A/N: Hi, everyone! I wrote this last year, but sadly, I didn't finish it in time. However, when I finally finished it...I forgot to save it...so I had to start a whole new chapter again! :(. Sucks, but I was finally able to finish it in time this year. So, without further ado, I give you "Something New for Christmas" Enjoy!

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN ANYTHING!

Here's a little poem I came up with to get you guys started on the story! Hope you like it! :)

One more day till Christmas and not a frowny face in sight.

Well, except for me, who's got nothing to do 'til midnight.

Spending it with my family isn't so bomb,

Especially with someone who's as crazy as my mom.

Although that may be true,

Family are the people you can count on the most, and the ones that can count on you.

-Me

Something to do on Christmas Eve

Sitting by the window with my knees pressed up against my chest, I stared through the frosted glass and into the darkness of night, where sprinkles of white snowflakes were aimlessly falling with the gentle breeze.

It was Christmas Eve. A time where presents are about finished and ready to be sent; where children rush to bed early, so Santa could come and drop off their gifts; where couples spend time together, cuddling by the fire and drinking hot cocoa...

I was always envious of couples on holidays like this. They would be all lovey dovey, hugs and kisses, cute and cuddly, and so on. And people (like me) would be...almost like what I'm doing right now: sitting by the window-or on the bed-thinking about what it would be like to spent time with someone on the holidays again. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love my family, we do almost everything together, and I love spending time with them, but...I just want to spend it with that special someone, you know? But now...

I sighed, not bothering to finish that sentence. Squeezing my knees together, so I could rest my cheek against them, I continued to gaze out the window.

"Lucy?! Would you buy more wrapping paper, please?!" I heard my mom suddenly shout from down the hall.

Releasing my legs to the ground, I crossed my room to the door and opened it, then made my way to my parents' bedroom.

We live in a two story house that's pretty big for only three people living in it; it's not like a mansion or anything, but everything is just on a bigger scale, I guess. We have 5 bedrooms (4 upstairs, 1 downstairs), 3 bathrooms (2 upstairs, 1 downstairs), and the rest are the basic essentials needed in an average home; like the kitchen, living area, dining area, garage, those kind things.

Dad customized the room downstairs and turned it into his private office, and Mom took one upstairs and turned it into her own little crafting office (she's very creative). Obviously, my parents and I claimed our bedrooms, so there was one more bedroom that still needed an owner. I was going to take ownership and design it into our own theater room, but then my mom suggested to turn it into a guest room. I mean, it was a good idea, but I just wanted a room where we could watch movies on a theater-like screen as a family, but it's fine. After we got the necessities for the bedroom-the bed, dresser, TV-throughout the years, it was always temporarily used by my Dad's co-workers, until, finally, someone claimed it.

"Can't Laxus do it? He's probably on his way home right about now." I said, leaning against the door frame as I crossed my arms over my chest.

My cousin, Laxus, suddenly appeared one night and asked if he could stay over. He only said that he and his dad were having "issues". But, although Laxus said one night, we let him stay for however long it took; however, he let us know that after a week he would return home. True to his word, Laxus packed his things and returned home, but, right when he was at the door, I offered that he could stay over his semester breaks, since his college was close by. He hesitated until my mom, and eventually my dad, agreed to it as well. He was still hesitant though, but, after I gave him my best puppy dog face, he had no other choice but to accept.

"I would, but Laxus called me and said he was going to a Christmas Eve party after work, and your father's coming home late today, so could you, please?" She said, as she continued wrapping presents.

I sighed in defeat, while my shoulders slumped forward, clearly having no way around it, "...Christmas themed wrapping paper?"

"Yes, please. Thank you, dear."

"You're welcome..." I mumbled, turning around and walking back to my room to get my phone, purse, and scarf.

I was already dressed in a lime green shoulder-width long sleeve shirt, black leggings, Christmas themed socks, and a red ribbon, that holds half of my hair up on one side. After I grabbed my things, I went down the stairs, slipped on my black boots, grabbed my keys off the hook, and ran out the door to my Hybrid in the driveway. I opened the door and rushed inside. Once I was inside, I turned the car on and the heaters on full blast. When it got warm, I reared out of the driveway and off to the store I went; it was about a 20 minute drive from my house.

In the parking lot, I pulled into a stall and put the car in park. Grabbing my jacket, that I always left in the back seat, I speed-walked to the entrance. I walked quickly through the Christmas aisles, scanning them up and down, until I spotted a box full of tubes of wrapping paper, standing at one end of an aisle. Bending at the waist, to look through them, I tried to find one that was cute.

"Do you need help finding something, Miss?" I heard a deep voice from beside me ask.

"Uh, no, thanks. I'm good. Thanks anyway...Gray!" I shouted, happily, when I turned to take a glance at the employee and saw that it was Gray, who disguised his voice, so I couldn't recognize him.

"Hey, Lucy! What're you doing here?" He asked, pulling me into a hug.

I hugged him back, "Nothing, just getting some wrapping paper."

"Oh, that's cool." He replied. I chuckled.

"Speaking of 'cool', aren't you cold?" I said, pointing to his short sleeved uniform.

He looked down at his sleeves, "...No...? Should I be?"

I shook my head, 'He could probably live on Mount Hakobe and never notice that he was turning blue until someone told him.'

"So, what does Juvia have planned for tomorrow?" I asked, turning back to the box of wrapping paper.

"I don't know. Probably do the same stuff as last years: spend time with her family, drink hot cocoa, the usual." He shrugged. 'Couple activities.' I added in my head, then he asked, standing in front of me, leaning against something, "What about you?"

"Oh, the usual. Finishing up some unwrapped presents, then sending them out. And when that's done, I get the milk and cookies ready, and get my pjs ready, so I can sleep early and Santa can bring me some presents!" I responded sarcastically, taking a glance a him, giggling.

"Ha ha, very funny. Come on, Luce. I'm serious."

"I'm serious too!...You're never too old to believe in Santa." There weren't any cute ones that I liked, so I grabbed one, at random, then whipped around and walked back up the aisle, without looking back.

"Wait! Lucy! What about Natsu?" Gray questioned, following behind me.

"What about Natsu?" I repeated back, twirling the tube between my fingers, like it was a twirling baton, as I spoke, taking a turn and walking into another Christmas aisle.

"Don't you guys usually spend every Christmas together at your place?" Gray asked, as he kept following me.

"Not anymore." I responded casually, as I stopped for a second to select a couple of bows; they were only a dollar each.

"What do you mean 'not anymore'? What happened?" He inquired, as he stopped next to me.

"Nothing 'happened'. It was just getting old, doing the same things every year." I answered, once I finished picking my bows and continued my walk through the aisles.

"Not with you two. Natsu was always excited when Christmas Eve came around."

"Because he would always sleep and eat all the food that we prepared for tomorrow." I retorted back.

"Yeah, but, with past experiences, you learned to make extra and then kicked him out when he started waddling over to the second batch." I giggled to a stop when a memory of a bloated Natsu began waddling over to the second batch of food popped into my head, then Gray continued, "He couldn't get enough of your cooking. He told me that he looks forward to it every year."

I turned around to him, trying to keep my shocked expression from showing, "Really...?" I breathed, a smile pulling at the corners of my lips.

"Of course, Lucy. C'mon, I'm one for your closest guy friends, would I lie to you?"

"Well," I started, grabbing my chin in thought, "there was that one time-"

"Okay! So I've lied, but I only lie about some stuff to protect you, right?" Gray interrupted, throwing his hands in the air in defeat.

I nodded, chuckling as his reaction.

"See? So what happened between you and Natsu? I thought you guys were best friends." He inquired again.

"No, we're still best friends...it's just that..." I said, trailing off, trying to put my thoughts into words. I licked my lips and sighed, 'This is difficult to explain.'

"'That' what?"

"Umm...Natsu...how do I put this...? Did I ever tell you that I liked Natsu...?" I hesitantly began, looking toward the ground with a tint of a blush.

He laughed, "No, but I could tell by the way you looked at him." I blushed fiercely.

"Yeah...well, two years ago, when he came over, I kinda told him that I liked him..." I said, sheepishly.

"And what did he say?"

"Well, he was quiet for a while, then he said, 'I like you too, Luce' and slung his arm around my neck," I threw my arm around Gray's neck to demonstrate for him, "and continued, 'You're my best friend ever! Who wouldn't like you?!' then he just continued stuffing his face with food while I sat beside him, holding back tears with a sad smile upon my face...and that was the last Christmas Natsu and I had together...now that he's with Lisanna." I mumbled. 'I can't believe that I actually thought Natsu would like me.' I humorlessly chuckled. Then I suddenly felt Gray's arms wrap around my waist, like he was trying to comfort me, and since I had my arm around his neck, I hugged him back, desperately holding back tears.

Gray stood there, holding me and rubbing my back, soothing me as I suddenly broke into silent sobs and whimpers into his shoulder, but knowing that a simple hug would get Juvia immensely jealous, I pulled myself together and was about to pull away when I heard, from an old lady, "Aww, the joys of being young."

We lifted our heads to see an elderly lady smiling at us; she thought we were a couple! Gray and I immediately pulled our hands away from each other and, at the same time, we started explaining the situation to the old lady, but she lifted her hand, instantly putting a stop to our ramblings.

"You don't need to explain. I can clearly see that this young man cares for you, deary." She says to me, then directed her attention to Gray, "Do you know where I could find the tissue paper?"

"Uhh, three aisles that way." Gray directed, pointing to the direction of the tissue paper.

"Thank you, sonny." The old lady bowed her head, in thanks, and left in the direction Gray pointed to.

"But we're not a couple..." I whimpered after the lady walked away.

"Ugh man, Juvia's not gonna like this." Gray said, rubbing his neck.

I whined, "Can I please pay for these already? I do not wanna be here when Juvia comes." I said carrying my stuff with one arm.

"Yeah...you're probably right." He agreed and began leading me to the cash register.

On our way there, I fell behind a couple of steps because a cute card caught my eye, and I just had to look at it more closely. So as I rushed out of the aisle to catch up with Gray, I bumped into, what felt like, a wall, forcing the things in my arm to escape and fall to the floor. I thought I was going to join them too, but then I felt an arm wrap around my waist, preventing that from happening. I blinked multiple of times, because it happened so fast. It was surprising I knew what was happening.

"I'm so sorry." I apologized, when everything started clearing up, "I wasn't looking where I was going." I continued, looking at the stranger in front of me.

He had blue and black hair that was styled in a mohawk kind of way, with small patches coming from the side, but I couldn't really tell because it was all messy, like he just woke up. He was also wearing sunglasses, which was weird because we were inside and it was dark out. Plus, for some odd reason, I felt like I knew him, somehow.

"No prob." He said, straighten me back up. 'His voice sounds so familiar...' Then he couched down to pick up my things.

"Oh, no, that's okay. I got them." I interjected, but he was already straightening back up and handed me my things before I had a chance to help. I mumbled my thanks and lightly blushed when our hands touched. He grinned. 'Okay, where have I seen this guy before? He looks so familiar.' I thought, tilting my head a little.

"Lucy!" I heard Gray shout.

We both turned and saw Gray waving me over.

"Guess I'll see you around...Cosplayer." He said, walking past me and into the aisle.

"Yeah, thanks again!...Wait, 'Cosplayer'? But Gray just..." I gasped loudly and spun around to try and catch him, but he wasn't there. I walked to the end of the aisle and searched both ways to see where that guy ran off to, but I couldn't find him. 'How the heck?' Then I walked back up the aisle and to the cash register, and waited for my turn. While I was talking to that "stranger", Gray had customers lining up in front of him.

Soooo? What do you think?

Oh, and Merry Christmas for those of you that are celebrating it today!