Author Note: I know Thanksgiving is still a few days away but I couldn't help myself getting started on all the amazing prompts you guys sent in (I have a link to all of them on my tumblr page). Seriously some of them are so amazing I can't wait to get to them.

This is my first official Joshaya fic and it was requested by the wonderful Holly. It's an AU so the main thing you need to know is that Josh and Maya haven't seen each other since she was ten years old.

"I said no Maya." Riley finished pinning her hair into a French twist, "I can't go clubbing with you tonight its Christmas Eve."

"Riley, I just got dumped; this is what we do when I get dumped." Maya whined as she watched her friend put on a far more conservative outfit than what she was wearing.

Riley turned to her best friend, "I love you, but it's Christmas Eve, I have to go to Church with Lucas and his parents.

"Why it's not like you and Lucas are going to get married." Maya flopped down on the bed but noticed the shift in the way Riley held herself, "Honey, what is it?"

Riley turned to her best friend, "We're waiting to tell everyone tomorrow, but Lucas and I are engaged, he proposed on my birthday."

"That was weeks ago!" Maya pushed herself up off the bed, "How could you keep this from me?"

"We've kept it from everyone." Riley knew nothing she was going to say would matter to Maya.

Maya grabbed her purse, "I'm going clubbing have fun at church."

"Who are you going with?" Riley called out as she reached the door.

Maya sighed, "I have other friends I'll go with one of them."

"Maya" Riley called to her, watching her turn around one last time; "You're still coming over tomorrow right?"

"Yeah of course I am" Maya nodded before walking out of the room.

Josh Matthews wondered if the money was worth it as he stood behind the bar in a Santa hat, shirtless, wearing thankfully comfortable red pants and his black boots.

Whatever dignity he thought he was losing by working on Christmas Eve rather than spending the night with his family it was worth it when he started seeing the tips he had coming in.

He didn't want to know what brought these people out tonight, but be it pain, guilt, loneliness, or the generosity of the season they were tipping even better than normal.

As he took a survey of the patrons, he couldn't help that his eyes kept falling upon this perky blonde who was lost in the remixes of current pop and dance songs with Holiday classics.

She swayed a little as she came towards the bar, "Two Cranberry Margarita's please."

"Coming right up" Josh tried to ignore the jolt he felt when he heard her voice, it had happened every single time she'd come to order drinks for her and her friend. He took a little more time than usual to mix the drinks together, feeling her eyes examining his body, and if someone asked he would admit that he actually enjoyed the feel of her gaze on his muscles, working out with his nieces boyfriend was paying off.

"Thanks . . . Santa." Maya tossed the cash on the bar and slowly moved back to the dance floor to join her friend handing her a drink.

All throughout the evening he kept glancing towards her, and he was sure at one point she caught him.

It was getting late, last call was announced when the blonde returned, "A Drunk Gingerbread Man please."

Josh started to mix the drink, "What are you doing here on Christmas Eve?" He asked as he poured the contents into the shot glass.

Maya held up the shot, "This is what I do when I get dumped; I go out and party for the night." She took the shot and slammed the glass back on the bar top, feeling the tears start running down her face, "And the worst part is my best friend ditched me tonight to go to church with her fiancé!"

Josh cringed, "That sucks babe." He'd had patrons cry before, but something about this one made his ache, made him wish he could help her. "The guy is a moron, because he's obviously unsure of what he wants if he let a beautiful little Christmas Elf like you slip away."

Maya sniffed, smiling just a little, "Thank you."

"Are you going to be okay to get home?" He leaned forward; he could smell the alcohol on her breath and the mixture of vanilla body spray.

Maya was about to say yes when she saw her friend leave, "Sarah, where are you going?"

Sarah giggled as she held the hand of a man about a foot taller than her, "Um Wyatt is going to um, walk me home Merry Christmas!"

Before Maya could protest her friend was gone and she dropped her head on the bar.

He wasn't sure what it was about her that he was so drawn to, "If you meet me outside, I'll be out like ten minutes after we close. I'll make sure you get home safely, okay?"

"Sure thing Santa, but shouldn't you be delivering toys to all the good boys and girls instead of helping a naughty girl home?"

Josh bit his lip, "Well you know it wouldn't be right if I didn't help you home . . ."

"Noel" she slipped, for some reason the last person she wanted to be was Maya Hart at the moment. She looked around, "Well I guess I'll see you outside Santa."

"Yeah, you will." He smiled as he watched her bounce away, hoping he would see her again and that she didn't vanish into the New York night.

Maya couldn't believe she was doing this, waiting for Santa she could've just gotten a cab, though really her apartment was only a few blocks away and she would feel better if someone were walking with her.

The frosty air was sobering, at least enough that she could feel the ache in her heart again. How could Charlie dump her on Christmas Eve, he couldn't have done it after Halloween, or after the New Year?

The quiet night was suddenly punctuated with snow falling, as the sound of a door closing caused her to jump. He wore a thick puffy jacket in bright orange a thick beanie covered his dark hair. But his eyes, she was sure they were sparkling when they met with hers. "So Santa, still up to walk me home."

"If that's what Noel would like then let's go for it." He adjusted his backpack over his shoulder, "So how far away is your place?"

"Only a couple of blocks this way" She pointed in the distance, "So when you're not tending bar in New York City, you're what up in the North Pole?"

Josh chuckled, "Something like that, I spend time with my family. I'm the youngest of four, and much younger than my siblings, so their kids are more like my siblings that nieces and nephews at times."

Maya smiled, "That must be nice, I'm an only child, I think. At least for my Mom who raised me alone before she married my step-father a few years back."

"So what do you do when you're not curing a broken heart on the dance floor?"

"I'm in art school, not sure what I'm really going to do with that when I'm done, but I thankfully still have time to find out."

"The bartending thing is just to make money while I go to Grad School." He confessed.

"And what kind of Grad School would that be?"

"For Counseling Psychology, I kind of stumbled into Psychology when I was a freshman, and it stuck."

"Well I'm sure you get a lot of practice as a bartender." She teased as they stopped at a light before crossing the street.

Neither spoke until Maya stopped in front of her building, "Well this is me, thanks for walking me home Santa."

"You're welcome Noel." He didn't want to say goodbye.

Maya bit her lip, "Want to come up I could make you a hot chocolate, maybe."

"I wouldn't want to impose."

"You wouldn't be, unless you, silly me you probably have to be up early."

Josh smirked, "Not exactly, but you know a hot chocolate would be nice."

She pulled her keys out and led him into the building, and over to the elevator. Once inside Maya couldn't help but smile when she saw the mistletoe he was standing under. She took a step towards him before pressing her lips against his.

Her body was on fire as if kissing him lit a match igniting her.

Josh was stunned, but it felt so good and so right as he pressed her body against his, opening his mouth, accepting the deepening of the kiss which ended as soon as the elevator dinged.

Maya smiled as she pulled away, "Mistletoe" before pointing above him.

"Oh of course" he followed her down the hall to her apartment, watching as she unlocked the door and flicked on the light.

"It's not much but its home." She sang as she pulled off her boots revealing her true height.

Josh couldn't believe how tiny she was, he just wanted to lift her up, carry her around. He shook his head as he watched her, no Josh; you're not the kind of guy to take advantage of the situation.

"Take off your jacket; I'll be back in a minute." She slipped into the kitchen.

Josh removed his jacket and stuffed his hands in the kangaroo pocket of his Pennbrook University hoodie.

When Maya returned she smiled when she saw him on her couch "Huh I haven't seen a Pennbrook sweatshirt since I accidentally bleached my step-fathers when I tried to do laundry a few years ago."

"My whole family went there, kind of tradition, well until my oldest niece broke that tradition and went to NYU with her boyfriend." He started to look around the apartment when Maya tapped him on the shoulder.

"Here you go." She handed him the Met mug before sitting on the couch with her NYU one. "So you're going to be a psychologist huh?"

"Yeah, and you're going to be an artist." He sat next to her, thinking about how badly he wanted to kiss her, but also keep talking to her.

"Tell me your worst break-up story."

Josh sighed, "senior year of high school, I dated this girl all year and then right before Prom she dumps me for this college guy."

"Ouch" Maya hugged her mug close to her, trying to ignore just how badly she wanted to snuggle up against him.

Josh took a sip of the hot chocolate, "I kind of got the last laugh she got dumped right before the start of the school year for his ex."

Maya giggled, "That's awful."

"What's yours?"

"I'm going to say today, my boyfriend now ex, Charlie decided that Christmas Eve was the perfect day to end things, not Halloween, not after New Year's, but Christmas Eve."

"He sounds like a creep."

Maya sighed, "Maybe a little."

They continued exchanging stories as they sipped the hot chocolate, not even realizing they were moving closer to each other until they were drifting to sleep, with Maya's head on his shoulder and his arm holding her close.

When morning broke, Josh opened his eyes and realized he was not at home as he heard her breathing softly in her sleep. He pulled away slowly and gently so as not to wake her. He found a piece of paper and wrote her a quick note, before grabbing his things and slipping out.

Maya had been sure it was a dream when she woke up until she saw the two mugs, and the note he'd scribbled and simply signed Santa.

She got dressed for the day, doing her hair and gathering the presents to bring over to Riley's house.

When she arrived she walked in without knocking, she hadn't knocked since well she never had knocked. "Hello?" She found the living room virtually empty, "Matthews where are you?"

"Sorry, they're in Auggie's room." The male voice told her as she placed the presents under the tree she looked up and gasped when she saw who it belonged to, "Santa?"

"Noel" He studied her, she was even more beautiful now that she was last night.

"Uncle Josh" Riley came out from the bedroom, "Oh yay Maya you're here, you're not still mad at me about last night are you?"

Maya's mouth was dropped open just a little as she tried to understand how the sexiest Santa she'd ever come across, who had walked her home, let her kiss him under the mistletoe and talked with her until they fell asleep was Riley's Uncle "Boing?"

"The best friend" Josh nodded recalling the last time he'd seen her; the girls had been around ten years old or so. "Nice to meet you again Maya, you grew up gorgeous."

"Nice to meet you again a well Josh" She felt weak in the knees as she leaned against the couch to keep from falling over. She was in trouble, a lot of trouble.

The day went by quickly once Riley and Lucas announced their engagement followed by Topanga's dinner, and of course dessert from the bakery. As Maya put her coat on to leave Josh came over, "So, um," He scratched the back of neck, "Could I walk with you, until we have to go different ways or something?"

Maya smiled, "Yeah that would be nice. Bye Riley!"

Josh grabbed his jacket to keep up with her as he followed her out, "So, I'm sorry I left this morning."

"I understand, you went above and beyond . . . Santa." She smirked.

"I can't believe you're little wild Maya." He stopped at the corner, "When we were younger, I wouldn't call it a crush, but you did fascinate me. You're so different from Riley, you have a completely different energy, a completely different outlook I could never understand how you two were friends. Then when you were all in high school, Riley was telling me about something crazy the two of you did, and I got it. You're each other's yin and yang. You balance each other."

"And now Lucas balances her." Maya sighed as they stood on the corner.

"What are you doing New Year's Eve?"

"No idea actually why?"

He rocked on his feet, "I'm not working that night, but we're having a party at the club and I have an extra ticket, maybe you would be interested in ringing in the New Year with me."

She smiled, "I would like that very much Josh."

"Great it's a date." He looked up as the snow started to fall around them, "Come on before the snow really starts to fall."

"Where are we going?" Maya felt his gloved hand slip around hers.

"My place is right around the corner, we could have some hot chocolate if you're interested."

"I am very interested." She replied as he led her down the street.

As he unlocked his building door, he stopped Maya in the doorway and kissed her. Feeling that flame ignite once again as her toes stretched up and her arms wrapped around him until he pulled away, "Mistletoe." They looked up to see the small sprig hanging above them.