Snacks and gifts

Alexander, John, Hercules and Lafayette wandered around the stalls, breathing in the smell of warm drinks, spices and confectionary. It was December the 24th, and the Christmas Eve market was booming. All around them were people laughing, talking and joking. The day was crisp and cold, and there was an air of anticipation all around them.

"Look! Burnt almonds!" John called, pointing towards a red and white stall. Sure enough, an old man was selling the sugary treat out of an enormous vat. John darted off, quickly returning to the others with a white paper bag.
"Oh I love these," Lafayette said and popped a handful in his mouth.
"Hey those were mine!"
"Yeah sure." Lafayette rolled his eyes. "As if you were going to eat all of them by yourself."
John huffed, but offered the bag to Hercules and Alexander too. Lafayette grinned at him, fully aware that John had planned on sharing them. Even he couldn't eat that much candy in one go.
Alexander immediately took a handful, but Hercules looked suspiciously at the almonds for a long time and it wasn't until Lafayette assured him that it was a normal european treat that he finally nibbled at one. From the look on his face, he was pleasantly surprised.

The four strolled along the fair after that, nicking the almond bag from each other and pointing at things in random stalls. Lafayette tried on a ridiculous hat in one of them, adorned with jingling bells and blinking christmas trees. This led to him having both his fashion sense and eyesight seriously questioned by the others. It was only after Hercules informed him that he'd never go out with him in public again if he bought it that he put it down; even then it took him almost ten minutes to make the decision.

Ironically enough, Laf was the one to try and pull John and Alexander away from a tiny blue stall shortly afterwards. The young girl behind it's desk sold all sorts of fancy books and pens, and Alexander was particularly entranced by a long swooping quill. Rationally, he knew he had no use of such a pen – he didn't even own ink. But he'd be damned if he didn't want it anyway. The lightness of the feather and the speckled pattern was insanely beautiful. It made his hands itch with desire to try it out.
John was equally captured by the numerous sketchbooks, and was looking fondly at one bound in engraved leather. Even after Alexander had finally decided that he didn't need the quill, John was still holding the book, weighing it in his hands.
"Come on," Lafayette sighed impatiently. "With the way you are stroking that book it's gonna expect you to take it out for dinner soon."
John glared at him, but put the book down.
"I already have sketchbooks," he declared wistfully, looking at the book as if it was his firstborn child.
"Wow," Alexander laughed. "If you want it that much I can buy it for you."
"Nah," John said with a smile. "It's cool."
"Right then," Alexander said and nudged him in the side. "Should we do some actual Christmas shopping?"
"Yes," Lafayette said thoughtfully, eyeing the beautiful book.

The four decided to split up after that, to allow for the possibility of getting each other gifts. They'd already decided they would buy two for each person, one small to put in the stocking and one under the tree. That way, they'd reasoned, they'd get a decent Christmas Day even though their families weren't visiting. Lafayette would go up to meet his relatives on Boxing Day instead, and Hercules would leave town on the evening of Christmas Day. John weren't leaving until the morning of the 27th, because his sister hadn't been able to get away from school until then. Alexander was coming with him, as John'd pulled him aside one night and invited him along since Alexander wouldn't be celebrating with family anyways. As an orphan he only had one living relative; his cousin, who was not too keen on celebrating the holiday with him. Alexander found the feeling was mutual. He was much more interested in spending it with John, though he had to admit he was also a bit nervous. They hadn't yet decided if they were going to tell John's parents about their relationship, a detail John had conveniently forgotten to mention to them. Alexander supposed they would figure it out eventually. Right now, the more pressing matter was finishing up the gifts.

As he looked around the market for suitable objects he mulled over the list in his head. One small and one big packet for each of his friends, to a – as Lafayette had said – "reasonable price". The guy himself would get a macaron making kit, as he always complained about how the American version just wasn't quite right but he didn't have the equipment to make them himself. Alexander just needed to get something for his stocking. John was the opposite problem, as Alexander had found a tiny robotic turtle in the store the other day. It was barely an inch big and supposedly crawled across the floor, which would obviously be the perfect gift. Just the thought of John's face as he opened it made Alexander smile, so his stocking was all set and done. Hercules was another thing entirely. Alexander had taken a chance and bought him a pair of new headphones, which was convenient as Herc had manage to snip the cord to his last week, as he'd thought it was a piece of string. How someone could be that mistaken was lost to Alexander. At least it made his Christmas shopping a lot easier.

"Chocolates! Come and taste some chocolates!" someone called. Alexander turned, seeing a young woman standing in a stall trying to catch the attention of passersby. Intrigued, he went closer.

"Hello," the woman said with a smile. "Would you like to taste some pralines? We have pistachio, milk, coffee."
"Sure," Alexander answered. She smiled at him and gave him a wooden platter, on which small samples of chocolates were standing. Alexander took one, and it melted in his mouth, rich in flavor.
"Oh, wow. That's very good."
"It is, isn't it? Oh you should try the espresso as well!"
So Alexander did.
"It's delicious."
"Of course, and it would make a great gift as well." She winked at him.
"Actually," Alexander said slowly, realizing he still had no plan for Hercules' stocking. He'd thought about buying some sewing stuff, but he honestly knew nothing about those things. "Do you have like a box of it?"
"Yeah sure," she said, slightly taken aback that he'd actually taken her suggestion. "What flavors would you like?"
Alexander eyed the samples displayed.
"Could you like… pick some good ones? It's for my friend, eh, he's a freshman if that helps."
"Freshman, huh?" the girl asked as she began to pick chocolates for him "You don't go to King's college do you?"
Alexander stared at her.
"I do. How did you know?"
She laughed warmly, a sound as rich as the candy she was selling. "Just a guess, I go there myself. My names Theodosia, I'm a freshman too."
"Oh, nice. I'm Alexander. Alexander Hamilton."
Her brows furrowed at the mention of his name, but it was over so quickly that Alexander wasn't sure if it'd really happened.
"It's nice to meet you," she said sincerely, taking his outstretched hand. "Oh, here is your chocolate, I hope he likes them."
She gave him a box, skillfully wrapped with red ribbons. Alexander took it with a smile.
"Thanks. Well, merry Christmas to you."
"You too, maybe I'll see you around in school!"

She waved at him as he walked away, and Alexander was happy that he'd managed to get at least one gift done. He couldn't believe he'd never seen this Theodosia before though, especially of she was in his year group. Although he didn't like to admit it, she was pretty enough that he would've remembered her. Maybe she just hung out in different circles.

The next stop he made was at a little cot selling artsy stuff. Alexander smiled to himself as he picked out a set of brushes and a travel sized watercolor kit. John would love them, he was sure of it. He just hoped he got the right kind of brushes, but the woman selling them assured him it would be fine. Otherwise John would probably find a way to use them anyways, right? Surely there couldn't be that many kinds of different brushes.

Alexander was so lost in his mental debate about art equipment that he almost walked right past the green stall. He only stopped because he thought he heard Laf. He turned around, trying to spot his friend, but he was nowhere in sight. Eventually his eyes landed on the little stall and he almost choked on laughter.
There was a small Eiffel tower statue standing amongst a bunch of other souvenir-esque things. It was lit up in blue, white, and red, and it was current singing the national anthem of France. Still trying to not burst out in laughter Alexander immediately purchased it. Apparently he'd managed to get everyone's gifts.

The group spent the rest of Christmas Eve back in their dorm, enjoying a quiet meal together. They decided to just go to there rooms afterwards, so that everyone could "get stuff done".
"Which means that you should stay the hell out of my room so I can wrap up your presents, got it?" Lafayette clarified.
The others nodded.
"It was quite clear from the beginning," Hercules chuckled. "There was no need to spell it out."
Lafayette rolled his eyes. "Just making sure you stay out of my room – the whole night."
Hercules pouted, and John groaned loudly.
"I would say get a room, but it seems like you need at least two. So I'm going to mine instead." He looked at Alexander. "You can't come in either, or I swear I will wrap you up too."
Alexander raised his hands in surrender. "Got it."

In reality he was quite glad at how things worked out, because it turned out that wrapping presents took a lot longer than he thought. He was certain it was past midnight when he snuck out to deliver his friends' gifts. At least none of them saw him. Which, he assumed, was probably cause they were all sleeping. Alexander decided to follow their example, and curled up in his bed in anticipation of Christmas morning.

Hello guys! I hope you all have an awesome break (if you're on it, otherwise I hope you have an awesome day). To all my Swedish people who celebrate today on Christmas Eve - god jul! And if you're not Swedish but also celebrate today then merry Christmas! If you celebrate it on the 25th (which I know is the regular thing to do) then I hope you have a great night, and if you don't celebrate anything right now then I hope you have a great night too. Also happy holidays to everyone who celebrates other things at this time of year, I hope you have an amazing time! Thanks for reading, take care!