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John paced around the empty art room; arms folded and eyes blinking furiously to try and get himself to think about anything else other than how much he had fucked up. His shoes crunched over balled up pieces of paper, echoing throughout silent the studio.
“Hey, John” Alex’s voice caused John to stop and look up,”I got your text, what project do you need me for this time?”
John decided to ignore the last bit and briskly hurried over to Alex,“Listen, you know about the perfume-sculpture contest that I was telling you about a while ago?”
“What about it?”
“Well, I maybe forgot that Prof. Lee wanted them two weeks before the actual contest and now I’m fucked because they’re due tomorrow.”
Alex stared at him with a face the said holy shit how did you do that and shook his head slightly. John turned around and motioned for Alex to follow him,”Yeah, I don’t know how I messed up either just help me.”
The two sat down at the paint-stained table and John pulled out a small ziplock bag with a scented strip inside. He took it out and handed it to Alex.“Smell” He said simply.
Alex eyed John for a moment before taking the strip and sniffed it. He instantly winked his nose and began to cough,“What kind of perfume is that? It smells like fucking gunpowder.”
“Exactly.” John showed Alex the bag which was labeled Gunpowder in large letters,“I don’t know who would want to buy this, but it’s what I have to work with.”
“You need to make a sculpture based on the smell of gunpowder? And we’re going to do this in-“ Alex turned and looked over at the clock,”Five hours? We’re not allowed in after 9, you know.”
John nodded,“I know. I bought some super-dry glue because I had a feeling this would happen.”
Sketches of Pennsylvanian Rifles lay on the floor, catching Alex’s eye. He picked up one and looked at it thoroughly.” You're gonna make a gun? That’s not exactly what I’d call original.”
John rolled his eyes,“I’m working on a time limit, just help me.”
Alex held his hands up,smilingly slightly,“Alright alright, what exactly do I need to be doing?”
“Well,” John reached under the table and pulled out a rather worn-out duffle bag covers in paint stains. He unzipped it and dumped out what could only be described as a pile of garbage, literally, “we’re going to make a gun out of trash.”
Alex covered his mouth with his hands and snorted. John glanced over at him and smiled because Alex always looked so happy when he laughed, with the way that his eyes smiled and somehow made the color brown even more beautiful and- John mentally slapped himself, ‘You can’t do this now’ He scolded himself,’He’s your friend and only your friend.’
“Ok, so I got some wire so we can make the skeleton and I mean it when I say that you just need to stick garbage in any place where it’ll fit.”
***
After about four hours of gluing pieces of trash together, those pieces being thrown across the room, John almost stabbing himself in the eye with a stray piece of glass, and most thing that wouldn’t qualify as working on an art project, they were finished. Realistically speaking, it should have only taken about two hours, but when Alex went into one of his spiels about anything political it was hard to get work done.
John rests his head on the table, hating himself for not eating lunch earlier because of the stress of the project. He only looked up when he felt something grab his hand; another hand, Alex’s hand. He had put his hair up after an incident where he almost glued it to his face and he was smiling, it was beautiful.
John just stared at him, neither of them really saying anything. It wasn’t romantic or awkward or any way intimate, they were just holding hands, as bros do. It was nice, releasing John of the stress he’s had all day.
The silence was cut when John’s phone starting buzzing. He reached for it as it sat on one end of the table, not letting go of Alex’s hand. It was a text from Hercules.
From HorseFucker: i brought back some leftover pizza from Angie’s
From HorseFucker: Laf is here too, so i would recommend coming soon if you want any
“Who was it?” Alex asked.
“It was Herc, he has pizza and I’m really fucking hungry. You can come over if you want.”
Alex shook his head,“I’ve got an essay to finish, as you so selfishly pulled me away from my writing time.”
“Yeah, sorry about that.”
“No, I mean,- It’s fine, I was kidding. I would do anything for you, John.”
This triggered something in John’s subconscious, as he felt really tense after Alex said that. ‘He’s your friend, you say things like that all the time.’ He hissed at himself, trying to make himself better. It didn’t work. He looked away from Alex, getting out of his chair.
“I’m gonna go.” John mumbled as he began to walk away, only to be stopped by Alex still holding his hand.“Alex, as much as I like holding hands, I need to go.”
“Listen, I would let go if I could.”
John stiffened. What did that mean? He tried to pull away harder, but to no avail.“Alex what the fuck happened.”
“I believe that is the result of your super-dry glue if I’m not mistaken.”
“Oh, Jesus Christ.” John huffed as he sat back down in his chair, defeated.
Alex patted him on the shoulder,“Hey, it’s not the end of the world. You do have glue removal, right? If that’s even a thing.”
John shook his head, “ I think Hercules has some.”
“Your whole project revolved around gluing shit together, and you didn’t think you would need it.”
“Don’t patronize me. I had a ‘fuck it and go’ mindset when I realized that I had a day left.” He shrugged,“Art does that to you.”
“Well, it’s not all bad. You found a way to convince me to go to Herc’s.” Alex smirked, amusement hinted in his eyes.
John swallowed mentally, this was exactly what he didn’t need. He didn’t need to constantly beat himself up over the fact that he and Alex weren’t going to be a thing, that his fantasies of spending nights alone with him were only ever going to be fantasies, and he was pathetic to try. He put his head back on the table, sighing.
Apparently he took to long to respond, as Alex’s expression changed to that of worry,“John?”
John shook his head and forced a smile,“I’m fine. I just wish that I didn’t have to cut into more of your writing time.”
Alex chuckled.“Well, if that’s it, you have no need to worry. Let’s just get going so we can keep that time wasted down to a minimum.”
***
It was a lot colder then it was three hours ago and John was a little grateful to be holding Alex’s hand. The glue made it a little uncomfortable, but he didn’t mind all that much.
Snow had begun to fall and John shifted closer to Alex’s side. The yellow lights of the lanterns gave a semi-romantic atmosphere. John felt the urge to stop walking and stay there for hours, laying in the grass, Alex next to him, them holding hands by choice rather than having the universe doing it for them.
Alex suddenly sneezed and pulled John out of his thoughts. “You ok?” he asked.
He nodded as he sneezed again, “Yeah, I’m still not used to the cold. I know it’s been about four years since I moved from Nevis, but still.” Alex turned to look him in the eye and John’s breath hitched a bit. His long eyelashes had caught some of the snow and highlighted his dark eyes.
Apparently John had looked for too long, as Alex grinned and placed a finger under his chin, “My dear Laurens,” he purred,“you know it’s rude to stare.”
John flinched and looked away, his face getting hot. “Sorry,” he mumbled. He ran a hand through his hair, getting it caught in all the tangles. When was the last time he washed it properly?
They continued walking without much excitement, until a pile of snow fell off a tree, and on John’s face. He stopped walking and sighed, “What the fuck.” He whispered, brushing some of it away, “It’s not even snowing that hard.”
Alex was snickering, holding his hand up his mouth. John scoffed and rolled his eyes, smiling to himself. He tried walking again but, alas, Alex was stopping him again.
“Hey, come here. You still got some snow on you.” Alex pulled his hand and gently placed the other on John’s face, brushing under his eye and around his cheek. His breath was warm, mingling with John’s own.
They were so close to each other. It would only take the tiniest movement for John to place a kiss on Alex’s slightly chapped but soft lips. John was about to move forward when-
“Hamilton!”
Both John and Alex whipped around to see a very pissed off Jefferson storming in their direction, scarf wrapped tightly around his neck and his hair untamed. John gave Alex a quick glance, mentally willing him to remain rational.
It didn’t work.
“If it isn’t the Macaroni Fucker himself, what can I do for you?” Alex bowed dramatically, a smirk crawling across his face.
All John did was sigh and wave at Jefferson, though he didn’t take notice.
“Will you drop that! I can’t actually believe Washington expects me to put up with you.”
“You don’t have to, I’ll be perfectly fine if you don’t show your face in a hundred mile radius of me for another twenty years.”
“Alex! He’s not worth it.” John hissed.
Alex shrugged and Jefferson actually looked at John, as if he just noticed that he was there,“Laurens,” He greeted, narrowing his eyes a bit.“I see you’re still hanging out with this poor excuse of a man.”
John didn’t say anything and just tugged Alex’s hand. He didn’t want to get into a heated argument that would only end in bloody noses and black eyes, and considering Alex’s handicap, nothing was really in his favor, “Come on,” he whispered,“ I’m freezing my ass off and I don’t want to explain to Washington why Jefferson has a broken nose again.”Alex turned his head and began to walk away, dragging John along with him.
“Oh, you’re not walking away from me again.” Jefferson hissed. He bounced after the two and tried to get between John to isolate Alex. When their hands didn’t separate, Jefferson looked confused for a moment. “You two?! Together!” He barked, doing elaborate hand motions.
John groaned and tugged at Alex’s hand again. “Leave us alone, Thomas. We have somewhere to be.”
“Oh, of course, I can just hear him screaming your name. I bet the whole campus will know before morning.”
Before John registered what he was doing, Jefferson was on the ground with his hands covering his face, Alex was laughing from behind him, and John was standing over Jefferson with a very sore hand.
“Well, if everyone won’t hear you, they’ll sure know now,” Jefferson mumbled from under his hand, struggling to get up and reaching for his phone is his pocket.
“Don’t you fucking dare,” John growled.
“Well since you asked so nicely after you pummeled my face, of course, I’ll let it go.” He over-dramatically smiled and pranced away, his hand still on his nose.
John felt the urge to check if it was broken, so he could make it was if it wasn’t, but Alex put his free hand on his shoulder. “Like you said, he’s not worth it. Let’s just get our hands free before more people start asking questions.”
The rest of the walk to the dorm building was held with an awkward silence that edged at John's brain. He’s not talking because you messed up. You told him not to punch Thomas and look what you did.
Right before the entered the building, Alex broke the silence.
“Why did you get so upset over Jefferson?”
John looked up from his feet,“What?”
“I get that he’s a dick and all, but even you said that we shouldn’t end up smashing his face.”
John felt his body go hot. Shit. He bit his tongue, literally, to prevent himself from actually telling Alex about his fit of rage.“Well” he started, rubbing the back of his neck briefly, “you’re always going on about preserving your legacy and all that, I didn’t want my stupid mistake of gluing our hands together ruin that for you.”
Alex stopped walking and stared at John for about ten seconds, then doubled-over laughing, his hands clutching his stomach. With Alex’s smaller structure, John had to bend his knees to accommodate the new positioning of their hands.
“What’s so funny about that?” John asked when Alex was finally able to stand up properly again.
“John, I drag Jefferson daily and constantly insult him with his relationship with Madison on twitter. I don’t think him seeing me hold hands with my best friend with ruin anything for me.”
John groaned and backed up against the wall of the dorm building. He slowly lowered himself so he was sitting the snow that had fallen in the past hour. Alex sat down next to him, though he wasn’t really left with a choice.
“Hey, you ok?”
John gave a soft chuckle that may not have have any significance to Alex, but to John, it meant ‘No, I’m never ok because you may have one of the smartest minds but you’re always too focused what’s right in front of your face. I want to hold you hand like this all the time and not be guilty and Jesus I want nothing more than to stop beating myself over this and just kiss you.’ He could never bring himself to say that out loud, so instead he said,“I think all this stress from Lee just kind of built up.”
Alex tilted his head, “John, I know how you laugh when you’re lying. We’ve known each other for four years, I pick up on this kind of thing.”
John shook his head, “No, I don’t want to talk about it right now. I am still stressed and I just want to go sleep.”
Alex looked like he was going to argue, like usual, but he just placed a soft kiss on their conjoined hands that John didn’t even notice at first. Alex rose to his feet, helping up a slightly flustered John. Neither of them said anything until they reached Hercules’ dorm room.
When John opened the door, he was greeted by a slice of pizza nearly hitting himself in the head. It hit the wall and fell down pathetically. Hercules was sitting on the couch with a most-likely passed out Lafayette laying on top of him, “About time you two lovebirds decided to show up.” He laughed, taking a sip from a Sam Adams.
John closed the door, “Looks like pizza wasn’t the only thing you brought back from Angelica’s.”
“Lovebirds?” Alex asked.
Lafayette, without raising their head off of Hercules’ chest, lifted their phone in the air, “Thomas texted me.” Their words muffled.
John walked over and snatched the phone out of their hands, Alex close behind him,“I still can’t believe that you actually like that guy.” John grumbled.
Lafayette shrugged and turned to face him,“ He doesn’t treat me that badly, so I can’t really find myself to hate me.”
Alex huffed, “It’s only because he probably has a French kink or something.”
Hercules snorted, “Well, enough about Thomas, Alex talks about him so much anyways. When did you guys get together?”
“We didn’t.” John sputtered, maybe a little too quickly.
“Really? Then why did Thomas get a face beating?”
“And why are your hands practically glued together?” Lafayette added, putting their face back down.
“They are,” Alex said simply, lifting up their hands.
Lafayette started laughing so hard that they rolled onto the floor, Hercules started choking on the beer he just drank and was spitting it everywhere.
“How the fuck did you do that?!” Hercules asked when he stopped laughing, Lafayette was still on the floor.
“John had super-dry glue for a project he needed my help on, and it just happened.” Alex shrugged and John is pretty sure that he pulled himself closer.
Lafayette started laughing again and Hercules shook his head, but he was smiling, “You’re going to need some Acetone if you want to get it out, I have some if want.”
“Please.”
Hercules got up to his room to look through his cluster of fashion-related items. John slumped onto the floor next to Lafayette, Alex sat on the couch. He and Laf exchanged a few words in French, though John wasn’t paying attention. He wanted to sleep and just forget that this happened.
Hercules came back with Acetone and a couple of Q-tips. After what seemed to be a whole year, but was probably a few minutes, John and Alex’s hands were free. They were sticky and sore and John didn’t want to hang around for drunk games of Cards Against Humanity. Though, he didn’t really have a reason to leave.
He thought about what Alex said before and how he actually had the nerve to try and kiss him. Alex had made the move to pull themselves together, so it was justified, right?
Another five minutes passed before Alex noticed how John was still sitting on the floor, his expression was not changing and was clutching onto himself a little bit too hard, “Hey, you doing alright?” He gently shook John’s shoulders, getting him to look up. He smiled,“I didn’t know you’d be so upset when our hands got separated.”
John blinked, “What?”
“I mean, I get it. If I was in your position, I wouldn’t want to let go of the cute boy either.”
John clenched his jaw and curled his hands into fists. He really hated Alex sometimes, he was too observant for his own good and he didn’t even know it. Add that to the fact that he’s a massive flirt and John was left with no defense on his part.
Abruptly standing up, John backed out of the room. Alex looked at him, his head tilted to the side. Lafayette and Hercules didn’t pay attention to what was going on and were playing a game of Spit.
Alex reached out his hand to try and grab John’s, but he backed away again and muttered an ‘I got to go’ and nearly bolted out of the dorm.
His own dorm he shared with Lafayette was about five rooms away from Herc’s, so it was good that he didn’t have to run very far, but it meant that it wasn’t very good with wanting to be alone, which was what he wanted right now.
The room’s lights were off, John didn’t bother turning them on and almost crashed into the desk next to the couch. He wanted to go to his bed and drown in his sea of blankets, but it was too much effort at the moment. Falling onto the couch, he grabbed one of Laf’s giant pillows that he always left lying around and curled around it.
He didn’t move for a while.
John heard the door open slowly, a small amount of light seeped in. He didn't bother looking up, he knew who it was. The pillow he was currently wrapping himself around made a ripping sound, he didn’t care.
“Hey, you alright?” Alex’s voice was soft like he was afraid that he would trigger something if he spoke and louder.
John didn’t say anything and just made some sort of noise into his pillow. “Is it ok if I come in?” Alex asked as he moved farther into the room. John shrugged and curled around the pillow tighter.
The door shut and John stopped breathing for a second when he felt Alex place his hand in his hair. The gentle strokes relaxed him a bit, allowing his breathing to become even again. He muttered a soft thank you, but Alex didn’t seem to hear it.
A few moments passed when Alex took away his hand. John frowned, knowing that he would want to talk.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
John shook his head and sat up on the couch, the pillow was stained. “No.” His voiced cracked.
“John, please. I feel like I did something. I was joking then you ran out, I want to know why I made you so upset.” Alex scooted closer, their knees touched.
John moved away,“I told you, I’ve been really stressed out and I just need to take a break.”
“I’m not buying it.” Alex straightened up and made his I’m-going-to-prove-a-point-and-there’s-nothing-you-can-do-to-stop-me face, “Last year, you got three days to do four different projects and took it as a challenge. Even earlier, you seemed like you were having a good time. You rarely get stressed, and it wouldn’t be caused by this.”
“You don’t know everything that I do, Alexander.” John hissed. He noticed that his southern accent came back near the end, it would slip out when he was angry and wasn’t paying attention. He hated how it sounded, so it made him even angrier when he couldn’t control it, which would make the situation even worse.
“You’re right, I don’t. But I wouldn’t need to if you just let me talk to you.”
John whipped around, their faces so close that their noses almost touched, “So you shut us out for weeks at a time and you expect me to open up about everything that’s going on with me?” He snapped. Alex blinked and opened his mouth slightly. John put his finger on his lips, “Don’t. Not right now, ok? I’m not in the mood to argue with you and I really want to sleep.”
Alex nodded and slowly got up. John half expected him to leave without doing anything else, but he was never good at assuming. Alex went to his bed, pulled off the blanket, and laid it around John’s shoulders. He was quiet for once, which John was thankful for.
“I’ll see you in the morning.” And with that, John was alone again.
Sighing, John laid back down and pulled the blanket over himself completely. He knew that it would have been better if they settled themselves right now, in case the Schuyler’s noticed how differently they were acting and decided to bring it up. Though, John wasn’t in the proper mindset to deal with it rationally. He kept going back and forth with himself until he eventually fell asleep.
***
“John, mon ami. Wake up.” Lafayette shook John’s shoulders, rousing him from his sleep. He opened his eyes slowly and glanced at the clock; 1:19 a.m.
“Laf, it’s the middle of the fucking night. What is it?”
“Move over, we need to have a chat.”
John rubbed his eyes and scooted over, giving Laf enough room to sink into the couch next to him,“What is it?” He asked again, yawning.
“Well, I wanted my pillow back.”
“You woke me up for that?”
“Not just that, Alex told us you weren’t feeling good and I wanted to make sure that you weren’t doing something you’ll regret later.”
John blinked, “What do you mean? I’ve just been-”
Laf held their hand up,“Alex told us that too, he doesn’t buy it.” They moved to put their hand on his shoulder, “John,”
John moved away, “I told myself that I’ll deal with it in the morning. I just need to sleep.”
Laf glanced at the clock, “It is the morning.”
John rolled his eyes,“Whatever. Just know that I was having a wonderful dream about turtles and you ruined it for me.”
Laf chuckled,“Ah, yes. My apologies.”
The feeling of the light banter was lost when John and Laf locked their eyes and even if John couldn’t see them, he knew Laf was putting on a more serious face. He sighed and straightened up, “Alright, alright. What is it?”
Laf reached over at the desk next to the couch and grabbed something. They handed it to John. It was his phone, “It’s been going off all night. I didn’t read any of your texts, because I’m not that kind of person, but I saw who they’re from.”
John arched an eyebrow and turned on his phone. The whole screen was taken over by notifications of texts and missed calls, all from Burr.
From Burr, sir: Hey, what’s with Alex? I know he went to work with you and now he’s really quiet.
From Burr, sir: We both know that never happens, something has to be up.
From Burr, sir: I asked him if he wanted to get a drink, and he shook his head saying how badly he fucked up.
From Burr, sir: I heard him mutter your name and how he “shouldn’t have done that”
Missed call from Burr, sir
From Burr, sir: I know we don’t talk and get along that much, but I am worried for Alex. You’re a lot closer to him than I am, so I hope this helps in some way
Missed call from Burr, sir
From Burr sir: He just grabbed his laptop and basically bolted out of our room, I could tell he was crying. I didn’t get to ask about what he was doing, but we both know what could come from this situation.
From Burr, sir: Good luck, and please tell me when everything turns out ok.
“I didn’t know Burr could care so much, he’s usually so to himself” John looked up at Laf, who was reading the texts upside-down.
“John, we want to help you because this is affecting Alex, too. I know if you can’t do it for yourself, you’ll do it for him.”
John sighed, falling into his blanket wrap. Closing his eyes, he imagined him curled up with Alex at his side, their legs tangled together and hands in each other’s hair. He knew that it was only a fantasy, but it didn’t hurt to imagine.
He suddenly opened his eyes, thinking back to Burr’s texts. He said that Alex was muttering about ‘how he fucked up.’ What did that mean? John was the one who made their friendship awkward and basically kicked Alex out of his room when he was only trying to help.
“Have you heard from Alex since he went back to his own room?” John knew that he couldn’t wait until morning. For all he knew, Alex was planning on telling the whole campus about how big of a mistake he made with a twenty-page speech.
Las shook their head,“I tried calling him, but he didn’t pick up. Also, I think you should be the one to find him first. I have feeling that you’re the one Alex needs to see right now.”
John nodded, pulling himself up the couch,“I’ll go and check the library. He always said that it was his safe haven, he might be there.”
“I’ll call Hercules and let him know what’s going on, in case Alex happens to be in his dorm.”
Grabbing his phone again, John opened the door, or he tried to. With the first two attempts, the door wouldn’t open, as if something was blocking it. After the third try, it flew open, hitting something in the process.
There was a grunt and John was confused for a second before he saw Alex hunched over on the ground with his laptop clutched to his chest. His hair was disheveled and his eyes were puffy. He looked up and he and John held eye contact for a full minute while Alex slowly stood up.
“Alex, I’m sorry for, for kicking you out. I know you were only trying to help.”
“No, you said that you needed time alone and I kept pressing you to tell me what was happening. I know that I end up shutting you and Laf and Herc out all the time and I have no right to demand you tell me why you’re stressed because I don't allow you to talk to me and I just-”Alex sucked in a breath, as if he was trying to get his breathing back to normal. He quickly opened his laptop and handed it to John.
Taking it tentatively, John briefly scanned over the first paragraph.
I’m an asshole, as you know very well. I don’t know how to control my own mouth and there are times when I’m thankful that you have an ability to pull me back into my shell of thoughts and unwritten words. There have been times where I don’t understand why you would ever put up with a mess of a human that I am. But, the fact still stands that I made you uncomfortable and I finally get what I actually did. I don’t have the right to speak for you, though I think it’s safe to say that there are feelings that you and I have refused to acknowledge. With the circumstances that have happened tonight, I can’t help but feel that we’re keeping things from each other. I never had a family to go to and talk my problems out, and I can only guess from what you told me, that your home situation wasn’t the greatest either. We need to be the family that neither of us had, where we don’t need to be worried about how we think of each other or how what we say will affect the other. I’m already trying right now, as this piece of writing is the most informal that I’ve ever written. I’m always so worried that what I write isn’t perfect and it will come back to bite me if I’m not careful. But, I hope that You can help me overcome my fear of being forgotten. I don’t know when you’ll read this, if it’s the morning or when you find me passed out in front of your dorm, but once you finish, don’t look up and hold out your hand.
John felt his chest squeeze as he read every line, it felt like his heart was growing too large for the space it was given. It took a lot of willpower to not drop Alex’s computer and pull the smaller man into a slightly over-eager hug. He held out his right hand and felt a small object fall into his palm. It was cold.
“Keep reading,” Alex whispered.
This is one of the few things I kept onto when I left Nevis. My mother gave it to me before she died, but I think you’ll appreciate it a lot more than I will. And don’t argue about how I should keep it because it’s something that connects me to my family. That’s bullshit and you know it. I don’t want to be stuck in the past. Just take it as a gift from me to you, not piece of myself that I had to rip out because I felt that it didn’t belong to me anymore. You can look at it now.
John moved the object around in his hand before he finally saw what it was, and he made an audible gasp. A small, light green turtle was attached to a stainless silver chain. The turtle, most likely made out of jade, had glints of gold scattered throughout the shell. John handed Alex back his computer without taking his eyes off the necklace.
“Alex, how did you?”
“There was a jeweler that didn’t live very far from us, and jade is very common in Nevis. She was one of the few people who treated us kindly and gave my mother that necklace.” Alex folded John’s fingers over it, “I haven’t taken it out of its box until the day I found out about your turtle obsession, and I’ve been planning on giving it to you ever since.”
John didn’t realize it, but he had started crying. It was either not being able to get more than four hours of sleep for the past week or the fact that Alex had given him the most wonderful gift that he could ever think of. He had only brought up his love for turtles verbally once, and it was almost a year and a half ago.
“Alex, I…” John subconsciously whipped away a tear that was forming in his eye and smiled. “Thank you.”
Alex sighed in relief and placed his forehead on John’s chest. “Oh, thank god you like it. I was so worried that I remembered wrong and you actually hated turtles or if you were secretly scared of silver. And I just realized that I didn’t bring the box it came in and now-”
“Alex, we’re having a moment. So just be quiet for once.” John put the necklace over his wrist and cupped Alex’s face, pulling him into a kiss.
At first, John was the only one doing anything. He gently ran his tongue over Alex’s slightly chapped lips and pulled their bodies closer. Alex stood there wide-eyed, holding his breath because John Laurens liked my gift and oh my god he is kissing me.
It took Alex’s brain a few seconds to recover from shock and finally allowed himself to close his eyes and let his mouth open slightly, letting out a breath. John smiled and pulled back, much to Alex’s disappointment.
John opened his eyes and immediately stepped away. He grabbed the turtle, breathing quickly,“Shit, I’m so sorry. That was really stupid I should have asked.”
Alex reached out and grabbed John’s hand that was holding the necklace,“John? Can I kiss you again?”
John didn’t answer and closed the space between them, putting his hand in Alex’s unkempt hair. He breathed in and smelled coffee and the glue, with a slight hint of the coconut shampoo that John bought for Alex for his last birthday. He placed a kiss on his nose before going for his lips again.
“Ha! Laf, you owe me twenty bucks!”
Both John and Alex turned to see Hercules standing in his doorway. Laf appeared a few seconds later and eyed the two carefully, “Kiss again or it didn’t happen.”
Alex smirked, “Gladly.” Despite being the shorter one of the two, Alex somehow managed to dip John and place a massive kiss on his lips while Herc and Laf hollered in the background. John, just for effect, stuck his leg in the air.
“Herc, can I stay in your room tonight.” Laf asked, winking at John, “I have a feeling that mine might be occupied.”
John turned and smiled at him. He would have to thank Charles Lee later for this.