Chapter Text
[Nath, can you meet me at the usual place? 😉 Marc]
Canal Saint-Martin was so peaceful in winter; everything was draped in snow, from the banks of the canal to the bare branches of the trees.
“Hey there,” he called, walking up to Marc waiting on one of the bridges. “What’s up?”
Marc quickly handed him a little red box, tied with a blue and silver ribbon. “Here’s the first. Come meet me here again tomorrow, okay?”
“Tomorrow? Wait, is this…”
“Eight gifts for eight days, right?” Marc chuckled nervously.
Nathaniel immediately threw his arms around Marc. He was too sweet.
Marc giggled a little as he leaned into Nathaniel's embrace, giving him a little kiss to his cheek as they pulled back.
"I hope I'm doing this right. I don't have a lot of experience Hanukkah traditions."
"You have done some reading though, haven't you?" Nathaniel held up the gift box, barely avoiding the temptation to shake it for a clue to its contents. Marc nodded and sheepishly fiddled with his hands.
"I may have stayed up until 2am reading about gelt and dreidels and the cultural shift from Purim due to Christmas commercialism..."
Nathaniel shook his head with a chuckle and placed his hands on Marc's shoulders. Of course he would go above and beyond, just like he did with all his writing research.
"You're literally sweeter than sugar, you know that?"
Marc held onto Nathaniel's shoulders as well, giving him a soft chuckle with a knowing nod.
"I should be getting home. I'll see you tomorrow."
The two of them leaned in to a gentle kiss. It was quick and chaste, but the brief contact was enough to tint their cheeks a light pink. As they pulled back they gazed into each other's eyes, perfectly content to spend hours there in their own little moment, ignoring the chill of the winter air around them. They waved goodbye speechlessly, walking off to opposite sides with love written in their smiles, eagerly awaiting their meeting the next day, and then again for the next week.
Nathaniel set the present down on his desk, and started untying the ribbon and unwrapping the red paper. As soon as he caught a glimpse of a couple of japanese kana, his heart skipped a beat and he immediately pulled the box from the wrapping paper, staring at his brand new set of manga brush pens. He'd wanted to try using these for months, and he immediately grabbed one of his sketchpads.
He must have spent hours at his desk just drawing with his new pens; trying to get the strokes right and practicing shading by inking some of his older sketches. It was a lot of fun working with them and seeing what new effects he could make. He had to draw his boyfriend with his gift, and turned to a blank page to start a new drawing. He thought back to when they met today on Passerelle de Mornay, vividly remembering his bright eyes and that angelic smile, his dark hair and vibrant clothes dusted with frost. He was so intently focused on the drawing that he almost missed his mother calling him from the other room.
"Chamud, the sun sets in five minutes."
"Coming, ima!"
Nathaniel stood up from his desk, looking at his almost completed drawing. He took out his phone to snap a picture and sent it to Marc to show him how much he loved the first present. Then he set his phone to silent and went to join his mother for the first lighting.
When he came back, he would find Marc with a new profile picture.