A/N:

I really need to start writing these drabbles more. :/

This is in recognition of Christmas, which was like a few days ago. Haha.

– friends –

There was something about winter that liked to inspire gift-giving. Everywhere.

It was funny, really. If one wanted to analyze it, they might say that it was because winter was the harshest season of the year; with the ice and bitter winds, gifts were a nice way of cheering people up. If you kept going, you would probably also say unfortunate people tend to struggle more in harsh weather, something that winter tends to be rife with, and good people gave them gifts to help them through the season.

Almost every world had a holiday during the winter where the main point was to give. There was one called Christmas, for example, that was apparently supposed to be the birthday of some god's son. The gift part for that holiday came from the story that right after the kid was born, a couple of magi came by and gave him stuff.

Lea sat back on the couch and pondered this, placing his arms behind his head.

Radiant Garden – well, the town didn't do Christmas per se, but there was this kind of holiday where all the residents got together in the marketplace and brought some food, making sure everyone got fed dinner while you just hung out and talked to people. The Committee usually set up a stereo system to play some festive music in the background, and they would also organize some activities for the kids and a couple for the adults with some prizes if you won. If the weather was really bad, they would put up heavy-duty tents. It was a tradition that had lasted from the good old days. No one wanted to cancel it just because it was snowing a little hard.

After the whole shindig, everyone usually went off to split into multiple parties and hand out their gifts – to have more private gatherings for friends and family. Lea was actually at one right now; it was for the Keybearers, since they were still stuck in Radiant Garden after the whole Second Keyblade War fiasco. The Restoration Committee had to decline joining in, to everyone's regret; they'd apparently made plans already. Oh well, maybe next year.

He watched everyone else fool around from his couch and thought rather belatedly that he had kind of been left out. He then shrugged and grabbed his mug of cider from the table, taking a sip.

Lea knew he was the odd man out in this group. The tenth wheel, as it were, on a bike that was supposed to have nine. Except it wouldn't really be a bike, now would it.

He counted the people in the room to make sure he'd gotten that right. There was Sora, Donald, and Goofy over there, Kairi and Aqua over there, Terra and Ven over there, King Mickey and Riku over there, and himself... yep, ten.

He found himself missing Isa. The ex-Xehanort was kind of in a coma, but boy, Lea was remembering those past holidays with fondness right now, even if Isa had always been too serious to really loosen up during them.

Eyes falling on Sora and his two friends – the three of them giggling over a wind-up toy Goofy had gotten – Lea took another gulp of cider and wondered what this night would be like with Roxas.

"To friends," he said idly, lifting his mug for a moment before drinking from it again.