The night was cold and dark, wind howling its distress and snow falling angrily to the ground, pelting against the wet dirt and raining cold hell on the citizens of Magnolia. The trees bent backwards to make way for the flurry of frozen water, terrified and awed by the power of something so small and fragile.

Natsu Dragneel wasn't having any of it.

"Oh, come on, Levy!" he bemoaned into his scarf.

The aforementioned bluenette had her nose buried in a scarf of her own, wound tightly around her neck on top of the layers upon layers of sweaters and jackets she had piled on her person in order to remain warm in the cold winter storm. Said girl was also pointedly ignoring the pinkette in favor of muttering angrily - not to mention colorfully - under her breath curses at the weather and the boy himself, for having to drag her along for some last minute Christmas shopping in the midst of one of Magnolia's winter's infamous temper tantrums.

"Levyyyyyy," the dragon slayer whined.

"What?" the script mage snapped. "You dragged me here to help you find a present - in the middle of one of the worst storms all season, no less! - but so far, in every store we've been to, you've turned down all of my suggestions. I can't believe you didn't get something for Lu-chan earlier!"

Natsu irritably pulled down his scarf, pink spread across his cheeks, "I did. But I need a backup in case it isn't good enough."

Levy's jaw dropped in unparalleled disbelief, "Are you kidding me? I could be home, cuddling with Pantherlily and having a nice, warm, cozy Christmas Eve dinner with Jet, Droy, and Gajeel right now?"

Natsu sighed, kicking at the snow coating the ground, "Well - yeah, but - "

Levy cut him off, "Save it."

She stormed angrily ahead of him, muttering some very interesting things about the guild's resident fire dragon slayer. Quickly, Natsu caught up to her, sliding an arm around her shoulders despite her irritation directed toward him. She huffed, breath floating in front of both of their faces until eventually it disappeared in the wind.

"I'd shove you into the road right now if it weren't for the fact that you're the only reason why I don't have frostbite," Levy said, annoyed.

Natsu chuckled, "Yeah, yeah."

The two lapsed into a comfortable silence, only the sounds of the wind screaming and their feet crunching in the snow being heard. Contrary to popular belief, Natsu and Levy were quite close - they might have even called each other best friends once upon a time, before Lucy came along. When Natsu had first joined the guild, Levy had already been there. Levy had admired him for outgoingness, and Natsu had admired her for her introvert ways.

They'd balanced each other out - not quite like the dynamic of Natsu and Lucy's relationship or Levy and Gajeel's, but, at the time, it worked. It was a sort of silent agreement, a more silent friendship than one would expect from Natsu. No fighting, no laughing, just an exchange of smiles and shoulder to lean on whenever it was needed. She was the first to know he couldn't read, and he was the first to know that she wanted to be an author (although she quickly gave up on that dream once she realized she was better at reading than writing). She gave him a bandaid when he fell, and he defended her when Jet and Droy teased her.

When Lucy (and later Gajeel) came along, the two lost touch in a way. Lucy was the first one to know his secrets; Gajeel was the one who protected her. Lost in their admittedly romantic endeavours, they stopped relying on each other for the small stuff that they used to. It was Lucy that gave him the bandaid now, and it was Gajeel that she confided her dreams to.

"Why'd you really drag me with you, Dragneel?" Levy asked pointedly, a no-nonsense look in her eye, once they reached the entrance to Fairy Hills.

"I think you know, McGarden," Natsu grinned.

The angry howl of the wind had faded into a breeze; the buckets of snow that rained down angrily upon them had dimmed down into a light snowfall.

Levy bit the inside of her cheek to keep herself from smiling, "Merry Christmas, Natsu."

Natsu grabbed her shoulders, wrapping his arms around her and nuzzling her cutely. The girl welcomed the embrace, squeezing him as tightly as he did her.

"Merry Christmas, Levy," he said happily, his voice muffled by her hair.

She laughed, content to have spent a night with her old friend once more.

Here's a late NaLe-brotp Christmas one-shot/drabble! I was planning on making it a part of a two or three-shot featuring some of my favorite couples, but I eventually lost inspiration and abandoned it in favor of "of scrooges and christmas sweaters." I hope you enjoyed! Merry late Christmas! Constructive criticism welcome~