ITS DECEMBER TIME! new readers: sunset is from chapter 10 of broken quartz! tho you'd have to read that fic for context of every character lmao

Quartz was at Arowana Mall alone on Squidmas Eve. He felt nostalgic walking through it, since he never shopped here since the day Cerulean and Haru took him in. "Celeste said she wanted the gold edition of her Splatsune Inku manga…It shouldn't be too hard to find." thought Quartz. His first ever holiday season was full of all kinds of crazy new things, from being dragged to every last Squidmas sale by Celeste, to working with Akari to help a young girl during a power cut.

"Hm? Is that Quartz?" an orange inkling asked herself. She quickly realized it was indeed him, and waved to get his attention. "Quartz, what brings you here?" asked Sunset. "The gold edition of Splatsune Inku." answered Quartz. "Good luck with that!" laughed Sunset. "It's notoriously rare!"

The dark purple octoling felt his jaw drop. "You should've started your shopping earlier!" the orange inkling laughed. "It's not my fault I never celebrated Squidmas before!" scoffed Quartz. "That's odd." said Sunset. "I guess you had your reasons though." Quartz let out an internal sigh of relief, he did not want to explain his story to her. "I don't worry, I got you! There's a few different book and anime stores in here!" grinned the orange inkling, taking his hand and running off. "If we don't hurry, you can kiss those last copies in stock goodbye!"

"Damn, you're so fast!" huffed Quartz as they ran to the nearest store called Anime Hoard. Quartz eyed the posters, plushes, figures and boxes of pins with not only Splatsune Inku but other unfamiliar faces. Barnacle & Dime didn't have many stores like this. Sunset walked right up to the cashier while he looked around. "Hey, we're looking for the gold edition of Splatsune Inku."

"Hey, I'm buying this." said another voice, handing the cashier the exact manga the two were looking for. "Sorry sweetie, that was our last copy." smiled the cashier to Sunset, a bit mockingly. The orange inkling angrily glared at him. "Ooh, that was the last of my patience too." she retorted, stomping away to find Quartz. "Uh, Quartz?" she called, watching the octoling fully lost in the TV. "What anime is this?" he asked. "Come on." she sighed. "There's three more stores to look in."

As they walked to their next destination, Sunset noticed a sparkle in Quartz's eyes. He seemed happier than when they met. "So, what's got you in a good mood?" she asked. "I guess everything in my life finally feels peaceful." answered Quartz. "Did Bay and Kai confess to you, perhaps?" smirked the orange inkling. "Y-Yeah." mumbled Quartz, blushing. Sunset couldn't help but chuckle.

The next place Sunset took him to was called Cephalobooks. After the last store, the orange inkling just about had it with these clerks. "HEY, YOU GOT SPLATSUNE GOLD?" shouted Sunset. "No, sorry." replied the cashier. The two groaned in frustration.

While they continued their search, Celeste was at home, holding a ridiculously giant stick with a mistletoe hanging off of it. "Heyyy uncle Ash!" she smirked. "SUP CEL?" grinned Ash, giving her a high-five. "I wanted to talk to you and Flint." smiled Celeste. Ash nodded. "No problem! FLINT! CELESTE WANTS US FOR SOMETHING!"

"Geez, quiet!" groaned Flint, getting out of the kitchen to talk to them. "So what did you wanna talk about?" he asked. "Oh, forget it! Look above you!" cackled Celeste, holding out her giant stick with a mistletoe hanging off of it. "O-Oh." mumbled Flint. "Would you look at that!" laughed Ash. "You know what that means!"

"Idiot." muttered the light green inkling, giving Ash a light kiss on the nose. Unfortunately for Flint, his older sister caught them in the act. "GAAAAAAY!" shouted Ember, taking out her phone's camera. Ash winked at her before pulling in Flint for a full-on kiss on the mouth. "I find being that bold kind of stupid." commented Akari. "YOU'RE STUPID!" scoffed Ember jokingly, giving the octoling a fruity hand flick.

"SHIT! WHERE THE HELL IS QUARTZ?!" shouted Cerulean, running into the living room with Haru and Hiroko. "I thought he was at the mall, passionately making out with his boyfriends!" laughed Celeste. "Dear cod, why did I let that blue idiot near him?" sighed Cerulean, referring to Bay but wasn't concerned about Kai. "I already searched through Barnacle and Dime, but he wasn't there." answered Hiroko. "I don't want to assume the worst. Maybe he's shopping somewhere else?"

Quartz and Sunset were now at a place called Octo Dungeon. "Lady. Gold. Inku." growled Sunset to the cashier. "Are you kids okay?" asked the concerned cashier. "LISTEN GIRLIE, WE'VE GONE THROUGH 16 STORES WITH NOTHING!" yelled the orange inkling. "Okay, okay, geez! I got no idea so look around, okay?" groaned the cashier, pushing Sunset further into the store. "You find anything?" she asked her friend.

Quartz shook his head and kept looking. A man carrying a few big boxes put the boxes near him. "SHIPMENT FOR OCTO DUNGEON!" shouted the man before leaving. "Thank you!" replied the cashier. Right there in the box was a single copy of Splatsune Inku's gold edition. Quartz sighed in relief knowing their adventure ends here, and slowly reached for it.

"Hey, HANDS OFF!" hissed a low voice. Quartz looked up to see an octoling boy taller than him. He had the octolocs hairstyle in a peach color, and he wore the pullover coat and the ocho octophones blancos. One of his eyes was covered too. He snatched the manga, but Quartz tried taking it back.

"DAMN YOU!" shouted Quartz, getting Sunset's attention. "HEY! WE NEED THAT MANGA YOU BASTARD!" yelled Sunset, rushing over to help Quartz. Being taller, stronger and likely older, the mysterious boy won the tug of war and ran off into the mall.

"Oh, he's gonna get it." scowled the orange inkling, taking out her splat roller. Quartz nodded in agreement and took out his mini splatling, then the duo ran out after him. They chased him into the food court, which wasn't fun for the people they almost crashed into.

"IT'S JUST A BOOK YOU PATHETIC BASTARDS!" shouted the mysterious octoling, who was slowly being cornered by the two. "Look buddy, we've been looking for that thing for AGES!" growled Sunset. "Hand it over to Quartz and there won't be any issues."

"That goth rat next to you?" groaned the peach octoling. "I need it for my sister." responded Quartz in a low voice, glaring daggers at the other octoling. "And don't fucking refer to me like that." he added in an even lower tone. "What? Gonna try beating up someone way taller than you?" snickered the other boy. "You think I'd be wrecked by a couple of queers?"

"DUMBASS!" shouted Quartz and Sunset, who both acted on their instincts to drop their weapons and shred him with their bare hands. They punched and scratched like cats, and each party threw nasty insults at each other. An older octoling holding an octoshot spotted them and rushed to the scene.

"What caused this?" boomed Hiroko. "He took Celeste's present and called me a bunch of horrible things." answered Quartz. "I see, and you?" Hiroko asked the other octoling. "M-Miss H-Hiroko, forgive me!" he stammered.

"Who's she?" whispered Sunset. "She's Hiroko, she's my oldest friend." replied Quartz, curiously watching her and the other octoling. "We don't steal things in a mall! Especially from little boys around the holidays!" scolded Hiroko. The peach octoling nervously nodded and ran away, giving her the manga.

"Here." smiled Hiroko, handing the book over. "Who was that?" asked Quartz. "I don't actually know his name, but I know him from Octo Canyon. He's a few years older than you and I always catch him causing trouble." explained the elite octoling. "And as for you, did you really go all the way to Inkopolis without telling anyone?!" she asked, getting serious again.

"Yes…" answered Quartz, shamefully. Hiroko was going to remind him about those who are out to get him, but she could tell Sunset was feeling a bit awkward standing there, and she didn't have the heart to scold him anymore. "I'm just glad you're safe." smiled Hiroko, softly.

"HEY! YOU STOLE MERCHANDISE FROM MY STORE!" shouted the clerk from Octo Dungeon. "Don't ask." chuckled Quartz to Hiroko, nervously. "It's on me." Sunset told the elite octoling, giving the money to the employee. "It's the holidays, so I should do something generous for someone."

"Thank you." nodded Quartz. "Oh yeah! I got you a gift too, but it's not much." said Sunset, giving him a chocolate bar. "The guidance counselor gave it to me a few days ago before the break, but I don't like caramel."

As someone who didn't go to school, Quartz didn't understand half of what she just said, but was thankful anyway. "I do." he replied, slightly smiling under his mask. "Well, I guess that's that." smiled Sunset. "See ya!"

With the rare manga in hand, Hiroko took Quartz home. "OH THANK GOODNESS!" sighed Cerulean, squeezing the dark purple octoling. "I was just at Arowana." sighed Quartz, patting the inkling's shoulder. He could barely breathe when Haru decided to join in on the hug.

"Hey, the cookies are about to burn." said Akari from the kitchen. "AHH! COMING!" panicked Haru, running back into the kitchen to take them out. "YES! THEY'RE READY!" grinned Celeste. "CERU! YOU MIGHT WANNA STOP SUFFOCATING YOUR SON IF YOU WANT COOKIES!" remarked Ember as she passed by. Ash followed, dragging Flint by his hand.

"Just leave some for Squid Claus tonight." smiled Haru. "Dude, I think your kids are too old for that!" shrugged Ember. "Wait, those Squidmas characters are real?" asked Quartz, grabbing a gingerbread octo. Before Ember could tell him the sad truth, Haru quickly told him "Yes! But only when we're asleep!"

Ember lost interest and hung up a mistletoe in the kitchen. "HEY GUYS!" she shouted, pointing to it. "I'm outta here, I've had enough of you bullying me over my crush!" sighed Flint, quickly leaving the kitchen with a bunch of cookies in hand. "Who's your crush?" asked Ash. "Uh, it doesn't matter!" replied the light green inkling.

That just left agent 8 and the captain of the New Squidbeak Splatoon. Haru gave Cerulean a suggestive smile. The inkling gave him a smirk back, and the octoling responded by pulling him under the mistletoe for a sweet kiss. "Those are my boys." commented Akari. "YOUR boys?" questioned Ember.

Without anyone to kiss, Quartz left to wrap his presents in his room. "Do you want help with that?" asked Hiroko, cracking the door open. "Yeah, come in." nodded Quartz. "I feel like I didn't get enough for everyone." sighed the dark purple octoling. "I think everyone is just happy that you're enjoying your first Squidmas." smiled Hiroko. "I know I am."

"Yeah, but-" The elite octoling gently cut Quartz off as they continued wrapping the presents. "I know this might sound silly, but to a lot of us, you're the gift. Seeing you happy and become so much stronger over the past months just makes me really happy. After being held captive for so many years, you deserve to have a great Squidmas. Don't worry about if your gifts are good enough, the others will love them."

After finishing the last gift, Quartz hugged the older octoling. "I'm glad we could spend Squidmas together." he smiled. "Me too. Merry Squidmas." replied Hiroko. They distantly heard Cerulean slam the door and shout "STUPID CAROLERS!"

"I think that's a sign to go back downstairs and spread some extra Squidmas cheer." giggled the elite octoling, taking Quartz's hand to go into the living room. The two found Cerulean shouting a bunch of curse words a bit funny.

"MERRY SQUIDMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!" cheered Ember, wrapped in colorful Squidmas lights with candy canes hanging off her fingers.

~ The End ~

i went a lil crazy trying to finish the story b4 christmas lmao, happy holidays! now i have to wait until quartz's 2nd book to write more ash x flint :( hope u have a good christmas or just a good holiday season if u don't celebrate! If i have time i'll make a christmas or new years oneshot for my agent 24 book! ^^

and who was that peach octoling? maybe he'll be in book 2...