It was something that they had dreamt of for a long time, something they had discussed for years. It was first brought up around the end of the first year they had been dating, something talked about at Christmas and at their wedding. This was the thing that would make the Hamilton-Laurens family complete: a baby. Alexander and John longed for a child of their own. They wanted to spoil them and love them and watch them grow. They didn't care about the gender or where the baby was from, they just wanted one.
Whenever they were out and happened to see a baby, John would go over, cooing and ask so many questions. Alexander was sometimes rather embarrassed by his actions, for example, when he nearly sat with a different family at Wendy's so he could talk about their baby. Alex remembered having to bag up their lunch and practically drag John out the door. As embarrassing as John could be with infants, Alexander still found it somewhat adorable.
Having a child would be hard, however. Alexander was always busy with his job writing for the New York Times, and John, a recent college graduate, was searching for his first teaching job. They were both so busy, and so young, only in their twenties and living in a small apartment. It was hard to imagine throwing a baby into the mix. On top of that, there was the difficult process of adoption. Being approved as a gay couple would be hard, and then the waiting and wondering of the actual adoption process would be incredibly long. It was all very stressful and John would sometimes catch himself tearing up at the thought of this. He found himself tearing up now as he searched online for teaching positions. John quickly wiped them away before Alex saw, he didn't want to concern him.
He looked at Alexander, sitting on the opposite side of the table. His dark brown hair was in a bun on the top of his head and his glass were sitting on the brim of his nose. He was staring intently at his laptop as his fingers danced over the keyboard, typing out an article he had to present to his editor later that week. John smiled softly and reached over to push up his glasses gently. Alex kissed the palm of his hand as he continued to type, causing John to smile more. Alexander was incredibly sweet, John felt so lucky to be able to say that he was his husband. They were very lovey dovey with each other, cuddling all the time, giving each other pet names, leaving little gifts and surprises for each other around the house. John liked to leave Alex's favorite candies around the house, or a new book or flowers. Alexander usually slipped a love note into John's bag whenever he went out. Sometimes it was a long, sweet, mushy letter professing his undying love for the freckled man, and sometimes it just said "I like your butt". Either way it made John's heart flutter and color come to his cheeks. There was one time where John had come home from school to find a large stuffed turtle sitting on his side of the bed with a little note from Alexander beside it. John absolutely loved turtles and Alexander was well aware of this fact. John had cuddled the turtle until Alex returned home from work that night, then John set the turtle aside and brought his husband to the bedroom to thank him properly.
John looked at the clock on the kitchen wall and saw that it was half an hour to noon. "Ah, babe, I have to get going." he said to Alex. "I'm supposed to meet up with Lafayette and Hercules at noon."
"You're leaving me?" Alex looked up at him with a pout. John chuckled.
"You won't be alone, Nugget is here." he said, gesturing to the orange tabby sleeping on the couch. They had found him a few months back, a tiny little kitten, eating a chicken nugget in the parking lot of McDonald's. That's why they named him Nugget. He was a sweet cat, though he would quickly steal food right off your fork if you weren't paying attention. Poor Alexander lost so much food to the sneaky Nugget. Alexander continued to pout and John pecked his lips. "I'll only be gone for a few hours, I promise."
"Fine." Alexander huffed. "Be good, don't fight anyone." John chuckled as if this were a joke, but it most certainly wasn't. John had quite the temper, if anyone so much as looked at him or Alex funny he would be ready to brawl. There were many times that he would come home, a little beat up from fighting in the alley behind some bar. Alexander would sit him down and lecture him for what seemed like hours about how terrible it was that he fought. What was he, some thug? But afterwards, he would sit with him and gently clean him up and give him something warm to drink.
"We aren't going to a bar or anything, Alex. Laf wants to go shopping and you know him, he'll need both Herc and I to help carry all of his bags." That got Alexander to crack a smile. Lafayette was ridiculous when it came to shopping. Alex remembered the first time he had gone with the Frenchman and how shocked he had been by the amount of shopping bags he had by the end of the trip. Lafayette had a lot of money and worked for a fashion company so his shopping trips were a sight to behold. It was rather overwhelming for poor Alexander, but John and Hercules had been Lafayette's college roommates for a few years and knew all about it, which is why he usually brought them along.
"Like you wouldn't fight someone at the mall." Alex grumbled a bit, though there was a smile on his face. John chuckled and gave him a kiss goodbye.
"Don't worry, if the mall security gets me Lafayette will bail me out, that is if Hercules doesn't try to break me out first." He gave a teasing smile. "I'll see you later, babe."
"Laurens, you seem quite distracted today." Lafayette said as John absentmindedly browsed the racks of some high end clothing store. "Is something troubling you?" John looked up at the other man, much taller than himself. He shook his head and shrugged.
"Nothing, just tired." John said, but as soon as Lafayette gave him the look that let Laurens know the Frenchman knew he was lying, he came clean. "Okay, honestly I'm just really stressed. I'm trying so hard to find a job but so many schools have cut the arts that nobody needs an art teacher. I mean I could teach African American studies for older kids since I did double major, but being an art teacher for children is like my dream!" He looked so stressed.
"I've looked online, in newspapers, and I've even gone into schools! But everyone turns me away. Sometimes I can't tell if it's because of people defunding the arts or if they think I'm too young or if it's because of my race…" He looked down. "It's just so hard. And Alexander is so successful at the Times… and I can't even find a job teaching kids to draw…" He could feel frustrated tears welling up in his eyes and he blinked rapidly to make them go away.
"Oh, Laurens." Lafayette pulled him into a tight hug. "It's hard to get off your feet at first, but nobody thinks you are inferior because of it. You picked a tough subject to teach, but that shows your passion for it and that is something we all admire." He smiled reassuringly. "My friend, I have known you for years and I know you are a fighter, in more ways than one. You will find your dream job, you simply must fight for it!" Lafayette pulled squeezed his best friend's shoulders. John grinned softly, knowing Lafayette was right as usual. It may be hard now, but it would all work out in the end. Lafayette had told him this so many times before, especially in school when John was really struggling. He could remember when Lafayette was still very new to America and could not yet speak English very well. "Do the punching to get it." Lafayette used to say, his French accent very strong. It made John smile to remember it.
"Thanks, man." Laurens said. "Now go try those things on so we can get out of here. It smells like bad cologne." Lafayette rolled his eyes and went to the fitting rooms.
It ended up taking nearly another hour to get out of the store. Lafayette insisted on everyone trying things one and asked both his friends' opinions on his choices along with store employees and other customers. While people would normally be a little hesitant to do such things for complete strangers, Lafayette's deep voice and beautiful accent lured them in. Lafayette knew it would work and Hercules rolled his eyes, having seen him pull the accent card so many times before.
By the time they had gotten out of the store, Laurens and Hercules were starving. Herc whined about it rather loudly so John suggested they go get something from the food court. Lafayette looked appalled by the idea and insisted they head over to the mall's lovely sushi restaurant. "I don't have enough money for fancy sushi right now." John said. While the Laurens family was very wealthy, Henry had cut off his son and basically disowned him when he had announced his engagement to Alexander. Henry was very against homosexuality and he would not associate himself with John if he was marrying another man. His sister Mary, however, kept in touch with him and would send him money every month to help him out which John was extremely grateful for. He missed his sister dearly, but she was living in their home in South Carolina still which meant it was very hard to ever actually see her in person.
"I'll pay for you today, John." Lafayette told him. "You can pay me back later." he winked at him. John grumbled.
"This isn't freshman year, Laf. I'm married and I'm not giving you a-"
"Oh, mon cher, I was only joking!" Lafayette laughed. "You can just carry my bags as a thank you." John looked at the massive amount of bags in Lafayette's hands and for a moment actually thought about just giving his friend a blowjob.
"Hey, guys." Hercules started. "If you give a blowjob to a friend does that make it a bro-job?" John slowly looked at the smiling Hercules and Lafayette was getting ready to call mall security so John wouldn't kill their friend.
After they had eaten their large lunch, their bellies full of delicious sushi, they sat at their table in the restaurant and talked. John pulled his hair back into a ponytail as Mulligan talked about the date he was planning to take his girlfriend Angelica on. He was animatedly describing the movie they would see and how he would take her mini golfing and then to dinner.
"Are you sure mini golfing is a good idea? You two are so competitive." John said.
"Mm not to mention you cried the last time you lost." Lafayette teased. Hercules frowned at them.
"You guys suck." He said.
"Only if you ask nicely, my friend." Lafayette responded.
"Okay, John sucks and Lafayette, you are just nasty." They all laughed and paid their bill. John grabbed Lafayette's heavy shopping bags and the group of friends left the restaurant. It was about three o'clock now and Lafayette still had more places he wanted to stop before they could leave the mall. As they were walking to the next store, John stopped at the FYE they were about to pass. "I'll be right back!" He told the others as he went inside. He knew he had a gift card for the store in his wallet and he wanted to get something for his hardworking husband. The southerner looked around the store and spotted exactly what he knew his Alexander would like. He grabbed the Battlestar Galactica DVD off the shelf and used his gift card to purchase it. Alexander loved the series and though it wasn't exactly John's cup of tea, he enjoyed cuddling up on their couch and watching it together. The childish light in Alex's eyes as he watched was just too good to pass up. John shuffled the bags he already held and managed to grab onto the FYE bag. He thanked the employee and rejoined his friends.
"A gift for Alexander?" Lafayette questioned when he came back out. John grinned and nodded.
"You spoil him, dude." Mulligan said. "Why won't you spoil me? Aren't I handsome enough to spoil? How can you resist me?" Hercules leaned against John and dramatically put his hand on his forehead. In their group, Hercules was the funny man, the class clown, the pun master.
"Okay one, you're straight, Herc. Two, you just aren't my type." John teased right back. Hercules feigned offense and John lightly elbowed him. Hercules laughed and Lafayette smiled in amusement as they continued to walk.
After another three hours, Lafayette had finished shopping. John's hands were red from carrying so many bags and Hercules was complaining about the bags he was helping Laf with. "Why do you have to buy so many damn clothes? Who needs this much?"
"I need choices, Hercules." was Lafayette's response. He was carrying a couple bags full of shoes. It was honestly impressive how much Lafayette could buy during one shopping trip. "And anyway, these are not all mine. There are a few things for you two as well. A little thank you for helping me out today." he smiled. Hercules blinked and John smiled and shook his head. Typical Lafayette, a generous shopaholic. He loved to shower his friends with presents, loved to let them know how much he appreciated them, especially these two. When Lafayette had first started attending college, he was nervous and barely understood anything. His first roommate didn't bother to try to talk to him or help him around campus. Lafayette had found America very frightening and was struggling with his classes since he still wasn't fluent in English. That's when he met John Laurens and Hercules Mulligan. They were both freshman like he was and were in his African American history class. The two friends had taken notice of the frustrated frenchman and had offered to help him with notes. They didn't know how to speak French, but with a little help from google translate and some books, they were able to help Lafayette out and he was starting to get better with English. They all became roommates a couple of months after and remained friends ever since. Lafayette treasured them, they were both so incredibly important to him and this was how he liked to show his gratitude.
"Let's go call a taxi and I'll show you which bags are yours." He said with a warm grin. The friends walked back through the mall and went outside. Lafayette called for a taxi and they loaded in, maneuvering the incredible number of bags around so they could all fit.
"Dios mio…" John mumbled when they were all situated. Lafayette gave the driver John's address so they could bring him home first, which John was rather grateful for. He was ready to just relax on the couch with Alexander and watch a movie. He smiled at the thought of holding the smaller man close to him. Lafayette waved his hand to snap him out of his thoughts.
"Johnny, do you want the items I bought you or not?" He asked with a grin. John blinked and collected his thoughts.
"You really didn't have to get me anything." John said. "It was no big d-" Lafayette raised a hand to stop him.
"I am thankful so I need to show my thanks. Now, these two bags are yours. Try them on when you get home, I'm positive I picked your correct size, but I saved all the receipts just incase." Lafayette smiled, giving him two large shopping bags.
"Thank you, Laf." John said. Even though he found the Frenchman to be ridiculous sometimes, he did appreciate all the things he did for his friends. John put the FYE bag inside one of the shopping bags and leaned back for the rest of the ride home.
Alexander pounced on John as soon as he walked through the door, causing John to drop the shopping bags. John looked down at the shorter man. Alexander was only about five foot and seven inches while John was around six foot. He smiled at his husband and wrapped his arms around him. "Did you miss me, Alex?"
"You were gone too long." Hamilton grumbled, burying his face in John's chest, causing the younger man to laugh. "Don't laugh I'm mad at you."
"I think I know a way to make it up to you, chiquito." John whispered into his ear. Alexander shuddered, loved it when his love spoke Spanish to him. He looked up at him, meeting John's seductive gaze.
"What did you have in mind…?" He asked softly. John smirked and leaned in close to his ear again.
"I bought you a little present while I was out tonight, mi sol, something I know you love so much…" He kissed Alexander's ear. "Battlestar Galactica." Alexander blinked and looked up at him.
"John… You're the best." He stood on his toes to give him a deep kiss before pulling away to get the DVD player ready. John chuckled at how excited he was.
They spent the rest of the night cuddling on the couch, watching Battlestar, eating pizza, and sharing kisses… An absolutely perfect night.