Part 4 : Is Santa real?

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They're all eating dinner, and Yukhei is babbling incoherent words to Jongin, describing his day, and Jongin can only understand because he's Yukhei's father. He nods to his son and occasionally punctuates Yukhei's chaotic rant with an "oh" or "ah" or "really, sweetheart?" that makes Taemin smile fondly.

Baekhyun, on the other hand, is uncharacteristically quiet as he munches on his vegetables. He's been looking very serious ever since he came home from school, but despite all of Taemin's gentle tries and Jongin's jokes, he’s refused to tell to them what it is that’s so obviously wrong with him.

That is until he solemnly sets down his chopsticks and sighs loudly to get everyone's attention. Yukhei giggles at how thoughtful Baekhyun looks, then lets out a short exclamation and goes back to eating and playing with his sticky rice.

"Someone said something at school today," Baekhyun says slowly, in the theatrical and enigmatic way a six year old uses to try to speak like adults.

He wants to observe his fathers' reactions. Taemin is trying not to laugh, and Jongin simply smiles.

"What did they say?" Jongin asks softly as he wipes Yukhei's mouth.

Baekhyun squints and folds his hands on the table; his tone turns accusing.

"Garam said that Santa Claus doesn't exist."

The room falls silent except for Yukhei who hiccups twice and tries to grab some kimchi with his plastic chopsticks. Taemin discreetly tries to steal a glance at Jongin.
It has always been extremely important to Jongin that their kids believe in Santa Claus, and magic, and Christmas. They’ve talked about it a lot, or rather, Jongin has ranted at Taemin about it multiple times already.

Taemin wonders what they should do now and if Jongin wants to keep lying to Baekhyun or finally come out with the truth. They haven't spoken about an age limit to the whole thing.

Thankfully, Yukhei doesn't seem to be paying any attention to what's going on or the debate at hand; he's far too busy eating kimchi while no one is watching him.
Jongin and Baekhyun are caught in a staring contest, both unblinking. Jongin's face is so blank that even Taemin cannot tell what's on his mind, which feels very strange to him. Then, Jongin snorts and turns back to his plate to take a bite.

"And you believed him?" he simpers.

Taemin hides his laugh in a cough as he hears Baekhyun gasp.

"He said that our parents and family give us all of our presents and that only babies believe in Santa Claus!" Baekhyun cries out in protest.

Jongin continues looking at him with a solemn expression before he sighs.

"So, you believed him... I see."

Baekhyun purses his lips and finally looks at Taemin for support with a pout.

"Dad, what's true?" Baekhyun whines.

"Well..." Taemin starts, but Jongin interrupts him.

"Santa Claus is real."

Baekhyun freezes and opens his eyes wide, staring at his father, and even little Yukhei stops chirping as if he finally senses that the discussion currently happening is very serious.

Baekhyun purses his lips and squints his eyes in suspicion.

"Is he?"

Jongin turns to his son and tilts his head slightly.

"Does Garam know about me?"

Baekhyun frowns; he looks confused.

"Does Garam know about superheroes?" Jongin says, and Baekhyun gasps.

"Oh. No."

"That's what I thought," Jongin nods. "Garam doesn't know how things truly are."

He scoots closer to his son, and Taemin is doing all he can not to lose it from the atmosphere in the room. Jongin looks so serious, as if he truly and deeply believed every single lie going through his teeth.

"Santa Claus is real. He's the one who brings magic and happiness during Christmas. You'll hear people say it's impossible to deliver so many presents in just one night, but those people... do they know what your father is capable of? No, they don't. Nikolaus's powers are far greater than mine! He can do impossible things! He can make reindeers fly; he can speak to elves; he can bring love and comfort to people who need it..."

"Is Nikolaus a superhero?" Baekhyun asks, breathless.

"Would you give any other name to someone whose entire raison d'etre is to bring happiness to children?"

Jongin ends his argument by pressing his index on Baekhyun's nose.

The whole kitchen is silent for a moment until Baekhyun suddenly smiles brightly and squeals. Yukhei immediately starts giggling.

"I knew it!" Baekhyun cries out. "I knew Garam was lying!"

"He doesn't know better," Jongin says with a sad sigh. "It's not his fault if he doesn't have superpowers and isn't close to any superheroes."

Baekhyun is beaming, and all the lights in the house start shining brighter.

"He even said that Jack Frost wasn't real either," Baekhyun says with wide eyes, as if that was the last straw, the final point that clearly proved how wrong his friend had been.

Jongin scoffs.

"The fool," Taemin says with a dramatic roll of his eyes.

"I didn't tell him that I know Jack, though, nor that it isn't his real name," Baekhyun hurries to say, "because I can keep secrets, and I know I shouldn't talk about uncle Minseok's powers."

"I'm really proud of you, Baekhyunnie," Jongin says with a small smile.

The rest of the dinner is loud and joyful. Baekhyun rants about all the proof and pieces of evidence he has that Santa is real as well as all the elves in the North Pole. Jongin encourages him, Yukhei keeps laughing, and Taemin starts a debate about the Easter Bunny.

The next morning, after wishing Taemin and Yukhei a nice day, Jongin teleports to work and slams the door of the laboratory open, startling all of his coworkers and friends. Chanyeol immediately turns on his chair with a big, welcoming smile, Junmyeon barely glances up from his computer screen, and a few others around the room shout out greetings, but Jongin doesn't pay attention to any of them.

"25 000 wons to anyone willing to pretend to be Santa Claus at my house on Christmas night," he says loudly.

There's silence in the large room, all of Jongin’s friends giving each other strange looks and frowning at him.

"I'm serious," he whines. "Baekhyun is starting to have doubts, and I'm pretty sure he's going to set something up to see Santa Claus. Someone's gotta help me out."

Jongdae starts laughing, immediately followed by Minseok, and Jongin groans.

"Come on, 30 000 wons."

"I can do it, if you want," Junmyeon says with a shrug.

Jongin turns to him with a smile.

"Really? Perfect! You're hired!"

"Wait!" Chanyeol cries out. "Wait, I'll do it for free!"

Jongin blinks repeatedly as the teenager comes bounding up to him with a grin.

"Please, please! I want to do it for Baekhyunnie!"

Jongin snorts and glances at Junmyeon.

"Junmyeon, you're fired. Chanyeol, you're hired. But with no pay."

Chanyeol immediately lets out a loud shout of happiness, and Junmyeon rolls his eyes, mumbling that he doesn't care and that he only proposed to do it to help out.

"Great, thanks! I won't disappoint!" Chanyeol chirps.

Jongin snorts and finally walks over to his desk, getting rid of his coat as he sits down next to Kyungsoo, who's giving him a very stern look over his glasses.

"What?" Jongin asks.

"Hi."

"Hi. Stop looking at me like that."

"I can't believe you're dumb enough to think that your son won't recognize Chanyeol dressed up as Santa."

Jongin freezes, blinks, and then frowns.

"You think he will?"

"Have you seen the kid?" Kyungsoo sighs, tilting his head toward Chanyeol, who has knocked his hot chocolate off his desk and is loudly apologizing to everyone as he tries to clean it up. "He's a walking disaster. Even if Baekhyun doesn't immediately recognize his babysitter, I'm pretty sure Chanyeol will trip and lose his beard, and your son will hate you for the next decade for lying to him."

Jongin pouts as he watches Chanyeol; Kyungsoo definitely has a point.

"Chanyeol?" he calls loudly.

The teenager looks up with a smile and quickly comes to him.

"Yes?"

"You can't be Santa," Jongin sighs. "I just realized that Baekhyun will see right through it."

Kyungsoo snorts and turns back to his screen as Chanyeol's whole face crumbles into sadness.

"What? But-... Wait. I'll dress up, obviously! I'll put on heavy makeup, and uh-... I-... I can fake a limp! I'll make myself look small. I can do that!"

Jongin scrunches his face as he hums softly. He feels a little bad to have gotten Chanyeol's hopes so high only to crush them a couple of minutes later. He should have taken a minute to think it through, he realizes, especially since it concerns Chanyeol. He knows the 17 year old looks up to him and is completely whipped for his son; Jongin perfectly remembers Chanyeol holding back his tears the day Baekhyun proclaimed him as his best friend forever.

"Think about it," Jongin says, as gently as he can. "You're his best friend... He adores you so much... He will definitely recognize you."

Chanyeol opens his mouth but doesn't say anything. He sighs and pouts and crosses his arms over his chest before finally nodding.

"You're not wrong, but-..."

"We have to find someone else," Jongin says gravely.

"I will, then," Chanyeol decides, eyebrows furrowed in determination. "Don't you worry about anything. I'll find you the perfect Santa, one that Baekhyun can’t possibly recognize!"

"I said I could do it," Junmyeon says as he passes by.

Chanyeol looks up and waves him off with one hand, an annoyed expression on his face.

"No offense, Junmyeon-hyung, but you'd be terrible at it."

"How is that not offensive?" Junmyeon pouts.

"Baekhyunnie would recognize you too anyway," Chanyeol breathes out. "We need to find someone he doesn't see that often. I'll go check around in the other departments!"

Chanyeol hops on his toes and turns around, quickly leaving the room to run around the whole building in search of the perfect person to play Santa for Lee Baekhyun.

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