So, it's the 2nd of December, thus I'm ten days ahead! Except for the year in between… haha…. WhispertheWolf may have been onto something when they said that I might end up posting on the correct dates again, we'll have to see!

Congratulations to WhispertheWolf, Amethyst Sparrow, and Strawberry Kaydee for guessing the correct answer. On December the 11th last year, the chocolate was a teddy bear. Wow, you are all getting pretty high up there when it comes to the number you've guessed right…. I'll have to start throwing in a hard chocolate here and there ;)

For now though, enjoy some fun with Finn!

I don't own the Storm Hawks, they are the property of Nerd Corps.

December 12th

Decorating à la Finn

When we stopped at terra Atmosia yesterday to go Christmas shopping at their market, I figured I'd just end up finding all of those Christmas knickknacks that people use for a few days and then get forgotten underneath their bed until next year. Or, I thought I'd end up finding some decorations that are hardly worth buying because they only get used once a year and break a week after you buy them anyway.

It turns out though, that there is one kind of Christmas decoration that is completely worth hanging up once a year.

Radarr had helped me smuggle my precious decorations onto the Condor yesterday afternoon before any of the others got back from doing their Christmas shopping. It'd been easy enough since no one else had come back yet, but where was the fun in doing something sneaky and slightly evil if there wasn't a James Bond sequence in there somewhere with my accomplice in crime – er, decorating.

In any case, Radarr and I had a lot of fun sneaking through the halls even if there was no one around to be hiding from. Sometimes it's just the fun of going through the motions of being covert with no one around to critique your style or laugh when you do a somersault and end up getting your foot stuck in the sink – again.

Today however, I was enjoying the fruits of my late night labour. I had purposefully stayed up late last night until I knew for certain that all of my teammates were in bed dreaming away. That was when I went to work.

Walking around the Condor today, I was keeping constant tabs on my friends, especially a certain redheaded Sky Knight and a sassy navigator.

As I sat on the bridge while they looked over a map of the quadrant we were flying in, I couldn't find any evidence in my squad's actions or conversations that they had noticed the subtle decorations that were hung in every doorway of the Condor. It was a little disheartening actually that they hadn't noticed all of the effort I had put into making the ship Christmas ready.

Maybe I'd just have to help them appreciate the festiveness a different way.

Smirking as I noticed that Piper and Aerrow were clearing the table of her maps and diagrams in order to go and have their daily afternoon sparring match, I stopped leaning against the railing near the helm and made my way off the bridge in order to put my Christmas decorations to good use.

Standing just out of sight and to the right of the only door off the bridge that led to the training room, I waited to pounce. I heard my friends' animated chatter and laughter grow slowly louder until I could hear them just on the other side of the door. Grinning at what I knew would happen soon, I jumped out from my hiding place and effectively stopped Aerrow and Piper in their tracks side by side in the wide bridge doorway.

From their confused looks, I realized the flaw in my plan – I didn't have an excuse as to why I suddenly appeared in front of them. Oh well, I'd like to think that improvising excuses is a specialty of mine.

"Hey guys, how were the maps?" I asked, receiving questioning looks from both of them.

Aerrow raised an eyebrow at me before replying, "Fine Finn, the maps are very… detailed?"

"Oh, that's good." Okay, this conversation wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.

"Did you want something Finn, or are you just trying to annoy me because you have nothing better to do?" Piper's biting remark gave the conversation an instant sense of normality and I decided to roll with it.

Grinning, I asked, "I was just wondering what is up between you two," I paused for a moment but cut in just before Piper could, grinning all the more as Aerrow looked above him after seeing my eyes flicker upwards purposefully. "I mean, you were staring at those maps for at least an hour."

"That's kind of the point of navigating Finn. I stare at the maps so you don't have too." We both glared at each other for a moment, but before I went to retort, I couldn't help but smirk inwardly at Aerrow's wide, darting eyes that were looking anywhere or at anything except Piper.

"Gee, if you love your maps so much Piper, maybe you ought to kiss them or something."

Piper's perplexed look was classic, but Aerrow's red tinted cheeks were plain hilarious. 'This has to be the best Christmas tradition ever created!'

"Finn, why are you acting so weird?" Piper questioned me, her eyes never leaving my grinning face. I was glad she wasn't looking to Aerrow for help figuring me out because she may have interrupted our Sky Knight's all too humorous inner battle that was being waged.

"I don't know, I thought our arguments like this were a tradition or something like that, you know? I'd never want to break an age old tradition. I mean, who does that?" I definitely had poor Aerrow sweating now, and I could see him starting to break down as his illogical and impulsive side began to win the battle in his mind.

"Finn, what are you –" Piper paused partway through her sentence as Aerrow's lips brushed against her cheek for a split second before he walked away briskly towards the training room.

It was all I could do to contain my laughter considering the surprised look Piper was sporting, and how Aerrow's cheeks may have managed to match the colour of his hair. As Piper redirected her stunned look from Aerrow's disappearing back to me, I pointed upwards before I exploded in laughter and headed towards my room, calling over my shoulder, "Merry Christmas guys!"

Oh Finn, what shall we ever do with you?

If you guys didn't notice, I had a lot of fun writing this one. Also… the chocolate was never outright mentioned in this one, just to give you a hint. So, here are the results after the round of guessing last chapter:

Strawberry Kaydee 5.5 (Just over halfway to ten!)

kezzywezzy25 4.5

Amethyst Sparrow 7.5 (Three thirds of the way there!)

WhispertheWolf 9.5 (0.5 away… wow!)

Mitoki-hime 1

Arendos 1.5

I wasn't sure if people would keep guessing for this long, especially after almost a whole year! Thanks everyone, it makes this a lot more fun!

Crimson Fox4