((ik its a bit late for a christmas-themed one but bear with me))
Another two weeks passed by and it was nearly Christmas. The whole LA crew was making preparations to go back home for the holidays, but before that was a little Christmas party.
Tyler still gave you and Ethan the cold shoulder when you were together, and Mark and Amy were as supportive as ever.
Often times you found yourself and Ethan cuddling and holding hands even when Tyler wasn't nearby, exchanging sweet late night texts and good morning love emojis. It felt so natural to you. Ethan had even gone so far to allude to your "relationship" on his social media, posting a photo of you and him in the Naughty/Nice double sweater with the caption of 'my princess❤' because you were in the nice side. You responded by posting a picture of him in the nice side and captioning it 'my prince💙'. Which made Tyler gag.
So right now Tyler and Mark were out at the grocery store to get some last minute food items while you and Ethan sat on the floor of the living room wrapping presents for everyone.
"Hey Y/N, could you pass the tape?" Ethan asked, holding down a piece of wrapping paper on his gift for Mark.
"In a second babe." You replied, habitually calling him the nickname. After finishing the tape on your present for Tyler, you handed the roll of tape to Ethan.
"Thanks princess."
"You guys do know that Tyler can't hear you, right?" Amy asked from the doorway.
You quickly threw yourself in front of the unwrapped presents. "Get out! You can't see yours yet!"
She held her hands up in surrender and left the room with a smile on her face. You sighed and quickly started on wrapping hers, it was a friendship necklace pair, made by you. Each one had half and an alien head charm on it, so when you lined them up it made a whole little alien dude. You kept one for yourself and dropped hers in the bag.
The last one you had to wrap was Ethan's, and you had it hidden in your purse, waiting for the right opportunity to wrap it. "There! All done!" He declared, sticking a bow on Mark's. His wrapping job was atrocious. But it wasn't like yours was much better.
"Alright then shoo! I've gotta wrap yours!" You declared as he placed his finished presents under the tree.
"You got me something?"
"Of course, you're my boyfriend."
Ethan stood up straight to wrap his arms around your waist tightly and kissing your forehead. "How could I forget?"
You smiled up at him, then realizing that his lips were mere centimeters from yours, and your breath hitched in your throat. Ethan and you had never kissed on the lips before, both of you agreed that was something that was off limits for fake-dating.
A sudden bang from the garage broke the trance you were in and for once you were thankful for your brother's interference. If you had stood there any longer with Ethan you didn't know what would've happened.
Ethan went to help with groceries and you took this opportunity to wrap the present and throw all of them under the tree.
The party was in full swing when Mark clinked a fork against his glass to get everyone's attention. You looked up from where you were snuggled into the big armchair with Ethan, drinking your own glasses of eggnog.
"Uhm this isn't a speech, if that's what you were expecting," Mark admitted. "I just wanted to tell everyone we're gonna be starting presents!"
You excitedly joined everyone sitting around the tree. Soon enough, nearly all of the presents were opened, just two left. Picking up the small box you had for Ethan, you shyly gave it to him.
He slowly unwrapped it, looking at you curiously as a small box was revealed. Inside was a bracelet with a small gear charm handmade by you. You were nervous as whether or not he liked it as he held it out to you. "Help me put it on, princess?" He asked with a heart-melting smile, and you did so with your own grin on your face. "Thank you."
"You're welcome Ethan."
"That is so cute!" Amy squealed, grabbing his arm to get a better look at it. "Although, not as cute as our friendship necklaces, Y/N."
"Did you make all of our presents this year?" Mark asked, holding up the small Chica figurine you crocheted.
You sheepishly looked down at your hands. "Yeah, sorry I couldn't buy you guys anything-"
Ethan cut you off with a tight hug, pulling you towards him. "Shut up, they're fantastic. Just like you."
"Oh looks like one more present left!" Tyler yelled obnoxiously, grabbing it and holding it out to you. "For the lucky couple."
"You're making it sound like we're getting married." You scoffed, accepting the gift.
Ethan rested his chin on your shoulder as you ripped the wrapping paper off. It was a plain cardboard box, requiring some scissors to open. Inside was a few pieces of paper, and you looked at him strangely. Picking them up, you turned them over to see screenshots of your texts with Ethan, taken from Ethan's phone, judging by the contact name of 'princess'. Tyler had even gone so far to highlight every instance of the word fake-dating.
You looked up at your brother with wide eyes and you were sure Ethan looked the same.
"I know you two aren't dating." Tyler looked so smug, arms crossed across his chest.
Ethan still had an arm around your waist and the both of you sat there in a dumbfounded stupor. Tyler continued on, eyes focused on you two. "So you can stop this whole charade! Now!"
At his forceful tone, you and Ethan scrambled to separate. Amy awkwardly cleared her throat. "Its getting late, huh?"
Mark caught her drift, yawning loudly. "Ah yeah, I think I'm ready to hit the hay."
You were silent as you stood, hugging Amy and Mark goodbye, ready to just curl up in a ball and cry. Why? Maybe you didn't want to ever stop fake-dating Ethan. Tyler was already out the door and you were about to cross the threshold when someone yelled your name.
You whipped your head around to see Ethan nearly tripping over his feet as he rushed to your side. "I still haven't given you your present."
The tears welled up in your eyes as you looked up at him. "It's over Ethan, Tyler knows we're not dating." Your voice cracked as you spoke, and you laughed to cover it up.
"Okay, but have you considered-" he cut himself off, taking your face in his hands and bringing his lips gently onto yours.
You felt your heart swell in that moment, clasping your own hands around the back of his neck as if this was the most natural thing in the world. And it felt like that. Your bodies seemed to fit perfectly as he continued to hold you after the kiss ended.
"Y/N, will you be my real girlfriend?" Ethan asked, and you almost forgot to answer, still caught up in the euphoric moment.
"Yes Ethan." You grinned into his chest. "This was the best Christmas present."
"Oh that wasn't it." He let you go to show you something wrapped under his arm.
You gently opened it, and saw that they were matching t-shirts that had 'her babe' and 'his princess' on the front for you two respectively. On the back was 'SUCK MY ASS TYLER' in all caps, and you couldn't contain your laughter, leaning against Ethan for support as you went into a laughing fit.
"What?" Tyler demanded, and you tossed him a shirt. His eyes scanned over it, and you let Mark and Amy look at the other one.
"This is fucking awesome!" Mark laughed as well, and Amy giggled as well.
"My children are finally dating!" She squealed, over the weeks she had taken to calling you both her children.
"We've been dating for a month?" You looked at her.
"But now you're dating for real!"
You held your breath, turning to look at your brother's reaction. He looked up from the shirt seriously, eyes seemingly staring into your soul as Ethan entwined his fingers with yours.
Tyler's next words were unexpected, yet familiar. "Does he make you happy?"
You looked up at your blue-haired boyfriend, not being able to keep a loving smile off your face. "Yes, he does. So much."
"Well, its not really my place to decide forcefully whoever you date."
Ethan looked down at you questioningly. "That's his way of saying he approves," you whisper to him, and he nods in understanding.
Amy's voice broke into the conversation. "Suddenly I'm not so tired! Let's continue the party!"
"Hell yeah!" Mark cheered, forcing Tyler back into the house. "Let's spike the eggnog!"
"Mark, no!" Amy yelled, running after him into the kitchen.
"So," you turned to your brother. "When did you realize?"
"When Mark had you guys trapped under the mistletoe last week and you refused to kiss. So I decided to investigate." He answered nonchalantly.
"When did you get my phone password?" Ethan questioned, nervously feeling for his phone in his pocket.
"It was 'crankycrew', not too hard to figure out, Ethan."
"I'm going to change it now!"
"Don't make it 'gizmogear' either."
"Dammit!"
You laughed at their playful banter. Maybe things would be okay for a while.