Chapter Text
The next morning was painful. The sunlight from the windows made him hiss and bury his head beneath the duvet. He groaned and immediately regretted it as the sound bounced around his skull. The door opened and then shut with a bang that sounded like a firework finale. He groaned again, quieter this time. "Alexander? You up? I've got coffee with me."
As fast as the spinning world would allow him to, he sat up.
John smirked, "Good morning, sleeping beauty. How you feeling?"
Alex grunted angrily.
"I see. Well, I'm going to hop in the shower then, while the caffeine hits you system. I love you."
Alex froze with the cup halfway to his lips. John walked away as if it was no big deal. He couldn't remember much past the point of joining Hercules at the bar area- possibly that was a good thing. He checked under the covers, he was still wearing his boxer shorts so at least they hadn't done...that...whilst drunk.
Despite being almost a year into their relationship, Alex and John had not yet said the words 'I love you' to each other, nor had they gone the whole way. But John had just said it, as if it were no big deal. Maybe he was still drunk. Or possibly he didn't think it was such a big deal and thought Alex was being immature. Perhaps he had finally got tired of not saying what he felt.
Sure, Alex had enjoyed the rush of warmth that hearing 'I love you' brought to him, but he didn't think he was quite ready to say it; not just yet. The shower stopped. Alex gulped down the coffee, which was far too hot to be gulped, and tried to stand. John walked out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist and Alex felt his heart try to break out of his ribcage. John grinned at him cheekily and Alex knew that it was his intention to make the world blur around the two of them.
John broke the silence, "There's an all-inclusive breakfast downstairs."
Alex felt his stomach lurch at the idea of food, but smiled anyway. "Shall we get a move on then?"
John nodded and they both turned their respective ways so they could get dressed. Alex was back in his normal clothing when John glanced up from tying his shoes.
They headed twenty floors down in the elevator. Alex clung onto John as if he were the only reason he wasn't crumpled on the floor, and that was probably accurate. The world for Alex was no longer spinning but the elevator made it twist in a way that wasn't very pleasant. More coffee, he decided, more coffee and maybe something that resembled healthy food. Or maybe just hearing John say, 'I love you' once more. That'd cure his hangover.
They reached the ground floor and headed towards the smell of food coming from a large hall. All of a sudden, John was bowled away from Alex and the world shifted a little. He looked behind him to see an excited Peggy waving a bouquet of flowers in John's face. Wait no, the bouquet.
John made eye contact with Alex and grinned at him, "It's almost a shame you didn't have any coordination left last night, Alex. They pretty much bounced off your head into Peggy's hands!"
Chuckling at his own very low level of alcohol tolerance, Alex responded, "Guess Hercules had better get a wriggle on then, huh?"
At that, Peggy turned bright red and started to sputter, "We're not- You can't seriously think-..."
John pursed his lips, "Well...."
Peggy glared at them both before rushing off to show James Madison how pretty her flowers were.
John laughed fondly, "Seriously though, Herc needs to get his act together and tell her how he feels. She certainly won't be the first to say anything." Alex shifted awkwardly; he knew he should tell John how he felt, he just didn't feel ready yet.
"What's wrong, 'Lex?"
He brushed it off with a laugh that sounded false to his own ears, "Nothing's wrong John, I'm just really happy for Laf and Adri- and I will be when Herc and Peggy finally get their shit together."
John giggled, "Amen to that!"
Lafayette and Adrienne had come to wave Alexander and John off as they headed to the airport. Alex had claimed he couldn't take any time off work- although Washington was at the wedding too, so that was evidently not true, but they let it slide.
Adrienne wrapped Alex up in a tight hug, "Do not forget to text us when your plane touches on the ground, okay?"
He nodded sincerely, "I will. Thank you for inviting us to your wedding- we're so happy for you two."
She smiled up at him softly, "We could not have done it without you. You are a wonderful friend, Alexander Hamilton. Thank you for all you have done for us." She squeezed him tightly again.
Eliza coughed behind them, "Adri, I'm so sorry but I'm going to have to leave early. There's flu going round at school and they haven't got enough teachers to cover all the lessons."
Adrienne waved her hand dismissively, "Elizabeth, there is no reason to be sorry, there is nothing you can do but to go back to New York. I'm so proud of how far you've come in your new job, you must go where you are needed." Eliza pulled Adrienne into a hug, "Thank you for being so understanding!"
Adrienne hummed into her shoulder in acceptance.
John touched Alex's elbow, "We all done here?"
Alex nodded, "Just gotta say goodbye to Laf quickly, you can wait in the car if you'd like to..." John took Alex's bag from by his feet and walked towards the car that was waiting to take them to the airport.
Alex grinned up at Lafayette, "Well, this is where it ends, my friend. Raise a glass to freedom- something you will never see again..."
Laf smacked his upper arm, "Shut up! You know Adri loves you all very much- she is as much your friend as I am!"
Alex grinned even wider, "That's true."
Laf swept him up into a hug, "Thank you, Alexander. For coming, for speaking, for everything."
Alex winked, although Laf couldn't see it, "Anytime."
Alex woke up as the plane arrived in New York. They collected their bags from baggage reclaim and headed outside to pull over a taxi. The night air was warm and muggy and thick with exhaust fumes; light pollution meant the stars barely winked down at them, but it was home. He was glad to be back.
In the back of the taxi, Alexander melted into John's side. John smiled sleepily at him before telling the driver the address of his apartment. Sometimes John didn't understand why Alex hadn't just moved in- all his stuff stayed at John's- but he knew that Alex would see a key for his apartment as charity from John. Maybe next year.
Alex was slowly falling asleep on his shoulder and he had never felt so in love or alive.
As Alex started to feel the tug of sleep, he blearily lifted his head for a moment. "John Laurens, I think I'm in love with you."
With that Alex drifted off peacefully, having said the one thing that he'd wanted to say for so long. John breathed a gentle sigh and nuzzled his nose into Alex's hair. Although Alex was asleep, John declared his love to the faint stars outside the window (and inadvertently to the driver in the front).
"I'm in love with you too, Alexander Hamilton."
THE END