{Dan}

Mikhail had his usual emotionless face as he stared at a toy train go around a small plastic city over and over in circles. Dan almost swore that he was hypnotized. His eyes followed the train as it moved slowly on the tracks with a Christmas jungle playing in he background. Dan knew that Mikhail wasn't looking forward to his birthday at all. It never meant anything to him which confused her. She didn't understand how someone couldn't be excited for their birthday. She loved getting presents and spoiled on her birthday. She wondered why Mikhail was that way if he had a pretty regular childhood. Granted, Mikhail's family always struggled to get by but they seemed happy nonetheless. They were a close knit family.

Where as Dan's parents are semi-rich but she never is happy being around them. She doesn't like to tell people that her mother is a famous clothes designer and her father is a well-known lawyer that dotes on her because that information always gets people to act fake around her. Once girls find out who her mother is, they all want to go to her place to see her mom. Her father is a bit overprotective and always threatens the guys she brings home. That's why she always found it hard to date someone for a long time, be it a guy or girl. Even getting real friends who wouldn't use her for money was tough on its own.

That's why she was thankful when she met Mikhail and Dylan. They accepted her right away for who she was. With her flaws and imperfections. They never begged to borrow money and never brought up her parents. She was grateful to have them as her best friends. Of course, she had tried lending Mikhail money but he strongly refused. She wanted to help Mikhail and lessen his worries but she supposed it was his pride getting in the way.

"Mikhail. Quit staring at that. You're going to end up losing your mind." Dylan said as he had just showed up. The next day was going to be Christmas Eve so Dan wanted to get all the shopping out of the way. Even if they were doing everything last minute.

Mikhail tore his eyes from the train and looked at Dylan, "I was lost in thought." He admitted.

"Really? We couldn't tell." Dan said sarcastically. She hugged Dylan as a greeting and pulled away, "Your grandparents actually let you out today? I thought you wouldn't be able to make it?"

Dylan's grandparents were really strict. He helped out at their hotel whenever he had time off. They always worked him to the bone but he never complained. Dan only met his grandparents once and she avoided going to see them again. They scared her. His parents died from a car accident when he was a kid. He was in the car when it happened and got out with a few scratches. He lives alone and pays for his own things with his part time job at his grandparents hotel. He lives in an a one room apartment by himself. Dylan said that he likes living on his own and not in a hotel room under his grandparents roof. She offered lending money to him but his pride also got in the way.

What was with guys and not being able to suck up their pride?

"I had to promise I'd work all day and night on Christmas." Dylan sighed dramatically. "Today better be worth it." He pet her head softly.

Dan smacked his hand away lightly and smiled, "It will be." She assured him as she looked around for Sera. She had texted her to hang out and even told her to bring along Nico and Max. She just hoped they would actually show up.

"Why do you look so sure?" Mikhail spoke up, "Honestly, being approached by a drunk Santa barely able to form a sentence and a tall 'elf' who looked like he hated his job couldn't have made your Christmas Eve shopping experience already amazing." He made air quotations with his fingers at the word elf. It was just a regular guy dressed in all a green shirt and following around the drunk Santa. Honestly, Dan was disappointed that people were losing the Christmas spirit.

"No fair! You guys already saw a drunk Santa!? All I saw was a guy in a reindeer onesie going around harassing people with his 'antler'. Yes, just one antler." Dylan said pointing down to his crotch. "He was getting chased by cops when I passed by." Dylan and Mikhail had a yearly competition on every holiday to see who could spot the craziest people.

"The Christmas spirit is super jolly this year." Mikhail said, his voice dripped in sarcasm. "If we're lucky enough maybe we'll see Mrs. Clause diving into the water fountain again to steal all the change inside.

Dylan laughed, "I had forgotten about that! I think I still have a picture on my phone." He said as he pulled out his phone and started going through his gallery.

Dan rolled her eyes and clapped her hands to get their attention again. Dylan looked up from his phone and looked at Dan. "So maybe there are a few bad cookies during this year-" she started.

"And every year." Mikhail added.

Dan ignored his comment and kept talking , "but I have a feeling that regardless, this year will be a great one!"

Mikhail shook his head with a light smile, "If you say so, Dan."

"I do say so." she said with a smile, "Trust me." Dan was set on making Mikhail enjoy his birthday this year. He always looked so depressed and like he hated socializing with people. She still found it hard to understand what he was thinking because he kept to himself most of the time. She noticed the way Mikhail looked at Nico and thought that inviting them all over would be good for Mikhail. He just needed to be surrounded by good people who cared for him.

"You're plotting something." Mikhail said watching her skeptically. They were standing outside a shop as the meeting point.

"I am not."

"Yes you are." Dylan said.

Mikhail asked, "Why are we still standing around here?"

"Eh? Ugh, you know. The Christmas decorations are nice and... Uhm-"

"Ah!" Dylan said pointing at Dan, "You are plotting something! How exciting."

Mikhail narrowed his eyes at Dan and said, "What in the world are you planning?"

Dan laughed nervously and looked away from both of them, "What?! Psh! No way. I'm not."

"Suspicious." Dylan said quietly behind her.

"There's nothing suspicious here." She said. She wanted to make it a surprise. Also, she didn't want to get their hopes up if they decided not to show up.

"Whatever. Can we just get this over with? Let's go." He said as he began to walk off.

Dan panicked as she grabbed onto the back of his collar and tugged back. "Wait!" Mikhail was thrown off of his balance and nearly fell to the floor. Dylan managed to reach down and save Mikhail from hitting the floor.

"What are you doing so suddenly?!" Mikhail asked fixing his sweater and rubbed at his throat.

Dylan helped him back on his own feet and Dan looked guilty, "Sorry! I didn't mean to pull you so hard."

"Suspicious," Dylan said again quietly.

Dan saw that Mikhail agreed with a nod. She was going to attempt to save the situation but she heard Sera's voice behind her, "What I find suspicious is three teenagers loitering around."

Dan turned around with a wide smile on her face. "You made it." Sera smirked softly. She had her red hair down this time and Dan couldn't help stare at the way it dangled effortlessly. Looking at her hair worn down reminded Dan of the way fire danced in the wind. Her jacket hugged her tightly and her pants left nothing to the imagination.

"Course I did. I got a direct invitation to hang out with you. It made me really happy." Sera reached out a hand and fixed Dan's bangs that had gotten messed up when she pulled Mikhail back.

Dan looked down as she blushed. She heard Dylan coughing loudly behind them. Dan moved to the side to allow them to see each other clearly and smiled at her friends who looked confused. "It's a lot of fun to be with more people, don't you agree?"

"I suppose," Dylan said carefully. "but I didn't know you two were so close."

"It's not like that. We are all friends here." Dan said rolling her eyes. She looked over at sera who was busy looking at Mikhail. Her eyes moved towards Mikhail but he was too busy spacing out to notice. "Uhm," she said quietly towards Sera, "Are your two other friends coming?"

"Nico is coming?"

"Max is coming?"

Dan frowned as she looked at Dylan and Mikhail who spoke at the same time. Dylan rubbed the back of his neck as he looked away and Mikhail realize he sounded flustered and tried to control his facial expression. Sera laughed and said, "I went ahead of them. They walk too slow. They should be here- ah, right there." She pointed towards the right where Max and Nico were indeed taking their sweet time.

Max was walking as he talked to Nico excitedly about something. In the few short encounters that they've had, that was the first time Dan had seen max smile. Nico laughed at whatever Max said and agreed with a nod. From Dan's point of view they looked like they could have been siblings. She looked at Dylan and knew he thought otherwise. He had a small frown on his face. Mikhail still looked slightly flustered as he put a hand on his mouth and looked away.

Max seemed to realize who they were walking towards and instead of stopping at the small group that they had made he walked through without acknowledging any of them. Nico immediately brightened as he saw Mikhail.

Dylan immediately followed without saying anything. Dan looked at Mikhail to see if he knew what was going on with them but he was too focused on Nico who stopped in front of him. "Miki. We keep meeting like this." He said sweetly. "I wasn't made aware that you would be here."

"I think I forgot to mention who we were meeting." Sera said with a small shrug.

Mikhail took his hand off of his mouth and turned around quickly. Sera could see that he was flustered and his face was red, "I don't remember inviting you."

"Still in denial I see? It's okay. I'll have to work on changing that."

Mikhail gulped down and started walking off towards the direction Max and Dylan went to. Dan sighed softly and looked at Sera, "Guys are such idiots."

Sera smiled softly and nodded, "Yeah, but they are our idiots."

Dan smirked as she couldn't deny that much. She turned serious for a second and asked, "Hey. Were you really happy when I invited you?"

Sera looked taken aback by the question. "What? Of course I was. My sweet Dandelion invited me."

Dan smiled widely at the nickname Sera had given her. It was cheesy as hell, but it made her happy. It meant a lot for Dan to have someone get happy because she texted them. She wondered if they could actually work. She wanted to make it work. She felt like she could actually be herself around Sera comfortably. Though, she wondered if she wasn't being too desperate. Always texting, always calling. Not once had Sera made the initiative to call or text Dan first.

Dan noticed that Sera did look genuinely happy to be around Dan but she also noticed that whenever Sera thought no one was looking, she had a pained expression. Like, hanging around with everyone was painful.

"Are you coming or are you going to stay here and stare at my face for hours. Don't get me wrong, it's a nice gesture. Just a little creepy.

"Sorry!" Dan said quickly realizing that she probably looked like a loser for spacing out like that while staring at Sera's face.

"It's cute. I don't mind." She said with a small laugh and reached down to take her hand. Sera entangle their fingers together and brought Dan's hand to her lips and kissed the back of her hand gently. "Come on. Let's gather the guys before they get lost."

Dan allowed Sera to pull her along towards where the guys had gone. She bit her lip gently and looked down at their hands.

* * *
{Dylan}

"You're acting like a kid right now." Dylan said in an exasperated voice as he was currently chasing Max through the mall.

"Are you getting angry?" Max asked without slowing down.

"Yes."

"Good."

Dylan sighed loudly and jogged to catch up to max. He understood that he probably crossed some kind of boundary a few hours ago when they met in his grandparents hotel, but what he didn't understand was why Max couldn't talk things out like a normal human being. "Okay, wait. This isn't working." Dylan said and grabbed Max's wrist to stop him. "You're angry. You have every right to be. I'm sorry."

"Stop saying sorry." Max said. He didn't turn around to face Dylan and he didn't try to free his wrist. "I hate that word."

"You seem to hate a lot of things." Dylan said teasingly.

"You learn to hate everything if you grew up like I did."

Dylan softened his grip on Max's wrist when he was sure that Max wasn't going to run away. It sounded like there was a story behind his words. "Will you tell me about it? Why you learned to hate so many things and why you're sleeping around with strangers?" He asked cautiously.

Max seemed to hesitate, "... No."

Dylan frowned and asked, "Doesn't that get boring? You never open up to people around you."

"How would you know that? You barely know me."

Dylan didn't know how to answer that. If he explained to Max that it was just a feeling he had then max would most definitely laugh in his face. "Then tell me about yourself." He suggested.

"Hell no. I don't have a reason to."

Dylan was growing even more frustrated as Max seemed incapable of talking without starting a fight, "Then do you want money? Would that make you happy? If I give you money and buy you?"

"It would." His back was still facing Dylan as he spoke, "You think that just because you say pretty words with your pretty face that I'll bend to your will? I've seen plenty of assholes like you around who pretend to care about me. The only thing your are after is my body."

"I'm pretty?" Dylan asked with his eyebrow raised in curiosity. "Wait. That's not the point." He corrected himself. "Money won't make you happy-"

"What do you know? Your family owns a fuckin' hotel for fuck's sake. You look like you've been handed everything on a golden platter since birth."

"For someone who says that I don't know anything about you, you sure do talk carelessly." Dylan said in a serious tone.

He was now getting annoyed by Max's one track mind. His life was anything but rainbow and sparkles. It was hypocritical for Max to say that Dylan didn't have any problems of his own. After his parents died, he was handed down like an unwanted dog to different family members. His aunt sent him away after one week because 'she couldn't 'handle another child'. His older cousin made him leave the house because he was a college student and wanted to live his own life. His uncle allowed him to stay in his house but he lived in the crowded basement. He ran away and was picked up by the police at the park. His grandparents were finally the ones to take him in. Even with their cold personalities, they still cared for him.

The feeling of being unwanted was something Dylan knew all too well. That was why he wanted to help Max. He wanted to stretch out his hand and let him know that he was wanted like his grandparents did to him.

"What?" Max asked, "Whatever! Anyways, let me go."

"Why? So you can pleasure some guy in the street for twenty bucks?"

Max immediately tore his wrist away from Dylan and turned around to glare at him, "Fuck you." He said venomously with furious eyes.

Dylan flinched with how much anger was in Max's voice. He didn't mean to say it so straightforward but he didn't know how to talk to Max without getting him angry. He ran his hand through his own hair without caring that he had messed it up. He took a deep breath. He wasn't even angry at Max. If he was honest with himself, he was jealous. Jealous that Nico could talk to him so easily. Jealous that Nico could make Max smile when all Dylan could do was make him angry. "I didn't mean it like that. I just want to know more about you but you make it so difficult."

"Hah." Max breathed out a short laugh, "Then buy me." He suggested with a grin. "Buy me and you can literally do whatever you please with me for a hundred bucks the hour." He shrugged nonchalantly and said, "What do you say?" Max slightly slid off the jacket from one of his shoulders as he looked seductively at Dylan.

Dylan frowned. He reached over to Max's shoulder and pulled his sweater back up and shook his head lightly, "I won't." Max opened his eyes widely with surprise, "I won't be like everyone else who pays you. I want to be different. I don't want you to remember me as just another money dispenser or just another guy who abuses you for his pleasure." Dylan's eyes looked pained as he spoke softly to max. He let his hand slide off of Max's shoulder and smiled lightly. "I want you to talk to me because you actually want to. Not because you're bound by the money I hand to you."

Max's surprise turned into a frown as he held a facial expression as if he was trying to comprehend what he was being told. "I want. I want." He strained his voice, "You sound like a broken tape recorder." Was what Max finally said. "You're so annoying."

Dylan chuckled softly and agreed, "It's one of my many redeeming qualities."

Max looked away and tugged at his hair gently, "I'll think about it." He whispered.

"What?" Dylan asked leaning in.

"Agh!" He shouted in frustration, "I said I'll think about talking to you! Fuck! If you annoy me one more time then the offer flies out the window." He pointed a leveled finger at Dylan.

Dylan couldn't hold back the smile that was forming on his lips. "Really? That would be great." He said laughing softly.

"Stop smiling like an idiot. It's gross."

"I can't help it." Dylan said, "it's like I'm finally getting through to you."

Max rolled his eyes and looked over Dylan's shoulder. Dylan looked back to see the rest coming up behind him. He turned back to face Max but he was already moving towards a store.

It was a start for him. He hoped he was getting through to Max that he wouldn't be like the others. That Dylan could be someone Max could rely on whenever he needed. Dylan knew maybe his request was a little selfish but he figured it was okay this time around. For Max's sake, he would do anything.

"Shopping. Shopping." Dan sang cheerfully, "You're coming to the party afterwards, right?" Dan asked him as they finally arrived next to him. They all went towards the store Max was in.

"Shoot. I completely forgot." He said realizing. Dan always had a small party with just them the day before Christmas Eve. It slowly became a tradition amongst them.

"We do it every year. How did you for forget?"

He thought about whether it would be fine for him to go. He was going to have to check with his grandparents. "Will you guys be coming?" He asked looking at Nico and Sera.

"No."

"Yeah."

Mikhail and Nico looked at each other as they spoke at the same time. "You're not going." Mikhail said.

"I was invited by your friend, Miki. It would be rude for me not to go.

"Uh, it wasn't really an invitation-" Dylan started but shut his mouth immediately as he saw the stare that Nico was giving him. "I mean, please come. It would be fun." He said in a monotone voice. Mikhail smacked Dylan's arm in protest and he cried out in confusion, "What do you people want from me!"

Sera laughed and spoke you, "I don't see the harm in going."

"Right! It's settled. Mikhail, quit being rude. You usually don't mind who we