Eat, sleep, study, class, repeat. That was John Laurens' daily life, and it had been for almost the past two years. Not that he minded in the slightest. Even working himself to the bone to keep up his GPA was better than dealing with his parents back in South Carolina. Almost anything was better than dealing with family in South Carolina. Well, except maybe listening to Thomas Jefferson ramble on about... Well... Almost anything. This time especially, considering his chosen topic just so happened to be the lgbt+ community and how, "dangerous and abnormal," they were.
"Herc, I swear, I'm gonna punch him," John muttered to Hercules Mulligan, his angry gaze was still trained on Thomas.
"Yeah, yeah, I know, but let him be. You can't fight him. Don't give me that look, John, you know it's true. Besides, punching him would just prove his point." John sighed and looked away after Mulligan's comment. He was right, of course. Even if Jefferson deserved a good right hook, doing so would only give him a chance to say, "Look, see, I was right. Dangerous."
"Fine..." John finally muttered, much to both his own annoyance and Mulligan's satisfaction. As much as Jefferson bothered him, there were only a few minutes until class started and he would be forced to shut up. John could wait that long, probably.
"Hey, where's Aaron?" Mulligan asked, eyebrows raised as he swept the room. It wasn't often that Burr was late to class, and even more rare for him to skip all together. But, there they were, two minutes until the professor was going to show up, and he was nowhere to be found.
"I don't know, he's probably with Theodosia," John offered, shrugging. Mulligan nodded in agreement. Theodosia was Burr's new girlfriend, and he spent almost all his free time with her. Not that John blamed him, the girl was absolutely beautiful. He might have even liked her, if he liked women. Which, for the record, he didn't.
It couldn't have been more than thirty seconds after their speculations, though, that the door swung open and Burr himself came waltzing in. And, although he wasn't alone, his companion actually wasnt Theo. Trailing him was a tall, brunet boy with big eyes that seemed to be attempting to take everything in at once. John couldn't help staring as the guy, who he had admittedly never seen before, quietly shuffled around with Burr.
"Oooooh, someone's smitten," Hercules chuckled from beside him, earning a blushing death glare from John.
"Oh fuck off, Mulligan, I am not. He's just... Interesting... okay?" He muttered, looking down slightly. "Have you ever seen him around? I'm guessing he's new... Not exactly a face one doesn't notice." John added, turning to watch the boy again. From next to him, Mulligan shook his head.
"You know I don't swing that way, but damn, if I did..." He remarked, whistling. "For the record, you have my full permission to go for it." John chuckled at that, although it made him blush again.
"Dude, we don't even know his name yet. Slow down," he laughed, lightly shoving Mulligan's shoulder. From across the classroom, Burr called him over.
"Hey, Laurens, over here," he shouted, motioning towards the new kid. John glanced at Mulligan, who gave him a wink, before standing and making his way across the classroom.
"Aaron," he greeted, looking over the boy again. His hair actually wasn't brown, John realized, after closer inspection. If anything, it was a darker shade of auburn. Burr nodded in acknowledgment, which brought John's attention back to him, before saying,
"Alexander, this is John. John, meet my roommate, Alexander Hamilton. Show him around, would you?" and proceeded to nearly shove Alexander at him and disappear. John laughed and shook his head, but Alexander's face went deep red.
"I-I'm so, so sorry about him. You... You really don't have to- to, I can just, uh, go find another seat," he stuttered, eyes darting around frantically. John had to notice how embarrassed he seemed, what with the way his words were all rushed together. And there was something else... An accent? It was faint, a sort of blink and you'd miss it lilt, and yet he was certain it was there.
"Naw, it's cool. Alexander, right? Come on over, I'll introduce you to my friend. You're new, yeah?" He asked, turning and motioning for Alexander to follow. Slowly, after throwing an angry look at Burr, Alexander trailed after him. From across the room, Mulligan offered John a confused eyebrow raise, which was quickly followed by a pointed look. A clear and wordless, "Just go with it."
"Mulligan, this is Alexander Hamilton. He's new," John simply stated, before sitting back down and motioning to the seat in front of him. Alexander, although seemingly on edge, took a seat and nodded towards Hercules, who returned the nod with a smile.
Turning towards Alexander, John continued, "Yeah, his first name is Hercules, but everyone just calls him Mulligan." After a moment, he leaned in and said, "I'd pay you to make a mythology joke. You're new enough he probably wouldn't kill you." To that Alexander laughed, smiling slightly.
"For the record, don't listen to the doctor with a death wish," Mulligan said, leaning over to shake Alexander's hand. "Hercules Mulligan, but call me Hercules and I actually will kill you. Everyone calls me Mulligan, anyways." He chuckled.
Alexander smiled, replying, "Will do. Or, rather, won't do," before turning back to John. "You're a doctor?" He asked, raising an eyebrow as he gave him a once over. John sighed, shaking his head slightly. It was obvious that Alexander was assuming what everyone always assumed. Doctor, as in having a Doctorate.
"Not like that. I declared my major in freshman year, and i'm studying medicine." he explained. Alexander nodded in understanding, smiling slightly at John.
"Same," he commented, gesturing towards a textbook laden bag. "Poli- sci," he clarified, pulling out a law book for a moment before shoving it back in with the rest. John had to chuckle at his lack of organization, and frankly, his lack of caring about the fact.
"Well, unlike you nerds," Hercules cut in, "I didnt declare until last year." After a confused glance from Alexander, he added, "I'm a senior." John nodded in agreement.
"That's true, but you're hardly in a place to be calling US nerds, Ken doll." John laughed, throwing him a smirk.
Mulligan sighed, punching John in the shoulder lightly before turning to Alexander and saying, "I'm a fashion major. Now, before you can even ask, yes, I want to be a designer, yes, I watch America's Next Top Model, no, I'm not gay. Anything else?" Alexander gave him an amused look, shaking his head. "Good," Herc nodded, leaning back in his chair.
John was just opening his mouth to say something, although what he was going to say he didn't know, when the classroom door swung open. A tall, older man with buzzed hair and a suit walked in, and the class fell silent.
"Is that Professor Washington?" Alexander asked, leaning over towards John.
"Yeah, Washington's cool. He's taught here for a couple years now, but this is his first year teaching public speaking. Herc's had him before, right?" After a brief nod from Mulligan, John turned to face Alexander again, and whispered, "You should like him, Alexander."
Alexander chuckled, and whispered back, "You can call me Alex, you know," before getting a stern look from Washington and falling quiet again.
"Alright, everyone, today we're going to be working on assigning topics, and researching them. We'll be presenting them next class, so come with a prepared piece. Alright, i'll turn you loose." Washington announced, and that was that.
The rest of class went rather smoothly, and by the end both John *and* Washington were extremely impressed with Alex's clear skill in writing. He had chosen history of debate for his topic, which John thought was absolutely brilliant considering the class, while he himself had chosen the decomposition of rate of a cadaver. Not as fitting, but according to Alex, "Bloody awesome. No pun intended."
"Alright, it was good meeting you, but we gotta get going," Mulligan finally said, as everyone was packing up their work. Alex raised an eyebrow, and John elaborated.
"It's Thursday. Herc and I meet friends to study every Thursday. I would ask if you wanted to come, but..."
Alexander blushed, shaking his head and rushing, "Oh no, I get it. It was, uh, nice to meet you, John, Mulligan."
"Yeah, it was nice meeting you," John repeated, now blushing also. Herc elbowed him in the side, although not exactly discretely, and John glared at him. He flicked his eyes towards Alexander, to which John gave him an annoyed glance.
"Alright, well I'm gonna go," Alex mumbled, turning to leave. Once he was out of earshot, Mulligan turned to John.
"Aren't you gonna ask him for his number?" He asked, giving him a "If you don't you're an idiot," look.
John sighed, shaking his head. "I shouldn't... He's probably not, you know, like me..." Be trailed off, looking down. Mulligan gave him a disapproving look.
"This is why you don't have a boyfriend," he grumbled, grabbing John by the arm and pulling him over towards the door where Alex stood. "Aye, Hamilton," he called, much to John's mortification, before releasing him and pushing him towards a very confused Alex
"Um... Hey..." Alexander said, sounding more like a question than a greeting.
"Hey..." John muttered, resisting the urge to storm over and absolutely *murder* Mulligan. Rather than homicide, though, he continued to face Alex and said, "I, uh, forgot that I was going to ask for your number."
Alex smirked, shrugging off his backpack and sifting through for a pen. "Here," he said, pulling John close by the arm and scribbling something on the back of his hand. "Text me sometime," he smiled, before turning and walking away. John nodded weakly.
"But you're not smitten," Mulligan chuckled behind him. John whipped around, eyes narrowing in a glare, which only made him smile slightly.
"Yeah, yeah, screw you," John grumbled. Glancing down, he looked at the green writing scrawled across his hand. The phone number, followed by "-A. Ham." And a heart.