"You want me to what?" Laxus asked, sending her a rather dubious look.
Lucy laughed nervously, shifting her weight from foot to foot.
"You know, make cookies with me." A thought struck her. "Oh! Unless you have somewhere else to be. I'm sure Gramps or your team are waiting for you."
The large blonde man was quiet for a moment, before he sighed. "No, not really."
Lucy blinked. "That can't be right."
"Gramps is at Mira's. So are Ever and Freed, since they're both dating a Strauss. Bicks is there with Cana. I was invited, but I'm not a huge fan of being around tons of people." He said, sounding irritated and running a hand through his hair.
Lucy studied him for a moment.
'He's alone for Christmas, just like me.'
"So, cookies?"
Laxus sighed in resignation. "Cookies."
Tamping down on her urge to cheer, Lucy turned and practically sprinted up the stairs to her door. She opened her door and turned to face a suddenly glowering Dragon Slayer.
"What's with the face?" She blurted before she could stop herself.
"You don't lock your door? Seriously, with your luck, how have you not been robbed?"
Lucy snorted. "There's no point in locking my door anymore. Honestly, they all get in somehow anyway. Natsu uses the window, Gray uses the chimney, Wendy is the only one who actually knocks, and I've never actually seen how Erza gets in here. Huh…I should probably ask her about that…"
She set her bags down on the table as Laxus shut the door behind him and shrugged off his coat. "That doesn't surprise me in the least."
"Right?" She agreed, then started taking everything out of bags. "So, do you want to start with sugar or gingerbread?"
"Gingerbread." He looked a little embarrassed for a moment, and she ingrained it into her memory. And embarrassed Laxus was surprisingly adorable. "Those are actually my favorite kind of cookie."
Lucy giggled as she pulled out the ingredients for the cookies. "Don't worry, my favorite cookie is a lot sillier than that."
Laxus snorted, moving to the sink to wash his hands. "I highly doubt that."
"Snickerdoodle."
The sound of his laugher filled the room and she smiled. She could definitely get used to this.
}{}{}{
"So where are you going to celebrate this year?" Laxus asked as he pulled the last batch of gingerbread cookies out of the oven.
Lucy sighed. "Just the guild."
He turned to look at her with a raised brow. "What about your team?"
"Don't give me that look. It's pretty much the same reason you have. They're all couples now and I didn't want to intrude."
"So you'll just be alone. That's kind of stupid."
She grinned at him. "Kind of like how you're alone because you don't like large crowds?"
He grinned back. "Fair point."
She winked at him before continuing to stir the batter for the sugar cookies. "So I'm just going to make myself dinner and watch a Christmas movie. Are you going to the dinner at the guild?"
"Unfortunately. I'm probably just going to stop by a pub tonight and go home."
Lucy watched him for a minute as she stirred. "Laxus?"
"Hm?" He grunted.
"Why don't you just have dinner here?" She asked, trying to calm herself down. What the hell was she doing?
"Nah, I don't want to put you out like that." He said shaking his head.
"You wouldn't be putting me out. Plus, a home-cooked meal sure beats sitting alone in a pub on Christmas Eve."
'Shut up, Lucy.'
"Well, I guess. What are you making?" Laxus asked, sitting at the table and taking a bite out of one of the cookies. He had obviously given up on trying to sneak them.
Lucy hummed as she thought of what she was planning to make. "Ham, cheesy hash browns, and green beans."
Laxus flashed her a grin. "Yep. Definitely staying."
She smiled back. "Good! Maybe now I won't eat an entire tray of cookies by myself."
Laxus laughed, and Lucy slapped a hand over her mouth in mortification when she realized she had said that out loud.
He smirked at her, taking a bite of another cookie. "You get one, I get one."
}{}{}{
Later that evening, the two sat at the table eating the meal that Lucy had prepared.
That had been…interesting. For Mavis's sake, the man was almost as bad as Natsu. Sneaking bites out of everything when he thought she wasn't looking.
Maybe it was a Dragon Slayer thing?
At one point she was reduced to smacking his hands with whatever utensil she was wielding.
She smiled to herself as she took a bite of her hash browns. This had been nice. The pair was surprisingly comfortable around one another. When they weren't chatting, or joking, they sat in a comfortable silence.
Honestly this whole ordeal was a dream come true for the Celestial mage, and being with him like this made her fall even harder for the man. It really was hopeless.
Oh well, at least she could at least call them friends now.
"What are you thinking so hard about?" Laxus asked, snapping her out of her thoughts.
"Nothing. It's just nice not eating alone tonight." She smiled at him. "Thanks for having dinner with me."
He grunted, then dished himself up some more ham. "Tch. Like I'd pass up free food."
She giggled, then stood to place her plate and fork in the sink.
"Men and their stomachs, I swear." She laughed to herself.
"So.." Laxus started, sidling up to her with a wolfish grin. "You get everyone a present?"
Momentarily taken aback, she faltered. "Uh, y-yes?"
She slipped past him and plopped down heavily on her couch, listening to him rinse his plate before he followed suit and plopped down next to her.
"Question."
Lucy already had an idea of where this was going.
"Shoot." She replied, tucking her legs under her.
"Why is my present the only one under your tree?" She refused to look at him, but he sounded highly amused.
Her cheeks flushed red. "I-I, um. I was going to give you yours in person." She choked out. "As a thank you!" She added as an afterthought.
"A thank you? Why would you thank me?" He asked, and she finally stole a peek at his face from under her lashes. He looked puzzled and amused. And handsome. Mavis, how could anyone look so handsome being confused.
"Well, for saving me earlier. I was going to put your gift under the tree at the guild, but then I decided I'd give it to you in person to thank you."
Laxus chuckled, looking somewhat bashful. Pink dusted his cheeks. Holy crap he was blushing! Lucy felt almost giddy with the knowledge that she had made Laxus Dreyar blush.
"There's no need to thank me. Couldn't really let a guild mate go splat, now could I?"
This deflated her slightly. Just a guild mate. She really didn't know why she felt like this. Of course he just saw her as nakama and nothing more. It was silly to think he could miraculously like her back.
"R-right."
"So! Can I open it?" He asked, sounding like an eager child.
Before she could even respond, he was on his knees in front of her tree, hands going for the paper.
Without even thinking, she chucked one of her couch pillows, nailing him upside the head.
"Absolutely not!" She hollered.
"Why not?" He whined. Was he pouting?
Men were the biggest babies, she decided.
"Presents are opened Christmas morning!" She scolded, taking the gift wrapped in yellow paper and placing it farther back under the tree.
Laxus sighed. "Well then I guess I should put this under there, too." He said, taking a rectangular box wrapped in gold and silver paper out from his pocket and placing it next to his gift.
Lucy looked at him with wide eyes. "What's that?"
He scratched the back of his head sheepishly, avoiding eye contact. "Your gift."
"You got me a gift?" She blinked at him, mind almost completely blank. "But you only give your team, Gramps, and Mira a gift on Christmas."
He crossed his arms over his broad chest and glared at the boxes under the tree, like they had personally offended him. "Yeah, well I got you one this year. Don't get used to it."
Next chapter will be the end of this super short holiday story! Thanks for all the follows and reviews! You guys are wonderful.