A/N: thanks for all your lovely reviews! I actually had another chapter planned out for Chapter 3, but I felt like writing something Christmassy, so this happened!
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"That's too many gold baubles, Edith!" Mary exclaimed, gesturing towards the tree so forcefully that the tinsel flew out of her hand and onto the floor. Matthew bent down to pick it up for her, glad of the opportunity to conceal his laughter at the sisters' incessant bickering. He'd initially found the sibling discord unsettling and had felt that he should assume the role of mediator, but he now recognised it as a natural (and vital) part of the Crawley family dynamic - one which had become very entertaining for him.
"For heaven's sake, Mary!" Edith replied, equally irritated. "Why are you being so anally retentive about decorating a bloody Christmas tree? Goodness knows what you'll be like when you're planning your wedding. Good luck with that, Matthew." Edith said pointedly. Matthew smiled uncomfortably, unsure how to respond. The topic of progression in his and Mary's relationship had been skilfully avoided by them both for the last few weeks.
A week or so earlier, Matthew had been visiting his mother's house for Sunday lunch. While trying to find his old school rugby trophy to show Mary (who had refused to believe that he had excelled at such a manly and brutish sport), he'd stumbled upon a conversation that Isobel had been having over the phone. It had made him rather uneasy. "Yes, she is a little out of touch with the common man but she is a good girl." Isobel had said to her friend. "Oh I don't know if it'll happen anytime soon, she's still quite young – not yet 25. But then again, I got married when I was 24. They do seem very in love, too, so we'll see what happens." Matthew's heart had stopped beating momentarily. His mother was already thinking about their marriage? He'd had the odd thought about Mary being his wife, but in a totally hypothetical, 'maybe one day' type of manner. He was still only 25 himself and trying to finding his feet with his career. Besides anything else, he and Mary had been together for only half a year!
Matthew had always prided himself in being a mature, responsible person. Amongst his friends, these qualities made him an ideal candidate to get married; to Matthew, however, it meant that he needed to think through every decision as thoroughly as possible. One departure from this had been when he'd hastily mentioned cohabitation to Mary, but she'd rightfully pointed out that it was not appropriate for them. The idea of marriage being bandied about by Isobel so prematurely only made him more determined to take things slowly with Mary. Naturally, he hadn't mentioned any of this to Mary herself. She'd been so staunchly against living together, talk of marriage would probably scare her away.
"You're right, I don't know why I bother." Mary bit back. "You can't teach taste."
"Oh piss off." Edith huffed, ignoring her sister's comments and continuing to place decorations on the large, fresh fir tree.
"Seriously? Are you actively trying to make this tree look tacky?" Mary disturbed the few moments of quiet with yet another barbed remark at Edith's efforts to inject some colour into the neutral, 'chic' tones which Mary had chosen.
"I give up." Edith declared, dropping the box of decorations on the floor and stepping off the small stool she'd been stood on to reach the higher branches.
"How's the tree coming along?" Cora asked with a broad smile as she entered the room. She'd always had a wonderful image in her head of her large family in the house together, laughing and talking as they put up decorations and listened to Christmas music, and had taken it upon herself to oversee the festive gathering this year. She'd been in the dining room with Sybil, making pretty paper chains and snowflakes to adorn the staircase, while Robert and Tom were seeing to the lighting outside the house. She'd instructed Mary, Edith and Matthew to take care of the tree – or rather, Mary had insisted on doing the tree, as she did every year, but this time made an unprecedented concession to allow Matthew as her handsome assistant. Edith, lacking the artistic skills to help her younger sister and mother, and not wishing to brave the cold weather outside, had to 'force' her way in to helping with the tree, as Mary had so welcomingly put it.
"Beautifully." Mary replied sarcastically. "We'll just tell people we let those children from the hospital for the blind decorate it this year."
"Mary..." Matthew chided gently, pinching her in the side as he passed by to fetch more fairy lights.
"I think it looks lovely, dear." Cora said comfortingly to a pouty Edith. "But why don't you come and help me and Sybil bake some raisin cookies, and Mary and Matthew can finish up here on their own?"
"We'll do the main bit of the tree and you can put the star on." Matthew offered, remembering Mary's stories of her childhood, wherein she had always been the one to crown the tree with a large, glittering gold star. She'd delighted in recounting how irked Edith had been every year to be denied the honour of such a significant task. He smiled at Mary's aghast expression, kissing the tip of her nose softly to quell her outrage.
"That sounds like a brilliant idea. I'll make some mulled wine this evening and we'll call the whole family in to watch." Cora beamed, grateful that Matthew was here. He was the only person Mary admired and respected enough to listen to (although she'd still put up a fight every now and then).
"Fine." Edith agreed, sensing it would be wise to remove herself from her sister's attacks. "How come she never has a go at you?" She asked Matthew, realising that Mary's dictatorial nature had so far not been at Matthew's expense.
"Because Matthew knows how to colour-coordinate." Mary interjected, not bothering to hide the fact that she was taking down all the baubles which Edith had hung up mere minutes ago.
"And because Matthew's learnt the hard way that it's best to defer to Mary whenever possible." Matthew murmured out of the side of his mouth, deliberately keeping his voice loud enough for Mary to hear him. He laughed when he felt Mary's unintentionally delicate punch hit him in the stomach.
"I don't know why you're both complaining – I'm just trying to ensure that the house looks presentable, and that benefits everybody." Mary defended herself. Edith scoffed loudly as she followed her mother out of the room.
Matthew stood behind Mary as she set about decorating the tree with more purpose, now that she had no distractions to endure. "Yes, darling, but I think the main point of this is to spend time together as a family, not to enter the house into some sort of interior design competition." He buried his nose in her hair, his hands resting on her hips.
"Whatever. Now, stop cuddling and pass me the stool; I need to reach the top of the tree." Mary demanded, though her voice was inevitably tinged with affection at her boyfriend's playful antagonism. When it mattered, he was on her team and would most resolutely fight her corner. She knew he'd do whatever it took to make sure she was happy and secure, as he had proven this in the past. But when it didn't matter, when it was just the two of them alone in their little cocoon, he couldn't seem to resist goading her.
"We don't need the stool for that." Matthew said matter-of-factly, assessing the height of the tree.
"Well how else are we going to do it? You're six feet tall and the tree is almost nine feet high." Mary argued.
"You're so unimaginative." Matthew responded with a smirk, and before Mary could ask him what on Earth he was talking about, he squatted down, wrapped his arms around Mary's knees and hoisted her up into the air as he stood back up, chuckling at Mary's terrified squeal.
"What the hell are you doing?" Mary asked, panicked, clutching at whatever part of him she could reach in order to find support. His head only reached her thighs, meaning her entire upper body was unsupported, and she didn't have much confidence in Matthew's strength. Granted, they'd managed to make love quite intensely against the wall of Mary's shower cubicle the other day, with him holding her up, but she suspected that the adrenaline had gifted him with unnatural power.
"Don't worry; I used to lift guys much heavier than you during rugby practice." Matthew assured her.
"Tales of your make-believe rugby career aren't going to make me feel less like I'm about to fall and crack my head open." Mary said as she nervously eyed the hard wooden floors beneath them.
"'Make-believe'?" Matthew challenged, bouncing her in his arms and making her squeal again.
"Alright, alright!" Mary quickly conceded. "You're a rugby God, OK? Happy?"
"Hmm…" Matthew pretended to evaluate how satisfactory this was. "I suppose that'll do. But I also want a big kiss once you finish with that tinsel." He said mischievously.
It was an open secret among the family that Mary had a fear of heights and was too proud to admit it. Knowing that she was masking it with her seemingly calm manner of placing decorations on the tree, Matthew made sure his grip around her legs was firm, to make her feel safe. He couldn't resist, however, nudging her short woollen dress up with his nose and biting her thigh through her tights, threatening to leave a mark there, delighting in the fact that she couldn't bat him away because her hands were occupied, and because she was still convinced that her smacks were powerful enough to knock him off balance.
"I think I'm done." Mary announced after a little while of ordering Matthew to shuffle around the tree so that she could ensure the baubles were evenly-spaced.
"Are you sure? Because, you know, I can hold you up like this for longer if necessary." Matthew offered, seeking to convince his girlfriend that he was indeed masculine enough for her.
"Yes, Superman, I'm sure." Mary smiled, feeling a surge of affection towards Matthew and his desire to impress her. She placed her hands on his shoulder as he carefully set her down on the floor.
"So about that kiss…" Matthew smiled boyishly, his eyes hopeful.
"I'm not sure you deserve it, really, after frightening me like that." Mary mock-scolded, crossing her arms in front of her chest.
Matthew tutted in self-reproach. "Damn. I knew we should've hung up mistletoe." He feigned melancholy and looked so adorable that Mary couldn't put up the charade any longer. Tip-toeing, she found Matthew's lips with hers and suckled them tenderly. Matthew tightened his grip on her waist, the soft material of her dress bunching in his fingers as the kiss deepened. How sweet it was to be able to kiss her like this, so freely!
Mary didn't stay over at his place very often, owing to lack of space, meaning that the time they had alone there was usually fleeting, to give her time to get back home safely. Matthew's visits to the Crawley house were more frequent, but again, he didn't like to spend the night too often as he found it a bit awkward; her parents were almost always nearby and would know what they were up to. The rest of the time they had together was out in public - it was as 'alone' as they could be, in the sense that neither of their families were around. Nevertheless, as much as they enjoyed their date-nights and daytime activities, they couldn't be completely open and care-free. And so moments like these were valued and cherished by them both in great measure.
"Mmm..." Matthew involuntarily hummed with pleasure, then groaned disappointedly when Mary pulled away. "Why?" he complained, his eyes still closed as he sought her with his lips.
Mary giggled at his nonsensical attempt to ask why she'd stopped the kiss. "I don't want to spoil you with too many kisses." She said with teasing seriousness.
"There could never be too many kisses." Matthew mumbled against her neck, which he was now using as a substitute for Mary's mouth.
"Upstairs?" Mary suggested through her slightly heavy breathing. She hadn't intended for her sweet kiss to escalate into anything more, but with Matthew now hungrily feasting on her neck and clutching at her body, she needed to satisfy the need building inside her.
Matthew merely grunted his agreement, wrapping his arms just under her bottom and lifting her up again as he strode towards the staircase. Both of them were bubbling with anticipation at what was to come in a few minutes' time. They'd have to be quick in order to minimise the risk of interruption from one of Mary's family (most likely Cora, trying to convince them to make some kind of origami snowmen for the dining room), but it didn't seem like the need for speed would pose much of a problem at this rate...
They made it halfway up the stairs before they heard Matthew's name being called loudly from the hallway; apparently Robert and Tom were in need of assistance with their outdoor illuminations. Mary and Matthew both sighed deeply and simultaneously, the exciting prospect of a session in between Mary's bedsheets dashed.
"I guess I should go." Matthew said reluctantly after releasing his hold on Mary.
"Can't you just tell them that you and I are busy?" Mary reasoned.
"You want me to tell your father that I can't help him because I'm in the middle of trying to bed his daughter?" Matthew asked incredulously. He felt uncomfortable enough just kissing Mary around her parents!
"This is ridiculous." Mary shook her head in frustration. "We shouldn't need to sneak around and be disturbed like teenagers – we're adults!" She told him needlessly.
"Matthew? Are you there?" Robert's voice approached the staircase.
"C'mon, man, I'm freezing my arse off here!" Tom's agitated voice boomed into the house from just outside the front door.
"I'll be with you in a second!" Matthew promised them, giving his disgruntled girlfriend a quick placating peck on the lips before hurrying down to meet her father.
Mary watched him as he left her alone on the stairs, her eyes narrowed with annoyance. If only she and Matthew could be left to themselves, she thought, without her parents or sisters to disrupt their quality time. It wasn't only about being able to kiss or make love whenever they wanted, although obviously intimacy was an important part of any relationship. But today had been the first time in almost a week where they'd been completely alone for twenty minutes and had been able to focus solely on each other, and Mary found that absurd. She and Matthew had long passed the 'getting to know each other' stage in their romance – they didn't know absolutely everything about the other, of course, but their priority was simply to enjoy the other person. Even when he was with her at her family dinners, or driving her and Isobel to volunteer at the children's hospice, she missed him, because courtesy and decency restricted her from behaving the way she wanted to behave with him.
Sighing once again, she continued walking up the stairs, oblivious to the fact that the solution was staring her in the face.
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A/N: I thought you all deserved a small dose of M/M fluff for Christmas. It looks like Mary is edging closer towards being in favour of moving in, but what about Matthew? Stay tuned! xxx