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What in the name of Nightmare Before Christmas is this? David thought to himself as he stepped through the glass doors Monday morning and was immediately accosted by the sight of tinsel everywhere, on monitors, on chairs, even spiraling up the water cooler like a festive python. The smell of cinnamon and artificial pine hung heavily in the air. Someone had replaced the usual company playlist with nonstop Christmas hits.
And in the middle of it all stood Oliver “Olly” Spring, holding a stapler like a conductor’s baton, leading a choir of his own chaos.
“Morning!” Olly called brightly, as if he hadn’t just zip-tied a string of fairy lights to the accounting department’s doorframe. His grin was wide and slightly manic. “You’re just in time to help me decide whether the reindeer cutouts should go above or below the emergency exit sign.”
David set his coffee down on his desk, blinking. “After your brother begged me to put in a good word for you at this place, you’re already trying to get fired before the Christmas break?”
Olly just winked. “What’s Christmas without a little danger?”
It had been three months since David’s brother-in-law’s little brother, Olly, had joined the marketing team. If David had known what an absolute menace Charlie’s sibling would be, he’d never have recommended him for the job. Despite being in different departments, they worked on the same floor and David was starting to feel like he couldn’t escape the younger man. Olly was a whirlwind of enthusiasm, cheekiness, and borderline-inappropriate-for-work outfits. Somehow he managed to charm everyone he met, but he seemed to make it his own special mission to make David’s day as unproductive as possible.
Because, despite how hard David tried, Olly was impossible to ignore.
Olly sidled up to David’s cubicle, leaning on the partition. His tie today was bright red with tiny snowflakes. “You’re helping with the decorations, right?”
David arched a brow. “I’m helping by not stopping you.”
“That’s not the Christmas spirit, David.” Olly clutched his chest dramatically. “Come on. One ornament.” Olly gestured to the barren plastic tree in the corner of the office. I’ll even let you put the star on top.” Olly winked and grinned mischievously.
David sighed but couldn’t suppress the corner of his mouth twitching upward. “You’re ridiculous.”
“Festively ridiculous.”
“I’m surprised you’re so into this stuff,” David mused as he placed a baubale near the top of the tree. “Would have thought Christmas would be way too commercialised and consumeristic for your tastes.”
Olly gave him a wry look before smirking. “Everyone loves Christmas, David.”
“Not sure that’s true, but okay.” David shook his head but couldn’t help grinning as he handed Olly the star to go on top;after all Olly was the taller of the two.
🌲
By lunchtime, the office looked like Santa’s workshop had exploded. Olly was humming under his breath as he arranged a plate of gingerbread men on the break room table. David sat across from him, trying not to notice the smear of icing on Olly’s wrist or the sparkle of glitter that had found its way into his eyebrow.
“So,” Olly said, plucking up a shortbread shaped like a star. “What’s your Christmas thing?”
“My what?”
“Everyone’s got one. You know, your Christmas thing. Like how Cathy from HR brags about how she's going to bake a thousand fruit mince pies, or how Jim has been wearing that ugly jumper with the bells on since the start of November.”
David hesitated. “I don’t have one.”
Olly gasped, mock horror flooding his face. “No Christmas thing? That’s tragic. Come to think of it, how come I never see you at Spring-Nelson gatherings?”
“I-I’ve been to some.”
“When? When I was in primary school?”
David paused to think. Had it really been that long? He felt a little pang of guilt, but perhaps that was more related to Olly highlighting the age gap between them, and some of the places David’s imagination had been taking him lately.
“Well, I’ll be there this year. Now that Nick and Charlie are engaged, Mum is hardly going to let me off the hook.”
“Well, aren’t I lucky to have someone to talk shop with then?” Olly deadpanned, before breaking into a big cheeky grin.
🌲
It was later that week when the mistletoe appeared.
The first one hung innocently above the printer. The second dangled from the corner of the kitchen doorway. The third was taped to the office thermostat.
By Friday, they were everywhere.
David walked in that morning, looked up at the tangle of greenery above his own desk, and groaned. “Oliver!”
Olly popped his head up from behind the cubicle, even more branches in his hands, feigning innocence. “Yes, boss?”
“I’m not your boss.”
“You sound like one when you say my name like that.”
David pointed to the ceiling. “Just how many mistletoes did you hang?”
Olly leaned back in his chair, considering. “Define ‘hang’.”
“Olly.”
“Technically, I only taped most of them.”
David folded his arms, but the corner of Olly’s mouth curled into that boyish grin that made it impossible to stay irritated. “It’s festive,” Olly said. “And who knows? Maybe it’ll spark some holiday magic.”
David rolled his eyes but smiled despite himself. “More like a complaint to HR. This is an office, not a Hallmark movie.”
Olly smirked. “You say that, but you haven’t seen how I handle a snowflake-shaped cookie cutter.”
🌲
The company Christmas party arrived the following Friday. The office had been transformed into a twinkling, glittering wonderland, largely thanks to Olly’s unstoppable energy. There was a buffet table, a cheesy DJ, and more mistletoe than David wanted to count.
He tried to keep his head down, nursing his drink, chatting politely. But Olly was everywhere, laughing with coworkers, sneaking candy canes into pockets, somehow getting the usually stoic IT guy to join a conga line. Every so often, he’d glance David’s way, that playful spark in his eyes.
By the time “Last Christmas” started playing, David was just about ready to leave. That’s when Olly appeared at his side. “Dance with me?”
David blinked. “Olly, I don’t…”
“C’mon. Just for a minute.”
Olly’s hand was warm where it brushed David’s wrist, gentle but insistent. Against his better judgment, David let himself be pulled toward the corner of the room where the lights were softer and the crowd thinner.
They swayed awkwardly at first. David felt his face grow hot as his body moved rigidly. Olly laughed quietly against his shoulder. Instead of annoying or embarrassing him further, the sweet sound slowly disarmed David’s defenses and he found himself melting into the younger man. The song shifted to something slower. Olly’s laughter faded, and suddenly the air between them shifted, as though they were suspended in their own little bubble.
“You know,” Olly murmured, his voice low enough that David felt it more than heard it, “I didn’t hang all that mistletoe for nothing.”
David gave a small, incredulous laugh. “Is that what this is?”
Olly looked up, eyes shining. “Only if you want it to be.”
David hesitated for a heartbeat before whispering, “You’re impossible.”
“And yet…” Olly tilted his head slightly. “You’re still here.”
David glanced up. Sure enough, one of those ridiculous sprigs of mistletoe hung above them, glinting in the fairy lights. He huffed a laugh.
“You planned this, didn’t you?”
“Maybe.” Olly’s grin softened. “Maybe not.”
“You know this is a bad idea, Olly,” David grumbled, trying to convince himself as much as the other man.
“In theory, yes. But why does it feel so right?” David couldn’t tear his eyes away from Olly’s lips as he whispered airily.
David knew he should step back. He knew he should walk away from whatever this was between them. But instead, he leaned in, slow and uncertain. He looked into Olly’s big, warm, brown eyes and saw need, mirroring his own. David closed the gap between them and joined their lips together.
It wasn’t dramatic. It wasn’t movie-perfect. Just a warm, soft, and startlingly right kiss.
When they finally pulled apart, Olly’s eyes were wide, his cheeks flushed. “Wow,” he breathed. “Guess the mistletoe works.”
David shook his head, smiling helplessly. “You’re ridiculous.”
“Festively ridiculous,” Olly corrected.
🎄
The Christmas break was a whirlwind. David had every intention of keeping his distance from the younger man. But the moment his eyes met Olly’s over the dry Christmas Turkey at the Spring’s house his resolve evaporated. He knew it was wrong, he knew Charlie was going to kill him when he and Nick inevitably found out, but David couldn’t bring himself to care.
When they returned to the office, the decorations started coming down. The tinsel disappeared, the lights dimmed, the mistletoe finally untaped.
Well, most of it.
As David arrived on Monday morning, he found one last sprig hanging above his monitor, carefully preserved.
There was a sticky note attached, written in Olly’s messy scrawl:
In case of emergencies.
David laughed quietly to himself, tucking the note into his drawer.
When Olly appeared a few minutes later, coffee in hand, David looked up and said casually, “You missed one.”
Olly followed his gaze and smiled. “Did I?”
David stood, looked around to make sure no one was watching, then leaned across the desk, to peck Olly lightly on the cheek.
Olly’s grin was pure sunshine. “Best Christmas thing ever.”
David shook his head and chuckled. “Guess I’ve finally got one.”
