"Dan," Serena whined, "tell me. Pleeease," she said, giving me the puppy dog eyes. Now I'm screwed. "How badly do you want to know? Depending on that, I might give you a hint," I teased.
"I need to know. Dan, Christmas is only five days away - I don't want your present to be something last-minute; I have to make sure it's something you want. Not what I think you'll want, like that watch I got you our first Christmas together," Serena grimaced, having remembered my expression when I opened the box; how I tried to look happy and excited for her sake, and her seeing right through the facade.
"Who's to say you don't know what I want? You know me pretty well at this point," I replied, winking.
"But Dan," she whined desperately, "this is different. I think we've established by now that I'm a lousy gift-giver."
"Oh, I beg to differ; I dare say you've always been an excellent gift-giver, and you have been from the get-go, but if you need reassurance, I could be of help with that," I smirked.
"Not that," Serena said, swatting my arm, scrunching up her nose in mock disgust, her baby blues twinkling nonetheless. "Getting back to the subject at hand," she continued undeterred, "I do need one hint at the very least," she pleaded, looking up at me with hopeful eyes, biting her lip in anticipation of my answer.
"Okay, okay," I relented, holding my hands up in surrender. "You won, and I will give you a hint, but you'll still have to do the guessing on your own and," I said, pointing an accusatory finger at Serena, "begging for more hints won't be an option - you'll have to make do with the one I'm giving you, okay? No more," I stated at last, more for myself than for Serena.
"We'll see about that," Serena smiled seductively. "Now, hurry up and give me my present," she said excitedly, jumping on the balls of her feet and clapping her hands.
"Merry Christmas, sweetheart. This pre-present will hopefully guide you to your answer," I said, handing Serena a small packet wrapped in bright red wrapping paper with tiny candy canes on it, complete with an artfully tied green bow.
"This must not be your doing," Serena said, taking in the wrapping job, smirking."You keep going, and you will be saying goodbye to your only clue," I threatened, pretending to snatch the gift from her hand.
"Nooo, I'm sorry - I'll behave," Serena promised, clutching the rectangular packet to her chest.
"Alright. Open it," I prompted, anxious for Serena's reaction.
Serena nodded and started to tear the wrapping at record speed. "Honey, slow down - you don't want to get a paper cut," I interjected, "that's how I ruined my birthday present when I was five. I had let everyone know of the one thing I wanted for my birthday - this book I saw at the bookstore weeks prior, a picture book with tons of illustrations. I begged to have it, but apparently, it was kind of pricey. So my dad told me I could put it on my birthday wishlist, and I was sure to get it. Anyway, at the party, my aunt came over to me and handed me a gift that felt like a book, and obviously, I got super excited thinking it was that book. I tore into it despite my aunt telling me to slow down - otherwise, I'd get a paper cut. When I had finally unwrapped it, I saw that it indeed was the book I asked for; I hurried to turn the first page, and suddenly I felt a sting. I inspected my hand, and sure enough, I had cut it. I looked from my hand to the book and seeing my favorite book, which I hadn't even read yet, stained with drops of my blood. That sent me over the edge - I started to bawl my eyes out, what put a huge damper on the party," I finished with a chuckle.
"Oh my God, Dan!" Serena exclaimed happily, having caught no part of my rambling. "This is so cool, thank you," Serena said earnestly, pecking my lips. In her hand lay the deluxe anniversary edition CD of Mariah Carey's Merry Christmas.
"Yeah, I thought it would be a cool way to count down to Christmas, play some music, sing along..." I coaxed, winking.
"Why are you winking at me? You're the singer of the two of us," Serena said, arching her brow.
"Come on, you have a beautiful voice, and this is my way of asking you to use it more often," I pleaded.
"When have you ever heard me sing?" Serena replied, rolling her eyes.
"In the shower, in the kitchen, in the tub, while brushing your teeth, while reading, while getting ready, to name a few - you sing all the time," I smirked.
"You heard that?" Serena said, the blush rapidly creeping up her cheeks. "Why didn't you stop me?!" she exclaimed, playfully swatting my arm.
"Why would I when I can listen to a full-fledged concert for free?" I wondered out loud. "It's sweet. You always seem to have so much fun when you're belting out songs because you think no one's listening," I teased, earning a smack on the back of my head from Serena.
"Very funny - from now on, you won't be hearing a note from these lips," Serena stated firmly.
"You can't do that to me," I whined. "You don't know how much I love to hear you sing - it would be like me depriving you of my cooking," I said, trying to prove my point.
"Well, too bad, buddy - you brought this on yourself. If you hadn't, I wouldn't have known you were listening, and therefore, you would have been able to listen to God knows how many more of them. Oh, what a shame," Serena sighed dramatically.
"That's alright. You see, I have my ways," I smirked at Serena before I grabbed the cd and put it in the cd-player; soon, the quiet intro to Silent Night filled the room.
"Dance with me?" I asked Serena, holding my hand out.
Serena grinned before taking my hand and adding, "Dan Humphrey, volunteering to dance? A moment for the ages," theatrically.
"Hey," Serena murmured after we'd been swaying to the music for a while. "How was the CD supposed to be a clue?"
"Fine. I honestly thought you would've figured it out by now, especially since it's such an obvious clue," I mocked, earning another smack in the head. "But, since you're asking so nicely, I'll give you one last hint: listen to track 2 - also known as the Christmas song, and pay close attention to the lyrics."
"Is it-" Serena gasped but was interrupted by the familiar intro to the song.
"I love this song!" she exclaimed over the music, beginning to dance.
"I know - I've lost count of the times I've heard you sing this in the past month or so," I smirked.
"Oh, shush, you," Serena replied, narrowing her eyes at me to try and look stern but failing miserably and adorably.
I just want you for my own
More than you could ever know
Make my wish come true
All I want for Christmas is you...
I joined in with the last line, winking and adding, "Now you know."
"Wait, so you wanted me for Christmas?" Serena asked with an awed expression.
"You look surprised. Isn't it obvious I want you?" I chuckled.
"You never cease to amaze me, that's all," Serena replied, caressing my cheeks lovingly.
"I'm going to risk sounding seriously corny here, but to be here with you, right here, is more than I could have ever dreamed of having. As long as I have you, Serena, I couldn't possibly want anything else," I whispered the last bit, getting a bit choked up.
"Mistletoe," I stated, pointing at the ceiling, "I guess we'll have to kiss now," I sighed, leaning in.
"Come here, you goof," Serena said, rolling her eyes.
"But I'm your goof, and you love me," I pointed out.
"I do," Serena replied, all traces of humor gone from her voice. "I love you, Dan Humphrey - more than you could ever know."
"I think I do," I whispered, gazing into the endless blue of Serena's eyes.
Serena closed the distance between our faces then, kissing me urgently, yet lovingly, raking her hands through my hair.
"I love you," we breathed in tandem, once our lips pulled apart.
A/N: Here's the new one, as promised. I got the inspiration from watching the Christmas episode "Roman Holiday" on G.G. and listening to AIWFCI; I just had to write it, so here it is. Yes, I am well aware it's August; we have got a good four months until it's Christmas; I was listening to the song because I missed Christmas and boost my mood - any Lamb 🐑🦋 can most likely relate - and I wanted to write something with this song at its center - I hope I did an okay job with it. I had briefly considered waiting until November at least to post this as it seems to be quite triggering for non-Lambs - which is pretty much everyone I know, by the way - to be discussing/listening to anything Christmas related, but I wanted to share it, and I had it ready to go, so I decided to post it anyway. I hope you can enjoy it nonetheless.
I am planning to write another one-shot based on this one but with a twist and I am planning to hold off on posting that one until we're closer to Christmas - think November 1st-early December 😂 - or whenever I haven't/can't update for a while. Needless to say, I ❤️ Christmas, LOL. As always, I'd like to thank the hypothetical reader from the bottom of my heart. See you in the next one-shot :)