Sunlight streamed through pink curtains one sunny winter day, causing a blonde woman to grumble and pull her comforter up over her face.

Lucy just wanted a little more sleep. Just a little.

She nuzzled her face into her pillow and sighed…then frowned. It would be pointless to even try to get more rest, once she was up, she stayed up. That's just how it always had been. Even if she was a tad hungover.

The guild had been partying a little harder than usual on the days leading up to her most favorite holiday of the year.

That's right!

Lucy grinned with barely restrained child-like glee and leapt from her bed, straight to her bathroom to start getting ready for the day. After a quick bath and minimal makeup application, she dashed to her closet to find something festive to wear.

It really was her favorite holiday. Well that, and Fiore National Book Appreciation Day. It wasn't really a holiday, but she never failed to celebrate with her best friend Levy. They'd curl up in pajamas with mountains of books piled up around the room. Virgo always supplied them with fresh tea and snacks. They even went down to a little bakery down town and purchased a book themed cake. Of course, this elicited the attention of a certain Requip mage. Erza did share their love for literature, although the content was rather explicit…

Moving on from that.

Lucy smiled as she examined her festive outfit. She always dressed up for the days leading up to Christmas, and it was finally almost here. Today she wore a red velvet mini skirt, black tights that had tiny Santa hats printed across them, a long sleeved black cable-knit sweater, brown knee-high boots, and to top it off her very own Santa hat.

She was excited for her outfit tomorrow night for Mira's Christmas party at the guild. She had presents for everyone, and she was especially excited (and incredibly nervous) about the gift she had found for a certain Dragon Slayer. At first she didn't think she'd even get him a gift, not because she didn't want to, but because she had no idea what to get him. But then one day as she was searching, she found it. The perfect gift for one Laxus Dreyar.

Then there was another thing. Should she give him the gift at the same time everyone else exchanged theirs by putting it under the ginormous tree in the guild? Seriously though, how did Mira get that thing in there?

Or should she give it to him early, in person? Her heart nearly beat out of her chest at the thought.

She'd have to talk to Levy about it later.

The Solid Script mage was the only other soul that knew of her feelings for the man. Lucy hadn't meant for her to find out, but the bluenette caught her red handed, staring at the giant of a man dreamily from across the guild. Which led to being dragged back to her apartment and an intense interrogation.

She wasn't even sure when her feelings for Laxus first started. I mean, she loathed him in the beginning. She couldn't stand how he treated everyone, she couldn't stand how he wouldn't help the guild when Phantom Lord came, and she couldn't stand the fact that he put his own nakama up against each other in the way that he did.

But then he came back a new man, so eager to help his family against Acnologia. Watching his new attitude, seeing how much he had changed had made her heart flutter. And that feeling had only progressed from there.

Lucy shook away her wayward thoughts and then shrugged on her red winter jacket, her white hat, scarf, and mittens, then left her apartment for the guild.

She took her time, savoring the city of Magnolia in the winter. The sound of snow crunching under her boots. Waving at the people ice-skating on the frozen canal as she balanced along the edge.

She was so enchanted, that it came as a great shock when her foot slid out from underneath her on a hidden patch of ice.

With a yelp, she flew back, vaguely aware of the ice-skaters below screaming for help.

A scream tore from her throat as she became airborne, eyes clenched shut in preparation for a cold, hard impact that would probably kill her.

Only, that impact never came.

Large, muscular arms wrapped around her, a hand cupping the back of her head and pulling her into a warm body. Golden tendrils of electricity sparked across her skin, but they didn't hurt. In fact, they made her skin tingle. It actually kind of tickled. She wasn't given any more time to ponder this fact, because suddenly her body felt weightless. The sensation lasted for only a few seconds, but it was enough to rob her of her breath. The world stilled, going completely silent. The only sound she heard was the rapid beating of a strong heartbeat beneath the firm chest she was still pressed to.

Just as she was about to pull away to thank her savior, the man yelped, and then they were falling again. Somehow, he was able to keep her close as he fell on his rear, and she couldn't help but giggle as they slid across the ice.

"What the fuck is so funny?" A deep, highly unamused, highly familiar voice grumbled, making his broad chest vibrate.

Lucy stilled. "Laxus?"

She pulled away and met the glare of the man she had been thinking about for the last several days, cheeks tinting pink.

"What the hell were you thinking, Blondie?" He barked.

Lucy huffed. "I've been balancing on there since the day I moved here back when I first joined the guild. That's the first time I have ever fallen off, so don't you go scolding me like I'm a child, Laxus Dreyar!"

They glared at each other for a full minute, before Laxus rolled his eyes and looked away. "Yeah, yeah I get it. But still, you could've gotten seriously hurt if I hadn't been there. Just…be more careful."

Lucy's glare softened considerably and she smiled sincerely. "You're right. Thank you so much, Laxus!"

He merely grunted and turned away again, and Lucy took the time to look at her surroundings. The skaters, seeing that no one had gotten injured had continued their fun on the ice, a few of them smiling and waving her way when they made eye contact.

"So, can I get up now? My ass is freezing."

Reality crashed back in and her entire face grew hot as she remembered that she was, in fact, still sitting in Laxus Dreyar's lap, limbs clinging around him like some kind of koala.

"Oh!" She gasped, springing from him and falling back on to her own behind. She was too embarrassed to react to the uncomfortable cold seeping into her clothes. "Sorry!"

Laxus ignored her apology and rose to his feet. She followed suit, only for her booted feet to slide out from under her again.

A large hand gripped her arm before she could land on the unforgiving ice.

"Th-thanks…again." Lucy laughed nervously.

Laxus sighed, pulling her into his arms, and she felt the tingle of his magic start to course around them.

"What are you doing?" She squeaked.

"Taking you to the guild. If I left you here, you'd probably just kill yourself trying to get to solid ground. And then I'd have busted my ass on the ice for no reason."

She let out an irritated huff, and right before that weightlessness took hold of her body once more, she could have sworn she heard his laughter.

}{}{}{

Later that afternoon, after having brunch at the guild with her team and leaving the presents Virgo had been holding on to for her under the tree, Lucy was taking a walk through Magnolia.

All of her friends, no her nakama, were busy with their own significant others and families, preparing for tomorrow morning. That unfortunately meant her team as well. Gray and Juvia. Erza and Jellal. Natsu and Lisanna. Levy was invited by an extremely red-faced Gajeel to spend the evening with him and Lily. Of course each of her friends had invited her to join them, but Lucy simply refused to intrude on them making memories with each other. She wouldn't truly be alone, anyway. She still had her Spirits and then there was the party. She'd see them all then.

So now here she was, going from shop to shop picking up little things here and there. Little Christmas trinkets and ingredients for cookies.

And trying to figure out when and how she'd give Laxus his gift. She couldn't get their earlier encounter out of her head. Maybe she'd give it to him face-to-face as a thank you?

That was a good idea.

So engrossed in her own thoughts, Lucy didn't realize that she had smacked into someone until she was suddenly sprawled out on her back and looking up at the sky.

"Huh?" Was her intelligent response.

Her view of the cloudy sky became blocked, being replaced with stormy blue eyes looking at her in disbelief.

"Mavis, Blondie. Is there ever a time when you're not falling down?"

Lucy was so past the point of being embarrassed. Seriously, it can't get much worse than falling off the ledge of a canal in front of your crush.

"Hey, Laxus. Fancy meeting you here." She chirped with a cheeky grin.

This earned her an eye roll, and he gripped both of her shoulders to haul her back to her feet.

"What's all this shit?" He asked, gesturing to all of her bags.

Lucy grinned brightly. "Christmas stuff! I was just about to head back to my place and make cookies."

Laxus sighed, but she swore she caught a spark of amusement in his eyes.

"Alright, let me walk you back. I'd be skinned alive, burned to a crisp, and then frozen solid if I let you die on your way back."

Lucy snorted, but followed him as he started walking in the direction of her apartment. "Please, you act as though I'm hopeless."

He turned his head enough so she could see his unamused glare. "Do you even need me to list everything?"

Her head dropped and she let out a pitiful sigh. "No…"

Loud boisterous laughter erupted from the large man next to her, and it surprised her so much she jumped and let out a high pitched shriek.

The rest of the walk was basked in comfortable silence. Most of which because of how in awe Lucy was of Laxus's laugh. The sound was rich and hearty, and she found herself suddenly wishing to hear the sound as much as possible.

Yeah, she was in deep.

In no time, they were in front of her apartment, and Lucy really didn't want him to leave. So, against any shred of sanity she had left from being in Fairy Tail this long, she opened her big mouth.

"Laxus?" She asked a little louder than she'd meant to, and she cringed at the sheer volume.

Laxus arched a brow at her. "What?"

Lucy fiddled with one of her shopping bags and looked anywhere but at the giant of a man in front of her. "Would you… do you maybe… I thought…"

Laxus chuckled lowly at her obvious nervousness. "Just spit it out, Blondie."

"Wanna make cookies?"

'Mavis, help me.'

Happy holidays! This will be a three-shot at most. I hope you enjoy it, and I hope all of you have a wonderful and safe holiday season.