Work Text:
Violet Jessop was in the process of hanging a mistletoe James Moody found her. (Not that he'd been looking, she thought- why would he be looking for her? But he found her nonetheless.)
"Need help?" he said, alerting her to his presence, and she wavered a bit from her precarious position on the armrest of a chair. He stepped closer, arms outstretched like he was ready to catch her, but she found her footing too quickly, and he stopped with a few feet between them.
"You distracted me," she accused him, but when he smiled in apology, she couldn't help but smile back. They had been working together for eight months now, and all she had to show for it was an inability to keep a straight face when he smiled at her.
Violet looked back at the mistletoe she was trying to hang, and James came a little bit closer. "They've still got you working, hm? I would've thought you would get out of here as soon as we boarded."
"I would if I could, believe me. They want these decorations up before the stewards can leave. And then I'll go… find something to do." She was struggling a bit to affix the mistletoe to the small hook on the ceiling.
"No plans? New York is beautiful and it's almost Christmas; isn't there anywhere in particular that you want to visit?"
"It was beautiful the first fifty times. There's not much I haven't seen."
She missed the hook, and wavered again, throwing out her hands for balance. James, as if he'd been waiting for this, jumped forward to put his hands on her hips and steady her.
"Alright?" he asked, as her hands fell onto her shoulders, almost no space between them.
She might have been blushing, but he was definitely blushing, so she wasn't too embarrassed. He had enough height on her that even now, when she was on a chair's armrest, she was only a few centimeters taller than him. Even so, looking down at him, rather than up, made her stomach swoop in an altogether not unpleasant sensation.
"Yeah," she murmured, "I'm alright." With some reluctance, she took her hands off of his shoulders so she could reach up and hang the mistletoe. It was easier with him holding her, making sure she wouldn't fall.
Once she was done, she looked back down at him, and saw that he was still flushed, and had averted his eyes from her bosom. She snorted at his modesty, and grabbed his arm to show that she didn't mind their closeness. "I should probably get down," she said.
"Maybe," he said, and risked returning his gaze to her, to smile.
She hopped down, not too gracefully, not letting go of James even when both feet were firmly on the ground. James made to move away, but Violet pulled him back with only a slight pressure on his arm, a silent reassurance that she wanted him to be close.
"You know what they say about mistletoe," she said with a cheesy grin, and it wasn't subtle or even particularly suave but James looked smitten, and she knew that same look was reflected in her eyes.
Despite the fact that she was the one who initiated it, he started to ask, "Can I-" but she'd never been patient, and she closed the gap before he could finish.
It was gentle, soft; it felt all too natural to stand there with James, kissing him under the mistletoe. For once, she was glad she'd been asked to stay on board to put up decorations.
James pulled back, and she bit her bottom lip and looked up at him in a way she hoped was coy instead of pouty. "Once you're done," he said, breathless and gleeful, "would you want to walk the city with me? It's beautiful, even after the first fifty times, and I like to look at the Christmas lights."
"As long as it means you'll kiss me again," she said, and he giggled, a nervous sound that made her laugh, too. (Eight months together mostly amounted to this, to his laughter making her laugh.)
"As many times as you'd like," he promised.
He helped her put up the other mistletoes, and she kissed his cheek for each one. Work, too often, kept them apart (a fact she detested even before now, before she realized he liked her, too), and each kiss felt stolen, which made them all the more precious.
As soon as they were done, they ran down the gangway hand in hand, smiling and laughing together, ready to make the most of the time they had together.