7. Xmas Dinner (Hoppers, Byers & Wheelers)

A/N: Merry Christmas Eve, everyone! I hope you all have a great time accompanied by your loved ones! I actually thought I wasn't going to post a Christmas one, but then I got in the mood and I was like, why the hell not? This is for 'JjdoggieS' who wanted Mistletoe at the Wheelers', and for 'Onlychoice' who wanted everyone having dinner together. Enjoy and happy holidays!

Prompt: Hopper, the Byers and Karen Wheeler interact with each other over dinner, and there's Mistletoe at the Wheeler household.

"Kid, c'mon!" Hopper grunted around his cigarette as he stood outside, calling for his daughter. "We're going to be late."

"Coming!" A faint scream was heard from inside the cabin. Seconds later, light footsteps were heard and then El was closing the door behind her.

"Well look at you," Hopper said sarcastically. "You look the same as you did an hour ago."

She fidgeted with the soft skirt of her dress for a little. "Maybe I should wear the blue one—"

Hopper groaned loudly as she turned towards the door again, grabbing her arm quickly to stop her from going inside. "Honestly, El," he glared as he threw his cigarette to the ground. "You look fine!"

"I don't want to look just fine, I want to—"

"Yeah, yeah," he huffed as he descended the steps of the cabin, waking towards the Blazer. "You want to look pretty."

He stopped when he didn't hear her coming behind him and he turned, a pang of sympathy and a little exasperation erupting in his chest as he saw the troubled expression on his daughter's face.

"You look beautiful, sweetheart." He told her softly and earnestly, smiling with affection as she sent him a lopsided smile.

"Now, can we please get in the car so we can be on time for once?"

"I didn't even take that long." El rolled her eyes as she walked past him to get on the passenger's seat, fixing the sparkly barrette that held the left side of her hair back from her ear.

To say she was nervous was an understatement. Why she was nervous, she didn't really know. It's not like everyone didn't suspect it already.

It was Christmas Eve, and they were having dinner at the Wheelers'. Karen had extended her invitation to Hopper and Joyce (who were slowly becoming one household) when she had invited Eleven to her Christmas dinner.

She had immediately accepted, happy that she would get to spend one of her favorite holidays with Mike; but then Mike had told her that, seizing the reunion of both families, he would be announcing their official relationship.

They had been dancing around the obvious for almost a year, never paying too much attention to labels and other pressures. They always had been just them. Just El and Mike. But after entering high school, and a few too many jokes from the guys, Mike had realized he never actually asked her to be his girlfriend. So, a few rambles and stammering words after, El had happily kissed him and metaphorically cut the red ribbon on their relationship.

Their friends had laughed and teased them, but The Party had been used to 'Mileven' ever since the girl had come back, and them being official changed literally nothing about the couple's daily behavior.

The only thing was, they hadn't told their parents. Mike wasn't worried about his mom; he knew she liked El— she adored the girl—, and she would be accepting and happy. He wasn't worried about Joyce either; the woman had known him since he was a baby— she had even bathed him once— and although she wasn't officially related to El, Joyce was her mother figure, and El took her opinions to heart. Who he was worried about was Hopper; the Chief had made it his mission to stare a hole into Mike's head every time he was near Eleven. The man was intimidation in person, and the fact that he had tried to pummel him once didn't help Mike's nerves. But nonetheless, he knew Hopper would come around. Either Joyce blackmailed him into accepting them, or El literally willed him to.

On the other side, Eleven was dying. Her parents where the least of her concern. Karen Wheeler was the big red X. Mrs. Wheeler had been nothing but nice to her, but she was afraid she would kick her out when Mike announced her as his girlfriend. She had noticed Mike was kind of a mama's boy, even if he didn't want to admit it, and she would be lying if she said Karen's overprotectiveness didn't intimidate her a little. What if she thought El wasn't good enough for her son? Would she prevent them from seeing each other again? Would she ground Mike? Would she—

"Penny for your thoughts?" Hopper asked her as he watched her make a million faces from the corner of his eyes, interrupting her thinking.

"You'll need a few thousands." She murmured back as she watched them enter Mike's street.

"That bad?" He asked her with an amused laugh.

"Don't laugh." El groaned, hiding her embarrassment on her palms, careful of not ruining her makeup.

"Hey," he told her as he parked behind Joyce's car. "Everything's gonna be great. I don't know what are you so nervous for, it's just dinner."

"It's not just dinner." El pouted.

"Oh?" Hopper made an inquiring noise. "Is that why you spent the whole afternoon trying on dresses?"

"Yes..." El answered hesitantly, not wanting to reveal too much.

"Mmm... want to tell me about it before we go inside?" Hopper requested as he watched her finger the hem of her velvet dress.

"Mmm, no." El shook her head. "You'll find out in a minute." Before he could tell her anything else, she opened the door and jumped out of the Blazer, walking towards the Wheeler house.

"Is he proposing tonight, or what?" He mumbled to himself in confusion as he walked behind her.

She rang the doorbell and then waited anxiously outside, only calming down a little when Hopper placed his heavy hand on her shoulder.

The door opened and Karen's face greeted them.

"Hello! We were wondering when were you going to get here!" Her red lips pulled back into a dazzling smile, and El contemplated how beautiful Mrs. Wheeler was, before her attention shifted over Karen's shoulder.

"Hey." Mike breathed as he appeared behind his mother's figure, towering over her.

"Hey." She smiled as she took in his handsome face, and her heart beat wildly as he came closer, pushing his mother aside.

"Hey." Hopper interrupted the teens' greeting sarcastically.

"Mike, let them in." Karen chastised her son, pushing him back a little and opening the door wide enough to let Hopper's large figure enter the house.

"Yeah, don't mind me, I'll just stand outside all night." He huffed as he walked inside.

"You look beautiful." He heard Mike tell El, and he was tempted to inform him that she had spent an hour deciding between 2 dresses and changing back and forth into them until she kept her current one on. But he decided he liked to live, so he kept quiet and hanged his coat on the rack behind the door.

"Let's leave those two alone for a minute." Karen rolled her eyes fondly, and led him further into the house, where he found the rest of the people.

Holly and Will were coloring on the table, the older boy directing the little blonde on what colors suited the image better; Nancy was talking animatedly with Jonathan behind the staircase, a laughing Steve clutching his almost-step-son's arm as they shook with laughter.

He could hear Christmas songs coming from the living room, mixing with the snores he was sure were coming from Ted.

"Joyce, Hopper is here!" Karen announced as she walked in the kitchen.

"Great! He can carry the turkey, then." He heard Joyce say before she appeared. He involuntarily smiled as he took in her Christmas sweater, Rudolph smiling up at him as she came closer.

"Great outfit." He snickered as they stood under the entrance of the dining room.

"Shut up, it was Will's idea." She hit his arm and he barked out a laugh as he looked back and took in Jonathan's gingerbread man sweater.

"Mistletoe!" Holly and Will hollered together, pausing their coloring and pointing at them.

"Ugh." Joyce rolled her eyes as he looked up and sighed at the little ornament hanging above their heads.

"You have to kiss!" Holly exclaimed with expectant eyes.

Joyce laughed as she held his bearded cheek and brought him down, pressing a kiss to his lips.

"Mmmm," he hummed as they broke apart. "Hello."

"Hello." She smiled up at him.

"We said kiss, not eye-bang." Will told them without looking up from Holly's coloring book.

"William!" Joyce chastised as she took Hopper's hand and led him away.

"What does eye-bang mean?" He heard Holly whisper to Will before he entered the kitchen.

A few minutes later, when he was placing the giant honey baked turkey on the table, and Steve was being hand-slapped by Nancy for dipping his finger into the mashed potatoes, he looked around suspiciously as he noticed El and Mike were distinctly absent.

"Did your sister even came inside?" He asked Will as the boy helped Holly put the crayons inside the box.

"Mmm, I don't know, I haven't seen her." The boy answered with a shrug, but he wasn't convinced.

Hopper sighed as Joyce took a seat on the chair he was leaning on. "El Hopper!" He yelled into the air, expecting to see her head pop out somewhere around.

"Sit down, Hop. She'll come soon." Joyce ordered him as the older teens took a seat on the other side of the table.

"Who, El?" Jonathan asked as he began filling cups with apple cider. "I saw her go upstairs."

"What?" Hopper eye's widened.

"Shhh," Joyce frowned. "She probably went to the bathroom."

"With Mike? I don't think so." Steve snorted, oblivious to Nancy's glare.

"What?!" Hopper repeated indignantly as Karen reappeared with a sleepy Ted in tow.

"Mistletoe!" Holly and Will yelled expectantly.

Karen rolled her eyes and planted a chaste kiss to her husband's lips, before rounding the table and sitting down.

"Where is Mike?" She frowned.

"That's what I want to know." Hopper said, darkly, trying to keep himself from storming upstairs and yanking his daughter down with him.

Right on cue, a pair of footsteps thumped down the stairs and then a giggling Eleven resurfaced with a pink cheeked Mike.

"Where in the hell where you two?" Hopper asked with furrowed brows as he eyed their clasped hands and Mike's shiny lips. He was sure the boy hadn't been wearing lipgloss when they arrived.

"Uh... I was just- we were—" Mike blinked rapidly.

"Mike was giving me my present." El fluttered her lashes, smiling pleasantly up at Mike.

"Presents are for Christmas morning, son." Ted said, looking sadly at Karen when she slapped his hands away from the turkey.

"This was kind of special." Mike rolled his eyes in embarrassment.

"How lovely," Nancy said in a breathy voice, obviously annoyed by his tardiness. "Sit down so we can eat already." she rolled her eyes.

The couple began entering the dining room area, but stopped short when they were rooted in place by the shouts from their siblings.

"Mistletoe!" Holly and Will hollered together again, pointing at the little leaves above their heads.

"Uhhh..." Mike panicked, watching Hopper's fingers tighten on his knife.

"Kiss! Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!" Holly, Will and Steve chanted together, clapping their hands for good measure.

"Just kiss so we can eat already." Nancy rolled her eyes again.

Mike looked down to see El's hands touch his cheeks and pull his face down to hers. Their lips touched briefly, pressing down gently against the other's, before separating with a soft smile.

"What?!" Hopper huffed indignantly.

"Mike, not in front of everyone." Karen blinked at her son.

"Oh, my god! You literally kissed dad in front of us 5 seconds ago." Nancy defended her brother, annoyed.

"We're married, Nancy." Ted told his oldest, as if that was fresh news.

"El." Hopper glared at her.

"And they're—" Nancy began telling her father, before her brother interrupted her.

"Dating." Mike shouted over the noise. "We're dating." He announced, voice shaking a little with nerves as he met Hopper's eyes.

"Wait, weren't you together already?" Jonathan frowned in confusion, Steve nodding with furrowed brows next to him.

"We're official now." El told them anxiously as she watched Karen blink perplexed.

A few silent seconds passed without anyone saying a thing, before the quietness was interrupted.

"Well, that's amazing and everything, but can we eat now?" Nancy asked annoyed as she reached for the mashed potatoes, her father nodding in agreement as his fingers dipped into the dripping honey.

"Pass me the large knife, Steve, please." Karen requested as she stood up from her seat, leaning over the table to receive the knife from her daughter's boyfriend.

She began cutting the turkey as Ted nearly salivated beside her. "Holly, don't you want to sit next to me?" She asked her youngest daughter who was seated comfortably and closely next to Will.

She sighed as the little girl shook her head, and looked over her shoulder as she realized Mike and El were still standing under the mistletoe.

"Unless you two want to give us another show, why don't you sit down?" She told them amused. "I'm glad you two finally made it oficial." She smiled indulgently at El, who beamed back with sparkly eyes.

"Thanks, Mrs. Wheeler." El told her with relief as she took a seat next to Hopper.

"Is this your not-just-dinner? Is that why you were so nervous?" He asked her quietly as Joyce passed him the bread basket.

"Yeah." She nodded as she spooned Mac 'n Cheese in her plate.

"You two are so ridiculous." He rolled his eyes as he bit into a rosemary roll.

"Why were you yelling at me for, then?" She wondered as she passed the pasta to Mike, who was seated next to her.

"One thing is me being okay with you dating," he said as he pulled the plate of garlic roasted veggies to him and spooned some in his plate and then in hers. "And another thing is you being all over each other in my face." He sent a pointed look in her direction.

"Oh, sorry." She grimaced and then glared at him as he stole a breadstick from her plate.

"I don't ever— hey, Wheeler?" He leaned over her and called Mike into their conversation. "I don't want to see you two kiss in front of me again. Ever."

"Yes, sir. Sorry." Mike apologized with a sheepish smile, sharing an awkward laugh with El.

"Hopper, shut up and eat your dinner." Joyce huffed at him, before leaning over and smiling at her almost-step-daughter. "I'm so happy for you two, sweetie."

"Talking about official relationships..." Will began with a smirk, staring at his brother and the two older teens next to him. Jonathan and Steve sent panicked looks in his direction, while Nancy outright glared at him. She was still intimidating even with a turkey leg in her mouth.

"Why won't anyone let me eat in peace?!" She whined annoyed as Holly giggled incessantly.

It was a great Christmas Dinner, El though on her way home, as she fingered the snowflake on the necklace resting against her collarbone, which Mike had given her as a present.