The next few months came and went like lightning, a flash before Mathias's eyes. One day a boy asked for help to find his dad in the grocery store and the next he was waiting to open gifts at their house on Christmas Day. At first it was all of Emil's fault. The young boy grew a liking towards the man so he would invite him to different things. Eventually the two adults became friends and invited each other's family to family oriented things. Such as now, when two grown men watched as three children chased each other around the house to get their mind off of the colorfully wrapped presents.

The two adults wait for the clock to strike midday. They chat as they do in order to avoid becoming too impatient in waiting for a third family who is supposed to arrive before then. As the two stay hold, Lukas realizes something he should've addressed before. Something that causes his heart to either flutter or run in place. A feeling he didn't want to acknowledge because it brought him great loss the last time. He lost track of time and conversation the more he thought about it.

The doorbell spring him out of it. He stood with great force that he almost tripped over his feet before Mathias caught him. Lukas forced himself to hold the redness gradually spreading across his pale cheeks. Mathias himself is rather pink as well. His smile remained friendly and wide, giving him the impression of a happy puppy. Or is that loving and wide?

Lukas shook his head and pushed away towards the front door. He couldn't be thinking such silly high school things.

Behind the door stands a rather tall man. Perhaps several inches taller than Mathias. Next to him is a shorter man. Probably a few inches below Lukas. Lukas remembered the shorter from the grocery store incident. He knows the tall one as Mathias's younger brother and met him a few times in the past. Lukas let the two inside. Berwald carried a gift in each hand while Tino lugged in a whole bag full. Lukas would've been happy to help, but Tino seemed happy to carry in the large bag.

With the two came their son who quickly ran over to join the other three children. Lukas smiled to himself as he watched the four play their own made up game together. The inspiration of kids always shocked Lukas, as he could never have thought up the same things as they could. He always found himself at loss when a child would bring him an ordinary object and imagine it's a magical item that could do wonderful things.

Soon the clock struck twelve and the families gathered around the Christmas tree. Lukas decided to do an American styled Christmas this year in order to avoid clashing family traditions. He felt rather proud when he managed to set up the tree without having to call up Mathias's American friend Alfred. After that he was lost and ended up getting help from the obnoxious boy. Oh how he wished he already knew what to do. Of course he tried to follow what normally happened, but some parts, like the early morning gift unraveling, had to be changed.

The four children searched the gifts to find the ones given to each child. Lukas bought one gift per child but he couldn't say exactly how many came from the other adults. Mathias probably spoiled the kids with more than two. Of course Tino has a bag full, but the ones inside are probably evenly split between him and Berwald. It held less than it appeared so it's probably one from each. And of course there are the presents for the adults. The majority of those are most likely drawings made by the kids.

It turns out Mathias gave each child three. Two were labelled From Mathias and the third comes from Santa.

Berwald and Finland are a middle class family so they were able to buy things like tablets and video game consoles.

Lukas lives a poor life so he planned to take Emil to the pet shop. He also hoped to take Aggi and Piloqutinnguaq, but they will receive toys if Mathias doesn't approve. When he told them this Aggi and Pilo immediately began to beg Mathias to go.

"We've never had a pet before. It'll be fun!" Aggi argued. Despite only being six, she could always make good points.

Mathias nodded to himself. He seemed to process what his children said before reaching a conclusion.

"Alright." Mathias said with a smile. "But only one for both of you to share."

Aggi and Pilo excitedly thanked their dad. Both quickly made their way to Lukas and pulled him out of his seat.

"Come on Mommy. Let's go before they run out of pets." Pilo said. He's the most excited of the siblings.

Lukas was in shock at the word mommy. He glanced at Mathias, who held a bit of sadness in his eyes. And it finally hit Lukas. After months of wondering why Mathias's wife never came over. Whether she left him or died, there is no longer wife for him or mother to his children.