Title- Of Christmas Holidays and a Wager

Summary- As the name suggests. One-shot

Disclaimer- Bakugan Battle Brawlers doesn't belong to of course

A/N- Merry Christmas my dear friends! I present you a new Christmas fic. Post-Mechtanium Surge arc and let's assume that the bakugan left to Vestroia. Semi-AU. Enjoy and don't forget to review at the end! Have a lovely holiday! ^^

Happy reading! RnR!

"Cheer up already!" exclaimed Dan, jumping off the ladder once he adjusted the lights on the Christmas tree.

"Hmph" Shun looked away and drank his hot chocolate as he sat on the couch. He's in a foul mood, of course.

The girls were in the next room, catching up along with Marucho and the boys decided to stay where they were; in the living room. It was one of their annual gatherings of the year. Marucho had already planned to spend their Christmas holidays in his private villa on the outskirts of town and had organized a party; hence they were here to help him in preparations two days before Christmas. Not that Marucho needs help when there are maids and butlers around; it was just an excuse to meet up.

"Man! You're killing the Christmas spirit. Say something, you Grumpy old man!" Dan tried again but Shun ignored him.

"Be quiet, Dan. You dragged him here all the way and then he's informed that his crush won't be coming. How sad is that?" Ace said causing Shun to glare at him intensely.

"VERY" stated Baron, looking inside the box full of decoration stuff.

"You are making it worse, Baron" said Ace, sighing.

"Guys… He can actually hear you…" Billy pointed out, glancing at Shun who was now surrounded by dark sinister aura.

"Oh and Santa will be here tonight! Ho-Ho-Ho!" said Dan, cheerfully. He gave a once over to the decorated tree.

"Tell me you're kidding" Billy raised his eyebrows.

"Of course not! You'll find your present under the tree in the morning!" said Dan.

"Wow! I had been looking forward to see Santa! I can't wait to see him!" exclaimed Baron, excited.

"Don't get excited Baron. Dan plans to play Santa tonight" Ace rolled his eyes. Billy, Shun and Ace held a blank look.

"Oh. Then no thanks" Baron turned away.

"Hey!" glared Dan.

"I'm leaving" Shun announced.

"NOOOO! Don't go! We'll stop okay!" exclaimed Dan grabbing Shun's wrist tightly and surprising the said boy.

"Let go of me, you Idiot" said Shun.

"Not until you sit and have dinner with us! Marucho made a lot of effort for all this, you know" Dan actually sounded serious.

"Fine. But next time don't force me to come with you" Shun sighed as he left to go and sit on his abandoned spot on the couch. He failed to notice the sudden glint flash through Dan's eyes.

"Hmm… Then how about a wager…?" Dan suggested causing the others to look at him curiously. Shun raised his eyebrow.

"What wager…?" asked Shun.

"If you catch the Santa- who is me- tonight, I'll never drag you or force you to come with me to any vacations or outings or social gatherings without your consent… Ever" said Dan, grinning at Shun.

Shun stared at his brunette best friend for few seconds contemplating the idea. However, he was not an idiot. He knew his best friend's mind was filled with ridiculous ideas when it comes to persuasion.

"…And?" Shun finally asked looking at Dan in suspicion.

The others stifled their laugh at Shun's perplexed yet cautious expression and Dan sweat dropped. Their friends knew that it was never a dull moment whenever these two have this kind of conversation so no one interrupted them.

"Well… if you fail to catch me… You will have to go on a date with the first girl you see after midnight!" completed Dan, pointing his index finger at Shun. "Except our girlfriends of course" he added, referring to his and his friends' girlfriends. (You know who) XD

"And… He finally lost his mind" stated Shun, rolling his eyes and crossing his arms over chest.

The rest of their friends couldn't control their laugh after Shun's comment. They knew what was coming next. They'll argue, of course. Dan smirked and Shun looked annoyed.

"Well what do you say? Deal?" Dan asked, grinning. Shun frowned thinking that his best friend knew his 'feeling' for a certain beauty yet the brunette ask something like this.

"Why do you even suggest something like this? What's your intention?" asked Shun instead.

"To… get you a date for tomorrow's Christmas party, duh. You know we have to bring a date to Marucho's party! Even Marucho and Baron are accompanying one. Every one of us got one except you" replied Dan.

"No thanks. I would rather stay in my room the whole day or go train" stated Shun. He actually wanted to ask Alice to be his date for the party but alas…

"Don't sulk because Alice couldn't make it! She's coming on New Year's Eve anyway. Besides, you gotta enjoy Christmas too!" Dan reasoned. "Or you THAT scared to accompany a woman?" he mocked.

"Tsk. As if I'll lose to you. Will you stop pestering me if I catch you- the stupid Santa- tonight?" asked Shun, irritated.

"Of course! But if you lose, you'll do as I asked you and no excuses" said Dan, grinning ear to ear.

"Deal"

"The game begins at 1 AM. Be alert, Shun or this Santa will slip past you easily!"

"Hn. Make sure none of our friends interferes tonight"

"Sure. I'll arrange a video camera to capture the whole event of your failure"

"Hn. Let's see if you'll be able to see the video with a black eye after I catch you"

"There they go again…" muttered Ace, shaking his head. He glanced at other two to find that they had left already. But before he can call his two bickering friends... Dan came to his senses.

"FOOD! I smell delicious food!" and… the brunette was out the room in a flash.

Shun and Ace face-palmed.

Meanwhile…

"Thank you, Marucho" the girls thanked Marucho who smiled in return.

"I'll just go see the arrangements. Oh and Fabia and the gang will be here tomorrow" informed Marucho before leaving the girls.

"It's too bad Alice couldn't make it…" Runo sighed.

"Hmm… But at least she'll be here for New Year's" Julie smiled. "Well… Shun seems to be sulking" she added, thinking.

"Yes, totally. I think he just needs to confess already" Mira cut in.

"Yeah. Alice already likes him back. I didn't know he's that shy. I thought he'll go like this- 'Alice, I love you. Be my girlfriend'" said Julie and tried to imitate Shun's serious expression and voice.

The girls laughed but were interrupted when Marucho called them for dinner.

That Night….

'There's no way I'll lose to him' thought Shun.

He was smirking as he made his way stealthily through the hallway. He passed his friends' rooms and knew everyone was asleep by now. He was a taught the skills of Ninja, for crying out loud and his best friend is underestimating him. Che. It's a piece of cake for him to catch him.

Shun glanced at his digital watch to see it was already 01:16 AM. He just wanted to sleep since he was upset that his favorite girl/crush/love won't make it till New Year. She had apologized through video call after they had all gathered at Marucho's villa. He had agreed to meet up because he was looking forward to meet Alice and actually confess his feelings to her. He knew she likes him, from what his friends had told him and he hoped that it's true. His friends won't lie to him about something like that, he knew. Sadly, he'll have to wait till New Year's.

He was glad the heaters were on as it had snowed in morning and now the atmosphere was freezing outside. He pondered some more about how difficult it is to confess and wondered how Dan dared to confess to Runo few months ago. He sighed, focusing on the task at hand and glanced around the room from behind the couch he was hiding. The room was large and dark as the lights were turned off so he didn't know if Dan had actually put the camera somewhere in the room from where he hid. The only source of light was the Christmas tree in the far corner on which the small lights twinkled.

'We'll have to add more lights to the tree tomorrow I guess' he noted mentally, admiring the tree. His target hasn't showed up yet. Since the place had many rooms, he decided he will just wait and hide in the room where the Christmas tree stood; the living room. He knew Dan had a special present for Runo and the brunette will obviously come here to keep it under the Christmas tree.

'I can't mess this up. I won't lose. And I won't go on date' he resolved, his eyes moving across the room. 'Where is he?!' he thought, looking at windows and doors. He knew Dan wasn't stupid to jump through the unused chimney…

The main entrance door creaked and he snapped his eyes towards the noise. 'So he decided to come through front door?' he sweat dropped and watched his best friend close the door silently and made his way inside. Shun smirked. Easy. The figure was carrying something heavy in his arms, he noticed.

'He actually carried a bag of presents?' Shun thought disbelievingly then shook his head.

Shun leaped from the behind the couch stealthily on the figure walking towards the Christmas tree. And there was loud crash of something heavy falling on the floor followed by a thud.

"Awww!"

"Gotcha"

Shun squinted his eyes at the sudden brightness of lights. Someone had turned the lights on. Shun glanced at the other intruder who had switched on the lights and was shocked to see who it was. He was…

"Dan?!"

He looked down when someone groaned; the one he had pinned down with his weight and his heart almost leapt out of his chest. He blinked then stared for few seconds before realizing he was on top of her. By now, the rest of the gang had arrived to witness the scene after the loud crash they heard.

"A-Alice?!"

Shun jumped off of her to his feet and offered his hand to the orange haired beauty. He stared at her surprised as she sat up and was slightly embarrassed that he had jumped on her and pinned her down.

"I… am sorry…" Shun apologized to blushing girl, scratching the back of his head. He could feel the heat rising over his cheeks as they stared at each other. "Are you alright?" he asked concerned and failed to notice he still held her wrist.

"Y-yeah…" stuttered the furiously blushing Alice at his gentle tone. She was slightly dazed from the fall and… also because of Shun who was too close to her.

"Ahem"

Dan fake-coughed, getting the couple's attention. Alice jumped and released her hand from Shun's while Shun turned to look at Dan only to find the others were surrounding them now.

"Well-well… Who knew he was this romantic!" squealed Julie and the other girls laughed.

"Shut up! I thought it was Dan!" Shun defended with wrong choice of words.

"…"

The girls looked at him with wide eyes. The boys burst out laughing.

"I mean… that… uh… It's not-…"

"He's so surprised he can't even speak clearly!" exclaimed Dan, grinning madly and then started laughing. "Look at his face! Priceless!" he added, laughing. Shun was dumbfounded.

"You mean you knew she was coming today?" asked Shun, still surprised.

"Oh my! This is hilarious!" exclaimed Ace while others were busy laughing at the furious and flustered Shun.

"Oh, the Mighty has fallen!" Dan exclaimed, smiling slyly. "You lost, Shun. Now you know what to do. And the first girl you saw is her" Dan grinned and winked at Shun who sighed, running his hand through his hair.

Yes. He fell for Dan's cheap trick… And now he felt stupid after realization… Well, maybe it wasn't bad to lose once in a while, he thought, shrugging.

The girls including Alice looked at Dan, curious and puzzled while boys were smiling slyly. Shun 'Hn'-ed, looking away from the boys. He knew since he lost he has to do what was decided. He cleared his throat and looked at the puzzled Alice. Before Alice knew, Shun stood in front of her.

"Welcome back, Alice" Shun said wrapping his arms around her and taking her by surprise. "And we're going on a date tomorrow" he continued, letting her go.

"H-huh?" Alice stuttered out looking at Shun, shocked. Shun was looking away. She wanted to surprise them by arriving the day before Christmas and the only ones who knew were Dan and Marucho but… she got the biggest surprise. She smiled unconsciously.

"Tomorrow… Alright?" Shun added, nodding and smiling at her.

"O-oh…uh… O-okay" she replied blushing furiously.

"Looking forward to it… Good night" he added before leaving the stunned audience and an arguing Dan and Runo behind.

"Dan! You planned this and you didn't even involve me!"

"I wanted to surprise you, Runo! None of the girls knew she was coming today!"

"Hmph! Don't talk to me!"

"Oh come on, Runo! Dear! Honey? Darling…?"

Yup. He's definitely looking forward to spend the Christmas holidays…

The End

A/N- I hope you like it! And I hope I made you smile while reading! So then Follow, Fav and review! Thank you! ^^