A/N: Allo, lovelies! So here we have a collection of Pleasantville Christmas stories! I asked for Christmas-themed prompts on tumblr and got a number of ideas, so I'm going to be writing at least some of them over the next few days in celebration of the Christmas season! Huzzah! As always, Pleasantville contains many OC's (and most of these are OC-centric because that's what was asked for), gen!flipping. I'd recommend only reading these if you've already read the rest of the series because otherwise you're not going to know who most of these people are. Also, these are gonna be on the shorter side because I'm gonna try to do one a day, so between 1000-2000 words.
Tidings of Comfort and Joy
Part 1: Christmas 2015
Arthur hated Christmas. The obnoxious commercialism, the way that stores were so gluttonous for holiday sales that they started advertising before Halloween, how people acted so fake. The type of person who was a penny-pinching miser the rest of the year would make a single donation around Christmas time, just to feel good about themselves. It was disgusting.
"You know, if we painted Arthur green right now, we could totally pass him off as the Grinch!"
"That would be a lot of paint, though, Gilly. I don't think I have enough money for that much paint when I still need to buy Lovi's abuelo's present."
"True, I still gotta get something for Mattie. And Ludwig. And Mutti. And Vati. And you. And Franny. And Feli-kins. And Leon. And Big Mike. And…"
"You haven't started shopping at all yet, Gilly?"
"Nope! It's more fun to wait!"
Arthur's feelings of antipathy toward Christmas were only increasing as he listened to the conversation bouncing between the two idiots walking in front of him.
And his irritation only increased when an arm slid around his shoulder and an obnoxiously French-accented voice exclaimed, "Don't look so glum, cher! Don't worry. We'll help you find the perfect present for your amour!"
Arthur shrugged off the arm with a possibly overly-violent motion. "Why the fuck am I here with you?"
That was the question of the hour right now.
Although it was a question with an easily-ascertained answer. Arthur Kirkland was currently walking through the mall with Francis Bonnefoy, Gillian Beilschmidt, and Antonio Carriedo—the obnoxious git trio, as he liked to call them—because he still needed to buy a present for Allison and today's date was December 23rd.
He hated Christmas.
There were so many other people here today too, all rushing around, doing their last minute shopping. Gits who were probably only buying presents for friends and family because they were required to by societal pressure. It was pathetic and stupid and he hated that he was here for practically the same reason.
…He also hated the fact that he knew he was lying to himself right now. He didn't hate Christmas. He just hated how uncomfortable the holiday was making him feel right now, because he still hadn't found that perfect gift for Allison. And how pathetic was that?
They'd been dating for almost two years now. This shouldn't be an issue for him. He'd already bought her a few things—mostly things her sister suggested—but they were items like a new baseball mitt, a novelty T-shirt, a teddy bear wearing an ugly Christmas sweater… Nothing felt good enough to be his gift to her.
Ugh, he felt like a git even thinking about it.
The traditional items wouldn't work. Flowers or jewelry or perfume. Ally wasn't the type of girl who was particularly interested in those sorts of things and he wouldn't want to give her anything along those lines anyway. There wasn't anything real behind those sorts of gifts. They didn't express actual emotions, just trumped up Hollywood, mass-produced 'romance'.
Francis giggled from beside him. "Cher, you're so cute. Working yourself into a state like this."
And it didn't help that Arthur had felt so desperate that he'd turned to Francis for help.
Why? Why had he gone to the frog? He must have suffered an aneurysm or something. The stress made him slip into a temporary state of insanity. That was the only logical explanation.
He refused to look at him. Just responded with a, "Shut up, frog."
While Arthur may not hate Christmas, he did hate Francis. That at least was true. The git was currently ambling beside him and obnoxiously humming along with the Christmas carols that had been endlessly repeating through this mall for months. It was like he actually enjoyed this bullshit. He was dressed in an obnoxiously-festive red sweater, which he was somehow managing to pull off despite it being the stupidest-looking thing that Arthur had ever laid eyes on.
And now Francis glanced toward him and sent him an amused smirk. "So, what sort of gift are you thinking of buying for Allison?"
"I don't fucking know. You think that I'd be here with you if I knew what I wanted to buy her?"
Francis ignored the implied insult and returned his attention to the two gits who had darted away into a clothing store. He made a thoughtful humming sound and then said, "She's interested in a lot of sports…"
"I know. I already bought her a mitt and some other stuff. It's not like I'm a total idiot." Arthur scowled and thrust his hands deeply into his pockets, sending an irritated glare toward the Salvation Army guy ringing his bell in the middle of their walkway.
The guy at least knew enough to move slightly closer to his bucket. Unfortunate that he wasn't smart enough to avoid supporting a homophobic douchebag organization like that.
Francis apparently hadn't been paying attention, as he just continued. "So it isn't that you need my help finding a gift. It's that you need my help finding the gift. The pièce de résistance, oui?"
"Shut the fuck up." Ignore the fact that he was correct. "So, what should I get her?"
Francis giggled again. Arthur hated that sound; it generally meant that Francis was laughing at him. "Ah, cher, sometimes I forget that you actually can be romantic sometimes."
And what made the situation worse was that Arthur could feel a flush creeping over his cheeks at that comment. He had to distract himself from his embarrassment; he did so by glaring at an older woman who dared to brush him with her bag when she passed by. She sent him an equally furious look in response, though.
Not the type of overly-stressed shopper that he wanted to pick a fight with right now.
"Well, what about you?" He'd rather change the subject. "Those two obviously haven't found all of their gifts yet." He motioned toward Antonio and Gill, who were digging through a stack of T-shirts and talking much much too loudly. "What about you?"
Francis shrugged. "I'm finished. Unless I see something else that I'd like to buy for someone, but I'm not actively searching for anything." He sent Arthur another smirk. "Did you want to ask about my pièce de résistance for Leon?"
No, of course not. Like Arthur cared at all about what Francis had bought his boyfriend.
"I bought us tickets to go see a show on Broadway together. If I were you, I'd do something similar for Allison."
"Al isn't interested in theater." Not that he knew of, at least. She didn't like Shakespeare. She said it was too hard to understand.
"I find that hard to believe. She likes movies and video games, so I'm sure that she'd enjoy a play with an interesting story, action, music…" He shrugged. "Or you could take her to a baseball game. Allison likes spending time with you. As much as I question her taste, I think she'd appreciate it if you planned a special evening for her."
Then he suddenly sped up, moving more quickly toward the store that Gill and Antonio were invading. Arthur could see that Gill's arms were filled with clothing. Francis turned his head and sent Arthur the grin that made Arthur immediately want to punch him. "Of course, then you'll have to plan a special night for her, but I think my Christmas gift for you should assist in that area at least! So no worries there, mon ami!"
He practically sprinted away after that, entering the store and immediately attaching himself to Gill's side like a coward.
Although honestly, Arthur was pretty sure that getting kicked out of the mall would be worth punching the bastard right in his stupid face.
A/N: Ahh, Arthur. Such a worried little nerd. xD
The prompt for this one was "It can be their first Christmas or they're fiftieth Christmas together, Arthur will still work himself into a frenzy trying to find a gift for Ally." It's definitely true. Arthur is the type of person to mega-overthink presents and drive himself crazy trying to find that 'perfect' gift. Which considering the fact that Ally's the type of person who really is going to be happy with pretty much anything… You're a silly nerd, Arthur~ Cute, silly nerd.
Please review! Reviews make the Authoress happy and make her feel like her work's appreciated! Also helps distract from the fact that she's very worried about a fellowship that she applied for and still hasn't heard about. :( Sad mew.
Also, a happy Authoress might be willing to post the next chapter up early! Since it's actually already written out. I just decided not to have it be the first chapter because it's a Fran and Leon focused one and I figured starting with canon characters might be better. xD