So, the Christmas tradition of starting a fic one year, then finishing it the next is going well, I see!
Figured that I might as well get this thing done. Who knows, maybe it might help get me into Christmas spirit? Anyway, I may have miscalculated the amount of chapters this would contain. It's leaning towards more, but then again it could also be less. Or no change at all. I don't have the faintest idea so as per usual... don't trust my word too much. Forgot to put in the pairings. Oh well, you're smart. You'll figure it out.

And I know it's silly, it wouldn't be my fiction if it wasn't.

Families are like fudge - mostly sweet with a few nuts. ~Author Unknown

25th December
- Kinomiya and friends-


Takao still couldn't believe it. He was on a plane, making his way to Max's place. At Christmas. And the great part? His plan had succeeded. Yes, Takao had called everyone. The Tigers, the Starz, hell, even the Neoborg. And what had he done? He had forced them to celebrate Christmas. Together. Like a family. As they should have done from the start and it was a wonder he hadn't realized before that this was the missing piece that made Christmas suck so much. This was what was wrong. His friends weren't with him. Okay, so maybe the Russians were somewhat of a bunch of assholes, and maybe he couldn't stand all the Americans, and maybe some of the Chinese disliked him quite a bit, but anyway. That was beside the point. The point was that he, Takao Kinomiya, was going to celebrate Christmas with his closest friends. For the first time in three years.

And he was damn happy about it. Now, his only problem left was how to find his way through the streets without getting lost, and how to get Hiromi to stop biting her nails in what looked like a mild case of freak-out. Yes. She had been acting pretty odd since the flight took off. First he had thought she was just afraid of flying, but that didn't make sense since the team traveled a lot. And besides, she liked to check out the male flight attendants. Which was not the case now, even though one of them had shamelessly been flirting with her – and grandpa Kinomiya with one of the stewardesses – and this was making Takao feel a little alarmed.

Of course Hiromi refused to tell him what was wrong. Of course she hit him the tenth time he asked. Of course the rest of the flight was spent in an awkward silence. He muttered. If Christmas didn't get better than this he was going to write somewhere and complain.


- Max Mizuhara –

Max was smiling all the way to the airport. It didn't even matter that people bumped into him so he nearly fell over or that he discovered a hole in his shoe when it took in water and made his sock all wet. It didn't even matter that the airport was tremendously ugly and depressing and even tackier than his sense of clothing. It didn't even matter that people disliked his sense of clothing.

It didn't matter that people were crowding around him or that he had to run from a few fangirls here and there. No, because Max was very happy. So happy his eyes shone so much he was afraid the snow would have melted away if there had been any.

See, even the lack of snow or the burnt gingerbread Emily made didn't matter. Because Max was happy, happy, happy. A security guard even took him in for questioning because he thought Max was high on something. But nothing could kill his good mood. No! He was going to see his friends for the first time in months. And he was going to spend Christmas with them. It didn't even matter that Christmas turned his mom into a nutjob, because it was still the best holiday ever. Yes, Max was excited, to say the least.

- The Tigers-

Mao had been a pain in the ass for the entire trip. Which was an unbelievably quick one and they were all quite surprised. But not as surprised as they were that they even got their hands on some tickets. It's incredible what a little luck and a little… persuasion, as Mao called it, could do. Besides, it was Christmas. Which was probably the main reason said woman was behaving such madly all morning. The moment they set foot on American land, she went haywire. Checking so that the luggage was where it was supposed to be, looking through her Christmas list so nothing could jump out and surprise her, checking her fellow travelers so they were all in place, (which they weren't, but she hunted down and punished Kiki soon enough) and threw disorientated glares at everything around her.

Christmas trees, Santa's, candy, food, commercial, garlands, stars – the whole nine yards. They were all there, glaring at Mao as if they had a personal grudge to settle. Rei just wished this could all be over with. He hated all the fussing and the stressing and it was unbelievable how many got an ulcer from one little day. Actually, he thought he himself was getting one just from looking at Mao. It was a little sad, even, how it always turned out like this every year. It was just a day after all. And it didn't have to be perfect, but sometimes it felt as though he was the only person in the world who knew about this. Like it was his special little secret.

Most of the time, he wished he could let one, just one other person in on it.

He had little time to dwell on it though, as he soon saw a jumping, skipping mop of blond hair. In the distance it looked like their own star to guide them through, but he knew it was just Max. Or, maybe 'just Max' was a bit cruel and also it wasn't accurate. Max could never be 'just Max' since he had enough energy to outshine the sun. It was a bit annoying at times, really. Sometimes Rei just wanted to stick his own head up a cannon and tell someone to blast off.

And now they were going to share living space with him. For a week. Great.

''Rei! Rei! Hi! I knew you were coming! Rei!''

Rei smiled politely at his friend, because after all that was what he was. And no matter how hard it was to stand your own friend at times, or how often you had played with the thought of stabbing him, friends were still friends. And therefore you had to greet them in a way that convinced them that yes, even though I hate your guts sometimes I still love you enough to let you live.

Which was an oddly out of character thought for Rei. Huh. Must've been the holiday stress.

''Hi guys! Had a good trip?''

Since Mao was a lunatic and the others had difficulties on their own with restraining her, Rei took on the role of the communicator.

''It was a little rough but alright. It's good to see you Max''

Max blinded him with his smile as it grew a thousand times larger.

''It's good to see you too!''

''Where are the others?''

Rei was only now realizing they were the first on spot, and that the others couldn't be seen anywhere. And he was pretty certain Takao had said that they were all going to meet, which Rei still hadn't figured out if it was such a good idea or not.

''There's Takao!''

Rei turned his head to look in the direction of which Max pointed, and sure enough he got to see the excited little man that came rushing towards them. Behind him came a nervous, still respectable Kyouju and a Hiromi who looked like she was about to join the Manson family and set off on a killing spree. Especially with Daichi never shutting up behind her.

Oh, well, the worst thing that could happen was that they all slaughtered each other.

The parties soon joined forces and after five minutes of greeting and cheering – Rei couldn't blame them, after all it had been a while – and women growling in the corners, it seemed as if things were just about to settle down. But then of course came the other tidal wave. A small group of dull hair-colors came cutting through the crowd, a cunning and ominous aura following their wake. It wasn't hard to figure out that the Russians had arrived. Rei couldn't say he wasn't glad to see Kai, but he was oddly discomforted at the baleful glares Boris was throwing. They seemed a little more malicious than usual.

''Kai!'' Rei greeted him, partially to get the awkward silence to disappear.

He nodded in greeting, and after that Max and Takao steered the conversation – if it could be called that since the third participant mostly glared – into unknown levels. The rest of crowd decided to just ignore them as they silently followed Max towards the cabs.


-The Destination-

One good thing with Rick having nothing better to do with his time than to eat all the food, was that at least it shut the women up when they got to make new food in the kitchen. So with all of them locked up, threatening anyone else to their life if they even looked at the kitchen door, there was one less problem for the others to worry about. Because quite frankly, Mao, Emily and Hiromi were annoying enough as it was. And during Christmas? No thank you. Another good thing to come out of it was that instead of spreading bad vibes in the living room, Rick was locked up in the bathroom. Something with that ginger bread just didn't sit right with his bowels.

So in the meantime, while chaos was ensuing in the rest of the house, Max showed the others to their rooms and let them all unpack and feel right at home. He apologized for not having enough rooms for all of them, but Kai was happy as long as he didn't have to share with Takao. But it seemed like it wasn't that much better to share with the Russians, because Boris was really looking close to murdering him each time their eyes met. Kai considered demanding an explanation at first, but realized he didn't really care that much. What did bother him though was that Ivan was nowhere to be seen and that usually led to trouble…

''Hey, Kai, do you have a minute?'' Rei's voice brought him out of his musings, and as he looked towards the door he found the catlike eyes looking kindly at him.

Kai nodded in confirmation, before stepping out of the room to join the Tiger in whatever needed joining. But he couldn't help but feel as though Boris was following them till they were no longer within sight.

''What is it?''

Rei smiled, a little nervously which in itself was rather odd. Rei was one of the most self-confident people Kai knew of, often bordering on arrogance, so for the Chinese to get nervous it had to be something good. All the more reason for the Russian to listen to him.

''I… well… you see. It's that… I have a small problem.''

-The Kitchen-

Hiromi was close to tears. And not because the pudding was burning or the gravy overcooked. Okay, partially because of the gravy. But mostly because she was panicking. She had been panicking for quite some time now and honestly she had no idea what to do about it. Besides feel stupid. Because that's what she had to be, she thought, not to have thought of this sooner. Okay, so she had thought of it weeks ago but never gotten around to it. Because okay, she could admit she was a little nervous. Or, well, very nervous but that was all beside the point and Hiromi really didn't care for much else but the point and the point was…

''Hiromi, are you – ''

''I haven't gotten a gift for Takao!''

Mao blinked a little, her ears still ringing even though the echo of the brunette's voice had died out. The pink haired girl blinked again, as if to clear her mind, before finally cocking an eyebrow at the other. Emily joined in with her own odd little half-glare, and Hiromi was suddenly getting the urge to learn just how to shut up.

''O… kay?'' Mao tried, amost tentatively.

''I haven't gotten him a gift yet and it's the 25th so I'm doomed! Doomed! He's going to hate me ohmygod I –''

And her rantings went on and on for a few minutes, during which none of the other girls had any idea as of what to say. Not that they had a chance to get a word in anyway, but Hiromi didn't really seem to notice so they didn't think too much of it. After another few minutes had passed, Hiromi looked like she was close to fainting, and they were somewhat amazed that she had still managed to switch the plates of cookies in the oven. The two other girls shared a look, before crossing their arms.

''Hiromi'' Mao started, very slowly as if speaking to a rampaging child yielding an Uzi. ''Why does that matter?''

Hiromi's eyes widened, and her breathing quickened. Changing from panicked to outraged she was more unpredictable than a storm, and Mao almost regretted opening her mouth at all when Hiromi bellowed them half-deaf.

''Why does it matter?! I'll tell you why it matters! It matters because now he'll think I hate him and he'll be the only one not to receive a gift and that is a very mean thing of me to do especially since I don't hate him at all, really I know I seem like a bossy bitch but a girl has to in this sport, you should know that better than anyone and really I'm just – ''

''Crushing?'' Emily tried helpfully.

Hiromi blinked, utterly stupefied for a moment.

''NO! I'm not crushing!'' she shrieked and the girls were certain that after that day they'd certainly have hearing difficulties.

''Suuuuuuuure you're not'' Mao snorted. ''And I was not crushing on Rei when we were fourteen''

''Shut your trap! I don't need your sarcasm! I'm a grown, independent woman! I'm too young to have a crush on that… that kid! I –''

Emily put a hand on Hiromi's shoulder, comfortingly and understandingly smiling at her. Of course it was all an act because deep down Emily wanted to strangle her for damaging her hearing, but what are friends for if not lying to us when we need it the most?

''Relax, we'll find a present if it means that much to you.''

Hiromi blinked, unsure of what she had just heard.

''Huh?''

''You heard me.''

''But…'' she blinked a little more, as if it had ever solved anything but make people look like idiots. ''But the food!''

''What about it?''

''Who will take care of the food?!''

Mao cleared her throat, making sure all attention was directed at her. When all eyes in the room were set on her, she grinned her most devilish grin,

''Relax girls, the food can wait. Just cover up the secret stash and we'll be back before anyone ever notices we're gone!''

Of course they knew this was a really bad plan. Somewhere deep down inside of their deviant hearts, they knew very well this was a bad idea. But in the spur of the moment that was forgotten, or ignored perhaps, and instead looked upon as something quite brilliant. And whatever brilliant girls wanted to do, brilliant girls did. The consequences could be dealt with later.

- Rick-

Rick didn't really like Christmas. In fact, he quite so much as hated it. But he didn't really have anything better to do, and Judy could be quite convincing when she wanted to. If Rick had ever thought women incapable of using brute force on him, well, now he stood corrected. So he simply had to make the best of the holiday while he could. And if that meant pissing off the other in his team, or switching Rei's shampoo for itching powder, then so he would. And now as luck would have it, he found the apartment to be completely devoid of female creatures.

Which included Judy. And a Judy-less, Emily-free, Mao-ridden, Hiromi-sanitized apartment, was a good apartment. And what did Rick do to celebrate? Why what else but break into the kitchen? After having snuck, as well as the giant bear-like teenager could, into the kitchen he couldn't hide his wide grin if he'd wanted to. He had to compliment himself on being such a genius. The kitchen was completely empty, and what better of it was that he could sniff his way to the secret stash. Because girls always had secret stashes. A place where they hid the food that was to be saved for (or from) someone, or not to be eaten until later.

See, Rick might have been a brute and not very tactical. But what he did have was a great sense of smell, so no matter how hard they had tried to hide it from him, he found it faster than a bloodhound. There, on top of a cabinet too high for any of the girls to reach on their own, was a box that just screamed 'touch and die'. But Rick wasn't one to heed warnings or bow down to threats, so he easily swiped it down and locked the door.

No. Rick didn't enjoy Christmas. And he sure as hell wasn't going to let anyone else do, either.

- Boris-

That was it. It wasn't enough that Kai stole his place on the team, because he was a back-stabbing, lying, selfish, arrogant, no good son of a bitch. No, now the stupid rich boy had to take other things he enjoyed as well. Not that Boris was going to say out loud that he did enjoy it, but that didn't really matter because Kai was going down. He thought no one was on to his game yet, huh? Well old Boris was, and he was not happy about it.

Kai and Rei had been locked up inside that room for nearly an hour. And that was one hour too long. He didn't know for certain what they were doing in there, but he had a pretty good idea. If Kai thought he was going to get away with it, he was sorely mistaken. But no need to pity him, really. After all, underestimating Boris Kuznetsov is underestimating death.

''Hiwatari you fucking piece of shit! Open the goddamn door or I'll break it down!''

Boris had been hollering and bellowing about for at least thirty seconds, an extremely long wait for a Falcon who was about to go on a wild rampage. His fist was red from the contact it had made with the wood, but the door was even worse for wear after getting introduced to Boris' foot. And there were a lot of things that were going to be introduced if someone didn't open soon.

''Kai! Did you fucking hear me?! Open the – ''

Without any further notice, the door swung open to reveal annoyed red eyes. Kai wasn't really mad, more so he was irritated as it was impossible to get one moment worth of peace in the same house as the others. Which was the reason he didn't really want to come at first, but life never really turns out the way you planned.

''What is it now? I'm in the middle of some – ''

''Oh I bet you are! Guess what? Party's over!''

''What are you on about?''

Boris snorted, barging past Kai easily. Because even though Kai was superior in Beyblading, and even though he had been lifting some junk down at the gym, Boris was undeniably stronger than him. Also he was much more savage when he wanted something, and right now he had a few words to share with a certain Tiger. A few hurtful words.

''Kon!''

Rei looked quite surprised to see him, and quite bewildered as well. Now when Boris was barging across the floor and coming towards him, the Tiger felt this room was no longer where he desired to be. But, even if Rei had planned to escape – which he hadn't, mind you – he was prohibited from doing this as a strong fist yanked him off the ground. Okay, so Boris was mad. He got that part. But he was always mad so there wasn't much to learn from that. Why he was mad on the other hand, was as big a mystery as the city of Atlantis.

''Kuznetsov?''

''What the hell do you think you're doing?!''

''Uhm… well, right now I think I'm about to get killed by a Russian. What's up with you?''

Boris' death-glare was enough to send anyone's cockiness running for its life. Still Rei kept glaring back, defiant as ever, and he was certain that the only thing that kept the Falcon's fist from connecting with his face, was the fact that Kai was striding to the rescue.

''Boris'' Kai said, and a second later made the big mistake of placing his hand on the agitated Boris' shoulder.

To which Boris responded with a fist.

''Boris, what the hell?!'' Rei cried as he was dropped to the ground.

But the Russian didn't listen to him, in fact none of them did because they were busy tearing each other apart. Kai mostly did some blocking here and there, Boris was the one really on fire. By the time they had moved their fight out into the living room, half of the guestroom was already demolished. Leaving a shocked Rei running after them.

''Stop it you two! What's gotten into you?!''

The shock had left him now, leaving way to resentful irritation. Like the mother hen running after a pair of unruly chicks, he was doing his best to stop the fight but all it really earned him was a knocked out tooth and hitting the floor with his butt. Oh well.

''Oh my God!'' it was Kyouju's turn to be surprised now, as Kai and Boris crashed down on the table where he moments ago had put his computer.

The little electronic thing now lying in a sad heap of destruction on the floor, the rest of the table tipped over and with it a lot of Christmas decorations. Whoever remained standing after the fight sure wasn't going to survive the wrath of Mao.

''What the hell's going on here?!'' Takao who had just entered the room, didn't get his question answered before Boris threw a punch at Kai, who ducked, and hit the Japanese boy-man-thing instead.

With a little blood and a lot of curses, said Blader fell and would have met the same fate as Rei's behind, if not Max had caught him right in the fall. Takao looked at them in shock, his nose bleeding and looking like it might even be broken. Max's large, expressive eyes were full of terror, and for a moment it seemed like no one was going to do anything.

''Okay, that's enough!''

As out of nowhere Yuriy had emerged between the two fighting, separating them successfully with just one, well-aimed ice-cold glare. The fighting pair soon turned their backs to each other, muttering obscenities in Russian Rei was glad he couldn't understand. The Wolf growled at them. If Rei was the mother hen, then Yuriy looked like the berating father.

''What the hell is the matter with you two?!''

''He touched me!''

The redhead glared at Boris, without words asking him if he was an imbecile.

''And that's a reason to fight? Because I sure as hell don't think Kai would start anything!''

Boris said nothing, simply crossed his arms and promised Yuriy death with his eyes. The Wolf decided it was a lost cause and instead turned his attention towards Kai.

''Don't ask me. I was speaking to Rei and then he just barged right in and started yelling.''

''Okay'' Yuriy glared at Boris again. ''You, we're going to have a chat.''

''Fuck you!''

''Now''

Silence lay around the room as the Russians did nothing but stare each other to bits. After a dreadful, painful minute had passed Boris finally punched Yuriy in the face and left the room. Once he was gone, everyone did the safe thing and left the two remaining Russians to their own devices. Left was only Rei, still not sure he was on planet Earth and that his friends weren't just alien impostors out to steal his brain.

''And you'' Yuriy said with his split lip and pointed at him. ''I don't know what the hell is going on but I'll find out!''

Not until the two had left did Rei dare draw a breath of relief.

-The girls-

The streets could be called something akin to 'unsafe' as the girls were strolling down the sidewalks in their high heels and ridiculous outfits. Leaving a trail of thick perfume behind them, it was safe to say a lot of looks were cast their way. Mao pretended she didn't notice and, if she did, she was certainly disgusted by all of it. Not that she was, but the other girls didn't need to know that.

Emily said something about hormones but since Hiromi was panicking by the second, her nonsense fell on deaf ears. One couldn't really blame her though, the brown haired girl was practically losing her mind. She had absolutely no idea of what to buy Takao, the only thing she actually knew was that time was running out.

Perhaps she could get him something for his Blade? No, no, everyone else were likely to give that to him and she wanted her gift to be special. Maybe it would've been smarter to have asked the others what they were getting for him? In that way she would have known what to avoid and perhaps along which theme she should orientate her shopping.

Thousands of images of things flashed before her mind, almost like people say your life does right before you die. But nothing made her any wiser and it wasn't like she could ask the others. They would simply tease her – even more than they had so far – and she wanted this gift to be really good. Nothing bad meant about the girls, but one look at them told Hiromi they did not have the taste required in her quest.

Not that Takao had much of a sense of style himself, but that was a slightly unfair comparison.

Close to either tears or a heart attack, Hiromi was readying herself to scream when Emily bumped into her. Irritated the brunette spun around, but her intended murder glare got lost in what she saw next. The little group of boys who had been whistling at them down the street had somehow increased in numbers. It wasn't until she had counted them all – 34 – and noticed that special little glint in their eyes, a mixture of admiration and mania, that she noticed what they were.

''Oh my fucking shit!''

''Fanboys!''

Hiromi and Emily looked at each other in alarm and wasted no time before they grabbed Mao and ran.