Yoongi freezes when Taehyung yells from the other end of the room just as he’s passing Namjoon.

He looks back towards the younger man, brow raised in question as Taehyung starts jumping in place. A large grin is spread across his face while his hands clap together in excitement. Namjoon pauses beside him as well, his body language going from relaxed to nervous in the span of a second. Yoongi would be amused by the sudden shift if he wasn’t still wondering what has overjoyed Taehyung so much.

“You’re under the mistletoe!” Taehyung screeches, eyes almost closed shut with the force of his smile. “You have to kiss now!”

Oh no, Yoongi thinks in despair as he looks up and finds mistletoe hanging from the kitchen’s doorway. 

Don’t get him wrong, he wouldn’t mind kissing Namjoon, except that’s entirely the problem. Yoongi wants to kiss Namjoon very much, all the time if he can get away with it. But Namjoon definitely doesn’t want to kiss him back… right?

Right. Definitely. No way in hell is Namjoon harboring romantic feelings for him like Yoongi is.

Yoongi slowly looks back down to meet Namjoon’s gaze, flushing automatically when he sees that Namjoon is blushing as well. Hoseok has one arm around Jeongguk on the couch and is lifting his mug of cocoa in the air to cheer them on while Jimin and Seokjin giggle at them from the kitchen sink. Taehyung is still standing by the tree, palms now pressed together in anticipation.

Pondering his options, Yoongi twists his fingers together nervously and bites his lip, avoiding Namjoon’s gaze. If he says no, then the gig will definitely be up and Namjoon will know. Yoongi can’t have that. When Namjoon rejects him, it’s going to ruin so much. Too much, honestly. Yoongi knows he isn’t going to handle the rejection well, it’s the main reason he has always kept his feelings under lock and key for so many years.

But if he goes along with this, then he gets to kiss Namjoon. He gets to kiss Namjoon and think of it for the rest of his life probably as he moons over his best friend. It’ll be painful having to deal with it, but it will also keep his secret safe and Yoongi doesn’t mind if this makes him a coward.

So, it’s settled. He’s going to kiss Namjoon under the damned mistletoe.

He turns to face Namjoon and wraps his hands around the ends of the younger man’s scarf, hauling him in none too gently. Namjoon’s eyes go wide but Yoongi closes his and lets their lips meet before he can change his mind.

Yoongi means for the kiss to be short, simple and sweet, but just as he’s pulling away, Namjoon’s arms encircle his waist and crush him to his chest.

It takes him a second to realize that Namjoon is kissing him back, but once the shock has worn off, Yoongi’s brain screams that Namjoon is kissing him back and holy shit, Namjoon likes him. Namjoon didn’t kiss Seokjin like this last year when they got caught under the mistletoe. That was a chaste press of lips that lasted a mere second but had Yoongi sulking for most of the night until more alcohol was broken out and he forgot all about it.

This kiss isn’t that. This is the kind of kiss Seokjin and Jimin frequently share. The kind of kiss that has Yoongi’s eyes fluttering shut and tilting his head back to better the angle while one of his hands finds its way into Namjoon’s hair and cards through his blonde locks gently. A kiss that has their friends whistling and whooping at them because it is clear that neither one of them is going to pull away any time soon.

Yoongi finds himself smiling into the kiss, laughing when Namjoon struggles to keep kissing him and then decides to throw all his inhibitions away and enjoy this moment.