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The sun was beaming down onto the pavement of the parking lot outside of the freshman dorms at Liberty College as if to encourage the freshman moving in to hurry and unpack. ‘As if I really need any encouragement,’ John thought to himself while carrying the last box up the three floors into his room. John was more excited than anyone else it had seemed to leave for a college that was really isolated and far from home. His stepmother had offered to drive with him when it was apparent that his father wasn’t going to lift a finger, but John had been secretly reveling in the idea that he was making this move on his own, and had quickly turned her down. He had made the over 8 hour drive on his own with a smile on his face. He was finally able to listen to the music he wanted, dress in a style he found comfortable, and not worry about Henry Laurens breathing down his neck and watching his every move.
In his excitement, he had arrived at the school more than an hour before move in day registration opened. This meant that, at 7:00 AM, John had the campus basically to himself. He parked his car and wandered around seeing what there was to see. He had never set foot on campus before this moment. The austere brick buildings portrayed in the admissions handouts had a comforting look in the early morning sunlight. The whole campus was green and fresh with summer hues that lit up the fountains surrounded by flowers in front of the main building. The classrooms John passed were deserted but seemed to still give off a quiet buzzing energy from the sparks of ideas they had fostered throughout the years. It wasn’t until John had made it all the way around the relatively small school and back to the student union where he was parked that he saw his first actual student: He was tall with muscles that you could tell he worked hard to maintain and hair that was thick and curly that he had tried to pull back into a bun but still had curls poking out in all directions including strategic ones that framed his face. The only thing that managed to distract John from the very chiseled body of the other student was the fact that he was in head to toe American patterns. He had on tight red shorts that hit right above his knee, an American flag shirt with some kind of weird letters on it, and shoes that were blue with white stars all over them. The student waved up to John, and John blushed realizing that he was staring while he waved back.
“Bonjour mon nouvel ami!” John was taken back by the French accent that accompanied what he assumed to be spoken French.
“Um, hello!” John eloquently replied as the other student approached him.
“Welcome to Liberty College! I am assuming you are new 'ere, as I 'ave never seen you before, and I know I would not 'ave forgotten a face as pretty as yours.” John’s blush deepened as the student flirted his way into a conversation with him, “My name is Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, but as that is, what you say, a full mouth, most people call me Laf.”
John blinked heavily at the spew of words that had come out of the Frenchman’s mouth. Then realizing that he was being rude and weird, he extended his hand and introduced himself as well. “John Laurens. Just John.” He mentally cursed for not being more verbose.
“Well ‘Just John’ are you 'ere for registration? I got tied by rope to be a registration counselor so I am at your service if you need it.”
“You mean roped in?” John asked quietly, trying to suppress the thoughts of Laf being tied with a rope in other circumstances.
“Ah, oui! Your slang 'ere has been 'ard to catch onto. I am learning though!” Laf smiled wide and John thought his heart would burst.
From there, Laf lead John to the registration station and filled him in about himself. It turns out that Laf was nonbinary and went by they/them pronouns. John made a mental note to correct himself when he started using gendered pronouns. They had come over from France to attend school in America, and they were a junior. Laf’s shirt was their fraternity letters, Psi Sigma Alpha. They introduced him to some of their brothers before grabbing John’s keys and walking back towards his car. “I am unfortunately stuck at the table for the rest of the afternoon, but I will be done at 5. 'ere is my number,” they grabbed John’s hand and wrote in sharpie a number followed by ‘Laf <3’ before handing John his keys, “Your student ID will get you in the building, the round key is to your room, and the square key is to your office. Your Resident Assistant is Hercules Mulligan. 'e looks big and scary but 'e is really a stuffed animal. I expect a call at 5:30 and we will meet for dinner. Good luck, John Laurens.”
With that, they walked back into the student union leaving John to quickly transfer the number to his phone and find his dormitory. The freshman dorms were nice on this campus which had been one of the major draws for John. They were set up in apartment style living so he would have a kitchenette and living room attached to two bedrooms, two office spaces, and two bathrooms. The bedroom and office was split between two people meaning a total of four people would be living in the room. At least, that’s what the website had said. He was hoping that the very impressive brick building he was walking up to would house what he was expecting.
John didn’t end up having to use his ID to get into the building as the door was propped open. The room was large with the resident mailboxes across the back wall and a couple couches and vending machines moved to one side to make way for tables in the middle of the room that said, “New Resident Check-In”. Behind the desk sat a stocky man wearing a shirt that said “Head RA” with a skull on it and the sleeves ripped off. John assumed this was Hercules. Beside him, in another “Head RA” t-shirt but with sleeves and a puffy painted flower crown around the head of the skull, sat a demure looking woman with long dark hair and a kind smile. “Hello,” she called out and waved to John. “Welcome to the Franklin Residence Hall! We can get you checked in over here.”
John matched her smile and walked up to the desk. “My name is Eliza Schuyler and this is Hercules Mulligan. I typically go by Eliza, but you can just call Herc, well, Herc.” He shook hands with both of them quickly introducing himself again, and felt the low rumble of Herc’s laugh before he heard it. “I see you already met my fraternity brother, Laf.” John had almost forgotten about the name and heart on his hand, but pulled away from the handshake embarrassed regardless. “Yeah they helped me get my bearings at the key station on campus.”
“They’re good people,” Herc said simply. “Here’s your roommate package. You’re the first one here of this hallway so I can help you find your room. Unfortunately you’re on the third floor.”
John nodded as Herc grabbed his lanyard from behind the table, and then followed the bigger man up the stairs.
Herc was giving him a rundown of the dorm building: where the laundry rooms were, the rules of the common rooms, rules about rules. John mainly tuned him out, instead opting to imagine what his roommates would be like. Because the school did a get to know you registration week, they didn’t bother to send you the names of your roommates until you arrived. John didn’t like surprises, but was determined to make the best of it. By the time he had a picture of what they might look like in his head, Herc had arrived at his door. “Welcome to your new home, John.”
John looked around. The pictures had been spot on about the layout. The room looked impersonal at the moment but had the bones of a room that would eventually be homey. John’s eyes sparkled with the possibilities going through his mind. He quickly unlocked his shared bedroom and office, leaving Herc to follow him through the room and watch the excitable freshman at work. John had thrown open all the blinds in the living room and had moved to opening the ones in the office and bedroom. The natural light was enough to light the rooms so there was no need to use the harsh industrial lights during the day. Once John had looked around, noted the layout of the bedroom (small: two twin XL beds on raised frames, two standing dressers, two larger closets), and arranged the desks in the office to the optimal position, he was ready to carry his boxes in. Checking his watch, he was amazed to see that only an hour had passed since he had arrived. ‘Well,’ John thought to himself, ‘Let’s get to work.’
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It was midday by the time his roommates showed up and John had already had all of his stuff unpacked for at least an hour. John hoped to himself that his roommate wouldn’t mind the turtle paraphernalia that was his bathroom supplies, or the actual pet tortoise, Hatter, John had brought with him and snuck past Herc as they were not technically allowed pets in the dorm rooms. He also was hoping that his roommates weren’t allergic to plants as he had brought many of his terrariums with him that he had been fostering for years. Alexander Hamilton was the first to show up, and he was John’s actual roommate. He was around the same height as John, but with scruffy facial hair and a perpetual set of bags under his eyes. He had minimal possessions, muttering that foster life would do that to you, but other than being vague about his background, he was chipper and John could tell that they were going to get along just fine. He thought that Hatter was the greatest thing since sliced bread, going so far as to ask John if they could just let him wander around their room. He was not a plant person, but enjoyed listening to John explain each terrarium and appreciated the amount of work each one would take to make. In turn, John appreciated the many leather bound journals that Alex brought into the room as well as marveled at his extensive collection of biographies about the founding fathers. Together they had a very natural, scholarly aesthetic.
Their suitemates were James Madison and Thomas Jefferson who arrived together shortly after John and Alex had gotten settled in. These two had come to college already friends and had coordinated all of their belongings. They brought a very modern and southern “preppy” vibe to the other side of the suite. James seemed much more down to earth while being around the same size as Herc with more of a quiet power to him, while Thomas had an air of flamboyancy and privilege packed into a tall, lean frame that rubbed Alex the wrong way from the start. Unfortunately, Alex made the mistake of poking fun at the monogramed headboards that Thomas brought in, which immediately set Thomas off talking about family names and how important “the name” was in the South, which in turn got Alex started on the problems that privilege was causing in America and how “someone from the South could never understand.” Luckily, James and John seemed like they naturally knew how to calm down their respective roommates, and the situation was quickly dissolved with a few words about regional differences and how “we can all learn something from each other, but maybe not on the first day, please’. With that out of the way, John could tell the suite was going to be relatively livable with minimal infighting and was again excited to be in a new place with these new people.
After moving into their respective rooms and offices, they all met up in the living room to talk about what they needed to buy for the living room and kitchenette. John and James had brought enough kitchen utensils and necessities that really the only thing the group needed was decorative. The living room had a couch and two chairs that Thomas insisted needed some type of cover. There was a small table that was meant to be a coffee table, but they had re-appropriated it as a faux entertainment center for Thomas’ extra-large smart TV and James’ gaming systems. Unfortunately, that meant that there was no room for John’s plants, and to his surprise, James insisted that the terrariums stay in the living room. While this made John beam with pride, it meant that they were going to need a small bookshelf to sit in front of the big picture window. None of the boys had really considered curtains, so they would all need window curtains and shower curtains as well as rugs for the bathroom and common areas. Once they had a list made, they decided the best place to go would be Ikea. Thomas googled the closest one and was excited to find that it was only about 15 minutes off campus. John checked the time, remembering his promise to Laf to call him by 5:30 and was excited to see that it was only 3:00. He offered to drive the group, and they all locked up so they could go to the store.
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The trip itself was a test of their newly formed suitemate bonds. John and James fell into an easy friendship in the front part of the car while Thomas and Alex went back and forth between playful bickering and actual fighting over various topics. When they arrived, Alex revealed that he had never been in an Ikea and was overwhelmed by the size and selection of products. He was practically buzzing with energy and bounced around the store from section to section and back to the group. John found these traits endearing and thought the other two did as well, but Thomas insisted that it was more of an inconvenience than anything with a sparkle in his eye. They almost had a tussle in the rugs and drapery section when Thomas insulted John’s favorite color, and James actually jumped to John’s defense instead of siding with Thomas. Luckily, they all pulled together and managed to check off every item on their list as well as ample decoration for their new living space. John and Thomas agreed to split the bill since both of them were from well off families, and John felt a sense of rebellion using his dad’s money to pay for the start of his new life.
They got back to campus at around 5 and had just carried their things up the three flights into their room when Herc pounded on the door. “Floor meeting in 5, guys.”
The boys scrambled to sit their stuff down before running out to the common area. When they arrived, they saw the majority of their floor-mates and the rest of their building. Altogether, there was probably around 100 girls and boys, all looking as nervous and excited as freshmen were want to do. There was a station to make name tags being manned by Eliza as well as a safety station that Herc was standing behind. The group made their way to the nametags, assuming that was what they were to do first. “John!” Eliza lit up when he approached the table, “How did moving in go? Everything settle ok? I see that you have gotten to know your roommates!”
The matronly tone to her voice put John immediately at ease. He could see why she was chosen for a position as a resident assistant. He had just finished introducing his roommates when he noticed that Alex was looking at Eliza as if he could find galaxies in her eyes or like she had the meaning of life hidden behind her lips. As she was focused on her conversation with John, she didn’t seem to notice, but it was definitely something for John to ask Alex about later. Saying a quick goodbye, their group made their way over to the safety station. Herc greeted each of them by name, and gave the other boys the rules and safety speech he had given John much earlier in the day. Once he decided that they were all sufficiently bored to tears educated on the rules of the dorm, he started to give them a rundown of activities for registration week. That night there was going to be an activities fair where you could sign up for different clubs and organizations or sign up for “Rush” week which was apparently how you joined a fraternity. The next week was a flurry of finding your classes, meeting with your advisor, bonding with your roommates, and if you chose to, going through “Rush” parties. With a printout of the schedule and a printout of the rules in hand, Herc made them all take out their phones and add him as a contact as well as gave them the campus security information. With that he dismissed them.
John was antsy to return to the room. It was 5:40, and he was worried that Laf would think he was blowing them off for dinner. When John had practically run upstairs, Alex had hustled in order to keep up.
“John, wait for us!” Alex called down the hallway. When he matched John’s pace he followed up with, “Where are you going so quickly? It’s like you’ve got a hot date!”
John blushed. At home, he had always been afraid to admit having crushes on anyone who wasn’t his dad’s perfect match for him. John hadn’t really gotten to know himself or his preferences as well as he would have liked, but he felt as if he identified as gay. He didn’t know his roommates preferences, and worried for a second that he was about to lose a new friend just by explaining Laf and his potential crush. By this point, Thomas and James had also caught up to the group as they all stood awkwardly in the living room. Alex realized that he might have said something wrong although he couldn’t figure out what it was. The look in John’s eyes was that of a trapped animal: desperate to flee or fight. “Hey man, I didn’t mean to upset you. I tend to stick my foot in my mouth a lot.”
John appreciated Alex’s half-apology, but his struggle wasn’t based on anything Alex did. John looked into the eyes of each of his suitemates before making a decision. He was here to start a new life where he could be himself. If there was one thing John Laurens was known for, it would be his inability to back down from his beliefs. The story of Laf and his new crush came spilling out to his new suitemates faster than he could think of the consequences if any of them were homophobic. When he finished, James was actually the first one to speak up.
“Is this the first time you’ve ever admitted that you’re not straight, John?” He calmly asked. John seemed unable to form words and instead opted for nodding. James gave him a mega-watt smile, “Well congratulations on that big step in your life. We hadn’t really planned on telling anyone,” at this point James made eye contact with Thomas whose eyes got wide before giving James an almost imperceptible nervous nod and James continued, “But Thomas and I are dating. We have been for almost two years now. It’s a relief that we won’t have to keep that a secret.”
John was ecstatic that his suitemates were LGBTQ+ friendly. He was struck by a sudden nervousness when he realized that Alex had yet to say anything. When he turned around to meet his roommates eyes, his fears were squelched by his matching smile and the fact that he was bouncing up and down and slightly flapping his hands. “We are all in the same boat then because I am pansexual!” Alex responded but then quickly settled down as he looked at his watch and continued, “But dude you should probably call your friend since it is almost six!”
John would deny it later, but everyone in the room heard him yelp and run into the office before calling the number given to him what seemed like so long ago.
“Oui, ‘ello, this is Laf. 'ow can I 'elp you?” came the accent from the other side of the line.
“Hey, Laf. It’s,” John didn’t even get to finish his sentence before Laf was on a roll. “JOHN, I thought you were dead! Savez-vous quelle heure il est? I was beside you with worry! 'ave you been to dinner? Do you know ‘ow to get to the dining ‘all? I can come and escort you.”
John smiled into his phone. “Actually, I haven’t the slightest where the dining hall is. I don’t think my roommates do either. We would love to have a guide for the evening if you’d like.”
He could feel Lafayette light up through the phone. “Oui, yes, of course. I will come be your knight in armor that shines for the evening, eh? Just so you know though, my services don’t come cheap,” The suggestion in their voice made John’s blush spread past the freckles on his cheeks and down his neck, “You’ll 'ave to tell me all about your day over ice cream after the activities fair tonight, oui? Juste toi et moi?”
John stuttered through his response, “Um, yeah! That sound’s really, uh, great! I’ll text you our room details again? Oh, Herc gave them to you? Swell. Okay, see you soon. Bye!”
John swung open the door to the office as he was finishing his conversation with Laf, only to have a heap of his very surprised roommates falling on top of him. “What the…” He barely got out before everyone was talking at once and trying to scramble to stand up.
“It was Thomas’ idea, I swear!”
“I would never instigate eavesdropping, you little…”
“We were only trying to make sure everything went alright…”
“What did Laf say to make you stutter like that?”
“OOoooO, did they ask you on a date?”
“Guys…”
“A date on the first day? That’s impressive John: good for you!”
“Where are you going?”
“Do you need us to follow discretely? We can be like your backup!”
“Oh that’s a good excuse for all black spy costumes. I’m in.”
John had enough. He pulled out the older sibling voice which apparently also summoned his accent. “If y’all don’t drop it right quick, I’m gonna leave for dinner without ya’. Now git!”
His suitemates looked at him in a mixture of frustration and awe before standing up to smooth out clothes that were wrinkled in the dogpile. Thomas smirked as he exited, “You should try some of that southern charm on Laf, lover boy. It was cute.”
James and Alex both giggled as they left as well. Alex mumbled something about how accents would be the death of him but none of them had made fun of him for it. John took a moment to himself to marvel over how he had somehow managed to be blessed by some deity that had landed him in such an accepting and loving room. His moment was literally a moment though as he then heard Thomas and Alex start yelling about how they couldn’t wear the same outfits to dinner so one of them had to change. John shook his head good naturedly and walked out of the office to do damage control.
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A knock at the door about 10 minutes after the phone call caused a footrace to said door that John ended up losing. The boys had wanted to see what Laf actually looked like, and after taking turns at the peephole while John pushed his way to the front, they all were giving him crude gestures and smooching faces like they were in middle school. John groaned, exasperated then put on his best smile to open the door. Laf burst into the room in a flurry of handshakes and introductions before kissing John on both cheeks and grabbing his shoulders.
“Mon chéri, your face is so red! Are you falling ill? Usually it takes a few weeks for freshmen to catch the Liberty Plague!” The concern in their eyes was genuine, and John felt his heart do flip flops until he head Alex murmur something about ‘the only sick John is right now is love sick.’ Luckily, he said it so quietly that Laf didn’t notice and John’s dirty look made Alex blush as well. Realizing that the moment was fleeting, John shook Laf’s hands off of his shoulders and gave them a playful punch. “I’m fine, Laf. Just excited by my first day. Ready to show us the dining hall?”
Laf’s face had slightly dropped when he lost contact with John’s shoulders, but he lit back up when he went into tour guide mode. The walk to the dining hall seemed so short as the group was so enticed by Laf’s words and descriptions of campus. John could listen to them talk all day and never get tired of it. When they walked into the dining hall, the four freshmen weren’t prepared for the long banquet style tables packed with students as well as the smaller café style seating along the fringes. The dining options were traditional cafeteria style, but the room itself was decorated like a cathedral with giant multi-colored flags representing what John assumed was the greek life on campus as well as a few other organizations that could afford to hang flags up.
Laf hadn’t noticed the boys had stopped in their tracks and had made his way over to one of the long banquet tables where there were men wearing similar letters to him and women wearing slightly different ones were all intermingling and eating together. John was very intimidated by the fact that the two houses together had more people than he had in his residence hall. He was about to turn tail and see where his roommates wanted to sit when Laf turned to them and waved them to the table.
“Mes amies, there is plenty of room at our table. No need to be isolated freshman. You will do better if you don’t look like, ah,” he turned to one of the women at the table, “What’s the phrase for lost baby dogs?”
The woman gave a warm smile and patted Laf’s arm fondly. “You mean lost puppies, love?”
Everytime their face lit up into that smile, John felt his heart grow more and more. “Oui, that is the one. Garçons, this is the honorable president of Eta Theta Tau, our sister house. ‘Er name is Angelica Schuyler, and she is la plus belle rose sur le campus!”
Angelica reached out to shake each boys hand in turn before getting everyone at the table to scoot down and make room for the boys. “Make sure you’re leaving space for Liz, Herc, and Pegs too!” she called down the line.
“Schuyler, like Eliza?” Alex asked once they had gotten seated with food. Thomas rolled his eyes while Laf cocked their eyebrows.
“Yes,” Angelica looked Alex up and down, scrutinizing his appearance and seeming to put him through some type of inner test before continuing, “She’s my younger biological sister. Peggy is the youngest of our family. She won’t be a full time student until next year, but her high school is letting her do dual enrollment until she graduates, so she is here pretty frequently.”
Alex just nodded along, then lit up at the mention of dual enrollment programs. Apparently that was what Alex had done his senior project on in high school. He and Angelica got lost in a conversation about the problems and solutions of the American education system while the rest of the group got to know the men and women around them. John was halfway through a bite of his salad when he felt a hand on his thigh. He looked to the side and saw Laf grinning slyly.
“So John,” they started, “'ave you considered what clubs and activities you are thinking about joining?”
John faltered for a moment, doubt filling his mind. ‘What if they are only talking to me to get me to join their fraternity?’ his brain was screaming all of the sudden. When he met Laf’s eyes, he realized that he had been silent longer than was appropriate again and sighed at the concern he found there. “It is ok to not know what exactly you want to join. When I arrived, I tried to join everything.”
Their attempt to draw John out of his thoughts worked wonderfully as Eliza squeezed in beside Alex across the table from them and joined the conversation. “When Laf says everything, they mean everything. They even went through both sorority recruitment and fraternity rush. Talk about hectic.”
Laf blushed at her words, “The school tried to tell me ‘No, you ‘ave to choose one’ and I told them, ‘casse toi’ because no one tells me how to find my ‘ome when I am nonbinary.”
John chose then to interject, “Your home?”
“Oui. Greek Life to me is the chance to be myself and ‘ave immediate acceptance from those around me. If that isn’t ‘ome, I ‘ave been lied to.”
John spent the rest of dinner contemplating that thought while everyone interacted with the new faces around them. Before they knew it, dinner was over and it was time for the activities fair. They walked down with their new fraternity and sorority friends to the student union where there were around 6 rows of tables set up.
“Unless you end up lurking around the ΨΣΑ table, I will probably not see you until our ice cream date. Merci de partager le dîner avec moi.” John leaned into the kisses Lafayette placed on his cheeks. “I will send you the text when I get done at this event, oui?”
“Oui,” John said and then blushed realizing he had matched Laf’s accent. Laf just giggled as his brothers catcalled and they made their way over to their fraternity’s assigned location. John was highly tempted to go hang out over there, but was feeling drained from all of the social interaction for the day. He figured instead, he would head back to the dorm and take a nap. James agreed, and the two left Alex and Thomas to run around the activities fair.
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About an hour later, Alex and Thomas made their way back into the room carrying four bags of pamphlets and flyers as well as goodies from all of the respective tables. They weren’t quiet when they walked in, but they quickly shushed each other when they noticed John and James had fallen asleep in various states of disarray in both of the living room armchairs. Alex and Thomas quickly snapped pictures on their phones giggling in camaraderie at the blackmail they would have on the other two. After they composed themselves, they woke up John and James.
“Rise and shine, sleepy heads. It’s time to get involved on campus,” Alex started cheerily. John woke up gracefully, having years of experience waking up for younger siblings. James on the other hand groaned out loud as Thomas quietly tried to coax him out of the chair. After a few minutes of bickering, Thomas whispered something in James’ ear that made him blush but still get out of the chair smiling.
“So what are we doing this semester?” he grabbed a handful of pamphlets and sat down at their dining room table to leaf through them. Thomas and Alex had signed them up for their campus Gay Straight Alliance. Then they had gone around and picked up stuff from every other table. Thomas and Alex traded off telling stories about who they had met and what had happened when they were there. Alex was in the middle of telling a story about how Herc almost brawled with another fraternity guy when he let slip, “Oh, by the way, Thomas and I signed us all up for fraternity rush.”
James and John’s jaws dropped at the same time as their pamphlets. “You did what?” James started.
“James, you know it will be fun,” Thomas started, already trying to calm down his boyfriend who looked madder than John felt, “Plus you’re a legacy to that one Laf and Herc are in.”
“I’m not fucking paying to have someone bully me, Thomas.”
“They aren’t like that here. Alex and I had really good conversations at every table, and you had a really good conversation with that one guy at dinner. What was his name? Washington?”
James grumbled out a response and conceded. Thomas looked placated. John had curled in on himself by pulling his knees into his chest. They finished going through the pamphlets in relative silence. Alex had decided that he wanted to join Student Government and the Student Activities Council. James had agreed with Alex and also convinced him to give debate club a try. Thomas wanted to do debate club and also a fashion club on campus. This just left John to pick his clubs. There were just so many. He knew he wanted to do the marine science club, but the rest was a mystery. John had problems with the possibility of being rejected, so he tended to stay away from large group organizations. Normally that was fine, but now he had been signed up for fraternity rush, and he wasn’t even sure what that would entail.
John yelped when his phone went off in his pocket pulling him harshly from his thoughts. He glared at it suspiciously for a moment before realizing it was Laf and remembering that they were getting ice cream. He clumsily grabbed for his keys before mumbling a quick good bye to his roommates and rushing down to the lobby. Laf was standing there looking really relaxed while John felt like he was storing needles in his bloodstream.
Laf must have heard him enter the lobby because while they had first been smiling, they had now fixed their eyes on him in a playful pout. “I was forced to sit at that table for two 'ours, and not once did you grace me with your smiling face. Mon chéri, you wound me.”
John was not feeling playful, but he couldn’t help but smile at the beautiful person in front of him. “My apologies; my first day has been kind of draining.”
Laf smiled again, taking John’s hand in his. “You sound like my fraternity brother, Burr. Come, let us get some ice cream before you are too tired to find me entertaining.”
John volunteered to drive and Laf conceded. He didn’t have a license and it would have been a relatively long walk at such a late hour. When they got in John’s car, Laf grabbed the AUX cord from John’s hands. “Your music 'ere is good, but France’s music is better. I am about to blow you!”
John nearly choked on his own saliva. “Blow me away? Blow my mind?” he helpfully supplied. Laf laughed and said, “Ah, oui! Sorry, I guess ‘blow you’ doesn’t mean what I thought it meant. You blush so prettily across your skin stars when you are nervous though.”
“My skin… you mean my freckles?” John ran his non-steering hand through his curly hair out of nervousness.
Laf reached out and brushed a stray hair back behind John’s ear. “Oui. You’re très belle John Laurens, and I am very excited to get to know you better.”
Laf and John finished the ride to ice cream in a comfortable silence.
The ice cream shop that they arrived at was the definition of quaint. Its roof was conical and looked like a traditional waffle cone with its outer walls painted in old school pastels. It was a walk up window with a tiny outdoor seating area. It was later in the evening, but Laf strode up to the window with confidence which John followed and hoped he looked similar. The elderly woman behind the counter looked as if she was about to chastise them for arriving at an inconvenient hour, but then she recognized Laf and her face softened.
“Gilbert! I was hoping I would get to give you your traditional first-day-of-school cone, but I didn’t think it would be so late at night.” She hugged them from across the counter and then noticed John before Laf could even get out an apology. “Ohhh, Gilbert you didn’t mention you had brought me guests! Is this your new boyfriend?”
John had never seen Laf blush quite so deeply as their cheeks darkened and they started tugging on a curl that had sprung free from their bun. “Je suis désolé, il est si tard. This is John. ‘e is a freshman as of today. John, this is Ma Marie. She sells the best ice cream and gives the best advice. She also is the best weeping shoulder if you needed one.”
It didn’t pass John’s attention that Laf had sidestepped Ma Marie’s question about being a boyfriend. His heart did flip flops as Laf ordered them a sundae to split claiming it would be the best John had ever eaten. They settled into a table and dug in.
“So, ‘ow ‘as your first day been? You seem more reserved than when I first saw your face this morning.” Laf took a bigger bite of sundae than his mouth was capable of holding and a trail of chocolate slid down his chin. John casually reached out a finger and wiped it for them. Laf blushed then John realized what he did and returned the blush. “I mean it was a pretty good day overall,” John started. He filled Laf in on all the intricacies of the day: Alex and Thomas’ petty fights, his meaningful talks with James, the way Alex was acting around Eliza, and finally the fact that Alex and Thomas had signed them all up for fraternity rush week.
“Ah, you don’t seem excited about this. Does something about fraternity, ah…” John could see Laf struggle for the words, “get you off?”
John struggled to swallow his bite of ice cream. He really didn’t need Laf to accidentally say such provocative things while practically moaning over ice cream. “I believe you meant put off, and it’s not that I think it is a bad idea. I just don’t do well in group settings. I get overloaded really easily.”
Laf put a comforting hand on John’s arm. “Well, since you are already signed up, it wouldn’t ‘urt to try, non? I didn’t think I would like fraternities either. But I really meant what I said about finding my new ‘ome.”
John nodded and switched the topic to Laf. Laf talked about their life in the fraternity, their international politics major, and all the things they liked to do in their spare time. They mentioned that they had recently been looking for a sparring buddy because theirs quit when they came out as nonbinary. John was intrigued. “What kind of fighting do you do? I was a bit of a street brawler in high school. If you wouldn’t mind training me, I could step in.”
Laf had a nervous excitement that spread to John easily. “Well, I’m not sure if you will stay interested. We didn’t ever set any rules. We just went with what felt right to our bodies. We could give it a try and see where it goes, oui?”
John was hoping they could see where many things went. He simply nodded and gave Laf a goofy smile. They finished their sundae and headed back to the car with some general small talk. John was mostly back in his head considering if it would be inappropriate to ask Laf on another date, or if that night had even counted as a date, or if Laf would even be interested in dating someone like him. Eventually, Laf pulled him out of his thoughts. “John, you are always so stuck in your ‘ead. It is too late for me to remember the phrase about the small coins and your thoughts. What is wrong?”
John Laurens was nothing if not a little bold. So instead of filtering his thoughts, he just poured them onto the table and hoped for the best. “Laf, I really enjoyed tonight. I’m not sure if you were doing this to be nice to a lost freshman or if this counts as a date, but I would like to ask you out again. Whether that is as just friends or as, like, an actual date, I will leave up to you. But I really enjoy your company and would like to see you again. Soon. Yeah.”
He refused to look at Laf in fear of rejection. Instead, he felt Laf’s hand gently stroke his cheek and could hear the warmth behind their words. “John Laurens, amoureux, I would love to go on more dates with you. We can keep it slow. I don’t mind waiting for someone as beautiful as you.”
At this point he had made it back to the dorm parking lot. They both got out of the car and met at the front as if they had planned it. John hadn’t realized he was shorter than Laf, but the height difference was apparent now. John’s heart was beating a mile a minute and he couldn’t figure out the proper way to turn off his buzzing, erratic thoughts and figure out how to say goodnight. Laf chuckled, the sound warm and homey, and pulled John flush against their chest into a hug. “Get some rest John. I will text you in the morning and we can look at our schedules.”
They pulled away and winked before heading off in a direction off campus that John assumed was the notorious “Greek Hill” where all the Greek mansions were lined up on both sides of one street. His conversation with Laf had quelled his fears, and all that was left was a nervous excitement about what tomorrow would bring.
John made his way back up to his room. When he quietly opened the front door, it was like coming home past curfew in high school all over again. Alex was situated at the table with his laptop facing the door, typing away furiously while James and Thomas were nestled together on the couch watching what looked like an old episode of Game of Thrones. All of their activities ceased when they noticed John came in the front door and he was bombarded with questions about how it went and if he had gotten laid and if he had another date. And although John was slightly overwhelmed by the curiosity of his roommates, he could already feel their affection. That night once they had all settled into bed, John realized that this place already felt more like home than any other he had ever lived in, and he fell asleep smiling, chasing dreams that outlined a great new start to a beautiful new life.