"How long do I stir the potatoes for?" Axel asked, concentraiting on the bowl infront of him.
"Until they're mashed Axel, it's not rocket science." He answered flatly.
That was the last thing that needed to be made, and it was nearly done. Everything had turned out great, they cooked everything perfectly. Well, Roxas cooked the hard things like the Turkey, Axel did what he could to help. Axel had decorated the table with white lacing, holly (thanks to Marluxia), and beautiful red candles that were alit and blazing brightly. They set the table for all the members, silverware and all. Placed on top of the rable, all of the food was placed neatly in the center of the table, steaming and hot.
"Get your asses out here! Foods ready!" Axel screamed through the house. And all of them, even Xemnas came quickly, as if on cue. They didn't want to relive the /last/ time they made Axel wait.
Dinner passed with a few crude jokes and a lot of laughing. Afterwards, they celebrated the night with drinks, jokes, and singing. Demyx played Christmas Carols on his Sitar, and Zexion sang along with them. They even had a large Christmas tree decorated in the middle of the bottom floor. It was almost like a real family, despite the lack of gifts under the tree. Most of them were presentless. Demyx and Zexion exchanged, as well as Saix and Xemnas. A few others too, but that was mostly it. Except for Roxas and Axel…
Axel had infact gotten his friend a gift, it was stuffed under his bed back in his room. He didn't want everyone to see and think he'd gone soft for the blonde, so he kept it secret. Plus, he wanted it to be special when Roxas opened it.
Later on that night, Roxas sat alone with Axel in the pyro's room. Most of everyone were doing their own thing, celebrating with who they wished. Suddenly, and Axel had no idea where it came from, Roxas was holding out a present to him. It was wrapped in a pretty red wrapping paper, as red was Axel's favorite color, with a dark green bow tied on top. Roxas smiled sheepishly. "Here."
Axel was taken aback, he hadn't expected Roxas to get him a present. Roxas didn't seem like he liked Christmas very much in the first place. Axel blinked in surprise. "F-For me?" he stammered.
Roxas just pushed the present further at him.
Axel took it and unwapped it slowly, as if he didn't want to ruin the paper. It was a small brown box, but inside it revealed a beautiful scarf. It was black and red with tiny flames dancing all over the fabric. Axel looked up and smiled at him. "Thanks." After a moment of looking at the scarf, Axel put it aside and flipped over behind him, searching under his bed for the present. He came back up with another box wrapped in gold and red. He handed it to Roxas smiling.
Roxas took it and started to stare at it, like he couldn't believe Axel had gotten him a gift. He looked up at him grinning.
Axel laughed. "Go on, open it!"
Roxas kept smiling, and started to open it. Inside he found a gorgeous dark blue binded journal. Axel kenw how much Roxas loved to write, and noticed it was always on scraps of paper, so he thought a journal would be the perfect gift. A second or so later, Roxas saw that the small latch used to keep the journal closed, was open. "It's been opened." He said finally.
Axel nodded. "Open it."
Roxas obeyed and opened the journal to the first page. There, written over its delicate paper, in Axel's smooth handwriting, it read:
Merry Christmas Roxas, I love you
Roxas heart nearly stopped as he read it. He ran his hand across it gently as he reread it, and looked back up at Axel with a soft gaze.
"Axel, Merry Christmas."