We were all gathered around the table, talking at once and shoving food into our mouths. A couple of us wore red and green, the holiday colors. Even I was festive enough to mix in some green. My hair was pulled back into a half-ponytail and was tipped with temporary green hair-dye. Sporting a red tank-top with a green belt, black skirt, and, yes of course, my black converse with green knee-highs, I definitely felt in the Christmas spirit. Silara had her usual ponytail, and she wore a green dress with sleeves down to her elbows, but had slits that showed her shoulders. The dress was barely any longer than Maka's skirt, and she had red stockings on wither usual black boots. Everyone was at least wearing one color or the other, even Black Star.

"Hey, sorry we're late." Soul's voice came from the doorway.

We all turned to see him and Maka sitting down at the table. Maka had on the prettiest white dress with a sparkly poinsettia broach pinned to one of the straps and green flats. Soul was wearing a nice pair of jeans and a red button-down. His hair wasn't in its usual headband, but in a cool messy manner. He sat next to me, Maka on the other side of him.

"No problem, you guys didn't miss anything." I told them.

"Good. And thanks again Kid for letting us have dinner at your place this year! I'm totally sick of Blaire always-" Maka started.

"Okay Maka. Let's not go there." Soul interrupted, peering at me from the corner of his eyes.

I smirked. "No, no. Continue Maka. If Soul's trying to hide something about Blaire, then it outta be funny." I told her.

"Really, it's nothing." Maka said, shrugging her shoulders.

"If it's nothing then why is Soul hiding it?"

Everyone snickered except Soul.

"Well, every time we have everyone over for dinner, Blaire jumps on Soul and the other boys wearing either nothing, or just a towel. And then Soul gets a nosebleed." she told me.

I burst out laughing, so did Silara. Soul looked annoyed at us, and it made me laugh harder. "So Blaire's got a crush on you, huh Soul?" I joked.

"Shut up!" he snapped.

My laughing slowed a little, as I had one more question. "Why does he get a nosebleed?"

"He gets one whenever he's around an attractive girl wearing barely any clothes." Maka informed me, shoving ham into her mouth.

Soul's face was beet red, and I think mine was too. Now I knew why he got a nosebleed when he caught me at the beach. I was for sure done asking questions, and was all for the food at that point. As soon as I started shoving some fried potatoes in my mouth, the talking started up again. I was relieved to know we were all past embarrassing Soul for the time being.

Thirty Minutes Later

"Gimme some of that cherry pie." I said to Tsubaki.

She smiled and handed me a good sized piece. I thanked her with my own smiled and crammed the pie down my throat.

"Do ya like cherry, Angel?" Crona asked with a giggle.

"It's my absolute favorite!" I told him, taking a few more bites.

Everyone laughed and I laughed too. I felt warm inside and couldn't help but smile.

One Hour Later

I settled the Santa Claus hat on top my head and giggled. Kid had talked me into another picture. This one for Christmas purposes, obviously, and Silara had the idea to have some of us wearing antlers and Santa Claus hats. Silara, Patty, Black Star, Crona and I were the Santa Clauses and everyone else was to wear the antlers. Except Soul was neglecting the antlers and I was determined to get them on his head.

"Okay guys, get in position! Timer's going and it's set for ten seconds." Maka informed everyone.

I stood in between Crona and Soul and held a pair of antlers in my hand behind my back. I counted to eight and whipped the antlers onto Soul's head. The flash went off and we stood still for a second, then he threw them off and looked at me with really annoyed look. When he saw I was laughing, he smiled at me, took my hat off and hit me with it in my shoulder.

"Can't wait to see how that one turned out!" I said, reaching for the camera.

I scrolled through the pictures, looking for the most recent, with Soul and Maka leaning over my shoulder. Finally I found it. I smiled the second it appeared on the screen.

Maka was on the end, touching the top of her antlers with one hand and the other on her hip. Soul had his hands in his pockets, he was facing the camera but looking at me from the corner of his eye and his mouth was open a little. My arm was around Soul's shoulders and my other hand was holding the antlers down on his head, and it looked like I was patting his head. My smile was big and my eyes sparkled with happiness while my Santa hat leaned at a jaunty angle. Crona was standing straight with his hands clasped in front of him and the tip of his hat hung down right at the side of his face. Silara was obviously holding Kid's hand and I thought it was adorable. Kid was smiling and blushing at the same time, which made the hand-holding more adorable. Liz had her back to him and was smirking as she pointed her thumb at Kid. Patty had a huge smile, as usual. Her hands were up in the air and she was standing on one foot. Black Star was smiling this time and throwing a fake punch at the camera. Tsubaki was smiling too, of course, and had her arm around Black Star.

That's cute. I thought.

"Hey, Kid can you print this out for me?" I asked him.

He smiled. "Yeah, of course."

"Thanks."

I saw Silara move toward a radio and pop in a CD. Suddenly, rock and roll Christmas music was on and loud. Liz turned off the lights and Patty flipped on colored lights. Christmas dinner had turned into a Christmas party. Fun.

Someone grabbed my hand and spun me around under their arm.

"Soul!" I shouted over the music with a smile.

"Hey, Red!" he shouted back. "Wanna dance?"

"I thought you didn't like dancing."

"I don't. But you do."

"Since when? I don't normally dance, I sing."

"Then sing!"

"Uh, no."

"Fine, then. Let's go."

He pulled me away from the music and our dancing friends into an empty room.

"What's up?"

"Nothing. Just wanted to talk."

"What about."

"Anything."

"Okay. What about that day at the beach?"

"What about it?"

"One word. Nosebleed."

Soul blushed. "Ah…"

"I'm waiting."

He stayed silent. "I'm kidding. I know we're just friends." I told him, a lump suddenly forming in my throat. His blush deepened.

"Yeah, okay."

I smiled and hugged him. I started to cry silently. Why I cried, was because I realized this was the first Christmas I had celebrated in years. And I was celebrating it with people I loved who loved me back.

A/N

Hey, I just wanna say, I wrote this originally around Christmas time, so yeah. Merry belated Christmas! That's it.

~Marysa