“So Minji just….lets us do all this?” Ravi questioned as he watched the students decorating the cafeteria.

“Yeah,” Sori nodded, relaxing into her boyfriend’s arms, “she wants those of us with no real home to feel……..well, like we have a home.”

“That’s nice of her,” Ravi smiled slightly.

He realized that this was to be expected of someone like Minji. The headmistress of Dark Lake always did everything she could to make the students like himself and Sori feel like Dark Lake was their home. Heck, she’d even become the legal guardian for Sori, Kris, Hyuna, and Yuri so they didn’t stay stuck in the ISBIP’s foster care system. And her family was the same way, letting the four stay with them over during breaks from school if they didn’t want to stay on school grounds.

“Oh,” Heesun spoke up, “don’t forget, we’ve got to get up early tomorrow.”

“Why?” Leo questioned, pulling his attention away from where Hyuk and Hongbin were decorating the room with Lito. Well, it was more like they were decorating each other, but it was still nice to watch.

“Minji’s taking us into town,” the werewolf explained, “for Christmas shopping. Ya know, gifts and what not?”

“I’ll have to skip,” Ravi frowned, grip on Sori tightening ever so slightly, “I’m broke.”

“Minji’s footing the bill,” Sori reached up to ruffle his hair, “there’s a cash limit naturally, but……she wants all of us to have something waiting for us under the tree.”

“Oh,” Luhan beamed, “Kris and Suho also left some cash behind to help out. Since our group is so large now, they wanted to make sure everyone got a gift from everyone.”

“Just like the kids who went home for the holidays,” Hyoyeon smiled brightly.

“It’s a shame Kris isn’t here,” Hyuna sighed sadly, “I got him a gift months ago, but…….”

“Where did Kris go?” N asked, “I woke up yesterday and he’d already left with everyone.”

“He’s staying with Suho for Christmas,” Hyuna sighed, “he’s got a crush on Suho’s sister and……and he wants to spend the holiday with her instead of us.”

“He’s spent every Christmas with us before,” Sori sighed, looking at Hyuna sympathetically, “it’s a bit of a shock for him to just…..change things up like that.”

“I didn’t know Suho had a sister,” N frowned slightly, “and Kris likes her?”

“She’s older by a couple of years,” Yuri spoke up, “and he’s got a bit of a crush on her, yes. Nothing he’ll admit to, but…..it could build into something with time.”

“Sounds like you know something we don’t,” Hyuna narrowed her eyes at her fellow fae, silently demanding answers.

Instead of replying, Yuri rushed off to help Lito and Hyuk untangle Hongbin from the mess they three had made.

“So,” Ken grinned slightly, looking around the table, “so what does everyone want for Christmas?”

“Yeah,” Sehun nodded, “we should, like, exchange Christmas lists or something.”

“Nice idea,” Hyoyeon said, “but don’t we normally just get what we think the other will like? Or do you two have something in particular that you want.”

The necromancer and spell caster shared a look before grinning innocently at the others.

--

“Hi, mom,” Chen smiled slightly, throwing his arms around his step-mother.

“Welcome home,” she replied.

“Mommy!” Kai grinned brightly, enveloping his mother in a big hug, “I missed you.”

“Being so cute,” Chen laughed, “you must be trying to up for a gift.”

“Nope,” Kai replied, clearly lying, “I just miss my awesome mommy.”

“Right,” Chen rolled his eyes, “so…..I see dad isn’t here to greet us. And the staff seems to be pretty skeletal.”

“He’s no here,” the older werewolf replied, taking no small amount if joy in how her boys’ eyes lit up at the news, “and I’ve let most of the staff have the two weeks you’re here off. Anyone still here will be off for Christmas Eve into Boxing Day and off again for New Year’s Eve and Day.”

“Awesome,” Chen  cheered, hugging his step-mom once more.

“It’s gonna be just the three of us for Christmas?” Kai laughed, “best. Gift. Ever!”

“Wait until he opens his gifts,” their mother told Chen with a laugh as she helped them move their bags to their room, “he’ll be saying the same thing over and over.”

“Yep,” Chan laughed, ignoring Kai’s complaints over being teased.

--

“Mom!” Tao called, holding the door open for D.O, “we’re home.”

“I’m in the kitchen,” his mother called out, “I’m making cookies.”

“Can I help?” D.O offered.

“Only if you want,” the human replied, “I don’t want you to feel like you have to, though.”

“I like cooking and baking,” D.O promised, “it’s fun.”

“Good,” she smiled, “I don’t want you to feel like you have to do anything because you’re here. You aren’t a guest, you’re family.”

D.O couldn’t help but smile happily, a feeling of family and belonging bubbling up inside of him. A part of him missed his own family, wished that they hadn’t rejected him. But a much larger part was happy because that was why he was with Tao and his mother. With them, he felt so……at home. He’d never felt this way with his own family.

It all made him smile brightly as he helped Tao’s mother in the kitchen.

--

“Maybe we should stick to take out and buying from bakeries,” Xiumin tried to laugh, coughing when some of the smoke from the failed attempt at cookies got into his lungs, “yea, buying stuff is much better.”

“Can’t argue” Xiumin’s father laughed, opening a window, “your mother was always the cook in the family.”

“We should have taken lesions,” Xiumin laughed.

“And we’ve had five years to learn,” the older vampire sighed.

“Ya know,” Xiumin laughed, “we do this every year.”

“And yet we never actually learn,” the other nodded, laughing along with his son, “one of these days we will, though.”

“One day,” Xiumin nodded in agreement.

“Let’s go out for dinner,” his father recommended, “the house should be aired out by then.”

“You buy.”

“Deal.”

--

“Should have stayed at school with Lito,” Krystal grumbled as she watched the family gossip about stupid crap.

To be fair, it wasn’t just gossip. There was also a lot of insults being thrown at people her family felt was below them. But Krystal didn’t care about that either. She’d stopped caring ages ago when she realized that all those insults were mean and hateful and the targets of them hadn’t done anything wrong.

“Would have been the smart thing,” Jessica sighed, “but notice something…….who’s missing from this picture of hell?”

“Holy crap,” Krystal tried not to smile, “they….they didn’t invite aunty and uncle? Oh my god, that……that’s………that is freaking awesome!”

“I overheard mother taking to a cousin,” Jessica smirked slightly, “she said something about them visiting Sori for parents’ day and how……disappointed grandmother and grandfather were with them. The whole family is going to make them outcasts until they beg for forgiveness.”

“Like that’s gonna happen,” Krystal tried not to laugh too loud, “they’ve got both their kids and are trying to be a family once again. They don’t need all of…..all of this.”

“Should have stayed at school,” Jessica smiled, “because I for one would like to be a part of that family.”

“Much better than this one.”

“Truth.”

--

Taeyang rolled his eyes as his family pretended to be all happy and complete. He knew that none of them got along with well. His father hated most of his family. Everyone of his blood family hated his dad’s second wife. She hated all of them, but especially him. Heck, if it wasn’t for his grandmother’s tight grip of control over the family, none of them would be at her house pretending to get along.

“Someone please kill me,” he muttered under his breath, wishing he’d taken Minji up on her offer to stay at the school.

But that would mean he’d miss seeing his blood family and he missed them a lot. As tense as things were over all, he loved them and they loved him. None of them thought he was a bad kid like his dad and step-mom, a little troubled but never bad.

At least that was something.

--

“Sori’s super great,” Sooyoung gushed to all the other spell casters gathered around her, “and her boyfriend Ravi? He’s gonna be powerful too, just like her.”

“So she is dating?” one of the other kids gasped, “I thought that was a stupid rumor!”

“Please tell me you’ve got pictures,” another begged.

“Cute couple photos,” someone else cheered happily.

Sooyoung nodded, pulling out her phone. If Sori ever found out about this little fan club for her, she’d……well, Sooyoung didn’t know how she’d take it. But if she found out about all the secret pictures Sooyoung had taken of her and Ravi being all cute together? She’d flip her lid. Ravi might too after getting over his embarrassment.

Best not to let this get out.

--

Taeyeon smiled happily as her father put of the fake tree and her mother got out the decorations, but a part of her feel a bit sad. She loved being home with her family, but…..she missed all her Dark Lake friends. She’d even been tempted to stay at school with them, but Suho had talked her into going home. He’d promised that they’d all do something together when everyone returned to school.

Taeyeon……she couldn’t help but think then of the coming battle.

Hopefully……hopefully this group party Suho was talking about wouldn’t be the last. Hopefully they would have many more Christmas parties together, all of them together and happy, in the future.

A/N: because I’m an who had to remind us all about the recent deaths in the story)

--

“What did you get me?” Chanyeol asked, wrapping his arms around Lina as best he could from behind without crushing her wings.

“Can’t tell,” she giggled, “not unless you’re gonna tell me what you got for me.”

“Can’t tell,” he mimicked, “it’s a surprise for Christmas morning.”

“Aww,” Chanyeol’s gushed from the other side of the room, “you’re so cute together.”

Lina’s face heated up and she turned slightly to hide her face in Chanyeol’s wings.

“Look up,” Chanyeol’s father laughed, pointing to the little green plant hanging over the pair’s heads, “kissing is a tradition.”

Chanyeol laughed as Lina’s face got even more red, especially after he kissed her. The older fallen was quick to escape the room, rushing to her bedroom and calling up Heesun and Sori. The other two girls just laughed at her, teasing her about getting all embarrassed about her boyfriend kissing her.

“Don’t feel bad about it,” Sori finally said before the teasing went too far, “there are sometimes I get all embarrassed and flustered with Ravi.”

“Ditto for me and Chen,” Heesun nodded.

“You sure?” Lina questioned.

The three talked for a while longer before hanging up. Right after, Lina rushed back to the living room where she quickly kissed Chanyeol’s lips, smiling brightly when he got all embarrassed and flustered.

--

“You’re so whipped,” Suho smirked as Kris carried his sister’s bags to her room.

“No,” the other dragon huffed, “I’m a gentleman.”

“Whipped,” Suho laughed, “but it’s cool. She likes you a lot too.”

“You sure about that?” Kris questioned, “I mean, does she actually talk to you about this kind of thing?”

“No,” Suho admitted, “but she talks to my mom and mom talks to me.”

“Hmmm,” Kris nodded.

“Are you gonna do anything about it?” Suho pressed, holding open the door of his sister’s room so Kris could enter, “or what?”

“I’m gonna wait for now,” Kris decided after a moment, “with things as they are…….it might be best to wait.”

“Or you’re an idiot,” Suho shrugged, “I mean, I get your reasoning, but…….wouldn’t you rather try? See how it goes before……well, before things happen?”

“Yeah,” Kris sighed, “I just……I don’t want to get her all involved and in love in case things go wrong. She’ll hurt either way, but……it might be a bit less if she’s not in love.”

Suho could only nod before the pair headed back to the living room to hang out with his family.

--

“So Chanyeol and Lina are together?” Baekhyun’s mother smiled, “that’s great! They’re an adorable couple.”

“Just keep it under your hat,” Baekhyun told her, “not everyone will be as…….accepting of them as you and I are.”

“Poor dears,” the female fallen sighed sadly, “I can’t imagine how painful it must be to have the one you love right there, but you can’t show you love them.”

“Not out in public anyway,” Baekhyun nodded.

“So,” his mother turned to him, a scary glint in her eye, “when will you be getting a girlfriend?”

“Mom!” Baekhyun whined, “I’m not looking for that right now.”

“Why not?” she pressed, “you’re a healthy young man. You’re attractive. Before you know it, you’ll have graduated from Dark Lake and moving onto college. It’s about time you start looking for someone to do all that couples stuff with.”

“Mom,” he whined louder.

“Now, I’m not talking marriage or anything serious like that,” she laughed, “just a cute little girlfriend to cuddle while watching a movie.”

Baekhyun felt like crying anime tears as his mother kept up teasing him. He knew she was only playing, but still…..

--

“Cookies are done!” Lay called, moving out of the way so his family didn’t trample him trying to get to the food he and his mother and just finished making.

“Got to be honest,” he sighed, resting his head on his mother’s shoulder, “its sights like this that make me happy I don’t live here all year round.”

“You miss this,” she countered, “don’t lie.”

“I kind of do,” he admitted, “but……then again.”

Both winced as two of his brothers got into a little scuffle over a cookie.

“You should have asked Sori, Hyoyeon, Yuri, and Hyuna to come home with you,” his mother said, trying to change the topic, “it would be nice to have them here again this year.”

Lay couldn’t help but smile at the memory of the three girls and Kris joining him for Christmas the year before. His family had made them feel right at home and he knew all three really, truly appreciated it. It wasn’t often they got the whole ‘family Christmas’ experience.

“I did offer,” Lay said, “but they wanted to stay at school with everyone. I think Sori was really looking forewords to spending Christmas with Ravi and her brother.”

“Yes,” she smiled, “I suppose that Dark Lake is the best place for them to spend Christmas. But next year, you bring all of them hone with you, alright? Regardless of where all of you graduating kids end up, you bring all of them home with you. Sori, Kris, Ravi. All of them.”

“Deal,” Lay smiled.

--

“Hey,” Ravi smiled, knocking on Sori’s door before peeking inside.

“You could have waited,” she smiled, moving to kiss him quickly, “for all you knew, I could have been wrapping your gift.”

“I’ll be more careful next time,” he promised, “but I’m here for a very important reason. Come downstairs.”

“Huh?” Sori frowned slightly, “why? Is something wrong?”

“Nope,” Ravi assured her, “just….come with me and see.”

Sori followed after him, trying to think of what could be happening the whole walk to the common area of the girl’s dorm. When they finally arrived and she saw what was waiting for her……..

Well, Sori could honestly say she hadn’t expected it.

“Mother? “she questioned, slowly making her way over to them, “Father? What are you doing here?”

“We wanted to spend Christmas with our family,” her mother smiled, “are you…..do you want to spend Christmas with us?”

“Yes,” Sori nodded, “but……”

“But?” her father questioned.

“The others,” she glanced around the room where her friends where watching with smiles.

Sad smiles.

“They’re joining us,” her mother smiled, “naturally. They are family after all.”

That got smiles from everyone. It might not be the Christmas some of them had always dreamed of, one with their own loving parents, but Christmas with this family that they had made for themselves……dare they say that it was better.

A/N: I think I ed it up in that last paragraph. But other than that? I think there’s a lot of fluffy feels in this. Also, some tears (for, like, everything to do with Hyuk. And Lay, his part made me sad.).Merry Christmas everyone!!