Disclaimer: I don't own this.

Warning: Some foul language (which has been in every chapter of this story so...) Also gross boys talking about gross boy parts and gross boy functions because they are gross boys.

Prose 11:

Loki was beginning to feel his patience dissipate. It started during the Solstice Festival after he left Crom Cruach in a bad mood. He checked Balder's station where he was supposed to be selling Yule logs. Or really they were just the logs he chopped up for their dorm. He wasn't there. A few seconds later he saw him walking with Yui, chatting rather happily. Loki stalked them carefully, watching his friend's actions around the girl. Thankfully, all that happened was Balder leading her back to her station. He stood at her side as Takeru seemed to refrain from yelling expletives.

Ever since then, Balder had been hanging with Yui more and more. Loki wasn't suffocating. He didn't exactly mind him hanging out with Apollo and Tsukito. It was his job after all, being a part of their silly student council. Yet, Balder still made time to play with Loki and Thor. Now it seemed he was spending ALL his time with Yui, and with Yule here, Loki sure as hell didn't like that one bit.

No, Balder should be spending their sacred celebrations with them.

Loki got bored spending most of his time with just Thor. Yeah, Thor followed him everywhere, and was good whenever he felt lonely, but Thor was…Thor. Balder was actually fun. Not anymore since he was spending his time with Yui, following her around like a puppy, wagging his proverbial tail whenever she gave him a glance. Long ago, Balder used to follow him that very same way.

Frustrated, Loki started butting in, interrupting their time together, hoping at least Yui would get the picture and relinquish whatever hold she had over Balder.

For days now, Loki had been pulling Thor with him to be with Balder's every move. At first it seemed Balder didn't mind too much, but Loki soon realized that even Balder had a threshold.

"Heeeeey Balder!" he chimed as he barreled through the two as they walked side-by-side down the hall. He nudged Yui a little too hard and she staggered and fell to the ground. A snide apology hung in Loki's throat, and he didn't have any time to utter it, as Balder grabbed his shoulder in a rather bruising grip, turning Loki to face him. At that moment, Loki regretted his actions seeing Balder's normally warm blue eyes flash in mild fury, "What'd you do that for, Loki!"

"C'mon Balder, no need to start snorting, it was just an accident." he lied. Lie or not, Balder at least went passive, his grip on his shoulder loosening.

"It's alright," Yui said, unperturbed as she rubbed her elbow, "I lost my footing. Not a big deal."

At that Balder drew back completely, an apologetic look on his face in regards to both of them. Loki's lips thinned, eyes narrowing at his friend slightly. What? Now Yui was calling his shots? What the hell? In the rare moments Balder playfully went out of control or got overexcited, it took a lot of tugging on Loki's part to get him to think rationally again. But here Yui could do it with a few words.

"Come on Balder, let's get the dorm all ready for Yule," Loki feigned excitement causing Balder's eyes to light up briefly, before his face fell as he turned to Yui.

"But I told Yui I would help take the Winter Solstice booths down."

Yui laughed, "It's alright Balder, Apollo and Tsukito and I can handle it. You've done enough dragging the trees away…by yourself."

Her face gave a little hint at her astonishment at seeing seemingly delicate Balder pull seventeen-foot-tall trees back up the mountains with only a rope to aid him. Even Takeru was impressed and made a competition over it. He could accomplish the same feat easily, but went about it too fast in a hurry to beat Balder and pulled his back out.

"Go on. We'll see you this afternoon," Yui made a shooing gesture, as if that simple wave freed him to go with Loki.

"But—"

"Come on Balder," Loki yanked Balder's arm and pulled him along with him. As he finally got the bigger boy to go along with him, he gave Yui a dark glance over his shoulder.

He didn't really mean to do it. It was sort of a reflex, but he didn't particularly care if Yui took it to heart or not. She seemed, so far, to not really take much of his antics seriously. Good learner then. In truth, little did Loki know, Yui was just too busy with other gods, that one god acting like a jealous five-year-old wasn't her top concern. As long as Loki went to classes.

Yui and her two other student council classmates finished dismantling the remaining booths. It was strange seeing the courtyard so empty after being lit up so brilliantly the previous few nights.

Apollo grabbed her arm suddenly, "Come on Miss Fairy. We don't want to miss what wonders the Norse gods are going to show us."

He pointed behind him to Hades who lifted a small bag, "I've made baklava."

Yui gave them both a wry smile, "It's a several day celebration. I'm sure we can wait a bit."

According to Apollo 'waiting a bit' meant only few minutes and before either Hades or Yui knew it he dragged them through the woods towards the Norse dorm. Both Greek gods had a bit of trouble finding their way through the tall, staunch trees. Even though Apollo had been to the Norse dorm many times before, he always got lost. There was very little in terms of markers that revealed where the Norse dorm was, but Apollo and Yui found the rocky pathway to the large wooden structure.

They could smell smoke and pine and perhaps something cooking. Ahead they found someone dragging something…large out from the thick trees. The organism was as large as an elephant and looked to be incredibly dead.

"Balder," Yui asked, watching the blond god, who was wearing a white button shirt, dark slacks and suspenders, drag the big thing by a rope hoisted over his shoulder. Instantly she recalled the way he dragged the evergreens back to the forest. "What's…this?"

Hades and Apollo glanced a little dumbfounded at each other as Balder turned and gave them a beautiful innocent naïve smile, "This? Oh it's a boar for our Yule feast. I caught it in the woods."

"Hey," Hades whispered sidelong to his nephew, still staring at the giant mammoth boar, "does that boar look familiar to you?"

"No I don't recall—OH MY GOD that's the Erymanthian Boar!" Apollo's jaw dropped.

The door of the dorm slammed opened and Loki ran out, face red, "Balder! No! What are you-! Dammit! I can't turn my back on you for one second!"

"But Loki—"

"No!" Loki stomped over to his friend. "You don't just go running out, tackling large animals."

Balder's shoulders slumped as he hung his head, "But we needed a boar and I got one."

"And how the hell are we gonna eat all that? Thor already got one. Sweet Yggdrasil you can't just sit still and be patient?" Loki berated as he grabbed his best friend's suspenders.

At that moment the back of the beast heaved, it's beady red eye opening wide. It grunted and everyone backed away, set defensively, afraid the boar was going to start attacking. As it shifted to it's feet it let out a loud squealing roar and charged off into the woods, knocking trees down in its clumsy wake, Balder running after it, "Wait! Come back!"

He stopped and sighed, muttering something along the lines of, "All that work for nothing."

He choked on his words as Loki grabbed him by the back of the collar and pulled him back towards the cottage, muttering frustrated ramblings. Meanwhile, Apollo whispered to Hades, "We'd better let Zeus know to hide his monsters better or Hercules will have nothing left for his trials."

Hades nodded, "Right ahead of you."

Loki smacked his friend on the back of the head, "What the hell do you think you're doing, block head?"

Balder folded his hands and twiddled his thumbs looking down shyly as he sheepishly drew circles in the ground with his foot, "Yui said to make Yule just like how we make it, so I tried to go out and get a boar so it would be special."

Loki was about to yell exactly what he was thinking, "Boy, don't you dare pull your cuteness on me!" Instead, it came out as, "Dammit, Kusanagi you got him so excited over this he can't sit still for TWO DAMN SECONDS!" However, Yui ignored him, "Balder you didn't…oh boy…you didn't have to go out and…wrestle with a dangerous animal. I'm sure what Thor has is perfectly fine."

Apollo in a feeble attempt to possibly one-up the tackling of the dangerous Erymanthian Boar raised Hades' bag and said in an expectant voice, "We've brought baklava."

Loki motioned them all towards the dorm and they all stepped ahead of him. He and Balder stood behind. As Balder made to follow them, Loki grabbed the back of his suspenders and snapped them against his back. Instead of a slap, it sounded more like a thud against Balder's back muscles. Regardless it sounded moderately painful, but it didn't phase him one bit.

"Come on Mr. Macho."

Inside the Norse dorm was a mess of green. Holly and evergreen trees, decorations, and wreathes hung everywhere, often accompanied by candles and red and gold ribbons.

"Wow," Yui said to herself, struck by the warmth the atmosphere had. In the very center of the foyer, where the sofa and chairs were usually placed was a long, long table, with deer carved into the sides. It seemed to be almost set, food everywhere. Thor with his oven gloves still on placed a bowl of warm stew to almost complete the table.

"Impressive, impressive!" Apollo said excessively, marveling at all the decorations.

"Where are the Japanese gods and Dionysus?" Thor asked, tucking the oven mitts underneath his arm and tugging a little at his dark blue long-sleeved shirt.

"Dee-Dee's on his way. So is Tsuki-Tsuki and Take-Take," Apollon replied. Meanwhile Hades looked a tad worried, "Let's hope they don't get lost."

Thor wrinkled his nose, just a bit, eyes straight for Balder. He took in his friend's state. He seemed fine, perhaps a bit overjoyed, but the look Loki had told a separate story. He looked like he had finally caught the family dog who was running loose, terrorizing the neighborhood.

Balder didn't look at all winded, but Thor could clearly see sweat stains in the pits of his shirt, and a patch underneath his chest. So that's what the smell was.

"Balder, you might want to change."

As Balder lifted the collar of his shirt to smell his stink, Loki waved to the sofas and chairs, stating calmly, "Make yourselves at home. We'll wait for the wingnuts to arrive."

Apollo glanced at a bare evergreen tree standing by the fireplace. It was already strung up with red ribbons and laces of silver. His eyes lit up, "Ooooooooh, is this what we're decorating?"

Loki and Thor glanced at each other before Loki said cautiously, "Usually we decorate the trees outside. Balder is going to light the candles for the trees outside. But by all means string some cranberries or whatever around this one. I'm sure it would please the spirits in them."

Apollo was giddy, reminding Yui just how children acted when Christmas rolled around. Anything from decorating trees to receiving gifts brought out the same childish glint that she now saw in Apollo's eyes. Even as Balder returned with a new clean sweatshirt, his face showed nothing but joy.

It struck her that Balder ninety percent of the time had that same joyous, happy, warm face, but she hadn't been able to see that face recently, with all the trouble he was causing and personal issues he was going through. It was nice seeing him so happy and upbeat. A bit out of control, according to Loki, but clearly happy to share a personal celebration with friends.

He grabbed the fire poker and stoked the fire, prodding an extremely large log, thick, as if it were actually from the trunk of a tree. Yui was momentarily distracted, but turned her attention to Thor when he held out what looked like a long steer horn. She glanced at him, bewildered.

"It's a drinking horn," he clarified. It was then Yui recalled what Balder told her when she spoke with him on his ship. She graciously received the horn, although she was hesitant to drink its contents.

Tsukito and Takeru arrived, Takeru holding up his steaming bowl of dumplings. Tsukito was caught staring at everything, asking calm questions about…everything. Loki pushed people to help themselves to snacks and mingle, more as a distraction to pull off a prank, which was gift wrapping the main dishes already laid out.

Balder's rather queued nose to anything meat figured out which wrapped dish was what but that didn't prevent the hassle of unwrapping everything. Dionysus finally arrived with a crate of wine, which only added to the amount of alcohol.

There was so much going on that Yui felt like her head was on a swivel, constantly concerned someone was going to hurt themselves. No one did. Everyone was having fun. It was a celebration after all. No one knew what everything was supposed to be leading up to, at least that was until Apollo climbed on top of the table, "Gift exchange time!"

Wait…what? Yui was never aware of a gift exchange. She blinked, watching as gods paired off, handing out gifts. From what she could observe, Thor gave Hades a large knit sweater with reindeer on it. Loki gave Tsukito a stuffed devil rabbit "friend" for Usamaro. Apollo gave Dionysus a wine cozy that read "put a cork in it" in Greek.

Takeru approached Balder with a rather solid look. He held out a white cloth, that had a red painted rising sun on the front, with two Japanese characters written on each side.

"Here," he said softly, awkwardly handing him the bag. "It's a banzai headband. Loki said you'd like one."

Balder's warm face blinked, not at all scrutinizing the smaller god. Truth be told, Takeru knew very little about Balder with the exception that he was immortal and loved the hell out of meat and had a strange fascination with anything Japanese. After getting his head knocked in weeks earlier during that outburst, Takeru never really thought of bothering with Balder much. He did however pick his name for the gift exchange.

Balder smiled and accepted the gift whole-heartedly, "This is very generous of you Totsuka. This is perfect in fact. Thank you."

A faint red dusting appeared on Takeru's cheeks. It was just a piece of cloth. There was no logical reason why Balder would seem so taken by it. At least he was pleased.

"Yeah, well, you're welcome."

"Wait," Balder called Takeru back. Takeru turned and gave him curious look, wondering what Balder could want next. The blond god turned and picked up a wooden box that was resting on the arm of the couch. He opened it and showed it to Takeru.

Inside was a long, neatly handcrafted pipe, with stylized waves etched all around it. Takeru's eyebrows shot to his forehead and he glanced back up at Balder.

"It's yours. As a way of saying 'I'm terribly sorry' for the trouble I've caused you."

There was a pause, Takeru fumbling over his words, "'You serious? I thought you picked Apollo?" Balder nodded. "He will get his gift, but this is for you."

Takeru didn't really smoke, but loved handcrafted things, small trinkets and of the like. He had a small collection of seashells and other objects he found washed up by the shores of the sea. Perhaps this was a perfect addition to his collection. The waves on the pipe certainly matched the waves on the used wooden print blocks he had acquired over the years.

"Thanks so much…buddy," he replied awkwardly giving Balder a light hit on the shoulder.

Yui watched the exchange, feeling a little left out. She was mature enough not to complain, but she truly wished she was at least notified. Apollo noticed her low face.

"What's wrong, Fairy?" he asked, eyes filled to the brim with worry.

Yui shrugged and answered honestly, "I just wish you guys would've told me about the gift exchange. I would've gotten you all something."

Apollo laughed, "We didn't tell you because of that very reason. We wanted nothing from you, but we wanted to give you this."

He waved Tsukito over who held a red leather bound book in his hands. He held it out to her.

"What is it?" she asked.

Loki growled, "Open it and figure it out."

Yui shot him a slight glare and opened the book. It seemed to be an album with neatly pressed flowers that still emitted their fragrances. On the side of each flower was its name scribbled in Greek, Japanese, English and Norse Runes.

"It's a book of all the flowers we could collect here in the garden!" Apollo announced proudly, arms outstretched. Yui's thanks hung in her throat as she flipped through the pages. She could tell which flowers Loki picked because he drew little devil ears and strange doodles to make the flowers look like weird faces.

"Everyone…contributed?"

A few nods. Yui blinked back tears of happiness as she embraced Apollo, then Thor who were the closest guys to her, "Oh thank you, thank you. This means so much. You didn't have to go through all that trouble for me."

"It was no trouble at all," Hades replied purposefully loud over Loki's, "You better be thankful."

Dionysus, cheeks red with wine already fumbled with an outdated radio and turned it on. The song was slow, jazzy, and Yui didn't dare ask Dionysus when or where he acquired it. Meanwhile the others continued to eat and drink, Loki sober enough to start dancing with a flustered Takeru who was issuing a slew of curses under his breath, desperate to get away.

Balder tapped Yui's shoulder. She turned to see him holding out his hand, "Can I have this dance?"

Yui's brow furrowed. Dance? With a boy who could barely walk two feet without falling? Still she smiled and accepted his offer. He pulled her to him and swayed with her to the music in a casual rocking motion, to and fro.

"Oh, no fair Bal-Bal. You can't steal Miss Fairy all to yourself."

Balder's jaw tightened, but he took a deep breath, chest expanding against Yui's breast, then relaxed, twirling her gently to Apollo, who happily received her and continued to dance.

Balder stepped back and bumped into Loki. His friend glanced up at him, seeing a look that was a mixture of anticipation and longing. Instead of saying anything, Loki nudged his friend, and offered him a bottle of ale, which he readily took.

Thor eventually got around to getting everything cooked and set up at the long table and barely managed to get everyone seated. He sat at the head of the table with an exhausted sigh.

"Can we dig in?" Takeru asked eyeing some baked potatoes.

Dionysus chuckled, "Easy there bro. Give the head of the table some time. And someone should make a toast."

Thor glanced to his right, where Balder sat, "Do you want to say something?"

Balder gave him a curious look, before understanding what he was getting at. He took a deep breath, prepared to make what was undoubtedly an awkward speech. Thor and Loki rapped their knuckles on the wood of the table to gain everyone's attention and the others followed, watch Balder stand with his bottle of ale.

"Thank you for coming. It's nice to see all our friends…and Tsukito…here today."

The guests smiled at Balder's small joke, except Tsukito who just looked half confused. Balder wet his lips as he tried to think up of something more to say. He did have something to say, but the majority of people at the table hardly understood what all this was about.

"Though I appreciate that we can all take the time to enjoy the celebration with each other, let us remember who this celebration is for."

He poured his ale from the bottle into his drinking horn and held it up in a toast, "To Hödr, whose hard work never fails to bring the seasons in order and the years to turn."

Loki and Thor raised their own horns and said together, "Hail Hödr!"

The others followed in unison, "Hail Hödr!"

"All right, let's eat!" Balder said as he sat back down rubbing his hands in glee, "Gosh that boar looks good."

"Yeah," Thor murmured passing the rye bread crackers to Loki, "and a heck of a lot easier to cook than that gigantic thing you wanted to bring in."

Yui wasn't used to eating this way, passing dishes over to her friends while took something and put it on their plate, but she enjoyed the experience. Silly to think that sharing a meal with people could be called an experience, but with the dorm filled with decorations and the hearth still ablaze with little chats and jokes whirling around her, it was hard to say she had ever experienced so much happiness and fun in one sitting. Nothing to worry about. No gods to be put on the right path. No relatives to impress.

Despite all that she felt the emptiness, the void that must've been isolating in Balder's heart. This was a celebration of his twin and although he made such a gracious dedication, Hödr would not be here to see this. Balder at the moment didn't seem to mind as he gorged himself with the boar Thor prepared. If he was fine, then she was fine too.

In her experience as a human, after people fed themselves during celebrations most would be winding down, weighed down by the amount of food they ate. Not these boys. It was hard to say when the evening went into a free for all but it did, Takeru and Apollo wrestling in the middle of floor, switching from traditional judo to Greco-Roman wrestling. Loki eventually stopped them with a nice dog pile right on top of them.

His joking manner turned to panic as Hades and Dionysus started throwing objects at Balder, watching in amazement as the objects bounced off.

"Stop it. He ain't a side show attraction!" Like they cared. Takeru and Apollo joined in throwing pine cones at Balder's back as he helped Thor clean the table.

Dionysus' wine eventually ran out, so he and Thor traveled back to the Greek dorm to grab another barrel of his wine, much to Hades' glee.

"With wine, there's no need to whine!" Hades smiled then burst out laughing, oblivious to the stare from Dionysus. "See that? It can be used twice in one sentence with a different meaning. And I thought of that just now."

Dionysus, bored and displeased, stared back at everyone while Hades was still laughing at his own joke and said, restraining a particularly vicious frown, "This is the first time I thought I could actually kill him."

"And with wine, Yule have a grand old time!" Hades laughed and was cut short, "Now see what I did there? Another homophone. Instead of 'you'll' as the contraction I used Yule as in the holiday. I mean this stuff is just golden!"

Dionysus' lips were split into a particularly painful fake smile, his hand shaking in restraint until, the glass he held his wine in shattered from the pressure.

The highlight of the evening was provided by the beloved Tsukito Totsuka. At some point, he came stumbling around eyes wide and jittery and spoke incredibly loud and fast.

"Hey! Hey! Wow this is fantastic! What's going on, what's happening? Come on, throw something at me."

Everyone looked at each other in shock, Dionysus especially looking panicked.

"Whaaaaat's with him?" Hades asked drawing out his question, almost afraid to move.

"I think it's the mushrooms Loki gave me," Dionysus admitted, holding up small baggie containing dark shriveled mushrooms.

"Loki!" Thor yelled but Loki looked just as surprised as everyone.

"I swear I only gave the shrooms to Dionysus."

When everyone's scolding glares hit the wine-haired god he too shot up the defense, "I only gave him one. I had no idea it would hit him this badly."

Tsukito was still pacing rapidly, ready and itching to do something. Yui thought to calm him down by placing a hand on his arm and saying calmly and softly, "Tsukito, why don't you have a lie down."

Tsukito turned to her and responded with a tremendous amount of uncharacteristic aggression, "Lie down? I think you should lie down. You should lie-"

He interrupted himself and grabbed her, dipping her back and crushed his face to hers, giving her a deep, long, aggressive, open-mouthed kiss. Yui practically felt her breath being sucked out of her mouth by Tsukito, her mind blank from shock, heart thundering in her chest.

All the rest of the boys froze in horror. Balder ground his teeth, and started forward but Dionysus stopped him, "Hold it there big boy. He's flat tripping balls. He's unpredictable at this point."

Finally, Tsukito released Yui with a satisfied sigh, leaving her breathless, shocked, and barely able to stand. The drugged moon god thrust his arms in the air in victory, "Whooooo!"

He looked around smiling ridiculously, before he started to pull on his sweater, "Is it hot in here? I'm hot. Is anyone else hot?"

"O-oh…my…" Takeru was close to having a fit, but he was too stricken with horror to stop his brother as Tsukito quickly stripped himself completely down to his briefs.

"Tsuki-Tsuki!" Apollo cried out at seeing his friend close to butt-naked.

Takeru, being the good little brother that he was, tried to talk his brother down off his high. He cautiously approached Tsukito like he was approaching an agitated lion, "Brother, let us get you cooled off then. Come on s-settle down."

As Takeru bravely approached his hyped out brother, Tsukito seemed to be having none of it. He backed away from his brother, dodging as Takeru tried to grab him, and breathlessly Tsukito ran out the door into the cold night.

"Brother!" Takeru followed him out to give chase. No one said a thing as they could hear the struggling and grunts outside of Takeru trying to corner his rampant brother.

"What the hell are those things?" Hades asked, his mouth slack-jawed.

"They are psychedelic mushrooms," Thor replied. "Before battles berserkers and warriors would take these to reach a frenzy, or völvas would take them before going into their trance."

Loki shrugged and added, "Or just for shits and giggles at parties."

At everyone's glare Loki added defensively, "Seriously."

Takeru finally got hold of Tsukito and pulled him indoors keeping him close by the arm, "Okay, brother, we've had our fun-"

"No, no, Takeru Totsuka. Totsuka Takeru. Taco. My little taco." Good god was Tsukito just flat out of it. He gently shoved Takeru in the shoulder, "Come on, we can do anything. Like…riding a mountain or lifting a hurricane."

Tsukito snapped his fingers and eyed the sea god in excitement, "We'll play tug-o-war."

"I-I am not playing tug-o'-war."

"Perhaps a glass of water could help Totsuka," Balder suggested. He had taken the psychedelic mushrooms a few times before in the past. Thor and Loki did as well. He always became dehydrated and water or even ale seemed to calm the high, even just a bit.

Tsukito shook his head, "Nope. Don't need it, Balder Hringhorni."

The purple-haired god laughed a high, cracking laugh, "'Hrinhorni'. Ha! Ha! It's funny because it's like a physical response to sexual stimuli."

Balder murmured under his breath bitterly, "Yes, I get the joke."

He pushed his little brother again, "Tug o' war, man. Come on! Come on! It's fucking tug-o'-war. So manly and proves—"

At that moment Tsukito stopped. His head snapped back and his eyes rolled up in his head as his mouth went slack. He fell face first to the floor with a thud where he lay, mostly naked and unconscious.

As poor Tsukito lay motionless on the floor, a silence filled the dorm, most unsure of what happened or if Tsukito was really passed out. Someone, either Dionysus or Takeru, broke the silence.

"The fuck!?"

Yui was the first to move, hand over her heart to keep the beating calm. She bent down, wondering and scared if he was dead or injured. She bent down to try to shake his shoulder, but Tsukito's back rose with a loud intake of breath, before he started breathing normally, but was still unconscious.

"Oh, thank heavens," she whispered, concerned for the worst.

Loki bent down beside her to inspect Tsukito even more in case he was experiencing any other negative side effects.

"Will he be alright?" Yui asked, her voice laced in rather intense concern.

Loki didn't look at her, but replied, "I'm not sure, but I sooooo want to take him to Valhalla. My god, the fun the Aesir would have with him…"

The night and fire dwindled and the gods, well fed and inebriated, one by one decided to retire to their respective sleeping arrangements within the Norse dorm guest rooms and closets. Thor was the last to ascend the stairs.

With the exception of Tsukito awkwardly asleep on the floor right next to the couch, Balder and Yui were alone.

She glanced at the god next to her. He seemed to be anxious. Yui didn't quite notice how much Balder enjoyed this Yule celebration. He seemed to be how he always was, if not drinking a little more than what she deemed was healthy.

"Did you have a good time?" she asked trying to get a good look into his eyes.

"Yes, yes I did," he said softly rotating his umpteenth bottle of ale in his hand.

"You're sure?"

Finally Balder turned his head to glance at her, perhaps a tad annoyed. His brow was furrowed, eyes heavy lidded as he tried to come up with a response, "It doesn't matter if I did or not. If everyone else had a good time, what does it matter?"

"It matters to me," Yui said, turning her body to face him her elbow propped up on the back of the couch to casually rest her head. "I did this thinking it would make you guys feel better."

Balder's lips curled upward, "I did feel better. And I believe Loki and Thor enjoyed themselves. The Totsuka incident is something I didn't expect, but otherwise thank you."

Yui shrugged, "It was the least I could do. But the celebration's not over. Tomorrow's Christmas—"

She glanced at the clock, making an odd noise in her throat when she realized that it was two in the morning on Christmas Day.

"Well today is actually," she corrected herself with a laugh.

"It's Christmas Day," Balder replied distantly. Perhaps that was why he was so nervous, but then it dawned on Yui that she made him a promise. She clutched the pendant at her neck. She told him that she would give him his gift on Christmas.

"D-do you want your gift now?"

Balder's jaw muscle twitched and it became apparent that it was weighing on his mind. He no doubt was looking forward to it, but did Yui truly want to do it? She wasn't going to kiss him just because he gave her some pendant. That frustrated him the most. He wanted her to want to do this. Or at least not care much either way than to feel like it was a chore, a task that she had to complete just so they could be even.

"Looks like Totsuka beat me to it," he said in a mock joking manner. Yet it was apparent that inside he was disappointed. It was immature, but since Tsukito grabbed first dibs, no matter how wrecked he was, it just seemed the gift he wanted was less…valuable or special.

Yui rolled her eyes and laughed, "That was no kiss. That was soul sucking. And it case it wasn't clear, I wasn't particularly enthused."

His eyes narrowed, not quite believing that she didn't at least get some enjoyment of getting such an intense kiss from the most stoic man in existence.

"Forget about it," he said, squaring his shoulders like a stubborn child.

Yui blinked, astonished. He wanted a kiss for his Christmas gift right? "I don't understand."

"I just…" he paused drinking the last of his ale. "I don't want you to feel obligated…"

"I don't feel obligated," Yui said. "I agreed to give you a kiss, so a kiss it shall be. I wouldn't have considered it an option if I wasn't okay with it."

In truth, she wasn't totally on board when she made the agreement, but she couldn't have been that upset if she had forgotten about it. At least that was what she assumed. But this was Balder. He was just probably curious about what a kiss with a girl was like.

Yui tapped his shoulder and smiled, "Come on."

Balder slowly bent over and placed his empty bottle on the coffee table, swallowing, showing his nervousness, "Okay."

They moved awkwardly at first, Yui wasn't sure who should make the first move. She quickly decided that it was her gift to him, so she should be the one to kiss. She's kissed boys before. And Tsukito kissed her. She wasn't new to kissing, but her experience only extended to quick pecks on the lips-Tsukito's face sucking aside.

So he's getting the short end of the stick here.

She placed her hands on his shoulders and leaned in slowly. Yui didn't have to push much further as Balder quietly filled the gap, pressing his lips to hers gently. Balder found warmth in the girl he was kissing and equal gentleness. He wasn't sure how to move but just let the sensation of her lips against him fill his senses. He was so far very, very pleased with the gift Yui gave and felt blessed in his heart. In recent days, he couldn't help but feel his heart racing whenever he was around her. And now it felt like his heart was about to beat out of his chest. But the more and more he felt the sensation, the feeling in his chest and nerves assaulted him violently.

And he couldn't stop.

Yui thought that it was nice kissing a boy. An innocent playful kiss she thought, until Balder's gentleness seemed to dissipate with every millisecond. His hold on her quickly tightened and he used his bigger size and weight to lean into her, laying her back on the couch.

"Bald—" she tried to cry but his mouth silenced her.

Yui's hands clutched his sweater, trying to get him to pull back, but found that Balder, against their agreement, gently slipped his tongue into her mouth. He was sloppy and inexperienced, giving away painfully that she was the first girl he's kissed, but he managed pull himself even closer to her, going by pure physical instinct, out of control.

While Yui was desperately trying to calmly pull him back to his senses, he unconsciously dragged his hand over her side, feeling her soft lovely curves, then up and up, cupping the underside of her breast.

Having enough, Yui tried to hit him over the head but missed and hit his shoulder instead. It was weak against his strength but it was enough to get him to stop.

"STOP!" she yelled shoving his chest and immediately Balder got off of her and sat back up, head hanging in embarrassment as he scrambled to try to hide the prominent bulge of his arousal clearly showing in his pants.

Her face was red with anger, and embarrassment at seeing his…state, but that didn't stop her from standing up and scolding him harshly, the firelight flashing before her confused and hurt eyes.

"I know you are feeling bittersweet at this time of year, but that does NOT mean you can take it out on everyone else!"

Yui didn't even allow for Balder to explain his bold and brash actions, she just marched up the steps to his bedroom where she was, quite ironically, staying for the night while Balder stayed in Loki's room. As soon as she closed the door she collapsed against it, mortified. She probably expected things to go too far with other boys, but in her heart she thought that Balder would be too self-conscious, too awkward and innocent to go further than a simple kiss, let alone want more.

Yui wiped her bruised lips, feeling their tenderness. How should she deal with it? Should she be mortified? Well she was mortified that Balder went that far. Yui didn't know if she could handle the reality of one prominent fact.

Balder clearly wanted her.

Downstairs, Balder remained alone, not daring to move until long after he heard the door to his room close. He thought little, mostly because of the flurry of confusion and guilt that assaulted his every pour. What…did he do?

He full well recalled his very actions, but…

He didn't want to think about it. Thinking about it just made his gut sour and his headache worse. With shaky breath, he trudged up the steps, his bones shaking. He couldn't tell if he should cry, be frustrated, or plead for forgiveness. He was too preoccupied with another "problem" still heavy in his trousers.

He entered Loki's room, finding his friend in bed already, his head shifting as he heard Balder come in. Loki didn't open his eyes and said sleepily, "What went on?"

"What do you mean?" Balder replied distantly as he quickly shed his sweatshirt and stripped his pants to his boxers.

"I thought I heard Yui yell," Loki mumbled into the forearm his head was resting on.

"It's nothing. You should go back to sleep."

What followed was a series of sighs, grunts, and shifting as Balder slid himself next to Loki on the bed, facing, quite unfortunately, his back. Balder let out a soft sigh as he let his body succumb to sleep.

Poor Loki however felt…something…press into his back as Balder settled on his side. He opened his eyes and said in a low, accusing voice.

"Balder…that had better be your penis."

The red-head glanced over his shoulder, realizing what he felt was indeed what he thought., "By the Norns Balder! Why in your father's name do you have an erection!? What did you two do!?"

Balder sighed in annoyance, and whined, "Nothing. Just go back to sleep."

"What? No. I'm not going to bed with your Gungnir pressing against me." The two grumbled and shifted and tossed in the bed trying to find different positions that would be amenable to both of them. Balder shifted to his back.

"...Oh good god. What, what is thaaaaat?" Loki pointed the tented blanket. "What the hell Balder? Boy Scouts can camp under that thing."

"Loki, leave me alone. I'm trying to ignore it and maybe get some sleep."

Loki was still heckling his friend; "You don't crawl into another man's bed with an erection…without extenuating circumstances. That's just common decency. Go into the bathroom and take care of that thing."

Balder turned his head towards his friend and gave him a pained and confused expression, "I…don't know how you mean…"

Silence. Several beats of silence as Loki's jaw dropped. A panicked scream hung in his throat. Instead he tried to speak as calmly as he could. "Balder, I know I told you the differences between girls and boys, but did I ever tell you the mechanics they both have?"

Balder sighed and rolled on his side, "Too late now I suppose."

"Yeah, whatever, too late to teach you how to rub one out," Loki sighed as he collapsed back on his bed, closing his eyes and gave one last mumble, "If you make a mess tonight, you're cleaning the sheets."

A/N: Little hornball Balder finally makes an appearance. Also a slight mention of a headcannon of mine that Balder may not be 100% sure of how sex actually works. I like to think he functions and thinks like a pubescent boy, which to us civilized girl minds, is gross and messy. But yeah, I hope the gross disgusting boy function talk didn't bother you guys too much. As always R&R.