"Are you 100% sure we have to go out?"grumbled John, pulling a clean shirt over his head while Alex lounged on the bed, watching him with interest.
"What was that, love?" Alex said, obviously distracted by the sight. John threw his dirty shirt at him, which hit him in the face. "Hey! What was that for!"
"If you keep looking at me like that I'm not going anywhere!" John rolled his eyes as he struggled to wrangle his curls into a ponytail. "Am I getting dressed for any particular reason, or can we just stay in?"
Alex rolled off the bed and walked over to John, grabbing his face gently. "As much as I would like to see you undress again, you do actually have to stay clothed. For the moment, at least. Later, though, you can do whatever you want." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively at John before kissing his chastely. "Come on, we have to get going soon. You look absolutely amazing right now. Just so you know."
John brushed off the comment like it didn't affect him, but the blush evident on hisfreckled face told Alex he was pleased. "Fine. This better be worth it, though!" He bent down to tie his sshoe, but the sappy grin of his face was visible from where Alex stood getting ready.
He's so fucking gorgeous, Alex thought as he switched out his slightly ratty tee shirt for something nicer. I need to do stuff with him to get him dressed up more often. He's too pretty not to want to show him off all the time! I think its time he and I had a proper date night, just the two of us. He was standing in front of the mirror, just to check to make sure the looked okay, when Johns arms snaked around his waist and he felt his chin resting on his shoulder. Making eye contact with him in the mirror, he smiled at John and pulled him closer, enjoying the sudden warmth on his back where John was pressed up against him.
"Look how cute we are together, baby girl! We need to go out more often." John said, not breaking eye contact with his boyfriend. "Oh! Let's get a picture and show off to Herc and Laf how good we look tonight!" Before Alex could stop him, he had already grabbed his phone and pulled up his camera. "Smile, babe!"
Resigned to a picture, Alex grinned. John snapped a few photos, then brought the phone close to look at them, releasing Alex as he did so. "Wait, why did you let go!" Alex whined, poking out his bottom lip in a pout. "Put the phone down and come hold me another minute!"
John laughed, but put his phone in the back pocket of his jeans and pulled Alex into him, burying his face into the crook of Alexs neck. "You're such a sap, Alex. I love it!"
"I'm glad you love it, because you're stuck with me forever."
John snorted in laughter. "I can imagine us now, together forever. We will have this crazy weird wedding, and maybe kids and when we get old we will be terrorizing the nursing home together with nerf gun wars or pool noodle sword fights! What's wrong?" He had felt Alex tense up in his arms, and he leaned back so he could look at him.
Alex smiled up at him. "Its nothing. You're just he second person today who has mentioned us getting married and it just startled me for a second. Its fine though." He leaned into Johns chest, hoping he would drop the subject. It wasn't one Alex particularly liked, honestly. How was one supposed to want marriage when they had never seen one work before.
He thought back to his childhood, and the marriages he had witnessed there. A majority of them had been awful, loveless unions, the men always angry and the women so worn out that they looked ancient by the time they reached 30. His mom had been a lucky one, he supposed; she never married James, so when he got abusive, she didn't need to wait to leave him. She just packed up with the boys and left. If that's what marriage was, Alex wanted no part of it. But with John, it wouldn't be like that, would it?
Snapping back to reality, Alex could sense John wanted to say something else, but he was saved when his phone started ringing. "Oh SHIT! Its Laf! Come on, John, we are late!" He answered the phone as he hopped around , trying to get his shoe on at the same time and nearly toppling over. "Hey Laf, yeah, we are on the way now, I promise! See you soon!"
He hung up the phone and put it in his back pocket. "Come on John, let- are you kidding me right now?" Turning around, he had found John with his phone out, apparently recording his antics as he got dressed and trying to surpress his giggles. "I hate you so much right now."
"No you don't, you love me more than anything else in the world." John said, slinging his arm around Alexs narrow shoulders and guiding them to the door.
"Currently that's up for debate." Alex muttered, even as his snuggled deeper into Johns embrace.
"Why are we back at the apartment? I thought we were going somewhere close to your apartment?" John said as the ascended the carpeted staires of his apartment building, hand in hand.
"Yeah, but I have to get something from Laf, and he was going out tonight, so we were supposed to be here already. I hope he hasn't left yet. You got your keys? I left my set atthe apartment." He moved out of the way so John could insert the key and open the door, thankful John couldn't see the wide grin that was spreading across his face.
"Are you sure we were supposed to meet him here?" John asked as he pushed the door open and felt around for the light switch. " I'm pretty sure Laf isn't even here right-"
"SURPRISE!" John nearly fell over in astonishment at the unexpected appearance of all his friends. His eyes lit up when he saw Martha, her long curls subdued and pulled back out of her face for the occasion.
"Martha! What are you... what is this!" He said, his voice full of laughter and joy as he pulled his sister into a tight hug, the rest of the group crowding around.
"Its your birthday party, dork!" She laughed, tugging a curl that had escaped its ponytail. "You always said you wanted a surprise party!"
"I can't believe you remembered that!" Turning around, he saw the massive smile on Alexs face. "Did you know about this, too?" He asked as he stepped close to him, pulling him closer to him by his hips, a smile playing at his lips.
"Yup!" Said Alex, obviously pleased with himself.
John couldn't help but to kiss him, forgetting for a moment that they weren't alone in the room. "Ahem! Alex wasn't the one who did all this by himself!" John unwillingly broke the kiss, pulling back to look at a group of exasperated Schuyler's.
"Yeah, all of us helped! Why does Alexander get all the love!" Lafayette cried, looking very put out for some reason.
"Uh. Because I'm dating him?" Alex said sarcasticly, sticking his tongue out at Laf, who was making a rude hand gesture at him.
"Okay, okay. Seriously y'all. This is awesome and I LOVE it!" John said, keeping hand on Alexs hip and holding him close. "How did you know I always wanted a surprise party!"
"How do you think! I told them, of course!" Martha laughed, leaning back against the arm of the couch. "Now go! Look around and admire all the hard work we did for you!" She grabbed Alexs wrist before he could follow John. "Alex, I need your help with something. Come on!"
"Whatcha need?" Alex asked, looking over his shoulder to see if John was within earshot. He wasn't; Eliza was excitedly chattering with him about something in the kitchen, far enough away so that they couldn't be overheard.
"So you know Dad is up here, which means my best friend is back home watching the kids. So I decided to set up another surprise for John, and have the kids video chat him while they can. We haven't had the chance to do this is a long time."
"He's going to freak out, Martha! I'm glad you set this up... I never even thought about doing something like that for him. So what's the problem?"
"The problem," she said, guesturing at the laptop that was set up on the table they were standing in front of, "is that for some reason, this stupid thing refuses to connect to the WiFi. Think you can figure it out?"
"Easy." Alex said, squatting down so he could easily work on it. "For some reason, the WiFi the guys have sucks at life, and won't connect lately. So Herc somehow managed to hack into the neighbors account, which is from a different company and actually woeks. Honestly, i would feel bad for the guy, vut hes asking to have his stuff hacked. His password is the same as his wifi name. Ha! Got it! There you go!"
Martha hugged him quickly. "Awesome! Now your job is to keep him occupied till I signal you. Got it?"
"Yeah but what's the signal? A bird call? Smoke signals? OH! The bat signal! I want that one!"
"Just go, you weirdo!" Martha said, rolling her eyes at his antics and pushing him away with her hand in his face. "I swear, you're as bad as a child!"
"You know I'm awesome! " He laughed as he walked off, leaving Martha to set up the video chat.
"Whatever, Alex. Just go do your job!"
Alex walked into the kitchen, getting a drink before sidling in between John and Eliza, who were both cracking up about something on Eliza's phone. "What's so funny?" He asked, trying to peer over Johns shoulder, but he wasn't quite tall enough to see.
John turned slightly so Alex could slide under his arm, grinning down at the smaller man. "Herc just showed us what you two were getting up to the other day." He could see from Alexs beffudled expression that he had no clue what he was talking about. "This look familiar?" He asked, tilting Eliza's phone so Alex could see.
Alexs face lit up. "I completely forgot about this! I thought I showed you!" It was a picture of- something. It was obviously an outfit, but you had to look hard to make sense of it. To start with, it was old fashioned doublet that was an obnoxious,retina burning shade of pink crushed velvet. It was made worse by the adornments that, John could tell by the evil grin spread across Alexs face, had been added on by someone other than the designer. It was festooned with what looked like Christmas tinsel, and someone had written different things on it, the most prominent being casse toi, shining across the whole front of the outfit in red, white and blue. The ends of the sleeves had been fringed with multi colored ribbins, and it looked like there was a cape on the back of it. All in all, it was the ugliest thing any of them had ever seen in their lives.
"No! This is... There are no words, Alex." John said, taking another look at the gaudy object. Alex shrugged, looking quite pleased with his and Hercs creation.
"Seriously, Alex, don't quit your day job. You're not very good at fashion." Eliza giggled, taking the phone back and zooming in to see the details better. "Did you really bedazzle it!"
"Not bedazzle. We didn't have much time." Alex took the phone and started pointing details out. "So what you though was bedazzle is really just hot glue and gliiter. I burnt the hell out of my finger doing that too."
"Oh I remember that!" Eliza said, looking towards the finger in question. "You whined about it till I gave you a Thor bandaid"
Alex leaned around John to poke her gently in the side. "I didn't not whine. I nearly pointed put I had a burn and asked you for something to put on it."
"Pfft. You legit said, and I quote, 'Lizaaaaaa I have a burn! Make it better!' And gave my puppy dog eyes until I got you the bandaid." John snorted in laughter, made worse by the fake wounded look Alex gave him.
"Don't even lie, Alex. We all know you would do anything to get a super hero bandaid. You made me give you one for a paper cut once!" John said, hugging him to his side gently.
"You make me sound like some kind of child." Alex mumbled, taking a sip of his drink to his the smile of delight from the embrace. "Hey, I think Martha needs us over there." He said, pointing to the corner where she stood, becoming them to come over. "We'll be back Eliza! Don't let Peggy eat all the cupcakes!"
"I would never do such a thing!" They could hear Peggy gasp as they crossed the room, followed by laughter from her sisters, who knew better than to fall for the innocent act.
"Come here, John, I need you to bend down for a second." Martha said as they approached.
Witout a second thought about what was going on, John did as his sister asked, only to be quickly blindfolded. "Ow, you got my hair! What the hell, Martha!" He complained, trying to take it off. His hand was smacked away though, and grabbed by Martha, judging my the small size.
"Leave it! I have a surprise for you, so deal with it. Don't you trust me?" She asked as she led him a few short steps to where the computer was. "Sit down."
"About as far as I can throw you." John said drily, sitting cautiously when Martha told him too. "What exactly is going on here?"
"You'll see in just a minute! Just let me do something real quick..." He could feel her lean in front of him for a moment. "Okay! Now are you ready for your surprise?"
"I guess so."
"Good! Open your eyes!" She said, taking the blindfold off. The others had backed away to give him space, so only Alex and Martha witnessed the look of joy on Johns face when he saw the three faces on the screen in front of him.
"Happy birthday, Jack!" Yelled James, Henry, and Mary Eleanor, the latter nearly falling off her perch on the chair from excitement at seeing her eldest sibling. "I miss you!" She pipped up, bouncing in the seat.
John was speechless for a moment, astonished at how grown the three looked. He finally gathered his wits and grinned at the trio. "Hey guys! I miss you too, Mary. I can't believe this! This is the best birthday present ever!"
Martha bent over his shoulder and looked at the three younger Laurens. "Hey guys! Miss me?"
"No!" Choroused the boys, while Mary squealed "Yes! And Jacky too!"
"Thanks guys. I see which sibling loves me the most." Martha said, rolling her eyes at the giggling boys on the screen. "I'm going to give you some space, John. I'll try to control your friends." She walked over to the couch and sat with Alex, Herc and Peggy, who had a plate full of cupcakes for them.
John turned to look at the screen. "OK,you three. I need you to tell me everything!" Judging by the matching twinkle in all their eyes, it would be a long and crazy story.
"I wonder what they're talking about over there." Peggy mused, watching John gesturing excitedly. "It looks interesting, whatever it is."
"Can you see who's on the screen?" Martha asked, unable to see who it was.
"Looks like John, but with glasses."
"Oh! I know the answer to that one!" Alex exclaimed, happy he could answer Peggy. "That's James."
"Good job, Alex. Yeah, that Jemmy, so probably something science or history related. He's a lot like John."
"Hopefully not as obsessed with turtles, though." Herc snickered, earning himself a playful smack on the arm from Martha.
"Yeah, what is that all about? John has never told me." Alex had always wondered why Johns favorite animal was a turtle, but had never asked.
Apparently Martha hadn't either, because she shrugged and said "I have no earthly idea! He just came home one day and was obsessed. He had turtle everything! And I'm not just talking Ninja Turtles, although he did have pretty much all of them. He has books, posters, everything. That's how he got so good at drawing, though. He drew the turtles out at the pond by our houseall the time"
"My boyfriends a nerd." Alex grinned, looking at John with such obvious fondness that Peggy pretended to gag.
"Stop, you can't be that cute, Alexander!" She whined, faking offense.
"What! Wasn't it you who thought it would be a good idea to introduce us? You have no room to complain." Alex said, tossing a pillow in her direction.
"That doesn't mean I want to see you making googoo eyes at him!" She said, throwing it back at him.
Lafayette noticed this and screamed "Pillow fight!" before joining in and launching a pillow at herc, which shot past him and hit Peggy right in the face. "Oops!"
"How dare you hit my sister!" Angelica squealed, grabbing a cushion from the couch and pouncing on Laf, Eliza seconds behind her, giggling hysterically. Not expecting it, Laf collapsed to the floor, the two Schuyler's falling on top of him into a writhing heap.
"Should we do something?" Martha asked, turning around to watch their antics from over the back of the couch.
"Nah, I'd let them be. I'm placing my bets on the girls." said Alex, following Martha's lead and kneeling on the couch. The group on the couch sat laughing at the other three, egging on the three on the floor. They had completely forgotten about John till he spoke up behind them
"What the heck are y'all doing?" He half laughed, looking amused at what was going on. Behind him, Alex could see three small faces, trying to see what they were doing. It looked like something from a cartoon, especially when Lafayette popped his head up on the other side of the house, looking guilty.
"Je suis désolé, John. We forgot you were talking. We will behave."
"Its fine, I promise." John said, not the least bit mad about what they were doing. He turned around when he heard a small voice behind him.
"Jack? Can we meet your friends?" It was James, and he looked so genuinely excited to meet them, John couldn't help but smile at him.
"Of course, but it'll have to be quick. I know you're supposed to be heading to bed soon. Hey yall. Come over here and meet the rest of the clan!" The group in the apartment gathered round, all trying to get in the camera at one, much to James and Mary Eleanors amusement. "Okay... This won't work. Let's do groups. Ladies first." Scooting a little to the side so the girls could be in the screen, he started to introduce them. "So first up, the Schuyler sisters! I work with all of them and they are some of the coolest people I know. This is Angelica beside me, next to her in blue is Eliza, and-"
"And Peggy! Peggy's in yellow, right!" Mary Eleanor pushed her way in front of her brother and started waving. "Martha told me all about you. Are you really her best friend?"
Peggy laughed in delight, ignoring the moan of exasperation from Martha. "You must be Mary Eleanor! I've heard a lot about you too, and yes, I am her friend!"
Taking over the conversation, Mary started talking so fast she forgot to breathe. "She said you live in a really big house. Is it a palace? Are you princesses? Ohhhhhhhhh if you have as ball can I come to it? I know how to act like a princess, I've seen lots of Disney movies-"
Eliza laughed gently. "We aren't princesses, but we do have a big house."
"Maybe one day we can have you come visit with Martha!" Angelica chimed in. She realised her mistake when Mary Eleanor started jumping around and squealing in delight. "Wait, maybe I shouldn't have said that. We will see, though, promise!" She turned and stage whispered "Sorry Martha! I didn't mean to put the idea in her head..."
"Meh. She would have invited herself over anyways." Martha said, wracking her brain for a way to convince her father it could be a good idea.
"Okay, we don't have much time, so you need to say bye to the girls Mary. Jemmy, I'll let you talk to them more later, okay?
"Okay, Jack. Bye Angelica, Eliza, and Peggy!" James smiled at them as Mary hopped around in the background, waving frantically. The girls said their goodbyes and went into the kitchen, their spots being taken by Laf, Herc, and Alex, who looked mildly terrified at the prospect of meeting Johns siblings, albeit through the computer.
He had managed to be next to Johns chair, and John reached to take Alexs hand discreetly, out of view on the video, helping to calm Alexs nerves. Jesus, Alexander, calm the fuck down. You aren't even meeting them in person, just over a video chat. This is nothing to be nervous about. Just chill. He took a deep breath as John introduced them.
"You met the girls, so these are my roommates. On the end, we have Lafayette, who owns the cafe most of us work at-
Lafayette took the pause as the chance to say hello. " Bonjour! It is nice to finally meet all of you" he said with a wave.
"Are you from France?" Asked Henry before John could say anything else.
"Oui. But I have been in the United states for a few years. Its my new home now!"
Mary Eleanor tugged on her brothers sleeve and whispered in his ear. "Don't worry, Mary, I'll show you where France is later, okay?" Henry ruffled her hair gently, and John smiled. How many times had he done the exact same thing to Henry when he had been that age. He was about to say something else when the door on the other end of the camera opened and what John assumed to be the babysitter stuck her head in.
"5 more minutes, guys, then you have to get off, okay?" She waved at the camera, and John recognized Martha's friend Tina. "Hey John!"
John waved back. "Hey Tina! Thanks for helping set this up! We won't be much longer, I promise."
"Not a problem! Hope you have a great birthday! I'll let y'all finish up though. Bye!" She walked out of the room and the three Laurens children came back on the screen.
"Okay, guys, you heard Tina. I'll make this fast. Next to Laf we have Herc, who I expect would talk to you all day about football if you let him, Henry." He didn't process it at all when Henry nudged James and muttered "I bet that's Martha's boyfriend." Herc blanched but John continued as if he hadn't seen him. "He does design too, so he draws just as good, if not better than me. And last but least, we have Alex, who is going to school to be a lawyer, and is studying history too."
Alex waved silently, until James spoke up. "What kind of history do you like, Alex? I like learning about the Revolutionary War; do you have a favorite time period?"
Alex smiled; James looked genuinely interested in his response. "Well, that just happens to be my favorite time too! Is there any specific battle you like most? I have a lot of books; if you like I can send one home with Martha."
James looked delighted to have someome who was as enthusiastic about the subject as he was. "Oh yes! There's a few different battles I like, like Yorktown, because we won the war there, and Monmouth, and there's a battlefield near our house that Jacky used to take us to..."
John could tell this was shaping up to be a long conversation. "Okay, okay, you two. We only have another minute to talk, remember?"
"Sorry John!" Both of them said at the same time, making everyone within hearing laugh.
"Well, it was nice meeting you three," Herc said. "Hopefully we can all talk again soon." He pulled Laf away, who waved goodbye as best he could.
"I'll make sure to send those books, James. It was nice to meet all of you." Alex said. "I'm going to go now, but hopefully we can talk again soon!" He squeezed Johns hand as he left, and John smiled up at him.
"Jacky, did you-" Mary Alice let put a jaw-cracking yawn before she was able to continue. "Did you open your presents yet?"
"Not yet, sleepy head. Why do you ask?"
"You have to open it now!" Henry chimed in, rubbing his hands together in excitement.
"Um... Okay... What have you crazies sent me?" Martha nudged his shoulder and handed him a box. "Oh, thanks." The three children on the other end were bouncing with excitement as he tore open the wrapping paper and opened the box. He burst into laughter at the contents. " Really guys?!" He picked up the contents and held it up for them to see. "An entire case of Kosmic Brownies?"
"Kosmic brownies?! I love those!" Squealed Peggy in the background.
"No Peggy! They're mine! All mine! Mwahahahahaha !" John clutched the box to his chest like it was precious treasure.
"I think he likes it, Jemmy!" The two boys highfived, and Mary Eleanor beamed. "We saved our allowance for weeks to get it for you, Jack!"
"I love it. I can't find them anywhere up here! But I think its time to let y'all go now." He held up his hand to stop the chorus of groans and protestations. "I know, I know. I wish I could talk longer, and I promise to do my best to call again soon. I miss you three so much." He couldn't go one any longer without his voice breaking, but Henry spoke up and covered up his pause.
"We miss you too, John. Make sure to call us though! I want to tell you about my game next week!"
"And my piano lessons!" Chimed in Mary Eleanor, with James nodding behind her.
"And I have a big test coming up."
"Okay, okay!" John said, getting his emotions under control. I'll make sure to call again soon, I promise! Now go! Get ready for bed!I love you guys!"
"Love you too, Jack!" They all said before Henry took Marys hand and led her out of the room. John smiled at their retreating backs and was about to sign off when James looked at him. "I really do miss you, Jacky. Do you promise to call?" The look in his eyes was SK sad it nearly broke his heart.
"I promise, buddy. I'll do a better job from now on, okay?" James beamed, and it helped soothe Johns breaking heart just a bit.
"Okay! Tell your friend Alex I said bye! I love you!" With that he signed off. John sat in silence for a moment, looking at the screen before Alex came over and put his arm around him, playing with his hair.
"You okay, love?" John looked up into Alexs dark chocolate brown eyes, currently filled with worry. He reached up to cover Alexs hand with his own and smiled so wide that all the worry left Alexs face and was replaced by relief.
"Yeah. Yeah, Im good, Alex. Great, actually. I just needed a minute." He stood up and hugged Alex tightly for a second before letting go. "I had no idea how much I really wanted to see them till I saw the computer. What did you think of them?"
"They seem to be great kids. I like James."
John snorted in laughter. "Of course you did. He's about as obsessed with history as you are!" They walked into the kitchen, where everyone else had gathered. "You would like Henry too. And Mary Eleanor, although she can be a bit much sometimes."
"Ha! She looks like a little hellion, but a cute one! And Henry is a lot more perceptive than I thought he would be." He stole a glance at Herc, who was studiously avoiding eye contact with John.
John must have seen the glance because he looked at Herc and smIrked. "Ha. You got that right. I wonder how he knew martha was dating Herc, though."
Alex looked at him in astonishment. "A better question is how do you know!"
"Because Herc doesn't pay attention when he takes a screen shot, that's how!" John chuckled and pulled out his phone, scrolling through his pictures before he turned to show it to Alex. "He uses this app called Charity Miles, and they send out popups every day. Sometimes they do Harry Potter related ones, and he will take a screenshot for me. Well, last time it happened, he was texting Martha apparently, and it showed up in the background. The hearts after her name kinda gave it away."
Alex laughed in disbelief. "He really did that! Oh my god, that's fucking hysterical! So?"
"So what?"
"So what are you going to do? You've gotta put the poor guy put of his misery sometime, John. He has been stressinabout how to tell you fpr a week already. You could totally make a scene right now if you wanted."
"Some of us aren't super dramatic, Alex" John smiled, bopping Alex on the nose. " I could do that, but I want to enjoy the rest of my party. I'm just gonna take him to the side-" he stopped when he realized the subject of their conversation was standing next to them, look on slightly terrified. Alex and John exchanged glances and smiled.
"This should be fun. I'll let you two talk." Alex got up to give Herc his seat, patting him on the head. "Good luck, my dear Mulligan. You're going to need it." He walked away, snickering quietly as he approached the giggling group in the living room, where they were all braiding a section of Lafs hair.
John watched Alex be forced into a seat where he was ganged up on by Eliza and Peggy before looking seriously at Herc. "I hear there's somethinyou wanted to talk to me about?"
Herc sat there fidgeting under his gaze, unable to stay still. "Hey, yeah so... Um... I was wondering..." He glanced at Martha as if asking for some kind of support, but shrank into himself when he looked back at John, who just quirked his eyebrow at him. "Shit. Okay, I like Martha. A lot. But I don't want to date her without letting you know, because that's against the BroCode and just not cool, but I like her a lot and I think she likes me too, at least I hope she does, and- why are you laughing!" All this had been said without a single breath, so fast that John could barely keep up with him.
"Dude, relax! Its fine!" John said,trying to catch his breath. "I already knew, and I'm okay with it."
Hercules just looked at him is disbelief. Unaware that he was basically quoting Alexs earlier question, he asked,"How the hell do you know! Did Alexander tell you? That little rat. I thought I could trust him."
"No, he didn't tell me. You did, moron." He pulled up the same picture and showed Herc this time. "Check your background next time you take a screenshot."
Herc groaned. "Are you kidding? I've literally been freaking out for two weeks try into figure out how to bring it up! You could have told me."
"Now where's the fun in that? Be glad I didn't call you out like Alex wanted me to. Just do me one favor?"
"Yeah?"
"Treat her right. She deserves someone who will do that, and I know you will. You'll regret it if you don't." His tone was light, but it was obvious he was not kidding.
"Don't worry. You know I will. And you have my full permission to kick my ass if I hurt her." Hercs voice was so full of sincerity that John had no worried about his sisters well being. Out of all the people in the world, she choose one of the very few who I trust with my life. Martha deserves to be with someone like Herc. I pity the day he pisses her off though.
"Are you two done over there?!" Peggy's voice rang out from the living room. "This is supposed to be a party, not a serious conversation!" John and Herc laughed and went into the living room, where everyone was chattering away.
"So what's the plan?" John asked, talking a seat next to Alex. From the conspiritorial glance between his sister and Peggy John knew they were in for an interesting night.
After a few hours of crazy antics and strange games the girls had thought up, the party wound down. The Schuyler's left around 1.30 am,Peggy barely able to keep her eyes open as she said goodbye. The residents of the apartment were all collapsed in various states of consciousness in the living room, surrounded by the array of gifts John had received. They had already hooked up the Xbox Herc and Laf had got him, and Laf was sitting on the floor playing it, while Alex and Martha were talking about a book they had both read.
John knew it was time for bed when Alex started talking nonsense, causing Martha to start giggling hysterically. "Alex, you're talking in cursive. Let's go to bed." He leaned over to try to help Alex up, nearly toppling over in the process as Alex resisted him.
"Not talking in cursive. I make sense, right Martha?" Alex looked at her bleary eyed. He stuck his tongue out when she shook her head no.
"You haven't made a bit of sense in the last 5 minutes, sweetie. You probably should go to bed."
Alex decided not to argue and stood up. "Okay, okay. I'll go to bed. Come on, John." He started making his way towards the hallway, not waiting on John to follow him.
John turned and looked at Herc and Martha. "Separate rooms, you two." He said, pointing his finger at them. Herc nodded, but Martha just rolled her eyes.
"Yes, Dad."
"Don't be so sarcastic. Seriously though, you should go to bed soon. Want to go get breakfast with me in the morning?"
"Sure. I'll be up, don't worry." She tried to hide the yawn, and John just shook his head, smiling.
"See you in the morning then. Night, y'all." John walked down the hall to the bedroom, exhausted. It had been a long day,but the best kind of long day. Spending to e with my family is always worth being completely beat at the end of the day. Expecting Alex to still be getting ready for bed, he was amused to find him already asleep, his legs hanging off the end of the bed where he had obviously just flopped down.
Closing the door, John started undressing, pulling on a pair of soft plaid pajama pants before he gently shook Alex awake. "Alex, wake up real quick. You need to actually get in the bed."
Alex opened one brown eye. "Mmkay." He stripped down to his boxers without opening his eyes completely before collapsing back in the bed, already snoring softly. John turned off the light and laid down next to him, covering them both.
"Love you, Alex." He said quietly, kissing Alex gent on the crown of his head. He laid back against his pillow and closed his eyes before he heard a sleepy voice.
"Love you, too, John."
Sorry this took so long! Its just been... Crazy. I have no other words. I had to take a mental break for a week or so, otherwise I would have burned out. So word to the wise, I'm working on a story arc that's already been brought up in the story :) so keep an eye out! I am working on the next chapter already (I actually have it planned out, rather thamakinit up as I go) so hopefully I can have it out by the end of the week.
So happy birthday week to me! I got some stuff done!
I'll be posting updates and answering questions on my tumblr if your interested in following me there... Right now its lonky and full of Hamilton and Turn pictures. I need friend y'all! Its purexlamsxtrash so come visit! I'm also going to try to get the story put up on Archive of our own as well under tardisbluecurls. Love y'all!