Work Text:
“Remind me how we ended up here again?” Nick asked, glancing up and down the street.
Schmidt gave a deep, dramatic sigh. “We’re here to pick out new candles for the loft, Nicholas! There’s an artesian candle maker that only sells at markets like this and I must find him.”
This particular market had blocked off a street close to their apartment complex and lined both sides of it with booths for vendors of various kinds to sell their wares out of. It was incredibly busy at the moment, with visitors ducking in and out of booths, running around with overstuffed bags, and milling about on the nearby sidewalks. The ground was covered in an extremely thin layer of snow, which was doing nothing to hinder the hustle and bustle of the open-air market.
“Okay, why did you drag the rest of us out here, then?” Nick glanced at both Jess and Winston before turning back to Schmidt.
“We all have to agree on which candles to buy! If I selected an aromatic profile that one or more of you disliked, I know that I’d never hear the end of it,” he explained.
“Oh no, not the aromatic profile!” Jess said sarcastically, clutching at the lapel of her coat to play up the drama.
Nick chuckled at her theatrics before joining in himself. “Yeah, not the all-important candle scents! I’m so glad you dragged us all out of our warm, cozy loft and to this outdoor Christmas market so that we could pick between pine and evergreen scented candles!”
“Come on, Nick, you know that if we’d let Schmidt come out here by himself, he’d get some really girly candles. Do you want the entire loft to smell like lavender for as long as those big candles last?” Winston asked.
“Hey, there’s nothing wrong with lavender candles!” Jess protested.
“Wait, everyone! Look! There’s a booth selling handmade soap!” Schmidt exclaimed, pointing to a stall on the other side of the bustling walkway, “Aw, man, we really hit the jackpot.”
He quickly glanced side to side before breaking off from the group and darting over to begin inspecting the soaps. Winston shook his head at his roommate’s enthusiasm, but quickly did the same and went to join him in picking up and sniffing the sample products.
Jess and Nick were left on the other side of the road, both seemingly making the decision to let their roommates ogle the soaps without them. They continued strolling down the road at an incredibly slow pace, content to keep taking in the sights and sounds of the market without participating in the controlled chaos. However, out of the corner of her eye, Jess soon noticed a stand set up by an elderly woman who was selling various knitted accessories.
“Wait, Nick! Let’s look over here!” She impulsively grabbed him by the hand and began pulling him over to the booth.
“Huh? What’s…oh. These are kinda pretty.”
A table at the front of the booth was covered in no small number of scarves; some pastel-colored, some dyed in an ombré pattern, some made of wool, and others made of an almost impossibly fuzzy material. Bags were hung from racks on the sides of the booth, colorful headbands were displayed on a special holder, and a great big knitted blanket was spread across the back of the stall.
“Hi, need any help?” the woman inside the booth asked.
“Oh no, we’re just looking!” Jess said quickly.
She was taking her time to admire each one of the scarves, running her hands over them as she did so. It wasn’t long before one of her hands hovered over a particular scarf and she picked it up off the table to inspect it more closely.
“Wow, this one’s really pretty.”
Nick leaned in next to her to get a better look at it. This particular scarf was made with a more intricate stitch and incredibly soft pastel pink yarn. Everything about it screamed ‘Jess’, and it was no surprise at all to Nick that this was the one she gravitated towards.
“You gonna get it?” he asked.
Jess hummed, taking another moment to look over it. “No, I don’t think so. It’s nice, but I don’t really need it.” Carefully, she spread it back out on the table and smoothed it into place. “I’m gonna go check on Schmidt and Winston. Make sure they haven’t bought too many hand soaps,” she said, giving the scarf one last wistful look before ducking across the street to join her other roommates.
Nick made sure she was out of earshot before making his next move. He flagged down the woman running the booth and pointed to the pastel pink scarf.
“Hey! Uh, how much for this one?”
—-
Eventually, the residents of apartment 4D found Schmidt’s candle maker and settled on a batch of vanilla scented candles, Winston insisting that vanilla was a manly scent upon receiving gentle teasing about girly scents from Jess. It wasn’t long before they were back in the loft and preparing to watch the day’s football game, with Schmidt and Winston quickly making themselves comfortable on the couch. Jess was about to head for her room when Nick reached out and grabbed her by the arm in the foyer.
“Wha- Nick? What’s up?”
He stood in total silence for a moment, gripping her wrist and still fumbling for the right words. “I, well, uh…look, I got you something. It was supposed to be a Christmas present, but I want you to get as much use out of it as you can while it’s cold, so…” Nick let go of his roommate’s hand and reached down into his coat to pull out a grocery bag, which he immediately handed over to Jess. “Here. Merry Christmas.”
She eyed him curiously for a moment before pulling open the bag and gasping. “Nick! You got me the scarf?!”
“Yeah. Of course I did! You seemed to really like it.”
Before he knew what hit him, Jess sprung forward to envelop Nick in a tight embrace. He quickly regained his composure and hugged her back, wrapping one arm tightly around her waist and cradling the back of her head with his free hand.
“I do. Thanks, Miller. Who knew you could be so thoughtful?”
He smirked as they pulled apart, their faces landing hardly more than a few centimeters apart.
“I certainly didn’t. It’s news to me too,” he joked.
Jess beamed, taking the scarf all the way out of the bag and wrapping it loosely over her shoulders. “Well, I know what I’m going to be wearing for the rest of the winter.”
Nick tilted his head to one side in mock confusion. “Huh, what?”
“This, dummy!” she said, flicking one end of the garment so that it brushed against his cheek.
He chuckled, unable to keep from smiling as he watched Jess fiddle with the scarf until it was perfectly draped over her.
“Well, I’m happy to hear that. Glad you like it.”
“I, for one, am glad that you’re a big ol’ softie.”
Nick's smile widened for a brief second. “I guess I am, huh?”
Jess smiled back. “Yeah, I guess you are. Merry Christmas, Nick. I have a present for you, too, but I’ll wait until the actual holiday to give it to you.”
Nick rolled his eyes. “Forgive me for being a little too excited about my newfound generosity.”
“You’re forgiven.”
He met Jess’ gaze. Briefly, he thought that the world would be a much better place if only everyone on earth could be on the receiving end of her smile, just once. Instead of telling her this, Nick simply tried to make his smile be as radiant as hers.
“Thanks, Jess. Again, merry Christmas.”