It's been five years since Tyson claimed his fourth title. Five years since he watched Hilary fall in love with another man. Now fate has brought them together again on the night before Christmas, and Tyson has the chance to make his wish come true.

This story was written for the Secret Santa challenge organized by Droplets of blue rain and Emerald Vivienne Ramira Mayvin. I initially turned the invitation down but had a change of heart. This one shot is a gift for Stark02 – I hope you have a chance to read this, and hopefully it's something you liked.

Merry Christmas everyone (I'm in Australia and it's Christmas for me). Happy reading!

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In the centre of the hall, hundreds of bodies pressing up against each other as they dance to the beat of the music perfectly in time with the rhythm. The steady continuous thump of the song resonates throughout the entire hall and even those not on the floor are tempted to move along. Fingers snap, heads bob and feet tap, and soon more people join in the mass sea of people.

For those that refused to dance, indulging in alcohol seemed like a great way to pass time. Intoxicated, seemingly simple tasks are quite difficult yet prove most amusing to attempt. A group of jocks in the far-right corner cackled in laughter as one of their friends attempted a handstand. One took a photo of the show ready for blackmail purposes later.

But one person did not join the fun.

Tyson Granger, the former beyblading world champion. He was the only blader in history to have won three titles in a row. The man had retired soon after, seeking to fill in the empty holes in his life beyblading had not been able to fill. And thus, he had come to the Christmas Eve party. A dumb idea perhaps, but he had to know. His dark eyes scanned the room, searching for his target. He found her in the corner standing near the punch bowl, offering half-hearted smiles to any male who walked past.

Hilary Tachibana, the girl who had broken his heart.

Five years ago, he had prepared to profess his love beneath the mistletoe. Five years ago, he had been forced to bury his feelings as he witnessed the girl in the arms of another man, Kai. An unlikely pairing, but at the time it had made sense. He was smart. She was smart. Still, the rejection had crushed, and he refused to love again. Yet here he was five years later reunited at the same place that had broken him. Fate had a cruel sense of humour. Time had treated Hilary well. She was no longer the tomboy who wanted to be with the boys, but a woman who was admired by the boys.

"You think Hilary is okay? She's been awfully quiet all night," Tyson heard Mariah declare. The pink-haired girl was one of the many females in the room who had chosen to wear an elf costume.

"Yeah, really weird. She's usually so loud, you can hear her across the hall," Mariam said, flicking her ponytail over her shoulder.

"Haven't you heard? Kai cheated on her with Julia," Emily interjected.

"Wait. How do you know that?" Mariah replied, an eyebrow raised.

"I share an apartment with Michael, Eddy and Steven. You know they get invited to the biggest parties in town, right? Which means they hear the wildest rumours. Some that are even true. Kai's with Julia. He was always a little traitor," Emily replied with a scowl.

Mariah's gaze softened. "Poor Hilary."

So, Hilary and Kai had broken up. That brought music to his ears. Turning his attention away from the girls, Tyson drew in a deep breath and approached Hilary. She was still trying to make friendly gestures towards some of the men, but it seemed everyone knew was Kai's ex – no one wanted to go there - no one but Tyson.

He approached her from the side, putting on his trademark smirk. "Will you do me the honour of being my partner?"

Hilary turned to him. She snorted. "I wouldn't touch you with a ten foot pole," she replied, waving her hand dismissively. "Please move. You're blocking my light." Indeed he was. His form had cast a shadow over her.

Tyson smirked. He should've been mad at her. He should've refused the invitation to come to the party. But his grandfather had been right. He couldn't spend the rest of his life wallowing in self-pity over what had happened five years ago. Besides, Hilary was single now, and he wasn't afraid of Kai. "Even after five years, you haven't lost your wit."

"Why are you even here, Tyson?"

"Because I wanted to dance with you."

She held back a laugh. "Did you get that pick-up line straight from Enrique?"

He held up his hands defensively. "I'm serious, Hil. No joking around. No lame pick-up lines." Lowering his hands, he added, "I've always been forward with what I want. You know me better than anyone else. Well, you did once upon a time."

"Why do you even care so much?"

He raised a brow. "Because I do. I never stopped caring, Hilary."

There was a pause, and Hilary tilted her head to the side, thinking about his words, as if unsure if he were serious or not. "I wouldn't dance with you even if we were the last two people on earth," she said finally, giving him a triumphant smirk.

He placed a hand over his heart, pretending to be severely wounded. "And you just shot a poisoned arrow right into my aching heart," he mocked, eyes full of mirth. The humour in his tone faded, replaced with a serious one. "Even if this was to be our last night on earth, I'd die a happy man if I was able to have a dance with you." He gazed into her eyes, hoping his playful grin wasn't showing.

She lifted a brow and scoffed. "You're serious? You want to dance with me?" She pressed the back of her left hand against his forehead, testing for a fever. "Well, you're not a sick… That just proves it then, there is something wrong with you." She smirked again, slowly pulling back her hand.

He frowned, grabbing her arm with his hand. His fingers curled around her wrist. "I'm being sincere."

She pried his fingers free. "I should be honoured to dance with the infamous Tyson Granger, three times beyblading world champion. I, the cheerleader, and the groupie. The girl that people looked down on because I wasn't a beyblader. If you're trying to mock me, then stop. You're not fooling me." She was about to look away when Tyson found himself grabbing her arm again. "Tyson…"

"I don't know how much longer I can take more of this," Tyson started. "I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry that I never showed you how much I cared for you all those years ago. You tried, but I was clueless. I cared about beyblading – more than anything – and I didn't realize I was pushing you away. If I had known you would've ended up in Kai's arms, I would've acted sooner," he blurted, unable to prevent the words from spilling out of his mouth.

'Tyson…"

"No, please. Let me finish. You remember that Christmas party at Max's place? A few months after we had taken down BEGA League? I was going to tell you what I felt. How I felt about you, Hil. But then I saw you with Kai and that… crushed me." He looked down at his feet for a moment then looked up once more. "But I never stopped caring for you. Even though I didn't see you for five years. You were always on my mind. Call me a stubborn fool, but I don't give up on chasing my dreams, no matter how far away they may seem."

Hilary looked to the side, biting the bottom of her lip. She was nervous now, not an expression she was used to wearing. "This really isn't the time and place for this…" she murmured.

He brought a hand to her chin, and tilted her head back towards him gently. "I've waited long enough for you to make up your mind, Hilary… I'm not waiting any longer. If you don't love me, tell me. Say it. Then we can both move on."

She drew in a deep breath and sighed. "I never truly loved Kai. I was drunk that night, silly me. We ended up under the tree together, and he was so kind to me that night. I kissed him. He kissed me back."

"You dated him."

"I wanted to believe in something bigger. I fooled myself into thinking we could be together."

"But it was never meant to be."

She shook her head. "No, it wasn't."

Taking that a sign of encouragement, Tyson lowered his head, brought it close to Hilary's own, and pressed his lips against her cheek. That simple action caught Hilary by surprise. She grabbed his arm, fingers digging into his skin. "What the hell?!" Despite her tight grip, she wasn't resisting his advances. "What was that for?" she added, gently this time.

Tyson grinned, noting the blush spreading across her cheeks. "I wanted to see your reaction. So, how about that dance?"

"I thought I said no," Hilary retorted, but not in an angry manner. She was smiling.

"What about a date then?" Tyson said.

Hilary shook her head mockingly. "You just don't give up do you?"

"You know me better than anyone else. I've waited five years," he replied, giving her his best charming smile. She laughed. This was the different side to the volatile queen. The fun-loving, joyful side. "Like I said earlier, I'm not going to spend the rest of my life waiting for you. So what's it going to be?"

Hilary laced her fingers around his and smiled up at him. "I'm not much of a dancer."

"Then you'll just have to make it up to me with a date, then," he lazily replied, a smirk of victory on his face. Hilary might pretend to have this tough girl act on, but he saw right past that. "Do we have a deal?" he teased, wagging his eyebrows.

"Now you're pushing your luck," she said giggling, as she led him towards a vacant spot on the dance floor, ignoring the stares some of the girls were giving her. "Let's just take this one step at a time, shall we?" In Tyson's head, that translated to a 'yes, but I don't want to appear too eager.'

"Works for me."

The music playing was a slow track, giving those who had been dancing for quite some time a chance to catch their breath. It also encouraged more people, the less enthusiastic ones, to get involved. Hilary rested her head against Tyson's chest, and sighed softly, as they moved side to side to the beat of the music. In the corner of his eye, he spotted Rei and Salima and Bryan and Ming Ming dancing nearby. Tyson glanced down at Hilary again, noticing her relaxed expression. And at last, he had gotten wanted he had wanted for a long time now.

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I didn't have much information to draw on regarding Stark02's interests, but hopefully this story got a passing mark. !