Title: Christmas Kisses

Summary: It's Christmas at the factory and Charlie's trying to hide a crush on Willy Wonka as they open presents, but will he be able to contain his feelings? And will his mentor return his feelings?

Rated: T

Pairing(s): Charlie Bucket/Willy Wonka

Genre(s): Romance

Warning(s): Underage relationship

On Christmas, right before the Buckets' were about to have a huge dinner. Only on Christmas did Charlie's grandparents get out of bed. Mrs. Bucket had told Charlie to go find Willy so that they could eat.

He'd already looked in the Chocolate Room and in Willy's bedroom. He checked their office next, to find the candy man working on something new.

"What's that?" Charlie asked, going over to stand beside Willy.

"Chocolate mistletoe," Willy informed him. "It's edible. I put a little mint in it, too. Want to try some?"

Charlie nodded eagerly, blushing as Willy held the candy up to his mouth. He let Willy feed the candy to him, his heart pounding as their gazes met. He wish he could just get over this silly, childish crush; Willy would never like him back.

Willy kissed his cheek, surprising Charlie - the other chocolatier was still a little uncomfortable with any showing of affection. Sometimes he made exceptions for Charlie, though, since they were so close.

"Oh, good, there you two are," Mrs. Bucket's voice came from the doorway and Charlie jumped. "What are you boys doing?"

"Try some chocolate mistletoe," Willy offered, holding out a piece to her.

Mrs. Bucket chewed a piece of it. "It's good!" she said as they headed to their house in the Chocolate Room for dinner.

"You're going to love my Christmas present for you," Charlie murmured to Willy as they trailed behind Mrs. Bucket.

"I bet you're gonna love mine more," Willy said playfully, pulling Charlie close. His heir giggled and blushed. "It's very cold...I mean, cool." Willy winked.

That was odd. Charlie smiled anyway, sure whatever it is that it would be great.

They sat down for dinner, the huge turkey sitting in the middle of the table. When Charlie was younger, before they'd gone to live with Willy, they never got to have a turkey even on Christmas, except one time before they moved.

Charlie sat down next to Willy, who stared at him in surprise. "What?"

"You're sitting next to me."

The whole family was looking at them and smiling. "O - oh, yeah," Charlie said, flustered, his face burning.

They began to pile food onto their plates then, turkey and warm mashed potatoes with gravy, delicious dinner rolls and stuffing. Charlie knew, he would never take food for granted again, after eating cabbage for so many years.

As he cut into his turkey, Charlie felt Willy's foot brush against his own under the table. He looked at the older man questioningly, blushing a little when Willy winked.

After dinner, they opened presents, and Willy's was in a long, thin box. Charlie opened it, burning with curiosity, to find two tickets. Ski tickets. He looked up at Willy in surprise.

"We're going skiing?" he gasped.

Willy nodded, smiling. "A while back you said you'd never been and that you'd like to," he said. "Plus I thought we could use a little bonding time, just the two of us."

Charlie threw his arms around Willy. "I can't believe you remembered," he said, touched. "Oh, Willy, I love you!"

He realized what he said an instant after the words slipped out of his mouth - and in front of his family. He pulled back and looked at his family to find them smiling, thank goodness. They all looked surprised, though.

Charlie then met Willy's gaze to find the other man's eyes wide, a surprised but happy expression on his face, his eyes a little glossy.

That was the very first time one of them had said those words to the other. They were very close, and he thought Willy knew that Charlie cared deeply about him, but he had never told Willy that he loved him.

"I love you, too." There was no hesitation in Willy's words, or in the hug that followed. The rest of the Buckets clapped, and Charlie buried his face in Willy's shoulder in embarrassment.

Pulling away, Charlie said, "Here's my present for you." He handed Willy the small box.

Inside was a gold necklace. "It opens into a locket," Charlie said, picking up the pendant and showing him the picture of him and Willy, the one where he'd taken Charlie to the London Eye for the very first time. It was an old one, back in the first few months he'd moved in with him. "Oh, and I made the gold taste like chocolate," he said proudly. "So if you ever want some chocolate, you can suck on the chain. Don't eat it, though."

He watched as Willy tasted the gold chain. "Charlie, this is amazing," he said. "Really, it's two gifts. I'm so proud you did this all by yourself. I love it."

Charlie smiled, pride swelling in his own chest.

They spent the rest of the evening opening gifts, and then Willy stood to leave. "You're leaving?" asked Charlie.

"I gotta go to sleep, kiddo," Willy pointed out.

"You can stay here," Charlie suggested. He turned to his parents. "Mum, Dad, can Willy stay?"

They were smiling. "It's up to Willy," Mrs. Bucket decided.

"I'd love to stay then," the candyman agreed.

"It's time for bed then, Charlie," said Mrs. Bucket.

After saying goodnight to everyone, he and Willy headed upstairs. "I've never been up here before," he noted.

"Oh, yeah," Charlie realized. "I never really thought to show you." It was dark upstairs, and alone with his crush, Charlie's heart pounded quickly.

"It's quite cozy." Willy sat down on the bed, and it creaked slightly. It was big enough for both of them, since he'd gotten a bigger bed when he moved. And he'd be next to Willy for hours as they slept.

"A little, yeah." Charlie went over to sit next to him. Neither of them got in the bed just yet. "I meant it, you know," he said. At Willy's confused look, he added, "Earlier. When I said I love you."

"I'm glad to hear it," said Willy. "I meant it, too."

Charlie took a deep breath. He knew he should probably tell Willy about his stupid crush. "There's something else," he said, hesitant to say it out loud.

"You have a crush on me," Willy said for him.

Charlie looked up in surprise. "How did you know?"

"It was a little obvious, my dear," Willy informed him.

"Why didn't you tell me you knew?" Charlie asked.

He thought Willy might have been blushing. "I was waiting for the right time to tell you that I have a crush, as you put it, on you as well."

Charlie froze. "Seriously?"

"Yes, seriously." Willy chuckled. Charlie hugged him tightly, laying down on the bed with him. They lay in silence until Willy said, "Charlie?"

"Yeah?"

"There's mistletoe above the bed."

Charlie sat up in Willy's arms, his deep blue eyes gazing into the younger boy's. "People kiss under mistletoe," he noticed.

"Yes, they do," agreed Willy, his eyes twinkling. He put a hand on Charlie's chest. "Your heart's beating very fast."

"I can imagine," Charlie breathed. Willy leaned in so close that the tips of their noses touched. "Willy..."

Their lips brushed very lightly, and very, very slowly. Charlie couldn't breathe at all now, he was trying not to hyperventilate as he pressed against Willy, the man's warm lips soft as they covered his own. Charlie reached a hand up to run his fingers through that chocolate hair like he'd dreamed of doing for so long.

"Mmm," Willy moaned, and Charlie felt his face burning. "Charlie..." Willy's tongue brushed against his own, and he tasted like chocolate. Charlie leaned forward some more, licking his tongue against Willy's, and they both gasped at the pleasant feeling.

It didn't dawn on Charlie until they broke apart that that had been his first kiss. "That was...that was nice," Charlie said breathlessly.

"It was very nice." Willy winked, earning yet another blush from his heir.

"I think this was the best Christmas ever," Charlie said, and snuggled up against Willy.

"I agree," said Willy, and Charlie listened to the reassuring sound of the older chocolatier's heartbeat as he fell asleep.

AN: Thanks for reading! I hope you liked it! Decided to update before my birthday, which is today actually since it's past midnight. Sorry it was a bit late after Christmas but I've been having writers block again. I will try to update "Back Together" soon as well, Chapter 9 is well on its way to being done. Happy holidays and please review :)