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1. Nate + Jo
It’s December, which means several things for Nate. It’s a time of bitter Colorado cold, wind, and snow. It’s slushy and awful outside. Driving is a pain in the ass. There’s too much fucking joy in the air; not that Nate’s, like, the Grinch, but the amount of Christmas everywhere is overwhelming. Lights circle every lamppost and building and tree in sight, and it looks like an elf puked red and green on everything in his neighborhood and at the rink. Plus, if he has to listen to Mariah Carey’s ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ one more time, he might punch someone. Preferably Mariah Carey, but he’s not too picky.
Anyway, suffice to say that Nate is completely over Christmas and it’s only December 7th. He just wants to play hockey without having to deal with people dressed up as Santa. It doesn’t feel like that much to ask, and yet -
“Nate! Go sit on Santa’s lap and tell him what you want for Christmas!”
Nate sighs. It’s too damn early for this. He expected hockey practice to be - well, practice. On the ice. Not sitting on a random grown-ass man’s lap for a photoshoot. He glares at the PR person until she relents, making him pose near Santa instead of actually on him. He thinks he probably looks grumpy as fuck in the pictures, but he can’t bring himself to care.
“Who pissed in your cereal this morning?” Gabe asks as Nate gets geared up for practice.
“Fucking Christmas,” Nate grumbles.
“Aw, did Santa tell you that you’ve been a naughty boy and you’re getting coal this year?” Gabe teases. Really, Gabe’s just lucky that some other Christmas song is blasting in the locker room and not Mariah Carey, because that may have ended up tipping him over the edge into punching territory and Gabe is definitely standing closest right now.
“Fuck off,” Nate says. “It’s just a little too much holiday cheer for me.”
Gabe rolls his eyes. “You know you can always spend Christmas with me and Mel and the kids,” he says softly. “You don’t have to be alone every year.”
“I’m not alone,” Nate says. “I mean, whatever. It’s fine. I like being by myself. I just hate Christmas.”
Gabe leaves him alone, thankfully, and Jo comes into the locker room. He and Nate get into a deep conversation about a set play Nate came up with a few days before. Nate’s busy explaining to Jo exactly where he needs to be from the faceoff dot through several complicated passes and maneuvers, and Jo is into it, asking questions and making sure he understands. Still in conversation, they wander toward the locker room exit to get on the ice, when suddenly, Sammy stops them and points up.
Mistletoe. Fantastic.
Well, the only good part about this is that Nate and Jo dated for a long time. Long enough that Nate doesn’t mind kissing him, and he knows Jo won’t mind either. He rolls his eyes and leans in, giving Jo a quick peck on the lips before continuing to answer Jo’s question about where Cale will be during the play.
Now, Nate just has to make sure to remember where that fucking mistletoe is so he doesn’t get caught under it again.
2. Cale + Devon
December is the best month ever. Cale wakes up every morning feeling energized just from the vibes of the holidays. He loves the beautiful decorations adorning his neighbors’ houses, he loves the joy on everyone’s faces as they wander through downtown Denver, he loves the Christmas music he keeps slipping onto the team’s locker room playlist. He especially loves Mariah Carey. The only bad part about December is that it’s not long enough; there’s only 25 days before Christmas is over, and Cale could really use some more time with holiday spirit. After Christmas, the snow and cold just seem gray and dull and depressing, but beforehand, for all of December, they seem magical, like he’s a little kid again and he can run around outside trying to catch snowflakes on his tongue.
He’s in the locker room, humming along to one of the Michael Bublé Christmas songs he’d put on the playlist, when Devon comes in. He sits down next to Cale, and they start talking about their Christmas plans. Christmas is still more than two weeks away, but Cale could talk about it all day, every day. He details all of the different kinds of cookies he’s going to make when Nate interrupts.
“No sugar,” he reminds Cale. “No gluten.”
“It’s Christmas,” Cale says, frowning. “One day during the season isn’t going to-”
“We’re not going to win a Cup if we’re not fully devoted,” Nate says stubbornly.
Cale rolls his eyes. “I had tons of cookies on Christmas in 2021 and we still won the Cup that season,” he says. “And I don’t want to break tradition…”
Nate turns away, grumbling under his breath about all of the downsides of sugar. Cale ignores Nate, used to his antics by now, and goes back to telling Devon about the chocolate crinkle cookies that are his absolute favorites.
“Those are good, but I’m more of a peanut butter guy,” Devon says. “You know those ones with Hershey's kisses in them?”
“God, those are so good, too,” Cale says, standing up to head to the ice. Devon follows suit, standing next to him as they exit the locker room, but they’re quickly stopped by Georgie.
“Kissing plant,” he says, pointing up.
Cale looks upwards and blushes. He hadn’t noticed the mistletoe at the locker room exit, which is surprising because he had personally placed most of the Christmas decorations around the room.
Devon laughs and kisses Cale on the cheek.
“No,” Georgie says, blocking the exit. “I, uh, was told it needs to be a real kiss.”
Cale is probably a deep shade of red at this point; he assumes he must match the various red Christmas decorations surrounding them. Devon rolls his eyes, grab’s Cale’s face, and gives him a quick kiss on the lips.
“Happy?” Devon asks Georgie. No one wants to piss off a goalie.
Georgie nods and lets them pass. Cale remembers to breathe and follows Devon, who is back to talking about Christmas cookies.
3. Nate + Lehky
Nate fucking overslept. He never does that. He has his routines, and he always wakes up at the same time every day, but his phone somehow got shut off in the middle of the night so his alarm never went off and now he’s late to practice. He feels rattled and unsettled, and having to listen to goddamn jingle bells playing in the locker room isn’t fucking helping.
The only good thing that’s happened today is that he isn’t actually late for practice, he’s just not as early as he normally is. That means instead of hanging out with Jo and Cale before practice, he’s got some other company - namely, the Finns. Mikko tends to drive them all - Lehky, Kivi, and Justus - and Mikko is never on time for anything. Well, according to Nate, anyway. Mikko is never actually late, but he does come too close for comfort on occasion. They seem surprised to see Nate just now getting dressed, but don’t ask him anything. They’re speaking to each other in Finnish, laughing as they get ready for practice. Nate zones out and does his own routine as quickly as he can. By the time he’s ready, the Finns are too. Justus is out of the locker room first, ready to do his weird goalie warmups, and Kivi follows quickly. Mikko isn’t ready yet, but gestures for Lehky to go ahead without him.
Nate stops in the doorframe and holds the door open for Lehky, who ends up under the door at the same time as him.
“Ooooh, Nate and Arsi! Mistletoe!” Mikko says excitedly.
Goddamnit. Nate had forgotten about this after last week’s incident with Jo. He’d meant to keep it in mind, but it had promptly gotten shoved away after he woke up and saw how late he was.
Whatever. Nate doesn’t have time for this bullshit. He grabs Lehky’s face, kisses him right on the lips, and then lets go, stomping toward the ice. It’s about the same as it was after they won the Cup, Nate kissing everyone in sight, though there was less stomping involved that night and more champagne and beer to loosen everyone up. Lehky hesitates for a moment before following, blushing slightly.
4. Miles + Ross
Sometimes, Miles zones out when he looks at Ross. He still can’t believe how lucky he is, even though they’ve been together for over a year now. Ross is the hottest guy in the world. Miles kind of wants to lick the bead of sweat that’s running down his abs. He can’t stop staring at it until OC kicks him in the shin.
“Dude,” OC says, shaking his head. “You’ve got it bad.”
Miles grins at him, poking his tongue through the large gap in his teeth where several are missing. “He’s ridiculously attractive.”
“Yeah, well, keep it in your pants in the locker room, or you two are gonna get fined again,” Logan reminds him. Miles rolls his eyes and stands, throwing an arm around Ross and dragging him out of the locker room to go make out somewhere.
“Hold up!” Gabe says, stopping them in their tracks. Great. They’ve been caught, by the captain no less, and now they’re going to have to listen to another speech about how everyone accepts and loves their relationship but can they please stop blowing each other where other people might see. Gabe points above their heads, and Miles looks up to spot mistletoe. Ah - so not a speech then, but an invitation to kiss his boyfriend. That’s easy enough.
He gathers Ross closer into his arms and kisses him gently at first. He deepens the kiss, loving the way Ross sighs into his mouth and grips him hard, trying to pull him closer.
“Enough!” Gabe says after a minute or twenty. “It’s mistletoe, not foreplay.”
“Why not both?” Miles says, winking as he drags Ross to go find a secluded spot in the arena to continue what they started.
5. Cale + Mikko
It’s December, and Cale is supposed to be happy. This is his favorite time of year, but the past couple of days have been rough. A few bad games where nothing has seemed to click has caused him some insomnia, which has led to some miserable waking hours. He’s exhausted and all he wants to do is go home and crawl into bed, but he has to be at practice. He sits in the locker room, head in his hands, willing the dizziness to go away.
“You good?” Mikko asks gently. Mikko’s here - that’s a bad sign. Cale should be on the ice already.
He nods. “I’m fine,” he sighs. “Just a little tired.”
“I know we’ve had some bad games, but we’ll turn it around, don’t worry,” Mikko reassures him.
“Yeah,” Cale agrees half-heartedly. In truth, that’s only part of what’s bothering him; the other issue is that for the first time, he’ll have to spend his favorite holiday alone. His parents are visiting his brother, and the break isn’t quite long enough for Cale to join. Devon would have had him over, but they’re going to visit Kerry’s family. It’s been a little hard to find joy in the Christmas season when he knows that he’ll be by himself on the 25th.
Cale could probably ask other teammates what they’re doing, but he doesn’t want to intrude on anyone’s Christmas plans. It won’t be that terrible to be alone. He can still make cookies and watch Christmas movies and open the presents his parents mailed him. Just because it won’t be the same doesn’t mean it’ll be bad. It’ll be different, that’s all, and he has to get into the right mindset for that.
“Come on,” Mikko says, poking Cale and snapping him out of his thoughts. “We’re gonna be late.” He drags Cale up and out of the locker room, pausing under the door to point at the mistletoe and giving Cale a quick kiss before they take the ice.
+1: Nate + Cale
One more game and then the Christmas break. Nate can get through this. The next time he’s in this locker room, all of the gaudy decorations will finally be gone and he can hopefully get through changing without hearing goddamn Mariah Carey.
He’s smiling to himself about the holiday season nearing its end when Jo sits down next to him. “Whatcha so happy about?”
“Last day of Christmas music in the locker room,” Nate admits. “It’s a little over-the-top at this point.”
“But Christmas is the best holiday,” Cale says from across the room.
“...Are you the one responsible for all of this?” Nate says, gesturing around the room. In the past few weeks, the decorations have gotten worse and worse every day, new ones appearing seemingly overnight.
“Partially,” Cale says, blushing. “I didn’t do that,” he says, pointing at the mistletoe, “but I did a lot of the rest.”
“Big plans for Christmas day?” Gabe asks Cale.
“Uh,” Cale says. “Not really. Just gonna chill, make cookies, watch some movies.”
Nate doesn’t like the frown Cale has when he says that. He can tell Cale’s trying to act like he’s ok being alone for Christmas, but clearly he’s not. “I have a nice kitchen,” Nate says.
“Congratulations?” Cale says, confused. Gabe is watching the two of them like a hawk; Jo is as well, though he’s being a bit more subtle about it.
“If you wanted to bake your cookies at my place, you could,” Nate clarifies. “I have a huge TV for movies, too.”
“Um,” Cale says awkwardly. He pauses for a second. “Is your place decorated for Christmas?”
“No,” Nate says. “I don’t really do decorations.”
“Hmmm,” Cale replies. “I’ll come over tomorrow morning to fix that, then. I bet we can find a tree on Christmas Eve.”
“Sounds good,” Nate says, grinning. “We can get started on the cookies tomorrow, too.”
“Perfect,” Cale says, smiling brightly. Nate loves making him smile.
They stand up to file out of the locker room and get on the ice. Cale is in front of Nate, and suddenly Nate’s being shoved forward, falling into Cale and grabbing onto him to keep his own balance and make sure Cale stays upright. “What the fuck, Gabe?” Nate asks angrily.
“Look, mistletoe!” Gabe says brightly, pointing above them. The whole team is watching them with more interest than necessary. Nate rolls his eyes and kisses Cale on the cheek.
“Happy?”
“No, it has to be a real kiss,” Devon insists.
Nate sighs. He puts his hand behind Cale’s head and drags him in for a quick kiss on the lips - or, it was supposed to be quick, but Cale gasps slightly and clutches Nate’s arms and Nate can’t stop. The whole room falls away and it’s just the two of them and the mistletoe hanging on the doorframe. They’re in their gear and they need to get onto the ice for the game, but Nate couldn’t care less about hockey right now. He’s fully consumed by Cale - the feeling of Cale’s lips on his, the barely-there moans, the way Cale is holding Nate like he never wants to let go. Finally, they break apart. Nate stares at Cale, blinking slowly for a few moments, before turning back to Gabe and Devon. “Happy now?”
They nod, smirking at Nate and each other. The team finally takes their places on the ice, skating out in front of thousands of fans. Nate can’t stop staring at Cale as he takes a couple of quick laps. He almost trips over his feet, and that forces him to focus on the game. He can think about Cale after the game. Especially tomorrow, when Cale is coming over to bake cookies and decorate his house and buy a Christmas tree. Maybe he can even convince Cale to stay the night.
Bonus Scene
“Is that mistletoe?” Devon asks curiously as he wanders into the locker room. Gabe is struggling to hang it on the doorframe, which is slightly out of his reach. Mikko rolls his eyes and grabs it from him, putting it in the perfect spot.
“It is,” Gabe says, slightly out of breath from the battle against his own height. “We gotta get Nate and Cale underneath it together.”
“Dude,” Devon says. “I told you to come up with a good plan, not some half-baked Christmas bullshit.”
“It’s the best I’ve got. They kiss and then they finally figure out their shit together. Just like a movie.”
“This is the dumbest plan I’ve ever heard,” Mikko says. “What if they just kiss on the cheek?”
“Nah, we gotta spread the word: this is real mistletoe, so anyone under it has to actually kiss. We have to come up with a game plan to get other people under it so that’s the standard.”
“I can make sure me and Nate end up under it,” Jo volunteers. Gabe stares at him. “Look, I know it’s weird, but we used to date - Nate will definitely have no problem kissing me and then we can establish the ‘real kiss only’ standard. Plus, there are definitely no feelings between us.”
“Fine,” Gabe says.
“I can do the same with Cale,” Devon says. “Not that we used to date, obviously, but just so he knows the deal.” Gabe nods.
“Miles and I can-” Ross starts, but he’s quickly interrupted.
“NO,” Gabe says firmly. “We have to watch you two make out enough as it is.”
“Whatever,” Ross says grumpily. He sits back down in front of his stall and Miles kisses him to cheer him up, leading to various complaints from everyone.
“Ok, so that’s set, then. It seems like we have a good plan, we just have to make sure Nate and Cale wind up underneath it before Christmas.”
“You can shove them if you have to,” Devon says cheerfully.
“The rest of you, be careful,” Gabe says. “Don’t wind up under it unless you want to be, otherwise we’ll have to make you kiss.”
The team nods in understanding, and Gabe looks up at the mistletoe one last time. This has to work.