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Aemon wakes at the sound of a loud crash. It takes him all of a second to realize what the sound means, eyes widening excitedly.
“Santa,” he whispers with a smile.
He sits up from his bed and slowly makes his way towards the door. He knows he’s not supposed to get out of bed, his parents said he was absolutely not allowed to wait up for Santa, because nice kids sleep early and Aemon had to stay on the nice list so that Santa would visit.
That’s why he set the cameras up. He borrowed two of Uncle Bran’s cameras that can stay on all night, then he and dad set it up earlier before bedtime.
Aemon bites his bottom lip, trying to decide what to do. He probably shouldn't try to snoop or Santa might run away before leaving his gift. He'll just watch the footage tomorrow morning with dad like they planned. But, oh, what’s that compared to seeing Santa with his own two eyes?
He hears another sound from downstairs, something soft like footsteps, and that decides it for him. He turns his doorknob open and tiptoes his way toward the stairs.
He’s just made it halfway down the stairs when he hears giggling. His mom, giggling.
Disappointment settles inside him because now he knows it’s just his parents down there. For a split second, he decides to go back up, but then realizes that mom and dad shouldn’t be awake either. What if Santa skips their house because he sees someone’s awake?
He needs to tell them to go to bed, he thinks.
He makes his way further down, only to stop with a soft gasp. His entire body freezes at the sight of his mom.
Kissing Santa Claus.
His face scrunches in disbelief. But there's no mistaking what's happening, their bodies are curved so close together they can't be doing anything else.
“Oh, wow,” Santa says in a strange, low voice, “That definitely brings you to the top of the nice list, sweetheart.”
“Shut up,” his mom laughs, and as upsetting as all of this is, he can’t believe his mom would say something mean to Santa. “This is the least seductive situation I’ve been in my life.”
“Oh ho ho ho,” Santa says, sounding incredulous, “I think you like it, actually,”
“Stop it,” his mom says with another giggle, slapping him on the chest.
Aemon thinks he’s going to be sick. He quietly retreats back to his room in cold sweat, feeling like the whole world just collapsed before his very eyes.
***
“Robbie, leave the presents alone for now,” his mom says as she makes her way back to the kitchen. She sees him eyeing the massive box from Aunt Arya. It’ll be the bike he asked for, he just knows it. It'll be the first thing he opens as soon as they’re allowed. “You know you have to wait until your brothers are down.”
He groans. “But they’re so slow.”
Dad already went and woke all of them up, but only Robbie came down immediately.
“Why don't you go check on them again,” her mom encourages.
He lets out a long sigh, then heads up to wake the twerps. First he goes to Jeon’s room, who predictably fell back asleep. He shakes the five-year-old awake and threatens that they’ll steal his present if he doesn’t get down. It does the trick.
Aemon is already awake, but he hasn’t made any attempts to get out of bed, which is strange since he was so excited about his presents just last night. Robbie’s pretty sure it took hours of mom singing to him before he calmed down enough to sleep.
“Hey, get up, we’re opening presents,” Robbie calls by the door.
“I don’t wanna,” Aemon mumbles quietly.
“What do you mean you don’t wanna? Did you forget it’s Christmas?”
“I just don’t wanna. You guys can go and open your presents. I'm just going to stay here.”
Robbie stares at him for a full second, then he takes a deep breath. Everyone in the family has always said that despite being named after his Uncle Robb, his personality is most like Aunt Arya’s - which is to say, he doesn’t have the patience for this.
He turns toward the stairs and shouts, “Moooom, Aemon’s being dramatic as usual and won't get up.”
At this, Aemon sits up in panic and says, “Don’t call for her. I don't want her up here.”
Too late. Mom was probably already on the way up with how quick she got there.
“Robbie, what did I say about calling your brother dramatic?” She chides as she enters the room. She walks straight towards Aemon, who lies back down and covers his face with this blanket.
“Hey, baby, what's wrong?” mom asks softly, sitting by the boy and trying to coax him out of this blanket. “Are you not feeling well?”
No answer.
“Don’t you want to go and see what Santa got you? you were so excited for it last night,”
“I don't like Santa. I hate him,” Aemon shouts, though it still comes out muffled from under the blanket.
Mom’s brows furrow in confusion. Then she turns her gaze to Robbie, wordlessly asking if he said anything to Aemon last night that got him like this. He just shrugs in reply.
“You don't like Santa?” Mom asks as if to clarify. “But he got you a really nice gift. It's waiting for you downstairs.”
“i don't want it. I want daddy.”
Robbie's eyebrows shoot up. That’s new, he thinks. Aemon never wants anyone but Mom when he's not feeling well.
“Okay,” she says softly, “I'll go call daddy.”
Mom gets up, tells Robbie to stay with him, then heads downstairs probably to call Dad. Only when she's gone does Aemon come back out of hiding, his face filled with tears.
“What are you even crying about?” Robbie asks in irritation. They could have been opening their presents now if the little squirt wasn't being annoying.
Quietly, with trembling lips, Aemon reveals, “Robbie, I saw something bad last night. I have to tell the truth but daddy’s going to be so sad.”
Curiosity piqued, he moves closer to Aemon. “What are you talking about?”
He rubs the tears from his eyes, then with a deep breath, says, “Last night I heard a noise so I went downstairs because I thought it was Santa. And he was here, except he was kissing mommy.”
It takes a bit for the words to register in Robbie’s brain. Then he's laughing, full on laughing even as Aemon insists that he really did see it happen, and that it isn't funny. He can't stop laughing, though. Not even when mom returns with dad.
“Robbie,” his mom sighs, giving him a warning look for laughing at his younger brother, even though she doesn't know why.
“What? This isn't my fault, it's yours,” he says even through his laughter. “He saw you making out with ‘Santa’ last night.”
Mom's draw drops, then she turns to share a look with dad, the kind where it feels like they're talking in their minds.
Robbie figured out this whole Santa thing was fake a few years ago, back when he was just eight and Aemon was five. He was sneaking around trying to get a peak at the present his parents got for him before they wrapped it, when he found a Santa Claus costume in his parents’ closet.
Honestly? it was probably the better way to find out the truth. At least compared to Aemon, who looks so miserable at the thought that he caught mom kissing some other guy.
When mom and dad are done with their telepathic conversation, dad looks at Robbie and tells him to watch Jeon for a bit and make sure he doesn't open the present by himself.
“But I want to hear how you spin this,” he whines, moving to sit on Aemon’s bed. Back when he found out the truth, dad tried to say that he had the costume because was actually Santa Claus. Robbie didn’t buy it, and his parents eventually had to concede the truth. Since they're already wasting precious time here when they can be opening Robbie’s new bike and taking it out for a spin, he decides to be a menace and asks, “Why was mom kissing Santa, dad?”