Work Text:
"Are you Santa?"
A small hand was holding Hisoka's coat, pulling it to draw his attention from below, where "Santa" peered at a boy in green pajamas who was watching him insistently.
Hisoka had just come in through the window, he was going to rob that house. He wanted to do it.
The man had watched the residential area for a couple of weeks, and when he believed that this particular house was unoccupied by the woman who inhabited it, he didn't consider the idea that there would be a child here tonight. He swore she lived alone, why was this brat in the living room?
The emotion in those bright brown eyes was noticeable, even with the slight weariness on the child's face. He probably had been there all night, sleeping on the couch with a blanket and that stuffed frog that he carried in his arms.
Adorable, but he had just screwed up all the thief's plans.
"...Yes".
"You don't look like Santa", he pointed out.
Hisoka sighed. The child could be a problem, but if the thief played his cards very carefully, the frog kid would be easy to distract. A little boy wouldn't betray Santa, or call the police, right?
Hisoka didn't want to kill anyone that day. It would be too easy to grab the boy's neck and suffocate him to death, or cut off his jugular, tie him up, and carry him away... but it was simply too much work he was unwilling to do.
"I have to adapt to current times, do I look bad?" However, the man sought to adapt to his role soon.
Gon was 10 years old, he was not too easy to fool anymore. Anyway, although Gon knew that this man was not Santa, he was curious to know the stranger's identity, why he was at Mito's house, and why he had entered through the window.
"No, but you look younger than I thought you would be", Gon shrugged.
In his imagination, Santa is not that young and handsome.
"I get my youth from curious children like you", Hisoka showed an amused smile.
Gon tilted his head in confusion, imagining Santa sucking the life energy out of the children like a Dementor or something like that.
That man was a weirdo, but Gon looked at him with a winsome smile.
"Did you come to leave me a gift?"
"Hm… what's your name? I should check my list".
"Gon, Gon Freecss", he answered excitedly.
"Well, Gon", and he pretended to read some note on the palm of his hand, like searching Gon's name on it.
Silently, Hisoka looked in his pockets: a lighter, a razor, gum and… a card game. The card game would suffice.
"This is for you", he said, handing over the cards, "now go to your room."
Gon stared at the gift. He scanned the wrinkled cards for a few seconds, and pouted. He now was disappointed in "Santa".
"It doesn't look like the thing I asked you for."
Hisoka, who at that time was exploring the room with a flashlight, illuminated the boy's face directly. Gon closed his eyes, annoyed by the blinding light.
"The economic crisis reached the North Pole", he replied, cocked his hip to the side, "besides, it's a good deck, have you ever played with cards?"
Gon denied.
"Okay, sit down, let's play."
He had to win the child's trust and make sure that Gon would at least lie to the police about Hisoka's identity if he called them anyway.
Finally, Hisoka reached for a switch with his lamp and turned on the light in the living room, then, they both went to the small sofa where Gon had slept. Everything in that house was so small, or was Hisoka too big? He felt like he was in a dollhouse.
Once the lights came on, he noticed Gon with more detail. The child also looked like a toy, like a goblin or a troll, he was so small, with that anti-gravity hair, tanned skin, and green pajamas. Hisoka chuckled silently at the comparison. Yes, Gon could well be a troll or Nicky Minaj.
The boy was already sitting in the lotus position on the sofa, with the deck of cards spread out in front of him. Hisoka put down his lamp and took the cards. He began to maneuver with it, to do simple tricks for Gon. The little boy marveled at the dexterity of Hisoka's hands, barely managing to follow with his eyes the movements made by Hisoka.
Gon had asked him how he was so skilled, and that was when Hisoka, in one of his rare moments of honesty, told him that he had lived in a circus since he was a child. His mother had taught him many tricks, all intended for entertainment and robbery (this last thing was not mentioned to Gon).
It's what he did for a living, Hisoka used to pretend to be a skilled magician while his discreet hands finished emptying the pockets of his spectators. Lately, this trick had ceased to be feasible, and he turned into a stalker thief who broke into the dwellings of overly trusting or notoriously distracted people.
At one point, Hisoka held out the deck for Gon to try to mimic the magician's movements, but Gon's hands were clumsy and not at all graceful. The cards were scattered on the ground many times. Hisoka laughed at Gon's failures, seeing many pouts from the boy.
Finally, they chose to build a house of cards.
The silence was occasionally interrupted by Gon's frustrated noises or his charming laughter.
Meanwhile, Gon asked Hisoka about his gift workshop in the North Pole. To answer those questions, Hisoka thought about the Genei Ryodan (known criminal gang whom he sometimes associated with) as elf workers. Hisoka chuckled while he was explaining their job: thefts became gifts delivering, drug trafficking became magic dust production, human trafficking became elf recruitment, and so on. Now he wanted to see Feitan wearing a cute elf costume, and Chrollo as Rudolf.
Gon was absolutely enchanted with those detailed descriptions, he thought that the North Pole was cool.
Hisoka felt that the time with the froggy child was not uncomfortable at all, it was far from what he had planned, but the boy was funny enough to spend time with. Furthermore, his face of total concentration was very adorable.
How could that brat be totally focused on a house of cards and not hiding under the bed while he called who, Hisoka supposed, was his relative or his police? Hisoka was more confused than Gon by that detail for sure. However, none of them was interested in questioning that.
As Gon carefully stacked a couple more cards, he talked to Hisoka.
"Santa"
"Hm?" The man was still adjusting cards using his long nails as tweezers.
"I'm 10 years old, I'm not an idiot", Gon said.
Hisoka keeps quiet, staring at the child.
"How can Santa deliver gifts to everyone in one night? For me, there's no one Santa… There are four or five Santa".
The way Gon expressed himself that seriously made Hisoka laugh. He left the game aside, and touched Gon's chin with a card.
"Yes, you're right. There's more Santas around the world. One Santa for each continent", Hisoka replied simply.
Gon gasped.
"No way! I knew it. But… Shouldn't you be giving gifts to other kids? It's almost morning", Gon's celebration stopped when he thought about other children. He didn't want to ruin other kids' Christmas.
"The truth, Gon, is that I am your personal Santa. Did you know that?"
Gon frowned, he was a bit confused by that answer. He doesn't remember that Mito, the television, or the stories he has read, mention anything about a "personal Santa".
Because of that, Gon denied with his head again.
This man was not Santa, but Gon was curious about the answer he had given. It seemed that even though he wasn't the real one, the fake Santa knew something important.
"But you should be really busy to only be my personal Santa, right?"
"No, not today", Hisoka shrugged, "the other Santa is delivering gifts right now".
"Uh… I see, cool!" And he continued building the card house.
But another question came up.
"Santa".
"What's the matter, kiddo?"
The card house was almost done, just one pair more and...
"Why me?"
Hisoka stopped his work again. His eyes were on Gon's face.
"Because you have been a good boy all the year".
"Really? But I did bad things today…"
Hisoka tried to imagine what kind of "bad things" a kid like Gon would do. What? To keep playing cards with a stranger in his own house? To wear that horrendous color? To keep waking up late at night?
"What 'bad things' you did, Gon?"
"Well… huh… I escaped from my dad's home and came to my aunt Mito's house"
Well, that is a 'bad thing', not like killing someone or making thefts, but for a child with Gon's age is enough. Enough bad, enough absurdly dangerous.
He only thought about that little boy walking alone in the streets, with that stuffed frog as his only 'weapon', those little legs walking as fast as he can, that cute worried face and his clueless eyes looking around, totally lost in the neighborhood.
Damn, such an easy prey to hunt.
If Hisoka wasn't interested in thefts, he easily would kidnap Gon and would traffic with him if he had seen the child like that on the street. Affortunely for Gon, Hisoka is not into that stuff.
Gon is really lucky.
"You did what?!" Hisoka asked, impressed.
"Huh… I don't like my dad's house, so I came to my aunt Mito's home because I like her better", and Gon just scratched his nape.
Ah, that explains why Hisoka didn't notice that boy days before, and why the window was open. Pfff.
"Why don't you like your dad's house?"
"He is never at home, I get bored easily. And he is not like my aunt Mito. I don't like my dad".
The little one was embarrassed for what he did, although Hisoka didn't judge him or scold him. He just stared at him, with those sharp eyes like a fox. Then, he smiled.
Hisoka understood him, he did exactly the same thing, but instead of going to a relative's home, he just left everyone in the circus, and started to live by himself once his mother died. He never met his father, neither needed him nor loved him.
But he couldn't conceive that a child like Gon didn't love his father. Gon seemed to exude love and light from every pore of his skin. What did that man do to not deserve the little boy's approval?
"Why do you prefer your aunt?"
"Because she is like my mother, and she is tender and warm. Mito likes to cook cookies with me, she also kisses me every time, and she made this pijama for me! I don't feel like Ging is my father, I met him last year. It was just like meeting a distant relative..."
The kid looked kinda upset when he said the last words. Hisoka pet Gon's head.
The magician heard Gon's explanation, and he realized the child's reason. Gon never created bonds with his father, and there weren't enough reasons to love him back, if by any chance that man loves Gon. It seemed like no.
Hisoka felt a little empathy for him.
"Seems like your aunt really loves you and you love her too", he gently said, "Well, what does it matter your dad when you have your aunt?"
"Aren't you upset with me? I didn't do good things at all..."
"You are still a good boy", better than Hisoka, for sure.
Gon gazed at Hisoka. In his lips, a tender smile was drawn.
Hisoka placed the last cards on top.
Gon looked at the card house, smiling proud of their achievement. He contained his breath, like a minimum movement could make it fall apart.
"We did it! Looks so great!" Gon whispered.
"You are such a good card house's builder, Gon".
"Thank you, Santa! Hm… I have another question!"
Frog boy looked better now, his eyes were shining.
"Yes?"
"Don't you wanna eat some cookies and drink milk?" Gon suggested.
Hisoka can't deny anything to those eyes.
"I've waited for it all night."
They both spent the rest of midnight eating cookies and drinking warm milk.
This time it was Hisoka's turn to listen to the boy's anecdotes, and learn a little more about his family background. Gon's mother had also died, and that's when Hisoka confessed the same to the child. The boy offered Hisoka to be adopted by Mito, so they would both be brothers, and Hisoka laughed, receiving more pouts from Gon.
All Gon's stories were to Hisoka like a hint of innocence that he had not tasted in years. It wasn't something he wanted anymore, but it was a nice night for Hisoka anyway.
When Mito's car was heard parking in the garage, Hisoka hurried out of the house, promising Gon to see him again one day.
Hisoka didn't steal anything but a kiss on Gon's forehead before leaving.
The little child stayed with the deck of cards, smiling before falling asleep again.
That morning, Mito was surprised to find Gon at her home, but made no complaint except to Ging, who claimed to have been too busy to notice the absence of his own son. The child stayed there, but he was not spared from being scolded for his recklessness. It didn't matter to Gon, he was happy to be with Mito.
The next time Gon saw Hisoka was in the news while Mito and him ate breakfast.
"Ho, ho, no!: Santa runs out of gifts and steals them from the neighborhood's homes! A thief dressed as Santa was seen breaking into different houses in the Whale Island neighborhood. Witnesses indicate that he carried the belongings in a red sack. A victim gave a spoken portrait".
Even with the beard on and the hat on his head, Gon could recognize Hisoka's eyes.
Gon smiled.
His personal Santa is cool!