This is for @wildrhov on Tumblr, but I'm sharing it with you here as a Christmas present for my wonderful readers! Thank you all, and happy holidays!

I'm feeling totally uncreative right now, but let's do this anyway! Pardon my weirdness in this, I feel lousy and not able to come up with creative descriptions.

- - - -

"Natsu, come help me with these boxes."

Natsu looks up from the book he was reading. The book, which is mysterious in itself, had been wedged into the others in a typical fashion, but he had never seen it before, which is why it caught his eye. Then again, he didn't really read much anyways, so that could be why he didn't recognize it. He presses the book shut, silencing the papery, dystopian world of fictional characters, and gets up to help his friend.

Gray is currently struggling with two large tubs of home decorations that didn't look like things a boy in college would own. "My parents had extra stuff," He answers the unspoken question, voice strained from trying to keep the boxes balanced in his arms.

Chuckling, Natsu takes the box on top and sets it in the center of their living room. Already, their shared apartment has two knit stockings nailed into the corner fireplace, but that's about it decoration-wise. That is the goal for the two, actually- making their apartment more festive.

Natsu and Gray thought it would be smart to put the decorating off until Christmas Eve, assuming it would "probably get done sooner or later," but here they were, twenty-four hours until the 25th was here, and they both know to buckle down and finally get some festivities in their home.

Even the tree iself is like a lone tree in a forest, standing pathetically in the corner of the carpet, stringy leaves already sprinkling the carpet around it. Yes, Natsu and Gray haven't even decorated their tree yet.

"What do we have here?" Natsu uncaps the forest-green lid of the plastic bin. Inside are an assortment of plastic, glittery baubles, alongside some other personal ones, like the ones first-graders make during arts-and-crafts hour in December. Natsu holds an ornament up to his face, grinning at the cheeky smile of seven-year-old Gray, sporting a large gap where his front teeth should be. Donning a bulky snowman sweater, he is the epitome of a holiday-hungry boy. "Cute."

"That was eighteen years ago," Gray takes it out of his hands with an obnoxious expression on his face. "In the other bin, there's tinsel, fairy lights, and some decorative trinkets. Do you think that'll be enough to spruce up around here?"

"Yeah, I believe so," Natsu agrees.

Gray nods quietly as he averts his eyes, mirroring a grin that he knows won't be as perfect as Natsu's, because Natsu's smile can make anyone feel special and warm and cast a love spell on anyone who's daring enough to get close. From the outside, Gray seems like a broody, stoic young adult who doesn't care about anything but his own issues. However, that is definitely not the case, at least when it came to his friends.

"Let's get this tree decorated then," Gray rubs his hands together, glaring at the fir in the corner, preparing to take on the challenge.

"Don't you want to take your jacket off, first?" Natsu asks him cheekily, although the question is innocent in itself. Gray rolls his eyes.

"You trying to come on me?" He laughs, knowing Natsu's jab at an innuendo is sub-par at best.

"No, I'm suggesting an idea, considering you just came from the frosty death that is known as outside," Natsu strides over to usher at the open window, which through the glass, one can see falling snow, fresh and resembling mountains of snow. Gray shrugs of his leather winter coat and throws it on the couch, next to his open laptop. "No way, go hang it up properly. Do you want to live in a pigsty?"

"You sound eerily like a parent," Gray jokes bemusedly. Natsu narrows his eyes at him, glaring as Gray raises his hands in defeat. "Fine, whatever. It's things like this that make me wonder why I agreed to be your roommate," He grumbles, disappearing around the corner to go find the linen closet.

"It's because you love me!" Natsu fired back through cupped hands. Gray paused in the hallway, staring straight ahead and allowing the lies haunt him as they swirled around in his mind. He's not being serious, Gray, he forces himself to remember as he gulps and hangs up the jacket on a coat hook installed by a previous tenant. "Ack!" He hears Natsu shout from the distance.

"What's wrong?" Gray asks worriedly, rushing back into the room, only to find Natsu wrestling with a batch of tangled LED lights. "God, you're so moronic sometimes."

"I'm sorry those demon lights from hell just sprung out and attacked me," Natsu defends himself as Gray pries the tangle out of his lap, shaking them out to loosen and unravel. "Geez, stupid lights."

"That's totally what happened," Gray pretends to understand. "Okay, I'll hang these up," He announces. "Try not to let those baubles-" He pauses to chortle. "Lash out at ya'."

"Ha. ha," Natsu gives him a flat look, not noticing Gray watching his lips twitching upwards into a smile. Even though he doesn't look it, Gray is a very attentive person, especially when it comes to Natsu. Natsu turns to the side, his profile shaded by laughably-real pink hair as he digs through the box of ornaments.

Gray sticks out his tongue as he focuses on the task at hand, weaving the bright lights in and out and spiraling them upwards to fill out the entire tree. It's a fairly simple task, and annual tree decoration with his parents deemed him prepared to organize the lights in a pretty way. He understands the techniques to occupy all the dark holes with dazzling lights, and it was no surprise that he finishes within five minutes. After making minor adjustments, taking step backs and looking for holes, he flops back down on the couch, fakely exhausted.

"That took major effort," Gray grins at Natsu, picking up his laptop. "I think you should finish the tree, because you're just so good at things like that."

Natsu yanks the computer out of his hands and shuts it softly, placing it on the organized, almost-bare coffee table. "Flattery won't get you anywhere, Fullbuster," Natsu deadpans.

"Can't we take a break?" Gray whines, resting his head exasparatedly against the back of the couch. Behind closed lids, he can feel Natsu's no-nonsense look beating down on his face.

"Seriously? You've been working for ten minutes!" Natsu exclaims hysterically.

Gray cracks one eye open. "You haven't worked at all," He points out.

"Touche."

Gray's eyes meet the flesh of his soft rose lips being bitten by Natsu's teeth, and he can't say no to that, because the invorgorating aura Natsu effortlessly gives off makes Gray forget what he's thinking and agrees to anything, like he's entranced and under a love spell (which, admittedly, he totally is).

"Alright, let's finish this. But afterwards we're watching a Christmas film, and no buts," Gray crosses his arms as he heaves himself off his extremely comfortable couch corner. Natsu nods in satisfaction and hands Gray a armful of tinsel.

"Decorate the fireplace, would you? I'll start with the ornaments," Natsu explains, firing those puppy-dog eyes and stupidly perfect innocent expresion at Gray, knowing it works every time, whether he wants it to or not. Everything about Natsu is perfect in Gray's eyes, and there's nothing Gray can do to fix that.

Gray takes the sparkly, silvery strand of tinsel to the painted-white fireplace. A single photo album rests on the mantel, and Gray stares at it briefly. It's a picture of all their friends back at high school. Lucy, Erza, Jellal, Loke, Juvia, Gajeel, Levy, Natsu, and himself, all at graduation. They're all wearing relieved smiles as they move through an essential milestone in their lives.

From what Gray knows from social media and brief phone calls, Lucy had gone to study in Europe for novel inspiraiton. The rest of their friends had remained in Magnolia, but Natsu and Gray had both been accepted to schools on the outskirts of the Tokyo area. It was perfect, really- two best friends continuing to stay together, living under the same roof and not worrying about parents. Their own responsibilites were their only issues, and daily life consisted of calm days and boring nights, chock-full of generic board games and reruns of late-night television shows.

Gray drapes the tinsel drearily across the mantel, sparkling it up immediately. The previous brick and white fireplace now had a more personalized feel to it. Gray puts the picture frame back and adjusts the empty stockings.

He turns around to find Natsu struggling to hang a bright red bauble up fairly high. Knowing his unhumane height would finally serve him in some way now, he mightily takes the ornament out of his hand and hooks it against the proper branch, earning a jealous look from his companion.

"I could've done that myself, you know," Natsu grumbles. Gray shakes his head, knowing no, he never would've reached that point unless he catches some freakish growth spurt within the next ten seconds.

"Sure," Gray chortles, leaning over and taking another bauble out of the box and hanging it delicately in a nice place, the fir branch dipping slightly under the weight. Gray makes sure it holds before adding more in various places around the tree. Natsu does the same, pointing out the stupid ones of Gray's childhood before hanging them, making Gray's face light up with a soft blush after hearing Natsu's laughter for the millionth time.

One by one, bit by bit, the tree fills up with glittery ornaments, beaded candy canes, and ugly M&M plush ornaments that Gray's mom had once bought in America. Those were the worst, Gray believes, but he can't say no when Natsu giggles as he places them in empty spots.

The only thing left in the bin is a package, which looked to be hand-sewn and fairly old. Natsu unbuttons in curiously, shaking out a dusty glass angel trinket and a sprig of mistletoe. "Oh, these are gorgeous! Where should we put them?" Natsu gasps, holding them up delicately for Gray to see.

"They were my great-greatmother's," Gray recalls fondly, coming to look at them himself. He takes the mistletoe and hangs it up by its ancient red bow, next to the tree, basically in the very corner, where he knows he wouldn't dare walk by, even by accident. It's practically fool-proof, and Gray feels at ease when it is out of the way. Natsu puts the glass angel on the mantle, joining the picture frame.

"Can we watch the movie now?" Gray begs exasperatedly, bored with decorating. Natsu shakes his head and rushes to flick off the lights, illuminating the room with twinkly, iredescent hues from the tree. "We have to put up the star!" He declares, sounding eerily like a five-year-old.

Gray smirks. "We don't have a star," He tells him experssionlessly. Disappointed, Natsu flops down on the couch and puts his fuzzy-sock-clad feet on the coffee table then.

"Put on the film then," Natsu mutters, crossing his arms, pouting at the television set. Gray scoffs and opens their cramped CD cabinet, pulling out A Charlie Brown Christmas. Natsu nods in honest approval. "Good choice."

"It's the only Christmas movie we have," Gray retorts, sitting down next to him. He's closer than he should be, testing the limits of their friendship like hot water about to bubble over, but he risks it anyway, because he can't help himself.

Natsu doesn't seem to mind, considering his head falls loosely on Gray's shoulder like he's some sort of cuddle pillow as Gray's arm swings to rest behind his head. No words are exchanged, this position is typical and if they did address the situation, there'd be a lot of awkward conversation to follow, so they let it be.

Natsu notices Gray's blush as he tries to hide it by scrunching down and feigning disappearance into the blanket. His heart beats quicker and flutters incessantly, a feeling he has grown accustomed to recently as he deals with pent-up emotions inside his chest. However, the feeling is nice in a way. It gives him a sense of safety and freedom, and even though Gray is owtwardly confident and outspoken, he can be extremely shy and wimpy sometimes when it came to things like this. He didn't understand what was keeping Gray back from doing anything, but he figures as long as they're together, whether it's platonic or romantic or not, they're still together, laughing and smiling and getting through each day side-by-side, he's okay, because that's the life he enjoys the most.

They watch the movie like they always do, throwing a single knit blanket over them that they always kept folded and behind their heads on a wide table behind the couch. Gray feels the comfortable warmth of Natsu's skin burn him, and he occasionally shifts as coolly as he can manage. Just when he finally begins to get accustomed to the feeling of Natsu's head resting on his side, Natsu decides to open his mouth and kill the mood.

"Go get us some popcorn," He demands sassily, shoving him off the couch like a good friend would. With an irritated expression, Gray complies, shoving the bag of unpopped corn in the microwave, pushing on the buttons forcefully, and tapping his foot impatiently as he waits for the thing to finish cooking.

The oily smell of butter fills Gray's nose as he pours the popcorn in a plastic bowl and takes it back to the living room, where he finds Natsu completely immersed in the film. Gray holds back an amused laugh and squeezes back into his previous spot.

The film ends quickly, filled with Gray's face illuminated with blues and purples from the tree lights and hidden reds imbedded in his flesh from shyness and embarrassment. Natsu finds himself snuggling up to Gray again, much to Gray's dismay (and secret enjoyment), forcing him to act normal throughout the cartoon. When the credits roll, the day is long over, with soft moonlight delicately streaming through the curtains like a stage spotlight, but Gray doesn't feel tired at all upon seeing the darkened, starry sky.

Natsu, however, is a different story. He must've nodded off sometime in between the movie. Eyes shut and lips parted softly, he breathed lightly as Gray looked at him with nothing but fondness in his eyes. Not wanting to disturb his crush, he inched himself off the couch and leaned his head back against a matching pillow, tossing the blanket over him and tiptoeing to his bedroom, trying to brush out the sleepy smile Natsu wore with an angry smack to the side of his face.

Gray quickly shuts his door behind him, changes into flannel snowflake pajamas (bought from a dare, but they're comfortable nonetheless), and plugs his phone into his charger next to his bedside table, where it will remain until the morning. He pulls himself into his mass of duvets and assortment of pillows, all shades of monochrome black and white. Bright colors aren't particularly Gray's forté, but dark, nighttime shades fit the purpose for beds anyway.

Gray tosses and turns uncomfortably, wishing to forget his stupid feelings. He hides under his covers, embarrassed, wanting to shy away from the world and never resurface. After nearly suffocating himself, he gasps in a large breath and flops back on his side in defeat. Unconsciousness finally overtakes him and Gray conks out in a dreamless, euphoric sleep, where he doesn't have to think or worry about anything in his crazy, confusing reality.

- - - -

Gray wakes up to a world of white. He'd call it a winter wonderland, but that was overused and particularly lame, so he decides to stick with his own idea. Gray stares out his window blankly, rubbing his fatigued eyes as he looks at the trees leaning with the weight of snow on their tips. There are no birds, as it was mid-winter, but there is a quiet, content silence, as the world has not awakened yet, and he closes his eyes, breathing in the peaceful environment.

His moment of isolation is quickly ruined by a sharp, rapid knock against his door. Gray knows it's Natsu, unless it's Santa Claus himself rapping on his bedroom door at nine in the morning, and allows him to come in. Natsu throws the door open harshly, hair unbrushed and clad in crumpled clothes from the day previous. "It's Christmas!" He announces the inevitable joyously, rosy cheeks flushed with excitement. Gray turns around from drawing patterns on the frost of his window and smiles.

"Merry Christmas to you, then," Gray says softly.

"Merry Christmas to you too! Do you want breakfast or something? We have pancake mix, but that'll take a couple minutes to make," He explains animatedly, awkwardly lingering in the doorframe. He looks beyond Gray's shoulder, wondering if he should come inside or not. They may be the best friends and live together, but was it overstepping a boundary to step inside their room? Natsu smiles sheepishly and exhales a breath of relieved air when Gray follows him out into the narrow, barren hallway.

"You don't have to do anything nice for me. Cereal's fine," Gray waves his hand, shooing him off. "Did you get the milk the other day at the store?"

"How could I forget? You wrote it, like, three thousand times in the text," Natsu fires back sarcastically. Gray shrugs sheepishly and opens the cupboard to take out some Frosted Flakes. Natsu grabs two plastic bowls and slides them on the breakfast bar. After milk and spoons are retrieved as well, the two position themselves on the barstools and wordlessly shake cereal and pour sloshy, (low-fat, because Natsu insists its healthier) milk into their bowls.

"So, you got those presents from your dad flown in, ne?" Gray starts off the conversation with something simple.

"Yeah, I put them under the tree. Stuff came for us from Lucy and Erza for you. A rather big box from Juvia to you as well," Natsu raises an eyebrow slyly. Gray shudders, incessantly praying (but knowing it would never fix anything) that Juvia's gift wasn't as creepy and stalkerish like last year's. Pushing that memory out of his mind, he nods, grunting out a monotonous response as he shovels more cereal into his mouth.

"Did you get me something?" Natsu bats his eyelashes ridiculously. Gray gives him a pointed look, as if to say, obviously, you idiot. "I wanna open it. Right now!"

"You sound like a toddler," Gray confirms irritably, sighing. "Right now?"

Natsu's expression is deadly serious as he sets his spoon in his bowl of milk, the cereal all gone, eaten in a hyper-induced Christmas frenzy. "Yeah," He nods sharply, and the walls inside of Gray crash down as he feels his heart quicken and his mind spin and God, why was Natsu of all people making him feel this way?

Natsu dumps the remains of his breakfast in the sink, snatching away Gray's bowl and doing the same. "Hey! I was eating that, you know!" Gray exclaims, surprised, as Natsu takes his wrist and pulls him towards their common room, where the blanket from yesterday is neatly folded again and put away and the tree is twinkling beautifully. The golden bulbs sparkle and shine, and even in broad daylight, Gray can't help but marvel at its beauty.

Natsu crosses the room and kneels in front of the tree, picking up a medium-sized gift bag. The front has a picture a generic snowman, with dark red tissue paper peeking out of the bag. Natsu places the bag in Gray's lap when he takes his seat on the rug.

"From Lyon," Natsu points. Gray opens it, finding a slushie maker that he has seen on infomercials on television. Gray inspects the product, feeling the dark blue rubber against his fingers. He's thankful his brother actually went out and bought something instead of picking something out of his discarded junk drawer at home. Thankful and slightly touched, he places the object back in the bag neatly and sets it aside to put in his bedroom later.

"Open that one," Gray points to a rectangular box with Santa Claus hat wrapping paper. Natsu agrees and inspects the label, pleased to see it's afterward to him. Not caring about savoring the moment or even reading the attached card, the immature one of the two rips off the wrapping paper, revealing a book.

A video game information book, that is.

"Aha! Lucy knows exactly what I wanted! Oh, this is so awesome!" Natsu hoots as he holds the book up in childish excitement. Gray can't help but grin upon seeing the look of joy on his friend's face, and an unexplainable warmth is sent through his body, making him feel tingly.

There aren't many presets for the two, as they only got one for each other (a brown leather, woven bracelet for Natsu and the swanky phone case he's really wanted for Gray) and a few others from close relatives and good friends.

"Erza got you a scrapbook of moments? That's pretty awesome," Natsu scoots next to Gray to peer at the book he was flipping through. Gray barely hears him, as he is feeling nostalgic as he reminisces in memories of a couple years ago. He's glad he still keeps on touch with his old friends, they're all wonderful people and he's thankful he spent four great years by their side.

Gray stands up, shutting the book. "I'm going to take all my things into my room, okay? He poses the statement as more of a question. Natsu shrugs, indifferent as he collects the discarded and torn bits wrapping paper to the kitchen garbage can, disappearing.

Gray walks briskly towards his room, placing everything on his desk. He feels like he got a lot of wonderful things this Christmas. Nothing could be better that how it went this morning.

When Gray returns, he immediately flops on the couch and picks up his laptop. He opens up an Internet search browser, half-prepared to scroll through merry wishing feed when he looks up to see Natsu staring blankly at a tiny present. Natsu isn't making any sounds or movements. It's like he doesn't even realize Gray is in the same room.

Concerned and a bit weirded out, Gray clears his throat in an attempt to snap Natsu out of whatever reverie he was immersed in. Natsu blinks and shakes his head to clear his thoughts, smiling when he makes eye contact with Gray. "One more present, it's for you," He grins, standing up and stretching out his arms to hand it to Gray.

Gray strides over, standing next to the tree, a mere two feet away from Natsu. Much to his amusement, he's reminded he's a full four inches taller than his friend, forcing him to look up at Gray in order for their eyes to meet. Gray is about to take the package out of his hands when Natsu suddenly releases the box, letting it clamber to the floor, thumping loudly on landing.

Confused, Gray bites his lip as he wonders why Natsu did that. "Why did you-" He begins to say until he is cut off with Natsu slowly motioning with his eyes towards the ceiling. Gray doesn't get at first, but then he realizes he's in the dreaded corner.

- - - -

"Oh," Gray mumbles, more to himself than Natsu as his eyes travel upwards. they're currently standing under the sprig of mistletoe, or at least as close as they could be, and Gray first thinks to curse himself out, because he knew, he knew he shouldn't have hung it up. The plump berries are still a holly red and the leaves are still full, even though they are several years old. "Oh," He repeats, truly understanding. He doesn't know what else to say but 'Oh'. It's like his mouth is permanently transfixed in that shocked, open-mouthed expression.

Natsu can't seem to find the words to say either. The only cogent sound that is uttered out of his mouth is a shaky laugh. He set this up, and they both knew it. "You dropped my present," Gray notes, bending over and picking the package up again, holding on to it tightly.

Really? He mentally face-palms, angry at himself for coming up with that of all things to say at a tense time like this. That's what you say?

"There is no extra present," Natsu sheepishly grins, scratching the back of his head. He looks nervous, which is different than is usual confident, bubbly exterior. His bottom lip rolls under his teeth as he bites it shyly.

Gray doesn't know what to say in response. He figures he'd only say something dumb if he opened his mouth again, so he chooses to keep it clamped shut and ends up staring into Natsu's onyx-black set of eyes, opaque like smoked glass.

God, those eyes. They were the type of irises that reflected off the light that shone in his heart, the type of starry nights and the ink of traditional letters and outer space. One look and you'd be entranced- lost forever and swirling in an abyss of perfection. His eyes were perfection. He was perfection.

"Well?" Natsu demanded, harshly bringing Gray back to a more colorful reality. "You know how mistletoe works, right? You're supposed to kiss me, you dumbass."

"You w- I- huh?" Gray, the ever-amazing conversationalist sputters out. Here he is, wanting this moment to happen for longer than he can remember, and when it comes, he feels like he's going to die. Gray briefly wonders what the chances of the world swallowing him up would be, but he can't finish thinking about that impossibility, because Natsu swiftly goes on his tip toes and his lips have molded against his own.

And then when those lips press against his, all he can smell is Natsu, all he can taste is Natsu, he is drowning in everything Natsu, and as one of Natsu's hands take the empty package from his grip and throws it to the soggy floor, he doesn't find the will to care, because right now, he's unmistakably being kissed by Natsu under the mistletoe, and on Christmas of all days, and that makes it a thousand times better.

Gray's hands find themselves tenderly wrapping around Natsu's neck, pulling him in closer. The rapid heartbeat quickens, the jelly knees turn more jellied, and the dizzy spell blocks his mind, rendering him incapable from focusing on anything but Natsu. They breathe each other in, letting the world around them, the beeping taxis, the whistling, melodic winds, and the car motors all fade away to nothing as the only thing important to either of them is each other.

When they break apart, panting and flushed and oh, so happy that just happened, they share a knowing smile and let their foreheads rest against each other, savoring the feeling and the memory of this very moment. Natsu bites his lip again, and Gray's urge to kiss him another time surfaces, because Natsu looks so wonderful that way.

Their hands intertwine and never break as they sit unclassily on the couch, kicking their feet up. Natsu's head falls into its typical position and Gray's arm slings around Natsu yet again, dropping into a comfortable silence as Natsu looks pleasantly at the mistletoe hanging from the ceiling and Gray stares at Natsu, taking in every unique feature, the freckles along his nose, the way his dimples shine as he grins, and the crinkles around his eyes as he laughs.

"Are you angry at me for making a fake present?" Natsu giggles, a giggle that should not come out of a twenty-four-year-old's mouth, but it does, and it's adorable. "Because you never would've kissed me without it."

"Yes, I am angry," Gray presses his lips in a firm, thin line to scare his friend. "But the kiss sort of made up for it."

"Okay, how about I make it up to you?" Natsu looks up to grin mischievously at Gray. He raises his eyebrows.

"You mean by kissing me again?" Gray says in a joking tone, although deadly serious.

"That could be arranged," Natsu winks. "But first, will you be my boyfriend?"

Gray feels speechless and has a hundred things to say, but squeaks out an ecstatic 'yes' nevertheless. Pleased and relieved, he brings their lips together again. The world fades away yet again as they're entranced in their own wintry paradise as Natsu turns his head to press their lips against each other harder.

And as snow flurries down delicately and the mistletoe remains dangling from its fraying red ribbon and the box is dented and left untouched in the corner of the living room, time stops as Natsu and Gray feel the cliché spark they've always heard of and laughed mockingly at.

But the spark is there, and so are they, together and in their little world of blissful euphoria, and they know that this is most definitely, completely, utterly, positively the best Christmas they ever could've imagined.

- - - -