"Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the waaaaay~"
Mello's ears were filled with the overfamous Christmas songs, filling the common room. Kids were sitting near the fire or surrounded the Christmas tree. A few intensely discussed what they would get as their Christmas gift. Mello seated himself on a couch, next to Matt, of course. It didn't matter how hard the blonde tried to ignore the albino boy, in his mind he could hear an annoying voice yell at him, telling him Near was sitting all alone in a corner, playing with his toys. Mello munched on a Santa formed chocolate bar as his eyes shifted through the room, examining the happy children, the tree, the happy decorated room, the lights and Near sitting in a corner. He sighed. "Jingle bells, Jingle bells, Jingle all the way.
This fucking song is stuck in my head today~" he muttered. Matt looked up at Mello and snickered. "Getting in the mood for Christmas, I see!" he snorted.
"Well, it's true. Right?" Matt nodded as an answer. Mello sighed. The evening dragged on, Mello fell asleep for a good 15 minutes. When he woke up, he told Matt he would sleep and went to his room. There, he saw Near sitting in front of the glass window that went to the balcony. He had fallen asleep like that. Mello stared at the boy, lifted him and put him in his bed. In his mind he was forcing himself to act cold, even though the boy wouldn't notice, since he was asleep.
Mello dressed to his pyjama's and stepped in bed. A little happy with the fact he got to touch Near, he closed his eyes and went to sleep. If only a worry-free relationship with Near could be his Christmas gift.

That morning he woke up by Matt's screaming. "OH MYGOD!! OH MY DEAR GOD!! I LOVE SANTA!! THAT FATHEAD!! I LOVE HIM!! MELLLOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!"
The redhead sat on top on Mello and bounced up and down, too active in the morning.

"I got--… GOD I GOT--- MELLO YOU WON'T BELIEVE THIS!!!" Matt gasped between his words, as if it was hard to breathe for him. All he could do was squeal the name of his best friend and bounce up and down… Until Mello was sick of it.
"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU WANT ALREADY, DAMNIT?!!!" The blonde burst.
Unfortunately, it did not wreck the redhead's mood as he nearly shoved something in his face.

"I GOT A GAMEBOY ADVANCE SP!!! AN SP, SP, SP, SP, SP, ES-PEEEEEEEEE~" He squealed again, like a delighted little girl. Mello smacked him with a pillow.

After yapping and pushing Matt out of his room, Mello dressed and walked to the Great Hall. Everywhere he looked he saw happy children, busy with showing off their gifts or praising Santa Clause. The blonde yawned, scratched his head and walked to the Christmas Tree.
He kneeled down and searched for his present. He found a square box, picked it up and sat down somewhere quiet. Matt rushed to him again. "What did you get?! WHAT DID YOU GET?!"
Mello scratched behind his ear and opened the box. In the box, there was a large pile of brand chocolate. The letters 'La Bleu Royale' filled his eyes. His mouth started to water. He was expecting chocolate, but he didn't know it would be the chocolate he was saving money for!
He stared at it for a good 5 minutes, at the least before Matt broke the silence. "E-Erm.. Mello?... You're drooling.." He muttered, keeping his laugh in.
"E-Ehn?.. Oh.. Sorry.." He muttered and wiped his drool away. After getting over his heavenly shock, Mello finally, with shaking hands, unwrapped a bonbon. He plucked it with his lips and shivered at the new sensation. "Oh dear Lord.." He muttered as licked it.
Matt laughed. "Merry Christmas, Mellanie" He grinned.

Without classes he upcoming days for the ones that did not need extra classes, Mello had the free time he didn't have for quite some time. On Christmas Day he baked chocolate cookies with Matt, played along with everyone else's toys, watched sappy Christmas movies and ate a delicious Christmas dinner. He hid his 'La Bleu Royale' chocolate on a secret place. He decided he would eat only one for every special occasion, that way, he figured, he would save up a lot of chocolate.

All the while, when Mello was baking his cookies, played with toys, watched sappy movies and ate Christmas dinner, Near was in the library. With all his physical strength, he had pushed all the table and chairs to the side. While Mello was walking, talking, laughing and eating with others, Near was solving the biggest and hardest puzzle he had ever seen, the puzzle it's self was bigger than Near. It was completely blank, unlike his other puzzle, where he had an 'L' in the corner. He spent all his day, filling the library ground with his tremendous puzzle pieces. That day, Near felt a little colder than usual. 'How can it be that I cannot solve this puzzle?..'

---

The next morning Mello woke up on his own in stead of being waken up by Matt.
'That idiot actually had to take the extra lessons. Stupid slacker.' Mello grinned and rolled out of bed, he stood up and saw a lump like form in one of the beds. Near still hadn't woken up. Mello shrugged, went to the bathroom and took a shower. He let the warm water wash over him as his thoughts cleared instantly. It was like a fresh dive.

After taking a shower he dressed himself in his trademark black and walked out of his room, the moment he did. He saw kids running hurriedly past him. With a frown he followed them, he needed to quicken his pace to keep track of the group. He ended in the library. "Yo, what the hell is wrong?" Mello asked. "Mello! Look at this!" A kid yelled and the blonde got pushed forward, in his new clear view, he could see a completed puzzle. It was clear that the puzzle used to be blank. But it was covered with coloured markers. The huge puzzle was used like a sheet of paper and there was a drawing of it. The drawing clearly (although it was very childishly drawn) resembled a family. A mother and father linked by the child in between them. All of them were smiling. And the boy in the middle painfully reminded Mello of Near.
It was not only Mello who noticed that the drawing gave a vibe of sadness.
A lot of kids looked either sad or confused of what to say, but the person that felt it the most was clearly Linda, tears were running down her eyes as she kept gazing at the gigantic puzzle.

Linda was sitting on the floor, on her knees, fingers slightly touching the puzzle. "Merry Christmas" she muttered. "What?" The blonde kneeled beside her. "Merry Christmas… it says…" She muttered as she pointed out to the small messy writing in one of the corners.
The crowd was abruptly scattered by an old man. Roger came in and asked everyone to leave.

The old man softly rubbed the young girl's back and comforted her. "Mello, will you please take Linda to her room?" The kind man asked. Mello nodded obediently and supported Linda out of the library. Roger was left alone. "Oh dear…." He sighed.