It's Christmas Tiiime

A/N: I solely blame this on 00poke_maniac on the serebii forums. Eh, fine maybe I had a little to do with it. I spurred this with a picture I came across on DA.

Chapter One: A Formal Invitation

Dent played the scenario over and over again in his head. There had to be a proper way to ask, right? Iris was merely watching make all sorts of strange gestures and talk to himself as if he was having a conversation with another person. Her fingers drummed along her knees shyly at the display he was putting on. People were looking at the sommelier strangely and a child pointed at him laughing telling his mommy to 'look at the funny man'. This is why she couldn't bother getting on a subway with him. Iris leaned up grabbing Dent by the collar and pulling him down to sit back next to her.

"Dent will you STOP that. You're drawing attention to yourself. It's embarrassing." Not just to look at, but for her since she was with him. She was silently regretting coming with him. Satoshi should have came instead of her.

"I can't help it. I'm just a little nervous about it." He admitted. It was a little unusual for Dent of all people to be nervous about anything. He was usually pretty calm and collected, unless he was in an ecstatic state of some sort. If not for Iris being here he might have been more of an unorganized mess. He felt more comfortable in her presence.

"Why didn't you just give it to one of the attendants to give to Nobori-san and Kudari-san?" It would have been far easier in her opinion to just do it that way. Who didn't know the Subway Masters? It'd be easy to get word to them just like that.

"No, no, no. That's VERY informal. Something like this should be hand delivered to someone that's more than acquaintance of mine." Green eyes glanced down at the envelope with the Sanyou gym insignia stamped on the back of it.

"Isn't the invitation kinda pointless then if you're just going to ask them in person?" Dent's shoulders slumped at her words. Must she keep cutting him so deep like sharpened butter knife?

"You're not being too helpful here, Iris...plus, they were already written up. It'd be a waste to not deliver such a elegant invitation such as this!" He fanned the envelope in front of her face. There was a roll of her eyes at his so called logic.

"If you say so. Are you going to do this or just sit here all day talking to yourself some more?" Because she was going to sit else where if that was the case or just get off at the next stop.

"Just give me a moment. I have to mentally prepare for this..." He closed his eyes and placed his index finger upon his forehead in a thoughtful pose. Iris sighed and folded her arms across her chest. He was being a particular pain in the you know what today. They were going to be on this train forever and most likely have to hop on another one if they were unfortunate enough to reach the end of the line. Then of course she can see Dent sulking dramatically.

"Dent, I could just give it to them myself. You just-" She started, but was soon cut off by her companion.

There was a wag of his finger at her suggestion, "Not necessary, besides I think I've formulated the perfect words to articulate to them. There can't be any room for mistakes."

"Oh? So you think I might mess up or embarrass you then? Is THAT what you think?" Her eyes narrowed. Dent had already regretted the words once they left his lips. He didn't mean to come off as rude. Especially to Iris of all people.

"Ah, ah..I..I didn't mean it that way. I just didn't want this to get ruined. N-not by you I mean! That's certainly not what I meant!" He fanned his hands frantically hoping she wouldn't yell at him or perhaps beat him in public for his poor choice of words. Oddly enough, she seemed rather calm and there was even a smile on her lips.

"Fine. No worries." She said simply. The anger on her face seemed to have lost its fizz like a uncorked bottle of champagne all of a sudden. This bothered him. He could only imagine what she was thinking at the moment. The train had slowed to a halt and the doors slid open in a fluid motion. With great swiftness, Iris had plucked the invitation out of Dent's hand and jumped up onto her feet.

"I think I'll PERSONALLY deliver this to Nobori and Kudari. I wouldn't want you to embarrass yourself...much." There was a playful glint in her eye as she ran off leaving Dent dumbfounded to what had just happened.

"Wha–HEY! IRIS COME BACK!" He yelled. Stumbling a little he got up and quickly stepped off the train. Though he realized they had gotten off at the wrong stop which only added to his panic and frustration. He could see a mass of purple hair running towards the turn-style and bounding over it in one leap. There was a low groan made from him as he ran after her. How dearly did he wish for Satoshi to have tagged along with him now.

"Sir I think you might want to take a look at this." One of the workers looked away from the terminal in the central control room and beckoned the subway masters over. The brothers walked over and looked at the security monitors the worker had motioned too where there was quite a bit of activity being caught on it. More than usual.. What the cameras were picking up was certainly odd.

"Isn't that...Dent and Iris?" Nobori looked at the monitors watching them run off one screen and off to the next.

"Seems like it. What are they doing?" Kudari watched in mild amusement at the two. It looked like a strange game of tag if he ever saw one. Nobori merely gave a shrug. He was just as unsure about the pairs shenanigans as his younger brother was, "Ah, wait it looks like they're heading towards..."

Iris had stopped shortly in front of the automatic doors. She was a little exhausted herself. It felt like she was going around in circles. Getting to the central control room seemed like one big maze. Dent eventually caught up to her, but he was out of breath and there was an unbearable pinch in his side. He heaved heavily and lifted up a hand towards her.

"Stop...ah...right there! No need to go any further." He swallowed thickly and tried to regain his posture, "I said I...w-was sorry. You...phew...can stop with your little game now."

"What makes you think it's a game? I told you I'd hand deliver it to them and that's what I'm gonna do." She grinned ear to ear.

"You're certainly emitting a playful flavor today. Still, I don't want to have to take that from you by force." He stated.

"Oh? Well, come and get it then." There was a taunting smile and a wave of the envelope in the air that signaled a challenged to him. He certainly wasn't going to back down from that. Dent edged himself closer to the entrance before he decided to lunge at her.

The automatic doors had swiftly slid open and Dent had stumbled in over his own two feet. He had completely missed Iris and didn't predict she'd simply just side step to avoid his grasp.

"...here." Kudari finished his sentence looking at Dent landing face first on the floor in the most ungraceful way. The girl walked around Dent without so much as another thought and ran to the two confused brothers with her arms outstretched.

"Kudari-san! Nobori-san!" One of each arm latched with the brothers arms once she reached them.

The sommelier had eventually recovered and stood up slowly rubbing his sore face. What an embarrassing entrance to make. He looked around for a moment and noticed Iris locking arms with the subway masters. The color in his cheeks flushed at the sight.. Such a informal way to greet them! He quickly walked over to them and bowed his head apologetically.

"Forgive us! W-we didn't mean to barge in like this unannounced! E-especially here of all places knowing you can be busy and..." He stammered.

Nobori waved his hand in a dismissive manner, "It's really all right, Dent. You didn't interrupt anything.. After all you've done, you, Satoshi and Iris are more than welcomed here anytime." Kudari nodded in agreement. It had been a rather slow day for them, so there hadn't been anything too important. This calmed the gym leader's worries at his words. He suppose he did overreact just a bit.

"Thank you. This place just seems so sacred it just seems so impolite to barge in like that." Just being in this room made him look at all the equipment in awe. The advanced technology for subway really put him in a giddy mood, "Ah...! Did you guy update your terminal to the most recent model?"

Iris frowned watching Dent get suddenly distracted and awe struck, "Dent aren't you forgetting why we're here in the first place?"

"Huh...? Oh!" The teenager rubbed the back of his head sheepishly as Iris handed Nobori the envelope. He looked at it puzzled and then looked at Dent.

"Ah, well. I wanted to invite you both to a Christmas party me and my brothers are hosting at the Sanyou gym. I was hoping you two might be able to attend. If you aren't busy that is..." He explained. There was a brief silence and the two brother exchanged looks.

"I think you might be a little late in asking us Dent." Nobori spoke up.

"Oh...well...I suppose it does seem a little last minute considering its in a week. Plus, you two are very busy..." He could mentally kick himself for not planning ahead sooner with a guest list.

Kudari shook his head, "No, no. Actually, we'll be having the rest of this week off. In fact, Iris had told us weeks ago about it and invited us already. Seems like she beat you to the punch, but we appreciate you bringing us a invitation."

"Pardon?" Dent stood there for a moment processing this information. The corner of his mouth twitched in sync with his eyebrow. His brow furrowed while he directed his annoyed gaze at Iris, who had took refuge in Kudari's arms which was a safe zone from Dent. The little minx even had the gall to stick her tongue out at him in a taunting manner.

'You little...'

There was a sigh of defeat from Dent and shake of his head, "I guess it can't be helped. I'm only glad you two will be able attend."

"Of course. We have a whole, capable team here that will be managing the subway, so it won't do any harm for us to be gone for awhile, right brother?" Kudari glanced at his elder brother.

"Right, besides it's been awhile since we've done anything outside Raimon city." In short, a vacation didn't sound too bad.

Despite Iris's little stunt, Dent was happy with the results, since this concluded the last of the invites. Though, seeing her attached to them like that made him feel uncomfortable for some reason. Actually, it was leaving this bitter taste in his mouth watching her hug Kudari in such a friendly fashion and him placing a hand on top of her head. When were they suddenly on such good terms like that? Not that it was a problem. Not at all! It was great when friends got along nicely like the freshly mixed ingredients blending together in harmony.

Though he couldn't help but get this uneasy feeling in his stomach. Well, it was probably nothing.

Least that's what he kept telling himself.

A/N: Figured I separate this into a few chapters. It's late at night so excuse any mistakes I made here. I'll have to go back over it again. Meh~ Also, this chapter is a little short, but I promise the next one will be longer.