A Fairy Tail Christmas
It was beginning to look a lot like Christmas.
Well, around the Fairy Tail headquarters, anyway. Erza had mounted a gigantic Noble Fir in the guild room, Grey was enchanting snowflakes to fall from the ceiling, and Natsu was busy roasting chestnuts on an open fire, which was much too large for Mirajane's liking.
And Lucy was late.
"Natsu, that idiot! I knew I shouldn't have listened to him," she grumbled, flying through the door, her keys jingling on her belt-loop. It had not been a pleasant morning for Lucy, she had a migraine, her hair was all tangled, and she was late.
"No more, 'Lucy! One more drink! One more drink!" she mimicked, vividly cursing the enthusiastic salamander in her mind.
"Look everybody, it's the lightweight!" called Natsu, waving a fire poker in the air.
Lucy seethed as she combed through her locks. "Natsu, I am going to kill you."
"Oh c'mon, it was all in good cheer!" he laughed, oblivious of the murderous aura surrounding her.
She rolled her eyes, collapsing onto a barrel-stool to stare at him blankly. Huh. Was it just the hangover? Or did he look a little different today... Hair, More pinkish then it could be salmon. Check. Dragon scaled scarf. Check. The usual Aladdin vest getup. No check. Instead, he was wearing a rather soft looking--
"Sweater? Since when do you wear sweaters?" Lucy asked, an eyebrow raised.
"Oh this?" said Natsu, brushing imaginary dirt off of his shoulder, "Its from Mira. She knits! And unlike some people, she has some Christmas spirit."
"Oh har har. Very funny," scoffed Lucy.
"BUT, luckily for you, some of that spirit rubbed off on me," he grinned, pulling a narrow gift bag from out off his pocket. "Merry Christmas, Lucy!"
"Aww, why thank you, Natsu," she said, suddenly in a better mood. How cute, the bag even had a tag with her name on it. "What'd you get me?"
"Open it! Open it!"
"Jeez, alright! Hold your horses." As she undid the ribbon, Lucy wondered. Maybe it was that pen she told him she wanted? No, no, this was Natsu she was thinking about. It was definitely some kind of food. Peppermint Bark, maybe? Hmm. She pulled apart the tissue paper, expecting to see a wrapper or some plastic, but instead, she pulled out--
"A can of juice. You got me a can of juice for Christmas."
Natsu couldn't hold it any longer, he burst out laughing. "It's cause--it's cause," he stammered in-between breaths, "Cause you can't handle anything else! Haha!"
"Oh really. In that case, I think you'll really like what I got you," she smirked, reaching for a little green box that she had hooked onto her loop of keys. Lucy smoothed out the gold ribbon and very deliberately, slid it across the counter. "Natsu, Merry Christmas."
He snatched the box, and as he shook it, he could hear the slight tingle of bells. "Ooh, what is it?"
"Open it, open it," she said, smugly.
Natsu eagerly tore off the ribbon, tossing the lid of the box carelessly over his shoulder. Then his grin transformed into a scowl as he extracted his "gift" from its container, using only the very tips of his thumb and index finger as if it were a dirty pair of socks.
"Aww, what's the matter? Don't you like it?" Lucy smiled, "When I saw it at the store, I just knew I had to get it for you, Natsu."
"Motion sickness meds," he said, dryly, pulling up a barrel of his own. "Hmph. Touché."
She winked, flashing him a victory sign. "Yeah, I know. I try."
Natsu opened his mouth, ready for a witty comeback, but a card whistled past his nose, cutting him off and embedding itself into the wooden counter. "Hey! This isn't leisure time," called Cana, tossing Lucy a plastic bag, "You two! Go decorate something!"
"Wow, she really takes this decorating thing seriously, doesn't she," whispered Lucy, under her breath, as Cana returned to "supervising."
"Err, yeah. Hey look! She's even got Erza..."
"What? No way." Lucy turned and gasped. Natsu was right--the usually laid-back Card Shark was making the Titania hustle. "Higher! C'mon, Erza, higher!" snapped Cana, a capped bottle of gin in her hand. Then, speak of the devil, her head snapped in their direction, eyes narrowing.
"Oh crap, she's coming, she's coming!" The pair instantly jumped to their feet, and began to look for something to decorate.
But there was a problem. Under Cana's enthusiastic guidance, the guild had pretty much decorated everything. Walls, shelves, mirrors--the whole building smelled like peppermint.
"Man, where are we going to put this?" complained Natsu. They had walked around the whole place, unsuccessful in finding an empty spot, so they had returned to the main room. "I mean, what the hell is it anyway?" He reached into the bag and pulled out something leafy, about the size of a dictionary and tied together with a neat red ribbon and little gold bells.
"I dunno. It's like a shrub or something," mused Lucy. It was a bit smashed but it still smelled like Christmas Tree. "Look, it's even got berries."
Natsu looked around. The tree was almost done, Cana had enlisted Levi, Jet, and Droy to string lights. His eyes skimmed the tree, from the dozens of presents at its roots to the brilliant, shining star at the top. It was a pretty big tree, he thought. As tall as the side doors of the guild room...
"There! We're hanging it there," he said determinately, pointing at the bare archway above their heads.
"Are you kidding me? That's like...12 feet," Lucy estimated, wrinkling her nose and looking up. But wait, there was something shiny right at the highest part of the arch. "Hey Natsu, there's a little hook up there."
"See? It's perfect," he said, grabbing the shrub by it's ribbon. Natsu crouched, and with a mighty leap, he launched himself towards the arch, arms outstretched. But six inches from the top, gravity began to kick in and he scrambled, but he loop would not slip onto that stupid hook.
"Fail," smirked Lucy, shaking her head, her arms crossed.
Natsu straightened out, his hair flopping into his face. "Fine. Let's see you try," he smirked right back, tossing the leaves at her. She caught it deftly, and standing under the high arch, she brought forth one of her golden keys. "Open! Gate of the Li--"
"Hey, that's cheating!" Natsu protested, throwing a well-aimed berry at her forehead.
"What?! Why is that cheating?!" She rubbed her forehead. That hurt.
"I said you, not Loki."
Lucy sighed, exasperatedly. "Aarg, let's just hang this already. Gimme a hand," she said, turning to face him, gesturing at the arch.
Natsu stuck his tongue out as he interlocked his fingers to make a stirrup. "Admit it, I won."
"You didn't even let me try," she scoffed, stepping onto his hands. She reached up but darn it, she was still a couple feet short. "Can you go a little higher?"
Natsu hoisted her up until she was practically standing on his shoulders. "How's that?"
"Almost...got it," said Lucy, straining upwards. If she could just get one more inch, she could get the ribbon on the hook.
Now, the entire time her fellow guild-mates were decking the halls with boughs of holly, Mirajane had been busy baking. And her fruitcake was finally done! "Here, have some," she offered to Grey, who was perched on a ladder.
"Mm, thanks," he said, taking a bite. Grey chewed thoughtfully. It was pretty tasty, as far as fruitcakes go. He popped the rest of it into his mouth. Not bad, not bad. But just as he was about to swallow, "Ooh! Fruitcake!" cried Cana reaching over for a slice, causing her bottle of gin to bump the ladder. Grey started to choke, coughing madly, which distracted Droy long enough to accidentally trip Jet with his string of lights. Jet had barely enough time to prevent Levi from falling into the tree, causing Erza to rush over, kicking a stray ornament out of the way. And the shiny red orb flew across the room to smack Natsu square in the face. With a muffled 'oof', he lost his balance, tottering precariously on one leg.
"Yes! I got it!" exclaimed Lucy, the ribbon hanging on the hook by a hair. But then she felt Natsu's grip falter...
"Oh sh--" said Natsu, trying to catch the flailing Lucy. She was screaming and he couldn't see out of one eye but somehow, somehow, he managed to wrench himself forward, and the two of them toppled over.
They were an inch apart. Literally. Her eyes were wide and his mouth was open, and they were so close their lips were almost touching. But neither of them dared to move. ...Except for Grey. On his ladder on the other side of the great hall, he coughed, spitting out a chunk of pineapple. His breath sent a gentle breeze of snowflakes swirling around the room. It was light, barely strong enough to be a whisper...but it swirled right over to the hanging shrub, gently lifting the ribbon off the hook.
Lucy slowly pulled away. She was definitely grateful to be caught, but to end up like this? How awkward! She only hoped that the rest of the guild was too occupied to notice...but then with a loud jingle, the shrub collided with the back of her head, propelling her forward. With a surprised 'mmph', her lips were mashed against his, their teeth accidentally clinking together, and she noticed that he tasted rather faintly of peppermint.
And in a instant it was over, the shock clear on both of their faces. "Wh, what?" stammered Natsu, red berries in his hair. It all had happened so fast--one moment he was looking at that star on the tree, the next he was being kissed. If you could call that a kiss. He looked up at her, trying to figure out what she was thinking, but she wasn't looking at him. Instead, she was staring, looking quite mortified, in the general direction of the main room.
"What're you looking--" he said, turning his head to see, but this breath caught in his throat when he saw the entire guild staring at them. It was as if someone pushed "pause" on a remote because no one--not one single soul was moving. They just stood there, mouths gaping, grinning wide.
"Ohmygawd," meeped Lucy. And with a flash, they were gone, escaping out a window or back door somewhere.
In the aftermath, Cana strode up, puzzled. She bent down, picking up the pile of leaves, making the little bells jingle. "How sad, my wreath is ruined. I wonder why those two were trying to hang it like mistletoe?"
A/N: Just a quick NxL drabble, my Christmas present to all of you on . Merry Christmas and hope your holidays are full of good friends, fruit cake (perhaps not this one.), and all that good Christmas cheer. ^^