christmas truly was the most wonderful time of the year.
the smell of freshly-baked cookies being made in the oven, the sound of the crinkling wrapping paper being torn open on christmas morning.
as a matter of fact, it was both micheal wheeler and eleven hopper's favorite holiday.
it was the christmas of 1985, and christmas tunes were blaring throughout the wheeler household.
karen wheeler had a confused expression laced across her face as she saw her son running frantically throughout the house, making sure that every detail was perfect for the annual wheeler christmas eve party.
"nancy, you're doing this all wrong!" mike scolded his older sister as she decorated the sugar cookies that had just popped out of the oven with frosting.
"what do you mean 'i'm doing this all worng!'" nancy raised her arms defensively.
nancy, holly, and karen all knew the only reason mike was obsessing over every little increment was because he wanted the party to be good enough for his girlfriend, el.
hell, even ted knew.
"i mean that they don't even look good!" mike groaned, rolling his eyes.
"el won't care how they look." nancy retorted, crossing her arms.
"what does this have to do with el?!" mike said, causing both karen and nancy to glance at each other with a devious smirk plastered across their faces.
"don't play dumb, mike. you and everyone else knows that the only reason you're helping is because you want to impress el." nancy teased, nudging her younger brother's shoulder.
"t-that's not true!" mike lied, stumbling over his words.
"whatever helps you sleep at night." nancy lightly laughed, ruffling his hair and then rushing back up to the comfort of her bedroom.
mike rolled his eyes once again before turning to his mom, who was trying to cover up her small fits of laughter.
"what time will el, i-i mean, people get here?" mike asked, trying to cover up his mistake.
"wow. you really like this girl, huh?" karen tilted her head, placing her hand on her hip.
"it's none of your business, mom!" mike yelled, running down to the basement.
"she'll be here in an hour!" karen hollered.
—
"-and that's where i was conceived!" dustin said with a proud smile across his face.
the rest of the party stared at their curly-haired friend, dumbfounded.
"why the hell would you tell us that?!" lucas uttered ghastly, placing a protective arm around his ginger-haired girlfriend's waist.
mike couldn't help but feel a tad bit envious as he saw lucas and max smushed together, sneakily kissing each other every so often. although eleven was coming, she still hadn't arrived at the party yet.
"i don't know. i think it's a fun conversation starter." dustin shrugged, leaning back on one of the chairs in the wheeler's basement.
this caused one of max's eyebrows to perk up as she slowly shook her head and mumbled incoherent curse words under her breath.
"i feel like i just lost all of my remaining innocence." will piped up quietly, staring blankly at the ground.
"what did you do to poor will?!" max furrowed her eyebrows, pointing to the petrified boy.
just as dustin was about to reply, the sound of the doorbell ringing played throughout the house.
"is that el?!" mike gasped excitedly, jumping up from the comfortable couch and bolting up the creaky wooden stairs.
"hey, don't suck her face off before we get to see her!" dustin joked, him and the rest of the party walking up the stairs.
mike reached the door and opened it to see both hopper and eleven.
his eyes widened at the sight of el. although she always looked gorgeous, she somehow looked more stunning than usual on that christmas eve.
it was funny. he saw her practically everyday, but she always seemed to look even more beautiful, (if that was even possible,) than the day before.
"mike!" she breathlessly said, wrapping her arms around his neck and burying her face into his neatly knitted christmas sweater.
he pulled away from her warm embrace, placing his hands gently on her waist.
"y-you look amazing, e-el." he stuttered, gazing into her chocolate brown eyes.
"thank you." a light pink engulfed the teen's face as she fiddled with her thumbs.
hopper cleared his throat, signaling that the teenagers had made quite enough physical contact for the day.
"sorry, sir." mike excused himself, but nevertheless, intertwined his hand with his girlfriend's.
"el!" max exclaimed, pushing mike out of the way so she could hug her best friend.
"max!" she replied, hugging her friend back as the rest of the party gathered around and embraced
each other.
"alright everyone, dinner is ready!" mrs. wheeler shouted from the dining room, placing a steaming turkey on the center of the table.
dustin's jaw hung open as he pushed past everyone else to get to the scrumptious food.
all the adults were now sitting in the dining room, picking up plates for their food.
"el! would you and mike mind grabbing the potatoes from the kitchen?" mrs. wheeler kindly inquired, placing a gentle hand on el's shoulder.
"of course not." el beamed, grasping mike's hand and dragging him into the kitchen with her.
as they walked into the kitchen hand in hand, max abruptly stopped them.
"look up you guys." she smirked, causing both mike and el to share confused glances.
they looked up to see a glistening plant, none other than mistletoe.
"it's pretty. what is it?" el questioned, tugging at mike's shirt and glancing up at him with her large doe eyes.
"i'll let you two be." max whispered creepily, before turning around and strolling into the dining room that was filled with everyone else at the party.
"uh, i-it's called m-mistletoe." mike's normally pale face transformed into a crimson red.
el nodded, persuading him to go on and explain the foreign object in more detail.
"w-whenever a couple, l-like you and me, are under it, we have to k-kiss." mike's heart was beating out of his chest.
"oh." el's face went white and her eyes grew enormously at the mention of the word, "kiss."
"yeah." mike responded awkwardly, rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet as he scratched the back of his neck.
he wanted to kiss her. he really wanted to kiss her. but he didn't want to risk making things even more awkward than they already were at the moment.
"s-so do you want to k-kiss me? sorry, that uh, that sounded r-really weird. i-i mean-" mike began to ramble before el cut his off by placing a delicate kiss on his lips.
she placed her hand gently on his face that was scattered with freckles, both of their eyes fluttering open as they backed away slowly.
their faces were both tinted a dark red, as they looked down at the ground.
"t-that was nice." el murmured, biting her lip as she looked back up at her boyfriend.
"y-yeah." he chuckled.
"now let's go eat before dustin wipes out the entire table." el snickered and clutched mike's hand, a smile painted across his lips.
hi so i lowkey hated this but it's fine ha.
bUT happy birthday finnlard! i love you so much and you've made me feel hope in times where the whole world seemed to be against me. i can't thank you enough for being such a light in my life and i cannot believe how much you've grown in your talents. wishing you much luck as you go into year sixteen. i love you!
ahhhhh happy christmas eve eve! i was planning on posting this tomorrow but i'm too busy so here ya go. what do you guys want for christmas?
thank you guys so much for reading, and tell me your thoughts!