Arlo woke up early in the morning and zoomed down the stairs to collect his gifts, making sure not to wake his parents. He stashed them in his room to open ter. What a cheeky bastard. Today was going to be a day to remember— he had invited all his friends to the Christmas party, even convincing the ones who didn’t celebrate Christmas just to come and have fun together. After Mister James Bond over here successfully completed his mission, he went back to sleep.Later in the day, his friends started pouring in one by one. Zero was the first to arrive, wearing a red sweater that read "I’m Santa." Even Luna came along, sporting a pair of antlers. “Are you serious?” Arlo raised an eyebrow. “What? Never seen a man with a sense of fashion before?” Zero casually remarked before entering the house. Luna barked— somehow, it sounded like she was mocking Arlo. “Why—” Zero cut him off. "Ah, ah, ah. I take my role seriously. I even got a sleigh, but Luna refused to pull it. She thinks I'm too zy. Dunno where she got that from. I mean, she’s the zy one for not pulling the sleigh." Luna nipped Zero on the calf. “Ow.” Zero said casually, as if making a mockery of pain.Then his unprecedented new friends arrived: Jayden, Micah, and Muhammad. Jayden was wearing an over-the-top Santa fit. However, Micah and Muhammad didn’t wear anything festive, which is to be expected. “Yo, yo, yoooo!!! The party rockers are here, let’s gooo.” He suddenly points his finger at Zero, almost mock accusingly. “AND ZERO IS HERE?!” Jayden excimed, throwing his hands in the air. “Sup.” Zero responded to Jayden.” Muhammad and Micah chuckled— this kind of nonsense was exactly why they showed up, despite not celebrating Christmas themselves.Scarlett was the— I was the st to arrive. But let’s be honest; we all know I didn’t come here because Arlo invited me. I came here because Arlo mentioned Zero was coming. I mean, come on. Can it get any more obvious? Plus, this sheep is insufferable. Especially in the interlude chapter, where he was getting cranky with the most pointless things while calling them pointless.Arlo looked Scarlett up and down multiple times, she was so attractive in the way her bck Santa dress fit her. “Wow, Scarlett. You look ho— uh —I mean, really beautiful. Like, really.” Everyone except Arlo noticed how Scarlett’s eyes rolled almost immediately with passive-aggression at Arlo’s unnecessary comment. And everyone and their mothers can see how Scarlett wanted nothing to do with Arlo.

  Speaking of mothers…

  Just then, Arlo’s mother walked in, unaware of the tension she had just walked into. But her motherly nature was far more formidable than any magic. “Aw wonderful, look at you, cuties. Everyone is getting along on such a fine day. Oh, look at you, dear—” She turned to Zero. “You have a wonderful Christmas outfit; it says here…” She took a moment to read his sweater. “It says here you’re Santa, how wonderful!” Zero casually chuckled with his hands in his pockets. “Guess you can say—” Arlo gred at Zero, his expression suggesting, “Don’t you dare say it.” He was trying to intimidate Zero into submission. “I’m santasational.” Arlo looked visibly infuriated. “Get out.” He said firmly, although he didn’t actually mean it. Arlo’s mother burst out in ughter.

  She turned to both Jayden and Scarlett. “Oh my goodness, you both look so cute. Are you guys a couple?” She asked mischievously. Both Jayden and especially Scarlett denied the cim at the same time, for two very opposing reasons. While Jayden had a thing for Scarlett, he already knew she was into Zero. And Scarlet because— There’s no need to expin it again dumbass. I think the readers know that I’m into Zero by now. What the fuck is with this redundant ass writing? Go get a job, idiot. God, someone move me into a better story. Preferably one with more Zero and less Arlo. Oh great… I said it myself now.Suddenly, the front door burst open, and Evelyn and Valentina came rolling in. The first thing Evelyn did was smack Arlo on the back of the head for no reason. “Sup, nerd. Hey, Mom.” Evelyn scanned the room and saw there were various other people, some she recognized from when she attended middle school, faces like Jayden and Micah. She knew of Muhammed, but he usually skipped, so they weren’t acquainted formally. And she knew Scarlett, the quiet girl who wanted to become the most intelligent mage and someone who indirectly became the queen bee of the school.

  But the one person she absolutely didn’t recognize was Zero. She marched up to Zero. “Who are you, pipsqueak? I’ve never seen you before.” Zero casually looked up at her. “Well, you seemed to already recognize me since my name is Pipsqueak. But if you want to get into specifics…” He gestured at his sweater. “You can call me Santa if you’d like.” He paused briefly. “Or if you want, you can call me Zero. No one calls me that, though.” Evelyn smirked; she liked the fact that Zero wasn’t intimidated by her. She wrapped an arm around his neck aggressively as if they’d been friends for ages. “I like this one.” Arlo panicked at his sister's abrupt gesture. “Hey, let go of him, you might accidentally kill… him…” Arlo’s expression deadpanned as he saw that Zero was just chilling as usual. Arlo took a deep breath in and then out. “Ok.” Evelyn ughed haughtily. “Me and this guy; we’re gonna get along just fine.” Jayden saw that Valentina and Scarlett were both jealous. Valentina believed she was going to lose her best-friend status. And Scarlett— Shut the fuck up. The readers get it.Arlo raised his eyebrow, scrutinizing his older sister. “Hey, wait. I thought you training for the military until you’re 18…” Evelyn pyfully smacked Arlo on the head. “They give me breaks for the holidays dumbass.”Evelyn yawned as she dragged Zero to the dinner table. “Man, I’m hungry that I can eat a horse. Mom, let’s start eating.” Arlo visibly tensed up as he heard Evelyn say this. He didn’t want to ruin the mood, so he and Evelyn sat down first as their father rolled in. Literally. On his wheelchair. The others followed like a flood after Zero sat down. Arlo spoke up. “Wow, Zero, you got my sister to become friends with you first. She never does that; how’d you do that?”

  Zero shrugged. Evelyn was amused by Zero’s indifference. Arlo continued. “Even though you don’t have magic—” It was too te; he accidentally let it slip that Zero was magicless. The holiday cheers died in that mere instant. For a second, nothing happened.

  Then, the air grew thick, like a storm was forming in the room.

  Arlo's father’s expression darkened as the realization settled in. Arlo’s dad’s eyes widened before his expression turned cold; he clearly had a bias against the magicles, even if he didn’t outright say it. Evelyn raised an eyebrow, her respect going up tenfold. Here, there was a magicless kid, and he was not even intimidated by her despite her near-infinite potential and status.

  But her test had just begun, and she was watching Zero closely. How he defended himself in this situation. Their mother looked at Zero with pity. Jayden, Micah, and Muhammed palpably see the tension rising, but Jayden and Micah have already seen how Zero handled himself socially, and Muhammed witnessed his indifference and tactical skills against the clown. Jayden, Micah, and Muhammed exchanged gnces. They knew this wasn’t their fight. Hell, it probably wasn’t even a fight.The Dad gred at Zero, expecting him to cower or even shrink in fear. “Can you pass the salt?” Zero casually asked the Dad. This infuriated the father. Feeling infuriated in the heat of the moment, he grabbed the salt and used his magic-infused strength to throw the salt at Zero.

  But instead of panicking, Zero casually tilted his head as the salt flew past them, hitting the wall and instantly being crushed to dust and salt like it had just been through the grinder. Now, this was an interesting turn of events. It’s almost like Zero expected that attack. This caught everyone at the table by surprise, even Scarlett— That’s true; I will let you slide this time. Arlo was shocked, but more so by his dad’s deliberate attack on his friend. “Dad? What are you—”The mother became coldly furious with the father. “Dear? Why. Did. You. Try. To. Harm. The. Child?” It was clear their mother was not to be trifled with. She didn’t wait for his response; no amount of words can justify the attempt to harm a defenseless child just for being born a certain way. She firmly grabbed the wheelchair without hesitation and moved the father into the basement, leaving him with a pte of water and food down there before locking the basement door. Then, she hugged Zero. “Poor baby, I’m sorry my husband tried to hurt you. Don’t worry, he won’t hurt you as long as I’m here.”

  The father was humbled thoroughly. He was left utterly stunned. His pitch should’ve been faster than some of the most capable mages, yet Zero dodged it like it was nothing; it’s almost like he pnned that entire interaction to work in his favor. This made the father feel… predictable… He was stunned beyond belief, he couldn’t muster any words, let alone register what just happened. Meanwhile, Evelyn was grinning from ear to ear. “Holy. Fucking. Shit. That was AWESOME.” Valentina chimed in, too, in awe. “I’ve been friends with Eve since we were literal toddlers, and I’ve never seen anyone stand up to her dad like that, especially not a magicless pipsqueak. Even in a wheelchair, he’s a menace.”Zero was casually feeding Luna some of his food. “I mean I wanted some salt, but now even without it, there’s a bitter aftertaste.” Arlo tried to be nonchant like he didn’t just cause the mess. “Uhm, so guys. Who wants some roasted pork? My mom makes it the best, you should try it.” Everyone but Muhammad and Micah took the pork. Arlo was confused by their refusal, so he asked them. “Why don’t you want the pork? Do you think Mom’s cooking is bad or something? Huh?” He made his voice deeper to appear intimidating and manly for Scarlett, but nobody was buying it. Micah replied matter-of-factly. “I can’t eat it because it’s not kosher.” Muhammed, munching on the vegetables and rice, spoke with a mouthful. “Oh, bro, I’m not allowed to eat pork. Hope you understand.” Evelyn squinted her eyes at Arlo. “Did you just make your voice deeper?” Arlo shrinks in embarrassment, now trying to backtrack. “Uh, no…?” Jayden totally amused, chimed in teasingly. “You totally did.”

  As the night progressed, now in a lighter mood. Later came the gift-exchanging event. Muhammed and Micah watched the others exchange gifts. Arlo watched as the gifts were exchanged. It was Zero’s turn. He handed Arlo a paper with the word ‘gift’ written on it. Arlo frowned. “Seriously?” Zero shrugged. “What can I say? It’s the thought that counts.” Arlo noticed something on the back of the slip, and it was the word ‘Thought’ literally counting. Arlo wasn’t sure whether to be amused or pissed.Later, everyone was just hanging out as Scarlett was trying to kiss Zero under a mistletoe, and they ended up kissing. But only cause Scarlett tripped trying to kiss him, and Zero was too zy to move. Everyone except Arlo ughed. He wanted to punch Zero in the face, but Jayden, on the other hand, was happy if Scarlett was happy— Hey, a win is a win. I enjoyed kissing him for as long as I could. How do you say it in your world? I think it goes like “task failed successfully.”When it got darker and it started snowing, everyone began to leave one by one. Regardless of whether they celebrated Christmas or not. Everyone (except the father) enjoyed the holiday in their own way, leaving Arlo satisfied with his day, but then he realized that Zero hadn’t taken any of the presents that were given to him. This caused him to remember that he had no friends and no one besides Evelyn. But meeting Zero changed his life for the better in way more ways than one. And the best part? Christmas ended with a snowy night.