byler oneshots

03 - under the mistletoe

told from will's pov
december of freshman year
*will and mike are flirting but not actually together yet*
*long chapter - 1,280 words*

I walk downstairs in my snowman pajamas to find my mom struggling to put the tree up as Jonathan documents it on his new camera which was an early Christmas present from my grandma.

"Guys! Why did you start decorating?!" I ask, running to help my mom with the tree.

"Well it is Christmas Eve, so we had to start at some point! Plus it's almost noon, Will." Jonathan says, looking down at his watch. I just groan in return and continue to help my mom put the tree up. It's almost three by the time the tree is covered in ornaments and holly leaves like every doorway in the house. Just as I am hanging up the last ornament that I made when I was in kindergarten, I hear the phone ring.

"Can someone get that?" I hear my mom yell from her room.

"Sure!" I yell back, walking over to the phone and putting it to my ear.

"Hello?" I say into it.

"Will! Hi!" I hear Mike say on the other line. Immediately my heart beat starts to speed up.

"Hi, Mike! Merry Christmas Eve!" I say excitedly, admiring all the decorations hung around the room.

"Merry Christmas Eve! I wanted to see if maybe - maybe you wanted to come over later for a little Christmas Eve party? It would just be our family and your family. We could bake and have hot chocolate or do whatever." Mike says, my cheeks turning red just from his voice.

"I would love to! I bet Jonathan and my mom would also love to join. What time should we come over?" I ask excitedly.

"How about seven o'clock?" Mike asks.

"Sounds great. See you then!" I say.

"Bye!" Mike says before hanging up the phone.

"Mom! Jonathan! Do you want to go to the Wheeler's tonight for a Christmas Eve party?!" I yell.

"Yes!" Jonathan says, walking into the kitchen, followed by my mom.

"That sounds great! Then I don't have to cook."my mom teases.

I run quickly upstairs into my room and shut the door, grabbing the red and green wrapping paper and tape off my bed and sitting on the floor. I have already wrapped my families gifts and they are under the tree, but the final gift sits in front of me. The one for Mike. It's a mixtape of songs that remind me of him. I have been finding these songs for years, but never planned on actually giving the tape, but now that we are getting closer, I think that it's something he will really enjoy.

I wrap the mixtape neatly in the wrapping paper and sign my name on it with a little heart next to it.

By the time I know it, it's already six thirty, so I grab a pair of blue jeans, my favorite red Christmas sweater with a big Christmas tree on it, and red converse before brushing through my hair and running down the stairs to see Jonathan holding a small present, I assume for Nancy, and my mom covering a large tray with tin foil. I knew she would cool anyway.

~~~~~~~~~~~

My hand shakes as I reach and ring the Wheeler's doorbell, stuffing the present into my back pocket to give to him later.

"Hi guys! Come in, come in!" Mrs. Wheeler says, moving out of the way and opening the door wider for us to file into the living room where the rest of the family is.

My eyes immediately shoot to Mike who is sitting on the couch in jeans, a red and white striped sweater, and white converse. Practically the same outfit as me.

"Hi, Mike!" I say as he stands up and comes over to me. My mom and his mom immediately start taking in the kitchen about whatever moms talk about while Jonathan and Nancy sit by the fireplace, laughing and talking.

"Hi! Thank you so much for inviting me over." I say, cringing at my words. Why am I so awkward?

"Of course! Do you maybe wanna go up to my room and listen to music or something?" Mike asks, pointing towards the stairs.

"Definitely." I say. A perfect opportunity to give him the gift. I follow him upstairs and down the hallway to his room where he sits on his bed and I sit down next to him, taking the present out of my pocket and holding it up for him to see

"Here." I say, handing it to him.

"Thank you, Will, but I want you to open mine first." he says, handing me a small gift bag with fluffy wrapping paper. I smile and take the paper out to reveal three new comic books that I have been asking for for years!

"Mike! Thank you!" I say, giving him a quick hug.

"Of course." he says, smiling and unwrapping his gift. His eyebrows raise a little in confusion when he sees the mixtape.

"I have been picking out songs that remind me of you for a few years, and I decided to put them on a mixtape for you." I say, a smile immediately appearing on his face.

"Will, this is the most thoughtful gift that anyone had ever gotten me. Thank you so much." he says, pushing play on the mixtape and standing up and pacing to his doorway, a look of determination on his face.

"What is it?" I ask, standing in front of him.

"Will - I - I need to talk to you. I'm not sure if you feel the same way, but I think I'm in love with you. I think I've been in love with you for the past few years, but I've been in denial about it, and now I want to just get the feelings out of the way and tell you." Mike says. I feel my jaw drop a little bit and my face turn crimson red.

"Mike I - I'm in love with you too. I'm so insanely in love with you. I have been in love with you since I saw you that day in kindergarten, and I've always wanted to tell you, but my dad used to find drawings I would make of us - and he would hit me and tell me that it's a sin to like boys, and I believed him until I couldn't fight those feelings back any longer, so I stopped pretending and started letting myself feel those things." I say, inching towards him.

"Will I'm so sorry. You didn't deserve that. If you ever need to talk, just know, however distant I may feel from you, I love you and you can always talk to me." Mike says as I feel happy tears stinging in my eyes and streaming slowly down my cheeks.

"Why are you crying?!" Mike says worriedly.

"They're happy tears, Mike. I've been waiting for this moment for my whole life." I say, inching close to him. Our faces are now only inches apart, and I can feel his warm breath on me. I see Mike look up and smirk as his eyes fall back to mine.

"We're under the mistletoe." Mike laughs. I look up to see a string of mistletoe hanging on his doorway right above us and look back to see his face even closer to mine. His cold hand cups my chin and lifts it up, pressings his lips into mine softly as we both ease into the kiss. Our lips move in sync for another second before we pull away, my heart catching in my throat.

"Merry Christmas, Will."

"Merry Christmas, Mike."