a little more ✩ byler

XXI. The Night Before Christmas

Mike woke up extra early today, earlier than Will. His plan was to decorate the inside of the garage with loads of lights and Christmas items that would set the scene for his big question to Will tonight. Mike pulled his parents car out of the garage and parked it in the driveway. Even though he barely knew how to drive, his dad gave him the okay to move the car on his own since his father and mother were both extremely busy with the extra workload because of the holidays. Mike then pulled out all the spare decorations that he had in the house that weren't already being used. He strung up lights and taped mistletoe from the middle beam of his garage. After almost an hour of decorating, the garage was perfect. He gathered all his left overs, locked the large door to the garage, and walked out of the garage through the basement door. He made sure to lock the door behind him and keep the key in the pocket of his khaki pants.

By the time Mike was finished in the garage, it was almost noon. Everyone in the house was already awake and in the pursuit of their day. While Mike was busy all morning decorating, Will was upstairs in Mike's room putting the finishing touches on his card he was making for Mike. It was a white piece of construction paper with a drawing of Mike and Will holding hands on the inside. He wrote a heartfelt note to Mike and slipped his custom card into an envelope and wrote To Mike, From Will with a sticker of a heart after his own name. Will placed the card into the bag that had Mike's scrapbook in it and walked it downstairs to the basement and set it under the tree, hidden in the back, not to get it confused with any other gifts. 

The boys and the rest of the family for the remainder of the day until it was just about time for the party. The first people to arrive were El and Max. Mike ran up to get the door and greeted them both with a "Merry Christmas" and hug. Will and all the rest of the family did the same. Dustin and Lucas arrived shortly after and the whole party sat downstairs in the basement enjoying each others company, well, almost everyone was enjoying it. There was still an obvious elephant in the room and it was sitting right in between Lucas and Will. Lucas still hadn't apologized to Will or Mike for what had happened a few days prior at dinner. Lucas had a look of guilt plastered over his face, but he didn't want to mention anything about what happened if the girls were around. Dustin, seeing the clear uncomfortability in the room, invited the girls upstairs to get some snacks, leaving Lucas, Mike and Will downstairs on their own. The three sat in silence for a bit before Lucas finally chose to speak up.

"Will look, I'm really sorry about what I said to you. I don't know why I reacted that way and I shouldn't have. I'm really sorry." He began, catching Will attention, " I think its really cool that you have powers now too"

"I'm not going to say that it's okay because it's not." Will said without looking up, "I don't know if we can ever be friends in the same way again, but I'm willing to try." 

"I respect that, I just wanted you to know I was sorry." Lucas said, just as the basement door opened and Dustin and the girls returned. 

The party spent the rest of the night snacking on treats, watching movies, playing board games and exchanging gifts in the basement. They spent the whole night together until finally, it was almost midnight and it was time for Lucas, Dustin, Max, and El to head home for the night. This meant it was Mike's moment to finally ask Will to be his boyfriend and to give him his necklace. Once the front door shut, Mike began to get butterflies in his stomach. He was ready to ask Will, he was just nervous since he didn't know what Will would say. Both boys went back down to the basement and sat there for a short period before Mike excused himself to run upstairs.

Mike ran all the way up his houses three flights of stairs until he reached his room. He quickly rummaged through his sock drawer and pulled out the small box that held the necklace. He gave all four of his pockets a quick pat to make sure he had the basement key, and went downstairs. However, instead of going back to the basement, he went out the front door and walked into the garage, pulling up the door and shutting it behind him. He plugged in all the lights that he hung up, pulled the key out of his pocket and unlocked the door. He peeped his head out, causing Will to jump.

"Come here Willy" Mike said to Will as he snuck back into the garage and shut the door. 
Will stood up off the couch and walked over to the garage door and pulled it open. He stood in the doorway of the entrance with his jaw practically on the ground. He looked around at all the pretty decorations as Mike stood in the center of the garage with the box behind his back.

"Did you do all of this?" Will said in disbelief.

"Yeah, do you like it" Mike said

"I love it Mike, when did you do all of this" Will said, walking toward Mike, closing the door behind him.

"That's not important, I have something for you Will" Mike said in reply, slipping the small box into his back pocket while he softly took Will's hands.

"W-what is it", Will stuttered, "Are you going to prank me or something?"

"No silly, I uh, I have a question for you , you don't have to say yes, I hope you do though"

"O-okay"

"Will", Mike began as he took the box out of his pocket and handed it to Will, " This is for you. I hope you like it"

Will looked at the small, neatly wrapped box that sat in his hands. He began to pull the wrapping paper from the gift. Once he had it opened, he took the top off of the box, revealing the gold necklace with the letter M on it. Will looked up at Mike with tear filled eyes, in almost disbelief that Mike had gotten him such a meaningful gift. Will took the necklace out of the box and held it in his hand.

"Thank you so much Mike, I love it." Will said, "Can you help me put it on?"

Mike took the necklace from Will, went behind him, and latched the necklace. Will turned back around to meet eyes with Mike.

"I love you." Mike said, blurting it out as word vomit.

"I love you too" Will said in return.

"Will, will you be my b-boyfriend?" Mike said

"I thought you'd never ask." Will said, responding to Mike with a kiss on the lips and a hug to follow.

The two boys, now an official couple, walked back inside from the cold garage and Will gave Mike his gift he made. Just as Will had expected, Mike loved it.

Sorry for the short chapter, love you all! 

word count 1235