Disclaimer: I don't own Narnia or any characters you may recognize from the books or the movies, I wish I did but I don't... I also don't own the Narnian Calendar. It belongs to Elecktrum who was kind enough to let me borrow it for my story. Her own stories are awesome and you should go read them too.

Summary: Yuletide has come once again and with it comes mistletoe in all its festive mayhem as kisses are exchanged (occasionally in a most begrudging manner).

A/N: This is part of my A Light in the Darkness universe. Enjoy!

Kiss

Part One

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23 Yule 1007

Peter chuckled as he watched Edmund stomping off in the snowdrifts with several others, including Peridan's eldest children, Tarrin and Raisa, following in his well-flattened wake. A soft voice suddenly spoke up beside him, "Peter, should you tease your brother so?"

He turned and grinned at the pretty Nymph standing next to him then squeezed her hand as they walked in another direction, "Of course, I should. If he weren't too busy grousing over the fact that Susan sent us and everyone else she deemed non-essential to gather more mistletoe and pine branches and holly to finish decorating for the Christmas Day Ball, he would be heckling me, Thalia."

Thalia glanced over her shoulder then slanted a look at him, "Why exactly does he dislike this activity? He did not protest last year."

Peter grinned as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and leaned in close to whisper in her ear, "Susan didn't let him have coffee."

Thalia laughed and shook her head, "Truly? That is all?"

"And he only went to bed at fourth hour this morn."

"But it is eighth hour and Queen Susan had him rousted from bed at sixth hour."

Peter smirked, "Exactly. Edmund's night owl habits really do him a disservice some days and this is one of them."

They both paused when Edmund's disgruntled shout drifted toward them and Thalia glanced at Peter. Her light green eyes were wide with sincere concern, "Perhaps it would be better if someone provided the Just King with coffee?"

Chuckling, Peter led her further into the trees, "If he's still acting like a perfect beast in an hour, I'll go fetch the coffee myself, Flower."

Thalia smiled and shook her head again. Only a few minutes later, Atuki Raccoon and some of his youngest siblings chittered to them from the branches of a magnificent old pine. Atuki pointed to the north, "King Peter! King Peter! We found mistletoe three trees north and two to the west. It's a huge clump!"

Peter smiled and nodded to the Raccoon and the young kits, "My thanks, Atuki. Please lead the way, so we might avoid incurring the Gentle's wrath."

The Raccoon nodded while his siblings hummed in unison, "Keen Zuzu!"

Peter bit his lip, trying not to laugh even after Thalia linked her arm with his in such a way that she managed to elbow him in the ribs. He glanced at her then whispered, "And to them, Edmund is 'Ing Emu."

Thalia surprised him into full-out laughter when she whispered back in the serenest of tones, "And you are 'Ing Pet, so you've nothing to stand on, sir."

Once they reached the abundance of mistletoe, Peter wasn't able to stay right next to Thalia as he was truly tempted (mainly due to one of Atuki's younger siblings deciding to drop on his head and yank on his hair while avoiding his hands). After an hour, though, they had enough mistletoe to fill four baskets and Peter plucked a sprig to use. Holding the sprig of mistletoe behind his back, Peter tramped over to where Thalia was catching one of the baskets being lowered by the older Raccoons. He cleared his throat and Thalia turned to him, but as he moved to raise the mistletoe over her head, something hit the branch above him then landed on his head.

His vision completely obscured, Peter sat down, landing in a deep snowdrift. Reaching up, he felt the lip of a basket and lifted it off his head. The action sent a number of mistletoe clumps tumbling to the snow around him, but the majority was encased within his crown (which his valet had insisted he wear) and hanging over his eyes. He heard Atuki mutter "Duht" from somewhere above him while the rest of his gathering group giggled.

Then the snow crunched softly as Thalia knelt in front of him. He grinned and shrugged helplessly, knowing he must be a sight, "Well, no one can say I'm not in the Yuletide spirit."

Thalia laughed then she leaned forward and softly whispered, "My Mistletoe King, tradition is tradition." Then she lightly brushed her lips against his, but before she could withdraw, Peter caught her chin and held her still so he could give her a slightly deeper kiss. He grinned as she blushed and ducked her head when the kiss ended. Grabbing the now-empty basket as he scrambled to his feet, Peter held it out in front of him as he bowed deeply and let the mound of mistletoe on his head fall into it (though he did have to rescue his crown as it went in too). Still chuckling, he and the rest of his group continued their Yuletide mission. One thing was certain, he was definitely having a better time of it than Edmund was…and having the Raccoons accidentally dump a basket of mistletoe on his head was far preferable to all the times the little rascals of each litter had beaned him with a "s'iny."

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A/N: Please Read and Review! I hope you and your families have a very merry Christmas!