2. "I might have gotten sick of my family complaining that I never bring anyone to Thanksgiving/Christmas dinner and lied about dating you. Please just come with me? I'll owe you."
18. Under the mistletoe
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Isaac asked as he stood on your front porch.
"It'll be fine," you assured him. "No one has to know we're not actually dating."
"Y/n...I don't know," Isaac told you. "What if they ask us how we met?"
"We tell them," you told him.
"We tell them I tried to kill your friends and say that's how we met?"
You pursed your lips, thinking back to that eventful night went you tried to protect Lydia from Derek because he thought she was the Kanima. Isaac had ended up breaking into Scott's house, and when he started to toss Stiles into various things, you jumped on his back in a fit of what Stiles liked to call bravery, but you were pretty sure it was just recklessness.
He hadn't really hurt you, because Scott had showed up, and later after the stupid pack rivalry had died down, he had apologized. He showed up at the vet clinic where you and Scott worked, partly to say sorry and partly to ask for his advice.
The clinic had been quiet that night, so Deaton ended up letting you off early and you and Isaac were able to talk for a couple hours. You quickly became friends, and after everything that happened with the alphas and the nogitsune, he soon turned into your best friend. Maybe that was why you had asked him to help you out this Christmas, with your crazy, overbearing family.
Of course you loved them, but there were so many of them, and it was more than a little annoying to have them question about your nonexistent boyfriend at every family gathering. You had begged Isaac to come with you this year, insisting that it would only be for a couple of hours, and all he had to do was say he was your boyfriend and kiss you on the cheek, like, once.
"Okay, maybe not. We'll just say we met in school. Harris' chemistry class, right?"
"Right," he agreed. "But what if they don't like me?"
"What?" you asked with a laugh. "It doesn't matter. It's not like you're my real boyfriend."
"But they think I'm your boyfriend," he said. "And I don't want to upset anyone."
"Isaac, you won't," you insisted, placing your hand on his shoulder. "Look, my parents
already love you. They know you're my best friend, so it won't be a surprise when I show up with you. Plus, there are going to be so many people here, it'll be easy to get lost in the crowd. We could always slip away if it gets too crazy, and no one would miss us."
"Okay, but what if they start asking too many questions?" he asked. "What if I say something wrong?"
You shrugged. "Just let me do all the talking. And if they ask you something, just do what
Stiles does."
"Keep rambling until whoever I'm talking to gets uncomfortable and leaves?" he asked.
"I was thinking lie, but that works too."
"You don't think this is wrong?" he asked nervously. "Lying about dating someone?"
"If it gets them off my back, I don't care...wait, you're still okay with this, right?" you
questioned. "Because if you aren't, I can just take you back to Derek's, brave the hellhouse, and then come back to watch a movie with you later."
"No, no, I'm cool with it," he told you quickly.
That wasn't a total lie. Isaac did want to spend time with you, and if he was being honest, he did want to pretend to be your boyfriend, but mostly because he knew it was as close to being the real thing as he would ever get.
"I just don't want to mess anything up for you," he continued. "In case you actually start dating someone."
You rolled your eyes. "Like that'll happen. Come on, let's get this over with."
Isaac blinked as you grabbed his hand, and you shot him a look. "We're dating. So
please, pretend you love me."
"I do love you," Isaac stated.
"And I love you too," you assured him. "But you know, this has to look like a different kind of love."
"Right," Isaac said, intertwining his fingers with yours. A different kind of love. If only you knew just how familiar he was with that already.
You collapsed onto your couch with an exhausted sigh. "Isaac," you murmured into his shoulder. "Take me home."
"This is your house," he stated. "Also I don't have a license."
"I don't care," you said into his shirt. "This is insane. Take me anywhere but here."
Not only was your entire family here, but some of them had invited friends, so your house was currently overflowing with people. You seemed to be overwhelmed, but Isaac was loving it. He had never had a group of people, other than Scott's pack, who had accepted him wholeheartedly like that. Your entire family seemed to love him and the fact that you were "finally dating", but he couldn't count the amount of people he had talked to that night.
With all of your aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents and family friends, Isaac found himself trying to remember all the names and failing. No one really minded, and you didn't seem to either, but you were going a little crazy with all the commotion.
"Okay, come on," he told you. "We can go get some air."
He pulled your to your feet and you gladly followed him, but as you passed through the living room doorway, someone shrieked behind you.
"Y/n! Isaac!" you heard one of your aunts cry. "You just walked under the mistletoe!"
"Uh...what?" Isaac asked.
"Oh, shit," you swore quietly, glancing up at the leaves hanging above you. "She's right."
You swallowed and looked back over at your aunt, who was looking at you expectantly. "Uh, Auntie, I think you're making Isaac a little uncomfortable," you called across the room.
She scoffed. "Y/n, I know you're new to this dating thing, but that boy has been looking at your lips since you got here."
You glanced back at Isaac, whose eyes went wide. Had he really been that obvious?
"Well, go ahead!" your aunt cried. "Kiss her, son!"
"Uh, okay."
Isaac leaned forward and gently cupped your cheeks, kissing you as softly and politely as he could. But the minute his lips touched yours, you decided that if you were going to do this, you had to go all out, so you wrapped your arms around his neck and pulled him closer to you.
You kissed him fiercely causing your aunt to whistle, and one of your uncles to spill his drink.
"Y/n's kissing a boy!!" one of your younger cousins shouted.
You pulled away from Isaac, slightly embarrassed, and then you grabbed his hand and tugged him into the hallway and up the steps. It was quiet up there, but you shut yourself in the bathroom just to be sure that no one would bother you.
"Wow, okay," you breathed. "So that was, um...what was that?"
Isaac blinked at you. "You tell me."
"You kissed me," you stated.
"Because we're supposed to be dating," he said. "And you're the one who practically ate my lips."
You let out a shocked choking sound, and then you began to laugh.
"Wait...why are you laughing?"
"I...I just kissed my...best friend," you stated between laughs.
"Was it bad?" he asked hesitantly.
"God no," you breathed. "It was amazing, and I liked it...and I want to do it again, because I think I'm in love with you."
Isaac blinked. "Are you serious?"
"Why wouldn't I be?" you asked. "I just-I can't believe it took me this long to figure it out."
"You have no idea how long I've been waiting for you to say something like that," he breathed. "I just never thought you would."
You grinned, and stepped forward to place your hands on Isaac's cheeks. "Well, you were wrong."
He smiled and leaned in to kiss you again, and then wrapped his arms around your waist. He lifted you up and set you on the sink, and you slid your arms around his neck to steady yourself. He kissed you there until your faces were red and flushed, and this time, there was no mistletoe needed.