𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 • (byler)

046

"i wish i were..."

mike woke up with his arms wrapped around will.

will was still sleeping, so mike took a moment to admire him.

he started to move around a bit, and his eyes fluttered open.

"merry christmas, sleepy head." mike whispered.

"merry christmas to you, too." will smiled.

"i think holly is opening her presents first because she's younger." mike informed.

"i would assume so. want to go downstairs?" will asked.

"sure." will replied.

the two boys got out of bed and walked downstairs, hand and hand.

joyce, karen, nancy, holly, and eleven were by the christmas tree. karen took pictures of holly opening her presents while joyce watched and el and nancy talked.

"good morning, boys, merry christmas." joyce greeted the boys.

"merry christmas, mom." will gave his mother a hug

mike did the same thing and the two went to see hopper, ted and jonathan to wish them a merry christmas.

when they got back in the living room, they sat next to el and nancy.

"merry christmas, dorks." nancy smirked.

"merry christmas, nancy." will, mike, and el mused and they gave each other a group hug.

"let me join!" jonathan whined as he walked into the room.

they giggled and let him join in on the hug.

"okay, holly is finished with her presents. older kids, why don't you come on over." joyce announced.

the five went over to the presents. they started opening presents after present, until will, el, and mike had to give each other their gifts.

"el, open mine first." mike mentioned and handed her a box.

eleven carefully removed the wrapping paper and opened the box to see a really nice outfit from the gap.

"this is so nice, mike. i love it." el smiled.

"good, i'm glad." mike sighed, relieved.

"you didn't pick that out yourself, did you?" will asked.

"no, max helped me." mike admitted while el and will smirked.

"here, el, open mine, but be careful, it's fragile!" will warned and handed her a box.

she cautiously opened it up to see antique bunny she liked from that old antique shop in town.

"will, you didn't have to get this! it was really expensive!" el exclaimed.

"well, you're my sister, and you really liked it, so i got it." will stated.

"thank you. both of you." el hugged the boys.

after the hug, el pulled out two boxes.

"mike this is yours and will this is yours."

mike opened it first and saw that there were new games for his atari.

"you got me the new games!" mike exclaimed.

el smiled at him, then looked over to will.

will opened his and saw an art set. it came with pencils, colored pencils, markers, crayons, watercolor, and so much more.

"these are such great materials, thank you so much, el." will thanked.

the three hugged again, for the second time.

"well, i'll leave you to alone to give each other your presents." el winked and walked away.

mike watched her walk away. "she is really routing for us, isn't she."

"yeah, she sure is." will agreed.

"here, i want you to go first." mike said and handed will the present.

"okay." will replied.

he opened it and took out a book. on the cover it said their names on it and there was a picture of them from thanksgiving on the cover. will assumed it was a scrapbook.

"this is an amazing scrapbook, mike." will commented as he flipped through the pages.

"i put a bunch of pictures in already, but there are some empty pages where i figured you could add." mike explained.

"i love it."

"i'm glad."

will handed mike a cylinder looking thing that was wrapped nicely.

mike took off the wrapping paper and removed the rubber band.

he opened up the thick paper to see a beautiful painting. it was a recreation of will's favorite picture of them, the one where they were laughing together for no reason at all.

"will, this is gorgeous!" mike cheered.

"you think so?" will asked and rubbed the back of his neck.

"uh, i know so. i love this so much, thank you." mike grinned.

"i'm so happy you like it." will grinned back.

mike bit his lip and kissed his boyfriend.

"this gift is amazing, but you're even better." mike whispered and kissed will again.

will melted into the kiss and fell deeper in love.

click!

they instantly jumped apart and saw nancy and el watching them, nancy holding a camera in her hand.

"what the hell!" mike yelled.

will immediately turned a deep shade of red.

"oh, i'm so going to kill you!" mike screamed and chased after them.

will followed behind mike as el and nancy ran to el's bedroom.

el slammed the door shut with her powers and locked it. the two girls giggled from inside and slid the picture under the door.

will picked it up and showed mike.

although, it was supposed to be private, the picture was adorable, so the boys decided to keep it.

this was a special christmas and this picture was a special picture.

word count: 855
i feel like this story is gonna end soon, but i really don't want it to, but there's still some things that have to happen so yeah.