Hey guys! I meant to update on Christmas day but got super busy and I totally forgot about all of this, but think of this as a gift for the new year! Anyway, I hope this next chapter is enjoyable!


It was early in the morning, way earlier than Kurapika was really willing to wake up at, but he guessed that that sentiment wasn't shared with the tiny menace that was currently sitting at the end of the bed, jumping up and down.

"Come on Uncle Cro! Play with me!"

Kurapika heard Chrollo grunt, making him almost jolt out of bed. He had forgotten he was there, having tuned out Taj's whining minutes ago as if also tuning out the fact that he was still at his boss's house. The blonde opened his eyes to meet Chrollo's. The dark haired man offered a sheepish smile as he mouthed the word 'sorry.' Kurapika shook his head to dismiss it when Taj pushed at the other's leg.

"Uncle Cro, I know you're awake!"

"Taj, it's five in the morning." Chrollo croaked, the feeling of the bed shifting as he looked at the time. "Why are you even in here?"

"Baba said you'd play with me." Taj pouted, crawling up closer to the top of the bed to shake the older man. "Come on! I'm bored!"

Kurapika heard Chrollo sigh in defeat and mutter something about strangling Feitan. He started to turn out of bed when the blonde put a hand on his shoulder to stop him. He looked at Kurapika in confusion but all the younger man did was shake his head, sitting up as he started to speak to the young girl.

"Taj I'll play with you, just give me a minute and I'll be right out okay?"

"Really?" Taj asked excitedly, jumping up and down on the bed.

"Yes, really. Now get going, I gotta get dressed first."

"Alright!" Taj said, bouncing off the bed and excitedly running back out of the room. It only took a few seconds after she left before Chrollo spoke up.

"You didn't have to do that." he started, pushing himself up onto an elbow.

"No, I did." Kurapika said, pushing the older man back onto the bed. "You need to sleep in, I'll keep her entertained."

"You shouldn't have to take care of her, she's not even-"

"Actually, she's my niece through Shalnark, so yes, I do." Kurapika corrected as he slid out of the bed and found his pile of clothes from the day before. He started to put them on when he paused, letting a smile slip onto his face. "By the way, Merry Christmas."

"Again?"

"Well yesterday was Christmas Eve, so unless we slept in for a whole day, today would be Christmas."

"Ah, you're right. Kind of forgot since Taj got a few presents early yesterday."

"Mm-hmm."

"You don't care do you?"

"No, I'm totally interested, it's just an ungodly time to wake up in the morning during break."

"Ditto."

"Then go back to bed idiot."

"Of course Your Highness."

Kurapika snorted at his comment, slipping out of the room and closing the door quietly after him only to be met with Taj staring up at him.

"Are you mad at me?"

Kurapika blinked at her then raised an eyebrow.

"For what?"

"For yesterday, about you being Uncle Cro's boyfriend. Papa said that what I said was rude…"

"Don't worry about it Taj, you didn't know the situation-"

"But are you?"

Kurapika paused, glancing back at the door before turning back to smile at her.

"It doesn't matter. Did you have anything in particular that you wanted to play?"

Taj's face lit up as she nodded, dragging Kurapika out into the living room and pointing at the now overflowing amount of presents under the tree. Kurapika wonder when someone actually put them there.

"Taj not yet, we gotta wait till everyone else is awake." he said, wondering if that's all she had had in mind for her 'playing.'

She looked at him as if to ask if he was really going to stop her, but she seemed to not want to test it right then when she noticed Bonolenov's sleeping form on the couch.

"Then what else do we do?" she whispered, grabbing ahold of Kurapika's pants as she did. He smiled at her, but really, he had no idea how to play with a kid. At all. Sure he had been friends with kids at one point, but that was also when he was a kid as well, and they definitely hadn't been this young when he met them anyway.

"What do you find fun?" Kurapika asked her, and she shrugged, staring at the Christmas tree absentmindedly.

"Finding things, I guess." she replied after a while, turning to Kurapika when she did. "What about you?"

He smiled weakly at the question, not sure if 'office work' counted as something fun, before he came up with an idea.

"Taj, how would you like to make something with me?"

"Make what?" she asked, tilting her head to the side as Kurapika led her over to the kitchen.

"Breakfast of course." he said, watching her eyes light up at the prospect of it. "It may be early, but I'm sure everyone will appreciate it."

"It'll be like a present to them!" Taj pointed out, and Kurapika nodded along with it.

"Yeah, like a present. You can find the items needed and I'll cook!"

"Can I help cook if I do a good job finding stuff?" she asked excitedly, bouncing next to him as he began making a mental list of what they would need.

"Of course." he said smiling. "Now, what do you think about pancakes?"

After a few long minutes, Kurapika and Taj had gathered all of the cooking materials in one place, even getting out the remaining plastic plates and silverware from the night before out so that they wouldn't have to do it afterwards. An hour or so later and Kurapika was sure that if everyone in the house hadn't woken up with how loud the cooking process was, then they were certainly awake due to the smell of the food. His own stomach was growling at the prospect of even eating it, but he refrained from doing so.

The first person to greet them was Bonolenov, who mumbled a Merry Christmas towards them, only to stop at the sight of them cooking food.

"You guys.. are making breakfast?"

"Yeah! Uncle Kura suggested it!" Taj said, almost hitting Kurapika with the spoon she was holding. The blonde sighed at her comment, feeling embarrassed just by being the one who started it.

"Wait, are those pancakes?" he asked, walking closer to get a look at them. "You already have a whole plate full, and you even have the bacon ready… how long have you guys been working on this?"

"Since five." Kurapika answered, ignoring the incredulous look he knew he had gotten from the musician.

"Damn, that's early. And it's-" he glanced at the microwave, "seven now. Chrollo wasn't joking when he said you were an overachiever."

"Do you think it's late enough to where we can wake everyone else up without them being angry?" the blonde inquired, ignoring the blush he felt threatening to creep onto his face at the fact that Chrollo had talked about him to his makeshift family.

"Hmm, well for food I don't think they'll mind. I'll go get the others!" Bonolenov said, making a move to leave the kitchen, only to pedal back to get the coffee machine working. After he'd done so he poked Kurapika in the shoulder, getting his attention once more.

"Want to see how I can only wake up one person but get everyone else up too?" Bonolenov inquired with a smile, and Kurapika raised an eyebrow at him.

"This isn't magic is it?"

"No, nothing like that. Just gotta wake up the right person." he snickered, half jogging to the other guest bedroom that Kurapika and Chrollo weren't occupying. The blonde shrugged and turned back to his work only to be jolted out of his cooking trance by Uvogin yelling a very loud "HELL YES!" and "MOTHERFUCKING PANCAKES!" With that, it was followed by the groans by all else who resided in the house as Bonolenov came jogging back looking pleased with himself.

"See?"

"I more heard than anything else…" Kurapika responded rubbing at one of his ears.

Bonolenov snickered beside him, letting Taj run past him as she saw Uvogin emerge.

"Uvo! Uvo! You're so loud!" she said, going over and hugging his leg. He laughed in response, patting her head as he did.

"Oh, sorry Taj, pretend you didn't hear all those naughty words." he said smiling her, and she nodded.

"I heard nothing!" she assured, and Uvogin nodded when she did.

"Good."

"Well I sure did." Nobunaga complained, walking out of the room, patting Uvogin on the back in annoyance. "I know you love pancakes you big bulking Hawaiian, but if you could tone it down in the morning that'd be great."

Uvogin laughed at his friend, pulling him into a hug around the neck.

"Alright alright, I won't try to do it again! No promises though." he said, winking at Bonolenov, who gave him a thumbs up in return. At that, Uvogin walked over to Kurapika's side to inspect the food he was cooking. "They're not all that fluffy, but they work." was all he mumbled before he turned to look around the area. "Is the boss sleeping in?" he asked to no one in particular, but Kurapika answered him regardless.

"I told him to, though God knows if you woke him up or not." Kurapika teased, glancing sideways at Uvogin's slightly surprised look. "Taj would've kept him up till now had I not interfered."

"You got him to sleep in? That's a miracle in itself blondie!" Uvogin said after a pause, ruffling his already messed up hair. "Haha, what did you do to convince him to stay in bed? Did you promise him breakfast?"

"No, he promised me he'd kick my ass if I didn't go back to sleep." Chrollo said from the otherside of them, making them both jump and Kurapika squeak a little bit in surprise. Chrollo raised an eyebrow at the noise but said nothing else as he grinned at them amusedly, obviously entertained that he had scared them.

Kurapika decided he didn't like Chrollo's smug face and pointed the spatula at him threateningly.

"And I will if you sneak up on me like that again." Kurapika said, sounding a little less than convincing when he took note of how close their faces were, his mind reminding him instantly of the kiss he and Chrollo had shared at the holiday party. He quickly turned his face back to what he was doing with the food, letting his hair fall in his face as he berated himself for thinking of such a thing like that. Why did you bring that up, are you trying to kill yourself from embarrassment? And it's not like it meant anything, right? Making a big deal over nothing Kurapika, like always. Good job there, really impressive.

Kurapika frowned, forcing away the blush that had appeared at some point and focused on finishing the food, directing Uvogin and Chrollo out of kitchen despite the larger ones complaints of being hungry. He shushed him, giving them both a final push towards the snickering group of lingering family members as Taj rejoined him in the kitchen, placing her hands on her hips as she tried to examine the food on the counter as if she were a judge in a food competition.

"What do you think about the food chef?" she asked, eyes glinting amusedly. Kurapika cracked a smile at her.

"I'm not sure, would you like to have the first taste?" he asked back, and she grinned cheekily at him before nodding her head quickly.

"Yes!" she chirped, moving closer to the counter as Kurapika laughed softly, preparing her a plate and handing it to her, watching her chew slowly before scooping in more food into her mouth despite not having even finished her first bite. "Itch goof!" she said through the food in her mouth, turning to everyone else who was waiting outside the kitchen. "Come getch your foof!"

At the invitation, everyone swarmed into the kitchen, laughing at Taj and thanking her and Kurapika for making the food. Kurapika tried to get out of everyone's way, but was pulled into a then formed line by Chrollo, who made a comment about him needing to eat too.

"I do not." Kurapika said back out of pure stubbornness, only to feel his stomach rumble at his own comment.

"You sure? 'Cause last I check people need to eat to survive."

"I can go without for a few days…" Kurapika protested, only to have Chrollo raise a thin eyebrow at him.

"If you want to go starve yourself on your own time, then sure, but since you are still technically my guest, I'm going to make sure you at least eat something."

"Oh, so you're one of those hosts; the one who feeds everyone that walks through your door?" Kurapika questioned, grabbing a plate and putting food on it as he continued to bicker.

"Hey, it's not a bad thing." Chrollo said, smiling. "But then again, you also made the food. You should have some of it."

"I can't believe you." Kurapika said shaking his head as he smiled back. "You'll say anything you have to to get me to eat, even though I've already started getting food."

"Just about," Chrollo nodded, giving him a not so subtle wink. "And it worked didn't it?"

"Pfft, as if." Kurapika said back, elbowing him. "Anyway, after this I should probably head out so I can get out of the way of all of this." he said motioning to the people eating around them, wanting to avoid a confrontation about leaving.

"Wha- you're not in the way!" Chrollo protested with a look that was eerily similar to a pout. "You get along great with everyone and have made things run a lot smoother than they normally would've this morning. They're all grateful."

"But-"

"Plus, you have yet to open your present."

Kurapika paused at that, turning to look at Chrollo's face.

"My what?"

"Your present." Chrollo said, taking in Kurapika's expression as another smile made its way across his face. "You didn't think I'd forget did you?"

"No, I just- I wasn't expecting it at all-"

A loud knock at the front door interrupted Kurapika's stuttering mess of a sentence, and for once he was glad for it. Chrollo went and got the door to let in Pakunoda, Machi, and Shizuku, who all came in carrying more presents to be added to the place under the tree. Kurapika doubted they would have enough room to fit all of the new additions there.

"Oh, well isn't this lovely?" Pakunoda asked, quickly flashing a smile at Kurapika in a way that unnerved him. "I'm glad we did some last minute shopping when we went back. Did you know you have a 24 hour mall around here?"

"I wasn't aware." Chrollo responded back, helping take some of the presents from Pakunoda's arms. "Why don't you guys get some breakfast though? Kurapika made it with some help from Taj!"

Kurapika saw Machi's eyebrows arch but made no further comment, letting Pakunoda do the talking.

"We shall in just a moment, first let's get these to the living room."

"Of course."

Chrollo and the rest of them walked away from the kitchen area, allowing Kurapika to quickly eat what food he had put on his plate before throwing it away just as the girls returned to the kitchen. He stepped to the side to let them walk past him easily, but while Machi and Shizuku went on ahead to the food, Pakunoda stopped and smiled at him. He did his best to smile back.

"Did I ever tell you what my talent is?" Pakunoda asked him, and he felt his forced smile falter as he let his face shift into confusion.

"I don't believe so."

"I happen to be very good at guessing people's emotions and thoughts on certain things, even if they don't know it themselves." she said, her eyes glinting as she did. "And the truth never escapes me for long."

Kurapika had no idea if that was a threat or not, but she walked away from him at that moment, leaving him to watch after her with his mouth hanging open quite uselessly. He quickly composed himself after that and retreated to the living room before Pakunoda could confront him again.

During the time that the girls ate in the kitchen, Kortopi and Franklin showed up with a few more presents to add to the already ginormous pile of gifts that spread out from under the tree. Kurapika hadn't recalled Franklin leaving, but figured he had probably left after he and Chrollo had gone to bed.

It only took a few more minutes after that to get everyone into the living room, people sitting on the couches, either squeezing tightly next to each other or letting others sit on their laps, and the rest of family scattered on randomly pulled chairs from the dining table or on the floor.

Unwrapping presents started with sorting out all of the presents and handing them to their owners, Taj having the largest pile of anyone there. Everyone let her go first, intent on seeing her reactions to every single present. Taj ended up receiving a lot of new clothes, toys, and even a few books, all of which she seemed thrilled to get. After she was done with her presents, everyone started opening theirs at once and sharing what they had gotten to the person next to them, occasionally letting Taj help them unwrap the boxes and cheerful "Thank you!"s being half-shouted across the room.

Kurapika looked down at his own collections of presents, which he was surprised he even had any. A total of five small boxes sat on his lap, all of which he had no earthly idea of what they could be. He turned to look at Chrollo wearily, who was sitting next to him on the couch and was managing to look less disappointed than happy to receive his second sweater of the night. Kurapika poked his shoulder to get his attention, Chrollo giving him a curious look as his eyes flicked between Kurapika's face and the boxes still on his lap.

"What's wrong? You haven't opened any of your presents yet." Chrollo asked, a little concern leaking into his sentence. Kurapika smiled awkwardly.

"Nothing's wrong, I just… why did anyone get me something? Not even you should have gotten me anything."

"Why shouldn't I have?" Chrollo asked, genuinely confused. Kurapika sighed.

"Because you didn't even know if I was going to show up, and none of them knew if I was going to be coming either. I don't even have anything to give back to any of you."

"If this about you feeling like a burden, then that's not it. You're part of this family, no matter how weirdly configured it is, and so they're more than willing to get you even just a small gift so that you feel welcomed."

"But those feelings could change." Kurapika started to protest, trying to keep his voice quiet. "People can say they care for you all they like until they find out that you're not who they thought you were." he stopped, casting his eyes down as if it would allow him to shut everything off around him. "Nevermind, pretend I said nothing."

Chrollo shifted next to him but the blonde didn't look up at him, nor did he acknowledge the poking at his shoulder until it became insistently annoying. He looked up to see Shalnark beckoning him to follow him so he complied, abandoning the presents he had received and trying hard to ignore the stare he could feel on his back.