(y/n pov)
"Hey!" you laughed, waking up. "Elle--"
"--ist-mas!" she giggled, poking you. "Y/N, --ist-mas!"
"Merry Christmas, honey." You sat up to see Elle sitting nicely in your lap, hands clasped before her. "Awh, good morning," you cooed. She giggled as Gray walked in.
"That's where she went-- did you get up on the bed all by yourself?" Gray asked. You stretched your arms. "Good morning," he said with a smile.
"Merry Christmas." You smiled as he kissed your head, picking Elle up.
"Your dad's been looking for you, pumpkin," Gray sighed, walking towards the door as you got off of the bed. He turned back to you. "Breakfast is ready-- made by yours truly."
You had breakfast altogether. It was a nice feeling-- definitely a Christmas to remember.
Presents were nice too. You and Gray had bought presents together and Christmas shopping had been a lot of fun that year as you didn't have to do it alone. You'd even put up a Christmas tree, despite not being home for Christmas. The holiday season was always so fun, no matter your mood.
Laughs were shared all around and genuinely? You were happy. Even with Ethan there, with e/w there, constantly reminding you that your reality wasn't what you'd spent your life dreaming of.
You were truly happy.
And things were great in New Jersey. Your meeting led you to a pleasant surprise-- a promotion. Meeting your parents was just lovely, and not to mention just being home. In the snow. You were downright so content-- you almost didn't want to go back to California.
Maybe that had to do with not wanting to be alone with Grayson and having things be awkward.
Because after being around people all day, every day again, you avoided any time alone with Gray. Things went back to how they used to be-- awkward.
So you got into bed just as he was falling asleep, you woke up late, or if you were up before he was, you pretended to stay asleep until he was up and out of bed.
And it definitely didn't help that it was as if Gray tried to get you alone, every moment of that trip. And one specific time? New year's eve.
"Elle!" She giggled, running down the hall at her own little speed as you pretended to chase her. she squealed, running straight into her uncle's leg in the kitchen.
He turned, spreading the icing on the cookies he'd just made. "Hey!" You smiled, stopping as she turned to look at you, tugging on Gray's sweats. There was no one in the kitchen but him, you, and the toddler.
"Gray!" she squealed. He sucked some icing off of his finger as he lifted her with his other arm. "Cookie?" she asked. You smiled.
"You watching her?" you asked. He turned to you as you began to walk out. "I'll--"
"Wait, have a cookie first?" You smiled and he handed you an iced sugar cookie. You thanked him and he turned to Elle. "And for you." He broke off a piece and handed it to her.
"Thank you!" Gray smiled as he set her back down. She waddled out of the kitchen. "Where ya going?" he asked her. She turned.
"Daddy?"
"Daddy's gone out with mama," you explained. She frowned, looking up at you. "Remember? They went to go get some groceries?"
"--ceries?" You nodded. "G-ama?"
"Grandma's-"
"Right here!" Lisa walked into the kitchen, just coming out of the shower. "Hi there." Elle reached up for her grandmother and Lisa complied, scooping her into her arms.
"G-ama, tea party?" Lisa smiled as she picked up a cookie Gray was yet to ice.
"Sure, angel, do you want another cookie to go with your tea?" Elle stared and Lisa laughed, picking up a cookie that was iced. Gray pushed a little saucer towards her and Lida picked it up. "Ready?"
"Uh huh!" They headed up and you began to follow them, only getting in the doorway before your arm was grabbed.
"Hey," Gray said. "Can I get some help?" He gestured towards the cookies as he stood right in front of you. You nodded.
"Su--"
"Oh look," he whispered. You raised your eyebrows as you looked up. You almost winced. Ethan had put it there a week ago to steal a kiss from e/e and you'd managed to avoid it-- up until now. "Mistletoe." He grinned.
"Hm." You looked up at Gray as his hand dropped to your waist, pulling you close to him. Your arm was just raising to touch his bicep when he began to drop and tilt his head, nearing you.
Which was also when the front door opened.
"I forgot how cold it is here!" E/W laughed as she stepped in. You both turned and they froze. "Oh--"
"Here, lemme help," you said quickly, pulling away from Gray as you walked to them. You took a bag from E, your warm hand brushing against his as you took it.
His eyes widened, as did yours. "Your hands are so warm-- it's fucking freezing out there!" He laughed, taking one of your hands. You flushed red immediately as he squeezed. "Oh, and the steering wheel was so cold to-- to touch, dude," E complained, letting go of your hand.
And it was just then that Gray shook his head to himself, turning to head back to his cookies.
-
"One minute," you heard, hours later in the dark, only lit up by his phone screen. You turned to see Gray staring at his phone looking through twitter as you checked the time.
"Oh-- yeah." You sat up in bed, having hoped to have fallen asleep.
You wanted to stay up to drop the ball-- all of you did, but Elle was out on Ethan's chest on the couch at nine. E/W had fallen asleep trying to rock Elle back to sleep when she'd woken at ten. Ethan had fallen asleep after lying down with Elle, taking her from her mother to get them in bed properly.
And with them gone to bed, Lisa had hit the pillows early too, leaving you and Gray to do the same. "Might as well be up," he mumbled. You nodded, staring at the screen, waiting for it to turn twelve already.
"Might as well," you agreed. 11:59PM.
"Nice way to start the new year," he whispered. "Alone." You smiled, shrugging.
"Starting it calm." You turned to show him you were smiling.
And you missed the change in time as Gray pulled you by the jaw towards him, pressing his lips to yours. You gasped a little, your phone dropping into his lap as you let a hand drop behind his neck, pulling at his hair a little.
He pulled away, your foreheads touching for a moment prior. "Happy New Year's, y/n."
You pulled away, swallowing. "Happy New Year's, Gray."
---
Lisa had given you the framed wedding pictures on Christmas, and you both had just stuck them in a suitcase, not bothering to even check what they looked like.
So when you were unpacking back at home, you got to the bottom to see some packaging. Remembering what it was, you headed down to the basement to ask Gray.
"Right now?" he asked through gritted teeth, trying to hold his plank for just a few seconds longer.
"After your workouts fine too?" He dropped and you crossed your arms as he stopped his timer. "Or we can just leav--"
"No, I'm basically done anyway," he said with a smile. You gave him a small smile back as he pocketed his phone, following you back up.
You headed back to your room, where the suitcase was lying on the floor. "Ready?" he asked, pulling the frame out from the suitcase and holding it in its packaging. You nodded. "Should I open it?" You nodded.
"Yeah, it's not a big deal." He set it on the bed and began tearing the plastic away off of the first frame. The biggest.
You tilted your head a little, smiling a little. "Wow," Gray muttered. He let out a low sigh as he picked it up, holding it at arm's length.
"Yeah," you whispered. He turned to you and held it up. You smiled. "Where do you want to put it?" He nodded towards the wall across from your bed. "There?"
"Is that okay with you?" You shrugged. "Or, we can put it above the fireplace in the living room?"
"Hm." You thought for a moment. "Can we open the other two too?" He nodded.
He opened them both, a little smaller than the first. He laid them out on the bed. "Why don't we put the big one downstairs and these in here?" You looked at the pictures before looking back at him.
"Yeah, that works." He smiled.
"We can do it however you want, the choice is yours." You shrugged. "My job's to hang them."
"No, I think that's good." He smiled.
"Shall we get them up then?" You nodded.
Gray headed out to get to his drill and a few nails to hang them as you carried the big painting down to the living room. You set it on the couch as he walked in.
"Alright, I just have to put these in so they don't ruin the walls. Lemme know if it's straight?" he asked, holding the picture up.
You stepped back and sighed. "Down on the left?" He moved it. "That's right, my love, other side."
"Oh shit, yeah."
He tilted it and you smiled. "Down on the right now." He tilted it. "Gray--"
"Sorry," he titled it the other way and you laughed a little. "More down?"
"Yes." He tilted it. "Okay stop, there, do you want me to mark it?" He nodded and you grabbed the pencil he'd stuck behind his ear for the occasion. "I can't reach, I need a chair--"
You brought back a chair and he turned to watch you walk back with it. "Oh--" he let the left side slip a little. You smiled. "Up?"
You hummed and he pushed it up the slightest. "That should be good." You stepped up the chair and leaned over to mark where he should drill. "Okay."
You got down and he put the picture down, drilling the nails in. "You wanna hang it together?" he asked with a grin.
You smiled and sighed, nodding. You put the pencil down, taking one side of the picture, and hung it with him. He made a noise of excitement as he stepped back. You fell into place with him as you looked at the picture together.
It was just one of the pictures from your photoshoot, prewedding, but either way? It looked nice-- your smile looked real and he had that Grayson Dolan sparkle in his eye. "I like it," you whispered. He looked down at you.
"Yeah?" You nodded.
"It looks perfect." He smiled as you continued to look at it.
"I think so too."