Sunday, December 20th. 5 days 'till Christmas...

Meg shivered when she stepped out of the movie theater. It was after midnight and the temperature had dropped significantly. The cold wind stung her eyes and made them water. Not that they needed help from the wind; Meg already felt like she was going to cry. She was supposed to go to the Christmas concert with Proteus tonight and she was regretting not going. She thought going to the movies with Flynn would take her mind off of it and make her feel better, but it didn't.

"Feelin' any better?" Flynn asked.

Meg looked over at him. "What do you mean?"

"Meg, it's obvious you've been feeling down all night. And I know it's because you missed going to that concert with your brother."

Meg sighed. "You're right. And, no, I'm not feeling any better."

"I figured that might be the case, so I've been trying to think of a way to cheer you up and I have an idea."

Flynn started down Main Street and Meg followed after him. He took her down a couple of side streets until they ended up at the giant sledding hills across the street from the library.

"What are we doing here?" Meg asked.

"Sledding, Megara. Obviously."

Meg looked up at the hill. She hadn't been sledding since she was a kid. "Flynn, I don't-"

"Come on." Flynn grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the temporary wood and rope staircase that had been installed on the side of the hill for sledders.

When they were near the top, Meg slipped and almost fell. She let out a small scream and then laughed at herself. Flynn shushed her, but he was laughing, too.

"Why are you hushing me?" Meg asked. "It's not illegal to be on a hill."

"No. But, this is." Flynn walked over to the wooden shed where they kept the sleds for people to use during the day. Right now there was a padlock on it. Flynn knelt in front of it and pulled something out his pocket. He started using whatever he took out of his pocket to pick the lock.

"Stealing, Flynn?" Meg hissed. "We're going to get arrested."

"No, we're not."

Meg crossed her arms over her chest. "Well, it's five days before Christmas; Santa will be putting coal in our stockings for sure."

Flynn smiled and shook his head. "You've never believed in Santa Claus, Meg." He got the shed open and took out two of the plastic sleds. He held one out to Meg.

"Still...," Meg said, taking the sled. "When you said you were going to cheer me up about missing the concert, I thought maybe your idea involved something that actually has to do with the concert."

"Oh." Flynn shifted his sled to his other hand so he could close the shed. "Well, I could sing carols to you." He dramatically cleared his throat. "Hark! The herald angels sing! Glory to the newborn king!"

Meg watched him expectantly, waiting for him to continue, but he didn't. "Why did you stop?"

"I don't know the rest of the words."

Meg laughed. "You have a pretty decent voice, Rider; but, maybe next time you should pick a song you actually know."

"Noted."

They walked over to the edge of the hill and lied down on their stomachs on the sleds.

"Last one to the bottom is a figgy pudding!" Flynn announced.

"What even is a figgy pudding?"

"You're about to find out!" Flynn pushed himself down the hill.

Meg laughed and went after him. The wind stung her face as she seemed to fly down the hill, but she had to admit this was more fun than she expected. Despite the size of the hill, it couldn't have taken more than a few seconds to slide down it. Meg was laughing when she reached the bottom of the hill.

Flynn was sitting on his sled. He pretended to check his watch, as if he had been waiting for her for a while. "Took you long enough, slowpoke."

Meg laughed. "Yeah, yeah, you cheater." She scooped up some snow and threw it at him.

The snowball hit him in the face and knocked him over. He quickly got back up. "That's it! This means war!"

Meg laughed as she tried to get up and run, but he was faster and he tackled her to the ground. The snow cushioned their landing, but it immediately started soaking through her jeans and her hat had gotten knocked off, so her hair was getting wet.

Flynn had her pinned. "Do you yield?"

Meg reached out and grabbed a handful of snow. "No way!" She smashed the snow in his hair. While he was momentarily distracted, Meg pushed him off her and onto the snow. She got to her feet and stood over him. "Now who's the figgy pudding?"

Flynn laughed and started making a snow angel. "All right, you win." He held his hands out and Meg helped him stand without messing up his snow angel. "I'm soaked," he said, trying to brush the snow off his jeans.

"Me, too." Meg picked up her hat; it was too wet to do her any good, so she just shoved it in her coat pocket.

"Do you want to go back to my apartment to dry off and warm up?" Flynn asked. "I might have some hot chocolate."

Going back to his place wasn't really necessary since she only lived a block from him and it would only take a few extra minutes to walk back to her own apartment. However, she was having fun and definitely wouldn't mind continuing to hang out with him.

"Yeah, that sounds good," she told him.

They returned their sleds and locked the shed back up, then headed to Flynn's apartment. The night felt even colder now that they were wet, so they walked quickly. By the time they reached Flynn's apartment, they were both shivering. As soon as they got inside their apartment, they stripped off their coats and boots. Flynn turned up his heater, then went into his room. He came back out a couple minutes later with a hoodie, pajama pants, and a pair of socks.

Flynn handed the clothing to Meg. "I'll bring your clothes down to the laundry room to put them in the dryer. In the meantime, you can wear these."

"Thank you."

Meg took the clothes to the bathroom and changed into them. They were too big, making them feel cozy. The hoodie smelled like him.

After changing and towel drying her hair the best she could, Meg brought her wet clothes out to Flynn. He had also changed into a pair of pajama pants and a hoodie. While he went down to the laundry room, Meg raided his cabinets, trying to find the hot chocolate. She didn't find any, however she did find a couple cans of chicken noodle soup. She took a pot out of his cabinet and poured the soup into it. She was just turning the stove on when Flynn returned.

"You don't have any hot chocolate, so I'm making soup," Meg told him.

Flynn joined her in the kitchen. "Perfect."

Meg pulled the sleeves of the hoodie over her hands and leaned against the counter to wait for the soup to warm up.

"The bowls are in that cabinet," Flynn said, pointing at the cabinet above her head.

Meg went to turn to get the bowls at the same time Flynn also reached for the cabinet. "Sorry," he said. "I'll get them."

Meg tried to move out of his way, but she was pinned between him and the counter. He pressed against her as he reached above her to get the bowls.

Flynn looked down at her when he set the bowls on the counter. "You look good in my hoodie," he said, quietly.

Him being that close to her, caused Meg's heart to inexplicably beat faster. She didn't know how to respond to that. He leaned forward and she instinctively leaned towards him. She closed her eyes, taking in his warmth and scent, and waited for whatever happened next.

Flynn sighed as if he just made a decision he already regretted and rested his forehead against hers. "We should probably check on the soup."

Meg opened her eyes. Before she could say anything, Flynn stepped away from her and went over to the stove. Meg wrapped her arms around herself, already missing his warmth.

"Were you going to kiss me or was that in my head?" Meg asked.

Flynn shut off the stove and turned to face her. "I wanted to."

Meg tilted her head to the side, debating on how to respond to that. Finally, she decided to just tell him the truth. "I wanted it, too. But, you didn't do it."

"It wasn't right."

"Why not? Because we're friends? Are you afraid it would make things weird or something?"

Flynn smiled and shook his head. "No, nothing like that. When I kiss you, it's not going to be a random moment in my kitchen."

"Random moment?" she repeated. "I think you mean 'spontaneous'."

Flynn opened the drawer next to him and pulled out a ladle and two spoons. "I said what I meant." He pushed the drawer closed with his hip and picked up one of the bowls.

"So, that wasn't just a caught up in the moment thing? You've actually been thinking about kissing me?"

Flynn ladled some soup into the bowl. "Yes."

"And you've been... planning it?"

Flynn stuck one of the spoons in the bowl and held it out to Meg. "Not exactly. I just..." he paused.

Meg took the bowl and waited for him to continue.

"What I feel for you is different than anything I've ever felt before and I want our first kiss to be more memorable and special than anything either of us have experienced before."

Meg smiled at him. "That's really sweet. But, doesn't the fact that we both know we want to kiss each other change things?"

Flynn picked up the other bowl and turned back to the stove. "Nope."

"So, you're just gonna make me wait, then?" Meg teased.

Flynn shrugged as he ladled some soup into his own bowl. "You're more than welcome to kiss me anytime you want."

"I'm going to," Meg told him.

Flynn turned to look at her. "Oh yeah?"

Meg nodded. "Yes. In fact, I want to be the one who instigates our first kiss. I'm gonna make you wait for it."

Flynn gave her a mischievous grin. "All right."

Meg raised an eyebrow. "You're agreeing to that? What if when I do it, it's not memorable or special enough for you?"

"Meg, you kissing me is going to be perfect, no matter how or when it happens."