A/N: I wrote this in honor of my beloved Beta: Glitter Spires. She's been awesome to chat with and the perfect partner in crime! Merry Christmas Glitter! Thanks for all you do!
I may have the best Beta, but I do not have the rights to Fairy Tail; these characters, etc… belong to Mashima, who is more than welcome to give them to me as a really nice Christmas present…

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It was nearly 4 AM. Christmas Eve had come and gone, and Levy sat alone in the lobby of Fairy Hills, staring into the fireplace. She held on to her earl grey tea cozily as she watched the sparks fly from the glowing logs before her. In mere hours the sun would rise on the snowy horizon to proclaim yet another wonderful Christmas Day.

But there was more on her mind than the festivities that were to come. Mainly the fact that a lousy, good for practically nothing, lug of an Iron Dragon Slayer had barely looked at her for the entire ten-minutes he had actually attended the Fairy Tail Christmas party. His sudden exit had been quiet and noticed by few, but it had completely ruined the plans that she had Juvia (and Mirajane who somehow had found out about her ideas) help her create.

"I mean, does he even know how hard it is to find actual mistletoe?! And how hard it was to keep additional prying eyes into the plan?" Levy thought as she fiddled with the white berries clipped onto her headband. "I'll bet he doesn't even know the difference between mistletoe and holly, not as though he would care though."

In a similar setting, the Iron Dragon Slayer himself (who did, in fact, know the difference between mistletoe and holly) was lounging on an over-stuffed recliner near his own fireplace, carefully turning a small package over and over in his hands. He had totally chickened out. There was no denying it. All it took was one look at that tiny woman who had saved him in more ways than one and he was frozen, weak in the knees, and nervous as could be.

"It was a stupid plan anyways." He thought to himself. He really shouldn't have gone to Lily for advice. Inspecting the fist-sized package in his grasp up close, he frowned at it. Lil had insisted that he wrap it up "with Christmas cheer" (the hell is that supposed to look like?!), but something about the shiny paper and frilly ribbon the Exceed had helped him pick out just didn't sit right with him. It wasn't really his style; it wasn't him. It made the gift he had made for her seem like a gift from someone else.

Yeah, he'd put hours into this stupid little gift as a thank-you-for-the-oxygen-that-one-time/being-my-friend/I-think-I-might-be-in-love-with-you gift for the amazing little blue-haired script mage. Every little detail he had etched into it had purpose and words he couldn't say behind them.

Gajeel none-to-carefully pulled the frills off of the small box, then rid it of its glossy paper. Tossing both into the fire before him he watched as they disintegrated, along with his nervousness. He was Metalicanna's son after all! And so help him Mavis he was going to do this, regardless of the fact that it was four in the morning. Tucking the gift into a pocket of his roughly-worn winter jacket, Gajeel laced up his trademark boots, threw the scarf Juvia had made him around his neck, and walked out into the cold winter's night.

The trek to Fairy Hills wasn't a particularly long one. He and Pantherlily had agreed upon a small, cozy cottage-like home located somewhat near the guild. He had wanted to be nearby to, you know, help if he was needed.

Gajeel took in a deep breath and watched the cloud it created as he released it. The snow fell silently all around him; small, white, flakes of winter. There was no breeze to carry them around as they fell lazily to the ground, coating it in a fine, crunchy layer. Streetlights lit the way to the female Fairy's dormitory in an easy yellow light. A few minutes and there he was, standing outside the window of Levy's first floor apartment. He and Lily and dropped her off at this exact spot several times after returning from missions or outings where she was too exhausted to deal with her crazy, though loving, guild sisters.

The window's curtain was pulled back by a simple red ribbon with golden bells and holly gathered in the center. Gajeel peaked inside as he tapped lightly on the frosted window pane. No response. He tapped a little harder, then rapped with his knuckles a few times. Still no answer.

As he leaned in closer to the glass, he noticed that his breath caused it to fog up, then frost over even more. He grinned to himself as he shifted his index finger to a metal tool and began to etch a message to the Shrimp on the window.

Admiring his finished handiwork, Gajeel decided that either Levy was dead to the world asleep, or she wasn't in the room. Taking a chance on the latter option, the now snow-covered Dragon Slayer made his way around the large brick building to the lobby window. No curtains obstructed his view of the beautiful woman who was sitting alone by the dying fire. The holiday-themed headband woven in her light-blue hair and same simple dark-green party dress she had been wearing earlier confirmed her identity.

Once again, just looking at her sent strange sensations throughout Gajeel's body. His hand nearly faltered as it came up to tap on the glass panel. The sharp noise must have surprised her, as she jumped slightly in her seat and turned to the source of the noise with large eyes opened wide.

"Gajeel?" Levy said, unbelieving.

"Yeah, Shrimp, it's me. Hurry an' let me in, it's freezing out here."

The small woman set down her cup of tea and walked over to the window. She unlocked the large pane where Gajeel stood and tried gently and quietly to ease it open. As soon as the warm air from inside hit his skin Gajeel was anxious to get inside. He pulled himself up and onto the window sill, then jumped deftly onto the carpeted floor.

"What are you doing here? You know this is girls only right? Do I have to remind you of what will happen if Erza finds out you're here?!" Levy asked frantically, but in a whisper.

"Tch." He grinned in reply. He masked his uncertainty behind the gesture- he had heard stories of what Erza did to those who broke Fairy Hills' house rules…

Remembering the true reason for his visit, Gajeel reached into his pocket and held out a leather-gloved hand. "Here," he said as he dropped a small, though reasonably heavy, object into her hands.

She was still recovering from the fact that he was here, in the lobby, with her, at night, alone, on Christmas. "Wha-why-huh?" was what she managed to sputter as the metal thing fell into her hands.

"I meant to give it to you earlier, but the party was a bit much fer me." Gajeel partially fibbed as he rubbed the back of his neck.

Levy held the object up to get a better look at it in the low light. The fire was slowly dying, but the streetlights were still glowing and reflecting off of the sparkling surface of the snow. The little metal object was shaped like a star, and all over the matte exterior of the piece were delicately etched designs of the cosmos. There small waves and lines and dots and other tiny star shapes on it.

"It, uh, *ahem* it's a paperweight. For yer books or notes or whatever." He explained, blushing slightly as she looked up at him, stunned. She cradled the small object to her chest as though it were the most precious thing she'd ever held.

"Gajeel, I…" she couldn't find the right words she was looking for, so she opted for, "Did you make this?"

"Yeah."

"It's beautiful."

"So're you." He replied quietly. So quietly, in fact that she barely caught his words.

"Um, thank you." She smiled sheepishly, looking away from him. The two stood in silence for a few nearly-awkward moments until Levy suddenly reached into her hair and pulled out a portion of the foliage she had pinned there.

Holding it high above her head she stood on her tip-toes and kissed the off-guard Dragon Slayer full on the mouth, still clutching the metal star tightly. Unsure of what was happening exactly, Gajeel stiffened for a millisecond before giving himself over to her light touch and the slight fragrance of pine that was coming off of her hair.

"Merry Christmas, Gajeel." Levy whispered as she released the kiss.

"Merry Christmas to me is right, Shrimp." He said as he went in for another one. Their lips met with more force and passion the second time, and Gajeel swept the tiny woman off of the ground to hold her up as she embraced his neck, dropping the mistletoe and giggling at his comment.

Not ten-seconds into the second kiss and Gajeel's advanced Slayer hearing picked up the faint sounds of a door being closed and bare feet walking across hardwood floors. Apparently Levy heard it too because she pulled back from his lips frantically and started beating on his chest to let her down. He set her down and she started pushing him towards the window. He didn't need much prodding though; the probability that Titania was on her way down was too dang high for his liking.

He jumped back out the open window into the snow, Levy hurriedly trying to force the pane back down. But before she was able close it, Gajeel rushed up to her and stole another quick peck from her.

"Goodnight!" he whispered before bolting as fast as he could from Fairy Hills. His large form disappeared from sight just as Levy managed to shut the window and turn around to greet whoever it was who was heading her way.

The door to the lobby opened and a very determined Erza walked in. She looked straight at a rather nervous and still blushing Levy, which was difficult considering the number of packages she was trying to balance.

"Oh, Levy, what are you doing up?" Erza asked, somewhat surprised to see another human alive at this time in the morning. She was decked out in her bright red and crisp white Santa costume, all velvet and fur.

"Uhh, just waiting for Santa, I guess." She with a slight faux chuckle, hiding the paperweight in the pocket of her dress.

"Well, Santa's just arrived and she's loaded down with presents!" the scarlet-haired woman laughed. "Would you mind giving me a hand?"

Realizing that Gajeel's intrusion had not been Erza's purpose in coming down to the lobby, Levy relaxed a bit and went to aid her friend in settling neatly wrapped gifts around the base of the Christmas tree.

"Thanks for the help Levy," said Erza, "but I think you should go get some sleep. Can't have you opening up presents only half-awake!"

"No, I guess not." Levy yawned in reply. "Goodnight, then!" And with that, she was on her way back to her own room. Levy didn't even bother to turn the lights on as she kicked off her shoes and threw off her dress after removing the beautiful little gift. Her cream colored tights came off easily as she reached for her traditional Christmas nightie where it lay on her window nook.

When she looked up from the floor to actually locate said nightie she noticed a design that stood out from the others on her frosted window. The lights from outside illuminated a terribly drawn picture of a shrimp alongside the words "Merry Christmas" and followed by an arrow with the word "Shrimp" attached to it and pointing at the drawing.

Levy smiled and shook her head as she added her own addition to the project before crawling into bed and dreaming of red-headed Santas and red-nosed Iron Dragon Slayers.

'Baka.'