Disclaimer: I own very little.
A/N: The new information given in 40.5 was, at some parts, simply adorable. Like Atobe and Kabaji attending the same elementary school in England -- and Kabaji going to Hyoutei elementary for his last year as Atobe went to Japan for middle school. This simply begged for England!fic.
To Believe
The staff at King's Primary School in England were more than used to dealing with – to put it kindly – self-confident children. Nevertheless, they were entirely unprepared for the arrival of one Atobe Keigo.
Atobe walked into the school at the beginning of the term, shorter, richer, and endlessly more self-assured than any of his classmates. Already mostly fluent in three languages – though his French could still use some work – he still insisted on using his kuns and sans and senseis, so confident in his honorifics that the others almost felt guilty for not using them as well. He called the school Kingdom, leaving no one unsure as to who was the King there. By the time he finished his first year at the school, he had it in his palm of his hand.
As Atobe started his second year at King's, he brought along Kabaji.
Where Atobe was short, Kabaji was tall. Where Atobe never failed to make his opinion known, Kabaji always went along with whatever Atobe said. Where Atobe drove his teachers crazy despite his nigh perfect grades, Kabaji respected the authorities.
The two were the best of friends.
Each class had their own specific floor at the dorms. Nevertheless, Kabaji stayed with the second years, because there was no way Atobe would allow for anything else. During lessons they were separated, but other than that, Kabaji went wherever Atobe did. It soon became known all around the school that to mess with Kabaji was to mess with Atobe – and, like everyone already knew, to mess with Atobe was to doom oneself to social, financial, and/or academic failure.
The year before Atobe had gone home for the winter holidays. This year, however, the first day of December found the two Japanese students already walking around the school, planning Christmas decorations. Atobe would walk around, talking in rapid Japanese and making notes, while Kabaji followed him, muttering an, "Usu," whenever prompted with a, "Naa, Kabaji?" Neither of them seemed to doubt for a moment their right to do so, not hesitating for a moment before ordering Christmas trees, lights, whatever they wished.
They didn't stop before returning to the common room of there are of the dorms. In the luxuriously decorated room Atobe instantly headed for the most comfortable couch, which he considered his. No one had sat on it in his presence after the first fateful attempt.
"Ore-sama thinks this shall do, naa, Kabaji?" Not hearing the usual response, Atobe blinked. "Kabaji?" He turned to look at the younger boy, finding him watching the fireplace with a slightly forlorn expression.
Glancing around, Atobe saw no one else about. Carefully approaching his friend, Atobe set a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Munehiro? Is something the matter?"
"The fireplace," Kabaji said, drawing Atobe's eyes to the intricate fireplace. "It's too small for Santa to fit through."
Somewhat startled, Atobe took another glance at his friend to see if he was serious. Seeing that Kabaji was indeed not joking, he frowned "I see. Thank you for pointing this out to ore-sama. Ore-sama shall take appropriate action immediately."
Atobe, being Atobe, did so. Usually it might have been impossible to arrange at such a short warning, with just three weeks of time to work, but Atobe Keigo didn't take a no for an answer. Soon the school found itself invaded by an army of construction workers, taking apart the old fireplace and building a new one – chimney included, naturally.
"Be sure to modify the chimney all the way up to the roof," Atobe instructed. "It has to be big enough to fit a good-seized man. And be sure to install the ladder well enough! It wouldn't do for Santa to fall down the chimney, naa, Kabaji?"
"Usu," said Kabaji, eyes shining.
Though Kabaji's handwriting was perfect, be it hiragana, katakana, or romaji, actual writing was still somewhat taxing to the six-year-old. Therefore it was with Atobe's surprisingly patient help that he crafted a letter, thinking carefully on each point of his list.
"Keigo?" asked Kabaji, for no one else was present. "Do you think Santa speaks Japanese?"
"Naturally," replied Atobe smoothly. "How else could he have gotten a permanent working visa, even if it's only for one night a year?"
"That's good," said Kabaji, giving Atobe one of his rare smiles. "At home I never got to stay up and wait for Santa, but now I can do it at last!"
"Indeed," Atobe replied, mentally adding, "fluent in Japanese," to his mental checklist of the desired attributes of Santa Claus.
The somewhat different schedules of first and second grades allowed Atobe to arrange a meeting without Kabaji being present. The man sitting on the opposite side of the desk seemed somewhat nervous – understandable, given that he was currently being evaluated for an hour's job that would pay him more than his usual month's salary. That and he probably wasn't used to seven-year-old employers.
Thomson-san was the best applicant Atobe had managed to find. He had three children of his own – and was therefore presumably used to dealing with them –, had an appropriate body structure, and spoke passable Japanese thanks to his wife Takiko. The quick background check – there hadn't been time for a more thorough one – hadn't brought up anything suspicious. Indeed, it looked like Thomson would get the honour of delivering gifts to Atobe and Kabaji.
"Are there any details you would like to clear before we make a contract?" the boy asked.
"I don't think so," Thomson replied. "All I have to do is come down the chimney and play Santa for you and your friend, right?" As Atobe nodded, he continued, "do I have to come from the roof?"
"Heavens, no," Atobe said. "All the fireplaces above ours are connected to the same chimney. It will be quite enough for you to simply climb up the chimney at the floor above and then come down. The presents shall be guarded by a servant there; you'll have to show them appropriate ID, of course."
Thomson nodded. "Ah… if you don't mind me asking, though… why are you doing this?"
Atobe looked at him steadily. "There is a little boy waiting for Santa and I'm not about to let his belief shatter just yet."
Looking at Atobe, barely tall enough to look over the desk, his expression cool and businesslike, Thomson knew the boy was not, and likely had never been, Atobe Keigo.
While their British classmates prepared to go home for the holidays, Atobe and Kabaji enjoyed their now nigh complete run of the school. As Christmas night grew nearer, Kabaji grew more and more excited. Much to Atobe's amusement, he insisted on decorating the Christmas tree in the common room himself, with Atobe's help, of course. While it was nowhere as elegant as the ones done by professionals Atobe had got set all around the school, it certainly brought Kabaji more delight than any of the others. This, of course, was more than enough of a reason for Atobe to help with an ornament or two.
Once the tree was ready, Kabaji set some milk and cookies on a table – the best kind of milk and cookies available, naturally – and dragged Atobe into hiding behind his favourite couch. Atobe found this quite a useless pastime – after all, he knew precisely when Santa was going to arrive – but then, he could hardly reveal that to Kabaji. Therefore he let himself be seated on the floor while Kabaji kept sneaking glances at the fireplace over the couch's back.
After a while, though, the very bored Atobe felt a hand on his shoulder. "Just go to sleep, Keigo," Kabaji said quietly, smiling at him. "I appreciate your being here with me, but I know you aren't as excited as I am."
"No, that's quite okay," Atobe said. "Ore-sama wants to see Santa as well. Nevertheless… would you mind terribly much if ore-sama took a nap?"
"Please do," Kabaji said, smiling. Apparently he had no protest at Atobe sleeping on one of the couches, in sight of the fireplace – after all, sleeping children hardly could prevent Santa from arriving, right?
Atobe dozed off, only to soon find himself shaken awake by a very excited Kabaji. "Listen, Keigo! There's someone at the chimney!" the younger boy announced, his eyes full of excitement.
Indeed, there were sounds coming from the fireplace. Atobe glanced at his watch. Almost half an hour early; not like he could complain, really.
Atobe yawned – very elegantly, of course – as he watched a very convincing Santa coming down the fireplace. He even managed to look surprised as he saw the boys. Giving them the gifts in his bag, he let Kabaji sit on his knee, assuring him in very good Japanese that he had been a very good boy and Atobe had been one too and there was no question as to whether they had earned their presents. Then he ate the cookies with the milk, complimenting their taste, before biding them goodbye and telling them to be very good boys for yet another year.
Atobe smiled at Kabaji's delight, then let the younger boy carry their presents to their rooms. He managed to convince Kabaji to wait until morning to enjoy his presents; after all, he had stayed up half the night. While Kabaji thus went to sleep, Atobe stayed in the common room for another moment, feeling somewhat restless.
Thomson had left behind a cookie, he noted, nibbling lazily on it. He contemplated lighting the fire in the fireplace again, then decided it was servants' work (a fact that had nothing to do with the way Kabaji always worried whenever Atobe handled fire by himself). Looking at the thus empty fireplace, he sat in peace for another moment.
Until he heard sounds from the fireplace.
As soon as the Santa came out Atobe could tell it was Thomson. "Well, well," he said, unsure how to react. "Thomson-san, I presume." The odd thing was, this Santa looked different from the first one.
"Yes, Mr. Atobe." Thomson nodded. "Where is your friend?"
"That is… of no importance. Who was the other man?"
"What other man?" Thomson blinked. "I spoke with the servant upstairs and he told me he'd heard no one anywhere nearby, and as you noticed, it's impossible to climb through the chimney silently. No one could have got through to here without him hearing them."
"…I see." This time, it was Atobe who blinked. "Well, it seems your services are not needed. I will, of course, pay you in full nevertheless. Just leave the presents here, please."
Of course, Thomson could do little but agree. Atobe was left with a pile of gifts, thinking of how happy Kabaji would be when Atobe told him in the morning Santa had returned with some forgotten ones. Then, he shook his head and went to bed. It wasn't like half of the presents would be there in the morning, after all. One of the Santas had obviously been a dream.
The fact that they still were there as he woke up, sitting under the Christmas tree and waiting to be divided, was something he preferred not to think too closely about.