~Mistletoe~

Christmas Eve… Yuma was excited that Christmas was coming up so soon! He could barely wait, and what better than to duel and pass the time until the fated day arrived?

"Yuma, where are you going?! You said you'd go shopping…" Kotori pouted, her arms folded below her chest. "Er… come on, it's bound to be crowded and un-enjoyable wherever we go now, since Christmas is tomorrow." The boy quickly retorted, scratching the back of his head while slowly backing away.

Sighing, Kotori decided it was useless asking Yuma, especially if he didn't care to go shopping with her anyway. "Alright, fine. Have it your way, I'll just go ask Sei and Sachi!"

And with that, she went walking off in a puff. Yuma felt a little bad for turning her down like that, but shopping on Christmas Eve didn't seem like the smartest thing to attempt… especially when he could be doing something fun.

As it turned out, Yuma was all alone though… everyone else was home, getting ready for the next day. He didn't have anyone to duel… or so he thought.

Walking by the school, Yuma spotted someone still on campus. Who though, since school was out for Christmas?

Getting curious, Yuma swiftly looked around and made his way over the gate, and right inside the school. "Sheesh… kinda creepy here, with no one else around…" He mumbled, walking closer to where he thought he saw a student. "The… gym? Someone, here?"

Looking around some more, he went on and took a peek inside… and much to his surprise, he saw two familiar faces; Gilag and Alit.

What the? Why is Alit here…? And Gilag too!

Gazing inside, from what he could tell, it looked like Alit had a box full of Christmas type decorations…

"Hey, Gilag."

"…Mm?

Picking up some lights, Alit continued "What the heck is this thing for? Do I just hang it?"

Looking over, Gilag had no clue. "I think I've seen people do that. Just put it over the TV or something."

"If you say so." Walking over towards the TV, he put it on top of it… and had no idea to plug in the lights. "Okay, this does not look right."

Yuma was kind of amused and confused. He thought it was funny how clueless Alit and Gilag were, but also puzzled that neither had any idea on how to decorate.

And, as soon as his mind drifted, Yuma accidentally leaned in too close and fell, right inside the room where Alit and Gilag were.

"What the…!?" Gilag yelled, turning his head over to see what happened. "Tsukumo…. Yuma?!"

"Ouch…!" Yuma grumbled, getting up. "Oh, uh… um… I saw someone here so I just… ahaha, sorry about that!" Yuma had no idea on what to say, anything he did would sound suspicious.

"Yuma! Perfect timing, where do I put this?" Alit asked while smiling, holding a wreath.

Gilag's eyes widened, worried that Yuma may have heard them discussing something that had to do with the Barian World, but it seemed fine and obviously Alit didn't care.

Walking over towards Alit, Yuma was glad he didn't care he was basically spying on them. "Ah, that's a wreath… you put it on a door! Here, let me show you." He took the wreath from the darker skinned boy and went towards the door, promptly hanging it. "Hmm, not bad! Whaddya think, Gilag?"

Sitting back down, GIlag turned the TV on and stopped paying attention. "Eh. You two have fun with that."

"You're no fun! Okay, Yuma, I also have another question…"

"Before that, can I ask something?" Yuma quickly said so Alit would hear.

"Mm, what is it." Alit nonchalantly said, reaching into his box. "Have you never celebrated Christmas before?" He asked, curious for what the answer could be.

"Nope. I didn't even know what it was, until I saw some commercial mentioning it on TV. But it looks entertaining, so I decided to put these decorations I found lying around up."

Never heard of Christmas before? That seemed odd to Yuma… after all, usually the streets were all lit up for Christmas and people would always mention it.

Suddenly, a green leafy thing was put right in front of Yuma's face… a mistletoe.

"W-WHAT THE?" Yuma shouted, backing away. Alit removed his hand from Yuma's face and looked at the mistletoe. "What? I have no idea what this thing is for. It's small, and it isn't even all that colorful."

Making a sigh of relief, Yuma now felt silly. He thought Alit was putting that in front of him, to, well… kiss him.

Gilag looked over and saw Alit holding the mistletoe. Suddenly, it donned on him, what it was for. "I've seen that on TV… you put a mistletoe up, and the two people underneath it need to kiss."

Looking at the plant, Alit's eyebrow raised. "That's… kinda weird. You humans sure do-"

As soon as Gilag heard him say that, he got up and ran over, covering Alit's mouth. "S-say, since you put that in front of Yuma-kun, does that not mean you have to… y'know?" He tried to avert the subject, hoping Yuma didn't notice.

"Ahahaha, come on Gilag, it wasn't even hung up. Mistletoes don't work that way." Yuma chuckled, hoping Gilag was merely joking. "Besides, it's not like the people below it have to kiss. Here, hang it up for us." He took the mistletoe from Alit and handed it to Gilag, since he was the tallest and would have an easier time hanging it up.

"Alright, now, how about we put these lights up? They go up pretty high, so let's get a ladder." Happy to be engaging in a Christmas like activity, Yuma was glad to find Alit and Gilag here. It made him feel the spirit of the season.

"Found a ladder! Okay, let me handle this." Alit beamed proudly, climbing up the ladder while taking the lights up. "Like this?" Putting the lights up was harder than he thought, and he didn't want to make a mistake. "Exactly, great job! So, Alit… you like the colorfulness of Christmas?"

"I guess so, it all looks fun! That, and I had nothing else to be doing. No one around to duel…"

"What about Gilag?"

Finally putting the mistletoe up, Gilag chimed in, "Duel Alit? Come on, you have to be kidding! I have other things to do."

"Gilag! Yeesh, quit being such a buzzkill!" Saying that, Alit lost his footing and was now flailing on the ladder… ready to fall off. "Wh-whoa whoa whoa-!" Even though he was in shape, he was clumsy at times where he let his guard down.

Yuma noticed and tried putting his arms out, to either catch Alit or break his fall… and he did end up breaking his fall, but in a way neither of them expected.

With a crash on top of Yuma… he accidentally gave him a kiss as soon as he landed on the two tone haired student. And coincidentally, right under the mistletoe Gilag just hung up.

Gilag nearly choked as he looked over to see the two in a lip lock together. "WHAT THE HELL?!" He yelled, walking over towards them and pulling Alit off Yuma.

"What in the name of…!? What happened while I wasn't looking!?"

"Uh…. I fell?"

"YOU FELL? Then how does that explain the two of you kissing?!"

Yuma covered his mouth and slowly got up, blushing fire. "He fell and kinda landed right on top of me… and well, right on my mouth to be exact."

Gilag looked over at Yuma and saw the mistletoe right above him… putting Alit down, he started laughing. "Are… are you kidding me? Ahahaha… right… under the mistletoe!" He continued laughing as both Alit and Yuma just stood there, staring at each other with wide eyes.

And hearing Gilag continue to laugh up a storm, the two started laughing as well. "Oh my god… wow, how did that even happen?" Yuma said in between his laughter, wiping some tears.

"Don't ask me, Gilag was the distraction that caused the fall! But whew boy… I had no idea what happened."

Both looked at each other, smiling… maybe the kiss wasn't intentional but meant to happen… after all, events led Yuma to Alit… could this be the start of something?

"Merry Christmas, you two." Yuma joyfully said, happy he came to the gym.