AN:

TRIGGER WARNING: some mentioning of parental abuse nothing detailed though

I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE CHARACTERS

Thank you for reading and reviewing. I have gotten the reviews I don't know why they aren't showing up on the app of online but I have gotten them. Okay bye see you after this chapter.

Alex had put on some music to try and drown out the rain, and it had worked for awhile. As the rain picked up it also began to thunder and lighting and that's when Alex started to have a panic attack. He curled himself up in a ball on his bed than began to cry and hyperventilate.

"MOM! JAMES! Please come back!"

Sobbing*

"They're dead. Everyone I love is dead!"

more sobbing*

Alex can vaguely hear someone saying his name. He knows the voice but not who it be longs too. He continues to cry and shake and all while having flashbacks to when he lived in the Caribbean.

(John's POV)

As I begin to fall sleep I can hear a thunderstorm outside, it's kind of soothing. The storm drowns out the sound of the busy New York City traffic. Just as I fall asleep I hear someone scream and I sit up in bed. Then they scream again and I realize that it's coming from Alexander's room so I ran over to see what was going on.

When I got over there what I saw was not what I was expecting. Alex was curled up in his bed crying and screaming about everyone being dead. I rush over to him calling his name and rubbing soothing circles on his back.

"Alex. Alex can you hear me?"

No response but he has stopped screaming.

"Alex, it's John. You're safe, I'm safe, so are Herc and Laf. No one is dead. Alex you're in New York City."

Alex's breathing returned to normal.

"Alex if you can hear me can you nod your head." Alex nodded yes.

"Good. Alex I'm going to start counting, okay? And when you feel up to it I'd like you to start counting with me okay?" Alex shook his head again to let John know he heard him.

"One-two-three"

"Four-five-six"

"Seven-eight-nine"

"Ten"

"One-two-three" I started again

"Uno-dos-tres"Alex began counting in Spanish.

"Do you want to count in Spanish?"I asked and alex nodded in return again.

They both counted to ten multiple times before Alex was able to begin talking.

"Alex?"

"Y-y-yes?"he stuttered

"Are you okay?"

"N-not really. Storms freak me out a lot of the time. Especially at night."

"Do you want to talk about it?" "You don't have to of course."I quickly added.

"L-later n-not n-now."

"Okay. Goodnight Alexander."as I turn to leave Alex grabs my wrist.

"S-stay?"he asked.

"Of course." I sat down next to him on his bed and he pulled me down to lay next to him. He pulls himself close to my chest he's using me to protect himself from something. 'But what? What is he trying to protect himself from?' I wondered before I fell asleep.

I woke up before Alex and when I did he was still pulled close to me with his face in my chest. 'This is totally platonic. I was the only one here. He probably would have done this with everyone. Right?' I really wish this was something more than it was but it's not. I slowly crawled out of his bed but before I left I gave him a small kiss on the top of his head. After that I walked out the the kitchen to start some coffee and make breakfast.

(Alex's POV)

I don't remember much of last night but what I do isn't happy, well not until John was there. I remember having flash blacks to when my mother was sick and then the hurricane and then John was there. I remember him telling me that my new friends were okay and so was I then him counting. I mostly remember him agreeing to stay with me.

I woke up first but I didn't move I stayed there in the same position I fell asleep in. I soon felt John stirring and he soon woke up but he didn't say anything. He probably thinks I'm asleep since I'm laying there with my eyes closed. He soon starts to get up but I didn't want him too. ' Stay, please. You're so warm.' Is what I wanted to say but I didn't I let him go. 'Wait. Wait. What is he doing?' I can feel him leaning down over me.

'John what are you doi- OH MY GOD!! John freaking Laurens just kissed me!! Yes on the top of my head but he still kissed me!! Woohoo!'

A few minutes after he leaves I decide to get out of bed and go into the kitchen. John is in the kitchen making breakfast when I walk in and as soon as he looks at me I feel my face heat up.

"Good morning Alex."

"Good morning John."

I get my self a cup of the fresh brewed coffee and sit down on one of the stools at the counter. I sat there staring at him making his breakfast I missed what he said.

"- scrambled okay?"

"Sorry, What did you say?"

John lightly chuckled before he asked again "Are scrambled eggs okay?

"Oh you don't have to make me breakfast. I can get something later.'

"No I'm making you breakfast and we are gonna eat together and talk."

"Okay, and yes scrambled is perfectly fine."

"That's good cause it's the only kind I know how to make."he said with a laugh

'That laugh… he has the best laugh.'

A few minutes later we are sitting next to each other eating breakfast. When I realized I never said thank you for last night because I got distracted by the kiss.

"Thank you for everything last night."

"It's okay. I'm just glad you're okay now."

"Storms like that sometimes bring back bad memories from before."

I didn't want to talk about it but I knew I'd have to tell him sooner or later. I decided to tell him now because I didn't want him to lose sleep because I was having a panic attack over a harmless storm. I looked back over at him and he was looking at me slightly confused and asked, "

"Before?"

"Before I came to America. I was born and raised till the age of fifteen on a tiny island on the Caribbean."

I told him my life story well most of it. I told him how my father left, my mother died, and how they hurricane swept away my older brother and cousin when it destroyed our house. I told him how I bounced around foster homes until I made it to my now adoptive parents the Washington's.

"George, my adoptive father will be one of our professors this year."I told him

I didn't tell him why I went through so many foster homes I didn't ever tell anyone other than George and Martha about everything that happened in the homes. After I was done tell John everything he was practically in tears and so was I. he pulled me into a big hug and whispered things like

"You're safe here."and "I won't let you get hurt like that again so as long as I can."

We were both crying at this point just sitting thee when Herc and Laf had walked in.

I heard Laf whisper "Mon Amour, look at them. They're so cute."

Herc could use some work because when he responded with and "I know, they should get together." John and I both pulled away wiping our tears.

"Mon Amis are you okay? Why were you crying?"

Before I could gather myself enough to answer John had already answered with a simple

"We're fine Laf. Please drop it."

(shameless time skip to a week later)

John had had off work today so all four of them went out shopping a little bit, actually really only Lafayette shopped the rest of them were just there. Then they went to the park and had lunch then at some point Alex had fallen asleep with his head on John's knee. When he woke up John was drawing something in his sketch book but when Alex tried to look he pulled it away. After awhile all of them went back to the dorms. It was a good way to spend our last day before school starts tomorrow.

Later that night, like most nights in the past week the four boys watched a movie. It always went like this

-They'd fight about what movie to watch

-Someone would make popcorn

-They'd watch the first movie that had been suggested

- Laf and Herc would get handsie

-Alex would fall asleep on either John's shoulder or his lap(John would never admit it but he loved when Alex fell asleep on his lap because he got to play with his hair)

-When the movie was over Herc would carry a sleeping Laf back to their room and John would carry Alex to his bed.

Tonight though, tonight was different. They watched the movie, Herc and Laf got handsie but when it was time for bed John was the one that had fallen asleep. Alex was the one who carried the sleeping roommate the their bed. John was bigger than alex and Alex was not that strong so when he finally got to John's bed he kinda dropped him on the bed. As he exited the room after tucking John in he heard john whimper in his sleep but ignored it and left the room closing the door behind him.

It was 2am and Alex was still up working on his column for the newspaper even though it wasn't due till the beginning of next week. Alex left his room to go get coffee but as he passed by John's room he heard faint crying. Alex knocked on the door but got no response but the crying had stopped; that told alex that John was awake and upset. Without thinking Alex opened John's door and walked in. When he walked in he saw John sitting on his bed wrapped in the blanket he had wrapped him in a couple hours ago. He walked over and sat next to John and began rubbing circles on his back just like John had done for him the first night here.

"John?"

"Hmm"

"What's wrong?"

"I had a bad dream."

"Do you want to talk about it? It might help."

"Y-yeah."

"Okay. What was the dream about?"

"My d-dad."

Alex immediately knew what his dream was about. The night after Alex's panic attack him and John had stayed up late talking. Alex told John more about his family and the hurricane and about life with the Washingtons. John then told Alex how his other had died when he was young but he remembered how pretty and sweet she was. Then he told Alex about his father, the senator for North Carolina. He told him how he would hit John and then how he beat him and shipped him off to the boarding school in Virginia after John told him he was gay. John said he sometimes has bad dreams of his father. But then he told Alex that as long as he stayed away his siblings would be safe from the wrath that is Henry Laurens Sr.

"I'm so sorry John." Alex hugged John close

They stayed like that for awhile until john lifted his head to look at Alex. Alex looked at John and their eyes met ad they just stared at each other while they moved closer and closer to each other until…

Alex's phone ringed signaling a text message and that seemed to break the trance the two boys were in.

"Who the hell is texting you at this time of night?" John asked.

Alex pulled his phone out of his pocket and looks at the text.

FROM: George(Dad)- Get some sleep son. I expect you to be fully awake in class.

"George."

"Your dad?"

"Yeah. He said to get some sleep. God he knows me to well."Alex said with a laugh.

"He's not wrong though. It is almost 3am. Wait, why is he up then?"

"He is always working so he probably got lost in his work again."

"Oh. Well we really should get some sleep. Good night Alex."

"Goodnight John."

AN: Wow over 2,000 words less than 24 hours later! Being sick sucks but at least I could write without family bugging me. That you to everyone who has been reading this story it means a lot.

LamsPickle: I would love that. My friend usally helps edit but shes been really busy so she hasn't been able too. If you want to PM me and we can talk more about it.e