Happy Holidays to all!

It's seven days until Christmas. Lucy, Natsu, and Happy were supposed to go out for a mission today. But the snow wouldn't stop falling last night. There was no sense in traveling in the awful weather, the trains even had to shut down so they were stuck. Not that Lucy minded she absolutely loved the snow, it added to the excitement of the holidays. As per holiday season she decided to wear her favorite red holiday outfit. Natsu never really cared much for snow except one thing...SNOW BALL FIGHTS! It was the only thing on his mind, he wanted to make the biggest snowball and chuck it right into Grays head.

And here they were..outside fighting as usual, but this time is was an epic fort snow ball throwing battle! Both Natsu and Gray were throwing large balls of snow at one another. And Gray was naked...as usual? Lucy wandered outside after a conversation with a group of guildies talking about the weather and possible guild activities. It was so harsh almost everyone in the guild were caught here in the storm.

"Hey Gray and Natsu! The guild is going to be star gazing on the hills outside of town tonight since everyone's stuck in magnolia. It's going to be awesome, we should all go."

Bad timing. They looked over and instinctively both threw snowballs right at her head. The blow knocked her back, flying onto the ground. Natsu and Gray looked both worried and terrified.

Oh god...

"You guys are so going to pay for that!" Lucy sat up, sounding pissed.

She grabbed the biggest chunk of snow she could find and flung it forward smacking Natsu on the head. He had the biggest grin after taking the hit.

Natsu laughed as he brushed the snow off while picking up some of his own, "You asked for it!"

The war commenced! The three built their covers made of snow. Snow balls were flinging back and forth between the three of them. They were in the road but no one seemed to care, people were only playing today. Lucy summoned up Virgo and Leo to help her out with her side. She had three sets of snowballs flinging in both directions. Lucy clearly had the advantage in these kinds of snowball battles.

Natsu couldn't even fight back anymore, "Cheater!"

"I'm not cheating I'm using my magic!" Lucy laughed and continued to throw snow.

Everything went down hill from here. Natsu saw this as permission so use his magic. This ended up melting all the snow in the surrounding area, effectively ending the game. Lucy gave her spirits each a high five and sent them away. Gray held his head, shaking it back and forth at the situation.

"Wow Natsu way to ruin the fun!" Gray laughed, disappointed with Natsu.

"It's not my fault snow melts. Just proves how weak ice is, Ice princess." Natsu relished in his own mental victory.

Lucy was exhausted. She looked into the guild hall and noticed that almost no one was still there.

"Oh, that's right! Were supposed to go star gazing." Lucy gasped almost forgetting.

"I remember you saying...something like that." Gray said as he grinned sheepishly.

It was actually getting late, so they went off to the hills side my side. That was until they reached the woods outside of town. The snow around here was mostly untouched and very high, Gray easily went on ahead leaving Natsu and Lucy behind. Lucy struggled to climb over the small mountains of packed snow, lagging behind.

"You alright Luce?" He walked over and grabbed her hand try help her over the mound of snow, "You need help?"

Lucy blushed and struggled to get her footing sliding forward and flying face first into Natsu's body. She had knocked them both over into the pile of snow. Lucy looked super displeased while Natsu couldn't help but let out a soft laugh, his arms around her in a tight and protective embrace. She lifted her head from the side of his neck meeting his eyes. She was going to apologize but something stopped her. Natsu wasn't laughing anymore and instead was staring up locking his eyes with hers. What was he staring at?

Lucy was blushing wildly as she stared back, wondering what was going through his head. He could feel her breathing increase as they stare into each others depths for what felt like an eternity. Her gaze softened and she couldn't stop herself from giving an affectionate smile. Lucy had never looked at him like that before, like she wanted something from him. Her eyes blended in with the night sky making it fade away only leaving the twinkling residue behind. She was the sole focus of his attention. Finally the tension broke, Natsu lifted his arm up to behind her head and pulled her down against his chest. Lucy relaxed not entirely sure what just happened but it was making her body go into over drive.

His face had a light blush, "Let's stay like this for a little while OK?"

She could feel Natsu's heart drumming against her ear. She didn't feel the snow at all, just the warmth of his body against hers. Her face was definitely the same shade of her shirt by now, but at the same time she felt oddly comfortable. Like she fit perfectly here in his arms. It was making her redder, what kind of crazy situation is this? Natsu felt that in a way too, what kind of crazy situation had he found himself in? Why was he doing this?

He had the urge to hold her, maybe it was because it was so cold outside. Or the way she looked at him compelled his body to move. The point was he wanted this, he didn't want to think about it, just do what his heart was telling him to do. Lucy and him were barely apart but times like this were rare; when they got to be alone. He liked her company a lot, and to be honest he was starting to like this too. He had never held someone like this before...it was wonderfully relaxing. Even his eyes started to close, it was so warm.

Natsu suddenly took in a deep breath of the chilling surrounding air to wake himself up. He slowly rose with Lucy still on his chest. She had fallen asleep, Lucy looked so... His face flared up what the hell was he thinking? He lost the dumb smile that was planted on his face moments ago while he stared at her. He shook his head and got his bearings picking her up gently and walking towards Lucy's house. They were both soaked, the snow had melted around them and absorbed mostly into their clothing. He was surprised no one else had come looking for them, they were supposed to go star gazing with their friends after all.

He arrived at her house and dug into her satchel for her house keys being careful not to wake her up. Once he was inside he realized an immediate problem, Lucy was soaked there was no good way to alleviate this dilemma with her still asleep. If he didn't want to wake her up he could try to evaporate the water...or change her into her pajamas. Er...Maybe I should just wake her up.

He spoke in a soft voice trying not to startle her, "Luce~ It's time to get up."

"Hn...Huh?" Her eyes fluttered open.

She looked around, still in Natsu's arms, at her surroundings. For a moment she didn't recognize where she was and flailed her arms around smacking Natsu in the face. The shock of getting hit in the face made him lose grip of Lucy, dropping her on her butt.

"Ow!" She said surprised and rubbed her sore bum.

Her heart was going at a million miles an hour, trying to take in what was happening around her. She looked up and noticed Natsu rubbing his jawline, whoops. She stood up and put a hand on his back trying to console him.

"Sorry about that, I accidentally freaked out a bit. You hurt?" She looked at his jaw concerned.

Natsu just gave her a grin, "Naw I'm OK. I was just a little surprised."

Without thinking she slid her fingers under his hand caressing his face...to check his wound of course. He couldn't stop himself from blushing, her fingers were very soft. Why was the only thing he could think about...is how close she is to him? She's been concerned about his well being before plenty of times. So why now?

"You have a bruise..." She said closely examining his face.

He was staring, not saying a word.

Lucy's expression went from concerned to extremely confused, "What?"

"Uhhh...Don't worry about? I can take a hit." He sounded just as confused.

Lucy backed off and looked sadly at the floor, does he think I'm an idiot or something?

"Y-Yeah of course. My bad, I guess I shouldn't have been so worried." Her tone was low and sad.

Natsu could tell she was distressed now, though he didn't know why. He could recognize that look anywhere, she was sad.

He put his hands on her shoulders, "Thanks Lucy, I'm glad I have a friend like you."

She looked up and smiled at him, her happiness returned. Natsu returned her expression with a big grin of his own.

"I guess it's late, and I need to change. I'll see you tomorrow?" Lucy's head cocked to the side as she spoke rather happily.

He backed away and waved goodbye, "Yeah! Bye Luce."

Once Natsu was gone Lucy took a huge breath, what the heck was that about? Her face went bright red when she remembered how he held her in the snow. It was more embarrassing because she actually liked it...a lot. Natsu was thinking the same thing as he walked home. He had never had a serious urge to hold someone like that before, but it was awesome. It felt strangely comfortable to hold Lucy. Maybe she liked it too? It's not like she stopped him.

He couldn't help the light blush and stupid smile he had on his face all the way home. Lucy is so good to him, always putting up with all of his antics. Maybe it was time to thank her?

Author's note: Going to make this 7 parts? The last part will be released on Christmas day. I hope you like it!