Byler One Shots - Blingyu(s)

In my heart there is a hole in the shape of you

Description: Will, Mike and the rest of the party from the Christmases of 1984 to 1987. Four Christmases, four years of friendship, growing apart, crushes, and even something more.

Who could've known?

OR: Byler figuring things out and getting together, all set on Christmas days throughout the years.

Word Count: 7,690

Date Originally Posted: December 23rd, 2022

A/N: byler fic set during christmas(es!) YAY!!!! :D

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december 25th, 1984

This Christmas was going to be a good one, Will thinks as he's still blinking away the last moments of sleep in his eyes. His mom woke him up bright and early along with his brother to open up the presents lying just under the tree. Jonathan got some clothes and a new wallet that he had said he needed. Will also got new clothes and some colored pencils as well as a new sketchbook.

Was it much? Probably not. However, it was all Will's known. They wake up early, his mom puts the radio onto the Christmas station, and they unwrap their presents. They give their mom the biggest hugs and she just smiles at them before getting up to make breakfast. On Christmas it's always homemade waffles. Their mom usually opts to do the easier option in their day to day life, Eggos or toast. Christmas was special, she has the day off and so she can find the time to not only make waffles, but the whole works; bacon AND sausage, eggs, potatoes, and even hot chocolate to go along with the meal.

They sit at the table together and talk about anything, everything. After they eat they turn on the TV and decide to watch the Disney World Christmas Parade, all of them curled up on the couch under multiple blankets. The rest of the day is spent doing that, just relaxing. No school, no work, no worries.

Well, Will still worries a little. He wouldn't be Will if he didn't worry. He gets it from his mother, he thinks. Because even now, she's fretting over them being too cold. Jonathan has to tell her for the fourth time that it's fine before she believes him.

Will's worried about later. Mike invited them to the Wheeler's Christmas dinner. This isn't out of the norm for him, he was invited to Mike's every year. For a while he felt a bit guilty, because Mike only started doing it after Mike started a discussion years ago about Christmas dinner food. Mike's mother makes everything imaginable for dinner.

In the past, at the Byers' dinner was minimal. His mom bought some pre-cooked ham, instant mashed potatoes that she put in a ton of margarine to mask the fake taste (it didn't help all that much), and some heated up rolls. The only thing she made fresh was her mac and cheese. Mike, being a kid from a solid middle class family didn't understand this. He thought it was outrageous that they didn't have an oven-cooked honey-ham, roast beef, sweet potatoes AND mashed potatoes, devilled eggs, and freshly baked rolls. That same year he invited Will over and his mom brought over her mac and cheese, refusing to show up empty-handed.

The Wheeler's truly did go all out for Christmas, and Mike knew Will's mother just couldn't. Will knows that Mike does it and continues to do it for that reason. He invites all of the party, of course, but at the end of the day Will knows it's because Mike wanted Will to experience a big Christmas dinner. The other's don't even show up until the dessert is already out either, and they definitely don't bring their parents. Sometimes that felt embarrassing, and other times it felt kind of sweet.

He isn't worried about any of that, of course. He was worried because this year El was coming. It's not like he hates El, or even dislikes her. How could he ever dislike El of all people? El saved his life, she saved the world. Hating a superhero is just a dumb decision all around. It was more like he was a bit envious or jealous of El. He doesn't want to feel this way, he shouldn't feel this way. Will couldn't help it, no matter how hard he tried to stop the feeling.