"Corporate interest have no place in politics!" Alex hissed. When he got up to go to class that morning he had told himself that he was going to ignore Laurens. That was, of course, before he had interrupted Alex's explanation of a theoretical plan to get a tax bill through congress.

"That'll never work." John had said in a sing-song voice. It escalated from there.

John rose out of his seat and began to walk toward Alex as he replied. "Whether they have a place in politics or not, they're there and you aren't going to make any changes if you ignore them." He said.

By the time John had finished he was standing inches from Alex, his eyes alight with something...Oh my god, Alex thought. John was playing devil's advocate to rile him up on purpose. What an asshole. Alex squared his shoulders and straightened up to his full height. He was disappointed to find that he was still shorter than John. He didn't let that stop him, however.

"I'm not ignoring them." He growled. "If you would let me finish a damn thought once in a while—"

"Gentlemen, that's enough." The professor said calmly, cutting Alex off. "If you can't treat each other with civility then you have no place in this class." He gave them each a stern look before addressing the rest of the students. "That's all the time we have for today. Do the reading."

This statement was followed by a flurry of activity as everyone packed up their things and began to file out of the room. Soon the only two left were Alex and John, still glaring at each other.

Suddenly, John surged forward. For a second, Alex thought he was going to hit him but John just grabbed Alex by the upper arm and dragged him toward the door.

"What are you-?" Alex began before getting cut off again.

"Shut up." John snapped. After a quick check to make sure no one was in the hallway he began dragging Alex once more until they reached the bathroom. He shoved the smaller boy inside and quickly followed. Before the heavy door had even finished closing, he had spun Alex around and pressed him against it.

Alex made a quiet "Unf." Noise before John's lips descended on his.

"I hate you." Alex muttered against John's lips.

"Hate you more." John shot back and pressed against him harder, aligning their hips and thrusting roughly. Alex groaned and pulled back. John shifted his attention to Alex's neck, leaving his mouth free which was a mistake.

"Obviously enough that you refuse to agree with me on principle." He said breathlessly. "Who does that?"

"You." John said, kissing his way back up Alex's neck. "I'm just the only one that can hold their own against you." He finally found his way back to Alex's lips, kissing him again with bruising force, when they felt someone push on the door.

The two sprang apart as if a land mine had gone off between them as the stranger entered the bathroom. Before the newcomer could process the scene he had walked in on, Alex and John fled the room one right after the other.

Hours later, John was sprawled out on his bed, his nose buried in a book, trying to forget about Alexander Hamilton. It worked marginally well for the first 15 or so minutes, his tattered copy of Fahrenheit 451 pulling him in with its familiar story and comforting smell. Unfortunately, his mind began to wander to what had happened in the bathroom, not once but twice now. He thought about Alex's hands on his hips, the groan that came out of his mouth when John had pressed himself against Alex, the fire that had filled his eyes when John had challenged him in class.

That last one gave him pause. Alex was an insufferable know-it-all. An attractive know-it-all, John admitted to himself. And a fantastic kisser, but that was all. He spent a few more seconds ruminating over this before his phone rang. He checked the caller ID and sighed.

"Hey, dad." He said.

"Hello, John." His father said stiffly. "I was calling to see how school is going."

"Fine." John said just as stiffly. Most conversations with his father were like this.

"How vague." Henry Laurens said, his voice pinched. "What is it you're screwing up you don't want to tell me?"

"Dad…" John said, running his hand down his face in frustration. "I'm not screwing anything up. I told you, it's fine."

Henry made a huffing noise but otherwise offered no reply. "I was calling to let you know that I plan on running for governor this year. I'm going to announce my candidacy tonight at the St. Jude benefit."

John was surprised. It wasn't like his father to make such a call personally. He usually had his mom call him. "That's great, dad. Good luck." He said mostly sincerely.

"I am going to be under a lot of scrutiny during all this and I wanted to make sure that you exercise discretion with your…lifestyle." Henry sounded horribly uncomfortable as he said this.

"My lifestyle?" John asked angrily. "Dad, I've told you a hundred times—"

Henry cut him off. "Don't start, John." He said firmly. "I have put up with your activities since high school, but I am serious. A gubernatorial candidate cannot afford to have a skeleton like you in their closet. If you do anything that reflects badly on me there will be consequences."

John shuttered. "Yes sir." He said.

"Goodbye, John." Henry said and hung up the phone without another word.

John dropped onto the bed and rubbed at the spot just below his sternum and took several shallow, loud breaths. He could hear his father's voice echoing in his head and he struggled to drown it out.

"John?" He jumped at Hercules's voice. For someone so big, he moved so quietly. John never heard him coming in.

"Sorry, man." Herc said. "You look pale, what happened?"

"My dad called." John said. He offered no further explanation but Herc nodded.

"Wanna talk about it?" he asked.

"Not really." John said and sat up. "Let's do something tonight."

"Like what?" Herc said.

"The Colonist?" John suggested.

"Hell, yeah." Herc said with a grin. "I'll call Laf."