Something important before this starts:

This is a modern day fic because I can't think of anything for good christmas presents in the series actual timeline. I have heaps of headcanons for what the RA characters would like in the modern day so I just put all that into this. I will admit a lot of the things I make them like are based on the things I like, or the things some of my friends or siblings like. Halt's one is entirely based on things I love, and he has more because I think about him more than the others. Crowley is more based on the things my sibling likes honestly, because I think it matches with him. Will and Gilan are kind of just random.

So here's just a list of things the I headcanon modern Ranger's Apprentice character likes that is relevant to the story:

Halt: Queen, ducks, Hunger Games, Maze Runner, I think he can actually play guitar, he just doesn't around people, and any Tim Burton thing, mainly the ones with Johnny Depp.

Will: Nirvana, Star Wars, Jurassic Park, this boy def broke his phone.

Gilan: Game of Thrones, he likes wearing and getting hoodies, he's pretty much a teenager that loves getting gift cards. I can't think of anything else for him.

Crowley: F.R.I.E.N.D.S, Disney, just get this man pride flags.

Anyway now that's sorted on with the story. Sorry if my self projection on some of the characters is annoying, it's just the only thing I can think of. That's why I made Will like Star Wars and Jurassic PArk, not only because I feel like he would, but also because I wanted to make these characters interested in other things, not just things I like. Also one more thing, just forget that Gilan has a family in this story. Now actually on with the story.

Will was bouncing eagerly up and down on his bed, waiting for Gilan to wake up. Gilan had come over to visit Will and Halt a couple weeks ago, and was staying with them until new years, as they did every year.

Will wanted to check the time, but he had broken his phone a couple of months ago, and it being closer to Christmas, they hadn't been able to get a replacement just then. He was hoping that he might get a new one for Christmas, but phones were expensive so he wouldn't be surprised if he didn't get one just then. He didn't want to get his hopes up.

Will glanced at Gilan's phone, which was clutched in his hand. Gilan had fallen asleep with it, as he usually did, and it surprisingly hadn't fallen out of his, pretty much older brother's grasp. Will reached over to it now and took it, turning the button on to check the time. 5:27am. He smiled at Gilan's lockscreen. It was a photo of him, Gil, Crowley and Halt from a trip they all took to the zoo. Will and Gilan had their arms around each other's shoulders and were smiling. Crowley and Halt were standing behind them, Crowley doing finger rabbit ears on the two younger ones, and Halt looking distracted by the otter enclosure that was near them, but out of shot.

"What are you doing?" Gilan muttered sleepily. Will looked up guiltily but relaxed when he saw Gilan grinning at him, a sign that he didn't care about the phone.

"Checking the time," Will explained.

"You should probably get a clock in here or something," Gilan said, sitting up. He had been sleeping in Will's spare bed , opposite Will's actual one.

"I did have one," Will said, "But it was on my phone and it broke."

"Sucks to be you," Gilan said, taking his sleeping shirt off and putting on his over one, that had been thrown at the foot of the bed. He glanced at his phone's clock himself now.

"It's 5:30," he said, "Not even Halt would be awake yet."

"Then we should go wake him and Crowley up," Will suggested. Gilan regarded him for a little while.

"Do you want to get hit with a pillow?"

"Pillow's aren't hard."

"They are if Halt's hitting you with one," Gilan pointed out, but Will was already walking over to the door. Now he felt obligated to follow his pretty much younger brother. They crept down the hallway, but Will walked past Halt's room and straight until the lounge. At first Gilan was confused, but then realised Will wanted to look at the Christmas tree in the corner of the room.

The lounge lights were off, but the tree lights were on, blinking and sparkly in different colours, lighting up that corner of the room and reflecting off the ceiling. It was truly beautiful, Gilan thought. He glanced down at the foot of the tree and saw Will looking through all the presents, seeing how many there were and checking the name tags. Gilan laughed softly to himself, Will was acting like a child. Then he realised that Will would never grow up when it came to fun festive holidays like this. And he wouldn't have it any other way.

"Look Gil," Will said, "This big one's for you." Gilan crouched down next to Will and saw that there was a large present with his name on it.

He noticed Will and stood up again and was tugging his arm like a nagging five-year-old. "Let's go wake up the others now," he said and Gilan followed him, creeping back down the hallway. They gently and quietly eased Halt's bedroom door open and crept inside. Halt and Crowley, like usual, shared a bed together. They claimed the reason was because Halt didn't have a spare and his one big enough for the both of them. Sure, Gilan thought to himself, that's the reason.

Halt's bed was pushed up against the corner of the room. Halt slept on the side closest to the wall, and was on his side, facing Crowley. Crowley was lying on his back. Will leaned over Crowley and gently shook Halt's shoulder, being careful not to touch him too much. They watched as Halt opened his eyes, and then sat up when he saw it was just Will and Gilan.

"What the hell do you two want?" He asked moodily.

"Good, you're up." Will said. Then he stumbled back as Halt hit him in the face with his pillow, just as Gilan said he would. By this point, Crolwey had also woken up and was leaning against the wall, just staring at Will and Gilan.

"What time is it anyway?" Halt asked, still glaring at them tiredly.

"5:30," Will replied cheerfully.

"5:36, now actually," Gilan corrected him, looking at his phone. Halt groaned and leaned back against the wall.

"Forget about the time," Will said, "Now that you two are awake we can go open presents! I think you'll like the things I got you."

"Is it at least another half hour of sleep?" Halt asked sarcastically, holding his head in his hands.

"Nope, it's something better. But you'll only know if you get up." Crowley pulled himself out of bed, but when Halt still didn't get up Will added, "If you get up now I'll make you some coffee."

"Fine," Halt relented, getting out of bed as well. He was already wearing his clothes, he just needed to change his shirt, which he did, into a David Bowie one.

When he walked out into the lounge, Crowley and Gilan were sitting down next to the tree, and Will was at the kitchen counter making them all some coffee. Halt went to sit next to Crowley, leaning against him slightly.

Will walked over to them all, expertly holding four cups of coffee and handed them out to everyone, keeping the last for himself.

"Guess we should hand out all the presents now." Crowley said, moving closer to the tree to look for one to pick up first. As was the tradition, Crowley was first to hand out a present, then it would just be random on who did what. Crowley picked out an envelope that was in the tree branches, not even looking at the name, showing who knew who it was for.

"This one is for Gilan, from me," he said, handing it to Gilan as he moved forward eagerly. He ripped open the envelope to reveal three $20 gift cards to their local mall. Gilan's eyes lit up in excitement. He could buy the things he wanted with these.

"Thanks, Crows," Gilan said, leaning over to give Crowley a hug. Crowley accepted it eagerly.

"Why did you get him three different gift cards to the exact same place?" Will asked. "Why didn't you just give him one $60 dollar one?"

"Because I know he likes the feeling of having more than one card on him," Crowley explained.

"Why?" Will asked.

"It makes me feel superior," Gilan said, mocking smugness.

"Lemme give one now," Will said, pushing past Crowley to get to the tree. Crowley didn't take offence, just grinned at the boy's eagerness. The same eagerness that came every year. Will selected a present that was clearly from him, evidence from all the cellotape used to wrap it. Will was famous for using heaps of cellotape, making his presents really hard to open.

He handed the present out to Crowley. "Here ya go," he simply said, and Crowley grinned even more as he accepted the heavily wrapped present. Even though it looked like it was a mid sized gift, the wrapping paper made it impossible to tell. He struggled for about a minute to open it, but he finally made it past the layers of paper. It was a pack of cards, but it was the TV show F.R.I.E.N.D.S themed.

"Thanks, Will," Crowley said, giving the boy a hug. Will smiled, glad that Crowley liked it, and moved back to where he had been sitting before. Without saying anything, Halt moved forward and grabbed a present, which was expertly wrapped, a big improvement from Will's chaos. Halt claimed he didn't care about the wrapping, claiming that there was no point if they were just going to be unwrapped again. But despite what he said, he still wrapped them better than anyone else. Crowley knew his friend liked wrapping presents, liked the feeling of going out and buying things for his family, and liked the feeling of giving presents. He selected a present that was the shape of a small square, and just over a centimetre thick. He handed it to Will.

"Here you go," he simply said. Will took the present from Halt, and unwrapped it to reveal two Nirvana CD's, their Nevermind album, and their In Utero album.

"Wow," Will said, "Thanks." He leaned forward to hug Halt, and Halt awkwardly accepted it.

Crowley moved forward once again and selected a present that was a sort of box shaped. He handed it to Halt, who looked at it with slightly curious eyes. He took it without saying anything and opened it without saying anything, and with no expression on his face. Beyond the wrapping it was revealed to be a box set of all of the Maze Runner books. Crowey knew Halt had read the series multiple times, but didn't have any of the books for himself. Although Halt's facial expression still didn't change, Crowley noticed his eyes light up a little as he stared at the books silently.

"Cool, thanks." Was all Halt said, but Crowley knew that was a sign his friend loved the present. Knowing Halt wouldn't, Crowley leaned forward himself and squeezed Halt's shoulders slightly. Halt's hand reached up to Crowley's and held it for a little while until they broke apart.

Will moved forward eagerly once again and grabbed another heavily wrapped present, handing it to Gilan. Gilan grabbed it and smiled at Will, who grinned crazily back.

Like Crowley, Gilan also struggled to open the present, but managed to get it done after a while. It seemed to be a plain black hoodie, which wasn't a problem to Gilan, but when he turned it over, the front of it revealed the words "WORLD'S BEST OLDER BROTHER!" in all blue letters. Blue was his favourite colour.

"Aww," Gilan said, smiling at the letters, "Thanks Will." He put the hoodie on right there, and moved to give Will a good hug. Will smiled, happy that Gilan loved the hoodie. They broke apart and it was Gilan's turn again to hand out a present. He grabbed one that was very thin and a big square. He handed it to Halt.

Halt easily opened it, and Gilan saw him smile slightly as he saw what it was. It was a Queen album on record, the Innuendo album, Halt's favourite.

"Thanks, Gil," Halt said, and Gilan brightened at those words.

Crolwey moved forward once again and selected something that looked like a small rectangular box. He handed it to Will.

"This is from all of us," Crowley explained and Will looked at it curiously. He took the present and unwrapped it. He smiled widely as he saw it was a new phone.

"Oh my gosh," he said excitedly. "Thank you all so much!"

"It was Halt's idea," Gilan explained, and Will smiled at Halt, "But we all chipped in the money."

"Well thank you," Will said again, moving around the tree to hug each of his friends. He placed the box with the phone in it to the side and moved towards the tree once again.

"I wanna give one again," he said. No one stopped him. He grabbed the last heavily wrapped present that they could see under the tree and handed it to Halt. Halt took it silently and didn't waste any time struggling to open it, instead he just took out a pocket knife he had next to him for opening things like this, and easily sliced past the cellotape and wrapping paper.

"Dammit," Will heard Gilan mutter, "Wish I thought of that."

"Next year, Gil," Will smiled at him. They watched as Halt finished opening his present. It was a new guitar capo, pick and a Nightmare Before Christmas guitar strap the Will had found online.

"Cool," Halt said, "Thanks, Will." Will nodded and moved back to his spot, satisfied that all the presents from him had been given, and successful. It was Gilan's turn to give a present again, and he grabbed one that was in the shape of a small rectangular box. Crowley unwrapped it to reveal a Disney Funko Pop of Merida from Brave. Gilan knew Merida was one of Crowley's favourite Disney characters, and Brave was one of his favourite movies.

"Thanks, Gil," Crowley said, smiling at the box, "I've been wanting this one for a while."

"I know you have," Gilan said, "I saw you looking at it when we went Christmas shopping together, remember? You're gonna keep it in the box right?"

"Yeah, they look better in the box," Crowley replied.

"And that way they don't lose their value," Will piped in.

"I don't care about the value," Crowley admitted, "I'm never going to sell it anyway."

"Who's going to give a present now?" Will asked, changing the subject.

"I will," Halt said, moving towards the tree. He selected a present that kind of looked similar to how his box set of books looked, but it was wider. He handed it over to Gilan.

Gilan unwrapped it eagerly, curious as to what it was, secretly hoping it wasn't books. He was pleasantly surprised when he saw it was a box set, but not of books, instead of all eight seasons of Game of Thrones, his favourite TV show, on DVD.

"Thanks, Halt," Gilan said, looking at the front and back of the box.

"Now you don't have to use illegal websites to watch it," Crowley said grinning.

"You're the one to talk," Gilan said, also grinning, "You and Halt use illegal websites to watch your TV shows and movies all the time."

"I never said we didn't," Crowley said, "I just said you don't have to anymore."

"True. Thanks again, Halt." Gilan said, looking at his friend.

"It's all good," Halt replied simply. Gilan set the box to the side and moved toward the tree.

"This is the last present I have to give," he said. He picked up a small little one, addressed to Will. He handed it to his friend.

Will inspected the small present before ripping it open. He smiled as he saw it was a set of Jurassic Park stickers.

"Oh thanks, Gil," Will said.

"And you can put a few of them on the back of your new phone," Gilan said.

"Oh yeah," Will said, "I can do that. Good idea." He leaned forward to hug Gilan in thanks.

"The only presents left are from me," Halt said, moving forward to the tree one last time. He picked up two presents, a small square shaped flimsy one, and a rectangular box. He lightly tossed the flimsy one to Crowley and handed the box to Will.

"You should open them at the same time," Halt suggested.

"Are they related somehow?" Will asked.

"No," Halt replied. "I just want to see you open them at the same time." Crowley and Will grinned and then started to rip past the wrapping paper. Crowley's present was a panromantic pride flag, and Will's was a new Star Wars lego set.

"Cool! Thanks, Halt!" Will exclaimed excitedly.

"Yeah, thanks," Crowley said, "I can hang this above my bed."

Halt stood up, "Alright," he said, "Will and Gilan, you two can clean the wrapping while Crowley and I go make breakfast."

"What do we do when we finish cleaning the paper?" Will asked.

"Then you can just move all the presents to the side and just hang out if you want to," Halt answered.

"Cool."

"What are we having for breakfast?" Gilan asked.

"Pancakes and bacon," Crowley answered for him.

"Yay!"

Halt and Crowley went to the kitchen, and started making their breakfast. Crowley was put in charge of the bacon while Halt did the pancakes. Halt got the pancake batter out of the pantry and started pouring it out into the pan, flipping them over expertly when the time came. Crowley buttered his own pan on the other side of the stove and laid the bacon strips out onto it. The sound and smell of sizzling bacon filled the room.

Will and Gilan had grabbed a cardboard box and started shoving all the stray wrapping paper into it. When that was done, Gilan walked outside to throw the paper into the recycling bin and Will moved the presents to the side like he was asked.

Cleaning up the lounge took less time than making breakfast, so Gilan and Will took themselves to the couch to relax a bit while they waited. Will glanced over at his pile of presents he had made up while cleaning. The box with his new phone in it was on top of it. Kind of like a cherry on top, he thought to himself, grinning. He reached over and picked up the box, inspecting the front, and then flipped it over in his hand to read the back.

Gilan was doing the same to his Game of Thrones box set, flipping the box over and looking at the small screenshots from the show they had put on it, trying to remember what episodes the shots were from and if he could remember it and the context.

Halt glanced up and saw Gilan and Will reading their boxes.

"I'll help you set up your phone after breakfast, Will," Halt called over to him, then he spoke to Gilan. "And I'll show you how to put the DVD's in, Gil."

"Thanks," Gilan and Will said, pretty much at the same time. A couple of minutes later, Crowley called the two boys over. They walked over to the dining and table and saw it had been set up. Crowley had put out some fancy place mats that Will assumed he had bought from home, since Halt didn't own any. Plates were already placed and the cutlery was placed beside them. The pancakes and bacon had been placed onto separate plates and were in the centre of the table, in reach of everyone. There were condiments set in the middle of the table next to the food. Whipped cream and syrup, along with a small bowl of nicely sliced bananas and a separate bowl of mixed berries. All in all, Will thought, it was a very appetising breakfast.

They all chose some seats and sat down. Will used the grabbed two pancakes, dropping them down on his plate, and using the tongs that were already on the table, picked up two pieces of bacon to go with it. He waited for Gilan to finish with the whipped cream, and then sprayed some over his pancakes, followed by a drizzle of syrup. He finished his meal off with a small spoonful of mixed berries. If he was hungry after this, he could always go back for seconds.

Gilan had a similar helping on his plate, except he had three pieces of bacon instead of just two and he had decided to not use syrup. Crowley was once again similar, with three pieces of bacon instead of two, and banana slices added in, and he decided to use syrup. Halt's meal choice was probably the smallest quantity, but nobody judged him for it. He still had two pancakes like everyone else, but no bacon and no mixed berries. He did still have some whipped cream, a bit of maple syrup, and a few banana slices.

Will watched as Crowley grabbed the whipped cream can, looking a bit confused when he didn't add anymore to his mostly eaten pancakes. Crowley stood up and walked over to Gilan. Gilan looked like he knew what was going to do, but Will was still a bit confused. He watched as Gilan threw his head back and opened his mouth. Then Crowley sprayed some whipped cream right into his mouth. Will laughed as Crowley moved the nozzle of the can a little past Gilan's mouth, and the cream went onto his face. When he was done, Gilan put his hand over his mouth to stop the cream from falling out again, as he tried to swallow it, and wiped the cream off his face.

Crowley walked over to Will. "You wanna try it?" Crowley asked Will first, "It's an old Meratyn family tradition."

"Sure," Will said, throwing his head back and opening his mouth like Gilan had done. He tried not to laugh too much as Crowley sprayed the whipped cream into his mouth, but his shoulders still shook. When he was done, and after he had successfully swallowed it without making too much of a mess, he saw that even Halt had an amused expression on his face.

Crowley was grinning at his friend. "You wanna try it this year, Halty?" He asked, with a bit of an evil tone if Will was being honest.

"No," Halt replied without hesitating, then added, "And don't fucking call me that."

Crowley shrugged his shoulders. "Alright then, do you at least want some more on your food?"

"Sure."

Crowley walked over and added some more whipped cream to Halt's food, then walked back to his seat, grabbing an extra piece of bacon.

When Crowley had finished his piece of bacon, he got up once again and went into Halt's room. He came back out a few seconds later with a small black plastic bag in his hand. Gilan and Will looked up at him curiously, but Halt looked like he knew what was in the bag. He stood up and left the room, going into his own.

Crowley placed the back on the table and pulled out four Christmas crackers. He placed one in front of each person and left the last one, probably supposed to be for Halt, in the middle of the table.

"These are homemade," Crowley said, "So if you don't like them I will take your criticism to heart and this Christmas will be ruined." He joked.

Gilan pulled Will's cracker with him, Crowley pulled Gilan's, Will pulled Crowley's, and Crowley let Gilan and Will do Halt's one.

"How come Halt didn't do it with us?" Will asked.

"He doesn't like the noise of the crackers," Crowley explained, then he called out to Halt saying that the noise was over. Halt walked back in and Gilan passed him the one he and Will had pulled for him.

In each cracker was a coloured paper crown that Crowley had said he found in a two dollar store, some handwritten Christmas jokes, a small chocolate bar, and a photo of them all from Christmas the year before.

Will read out his joke. "What do you get if you cross Santa with a duck? A Christmas cracker."

"What does Santa pay every month?" Gilan read his out, "Jingle bills. No offence, but these are the worst jokes I've heard in my entire life."

"You know that's the point of bad cracker jokes right, Gil?" Will asked.

"I didn't write them anyway," Crowley said, not taking any offence at all. "I asked Cassandra to write them."

"Oh, then they're not that bad then." Gilan said, smiling.

"She stole them off the internet," Crowley explained.

"Then I'm back to thinking they're bad."

Everyone placed the paper crowns on their heads, even Halt. Even though he had a bored expression on his face, everyone in the room could see past it and knew he was enjoying himself, though he probably wouldn't admit it. Gilan had an orange crown, Halt a green one, Crowley blue and Will purple.

Once all the dishes had been cleared away, and the table had been cleaned they went back into the lounge and just relaxed. Crowley had opened his card game and was flipping through all the cards, looking at all the F.R.I.E.N.D.S things on it. Gilan had started making a list of things he wanted to buy with the giftcards, and Halt was helping Will set his phone up.

Crowley and Will were still wearing their crowns, while Gilan and Halt had taken theirs off. Halt because he was bored with it, and Gilan because he had tried to slip it down his head to wear as a necklace and had ripped it in half.

Later on they would all go down to Arald's and Sandra's yearly Christmas and have some fun for the night, although Halt would only stay briefly just to say hi and then he would probably go home.

But for then, they were all content and they agreed it had been a pretty good Christmas.

So that took me three days to write. I hope you enjoyed it. I personally feel like I may have made it a bit boring and rambled on a bit with the present bit but I just felt like giving them all presents. The reason I did a modern AU for this was because I couldn't think of giving them any presents without using my modern AU headcanons I have for them. Most of how they spent their Christmas morning in the story is how I spend my Christmas morning with my family so it's basically all based on that.

Please review if you have any feedback or something to say, and I hope you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year that isn't filled with disappointment.

-That One Enby Ranger-