Grizzly: Hey Stele?
xSteleAliniax: Yeah, Grizz?
Grizzly: What exactly is this story?
Stele: So, you know that whole "Natsu secretly loves Lucy but is too dense and moronic to actually use normal ways to tell her?"
Grizzly: Yea, wait, what did Natsu do this time?
Stele: Well, we all know that Natsu isn't the best at being in love, or showing his true feelings for that matter. So, of course, being Natsu, he cooks up this elaborate plan to tell Lucy how he feels without actually having to use any words—because we all know that Natsu isn't the best at using words, either *laughs* Right, Grizz?
Grizzly: Ain't that the truth, so now to all y'all readers, I'm going to leave it you to figure out how he does this. One more question for you, though, Stele.
Stele: Ask away!
Grizzly: Who owns Fairy Tail, and it's characters, and who refuses to make NaLu canon?
Stele: Great question, Grizz. I'm pretty sure it's that Hiro Mashima guy, who is constantly teasing all of us Nalu shippers!
Grizzly: With that being said, we'll let the readers move on to "The Twelve Days of Christmas" Have fun!
Stele: Don't forget to follow, favorite, and leave us a review to let us know your thoughts!
The Twelve Days of Christmas
On the First Day
Snow falls on a cloudy day in the town of Magnolia, this winter being one of the rarer white ones. In a house on Strawberry street a woman sleeps as the snow settles outside.
Well that is until a man with pink hair and a flying blue cat opens her window and lets the cold in waking said sleeping woman.
She turns over and her eyes flutter open to reveal dark chocolate orbs filled with confusion that turns to anger when they land on the duo ruffling around in her kitchen.
With a smirk she gets up slowly and quietly leans on the door frame connecting her room to the kitchen. When their backs are turned towards her she speaks.
"What are you two doing here?" The cat whirls around but as the pink haired male goes to rise he hits his head on the fridge.
Climbing out he raises his hand to his head to feel the back of his head even as he does it in embarrassment.
"Hey Luce, when did you get up?" She scowls at his question and waves a hand at the open window.
"How about when you left the window open?" He turns his gaze towards the window he had come through and then back to her.
"Hey Lushi, are you coming to the guild today?"
She looks at the cat but her scowl doesn't fade. "Yes Happy I'm coming to the guild. I promised to help Mira set up decorations for the Christmas party."
Turning around she throws over her shoulder, "Now I'm going to get ready since I doubt I'll be able to go back to sleep, by the time I get out of the shower I expect you both to be gone or else I'll Lucy kick you to the guild."
As she shuts the door she hears an "Aye sir" from both.
When the males hear the shower run, Happy turns to the male. "Natsu, do you think we should go ahead and go?"
Natsu goes back to the fridge and shuts it before going to lay on her bed. "Nah, we can stay here for a little while longer, Lucy takes a really long time to get ready."
Happy lands and lays down on a pillow, promptly falling asleep while Natsu watches the ceiling at least until the water shuts off.
Opening the bathroom door, a tick mark appears on her forehead at the sight of her partners lounging on her bed instead of being gone. So she does the reasonable thing.
"DIDN'T I TELL YOU TO GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!" Natsu and Happy both hop up at her screech and flee towards the window.
Though only Happy gets away scot free, Natsu has help getting out the window from a strong Lucy kick.
Lucy huffs and shuts and locks the window before turning and getting ready to leave for the guild by changing into a pair of pajama jeans, a long sleeve turtleneck, and a black pea coat that accentuates her frame.
Tying her keys to her belt, she walks out the door only to almost trip over a box. Picking it up she carries it with her as she continues on her way to the guild, stopping to chat to some shopkeepers along the way.
As she walks down the street towards the guild hall wreaths hang from the light posts while ribbons and tinsel hang from windows and gutters alike.
Arriving at the guild hall she pushes the door open and ducks to avoid a flying body before walking over to the bar where a blue-haired mage and a white-haired mage sit and talk.
"Hey Mira, Hey Levy-chan" Both mages turn to her and wave, then Levy notices the package under Lucy's arm. "Lu-chan, what's in the package?"
Lucy pulls the package out and shrugs, admiring the dark purple star wrapping paper. "I honestly don't know, I almost tripped over it when I left my apartment."
"Well why don't you open it and see what's inside?" Lucy looks up from the package to the white-haired take over mage. "I don't know Mira, I mean I don't even know if it's for me."
She raises the package to her ear and when she shakes it a clink can be heard. "Come on, Lu-chan, what's the possibility of it belonging to anyone else if it was sitting in front of your door?"
Finally, Lucy gives in and slowly undoes the wrapping paper, revealing a small cherry red box with a star engraved on the top, and opening the box she pulls out a golden bracelet.
"Woah, Lu-chan, that's a pretty bracelet." She looks up from the bracelet to see Levy wearing a shocked look.
"That's not all, Lucy look at this note." Mira hands a note to Lucy that had been sitting in the bottom of the bigger box and she reads it outloud.
On the first day of Christmas I give you a bracelet.
One that will hold more than simple gifts.
On the second day of Christmas look for a charm that glows with a fire all its own.
Your Secret Santa.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Levy snaps her fingers and pulls out a book about three inches thick and flips to a page.
"Lu-chan I think your Secret Santa is going to do the twelve days of Christmas."
"Wait what are the twelve days of Christmas?" She sets the bracelet back into the box along with the note as Levy sets the book down and slides it in front of her.
"Apparently, for twelve days before Christmas Day, a guy would give a gift to the girl he loved, and on Christmas Eve, the last gift would reveal his love to her if she didn't figure it out first."
Lucy sits back in her chair to think it over, unaware that a certain dragon slayer is listening in as well. "But wait, who could this Secret Santa be then?"
Mira has a spark in her eyes as she catches the slayer's eye but turns back to the girl's conversation. "Lucy, who do you think it could be?"
"I honestly don't know, Mira, I mean I've had a lot of guys ask me out to the Christmas party..." Levy hums as the gears turn in her head, and then she grabs the bracelet.
"How about we wait for the rest of the gifts to appear, maybe that'll help us." Levy suggests. Lucy nods and turns when an ink haired magic lands next to the bar.
"Gray, don't you think you and Natsu are fighting kind of hard today?" The ice mage jumps up and takes in the scene at the bar before throwing lances at Natsu.
"This is the only time we have, Erza won't be back for a week and Flame Brain pissed me off more than usual today." He jumps, dodging a flaming fist and kicks Natsu into the wall.
After making sure Natsu is safely lodged in the wall he walks over to the bar where the girls sit and looks at the box and bracelet spread on the counter.
"What's up with the bracelet?" He settles into the chair next to Lucy as she fills him in on the situation and he takes on a thoughtful look.
"Well I'll save you from being drowned by telling you it ain't me." He says the last part loud enough for the simmering water mage hiding behind the column to hear and she cools off while the girls at the counter look amused.
"Speaking of which, what are you two doing for Christmas?" Mira says, as small hearts begin to float around her head.
Gray shakes his head at the take over mage and looks to make sure Juvia isn't close enough to hear. "I'm taking Juvia ice skating Christmas Eve." He finally whispers, low enough for only the three in front of him to hear.
Of course them being girls they squeal, but it stops short when Gray is kicked off of the stool only to be replaced with a grinning Natsu.
"Hey Luce, want to take a short mission?" Before she can reply, Natsu has her by the wrist and is hauling her off to the mission board while Mira turns to Levy. "When are they gonna realize they are perfect together?"
Levy sighs and flips a couple pages in her book before shutting it. "I honestly don't know, Mira, they're both so dense. And now with this Secret Santa going after Lucy, we have to speed up our plans."
Mira is quiet, and Levy looks up to see a thoughtful look on Mira's face. "Actually, Levy, I think Natsu's not as dense as he looks."
They watch as the two argue over a mission before Natsu walks over with the paper while Lucy stomps to the front door. Mira stamps the paper without a word and he catches up to Lucy at the door only for her to Lucy kick him.
"On second thought maybe he is."
A few hours later the guild doors slam open and a tired looking Lucy and a cheerful Natsu walk in. She drags her feet and plops down on her stool while Mira sets a strawberry shake in front of her.
"You okay, Lucy?" Lucy takes a long drink from the milkshake before scowling at where Natsu is trying to get Gray to fight again.
"We were supposed to take out a couple of giant hamsters the next town over and bring the skins to the clients, but he ended up turning them into ashes and lost us the reward."
Mira grabs a barrel from under the bar and sits on it as she places her chin in her hands before saying "So what exactly happened on the mission?"
"Well after I Lucy Kicked Natsu out the door we walked over to the next town and met with the clients. Really nice elderly couple that wanted the skins as presents for their grandkids. Anyway, they told us where the hamster's den was and Natsu tracked it down pretty quickly and we got to work." She takes a breath and a drink of her milkshake before continuing.
"It wasn't hard there were just two of them to take down, and it went pretty quickly. After they went down Natsu went to work on skinning them and I turned my back to not see it." Mira frowns and looks up when a chair goes flying before turning back to Lucy.
"So, if they went down, how did Natsu burn them?" Lucy scowls again. "I have a better question for you, can you tell me how a grizzly bear, which is supposed to be hibernating, is awake and trying to take the hamsters?"
Mira nods as the pieces fall in place. "So, Natsu fought off the bear but went overboard and ended up turning the hamsters to ash?" Lucy nods and yawns.
"Alright, Mira, I'm gonna go ahead home, see you tomorrow." She stands and walks out the door for the night.
Well now it's just me as Stele's busy editing a chapter for this story. You know when I first asked her I was so nervous because I had never done a co-op like this, but as we started talking I found out she actually wanted to do something along the same lines so it works in both our favors.
Plus she's amazing at catching any mistakes that I normally may miss, which I do for her as well. Now you're probably asking what's this got to do with anything. Well a lot of the people on here are really nice and are always willing to help another writer who's nervous about moving forward.
There's no need to be nervous, take it from me. I started writing in August of this year and it's taken me this long to build up the courage to ask someone to do a co-op.
But I'm rambling. Make sure you hop over and check out Stele. She is an amazing writer, and get's an amazing amount of work done with a crazy packed schedule.
Whelp that's my spiel. I got a chapter to finish writing and I'm sure Stele is getting impatient. Oh look at that she just texted me 'Patience is overrated.' XD
Gotta go.
Grizzly out for the night.