tinsel and trouble

1. snowflakes and sorcery

a/n: this takes place in the same au as 'discord and dragons' where natsu, sting, rogue and laxus were cursed and turned into baby dragons. it's set about a year after the end of that story. it features gray's grandparents (anaa and ataa). they're from isvan and their cult

"Are that many lights really necessary?"

Gray stood in front of the house, hands on his hips as he watched Natsu balance precariously on the ladder. A string of multicolored lights was draped along the roof and the loose end was wrapped around Natsu's arm.

"You already know the answer to that," Natsu said, grinning as he leaned forward to loop the cord around the next hook. "Bigger and brighter!"

Gray rolled his eyes. "You'd better not fall," he said as he headed into the house. "You don't wanna spend the holidays with a broken arm."

"I'm fine, Snowflake," Natsu insisted, leaning as far as he could off the ladder. "You worry too much."

"I worry exactly the right amount," Gray grumbled as he pushed the front door open. "I'm the one who ends up carrying you to Wendy when you get hurt, idiot."

"I heard that!"

"Good!"

Gray nudged the door shut and kicked off his shoes, sighing happily at the scent of sugar cookies that wafted out from the kitchen. Soft music played in the living room, and Gray could hear Sting humming to himself as he decorated the tree.

It felt strange to celebrate the holidays with all of them. Gray had shied away from Winter Veil celebrations for so many years – it reminded him too much of his parents. The trees and lights were so similar to Aulanmuuq, the Isvanian winter holiday, and even though Fairy Tail was his new home, it had always hurt to celebrate without his family.

Now he had family – new and old. Ataa and Anaa had decided to visit this year, and as soon as they'd found out, Natsu, Rogue and Sting had immediately started planning. The house was a strange jumble of holidays – pine and iceberry decorations for Aulanmuuq, lights for Winter Veil, and plates upon plates of baking for Nev'dya, the Draconic solstice celebration.

"Are you making more cookies?" Gray asked, peeking his head into the kitchen. Several cooling racks took up most of the counter space, covered in different types of sweets. Rogue, who was in the pantry, peeked his head out and gave Gray a serious look.

"Food is important," he insisted.

"I know," Gray reassured him, "I'm just... not sure our pantry has any more room." He gestured to the open door where the shelves were packed with containers of sweets.

"We can use the hall closet," Rogue said, shooing Gray away from the tray of cookies he was halfway through icing. "There's plenty of room."

"Uhuh." Gray raised an eyebrow. "If Sting and Natsu don't eat them all first."

"Hey!" Sting protested from the living room.

"Hey, what?" Gray answered, laughing. "How many batches of cookies have the two of you eaten in the past week?"

"That's classified," Sting insisted. He peeked his head around the corner and stuck his tongue out at Gray. "You can't say that. But I might be willing to forgive you if you help me with the lights."

"You're ridiculous," Gray said, leaning over the counter to give Rogue a quick kiss before heading toward the living room. He was about to ask Sting where the berry garlands had gone when he heard a crash at the front of the house.

"If that was the ladder..." Gray switched directions and ran back to the front door, quickly flinging it open. "I told you to be careful, you—"

He stopped mid sentence, looking at the ladder lying on the ground, then up to the roof. A panicked squeaking sound came from the gutter, where a tiny red dragon was dangling and frantically kicking his legs.

"Again?" Gray cursed as he grabbed the ladder and pushed it back up. Natsu whined, scrambling with his back feet to get purchase on the gutter as his tail flicked back and forth. "You all have the worst timing, I swear." He climbed up the ladder and grabbed Natsu around the middle, lifting him off the gutter and hushing his frantic squeaks. "Hey, it's okay. You're fine."

Natsu squirmed in his grip, clearly unconvinced by Gray's words. He only started to calm once they were back on the ground and he was held against Gray's chest, kneading the soft fabric of Gray's knitted sweater.

Gray sighed, looking up at the string of lights that dangled from the roof. "This is just gonna keep happening, isn't it?" he asked Natsu, who stared up at him with wide eyes. "This is my curse. Half the time I have boyfriends, half the time I have pets. At least you eat less when you're little."

Natsu made an affronted noise, then scrambled up onto Gray's shoulder and nipped his ear. Gray's lacrima phone buzzed in his pocket, and he pulled it out, snorting at the message from Freed. It was a picture of Laxus in dragon form, tangled up in a box of holiday lights, accompanied by a set of rolling eyes.

"Looks like it's all of you this time," he said, taking a quick picture of Natsu on his shoulder and sending it back to Freed with a shrug. "C'mon, let's go see what the other two have gotten into."

As soon as they walked in the front door, Gray could hear rustling coming from the kitchen. He peeked in, laughing when he saw Rogue on the counter, frozen in place and staring at Gray with one paw on the edge of the bowl of cookie batter. There was a smear of white on his nose already, and he quickly licked his lips before backing away from the bowl toward the cookie tray.

"C'mere, you," Gray said, sighing and holding out his hand. Rogue looked at him warily, then grabbed a cookie between his teeth and launched himself of the counter, scrambling around Gray and out into the hallway.

"Get back here!" Gray shouted, spinning around and following the trail of crumbs down the hallway toward the bedroom. "If you get cookie crumbs on my sheets, I swear to—"

He was interrupted by another crash from the living room, following by several surprised squeaks. Gray stared helplessly at the tip of Rogue's tail as it disappeared around the corner into the bedroom, torn between catching him before he ate the entire cookie and going back to help Sting. A loud, distressed whine made the decision for him and he turned around quickly, heading back to the living room.

The tree was miraculously still standing, but the cardboard box of decorations that Sting had been using was tipped upside-down and a pathetic mewling sound came from underneath it. Natsu scrambled down Gray's arm onto the couch, then hopped on top of the box and stared down at it curiously.

"Get off," Gray said to him, making a shooing motion as he knelt down. Natsu ignored him, nipping at his fingers and scratching the top of the box. The box growled at him and he glared at it suspiciously.

"It's just Sting," Gray said, rolling his eyes as he grabbed Natsu by the scruff and set him on the floor. "See?" When he lifted the box to reveal Sting, who was staring around in bewilderment, Natsu made a pleased sound and tackled him. Sting yelped in surprise, kicking at Natsu with his hind legs as Natsu bit playfully at his neck.

"At least nothing's broken," Gray muttered, lifting the box onto the couch. One of the ornaments tumbled to the ground and started to roll away, and Sting and Natsu both immediately chased after it, batting it between them as their tails flicked back and forth in excitement.

Gray smiled at the familiar playful behavior. The three of them hadn't shifted in months, and if he was being honest with himself, he'd sort of missed it. The unpredictability of the magic had been irritating at first, happening frequently at the most inopportune times. Once, a a guild master's meeting had been interrupted by Sting and Laxus both eating the meeting notes instead of taking them. Another time, date night ended abruptly when all three of Gray's dates were suddenly chasing each other under the tables of the restaurant.

It had been over a year now, and they still couldn't find a pattern – or reason – behind the shifts. Gray had resigned himself to it by now, and he couldn't deny that he enjoyed waking up to three purring, cuddly dragons curled around him.

A knock at the front door pulled Gray out of his thoughts.

"Don't destroy anything," he said sternly to Sting and Natsu, who ignored him in favor of playing tug-of-war with a sock they'd found under the couch.