A/N: Hello, friends! So, this scene was supposed to go up Christmas Day for you guys, but i was having some major technical difficulties, so I'm sorry it's so super late! Even so, here is a little Nalu Christmas scene that I thought up randomly after my dear friend, yellowchickadee, sent me a photo of Nalu under a mistletoe. I thought, "huh, this would make a great prompt for a Christmas scene!" So, I started working on this. We'll see how it comes out *winks* Merry belated Christmas, by the way!
A/N 2: Alsoooooooooo... I am SO SORRY for being such a failure lately! It's been so busy this last month or so, and writing has been kind of tossed to the back burner, I'm afraid. But I'll try to catch up soon. I hope this scene will suffice for now!
Under the Mistletoe
A Nalu One-Shot
By: xSteleAliniax
It was Christmas Day, and the guild was absolutely bustling with activity. All the members had come together to exchange gifts and celebrate the holiday with one another. They were all family, after all, and what better way to spend Christmas than with family?
Lucy sat at a table that faced the expansive set of windows the master had put in just for the special event. It opened up to a winter wonderland—pure, white snow for miles, snowmen dotting the area just in front of the guild that everyone had helped make the day before, a beautiful ice sculpture of Fairy Tail's insignia, beside one that resembled their first master, Mavis. Not a soul was in sight to infect the perfect scene spread out before her.
Well, until now.
Just as Lucy had smiled in contentment, hands wrapped loosely around a hot mug of cocoa, Natsu jumped into the middle of her winter scene—literally.
The Dragon Slayer dropped off the roof to land on the Fairy Tail ice sculpture, which was reduced to ice cubes beneath the idiot's feet. He stumbled to his feet and brushed snow from his pants before shooting a thumbs-up in the direction of the roof where he had just vacated.
Lucy narrowed her eyes at him through the window, but he hadn't noticed her yet. She could see him exchanging words with someone on the roof, then chuckle at whatever the other person said.
No, not a person, she realized a moment later, an Exceed. An annoying, blue, moronic cat.
Lucy's eyes shot heavenward, and she heaved a sigh. Levy, who sat beside her and had witnessed this whole change of scenery, gave a light giggle at Lucy's huff of annoyance.
"They're just having fun, Lu!" Levy patted her hand. "You could join them..." her suggestion was followed with a huge grin, and a wink that Lucy didn't notice, as she was still too busy glaring daggers at her best friend.
"I think I'll pass," she replied in a flat tone.
"We have arrived!"
Natsu's boisterous entrance had everyone in the guild turning in his direction. Well, everyone except for a certain blonde who pointedly ignored the Dragon Slayer.
"Nice going out there, Ash Breath," Gray snapped, arms folded across his chest and a scowl set on his lips. "You broke the ice sculpture that took me an hour to get right."
"Pfft," Natsu scoffed, rolling his green eyes, completely unconcerned. "Maybe if your ice wasn't so weak, it wouldn't break so easily!"
"Maybe if your ego didn't inflate your brain so much, you wouldn't be so damn heavy!" Gray countered.
"Yeah?! Well-"
"Enough!" Erza interjected, before Natsu had a chance to continue with his next insult. "It is Christmas morning, you boys will act like brothers for the rest of the day, or I will personally see to it that neither of you receive more than a lump of coal today. Am I understood?"
Both guys gulped at the threat in her eyes, and nodded vigorously.
"Good," Erza nodded her head in approval, then turned to Natsu. "Merry Christmas, Natsu," she extended her left hand, which held a small, wrapped parcel.
Natsu stared at the proffered gift, hesitant to take it. He loved getting gifts, but Erza tended to go a bit overboard with her gifts, and more often than not, they were just plain terrifying.
A memory of a time she had given Natsu a baby doll with a frilly pink dress and bows in her hair, with the explanation that "it'll make you be a good father one day" popped into his head, and he cringed.
Erza waggled the gift in front of him. "It's considered poor manners to reject a gift, you know." her tone dry, but laced with an unspoken command.
Natsu snatched the gift and gave her some semblance of a smile.
"Uh, thanks!" then turned on his heel and headed toward his best friend and partner.
Lucy watched the exchange from the corner of her eye, expression cross. She wondered what the two were talking about, and why Natsu looked so damn hot with snowflakes in his hair.
She growled under her breath, unintentionally, at the thought that popped into her head without her permission.
"What's with the look, Lu?" Levy asked from beside her, startling her from her thoughts. Lucy gave a start, and felt a blush color her cheeks.
"Uh, what look?" she turned an innocent look toward her friend. Levy raised an eyebrow, not falling for it one bit. Lucy sighed. "I'm just thinking about Natsu," she admitted.
"You still haven't told him how you feel?" Levy asked, shaking her head.
Lucy blushed even redder. "I-It's not that easy! I can't just tell him! I have to be subtle about it."
"Subtlety doesn't work on Natsu, Lu." Levy pointed out.
"Yeah, I guess..." she agreed somberly.
"Hmm." Levy turned thoughtful for a moment, then, "aha! I have a plan!"
Lucy gave her a suspicious look. "What plan?"
Levy winked. "You'll see, Lu. Anyway, I see a certain someone coming this way, so I think I'll take my leave."
"What?!" Lucy turned toward where Levy had indicated via a tilt of her head.
Levy grinned, then slid from the seat and darted away before Lucy could react.
Natsu was walking toward her, now, a huge smile plastered on his face. She couldn't help an answering grin as he slid into the seat opposite her, and dropped a small gift onto the table.
"Hey," he pulled her uneaten fries in front of him and popped four into his mouth. "Waffs up, Lushi?" he asked through a mouthful of fries.
Lucy rolled her eyes at his poor manners. "Natsu, I was eating that."
"Really?" He finished off her remaining fries, completely unconcerned with her statement.
She sighed, deciding it wasn't worth an argument. "What were you and Happy doing just now?" she asked, gesturing with a hand at the window. He glanced at it, then back at her.
"Oh, I was teaching Happy to fly."
Lucy blinked in disbelief at his nonchalant tone.
"Um, Natsu, Happy can fly," she reminded him. "You can't fly."
"Yeah, I figured that out when I felt into that idiot's giant ice cube." he shrugged, like this was no big deal.
"It's called an ice sculpture," she corrected, "and what made you think you could fly?"
"I don't know," he shrugged. "I'm part dragon. Dragons fly!"
Lucy facepalmed at this logic.
"Luuuuusssshhii!"
Lucy turned as Happy came flying over to them, doing a flip in the air as he approached them.
"Can you help me? I need that maid of yours to give me a hand!"
She narrowed her eyes. "You mean Virgo? What do you need her for?"
"Come on!" Happy pleaded, ignoring her question. "Pleeeeaaasse, Lucy?" he batted his eyes at her.
She sighed heavily, making sure he knew how put out she was.
"Fine, but this better be quick!"
"Thank you!" Happy nuzzled her face before flying off.
Before following behind the blue Exceed, Lucy turned to Natsu. "Did you have anything to do with this?" she asked suspiciously.
"Huh?" He had been absentmindedly burning a corn on the cob, that she had no idea where he even got, and turned at her question. "You mean Happy? Nah. I don't know what's up with him!"
She wasn't sure she believed him, but finally shrugged, and slid from her seat to go find the Exceed.
Behind her, Levy and Mira exchanged a high five, and giggled conspiratorially.
"Alright, Happy," Lucy asked when she reached the blue cat. She stood with hands on hips, letting her suspicion show. Happy either ignored this, or was too dense to see it. "What's this about?"
She had followed him into a hallway that was empty besides the two of them.
Happy placed a paw to his mouth and furrowed his brows. "You know what, Lushi? I think I just forgot! Hold on, let me go ask Natsu! He'll remember for me!"
"Happy!" she exclaimed.
"Don't go anywhere!" he called back to her as he flew off, back in the direction they had come. "I'll be right back!"
Lucy huffed, but stayed put, tapping her foot in impatience against the wood floor. If that cat didn't hurry up, she was seriously going to go berserk on his blue hide.
A moment later, Happy came back with Natsu in tow.
"I'm baaaaaaack!" he called dramatically, then snickered at his joke. Lucy rolled her eyes, so not impressed.
Natsu, who'd come up behind Happy, looked perplexed as he shifted his gaze between his two friends.
"What's going on?" he asked.
"You tell me!" she held up her hands to signal that she had no freaking clue what was going on.
"Happy said you had something to tell me!" Natsu argued.
"Why would I have something to tell you, Natsu, when we were just talking?!" Her voice was slowly rising in her frustration.
"I don't know!" he shook his head, looking equally cross. "You called me over here!"
"I didn't call you!" she scoffed.
Happy snickered from above them. They both glanced up at the sound to see the blue Exceed holding a freaking mistletoe between them, and waggling his eyebrows suggestively at Lucy before sending her a conspiratorial wink. Lucy blushed a furious shade of red.
"What's with the weird plant?" Natsu asked, frowning up at it.
"It's a mistletoe, you imbecile!" Carla huffed from a nearby table.
"A what?!" Natsu still looked perplexed. Happy made obnoxious kissy faces, making Lucy blush even redder. She glanced between the mistletoe, and Natsu, feeling more than a little embarrassed.
"It's a Christmas tradition that when two people are caught under the mistletoe, they kiss!" Mira gushed in response.
Lucy narrowed her eyes, shifting her gaze to where the white-haired She-Devil still sat next to a certain bluenette. They both waved and winked, before turning to each other with giggles.
Lucy resisted the urge to facepalm and turned back to Natsu, who still frowned at the mistletoe.
She took a moment to decide how best to proceed. On one hand, Natsu was her best friend, and she couldn't be sure that he even had thoughts like that, period, much less thoughts about her. On the other hand, if she wasted this opportunity, she might never-
She didn't have a chance to finish that thought, as suddenly hot lips were pressed against hers, shutting down all of her calculating thoughts. Her mind went completely silent, as if his lips had literally burned through it.
Her eyelids fluttered shut as his lips pressed harder against hers, and she lifted a hand to his chest, resting it against the bare skin beneath his vest, and feeling the heat there radiate through her hand.
His hand moved into her hair, tilting her head back just slightly, fingers tangling in her golden waves.
"Didn't see that one coming," someone muttered across the room.
"I honestly didn't think he was smart enough to know what kissing even was." Gray chuckled.
"Oh, they're so cute!" Mira gushed, hearts in her eyes as she watched the scene before her.
When Natsu pulled back, he stared into her eyes for a moment. His eyes shown with some new emotion, one not often seen on the Dragon Slayer: realization; understanding.
Just as Lucy recognized the look in his eyes, he pulled back, and turned on his heel before darting away with a shouted, "see ya at home, Luce!"
Lucy stood there, completely dumbfounded, by both his abrupt departure, the look in his eyes, and, of course, that kiss, which had felt hotter than the sun.
"You loooove him!" Happy sang, then maneuvered to dodge a fist to the face.
"Shut up, stupid cat!"
Love Natsu, she scoffed at the thought, but couldn't hold back the ear-splitting grin that pulled up her lips, which still tingled from the kiss.
She caught Levy's eye once more, and the bluenette offered her a thumbs-up of approval. Lucy rolled her eyes, but sent her one in return before turning to race after her dragon.
A/N: Happy New Year, friends! *waves bells and ribbons* I hope you all have had a great 2016, and I wish you all an even better 2017!
A/N 2: A HUUUUUGE thank you to my good friend, yellowchickadee, for helping me out with this scene. I couldn't have gotten this done without you! She's awesome, really. You guys should really go check out her fic for me; you won't be disappointed!