North Pole. Mission Control. December 23; Eve of Christmas Eve. 6:30 p.m.

"Hey everyone! It's our favourite time of the year again!" Arthur came into the mission control room again with a whole bunch of letters in his arms, greeting each elf on the way, and taking the proper way down the stairs this time. He then saw his brother on his espresso making chair, taking a sip off his drink and staring at the big screens as usual.

He went straight to him and waved the letters in front of him. "Hey Steve! Guess how much letters there are this year! It's so good that kids send so much!" He then took a look at Steve once more and realized he wasn't paying attention.

Steve was buried deep in his thoughts today. He wanted to experience it one more time. The moment when a child got their Christmas gift, their happy faces as they showed it to their parents. The thought made him feel nostalgic but then bitter memories came afterwards. The following Christmas, Steve thought the elves would have the same reaction as that kid when she got her present.

Turns out the elves weren't the same as the kids as he thought. When he gave Peter a bicycle as well, the elf simply looked at him in a strange way, and more than respectfully accepted the gift, even though he took sideward awkward glances back at him as he went back to his room. Steve was glad he took and liked the gift, but it was a bit.. disturbing seeing the elf look at him like that. It wasn't the expression he anticipated. But regardless of being bad with children, he still wanted to see it, just once more. But then, if he were to go, who would take care of the place?

It's been three years since Arthur became Santa and since Steve took his place in mission control as the Executive COO. North Pole Operations. He got to sit in a big black leather command chair with a built-in espresso machine for goodness' sake! Every year the man would smile back at his brother and continue on with his job. He was happy.

Peter, his assistant then tapped his leg. "Um, sir?"

Steve came back to his senses and looked at the letters. "Ah, thank you Arthur. You can... give them to Peter for him to do a check on the kids. I'm going to take a small break." Arthur replied, "Ah, uh, okay. You take it easy." With that the other man left the room leaving Arthur with Peter. He looked at the elf and silently gave him the papers. "Is Steve okay? He seems a bit down lately." Peter shook his head as he took the stack. "I'm sorry to say that I'm not so sure. He's actually been like this since a month ago. Not even an espresso will lighten his mood." Arthur thought for a while, then lit up with an idea. "I'll just go ask him what's wrong. Have a nice day, Peter!" With that Arthur bounded off after him to the exit without closing the doors.

He almost collided with Steve in the nearest corner and skidded a bit to the side before regaining his balance. Steve jumped back a little and put his hands on the wall to still himself. "Goodness, Arthur what are you doing?" Arthur turned around and faced his brother with a concerned expression. "Steve, is something on your mind? You seemed troubled back there." The other man sighed and put his fingers to his nose bridge. "Look, Arthur. As the role of Santa, you have many responsibilities. So you needn't concern yourself with me." But the younger brother only furled his brows and asked, "Is this about me being Santa?" Steve grimaced and stuttered back, "N-no... maybe..." Arthur continued to stare until he gave out a big sigh once again and crossed his arms with his eyes averted to the side. "Okay fine, yes it does have to do with you being Santa. But I don't have anything against that," he explained properly, setting his hand straight in front of his face. "It's just, I know I'm not very good with kids and all but, when we saw that little girl with her pink bike..." At this Arthur beamed at his brother. "Then this year you can come with me! The kids don't need to know who Santa is, just that he came. Oh I can't wait to tell dad."

Steve looked back at him baffled. "Don't be ridiculous, Arthur. There can only be one Santa. Besides, who will take care of mission control? Now if you excuse me," Steve made his way back to the room, closing the open door behind him, departing from a very confused Arthur.

Clause Residence. 8:00 p.m.

That night the family was once again seated together for dinner in a while. Miss Clause came in the room with a whole well-cooked chicken for everyone and took her seat while the boys began to get their share of the meal and eat away. After a few moments of peaceful silence, the soft tapping of Steve on his HOHO, and the quiet bickering of grandSanta complaining about his teeth, Arthur spoke up first. "Dad, I was thinking, if it was allowed, um since Christmas is just around the corner, tomorrow, maybe both Steve and I can deliver the presents together this year." GrandSanta sputtered on his meal and began gawking while Steve stopped his texting and shot Arthur a frown before looking to his father. The previous Santa thought long and hard, until he felt a hand on his arm and looked up to see his wife. "Oh dear, I think it's a wonderful idea. Steve hasn't gone out in a while and as Santa's right hand man, it would be of most fitting if he were to see the world with his own two eyes."

Malcolm then asked, "But who would take care of mission control?" Steve completely agreed on this. "Yes, who would, Arthur?" GrandSanta only cleared his throat, sputtering loud sounds and a bit of food here and there. He pointed a pointy finger at his eldest grandson with one eye closed and a toothless smirk. "Listen 'ere. They ain't any elves here for no reason boy. Even you need to go out sometimes," He spread his arms above him wide. "You ain't even got t'ride Eve for goodness sake! Oh poor Eve, poor, poor Eve. My damned grandson has not even had the chance to see real magic." GrandSanta put his head in his hands and grumbled nonsense as he remembered that event a few Christmases ago.

Their father started to nod, taking in the words of grandSanta. "But, but father-" Steve proclaimed, but Malcolm put his hand up and looked at his son. "Both your mother and grandSanta are right. Even though you may not be Santa, it would be nice if you could, you know, go out with Arthur once in a while." Arthur nodded with a smile, completely agreeing to this. "You could ask Peter to do it this year. Or Bryony-"

"No."

"-or a few of the elves in mission control. There's a whole bunch of them, I'm sure of it." Steve was about to protest but then, he thought, who was he to refuse? Peter knew enough of how things rolled, and there were plenty of fine elves that knew what they were doing. He sat back on his seat and sighed, "Fine."

The whole family had a happy evening dinner, the night before Christmas Eve.

Mission Control. 9:15 p.m.

"What?! But sir! You can't, I'm simply an assistant! Today is Christmas Eve! I can't just take control of the entire HQ!" Steve shushed him to lower his voice. "Pipe down, Peter. I know it's hard but my family insisted that I go out."

"But sir-!"

"No buts, you will take control. You've seen me do it for years, and I think you're ready. And I'll tell you what," Steve fought with himself for a bit and sighed deeply after a long while.

"You... get to sit on my chair and make your own espresso. But only for this Christmas." The elf beamed at this and shook Steve's hand with delight. "I won't fail you, sir! Don't worry, and enjoy yourself!" Peter then scampered away, flowers appearing around him.

The man frowned but shook the thought off and went to sit on his command chair, slouching while looking at the giant screens. He stroked the arm of it and pressed the button for an espresso. Taking the cup he mumbled into the drink, "Poor Noel, another will take control of you this year..." Apparently that was the name of his chair, and he loved it deeply.

North Pole. December 24. Christmas Eve. 8:00 p.m.

Arthur was strapped on to his red suit with the traditional black boots and white gloves with the white fluff at the collar, and buttoned it down to look at himself in the mirror. To top it off, Arthur put on the soft red hat with a white pompom to complete the set. He still looked pretty skinny for the role of Santa. Good thing his mom tailored it to fit his size perfectly. Smiling big he thought, "It's the kids that matter."

With that Arthur made his way to the S1, to see Steve in his hot pink striped suit he wore a few Christmases ago. He seemed to be talking on his HOHO in a business-like manner. Seems like he's always busy, even when he was going to spend the Christmas with Arthur. He shrugged and went inside to the main control room. From the window he saw the rows of reindeer that were pulling the S1, happy that they added the extra magic.

Steve also made his way to the top and found Arthur and stood beside him, putting his hands on the smooth surface of his ship. "Why did I let you talk me into this?" he grumbled. Arthur only shrugged and smiled, looking out the window.

From mission control, Peter sat in the power seat, sipping his warm espresso and calling orders for preparations. "Okay, sir. We're ready to launch, start the countdown!" The elves proceeded and began the launch.

"Ten, nine, eight, seven..." Arthur then looked at Steve and patted his shoulder. "It's great to have you this Christmas." Steve just huffed, looking straight. "...five, four..." The current Santa then perked his head up. "Oh yeah, by the way Steve, I have a surprise for you later." Steve looked at his and asked, "What is it?"

"...two, one, blastoff."

"It's a surprise obviously. But I'll tell you for sure it has to do with what you wanted to do." The S1 took off from the North Pole and soared through the sky, almost magically as the reindeer galloped along, turning the dark night into a blue starry cosmos.

Haha I have completed this chapter hoorah! I was actually planning on making it longer, but I decided to make you wait... because there will be a very juicy part that I'm excited to write soon ;). Until then, please leave reviews so that the next chapter (and the juicy part) can come sooner.