"Lara!" Sam called through their shared flat. "Lara, come check this out", it was the three days until Christmas, and she had just finished decking the halls, as it were. With her hands on her hips and her chin held high she beamed with pride. When no immediate response came from her roomie her expression dipped for just a moment, but she put it back into place and waited for a full minute. She beamed until her face hurt, and then dropped her arms to her sides in disappointment, and began walking to Lara's room.

Lara's door was unlocked. Sam knew it was always unlocked, but it still made her smile that someone as private as Lara never locked her out, especially since she was so prone to barging in as she was doing just then. She pushed open Lara's door and spread her arms above her shoulders, ready to yell 'Merry Christmas!', but her breath fell out of her mouth near silently. She closed her arms back around herself and gave a small sigh.

Lara was asleep, scattered across her neatly made bed with her laptop beside her legs. Her nose had taken on a rosy red colour, and her lips were slightly parted. Sam decided that Lara must have a cold if she was breathing through her mouth. She shook her head, Lara had run herself ragged with finals and shopping, it was no wonder she was sick.

Sam was very careful to make as little noise as possible as she closed Lara's laptop and moved it to her end table. It surprised her that Lara didn't wake up, light sleeper that she was. Still, she felt like it was good that her roomie got some rest. It also meant the only way to tuck her under the blankets was to awkwardly unmake her bed and fold the covers over her, though. She didn't mind, and she circled the bed, expertly undoing Lara's meticulously tidy bedwork.

Properly swaddled in blankets, Lara looked a lot more comfortable, and Sam felt herself smiling. Not the exaggerated, self-aggrandizing expression she'd worn to present their newly decorated apartment, but a legitimate, involuntary smile that put warmth in her cheeks and made her stomach feel light. It took her a few moments of fighting against the gentle happiness, but she managed to move herself from that spot, switch off Lara's light, and close the door.

Sam crashed down on the couch in the glow of the blinking lights she'd littered their living room with. She could wait, she decided, and began flipping through her phone to amuse herself.

Not an hour later her patience paid off. She heard Lara's door creak open, pocketed her phone, and sprang to her feet. Tired as she'd grown on the couch she put on her best performance. Wide grin, theatrically spread arms, and pride on her face. Lara stopped in the entrance to the hallway, she still had her blanket wrapped around herself while she looked around the room with a bit of confusion.

Sam made a flourish with her hand, rotating it around her wrist as she folded her arm to her waist and took a bow. She was still bent at the middle when she lifted her eyes to look into Lara's. They shared a gaze for several moments, and smiles crept into their lips and their eyes.

"Well...?", Sam's voice stopped just short of steady, and she pulled her bottom lip back between her teeth.

If Lara had noticed Sam was nervous, she didn't show it. She pulled her blanket tightly around her shoulders and gave the room a long look. Her head turned slowly on her neck to look from the corner where Sam had set up a small tree, to the red ribbon that hung across the wall from above the tree to the opposite corner. Christmas lights outlined the ceiling, perched neatly at the top of the wall to encircle the whole room. Sam had even hung socks. One of Lara's, a plain and lengthy black tube of sturdy cotton, and one of Sam's, an ankle length bit of striped fabric Sam doubted Lara could fit any gifts in. The look on her face said she was going to try though.

"You've done a lovely job", Lara replied at length, her stuffy nose lowered her voice just a touch. Sam finally stood up straight, and breathed audibly. She looked at Lara appreciatively, the twinkling lights that dimly lit the room cast alternating shadows across her face that helped to accentuate the sharpness of her features and the pout of her lips. Sam shook the thoughts out of her head.

"Thanks" she murmured and placed her hands on the edges of Lara's blanket. For a moment she almost stepped in closer, but she remembered that there was more she wanted to show her friend. She flashed Lara a look of excitement as she bounded back to where the carpet of the living room gave way to the tiles of the kitchen. "Tea?" she asked with a smile she usually reserved for when she was trying to get Lara's goat.

"Sam...", she began as she came close, "what are you planning?" Sam's answer was to reach inside Lara's shell of blanket and hitch her hands on her hips. She stepped in close to Lara and linked her hands behind her back, cutting off escape. Close as they were, their noses nearly touched. The tips of Lara's ears burned and her cheeks pinked to match her nose. She wasn't unused to this sort of closeness with Sam, but this lacked the casual, comfortable ease she usually handled it with. Sam held her gaze, and her eyes hunted between Lara's. They moved quickly back and forth for permission for this closeness. Sam was unsure of herself, and Lara must have noticed because she wrapped her blanket around Sam protectively.

"Look up", Sam breathed, drawing courage from the embrace. That sent a tremor through Lara that Sam could feel; it did nothing to lessen her anxiety when Lara's face lifted out of her view to look above them. On the kitchen side of the top of the doorway Sam had hidden a plant with red berries and long, pointed leaves. All tied up with a red ribbon. Sam's plan must have dawned on Lara, because when she lowered her chin and made eye contact she was grinning widely. Unsure whether Lara was happy or just thought it was funny, Sam began searching her face again for some sign one way or the other. Lara's grin seemed genuine so she took the risk, she leaned in. Lara accepted the advance and met Sam, with her cheek. Sam stiffened in her arms, she suddenly felt the need to pull away; but Lara spoke into her neatly presented ear.

"Sam, that's holly, love. Mistletoe is white", she pulled back once she'd said this, but let her skin glide over her friend's soft lips. Sam was doing her best not to think about how nice that felt, instead focusing on her embarrassment. She aimed her eyes determinedly at the floor, and her cheeks burned. "I've got a cold, anyway", Lara added mercifully, and they relaxed into a close hug. Sam finally looked at her, and gave her a weak smile, Lara returned it and touched their noses together again briefly. "I was promised tea", she reminded. Sam chuckled and stepped away to heat the kettle. The sigh that she gave without thinking went unacknowledged, for which she was grateful.

Lara sat at the table, leaned back, and made herself cosy in her blanket. Sam found herself missing Lara's warmth, and the closeness they'd shared a moment ago in that very blanket. It was an adventurous sort of closeness, and her heart was still throbbing. She distracted herself by running the water slowly to fill the kettle, giving herself more time before she had to turn to face Lara again. Eventually the kettle was full, and she had no choice but to put on a brave face and confront her friend once more.

"So. Lovely?", Sam had finished filling the kettle and crashed into her chair across from Lara, who started at her words as if Sam had said the exact wrong thing somehow.

"Wot?" Lara stammered, accent deepening into something more Northern from a mixture of sickness and fatigue. Sam looked at her with concern and began to strum her fingers together haphazardly. Lara's face had paled but for her nose, and she seemed distracted. Sam's confidence was quickly plummeting.

"You said the decorations, uh.. That I did a lovely job", she stumbled through her explanation as best she could while trying to control her growing worry. Had she done that to Lara? Fear she'd overstepped a boundary was pooling in her stomach like liquid lead. They slipped into an uncomfortable silence while Lara, blank-faced, put her thoughts back in order.

"You did" Lara insisted once she'd recollected herself, "very lovely", she indicated toward the living room with a tilt of her head and looked up toward the perched bit of holly with a subtle twitch to her lips. "Everything is lovely."

Sam chewed the inside of her cheek and avoided eye contact, the weight pooling inside her abdomen slowly but perceptibly becoming more pronounced. "Sam?" she heard from across the table, and looked up. Lara was surveying her with a soft look on her eyes, as if she were treating a painful wound. It twisted Sam's insides up, it wasn't a look she wanted to see just then, but Lara wore compassion well. She wanted to be ashamed of what she'd done, but Lara wasn't going to let her. Sam swallowed her apology and tried her best to smile. It seemed to appease Lara, because she smiled too, and leaned back into her chair again.

The awkward quiet persisted, and Sam chose to fill it with action if she couldn't find any useful words. So, she stood and shifted her chair across the tile floor to where the kitchen and living room met. With a quick hop up onto the seat she pulled the tack that held the holly in place and dropped back down with both in hand. She nearly bumped into Lara, who had stood to follow her.

"Sam..." Lara said, "I was fond of the holly."

"I meant to put up mistletoe", Sam replied with an overcast expression. She lifted her eyes to Lara's for just a moment before dropping them again. She knew from Lara's eyes that she could see that she was hurting. They were gentle and set on Sam's own, looking clear past the mask she hid her anxiety behind. "I'm sorry, that was st-"

"I'd have been fond of mistletoe, too" Lara interrupted. Sam was suddenly looking at her again, her mouth hung open for a moment, and just as suddenly slammed shut. She regathered her composure and let her eyes flit back and forth between Lara's own, searching as she had before. "It was a very sweet idea, Sam. Please... Put it back?"

Unsure what else to do, Sam obliged. She swallowed the knot in her throat and turned to reascend her chair and pin the leafy decoration back into place. She had to admit, even if it were the wrong plant, it was still awfully pretty. Perhaps it wasn't so bad, she thought.

When she stepped down Lara had come closer again. There was almost no space left for her to step onto to the floor. Lara's hands appeared from under her blanket, and slid up to Sam's face. They stroked gently at her hair as it was eased away from her features so that Lara could trace them with her fingertips. Sam's eyes fell closed after only a few moments of this, and she had to wonder what she'd done right. It was unlike Lara to initiate touches like that, but Sam liked it. A lot.

"Really, Sam...", Lara told her quietly, they were so close that she barely had to whisper for Sam to hear her, and her breath tickled across Sam's cheek, eliciting a shiver. "Everything", she spent seconds emphasizing the word, "is lovely." Sam opened her eyes, suddenly aware of how alert and sensitive the skin of her face had become under Lara's touch. It was a pleasant sort of light-headedness that made her skin tingle in the wake of each finger stroke.

"Lara..?", she breathed her friend's name almost sleepily, and touched a hand to Lara's cheek with no small measure of care. The contact stilled the fingers against Sam's face, and she saw hesitation in Lara's eyes for just a moment. It was odd, Sam thought. The expression vanished so quickly, but Lara had actually seemed scared. Her fingers resumed their feathering dance along Sam's cheeks, however, and Sam took it as permission to reciprocate. She began touching Lara just as delicately as Lara had touched her, mimicking the way her fingers trailed over the angles and curves of her own face. Later the comfortable trance they had slipped into as they touched one another would strike her as odd, but just then, she could only wonder at what Lara felt, why she hesitated while also making Sam feel so comfortable and cared for. Her actions seemed so confused. It was when the pad of Lara's thumb crossed her lower lip that Sam saw Lara close her eyes. Sam could feel focused attention gliding over the edges of her mouth and gliding across her lips with no set pattern.

Then, as if on queue, the damned kettle began screaming. It spewed steam and whistled, and completely ruined the moment. Lara, seemingly shocked out of a dream, took the moment to collect herself, and look away.

"I'm actually quite tired...", she murmured. Her hand slowly fell down Sam's face and shoulder, trailing along her arm to her hand and squeezing it gently once. When she looked back at Sam again she put a soft smile on her lips that emphasized their closeness to Sam's own. "I suppose I'll take my tea to bed." Sam frowned, but nodded. She turned to fetch Lara a mug from the cupboard, and as she held it out, Lara's lips met her cheek. It was a small peck at most, but it made her smile, and it felt genuine, so Sam appreciated it. "Thank you, Sam", Lara said, setting to work on her tea. "This is lovely."