Christmas Means Love
"Serah will you get up already?" The figure comfortably laying fast asleep in bed did not stir an inch. The one who futilely shook the unconscious girl threw a glance to the room's other occupant, whom was currently dressing herself for the day. "Can you please wake your girlfriend up?" Makise Kurisu glanced her way in response, an amused look on her face.
"Sorry Elly but if I try she'll only pull me in with her." Kurisu turned back to the mirror on the inside of the closet door, finishing her adjustment of her red neck tie.
"Ugh you two are impossible sometimes, you know that?" Elhaym Van Houten, Elly to her friends, turned back to the sleeping Serah Farron. With nothing else to resort too, she delivered a half-hearted smack to the back of the girl's head. This, unsurprisingly, drew a reaction.
"I'm not. She is." Kurisu said, not turning away from the mirror.
"And you enable her." Elly replied and with nothing else to resort too, she delivered a half-hearted smack to the back of the girl's head. This, unsurprisingly, drew a reaction.
"Quit it mooom." Serah whined, driving her head beneath her fluffy set of pillows.
"We're the same age, Serah." Elly sighed. She walked to the end of the bed and began pulling the blankets from Serah's still prone form. Try as she might, Serah failed to keep her cocoon intact, and soon found herself shivering due to the early morning temperature.
"Yeah but you sure act like our mother." Serah pouted, clutching Mog closer to her chest. The moogle appeared to approve of this action as he gave a breathy sigh in response.
"I do not enable her!" Kurisu's, belated, indignant response drew both girls attention towards her. She blushed under their gaze before swiftly turning back to face the mirror, continuing to mess with her already perfectly applied tie.
"That's cute, Kris." Elly smiled. Kurisu ignored her and so Elly turned back to Serah, her tone matching that of a chastising mother. "Now you. Get up and help me make breakfast."
"...Fine."
Serah had pouted for a bit when she aided Elhaym in fixing the household's (or rather apartmenthold's if that were such a word) breakfast but it wasn't for long as she soon brightened up and got into the swing of things. Presumably this was when she had fully awoken, Serah was never a morning person. Kurisu on the other hand was. She had to get up early every morning due to the demand of her job which had caused her to grow accustomed to the everyday routine of early rising. Elly on a third hand, was half and half on the subject; during the week she could get up early no problem, but on the weekend she struggled with the concept and often found herself sleeping away until noon. However, today was different. It was Christmas Eve and that fact absolutely demanded that the three occupants of the apartment wake up early and enjoy the day to it's fullest.
"Look Elly, it's Rudolph." Feeling Serah's elbow nudge into her side, Elly glanced over at the plate her friend was holding. On it was a pancake that Serah had made a makeshift face upon. Two large chocolate chips acted as the pancake-Rudolph's eyes while a row of them made up the mouth (smiling broadly). The nose was made up of a cherry. Elly smiled at Serah; grabbing the nearby can of whipped cream and smothering the face of pancake-Rudolph in the tasty stuff.
"Looks like he got hit by a snowball." She joked, not being able to hold her laugh in at the face Serah made.
"No Elly! You must let him join in our reindeer games!"
"Relax Serah, Kurisu likes whipped cream on hers." Elly had gone back to fixing up the rest of the plates before bringing them over and setting the table.
"But that was my pancakedolph." Serah didn't seem to want to let it go.
"Then just switch it with another." Elly now seated herself at the table, and began to eat.
"But these other ones don't have faces on them." Serah looked at the rest of the pancakes, a look of disgust on her face. To her, it was unfathomable to eat a pancake that didn't have a face. If she really stopped to think about it, Serah might have found the idea strangely morbid.
"What are you, 4?" Kurisu had now entered the kitchen, swiping the ruined pancake-Rudolph from her girlfriend. She stuck her finger into the whipped cream and put it into her mouth before wrapping her arms around Serah and kissing her deeply.
"Congratulations Kurisu. You're dating someone with the mental capacity of a 4 year old." Elly piped up between bites of her food. It seemed like she was the only one intent on eating while it was hot.
"I'm not 4!" Serah's protest sounded weak and the indignant face she made did little to dispel the 4 year old image that had been placed upon her.
"Aww I know you aren't, sweetie." Kurisu smiled. "Besides Elly, you know her ditziness is one of many things I love about her."
"I know. Her ditziness is the reason I met her in the first place." Serah, by now fazed out of the conversation, went about making another face for her pancake.
"Oh yeah. That was when she somehow got her students and herself lost on a field trip wasn't it?" Kurisu laughed and began eating her own food. From across the table Serah watched her pancakedolph slowly disappear, bite by bite. A mutter of "murderer" could be heard from her general direction.
"Yup, she's lucky she had a cell phone on her." Elly confirmed, looking and smiling at Serah. The pinked hair girl returned it with her own.
"So Elly, do you have any plans today?" Serah asked, digging into her own plate of food (after plundering the cherry from Kurisu's).
"Yeah. I'm going to spend the day with Fei." A sudden blush crept it's way up Elly's face. "And the night as well."
"Oooh saucy." Kurisu grinned.
"It's not saucy!" Elly shot back before pausing. "Never mind. Don't bother lecturing me on the meaning of that word, miss girl genius." Though her wording may have seemed harsh, Elly's voice never lost it's playful tone. Kurisu laughed in response putting the thought of lecturing her room-mate to the back of her head. The red head turned to her right to see Serah looking at her with wide and bright eyes. Seas of blue that she never tired of looking into. Kurisu would have no problem, zero qualms with getting lost a sea if it meant an eternity with Serah. Alone with Serah.
"Yes, Ser?"
"We're going downtown to see the lights tonight, right?" Serah spoke with a quickness that nearly had her words tripping over themselves. It was endearing.
"How could I forget?" Reaching over Kurisu grabbed Serah's hand and gave it a squeeze, looking back into her eyes and smiling warmly. Out of the corner of her eye Elly could be seen tilting her head and "awwing."
"Well then, I'll see you girls later. Have a nice time!"
It was now 10 PM and the couple of Serah and Kurisu found themselves in the downtown portion of the city in which they lived. Currently the pair were standing on a bridge that served to connect two buildings together, both happened to be shopping malls. On each building was an array of decorations and ornaments to celebrate the holiday that was Christmas. Throngs of people populated the area but Serah and Kurisu had managed to find a portion of the bridge that was surprisingly devoid of life. And so currently the couple found themselves sitting on a bench tucked away from most of the people.
"Wow it's so pretty." Serah had always adored Christmas. It was hands down without a doubt in her mind, her favourite time of year. Both a sense of nostalgia and the weather factored into influencing her view on the holiday. Fond memories of her sister working her tail off to provide her with many presents and just an all around great time. Serah believed that her sister, Lightning, had used the holiday to spoil her in hopes of making up for their parents absence. The younger Farron appreciated the effort and gifts but all that really mattered was that they spent the time together. But she never said anything to Lightning, Serah also believed that her sister may have used Christmas as an escapism to that same fact herself. Serah turned to Kurisu, watching the way the lights illuminated her silky smooth red hair, the reflections in her blue eyes, the way she would lightly shiver every now and then from the cold air. The sight made Serah herself shiver. Kurisu often had that effect on her.
"It is." Kurisu answered. Her eyes were glued to the giant Christmas tree that stood proudly in the circular area that they sat in. Normally there would have been a fountain majestically spouting water from it's highest point but that had always been removed in favour of the tree. The city was truly a festive one, every single building on Main street donning a decoration of sorts was evidence enough of that fact, and so they took great joy in customising the area to fit the special time of year. Christmas for Kurisu didn't hold the same nostalgic feeling as it did for Serah. She loved the day of course, what girl growing up didn't? But her memories were more generic, your run of the mill childhood memories of Christmas. And that wasn't a bad thing, Serah would be happy to know that Kurisu's reasons for loving the holiday weren't the same as hers. A happy childhood in itself was priceless and something to be treasured, Serah would happily take that over what she had grown up with. But Lightning being there for her was the reason that she was here now, enjoying the day with her beautiful girlfriend.
"You're amazing, Kris." Serah murmured, loud enough for Kurisu to hear, before letting her head drop down onto the red head's shoulder.
"As are you, Serah." Kurisu smiled down at her. She reached into the pocket of her coat and withdrew a Santa hat, she had forgotten about it on the way to the tree. She placed the hat on Serah's head and poked her on the nose. "Personally, I much prefer Santa to Rudolph."
"I do too!" Serah grinned. She brought both hands to the brim of the hat and pulled it down snugly around the crown of her head. Serah had a penchant for Santa hats ever since she was little. As with all children it seemed, Serah had been afraid of visiting the rotund fictional character in the mall when growing up. Strangely enough, the way Serah had come to the realisation that Santa was not real, live person (a fact most devastating to most children) was the year when she and Lightning had first lost their mother.
Serah had forgotten to leave out some cookies and milk for Santa and as such wasn't able to sleep worrying that he may take it as an insult, a slight that could see herself end up on the Naughty List the next year. And that just would not do! So she had climbed out of bed and crept into the kitchen, fixing a plate of chocolate chip cookies and a tall glass of nice cold milk. By the time she tip toed into the living room to leave her present on the table, Lightning had been in the middle of adding some more presents under the small tree they had gotten that year. For the year Serah had only two presents under the tree and while she understood the very obvious reason for the lack of wrapped gifts, as a child, she maybe had given a less than enthused reaction. Thinking back on it Serah was a little embarrassed by the selfish way she had reacted. So she had been more than surprised to see her sister, literally with a sack of presents in hand, placing them under the tree. Lightning had blushed crimson (she had even been wearing the hat after all!) and stammered over her words. Serah, ignoring her sister's obviously flustered state, had thrown herself into Lightning's arms. "You're my Santa, Claire!" She had told her. The relieved smile Lightning gave her in return to that was one of Serah's most treasured memories. That memory was probably her number one reason for loving Christmas as much as she did.
"Hey Serah, you're spacing out." Kurisu's finger flicking her forehead caught her attention.
"Sorry, Su. Just reminiscing a bit." She answered, smiling ruefully.
"Nostalgia whore." Kurisu snorted, squeezing Serah closer to her.
"Is that what you call people on that chan site you use?" Her pink haired lover prodded. Kurisu gasped and turned to her with widened eyes, her cheeks decorated with a deep blush. She didn't think Serah knew of her online exploits in trolling. How humiliating...
"I will ban hammer your ass, Serah." The red head finally managed to sputter out, eyes narrowing for extra effect.
"Oooh wanting to get on the naughty list are we?" Serah laughed, her bright smile wore away any and all embarrassment Kurisu felt. She leaned forward and pulled Serah to her, kissing her deeply. The moment felt as if it stretched across multiple world lines, if such a thing ever existed, kissing Serah always gave her this feeling. For her part Serah gave herself to the kiss, melting into Kurisu's embrace and moaning contentedly.
"I love you, Serah." Kurisu's smile just about made her heart stop, it was so enchanting that Serah momentarily found it hard to believe that she was a live person and not some beautiful painting.
"I love you too, Kurisu." She whispered back, having difficulty in finding her voice. All the people around the couple seemed to not be there at that given moment. All that existed was Serah staring into Kurisu's eyes and Kurisu staring back into Serah's. Kurisu believed that she would be happy lost at sea if it meant that she could spend eternity with Serah, and Serah felt the same way. Being with Kurisu was like spending every waking moment of her life in complete ecstasy. Serah had to fight to keep from losing herself in bliss every time she looked at the girl. And kissing her was like taking a bite from the forbidden fruit, the thrill was so great.
Everything about Kurisu made Serah warm up inside. Kurisu was hers. And she was Kurisu's. Spending time with her was the greatest thing in the world and made every day feel like Christmas. Yes, even in July.