present, a watch with 'Fang' engraved on the back. I smiled and thanked her quietly, before she opened her presents. She picked up mine and was about to open it, before I burst out with

'Max, can I talk to you briefly, I have something I want to discuss with you.'

Max looked up, frowning slightly, before standing up and following me out into the hallway.

'So…Fang, what did you want to say? All of a sudden?' She asked pointedly

'Well, I was just a bit worried…'I stuttered

'About what exactly?'

'Well, ok here's the thing, I got you a present, and I know that seems insignificant, but I'm a little worried that you'll hate it…so I just really hoped you could avoid opening the present all together. If it's not too much trouble.' Max looked at me incredulously,

'So basically, you think I'll hate what you got me and you're worrying about it. Fang, I know it sounds stupid, but are you drunk? Who cares if I hate it?' She left the question hanging in the air before walking back into the living room. Sitting back in her spot, she picked up my present, and slowly peeled the wrapping off. Taking out the bracelet, she stood up, holding it in her hand.

'Fang? Can I talk to you briefly in the hallway?' She asked politely, I panicked, so she did hate it. Brilliant. I shuffled out the door.

'…Sorry, I knew you'd ha-' I began before Max stopped me with a kiss. I stood there stunned, and eventually returned the favour. After five minutes, we broke apart, blushing slightly. I coughed, and said

'Well, er…Merry Christmas.'

All in all, I think she liked it.