Y/N: This was so much fun to write. Makoto gets to grow a bit as a person and I'm so proud of him. He didn't grow much, but then his dad is Koushiro, and he's emotionally stunted even now, so any progress is astounding really. Haruki's just the most mature I think of my characters for this story. He's fun to write, but isn't nearly as 'out there' as say Chika. He's nice and relaxing to write.

Title: Here Comes Santa Claus

By: YukiraKing

Disclaimer: We don't own Digimon or its characters.

Chapter 16: Santa Baby

Makoto Izumi:

I was procrastinating, so sue me! I ordered Osamu's present online only two days ago, instead of earlier like Dad was constantly reminding me. He didn't want me to miss the deadline of Christmas. Mom told him that I was a smart kid, and that there was no way that I would forget Osamu's present, since he was my friend and I wouldn't want to disappoint a friend like that.

Obviously Mom was wrong.

It was dangerously close to Christmas day, and I hadn't picked up the present yet. The post office was going to close in like twelve minutes, and I was forced to run through the slushy streets, getting dirty snow all over my pants. I wasn't in a good mood, and it was only made worse by Mom's ever growing faith in me. I was going to disappoint Osamu, and there was nothing I could do about it. Twelve minutes might not be enough time!

But it was. I got there, and there were still eleven minutes to spare. I felt pretty good about my chances at that point. I was going to be alright. I wouldn't be the Grinch that stole Christmas, I'd be the guy that saved it instead. It was awesome.

"Makoto?"

I looked to the people in front of me, trying to keep my hair out of my face and failing, because the snow had made it heavy, and was now starting to melt, ruining whatever semblance of a hairstyle I might've had going on. I finally gave up on trying to shake my hair out of my eyes with a cool sort of nod, and just picked up the damp chunks of hair and moved them from my face. Momoe and Jou Kido were smiling at me, trying not to laugh. I tried to play it off, like I was acting out a comedy or something, but I just wasn't into the scene today, or something, because I just sighed and almost got embarrassed.

This Christmas thing was throwing me off my groove.

"What are you doing out here?" Momoe asked. "It's a snow storm out there."

"I have to get my Secret Santa present," I sighed.

"Could you give this to Renjiro for us?" Jou asked, handing me an oversized manila envelope. I sighed, but I took it, because I couldn't just refuse. That would be rude. I didn't know how I was supposed to handle the pressure, but I figured I'd have to find some way to deal with it. This was Renjiro's future all sealed in one envelope. I held the truth of whether he got into the school of his dreams or not. I would be the one he would subconsciously resent if he didn't get in. I would be his hero if he did.

It was too much pressure all crammed on my—rather impressive—shoulders.

But instead of admitting to my fear, I just forced a smile on my face and looked at my mother's best friend and nodded. "Sure thing, Mr Jou," I said. I mentally rolled my eyes at myself for reverting to my childhood nickname for the guy, but he seemed pleased. He then put his hand on my head and messed up my hair. It was already a mess, but he just made it worse. I wasn't a toddler. I didn't need him to pat me on the head and tell me I'd done a good job.

Even if it did feel kind of nice.

"Next!" the old woman with the blue eye shadow and drawn on eyebrows called. I waved to Jou and Momoe, and stepped up to the counter, giving the woman—who was sadly untalented with make-up if that lip liner was anything to go by—my name and phone number. She smile at me and went into the back to find my package.

"Thank you, Makoto," Jou told me. "Have fun tonight, yeah?"

"Please make sure Emiko doesn't ruin everything," Momoe added, as if I was enough to stop Emiko when she really got in the mood for mischief. I smiled anyway and nodded.

"You guys have fun too," I told them. They smiled and then left, and I was able to fully embrace my misery. I was wet, I was cold, I was almost out of time, and I had to go back to a house full of kids that were hyped up on chocolate, and for what? So Louisa could celebrate a Christmas of happiness and togetherness—completely disregarding the Aika situation. It was hard enough to deal with on a regular day, let alone a crowded one. Aika just didn't seem impressed by my attempts at offering her my friendship. It was pretty rude, in my opinion, since I was doing my best and I genuinely wanted to mend that bridge. I missed having her around. The guys were great, and we had a lot of fun, but it would be better if we were whole again. We hadn't been, since Aika left.

"You got a date, Makoto?"

The voice was feminine, and sounded offensively disbelieving. I knew it was Kaoru without turning to see, but I turned anyway, because I'm a moron. She smirked when I looked to her, and I glared at her and her porcupine hair. She was swaying her feet, sitting on a tall stool, tapping her fingernails against the counter.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, rolling my eyes.

"You've got special plans for the night," she said, looking towards where Jou and Momoe had been. "It's a romantic night, ergo, you have a date."

"First, no one says 'ergo' anymore, second, I could get a date whenever I wanted one, and don't you pretend any differently, and third, it's not a date," I said, feeling contradictory as I said it, but I didn't care. I was procrastinating and I was running out of time, and I'd just noticed that the bad make-up lady wore a fake spray tan, because I could see the residue on her chair and it was gross. I was wet, cold and miserable. I didn't need to deal with her right then. It was just like adding insult to injury.

"Are you babysitting while someone else goes on a date?" she asked in that cooing tone that people use when they talk to babies. It was insulting and uncalled for. I refused to pout and turn away however, because she'd feel like she won, and I couldn't bear the thought.

"I happen to be celebrating Christmas with Americans this year," I said stubbornly. The bad makeup lady came back and handed me a package, and I took it with a smile. I opened it then and there, to make sure it was the right game, and there weren't any mix-ups.

"I'm sorry miss," the woman said to Kaoru, apologetically. "It appears your package isn't here after all. It seems that someone called you by mistake."

"But I need it tonight," Kaoru said, sounding upset instantly.

"I can do nothing. But I must ask that you leave now, as we are closed," the woman said with a fake smile. "I am happy to have served you."

"You didn't serve me at all," Kaoru grumbled, storming outside. I took one last look at the woman's horribly applied makeup—even I could put makeup on better than she could, and I only knew how to apply stage makeup, where bigger was better—and then raced out into the gross weather after Kaoru. I found her sitting on a bench, looking to her knees sadly.

"What's wrong?" I asked her.

"Didn't you hear? My package got lost in the mail," she said. "This sucks. I needed that game you know. How am I supposed to show up to our date without a present? He told me what he's getting me. He's getting a necklace. A necklace. I can't show up empty handed!"

"What game?" I asked. What I really wanted to ask was: who is he? But I couldn't do that. That would be weird. Kaoru and I weren't even really friends.

"I don't even know," she sighed. "Super Fighting Zombie Bots or something, I guess. I didn't really pay attention. I just know he's wanted it forever."

"It just came out two weeks ago," I told her. I knew, because I was holding it in my hand. Osamu had been intrigued by it when Elliot was raving about it, and I thought he might like a copy of his own. I was going to be the star of the Super Santa, because the game rocked that much.

But looking at Kaoru's face, it felt like a rock had sunk to the bottom of my stomach, and I sighed.

"This game?" I asked, showing her the cover. Her eyes lit up when she saw it.

"Yeah," she said. "That's the one."

"Take it," I said, making up my mind. I didn't need to be the star this time. I could let Kaoru have the honour. "It's a onetime offer. It's yours."

"I don't understand," she said. "It's yours. You bought it."

"And you need it more than I do," I said. "I'll get Osamu something else. Don't worry about it. Go impress some guy." I could do that for her. She was of the few people that was always willing to give me attention. It was mostly negative, but it was there. That was important to me—at least a little bit."Merry Christmas."

"It will be, thanks to you," she said, smiling as she took the game from me. "I don't know how to repay you."

"Don't," I said with a shrug. "I'm kind of a jerk."

"Not today, you're not," she said. "Merry Christmas." She walked off into the snow so she could meet up with what's his face. And I was left standing in the gross falling snow. I sighed. Somehow, I didn't feel quite as miserable as I had just a little bit ago. I wondered if it was Louisa's 'power of Christmas' or if it had more to do with what Daisuke told me ages ago.

"Being a big shot is awesome," he said. "Don't let anybody trick you into thinking otherwise. It's just a known fact. But it's not everything. It's fun and all, but it's going to take over your life, and then you'll be left with nothing. Pride gets in the way, you know."

"No," I said because I didn't know.

"Okay, look, sometimes you're going to be the hero, and you're going to get recognized for it," he said. "And by hero, I don't mean a literal hero, sometimes it's just that you're the best at something, or you won and someone else lost. But there are times when you need to step aside and let someone else get the credit, even if you did it. Other times still, you'll share the credit. It's all about humility, man, and I think you'll be great at it someday. That's why I'm going to be giving you my Crest."

"Okay..." I said, snorting. That sounded like a horrible idea to me.

"It feels good, you know, when you share, or give it away. It's not about always being the star, it's about making sure other people are included, and caring about their feelings," he said.

"Sounds boring," I decided.

"You'll get it one day, I hope."

And he was right. I was pretty sure, by letting Kaoru be the star of the night, I was showing some sort of humility. I was giving up the best present ever, and I didn't even feel angry about losing to her. She was going to have a great date, and I was going to get Osamu something else—probably a boat load of candy, because everyone likes candy and it's cheap—and I was going to look like an idiot, but it didn't matter, because of that smile she gave me. It didn't mean I liked the guy that I gave the game to. I didn't know who he was, but I didn't like him anyway.

But her smile made it worth it.

It was a strange feeling, almost like I was growing up. It was really weird, and I made a mental note to stop doing it. But for now, it felt pretty great.

Haruki Motomiya:

I would never complain about having only one brother again. I'd complained a lot in the past, before Yukai was born, about being an only child, and when he was born, I loved having him around. But after spending an afternoon trying to keep a bunch of kids wrangled, and then getting them to eat their vegetables, and getting them to brush their teeth, and comb their hair, and get into their pajamas...I was stressed out, big time. Miyako was a miracle worker, having four kids and not having grey hair yet. That's all I could say.

But they were asleep. Emiko and Azura were asleep, having passed out as soon as Josei did, exhausted after having to bear the brunt of the stress and responsibility of the day. Taro and Yukai wouldn't sleep until we let them move their sleeping bags together, and then they wouldn't sleep because they were too busy talking to each other. They thought that because we couldn't see them, they were invisible or something, but it simply wasn't the case.

The tree was in the middle of the room, and our pillows were surrounding it—and the Secret Santa presents—while our bodies all fanned out. Madlyn was wedged between Emiko and Azura, just to annoy them. Aika was half wrapped around Shouta, and Chika was upside down, putting her feet on her pillow. Nikko had draped an afghan his mother knit over her, and smiled, before tucking himself in next to her, only for Makoto to shove him over and plant himself between his friend and his sister.

It was all very dramatic. In the end, I was pretty sure everyone was beside someone that they liked, and eventually, everyone had fallen into a slumber. I wasn't allowed to, or I definitely would have done so as well. But Louisa had pulled me aside earlier, and I couldn't say no.

"Haruki," she whispered, looking cautiously towards everyone that was eating dinner. "I need your help later. Can you do it?"

"Do what?" I asked, already knowing I was going to say yes no matter what she said, just so I could see her smile.

"Iris and Madlyn are expecting Santa to get them presents," Louisa told me. "But I don't think Santa can even get into the Digital World. You and I are going to be his elves for the day."

"What?" I asked, more confused than before.

"I asked their parents for ideas, and I bought everyone a present so that Santa's magic will live on," Louisa said. "Can you wait up and help me with them?"

"Okay," I said. Being alone with Louisa might be all it took for me to finally speak my mind. I was pretty candid with her earlier, because I'd finally built up the courage to just move passed the past, and start figuring out what I wanted out of life. And I wanted to explore the possibilities that Louisa presented to me. Besides, Mai was right. My reasoning for not dating her was actually stupid.

"You're the best!" Louisa said cheerfully, going to hug me, before stopping herself. She flushed bright red and wandered off.

So, yeah, I was going to be Santa's elf for the evening. I knew that there was a pile of presents hidden in Taichi and Rei's bedroom, which was why Emiko and Azura were sleeping on the floor with us at all. I was going to be spreading Christmas cheer for all the little kids—even the ones that didn't know who Santa was, like me, because I actually had to look him up to know what it was he was meant to do. I'd seen him around in shops and stuff, but my family was pretty calm about the Christmas deal and we would just spend time together, usually travelling.

When I couldn't bear lying in the dark anymore, without falling asleep, I got up and tiptoed my way into the kitchen. No one woke up, so I figured I was good. There was a gingerbread house all decorated by Kana and Tenshi, and looked picture perfect, and then there was another house, on the counter beside it, that the kids decorated after they'd come in from their snowball fight. It was a mess, but they were quite proud. There were literally twenty dozen sugar cookies all in decorative Christmas bowls, and there were gingerbread cookies—only about a hundred of those—all decorated by the kids, Kana and Tenshi, and they were displayed on two three-tier stands. Louisa had insisted on chocolate covered peanut butter balls, and there was peanut brittle, and almond brittle. There was spice cake, and carrot cake. There were cupcakes decorated to look like Christmas trees.

There were far more treats than we could actually eat, even with our parents and all of the partners around. But it didn't matter. They could be taken home, and eaten later. I could have taken a few then and there, with no one around to tell me not to. But I didn't. I was too tired for more sugar, and just boiled the kettle for some plain tea instead.

I was halfway finished with my tea before Louisa came into the kitchen. She was rubbing her eyes, and her hair was a mess.

"I fell asleep," she said, with a great big yawn. "I'm sorry to keep you waiting."

"Should we get going?" I offered. She nodded, and I abandoned my tea on the counter, before leading her up the stairs. The gifts were all of varying size, but they were all things that we wanted. I was a little intrigued when I saw one with my name, and couldn't help but wonder what my parents thought I would like. Louisa squeaked when she caught sight of her hair in the mirror, but I thought it was cute, and I told her so. "It looks cute."

"You think I look cute?" she asked. Her face flushed, and she shook her head. "I meant my hair, not me."

"Funny, I didn't," I said with a smirk, as I took the bulk of the presents out of the room. She squeaked again, and followed after me. We brought the gifts down to the kitchen, so we could read the tags. It became my job to sneak them out to the living room, where I was supposed to put them at each individual's feet—except Chika, since she was upside down. It was after I took the last two—Taro and Shouta's—and was going back to the kitchen that I noticed Louisa was gone. I peeked back in the living room, though I would have noticed if she'd gone out there. She hadn't. I quickly drank my cold tea, and set out to find her.

I did find her too, she was balancing on a chair on top of the dining room table, where our parents would all be eating tomorrow to escape from the bedlam that we kids were bound to induce. Louisa had little place cards all written out fancy, and she looked to be hanging a piece of mistletoe above two specific chairs. I didn't need to look at them to know they were Neo and Evelen's chairs. She shipped Nevelen hard, even though the pair was already married. It was kind of ridiculous, but I found her passion rather endearing.

Her bravery on the other hand, it was out of control.

She was leaning over the edge of her chair, and I was quick to get below her, because I knew what was bound to happen. She tried to hold in her scream, so that she didn't wake the kids, but she still let out a wail. She couldn't help it. She was falling off of the chair. I caught her, before she could fall too far, however, and laughed—not because it was funny, but because I was so relieved that she was okay.

"Sorry," she said, trying to untangle herself from me, and only proceeded to almost fall again. I held her tightly, moving away from the table far enough that I was able to set her on her feet. She flushed, embarrassed, and I smiled at her. We were pretty close—like any closer, and we'd be touching. She was pretty flustered, and I might've been too, but it was a perfect moment, and I wasn't about to waste it.

"Look up," I told her.

"What?" she asked, looking directly up, anxiously, like there was going to be a big spider or something.

"We're under the mistletoe," I whispered.

"No one's going to know," she said. "We don't have to kiss."

"I know," I said simply. But I didn't care. I leaned in and pressed my lips against hers. They were soft and warm, and still. It took her a moment before her brain caught up with the situation, and then she was kissing me back to. It was tentative, it was chaste. But it was a stolen moment between the two of us late on Christmas Eve, one of the most romantic days in all of Japan.

"Does this mean...?" she asked, when we'd pulled apart.

"We can talk about what it means tomorrow," I suggested. "I'd like to savour the moment if I can. And we really need to get to bed."

"I'm going to hold you to that," Louisa said, smiling while flushing, before she wandered back to her sleeping bag. I stared at her bed head the entire way, smiling to myself. As soon as she was out of sight, I did a little victory dance. She was happy, she didn't hate me. She might even say yes if I was to ask her on a date. This Christmas was turning out to be pretty great, even if I was disregarding my homework, and tennis practice just to take part. It was worth it. She was worth it.

I'd figure out what I wanted to do with my future later.

For now, I wanted to live in the present. It seemed like the place to be—especially if Louisa was going to be there too.

Featured Evolution Line: Taro: Leafmon—Minomon—DoKunemon—Snimon—Dinobeemon

Taro and Yukai: Imperialdramon (Fusion)