Odd 2/3

Odd sat down beside Ulrich in silence, not a word being spoken between the best friends. Ulrich kept glancing at Odd out of the side of his eyes, Odd staring at his shoes as if they were the most interesting thing he'd ever seen.

"I'm sorry I've been an ass lately." Odd started, breaking the silence. Ulrich let out a sigh.

"It's alright, I think it's both of our fault. We've both been at each others throats these past weeks." Ulrich said, sitting forward, resting his elbows on his knees.

"It's just, with everything happening with Aelita at the same time we're close to exams, it's just been piling up the stress and I guess I thought that distracting myself was the best course of action but it wasn't, it was just bottling it up and I guess it just, exploded out." Odd explained, gesturing with his hands for emphasis. Ulrich's mind quickly returned to the book he was holding. He looked down at it and thought about what he read and then back to how Odd had been acting lately.

"Odd?" Ulrich started, his mouth moving before his mind could stop himself.

"Yeah, Good Buddy?"

"Are you depressed?"

The words had left Ulrich's mouth quicker than he realized. The silence had returned between the duo and minutes passed, Ulrich not daring to look at Odd. Suddenly, a noise came from Odd. It was a quiet laugh that quickly grew into a normal laugh until Odd had doubled over laughing, drawing the attention of students and faculty nearby. Ulrich rolled his eyes and huffed.

"Alright, dumb question. I'm sorry I ask-" Ulrich started before Odd cut him off, wiping one of the tears that had started rolling down his cheek.

"I should had known I wouldn't be able to hide anything from you." Odd laughed, his tears flowing freely at this point, half from the laughter and half from the pride he felt in his best friend being able to detect that he was hiding something.

"Wait, so does that mean you are?" Ulrich asked, finally making eye contact with him.

"I don't know. I mean, I don't think so but that's the thing with stuff like this, right? You can never really tell at the start." Odd said, his laughter finally subsiding, his face becoming stern, "I guess I've been feeling extremely down since I found out about Aelita."

"I understand Odd, I just wish you would have mentioned something to me or at least tried talking to me." Ulrich sighed, resting his hand on Odd's shoulder causing the blonde to nod his head.

"I should have, I'm sorry Ulrich." Odd replied, his voice cracking.

The two sat in silence until the air had become cold and unforgiving before they decided to head for the dorms.

Ulrich and Odd walked back to their dorm in sync, their chatter filling the otherwise empty hallway. As they neared the stairs up to the second floor, Ulrich glanced down the hallway in front of them and then back to the stairs.

"Listen Odd, you go on ahead, I wanna go talk to Aelita about Jeremie's present and see what she thinks!" Ulrich lied, looking away from his best friend. Odd shrugged his reply and told Ulrich he'd be in their room.

Once Odd had gotten out of sight, Ulrich made his way to Aelita's dorm and knocked on the door. It wasn't long before the door opened to reveal Aelita, Jeremie and Yumi sitting on her bed. Ulrich stepped in and closed the door behind him.

"Guys, we have a problem." Ulrich announced before starting in to his story.

"So he really is depressed?" Yumi asked, letting out a sigh before running her hands through her hair. Ulrich rubbed her back in comfort.

"I'm afraid it seems that way." Ulrich replied with a sigh, his eyes dropping to the floor.

The four of them sat in silence before Jeremie stood up.

"I have an idea that might help cheer him up, even if it's only for the Holidays!" Jeremie smiled, drawing the attention of his friends.

"Spit it out then Einstein!" Ulrich said with a smile, causing the other three to laugh. Once their laughter had died down, Jeremie started.

"So, Jim went through a lot of effort to set up the decorations all over Kadic, right?" Jeremie began, they all nodded their heads.

"Yeah, what about it?" Aelita questioned further, her interest in helping Odd had overcome her and she wanted to do all she could.

"Well, lets say, he bought a little too much decorations? Where would he have stored them?" Jeremie questioned further, the smirk on his face getting bigger.

"In the storage closet!" Ulrich replied, snapping his fingers.

"Exactly! And since he won't be going back to get anymore decorations, he probably wont be back in there until after the holidays, which means?" Jeremie continued, the huge smile plastered to his face.

"It means we could 'borrow' them for the Holidays and return them before he even know what was up!" Yumi finished, shooting to stand up, followed instantly by Ulrich and Aelita.

"Jeremie! You're a genius," Ulrich said, running forward to hug his friend, placing a kiss on the top of his head before ruffling his hair, "A tiny, nerdy genius!"

"What else am I here for?" Jeremie said with a laugh before turning to his other friends, "Alright, Ulrich and Yumi, you guys are on decoration recovery detail!" Jeremie announced, his plan swinging into action, "Aelita and I are on tree detail!"

"Tree detail?" Aelita questioned, tilting her head.

"There's a shop not too far outside of the school that sells pretty small Christmas Trees, we can get one and put it up in Ulrich and Odd's room!" Jeremie explained, everyone nodded in unison.

"We'll see if there's any tree decorations in there as well!" Yumi said with a determined nod.

They all left the room, Aelita locking it after them.

"Alright, it's 2:49pm now!" Jeremie said, glancing at his watch, "We'll meet back up here at 3:30pm, hide everything in Aelita's room! Then Ulrich, it's your job to get Odd out of the room for an hour or so, think you can do that?"

"I got you, Captain!" Ulrich replied with a grin, tipping an imaginary cap, earning a laugh from all of them.

"Alright, good luck!" Jeremie said before him and Aelita made a dash down the left corridor while Ulrich and Yumi made a dash down the right corridor.

Ulrich and Yumi.

Ulrich and Yumi came to a stop in front of the supply closet, out of breath from the running.

"Alright, you go in and I'll keep watch!" Ulrich said, standing next to the corner and leaning against the wall.

"Alright, cough a few times if we're in trouble!" Yumi said, opening the door and slipping inside. Ulrich lazily looked left to right, his eyes tracing various objects in the building. He looked down to the left and let out a happy sigh. His eyes were set on a door. A door their group was all too familiar with. All those late nights sneaking out and back in through the tunnel at the back. His mind had filled with old memories and his feet had begun to move automatically towards the door but he was stopped when he heard a loud crash coming from inside the supply closet. Turning over his shoulder one last time, he ran to the closet Yumi was in.

"Oh my God..." Ulrich exclaimed, his voice trembling with hints of laughter. Yumi had somehow managed to fall and drag down a box of Christmas ornaments and supplies and was currently sitting with them scattered around and on her.

"I... I fell!" Yumi pouted, folding her arms from her spot on the floor. Ulrich threw his head back and let out a full belly laugh, it wasn't long before Yumi had joined in on his laughter. Once their laughs had died down, mostly from Ulrich feeling pain in his ribs from laughing too much, he reached for a box to help pick up the dropped supplies but he felt himself slip on a strand of tinsel and barrel forward. When he shook his head and regained his composure, he realized he was on top of Yumi on the ground. Their faces were so close that Ulrich couldn't tear his face away from hers. She looked back at him, a strong blush creeping up on her face, matching the blush that grew on his. The sparks between them flew more than they ever had as their faces moved closer and closer until they were only an inch apart.

"What's going on in here?!" A strong voice boomed, rattling them back into reality, Ulrich scrambed to his feet and reached a hand down to Yumi to help her up.

"We... We just..." Yumi stuttered, looking towards the door and the owner of the voice. Jim stood in the doorway, his massive frame covering almost all of it, his arms crossed over his chest.

"Just what, Ishiyama?!" Jim questioned, walking in and inspecting the mess they had made.

"We were just looking to borrow some of the spare decorations, we're having a bit of a problem and someone needs major cheering up for the Christmas season!" Ulrich cut in, explaining why they had been snooping in the supply room.

"And this someone is?" Jim asked, letting out a sigh, he couldn't find it in his heart to be mad at students around Christmas time, especially not 2 of his favourite 5 students.

"Odd, he hasn't been himself lately..." Ulrich started, explaining their predicament to Jim who nodded understandingly.

"Look, I'm not meant to do this but," Jim started, looking both ways outside the door before ducking back in, "Just make sure they're back before the stock check a week before classes start again!" he smiled. Ulrich and Yumi returned his smile with their own and grabbed two boxes of decorations and made their way back to Aelita's room. Jim stared off after them with a smile before it turned to a frown.

"Poor Della-Robbia, I wonder what has him down..." he muttered to himself before turning back to the supply closet and letting out a sigh, "They forgot to finish cleaning their mess! Merry Christmas to you too!" He smirked as he started picking up the fallen ornaments.

Jeremie and Aelita.

"What about this one?" Aelita asked, running her gloved hand up the branches of a small tree, around the same height as her. Jeremie stood beside her and circled the tree, tapping his finger against his chin.

"Hmmm, this one is pretty good, if there's nothing better, we'll grab this one!" Jeremie said before walking down the center of a dozen trees on either side, inspecting them each thoroughly.

Aelita just watched as the blonde inspected every inch of the trees he walked past and smiled, even when it came to trees decorations he was very coordinated and determined to get the best he could. After a while he returned to Aelita's side.

"The one you spotted earlier on was the best, lets grab that one and make our way back! We only have," Jeremie said, glancing down at his watch, "30 minutes to get back!"

Aelita nodded her response as they both walked back towards the tree from earlier only to see the tree being picked up by someone else. Aelita reached out for tree and sighed.

"Damn it!" she cried, clearly upset that her tree of choice had been taken. Her cry had not gone unnoticed however as the person who picked up their tree turned to them.

"I'm sorry, were you talking to me?" the voice came, Aelita and Jeremie faced the person and realized he was a teen, around the same age as them although much taller and well built, his tanned skin a major difference than the norm in France.

"No! Well, kinda... You see, we were going to grab that tree but it's alright! We'll grab another one!" Aelita explained, embarrassed that he had heard her cry.

"Are you sure? I really don't mind!" He offered, motioning towards the tree with a smile.

"It's all yours! Enjoy!" Aelita said, waving as he began to walk away. She turned to Jeremie and looked around at the trees one last time.

"Alright Jeremie, we'll just grab a random one, text Yumi or Ulrich that we're heading back now." Aelita commanded, turning to look at more trees but was interrupted by the teen who took their tree.

"Wait, Jeremie?" the teen asked, his eyes dancing between them both.

"Yes?" Jeremie answered, raising his eyebrow.

"Which means, you're Aelita!" he continued, pointing at the pinkette.

"Yes! But how did you know that?" Aelita questioned, wondering how this random person knew them both but she had this rather large feeling she had seen this person before recently.

"I couldn't help but overhear you mention Yumi and Ulrich's name, then it clicked. I'm a friend of Yumi's from in town and she mentions all you constantly, I should have pieced it together sooner by the pink hair!" he explained, his voice happy, "Here, take this tree and enjoy it!" he smiled, passing the tree to them.

"Thank you? I guess?" Jeremie replied, unsure of how they got to this point.

"No problem, just tell her Mako said hello!" he grinned before waving and took off in search of another tree.

"You ran into Mako?" Yumi laughed, throwing her box of decorations onto Aelita's bed before sitting down beside them.

"Yeah, he said to say hello and took off! How do you know him? He doesn't go here, does he?" Jeremie asked, sitting in the chair by the desk.

"Oh, he went to the public school from close by, he finished last year and works at the diner not too far from here!" Yumi explained, earning nods from all her friends.

"That explains a lot!" Ulrich said, digging through his box on the floor.

"Really Ulrich? I'd expect you to be jealous or something!" Jeremie teased him from his seat, Ulrich knelt up straight and looked at him.

"I swear to God, Jeremie! I will end you!" Ulrich replied, the blush creeping up on his face matching the one that spread across Yumi's face instantly, earning laughs from Aelita and Jeremie.

"Alright Ulrich, it's time! It's up to you to get Odd out of the room, it's all on you now!" Aelita cheered, excited that the plan was finally underway.

Sorry for the huge delay in updating but I finally got my PC back in working condition! I hope you all enjoy this and to make up for it, there'll be a few extra chapters added to make the story slightly longer to make up for lost time! From now we'll back to 2-3 updates every 7 days give or take!