Hey! So I'm aware that there are all these stories I still have yet to update and finish and that it's been forever since I last updated. Unfortunately, I haven't had the time to so much as breathe thanks to school and finals. I'm free for the holidays though, so hopefully I'll be able to update to my other stories (so be on the look out for that).

I really wanted to post this, but I wasn't really able to have the time for this until now (literally started writing this morning). There'll probably be some bad grammar/writing in here somewhere, but please don't flame too much (it's Christmas).

ANYWAY, Merry Christmas to you all on Fanfiction, and hopefully you guys enjoy this short little Christmas two-shot. I'll be posting the final chapter of this hopefully some time between now and New Year's Eve. Enjoy!

Warning: Major OOCness and uneven interactions amongst the characters (aka, there'll be characters just awkwardly standing there); also very bad attempt on the author's part in trying to create funny imagery (...you'll see)

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. If you think I do, you're sadly mistaken.

One of the best things about Christmas is the presents. Now it's debatable about whether giving or receiving is better (Okay, not really. Opening presents is the best by a little). Leaf's favorite aspect of trading gifts is the thought that goes into it. The better the gift- bought or hand-made - the more the giver thought about the receiver.

Which is why Leaf is kinda hurt by the fact that none of her girlfriends have a gift for her when they gather for Christmas Eve at the Oak's residence.

"I'm sorry," Misty apologizes, a guilty expression on her face. "I don't have your gift yet."

The others- Marina, Dawn, May, Daisy- all echo sentiments similar to Misty but promise to get her gift to her soon.

"That's okay," Leaf assures them, trying her best to not seem slightly bothered by it. "Really."

Things are slightly awkward for a few moments, but it dissipates into the cheery Christmas atmosphere after a couple of jokes. The girls begin swapping stories about their significant others (Daisy, Marina, Misty) or hilarious experiences in retrospect.

"Hang on a sec," Daisy says quickly in the small interlude of Marina's turn. The light bluenette pauses reluctantly. "I gotta go get something from the kitchen."

"Actually..." she adds thoughtfully after a brief pause. "Misty, can you come help me?"

"Of course!" the redhead responds with a knowing smile, a coy expression on her face.

The two then get up and proceed to the kitchen, but Leaf can't help but feel as if something else is going on. She dismisses her suspicion in light of Christmas and focuses instead on her best friend regaling the tale of how she and Jimmy first met.

A brunette and redhead wait side by side, watching the kitchen back door. Leaning disinterestedly against the marble countertop, tThe redhead taps her foot in a slightly anxious manner. Meanwhile her companion only checks her phone every few minutes, occasionally textingonce in awhile.

"He's just taking his sweet time, now isn't he?" Misty grumbles, a little annoyed.

At last, the kitchen door opens, bringing in the cold winter breeze and snow among other things.

Gary raises an eyebrow at the two girls as he pulls off his coat and scarf. His older sister walks over to him and affectionately dusts the snow from his spiky hair.

"What's with the welcoming committee?" He finally questions. "I thought you'd be busy with your Christmas gathering."

"Where were you?" His sister asks instead, putting her hands on her hips. "Don't tell me you were at the lab..."

"It was nice and quiet there," Gary defends himself. "No research aides yammering on about what they're going to do during their holiday break."

"Anyway-" Gary grabs one of the cookies that the girls decorated earlier, causing his sister to frown in disapproval. "-I'll be heading straight upstairs, so you can go back now."

"Oh, I don't think so," Daisy says with an uncharacteristically coy smile. "Not without you joining us."

Gary barely has the time to raise an eyebrow at his sister's odd behavior before belatedly remembering Misty's presence.

"Merry Christmas, Gary," is all he hears before something is pulled over his head.

Following Marina's (not so) romantic story, Dawn and May rant about Kenny and Drew respectively. Apparently Kenny's taking too long to make a move, and Drew is being an "irritating piece of cabbage" as usual.

"How about you?" Dawn asks after finishing her complaint against her childhood friend. "Any Gary issues?"

"None actually," Leaf answers after a few moments of thought. She's actually really surprised now that she thinks about it. "His ego occasionally flares up again, but he's been pretty good about it. But wait...why are you asking me?"

Marina opens her mouth- most likely to tease Leaf about the increasingly romantic nature of Gary and Leaf's relationhip- but is cut off by a buzzing sound emitting from her cellphone.

After a quick glance down at her phone, Marina slyly looks at the remaining girls in the living room of the Oak residence.

"It appears," the light bluenette says, "that Leaf's present is finally here."

Though she doesn't mean to be so trasparently shallow, Leaf straightens at the mention of her Christmas gift. She'd be okay with just one, whatever it is. At this point, she just wants something meaningful from her friends to unwrap.

Daisy and Misty both reenter the living room, escorting a tall, hopping bundle in between them.

Wait, what?

"We're sorry for the delay," Misty apologizes from behind the squirming present.

Daisy stands in front so as to block the gift from Leaf's point of view despite the fact that the brunette has already caught a glimpse of it. Daisy adds, "We'd also like to apologize for the terrible wrapping."

"Let her open her present!" Dawn claps her hands together eagerly. The Sinnoh coordinator in particular is fond of gift-giving and probably feels guilty about Leaf's disappointment from earlier.

"Ta da!" Daisy hops away from Leaf's gift, making a jazz hands motion to coincide with the big reveal.

Her present is life-sized and easily taller than Leaf. The whole wrapping sheet is wrapped around her present in a way that suggests that the actual wrapping process was done both hastily and to inhibit movement. There is a santa hat thrown on top (in the spirit of Christmas) and the sticker tag indicating the receiver and giver is firmly over her gift's lips.

Resisting the urge to laugh the ridiculousness of it all, Leaf puts a hand over her mouth.

Gary is clearly not as amused.

"Hold on," May says with a giggle, making her way to Leaf's gift. She slaps a Christmas bow onto Gary's head, right on top of the santa hat. "There we go. Now your present's ready."

"Gary's my present?" Leaf asks incredulously, biting her lip in the meanwhile to keep from laughing.

"Leaf," Daisy states grandly, "my brother has always thought that he's Arceus's gift to man. And for the next twenty-four hours...he's our gift to you."

"He took forever to show up here, so that's why we didn't have your present ready for you," Dawn explains, a bright smile on her face. "But now that he's here, you can have him do whatever you want. As your present, he's obligated to make your Christmas wishes come true."

Gary merely looks around the living room, clearly disinterested in what the girls were saying.

Leaf can't help but wonder what exactly is stopping him from leaving. He could easily overpower Misty and the rest of the girls and escape the house. She supposes that his staying is due to his soft spot for his older sister, but how soft can the spot be for him to allow basically a form of slavery?

As if reading Leaf's thoughts, Misty assures, "And don't worry, Leaf. He will do whatever you ask him to." At the end of her words she tugs tightly on the ribbon wrapped around Gary's waist and gives Gary a threatening smile.

"So what are you waiting for?" Marina cries enthusiastically. "Unwrap your gift and put it to use!"

The first thing that Leaf does with her Christmas present is pull off the sticker tag.

"Well Merry freaking Christmas to me." Gary scowls.

So in case you somehow didn't get it, the girls gave Gary to Leaf for Christmas. I thought it'd be pretty interesting, though the idea kinda came to me last minute. Originally, I was going to post a one-shot with Daisy going overboard with mistletoe and Leaf and Gary avoiding each other in order to stall the imminent kiss between them. (If anyone wants to write this or is inspired by this, by all means, go ahead).

Anyway, if you guys have any ideas or suggestions as to what Leaf should do with Gary for the twenty-four hour Christmas period, feel free to PM me or leave it in a review. My goal is to make my A/N's a tad bit shorter than usual, so I won't even leave you guys the guided questions like I usually do.

Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays!

Please give me your comments, opinions, and suggestions!