Windstar: There's a vicious rumor going around saying that I can't write fluff. So here it is, my Christmas Fluff story written today in good holiday spirit.

Anna and Adeline, Mikhail, Kiril and Adrien are all apart of the On The Three/Lies and Deceit story line. It's self explanatory as it is, but basically Anna and Adeline are Tala and Kai's bous respectively. Mikhail is Tala and Kai's foster brother. Kiril is Tala's blood brother. Tala was adopted by Kai's parents. Adrien is a boy from the Abbey that Kai takes under his wing.

Bryan's "Twas the Night Before Christmas" :

The set of parents were laughing as they glanced up the stairs to where the boys were sleeping soundly. Bryan was joking as he elbowed Spencer in the ribs. He couldn't help himself, he was having a good time too and the booze in his hand was making it all the more enjoyable. Ian just rolled his eyes at the sight as he reached for another present and started to wrap it.

"I can't believe the runts are getting this many presents." Bryan groaned as he looked towards where Tala and Kai were concentrating on making perfect taped edges around their packages. It hadn't been that long since the Abbey fell, but it had been long enough for the adoptions to go through. Still, the two barely-turned-adults were dead set on making this Christmas the best one yet. Their girlfriends were all for the idea as well.

A couple years older then Tala, Anna Ottilia Jones was an expert in computers and technology. They'd been working together down at the Moskva ISA headquarters for years and their relationship had just been a result of the time they'd spent together. She was talking animatedly with Kai's dearly betrothed who was just finishing the last corner on her present.

Adeline Napoleon hadn't spent many Christmases away from her family, and this was the first time in a long while. Kai was lucky he didn't end up getting forced to another celebration with her crowd. As fun as some of them could be, he was quite tired of Adeline's mother constantly picking a fight with him every chance she got. The woman loathed him, not that he couldn't figure why. She thought he was bad news and was beneath her daughter.

Kai's scathing response was simply "You're descendants of Bonapart, you'd think you'd be happy that the Napoleons finally conquered Russia!" Needless to say: the woman wasn't pleased with his reaction to her 'innocent' comments. He didn't particularly care. If she hadn't wanted her daughter to be with him then she never should have allowed the betrothal to be talked about with his grandfather. She never should have allowed Kai to be Adeline's partner at her coming out ceremony.

Honestly.

The two women laughed and looked up at Bryan who was glowering at the obscene pile of presents that everyone had gathered together for the sake of the next day. The pile had over thirty gifts already and there were more that were coming.

"Jealous Bry?" Anna asked lightly as she ducked a wash cloth getting thrown at her head. Tala scowled.

"Bryan, if you start throwing shit around you'll wake them up." He snapped. His friend just rolled his eyes.

"Honestly, if you think that they're going to wake up because of terrycloth hitting the floor then your crazy. Besides, they won't wake up anytime soon thanks to Bryan's bed time story." Ian teased as he winked towards the older blader. The air master scowled.

"Stuff your face Ian and shut up!" Still, he had the attention of the parents who were all but glowering at the man.

"If you gave my kid a nightmare on Christmas Eve, I'm going to kill you Kutznetsov." Kai hissed menacingly. Adeline rolled her eyes and shoved another gift into his arms.

"Threaten later Sacha, wrap now." She glanced towards the clock. It was one in the morning and she had a feeling that they were going to get woken up in only a couple of hours by the kids in question.

"I don't know. I'm curious. What'd you tell them?" Tala inquired as he frowned at his friend. Bryan grimaced slightly.

"The Night Before Christmas, that's all." He muttered as he reached for a box of crayons and some Crayola paper.

"I think not, I heard screams." Ian rolled his eyes. Bryan stomped on the younger boy's foot hard. "Dickwad!" Kai slapped him upside the head.

"Watch your mouth in front of the ladies." He snapped, eyes glaring.

"Now we gotta hear this." Spencer laughed.

"Yeah Bry, tell us a bedtime story. I wanna know exactly what you told my kid." Kai hissed as he glowered at the man.

"Jeez, the adoption just went through a couple of weeks ago Hiwatari, yet you've already settled into calling him your own."

"Hey, he's my son. I don't really care much of how long he's been that way...he's still my kid." And like any new parent he was slightly giddy as he said it. Bryan could only scoff.

"Fine. Whatever. But I tell you it was for their own good!"

It was the night before Christmas, and all through Italy, not a creature was stirring not even a mouse.

"Damn Bryan, that sucks." Spencer whistled as he mock clapped.

"It doesn't even rhyme." Anna sighed, shaking her head.

"Look, they wanted a bedtime story this is what they got." The second oldest boy snapped as he crossed his arms over his chest defensively.

"Keep going." Tala encouraged. "I like it so far." Kai kicked him in the back of the leg lightly.

"Suck up." He muttered. The redhead rolled his eyes.

"We'll never hear the end if we don't flatter a bit little brother."

"I'm older then you." Kai snapped irritably.

"In your dreams." The other rolled his eyes.

"Anyway, as I was saying." Bryan cut in, glaring at his audience.

The stockings were hung by the window with care-

"It's a chimney-"

"SHUT UP."

In hopes that Santa Clause soon would break in.

The women raised their eyebrows, looking at each other in confusion. What on Earth?

You see old St. Nick was a right old creep, who late at night through the window would creep.

"See, your starting to figure out how rhymes work-"

"Ian, shut up!"

For bad little boys, and wicked little girls: he'd shoot fire at their beds and pull out their curls.

Utterly horrified at this ghastly rendition of the traditionally happy man in red, the parents couldn't help but stare at Bryan in horror.

All that would be left of these terrible children were coal where the bodies where the flames had ridden.

Santa would take this coal and with it he'd achieve his ultimate goal.

A world without wicked children he'd make, even if all their lives he'd take.

Giving the coal to good girls and boys, he'd also deposit some friendlier toys.

To the children of good, he did what he should

to make the world see, why he was such a celebrity.

Toys and food and cake for all, it was hard to believe he wasn't as fat as he was tall.

He rides through the sky with nine dead creatures; the slaves of the night and at the request of their teachers.

You see he'd find these naughty children from school, where they'd bully the others just to be cool.

He'd turn them into demons and chain them to his sleigh, and whip them through the night before Christmas day.

Then in the morning return to their beds, with nightmares and terrors deep in their heads.

The only way to stay safe on Christmas Eve night, is if you've been a good little kid all your life.

Stay in your beds and go straight to sleep, or trapped in Santa's hell your soul will keep.

"The end." Bryan looked at the stunned faces of the people around him and blushed slightly. "Well...I told you they wouldn't get out of bed. They'll stay there until morning and probably will actually let us sleep in for a change."

"They're six you idiot!" Tala yelped as he glanced towards the door behind which the boys were sleeping. "I can't believe you told six year olds that horrible story!"

"You should have heard the one on Halloween." Ian mumbled, and once again Bryan stomped on his foot.

"God, you're going to hell Bryan. I can't believe you terrified a couple of kids on Christmas. That's terrible!" Anna was shaking her head as she started to carry all the presents under the tree.

"At least they won't be a couple of Santa worshipers when they grow up." He defended, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Santa worshipers? What do you have against the man?" Adeline asked innocently. Kai wrapped an arm around her waist and kissed her cheek.

"Probably because Bryan was the naughty one who got coal in his stocking every year."

"Ass."

With the presents wrapped and securely placed under the tree, the lively group settled in for the night. The parents slipped into their boys' room to make sure that the two children were sleeping peacefully, which despite Bryan's crude taste in bed time stories – they actually were. Feeling a bit relieved, the two couples left and went off to bed themselves.

They'd sort things out in the morning.

As they snuggled in to bed, Kai held Adeline close to his chest. He smiled slightly as he nestled into her blonde hair, feeling more then a little content at the moment. It was thanks to her that the adoption had gone through. Despite the enormous amount of wealth that he possessed, the judge hadn't thought that a single male parent would be acceptable for a young child. Especially one that was coming from such a difficult place like the Abbey.

Adeline had stepped forwards and agreed to sign the adoption papers. At first, Kai had been stunned speechless. He could hardly believe that she was willing to do so, but she smiled and told him that it was what she wanted. Even though she'd only met the boy a few times, she knew that he was important to Kai and therefore she'd do what she could to make sure that it worked out.

"But...you're a Napoleon, you can't adopt him. You need an heir-"

"And what's to stop me from having children in the future? Besides, at six years old I'm not going to ask him to be the heir of anything. Let him have his childhood, we can discuss heirs and graces when he at least knows the definition!"

He'd just smiled at that. The papers were signed not too long afterwords, and he gained custody of the child. Happy, beautiful Adrien. Brown hair and green eyes and happy as a clam. It was a mere coincidence that he was Tala's blood brother's best friend.

Kiril was one year old then Adrien, but the two had been roommates in the Abbey. They were good friends, and it made things easier when it was agreed that they would stay together (at least to some degree).

Tala had, admittedly, adopted Kiril first. Mainly because it was his parents' dying wish and he felt a responsibility to do so. He adopted Kiril also because he wanted too. He wanted the responsibility and the focus and just something that he could stake claim too after this whole Abbey disaster.

Now they were a family, and they couldn't help it- they were happy. Life was going good, and it was Christmas!

"What's the strangest thing you ever got for Christmas?" Adeline asked suddenly, turning to look into Kai's red eyes. The man frowned slightly. The honest answer was a beating. That wasn't exactly the lime light of his Christmas and he felt like it would be a mood killer. Somehow.

"A box." He said simply. He laughed at the memory. It was the last time he had a Christmas with his parents. They'd been so flustered trying to take care of all the orphans that they'd accidentally wrapped a box. "It was just a cardboard box. There was supposed to be a race car inside, I think. Back then my mom had taken in a few more kids because of the holidays. 'Everyone deserves a home on the holidays' she said. So our house was filled with orphans. I opened up my present, and there was nothing inside. I think my mom was about to cry. She forgot to put the car in the box and it was empty." He laughed slightly at the memory.

"Oh! What happened next?"

"Hmm? Well...Luka saved the day." Tala's real name of Luka was commonly used when talking about him from the past. Before the Abbey warped it all... "He started crying, and looked at our parents and asked why he didn't get a box too." He laughed slightly. "Then Mikhail got in on it." Adeline's face sobered up slightly, as did Kai. Mikhail Ivanov was dead now. Dead because of the Abbey. After he'd been too old to blade anymore, he became a guard and then...well...Boris didn't like the fact that he rebelled. "It was one of the few times that I think Mikhail ever did anything nice for us. He started whining about how he wanted a box. Our parents didn't believe it, and they stared at us in confusion, but Mikhail and Tala explained that they needed the boxes for a secret.

"We got together and made all sorts of things with it. Eventually it was a bit of a treasure chest. It had pictures of our family in it, ourselves, random beyblade praphinallia. The works. It was a fun box. Much better then whatever it was that was supposed to be in it."

"Sounds nice."

"It was. It was the strangest gift for sure though, because even though it was just a box...I think it was the last time that the three of us got to do something together. Before our parents died, before Mikhail died...before the ISA and everything else."

"Do you still have it?" Kai just smiled. He kissed Adeline's forehead.

"Go to sleep."

Down the hall a bit, Anna and Tala were having a similar conversation. They couldn't help but think back to the glory days when they were young and hopelessly pathetic at times. All those holidays spent in Hiwatari Mansion, laughing and joking and just all around having a good time. They were precious memories. Precious indeed.

"Do you remember when Bryan first announced that Christmas was his birthday?" Anna asked as she laughed at the memory. Tala nodded.

"Yeah, he didn't want to clean up after dinner. God we made such a mess." The two couldn't help but smile at the thought. Chores were something that they always did when they were at the Mansion, and the fact that Bryan wanted to skimp out just because he shouldn't have to work on his birthday – now that was just down right rude!

It resulted in a food-fight, and Voltaire was not pleased with the mess. They cleaning the whole place until New Years! The year after that, they'd practically destroyed the living room with their antics. Eventually Voltaire just got used to the fact that from December 25 to January 1 they would be his maids. They couldn't seem to keep the mess down.

Still, even if they'd worked off the rest of their holiday four years in a row, it was enough to make them happy. They enjoyed the laughter and the time with family. That's what Christmas was all about after all. Family being together.

Morning came faster then they thought it would, and they were surprised to find that they weren't woken up by excited children. The parents couldn't help but look at each other in confusion. The year before they were assaulted by the pair at four in the morning.

"You think Bryan's story scared them that much?" Anna whispered in worry. Tala shrugged and climbed out of bed, pulling on a pair of jeans and a fresh shirt. He tiptoed down the hall when he heard voices in the boys' room. Smirking slightly he motioned for his brunette girlfriend to come close. They were joined not too long after that by Kai and Adeline and the other beybladers who wanted to know just what the crowd was forming for.

Inside the room they could hear the little boys talking. They were whispering to each other animatedly. Though from the slight sounds of worry in their voices, it was obvious that they were concerned about the evil Santa coming and getting them. Everyone glowered at Bryan because of it. The air wielder just shrugged.

"You think it's safe to get up now?" They could hear the eldest child whisper. They couldn't help but laugh quietly. Kiril's inability to sit still during Christmas was probably not going to last long.

"No! We'll be killed by Sandy Claws and he'll make us slaves on his sleigh!" Kai glared hatefully at Bryan who paled. Seems like Adrien was more then a bit naiive when it came to the Christmas Story. Apparently he was a deep believer.

Sighing in frustration, the heir slowly knocked on the door and then pushed it open. Both boys were in a faux sleep and were curled up under their blankets. Kai moved forwards and shook his son anyway, kneeling down so he was almost at eye level with the boy. Green eyes fluttered open. As any good actor should do – he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.

"Hey Junior, how you doing?" He asked as he looked at the little boy.

"F-fine." He looked passed Kai and saw everyone in the doorway.

"Bryan told you to a real bad story last night." Adrien's eyes widened.

"What?"

"Come on, scooch over, Kiril get up. You gotta hear this too." Tala started to walk in the room. Soon the others followed until everyone was all crowded around the boys.

"Bryan was messing around last night, and didn't mean to tell you such a bad story. It wasn't true." Kai admitted lightly. Kiril whirled on Adrien almost instantly.

"Told you!" The brunette just stuck his tongue out and crossed his arms over his chest.

"The real story is quite a bit different." Spencer continued, kicking Bryan when he started to mutter under his breath.

"Really?" Adrien's wide eyes stared up at him in awe.

"Really." The others confirmed. "Why don't we tell you the real story and then you can see what Santa brought, alright?"

"We've got presents?" Kiril asked excitedly. Tala rolled his eyes and ruffled his blood brother's hair.

"You'll just have to wait and see won't ya."

It was the night before Christmas: and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. The stockings were hung by the chimney with care – with hopes that soon St. Nick would be there....

After the story was read correctly the family had to admit that it was more then a little nice to see the boy sunder the tree and pulling out their presents one by one. They were staring wide eyed at the pretty wrappers and they were in awe of all the lights. They were so happy that it was infectious.

The last present to be given was to Adrien though. It was a small little cardboard box, but when you opened it there were all sorts of pretty things inside. Photographs, drawings, and talismans that looked years old. He was confused at first, but when he caught Tala staring at the decorative box, he couldn't help but look up at his new father in confusion.

"Mikhail and Tala helped me make that when I was around your age. It's for you to put all your special memories in there. My parents' photograph is that one there, and that's Mikhail, Tala, and me when we finished the box. I figured you'd like it. You can do whatever you want to it: but it's for you to decorate as your own." Adeline smiled as she looked at Kai, and Adrien's face broke out into a great grin.

He hurried up to the man and wrapped his arms around him.

"I love you dad." He whispered in the man's ear, and tears came to his eyes.

"I love you too."

"Merry Christmas!"

And to all a good night.