(late) Secret Santa fic for fluffyfrolicker
Title: The History of Group Gift Giving
Author: ayadec
Spoilers: For the entire series through the end of Season 3
Rating: PG-13 (due to a few swear words)
Word Count: 2,059
Disclaimer: I don’t own Community, even though I do have seasons 1, 2, and 3 on DVD.
A/N: It’s still the holidays until you get your last gift. If thinking that helps, then enjoy some holiday in January. This story is for fluffyfrolicker. I apologize for how late this is. I actually started a story for each of your three prompts. This is the one that I managed to finish. (If you want to see the story fragments for the other prompts, let me know had I’ll message them to you.)
This story is inspired by the “secret Santa gift exchange” prompt…although it is not set at Christmas. I love that Greendale is a wacky enough place that this premise would even be possible.
There was something not right about Greendale.
Sure, Jeff had thought (and said) that particular sentiment often, but it seemed to be especially true in this case. It was the only thing that could explain the entire study group sitting around their table with a glass bowl that had seven folded slips of paper in it.
“How is this even permissible?” Jeff found himself asking again, but not with the initial heat he had when this idea was first presented.
“I know!” Britta agreed. “This is almost evangelism! The separation of church and state-“
“Um, Brit-ta” Shirley interrupted. “I don’t think a Santa gift exchange is actually religious. First, we aren’t even doing this in December. Second, well, Jesus is the reason for the season…and Santa is just Satan with the letters re-arranged-“
“Actually,” Britta voice was growing louder, “the reason for the season was a co-opting of a popular pagan holiday by an emperor who was trying to push Christianity down everyone’s throat-“
“Anyway,” Annie quickly interrupted before Britta and Shirley had (another) very loud disagreement about the assignment and Christmas. “It’s just a gift exchange as a part of the group project, and did you really want to do the other two options?!”
The other two options were actually worse that the Secret Santa gift exchange, however unbelievable that would be in any non Greendale context. For their History 101 course, they had to complete a group project related to gift giving. As a group they had to embark on one of three gift giving situations: a gift given to a family for someone’s hand in marriage, a tribute gift for a conquering leader, or a Secret Santa exchange. Then, after exchanging gifts in their chosen context, they had to write a group paper on the history of that gift exchange and how it affects groups. This assignment was also worth 60 percent of their final grade. No one could pass the class if they didn’t do this project.
As a group they had first complained (loudly) about their options, but quickly settled on the only one would work. After all, Shirley’s marriage last year met the quota of marriage experiences for the rest of their time at Greendale as far as Jeff, Shirley, and Britta were concerned. Jeff suspected Annie might not have minded the marriage assignment, but figuring out who was marrying whom and to whom the gift was going to seemed like too much of a minefield for everyone, Britta’s feminist rant about dowries notwithstanding. The gift to a conquering leader was a little dicey as well. Ironically, given the group’s history, the idea of an intra-group war was a very bad idea. Britta had said something about PTSD from last year’s pillow fight. Jeff thought that was overstating things, but Britta might have a point in that.
That left them with a Secret Santa gift exchange. It was September 20th and they were choosing names. They would exchange their final gifts on October 19th at a party. Working up to that point, they would leave small gifts and notes, signed only “Your Secret Santa”. Jeff doubted any of this would stay secret for long, but those were the rules they’d set.
“Let’s get thing this started.”
Abed took the glass bowl and passed it to his right after he took out a slip of paper. The bowl went around the table until each person had a slip of paper. Then as a group, they opened their slips of paper.
Jeff didn’t look at his slip immediately. It was too entertaining to look at the group’s reactions.
“Plot Twist,” Abed had shared with a raised eyebrow
“Oohh!” Shirley had sounded surprised, as if she had gotten someone she wasn’t expecting.
Annie had a bunch of emotions flash across her face before she blinked a few times and straightened. Troy had turned his slip around, looking at it from several angles, obviously confused.
Jeff decided he didn’t even want to figure out what Pierce’s “Ha!” might mean. Besides, it almost looked like Britta was…blushing?!
He definitely wanted to say something to Britta, but he thought he should look at his name before he made any statements to Britta, just in case. When he saw the name he’d gotten, talking to anyone about who they’d gotten flew out of his head.
In front of him, in pretty purple script were five letters with which he was not prepared to deal. A-N-N-I-E.
***
It was September 27th and Annie was in the library working on an assignment for history. Or at least she was trying to. Every few minutes, she would unfold the small slip of paper stapled to her history notebook. The name Jeff Winger was almost not legible. That didn’t matter as much, because the name was practically branded in her brain. She was Jeff Winger’s Secret Santa. That officially made this Greendale assignment the hardest one she’d ever done.
After the group had broken up, she’d gone back to the apartment she shared with Troy and Abed. She shut herself in her room and looked at the name again. “Crap.” It hadn’t changed. Jeff Winger.
She’d be lying if she didn’t admit that she was thrilled at first to get Jeff. That thrilled quickly turned to a bit of fear. Their personal dynamic was part support and understanding and part issues behind the “Annie of it all” and Jeff’s womanizing ways. Balancing all of that in gift giving to not create a mess in their current peace might be a little difficult. She also had to be careful not to give herself away with her gifts.
Sitting in her room, however, another truth slapped her in the face. She knew Jeff pretty well. She knew about his issues with his father and the fact that he was looking for him now. She knew about the history that had landed him in Greendale. She knew that he liked that sushi emoticon too much. She knew how central his appearance was; she even used him to explain “impression management” on the final in the Sociology class she took her sophomore year (not that she ever told that Jeff that). She even knew how much he cared about all of them. What she didn’t know is what he’d want as a gift.
At least, she had no idea of what kind of gift he’d want that she could afford.
She’d resorted to leaving notes in his locker; luckily the group had insisted that everyone share their locker numbers and locations to make it easier to secretly pass notes, so doing that didn’t tip her hand. She’d start each note (which she’d typed, of course) with a moving quote that Jeff had uttered in a speech at some point during their time at Greendale and then some other useful thought. She’d even given him the code to some specialized sushi emoticons for his cell phone. He knew he’d used that when she got a text about history that ended with a sashimi roll.
The big gift though? She had no idea. She knew him, but she didn’t know him. How is it that you can know the most important things about a person, but have no idea if they are a Coke or Pepsi guy?
But she wasn’t going to deal with that today. There was a history test next week and she had one more chapter to read.
***
The weeks leading up to October 19th flew by. Oddly enough, the group didn’t talk much about the Secret Santa gift exchange. Sure, they saw how people reacted to some of the notes and gifts they’d received. Some were absolutely perfect, like the purple pens Annie received. Some may have been ironic, like the lighted locker mirror Jeff got. And there were the gifts that were…strange. Most of them were given to Shirley, who always managed to be thankful, although sometimes it sounded like, “Thaannk you….I think?” The gifts she received were oddly touching, with a big emphasis on the “odd”. Abed described the gift giving experience as a “character development episode”. No one else commented beyond reaction to the gift or note of the day.
***
It was 8:30 p.m. on October 19th and the group was gathered in their study room once again to exchange final gifts for their big reveal. Shirley had brought a few baked treats with her, to make things a little more festive. For the first few minutes, everyone just stared at each other, not wanting to give their gift first. It was Shirley who got everyone started.
“Well,” she’d started, “since the pound cake and mini pies are still warm and they taste better that way, I’ll go first.” She’s smiled at Abed and handed him a package. “I was your secret santa, Abed.”
Abed blinked a few times and took the package, which he opened. “A Qu’ran?”
“I’m sure you probably already have one, but having another is always good, right? I have more Bibles in my house than I can count. And…I read it.”
“YOU read the Qu’ran?” Britta verbalized everyone’s shock.
“I didn’t read that copy,” Shirley clarified, “And, seeing as you read the whole New Testament when I asked you for that favor, it was only fair that I read the Qu’ran. Not that I agree with or understand everything I read, but-“
“Thank you, Shirley,” Abed said.
Shirley’s gift caused a flurry of gift giving. Some of the reveals were interesting to watch. Shirley’s blink and then a small smile with a “that’s nice” when Troy handed her something that he’d obviously wrapped himself. Britta actually didn’t hit Pierce when he gave her his gift, in part because it was something nice. (He managed to lose any goodwill with a lesbian comment five seconds later.) Oddly enough, Annie and Jeff were sitting back, watching the group exchange.
“Well, we should probably get to exchanging,” Annie shared.
“Or we’ll delay the party part of this,” Jeff agreed.
“And Shirley probably wouldn’t take it well if we were the reason the pound cake got cold.”
“Probably?” Jeff asked with a raised eyebrow and a laugh.
Annie laughed in response and then reached for the basket at her feet, which she handed to Jeff…at the same time he handed her a purple gift bag.
“You had me?!” they both asked in shock.
“And if you say anything like, ‘Jinx! You owe me a soda.’…” Jeff trailed off as Annie looked at him confused.
“’Jinx, you owe a so -‘ wait a minute. Did someone watch Kim Possible when it aired on Disney Channel?”
“Open your gift, Annie,” was the only response she got in return.
“Open yours first,” Annie insisted. It was his curiosity that motivated him to cave without Annie having to use the Disney eyes or be formidable. Of course, the first thing he lifted out of the basket was the journal.
“It’s even a Hello Kitty one,” he’d laughed.
The rest of the basket made him look serious. Which only made Annie nervous. “If you want to return anything in-“
“No,” Jeff said quietly. “No, that’s not it….It’s just-“
“Just-?”
“Thank you, Annie.”
“Well, you’re welcome.”
Jeff looked pointed down at the bag Annie still held. “You haven’t opened yours yet.”
“Okay,” Annie smiled as she reached into the bag with her empty hand to pull out - “Jeff! Oh! How did you know?”
Jeff shrugged, “I’m sometimes listening when I’m on my phone.”
“Playing Angry Birds,” Annie smiled at him.
“Hey, I do a lot of important stuff on my phone.”
“Like Words with Friends,” Annie laughed. She looked down at the gift in her hand. “But seriously, thank you, Jeff.” She made sure to blink back the tears before she looked up. “Thank you so much.”
“Um…if you want pound cake, you should come to the table now. Before someone eats it all,” Shirley’s voice interrupted them.
“You just said I was endearing,” Troy replied back. “And pound cake is the only thing better than a giant cookie.”
Putting their gifts away, they joined the rest of the group. And, years later, when they told this story to their twins, Jeff would always insist on ending it by saying, “There was something not right about Greendale, but something very right about us.”
** The end **