Archive of Our Own ^beta

“Santa is coming, Santa is coming,” kept on chanting Kay happily as he was jumping around the living room in the main family’s compound. Kay wasn’t quite sure if Santa was real or not, but he was still excited about the Christmas time; he loved Christmas because there was always yummy food and uncle Tankhun always there these great Christmas parties that were always fun; just like the party that uncle Tankhun was throwing on that particular day.

It wasn’t quite Christmas yet, but Christmas was just around the corner and as Tankhun couldn’t be patient anymore, he decided to throw the party a few days prior to this. When Christmas day was coming, they were all going somewhere – Vegas and Pete were taking the kids out of the country for a little holiday. It seemed like Paris needed a change of environment; it was going to do her good.

Kim and Porchay were also travelling with the kids – they were going on a trip with Macau, Leo and Lan! It was a lot of fun and Kay was very excited about the trip and because everyone was going somewhere, Tankhun and Wang also decided to go somewhere with Alina this year around; they would be visiting Europe. Wang was taking Anila and Tankhun skiing! Tankhun wasn’t really a fan of cold and skiing, but since Alina was really looking forward to this, so was Tankhun!

“Santa is not real, Kay,” said Lan and before the boy could see more than that, Kay quickly placed his hand on top of Lan’s mouth and started looking around, trying to make sure that no one else could hear him. Lan was a year older, so he was one hundred percent sure that Santa didn’t exist. Besides, he managed to find the Christmas present that his parents would buy him every single year, so, there was just another proof that Santa didn’t really exist!

“Don’t say that!” said Kay seriously and placed his hand on top of his sides as he pushed Lan away. 

“Why? Because Santa can hear me?” asked Lan and rolled his eyes. “He doesn’t exist!” said Lan and Kay huffed under his breath. Honestly, this was something that was on Kay’s mind a lot lately – if Santa was real or not. He didn’t really know; he’s been talking about it with his friends in school and most of them were on Lan’s side. Most of them claimed that Santa wasn’t real, but Kay didn’t know what to believe.

The whole concept of Santa was magical, but if he tried to apply some logic to it, it was just highly impossible that Santa would somehow manage to bring gifts to all of the kids around the world in one single night. Even if he used time stopping magic, like papa and dad claimed, Kay was still pretty much unsure about the whole thing because he knew that magic wasn’t real, was it?

Kay was sceptical, but this wasn’t about this. Lian, Tay’s and Alex’s son, was near them and he could hear them. Lian was still too young to be thinking about such serious topics. Also, his sisters were also there and Kay just wanted them to believe in magic a little longer. He was really bummed out when he learned that magic was just lies, basically. He watched a documentary when Pichai was babysitting him – a documentary that showed how magic tricks were performed and since then Kay’s world had changed.

Pichai had a lot of explaining to do with Chay and Kim – the two of them weren’t really happy when they learned that their little son didn’t believe in magic anymore. It got so bad that Kay was moping around for the whole week and it wasn’t until his parents took him to Disneyland that he somehow managed to cheer up. 

At least Disneyland was real!

“No!” stressed Kay and rolled his eyes, though he felt a little bit sad about the whole thing. Growing up wasn’t as fun as he first thought it would be, pressing his lips together as he leaned back a little bit. “Lian and my sisters don’t know this yet, they are still young!” said Kay, scolding Lan now, who bowed his head down when he realised that Kay had a point.

“True,” said Lan and placed a finger upon his lips. “I will be more careful,” promised Lan and winked. Kay slowly nodded and then he stepped closer to Lan, deciding to ask him another question, but much quieter this time around as he didn’t really want anyone to hear him-

“You really think Santa is not real, Lan?” asked Kay with a small voice and Lan nodded.

“I told you I found presents hidden in my parent’s room last year,” said Lan and Kay nodded, placing his hands together behind his back.

“But-but maybe Santa came early?” asked Kay and Lan narrowed his eyes. “Because I know that he cannot go to all of the kids in one single night, so maybe he comes earlier!” said Kay and Lan narrowed his eyes because that sounded just as impossible and he snorted, shaking his head.

“I don’t think it works that way,” said Lan and Kay bowed his head down, feeling completely and utterly disappointed.

“Maybe it does, you don’t know!” said Kay and placed his hands on top of his sides. 

“I’ve seen dad ‘Cau and dad Leo shopping for gifts,” deadpanned Lan and Kay waved it off.

“They’re helping Santa,” argued Kay back, feeling confident in his theory now because it made more sense. “They are Santa’s helpers!” said Kay happily and Lan narrowed his eyes because the more that Kay tried to justify the whole thing, the less sense he was making and the funnier it was getting. If he really thought…

“You really think so?” asked Lan and Kay nodded.

“Yes, I think so!” said Kay.

“Then how do you explain that Santa always looks different?” asked Lan and folded his arms on top of his chest. He wasn’t really asking all of that because he genuinely thought that Santa was real, he was more curious than anything else to see where Kay was going to take his story. “For example the Santa in the store looked different than the Santa on TV and-”

“Because that isn’t real Santa. Those are Santa’s helpers too,” said Kay. “But Santa sends them, they’re his friends. Trust me on this, Lan, I know what I’m talking about,” said Kay and Lan just burst out laughing because Kay’s imagination really was something else. 

When Lan started laughing, Kay just pouted, turned over to Chay and Kim and decided to tell on him!

“Papa! Lan is being a meanie!” whined Kay and Lan started running after him to stop him from spreading misinformation about him. He wasn’t a meanie, not at all!

“I am not!” said Lan and as he was running after Kay, the two of them could hear giggles coming from behind them. Lan stopped running and he smiled when he saw three toddlers slowly running after the two of them – Lian, Achara and Anong. 

“Santa, Santa!” was happily chanting Lain and Kay smiled all the way up to his ears as he ran over to Lian instead.

“See?” asked Kay. “Tell him, Lian, who is coming?” asked Kay and Lian started happily jumping up and down.

“Santa, Santa!” cheered the boy and that was when Lan finally stopped being a so-called meanie and he just nodded as he leaned closer to the boy, who was now curiously looking around, tipping his head to the side. “Where is Santa?” asked the two year old and got onto his tippy-toes just in case he missed him somewhere.

“He’s not here yet,” said Lan with a huge smile on his face. Ah, how could he claim that Santa wasn’t real?! He didn’t care anymore; Santa was real and so be it! With a little smile on his face Lan just hummed.

“Go?” asked Anong now, also in the search of the jolly man and Kay just smiled as he stepped over to his sisters.

“Let’s go find Santa?” offered Kay and Achara’s eyes literally lit up. Anong happily cooed along and then jumped happily, looking at Kay and she offered him her hand. Kay didn’t have to be told twice – he was such an amazing brother that he knew what his sisters needed immediately.

“Achara, hold my hand, here,” said Kay and Achara happily took Kay’s hand as well. Kay was now standing in the middle of his sisters and he happily sighed along. “Let’s go find Santa,” said Kay and started walking, Lian whining and he grabbed onto Lan’s hand too.

“Find Santa, find Santa!” kept on whining the boy so long that Lan just nodded and decided that the two of them were going to be searching for Santa as well.

“Vegas, just put the beard on! No one will recognise you,” whined Tankhun and the look that Vegas gave him was priceless. 

“No way in hell you’re putting that hideous thing on me, Khun,” hissed Vegas. 

“Then what are we to do? My party will be ruined!” yelled Tankhun in his very over dramatic manner and Vegas just rolled his eyes.

“It’s not my fault that your Santa cancelled on you!” said Vegas and Tankhun then looked at Pete instead, his eyes hopeful.

“Pete-”

“No,” said Vegas. “You’re not putting that thing on my husband either!” said Vegas and Pete opened his mouth to say something, but he knew that Vegas wasn’t going to let him speak up, was he? Then again, he didn’t really mind Vegas fighting his battle for him. He really wasn’t in the mood to be dressing up as a freaking Santa.

“Pete, what do you say?”

“Well-” started Pete, hesitation clear in his voice as well.

“Traitor!” wailed Tankhun, but then he quickly managed to calm down and he instead looked over to Kinn, who was standing next to him just a moment ago. However, as he looked over to his side, he could see Kinn already walking away, dragging Porsche with him and Tankhun was furious!

“Get your ass back here!” yelled Tankhun.

“Nope!”

“I’m your older brother, I command you to-”

“We have another younger brother, go bully him,” was all that Kinn said before he left the room and Tankhun pressed his lips together, sulking. Yes, he was sulking!

“Kinn doesn’t really fit the vision,” mumbled Tankhun.

“Meaning?” asked Vegas, getting defensive.

“He’s young and, well, you’re old- ”

“Well why don’t you dress up as the fucking Santa then? You’re ancient compared to all of us,” said Vegas and Pete rolled his eyes. “Wang’s older, but he looks younger than you!”

“Fine,” said Tankhun and turned around. Wang wasn’t home yet, so he really couldn’t ask him right now. Wang was soon ending his shift, but… It would be too late by then. Luckily, Tankhun had a few more people that he could ask!

“No!” said Pichai and shook his head.

“But think about-”

“No. No way,” said Pichai and crossed his arms on top of his chest and Tankun rolled his eyes. He was desperate. As much as Kim was too young to fit his vision of Santa after being rejected by Kim, Porchay, Leo and Macau, Tankhun hit a new low. So, he offered the job of Santa to the one and only – Pichai. Or Ren. 

“I wouldn’t mind,” said Ren and Tankhun smiled, but then Pichai spoke up.

“Oh, no, no, you’re not going nowhere near that thing! Besides, the kids are not dumb, they would recognise us,” said Pichai and Ren sighed under his breath. Venice, who was listening to all of this, was getting kind of amused. Though, Pichai had a point. They were all a little bit too young to be playing Santas and it would make it really easy for the kids to recognise them!

“Uncle, I think Pichai is right, besides we are way too young to be Santas,” said Venice and Tankhun pouted.

“Venice’s right,” said Pichai and nodded. “Uncle, maybe you should dress up as Santa, you’re old enough to be Santa,” said Pichai and Venice’s jaw dropped because a) that was not what he meant and b) he knew how Tankhun was going to react. Pichai was just messing around with Tankhun, but being one of the oldest ones in the family, that was definitely Tankhun’s Achilie’s heel. 

“I am not old!” snapped Tankhun and crossed his arms on top of his sides. “Besides, I’m here to run the party – it’ll look weird if I’m not there as the host of the party, no?” asked Tankhun and Pichai rolled his eyes, feeling annoyed and he sighed along.

“What’s all of this commotion about, hm?” asked Tay when he and Alex stepped into the room, curious to see what was happening and Tankhun just pressed his lips together, crossing his arms on top of his chest. 

“They are bullying me!” said Tankhun and Venice chuckled and shook his head.

“That’s not true!” said Kit quickly as he was also invited to the party and he snickered when he saw the look on Tankhun’s face. Kit loved parties at the Theerapanyakuls! They were always fun, ever since he was a kid he loved coming to them and he just sighed along happily, tucking his hands into his pockets. 

“He’s just like Kinn,” said Tankhun and pointed at Pichai, who was again rolling his eyes. What was so much with the melodramatics?! 

“What happened?” asked Alex and Tankhun looked down. 

“The guy I hired to play Santa cancelled on me at the last minute and now I don’t have the special surprise ready for the kids,” said Tankhun, clearly feeling bad as he was the one organising this party. This wasn’t really in his power, so he really shouldn’t be feeling too bummed out about it. But at the same time Alex could understand him very much.

“Oh,” said Alex and Tay hummed along.

“I know, the whole party is ruined,” said Tankhun and Tay shook his head.

“No it’s not, the party’s a huge success,” said Tay, trying to make him feel better and Tankhun shrugged.

“Well, I don’t really see where the problem is,” said Alex and Tankhun looked at him. Tankhun had already asked everyone, but Alex and Tay if they wanted to help him out with the Santa thing. “There’s many of us, so I’m sure one of us can dress up as-”

“Don’t bother, I’ve already asked everyone,” said Tankhun bitterly as he was still moping around and Alex tipped his head to the side, Tay also narrowing his eyes.

“You didn’t ask us?” asked Tay.

“Yeah,” said Alex and smiled softly. “If there’s anything we can do to help out-”

“Would you really?!” asked Tankhun and his eyes literally lit up when Alex and Tay suggested helping him, unlike the rest of his own family. Tankhun felt betrayed, but now he felt a lot better. “The only reason why I didn’t ask you two is because you are our guests and I didn’t want to-”

“Oh, truly, we would love to help out,” said Alex and Tay quickly nodded – the two of them wanted to give Lian the best Christmas party ever! Also, Anong and Achara were there too, so they were going to love seeing Santa as well!

“Mn,” said Tay and Alex cleared his throat.

“It just so happens that Tay claims that I look amazing in red,” said Alex and waggled his eyebrows. Tay smiled softly, leaning closer and he pressed his lips together.

“It’s true,” said Tay as it was already decided who was dressing up as Santa; it was going to be Alex and Tankhun was over the Moon because Alex had just saved his Christmas party!

“So, I guess it’s time,” said Alex and rubbed his palms together, Tankhun quickly nodding as he led Tay and Alex into the other room where he got the costume of a Santa ready, whistling along to the melody of the song Jingle Bells.  

All that Venice and the others could do was smile and laugh, but Venice was happy that Alex and Tay decided to help out. It was going to be the best party ever!

“Santa, Santa!” was happily chanting Lian, overjoyed that Santa finally decided to show up. Thanks to Tankhun and his skills for disguise, Alex looked nothing like himself, so it was easy for him to fool the youngest kids. Everyone, but Lan, who was now suspiciously looking at Alex, trying to decide if he knew the man behind the beard or not. 

“Isn’t that your dad?” asked Lan, now talking to Isra, who quickly shook her head, trying to pretend that she didn’t know what the boy was talking about.

“No,” said Isra and Nam in unison, but Lan didn’t believe them.

“It looks like your dad,” commented Lan and crossed his arms on top of his chest. “I know Santa isn’t real, don’t lie!” said Lan as he was now far away from the others, so he could openly discuss this. “I’m not three anymore,” he said and rolled his eyes.

“Ah,” said Sarai and smiled as she was standing next to her boyfriend and was listening to everything. “He is Santa’s helper,” she tried to fool Lan, who just decided to walk away; he wasn’t listening to them anymore. 

“Well, that went well,” commented Nam and Isra chuckled.

“He’ll come around,” said Nam’s sister and then she crossed her arms on top of her chest. “Anyway, I’ll go check up on dad and see how he’s doing,” said Isra as Alex was now surrounded by the three youngest kids and all of them were trying to climb on top of him. Even if Alex was having the time of his life, he was also tired as hell and she could tell. Tay was standing by the side and tried to calm the kids down, but the trio was too excited!

“Anyway,” said Sarai and took Nam’s hand into her own. “What do you think about my dress? Pretty, right?” asked Sarai and batted with her eyelashes playfully and he nodded.

“Yeah, you look stunning,” whispered Nam and Sarai giggled, her cheeks turning red a little bit, but then her smile slowly disappeared when she saw Paris sitting in the corner of the room, scrolling through her phone. Chaiya was sitting next to her, but the two of them weren’t talking and Sarai sighed. 

“I’ll go check up on Paris,” mumbled Sarai and Nam took the hint.

“Okay, I’ll go help dad out then too,” said Nam and gave Sarai a little kiss on top of her head, quickly gaining himself a scowl from Kinn, but he just snickered and started walking away, Sarai walking over to Chaiya and Paris, who were sitting in the corner of the room.

Paris and Chaiya were caught in their own little world. The two of them were chatting, holding hands and didn’t really notice Sarai, who was coming closer to the two of them at first. Things were slowly moving along, but they were slowly getting easier for Paris.

Paris ended up having a very long conversation with her parents. She also talked with her other uncles, Venice and Chaiya, of course. The two of them talked it out. Chaiya felt guilty for what happened; if it wasn’t for her then none of this would have happened, but Paria didn’t hold it against her. The only thing that mattered to Paris and the rest of the family was that Chaiya was safe.

And with the main guy finally being dead, Chaiya could finally stop worrying. There were still of course idiots crawling around, but Vegas and Pete took care of that. Paris was slowly smiling more, the nightmares were gone and she was slowly getting back to her old self. Plus, she was looking forward to the trip with the family; it was going to be very fun since Venice and Kit were coming together with Chaiya, Vegas and Pete!

It was going to be a lot of fun!

Sarai happily plopped down onto the couch, sitting between the two of them on purpose and she cackled when she saw the look on Paris’ face. Chaiya didn’t seem too impressed either and she narrowed her eyes.

“Do you mind?” asked Chaiya, not really appreciating their little moment to be suddenly interrupted and Sarai just rolled her eyes.

“Just trying to make sure that my little cousin is feeling alright,” said Sarai and Paris rolled her eyes – Sarai was older than her by a few months, but she always liked using that excuse, didn’t she? Paris just scoffed and then she reached over to hold Chaiya’s hand again.

“Please, you’re older than me only by a few months, so piss off-”

“Shh, I get it,” said Sarai and then she made a little pause. “You’re really okay now?” asked Sarai, the tone of her voice now different, which surprised Paris, so she stopped complaining and she just nodded.

“Mn, I’m doing much better now,” said Paris and Sarai happily smiled, wrapping her arms around both of them and Chaiya just narrowed her eyes and looked over to Paris. When she saw Paris rolling her eyes, Chaiya chuckled and smiled.

“Show me some respect, don’t roll your eyes at me!” said Sarai with a huge grin on her face and even if Paris was being scolded right now, there was a smile on her face as well – Sarai was just worried about her, but Paris truly was doing much better .

“Alright, granny,” said Paris.

Sarai’s plan backfired, which was hilarious to see. And her reaction was a lot like Tankhun’s before with a lot of complaining, protesting and whining!

“Ah, and I get to be the reindeer?” asked Wang with a huge smile on his face when Tankhun placed a headband with antlers on top of his head and he nodded.

“Yes,” said Tankhun and clasped his hands together. “Oh! It looks perfect,” said Tankhun happily and glanced over to Alina, who was more than happy to agree with Tankhun and she giggled happily.

“Yes, now we match!” said Alina and pointed up to her own two antlers.

“Macau, Kim, why aren’t you wearing your antlers?” demanded to know Tankhun and the two cousins looked at each other, rolling their eyes.

“No, thank you,” said Kim and Tankhun marched over to him.

“It’s the dress code!”

“Dress code my ass,” said Kim. “Besides, Porchay looks way cuter with them,” said Kim and eyed over to Porchay, who was now running around the room with Kay, Anong and Achara, all three of them beyond excited. As the girls were a little bit too young, their interest in Santa was already gone. 

However, Lian was still clinging onto Santa!

“Kit’s cuter,” said Venice under his breath and Kim chuckled and looked over to Venice and he placed his arms on top of his sides. Kim was about to say something, but Venice was already on his way, so Kim just shook his head and huffed under his breath.

In the meantime, Kinn and Vegas were patrolling the area, making sure that Paris or Sarai didn’t leave the premises of the room with their dates. Sarai and Nam snuck off one time already, but were found quickly thanks to the security system of the compound. Still, Vegas and Kinn weren’t taking any chances. While the two of them were busy, their husbands decided that they were done with the two of them and decided to have fun; so Pete and Porsche decided to try out the alcohol at the party… pretty much all of it.

Before the two of them could get too drunk, Macau decided to do something about it, but neither of them were too happy about it when Macau suddenly dragged them away, over to the side and Porsche was now pouting.

“Boo, I didn’t know this party came with the booze police,” said Porsche and crossed his arms on top of his chest. “I’m giving this party one star. Tankhun-”

“Stop yelling!” snapped Macau.

“Why?” asked Porsche.

“He’s right, we had a bit too much,” said Pete and he giggled as he looked down at the floor. Yep, definitely too much. 

“You’re on his side?!” asked Porsche.

“Yep!”

“Argh-”

“Listen to Macau,” said Leo now, trying not to laugh when he saw Porsche’s drunken scowls. 

“Where’s Vegas?” asked Pete and Macau pointed over to the side – Vegas and Kinn still keeping their eyes on the girls. Pete clicked with his tongue and he shook his head. “Those two…” said Pete and then he clasped his hands together. “Porsche, I have an idea!” said Pete as he decided that it was finally time for someone to distract those two. 

It was a party – everyone should be having fun! 

While Pete and Porsche tried to distract their husbands, Lan was now talking to Elle and Mai. Everyone was still trying to talk him into believing that Santa was real but he still wasn't buying it and he sighed along. 

“Santa didn't really bring all of those gifts,” said Lan and Elle looked over to Mai, who shrugged. The two of them really didn't know what to say - Lan truly was old enough to know the truth about Santa, didn't he? “Uncle Tankhun and uncle Wang bought the gifts.” 

“Well-” started Elle and looked at Mai. 

“Yes,” said Mai. “It's true.” 

“But they were helping Santa,” chimed in Elle and then laughed nervously when she saw the unamused look on Lan's face. It seemed that Lan was going through a rebellious phase? 

“Elle, he's not two anymore,” said Mai. 

“Leo won't be too happy if we tell him the-” 

“Truth?” asked Lan and without even thinking too much Elle answered. 

“Yes,” said Elle and quickly bit her tongue when she realised what she had just said. “Damn-”

“I knew it!” said Lan and grinned. ”I knew it, I knew-”

“No, no, I didn’t mean it like that!” said Elle quickly, but she realised that it was already too late. Oh, Leo was going to kill her when he was going to learn that she completely-

“Elle, he knew, please stop it,” deadpanned Mai and then looked over to Lan, who was beyond satisfied with himself. “Anyway, let’s go drink something!”

“Yes,” said Lan. “Let’s be quick. Uncle Khun said we will soon be unwrapping presents, so let’s get going?” said Lan and quickly grabbed onto Elle’s and Mai’s hands, quickly dragging them over to the drink section and Tankhun watched everyone with joy in his eyes.

Another year, another successful Christmas party!