Hey! Firstly, i hope you’ve been well and are having a good end of the year. Secondly, I was wondering if the guys ever had a Mall Santa when they were working there?
MERRY CHRISTMAS IVE COME OUT OF HIDING BECAUSE ILY
There was a mall Santa every year, but none that were super noteable. Nah, the most noteable instance came from another time
Every year on Christmas Eve,Thomas’ dad had dressed up like Santa and come out to give the kids a gift each. Thomas told Virgil it was a tradition that had started when he was younger and he and Shea had started talking about how Santa didn’t exist. Well, weren’t they surprised when they found Santa that night.
This year was a little different. Virgil and Logan hasn’t been able to decide which family they wanted to spend Christmas with, and neither had Patton and Roman. So, they rented out a little (gigantic) cabin out on the lake and Thomas’ family, Logan’s parents, and Patton’s family all drove out to celebrate together.
The Christmas tree was up, the presents were piled up under it, and there was a pleasant scent of Logan’s mother’s linzer cookies wafting through the kitchen. It was early evening, so you couldn’t blame Virgil for being a little tipsy, and maybe a little clingy. He wasn’t super drunk, just pleasantly warm and a little sleepy. Roman was the one who suggested the hot chocolate and Baileys. Besides, everyone had a mug.
Logan’s hand was carding through his hair as he talked quietly with Patton’s father and step mom, and Virgil was busy listening to a conversation Roman was having with their Uncle Shea. He was about to chime in, when screaming became apparent from the other room. Patton’s step mom and Shea’s wife went running out first, followed by the rest of the adults.
In the next room, where the younger kids had been watching a Christmas movie, Patton’s half sister and Shea’s youngest kid were locked in a screaming match.
“What is going on?” Shea’s wife called. The boy looked up, burst into tears, and went running to her.
“Mama, Katie said that Santa isn’t real!”
“Because he’s not, you big baby,” The girl said, rolling her eyes. She flinched as her mother flicked against her ear.
“He’s only four. Be nice.” She chided. “And besides, Santa is real.”
“Is not!” The girl shot back.
“It’s true. Don’t be such a baby, Shep.” Shea’s oldest son said. All the other kids in the room looked upset, and the adults were all glancing at each other now. Christmas Meltdown: Lakeside Yule Tale was about to go down if they didn’t do something.
“If Santa’s not real, then how come he comes see’s us every year, huh Aiden?” Virgil said teasingly, breaking away from Logan to ruffle his cousins hair. The boy flicked his hand away, then went back to his switch. “Besides, you better not start being bad now. Santa’s going to come soon, you might not get those games you’ve been asking for.”
“Please, we all know that’s just grandpa. Have you all really never noticed that he’s never in the room when Santa is? Where grandpa now, huh?”
The kids all seemed to go into a panic at once looking around the room. The nine year old smirked, rolling his eyes and turning to his game once more.
“Dad’s in the bathroom. Santa always comes after dinner, and you know how your grandpa always overeats on Christmas.” Thomas spoke up.
“Convenient!” Roman shrieked.
“Not helping!” Patton shot back.
Everyone was talking at once. The kids were all either crying or fighting with each other, and the adults were trying to pull them all apart. Logan was standing with Aiden locked in his arms across from Virgil, who had managed to pull Shepherd off of Aiden in the first place.
“Shep, no hitting! No hitting!” Virgil said firmly, wishing he could have just kept his pleasant buzz. Now he was annoyed and god, couldn’t the older kids just keep the Christmas spirit alive for the younger ones? Did they have to be little assholes?
“Ho ho ho! What’s all the fuss here!”
“Look guys, it’s San-“ Patton tried.
“Grandpa!” Aiden shouted. Virgil sighed heavily, wondering what would happen if he just this once chucked the kid into the lake.
“I’m not your grandpa, young Sanders! I’m Santa, here with your-“
“Oh my god.” Virgil muttered, at the same time that Shea scolded his kid.
This wasn’t going well at all was it? Shea was hissing to his kid about how he needed to stop talking and let the little kids believe, and Aiden was shouting about how all of the adults were liars. Santa was standing in the doorway, trying his best to calm everyone down while looking incredibly confused.
“We all know it’s grandpa, dad! So just-“
“We all know who’s me?” Everyone’s eyes shot up to the doorway, where Thomas’ father was now standing next to Santa. “Santa! Finally!” He said excitedly.
The room was deadly silent for a moment. The kids were all shocked, the adults looked confused, and even the family pets had quieted in their respective spots.
Then Thomas’ father was chatting with Santa, all the kids were screeching, and Shepherd was pulling on Virgil’s collar.
“I knew he was real, ViVi, I knew it!” He squealed. Virgil grinned, nodding.
“You did! Go meet him!” He set Shepherd down and the little boy went toddling over to where all the other kids, even Aiden and Katie, were gathering around Santa.
Virgil straightened up just as Logan’s arm slid around his waist and a kiss was pressed against his head.
“You were right to suggest my Dad do it this year.” Logan chuckled. Virgil waved a hand.
“I overheard Aiden talking to Uncle Shea this morning about how he wasn’t going to be fooled this year. I figured we should probably change it up.” He hummed as the two settled down into an arm chair and Santa started passing out gifts.
“Kitten?” Logan hummed into his husbands ear after a few minutes.
dededos
romaincrisis
yousharknotpass
theartofmadeline
titsay
stormborns
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