Chapter Text

You're Kidding Me, Right?

You perched your aviator sunglasses on top of your head, taking refuge under one of the swim club's umbrellas by the entrance and taking your post for the next ten minutes to cover for a co-worker. The golden medallion in the sky beat down on the shining water of the pool and you could feel the Sun burning you right through the umbrella. The newscasters weren't kidding when they said today was one of the hottest days of the years.

"Hey (Y/N)!" Ah, just on time, you thought to yourself. Just the people you needed to get yourself through the long and dragging day at work. The Hamilsquad was a group of four guys, Alexander, Lafayette, Hercules, and Laurens. Interesting group of them, definitely interesting.

Alexander was pretty much the leader. He was the one who was the representative to the group, seeing that his last name was used in the squad's nickname. Lafayette was Alexander's second, backing him up whenever the leader needed it. Hercules was an interesting part of the group. He was more of the mysterious type. He wasn't outgoing like the other guys but he still played his part in the group.

Laurens was the puppy of the group. "The lovesick puppy," they all called him. He wasn't even the youngest; Lafayette and Alexander were born later on. But he had the appearance of being the youngest, with brown freckles sporadically on his face, light colored eyes, and fluffy, curly hair.

"Alex! On time, as usual." You greeted him with a nod of the head, acknowledging his ID card. He shoved the card back into a slot of his wallet before making his way to the boys' locker room to put his things away.

"Lafayette, Hercules," You smiled at the boys who had an equally bright smile on their faces. You extended your body, chin rising up, looking for the last boy who was part of their group. "Where's Laurens?" You wondered, brows slightly furrowed. It wasn't a Hamilsquad outing if Laurens wasn't there. It wasn't a Hamilsquad outing if any of them were missing.

"Oh, Laurens?" Lafayette teasingly asked in his thick French accent. "Looking for him, you need him?" Lafayette was such a jokester, must have been all of the French blood and years living in Paris with his parents. It was only until a few years that he had moved here and completed the squad. Hercules snickered along with Lafayette.

You rolled your eyes, flicking his thick shoulder with your fingers. "Of course not. You all are practically the same person, wouldn't be missing him even if I had to. He doesn't need me, nor do I need him." That was a little bit of crossing the line on your part.

You pushed the two stocky boys (they were both built like rocks) towards the locker rooms, they continued to chuckle and talk among themselves.

"That's not what he thinks," Hercules muttered under his breath, earning a well-deserved laugh from Lafayette. Your eyes trailed over to Lafayette's laugh, where you could see them looking back at you and your brow raised in questioning.

"H-Hi (Y/N)!" Laurens piped up, sporting a bright smile on his freckle-dashed face. Hearing his voice, you turned to him, smiling back at him. Laurens smiled even wider if that could be possible. You raised your eyebrows at him, just for a brief second.

He held his ID card between his thumb and his index finger and you nodded, "Thanks. You can go." You briefly said, jutting your head towards the locker room. You pulled out your phone and swiped around the screen a bit before looking back up, noticing that Laurens was still there, whistling, rolling on the balls of his feet then back on his heels, hands intertwined behind his back. "Laurens, you know that they're waiting for you, right? In the locker room?"

"O-Oh, right. I'm already changed, you know. I'm fine." Laurens nervously smiled, letting out a soft chuckle.

"You don't want to put your things away?" You wondered, cocking your head to the side, seeing that his bag was still slung on both shoulders.

He opened his mouth and closed it again. "Yes, that makes sense." His face, only within a few seconds, became completely florid as he walked fast to get to the boys' locker room, keeping his head down, his vision behind his curly locks.

"Ooh, what took you so long, Laurens? Another encounter with (Y/N)?" Alex smirked, noticing that John had kept his head down while rushing over to them. Alexander used the knuckle of his index finger to bring Laurens' chin upwards for the group to see Laurens' flushed face. Laurens mumbled so many things under his breath, and extremely quickly as well. They'd already knew you had made him like this, so they made fun of him constantly whenever they saw him around you. "Oh, ho ho, what do we got here? A blushing, babbling Laurens, must be due to the work of (Y/N)."

"S-Shut up." Laurens couldn't stop stuttering. For a guy who was quite charismatic and a good orator, he kept tripping over his words whenever he was around you. "Nothing happened out-outside there. N-Nothing."

"Look, here I have an idea, to have her notice you, because earlier, she said she wouldn't miss you because we're apparently like the same person, the four of us. She also said you don't need her, and vice versa." Hercules smirked, laughing out loud at Lauren's gaped mouth and raised eyebrows.

"Damn! (Y/N) is hella harsh!" Alexander interrupted Hercules. He laughed, along with Lafayette. It seemed to be that only Laurens didn't find this to be funny. His arms were folded across his chest, a scowl slapped onto his face.

"Well, what I was saying, before I was so rudely interrupted," Hercules glared at Alex, eyes narrowing at the smaller guy who whimpered softly. "You should try to pretend to drown! You know because you know that she takes her post as a lifeguard right now, so you can drown, she'll give you CPR and kisses for my boy Laurens!"

"Huh, that doesn't seem like the worst idea," Laurens unfolded his arms and raised his eyebrow and stroked his chin like he always did when he thought about something. Lafayette nodded with Laurens.

"Well, I think that's really stupid. Like, you really think (Y/N)'s gonna be happy about that? She's gonna kill you, then us! That plan's not going to work out, I'm sure it's been done on some kind of TV show and the guy always gets in troub—"

"Ah, but Monsieur Hamilton," Lafayette always said this when he wanted to prove a point against Hamilton. He made a clicking sound. "She'll be using CPR, a kiss for Laurens, do you not want our lovesick puppy to be happy?" Laurens sure was a lovesick puppy. His eyes were always oogly and large, his smile getting brighter every single time he saw you.

"I do, I really do," Alexander admitted, putting a hand on Laurens' shoulder. "But I have a feeling that this isn't going to end very well."

You took your post at the top of one of the lifeguard towers, the one right by the two diving boards. Thank goodness there was an umbrella above the tower, you absolutely hated getting sunburnt, and you definitely anticipated getting multiple sunburns. You slid your sunglasses onto your face, to guard your eyes against the sun even further. It was sorta a slow day, but you would rather take a slow day, over a day that someone's drowning or something, right?

You watched as the Hamilsquad walked towards the pool. Laurens and Hercules immediately walked (knowing you would yell at them to slow down and stop running if they had sprinted off) towards the diving boards, trying to beat the other to the line of the high dive. Alexander sat at the edge of shallow part of the cool, swishing his feet back and forth, presumably waiting for Eliza to come out of girls' locker room. Lafayette swam around, especially trying to "bother," more like flirting instead, with Angelica, who kept swimming away from the guy. Poor, poor Angelica. She had to put up with a guy who always bothered her. If only he knew that Angelica was already with another guy named John Church.

Laurens inevitably got to the dive before Hercules; he was a lightweight and had less muscle. When you slid your glasses off, you directed your eyes off of Laurens, not really caring about how his dive off of the board ended up, as you watched little kids in the shallow end swim. When you meant little kids, you really meant three toddlers and Hamilton and Eliza. The lovebirds splished and splashed, they were really the definition of a power couple.

Now, you kept hearing splashes, but you took a glance at Hamilton and Eliza. They weren't making any noise; in fact, they stopped swimming to chat. You turned your head and saw Laurens struggling, gasping for air, arms flailing around. Right away, you dive off of your tower, with the float under your arm. You expertly swim to Laurens with one hand, pulling his arm over the float. You brought him to the side, where Hercules helped you pull him onto the beige pavement beside the pool. The pavement absorbed the dripping water, making it slightly darker.

"Be ready to call 911 if needed." You instructed Hercules and he curtly nodded and took out his phone from his pocket. You carefully scanned your eyes from his head to his abdomen, as you were instructed when you took that CPR course before you became a lifeguard.

You pressed two fingers together against Laurens' neck and slid it up and down, trying to feel for a pulse. It was still there, thankfully, but it was faint, that wasn't good enough. Since he had no clothing to begin with, you were okay to start with mild pumps on his chest. You did ten pumps, using the palm heel of your hand, the fingers of your top hand clasping around the bottom one.

Ah, screw it, it was time for a rescue breath, these pumps just weren't working. You tilted his head up by his forehead and used your other hand to lift his chin. You used your first hand to pinch his nose slightly. You placed your open lips against his lips, and before you could even breath into his mouth, his lips formed into a pucker and pressed them against yours.

You instantly pulled back, eyes wide, getting on your feet. Laurens also got on his feet, biting his lip. "You're kidding me, right?" You yelled. You didn't care about everyone else watching. It was fine. Laurens deserved a big yelling at for this nonsense he just pulled on you.

"N-No." You could tell that Laurens was embarrassed, more than embarrassed actually. The tips of his ears, as well as his whole face, were a florid rosy pink. "I-I'm sorry."

"That's right, you should be sorry! I was scared for dear life, for your life!" You glared at him before turning to his friends. The three of them stood so together that they were cramped at the shoulders. "Was he doing this on purpose?" You asked, looking up at the taller guys.

They slowly nodded, knowing they too would get a bit of yelling in their ears.
"You've got to be kidding me," you muttered. You laughed hysterically, with a sarcastic undertone, throwing your head up to the sky.

"I swear (Y/N), I told him it was a stupid idea! Believe me, I did!" Alexander exclaimed. Yeah, like that was gonna to magically make everything better, thanks, Alexander.

You smacked him on the back of his head. "Then why didn't you stop him, huh? Saying it was a stupid idea is one thing, but stopping him is another!" You sighed, shaking your head. "Just get out, and don't come back." When they stood frozen in place, you yelled, "Get out! Now!"

You looked back at Laurens, who had already began to make his way to the locker room. His head hung lower than humanly possible, back hunched over while he trudged towards the locker room. You didn't even have to tell him to get out; he was doing it on his own. The three boys followed suit, heads also hung low.

You didn't bother to say goodbye. Why you have done so, Laurens scared the living daylights out of you, for what? Just to kiss you? You knew he had a massive crush on you, that was the most obvious thing in the whole world. You've learned to sorta let it roll off your sleeve and let it happen. Sure, having to bear his mediocre flirting was easy, but drowning on purpose, that was not a thing to be playing with. What if you couldn't rescue him? If you couldn't save him? Everything would be all on you. All your fault.

It was nearly three weeks after you left everything burning behind you. You hardly went out anymore, only for your job. You didn't reply to anyone's texts, phone calls, nothing at all. You just, you couldn't go out there. You didn't want to face Laurens. You felt bad enough for yelling at him. He was like a little, adorable puppy, who happened to have a really freckly face and seriously curly hair.

All of a sudden, your phone buzzed in your lap when you were lying on your bed at eleven in the morning. Being the curious human being who occasionally checked your phone for any updates, you unlocked your phone and what a surprise! It was Alex again, telling you that Laurens was sorry for what he did at the swim club two weeks ago. It was the fifth time this week, and it was only Wednesday.

Alexander: Laurens always tells me to tell you that he says sorry to you
You: Well, tell Laurens to leave me alonE
You: and you better not give that jerk my phone number either
You: i might have trusted you then, but i can't be certain that i can trust you now.
Alexander: you can trust me!
Alexander: I'm not going to give him your number, I swear
Alexander: But can't you give him another chance?
Alexander: Kid deserves it
You: You think he deserves it
You: he doesn't though, you know it too
You: Look alex, i think you should tell Laurens to stop texting you to text me
Alexander: so are you saying i should give him your phone number?
You: what the heck alexander, no
Alexander: tough crowd
Alexander: but ok, i will do as you wish

You sighed, setting your phone down. You never wanted any of your friendships to end this way. You were great friends with the Hamilsquad. You couldn't even hang out with the Schuyler sisters, who have been your friends since you were all toddlers, anymore, because you kept feeling a pang of guilt and they would've asked about everything and you didn't want to go through all of that again.

You walked into the swim club, later that day, when it was already dark. You took your place at the entrance, to check ID cards. It sure was an easy job, compared to having to watch out for drowners. A few kids got in, showing their cards and you nodded, telling them they were fine to go.

All of a sudden, Laurens rushed into the entrance and right past you, ending up at the performance area. "Laurens, what are you doing?!" You yelled at him, and of course, the Hamilsquad isn't the Hamilsquad unless the other three boys rush in. That was the exact thing that they did. "Take over for me," you muttered to one of your co-workers, who nodded in response.

You walked over to the performance area. It was a wooden platform, with a trellis behind it and vines weaving in and out. The fairy lights were on, and it almost made the area look like a forbidden garden. Lafayette set down an old fashioned boom box, you know, the ones from the 80′s with the handle on top.

"Hit it!" Laurens yelled, and Lafayette nodded and pressed a button. Music flowed freely from the speakers. You almost immediately recognized the music. You smiled, shaking your head slightly, looking down at your feet. Laurens came and jumped off the stage, tilting your chin up. He led your to a chair that was slightly off center on the stage. You sat there, waiting for them to do something.

Laurens started singing, "What The Heck I Gotta Do?" You couldn't believe it. They were singing a song from one of your favorite musicals, 21 Chump Street. And believe it or not, Laurens really sounded and looked like the main character, Justin LaBoy.

Laurens even started doing the dance that Justin did in the musical. It was a bunch of laughs and Laurens sang beautifully, with Alex, Lafayette, and Herc singing back up.

When the song finished, your face was red from laughing too much. You loved the musical, and the Hamilsquad's rendition to the song was nearly spot on.
"So, what'd you say (Y/N)? What the heck I gotta do to be with you?" Laurens licked his lips and smiled at you. His stutter was seemingly gone with all the confidence filling its space. His smile was so contagious. Alexander was right; Laurens needed a chance, and you never gave it to him. You never really realized how great and amazing and caring Laurens was to you.

"I'm not going to pull a Naomi Rodriguez. If you're mine, I'm yours." You smiled up at him, looking into his loving eyes. The lovesick puppy didn't have to chase no longer; you were here for him, he was here for you. It seemed like you really did need Laurens, despite what you said that day three weeks past.

He eagerly nodded, shouting a happy, "Yes!" just like Justin had done in the play. He pumped his fist into the air, like he was the champion. And he really was a champion. "We'll take it slow, I promise."

You nodded, pushing yourself off onto your tiptoes, pressing a chaste kiss to his freckled cheek. He gasped and his mouth was agape. "Hey guys, did you see that?!" He pointed to his cheek, and yelled, "Woo!" The guys cheered for the guy, both of you each other's first romance.

Lafayette snickered. "Ha, and so Angelica owes me a kiss now."