Two days were left until Christmas. During that time, the whole city was dressed in white, as the winter came hard on them this year. It was beautiful, though. Especially the city's parks. Butterfly Esplanade was a sight to marvel at, all covered up in snow. So was Bridgeport Acres, maybe even more so, now that it was all decorated according to the festive spirit. The huge Christmas tree was standing tall and beautiful, with all the bright lights and colourful ornaments on and around it. In these days, that park was always crowded, as people came with their friends or families to enjoy the whole scenery. There were even some minor events that took place there, preparing the citizens for the real thing, Christmas, and then, welcoming the new year.

The door was shut. Logan was struggling to carry a heavy pack of drinks to the kitchen, trying not to miss his step on the way (as the way he was holding it, was preventing him from having a full-sight view). He left the pack on the counter with a groan. Then he leaned on the counter, supporting himself with one hand, while sweeping the sweat away from his forehead with the other. He puffed out with satisfaction, as he looked at the pack. "That's a lot of eggnog," he thought.

He started placing the bottles in the fridge. Once he was done, he grabbed a small bottle of cocoa milk and hurryingly closed the fridge door, then headed to the living room and nonchalantly landed on the couch. He turned the TV on. His favorite show was about to start. He happily leaned back while opening the cocoa milk bottle, then took a sip. His face expression slightly twisted with displeasure. He looked at the bottle and rolled his eyes. He sealed it again, shook it up and down and opened it. He took another sip and grinned.

Some time passed and Sergei entered the apartment, walking in a quick pace. He was obviously in a hurry.

"Hey."
"Hey."
"Is everything okay?" asked the blond, still looking at the TV.
"Yeah... have you seen my coat?" asked the raven-haired, hurryingly searching among the coats and jackets on the hanger, then moving on to other possible places he could have left it.
"Which one?"
"The black one."
"All your coats are black," said Logan with a sarcastic smirk.
"The velvety black one," said Sergei as he rolled his eyes, "the one I was wearing the night we met Elvira."
"Oh... that..."
"Well?"
"What?"

Sergei stood in front of the TV. Logan protested while shifting his position on the couch, in order to see better.

"What the hell, man! I haven't seen your stupid coat!"
"Is that so?" replied Sergei, raising an eye-brow. "Oh well."

He went into Logan's bedroom as the blond indifferently kept watching the show. After a while, Sergei came back with an expression of both irritation and sarcasm, holding his coat which was folded in a less than tidy way.

"You were saying...?"
"Hey, you found it!"

Sergei looked at the silly-grinning blond with a dead serious look, though he couldn't help being hilarious in the eyes of his mischievous friend.

"Why was my coat in your room?"
"Ohhh, that one... yeah..."

Logan giggled as he watched the irritated raven-haired holding the coat with one hand, the other one resting on his waist, with a raised eye-brow and tapping his foot on the floor.

"Well?"
"You kinda act like my mom, man."

Sergei rolled his eyes with an even more upset expression.

"It's nothing, I just borrowed it... I went to Plasma 501 again with Alice and I wanted to put on something more... gothic-like, the stuff you wear now and then. So, yeah."
"You went to Plasma without me?" asked Sergei in a surprised tone.
"Well, yeah... you were at that lounge. You don't mind me borrowing your coat, eh? Bro?" said the blond, giving his best innocent expression.
"As long as you didn't spill anything on it," said Sergei as he turned to walk towards his room, then paused. He looked at the coat, then at Logan. Then, he smiled.

"It's going to be a pretty chilly Christmas. You should get your own coat."
"Eh. I guess."

Sergei carried on walking to his room still smiling.

The next day came soon. It was Christmas' eve. The streets were practically in chaos, being more crowded than ever. People were doing the last shopping of these days and the air was full of noises and excitement. A good three hours passed before Sergei could finally get home, after his own last shopping and preparations for the upcoming day.

He entered the house in a nervous pace, almost banging the door behind him. He found Logan in the kitchen, as the blond was eagerly stuffing his face with small chocolate pieces with liquor stuffing. He paused at the sight of the raven-haired, as if being caught doing something he wasn't supposed to, and grinned at him. Sergei looked at him with a surprised expression and greeted him, while heading towards his room, carrying a package. Logan's voice caught him from the other room.

"What is that?"
"Uhh..." Sergei responded while hurryingly putting the package away in a safe spot in his room, "nothing. Well, a little something but it's not the time yet."
"Oooh...!" Logan placed some tart on a plate and took it along, as he headed to the couch. "Another gift for Elvira?"
"Nope. You shall see."

Logan paused for a moment, suddenly letting the room be filled with silence as his greedy chewing sounds were not noticeable before. His face took a comical excited grinning expression with wide-open eyes. "Is it for me?"
Sergei looked at him with a sarcastic face and indicated his teeth.

"You really shouldn't grin with a stuffed mouth."
"So, it is for me," exclaimed the blond. Sergei rolled his eyes.
"What a child you are. I already got you a present."
"Fine." Logan responded with a carefree, cute expression and got all over his tart again.
"I assume you got something for me too...?" said the raven-haired, with a raised eye-brow.
"How could I forget my pal?" responded Logan with a fake upset face.
"Just checking," said Sergei while smiling, "you do have a tendency to procrastinate."
"Whaaah? I don't! Okay, I do. But I didn't." Sergei chuckled.

Later, Sergei grabbed a plate of tart too and took a sit next to his dazed friend. The blond's belly really seemed ready to blow up. It was a funny sight, actually. Logan just lied there, lightly stroking his balloon-like shaped stomach. Finally, he managed to mumble in a low tone.

"I don't feel so good..."
"You shouldn't have eaten that much. How are we supposed to be at tonight's event if you are sick?"
"Oh... the event... yeah..."
"Come on, man. We've been preparing for this for days. Why are you so reckless now?"
"It's Christmas," replied Logan in a both apologetic and complaining tone, "we're supposed to have fun..! I like stuffing my face with candies and stuff, so that's what I -hick- do!"
"Well, you're messed up." He leaned closer and put a hand on the blond's shoulder. "Is everything alright?"

Logan looked at him with an irritated expression and sat up on the couch. He leaned to grab a small plastic bottle of water on the low table and opened it, then took a few greedy sips and then he talked.

"Um... things are great with Alice. I mean, really great. We have it all figured out, we know what to expect and what not to... thing is... it all goes too well."

Sergei was listening to him carefully, nodding from time to time. Logan continued.

"It's just... I haven't felt this kind of bonding for some time. Sure, we have fun, in silly ways, we do our thing... that's nice, you know?" His eyes met Sergei's. Sergei nodded and smiled.
"And you are scared."
"Well, I -" he paused. "Yeah. I guess... I haven't shown anything like that to her and I don't know if... she feels that way too. You know. Sometimes she doesn't let me in. I wanna know more about her but she just... she changes the subject."
Sergei's expression changed to melancholic and he lowered his gaze for a moment. "Elvira does that too..."
"Isn't it... you know...? Doesn't it suck? I mean, we could have something good goin' on here... and she doesn't seem to trust me. You know, I'm not good at that stuff. I wanna do something nice for her."
"I know..." responded Sergei, rubbing friendly his friend's shoulder, as his gaze drifted away in the room, along with his thoughts of his own situation.

After some moments of silence, Logan snapped out of his darkened mood and spoke with a vivid voice as he patted his friend on the back.

"Anyway! It's almost Christmas. Not a good day to act like some chicks in a soap opera, right? After all, we've got a party to attend! Twice the reason to cheer up!"

Sergei smiled warmly.

8:00 pm. The event had started. Bridgeport Acres was fabulous indeed. Snow had fallen widely all over the park, as the colourful lights were glowing softly on it. People where gathered here and there, talking about the holiday and their plans of it. The crowd was mostly consisted of young adults, couples, groups of friends, a few elder people and even less families, as this day is usually considered a time to spend with relatives at home. There were a few candy sellers here and there, as well as stands that sold festive drinks, and a choir was singing christmasy songs on the stage. A sense of excitement and festivity was in the air.

Sergei and Logan arrived shortly after the event's start. When they got out of the cab, along with Alice, Logan cheered in an excited and childish manner. They headed to the park as they talked.

"So, is Elvira and the Hellocks gonna be there too?" started the blond.
Alice laughed at the mannered mention of the Hemlocks. Sergei shook his head smiling and replied.
"Morrigan's at home with her family. We're going to meet Elvira and two friends of hers."
"Elvira has brought friends? I am shocked," said dramatically Logan, in a comical manner. Sergei chuckled.
"Why? She is a sociable person."
"Uh-huh. Hey look! Eggnog!" He attempted to reach the stand but Sergei pulled him back to his place.
"You've messed up your stomach enough today. After all, we've got tones of it back home."
"Okay, dad," responded the blond with a puppy-like expression. Alice giggled and pulled him in a deep kiss.

Eventually, they spotted Elvira. She was sitting on a bench with a drink in her hand, relatively far from the choir and the Christmas tree. Sergei momentarily felt a chill running down his spine, as he eyed her beautiful figure and her carefully selected winter clothing. Her thighs were exposed, though she didn't seem to mind the cold. Red colour suited her well, from her impressive woolen coat to her astonishing lips. Then, his gaze fell on the two men beside her. The one he knew, it was William Fangmann. He had not seen him since the first time the two friends met Elvira's group that night, at that bar. The tall, bold man was dressed up somehow too lightly for a snowing day but it was no wonder really, with all that muscle on him.

Then, Sergei looked at the other man. An unpleasant sensation hit him instantly at the bold, dark and intimidating sight of him. He was tall and well-shaped, like William, but of more charming features. He was dressed in black, wearing a noticeable blazer and a black scarf around his neck, black pants and fine shoes. His hair was also black, making a fair contrast with his light skin. His eyes sparkled with a cold shade of grey, while the distant lights reflected in them in a most breath-taking way. He was slightly unshaved and his face characteristics were remarkably handsome. Someone might say that his looks were as devilishly attractive for women as were Elvira's for men.

Logan's excited voice interrupted the raven-haired's thoughts parade, as the group had reached them.

"Heyyyy! What's up, guys? Haven't seen you for a while," exclaimed the blond, as he warmly shook hands with Elvira and William. "It's a shame!"
"Indeed," responded Elvira, bearing her always charming smile. "Nevertheless, it is good to gather here, in such an occasion."

She turned to Sergei, smiling even more widely and catching him in his almost obvious puzzled state. He approached her with a made up smile and hugged her, burying his face in the crook of her neck. As they stayed like this, Logan and Alice had a small talk with the others. Elvira gave a peck to Sergei, then turned to the rest of the group.

"This is Vladimir Schlick. He is a very gifted man in his line of work, and a good friend of mine," she said, as she indicated the handsome man.

Vladimir smiled and shook hands with Logan and Alice, saying in a low and bass voice "how do you do," as Logan responded shaking his hand vividly with enthusiasm. Then, he turned to Sergei, who was standing there the whole time without moving. The moment his lucent, ice-cold grey eyes met Sergei's grey-blue ones, the raven-haired felt an intense chill spreading all over his spine, to the rest of his body. It was anything but pleasant. He tried to silence his familiar, irrational tendency of avoiding people, as he faked a smile and extended his hand to Vladimir, friendly.

"It's a pleasure to meet you."

Vladimir's smile widened in an almost devilish manner, as if knowing his presence was disturbing to the introverted young man. At the top of it, he seemed to enjoy it. At least, in Sergei's insecure mind.
Vladimir shook Sergei's hand firmly. "Likewise."

"Should we stand closer to the tree? All the good stuff's there!" said Logan, eagerly looking at the candy stand.
"It is, but it's too crowded and noisy. I thought this was a good spot to chat a bit," said Elvira.
"We could check the place out for a while, if it's alright with you guys, and we'll join you later," said Alice, leaning closer to Logan, then he rested his arm around her shoulders.
"Of course," said Elvira, as the others nodded, save for Sergei, who preferred to have his friend close, should he have these feelings of awkwardness and insecurity again.

Sergei, Elvira and Vladimir shared a bench, while William preferred to stand. Elvira discussed with her group about several common interests of theirs, while Sergei simply took sips of his drink now and then, pretending to follow the conversation, but in reality overthinking again. He occasionally looked at Vladimir and tried to understand how a man of his features and a woman like Elvira are not together. They seemed so alike in so many ways. Their moves and body language were indicating friendship indeed, though their chemistry in the group was obvious so far. He wondered if they were ever together and it didn't work out, but they decided to stay friends anyway. Then, he wondered if Vladimir courted her but just wasn't her type (for it was hard to imagine that a man like Vladimir never attempted any advances on her, really).
At some point, Vladimir spoke to the raven-haired and he snapped out of his inner dialogue.

"So, Sergei, is it? What are you doing for a living?"
"Uh... I work at Eugi's with Logan."
"Hm. Are you guys waiters?" Something in the man's tone seemed bold and almost sarcastic to Sergei.
"Nope. We play music whenever the bar holds musical events... which is three or four times per week."
"Ahh... I see."

Sergei gave him a fake smile and nodded, and so did Vladimir. Some seconds of silence passed by and nobody talked. Then Vladimir spoke again.

"So, you play for tips."

A rising anger started building up in Sergei. It was not really about what that man said but about the way he said it. He didn't know if it was all in his mind, or if Vladimir was actually trying to degrade him in discreet.

"No," he said as he widened his fake smile, "not really. We make a stable income out of it."

He turned his gaze to Elvira. She smiled at him as if she had not noticed the ice between the two men. The couple kept looking at each other with that slight smile, then Vladimir's voice interrupted the moment.

"Does the job pay off well?" He asked, as he brought his drink to his lips with a sly expression.
"It's alright. Apart from the money, the job is a good start for getting deeper into the music industry. We have made some connections."
"I see," responded the smirking man, adding more fuel to the raven-haired's aggravation.

Sergei lowered his gaze and took a sip of his drink. Then, he slowly got up and stood beside William, pretending he was bored of sitting on the bench and wanted to stretch up. In reality, he just didn't want to share the bench with Vladimir and felt better as he looked at him from a higher level, and that spot was the furthest of him. He was still close to Elvira, though.

The conversation went on for a few more minutes and eventually Elvira and Vladimir stood up too. The group moved to a spot which was a bit closer to the center of the park. They were watching the tree when Logan and Alice returned. Alice was holding a camera, obviously browsing through the photos she and Logan had taken, while the blond was holding a huge, round, colourful lollipop, licking it eagerly.

"What did we miss?" asked Logan, in his usual playful tone.
"Nothing much," replied Sergei with a half smile.
"Sergei here was describing to me the nature of your job," said Vladimir with a grin. "Suits you well."
"Really? Why, thank you!" said Logan with a warm smile.
"Yeah. Two artistic friends, chasing their dreams in the city of opportunity. A humble job, pays the bills, but hey... the modest way is the decent one, right?" said Vladimir in a wide smirk, almost half giggling at the last words.

Logan momentarily glanced at Sergei with a raised eye-brow, and found him bearing a mannered smile, as if saying "yeah, I know."
Right after that, he chuckled and responded vividly.

"Screw the decency, I just work there for the free beer!" A short wave of chuckles spread among the rest of them.
"So, how do you pay your bills, Vlad?" asked the blond, in the exact tone that Vladimir had been using.
"I work for a bookmaking agency. The most famous one in the city," he answered, bearing a proud smirk.
"So, you work with gamblers," said Logan in a mannered excited tone. Vladimir looked at him, practically piercing him with his gaze, though the blond just kept bearing his silly excited expression.
"That's one way to put it." He grinned. "The payment is promising, though. Can't say there's anything to complain for," he said, as he got a golden lighter out of his blazer's pocket, then lighted the cigarette he had placed on his lips before. He did it slowly, and let the agency's icon on the lighter exposed, demonstrating its impressive design. Logan looked at Sergei with an amused grin, as if pointing out Vladimir's ridiculous need for showing off on every chance. The raven-haired smiled discreetly.

After some more time, the group found their way deeper in the park, as they took a stroll in it, discussing about the holiday and the event. Eventually, they ended up near the eggnog stand, fully bathed in the bright lights that decorated the place and the tree. The group shared two benches that formed a corner. Vladimir, Alice and Logan were sharing the one bench, while William, Elvira and Sergei were sharing the other. Vladimir and Sergei were sitting at the edges of the corner.
The conversation went on with the others, as Sergei caught a moment that Elvira didn't participate in it, so he leaned closer and talked in a low tone.

"Aren't you cold?" He whispered, as he gently rubbed one of her naked thighs.
"Not really. I can take some cold," she responded with a sweet smile. He smiled back and softly kissed her. When they parted, she whispered.
"Are you having fun?"
"Now I am," he said, then leaned in for a kiss again. He momentarily caught a glimpse of Vladimir as he was watching them, then the raven-haired closed his eyes and leaned in a deeper kiss. Elvira welcomed it.

Time passed by and now it was almost midnight. Some people had left, in order to celebrate the arrival of Christmas day with their families back home, while others arrived in groups, to celebrate it in a christmasy hangout. The group stood close to the tree now. They didn't really have much of an option, if they wanted to be spared of Logan's further playful pleads for "memorizing the moment" in his camera. He eagerly took photos of himself with Alice, then with Sergei and then all three with Elvira. Then, the whole group took two or three shots together.

Finally, the clock struck midnight and the choir sang with passion in praise for Christmas day, as the lights shone happily and brighter. Logan suggested they should all move the party to a club but eventually, the group split up. Vladimir and William chose to continue their Christmas night at Plasma 501, as a special event was being held there too, while the two couples went to Eugi's for a cosy celebration.

While Alice and Elvira were chatting and watching the band that played Christmas-themed songs, Logan brought two large beermugs, full of foaming black beer. He passed the one to Sergei and distracted him from his usual thoughtful posture, then Sergei smiled and took the beer.

"Thank you."
"It's on me," he winked. "This is the first Christmas we spend together! How cool is that?"
"It is amazing indeed," responded the raven-haired with a warm smile, then he took a sip.
Logan kept looking at him with his excited smile that gradually became calmer, then leaned closer.
"Hey. What is it?"
"What?"
"Is it the bookmaker?" asked Logan with a smirk, playfully nudging Sergei's arm with his elbow.
"What about him?"
"You didn't let that arrogant jerk get to you, right?" He chuckled. "I mean, you saw him. Looking down upon us with his expensive suit and his golden lighter and his money and crap, but he had no better thing to do on a Christmas eve, than go out with a group he is not familiar with, other than one or two friends."
"It was a blazer."

Logan laughed and teased him, then Sergei giggled.

"Whatever! He was alone and he figured that being an ass to his friends' friends was going to make his day better. That's pitiful on its own."
"I guess you are right..." said the raven-haired, with his gaze fixed down on his mug.
"Snap out of it. It's Christmas and you are being miserable again. Silly!" He playfully slapped Sergei's nape. Sergei broke in nervous laughter and they clinked their glasses together.

The blond spoke again.

"Plus, we have these amazing photos now. Sometime in the future, we will browse in the album and laugh at these things."
"Hmm, yeah," responded Sergei with a sarcastic smirk, "I already see it. Our first Christmas together with our girlfriends, our friends... and Vladimir."

Logan laughed.

"Well, if it wasn't for him, who was gonna be the fool of the story?"
"I can think of one or two alternatives," responded the raven-haired, looking at Logan in a teasing manner. The blond laughed loudly, nudging him with his elbow again.
"Get outta here!"

The night went on pleasantly. A few hours later, the two friends returned to their apartment to rest, as they didn't want to miss the morning of that lovely day. After all, they would meet their dates again soon, as some gift exchanging would take place, naturally.

Before going to bed, Sergei stood at the doorstep of the bathroom, while Logan was brushing his teeth.

"Logan?"
"Hmm?" sounded the blond's voice behind the closed door.
"I want to give you something. I'll be right back."
"Okay."

Sergei headed to his room. He took something and went back. Logan had finished brushing his teeth and opened the door. His eyes widened as his gaze fell on the wrapped box.

"What is that?"

Sergei did not respond, just smiled and handed over the box. Logan slowly held it and grinned.

"Come on, man. We can do this tomorrow."
"Tomorrow I'll give you your other gift. This one I got for you the last minute. I wanted you to have it."

Logan looked at Sergei with wide open eyes, then his gaze explored the box again. "It's large," he muttered. He unwrapped it slowly and just let the cover fall. He opened it and paused at the sight of it.

"Well?"

The blond smiled warmly as he emptied the box of the folded black velvet coat, then he unfolded it and his eyes and hands wandered over it.

"You didn't have to." His voice was surprisingly calm.
"You needed a coat, right? Now you've got one," said Sergei, smiling.
"Get outta here!" exclaimed the blond, then he excitedly hugged the raven-haired.
"Careful! You're going to crumple it."
"Man... you just can't help yourself, right? You had to become cheesy and emotional and stuff, and now I want to get you something nice...er," said the blond as he leaned back in his place, taking in the coat's velvety sensation on his fingers. "This is so fine," he muttered.

Sergei chuckled and patted his friend on the shoulder.

"It's the least I can do, after everything you have provided me with. Merry Christmas, buddy."

Logan smiled and responded in a low tone. "Merry Christmas."