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"Seatbelts!" Steve yelled out, checking the rearview as he heard the scramble for belts and several clicks. Robin was sitting comfortably in the passenger seat, utilizing her permanent shotgun privileges, with Holly wiggling excitedly on her lap. Dustin and Erica argued briefly over how to make the back middle belt fit them both. Lucas, Max, Will, and El flashed him thumbs up from the jump seats in the way back. Mike was already buckled in, squished between the back passenger window and Dustin. Eddie clicked in behind Steve and leaned forward despite the lapbelt holding his hips back.
"What are we doing again?" He asked. He sounded nervous.
"Looking at Christmas lights." Steve answered, doing a quick second check to make sure everyone really was buckled in.
“But why?” Eddie asked again, sitting back as much as he could. He had to angle himself some. It was a tight fit with four of them even though Erica was small and Mike was more bone than anything else.
“Because they’re pretty. Haven’t you ever gone looking at lights?” Erica scoffed at him.
“I’m Jewish,” he replied. She glared at him for a beat. Steve watched as Eddie looked around the car, settling on Will, the only other Jewish person he knew of, hoping for help. Will just shrugged.
“We do it every year. She’s right. They’re pretty.” Eddie huffed. and sat back.
“Fine. I’m poor and gas is expensive. Sometimes the Donelly’s three trailers down put Santa hats on their lawn flamingos. Does that count?” All he got was a bunch of blank stares and a snicker from Max.
“You can go with us now. We’ll show you the way.” Erica shoved at him gently. She was practically in his lap so he couldn’t go far, but he shifted over as much as he could anyway. Steve turned the car on and backed out of the driveway. He waved at Mrs. Wheeler as she watched them drive off. Robin shuffled through the radio stations until she found one playing Christmas music.
"Okay. But why are we in the Wheeler station wagon? And is this even safe?" Steve chanced another glance in the rearview. Eleven people were crammed into a car that was meant to sit nine at capacity. But Erica was still pretty small and Holly was only six. It would be fine. They weren’t driving fast. It was fine. Totally fine.
“Strictly speaking? Probably not. But we wouldn’t all fit any other way.” Steve slowly made his way down the street. He was heading to the back of the neighborhood first.
“My mom used to drive us, ever since we were kids." Mike explained. Steve rolled his eyes. They were still kids. "Steve started doing it right after Will went missing and came back. My mom was sick and my dad is useless. Steve was still dating Nancy so he was always around and he was the only one with a driver's license"
"He volunteered!” Lucas chimed in from the back. Eddie hummed in the back of his throat and Steve knew that sound. That meant annoyance.
“You could have stayed home. It would have been okay.” Steve tried to keep the disappointment out of his voice. He loved this tradition. He loved when it had just been Holly and the four boys and he loved it with every year and every new addition to the drive. Even last year, when Will and El had been in California, Robin had been added and she had lessened the sting of their absence. But everyone was back now. He had been excited to add Eddie to the mix.
“You asked me to come. I’ll be wherever you want me to be.” Eddie leaned forward to talk softly, meant for his ears only though the entire car probably heard, and he blushed.
They drove through the neighborhood where the Wheelers and Sinclairs lived first. There were some pretty displays, a few yard decorations, mostly just lights on porches and gutters. They went through Dustin’s neighborhood. Through the middle class suburbs with the homemade displays. Steve took them through the mini-mansions in Loch Nora and their professionally decorated houses, both inside and out, with trees glowing in every street-facing window. A few had tasteful displays of just candles lit up in every window. Eddie seemed to appreciate those, though the kids all called them boring. Steve just liked spending time with everyone.
Holly was just starting to get whiny, antsy in Robin’s lap, when he pulled out onto the main road and drove across town. They passed several neighborhoods before finally turning down an unassuming street.
“Van Hoack! Van Hoack! Van Hoack!” The kids started chanting. They pounded fists onto knees. Holly squealed in delight. Robin grinned wickedly at Eddie through the rearview mirror. Steve just chuckled. He has no idea what he was in for.
He parked the car behind a line of other cars and everyone tumbled out into the cold night air cheering and hollering. They stretched and the kids took off at a run. Holly launched herself at Steve and he picked her up and over his head. She plopped onto his shoulders with a giggle.
“Why’d we stop?” Eddie asked, sidling up next to Steve and watching the kids careen down a side street.
“Oh, you’ll see.” Robin teased. She matched pace with Steve, reaching up to hold one of Holly’s hands while Steve’s were busy gripping her ankles to keep her steady. Eddie matched him on his other side, shoulder to shoulder, and he burned underneath his clothes where Eddie bumped into him.
It became apparent, before they even got to the end of the street, just why they had stopped the car and walked for this last house. There was a line of people slowly making their way to the end and back again. Most of the houses were dark. But the end of the street glowed with light. It was like a beacon had been lit and every person around was drawn to it.
The kids were already there, waiting for the rest of them. Eddie slowed as they approached and Steve let go of Holly’s ankle to reach for Eddie’s hand. He tugged him forward until they were both standing right at the edge of the lawn.
“What in the actual hell.” Eddie wondered. Steve laughed.
They were standing in front of an average sized, middle class house. There were Christmas lights covering the entire house. The roof. The gutters. Even the posts on the porch were lined with lights. There were lights on every bush, shrub, and tree in the front yard. There were lights lining the driveway, the walkways, and the edges by the sidewalk, lighted candy canes a makeshift barrier. There were wooden displays in a few spots, hand painted and lit by spotlights in the grass. There were inflatables taking up every other available spot of grass.
It was truly atrocious. It was so ugly. It must take ages to set up and cost a small fortune in electricity and it clogged up the street with people stopping just to ogle the house. It was cluttered and tacky.
Steve loved every bit of it.
“Welcome to the Van Hoack’s house. They do this every year.” Robin kissed Eddie’s cheek, though he was too stunned to acknowledge it, and moved over to the other kids, joining in their chatter. They were trying to pick out which decorations were new and arguing over what color lights the Van Hoacks’ had put up the previous year.
“What do you think?” Steve asked him quietly. Holly was still on his shoulders, clapping and laughing and pointing at different things.
“This is the ugliest thing I’ve ever seen.” Eddie’s eyes roved over everything, darting from one display to another. He finally looked over at Steve and a grin split his face. “I love it.”
"Steve! Look! Mommy says Daddy has to kiss her when she stands under one of these!" Holly squealed and pointed directly above them. Sure enough, hanging from a branch that fell over the sidewalk right at the edge of the yard, a bundle of green lights dangled in an approximation of mistletoe. There might have been an actual plant in that tangle of lights but it was hard to see, more Christmas lights than anything else.
Steve looked at Eddie. Eddie looked at Steve. Steve considered it, for a split second, but there were so many people around. Just holding Eddie's hand was dangerous enough even if it was under the pretense of pulling him to the house.
Eddie reached up and grabbed Holly around the waist, lifting her easily and blowing raspberries on her cheek as he set her down. She flailed and laughed.
"Not like that! That's not kisses!" she squealed.
"That's not kisses? Then what are kisses?" Eddie asked. Holly giggled and tugged on his jacket. He leaned down and she gave him a little kiss on his cheek.
"Oh! That makes sense. Can I try again?" He blew another raspberry on her cheek. She turned and wrapped her arms around Steve's leg.
"He doesn't know how, Steve!" Steve kissed the top of her head. "Teach him!" He looked around again. So many people, and at least half of them were watching the three of them. It was mostly fond looks, but still. That fondness would turn sour real fast. There was no way. He couldn't.
"Rain check on that lesson, Munson?" Eddie grinned at him, wicked and teasing. Steve felt like he just walked into a trap.
"Sure. But I charge interest. One kiss per minute of postponement."
"I'll have to come to your place after this. That's going to take awhile to pay. And I always pay in full." Steve lowered his voice as Eddie blushed. To everyone else, it was two kids joking to make a little girl happy at Christmas. To Steve, it was a promise.
And he always kept his promises.