Christmas morning comes. Holly wakes everyone with a loud announcement of what day it was. Her mother makes coffee for herself and dad and cocoa for them (she normally prefers coffee now but it's a nice tradition). Her father settles in his chair as usual while her mother runs between the kitchen and living room to both get started on breakfast but not missing precious family time. Nancy and Mike follow Holly to the tree and she sorts out the presents before Holly can claim them all.
She gets perfume and some new eye shadow and mascara from their parents, and thanks them for it. Mike gets a new notebook for his campaigns and some comic book that she knows is the wrong one but he hides his disappointment since El got him the right one. He rolls his eyes at her gift to him but she just gives him a pointed look. She receives a Wonder Woman comic in return from him.
"I know you're not into comics but… I mean she's badass. And you've kind of become… not the worst," he mumbles.
"Thanks, weirdo," she smirks. She's actually really touched by it.
Most of the presents are for Holly of course, who gets a flurry of new toys and stuffed animals. Finally they each open their gifts from their grandma. The packages are all suspiciously similar in size, weight and feel. Their fears are confirmed when inside they find three matching knitted sweaters.
"Good God," Mike mutters.
"At least we only have to wear them when she comes and visits," Nancy reasons.
"Still."
"Alright, time for breakfast!" Their mother claps her hands together and they all get up and head for the kitchen.
"Okay I'm going over to the Byers," Nancy announces after breakfast.
"Alright dear, just make sure you're back in good time before dinner, they said that the snow will pick up in the afternoon."
"Yes mom, I will," she answers before running upstairs to get Jonathan's gift. She pulls on her coat and puts on a hat and heads out to the car.
She drives at low speed since the road glistens from the ice that was formed during the night as the temperature first rose and then fell again, melting snow and then freezing over again. She gets there alright though.
"Merry Christmas!" She greets Joyce who opens the door.
"Hi sweetie, merry Christmas!" Joyce gives her a hug and shows her inside.
Jonathan gets up from the couch where he's been sitting next to Will, watching his little brother play Atari.
"Merry Christmas," he smiles and kisses her on the cheek, still shy about public displace of affection even in his own house.
"Merry Christmas," she smiles back. "Hey Will, merry Christmas!" She waves to the younger boy who has paused his game.
"Hi Nancy! Merry Christmas."
Joyce disappears into the kitchen and returns with tea and cookies. Will shows her the Walkman he got from Jonathan.
"And mom got me Pitfall II! It's awesome! But it's only single player though."
"Cool! What did you get?" She asks Jonathan.
"Mom got me this shirt," he answers, gesturing to the olive shirt he's wearing.
"Nice," she turns to Joyce, "I've told him, green's a good color on him."
"I know! Just getting him out of black is a challenge though."
"Yeah yeah," Jonathan interrupts. "And I'm still waiting on this guy's gift," he continues, ruffling Will's hair.
"Hey, I told you I was waiting for a reason! But now you can get it, hang on."
Will disappears down the hall and into his room.
"So what did you get?"
"Some makeup and stuff from mom and dad, and a Wonder Woman comic from Mike."
"Really?"
"Yep, it was really sweet actually. He said she's badass and I'm not the worst, so."
"Can't argue with that."
Will returns, suddenly looking nervous.
"So uh, this might be lame," he begins as he stands, holding something behind his back.
"Come on buddy, nothing you get me is lame," Jonathan protests.
"Well uh it's weird and, I-, yeah, okay. Well uh, so I wanted to wait until Nancy got here because this is kind of… well I made this," he eventually gets out and holds out a rolled up sheet of paper. Jonathan smiles and takes it, unfurling it on the coffee table that Joyce and Nancy hurriedly clears.
It's a drawing, a large drawing on a big sheet of paper. And it's them, Nancy and him. He with his camera around his neck and a bear trap in one hand and the spiked bat in the other, shoulder to shoulder with Nancy who's clutching a gun in one hand a tape recorder in the other. Determined expressions on both of their faces. Behind them a shadowy version of Hawkins Lab lures.
He just stares at it and he can see Nancy in the corner of his eye just as captivated by it. It's not until that Will opens his mouth again that he's shaken out of it.
"I don't know if it's lame or- I just, everything you told me about what you did… both times, and what the guys have told me I just, it's really cool and sorry if it's weird that I drew you guys I-"
"Will," he stops his brother and looks him right in the eye. "This is the coolest present I've ever gotten."
"Yeah, this is amazing," Nancy concurs, barely taking her eyes off it to look at Will who smiles shyly.
"Really?"
"Yes, really, come here," Jonathan answers and pulls his brother into a hug. As soon as he releases him Nancy embraces Will instead.
"Seriously Will, this is the coolest thing ever. It's not even fair how good you are at drawing."
"I'm putting this up in my room," Jonathan adds.
"And I'll steal it for mine," Nancy retorts.
"Stop…" Will blushes as he sits down.
Eventually they go to Jonathan's room to exchange gifts in private. Jonathan nervously fiddles with his hands in his pockets, which she finds way to adorable.
"Uh, I've made you this," he starts, pulling out a small rectangular gift out of his right pocket. "And uh, I got you this," he continues, taking out a slightly larger wrapped box out of his left pocket.
"Thank you," she takes both gifts from him and sits down on his bed and urges him to sit down next to her. He's quick to oblige.
She eagerly rips open the paper to the smaller gift first. It's a mix tape, of course.
"It's uh, there's some new stuff there that I hope you'll like. And some other stuff that we… I mean, that I know you like."
She smiles as she scans the track listing written on the back in Jonathan's messy handwriting. Sure enough Blue Bayou, You Better Go Now and Atmosphere are there. She also recognize Heroes. The rest are songs she doesn't know by bands she barely knows or doesn't know at all.
"Thank you, this is great," she kisses his cheek, before tearing into the other gift. She feels like a little kid but she can't wait to see what it is.
It's a box of ammunition.
"Sorry if it's weird I just thought-" he starts but she interrupts him with a kiss, almost laughing at his lips at how perfectly in sync they are.
"No this is great. I-, hang on."
She gets up off the bed and retrieves the bag she brought her gifts over in. Like him, she's got one small gift wrapped and one larger. She hands him the smaller one first and watches his eyes light up as he unwraps it to find film rolls within.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome."
She hands him the larger gift. It's heavy, he notes as she sits down next to him again. He unwraps the box and finds lighter fluid and a small blade inside. He looks to her. She's looking at him with her doe eyes, he can see a smile tugging at the corner of her lips.
"Good thing we did this privately," he smirks.
"Yeah," she laughs, before stifling it. "But seriously… we're not paranoid, right?"
"No. We're just… ready. If anything happens."
"Yeah. By the way, did you buy it at the same place? As last year, I mean."
"Yeah. You?"
"Yeah," thinking for a moment she continues. "We should just set up a tab there," she jokes.
"We should get a discount."
"Maybe the third can of lighter fluid is free?"
"Buy two bear traps, get the third one for free?"
She collapses against him in a fit of giggles and he feels himself unable to stop chuckling as the absurdity of the whole situation fully hits him. Here he is, exchanging gifts with his girlfriend and he got her bullets and she got him a knife and lighter fluid and they're both really happy with it.
"Merry Christmas, Nance," he says softly when they've both have calmed down.
"Merry Christmas," she answers and kisses him again.
The snow outside has started to pick up so she figures she should head home. They go out into the living room again where Will is playing his new game while Joyce sits in the couch, watching her son with a content smile.
"Hey, thanks for having me over but I should probably get back before mom freaks out."
"Thanks for coming sweetheart, drive safe," Joyce says as she gets up from the couch and hugs her.
"I will."
"Bye Nancy."
"Bye Will! I was serious about stealing that drawing by the way."
Will giggles as Jonathan follows her to the door where she pulls on her coat, hat and scarf. Saying goodbye they part with a quick kiss. He stands in the doorway, watching as she makes her way to the car and starts it. Or well, tries to start it. Because it won't. As she turns the ignition the car only sputters and makes weird noises that even she with her limited knowledge knows it shouldn't make. Trying again and again gets the same result. Looking up she sees Jonathan pulling on his jacket and making his way through the snow that's really coming down now.
"Won't start?" He asks as she gets out of the car. She nods. He pops the hood and takes a look. "I'll get the jumper cables, hopefully that'll work." He goes to his car that's parked right in front of hers and retrieves the cables from the trunk.
"Car trouble?" Joyce asks, her and Will appearing in the doorway.
"Yeah, we're gonna try and get a jump on it," Jonathan answers before getting in his car and with some difficulty due to the snow and small space manouver it around to get the hood pointing at her car so he can connect the cables.
"Damnit," they chorus as her car won't start even after Jonathan's effort with the jumper cables and multiple tries. He takes another look under the hood as the snow starts to cover them.
"Any idea what it could be?" She asks as she joins him.
"No, I'm not very good at this, just know from trial and error with my car."
She nods, briefly wondering how much in life Jonathan has had to learn that way to take care of himself and Will.
"Or wait, maybe this, I guess this shouldn't be leaking," he points.
"Guess not. D'you know how to fix it?"
"No. I mean, I guess we could work it out but I don't know. I can give you a ride, otherwise?"
"Hey, they're saying on the radio that the roads are slippery and starting to get covered in snow, and that it's going to be almost like a light blizzard soon!" Will calls from the doorway.
"I don't want you guys out driving," Joyce, who's made her way over, says firmly.
Nancy looks around. She hadn't fully realized just how much the snow was coming down until now. She knows Joyce is right.
"But…" she begins. Mom will flip that she won't be home on Christmas Eve. And she doesn't want to overstay her welcome.
"No buts, come on. I'm sure Karen will feel the same, you shouldn't be out on the roads in these conditions. And you're more than welcome to stay with us," Joyce replies as if she's just read her mind, and leads them back inside.
"Thanks," she says as they're back in the warmth. "Can I use your phone?"
"Of course."
The Byers go into the kitchen and tries and fails to not eavesdrop on Nancy's phonecall.
"Hi mom, I… no, I'm still at the Byers… well have you looked outside? The roads aren't safe and… no I tried to leave earlier but the car wouldn't start… I don't know! Jonathan tried to fix it but it wouldn't start and then the snow… yeah exactly, Joyce said the same… well there's nothing you can do… I'll just stay here, Joyce has already… yes… yes, I will… it's not a big de-… yes… I'll see you all tomorrow, don't worry about it… bye."
Hanging up, she joins them.
"Sorry about this," Jonathan says.
"No I-, I don't mind staying with you guys. I just hope I'm not screwing up your plans."
"Sweetheart, you gotta stop that. We're happy to have you, and we always get leftovers anyway so food is not a problem," Joyce says.
"Yeah, it's impossible to get food for just three," Jonathan adds.
"Okay then," Nancy smiles.
It's still a bit too early to start on dinner though so they settle at the table with a deck of cards and Joyce teaches her gin rummy. If they were playing for money Joyce would clean them all out.
Joyce shooes them out of the kitchen as she's getting started on dinner. Nancy challenges Will to a Defender rematch on the Atari. Will readily agrees and digs out the cartridge as Jonathan sits down next to her on the couch. He watches with a slight smile on his face as they play for a while before he disappears. He returns with the video camera as Nancy takes her turn.
"Stop…" she rolls her eyes as he films her trying to concentrate on the game, and Will smirking behind her.
"Why?" He teases.
"You're making me lose my focus! Come on, come on stupid ali-, shit, damnit," she curses at the game as she loses.
"Language!" Joyce shouts.
"Sorry!" She apologizes quickly. She turns to Will who's giggling.
"Okay fine, you win."
"You and Mike get the same way when you lose," he notes.
"You take that back!" She immediately protests, eliciting a snicker from Jonathan.
xxx
After dinner they all collapse into the sofa and turn on the tv. Dinner was great, Joyce tried to make excuses for it but stopped after both she and Jonathan had assured her it was good. And it really was, it wasn't as big a spread as her mother always does, which is frankly completely over the top for a family of five, one of which a picky toddler.
They don't get up from the couch for the rest of the evening, it was just too cozy and they were too full. Eventually Will falls asleep sandwiched between Joyce and Jonathan so he carries him to bed. Joyce and Nancy are both jawning so they decide to take it as a cue for them all to turn in for the night.
"Comfy?" Jonathan asks as she snuggles into him in bed.
"Very."
After lying in silent and content for a while she opens her mouth again.
"Jon."
"Hm?" He had almost fallen asleep.
"I'm really glad my car wouldn't start."
"Me too."
"Your family rocks, you know that right?"
"I think so," he smirks.
"I do too," she answers before slowly drifting off to sleep.
xxx
After breakfast the next morning the two of them venture outside. The snow came down hard during the night as well, covering the driveway. They get two shovels from the shed and get to work clearing a path down to the road which they can only hope will be plowed later.
"They're probably plowing downtown now, will get out here last," Jonathan notes.
"No rush on my account," she answers.
He turns his back as he shovels the last portion of the driveway. She looks at all the snow on the sides and can't resist. Bending down she picks some up and quickly molds it into a ball. One more look, ready, aim, fire.
Bullseye. Jonathan turns around as the snowball hits his shoulder.
"Oh you're on Wheeler."
"Bring it Byers, we both know who's got the better aim."
"We'll see about that," he comments as he bends down and makes his own snowball. He's better with this than a revolver, from years of playful snowball fights with Will.
No holds barred they both try to pummel the other with snowballs. It's an even fight but Nancy's quickness gives her an edge. Eventually she's got Jonathan cornered against the shed with a large ball in her hand.
"Do you surrender?" She asks, trying to hold back laughter.
"Hm…" he seems to hesitate. "Can we negotiate?"
"No, I take no prisoners!"
"That's a shame, Nance."
"Why's tha-" she's suddenly interrupted by a snowball hitting her in the back of the head, almost knocking her hat off. Turning around she sees Will a few yards behind her, grinning.
"Thanks, buddy!" Jonathan calls as he darts away.
"Goddamn brotherly love," she mutters as she flees, they've got her surrounded.
She dodges Will's next throw but Jonathan gets her instead. She's trying to decide on the best place to get some cover when a flash of red in the corner of her eye grabs her attention. Joyce has joined them. Or more accurately it seems, joined the fight on her side as she launches a snowball straight at her eldest.
"Mom!"
"Sorry honey but I'm on her side!"
"And we'll crush you!" Nancy adds.
"Jonathan! Rendezvous at Castle Byers!" Will calls.
"Good idea buddy!"
Will and Jonathan take off into the forest. Nancy and Joyce lets them go get a headstart while they load up on ammunition.
"You know where it is right?"
"Of course I do, it's about halfway between here and Hopper's cabin."
"Okay, lead the way!"
As they near it Nancy stops and looks at the ground to see if they can discern anything from the foot prints, but no they're scattered going off in all kinds of directions.
"They worked to cover their tracks," she notes.
"Clever boys."
She catches a glimpse of Jonathan's hat outside the "Castle".
"You go on, I'll circle 'round and we'll have them surrounded," Nancy decides.
She goes around and gets a clear shot on Jonathan who's focusing on Joyce, and she connects squarely with a ball. He shrugs it off and slowly turns around.
"We've got you surrounded. Surrender now or-" Wait, she realizes something. Will is missing. She looks at Jonathan, he's got a smirk on his face. He glances upwards and nods. She follows his gaze and looks up and is promptly showered in snow cascading from the tree branch directly above her that's shaking wildly. Will's laugh rings out as he jumps out of the tree and runs away with Jonathan further into the forest, with Nancy and Joyce hot on their tail.
The battle rages on unhindered. That is, until Joyce misses Jonathan with a ball but it's a direct hit on someone else behind him. Hopper slowly turns around. He's got El next to him and there's a snowman in front of them.
El looks both happy and bewildered as she looks between them all. Hopper narrows his eyes.
"Joyce Byers… still got your old ways in ya, huh," he remarks and to Nancy's surprise quickly makes a snowball and flings it at Joyce.
The fight is reignited again, Hopper stepping in on the boys side so Nancy quickly recruits El to theirs. She shows El how to make a snowball. The younger girl's questions about how this relates to the Snow Ball she puts a pin in for another day.
They fight on equal terms for a while, El squealing with delight every time she gets in a hit on Hopper, who's a rather big target to aim at. But then the boys start to get the upperhand so Nancy starts to encourage El to just slightly use her powers, stopping some balls in the air and making the snow gathered on tree branches crash down at every oppurtunity.
"No fair, she's got powers!" Will protests.
"All's fair in war!" Nancy retorts.
It gets to the point where El eventually gathers enough snow to cover all three of Will, Jonathan and Hopper and holds it in the air above them.
"We've gone nuclear," Nancy declares. "Surrender or be destroyed."
The three guys look between themselves.
"Fine," Jonathan huffs, stifling a grin.
El sets the snow down in place again.
They all head back to the Byers house, Hopper and El joining them, to warm up with some hot cocoa. When they've finished they go outside and Hopper takes a look at her car. Assessing the situation he deems it in need of a proper mechanic.
"I can get the tow truck to come out later to get it," he says.
"Thanks."
Then they see the blinking lights of the plough car clearing the road.
"I suppose I should get home then," Nancy sighes.
"I'll drive you, Jonathan states.
She hugs both Joyce and Will goodbye, thanking them again.
They get in his car and drive off.
"Just so you know, we would've beaten you even without El."
"Oh really?"
"Yes, really. I'm so much faster than you. And your mom is just a machine out there."
"No match for the Byers brothers brains."
"Big woop, your little brother is good at hiding while you're a sitting duck."
They continue their playful bickering until he pulls up outside her house which is covered in decorations as usual.
"See you tomorrow?"
"Yeah."
She can't think of anything more to say, after everything. Well, one more thing.
"I love you."
"Love you too," he answers before kissing her.
She exits the car and walks to the door. Turning around she smiles and waves before going inside. He drives home with a smile.