It was the week before Christmas and Seth Rollins was starting his new job. Well it wasn't really a job but more of a favor. His friend Sami had gotten sick and begged him to take over for him at his job at the local mall as an Elf. Sami said that it would be an easy job. Be nice to the kids help them sit on Santa's lap, let the parents take pictures and repeat, repeat, repeat all day long. It would be easy but stressful considering how close to Christmas it was. At least Seth's regular job was flexible so he could handle taking over for Sami, he was a writer and he worked at home so he could better take care of his 5 year old daughter.

Seth was a single father to a precocious little girl that was the spitting image of himself. Long dark brown hair, large chocolatey eyes and a killer pout were all him, he couldn't see anything of her mother Carmella in her and for that he was grateful. They had dated for less than a month before Carmella had upped and ran away back to Staten Island without even a word only to come back months later with a one month old baby in her arms. She had just shoved little Chelsea into his arms and said that she was his problem now. He had insisted on a DNA test but he didn't really think that it was necessary, one look at Chelsea and he had known that she was his. Everything was done legally and Carmella had relinquished her rights to the baby and before he knew it he was a single father. It hadn't always been easy raising a child on his own, but he loved her more than anything and dedicated himself to building a great future for the both of them.

His parents were visiting for the holidays and would take care of Chelsea while he went and took over for Sami, so he got into his black SUV and drove to the mall so early that the sun wasn't even out yet. He stood out in front of the entrance Sami told him to use and shivered in the cold morning air as he knocked and waited for someone to let him in. He was finally let in by a tired looking woman who introduced herself as both Natalya and Mrs. Claus and she led him to a dressing room that had a few other people dressing as elves. Natalya passed him a bright green costume with a hat and curved shoes with bells on them and he thought of how Chelsea would laugh if she saw him dressed that way. He hoped he remembered to take a picture for her.

He and the rest of the elves and Mrs. Claus all trooped out into a cartoonish representation of the North Pole and he grinned at how adorable everything looked and how Chelsea would love it but he didn't want to drag her out to stand in line for hours. He would have to bring her next year when it wasn't so busy.

They walked up to what looked like a golden throne where he assumed Santa would sit and someone gave a quick run down about what was going to happen today and Seth listened carefully not wanting to screw up on his first day. Suddenly a curtain was thrown open and Santa walked over to them quickly. He didn't really look like Santa though because he was dragging a padded belly beside him, plus he was gorgeous. He was the epitome of tall, dark and handsome.

"Sorry I'm late." Santa said with a deep voice. "I need some help with my costume."

The manager gave a long suffering sigh. "New guy," he said looking straight at Seth. "Go help him out, will ya."

Seth nodded and followed Santa back behind the curtain and as soon as they were away from prying eyes, Santa ripped his coat open revealing a bare muscular chest that Seth wanted to run his hands all over, and maybe his tongue too.

"I can't believe Sami did this." Seth shook his head in amusement. "I know I'm in a bit of a dry spell, but to hire a stripper in a Santa suit is going a little too far."

Santa looked at him in complete confusion and Seth started to doubt his earlier conclusion.

"You think I'm a stripper?" Santa asked sounding outraged as he pulled his coat closed over his bare chest. "What the hell's wrong with you?"

"Hey!" Seth said defensively. "I'm not the one who pulled a strange guy into a room and just ripped his coat open like he was Magic Mike. What was I supposed to think?"

"Hey Roman." Natalya called as she walked into the room. "Do you need help with your costume again, it's starting to get late."

Santa smiled gratefully. "Yeah Nattie, thank god you're here."

Seth watched as she helped buckle the large fake belly over Santa or Roman as Natalya had called him's bare torso and Roman started to do up his coat.

"Do the clasps still stick?" Natalya asked as she fluffed Roman's big fake white beard up.

"Yeah." Roman answered as he grabbed his Santa hat. "I pretty much have to rip the coat open if I want to take it off."

Seth closed his eyes in total embarrassment as he realized just how badly he had judged the situation. Not only that but he had insulted a co-worker, Sami's co-worker. He was such an idiot. He would have to apologize to Roman.

The apology had to wait. The whole day was utter chaos. There were children as far as the eye could see, happy, crying, tired, loud and even louder, children. The parents were just as bad, complaining or talking on their cell phones and completely ignoring their wild kids, but as soon as the kids got to sit on Santa's lap they all turned into little angels and their happiness charmed Seth. And Roman was wonderful with the children, he would talk with them, listen to their toy lists and tell them jokes about Reindeer. By the time they had their pictures taken with Mr. and Mrs. Claus, Seth was sure that that was the happiest moment in their young lives.

By the time the day was over, Seth was exhausted. He could barely remember if he had eaten lunch. He had only enough time to go to the bathroom and eat a quick sandwich before he had to get back to work. He was in great physical condition now that Chelsea was in school and he could go to the gym everyday like he used to before she was born, but every muscle in his body hurt and he forgot all about apologies until he ran into Roman as he was changing back into his street clothes.

"Ah, Roman is it?" Seth began nervously. "I would like to apologize for what I said earlier. I'm so sorry, I feel like a complete jack-ass."

Roman smiled slightly. "Apology accepted. I've been thinking about it and I guess I can see how it would look like that to a newcomer. It just gets so hot under the suit that I don't wear a shirt and the coat doesn't open properly, but still I don't really have a stripper body."

Seth scoffed. "Are you kidding me? You could make tons of money stripping, you're hot!" Seth closed his eyes in embarrassment. Why couldn't he ever think before he spoke?

Roman chuckled.

"Sorry again." Seth said, blushing. "My mouth has no filter."

"It's kind of refreshing." Roman said thoughtfully. "It keeps you on your toes."

"Let's start over." Seth said hoping to be friends. "My name is Seth Rollins, I have a 5 year old daughter and I'm a writer."

Roman looked at his out-stretched hand and shook it. "I'm Roman Reigns and I illustrate graphic novels."

"Really!" Seth said excitedly. "Anything I might know?"

Roman smiled. "Death Prince is the most popular."

Seth's mouth fell open in surprise. "Oh my god! I love Death Prince! You actually drew that? You're amazing."

"Thanks, I enjoy drawing but I do this every year to make the kids happy. Their little smiles make me so happy." Roman said, pulling his jacket on.

"After today, I really understand that." Seth said putting his own jacket on. "My daughter would love this."

"Maybe I'll get to meet her someday." Roman said leading the way to the door.

"Probably next year." Seth said, walking beside Roman. "It's too late in the year and I don't want to drag her through the crowds."

"I understand." Roman said opening the door to the chill winter air. "Well, see you tomorrow."

"Yeah, see you." Seth smiled and waved as he walked to his car. All of his tiredness was gone after talking to Roman. He really liked him.

The next morning Seth went to work early with a smile on his face. He had a little surprise for Roman and couldn't wait to see him. He walked in and changed into his elf costume and Roman arrived just as he was finished.

He ran up to Roman with his surprise behind his back. "Good morning Roman."

Roman turned around with a smile on his face. ""Morning. You look excited."

Seth grinned and brought his surprise out from behind his back. "Can I have your autograph?"

Roman looked shocked as he took Death Prince #1 from Seth's hands and just looked at it.

Seth started to get nervous. Had he done the wrong thing. "It's my favorite, I have 2 copies."

Roman finally smiled and grabbed the pen from Seth's fingers and wrote on the inside cover before handing it back with a smile.

Seth's heart fluttered and he felt warm all over when Roman smiled at him. He had definitely done the right thing.

Roman waved and went to change and Seth opened the book and read the inscription: To Santa's cutest elf Seth, with my thanks, Roman Reigns. Seth's heart fluttered again. Did Roman really think he was cute?

The next few days passed in a flurry of activity but Seth and Roman managed to spend lots of time together, before, during and after work and eventually it was Christmas Eve, their busiest time. Seth was tired, doing this job all day and still finding time to spend with his daughter and his parents was hard, but he still got excited every morning to go to work. His crush on Roman grew stronger everyday but this was the last day of work, the last day that he would get to see Roman. He planned on asking Roman for his phone number at lunch today.

They were busier at lunch than they had thought and only had a five minute break so Seth had decided to spend it eating a power bar and making a trip to the bathroom. He washed his hands and opened the door and he was roughly pushed back and he heard the door close and lock. He looked up and saw Roman standing against the door.

"Hey..." Was all Seth managed to get out before Roman's arms were around him and his lips crashed down on Seths.

Seth melted into the kiss, clutching desperately onto Roman's coat and trying to pull himself closer to the crush that made him feel like a teenager again. Roman's arms tightened around him and pulled him closer but they couldn't get closer together, his fake Santa belly was in the way.

Roman broke the kiss. "Damn this costume is in the way."

Seth laughed breathlessly. "Yeah, you should have waited until the end of the shift before trying to ravage me."

Roman grinned. "Nope, couldn't wait any longer, not with you sashaying that cute little elf ass around me all day."

Seth gasped in fake outrage. "I was not!"

Roman pulled him into his arms again. "Yeah, you were."

Seth chuckled. "Maybe just a little, but how else was I supposed to get your attention. Today is our last day together."

"Only as co-workers." Roman said, kissing his way down Seth's neck. "Tomorrow we can be anything we want to be."

"I guess that's true but we'll have to talk later because our 5 minutes is almost up." Seth said with a sigh. Roman's lips on his skin felt like magic and the last thing he wanted was to go back to work.

Roman sighed dramatically. "Santa is needed out there."

Seth smiled and pulled Roman's fake beard up over his face and fluffed it. He grabbed Roman's hand and brought it up to his mouth and kissed the tan knuckles. "It's time to go."

Roman smiled and pulled him close for another soft kiss before unlocking the door and walking out. Roman turned around and smiled so sweetly that Seth couldn't handle it anymore and he reached up and kissed Roman again. The fact that they were in a public hallway meant nothing in that moment as he got lost in the kiss until he heard a familiar voice.

"Daddy, why are you kissing Santa?" he heard Chelsea say and he jumped away from Roman as fast as he could but he couldn't say anything. His mind went completely blank.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Roman crouch down in front of Chelsea.

"Hi, my name is Roman and I'm not really Santa Claus, I'm just dressed like him." Roman said softly.

Chelsea cocked her head to the side and clutched her teddy bear to her chest. "Why?"

"You see sweetie, it's Christmas Eve and Santa has to spend the day getting ready to make his long trip tonight so he asked me to take over so all the kids wouldn't be disappointed." Roman explained and Seth was thankful that Roman had such a way with kids.

Chelsea smiled and pulled Roman's beard down so she could see his face. "Are you my Daddy's boyfriend?" she asked shyly.

Roman glanced over at Seth and turned back to Chelsea. "No but I hope to be someday."

Seth's heart warmed and he walked over and held Roman's hand in one hand and Chelsea's in the other. "Maybe the real Santa will make that wish come true."