under the mistletoe - s.jy
synopsis: Coming home for Christmas means facing everything she left behind - including Jake. Between old traditions, shared memories, and a mistletoe hanging a little too deliberately, feelings long buried resurface, proving that some love doesn’t disappear with distance. This Christmas, coming home might mean staying.
genre: childhood friends to lovers, fluff
warnings: Kissing, petnames (love), slice of life
A/N: oh. my. god. I'm SO SORRY for not uploading in MONTHS omg I had nursing school placement and it was INSANE and I've just been so busy, but here's a short Christmas fic in time for Christmas that's in 2 HOURS. YAYY MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! And if you don't celebrate, have an amazing day <3
under the mistletoe - enhypen
The cold December air has never felt more welcoming until now – biting, chilly breezes mussing your hair, wafts of cinnamon from the nearby bakery, faint melodies of Christmas carols playing from the pub speakers around the corner. Snowflakes dance in the bustling wind, settling on top of each other on any surface imaginable, a bright blanket of white covering the town.
Your teeth chatter and you pull your coat tighter around you, the cold seeping into your bones, but you can’t help the grin that grows on your lips. It’s always great to be back home.
With each step, your boots crunch under the snow-caked pavement, leaving a trail of your footsteps. The falling snow quickly covers them, catching on your hair, your shoulders, snagging on your clothes and quickly melting, leaving wet patches on your winter coat. Pressing your lips together tightly, you trudge through the quickly thickening snow. The string lights hanging off the buildings around you reflect onto the snow, refracting into a gentle rainbow.
You don’t hear him at first, only the soft crunch of boots behind you. The rhythm, the sound – all too familiar, enough to make your steps falter.
“You’re gonna catch a cold if you keep walking around like that.”
You turn slowly, the familiar Aussie accent easily recognisable, your breath catching in your throat. You recognise him instantly, even after all this time. Jake stands a few steps away, scarf wrapped loosely around his neck and draped over his shoulder, cheeks tinted pink from the cold, eyes warm in a way that makes your heart ache.
“Hi,” he says simply, smiling as if you never left.
It’s as if your small town suddenly glows brighter, the air more biting, more electric. That’s always how it’s been with Jake – his smile enough to make you forget your worries, his presence enough to brighten everyone’s days, his words that warm your chest better than a mug of hot chocolate.
“Jake,” you breathe, your smile growing to a full-blown grin. “I’m so glad to see you here! I was wondering when I would run into you.”
His smile mirrors yours, stuffing his hands in his pockets. “Surely you didn’t think I wouldn’t be the first one to greet you? After all this time?” He asks teasingly, his playful words alleviating the heaviness that weighs on your shoulders for being gone for so long.
“Honestly thought you’d have forgotten me, it’s been too long.” You say half-jokingly. It really has been a long time. Years ago, you were offered the job of your dreams – except, it required you to move halfway across the country, abandoning everything you knew, everyone you’d pretty much grown up with.
His gaze softens, almost to something akin to tenderness. “How could I forget you?”
His words were so simple yet made your heart bloom into warmth and something you couldn’t name, your face relaxing. Turns out it wasn’t going to be so bad being back after all.
A beat of silence falls between you, but it doesn’t feel awkward. Rather, it feels comforting – warm, despite the chilling wind whipping past you both.
“Anyway, what are you doing tonight? I imagine you’ll be seeing your parents?” Jake asks. It’s as if you both move in sync, walking side by side together. Your arm brushes against his, and you feel the heat radiating off him, the soft yet overwhelming scent of pine and mint on his skin infiltrating your nostrils. You missed this, missed him.
You breathe in deeply. “Yeah, but they think I’m arriving much later – like after dinner. My flight was changed to a way earlier one.”
“Well, if that’s the case, do you want to catch up? I’m yet to set up my Christmas tree?” He glances sideways at you, eyebrows wiggling playfully, warranting a stifled laugh. Ever since you two were kids, your families have been close. Naturally, that meant shared dinners, countless sleepovers, shared Christmases. Since you can remember, you both have been putting up your Christmas trees together – until you had to move.
You grin widely again, glancing up at the boy next to you. Since when did he get so tall?
His place is exactly like how you remember it, with big oak doors, dark hardwood flooring, light grey walls. When the door clicks shut behind you, tiny footsteps bound down the hallway, and Jake’s border collie, Layla, darts around a corner, bounding straight toward you.
She jumps onto you, knocking you down as Layla attacks you with countless slobbery kisses. “Layla! I missed you!” You barely manage to say through your laughter, lovingly scruffing her shiny coat of fur. You can’t find it in you to care about the dog hair that’ll completely cover your clothes.
“She didn’t forget you either.” Jake says as he leans against the wall, watching the two of you playing together, a tender smile on his face. It feels like just yesterday you left, the way you fell back into your natural rhythm.
You glance up at Jake, a bright smile decorating your face as you eventually stand up, dusting your clothes off. “Alright, let’s get down to business. Far out, I missed this!” You say enthusiastically, steps filled with so much excitement, you’re pretty much skipping.
His Christmas tree is bare and lonely, standing in the corner of his living room, with the branches almost begging for colour and life. “You must’ve really needed me back, because this is ridiculous.” You tease, elbowing him. He doubles over, groaning in exaggerated pain, but he can’t hide the warm grin on his face.
“You’re right. It hasn’t been the same here since you left.”
You meet his gaze, and it feels like time slows around you, moving in slow motion as if you two are stuck here. Your heart thuds hard against your ribs, and your stomach erupts into a colony of butterflies. Pink softly tints his cheeks, and he tears his gaze away, clearing his throat.
Time catches back up to you again, and the faint noise of wind whipping at his windows fades back into the background with Layla’s eager panting, pine and mint grounding you. “Right, let’s get to decorating?” You say almost awkwardly, and Jake is too quick to nod.
“Yeah! Yeah, I’ll get the ornaments.” He says quickly, darting off to the garage to retrieve his big box of ornaments he’s been collecting. You release a breath you didn’t realise you’ve been holding, and open your phone to play your joint Christmas playlist.
Loud, happy Christmas music fills the room, and it feels like years ago, when it was you two – no trouble with distance or work, just the two of you. Jake emerges from the garage with the overfilled box in his arms, grunting as he hauls it to the couch. Throwing it onto the plush cushions, the box bounces, ornaments spilling over and littering the floor with plastic ‘clinks,’ Layla chasing after the small baubles.
“You still have the playlist?” He asks breathlessly, shocked as he glances up at you, lifting up the lid to the box, revealing a bright array of colourful decorations for the Christmas tree.
“Of course I do! Since I moved away, I listened to it every Christmas.” You say simply, not noticing the soft, warm smile blooming on his lips.
It’s like you both move in practiced rhythm, dancing around each other to the music blasting through the living room, strategically placing ornaments on the branches of the tree. “Look! The ornaments we made when we were 16!” Jake calls out excitedly, holding out two small wooden ornaments.
They’re cuts of wood, with drawings of each other scribbled in the hard lines of the wood. Your names are scribbled in your messy handwriting at the bottom, a red ribbon decorating the top of the ornament where the loop is to hang on the tree. You smile fondly, carefully taking the ornament you made. You can almost relive the memory of making these with him, hanging them up together excitedly that same day.
“This is incredible, I forgot about this.” You say softly, tracing the lines of your drawing of Jake, smile growing impossibly bigger. You glance up at Jake, where he’s already staring at you intently, eyes glimmering with happiness and maybe… affection?
No, that can’t be. No way he would feel that for you, right?
“Yeah, really incredible.” He says quietly, unable to tear his eyes from you, until he shakes his head, snapping himself out of his trance. “Let’s hang them up, shall we?”
The two of you walk together to the tree and hang the handmade ornaments right next to each other, arms brushing briefly. When his skin makes contact with yours, you swear electricity zaps through you, making you shiver. And even when you both finish hanging up the ornaments and step away, your skin where he touched still hums warmly.
For the next hour, you both decorate the tree expertly, lights perfectly framing the carefully placed decorations. You can remember the origin of most of these ornaments, and your heart tugs, with guilt of leaving, with joy of being back.
Jake stands back with his hands on his hips, sighing heavily as he takes in the sight of their joint efforts with the tree. Compared to before, it looks like it’s straight out of a magazine. “Last part, the star.”
You quirk your eyebrow, before turning to glance at the tip of the tree. Truth be told, the tip is bare, missing the colour and excitement that the rest of the tree has. “Do you want to put the star up? I don’t think I can reach.” You definitely can’t reach. His tree is so incredibly tall, it rivals his high-rise ceilings.
“I don’t think I could reach it either. Here, get on my shoulders.” He says nonchalantly, stepping over to you and kneeling before you, offering his help. You shake your head with a laugh, and carefully climb onto his shoulders, thighs on either side of his head, your legs dangling over his chest.
He stands up suddenly, gripping your legs tightly so you don’t fall backwards. You squeal, laughing as he pretends to lose balance and drop you. He hands you the star from the couch, making sure you’re secure and comfortable on his shoulders. “There you go, let’s finish what we started.” He says softly, walking carefully over to the tree.
You strategically place the glimmering star onto the tip of the tree, cheering happily at the finally finished tree. “Honestly, I think this is our best Christmas tree we’ve done together.” You say proudly, hands on your hips as you study the tree.
Without warning, he pulls you off of his shoulders, swinging you around so he’s carrying you bridal style. You cry out in surprise again at the sudden movement, but when he holds you close to him, you swear your heart will burst through your ribcage if it beats any harder. Your stomach flutters, and your cheeks heat up at the sudden proximity.
For a moment, the world slips away from you, and you can’t help but study the subtle features of him – his soft, dark hair, his gentle, kind eyes, his full lips. He’s grown so much more handsome since the last time you’ve seen him. His gaze travels slowly over your face, staring so intently it’s like he’s committing you to memory.
This time, it isn’t awkward. It’s like the two of you are stuck in a trance, and your stomach flutters with… nerves? Is it excitement? Or maybe it’s anticipation?
The feeling fades but still thrums strongly in your veins as he carefully sets you back on your feet, the floor feeling wobbly under your trembling legs. He opens his mouth, and it looks like he’s about to say something, until a loud knock at his front door slices through the tension like a hot knife, jolting the two of you out of the trance that held you captive under his gaze.
“I’m gonna… gonna go answer that.” Jake says quietly, breathing heavy as he walks away, his footsteps deliberate. You breathe like you’ve spent the last few minutes underwater as he answers the door, the tension lifting off of your shoulders just enough to give you the air you desperately need.
The door clicks open, and you hear hushed whispering at the door. Frowning, you sit down on the couch, wondering who could be at the door.
Until you feel two pairs of hands on your shoulders.
You whip around, and your parents are standing behind you with the biggest grins on their faces. “Mum! Dad!” You exclaim excitedly, leaping up from the couch to pull them into a bone-crushing hug, vision blurry with tears.
Jake stands off to the side and watches you with your parents, a warm smile tugging on his lips at the heartwarming scene before him.
“You know, Jake had the idea of surprising you!” Your mum discloses, pulling back slightly to caress your cheek, wiping the tears away with her thumb. God, you missed this, being with your family like this.
With a glance up at Jake, you grin brightly, running up to him and jumping into his arms again. “Thank you, you have no idea how special that is.” You mumble brokenly into his sweater, tears staining the fabric. You ignore the teasing whispers from your parents behind you as Jake wraps you in his arms affectionately, his fingers drawing comforting circles on your back. You’ve never felt more at home.
“Are you guys gonna be home for dinner?” You ask excitedly, only barely pulling away to face your parents, who watch with amused expressions.
“Jake said it was fine earlier, if that’s still okay with you mate?” Your dad answers, leaning back onto the back of the couch, knowing smile twitching at his lips.
Jake nods, pulling you tighter into him almost instinctively. “Of course! My parents will be coming soon too.” He glances down at you still in his arms, and his hand goes to your shoulder, giving a soft squeeze. “Did you want to make dinner with me? Just like old times?”
“Is that even a question?” You ask dramatically, earning a playful eye roll and chuckle from Jake as you leave his arms, bounding off to the kitchen. “What are we cooking tonight, Mr. Sim?”
“I’ve got stuff for pizza?” He answers, already heading to the fridge and pulling out the ingredients. “Make yourselves at home guys, you’re here often enough to live here anyway.” He calls out to your parents, resulting in a deep chuckle from your father and a sarcastic comment from your mother.
And just like old times, you fall into the natural rhythm of cooking dinner, the typically boring, domestic task suddenly exciting and fun. Jake has a talent for that, making a boring task something to look forward to. That’s one of his many charming traits.
“Jake! You animal, what are you doing putting mushroom on pizza?” You ask theatrically, hand clutching at your chest like you’re having a heart attack, prompting a mushroom smacking into your forehead.
“You’re just mad my palate has matured, unlike yours.” He teases, pointing to your simple cheese pizza. He deserved that handful of cheese to his face.
Another ring of the doorbell echoes down the hallway, indicating Jake’s parents have arrived. Your parents go to greet them, leaving you and Jake to finish up the pizzas. You can definitely tell who’s pizza is whose, with his decorated brightly with a wide variety of ingredients, where yours is just a canvas of red and yellow.
While the pizzas cook, you and Jake take the time to chat with his parents, who walked in with your parents ages ago, but didn’t want to interrupt your very intense cooking session. Both his and your parents tease the two of you, leaving the both of you in blushing messes. The ‘ding’ of the oven saves you – and your dignity – as you leap up to rescue the pizzas from the oven.
“Mmm, smells incredible!” Jake groans delightfully as he follows you into the kitchen, helping you slice them and dividing them onto plates for the two of you and your parents. You missed dinners with them; chatting about their days, endless teasing to you and Jake, never-ending bickering between everyone.
And when it’s time for everyone to go home, your heart tugs painfully as they leave, standing in the doorway with Jake, waving yours and Jake’s parents off. When their cars disappear around the corner, the house suddenly feels too quiet, the air unnervingly still. The Christmas lights weaved through his garden flicker brightly, the tree they decorated together bright behind them.
You hear him exhale heavily, like a weight has been lifted from him. “Need help with the dishes?” You ask quietly, glancing up at him. Jake gives you a soft smile, nodding as the both of you walk back into the house, his hand gently guiding you by settling lightly on the small of your back.
The two of you fall into a natural rhythm, sleeves rolled to your elbows as you scrub at the dirty dishes, the delicate clinking of plates occasionally echoing in the quiet, soap suds splashing out of the sink onto the counter, Jake wiping down the surfaces with a spray and wipe. It feels too natural, too domestic. You catch him glancing at you several times, mouth slightly parted as if he wants to say something but holds himself back.
A faint electric current thrums through your veins, but you push it away, shove it back under your skin. It’s just excitement from being back with your childhood best friend, right?
Putting away the trays into their respective cupboards, you glance up to the hallway, noticing a singular mistletoe hanging from the roof. You freeze.
“Did you put that there?” You ask, a quiet, almost-laugh bubbling from your lips at Jake’s confused face as you point to the mistletoe. Jake stops in his tracks, cheeks immediately burning red.
“My mum insisted, she said it’s good luck?” Jake says, unsure, avoiding your eyes. He’s lying. Your eyebrow quirks up and you smirk slightly, leaning on the counter.
He lets out a heavy sigh, running his hand over his face. “We don’t have to-“
“I know.” You interrupt, getting off from the counter. You walk over to him carefully, slowly, time feeling like it’s in slow motion until you find yourself standing before him, staring up at him.
He really does look so beautiful, the flickering rainbow lights of the Christmas tree reflecting on his skin, illuminating his features in a bright, yet impossibly soft way. For what feels like hours, you both take a moment to just feel each other’s presence – feel how his body heat radiates to you, smell the pine and mint on his skin, unable to take your eyes off each other.
He breathes in deeply, shakily, before he starts to speak, his words quiet but loaded, intense but gentle. “Christmas hasn’t felt right since you left – actually, nothing’s been the same since you left. I feel you everywhere and nowhere, and it was killing me. I’ve never stopped missing you, not even a little bit. I couldn’t find it in me to accept you leaving, I kept believing you’d come back.”
He sighs heavily, shaking his head softly. “I love you. God, I’ve loved you for so long. Part of me died the day you left, and now that you’re back, I finally feel whole. You make me whole.” His eyelids flutter shut. “I just wanted you to know. I didn’t get the chance to tell you years ago.”
Your hands immediately reach up to gently grip his arms, forcing him to meet your gaze, now swirling with intensity and emotion. “Jake, the last thing I wanted to do was leave. God, I never stopped thinking about you. Not even once.” You glance down at your feet, biting your lip to stop the tears threatening to fall down your cheeks.
“I love you too. Coming back home today made it so obvious.” You say so softly, you’re almost afraid Jake missed your words. His hand rises to delicately grip your chin, tilting your head up to meet his burning stare. You notice how his face visibly relaxes – how his eyebrows ease, how his gaze softens, how his lips look so beautifully plump and pink and kissable…
“Can I?” He breathes, his hand drifting from your chin to cup your cheek, thumb caressing your bottom lip.
He steps closer, your bodies gently pressed against each other. You tilt your head up and his tilts down, your foreheads gently touching. Your eyelids flutter shut, heartbeat stuttering and thudding erratically against your ribs.
When his lips meet yours, it’s nothing like how the fairytales describe it – like fireworks exploding, like embers burning to life. Rather, it’s soft; a kiss that held more care than hunger, as if he was afraid you might disappear.
It felt like finally coming home.
Your hands naturally find each other, his settling on your waist and behind your neck, yours cradling his face. He smiles into the kiss, the lights on the Christmas tree glowing brighter, the snow outside falling slower.
His lips are warm, soft – your kiss unhurried as you both pour all of the emotions you’ve been bottling over the years, finally leaving them in the open. And when you pull away, a lingering warmth settles in your heart as your forehead rests on his again, breathing heavily.
“I love you,” he whispers ever so softly, his breath lightly fanning over your face. With a grin, you lean forward and press a soft kiss to his lips, thumb running lightly along the sharp line of his jawline.
“I love you more than you could possibly imagine.” You breathe, his lips pulling into a bright smile.
You’re certain this is the best Christmas you’ll ever have.
You wake up with a yawn, stretching lazily. When your eyes flutter open, you recognise Jake’s room, Layla curled up at your feet. You glance over to your side, and see Jake stirring awake, a lazy grin on his lips as he opens his eyes.
“Good morning love, Merry Christmas.” He says huskily, pulling you against him in a warm hug. You relax into him, his warm skin soft against yours.
Pressing a kiss to his forehead, you rake your fingers through his sleep-mussed hair gently, earning a soft groan from him. You smile softly. “Merry Christmas, Jake.”
Outside, the snow falls the same as yesterday, the Christmas lights still glowing vibrantly, nothing changed – but now, it feels so much more incredible, so much more colourful, all because of the man laying comfortably with you on Christmas morning, a new chapter for the both of you.
Christmas was never about the decorations or the presents – it was always about coming home. And this time, you weren’t leaving.
A/N: ugh I just love to talk on all of my posts LOL I'M SO SORRY BUT ANYWAY sorry for not making this smutty! I just thought a fluffy fic would work better for Christmas :))
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