I know it's late-
About a month and a half late
But I said I would do it so I'm doing it
Sorry for the delay but I hope you enjoy.
Three walked back and forth up and down the aisle, thinking hard.
"Let's see, I got a big plush squid for Eight, A new Splash o Matic for Four, a few band T shirts for Five, some new headphones for Marina, The new Mario game for Callie and one of those romance novels for Marie."
He stared hard at the store shelves.
"That just leaves Pearl. Not only do I have no idea what to get her, but she's the richest person I know."
He sighed, knowing he would be here for a while.
"Some CD's? No. A new mic? Nah."
He half-heartedly help up a can of beans and a Box of Mac and Cheese.
"She'd probably get the meme, but this is in no way a proper Christmas present."
He sighed, and set down the items, walking away to go checkout, figuring he would find something somewhere else for pearl.
A second later he walked back and took the beans and Mac and cheese for himself.
______________________________________
As he walked to his car, he pulled out his phone and called Marina.
"Three? What's up?"
"Hey, could you help me? I really need it." He asked.
"O-Oh! Sure! What do you need?" She responded.
"What in the hell do I get pearl for christmas-" He said, sounding defeated and tired.
"Ah, I see what's happening now. Finding a proper present for pearl is quite difficult, isn't it?"
She said.
"True that. I've been looking for hours." He told her.
"Well, believe it or not she doesn't like expensive things." Marina explained.
"Wait really?" Three said, putting the call on speaker and driving out of the parking lot.
"She's the richest person I know, I thought she would be all for expensive things."
"Well, she buys so many expensive things herself that it just seems like another thing to her." Marina told him.
"I guess that makes sense." Three responded.
"Well, if you don't mind, could you help me look? I am totally lost."
"S-Sure! When were you thinking?"
She asked, the excitement clear in her voice.
"Well, I just got in the car, and if you are good to go soon I can be at your place in about 15 minutes." He said.
"Alright! That's cool with me." She responded.
"Aight, see ya then." He stated.
"Bye!" She exclaimed.
The call ended, and Marina went to go get dressed.
______________________________________
Marie was reading one of her cheesy romance novels. She knew it was cliche, but she liked it anyway.
"Marie, I'm hungry! When will lunch be done?" A voice called from you the stairs.
"I'm not making any." Marie simply replied, not taking her eyes off her book.
"WHAT?!" The voice called back.
Frantic footsteps sounded from upstairs.
"Callie, you're a big girl. You can make your own lunch." Marie said.
Callie flew down the stairs.
"But you always make lunch for me!"
"No, I make lunch for myself and you decide it's for you too." Marie stated.
"Then why don't you stop me?" Callie asked.
Marie looked up, and stared Callie dead in the eyes.
With a blank expression, she said, "Because I'm tired."
Callie just kind of shrugged.
"That, and also the fact that you'd take some anyway." Marie said, looking back down to her book.
Callie slightly nodded. "I can't really argue with you there."
"I wonder what 3's doing..." Marie said.
She pulled out her phone and went through her contacts, then pressed call in Three's contact.
"Yo." Three answered.
"Hey, what are you doing?" Marie asked.
"Going Christmas shopping." Three responded.
"Christmas Eve is tomorrow. You put it off till the last minute, didn't you?" Marie asked, smiling.
"Mayhaps...." Three said awkwardly.
Marie laughed, making Callie look up.
"Woah. The witch laughed?" Callie asked with a smirk.
"Shut up Callie." Marie retorted.
"Hi Callie!" Three said.
Marie looked up.
"Three says hi."
"Tell him I said hello, and that I like that one pair of underwear he has."
Three stood in the middle of the store confused and scared.
"Everything ok?" Marina asked?
"No..." He said simply.
"Which one?" Marie asked Callie.
"The Spider Man ones? Or the Iron Man?"
Three sunk deeper into hysteria.
"No, the Thomas the Tank engine ones." Callie responded nonchalantly.
"I swear I lock my door, how in the hell-" Three started questioning his sanity.
Marie and Callie laughed, and Three was thinking about filing for a restraining order.
"Hey, Three!" Marina called.
"What do you think about this?"
Three turned around and gasped.
"It's... Perfect." He said.
Tomorrow night (Christmas Eve)
"Sorry we're late, Eight didn't want to leave the bakery." He said.
"The cakes looked so good!" Eight pouted.
"True, but we only needed one. Not ten." He said with a smirk.
She kept pouting.
"I know..."
Pearl stood up upon their entry.
"EEEEEEY! WHAT'S POPPING?!"
She yelled.
"NOT MUCH CUH! HOW ABOUT YOURSELF?!" Three yells back.
"NOT MUCH HERE EITHER, THANKS FOR ASKING YO!" Pearl yells.
"NO PROBLEM BRUV!!" Three finishes.
"If you're done yelling, come help me with getting food ready, Three."
Marie says from the kitchen doorway with a smirk.
"Aight then." Three says, setting the cake down on the table and walking off.
Eight giggles from the whole encounter, and sits down on the couch.
______________________________________
Five stood in the doorway, taking off her coat and boots.
"Hey everyone." She said.
"Hi Five!" Eight waved with a big smile from the couch.
"Hey Five!" Marina responded, while setting up the table.
Five set her coat and boots by the door, and went into the kitchen.
Three stood at the stove cooking potatoes to mash.
Five then noticed he was singing to himself, along with the music coming out of a small speaker on the counter.
Fives voice cut in.
"I can't tell what's worse, your singing or your cooking.
Three turned around and saw Five standing there.
He smiled.
"I guess you'll find out soon enough, huh?"
She went up to the stove beside him.
"Making potatoes?"
"Yep, I'm gonna mash em when they're done, in a minute I'm supposed to start the gravy."
He responded.
"Normally Marie does the cooking, why are you the only one here?" She asked.
"Marie's in the bathroom, we're tag teaming it this year." Three said.
"Can I help?" Five asked. She then realized the was leaning against him a bit, hanging on his shoulder, and pulled back.
"Sure, as long as you don't mind the music or my terrible singing." He said with a smile.
"Oh, I'll get by." She said sarcastically. "Barely."
He smirked, "I have a hunch you'll actually enjoy it."
"Definitely, how did you know?" She said, another sarcasm filled smirk on her face.
"I had a feeling." Three said sarcastically. "Now, if you don't mind, go ahead and start cutting the turkey."
"Aye aye." Five confidently grabbed the giant-ass knife sitting next to the cooked bird on the cutting board.
"Knowing you, I had a feeling you might be good with a knife." Three said.
"I know my way around the cutting board, at the very least." Five said, cutting into the bird precisely.
______________________________________
Marie walked back into the kitchen, and immediately saw Three awkwardly jamming to music and then Five aggressively cutting a bird.
Her immediate thought was to turn around and walk away, but instead she continued into the kitchen and picked up where she left off.
"So, Five joined us?" Marie asked.
"Yeah, and she's doing one hell of a job cutting that bird." Three said.
Five slightly blushed.
"Well, I'm glad she's here then." Marie said.
Skip to a little later
A silver car pulled into Pearl's massive driveway.
A Male Inkling Stepped out of the drivers door, and looked at the address on the gate.
"This has to be the wrong house. There's no way, that my brother is spending Christmas at a house this huge." He said.
He checked his phone, and compared the address from a text to the one on the gate.
"I guess he is..." He said.
A girl walked up to him from the car.
"Considering how he worked with two different sets of pop stars as an agent, I find this believable." She said.
"You have a point, but still. Luke and classy things just don't usually go together." He stated.
"Well, let's go ahead in then." She said.
______________________________________
Marina walked over to answer the door, swinging it open to two people standing there, one a guy with slightly shaggy blue tentacles, and one a girl with short Purple tentacles.
"Can I help you?" Marina asked.
"Is Lu- I mean, Three here?" The male asked.
"May I know who is asking?" Marina questioned.
"I'm his brother, My name is Kevin." He said.
"Oh! My apologies. Please, come in. Three told me about you." Marina said, motioning into the house.
"Thanks." He said.
He looked up, to see an Inkling and Octoling staring at him from the couch, as well as another inkling who just kinda seemed to come out of nowhere.
"Um... Hi. I'm Kevin, Three's brother. This girl next to me is my wife Zoe." He explained.
Zoe smiled and gave a small wave.
"I'm Callie! Nice to meet you!" Callie said with a smile.
"This Octo next to me is Eight."
Eight promptly waved.
"Hi ya! I'm Four." The Inkling who supposedly came out of nowhere said.
"Nice to meet you all!" Zoe said.
A few minutes later...
Marina, Zoe, and Four started talking and Kevin went to check out the kitchen.
He walked in and saw Luke mashing potatoes, and two girls.
One finishing up cutting a turkey, and the other cutting vegetables.
The Girl cutting the turkey looked up at him.
"Who the hell are you?" She asked.
This made Three and the other girl look up.
"That's my Brother, Five." Three said.
"Really? You too seem nothing alike." Five said.
"We're not really that different, also, how would you know? He hasn't even said anything." Three asked.
"Well, just looking at him, he's got a ring on his finger, so the fact that he's married, as well as his calm vibe, suggests that he has his life at least somewhat put together. You on the other hand..." She explained.
"Ok, haha, funny, you're now un-invited to my birthday party Five." Three said.
"You Ass Blasting Bitch-Loid, how could you do that?" Five stood up.
"That's not very cash money of you man."
"Alright, you're re-invited, now c'mon. Let's go eat." He said with a smile, picking up some food and carrying it out of the kitchen.
As soon as he walked out of the kitchen, Callie's nose perked up.
She sniffed.
"Food?" She turned in question and saw Three standing there.
"Food!"
She then proceeded to follow him, almost like a dog, to the dining room.
Eight followed suit, taking the cue it was time to eat.
The meal was great, tenderly roasted Turkey, thick mashed potatoes with delicious gravy, rolls, stuffing, cranberry sauce and more.
"I can't believe you've never had mashed potatoes before Eight!" Four said, taking a bite off of a turkey leg.
"Back in the metro, I was just fed protein formula, and I don't really remember anything before that, so this is my first time! It's really good!" She said shyly.
They all talked for hours on end, enjoying themselves and the company of their friends around them.
______________________________________
"Damn, I'm stuffed." Pearl said, lazing on the couch, Christmas movies playing on the T.V.
"I agree, it was very enjoyable." Eight said happily.
"Thank you so much for having us!" Zoe said, smiling at everyone.
"Yeah," Kevin followed up. "It was great to meet all of you guys, as well as see my little brother again."
"Of course! We'd love to have you any time." Marina said with a smile.
Callie looked up from the T.V. to the window, and then gasped.
"Guys look! It's snowing!"
They all proceeded to gaze out the window, then rush outside in excitement.
Before they knew it, it was only Five and Three still in the house.
Five looked over to see Three smiling.
He was looking out the window, just smiling.
His smile seemed so genuine and happy, and she didn't know why but something about it just almost seemed magnetic.
She now felt even worse about how she had treated him before.
He noticed her looking out of the corner of his eye, and turned towards her.
She looked a bit surprised and blushed a bit, realizing she was caught and she didn't want him to get the wrong idea.
He just smiled and said, "Merry Christmas, Five."
She sat for a second, not knowing what to do. Then realized, and responded.
"M-Merry Christmas Three."
She was surprised about how even though she was a jerk to him sometimes, he still showed her kindness.
And she couldn't tell if it made her feel better or worse about it.
Hope you enjoyed!!
Merry Christmas.
2214 words