It Was a Stupid Tradition Anyway

Vic had no idea how he ended up in the hall he swore he would never set foot in again after he graduated high school on December sixteenth, but he did. He did know that he was going to kill Mike later for managing to escape by lying that he had ‘somewhere to be’, and that was the reason he couldn’t drop Jaime and Tony at their stupid Christmas formal thing, because neither of them had bothered to get their licenses yet. So, at twenty one, Vic ended up parking in the all too familiar parking lot of Mission Bay High School at seven PM, watching as Jaime and Tony leapt excitedly out of his car.
“Come on, Vic.” Jaime opened the driver’s door and began to tug at Vic’s arm.
“I’ll wait in the car,” Vic had argued.
“You can’t,” Jaime had insisted. “You’ll just look like a creepy paedophile.”
“Also you’ll be cold.” Tony pointed out. And as much as Vic hated to admit it, the two seventeen year olds had a point. So Vic had reluctantly unbuckled his seat belt and walked into the packed hall where over a hundred teenagers were packed, squealing and dancing, and reminding Vic of all the things he had really hated about school. He made his way to the back of the room and sat down on one of the benches, already bored as his friends went to talk to some of their classmates. Vic watched the dance floor, and the teenagers bathed in the laser lights from the stage. In the words of The Wombats ‘the lasers fill our minds with empty plans.’ The teenagers were definitely not… Thinking straight that night. Most of them were too drunk from spiked punch, others seemed much too determined to have a good time at a dance that was destined to not live up to their expectations.
Vic saw Kellin Quinn dancing with some bimbo near the middle of the dance floor. He was wearing a silly Santa hat with a sprig of mistletoe attached to the front, and was forcing everyone he danced with to give him a kiss at the end. So far he had succeeded with several girls, and even a few tentative boys had given his shy kisses on the corner of the mouth. They had first met when Vic was a senior and Mike had invited the boy, as well as Jaime and Tony to their house, and their mother had insisted he ‘babysit’ the four younger boys. Kellin had always been a bit irritating really, but he was an alright kid for the most part.
So, because Vic didn’t mind Kellin, when he had first asked Vic to dance with him, he had politely said ‘no thanks’ and turned back to his phone, where he was sending abusive texts to his brother. The first few times Kellin had asked, Vic had continued to say ‘maybe later’ and ‘not right now’. By the tenth time, however, Vic had told Kellin that if he asked Vic to dance one more time he would ‘shove that mistletoe so far up his ass he would throw it up the next morning’.
However, that still didn’t put Kellin off. He persisted to annoy Vic, finally realising that he was getting sick of seeing Kellin’s face and then sending Jaime and Tony alternately to ask Vic for him. Every time one of them would approach Vic, he would watch hopefully, and when the other boy went back with a negative answer, he would simply pout and take another turn dancing with someone else.
“You know,” Jaime said on one of his attempts. “He’s only got that stupid mistletoe on for you.”
“What are you talking about?” Vic turned to face his younger friend sharply.
“He’s had a crush on you for years. I mean, why’d you think we wanted you to drop us off so badly? We could have walked: it isn’t really that far from Tony’s house.” Jaime shrugged, ignoring Vic’s scowl. “He wanted us to bring you so he could kiss you.” Ever since Jaime had determined that Vic was bisexual, and Kellin had happily admitted that he was bisexual, he had decided that they needed to be together.
“You’re an idiot.” Vic said shortly. “Go dance with some girl, or something.”
“I’m being serious.” Jaime insisted. “Look, I’ll get Tony to back me up on this.”
“I- don’t bother, Himes.” Vic said. “It’s fine. Just tell Kellin ‘no’, okay?”
Jaime sighed. “You’re so blind.” He dramatically flounced off, talking to a disappointed looking Kellin for a minute and then wandering into a large group of kids. Vic met Kellin’s gaze for a moment, but turned away when he saw what genuinely looked like sadness in the younger boy’s eyes.
A few minutes later, Kellin left, his head no longer covered in the Santa hat. He walked dejectedly out of the hall, ‘Another Sad Song’ by Lower Than Atlantis fittingly playing as he left the building. Not ten minutes later, Jaime and Tony came up to him, claiming that they were bored and wanted to go home.
Vic nodded and followed the two teenagers, frowning as he looked down at the ground just outside of the hall. He bent down to pick up a Santa hat with some mistletoe stuck to the front.
“Vic! Hurry up!” Jaime yelled from his car. Vic shoved the hat into his back pocket and walked up to his car, unlocking the door so they could gladly enter the slightly warmer interior of his car.
Tony had sat silently in the back seat for the ten minutes it took to get to his house, thanking Vic for staying with hem for almost four hours and climbing out of the car. Which left Vic with the babbling of Jaime until he reached the other boy’s house. The teenager still attempted to convince Vic to give Kellin a chance, not knowing that Vic was maybe, possibly already considering it, and Vic was glad that he hadn’t shown Jaime the hat he had picked up.
Jaime had offered Vic one final glare before he got out of the car, slamming the door forcefully when he finally did. Vic groaned and drove back to his flat, unlocking the door and stumbling to his room, falling onto the bed and instantly falling asleep.
____
It took him about ten minutes to pry Kellin’s address from Mike, who grinned and teased his older brother the whole time, cracking jokes about being the best man at their wedding, earning a middle finger in his face before Vic left to drive to the house not too far from his own.
Vic nervously pressed the doorbell, the Santa hat still sitting in his back pocket, as he listened to the sounds from inside the house.
“Kellin, get the door!” A mature, female voice yelled. There was a faint scuffling, and then Kellin appeared at the door, standing in a plain black t-shirt and dark skinny jeans. There was mistletoe hanging on the doorframe.
“You can, erm, ignore that.” Kellin muttered, looking shocked at the sight of Vic, before his face fell slightly.
“Yeah…” Vic nodded and shifted from foot to foot, hearing the sound of a bustling family in the house.
“Come to the garden, it’s too noisy in here.” Kellin led Vic quickly past the kitchen, ignoring the questioning, and then excited expression on his mother’s face, and sliding the French doors open so they could step out into the large garden. “So…?”
“What happened to your hat?” Vic asked softly.
Kellin shrugged in response. “I just… Left it. It doesn’t matter. It didn’t work, anyway.”
“What do you mean?”
“I didn’t get the person I wanted to kiss me to kiss me.” Kellin said in a disconsolate tone.
“How old are you, anyway?” Vic asked suddenly.
“Seventeen. But I’m turning eighteen soon.” He said defensively.
“Here,” Vic said gently, pulling the hat out of his pocket. The white trimming was slightly stained from being dropped on the ground, and the mistletoe was slightly crumpled, but Kellin’s eyes still widened in delight as he reached forward to take it.
“Why’d you…” Kellin trailed off and stared down in wonder at the hat, almost disbelieving.
“Put it on.” Vic ordered. Kellin looked at him curiously and began to pull the hat on.
“Why…?”
“So I can kiss you.” Vic said, yanking Kellin forward and connecting their lips. The mistletoe tickled his nose slightly, but he ignored it in favour of savouring the feeling of Kellin’s lips on his own, moving in time with his until they pulled apart.
“I-“ Kellin started happily, slightly flushed.
“No more mistletoe, okay?” Vic interrupted. Kellin nodded and threw his arms around Vic’s neck. Vic grinned and secured his own arms around the younger boy’s waist.
“It was a stupid tradition anyway.”