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“Mei, do you know you need to kiss the other person when you are under a mistletoe?”
“Really?” The taller woman looked up at the plant and then back at Elysia. Despite the cold winter air, Elysia could feel her cheeks warming up from Mei’s gaze. She expected this would be where Mei be kissing her, right?
Mei bent herself a little lower to look at Elysia. Closing her eyes, Elysia prepared herself for the kiss. However, she got a soft nuzzle from Mei, gently touching her nose with hers.
Elysia was expecting a kiss this whole minute, but Mei turned her down?! She bet anything her girlfriend was teasing her.
“That’s a cute tradition,” Mei chuckled and unlocked the door to their house.
“M-Mei!” She pouted and tapped her foot out of annoyance. Elysia was struggling to find the words to express her frustration.
“Yes, my dear?” Mei smiled innocently and opened the door for her. Like magic, her sweet smile almost immediately dismissed her frustration. Mei had that effect on her.
“You were supposed to kiss me!” Elysia pouted and walked inside the house, turning on the light. She was thankful it was warmer inside. As a MANTIS and herrscher, she is resistant to extreme weather but prefers more comfortable temperatures.
“I’ll make hot chocolate for both of us.” Mei took off her long coat and headed over to the kitchen.
“Can I add marshmallows to mine?” Elysia asked her as she started the fireplace.
“Of course.”
Elysia smiled and grabbed all the pillows and blankets, placing them in front of the fireplace. While trying to make herself comfortable, she found Kurikara among the blankets. The wyvern had shrunk to a size of a puppy after honkai was defeated.
“Here,” Mei handed her a hot chocolate cup and sat beside Elysia.
“Thank you!” Elysia took a sip of the drink. As expected, Mei made it the way she loved it.
Mei carefully set her cup aside and wrapped a blanket around them. Her eyes were on the plushies on top of the fireplace. “How has your sewing been?” It was a recent hobby Elysia picked up.
“I think I have improved since the first time I made one!” Her hands got injured from accidentally pricking her needle from time to time.
“You still need to be careful but are you still cold?”
“Not anymore,” She leaned her head on Mei’s shoulder after she finished her drink.
Mei cuddled with her, “Is there anything you want for Christmas? It is your first Christmas outside of the Elysian Realm.”
“Mmm,” Elysia took a moment to consider it, but she shook her head. “I can’t ask for anything more. I am happy with the way things are.” She was honest about it because she was still surprised she could live outside after the Herrscher of Corruption incident.
“I am still going to give a gift nonetheless,” Mei promised and closed her eyes.
“What gift are you going to give me?” Elysia asked curiously, but she didn’t get an answer back from Mei as she had already fallen asleep. Elysia closed her eyes to join her in sleeping.
Elysia opened her eyes when Mei tried to carefully move out of the embrace. “Where are you going?”
“I want to get up to make breakfast for us.”
“But it is too cold!” Elysia pointed out.
“You have all the blankets!”
“But Meiiii! It’s different because you are warm!” Elysia hoped she was convinced to stay longer. She even took an extra step and hugged her arm.
“You’re making this so hard….” Mei sighed. “But breakfast is more important at the moment.” She kissed Elysia’s forehead before heading over to the kitchen.
As soon as Mei’s back was turned, Elysia grabbed her hand to pull her back. “But I’ll be cold!” Elysia pouted after the kiss.
“E-Elysia!” Mei was scared as she almost stumbled on top of her. “I could have fallen on top of you and hurt you!”
“I’ll be fine! I can catch you!” Elysia smiled because at least she could cuddle with Mei longer. Mei disagreed and hit her lightly on the head.
“That was too dangerous,” Mei released herself from Elysia’s embrace.
“Noo, Mei!” She pouted as she slipped away from her grip. Elysia stayed under the blanket for a moment longer however, the smell of pancakes in the air convinced Elysia to get up.
“It smells amazing!” Elysia commented when she entered the kitchen. Mei had already set up the table for their breakfast.
“That is why I wanted to make it for you before you get hungry. I forgot to mention Principal and Kiana invited us to a Christmas party. We should go together,” Mei took a seat after she took off her apron.
Elysia was delighted by her words but worried about what presents to give the others. “But I don’t know what gift to give the others.” She wanted to give a special gift to the others, but she hadn’t known them long enough.
“It’s fine. I know what to give to the others but do you want to go shopping later?” There was a hint of worry in her voice, but as usual, Mei tried to play it off as nothing. She was cutting her pancakes into bite sizes before eating them.
“Of course!” Elysia would love to do that with her. “But is something bothering you?”
“I-I,” Mei avoided eye contact as her cheeks turned slightly pink. “The C-Christmas party required us to dress up as something related to the holidays.”
Elysia chuckled, “That’s wonderful!” She would love to see Mei dress up. “You should be a reindeer!”
“Why as a reindeer?” Mei stared at Elysia in confusion.
“Because you look great with horns!” Elysia answered simply.
“I guess I can dress up as one for the party, but still, it is embarrassing….” She sighed.
“Look, Mei! We should put up two reindeer at the front of the house to represent us! ” Elysia pointed at the house while they were walking through the streets.
“Those decorations are cute. We can do that for next year,” Mei didn’t mind buying more Christmas decorations for their house. She then looked at her shopping list. Mei already had everything she needed and walked back to get her car.
Elysia was glancing at the clothes displayed at the window.
“Did anything catch your eye?” Mei would love to buy more gifts for Elysia.
“Only you~” She winked at her.
“Oh please, Elysia….” Mei tried to hide her blush with her scarf. She found it strange how Elysia had been looking at all sorts of stores but never wanted to buy anything despite Mei's offering. “Why aren’t you buying anything?”
“No, I’m okay! You already bought more than enough for me!” Elysia shook her head.
Mei hugged her back; however, she was unsure how to respond, so she simply nodded.
“I want to buy a gift for you too, but….” Elysia mumbled.
“But?”
“I don’t have any money….” Elysia admitted.
“That’s not a big deal.” Mei tried to reassure her and patted her head gently. Her time in World Serpent and Schicksal had earned her enough money for both of them. “I am happy with simply being able to spend the holidays with you like this.” She never imagined Elysia and her could enjoy Christmas outside the Elysian Realm.
“I am also happy, but I want to buy a ring for you!” Elysia suggested.
“A ring?!” Mei didn’t think she would consider something so expensive.
“I am thinking of getting a diamond ring!” She continued.
“Wait, that is too expensive!” Mei didn’t want her to spend so much money on rings.
“It is?”
“You don’t know?” She was getting more surprised by the second.
“Well, usually Eden buys it for me,” Elysia confessed. The explanation made a lot of sense to Mei.
“You should tell me before you make a purchase.”
“But telling you will ruin the surprise!” Elysia didn’t seem too happy with Mei’s suggestion.
“Trust me.” The last thing Mei wanted was for Elysia to be in debt for buying gifts for her.
The Christmas party was already over. Elysia and Mei had a lot of fun together, even though it took a while for Elysia to finally coax Mei out of their house to head over to the party. On the other hand, Elysia didn’t have a problem with her costume as an elf. She even had ears like it as well!
“I should have stayed at home….” Mei spoke with regret in her voice. She was wearing a jacket to cover most of her reindeer costume.
“It was fun, and the costume doesn’t look bad on you!” Elysia smiled and took out her phone to take a picture.
“W-what are you doing?!” Mei tried to run away from the camera.
“I want to take a picture!” Elysia chased after her because the picture turned out to be blurry, thanks to Mei’s super speed. She tried to chase after her, but she was already gone. “Hey, Mei! We should be walking back together!” She was a bit disappointed she had to walk by herself.
“Of course you’re not walking by yourself, silly.” Mei’s arms wrapped around Elysia as she rested her chin on her head.
“I thought you ran off because you didn’t want me to take a picture of you!”
“I wouldn’t you leave alone. Also, with me in the back, you won’t be able to take pictures and don’t get cold at the same time.”
Elysia couldn’t argue with that; it was warm from this current position. “Wait, I forgot to give you this earlier! Merry Christmas, Mei!” She handed her a bag.
“A gift for me? I thought you didn’t have money to afford it,” Mei looked inside the bag to take out two plushies of a dark wyvern and a pink manta ray. “It’s adorable! Thank you, Ellie.”
Elysia was glad to see her loving the gift. She had been trying to keep it a secret to surprise her. “I may not have money to buy a gift, but I can make a homemade gift!”
“I have this for you,” Mei handed her a small wrapped box.
Inside, it was a necklace with a purple stigmata symbol. “Is this your symbol?” She had never seen anything like it before.
“Yes, I based it off of my stigmata. It would be nice if we had each other’s stigmata symbol. I put little herrscher power in it, so whenever you touch the symbol, I’ll be there for you.”
“Aww, I love the gift!” Elysia found the gift to be thoughtful. She put on the necklace with Mei’s help. “Look, there’s a mistletoe!” She tried to nudge Mei to give her a hint.
“Right, I owe a kiss. Merry Christmas, Elysia,” She bent slightly to pull her into a kiss.
It was snowing, but Elysia didn’t feel cold at all with Mei by her side.