Christmas Day

Seconds after Alexander had opened his eyes he jumped out of his bed. Not even bothering to change out of his pyjamas he bolted straight for the living room, feeling a rush of excitement course through his body. It was finally Christmas.

"Alex!" John shouted giddily as Alexander skidded to a stop in front of him. The boy greeted him with a kiss on the nose, his eyes sparkling.
"It's Christmas!"
Alexander laughed and pulled him in for a hug. "I know that. You're basically flying."
John grinned at him, exaltation practically radiating of him.
"We're just waiting for Laf now," Hercules said from where he was sprawled on the sofa. "We figured we'd wait for everyone to wake up before opening our gifts." His eyes darted to their stockings, hanging on the wall and full of presents.

"I'm already here, mon amour." Lafayette said sleepily from his doorway. He pulled his arms over his head, stretching, before turning to them with a wide smile.
"Merry Christmas guys!"
"Merry Christmas!" they chorused.

"So who goes first?" John asked, eyeing his stocking like a dog eying a jar of peanut butter.
"You can," Lafayette said with a small smile. "Before you start drooling."
John glared at him, but refrained from commenting in favour of attacking his stocking.
"Okay this one is from… Herc."
He tore open the packet, revealing fluffy socks.
"Sweet, thanks dude!" He immediately put them on, wiggling his toes in satisfaction. "My feet were getting cold."
Hercules smiled softly. "No problem."
John continued his gift opening spree, tearing into a red square-shaped one.
"That's from me," Laf said. "I forgot the sticker."
John hummed, grabbing hold of an edge and tearing the paper of. Out fell a beautiful, leather bound sketch book – the same he'd been eying yesterday. His face fell.
"Oh my God," he whispered, "Laf you– you should have."
Lafayette smiled a small, self congratulatory smile.
"Don't mention it."
John cradle the notebook to his chest, his eyes unusually shiny.
"Thank you so much."
Lafayette just waved his hand at him. "Open Alexander's now, before he bursts with anticipation."
Alexander shoved him, but had a hard time denying it. He was basically jumping up and down as he waited for John to grab his gift.

"Oh wow Alex," John laughed as he revealed the little turtle. "That's adorable."
"Try it!" Alexander giggled. "Look it walks around."
He leaned over Herc to flip the little switch on the turtle's side, allowing it to walk across the floor.
John smiled fondly at it. "I love it Alex, thanks. I think I'll name her, eh, Alexa!"
"Alexa?" Lafayette smirked. "Hmm I wonder where you got that name from."
"Shut up!" John laughed. "She will join George Shellton in the family."
Alexa choose that moment to walk right into Hercules leg.

Laf decided that he'd get to go next, and immediately grabbed Alexander's gift. As he unwrapped it he accidentally pressed the button to turn it on, and they all jumped as it started blaring the French anthem.
"Holy shit Alex," he choked out, falling to the floor and shaking with laughter. "That's hilarious."
"And look," Hercules said, pointing towards the lights. "It even shines in the American colors!"
Lafayette threw the wrapping paper at him.

"Well this is fancy," Lafayette noted and pulled out a gift adorned with so many ribbons you could hardly see it. "I'm guessing it's from you, Herc?"
Hercules nodded, looking down at his hands.
"Oh." Lafayette said as he opened it to reveal a box of candies. His eyes almost teared up. "Oh wow."
"Do you like it?" Hercules asked nervously. "They're like French Christmas candies, I thought you said you–"
"It's amazing," Lafayette interrupted him. "Like it's, it's– I love you so much."
Hercules smiled shyly at him, and Lafayette almost tackled him to the floor with a hug.
"Well this is a lot of pressure for me now," John complained. "Why do you all have to give such good gifts?"
"We're just plain amazing," Alexander smirked. "But Laf, quit snogging Mulligan and open John's now."
Lafayette, surprisingly, obeyed.
John's gift turned out great as well.
"That's fantastic," Lafayette laughed.
"I thought so," John grinned.
Laf held up two potholders for the others to see. On them the words "My kitchen, my rules." were embroidered.
"In case you ever forget," he smirked.

It turned out, as Lafayette declared he was done, that Alexander and Hercules couldn't agree on who'd get to go next.
Just do rock, paper, scissors," Lafayette whined, "I want breakfast."
Hercules rolled his eyes, but didn't argue.
"Rock paper scissors shoot!" the two yelled as Alexander threw paper and Hercules scissors.
"Dammit! Okay you go then."
"Thank you," Hercules smirked. "Okay so this is from Laf."
Laf had gotten him a candied apple, which seemed to make him incredibly happy.
"How on earth did you know? Oh– but that was so long ago!"
Lafayette shrugged. "I've got a good memory."
"Care to explain?" John asked.
Hercules carefully placed the apple back in its box before answering. "Well, when I was young we had this family tradition. Every Christmas morning the children would get a candied apple, and we would eat them while the adults prepared the gifts. It was really cozy and such a nice time, so it's kind of associated with Christmas for me. I think I mentioned it to Laf sometime last summer," He glanced at his boyfriend, who nodded in confirmation. "But I didn't know he remembered it."
"Of course I did," Lafayette said softly.

Eventually Hercules continued opening his gifts, picking up a chalk pen with an attached brush from John.
"That's neat! Thanks!"
"I thought it might be handy, you're always leave those chalk thingys all over the house."
Hercules stuck his tongue out at him and went to open Alexander's box of chocolates.
"At this rate I'll be obese before we even get to dinner," he laughed. "But thanks!"
"And now it's my turn!" Alexander yelled and threw himself over his stocking.
"Geez," Hercules mutter. "I was trying to show appreciation but sure."
Alexander pretend he didn't hear him.
"So this one is from Laf. It's a…" He tore at the paper. "A pen! Thank you"
Indeed, it was a fancy ink pen, elegantly made and with a silvery inscription on the side.
"Creatio ex nihilo," he read.
"It means creation out of nothing" Lafayette answered before being asked. "I thought it was fitting."
"It is," Alexander said. "Thanks."
He pulled another gift out if the stocking, but John protested.
"No! Open Herc's first!"
"Eh okay, sure," Alexander said, confused. Still he put the gift to the side and took the last one instead.

Inside of it was a thermos mug.
"For that coffee addiction of yours," Hercules smirked.
"Oh shut up Mulligan! At least I'm not having energy drinks."
"Oh God." Lafayette shuddered. "Imagine Hamilton on energy drinks."
"Nope nope nopetiy nope nope."
"Exactly," Alexander laughed. "You should be grateful. Can I open yours now John?"
"Sure," John said uncertainly. "I don't know if you'll like it though."
After assuring him that he would Alexander grabbed the gift. It was small and rectangular, and he wondered what was inside that would make John so nervous.

It turned out to be a photo album.
"Oh that's cool! Thanks."
John shook his head.
"Open it." His voice was shaking.
Alexander did, and was stuck speechless.

It was filled with hundreds of photos, so many they covered every single page. There were photos of him and John having lunch together, eating ice cream, hanging out in the park, studying. There were pictures of him when he was curled up in the sofa, and pictures of George Shellton in his suit. There were photos from the school play, and from the Halloween party. Every now and then there were sketches, of him and John together, or of just Alexander, or of all four of them. Just small doodles and snapshots, all dated. The times spanned from the beginning of the school year all the way to the present. At the very last page was a note in John's handwriting.

This time has been better than any gift I could've have wished for. Thank you so much.
Love you, John

It made Alexander tear up.

Eventually he managed to compose himself again. After assuring a quite horrified Lafayette and Hercules, who hadn't seen the inside of the album, that he was okay they sat down to have breakfast. Well, after he'd also hugged John for about ten minutes.
"Can we open the other gifts now?" Hercules said through a mouth full of porridge.
"You haven't even finished your food yet, and we literally just opened our stockings," Lafayette remarked.
Hercules made his best puppy face at him, "Please?"
Lafayette visibly melted. "Fine. Just finish your food first. Eh, if that's okay with everyone else?"
John and Alexander looked at each other.
"I don't think anyone is gonna say no to gifts," Alexander said.
John nodded rapidly.

"So how are we doing this then?" Alexander asked when they were seated on the floor next to John's paper Christmas tree.
"How about we open one each and then keep going until we're done?" John suggested.
"Sounds good to me," Hercules said.
"Yeah, and I'm starting this time!" Alexander said and nicked a random gift from under the tree.
"Sweet it's to me! From, eh, Herc and Laf?" He grinned at them. "Are you giving joined Christmas gifts now?"
"Just open it," Hercules drawled.
Alexander did, tearing at the paper.
"This is impossible!" He finally got it of, only to reveal a second layer.
"Are you kidding me?"
Lafayette just grinned expectantly at him.

Eventually he got through, and held up his gift. It was similar to the sketch book given to John, just much, much thicker. It was bound in dark red leather, engraved with a pattern so intricate he felt like he could stare at it for hours. He carefully turned it over to its spine, his eyes tracing over the gilded cursive.

The Lord Of The Rings
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Fellowship Of The Ring
–
The Two Towers
–
The Return Of The King
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
J.R.R Tolkien

"Thank you so much," Alexander whispered, staring down at the beautiful book. He opened it, mindful of the spine, and looked at the pages. They were super thin and tinted yellow, like aged parchment. Every page was surrounded by a little border made of the most detailed leafs. It was gorgeous.
"I think he likes it, "Lafayette said and grinned at Hercules.
Hercules nodded and raised his hand for a high five.

"While you two are celebrating your victory I'm going to open my gifts," John said. He reached into the pile of presents and rummaged through it until he found one with his name on.
"This one is from Laf," he said and straightened up. "Oh wow it's heavy."
Lafayette smirked at him.
"Time to hit the gym, ami?"
"I think it's time to hit your head."
Despite his threats, John opted for opening the gift instead of slamming it into is friend. Out of the paper came a big white box, containing a desk lamp.
"Look it twists like this," Laf said, unable to contain himself any longer. He grabbed the lamp and spun the metal rod holding the bulb in a circle. "So you don't have to complain about not seeing your drawings anymore."
John blinked. "That's– that's so nice of you."
"I've been known to have my moments."
"Oh and you can also charge your phone here, "Lafayette added and pointed at a jack in the lamp's base. "It's like, multifunctional."
"Its awesome! " John said with a grin. "Thank you."
"I really want to open Laf's gift to me now, they seem to be speactacular," Hercules muttered. He reached into the pile and pulled one out.
"Oh, this is from Alexander," he said disappointedly. Then he looked up, and seemed to realize what he'd said. "I didn't mean it like that! I'm sure it's really great!"
Alexander waved him off. "Just open it," he chuckled.

At least Hercules seemed very happy with his headphones, despite the fact that they weren't from Laf. He immediately hung them around his neck, smiling like a child on Christmas Day. Which, Alexander supposed, he kind of was. A big child.

"Now it's my turn!" Lafayette declared. He grabbed one of the presents and turned it over to find the label.
"Why is there so many many ribbons," He muttered. "Oh here– to Lafayette from John."
"Mmhm," John nodded, looking excitedly at the gift.
Lafayette noticed his stare and opened it agonizingly slowly, drawing out John's wait. Finally the paper fell off.
"It's a cooking book!"
"Yuop."
"That's great." He immediately started flipping through the pages. "Look, they even have a recipe for Marquise au Chocolat!"
"For what?" Alexande laughed. "Isn't that you name?"
"It's a dessert," Lafayette answered absentmindedly, still looking through the book. "I'll make it for you sometime."
"Cannibalism," Hercules muttered. "The Marquise de Lafayette eats the Marquise de Chocolat.
"It's Marquise au Chocolat! And my name is Marquis!"
"It's gonna be Marquise au Revoir," Hercules shot back. "Cause I'm leaving this conversation."

After Lafayette and Hercules were given time to calm down from the burns the gift opening session continued. They decided to skip over Alexander, much to his dismay, as he'd "already gotten two gifts".
"That's no fair!"
"Oh yes it is," John said with a grin as he started opening his gift from Alexander.
"Of course you're gonna think that!"
"I very much do," John said and took out his new brush set. He gasped. "They are beautiful!"
"Are they? "Alexander asked uncertainly. "Do they work though? I didn't know what kind I was supposed to get but the lady said they would be fine for–"
"Shhhhh," John said and put his finger over Alexander's lips. "Yes. They are perfect. Thank you."
Alexander slumped back, satisfied with his success.
"Now I get to go!" Hercules announced and grabbed another packet. "This one's from John."
"It feels very hard," he muttered as he turned the gift over. "Don't–" he added, "misinterpret that."
Lafayette snorted.
"I think it's a book," Hercules said, trying to gloss over his innuendo.
"Aha!" He exclaimed as the gift revealed itself. "It's a model book!"
The cover of the book showed different suits and dresses, and it was titled 101 patterns and inspirations.
Hercules looked up at his friend. "Thanks John!"
"No problem," John said, unable to hide the small happy smile on his face. "I thought you'd like it."
"I do."

The next gift went to Laf, who suspiciously squeezed it.
"It's very soft, I assume it's from Herc." He spun it around. "Yeah look I was right."
"Stop fondling it and show us what it is," Alexander laughed.
It turned out to be long and fluffy scarf.
"Neat! Did you make it?"
Hercules shrugged. "Yeah, I was looking for one in the shops but I couldn't find any so…"
"Fantastic," Lafayette said and leaned over to hug him. "I love it."
Just to really show his appreciation he immediately wrapped it around himself.
"That's gonna get very warm," John noted.
"Meh, New York is always so chilly anyways. Now open yours, Alex."
"If I can find it," Alexander muttered as he looked through the pile. Finally he turned over one that was very clearly the largest of the bunch.
"Hey this one's for me!"
"Of course you'd get the biggest one," Hercules complained.
John smirked at him. "Your jealousy is showing."
"I'm not jealous!"
"Sure," Alexander muttered and lifted it up so he could open it.
"John what could possibly be this big."
"I guess you have to open it to see."

It took him almost five minutes to unwrap, it was packed so tightly. But eventually he did, and found a large fluffy face grinning at him.
"It's a dog," he gasped, lifting it out of the paper. "Its humongous!"
It was. The large brown mass of fluff was a stuffed animal, at least four feet tall. It's dark eyes looked happily at Alexander, as if overjoyed to seem him.
"Oh my god." Alexander let himself fall forward, wrapping his arms around the dog."It's so soft!"
Hercules slowly extended his hand, petting the dog. "Its just a big ball of floof."
"Yes, and it's my floof," Alexander said. He instantly brightened. "That shall be his name!"
"Floof?" John laughed, "Sure, I'll take it."
"Nenne, George Shellton, Alexa, and Floof," Hercules counted. "This seems to be growing trend."
"Yep," Lafayette said, "but Floof does not need to grow anymore."
Alexander snuggled up to the dogs tummy. "Honestly I think it could double as a bed too."
John grinned happily at him.

Hercules then proceeded to open his gift from Laf. It turned out to be a beautiful backpack, almost black but with a hint of blue and purple.
"I like it a lot, thanks Laf."
Lafayette said nothing, but just looked at the bag. Hercule took the hint and opened it.
"Oh there's so many compartments, look it even has a space for headphones! And it's so big."
He stuck his hands down the back of it, and his expression immediately changed. He gasped and withdrew his hand, a flash of metal visible through his fingers.
Neither of the others could see what he was looking at, though Alexander thought he got a glint of a chain.
Then Hercules violently tackled Lafayette to the floor and kissed him. Hard.
"Euuuuggh," John and Alexander moaned, but there was no actual annoyance to it. Whatever Lafayette had given Hercules it was obviously very, very emotional. So they let the two have their moment.

"Final gift then," Lafayette said as he grabbed it. His hair was still a mess from Hercules' attack, but neither John nor Alexander felt like they should comment on it. Instead they just let Lafayette excitedly tear into the red paper around Alexander's last gift.
"Oh no you didn't" Lafayette exclaimed. "Now you're forcing me to try making macarons?"
"Indeed I am," Alexander grinned. "You always seem so upset about the American versions.
"Yeah, cause they suck."
"So now you can make ones that don't."
"But it's so hard," Lafayette sighed. "Oh well it should be fun, thanks."
"Maybe there's a recipe in that new cooking book of yours," Hercules remarked, grabbing it and flipping through it.
"Here! It says: The Finest French Macarons."
"Right," Lafayette laughed, "just don't expect any masterpieces the first time around.
"We won't," Alexander sighed contently and leaned back on his stuffed dog.
"So we've finished all the gifts now?" John said, nudging Alex's side so he too could use the dog as a headrest.
"Mmhmm," Lafayette confirmed.
"Sweet."

There was a moment of silence as all of them looked at each other, their faces illuminated by the soft lights of their dorm. Somewhere in the distance a bell chimed.
"Merry Christmas guys," John said with a smile.
"Merry Christmas!"

Merry Christmas! I hope you liked this continuation of yesterday's Christmas saga. Maybe it will get some of you in the Christmas spirit. Well, have a great day and enjoy the holidays, whichever you are celebrating! Take care!