C/N: For those who haven't played Squeak Squad, this chapter makes use of its bubble mechanic, which is basically just that the puffs can keep items in their…insides(?), so long as they're bubbled.


Everything was going to plan—Dedede's plan at least. The cheesiest Christmas music he could find was playing over the castle speaker system, with no way for anyone to change it without setting off the fire alarm. Glittery decorations were hung over the walls in such density that walking around could potentially blind someone. All the packages scattered throughout the halls had been picked up and neatly organized in a gigantic pile that took literal weeks to sort through. Bandana Dee finally convinced his family to come and celebrate at the castle for once. And most importantly, a solid 80% of Dedede's staff were devoted to making celebratory meals and snacks for the occasion. Aside from the fire alarm going off and nearly soaking everything, nothing had gone wrong.

…except that Kirby had come over unexpectedly in the middle of everything.

"Hey! That's MY fridge! You get your pink puffy butt outta there!"

Kirby's grin grew even wider as Dedede chucked a pillow his way, barely missing him and the fridge. The puff scurried off into the hallway to indulge in some fruit punch as Dedede stormed over to the fridge, checking that none of his expensive wines had vanished from the back of it.

"Kirby, you better be glad my Christmas generosity is in effect; that's the only reason I'm halfway okay with you being here."

"Kirby is friendship," the puff chirped from outside the door, peeking in just far enough to see how annoyed the king was. So far, it didn't seem to be too much. He'd have to work on that, just to make things interesting.

"Stupid marshmallow. You're the reason all this happened to begin with," Dedede grumbled, shoving a pack of microwave corn dogs out of his way. "I'm only so attached to you because we keep getting dragged out on adventures. ONLY REASON!"

Kirby grinned. "Yeah, you owe me one! We're all friends now!"

"How wonderful," Meta Knight deadpanned, scrolling through more documentation articles.

"Hey, Adeleine prepared that game exactly for us; you just don't appreciate it," Dedede sassed, juggling the boxes of cards the painter had sent him. "I thought it was a great game with a lot of fun."

Adeleine usually stopped by the castle to visit the king for Christmas, but this year was a centennial event on Ripple Star, which the quartet themselves would attend a few days later. The fact that the month-long party overlapped with Christmas only amplified the amount of prep work, and Adeleine had been staying over with Ribbon for weeks now. However, she hadn't neglected her old companions on Popstar. A package had arrived at the castle a week ago, with some snacks, a note and drawing, a rock with Dedede's face painted on it, and several boxes of playing cards labelled 'Cards of Humanity.' At the end of the note (which Dedede wouldn't deny melted his heart), the painter scribbled down some directions on a game to play with them. The premise was relatively simple; fill in the blanks of one card with other cards drawn by players, and come up with the best suggestion. It seemed very innocent, but the artist claimed that any species who played it would grow closer to their demise, as humanity had before them.

It seemed a dark joke for the last human to make, but after starting the game, Dedede realized pretty quickly why she'd made the parallel. Especially when he invited some of the Dees from the kitchen and janitorial staff to play with them.

After the first game, Meta Knight was absolutely mortified, choosing to retire and eat nachos to save his dignity. Bandana Dee had wanted to bail out as well, but Dedede refused until he'd done the second part of Adeleine's game suggestions: play the game, but act out your suggestion via charades. The new game mode was wildly well-received from the staff, Kirby, and the king himself. Bandana Dee hadn't been thrilled, but agreed to give it a try for his friends. The Christmas music hadn't matched too well with Dedede performing a traditional mating ceremony a foot from Meta Knight's face, but his acting was good enough that a few of the janitors got the reference within a few seconds.

The second Dedede confirmed it was the correct guess, the knight tried to disembowel him with a plate of nachos. He seemed to be the only one who was particularly miffed; Kirby and the kitchen workers loved the performance, some of the chefs even beating on pans in place of applause and whooping. Bandana Dee's face was possibly the reddest it had been in his life, as he tried to blend into the background away from his coworkers. It was too late though; the damage had already been done.

Kirby squealed in delight.

After a few rounds of insane stupidity, it was time for the staff to continue preparing food and hanging up even more decorations. Everyone filed out of the king's room, with the promise to bring him back some food and drinks. Dedede caught Meta Knight and Bandana sighing in relief in the background, but decided not to say anything for his own safety. He wasn't concerned about Bandana Dee, but Meta Knight wasn't under a clear contract with him, and he knew the knight's snack sauces were so hot they could probably cause burns. Definitely not speaking from experience.

"Well now that we've enjoyed that present, do you guys have some presents for me?" the king asked, grinning slyly. "It's gonna be hard to top that one, not gonna lie. I'll be thanking Adeleine for days about that."

Meta Knight took a few seconds of his life to give Dedede a tired glare before returning to his near-infinite supply of nachos. "Christmas is tomorrow. You have no patience in the slighte—"

"I got one I got one!" Kirby shrieked, bouncing around in circles at rapid speed. "I got one; here it is!"

The pink puff came to a jerky stop in front of the king, pausing for a second before reaching into his mouth and pulling out a transparent, drool-covered bubble with a present inside. This was followed by several other bubbles, all containing the same thing. After popping all the bubbles, Kirby proudly stepped back for his friends to claim their presents. Instead, Dedede made a face at him.

"…No matter how many times you puke stuff up instead of just putting it in a bag or something, I still think it's disgusting."

"I thought you said there was one present, Kirby; not multiple ones you liar," Meta Knight quipped, giving the other puff a bored glance.

"He just puked up presents, and that's the thing you're concerned about?" Dedede rolled his eyes. "Weirdo."

"You act like it's such an abnormal thing to do." The knight pulled a book from his mouth in a similar style to what Kirby had done, but with no drool. "It's not; he's just immature about it."

Kirby drew himself up, standing on the tips of his feet. "Oh look at me, I'm Meta Knight and I'm soooooo mature. You can tell because I have money and don't say 'gonna.'"

The knight didn't even bother looking up from his book. "I'm more mature than you can ever hope to be."

"Whatever." Kirby stuck his tongue out at the other puffball. "I'm going off to the kitchen to get food."

Dedede double took as Kirby walked out past the presents that he'd just spit out in front of the doorway, before chasing the pink puff down the hallway. "Hey, I—wait just a second there, pinky! That food is for my grand and glorious Christmas five-point-oh feast!"

Behind them, Meta Knight and Bandana Dee sighed in relief of pure, temporary silence.

"Kirby! Where do you think you're going, you little—" Dedede tripped over his feet as he realized Kirby hadn't wandered far, standing in awe of some decorations nearby. "Oh, you like that?"

The pink puff continued staring, focused on a giant, detailed tapestry of some architecture and mountains in White Wafers. While it was rare for people to travel to the area for anything other than research and resources, the mysterious ancients had left some beautiful structures in place, which was a great source of inspiration for painters. The creators of the tapestry, however, recaptured the scene with various materials, glowing fabric, and a generous amount of glitter. The amount of detail was beyond impressive…

"Y'know, that's one of my favorites. Don't mess it up," Dedede grumbled, nudging the puff away from it with his foot. Surprisingly enough, Kirby went along with it and continued walking.

"I won't mess it up. It's really pretty. Did someone give it to you? I bet someone gave it to you; you're not into making things like that. Who gave it to you?"

"My parents gave it to me," Dedede muttered, glancing away from the puff.

Kirby frowned, sensing the shift in mood, and decided to switch the conversation topic…very abruptly.

"Meta's so annoying sometimes," Kirby whined, reaching into his mouth and pulling out another bubble. This one contained a giant box of candy canes, which he promptly tore open and began consuming. "We've been friends so long, and he still can't lighten up and chill out! That's why I'm glad I'm friends with you; you're interesting."

"Mighty generous of you to keep calling the king of a country your friend, pal." Dedede reached down and grabbed one of the candy canes. "These candy canes do help your proposition though. Gimme enough of these, and I might let you become a janitor."

"Janitor? I wanna be a cook!"

"I ain't letting you in the kitchen! Are you serious? I know how that's gonna end up!"

"Yee, it'll end in great food!" Kirby chirped. "You've had my cooking; even Meta said it was good, and he hates everything!"

Dedede crossed his arms. "Hmmmm. I guess. But I don't trust you not to eat it."

It was at that moment that the penguin king remembered they were walking to one of the castle kitchens in the first place. Despite his annoyance, he decided it would be better not to vocalize it to Kirby.

And despite his better judgment, when they came to the kitchen, he pushed open the door instead of letting Kirby walk past it.

Dedede sighed as he walked in, tired from the day, the month, the past year of adventures; meanwhile, Kirby dashed in, dropped his candy canes, and made a beeline to the fridge for milk. The king picked the box of candy canes off the floor and took a seat at one of the tables, glad that his kitchens were fancy enough to accommodate more than food processing.

"What you making, pinky?"

Kirby inflated, hovering up to some cabinets and beginning to tear through them. "Hot chocolate! I'm gonna make a big batch and we can all have some, even Meta and Bandana!" He slammed some of the doors. "You want peppermint in some of them? Where are my candy canes?"

Dedede threw the box at him. This time, his aim paid off and he pegged Kirby in the back. The pink puff completely ignored any potential aggression, giving him a huge smile. "There they are; thanks Dedede!"

"You're much welcome, pal," the king answered, grinning slightly as he saw the puff rubbing the impact. "Your catching skills need a little work though. You transformed into Baseball Kirby lately?"

"Huh? No." Kirby blinked. "I can do that though. Think it'll help with cooking?"

"Nonononononono, not in the kitchen," Dedede answered quickly, jumping off the chair just in case something chaotic started happening. "I think Cook Kirby or something would be a great addition here. Not baseball. Not in my castle, at least. Go out in the courtyard for that."

Kirby gave him a small frown. "You didn't say that when we tried to play baseball in my house."

"Your house is tiny. You ain't got anything to clean up. I got an entire castle here; come back when you're an adult, which will be never."

The pink puff didn't respond, but he stuck his tongue out. Dedede smirked.

The kitchen was silent for a few minutes; the penguin and puff occupied with their own thoughts, before Kirby eventually started up the chatter again.

"You want whip cream?"

"…it's whipped cream, Kirby; you should know that."

"It's the same thing." The puff turned around, whipped cream in hand—very close to his mouth. "And I'll eat it all if you don't want it."

"You give me that, you little—put that down! We have meals to prepare!" Dedede yelled. "But yes. I also want sprinkles and crumbled peppermint, about a teaspoon please. And marshmallows. And if you have any of that caramel sauce, put that in as well. Some around the edges, and then drizzled over the whipped cream. Get to it."

Any normal person may have been phased by this, but Kirby seemed generally unsurprised. He prepared the cups at rapid speed, shoving a particularly large one toward Dedede. To the king's surprise, there didn't seem to be any pranks involved. The puff had followed his directions exactly, even though he intended them to be a joke. He had no qualms though—he hadn't had caramel hot chocolate in a while.

"You've been surprisingly well-behaved today," Dedede commented, taking a sip of the hot chocolate. "And this is actually pretty good. What's up with you? Not causing any mischief?"

"Who, me? Cause trouble?" Kirby gave him an innocent grin.

"Yes, you."

The puff shrugged. "Well, I just wanna celebrate with my friends. We're all together and nothing's exploding, and I don't have anyone else to celebrate with. So even if this music is really cheesy and your face is stupid, I wanna make my friends happy!" He glanced at the floor. "Because…I know not all of us are a lot, anymore…and I just made jokes about your dead parents…it feels kinda bad…so I wanna make things super funny again, and I figured it'd be rude to do that by pranking you again! I guess I could do it by singing…"

Dedede's eyes shot open immediately. "No."

"You're not fun," Kirby pouted.

"I used to be fun, and then some pink alien landed in my front lawn and got in the way of things." He took another sip of the cocoa. "I like the blue alien better; he actually repairs stuff around here instead of nuking it."

"He nuked you in our video games this morning though."

"Shut up; you didn't win and that's all that matters."

"Yeah, you need a few pity wins to balance out all the wins I've taken."

Dedede stood up, grinning cockily. "Wanna go at it? Wanna go? I'll meet you in the main courtyard, punk. Oh, I've got a real Christmas present just waiting for you."

"Yeah yeah! After the cocoa though." Kirby dumped the entire cup of cocoa in his mouth and swallowed it at once. "You ready? Oh, we still have to bring these to Meta and Bandana…I guess we should do that first. Then they can drink cocoa while we battle each other! I should make them popcorn too, I guess…"

"Go take the cocoa to them; you need to tell them we're fighting anyway." The king waved his hand toward the door. Kirby started to move toward it for a moment, but then hesitated.

"…we fight a lot. Are you sure we're still friends?"

Dedede sighed, but his expression was surprisingly sympathetic.

"Kirby, we fight so much it's part of a routine or something. I gotta be able to defend my kingdom, you gotta be able to defend the universe. We gotta stay in shape by facing off against worthy adversaries or we're gonna start slacking, y'know? Get your butt up there so we can practice sparring for whatever Christmas monster is gonna pop up outta the fireplace."

Kirby continued staring at him.

"…don't make me say we're friends. We're rivals. And we're gonna keep it like that, okay?"

Stare.

"I'm not gonna."

Stare.

"You're gonna make their hot chocolate all cold."

"That's your fault."

"If you don't move, I'm gonna throw something at you and spill that hot chocolate all over y—"

"Your silence means a yes!" Kirby taunted, running around the corner before anything could happen. "You just don't wanna admit you love meeee!"

Dedede waited until the puff's footsteps faded from earshot before letting out a breath of relief.

You know, Kirby, for a friend, you sure push things pretty far. Merry Christmas, buddy. I guess this'll count as our Christmas present if the fishing equipment I bought you isn't enough.

A crash echoed from down the hall, along with some Kirby shrieks. Dedede peeked out to see an explosion of cocoa, a terrified Bandana Dee, and an extremely annoyed Meta Knight staring at a pink blob on the floor.

"…KIRBYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!"

"Oh man, I-I can get a mop and clean it up, no problem!" Bandana Dee interjected, about to run off. Meta Knight stepped on his foot.

"No, you let him clean it up. It's his fault he never looks where he's going. He's gotten away with this ten too many times for my liking, and left every single one of those messes on my ship."

"We can all clean it up together," Kirby quipped, smiling innocently despite knowing full well what he'd done. "Power of friendship!"

"Oh, joy. When I think of friendship, I think of mopping the floor. Precisely," Meta Knight complained.

At this point, Dedede had strolled up to the mess, taking in the full region of disaster. It wasn't too bad, but the gracious portions of caramel didn't help Kirby's case.

"…you know, I hate to say this, I really do. But Kirby's right," Dedede said, watching as everyone's expressions changed to some form of complete surprise. "The holidays are for spending time with your loved ones. People you care deeply about. Your true friends, when you have no family. Or even if you do, in Bandana's case. So I think we should spend our time together…"

Meta Knight scowled.

"…by making HIM CLEAN IT UP, hahahaha!" The king grabbed his knight and Dee under his arms, dashing off to the courtyard. "Have fun with that caramel sauce, Kirby! Better be ready to challenge me; if you forfeit, it's as good as losing!"

Meta Knight was snickering. Bandana Dee was staring. And behind them, Kirby was still standing over the mess. The king was pretty sure it wouldn't end easily, but it didn't really matter at this point. By the time Dedede reached the courtyard, he couldn't even be too upset that Kirby caught up and smacked him over the head with a wet mop, although Bandana Dee certainly looked pretty concerned. Meta Knight was still laughing.

Ah, Christmas. Yup, this is the kind of celebration with my friends that I live for.


C/N: Double author's note? Well, this is the last Kirby fic I'm writing for a long while, so may as well break all my rules.

The rest of this fic came out in 2016, so I hope the transition to this final chapter wasn't jarring. A lot of my writing, world, and dev have changed since then, and I'm sure you have too. Most of you are probably new. I am getting your hopes up though-I've been in Kirby a long while. Over six years officially, and a few more in the background. Combined with life and personal circumstances, I'm burnt out after doing it so long. I thought I could be happy sticking with one thing all my life, but I want to do more than just be 'that person who writes Kirby fics.' That's in no way bad; it's not what I want anymore. So seeing as this is likely the end (and the last fic of mine that I had left to wrap up), I'd like to thank you all sincerely for reading my work, whether you've been with me since I made my account (looking at you, Dest), or are just reading now (hi! I still appreciate you; you're cool!) I create because I want people to be happy, and though this chapter was mainly written for closure, I hope it was still not that bad, even if it was a bit forced. It was forced because I wanted the best for everything, and 3k words isn't much in the grand scheme of things. TLDR, thanks so much for reading, whether it was good or bad.

With that being said, I'd like to implore you to come along with me, if you can. I'm still going to be publishing work; it just may not be all writing, and most definitely not all Kirby. As of now, my focus is short YT/podcast videos on informational stuff (which you can use for your stories; there's gonna be rocket science), speedruns, and creating some video games to help me get into computer science grad school. If you want more Kirby stuff because you liked my style, well, I'm slowly but surely converting it into an original project. So if you like what I specifically had going for the characters, there'll be more where this came from...eventually. All my original stuff will be on AO3 sadly since I can't post it here, but I think most action is on AO3 now anyways, so I hope to see you there, and here for more fanworks! I have more links on my profile (Discord, Twitter, all that), so keep checking around; I'm always here for you, internet frens!

And now...Merry Christmas, y'all. I've truly had a good time here in Kirby, and hope good things continue happening. 2020's been chaos, but I hope your character dev has happened now rather than later so you can continue on in life without getting distracted and storming off at plot-critical moments. Never doubt what you can do!