Red, orange, and yellow leaves drifted slowly from the branches of nearly empty trees. Logan watched them fall from the frost covered window, glad to be inside with his warm sweatshirt and hot coffee mug warming his hands. He took a sip from his drink, glancing at the calendar hung on a nearby wall. It was nearly Thanksgiving, he noted, frowning to himself.

Logan had nothing against the holiday, of course. It was only another day for him, not having very many people who would invite him to spend it with. However, there was a problem with what happened after Thanksgiving. Every single year, the day right after Thanksgiving, one of his nearby neighbors Patton had a Christmas competition; and every single year his neighbor across the street from him, Roman Prince, won.

There was nothing more infuriating to Logan than hearing Roman continuously brag about an event that was so unimportant. He tried his best to ignore it but Roman somehow managed to bring this fact up in every single conversation he has for at least three months after the event. Logan desperately wished that there was something he could do to fix it. Unfortunately, no one else in their neighborhood could truly afford to have as many insane decorations as Roman did, so it was unlikely that anyone else would be able to win. There was also the simple fact that everyone else in Logan's neighborhood seemed to adore Roman, despite how loud and obnoxious he could be, so they continued to vote for him.

Logan frowned as he thought about winning the competition himself. He certainly wasn't the best at decorations-in fact, he never decorated-but maybe if he tried hard enough he could put something together. There was still a problem with affording the decorations, though. He had money, but was he willing to spend so much of it simply trying to beat Roman? How would he even know what to get to outdo him?

A sudden idea struck Logan as he sat there. He considered it for a while, still sitting and slowly sipping his coffee. It would be difficult, but Logan thought he might actually have a somewhat decent plan at this point. He decided to at least give it a try. If it didn't work out then Logan would simply deal with hearing Roman for another year, but if it did work? Logan couldn't help but smile at the thought of finally beating Roman at something.

****

Logan gave three short knocks to Patton's door, taking a step back afterwards and waiting. He heard someone calling inside almost immediately, telling him that they would be there in a moment. Logan waited patiently and soon enough the door was swinging open, revealing a very tired looking Patton. Despite his clear exhaustion he still gave Logan a tiny, sleepy grin as he saw him.

"Logan!" He called excitedly, quickly wrapping his neighbor in a hug to greet him. Logan simply sighed and returned the hug, used to his neighbor(and only true friend in the neighborhood) being this touchy. He pulled away quickly, excited grin twisting into confusion as he invited him inside to sit down. "What are you doing over here? Is something wrong?"

"Why would something be wrong?" Logan questioned, taking a seat on Patton's couch with Patton on another chair across from him. Patton frowned and shrugged.

"You don't really come over unless I invite you first. So I thought maybe you needed something." Immediately Patton shook his head and smiled at Logan again. "But that's fine! I'm just curious what made you come over now is all."

"I am sorry, Patton. I do enjoy your company from time to time, and would not mind coming over more often if you would like for me to." Logan offered, feeling guilty for making the only person who actually talked to him in their neighborhood regularly think that he only wanted to come over when he needed something.

"Oh Logan, you don't have to!" Patton assured him, still smiling like normal. "If you want to though, I certainly wouldn't mind hanging out more often. Just... after this whole competition is over." He laughed. "I'm so busy with planning things right now, it's crazy."

"Do you need any help?" Logan offered, and Patton shook his head quickly.

"No, no, I love doing things like this! It's fun for me. I actually prefer to do it on my own-then everything is just how I want it to be." Patton explained.

"If you're sure," Logan said. "Patton? About the competition, I actually had a question about it."

Almost immediately Patton gasped excitedly, bouncing in his seat. "Are you going to compete this year? Cause you totally should!"

"I was... considering it. Though, I wanted to ask you first, because I don't believe anyone else has done this before." Logan started, and Patton waited quietly for him to continue. He seemed very excited hearing that Logan might compete. "Would you allow me to pair up with a neighbor to combine our yards and compete together?"

"Compete together?" Patton asked, tilting his head as he thought about it. "Well... as long as everyone is allowed to pair up if they want to then I don't see why not. Who did you want to team up with?"

"I'm still not sure. I just know that I would like to finally see Roman lose, and hopefully pairing up with someone will give me a better chance at achieving that." Logan explained, and Patton frowned.

"I still don't see why you dislike him so much. Roman really can be a nice guy when you get to know him!" Patton insisted, and then shrugged. "I guess if it gets you to compete though, then I'm glad. I hope you have fun."

"I don't think he is necessarily a bad person, just an annoying one. Though I will not argue with you. I do know about your feelings for him." Logan said, seeing Patton's face flush.

"It's not like that!" Patton said quickly, shaking his head. "Roman's my friend."

"Whatever you say, Patton." Logan said with a small smile. He stood up from Patton's couch, Patton rising with him. "Well, I suppose I should leave you to what you were working on before. I have to consider who I'm going to trust to help me compete this year anyways."

"Oh, alright." Patton said with a small, disappointed smile. He hated to see Logan go, but they both had other things to do. The two of them made their way over to the door, Patton opening it for Logan to step through. "I'll see you later then!"

"Yes," Logan nodded, stepping outside. "I will be sure to visit more often."

"Oh, and Logan!" Patton called before Logan could get far. Logan turned to face him again, waiting to hear what he had to say. Patton smiled, pointing to a house beside of Logan's. "You should consider asking Virgil to help. It might take a little bit of convincing, but I think it'd be good for both of you!"

Logan looked to the house he was pointing at, and nodded. "I will think about it. Thank you, Patton."

It didn't take long for Logan to go to Virgil. After learning that his other neighbor wasn't going to be in town for most of Christmas it was clear that Virgil was going to be his only option anyways. If he didn't agree to help then Logan's entire plan would fall apart entirely. He had to admit, he was slightly nervous when he approached the black front door of his next door neighbor. Not only because he may disagree and ruin his plan, but because he had honestly never met his neighbor. He had seen him a few times, at events that Patton hosted and when he came to and from his house, but both were odd occurrences. He barely knew what this man even looked like, but because Patton knew him Logan was sure he couldn't be that bad.

He knocked on the door the same as he had Patton's, stepping back and waiting. It was silent for a while, and no one came to answer the door. After two minutes of waiting Logan frowned, knocking a second time and wondering if maybe Virgil wasn't home. However after his second time knocking, after waiting another minute, the door very slowly opened.

"Hello?" Logan assumed the man peeking through the small opening of the door was Virgil. "Uh... I dunno what you're here for, but I think you've got the wrong house."

"Are you Virgil?" Logan asked, seeing Virgil nod his head slowly. "Then I am at the right place. Patton directed me over here."

"Oh." Virgil frowned, opening the door wider. "You're friends with Patton?"

"Yes. I believe he is friends with everyone who lives in this neighborhood." Logan said, and gestured towards his house beside of Virgil's. "I live next door to you. My name is Logan."

"Oh, you're Logan. Patton's said a lot about you before." Virgil said, before realizing his mistake and shaking his head quickly. "Nothing bad or anything!"

"I don't believe Patton could ever speak badly about anyone," Logan pointed out with a quiet laugh, and Virgil flashed a small smile in return as he quietly agreed.

"Yeah, you're right. I just meant that like, he's mentioned a couple of times that he thinks we would get along is all." Virgil shrugged.

"I assume that is why he encouraged me to come to you, then." Logan realized, frowning as he remembered his original goal in coming over. He had already gotten distracted.

"Probably. What exactly caused you to come anyways?" Virgil questioned.

"Well, I realized recently that Patton's competition that he does every year is arriving quickly. I am aware that most of the neighborhood seem to like Roman, which is why he always seems to win but... personally, I am tired of hearing him brag about winning." Logan explained, pausing for a moment. "I had a plan to make Roman lose this year, and it involves teaming up with a neighbor to use both of our yards to decorate so that we would be more likely to win. I came to ask if you would possibly like to team up with me."

It was silent for a moment after Logan finished talking, Virgil frowning and seeming confused. "Wait... you're asking me to help you win the competition?"

"Yes." Logan nodded simply, waiting for an answer.

"And the only reason that you want to win is because... you dislike hearing Roman bragging about it?" Virgil raised an eyebrow.

"Well..." Logan began, suddenly feeling a little embarrassed for his reasons. He felt his face heating up as he rushed to explain himself. "Okay, I am aware of how childish this seems but-"

"Oh, no!" Virgil cut him off quickly, shaking his head and laughing. "No, that's not what I meant. I'm totally down for making Roman finally shut up for once. I was just surprised that anyone else actually thought he was annoying too."

"Oh," Logan muttered, also laughing quietly. "Yes, I thought I was alone in that as well. And it's not as if I can really bring that up around Patton, even though he's the only other person in this neighborhood I talk to."

"Because of the super obvious crush he refuses to admit he has on him?" Virgil guessed, and Logan nodded.

"Exactly. I am terrible when it comes to identifying emotions but even I could tell with him." Logan said. He paused for a moment, then clarified. "You did say that you would help me, though?"

"Oh, yeah." Virgil nodded quickly. "I'd love to. I've... never actually decorated much for Christmas before other than inside my house, so I can't promise I'll be great at it, but I'll try."

"I am sure that the two of us working together will be able to figure it out." Logan assured him. The two of them spoke for a little while longer, Logan gaining Virgil's phone number so that the pair could decide when to meet up and begin working. Logan returned to his own home feeling somewhat excited for this whole competition to begin, something he had never imagined happening when he had first moved in here.

Step one to Logan's Christmas Competition plan was a success, and Logan was hopeful that the rest of his plan would go by just as easily.

I'm super excited to finally be uploading this new Christmas themed Sanders Sides fanfiction!! It's going to be uploaded every day leading up to Christmas. I've worked really hard on this(I started outlining in late October), and I hope you guys are excited to read it! I'm a little bit late today, because I'm out with family but I plan on updating every day at 1PM. Anyways, that's all I've got to say for now. Thanks for reading the first chapter. Take care of yourselves. Bye!-Bob