Chapter 1

December 20th – With Christmas rapidly approaching, the members of Fairy Tail hurriedly prepare for the festivities and the annual Christmas Eve Festival in Magnolia. Wendy, now age 14, is trying to come to terms with her feelings for her favourite pink-haired Dragon Slayer, but will this year's festival be enough of a push for her to confess to Natsu?

Wendy Marvell trudged through the snow covered streets of Magnolia on her way to her guild, Fairy Tail. The young bluenette had been in the guild for the last 2 years, and she regarded them as the best 2 years of her life. She had blossomed from the weak and timid girl she had once been years ago to a strong and independent member of the guild she now called home. She had met many people that had helped her come out of her shell, and she couldn't imagine her life without the raucous and wild antics of the famous guild she came to love over the years. Wendy had never celebrated Christmas on such a grand scale, as she had chosen to go on a week-long mission over the holidays the previous year, much to the disappointment of her fellow guild mates. As she neared the large front doors of her guild, she couldn't help but notice the amazing job Mira had done decorating the outside of the guild hall. Adorned in lights of all colours from top to bottom, she smiled at her effort as she pushed open the front doors of her guild hall and stepped inside, wiping her snow covered boots on the mat as she entered. A loud chorus of "WENDY!" erupted from all of her guild mates upon her arrival, much to the embarrassment of Wendy. As she walked through the guild towards the bar, she took note of all the holiday festivities her friends were taking part in. Cana and Macao were engaged in their usual drinking contest, which always resulted in Macao out cold on the floor after falling backwards in his chair. Elfman was yelling at Evergreen that her holiday spirit was not "Man"enough , which promptly led to him being turned to stone from a piercing glare after she shot back, "I'm a woman!". Lisanna, sitting at the nearest table, quickly dragged Elfman's stone form over to the corner and threw a sheet over it as the guild members that witnessed the spectacle burst out into laughter. Erza was quietly eating her strawberry cake in the corner, and Gajeel and Levy were sitting at another table, Levy reading a book and Gajeel sulking as usual. At that moment, Gray came flying across the room, crashing through a table in the process.

"What the hell was that for, flame-brain?!" said Gray.

"You wanna go, exhibitionist?" said Natsu, who was wearing a Santa Claus hat, which clashed oddly with his already strange wardrobe.

Gray swung at Natsu, hitting him in the face and sending him flying back to the pillar next to Wendy. She groaned. Wendy hated when Natsu and Gray got in fights, which she found strange, seeing as last year she would have just sweat-dropped and tried to stay as far away from them as possible. Summoning as much courage as she possibly could, she yelled, "Natsu-san, please stop fighting!". Natsu turned to look at her, mouth agape and releasing Gray's collar in the process. "Uh…sure Wendy." said Natsu sheepishly. Did Natsu-san just listen to me when I told him to stop fighting? she thought in disbelief. As far as she knew, the only one that was able to break up a fight between Natsu and Gray was Erza, and she usually didn't even bother unless she was caught up in the crossfire.

"Tch…figures you'd pussy out from a fight, idiot." said Gray.

"Hey," Natsu said, looking at Gray with a serious expression, "I want to kick your ass too, but…Wendy asked me to stop. So we'll have to finish this another time." said Natsu, walking away from an angry Gray.

"Come on Wendy, let's see what Mira is up to." said Natsu, taking her hand as he led her to the bar. Wendy's heart skipped a beat and she could feel herself going red as a tomato. D-Did N-Natsu-san just take my hand? For as long as Wendy could remember, she had had a crush on the pink-haired Dragon Slayer. She loved everything about him from his charismatic and cheerful attitude to his toothy grin that seemed to melt her heart every time he flashed it at her. For as long as she had known her feelings for her friend, she could never pluck up the courage or find the right words to tell him her feelings for him. Besides, she was only 14, why would he choose the young bluenette over Lucy or Lisanna. They were much more pretty, well developed and had bigger…assets than Wendy. It was hard for Wendy to not discourage herself with so much competition. As Natsu led her to the bar, they both took a seat next to each other and Mira set down the glass she had been polishing and walked over to serve them. "Hello Natsu, Wendy, what can I get for you two?"she said cheerily. Natsu ordered a beer and Wendy ordered an orange juice. As she handed Wendy her glass, Wendy noticed the look Mira was giving her, one that seemed to tell Wendy that Mira was getting some romantic ideas about them seeing as she had seen them holding hands moments before. "Mira, it's not like that…" said Wendy, reading her mind and trying to dispel any ideas she was getting, but Mira interrupted, "Oh, don't worry Wendy, I understand." She said that last part very sarcastically, unbeknownst to Wendy that she knew that Wendy has had feelings for Natsu since she joined the guild. One of Mirajane's favourite pastimes was playing matchmaker amongst her friends, attempting to pair everyone off with each other to appease her fantasies of the two finally getting together. Natsu, who had listened to the exchange between girls with a puzzled look on his face, asked, "What are you two talking about?" Mirajane simply smiled at him and said, "Oh, nothing important. So, who are you getting a gift for for this year's Secret Santa, Natsu?" He looked at her with a playful grin on his face and said, "That's a secret, Mira." Wendy, confused, asked, "Secret Santa, what's that?" Mirajane and Natsu explained that it was a Fairy Tail tradition where people anonymously buy gifts for each other for Christmas. After hearing that, a lightbulb went off in her head. That's how I can show Natsu-san my feelings! I'll just buy him a gift! The plan sounded foolproof in the young girl's head. Wendy quickly finished her orange juice and thanked Mira, and hurried out of the guild to go tell Charle her plan to win Natsu's affection. After a few minutes of running top speed through the snow covered streets of Magnolia, she reached Fairy Hills, the girls-only dormitory for Fairy Tail members. She entered Fairy Hills and walked up the stairs and down the hallway to her room she shares with her Exceed companion, Charle. Upon entering her room, she was greeted by her friend Charle, who had just woken up from her afternoon nap. "Charle, I have the greatest idea to get Natsu-san to notice me!" she said excitedly. "What is it, Wendy?" said Charle, rubbing her eyes. "I'm going to buy Natsu-san a present for the Secret Santa at Fairy Tail and tell him that I got it for him, and then I'll let him know how I feel!" said Wendy, squealing with anticipation. "That's not a bad idea child, but what exactly will you buy him?" questioned Charle, which immediately caused Wendy to lose all her excitement. The young bluenette pondered this for a moment. "I..I don't know!" she said, beginning to tear up as she started to doubt her plan already. Lucy and Lisanna know Natsu better than she does, they probably know what he likes for a present too. "Wait, Wendy, don't cry now, there's still 5 days before Christmas and there's plenty of time to find him a gift." said Charle reassuringly, trying to calm the petite Dragon Slayer's hysterical sobbing against her pillow. She looked up, sniveling and tears streaming down her face and said, "You think so?" Charle nodded, and said, "I know so. Now calm down, and let's go shopping for his gift." After saying that, she smiled weakly at her friend as she heard a knocking on her door. "Yes?" she called. "Wendy, Natsu is here to see you."

Wendy's heart skipped a beat at what she just heard. Natsu was here to see…her? She flew out of the door to her room and almost hit Erza on her way down the stairs to the front door of Fairy Hills. She opened the door to find her favourite Dragon Slayer waiting at the doorstep. He smiled his famous grin at her and said, "Hey Wendy." Wendy beamed at him and replied, "Hello Natsu-san, what can I help you with?" Natsu looked at the ground and quietly said, "I was going to see if you wanted to come take a walk through town with me. Maybe we can look for presents for the Secret Santa too while we're out." Wendy was overjoyed that he would invite her of all people to come on a walk with him, and told him to wait there and she'd be right back. She ran back inside and grabbed her coat, and returned to the door where Natsu stood waiting for her and told him she was ready. They set off down the street, both of them walking in a somewhat awkward silence for a few minutes. Finally, Natsu spoke up and said, "Hey Wendy, if you didn't want to come with me, you can go home, I won't blame you." Wendy snapped out of her trance and looked at Natsu with a sad expression on her face. Had she made Natsu-san feel like she didn't want to be with him? That couldn't be farther from the truth, she loved being with him, no matter what they were doing! She looked up at him and said, "Natsu-san, there's nowhere I would rather be than here with you. I'm sorry if I made you feel like I didn't want to be here, that's not what I intended." The little bluenette felt herself began to tear up at the thought of Natsu feeling unwanted, when he did something she couldn't have expected. He stepped forward faster than she could've predicted and pulled her into a tight hug, nestling his head against her soft blue hair. "Thank you Wendy, really. That...means a lot coming from you." His embrace felt like the safest place in the world, and Wendy, getting over her initial shock, rested her hair against his chest. It was clear neither Dragon Slayer wanted to part from each other, and as they stood there in the middle of the street, arms wrapped around each other, Mira giggled at the sight, snapping a picture of the two teenagers from behind the snow covered tree she was hiding behind.