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1. Joey and Jamie
“Why did I do this to myself?” Michael groans, pulling up his green and red striped sock to his knee and buckling his puffy pants right below like a garter, hopefully keeping the sock up this time.
“Because you wanted to make small children happy,” Crystal says, pinning her hat in place by the mirror so it doesn’t fall off during their opening dance again. Michael watches her adjust her hair around the fake ears, then turn toward him, hands on her hips.
“How do I look?” she asks. Michael gives her a quick once-over, taking in the red and white tights, the green flare skirt with an obnoxious amount of tulle underneath, white vest with festive embroidery, and green shirt. She looks the same as always, which means she looks great in a way that’s extremely unfair for someone dressed as a mall Christmas elf, even if the mall spent a considerable budget on costumes.
“Don’t forget your shoes,” he says, tugging his own on.
“Don’t forget your hat,” she says, tossing it at him and hitting him in the face.
“ Why did I do this to myself?” he asks again.
“Because you like kids but don’t have any of your own to spoil,” Crystal replies, taking a few steps forward and fitting the hat over his hair for him while he fastens his ridiculous curly shoes. “Also, you had weekends free and they gave you a $500 sign-on bonus.”
“That bonus is pretty nice,” he admits, brushing his hands on his pants and standing. He straightens his own vest, waiting for Crystal to give the nod of approval before they head backstage to wait for the opening dance and the introduction of Santa for the day.
Michael doesn’t hate being an elf. He would quit if that was the case, because he makes enough at his day job that he doesn’t need the money, even if it’s nice to have the extra for his own holiday shopping that he still hasn’t done. He likes to see all of the kids’ faces light up, and that alone makes all of it worth it, but it’s exhausting. He didn’t realize that being chipper for hours on end would zap all of his energy, but he has to stay in character from the moment he steps onstage to the moment he gets back to the dressing room at the end of the day, and sometimes it makes him want to snap and yell at the more annoying patrons.
Of course, yelling at people on their way to meet Santa is generally frowned upon.
It’s also only the second weekend of actually being on the floor. Michael had training where he learned the opening and closing dance, got fitted for his costume, and generally learned how to interact with the guests and the answers to common questions, but they didn’t actually open Santa’s Grotto until last week. Maybe this week will be better now that he knows what to expect.
The opening dance goes a lot better than it did last week, especially because Crystal’s hat stays on when he dips and spins her, meaning that no one slips on it and falls this time. Everyone also seems to know the choreography better, meaning that Michael doesn’t run into his coworkers and even some of the parents in the crowd seem impressed, not just the children. By the time Santa emerges from behind the curtain, everyone is in high spirits and Michael doesn’t want to immediately go backstage and cry.
Michael is assigned to the end of the line today, which is the job he likes best. A few elves are set loose in the grotto and mall area around it to talk to people and entice them in, and more, like Crystal today, are assigned near Santa, either to help the kids, grab Santa anything he needs, or keep everyone at the front of the line happy during long waits when anticipation gets to be too much. At the back of the line, though, all Michael has to do is chat with people, wave at kids who make eye contact, and give directions if the line becomes too long and they have to loop around.
Besides, if there are issues and someone needs to be removed from the grotto, it’s much easier to get them out of there when they’re at the end of the line rather than up near Santa himself. Michael doesn’t want everyone staring at him while he tries to get a disorderly patron off the premises.
Michael takes his place right after Santa’s entrance and opening speech, helping herd the people who arrived early into an orderly line with an appropriate amount of cheer. Half of the kids are vibrating with excitement and half are hiding behind their parents, but Michael smiles at all of them and makes conversation when they’re responsive.
Kids are cute. Even the awful ones are at least a little cute, and all he has to do to calm the rowdy ones is engage them. Michael listens to kids tell him their lists so they don’t panic when they see Santa, does fortnite dances, and generally messes around and makes a fool of himself to keep everyone smiling in between making stilted small talk with parents.
Not every adult conversation is awkward, though. Michael answers questions with his best customer service voice and laughs politely at jokes that he hears more than once, but there are always people who are genuinely pleasant to talk to, helping the time pass quickly. Working at the grotto can easily become monotonous and make him lose all concept of time on his shifts, especially with the constant instrumental Christmas jingles playing over the mall loudspeakers, but there are a few customers that stand out for various reasons.
On this particular day, there’s one customer that Michael knows he won’t be able to forget. He spots him sometime in the middle of the shift, after the crowds have thickened but before the shift lead has told Michael he can take his break, and Michael knows exactly why this man has caught his eye as soon as he does: to put it simply, he is very, very beautiful. He has light blonde hair, long enough to curl in ringlets around his eyes, and from what Michael can see on first glance from this distance he has a gently sloped nose, a bit of scruff around his mouth, and a wonderful smile that Michael wants to view up close immediately.
He’s also tall , maybe taller than Michael, and that’s not something everyone can say. Of course, part of that could be his shoes, which seem to be ankle boots with a slight heel. Now that Michael is trying to catch glimpses of his legs through the crowd, he can’t stop, because the man’s pants look like they fit him really well, even if he’s wearing a peacoat that hides Michael’s view of his ass.
Maybe he’s a model. Surely someone has offered him a modeling gig, because Michael would buy whatever he’s selling with no hesitation.
“Excuse me, do you know about how long this will take?” a woman asks, snapping him out of his thoughts. He hopes she can’t tell where he was looking and tries to turn his attention back to her and her kid, who seems a lot more interested in the prospect of going to the Lego store later than seeing Santa right now. Michael tries to bring the energy up a bit and get her more enthusiastic, but she’s still not having it by the time the line moves forward and a new group of people steps into it.
“Is it always this busy?” a new voice asks. Michael looks up into a pair of baby blue eyes and immediately decides that he’s not prepared for this.
Of course he has to meet the most beautiful man he’s ever seen while he’s dressed as a fucking Christmas elf. It was fine when Michael was spying on him from across the grotto, but meeting him face to face is different. He shouldn’t have wished so hard to see that smile up close, because it’s a little overwhelming.
“Santa is a very popular man,” Michael replies, pasting on his own smile. He turns to the kids, a toddler clinging to a woman’s hand and a slightly older kid who’s hand is firmly clasped in another man’s, twisting around to take in every sight possible. “Is this your first time seeing him?”
Neither of the kids reply, which is unfortunate but not unexpected with the younger ones. Instead, the other man gives Michael a smile, which is nice but not nearly as nice as The Man’s .
“We went to a different location last year,” the man says. “This is Luke’s first time since we were kids, though.”
He elbows The Man Now Known As Luke, who snorts and ducks his head. They look pretty similar, definitely enough to be related, and it seems like the woman and kids belong to the other man instead of to Luke.
“They tricked me into this,” Luke says. “I’m just here to finish my Christmas shopping. I didn’t know we’d be meeting Santa or I would’ve dressed for the occasion.”
“I think you dressed fine,” Michael says, taking the opportunity to glance at his outfit again. Michael wishes he would ditch the coat so he could see what’s underneath, but he still manages to look devastating, anyway. “Santa doesn’t mind, I promise.”
“Oh, are you two close?” Luke asks, eyebrows raised.
“Definitely,” Michael says seriously. “He’s a great boss. Gives us a lot of cookies while we make the gifts.”
“Is Santa nice?” the older kid asks.
“Of course!” Michael says enthusiastically, remembering that his job is actually to make the kids happy, not to ignore them while talking with their very cute family member. “He’s very excited to meet you. Are you excited to meet him?”
“Ya,” the kid says, then immediately gets distracted by something else in the grotto, patting his dad’s leg to point it out.
Well. Michael tried.
“He’ll be excited when we get up there, I’m sure,” Luke assures him. “He’s not trying to be rude, he just doesn’t understand yet.”
“I know,” Michael laughs. “We see a lot of kids in here.”
“Right. Yeah,” Luke says, sticking his hands in his coat pockets. Michael watches his cheeks turn pink, which is a fascinating experience. He can’t remember ever actively watching a person blush before.
“Do you spend a lot of time with kids?” Michael asks.
“I’m the go-to babysitter for all my friends,” Luke says. “Most of them have kids by now, so I’m one of the only ones with free time and who isn’t completely burnt out by children. It makes me kind of glad I didn’t actually go into teaching like I considered, because I feel like I’d be less willing to babysit then.”
“What did you go into, if not teaching?”
Luke blushes again, hunching his shoulders as if doing so will help him hide inside his coat.
“I, uh. I’m a model. And I write children’s books. I do both.”
Wow. Michael can’t believe his modeling idea was correct. Also, he’s about to propose to this man, right here in the middle of the mall.
“What about you?” Luke asks.
A kid shrieks nearby, promptly reminding Michael that he’s still supposed to be in character.
“I help Santa make presents, of course,” he winks.
“Of course,” Luke chuckles. Michael falls in love with the sound.
“But when I’m not doing that, I work in programming,” he says. “Definitely not as interesting as children’s books. Hey, do you think some kids are going to get your books for Christmas? I know that’s what I would ask for.”
Fuck, Michael loves making this guy blush. He’s so cute when he’s bashful.
“You don’t even know what they’re about,” he says.
“Why don’t you tell me?”
Luke is opening his mouth when Michael feels a tap on his shoulder. He whirls around to find not a rude customer, but Crystal, smiling pleasantly.
“Santa says you can take a break, Michael,” she says.
Fuck, couldn’t this have waited another five minutes, until Luke is out of his area and he can’t talk to him anymore? Of course, when Michael actually looks back at the line, he realizes that he must have moved forward when Luke did, because there are definitely other families at the end that he hasn’t greeted yet.
“Oh,” he says. “Right.”
He turns back to Luke and hopes he’s not imagining the disappointment on his face, too.
“Enjoy meeting Santa,” he says.
“Yeah, you too,” Luke says, then cringes. “I mean–you know what I mean. Have a good break.”
By the time Michael’s break is over, he can’t spot Luke or his family in the grotto. He tries not to let it bother him, but being chipper is hard for the rest of his shift.
It’s fine. Nothing was going to come of it, anyway. It’s not like he’s going to see Luke again.
2. Stella
He sees Luke again.
In fact, he sees Luke the next day. Michael is at the front of the line this time, entertaining guests until Crystal gives him the signal to let them forward to meet Santa. It’s a position that requires him to engage even more with the customers since he has to go over the rules of interacting with Santa and try to get them pumped up, and because of that he doesn’t notice that Luke is even at the mall until he comes face to face with him.
“Luke?” he asks incredulously. Luke breaks into an adorable grin.
“Hi again! Michael, right?”
“Yeah,” he says, surprised and extremely flattered that Luke picked up on and remembered his name. He glances at the people with him, but they’re not the man and woman from yesterday with the two toddlers. Instead he finds two women, one with long black hair and one with a blonde buzzcut. They’re holding hands with a toddler in a cute puffy pink coat with pigtails and purple boots. She’s adorable, but she’s definitely unfamiliar.
“That’s a different kid than yesterday,” he says, which seems like a good place to start.
“Oh, yeah,” Luke says. “This is Stella! And this is Sierra and Kaykay. You met my brother last time, but this time I’m here with friends!”
“Luke insisted we get a picture with Santa,” Sierra says. “Stella was too scared of him to do it last year, but we figured we’d try this time.”
“How old is she?” he asks, leaning down to wave at her with a big grin. She stares at him, then scrunches up her nose and smiles. It looks a bit like she’s baring her teeth, but she also giggles, so Michael is going to assume that she won’t tear his face off.
“How old are you, baby?” Kaykay asks her. “Can you tell the elf?”
“Three!” she says proudly.
“It was her birthday last week,” Sierra says. “She’s very excited about being older.”
“Aw,” Michael coos. “Are you excited to see Santa?”
Stella hums, then nods.
“Great!” Michael says, straightening. “Let me tell you all about how meeting Santa works.”
He goes over the rules, delivering them with the proper enthusiasm that Santa’s Elf should despite the fact that the three adults are looking at him with amusement and Stella loses focus halfway through. Still, he doesn’t want to get fired, so he performs the role to his fullest for the kids peering ahead in line and the manager wandering around ensuring that all elves are doing their jobs. Sierra and Kaykay trade amused glances the entire time, but Luke’s smile doesn’t falter, watching Michael with enough focus and attention to make him squirm.
He’s not a blusher, not like Luke, but if Luke keeps smiling at him like that, he might become one.
“Any questions?” he asks when he’s done.
“No, sir,” Sierra says. “Luke? Do you have any questions for Michael?”
“Uh,” Luke says, glancing at Michael, then back at her. Sierra simply blinks at him, eyebrows raised. “How’s it going?”
Sierra huffs, but Michael smiles.
“Same as yesterday. It’s always a dream in Santa’s workshop.”
He’s mastered the art of how to say things that could be taken as sarcastic or genuine depending on what the person wants to hear, which is a very useful skill in this line of work, when kids need to stay invested in the story but the adults don’t mind a few sly winks. He drops it for the next sentence.
“Better, now that I’ve seen you again.”
Luke lights up. Michael’s heart leaps into his throat.
“Santa’s ready for the next person!” Crystal calls, much to his dismay. He really needs to talk to her about timing.
“Right this way,” he sighs, gesturing extravagantly to make up for his lack of enthusiasm. He wants to say that Luke lingers, but the next kids in line are already asking questions and one tugs on his vest before the mom can restrain him, so Michael has to turn his attention to them.
He doesn’t manage to catch Luke’s eye again, but he watches him leave as long as he can get away with until the next customer demands his attention.
3. Abby
Michael really thinks that that’s the end of it.
It’s weird that he managed to run into Luke twice, but it’s possible. If Luke is tagging along with all his friends for holiday shopping, it stands to reason that they might come to this particular mall and that his companions might want to get a picture of their kids with Santa. Still, the odds of it happening three times is a little outlandish, so he makes his peace with never seeing Luke again and tries to go about his days like normal.
Michael lets himself pout over their missed connection for a week, then shoves it to the side and focuses on making more little kids happy without becoming a jaded grinch. Crystal notices his bad mood and does her best to distract him like the friend she is, and by the time their next shift rolls around he’s determined to make sure every child who passes through the grotto leaves feeling happier than when they arrived.
It’s a simple want. It’s also impossible, given that kids’ moods change over the littlest of things, but he’s going to give it a good try.
The mall gets busier as the date gets closer to Christmas, and this weekend Michael has to steel himself before entering the grotto. Backstage doesn’t feel like as much of a refuge this weekend with the noise of the crowd outside permeating into the space, and he spends the whole time before the opening dance talking to Crystal in an attempt to distract himself from how on-edge he feels. The opening dance goes smoothly, garnering more smatterings of applause due to the larger crowd, and Michael tries to chill out a bit.
Of course, that means that he jumps nearly five feet in the air when he almost runs into Luke and a little girl.
“Hi, Michael,” Luke says while Michael blinks at him, completely forgetting the task he was supposed to do in the face of Luke’s blue eyes and wide smile. The girl he’s holding in his arms parrots him, a tiny hi, Michael that makes Michael melt.
“Hi,” he says incredulously once he remembers how to speak. “You’re back.”
“I am,” Luke says.
“With another kid.”
“This is my niece, Abby,” Luke says, hiking the girl higher on his hip. She’s a bit big to be carried like that for a long period of time, probably near kindergarten age, but Michael thinks she might be as overwhelmed as Michael is based on the way she’s clinging to Luke, although there’s still a healthy dose of wonder and awe in her expression.
“A different niece,” Michael says.
“Yeah, different brother,” Luke replies. “I have two, both older than me. You’re not going to meet him today, unfortunately. I’m on babysitting duty, so it’s just us.”
“Are you here for a picture with Santa?” Michael asks. “There’s not many other things to do here.”
“Yeah, we figured we might as well get one. Right Abby?”
She nods, then gives Michael another small smile.
“I like your ears,” she says. Michael melts a little bit more.
“Thanks. I like your hair clips.”
They’re excessively sparkly and gaudy candy canes, but they’re exactly the sort of hair clips that little girls manage to pull off, and Abby’s smile makes up for the white lie.
“I thought elves were small,” Abby says. “You’re almost as tall as Uncle Luke.”
“Well, some of them are,” Michael says. “Santa likes having tall elves with him when he visits the mall so the elves can help him out.”
“How?”
Oh fuck. Michael was supposed to be getting more paper towels from the bathroom, or maybe even a mop from custodial, because someone somehow fell into the water cooler backstage and everything flooded. This is a time-sensitive issue; Michael needs to make himself leave this conversation right now, even though the last thing he wants to do is let Luke out of his sight again.
“We can help kids get on Santa’s lap or help him reach things on a really tall shelf. Lots of stuff. I’m actually on a super important mission from Santa right now, so I should probably go.”
“Oh,” Luke says, expression falling.
“Yeah, sorry,” Michael says sincerely. He wants to put the smile back on Luke’s face, but he doesn’t know how, not when there’s a crisis backstage that he has unfortunately been reminded of. “It’s really important. There was this thing backstage–I mean, back at the North Pole–”
“It’s fine,” Luke says. “Go save Christmas.”
“I wouldn’t go that far,” Michael says.
“I would,” Luke says simply. “You make a lot of kids happy with what you do. If something’s wrong that you’re going to fix, you’re saving Christmas for some of them.”
“Well,” Michael says, even though he doesn’t have anything to follow it with.
“Uncle Luke, can we see Santa now?” Abby asks.
“Sure, Abs,” Luke says. “Say goodbye to Michael!”
“Bye, Michael!” she says, waving again.
“Goodbye, Abby! Have fun with Santa!” He makes himself meet Luke’s eyes again. “Bye, Luke. It was good to see you.”
“Yeah,” Luke smiles. “You, too.”
Even though the water cooler is a disaster and various other things go wrong during his shift, Michael leaves it in a much better mood than he started.
4. Jay, Amelia, and Rosie
Luke finds him again the next day. Michael has almost become accustomed to seeing him in the grotto now, always appearing when he least expects it and disappearing at inopportune times. He never expects to see him there, but it brightens every shift, and Michael is worried about what will happen on the day that he doesn’t appear.
He has three kids in tow this time, the oldest looking around nine and the youngest probably firmly in the pre-school range with her thumb firmly in her mouth. Michael is in his favorite place at the back of the line and grins at the sight of him leading the three girls like a trail of ducklings, all of them holding hands to not get separated.
“Hi,” he says the moment he spots him. “I have a question for you.”
“Oh?” Luke asks.
“Are you kidnapping these children?”
Luke laughs, loud and bright.
“I’m just saying, you sure bring a lot of kids through here. If you want more pictures with Santa, I’m sure he’d take some with you. It’d be weird, but you don’t have to resort to kidnapping innocent children.”
“He didn’t kidnap us,” the oldest one says flatly. “He’s babysitting. He said we had to come get a picture with Santa even though we already got one with our dads and–” she leans in close, dropping her voice–”Santa isn’t real.”
This child is going to give him a heart attack. Luke must see something in the panicked way Michael checks that no one overheard, because he immediately jumps into action.
“Jay, you can’t say stuff like that here,” Luke says frantically. “I’m so sorry, Michael.”
“I was quiet!”
“What can’t Jay say?” the middle girl asks. “Was it a bad word? Daddy says bad words all the time.”
“This was a mistake,” Luke says.
“Nah, they’re cute!” Michael replies, even if they’re also menaces. “I like them! What are all of your names?”
“I’m Jay, she’s Amelia, and she’s Rosie. I’m the oldest, which is why I’m the only one who knows the secret.”
“What secret?” Amelia insists.
“I’ll tell you later,” Luke says, then winces. Michael really hopes that he’s going to come up with a good alternative by the time that conversation rolls around, because somehow he doesn’t think her dads will be happy if Luke is the one to drop the “Santa isn’t real” secret.
“Nice one,” he says. Luke winces again. Rosie takes her thumb out of her mouth with a pop .
“I don’t like Santa,” she says.
“This was definitely a mistake,” Luke repeats.
“I think it’s cute that you like Santa enough to drag these poor children out here.”
He says it with just a hint of sarcasm, not because he doesn’t find Luke absolutely adorable, but because he’s pretty sure no grown man likes Santa that much. There’s another reason that Luke keeps coming here, and Michael is trying really hard not to get his hopes up.
“Mr. Elf, if we see Santa again, will we still get candy?” Amelia asks. “I don’t like candy canes. Do they have chocolate this time?”
“I’m not sure,” Michael says, although he’s pretty sure it’s still only candy canes up in the front bucket. The girls launch into more questions, a relentless stream of them that doesn’t allow Luke to get a word in edgewise. Michael follows them as much as he can, but eventually he glances back to the end of the line and immediately cringes.
“Do you need to go do your job?” Luke asks when he turns back to them.
“Yeah,” Michael sighs. “There’s a lot of people I need to talk to back there.”
“That’s okay,” Luke sighs. “Go save Christmas.”
Michael says his goodbyes to the girls and goes to direct people into a better line, moving the stanchions to make the line loop around and engaging people in conversation. By the time he’s done Luke and the girls are out of sight, but Crystal wanders over soon enough.
“How was Luke today?” she asks.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Luke?” she repeats, a teasing smile on her face. “Tall, blond, cute, talks to you every time he comes in, which is more often than anyone else? You know, the guy you were moping about last week?”
“Oh, him,” Michael says. “He’s fine. He’s babysitting again.”
“Right,” Crystal says. “And he thought it was an easy idea to bring three kids to a crowded mall before Christmas?”
Michael shrugs.
“Shouldn’t you be wandering the grotto?” he says. Crystal holds her hands up in surrender.
“When he comes in next week, you should ask him out,” she says. “I’m not sure where he’s going to keep getting the kids to be his excuses.”
Michael can’t flip her off in a room full of children, but he hopes she gets the message in the way he wrinkles his nose.
5. Elliot
The next week is even busier. Michael knows that it’s going to get worse and worse as the season goes on, but that doesn’t stop him from dreading it. This time, however, he’s also partially thankful for it. The busier work gets, the less Michael is able to drive himself crazy wondering if Luke is going to show up again and who’s kid will be trailing him, whether willing or not. He’s happy to be up front this week, having to distract himself with one on one conversations with every guest in line even if it’s exhausting.
Luke appears late enough in the shift that Michael is starting to worry that he won’t. He looks just as beautiful as he has every other time, but he has on eye shadow this time, and it’s absolutely devastating. The gold glitter catches the light, drawing Michael’s gaze to his eyes even more than usual, and he’s legitimately worried that he’s going to get lost in them.
“Hey,” Michael breathes. “You’re here again.”
“I am,” Luke smiles. The man next to him clears his throat, so Michael turns to take in the companions for this grotto trip. It’s two men, one with light brown curls and one with black, and a baby twisting around in the black-haired man’s arms to take in all of the sights of the grotto.
“Another kid,” he says, which seems like a good place to start.
“Oh, yeah,” Luke says. “This little guy is Elliot! And these are my best friends, Ashton and Calum.”
“How old is Elliot?” Michael asks, smiling at the baby and waving. He stares at Michael for a moment, then hides his face against Calum’s chest.
“He’s 14 months,” Ashton says, crouching close to Calum and tickling Elliot’s cheek with a fond, dopey smile to coax him into looking up again. “We brought him home this summer, though, so it’s our first Christmas together.”
“Luke insisted we should take a Santa picture here,” Calum says, sending an amused look at Luke.
“It’s a good grotto,” Luke defends.
“Great customer service,” Ashton teases.
“Speaking of that,” Michael says, “let me give you the rundown of how meeting Santa works.” He launches into the usual spiel with gusto, relishing in the way Luke hangs off his every word despite probably memorizing the speech by now with how often he’s been here.
"Oh, yeah," Ashton says when Michael finishes. " Great customer service. Right, Luke?"
"Santa doesn't hire subpar elves," Michael sniffs, even though the mall definitely does. It's a retail job; it's exhausting and not everyone is going to withstand the rude patrons in the same way. Michael is one of the better people at keeping in character, which says a lot given that he’s not an actor. He's giving these guys a skewed perception of the meeting-Santa experience.
He should be paid more.
"So, Michael the Elf," Calum says, shifting Elliot in his arms, “what are the protocols for dating in the North Pole? Are you only allowed to see other elves, or can you go on dates with humans?”
“Uh,” Michael says. “We can date anyone.”
Well, they’re not supposed to date their managers, but this is a seasonable, temporary position, and Michael certainly doesn’t like any of his managers nearly well enough for that.
“Are you seeing anyone right now?” Ashton asks innocently.
“Oh my God,” Luke whimpers. Michael blinks at him, then back at Ashton.
“No?” he says. “Not yet?”
Calum elbows Luke as sharply as he can with a baby in his arms. Luke looks like he wants to die, but takes a deep breath, anyway.
The elf helping Santa calls for the next child to come up. Michael has never hated someone more.
“Right this way,” he sighs, gesturing them forward. Luke pauses just barely, then skitters ahead, taking a good portion of Michael’s heart with him.
+1. Luke
Luke arrives before the opening dance the next day. Michael spots him in the crowd as he’s twirling Crystal and almost messes up the next few moves, but thankfully he keeps his wits. It’d be just his luck to mess up the dance the one time that Luke is there to watch it, but miraculously he makes it through, and he does his best not to crane his neck to look for him while the manager tells him his assignment for the shift.
He’s set loose to wander through the grotto. Luke finds him instantly.
“You don’t have a kid this time,” he says. “Finally here for your solo picture with Santa?”
“I’m here for you, actually,” Luke says with more gumption than Michael had expected from him. He takes a deep breath, physically steeling himself. “It was always for you. I just didn’t know how to talk to you without an excuse, and I was going to ask for your number a thousand times and chickened out, but I’ve run out of friends who are willing to let me borrow their kids, and Calum and Sierra both threatened to come back and ask you themselves which would’ve been so much worse. So this is me asking.”
He lets out a huff of air, seemingly lighter for his confession. Michael can’t contain his grin.
“Asking what?” He already knows that the answer will be a very enthusiastic yes , but he needs to know what, specifically, he’s agreeing to.
“Asking… you out?” Luke tries. “I kind of want to know what your real ears look like, and I want to talk to you without a thousand screaming kids around. Maybe dinner, if you want to? Or we could do something else, I’m not really picky! I just… would really like to see you again without having to wait for next Christmas.”
A kid shrieks a few feet away, and Michael knows that at some point his manager is going to see him loitering and tell him to get back to work, but he couldn’t care less. He feels like he might burst with happiness.
“I’d like that,” he says. “Dinner sounds good. We can go after my shift, even, if you want.”
Luke lights up. Michael gives him his number and they agree to meet near the entrance to the grotto at the end of his shift. Michael grins dopily at him for what feels like hours before the manager appears over his shoulder. Even that can’t dampen his spirits, though. Michael spends the rest of his shift as the jolliest elf imaginable, feeling like a kid at Christmas with the promise of a date with Luke.