"something christmasy? since tis the season" prompt from myonmukyuu

Through immense trials and tribulations, she had finally done it. Maki was dumbfounded for a few moments, staring at the tray of freshly baked cookies now cooling on the countertop. Batches of failed attempts of baking cookies wished they could gloriously stand where the perfectly baked ones stood, instead their either burnt crispiness or uncooked gooiness rested in the bin. Nico would probably have a heart attack if she found out just how much money on ingredients Maki went through before getting these cookies right, but screw her, these cookies weren't for her.

They were for the jolly man who came to visit every 25th of December.

Maki took a glance at the clock, it was almost nine o'clock. Crap. Hoping some sort of Christmas miracle would clean the kitchen for her, the medical student rushed to her bedroom to clean herself up and dress up. Who would have had known cooking could be so time consuming? The girls would be arriving any minute now and she still had flour in places she never knew flour could get to. Everyone had agreed that they should bring "ugly" Christmas sweaters for the occasion; Maki frowned as she inspected the one her mother had bought for her, a silly design of Santa Claus riding a unicorn. What was even ugly about it? Sure, it was peculiar, but Maki could not fathom the idea of an ugly Christmas sweater. Christmas was anything but ugly. Putting it on, Maki finished her outfit by matching it with a pair of fluffy red sandals, casual enough for what should be a fun reunion.

Bzzzt.

Maki rushed to the door when she heard the doorbell, briefly stopping by a mirror to quickly fix herself before answering to the door.

"Maki-chan!"

Santa getting eaten by a dinosaur. Now that was an ugly Christmas sweater.

Maki almost fell down when Honoka lunged herself at her, arms wrapping around her neck and pulling her to a tight embrace. "I've missed you!" Honoka laughed as she huddled Maki. Maki simply patted Honoka's back in response. At least she didn't have to see Honoka's sweater like this.

"You mean we've missed you," Umi corrected her. Right behind Honoka were Umi and Kotori, each holding small cake boxes. Umi's sweater design made it look like she was wearing gift wrapping, while Kotori's was a simple design, barring the big red letters on the middle that said "Christmas sweater".

"You can put those in the living room. And you can let me go now, Honoka."

Honoka simply giggled as she let go and turned around to take one of the two boxes Umi was holding before letting herself in with Umi and Kotori following her.

Maki and Kotori exchanged greetings after Maki closed the door to stop the cold winter air from coming in any more.

"Something smells really good!" Maki heard Honoka exclaim before she saw her following her nose from the living room, across the hallway and into the kitchen. Knowing Honoka, Maki was certain that her hours of effort were in severe danger if Honoka was not stopped.

"Honoka, step away from those cookies!" Maki's warning had been too late, for Honoka turned around with a cookie already in her mouth and the tray on her hand.

Maki could barely make out a What? with Honoka's mouth half full of the cookie that was not meant for her. The redhead could not hold back her grunt nor her frown, clear danger flags for Honoka, but dammit the cookies were good. Maybe a Christmas miracle would save her from the medical student's wrath. Maki made her way to Honoka and and with one quick movement snagged the tray of cookies away from her. With a big gulp, Honoka swallowed the cookie and tried to reach for another one, only for Maki to move the tray away and keep Honoka at bay with her other arm.

"Come on, Maki-chan! Where's your Christmas spirit? Share!" Honoka pleaded as she kept trying to reach the tray. Curse her short couple of height centimeters to Maki's.

"These are not for you!" Maki struggled to keep shoving Honoka away, what with balancing the cookie tray and all the flour and bits of dough on the ground. How was Honoka even this strong?!

"You didn't bake them for us? C'mooon, just one or four!" Honoka's pleads were not very convincing when she was showing about as much strength as a dinosaur trying to gobble up a jolly red man.

"No! These are for San-!"

Maki knew it was no good to dwell on what-if's but she could not help it when her fluffy footwear slipped on the flour-y floor, sending the tray and the cookies to the air and the image of Santa Claus being eaten whole by a tyrannosaurus Rex being the last image before she smacked her back on the floor.

Sweet.

The pain on her rear and back most certainly was not sweet, but the sugar in her mouth was. Honoka was just as shocked as Maki when she had realized that her lips had completely acquaintanced with each other when Honoka landed right on top of Maki. The two remained frozen still, each trying to process what had and was happening.

A loud metal crash startled Umi and Kotori, who had busied themselves opening and setting the cake boxes on the living room table. Exchanging concerned glances, the two wasted no second to get to the kitchen.

"Are you two okay? What happened here?"

All the two could see was what seemingly had been a tornado go through the kitchen: the countertops were all covered in flour, dirty bowls and baking utensils, on the floor layed a metal cooking tray, several cookies, and two of their friends with ugly Christmas sweaters covered in flour and faces just as red as Maki's face.