I Like You a Lot

by arborealstops

[modern Hamilton AU] John Laurens and Alex Hamilton. Best friends since the sixth grade. They know everything there is to know about each other- their first kiss, their worst moments, everything. At least, that's what Alex thinks. But John knows better. He has a secret that only one person in the world knows- and that secret is that he is desperately in love with his best friend.

"Laurens, I like you a lot."

Those words had haunted John for days. The moment Alex had said them, John had immediately run out of the café, away from Alex. Today was the first time that they would be seeing each other since then.

It had been almost a week since he had run from the café, almost in tears, but he still wasn't ready to confront Alex. He knew that there would be questions, lots of them, but John wasn't prepared to answer them. Any of them.

Right now, only Laf knew about John's secret, and he wanted to keep it that way. Letting that come out would only cause more trouble between the group.

John's relationship with Thomas had caused a rift to form between him and the rest of their friend group. If Alex found out about his other secret, there was no doubt that the four of them would leave him alone to fend for himself.

Sure, it worked fine with Laf and Herc, but that was different. Lafayette hadn't been able to pull his eyes off of Hercules's ass since they met- everyone had expected it, and everyone knew that they were endgame. That's just the way it was.

John, on the other hand, was hopeless. Despite the fact that he had been dating Thomas for six months- they had begun dating just a few months into the school year- his friends, especially Alex, couldn't help glaring at him with disdain every time he showed up with his boyfriend in tow. The only one who seemed to like Thomas was Lafayette, and that was just because he was the only one who understood his fluent French. Even Aaron wasn't a big fan of Thomas- although his girlfriend, Theo, usually did her best to tolerate him, despite the remarks from literally everyone else.

This time, though, he didn't have Thomas with him. It was just the four of them- John, Laf, Hercules, and, of course, Alex. Aaron would have been there, but he had a "special date" with Theo. John couldn't help wondering if this would be the one where Aaron finally broke up with her. He'd been talking about it all week, but still hadn't make the move.

He shook his head, realizing he hadn't moved for five minutes, at least. Inside the café, he could see Lafayette ordering coffee for everyone. Smiling, he reached for the door handle, only to grab a tanned hand instead.

"Sorry-" John blurted, looking up and meeting chocolate brown eyes.

Alex smiled down at him. "I'll get it."

John felt his face heating up as he walked through the door that Alex held open for him. His eyes met Lafayette's as he slid into the booth, and he knew his secret was safe:

Alex would never know that John was in love with him.