31st October 2016

Third Person POV:

"No Alexander, I am not letting you do schoolwork today. It's a whole day off, no way am I letting you waste our time of freedom." John tugged a Alexander's sleeve, trying to pull him away from his desk. Alex readjusted his bulky glasses and turned to John.

"John, it was literally the weekend yesterday." Alex groaned. "Just let me finish this page please."

"I don't even know why you're writing law essays, Washington isn't even here and-"

"And that is precisely why I should be doing my work!" Alex interrupted, pointing a finger towards John with one hand whilst still relentlessly typing with the other.

John rolled his eyes dramatically, not that Alex was paying attention to him anyway.

"And you're already months ahead of everyone else." He finished, crossing his arms and huffing. Alex swirled around in his chair and took John's hand in his.

"Look, Peaches, I just want to finish this one little essay-"

"Alexander it's hardly little, you've already written 51 pages."

"I've only got a few more to write!" He argued.

"The required amount was five! You told me you were nearly done when you'd written 29!" John exclaimed, tugging his hand away and flailing his arms around wildly. Alex quickly snatched the hand back, reaching over with his free hand to save his document and close the lid of his laptop.

"Hey John," he pressed a soft kiss to the back of John's hand. "look, see? I've closed it and I'm ready to do whatever you want all day. I love you and I'm sorry for getting caught up in my work... again."

John smiled softly and blushed, pulling Alex up from his chair and into a hug.

"Thank you. Now, let's get coffee, I'm dying for a caramel frapp."

Alex shook his head gently and laughed, following John as he pulled them out of their dorm.

---

"So," John started, taking a sip of his frappuccino, "what are the others dressing up as for the party?" He said, in reference to the huge party that the Schuyler's were hosting that night.

Alex took a swig of his black coffee as he thought back to what Eliza had told him the previous day.

"Uh, Maria and Eliza are dressing up as an angel and a devil, it doesn't take a genius to figure out which way round, James and Peggy are going as Hogwarts characters, Angie and Thomas are going as characters from The Hunger Games and obviously Laf and Herc will be matching with our costumes."

"I'm still very proud of the idea for our outfits." John said smugly.

"Oh yeah? Well really Herc should be the proud one since he made them." Alex retorted, raising his eyebrows and chugging the rest of his coffee.

"Whatever, he only did it for the extra credit." John sank further into his seat, pretending to be grumpy.

---

After they got back from the coffee shop, it was 3:30 and they decided to have a late lunch back at their dorm.

"Seriously Alex? Mac n' cheese? You're turning into Jefferson." John folded his arms and shook his head.

"It's really not that bad, it's just gross when he brings it to class, Washington had to ban snacks because Jefferson kept on Mac and cheese in law, like imagine having it cold, gross." Alex responded, stirring the pasta every so often.

John looked in the pan and saw a gooey mess that Alex was trying to call a meal. "It looks pretty rank to me, I think I'll make myself toast instead." His face displayed a disgusted expression.

"Peaches, no offence, but your toast is literally shit. You burn it so much that it barely even classifies as bread anymore."

"It's nice that way!" John argued.

"Yeah, tell that to the smoke detectors." Alex said sarcastically.

A few moments later, the two sat and ate their meals as they glared at each other.

"Hey John, cool toast, I'm sure that when you run out of art supplies to draw with, you can just use your toast instead since it's basically charcoal."

"Hey Alex, cool Mac n' cheese, it looks like something that my sister used to make, and she was only 2. Her secret ingredient was vomit."

"Wow that was a really good roast, you should use that roast to cook your toast next time."

Merely minutes after their arguments, they were back to their usual fashion of angrily making out with each other.

"Yo- we should- try on our- costumes!" John said in between kisses with a glint of excitement in his eyes.

Alex pulled his face away from John's briefly. "I don't know John, it's only 3:45, the party doesn't start for over 4 hours."

"But I'm too excited." John whined, staring at Alex with puppy dog eyes.

"Well shit, how can I say no to that?" Alex placed a hand on John's cheek and softly kissed his nose. John grinned and jumped up from the bed and grabbed their costumes, throwing Alex's at him.

"Damn, Herc really did do an amazing job on these." Alex muttered, tugging gently at one of the sleeves.

"He sure did, now get it on lover boy!" John hollered. Alex blushed as John shamelessly changed in front of him. With a mischievous smirk, just as John was about to tug on his pants, Alex snuck up to him and slapped his ass.

"ALEX!" John shrieked, turning to him with eyes full of fury.

"What? I call you Peaches for a reason." Alex snickered, causing John to turn a deep shade of red.

John glared at Alex as tears welled in his eyes out of embarrassment. He buried his face in his hands.

"Uuuuggggghhhhhhhh." He groaned. "You better be joking or else I'm breaking up with you."

Alex raised his hands in innocence. "Hey, you believe what you want." He managed to say between fits of hysterical laughter. John huffs in frustration, shaking his head and muttering about how much of an idiot Alex is.

Alex and John both proceed to put on their costumes, with John still trying to be angry and Alex still quietly chuckling.

"Are you ready?" John questions, eager to see how they look.

"Yeah, turn around." Alex says, fastening the last button.

They both turn around and immediately feel their jaws drop.

"What the fuck, you actually look so hot, how can you suit anything?" Alex practically drools over him.

"What can I say, I guess blue's my colour." John says smugly. "Seriously though, you look great, how did Herc do such an amazing job of these?"

They walk over to the bathroom to check how they look in the full length mirror.

"Woah we look hot." Alex mutters.

A loud bang comes from their front door, which John goes to answer.

As soon as he opens it, Laf runs in and shouts "REVOLUTIONARY SET ASSEMBLE!"

A bemused Alex walks into the room, noticing that Laf and Herc were also wearing their costumes. They all stood together laughing and calling each other their historical characters names.

(I'm sorry but I had to do this) "Why, hello there Daveed Diggs, it's a pleasure to be in your company. Good afternoon, Okieriete Onaodowan, what a fine day this is." John joked. "And of course, Lin-Manuel Miranda, it is always a delight to see you." John pulled Alex by the collar of his jacket and pecked his lips. Alex blushed as Laf and Herc stood there snickering. Alex made angry eye contact with Lafayette as he pulled John closer for a passionate kiss. Herc rolled his eyes.

"Are these two for real?" He waved his hand towards Alex and John who had seemingly forgotten they had company.

"Well, Anthony Ramos, may I add that you're looking particularly dashing today, my fine gentleman." Alex dangled his arms over John's shoulders and pulled him in for another kiss.

"Guys? We're still here. Seriously, this is too much gayness, and that's coming from me." Laf yelled, tightening his hair and rolling his eyes.

- - -

John's POV:

A couple of hours had passed and we were sitting in the same seats as before, across from each other at the small table in their kitchen, Alex and I shared a pizza, and we were being very careful to not drop it all over our costumes. As I was scrolling on my phone and chewing on a slice of the pepperoni pizza, I glanced up to see Alex staring at me and attempting to bite off of his own slice. Instead of successfully eating however, he instead was in such a trance that he jabbed it into his chin. I almost choked on my mouthful at how stupid he looked in that moment, but also how cute he looked.

"Alex baby, why the fuck did you just so that?" I chuckled.

"Um, I was distracted." He responded, a slight flush on his cheeks.

"By what?" I asked, placing my food back onto my plate.

"You." He was blushing profusely now and I'm sure that I was doing the same. "You're just so... perfect, I don't know what I did to deserve somebody as amazing as you.

I grabbed his hand from across the table and squeezed it. "I love you Alexander, you deserve the world."

My phone alarm beeped, signifying that we should be leaving soon to get to the party in time to help set out the snacks and drinks. I rubbed the back of Alex's hand with my thumb.

"Come on babe, we should get going now."

He nodded slightly. "Sure thing, just let me wipe this off first." Alex pointed to the tomato sauce that was still present on his chin.

Whilst Alex was in the bathroom, I looked in a mirror in my closet one last time, just to check that it was still perfectly clean. Alex snuck up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist, snuggling his head into my neck. He took my hand in his and spun me around.

"C'mon Peaches,"

"I'm still salty about that." I interrupted.

He ignored me, simply smiling. "We should head to the Sisters room now." He pulled me by the hand.

"Just saying Alex, but I'm definitely having drinks tonight. Meanwhile, you're only 19-" (by the way I've made it so that Alex moved up a year when he went to high school so that's why he's 19)

"But my mind is older." He said grumpily.

"Whatever, all I'm saying is that you shouldn't go and get blackout drunk. Leave that to the adults." I continued with a wink.

"Fuck off, I am an adult. Just not as old as you. Fine, dad, I'll only have a little bit of alcohol." He flapped his free hand around as he spoke.

"Good."

- - -

Third Person POV:

The party had started about two hours ago, and people had flooded in very quickly when the party started. Currently, Thomas Jefferson was stood atop a table, chugging down a bottle of vodka. Some were cheering him on, others (James Madison) were pulling on his legs with concern, begging for him to stop before he kills himself. Angelica was laughing and filming the whole thing to use as blackmail material later on. Eliza and Maria were in the kitchen, majorly flirting with each other. John and Alex... they hadn't noticed Thomas, they were too busy making out on the sofa.

"Honestly, I don't even know why you guys bothered coming. All you've done since you arrived is made out with each other." Lafayette complained, dramatically falling over an armchair.

For a moment, Alex separated himself from John and stuck his middle finger up at Laf before John, with wide eyes, pulled them back together.

"Mon cher, can't you tell them? They're not listening to me." Laf complained, draping his arm around Hercules' shoulder.

Herc raised an eyebrow in a questioning manner. "And you really think they'll listen to me?"

"Yeah, you're big and scary, just pull them apart from each other." Laf demonstrated with over emphasised hand actions and made crashing sound effects with his mouth.

Herc shrugged. "I mean that could work."

He walked over to John and Alex, who at this point were so focused on each other that they'd blocked out everyone else, and stood behind Alex, motioning for Laf to go to John's side. He mouthed a countdown from three and on one they both wrapped their arms around the guys and lifted them away from eachother.

"NO! LET ME GO YOU BASTARD AGHHH." Alex writhed in Herc grip, clawing at his arm like a cat.

"Nooo Lexi come baaaccck I love youuu." John bellowed in his drunken state. He lay leisurely in Lafayette's arms, not even thinking about trying to get out of them.

Alex stopped struggling in Hercules' arms for a moment and whipped his head around to face him with a glare that would kill him if it could. "Why are you doing this to us?"

Herc placed Alex back on his feet and held his shoulders tightly so that he couldn't leave just yet. "You, Alex, are going to socialise. You've literally been making out with John since you arrived, so we've put up with it for two hours but now, you and John are going to talk to people around the party."

Alex groaned as Herc turned him around and gave him a little push in the other direction.

"And no making out with John until you get back to your room!" Herc shouted after him. Alex stuck his tongue out and middle finger up to him as he proceeded to walk to the kitchen, picking up a drink on the way.

He walked into the kitchen to find Eliza and Maria pressed up against a counter, kissing with just as much passion as he and John has been just minutes before.

"Wow, calm the gay down." He muttered, interrupting them.

"Dude, why did you have to fucking ruin the moment?" Maria groaned, leaning her elbow on Eliza's shoulder.

"I don't know, ask fucking Laf and Herc, they're the ones who just separated me and John. I thought I'd return the favour." Alex said, swirling his drink around. "What's in these cups?"

"Some punch that Peggy made." Eliza chirped, seemingly unbothered by being interrupted from her make out session.

"Huh, it could use some vodka." Alex picked up a bottle from the side and poured a lot in.

"Shit Alex, I mean I'm all for drinking, but you might want to slow down there." Maria chuckled. Alex smirked and put down the bottle, sipping from his cup.

"Ah, refreshing." He said, chugging down half of the drink.

Eliza rolled her eyes as Maria continued to laugh. "Okay, you can go now Alex, Eliza and I would like to continue something." Maria winked, pushing Alex out the door.

Alex quickly found John when he walked out of the kitchen and slinked his arm around his waist, pressing a kiss to his cheek. John yawned and turned to look at him.

"You want to go soon Peaches?" Alex asked. John nodded in response and pulled Alex towards the front door. "Or now I guess." He muttered, placing his cup down on a table and catching up to walk besides John instead of behind him.

On the route back to their dorm, Alex gave John a piggy back the door whole way, which for some reason he found comforting. It reminded him of how his brother used to let him sit on his shoulders as he ran around back in Nevis, long before he disappeared in the hurricane. Alex had no clue what actually happened to James, whether he went missing or died, but he's never been able to track him down on any social network sites. The issue is the same for his father. He knows that he is likely not dead since he wasn't in the hurricane, he had left his family 3 years prior and travelled abroad, but he still could never find him.

He sighed as he recalled the memories, gently turning to see that John hadn't fallen asleep on his back and that instead he was looking around with his eyes wide open.

"Alright Johnny, we're back." He said, sliding John off of his back and pulling his door key from one of his pockets. As he unlocked the door, John kissed the back of his exposed neck, making Alex blush. The moment he had unlocked and opened the door, he pushed it open, turned around and pulled John closer to him by his neck, connecting their lips in a passionate kiss. They stumbled backwards together, Alex kicking the door closed as they fell to the floor in an entanglement of limbs. John laughed against Alex's lips as the latter stood back up and sat on the edge of the bed. John smirked and sat on his lap with his legs crossed as he kissed him once again.

A few minutes later, they had been so enthralled with kissing one another that neither noticed John start to slowly fall backwards. He was slowly tilting backwards as Alex deepened the kiss that he tipped back completely. His legs, which had previously been crossed, were now flailing around as he tried to keep his balance. As he did so, he kicked Alex in the jaw, leaving him clutching his cheek when groaning as John lay on the floor like a drunken mess.

"Shiiiiitt, sorry Alex... I promisssssse it was an accident." John whined. Alex sat there, wiggling his jaw around a little bit.

"Don't worry baby, I'm sure I'll survive. Here, let me help you up." He held out a hand which John, instead of using to help pull him from the ground, used instead to pull Alex to the floor next to him. He chucked as Alex fell besides him with a thud, sighing. "That's not exactly what I wanted."

John and Alex looked at each other, blushing as they smiled. "It's not the worst thing in the world though, is it?" John whispered, rolling to be on top of Alex. Alex's eyes widened and his blush grew darker.

"Not at all." He smiled, leaning up and gently pecking John's lips.

25th September 2017