A/N: Do you guys remember Can't You Chu? It was a Christmas story. But that was sometime last year (or something - I don't really remember), so here's another short little Christmas story, as a present, for all of my lovely readers. Merry Christmas! x3 ~SEi

Disclaimer: I do not own xxxHOLiC nor the characters involved.

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It was the evening of Christmas Eve. And a chilly evening it was. The sky was dark but it was still beautiful. Snowflakes fell silently from the sky and onto the thick mountains of their little friends on the street. Everyone one was inside their warm cozy houses, the lights of the rooms illuminating yellow squares onto the shadowy street outside. Everyone was inside - except two teenagers.

"Achoo!"

Doumeki watched as Watanuki produced a handmade handkerchief from his coat pocket and blow his nose into it.

"Ugh, I think I caught a cold," said Watanuki, a little nasal-sounding.

"Do you want me to stay with you?"

Watanuki looked at Doumeki with puffy eyes. "What for?"

"You're weaker when you're sick. It's likely more spirits will try to attack you tonight."

Watanuki frowned. He knew that that was a possibility. It had happened before, after all. And he had ran all the way to Doumeki's for help. He had collapsed right at the entrance of the temple where Doumeki, who had seen (through their shared eye) the situation, was waiting. Watanuki had woken up the next day, more feverish than ever (because he had been outside in the cold) and the next day, when he was all better, he wondered why he hadn't run to Yuuko's instead. Maybe because she would have called him a wimp.

"Fine." He had no other choice. It didn't matter if Doumeki called him a wimp. At least he wasn't like Yuuko, who would bother him about it for days.

By the time they got to Watanuki's apartment, it was night. Doumeki opened the door for the both of them, since Watanuki's eyes were watery from sneezing a lot and he couldn't see anything clearly. Watanuki walked in sneezing, with Doumeki pushing him this way and that until they got to the couch. He sat Watanuki down and then went around to inspect the charms that he had given to Watanuki to put up. Sure enough, they were slowly deteriorating due to the strength of the pushing that the spirits outside were doing. He didn't have new ones with him since it didn't occur to him that something like this would happen, but at least he himself was here.

"Could you get me a blanket?" asked Watanuki, tiredly.

It was unusual for him to be the one receiving orders, but Doumeki got him a blanket anyway. He tried his best to not stay away from the seer for too long or else the spirits would get him right away.

Doumeki noticed that the blanket wasn't very thick so he seated himself next to the seer.

"What are you doing?" asked Watanuki.

"Sitting next to you," answered Doumeki.

"Then why are you sitting so close?"

"To give you some warmth."

"I'm fine! Go make me some hot tea or something." He pushed him away. But as soon as Doumeki was about six inches away, he felt the warm heat seeping away. He yanked Doumeki's arm, causing Doumeki to stumble a little.

Doumeki looked at him questioningly (and blankly at the same time). Watanuki blushed and said, "Nevermind. Sit back down." Doumeki complied without question.

Minutes went by without any action being done. Then, Watanuki, who was getting sleepy, mumbled: "I wish there was a fireplace burning here."

You should wish for a heater instead, thought Doumeki. Since Watanuki was a clumsy person at times, he might set fire not only to the fireplace but his whole apartment if he wasn't careful.

After fifteen minutes, Watanuki's head wobbled side to side and then finally fell onto Doumeki's shoulder. Doumeki let him sleep there. It was not only warm but he wanted to see Watanuki's amusing reaction when he woke up.

He closed his eyes because he was tired but before he knew it, he fell asleep. He was awoken by the sound of the midnight bells ringing someplace faraway. He looked at the wall clock to see if it was true. Yep, he had slept for three hours and now it was midnight. Which meant that it was Christmas day.

He tilted his head a little and looked at Watanuki, who was comfortably leaning on him. He was still sleeping, his breath slow and steady. He closed his eyes again to rest.

CRAAASH! BOOOM!

Doumeki quickly opened his eyes. His eyes widened from what he was seeing. Beside him, Watanuki stirred. "What... was... that?" he mumbled as he sat up and rubbed his eyes. When he was finally wide awake, he widened his eyes too.

There was a huge fireplace in front of the couch that they both were sitting on. It was made entirely of gray bricks and stone. There was a large fire going, spreading warmth and little bits of ash in the teenagers' direction.

"Wh-Wh-Wh-?" Watanuki didn't know which of the 5W's to ask. He looked at Doumeki, pointing with a shaking finger at the fireplace. Doumeki shrugged and shook his head.

After a few minutes of looking at each other and at the fireplace, there was another crash. It came from the fireplace. They looked but the fire had gone out. The only light in the room now was the moonlight coming from the wall windows. The teenager noticed a large shadowy figure in front of the fireplace… and it was coming right at them…

Watanuki screamed. Doumeki put an arm in front of Watanuki to defend him from… whatever this figure was. Was it a spirit? But Doumeki was here! And he was a spirit repellent so… what was it? It stopped right in front of them. Both Doumeki and Watanuki closed their eyes and waited for whatever was going to happen.

"Aw shucks, I came a minute late." There was a sigh. "But at least I still came! Ho ho ho!"

Ho ho ho? thought the teenagers.

Suddenly, there was a snap and through their closed eyes, they could tell by the warmth and the bright light that the fire had come back to life. Doumeki peeked out of one eye to see if the coast was clear… of whatever was there. Not at all. He opened both eyes and saw a large man clad in red and white. Doumeki shook Watanuki and he opened his eyes too.

"Ho ho ho! So now you've opened your eyes!" The figure smiled down at them.

The teenagers stared at him in disbelief. Watanuki shook his head once or twice but the figure was still there when he looked again.

"S-Santa… Claus…?"

"Ho ho ho! That's me!"

Watanuki didn't know what to say. All these years, he had believed in Santa Claus and waited eagerly for Christmas and for him to come on his flying sleigh. Yet, Santa never came. After more years had passed, his hope for Santa Claus to come slowly died down. Every Christmas, he had a little hope but that was it. He didn't think that Santa Claus would actually come at a time when he totally forgot about him.

"Is this… a dream?" Watanuki was about to slap himself when Santa stopped his hand.

"There's no need for that when I can just tell you." Santa let go of Watanuki's hand and smiled. "This is a dream." He walked back to the fireplace. "I just wanted to come by and say 'Merry Christmas, Watanuki Kimihiro-kun." He turned to Doumeki. "You too, Doumeki Shizuka-kun." He winked.

And then he was gone before neither Doumeki nor Watanuki could blink. And after they actually did blink, the fireplace was gone as well. In its place were two equally sized boxes, both complete with wrapping paper, a ribbon and a bow.

Watanuki stood up and walked over to them, Doumeki right behind him. Watanuki kneeled in front of the two boxes and poked it. "Is this another dream?" He looked at Doumeki, who was kneeling beside him. In turn, Doumeki reached out and stretched Watanuki's cheeks. He almost laughed at how amusing Watanuki's face looked.

"Wa-ah-oo-oih?!" cried Watanuki, trying to pry Doumeki's fingers off his cheeks. When he did, he yelled, "That hurt!"

"Then it's not a dream." Doumeki smirked.

"Geez, you could have done that to yourself," Watanuki mumbled grudgingly. He turned his attention back to the presents. "What do you think they are?"

Doumeki shrugged. How was he supposed to know? Presents from Santa could be anything. It might even be empty, for all he could know.

They looked for their name on the name tags and began unwrapping their presents. When the box appeared, they looked at each other first before lifting the box lid. When they lifted it, a gust of wind blew at them.

The next thing they knew, they were back on the couch, with Watanuki still leaning against Doumeki. The sunlight of the morning came in from the windows and shone on them. They stared at the space in front of them, trying to figure out what had just happened. Watanuki got off of Doumeki and looked at him, questioningly. But then, he felt his cheeks burn for some reason.

Doumeki, in turn, looked back at Watanuki and his eyes widened. "What…"

To be continued... soon.

That's all I can write before Christmas day ends! :D The rest will be coming soon, despite the setting being on Christmas.
And I know. I've already got so many stories that I still have to update. But I just wanted to give a Christmas present to all of you before the day ends ^-^;
I hope you enjoyed! (Even though my made-up Santa Claus was a bit... odd xD)