"Can you believe that was my first time in a Christmas shop?" I asked with a wide amazed smile as Harry gave me a look from across my crowded living room.

"Seeing as you almost bought the whole store," He began, looking around at all the opened boxes of sparkly decorations and ornaments with obvious distaste as he walked over the newly purchased items, moving a robotic singing Santa out of his way with a slightly irritated expression.

"Yes, yes I do believe that was your first time in a Christmas shop." He finished, peering down at me inside the large cardboard box I was in, my legs folded to my chest with a bunch of Christmas lights over my entire body, tangled between my limbs and over my head as I played with the remote.

I pressed the button, the colorful lights on top of me immediatly lighting up making me gasp with amusement, an awe-struck grin on my face as I quickly looked up at Harry, pressing the button and turning the lights on and off in entertainment as he lowered his head, closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose while he took in a deep breath.

"Bambina," His stern voice cut my light show off, his eyes opening as he glowered down at me with impatience as I shifted in my little box.

"Don't you think we're forgetting something." Harry hinted with a raise of his brow, patiently awaiting for my answer as I looked away from his face, blinking in confusion as my eyes searched my Christmas cluttered living room.

"I don't think so..." I began slowly, feeling his heavy gaze on me.

"We've got tinsel, garlands, stockings with our names on it, Christmas lights, reefs, ornaments-"

"And where do you hang ornaments?" Harry interrupted me, crossing his arms over his chest as I looked up at him.

"Well a tree of course- oh hotcakes!" I shot up from my box, still tangled in Christmas lights as my jaw dropped in shock.

"I can't believe I forgot the tree!" I exclaimed as Harry looked out the window, looking like he was really going to jump this time before I clumsily fumbled out of my box, tripping on my own two feet and the lights as I quickly ran to my front door, grabbing my purse and keys in the process.

"I know the perfect place that sells the best Christmas trees come on!" I rushed, flailing my arms around in a panic, the long sleeves of Harry's sweater I was wearing smacking my face and flapping in the air when I headed out of my apartment and into the hallway, Christmas lights still over my body and trailing after my feet.

"Wait! Bambina aspetta! Wait- Fuck!" I heard Harry's calls from behind but I was just too pumped to stop, not even noticing the sound of something heavy and big dragging across the carpeted floor of the hallway.

It wasn't until I reached the elevator that I finally turned around and realized that most of the boxes of ornaments and Christmas decoration had gotten tangled in my long wires of lights, making me drag practically almost everything I had bought at the shop including one additional body at the end.

Harry was sprawled on the ground behind me, one of his feet tangled into the Christmas lights making me aware that I had ran and dragged his body throughout the hallway, bumping him into corners and unknowingly lugging him with the rest of the decorations stuck in my lights.

"Ha... woops.." I scrunched my face awkwardly, offering him an apologetic look as I brought my shoulders up in a timid shrug when Harry brought his head up from the floor to glare at me.

"Yes," He growled out, narrowing his eyes at me as he detangled his foot from the Christmas lights, holding them and gathering it in his hand before a smug smirk slowly spread across his pierced lips.

Harry then adruptly tugged on the lights that were still on me, making me let out a small yelp of surprise as I was pulled forward before I fell face first into the nearest box of tinsel on the ground in front of me.

I slowly raised my head up, spitting out the thin sparkly strings from my mouth as Harry walked past me, pressing the button to the elevator with a triumphant barely there grin before he glanced down, meeting my eyes.

"Woops."

**

"To find the perfect Christmas tree the pine needles need to be almost symmetrical...." I informed, actually measuring the pine needles on the tree with a ruler in concentration, furrowing my brows and stroking the tree as I heard Harry mutter a small "kill me" under his breath.

I whipped out my magnifying glass from my bag, closing one eye and studying each and every long, narrow green, leaf, breathing heavily with anticipation.

"You're hypervenilating." Harry noted from the side, watching me with a bored look on his face.

"I know, isn't this exciting or what!" I squealed, jumping slightly on my feet before I began to sniff the leaves.

It has to really have that nice fresh pine to it or it wouldn't be the perfect Christmas tree.

"Or what." Harry said under his breath.

"That's the spirit." I cheered, not fully processing what the just said in my distracted state as I patted his tense shoulder, making me look up to smile at him before my eyes caught something absolutely wonderful behind him.

"That one..." I trailed off in astonishment, looking over Harry's shoulder and pointing at the biggest, fluffiest, greenest Christmas tree on sale before running towards it with excitement.

"It's perfect! Just look at it Harry! Isn't this the most beautiful thing you've ever seen!" I celebrated, running around it and jumping as Harry studied the tree with an unimpressed gaze.

"No."

"I like it too!" I smiled, continuing to prance around it with joy before I closed my eyes and brought my arms up, giving the tree a nice, big, hug.

"I'm guessin' your girlfriend here wants this one." The Christmas tree seller said, readjusting the tattered baseball cap on his head as he stood by Harry's side while the two watched me.

"She's not my girlfriend." Harry snapped in an irritated tone, turning to glare at the pot bellied man besides him.

"The pine needles are stabbing me and it hurts a lot but I'm still hugging it!" I screamed, half in pain and half with glee with my arms and face still buried against the bristly tree as Harry turned to the salesman.

"We'll take this one."

I figured finding and buying the perfect Christmas tree would be the hardest part but boy, was I wrong.

"Alright genius, what do we do now." Harry said in his monotone voice as we looked over at our new, 9 foot Christmas tree we bought then to my little volkswagon parked at the side.

This... might be a minor problem, but not to worry, to every problem there will be a solution!

"We can always strap it to the hood of the car." I offered with a thoughtful smile, turning to look at Harry as he glanced at me with a serious expression before he opened his mout.

"We could always strap you to the hood of the car."

Thankfully, that didn't happen.

Instead, we went with plan C.

"I know this might be a tight fit, but at least we're all in the car." I said through squished lips, my chest pressed flat against my steering wheel and the side of my face smushed right against the front window like Harry's as the tree took up most of the space in my car.

Harry tried to turn his head as much as the tree behind us would let him, his face squished against the glass as well in his passenger seat before his green eyes narrowed into slits.

"I hate you so much."

So sure, yes, yes we did have some obstacles with transferring the large, fluffy tree into my car and out of it and driving it back to my apartment...

But that wasn't even the worst part.

Since the tree couldn't fit in the elevator and Harry refused to drag it up three flights of stairs, I had to go to my last resort.

Harry and I pulled on the rope that was tied to the large tree outside of my apartment window, making us heave the oversized plant from the ground up the building into my flat.

"At least I'm not on the fifth floor right?" I let out a breathless laugh, gripping onto the rope and pulling before looking back at Harry behind me, only to be met with his intensely cold glare.

"Right, we can do this." I huffed with determination, struggling slightly knowing if Harry wasn't helping the tree would crash down onto the sidewalk outside while I'd be left with the nastiest rope burns on my palms.

"Oh! I see it!" I said when I saw the trunk right below the window, making me pull harder onto the rope while approaching the window sill as I stuck one arm out, trying to reach for the trunk.

"Wait- bambina don't let go-" Harry began before the rope slipped from my fingers, the tree falling slightly with only Harry holding it up as I fell forward out of the window, quickly grasping onto the prickly pine needles right at the end and dangling three stories above the concrete.

"Oh jeez." I breathed out a small puff of air, seeing my breath in the crispy cold day before I looked through the window below my apartment I was dangling in front of, finding two little kids staring at me with wide shocked eyes.

With one hand still holding onto the tree so I didn't plummet to my death, I used my free hand to wave and smile at them before I heard Harry's strained voice from above.

"Anytime would be fucking great bambina." I heard him growl out as my eyes widened, realizing he was the only thing keeping me and the nine foot tree from crashing to the ground.

"Right, sorry." I called out to him, still hanging on the tree before I quickly climbed up, crawling back through the window into my flat and helping Harry with the rope with newfound adrenaline.

My whole body pulsed with motivation as I wrapped the rope around my hand for good measure and pulled with unbelievable strength, Harry helping me as well as the tree was tugged through the window.

Unfortunately, it got stuck.

Guess it wasn't such a good idea to get such a fluffy Christmas tree.

But that wasn't going to stop me.

"Fuck, look we're just going to have to let it go-"

Harry never finished his sentence before I pulled with all my might, hearing twigs and bristles of the tree snap to accommodate the narrow gap of the window before it was lugged fully inside, the pine needles pushed upwards and half of the tree bald from the struggle as Harry and I were sent backwards to the ground.

"Yes! We did it!" I exclaimed with pride, breathing heavily on the floor with my fists in the air as Harry let out a groan underneath me.

"You're on my balls."

"I can't believe we did it! We actually got it inside!" I laughed in disbelief.

"You're crushing my balls."

"Sure it may be a little bruised but we got it in nonetheless-"

"The tree won't be the only thing bruised if you don't get off my balls right now bambina." Harry growled, making me jump up from on top of him in realization as I sent him an apologetic look.

He propped himself up from the floor his elbows, glaring up at me as I gazed at our new, slightly battered, beautiful Christmas tree.

You know when a cat gets scared its hairs stand up?

Well our tree kind of looked like that, with lots of bald spots but once I situated it in the corner of my living room none of that mattered.

It was my first Christmas tree ever and it was absolutely breath taking.

"How's your hands?" I asked, knowing that Harry had gripped onto the rope the entire time even when the tree fell slightly with my additional weight as he brought his hands under the table, away from my eyes.

"They're fine." He said, looking away with a clenched jaw before I reached out and grabbed his hands, slightly surprising him for a moment as I frowned at the rope burns on his calloused palms with parted lips.

It didn't go deep enough to bleed but there were definite red welts and small blisters on his hands that made my heart ache knowing that if it wasn't for me he wouldn't have gotten hurt.

"This was my fault." I muttered under my breath, blinking down at his wounds as he let out a scoff, attempting to pull away only for me to hold his hands tighter in my grasp.

"Don't give yourself too much credit, I've been hurt much worst than this. It's nothing." He told me, and if it wasn't for his dettached, bitter voice I would have thought he may be trying to actually assure me at the moment.

"Still," I reasoned, going down on my knees in front of him since he was sitting at my dining table, making his whole body tense as he sent me a look while I held his hands, running my thumb along the skin that wasn't harmed.

"I didn't mean to hurt you. I'd rather have no Christmas tree at all and have you unharmed and healthy. I'm sorry." I admitted, avoiding his gaze and lowering my head in shame, still holding his hands.

"Malu-" He began, his voice surprisingly gentle before I caught him off guard.

With closed eyes I leaned forward and gently kissed his knuckles, not wanting to kiss the actual wounds in case his burns were sensitive to any contact before I looked up at him with a small smile.

Harry's jaw was slack, his green eyes wide as he blinked at me in complete and utter shock, his chest rising and falling heavily.

"Does that feel better? I always watch moms do that in movies and shows and for some reason a kiss on the boo-boo's always helps." I explained in a soft tone, blinking up at him as his adams apple bobbed up and down and he forced his lips closed in a tight, firm, line.

"That's stupid." Harry muttered, trying to recover as he quickly brought his hands away from mine.

"Oooh, you're all grumpy again so you must be feeling better." I teased, rising to my feet and scrunching my face at him as he avoided my eyes, mumbling a small "whatever" under his breath.

"Don't worry, I'll go out and get you some real medicine for that. You just stay here and relax." I assured him, grabbing my purse off the table and turning to the door before I heard him follow me.

"Wait." Harry said, walking towards the front door with me as I stopped and turned to look at him.

He still wouldn't meet my gaze, keeping his eyes trained on the window at the side with a clenched jaw before he slowly brought his other hand up.

"You forgot this one." He said, and if I didn't know any better it almost looked as if the big bad assassin in front of me was pouting.

I surpressed a light laugh, not wanting to embarrass him before I took his hand between us without question and kissed his knuckles, his eyes finally darting to mine at the contact as he took in a small breath.

"You were right," Harry then said, looking at his hand that I had kissed as I smiled up at him, opening the front door for the both of us.

"My hands do feel a little better." He shrugged, keeping a straight face as I bit my lip to keep from smiling.

"I'm glad." I told him, the both of us exchanging eye contact for a few seconds until we looked away in unison, walking side by side to the elevator.

We had gone to the nearest pharmacy to get Harry's medicine for his burns, only to walk back after I had stopped by to pet a cute german shephard on the way, making my whole face swell and flare up due to my allergies.

My skin was red, itchy, it was somewhat difficult to breathe, and my face was all puffy just because I pet and hugged a dog.

So worth it.

"What did we learn." Harry said as I trailed behind him with a lowered head, looking like I was pouting when really it was just my lips being super swollen.

"Not to pet any animals with fur..." I trailed off, my long sleeves almost passing my knees with my slumped shoulders.

"Exactly." Harry responded, turning to find me rubbing my eyes, the lack of sleep finally taking a toll on my tired body as I yawned, slowly tredding on my feet.

We still had a few more blocks to go till we got to my place.

"Bambina don't touch your skin, I just put the medicine on and you still look like a tomato." He gently scolded, walking over to me and grabbing my wrists, slowly pulling them away from my itchy face as I peered up at him through half closed lids.

"Sorry." I slurred, swaying slightly on my feet as Harry took in my fatigued state.

"You're sleepy aren't you neonata." He observed as I shook my head.

"M'fine." I said, rubbing my eye again only for him to bring my hand down once more before he let out a sigh.

I blinked with droopy lids when he turned around and crouched ever so slightly in front of me, his back facing me and his hands underneath his spine as he waited.

"Well, I'm not going to be here all day." Harry said, looking over his shoulder to glare at me when I hadn't moved an inch from my spot.

"Oh, for me?" A lazy smile spread across my face as I pointed at my chest.

"For you." He nodded with a bored look as I grinned, practically beaming when I took his offer and wrapped my arms around his neck, slinging my legs around the sides of his toned waist before I felt his large hands underneath my thighs, keeping me up before he stood to his feet, continuing home while giving me a piggy back ride.

"Thank you." I smiled, struggling to keep my eyes open as I nuzzled my face into his neck to show my appreciation before resting the side of my face on his broad shoulder.

"Go to sleep." Was the only response I got as Harry carried me on his back all the way to my flat before I followed his instructions, letting my eyes close shut as I held his warm body close.

____________________________________

AN: In response to your questions about the Philippines I'll be going to Manila. And then also somewhere in the province for Christmas to see my family. What are you doing for Christmas, and if you don't celebrate Christmas what are you doing on winter break?