Krümel dozed in a warm and comfortable bed, curled up on the pillow next to his owner. The snow falling outside matched the cat's short fur in color, as well as the hair of the man sleeping next to him. The scar spanning over his right eye (It was from an accident from when he was just a kitten.) tingled as it sometimes did, and he lifted a paw to gently claw at it. The tingling faded, and left the cat wide awake, but it wasn't like he cared, as cats have very sporadic sleeping habits anyway, you know. Krümel stood up and stretched before jumping off of the bed to take a short stroll around the house in which he lived; maybe he would turn on the faucet in the kitchen and watch the water run for a while. Cats are easily amused like that.

The bedroom door was closed, but Krümel was clever and jumped up to undo the latch, letting himself out. He padded silently into the living room, stepping under the soft glow of that tree covered in lights and hanging balls and toys that Krümel liked to bat around. Packages and bags that had been provided by his owner's friends (like that man with the dark spot on his chin and the lady with fake flowers in her hair) sat beneath it with brightly colored paper and ribbons that Krümel wasn't allowed to destroy, much to the feline's dismay. He didn't understand what it was about this time of year that made his human want to put a tree indoors, as the cat was quite certain that trees didn't belong indoors. He sniffed at the piney scent and sneezed.

The kitchen was only a few strides away, and with a graceful leap, Krümel lighted on the counter and made his way for the sink. He had no way of knowing that his human had to pay for water. All he knew was that the stream of water from the faucet was entertaining to watch, almost hypnotizing, and so he watched it. He pushed the knob that made the warm water come out and stared transfixed as the water fell in a constant, infinite stream. He would have been perfectly content to leave the water running the rest of the night and simply stare at it, but a noise from the front door caused his fur to rise and his body to tense up.

Krümel abandoned the running water and bolted to the front door, prepared to defend his territory with all that he had. The sound of jangling keys came from above, and suddenly the door opened. He crouched down low and hissed, preparing to pounce, but then a familiar smell hit him as the human walked inside. He knew this person, and this person knew him.

"Hey, Krümel!" the person whispered. It was a man with yellow hair with a long curl coming out from the front and blue eyes and glasses. He was carrying a big bag and a little cage. There was soft purring coming from the cage, and immediately Krümel went up to investigate. The man chuckled. "You wanna see your buddy Mie, eh?" He put the cage down and undid the latch. A white, long-haired cat with a collar of dark brown fur stepped out hesitantly. Recognizing his friend, Krümel pounced on the poor creature with perhaps a little too much enthusiasm.

'Mie!' he said in cat language as he nuzzled the fluffy feline. 'I missed you! Gilbert was worried that your human wouldn't be coming! He even cried!'

The cat called Mie wriggled and flicked his tail around. 'Matthew had to spend time with his family, and it took a long time to get here from Canada,' he explained.

Krümel growled. 'Why do you guys hafta live so far away?'

'He likes to live close to his family.'

'But isn't Gilbert his family, too? Why can't he live here?'

Mie didn't have an answer for that.

"You guys be quiet until morning, all right? I wanna surprise Gilbert," Matthew said. He sneaked into Gilbert's bedroom, and the two cats trotted after him. Krümel and Mie watched intently as Matthew almost silently stripped and put on sleeping clothes from his bag. When he redid the zipper, however, it made an incredibly loud noise in comparison to the utter silence of the bedroom. Gilbert stirred.

"Krümel…? Izzat you?" he murmured sleepily. Matthew tried to find a place to hide, but it was too late. Gilbert lifted his head from the pillow and saw that someone was in his room. "Who's there?" he said, suddenly on alert. It occurred to Krümel that Gilbert couldn't see as well in the dark as cats could, so he probably didn't recognize Matthew.

"Gil, it's me," Matthew whispered. Krümel saw Gilbert's eyes widen.

"Mattie…?"

"Yeah," Matthew said. "Merry Christmas."

Gilbert frowned. "I... I thought you weren't coming this year..."

Matthew crept closer to the bed and crawled under the covers with Gilbert. Mie followed him, and Krümel followed Mie. "Of course I came. I got held up by family, that's all." He gave Gilbert a kiss. "I missed you."

"Missed you, too... Merry Christmas," Gilbert said, and then things were quiet again.

"... Gil, are you crying?"

"Hell no! I'm too awesome for that!"

Even as he said that, though, Krümel heard him sniffle.

"Yes you are," Matthew said. "It's okay."

"I thought you weren't coming!" Gilbert fretted. "I thought you'd forgotten, or that you were ignoring me, or..."

Matthew petted Gilbert's hair. "Shh. It's okay. I'm here now. I would never forget you, Gil." They kissed again, and Krümel tried to ignore them. It felt weird when they showed affection in front of him. "Now I really want to sleep. It's a long flight from Quebec to Germany, you know. Not to mention the drive from Berlin was exhausting."

"Yeah..." Gilbert said. "I know..."

Matthew didn't seem to pick up on Gilbert's tone and went straight to sleep. Gilbert sat up for a few more moments, but then he lay down and was soon asleep as well. Krümel turned to see that Mie was snuggled up next to his human's head, purring like a motorboat. Krümel decided it was time he settled down as well, and curled up in the middle of them all.

He liked having all of his family together, even if it was only for a few days each year at Christmastime.

A/N: Merry Christmas! I hope you enjoyed this little special! I had fun writing it!

The title was supposed to have some sort of reference, but I guess now it only serves to tell you where this takes place... oh, well.

~Jel