So much fluff, and it's mostly because of my mom's insistence that I actually sat down and wrote it at all. Outlaw Queen, Henry/Roland-brotherly-bonding, and Christmas-y-ness! I don't remember the last time I wrote a pure fluff piece, and it was wonderful to do again! Enjoy!:)
"But I want ice cream!" Roland whined from his place between Robin and Regina as they walked with Henry down the sidewalk past the Snow Queen's former ice cream shop.
"Well, you can have some when we get home then," Robin told him. "Ms. Fisher's shop isn't open anymore."
"Besides, Roland," Henry pointed out. "It's Christmas Eve, and that means that it's too cold for ice cream, don't you think?"
"No…" Roland said, looking like he was getting ready to start sulking.
Looking at the little boy, Henry warned, "You'd better not pout… Don't you remember who's coming to town?"
"Who?" Roland queried curiously.
"Santa Claus!" Henry replied as if it was obvious.
Roland eyed him skeptically, saying, "I thought in this world big kids like you didn't believe in Santa Claus anymore."
"But those are the same big kids who don't believe in magic," Henry pointed out factually. "And those kids don't live in Storybrooke. Santa Claus only comes to places with magic, and Storybrooke has magic, so Santa's going to come here tonight – but only to the houses of boys who don't pout."
Roland continued to assess Henry with narrowed eyes as they walked, and after a long minute the boy declared grumpily, "I don't believe you!"
Regina, who had – like Robin – been silently listening to the boys' exchange, asked in surprise, "You don't?"
"No," Roland replied, insisting, "Big boys don't believe in Santa, and I'm a big boy, so I don't believe in Santa Claus! Henry's just being silly."
"Am I?" Henry asked, eyebrows raised.
"Yes!"
"Maybe you're the one who's being silly."
"No, you are!"
"I'll prove it to you then," Henry decided evenly. "I'll stay up until Santa comes by tonight, and when he does I'll wake you up so you can see him for yourself."
Roland was obviously still skeptical, but he didn't say anything else on the subject, so neither did Henry. It didn't matter what Roland thought at the moment; Henry knew what his opinion would be by Christmas morning.
"You're actually going to stay awake?!" Roland asked Henry as the older boy flipped the light off in the little boy's room.
"I told you I was, didn't I? I'm going to prove to you that Santa's real."
"Are you going to come sleep in my room when you give up and decide he's not real so that you can be a big boy again, like I am?"
"I'll come get you when it's time," Henry said with a forbearing smile before he shut the door to Roland's room.
Three hours later, Henry slipped quickly into Roland's room on silent feet, scooping the younger boy into his arms while he was still sleeping. "Wake up, Roland!" Henry hissed urgently, shaking him a little.
"Are you gonna come sleep in my room now?" Roland asked, only halfway awake. "You gonna be a big boy now?"
"I'm going to prove to you that 'big boys' can believe in Santa Claus too," Henry declared, whisking Roland into the living room and gently shaking him again as he flopped down on the window seat with the boy in his lap, whispering, "Come on now, wake up! Be quiet and listen! Do you hear that?"
Doing as he was told, Roland suddenly sat up straight, going wide-eyed and still in Henry's lap as he pressed his nose to the cool window, whispering, "Bells?!"
"Sleigh bells," Henry corrected with a grin. "From Santa's sleigh!"
"There!" Roland suddenly screamed loudly, bouncing up and down on Henry's lap and jabbing his finger at the window, indicating some point in the sky beyond the pane of glass. "I see him!"
"Told you," Henry laughed, both boys watching as the red, reindeer-pulled sleigh flew into their line of sight outside the window, growing larger the closer it got – and then disappeared over the roof of the house.
Roland jumped as there was a sudden clatter overhead, and then he realized what was happening on the roof. "The reindeer are on our roof, Henry!" Roland squealed gleefully.
"Uh-huh," Henry grinned, shuffling them both so that they were hidden from view in the corner behind their Christmas tree.
Pressing a finger to his lips, Henry made sure Roland knew to stay quiet before pointing towards the fireplace. First, a velvet bag thudded down into the space behind the grate, and then the little boy began to absolutely vibrate with excitement when he saw the bearded man crawl from out of their fireplace and grab his bag. For good measure, Henry slipped a hand over the other boy's mouth as Santa leaned over the velvet bag, opening it and shuffling through it for a couple of seconds with his back turned to his observers before he found what he was looking for. Then Santa shuffled over to the tree in silence with a gift in each hand, stopping within touching distance of Henry and Roland, who he still didn't detect as he placed the two presents underneath the tree. As the boys continued to watch, Santa slid down onto the couch, surveying the plate of cookies and glass of milk that had been left for him on the coffee table.
"Apples and cinnamon," Santa declared approvingly, lifting one of the cookies and sniffing at it before taking a large bite.
Creeping on socked feet down the hallway, Regina looked over her shoulder at Robin and pressed a finger to her lips before the two adults came to a silent stop in the living room doorway – out of the sight of their respective sons, but giving Santa Claus a perfect view of his two grown visitors. Noticing the look on Robin's face at seeing the mythical man large as life and sitting in Regina's house, the woman slammed a hand over her own mouth to stop a laugh before she could give herself away to Roland and Henry. Santa, however, caught the movement, and glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. Regina's eyes widened and she shook her head urgently, pointing towards the tree – and the two boys nestled behind it, their brightly-colored pajamas just barely visible through the branches of the tree.
Still not looking at her or Robin, Santa nodded, acting like he was merely approving of the baked goods that had been left for him, but Regina knew better. Grinning at the jolly man in red one more time, Regina grabbed Robin's hand and tugged him back down the hallway.
Once they were out of hearing range of Roland and Henry, Regina whispered triumphantly, "See, I told you Henry knew what he was talking about! My son's been waiting up for Santa every Christmas since the first year the curse broke, and every time, old Saint Nick shows up and makes a big production of it because Henry waits for him. It's just that nobody ever lets on that they know that Henry's there – or Roland either now, for that matter. Santa gets more fun out of it that way."
"'Santa gets more fun out of it that way,'" Robin repeated in shock, still not believing what he had just seen with his own two eyes.
There was a shuffling from the other room as Santa went back up to the roof and Henry and Roland scampered back to the window. Before Regina could answer Robin, the clock above the library loudly struck midnight, the sound already quiet inside the house. Then that noise was drowned out entirely by the sudden sound of sleigh bells rattling and reindeer stomping, signaling that Santa was going onto the next house just before they all heard the predictable, resonating cry of, "Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!"
Laughing quietly as the man across from her paled, Regina said, "Merry Christmas, Robin!"
"Merry Christmas, Regina," Robin repeated faintly, a smile slowly spreading across his face.
Suddenly from back in the living room, they heard Roland cry out gleefully, "Santa Claus is real! He came to our town!"
Henry laughed, answering with a kind, "Didn't I tell you he would?" and Regina peeked back around the doorjamb to see the two boys both watching out the window with sparkling eyes as Santa and his sleigh disappeared into the night sky.