A/N: This prompt was kind of presented as a joke on the kinkmeme, but I still ran with it.
He didn't start the job because he liked Christmas; in fact, for most of his life, Eddie Blake hadn't liked Christmas at all. His relationship with his parents had never been anything but strained, and it didn't take him long to realize it, so a happy holiday was usually out of the question. And they were Catholic, so the whole affair was usually boring as shit, and they were just religious enough to decide to burst his bubble early on and let him know that no, there was not a Santa, and, no, he would not be receiving any extra gifts.
So he wasn't big on the holiday, and by the time he was living on his own, he didn't have much in the way of holiday spirit. It didn't help that he never really had anyone to share the holidays with, as he didn't have many friends and managed to fuck up anything even resembling a close relationship. The closest he had ever gotten was Sally, and the only Christmas they could have spent together, she preferred to spend with her husband. She found out she was pregnant not long later and dumped him, hoping that she could preserve her marriage.
They hadn't seen each other much since then, only in passing, and he wouldn't go out of his way to speak to her because he knew she wouldn't like it. And of course, she did her best to pretend she didn't notice him, and he never had a chance to even see the child they had together. Knowing that he had a child out there, experiencing their first Christmas with some other man pretending to be her father didn't help to make the holiday any better.
It didn't even make sense to him why he took the job, but it more than likely had something to do with the fact that, though he had never thought about wanting children before, he suddenly realized how much he did when he found out Sally was pregnant. And ever since then, the lack of a child in his life had become more and more noticeable, and he'd found himself with paternal instincts he had thought himself to be without before. He didn't have any friends, so he didn't have anyone with children of their own that he could look after, and when he came across an opportunity like this, it proved too hard for him to resist.
And so, that was how Eddie found himself taking on the seasonal position of a mall Santa. It was far from where he would have pictured himself at this point in his life, but he'd not used any of his vacation hours all year and had enough saved up that he had to take off the last few weeks of the year, giving him plenty of free time to fill, and he had turned out to be pretty good at the job. He'd always been the sort of guy who liked to have fun, and his Santa impersonation wasn't too shabby. Sure, he had to wear some padding under the coat to disguise how very in-shape he was, but nobody's perfect.
Every day, he'd show up and get into costume, flirt with the nice, pretty elf lady who took the pictures, and get ready for a few hours of a long line of children, waiting to tell him what they wanted for Christmas. And through this, he found himself developing a Christmas spirit that he had never had before, and he really, really enjoyed his temporary job. He enjoyed hearing the funny sort of things kids would ask for- once he met a boy who's only desires were a firetruck and a Happy Meal, and once there was a girl who asked for an air purifier, and she couldn't have been more than nine- and he enjoyed seeing just how excited they were and how they truly believed that he was Santa.
They had an innocence to them that he'd never known, and had the chance to believe in some goddamn mythical man who squeezed down their chimney once a year to deliver presents, and so many of them had what appeared to be happy he families. He loved to be around it, but it also made him miss everything that he'd never had. Eddie wasn't sentimental, and yet, he missed the childhood he'd missed out on, and he missed being able to give a decent childhood to what was likely the only child he would ever have.
That was why it was such a big surprise when he saw Sally waiting in line, holding hands with a small girl who he knew had to be five years old. She was dark haired, just like her father; there was no mistaking that this little girl was their daughter, and he felt himself grow tense as he waited for them to make their way to the front of the line. Did Sally know it was him? Would she be able to tell? How would he be able to pretend to be somebody else when he finally had the chance to meet his daughter?
But they eventually made it to the front of the line and he gave them the same smile he gave to every parent and child who came through his line, reaching down to help the girl into his lap as if she were any other child before looking up to see the look in Sally's eyes that he knew all too well. She looked just a little bit sad, and he knew that she knew who he was.
"And what's your name, little girl?" he asked the child, doing his best to ignore Sally.
"Laurie!" she replied.
"Ho ho, and what would you like for Christmas, Laurie?"
"Um...um...I want new stuffed animals and new dress up clothes and a veter...veter...uh...vet Barbie!" Pausing, she looked around before leaning in, making sure that Sally couldn't hear as she whispered, "And I want mommy to find a new daddy. I don't think she likes mine very much, and I don't really like him either."
Eddie didn't know how the hell he was supposed to respond to that, and he felt his heart break all over again knowing that it was not even for the better that he hadn't been able to be there for Laurie. He wished, more than anything, that she could get her Christmas wish in the form of him becoming a part of their life, but he also knew that that was probably not going to happen. All he could do was let out a jolly laugh and say that he could see what he could do before they posed for a picture. He was surprised when Sally wanted to be a part of the picture as well.
~X~
She called him that night, and he was surprised that she still knew his number after all this time. But she did, and she called him, and when he answered, she said, "Eddie? This is Sally, I...called about earlier today."
"So, ya recognized me, huh?" he asked casually.
"I did," she replied. "I recognized you a while ago, actually. When I was shopping, I thought it was you, and once I saw you go into the changing area, and I knew it had to be you. I wasn't sure if I was going to go through with this or not, but...I wanted you to meet Laurie somehow and it seemed like such a good way for you to finally get to see her without it being too confusing for her."
"She's beautiful, Sal," he said. "Just like her mother, I guess."
"She looks a hell of a lot more like you when she's mad," said Sally, laughing a bit. "She really knows how to throw a tantrum."
"Thank you," he said sincerely. "Thank you for letting me meet her. I...it means a lot, alright?"
"You're welcome." She paused, before asking, "What did she say to you? When she whispered, I mean."
He thought about telling her and he thought about offering to fill the position and he thought about telling her that he still missed her and he thought about saying anything that might give him another chance with her, but instead he only said, "Well, I can't tell ya that. She wanted that to be a secret between her and Santa."