"'And what happened then…?'"
Natsu leaned towards Lucy with his eyes widened in anticipation, the six-year-old blonde showing off her reading skills by narrating her favorite Christmas book for her salmon haired best friend.
He bounced excitedly on his knees, "What happened next, Luce?"
"'Well…'" she gave him a smug grin before revealing the story's big twist, her voice rising in volume as she read the climax of the story, "'In Who-ville they say that the Grinch's small heart grew three sizes that day!'"
"No way!" the salmon haired boy exclaimed, his eyes wide.
"'And the minute his heart didn't feel quite so tight, he-'" the blonde cut herself off, her brows furrowed as she stared long and hard at the still unfamiliar word before slowly sounding it out, "'w-whizzed with his load through the bright morning light. And he brought back the toys! And the food for the feast! And he…'"
Natsu leaned closer.
"'He himself…'"
The salmon haired boy was practically in best friend's face by now.
"'The Grinch carved the roast beast!'"
"What?!" he threw his upper body backwards in exasperation, only narrowly avoiding slamming himself down on top of where his new baby sister, Wendy, lay on a blanket that their mother had laid out across the living room floor for the children while they played. The blue haired girl, even though she was only a few months old, was already more than used to her brother's behavior by now, and she didn't even flinch as his head missed her body by only a few inches.
Natsu crossed his arms over his chest as he shot back up into a sitting position, his lips set in a pout, "But the Grinch could've had all those presents and all that food to himself! Why'd he have to go and give it all back and be all sappy?"
Lucy whapped him on the head with her book, "You missed the point, dummy!" After the salmon haired had been successfully whapped, she hugged her weapon to his chest, ignoring her best friend's whimpers as she devotedly professed, "It's about how special Christmas is. It's not about food or presents or even decorations…it's about family and friends and feelings!"
The salmon haired boy pouted once more, still clutching at the tender spot on his head, "But food's yummy."
The little blonde rolled her eyes, huffing as she haughtily turned away from him, "If you don't like it, then I won't ever read it to you again."
"Wait!" Natsu scrambled to make amends, crawling the short distance between them so that he was practically in her face once more as he somewhat reluctantly admitted, "But I…I like it when you read me stories."
The blonde cast him the tiniest and briefest of looks out of the corner of her eye, "Really?"
The salmon haired boy sat back on his heels, letting out a small laugh, "Yeah. You make 'em exciting…and you do funny voices."
She held firm for a moment more before she let out a heavy sigh, her arms falling from her chest and her hands setting the book in her lap, "I…I guess I can read you more stories then...Since you like it so much."
He gave her a bright grin, "Yay! Thanks, Luce! You're the best!"
She looked away with a small blush, her hands pulling the book closer to her chest as she grumbled, "I…I know that, dummy. You don't have to say it."
AN
Christmas stories are always a must for my family, so of course I couldn't write a Christmas fic without one of them!
Thanks for reading!
Hint for next chapter: Lucy's first time in the Nutcracker...and Natsu's not very impressed
