Time seemed to slow. Every gesture, every nuance of Billy's tone, every innocent step that carried him directly under the eave where the taunting dark green leaves and berries hung in their cheerful ribbon.
I bet there's a reason they used a poisonous plant for this... Teddy thought as he drank a bit of hot cocoa in an attempt to wet his dry throat. His insides tangled into knots, his pulse loud in his ears as he watched Billy slide his thumb over his cup and watched the red color rush over his cheeks.
He would never be able to describe the flood of feelings when Billy told him he liked him. Panic mingled with elation and worry collided into hope. There was a twist of doubt in his gut, as though he was hearing wrong, or misunderstanding, or reading far into it, but that gut feeling that he had learned to rely on when dodging around criminals at night was also there, telling him very clearly this was not a mere admission of friendship.
So he stared at the other teen for a few long seconds, trying to sort it out, started to say something, stammered entirely. Then a nervous laugh bust out.
"Dude, you need to look up."
And when Billy did to see the mistletoe hanging overhead he leaned in, lips sweeping against his.
It felt like lightning, leaving him warm and full of butterfly feelings. When he straightened he thought he might fly apart with nerves, but he grinned anyhow. "And I like you, too!" The blue eyes fixed on Billy's. "Hope that's okay."