It Doesn't Have To Be That Way

Chapter 1:

The first time it happened, it was without thought yet it changed everything.

It was just before Christmas in 1974, the year they'd won Eurovision and been caught in a spiraling high. People were everywhere that night. Packed into Björn and Agnetha's little house where everything was busy. There, snip-bits of conversation could be caught when a song ended - eventually always drowning out. Everything getting lost as soon as the music picked back up. There was the occasional dancing though it never lasted long, it was much more often that feet were getting stepped on then actually daring to move along with someone. Drinks were had - many drinks at that. Which is inevitably what they blamed it on. It was easier that way. To blame everything that kiss made them feel, everything it led to, on a shot they never threw back, but I guess that made the lying part easier. No need to talk about it if you could say you'd forgotten the night by the next day.

By the end of the night they'd found themselves all singing together. Most people had gone home, it was late enough that only a couple handfuls of people remained, including the four of them. So they sang, all sat in the living room, making suggestions of what to sing next, always ending with everyone joining in. Some songs were given extra choruses and others just stopped in the middle before they moved on to the next one. And after a rendition of "Baby It's Cold Outside" that the girls had refused to partake in - Benny of course stepping in to sing with Björn, they'd all settled down and Agnetha found herself singing "It Doesn't Have To Be That Way". It was almost like an ending, Björn playing the guitar, she with eggnog in hand. She hadn't thought about what she was singing, the words that is, not until her eyes had stretched across the people sitting in front of her before landing on Frida.

Frida, who had been waiting for Agnetha to look at her, watching her with her green eyes so intently. That look had been overwhelming. It felt like how it had been in the beginning when they'd met. That butterfly feeling, if you could even call it that - it was more like a tight almost swelling feeling in the pit of your stomach. It kept beat with your heart and it was the best and worst feeling in the world. It was a feeling she thought she'd gotten over which is why she looked away. It was also why she kept coming back. They played this game till the music ended, until the noise of conversation started up once again, pulling Agnetha from her thoughts. Forcing a smile that meant to show she was paying attention, she bowed at the end of the song. Agnetha stepped away from her spot next to Björn, stumbling just a little, eyes searching for Frida before finding her at the back of the room refilling her drink.

Agnetha took a shaky breath, asking herself why she was so nervous before deciding to stay away from the question, and walked back to her, smiling when Frida caught her eye and took her glass from her, refilling it without asking.

Before she'd had the chance to say anything or rather come up with something to say someone yelled out from the back of the room.

"Hey! You're under the mistletoe!"

Agnetha stopped in her thoughts, hesitantly looking up and sure enough they were underneath the mistletoe that had caused more than a few awkward albeit hilarious encounters that night. She looked at Björn who was laughing almost in hysterics, having been the one who placed them all around the house.

"If I had to kiss Stig," Benny attempted in a serious tone, "You two have to kiss." And everyone agreed. Frida looked at her, mirroring an expression Agnetha was sure was her own.

Frida thought to protest, but stopped herself, figuring a fuss over a silly holiday tradition would make it mean something. And this wouldn't mean anything, right? It would just be a kiss.

Agnetha seemed to have come to this same conclusion. Though this didn't stop her from mumbling something under her breath about Björn and where he definitely wouldn't be sleeping tonight. She set her glass down and stepped into Frida's space. One of her hands landed on her waist and she pulled her in until their lips brushed, barely touching at first. But when Frida stepped a little closer, pushed a little harder against her lips, Agnetha had to swallow to keep from opening her mouth ever so slightly. The kiss lasted no more than a second, and yet she was completely wrecked by it. She wanted more. It felt like there should be more. She stayed standing there, her eyes still closed, not wanting to step back, wanting for a new rule to be added, thinking there definitely should be a time minimum to this silly holiday tradition.