Work Text:
It was nearly bedtime on Christmas Eve 1998 in the Hargreeves household. Klaus was padding down the hall in his pajamas when he heard a noise coming from Ben’s room. He cautiously peeked in through the open door and saw Ben facedown on his bed. He appeared to be crying. Klaus crossed the threshold.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
Ben didn’t look up and his reply came out muffled through his pillow. “Nothing. Leave me alone.”
Klaus sat at the foot of Ben’s bed and placed a hand on his lower leg. “I’m not leaving until you tell me why you’re crying.”
Ben sat up, sniffling. His eyes were wet and red. He wiped his nose on the back of his hand. “Diego said Santa isn’t real,” he finally revealed.
“Why did he say that?” Klaus wondered.
“He asked me what I wished for for Christmas, and I told him I asked Santa to make me normal and take away this horrible power. Then he called me stupid and said that Santa isn’t real and that we’d never be normal.” Ben stuck out his lower lip petulantly.
“Diego is an idiot,” Klaus said. “Remember when he told me that boys can’t wear heels? Well, I showed him. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”
“No, he’s right,” Ben said stubbornly. “I am stupid for believing in Santa.”
“Santa is real and I’ll prove it to you,” Klaus replied.
“How?”
“I’ve got an idea!” Klaus said brightly, raising his eyebrows.
“What?” Ben asked skeptically.
“We’re going to stay up tonight and catch Santa in the act!”
“That’s dumb,” Ben said, flopping back down. “I’m going to bed,” he said into his pillow.
With a harrumph, Klaus stood to leave. But he was unperturbed. He had an idea. It was just going to take some time to get everything into place. It was a good thing he didn’t like to sleep.
~ ~ ~
Klaus had found out that Santa wasn’t real 2 years ago when he’d literally stumbled upon the truth, quite by accident, that Christmas Eve. He preferred to sleep as little as possible because that was when he had no control. That was when the ghosts really got hold of him. So instead of sleeping that night, he had snuck downstairs to practice his strut in Mom’s heels as quietly as possible. Eventually he had noticed a light on in the den, which was where Mom and Pogo set up their Christmas tree every year. Klaus slipped the heels off and tiptoed to the doorway, tentatively peeking into the room. He saw Mom carefully placing perfectly wrapped presents under the tree and quietly humming a Christmas tune to herself.
He must have made some small noise, or else Mom had felt him staring at her, because she looked up at him suddenly.
She tilted her head to the side and sighed. “Klaus, what are you doing up?”
“I couldn’t sleep,” he replied, which wasn’t entirely untrue.
“Come here,” Mom said, holding out a hand to him. Klaus walked over and she pulled him onto her lap as she sat on the ottoman.
Klaus looked up at her. “Mom, what are you doing?”
“Putting the presents under the tree, silly,” she said with her bright, plastic smile.
“Shouldn’t Santa be doing that?” Klaus asked as he looked over at the end table with the plate of gingerbread cookies they always left out for him. He saw the falter in Mom’s eyes, though her smile remained unchanged.
“Santa is very busy,” she replied, sounding as if the lines were rehearsed. “He asked me to do it for him.” She had never been very good at lying.
“Santa isn’t real, is he?” Klaus asked quietly.
Mom sighed again. “No,” she said finally. “But let’s keep that our little secret, okay?”
Klaus nodded silently.
“Do you want to help me put the rest of the presents under the tree?” she asked.
Klaus nodded again and they got up. He still felt sad, but he was glad to be doing something.
Klaus knew the feeling of realizing that Santa isn’t real, that Christmas isn’t really what you thought it was. It was the loss of a piece of childhood that could never be regained. He wanted to delay that experience for Ben as long as possible, to keep the magic alive, and he was going to put every effort into making sure that he did.
~ ~ ~
A few hours later, Klaus crept into Ben’s room and crouched by his bed so that his face was level with his. He was sleeping soundly. “Ben,” Klaus whispered, shaking his shoulder gently. “Wake up.”
Ben opened his eyes blearily, squinting at Klaus in the dark. “Klaus?” he asked, confused.
“Shh,” Klaus said, putting a finger to his lips. “Come downstairs.”
“What? Why?” Ben asked sleepily, clearly annoyed at having been woken.
“Santa’s here!” Klaus said, trying to contain his excitement. “Come on! But be quiet. We don’t want to wake the others.”
Ben must have still been too groggy to protest because he eventually sighed, pushed back the covers and rolled himself out of bed. With Klaus in the lead, they tiptoed down the long staircase and made their way to the den. Klaus motioned silently for Ben to stay back as he poked his head around the doorframe. After a moment he turned back to him.
“He’s here,” Klaus whispered. “Come look for yourself. But don’t let him see you!”
He looked back in the den as Ben crept up beside him and they both peered inside.
The room was full of movement, though there wasn’t a person in sight. Wrapped presents glided though the air and landed softly and deliberately under the tree. A long garland was seemingly wrapping itself around the evergreen branches. Smaller gifts were flying into the seven stalkings hung on the fireplace, and candles along the mantle were being lit by a floating match. Ben took this all in with his mouth hanging open in wonder.
“Santa?” he murmured, though he was speaking to himself. “Why can’t we see him?” he asked Klaus, not looking away from the mesmerizing scene in front of him.
“He can’t risk people finding out that he’s real,” Klaus replied, “so he makes himself invisible as a precaution. He has powers just like us!”
Ben continued to watch in awe as the activity in the den finally died down, everything now in its place. After a moment, a gingerbread man floated up off the plate on the end table. It moved through the air and paused in front of the fireplace. Then came a deep, almost preternatural voice that sounded like it was coming from a great distance.
“Ho ho ho! Merry Christmas!”
The cookie suddenly flew up the chimney and a bit of soot shook loose and fell through the air. Ben and Klaus both stared up at the ceiling. They heard footsteps on the roof. Then came the clomping of what sounded like hooves. After another moment, everything was silent again.
Ben slowly turned to look at Klaus, dumbfounded. “Was that really Santa?” he asked, still not quite believing what he’d just seen.
“Who else would it be?” Klaus replied.
Ben considered this briefly, and then his face broke out into a wide grin. He laughed giddily and Klaus did too.
When they calmed down, Klaus said, “Let’s not tell anyone else about this. We wouldn’t want to get Santa in trouble.”
Ben nodded resolutely, internally beaming over this secret knowledge.
Klaus suddenly looked past Ben and out the den windows. He noticed that it was starting to get light out. “Let’s wake the others!” he said, and he and Ben raced each other up the stairs.
Everyone in the family knew that Klaus could commune with the dead, but nobody else knew that he could also levitate objects. He had discovered the ability quite by accident one day when he was alone in his room. He had been reaching for a tube of eyeliner that he’d pilfered from Mom, when it had suddenly flown into his hand. He knew what Reginald was like with their powers, so he jealously guarded this one. He made sure to practice only when he had locked himself away in his room, knowing that no one else could walk in on him. He had managed to hone his skill to the point where, if he concentrated very hard, he could levitate multiple objects and move them in different directions at once. It had taken a great deal of effort to move all those things in the den, but Klaus had pulled it off.
Mom had given him the gifts and extra decorations. And a few ghostly friends had helped with the rest. One provided the voice of Santa, and others, stationed on the roof, provided the footsteps. It turns out that high heels tapped on a roof sound a lot like reindeer hooves.
Klaus was impressed with himself for bringing it all together in just a few hours. It was exhausting, but he would have done it a hundred times over to protect Ben’s innocence and Christmas spirit. Plus, he felt like he and Ben now had this special experience bonding them together, and that’s what made him happiest of all.