Y'all are the best, for taking the time to not only read but also review! Literally with the power to make me smile stupidly in front of my laptop whenever I see emails from FanFiction pop up in my inbox. My heart flutters whenever I see a message, and it's a dope feeling.
As for continuing the previous one-shot "Waiting for Summer," I have some ideas simmering in my head—actually a whole story full of ideas—but I don't want to let you all down if it's not as good as that last one-shot, haha! So for now, another unrelated AU while I process.
(I'll definitely let you know when "Waiting for Summer: the story" comes out!)
Secret Santa
When a short sweet beep briefly interrupted Natsu's music, he excitedly switched tabs from his college thesis to his internet browser, checking the bottom right corner of his screen.
CelestialMage: Yeah, honestly I don't get why people make friends with their neighbors. That's just so weird to me.
He smiled, raising his hands to the keyboard to reply to his internet friend, but a continuation blipped.
CelestialMage: Like, we live next to each other but we're definitely not obligated to know each other or anything!
His grin grew wider, as his fingers hovered over the keys, trying to think of a good remark.
CelestialMage: I mean I guess unless you're in some of trouble. Like getting robbed or something. Actually that's a pretty terrible thing to say. I don't know why I thought that.
The pink-haired college student nodded to himself, thinking of his own experiences.
He paused to think for a moment, but when it came down to it, despite living in a pretty tight apartment—as one would expect from living on a student budget—he didn't actually know any of his neighbors, despite their doors being practically five steps away from his doormat.
FireDragon: Yeah, totally. I don't even know who my neighbors are. I know the one to the right of me is a girl though. I think she's also a student—maybe a grad student. I don't know. And then across from me is this guy that I've never seen with a shirt on.
He pressed return, quickly re-reading what he wrote, before realizing that his last sentence could be taken a little strangely. His fingers crawled back to the letters, but as the Christmas music playing in his ears ended and switched to the next song, he reminded himself that he was definitely wasting time on social media again, and pulled his hands backwards, shifting back to his Word document.
Natsu sighed. The entire reason he decided to put on pants and go to the mall was because he wanted to get his paper done before finals. He needed a little bit of boisterous background noise and was getting tired of the quiet humdrum of his apartment complex.
Adjusting his sitting position, he crossed his legs and balanced his laptop between his knees, his hand reaching over to the right to grab a couple of Fire Drops—these red spicy chewy candies that he had found in a drugstore on his way to the mall—and pop them into his mouth.
Spacing out and looking around the mall, he sank back into the warm holiday season vibe—admiring the colorful and glittery decorations strung up around the columns, the festive lights hanging from store to store, the gigantic Christmas tree in the center that was surrounded by wrapped and donated presents, and the huge Santa balloon waving a motorized hello to all the mall-goers, complete with parents taking pictures of their kids in posing in front of the inflatable.
Tis very much the season to not write a thesis.
His charcoal eyes continued to wander, glancing at a couple chatting loving words to each other on a faraway bench, a father handing a drink to his young child, a woman smiling at her laptop screen, some teenagers to the side taking selfies…
How many of these people were in this same terrible predicament as he?
Hopefully none.
Another blip sounded in his headphones and he instinctively checked the bottom right of his screen.
CelestialMage: You've never seen him WITH a shirt on? O.o
He laughed quietly. He knew CelestialMage would have pressed about that last awkward sentence.
FireDragon: Haha, it's not like that, trust me. I only see him when we happen to be taking the trash out at the same time. He always walks out of his apartment with just boxers on.
CelestialMage: Wow. I'm not sure if that's brave, or just plain creepy.
FireDragon: Probably creepy.
CelestialMage: Probably as creepy as this Santa balloon that's staring at me right now.
CelestialMage: I'm sitting outside right now and like
CelestialMage: You know how there's Christmas decorations all over the place now since it's December?
CelestialMage: Well there's this inflatable Santa that moves, so it's waving hi. But the creepy thing is that it's facing me and it has these huge blue eyes and they happen to look like they're staring RIGHT AT ME.
CelestialMage: Like he knows when you're sleeping, he knows when you're awake. HE KNOWS IF YOU'VE BEEN BAD OR GOOD kinda creepy.
Natsu held back a guffaw. This internet friend of his was way too funny—
Wait. Inflatable Santa? That sounded frighteningly familiar.
He looked up, immediately turning his eyes to the huge Santa balloon again—which indeed had giant blue eyes—and then searched around the area at all the people in front of the Santa.
His gaze fixated on the woman that was smiling at her laptop, sitting at one of the coffee shop tables.
No. It couldn't be.
He squinted at her again.
Wait a minute.
Was that—
Coincidentally, that woman smiling at her laptop was definitely his neighbor—that blonde that he saw every now and then, the one that he couldn't determine was an undergraduate like he was or a grad student that was actually a lot older than she looked.
Could it be?
Could CelestialMage actually be—
His fingers slowly grazed over the letter keys, hesitating to type.
Wait…do you happen to live in Magnolia?
No, no. He couldn't write that, he thought, deleting the entire thing—CelestialMage had always been extra careful about revealing personal information and would probably be offended if he asked straight up like that.
FireDragon: LOL
This poetic statement was all he could come up with.
But Natsu knew that wasn't going to get him anywhere.
He tapped his chin thoughtfully for a moment.
FireDragon: Speaking of Santa, are you doing anything crazy for the holidays?
Upon pressing enter, his eyes flickered right back to the blonde woman with her laptop out.
Her back straightened suddenly while she typed in a couple of things, pressed the return key—a blip sounded in his headphones and a message appeared on the bottom right side of his screen—before her body slouched back down, staring at the screen with her face in her chin.
He looked down at his screen.
CelestialMage: Nope—probably going to spend Christmas alone.
Slowly, he typed out another response.
FireDragon: Not spending time with family?
Upon hitting enter, Natsu watched the blond woman go through the same motions—sitting up, typing, smiling, and relaxing again—while yet another message popped up on his screen.
It was like he was her puppeteer, except she would move when he wasn't twiddling his fingers over the keypad.
CelestialMage: Actually, no. I'm not really that close with my family.
FireDragon: So no Christmas tree and family dinner and presents?
CelestialMage: None of the above.
CelestialMage: But that's normal for me, you know? So it probably sounds worse than it actually is.
FireDragon: I see.
His eyes flickered up to look at CelestialMage from above the screen of his laptop.
He couldn't help but notice her sad eyes, gazing at the Christmas tree.
FireDragon: Well, I'm going to do some work now. I told myself that I was going to actually do real life today and not get distracted by the internet.
He waited for her to message him before shutting off his laptop.
CelestialMage: Alright! Good luck! You got this!
the following day
Natsu decided to stay in the next day, thinking that it was probably more productive for him to attempt to work in a quiet place than outside, especially when everyone else around him was having fun and gearing up for the holidays.
A familiar blip sounded in his headphones, and his eyes veered toward the bottom right of his screen.
CelestialMage: You know how we were talking about neighbors the other day?
Natsu's heart stopped. Did she get it?
CelestialMage: It's so weird. I found this tiny red dragon plushie on my doorstep today.
CelestialMage: I think it was from my neighbor.
CelestialMage: And there was this like note attached to it, saying "from your Secret Santa."
He waited, watching the ellipses at the bottom of the chat screen.
CelestialMage: Isn't that creepy?! Probably creepier than your shirtless neighbor, I bet.
He smiled softly, his right hand fiddling with a recently clipped-off price tag—
Toy Fire Dragon. $19.99. Magnolia Mall.
Maybe he'd tell her another time.
FireDragon: Well
FireDragon: One day I'm sure you'll be surprised to find out who your neighbors are.
Wow, I actually really enjoyed writing that one a lot more than I expected to! So much that I decided to give myself some extra time to write it, haha (thus sacrificing my work productivity, but alas, what I do for my writing)!
Anyway, you know the drill—let me know what you think! And as always, I'll see you the next time my muse hits!
thir13enth