A/N

This chapter is dedicated to 'Iluvboondocks'. Just wanted to wish you an awesome day and I hope you enjoy this chapter


Dreary Christmas Part 2


The other teens watched as Huey left the room, clearly ticked off and they could gather that much with all of Huey's cursing.

"Whew," Cindy whistled, "somebody definitely needs to get laid"

"Damn, been a while since I've seen Huey that pissed," Riley said.

"Someone should go check on him," Jazmine suggested.

"Well it damn well ain't gon' be me. Come on, Cindy," Riley said, guiding Cindy back into the living-room.

"I'll go talk to him," Mai assured Jazmine, then speaking in Japanese, "Taro, stay out of trouble"

"Yes, yes," Taro said in English.

Mai took climbed up the staircase, and marched her way to Huey and Riley's shared room, barging inside. Just as she expected, Huey was laying on his bed with his eyes closed and an angry look adorning his face.

"That was quite the outburst," Mai said. Huey didn't say anything, instead turning his body away from Mai. Mai closed the door and went over to Huey's side of the room, folded her arms and declared,

"Look, I know that you're not the kind of person to let your temper get the best of you. I can only assume that it's something that has been troubling you for a while. What's wrong?"

"It's nothing, Mai," Huey replied.

"If you expect me to coddle you like a child then you are wrong and play an endless mouse game, then you're wrong. You're telling me," Mai demanded.

Huey gave a frustrated sigh and turned to lie on his back once more with his left hand draped over his eyes.

"Huey," Mai pressed.

"I'm angry alright," Huey began haughtily, "This vacation was supposed to be about us; just you and me. Then Granddad goes ahead and messes everything up by going for his stupid boat trip and leaving me to babysit Riley yet he knew the plans I had. On top of that, I just keep having responsibility after responsibility dumped on me. All I wanted was a perfect holiday"

A short silence followed, but –much to Huey's surprise- it was broken by Mai's laughter. Huey's arm slid off his face as he glared at Mai.

"What's so funny?" Huey demanded once Mai's laughter died down.

"You sound like a child that has had his toy removed from his grasp by his mother," Mai replied, "I understand that you're having a hard time with your Granddad deciding things for you, So what if the plans you had are a little altered, it's not like it's the end of the world. Granted there are more people than you would like, you're brother being one of them, but that doesn't mean we can't make the best of the situation"

Huey remained silent, slid his feet to the side of the bed and kept his eyes downcast. Mai sighed and sat beside her boyfriend.

"Can we go downstairs and attempt to make this a little less awkward with the others?" asked Mai.

"I just need time to sort out my thoughts. You can go on ahead without me," Huey declared.

Sighing, Mai stood up and left the room. She couldn't believe that Huey would let such a small thing affect him, and more so that she couldn't do anything about it. She hated the fact that he kept information to himself whenever something was bothering, and she hated it even more that he was not going to deal with it rationally. If Huey wasn't going to rise up to the occasion, she would just have to take care things herself!

Once at the bottom of the stairs, Mai followed the voices she heard into the sitting room where she found the other teens talking amongst themselves. Jazmine, being the first to notice Mai standing there, got to her feet, asking, "Where's Huey?"

"He'll be down when he feels like it," Mai replied, "Is dinner ready?"

"Yes"

"Let's go set up dinner," Mai said.

Jazmine gave an affirmative nod and both girls went into the kitchen. Jazmine started off with warming the food while Mai set the utensils on the table. Within five minutes, they completed their task and Mai called out to the others that food was ready. The evening meal was comprised of spaghetti and meatballs.

"We're eating this?" Taro asked Mai in Japanese as he took his seat beside Mai.

"Yes," Mai answered, taking her seat.

"Let's say grace," Jazmine announced. She was met with a blank stare from Taro and two groans from Riley and Cindy.

"Really, Jaz?" Cindy whined.

"Why not," Jazmine retorted.

"Grace?" Taro whispered to Mai.

"It's something religious families do to give thanks for the food before eating," explained Mai in an equally low voice, then speaking aloud, "It's time to eat not argue. Jazmine, just say grace so we can eat"

"Thank you. Now let's close our and bow our heads," Jazmine said.

After Jazmine said grace, they all began to eat (not before Mai and Taro saying a quiet 'itadakimasu'). The whole time they ate, Huey didn't come down (Mai felt slight anger and disappointment at Huey's absence but would not show it).

"This dish is delectable considering it's not a dish from home," Taro commented, forgetting to speak in English.

"What did you say, yakuza?" Riley said, pointing a fork at Taro.

"It's Taro, Riley," Mai said, "And he said that he enjoyed the food. You should thank Jazmine for the meal, Taro-san"

"You have excellent culinary skills, Jaz-chan," Taro commented, smiling at Jazmine.

The poor girl blushed and mumbled a small thank you. No more conversation was made until they all finished their meal.

"Now that we are done with eating, there's something I'd like to address before we all go our separate ways," said Mai, "That means you remain seated Riley and Cindy"

"Why the hell do I have to listen to you?" Riley exclaimed, standing up, "You ain't the boss of me"

"Just because you're grandfather is gone doesn't mean you can do whatever you want. Correct me if I'm wrong, but if he finds out that you did something stupid in this house under Huey's watch then it's you that gets Granddad's fury. So, if you don't sit down now, you're going to regret it," Mai declared with a dark undertone to her voice. Riley glared at her and Mai did the same with much more intensity.

"Sit," Mai ordered. It took five minutes of thick silence, but Riley cracked under the pressure and sat down grudgingly. Cindy didn't take it too kindly.

"What the –you're going to let her do that?" Cindy demanded.

"Shut it, Cindy," Riley hissed. Cindy opened her mouth but then shut it when she saw a tremble in Riley's fists.

"Now," Mai began, "as you all know, we're spending the Christmas holidays together. While it seems like a great opportunity given that the adults are not here, it also means we have to take up responsibilities to avoid any unnecessary fights"

"What do you mean by 'we', it's not like you live here," Riley pointed out.

"We won't," Mai replied (referring to Taro and herself), "But we will be here for most of the holiday. Moving along, we have to all come to a compromise where we can all get along which pretty much includes dividing up the chores equally and deciding on what to do to enjoy ourselves"

"We could have a Christmas movie marathon," Jazmine suggested.

"I say we go on a drive-by round the neighbourhood," Cindy declared proudly.

"What we need is a huge party to shake things up," Riley said.

"I suggest we have activities that don't involve us staying indoors a lot. I'm sure there's much to see," Taro spoke.

Chatter went round the table as to whose idea was the best.

"Alright!" Mai shouted, "Let's do things this way. Excluding Christmas day and New Years, we can hold a raffle as to what we do on each day. We'll write down ideas for activities we can do so that we can fill up the time as much as possible and everyone gets to do the activity elected for the day. But this excludes huge parties and dangerous things like drive by or anything equally capable of putting us in jail"

"That's no fair!" Riley and Cindy shouted at the same time.

"I agree with, Mai"

Everyone turned to see Huey at the entrance of the kitchen.

"That's the best compromise we can have. Equal chores and equal activity suggestions," Huey continued, "Agreed?"

After a few grumbles, the six teens agreed to the terms. Hopefully the mini-alliance would mean no causalities. With the meeting over, Mai volunteered to clear up mess in the kitchen while the others went on to relax. Huey remained in the room to eat his dinner which he didn't bother to warm up.

"Are you okay now?" asked Mai when she was sure that they were alone.

"Yeah. I'm sorry about the way I acted. You were right about me acting like a child," Huey said.

"I'm glad that you're feeling better"

"You're good, I mean with the whole tough love and taking control of the situation. You have good leadership skills on you"

"I am destined to rule an entire land"

They remained quiet afterwards, with Mai cleaning up and Huey eating. As Mai finished off with the last plate, she felt Huey lean over from behind her and place his plate in the sink causing a spark in her gut. Expecting Huey to move away, she was surprised when he instead slipped his arms around her waist and placed a kiss on her neck. Her breath caught in her throat as shivers ran down her spin. She gulped slowly and murmured, "What are you doing?"

"Nothing," Huey replied, leaning his chin on the curve of her shoulder, "I'm glad you're here"

"Me too"