hey y'all this is inspired by a tiktok i saw earlier and also i wanted to write a little something for christmas to cheer everyone up! happy holidays to all of you even if you don't celebrate anything or celebrate something other than christmas, i hope you're having a restful and relaxing time :)

the sweater is this one, which i would totally buy if it wasn't almost 40 bucks lmfao: Women-S-Polyester-Plain-Ugly-Christmas-Sweater-1032333710-g333710/?currency=CAD&gclid=Cj0KCQiAuJb_BRDJARIsAKkycUkL21YSguU43sWbWMbLMc-UacJpgaf0rr592U_agpqHRJf7tr3PjgIaAhPeEALw_wcB

ALSO DISCLAIMER: this is modern but it's not now bc i didn't feel like writing abt the pandemic while we're still in the midst of it, so this is definitely pre-2020 lol

El sat down in her car, excitedly pulling her phone from her pocket to send Max a snap.

"So I'm home and I decided to go thrifting because why not, right? And my dad insisted that I needed an ugly Christmas sweater to wear to his work party," she started, zooming in on her face as she looked off camera. "And you will not believe what just happened to me!" She exclaimed, adding a scream at the end for dramatic effect.

"So I get into this thrift store…"

El had really just been looking forward to getting a goddamn break from the shitstorm that had been her first semester at college and enjoying the holidays with her dad, but of course she had forgotten that there was the annual Christmas party at the Hawkins police station. This year, for some reason unbeknownst to her, one Jim Hopper was absolutely insisting that she had to wear an ugly Christmas sweater for it. Apparently there was some kind of contest going on and he was determined that she would win this year's prize for their little family.

So… to the thrift store she went. She was bound to find some plenty ugly sweaters there, right? She had just pulled up in front of it and was shifting her car into park when she saw a guy walk inside. The slouch of his shoulders seemed familiar and she figured she might've gone to high school with him, but she didn't see his face to confirm it. Either way, she wasn't really looking to bump into anyone today, she kind of just wanted to find a sweater that would satisfy her dad and then go home to wallow about not making any friends besides Max over the whole semester. And maybe eat some ice cream and pity herself for all those terrible first dates she went on…

Walking inside, El was greeted with the familiar scent of a thrift store: dusty and old, but comforting. You were almost always guaranteed to find something cool in thrift stores, so she and Max tended to hang out in a lot of them around campus. The guy she'd seen was over in the corner looking at denim jackets, and the cashier was some high schooler a few years her junior, distracted by his phone. There wasn't a specific Christmas section, so El decided to start in the women's.

She'd spent maybe fifteen minutes perusing the racks of women's sweaters, but hadn't managed to find anything particularly garish. Maybe even the thrift stores were sold out… it was almost Christmas after all. She then decided to check the men's section. She could probably find a size small, and if she didn't she figured a massive sweater would look even more ridiculous and make her more of a contender for first place. She had looked for about five minutes when she spotted it.

The sweater was almost hidden behind a pile of fedoras (ew, who brought 2010 back?), but it seemed to shine, calling to El like a beacon. It was dark green and had matching tinsel all over it, adorned with shiny baubles, and El knew she simply had to have it. She almost tripped over herself to reach it, only to be met with someone else's hand on it just as she did.

Looking up, she saw that it was the same guy she'd noticed walk in, and then she recognized him. She had gone to high school with him, although they'd never really spoken. They were both speechless for a moment as recognition took them over. Then-

"I saw it first!" El exclaimed, starting to tug it toward her.

His grip on it tightened as he frowned. "No, I saw it first," he replied.

El glared at him. She didn't even care, she just really needed this horrible sweater.

"No, I did."

"Swear you didn't."

"Oh come on," she sighed. "It's not like you need any more ugly sweaters."

His brow furrowed. "What's that supposed to mean?"

El smirked. "Like you don't know, Mister I-wore-an-ugly-sweater-every-day-of-school."

He looked a little taken aback. "What?"

"Was it not you?" She asked. "I specifically recall this one time where it was like April and you were still-"

"I had nothing else to wear that day!" He defended, his face colouring. "Jesus, how many people remember that?"

El almost laughed, but then she didn't want to embarrass him further. She wasn't going to tell him so, but she'd always secretly thought his sweaters were kind of cute.

"Well," she asserted, straightening her shoulders. "I need an ugly sweater to wear to my dad's work party tonight, and I'm sure you have a million at home already."

He tugged the sweater back in his direction, not relenting. "I have not worn an ugly sweater for years and none of them fit me, but my nana's visiting so I need something sufficiently horrible to keep her off my case."

El stared at him over the rack, watching as his face became more desperate. She could tell he was going to surrender and let her have the sweater, but she felt bad. Maybe his nana was super anal about the sweaters or something… and it was a men's sweater after all. She could try looking in the women's section again.

She relented. "Alright, you can have it."

Her old classmate looked shocked. "Are you sure?"

El shrugged. "Yeah, Christmas spirit and all. I'll find something else."

He smiled wide; El thought it was a cute smile. It stretched out his whole face and made his eyes sparkly. Wow, how had she never noticed how pretty he was?

"Well, thanks, Eleanor," he answered bashfully, raising a hand to the back of his neck as he took the sweater. "Merry Christmas."

El narrowed her eyes at him. "You remember my name?"

He looked down at his feet. "Yeah," he mumbled. "It hasn't been that long."

She shook her head and let a smile come onto her face. "Well, merry Christmas, Mike."

She walked away back to the women's section without another word, trying to focus on finding a damn sweater instead of the guy she'd gone to school with standing behind her that she was suddenly finding super attractive for some reason. She tried and failed, however, to keep her eyes away from him as he checked out with the sweater. She kept stealing glances, noticing how his hair fell over his brow and how it curled just so at the ends; the long, slender fingers reaching into his back pocket for his wallet; the way one hand fidgeted with the cuff of the other sleeve as he waited for the cashier to process the payment. Damn, it made her wish she'd gotten to know him while they went to school together.

Eventually, Mike left the store and El gave up her search a few minutes later. She could try another place down the street. She waved goodbye to the cashier as she walked out, and didn't see what was on her car until she reached it. Hanging from the handle of her door was a nondescript white plastic bag, but it was shitty enough to see through it and El could tell it was the sweater. He'd left it for her…?

She snatched the bag off the handle and drew the sweater out, looking around to see if she could still see him anywhere. He had mysteriously vanished, but tucked into the collar was a piece of paper.

You saw it first. -M

Followed by a phone number! Holy shit, was something good actually coming of this trip home?

Excitedly, she got into the car to tell Max all about it. "Should I text him?!" She finished, and then sent the video. She started on her way home analyzing the whole experience and then trying to recall any memories she might have of him from growing up in Hawkins.

Max eventually sent her back a snap that was just a black background with the eyes emoji on it, and El couldn't control her excited smile.

Her dad, sitting on the couch across from her watching some Western movie, couldn't help but notice. "What are you smiling at?"

"Just Max," El replied flippantly, opening her messages app and typing out a quick confirmation to her friend that she was going to text Mike.

But he was a cop, and a good investigator. "Sure it's not about a boy?" He asked shrewdly.

El looked up, scandalized. "How do you always know everything?"

He made a grumpy noise. "Should I be worried?"

She rolled her eyes. Typical dad. He was one of the reasons she'd never even tried to date before she left for college, despite having had crushes.

"No, you should not be worried. I just talked to him earlier."

"At the thrift store," he stated.

"Of all places," she added. "We went to school together."

"Do I know this boy?"

El stared at him. "Don't you know everyone in this town?"

At that, her dad laughed. "I meant along the lines of, he ever been down to the station?"

"Not that I can think of. He's not the type, Dad."

He made that same grumpy noise. "Good."

It was good. El won the sweater contest, securing a nice leg of ham as well as a new lacy tablecloth, and decided to text Mike and tell him so. It was thanks to him gifting her the sweater that she did.

(And if she sneaked away from the party to go meet him at 7/11 for a late night candy run, nobody needed to know.)