A/N: This idea was taking up real estate in my brain ever since Christmas Leon was leaked for Pokémas, and I finally decided to put it to paper just before the winter event officially kicked off. If Pokémas won't give me the Postwick bros content I crave, I'll just do it myself 😤
"Thanks for helping me out with this, Sonia," Leon says, pushing open the door to the boutique. "I owe you one."
"Send me something nice for Christmas and we'll call it even," Sonia says, breezing past him.
Leon snorts. "Deal!"
Sonia walks purposefully towards the back of the store, and Leon follows closely behind her. With all the mazelike rows of merchandise scattered about, he'll get lost in an instant if he loses sight of her. She finally stops in the far back corner, where the walls are lined with suit jackets and the tables are covered in collared shirts.
"First off," she says, clapping her hands together, "do you have any idea what you're looking for?"
"Yeah," Leon says, eyeing the racks warily, "and it's not anything like this."
"I thought you said you wanted to buy a nice outfit to wear for Christmas!"
"I did, but I didn't mean a suit!" he says, wrinkling his nose. He's managed to go four years as Champion without having to wear anything on special occasions as stifling and formal as a suit, and he's not going to break that streak now. "I need something more…Santa-like."
Sonia huffs out a sigh. "You couldn't have mentioned that when we were going through the seasonal section?"
"We went through the seasonal section?"
"You didn't notice?" She shakes her head, grabs Leon's hand, and starts dragging him back towards the front of the store. "What am I saying? Of course you didn't. If it doesn't involve Pokémon or battling, you don't pay any attention to it."
"That's not true," Leon argues. "I pay attention if it involves Hop or my mum."
"Okay, Pokémon, battling, or your family," Sonia says.
She lets go of Leon's hand once they arrive at the seasonal section. This area has a much greater variety of clothing options, all with a festive flair. As he starts looking through a rack of Christmassy shirts, she asks, "So, what is this outfit for, anyways? The League Christmas party?"
"Nope! That's an official League event, so I'm wearing my uniform to it," Leon says. "This is for a special surprise on Christmas."
"As in, a PR stunt?"
"Good guess, but no," he says, grinning. "It took a while, but I managed to convince Oleana to cancel the PR stunt we had scheduled for Christmas morning so I could do this instead!"
"What is it, then?"
"It's a secret!" Leon says, turning away from the rack to fold his arms and smirk at Sonia. "All I can tell you is that I gotta look like Santa, so help me find something good to wear."
Sonia rolls her eyes. "Well, if you want to look like Santa, I think the coat is the best place to start," she says, pointing to a display of warm winter coats a few rows away.
The pair head to the display. Leon starts looking through the coats on one of the racks there, only for Sonia to inform him that these are women's coats and the men's coats are on the other half of the display. He doesn't know how she could tell that at a glance, but he trusts her to know what she's talking about, so he moves to browse the rack on the other side of the display instead.
After pushing aside a couple of duds, Leon pulls a long coat off the rack to take a better look at. "What do you think about this?" he asks, showing it to Sonia. It's green with red and gold trim along the inside edges, and white fluff trimming the bottom, sleeves, and collar. The top of the coat is closed by a pair of black clasps with gold fasteners and a matching belt, and the bottom is lined with a mesmerizing pattern of blue triangles with smaller triangles inscribed inside.
Sonia taps her chin thoughtfully. "It looks nice, but Santa wears red, not green," she says. "Do they have it in red?"
"Maybe," Leon says, looking back at the rack. "But…in the dark, there's not that much of a difference between red and green…and Hop likes green better than red, anyways."
"What does Hop have to do with this?" Sonia asks, brow furrowing.
"Everything," Leon replies earnestly.
Sonia looks at him expectantly for a moment. "Explain," she says.
Leon rubs the back of his neck, trying to figure out how he can explain himself without spoiling the surprise. Maybe he should just let her in on it; she's sharp enough that she can probably figure it out just from what she already knows, and then she could ruin the surprise for everyone.
"I really want to make this Christmas special for Hop," he finally admits. "More than just sending him a bunch of presents. I've barely gotten to spend time with him this year, and I've gotta make up for that."
He can see the gears turning in Sonia's head as she puts all the puzzle pieces together. "So, you're going to dress up as Santa and…personally deliver his presents to him on Christmas?" she guesses. Then her eyes widen. "Hold on a tick! You're gonna be home for Christmas this year!?"
Leon nods, giving her a sheepish smile.
She smacks him on the shoulder. "You should have lead with that, dummy! That's ace!" she says, grinning from ear to ear. "I'm gonna tell Gran so we can make those gingerbread cupcakes again. They're the best – you've gotta try 'em!"
"No! You can't tell anyone, Sonia," Leon says, fixing her with a determined glare. "There's a reason Oleana and my mum are the only other people that know about it. I can't have anyone spoiling this surprise for Hop. Don't even hint at it. Please."
"I – I understand. I'm sorry," Sonia says, holding her hands up placatingly.
"S'okay."
"For what it's worth, I think it's really sweet of you to do this for him," she adds with a smile.
Leon mirrors her smile. "Thank you." He holds up the coat again. "So…do you think this coat is good?"
"Definitely!" Sonia says, clapping her hands together. "But we can't stop at just the coat! We'll need to get a shirt and pants to wear underneath… Gloves and boots would be good, too… And of course, we can't forget, you can't be Santa without a hat…"
Charizard lands gently on the roof, snow crunching quietly underneath its paws.
Leon frowns. "No, that's too quiet," he says, patting Charizard's neck. "Let's try that again."
Charizard lets out a huff, spreads its wings, and flaps them a couple of times. It gains a bit of height before falling back onto the roof with a loud thump.
"Much better!" Leon beams. He slides off Charizard's back and lands with a satisfying crunch. "Thanks, buddy."
He walks across the roof, taking slow, careful steps with as much force behind them as possible. His boots make perfectly oblong tracks in the freshly fallen snow, immediately covered up by Charizard stomping along behind him.
When he reaches the chimney, he tugs out the rope tucked inside his belt and lets one end fall down the chimney shaft. He hands the other end of the rope to Charizard. "Hold this, please."
Charizard takes the rope, but it gives him a skeptical look.
"I did something like this for a commercial once! I'll be fine," he says, leaning his present bag against the side of the chimney – well, it's mostly bubble wrap, so the presents inside don't get damaged – and takes a seat on the edge.
The chimney is a bit narrower than he expected; he might not have enough room to turn around once he's inside. He scoots along the edge of the chimney until he's sitting on the opposite side, where he'll land facing the living room.
"Drop that down on my signal," he tells Charizard, pointing to the present bag. Then he reaches across the chimney to pull the rope towards him. He wraps both his hands around the rope, takes a deep breath, and jumps.
The flaw in his plan immediately becomes apparent as the rope slides right through his gloved hands. He lets out a yelp and scrambles for the Poké Ball on his belt, releasing Dragapult into the chimney shaft. He jolts to a halt. Momentum carries him forward so he bonks his head on the wall in front of him, but it's still a softer landing than the fireplace fifteen feet down.
Then, something large and cushiony lands on his head, and Leon yelps again.
"Charizard! That wasn't the signal!" he hisses, pulling the present bag off his head.
He glances down at his feet and sees Dragapult glaring up at him. Its head barely fits inside the chimney, and he imagines it's a tight squeeze for the rest of its body, too. "Sorry, Dragapult," he says, wincing. "Think you can back out of here?"
Dragapult makes a noise of affirmation and begins slowly lowering itself – and Leon – out of the chimney. However, after a while, Dragapult suddenly turns intangible. Leon falls another few feet until he lands on the floor of the fireplace, bonking his head on the wall again.
(Thank goodness Mum remembered to take the firewood holder out.)
"What was that for?" he muttered, crouching down so he can peer into the living room. Dragapult is hovering next to the coffee table, and Leon guesses that it ran out of room to back up because of it.
He returns Dragapult and starts to crawl out of the fireplace, only to freeze when he sees a shadow moving at the end of the couch on his right. It steps into the beam of moonlight filtering in through one of the windows, revealing that it's just Purrloin. Leon breathes a sigh of relief, waves to Purrloin, and crawls the rest of the way out of the fireplace.
He gets to his feet, dusts the soot and snowflakes off of his clothes, and peeks inside the present bag to check that the presents inside look and sound undamaged. He takes the two smallest presents out and turns around to face the hearth. Three stockings hang from the mantel, stuffed with goodies; Leon slips his gifts into Mum's and Hop's stockings. Then, he picks up the present bag and heads to the rug on the other side of the room, upon which Mum and Hop have put the Christmas tree.
He fumbles around in the dark for a moment so he can flick on the multicolored string lights and admire the decorations on the tree. Garland is carefully draped at even intervals all around the tree. Meanwhile, the ornaments are hung in his little brother's signature style – that is, tons of ornaments adorning the lower four feet of the tree, and almost nothing on the upper branches that are beyond his reach. Leon reaches into the pocket of his pants, pulls out a little wooden ornament shaped like a Charizard's head, which he bought on a trip to Kanto earlier this year, and adds it to the barren upper branches.
He turns the lights back off and begins adding his gifts to the modest pile under the tree. When he's about halfway done, he finally hears the creak of the stairs that he had been expecting all night. He quickly takes stock of his position; he's currently illuminated by the moonlight coming in through the front window. He would be instantly recognized if he was seen now. So, he shuffles sideways, out of the moonlight and into the shadow of the tree. He finishes putting his gifts under the tree and stands up, facing away from the entrance to the living room.
"…Santa?" Hop's voice breaks into the silence, and Leon can't help but smile.
"Not quite," he says, turning around and stepping into the light.
Hop lets out a squeal loud enough to wake half of Postwick. "LEE!"
He sprints the short distance into Leon's arms, barreling into him with enough force to knock him over. But Leon's ready for it, so he only staggers back a couple of steps. He wraps his arms around Hop, holding him tight and twirling him around, making Hop giggle.
"It's so good to see you!" Leon says. "I missed you."
"I missed you more!" Hop declares, squeezing Leon tighter. "Why didn't you tell me you were coming home?"
"Well, that'd ruin the surprise, wouldn't it?" Leon laughs, squeezing Hop even tighter. Hop starts squeezing him as tightly as he can, so Leon responds in kind, squeezing him tighter and tighter until Hop starts to squirm. He should know by now that he can't out-squeeze Leon.
The living room light suddenly turns on, startling both Leon and Hop. "I thought I heard a commotion out here," Mum says, smiling fondly. She walks over to them and pulls Leon into a hug, giving him a kiss on the forehead. "Welcome home, dear. Merry Christmas."
"Merry Christmas, Mum," Leon says, smile growing even wider.
"You're not surprised," Hop says. He looks to Leon, blinking. "She's not surprised. Why isn't she surprised?"
Leon grins, ruffling Hop's hair. "Very observant, Hopscotch. That's because I already told her I was coming!"
"So I was the only one who didn't know?" Hop pouts.
"Your brother wanted to make it a very special surprise. Just for you," Mum says, kissing the crown of Hop's head.
"Right! Did you – didn't you like it?" Leon asks, struck with the sudden fear that he'd royally screwed up by trying to make this a surprise for his little brother.
"Course I did!" Hop says, bouncing on the balls of his feet. "You're dressed up like Santa! Did you come down the chimney like him, too?"
"Yep! Charizard landed me on the roof."
"Really? So that's what woke me up!"
Hop bursts into a fit of giggles, making Leon's heart feel warm. He pulls his brother into another hug, smiling as Hop's head nestles into its rightful place underneath his chin. Hop's giggling fit begins to subside, finally ending with a loud yawn.
"Alright, boys, I think it's time for all of us to go back to bed," Mum says.
"But Lee only just got here!" Hop protests, clinging to Leon tighter.
"You'll get plenty of time with Leon in the morning," she says, gently pushing them both away from the tree. "But only good boys who go to sleep when Mummy says so get to open presents from Santa."
Hop's brow furrows, and he looks up at Leon. "Not listening to Mum is a very serious offense," Leon says, nodding sagely. "Santa told me so himself."
"But…" Hop shuffles his feet. "Are you gonna be here in the morning?"
Leon's heart clenches. "Course I will," he says, hugging Hop fiercely. "It's Christmas! I've got the whole day off. You're gonna see so much of me, you're gonna wish I'd go back to Wyndon."
"Never," Hop says emphatically, already looking a lot more chipper than he did a few moments ago.
Leon grins. "If you're so sure about that," he says, "then you won't mind if I do this!"
He scoops up Hop and slings him over his shoulder like a sack of presents, then lumbers over to the stairs. All the while, Hop is whining to be put down, but the giggles punctuating his words undermine their effect.
"Goodnight, Hop. Goodnight, Leon," Mum says. "Merry Christmas."
"Night, Mum!" Leon calls.
"Merry Christmas!" Hop giggles.
Leon carries his little brother upstairs and into Hop's bedroom, where he tosses him down on the bed. His giggles have subsided, and he looks about ready to pass out, but he still finds the energy to sit up and give Leon one more hug.
"Merry Christmas, Lee."
"Merry Christmas, Hopscotch."