Title: Santa's Happiest Elf
Fandom: The Eagle
Rating: PG
Length: ~1100
Pairing: Esca/Marcus
Summary: Marcus meets one of Santa's helpers while waiting in line to get his son's picture taken.
Author's Note: Written for
this prompt at
riventhorn's
Tis the Season Comment Fest for The Eagle.
Each year, Marcus didn't normally pay much attention to the 'elves' that helped Santa take pictures with all the kids at the toy department. They were normally disinterested teenagers who needed a part-time job or regular employees that happened to get dragged into it who after working there so long, knew how to fake being happy. Though Marcus always thought they put it on a little thick.
The reason he noticed the blond man was that he had the most adorable bitchface Marcus had ever seen. The elf costume, a bright green and red ensemble complete with little bells on his hat and shoes, only made it cuter. Like when you had a disgruntled cat that you dressed up in costumes, and they gave you a look that meant you could be expecting cat poop in your shoe in the near future. It was clear he was an employee who got dragged into this because he was a thin male on the short side, and they probably didn't want Santa's Workshop to look like Santa's Harem with only female elves.
Most of the other parents seemed to think the scowling elf was going to throw their kid into the large Lego display if they let him pick them up. They were quick to put their child on Santa's lap themselves before the elf could. Of course, if they watched the man like Marcus was, they'd see that when he picked kids up to settle on Santa's lap, he was gentle and seemed to have a secret smile that he reserved only for them. It was small but genuine, and even the brattiest kid calmed down, as if sensing a brother bitchface was happy to be here so they could be happy too. He clearly had a soft spot for kids.
As soon as the elf stopped looking at the kid, however, he seemed to remember he was supposed to hate being here and would start scowling again.
"Daddy."
Marcus looked down at his son, removing the hand that had been ruffling his hair so his son could look up at him from his book.
"Yes, Cub?" Marcus asked, suddenly wondering how much longer he would be allowed to use the nickname before it would be deemed uncool.
"What's," he hesitated and looked down at the book. "A sugar ploom?"
"Sugar-plum?" Marcus frowned. He didn't actually know. He knew he should have looked it up before giving his son Twas the Night before Christmas. He always wanted to know what everything was. Marcus bent down to look where Cub pointed, making sure it really was sugar-plum he read. "Uh, plum candy, I guess?"
"It's candy made of dried fruit, not necessarily plum," a voice said.
Marcus looked up to see the blond elf. His stomach flipped when he thought the man was smiling at him, and he tried not to be too disappointed when he realized the man was smiling at Cub.
Cub made a disgusted face as he went back to the poem. He decided to dislike fruit this month. He would be back to liking it after New Year’s.
Marcus stood back up and gave the elf a grin in thanks.
He could be wrong, but he swore the elf's lips twitched up to smile back before seeming to control himself.
A husband and wife with a set of twins in front of Marcus were next, and they both carried a child over to sit on each of Santa's knees. This left Santa's happiest elf to stand next to them at the front of the line.
Marcus couldn't help but continue to glance at him. It wasn't long before the elf noticed and gave him a more questioning scowl.
Marcus gave him a smile. "I didn't realize the seven dwarfs moved to the North Pole," he said.
The elf looked at him confused, because Marcus doesn't flirt, only says stupid things that sound a lot better in his head.
Marcus cleared his throat. "You're Grumpy, aren't you?"
The elf stared at him a long moment before turning his head away. At first, Marcus thought he was being dismissed, but he could see the elf's lips twitching as if he was trying to stop himself from smiling. He looked back. "That's kind of terrible."
"Yeah, I was never good at the flirting thing," Marcus admitted.
The elf blinked and glanced down to the kid. Marcus wasn't sure by the look on the elf's face if he was thinking it was inappropriate to flirt in front of your kid, if he thought Marcus was a horrible, unfaithful, in-the-closet husband, or maybe, dare he hope, he was thinking Marcus's awkwardness was cute.
Santa gave a hearty laugh and waved to the twins as their parents picked them up and carried them over to wait for the prints.
The elf glanced to Marcus, as if waiting to see if Marcus would put his kid on Santa's knee. When Marcus didn't show any indication he stepped up.
"Hey, Cub. Time to tell Santa what you want," Marcus said.
Cub looked up excited and Marcus took his book before the elf picked his son up with a smile and placed him gingerly on Santa's knee.
As Cub listed all the toys he wanted, including a Captain America shield, a Nerf gun and a bike, the elf stepped back and turned to Marcus. "Were you being serious about the flirting?" he asked quietly.
Marcus looked over. "Yeah," he admitted sheepishly. "There's no wife or girlfriend or mother, before you think I'm some adulterer."
"No mother?" the elf asked amused.
"Well, I'm sure there was a mother at some point, but, uh, he's adopted." Marcus looked back to Cub and gave a big smile and pointed at it; Cub always seemed to forget to smile in pictures. Cub glanced over and gave a big goofy smile to the camera.
The elf looked skeptical. "On your own?"
Marcus shrugged. "Yeah." It wasn't a spontaneous act or done on a whim. He had wanted a kid for a long time, but he hadn't seen a long-term partner in the near future. He worked from home and he was financially comfortable, so he went for it. "Best decision I ever made."
That small smile the elf had been giving all the kids appeared on his face, and Marcus grinned back, feeling lighter. "I'm Esca."
"Marcus."
Santa gave another loud laugh, obviously the signal that said the kid was done. Before he left, Marcus couldn't help himself from poking at the gold bell at the end of Esca's hat. "Merry Christmas."
Esca scowled at the jingle, and Marcus chuckled as he walked over, taking Cub from Santa's knee and getting in the print line.
It wasn't until he got home and took a better look at the pictures that he found a slip of paper with Esca's name and phone number on it. He wondered if he should wait until the New Year's to call him, but even when a gift said 'Do not open until Dec. 25th', he wasn't very good about waiting for a Christmas present.