Light It Up
Author Notes: Well it's nearly the end of my holiday hell YIPPE! As well as the end of the year. So with this last hurrah of the year, let's get on with this shall we? I do not own Gakuen Alice.
3rd P.O.V
It was too early to hear her humming. "Natsume~" And it was way too cold for him to be alone under the covers. "Come on sleepyhead! Get up and help me decorate." He loved her, he really did, but...old habits die hard. Narrowing his eyes, he focused.
"Eeek! N-Natsume!" Though her shrieking was even louder than her peppy hum, the pyro couldn't stop himself from smirking as his girlfriend goes running around, trying to smother the flames that were slowly riding up her pigtails.
Honestly she should've known better. They do this every year. And with her powers, if she really thought about it, could've nullified his fire before trying to get him out of bed. "Stop being a meanie!" He rolled his eyes.
Not that she could really see since he was still buried beneath the blankets. "We're not in elementary school anymore Mikan. The tree can wait a few hours." Now Natsume wasn't a scrooge...Er-rather he's not as big of a scrooge as he was as a child.
But he was never one for the holidays. Excessive store decorations that often blinded him, the same music and movies play on repeat for ages to the point where you can quote it word for word. Hell...even eating the desserts his girlfriend makes tends to make him nauseous after the first week of December.
Though out of all of those, it was dealing with decorating the house that was probably the most annoying for him. He loved Mikan, he really did, but unlike him, she was all for the holidays. And that of course meant her getting up at like six in the morning.
Which OF COURSE leads to her trying to get Him up. "Pleeeaaaseee Natsume? I can't grab everything out of the attic by myself!" The sun hasn't even come up, why should he? "Nope." With that he rearranges himself under the covers, getting comfortable.
"You can join me, but I'm not getting up." He heard a huff escape from her, no doubt she was probably pouting at him. Probably thinking about the options she has right now. He could easily hear the gears in her mind turning.
There was a sixty percent chance she joins him, thirty percent chance she goes into the kitchen to try and bribe him awake with breakfast and a ten percent chance of him feeling bad to the point where he gives in. Ten percent was a little worrying, but he was banking on her getting back into bed.
They've known each other since they were little kids, and have been dating since they were fourteen...over six years. So he was pretty sure- "Alright...you win. Get some sleep Natsume." She left. Granted she left a kiss on his cheek, but she still walked out of the room.
Throwing off his calculations a tad. Guess she was going to make breakfast after all. Though that guilt was rising, still he was so tired. Working the nightshift was murder, doesn't matter if it helped pay the bills.
It didn't take long for him to return to dreamland. However time ticked on, the sun rose high into the air and crimson eyes eventually reopened. Still tired, but at least he got a decent amount of sleep. His stomach rumbled as the scent of eggs, bacon and cinnamon lingered in the air.
But his eyes widened in surprise as he entered the living room. Boxes. Boxes were everywhere. Some decorations were laid out carefully like his mothers antique Santa Village set or her grandfather's Christmas wreathe, but the rest hidden away.
Untouched. A sigh escaped him as he rubbed the back of his head. "Ugh...Mikan." The room was nothing short of a hazardous maze that immediately wanted him to run right back into their bedroom. Of course though he couldn't do that.
Not when he DID promise to help her regardless of the nightmarish amount of work they would have to do. And especially not when he knew exactly why she was always so gung-ho about the holidays.
Huffing the elemental maneuvers around, stumbling like Mikan's idiot brother around new years before catching the sight of brown pigtails. "And you thought you could bully me while sleeping. Dummy." Despite those words there was a small smile on his face as he (FINALLY) reached the couch.
There was his girlfriend, sleeping peacefully with an old Rudolph plush. Would've been an adorable sight if it didn't look like she went through the ringer. "Hey Mikan." He gave a push to her shoulder, trying to be nice(this time) waking her up.
But after only a minute or so Natsume quickly got annoyed an pulled her cheek. Raising an eyebrow as her eyelids slowly opened. "Nratsume? Wet goo!" He snorted, able to perfectly understand her.
"Mind explaining the mess and why you look like you got beat up by a bear?" It was such lovely words that got him boyfriend of the year, though insults aside the question did wake her up. Mikan actually blinking a few times before snapping back into reality.
Sitting up as her partner lets go of her cheek. "I figured I could at least bring most of the stuff I could grab down. But...er-remember the last few nights how I told you I heard the sound of something banging?" Yes, yes he did.
In fact he was so concerned about those random noises that he had actually bought a security camera and circled around the house to make sure someone(either person or animal) wasn't trying to break in.
"I'm listening." He had a bad feeling about this. Especially when she gave him a sheepish grin, time and time again it was a sign of future headaches. "Turns out...that there quite a few animals that decided the hide away up there for winter."
His eyes widened, taking in the scratches and bruises in a new light of both fury and concern. "What animals?" He figured that the marks were from her tripping over the boxes or being her typical clumsy self.
There was that damn smile again. "Raccoons? I was trying to catch them." Oh hell no. "We're talking about this afterwards. I'll be right back." Those overgrown mammals were about to become crisp roadkill.
Later on that day...
"Ow ow ow!" Natsume couldn't help but roll his eyes. Not appreciating her squirming away from alcohol soaked cotton. "Hold still." It would only figure that the one day he gets to sleep in, all hell breaks loose. Honestly, their luck was absolutely horrible.
The house lingered with smoke(thank goodness Hotaru hooked them up with fire proof furniture and material. Though she made sure to charge him extra for it...) there were holes that needed to get blocked off(sneaky bastards scratched their way in) and now both he and Mikan had matching scrapes.
Scrapes that REALLY needed to be disinfected. "I swear I'll set your hair on fire if you keep moving! I'm almost done." It didn't take long at all for Natsume to take care of his injuries, but his girlfriend was another matter altogether.
"Sorry..." She never did have high pain tolerance. How her grandfather took care of her Natsume desperately needs to know. "Why didn't call me the moment you found those raccoons? Would've prevented this mess." At that she sulks in her chair.
Looking even more miserable. "I bothered you enough this morning and I thought I could handle it without help..." Now it was his turn to flinch, though he quickly recovered. "You know you can rely on me right?"
Though she nodded, she refused to look him in the eye. "Mikan. I love you, and if something is wrong, get me. It doesn't matter how tired or busy I am." In the end of the day that was all that matters.
Whether they argued over stupid shit, or disagreed over their vastly different opinions on things...they were there for each other. They loved each other. "Does that mean you'll help me get the tree up?" He rolls his eyes.
Leave it to her to care more about the decorations than the state of their house or her own injuries. "Yes dear." Despite feeling exasperated he couldn't help but smile as she cheered, bandages and all. "We're still using the skull bulbs." At that his girlfriend deadpans. "Hell no." Another argument continues.
The end.
Author Notes: Well that's the beginning of the end lol. Now let's just hope those raccoons didn't have rabies...that's something Sen mentioned that I didn't think about...so let's assume that Mikan and Natsume got very lucky.
Anyways that about wraps up today's one shot. Everyone thank you all so much for reading. If you like this story please feel free to fav/follow/review or check out the other holiday one shots i've done over the years. Tchao for now