˖𝔇𝔬𝔫'𝔱 𝔏𝔬𝔬ƙ 𝔘𝔭 ݁˖
𝓦𝖎𝖑𝖑 𝕭𝐲𝖊𝖗𝖘/𝕸𝖎𝐤𝖊 𝓦𝖍𝖊𝖊𝖑𝖊𝖗 ~ 𝕮𝖍𝖗𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖒𝖆𝖘 𝓐𝖉𝖛𝖊𝖓𝖙
Word Count: 1.3k
Summary: Will Byers might have a small obsession
CW: none!
Day 13 of @fandomless-advent-challenge advent!! I am actually going insane over these two you can read this here or on AO3 here! divider by @diviniyae
A plastic piece of mistletoe hung over the door to the basement in the Wheeler household. It was off-green, covered in glitter, and smelled like dust, but every year they put the tiny thing back in its spot. When January 2nd rolled around and all the festivities were done they would put it back into an old yellow tote alongside the other decorations.
Will remembered loving it when he was a kid. Back then everything was still filled with holiday magic, and the mistletoe seemed like the embodiment of it all. He was there the first year they had hung it up, when it was still shiny and new. He and Mike had no clue what love really was yet, only that it was gross watching people kiss, which they would make very clear through their grimaces.
All that was before the sight of Christmas lights filled Will with dread. Before everything went to hell, including himself. Before he watched people bleed out in front of him. Before he wished he and Mike were the ones under the mistletoe. Now the holiday was always a footnote in whatever tragedy they were writing that year, and he would have to keep dreaming.
Things had been quiet this year. No attacks, no disappearances, no visions or goosebumps, just a normal December. Life had started to go normally. Not back to normal, none of them could do that anymore, but they could pretend for a bit. Mike had invited Will over to just hang out. It was something they hadn’t had time for in a long while, but it wasn’t unwelcome. Will was rather excited, he knew why he was, but he chose to ignore it; Mike was his friend and that was it.
Will arrived at the Wheeler household, trying to not look like the doorbell might bite him. The door opened before he even had a chance to knock.
“Will!” Mike said enthusiastically. “It’s freezing out there, get inside!”
Will didn’t argue with Mike as he was playfully pulled inside, nor when Mike practically stole his old coat from him. However, with every touch from Mike his skin felt like it was setting on fire. He could feel his cheeks flushing, which he hoped passed for just being cold. Will was so distracted he almost didn’t hear Mike talking to him.
“I thought we could make hot cocoa later, I got the ingredients and stuff, well Nancy did but that’s besides the point.” Mike said as he walked towards the basement. “It’s only us here tonight, my mom and dad are out at some Christmas party, Holly’s at a friend's house, and well Nancy’s at your place so we don’t have to worry about any of them.”
Mike continued to talk as he walked down the basement stairs, however Will didn’t follow, instead stopping just before the door and staring up at the old mistletoe. He and Mike had been standing under it together for just a second, but the thought consumed his entire mind.
“Will, you good man?” Mike called up from the bottom of the stairs.
“Yeah! Sorry, I just thought I saw a spider or something.” Will said before hurrying down the steps.
They didn’t do much for a while, just sat around playing video games, making jokes at the others’ expense, and simply enjoying the others' presence. It was almost peaceful, that would be if Will couldn’t hear his heartbeat every time Mike moved closer to him. It wasn’t his fault, it’s not like he wanted this. Will had done everything in his power to try to forget about it. Yet no matter how hard he tried, his stupid crush on Mike Wheeler would never go away.
“We should get hot cocoa now, I’m freezing!” Mike said, standing up from the couch, and offering a hand to Will who was sitting on the floor.
Will hesitantly took Mike’s hand hating how comfortable it felt on his own. “Y-yeah sure I could have hot chocolate.”
To Will’s horror Mike didn’t let go of his hand as he dragged him upstairs. They passed under the mistletoe, which Will couldn’t help but stare at for a second, and into the Wheeler’s kitchen. Mike finally let go of Will’s hand to search for ingredients.
“You said Nancy bought this stuff?” Will asked, trying to get his mind to focus on anything but what just happened.
“Yeah. It was supposed to be for her and Jonathan.” Mike said, rummaging through the pantry. “But then they didn’t make any so I’m stealing it for us!”
“Won’t she be mad?”
“Probably.” Mike shrugged while putting water on to boil.
Will shook his head and looked around the kitchen. It had barely changed since he was a kid. The bright orange countertops had gained a few new scratches and one of the cabinets had a small dent in it, but it was still the same as his childhood. Will kept looking around until his eyes yet again landed back onto the lonely mistletoe over the door. It was like the thing had hypnotized him. It was ugly as sin, and looked like the best home for it would be the dumpster, yet Will couldn’t stop thinking about it.
His mind was only drawn back to reality when Mike handed him his mug.
“Mom tried to get rid of that thing this year.” Mike said, gesturing to the mangled mistletoe. “Holly insisted we kept it.”
“Haven’t you guys had it forever?”
“I think we got it back when I was in kindergarten, so the equivalent of forever.”
Will snickered at the thought as he followed Mike back down to the basement. As they passed under the doorway, Will could have sworn that Mike hesitated for a fraction of a second. He hoped desperately it was true, but even if it was, it was most likely because he forgot something.
What happened over the next few hours was suspicious to Will. Seemingly every thirty minutes Mike would come up with an idea that would require them to go back up the stairs - back under the stupid mistletoe. It was hard to not read into anything after the 3rd time Mike stopped and said he’d forgotten something. On the 4th time up the stairs Will stopped Mike.
“Are you going to forget something again?”
“What? I haven’t – What are you talking about?” Mike stuttered.
“Yes you have, we’d spend maybe five minutes downstairs before we would go back up!” Will joked.
“I just, I don’t know.” Mike smiled.
That’s when Will remembered where they were standing. He and Mike — the boy he is deeply, hopelessly in love with — are standing under the mistletoe. Every fiber in Will’s body was screaming at him, but he could not shift expressions. Mike could not know how he felt. All Will had to do was not look up, keep eye contact and not look up.
It was simple.
Then Will glanced up.
Suddenly, a pair of soft lips crashed into him and the world erupted. For a second Will didn’t kiss back, in fact he didn’t even breathe. Then electricity flowed through him like he held both ends of a wire on his tongue. He gently kissed him – him – back. He could taste the sweetness of the hot chocolate still on his lips. The tiny scar on his bottom lip burned into his own. Mike pulled away first.
“Shit, I’m sorry I shouldn’t have done that – I mean I don’t regret it but, I, I should have asked.”
With a surge of confidence Will pulled Mike back into another passionate kiss. Hands slowly found their way around each other, tangling themselves in the other's curls. It burned like the warmth of a candle in the middle of winter. They pulled away for air, resting their foreheads against each other.
After a minute Mike quietly asked. “So what now?”
Will didn’t have an answer. It was the 80s, what could they do?
“I don’t know.”
“Okay…I guess we’ll have to find out together.”
“Together.” Will smiled. “I would like that.”
