Alexander woke up in the unfamiliar bed, noting how much better he slept on its soft mattress than his at home, which was practically a rock compared to this one. His head was only pounding a little, better than what he though it would be. Rolling out of bed, he drew back the curtains and raised the blinds, the bright sunlight streaming in caused him to squint and making his headache worsen. The storm of the previous night had given way to a beautiful spring day. Down on the street, cars crawled by as bicycles wove their way between them. On the sidewalks, men and women hurried to work, and teenagers carrying backpacks and coffee cups strolled to school. Judging by the commotion below him, he figured it was a little past eight in the morning.

Not wanting to be the first one awake, Alexander pressed his ear against the white, wooden door listening for any little noise that would signify John was also awake. After a few moments, Alex heard clanging of pans in the kitchen, so it was safe for him to emerge from the bedroom. He quickly rubbed his eyes and pulled his hair into a ponytail, checking himself in the mirror hanging over the dresser, deeming his reflection acceptable, except for the bruises that had formed under his eyes as side effects of his broken nose. Rolling the waistband of his borrowed pajama pants to make them fit a bit better so John wouldn't laugh, he opened the door and walked to the kitchen. He slid into a stool at the kitchen bar counter.

"Good morning!" John chirped, stirring a bowl of what Alexander believed to be pancake batter.

"Morning," Alex replied, attempting to match John's positive tone. Of course John was a morning person.

"Sleep well?" John smiled, setting the bowl down and spraying non-stick spray into a pan. Alexander nodded, smiling back; he rested his chin on his hands and watched John begin to pour batter into the pan, which was now on the burner. The stove top was directly in front on the breakfast bar, so the two boys were facing one another. "Head hurt?" John smirked knowingly, flipping a pancake. When Alex nodded, a defeated look on his face, John reached to his left to grab a bottle of painkillers from where he had set them earlier that morning knowing that Alexander would most likely need them. He reached up and set them on the breakfast bar, hitting the bottle so it would slide to Alex. "There's cups in the cabinet," he moved his head to point out the cabinet, flipping another pancake, "if you need some water to take those," he continued.

"Thank you," Alexander twisted the cap open and shook two little, blue pills onto his palm. He walked into the kitchen, found the cabinet, pulled out a cup, walked to the sink to fill it with water, popped the pills into his mouth, and swallowed them with some water.

"These will be ready in like a minute," John told Alexander as he walked over and leaned on the counter beside the cooking boy.

"I'll get out some plates, where are those?" Alexander decided he wants to be helpful and getting out plates is the least he could do to lend a hand.

"Cabinet to the right of the cup cabinet," John replied, flipping the last pancake. Alexander wandered over and pulled two white ceramic plates from the cabinet and set them next to the matching plate that currently held a large stack of pancakes. "Take whatever you want," John said to him, setting out syrup and turning his attention to cutting up a few strawberries he had taken out of the fridge. Alexander poked three pancakes with a fork, transferring them to his plate and went on to drown them in syrup. He retook his seat on one of the stools and a few moments later John joined him, setting a glass of water in front of him and offering some cut up berries, which Alex took.

"Holy crap, these are really good," Alexander exclaimed after shoving a bite into his mouth.

"Thanks," John laughed at him. "It's my grandmother's special secret Southern recipe," he winked at Alex, earning a laugh in return. The boys ate the rest of breakfast in relative silence, the conversation from the previous night an elephant in the room. Alexander honestly didn't think it was that big of a deal, so he didn't bring it up. John, on the other hand, was a little embarrassed he had kissed Alexander's face, so he didn't bring it up. Both boys were afraid of what might come out of their mouths if it was brought up, as they both tried to wrap their heads around the feelings that had struck their hearts in such a short amount of time.

After a good fifteen minutes, both boys had finished and John was rinsing the plates off in the sink, putting them, along with the bowl and utensils used to make the pancakes, into the dishwasher. Alexander was in the bathroom, changing back into his own clothes, which John had washed and dried before he went to sleep the previous night. He walked out, his shoes in his hands, and sat on the couch to put them on. "Oh yeah," John began from the kitchen, making his way over to Alexander. "Let me see your nose, I almost forgot about it."

"It's fine, I think. Just a little hard to breathe out of," Alexander stated his opinion of the state of his nose.

"Well, the swelling isn't too bad, so that's good," John said now sitting beside Alex on the couch, his hand on Alexander's chin to turn the boy's head in different directions to view all angles of his nose, but really he could see it fine from the front, he just wanted to touch Alexander in some way. "It is bruised pretty badly and you have two black eyes because of it, but it seems straight," John continued, trying to use a doctor voice.

"Thanks to you," Alexander pointed out, smiling.

"Yeah, I guess so," John laughed a little, his cheeks turning a slight pink. "Anyways, you'll be fine."

"So I'm not gonna die?" he deadpanned with a smirk.

John laughed harder this time and shook his head, "No, you won't die."

"Good because there's a million things I haven't done," Alexander laughed too, tying his shoes. "I guess I should probably get going now," he said standing up.

"You sure?" John stood up too, following Hamilton to the door. "We could go and get coffee or something if you want," he offered, not wanting to be without the boy's company just yet.

"No, I really should get home, I have work to do," as much as Alexander wanted to say yes, he had to say no.

"Are your finals not over?" John had a quizzical look on his face.

"They are, I just need to finish up an application for an internship with one of the congressmen who's office is here in Manhattan," Alexander explained.

"Oh, well, that sounds important, I won't keep you then," John stepped out from in front of the door, so Alexander could leave.

"Thank you, for everything, John," Alexander's voice was full of sincerity as he gave him a gracious smile, wondering if it would be a good idea to hug him or not.

"It's no problem, truly," John said, reaching out to touch his arm, noticing how Alexander leaned into his touch. "Oh yeah!" John exclaimed, breaking up the moment the boys were having. "Before you go, put your number into my phone," he pulled his phone out from his pocket, bring up the screen for Alexander to type is information into.

Alexander took the phone, staring at the screen for a second, his thumbs hovering over the keyboard before saying, "I don't actually have a cell phone, but I'll put a number in that you can reach me from," he began to type it in.

"Oh okay," John was shocked he didn't have a cell phone. How did he live?

"It's the phone number for the store I live above. The owner's name is Usnavi, he's a good guy, just tell him you want to talk to me and he'll get me," Alexander finished typing, he turned the phone off and handed it back to its owner.

"Gotcha," John nodded once, slipping his phone back into his pocket, proud of himself that he hadn't stuttered at all while asking Alexander for his number. "I'll call ya," John promised as Alex opened the door and stepped into the hallway.

"Already looking forward to it," Alexander grinned and winked. John laughed before exchanging parting words with Alex and shutting the door.

Now alone, he plopped down on his couch, turned on the TV, and pulled out his phone to call Lafayette, who answered after two rings. "Hey, John."

"Hey, Marquis. You'll never believe what just happened," John gushed.

"If I'll never guess, why even say that. Just tell me," Laf sounded bored.

"You're no fun. Alexander showed up at my place late last night soaking wet and asked if I could help him out," John told the boy on the other line the story.

"Do you believe in fate because I sure do," he sounded a lot more interested in the conversation now.

"And so I gave him some dry clothes and let him stay the night in my spare bedroom," John continued.

"You did WHAT?!" Lafayette exclaimed. "He spent the freaking night?"

"Yes, chill, he just left," John said nonchalantly.

"I know you are freaking out right now, stop playing it off," Lafayette knew his friend too well.

"Okay, you're right, I think I'm going to die!" John let his words flow out, the elation in his voice evident.

"Invite him to go out with Hercules and us tomorrow night," Laf suggested.

"No, I'd really rather not," John protested.

"I want to meet him, and, stop lying to yourself, you know you wanna," Marquis tried to persuade his friend.

"Fine," John didn't really put up much a fight, but still tried to sound annoyed.

"Great, I'm going to tell Herc the news now, bye Johnny!" Lafayette promptly hung up.

John stared at his phone for a moment before locking it and setting it down, shaking his head at his friend; Marquis had an uncanny ability to make everything about himself. Grabbing his lap desk and a pen, he set about finishing those applications so he could mail them out later that day.

-

It was late afternoon when John got back to his apartment after an excursion to drop his letters off at the post office and to grab a sandwich from the small corner deli on his street. With school finished for the term and no work to do, John was amazed at how utterly bored he was; he usually always had some paper or some studying to throw himself into, but now it was just him and his thoughts. His thoughts of Alexander, if we are being specific here.

John passed another half hour sprawled out on his couch scrolling though his social media timelines and playing mindless games. He ended up just staring at the ceiling, a loud sigh escaping his lips. Deciding the apartment was much too quiet, he jumped up and located his Bluetooth speaker on the counter top to sync his phone up. Shuffling his playlist, he grabbed the novel he was currently reading and curled up on a chair to try to kill his boredom with words. His plan was working until the first chords of Something by the Beatles filled the room.

Something in the way she moves, attracts me like no other lover.

Almost instantly, John's brain was thrown into a whirlwind. He was almost mad at himself at the way Alexander popped into his head as the word 'lover' was sung. Now unable to focus on his book, he shut it in a huff and tossed it onto the coffee table then relaxed back into the chair with a frustrated sigh.

Somewhere in her smile she knows, that I don't need no other lover.

Having this schoolgirl crush on Hamilton was infuriating; he couldn't remember the last time he fell so hard for someone. He wanted nothing more than for Alexander to be there now, their lips crushing together, bodies moving in time with the song. It was actually so annoying, hell, Alexander was so annoying. It wasn't fair, he had John wrapped around his finger, and he didn't even need to try. He was highly rude to him, John couldn't get him out of his mind. He magically appeared at the same coffee place as John looking like a street rat, offering him a feeble excuse, John practically fell in love right then. He was in his apartment, leaving much too quickly, John heart struck in his wake. But it wasn't until the previous night, when Alexander has showed up at his door, broken, that John has realized how his deep his feelings for the boy ran.

You're asking me will my love grow? I don't know, I don't know. You stick around and it may show, I don't know, I don't know.

'Of course my love will grow, it grows every freaking second,' John's brain answered George Harrison. His fingers tapped to the beat on the armrest of the chair, his teeth biting lightly on his bottom lip.

I don't want to leave her now, you know I believe and how.

By the end of the song, John was already across the room, grabbing his phone and turning off the music. Pulling up Alexander's contact information, he pressed the little icon that initiated a call to the store the boy lived above. "Oh, shoot," John said aloud, forgetting his phone was still hooked up to the speaker until ringing began to echo throughout his apartment. He quickly hung up, the phone only getting one full ring in. After disconnecting the speaker, he pressed the call button again, hoping the second time was the charm.

"Hello?" a voice on the other end answered.

"Hi, is this Usnavi?" John inquired, using his most polite voice.

"Uh, yeah, who's this?" it was now Usnavi's turn to ask a question.

"It's John Laurens. Al-" he began before he was cut off.

"Oh! John, of course. Hi! I assume you want me to get Alexander, right?" Usnavi's voice had livened up considerably, and John figured he was probably smirking. Evidently Alexander had been talking about him, and John felt his face flush a little at this.

"Yeah, if you could," John replied.

"Hold on, I've gotta go get him. Don't hang up," Usnavi told him. John heard a soft clatter as the phone was sat down. "Yo, Sonny, watch the register real quick. And don't touch the phone," John heard Usnavi yell to someone else in the store.

John set his phone down on the counter, staring at it, tapping his foot while he waited. He listened carefully for any sign of noise that would signify Alexander's arrival. After a few minutes, he heard voices over the line. He picked the phone back up just in time to hear Alexander say, "Hey, John."

"Hey!" John said, slightly overly excited. His heart quickened just a tad at the sound of Alex's voice.

"What's up?" Alexander asked John. John heard Usnavi teasing Alexander in the background. "Man, go away," Alexander said to Usnavi, his voice slightly muffled because he was holding his hand over the phone.

"I was actually wondering if you wanted to go out for a few drinks with two of my good friends and me tomorrow night," John spit the question out, surprised at the confidence in his voice.

"I see that smile, man!" John faintly heard Usnavi yell. Alexander wouldn't have known John had heard, but John's giggle gave him away.

"Aw, shoot, you heard that?" Alexander would have grumbled the question if John's laugh hadn't been so infectious.

"Yeah," John admitted. "So is that a yes?" John asked, hopeful.

"Of course it's a yes," Alexander's few simple words lit John on fire with excitement, his heart beating faster still. "When and where?" John could now hear Alexander's smile in his voice. He hoped it was one of those smiles that made his eyes light up and crinkle at the corners.

"Just come to my apartment at 5:00 tomorrow afternoon, I mean showing up at my apartment is something you're good at. If you take the A line and get of at 86th street, its only a short walk to my apartment from there," John slipped a tease into the information.

"Very funny," Alexander laughed a little at himself. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow, then," he drew the conversation to a close.

"Yeah, sounds good. Bye, Alexander," John said into the phone.

"See ya, John," Alex spoke before hanging up.

John wandered back to his couch, his phone in his hand, before falling onto it in a daze. He threw his arms up into the air to as if he were proclaiming victory, and brought them down again. He unlocked his phone to shoot a quick text to Marquis.

To Lafayette: hey, he's coming tomorrow

John received his reply within a few seconds.

From Lafayette: YAY! can't wait to meet him!

-----

yes, the store owner is usnavi. i couldn't help myself.

also, Something by the Beatles is a GREAT song (it came on while i was writing so i added it) if you haven't heard it before (1) what are you doing with your life? and (2) go listen to it right now.

please put up with my stupid references like the "there's a million things i haven't done" that alexander said in this chapter im a loser and i think it's funny