Hey guys! This is a special NaLu Christmas one-shot. Enjoy!
All was merry and cheerful on the night of Christmas Eve in the Fairy Tail guild.
The mages happily exchanged gifts with each other, played games, drank beer, wine, and eggnog, ate to their heart's content, and danced the night away.
Mira-Jane sang Christmas carols on the stage while Gajeel played guitar, while taking breaks to have refresh themselves or chat with friends.
Lucy had been hanging out with Levy for most of the night, but then Levy had said she needed to give an important gift to someone.
Now Lucy just stood alone, clutching a gift bag. Inside was a hand-made fruit cake, a brown hand-knit sweater, and a card.
It had taken her many attempts to perfect the cake's recipe, and the sweater had taken over a month to finish.
Her hard work had paid off, but for some reason, she felt the presents were not good to give to the person she'd made them for.
She scanned the guild, easily finding who she was looking for. Her pink-haired teammate was at the buffet table, like he always was at events like these.
Lucy approached Natsu, who turned when he smelled her scent getting closer.
"Hey Lucy! I haven't seen you much at all tonight. Where have you been?" Natsu smiled, wiping gravy off his chin with the back of his hand.
"I-I was t-talking with Levy." Lucy stuttered, blushing a little. Why am I so flustered? she wondered.
"You having a good time?" Natsu asked.
"Y-yeah, it's been really fun." She replied, trying to build up her confidence.
"U-u-um... Natsu?" Lucy stuttered bashfully, blushing more.
"Hm? Why is your face so red? Is the heat up too high?" Natsu asked obliviously.
"I... that is... this is for you." Lucy said, avoiding his eyes as she held out her gift bag.
"What is it?" Natsu asked, surprised that Lucy had actually gotten him a present.
"Just open it." Lucy said, staring at her feet shyly.
Natsu reached into the bag, pulling out red tissue paper, then took out the card, sweater, and fruit cake Lucy had spent so much time making. "Did... did you make these yourself? They smell like you."
Lucy's face was now redder than a tomato. "Y-yes."
"Wow! Thanks Lucy, these are great!" Natsu's grin made all her hard work well worth it. "I'll read the card later."
Lucy let out a sigh of relief. I guess I was worried for nothing, she smiled to herself.
"Oh! I have something for you, too!" Natsu said suddenly, starting to dig through his pockets.
When he still didn't come up with anything after searching for a two full minutes, he looked upset.
"Natsu? What's wrong?" Lucy asked.
"Well... um... I kind of accidentally left your present at home..." He said, scratching the back of his neck sheepishly.
"Come to think of it, I've only ever been to your home once, and that was quite a while ago." Lucy said.
"But I've never invited-" Natsu started, then a look of realization dawned on his face. "Were you the one who cleaned my house when I wasn't home?"
Somehow, Lucy's face turned an even deeper shade of red. "Y-yeah."
"Thanks for doing that! I'm not that skilled with house-keeping, so it was a big help." Natsu said, patting Lucy's shoulder.
Lucy smiled. "I don't mind visiting your house again. Should we go and get the present?"
"You want to come to my house? O-okay, let's go!" Now it was Natsu's turn to be bashful.
The two left the guild hall, wishing a good night and a merry Christmas to anyone they passed on their way out.
Outside, snow blanketed the world around for miles, glistening in the moonlight. Soft snowflakes fell gently from the heavens.
Natsu and Lucy kept up small talk for the duration of the walk, chatting about what gifts they'd received from which person.
Lucy had gotten various articles of clothing and cute trinkets from Erza, Juvia, Levy, Gray and the rest of the gang. Natsu had mostly gotten Christmas treats like candy canes and chocolate, and Lisanna had given him a hand-knit hat.
The two friends soon approached Natsu's quaint little stone house. The fire mage opened the door, gesturing for Lucy to go in first.
"You know, you should lock your door." Lucy said, walking in.
"I usually do, but I guess Happy and I were in such a hurry to leave because we were late for the party that we forgot to lock up." Natsu said as he followed her inside.
"Oh, I see." Lucy said.
Natsu searched his messy living room, and quickly sniffed out a small white gift box tied with a red ribbon. He handed it to Lucy.
This box is pretty small... what could be inside? Lucy wondered as she untied the ribbon.
Natsu watched anxiously as Lucy peered into the box. Her eyes widened in surprise as she carefully lifted a pair of gold, star-shaped earrings and a matching necklace out of the box.
"This... this isn't real gold, is it...?" Lucy asked, shocked at the sight of the beautiful gifts.
"It's real." Natsu confirmed, studying Lucy's face. "D-do you like them? If not, I can return them and you can pick something else..."
"Are you kidding? This was the nicest gift I've been given tonight!" Lucy embraced Natsu, smiling brightly. "Thank you."
Natsu blushed, hugging back. Lucy is so beautiful, he thought. Suddenly, he felt his body move by itself, purely out of instinct. He found himself kissing Lucy... right on the lips!
Lucy's gorgeous brown eyes widened.
Natsu quickly regained control and pulled away from the kiss, his face completely red. He avoided Lucy's eyes. "I-I-I-I'm sorry! I don't know what came over me...!" He stuttered in apology.
Lucy finally managed to overcome her shock, and gently raised her hand to Natsu's face, turning him back towards her. "Natsu. It's okay." Her face graced a forgiving smile.
Natsu stared into her eyes, loving this golden-haired young lady.
"Why don't we try that again?" Lucy said invitingly, her tone completely melting Natsu's hesitation.
Lucy initiated the kiss this time, cupping the sides of Natsu's face with her soft hands. Natsu didn't know what to do with his own hands, so he clasped them behind his back, then deepened the kiss.
After what could have been minutes or hours, the sound of howling wind brought them out of their loving embrace.
Natsu looked out the window, but the view was blocked by a wall of swirling snow. "Looks like a blizzard."
"Oh no! How am I going to get home in this weather?" Lucy asked worriedly.
"You can stay here until the storm dies down. It doesn't look like it'll let up until tomorrow, though, so you might as well stay all night." Natsu said, looking over at her with a smile.
"B-but... what will all our friends think if they find out about this? They'll suspect things..." Lucy said.
"Stop worrying, Lucy. You're gonna get gray hairs if you keep it up." Natsu said, patting her shoulder comfortingly. "Come on, you can sleep on the sofa."
"Okay..." Lucy said reluctantly.
Natsu set up a sheet, a blanket and a pillow on his couch.
"Thank you for letting me stay here tonight." Lucy said, laying down and closing her eyes. She was still nervous about what would happen if her fellow guild mates knew she was staying at Natsu's house for a whole night.
"It's no problem at all. I don't have guests over much, so this is nice." Natsu replied. "Oh, and Lucy?"
"Yeah?" She said, opening her eyes.
"Don't worry so much." Natsu said, kissing her on the forehead.
"Good night." Lucy said, gently pulling Natsu down for another kiss on the lips.
When their lips parted, Natsu straightened up and walked to his bedroom, turning once more to say, "Merry Christmas, Luce."
I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. Merry Christmas, everyone!