Even though he didn't much care for Christmas as a holiday, Hanai had to admit that the decorations looked great- especially for the fact that they'd just thrown this together at the last minute. The tree was in the corner, which wasn't exactly an evergreen, but it had ornaments and lights so technically it would count. Socks on the mantle place replaced stockings, but they weren't going to be putting their presents in socks anyways- Man, the Americans had weird traditions.

Despite his protests, Tajima had jokingly hung a clump of mistletoe in the middle of the room. Even if it WAS just a joke, the team mostly skittered past on the sides, unless they really had to dash across the middle. Yep, this was going to be an interesting Christmas.

Dinner was pretty uneventful, but everyone had fun anyways. Everyone had decided on Miso Soup, and it was delicious. Hanai gave himself a mental note to thank Mihashi's mom. With an excited "Present time!" from Tajima, the team settled down in the main living room, sitting in a circle. This year, they were trying a new game- instead of thinking of presents for everybody, they would be doing a White Elephant Gift Exchange.

One present for each team member was placed in a pile in the middle of the circle. None had tags, and each person would choose a random present to open. In America, goofy gifts like thermometers or broken soap was inside the bags- you had to be careful which one you chose. If you didn't want to take your chances, you could steal once from someone who had already opened their gift. If your present got stolen, you'd get to pick again.

Hanai looked away as Tajima plopped down beside him, hiding a blush that had crept up to his cheeks. He didn't even want to KNOW what Tajima brought. On an impulse he looked up, making sure there was no mistletoe- his situation with Tajima was complicated enough, to the point that he wasn't sure it was just captain and player anymore.

Abe, sitting on the opposite end of the room, jumped a little as Mihashi scuttled to his side. It was a well-known fact that Abe was Mihashi's best friend on the team, but Abe still felt happy that he would choose to sit next to him. When Mihashi scooted closer, subconsciously, Abe blushed faintly and attempted to focus on the game.

To make it fair, everyone picked numbers for the order people would open presents. Ironically, Mihashi picked number 1, remembering instantly the number sharpied on the back of his uniform. Tajima got 2, Hanai got 6, Abe got 8. Mihashi reached out to the pile of presents, quickly snatching a bag with a snowman pattern.

Sakaeguchi's eyes suddenly widened and he let out a noticeably audible smirk, which he immediately tried to mask. Abe suddenly felt bad for Mihashi, knowing Sakaeguchi as well as he did. This was pretty out of character, so something had to be wrong with that gift.

Mihashi peered inside, and instantly flushed red in total embarrassment.

"What's in there?" said an increasingly annoying Tajima. Now he had to take it out of the bag. He lifted the item out from the filler paper in the bag, and displayed it cautiously to the rest of the team. The thing in question was a book, titled "Junjou Romantica, Volume 8"- the most perverted book in a yaoi manga series. (Me: okay okay that's just personal opinion). The guys all started giggling madly, and Mihashi was still staring at the boys love novel.

Everyone stopped giggling when Tajima ran across the room, snatching the book from Mihashi and scurrying back to his place. He lay back onto Hanai's lap, flipping through its contents.

"Hey Azusa lookie here! Usagi and Misaki are-"

Hanai blushed and tried to block out what was on the page Tajima had shoved into his face. He pushed the cleanup hitter off him, scooting a bit farther away. Now the guys were laughing their asses off. What a great start to the evening, thought Hanai.