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Sidney was in pure shock at what his daughter had just told him, he had to have misheard her. It was early and she had just woken up, maybe she was just telling him about one of her dreams. “Could you say that one more time for me sweetheart?”
“I said, I saw daddy kissing someone else!” his daughter loudly whispered, obviously upset about the matter but not wanting to wake the whole house with the news. Sidney was usually the first one up in the house while Geno continued to sleep in and would only wake up once he smelt breakfast being made, likewise Katya tended to wake up and either go play or sit with Sidney while her younger brother Kolya would continue to sleep and usually make his way down the stairs trailing behind Geno.
“Sweetie are you sure that’s what you saw? Maybe you were dreaming?” She had to have seen wrong, Geno would never cheat on him, and even he did he wouldn’t be stupid enough to bring him into the house, right?
“Yes, I’m sure!” Sidney could tell she was getting frustrated but he wasn’t exactly faring any better, “I saw it the other night, I heard the door open and so I went and looked and daddy was downstairs! With…with another man…and-and they kissed! And then he laughed and then daddy was shushing him and I ran to my room!” Katya was panting a little, clearly angry about the whole situation and confused, and honestly, Sidney was no better. He didn’t want to believe it but Katya wasn’t one to make up lies, especially about something as serious as this, and she did have a tendency to get up at night and go get a glass of water so maybe she really did see something? Maybe?
Sidney knew he had to calm her down though before he even began thinking about this, he would corner Geno later and ask him. How he would exactly bring up the topic of “hey I think you might be cheating on me, our seven-year-old daughter is my source,” was another story. Especially since the kids were on winter break and they didn’t have a lot of time just the two of them right now, and he really didn’t want to start a possible screaming match in the house right before Christmas.
“Katya come here” Sidney said as he pulled her into his arms, trying to reassure her that her dad wasn’t actually cheating on the other, “shh it’s okay, I’m sure you were just dreaming, daddy loves me and he loves you and Kolya too okay, don’t worry.”
Katya gave a small nod but didn’t seem fully convinced. She hopped out of Sidney’s arms and went to go sit at the counter while Sidney finished making breakfast. A pensive look was stuck on her face and if Sidney wasn’t silently freaking out, he would laugh at how serious her little seven-year old face was.
As Sidney was nearly done making breakfast, Geno and Kolya began to walk down the stairs, or rather Geno walked, Kolya was carried. Sidney thought it was a testament to just how lazy someone could be that even though Kolya was six years old, he still made Geno carry him down the stairs in the morning. Geno would complain that he was getting too heavy and was too old to be carried, but would eventually give in every morning. Sidney teased Geno about it though saying that he had no room to judge because he had definitely seen a picture of an at least seven-year-old Geno being carried by his mom.
“Morning princess, morning Sid” Geno yawned as he walked to the living room where he continued to drop Kolya onto the couch, making him bounce on the cushions. “breakfast almost ready?”
“You know you could actually get up earlier for once and make breakfast for me instead” Sidney teased, knowing that trying to get Geno up early was like trying to move a mountain.
“Yes, but then who carry Kolya downstairs? He too heavy for your weak arms to carry, might drop him.” Geno said, sticking his tongue out at Sid, making Kolya giggle.
“He could always walk down himself you know” Sidney replied as he began plating everyone’s food.
“I can’t, my legs are still sleeping, I’d have to crawl down the stairs, papa,” Kolya piped in, looking desperately at Geno trying to signal for help to get out of this conversation.
“See Sid, very dangerous, don’t want him to crawl down stairs, don’t want you to drop, should stick to routine yes? Know you love routines,” Geno said to Sidney with a wink.
Sidney rolled his eyes and tried to hide his smile but knew he was doing a lousy job. He loved moments like these where they could all sit together and be a family, now that both he and Geno were retired and the kids were on break, it was the perfect time. Or it was, until Sidney looked over to Katya and noticed she still had a brooding look on her face and hadn’t even looked at Geno. Sidney needed to deal with whatever she saw fast, he didn’t want Katya thinking bad thoughts about her dad. He frowned at the thought of the situation and the even the slightest possibility of it being true, what would he do if Katya was right?
“Breakfast is ready” Sidney said, turning his face away from everyone else and schooling his expression, he could keep it together through the morning and then talk to Geno later while the kids were playing.
As the four of them sat down to eat, it was quieter than usual. Katya and Kolya had been talking about Christmas more often than not lately and their excitement over Santa Claus and what cookies they should put out for him and what kind of milk and if they should leave snacks for his elf or reindeer and if they should build gingerbread houses to put the cookies by or get a fancy plate, but today Katya was quiet, which made her brother quiet also.
Geno turned to Sid and gave him a questioning look; Sidney tried to give him what he hoped was a convincing shrug to pretend that he didn’t know either, but Geno only gave him a more confused look and turned back to look at the kids.
“So, you two excited about Christmas? Figure out what cookies you going to leave for Santa? Leave snacks for reindeer?”
Kolya looked up at Geno and was about to answer when Katya slammed her hands down onto the table, she shot Sidney a quick look, which Sidney instantly knew wasn’t good, and began yelling. “Daddy I saw you! I saw you the other night! I saw you down stairs! You kissed someone else! It wasn’t Papa I know it wasn’t!” Katya was practically on top of the table as she was on her knees on the chair and leaning forward with her hands slammed down in front of her.
Kolya was looking between all three of them, a look of shock and fear on his face.
Well there goes Sidney’s hopes of not causing a scene in the house. He looked over to Geno who looked equally as shocked and worried, which was not a good sign to Sidney. He wasn’t really sure what to say in this situation but luckily Geno piped in. “Katya, I not kiss anyone else, I only ever kiss papa, why you think I kiss someone else?”
“I saw you! Two days ago, you were kissing…you were kissing Santa Claus!” Katya yelled, almost to tears now, while Sidney was nothing but confused. Santa Claus? How was Geno kissing Santa Claus? That had to be a dream, right? But Geno was looking at Sidney now with a wide-eyed expression clearly trying to signal for help but Sidney was at a loss for words, was it not a dream then? Sidney had no idea what was happening.
Geno sighed and put his face in his hand. “Me and papa be right back, Katya, Kolya, I promise I not kiss anyone but papa okay,” Geno said as reassuringly as he could as he also yanked Sidney out of his seat and back into the kitchen.
“Sidney, you not remember?” Geno said, looking slightly amused but mostly annoyed over this whole situation.
“Remember what? You kissing someone dressed as Santa apparently?” Sidney didn’t actually believe any of that though, he sounded crazy but Geno wasn’t readily denying it either so he wasn’t really sure what to believe.
“Sidney, you Santa Claus!” Geno said, throwing his hands into the air and leaning his forehead against the fridge, “remember, when you come back from Mario’s.”
Sidney had gone over to Mario’s the other day in the evening to talk about post-retirement options that included working for the Penguins organization, and also to borrow a Santa Claus costume. Mario had told him that his retirement break had only been a little over a year and he didn’t need to rush to get back into the hockey world, but telling Sidney that was like telling a fish not to rush into water. The two hashed out some options and afterwards began reminiscing about playing with the team, about raising their kids, about growing old; Sidney wouldn’t trade his family or his life with Geno even for another Stanley Cup season, but that didn’t mean he didn’t miss playing. What started as a quick pop into the Lemieux house to discuss job options and pick up a costume, turned into Sidney still not being able to hold his liquor and getting drunk at Mario’s house like a kid again and needing him to drop him off at home, in the Santa costume. Drunk Sidney thought he needed to make sure it fit and even drunker Sidney thought it would be hilarious to sneak up on Geno at home in the costume.
Except Mario had already called Geno and told him he was bringing him a drunk “Sidney Claus” and so was already waiting for him downstairs. When Sidney got inside, Geno teased him that it was like looking into the future but that he’d still find him cute, even if he grew a big white beard. And Sidney just had to kiss Geno for saying that, right? So, he laughed about the beard getting caught between them while Geno was trying to shush him and that must’ve been what Katya saw—shit.
“Shit. I’m Santa, you were cheating on me, with me. What do we do Geno! What do we tell them!” Sidney was freaking out now, which was worse, letting the kids think their dad maybe kissed Santa just once, or telling them Santa doesn’t exist and it was just their dad?
“We can’t tell them Santa not exist, they still so little, still believe” Geno said, and Sidney felt the same way, he didn’t want to crush their dreams about Santa, especially since pretty soon they’d stop believing and Sidney wanted just a few more years of them getting excited about him.
“Well we can’t exactly let them think you were just going around kissing him either,” Sidney said, earning him an unimpressed glare from Geno, “why would he even be here earlier, how do we even explain that?” Sidney felt like this morning was just getting more and more complicated.
At that comment though Geno looked at Sidney with a wide smile on his face, “I got it!” He grabbed Sidney by the arm and went back to the dining table where Katya and Kolya were whispering to each other and then both of them pointed their little angry faces at Geno. Geno thought it was adorable and sort of nice to see how protective of their papa they were, but not when it was directed right at him.
“Katya, you right, I was kissing someone, but I was kissing Papa, he was in Santa outfit,” Geno said. Sidney gave him a shocked and heartbroken look, how could he just tell them, what about their letters to Santa, the cookies, the reindeer, all dashed away.
Katya and Kolya were sporting similar looks as Sidney. Katya questioned Geno first, “does that mean that Santa…” she couldn’t finish her sentence though as her lower lip began to wobble a little.
Sidney didn’t know what to do and his heart was breaking more and more by the second but then Geno took a deep breath and “Yes, it mean Santa is real, and papa was trying to steal his cookies. That why I was downstairs to stop him.”
The two children gasped, “What! Papa! You can’t steal Santa’s cookies! He’ll put you on the naughty list!” Kolya said, which the thought of made the two begin laughing and the tension melted away from their faces.
It felt like a weight had been lifted off Sidney, but he couldn’t believe Geno pinned this all on him, he looked over to see Geno holding back a smirk while Sidney leveled him with an unamused look, but he too couldn’t hide his smile that well.
“I guess it was a good thing daddy was down there to stop me, huh?” Sidney said, smiling down at his children who were still laughing and his heart felt so filled with love for them and their little family, he couldn’t believe how lucky he was.
“I don’t know, I think you might still be on naughty list, not get any presents” Geno said, pulling Sidney over to him and giving him a quick kiss.
“It’s alright, I already have everything I need right here.”