Even though Michael was warned about the assault the little kids planned every year, he still wasn't fully aware what was going on when a parade of thirteen and unders ran into the room and began jumping on the bed and shaking him.

"Calum! Calum! Calum!" They chanted, voices rising to practically scream the name. There were other words mixed in but the noise became nothing more than a storm to Michael's ears.

He sat up groggily, hair thrown up weirdly from sleep as he yawned. The room became dead quiet, Michael looked around at the pale faced children. What were they chanting a second ago? Michael couldn't even remember.

"You're not Calum!" One of them yelled, sounding half offended, like he'd been fed a lie and was just figuring things out.

"You're right." Michael replied, blinking. He yawned again and examined the kids at last. There were about eight in all, each on clad in different pyjamas that ranged in colour and design. The oldest of them all appeared to be the leader of the assault, he was also the closest now that they'd realized they'd woken up someone other than Calum.

"I'm Calum," Calum added, sitting up with sleep still heavy in his tone. Michael admired the boy then, seeing how adorable Calum was first thing in the morning. His hair was choppy and he had an imprint on his cheek where the fabric he'd fallen asleep on folded. Maybe it was just the fact that they'd shared a bed for the first time but Michael was thinking about how much more adorable Calum would look if he woke up in his arms, he could almost picture it.

The small army of children cheered upon seeing the half asleep Calum, climbing on the bed to tug him into weird hugs they'd completely forgotten about their fear of the stranger.

"It's Christmas, we should get down stairs before they start opening presents without us!" Calum shouted suddenly, watching the kids start yelling protests before they'd even made it out the door.

Michael groaned when the last of the kids was out of the room. He flopped back under the covers, "Can we go back to sleep now?"

That brought a laugh out of Calum, "Nope, we've got presents to open."

Curiosity got the best of Michael, he didn't plan on taking Calum home and he didn't think Calum was expecting it either so how could there be presents for him? He turned to the other boy with his mouth parted slightly and a questioning look on his face but Calum just shrugged, a minuscule smirk hidden somewhere in the depths of his lips.

"Let's not keep them waiting then." Calum said, picking up Michael's hand because he thought it would help drag the pale boy out of bed faster. "There will be hot chocolate after too."

×

"Who's Michael?" The guy handing out presents asked, lifting a box from the remaining gifts. He'd been downstairs for maybe ten minutes while the Hood family unwrapped presents, Calum had already gotten four and maybe Michael was feeling lied to until the guy said his name.

"Calum's boy." One of the older ladies answered, pointing in Michael's general direction. A sea of heads turned his way like clockwork, it was on the next wave of presents and his name just happened to be on the first present the guy picked up. He was glad no one had bothered to turn on the light because you wouldn't be able to tell how hard he was blushing just by the Christmas tree lights.

The box was passed from person to person until Calum handed the box to him. He was confused to say the least, what would Calum get him? Did he even know what Michael liked? The weight within the box was displaced as soon as the box was handed to him which confused him even more.

He took his time opening it, everyone else seemed to have already moved on to their presents and Calum was the only one watching now, waiting for Michael's initial reaction.

He lifted the lid on the box, not expecting what was inside to move. He squealed in the end, hand shooting up to muffle the end of his surprise. Inside the box was a fluff ball, there was no better words to describe the petite kitten pacing the inside of the box.

By now, Calum had a small stack of unopened presents at his side but he seemed more interested in Michael. The thought of having Calum's undivided attention on his absolute favourite holiday made him want to blush again but Michael hid it by picking up the small dark grey cat. It was skinny and had blue orbs the size of buttons that reflected Christmas lights, the eyes themselves appeared to stare into Michael's soul and Michael didn't know what to do suddenly.

"I thought you might need a friend for the three hundred and sixty two days you don't see me," Calum murmured, a small teasing nature in his voice that Michael didn't really catch.

He thought about it, before him and Calum weren't even that close but after this he might actually miss the boy's presence. What would he do if Calum's streak of bad luck ended? Would he even see Calum? Would they still be friends?

"What're you naming her?" Calum asked, question coming out as nothing more than a whisper as his hand reached out to pet the cat. Calum was much closer than Michael remembered, he wasn't sure if Calum had always been this close and he was just becoming increasingly aware of their proximity suddenly or if Calum had scooted closer to see the cat and he'd just subconsciously leaned closer but they were really close all of a sudden.

"Mal....um, Mallory." Michael whispered, a smile edging on to his mouth as little Mallory became overcome with fatigue and chose to curl up against Michael's neck.

Calum cooed at the sight, coming to a crossroads when he tried to decide who was cuter; Mallory or Michael.