A/N: Happy 2019, ya'all!
This is the eighth fic in my Twelve Days of Christmas jamboree. It may be read as a stand-alone, but feel free to check out part eleven, which is another fun Fairy Tail fic (Fraxus-centric). If you choose to read other parts of this series, keep in mind that none of them technically need to be read in order with the exception of days 9 and 10.
Special thanks to AuroraBorealia, my fabulous bestie and beta reader! She wanted to take the blame for this fic being super late, but it's actually my fault. xD You can pretend it's still near midnight where I live.
Tags: 12 Days of Christmas, Maids a'milking, Hot Chocolate, Gruvia, Fraxus, Natsanna and other surprise pairings. Also some Ace love in here!
Enjoy, friends!
On the eighth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...
Eight maids a'milking
Seven swans a'swimming
Six geese a'laying
Five golden rings...
Four colly birds,
Three French hens
Two turtle doves
And a partridge in a pear tree
It is a beautiful winter day in Magnolia. Members of the Fairy Tail guild pause their busy lives to celebrate a post-Christmas snow day with a massive snowball fight. Most everyone is in town; unable to catch a train out of town for their scheduled jobs, even the Thunder Legion has stayed to join the fray!
It's boys versus girls in an all-out battle to decide the Snow Day Champion, and it looks as though the girls have lost the match. How will the guild's ladies fare with the winning team's demands?
"The boys win!" Carla announced reluctantly. She was the only Exceed that every guild member trusted to be a fair judge. Happy danced in the air beside her, cheering for Natsu and the other boys. Pantherlily did his best to remain neutral, but if one looked closely enough, they might notice his approving grin.
"I CALL A REMATCH!" Evergreen screeched, her arms still tightened into fists.
"We won fair and square, Ever!" Freed admonished. "As per the rules, your tower was demolished first, therefore-"
"Hang your rules," she spat. Bixlow and Laxus tensed, ready to jump in and stop their friends before they could start a Thunder Legion brawl. They didn't have to, because thankfully Erza held up her hand, effectively stopping everyone in their tracks.
"Freed is right," the redheaded warrior mage admitted. "We failed to adequately defend our tower and now we must face the consequences with dignity."
"No fair!" Lucy argued, her lower lip sticking out in a stubborn pout. "They have an ice wizard on their team, what kind of bull is that!? How can we be sure he didn't sneak some of his moves in there?"
"Sorry, princess," a sultry voice answered, "but I assure you, Gray didn't use any magic." Loke threw his signature mischievous grin the blonde's way, but it didn't appease her.
Lucy fixed her celestial spirit with an icy death glare. "Traitor! You're supposed to be on my team! What happened to 'pleasing the ladies'!?"
Yes, even the boys had been surprised when the flirtatious spirit took their side. All except Gray, who had worked with him before during the botched S-class trials; he knew just how much Loke craved competition. "I couldn't leave my buddies here high and dry, babe."
"Don't call me 'babe!'" Lucy yelled, but it was futile at this point. She would never be able to change her pesky spirit's behavior.
Loke winked at his keyholder and bid his friends adieu. With a quiet puff of air, he disappeared back to the Spirit World.
"Sorry, Lu," Levy said, comforting her friend with a pat on the shoulder. "Maybe he's just trying not to play favorites?"
"Guess Loke only came for the fight," Natsu noted, grinning. "Ha! That's what I'm talkin' about."
Elfman rubbed his hands together gleefully. "Yeah, that was pretty manly of him!"
Folding his arms and joining his friends, Freed huffed and blew a strand of green fringe away from his eyes. "A valiant play indeed. However, it looks like Loke will be missing the spoils." He pointed a graceful finger at the losing ladies. "As per our agreement, you shall have to comply with our absolute victor's demands."
"Bring it on!" Cana challenged, taking up a fighting position. "We can take whatever you hosers dish!"
Beside Freed, Gray smirked. "That would be my choice." With impressive form, he took a stance and lifted some of the snow into the air using magic. "Ice-make crown!"
Juvia sidled up to him; anyone could practically see the two little hearts in her azure irises. "Oh Gray, my darling-make another and I shall be your queen!"
"Nuh-uh, losers don't get a crown!" Natsu countered, shoving the blue-haired water mage into a snow pile. "And you," he rounded on Gray, "pick something good, snowflake."
"You don't have to tell me that, stupid flame-brain," Gray hissed. He ignored the fire dragon wizard while other guys threw him into the snow to prevent an awful disaster should he try to make a crown out of flames.
Gray surveyed the losers. Lucy, Levy, Cana, Mirajane… the list went on to include about seven of Fairy Tail's ladies. When his eyes rested on Mirajane, an imaginary light bulb lit up in his head.
"How about… you guys have to make us hot chocolate! It'll be a competition, since you didn't have a clear winner on your side. Whoever makes the tastiest hot chocolate wins. Majority vote, we judge. And to be fair, the winner can make up any rule that the rest of the girls have to follow for the rest of the day."
In spite of the protests, Erza stepped forward to represent her team. "I will accept your challenge, Gray. Each of us will make the best hot chocolate we can; failure is not an option!" As a smug aside, she murmured, "this is the perfect opportunity to show improvement in my confectionary skills."
What confectionary skills? Everyone collectively thought the same question, yet no one would ever dare speak it aloud in Erza's presence for fear of her devastating wrath.
Wendy wrung her hands nervously and twisted her boot to the side. "I'm not sure any of us can make hot chocolate as good as Mira's, but I can try."
Carla flew over to her charge and hushed her. "That's enough. Wendy will not be participating. The last time she tried to boil water, she accidentally made a tornado blow off the roof of our house.
Cringing, Freed nodded. "Erm, yes, Wendy is exempt."
Swinging around a small flask-where had she been keeping that?-Cana glared and pointed at Gray with an accusatory finger. "This whole thing is totally sexist! Are you tryin' to say women belong in the kitchen!?"
"Oh crap." Gray ran a hand through his hair. "I didn't mean-it's not-"
"Oh relax, Ice Princess." Cana deflated and punched her friend's arm. "I know you're not like that. But put on a shirt, would ya? You make me shiver just looking at you."
Gray looked down at his naked upper half (surprise!), nearly dropping his crown in the process. "Crap!"
"As a show of good faith, I will also participate!" Freed announced. "I will not compete for the winning prize; I simply wish for you all to taste my supreme caramel hot chocolate."
Erza nodded and hummed. An infamous sweets fanatic, she too looked forward to sampling Freed's caramel creation.
Despite the general grumbling, most of the girls were relatively happy about the chance to have another fun competition. The big problem was Mirajane: as lead cook of the guild, she clearly had the advantage. Thank God that Freed wasn't competing for the win: his cooking was said to be on par with Mira's, though only the Thunder Legion got to sample his food on a regular basis.
"I swear, I'm going to make better hot chocolate than you, Freed," Evergreen declared, having done a total mood flip from her previous outrage. "Caramel is so last season. Tropical hot chocolate is what a true fairy would drink."
Hot chocolate truly brought friends together; it must be magical.
Finally, once everyone had moved inside and set up for the competition, the ladies (and Freed) stood at their stations. Everyone had the same individual basic ingredients as well as a shared stockpile of optional goodies spread out on the table behind them. Each of them had to fill two carafes with their concoctions, enough to fill the judge's sample cups and have some left over for their competitors to try at the end. They each had a time limit of twenty minutes.
Gray, still wearing his crown, sat at the right end of the table. Gajeel, Natsu, Elfman, Laxus, Bixlow, and Loke (who had returned the second he heard a single whisper about hot chocolate in the Spirit World) joined him. Master Makarov, too, decided to enjoy the fun, so they gained an extra judge to even up the numbers.
"Carla, d'you mind keeping time again?" Gray asked the Exceed. Absently, he wondered if she could use her powers of clairvoyance to predict who would win.
The flying kitten nodded and raised her paw high in the air. "On your mark, get set, go!"
Fairy Tail's guild hall became a flurry of chocolate, whisks, and dangerously hot water. A unanimous decision had been made-despite Natsu's generous offer to instantly heat their beverages, no one thought it was worth burning the place down.
Erza, Lucy, Cana, Juvia, Mirajane, Lisanna, and Levy (and Freed!) got to work combining their ingredients. To no one's surprise, both Mira and Freed had delicious scents erupting from their work stations within no time. Erza on the other hand…
"Chocolate! Why don't you melt!?" she yelled at the mixing bowl. It was now filled with a charcoal-like sludge that smelled quite foul. Mira tried her best to surreptitiously whisper instructions to her friend, but Carla nipped that in the bud.
It was a long, hard battle filled with chopping, pouring, tripping, and cursing. But at last, they were finished. The long-awaited decision was now at hand-who would be the Hot Chocolate Champion?
Levy presented hers first, a light, fruity cherry hot chocolate. The boys agreed that her creation was a solid 7 out of 10, with nice flavor, but lacking in depth.
Cana and Lisanna followed, presenting their "Boozy, Bangin' Cocoa" and Neopolitan hot chocolate respectively. Both were in the same range as Levy's, though officially Cana's alcohol put her score at the top by a slim 0.5 margin.
By Erza's turn, the other judges were wondering just how good of an idea it was to let Natsu consume so much damn sugar.
"Alright, Erza, I'm fired up now! Let's see what you've got."
Uncharacteristically nervous, Erza poured her "Spiced Hot Chocolate" samples and passed them out. They were thick and sludge-like, barely coming out of the carafe. Everyone tried their absolute best not to make a face, except for Natsu.
"It's great! Tastes like yummy chocolate fire," he declared. Erza beamed, closing her eyes for just a second-which all seven other judges used as an opportunity to sneak their samples into the trash can.
"Last up is Mira," Gray reminded them. The white-haired chef in question brought forward her own creation: simple cinnamon hot chocolate topped with hand-whipped cream and dark chocolate shavings.
"Sometimes the simplest things are the best," she said, summarizing her short presentation. This particular taste test ended in Gajeel, Laxus, and Bixlow fighting over the leftovers from the first carafe.
After a group huddle full of tough deliberation, Gray stood up to announce the winner. "Mirajane is the champion!"
Zero surprise there.
Straight up lines of tears poured down Freed's dejected face. "They liked hers better than mine!"
Cana's brow rose at the green-haired wizard's antics. "Chill out, you're didn't even compete to win."
"MY HOT CHOCOLATE ISN'T WORTHY OF LAXUS!" he wailed.
"Yours was my favorite," Laxus told him, having left the judging table to calm his boyfriend down.
"Really?" Mollified for now, Freed sniffled and wiped away his tears.
Laxus blushed. "Yeah, well... you know I love caramel. Not as much as you though."
So distracted were Laxus and Freed that neither of them noticed Bixlow and Ever taking off with Freed's extra carafe like thieves in the night.
Mirajane noticed her friends' heart-warming interaction and instantly decided what her prize would be. She gathered her teammates around her to announce their new command. With an innocent smile, she addressed them all at once. "Girls, I want you to do something crazy and brave. My rule is that, by the end of today, you have to… give your extra carafe to the person you love the most!"
Most of the girls argued, either too embarrassed or shy to make such a gesture. Juvia gave them a shocking what-for.
"Love should be appreciated and shouted from the rooftops!" she declared. "Are you just going to sit here, never knowing whether or not they care!? This is your opportunity. You'll regret it forever if you don't share something you made, by hand, with the person you love. Juvia will never make that mistake."
She proudly marched up to Gray, hot chocolate in hand, and gave it to him. Thankfully, none of the other boys had hear Mira's rule. Six sets of eyes nearly bugged out of their heads when Gray leaned over and kissed Juvia's cheek.
"Yeah! You go, Juvia," Cana praised, grabbing her own hot chocolate. "You know what? What the hell. Lucy, I know this is crazy, but-"
"-Cana I wanted to-"
Lucy and Cana nearly crashed into each other with their carafes. When both of them realized what had happened, they laughed and held each other's hands. To the side, Loke complained loudly about how Lucy loved a drunken card mage more than her own celestial spirit. Not that he had room to talk.
Evergreen, Levy and Lisanna gathered their courage and went off to give Elfman, Gajeel and Natsu their leftover hot chocolate-that was, if the two crazy dragon-slayers hadn't already stolen every last drop.
That left Erza and Mira with Lucy and Cana, guarding what little remained of the hot chocolate.
"What about you, Mira?" Cana asked curiously. "You gonna follow your own rule?"
"Sure. It's only fair." Mira smiled serenely and handed her hot chocolate to Erza. Erza did the same.
"I know it's no good, but…"
"You're getting better," Mira encouraged. "It takes a lot of practice, and you're too busy kicking way more butt than I do."
"Aww, Mira, you're far too kind."
Lucy scratched her head. "Am I missing something? Are you two…?"
Both Erza and Mirajane burst out laughing.
"Jellal and I are together," Erza explained once she had settled down. "But he's hardly around, dealing with missions in Crime Sorciere. Mira is my best friend in the world, so of course I love her most. Though, in truth, I love you all the most! Fairy Tail is my family."
Lucy smiled and nodded. "I feel just the same. Hot chocolate should go to everyone, really."
Cana still looked skeptical. "Mira? You're not holding a torch for anybody here, are you?"
Shaking her head, Mirajane smoothed out her dress. "I don't feel that way about anyone; I never have. And I don't think I ever will. But I don't need a date, not when I have Fairy Tail."
"That's okay too," Lucy assured her, not that it was necessary. Mirajane knew she was beloved by all her friends, and not just for her badass cooking skills.
And so, a fun day for our competitors comes to a close. Next week, Lisanna confronts Natsu about his rumored crush on Lucy. Meanwhile, Carla recieves a fresh fish from Happy. It's not hot cocoa, but will she accept it anyway?
Fraxus, CanaLu, and Ace!Mira are canon. Period.
Feel free to spread some holiday cheer in the comments if you like. Any and all flames will fuel the fire by which my characters snuggle with their significant others (and friends!).
Happy (almost) New Year!