Arthur didn't hate Christmas. Quite on the contrary; Arthur, in all honesty, rather enjoyed the festive season. Yes the over commercialisation of the religious holiday and the red, green, silver and gold that covered practically every object and surface did tend to get on his nerves; and, how almost every customer seemed to go into a panicked rage over everything that had anything to do with retail, became tedious. However, he couldn't help but admit that through all his 'bah humbug'-ing, he enjoyed seeing the softer side of Christmas, how happy it made people and how much it brought out the kindness of man, the togetherness of the people, the overall feeling of love and hope for mankind into the new year and the-
'Good Lord, I sound like a greetings card.'
All of that aside, the festive season always ended up, like it did with many people, sneaking up on Arthur from behind and plunging him into a snowy world of Christmas cheer. He could never do anything about it, and the worst thing was that he could never get away from it either; because he worked in retail, the place where everything even remotely festive was smashed and grinded directly into his face. It also didn't help that on that particular day he was placed on fitting rooms, the place where, as soon as Halloween was over, Christmas music drifted around the shop at its loudest. One couldn't simply tune it out; every lyric, voice and harmony could be heard clear as a bell. And so, Arthur was overcome by the jingle of bells and the smooth voices of the classic singers; he refused to pay much attention the modern, auto-tuned versions of the classic songs –because for goodness sake, what on Earth were they thinking!?- and, much to his embarrassment, he found himself humming along on multiple occasions.
He always stopped as soon as a customer came to close, but as soon as he was alone again, he couldn't help but give in to the catchy and familiar tunes that he grew up with; actually singing along quietly on more than one occasion. Which of course, would only lead to embarrassment.
The first case being as he sorted the rail of clothes and lowly sang the male part of 'Baby it's cold outside', one of the more cheesy songs of the festive season, but also one of the classics. A young woman -possibly in her late twenties- returned from inside the fitting rooms and handed Arthur back some clothes she didn't want.
"Thank you very much miss." He said politely, putting the clothes on the rail.
"Thank you very much as well, I rather enjoyed your singing." She smiled as Arthur looked up in surprise. "Merry Christmas!" She waved slightly and walked out onto the shop floor. Arthur stood in shock for a moment before getting back to work; that had been a tad embarrassing, and he hadn't even been able to respond to her. Arthur decided right then that he would have to either sing much quieter, or not sing at all; sadly this decision lasted practically no time at all because it wasn't even 20 minutes later that the next incident occurred.
This time he was caught with a classic version of 'Little Drummer Boy' by an elderly woman, who came to give him her items and looked at him a little intensely.
"Thank you miss."
"Thank you, I was wondering-" The woman started. "Are you in a choir at all?" she asked and Arthur paled slightly before his cheeks turned pink.
"Um- no, no I'm not actually… Why do you ask?"
"Oh well it's just that I heard you singing and you're incredibly good. If you're really not in a choir or group then you should certainly look into it." The woman smiled and chuckled at Arthur's expression.
"Oh- w-well that's very kind of you, th-thank you very much." He said, a little flustered and wished the woman a Merry Christmas as she went on her way.
Arthur was of course flattered by the kind words but that didn't make him feel any less embarrassed; after all, strangers had heard him sing, and what if more people than just the ones who approached him actually heard? The whole concept struck Arthur as rather distressing if he was honest, but he just couldn't help it! Damn Christmas songs…
Arthur didn't know that the whole situation was about to get a whole lot worse when a familiar head of blond hair attached to an overly happy American trotted over to bother him for a while. Arthur tried to keep the conversation brief but as always, the man didn't even pick up on the hints that one should not bother people who didn't want to be bothered and certainly not while they are working and could get in trouble; but nonetheless, the conversation went on.
"So that means I'm just grabbing a few more things for when I head over to my folks' house back in the US! It still sucks that you guys don't get thanksgiving, but hey, I guess that just means more fun for us right?" Alfred laughed.
"So your flight is tomorrow then?" Arthur smiled slightly when the other man nodded. "Well, I hope you enjoy yourself." Arthur smiled. 'I will most certainly be enjoying the peace and quiet.' He thought to himself happily. This led to Arthur very happily getting on with his work as Alfred went to try some clothes on; he was smiling contentedly at the fact that soon, if only for a while, he would be free from the man's constant nagging presence. It was true that the American really only came in once or twice a week, but it sometimes seemed like Arthur was seeing more and more of him. But Arthur didn't focus on that and instead thought of all the wonderful peace and quiet he would get during the next however-long-it-was that Alfred was going to be away; with that in mind, he also said that his family was coming back to England with him, which means that he'd be busy with them and Christmas in general, meaning he'd have even less time to bother Arthur! Simply this thought alone made Arthur smile wider as an all too familiar tune drifted over the speakers in the fitting rooms.
Once again, Arthur had lost himself in the Christmas cheer as he hummed and eventually sang along under his breath to one of his favourite Christmas carols; sorting out clothes and rehanging them, putting some of them back in their original place on the shop floor if he was close enough. It was two songs later that Alfred finally emerged and handed Arthur back the items.
"Nothing today then?" Arthur asked with a small smile.
"Nah, just looking today I think, might come back when everything's a little less hectic!" He chuckled. "Came by to say 'see ya' mostly."
"Oh- I see." Arthur didn't know why he sounded so surprised or why the sentiment of the thing seemed much more endearing than silly; he smiled slightly and nodded. "Well then, I hope-"
"Oh by the way," Alfred cut in before Arthur had a chance to end the conversation. "Was that you singing 'Hark the herald angels sing'?" He asked with a smile that only widened when Arthur's whole face turned red and started sputtering in his embarrassment. Arthur was horrified to say the least; out of all the people to catch him singing it would just have to be this guy! Arthur didn't understand why Alfred hearing him sing was so much worse than just a stranger, but maybe that was it, Alfred wasn't a stranger. At least not anymore; He wasn't a stranger at all.
"B-belt up." Arthur finally managed to say quite eloquently which made it even more annoying when Alfred chuckled.
"No, no, dude, it's fine! I actually really liked it!" He grinned happily and Arthur's cheeks just deepened its shade of red. "You're a really good singer!" Arthur prickled slightly and cleared his throat.
"Th-thank you very much." He mumbled quickly. "Don't you have somewhere to be?"
"Yep! I haven't even started packing yet!" He laughed as Arthur sputtered again.
"What!? You're leaving tomorrow! Don't tell me you're this unorganised! You go home and pack this instant!" He scolded, he sounded like a scolding teacher even though he still looked like a blushing teenager. Alfred just laughed and resisted the urge to ruffle Arthur's hair, he wouldn't admit it out loud of course, but the Englishmen looked adorable when he was flustered.
"Alright, alright, I'll go." He chuckled.
"You better! I can't believe you've left it this late! Are you actually even an adult?" Arthur continued to nag and Alfred just laughed louder.
"Okay okay! Merry Christmas Arthur!" Alfred grinned happily.
"Y-yes. Merry Christmas, I hope you enjoy yourself. Now hurry up." Arthur replied sheepishly with a small smile of his own.
"Keep up the singing!"
"Bugger off!"
They waved to each other –Arthur a little timidly- as Alfred jogged off and the Englishman let out an exasperated sigh. "I swear. He is completely impossible." He mumbled to himself just as his French arsehole of a manager turned the corner and saw his flustered expression.
"Oh just get married already!" Francis called teasingly and was promptly kicked in the shin.
Peace and quiet. Well, as peaceful as it could get working in retail leading up to Christmas. Yes. Peace, and quiet. Just what Arthur had wanted.
It seemed much more bittersweet than Arthur had originally imagined.
He thought that for the most part, these days would be some of the best of his life; however as the days of November and then December passed, Arthur found himself becoming a little frustrated with his work, and more so than he usually would be during this season. With every customer that passed his way he would always look up to see who it was and if he recognised them; every time he heard loud or boisterous laughter, he would turn and expect to see something that obviously wasn't there. And in all honesty, this really pissed Arthur off. This behaviour was distracting him from his work and would suddenly and without warning put him into a bad mood that would not let up for a good long while; he only ever found comfort in talking to the co-workers that he actually liked, or by just trying to drown out the noise around him and focus of the Christmas songs drifting around the tills and fitting rooms. The latter, however, would only ever serve to put him in an even worse mood as then he would remember that damn American's happily laughing face as he complimented his singing and prattled on about the silly little things he was doing with his life.
'That damn bastard! Why did he have to come and spoil everything! I was having just a wonderful time without him and now he's gone and buggered up my Christmas!' He fumed as he served customers and went about working for his pay check. He was overreacting of course; obviously Alfred hadn't actually done anything and he certainly hadn't done anything wrong by any means.
'I mean really! Coming to see me the day before he leaves and speaking to me when he should have been packing his damn bloody suitcase!' He blabbered on in his head as he was sitting in front of the television in his flat, curled up on the sofa with a cup of tea. 'It would have wasted so much time! He better not have stayed up all night trying to finish it!' He frowned deeply as he took a sip.
'Not to mention the fact that out of all the people in the shop, he was the one who just had to hear me singing!' He obsessed as he sat at the table, eating his dinner in a slow rage. 'And then instead of keeping his bloody mouth shut like he should have he has to go and compliment me on it and then smile like it's fine and that I'm his best friend in the whole damn world!' He took an angry bite of his food. 'I barely know the man!'
'I mean, it's not like I'm lonely or anything. Or that I actually like his company.' He reasoned as he dunked his head under the stream of water in the shower, washing the shampoo out of his hair rather roughly. 'I've been perfectly fine up to now and meeting one stupid, overly friendly bloke is not going to change how I see things! He's perfectly pleasant and funny and endearing and he's also a stupid git who thinks the whole world is his friend! He probably treats everyone like that!'
'It's not as if I miss the human interaction to distract me from my work and I certainly do not miss him and his bloody antics and that damn smile of his!' Arthur was still fuming as he got into bed and pulled the duvet up to his nose, frowning and obsessing and becoming even angrier with himself because he was obsessing so much. 'Maybe I am lonely…' He thought to himself and frowned even more; he barely spoke to his old friends anymore. He barely had any friends anymore. Actually… He had none. Come to think of it. He had severed all ties with them when he was younger; either that or they had all severed ties with him. It's not like he cared though; he had been perfectly fine with being alone before, so when had that changed? Arthur glared at the ceiling and decided that he really was thinking too much; he rolled over and curled up, clutching the covers and trying his best to not think at all, clearing his mind of any happy American's and other unwanted thoughts.
'Merry Christmas…'
Hi everyone, I really am sorry the updates are so slow but you know how writer's block is X'D I won't be giving up on this story ever so although the updates are slow I hope you know that they will happen and that I love you all for sticking around for so long w
It's so Christmasy in the shop and in their hearts ooooohhhhh~~ XDDD And Arthur's starting to over think a little, bless his soul. (I'd also like to remind people that this story is very loosely based on my own experiences of working in retail. And these are actual things that people said to me while I was working during Christmas and was caught singing along :'D it was VERY embarrassing cause it happened like 5/6 times X'DDD) No more Alfred, but for some reason that doesn't come as a blessing for poor Arthur. hmmmmmm.
I have now uploaded this a tiny Christmas present and I'm working on the next one now and will hopefully have it up still around Christmas time/Boxing day
As always, comments and reviews are welcomed with open arms and highly appreciated. I hoped you enjoyed this chapter and have a wonderful festive season! See you next time guys! Take care! owo/
-Lolo