It's always been you

Santa used to think love was something distant-something other people had, something soft and safe that never quite reached him. Not until Perth.

Perth, who had always been there. Perth, his older brother Pond's best friend. The boy who grew into a man right before Santa's eyes. The one who ruffled his hair, called him Santy, treated him like something fragile, something to protect. His nong. His baby brother.

And Santa... he let him.

For years, he stayed in that place-small, quiet, tucked safely in Perth's shadow. Loving him silently. Hopelessly.

But time doesn't keep people the same.

Because one day, Santa stops being "Santy."

He walks into college taller, sharper, his softness turned into something dangerously beautiful. Eyes follow him now-hungry, curious, wanting. Hands linger too long. Voices whisper. Everyone suddenly sees him.

Everyone except Perth.

And that-that is what makes something ugly start to grow inside Santa's chest.

Because how dare the world look at him like he's something to be taken...
while the only person he has ever wanted still looks at him like he's just a child?

Santa doesn't want to be protected anymore.

He wants to be seen.
He wants to be wanted.
And maybe-just maybe-he wants to burn everything down until Perth has no choice but to finally look at him... the way Santa has always looked at him.