Santa's Deliveries (l.s)

v 1.1

"Thank you for attending tonight's dinner, especially after all the hard work you've done! This company, Christmas as a whole, would be impossible without you! Let's make next year an even better one!" The old man with a white beard raises his glass as the room erupts in applauds.

"Please," a man at table thirteen mumbles as he sips his champagne, "he's lucky I do this job for the kids. Lord knows it isn't the pay."

"I'm just glad the system worked this year. The Christmas Crisis of '05 still gives me nightmares every Christmas Eve." His partner whispers back before shivering, and Harry cuts his steak as he smiles.

"I enjoy seeing people's happiness. It really pays off!" Everyone at the table looks at the alpha, and they give him sympathetic looks. The team manager, Liam who was also the first to complain, shakes his head. Niall, the team's reporter with '05 PTSD, pouts.

"God, Harold, you have it the worst out of all of us." Liam tsks. "You're always out in the cold, and the last the sleep."

Niall hums in agreement. "You poor thing."

Unlike those dressed in tuxes, gift deliverers like Harry are wearing pajamas with bags under their eyes to match. "I'm alright! I'm just happy to help!"

"Yeah, well, it's Christmas night. You should go get some rest." Liam motions to the door near them. "You know all of our gifts were delivered so you can relax."

"Are you sure? Don't you think Boss will get offended?" Harry looks around.

"Harold," Niall raises an eyebrow, "go sleep. And don't come in tomorrow either."

"Yeah, buddy, see you in January." Liam waves as Harry stands to leave. He exits the dinner, stepping into the hotel's hall, and stretches before making his way to the room rented for him by the company. As he makes his way to the elevator, he sees a man leaning against the wall of the lobby with a button-up pulled out of his pants and his jacket hanging from one hand. He clearly is from another event in another room, has a drunk look in his eyes, and he's messing up his hair by constantly running his fingers through it.

He looks at Harry, and blinks a few times before cocking his head to the side and smirking. Always the awkward one, Harry diverts his eyes back to the elevator when it dings and rushes onto it before anything further can happen. When he reaches his room, his body instantly feels like a ton of bricks. He plops himself onto the bed, and snuggles the pillow as he groans. His head feels ten times lighter just with his eyes being shut. He gets underneath the covers, turns the lights off, and spreads himself across the bed as he starts to drift off into sleep.

That is, until the ipad on his night stand lights the room up and vibrates. The continuous sound of its vibration makes Harry roll over to grab it. He barely opens his eyes to look at the screen, and sees a picture along with a red warning fly across his screen.

"What!?" He shouts, and practically flies out of bed. The picture is a young boy, blue eyes and brown hair, and the device is telling Harry that his wish hasn't been fulfilled. After a few presses and scrolls, the gift giver practically falls to the floor when he sees the wish section empty. "How do I fill an empty wish? Come on!"

He rubs his forehead. "It's after Christmas, I have no wish to fill, and I'm sure Niall fixed the bugs in the system!"

He stares at the screen for another minute, and decides to call Liam. It's nearly midnight, almost two days after Christmas Eve, and Harry doesn't know how to explain this weird mishap. When Liam answers, the alpha starts whining to his manager.

"Liam, I swear I did every delivery," he starts, "but the damn machine is telling me I missed one!"

"Huh?" There's shuffling, some voice whispering, and Liam talks again. "Niall said it's a new update to the system."

"Update?" Harry scratches his head.

"Yeah," the manager confirms, "the old system never picked up wishes from nonbelievers or half-believers so a lot of kids went gift-less. I guess Boss realized that some kids have miserable parents, and decided to make the business all-inclusive. The machine must've picked up a nonbeliever's wish."

"It's past Christmas Eve, and I don't have a wish specifically listed." Harry explains. "What am I supposed to do?"

"Find the kid, have him write a wish, and fill it." Liam explains. "Sorry, bro, but your job isn't done until that wish is filled. You know payroll. Zayn doesn't give checks to unfinished jobs."

"For fuck's sake." The gift giver hangs up, and tugs on his curls as his migraine takes hold. He stares at the screen until he notices the green dot— meaning the child was close by, possibly in the same building. He grumbles before deciding to get up, and hunt the child down. "The sooner, the better."

He makes his way to the lobby, and rings the bell at the front desk. A lady greets him with a warm smile, and Harry smiles back before showing the picture. "Have you found this child? I have something... his parents want delivered."

She stares at the picture, and Harry awkwardly stands there for a minute before waving his hand in front of her face. "Hello?"

"Oh!" She blinks, and looks at him. "Sorry, Sir, I don't know who that is."

"Ah, right. It can't be helped then. Thank you." He turns to walk away before facing her again. "Can I leave you my number?"

The lady hands him a piece of paper, and a pen. When he leaves to go back to bed, the woman makes her way to the back office where the staff manager sat. On the desk, in a framed picture, sits a picture of Harry's mystery child smiling on Santa's lap. That same boy, now a man, is drunk and high in his leather seat behind the desk. The woman puts the paper down, and he looks at her.

"The man said he has a delivery for you," she says, "from your parents."