Work Text:
“Marnie?” Luke called, his voice loud in the silence of the house. “Why are there weeds hanging from the ceiling?”
“It’s mistletoe, silly,” Marnie answered, appearing in the doorway to the kitchen. She was wearing an apron over her witch’s robes, hair tied up in a messy bun and a dusting of flour across one cheek. “It’s a Christmas tradition. If you get caught under it together, you’re supposed to kiss.”
“Oh,” Luke said, glancing above Marnie’s head at the mistletoe hanging from the archway that led to the kitchen. It seemed like a silly tradition, but a lot of human traditions were pretty silly, so he crossed the room anyway, stopping in front of Marnie and reaching out to wipe the flour from her face.
Marnie smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck, drawing him forward and pressing their lips together. She tasted like cinnamon and something peppery, which meant she was making those gingersnaps she insisted were another Christmas tradition. And those Luke was never going to complain about, so he slid his arms around her waist and kissed her back.
“Is there something special about kissing under the mistletoe?” Luke asked when Marnie pulled back to look up at him.
For a second Marnie frowned thoughtfully, then she shrugged and let go of him. “You know, I’m not really sure. It’s just part of Christmas.”
He followed her into the kitchen to lean against the counter and watch her levitate trays of hot gingersnaps out of the oven. They landed smoothly on the counter, and Luke watched as Marnie waved her wand again and sent the cookies sailing onto waiting cooling racks.
“You know, mistletoe is a traditional part of Yule, now that I think about it,” Luke said. “I mean, goblins don’t really celebrate, unless you count the Krampus parade, but some of the hardcore traditionalists still practice the old rituals.”
“Really? So what do they use mistletoe for?”
“I’m pretty sure they don’t do that ritual anymore,” Luke answered. “Mostly because it involved sacrificing a couple bulls. Messy and expensive.”
Marnie made a face and turned back to the counter where her rolling pin was rolling itself back and forth across more gingersnap dough. “That’s horrible.”
“Yeah, well, people did a lot of weird things before Aggie took over and convinced the witches to modernize. I think it was some kind of fertility ritual.”
Marnie nodded and slid a fresh batch of cookies into the oven before she turned back to him. “That makes sense. I mean, the whole ‘kissing under the mistletoe’ thing is probably a watered-down version of the fertility rites. Young couples kissing in front of their family and friends, foreplay and all that.”
Luke frowned at her for a second before he shook his head. “Humans are weird.”
“True,” Marnie said, grinning and crossing the kitchen to press up on her toes and plant another kiss on his lips. “But they mean well, mostly.”
There were plenty of people in Halloweentown who would disagree with that, but Luke didn’t bother pointing it out. Marnie was half-human, after all, and he knew she meant well, so as far as he was concerned she could hang weeds from every inch of their ceiling, as long as they kept making their own traditions together.