Work Text:
“Could you hand me that box?” Danny asked.
I passed her the box of Christmas decorations I was holding and turned my attention back to the chaos I’d created on the desk. The idea had been to cut new pieces of string for all our baubles and ornaments. Somewhere along the line I had briefly forgotten what I was doing. Now, the desk was covered in trinkets and bits of twine.
I sighed and began to separate everything into two piles — the ornaments that were ready to be hung on the tree, and the ones that weren’t. Danny was sitting on the floor, sorting through the remaining decorations. Why we had brought four boxes of Christmas ornaments to the cottage with us after selling Manderley neither of us was entirely sure.
“Oh,” Danny said suddenly. “Oh, you’re not serious.”
“What?” I turned.
Danny was holding up what had once been a piece of mistletoe. Well, it was still a piece of mistletoe, even if it was so shrivelled up as to be unrecognisable. In her lap was the paper she’d unwrapped it from.
“Why would you keep something like this?”
“You don’t remember?” I went over to her and snatched the branch from her hands. A few dried leaves tumbled to the floor. “It’s from our first Christmas together. You kissed me after everyone else went to bed. You think I’d throw something like that away?”
Danny laughed. “You’re incurably sentimental.”
“I know. It’s part of why you love me so much.”
“Correct. But still, just look at it. It’s falling apart in your hands.”
A few more leaves fell from the branch as if to underline her point. I rolled my eyes. “Fine. I’ll get rid of it. Under one condition.”
“Yes?”
I sat on the floor next to her and held the branch up over our heads. “Kiss me.”
“Very well.” She leaned over and kissed me, softly. I put my free hand on her cheek, pulling her closer. A second later the branch was snatched from my hand and tossed in the fire.
“Hey!”
“As if you need any excuses to kiss me.”
“True.” I leaned in again. “But this time you better not interrupt me.”