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Weekday mornings are Liam’s favorite time of the week. He’s a morning person in general, but weekday mornings are the only time that he’s guaranteed to see all four of his roommates at once. They all work different jobs with different hours, and Liam can go days on end without seeing one of them if they oversleep. He enjoys the time they actually get to spend together, even if Louis is grumpy and Niall drifts off over his oatmeal.
“Good morning,” he calls to Niall and Harry, who have set themselves up at the kitchen island. Harry waves, munching on some toast, and Liam gets a grunt from Niall, which is pretty good for this early. He heads to the coffee pot, pouring himself a cup while he considers what he should have to eat and whether he’ll have to wake up Zayn or Louis before he leaves. He heard Zayn’s alarm through their thin walls a few minutes ago, but Liam doesn’t have to begin worrying that he fell asleep again after it for a few more minutes. Louis is a wildcard, but if it gets too close to when he needs to leave for the school, Liam will knock on his door.
“How are you, Liam?” Harry asks. He’s the only other morning person in the house, which means most of the breakfast conversation comes from him.
"Good," he says. "You have that presentation today, right? Did you do all your notecards?"
"Yep," Harry beams, obviously pleased that Liam remembered. "I'm pretty confident in this one. It's a solid pitch."
Niall grunts again, which makes Liam think that he's not processing any of the words being said. He'll suddenly perk up right before he leaves for the zoo, but for now Liam is content to let him be.
"Morning," Zayn says wearily, beelining to the fridge. Liam moves out of the way, leaning against the doorjamb to give him the space he needs to move around their cramped kitchen.
"Morning, Zayn," he says. "Rough night?"
Zayn takes out a carton of orange juice and tips it into his mouth in answer, although the circles under his eyes are clear as day, too. He has a deadline coming up with the holidays, which means his creativity kicks in at odd and inconvenient hours.
Liam takes a sip of his coffee. He used to hate Zayn's schedules, but he quickly learned that not everyone functions best with an early to bed, early to rise mentality. If Zayn didn't have to also go in to discuss his projects with his collaborators and clients, Liam is certain that they would rarely see each other due to Zayn’s very different, very weird sleep schedule.
A door slams down the hall, signaling that Louis is awake and as pleasant as ever at this hour of the morning. Liam smiles into his mug while Harry attempts to engage Zayn in conversation, with mixed results. A moment later Louis appears, pausing across from Liam in the doorway and stealing the mug right out of his hands to take a long drink.
"Hey," Liam frowns. Louis shrugs, scowling with a bedhead. He left all his grading for the night before and is starting today in a worse mood than usual, so Liam hopes his students have their best interests in mind and behave.
"Well, look at that," Harry says. "Mistletoe."
Liam turns his frown to him, although it softens from annoyance to confusion.
"What?"
"Mistletoe," Harry repeats, pointing above their heads. "That is mistletoe, right? I assume so. It's Christmastime. I don't know what other plant would be hung up in our house.
Liam looks up. A sprig is taped above the doorway with masking tape, with narrow leaves and tiny, white berries tucked within it. Liam has never seen mistletoe before that he can remember, but he thinks it would probably look something like this.
"Huh," Louis says, squinting at the plant.
"Don't you two have to kiss now?" Zayn asks, orange juice apparently forgotten. Even Niall lifts his head from where it was leaning heavily on his fist to watch, blinking at them like a baby deer stepping into the sun for the first time.
"Huh," Louis says again, then leans forward and kisses Liam on the corner of his mouth. He continues through the kitchen without a second thought, pouring his own cup of coffee while Liam's heart leaps in his chest, then attempts to race out of it. He resists the urge to rub at the place where Louis's lips met his, even though it burns.
No one else moves. Louis continues to putter around with the cream and sugar, oblivious to the three pairs of eyes bouncing between him and Liam like a tennis match.
"I think mistletoe is poisonous," Harry says eventually. Niall frowns.
"No, it's not," he says, his first words of the day. "Is it?"
"No, I think Harry's right," Zayn says. "I heard that once, too."
Liam clears his throat.
"Maybe it's a good thing we never got a pet, then," he says. "Wouldn't want it to die around Christmas."
"Oh Parmesan," Harry says wistfully, staring off into the distance and thinking about the cat they all cooed over on the Humane Society's website a few months ago, "you would've made such a good addition to our house."
"I liked Pepperjack better," Zayn says. Niall grunts. Liam forces himself to drink his coffee normally, hyper aware of where Louis is in the room and heartbeat showing no sign of slowing down.
-/-
No one confesses to the mistletoe.
It disappears from the kitchen before Liam gets back from work that day, but all of his housemates shrug and act clueless when he asks. Typically, he can tell when they're lying, even if he's the worst liar out of all of them, but this time everyone seems genuine, even Louis. He tries to push it out of his mind and continue on as usual, but the memory of Louis's lips invades his thoughts more often than he's willing to admit, even if it wasn't even a proper kiss.
He's never exactly thought about kissing Louis before, not concretely. They all have known each other a long time, so they've gotten drunk together and played lame party games like truth or dare or would you rather, which have included some "if you had to kiss one person in this room, who would it be" or "would you rather make out with one of us or that fit barista" questions, but he's never genuinely considered what it would be like.
Louis is one of his best friends. He's obviously attractive, and Liam has recognized this for a while. He's also funny, kind, and always ready to defend his beliefs. He forces Liam out of his comfort zone more than anyone else does, which caused some issues when they first met, but now Liam can say that he's probably the person who understands Liam the most, too.
Still, he's never thought about kissing him, not in the way that he is now. He can't stop remembering what it felt like to have Louis so close for that split-second, the way his scowl melted when he leaned in but returned in full force when the moment passed. He's never seen Louis as someone kissable, but now he wonders what it'd be like to do it properly. What if, when he had to go to Louis's room to wake him up, he could do it with a kiss? What if, instead of going to Louis's room, he went to one that they shared together? What if he took Louis out on an actual date and kissed him at the end of the night?
Liam shouldn't be thinking things like this about one of his best friends and housemates, but he can't seem to stop considering it when he catches Louis lounging in the front room or hears his voice loudly announcing his arrival back to the house.
He wouldn't mind getting caught on under the mistletoe again. He’d never voice that thought, but he can't stop thinking about it, either.
-/-
Most of the time, they don't enter each other's bedrooms. Liam has permission to do so if someone is in danger of oversleeping (which means everyone is always very clear to him if they have the day off), and Harry gets away with it simply because he's Harry, but otherwise they've learned over the course of their time together that personal space is important to ensure that they don't all get grumpy and annoyed. Liam has had a bit of a shit day and doesn't want to see anyone, but when someone knocks, he forces himself to get up and crack open the door.
Louis is on the other side, holding a jar of pickles.
"Can you open this?" he asks, holding it out. "I can't get it."
Liam sighs and takes the jar. He's the only person who consistently lifts weights, so he often gets saddled with helping the others open tough containers, even if he doesn't think his grip strength is that much better. This particular jar, for example, stubbornly stays sealed when he tries.
"Give me a moment," he says.
"Take all the time you need," Louis says, crossing his arms. Liam tries not to let the weight of his gaze distract him, but it's embarrassing to be bested by a pickle jar when the guy he's been fantasizing about kissing is watching him unwaveringly.
Liam tries a different grip, disheartened by the way his fingers slide on the glass. He asks Louis to hold the bottom while he twists the top, but that doesn't work, either.
Zayn decides to pass by at that moment, hands covered in either streaks of paint or blood. He seems too calm for it to be blood, but Liam isn't exactly excited when he slows down his walk to see them both struggling over a jar of pickles.
"Did you two kiss yet?" he asks. Liam almost drops the jar.
"What?" he asks. Zayn gestures at the doorway, and when Liam looks up he sees the sprig of mistletoe, this time with a red ribbon tying it together.
"Huh," Louis says, just like the first time, except when he leans in now it's with a steading hand on Liam's shoulder and their lips meet squarely.
It barely lasts a second, but it sends Liam's mind spinning, and he's sure the other two can tell.
"Nice," Zayn says simply, continuing on his way. Liam turns his attention back to the pickles and somehow manages to open the jar on his first try.
"The kiss gave you my strength, obviously," Louis says, taking it and almost spilling pickle juice on Liam's floor. "You couldn't have done it without me, but thanks, mate."
"Yeah, no problem," he stammers.
"You joining us for dinner, or going to hide in your room all night?" Louis asks. "You know spending time with the rest of us cheers you up."
Niall is out tonight, but the rest of them have been talking about burgers, and Harry offered to bundle up and grill in the cold. Liam can't tell if the warmth he feels in his face is left over from the kiss or the pleasant burn that comes from Louis being able to read him so well.
"Yeah, I'll come out," he says. Louis gives him a small, pleased smile, then turns to go straight back to the kitchen. Liam watches him go, closes the door to his room, and wishes he could scream into his pillow without everyone else in the house hearing.
-/-
After that, it seems like the mistletoe is everywhere. Liam rarely notices it unless someone points it out, but it's constantly changing positions around the house, and more often than not Liam and Louis somehow end up under it. No one else does, except for one singular instance where Niall and Harry passed under the same doorway and Louis pointed it out, making them both laugh and Harry place a firm and delighted kiss on Niall's cheek. Every other time someone gets caught under it, Louis is kissing Liam.
The kisses evolve, too. When someone put it over the bathroom entrance and Liam and Louis exchange places so he can wash up, Louis cups Liam's face when he kisses him. When they both try to leave for work at the same time with the mistletoe over the front door, Louis grabs his hand and is gentler than he was before. When they're watching a holiday movie and Niall points out the mistletoe hanging from the ceiling right above the couch, Louis's lips linger. It's driving Liam absolutely crazy, because he doesn't know if Louis means anything by it. Each kiss causes Liam's heart to flutter in a different way, but he can't get a read on Louis. Sure, Louis is the one who initiates the kisses, but it's always after one of the other three comments on the mistletoe above them. It's not like he's kissing Liam unprompted or simply because he wants to.
The only time Liam notices the mistletoe without someone else pointing it out, he and Louis are back in the kitchen, eating dinner next to each other at the island. It's a late night for both of them; Louis had his students' winter choir concert and was too stressed to eat beforehand, while Liam had to rush straight from work to make it before stage lights went up. They got takeout on the way home, but it's long gone by now, leaving the two of them chatting while the house grows quiet around them.
Liam spots the mistletoe hanging above them while he's mid-sentence, completely disrupting his train of thought. At his silence Louis looks up, too, then looks back at Liam carefully.
"Well?" Liam asks. "Are you going to kiss me?"
"We don't have to if you don't want to," Louis says. "No one else is here. They can't mind that we didn't follow the rules if they don't know we broke them."
Liam has always been a rule follower. That's not about to change now, especially not when there's nothing he'd like more in the world than to lean over and kiss Louis. He just hopes that Louis, who likes breaking the rules at every opportunity, decides to align himself with them for once.
"What if I do want to?" he asks, pulse already speeding up with the simple admission.
Louis smiles and leans in. In the end, liking Louis is simple, too, just like this kiss is. Liam's heart still goes crazy, and Louis still cups his jaw and kisses him gently, but when they part nothing has changed, except for the way that Louis keeps holding his hand while they talk. They'll have to address this at some point, using clear words so Liam knows they're both on the same page, but for now he's content to simply exist with Louis, stealing kisses under the mistletoe.