"Lucy, why do you pick the weirdest trees?"
She sighed, frustrated. They’d been at this for hours. Everytime Lucy chose a Christmas tree, Natsu said it was ‘too scrawny,’ ‘too big, ’ ‘not enough branches,’ and so on, to the point that Lucy was just pointing at every tree they passed waiting for Natsu to find one that met his impossible standards.
"I really don’t know what you want from me, Natsu. We’ve walked around this tree farm like five times and you haven’t liked a single one." She looked down at her boots and almost cried. Recent snow had left the ground muddy and disgusting which left her boots muddy and disgusting too. There would be no salvaging them after today.
"All these trees are really lame. They either won’t fit in my house or they’re tiny." He flicked an offending branch in disdain.
She sighed again. That’s what this was turning into, the trip of a thousand frustrated sighs.
"You’ve never put up a tree before. Why do want to this year?" The spot between her eyes was starting to throb.
Natsu blushed and feigned interest in a particularly sad little tree, “I just want to. That’s all.”
Now that was suspicious. Blushing? Avoiding eye contact? How very un-Natsu.
"What’s going on?" She took a step closer…
…and he took a nervous step back. “Nothing. I just want a tree is all.”
Lucy narrowed her eyes, “are you lying to me?” His blush deepened but he didn’t answer.
She got close enough to put her hands on his chest. “Just tell me. It’ll probably make this whole trip a lot easier.”
Natsu looked uncertain and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.
"I just…overheard you talking to Levy about Christmas and your mom…and.." He snuck a look at his partner and flinched at the blank look on her face. He threw his hands up, "don’t be mad! I wasn’t eavesdropping, I swear! I just kind of heard…"
The fear in his voice had Lucy shaking her head, trying to clear out the memories of warm fires and decorations strung all over the house. She could almost hear her mother’s lilting laughter as she ran up and down the staircase, playing with her new toys or flaunting a new dress.
She gave the flustered boy a soft smile. “So, you’re doing this for me?”
He nodded, still refusing to meet her eyes. “Just thought you might wanna celebrate, I guess.”
Lucy grabbed his hand to get his attention. “Thank you, Natsu.” Her face glowed with affection for her partner and he gave her one of his signature grins.
"Of course, Luce! I bet it will be fun! Me, you, and Happy can all decorate it and put presents under it and…whatever else you do with ‘em." He shrugged. She laughed and gave his hand another squeeze, stealthily lacing their fingers together.
"Well, since I’m the expert, how about you just let me pick the tree? I promise the one I pick will be great." As much as she appreciated his thoughtfulness and his obvious need for the perfect tree, her ruined boots were already soaked and her socks were starting to get wet.
His smile split his face in two. “Okay. But nothing wimpy, got it?”
She laughed, “you got it. I think I saw the perfect one on the next row over…” she pulled on his hand and led him to their future tree, never releasing her grip even as he insisted that her new choice still didn’t seem ‘awesome’ enough.
