[A/N:

Here's a mistletoe story Edgy-Chan! Hope it's up to snuff!

]

Mistletoe

Bubbles and a luminous, syrupy, green liquid were overflowing from the cauldron in front of Sucy. She had meticulously portioned out this recipe to perfection. Her eyes were beaming with delight and mischief at her plot that was slowly unfolding before her eyes. And this little potion she was whipping up would be the tipping point for her scheme.

She plopped a sprig of pine into her concoction and a sweeping toothy grin grew on her pallid face.

"Perrrrrrfect." She purred to herself. Fluorescent, pulsating light painted the outline of her features, as she went through her mental checklist of any ingredients she might have missed.

Everything's accounted for.

- Click -

The burner heating her eerie, verdant creation was flicked off, and Sucy moved towards her stockade of chemistry equipment looking for an adequate container to transport her newly minted potion.

Yes. Everything was going off quite splendidly indeed.

Akko stretched out her arms in a mixture of tiredness and exasperation. She reaaaaaallly didn't want to be in Faerie World History right now. The brunette had not slept well and had woken up with a bad taste in her mouth, literally. Smacking her lips in displeasure, she reminisced of the morning, wishing she were still curled up under her blankets.

Ughhhhh. I'd rather be anywhere than here right now. This is my least favorite class ANDDDD we don't even get to learn any spells at all. Like I could at least get some benefit out of spells and not these BORING mega lectures. And honestly, I can barely hear Professor Lotus's voice with her being the size of a bumblebee. She really ought to get a microphone or something. I mean, I guessss I could sit closer but then I'd be that more in her sights when I inevitably fall asleep. Sigh.

The enormous lecture hall was brimming with lush garland, ornate ornaments, and floating, multi-colored candles. Luna Nova was in full blown Christmas mode. Large window bays revealed the snowy campus in the background that Akko so desperately wanted to be romping around in.

She sighed and dejectedly placed her head in her hands, squishing her sleepy cheeks against her palms, and stared longingly at the snow.

Suddenly, Akko felt a slight tap on her shoulder. It was Diana giving her a somewhat perturbed look, probably for day-dreaming in class.

"I'm awake, I'm awake, please don't be mad, Diana." Akko flailed her arms up drawing attention in her corner of the classroom and it didn't go all that unnoticed by Professor Lotus. The small professor shot a warning glance in her direction, her eyes narrowed and foreboding future punishment if such actions should continue.

"I can see that you're awake, Atsuko. You just looked a little pensive and I was concerned that you were feeling down. I was really just intending on checking up on you." Diana sincerely added in.

Slightly taken aback, the Japanese witch was surprised by Diana's bewildering concern for her in the moment. "Ohh. Well yeah of course I'm okay, Diana!" She was suddenly overcome with a wave of happiness and a huge smile played on her face.

"I think I'm just ready for class to be over. I didn't really sleep all that well. And it's realllllly hard being INSIDE when it's just so beautiful and snowy OUTSIDE. I just love the snow!"

"GIRLS!" Professor Lotus was not happy.

Akko whispered with her hands covering the sides of her mouth, not so silently looking over her shoulder to make sure Professor Lotus was otherwise engaged in a ramble, "I JUST LOVE THE SNOW."

The green-haired witch delicately laughed at the girl in front of her. Akko's antics really had grown on her and she was earnestly concerned that she would get roped into her mischief and end up in trouble. She had to try to keep at least some of her wits about her, despite her growing penchant for the brunette.

"Well I hate to burst your bubble, Akko, but we still have about 3 more hours of classes left. You probably won't be able to get out to the grounds any time soon." Growing affection or not, Diana still loved to give Akko even just the slightest bit of grief.

Akko groaned at that, "I knowwwww, Diana. You don't have to rub it - OPE!" exclaimed Akko loud enough to draw Professor Lotus's beady, angry eyes back to the source of disruption.

"GIRLS! I told you onc-"

"What in the….?!" Something was wrong and Akko was extremely baffled, because all of the sudden it felt like something was sprouting out of her hat and that something was moving directly into her line of sight.

"The heck IS this?" Her eyes were crossed, staring at the luminous green sprout dangling in front of her forehead.

"Alright, I'm outta here." She slammed her hands aggressively on the desk, resolute in her decision. "This is good as an excuse as any to leave class. PROFESSOR LOTUS, WEIRD GREEN PLANTS ARE SPROUTING OUT OF MY HEAD CAN I GO TO THE INFIRMARY?

The faerie professor rubbed her brow, "Just go, Akko."

Instead of going to the infirmary, Akko thought that Professor Ursula might have some better insight on what was happening to her. She ran up the winding staircase to her office and burst open the door shouting, "PROFESSOR, You have to help!"

"Akko? What's going on?" Ursula was extremely concerned about her accident prone mentee. What had she gotten herself into this time?

"I HAVE PLANTS GROWING OUT OF MY HEAD. You have to helpppp. I don't want to become a plant monster," cried Akko melodramatically.

The professor waved her arms back and forth, trying to calm both herself and Akko, "No, no. You aren't going to become a plant monster, Akko. Come here." She placed her hands on Akko's shoulders, intently investigating the strange plant protruding out of Akko's hat. Head?

Okay, it's definitely coming out of her hat, at least.

Akko, eyes crossed, stared at her mentor, trying to gauge whether or not this was a serious issue or not. "Professor, am I going to DIE?"

"Akko….."

"WHAT PROFESSOR? JUST GIVE ME THE BRUTAL TRUTH!"

Akko was beside herself and ready to accept her demise.

"...It's mistletoe…." paused the older witch. "You have mistletoe sprouting from your hat."

"Well this is easy. I'll just take off my hat then!" Akko brilliantly deduced.

Ursula (or rather Chariot) had seen this before. Croix had been slipped a potion all those years ago that had mimicked the same symptoms. And we all know how that turned out. A blush rose to Ursula's cheeks thinking about her past with Croix.

"Akko, It's not as simple as just taking off your hat. You've been given a concoction that, for some reason, sprouts mistletoe above your head in certain situations. Regardless of if you rid yourself of your hat or not, the mistletoe will find its way to appear in the situations that it deems fit."

Ursula continued on, "There's really not much you can do about it until you do something to counteract the spell..

"And?" Akko interjected, wanting to get to the point of how to get rid of this crazy mistletoe affliction she suddenly had. "How exactly do I counteract it?"

Ursula was unsure of how to proceed. "It's sort of…" she paused, "...situational, I suppose."

"What does that even MEANNNNN, professor?" The brunette was beside herself. She didn't want to become a plant monster. Or rather, Mistletoe Monster. She just wanted to be Akko and live her crazy little Akko life.

"It means that I don't have the answer that will ultimately be the cure all for you. You must find it within yourself, to figure out why the mistletoe is procuring itself, and what will cease it's production."

Ursula very well knew what the end result of this mistletoe potion was, despite informing Akko otherwise. She knew that this certain mistletoe mixture materialized whenever the victim was in the presence of a person the victim felt strong feelings (a.k.a. looooooovvvvvveeeeee) towards.

The only resolve was to address those feelings.

"Akko, the only tip that I can give to you is that you have to be honest with yourself. Once you do that, I think the spell you've been put under will resolve itself."

Our favorite witch deadpanned at the spectacled professor. "That's NOOOOooooo help at ALLL! I'm just gonna go try my luck and hope that I don't end up transforming into some disfigured mistletoe monster." She headed towards the door and turned back to Ursula, "Thanks anyway for your help."

What does that even mean ' Be honest with myself'? I'm so honest with myself.

Akko was contemplating this thought as she was walking down the corridor, trying to figure out some plan of action. There was no way that she was going to become any sort of monster, mistletoe or otherwise.

Deep in her thought, she was too distracted in her own world to realize that she was about to collide into another student.

BOOM

"Excuse me! Oh!- Akko! Are you okay?"

It was Diana of all people.

"Um, yes! Well….no. Well, I don't knowwww." Akko sheepishly replied to the British witch in front of her, rubbing the back of her neck with her hand. "It seems I am growing mistletoe spontaneously somehow. I went to Professor Ursula to see if she could give me any advice and she was seriously no help at all!" Akko was uncharacteristically frowning now.

"What did she say?" inquired Diana.

"Something about finding within myself about WHY mistletoe is randomly deciding to procure itself. I mean, what does that even mean?"

"Akko, well you do know what mistletoe represents traditionally right?"

"Actually….no. I mean, I know it's a plant. Really, I was just concerned that every part of me was going to start sprouting mistletoe and that's been my main focus the past hour or so."

The British girl was suddenly extremely nervous. "Mistletoe is a plant that typically sparks spontaneous kisses between whomever appears beneath it." Diana gulped anxiously, awaiting Akko's response to the knowledge she just imparted upon her.

"Sooooo what you're saying is that, when mistletoe appears you have to kiss whoever's under it?" Akko excitedly replied.

"Yes," responded Diana as she averted eye-contact with her friend. "And it appears that there are more sprigs growing by the second right now, Akko."

They both looked upward at the growing number of sprigs of mistletoe hovering above them. Diana made eye contact with Akko first, as the girl was slowly realizing the implications of what Diana had just said.

"I guess that means…." Akko started.

Before she could finish, she felt herself gasp.

All too suddenly, she felt a soft pressure against her lips. PRESSURE AGAINST HER LIPS? Diana was the only one around so it must be her lips. Oh. My. God. Diana was kissing her. Akko hesitantly pulled herself away from Diana's intoxicating kiss, trying to get a look at her friend to understand what was going through her mind.

Diana gave a final peck to Akko's lip before moving away, "The only way to break this particular potion of its effectiveness is to kiss the victim, whenever the mistletoe starts sprouting. It starts it's process in individuals that are suppressing feelings for another person, Akko.."

"And it started in Professor Lotus's class." interjected Akko. "After you laughed really cutely at me."

Akko had moved her hands to encompass Diana's. She was massaging her fingers over her friend's eternally soft skin.

Mistletoe sprouted once more.

"Akko, please don't be afraid anymore." The royal girl leaned her forehead against Akko's in an attempt to ease Akko's nerves (and to have a reason to get close to her favorite friend).

This time, Akko was the one to lean in and delicately place her lips on to Diana's. She didn't realize quite how long she'd wanted to do this, but it felt like the most natural thing in the entire world. Diana was flabbergasted, and enamored, and totally overwhelmed with emotion.

The two witches were too caught up in each other's kisses to realize the mistletoe potion had already dissipated. But it didn't matter right now. They were entirely too content in the passion and unleashed feelings for each other that were finally let out of the floodgates.

Somewhere in the distance, a purple haired witch's self-satisfied maniacal laughter manifested itself. Her ploy to finally get Akko to realize her feelings for Diana had been set into motion.

Sucy bared her sharp teeth in a creepy smile, "On to phase 2 now."

[A/N:

Lemme know what y'all think and if you have any suggestions!

]