Back again! Part two! Muahahaha! Merciless Christmas friendy fluff! Aren't I positively villainous?

After a good two hours of talking, reminiscing, laughing, swinging, sliding, hanging around on the climbing frame and spinning on the roundabout 'til they were staggering, Atticus and Zane decided to head back.

Zane smiled as they headed back down the street. This was exactly what he needed. Escape, refuge. Something to chase away the dark and depression, to lift his heart and the weight from his shoulders. Some time to stop being the Kaiser, the duellist, the celebrity, and just be Zane. To stop being a has-been and a nobody, and be somebody and mean something to someone, and to remember that it had been that way for a long time and wasn't going to change any time soon.

He needed a good friend.

He looked over at Atticus, who'd had one of his insightful moments and stayed quiet to let him think. "Mom said there was a Christmas 'thing' going on at your place."

"That's right." Atticus grinned. "You have an invite, just so you know."

Zane grimaced. "Tell me you didn't let your Dad in the kitchen."

Atticus laughed at that. "I'm pretty keen on my friends and their families surviving the get-together, so no."

The bluenette just nodded, smile once again in place. Atticus caught on pretty quickly. "Christmas cookies?"

"Just remember which end the flour opens this time."

Laughter once again rang through the crisp winter air.

Marie and Anette shared a fond look with Mrs. Misawa as they surveyed the scene before them.

Two snow trenches had been dug out; in one hid Sergeant Hassleberry, Sergeant Yuki, Private Truesdale and Private Princeton, along with Misawa and Alexis. In the other lay Colonel Hassleberry (her husband was the General and currently away with the armed forces), Lieutenant Misawa, Private Rhodes and a second Private Truesdale.

Just as the Hassleberry's were preparing yet another strike against one another, two voices floated across the 'battlegrounds', one notably more enthusiastic than the other and instantly recognisable as Atticus.

"You'll be singing this over and over and over again
Every December you'll hear it and sing
Turn it up, play it loud
Every Christmas should be the same!
Singin' it over and over for ever and ever again…"

"Ah."

"'Ah' indeed."

"Looks like my lawn's been turned into no-man's land."

"Mmhm."

Syrus leapt up in his joy, waving his arms in the air. "Zane!" He promptly fell back with a snowball in his face.

"HEY!" Hassleberry was up then, "WE'RE CALLIN' A TRUCE!" He promptly climbed out of the trench with everyone else over there. "Good to see yer face, Lieutenant Truesdale!"

"Hey Kaiser!" Jaden greeted jovially. "Long time no see!"

"Zane!" Syrus cried again, running over. "It's you! Where were you? We were worried!" The younger sibling babbled.

"Yeah." Zane replied curtly, making a show of surveying the 'battlefield'. "I can tell."

The bespectacled teen instantly felt like dirt. "Oh… I-I-we… we just- we didn't…"

"Syrus." A hand was on his head, catching his attention. "I'm kidding."

The younger Truesdale blinked, then smiled up at his brother, who, to his shock, smiled back. Zane then looked up at the others.

"Hey guys." He sounded slightly awkward, as if unsure of his reception.

Alexis stepped up. "It's nice to see you again." She smiled warmly.

He smiled back. "Yeah. Same." His face fell. "And… sorry."

"Oh, don't worry about it." Bastion interjected. "Trust me, we expected far worse considering the circumstances."

Zane winced inwardly. "Right..."

"Idiot!" Chazz snapped. He seemed to have taken a particular disliking to Bastion today, giving Jaden a day off. "Of all the times to bring that up!"

"Actually, Zane mentioned it first-"

"If you guys are gonna start arguing," Atticus declared, "then you won't get Christmas cookies!"

Syrus and Alexis knew instantly what he meant, and their faces lit up. The others, however, didn't.

Jaden cocked his head to the side in puzzlement. "There are cookies?" He asked, obviously confused as to why he'd only been told this now.

"Not yet." Zane answered. "But there will be."

"We're gonna make 'em!" His friend finished.

Jaden gained a surprised look. "You guys cook?"

"Yeah!" Syrus blurted. "They're, like, pretty much the best cooks ever!"

Alexis jumped in, "Especially when it comes to Christmas cookies!"

Atticus immediately demurred, being humble and playing it down despite his cheeky smile, whilst Zane said nothing, allowing himself to be selfish and soaking up the praise. God knew he needed reminding that he could do something right. This continued for a few minutes, and by the time the two younger siblings were done stroking their brothers' egos Zane was really looking forward to proving his baking skills.

"Race you!" Atticus abruptly bolted for the door, followed by Zane's surprised and mildly indignant cry, then the man himself. They ditched their winter wear in the hallway then darted through corridors, swung round doors and nearly slipped straight past the kitchen.

They both pushed up their sleeves and shared a look. They hadn't done this in a while. Atticus closed the door, neither wanting anyone peeping whilst they worked their culinary magic.

Back outside, the group was standing in surprise. The parents had climbed out of their trench and moved over to the mothers who hadn't taken part in the shenanigans. Syrus looked up at a bewildered Jaden with a smile on his face and tears in his eyes. Jaden was understandably shocked and concerned and asked what was wrong.

"Nothing, Jay." He looked back to the door, Zane and Atticus' footprints leading a trail from the gang to the house, echoes of their laughter mingling with old Christmas memories. "Everything's perfect."

Well? This isn't the end or anything, and I know Zane probably seems a little OOC, but if you look at episodes where he's just being himself, he doesn't seem too different to how I've written him. I vividly recall one scene where he and Jaden are sitting in one of the Duel Academy arenas; they share a high five, then they both collapse onto their backs in laughter. And, especially now when he's trying to push away his usual inhibitions in order to forget for a while, he's probably susceptible to Atticus' antics to some extent.

Btw, that song is 'Once Upon a Christmas Song' by Geraldine McQueen/Peter Kay