Originally posted on the week leading to Christmas. I was very ill during this time plz excuse repetitive things and a whole half sentence missing rip past me.
The stage was supposed to close a half hour ago. The lights are hot. The set needs to be put away, a task that you must do once this is all over. But no one wants to crush the dreams of hopeful children. It's not so bad. There's a few kids left. The elf outfit isn't so uncomfortable. It's mostly just the shoes. They're killing you. They're slightly too narrow on both ends which are squishing your feet. One would think that big clog like shoes would be big enough. Whatever. The joy on the children's excited faces are worth it. Plus you gotta supervise Santa.
Jiraiya totally didn't seem the type, right? Volunteering his whole day to be Santa. Why you aren't sure. He volunteered you to be his elf helper the whole day. It hasn't been so bad. You mostly just check on him and his well-being.
He's dressed to the nines. The white trimmed red suit stuffed with a pillow for fake chub. The false beard that covered up over half his face. The hat that covered the rest. His jolly laugh he converted to the iconic ho-ho-ho sound. He hasn't broken character once. Poor man must be boiling in that cheap costume, but he's a trooper. He hasn't even slumped over in the grand red throne like chair once despite the hours of being in it. Most men would have caved.
He's leaned in close to listen to a little girl's wish. Once she finished he gave a jolly laugh and a promise that so long as she stays good, she'll get what she wants. You do the subtle hand off to give him a candy cane so he can give it to her, but you lean in closer to be by his ear.
"How you doing?" You whisper.
"Fine." Was his ever so quiet reply. He took the candy from you and handed it to the girl. "Happy Holidays!" He said to her before sending her off.
"Do you need water?" You whisper again.
"I can hold on. There's only a couple of kids left."
You pat his shoulder in a gesture of understanding. Jiraiya simply nods before inviting the next child up. He has on a big smile as he lifts the kid up to sit on his lap and invites them to tell him what they want for Christmas. This one was a bit more shy, but quietly gave in and told him.
Jiraiya has had a good run today. Only one very young kid that broke down into tears in his arms with their mother sitting on the armrest beside him. The mother did her best to console her child and the panic was practically palatable as Jiraiya fears upset children the most. It was the closest Jiraiya got to breaking the facade of Santa. Thankfully you were there to grip his arm as a reminder to get through it in a single piece.
"Candy cane, Miss Elf!" Your Santa orders with his hand out to take one.
"Of course, Santa." You say with a smile. You hand one over.
"Merry Christmas!"
The kid accepted the treat before leaping off of Santa to run to their awaiting parents. Okay. One more. The anticipation to get this last kid over and done with was building. So close to shutting this operation down. It goes by smoothly. Santa listens dutifully to the child's wish before you hand off the final candy cane. Their mother was quick to collect her child and thanked Santa for staying late.
"All in a days work! Merry Christmas!" Jiraiya bids them farewell in his jolly ole Saint Nick voice while waving. Once the door to the little pretend house was shut, he sighed so loudly it was clear exactly how he felt.
"Long day, Mister Claus?" You ask.
"That's one way to put it."
He pulls off the cap and pulls down the beard to take in the first real deep breath he's taken in hours. Those false whiskers can be suffocating! The moustache has been shoved up against his nostrils and tickling his lips the whole day. It took so much willpower to not rip it off in front of children who still believe in magic and unicorns. With lead heavy arms he pulls open the jacket of the costume to free the heat he's been sweltering in. The round pillow that he had shoved under his coat was thrown across the room.
You hand him a bottle of water and he all too happily gulps it down. It's not too bad a sight. Jiraiya is quite pretty to look at. He's not to bad looking half dressed and sweaty. It's the first time you've seen him with his hair up. His long locks are pinned back into a messy fraying bun atop his crown to hide it. His bangs had long sprung free. It blended into the beard well enough to not make the children doubt his costume. He looks tired, but content.
"Thanks for staying late." He said. He took another drink of water before speaking again. "You didn't have to."
"I know. But what would Santa be without his trusted elf?" You reply.
"Lonely and half cooked."
You share a chuckle with him. You sit down on the arm rest of the chair beside him. You lift your legs up one at a time in order to peel off the painful shoes. A sigh of relief is breathed as you release them from that prison. You lean back to rest against the back of the chair. From there the perspective of what you still gotta do sinks in with despair.
All the cardboard and wooden decorations you have to take down. The tree that has to be disassembled and put back into its box. The chair has to be bubble wrapped. All the fake snow has to be stuffed into bags.
It was part of the contract for working here. The pop up of Santa's house in the middle of the village is just that. A pop up. It's temporary. Assembled for a few days in a vacant store that doesn't have occupancy in December. But in January it gets rented out. Which means only the people who work on the Santa meet and greet thing must take it all down themselves. Jiraiya had been elected to lead this year's display as Santa and he promised to take care of it. You agreed to help being apart of his team for this project. Everyone else left at the original closing time. Today was the final day. So everything has to be done before tomorrow morning when the people who rented the lot plan to do an inspection. It's the day before Christmas Eve! Who wants to work hard during this time? Certainly not you.
"You can go if you want." Jiraiya interrupted and must have read your unhappy thoughts. "It's my fault we stayed open late. I can handle getting everything packed up."
"..." That does sound tempting. You look over to him. He looks as exhausted as you do. He'll be here till dawn if you leave him to do it all. "Nah... I'll stay and help."
"Only if you want."
Jiraiya leans back against the plush back of the chair and shut his eyes. It seems he's not all that motivated to clean. He's breathing deeply as if asleep. He might be. He only taken one break today. It was only a few minutes so it was hardly a break. He fully embraced his role and wolfed down a handful of cookies another volunteer brought in for the crew then washed it down with some milk. It was the only thing available in the break room at the time. You at least got a full fifteen minutes to eat a meal you had brought from home.
Heh poor guy. You reach out to play with his hair. It's damp from sweat. All of him is. It's hard work being Santa for a day. Jiraiya hums as you do something he likes. You tuck away strands behind his ear and smoothing out the hair that's pinned back.
"Can I ask you something?" You inquire.
A smile grows on Jiraiya's lips. It's slightly sinister. The type of sinister that's not all that serious but you know you probably won't like what he's gotta say. He's a notorious perv after all. It's quite a shock he got the role as Santa in the first place. Why did he even agree to take apart in all of this?
"I'll answer any question you want, but as you know." Jiraiya pauses as he raises his arm with his hand lazily motions towards his lap. "Any question you wish to ask Santa has to be done in his lap."
Of course he'd insist on that. Yet you aren't as weirded out as you thought you would be. In fact it sounds kinda nice to sit in this Santa's lap and tell him how naughty you've been. This Santa would punish you more than with a lump of coal.
You lean towards him to let gravity do most of the work. You slide down the arm rest butt first to his lap. Jiraiya jumps slightly along with a grunt. It seems he didn't expect you to actually do it. It's more of a lounge in his lap. With the arm rests on either side of the chair cradling your back and calves while he supported the rest of you. You rest your head against his shoulder. His hand slid down and rested on your thigh.
"Ask away, Miss Elf." Jiraiya says.
"Why did you agree to be Santa this year?"
He opens his eyes looks down at you. His brow is raised as if both surprised and doubtful of your question. More accurately he's not impressed with it.
"Why are you so surprised by it? Am I not good enough to be the jolly fat man?" He asks instead of answers.
"Of course you are. I guess I just pegged you as someone who didn't like the holidays."
"Normally you'd be right. I never was all that crazy about celebrating anything. Too much work, you know?"
"Yeah, I get it." You agree with him. You adjust slightly in his lap and nuzzle yourself closer to him. "So what happened this year? Change of heart?"
"In all honesty, I never had anyone to celebrate any holiday with until recently." Jiraiya pauses and his eyes drift away as he seems to be recalling a memory. His hand scoots up higher on your thigh. Tingles dance along your nerves as he touches skin that rarely does get touched on you. "It's nice having people around to partake in all this stuff with now. I wanted to do something different this year to help others."
"Would a girl have anything to do with that?"
He hesitates. It's agony for you. Why? Why does it feel odd and suspenseful? Shouldn't you be happy for him to have a nice lass to celebrate with? But it be better if it was you. You have gotten close to Jiraiya over the week. Close enough to have drinks with him after working all day together and happy to hang out with him past the required timeframe just to help out.
Jiraiya is much nicer than his reputation perceives him. Sure he's a bit lewd and inappropriate at times, but the attention was nice. He's charming in his own perverted way when he talks to you. He's mastered this weird balance of kindness and sexuality when he talks to you that has you intrigued for more. The only time isn't a hound is when he was surrounded by children and playing the role as a magical sleigh riding overly happy man that delivers presents to every good boy and girl in a single night. Even then he can manage to get in a double entendre whilst speaking to you around the kids without corrupting any tiny minds. He didn't get much out today since it was busy and he almost passed out from heat stroke in the Santa costume. That and yesterday a mother mistook his flirtatious comment meant for you for her and she gave him a good slap across the face before storming off with her son. He's been more cautious ever since. Any complaints to the committee that put this all together and he'd lose his job as Santa.
"Well sorta. I've found someone I like." He finally said. "She's made this holiday season much easier to deal with. I never really liked being alone."
"Me neither. Especially around this time of year."
It fell quiet again. In a nice way. It's not awkward or tense. Jiraiya tilts his head and lowers it until his cheek rested on the top of your head. It's really comforting being around you. His selfless little elf who has done so much for him. You have just been so... wonderful. The lights click off. They're on a timer. It only encourages him to simply fall asleep while holding you. He's slept in worse places.
"Look outside." You whisper. "Isn't it pretty?"
He hums. He opens his very heavy eyes. The display window was now perfectly framing the outside. The streetlights outside are softly illuminating the outside. The slow snowfall glittered with the lights. It's those pretty big flakes of snow that lands on hair, gloves, and jackets in perfect unique little pieces of delicate art. The kind of snow he wouldn't mind just standing in with his face towards the sky. His eyes open just enough to look at the black sky broken up by one of nature's greatest creations.
Then his gaze falls back to you. You can be like the snow. Soft and gentle. Adventurous but grounded. Not necessarily cold but certainly whimsical. There's something so wonderful about the freedom of snow but it's destined to fall to the ground eventually. Not that it's a bad thing. Ground bound things have adventures too and their beauty is often better than things that fly away on a whim. Like he is. Like you are.
Maybe it won't be so bad to hang around the village this year for the holidays. He usually leaves before the twenty third. It just became easier to celebrate alone than wallow around all the joy that others were feeling. It made him feel worse. Jiraiya shut eyes again and tucks his face closer against your hair.
"Yeah... really pretty." He mumbles. He mindlessly tapped his fingers on your leg, tempted and wanting to touch you more.
You keep flexing your legs. It's still a little strange. Jiraiya hasn't ever been so close to you. He's never touched you more than a friendly pat on the back. But he always lingers to make a lewd comment, especially about your elf outfit. Which to be fair is quite skimpy for a kid's attraction. Thin green tights paired with a short red skirt was kinda too sexy. Luckily any touchy father that overstepped their bounds had an angry Santa on their ass. Jiraiya didn't like it when others tried to get too sexual with you. It was somewhat funny how protective he's grown over you. It feels good though. No one had cared like that.
"We should start... before we fall asleep." Jiraiya broke the quiet just as it got peaceful enough.
"Okay."
He gives your leg a good squeeze before letting you slide off of him. Your body feels cold without him there and sore from moving after being so perfectly cozy. A long groan fills the room as Jiraiya seems to be summoning the will to get this task done. You began to disassemble the set pieces while he did more of the heavier lifting. It was plenty of back and forth trips to the storage with armfuls of props.
In reality it probably didn't take that long. It just felt like eons. From packing boxes and disassembling the more complicated things. Jiraiya fighting with the tree like it was a master of deflection for a half hour. His quiet cursing wasn't so befitting of Saint Nick. He vented out his frustration with the fake tree by tossing it into storage once he wrangled it back into its box. It clattered and broke something as the muffled crunch of glass was true. He looked at you once it fell quiet.
"A problem for next year."
"Or maybe you can take it to your workshop, Santa."
He snorts in amusement. He takes another look around.
"Is that everything?"
"I think so."
"Good. I'm so done with this."
He's grumpy when he's tired. That's not so much in the Christmas spirit. Which is understandable at this time of night. You understand how he feels. The idea of bed and sleep was too good to be so close. Your feet move almost beyond your control. You kinda just drift into his arms. It feels right to be hugging him. He doesn't move for a moment.
You're hugging him. It fills him with a flood of warmth. Jiraiya returns your hug. Maybe he's too tired and dehydrated from being Santa but it feels very nice. Better then a simple hug should. He's liked you for a long time now. In all honesty he wasn't sure how approach you. Or how to impress you. It was a godsend when you got assigned to his team for this volunteer work. He was correct about the kind of woman you are. Beautiful. Kind. Funny. You take his crap with a grace no woman has bothered to do. You care. During this time of year that matters to him. It doesn't feel so dark.
"I don't... want to go home alone tonight." You mutter.
"Really? I don't want to go home alone either."
"Did you want to come home with me?"
He began to laugh. It was a soft laugh. Much like who he was dressed as, it was a full body type of laugh no matter how quiet. Jiraiya tucked his fingers under your chin and guided you to look up at him. His expression alone was telling. He liked that you asked that. He's got a certain smirk on when he's thinking something dirty. He's wearing it now. Along with his eyes no longer dull with exhaustion but bright with a tad too much mischief, it made for an interesting combo. The effect of that combo had you on high alert for his next move.
It happened fast. It lingered long enough to have a lasting impression. Jiraiya is a good kisser. It's wasn't wet like he was desperate. Nor was it too tight like he was afraid to open up. It conveys how he feels about you.
"So long as you keep on that outfit." He said.
"Really? Then what will you wear?"
"Oh ho ho!" He laughs loudly and places his hands on his hips. "If you're into that kind of thing, I can keep on the suit and hat."
You laugh before falling into another one of his kisses. He just seemed to know everything you liked. Holding you close and banishing the world world away for several seconds. You run your hands down his arms. You find his hands and take a step back whilst holding his hands.
"Come along. Santa has to have a good night's rest before Christmas, doesn't he?" You ask as you step closer to the door.
"Among other things he needs, I guess a good sleep beside a charming woman wouldn't do an old man any bad." He agrees. "Especially if that charming young woman does some very naughty things for him."
"To herself or the old man?"
"Depends on how badly she wants to be on the nice list."
A scoff comes from your throat. He's such a pervert. But he's at least a very charming pervert. The cold air of the winter night was chilly enough to wake up some of your half asleep senses. You cuddle up to Jiraiya as he locks the place up. He's still pretty warm while the cold cut through you. That must be why Santa wears the suit. It traps in all that toasty heat that would be nice to leech from.
Jiraiya pulled on the handle a couple of times to make sure he locked up correctly, he was satisfied that he done it right. He put his arm around you to share some of his warmth. It was a little cumbersome to lead him to your apartment, but it got done. The journey there was quite peaceful. The empty night streets have always felt safe in Konoha. While others may find it unnerving, it's not so bad with the snow and... well... the large handsome man holding you close.
Once inside the welcoming warmth of a home, Jiraiya was quick to make himself comfortable. He kicked off his shoes and found your bedroom. You roll your eyes and follow him. He's collapsed face up on your bed like he's lived here all his life. His eyes are shut and he's breathing deeply. Well if he's gonna make himself all comfortable in your house...
You crawl on overtop of him and lean down to give him a kiss. He responded as perfectly as he had kissed you back in the store. His hands travel around your body. They massage and explore. They squeeze and find the edges of your festive outfit to snake under to touch your bare skin. It's a slow process.
His grip tightens on you just enough for him to keep hold. Your lips part to ask him what he was going to do, but he moves before you can. He flipped positions so that you are underneath him and he's overtop. He flashes a smile at you before returning to kiss you breathless. From this position he had more room to
Much like his kisses, Jiraiya knew how to bed you like a pro. Gently but with passion. A surprising amount stayed on. The exhaustion that had hung over you and him began to fade the more exciting the sex got. He indulged a little in his role he held over the week, making a few dirty Santa themed requests of you whenever he wanted to amp up the game. As his little helper, you couldn't refuse him.
It was dawn by the time you and him were spent. All the work and tiredness that had disappeared while having sex came back with a vengeance. Once tucked under the covers, you had the heavy arm of your Santa slung over your middle. His soft snoring was rather telling of how tired he was. He was out like a light the moment he got aquatinted with the pillow.
It's not so bad. Sure it's not how every couple gets together but it's certainly one hell of a story to tell. You graze the back of your hand against Jiraiya's cheek. It was barely a touch. He still noticed. He grumbled something unintelligible. It sounded loving whatever he attempted to say in his state of barely awake.
A new relationship is always strange. It's exciting. Despite the things that are unsure about dating Jiraiya, there's one thing for certain. You won't be alone this year for the holidays.