Jupiter's Magic: Thanks for the reviews guys! :D Here's the next Chapter! I got inspired by reading Kohakuhime of Konoha's "Come Together". I only own my OC's. Sorry it took so long to update. School is a pain and I just got back from a retreat. Please comment and press the review button at the bottom. Thanks!
"MERRY CHRISTMAS, SKYLER!"
Skye let out a startled scream, accidentally kicking Jasper off the bed in her alarm. Growling as she recognized the voice, she looked up at a familiar teenager with murder in her eyes. "I will kill you if it is before seven."
"Six fifty nine's close enough. Now get up!" sang the Australian cheerfully, already bouncing out of the room; likelihood was high that he was going to wake up his older friends, although he could be going downstairs for all she knew. "C'mon, mate! 'urry up!"
Mumbling to herself, she stretched and slipped out of bed and patted a disgruntled Jasper on his head. "Sorry, boy. I can't always keep the crazies out of here," she sighed, standing straight up again.
She caught a glimpse of her wild mane of hair in her dresser mirror and grimaced; picked up the nearest brush, she set about taming her bedhair with a few practiced strokes of the brush and pulled it back up into a ponytail.
A startled yelp made her look to her bedroom door sharply in surprise, but then she sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. She recognized the irritated voice that had started yelling; it was coming from Alister's room and it didn't take too much to figure out who he was yelling at.
"When will that boy learn?" she said, leaving her room and wandering out into the hallway to investigate.
Valon was sprawled at the foot of the stairs, groaning and holding his head in pain. Alister was standing at the top of the stairs and glaring venomously at the boy, holding what appeared to be a dictionary. "What have I told you about waking me up?" he growled.
"I's Christmas, chum. Lighten up!" said Valon, sitting up and grinning cheekily up at them. "C'mon you two! Quit bein' such Scrooges!"
"I'll Scrooge you if you wake me up this early ever again," Alister retorted as he began going down the stairs, passing Valon without a backward glance. The teenager followed behind him, rubbing his head and muttering under his breath; Skye padded down to follow after Alister as well.
When the three of them got down there, they found Raphael watching the news with Misha curled up in his lap. "Do I even want to know what happened? I heard two bangs coming from upstairs and a lot of screaming."
"You don't," said Alister and Skye together.
Valon came into the room and stopped, his eyes widening in surprise. "Whoa, wha' 'appened in 'ere?" he asked, startled.
The others looked around as well and received a surprise: someone had decorated the room with a Christmas theme in mind. There was a tree standing right next to the fire place, its multi-colored lights twinkling merrily; four stockings hung from a makeshift mantle, various decorations also adorning the shelf.
"I didn't even notice," Raphael said in equal surprise, looking around him as well.
The three other bikers looked at him mutely.
Raphael raised his coffee mug at them with an exasperated expression. "What part of 'not a morning person' don't you guys understand? I just got this coffee a few minutes ago."
"Do you guys like what I did with the place?" Skye asked, clasping her hands behind her back with a wide smile. "I wasn't sure what I was doing at first, but then I got the hang of it."
"Looks nice, good job, all tha' girly stuff you wanna 'ear. Present time!" Valon announced, diving towards the small pile of presents at the base of the tree.
Shaking her head, Skye moved over to the sofa and sat herself down; Alister joined her moments later. Raphael stayed where he was comfortably situated in the recliner, watching the proceedings with a faintly amused expression; when he noticed the Australian sifting through the presents, though, he set his coffee mug down.
"Comin' atcha!" yelled Valon, tossing a wrapped package at the blond biker.
Raphael caught the present in mid air, having already expected the tossed package; he'd learned the hard way back in DOOM that it was in best interest if one paid attention to Valon at Christmas. He eyed the poorly wrapped present with fond exasperation before unwrapping it. When he finished he found two books lying in his lap.
"So this is why you asked me that one question. Twenty Thousands Leagues Under the Sea and To Kill a Mocking Bird," he mused. "Thanks, Valon."
"You're welcome," replied Valon absently as he tossed Alister a package.
Unfortunately, the red-haired man had not been paying attention to his surroundings and the present hit him in the side of his head. "Damn you, Valon! Would it hurt you to watch where you're throwing things?"
"You gotta watch me better, chum. I'm not lookin' out after ya all the time!"
Alister rolled his eyes as he began unwrapping his own haphazardly wrapped present. He raised an eyebrow in interest when he noticed the first three seasons of Criminal Minds sitting on his lap, looking to Valon for an explanation.
"You seem t' fancy all tha' crime stuff 'n' I figured that you would this. Now you don' 'ave t' watch re-runs when you miss an episode," explained Valon, picking up a different present and tossing it to Skye.
The girl looked up from playing with Misha in time to dodge the flying package that was hurtling towards her. She picked up the package, shaking it experimentally before continuing to eye it warily. "It's not going to explode, is it?" she asked.
"I'm not tha' bad! Wha' do you take me for?"
"A moron," Alister answered promptly
Ignoring the beginning of Alister's and Valon's latest argument, she began to unwrap the present. It took her a few seconds to digest what was now sitting on her lap, but when she did her eyes rounded to the size of saucers. "Oh my God. Valon, how did you find these?" she asked faintly, her eyes lighting up.
"I 'ave my ways," replied the teenager, smirking as he gathered the next set of presents.
"What did you get her?" Raphael asked as Alister leaned over and peered onto her lap.
"Oh no...Valon, why did you do that?" Alister asked in horror. "All three seasons of Invader Zim? Really?"
"Wha's the problem? She likes tha' series."
"Yeah, but haven't you listened to that little robot thing when it talks? It's freaking annoying."
"So?"
"It's too much like you on a sugar high, Valon," grumbled Alister irritably, earning a laugh from Skye.
Valon muttered incoherently as he looked under the tree and pulled out a small grouping of presents. "Looks like these are all from Skye…'ere Alister! This one's t' you!" he called, tossing the redhead another present.
This time, Alister caught the thrown package without trouble and began slowly opening it; Valon, meanwhile, went back to unwrapping his own gift. His eyes lit up when he peered into the now exposed box; inside it were all sorts of items that pranksters would delight in.
"Really, Skye?" Alister and Raphael asked in unison when they realized just what Skye had given Valon.
"What? I figured we need someone to entertain us," she shrugged, giving the boys her signature Cheshire Cat grin.
Rolling his eyes, Alister opened his gift. He was staring face to face with an autograph picture signed by the actor who plays Agent Booth in Bones, as well as the first two complete seasons of Bones. "Thanks, Skye," he said, looking fairly pleased.
…At least until he saw what was under the DVD's.
"I'm not a vampire, damn you!" he snarled, throwing the Twilight book at her.
She narrowly dodged it and then stuck her tongue out at him. "Gag gifts make the world go round, Alister. Lighten up!" she replied brightly, picking up the book.
Raphael finished unwrapping his own present from Skye and eyed the iTouch and ten dollar iTunes gift card appreciatively. "I can use this when I'm driving to work. Thank you, Skyler."
"You're welcome," she replied, turning a faint shade of pink.
"'ey! Alister actually got us gifts!" Valon yelled, tossing the presents to Raphael and Skye before tearing into his own present.
(When Alister shopped for gifts and how he decided on what to buy were complete mysteries, but any gift he gave generally was exactly what was either wanted or needed most).
Raphael thanked Alister gratefully when he saw what Alister had gotten him; whenever he got stressed out he tended to listen to classical music, and Alister had given him several CD's that he could transfer the songs onto his new iTouch.
Valon, meanwhile, opened up his gift from Alister and held up a thick in between his fingers; he looked at Alister with confused cerulean eyes. "You got me a book? 'ave you ever seen me read, chum? Ever?"
"You didn't bother reading the cover, did you?" the redhead asked wryly. "If you did you wouldn't be saying that."
The boy considered this before flipping the book over and reading the cover. His eyes widened incredulously. "A prank book?"
"Yes, and thankfully there are no explosions involved in any of them," he replied as a frown came onto his face. "Pull any of them on me and I swear that I will throw you out of the second story window. You can use the book to pull pranks on the neighbors, including Ember."
"I wouldn' try t' do tha' t' Ember, though. She's crazier than I am."
Alister scoffed.
"Wha', you think 'm kiddin'?" asked Valon in disbelief.
"I'll have to see it to believe it first. Skye, aren't you going to open up your present?"
"I'm going, I'm going," she grumbled, crumpling the wrapping paper into a small ball and tossing it carelessly on the floor; Misha instantly leapt for it, beginning to pat at it with her paws.
She watched Misha for a little longer until Alister cleared his throat impatiently, and she let out a small huff as she looked down at what lay on her lap. There was a notebook filled with music manuscript paper, a pack of new guitar strings, a guitar strap with neon green and pink stars on it, and a small Gir plushie. "Thank you so much Alister! I needed more paper and strings."
"You're welcome," he replied, looking at Misha, who had swatted the wrapping paper ball to his feet.
"But how did you know I played guitar?"
"I have my ways, little girl," he said mysteriously.
"Little? I'm older than you by a year and a half!" she said, sticking her tongue out at him.
Alister shrugged dismissively. "If we're talking in terms of height, you are."
"It's time for Raphael's gifts!" Valon exclaimed, cutting over the beginnings of Skye's retort and tossing a present to the red-haired biker. "I don' see one for you, Skye," he said apologetically.
"It's coming in later on today," Raphael explained, glancing at Skye with a sheepish smile.
Valon and Alister unwrapped their own gifts from their oldest friend, missing the look he'd given Skye; Alister found several crime-scene related computer games for his computer in his present, and Valon got a brand new pair of motorcycle goggles.
Valon was about to thank the blond when Ember came rolling out of the fireplace, wearing a slightly baggy Santa suit and floppy hat; a leather sack hung off her shoulder. "Ho ho ho!" she said loudly, brushing off the soot on her clothes. "Merry Christmas!"
Alister stared. "All right, Valon. You may be right."
Ember plopped down next to Valon, dropping the sack onto the floor. "I brought gifts!" she announced, passing out four suspiciously lumpy presents.
Alister, Raphael, and Skye opened their gifts with some reservation—and they found that their trepidation was relatively justified.
"Explosives?" asked three voices in unified horror.
"Yep! Open yours Valon!" said Ember with a whine, poking Valon's shoulder insistently.
Valon looked at the gift cautiously but opened it anyway. He looked up at the girl with confusion in his face as he held up a small watch. "A kitty tracker?'' he guessed.
"It's so you can find your cat!" beamed Ember, her grin stretched from ear to ear.
Ember reached into her bag and offered a Red Bull to Valon, but Raphael quickly took it away. "It's bad enough when you drink Mountain Dew. No way are you getting a Red Bull," he said sternly.
The four of them and Ember sat in the room for a bit until Valon announced he was hungry. Before he went to grab something out of the kitchen, he reached under the tree to make sure that there was no gift left unopened, and his hand encountered a wrapped package and he pulled it out, confused.
"Skye, did you get a gift for the three of us?" he asked, putting two and two together and lifting the gift so that both Alister and Raphael could see it.
"I did, actually. It's technically to all of us, but it's mostly for you three," she replied with a warm smile.
The bikers exchanged confused glances before Raphael nodded to Valon, who took a corner of the paper and carefully tore it off. The three of them gathered around to see what the girl had given them
Valon was holding a wood and gold-leaf picture frame in his hand, confusing them until they saw what the picture was—and it was nothing they were expecting.
The photograph had been taken back when the four of them had been in DOOM; it had been for some evening party or another, since there had been many of them Dartz had required them to attend. They were all sitting in the lobby of some hotel. Raphael was on the right of the couch, wearing a simple dark blue short-sleeve turtleneck sweater; Alister was on the left, wearing a maroon colored long-sleeved shirt and a barely discernible smile on his face; Valon was sitting on the floor, wearing a green long-sleeve shirt, grinning widely; and Skye was sitting on the right arm rest next to Raphael, wearing a short, black spagetti strap dress with red polka-dots.
"How did you get this?" asked Alister, looking to Skye with an unreadable expression on his face.
"I saved it; Gurimo had the proofs to the pictures that were taken at that party and I managed to get it out of the stack before he tossed them out. I found it the other day figured that it would be nice to have a group picture in the living room."
All three of the men looked at Skye mutely for a moment, and then at some hidden signal they converged on Skye and enveloped her in a group hug; even Alister hugged her, though he held on for only a couple of seconds and then backed away
The doorbell rang and interrupted the moment. Raphael disentangled from the hug to answer it; a few minutes later he returned to the room, a brown package in his hand. "Delivery man. Skye, can I talk to you?" he asked, looking over Skye's head at Alister pointedly.
The slender man caught on. "Let's go test out this 'kitty tracker', and see if Raggedy Ann actually made something that works," he said, dragging them both upstairs and leaving the other two alone in the room.
"What's up?" she asked, curiosity dancing in her eyes.
"Your gift came in the mail," he said, handing her the box and then suddenly looking away when she took it from him. She opened it and reached inside, removing a small velvet box. Looking at Raphael with confusion, she carefully opened it; when she saw the freshly polished gold locket sitting inside she gasped in surprise and looked at Raphael for an explanation.
"This was my mother's locket," he started, still not quite meeting her eyes. "My dad gave it to my mom right before they got married; it's one of the few things I have left of her."
Skye's eyes widened in surprise."Oh wow…" she breathed. She looked up at Raphael with a small concerned frown. "You should keep it. It's your mother's and—"
"I want you to have it," he insisted.
"But why?" she asked.
"Well for one, I certainly can't wear it," said Raphael dryly, gesturing to himself. This earned a giggle from Skye as she agreed, and he took it as a sign to continue. The blond seemed to hesitate for just a second before he cleared his throat.
"My dad once told me that I should do something similar for someone I like," he said, finally making eye contact with her.
Skye blinked, something of comprehension lighting her eyes. "I like you too Raphael. But I still don't see what this has to do with anything," she said slowly, although there was something in her voice that told him she knew exactly what he was talking about.
Raphael said nothing, allowing Skye to digest what he was asking her when realization dawned on her face; she twisted her shirt anxiously for a moment before looking up at him with worried hazel eyes.
"Raphael…I…see, I really like you and…I…Is there some way we can just wait and see?" she asked, a slightly desperate expression on her face. "Can we just stay friends for a little longer? I…I…
The blond gave no indication of his current emotions. "Of course, Skye. I can give you time. Either way, though, you can have my mother's necklace; as I said before, I can't wear it."
Skye nodded slowly. "I'll take good care of it," she promised as she clutched the locket close to her chest, feeling awkward as she shifted uncomfortably in place.
There was a thick and tense silence before Skye cleared her throat and muttered an excuse to leave, disappearing from the room and leaving Raphael behind her; she was incredibly grateful that she had to turn her back on the blond as she left, because otherwise he would have seen the tears beginning to gather in her eyes.
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