Anthony woke up the sound of his alarm going off, alerting him that it was now time for him to get up. He groans, sitting up and fumbling with his phone in an attempt to shut off the noise.

It isn't until he fully opens his eyes that Anthony realizes that this isn't his alarm going off. It's someone calling him- Steven to be exact.

Anthony blinks once or twice, rubbing his eyes and sighing. Why the fuck was Steven calling him at this hour? It was Christmas Eve, too, and...

Oh. Right.

Anthony shoots up out of bed, nearly dragging his blanket out the door with him. He stumbles into the kitchen, quickly shoving whatever leftovers he saw into his mouth in a desperate attempt at breakfast.

"Anthony? What's wrong this time?" His father sounds amused, giving a quick glance at Anthony from his book.

"I forgot about this secret santa we were having today! I just- fuck, fuck, what do I do, dad?! We're meeting in a hour and I don't have shit for Tom!" Anthony finishes his food and begins to run back up to his room. "I gotta run and get something for him!"

"Alright then, Anthony. Take a shower, though. You have marker all over your arm." His father then turns back to his book, leaving Anthony to himself.

God, what was he supposed to give Tom for a gift?

-

Anthony was running through the streets, praying that some stores would be open. And to his delight, a few were.

A few people give him odd looks as he practically bursts through the doors, panting lightly and somewhat disheveled from his run. He ignores the looks, though, and makes his ways through the shelves.

Tom... Tom liked chocolate, didn't he? Anthony would even get the nice kind, none of that cheap shit.

Anthony grabbed a few, then made his way to the front of the store to pay. He had a few other stops to make, anyways.

-

He barges into Steven's house twenty minutes late, with three gift bags in his hand. It had been a pain in the ass for him to run around and find his last minute gifts.  Hopefully Tom wouldn't be too mad.

"Where the hell were you?" Steven scolds him the instant he's in the room. "We've been waiting forever!"

Anthony laughs nervously, setting his bags down and sitting next to his friends on the couch. "I got caught up with some things. It's no big deal, really... Forgive me?" 

Steven rolls his eyes and gestures to the presents all sitting in a pile. "Put your bags down so we can all get started! We were gonna watch a movie or something after this, you wanna join?"

Anthony chuckles and nods. "Only if I get a mistletoe kiss, okay buddy?" 

Ze giggles and nods his head. "Totally. Let's get the gifts handed out. We're waiting for Galm to come back, he said he had to go get a part of his present. He also said for us to give it to you for him, though, in case he didn't get back in time."

Anthony looks over at the others, who all nod in response.

"I brought eggnog, but only for me," Smarty admits. "I didn't wanna share."

There was a bit of laughter, and then everyone settled down together. Anthony smiled at them, then looked over at the gifts. "So when do we get to open them?"

-

"Okay, so since it looks like Galm isn't coming back anytime soon, we're just gonna get started. Everyone grab the one you bought," Tom announces.

Everyone grabbed their presents and sat down in a circle.

"Nice Amazon box, Ze. Didn't even take the packing tape off?" Smarty giggles as he watches Ze push the box towards him.

"Oh shut up, Smarty. At least I can actually wrap presents, better than you and your unwrapped ukelele." Anthony laughs as he points at Smarty's presents.

Smarty huffs and folds his arms. "Well, at least I actually remembered my presents, okay? I'm a good person."

"So who opens it first? I vote Aphex because I'm not sure how else to hide this," Tom states. "I'll go get it."

Everyone watched as Tom went down to the hall, then swung open a closet door. He tugs out a huge bear, the one he had hid in Anthony's closet, then drags it over to Aphex.

"This is yours, Aphex. I was gonna look for a shirt to go with it, but I couldn't find one." Tom sets the bear down, grinning excitedly as he watched Aphex's reaction.

Aphex backs up a few steps, eyes wide. He looks up at the bear, who is much taller than he is, and laughs. "Holy shit, this is for me? Where the fuck did you get this?"

Tom shrugged. "Meh. I found it in a toy store, thought you would enjoy it. You know, keep it as a reminder of how short you are."

Aphex giggled and hugged it. Or, rather, he just kinda clung to it. It wasn't much of a hug in Anthony's opinion. Kinda like a little midget latching onto a victim.

"It's so cool, dude! Thanks!" Aphex got off of his bear, then grabbed a wrapped box. A very, very big box, covered with little snowmen on the wrapping paper and a few bows scattered on top. He (literally) pushes it towards Steven and nods. "This is yours."

Steven stares at the monstrosity in front of him and laughs nervously. "You got me this? You know you didn't have to, right?"

Aphex only smirks in response. "I know I didn't have to. But I did, and I think you'll like it."

Steven looks confused, but begins to tear the wrapping off anyways. He opens the box... only to reveal a second box inside.

"Really? Was this necessary?" Steven gives Aphex a look, then returns to opening his gift.

The look on his face when he opened up the second box was hilarious, honestly. Everyone but Steven burst into laughter as Steven pulls out a third  box.

Another three boxes later, they were all in stitches, laughing and crying like the idiots they were.

"Holy fuck, Aphex, where did you even get all those boxes from? Is there an end to this?" Anthony asks a legitimate question, making Aphex grin and nod.

"Yeah. Here's your actual present, Ze. I... I forgot to put it in the smallest box, and by the time I realized it I was on the fourth box." Aphex hands Steven an envelope, then begins to push all the boxes and wrapping paper aside.

Steven opens the envelope and gasps. "Holy shit, really? You even got me two! Two tickets!" Steven gasps, then looks up at Aphex. "Are you implying something?"

"Me? Nah, nah. The extra ticket is for you to keep, you decide who you're taking out to a movie," Aphex responds. 

Steven laughs softly and then sets the envelope aside. He grabs his box and pushes it over to Smarty. "Okay, okay. I'll fanboy later. This is for Smarty, I ordered it and it just came in this morning. Merry Christmas, Smarty."

Smarty hesitates, eyeing the package. "Is it a bomb?"

Anthony snickers and shakes his head. "We don't love you that much, buddy. Just open it," he says.

Smarty rolls his eyes and begins to rip the tape off the box. He pulls out a shirt, still wrapped up in packaging, and laughs at what he sees.

"Jesus, where did you find this? What part of the internet were you on, Ze?" Smarty gestures to the shirt as he unfolds it, laughing as he examines the print on it.

Everyone crowded around, laughing and pointing at the print. They all laughed about it for a few minutes, making jokes about the shirt and Ze's taste in shirts.

It was Tom who cut it all off, looking at Anthony from the other side of the room by the gift bags. "Can I get my present now?"

Anthony huffs and rolls his eyes. "Well, since you're already over there, I guess. Way to be patient, you ass." Despite the  sarcasm in his voice, Anthony nods at Tom.

Tom digs into the bags, smirking as he pulls out a few boxes of chocolate, and a scarf. "How last minute was this?"

Anthony feels the heat rising to his face. "It was... It wasn't that last minute, okay?"

Tom had been about to say something, but he gets cut off by the door bursting open. Galm walks in, grinning and holding something in his arms, covered by a blanket.

At first Anthony was confused. What was in Galm's arms that made him so excited? Why did he have to go get his present? Why didn't he just bring it here to begin with?

But then Anthony heard barking, and he felt his heart race.

"Merry Christmas, Chilled! This is your present!" Galm sets the object down in front of Anthony, yanking the blanket off to reveal a large box, with a little puppy inside.

Anthony gasps, immediately reaching in and pulling the puppy out. It licks his face, and Anthony can't help but squeal. "Holy shit, holy shit! It's- it's so little! Galm, you got me a fucking puppy! Oh god, he's perfect!"

Galm grins and sets a few bags in front of Anthony. "These are his things- food, bed, I got him a collar and leash too. His name is Rex, by the way."

"Rex! Rex, you're awesome! I love you, you hear that, buddy?" Anthony pets Rex, grinning as he watches his little friend wiggle his tail and bark excitedly.

Galm laughs, sitting on the couch. "So while they're doing that, where's my present? Oh, wait. This ukulele has my name on it. Thanks, Smarty. I got a new thing to annoy you guys with."

They all laughed, even more so as Galm attempts to play it. And as they all gathered around to pet and play with little Rex, Anthony couldn't help himself from looking over at Steven.

He had one more present to give, but that could wait for tomorrow.