It's the start of the Christmas season; 'tis the season to be jolly. Well, for some people, anyway. Whilst some people are busy shopping for supplies to make their houses presentable for the holiday and competing against their neighbours by going overboard with the lights and Santa floats, the other half of the population are having a hard time getting gifts for friends and family. Mostly due to people tending to change their desires or the receiver doesn't give the person getting the gifts any details on what they want or need, but despite all that, there is one Grinch on the couch; face down, counting down the seconds he has left until a certain girl comes to barge in and make him move.

He glanced at the clock by the chimney, syncing its ticking to his countdown. He mumbles behind the arm of the couch. "In three...two...oneー"

Bang. "Vanitas!?" Not a second late, he thought, as the said girl he predicted stomps through the doors in search of him. He could hear her light footsteps going up the steps, probably to check his room, only to be disappointed or at least confused to find it empty. He hears her going down the stairs in a quick pace, heading for the kitchen next, no doubt. He decided to stay silent for a little while longer until he heard her mumble something along the lines of, "What is his scrawny ass up to now?".

A defeated sigh escaped his lips. Vanitas slightly sits up so his lips weren't muffled behind the armrest as he decided to respond to her calls. "I'm in here." He calls monotonously, face-planting the armrest again.

As soon as he called out to her, the girl quickly made her way out of the kitchen, down the foyer, passing the staircase and the door, walking through the archway that lead her into the lounge room, where the girl found said scrawny ass sprawled across the cream couch with his arms by his side, just in his boxers. She let out a tiresome, yet relieved sigh before walking towards him, making sure to stand in front of him with both hands akimbo, tapping her foot for his attention. It took him a whole minute before he decided to look up with a tired scowl on his face.

"What?" He dead-panned.

The girl growled from his response, clicking her tongue in annoyance. "What do you mean "what"? You promised me we'd do this twelve-day Christmas challenge."

{Name} {Surname} was her name, and bugging Vanitas was her game, unfortunately for him. She moved in to the house next door to Aqua, a few blocks around the corner from him. To be precise, the house behind his garden was hers. The meeting was accidental on her part. One night, Vanitas was having a party with members from his gang back in the day, and as he was smoking and drinking in solitude in his backyard, a raccoon suddenly popped out of nowhere from the opposite house to his backyard. It stood on the fence, looking from left to right, probably in search for any danger nearby, and seeing as it decided to jump down from the fence and onto his surprisingly green grass, Vanitas assumed it sensed no danger ーwhich is odd because if the raccoon hadn't noticed, he had been standing there watching the whole thing. The next thing the raccoon did was kind of...smart.

It scurried behind bushes and anything that can hide its' shadow as it made its way into Vanitas' house, passing people by and taking an armful and a mouthful of his food. At this point, Vanitas wasn't sure whether he had too much to drink ーthough he recalled it to be his fifteenth, so maybe not enough to get drunk on but probably enough to the point of being delusional. Whether it was the alcohol or not, Vanitas couldn't help but follow it with his eyes as it scurried back over the fence. He couldn't care less about the food the raccoon took, but he did notice the raccoon took something of importance to him. This brought the boy over the fence to catch the damned thieving raccoon only to be met by [long/short], sexy legs. As his eyes trailed up to have a good look of the owner of such fine legs, Vanitas was greeted by an unfamiliar face.

Thus making it the first time they met. The second time was by pure chance. End of class, and it was raining; hard. Not a problem though since Vanitas came prepared that day ーdue to a certain annoying bluenette. Just before he took out his umbrella, at the corner of his eye, he noticed his backyard neighbour ーit's what he used to call {Name} before he knew her name. It was plain to see that she hadn't brought her umbrella with her as her facial expressions contorted into a frustrated one. He didn't know what brought him to it but the boy brought out his umbrella and held it above her head; which took the girl by surprise. There was no exchange of words as the two stared into each other's eyes, as if sharing a conversation only the two could understand. With a smile on her lips, the two walked on home. Although along the way, the umbrella decided to give way and break under the rain's pressure, causing the two to be drenched as they ran home, laughing along the way. It was a one-time thing, really. They never exchanged words after that, but the few times Vanitas decided to attend school, when the two happen to pass by each other, they couldn't help but sneak a few glances.

It was after their third meeting did they start to socialise with each other a little better than the last time, no thanks to Aqua. Vanitas was on his way home one day after a brawl with an old opponent when he happened to bump into Aqua and ーwhat do you know?ー {Name} was with her. He ignored the bluenettes' rambling about his battered appearance, diverting his attention from her and somehow caught the concerned look of his backyard neighbour. To this day he didn't understand why or what went through her head when she saw him. What surprised him was that {Name} was the one who took the initiative to walk him home and fix his injuries. Since then, {Name} slowly crawled into his life. She wasn't annoying and motherly as Aqua, but it didn't mean to say she wasn't persistent in her own way. In a weird way, he liked it and just left {Name} to her own amusement, which was bugging him every day and trying to make him see that the world wasn't as bad as he thought. He will admit he's changed a bit due to {Name}, but he wasn't going to give her the satisfaction.

Which is where they are today. A few weeks ago Vanitas caught up with his old classmates. Well...to put it in a lighter term rather than saying he was dragged by his scruff to hang out with annoying people he did not want to socialise or be with. There is a tradition, apparently, within the group that every year before Christmas Day, there is a twelve-day Christmas challenge where the group can either do alone or with a partner. Since the numbers were even this year, everyone got into partners by drawing names out of the hat; which is why Vanitas was stuck with {Name}. The purpose of the game was that everyone must share their experience of what they learnt during the twelve days spent before Christmas. It could be new feelings they found about someone or themselves, new relationships or just funny stories to spread happiness and create memories for everyone ーwhich meant nothing to Vanitasー and if it weren't for {Name} having to stay for Christmas this year instead of going back to her family like she always did for the past five years, he would have another peaceful month alone at home. Unfortunately, it's not going to happen this year.

Vanitas scowled even deeper at the thought as he turned to his side, facing away from {Name}. "I didn't promise you anything." He rebuffed, arms folded.

{Name} let out a frustrated sigh, rolling her [colour] hues. "Fine. I promised you we would do this challenge together."

"It's not exactly a promise if you take out a person's name from a hat." He muffled in retort.

"Urgh! Look, whether you like it or not we are doing this challenge together," she stated, walking out of the lounge room towards the laundry room, calling out as she continued so that he could hear ーthough there was no need for all the shouting since the boy had really good hearing, and his house was great for noise to resound from one room to the next (note sarcasm). {Name} returned with random clothes, throwing it rather hard at his head as she continued her rant, "so get up and get dressed. We're going shopping, and that's final!"

Vanitas groaned, sighing through his nostrils as he pulled on his red singlet over his bed-hair. He noticed {Name} shaking her head with her arms crossed just as he was about to put on his navy, ripped skinny jeans ーwhich weren't originally ripped. "What is it now?!"

"The first thing you put on is your shirt." She stated. Vanitas' left brow quirked up in confusion.

"Yeah. So?" He pressed further, standing up as he pulled on his pants, buckling it before he zips it up, snaking his black belt around his waist and through the loops of his jeans.

"So, if anything, you should've put on your jeans first." {Name} stated, letting out a disappointed sigh. Then a thought occurred to her. "Why are you even in your underwear in the first place, in the middle of winter no less?"

"Just be glad I wasn't sleeping buck naked like I usually do." There was a slight pause before {Name} caught his smirk, just as his golden eyes glanced to look into her [dark/light] ones, a glint of mischief evidently in them. He loomed over {Name}, due to a slight difference in height ーha!ー and leant in close to her personal space, nose almost touching. His smirk broke out into a coquettish grin as his face contorts into that of mock confusion. "Unless...that's what you wanted?"

Before he could take another step closer to the point where their lips could brush, {Name} quickly hurled his black leather jacket to his face; catching the imp off guard. He heard her muttering something along the lines of "idiot", and the boy couldn't help but laugh at her reactions. He quickly caught up to her figure that was swaying rather angrily towards his front door. He caught her immediate attention as soon as he placed an arm around her shoulder, still chuckling at her behaviour. "Lighten up, {Name}, I was only joking."

"Are you done? 'Cos I have somewhere to be." {Name} retorted rather sharply. Even though she meant no ill behind her tone, Vanitas knew this was {Name} being comfortable with someone. So far the only time she's like this is with him, excluding their science teacher Mr Evans, but he's an adult and just a teacher, so it didn't count.

Vanitas shook his head, hands up in mock surrender. "Fine. What's the first challenge?"

🌲

"Are you done?" Vanitas groaned in frustration, already at his last thread of patience ーand it was a very thin one too.

Located in the middle of Marketplace, the two were standing in the middle of a tree vendor and apparently the place where the trees are all natural and fresh from Sunset Hill. The vendor literally took the whole town square space, mainly for the trees to breathe but it was also a good way to attract the buyers so they can see how good the quality the trees are in and they were actually real. The problem that Vanitas was having ーbesides {Name} deciding on which tree to buy and the town square playing Jingle Bell Rock [1]ー was the crowd surrounding them at every turn, corner and crevice.

The streets of Radiant Garden were busied with bustling people from left to right, front and back. Every store the two set their eyes on were so hectic, there were people lining up in front of the stores waiting to do their last minute Christmas shopping; or maybe even start it. There are two problems about this, Vanitas concluded: one, tree shopping is probably the messiest, and two ーbesides gift shoppingー it's also the fastest to go. Since these were trees from Sunset Hill, you can imagine the rush. Already there were people whizzing out once they bought their tree, not having a second thought about the quality just as long as it was green.

{Name} gave him another one of her annoyed expressions, where her eyebrows are arched in disbelief, lips thinned in a challenging smile (not the good kind), and her eyes are staring straight into his soul as if saying, "Shut the Christmas fudge up or I will eat you". Instead, {Name} exhaled out a sigh. "Be patient, Van, it takes time to pick out the best tree. We need the right colour, texture, and smell."

"I guess..." Vanitas grumbled in acquiescence, balling his cold hands into his jacket's pockets as he towed on behind.

As soon as the two turned another corner, the salesman from the front immediately swooped in to assist them, and quite possibly con them into buying a tree that is supposedly from Sunset Hill. The salesman wore a suit in many shades of purple; the jacket was a magenta colour, whilst his trousers were a dark violet. He wore an orange ascot around his neck, like that Fred guy in Scooby-Doo. His sense of style was outrageous ーit was blinding!ー like the golden tooth situated at the front of his teeth. "Welcome lovers〜!" He greeted in an all-too high-pitched adenoidal voice, causing the two to slightly cringe as he spoke. "Are the two of you looking to buy?"

"Lovers?" Vanitas repeated, as if acid was dancing on his tongue. It was bad enough that he was doing this stupid challenge with {Name} as it is. Before he could correct the whack-job, {Name} held up her hand on his mouth.

"Yes, we are looking to buy." She said, smiling in a sickly sweet way. "We heard you imported these trees from Sunset Hill?"

"And you bet your munny you're right, these are the finest trees from Sunset Hill themselves!" The salesman exclaimed. "For a place like Radiant Garden, it needs the finest things that life can offer."

"So, how do we know that these trees are really imported from Sunset Hill?" {Name} asked, sceptical. If she was going to buy the best of the best, she wants to make sure that it's real.

"Are you saying my judgements are poorly made?" The salesman questioned, trying to intimidate the girl.

"Is it not obvious by your sense in fashion?" Vanitas bluntly stated without a second thought. {Name} instantly elbowed the boy in the gut, causing him to buckle as she cleared her throat, laughing nervously.

The man looked rather offended, but he brushed it off with his own chuckle as he sent the two a grin of amusement. "He's a funny one, isn't he?"

"Yeah, funny." Vanitas wheezed, sending a glare at the man, his eyes glowing deadly.

"Well, you do make a fair point." The salesman admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. "But I tell no lies when I say these trees are imported from Sunset Hill. To be sure I am telling the truth, you see these firs?" The salesman walked towards one of the trees, pinching one of the firs to show the two. "Only trees from Sunset Hill have excellent needle retention. The dark colour shows how healthy the tree is, so when it goes lighter, that is when you know they are dying. Al〜though, there is a way to keep it living for the next Christmas. Not only is the tree healthy, it comes along with a nice, fresh, crisp fragrant."

"Hmm." {Name} hummed in thought, already sold at this point but she wasn't going to admit defeat yet. "Say I was going to buy the tree, how much munny will it cost?"

"Well you're in luck; we have a twenty-percent off discount for couples." The salesman exclaimed. "The price would come to 587'100 [2] munny."

"That works for me, let's get it and gー!"

{Name} interrupted Vanitas from sealing the deal by sounding out another unsatisfactory hum, curling the ends of her hair. "I don't know...578'100 munny for a tree? What are the chances that it will actually live for another Christmas?"

Though {Name} had made a fair point, Vanitas couldn't care less whether it will stay alive until the next Christmas as the salesman had promised. All the boy wanted to do is get the damn tree, leave, and maybe catch a few more z's before {Name} finds another way to bug him.

"These are trees from Sunset Hill; I think the price is rather considerate for something all natural and real." The salesman protested. Just as Vanitas was beginning to agree, {Name} decided to continue on further.

"Maybe so, but I could get the same tree from a different vendor that could sell it to me for the price of a synthetic one." {Name} retaliated. With that statement, Vanitas became rather intrigued. Where was this going? Was she trying to make a bargain with this weirdo?

The salesman hummed, licking his lips as he thought of retaliation. "Alright, how about I give you a thirty percent discount?"

"Fifty." {Name} bargained, rather assertive.

"Forty." The salesman reprimanded, his tone was evident that he felt rather offended and shocked at how high {Name} was bargaining the tree for.

Vanitas was sympathising the poor man as he watched his friend trying to pinch the man's pockets. There was a certain glint in her eyes that Vanitas noticed and was rather too familiar with when {Name} is determined about something. And he knew all too well who the winner will be. Still, he couldn't help but doubt {Name's} determination.

He was ready to stop it at forty, but before he could throw in the towel for {Name}, the latter decided to push further. "Sixty."

As if they were caught in some sort of heated auction, the man instantly cried "Seventy!", not realising he had fallen into her trap until he noticed a triumphant smirk at the corner of her lips.

"Deal." And the deed is done. {Name} wiped the smirk from her face as she took out her purse from her handbag. "So that comes to 218'300 [3] munny, am I correct?"

The salesman exhaled through his nose, scoffing in admitted defeat as he broke out into an amused grin. He diverted his gaze from {Name} to Vanitas' golden ones. "You're a lucky man." He said, thumbing his nose. "She's a keeper. Quite the persistent one, hey?"

Instead of correcting the man of their real relationship, Vanitas decided to let it slide just this once. {Name} worked hard, he noted, so he'll let her have it this one time.

🌲

A thought occurred to the dark-haired male just as he was walking home with {Name}, the two carrying the tree home by the sidewalk, Vanitas taking the front whilst {Name} lags behind. "We are taking this tree to your house, right?" He asked, rather hesitant at the end.

{Name} paused. "...umm..." Her pitch suddenly going up an octave as she dragged her words out, contemplating on the thought.

"Well we're not taking it to my house." Vanitas made sure to clarify before the [light/dark]-haired girl had any ideas.

"Well...why not?" {Name} asked, trying to change the topic onto something else.

Vanitas snarled, baring his canines. "Whaddya mean, "why not"?! If you haven't noticed, I take no pleasure in doing these stupid festivities."

"Oh come on, Van, there must be something you like about Christmas." {Name} urged, struggling as she carried the tree in her arms. "Like the lights at night, or the beautiful snow, or-or the merry people, or ー"

"{Name}," Vanitas stopped in his tracks as he pivoted his body to turn to the girl, "if there was one thing I'd like to have from Christmas, it would most definitely be silence." He sent her a forced smile before continuing onward.

It was silent for a few seconds. "Okay, how about this?" {Name} stopped in her tracks, causing the boy to stop unwillingly. "We do this challenge, but we also have our own challenge between ourselves."

If there was one thing {Name} knew about Vanitas ーbesides his love for sleep, food, quiet, and gauging out people's reactions一 it would be his love for challenges. "...I'm listening."

"We do this Christmas challenge and the person who has the most Christmas spirit wins." Just as she finished her sentence, Vanitas quickly made a disagreeing sound.

"Come on, that's not even a fair challenge, you take joy in this ーI don't!" He stated, spurning her challenge with another snarl.

"OK fine!" Even though {Name} had shrugged off his feelings of disdain, Vanitas knew better that he wasn't going to hear the end of it. {Name} relieved a sigh soon as she had composed her thoughts, slightly pacing where she stood. "Okay how about this? If I find you enjoying the days before Christmas, then that will be my win."

Vanitas scoffs in a haughty manner, the thought or even the idea that he would find himself enjoying such festivities ーin his viewpointー was something to laugh about. How can you not, he is "the boy who set the Radiant Gardens Yuletide Town Ball on fire just because he wanted a smoke". In his defence, it was a very emotional day for him, and the media didn't exactly get the full story of what actually happened that day. Nonetheless, {Name} was just setting herself up into a trap, he knew, but if it meant he won't have to participate in anymore silly festivities, then Vanitas wasn't going to complain.

"And?" He pressed further, intrigued by what {Name} had in mind. "How do I win? When I find you crying the day before Christmas?"

"Well if I lose my temper to the point where I'm in tears, then yes, you win." {Name} rephrased in acceptance. Then she realised something. "Ah! But, don't actually push me to that point please." She paused in thought. "Also, if I find you losing your temper easily, that counts as an automatic loss."

"That's not even a fair deal. If I can't lose my temper easily, what's the point of the challenge if you can't even let a single tear slip?" Despite his retort, {Name} knew he didn't really mean it. Nevertheless she knew if she wanted Vanitas to take this seriously, then she'll have to at least shed a single tear (if it ever comes to that).

"Look all I'm saying is...just don't take it too far, okay?" {Name} pleaded hesitantly.

Vanitas stares into her hypnotic [colour] eyes, his own striking golden ones narrowed as he contemplated on the thought. "If I enjoy this thing before the day of the deadline, then you win. If you lose your temper to the point of tears, then I win. What's the penalty?"

"Like, what the reward is for you if I lose?" {Name} asked, slightly nervous by that one word.

"Yeah." Vanitas confirmed, causing {Name} to inwardly sigh in relief.

"Umm...whatever you want, I guess?" She said, shrugging her shoulders like it's whatever, but not even {Name} knew what she wanted as a reward. Just as long as Vanitas was enjoying himself, that was good enough for her, she thought.

Vanitas hummed in thought, but there was a certain glint of amusement {Name} caught dancing in his eyes. He was up to something. Before {Name} could ask, Vanitas had already come to a decision. "Alright, challenge accepted." He grinned. Then he thrusts his index finger in front of {Name's} eyes. "But if I find the least bit of anger in you, then that automatically makes it my win."

{Name} glanced away from his finger to stare back into his eyes confidently, trying to stay firm to her promise but she suddenly felt intimidated once she gazed back into his lightning orbs. It was like he was pulling her down somewhere dark, like she was tied to an anchor thrown into the deep sea, sucking the oxygen out of her as she sunk into the abyss. It was like the first time she met him that one night when he climbed over her fence, chasing her pet raccoon. {Name} quickly shook her thoughts, like shaking out of some dizzy spell as she cleared her throat. "Same applies to you." {Name} retorted; head-held high, which was led by her nose.

Her reaction and response caused Vanitas to break out into an amused grin, chuckling ever so slightly. She noticed how he only reacts that way whenever she's around him. Despite his mockery, {Name} found it rather endearing that he would only react like this because of her. Made her feel special even, though that's when she stops to question her sanity. Her? Special? The only thing Vanitas ever cherished in his whole life was himself and that lighter her pet stole that one night. Nevertheless, she was still pretty proud that she got him smiling and laughing, even though it was due to her expense.

Said boy glanced at {Name} one more time before reaching out to ruffle her hair. "We're still not having this tree at my house."

🌲

[1] Jingle Bell Rock - Bobby Helms

[2] 587'100 - it's like $64 (AUS), $50 (US)

[3] 218'300 - it's like around $24 (AUS), $18 (US)

Started: 22.12.14; 12:54 AM
Edited + Finished: 06.02.15; 23:33 PM