Chapter Two

"Alexander, are you sure we're allowed to get this much food?" Laurens questioned, but his tone was light as he barely suppressed a laugh; he couldn't help feeling like a schoolboy who had just gotten away with something wrong, even if it was just an extra plate of pastries.

"God, Laurens, you are one conscientious man," Hamilton replied, picking up an almond cookie from Laurens's plate (which was filled with different varieties Hamilton himself had picked out for Laurens) and stuffing it in his mouth. "I admire your strong moral compass, but seriously, don't worry. Live in the present and make the moment last, am I right?"

Hamilton nudged him in the side and Laurens grinned, taking a mini muffin for himself. He decided to keep quiet on the tinge of joy he felt hearing the other already figuring out the puzzle pieces of his character, without Laurens even acknowledging it in words. "Aren't you always?"

"Only usually," Hamilton winked, leaving the half-eaten cookie between his teeth to make finger guns. Laurens couldn't help the happiness that was bubbling up inside of him, slowly but surely, just being in the presence of another man who so easily accepted him despite them having just met.

"We'll see if your statement stands even after meeting the great John Laurens." He picked up his bingo card, the first box filled with stamps so close to being enough but not quite there and waved it around, Hamilton's eyes following like a cat's to a ball of yarn. Hamilton had been less lucky in the first game.

"Oh, pish posh. Beginner's luck," Hamilton said with a ghost of a pout, which just made Laurens's eyes crinkle in amusement at the other's almost childlike honesty toward wanting to win. Hamilton tore his eyes from the card and stared straight into Laurens' instead. "I'm gonna win this time, just you wait."

And he did. He stared fondly into Hamilton's eyes, dark pools of mystery yet full of life, so alive, so attentive, and Laurens could only wonder how the world looked through such orbs that seemed so calculating, like every movement was conscious and controlled by the mastermind that could only be none other than Alexander Hamilton.

It had been a while since he'd felt such freedom, such ease just being himself around another person instead of feeling the need to please them. Wasn't that why he was here, in the first place?

An image of the wedding suddenly flickered into Laurens's mind. The wedding he had snuck out of. He remembered the suffocating air just being with his father who had so many and such high expectations. He remembered the hopeful glances from his mother, the knowing looks he got from the other guests. He remembered why he had to escape. And he remembered what consequences he would inevitably face if he didn't at least try to get back before his family took notice. But why couldn't he stay, when being here, at this party instead, felt more right than that wedding ever could? And here there was someone else, someone who knew nothing of him yet took him in so unconditionally…

"John?"

Laurens snapped back into the present, eyes widening as he sucked in a breath. Damn, did he seriously just lose himself in Hamilton's eyes? How long had he been staring? Had it been too obvious? He almost wanted to smack himself but at the same time was in mild awe of how the cliches he used to snort at were finally making sense to him, for the first time becoming relevant in his own life.

"Sorry. What?" he managed to get out.

"Oh, good, you remember your first name at least. What were you thinking about? Actually, nevermind, tell me later. Aren't you playing? They started the second round already. I mean, I could've let you keep spacing out but this is between us. I wanna win the game fair and square. B6," Hamilton added in silent amusement as he watched Laurens scramble to refocus his attention onto his bingo card and stamp the squares he had missed.

"Thanks," Laurens mumbled almost inaudibly, clearing his throat behind his hand in a weak attempt to draw attention away from the light blush that was dusting his cheeks. Luckily (or unluckily) for him, Hamilton remained oblivious to the fact as he had already returned to boring holes into Mulligan from across the room, hands itching to stamp, foot tapping the floor in anticipation. Laurens couldn't help but wonder if Hamilton was already used to being compared to puppies - he certainly was wagging his metaphorical tail like one. Would he like that?

"Mother-"

"Whaaat-"

"-stick," Hamilton cursed in unison with some poofy-haired man a few tables away after Mulligan announced a combination.

Well, maybe an angry puppy, but still a puppy because he is still damn cute, Laurens thought unabashedly as he propped up an elbow on the table in front of them, cheek leaning on one hand.

The rest of the game went on relatively peacefully, and Laurens only noticed Hamilton making swatting gestures to someone across the room a couple times before opening his mouth to ask, "Who are you talking to?"

Hamilton made a shooing gesture to the stranger away again before answering. "Lafayette. See, over there with that all-knowing bun? That's where he hides all his secrets."

Laurens exhaled in what could be considered a laugh - his breath had caught in his throat after Hamilton leaned in close to him for a better angle. "Yeah. I see. Are you guys friends?" He waved good-naturedly at the Frenchman, who smiled broadly and blew both of them an air kiss in return.

"Yeah, but watch out. Laf can turn into a mom friend pretty quick when he wants to, if you know what I mean."

"So he likes to dote on you."

Hamilton scoffed, but in contrast his features remained warm, fond even. "Uh, yeah, if you wanna put that much sugar on it. I think a more accurate word would be 'meddling', though. He's a meddler. He's just making fun of me because I didn't wanna go to this party but he said I should make friends, and I wasn't planning on humoring him but hey, it happened anyway." He paused, then turned to face Laurens. "Wait, we are friends, right? Shit, sorry, I tend to get ahead of myself sometimes-"

"No, you're good," Laurens cut him off much to Hamilton's relief. "I do consider you a friend."

"Oh. Okay. Good," Hamilton said with a nod, just a hint of a smile playing on his lips, but inside there was something new growing, a kind of happiness he hadn't known before this moment that threatened to make itself felt, even if Hamilton himself didn't know how to acknowledge it. "Good. Lafayette'll be glad. I mean, not that I'm not glad, too, I am. Thanks," Hamilton muttered hastily to stop the train wreck before it could get any worse and ran a hand through his hair.

Well, it was too late for Laurens to back out now, Hamilton thought wryly. He hoped Laurens didn't mind the word vomit because now he actually had a reason to hope.

"Aaaaand the last prize goes to… 1-8-1-"

"7-4-6, 7-4-6," Hamilton mumbled to himself over and over like some kind of mantra.

"-7-4-6!"

"HELL YES!" Hamilton exclaimed and, in the excitement of the moment, stood up instantly to pull Laurens who was sitting beside him into a side hug, earning a few cheers from the guests in addition to the obligatory polite applause.

"Congrats, Alexander. Finally," Laurens chuckled, still holding close to his chest the stuffed turtle he had won in the third (and last) bingo game. Hamilton had been sulking but, much to Laurens' relief, finally went back to his usual self after winning the last raffle prize.

The look on Hamilton's face when he returned from redeeming his prize from Mulligan was not what he had expected.

"What is it? What's wrong?"

Hamilton huffed. "Said the only prize they had left was this. Here, you can have it. Suits you better anyway." He threw a small object to Laurens and Laurens caught it with one hand, staring curiously down at the prize sitting on his palm.

"Oh my God."

"You're welcome." He could practically hear the proud grin in Hamilton's voice.

"Alex! This is great, thank you," Laurens all but shouted in happy celebration, leaping into the other's arms as if using the opportunity as payback for earlier. He wrapped his own arms around Hamilton's neck and Hamilton stumbled backwards but accepted the surprise hug. "I can call you Alex, right?"

Hamilton waved a hand dismissively, though the action was a tad difficult due to the other's still-too-tight embrace. "Yeah, whatever you want. It's no ten dollar gift card to Starbucks, but this is pretty good, too."

"I'll treasure it forever."

Hamilton laughed, rich and genuine, music to Laurens' ears. "It's just a keychain."

"A lucky turtle keychain. Now I can have one with me wherever I go and be blessed by its magical powers."

"Sentimental. Yet endearing," Hamilton mused, and Laurens finally pulled away, and - oh, that warmth was actually pretty nice, when would he be able to feel it again? - for the first time Hamilton was able to see the sparkles of the metaphorical stars in Laurens' eyes, and - he put those stars there, Alexander did, oh God, what feeling was this? Well, no matter, now this was something worth treasuring - the rush of emotion washed over both of them, quietly on the outside but their racing heartbeats said otherwise.

"Um," Laurens began, reluctantly breaking away from the moment and tucking the small keychain into his pocket. With his other hand he held out the stuffed turtle he had been cuddling just moments ago and pushed it toward Hamilton's chest. "Since you gave me that… well, you can have this. I mean, you didn't get anything else, so… just something to remember me by, y'know?" He grinned sheepishly, and Hamilton couldn't tell if he was doing that cute thing with his eyelashes on purpose or not.

"To remember you? Do you have to leave?" Hamilton asked with mild surprise, accepting the gift without much thought, mind elsewhere.

"Well, yeah, sort of. You see, I actually-"

The familiar sound of a phone buzzing cut him off, and Laurens glanced quickly at the screen still on the table, cringing slightly when he saw his father's contact blink obnoxiously.

"I have to go," Laurens said after some hesitation, eyebrows furrowed like he was being forced to say it. "I'm not really supposed to be here. But thank you for letting me stay, Alexander. I had fun, really."

But Hamilton just laughed lightly, all too oblivious to Laurens's predicament. "You make it sound like the carriage waiting for you is gonna turn into a pumpkin any minute. Or your suit's gonna transform into a bunch of mice. Come on, Laurens, tell me where you're going. I'll come with. Laf won't mind. The goal was to socialize, get out of my comfort zone. Think I've accomplished that and with flying colors, if I do say so myself."

Before Laurens could respond Hamilton was already gathering his things, cleaning up their area on the table and getting ready to head out. Laurens couldn't find it in him to part with the other and so he simply offered to throw away their trash while Hamilton went to shoot Lafayette a text saying that they'd be leaving.

Lafayette texted back with a simple don't stay out too late and a winky face emoji, catching Hamilton's eye and wiggling his French eyebrows all too knowingly. Hamilton rolled his eyes in jest and turned back to Laurens.

"Ready to go?"

"Whenever you are."

The two of them headed for the exit and Hamilton whipped around one last time to face the remaining guests, cupping his hands around his mouth to use as a makeshift megaphone as he shouted.

"Peace out. And happy birthday, Peggy!"