A/N - After some consideration... I am going to try and continue this work. I'm not sure how long it will be or if it will have any plot, but *shrug*
Christmas at the Fairy Tail guild hall was always a huge "to-do". Decorations were hung from every available wall space, most of them homemade by the children who grew up with the guild as their only family. So there were faded construction paper Santas and Snowflakes, as well as oddly preserved gingerbread houses. Festive wreaths were hung around the guild as well as more mistletoe then should be legally allowed in one place. There was one giant Christmas tree in the center of the main hall that reached all the way up to the second story and had a Fairy Tail symbol at the top, glittering and… on fire. Because this was Fairy Tail. And Natsu and Gray were fighting again.
Lucy sighed. It was so obvious to her just why they were fighting all the time and she wished the two idiots would figure it out. The blonde haired celestial mage leaned against the bar as she watched the two wrestle on the floor. Hair was being pulled, half-hearted punched were blocked, bodies were flipped around, and of course, magic was flying everywhere.
Soon the Fairy Tail symbol at the top of the tree was coated in ice as Gray shouted, "Dude, squinty-eyes, watch it! You almost took out the tree!"
"What'd you say droopy-eyes? Say it again to my face!" Natsu shouted in return, half-hearted punch aimed for Gray's face, that was blocked by a shield of ice, which was then melted by a flaming iron fist.
It went on. And on.
Lucy turned to face Mira who was behind the bar gathering together supplies for the next guild activity. Lucy had no idea what the eldest Strauss had planned, but it looked she was trying to mastermind the next generation of Fairy Tail through overly suggestive white-elephant gifts. There was also a 'Partners' list, which Lucy assumed was how Mira planned to couple people together for whatever was planned. Lisanna and Bickslow. Erza and Laxus (which actually surprised Lucy, she never imagine the two holding any feelings for each other). Then there was Levy and Freed, Gajeel and Juvia, Cana and Gray, and then Natsu was paired with herself. Lucy chuckled.
"Mira, you forgot yourself, and you got some of those pairs wrong."
"What?" Mira looked at her board that had guild members listed with their partners.
"And what about Max, Jet, Droy, Bisca, Alzack, Elfman, Evergreen, Mest, Laki...?"
"Oh! Well, I have a few more boards, I couldn't fit everything on one. What did you say I got wrong?"
"Gray and Natsu should be paired together," Lucy stated seriously.
"Um," Mira glanced at the two wrestling mages with a raised eyebrow. "I'm afraid I don't quite get what you're saying. Those two have never gotten along."
Lucy snorted and then chuckled, "They more than get along, they just don't know how to get to the next step."
Suddenly Mira was in matchmaker mode. A sly smile covered her Christmas-red lips and her green elf hat looked more like it held devil horns in place of pointed ears. Lucy blinked at the transformation but then grinned. Maybe with Mira's help she could get her ship to sail.
"Haven't you ever noticed how their insults are actually things they respect or like about each other," Lucy whispered as she leaned over the counter to be closer to her co-conspirator.
Mire cocked her head to the side and tuned her ears into Gray and Natsu's shouted insults:
"Ya pervy stripper! Got your underwear!" Natsu cackled as he jumped around the room.
"Give those back ash-for-brains! I'll freeze your balls off!" Gray retorted. He showed no shame as he jumped after his fiery rival stark naked across the guild.
Mira turned back to Lucy, "So you're saying Natsu steals Gray's clothes because he likes the view? And Gray, what? Likes to like ball popsicles?"
"Ew, Mira, too far. Yes to the first bit. I mean, Natsu steals Gray's boxes at least once a week, usually when we just get back from a job where there was little fighting involved. And look where his eyes focus when he turns to mock Gray…"
"Oh my…" Mira giggled. "So what able the whole droopy-eyes and squinty-eyes thing?"
"Have you ever asked Natsu what his favorite color is?"
"No. I assumed it was red or orange, like fire, I guess," Mira answered as she popped a green olive between her lips. "What does that have to do with the eye insults?"
"Well. Natsu's favorite color is blue. Specifically dark, ice blue."
"Huh," was all Mira could muster up as a reply. "And Gray?"
"Well, Gray tends to lose his train of thought any time Natsu stares him down. It is kind of cute actually, but annoying on jobs. Makes it hard for them to communicate. Gray passes it off like he just doesn't want to listen to the 'flame-brain', but if you are looking for it, you can see his mind just blank out."
"If I had known you had such juicy details about those two I would have trapped you and gotten you to talk much sooner." Mira giggled and started to mix Lucy a strawberry daiquiri as a thank you.
"That's not it, either," Lucy teased once the drink was set in front of her. She took a sip as she watched Mira's eyes glow with the light of her multiple demon souls.
"Ooooh, do tell," Mira purred. She served herself a shot of tequila, chasing it with salt and lime, and then grinned like the Cheshire cat at Lucy who was starting to giggle.
Lucy wiggled her eyebrows and leaned into the bartender before teasingly whispering, "You should see them cuddle while we're camping on the road."
"WHAT!?" Mira exclaimed. The guild hall barely even noticed her sharp yell, though, as the brawl that was Natsu and Gray had stepped up to the next level now that Gray had his boxers back. A flaming table was flying across the guild only to be shot down with lightning as it came too close to the Thunder God Tribe's table. An ice cannon and flaming wing attack later had Gajeel and the visiting Sabertooth dragons throwing themselves into the mix.
Lucy giggle again. Her daiquiri was drained now and her need to spread the best gossip was at an all-time high.
"They go to extremes to hide this and I only caught it by accident once…. But it is so adorable. Gray will snuggle up to the fire and Natsu will spoon his back."
"Oh my Mavis! Are you kidding me?"
"No! I have a theory about it too!"
"Tell me!" Mira demanded.
Lucy smiled, "It is sweet. It is like Gray can't get warm enough because his body is always so cold and Natsu can't get cool enough because he is basically running a fever constantly. So they cuddle up."
"Aww…. You saw them?"
"Yeah! Gray was all curled up in a ball close to the fire pit and Natsu just snuggled up to him like he was some giant teddy bear."
Mira squealed. "Eeek! Ahhh! I have to change everything now!" Mira was reviewing her board. "But who will I match you and Cana with now?" she pouted.
Lucy shrugged, "Cana would probably be a better match for Laxus than Erza would don't you think? Or is there something I don't know about?"
Mira wiggled her eyebrows and said, "I may have stumbled on a certain lightning dragon and Requip mage rage kissing last week."
Lucy's hand went to cover her mouth as she gasped and then yelled, "Holy shit!"
Mira nodded and smirked. "Look at them trying to avoid contact at all cost, but I know the trrruuueth!" the demon sang.
Lucy laughed and turned to watch the chaos of the guild. "See, look. Gray and Natsu have left the larger brawl to go off and fight between the two of them! I swear it is like their foreplay. They just need to be pushed a little further…. MIRA! Do you have any extra mistletoe?"
Mira bent down to look through some boxes that were behind the bar. After some shuffling and a thorough minute of searching it out, Mira found a short stick that held a small branch of the Christmas tradition hanging from a string.
"PERFECT!" Lucy squealed in a high pitched voice that had ALL the dragon slayers turning to her and wincing.
Lucy was off and running across the guild before Mira could ask her what she was planning. The young celestial mage ducked under flying tables and chairs, dodged wayward magicks, and jumped fallen guildmates as she made her way to Gray and Natsu's private brawl.
Lucy tch'd as she watched the two roll around on the floor, taking turns pinning each other and growling incoherently.
"You two aren't fooling anyone, ya know," Lucy said as she sat at a neighboring table, hiding the mistletoe behind her back.
The two stopped growling at each other to look up and growl at her. The heat in their eyes as they both locked on hers made her shiver. Gray was still missing most of his close and his blue eyes were dark with, well, she wasn't quite sure. Meanwhile, Natsu's odd hazel-green eyes were more black than anything and Lucy was feeling like she had poked a bear, err, dragon.
"What'cha talkin' 'bout Luce?" Natsu questioned.
"Ya, Lucy…" Gray struggled to say as he flipped Natsu over and placed his knee on Natsu's chest to hold him down. Natsu protested, but Gray just glared down at the fire dragon and silenced the teenager with a dark look. "What aren't we fooling people with?"
Lucy rolled her eyes, "You know, no one here will judge either of you for your choices." She smiled at them brilliantly as she added, "We're Nakama after all!"
"Huh?" Natsu questioned, looking up at Gray with a puzzled expression. Lucy, however, didn't miss how Gray froze in place for a moment like he had been caught doing something wrong.
"The guild is your family guys, no one will think less of you for falling for your best friend!" Lucy smiled again. She wasn't sure how to be more obvious, but the two idiots just looked at her dumbfounded. So, Lucy huffed in annoyance, stood over the two clueless boys and held the mistletoe above them.
"Your fighting doesn't fool me, now just KISS already!"
The two mages blushed madly, their eyes glancing at each other before looking back at her and then back at each other.
Lucy grinned. She knew it! Gray shrugged as he looked down at Natsu, and the pink haired boy looked like he was a lost school girl as he sputtered a protest, "Gr-ray… I don't know what you're thinking bu-but...mhmnf…."
Gray had leaned down and pecked the dragon on the lips.
"GRAY!" Natsu yelled. "What the hell man!?"
"She already knows, Natsu," then Gray grinned up at Lucy. "How long have you known?"
"For a while," she answered non-committedly.
Natsu was finally able to throw Gray off of him and glared at the ice mage. "We promised we weren't going to tell her until she knew everything," he mumbled angrily.
Gray shrugged again, "Then tell her now." Gray stood from the ground and took a seat at the table Lucy had been sitting at before. He patted the spot next to him and pointed at Lucy to take the seat. She complied raising her eyebrows at how the atmosphere had changed between the two boys she called teammates.
"But we had a plan! Draw her in slowly, not just throw it all at her," Natsu complained as he took the seat on Lucy's other side.
"We were also going to hide our side of things until we snagged her, but it's too late for that now."
Lucy's head started swimming. Draw who in slowly? Snagged who? She looked between the boys as Gray gently took the stick of mistletoe from her hands. He held it up in the air over Lucy's head.
"Wha-what? What are you saying?" She looked between Gray and Natsu and then up at the mistletoe.
Natsu spoke first, "We just aren't a complete set without you, Luce."
Gray nodded in agreement. Lucy felt like her neck might break as she whipped her head back and forth between the boys next to her. Gray chuckled and Natsu gently reached for her chin, stopping her rising panic as he looked deeply into her eyes.
"Jeez Luce, if you keep that, you're gonna hurt yourself," Natsu grinned, then slowly leaned in and pecked the surprised celestial mage on the lips.
As soon as her lips were free, Gray turned her to face him instead and said, "I think we've snagged her, what do you think, Natsu?" Gray had sly smile teasing his lips before he leaned in and kissed the blonde.
A high pitched squeal of happy-rage came from just behind the three. Lucy turned to see what happened and found Mira stomping away. She could tell the barmaid was muttering something but couldn't hear what she was saying over the continued brawl that was happening elsewhere in the guild that now included Cana, Elfman, Jet, and Bickslow. Natsu started laughing, so she turned and asked, "What'd she say?"
Natsu took a few breaths to calm down, "She said that 'her game won't work with the three of us together' and started swearing in what I assume is some demon language she knows."
"Well, I was planning to skip out early anyway…" Gray started, meeting Natsu's eyes. The two nodded in agreement. Lucy was then, very unceremoniously lifted out of her seat and slung over Natsu's shoulder.
The fire mage started running for the door, "Last one to Luce's place doesn't get cuddles tonight!"
"It's on, Flame-Brain!"
"What. Is. Happening?!" Lucy whined as she was carried from the guild and Gray chased after them. "No one is getting cuddles in my bed!"